John 9:1-34

This is the story of a blind man who was made to see…literally and figuratively. And once again Jesus performed a miracle on the Sabbath.

The debate began again among the Pharisees, the Sadducees, and the people in the community. Who is this man, Jesus? Who gave him the authority to do what he did…God or Satan?

This kind of debate continues to this day. Many people do not believe that Jesus had any kind of special authority let alone to be the Son of God, Son of Man, the Messiah. How do we convince people that Jesus is who he says he is?

It is especially difficult if the person with whom we are talking does not believe in God either. How can we prove to anyone that God exists? I have tried to do just that recently on a forum. I failed miserably. The more I tried the more the atheist was certain that he was correct.

Finally, I said, “I cannot ‘prove’ my faith to you except through my behavior. Conversely, you are unable to ‘disprove’ my faith.” If anyone knows any way of ‘proving’ faith and the existence of God, I would like to know the proof. I am going to meet people like that again, and I would like to be able to stand up for my beliefs much better than I did the last time.

Carol

Bible Breath: God listens to / Godly people

I was just thinking about my birthday which is today. I am 67. What came to mind was a surprise birthday party that my parents had for me when I was five. In order to get me out of the house, I was to visit one of my favorite adult people. Her name was Hazel. I knew her all my life, and I loved her dearly. I was so sorry when I had to leave.

But then at home people were hiding and popped out just like you see it in the movies. They yelled, “Happy Birthday,” and sang. I don’t remember how well we sang, but we did sing vigorously. We played games and had ice cream and cake. I remember it will because it was the only birthday party I ever had. However, for the years after that our birthdays were always the same…and we looked forward to them.

We would receive a birthday card with ten dollars in it. And we always got to choose what we wanted to eat. I always picked chop suey. Tom always chose pork chops; Dad chose swiss steak with tomato gravy. And we went out to eat on Mom’s birthday. I think we would have fainted if one or the other of us would have chosen something else to eat. Tom and I do about the same…except we go out to eat on our birthdays.

The question is whether all of this is important in our lives. I truly believe that it is very important. Each of us knows we were born. But I am of the firm conviction that each of us needs, once in a while, to be validated by other people. Birthday celebrations of whatever kind serve that purpose.

When I lived in my apartment on Hill Street, I met a man who was the most alone man I have ever met. He trusted nobody at all. And nobody acknowledged his existence on this earth. Nobody. I spoke to him for two years, and he finally spoke to me. Nobody in his family had anything at all to do with him. I had their phone numbers, and they would talk to me but not to him. Yes, he was a troubled person, but it wasn’t too hard to determine some of the reasons.

I could not stand that because I could do something about it. I take him out to dinner for his birthday and get him a birthday card. I also make certain that he has something for Christmas as well as a Christmas dinner with people…usually Tom and me. He is finally in touch with some of his family again I am happy to say…but not on his birthday or Christmas.

We are all the Beloved children of God. No matter what happens in families, we still need to remember that fact. And we need to acknowledge the person that we brought into the world. Without validation of some kind, most people wilt and die in one way or another.

So it is my birthday wish that we acknowledge each other as brothers and sisters in Christ and behave accordingly.

And let there be peace on earth.

Carol

I Samuel 8:1 - 9:27

I like Samuel. His mother had no children and prayed to God for a child which she would give back to God. And that child turned out to be Samuel. Just think. Samuel was literally born, by design, to serve the Lord. But the people were not satisfied with Samuel’s sons as judges. Samuel asked God what He should do. He must have felt quite dejected by then. He was old, and his kids messed stuff up. God reassured Samuel that the people had not reject him, but they had rejected God as their King. And an earthly kings was chosen.

Something that I tend to forget, and I would guess that others forget as well, is that we are all born, by design, to serve the Lord. Do we have any say in it? Of course we do. God also gave us free will. Jesus did not have to be crucified for our sins. That was the plan, but He could have said, “No, I just cannot do this. It is too much to ask of me.” Who could have blamed Him. How many of us would choose to be crucified so that others would receive salvation? I doubt that there are many which is one reason, among many reasons, why Jesus is so important to us. He actually went through with the crucifixion…for us. I wonder how well we honor that…or even think about it very often? What would have happened to us if Jesus would have said, “No.”

