Love

DEVOTION

 THE GOSPEL OF JOHN

LOVE

John 13:1

13:1 It was just before the Passover Feast. Jesus knew that the time had come for him to leave this world and go to the Father. Having loved his own who were in the world, he now showed them the full extent of his love.  

NIV

Two truths for us today, one of encouragement the other of exhortation is within these words. First we can be encouraged beyond all else because we are told that it was time for Jesus to leave this world and go to the Father. If when Jesus leaves this world and goes to the Father so will we. Although death seems to have some finality to the life we now know and we have no proof other than our faith because of these words accumulated into what we call the Bible, we can be encouraged knowing that it is true that when we leave this world we will go to the Father. Although some people declare they have been there and were sent back for whatever reason, we cannot be sure they are being truthful or are simply looking for fame and fortune by preying on the faith of others. We might think if God wanted us to have that kind of proof he would send Jesus back every so often to confirm all the words recorded in the Bible. He has sent the Holy Spirit to confirm everything to us, and we can sense his confirmation in our heart. He has performed many miracles in our life to confirm his authority and power over all things, including our infirmities. So we can be sure, without doubt that when we leave this world we will go to the Father. The second truth comes also as an encouragement but also holds this exhortation. Jesus loved his own who were in the world, but we also know that we are in this world and we are his own, therefore we can be comforted and encouraged knowing that Jesus loves, in the present tense, us and as he loved them to the last, or showed them the full extent of his love by going to the cross, he has also shown us his full extent of love. Because Jesus loves us, he died for us, so we do not have to suffer the second death, but that we will inherit eternal life in the presence of the Father, and there is no other way for us to do that but to trust in Jesus. The exhortation is in his act of laying down his life for us. When we say we want to be more like Jesus, then we must also be willing to lay down our life. Perhaps not in the sense he did, on a cross, but we should be willing to sacrifice our own desires for those we love. This could translate into putting aside some things we would like to do, in order to do something another person would like to do. But what if a problem exists and the other person takes advantage of this love we demonstrate? What if they, also wanting to be like Jesus, do not put aside their desires for us? What if Jesus asked his disciples to reciprocate in kind to his love for them? He did not look for that, nor should we. We merely should act out our love in a manner which is needed. He gave himself fully, and should we do any less? Faith, hope and love, but the most important of these is love.  

The Judging

DEVOTION

THE GOSPEL OF JOHN

THE JUDGING

John 12:44-50

44 Then Jesus cried out, "When a man believes in me, he does not believe in me only, but in the one who sent me. 45 When he looks at me, he sees the one who sent me. 46 I have come into the world as a light, so that no one who believes in me should stay in darkness. 47 "As for the person who hears my words but does not keep them, I do not judge him. For I did not come to judge the world, but to save it. 48 There is a judge for the one who rejects me and does not accept my words; that very word which I spoke will condemn him at the last day. 49 For I did not speak of my own accord, but the Father who sent me commanded me what to say and how to say it. 50 I know that his command leads to eternal life. So whatever I say is just what the Father has told me to say." 

NIV

We have certainly got the point about Jesus being the light and that he was sent by the Father to redeem all people who are sinners, for all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. We know without question that we were all in darkness, in the darkness of our own mind, our own life and that when we heard the words of Jesus and believed we were taken out of that darkness and brought into the wonderful light of Jesus. As for those who hear his words and do not believe, well it says not keep, but we cannot keep them unless we believe them and this keeping is not in the sense of the Pharisees keeping the Law, but it is in the sense that we must continue to believe in him, continue to look to him for our salvation. As we see Jesus does not judge us but the Father will judge and it is clear what he is judging. He will judge whether or not a person accepted the words of Jesus. Some people might think that God judges all our sin, that we must stand before him and see a video of sorts of all the sins we ever committed in our life. Yet the scripture is quite clear that once he forgives us he will never bring our sins up again. He tells us that he will remember them no more. So then this judging is all about whether we have believed and continued to believe the words of Jesus all our lives until the day of our ascension or rapture, or how ever else we want to call the day we stand before the almighty Father in heaven or if we have not believed. It comes down to that parable Jesus told about the goats and the sheep, the judging is all about whether we are in or out. This command is to believe and to keep on believing, to keep his words, yes in a sense to obey his words, which is to believe. We know our salvation cannot be dependent on our strict obedience to all the law, or to all the, what we would call, the rules Jesus set up, the commands for living a holy and righteous life, for we can never accomplish being totally free of some sin. It is impossible in the human form to live totally without any sin at all, if we think we are, we are lying to ourselves and God. So this keeping is not keeping every command to perfection, although we certainly should endeavor to live a life which pleases God. Yet the greatest pleasure he takes in us is in our believing the words of Jesus telling us he came to die for our sins, that we might leave the darkness and come into the light and be saved by the grace of God. Surely our life as we live it, with all our failures, all our faults, all our sin is not pleasing to God, but because we are in Christ, he is pleased with us and he will judge us accordingly and we will hear those words, come and enter into my rest. So we can rest in the simple fact, we have accepted, still they are others who have rejected. The judge will decide. 

Worthy of Praise

DEVOTION

THE GOSPEL OF JOHN

WORTHY OF PRAISE

John 12:42-43

42 Yet at the same time many even among the leaders believed in him. But because of the Pharisees they would not confess their faith for fear they would be put out of the synagogue; 43 for they loved praise from men more than praise from God.

