Debate Heats Up  

     Having focused the people on their Father in heaven, Jesus later makes an astonishing claim...asserting a relationship no Pharisee or teacher of the law could tolerate.     

     All things have been committed to me by my Father. No one knows the Son except the Father, and no one knows the Father except the Son and those to whom the Son chooses to reveal him. - Matthew 11:27

     In John chapter 3 we see that disagreement with Jewish leaders began with John the Baptist. He was born to serve God alone, and "prepare the way" for the coming Savior. 

     His disciples were debating with "a certain Jew" about ceremony, and about the "one" who was drawing John's followers to himself. When they relayed this to John, he replied, "The bride belongs to the bridegroom. He must become greater; I must become less."

     "For the one whom God has sent speaks the words of God; to him God gives the Spirit without limit. The Father loves the Son and has placed everything in his hands. Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life..." 

     Jesus later would say there is none greater than John...he whom Herod imprisoned and whose head was severed. 

     Whoever loses his life for my sake will find it. - Jesus, Matthew 10:39

     Passing through Samaria, Jesus met a woman living in sin, who nevertheless believed in the coming Messiah. Taking him for a teacher, she raised the issue of worshiping God in Samaria rather than in Jerusalem. 

     He replied, A time is coming when true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks. - John 4:23

     Jesus angered the Jews by healing an invalid - on the Sabbath! The day of rest. They were ready to kill him. 

     His response: I tell you the truth. The Son can do nothing by himself; he can do only what he sees his Father doing. Yes, to your amazement, he will show him even greater things. 

  

Tomorrow: Jews become divided