It was now winter, and Jesus was in Jerusalem at the time of Hanukkah, the Festival of Dedication. He was in the Temple, walking through the section known as Solomon’s Colonnade. The people surrounded him and asked, “How long are you going to keep us in suspense? If you are the Messiah, tell us plainly.” Jesus replied, “I have already told you, and you don’t believe me. The proof is the work I do in my Father’s name. But you don’t believe me because you are not my sheep. My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me. I give them eternal life, and they will never perish. No one can snatch them away from me, for my Father has given them to me, and he is more powerful than anyone else. No one can snatch them from the Father’s hand. The Father and I are one.”
John 10:22-30

Dear God, I am going to go back to the concept I talked about a week or two ago after listening to an Andy Stanley sermon. He talked about the difference between believing in Jesus and following Jesus. Now, in this case, these people were experiencing everything real time and they weren’t sure what to believe or follow. But they knew what they wanted. They wanted Jesus to say that he was the Messiah, he was forming an army, and it was going to be go-time against Rome. So he told them he was the Messiah, but what they didn’t seem to realize is that they believed in the wrong kind of Messiah.

I was listening to the Holy Post podcast tonight while I worked out, and they talked at one part about “table-flipping Jesus.” When Jesus rode into Jerusalem at the beginning of passion week, they welcomed him, but who were they welcoming? They were welcoming the wrong Messiah. They wanted David. They wanted someone to overthrow Rome like David defeated the Philistines. They wanted power. They wanted victory. What they ended up getting pretty early on was a Messiah that challenged them. He went to the temple and flipped over tables. He went up against the church leaders. So by the end of the week, they not only rejected his version of Messiah–they not only didn’t believe in him as the Messiah–but they killed him. They weren’t following or believing.

So what is my Messiah like. In whom do I believe? Whom do I follow? When I follow Jesus, what kind of man am I emulating? Do I seek influence and power? Do I seek authority, judgment, and condemnation? Do I seek affirmation of my own biases? I hope this isn’t the Jesus I follow, but sometimes I think I do.

Father, help me to follow the man who was more interested in giving mercy, encouraging people to die to the things that gave them security and power, and living in such a way that established his authority without harming people. The fruit of the Holy Spirit, which he/you left for us, is love, joy, peace, patience, gentleness, goodness, faithfulness, kindness, and self control (I might have missed one or two there). The Messiah I follow wanted us to have those things. Help me to be a man who will introduce people to you so that they might find those fruits as well.

In Jesus’s name I pray,

Amen