In session 141 Jesus responds to His audience with troubling words, “you are not my sheep.” We read such words and our minds go in all directions attempting to understand what He meant. Does His statement mean that these folks are part of the unfortunate group who some label as the un-elect. Many of us […]
In session 140 the setting is the Temple in Jerusalem during the festival of dedication. The crowd surrounds Jesus requesting from Him a straight answer regarding the Christ. His response to their request indicates that from His perspective clarity in communication is not what is required. According to Jesus, He has already provided adequate information. […]
In this session the Moot Men take a deep dive into the subject of Dissension. What was true at the time of Jesus is all around us today. Sometimes we just scratch our heads exclaiming, “Why is it so hard to get along?” This subject permeates our daily experience. Thanks for joining in as we […]
In session 138 Jesus continues to describe Good Shepherd. He continues by stating that as the good shepherd He has power to lay down His life for the sheep so that He may take back His life once again. He also states that He is acting out of His own free choice. No one takes […]
In this session we examine what Jesus has to say about the good shepherd. He does so through a brief contrast with what He calls the hireling. It is clear through His description that the good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep, some present and some not present within the immediate context. The […]
In week 136 we examine an illustration used by Jesus to place His offering in context with what has occurred before. He uses what He calls a Sheepfold, common to His audience, to explain His reasoning. He compares those apparent shepherds who have come before Him with His own shepherding qualities and intent. The outcome, […]
Today, Jesus talks about how the blind can receive sight. This correlates to our story and is fairly easy to follow. Jesus makes the blind to see. We are able to embrace that. But what is also true from His teaching is that those who see must become blind. In fact and according to Jesus, […]
Tucked away in chapter nine is yet another glimpse of God’s intent as seeker and what it looks like to respond as fully human as demonstrated by Jesus of Nazareth. The occasion is the formally blind man’s rejection by the governing religious authority. Once Jesus hears about how the man is being treated, He seeks […]
Today we see continued questioning by the Temple Leaders, escalating anger, which results in what we are calling a forced separation prompted by these leaders. They could not get the man to respond in a way that was satisfactory so they resorted to the common human practice of kicking him out. This man is actually […]
In today’s session we examine two contrasting responses to what we are calling the “Fear Vacuum.” The Temple leaders illustrate the natural default human behavior in relation to this simple idea. On the other hand, the man formally born blind demonstrates what it can look like operating from a Christ informed perspective. His actions are […]
Today we look at two states of fear responses. The first is demonstrated by the temple leaders as a fear of power loss. The second is demonstrated by the parents as a fear of rejection. We then examine this common idea of fear through providing an illustration. Using the illustration, we then contrast the mind […]
In session 130 we examine the escalating dissension as demonstrated by those who witnessed this dramatic healing. The presence of the begging man born blind was well known to many. He is now fully functioning with complete sight but being pummeled with questions regarding how this all happened. What could have been a celebration of […]
In today’s session we begin to examine how this man’s healing is perceived by the general public. We see a polarized mixed response. We see push-back, denial and overall a general need to know what to do with this new development. What is clearly missing is celebration by his neighbors. Why is this so hard […]
Today we view Jesus healing the man born blind. We see Jesus applying a mixture of kneaded dirt and saliva, a command to go to Siloam and while there, wash out the mixture. We explain the geography of Siloam and identify it as a place of receptivity. We then discuss the role of receptivity as […]
In week 127 we look at Jesus’s inclusion of imperfect disciples within His intent to bring life to all He encounters. This is wonderful news illustrating the heart of God almighty as demonstrated through Jesus of Nazareth. Jesus invites His followers to join with Him doing the works of God while it is day. Let’s […]
Following His escaped murder attempt Jesus and His disciples come across a man who has been blind from birth. This encounter prompts the disciples to ask the master who is responsible for this man’s inability to see. Join with us as we discuss this story, how this fits within what is happening within John’s Gospel […]
In today’s session we wrap up chapter 8 of John’s Gospel account. We focus our attention on the escalating anger as demonstrated by the crowd in response to the gracious invitation offered by Jesus of Nazareth. As we observe and discuss our minds are filled with questions. However and at the same mind we know […]
In verse 56 Jesus directs the conversation back round to Abraham who was first introduced by the crowd in verse 33. He describes Abraham’s response to Jesus’s presence in the here and now. He calls this here and now, “His day.” Today we deep dive into this statement exploring what could be meant by His […]
After review of the crowd’s resistive behavior as observed in chapter 8, we notice their conclusive statement in verse 52, Now we know. These people are in a state of thinking that they know but in actuality their thinking is far removed from what truly is. This state of thinking has occurred entirely through their […]
In this session we focus our attention to verse 51 which states that if one keeps the words of Jesus that same one will never see death. This is an absolutely amazing statement. Feel free to dive in and observe how the Moot Men discuss and process this statement by Jesus.