111. Communion
All Christians believe in the importance of communion. "Most certainly I tell you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you don't have life in yourselves. He who eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day.” (John 6:53-54)
112. Offences
All Christians know that sadly some people will be offended by Jesus and leave. Why? Jesus explained, “But there are some of you who don't believe.” (John 6:46) And so, “At this, many of his disciples went back, and walked no more with him.” (John 6:66)
113. The Words of Eternal Life
All Christians agree with Peter, when Jesus asked if the twelve were also going to leave Him. "Lord, to whom would we go? You have the words of eternal life. We have come to believe and know that you are the Christ, the Son of the living God." (John 6:68-69)
114. Vain Traditions
All Christians believe that the traditions of the Pharisees and the Scribes were vain. “For you set aside the commandment of God, and hold tightly to the tradition of men” (Mark 7:8a cf. Matthew 15:3b). All Christians seem to be equally blind to the possibility that Jesus could level similar criticism at our own various “rules made by men.” (Matthew 15:9 cf. Mark 7:7)
115. Heart over Ceremony
All Christians believe that ceremonial ritual is spiritually far less important than what goes on in the human heart, “whatever goes into the man from outside can't defile him, because it doesn't go into his heart” (Mark 7:18) “For from within, out of the hearts of men, proceed evil thoughts, adulteries, sexual sins, murders, thefts, covetings, wickedness, deceit, lustful desires, an evil eye, blasphemy, pride, and foolishness. All these evil things come from within, and defile the man." (Mark 15:21-23)
116. Not being Offended
All Christians believe that it is important not to be offended by Jesus' sometimes seemingly blunt words, because His attitude was one of perfect love and such outspokenness had a purpose of teaching lessons far greater than the potential offense.
For instance, when asked by a Gentile woman to heal her daughter, He said, “it is not appropriate to take the children's bread and throw it to the dogs." (Mark 7:27b cf. Matthew 15:26) Even if we render the word “dogs” as “puppies” as some do, the offence is only minimized, not removed entirely. Yet, this woman’s remarkable faith sets us the example of not being offended and “her daughter was healed from that hour.” (Matthew 15:28b)
117. Feeding 4,000
All Christians believe that Jesus had compassion on those who followed Him and fed an additional crowd to the earlier 5,000. “Those who had eaten were about four thousand.” (Mark 8:9 cf. Matthew 15:38)
118. Signs
All Christians believe that "An evil and adulterous generation seeks after a sign, and there will be no sign given to it, except the sign of the prophet Jonah." (Matthew 16:4)
119. Yeast
All Christians believe that the “yeast of the Pharisees and Sadducees" was their teaching (Matthew 16:12) and their hypocrisy (Luke 12:1b).
120. Spit not Oil
All Christians believe that Jesus sometimes used his own spit rather than olive oil when healing people. On at least one occasion he laid hands on twice before complete healing occurred (Mark 8:22-26).
