Comments for Morristown Community Church: Morristown, NJ

Comment on John 10:1-21 (Nov 10th) by Christian

Christian — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 07:19:47 +0000

Who is the hired hand? Perhaps false pastors?

I know the Mormons point to verse 16a (”I have other sheep that are not of this sheep pen. I must bring them also.”) as evidence that Jesus came to America.

This passage makes me think of another passage where I think Jesus talks about going after the errant sheep who strays away from the herd. That comforts me because it says that Jesus is concerned with us as individuals, not just as a group of all His children.

Comment on John 10:1-21 (Nov 10th) by Sarah Lythe

Sarah Lythe — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 15:41:13 +0000

I have always liked the bit about Jesus being the gate, I remember when I learnt that the shepherds would lie down at the entrance to protect the flock at night, it opened my eyes to the reality that Jesus is there to protect us and the only way we can enter into the flock is through him. He is there to keep out the enemy and to lead us where we need to go.
A great passage, such love.

Comment on John 10:1-21 (Nov 10th) by Al

Al — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 11:35:23 +0000

Now that Janet’s parents are raising sheep in their retirement, I have a much more vivid image in my mind as to what Jesus is talking about here in verses 2-5. Each year there are several lambs that for what ever the reason are either rejected by their mother, or in the case of triplets cannot be adequately taken care of. These lambs, left to themselves, would die and so they must be rescued and bottle fed. These animals require a great deal of attention and care. As a result, the bottle lambs generally get named and become much more attached to Janet’s Dad (Jim) than the rest of the lambs. Eventually these lambs are introduced to the rest of the lambs and to me are indistingushable from the rest. However, in the morning at feeding time, it is the bottle lambs that come running first when Jim calls them. 2 “The man who enters by the gate is the shepherd of his sheep. 3 The watchman opens the gate for him, and the sheep listen to his voice. He calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. 4 When he has brought out all his own, he goes on ahead of them, and his sheep follow him because they know his voice.”

Comment on John 9:35-41 (Nov 9th) by Christian

Christian — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 14:59:16 +0000

Another difficult passage. I count at least 3 uses of ‘blind’ in just a few verses.

But I think Jesus is looking for humility here. He’s looking for people who are teachable. He’s looking for broken hearts. He’s looking for pots that he can mold.

Oh what a blessing it was to be one of the extremely few people in history to have the fortune of meeting Jesus as a human. We live today in the very distant shadow of that experience. Sigh.

Comment on John 9:18-34 (Nov 8th) by Janet

Janet — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 01:13:19 +0000

One thing standing out to me in this reading is the “believing (or not) in miracles” angle.

We might feel that there are not as many miracles these days (at least not that we are aware of), but with all that Jesus was doing back then, it seems that his miracles could not have been ignored.

In this case, once it is clear that this man was blind, and later could see - the options (that I can think of right now) are:
1) Deception of some kind - that the man really wasn’t blind before or that he wasn’t the actual man who was blind; or
2) Unexplained healing

The leaders first went after the deception option, but once the blind man’s parents corroborated his story, that he was blind and now can see, the leaders are left with the unexplained healing option.

You would think at this point that they might realize there is some supernatural activity going on and be cautious of how they dealt with it. But instead, they are more frightened of what Jesus’ life could mean to them in the political arena, than in the larger context.

Comment on John 9:18-34 (Nov 8th) by Christian

Christian — Sun, 08 Nov 2009 15:28:26 +0000

It reads to me that this once-blind man was really ridiculing those Jews. He was trying to embarass them and turn their logic back on them. He must’ve known he was going to get kicked out of the synagogue there for good.

At first, I was pretty confused with verses 31 and 32 and how they fit in with verses 30 and 33. But then I understood the man was talking about Jesus. Since God doesn’t listen to sinners, and since Jesus healed his sight, Jesus must not have been a sinner, despite what the Jews said in verse 24.

I guess these Jews felt Jesus was a sinner because He did things like heal on the Sabbath. But, if He was God, He could do that without sinning. (”Man was not made for the Sabbath…”)

Comment on John 7:45-53 (Oct 28th) by Jackie Dalusio

Jackie Dalusio — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 14:41:38 +0000

It is very easy to get buried under our own to-do-list. We must stop and reach out to others. Even if it is just a short e-mail or phone call. It’s not all about us. We all need to hear that kind word or two. ” Hey I was thinking about you today. How you doing?” It only takes just a few minutes to help lift up someone who may need it.

Comment on John 7:1-13 (Oct 24th) by Sarah Lythe

Sarah Lythe — Sat, 24 Oct 2009 13:50:58 +0000

Am I sold out enough for Christ that I am making people react to him in what they see in me. Jesus caused a reaction wherever he went, not always good, but he made people look at who they are. Am I prepared for people to hate me because they see Christ in me?

Comment on John 6:16-24 (Oct 20th) by Sarah Lythe

Sarah Lythe — Tue, 20 Oct 2009 12:53:36 +0000

I know I don’t always expect Jesus to be there, I should trust that he is always there ready to help.

Comment on John 6:1-15 (Oct 19th) by ERIK

ERIK — Mon, 19 Oct 2009 13:02:54 +0000

Having a tough time this morning drawing fresh inspiration from this passage. Let’s see what the day brings…