Be Still And Know

1 John 1:3-4 'We proclaim to you what we ourselves have actually seen and heard so that you may have fellowship with us. And our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son, Jesus Christ. We are writing these things so that you may fully share our joy.' As a teenager, I developed a great interest in the law, and often visited the local Magistrates’ and Crown Courts. I was gripped by them. To describe these as eye-opening experiences would be a considerable understatement. Having been brought up in a very loving Christian home, I was learning about a world of which I knew nothing at all. I soon learnt the way in which the courts worked, and I recall the way in which the magistrate or judge would insist that witnesses stuck to their own personal memory. The moment they strayed into talking about what they had heard from other people they were quickly told to get back to their own experiences. John knew the importance of sticking to his own personal witness. He had had the immense privilege of listening t

1 John 1:1 'We proclaim to you the one who existed from the beginning, whom we have heard and seen. We saw him with our own eyes and touched him with our own hands. He is the Word of life.' Most of the letters in the New Testament start with a greeting in which the author identifies himself. The only exceptions to this are the letter to the Hebrews and this first letter of John. It seems to me that John was so eager to share his message that he hadn’t got time for such pleasantries! He wanted everyone to know that Jesus really was the Son of God and that he came and lived a fully human life here on earth. John wrote this letter about 100 years, or two generations, after the end of Jesus’ earthly ministry. Some people had come up with the theory that Jesus wasn’t really human at all but merely appeared to be human. But John would have none of it. He knew for certain that Jesus really did come to this earth because he had seen him with his own eyes – and even touched him. Throughout the centuries, there has

Psalm 106:6-7 'Like our ancestors, we have sinned. We have done wrong! We have acted wickedly! Our ancestors in Egypt were not impressed by the Lord’s miraculous deeds. They soon forgot his many acts of kindness to them. Instead, they rebelled against him at the Red Sea.' I strongly recommend that you read through this psalm and the previous one because they are twins. In Psalm 105 we hear about all the amazing things that God did to guide and strengthen his people from their earliest days until their entry into the promised land. Now, in Psalm 106, the psalmist takes another tour through the history of God’s people and concludes that, humanly speaking, it was a complete disaster. Just as God was consistently faithful and loving, his people were repeatedly faithless and disobedient. But the psalmist didn’t simply point the finger at people in the past. He recognised that his own generation was also guilty of disobeying God and forgetting to walk in his ways. As we look back through human history, there is

Psalm 105:1-2 'Give thanks to the Lord and proclaim his greatness. Let the whole world know what he has done. Sing to him; yes, sing his praises. Tell everyone about his wonderful deeds.' In this beautiful psalm, the writer rooted his praise in the way in which God had acted in history. He looked back to the way in which God had led Abraham, Jacob, Joseph and Moses. Through the years God had been consistently faithful to his people and they had every reason to rejoice. This psalm was written for a very specific moment in Israel’s history when David brought the ark to the place of meeting in Jerusalem. In 1 Chronicles 16:7 we are told that David gave Asaph and his fellow Levites this psalm as a song of thanksgiving to the Lord. It wasn’t a general song of worship but one which specifically charted the way in which God had been at work amongst his people. We need to remember our history. A birthday is a brilliant moment for looking back, and every church is wise to have a specific moment in its year whe

Psalm 104:24-25 'O Lord, what a variety of things you have made! In wisdom you have made them all. The earth is full of your creatures. Here is the ocean, vast and wide, teeming with life of every kind, both large and small.' Many of the psalmists use the wonder of creation as a springboard for their worship. This particular psalm does so by reminding us of the six days of creation. The poetic language is beautiful. Take for example day one when God made light. He writes: “You are dressed in a robe of light. You stretch out the starry curtain of the heavens; you lay out the rafters of your home in the rain clouds. You make the clouds your chariot; you ride upon the wings of the wind. The winds are your messengers; flames of fire are your servants” (Psalm 104:2-4). As he looks through the days of creation it becomes clear that God didn’t create the world and then disappear, but continues to have an active involvement in his creation. It is good for us to spend time reflecting on creation because, as we do s

