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From the Pulpit

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7 After this, Jesus went around in Galilee. He did not want to go about in Judea because the Jewish leaders there were looking for a way to kill him. 2 But when the Jewish Festival of Tabernacles was near, 3 Jesus’ brothers said to him, “Leave Galilee and go to Judea, so that your disciples there may see the works you do. 4 No one who wants to become a public figure acts in secret. Since you are doing these things, show yourself to the world.” 5 For even his own brothers did not believe in him.

1. “After this, Jesus went around in Galilee…”

1. 1. Jerusalem was an urban, high-population density area, but Galilee was a rural region.  The tendrils of the Jewish leaders were much less likely to strike at Jesus while he was in this peripheral area.

   2. Jesus didn’t go to this region out of cowardice.  To the contrary, he knew he was headed towards the cross, but it wasn’t time for that yet.  Jesus knew that God’s appointed timing (referred to as kairos in Greek) didn’t always follow the first given opportunity in linear, human time (chronos in Greek).  This is a strategic and obedient waiting, not a fearful retreat.

   3. “He withdrew too now to Galilee, because the hour of His passion was not yet come; and He thought it useless to stay in the midst of His enemies, when the effect would only have been to irritate them the more.” -Theophylact, Explanation on the Gospel of John, Ch. 7.

2. “…the Jewish Festival of Tabernacles was near…”
   1. The Festival of Tabernacles, known in Hebrew as Sukkot, was one of the three great festivals where Jewish men were commanded to make a pilgrimage to Jerusalem. There are several important aspects to this festival:
      1. Harvest Celebration– It was a joyous harvest festival, occurring after the crops had been gathered. This timing meant people had the resources and the time to make the pilgrimage.

      2. Historical Commemoration– The festival commemorated the 40 years the Israelites spent wandering in the wilderness after the Exodus from Egypt. During this time, they were sustained directly by God’s provision, such as manna from heaven.

      3. Ritual Practices– To remember that time of wandering and reliance on God, participants would build and dwell in temporary booths (sukkot) for the duration of the festival. This act of “camping” was a tangible reminder of God’s faithfulness despite their disloyalty.

      4. These themes all give a symbolic backdrop as Jesus, the ultimate fulfillment of God’s presence and provision, has come.

   2. “At the present time… we acknowledge that we are journeying in the wilderness… What is it to be in the wilderness? In the desert waste. Why in the desert waste? Because in this world, we thirst in a way that no water could quench. But yet, let us still thirst that we may be filled. For, “Blessed are they that hunger and thirst after righteousness, for they shall be filled,” (Matthew 5:6). And our thirst is quenched from the rock in the wilderness: for the Rock was Christ, and it was smitten with a rod that the water might flow.” -Augustine, Tractate 28, 9.

3. Jesus’s Family and Siblings
   1. John 7:3-5 shows Jesus had brothers who did not believe in him during his ministry. His most prominent brother was James, later author of the Epistle of James in the Bible.
   2. Protestants and Catholics read this section very differently.  Protestants say that Jesus had brothers, whereas Catholics say that they were only Jesus’s cousins.
      1. The Catholic Interpretation 
         1. Doctrinally, Catholics believe in the perpetual virginity of Mary.
         2. This doctrine was formed in the late-second to early-third century, partially to defend the virgin birth from people who insisted that Mary probably had relations with Joseph or other men to have Jesus.

         3. Some early Christian myths dating from the same timeframe assert that Joseph married Mary at God’s request specifically to defend her and take care of her.  He was much older than her and never actually consummated their marriage.

         4. Note that this interpretation evolved to counter the claims of non-Christians against the Bible, but it goes beyond the Bible’s claims to defend the Bible.

      2. Protestant Interpretation
         1. The Greek word used in this instance is adelphoi (ἀδελφοί ), literally “brothers.” Etymologically, the word comes from a (together with) and delphys (womb) to create a word that would literally be something like, “from the same womb.”

         2. While adelphoi can be metaphorical (Paul uses it in this sense throughout his epistles), the context here doesn’t fit a metaphor; these “brothers” taunt and doubt Jesus.  They certainly aren’t acting like comrades in any sense of the word.
         3. Another Greek word, anepsios (ἀνεψιός), specifically means “cousin.” It isn’t an uncommon word.  It appears in Colossians 4:10 (“Mark, the cousin of Barnabas”), in the Septuagint (Numbers 36:11), and in Josephus’s histories. If these men were Jesus’s cousins, John would have used that word to describe them.

      3. Theological Significance
         1. It matters whether Jesus had siblings because it shapes our understanding of holiness and Jesus’s life. Mary’s holiness is shown in being a normal wife and mother whom God used, ordinary people can be holy. You don’t need to go to a monastery and take a vow of celibacy to be holy.

         2. Jesus having unbelieving siblings who frustrated him means he experienced family conflict and can relate to those torn down by family rather than built up.

      4. [E]ven his brethren did not believe in him. Hence we infer how small is the value of carnal relationship…So much the more ridiculous is the superstition of Papists, who, disregarding everything else in the Virgin Mary, extol her only on the ground of relationship, bestowing on her the title of the Mother of God, as if Christ himself had not reproved the woman who exclaimed from the midst of the crowd, “‘Blessed is the womb that bore thee, and the breasts that suckled thee;’ for Christ replied, ‘Nay, rather, blessed are they who hear the word of God,’” (Luke 11:27-28)” -John Calvin, Commentary on John, John 7, 5.

6 Therefore Jesus told them, “My time is not yet here; for you any time will do. 7 The world cannot hate you, but it hates me because I testify that its works are evil. 8 You go to the festival. I am not going up to this festival, because my time has not yet fully come.” 9 After he had said this, he stayed in Galilee.

1. “My time is not here yet…”
   1. Despite his brother’s taunting, Jesus prioritizes God’s timing over public or relational pressure.

   2. “[H]alf the power of: a Christian life depends upon its being timely. The bringing forth of fruit in due season is one of the marks of the tree planted by the rivers of water; and one of the signs of the Son of man, who delighted in the law of the Lord, was that he said, “My time is not yet full come.” When it did come, then he went.” -Charles Spurgeon, Spurgeon’s Verse Expositions on the Bible, John 7.
      
   3. Jesus’s response is unambiguous about the world’s evil and even implies that his brothers are complicit in it.  Why is he so fierce?  Because the conversation concerned his identity and work, which are critically important.
      1. Jesus models being both a “lamb” (gentle) and a “lion” (fierce and combative when necessary).

