Moving on Without Jesus

Scriptures: Then they all went home, but Jesus went to the Mount of Olives. At dawn he appeared again in the temple courts, where all the people gathered around him, and he sat down to teach them. John 7:53-8:2

Observation: The prior events of John 7 have all taken place during the Feast of Tabernacles. During this time, Jerusalem would have been overflowing with visitors, and Jesus spoke several times. However, at the end of the festival ... "they all went home".

Jesus did not leave. He is still there. He spent the night camping outside the city wall - likely where he had spent the prior nights - and the next morning he returned to the temple again. The next scene is a famous confrontation about a woman caught in adultery, however this first moment is intriguing, as Jesus simply sits down to teach. "All the people" gathered around him, but given he was sitting and calmly teaching, "all" was now clearly a much smaller group, the size who could pay attention to a quiet lesson, spoken in a normal voice, in an open public space.

This begs the question ... why did everyone else leave? Jesus is still in Jerusalem, and he is still going to the temple in the morning to teach. From the perspective of interacting with Messiah, nothing has changed from day to day, as he is still here and still available. However, for the vast majority, what has changed is ... the calendar date. It is no longer the festival, and therefore they are moving on without Jesus.

Application: Every Monday ... heck, every Sunday afternoon ... most Christians do this. We move on without Jesus. We do this after Christmas, and after Easter. Daily, I do this after my devotions are complete. I return to my life and whatever is the next meeting on my calendar, the next task on my to-do list, the next email needing action.

I guess most do this to some degree. There are those who encounter Jesus, consider Christianity, and actually move on with their lives without even accepting the gospel message, living out the rest of their years without Jesus. There are those who attend church sporadically, maybe getting a nugget or two of wisdom from a sermon, and move on to their daily routines without much concern until the next time they go to church. I am one of those who finds time with the Lord daily, worships a couple times a weeks, attends church weekly, and yet somehow moves on, slipping into my activities while forgetting to keep Jesus at the center of those activities.

In a very real way, the Jews who attended the Feast of Tabernacles had a chance to remain in Jesus, but most chose to just return home because the festival had ended and it was time to return to life. In just as real of a way, I have a daily chance to keep Jesus' love, and his word, and his strength, and his wisdom, and his joy with me every minute of every day, but I usually just return to work because devotional time has ended and it is time to return to life.

My life would be so much better if, every moment of every day, I simply stayed with Jesus and listened to him as he sat down to teach me.

Prayer: I continue to pray this, and I will continue to pray this, because I continue to want and need this. Lord, please remain with me every moment, every day. May I turn to you for all things, more and more often, all the time. May I remember to invite you into the challenges and work of my life. In so doing, may I more and more find your joys and your blessings that are just sitting there for me. Amen.