Jesus The Light Of The World

John 8:1-12

Jesus the Light of the World

1 ¶ But Jesus went to the Mount of Olives.

2 ¶ Now early in the morning He came again into the temple, and all the people came to Him; and He sat down and taught them.

3 Then the scribes and Pharisees brought to Him a woman caught in adultery. And when they had set her in the midst,

4 they said to Him, “Teacher, this woman was caught in adultery, in the very act.

5 “Now Moses, in the law, commanded us that such should be stoned. But what do You say?”

6 This they said, testing Him, that they might have something of which to accuse Him. But Jesus stooped down and wrote on the ground with His finger, as though He did not hear.

7 ¶ So when they continued asking Him, He raised Himself up and said to them, “He who is without sin among you, let him throw a stone at her first.”

8 And again He stooped down and wrote on the ground.

9 Then those who heard it, being convicted by their conscience, went out one by one, beginning with the oldest even to the last. And Jesus was left alone, and the woman standing in the midst.

10 When Jesus had raised Himself up and saw no one but the woman, He said to her, “Woman, where are those accusers of yours? Has no one condemned you?”

11 ¶ She said, “No one, Lord.” And Jesus said to her, “Neither do I condemn you anymore.”

12 ¶ Then Jesus spoke to them again, saying, “I am the light of the world. He who follows Me shall not walk in darkness, but have the light of life.”

——

There is much debate as to whether this passage from John 7:3-8:11 is part of John’s original text and as the argument continues, I choose to look at it as always, “What is it telling us about Jesus, about His revealing the heart of God”?

It is a very revealing story about not only the heart of Jesus, but the Pharisees and Jewish rulers as well. 

Jesus goes to the Mt. Of Olives to sleep and then  next goes to the temple to teach and he drew a crowd of people hungry for the Truth. While they are looking to learn from Jesus, the Jewish rulers are looking for how to trip Him up, so in the temple, a holy place, where Jesus is preaching about holy Truths, the Pharisees and rulers bring a naked, shamed and horrified woman into where He is teaching and throw her before Him and share she was caught in the very act of adultery. 

No matter that it takes two to tango and the man who was also caught is conveniently missing from the shameful scene, here sits this woman, more terrified, as the penalty for this is stoning to death. Shamed, naked, humiliated and broken, this woman sat there in front of all those people waiting to feel the stones hit. They remind Jesus what the law said, but Jesus bent down and began drawing in the dirt,

David Guzik comments on Jesus’ stooping down:

Stooped down is a low posture, identifying with the humiliation of the woman. Jesus did what He could to identify with, care for, and ease the embarrassment of this woman. One may say this story illustrates the great problem: how can God show love and grace to the sinner without being unjust, without breaking His own law? He does it by first identifying with the sinner in their low condition. 

The rulers repeated the question about what should be done with the lady and finally Jesus said, “Let he who is without sin cast the first stone”. 

He then continued writing on the ground. As the people thought of their sin, one by one they dropped the stones and left until it was only Jesus and the woman left in the temple area. 

Jesus looks up from where He is writing and sees that everyone has left, aware of their own sins and said to the woman, “Woman, where are those accusers of yours? Has no one condemned you?” 

She told them no one was left and Jesus said, “Neither do I condemn you anymore.” Interesting to note that Jesus didn’t say, “I do not condemn you.", but said, “I don’t condemn you anymore”.  Anymore denotes that He did judge her, but He didn’t pick up stones to kill her, but forgave her.

The last verse here had to be said another time because it was said to “them” and there was just the two of them but it is one of my favorite verses, “I am the light of the world. He who follows Me shall not walk in darkness, but have the light of life.” 

What a great promise for me to cling to in these dark and dreary days when it feels like darkness is winning, but Truth is, He wins. His children win and days that are dark and dreary are passing and are sometimes just a trap to trip us up and lead us to feel as if we have no hope, but looking to the True Light of the world will bring freedom.

It is why He tells us to seek Him daily, reading in the Word, prayer, etc. because He knows and tells us many times that in this world there will be troubles, but to have faith, He has overcome them all for us. 

It is a war my brother and sister, a war for souls and the more we can put the world aside and just focus on Him, the more the Light will chase away the darkness. 

The Parable of the Mustard Seed (Matt. 13:31, 32; Mark 4:30-32 )

Luke 13:18-21

18 ¶ Then He said, “What is the kingdom of God like? And to what shall I compare it? 19 “It is like a mustard seed, which a man took and put in his garden; and it grew and became a large tree, and the birds of the air nested in its branches.”