      2. Most of us naturally favor one role; we should learn from Jesus’s example to embody both.

10 However, after his brothers had left for the festival, he went also, not publicly, but in secret. 11 Now at the festival the Jewish leaders were watching for Jesus and asking, “Where is he?”

12 Among the crowds there was widespread whispering about him. Some said, “He is a good man.”

Others replied, “No, he deceives the people.” 13 But no one would say anything publicly about him for fear of the leaders.

1. “…he went also, not publicly, but in secret…”

1. 1. Jesus chose to go to the festival secretly, but not because he was afraid.  He wanted to fulfill God’s command for devout Jews to go to Jerusalem, but he also wanted to honor God’s timing first and foremost.  Making a public statement to his brothers or to Jewish leadership would have pushed the timetable in an unhelpful way.

   2. By contrast, the crowds in Jerusalem are very afraid.  They whisper about Jesus, but they don’t dare to do it publicly because they’re worried about what the leaders might do.

   3. Do not let fear keep you from doing what God has commanded, but also don’t rush in recklessly.  If you feel unprepared, it may be a sign to wait for God’s timing.

   4. Pray, prepare, and gather the things that you need while you discern the right time to act.  Jesus didn’t ignore his mission while he waited on the Father’s timing.  He walked closely with the Father and understood when the time was right.

2. “But who were those that did not speak of Him for fear of the Jews? Undoubtedly those who said, ‘He is a good man,’ not those who said, ‘He deceives the people.’ As for those who said ‘He deceives the people,’ their whispers were heard like the noise of dry leaves. ‘He deceives the people,’ they sounded more and more loudly.  ‘He is a good man,’ was whispered more and more quietly. But now, brothers, in spite of the fact that glory of Christ which will give us immortality has not yet come, but now I say, His Church so increases, He has clearly decided to spread his Gospel abroad throughout the whole world, so that it is now ‘He deceives the people,’ is only whispered, and and more and more loudly it sounds forth, ‘He is a good man.’” -Augustine, Tractate 28, 11.

Full Transcript

Fall has begun. The kids are going off to school, and we’re back in the book of John. I think this has a timely word for us. August, when school starts, that is one of two times in a calendar year that people tend to really sit down and think about what they want to accomplish in the coming 12 months. In a calendar year, you have January and the New Year, where everybody makes their resolutions and thinks about the next 12 months. Then you also have the fall when school starts—a time that is built into our schedule from our earliest days as the time to get things underway. So, we think about what we want to accomplish.

That also means you have to wonder: what does God want you to accomplish in the coming 12 months? Not just what are your plans, but what are His plans for you? What has He put on your heart? You don’t want to waste time getting through a year where you’re not doing what God would have you do. Thinking about how to incorporate that into your life well and how to plan on it—that is what so much of the beginning of chapter seven has.

Let’s dig in. We are at chapter 7, verse 1: “After this, Jesus went around in Galilee. He did not want to go about in Judea because the Jewish leaders were there looking for a way to kill him.” Galilee was a more rural region, and it is where Jesus spent most of his time. Judea was the more urban area; it had the capital, it had Jerusalem, and it was where a lot of stuff happened. It is the difference between Hardin County and Franklin County. Jesus spent his time in the rural area because he knew that the people in Judea were waiting there to kill him. He knew he was up against deep resistance in his life. There were priests and kings that stood against him. Jesus was someone who had some powerful enemies.

Yet, he didn’t just rush in and confront them. It’s kind of weird to think about because we know how the story ends. Jesus does eventually go to Jerusalem. He does face all of the men who want to kill him, and they do kill him. He dies on a cross and conquers death. We know that time is coming, but it’s not yet. Why isn’t Jesus going to Judea? He’s not afraid to go up against powerful people, but he knows that not every opportunity requires you to run in and start a fight. He’s waiting for the right time. He’s not just doing things on his timeline; he’s doing things on God’s timeline.

Verse 2 tells us, “When the Jewish Festival of Tabernacles was near…” That’s kind of a strange reference for us because we don’t celebrate it. The Festival of Tabernacles was one of the big ones as far as Jewish festivals go. You would go into Jerusalem, the capital, for what was in many ways a harvest festival. This was after you had harvested all of your crops, so you had a little extra time on your hands to go into Jerusalem to celebrate. Not only was it a harvest festival, but it was also a time to remember the forty years that the Israelites walked through the wilderness and were sustained by manna from God. It was a time to remember that they lived in tents and ate whatever God gave them. They were sustained by Him even though they were disloyal; God stayed with them even in the wilderness. To remember what their ancestors had done and the situations they were in, people would go to Jerusalem, bring a tent, and spend some time camping. That’s what the Festival of Tabernacles was.

As the festival approached, verse 3 says, Jesus’ brothers said to him, “Leave Galilee and go to Judea so that your disciples there may see the works you do. No one who wants to become a public figure acts in secret. Since you are doing these things, show yourself to the world.” For even his own brothers did not believe in him.

There is a lot to talk about right here. First off, Jesus had brothers. I don’t know how often you think about that, but it’s a little strange to consider. They don’t appear in a ton of stories in the Bible, which makes sense since we don’t have a lot of details about Jesus’ childhood. He’s already older at this point in time, but he had siblings. The most prominent of them was James, the writer of the epistle of James, but there were others. None of them believed in him during his lifetime, though they came to faith after.

Now, if you have a Roman Catholic background, or maybe you’ve talked about this with a Catholic friend, you might think something sounds off here. You may have heard from a priest at some point that Jesus did not have siblings. Catholics believe in a doctrine called the perpetual virginity of Mary. In other words, she was not just a virgin before Jesus, but she remained a virgin her whole life long. Consequently, they believe this passage would be better translated as “cousins.”

Why do Protestants and Catholics believe something different here? To put it succinctly, we believe Jesus had siblings because that’s what the Bible says. The word used here for brothers in the original Greek is adelphoi, and adelphoi does not mean cousins; it means brothers. The etymology of the word shows this, as it is made up of a prefix meaning “connected” and delphus, which means “womb”—connected by the womb.

