Hanukkah
It’s the feast of Dedication, which
takes place in mid-December. The celebration is now called Hanukkah,
or the festival of lights. It is held in remembrance of the
restoration of the Temple in 165 BC by Judas Maccabeus. The
Maccabean revolt had been triggered by Antiochus Epiphanes, the king
of Syria, sacrificing a sow on the alter in the temple. It resulted
in three years of war. The temple was then re-dedicated on the 25th
day of Kislev.
Thoughts of the Jews
So the thoughts of the Jews were very
much on the overthrow of the Romans and once again bringing Jerusalem
under Jewish rule. For that they needed the long promised Messiah,
and they had an ideal candidate in their midst.
Solomon’s Colonnade
Jesus was teaching in Solomon’s
Colonnade, a walkway covered by a roof with pillars along each side.
It overlooked the Kidron valley and was a popular place for people to
meet and talk because it provided protection from the rain in winter
and the sun in summer.
Is He the Christ?
The Jews encircled him, they wanted
an answer. “Tell us plainly, once and for all, are you the Christ
or aren’t you? Don’t keep us in suspense.” It’s not meant
to be a trick question, they genuinely want to know. They have seen
and heard things, there is no way you could deny that there was
something special about Jesus, He was clearly anointed by God, but is
He the Christ?
If He is, they will get behind him
and the next revolt can get underway, if He’s not they will
probably just ignore Him and go about their festivities.
I told you
Jesus says “I did tell you” and
refers them to the miracles they have seen. It’s the same answer
that he gave to John the baptist’s followers when John was in
prison. “Go back and report to John what you hear and see: The
blind receive sight, the lame walk, those who have leprosy are
cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the good news is
proclaimed to the poor.” (Matt 11:4-5)
The evidence is there, the question
is do you believe it? The question is as valid today as it was in
Jesus’ time. Do you believe that Jesus is the son of the Almighty
God? Do you believe that He came to die for our sins and restore our
relationship with God? Do you believe that, if you believe in Him
you have eternal life?
These Jews don’t believe
These Jews clearly do not believe and
Jesus follows on with the same metaphor He had been using before the
question arose. “you do not believe because you are not my sheep.
My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me.”
Sheep, like a well trained dog who
knows the voice of its master, know their shepherd. They will not
follow anyone else, but when they hear the shepherd they will follow.
Promises
Then Jesus makes some extraordinary
promises. “I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish;
no one can snatch them out of my hand. My Father, who has given them
to me, is greater than all; no one can snatch them out of my Father’s
hand. I and the Father are one.”
We are His sheep?
These are Jesus’s words to His
followers then and to His followers now. I wonder, when we hear
these words, do we hear Jesus behind them, are are they just words
from and old dusty book. How deep do they get into our
personalities, into the beliefs that operate our lives? Are they
strong enough to cast out our fears of the world and what the world
can do to us?
Disturbing Messages
I ask, because in the last few of
weeks I have heard reports about people I respect as Christians that
suggest that perhaps they don’t believe these words any more that
the Jews surrounding Jesus did. Instead they hold beliefs that come
from other religions – beliefs in karma and re-incarnation. There
is no evidence for either of these beliefs in the Bible.
Now, it is just hearsay, but it set
me thinking, wondering what our beliefs really are, what MY beliefs
really are.
What we really believe will
ultimately drive what we do when things get difficult in life.
Peter
In our reading from Acts, Peter was
someone who really believed. Let’s take a look at that story now,
and see what we can learn.
Lydda
Peter has been travelling around
visiting various Christian communities. He has stopped in Lydda,
where he has healed a man named Aeneas who had been paralysed and
bedridden for eight years. Lydda is two to three miles north of the
road connecting Joppa to Jerusalem. Joppa is about 35 miles from
Jerusalem and is a historic port town. It’s the place Jonah sailed
from.
Joppa
In Joppa there is a disciple, a
follower of Jesus, named Tabitha, or Gazelle, if the translation were
into English. She has a reputation for doing good and looking after
the poor – most likely the widows of the town. She has become ill
and died.
Peter
Word that Peter is staying just down
the road, so to speak, had reached the Christians in Joppa. Peter is
the leader of their faith and was clearly well known. He also has a
reputation for having the gift of healing. So two men are sent to go
and get him. They will have to travel about 11-12 miles each way –
over 4 hours walk.
Tabitha
Tabitha’s body has been washed
already, so she has been dead a while when Peter finally arrives in
Joppa. He is taken to the room where she has been laid and
introduced to the widows who tell him about all the good things she
has done. Peter would have known the expectation that the Christians
in Joppa had.
Peter – doubts?
Did Peter have doubts going into the
room? Or perhaps on the journey from Lydda? We will never know, but
from what we know of Peter, it seems unlikely. He simply did what he
had seen His Lord do. What he has seen, and learnt from was the
raising of Jairus’s Daughter.
Jairus’ Daughter (Luke 8:49-53)
While Jesus was still speaking,
someone came from the house of Jairus, the synagogue ruler. “Your
daughter is dead,” he said. “Don’t bother the teacher any
more.” Hearing this, Jesus said to Jairus, “Don’t be afraid;
just believe, and she will be healed.” When he arrived at the
house of Jairus, he did not let anyone go in with him except Peter,
John and James, and the child’s father and mother. Meanwhile, all
the people were wailing and mourning for her. “Stop wailing,”
Jesus said. “She is not dead but asleep.” They laughed at him,
knowing that she was dead. But he took her by the hand and said, “My
child, get up!” Her spirit returned, and at once she stood up.
Then Jesus told them to give her something to eat.
Belief
Peter believed that raising the dead
was possible because he had seen Jesus do it. He believed what Jesus
said about Eternal life because he had seen the risen Jesus, spoken
to Him, eaten with Him. Peter knew though, that it was not something
he could do himself. That is where we see the most significant
difference in the two stories. When Peter was in the room with
Tabitha, he was alone, and before he said anything he knelt beside
her and prayed. We don’t know what he said, or what he heard, we
just know the outcome. He had not given the believers any hope, or
made any promises, he had simply prayed and in doing so had
understood God’s will. If she hadn’t been raised, if he had come
out of the room and had to tell the disciples she was dead, the story
probably wouldn’t have been reported, but he didn’t because he
had prayed and his prayer had been answered. Not only did the
disciples have Tabitha back, but the fact that she was raised became
widely known, and many became believers because of that miracle.
Those are the people who recognised the true shepherd, heard his
voice and followed Him.
What is following?
One definition of a follower, a
disciple, is someone who finds out what God is doing and joins in.
To do that we have to see what is going on around us, and listen to
what God is saying to us. When we hear His voice we must obey. We
won’t all have the gift of healing, but there are many different
gifts that God gives us.
References
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