Listening to the Gospel of John, as recited by Jason Nightingale of “WordSower International”:http://www.wordsower.org/index.htm, I realized just how much patience our Lord Jesus had for the people to whom He ministered. Again and again, he performed miraculous works and wonders that proved His divinity and validated His message, and again and again the people asked, “By what sign can we know that you are the Son of God? Show us a sign so that we may believe.” And again and again Christ responded by saying, “I have already told you who I am. You ask for a sign not so that you may believe but so that you may be fed.” (How like so many people even today.) Even Christ’s own disciples did not fully believe until that fateful night when he was betrayed, and then their faith was limited by their understanding, since they did not know (a shortcoming of the religious leaders of the day?) that He meant to rise again three days after His death. Listening to Jesus interact with the people, I knew that my patience would have given out long before. There would have come a point where I would have responded in anger and frustration, and I probably would have written off the followers completely and ended my ministry in despondency and burnout. Yet, Christ persisted, preaching His message over and over again, knowing then that most would not understand, let alone believe, knowing what He was facing for a people who would be ungrateful and unforgiving. With this knowledge He continued His ministry all the way to the cross and gave His everything to save His people. I would have given up long before. This Christ, this Yeshua, this Jesus of the Jews, Messiah, Savior of the world, was, and is, a better man than I.
