Date: March 28, 2020

Bible Text: JER 11:18-20; JN 7:40-53 |

Series:

May our friendship with Jesus grow stronger and deeper every day.

Others said, “This is the Christ.” But others said, “The Christ will not come from Galilee, will he? Does not Scripture say that the Christ will be of David’s family and come from Bethlehem, the village where David lived?” These men were right about the scriptures and the prophecies but they were ignorant about Christ. Had they known Jesus quite well, they would have realized that what they knew in the scriptures and the prophecies were actually all referring to Jesus.

But how could the apostles and disciples have such an incredible faith to Jesus? Here we come to understand that our relationship with Jesus is a necessary condition of our faith in Him. We cannot love Him whom we do not know. We cannot put our trust and belief in Him whom we have not befriended.

“I will no longer call you servants but friends,” Jesus told his disciples. Ultimately our fellowship with Jesus must end up in our deep friendship with Him. Our friendship with Jesus enables us to know Him more deeply and brings us to the core knowledge of who God is and the depth of His love.

Doubts and fears are symptoms of a lack of faith. And if we are lacking in faith, maybe it’s telling us, we need some more time to be in the company of Jesus that we may know Him and believe. We need to read the scriptures more often and pray more.

The Lenten season provides us a spiritual ambiance where we could focus on deepening our knowledge of Jesus. With social distancing due to the recent crisis, we can take advantage of this occasion to spend time for prayer and meditation. If there are some positive effects the pandemic brings, it is having much time to be on our own; it is making the world pray and come closer to Jesus.

May our friendship with Jesus grow stronger and deeper every day.