Misinterpreretation (John 11:45-57)

Published: Aug. 29, 2010, 10 a.m.

This morning, Thomas was telling me about an acquaintance of his who is a medical missionary. Trying to learn a foreign language is a tricky experience. Nationals can easily misinterpret your feeble attempts at speaking their language. This man intended to walk around the room and greet everyone with the customary "hello." Instead, he walked around the room smiling, waving, and saying: "There is no god! There is no god!" It's really easy for us to misinterpret each other's intentions. In John 11, we see this happening to Jesus. After Jesus raised Lazarus from the dead, many people figured out that Jesus wasn't just an ordinary individual. They got that much right. But, then, they mis-interpreted what he was going to do. Many times, we get the details about Jesus correct. We correctly say that He's the Son of God, He died as a substitution for our sins, and He was raised to prove His victory over the grave. But what we miss, is what He's going to do NOW in our lives. We often assume He's going to do one thing, when He's doing an entirely different thing. This Sunday, we're going to challenge each other to open our eyes and examine our mis-interpretations of God's working in our lives. And, I can't wait to see you then! P.Dave