The Parable of the Leaven (Matt. 13:33 ) 20 ¶ And again He said, “To what shall I liken the kingdom of God? 21 “It is like leaven, which a woman took and hid in three measures of meal till it was all leavened.” ——— In these two parables Jesus attempts to help the disciples understand what it means for something to start small as a seed, like a mustard seed, which is so small you cannot really see one seed, it needs to have multitudes to see them, and have it grow so huge, like the mustard tree. In this He is answering the question asked of him, “What is the kingdom of God like and what can I compare it to in order to understand it better.” This illustration is intended for us to see that when we first learn about the Lord, like when we are young, we only can see small portions of the Lord.

We cannot grasp all the fullness of who He is until over time and with much learning, fellowship and growing, praying and spending daily time with Him in His Word, slowly grows us in understanding of the Lord and His kingdom.

It really is a subject that will never be completely grasped, this side of heaven, but one day you look up and realize 28 years have gone by and you really have grown in the past 28 years and you really do know more than you did before and just see the blessing in that! The next illustration was Jesus’s way of saying, “I see blank looks on faces, let me explain it another way to help you understand it better.

So think of a lady who is baking bread and while preparing the dough the lady put in 3 measures of meal or yeast and the whole batch was soon leavened or given air or lift so the bread was lighter and less dense. So as the kingdom of heaven is spread through our lives like yeast and our lives expand with the kingdom of heaven on earth. The more you understand of the kingdom of heaven, which is eternal in focus and not earthly means, the more you become kingdom followers and not following the things of the world. Kingdom of heaven life is not built on a rushed church visit and hurried prayers before you eat at least very well, it will not expand at any exponential rate if the focus is growing your stock portfolio, catching the cutest guy or gal, living in the best home and all that the world says that is what we need. Not that those cannot be had, but where is the focus - eternity or retirement. This is just a message from Jesus to the disciples to the multitudes, to the Christians to us. The kingdom of heaven is desiring to be known and grasped by us and when we let it, it can just expand into every area of our life. Praise God.

CALL HIM

By Lidia Hu

Call Him.

He who made the earth

Call him

He who formed the earth

Call him

He who established the earth

Call on the Lord

For he makes everything new

Call on the Lord

For he repairs everything broken

Call upon the Lord

For he establishes everything in place

Call him

He who makes newness 

Call him

He who remolds brokenness

Call him

He who sets everything in place

He will answer you

And tell you great things

Even unsearchable things

Things you do not know

By the way, his name is Jesus

He answers all who call on him

Go ahead, give him a call

You’ll be in awe of his answer

“This is what the LORD says, he who made the earth, the LORD who formed it and established it—the LORD is his name:‘Call to me and I will answer you and tell you great and unsearchable things you do not know.’ Jeremiah 33:2-3

Picture used by permission by owner Lidia Hu. 

LET’S PRAISE THE LORD’S GLORIOUS NAME

Picture and post by Lidia Hu

“Praise be to you, Lord,

    the God of our father Israel,

    from everlasting to everlasting.

Yours, Lord, is the greatness and the power

    and the glory and the majesty and the splendor,

    for everything in heaven and earth is yours.

Yours, Lord, is the kingdom;

    you are exalted as head over all.

Wealth and honor come from you;

    you are the ruler of all things.

In your hands are strength and power

    to exalt and give strength to all.

Now, our God, we give you thanks,

    and praise your glorious name.”

I Chronicles 29: 10-13

~ ~ ~

With and in

Every sunset

I see you,

My Lord

With and in

Every sunset

I sense you

My God

With and in

Every sunset

I feel a pull

Towards you

With and in

Every sunset

You send

Amazement

With and in

Every sunset

You reveal

Grandeur 

With and in

Every sunset

You provide

Hope

With and in

Every sunset

You reveal

Your heart

Like a rainbow

Sunsets reflect

Promises for

Our tomorrows

~ ~ ~

Lord,

When my

Eyes fail me

May my lips 

Praise you

When I feel

Your sunset

 

When my lips

Can’t utter

The words

May my

Face reveal

My gratitude

If my face

Can’t express

My emotions

May my tears

Be droplets

Of pure joy

For my heart

Will remember 

The sunsets

You allowed

My eyes

To see

Brenda Connors Devotionals With My Blue Thread Sisters

Devo. 4/23/22

Luke 5:12-26 

Jesus Cleanses a Leper

 (Matt. 8:1-4; Mark 1:40-45 )

12 ¶ And it happened when He was in a certain city, that behold, a man who was full of leprosy saw Jesus; and he fell on his face and implored Him, saying, “Lord, if You are willing, You can make me clean.”

