This week the lessons revolved around the principle of Honesty and the portion of the New Testament where Jesus declares himself to be the Bread of Life.
The reading in the New Testament was John chapters 5 & 6, Mark chapter 6 verses 30 - 44 and Matthew chapter 14 verses 22-33. The beginning of the reading tells the story of the pool at Bethesda. This pool was thought to have healing powers that would only work for the first person who entered the pool after it was "troubled". There was a man there who had some kind of infirmity for 38 years. The condition left him hobbled so that he could not move fast enough to be the first one in the pool. This he explained when Jesus asked him about his condition. Jesus then healed the man by stating "Rise, take up thy bed, and walk". The man was healed and immediately did what the Lord commanded.
As he was on his way the leaders of the Jews saw him carrying his bed. This of course was against the law of the Sabbath and brought this to the man's attention. The man explained that the person who healed him had told him to take up his bed and walk. The leaders wanted to know who this person was, but the man did not know.
Here is where things get interesting. Jesus finds the man later and tells him to sin no more lest a worse thing happens to him. Every time that Jesus healed someone there was some kind of follow-up, either a commandment to do something or a warning about what would happen if sin were committed. I believe the follow-up was to affirm to the individual who had healed him/her and to testify of the Divinity of the Savior.
The leaders of the Jews having discovered from the man that Jesus healed him then confronted the Savior. They accused him of doing wrong on the Sabbath. Then Jesus goes on to explain that everything he did came from the fact that the Father showed him what the Father did. This is significant. It means that 1) Jesus and the Father are distinct beings, and 2) that the Father had done similar work in a different time.
Jesus after his explanation and telling the leaders about witnesses to his Divinity other than himself challenges the leaders to "Search the scriptures; for in them ye think ye have eternal life: and they are they which testify of me." The leaders of the Jews were the ones who professed to understand the scriptures and know what God's plan was, and yet here again they are being reminded to look into those sacred writings because they testified of the Lord.
The next part of the lesson describes a miracle where 5000 people were fed with only 5 loaves of bread and 2 small fishes. Jesus had the multitude sit down and started to divide up the bread and fishes and gave to his disciples who then gave to the crowd. All were filled, meaning they received enough to eat to satisfy their hunger. When it was over the Lord gives, what I feel, is an interesting instruction on not being wasteful. He instructs his disciples to gather the remnants of what was left and they came back with 12 baskets full of remnants. This I'm sure did not go to waste but nothing is said further of this.
After the miracle Christ sends the disciples on a boat to cross over to Capernaum while he goes and communes with His Father. In the night (around the fourth watch) a storm has arisen and the disciples are working hard to get the boat across the sea. One of them spots Jesus walking on the water towards them and soon they are all afraid thinking it is a spirit. Jesus hails them and Peter asks to be allowed to walk on the water to the Lord. Peter's faith is tested here. He starts out and is able to walk on the water, however when he feels the wind and sees the waves his faith falters and he starts to sink. He cries out to the Lord to save him and when He does he chides Peter's lack of faith.
The next day the people who were fed realize that Jesus is no longer there. They also know that he did not travel with his disciples in the boat. They head to where the disciples have gone figuring that Jesus would catch up with the disciples. When they arrive they find out that Jesus is already there and astonished they ask how can that be? Jesus instead of directly answering the question tells them that they came because he fed them and not because they saw the miracle. Here is where the Bread of Life portion comes in.
Jesus talks about the scriptures where Moses and his people were given manna from heaven. Even though the Israelites ate the manna they still died. Jesus then declares that He is the Bread of Life and that anyone who eats of this bread shall not die. Of course Jesus is speaking metaphorically and means that those who accept Him and live His Gospel will not suffer spiritual death. Spiritual death is the separation of man from God. Living by the Bread of Life will allow all mankind to live with God and not be separated from Him.
During the 3rd hour of church today the lesson was on Honesty. The 13th Article of Faith begins "We believe in being honest, . . . ". The time was spent discussing how we can be completely honest so that we can partake in salvation. Discussion was held on lying and cheating and stealing as all being dishonest. To me, honesty also means being true to your word. It was a good discussion on a topic that probably most of us feel we have mastered.
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