One of the things that needs to be understood in this passage
is the Jewish understanding of
Satan. He is one of
the angels and his job is to tempt and test human beings. That's right, they understand that his work,
given by God, is to test us. He is doing
his job here. Jesus sees this entirely
differently as do James and Peter. To a
Jewish reader there is nothing surprising about satan being here with the other
angels before the Lord. We understand
this differently in light of Jesus saying, "I saw satan fall like
lightning from the sky" when the disciples proclaimed the kingdom in word
and deed on their first mission trip. We
will read this book in light of that statement, that satan is a fallen angel
who fancies himself as a rival to God.
Nonetheless, the Lord uses satan's disgust for those who, unlike him,
are created in God's image, to accomplish His purposes in the life of this
righteous man, Job. Job loses his entire
family, all his children, all his wealth in one day and yet at the end he is
nonplussed, charging God with nothing wrong nor sinning in his reaction to
these incredible disasters.
The disciples see a miraculous thing in Jesus walking on the
water, the people simply know that Jesus has walked to the other side of the
lake. They follow after Him and seek Him
but, as with the first time they went to Jerusalem, in John 2 and 3, Jesus
knows what is in their hearts and refuses to give them what they seek. In our own lives as we follow Him we are
called higher and further in faith. When
we first come to Him we receive certain consolations in answer to prayer that
bids us come and follow and yet those are not continually given to us in our
walk. Sometimes we have to grow and seek
Him aright and that means denial of our lower order requests. Here, He says that the people are following
for the wrong reason, food, rather than the right reason, for the food that
endures to eternal life. They saw enough
yesterday to seek that food, were ready to make Him king for that reason, today
is a new day, a day to seek to know more.
The eunuch believes he needs a rabbi, someone to teach him
the meaning of the passage he is reading from Isaiah 53. He is unsure whether the prophet is referring
to himself of another and the Lord provides a teacher who can share the meaning
and the truth with certainty. Not only
is Isaiah speaking of another, Philip knows exactly who is referred to in the
passage, Jesus. The eunuch believes the
message and is baptized and yet Philip is whisked away and the man sees him no
more. He no longer needs the rabbi to
explain, he now has the Spirit of the Lord and the truth, the key to
understanding the rest of the word. He
is only three chapters away from rejoicing that another prophecy has been
fulfilled in him, “To the eunuchs who keep my Sabbaths, who choose the
things that please me and hold fast my covenant, I will give in my house and
within my walls a monument and a name better than sons and daughters; I
will give them an everlasting name that shall not be cut off." What he has lost in becoming a eunuch has
been more than restored in this moment.
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