While some were saying, ‘He is a good man,’ others were saying, ‘No, he is deceiving the crowd.’ John 7:12.

Let us wander through the fourth gospel using a ‘reading, meditating, praying’ sequence to help us understand who Jesus was (and is).

They are Jesus’ last days on earth. In John 7 the ‘countdown to Jerusalem’ begins – his last visit to the ‘holy city’ before being crucified there in the coming spring. Read John 7:1-13: Jesus’ contemporaries were divided about him. (‘He is a deceiver’; ‘he is a good man’). His enemies wanted to kill him. Some in the crowd complained about him. Even his brothers failed to understand his mission and did not believe in him. Their suggestion: ‘Forget your resistance to the devil’s temptations and show your power anyway!’

Meditate: With all this ‘to-ing and fro-ing’ what was Jesus’ response? He was clearly not in the ‘victim mode’ but was in complete control. ‘My time has not yet come.’ Why was he not harried by all the opposition – even from within his own family? He seems to be serenely in charge of his destiny. How does anyone get to be like that? (And something else: Jesus says he had invited the world’s enmity because he spoke out against its evil. Have you, have I ever suffered for that reason?)

Lord, I affirm that peace does not come in the absence of trouble; it is an inner serenity even in the midst of trouble. Jesus wasn’t joking when he promised peace unlike anything the world can give… Amen.

Related Articles:

• Lovers Of Pleasure More Than Lovers Of God
• My God Turns My Darkness Into Light
• God Will Redeem My Life From The Grave
• Blessed Are Those Whose Strength Is In You
• My Times Are In Your Hands

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