Bible Reading Challenge Blog

When we went to Israel  this was the spot where Jesus was supposedly waiting for his disciples as they brought their fish in from their boat.  This is the third time that Jesus appears to his disciples, the Bible says so.  It is so hard to believe that this is the last devotion that we will be sharing together.  We are at the end of our journey together, just like Jesus and his disciples were at the end of their journey.  I hope and pray that in reading the Scripture we learned daily about who Jesus is and we learned what it means to be a disciple maker.  

While we were on that spot where Jesus and his disciples may have been together for one last time we saw this in the sky:

Not sure if you are able to see the fish in the sky, right above the water where we were.  It was interpreted by us in the group as a sign.  A sign that the one who served fish and bread to his disciples never leaves us or forsakes us.  It worked the same as the rainbow did for Noah, as far as being reminded that God has made a covenant with us and that covenant will never be forsaken.  Praise the Lord!

But let’s get to Scripture.  After Jesus and his disciples sit and eat their meal then Jesus starts into Peter’s rehabilitation.  Three times Peter denied him in the high priest’s house.  Three times Jesus asks Peter if he loves him.  All three times Peter responds yes, he does.  But only the Greek does it justice.  Jesus asks: Peter do you agape me, and Peter answers, yes, you know I philae you.  Two different words for love.  If you wanted to look at it in a more simple way than it should, we could see Jesus ask: do you love me.  Peter would respond yes, I like you.  That simply was not good enough. Finally, Peter, on the last one, responds, yes Jesus, I love you.  

I love the description of who that “other” disciple was.  It was the disciple that was close to Jesus when he asked who was going to betray him.  It was the one reclining on Jesus’ breast.  It was the disciple whom Jesus loved.  It was John.  See why I like John?

As much as I love Caravaggio, I have to call him out on this painting.  If you read the Scripture for today carefully, we don’t actually have Thomas inserting his finger into the body of Jesus.  What we have is at the sight of Jesus, Thomas makes the most powerful proclamation about Jesus that we have in Scripture:  “My Lord and My God”.  No one else is heard declaring that Jesus was their God, as we believe he indeed is.  I see Thomas different from most people.  He didn’t believe because he didn’t see.  I get that, Jesus even stressed that point.  But at the moment that he sees Jesus he makes this declaration that no one else in Scripture is able to make.  In the painting you have Jesus taking the hand of Thomas and guiding it into his side.  You have two curious onlookers, disciples, who wanted to see what would happen.  Thomas is not the doubting one, but rather the one who believes like no other disciple.

But again we are at the end of the chapter.  We need to head back to the beginning of 20.  Mary Magdalene sees the stone removed and runs back to tell the disciples.  She doesn’t see anything except the stone removed.  Very different from the other Gospels.  With the middle school Sunday School class last week we looked at all 4 Gospels and compared them.  John was markedly different from the others, as you would expect.  Remember, different doesn’t mean contradictory, it just means different.  The writers emphasized different aspects of that resurrection.  So the women went back and told the disciples who ran to see for themselves.  There was the speedy John, aka the “other” disciple, and Peter.  The question in these verses is what exactly did the disciples believe?  Did they believe that Jesus was raised from the dead or did they believe what Mary had told them that Jesus was not present?

While we may not know that answer, we know what Mary believed.  She believed that someone had taken his body.  Excuse me, Mr. Gardner, can you tell me where you put Jesus’ body?  I know you may have robbed his grave and taken all of his valuables, even though God knows he had no valuables, but just tell me where the body is and no harm no foul, I’ll just quietly put him back.  “Mary!”  It is at the calling of her name that she knows that it must be Jesus.  Jesus calls us over the tumult…Jesus knows us by name…He knows my name…Put yourself in the position of Mary and hear the Savior call you by name.  

This Scripture is the basis for Good Friday.  I know, last week we already addressed Good Friday, but this Scripture really captures the essence of it.  But hey, did you know that we are in the midst of Easter, even as we look at the Good Friday Scripture.  Easter is not just a single day, but rather an entire season that lasts through Pentecost.  We sing Easter songs and celebrate Jesus’ resurrection even more than normal because of the season in which we find ourselves.

But the Scripture in which we find ourselves is still Good Friday.  Pilate seems to be having second thoughts since our reading yesterday.  He continues to repeatedly bring Jesus out to the religious leaders and tells them that he finds no guilt in him.  But they insist that he must be crucified.  Eventually they win out.  The pain and the suffering and the beatings that Jesus undergoes in this Scripture is more evident than in any of the other Gospels.  If John reminds us consistently that Jesus is God then in these verses we are reminded that God suffered on our behalf.  

