Mission Faithwalk

  “I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. The hired hand is not the shepherd and does not own the sheep. So when he sees the wolf coming, he abandons the sheep and runs away. Then the wolf attacks the flock and scatters it. The man runs away because he is a hired hand and cares nothing for the sheep . (John 10:10)           It’s odd in a way; Joseph told his brothers not to admit to the Egyptians that they were shepherds, because the Egyptians despised shepherds. David was the despised little brother who was sent off to mind the sheep. Folks in Jesus’ day didn’t think much of shepherds. I can’t really blame them. I suspect I’m like most people: lambs are cute, but sheep are smelly, stupid, stubborn, and silly. They are useful, but not something I would want to have in my back yard. And those who care for them spend a lot of time outside with them. At least back in Jesus’ day, I’ve no doubt they smelled like sheep.          This is the image J

          “Very truly I tell you Pharisees, anyone who does not enter the sheep pen by the gate, but climbs in by some other way, is a thief and a robber.   The one who enters by the gate is the shepherd of the sheep.   The gatekeeper opens the gate for him, and the sheep listen to his voice. He calls his own sheep by name and leads them out.   When he has brought out all his own, he goes on ahead of them, and his sheep follow him because they know his voice.   But they will never follow a stranger; in fact, they will run away from him because they do not recognize a stranger’s voice.” Jesus used this figure of speech, but the Pharisees did not understand what he was telling them.           Therefore Jesus said again, “Very truly I tell you, I am the gate for the sheep. All who have come before me are thieves and robbers, but the sheep have not listened to them.   I am the gate; whoever enters through me will be saved. They will come in and go out, and find pasture.   The th

            Jesus heard that they had thrown him out, and when he found him, he said, “Do you believe in the Son of Man?”          “Who is he, sir?” the man asked. “Tell me so that I may believe in him.”                  Jesus said, " You have now seen him; in fact, he is the one speaking with you.”            [Then the man said, “Lord, I believe,” and he worshiped him.                         Jesus said, ] “For judgment I have come into this world, so that the blind will see and those who see will become blind.”                         Some Pharisees who were with him heard him say this and asked, “What? Are we blind too?”                         Jesus said, “If you were blind, you would not be guilty of sin; but now that you claim you can see, your guilt remains. (John 9:35-41)                     This morning, we should begin with a technical note. The portion of the text in brackets is not included in early manuscripts. It makes perfect sense in light of the r

          A second time they summoned the man who had been blind. “Give glory to God by telling the truth,” they said. “We know this man is a sinner.”                 He replied, “Whether he is a sinner or not, I don’t know. One thing I do know. I was blind but now I see!”                Then they asked him, “What did he do to you? How did he open your eyes?”                   He answered, “I have told you already and you did not listen. Why do you want to hear it again? Do you want to become his disciples too?”                Then they hurled insults at him and said, “You are this fellow’s disciple! We are disciples of Moses! We know that God spoke to Moses, but as for this fellow, we don’t even know where he comes from.”                 The man answered, “Now that is remarkable! You don’t know where he comes from, yet he opened my eyes.   We know that God does not listen to sinners. He listens to the godly person who does his will.   Nobody has ever heard of opening the

            As he went along, he saw a man blind from birth. His disciples asked him, “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?”            “Neither this man nor his parents sinned,” said Jesus, “but this happened so that the works of God might be displayed in him.   As long as it is day, we must do the works of him who sent me. Night is coming, when no one can work. While I am in the world, I am the light of the world.”            After saying this, he spit on the ground, made some mud with the saliva, and put it on the man’s eyes. “Go,” he told him, “wash in the Pool of Siloam” (this word means “Sent”). So the man went and washed, and came home seeing.            His neighbors and those who had formerly seen him begging asked, “Isn’t this the same man who used to sit and beg?” Some claimed that he was.           Others said, “No, he only looks like him.”            But he himself insisted, “I am the man.”            “How then were your e

            The Jews answered him, “Aren’t we right in saying that you are a Samaritan and demon-possessed?”           “I am not possessed by a demon,” said Jesus, “but I honor my Father and you dishonor me.   I am not seeking glory for myself; but there is one who seeks it, and he is the judge. Very truly I tell you, whoever obeys my word will never see death.”          At this they exclaimed, “Now we know that you are demon-possessed! Abraham died and so did the prophets, yet you say that whoever obeys your word will never taste death. Are you greater than our father Abraham? He died, and so did the prophets. Who do you think you are?”          Jesus replied, “If I glorify myself, my glory means nothing. My Father, whom you claim as your God, is the one who glorifies me.   Though you do not know him, I know him. If I said I did not, I would be a liar like you, but I do know him and obey his word.   Your father Abraham rejoiced at the thought of seeing my day; he saw it

