Saturday 7th October
Read John 7:30-32
“At this they tried to seize him, but no one laid a hand on him, because his hour had not yet come. 31 Still, many in the crowd believed in him. They said, ‘When the Messiah comes, will he perform more signs than this man?’
32 The Pharisees heard the crowd whispering such things about him. Then the chief priests and the Pharisees sent temple guards to arrest him.” (NIVUK)
Even a whisper of belief that Jesus is the Messiah is enough to motivate the authorities to arrest Him (v31-32). This coming after the people themselves unsuccessfully try a citizen’s arrest (v30). It is fascinating how there were no ‘neutral’ reactions from those who interacted with Jesus. He called for a response by His mere presence.
John Stott observed, channelling CS Lewis, “If you read the bible you’ll see that nobody who ever met Jesus Christ ever had a moderate reaction to him. There are only three reactions to Jesus: they either hated him and wanted to kill him, they were afraid of him and wanted to run away, or they were absolutely smitten with him and they tried to give their whole lives to him…”
How can you introduce Jesus into the lives of those who don’t know Him today?
