The only way for salvation is through Jesus, the Good Shepherd, who calls His sheep by name “and the sheep follow him, for they know his voice.” Jesus says He is the door to life. “If anyone enters by Me, he will be saved… I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd gives His life for His sheep… Therefore My Father loves Me, because I lay down My life that I may take it again. No one takes it from Me, but I lay it down of Myself. I have the power to lay it down, and I have the power to take it again.” And soon Jesus is going to lay down His life for His flock. 

At the Feast of Dedication in Jerusalem, the Jews question Jesus about whether or not He is the Christ. So Jesus responds, “I told you, and you do not believe. The works that I do in My Father’s name, they bear witness of Me. But you do not believe, because you are not of My sheep, as I said to you. My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me. And I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; neither shall anyone snatch them out of My hand. My Father, who has given them to Me, is greater than all; and no one is able to snatch them out of My Father’s hand. I and My Father are one.”

Jesus says, “Strive to enter through the narrow gate, for many, I say to you, will seek to enter and will not be able. When once the Master of the house has risen up and shut the door, and you begin to stand outside and knock at the door, saying, ‘Lord, Lord, open for us,’ and He will answer and say to you, ‘I do not know you, where you are from,’ then you will begin to say, ‘We ate and drank in Your presence, and You taught in our streets.’ But He will say, ‘I tell you I do not know you, where you are from. Depart from Me, all you workers of iniquity.’ There will be weeping and gnashing of teeth, when you see Abraham and Isaac and Jacob and all the prophets in the kingdom of God, and yourselves thrust out. They will come from the east and the west, from the north and the south, and sit down in the kingdom of God. And indeed there are last who will be first, and there are first who will be last.”

Jesus grieves over the people in Jerusalem who are rejecting Him and ultimately rejecting the kingdom of God – “O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the one who kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to her! How often I wanted to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, but you were not willing!” 

Jesus desires for all to repent and turn to Him for salvation before it is too late, before your death or His return. Judgment is inevitable for those who ignore the word of God and reject His Son Jesus. Remember the flood, when Noah, a preacher of righteousness, warned the people for decades of the coming judgment and no one responded except for his seven family members who entered the ark with him. When God finally shut the door of the ark, it was too late for anyone on the outside to be saved. Jesus will soon compare His return to the days of Noah – “But of that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, but My Father only. But as the days of Noah were, so also will the coming of the Son of Man be. For as in the days before the flood, they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noah entered the ark, and did not know until the flood came and took them all away, so also will the coming of the Son of Man be” (Matthew 24:36-39). 

However, God is patient with us, not wishing that anyone should perish, desiring that we all repent and follow Him (2 Peter 3:9). Tomorrow Jesus explains what it will cost to be one of His followers. Keep reading. (John 10:1-42, Luke 13:22-14:24)

Jesus warns us to be alert because one day He will return – “Therefore you also be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect.” Jesus instructs us to be doing the will of the Lord while He is gone. He says that punishment will be worse for the ones who knew the will of the Father and chose to ignore it than for those who never knew – “For everyone to whom much is given, from him much will be required; and to whom much has been committed, of him they will ask the more.” The Lord will hold those that He entrusted with much in the way of gifts, knowledge, and responsibilities to a higher standard.

Judgment is going to come swiftly upon the unbelievers and on those who are falsely professing Jesus’ name with no life of obedience, which is a sign of their false belief. But to the ones whose hearts are surrendered to Him, Jesus says, “stay dressed for action and keep your lamps burning, and be like men who are awaiting their master to come home.”

Jesus warns that believers and unbelievers will be divided, and this division will split even blood-related families. Just like Jesus told the Jews that their salvation is not based on their bloodline to Abraham, our salvation is not based on any relationship other than a personal relationship with Jesus Christ.

Jesus continues to heal on the Sabbath. Today he heals a woman who had a spirit of infirmity for eighteen years and a man who was blind from birth. But once again the Pharisees are angry that Jesus “worked on the Sabbath”. So when the unbelieving Jews ask the formerly blind man’s parents who healed their son, the parents avoid answering the question “because they feared the Jews, for the Jews had agreed already that if anyone confessed that He was Christ, he would be put out of the synagogue.” 

