Post by Admin on Feb 21, 2019 7:17:11 GMT
Would you feel more comfortable in a supporting role or a leadership role? We started our conversation tonight with this question, and almost unanimously the group members affirmed a preference for being in a supporting role. The next question was whether we felt demeaned when we do all the work (as support) and someone else takes credit (as leader). Again the universal feeling was to not feel upset – particularly when the leader is a good one who knows what our role has been.
That all led to reviewing the story of Philip, who is asked by Jesus – as a test - how to provide food to the multitude. At first glance, this test seems to place Philip between a rock and a hard place: if he tries to solve the problem himself, he seems arrogant and untrusting of the Lord, yet if he just asks Jesus for a miracle, he would still seem arrogant, and expecting worldly benefits from the Lord’s power. As we talked through it, a better way became clear: to simply stop and ask Jesus for advice, then maybe further, to ask how to help. It’s not that the Lord does not want us to take action to solve problems, and it’s certainly not that He may or may not choose to provide us help and even miracles in a particular crisis. The first step is to put our challenges of life into His hands for direction. We admitted that sometimes it feels improper to bother God with our issues, and that is an inclination we need to fight.
Another reaction Philip might have had to Jesus’ test question – where will we get them bread – would have been to answer that Jesus is the bread of life and has plenty to share. That seemed beyond a reasonable conclusion for Philip at this point in the story. Neither he nor the other disciples really understood the mission of Jesus yet. If they had, the reason for the surplus of bread and fish at the end of the distribution would have been clear to them: Jesus always provides more [spiritual food] than we can eat, and there is always more He can provide.
At the end of the session we took time to read John 14:1-14, which comes from the Farewell Discourses, the conversation at the Last Supper. Rather than quote the whole passage, here are the relevant lines.
6 Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. 7 If you really know me, you will know my Father as well. From now on, you do know him and have seen him.”
8 Philip said, “Lord, show us the Father and that will be enough for us.”
9 Jesus answered: “Don’t you know me, Philip, even after I have been among you such a long time? Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, ‘Show us the Father’? 10 Don’t you believe that I am in the Father, and that the Father is in me? The words I say to you I do not speak on my own authority. Rather, it is the Father, living in me, who is doing his work.
Poor Philip – as with all the disciples, the lessons from Jesus and all the experiences didn’t come together in a cohesive understanding of the plan until the Holy Spirit joined them at Pentecost.
That all led to reviewing the story of Philip, who is asked by Jesus – as a test - how to provide food to the multitude. At first glance, this test seems to place Philip between a rock and a hard place: if he tries to solve the problem himself, he seems arrogant and untrusting of the Lord, yet if he just asks Jesus for a miracle, he would still seem arrogant, and expecting worldly benefits from the Lord’s power. As we talked through it, a better way became clear: to simply stop and ask Jesus for advice, then maybe further, to ask how to help. It’s not that the Lord does not want us to take action to solve problems, and it’s certainly not that He may or may not choose to provide us help and even miracles in a particular crisis. The first step is to put our challenges of life into His hands for direction. We admitted that sometimes it feels improper to bother God with our issues, and that is an inclination we need to fight.
Another reaction Philip might have had to Jesus’ test question – where will we get them bread – would have been to answer that Jesus is the bread of life and has plenty to share. That seemed beyond a reasonable conclusion for Philip at this point in the story. Neither he nor the other disciples really understood the mission of Jesus yet. If they had, the reason for the surplus of bread and fish at the end of the distribution would have been clear to them: Jesus always provides more [spiritual food] than we can eat, and there is always more He can provide.
At the end of the session we took time to read John 14:1-14, which comes from the Farewell Discourses, the conversation at the Last Supper. Rather than quote the whole passage, here are the relevant lines.
6 Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. 7 If you really know me, you will know my Father as well. From now on, you do know him and have seen him.”
8 Philip said, “Lord, show us the Father and that will be enough for us.”
9 Jesus answered: “Don’t you know me, Philip, even after I have been among you such a long time? Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, ‘Show us the Father’? 10 Don’t you believe that I am in the Father, and that the Father is in me? The words I say to you I do not speak on my own authority. Rather, it is the Father, living in me, who is doing his work.
Poor Philip – as with all the disciples, the lessons from Jesus and all the experiences didn’t come together in a cohesive understanding of the plan until the Holy Spirit joined them at Pentecost.