missing the mark.

It’s so interesting to me that this persecution of Jesus started because He healed someone on the Sabbath. After 400 years of silence from God, it seems like someone who was doing miracles and speaking on behalf of the Lord would have been like water in a dry desert. Unfortunately, these people were holding on so tightly to their interpretation of the scriptures they couldn’t see the Messiah who was standing right in front of them.

What a sad and convicting statement, “You have never heard His voice nor seen His form, nor does His word dwell in you, for you do not believe the One He sent.” These people were devoted to the scriptures and yet they were only using them to gain praise among one another, rather than feasting on God’s word and drawing closer to Him. Had they taken a deeper look at the life of Moses, or David, or any number of their childhood heroes they would have seen the grace of God in abundance; they would have understood it was a condition of the heart that God was seeking, not a heartless obedience to the law.

This scripture is so pertinent today because it is so easy to give ourselves a little pat on the back for being obedient, for remaining pure, or not partying; to smile to ourselves as we give an intelligent exegesis of a biblical text - but none of those things matters if we aren’t fellowshipping with, worshipping, serving, and submitting to God in and through those things.

Created almost 2 years ago