In English, when we use the word “brother,” we can use it literally or metaphorically. For example, if I came in this morning, saw Jim, and said, “Jim, brother, how’s it going?” you guys wouldn’t sit around and think, “Oh, they’re related! I didn’t know they were brothers.” You would know it just means they are close, on the same page, or comrades in arms. The same was true in Greek. The word adelphoi can be used literally or figuratively. The apostle Paul uses it many times in the epistles metaphorically, such as when he writes, “Brothers, I do not want you to be ignorant of this.” Anytime he uses that term, he is using adelphoi.

In this instance, we have to look at the context. Were these individuals on the same page as Jesus? Were they comrades in arms? Would it make sense for this to be a metaphorical use of the word? No. They are making fun of Jesus and doubting him. This would not be a good use of the term metaphorically; it would make no sense. So, we have to assume it’s literal: brothers of the same womb.

They had a completely different word for cousin in Greek—anepsio. It’s not like they didn’t have a word for it. Paul actually uses the word anepsio in the book of Colossians, chapter 4 verse 10, when he talks about Mark, the cousin of Barnabas. Right there, we can see Paul certainly knew the word for cousin. Furthermore, the people who translated the Old Testament into Greek around the time Jesus was alive used anepsio as well. Because not every person throughout the Roman Empire spoke perfect Hebrew, they translated the Hebrew Scriptures into Greek, and you can see instances of the word cousin there—such as in the book of Numbers, chapter 36 verse 11. Secular sources, like the histories of Josephus (the premier historian of that era), also commonly used this word to mean cousin. So, why didn’t the Gospel writer use the word cousin if these were Jesus’s cousins? Because they weren’t his cousins; they were his brothers.

That brings up a different question: why would Catholics believe that Jesus did not have brothers if the text uses that word? For that, you have to dig into the history of doctrine. Very early in the Christian Church, all the way back in the late second and early third centuries, there were people who did not believe that Jesus was miraculously born of a virgin. People have been making arguments against Christianity for hundreds of years; we haven’t invented new ones. Back then, critics said, “Hold on, Mary, a virgin, had a child? That doesn’t make sense. You have to have a guy in the mix.” They insisted that Jesus must have been born from an earthly father and that Mary wasn’t a virgin after all.

In response, some of the early Christians argued against those critics by taking it a step further. They said, “You don’t think Mary was a virgin? Let me tell you, she was the ultimate virgin. She never knew a man before she had Jesus, and she never knew one after, her whole life long.” From a Protestant perspective, we appreciate the spirit of what they were trying to do in defending the fact that Jesus had a heavenly Father. However, the argument itself is flawed. You shouldn’t have to claim something beyond the Bible to prove the Bible. Scripture is sufficient in and of itself.

We disagree with that doctrine because the biblical evidence doesn’t suggest Mary was a nun; it suggests she was a person like us. Why does this matter? Why spend so much time on this piece of history? You should care because it makes a difference in the way you think about what a holy person looks like, and it changes how you view the life of Jesus. What made Mary so special is that she participated in the most miraculous thing that God did in all of history. But was she holy because she lived like a nun, had a husband but was never intimate with him, and spent all her time in prayer? Or was she holy because God chose to work through a regular person? Mary was not so different from a lot of us.

It also highlights the reality of Jesus’s everyday experience. He had brothers and sisters, and they were at odds with him. I bet some of you have older siblings who were a bit of a goody-two-shoes in your eyes, and it can be frustrating to follow after them. Imagine if your older sibling was literally Jesus Christ. You can see why they might get frustrated. You would go to school, and on the first day, the teacher would say, “Oh, you’re Jesus’ sibling. He was great. I’m glad you’re in this class.” You would get home, and you’d constantly be compared to him. We compare ourselves to Jesus and know we don’t meet his perfect standard, but to live with that every day in your own home must have been incredibly hard.

You can also imagine it from Jesus’s perspective. Here is a man who is perfect, and he’s not living a perfect life just to show someone up—he’s living it for them. He is living a perfect life for his siblings, for his parents, and for the world. Yet, they didn’t understand or appreciate it. They thought he was a little full of himself. When he started talking about being the Messiah, they essentially said, “All right buddy, whatever.” Jesus faced resistance not only from kings and priests, but within his own home.

I am very blessed. When I have a hard day and everything feels like it’s against me, I get to go home to a wife who is so supportive, children who are cute as a button, parents I can call, and a sister I can talk with. I have an incredible support network in my family. That’s one of the reasons churches should strive to support families. You want to help families live well because that’s what God wants. God wants the family to be a blessing. He wants husbands to help disciple their wives, wives to help disciple their children, and families to hold each other together. That is a massive blessing, but not everyone enjoys that luxury.If you ever feel that way—if you say, “Sometimes my family tears me apart more than they build me up”—Jesus knows. Jesus endured that too. You are not alone.

Look at what his brothers say specifically in verse 3: “Leave Galilee and go to Judea so that your disciples there may see the works you do. No one who wants to become a public figure acts in secret. Since you are doing these things, show yourself to the world.” In other words, they are saying, “You think you’re a hot shot? Mr. Big Fish in a small pond out here in Galilee? Go into Judea and show everyone your miracles. They’re going to love it.”

How does Jesus respond? My temptation when someone is spouting off like that would be to avoid getting into it—just give one of those fake laughs, try to move on, and not make things awkward. But Jesus makes it a little bit awkward. He goes right there, leaving some tension in the room when they are done. He tells them to go on to the festival, but adds, “I am not going up to this festival because my time has not yet fully come. Of course, you’re comfortable with the world; they’ll love you. The world is evil, and I am against the world.”

Why is Jesus having this conversation? Why doesn’t he just laugh it off and move on? Jesus was gentle, but he was also fierce. He could be a lamb, and he could be a lion, depending on the circumstances. Here, he is talking about something of the utmost importance: who he is and what his work is. He is not going to make light of that. He is not going to be gentle when something that vital is on the line, and that is a lesson we could all learn from.

Naturally, very few people, if any, are born being equally comfortable as both the lion and the lamb. We are rarely naturally adept at being combative when the time calls for it and gentle when the situation demands it; usually, we are comfortable with one or the other. Some people are deeply comfortable in conflict, but when the time comes to relax afterward and build one another up, they feel awkward and don’t know what to do because they are just waiting for the next fight. Other people are naturally gentle, but when the time comes to stand up and confront a situation, they get clumsy and hesitant. Jesus is perfectly both lion and lamb. He is gentle and he is fierce, and we need to learn from him. It is not easy, but it is important.

