It is interesting to me how direct Jesus is with these guys.  I mean, He is telling them repeatedly what the deal is, and they just don’t understand...and largely because they don’t WANT to understand.  Jesus is actually giving them the ‘gospel’ message right here in this text.  This is a passage that I just know John is writing about and reflecting on and thinking, “Oh, NOW I get it...NOW I understand what He was saying!”.  John got it (at least in hindsight), but many of these Pharisees didn’t.  But one thing I picked up on this morning was the last sentence of this passage: “As he was saying these things, many believed in him.”

Jesus is here talking to a group who has been verbally abusing Him, has maybe had a little physical abuse dealt to Him, and that He knows will ultimately be responsible for His unthinkable torture and death.  He is continuing to go back to them and to try to reach those that are open to His message.  There may have been just a few in this group that even had a shot at ‘receiving’ what He was teaching and saying, but He went anyways.  He was resolute in His faith and in His mission and it didn’t matter how many times someone gave up on Him or pushed back, He kept coming.

I think that’s an encouraging word this morning...this reminder that we should be resolute, that we should persist, and that if only one person were to be saved by our faith, that would be a victory for God.  That could be my mission...I don’t know.  So that’s my challenge today...to illustrate my faith in a clear and visible way to someone, not as an ‘in your face’ type of a thing, but a subtle and obvious act of faith that clearly discloses what I believe in a manner that is also inviting to another.  I don’t know what that looks like, but that’s my calling today.