6 Epiphany

6 Epiphany - Sunday

first posted 02/14/04

Genesis 29:20-35 Jacob marries Leah and Rachael
1 Timothy 3:14-4:10 False teachers
Mark 10:23-31 Demands and rewards of discipleship

Jacob worked for his uncle Laban for seven years for permission to marry Laban’s daughter Rachael. When he had fulfilled his obligation, Laban tricked him and gave him his older daughter Leah instead. Jacob did not discover the switch until the morning. He confronted Laban, and Laban claimed that according to the custom of the land he could not give the younger Rachael until her older sister was married. Laban told Jacob to complete the week of the marriage festivities with Leah, and then he would give Rachael to Jacob also, in return for serving Laban another seven years. Jacob loved Rachael more than Leah, but Rachael was barren, while Leah quickly bore Jacob a succession of sons, of which four are recorded here.

Propriety regarding the conduct of Church administration is essential, considering its role as the household of the living God and the custodian of the truth and the central mystery of the faith which is Jesus Christ. The Holy Spirit prophesied that false teachers would arise, proclaiming false doctrines and leading some astray. Paul’s response was to trust in the goodness of God and rely on the Scriptures and in fellowship with the Lord in prayer. He urged Timothy to be a good minister of Christ by applying what Paul had taught him, nourished by the scriptures and the good doctrine which he had received. Timothy was advised to have nothing to do with theological speculation and spurious doctrines, but to train himself in godliness; to apply the teachings of Lord to his daily life, because godliness will be of value both now in this present life, and also for the eternal life to come.

Jesus told his disciples that it will be difficult for those who love material possessions to enter the kingdom of God. The disciples were amazed at his statement, so he said that it isn’t easy to enter the kingdom of God. They were even more astonished, and asked Jesus who then could hope to be saved. Jesus answered that salvation is possible because God makes it possible; it does not depend on man’s achievement, but salvation does require us to submit to God [we must come to God like children (Mark 10:15).] We must be willing to give up our will and submit to God’s will (Mark 10:28). Those who are willing to do so will be lavishly compensated, both now and eternally, although we cannot expect following Jesus to be without persecution and suffering.

Jacob was treated unfairly by Laban. He had spent seven years of his life working for Laban in return for permission to marry Rebekah, the woman he loved, and then was tricked into marriage to the older, homely Leah instead. Then Laban insisted that he work another seven years for Rebekah (although Jacob didn’t have to wait the seven years to consummate the marriage to Rebekah). Jacob did what was noble and right. He kept the wife he didn’t want and fulfilled his responsibilities to her, and he served his father-in-law another seven years for the woman he loved.

There are lots of false doctrines and false teachers in the world today. The same remedy Paul recommended to Timothy applies today: followers of Christ need to spend time daily in fellowship with the Lord in Bible reading and prayer. We need to hold on to good doctrine, and the only way to do that is to know the Bible. Find a Bible-preaching Church; many churches today are sadly neglecting the Bible. Too often sermons are more entertaining than enlightening, based on a verse or two of scripture which may be the only instance of scripture in the service. There is a lot of emphasis on the grace of God, but very little mention of the cost of discipleship. We need to realize that Christians are called to be <b><i>disciples</i></b> of Jesus Christ. We need to apply God’s word to our daily lives; we need to practice godliness.

Jesus told his disciples that only those who sincerely submit in obedience to the Lord will enter eternal life in the kingdom of heaven. Jacob had seen Rachael and loved her. He was willing to give up seven more years of his life, his chance to do what he wanted to do, in order to do what Laban told him to do, so that he could have Rachael. If we have seen the Lord and loved him, shouldn’t we be willing to do what is right and noble, even if we are treated unfairly by others, in order to obtain what has been promised?

Is Jesus your Lord? Are you Jesus’ disciple? Are you trusting and obeying Jesus? Have you received the indwelling Holy Spirit since you first truly believed (Acts 19:2)? Are you making disciples of Jesus Christ and teaching them to obey all that Jesus commands (Matthew 28:18-20)? Do you know with certainty where you will spend eternity (1 John 5:11-13; Ephesians 1:13-14)?