13 ¶ Then He put out His hand and touched him, saying, “I am willing; be cleansed.” Immediately the leprosy left him.

14 And He charged him to tell no one, “But go and show yourself to the priest, and make an offering for your cleansing, as a testimony to them, just as Moses commanded.”

15 ¶ However, the report went around concerning Him all the more; and great multitudes came together to hear, and to be healed by Him of their infirmities.

16 So He Himself often withdrew into the wilderness and prayed.

——

I wondered after processing through the Gospels, Matthew, Mark, Luke and John, that it would be difficult to find something new in a story I have already heard two “other times, but different writers, different perspectives and it is so interesting. I read a book by these three ladies who I know and love one of them, Linda Reinhardt, so incredibly much, and they told the same story of three sisters from each of their perspectives. Such a beautiful story, it is called Like a Bird Wanders and the other two authors are Sharon Bernard Smith and Rosanne Croft. This is how I read the same story three times and get so much out of each telling.

Jesus has just called the first 4 of His 12 disciples and I put myself into the story as new disciples, following Him with a different mindset. Before they followed because they loved to hear Him teach, but now they are following Him because He told them He would make them fishers of men. So this first encounter is like going to discipleship school on the fly. No ink or scrolls to learn from, just an on the job training. Jesus goes from filling their boats with fish to healing a leper. It’s a kind of quick let Him learn as you go job and boy did they jump right into the deep water.

So as Jesus was in a certain city, the Word does not state which one, a man with leprosy fell down on his face and cried out for Jesus to make him clean. Leprosy was a horrible disease that was highly contagious and not able to be cured. . A person who had this disease was considered unclean and they had to cry out “Unclean, unclean” whenever people were around so they could run from him/her. Kind of like the last 2 years with the pandemic, avoiding people became the norm. It was a death sentence and it made this man desperate for help. He said to Jesus, “Lord if you are willing, you can make me clean”.  This man had such desperation, but such faith. He didn’t ask if Jesus could heal him, he asked if He would be willing to. Jesus said, “I am willing”, and he touched the man and the leprosy left immediately. We all know from the Word so far Jesus could heal someone with a look, when he isn’t even with the person, and now, despite the absolute taboo for anyone touching a leper, Jesus touched this man. Such love, it might have been years since anyone showed him any love and Jesus touched him. 

Jesus told the man to go to the priest and let him see that you are healed and then make an offering. Basically following the plans laid out in the Old Testament. He told him to tell no one, but I am not sure I could have done that because once you are in a putrid state where you are literally falling apart and then you are free from the incurable disease you believed was going to kill you so slowly and painfully. I am not sure that I wouldn’t just shout it from the rooftops as this man did. It isn’t that Jesus didn’t want anyone to know, He just knew that the crowds would grow exponentially after hearing this. When word got out of this healing, it became a mob scene with various infirmities brought to Jesus. When He became overwhelmed, He went to a deserted place to pray and find His strength.

It doesn’t have to be a disease that makes one feel lonely and unloved, with the pandemic there are so many people who are desperate for human contact. He is willing to put His arms around you and me and touch our souls to remind us we do matter to Him. 

Randy’s appointment was very good, there is no more cancer than the prostate. ‘,

Now we meet with the oncologist to determine the best course of action. 

It is funny how sometimes one of you will comment that it is awesome how these message are and I laugh remembering falling asleep and my hands still are on the iPad keyboard and awake to find all kinds of things I have written in my sleep. Because He can even bless me and others with these words despite me!

Brenda Connors Devotionals With My Blue Thread Sisters

 Devo.. 4/21/22

Luke 4:38-44

Peter’s Mother-in-Law Healed

(Matt. 8:14, 15; Mark 1:29-31 )

38 ¶ Now He arose from the synagogue and entered Simon’s house. But Simon’s wife’s mother was sick with a high fever, and they made request of Him concerning her.

39 So He stood over her and rebuked the fever, and it left her. And immediately she arose and served them.

Many Healed After Sabbath Sunset

(Matt. 8:16, 17; Mark 1:32-34 )

40 ¶ When the sun was setting, all those who had any that were sick with various diseases brought them to Him; and He laid His hands on every one of them and healed them.

41 And demons also came out of many, crying out and saying, “You are the Christ, the Son of God!” And He, rebuking them, did not allow them to speak, for they knew that He was the Christ.