NIV

We just saw many who would not believe in him although he had done so many miracles, and we saw how that was fulfilling the words of Isaiah, but now we are seeing that at the same time many did believe in him. Of course there is a catch here. Among those who believed were some of the leaders of Israel. We are not sure exactly what kind of leadership position these people held, but it was not spiritual leadership as the original word implies differently. These could have been magistrates, or some other form of governing leadership, but nevertheless they hide their belief in fear of the Pharisees. The root of their hidden faith was because they loved the praise of men more than praise from God. There is the lesson for us today. We must examine our heart and see if we enjoy praise from men, yes more than praise from God. What would that look like, to want praise from men over God? If we do our good deeds before men, even under the pretense of showing them the love of God, if we are not explaining to them the gospel message, or the fact we are doing this because God loves them, are we just wanting them to think how good we are, yes even as a church. If we just do, and do not say anything about God to them, then are we not just like any other humanitarian effect accepting their praise for our effects? Just because we do things and even in the name of the church that does mean people know we believe in Jesus, that we believe they need to be born again if they are going to be saved. Many churches do not teach nor believe in the born again experience, they are just religious. If the reason for our good deeds bring them to our church, does our church share the Gospel message or does it just perform religious acts before men, so to receive their praise, rather than from God.  If we believe we should not hide our belief, so we are praised by men for our deeds, as a church or personally. If we want other believers to think we are such “Good Christians” then are we looking for their praise? If we are involved in some ministry of the church because we think it is the thing to do and we want others to know that we are involved, are we looking for their praise rather than from God? Yes, if we believe, if we love our Lord, we will do, we will serve somehow, we will confess our belief to everyone we know, we will because we desire the praise from God. If people thank us, we must always remember to confess it is not us but God who they must thank. It is God who does the work, for us, in us and through us. We are who we are because of God. God and God alone is worthy of praise. 

Speak about him

DEVOTION

THE GOSPEL OF JOHN

SPEAK ABOUT HIM

John 12:37-41

37 Even after Jesus had done all these miraculous signs in their presence, they still would not believe in him. 38 This was to fulfill the word of Isaiah the prophet: "Lord, who has believed our message and to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed?"  39 For this reason they could not believe, because, as Isaiah says elsewhere: 40 "He has blinded their eyes and deadened their hearts, so they can neither see with their eyes, nor understand with their hearts, nor turn — and I would heal them."   41 Isaiah said this because he saw Jesus' glory and spoke about him.

NIV

Although Jesus did so many miracles including raising Lazarus from the dead, people just would not believe in him. Is it any different today? It seems it does not matter how much we testify to the healing power of Jesus, or whatever else we say about him, there are always going to be people who refuse to believe in him. People just cannot see with their eyes, nor can they understand with their hearts the glory of Jesus. The most interesting truth in this narrative is not just the fact that Isaiah spoke about it years before, but that he saw Jesus’ glory. John records the words of Isaiah which we know as Isaiah chapter six. Isaiah was standing in the presence of God almighty and tells of the glory of ‘Adonaay’ and ‘Yehwah’ which are the two words Isaiah used to describe who he saw. It certainly appears God had inspired John to make the statement Isaiah saw Jesus, thus making it clear Jesus is Yehwah, Jesus is God in the flesh, as he started the whole of his gospel with. If Isaiah saw Jesus, before he came to earth and if his disciples saw Jesus while he was here, and Paul saw Jesus on that road after his resurrection and ascension, would it make sense that it is possible for us to see Jesus? Although we will read later in this gospel that Jesus tells his disciples they believe because they have seen him, but blessed are those who believe who have not seen him, it still is possible we could see the glory of Jesus. There have been records of people having a vision of Jesus. Of course we do not know if that is actually true or not, but it could be. What hinders us from seeing the glory of Jesus? Is it our lack of belief? It is because Jesus does not want us to see him, that he desires us to believe simply on faith? Yet we have witnessed and experienced miracle after miracle, material, physical and spiritual and thus we could say we have seen the glory of Jesus, seated high and lifted up. Some of us have actually heard the voice of God, or perhaps it was the voice of Jesus, or the Spirit, which are all one, telling us we are healed, or this is where you are to live, as this man has. Even if we have never heard his voice or experienced his miracles in our life we can see the glory of Jesus all around us, if we just looked at his creation. We can be like Isaiah in that as we see his glory, we can speak about him.

Sons of Light

DEVOTION

THE GOSPEL OF JOHN

SONS OF LIGHT

John 12:30-36

30 Jesus said, "This voice was for your benefit, not mine. 31 Now is the time for judgment on this world; now the prince of this world will be driven out. 32 But I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all men to myself."  33 He said this to show the kind of death he was going to die. 34 The crowd spoke up, "We have heard from the Law that the Christ will remain forever, so how can you say, 'The Son of Man must be lifted up'? Who is this 'Son of Man'?" 35 Then Jesus told them, "You are going to have the light just a little while longer. Walk while you have the light, before darkness overtakes you. The man who walks in the dark does not know where he is going. 36 Put your trust in the light while you have it, so that you may become sons of light." When he had finished speaking, Jesus left and hid himself from them.

