Jesus' Crossroads: His Life
Last week we saw that life is full of crossroads— places where we have the choice to follow the path that leads to the cross (God’s way) or the one that leads away from it. Sometimes the choice is easy, but other times, doing what is right is really difficult. We must remember to make the most of the opportunity because it may be what points another person to Jesus.
Ephesians 5:16 | Make the most of every opportunity in these evil days.
When we struggle at the crossroads, it can be helpful to think back to the examples set by Jesus. After all, He is no stranger to the crossroads— He was there many times as flesh dwelling here on Earth. In fact, Jesus faced choices that literally led Him to the cross and He did what was right even though His choices cost Him His life. This week, we’ll look at some of the crossroads Jesus faced during His life here on Earth.
During his earthly ministry, the gospels record about 40 different miracles performed by Jesus. Each of these miracles is an account of a time Jesus made the most of the opportunity before Him so that a person or many people would be drawn to God the Father. A miracle that impacted a very large group of people led Jesus straight to a crossroad—
In John 6, large crowds of people are following Jesus around because of His miracles. Jesus realizes that this crowd needs to eat and He turns to His disciples for help. Jesus asks them—
John 6:5b | “Where can we buy bread to feed all these people?”
John 6:7 | Philip replied, “Even if we worked for months, we wouldn’t have enough money to feed them!”
And Andrew says—
John 6:9 | “There’s a young boy here with five barley loaves and two fish. But what good is that with this huge crowd?”
Jesus is about to show His disciples that He can use even a little bit to provide more than enough. After all,
Mark 10:27b | Everything is possible with God.”
When Jesus has the disciples gather all the people to sit down we see—
John 6:10b | The men alone numbered about 5,000.
With women and children, there were probably well over 10,000 people present!
John 6:11 | Then Jesus took the loaves, gave thanks to God, and distributed them to the people. Afterward he did the same with the fish. And they all ate as much as they wanted.
After the bellies of thousands of people were filled, the disciples picked up twelve baskets of leftover food. Jesus’ miracle provided more than enough to meet the needs of all the people.
What an amazing account of Jesus making the most of an opportunity— the hungry bellies of the people in the crowds who had heard His messages. As He fed them, He gave thanks to God aloud so that everyone there would know the source of His power and where to place their faith.
Many people stop here in the story, but if we keep reading, we see that Jesus’ choice to bring God glory led Him straight to another crossroad. The people in the crowd realize who Jesus is and what He can do. Imagine— you find a person who can do ANYthing. He can multiple food, heal disease, bring people back from the dead… In their hearts, the people decide they want Jesus to be their King.
At first, that sounds like a good thing; after all, isn’t Jesus the King of Kings? But these people want a king they can use to defeat their enemies and make life easy.rRather than worshipping Him, they want to use His abilities to worship their selfish desires.
Jesus is at a crossroad— does He become the king He already deserves to be? Or does He delay earthly kingship so that He can pursue His place as the King of Kings, providing a way sinners can receive forgiveness by making Him King of their hearts? On the surface, it sounds like an easy choice, but doing what was right would lead Jesus down a road filled with suffering and death.
John 6:15 | When Jesus saw that they were ready to force him to be their king, he slipped away into the hills by himself.
At the crossroad, Jesus did what was right, even though it would eventually cost Him His life. When you’re at your own crossroad, use the choices Jesus made throughout His life as an example to guide and encourage you so that you also—
Ephesians 5:16 | Make the most of every opportunity in these evil days.
What opportunity did Jesus make the most of?
If Jesus allowed the crowds to make Him their earthly king, how would it have wasted the opportunity with the fish and the bread?
What can you learn from Jesus’ choice in John 6:15?
Think about Jesus’ life. What examples of crossroads can you think of?
How can remembering Jesus’ example encourage you when you’re struggling at a crossroad?