This is where the narrative can get a little confusing if you aren’t looking closely. In verse 8, Jesus says he is not going to the festival, but then verse 10 says, “However, after his brothers had left for the festival, he went also, not publicly, but in secret.” Why is Jesus going if he just said he wasn’t going to?

Jesus was simply refusing to go in the way his brothers demanded. He was not going to use the festival as a public PR opportunity to aggressively declare who he was. However, devout Jews were commanded by God to attend the Festival of Tabernacles. God didn’t say, “Hey, if you’ve got some spare time, it would be real great if you could roll into Jerusalem.” If you were a follower of God, this is what you did. Jesus wasn’t about to take the year off from obedience. If the Father commanded it, he was going to do it. So, sure enough, he went—not to prove a point to his siblings, but privately, to be a keeper of the law and to fulfill what God required.

Verse 11 continues: “Now at the festival the Jewish leaders were watching for Jesus and asking, ‘Where is he?’ Among the crowds there was widespread whispering about him. Some said, ‘He is a good man.’ Others replied, ‘No, he deceives the people.’ But no one would say anything publicly about him for fear of the leaders.”

Contrast the crowd’s silence with what we have seen from Jesus. Jesus was avoiding a public confrontation with the leaders because it wasn’t the right time; he was listening and waiting for God’s perfect timing. But the crowds in Jerusalem who wanted to talk weren’t staying quiet out of a structured sense of divine timing—they were just afraid. They didn’t want to get into a conflict with the leaders.

As you look ahead at these next 12 months and think about what you want to accomplish, I would bet God has put something specific on your heart. There is likely something you feel called to do for Him in this coming calendar year. And maybe you are a little afraid of it. Maybe you think to yourself that there is a personal cost associated with it that you don’t want to pay. Maybe your schedule is already packed, you don’t have time for one more thing, and you’re wondering if God can just wait another year. Maybe you don’t want to come off as weird to the people around you, and you aren’t interested in looking strange or paying that price.

Whatever the reason, if you are afraid, don’t be. If God is with you, who can stand against you? Why would you know what God wants for you and choose not to do it? What a tragic way to waste a year of your life. Do you think God put you on this earth and said, “Well, they have a set number of years, but this upcoming one doesn’t really matter. They can just fritter that one away with whatever they feel like because I don’t have any work for them this year”? You are a servant of God, and He has work for you.

Do not be afraid. That doesn’t mean you should leave today feeling like you have to run blindly right into the fire. Maybe it isn’t the exact time yet. Pray about it. If you feel unprepared, maybe you are. There is a proper season for the work He has for you. Pray to Him, think deeply about it, and discern the right timing. What do you need to gather? What is the right moment to step out into what He is asking?

When Jesus came to this earth, he didn’t say, “Well, I’m not sure when the Father wants me to die on that cross, so I’m just not even going to worry about it.” No, Jesus lived in an intimate, constant relationship with the Father, waiting and preparing. He didn’t wait because he was kicking the can down the road; he waited because he knew there was an exact right time for everything.

Pray to God about what He has put on your heart for this coming year. Prepare yourself, and trust that He is entirely sufficient for the work He has laid out for you. Amen.

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From the Pulpit

Commentary

41 At this the Jews there began to grumble about him because he said, “I am the bread that came down from heaven.” 42 They said, “Is this not Jesus, the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know? How can he now say, ‘I came down from heaven’?”

1. The crowd doubted the evidence first, insisting that Jesus owed them a better miracle since their ancestors ate bread from Moses.  Now, they move from attacking the evidence to attacking his identity.

2. “Is this not Jesus, the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know?

1. 1. They grumble at Jesus’s claim to be the bread from heaven, questioning his origins: “Is this not Jesus, the son of Joseph… How can he now say, I came down from heaven?”

   2. “These Jews were far off from the bread of heaven, and knew not how to hunger after it. They had the jaws of their heart languid; with open ears they were deaf, they saw and stood blind.” -Augustine, Tractate 26, 1.

43 “Stop grumbling among yourselves,” Jesus answered. 44 “No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws them, and I will raise them up at the last day. 45 It is written in the Prophets: ‘They will all be taught by God.’ Everyone who has heard the Father and learned from him comes to me. 46 No one has seen the Father except the one who is from God; only he has seen the Father. 47 Very truly I tell you, the one who believes has eternal life. 48 I am the bread of life. 49 Your ancestors ate the manna in the wilderness, yet they died. 50 But here is the bread that comes down from heaven, which anyone may eat and not die. 51 I am the living bread that came down from heaven. Whoever eats this bread will live forever. This bread is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world.”

1. Christ’s Response
   1. Jesus answers their attack on his identity by explaining their doubt.  Why can’t they come to him?  Because the Father has not drawn them.  All of this is in the Father’s plan.

   2. Jesus is the only one able to see God.  He has knowledge in a way nobody else has.  Even Moses could only see God by hiding in a rock and seeing his back (Exodus 33:21-22).  Jesus is God and can see God in His fullness.

   3. He reiterates his promise: those who believe have eternal life.  Previous bread only delayed death.  Christ’s flesh will end it.

2. “No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws them,”
   1. “[H]ave I not myself heard you say in your heart, ‘Jesus, Jesus, my whole trust Is in thee: I know that no righteousness of my own can save me, but only thou, O Christ, sink or swim, I cast myself on thee?’ Oh, my brother, thou art drawn by the Father, for thou couldst not have come unless he had drawn thee. Sweet thought! And if he has drawn thee, dost thou know what is the delightful inference? Let me repeat one text, and may that comfort thee: ‘The Lord hath appeared of old unto me, saying, I have loved thee with an everlasting love: therefore with lovingkindness have I drawn thee.’ Yes, my poor weeping brother, inasmuch as thou art now coming to Christ, God has drawn thee; and inasmuch as he has drawn thee, it is a proof that he has loved thee from before the foundation of the world. Let thy heart leap within thee, thou art one of his.” -Charles Spurgeon, “Human Inability,” Mar. 7, 1858.

52 Then the Jews began to argue sharply among themselves, “How can this man give us his flesh to eat?”

53 Jesus said to them, “Very truly I tell you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you. 54 Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise them up at the last day. 55 For my flesh is real food and my blood is real drink. 56 Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood remains in me, and I in them. 57 Just as the living Father sent me and I live because of the Father, so the one who feeds on me will live because of me. 58 This is the bread that came down from heaven. Your ancestors ate manna and died, but whoever feeds on this bread will live forever.” 59 He said this while teaching in the synagogue in Capernaum.

