"Stored Up Stones"

 "Then the Jews took up stones again to stone him." (John 10:31 KJV)

  ""You stubborn people! You are heathen at heart and deaf to the truth. Must you forever resist the Holy Spirit? That's what your ancestors did, and so do you! Name one prophet your ancestors didn't persecute! They even killed the ones who predicted the coming of the Righteous One - the Messiah whom you betrayed and murdered. You deliberately disobeyed God's law, even though you received it from the hands of angels."" (Acts 7:51-53 NLT)

 Maybe it is too much to handle, as if there is something wrong with someone that actually speaks out and mentions the stuff that needs to be said. In this current culture, if you speak out against something or someone that is evil or wrong, you are instantly portrayed as an enemy of the people. 

 What people are these that have more rights than others? Those that yield power and have the ability to take captive anyone they determine to be threat to them or their cause. It's rather interesting how these Jews seemed to come prepared to stone Jesus; they just needed the right words to be said, and then they could act out what was already in their hearts. 

 As mentioned before, they really didn't care about Jesus telling them plainly who He was, as if they needed to know, as if they needed to settle their curiosity; they needed Him to say that He was, so that they could throw those stones at Him; the stones that they have been carrying around, just waiting for a chance to use them. 

 Believe it or not, but I think there are some very real connections between these Jews and those within the church that are sowing discourse and looking for any reason to cause division within the church. It is the same condition, as they have stored up stones, those that they wanted to use before, but they missed the opportunity.

 As it is, this is not the first time they had picked up stones to throw at Him. But, as I said before, Jesus was not all that concerned, as He was totally and completely protected: His death would not be by stoning, of this He was absolutely assured. By the way, the rest that little instance with Peter, the 'rock,' and the binding and forbidding thing; that might have gone straight to his head...

"From then on Jesus began to tell his disciples plainly that is was necessary for him to go to Jerusalem, and that he would suffer many terrible things at the hands of the elders, the leading priests, and the teachers of religious law. He would be killed, but on the third day he would be raised from the dead. But Peter took him aside and began to reprimand him for saying such things. "Heaven forbid, Lord," he said. "This will never happen to you!"" (Matthew 16:21-22 NLT)