The Daily Guide-The Daily Devotional grow. pray. study. The United United Methodist Church of the Resurrection of Leawood, Kansas, United States for Saturday, 5 March 2016 - “I AM the resurrection and the life”
To support the goal of reading the whole gospel of John during Lent, some of the daily readings are longer than typical for the GPS. We encourage you: have an extra cup of coffee, use your lunch break—find a way to hang in there and read the entire gospel.
Daily Scripture: John 11:1
There was a man who had fallen sick. His name was El‘azar, and he came from Beit-Anyah, the village where Miryam and her sister Marta lived. 2 (This Miryam, whose brother El‘azar had become sick, is the one who poured perfume on the Lord and wiped his feet with her hair.) 3 So the sisters sent a message to Yeshua, “Lord, the man you love is sick.” 4 On hearing it, he said, “This sickness will not end in death. No, it is for God’s glory, so that the Son of God may receive glory through it.”
5 Yeshua loved Marta and her sister and El‘azar; 6 so when he heard he was sick, first he stayed where he was two more days; 7 then, after this, he said to the talmidim, “Let’s go back to Y’hudah.” 8 The talmidim replied, “Rabbi! Just a short while ago the Judeans were out to stone you — and you want to go back there?” 9 Yeshua answered, “Aren’t there twelve hours of daylight? If a person walks during daylight, he doesn’t stumble; because he sees the light of this world. 10 But if a person walks at night, he does stumble; because he has no light with him.”
11 Yeshua said these things, and afterwards he said to the talmidim, “Our friend El‘azar has gone to sleep; but I am going in order to wake him up.” 12 The talmidim said to him, “Lord, if he has gone to sleep, he will get better.” 13 Now Yeshua had used the phrase to speak about El‘azar’s death, but they thought he had been talking literally about sleep. 14 So Yeshua told them in plain language, “El‘azar has died. 15 And for your sakes, I am glad that I wasn’t there, so that you may come to trust. But let’s go to him.” 16 Then T’oma (the name means “twin”) said to his fellow talmidim, “Yes, we should go, so that we can die with him!”
17 On arrival, Yeshua found that El‘azar had already been in the tomb for four days. 18 Now Beit-Anyah was about two miles from Yerushalayim, 19 and many of the Judeans had come to Marta and Miryam in order to comfort them at the loss of their brother. 20 So when Marta heard that Yeshua was coming, she went out to meet him; but Miryam continued sitting shiv‘ah in the house.
21 Marta said to Yeshua, “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died. 22 Even now I know that whatever you ask of God, God will give you.” 23 Yeshua said to her, “Your brother will rise again.” 24 Marta said, “I know that he will rise again at the Resurrection on the Last Day.” 25 Yeshua said to her, “I AM the Resurrection and the Life! Whoever puts his trust in me will live, even if he dies; 26 and everyone living and trusting in me will never die. Do you believe this?” 27 She said to him, “Yes, Lord, I believe that you are the Messiah, the Son of God, the one coming into the world.”
28 After saying this, she went off and secretly called Miryam, her sister: “The Rabbi is here and is calling for you.” 29 When she heard this, she jumped up and went to him. 30 Yeshua had not yet come into the village but was still where Marta had met him; 31 so when the Judeans who had been with Miryam in the house comforting her saw her get up quickly and go out, they followed her, thinking she was going to the tomb to mourn there.
32 When Miryam came to where Yeshua was and saw him, she fell at his feet and said to him, “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died.” 33 When Yeshua saw her crying, and also the Judeans who came with her crying, he was deeply moved and also troubled. 34 He said, “Where have you buried him?” They said, “Lord, come and see.” 35 Yeshua cried; 36 so the Judeans there said, “See how he loved him!” 37 But some of them said, “He opened the blind man’s eyes. Couldn’t he have kept this one from dying?”
38 Yeshua, again deeply moved, came to the tomb. It was a cave, and a stone was lying in front of the entrance. 39 Yeshua said, “Take the stone away!” Marta, the sister of the dead man, said to Yeshua, “By now his body must smell, for it has been four days since he died!” 40 Yeshua said to her, “Didn’t I tell you that if you keep trusting, you will see the glory of God?” 41 So they removed the stone. Yeshua looked upward and said, “Father, I thank you that you have heard me. 42 I myself know that you always hear me, but I say this because of the crowd standing around, so that they may believe that you have sent me.” 43 Having said this, he shouted, “El‘azar! Come out!” 44 The man who had been dead came out, his hands and feet wrapped in strips of linen and his face covered with a cloth. Yeshua said to them, “Unwrap him, and let him go!” 45 At this, many of the Judeans who had come to visit Miryam, and had seen what Yeshua had done, trusted in him.
46 But some of them went off to the P’rushim and told them what he had done. 47 So the head cohanim and the P’rushim called a meeting of the Sanhedrin and said, “What are we going to do? — for this man is performing many miracles. 48 If we let him keep going on this way, everyone will trust in him, and the Romans will come and destroy both the Temple and the nation.” 49 But one of them, Kayafa, who was cohen gadol that year, said to them, “You people don’t know anything! 50 You don’t see that it’s better for you if one man dies on behalf of the people, so that the whole nation won’t be destroyed.” 51 Now he didn’t speak this way on his own initiative; rather, since he was cohen gadol that year, he was prophesying that Yeshua was about to die on behalf of the nation, 52 and not for the nation alone, but so that he might gather into one the scattered children of God.
53 From that day on, they made plans to have him put to death.
Jesus' seventh miraculous sign was his mightiest: he restored Lazarus, dead for four days, to life. Going to Bethany, just a few miles from Jerusalem, could expose Jesus to his enemies’ malice again (verse 8, 16). He intentionally waited before going to where his friend lay deathly ill (verse 15). When he reached Bethany, Lazarus had died. Grieving her brother, Martha told Jesus, “If you had been here, my brother wouldn’t have died.” Yet the darkness hated the light more than ever—Jesus' enemies increased their efforts to kill the one who gave life.
- Jesus’ words to Martha are probably the most cherished of his "I Am" statements: "I am the resurrection and the life…everyone who believes in me will never die." Martha and her sister Mary had "if-only" questions for Jesus—“if only” he had done things differently, they thought, things would be better. But Jesus has many ways of bringing good news, hope, and new possibilities into the mess and grief of life. He asks us for trust, as he did Martha and Mary, because our “if-only” questions, like theirs, may simply reflect our time-limited, earth-bound understanding. We face the question Jesus asked Martha: "Do you believe this?" How easy or hard do you find it to trust that Jesus is working for your good, even when what you wish would happen doesn’t?
Lord Jesus, sometimes it is hard for me to trust you in the midst of my "if-only" questions. Thank you for offering me an eternal hope. Help me to trust your eternal ways. Amen.
Family Activity
Gather your family into the darkest space of your home. A closet or a dark bathroom would be good options. When you are all together, say, “Jesus is the light of the world!” Describe how just as life can be dark at times, so are our hearts, lives and the world without the light of Jesus. Discuss how when we follow Jesus, His light lives within us and He wants us to share it with the world with our words and actions. Open the door of the room and celebrate the light of Jesus together! Give thanks to God for Jesus and the light He brings to our lives. Commit to sharing the light of Jesus with all people.
