3/10/11
Matthew 14:22-36 --- Mark 6:45-56 --- John 6:15-71
Matthew 14:22 Immediately he made the disciples get into the boat and go on ahead to the other side, while he dismissed the crowds. 23 And after he had dismissed the crowds, he went up the mountain by himself to pray. When evening came, he was there alone, 24 but by this time the boat, battered by the waves, was far from the land, for the wind was against them. 25 And early in the morning he came walking toward them on the sea. 26 But when the disciples saw him walking on the sea, they were terrified, saying, “It is a ghost!” And they cried out in fear. 27 But immediately Jesus spoke to them and said, “Take heart, it is I; do not be afraid.”
28 Peter answered him, “Lord, if it is you, command me to come to you on the water.” 29 He said, “Come.” So Peter got out of the boat, started walking on the water, and came toward Jesus. 30 But when he noticed the strong wind, he became frightened, and beginning to sink, he cried out, “Lord, save me!” 31 Jesus immediately reached out his hand and caught him, saying to him, “You of little faith, why did you doubt?” 32 When they got into the boat, the wind ceased. 33 And those in the boat worshiped him, saying, “Truly you are the Son of God.”
Jesus Heals the Sick in Gennesaret (Mk 6.53—56)
34 When they had crossed over, they came to land at Gennesaret. 35 After the people of that place recognized him, they sent word throughout the region and brought all who were sick to him, 36 and begged him that they might touch even the fringe of his cloak; and all who touched it were healed.
Jesus Walks on the Water (Mt 14.22—33; Jn 6.15—21) (Mk 6.53—56)
Mark 6:45 Immediately he made his disciples get into the boat and go on ahead to the other side, to Bethsaida, while he dismissed the crowd. 46 After saying farewell to them, he went up on the mountain to pray.
47 When evening came, the boat was out on the sea, and he was alone on the land. 48 When he saw that they were straining at the oars against an adverse wind, he came towards them early in the morning, walking on the sea. He intended to pass them by. 49 But when they saw him walking on the sea, they thought it was a ghost and cried out; 50 for they all saw him and were terrified. But immediately he spoke to them and said, “Take heart, it is I; do not be afraid.” 51 Then he got into the boat with them and the wind ceased. And they were utterly astounded, 52 for they did not understand about the loaves, but their hearts were hardened.
Healing the Sick in Gennesaret (Mt 14.34—36)
53 When they had crossed over, they came to land at Gennesaret and moored the boat. 54 When they got out of the boat, people at once recognized him, 55 and rushed about that whole region and began to bring the sick on mats to wherever they heard he was. 56 And wherever he went, into villages or cities or farms, they laid the sick in the marketplaces, and begged him that they might touch even the fringe of his cloak; and all who touched it were healed.
John 6:15 When Jesus realized that they were about to come and take him by force to make him king, he withdrew again to the mountain by himself.
Jesus Walks on the Water (Mt 14.22—33; Mk 6.45—52)
16 When evening came, his disciples went down to the sea, 17 got into a boat, and started across the sea to Capernaum. It was now dark, and Jesus had not yet come to them. 18 The sea became rough because a strong wind was blowing. 19 When they had rowed about three or four miles, they saw Jesus walking on the sea and coming near the boat, and they were terrified. 20 But he said to them, “It is I; do not be afraid.” 21 Then they wanted to take him into the boat, and immediately the boat reached the land toward which they were going.
The Bread from Heaven
22 The next day the crowd that had stayed on the other side of the sea saw that there had been only one boat there. They also saw that Jesus had not got into the boat with his disciples, but that his disciples had gone away alone. 23 Then some boats from Tiberias came near the place where they had eaten the bread after the Lord had given thanks. 24 So when the crowd saw that neither Jesus nor his disciples were there, they themselves got into the boats and went to Capernaum looking for Jesus.
25 When they found him on the other side of the sea, they said to him, “Rabbi, when did you come here?” 26 Jesus answered them, “Very truly, I tell you, you are looking for me, not because you saw signs, but because you ate your fill of the loaves. 27 Do not work for the food that perishes, but for the food that endures for eternal life, which the Son of Man will give you. For it is on him that God the Father has set his seal.” 28 Then they said to him, “What must we do to perform the works of God?” 29 Jesus answered them, “This is the work of God, that you believe in him whom he has sent.” 30 So they said to him, “What sign are you going to give us then, so that we may see it and believe you? What work are you performing? 31 Our ancestors ate the manna in the wilderness; as it is written, ‘He gave them bread from heaven to eat.’ ” 32 Then Jesus said to them, “Very truly, I tell you, it was not Moses who gave you the bread from heaven, but it is my Father who gives you the true bread from heaven. 33 For the bread of God is that which comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.” 34 They said to him, “Sir, give us this bread always.”
