Ascension Lutheran Church

Dear fellow believers in Christ, Once a Pharisee named Nicodemus told Jesus, “Rabbi, we know that You are a teacher come from God; for no one can do these signs that You do unless God is with him” (Jn. 3:2b). Nicodemus wanted to know who Jesus is to be able to work such great miracles. Jesus had just fed the five thousand with only five loaves of bread and two fish. Jesus can do that because He is God. We’re told, “Immediately Jesus made His disciples get into the boat and go before Him to the other side.... And when He had sent the multitudes away, He went up on the mountain by Himself to pray. Now when evening had come, He was alone there.” Although He is God, Jesus is also human. Jesus didn’t always use His power as God during His earthly ministry. He regularly took time to pray to His Father. During His earthly ministry as true man Jesus needed to be strengthened by His Father. The five thousand had tried to make Him their earthly king to keep feeding them and taking care of their physical needs. Jesus may well have prayed to His Father for strength to resist the temptation to be an earthly king, and instead