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Insight from Sam Johnson
Sam Johnson has been a congregant at Church of the Resurrection for 9 years and has served as a summer intern for Student Ministries and Congregational Care. She’s currently getting her undergraduate degree in Psychology from the University of Kansas.When Paris was attacked last November, I felt unexplainable sadness. The grief of the world felt too heavy to carry.
I think what made it so difficult was when I had to explain to one of my students, a devastated 12-year-old boy, why people make poor decisions that hurt others. I could tell he wasn’t healed by my answer. His middle school heart was broken by the same grief. I found myself wishing we lived in a world where I didn’t have to explain to a kid why bad things happen to innocent people.
During all this sadness, I clung to one verse in John 11 that reveals the truth of suffering:
“Jesus wept.”
The truth is Jesus suffers with us. He weeps for the darkness of what happened in Paris, but he also grieves when darkness causes each of us to weep. Sometimes it’s so difficult for me to see Jesus as fully human. I read Scripture and picture him as some unfamiliar character, incapable of feeling the depths of my emotion. The eleventh chapter of John reminds me that God sent his son to earth to feel my pain. God sent his son to die so that he could feel my weakest moments. My darkest day is also God’s darkest day. He weeps with me.
Though I wish I lived in a world with less evil nonsense, I realize I live in a world full of hope from the resurrection. Jesus also proclaims in John 11:
“I am the resurrection and the life. The one who believes in me will live, even though they die; and whoever lives by believing in me will never die.”
Jesus died and rose again to let us know there’s hope beyond comprehension. A kind of hope that can heal the heart of a middle school boy struggling through universal grief, and the heart of the world struggling to make sense of universal pain. His resurrection means we may weep in our darkest moments, yet the promise of life with him restores our hope.
I love living in a world where resurrection will always overcome darkness. I pray you find hope in that today.
---------------------The Daily Guide-The Daily Devotional grow. pray. study. The United United Methodist Church of the Resurrection of Leawood, Kansas, United States for Friday, 4 March 2016- “I AM the gate—I AM the good shepherd”
To support the goal of reading the whole gospel of John during Lent, some of the daily readings are longer than typical for the GPS. We encourage you: have an extra cup of coffee, use your lunch break—find a way to hang in there and read the entire gospel.
Daily Scripture: John 10:1 “Yes, indeed! I tell you, the person who doesn’t enter the sheep-pen through the door, but climbs in some other way, is a thief and a robber. 2 But the one who goes in through the gate is the sheep’s own shepherd. 3 This is the one the gate-keeper admits, and the sheep hear his voice. He calls his own sheep, each one by name, and leads them out. 4 After taking out all that are his own, he goes on ahead of them; and the sheep follow him because they recognize his voice. 5 They never follow a stranger but will run away from him, because strangers’ voices are unfamiliar to them.”
Lord Jesus, I want to “live life to the fullest”—the way YOU define that phrase. Plant the seed of your word in my heart, and grow it into a life that nourishes life in others. Amen.
I think what made it so difficult was when I had to explain to one of my students, a devastated 12-year-old boy, why people make poor decisions that hurt others. I could tell he wasn’t healed by my answer. His middle school heart was broken by the same grief. I found myself wishing we lived in a world where I didn’t have to explain to a kid why bad things happen to innocent people.
During all this sadness, I clung to one verse in John 11 that reveals the truth of suffering:
“Jesus wept.”
The truth is Jesus suffers with us. He weeps for the darkness of what happened in Paris, but he also grieves when darkness causes each of us to weep. Sometimes it’s so difficult for me to see Jesus as fully human. I read Scripture and picture him as some unfamiliar character, incapable of feeling the depths of my emotion. The eleventh chapter of John reminds me that God sent his son to earth to feel my pain. God sent his son to die so that he could feel my weakest moments. My darkest day is also God’s darkest day. He weeps with me.
Though I wish I lived in a world with less evil nonsense, I realize I live in a world full of hope from the resurrection. Jesus also proclaims in John 11:
“I am the resurrection and the life. The one who believes in me will live, even though they die; and whoever lives by believing in me will never die.”
Jesus died and rose again to let us know there’s hope beyond comprehension. A kind of hope that can heal the heart of a middle school boy struggling through universal grief, and the heart of the world struggling to make sense of universal pain. His resurrection means we may weep in our darkest moments, yet the promise of life with him restores our hope.
I love living in a world where resurrection will always overcome darkness. I pray you find hope in that today.
---------------------The Daily Guide-The Daily Devotional grow. pray. study. The United United Methodist Church of the Resurrection of Leawood, Kansas, United States for Friday, 4 March 2016- “I AM the gate—I AM the good shepherd”
To support the goal of reading the whole gospel of John during Lent, some of the daily readings are longer than typical for the GPS. We encourage you: have an extra cup of coffee, use your lunch break—find a way to hang in there and read the entire gospel.
Daily Scripture: John 10:1 “Yes, indeed! I tell you, the person who doesn’t enter the sheep-pen through the door, but climbs in some other way, is a thief and a robber. 2 But the one who goes in through the gate is the sheep’s own shepherd. 3 This is the one the gate-keeper admits, and the sheep hear his voice. He calls his own sheep, each one by name, and leads them out. 4 After taking out all that are his own, he goes on ahead of them; and the sheep follow him because they recognize his voice. 5 They never follow a stranger but will run away from him, because strangers’ voices are unfamiliar to them.”
6 Yeshua used this indirect manner of speaking with them, but they didn’t understand what he was talking to them about. 7 So Yeshua said to them again, “Yes, indeed! I tell you that I am the gate for the sheep. 8 All those who have come before me have been thieves and robbers, but the sheep didn’t listen to them. 9 I am the gate; if someone enters through me, he will be safe and will go in and out and find pasture. 10 The thief comes only in order to steal, kill and destroy; I have come so that they may have life, life in its fullest measure.
11 “I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. 12 The hired hand, since he isn’t a shepherd and the sheep aren’t his own, sees the wolf coming, abandons the sheep and runs away. Then the wolf drags them off and scatters them. 13 The hired worker behaves like this because that’s all he is, a hired worker; so it doesn’t matter to him what happens to the sheep. 14 I am the good shepherd; I know my own, and my own know me — 15 just as the Father knows me, and I know the Father — and I lay down my life on behalf of the sheep. 16 Also I have other sheep which are not from this pen; I need to bring them, and they will hear my voice; and there will be one flock, one shepherd.
17 “This is why the Father loves me: because I lay down my life — in order to take it up again! 18 No one takes it away from me; on the contrary, I lay it down of my own free will. I have the power to lay it down, and I have the power to take it up again. This is what my Father commanded me to do.”
19 Again there was a split among the Judeans because of what he said. 20 Many of them said, “He has a demon!” and “He’s meshugga! Why do you listen to him?” 21 Others said, “These are not the deeds of a man who is demonized — how can a demon open blind people’s eyes?”