For one thing we would not have a Lord and Savior. There would be no salvation. We probably would not have heard of Jesus. Christianity would not exist. We need to go down on our knees every day and thank God that we were given a king…but not the kind that people were asking for in Samuel’s time. We have the Christ, the Messiah, our Redeemer, and more who is our king…and our friend as well.

Carol

Bible Breath: The Lord our God / Is our King

John 5:1-23

In this section of the scripture, Jesus is in Jerusalem for a feast. The following describes the situation:

“Now there is in Jerusalem near the Sheep Gate a pool, which is Aramaic is called Bethesda and which is surrounded by five covered colonnades. Here a great number of disabled people use to lie…the blind, the lame, the paralyzed. One who was there had been an invalid for thirty-eight years. When Jesus saw him lying there and learned that he had been in this condition for a long time, he asked him, ‘Do you want to get well?’ “
John 5:2-5 NIV

What a terrific question. The paralyzed man had been in his situation for a long time…thirty-eight years. No matter what the quality of his life he was used to it. He may have subsisted as a beggar. We are not told that, but it would not be a big stretch to think that is what he did for funds.

The idea of becoming well must have been foreign to him…and perhaps just a bit threatening. We do not like change…are uncomfortable with it even if it helps us. If the man became whole, his entire lifestyle would have to change. He would have to be responsible in an entirely different way…definitely for himself and possibly for a family as well.

His spiritual and emotional being would change as well. Take it from a person who has been both very healthy for a long period of time and who has been less healthy for a long period of time. First, it is extremely difficult to accept not being healthy. It is difficult to find self-worth in something other than a job. I did not realize that I had received my sense of worth through my work so much as when I was unable to do it anymore. It took a long time to come to terms in a semi-emotionally and spiritually way…and I still work on. It is easy to slide downhill.

And I think if Jesus were here he would ask us as individuals, as families, as communities, as a nation, and as a world, “Do you want to get well?”

If we do, there are a lot of responsibilities that we need to pick up and do.

God, help us decide to get well…spiritually, emotionally, physically and to accept the accompanying responsibilities. Amen

Carol

Bible Breath: Help us God / To become well

John 4:43-54

“And there was a certain royal official whose son lay sick at Capernaum. When this man heard that Jesus had arrived in Galilee from Judea, he went to him and begged him to come and heal his son, who was close to death.

‘Unless you people see miraculous signs and wonders,’ Jesus told him, ‘you will never believe.’ The royal official said, ‘Sir, come down before my child dies.’ ” John 4:46-49 NIV

How often this happens in the Gospels. Jesus is one place and someone wants him to go another place in order to help or heal another person…usually a loved one. And it seems that it must have gotten tiresome for Jesus to repeat frequently that we do not need to see to believe…well, I would have become tired. Or as He put it in this passage, “Unless you people see miraculous signs and wonders, you will never believe.” But He, of course, healed the boy.

What is the point of this story for us? What needs to happen with us before we will believe? Do we also need to see in order to believe? I think many of us do. We are much more comfortable with something that is concrete…in many ways. If we can see something, hear it, feel it, smell it, or taste it, we can easily believe in the object, concept, or religion.

But if we would look, we would see all kinds of miracles which Jesus performs. They happen around us all the time. Isn’t it a miracle that you are living at all? How did that come about?

How is it that human beings haven’t been able to destroy the Bible after all of these years of war, turmoil, chaos. It isn’t because they haven’t tried to get rid of the Bible. There have been real efforts by some to reduce the Bible to a group of myths and people who are caricatures. Why hasn’t that worked after years and years of trying to rid the world of it?

Purely and simply it is because God is alive. He lives within and through us. He walks beside us. God is everywhere whether a person believes it or not. Jesus wants us to believe without seeing. In order to do that there would have to be nothing to see. I don’t know about anyone else, but I find thousands of things to see in people, in nature, in the expanse of the universes, in outer as well as inner space.