35 Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never be hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty. 36 But I said to you that you have seen me and yet do not believe. 37 Everything that the Father gives me will come to me, and anyone who comes to me I will never drive away; 38 for I have come down from heaven, not to do my own will, but the will of him who sent me. 39 And this is the will of him who sent me, that I should lose nothing of all that he has given me, but raise it up on the last day. 40 This is indeed the will of my Father, that all who see the Son and believe in him may have eternal life; and I will raise them up on the last day.”
41 Then the Jews began to complain about him because he said, “I am the bread that came down from heaven.” 42 They were saying, “Is not this Jesus, the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know? How can he now say, ‘I have come down from heaven’?” 43 Jesus answered them, “Do not complain among yourselves. 44 No one can come to me unless drawn by the Father who sent me; and I will raise that person up on the last day. 45 It is written in the prophets, ‘And they shall all be taught by God.’ Everyone who has heard and learned from the Father comes to me. 46 Not that anyone has seen the Father except the one who is from God; he has seen the Father. 47 Very truly, I tell you, whoever believes has eternal life. 48 I am the bread of life. 49 Your ancestors ate the manna in the wilderness, and they died. 50 This is the bread that comes down from heaven, so that one may eat of it and not die. 51 I am the living bread that came down from heaven. Whoever eats of this bread will live forever; and the bread that I will give for the life of the world is my flesh.”
52 The Jews then disputed among themselves, saying, “How can this man give us his flesh to eat?” 53 So 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 Those who eat my flesh and drink my blood have eternal life, and I will raise them up on the last day; 55 for my flesh is true food and my blood is true drink. 56 Those who eat my flesh and drink my blood abide in me, and I in them. 57 Just as the living Father sent me, and I live because of the Father, so whoever eats me will live because of me. 58 This is the bread that came down from heaven, not like that which your ancestors ate, and they died. But the one who eats this bread will live forever.” 59 He said these things while he was teaching in the synagogue at Capernaum.
The Words of Eternal Life(Num 29.7—11)
60 When many of his disciples heard it, they said, “This teaching is difficult; who can accept it?” 61 But Jesus, being aware that his disciples were complaining about it, said to them, “Does this offend you? 62 Then what if you were to see the Son of Man ascending to where he was before? 63 It is the spirit that gives life; the flesh is useless. The words that I have spoken to you are spirit and life. 64 But among you there are some who do not believe.” For Jesus knew from the first who were the ones that did not believe, and who was the one that would betray him. 65 And he said, “For this reason I have told you that no one can come to me unless it is granted by the Father.”
66 Because of this many of his disciples turned back and no longer went about with him. 67 So Jesus asked the twelve, “Do you also wish to go away?” 68 Simon Peter answered him, “Lord, to whom can we go? You have the words of eternal life. 69 We have come to believe and know that you are the Holy One of God.” 70 Jesus answered them, “Did I not choose you, the twelve? Yet one of you is a devil.” 71 He was speaking of Judas son of Simon Iscariot, for he, though one of the twelve, was going to betray him.
Devotionals, Videos and more ...
by Bill Federer
26-year-old William Penn received from King Charles the charter to Pennsylvania on this date, March 10, 1681, as repayment of a debt owed to his deceased father. An Oxford graduate, Penn converted to Quakerism and was imprisoned in the Tower of London. His colony became a refuge for the persecuted peoples of Europe. Penn wrote to the Indians, whom he insisted on treating fairly: “My Friends, There is one… God…. [and He] hath made… the king of the country where I live, give… unto me a great province therein, but I desire to enjoy it with your… consent, that we may always live together as… friends.”
Federer, B. (2003). American minute. St. Louis, MO.: Amerisearch, Inc.
by D.H. Stern
Possessions acquired quickly at first
will not be blessed in the end.
Don’t say, “I’ll pay back evil for evil”;
wait for ADONAI to save you.
Stern, D. H. (1998). Complete Jewish Bible-OE
: An English version of the Tanakh (OT) and
B'rit Hadashah (NT) (1st ed.). Clarksville, Md.: Jewish
New Testament Publications.
by Oswald Chambers
Have a message and be one
Preach the word. --- 2 Tim. 4:2.