6 Epiphany - Monday

first posted 02/15/04

Genesis 30:1-24 Birth of Jacob’s sons
1 John 1:1-10 Right attitude toward sin
John 9:1-17 Healing the man born blind

Rachael was jealous of her sister Leah, because Leah had borne sons, but Rachael was barren. Rachael blamed Jacob for her situation (Genesis 30:1). Rachael gave Jacob her maid in order to obtain children through her maid. The maid conceived and bore Dan and then Naptali. Leah had ceased bearing so she gave her maid to Jacob, and Leah’s maid bore Gad and then Asher. Reuben, Jacob’s first-born son by Leah found mandrakes (believed to be aphrodisiacs and to stimulate conception) and gave them to his mother.

Rachael bargained Jacob’s favors with Leah for the mandrakes, and Leah became pregnant with Issachar. (Giving the mandrakes to Rachael was apparently more beneficial to Leah’s fertility than it was to Rachael!) Leah bore Jacob a sixth son, Zebulun, and later a daughter, Dinah. Finally Rachael became pregnant and gave birth to Joseph. [Later she died giving birth to Benjamin (Genesis 35:16-20). These, including Benjamin, and the sons of Leah mentioned in Genesis 29:31-35, are the twelve sons of Jacob, which became the twelve tribes of Israel. Jacob’s name was later changed to “Israel.”]

John’s purpose in writing this text was to share his eyewitness experience of the Christ, so that his readers might also share in the joy of fellowship with God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. God is completely righteous and there is no evil at all in his nature. One cannot continue to participate in evil and maintain fellowship with God. Those who claim to do so are lying. If we are to maintain fellowship with him we must give up evil ways and walk according to God’s will, and our sins will be forgiven through the blood of Jesus. If we claim that we have not sinned we do not know the truth, but if we acknowledge our sinfulness the Lord will forgive and cleanse us. By denying our sinfulness, we call God a liar, and prove that his truth does not abide in us.

Jesus and his disciples encountered a man who had been born blind, and the disciples, in the prevailing thinking of the time that suffering was the result of sin, asked Jesus whose sin was responsible for the blindness. Jesus said that the important thing was not to establish who was to blame for this man’s condition, but to use the opportunity to bring God’s healing into the man’s situation. Jesus said that while he was in the world that he was the light of the world. Work must be done in the light; one cannot work in darkness. Jesus anointed the blind man’s eyes with mud made of dust and spittle (spittle was thought to have medicinal properties, and this type of anointing was common among healers of that time) and then sent the man to wash in the pool called “sent.”

The man returned having received his sight. When his acquaintances saw him some of them believed that he was the former blind man, but others thought he only resembled the man. They asked him how his eyes had been opened, and the former blind man told them what Jesus had done. They brought the man to the Pharisees and the man repeated what Jesus had done for him. The Pharisees denied that Jesus was of God, because Jesus had made “mud” on the Sabbath, but others pointed out that if he were a sinner he would not have been able to heal the man. So the Pharisees asked the former blind man what he thought about Jesus and the man declared Jesus to be a prophet.

Rachael wanted very much to have children. She felt devalued as a wife, even though Jacob loved and vastly preferred her over Leah. She seemed to be getting most of the conjugal attention from Jacob. I suspect that Leah’s cessation of childbearing (Genesis 30:9) had more to do with inattention on Jacob’s part than infertility, which never seemed to be her problem. When Leah negotiated a conjugal visit from Jacob in exchange for mandrakes for Rachael, she got pregnant again.

Rachael tried everything she could to conceive: she told Jacob to try harder (Genesis 30:1), she gave him her maid as a consort, and she traded Jacob’s favors to Leah for fertility treatments. She wanted what she wanted, and she refused to accept that it was not God’s will or timing (Genesis 30:2). Eventually, in God’s timing she was able to have a child, but when she became pregnant a second time she died in childbirth.