22 Then came Hanukkah in Yerushalayim. It was winter, 23 and Yeshua was walking around inside the Temple area, in Shlomo’s Colonnade. 24 So the Judeans surrounded him and said to him, “How much longer are you going to keep us in suspense? If you are the Messiah, tell us publicly!” 25 Yeshua answered them, “I have already told you, and you don’t trust me. The works I do in my Father’s name testify on my behalf, 26 but the reason you don’t trust is that you are not included among my sheep. 27 My sheep listen to my voice, I recognize them, they follow me, 28 and I give them eternal life. They will absolutely never be destroyed, and no one will snatch them from my hands. 29 My Father, who gave them to me, is greater than all; and no one can snatch them from the Father’s hands. 30 I and the Father are one.”
31 Once again the Judeans picked up rocks in order to stone him. 32 Yeshua answered them, “You have seen me do many good deeds that reflect the Father’s power; for which one of these deeds are you stoning me?” 33 The Judeans replied, “We are not stoning you for any good deed, but for blasphemy — because you, who are only a man, are making yourself out to be God [John 10:33 Hebrew: Elohim].” 34 Yeshua answered them, “Isn’t it written in your Torah, ‘I have said, “You people are Elohim’ ”?[John 10:34 Psalm 82:6] 35 If he called ‘elohim’ the people to whom the word of Elohim was addressed (and the Tanakh cannot be broken), 36 then are you telling the one whom the Father set apart as holy and sent into the world, ‘You are committing blasphemy,’ just because I said, ‘I am a son of Elohim’?
37 “If I am not doing deeds that reflect my Father’s power, don’t trust me. 38 But if I am, then, even if you don’t trust me, trust the deeds; so that you may understand once and for all that the Father is united with me, and I am united with the Father.” 39 One more time they tried to arrest him, but he slipped out of their hands.
40 He went off again beyond the Yarden, where Yochanan had been immersing at first, and stayed there. 41 Many people came to him and said, “Yochanan performed no miracles, but everything Yochanan said about this man was true.” 42 And many people there put their trust in him.
Reflection Questions
Jesus said the spiritual blindness of Israel’s leaders didn’t just hurt them. It left the human “flock” God had entrusted to their care in spiritual danger. (He strongly echoed the message of the prophet Ezekiel—cf. Ezekiel 34:1-16.) But God had promised Israel that he would shepherd them himself if their human shepherds failed. Jesus was the promised “good shepherd” who would safely guide and protect all who trusted him.- When Jesus said “I Am the gate,” he referred to a physical reality for those who watched over flocks of sheep. Scholar N. T. Wright noted, “In many Eastern sheepfolds, the shepherd lies down at night in the gateway, to stop the sheep getting out and to stop predators getting in. Here Jesus seems to indicate the way in which the shepherd keeps the sheep safe, and, like God himself in Psalm 121:8, watches over their going out and their coming in.”1 In what ways has Jesus been “the gate” who offers you spiritual safety?
- “I came so that they could have life—indeed, so that they could live life to the fullest,” Jesus said in John10:10. In what ways have you seen ads for everything from banks to automobiles, from alcoholic beverages to hair-care products, hold out a similar promise? How easy or hard do you find it to trust, in your day-to-day life, that Jesus' way truly offers you the fullest, most satisfying life?
Lord Jesus, I want to “live life to the fullest”—the way YOU define that phrase. Plant the seed of your word in my heart, and grow it into a life that nourishes life in others. Amen.
1 N. T. Wright, John for Everyone, part 1. (London: Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge, 2004, p. 150.)
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Insights from Ginger Rothhaas
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Insights from Ginger Rothhaas
Ginger Rothhaas is a seminary student at Saint Paul School of Theology and is serving in Congregational Care at The Church of the Resurrection.
Growing up on a family cattle ranch, many times I have watched my dad get off his horse to open a post-and-wire gate. After swinging it wide open, he would stand off to the side holding the gate as the cattle herd passed through.
The cattle didn’t know it yet, but they were headed to greener grass. Truly, greener pastures do exist and they are on the other side of the open gate!
This sight helps me picture an image of Jesus when he says, in the book of John, “I am the gate….I came so that they could have life – indeed, so that they could live life to the fullest.”
Jesus is teaching here. He is using the metaphor of the shepherd who sleeps in the opening of a rock fence, protecting the herd, to help us understand how God loves us.
But as a girl from Kansas, I can’t help but see this story in the Flint Hills, with cattle instead of sheep. When the pastures get dry in the heat of a Kansas summer, it is necessary to rotate the herd to greener pastures.
Cattle don’t like to move, they prefer to stay where they know what to expect. But the rancher knows that lush green grass and running water are available on the other side of the gate. The cattle have to be nudged to change pastures, to go through the gate. They are hesitant; they don’t know the bliss that lies ahead.
When I think of God’s love, I imagine God standing at the gate to abundance, holding it open for us, inviting us into a life of purpose, meaning, happiness, and peace. And yet we stand looking at the open gate feeling scared to go through it. We get nudged by the Holy Spirit, we feel a calling, we find ourselves in a dry pasture…and yet, we fear what lies ahead if we say yes to God.
Going through that gate doesn’t have to be scary. It only requires taking the first step, waking up each morning and saying, “God use me today, show me the way, allow me to be an instrument of love.”
And then another step, seeing the beauty all around you, paying attention to the nudges, and noticing how you can help people.
And then another step, sharing love with everyone you encounter and being light in the darkness.
And then another step, opening your mind and heart to accepting God’s unconditional love and showing unconditional love to others.
The gate is open. God is holding it for you. Greener pastures are ahead.
---------------------The Daily Guide-The Daily Devotional grow. pray. study. The United United Methodist Church of the Resurrection of Leawood, Kansas, United States for Thursday, 3 March 2016 - “I was blind and now I see”
To support the goal of reading the whole gospel of John during Lent, some of the daily readings are longer than typical for the GPS. We encourage you: have an extra cup of coffee, use your lunch break—find a way to hang in there and read the entire gospel.Daily Scripture: John 9:1 As Yeshua passed along, he saw a man blind from birth. 2 His talmidim asked him, “Rabbi, who sinned — this man or his parents — to cause him to be born blind?” 3 Yeshua answered, “His blindness is due neither to his sin nor to that of his parents; it happened so that God’s power might be seen at work in him. 4 As long as it is day, we must keep doing the work of the One who sent me; the night is coming, when no one can work. 5 While I am in the world, I am the light of the world.”
John evoked the creation story (Genesis 2:7), as Jesus used mud made from dust to give a blind man sight (verse 6). The story’s deeper meaning was to point to the tragedy of spiritual blindness. Rather than admit anything good about Jesus, the religious leaders scrambled to deny the plain fact that a man born blind could now see! In his beautiful confession of faith in verse 25, the man showed that he could “see” more clearly than the religious leaders.
