I am using the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

Today, I am reading and commenting on John 19-21.

    When Pilate asked the Jewish leaders if they wanted him to crucify their king their answer was very revealing. They answered, “We have no king but Caesar.” Their answer was political, intending to force Pilate to do what they wanted. However, this revealed much the same thing as when Jesus asked them to show Him a coin in response to their question about paying taxes to Caesar. In both cases they indicated that their sovereign was not God, but Caesar. I feel that a lot of professing Christians took a similar position in this election and I saw that among those supporting both candidates. All too many Christians have put their faith in government, whether that is to protect the unborn, or to care for the poor (to list just two issues from either side of the aisle). We owe our loyalty and devotion to God, not to the political masters of our nation. God will place the person of His choosing in the places of governmental authority. Caesar was not a man of God, but he was the man God had chosen. I thought I had a much more profound thought when I started writing this

    I was not going to cover this because I covered it before. However, according to John, it was Mary Magdalene who discovered the empty tomb. It was Mary Magdalene who was the first to encounter Jesus after His resurrection. It is this which tells us that the Gospel of John is not a made up story. If John was making up this story, the first witness to the Resurrection would have been someone other than a woman out of whom Jesus cast seven demons.

    Peter had denied Jesus three times the night before His crucifixion. After His resurrection, Jesus gave Peter three opportunities to affirm Him. Peter was hurt by Jesus asking him repeatedly if he loved Him, but Jesus knew that Peter needed that threefold affirmation to cover his threefold denial. When we have let God down, He gives us further opportunities to make it up to Him, but it is not enough to affirm our love and faith once. We need to affirm our love and faith repeatedly, both to demonstrate to those around us and to demonstrate to ourselves that this time we really mean it. I understand the hurt Peter felt when Jesus asked him again and again if he loved Him. I sometimes feel that same hurt. However, there is a beauty and compassion in the way Jesus did this, giving Peter a chance to affirm his love once for each of his betrayals of that love.

I am using the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

Today, I am reading and commenting on John 17-18.

    There are two themes in this passage which I want to write about today, glorifying God and truth. We glorify God by completing the work which He gives us to do. Going along with that we need to choose our actions so that any glory we receive goes to God, not to ourselves. I think that this actually gives us a basis for choosing our actions. If others praise us for what we have done, will that praise reflect well upon the God whom we worship? If people like what we have done, will it cause them to praise God?

    Then on the theme of truth Jesus tells us that God’s word is truth. God will teach us His word and make us holy by that word. Later in the passage when Jesus is on trial before Pilate He tells Pilate that He came into the world to testify to the truth and that those who love the truth recognize that what He says is truth. To which Pilate replies, “What is truth?” These two statements reflect the contrast between the attitude of the world and the attitude of those who love the Lord. Those who love the Lord love truth and recognize that Jesus’ teachings are true. Those of the world do not even know what truth is, let alone being able to recognize it when they hear or see it. Pilate believed that truth was something malleable, something which could be changed to suit his purposes. Those of us who love the Lord know that truth is an absolute thing which does not change. We may not always know the truth in any given situation, but we know that there is a truth to be known.

I am using the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

Today, I am reading and commenting on John 14-16.

    Today’s passage contains what is perhaps one of Jesus’ most difficult teachings. I suspect that what I write about it will ramble a bit, but here goes. First Jesus tells us that no one can come to God except through Him. One of the most common things people who reject Jesus say is that there are many paths to God. This is true, but what they fail to realize is that all of those many paths to God lead to Jesus. If we are following the way which is Jesus we can ask for anything in His name and He will do it. The key to that statement is that in order to ask for something in Jesus name we need to be asking for it to serve His purposes.

    Jesus expresses this idea in several different ways throughout this passage. This is a difficult passage for me because over the last several weeks I was praying desperately for healing for a friend of mine and that healing, as I imagined it, did not come. That friend died. Why did God not do what I was praying for? I still believe in the power of prayer and I believe that we, as followers of Christ can pray for healing for people and see them healed. As Jesus was teaching about this He made the statement that He would do what the Father required so that the world would know that He loved the Father. When He said this He was referring to going to the cross and being crucified. Reading this passage it is clear to me that my prayer was not answered because I have either failed to remain in Jesus, or failed to allow His words to remain in me. This does not mean that if I had done something differently my friend would be alive today. It means that if I had done things differently, my prayers would have been different.

