Chapter Twenty-five

The week of July 8


Jesus the Son of God

Jesus certainly became well known and drew a crowd to His teaching and healing. But His goal was not popularity, but allegiance from His followers. He had authority but wanted people to be disciples not merely of His teaching, but to give Him their personal loyalty. His claim was not just as the greatest person who ever lived, but direct lineage with His Father God…He was the Son of God.

PP 353-5 After many months living among the twelve and through the small towns of Galilee Jesus asked His disciples about their knowledge of Him: Who do people say that I am? Who do you say that I am?

Peter was the first to speak and was often wrong at other times, but this time he was right: You are the Christ (Messiah), the Son of the living God. Jesus used this occasion to confirm this but warned the disciples that He would suffer, rejected and killed, only to be raised again. Peter protested against this but Jesus showed that God’s plan doesn’t always match with man’s ways. (Jesus often told of His identity, the news that He would die by the Jewish authorities, and that people were not to tell this to others. Why?) In fact, a disciple of Jesus must deny their own interests and take up their cross (an agent of death) to follow Him. Why was Peter correct in his first response and wrong in his second? Why do we want the authoritative Jesus but not the suffering One? Why are we averse to suffering in our following Jesus?

Close to a week later a transfiguration took place in which the three closest disciples witnessed a transfigured Jesus conversing with Moses and Elijah about His exodus, or His departure from the earth. Imagine being in this dreamy state and awakening to speak. We might have been like Peter in wanting to build three tents to prolong the experience.

Pp 355-8 Controversy surrounded Jesus. Would he be public in Jerusalem or not? Was he the Messiah or not? Would He be arrested or not? Jesus used these times to introduce important topics, such as: If thirsty people believe in Me, rivers of living water will flow from within them (speaking of His Holy Spirit).

Jesus spoke other shocking things. He was the Light of the world. He would go to a place that others could not follow. He was the Truth; His disciples would know that truth and be set free. Before Abraham, the founding patriarch even existed, Jesus said: I AM. This was a direct claim to deity for earlier God had said He was I AM to Moses. People predictably picked up rocks to stone Jesus, but He slipped away.

PP 358-61  Near the end of His ministry Jesus was given word that His friend Lazarus was sick but He deliberately did not go to him. Then word came that Lazarus had died and Jesus did go to Bethany, even though Bethany was close to the hotbed Jerusalem.

Jesus expressed compassion at the graveside of Lazarus, brother to followers Mary & Martha. He also expressed authority to have the concealing rock removed from the tomb so the resuscitated Lazarus could rejoin his family, four days after he had died! This miracle was a billboard directing people to see Jesus and the once-dead Lazarus. The miracle doubled the efforts of the religious authorities in Jerusalem to kill Jesus so their freedom of movement would not be taken from them by the Romans. How does one action produce such opposite results?

Pp 361-3  Jesus was unafraid of the authorities and acted like Himself at all times. He welcomed children to sit with Him while the disciples thought: He was too busy for that. People must enter His kingdom with the discovery, trusting spirit like children. Rich people have so many things as distractions, it is harder for them to enter the kingdom.

When you do follow, you will be rewarded a hundred times over, including in persecutions. On the way to Jerusalem, Jesus again warned of His impending condemnation by the Jews and death by the gentiles (Romans). His rising after three days was also told. The people of Jerusalem knew of the intrigue. Would Jesus even show?

Pp 363-6  Jesus arrived at Jerusalem for Passover week riding on a donkey, not a stallion. The people cheered Him, praising in Messianic words: Blessed is He Who comes in the Name of the Lord. Jesus accepted this praise then went to the Temple and threw out those doing business, who had no place there. At the temple Jesus healed those who came to Him. During the week Jesus taught and the people hung on every word. He even caught the leaders in a conundrum: How could David have called his descendent ‘Lord’?

Jesus continued His calling to trust His heavenly Father. He challenged others to do the same. Meanwhile the stage was set for a dramatic, cosmic encounter: God’s good versus Satan’s evil. The future of humanity would be in the balance.