Conformity to Religious Rites

John 2:13-25

Jesus next travels to Jerusalem to celebrate the Passover. We know from the Gospel of Luke (2:41-52) that He had made this trip since He was a child. The temple had a large courtyard surrounding it and in that area people were buying and selling to those who had travelled to the event and were taking advantage of them. Jesus was highly offended because He knew their heart.

The real offence, I think, was that many had maintained the ritual but were neglecting the purpose. I remember when we visited the wailing wall in Jerusalem I was disturbed about the evidence of ritual without true meaning. It is just as easy for us to maintain rituals we have been taught without really worshipping our Savior. A couple of areas come to my mind; the first is the practice of communion.

Paul shares with us in I Corinthians 11 the fact that we should practice communion and the method of doing that. We do that to be reminded of the price our Savior paid for our Salvation. He sacrificed his body and blood so that we may have eternal life. We are told that we should take part in communion on a regular basis. Some churches do it as often as weekly. Sadly, it has become a ritual for many and we really don’t reflect on and appreciate its true meaning. We are cautioned in I Cor. 11 to examine ourselves to make sure we are without unconfessed sin in our lives before we take communion.

I’m afraid many have much the same attitude in the area of giving. We are taught from the Bible that we are only stewards of God’s resources and we should freely give to the Lord’s work as He leads us. That applies to giving not only our financial resources, but our time and our abilities as well. So often we think we satisfy this requirement by putting a few dollars in the offering plate, or even tithing. The Bible teaches that God owns it all and we are responsible to Him in the way we handle these resources. We should hold everything with an open hand and let him take what He wants. We are as responsible to Him for the dollars we spend and save as the dollars we give. We are as responsible for the time we waste as well as the time we use wisely.

We need to be careful about establishing rituals in our lives. We need to make sure our actions do not become meaningless, but that our attitudes are correct.

Jesus’ First Miracle

John 2:1-11

In this passage we have recorded the first of 35 miracles preformed by Jesus that are preserved in the Bible for us to learn from. It is recorded only in the book of John and occurs at a wedding feast which in that culture often lasted for seven days.

One of the purposes of this miracle was to help Jesus’ mother further understand her Son’s mission. I don’t think she expected a miracle from Him when she told Him they were out of wine although she knew He was a special child from God. As far as we know, she had not previously witnessed any miracle by Him. Jesus was now around 30 years old. His answer to His mother in most translations may seem disrespectful but it certainly wasn’t in that culture. It did remind her that He truly was the Son of God. You can see that she was not offended by the statement she made to the servants” “Whatever He says to you, do it.”

Another important lesson is to consider that the provision of Jesus is always adequate, and often in abundance. Each of the six stone water-pots would hold 20 to 30 gallons of water; they were very big. Therefore, Jesus provided 120 to 180 gallons of wine for the party. Not only was there plenty, it was also of high quality. Notice that the headwaiter commented on how good it was. We can always be assured, as Christians, that Jesus provision will be adequate. It may not be what we want but it will always be what is best for us.

This miracle, as well as the others, witnessed to the fact the Jesus was the Christ. We see from the quote in verse eleven that “His disciples believed in Him”. But I think the deepest meaning related to the life of believers and the joy of the wedding feast. It provided clear evidence that being a Christian does not rob life of its happiness. We can actually enjoy life more than others because of the joy that we have. Our perspective is different though because of our relation-ship to Him. Our loyalty to Christ is not inconsistent with enjoying life.

I pray that you might consistently recognize and be satisfied with Jesus’ provision in your life and that your joy may be full.

Peter

John 1:41-42

“He (Andrew) found first his brother Simon, and said to him, “We have found the Messiah” (which translated means Christ. He brought him to Jesus. Jesus looked at him, and said, “You are Simon the Son of john; you shall be called Cephas” (which translated means Peter).

We are now given a brief introduction of Peter and it is good to reflect on this great man of God. I’m impressed that as our Lord was choosing His disciples he so often chose the common men to be the leaders of His church. Peter, for instance, was an uneducated fisherman. As we study the disciples it is evident that Jesus knew their heart much better than we. While man looks mostly on the appearance of others, Jesus knows our hearts. He immediately identified Peter as the man upon whom He would build his church. Notice Jesus response to Peter’s confession of faith in Matthew 16:18: “…you are Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church; and the gates of Hades shall not overpower it. I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven….”

We know from Luke’s gospel that life was not a bed of roses for Peter. In Luke 22:31-34 we learn of Peter’s denial of Christ in a time of crisis. Even after much personal mentoring by Jesus, Peter still failed. That points up to us the fact that we must be constantly on guard against Satan’s devices. Neither are we able to depend on the strength of our own personality to bring us through difficult times. We must continue to strengthen our spiritual lives and our dependency on Him.

We get another glimpse of Peter at the end of John’s gospel (John 21:15-17). There Jesus asks Simon three times whether he loves Him. I believe this passage stresses the love motivation in our lives. The success of our lives as Christians is dependent on our consistent love for Him.

Andrew, The First Convert

John 1:35-42

This passage reveals the beginning of Jesus public ministry. Notice that John saw Jesus and identified Him as “The Lamb of God!” Two of John’s disciples heard Jesus speak and followed Him. One of those men was Andrew and he obviously quickly recognized Jesus and believed Him. He immediately went to find his brother, Peter, and exclaimed to him “We have found the Messiah.” I take it from this phrase that the subject of the Messiah had probably come up in earlier conversation.

One of the things we learn about Andrew was that he was not bashful in his faith. It doesn’t appear that he was a great preacher that ministered to thousands, but he faithfully shared his faith with those he knew. In this instance, he introduces his brother Peter to the Lord. We are all familiar with the impact Peter had through his testimony. He became one of Jesus closest friends; one He chose to disciple in depth.

Andrew’s personality was probably like many of us. He apparently was not a gifted orator like Paul, or a public person like Peter, but he was a strong believer and shared his faith with his friends. We all have that responsibility. We can most effectively share our faith by telling others what Jesus means to us and how our relationship with Him impacts our lives. We can also live our lives in a way that reflects our faith in Him. In fact there is an old cliché, that our lives speak so loud, others may not hear our words. Our lives need to be consistent with our verbal testimony.

Notice how simple Andrew’s testimony was to Peter. He didn’t quote a lot of Scripture nor did he go into great depths of explanation; he simply said “We have found the Messiah” and he brought Peter to Him. Our testimony may be as simple as inviting others to church with us or to hear someone else share their testimony. We don’t have to be a theologically trained student to be an effective witness.

I pray that you will be faithful in sharing your faith with others.