1. First, they doubted the evidence, telling Jesus that their ancestors got bread from Moses and they deserved a better miracle.  Second, they doubted his identity, insisting that he was just the son of Joseph, not anyone from heaven.  Now, they doubt his message, claiming that he’s not even coherent.

2. “How can this man give us his flesh to eat?”
   1. The crowd fixates on a highly literal objection: “How can this man give us his flesh to eat?” even though Jesus speaks in a metaphor that points towards a profound spiritual reality.
      1. This rejection is very similar to when Nicodemos objected to Jesus’s language about being “born again” in John 3:4.
           
3. Jesus doesn’t back down; he doubles down: “Unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you… my flesh is real food and my blood is real drink.”  He has no interest in slowly chipping away at his message to accommodate people who have no real interest in it.
   1. “Unless ye eat the flesh of the Son of man – Spiritually: unless ye draw continual virtue from him by faith. Eating his flesh is only another expression for believing.”  -John Wesley, John Wesley’s Explanatory Notes of the NT, Jn 6.

   2. “It should be noted that this can refer either to spiritual eating or to sacramental eating. If it refers to spiritual eating, there is no doubt about the application… However, if it is applied to sacramental eating, a problem arises… since in the one receiving the Eucharist actual reverence and devotion are required, which those who do not have the full use of reason, such as children and the mentally ill, do not have, and therefore it is in no way to be given to them.” -Thomas Aquinas, Commentary on John, Lecture 7, 969.

60 On hearing it, many of his disciples said, “This is a hard teaching. Who can accept it?”

61 Aware that his disciples were grumbling about this, Jesus said to them, “Does this offend you? 62 Then what if you see the Son of Man ascend to where he was before! 63 The Spirit gives life; the flesh counts for nothing. The words I have spoken to you—they are full of the Spirit and life. 64 Yet there are some of you who do not believe.” For Jesus had known from the beginning which of them did not believe and who would betray him. 65 He went on to say, “This is why I told you that no one can come to me unless the Father has enabled them.”

1. “This is a hard teaching. Who can accept it?”
   1. Often, so called “hard teachings” are less about comprehension and more about acceptance.
      1. One of the top defenses against countercultural commands is “I don’t understand this part.”  Verses like Mark 10:2-12 (Jesus on Divorce) and 1 Timothy 1:10 (Paul on sexuality) are more than clear as they’re worded, but many still claim that they can’t understand what the Bible says on these topics.

      2. Often “I’m confused” masks unwillingness to accept teachings that challenge personal preferences. The Christian life asks, “Do we trust that God knows more than we do and that his ways are good?”

   2. Jesus asks, “Does this offend you?” and warns that if they stumble here, they will be further confounded by future events like his ascension.

   3. Jesus does not water down his teaching or chase those leaving; he invites trust beyond comfortable words, preparing disciples for wild things to come.

2. “No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws them… no one can come to me unless the Father has enabled them.”
   1. Jesus knew from the beginning who did not believe and who would betray him.

3. “Spirit gives life; the flesh counts for nothing. The words I have spoken to you—they are full of the Spirit and life.”
   1. Jesus’s words are “full of Spirit and life;” understanding and embracing them relies on divine action, not just human effort.

4. Augustine famously wrote about this struggle to know God and approach him by drawing on Romans 10:14 in Confessions.
   1. “Lord, what comes first: asking for your help or praising you?  Do we start a life with you by asking for your help?  Or do we need to know who you are before we can do that?  How could we ask for your help if we don’t know who you are?  We might start talking to you like you were some totally different being!  Or do we start out by asking for your help so that we can know you?  But how could we ask for help from a god that we don’t believe in?  And how could we believe in that god if nobody brought the Gospel to us?  In the end, people who seek the Lord always end up praising him, because anyone who seeks will find, and anyone who finds will praise.  I’m seeking you, Lord, by asking for your help.  I’m calling on your name while believing completely in you because the Gospel was brought to me.  You gave me faith, and now that faith is crying out to you.” -Augustine, Confessions, Ch. 1.

   2. If you can’t see God, pray to Him.  “Knock and the door will be opened.” (Matt. 7:7)

66 From this time many of his disciples turned back and no longer followed him.

67 “You do not want to leave too, do you?” Jesus asked the Twelve.

68 Simon Peter answered him, “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life. 69 We have come to believe and to know that you are the Holy One of God.”

70 Then Jesus replied, “Have I not chosen you, the Twelve? Yet one of you is a devil!” 71 (He meant Judas, the son of Simon Iscariot, who, though one of the Twelve, was later to betray him.)

1. “You do not want to leave too, do you?
   1. As people leave due to his “hard teaching, Jesus asks the Twelve if they also wish to leave.  It had to have been an emotionally-charged moment as thousands left and he turned to his closest friends.

   2. Peter’s confession: “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life…” isn’t just a buddy cheering up a sad friend.  Peter sincerely believes in everything that Jesus is said.  He’s seen the evidence, he acknowledges Jesus’s identity, and he believes in the message.

2. “Yet one of you is a devil!”
   1. Jesus repeatedly forewarns about Judas’s betrayal, which does not change Judas’s course.  What God has destined will not be changed by human will, even if Judas has every opportunity to do otherwise.

   2. The disciples were tested through all of this.  The crowd left, but they stayed despite how unpopular it was.  This wasn’t the end of the testing.  Their faith would continue to be tested throughout their lives, and not everyone would pass in the end.

   3. “Mark the wisdom of Christ: He neither, by exposing him, makes him shameless and contentious; nor again emboldens him, by allowing him to think himself concealed.” -Chrysostom, Hom. xlvii. 4.

Full Transcript

For weeks we have talked about this question: If God is all-powerful, why doesn’t he give us everything we want? We have looked at wrong answer after wrong answer, haven’t we? We’ve looked at the prosperity gospel—this claim that God wants to give you everything you could possibly imagine, and the only thing holding him back is you! You don’t have the faith. If you did, you’d have that new car. That doesn’t align with scripture. The apostles were not promised health or wealth, and they did not get it.

We looked at the claims that God deals with spiritual stuff, that he doesn’t deal with earthly stuff because that’s beneath him. Don’t go to him for stuff like food or money; it’s beneath him. He deals with spiritual things. Also, not true. Throughout this chapter, we saw God dealing with very physical things. He multiplied bread and fish; He helped His apostles get across a sea. These are all very physical, worldly things going on, and he deals with each of them without being disgusted. God made the world; he certainly doesn’t hate it. It’s not beneath him.

