Today's Scripture Reading (January 12, 2024): John 7
A recently retired Pastor tells a story
about his entrance into the church world. The Pastor was in college working
toward his theology degree, but he was already preaching, filling in at various
pulpits around the area. He was a young, thin kid and perhaps looked even
younger than he was. This was the day of Revival services, special all-week
meetings, or whole weekend services, and churches were often looking for young
looking speakers to speak to the youth of the church, so while he was in
school, he was also busy preaching, something that he hoped to do, and would
do, for the rest of his life.
But graduation was approaching. And it
was one thing to have a weekend job preaching but quite another thing to be
called to be a Pastor of a church. So, with his graduation day approaching, the
Pastor was looking for a church. And one day, the phone rang. And it was the
Area Minister of his denomination. The conversation went like this.
"Is this Brother Herbert?" In
the old days, that was the way we addressed each other
"Yes, sir."
"My name is Frank
Scott, and I want you to know that I just left a Board Meeting at College
Church, and they want to extend a call for you to come and be their pastor."
You can probably imagine the joy and release of getting ready to graduate from
school and realizing that you will have a job when you graduate. And so the two
men talked on the phone about the church, but then the conversation took an
unexpected turn.
"Brother Herbert, does
your wife sing?"
"Yes, sir. She sings
in the shower. The neighbors complain, and we are trying to stop it, but she
just seems to sing anyway. She sings, loud and proud; she just seems to have
trouble finding the tune."
There is a definite pause
on the other end of the phone line. Then Dr. Scott replied, "I see. Tell
me, Brother Herbert, does your wife play the piano?"
Pastor Herbert sinks a
little inside. "Yes, sir. Whenever we pass a piano, she loves playing
chopsticks with her knuckles. But that is the extent of her talent. She cannot
read a note of music."
There is another pause, and
then, "Brother Herbert, are you sure you are called to be a pastor?"
Pastor Herbert did not get
the position but eventually forgave his wife.
The Book of John is about
John wanting his audience to understand who Jesus is. As John looks at Jesus
and then at his audience, he is almost desperate for his audience to understand
Jesus. John believes that Jesus is more; more than Moses, more than Elijah,
more than any Pastor, leader, or priest they had ever known. He needed his
audience to know that Jesus was the source. In him, there was no lacking; there
was no weakness. In fact, John is adamant that if you diminish who Jesus is,
then you are still in sin.
So, on the last and
greatest day of the Feast of Tabernacles, Jesus stood up to address the gathered
crowd. Rabbis usually taught sitting down, but Jesus stood and did not begin to
talk quietly; He shouted at the crowd. "If anyone is thirsty, let him come
to me and drink." There is no need for this ritual, no need for you to
make the hike down to the pool of Siloam, and no need to worry about those
times of the year when the springs of Gihon do not flow. Because everything
that you need is in me. Do you see that water? That is me. I am the fulfillment;
come and drink from me.
There is no need to be hurt
when you think people have forgotten you because everything you need is in Jesus.
There is no need to look for something else because in me is everything.
Everything. Everything for which you have been looking, now you have found. I
am here. I am the perfect source of whatever it is that you need.
Tomorrow's Scripture
Reading: John 8
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