    As I said, this is a difficult passage. My friend’s death is not my fault, but I did not receive what I asked for, which means that in some way I asked improperly. I know that to some degree, if I had received that for which I was praying I would have taken credit for it, if only in my own mind. On the other hand, blaming myself for her death is the other side of the same sin. How can I humble myself so that when I ask for healing for others I am truly and totally seeking to glorify God and not myself?

I am using the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

Today, I am reading and commenting on John 12-13.

    John’s description of Judas’ response to Mary anointing Jesus reminds me of many of those today who claim to care for the poor and needy. Many people disguise their efforts to advance their own interests by making the claim that doing so aids the poor and needy. When we put together programs to aid the poor and needy, let us work to make sure that the programs actually serve the poor and needy and not just our own desires.

    John tells us that when people in Jerusalem heard that Jesus was coming many of them gathered to see Him coming. They even gathered palm branches to proclaim Him the king of Jerusalem. Among the crowd were those who had witnessed Jesus raise Lazarus from the dead and they were eager to tell those around them about it. Yet a few paragraphs later John says that most people did not believe in Jesus and many of those who did were afraid to admit it. Despite seeing the many miraculous signs, many people were unwilling to believe in Jesus, and many of those who did believe were still more frightened of human threats than they were of disappointing God.
    In between these two contrasting reactions of the crowd John recounts Jesus telling us that if we want to serve Him we need to follow Him. In this particular context, Jesus was saying that we need to follow Him as He goes to His execution at the hands of the authorities of this world. Are we willing to follow Jesus even when it means suffering?

I am using the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

Today, I am reading and commenting on John 10-11.

    I struggle with fully extracting the meaning from the parable of the Good Shepherd. There are several things which stand out. The first is that there are those who have striven to become religious leaders solely for their own benefit. We can recognize such leaders because they do not take people through Jesus to salvation. When someone tries to separate Jesus’ teachings from Jesus and His death and resurrection, we know that they are those Jesus referred to as thieves in this parable. The other thing is that Jesus’ true followers do not listen to such people. They recognize Jesus’ voice and are not led astray by such charlatans. There have been those who have come who have deceived true Christians for a time. However, if we continue to listen for Jesus’ voice such deception will soon fail. Jesus promises us that no one is able to snatch us from His hand. If we continue to listen for His voice He will guide us to safety.

I am using the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

Today, I am reading and commenting on John 8-9.

    When Jesus spoke to the woman caught in adultery, He told her to go and sin no more. Many people note that He refused to condemn her, and that He got those who had accused her to back down. That is true and important, but they often fail to note that in doing so He did not accept her sin. He did not tell her to go an return to her sin. He did mot ignore the fact that she had sinned. No, He told her to go and sin no more. That should be our response to sinners as well, not condemnation, but the admonition to go and sin no more.

    One of Jesus’ statements which has struck a chord with people throughout history is, “the truth will set you free.” Most people are content to use just that phrase, a phrase which is true. In many ways this is like the way a lot of people use the story of the woman caught in adultery. They take the main point and strip it of the context which gives it meaning. In the case of the woman caught in adultery, if you strip away Jesus’ acknowledgement of her sin and His admonishment to leave that sin behind, His failure to condemn her His refusal to condemn her loses its meaning.
    In the same way, if we do not pay attention to what Jesus says before He says that the truth will set us free, we lose something very important, because Jesus tells us that we WILL know the truth. And the most important part of this teaching is that He tells us HOW we will come to know the truth. The key to that entire statement is that He tells us that we will know the truth if we remain faithful to His teachings. It is by remaining faithful to His teachings that we learn the truth, that we learn to distinguish the truth from the many falsehoods and deceptions in the world around us. It does us no good to know that the truth will set us free if we do not know how to learn and recognize the truth.