Then last week, we even looked at the classic atheist response: if God’s all-powerful, why doesn’t he give us everything we want? They would say, because he can’t, because he’s not real. We see bad things happen every day. If there was an all-powerful, good God, wouldn’t he stop those bad things from happening? Of course he would, but he doesn’t—because he can’t, because he’s not real. The atheists would have us dead to rights if that’s the God the Bible described. If the Bible said there is an all-powerful God, and he’s good, and no bad things will ever happen to you, what would we say in response?

That’s not what the Bible says. The Bible never says that you’re not going to suffer. As a matter of fact, many people in the Bible do suffer despite following God. The true biblical answer to this that we finally get to dwell on now is this: God won’t always give us what we want, but He’ll give us what we need. God’s miracles are not at our beck and call. There it is, and he has told us what his will is. He’s told us in no uncertain terms what he wants to do. He said, “I want you to live eternally. I want to destroy sin and death.” Part of the problem is we are still addicted in many ways to sin and death.

Giving us what we want would actually go against what he wants in many cases. God has to find a way to rehabilitate us, to help us seek what is good in an eternal sense, not just in a temporary sense. Sometimes that won’t be easy. The question is, can we trust him? Knowing what he said he’s going to do, knowing what his goals are, and knowing that they don’t always align with ours, do we trust him?

We’re going to look at that even more today as we continue on from where we left off. Let’s briefly refresh our memories. We began chapter six four weeks ago. All the way back then, where did we start? Jesus was teaching and he was healing by the Sea of Galilee, and there were all these people—five thousand or more. They didn’t have anything to eat. Jesus turns to Philip, “Hey, we need to feed these people.” Philip says, “Impossible! Can’t be done!” Meanwhile, a boy offers Jesus some bread and some fish, and Jesus starts handing it out. He just keeps going and going. There is not only enough; there is more than enough. At this point, the crowd gets to thinking and they say, “Hey, if he can do that with bread, what else can he do? I want this guy working for me. Let’s make him our king whether he wants to be king or not. He’s going to solve our problems.” Jesus goes up a mountain to pray, and he tells his disciples to go across the sea.

That night there is a horrible storm, and they are paddling and paddling, trying to get across the sea. All night they only get halfway. Muscles aching, blisters on their hands, not getting where they want to go, but Jesus comes to them over the water. The second they trust him and let him onto their boat, they’re right where they want to be. They have learned a lesson, but the crowd has not. The next day they wake up and say, “Hey, where’d Jesus go? I can’t find him anywhere.” So after searching, they get on some boats. They go across the Sea of Galilee, and they start searching on the other side. Finally, they go into Capernaum. They find Jesus teaching there in a synagogue, and they start asking him questions. They say, “Jesus, where have you been?” He says, “You’re here because you want bread and fish. You want something that’s going to be good for a day. I want to give you something that’s good for eternity. Believe in me. Believe in me and you will have eternal life.”

They immediately start to doubt him. The first doubt they throw out there is they doubt whether he’s given them sufficient evidence to believe in him. They say, “Okay, so you gave us some bread once. Not a big deal. Moses did that. He did the bread thing. You’re going to have to do better than bread if you want us to believe in you.” Which is pretty ironic. They came all this way because of the bread. Obviously, they were impressed, but the second Jesus says, “Trust in me, not in yourselves,” then they start to bristle. Then they start to take a step back. Hold on! I don’t know if I am ready to trust you. I liked the bread trick, but that’s not enough. They’re going to continue to take steps back. They’re going to doubt Jesus three times throughout the course of this, moving from doubting whether he’s given them enough evidence, to doubting who he is next, and then finally they are going to doubt whether his message even makes sense at all.

That is where we pick up after the first doubt, and Jesus has reaffirmed that he does indeed offer eternal life. He gets a little wordier this time, a little fuller. Pay attention to that. We pick up at verse forty-one. At this, the Jews began to grumble about him because he said, “I am the bread that came down from heaven.” They said, “Is this not Jesus, the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know? How can he now say, ‘I came down from heaven’?” This guy’s not so special. I know his dad. That’s Joe’s kid. This is not a big deal. Now he’s acting like he’s all special. “I’m from heaven. You’re not.” I know where you’re from. I know your parents. Again, strange, isn’t it?

Just yesterday, they called him the prophet in the line of Moses and wanted to force him to be their king. They obviously knew there was something special about this guy, but the second Jesus tries to acknowledge that and explain it to them, they take another step back. Jesus responds to their second doubt saying, “Stop grumbling among yourselves. No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws them, and I will raise them up at the last day. It is written in the prophets, ‘They will all be taught by God.’ Everyone who has heard the Father and has learned comes to me. No one has seen the Father except the one who is from God; only he has seen the Father. Very truly I tell you, the one who believes has eternal life. I am the bread of life. Your ancestors ate the manna in the wilderness, yet they died. But here is the bread that comes down from heaven, which anyone may eat and not die. I am the living bread that came down from heaven. Whoever eats this bread will live forever. This bread is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world.”

Notice again—he’s gotten even more complicated. Jesus doesn’t water it down when people object. If anything, He seems to get a little more intense. He’ll explain why. But notice also here he’s gotten more complex, but he hasn’t gotten insanely, unfollowably complex. The core of his message that he said all the way back in verse twenty-nine is still there, and we know how he got there. He said, “You are here for bread. You were impressed by loaves and fishes. You wanted bread for a day. I want to give you bread that will last for eternity. Believe in me.” He’s gotten a little more complex, but that’s still there, and they’ve seen the argument kind of develop. I don’t think it’s unfollowable. I don’t think at this point there is any rational reason to believe that Jesus is saying, “Hey, come up here and take a bite out of my arm. It’s going to do something for you.” No, obviously he’s not.

The crowd goes in that direction anyway. They argue sharply among themselves and say, “How can this man give us his flesh to eat?” Suddenly, Jesus doesn’t make sense to them anymore. We saw this all the way back in John chapter 3 with Nicodemus. Jesus told Nicodemus, “You must be born again.” And what did Nicodemus say? “Jesus, come on. That’s ridiculous. What, you want me to crawl back inside my mother’s womb? You don’t make any sense.” Jesus did not invent metaphor. It was around; it was well-established since the beginning of time. Nicodemus knew that Jesus was not proposing what he said, in the same way that this crowd understands that Jesus does not literally want them to go up and tear him to pieces with their teeth. They know what he’s asking for. They just don’t want to do it. The confusion with the crowd is not up here. It’s not that they don’t understand; it’s that they’re not willing to accept it, and that’s a different thing.

