Thoughts from St. Andrew's Episcopal Church • Birmingham, AL

Wednesday, April 3, 2019

Old Testament: Jeremiah 18:1-11

Psalm 101, 109:1-4 (5-19) 20-30 * 119:121-144 

Epistle: Romans 8:1-11

Gospel: John 6:27-40

Can I Get a Witness?!

Many lessons in the Old and New Testaments, and the reading from John today, make mention of the prophet, Moses — and for good reason. The Moses of the first five books of the Old Testament (The Pentateuch) foretells the coming of the Lord, Jesus the Christ, thousands of years or so before His ministry begins. Yet, the witness of Moses somehow gets lost among the Pharisees by the time that Jesus actually appears in the flesh. He performs miracles, restores life to a dead man, walks on water, heals the sick. Jesus the Superstar.

By the time of Jesus’s ministry not only do we have the witness of Moses and then all the great miracles, but there is the witness of the Old Testament scriptures themselves. These men of the ‘old way’ in John’s gospel want incontrovertible proof that Jesus is who he claims to be. “You search the Scriptures, for in them you think you have eternal life; and these are they which testify of Me.”

These Pharisees were devout men of the Word of God. They were highly intelligent men who knew the Old Testament scriptures like no others. They scrutinized every sentence of scripture; yet they were still strangers to the truth it contained. It is one thing to have the Word in our heads; it is another thing to have it in our hearts.

Jesus identifies the problem in reaching wrong conclusions regarding His identity in verse thirty-six “But I said to you that you have seen me and yet do not believe.” In other words, you are unwilling, hard-headed, and obstinate. Even today, if someone doesn’t believe something, we sometimes think that what they need is more information. But Jesus says the problem is not a lack of information, but an unwillingness to face the truth.

The Jews thought that in their knowledge of Scripture they had eternal life. But they missed Jesus! The point of the entire Bible is to lead us to Jesus. The testimony of the witnesses to Jesus as the Christ, the Son of God, is solid. Jesus spoke these words so that “you may be saved” (John 5:34). Come to Him so that you may have eternal life.

Danny Calloway