John 11

When Lazarus died, while the lord restrained himself from helping him, an interesting conversion between Jesus and his disciples happened as it is written in John (11: 7 -12).  

Then after this he said to the disciples, “Let us go to Judea again.” The disciples said to him, “Rabbi, the Jews were just now seeking to stone you, and are you going there again?” Jesus answered, “Are there not twelve hours in the day? If anyone walks in the day, he does not stumble, because he sees the light of this world. But if anyone walks in the night, he stumbles, because the light is not in him.” After saying these things, he said to them, “Our friend Lazarus has fallen asleep, but I go to awaken him.” The disciples said to him, “Lord, if he has fallen asleep, he will recover.”

One important point of the above verses is related to the statement that “ … If anyone walks in the day, he does not stumble because he sees the light of this world. But if anyone walks in the night, he stumbles, because the light is not in him.” Jesus is telling them that he does not see through his eye only or listen through his ears only to make decisions but sees through the eye of the heavenly father, who sees everything and knows everything. In simple words, Jesus is telling them, I know what I am doing because I have the Holy Spirit who guides my way. This will be consistent with the prophecy of Isaiah (11:3), which states “And his delight shall be in the fear of the LORD. He shall not judge by what his eyes see, or decide disputes by what his ears hear, …” (Isaiah 11:3).

 

He is also telling them that those who stumble by opposing him are those who see by their eye and listen by their ears only to make decisions, while being in the darkness of life without the light, the Holy Spirit. They are blind leading blind to the cliff. His message is that they stumble because they are not led by the heavenly father and they don’t know the heavenly father. For the disciples, however, he is telling them “As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world” (John 9:5), so follow my lead without any doubt.

 

What is needed for the perfection of those who follow Jesus, however, is that they must also see through the eye of the heavenly father and listen through the ear of the heavenly father. They need to be born again in spirit, by adoption through grace, so they can be like the wind. They will know everything but nobody will be able to know them. Nobody will understand what they are doing, where they are going, and where they will end up, because nobody knows the heart of Jesus, and they have the heart of Jesus. This is why Jesus told them: “Nevertheless, I tell you the truth: it is to your advantage that I go away, for if I do not go away, the Helper will not come to you. But if I go, I will send him to you.” (John 16:7). Jesus has to go so they can be born in spirit, so they can judge not by their eye and ear but through eye and ear of the heavenly father, who knows everything and controls everything.

 

Now we have John the Baptist, who was given the Holy Spirit from the womb of his mother. Jesus himself witnessed about John by saying “Truly I tell you, among those born of women there has not risen anyone greater than John the Baptist …” (Matthew 11:11). He is great because he is anointed to do the most important task human being can do: to prepare the way of the lord. His role was critical in preparing people for the coming of the lord and most of the original disciples of Jesus were followers and disciples of John the Baptist (see Acts 1: 21 -22). John was a man that the heavenly father strongly used to make the way to the lord and John did proclaim Jesus to be the lamp of the lord (John 1: 29).

 

Yet in prison, when his expectation of a shining armor who will free the people did not materialize, he stumbled the hardest. John did not only doubt Jesus, but the Holy Spirit which guided him also. He doubted the mission of his very existence. If John is not the witness of the lord, what purpose does his existence serve? Yes, John was not born again, as the only one in heaven while being on earth is Jesus only (John 3: 13), yet he still has adequate knowledge and guidance of the Holy Spirit to stumble this hard. Lord's Judgment for that is to save him through fire (1 Corinthians 3:15). He is saved but will have the least status in the kingdom of God because he becomes the biggest stumbling stone for the little ones of the lord. Lord then after has to walk in water, feed the multitude with few numbers of bread and fish, and discipline a water wave to strengthen the faith of the little ones of the lord, which includes Peter, Jacob, and John. 

 

The difference between John the Baptist and Jesus, despite Jesus’s divine nature, is that Jesus is led 24/7 by the Holy Spirit and will never stumble. While John the Baptist did have guidance of the Holy Spirit but still used his human eye and ear to understand things from his human brain's perspective. John did not understand his prophecy when he said “Here is the lamp of God”; as the lamp of God is a sacrificial animal. John’s brain, which is dependent on his eye and ear, still wants his shining armor which will give kingdom to his people. After all, it is written:

 

“Who is blind but my servant, or deaf as my messenger whom I send? Who is blind as my dedicated one, or blind as the servant of the LORD? He sees many things, but does not observe them; his ears are open, but he does not hear.” (Isaiah 42:19-20)

 

Now the good question, which is redundant question at this point, is why do people who are born of spirit stumble in ways of God? The simple answer is that their flesh still lives and they are not fully born in spirit. They have the spirit of God, for they have the promise of eternal life with the lord, but they are not fully submitted to his will and his way. They did not denounce themselves to die with Jesus, so they could be born in spirit like Jesus, to be all in all full citizens of the kingdom of heaven. The best way to express their fault is by using the term spiritual infancy. They are born but not mature enough to have a life of spiritual maturity.

 

Now my point to you is: if you know God and if the spirit of God is leading you, you should know the difference between light and darkness. It does not matter if Jesus does not respect Sunday, does not honor the tradition of fathers, or even insult your intelligence by asking you to eat him. If the spirit of the lord is in you to lead and guide you, you should know the difference between light and darkness. If you don’t know the difference between light and darkness, it is either you are not born again or highly likely you are still a spiritual baby to be given bones of the bible for your mouth and stomach. If the heavenly father is guiding you and is the leader of your life, you have to know who Jesus is and it does not matter if he respects Sunday or not.