Understanding the Message About Jesus
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Who is the smartest, most intelligent person that you of?
Some of us would say that a scientist is very smart.
Others would say that a rocket scientist or a brain surgeon are amongst the smartest people in the world because they require many years of training in difficult subjects such as mathematics, physics, anatomy, neuroscience, etc.
On the screen we have two very different people.
On the left, we have Bill Gates, the billionaire founder of Microsoft.
I would say this man is extremely intelligent.
He founded one of the greatest companies in the world.
On the right, we have Pascuala López, an indigenous woman from San Cristobal de las Casas, Chiapas.
She speaks Spanish but primarily speaks her dialect tzotzil.
She is a simple woman.
Now, if you were to ask Bill Gates about Jesus, about the Bible, about what Jesus did on the cross…
It is likely that he would say that he finds it very hard to believe in God. In fact, he would probably give you many reasons why belief in God is impossible or silly.
On the other hand, if you were to ask Pascuala López, what she things of the Bible’s message about Jesus she would say:
That when she heard pastor Miguel Cashlán preach about Jesus near her hometown, in her own dialect, she started to travel three hours just to listen to the message about Jesus. In an interview she said, “There, we learned how Jesus died on the cross for our sins because he loved us. My life changed and everything around me seemed new and I saw things very differently. I stopped drinking posh (alochol) and learned that I didn’t need to fear witchcraft, and did not need to see the local witch doctor because Jesus could heal our diseases…we would pray near the hills of our town por the chamula people so there would be many other believers.
…and she continued to believe even though in 1967 the towns people lit her home on fire and ran them out of town so they would never return.
She remained firm in her faith in Jesus Christ despite the hardship she experienced.
How can it be that Pascuala López is able to believe in the good news about Jesus and yet Bill Gates, despite his intellect, refuses to believe that Jesus Christ is the Messiah?
The reality is that understanding the message of the Bible and about Jesus Christ does not depend on your IQ, on your ability to do complex math, or understand physics.
Understanding the gospel requires God’s Holy Spirit touching your heart and mind, openning your understanding so that you may truly believe that Jesus Christ is the messiah.
In our reading today, we come across a very important man, he is a government official of the ethiopian kingdom.
27 So he started out, and on his way he met an Ethiopian eunuch, an important official in charge of all the treasury of the Kandake (which means “queen of the Ethiopians”). This man had gone to Jerusalem to worship,
Phillips, is directed by the Spirit to speak with this very important man.
30 Then Philip ran up to the chariot and heard the man reading Isaiah the prophet. “Do you understand what you are reading?” Philip asked.
31 “How can I,” he said, “unless someone explains it to me?” So he invited Philip to come up and sit with him.
The man is reading a passage from the prophet Isaiah and he cannot understand what Isaiah is writing about.
Many of us have had that experience where we read something an the Bible but do not understand.
This man is in charge of the wealth of the Ethiopian kingdom and yet he does not understand what Isaiah is writing about.
Do you know who Isaiah is writing about?
32 This is the passage of Scripture the eunuch was reading: “He was led like a sheep to the slaughter, and as a lamb before its shearer is silent, so he did not open his mouth.
Who is this sheep that is being lead to be sacrificed?
If you answered “Jesus” then you are 100% correct.
Phillips explains to the man:
35 Then Philip began with that very passage of Scripture and told him the good news about Jesus.
…it is through Phillip’s explanation that the man believed in the good news about Jesus.
He put his faith and trust in Jesus.
He became a true believer, our brother in Christ, the moment that he believed.
In fact, his faith was so real…that when they came upon water, he asked to be baptized.
God wants to teach us that in order to understand the good news about Jesus, we cannot depend on our own understanding or our intellect.
God must do a special work in our lives, through the power of his Holy Spirit.
It is God who opens our minds and hearts to truly believe that we are sinners, that God sent his son to be our savior, and that if we believe in him, we will receive forgiveness of sins and eternal life.
Let pray:
Our Father, we come before you first of all to thank you for having opened our hearts and minds to believe that Jesus Christ is the only savior. There are many people much smarter than we are - and yet do not believe. However, thank you, for opening our hearts to the truth about what Jesus did on the cross for us. …and today we pray for those that do not believe. They do not believe because they are not smart or intelligent enough to believe. Many do not believe because they prefer to remain in darkness. We pray that your Holy Spirit will give people open hearts and open minds, so that one day they may also experience the miracle of salvation in their lives, Amen.