Psalm 103:2-4 'Let all that I am praise the Lord; may I never forget the good things he does for me. He forgives all my sins and heals all my diseases. He redeems me from death and crowns me with love and tender mercies.' This psalm begins with King David talking to himself! He called to mind the fact that his life had been wonderfully blessed by God and concluded that his whole being needed to be involved in giving thanks for God’s generosity to him. In the words of the famous hymn ‘Praise my soul, the King of heaven’ he had been “ransomed, healed, restored, forgiven”. Perhaps, as he wrote this psalm, he had in mind his adulterous affair with Bathsheba. He had foolishly strayed from God’s way and one disaster followed another until he repented and received God’s healing and forgiveness. As he reflected on the way that God had dealt with him, he not only praised the Lord but also urged the whole world to join him. In the final verse, he proclaims: “Praise the Lord, everything he has created, everything in

Psalm 102:11-12 'My life passes as swiftly as the evening shadows. I am withering away like grass. But you, O Lord, will sit on your throne forever. Your fame will endure to every generation.' We are often reminded of the fragility and brevity of life. A couple of days ago, a cyclist was knocked over and killed by a lorry on a roundabout which I often use. Death is never far away, and the psalmists often reflect on that. In this particular psalm, the writer was in a dreadful state. He had lost his appetite and was reduced to skin and bones. He couldn’t sleep and was surrounded by people who mocked and cursed him. Nothing seemed to be going right. He lashed out at God, whom he accused of picking him up and throwing him out. But amid his groaning, he recognised that God would live for ever, and he looked forward to the fact that future generations would praise God and thrive in his presence (v.28). The brevity and fragility of life shouldn’t depress us, but encourage us to see our lives within the bigger co

John 12:3 'Mary took a twelve-ounce jar of expensive perfume made from essence of nard, and she anointed Jesus’ feet with it, wiping his feet with her hair. The house was filled with the fragrance.' The anointing of Jesus by Mary was a beautiful act of devotion, but it is hard not to have at least some sympathy for Judas, who pointed out that the precious perfume would have cost the equivalent of one year’s wages. That’s a great deal of money. We know that Judas was a thief and that his motives were entirely bad, but anyone might question the wisdom of spending such a huge amount of money in that way. However, incredible generosity is the natural language of love. She was devoted to Jesus and I am sure that, so far as she was concerned, no gift could have been too lavish or generous for her Lord. I love the fact that the fragrance of the perfume filled the house. I’m sure it did, and probably for many days afterwards. And 2,000 years later her lavish generosity still gives us a beautiful insight into the

John 11:33-36 When Jesus saw Mary weeping and saw the other people wailing with her, a deep anger welled up within him, and he was deeply troubled. “Where have you put him?” he asked them. They told him, “Lord, come and see.” Then Jesus wept. The people who were standing nearby said, “See how much he loved him!” Very soon after this, Lazarus was brought back to life. But we shouldn’t rush past this moment of intense emotion and anger. Jesus was up against the great enemy of death, and he is clearly overwhelmed by the sense of tragedy. He had the power to overcome death but, in this moment, he fully entered into the sheer sadness of the situation. His dear friends Mary and Martha were clearly grief stricken and, as he went to see the body of Lazarus, nothing could hold him back from weeping. Those who looked on immediately saw this as a clear sign of his love for Lazarus. Even though Jesus was the resurrection and the life, he entered fully into the emotional turmoil of this sad situation. The writer to

John 11:25-26 Jesus told Martha, “I am the resurrection and the life. Anyone who believes in me will live, even after dying. Everyone who lives in me and believes in me will never ever die.” Jesus had known for some days that Martha’s brother Lazarus was seriously ill, but he had decided not to visit. So when he finally arrived in Bethany, Lazarus had already been dead for four days. Martha clearly regretted the fact that Jesus had taken so long. She immediately blurted out: “Lord, if only you had been here, my brother would not have died” (John 11:21). Nevertheless, Martha had confidence in Jesus and, shortly afterwards, this was fully justified as Jesus raised Lazarus from death. We can’t be sure why Jesus decided to delay his visit to see his friends in Bethany but, arriving four days after his death, no one could possibly question the fact that Lazarus was indeed dead. So, when he was brought back to life, there was no question that what had happened was completely miraculous. Jesus had already spoken