Pastor Hamilton wrote, “The sixth miraculous sign ends by offering a powerful contrast between the blind beggar who listened to Jesus’ voice, trusted him, obeyed his commands, washed, and thus came to see; and the religious leaders who refused to listen to Jesus and condemned him as a sinner….In describing the man’s story, this miraculous sign, John asks us, in effect, ‘Are you blind, or can you see?’”1
Lord, continue your spiritual “eye surgery” in me. Make it ever more true in all parts of my life that “I was blind, but now I see.” Amen.
The cattle didn’t know it yet, but they were headed to greener grass. Truly, greener pastures do exist and they are on the other side of the open gate!
This sight helps me picture an image of Jesus when he says, in the book of John, “I am the gate….I came so that they could have life – indeed, so that they could live life to the fullest.”
Jesus is teaching here. He is using the metaphor of the shepherd who sleeps in the opening of a rock fence, protecting the herd, to help us understand how God loves us.
But as a girl from Kansas, I can’t help but see this story in the Flint Hills, with cattle instead of sheep. When the pastures get dry in the heat of a Kansas summer, it is necessary to rotate the herd to greener pastures.
Cattle don’t like to move, they prefer to stay where they know what to expect. But the rancher knows that lush green grass and running water are available on the other side of the gate. The cattle have to be nudged to change pastures, to go through the gate. They are hesitant; they don’t know the bliss that lies ahead.
When I think of God’s love, I imagine God standing at the gate to abundance, holding it open for us, inviting us into a life of purpose, meaning, happiness, and peace. And yet we stand looking at the open gate feeling scared to go through it. We get nudged by the Holy Spirit, we feel a calling, we find ourselves in a dry pasture…and yet, we fear what lies ahead if we say yes to God.
Going through that gate doesn’t have to be scary. It only requires taking the first step, waking up each morning and saying, “God use me today, show me the way, allow me to be an instrument of love.”
And then another step, seeing the beauty all around you, paying attention to the nudges, and noticing how you can help people.
And then another step, sharing love with everyone you encounter and being light in the darkness.
And then another step, opening your mind and heart to accepting God’s unconditional love and showing unconditional love to others.
The gate is open. God is holding it for you. Greener pastures are ahead.
---------------------The Daily Guide-The Daily Devotional grow. pray. study. The United United Methodist Church of the Resurrection of Leawood, Kansas, United States for Thursday, 3 March 2016 - “I was blind and now I see”
To support the goal of reading the whole gospel of John during Lent, some of the daily readings are longer than typical for the GPS. We encourage you: have an extra cup of coffee, use your lunch break—find a way to hang in there and read the entire gospel.Daily Scripture: John 9:1 As Yeshua passed along, he saw a man blind from birth. 2 His talmidim asked him, “Rabbi, who sinned — this man or his parents — to cause him to be born blind?” 3 Yeshua answered, “His blindness is due neither to his sin nor to that of his parents; it happened so that God’s power might be seen at work in him. 4 As long as it is day, we must keep doing the work of the One who sent me; the night is coming, when no one can work. 5 While I am in the world, I am the light of the world.”
6 Having said this, he spit on the ground, made some mud with the saliva, put the mud on the man’s eyes, 7 and said to him, “Go, wash off in the Pool of Shiloach!” (The name means “sent.”) So he went and washed and came away seeing.
8 His neighbors and those who previously had seen him begging said, “Isn’t this the man who used to sit and beg?” 9 Some said, “Yes, he’s the one”; while others said, “No, but he looks like him.” However, he himself said, “I’m the one.” 10 “How were your eyes opened?” they asked him. 11 He answered, “The man called Yeshua made mud, put it on my eyes, and told me, ‘Go to Shiloach and wash!’ So I went; and as soon as I had washed, I could see.” 12 They said to him, “Where is he?” and he replied, “I don’t know.”
13 They took the man who had been blind to the P’rushim. 14 Now the day on which Yeshua had made the mud and opened his eyes was Shabbat. 15 So the P’rushim asked him again how he had become able to see; and he told them, “He put mud on my eyes, then I washed, and now I can see.” 16 At this, some of the P’rushim said, “This man is not from God, because he doesn’t keep Shabbat.” But others said, “How could a man who is a sinner do miracles like these?” And there was a split among them. 17 So once more they spoke to the blind man: “Since you’re the one whose eyes he opened, what do you say about him?” He replied: “He is a prophet.”
18 The Judeans, however, were unwilling to believe that he had formerly been blind, but now could see, until they had summoned the man’s parents. 19 They asked them, “Is this your son, who you say was born blind? How is it that now he can see?” 20 His parents answered, “We know that this is our son and that he was born blind; 21 but how it is that he can see now, we don’t know; nor do we know who opened his eyes. Ask him — he’s old enough, he can speak for himself!” 22 The parents said this because they were afraid of the Judeans, for the Judeans had already agreed that anyone who acknowledged Yeshua as the Messiah would be banned from the synagogue. 23 This is why his parents said, “He’s old enough, ask him.”
24 So a second time they called the man who had been blind; and they said to him, “Swear to God that you will tell the truth! We know that this man is a sinner.” 25 He answered, “Whether he’s a sinner or not I don’t know. One thing I do know: I was blind, now I see.” 26 So they said to him, “What did he do to you? How did he open your eyes?” 27 “I already told you,” he answered, “and you didn’t listen. Why do you want to hear it again? Maybe you too want to become his talmidim?” 28 Then they railed at him. “You may be his talmid,” they said, “but we are talmidim of Moshe! 29 We know that God has spoken to Moshe, but as for this fellow — we don’t know where he’s from!” 30 “What a strange thing,” the man answered, “that you don’t know where he’s from — considering that he opened my eyes! 31 We know that God doesn’t listen to sinners; but if anyone fears God and does his will, God does listen to him. 32 In all history no one has ever heard of someone’s opening the eyes of a man born blind. 33 If this man were not from God, he couldn’t do a thing!” 34 “Why, you mamzer!” they retorted, “Are you lecturing us?” And they threw him out.
35 Yeshua heard that they had thrown the man out. He found him and said, “Do you trust in the Son of Man?” 36 “Sir,” he answered, “tell me who he is, so that I can trust in him.” 37 Yeshua said to him, “You have seen him. In fact, he’s the one speaking with you now.” 38 “Lord, I trust!” he said, and he kneeled down in front of him.
39 Yeshua said, “It is to judge that I came into this world, so that those who do not see might see, and those who do see might become blind.” 40 Some of the P’rushim nearby heard this and said to him, “So we’re blind too, are we?” 41 Yeshua answered them, “If you were blind, you would not be guilty of sin. But since you still say, ‘We see,’ your guilt remains.
Reflection QuestionsJohn evoked the creation story (Genesis 2:7), as Jesus used mud made from dust to give a blind man sight (verse 6). The story’s deeper meaning was to point to the tragedy of spiritual blindness. Rather than admit anything good about Jesus, the religious leaders scrambled to deny the plain fact that a man born blind could now see! In his beautiful confession of faith in verse 25, the man showed that he could “see” more clearly than the religious leaders.