We are not saved to be “channels only,” but to be sons and daughters of God. We are not turned into spiritual mediums, but into spiritual messengers; the message must be part of ourselves. The Son of God was His own message, His words were spirit and life; and as His disciples our lives must be the sacrament of our message. The natural heart will do any amount of serving, but it takes the heart broken by conviction of sin, and baptized by the Holy Ghost, and crumpled into the purpose of God, before the life becomes the sacrament of its message.
There is a difference between giving a testimony and preaching. A preacher is one who has realized the call of God and is determined to use his every power to proclaim God’s truth. God takes us out of our own ideas for our lives and we are “batter’d to shape and use,” as the disciples were after Pentecost. Pentecost did not teach the disciples anything; it made them the incarnation of what they preached—“Ye shall be witnesses unto Me.”
Let God have perfect liberty when you speak. Before God’s message can liberate other souls, the liberation must be real in you. Gather your material, and set it alight when you speak.
v. 70. Jesus answers the great lack in Peter. We cannot answer for others.
Chambers, O. (1993). My Utmost for His Highest
the Poetry of R.S. Thomas
Relations
An ordinary lot:
The sons dwindling from a rich
Father to a house in a terrace
And furniture of the cheap sort;
The daughters respectable, marrying
Approved husbands with clean shoes
And collars; as though dullness
And nonentity's quietness
Were virtues after the crazed ways
Of that huge man, their father,
buying himself
Smiles, sailing his paper money
From windows of the Welsh hotel
He had purchased to drown in drink.
But one of them was drowned
Honorably. A tale has come down
From rescuers, forced to lie off
By the breakers, of men lined up
At the rail as the ship foundered,
Smoking their pipes and bantering.
And he
Was of their company; his tobacco
Stings my eyes, who am ordinary too.
R.S. Thomas - Ingrowing Thoughts Ingrowing Thoughts (Poetry Wales poets)
Berakhot 32b
Rabban Gamliel and Rabbi Elazar offer two radically different approaches to life and to many of the situations we face. On the one hand, we have Rabban Gamliel who holds up a very high standard for scholars. Their insides should equal their outsides. Today, those who enter seminaries for religious study and ordination are often carefully scrutinized so that not only their intelligence—the outside—but also their personalities, moral qualities, and attributes like compassion and understanding—the inside—meet the highest standards.
On the other hand, we find those following the approach of Rabbi Elazar, who believes that anyone who wants to study should be welcome, at whatever level. Academies of learning—college, universities, adult education programs—cannot be only for those who are already knowledgeable. Part of the purpose of schooling is to help perfect the student who is, by definition, imperfect. How much poorer our Judaism would be today without the innumerable contributions of teachers like Rabbi Akiva whose learning, piety, and love of the Jewish people did not blossom until later in life!
Many of us have faced a similar dilemma when we have been forced to make a decision about health care: Which doctor should we choose? What standard should we use in making this choice? One option may be a physician who is proven by years of experience to be an expert diagnostician. Her knowledge and expertise are renowned, though she is a bit aloof and scholarly at times and lacks bedside manners. The other choice is a doctor who is known for her kindness and warmth rather than for being “the best in the field.” We know that we will find personal attention and kindness in this doctor, as well as competence, if not excellence. How can we make a proper decision?
The answer may lie in an interesting historical note: Some time after the rebellion, Rabban Gamliel was apparently reinstated as head of the study house, with Rabbi Elazar ben Azariah serving either under him or as a second dean. Perhaps the scholars of that era had come to some accommodation, realizing that not only was the standard of Rabban Gamliel too high, but that of Rabbi Elazar was too lenient; having both men in charge was an attempt to find the perfect balance.
When facing an important decision, we, much like the Rabbis in the study house, can try to find the same balance between the two extremes. The story of Rabban Gamliel and Rabbi Elazar ben Azariah shows us not only how these approaches play themselves out in real life, but also how we can use the positive standards of each position to make our own sound decisions.
The gates of tears are not closed.
Text / Rabbi Elazar said: “From the day the Temple was destroyed, the gates of prayer have been closed, as it says: ‘And when I shout and plead, He shuts out my prayer’ [Lamentations 3:8, author’s translation]. But even though the gates of prayer are closed, the gates of tears are open, as it says: ‘Hear my prayer, O Lord, give ear to my appeal; do not disregard my tears’ [Psalms 39:13, author’s translation].
Context / Rabbi Elazar’s comment—“From the day the Temple was destroyed, the gates of prayer have been closed”—might be puzzling to the modern mind. We would expect just the opposite from the Rabbis, that the destruction of the Temple with its elaborate sacrificial system led to the development of prayer rather than its demise! In our minds, Jews who were no longer able to offer animal sacrifices on the altar turned to the gates of prayer, what the Rabbis called “service [worship] of the heart,” as opposed to worship by sacrifices (the same Hebrew word, avodah is used for both types of worship). The Rabbis, however, saw the Temple as a central focus of Jewish worship and its destruction as a diminution of the power of prayer.