That’s our problem, too. We want our will to be done. But in order to have fellowship with the Lord, we have to give up what we want in order to do what the Lord wants. We can’t continue in fellowship with him while satisfying our own worldly desires.

Jesus doesn’t come to condemn us, but to save us from our sinful nature (see John 3:17). Jesus told the blind man to wash in the pool called “sent,” and as the man did as Jesus had commanded he received his sight. Some of his acquaintances refused to believe, choosing instead to believe that this man merely resembled their acquaintance. The Pharisees weren’t pleased that a sufferer had been healed; instead, they blamed Jesus for disturbing their Sabbath rest.

We’re all sinful; we all have sought our own selfish interests, and have disregarded God’s will. Ultimately, pursuing our own will results in our eternal death (Romans 6:23). Jesus came to bring sight to the spiritually blind. If we want to be healed, and saved from eternal death, we must listen to Jesus and do what he says. We must be willing to give up those things which are contrary to his will, in order to have fellowship with him, the assurance of forgiveness of sins and eternal life.

6 Epiphany - Tuesday

first posted 02/16/04

Genesis 31:1-24 Jacob flees from Laban
1 John 2:1-11 Obedience and love
John 9:18-41 The man born blind

The Lord had prospered Jacob as he worked for his father-in-law/uncle, Laban. Laban had given all the unusually colored animals of the flock to Jacob as his wages, and the Lord had caused the ordinarily rare colorations to predominate (Genesis 31:8-9; see also Genesis 30:25-43). As a result, Laban and his sons were jealous of Jacob, who had grown wealthy at their expense. God told Jacob in a dream to return to the Promised Land, so Jacob called his wives out into the field and discussed it with them, and they agreed to leave with Jacob. While Laban was out tending his flocks, Jacob gathered all his flocks and his possessions and fled, without letting Laban know he was going. When Laban found out that they had left, he and his kinsmen pursued Jacob for seven days, following close after him into Gilead (east of the Jordan River, and south of the Sea of Galilee). But God warned Laban in a dream not to say a word, either good or bad, to Jacob.

The goal of Christian life is to live in complete harmony with God’s will; that is, without sin. If we sin (unintentionally) we have forgiveness through Jesus Christ, who has already paid the penalty for the sins of all people. Whoever knows Jesus as Lord will keep his commandments; who ever claims Jesus and yet does not keep his commands is a liar. The commandment to love is not new; it has been God’s commandment from the beginning. But in Jesus Christ it has succeeded the law as the chief commandment. The darkness of sin is passing away, and the kingdom of light is coming. Those who are walking in the commandment of Love are already living in the kingdom of light, and the light makes it possible for them to avoid stumbling. But those who continue to hate one another are still in the kingdom of darkness, even if they claim to be in the kingdom of light.

After Jesus had healed the man born blind, the religious authorities refused to believe that the man had been healed. They called his parents to verify that the man had been born blind. His parents had heard that they intended to remove from membership in the synagogue anyone who confessed Jesus to be the Messiah, so the parents declined to answer them, and told them to ask their son, because he was an adult and could answer for himself.

The leaders summoned the man and told him to praise God instead of Jesus, declaring Jesus to be a sinner. The man said he did not know if Jesus was a sinner, but he knew that Jesus had healed him. When they asked him the details of how Jesus had healed him, the man asked them if they wanted to be Jesus’ disciples. They chided the man for being a disciple of Jesus; they declared that they were disciples of Moses. They were confident in Moses’ source of authority, but not of Jesus’. The man was amazed that they could not see that Jesus’ power must be from God, in the face of the evidence of the miracle. But they rebuked him, saying that he had been born in utter sin; how dare he presume to instruct them. They excommunicated him from the synagogue.