Fear of man is a major stumbling block to professing Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior. As Solomon wrote, “The fear of man brings a snare, but whoever trusts in the Lord shall be safe” (Proverbs 29:25). However, unlike his parents, the man who was healed by Jesus can not deny Him. So he responds to the religious leaders, “Why, this is a marvelous thing, that you do not know where He is from; yet He has opened my eyes! Now we know that God does not hear sinners; but if anyone is a worshiper of God and does His will, He hears him. Since the world began it has been unheard of that anyone opened the eyes of one who was born blind. If this Man were not from God, He could do nothing.”

Jesus comes to open the eyes of the blind to truth and light. Whoever trusts in Jesus and proclaims Him as Lord and Savior will have eternal life. But those, like the Pharisees, who hear the truth and reject Him, will forever remain in darkness. Keep reading. (Luke 12:35-13:21, John 9:1-41)

Jesus says, “If you abide in My word, you are My disciples indeed. And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.” The only source of truth that we have is the word of God. And truth is what releases people from the bondage of sin and the enemy.

But the Jews say they have never been in bondage because they are descendants of Abraham. Jesus responds, “I know that you are Abraham’s descendants, but you seek to kill Me, because My word has no place in you… If you were Abraham’s children, you would do the works of Abraham. But now you seek to kill Me, a Man who has told you the truth which I heard from God. Abraham did not do this. You do the deeds of your father.” 

Jesus explains to them who their father is – “You are of your father the devil, and the desires of your father you want to do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaks a lie, he speaks from his own resources, for he is a liar and the father of it. But because I tell the truth, you do not believe Me. Which of you convicts Me of sin? And if I tell the truth, why do you not believe Me? He who is of God hears God’s words; therefore you do not hear, because you are not of God.”

There are only two walks of life: one of faith in Jesus (the righteous) and one of unbelief (the unrighteous). There is no in-between. You either belong to God, the Father of truth, or to Satan, the father of lies.

The unbelieving Jews ask Jesus if He is greater than their father Abraham. “Jesus said to them, ‘Most assuredly, I say to you, before Abraham was, I AM.’” Jesus calling Himself “I AM” is Him once again declaring to be the eternal God that existed before the life of Abraham. Remember I AM is the same name that God used to describe Himself to Moses at the burning bush (Exodus 3:14). Therefore, the Jews know that Jesus referring to Himself as I AM is the same as Jesus calling Himself God, which infuriates them. So “they took up stones to throw at Him; but Jesus hid Himself and went out of the temple, going through the midst of them, and so passed by.”

Then Jesus sends out seventy disciples two by two and says to them, “He who hears you hears Me, he who rejects you rejects Me, and he who rejects Me rejects Him who sent Me.” When the disciples return full of joy, they say, “Lord, even the demons are subject to us in Your name.” Jesus responds, “I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven. Behold, I give you the authority to trample on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy, and nothing shall by any means hurt you. Nevertheless do not rejoice in this, that the spirits are subject to you, but rather rejoice because your names are written in heaven.”

We end the reading with Jesus once again teaching the disciples about prayer. “So I say to you, ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened. If a son asks for bread from any father among you, will he give him a stone?… If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him!” 

The best gift anyone can receive is the Holy Spirit, the Helper, who seals the believers’ salvation, sanctifies us, provides wisdom, convicts us of sins, empowers us to be bold witnesses, and gifts us for the work of the ministry! So if you have not accepted Jesus Christ as your Savior and received the gift of the Holy Spirit and eternal life, repent of your sins and ask to be saved, and salvation will be given to you. Then you too will have your name written in heaven, just like the disciples we read about today. 

More teaching from Jesus tomorrow, so keep reading. (John 8:21-59, Luke 10:1-11:13)

Hostility toward Jesus begins to increase today, starting with His own brothers who do not believe that He is the Messiah. They try to get Jesus to prove Himself by telling Him to leave Galilee, where He is safe, and go to the Judea to attend the Feast of Tabernacles, also called the Feast of Booths, which is a Jewish celebration remembering God’s faithfulness to His people in their wilderness journey from Egypt to the promised land of Canaan. His brothers say “‘For no one does anything in secret while he himself seeks to be known openly. If You do these things, show Yourself to the world.’ For even His brothers did not believe in Him.”