Rabbi Elazar is commenting on the efficacy of prayer. He sees that many prayers go unanswered by God and presents as proof a verse from Lamentations, one of the saddest books of the Bible. After the destruction of the Temple, it appears that God does not listen to prayers. How else could the author cry and plead before God with no answer? However, when tears are added, as proved by the verse from Psalms, God cannot disregard prayer. Rashi and Tosafot, medieval commentators on the Talmud, note that Rabbi Elazar’s interpretation of the verse seems to be: God will automatically hear the prayer of one who prays with tears. Tears alone are enough for acceptance by God.
This is not to say that Rabbi Elazar would necessarily devalue all ritual and rote prayer. He simply adds that we cannot expect the prayers to have an impact on God if they are routine formulas that do not have personal involvement. Rabbi Elazar knows that tears symbolize the sincerity, emotions, and involvement of the worshiper. The gates of heaven are open to the person who not only says the right words, but also has the emotions to back up these words. Prayer is ultimately effective when accompanied by tears.
Katz, M., & Schwartz, G. (1998). Swimming in the Sea of Talmud: Lessons for Everyday LIving
. Philadelphia, PA: The Jewish Publication Society.by Diana Wallis
As a father has compassion on his children, so the LORD has compassion on those who fear him. --- Psalm 103:13
The father will have compassion on his children to remove their dreads. Some people seem to take delight in frightening children with bogey stories so that they hardly dare go out at night, but a kind father, if he finds his children frightened so, explains it all to them—he does not like to see them blanched with fear or haunted with terror. It may be that some here present are suffering because they are afraid. Are any of you under a dread of some boding evil? Be sure of this: your heavenly Father feels compassion for you.
Some hymns speak of death as associated with pains and groans and agonizing strife. Very much of that is old bogey. How many of God’s people have we seen die without pains or groans or dying strife! I remember one who all her lifetime was afraid of death; she retired as usual to bed one night, and when they went to call her in the morning, there she lay with a sweet smile on her face; she had gone to heaven in her sleep. It was evident she never knew anything about it.
Are God’s people by their observation of other saints driven to conclude that death is always the terrible thing the world says it is? There may be some whom God puts to bed in the dark, as we sometimes do our children, but usually he takes the candle with him and sits and talks with his children till they fall asleep. And [when they] wake up, there they are among the angels. God kisses the souls of his saints out of their bodies.
Go to your heavenly Father and tell him you are frightened, and he has ways of taking away these fears. For though they may be ridiculous to some, a child’s dreads are never too frivolous for the sympathy of a loving father, but he meets them as if there were some great reality in them and so sets them aside.
Whatever then your need, your woe, your grief, go to your Father and he will give you comfort. Believe from this night forward that God does pity all those who fear him, and whatever he sees of weakness in their nature and of sorrow in their lot he will help them. So may you find it now and evermore, for Christ’s sake. Amen. --- C. H. Spurgeon
Wallis, D. (2001). Take Heart: Daily Devotions with the Church's Great Preachers
Various responsibilities (Lev. 19).
Many of the regulations in this chapter expand on the basic Ten Commandments. Not only is a person not to kill, but also “not do anything that endangers your neighbor’s life” (v. 16). Respect is to be shown for the elderly (v. 32), and aliens who live in the land are to be given the same consideration as those native-born.
But mixed with these regulations which show deep moral responsibility to others are also cultic rules: do not mate different kinds of animals, do not plant two kinds of seed in the same field (v. 19), do not “cut the hair at the sides of your head or clip off the edges of your beard” (v. 27).
In the Old Testament the cultic regulations which were designed simply to mark Israel as different, and the moral regulations which guard the value of every individual, are mixed together. When we move to the New Testament, the cultic is set aside. But the moral obligations that are expressed in Old Testament laws are repeated as life-principles for believers of every day and age.
Punishments (Lev. 20). This chapter established the death penalty for a number of different sins, with lesser penalties indicated by “he will be held responsible.” Does the death penalty here suggest a harsher society? No, for that penalty is imposed not for a private kind of criminal act like theft, but only for sins which threaten the whole community.
Sins which would shatter the integrity of the family as the basic unit of society are particularly in view here, as is spiritism, which draws the hearts of the people away from the Lord.
Richards, L., & Richards, L. O. (1987). The Teacher's Commentary
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