Nicode’mus, who had gone to him before, and who was one of them, said to them, “Does our law judge a man without first giving him a hearing and learning what he does?”
They replied, “Are you from Galilee too? Search and you will see that no prophet is to rise from Galilee.”
John 7:50-52
As we draw deeper into the season of Lent, the Church’s readings take us closer to the events that led to Jesus’ death.
Today, the Gospel describes the discussions amongst the people and the pharisees about the identity of Jesus.
Some people after hearing Jesus were convinced that he was the Christ.
However, there was a big stumbling block for those who refused to believe that Jesus was the Christ.
The stumbling block to their faith was their understanding of Jesus’ physical heritage, or place of origin.
Since Jesus family settled in Nazareth in Galilee during His childhood, and as He began His public ministry there, many people assumed that He was a Galilean.
The word “assumed” reveals that contrary to what they thought they knew about Jesus’ origin, they didn’t know fully.
They had incomplete or a wrong understanding of Jesus’ origin.
Despite His works being evident as proceeding from God, this limitation stopped them from accepting Him as the Christ.
They even used scriptures to back their falsely held conviction.
However, they failed to also recall the prophecy as referred to in Matthew 2:23 that (the Christ) shall be called a Galilean.
If they had cared to dig a bit deeper into who Jesus was, they would have known that Joseph (his foster father) was from the City and line of David.
It’s easy for us to unpick the errors and oversight of the pharisees and those who refuted Jesus as the Christ, but we also easily fall into similar errors.
How often have we wrongly identified individuals or groups based on what we’ve heard about them?
Even as the Body of Christ, how often have we misjudged each other based on false identities we have of one another.
In this season of Lent and in this period of trial when the LORD is working to renew His Church and His world, it is time to let go of false identification of ourselves and others!
Now more than ever, God is calling us to unite in love and truth.
When we hear rumours, rather than being quick to spread misinformation, let us dig deeper in search for truth.
Our calling is to be minsters that bring the light, truth and hope of Jesus Christ (as the Risen Messiah and Saviour) to the world.
Let us hold steadfast to this call and trust God’s power to heal us and help us.
Prayer
LORD Jesus, we’re sorry for the many times we have failed You by wrongly identifying You as someone else.
We repent of our failure to humble ourselves, to simply accept Your Word and Truth.
Please forgive us LORD for our judgemental thoughts and actions towards others.
Today LORD, we want to begin again to seek Your love and truth with humble and reverent hearts.
Deliver us from falsehood and lift us up by the power of Your Holy Spirit to see You clearly as our only Messiah, our LORD and Saviour.
Thank You God for hearing us and strengthening us.
Amen.
Always & Forever,
To the Lamb,
With all my ❤
28 Mar 2020