          To the Jews who had believed him, Jesus said, “If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples. Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”        They answered him, “We are Abraham’s descendants and have never been slaves of anyone. How can you say that we shall be set free?”          Jesus replied, “Very truly I tell you, everyone who sins is a slave to sin. Now a slave has no permanent place in the family, but a son belongs to it forever.   So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed.   I know that you are Abraham’s descendants. Yet you are looking for a way to kill me, because you have no room for my word. I am telling you what I have seen in the Father’s presence, and you are doing what you have heard from your father.”           “Abraham is our father,” they answered.          “If you were Abraham’s children,” said Jesus, “then you would do what Abraham did. As it is, you are looking for a way to kill me, a man who has

          When Jesus spoke again to the people, he said, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.”         The Pharisees challenged him, “Here you are, appearing as your own witness; your testimony is not valid.”           Jesus answered, “Even if I testify on my own behalf, my testimony is valid, for I know where I came from and where I am going. But you have no idea where I come from or where I am going. You judge by human standards; I pass judgment on no one. But if I do judge, my decisions are true, because I am not alone. I stand with the Father, who sent me. In your own Law it is written that the testimony of two witnesses is true.   I am one who testifies for myself; my other witness is the Father, who sent me.”           Then they asked him, “Where is your father?”          “You do not know me or my Father,” Jesus replied. “If you knew me, you would know my Father also.”   He spoke these words

            But Jesus went to the Mo unt of Olives.   At dawn he appeared again in the temple courts, where all the people gathered around him, and he sat down to teach them.   The teachers of the law and the Pharisees brought in a woman caught in adultery. They made her stand before the group   and said to Jesus, “Teacher, this woman was c aught in the act of adultery.   In the Law Moses commanded us to stone such women. Now what do you say?” They were using this question as a trap, in order to have a basis for accusing him.          But Jesus bent down and started to write on the ground with his finger.   When they kept on questioning him, he straightened up and said to them, “Let any one of you who is without sin be the first to throw a stone at her.” Again he stooped down and wrote on the ground.                At this, those who heard began to go away one at a time, the older ones first, until only Jesus was left, with the woman still standing there.   Jesus straigh

             Finally the temple guards went back to the chief priests and the Pharisees, who asked them, “Why didn’t you bring him in?”          “No one ever spoke the way this man does,” the guards replied.           “You mean he has deceived you also?” the Pharisees retorted.   “Have any of the rulers or of the Pharisees believed in him? No! But this mob that knows nothing of the law—there is a curse on them.”          Nicodemus, who had gone to Jesus earlier and who was one of their own number, asked, “Does our law condemn a man without first hearing him to find out what he has been doing?”               They replied, “Are you from Galilee, too? Look into it, and you will find that a prophet does not come out of Galilee.” (John 7:45-52)             After more debating and controversy, the temple guard that was sent out to arrest Jesus returned to the chief priests and Pharisees empty handed. Apparently, they had listened to what Jesus had to say. The chief priest

           At that point some of the people of Jerusalem began to ask, “Isn’t this the man they are trying to kill?   Here he is, speaking publicly, and they are not saying a word to him. Have the authorities really concluded that he is the Messiah? But we know where this man is from; when the Messiah comes, no one will know where he is from.”               Then Jesus, still teaching in the temple courts, cried out, “Yes, you know me, and you know where I am from. I am not here on my own authority, but he who sent me is true. You do not know him, but I know him because I am from him and he sent me.”                         At this they tried to seize him, but no one laid a hand on him, because his hour had not yet come.   Still, many in the crowd believed in him. They said, “When the Messiah comes, will he perform more signs than this man?”          The Pharisees heard the crowd whispering such things about him. Then the chief priests and the Pharisees sent temple guards to

          Not until halfway through the festival did Jesus go up to the temple courts and begin to teach. The Jews there were amazed and asked, “How did this man get such learning without having been taught?”                Jesus answered, “My teaching is not my own. It comes from the one who sent me.   Anyone who chooses to do the will of God will find out whether my teaching comes from God or whether I speak on my own. Whoever speaks on their own does so to gain personal glory, but he who seeks the glory of the one who sent him is a man of truth; there is nothing false about him. H as not Moses given you the law? Yet not one of you keeps the law. Why are you trying to kill me?”                 “You are demon-possessed,” the crowd answered. “Who is trying to kill you?”                Jesus said to them, “I did one miracle, and you are all amazed. Yet, because Moses gave you circumcision (though actually it did not come from Moses, but from the patriarchs), you circumcise a

After this, Jesus went around in Galilee. He did not want to go about in Judea because the Jewish leaders there were looking for a way to kill him. But when the Jewish Festival of Tabernacles was near,   Jesus’ brothers said to him, “Leave Galilee and go to Judea, so that your disciples there may see the works you do. No one who wants to become a public figure acts in secret. Since you are doing these things, show yourself to the world.”   For even his own brothers did not believe in him.          Therefore Jesus told them, “My time is not yet here; for you any time will do. The world cannot hate you, but it hates me because I testify that its works are evil.   You go to the festival. I am not going up to this festival, because my time has not yet fully come.” After he had said this, he stayed in Galilee.           However, after his brothers had left for the festival, he went also, not publicly, but in secret. Now at the festival the Jewish leaders were watching for Jesus