We are blessed. If we open our eyes, we will see and believe. If we stand still with our eyes close, we will still see. We are standing there as the Beloved children of God.

Carol

Bible Breath: Believing / Without seeing

John 1:29-51

Witnessing - how do we witness that Jesus is King, that he is our Lord and Savior, that he died for our sins, that through him we shall be saved? Or do we witness at all? I am certain that our behavior is a kind of witness. But other people, including people with no religion, can behave well and have a strong ethical base and a set of terrific values. Therefore, it would seem that how we behave, while important, is not what is most necessary.

The very first witness to Jesus’ divinity was John the Baptist. And he spoke so that all could understand. “Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world! This is the one I meant when I said, ‘A man who comes after me has surpassed me because he was before me.’ I myself did not know him, but the reason I came baptizing with water was that he might be revealed to Israel.”

Then John gave this testimony: “I saw the Spirit come down from heaven as a dove and remain on him. I would not have know him, except that the one who sent me to baptize with water told me, ‘The man on whom you see the Spirit come down and remain is he who will baptize with the Holy Spirit.’ I have seen and I testify that this is the Son of God.”

That, my friends, is a very strong witness. He made it absolutely clear that he was not the Messiah. John was the first witness…and he was the first wonderful example of a disciple as well. He did his “job” as God wanted him to do. I still do not understand why he lived in the desert, wore camel skins, and ate locusts and honey. But that is a story for another day.

John gives us the model for our own witness; however, as I listen to people around me, I do not hear such a resounding witness for Christ from very many people, do you? I find it hard to witness to a group of people. I will be the first to admit that. I am more “comfortable” talking one on one with a person. Now, why do you suppose that is? Do I think someone might laugh at me…possibly…misunderstand …possibly…reject me…possibly…think I was “out of line”…possibly…think I was crazy …possibly…but what if I don’t testify that Jesus is my Lord and Savior?

I have betrayed him just as surely as Judas did. If I am unable verbally and behaviorally to stand up for my Lord and Savior, then what will I be able to stand up for? There is nothing more important in my life. I must be able to witness just as well as the first witness did. If I don’t, what use is there in believing? If the love of God is not shared with others, do we really have it at all? Or are we just kidding ourselves.

We are all blessed. God help us witness to our faith in the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit with dignity, grace, humility, and enthusiasm.

Carol

Bible Breath: The Lamb of God / Is with us

John 1:1-2

“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning.”

What Word is this passage talking about? I have wondered for many years what those two verses meant exactly. I have taken some guesses, but none of them made much sense to me. And so I drifted about in the beginning of the Gospel of John.

I don’t know if anyone else has had this kind of difficulty while reading the Bible. Sometimes I just am not certain what is being discussed. Part of it has to do with the use of metaphors which sometimes I do not understand.

However, the beginning of John is now making sense to me for some reason. The “Word” in this instance is Jesus. What John is saying to us was that “in the beginning was Jesus”; and “the Word [Jesus] was with God; and “the Word [Jesus] was God”. “He [Jesus] was with God from the beginning.” Jesus = God as we have been told since we were children.

Maybe the Word has always been Jesus, and I didn’t realize it. That is absolutely possible. I did not think that “the Word” was a person. I evidently thought that “the Word” was God speaking…and so He was in a way which was different from what I thought. I must have been hiding my head in the sand!

Carol

Bible Breath: Jesus is Word / the Word is God

Luke 24:13-53

I have wondered from time to time why the Jesus’ disciples did not recognize Him after His death. And then I tried putting myself in their shoes.

If I had been on the road with Jesus, I would have seen his miracles. I would have heard his teachings. By the way, it is interesting to note that Jesus taught the disciples how to pray…but not how to preach or teach except by using Himself as a model for them. And according to Luke, Jesus would have told me nine times about His coming death and resurrection.

Now, I ask myself, how likely I would I have been to believe what He said even though I was with Him. I doubt that I would have believed because I didn’t understand about resurrection…and I didn’t want to believe Jesus was going to be killed

Even after Jesus was crucified, people did not think that He was going to be resurrected. The women came to the tomb with spices for His body. They expected Jesus to be in the tomb. The disciples were the very first skeptics of the resurrection. The Bible says that Jesus was not recognized. Have you wondered why? I have, and I came to the conclusion that the people did not expect Jesus to appear in their midst and so in their eyes He didn’t…not until Jesus did something that they recognized for certain.

