As the waters parted at the Red Sea to allow the Israelites
to leave Egypt, so now they leave the wilderness behind them and enter the
Promised Land through the parting of the waters of the Jordan. At the Red Sea they waited until the waters
were parted then passed through, as they enter the Land, they need to step out
in faith and then God will act in accord with their faith. They have had a failure of faith that kept
them from entering the Land for forty years now they need to move out in faith
in order to receive the promise. As they
arrive they take a stone for every tribe from the river and build a monument to
God on this side of the Jordan. They
have a place to remember all the Lord has done for them in bringing them this
far and it is a boundary marker for the Land.
No one can believe that the blind man is healed. No one actually believes this can happen, it
goes against science and experience so they have a debate about whether this is
the man or simply someone who looks like the man born blind. There is high humor in John’s account of this
sixth sign, but only because Jesus has done something even more remarkable than
anything ever seen. The disciples first
reaction to the man is to believe that sin must have caused his situation. How common an idea is it that when trouble
comes there must be a root cause of sin in someone’s life closely related to
the situation? Sin is the root cause but
the world is steeped in sin and all difficulty is a result of sin. That doesn’t mean we can never find a
connection between sin and trouble, just not always. Finally, Jesus confronts the man and asks if
he believes in the Son of Man. The
response is straightforward, “Who is he that I may believe in him?” What a glorious response he receives to that
question, “You have SEEN HIM and it is He who is speaking to you.” Surely there was a wry smile on Jesus’ face
in that first clause about seeing.
How much talk in our lives and the lives of the world
revolves around exactly the things Paul condemns here? Ouch.
There is a great challenge laid down by Paul here to the Ephesian church
and to us, to clean up our minds and language, to have our minds renewed so
that this is not our focus. He says
conversation among believers is characterized by “addressing one another in
psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody to the Lord
with your heart, giving thanks always and for everything to God the Father in
the name of our Lord Jesus Christ,” If
we raised the level of discourse among ourselves we might see that the world
would take notice. Are they seeing God
in us and in our fellowship? We are
called to step out in faith but also to continue to walk in that faith in order
that we might reach the Land of the promise.
Hail the heav’nly
Prince of Peace!
Hail the Sun of Righteousness!
Light and life to all He brings,
Ris’n with healing in His wings.
Mild He lays His glory by,
Born that man no more may die.
Born to raise the sons of earth,
Born to give them second birth.
Hail the Sun of Righteousness!
Light and life to all He brings,
Ris’n with healing in His wings.
Mild He lays His glory by,
Born that man no more may die.
Born to raise the sons of earth,
Born to give them second birth.
Hark! the herald
angels sing,
“Glory to the newborn King!”
“Glory to the newborn King!”
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