Jesus heard that the man had been expelled from the synagogue, and he came to him and revealed himself to the man as the “Son of man” and the man believed and worshiped him. Jesus declared that his mission was to bring spiritual sight to the blind who believed in him, and spiritual blindness to those who reject him. Rejection of Jesus is evidence of spiritual blindness. Denial of spiritual blindness is evidence of guilt.

Jacob had been guilty in the past of treachery against his own twin brother in taking advantage of Essau’s hunger to obtain his birthright (Genesis 25:29-34), and then deception to cheat him out of his blessing (Genesis 27). But Jacob had reformed his ways and had dealt honorably with Laban, whereas Laban had tricked Jacob into working for him for seven years to marry Laban’s daughter Rachael, and had then substituted the older, homely, Leah, and required another seven years labor for Rachael (Genesis 29:15-30). Laban had taken advantage of Jacob’s labor and had benefited because God had prospered Jacob’s stewardship of Laban’s flocks.

Laban had withheld his permission for Jacob to return to the Promised Land (Genesis 30:25-28). Instead he negotiated a deal with Jacob which gave Jacob all the unusually colored animals of the flock as wages for his continued labor (Genesis 30:32). Laban thought he was getting Jacob’s labor cheaply, but God prospered Jacob, and then Laban became jealous of Jacob’s growing wealth. Jacob’s honesty in the division of his wages would be obvious for anyone to see (Genesis 30:33). Jacob had been obedient to God’s will, and had conducted himself honorably, but Laban refused to acknowledge what rightfully belonged to Jacob.

God’s righteousness is manifested in Jesus for everyone to see. He has made a covenant with us to forgive our sins, through Jesus Christ, who had paid the penalty for our sin. The requirement is that we trust in Jesus Christ and obey his commandment. His commandment is that we love one another.

If we know and love Jesus, we will keep his commandment, and our fulfillment of the commandment will be obvious for anyone to see. The purpose of the law was to compel us to treat others as if we loved God and our neighbor. If we know and love Jesus we will fulfill the requirements of the law without the compulsion of punishment, because we love him.

The man who had been born blind could see that Jesus was of God, but the religious leaders who considered themselves righteous and educated, could not. They didn’t love God or their neighbor, the man who was born blind. What do we say about Jesus? What does what we do say about us?

6 Epiphany - Wednesday

first posted 02/17/04

Genesis 31:25-50 The Covenant of Mizpah
1 John 2:12-17 True relationship to God
John 10:1-18 Jesus the good shepherd

Jacob had taken his family and possessions and had fled without telling Laban he was leaving. Laban and his kinsmen pursued and caught up with Jacob as he camped in Gilead (east of the Jordan River, south of the Sea of Galilee) Laban’s daughter Rachel had stolen Laban’s household gods when she left. God warned Laban in a dream not to speak to Jacob either good or evil, but Laban confronted Jacob about the missing household idols.

Jacob replied that he felt he had to leave without notice or Laban would have prevented his daughters from leaving. He told Laban to search through Jacob’s camp and swore to punish with death anyone found with Laban’s idols, because he did not know that Rachel had stolen them. So Laban checked all of the tents of Jacob’s household, and found nothing, but when he entered Rachel’s tent, she had placed the idols in her camel’s saddle and sat on them. She claimed to be menstruating and therefore unable to rise, so Laban did not discover his property.

Since Laban was unable to produce any evidence of the theft, Jacob became angry and upbraided Laban for the way he had treated him. Laban replied that all that Jacob had belonged to Laban but that he was helpless in the circumstances to assert his claim (referring to a legal type of marriage where the man joins the bride’s clan). Laban proposed a covenant where God was invoked to enforce the conditions, since neither Laban nor Jacob trusted the other; his concern was that Jacob not mistreat his daughters or have any other wives.

John reminds his Christian flock that in Jesus Christ their sins are forgiven, they have fellowship with God, and victory over Satan. He warns us not to love the things of this world, because that would interfere with love for the Father. All that is worldly, all carnal desires, all covetousness, and all pride of self, is in opposition to love for the Father. The world will pass away along with worldly desires, but those who do God’s will abide forever.