The couple on the road to Emmaus did not recognize Jesus until the time He broke bread. He was the guest, and yet He was the one who broke the bread which, I think, was contrary to the tradition of that time or this time as well. Normally, the host would break the bread and present it to the guest. But it was when He broke the bread that they recognized Him…and He vanished.

It seems to me that the disciples did not recognize Jesus after His death until He did something that “proved” that it was He. One of the fascinating parts of the gospels to me is that various gospels relate different sightings of Jesus following His crucifixion.

But the skeptics were finally convinced that Jesus truly was raised from the dead…and He ascended into Heaven where He sits at the right hand of God Almighty.

Carol

Bible Breath: It is true! / Lord has risen

Luke 22:31-34

31″Simon, Simon, Satan has asked to sift you[a] as wheat. 32But I have prayed for you, Simon, that your faith may not fail. And when you have turned back, strengthen your brothers.”

33But he replied, “Lord, I am ready to go with you to prison and to death.”

34Jesus answered, “I tell you, Peter, before the rooster crows today, you will deny three times that you know me.”

In this day and age I wonder if we truly believe in Satan. I know we believe in evil, but do we believe in Satan. I think many of us think that is an “old-fashioned” idea. But many people say they believe in angels, and isn’t Satan a fallen angel?

Satan is rarely mentioned in the Old Testament at all. In Job he is referred to as the Accuser. I think there is one other mention in the Old Testament. Have you ever wondered why that is? I have, and I do not know the answer.

But I can tell you that I would jump right out of my shoes if Jesus told me straight to my face that “Satan has asked to sift you like wheat”. But I would also be relieved that Jesus said He would pray for me.

Peter seemed like a bold fellow. We know he was strong. He had to be to work as a fisherman and then to follow Jesus all over the place. He undoubtedly thought he was mentally strong as well. Who… me deny You? You must be kidding. Jesus wasn’t kidding. And Peter did deny Jesus three times. But he also returned to lead the other disciples as “The Rock” as Jesus had foreseen that he would be.

Peter denied Jesus three times. I think most of us have denied Him more than that if not in words then by our actions. It is a tough thing to do to be in a group of non-believers, atheists, agnostics and be able to stand up and say, “I believe that Jesus is my Lord and Savior. He is the Son of God”…and stand your ground no matter what anyone else says to you. Whatever it is they do to you will not be so awful as what Peter and the first Christians faced when they began our journey so many years ago.

Thank God they were steadfast…despite their setbacks and denials.

Carol

Bible Breath: I am with you / One who serves

Luke 21:34-36

34″Be careful, or your hearts will be weighed down with dissipation, drunkenness and the anxieties of life, and that day will close on you unexpectedly like a trap. 35For it will come upon all those who live on the face of the whole earth. 36Be always on the watch, and pray that you may be able to escape all that is about to happen, and that you may be able to stand before the Son of Man.”

One thing about Jesus is that He hits the nail on the head when He says, “Be careful, or your hearts will be weighed down with dissipation, drunkenness and the anxieties of life, and that day will close on you unexpectedly like a trap.”

That is straight-talk to us. And we need to listen to it. We do not know when the end will come…none of us. We don’t know when our individual lives will end. We don’t know when anything else will happen either. Therefore, it seems to be that it would behoove us to get ready for the end right this very minute. And we need to stay in a state of preparedness.

How would you like to die and stand before the “judgment seat” and have nothing to say other than, “I didn’t see it coming.” I don’t want to be in that position. We all know that we will not be perfect, but we can conduct our lives in such a way that we can stand before God…not as a perfect creature, but as a person who is ready to meet His Maker…no matter when that time is.

I wonder what all of us would do if we knew for certain that we would be dead at noon tomorrow? Makes me wonder.

Carol

Bible Breath: Stand up, lift / Your face to God