John 10:19-21 NLT The people were again divided in their opinions about him. Some said, “He’s demon possessed and out of his mind. Why listen to a man like that?” Others said, “This doesn’t sound like a man possessed by a demon! Can a demon open the eyes of the blind?” I am so grateful for the complete honesty of the Gospel writers. They were clearly deeply committed followers of Jesus and it would surely have been tempting for them to have chosen to ignore the opposition that Jesus faced. But they didn’t! They are astonishingly honest about the way in which Jesus brought division between people throughout his ministry. And it wasn’t simply a case of people liking or not liking his teaching. Some people believed that he was mad and demon possessed. The fact is, of course, that Jesus has always divided opinion and still does. Richard Dawkins, the well-known atheist, recently conceded that, on the balance of probabilities, Jesus did exist. Although he also once stated that: “Somebody as intelligent as Jesus wou

John 10:14-15 “I am the good shepherd; I know my own sheep, and they know me, just as my Father knows me and I know the Father. So I sacrifice my life for the sheep.” Years ago, I read a book about Eleanor Philby who was married to the spy, Kim Philby. I was stunned to discover that Eleanor never had any idea that her husband was a secret agent. That seemed incredible to me at the time, but the truth is that our knowledge of even our nearest and dearest is always limited. We know much about them but there will always be aspects of their lives which we do not know. But that is not the case when it comes to the Lord Jesus Christ. He knows us completely. There are no dark corners of our lives that he does not know. This could all sound thoroughly intimidating were it not for the fact of his complete love for us. His willingness to die for us shows the full extent of his love, and so we can feel not only safe but affirmed and encouraged by his knowledge of us. In the Old Testament God is often compared with a

John 9:24-25 For the second time the Pharisees called in the man who had been blind and told him, “God should get the glory for this, because we know this man Jesus is a sinner.” “I don’t know whether he is a sinner,” the man replied. “But I know this: I was blind, and now I can see!” The Pharisees were fuming. Jesus had just healed a blind man and they were determined to do anything possible to prove that Jesus hadn’t really healed the man. He confirmed that Jesus had given him back his sight, but they were still unconvinced and so they interviewed the man’s parents. They confirmed that he had been born blind, but had no idea how he had received his sight or who had performed the miracle. John adds that the parents were fearful of the Jewish leaders who had announced that anyone who said that Jesus was the Messiah would be expelled from the synagogue. So the parents tried to brush off the Pharisees by encouraging them to have a word with their son. “He is old enough. Ask him,” they said. The Pharisees we

John 8:12    Jesus spoke to the people once more and said, “I am the light of the world. If you follow me, you won’t have to walk in darkness, because you will have the light that leads to life.” Jesus spoke these words during the festival of tabernacles, which was a seven-day holiday at the end of the harvest. It was one of three pilgrimage festivals, so Jerusalem would have been heaving with people. On the first evening of the festival there was a ceremony called ‘the illumination of the temple’ which took place in the court of the women. Four great candelabra were placed in the centre of the court and, when darkness came, they were lit. It is said that the light from them was so great that every courtyard in the city was illuminated by their brilliance. It must have been quite a sight! This was a powerful backdrop to Jesus’ claim to be the light of the world. In the Old Testament, time and again God is identified as being light; there is no doubt that in this bold statement Jesus was claiming to be the Son

John 8:7   Jesus said, “Let the one who has never sinned throw the first stone!” By this time, Jesus had become a deeply controversial person in Jerusalem, and the Pharisees and teachers of the religious law were looking for a way to trap him. They brought to him a woman who had been caught in the act of adultery. Presumably they also caught a man at the same time but, interestingly, we hear nothing of him. The religious leaders reminded Jesus that according to the law of Moses, anyone who committed adultery should be stoned to death. They wanted to know Jesus’ response. It was a clever trap because if Jesus suggested that he disagreed with the Mosaic law, they would have had all the proof they needed that he was a heretic. But if he took a hard line and encouraged the stoning of this woman, his reputation for kindness and compassion would be shattered, and he would also have run into difficulties with the Romans who were proud of their exclusive right to execute people. Jesus’ response was incredibly wise. S

