John 14:6
Jesus is the Way, the Truth, and the Life
6 Jesus answered, "I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me."
John 16:12-15
The Holy Spirit Will Guide Us
12 “I have much more to say to you, more than you can now bear. 13 But when he, the Spirit of truth, comes, he will guide you into all the truth. He will not speak on his own; he will speak only what he hears, and he will tell you what is yet to come. 14 He will glorify me because it is from me that he will receive what he will make known to you. 15 All that belongs to the Father is mine. That is why I said the Spirit will receive from me what he will make known to you.”
Psalm 16:11
Journey Down the Path of Life
11 You make known to me the path of life; you will fill me with joy in your presence, with eternal pleasures at your right hand.
Luke 5:27-32
27 After this, Jesus went out and saw a tax collector by the name of Levi sitting at his tax booth. “Follow me,” Jesus said to him, 28 and Levi got up, left everything and followed him.
29 Then Levi held a great banquet for Jesus at his house, and a large crowd of tax collectors and others were eating with them. 30 But the Pharisees and the teachers of the law who belonged to their sect complained to his disciples, “Why do you eat and drink with tax collectors and sinners?”
31 Jesus answered them, “It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. 32 I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.”
John 5:3-11
Struggles of the Lame Man at Sheep Gate
3 Here a great number of disabled people used to lie—the blind, the lame, the paralyzed. 5 One who was there had been an invalid for thirty-eight years. 6 When Jesus saw him lying there and learned that he had been in this condition for a long time, he asked him, "Do you want to get well?"
7 "Sir," the invalid replied, "I have no one to help me into the pool when the water is stirred. While I am trying to get in, someone else goes down ahead of me."
8 Then Jesus said to him, "Get up! Pick up your mat and walk." 9 At once the man was cured; he picked up his mat and walked.
The day on which this took place was a Sabbath, 10 and so the Jews said to the man who had been healed, "It is the Sabbath; the law forbids you to carry your mat."
11 But he replied, "The man who made me well said to me, 'Pick up your mat and walk.' "
In the gospels, people ask Jesus questions, and He often answered the crowds and people asking Him questions, with His own questions...And in many of His questions, His questions point much to what is life, and what is life about...Jesus teaches us the eternities, so maybe His questions teach us the Way of life, and the Truth of life...And His questions are often Spiritual questions...And some questions need to be guided by our indwelt Holy Spirit...If we follow the Holy Spirit, He will make known to us the better path of life, as we journey through life...If we follow the Holy Spirit, It will fill us with His Joy in His presence, and with eternal pleasures...
The Pharisees seemed to have many questions for Jesus...One time, the Pharisees and the teachers of the law who belonged to their sect complained to Jesus' disciples...They ask and wanted to know, “Why do you eat and drink with tax collectors and sinners?”...Jesus heard the Pharisees and the teachers of the law and answered them, “It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick...I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.”...The Pharisees could not understand that they too were very much like the tax collectors and sinners...Jesus came to help and call on those who needed help...The answer to “Why do you eat and drink with tax collectors and sinners?” is easily answered by those who totally believe in Jesus...I think, one filled with the Holy Spirit would see that Jesus wanted and wants to help the tax collector, the outcast, and the sinner...Others cannot see or understand any answer by Him -on why He was eating with this group...
From the Pharisee's question, we can see that they were not ready to follow Him...In their minds, they had no reason to call for Someone to help them...They were being guided by their own thoughts and the ideas of those they were close to...And choosing to call Him and follow Him is a question of life...It is a Spiritual question...It is one of our biggest questions we must ask and answer -"Do we want to believe Him, call Him, and follow Him?"...We wrestle throughout our lives with our own different questions...Jesus puts questions into our own life's perspective...
I do believe Jesus came to help those who needed help...But once He found Himself at a pool where a paralyzed man who needed help lay lame...The man had been an invalid for thirty eight years...When Jesus saw the lame man lying there and learned that he had been in this condition for a long time, He promotes His own question to the crippled gentleman, "Do you want to get well?"...After thirty eight years of being crippled this almost seems like an insulting question to ask, but we know that it is not the reason He ask it...Throughout our lives in our many questions about life, we are often challenged to find an answer...For thirty eight years, this man had not received an answer by the spiritual pool...This question Jesus ask is one He wants the lame man and us to think about...When Jesus asks a question, I think, He wants us think more about it, and find something underlying in His question?...Do we just want the things we desire in life to happen and then we can move on?...When change happens in one's life, is life better...Maybe He wants to think of it, is our life Spiritually better?...What happens when our lives do change, and sometimes change dramatically?...Did we get what we wanted and what we expected?...
I believe in both of these questions we are pointed to God...Something in the Holy Spirit wants us to find the Truth...The believing soul is trying to guide us toward Something bigger, Something better...There is Something found in Hope...
In the path of life, we have hopes and many desires...In life we can also feel threatened and have mistrusts toward others....The Pharisees and teachers of the law certainly had a mistrust for Jesus...I also believe they felt threatened of His wisdom and knowledge, and His large followings...The Pharisees through their mistrusting Him, had their own set of questioned...It was how they felt at the time...Why does He eat with tax collectors and sinners?...Why does He eat with anyone for that matter?...The Pharisees were not looking inward and listening...Maybe if we look often enough at our Holy Spirit, we can see it guiding us toward and to God...We may feel more Spiritually...But we have to let this happen, for it to happen...