NIV

We have included the last saying from Jesus for the context of this next part of his conversation with the people. So the crowd was a little confused when he said that he must die on a cross, not in those words but that was what was understood by how the crowd responded. If fact it appears they are not sure who Jesus really is as they ask of him who is this ‘Son of Man’? Confusion surrounding the truth was not limited to those people in the crowd then as it seems many people today are confused about the truth. If what he already said was confusing for them, he goes on to speak about the light and how they will have it a little longer. We surely know he was speaking about himself as being the light, and we certainly understand exactly what he was talking about. But it is likely many of those in the crowd became even more confused over his words especially since they were in response to their question as to who is the Son of Man. But the truth is still the truth and the fact remains that in order for us to walk in the light we must put our trust in Jesus. Those who either do not know Jesus yet, or know of him, but refuse to accept him, are walking in the darkness of their own lives and they simply do not know where they going. So many people who refuse the truth of having to be born again in order to enter the kingdom of God still believe they will go to heaven when they die. But that is not the truth, they are confused about the truth, as if they are walking in the darkness of their own religion, they do not know they are going to hell, and ultimately perish in the lake of burning sulfur. Walking in the darkness leads to a place they cannot see, but when we walk in the light, we are indeed able to see our way. We see with our spiritual eyes the path that leads to the gates of heaven. Jesus said he was the light of the world and we must put our trust in that light. We cannot be fence riders, or stand in the door between the light and the dark, on foot in both. We cannot stand balanced on the edge of the cliff one foot dangling in the air, one foot still on the ground. We must immerse ourselves in the light, we must close the door on the darkness, and we must leap off the cliff fully committed to living in the light. There can be no confusion about this, we cannot afford to have any conflict within, clinging to any part of our past, allowing that war to wage within us. We must be filled to the brim with trust in the light so that we are sons of the light, sons that reflect the appearance and life of the Father. 

Hearing from Heaven

DEVOTION

THE GOSPEL OF JOHN

HEARING FROM HEAVEN

John 12:27-33

27 "Now my heart is troubled, and what shall I say? 'Father, save me from this hour'? No, it was for this very reason I came to this hour. 28 Father, glorify your name!" Then a voice came from heaven, "I have glorified it, and will glorify it again." 29 The crowd that was there and heard it said it had thundered; others said an angel had spoken to him. 30 Jesus said, "This voice was for your benefit, not mine. 31 Now is the time for judgment on this world; now the prince of this world will be driven out. 32 But I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all men to myself."  33 He said this to show the kind of death he was going to die.

NIV

Once more a voice from heaven, once more the Father speaks audible so the world hears him. He spoke at the baptism of his Son and now he speaks again assuring his Son that the Father will be glorified and that was the prayer of Jesus. Yes, he was troubled and who would not be troubled knowing what was coming. He knew he was going to be hung on a cross, the Roman form of execution. This was far worse than a firing squad, electric chair, or now our compassionate lethal injection method. The cross was a slow agonizing painful death of suffocation, so why wouldn’t he be troubled. But he does not pray that the Father would save him from this, no he prays that the Father’s name would be gloried through all this. A lesson we might well learn when we face any sort of trouble in our lives. So often we see Christians with long faces, almost stooped over physically, when facing hardships and praying God will give them relief, yet this is the time we should be praying that God’s name will be glorified, that is if we learn this lesson. Could we face anything worse than what Jesus was facing? True, he was the Son of God, divine in every way, yet he was also fully human, with the ability to feel all the emotions, all the pain and suffering we could face. With all this ahead of him, he still wanted the Father to be gloried. God answered and he did so man could hear him. Twice, this man has heard that audible voice, twice God spoke to the world out loud, and twice, to this point, he has spoken out loud to me. Both times his name was glorified; both times I have and continue to testify to the glory of his name. This is the lesson for us, and we should always give glory to the name of God the Father for all that he does for us, in us and through us. We cannot face anything in life worse than the cross, so no matter what we face in life, we must be ready, willing and able to glorify the name of God. Perhaps we might even hear his voice once again. Yet we also see here that the voice of God was not for the benefit of Jesus, but it was for the benefit of those who heard him. How could they ever deny now that God the Father is in heaven, and that Jesus is the Son of God? How could we ever deny or doubt there is a God in Heaven, watching over us, providing for us, keeping his hand upon our lives, since we have heard from heaven? 

Meeting Jesus

DEVOTION

THE GOSPEL OF JOHN

MEETING JESUS

John 12:20-26

20 Now there were some Greeks among those who went up to worship at the Feast. 21 They came to Philip, who was from Bethsaida in Galilee, with a request. "Sir," they said, "we would like to see Jesus." 22 Philip went to tell Andrew; Andrew and Philip in turn told Jesus. 23 Jesus replied, "The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified. 24 I tell you the truth, unless a kernel of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains only a single seed. But if it dies, it produces many seeds. 25 The man who loves his life will lose it, while the man who hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life. 26 Whoever serves me must follow me; and where I am, my servant also will be. My Father will honor the one who serves me.