I’ve seen this many times in the church. I remember, for example, there was one church where they would read two scriptures every Sunday, and it was from the lectionary, so they were all pre-chosen for the entire year. The first scripture would always be read by a member of the congregation. The second scripture would always be read by the pastor, and the pastor would preach from the second passage. One day, the congregation member gets up to read their first one. She stands up there and she reads the Mark passage—Mark chapter ten, verses two through twelve:

Some Pharisees came and tested him by asking, “Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife?” “What did Moses command you?” he replied. They said, “Moses permitted a man to write a certificate of divorce and send her away.” “It was because your hearts were hard that Moses wrote you this law,” Jesus replied. “But at the beginning of creation, God made them male and female. For this reason, a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh. So that they are no longer two, but one flesh. Therefore, what God has joined together, let no one separate.” And when they were in the house again, the disciples asked Jesus about this. He answered, “Anyone who divorces his wife and marries another woman commits adultery against her. And if she divorces her husband and marries another man, she commits adultery.”

Sure enough, they read this. Then they followed it up with this in front of the whole church. They said, “And as a divorced person, I’m confused. I’m so confused by this. I hope the pastor’s about to tell us what this means because I don’t understand it. I sure hope they have some answers.” It was uncomfortable. The pastor got up there and disarmed the situation. They said, “I’m actually going to preach on the second passage. But if anyone’s confused and would like to talk about the first passage you heard, come to my office hours. Delighted to talk about that or anything else you’re confused about.” I think the uncomfortable thing wasn’t necessarily the combativeness; it wasn’t that as much as the fact that the passage isn’t really that unclear. She knew what it said; she just didn’t like it. She wasn’t willing to accept it, and again, that can happen in so many places.

I remember with the split of the United Methodist Church, I can remember a colleague coming to me and saying, “I am wrestling with this because one of the things people seem to disagree on is same-sex marriage. And I just don’t understand. I read this morning in First Timothy, chapter one, verse ten. It says, ‘Those who practice homosexuality will not enter the kingdom of God.’ That’s what it says, but I don’t know what that means. That doesn’t make any sense because we don’t know what Paul was dealing with. That could mean any number of things. I mean, maybe he’s talking about prostitution. Maybe he’s talking about pedophilia. We just can’t know what Paul meant. We can’t know. I’m too confused. I don’t understand what he was trying to say. If only he would have left a second letter explaining his first letter, maybe we could have known what he meant, but we just can’t. It’s so confusing.”

I responded and said, “Well, what if he meant what he said? What if the two thousand years of Christians who all believed that he meant what he said were right, and it’s exactly what it looks like? I think your concerns are because the ethics that are often practiced today suggest that if you have any restrictions on sexuality, you must hate someone. Jesus never tells us to hate anyone—by no means. We’re supposed to love people, but there are certain ways that God tells us to shepherd our sexuality. That’s what the church has traditionally held. That’s what makes sense in the passage. What if Paul meant what he said?” He just responded, “That’s ridiculous. You’re being ridiculous. You can’t know what he meant. You can’t know. It’s impossible to know.” He knew what it said. He just wasn’t willing to accept it.

I don’t say this as someone who always is willing to accept what the Bible says immediately. We’ve all had those instances, haven’t we, where we read something—something that touches a nerve, something that calls us out, something that makes us say, “Jesus is going too far here. That’s not… I’m confused. I don’t understand what this means.” Often the confusion is not up here; it’s here. God has shared something that isn’t the way we would have done it. Do we trust him? Do we trust that he knows more than we do, and that his ways are good?

The crowd doesn’t. The crowd thinks he’s too baffling. They’re not ready to trust him. In verse fifty-three, Jesus responds again and again. Notice he will not make it even a little bit easier; he will get more intense again. He says, “Very truly I tell you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you. Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise them up at the last day. For my flesh is real food and my blood is real drink. Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood remains in me and I in them. Just as the living Father sent me, and I live because of the Father, so the one who feeds on me will live because of me.”

“This is the bread that came down from heaven. Your ancestors ate manna and died, but whoever feeds on this bread will live forever.” He said this while teaching in the synagogue in Capernaum. Really intense. He’s just gone right out there. They’ve said, “I object on this premise,” and he says, “Let’s talk about that premise. I’m going to go with it. I’m going to run with it.” Why is he doing this? He’s about to explain. Verse 60: On hearing it, many of his disciples said, “This is a hard teaching. Who can accept it?” Notice what they say there. They don’t say, “This is a hard teaching. Who can understand it?” They understand. This is a hard teaching. Who can accept it? Aware that his disciples were grumbling about this, Jesus said to them, “Does this offend you? Then what if you see the Son of Man ascend to where He was before?”

Here he’s explaining why he is getting more intense. If he was chasing people down saying, “No, don’t walk away. Hear me out. Let’s work through this together”—Jesus doesn’t do that, though, and that’s consistent throughout the scripture. Think about the story of the rich young ruler who came to Jesus and said, “Jesus, I need you. I want to follow you. What do I need to do?” Jesus said, “Sell everything, give the money to the poor, and come follow me.” The man leaves sad because he’s not willing to do that. Jesus doesn’t chase him down; he lets him go. That seems to be the same spirit Jesus has here. He gets more intense. He doesn’t water it down. He says, “Does this offend you? Then what if you see the Son of Man ascend to where he was before?”

If you can’t believe this, this is just a starting place. This is nothing. Just wait, things get crazier from here. If you can’t accept this, there are going to be things to come that will utterly confound you. You are going to see the miraculous and balk. You are going to see things like me ascending—I’m going to leave. What are you going to do? You’re going to panic! Why? Because right now you’re counting on me making it easy, coming to you, and constantly making things easier. I don’t want you to trust my pretty words. I want you to trust me. Do you trust me? Because if you do, you will be able to weather anything that comes—all the wild stuff. That’s good for us today, too. God isn’t done doing wild things. If we can’t trust him in the little stuff, how can we trust him with things that haven’t even happened yet?

“The Spirit gives life; the flesh counts for nothing. The words I have spoken to you—they are full of Spirit and life. Yet there are some of you who do not believe.” For Jesus had known from the beginning which of them did not believe and would betray him. He went on to say, “This is why I told you that no one can come to me unless the Father has enabled them.”