Jesus is the good shepherd. He calls his sheep, and his sheep recognize and respond. He leads them and they follow him. Jesus is the door to the sheepfold. Those who enter by him will go in and out and find pasture. Others, who come, pretending to be the Messiah, are thieves and robbers. They come to kill and destroy. Jesus came to give life. Jesus laid down his life to save the sheep. Jesus loves his sheep; he’s not like a hired person who abandons the sheep and flees at the first sign of danger. Jesus willingly laid down his life for the sheep in obedience to God’s will and plan, trusting that he would rise again to eternal life.

Laban loved his worldly possessions, and he tried to hang on to them. He expected that he would gain a son (and a cheap laborer) when Jacob married into his clan; he didn’t anticipate loosing his daughters. Although he gave Jacob part of the flock as his wages, Laban supposed that he would continue to be in control of all of it as the head of the clan.

It wasn’t God’s will or plan for Jacob to continue to live in Aram (present-day Syria) with Laban forever. Jacob was the descendant of Abraham, through whom God’s promise to make a great nation which would inherit the Promised Land would be fulfilled. God had promised to bring Jacob back to the Promised Land (Genesis 28:15). When Laban realized that he could not prevent Jacob from leaving, and he could not personally control Jacob’s treatment of Laban’s daughters, he made a covenant with Jacob in which Laban surrendered his control over what he had considered his possessions, and relinquished his authority to enforce justice to God.

If we love the things of this world and try to hang on to them, they will interfere with our love and obedience to God. Material things pass away. Our physical bodies die. What counts eternally is faith and obedience to God.

Jesus is our example of faith and obedience to God. He didn’t allow material things, including his own physical life, to get in the way of obedience to God’s will. Instead, he surrendered everything, including his own flesh, and trusted God to bring forth justice in his behalf. His overriding focus was to serve and trust God. Jesus is the good shepherd. He is the only door to the Father and eternal life. Only through Jesus do we have forgiveness of sin, fellowship with God, and victory over Satan. Jesus is the way, the truth, and the life; no one comes to God the Father but through him (John 14:6).

6 Epiphany - Thursday

first posted 02/18/04

Genesis 32:3-21 Jacob’s reconciliation with Essau
1 John 2:18-29 Hold fast to true faith
John10:19-30 Jesus’ oneness with God

Jacob was returning to his home in the Promised Land after twenty years in Aram (present-day Syria). He had fled to Aram after he had tricked his brother Essau out of his birthright as the firstborn, and Essau had sworn to kill Jacob. Jacob was returning as a wealthy head of a household, and he was worried about what Essau might do. Jacob sent messengers to Essau to seek reconciliation with Essau, and they returned to tell Jacob that Essau was coming to meet him with four hundred men.

The news made Jacob even more afraid, so he divided his caravan up into several groups, thinking one might escape in the event of an attack. Essau prayed to God, recalling God’s promise to be with him and bring him back to the Promised Land. Jacob confessed that he was unworthy, but asked the Lord to deliver him from his brother’s anger. He also separated a large number of animals from his herds as a gift and had them driven off in groups herded by his servants to meet Essau, hoping to appease him.

John warned believers about false teachers, and urged them to stay in true faith. Those who have been filled by the Holy Spirit (“born again;” John 3:3, 5-8) are enlightened by the Spirit. The Gospel of Jesus is truth. Those who deny that Jesus is the Christ are liars and do not know the truth. They are dominated by the spirit of the antichrist, who denies the Father and the Son. No one who denies the Son has the Father; he who confesses the Son has the Father also. We must hold fast to the true, scriptural (recorded in the Bible) apostolic (as proclaimed by the Apostles) Gospel, and we will remain in the fellowship of the Son and the Father, and will receive the eternal life which has been promised. John wrote this as a warning about those who would deceive us, but he acknowledged that those who have truly been filled with the Holy Spirit will be taught and led by the Spirit and will not need (nor rely) on the teaching of men, but should follow the Spirit. Believers who abide in the Lord will have no reason to shrink from him in shame at his coming. The Lord is righteous, and those who are in him will do what is right.