NIV

It seems a strange response from Jesus to a request for some people to meet him, yet he was saying the hour or time for me to meet people personally is over for now is the time for me to be available for everyone to meet me. Although it would have been in incredible experience to have walked this earth with Jesus, he could only touch people one on one in his human form, a single seed. But since he fell to the ground and died, sort of, as he actually was lifted up on a tree, to fulfill prophesy, he has produced many seeds. People all over the world are now a part of the family of God, because of this hour Jesus was speaking about. He needed to do what he did so that not just a few Greeks could meet him, but all Jews, all Greeks, all Gentiles could meet him. Then he goes on to explain how everyone must come to him in order to actually meet him. It is not possible to truly meet Jesus if we love our life here on earth. This is to say that as long as we cling to the life here in earth, clinging to the ways of the world, clinging to the pursuit of success, the pursuit of accumulation of material goods, the need of recognition, praise, and self-worth, along with a whole host of worldly attitudes we will never actually meet Jesus in person, except to be cast into the lake of burning sulfur. But if we can cast aside all those pursuits, actually in some sense despising them, we will meet Jesus, we will inherit eternal life. True, we must live here, and work here, and purchase the material goods needed for life here. True, as we follow Jesus, as we seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, he will add all these things onto us, we will have in fact all these things. However, our priorities cannot be these things, our number one, and only priority needs to be the kingdom of God. If we serve Jesus we must follow him and conversely if we follow him we must serve him. If we serve our own life, we will have no life, but if we serve Jesus we will be where he is, we will have eternal life in the presence of God. But we must also be careful not to take pride in serving Jesus. We are told to humble ourselves therefore before God and he will lift us up. We cannot be prideful in our being obedient to the Word of God, or to the rules and regulations of our denomination, or the Law. We cannot even think of ourselves as being good Christians, as there is no such thing. We are either a believer, a Christian or we are not. There is no level of Christian, bad, good, better or best, there is only being one, a sinner saved by grace. If we take pride in thinking how good we are, then it might be that we are actually in love with our life here. If we want to meet Jesus we need to focus on him, not on us. Can we enjoy the things of the world while focusing on Jesus? If they are from his hand it would seems so, but we should be careful to testify to that as well. All we are, all we have is because of Jesus, not because of us. That is losing this life and gaining eternal life. That is meeting Jesus.

Just Go Tell

DEVOTION

THE GOSPEL OF JOHN

JUST GO TELL

John 12:17-19

17 Now the crowd that was with him when he called Lazarus from the tomb and raised him from the dead continued to spread the word. 18 Many people, because they had heard that he had given this miraculous sign, went out to meet him. 19 So the Pharisees said to one another, "See, this is getting us nowhere. Look how the whole world has gone after him!"

NIV

Go tell it on the mountain, that Jesus Christ is Lord! Perhaps they actually did not know he was the Lord, the Christ, but they sure knew he was someone very special being able to raise a man from the grave after he had been in there four days as well as having been embalmed in the fashion they used, which was in part removing some of the organs. Having Lazarus brought back from the dead was huge. People could not stop talking about it, they were telling everyone they met and because it was the time of the Passover there were large crowds in Jerusalem so many people were being told the story and many people were going to meet Jesus. These people were not even telling a s tory about what Jesus did in their lives, but what he had done in the life of Lazarus and still as a result of the telling, many people came to meet Jesus. Although this account also records the worsening attitude of the Pharisees, we should stay focused on the telling of the story. Those who were there with Jesus when he raised Lazarus from the tomb were telling the story, over and over again to whomever they came in contact with. They were not doing some act of service for them., they were not simply showing them love, they were not hoping these people would notice something is different about them, no, they were telling the story. Why do we think it should be any different today? Why do we believe the way to have people meet Jesus is by our doing some act of service, or by simply showing them love, or that they will ask us why we are different, assuming of course we are actually different? Even if we do not have a personal story of Jesus healing us, or doing some other incredible miracle in our life, we can tell the story of what he did somewhere, to someone. Although we should consider that he really did raise us from the dead as well, for once we were lost to sin, which brings death, but now we are found, and we have life. Why can’t we just tell that story, over and over again, and people will want to meet Jesus. Although many of us also have miracles in our life, that we could tell about over and over again and people would come to meet Jesus as a result. Why do we keep silent? We should be going to shout it from the rooftops. Go tell it on the mountain. Maybe we need a show and tell time, or maybe we need to just go tell.

Focus

DEVOTION

THE GOSPEL OF JOHN

FOCUS

John 12:12-16

12 The next day the great crowd that had come for the Feast heard that Jesus was on his way to Jerusalem. 13 They took palm branches and went out to meet him, shouting, "Hosanna!" "Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!" "Blessed is the King of Israel!" 14 Jesus found a young donkey and sat upon it, as it is written, 15 "Do not be afraid, O Daughter of Zion; see, your king is coming, seated on a donkey's colt."   16 At first his disciples did not understand all this. Only after Jesus was glorified did they realize that these things had been written about him and that they had done these things to him.