When we see Jesus getting more intense and not chasing people down, it can feel like he must hate them or that he doesn’t care about them. We think if he really cared, he would make it easier. Jesus says, no. Everything I have spoken is spirit and life. Those who are enabled by the Father will get it. What does that mean? Here, we’ve got a group of thousands of people that we know are genuinely interested in Jesus. They have followed him to both sides of a sea and hunted for him on either side. They care, but they’re looking by their own power, not by God’s power. When humanity sinned and fell away from God, we became incapable of doing good.

We were meant to function hand in hand with God. The Holy Spirit is supposed to be our fuel, keeping us going and drawing us closer to God. When we cut ourselves off from God, how are we supposed to do good without the Holy Spirit? We’re capable of no good without God, and that includes things like knowing God. Even just knowing God is a good thing, and without God, we’re not even capable of that.

So what’s the solution? We have to ask God for help in knowing God. That seems a little crazy, I know. It’s a bit of a mind-bender. Even in his seminal work, Confessions, Augustine of Hippo admits that this is incredibly confusing. How do I do that? How do I call on a God that I don’t know yet? I have to know Him to call on Him, don’t I? And yet, when a preacher brings that word, it provides enough information to help us call on Him. You are loyal, God. You listen, and you allow us to draw on you to know you better. The only real way to know God is through God. We need His help to even know Him.

That is applicable to us today as well. If you are in a place where you can’t see God—you are looking and you just can’t see Him in the world around you—ask him for help. Just pray a simple prayer: God, reveal yourself to me. Help me to see you in this world. Help me to know you better. Knock and the door will be opened.

Verse 66: From this time, many of his disciples turned back and no longer followed him. “You do not want to leave too, do you?” Jesus asked the twelve. We know Jesus knows the answer to this. That’s been one of the focuses throughout John chapter six. Every time there has been a question, the text tells us that Jesus already knew. It said just a few verses ago that Jesus already knew who was going to follow him and who wasn’t. He knows. But you have to imagine this is an emotionally charged question, because watching thousands of people turn away—thousands of people he loved, thousands of people he came here to save and to die for—watching them walk away must have broken his heart. He turns to the twelve: “You don’t want to leave me too, do you?” Simon Peter responds, “Lord, to whom shall we go?” What a beautiful response. Peter gets a lot of things wrong, but this is beautiful. Lord, to whom shall we go? Where else could we go? Jesus, this is home. We belong with you. We wouldn’t know where else to go. Of course, we’re going to be here.

Is Jesus your hope? Could you say that? Who else would we go to? There is nowhere else. I’ll be here no matter what; it’s where I belong. “You have the words of eternal life. We have come to believe and to know that you are the Holy One of God.” He doesn’t say, “We have come to believe that we believe in you,” or, “We’ve come to believe that it’s possible that you are the way.” He doesn’t say, “We have come to believe that we have faith that you are the one.” He says, “We believe and we know.” The witness of God opened his eyes. He doesn’t just theorize; he knows. The evidence is sufficient. He knows.

The Holy Spirit can do that. You can know who God is. Wouldn’t this be a perfect place to end? Honestly, for a while, I thought it ended there. Isn’t it a nice triumphal ending? Everyone leaves, but the disciples stay and they’re not going anywhere. It doesn’t end there, though; it goes on just a little more. Jesus replies, “Have I not chosen you, the twelve? Yet one of you is a devil.” He meant Judas, the son of Simon Iscariot, who, though one of the twelve, was later to betray him.

This is not the only time Jesus says something like this. There are multiple instances in Scripture where Jesus, in front of Judas, foretells that Judas will betray him. It doesn’t seem to change Judas’s mind. Judas does not seem to be someone who is particularly open to meditating on the words of Jesus. We’ve all known that person who, whenever they hear criticism, looks at everyone else. I imagine Judas is like that. If Judas were around today and working in an office, and the boss came out and said, “All right guys, this quarter we’re going to have to work extra hard. I know some people have been slacking. I need you to buckle down,” Judas would be there saying, “Yeah! I know you guys have been slacking. Time to get serious.” Meanwhile, Judas is the one sleeping at his desk. He doesn’t even recognize it. He just looks at everyone else and says they’re the problem.

I imagine Judas is in just the same place here. Judas unapologetically is the one who is going to betray Jesus, and yet when Jesus says, “One of you is going to betray me,” I imagine Judas looking really severely at everyone else, maybe even looking at Peter. But it’s Judas. He’s a hypocrite. He doesn’t think these things through.

The passage ends on a note of telling them that it’s not done. They have faith here and they’ve learned, but it’s not over. There is more to come. There are new challenges that they will have to learn to trust God through. They’ve learned to trust Jesus even when the crowd turns away, but now there is a new circumstance: one of the twelve will turn away. There’s something new that they will go through, and they will need a new depth of trust in Jesus because even one of the ones that he chose will turn away.

The Christian life is always one of new challenges. There’s never a moment where you just say, “I have faith in Jesus,” and you’re done, you’re finished, and you never have to worry about it again because you trust Him and that’s good forever. You will still be concerned, you will still be afraid, and you will still be confused. The Christian life continually involves gaining a new, deeper faith. There are always new things that you will wrestle with and new challenges that life throws at you. Can you trust Jesus there? Can you trust him in what’s next? That development of faith doesn’t end after you just do it once. Continually, we are invited to know him better and to trust him even more.

Here at the end, let’s ask our question one last time: If God is all-powerful, why doesn’t he give me what I want? Why doesn’t he guarantee health and wealth? God’s miracles are not at our beck and call; they’re at His. We can ask him for help, and sometimes we’ll get it, and sometimes we won’t. Ultimately, a big part of this is trusting his will. He’s made his will known to us; he’s told us what he’s seeking. He is seeking the end of sin and death itself. He is seeking something wonderful, and he’s trying to help us. He’s told us that.

Can we trust him? Can we trust him when things are easy and when things are hard, when we get the miracle and when we don’t? God has not promised us anything in this life; he’s promised us everything in the next. Do we believe that? Can we trust him? The disciples learned to trust him. The crowd did not; they found every excuse in the book. Can we trust him? We have to learn to trust if we really want to be followers of God—to trust that in all circumstances he is seeking our good, our wellness, and that he loves us immensely.

Amen.