The Jews were divided in opinion about Jesus. Many thought Jesus had a demon and was crazy. But others said that his words and deeds were not those of a crazy person. Some came to Jesus and asked him to end the controversy by telling them plainly it he was the Christ. Jesus replied that he had told them, but that they did not believe. Jesus said that the works which he did, he did in the name of God, and the works testified to him, but they had not believed. They did not belong to his “sheep.” Jesus’ sheep are those who hear his voice and follow him; and Jesus will acknowledge them. Jesus' followers will have eternal life; they will never perish, and no one can snatch them away from Jesus, because God has given them to Jesus. Jesus declared, “I and the Father are one” (John 10:30).

Jacob had sinned against his brother, and he had knowledge of his guilt and reason to fear his brother. He sent emissaries ahead to try to achieve reconciliation. When he heard that Essau was coming to meet him with powerful forces he was afraid. He had been obedient to the Lord’s direction in returning, and he trusted and held on to the Lord’s promise to be with him and protect him and bring him back to the Promised Land.

We are heading toward the Promised Land of the kingdom of God. Jesus is going to be coming to meet us, and he’s going to have a powerful army of angels with him. We’ve all done things in our past which weren’t right, but if we have believed in Jesus, have trusted in his promises and are following his directions, our sins have been forgiven and we are reconciled to God. We will receive the fulfillment of the promise of eternal life in the Promised Land of Heaven with Jesus. But those who have refused to accept the reconciliation that Jesus offers will not receive the promise; they will receive eternal destruction in Hell as punishment for their sins.

Who Jesus “is” is still controversial. It’s the eternal life-or-death question which each of us must settle for ourselves. The problem is not that there isn’t enough information; it’s a matter of who we listen to and what we make of that information. Do you know Jesus? Is Jesus your Lord? Are you Jesus’ disciple? Are you trusting and obeying Jesus? Have you received the indwelling Holy Spirit since you first truly believed (Acts 19:2)? Are you making disciples of Jesus Christ and teaching them to obey all that Jesus commands (Matthew 28:18-20)? Do you know with certainty where you will spend eternity (1 John 5:11-13; Ephesians 1:13-14)?

6 Epiphany - Friday

first posted 02/19/04

Genesis 32:22-33:17 Jacob wrestles with the angel
1 John 3:1-10 Our response to God’s love
John 10:31-42 Who Jesus is

Jacob was returning to the Promised Land to face his twin brother, Essau, who had sworn twenty years earlier to kill him when Jacob had tricked him out of his blessing. Jacob sent his family across the Jabbok River (east of the Jordan River, north of the Dead Sea), and Jacob spent the night on the northern side of the Jabbok, and he wrestled with an angel until dawn. Jacob nearly prevailed, because of his great strength, so the angel touched Jacob’s thigh and put it out of joint. Even so, Jacob would not let the divine being go until he had blessed Jacob.

The angel asked Jacob what his name was, and when Jacob told him, the angel gave him the new name, “Israel,” (understood here to mean “he who strives with God”) saying that he had striven with God and Men and had prevailed. (Jacob means “supplanter.”) Jacob asked the angel what his name was, but the angel refused to tell him, saying “Why is it that you ask my name?” (Genesis 32:29) Jacob named the place Peniel (“the face of God”), saying that there he had seen God face-to-face and had lived. Jacob left the place limping because the angel had dislocated his thigh. Israelites maintained a taboo against eating the corresponding thigh muscle of animals as a result of this incident.

God loves us and considers us his children, which we are. The world does not acknowledge that because the world does not know God. We are God’s children now; but what we will become is not yet apparent. When he appears we know that we will be like him; we will see him as he is. Everyone who hopes in Jesus purifies himself as Jesus is pure.

