The Life of Jesus Christ - Chapter 10 - Jesus' arrest and appearance at court - Part 2
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An online Bible Study course by Barrie Wetherill about the life of Jesus. This book is in EasyEnglish Level B. Use the links below for other online Bible Study books and commentaries that will help you. Or go to the Word List, which explains words with a *star.
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For a time, Jesus was very popular with crowds. Many people came
because they wanted Jesus to cure them. And Jesus did cure them. He told people
not to speak about this, but they did. The news about him spread everywhere.
There were *miracles. For example, he fed
5000 people by a *miracle (John 6:5-14). Enormous crowds came because of
this. Then the crowd wanted to make Jesus king by force. He had to escape from
them. But although he was popular, they did not really obey him. They did not
want to change the way that they lived. Jesus said:
John 6:26, 27 Jesus
answered, ‘I tell you the truth. The reason why you are looking for me is
not the *miracles. You are looking for me because I gave you plenty of bread
to eat.
Do not work for food
that becomes bad. Work for the food that gives you eternal life. [Jesus did
not mean the food that you eat, here. This word 'food' really meant Jesus
himself. 'Eternal life' is the life that God gives to believers now,
and which will continue in heaven.] The
Son of Man [Jesus] will give you this food. God the Father has shown that he
approves of him’.
After this, Jesus said some very difficult things. That made
many people decide not to obey him (John 6:66).
The crowds loved to see the *miracles. But *miracles were signs
of who Jesus was. People who understood that would repent. [Repent means to be
sorry for the wrong things that you have done. You decided to love God, and
start to obey him.] They would trust Christ. In fact, in many places people saw
the *miracles, but did not repent. Jesus spoke against these places. The words
that he spoke about this were very severe. In this passage, Jesus spoke about
these towns as if they were people. He blamed the people from these towns for
their weak reaction to his message:
Matthew 11:20-24 Then Jesus began to accuse the people
who lived in these cities. He had done most of his *miracles there, but the
people did not *repent. 'This is not good for you, Chorazin! This is not good
for you, Bethsaida! You have seen many *miracles. If such *miracles happened
in the cities of Tyre and Sidon, their people would have *repented. They would
have shown how sorry they were. But I tell you that a day of *judgement is
coming. Then it will be better for Tyre and Sidon than for you. And you,
Capernaum, what will happen to you? Will God be pleased with you? Will he
bless you? No, not at all. If Sodom had seen *miracles like these, it would
have remained to this day. But I tell you that it will be better for Sodom on
the day of *judgement than for you.'
All that people wanted was the *miracles. But *miracles should
make a person want to obey God.
What Jesus talked about in the parable
of the farmer was now true. [A parable is a story with a meaning.] The
parable of the farmer is in Matthew 13:1-9. The farmer sowed seed on different
kinds of soil. Some seed fell among rocks, with not enough soil. It grew
quickly, but had not enough roots. The sun came out and the plants died. Jesus
explained that this referred to some people. They gladly listened to Jesus'
message. But their joy did not last. When there was any kind of trouble, they
did not trust him. Only some of the farmer’s seed had deep roots. So, only
some of the people who followed Jesus, really trusted him.
Many people gave a welcome to Jesus when
he entered Jerusalem. They praised him gladly. But perhaps some of these
people joined another crowd later that week. And that crowd shouted: '*Crucify
him'.
Many in the crowds did not think about what Jesus said about
goodness and *judgement. They wanted
*miracles. And they wanted to see Jesus cure people. They did not like what he
said in passages like Matthew 16:24-28.
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2002-2005, Wycliffe Associates (UK)