Day Eleven

John 16:25-33

25.) "I have said these things to you in figures of speech. The hour is coming when I will no longer speak to you in figures of speech but will tell you plainly about the Father. 

26.) In that day you will ask in My name, and I do not say to you that I will ask the Father on your behalf; 

27.) for the Father Himself loves you, because you have loved Me and have believed that I came from God. 

28.) I came from the Father and have come into the world, and now I am leaving the world and going to the Father." 

29.) His disciples said, "Ah, now You are speaking plainly and not using figurative speech! 

30.) Now we know that You know all things and do not need anyone to question You; this is why we believe that You came from God." 

31.) Jesus answered them, "Do you now believe? 

32.) Behold, the hour is coming, indeed it has come, when you will be scattered, each to his own home, and will leave Me alone. Yet I am not alone, for the Father is with Me. 

33.) I have said these things to you, that in Me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world."

         Have you ever been so confident that you know something that you don’t even question it? It just is. But, when new, undeniable information starts to come in about what you are so sure about, you are confused. You try and work this new information into what you have believed to be true, and that works for a while. Then, however, you begin to see that the new information and the old belief are not compatible. Confusion sets in and you begin to have trouble. You want to be faithful to the old way of thinking, but it becomes harder and harder. An example; my parents were extremely racist right up to the day they died. (My father received a full military burial. The Chaplain happened to be a black man. He was extremely good, but my sisters and I sat there trying not to laugh. Dad would have refused to die if he knew a black man was going to do his burial.) So, they were racist and I was extremely racist. It is just what was. My school was in a white farming community and all the students were white, so my beliefs were never challenged. When I graduated I went to work in a factory for six months to put together money for college. While there I found myself working in the same department as a young black woman and an older Asian man. I found myself swapping jokes with the Asian man on a daily basis and the black woman, who was my age and really quite lovely inside and out, got asked out by me. That was when I found out she had a boyfriend. Ah, well, the point was that my old belief was wrong and it was shattered.

         The disciples were in that boat. They had come to believe that Jesus was the Messiah. However, because of their Jewish beliefs, they believed the Messiah would lead the Jews in a revolution against Rome. The prophecies had talked about the Jews being freed and the people thought it was physical freedom. They didn’t consider that it was Spiritual. Even though Jesus used parables and talked to them plainly, they didn’t get it. Only after the Resurrection did they put off the old way completely and embrace the right way.

         Because of His great love for the disciples, He says in verse 33--- I have said these things to you, that in Me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world. No matter how confusing, no matter how much the world seeks to mock us and subject us, we can have the peace of the Spirit because He has overcome.

         Today, let’s pray for the peace that passes all understanding and the joy that comes only from the Lord.