Daily Liturgy and Scripture

What would you do with the knowledge that your closest friends didn't really believe in you? Jesus had that knowledge, and his response was to continue challenging those who did believe. While that's not a great strategy if you're putting together a party, it's a pretty good one if you're building the Church.

Jesus feeding the people through a miracle and the manna that fed God's people in their flight from Egypt seem like a pretty obvious connection: in both cases, the people get their bellies full. But in Jesus's reckoning, the same negative outcome also happened: instead of worship and awe for the provider, the people only wanted more and more to fill their own bellies.

Do you get the sense that this whole passage is Jesus teaching his disciples? First by sitting, then by testing them with the loaves and fish, then by walking on the water? The ministry of Jesus lasted only about three years, and this may have been the pivotal point where they really started to understand who he was and what the Kingdom made by him looked like.

"You study the Scriptures diligently because you think that in them you have eternal life. These are the very Scriptures that testify about me, yet you refuse to come to me to have life." Keeping in mind that Jesus was arriving on the scene at a time when the Law was the absolute, it was something to say, "that points to me, here I am." Our task is the same: Jesus is the way, Scripture is an arrow pointing to him.

It's interesting that the very accusation made by the religious leaders about work on the Sabbath is turned on its head by Jesus. The work he has come to do is the work of wholeness, and this is what he gives the man by the pool. Where the Law gave restrictions to keep people from sinning, Jesus gives fullness of life.

Jesus seems... maybe a little irritated?... that people need a sign in order to believe. He later comng mends Peter for not seeing but still believing. Nonetheless, he performs the wonders they ask for. Perhaps because their need for wholeness was part of their belief.

The new Kingdom, being laid out by its king, for the first time. This is what is happening in the conversation with Jesus and the woman at Jacob's well. It seems almost playful, and that's a notable change from the heavy weight of the Law.

John is yielding his ministry to Jesus, as he has always understood he will do. This is a part of the model of the new Kingdom, for though ministry may be given to some, all still point to the work of the Messiah.

Nehemiah's choice to come see Jesus at night might look sneaky, but it was a mark of respect. Open debate was common among Jewish teachers, but he seemed to want to figure out what Jesus was all about. Jesus gave him what he was looking for: a glimpse into how God was fulfilling the promise to the Jews and expanding the Kingdom.

Flipping over tables wasn't a choice Jesus made again, but this time it was for good reason. The holiness of God was being treated with little regard, and so he created a disturbance. In a whirl of feathers and fur, he cleared out the place where Gentiles were permitted to be in the temple structure, perhaps showing a future where Gentiles could truly be close to God.