John 7:31-38
New International Version (NIV)
31 Still, many in the crowd believed in him. They said, “When the Messiah comes, will he perform more signs than this man?”
32 The Pharisees heard the crowd whispering such things about him. Then the chief priests and the Pharisees sent temple guards to arrest him.
33 Jesus said, “I am with you for only a short time, and then I am going to the one who sent me. 34 You will look for me, but you will not find me; and where I am, you cannot come.”
35 The Jews said to one another, “Where does this man intend to go that we cannot find him? Will he go where our people live scattered among the Greeks, and teach the Greeks? 36 What did he mean when he said, ‘You will look for me, but you will not find me,’ and ‘Where I am, you cannot come’?”
Earthly vs. spiritual. It's really the battle of the ages, isn't it? We are entrenched in the earthly, and Jesus calls us to the spiritual, the otherworldly, the bigger-than-life. It's funny (sad funny, not ha-ha funny) how amazingly short sided these Pharisees are. They are masters of the law, of scripture. Yet when presented with the very pinnacle of their faith, they can't see past the ends of their own noses. "Is he going to the Greeks?" Well, yes, in fact, but that was hardly the point.
His point was that he is not physical. He is spiritual. And as long as they were physical, they could not follow him.
And so it is with us. As long as we are thinking and living physically, we can't follow Jesus. Of course that doesn't mean that we can't live physically in this body. It means that we can't think, focus, and live for physical things. If we do, we won't be able to see Jesus or understand His teachings.
When I was a kid, there were certain people at church who I KNEW weren't living right. And in my childish naivety, I was astounded that they could sit through service after service, even pray or lead the Lord's supper or what have you, and not feel compelled to change their lives.
As an adult, I understand. It's happened to me, of course, just as it has happened to each of us. You begin to focus on things that don't really matter. You set your sights on them. And soon, the Word begins to fall on deaf ears and a hardened heart. It can't reach you, because you are so very physical. And when something finally breaks through, you wonder how on earth you ever got that far from where you were.
It's hard to live every day focusing on the unseen. But if we ever want to follow Jesus - in this life or the next - that's exactly what we must do.
32 The Pharisees heard the crowd whispering such things about him. Then the chief priests and the Pharisees sent temple guards to arrest him.
33 Jesus said, “I am with you for only a short time, and then I am going to the one who sent me. 34 You will look for me, but you will not find me; and where I am, you cannot come.”
35 The Jews said to one another, “Where does this man intend to go that we cannot find him? Will he go where our people live scattered among the Greeks, and teach the Greeks? 36 What did he mean when he said, ‘You will look for me, but you will not find me,’ and ‘Where I am, you cannot come’?”
Earthly vs. spiritual. It's really the battle of the ages, isn't it? We are entrenched in the earthly, and Jesus calls us to the spiritual, the otherworldly, the bigger-than-life. It's funny (sad funny, not ha-ha funny) how amazingly short sided these Pharisees are. They are masters of the law, of scripture. Yet when presented with the very pinnacle of their faith, they can't see past the ends of their own noses. "Is he going to the Greeks?" Well, yes, in fact, but that was hardly the point.
His point was that he is not physical. He is spiritual. And as long as they were physical, they could not follow him.
And so it is with us. As long as we are thinking and living physically, we can't follow Jesus. Of course that doesn't mean that we can't live physically in this body. It means that we can't think, focus, and live for physical things. If we do, we won't be able to see Jesus or understand His teachings.
When I was a kid, there were certain people at church who I KNEW weren't living right. And in my childish naivety, I was astounded that they could sit through service after service, even pray or lead the Lord's supper or what have you, and not feel compelled to change their lives.
As an adult, I understand. It's happened to me, of course, just as it has happened to each of us. You begin to focus on things that don't really matter. You set your sights on them. And soon, the Word begins to fall on deaf ears and a hardened heart. It can't reach you, because you are so very physical. And when something finally breaks through, you wonder how on earth you ever got that far from where you were.
It's hard to live every day focusing on the unseen. But if we ever want to follow Jesus - in this life or the next - that's exactly what we must do.
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