Those who commit sin are guilty of lawlessness. Jesus came to take away sin. No one who abides in Jesus commits sins. No one who sins has either seen or known Jesus. Righteousness is in doing what is right in God’s judgment. Those who sin are of the devil, whose nature is sinful. No one who has been born of God commits sin, because God’s nature abides in him. So the children of God can be discerned from the children of Satan by their actions. Those who do not do right and do not love one another are not of God.

Jesus had declared that he and God are one (John 10:30). The Jewish authorities took up stones to stone him. Jesus said “I have shown you many good works from the Father; for which of these do you stone me?” The authorities said they were going to stone him, not for good works, but for blasphemy, since he, a man, had represented himself to be God. Jesus replied by quoting Psalm 82:6, which suggests that we all are God’s children, but we don’t act like it. How dare they then condemn the one God consecrated and sent into the world as his anointed Messiah for claiming to be God’s Son? Jesus’ works attest to the fact that he is the Son of God. Though they don’t believe Jesus’ words, they should be able to see that Jesus is God because Jesus does works only God can do. The authorities attempted to arrest Jesus, but he escaped from them.

In ancient times, people believed that a person’s name contained the essence of the person’s self. At significant moments in a person’s life they would receive a new name indicating a new self (as when God changed Abram and Sarai to Abraham and Sarah; see Genesis 17:5, 15). Jacob had gone to Aram as a fugitive fleeing punishment of his sins against his twin brother, Essau. Now he was returning having learned to live in obedience to God and to do what was right in God’s judgment during his twenty year exile. That twenty years, from the time he encountered God at Bethel on his way to Aram, where he made the commitment to serve God (Genesis 28:10-22), until he returned to the same area and wrestled with the angel north of the Jabbok, was a period of “discipleship” for Jacob. Jacob was returning in obedience to God’s will, and seeking reconciliation with Essau. He was a changed person, and God gave him a new name, Israel, by which God’s People would come to be called.

All people are children of God in the sense that God is our creator. Not all of us acknowledge God as our Father. Regardless of whether we acknowledge God as our father or not, our behavior reveals whose children we really are.

Jesus frequently referred to himself as the Son of man, which suggests an emphasis on the incarnation (God coming in human flesh to live among us). It also clearly is a messianic claim (Daniel 7:13; Revelation 1:13; 14:14), but one which allows the hearer to decide for himself who Jesus is. The Jewish authorities were not satisfied with Jesus’ statements about who he was; they wanted him to tell them plainly if he was the Christ (John 10:24). So Jesus said “I and the Father are one” (John 10:30), and at this point the authorities took up stones to kill Jesus for claiming to be God.

Jesus is the only begotten Son of God, the Christ (Messiah), in whom “the whole fulness of deity dwells bodily”(Colossians 2:9), who refers to himself as the Son of man, talking to people who God generously calls his children, and those children hate and want to kill him. Jesus by his actions proves to be God’s Son, and they by their actions prove to be children of Satan.

Believers in Jesus were originally called “disciples.” “Disciple” was the “new name” given to those who trusted and obeyed Jesus. In Antioch, after the stoning of Stephen (Acts Ch 7) and the conversion of Paul on the road to Damascus (Acts Ch. 9) disciples were for the first time called “Christians” (i.e. “followers of Christ;” Acts ll:26). Today there are lots of people who claim the name “Christian” who do not know what Jesus taught, who deny that discipleship is a requirement, and whose actions prove them not to be children of God. Whose child are you? What is your true name? Do you know who Jesus is?

6 Epiphany - Saturday

first posted 02/20/04

Genesis 35:1-20 Jacob returns to Bethel
1 John 3:11-18 Love of the brethren
John 11:1-16 Death of Lazarus

The tribe of Jacob had settled near Shechem, but a war had arisen between the people of the area and the tribe of Jacob (see Genesis Ch.34). The Lord directed Jacob to move to Bethel, where God had revealed himself to Jacob on his way to Aram, when he had fled from his brother Essau. Jacob instructed his household to put away their foreign idols and the rings and amulets which were associated with them, and Jacob buried the idols and jewelry under the oak of Moreh at Shechem.