Jesus’ brothers can only see ministry success through a worldly view by the popularity of the masses. They are currently spiritually blinded to true ministry success, which doesn’t involve Jesus being elevated on a platform — Jesus is going to be lifted up on a cross. However, Jesus knows that His time to lay down His life as the final sacrificial Lamb of God has not yet arrived. So He sends His brothers ahead and says, “I am not yet going up to this feast, for My time has not yet fully come.”

“Now it came to pass, when the time had come for Him to be received up, that He steadfastly set His face to go to Jerusalem, and sent messengers before His face. And as they went, they entered a village of the Samaritans, to prepare for Him. But they did not receive Him, because His face was set for the journey to Jerusalem.” The Samaritans incorrectly believe that Mount Gerizim is the one location you should go to worship the Lord. Therefore, they built a temple there instead of Jerusalem where the Jews worship. And although the Samaritan temple was destroyed by John Hyrcanus long before the arrival of Jesus, the Samaritans still worship on Mount Gerizim.

When the disciples see this rejection, they suggest that Jesus rain fire down on the Samaritans and kill them. But Jesus says no, “for the Son of Man did not come to destroy men’s lives but to save them.” Jesus always desires for the lost to repent and turn to Him to be saved so they may receive the gift of the Holy Spirit and eternal life. 

We see that Jesus is not bound to this world when a man asks to follow Him, and He responds, “Foxes have holes and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay His head.” Jesus knows this world is not His home. He has been sent here on a rescue mission by His Father.

When Jesus arrives at the Feast of Tabernacles, about the middle of the Feast, He goes to the temple and teaches. The Jews have been complaining about Jesus, with some saying He is a good man, others saying He is a deceiver, and some even saying He is demon-possessed. However, Jesus holds firm to the truth that He has been sent by His Father. He says, “You both know Me, and you know where I am from; and I have not come of Myself, but He who sent Me is true, whom you do not know. But I know Him, for I am from Him, and He sent Me.”

Jesus says, “I shall be with you a little while longer, and then I go to Him who sent Me. You will seek Me and not find Me, and where I am you cannot come.” The people are confused because they don’t realize He is speaking of heaven. Only those who believe in Jesus Christ as their Savior will go to heaven (John 14:6). That is why “On the last day, that great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried out, saying, ‘If anyone thirsts, let him come to Me and drink. He who believes in Me, as the Scripture has said, out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.’ But this He spoke concerning the Spirit, whom those believing in Him would receive; for the Holy Spirit was not yet given, because Jesus was not yet glorified.” Forty days after Jesus’ resurrection, He will ascend to heaven to sit at the right hand of His father; and ten days after Jesus’ coming ascension to heaven, on the Day of Pentecost, the Lord will pour the Holy Spirit upon His people.

There is division among the people about whether Jesus is the Christ. The Pharisees hold firm to their belief that Jesus is not. “Nicodemus (he who came to Jesus by night, being one of them) said to them, ‘Does our law judge a man before it hears him and knows what he is doing?’ They answered and said to him, ‘Are you also from Galilee? Search and look, for no prophet has arisen out of Galilee.’ And everyone went to his own house.” 

The Pharisees are wrong. They are so blinded by their hate and their desire to take Jesus down that they negate the actual historical facts. According to an excerpt from Easton’s Bible Dictionary, “This saying of theirs was ‘not historically true, for two prophets at least had arisen from Galilee, Jonah of Gath-hepher, and the greatest of all the prophets, Elijah of Thisbe, and perhaps also Nahum and Hosea. Their contempt for Galilee made them lose sight of historical accuracy.’” (Alford, Com.)

So the Pharisees are still trying to find a way to destroy Jesus by catching Him breaking the Law. They throw an adulterous woman at His feet to see if Jesus will stone her per the Law (Leviticus 20:10). Unlike the Pharisees, Jesus does not tear down others for his own personal agenda. He came to restore the lost. So Jesus rebukes the Pharisees, restores the woman, and responds to the crowd, “I am the light of the world. He who follows Me shall not walk in darkness, but have the light of life.”

Keep reading. (John 7:1-9, Luke 9:51-56, Matthew 8:18-22, Luke 9:57-62, John 7:10-8:20)

A man brings his demon-possessed son to Jesus for healing after the attempts made by His disciples failed. Jesus says to the man, “If you can believe, all things are possible to him who believes.” In response, the man cries out to Jesus in tears, “Lord, I believe, help my unbelief!” This man has some faith, but he trusts that Jesus will strengthen what little faith he has; which I’m sure increases while watching Jesus miraculously heal his son.

