Tag Archives: John 12-13

November 8, 2023 Bible Study — Live So That Those Who Look at Us See the One Who Sent Us

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

I am going to write some thoughts today which I have not completely worked through, so I am not convinced that I will be able to express them without allowing them to be understood as meaning something which is sacrilegious.  Jesus said that if we wish to serve Him, we must follow Him and that if we are His servants we must be where He is.  I understand this to mean that we must be willing to face a death as painful as His if that is where He leads us.  From there He tells those listening to believe in the light while they have the light.  Then,  a little further on He says that the one who looks at Him see the One who sent Him.  Finally, He says that He came into the world as a light so that no one who believes in Him should stay in darkness.  Therefore, as we live our lives those who look at us will see the one who sent us.  If that One is Jesus, they will see the light and have the opportunity to believe in Him, becoming children of light just as we have become children of light.  Let us strive to allow the light of the Spirit to shine through us so that others have the opportunity to walk in the Light of God’s love.

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

November 8, 2022 Bible Study — Glorifying God With Our Deaths

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

As I read this through initially, I noticed that John connects the request from some “Greeks” to speak with Jesus to Jesus publicly predicting His coming death.  Most, if not all, of the other places where Jesus openly predicted His death were spoken privately to just His disciples.  I want to note that there is some disagreement about whether these “Greeks” were Jews who had adopted Greek culture or Gentiles.  I believe that John here is referring to Gentiles (as I understand the First Century, those who were not Romans but considered themselves cosmopolitan thought of themselves as “Greeks).  If I am correct, these would have been Gentiles who sought to worship God.  The arrival of these Greeks looking to meet Jesus which signaled to Him that the hour of His death, the time when He would be glorified, was upon Him.  And while this was the hour for the Son of Man, Jesus, to be glorified, Jesus chose to emphasize that it was really about glorifying God the Father.  So, we should live our lives such that God is glorified by our deaths.  Whether that means we die the death of a martyr, or die in our beds in a way which brings glory to God, we should strive for that.

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

November 8, 2021 Bible Study — Not Everyone Who Raises Money To Help The Poor Uses That Money To Help The Poor

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.

November 8, 2020 Bible Study Yielding To Evil To Avoid Suffering Does Not Work

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

For the last several days I have been really struck by how the passages I am reading are applicable to what is going on around us.  Today’s passage is no different.  Jesus tells us that those who love their life will lose it, only those who care nothing for their life will gain eternal life.  Just before saying that He says that a kernel of wheat must be planted in the soil and die in order to be productive.  Then after saying it, He tells us that if we wish to serve Him we must follow Him.  He talks about being troubled by the suffering He sees in His near future, but He accepts that coming suffering as necessary to make the world a better place.

So, we come to what to make of Jesus’ comment in this context.  If we fail to stand up for Christ in order to avoid suffering, we will suffer anyway, but without the joy of knowing that we have done our best to make the world a better place.  On the other hand, if we embrace the suffering which may come from doing God’s will, we will see the world become a better place and even that suffering will bring joy.

November 8, 2019 Bible Study

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 12-131

John’s account of Mary anointing Jesus’ feet in Bethany differs in some significant ways from the accounts of an anonymous woman anointing Jesus which appears in the other Gospels.  This leads me to believe that there were two or more such events.  The overlapping details suggest that some of the Gospel writers combined details from these multiple events (either on purpose because they thought the stories all conveyed the same lesson, or by accident because human memory is unreliable.  In either case, the stories teach us about dealing with others).  This account tells us that it is OK to spend some of our surplus on luxuries.  We do not have to give all of it to help the poor.  It contains the side note that some of the most vocal about giving to aid the poor do so in order to skim off the top of those gifts.

 

 

November 8, 2018 Bible Study — Seeking Opportunities To Serve Others

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.

    One of the themes which is throughout the Gospel of John is the idea that people saw the miraculous signs which Jesus performed but still did not believe in Him. John seems to be saying that most of the people who witnessed Jesus ministry here on earth viewed it as great entertainment but did not take His teachings seriously. However, John points out that there were those who believed, even among the leaders of the Jewish people. Most of even those who believed were not willing to say so publicly because they did not wish to face the opprobrium they would receive from their peers for doing so. I wrote all of that as the setup for what I think is the central point of today’s passage and I still failed to actually set it up.
    Jesus tells His listeners in today’s passage that on the Day of Judgement it will not be Him, or even God the Father, who judges people. Rather, it will be the truth which Jesus has made known to us which will judge us. On the Day of Judgement all of the lies which we have used to shield ourselves from the truth which we do not want to acknowledge will be stripped away and we will be exposed naked to the cold, hard light of that truth. The more we allow the Holy Spirit to expose us to God’s truth in this life, the less harsh that day will be.

    Repeatedly throughout His ministry Jesus told His disciples that in order to be great in the Kingdom of God they needed to be a servant to others. In today’s passage He illustrates the meaning of this in a very profound way. As they prepared for their Passover celebration, Jesus took on the role of servant and washed each of His Apostles feet. If Jesus could do this for them, and, by proxy, us, how can they, and we, do any less? Jesus did not wait for an opportunity to serve others, He sought one out. Let each of us do likewise.

November 8, 2017 Bible Study — Serving Others

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.

    In today’s passage John tells us a story of Mary, Martha’s sister, anointing Jesus’ feet with expensive perfume. It is not clear if this is the same story as told in the other Gospels, some of the details differ, but not in ways which are distinctly contradictory. I was initially not going to write about it today, but then I thought about Judas’ reaction. It made me realize that many times those who call on us to give to aid the poor are, like Judas here, not so much concerned with helping the poor as they are with gaining control over our money. You see that with politicians who develop programs to “help the poor” which fail to change anything for the poor. You see that with some people who run organizations which supposedly aid the poor. This is not to say that all such programs and organizations have ulterior motives, just that we need to examine them closely. It is never wrong to aid the poor, but there are times when serving those who minister to the poor is a better use of our resources. We should be cautious of those who attempt to make us feel guilty about how we choose to do good with our resources.

    The story of Jesus washing the disciples feet has long been one of great meaning to me. The first thing we notice, and the main focus of this story, is that Jesus, the Teacher, the most prominent person present, takes the role of servant and washes everyone else’s feet. Jesus makes it clear that if we want to be His followers we need to similarly serve others. However, there is another point in here which is easy to miss. If we want to be Jesus’ followers we also have to allow others to serve us. When Jesus went to wash Peter’s feet, Peter tried to demur, but Jesus insisted. So, this passage teaches us that greatness comes from serving others, but refusing to allow others to serve us puts us outside of the community.

November 8, 2016 Bible Study — Serving Jesus By Serving Others

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

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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.

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    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?