Empty Handed

Daily Devotional – I’m Normal.™  I AM Ministries

“To promote Godly living in a culture committed to destroying it”

Normal I AM

Saturday, July 18, 2015

Empty-Handed

Jesus Christ’s ability to persuade people to believe in Him and His teachings angered and exasperated the Pharisees. When Jesus was teaching at the Feast of Tabernacles (John 7), His success in feeding His people the spiritual food they longed for was the last straw for the Pharisees. When they heard the crowd whispering good things about Jesus, the chief priest and the Pharisees dispatched temple guards to arrest our LORD (John 7:32). Finally, they thought, Jesus would be sequestered and the “trouble” He caused the prideful Pharisees would disappear.

As the old adage goes, “The best laid plans of mice and men often go awry”, and so did the plan of the Pharisees. They were contriving schemes to suppress Jesus on the day of the great feast. Notably, they were not attending the sacred religious services of the day as one would expect the church leaders to be doing; rather, they considered themselves above such common duties and set about to sequester a man they considered to be an enemy. In their hubris, they considered themselves better occupied by the detention of Jesus Christ – a thorn in their sides – than the affairs of church policy and tradition.

Warrants had been issued and they expected Jesus to be delivered to them any minute by their minions, but despite their best efforts, Jesus escaped. Scripture tells us, “Some wanted to seize Him, but none laid a hand on Him.” (John 7:44). By leaving them empty-handed, Jesus sent shock waves through the religious community.

Jesus’ disappearance meant the temple guards were forced to return to the Pharisees empty-handed. Outraged, the Pharisees expressed immediately their utter dismay and demanded to know why the guards had not brought Christ to them. What could have possibly caused this mix up? Jesus had been teaching publicly, was fair game, and should have been an easy target. Moreover, even though He had many followers, a sizable group opposed His teachings and could have assisted the guards in His capture.

The Pharisees were a bit mystified by the failure of the guards. Their first action was to charge them with dereliction of duty. Next, they puzzled how people who were so dependent on them, people whom they had almost brainwashed and instilled prejudices against Christ, could fail them so miserably. They should not have been surprised, however. The Bible tells us that mischievous men fret when they are stymied from doing the mischief they would do (Psalm 112:10). The longings of the wicked will come to nothing. Thus be the Word of the LORD.

The next thought in the minds of the Pharisees was panic. This was the last day of the feast and they would have no other opportunity soon to capture Him. They realized immediately they had been out-smarted and out-maneuvered, forcing them to wait for the next religious feast to implement their evil plan. The sound of them marking their calendars must have been deafening.

The guards, meanwhile, were busy defending themselves as to why they came up empty-handed. They claimed they had never heard a man speak the way Jesus spoke. This was most certainly a very great Truth, because never before had a man spoken with such wisdom, power, and grace, delivered with convincing clearness, charm, and authority. No surprise here – the words heard by the guards came from the very mouth of God. After all, Jesus is the Word (John 1:1).

It was in the best interest of these men to think poorly of Jesus and to reject His words, but it was so self-evident Jesus spoke Truth that their hearts and minds consumed. The Gospel Truth had seized them, leaving them powerless to lay a hand on Jesus. Such is the power of the Word.

Those who attempt to remove Christ from the public will ultimately fail. It is normal for Jesus to triumph, even when the odds appear stacked against Him. The Pharisees tried and failed to banish Him, but came up empty-handed. Many people today also try to hide His messages, but will ultimately fail. The sad Truth is, because of our sin, we need Jesus’ hand in ours to walk through the gates of Heaven. Those who are empty-handed will fail to enter God’s Kingdom. The Good News of the Gospel is that His hand is available to all.

Jesus cannot be imprisoned by His enemies through seizure or sequester. Only those who seize Him to hold in their hearts can capture Him permanently and gain eternal life. Seizing Jesus is an important task. Make sure you do it the normal way and hold Him tight inside your heart.

In His love and service,

Jeff Myers
A servant of Jesus Christ

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