God's Word for You (Friday, Feb 26, 2010)
A Daily Devotion by Pastor Tim Smith
John 6:22-24
Jesus, The Bread of Life
22 The next day the crowd that had stayed on the opposite shore of the lake realized that only one boat had been there, and that Jesus had not entered it with his disciples, but that they had gone away alone. 23 Then some boats from Tiberias landed near the place where the people had eaten the bread after the Lord had given thanks. 24 Once the crowd realized that neither Jesus nor his disciples were there, they got into the boats and went to Capernaum in search of Jesus. (NIV)
While the crowds waited for their “bread king” to come down from the mountaintop, it dawned on them that Jesus was gone (although they had noticed that the disciples left without him). The search began—how did he get away? Where was he? Why did he go?
The boats that landed now from Tiberias on the far western shore were a kind of taxi service that offered passage for a small price. The people had probably gone on foot to the hills near Bethsaida to see Jesus, using the bridge of Chammath. Now many of the people from the crowds took to these boats and headed for Capernaum, which is the direction the disciples had gone. Besides finding Jesus, the crowds would also have been heading home for the Passover (verse 4).
As the crowds seek Jesus, we must ask ourselves, Why do we seek him? The sinner who wants Jesus because Jesus erases sins and lets us sin more and more seeks him for worse reasons that these crowds. The sinner who wants to disprove Scripture by finding contradictions in Jesus’ words or motives seeks him for worse reasons still. But if we seek him because we’re sinners, too; if we seek him because there is forgiveness only in him; if we seek him because we desperately need him to be healed, to be whole, to be right with God, then we seek him for the right reason. And if we seek him for that those reasons, then we need to remember and be comforted that he has already sought and found and blessed us. In Jesus we are right with God. In Jesus we are forgiven. In Jesus we stand before God holy, purified, and with the crown of eternal life.
Something Extra:
Psalm 37:30-33
פ (Pe)
30 The mouth of the righteous man utters wisdom,
and his tongue speaks what is just.
31 The law of his God is in his heart;
his feet do not slip. (NIV)
Pe, the seventeenth letter of the Hebrew alphabet, begins the word peh, “mouth.” We talk a lot about staying in God’s word and about remembering God’s word, but how is that done? It’s done with the ears and the eyes and the mouth. Listening to what God has to say begins by getting into church and actually hearing it read and sung and proclaimed from the pulpit. But it also means reading it, a little bit, every day.
A few years after my mom died, I lived with my grandparents for a while. My grandmother Rose kept her Bible in those days in the bathroom. She was sure to spend time there every day, and she always warned me not to move her bookmark. Her example has remained with me: The word of God was in her heart; and her feet did not slip. And like so many men, my grandfather’s faith was at least partly propped up by the faith of his wife. I’m thankful that I will never need to wonder what would have happened to my grandpa’s faith if my grandma hadn’t been there. She was there, meditating on God’s word and putting it into practice in her life. She was a gift to him and to me and to generations of us; a gift made possible by the grace of God.
That’s also why we remain in the word of God; to support the people around us; the people we love the most.
צ (Tsadhe)
32 The wicked lie in wait for the righteous,
seeking their very lives;
33 but the LORD will not leave them in their power
or let them be condemned when brought to trial. (NIV)
The next Hebrew letter is tsadhe which makes the ts-sound in “its.” It begins the word tsopha, “spy, keep watch.” There are two great injustices we need to be aware of. In the Old Testament Law, God made provisions to protect his people against false accusations because “the wicked lie in wait for the righteous.” Besides the Eighth Commandment forbidden false testimony, God also commanded his people to accept testimony only from “two or three witnesses,” so that an evil man could not condemn anyone out of lust or greed.
But there is another injustice; one we should rejoice over. Jesus was unjustly executed for our sins. For my sins. God has never sought revenge for that injustice. He has never commanded me to make up for it. In fact, Jesus did it willingly. There are many miracles in the Bible, but the injustice on Jesus is the one we should thank God for, most of all. It’s what made us right with God. It’s what has given us the crown of eternal life.
In Christ,
Pastor Timothy Smith
Pastor Smith serves St. Paul's Lutheran Church in New Ulm, Minnesota. His wife, Kathryn, attended Chapel from 1987-1990 while studying Secondary Education (Theater and Math) at UW-Madison. Kathryn's father, John Meyer, was also the first man to serve as a Vicar at Chapel.
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