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

Here we have yet another account of  a woman anointing Jesus’ feet.  John tells us that the woman was Mary, the sister of Martha and Lazarus.  In some ways, John’s account makes it easier to understand the point of the story,  Here, Judas is the one who complains that she should have sold the perfume and given the money to the poor.  John points out that Judas was not concerned for the poor, but if Mary had sold the perfume and given the money to aid the poor, she would have given it into the fund which Judas controlled.  This puts Jesus’ comment about us always having the poor among us in a clearer context, especially when we realize that it closely mirrors Deuteronomy 15:11, which goes on from telling us that to tell us to be openhanded towards the poor among us.

So, we have a warning against those who claim to be advocates for the poor, but just want us to give to their “fund to aid the poor” so that they can siphon some of that money off to satisfy their own desires.  Then we have an admonition to not condemn those who give from their heart to bring comfort and blessing to others.  Finally, we are reminded to help the poor in whatever way that we can.

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

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

We are called to imitate Jesus who laid down his life for us, and then took it up again.  In the same way, if we lay down our life for others in service to Christ, God will raise us up again.  This passage contains two statements which should give us great comfort.  First, if we listen to Jesus and believe in Him, He will give us eternal life.  God has given in to His hands those who do so, and no one is able to take them out of His hands.  The second statement is closely related.  Those who believe in Jesus will live, even though they may die.  Thus we know that those who have gone before us while believing in Jesus will live again, and if we put our faith in Him we shall one day see them again.

This passage also contains an important lesson in the negative.  While Jesus raising Lazarus from the dead caused many to believe in Him, there were those whose opposition to Him was merely intensified by this event.  They were more concerned with losing their power and position then with seeing the will of God come to pass.  In many ways, they represent the answer to the question, “Why doesn’t God just show Himself in a way that no one could doubt?”  The answer, as we see here, is that there will always be those who reject the evidence for God because they do not wish to accept it.

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

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

Today’s passage begins with the account of the woman caught in adultery.  The earliest manuscripts currently known do not include this passage, which suggests it may be a later addition.  This leads me to suspect that the event recounted here did not actually happen.  However, based on my understanding of how God works in preserving the Truth contained in the Bible I believe it still communicates a message about how we should interact with people.  Jesus’ statement to those who brought the woman to him makes a great model for us to remember when we are tempted to condemn others: Let him who is without sin cast the first stone (using the most common paraphrase).  I want to point out though that does not mean passing off the sins of others as of no consequence.  After all, Jesus’ last words to the woman were “Go, and sin no more.” (using the most common translation).  We should not condemn others for their sins, but we should encourage them to give them up.

I did not mean to spend that much space on that, because the meat of this passage for me is the account of the man born blind.  First, the primary point of the story: the man was not born blind as punishment for sin, neither his nor his parents.  Not all suffering comes as punishment for sin.  However, my Dad pointed out to me a message in this account which now strikes a strong chord within me.  When the Pharisees questioned the man about how he received his sight, they told him that they knew that Jesus was a sinner.  To which the man replied “I don’t really know about that. All I know is that I was blind and now I see.” (paraphrasing)  The man born blind refused to get into a debate about fine theological points.  When they pushed him harder on this the man stuck to his point, “He opened my eyes.”  The man born blind allowed Jesus to open his eyes, while the Pharisees intentionally closed their own eyes.  Will you allow Jesus to open your eyes? Or will you close them to avoid seeing the Truth?

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

Today, I am reading and commenting on  John 6-7.

Yet again I noticed something I have never heard anyone comment on.  In this account of the feeding of the five thousand, Andrew presents the boy with five loaves and two fish in response to Jesus asking where they could buy food to feed the crowd.  So, the context suggests that this boy had those five loaves and two fish there in order to sell them to someone in the crowd.  I have no thoughts at this time on what meaning there is to that.  I was just struck by the fact that I had never noticed it before and that I have never heard, or read, anyone comment upon it.

Interestingly, some of those who were fed followed Jesus across the lake and demanded a sign of Him in order to believe in Him.  They asked Him to do something comparable to Moses giving their ancestors manna.  This suggests that while the crowd acknowledged that Jesus provided them with bread, they did not see it as miraculous that He did so.  Again, I am not sure what meaning there is to that. It is just something I noticed.  However, that exchange does contain something of import, something which should influence our understanding of Jesus’ teachings about asking God for what we want.  Jesus tells the crowd, and us, not to work for food which spoils, but instead to work for the food of eternal life.  We should not work for material pleasures, instead we should work for that which has eternal value.  We should not ask God for things which will satisfy our earthly wants, but for things which will give us eternal pleasure.  We should ask God to give us opportunities to introduce others to Him.

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

Today, I am reading and commenting on  John 4-5.

We can learn a lot of lessons from John’s account of Jesus’ meeting with the Samaritan woman at the well.  First, we should notice that the woman was “the sort” of woman to whom someone who wanted to have a good reputations should not be seen talking.  Jesus didn’t care, and no one dare question Him on it.  Not only did Jesus speak with a woman of questionable reputation, they had a discussion about fairly complex theology.  More interesting to me is the fact that the people of the town came to hear what Jesus had to say because the woman told them that they should.  In fact, not only did they come to listen to Jesus because of her account of her conversation with Him, but many of them believed in Him from her testimony.  Let’s unpack this a little bit.  This woman came to get water in the middle of the day so as to avoid the town gossips, who got their water first thing in the morning along with everyone else.  Jesus had to know she was an outcast coming to get water at around noon. And she knew that He knew that.  Yet, He talked to her anyway. Jesus willingness to take her seriously on religious issues allowed Him to reach not just her, but her neighbors as well.

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

Today, I am reading and commenting on  John 1-3.

I always have trouble writing my blog on this passage because there is so much here.  John manages to convey a lot of thoughts with few words in today’s passage.  I am going to start by commenting on John the Baptist’s self identification.  He denied being the Messiah, or Elijah, or “the Prophet”.  The only title he would claim for himself was “the voice of one calling in the wilderness, ‘Make straight the way for the Lord.'”   I think that John was doing this in the spirit of the teaching when Jesus told His disciples to call no one “Father”.  John was making clear that he was not better than others and that he was not an intermediary between them and God.  John was trying to tell them that it was the message which was important, not the messenger.  When I started this I intended to write on more than this, but I want to emphasize that point.  All too many have made the mistake which John the Baptist was avoiding: they thought that they, the messenger, were important.  John the Baptist was not important, his message was.  Billy Graham was not important, his message was.  There are preachers today, just as in the past, who have forgotten this.  They think that they are important, and as a result their message does not get through.  When preaching the Gospel, it is the message which is important, not the messenger.

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