Pastor Hamilton wrote, “The sixth miraculous sign ends by offering a powerful contrast between the blind beggar who listened to Jesus’ voice, trusted him, obeyed his commands, washed, and thus came to see; and the religious leaders who refused to listen to Jesus and condemned him as a sinner….In describing the man’s story, this miraculous sign, John asks us, in effect, ‘Are you blind, or can you see?’”1
- Jesus repeated his claim to be “the light of the world.” At what age or stage did Christ’s light first shine into your life? What were some of the first things that you remember seeing more clearly in the light of Jesus' love and grace? What are one or two ways that Christ’s light has helped to clear your sight in the recent days and weeks of your walk with him?
Lord, continue your spiritual “eye surgery” in me. Make it ever more true in all parts of my life that “I was blind, but now I see.” Amen.
1 Adam Hamilton, John: The Gospel of Light and Life. (Nashville: Abingdon Press, 2015, p. 43.) For a more detailed study of John 9, see pp. 38-45.
---------------------Insights from James Cochran
James Cochran helps connect the Resurrection family and community with counseling resources and group programming.Can we take a moment and acknowledge the fact that it’s a little gross for Jesus to smear spit-mud all over someone’s face? And can we further acknowledge the weirdness of a Holy-Spit-based healing process? Read a certain way, John 9 looks a lot like a comedy. Bumbling Blind Beggar stumbles into the middle of a debate about the theology of sin, Jesus gives him a mud bath, and now he sees. Not to be deterred by something as mundane as a blind man being given the gift of sight, the debate continues. We even meet BBB’s parents, who seem to be more concerned with the political implications of their son’s fortune than with the actual miracle.
But at the end of all this silliness, we’re confronted with a very simple exchange.
Jesus: Do you believe?
Beggar: I believe.
We all want to be the beggar in the story. I know I’d like to think of myself as the one who “gets it.” The one who amidst all the debate and point-missing can say “God has become a part of this story and I will never be the same.”
But if we’re honest (that is, if I’m honest), we behave a lot more like the Pharisees. How do I respond when someone challenges my worldview? Am I compassionate or stubborn? Am I willing to see that the world may be bigger and more wondrous than I previously thought, or do I start picking holes in her argument without paying any attention to the things she’s saying?
As a counselor, I often work with couples going through a tough time. It amazes me how often I sit with a couple whose love for one another is profoundly deep, but neither person can see it because each one is so focused on being right. Being right isn’t bad–unless it becomes more important than being connected. This story would be very different if the Pharisees responded to this miracle by saying, “You know, my whole worldview is telling me that I need to argue about this, but I’m going to suspend that impulse and instead focus on the fact that God is doing something pretty amazing.” Instead the Pharisees spend their energy participating in a debate no one else is very interested in having. After all, THERE IS A GUY WHO CAN SEE WHO WAS BLIND TEN MINUTES AGO!
Seeing is stepping above the fray and looking for God’s work in this moment. Seeing is realizing that God does not usually operate in ways that meet our expectations. Seeing does not mean understanding all of the reasons why bad things happen, but believing that God can make wrongs right, the broken whole, and the blind to see.
-------------------The Daily Guide-The Daily Devotional grow. pray. study. The United United Methodist Church of the Resurrection of Leawood, Kansas, United States for Wednesday, 2 March 2016 - “I AM the light of the world”—“before Abraham was, I AM”
To support the goal of reading the whole gospel of John during Lent, some of the daily readings are longer than typical for the GPS. We encourage you: have an extra cup of coffee, use your lunch break—find a way to hang in there and read the entire gospel.Daily Scripture: John 7:53 Then they all left, each one to his own home.
In the first story, the Pharisees were fine with shaming or killing a woman they had probably lured into the act of adultery. (Why did they let her partner escape? She couldn’t commit adultery alone.) Jesus gave her a new start. Then he said, “I Am the light of the world” (verse 12) and later added, “Before Abraham was, I Am” (verse 58), twin claims to God’s name from Exodus 3:14. He said he was “from above,” his foes “from below” (verse 23). His self-righteous enemies were furious, ready to stone Jesus for blasphemy.
Lord God, you showed your eternity and power to Moses in the Hebrew name “I Am.” When you became flesh in Jesus, you again identified yourself with that name. You assured me that I can be your child, and I’m thankful that I am. Amen.
1 Adam Hamilton, John: The Gospel of Light and Life. (Nashville: Abingdon Press, 2015, p. 69.) For a more detailed study of John 8, see pp. 68-71.
---------------------
Insights from Rev. Steven Blair
But at the end of all this silliness, we’re confronted with a very simple exchange.
Jesus: Do you believe?
Beggar: I believe.
We all want to be the beggar in the story. I know I’d like to think of myself as the one who “gets it.” The one who amidst all the debate and point-missing can say “God has become a part of this story and I will never be the same.”
But if we’re honest (that is, if I’m honest), we behave a lot more like the Pharisees. How do I respond when someone challenges my worldview? Am I compassionate or stubborn? Am I willing to see that the world may be bigger and more wondrous than I previously thought, or do I start picking holes in her argument without paying any attention to the things she’s saying?
As a counselor, I often work with couples going through a tough time. It amazes me how often I sit with a couple whose love for one another is profoundly deep, but neither person can see it because each one is so focused on being right. Being right isn’t bad–unless it becomes more important than being connected. This story would be very different if the Pharisees responded to this miracle by saying, “You know, my whole worldview is telling me that I need to argue about this, but I’m going to suspend that impulse and instead focus on the fact that God is doing something pretty amazing.” Instead the Pharisees spend their energy participating in a debate no one else is very interested in having. After all, THERE IS A GUY WHO CAN SEE WHO WAS BLIND TEN MINUTES AGO!
Seeing is stepping above the fray and looking for God’s work in this moment. Seeing is realizing that God does not usually operate in ways that meet our expectations. Seeing does not mean understanding all of the reasons why bad things happen, but believing that God can make wrongs right, the broken whole, and the blind to see.
-------------------The Daily Guide-The Daily Devotional grow. pray. study. The United United Methodist Church of the Resurrection of Leawood, Kansas, United States for Wednesday, 2 March 2016 - “I AM the light of the world”—“before Abraham was, I AM”
To support the goal of reading the whole gospel of John during Lent, some of the daily readings are longer than typical for the GPS. We encourage you: have an extra cup of coffee, use your lunch break—find a way to hang in there and read the entire gospel.Daily Scripture: John 7:53 Then they all left, each one to his own home.