NIV

The triumphal entry of Jesus into Jerusalem is what John is picturing for us here, briefly, as some others spend more time explaining the how of all this. But we are here and as we know from scholars those who were kings came into a town either upon a horse as a conquering king or on a donkey as a king coming in peace. Jesus was in fact a king, he was The King, the Prince of Peace, the Messiah, the Christ, he was coming to save his people, but no one at that time really knew and understood what was happening and what was about to happen. They were thinking he was coming to set them free from Roman rule, to become their new king, replacing the oppressing rule of Herod, who seemed to be in league with the Romans. For the most part people are always looking to their immediate situation, seeing with only human comprehension. Their interest in Jesus was because their interest was in themselves. They were looking to what Jesus was going to do for them, as they waved their palms shouting “Hosanna!” “Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!” How often that scene is repeated throughout history even to this day. People looking to Jesus because of what he can do for them. Yes, he is in fact the King of kings, and we should shout, “Hosanna!” because he did free us, but not from the Romans, or from some earthy oppressive king, but he freed us from slavery to sin. He freed us from death, from destruction, from perishing in the lake of burning sulfur. He has done it all and as he said on that cross, “It is finished”. Yes, although he continues to do things for us, anything, if we ask, which is what he said, we should not be living our lives in such a manner as those people who only saw him for what he was going to do for them. True, as we first come to Jesus, that is the motivation of being freed from death, of what he did for us, and although it is true he continues to provide for us in so many ways, but if all we think about is what Jesus did and does for us, it is a self-centered view of life. Do we live our life for what Jesus can do for us, or do we live our life for what we can do for Jesus? Are we focused on us, or on him? Why do we worship our King? Yes out of gratitude, yes, out of thankfulness, yes, out of pure delight that we are saved and because he is God, the creator of all things, the giver of life itself. But again is not all that because we are focused on us? Should we not be living focused on Him? Where is our focus?

Living Large

DEVOTION

THE GOSPEL OF JOHN

LIVING LARGE

John 12:9-11

9 Meanwhile a large crowd of Jews found out that Jesus was there and came, not only because of him but also to see Lazarus, whom he had raised from the dead. 10 So the chief priests made plans to kill Lazarus as well, 11 for on account of him many of the Jews were going over to Jesus and putting their faith in him.

NIV

So the chiefs priests were so ingrained in their own self-interest they would actually kill a man just to keep things so they could have the power. When we think about that it is really pathetic. It is sad that men, who are supposed to be the religious leaders of the people, were plotting to kill someone in order to stay the religious leaders of the people. It also seems a little odd they had not wanted to kill all the other people Jesus had healed but only thought Lazarus was a threat to their position that is besides Jesus. It seems it was just because Lazarus was raised from the dead that many people started putting their faith in Jesus. What can we learn from this? Maybe if no one is threatened by our faith they will not want to kill us, but maybe if they are threatened by our faith they will want to kill us too. Sure, people do not actually kill us because we are Christians, but because we live our faith out loud, they sure do stand off from us. It seems when we live out our faith openly some people do not want to be around us. Even other Christians make comments about us, negative comments, how we are either a “know it all” or a trouble maker. They talk behind our backs but never to our face. Maybe we are like that about other Christians. Maybe we have hard feelings toward a believer who is living out their faith out loud. We have to be aware of such behaviors and make sure we are not guilty of being like, in any way, those who wanted to get rid of Lazarus because their position was threatened. Still, the Spirit has given the gift of discernment so we are not entrapped by people who desire power more than being a shepherd of the people.  We need to learn the attitude of our hearts, change if needed, as well as be aware of the attitude of others hearts. It is sort of a live and let live situation. But at the same time we cannot put Lazarus back in the grave. We cannot put back the faith we have. We cannot stop being a clear voice for Jesus just because someone might get upset with us and want to get rid of us, even to the point of death. We need to live in such a manner that people know we love Jesus, as Lazarus did. Surely he knew the religious leadership was not happy about Jesus, and maybe he even knew they wanted to get rid of Jesus, being such a close friend, yet he still stayed close to Jesus, sat at the table dined with him. We can learn that lesson as well. Staying close to Jesus no matter the cost and if Jesus has done something for us, live like it, don’t hide in the grave. We need to live out loud. Live large. 

How To Act

DEVOTION

THE GOSPEL OF JOHN

HOW TO ACT

John 12:4-8

4 But one of his disciples, Judas Iscariot, who was later to betray him, objected, 5 "Why wasn't this perfume sold and the money given to the poor? It was worth a year's wages." 6 He did not say this because he cared about the poor but because he was a thief; as keeper of the money bag, he used to help himself to what was put into it. 7 "Leave her alone," Jesus replied. "[It was intended] that she should save this perfume for the day of my burial. 8 You will always have the poor among you, but you will not always have me." 