After Jesus heals the boy, the disciples ask why they couldn’t. Jesus says, “Because of your unbelief, for assuredly, I say to you, if you have faith as a mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there’, and it will move; and nothing will be impossible for you. However, this kind does not go out except by prayer and fasting.” The more time we spend praying to the Lord, the more we rely upon Him to work in our lives, which strengthens our relationship with God and grows our faith.

While Jesus and His disciples were staying in Galilee, “Jesus said to them, ‘The Son of Man is about to be betrayed into the hands of men, and they will kill Him, and the third day He will be raised up.’ And they were exceedingly sorrowful.” But the disciples were not sorrowful for long because soon their attention turns back to themselves and their best interests. They begin fighting with one another over who will be the greatest in the kingdom of heaven. So Jesus says to them, “If anyone desires to be first, he shall be last of all and servant of all.” Then Jesus takes a little child and says, “Unless you are converted and become as little children, you will by no means enter the kingdom of heaven. Therefore whoever humbles himself as this little child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven.”

Jesus explains that His mission is to “save that which was lost.” To illustrate His mission, Jesus tells a story of a man with a hundred sheep, but one goes astray. Jesus says that the man will leave the ninety-nine sheep to go after the one lost sheep, and if he finds it, “he rejoices more over that sheep than over the ninety-nine that did not go astray. Even so it is not the will of your Father who is in heaven that one of these little ones should perish.”

No one is too far from God! In Charles Spurgeon’s sermon One Lost Sheep, he encourages us to go after the lost as Jesus did:

“Go after them, for so our shepherd did. He braved the mountain’s slippery side. I do not suppose the shepherd had any greater love for mountain tracks than you have, but up the rough tracks He climbed, for the sheep’s sake. Go after sinners into their poverty and wretchedness, until you find them. 

“Here is one thing to cheer you. If you should win such a soul as that, you will have more joy, a great deal, than in saving those for whom you regularly labor—more joy over that lost one than over the ninety and nine hopeful ones. It will be such a support to your faith, such a boost for your joy, such a bright light to your labor to have won such a specially guilty one. I should not wonder but what you will talk about it for many a day, and it will be a source of strength to you when things are not quite as you would desire. Such converts are our crown of rejoicing. May I especially recommend that you make a trial of this extra sheep-seeking? If you do not succeed, you will have done no harm, for you will have copied your Lord and Master. But you will succeed, for He is with you, and His Spirit works by you.”

We end the reading with Jesus instructing us to go to a brother or sister in Christ and reconcile with them if we have been offended. He also says we should offer unlimited forgiveness to one another – “So My heavenly Father also will do to you if each of you, from his heart, does not forgive his brother his trespasses.” And later Jesus’ brother James will write, “For judgment is without mercy to the one who has shown no mercy. Mercy triumphs over judgment” (James 2:13).

More teaching from Jesus tomorrow, so keep reading. (Mark 9:14-29, Matthew 17:14-21, Luke 9:37-43a, Mark 9:30-32, Matthew 17:22-23, Luke 9:43b-45, Matthew 17:24-27, Mark 9:33-37, Matthew 18:1-6, Luke 9:46-48, Mark 9:38-41, Luke 9:49-50, Mark 9:42-50, Matthew 18:7-35)

Jesus asks His disciples, “Who do men say that I am?” They respond that some say He is John the Baptist, some say Elijah, and some say one of the prophets. Then Jesus, testing their faith, asks, “But who do you say that I am?”

Peter responds, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.” So Jesus says to Peter, “Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jonah, for flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but My Father who is in heaven. And I also say to you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build My church, and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it.”

The confession that Jesus is the Son of God is the rock on which the church will be built. Soon in the story, after the resurrection of Christ, those who believe in Him as the Son of God and receive the power of the Holy Spirit will begin gathering together to worship as the church, and they will be called Christians (Acts 11:26).

“From that time Jesus began to show to His disciples that He must go to Jerusalem, and suffer many things from the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and be raised the third day… Then Jesus said to His disciples, ‘If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me. For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake will find it. For what profit is it to a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul? Or what will a man give in exchange for his soul?’” 