The tribe settled in Bethel and Jacob built an altar to the Lord there. Rebekah’s nurse, Deborah, died in Bethel, and was buried under an oak below Bethel. The narrator recalls Jacob’s second encounter with the Lord, on his return from Aram (at Peniel; see Genesis 32:30), when the Lord gave Jacob the name of Israel and renewed the promise which the Lord had made to Abraham and Isaac, and had made earlier to Jacob at Bethel (see Genesis 28:13-15). The narrator also recalls the events of that earlier encounter at Bethel when Jacob had set up a stone pillar and had dedicated it with oil and had changed the name of the place from Luz to Bethel (Genesis 28:18-22).

Love for one another is the central and all-encompassing commandment. Cain should be an example of the consequences of failure to conform to that standard. Cain hated his brother, because his brother’s deeds were good, and his own were evil. That is why the world hates Christians. Our love for our brethren confirms that we have passed from the realm of eternal death to the realm of eternal life. He who does not love remains in the realm of death. Those who hate are murderers in their hearts, and murderers will not inherit eternal life.

Jesus showed his love for us by giving up his life on the cross for us, and we should follow his example, being willing to give up our lives for the sake of our brethren. How can those who have material resources withhold those resources from a brother in need, and yet claim to have God’s love abiding in them? Love shouldn’t be all talk and no action; what we do declares what we really believe. Words and intentions without action is hypocrisy.

Lazarus, the brother of Mary and Martha, of Bethany, were friends of Jesus. Mary is the woman who anointed Jesus feet and wiped them with her hair (John 12:1-3). Lazarus became ill, so his sisters sent for Jesus. When Jesus heard the news, he declared that Lazarus’ illness was not going to be fatal, but would bring glory to God the Father and to the Son of God.

Jesus loved Mary and Martha and Lazarus, but he stayed where he was for two more days before going to Bethany. Bethany was only a couple miles from Jerusalem, where the Jewish religious leaders were seeking to have Jesus arrested and killed, so his disciples were surprised that Jesus was going there. Jesus replied using a metaphor of day and night to illustrate that his life was governed according to God’s will. While he was on earth, he was going to do what God led him to do, and that God would determine how long that would be.

Jesus described Lazarus as having fallen asleep, and said that he intended to go and wake him. The disciples thought that if Lazarus was merely sleeping he would awaken on his own, so Jesus told them plainly that Lazarus was dead. Jesus said that he was glad that he hadn’t been there to prevent Lazarus from dying, so that his disciples’ faith might be increased (by witnessing Lazarus’ resurrection). Thomas declared, “Let us also go, that we may die with him” (John 11:16).

The relationship between the people of Shechem and the tribe of Jacob illustrates that what the world calls love is not loving (see Genesis 34:1-7). Jacob had strife with the neighboring people, but he trusted in God and obeyed God’s directions. He remembered God’s faithfulness in the past and his commitment to obey God. He got rid of the idols and the worldly things which would interfere with his commitment to God, and built an altar to the Lord at the spot where the Lord had appeared to Jacob and where Jacob had first committed his life to him. God protected Jacob during this difficulty (Genesis 35:5) as he had in the past.

Believers should practice what we preach. We should respond in love to one another, although we can not expect that the world will love us. Jesus should be our example, not Cain. What we do reveals what we believe.

Jesus didn’t delay going to Bethany because he didn’t love Lazarus, Mary and Martha, or because he was afraid of the Jewish authorities. He trusted in God the Father, and was obedient to God’s will. Raising Lazarus revealed Jesus as the giver of life, and prepared his disciples for Jesus’ death and resurrection by confirming their faith in him. Thomas thought that going to Bethany would lead to death, but he was willing to go with Jesus. What looked like the way to death became the way to eternal life because he went with Jesus.