NIV

We are still at the dinner experience and Mary has just poured this expensive perfume on the feet of Jesus, wiping them with her hair. Then of course none other then Judas Iscariot pops up about how that could have been sold and used to care for the poor. We, of course, know the character of this man, but it is unlikely his fellow disciples did at this time. He was in charge of the money for the group, the treasurer of the band of brothers and we see he was dipping his hand into the kitty for his own use. There is a lesson we can learn from Judas before we get to the one within the words of Jesus. There is nothing new about people within the church being covetous, as Judas was there before them. But we can see the pitfalls of such desires. Judas used the work of God, caring for the poor, as an excuse for his greed. It seems he has also preceded others in that complaint as well. We would do well to learn this lesson so we too are not entrapped by greed. In Paul’s letter to Timothy he instructs him that godliness with contentment is great gain. He goes on to tell Timothy that we brought nothing into the world and we can take nothing out of it. If we have food and clothing we will be content with that. Then he makes it clear that People who want to get rich fall into temptation and a trap and into many foolish and harmful desires that plunge them into ruin and destruction. Paul tells Timothy that the love of money is the root of all evil. There are some believers who have actually wandered from the faith in pursuit of money and pierced themselves with much grief. This was the life and death of Judas Iscariot; we cannot afford to allow it to be ours. As to those words of Jesus, which may have been misunderstood and used by some to insist we do all we can to help the poor. This is not a bad desire or action, as we are instructed in other scripture to look after those with less, but here it is not about the poor of whom there will always be, but it is about Jesus, and that he would not be with his disciples in the form he was now in for much longer. He was telling them he was going to die, he was going to be gone from them and so why get all up in arms over what Mary did. Some scholars’ say she did not use it all, but used a portion which the remaining amount she used on the day of his embalmment in the grave. But either way, it was as if it was done in a prophetic manner. The lesson here is for us is not to be cheap with Jesus; of course we should not confuse church with Jesus, as some churches are not about Jesus, but about churching. This is where we really need the gift of discernment, so as not to be like Judas, but also not to be entrapped by others filled with greed. Mary’s love for Jesus was all that mattered to her, she did not concern herself with what others thought, or did, she acted out of love for Jesus and Judas acted out of self-interest. The question is how do we act?  

How Much

DEVOTION

THE GOSPEL OF JOHN

HOW MUCH

John 12:1-3

12:1 Six days before the Passover, Jesus arrived at Bethany, where Lazarus lived, whom Jesus had raised from the dead. 2 Here a dinner was given in Jesus' honor. Martha served, while Lazarus was among those reclining at the table with him. 3 Then Mary took about a pint of pure nard, an expensive perfume; she poured it on Jesus' feet and wiped his feet with her hair. And the house was filled with the fragrance of the perfume.

NIV

So Lazarus is still alive and well and it has been some time now since Jesus raised him from the dead. This seems to be a pattern, when Jesus performs a miracle like giving sight to the blind, healing leprosy, healing the lame, raising the dead, they stay healed. That in itself is a lesson for us in that when Jesus heals us of whatever, we stay healed. So why ask a healed person how they are doing, for they are healed, of course they are doing wonderful, and Lazarus was no exception. He was reclining at the table with Jesus. This was the method of dining in those days, as chairs pulled up to a high table such as portrayed in Da Vinci’s last supper were not how it was, but rather a low table with throw pillows around for the men to recline against, their feet aimed away from the table. So there was Lazarus enjoying the good life with Jesus. We also see a brief picture of the serving Martha, busy about doing the work, and the adoring Mary pouring expensive perfume on the feet of Jesus. We already considered the two types of worshipping Jesus, but we should focus our attention on this act of Mary as this seems to be the theme of this portion of the narrative. We must see this in light of the fact Jesus had raised her dear brother from the dead, although we also know that Mary, Martha and Lazarus already had a special relationship with Jesus before Lazarus died. Yet still Jesus had done something very special for this family, and she wanted to show him her love. As we will see next this was very expensive, it was worth a lot. We do not know the financial situation of Lazarus, Martha and Mary. We do not know of their parents, we do not know of the two sisters having a husband, which is unusual in those days, and we do not know of their ages. What we do know is Mary wanted to express in an open out loud manner her love for Jesus. This pouring of perfume permeated the whole house; it could not go unnoticed, as she also then wiped his feet with her hair. It was customary for the host of a dinner to wash the feet of those dinning, and this may or may not have been done already, but the fact is, Mary did not just wash his feet, she showed how much she worshipped him. How much are we willing to show our worship of him? Most of us won’t even raise a hand in worship during the worship time in song at church. We will see this perfume was equal to a year of wages which is a lot of money. Did that change the life of those three? Again we do not know their portfolio picture, how much they had in savings, or a retirement account, we don’t even know what they did to support themselves. But a gift of that value was still something very special. How much are we willing to give in worship of Jesus? True Mary did not give to a church which might be using the funds in a Godly way, or they may not. This is not about the church, this is about worshipping Jesus. Are we willing to make a spectacle of ourselves in front of everyone showing our worship, our love for Jesus?  Are we willing to give whatever? We will see how Mary was criticized for what she did, but she did it because she loved Jesus so much, and that is all that mattered to her. How much do we love Jesus?   

Staying Close

DEVOTION

THE GOSPEL OF JOHN

STAYING CLOSE

John 11:54-57

54 Therefore Jesus no longer moved about publicly among the Jews. Instead he withdrew to a region near the desert, to a village called Ephraim, where he stayed with his disciples. 55 When it was almost time for the Jewish Passover, many went up from the country to Jerusalem for their ceremonial cleansing before the Passover. 56 They kept looking for Jesus, and as they stood in the temple area they asked one another, "What do you think? Isn't he coming to the Feast at all?" 57 But the chief priests and Pharisees had given orders that if anyone found out where Jesus was, he should report it so that they might arrest him.