Following Jesus in this dark world is not easy. He never says it will be. But it is so worth it. Nothing this world offers can satisfy the longings of your heart and give you the peace you desire besides an intimate relationship with Jesus Christ as your Savior. Paul will later write about this peace to the new Christians:

• “Now may the Lord of peace Himself give you peace always in every way. The Lord be with you all” (2 Thessalonians 3:16). 
• “Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God; and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus” (Philippians 4:7).
• “And let the peace of God rule in your hearts, to which also you were called in one body; and be thankful” (Colossians 3:15).  

We end the reading with Jesus taking Peter, James, and John up on a high mountain where Jesus is transfigured; His face is like the sun and His clothes white as the light. Moses and Elijah appear with Jesus, talking with Him “and spoke of His decease which He was about to accomplish at Jerusalem.”

When Jesus is alone again, the disciples ask Him why the scribes say Elijah must come first. Jesus responds, “‘Indeed, Elijah is coming first and will restore all things. But I say to you that Elijah has come already, and they did not know him but did to him whatever they wished. Likewise the Son of Man is also about to suffer at their hands.’ Then the disciples understood that He spoke to them of John the Baptist” (Malachi 4:5-6, Matthew 17:11-13).

Just as they killed John the Baptist, Jesus soon will be turned over to the cruel hands of men who will crucify Him. However, this is all part of God’s original plan that He laid out for us at the beginning of this story in Genesis 3:15. After the fall, God gave Adam and Eve a promise that He was sending them a Savior, and He gave them a picture of that promise when He killed an innocent animal and used the skin to cover the guilty, Adam and Eve. Jesus’ death, as the final atoning Sacrifice, will be sufficient to remove our sins and cleanse us for a right relationship with the Lord, which was broken back in the garden. Jesus will lay down His life, as prophesied throughout this entire story, to give us new life and to restore us to His Father. 

More teaching from Jesus tomorrow, so keep reading. (Mark 8:22-30, Matthew 16:13-20, Luke 9:18-20, Mark 8:31-9:1, Matthew 16:21-28, Luke 9:21-27, Mark 9:2-13, Matthew 17:1-13, Luke 9:28-36)

“Then Jesus went out from there and departed to the region of Tyre and Sidon. And behold, a woman of Canaan came from that region and cried out to Him, saying, ‘Have mercy on me, O Lord, Son of David! My daughter is severely demon-possessed.’”

Jesus initially doesn’t respond to the Gentile woman, and his disciples ask Him to send her away. Jesus says to the disciples, “I was not sent except to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.” And after the woman prayed a short but powerful prayer to Jesus – “Lord, help me!”, He responds, “Let the children be filled first, for it is not good to take the children’s bread and throw it to the little dogs.” 

Jesus’ response appears harsh. However, based on the commentaries that I read, Jesus is actually responding in a loving and merciful way, as He always does to anyone who throws themselves at His feet. The bread is the ministry of the gospel and the little children are the Jews, God’s chosen people. When Jesus first sent His disciples out, He told them to go to the lost sheep of the house of Israel, not the Gentiles or a city of Samaritans (Matthew 10:6). By God’s design, the Jews are first to receive the gospel. The dogs in Jesus’ statement are the Gentiles, as this is how the Jews perceive the Gentiles. But Jesus came to die for all. Therefore, after His death and resurrection, Jesus will send his disciples out to the Gentiles as well as the Jews, just as God planned before the foundation of the world (Ephesians 1:4-7). God worked His plan of salvation through His chosen people, the Jews, but eternal life is available for anyone who puts their trust in Jesus Christ as their Savior.

So instead of getting offended at what Jesus said, the woman is humble and persistent in her faith by responding, “‘Yes, Lord, yet even the little dogs under the table eat from the children’s crumbs.’ Then Jesus answered and said to her, ‘O woman, great is your faith! Let it be to you as you desire.’ And her daughter was healed from that very hour.” 

