The verses that begin today’s reading inform us that Jesus is in Jerusalem at the Feast of Dedication which was celebrated in December each year. This feast is the Jewish festival of Hanukkah. It celebrated the liberation of Jerusalem from the reign of the Syrian (Seleucid) king Antiochus Epiphanes. Antiochus had defiled the Jerusalem Temple in 167 BCE by building an altar to his own gods within the Temple sanctuary. In 165 BCE, Judas Maccabeus and his brothers regained control of the Temple and rededicated it to the God of Israel. The eight-day feast took place in the month December and was marked by the lighting of lamps and rejoicing.
The Jewish religious authorities begin the dialogue by asking Jesus whether he is the Messiah. They are annoyed that Jesus is not being explicit. This is the only place in the Gospel of John where Jesus is asked explicitly whether he is the Messiah. Jesus responds that he has been explicit and that he has told them, in no uncertain terms, the truth about himself and yet, they do not believe. Jesus then points to his ‘works” as indicators of this claim. “Works” here does not refer to miracles alone, but to the broader scope of Jesus’ ministry and includes the revelation of himself as having been sent by God.
Belief in Jesus determines whether one belongs to the fold of Jesus. Since the Jewish leaders do not believe, they cannot and do not belong to the fold. Those who belong to the fold hear the voice of the Shepherd and follow trustingly. Following Jesus leads to eternal life which he alone can give. The reason why Jesus can do this is because he has received this gift directly from the Father. What is more is that Jesus and the Father are one. This means that Jesus and God are united in their work of salvation and Jesus shares completely in God’s work.
We are privileged, as Christians, to have as our God one who is Good Shepherd, one whose primary interest and concern is to care for the good of the sheep. Our God is a God who wants to lead us to safety and to places where there is abundance. He wants what is best for us at all times and will do anything to protect us from any kind of harm. Though this is the case, we do not always listen to his voice and we prefer to go our own way. The only result that we can expect, after such a choice, is destruction and death.
Nice to read you again..
ReplyDeleteyes i do believe, strongly believe that God wants the best for me, and he alone knows what is best for me.
When things dont go the way i expect it, i firmly believe that god has a reason for every single move in my life and hence nothing can go wrong, every difficult phase in life would pass.. and brighter ones are yet to come.. its just like night before dawn..
its a long time that i logged on to blogger, life has taken a busier turn in my life, I had to relocate to india temporarily.. and its really busy out there.. that i doze off the moment i hit the bed. No time for things online.. except to talk to my husband here. my daughter also enrolled in a school in india.. so now things are getting slowly settled.. am back to doha for a months vacation.. hope to read you frequently, while in doha.
have a good night..
Of course not . Just like i do not believe everything the scientist are saying. Actually most of what they're saying could be put on the diagnostic table .
ReplyDeleteJust like the bible was not written by 'god' but by 'human' philosopher who had different perspective about belief.
I do believe in god just like i believe in hate and love. It's not written on your mother face that she love you but you still can see it . Well it's not 'made by God' but when you believe it you can see it. Same happens when you believe in love or respect or whatever that can not be proven literaly . It's called fate.
Religion was created by man . A lot of them were created because there's many different way to believe in the path one should take when taking spirituality and philosophy into consideration.
Yes very bad ppl were also at the top of some religion .
You have idiot and bad people in every side. Stupid scientist do exist. A problem with a lot of religion is that they reject the idea of evolution .