Jesus Preaches in Galilee

(Matt. 4:23-25; Mark 1:35-39 )

42 ¶ Now when it was day, He departed and went into a deserted place. And the crowd sought Him and came to Him, and tried to keep Him from leaving them;

43 but He said to them, “I must preach the kingdom of God to the other cities also, because for this purpose I have been sent.”

44 And He was preaching in the synagogues of Galilee.

——

No where in any of the other Gospels, Matthew Mark or John did Jesus heal Simon’s (Peter’s) mother-in-law before we knew who Simon was.  

It appears the only reason I can come up with this switch is that Luke was showing where Jesus was fulfilling that verse in Isaiah. He was using illustrations of the places that showed this, like the man filled with the demons.

Jesus seemed to be eager to get to it, after the encounter with the demon being thrown out of a man in the synagogue, He goes outside and right to Simon”s mother- in-law’s house where He found her very Ill with a high fever. 

Her family asked that she be made well so Jesus rebuked the fever and it left her. She got up and made them all something to eat. That was amazing because usually when someone gets well it still lingers and strength comes back slowly, but Jesus healed her of the fever and gave her strength to rise up and serve them.

Then when word got around town that people had been healed from their various ailments a crowd of people gathered at sunset, which was the end of the Sabbath, with people who were in need of healing. He laid His hands on them all and they were all healed. Demons also came out of many people and as they began to proclaim who He was, He shushed them and did not allow them to speak.

Wonderful start to His ministry. It is important to not take away from this that Jesus finds demons in every sick person or that healing people physically is all He does. He meets people right where they are in His ministry. 

When the sun came up Jesus went to a deserted place to pray and be alone with the Lord. The crowds found Him and tried to stop Him from leaving, but He told them He had to preach the kingdom of God to everyone, which, He is pointing out, His main purpose in coming

Jesus knows there are people hurting, sad, lonely, in many ways and He knows that the most important thing is for people to know the healing power of Jesus in their heart. 

I have had many times when I have done things for others, big things like buy a car for them, give them money for a dance, give them jobs, but when it came time to pay back the loan, they went away, laughed in my face or ignored the fact they owed me. 

Giving people things doesn’t make them love anyone, especially if you stop giving to them. It is a hard lesson to learn for this not so proud people pleaser. People do not need things, but they do need to know Jesus. 

This is why it was Jesus’ ministry because a lot of the multitudes that followed Jesus for 3 years were in the crowd crying “Crucify Him, crucify Him, give us Barabbas, crucify Jesus”. Why.? Because they wanted Him to save them from Roman rule and when he was arrested they gave up hope in what they wanted from Him and missed what He came for really. 

I pray no one I know will miss out because of something they felt Jesus slighted them on. He is really all we need, it just takes changing our perspective to see it. Turn your eyes…

Brenda Connors Devotionals With My Blue Thread Sisters

Mark 11:25-26 (Matt. 6:14, 15 )

Forgiveness and Prayer

25 ¶ “And whenever you stand praying, if you have anything against anyone, forgive him, that your Father in heaven may also forgive you your trespasses.

26 “But if you do not forgive, neither will your Father in heaven forgive your trespasses.”

——I can tell you that distracted people don’t do well. A distracted driver can miss a car in front of them stopping and slam into them, go into the ditch, or die in a fiery crash. Once I was in Mexico and my friend from Mexico about halfway into the mission trip told me she was praying for me because I seemed “off”. I realized it was true I was interested in this guy and it had me distracted. Once she told me that I let go of the “guy troubles” and poured myself into the mission.

This is why Jesus takes a moment to share the two verses about forgiveness and prayer. Not processing forgiveness to a person is an anchor on our feet pulling us under. It is in no way resolving the situation, but taking ourselves out of the fight. I have heard it said so many times, forgiveness is what we do for ourselves, in order to clear our heart and mind from being distracted. David Guzik said it so nicely:

The forgiven heart will forgive others. If we have hard, unforgiving hearts, it calls into question if we have ever received or appreciated the forgiveness God offers us.

I know we hang onto things because we think it is our right. We have been wronged and we need to let the world know. With a rallying cry we gain others to walk this anger road with us. It feels redeeming to have others agree with you, but it is just making the stink more rank.

 Allowing ourselves to forgive this person instead of putting a hit squad together is really the only way to freedom. I have talked about anger letters and forgiveness letters, where you pour out your anger onto paper or on the computer. After it is all out on the table, you write a forgiveness letter. One of the most powerful tools there is for helping ourselves process through to forgiveness.

It really is true that this unforgiveness can seep into every part of our lives and is like drinking a lard smoothie. It is like a hot potato, get rid of it before it burns you.