8:1 But Yeshua went to the Mount of Olives. 2 At daybreak, he appeared again in the Temple Court, where all the people gathered around him, and he sat down to teach them. 3 The Torah-teachers and the P’rushim brought in a woman who had been caught committing adultery and made her stand in the center of the group. 4 Then they said to him, “Rabbi, this woman was caught in the very act of committing adultery. 5 Now in our Torah, Moshe commanded that such a woman be stoned to death. What do you say about it?” 6 They said this to trap him, so that they might have ground for bringing charges against him; but Yeshua bent down and began writing in the dust with his finger. 7 When they kept questioning him, he straightened up and said to them, “The one of you who is without sin, let him be the first to throw a stone at her.” 8 Then he bent down and wrote in the dust again. 9 On hearing this, they began to leave, one by one, the older ones first, until he was left alone, with the woman still there. 10 Standing up, Yeshua said to her, “Where are they? Has no one condemned you?” 11 She said, “No one, sir.” Yeshua said, “Neither do I condemn you. Now go, and don’t sin any more.”
12 Yeshua spoke to them again: “I am the light of the world; whoever follows me will never walk in darkness but will have the light which gives life.” 13 So the P’rushim said to him, “Now you’re testifying on your own behalf; your testimony is not valid.” 14 Yeshua answered them, “Even if I do testify on my own behalf, my testimony is indeed valid; because I know where I came from and where I’m going; but you do not know where I came from or where I’m going. 15 You judge by merely human standards. As for me, I pass judgment on no one; 16 but if I were indeed to pass judgment, my judgment would be valid; because it is not I alone who judge, but I and the One who sent me. 17 And even in your Torah it is written that the testimony of two people is valid. 18 I myself testify on my own behalf, and so does the Father who sent me.”
19 They said to him, “Where is this ‘father’ of yours?” Yeshua answered, “You know neither me nor my Father; if you knew me, you would know my Father too.” 20 He said these things when he was teaching in the Temple treasury room; yet no one arrested him, because his time had not yet come.
21 Again he told them, “I am going away, and you will look for me, but you will die in your sin — where I am going, you cannot come.” 22 The Judeans said, “Is he going to commit suicide? Is that what he means when he says, ‘Where I am going, you cannot come’?” 23 Yeshua said to them, “You are from below, I am from above; you are of this world, I am not of this world. 24 This is why I said to you that you will die in your sins; for if you do not trust that I AM [who I say I am], you will die in your sins.”
25 At this, they said to him, “You? Who are you?” Yeshua answered, “Just what I’ve been telling you from the start. 26 There are many things I could say about you, and many judgments I could make. However, the One who sent me is true; so I say in the world only what I have heard from him.” 27 They did not understand that he was talking to them about the Father. 28 So Yeshua said, “When you lift up the Son of Man, then you will know that I AM [who I say I am], and that of myself I do nothing, but say only what the Father has taught me. 29 Also, the One who sent me is still with me; he did not leave me to myself, because I always do what pleases him.”
30 Many people who heard him say these things trusted in him. 31 So Yeshua said to the Judeans who had trusted him, “If you obey what I say, then you are really my talmidim, 32 you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.” 33 They answered, “We are the seed of Avraham and have never been slaves to anyone; so what do you mean by saying, ‘You will be set free’?” 34 Yeshua answered them, “Yes, indeed! I tell you that everyone who practices sin is a slave of sin. 35 Now a slave does not remain with a family forever, but a son does remain with it forever. 36 So if the Son frees you, you will really be free! 37 I know you are the seed of Avraham. Yet you are out to kill me, because what I am saying makes no headway in you. 38 I say what my Father has shown me; you do what your father has told you!”
39 They answered him, “Our father is Avraham.” Yeshua replied, “If you are children of Avraham, then do the things Avraham did! 40 As it is, you are out to kill me, a man who has told you the truth which I heard from God. Avraham did nothing like that! 41 You are doing the things your father does.” “We’re not illegitimate children!” they said to him. “We have only one Father — God!” 42 Yeshua replied to them, “If God were your Father, you would love me; because I came out from God; and now I have arrived here. I did not come on my own; he sent me. 43 Why don’t you understand what I’m saying? Because you can’t bear to listen to my message. 44 You belong to your father, Satan, and you want to carry out your father’s desires. From the start he was a murderer, and he has never stood by the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he tells a lie, he is speaking in character; because he is a liar — indeed, the inventor of the lie! 45 But as for me, because I tell the truth you don’t believe me. 46 Which one of you can show me where I’m wrong? If I’m telling the truth, why don’t you believe me? 47 Whoever belongs to God listens to what God says; the reason you don’t listen is that you don’t belong to God.”
48 The Judeans answered him, “Aren’t we right in saying you are from Shomron and have a demon?” 49 Yeshua replied, “Me? I have no demon. I am honoring my Father. But you dishonor me. 50 I am not seeking praise for myself. There is One who is seeking it, and he is the judge. 51 Yes, indeed! I tell you that whoever obeys my teaching will never see death.”
52 The Judeans said to him, “Now we know for sure that you have a demon! Avraham died, and so did the prophets; yet you say, ‘Whoever obeys my teaching will never taste death.’ 53 Avraham avinu died; you aren’t greater than he, are you? And the prophets also died. Who do you think you are?” 54 Yeshua answered, “If I praise myself, my praise counts for nothing. The One who is praising me is my Father, the very one about whom you keep saying, ‘He is our God.’ 55 Now you have not known him, but I do know him; indeed, if I were to say that I don’t know him, I would be a liar like you! But I do know him, and I obey his word. 56 Avraham, your father, was glad that he would see my day; then he saw it and was overjoyed.”
57 “Why, you’re not yet fifty years old,” the Judeans replied, “and you have seen Avraham?” 58 Yeshua said to them, “Yes, indeed! Before Avraham came into being, I AM!” 59 At this, they picked up stones to throw at him; but Yeshua was hidden and left the Temple grounds.
Reflection QuestionsIn the first story, the Pharisees were fine with shaming or killing a woman they had probably lured into the act of adultery. (Why did they let her partner escape? She couldn’t commit adultery alone.) Jesus gave her a new start. Then he said, “I Am the light of the world” (verse 12) and later added, “Before Abraham was, I Am” (verse 58), twin claims to God’s name from Exodus 3:14. He said he was “from above,” his foes “from below” (verse 23). His self-righteous enemies were furious, ready to stone Jesus for blasphemy.
- Jesus' opponents asked, “Who do you make yourself out to be?” (verse 53). They shortly had their answer: “‘I assure you,’ Jesus replied, ‘before Abraham was, I Am’” (verse 58). They rejected and mocked Jesus' claim. Do you believe it? What difference does your answer make to the way you live your life?
- Jesus said, “The truth will set you free” (verse 32). His foes replied, “We’ve never been anyone’s slaves. How can you say that we will be set free?” They were in political denial—one historian called Israel’s life under Rome a “semi-slavery.” Worse, they were in the dark about their own pride. Pastor Hamilton wrote, “John wants us to understand that Jesus came to guide those who believe in him through the darkness.”1 Have you ever felt, “I don’t need what Christ offers”? Is there any area now where you particularly need Christ’s light to set you free?
Lord God, you showed your eternity and power to Moses in the Hebrew name “I Am.” When you became flesh in Jesus, you again identified yourself with that name. You assured me that I can be your child, and I’m thankful that I am. Amen.
