My Favorite Verses - Vol V (Feb 17 to Jun 17)
An illustrated collection of brief commentaries on some of the Bible’s most beloved (and some of its least understood) passages, parables, verses & sayings
An illustrated collection of brief commentaries on some of the Bible’s most beloved (and some of its least understood) passages, parables, verses & sayings
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John 16:25 … Speaking in Figures<br />
(03/<strong>17</strong>/20<strong>17</strong>)<br />
“I have said these things <strong>to</strong> you in figures of speech. The hour is coming<br />
when I will no longer speak <strong>to</strong> you figuratively, but will show you plainly of the<br />
Father.” ~ Jesus (John 16:25)<br />
This is actually one of the very last things Jesus says in the Bible*, which<br />
means that almost everything said by Jesus in Matthew, Mark, Luke & John was<br />
in large part metaphorical and should be read & enlivened as such (with the<br />
implications of this Truth for conservative Christians and other “biblical literalists” being<br />
hopefully obvious). So now that Jesus is starting <strong>to</strong> speak more literally with his<br />
disciples in this passage, what did he mean here with “the hour is coming when I<br />
will … show you plainly of the Father”? Why, he is speaking of his own<br />
crucifixion, of course – the moment he chose <strong>to</strong> s<strong>to</strong>p merely speaking about The<br />
Way of Joyful Self-Sacrifice and chose <strong>to</strong> show his followers that most dramatic<br />
example of it instead! And this is no mere hollow theory – <strong>to</strong> the contrary, the<br />
Bible is filled with concrete evidence pointing directly <strong>to</strong>wards this interpretation<br />
… Consider the following points of Truth:<br />
01) For starters, Jesus said almost from the very beginning of his ministry<br />
that he did not want <strong>to</strong> form any new religion, but rather that he merely wanted a<br />
radical reform of the hyper-conservative Judaism of his day (Matthew 5:<strong>17</strong>-18) …<br />
02) In addition, despite the stark protestations of many, he openly stated in no<br />
uncertain terms that he did not want <strong>to</strong> be worshipped (Mark 10:18, John 5:41, John<br />
7:16, John 8:50-54, John 12:44 et al), that he did not bring any miracles or perform<br />
any healings himself (Matthew 8:13, Matthew 9:29, Matthew 12:38-39, Matthew 16:4,<br />
Mark 5:34, Mark 9:23, Mark 10:52, Luke<br />
7:50, Luke 8:48-52, Luke 11:29, Luke<br />
<strong>17</strong>:19, Luke 18:42, John 9:39, John 11:4+11<br />
et al), and that he did not want anyone<br />
falsely claiming that he was the Messiah<br />
(Matthew 8:4, Matthew 9:30, Matthew<br />
12:16, Mark 1:44, Mark 5:43, Mark 7:36,<br />
Mark 8:26, Luke 5:14, Luke 8:56) … In<br />
Truth, Jesus was immensely frustrated<br />
with his followers (Matthew 12:34,<br />
Matthew 15:7-9, Matthew <strong>17</strong>:<strong>17</strong>, Mark<br />
9:19, Luke 9:41, John 8:25, John 8:43, John<br />
14:10) and as such set about a way that<br />
he could s<strong>to</strong>p talking about his Way and<br />
show others the same instead …<br />
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