Jesus had made clear he was the promised Messiah. He would lead the people to victory. But the teaching of Jesus often caused confusion for his twelve followers. They expected the Messiah to give them victory over their enemies and end the oppressive Roman occupation of Judea. But instead of this, Jesus said that he would suffer many things. Jesus prophesied about the rejection, betrayal and murder which he would suffer.  Then after that, he said that he would come back to life on the third day. They couldn’t understand what he was saying.

Jesus even told them ‘You must love your enemies’. He taught them about the importance of forgiveness and reconciliation. He spoke about purity and the importance of honouring marriage vows. He talked to them about things to come and the kingdom of God. He taught them about prayer and about trying to put God first in your life. He said that acceptance from God was more important to us than life itself. His teaching was radical.

Jesus said he was the only way to God and the truth about God.  He said the life of God itself was available to us through him. He would lead us to victory over sin and evil. He would lead us to victory over death and give us eternal life.

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A big crowd followed Jesus to a remote area where Jesus had compassion on them and healed their sick. Jesus wanted to feed them, so he took five small barley loaves and two small fish. Jesus looked towards heaven and said thank you to the Lord for the food. The food was distributed to the crowd by the twelve followers of Jesus, until everyone was well satisfied. The number of those who ate were 5000 men plus women and children, a vast crowd. The leftovers of food filled twelve baskets.

Jesus came away from the crowd, and walked up a mountain by himself to pray. The twelve followers of Jesus set off in a boat and headed across the Lake Tiberias (Sea of Galilee) towards Capernaum, which was on the shore of Lake Tiberias. The weather that night was stormy with a strong wind and violent waves. They traveled slowly in the difficult conditions. They had been rowing in the boat for approximately three miles when they saw Jesus approaching the boat, and he was walking on the water. They were terrified, but Jesus said to them, “Don’t be afraid.” Then they welcomed Jesus into the boat.

There was a friend of Jesus whose name was Lazarus. Lazarus became sick and died.  When Jesus visited the family he was greeted by the two sisters Martha and Mary.  Lazarus had been in the tomb for four days. Martha and Mary said to Jesus – ‘If you arrived here before he died, my brother would not have died.’ Jesus felt a deep sadness and wept. The tomb was a cave with a stone placed in front of the entrance. Jesus asked that the stone be removed. After prayer, Jesus called out in a loud voice – ‘Lazarus’ and then Jesus commanded him to come out. Lazarus came back to life and walked out of the tomb on his own. He was still wearing the clothes which he was buried in. Jesus gave him his life again. Later Jesus was a special guest at a dinner with Lazarus and his sisters.

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The religious leaders hated Jesus, and they plotted to have him killed. Knowing that they were going to kill him, he said ‘If you destroy this temple, in three days I will raise it up’. The temple he was talking about was not the temple in Jerusalem, but the temple of his own body.

All these things, which Jesus told people in advance, happened. Jesus sacrificed his own life. He said that he had authority to surrender his life and authority to take it up again. The Roman authorities crucified Jesus. The authorities checked that he was dead, without a doubt. They put a spear in his side and blood and water separately flowed out of his body. This is a proof of death. His dead body was laid in a tomb. But on the third day Jesus rose to life again!!! He presented himself to over 500 followers after he rose from the dead. He gave many convincing proofs that he was alive over a period of 40 days. He ate with them and he taught them about the kingdom of God.

Jesus was God’s sacrificial Lamb. When He died on the cross he took all our sin and shame on Himself. It is promised that the sin and shame of all who put their trust in Jesus and who follow Him is removed. Then God has promised that He will not remember our sin and shame anymore. This is God’s promise to us.

One time, he met with Peter and said to him – ‘Follow me’. Jesus is the good shepherd. He calls his sheep by name and leads them. Jesus said, ‘The sheep who belong to me, they listen to my voice. I know them and they follow me. I give them everlasting life.’

Whoever wants to may also come to Jesus. They also can follow Jesus. God invites us to follow Him.

Material sourced from Matthew 9,14, 26-28 Mark 5,14-16 Luke 7,8, 22-24 John 6, 10-12,18- 21 Isaiah 42 & 53, Psalms 16 & 22, Acts 1 & 2, 1 Corinthians 15, Hebrews 8, Revelation 22

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Photo of Hazbani River by Adiel lo (Own work (I took the photo)) [CC BY-SA 3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0) or GFDL (http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/fdl.html)], via Wikimedia Commons

Photo of Bread by Dominic Alberts on Pixnio

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