1 Adam Hamilton, John: The Gospel of Light and Life. (Nashville: Abingdon Press, 2015, p. 69.) For a more detailed study of John 8, see pp. 68-71.
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Insights from Rev. Steven Blair
Rev. Steven Blair is the Congregational Care Pastor of Live Forward and Live Well Emotional Wellness Ministry. www.cor.org/liveforwardThe Gospel of John immediately describes Jesus as being “full of grace and truth (John1:14).” In today’s section of Scripture, we see Jesus filled with grace for the woman caught in adultery AND full of truth for the mob. Others dispute Jesus’ claims of being sent by God to which he responds, “Then you will know the truth and the truth will set you free” (John 8:32).
There is a common saying in recovery that relates to a variety of situations. The Truth will set us Free, but first….it is going to hurt a little. Many people run from Truth because we run from pain. Freedom, however, is only available to those who embrace the Truth. Consider these questions:
Is there any truth about your character right now that you are denying?
Is there a truth about your situation that you are avoiding?
Denial and pain avoidance trap us.
Jesus brings Truth, and the Truth will set us free. But first it will hurt a little.
---------------------The Daily Guide-The Daily Devotional grow. pray. study. The United United Methodist Church of the Resurrection of Leawood, Kansas, United States for Tuesday, 1 March 2016 - “All who are thirsty should come to me!”
To support the goal of reading the whole gospel of John during Lent, some of the daily readings are longer than typical for the GPS. We encourage you: have an extra cup of coffee, use your lunch break—find a way to hang in there and read the entire gospel.Daily Scripture: John 7:1 After this, Yeshua traveled around in the Galil, intentionally avoiding Y’hudah because the Judeans were out to kill him. 2 But the festival of Sukkot in Y’hudah was near; 3 so his brothers said to him, “Leave here and go into Y’hudah, so that your talmidim can see the miracles you do; 4 for no one who wants to become known acts in secret. If you’re doing these things, show yourself to the world!” 5 (His brothers spoke this way because they had not put their trust in him.) 6 Yeshua said to them, “My time has not yet come; but for you, any time is right. 7 The world can’t hate you, but it does hate me, because I keep telling it how wicked its ways are. 8 You, go on up to the festival; as for me, I am not going up to this festival now, because the right time for me has not yet come.” 9 Having said this, he stayed on in the Galil.
Lord Jesus, I want to be a citizen of your world, to know you and the one who sent you. Guide me as day-by-day I submit my heart to your kingship. Amen.---------------------
Insights from Brandon Gregory
There is a common saying in recovery that relates to a variety of situations. The Truth will set us Free, but first….it is going to hurt a little. Many people run from Truth because we run from pain. Freedom, however, is only available to those who embrace the Truth. Consider these questions:
Is there any truth about your character right now that you are denying?
Is there a truth about your situation that you are avoiding?
Denial and pain avoidance trap us.
Jesus brings Truth, and the Truth will set us free. But first it will hurt a little.
---------------------The Daily Guide-The Daily Devotional grow. pray. study. The United United Methodist Church of the Resurrection of Leawood, Kansas, United States for Tuesday, 1 March 2016 - “All who are thirsty should come to me!”
To support the goal of reading the whole gospel of John during Lent, some of the daily readings are longer than typical for the GPS. We encourage you: have an extra cup of coffee, use your lunch break—find a way to hang in there and read the entire gospel.Daily Scripture: John 7:1 After this, Yeshua traveled around in the Galil, intentionally avoiding Y’hudah because the Judeans were out to kill him. 2 But the festival of Sukkot in Y’hudah was near; 3 so his brothers said to him, “Leave here and go into Y’hudah, so that your talmidim can see the miracles you do; 4 for no one who wants to become known acts in secret. If you’re doing these things, show yourself to the world!” 5 (His brothers spoke this way because they had not put their trust in him.) 6 Yeshua said to them, “My time has not yet come; but for you, any time is right. 7 The world can’t hate you, but it does hate me, because I keep telling it how wicked its ways are. 8 You, go on up to the festival; as for me, I am not going up to this festival now, because the right time for me has not yet come.” 9 Having said this, he stayed on in the Galil.
10 But after his brothers had gone up to the festival, he too went up, not publicly but in secret. 11 At the festival, the Judeans were looking for him. “Where is he?” they asked. 12 And among the crowds there was much whispering about him. Some said, “He’s a good man”; but others said, “No, he is deceiving the masses.” 13 However, no one spoke about him openly, for fear of the Judeans.
14 Not until the festival was half over did Yeshua go up to the Temple courts and begin to teach. 15 The Judeans were surprised: “How does this man know so much without having studied?” they asked. 16 So Yeshua gave them an answer: “My teaching is not my own, it comes from the One who sent me. 17 If anyone wants to do his will, he will know whether my teaching is from God or I speak on my own. 18 A person who speaks on his own is trying to win praise for himself; but a person who tries to win praise for the one who sent him is honest, there is nothing false about him. 19 Didn’t Moshe give you the Torah? Yet not one of you obeys the Torah! Why are you out to kill me?” 20 “You have a demon!” the crowd answered. “Who’s out to kill you?” 21 Yeshua answered them, “I did one thing; and because of this, all of you are amazed. 22 Moshe gave you b’rit-milah — not that it came from Moshe but from the Patriarchs — and you do a boy’s b’rit-milah on Shabbat. 23 If a boy is circumcised on Shabbat so that the Torah of Moshe will not be broken, why are you angry with me because I made a man’s whole body well on Shabbat? 24 Stop judging by surface appearances, and judge the right way!”
25 Some of the Yerushalayim people said, “Isn’t this the man they’re out to kill? 26 Yet here he is, speaking openly; and they don’t say anything to him. It couldn’t be, could it, that the authorities have actually concluded he’s the Messiah? 27 Surely not — we know where this man comes from; but when the Messiah comes, no one will know where he comes from.” 28 Whereupon Yeshua, continuing to teach in the Temple courts, cried out, “Indeed you do know me! And you know where I’m from! And I have not come on my own! The One who sent me is real. But him you don’t know! 29 I do know him, because I am with him, and he sent me!”
30 At this, they tried to arrest him; but no one laid a hand on him; because his time had not yet come. 31 However, many in the crowd put their trust in him and said, “When the Messiah comes, will he do more miracles than this man has done?”
32 The P’rushim heard the crowd whispering these things about Yeshua; so the head cohanim and the P’rushim sent some of the Temple guards to arrest him. 33 Yeshua said, “I will be with you only a little while longer; then I will go away to the One who sent me. 34 You will look for me and not find me; indeed, where I am, you cannot come.” 35 The Judeans said to themselves, “Where is this man about to go, that we won’t find him? Does he intend to go to the Greek Diaspora and teach the Greek-speaking Jews? 36 And when he says, ‘You will look for me and not find me; indeed, where I am, you cannot come’ — what does he mean?”
37 Now on the last day of the festival, Hoshana Rabbah, Yeshua stood and cried out, “If anyone is thirsty, let him keep coming to me and drinking! 38 Whoever puts his trust in me, as the Scripture says, rivers of living water will flow from his inmost being!” 39 (Now he said this about the Spirit, whom those who trusted in him were to receive later — the Spirit had not yet been given, because Yeshua had not yet been glorified.)
