20 For every one that doeth evil hateth the light, neither cometh to the light, lest his deeds should be reproved.
We discussed in the previous devotion that there are some very good reasons why people do not want to come to the light that shines from the Word of God made flesh… The teaching of Jesus here is that there are those would rather choose their preferred and varied sins over a relationship with God. This is no surprise, but even these people can change. I am sure that there are many of us who have been there and done that in the past.
It is never comfortable to be shown our faults. It becomes much more difficult to deal with these dark things and separate from them when we see them as part of ourselves.
21 But he that doeth truth cometh to the light, that his deeds may be made manifest, that they are wrought in God.
On the contrary, those who are true to themselves and to who they were created to be are those who are enlightened by the Holy Spirit and accept the light of Christ. They are empowered by God to do good. They desire for their true, faithful and good deeds to be seen by God; not to boast, but rather as a way to give thanks to God for his grace and mercy in their lives. They also admit the truth that they have done wrong in the past, but instead of hiding it they choose to confess it and move in in the light of God.
22 After these things came Jesus and his disciples into the land of Judaea; and there he tarried with them, and baptized.
Judea was the area around Jerusalem and the name of the Southern kingdom of Israel in the Old Testament. In the Old Testament, the Judeans were those who were primarily of the tribes of Judah, Benjamin and Levi that stayed at least outwardly faithful to the kingship of David’s descendants and the worship of God at his Temple in Jerusalem.
23 And John also was baptizing in Aenon near to Salim, because there was much water there: and they came, and were baptized.
It is interesting to note that John the Baptist continued to baptize people even after he declared the greatness of Jesus.
24 For John was not yet cast into prison.
25 Then there arose a question between some of John's disciples and the Jews about purifying.
There are many things that religious Jews argued about when it came to the practice of the Law and traditions… Argument for the sake of knowing God’s will was seen as a very important thing to do and it sharpened the scriptural knowledge of disciples. Questions were seen as paramount in the search for truth.
A common way to look at it was, and I am paraphrasing: “seek the question” instead of seeking the answer. We may be tricked into thinking that there is just one answer to a specific question. In some cases, yes, there is just one answer to a question. However, in other cases there may be several layers of meaning or several answers to a question. When this is the case, stopping at just one “answer” would leave one’s knowledge and understanding of a topic incomplete.
Differences of opinion were extremely common between the many first century Jewish sects just as between Christian denominations now… There is nothing new under the sun.
“For wisdom is better than rubies; and all the things that may be desired are not to be compared to it.” – Proverbs 8:11
All Bible Verses are from the KJV Unless Otherwise Noted
All images used are in the public domain from Pixabay.com
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