Today’s Reading: John 11:45-53
Hearing God’s Voice for Today:
“Caiaphas, who was high priest that year, said to them, ‘You know nothing at all. Nor do you understand that it is better for you that one man should die for the people, not that the whole nation should perish.’…He prophesied that Jesus would die for the nation, and not for the nation only, but also to gather into one the children of God who are scattered abroad.”
* * * * *
Lazarus had been raised from the dead. The Jewish leaders weren’t happy about this and gathered to contemplate what to do with Jesus. As the people’s zealotry for Jesus surged, the leaders were fearful that Rome would take away their power, control, and authority.
Caiaphas was the high priest. He had been a high priest for a long time and was proud and arrogant.
Eerily, Caiaphas prophesied about Jesus’ work on the cross. He said it was better for one man to die for the sake of an entire nation.
John saw a double entendre in Caiaphas’s unwitting prophecy. It not only looks forward to Jesus’ death for the salvation of Israel, but to others scattered around the world. He anticipated a day when both Jew and Gentile would be gathered together in a place called the church.
The church is a unique family—one never divided by age, gender, color, economics, or social barriers. Jesus tore down the restraining walls that have kept people apart. There is equality, love, peace, and unity among them in his church. He loves it when his church has many different colors and backgrounds in it.
Are you a part of a local church family? You should be. You need to connect yourself to other followers of Jesus who will love, encourage, care for, and pray with you. You need to be able to confess your sins and share your burdens with others. You should make yourself available to help other members of God’s family in these ways as well.
If you remove a piece of charcoal from a fire, it will eventually go out. But when it remains in the fire with other pieces of charcoal, it will glow for a long time.
Likewise, you need others to help your faith remain strong. And you need to help others grow in their faith.
Jesus loves his church. You can’t say you love him and not love that for which he gave his life. That’s like telling a husband who is madly in love with his wife, “I really like you, but I don’t like your wife.” If you truly liked him, you would like his wife too because of his great love for her.
If you truly love Jesus, you must love that which he loves most in the world: his Bride. The church is his new creation. From heaven he came and sought her to be his holy Bride. And with his blood he purchased her. And for her life he died.4
Jesus is the head of the church and lives in her to serve this dying world. His Bride is a church triumphant, one that will live with him forever.
Jesus loves his church, his Bride.
Make sure you’re involved in one of his local families.
[from “Hearing the Voice of God” by Pastor David Chadwick, Moments of Hope Church, Charlotte, NC]