40 On hearing his words, some people in the crowd said, “Surely this man is ‘the prophet’”; 41 others said, “This is the Messiah.” But others said, “How can the Messiah come from the Galil? 42 Doesn’t the Tanakh say that the Messiah is from the seed of David[John 7:42 2 Samuel 7:12] and comes from Beit-Lechem,[John 7:42 Micah 5:1(2)] the village where David lived?” 43 So the people were divided because of him. 44 Some wanted to arrest him, but no one laid a hand on him.
45 The guards came back to the head cohanim and the P’rushim, who asked them, “Why didn’t you bring him in?” 46 The guards replied, “No one ever spoke the way this man speaks!” 47 “You mean you’ve been taken in as well?” the P’rushim retorted. 48 “Has any of the authorities trusted him? Or any of the P’rushim? No! 49 True, these ‘am-ha’aretz do, but they know nothing about the Torah, they are under a curse!”
50 Nakdimon, the man who had gone to Yeshua before and was one of them, said to them, 51 “Our Torah doesn’t condemn a man — does it? — until after hearing from him and finding out what he’s doing.” 52 They replied, “You aren’t from the Galil too, are you? Study the Tanakh, and see for yourself that no prophet comes from the Galil!” [John 7:52 Most scholars believe that 7:53–8:11 is not from the pen of Yochanan. Many are of the opinion that it is a true story about Yeshua written by another of his talmidim.]
Reflection Questions
Jesus’ brothers didn’t believe in him (verse 5). The crowds had mixed views (verse 12). Jewish leaders wanted to kill him (verse 1, 25). Yet Jesus steadily chose his own course under God. He spoke firmly of his heavenly origin and life-giving mission: “I haven’t come on my own. The one who sent me is true, and you don’t know him. I know him because I am from him and he sent me” (verse 28, 29). Nicodemus, who visited with Jesus at night in John 3, asked his colleagues on the council to at least give Jesus a fair hearing.- John was a master at pointing out denial (what we today call “cognitive dissonance”). Verses 1 and 25 recognized that the leaders wanted to kill Jesus. Yet when he spoke of it openly, they denied it heatedly: “You have a demon. Who wants to kill you?” (verse 20) When have you been in settings where you or others tried to deny “the elephant in the room”? How can you and Jesus face any issues in your life more honestly?
- Jesus' brothers used “world” to mean the physical planet Earth and all who live in it (verse 4). But Jesus used it to mean an inner spiritual orientation that turns away from God and tries to live without God and God’s values (verse 7). In what ways does “the world” (in that second sense) try to draw you into its values and way of life today? How is your life better when you live in Jesus' world, rather than in “the world” that hates him?
Lord Jesus, I want to be a citizen of your world, to know you and the one who sent you. Guide me as day-by-day I submit my heart to your kingship. Amen.---------------------
Insights from Brandon Gregory
Brandon Gregory is a volunteer for the worship and missions teams at Church of the Resurrection. He helps lead worship at the Vibe, West, and Downtown services, and is involved with the Malawi missions team at home.
I love reading the gospel books. There’s something delightfully scandalous about the way Jesus had to go about his ministry, ducking in and out of towns, hiding from the religious leaders and others who wanted to kill him. This passage is a great sampling of that.
In this passage, Jesus’ own brothers don’t believe that he’s the Messiah. But remember that, in this passage, he’s 30 years old, and this probably isn’t the first time his brothers have heard him use that excuse. “My time has not yet come” had probably become something of an inside joke in his family.
And the religious leaders are flip-flopping more than whatever political candidate you despise, trying to arrest him while publicly denying it. Jesus was smart to call them out publicly and make them backpedal a bit, although the danger was very real.
All of this makes me wonder, though, how long I could believe something if my family and the religious leaders in my life were so opposed to it they were conspiring to kill me. In fact, if someone came to me and told me that they held this belief that was alienating them from their family and that virtually all religious leaders disapproved of, my advice would probably be to change their mind. It’s a very difficult place to be.
How was Jesus able to face such overwhelming adversity for his three years of public ministry? How did he not throw his hands up in the air in defeat? How did he persevere?
Jesus’ words in verses 28 and 29 answer this: “I am not here on my own authority, but he who sent me is true. You do not know him, but I know him because I am from him and he sent me.”
Jesus knew where he came from. He knew who he was in God’s eyes. In fact, his entire sense of identity was based on it. He held such a high regard for God and His view of him that other opinions did not matter to him.
I look at my own identity and it’s a healthy mix of a lot of things: programmer, writer, musician, husband, father, leader, Christian, and a number of other things. I wonder what my life would look like if Christian not only topped the list, but made the others pale in comparison?
We’re often told to follow Jesus’s outward example–so much so that we often forget to follow his inward example as well: seeking out identity in Christ, and being found in his will. This week, pray that God would reveal to you ways in which you can find your identity in Him, just as Jesus did.
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I love reading the gospel books. There’s something delightfully scandalous about the way Jesus had to go about his ministry, ducking in and out of towns, hiding from the religious leaders and others who wanted to kill him. This passage is a great sampling of that.
In this passage, Jesus’ own brothers don’t believe that he’s the Messiah. But remember that, in this passage, he’s 30 years old, and this probably isn’t the first time his brothers have heard him use that excuse. “My time has not yet come” had probably become something of an inside joke in his family.
And the religious leaders are flip-flopping more than whatever political candidate you despise, trying to arrest him while publicly denying it. Jesus was smart to call them out publicly and make them backpedal a bit, although the danger was very real.
All of this makes me wonder, though, how long I could believe something if my family and the religious leaders in my life were so opposed to it they were conspiring to kill me. In fact, if someone came to me and told me that they held this belief that was alienating them from their family and that virtually all religious leaders disapproved of, my advice would probably be to change their mind. It’s a very difficult place to be.
How was Jesus able to face such overwhelming adversity for his three years of public ministry? How did he not throw his hands up in the air in defeat? How did he persevere?
Jesus’ words in verses 28 and 29 answer this: “I am not here on my own authority, but he who sent me is true. You do not know him, but I know him because I am from him and he sent me.”
Jesus knew where he came from. He knew who he was in God’s eyes. In fact, his entire sense of identity was based on it. He held such a high regard for God and His view of him that other opinions did not matter to him.
I look at my own identity and it’s a healthy mix of a lot of things: programmer, writer, musician, husband, father, leader, Christian, and a number of other things. I wonder what my life would look like if Christian not only topped the list, but made the others pale in comparison?
We’re often told to follow Jesus’s outward example–so much so that we often forget to follow his inward example as well: seeking out identity in Christ, and being found in his will. This week, pray that God would reveal to you ways in which you can find your identity in Him, just as Jesus did.
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The United Methodist Church of the Resurrection
13720 Roe Avenue
Leawood, Kansas 66224, United States
913.897.0120
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