[This is one in a series of devotional reflections prepared for Horley Baptist Church during March 2021]
In 1893 the Czech composer, Antonín Dvořák was commissioned to write what became his Symphony No. 9, entitled ‘From the New World’. Dvořák was a prolific composer of works inspired by traditional music styles, primarily from his native Czechoslovakia but also by his experiences in America. The motif from this symphony became very popular and, on hearing it, British tv viewers will no doubt think of brown bread and a bicycle. For a wider audience the tune will invoke the words of a song, written by one of Dvořák’s students and entitled “Going Home”.
At the end of some translations of John chapter 7 we have what appears to be a curious verse: “Then they all went home” It sounds like the conclusion of a story by the brothers Grimm, but it lacks the “and they all lived happily ever after” bit. So, what’s the back-story?
The Jewish religious leaders had heard that Jesus had returned from Galilee and had started teaching again in Jerusalem. There were rumours that people were being attracted to what he was saying. They sent the temple guards to arrest Jesus but they came back empty-handed.
Finally the temple guards went back to the chief priests and the Pharisees, who asked them, ‘Why didn’t you bring him in?’ ‘No one ever spoke the way this man does,’ the guards replied. ‘You mean he has deceived you also?’ the Pharisees retorted. ‘Have any of the rulers or of the Pharisees believed in him? No! But this mob that knows nothing of the law – there is a curse on them.’ [John 7 v45-49 NIVUK]
The leaders argued that no prophet could come from Galilee and that meant the matter was closed, so they all went home. The verse may have finished but if we read on into the next chapter we see that the sentence did not end there. “Then they all went home but Jesus went to the Mount of Olives.” We see from other passages that Jesus often went to the Mount of Olives. Luke tells us that it was his regular practice:
Each day Jesus was teaching at the temple, and each evening he went out to spend the night on the hill called the Mount of Olives. [Luke 21 v37-38 NIVUK]
It was a place of prayer, a place of respite and refreshment – surely some of the characteristics that we want for our own homes. But the Mount of Olives had also been a place of despair and distress:
But David continued up the Mount of Olives, weeping as he went; his head was covered and he was barefoot. All the people with him covered their heads too and were weeping as they went up. [2 Samuel 15 v30 NIVUK]
In his later years, David’s household had become a place of disappointment and uncomfortable relationships. His attempts at reconciliation were rebuffed and in due course he was driven out of his home by the treachery of his own family.
If Jesus came to your home what would he find?
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Contributed by Steve Humphreys; © the Author
Your words often resonate with our own experiences. We have walked on the steep road we associate with bread and a delivery bike. We have also walked on the Mount of Olives which made your reflection even more meaningful. Thank you so much.