John 6:66-69  At this point many of his disciples turned away and deserted him. Then Jesus turned to the Twelve and asked, “Are you also going to leave?” Simon Peter replied, “Lord, to whom would we go? You have the words that give eternal life. We believe, and we know you are the Holy One of God.” Up until now Jesus seemed to have been attracting more and more followers. In John 4 we hear that he was attracting more disciples than John the Baptist and, even in the hostile territory of Samaria, people were believing in him. In the Galilean region of northern Israel, he had miraculously fed thousands of people but the next day, the mood was very different. He spoke seriously to his followers about the nature of the bread that he was offering them, and that this was, in fact, his flesh. They concluded: “This is very hard to understand. How can anyone accept it?” (John 6:60). As a result, many turned away and deserted him. Jesus’ question to his remaining disciples is heart-rending: “Are you also going to leave?

John 6:33-35  The true bread of God is the one who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.”  “Sir,” they said, “give us that bread every day.”  Jesus replied, “I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never be hungry again. Whoever believes in me will never be thirsty.”  When I was a boy, bread, so far as I can recall, was only offered to us in two forms, either brown or white. These days, there is brioche, ciabatta, focaccia, multigrain, naan, pitta, rye, sourdough, whole wheat…to name but a few! I never imagined that bread could be so interesting. But the fact is, however interesting it may be, it can never ultimately satisfy us. We will always need more. When Jesus identified himself as the bread of life, he was claiming that we would never need to look elsewhere for satisfaction. He would meet all our needs. This is the first time in John’s Gospel that we hear Jesus using the expression “I am”. These words are a clear echo of the way in which God spoke of himself in Exodus 3:14: “I am

John 6:8-9 Then Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother, spoke up.  “There’s a young boy here with five barley loaves and two fish. But what good is that with this huge crowd?” I’m sure we are all very familiar with Jesus’ miraculous feeding of the 5,000. It’s an amazing miracle and must have had a profound effect on everyone who witnessed it. But I’m particularly interested in what happened before the miracle took place. John records that Jesus asked Philip where they could buy food for the people. Then John added that Jesus knew exactly what he was going to do, but was merely testing Philip. Philip gave the (not unreasonable) answer that, even if they worked for months, they wouldn’t have sufficient money to pay for enough food for the crowds. And then Andrew pointed out the hopelessness of the situation by highlighting a young boy in the crowd with his packed lunch. But with despair he observed: “What good is that with this huge crowd?” This all feels very familiar. When we look at the problems of our world, or even

John 5:2-6     Inside Jerusalem, near the Sheep Gate, was the pool of Bethesda, with five covered porches. Crowds of sick people—blind, lame, or paralyzed—lay on the porches.  One of the men lying there had been sick for 38 years. When Jesus saw him and knew he had been ill for a long time, he asked him, “Would you like to get well?” I love spending time in Jerusalem but it is often impossible to know exactly where the events that we read about in the Gospels took place. But not so with the pool of Bethesda. We know exactly where it is, and you can still see a part of it, adjacent to St Anne’s Church, near St Stephen’s Gate. The pool had a reputation for being a place of healing, but Jesus met a man who had been ill for an extremely long time. Curiously, he asked the man if he would like to get well. On first hearing, this might sound a rather callous question. Surely the answer was obvious. Who wouldn’t want to be healed if they had been sick for 38 years? But it is actually a profoundly caring and important

John 4:13-14 Jesus replied, “Anyone who drinks this water will soon become thirsty again. But those who drink the water I give will never be thirsty again. It becomes a fresh, bubbling spring within them, giving them eternal life.” Jesus was in conversation with a Samaritan woman when he spoke these words. Everything about their meeting is surprising. First of all, it would have astonished everyone that he had travelled through Samaria. For deep, historical reasons, the rivalry between the Samaritans and the Jews was intense. After the breakup of the kingdom of Israel following the death of Solomon, the northern territory was annexed by the Assyrians, who resettled the area with foreigners. As far as the Judaeans in the south were concerned, Samaria had lost its racial and religious purity. The divide was made even deeper when the Samaritans built their own temple at Mount Gerizim in around 400 BC. To put it mildly, Samaritans and Jews hated one another. Jews would almost always have made a careful detour