Jesus also, once again, shows compassion for the multitudes, about four thousand people, who have been with Him for three days with nothing to eat. Jesus says he wants to feed the crowd, and the disciples question Him saying, “Where could we get enough bread in the wilderness to fill such a great multitude?” Didn’t the disciples just see Jesus feed five thousand people with only five loaves and two fish (Matthew 14:13-21)? The disciples are still shaky in their faith. However, Jesus simply asks them how many loaves they have. Jesus knows the answer to this question, but He is asking for their benefit because He is patiently working to grow their faith in Him. So when they respond saying they have seven loaves and a few fish, Jesus does what Jesus always does — He makes possible what is seemingly impossible. He feeds the multitudes until they are filled, leaving seven baskets full of leftovers.

But the Pharisees are still trying to trap Jesus by asking Him to show them a sign. So Jesus rebukes them for not being discerning because they are blinded to Him as the Messiah. And Jesus warns His disciples of the false doctrine of the Pharisees and Sadducees. The Pharisees believe in justification by works and elevate the man-made laws over God’s commands. The Sadducees believe there is no resurrection, angels, or spirit. However, Jesus has been clear that salvation is obtained by grace through faith in Jesus Christ who will soon in the story die for our sins and rise three days later, defeating death.

Tomorrow Jesus has an encounter with Elijah and Moses. Keep reading. (Mark 7:24-30, Matthew 15:21-28, Mark 7:31-37, Matthew 15:29-31, Mark 8:1-10, Matthew 15:32-16:4, Mark 8:11-21, Matthew 16:5-12)

Today Jesus has two discussions regarding bread. First, the crowds find Jesus because they are looking for more of the bread He gave them in yesterday’s reading about the five loaves. Jesus says to them, “Do not labor for the food which perishes, but for the food which endures to everlasting life, which the Son of Man will give you, because God the Father has set His seal on Him.” The people want to know what work they must do to receive the food of everlasting life. Jesus responds, “This is the work of God, that you believe in Him whom He sent.” Jesus is saying that works don’t save — it is faith, and out of faith in Him our good works flow. The writer of Hebrews explains that it is impossible to please the Lord without faith – “And without faith it is impossible to please Him, for whoever would draw near to God must believe that He exists and that He rewards those who seek Him” (Hebrews 11:6).

Jesus says, “I am the bread of life. He who comes to Me shall never hunger, and he who believes in Me shall never thirst.” This is the first of seven “I Am” statements that Jesus will make to further reveal Himself. Remember when the Lord appeared to Moses at the burning bush and commissioned him to bring the Israelites out of Egypt, He told Moses to tell the Israelites that “I Am” sent him (Exodus 3:14). In Jesus’ “I Am” statements, He is describing Himself as the spiritual life-giving Messiah, the Son of God – “Most assuredly, I say to you, Moses did not give you the bread from heaven, but My Father gives you the true bread from heaven. For the bread of God is He who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.”

However, this statement is extremely perplexing to the Jews who are trying to figure out how they would receive eternal life by eating the flesh of the son of Joseph and Mary, whom they know. But instead of making it clearer for them, Jesus does the opposite by saying, “Most assuredly, I say to 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 him up at the last day. For My flesh is food indeed, and My blood is drink indeed. He who eats My flesh and drinks My blood abides in Me, and I in him. As the living Father sent Me, and I live because of the Father, so he who feeds on Me will live because of Me. This is the bread which came down from heaven—not as your fathers ate the manna, and are dead. He who eats this bread will live forever.”

The Jews don’t understand that Jesus is the final Sacrifice who has come to shed His blood so that we may have eternal life. That is why today we take communion by eating the bread and drinking the juice as a symbolic act to remember what He did on our behalf. After Jesus’ death, Paul is going to say, “For as often as you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death till He comes” (1 Corinthians 11:26).

The second conversation around bread is when the Pharisees see Jesus’ disciples eating bread without washing their hands. These hard-hearted religious ones have a certain way they wash their hands in order to be deemed clean, and they look down upon anyone who doesn’t adhere to their standards. But Jesus has a rebuking word for the religious leaders. He calls the Pharisees hypocrites and quotes Isaiah – “This people honors Me with their lips, but their heart is far from Me. And in vain they worship Me, teaching as doctrines the commandments of men” (Mark 7:6-7, Matthew 15:8-9, Isaiah 29:13). Once again Jesus makes clear that He is not impressed with any outward ritual acts of worship or obedience. Jesus is going after the hearts of the people, and from a true heart change a desire for obedience will follow.

