It’s easy for Christians to fall into a rut: Church is a thing you do, prayer is a box to check, and faith seems far from “the real world.” This fall we let Jesus himself confront our ruts. “Do you believe this?” he asks (Jn. 11:26).
To believe in Jesus is to experience him. It’s more than logic, argument, and doctrine. It is intimate knowledge of God himself. This fall, let Jesus himself speak to you in his seven “I AM” statements in the gospel of John. How is he changing you? What response is he inspiring in you? To believe in him changes everything.
Invocation
In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
Ponder:
Today we ponder the I AM statement: “I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me shall not hunger, and whoever believes in me shall never thirst.” What things does our world hunger and thirst for? What longings do you have in your life right now? Ponder how Jesus is the Bread of Life, and how he satisfies all our unmet longing.
Word
John 20:21b
“As the Father has sent me, I am sending you.”
Meditation: Sent in the Midst of Doubt by Jo Saleska Lange
Poor Thomas. So many single him out as the “doubting” disciple when, really, all Jesus’ disciples fail to believe until they see the risen Lord for themselves.
Jesus had foretold his death and resurrection; both Peter and John had seen Jesus’ empty tomb; Mary Magdalene proclaimed that she had “seen the Lord!” — But the disciples don’t actually believe until Jesus is standing in the room with them, showing them the wounds in his hands and side.
Actually, throughout the Gospels, the disciples often struggle to comprehend that Jesus is the promised Messiah. In one poignant moment earlier in John’s Gospel, Jesus asks his disciple Philip, “Have I been with you so long, and yet you have not known Me?” (14:9). Despite all they have seen and heard, the disciples just can’t seem to get it.
When the risen Jesus appears before them, the disciples’ Christian faith is brand new. Just moments before, they were gathered in fear of Jewish leaders, guilt-ridden over Jesus’ crucifixion, their minds desperate to make sense of his ministry in light of his death.
Yet, it is in this precise moment of doubt, fear, and confusion that Jesus sends them: “As the Father has sent me, I am sending you.”
How ill-equipped the disciples must have felt! How could they—still so immature in their understanding—carry on the ministry of the risen Christ?
Maybe you feel ill-equipped, too. I know I do. Even as I write this, I fear that my knowledge is too incomplete to comment on scripture in any meaningful way. Like the disciples on Easter morning, there is still so much about God that I don’t understand. Like the disciples, I struggle with doubt.
Yet, I am sent.
And so are you.
These verses remind me that the Holy Spirit has also prepared me to bring Jesus to others. Through the Holy Spirit, the imperfect, faith-flawed disciples went on to spread the Gospel to the far reaches of the world. In the same way, the Holy Spirit enables me to do so much more than I might imagine.
Dear Jesus, thank you for loving me in spite of the fear, doubt, and confusion that so often clouds my faith. Thank you for equipping me to do your work through the power of the Holy Spirit.
Prayer
Jesus, you said, “I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me shall not hunger, and whoever believes in me shall never thirst.” In this world, I am always longing for more. Satisfy my deepest hunger, not only for physical nourishment. I long to be fulfilled and joyful. I find that only in you. So be the true bread of my life, and fill me up. Amen.
Benediction
May the grace of the Lord Jesus sanctify us and keep us from all evil; may he drive far from us all hurtful things; may he bind us to himself by the bond of love, and may his peace abound in our hearts. Amen.