Pilate’s final act of rebellion against the people takes place as he posts on Jesus’ cross: Jesus of Nazareth, the King of the Jews.  The people didn’t like that because it seemed like Pilate was indeed calling him the King of the Jews (which in fact he was).  Just say that he thought he was the King of the Jews.  But Pilate didn’t budge.  For me it was his final way of saying that you may have gotten your crucifixion, but I was able to ease my conscience by placing the blame squarely on you.  Matthew 27:25 is a verse that places the blame squarely on the religious leaders in a way that historically Christians have been able to use to persecute the Jewish people.  

As Jesus’ life comes to an end he has the presence of mind on the cross to make sure that his mother is taken care of.  What an amazing scene this must have been.  

Another painting by Caravaggio where we have Jesus on the column where he was flogged and slapped and beaten.   It is not my favorite of his paintings just because it is so antiseptic.  There is no blood, there is no sweat.  Mel Gibson would have been disappointed.

But Scripture actually does have all of that as well as Jesus having the presence of mind to hand over his mother to the disciple that he loved.  As I mentioned earlier, even though this is an unnamed disciple many believe, including myself, that this is the Gospel writer John who is given charge over Mary.  Interestingly enough in Ephesus near the spot where John was buried you can look up on a hill and see the home where tradition has it that Mary lived out the rest of her life.  All of this is entirely without biblical support, but that does not mean that there is no historical support.  One of these years the church ought to take a trip to Turkey and see those churches of St. Paul that have so much connection to our understanding of who Jesus is through his writings.

But with all that said John leaves us with a Jesus who died and was given a proper burial.  It seems as if this is the end of the story.  Did I mention that we are in Easter?

We have truth appear once again in these Scriptures.  Pilate asks Jesus what seems like a rhetorical question:  “What is truth?”  Remember my all time favorite verse, John 8:32: “You shall know the truth and the truth shall set you free.”  So here is Pilate asking Jesus what exactly is truth when previously in his teachings Jesus had said: “I am the way, the truth, and the life.”  Jesus states here that the reason he came to the earth was to testify to the truth.  How ironic that in an age of relativity, where there is no ultimate truth and where truth is only in the eye of the beholder, I’m sure Jesus would have said No!  There is truth, there are truths that are immutable and unchangeable.  Those truths are found in Scripture and the Holy Spirit guides us as we pursue the truths that are set before us.

So in these verses I start at the end.  The beginning is the well known betrayal in the garden.  But look at John’s incredible details that stick out.  Did you notice where Jesus is taken first?  Look at vs. 13 and apparently they take him first to the Father in law of the high priest.  Think about that.  Jesus is arrested and instead of taken immediately to the high priest, somehow his father-in-law got dibs and he got to go at Jesus first.  I never really caught that.  It isn’t until later, in verse 24 where he goes to the high priest.  

Peter’s denial is also well known, but there is another element that has been hidden and for some reason jumped out at me today.  Did you notice how Peter gets into the house where he is questioned?  Look at vs.15 and you will see that there is one of Jesus’ disciples who was on the in with the high priest class.  I personally think it is the Gospel writer John.  I tend to think that just about everyone who isn’t mentioned by name is John.  For example this disciple who lets Peter in and also the disciple whom Jesus loved.  They all seemed and sounded like John.

Finally the people do have an opportunity to release Jesus.  But they chose Barabbas, where some translations call him a robber.  The NRSV describes him as someone who had “taken part in an uprising.”  That makes a lot more sense.  The Jewish people would have been very much in favor of letting someone go who had led an uprising against an oppressive regime.  Now Pilate would have to potentially answer some questions as to why he released a threat to the Roman state as opposed to someone who was only a threat to the Jewish customs and way of life.  But he chose to go along with the people on this one.  It was quite a bold move, but not nearly as bold as he could have imagined.  As a result, he will be a villain remembered in history.

Ut unum sint.  That is Latin for “that they may be one”.  It was an encyclical put out by the Vatican in 1996 and it promised great hope for relations between Catholics and Protestants.  I remember serving in Naples, Italy at the time and being encouraged that things were really going to change.  They didn’t.  But now, with Francis, things have significantly changed.  For the first time in history a Pope has visited with the historical Protestant Church in Italy.  It has never happened before in 700 years before this year.  These are amazing times.  It is from these verses where we get our mandate that as Christians we are all called to be one.  It is Jesus’ prayer to his father that we would be unified.  The reason behind us being one is so that our witness would be consistent. 

If we profess to love God but do not love brothers and sisters in Christ of what use is that?  This is Jesus’ primary emphasis in these verses.  He knew that we would not always get along.  In fact, he knew that things would get really difficult among believers to the point that they would separate from each other and not be one.  I remain convinced that the greatest impediment to our Christian witness is the fact that we are not united as Christians.