NIV

This is simply a narrative of the social situation that was going on, Jesus withdrawing to Ephraim with his disciples and the Pharisees set to arrest him as soon as he shows his face again. So what can we learn for us as a lesson of life? Certainly we already know there are people today who would desire to arrest Jesus so as to put him to death. Some of the non-religious types, although that may not be the appropriate word choice, as all people have a religion, even atheism is a religion, would like nothing more than to put Jesus to death. There are groups who desire all reference to God, much less Jesus, be removed from the public square. There are groups within the evolution movement which use Darwin’s theory as proof there is no God and therefore no Jesus. Using a theory as proof seems rather ridiculous, but then they claim us to be ridiculous using the Bible as proof there is a God, and therefore a Jesus. We also see here that Jesus created a physical distant between himself and the Pharisees, at least for the moment; of course the Pharisees had already created a spiritual separation from Jesus. So we are back to square one in some sense. But the fact still remains there are people who do not want Jesus in their lives; they have created that spiritual distance from Jesus. They are far more comfortable as the Pharisees were with their own brand of religion. Perhaps the lesson we should take away from this narrative is not to allow anything to get between Jesus and us. We should not allow our brand or any brand of religion get in the way. We should not allow any distant to exist between us and Jesus, physical or spiritual. We must acknowledge that it was not really the Pharisees, who arrested Jesus and put him to death, but it was us, it was our sin that put Jesus to death. We arrested Jesus, but that was his plan all along, that is what he came for and we should be so grateful. Yet at the same time we need to stay close to Jesus.  God himself has told us through the apostle James that if we come near to him, he will come near to us. For the time being Jesus distanced himself from the Pharisees, but he will never distance himself from us for he is always staying close. 

What Have we Decided

DEVOTION

THE GOSPEL OF JOHN

WHAT HAVE WE DECIDED

John 11:45-53

45 Therefore many of the Jews who had come to visit Mary, and had seen what Jesus did, put their faith in him. 46 But some of them went to the Pharisees and told them what Jesus had done. 47 Then the chief priests and the Pharisees called a meeting of the Sanhedrin. "What are we accomplishing?" they asked. "Here is this man performing many miraculous signs. 48 If we let him go on like this, everyone will believe in him, and then the Romans will come and take away both our place and our nation." 49 Then one of them, named Caiaphas, who was high priest that year, spoke up, "You know nothing at all! 50 You do not realize that it is better for you that one man die for the people than that the whole nation perish." 51 He did not say this on his own, but as high priest that year he prophesied that Jesus would die for the Jewish nation, 52 and not only for that nation but also for the scattered children of God, to bring them together and make them one. 53 So from that day on they plotted to take his life.

NIV

Here we are faced with the choice people make about Jesus. After Jesus raised Lazarus from the dead, an actual dead man that had been in the grave four days was up and walking around as if he had never been dead. There just isn’t any greater miracle then giving life to a dead person. We have several truths here we can explore. First, Jesus told his disciples and us, for that matter, that we would do even greater things then he has, which we will get to later in this same Gospel account. But for now let us just touch on the idea that when we share the Good News with someone and they are touched by the truth and come to the saving knowledge of Jesus Christ; have not we in some sense been a part of giving life to a dead person? The next truth we are faced with is that some believed and some did not, but went off to tell the Pharisees what Jesus had done. Sure we might think those tattletales went off to try to convince the Pharisees that Jesus was the Christ, but John divided those who put their faith in him, and those who told the Pharisees. This implies those tattletales had made their minds up not to believe and to side with the establishment. We could make the case from this that each man has a choice to make, to believe or to side with the establishment. Of course in this case the establishment was not a bunch of atheists, but the religious leadership of the nation. We could make the comparison of some religious leadership today that really do not believe the truth about Jesus, but would rather been drenched in their religion, as the Pharisees were. Still we even get a deeper look into the motives of the Pharisees here and see a third truth. Even though they were so ingrained in their religion, their version of the Law, it was not for this reason they wanted to do away with Jesus. It was their own selfish egos which drove them. Their place and their nation was their motive. They thought if Jesus was to be allowed to go on doing all he did, the Romans would surely see him as the leader of the Jewish people, and the arrangement the Pharisees had with the Romans would be in jeopardy. Their position as the religious leaders would be over, and they would no longer have the power over the people. This is the internal struggle all mankind is faced with. When each of us is faced with the truth about Jesus, we must decide, are we going to believe and make Jesus the leader of our lives, or are we going to try to put him away, so we can go on being in charge of our lives. Even those of us who are religious, who follow the rules, who call ourselves Christians, do we still struggle with giving authority to Jesus? Are we somewhat like the Pharisees in this sense? Are we afraid of what will happen to our authority if we let Jesus keep doing what he does? This is a personal struggle within, but there is also a truth here about the establishment and how it has its way of doing things, the church has its set rules for life, and maybe some of them just do not have room for Jesus, so let’s keep our establishment at all costs. We could also focus on the words of the chief priest who prophesied those words about one man to die for the people then the whole nation perish, but we know that truth so well, it is deep within our spirits, so we should focus our thoughts on what kind of choice have we made. Have we put our faith in him, or have we decided we need to retain our own establishment, either personal or communal? What have we decided?  