Jesus calls out the religious ones for upholding the traditions of man over God’s commandments. He explains that what you put into your body doesn’t defile you; it is what comes out of your body from your heart – “For out of the heart proceed evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, blasphemies. These are the things which defile a man, but to eat with unwashed hands does not defile a man.”

We also learn today that many disciples leave Jesus because of their lack of faith. And soon one of Jesus’ twelve disciples is going to betray Him, and Jesus knows exactly who it is – “‘Did I not choose you, the twelve, and one of you is a devil?’ He spoke of Judas Iscariot, the son of Simon, for it was he who would betray Him, being one of the twelve.” However, this is all part of God’s plan to redeem mankind. Remember, nothing surprises the Lord! So keep reading to see His perfect plan unfold. (John 6:22-71, Mark 7:1-23, Matthew 15:1-20)

“At that time Herod the tetrarch heard the report about Jesus and said to his servants, ‘This is John the Baptist; he is risen from the dead, and therefore these powers are at work in him.’ For Herod had laid hold of John and bound him, and put him in prison for the sake of Herodias, his brother Philip’s wife. Because John had said to him, ‘It is not lawful for you to have her.’ And although he wanted to put him to death, he feared the multitude, because they counted him as a prophet.”

John the Baptist was sent to prison for telling King Herod it was unlawful to marry Herodias, his brother’s wife. Herodias was furious at John for rebuking them and wanted to have him killed “but she could not; for Herod feared John, knowing that he was a just and holy man, and he protected him.”

However, Herodias got an opportunity to destroy John the Baptist when her daughter was dancing for her husband, King Herod, and all the other important men in Galilee at Herod’s birthday dinner. Herod was so pleased with the girl that he told her he would give her anything she wanted, up to half the kingdom! 

The excited girl ran to her mom to bounce off ideas of all the amazing things she could possibly ask for. Herodias, full of anger and bitterness which blinded her to her daughter’s best interests or to pleasing her husband, told the girl to ask for John the Baptist’s head on a platter. “So she, having been prompted by her mother, said, ‘Give me John the Baptist’s head here on a platter.’ And the king was sorry; nevertheless, because of the oaths and because of those who sat with him, he commanded it to be given to her. So he sent and had John beheaded in prison. And his head was brought on a platter and given to the girl, and she brought it to her mother. Then his disciples came and took away the body and buried it, and went and told Jesus.”

“When Jesus heard it, He departed from there by boat to a deserted place by Himself. But when the multitudes heard it, they followed Him on foot from the cities. And when Jesus went out He saw a great multitude; and He was moved with compassion for them, and healed their sick.” When evening comes, the disciples ask Jesus to send the crowd home so they may find food to eat. “Then Jesus lifted up His eyes, and seeing a great multitude coming toward Him, He said to Philip, ‘Where shall we buy bread, that these may eat?’ But this He said to test him, for He Himself knew what He would do.” 

Jesus is not only concerned with caring for the masses, He is also training and teaching His disciples so that their faith may increase. So Jesus performs a miracle by feeding about five thousand men, plus their wives and children, with five loaves of bread and two fish. “Then those men, when they had seen the sign that Jesus did, said, ‘This is truly the Prophet who is to come into the world.’”

We end the reading with Jesus walking on water to meet His disciples who are struggling in a boat during a windstorm. Peter asks if he can walk on the water to meet Jesus, and Peter does well staying on top of the water as long as his gaze is fixed upon Jesus. But as soon as he takes his eyes off Jesus and puts them on his surrounding circumstances, he becomes fearful and begins to sink. So Jesus rebukes Peter by saying, “O you of little faith, why did you doubt?” 

Even Peter, Jesus’ disciple, is on a faith journey just like Abraham, just like Isaac, just like Jacob, and just like all the men and women of God before him and since him. The Lord will never give up on His chosen ones. God has big plans for Peter! And Jesus will continue to grow Peter into the man who will start the church. 

Keep reading to see Peter become all that the Lord has planned for him to be. (Luke 9:7-9, Mark 6:14-29, Matthew 14:1-21, Mark 6:30-44, Luke 9:10-17, John 6:1-15, Mark 6:45-52, Matthew 14:22-33, John 6:16-21, Mark 6:53-56, Matthew 14:34-36)