He is risen!  He is risen indeed!  Happy Easter to all of you.  We had two glorious services and in each the promises of Jesus came true loud and clear.  We are so able to see how God has blessed us in powerful ways.  After church in the afternoon we went over to the Frackman’s house and it was filled with little kids.  I can’t help but think of this chapter and how Jesus says that a mother will forget all about the birthing pains when time passes and will only rejoice over time.  But I’m wondering, how would a male writer know about that feeling?  How would John possibly know whether this happens or not?  Wait, it was Jesus who said this.  Okay, how would Jesus know if this were true or not?

Jesus understood what it means when he says that pain turns to joy.  Jesus knows what it means when he says that grief will soon transition to joy.  He is speaking to his disciples the evening when he will be betrayed, so he knows exactly what he is talking about.  The type of grief that they will feel when he is put on the cross cannot compare to the joy that they will feel when they see him in the resurrection.  That is the comparison that Jesus wants to draw.  

But Jesus’ point in these Scriptures is to tell his disciples to be ready for when he will not be around.  He harps on this point throughout these chapters.  At vs. 31 and following Jesus once again tells them that they will desert him.  He reminds them that the purpose of him coming to earth was not only to provide salvation for all of humanity, but also peace.  It is not just a metaphorical peace that comes from a relationship with Jesus, but a literal peace that come on this earth when his disciples love each other. Even if we were to do that, we will still have trouble.  This harkens back to chapter 15.

First of all I have to apologize that this post did not make it in yesterday.  Bummer.  But now it is posted so let’s go ahead and analyze chapter 15 of John.  It begins somewhat harshly where Jesus is called the vine and those who follow him and bear no fruit are cut off from him. That is pretty harsh.  One question that is brought up as a result of these verses is once we are disciples of Jesus Christ, can we ever really fall out of grace?  Simply put, is it truly once saved always saved?  Can we lose our salvation?

The simple answer is absolutely not.  We cannot lose our salvation.  It is once saved, always saved.  What Jesus is addressing here is what is our responsibility once we are in the fold?  Once we are a branch what do we need to do?  The answer is given throughout these verses.  We have to bear fruit.  But we are not able to bear fruit unless we are in Jesus.  This is a key point in these Scriptures.  The only way that we are able to bear fruit is if we are with Jesus.  

That fruit that we are commanded to bear is in one simple word: love.  Verse 13 is a key verse to not only this chapter, but to our actual Christian walk.  There is no greater love than a person laying down their life for someone else.  The image that immediately comes to mind is that Palestinian father covering up his boy while he is being shot at by the Israeli military.  It is a painful image that ends with the death of the boy.  But the father tries desperately to cover him.  For some reason this verse comes to mind.  

Finally Jesus says that the world is going to hate those who follow him.  He uses the word hate and doesn’t in any way make it sound nice or antiseptic.  He tells us that we don’t belong to the world.  I am pretty sure that a very common mentality that many Christians have is that we are to live in this world the best possible way that we can.  That is not what Jesus says here.  We are to live our lives in such a way that the world hates us.  Let me say that again.  We are to live our lives in such a way that the world hates.  They shouldn’t hate us because we are mean or unkind.  The world should hate us because we love one another.  

Every single service of witness to the resurrection I use this Scripture.  For those of you who don’t know that is another term for funeral.  The vision of God having prepared for each one of us a room in His mansion, is very soothing and comforting.  It is the vision that Jesus leaves with his disciples right before he tells them that he will be going away, and they cannot follow him.  Remember doubting Thomas?  He asks Jesus the question of where exactly is he going and how are we able to go with him?  It is here where Jesus responds with what is arguably one of the most famous verses in all of Scripture: “I am the way, and the truth, and the life.  No one comes to the Father except through me.”  

No one comes to God the Creator except through Jesus.  No one comes to God the Father except through Jesus.  No one comes to God the Holy Spirit except through Jesus.  Jesus is able to assure his disciples that He will leave his disciples the Advocate, the great Comforter.  This evening, this Good Friday evening reminds us that it is Good because Jesus was able to do all that we need in order to have eternal life.

There isn’t much to say about this Scripture except: just love each other.  That is what the footwashing is all about.  Love each other to the point that you are willing to be a servant to each other.  That’s all I need to say this evening.  We had a moving Maundy Thursday service and I am so pleased that John 13 was assigned to us today.  God made it work out so perfectly.  I can think of no more touching scene than after the service we had a time of foot washing.  We all lost it as John Faltin washed the feet of his wife Cheryl.  In this moment in their life when he has just been diagnosed with stage 4 pancreatic cancer, this powerful act reminded us all of what is important in life.  God never ceases to amaze us nor provide us with opportunities for his grace to fill our souls.