The earliest Christians followed a Jewish tradition of pausing to pray, preferably together, first thing in the morning, about mid morning, at noon, about mid afternoon, and in the evening. “Just a Note” posts are brief observations made from Scripture readings not related to a lectionary. If I have one to post, it normally appears about 9:00 in the morning, at “the hour of prayer.”
After Jesus’ act of healing on the Sabbath, the Jewish authorities were attempting to prosecute him. Jesus’ response was to assert that he was planning to continue doing miracles. He made another statement which troubled the authorities even more. He said, “My father is working until now and I also am working.” The authorities understood him to be saying that he was God. He and the Father were one.
There is a stream of liberal scholarship which will say that Jesus never said that he was God. The accounts in the Gospels say something quite different. The various people Jesus interacted with certainly understood him to be claiming to be God. It seems that the texts should be taken at their face value, as reliable accounts. The reactions of the early audiences should be sufficient.
What’s the big point of this passage? We may well ask ourselves when Jesus has stopped working in the world. What are the troubles we see all around us? Do we bring them to God in prayer? Do we actually expect that he will act? The Bible clearly presents a God who seems to think he is divine and active. Maybe if we begin to believe that we will again see God at work in our world.
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