Then Jesus’ disciples said, “Now you are speaking clearly and without figures of speech. Now we can see that you know all things and that you do not even need to have anyone ask you questions. This makes us believe that you came from God.”
“Do you now believe?” Jesus replied.
Do you keep a diary? I do. It’s not much but in it I record the highlights of the day. It is amazing how quickly I can forget what I did yesterday. If I need to know something the daily diary is a great prompt to help me remember what was going on.
As we read through John’s gospel we have the advantage of seeing what amount to his notes of what happened each day. We see the disciples convinced that Jesus is God in John 6:69. They have certainly heard Jesus talk about this more than once. So it might seem a surprise to hear the disciples say, “Now we can see…” Why didn’t they remember that they had seen that Jesus is God before?
The reason Jesus didn’t pick an engineer to be a disciple is that he didn’t want anyone dragging pencils and notepads around writing down notes all of the time. He wanted his disciples fully engaged with him all of the time. Later there would be time for writing down memories assisted by the Holy Spirit. So if the disciples find themselves going over the same ground that they have gone over before, we can understand. After all, they are only human.
Food for thought: If you had been a disciple in Jesus’ day would you have wanted to take notes of everything he said or would you be content to just hang out with the most amazing man in the universe?
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Interesting question. I would probably have been like Luke, not one of Jesus’ disciples but a disciple of the disciples. Luke had a bent for history and facts. I can relate. I would likely have wanted to be recording things Jesus said and did. Of course, the Holy Spirit can do a better job of that.
Rich,
Interesting. I had never thought of being a ‘disciple of the disciples.’ I have a feeling that when we do get to be with our Lord face to face it will be too wonderful and intense for anyone to even think of taking notes. 🙂