Everyone has natural desire for pleasure, fame, and recognition - to have their glory now. But Jesus' main purpose in coming to this earth was to glorify the Father.

Israel failed its mission of pointing the world to the Messiah, and instead Gentiles began to come to faith! This was a preview of the Church age. The reason Jesus came was to build His Church, through suffering to glory.

Jesus' signs demonstrate who He is - the Messiah; the Son of God. Those who seek Jesus for other reasons will always be disappointed when they must face who He is, and His demands on our lives. But blessed are those who love Him as king!

Our devotion is demonstrated in where we spend our time, money, and talents. We see the perfect example of Mary considering Christ above all, giving Him an invaluable possession of hers.

Some of those who saw Lazarus resurrected believed in Jesus, but the Jewish leaders became even more resentful. They found He was the perfect political scapegoat to blame, and plotted to murder Him.

The Lord's profound emotion was displayed in the mourning of Lazarus. He sympathized with the mourning, and was sad for the loss of a dear friend. He was indignant as well, seeing the ramifications of sin, and the unbelief around Him.

The pain and heartache of death is real. Jesus sympathized with those who were mourning Lazarus, but came to show them that He is the Resurrection and the Life.

The fear of death enslaves unbelievers. But for believers, even death has the purpose of making us more like Christ; the one who has the power over death. When Jesus delayed to allow Lazarus to die, it was for the sake of His disciples.

It is little surprise that the Jewish leaders who opposed Jesus all along would still reject Him at the end of His ministry. But even in the midst of this rejection, many of the people came to believe in Him.

The way to eternal life is through knowing Jesus Christ. Jesus knows who are His, and His sheep know their Shepherd.

The Jewish leaders, jealous of Jesus' popularity, sought a way to trap and arrest Him. Despite His many miracles and proof of who He was, the way they acted proved their heart of unbelief.

Jesus is the Good Shepherd promised by God to His people. He is good by His nature because He is God, and God is always good. He is also good by His actions, because He loves and cares for His sheep.

Psalm 23 is a promise that God is always with us, even when life grows dark. God is our Shepherd, and we are His sheep, because He gave His life for us.

Jesus is the Shepherd of the sheep. In the first century, shepherds kept sheep in a community fold, and called them out by name. In the same way, Jesus is the true shepherd of Israel.

Jesus created new eyes in the man who never saw before. Like him, we gain new spiritual sight to see and know Christ when He heals us of sin.

We are no different from the blind man in a spiritual sense unless Christ opens our eyes. Spiritual reality can't be grasped by any human knowledge.

Jesus demonstrated His divinity, and proved that He was the Messiah by the signs He did. His healing of the blind man was one such sign, and shone a light in a dark place.

The world hates believers because the world hates Christ. But Jesus came to seek and save the lost, and so He kept speaking the truth regardless of opposition.

The longer we walk with Christ, the more like Him we will become. True disciples are marked by a genuine and lasting faith.

True disciples are free from slavery to sin. Someone who lives in sin can't say no to it, and is a slave.