Let him Go

DEVOTION

THE GOSPEL OF JOHN

LET HIM GO

John 11:38-47

38 Jesus, once more deeply moved, came to the tomb. It was a cave with a stone laid across the entrance. 39 "Take away the stone," he said. "But, Lord," said Martha, the sister of the dead man, "by this time there is a bad odor, for he has been there four days." 40 Then Jesus said, "Did I not tell you that if you believed, you would see the glory of God?"  41 So they took away the stone. Then Jesus looked up and said, "Father, I thank you that you have heard me. 42 I knew that you always hear me, but I said this for the benefit of the people standing here, that they may believe that you sent me."  43 When he had said this, Jesus called in a loud voice, "Lazarus, come out!"  44 The dead man came out, his hands and feet wrapped with strips of linen, and a cloth around his face. Jesus said to them, "Take off the grave clothes and let him go."  45 Therefore many of the Jews who had come to visit Mary, and had seen what Jesus did, put their faith in him. 46 But some of them went to the Pharisees and told them what Jesus had done. 47 Then the chief priests and the Pharisees called a meeting of the Sanhedrin.

NIV

Well here it is, the time when Jesus calls Lazarus from the grave. Several incredible truths are held within these words which record this event. The first truth lies within what Jesus said to Mary, “If you believe, you would see the glory of God”. Of course he formed it as a question, but the fact remains that in order for any of us to see the glory of God we must believe. The question which begs to be asked is if we have not seen the glory of God, do we actually believe? Then of course we also must ask what would we define as the glory of God? In this account it is raising Lazarus from the dead, so we must come to the conclusion the glory of God is demonstrated in some sort of supernatural miraculous way. Yes we define faith as being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see. This was recorded for us see how important faith is for us especially in our struggle again sin and the hardships of life. But here in this account of raising Lazarus from the dead, Jesus thanks the Father openly so that the people, as well as us, may know that Jesus was sent from God, and they were going to believe because of the showing of the glory of God. I for one believed directly because of God showing me his glory in an overwhelming miracle which defied the science of photography. Then again and again he demonstrated his glory throughout my life, year after year in ways I could never have accomplished on my own. We all have experiences we can account of the glory of God in our lives; the greatest one is our hearing the voice of the Holy Spirit calling us to God. The second great truth in this account is when Jesus called Lazarus from the grave. Yes this is an actual account of a real event, but it also is a picture of what is to come in each of our lives. In this real event it is interesting that there is no record of what Lazarus said after he came out of the tomb. But as for the picture of what is to come in our lives, some day we will be laid to rest in a grave, and when that day comes, Jesus will stand before our tomb, deeply moved, and call out our name, “Richard, come out!” “Patricia, come out!” “Faith, come out!” “Cheri, come out!” Sarah, come out!” “Anne, come out!” and on and on all those who believe in Jesus, who have accepted him as Lord and Savior and put their faith in him, he will call by name each one,  to come out and take those grave clothes off for he has a white robe to give each of us along with a new name. So we have these two great truths which encourage us, if we believe we will see the glory of God, truly that day we are called from the grave we will see all the glory of God, but also each day we live, we are able to see the glory of God at work in our lives, and we too shall be called out by name from the grave by none other than Jesus himself and he will command us to be let go. 

Weeping

DEVOTION

THE GOSPEL OF JOHN

WEEPING

John 11:33-37

33 When Jesus saw her weeping, and the Jews who had come along with her also weeping, he was deeply moved in spirit and troubled. 34 "Where have you laid him?" he asked. "Come and see, Lord," they replied. 35 Jesus wept. 36 Then the Jews said, "See how he loved him!" 37 But some of them said, "Could not he who opened the eyes of the blind man have kept this man from dying?"

NIV

There seems to be a whole lot of weeping going on here. Mary was weeping, all the Jews that came with her were weeping and even Jesus wept. The loss of a loved one can cause us to weep, that is simply a fact of life. But who are we weeping for? Mary was weeping because she lost her brother, but was she weeping because Lazarus would no longer enjoy being alive, or that she would miss having her brother with her? Why were all the Jews weeping? Were they weeping because they were sad for Lazarus or sad for Mary, or did they think that was just the thing to do, after all their lives would be no different? Sure it is a good thing to comfort those in times of losing a loved one. Yes we should be of comfort to our dear friends, but is weeping being comforting? Did the Jews, who knew God, believe in life after death? Certainly they believed in some sort of afterlife, as in several cases such as when Abraham died, it was said that he was gathered onto his people, which is he went to be with others who had died before him, but that in and of itself is not clear about eternal life. The Jews had the Torah, and it clearly was focused more on rewards and punishment in this life, then on a resurrection to everlasting life. This would lead us to believe none of them understand the everlasting life Jesus was talking about. So a whole lot of weeping was going on, and it simply may be the human response to death, a death we all must face. But why was Jesus weeping? He knew Lazarus would not be dead for long, but that he would be alive and well. All this is not inconsistent with our faith. We are told by God through the Apostle Paul in his letter to those in Rome, that we should rejoice when others rejoice and we should mourn or weep when others mourn or weep. Jesus, as well as the Jews, was consistent with Gods design of man. Weeping with a friend, showing sympathy and compassion for others is a right and loving act. This was not about Lazarus but about being a friend of Mary and Martha and surely Jesus was their best friend. But even in this binding of spirits, the Jews still were conflicted about Jesus. Some thought highly of him because he weeps alone with Mary, while other could not resist being a bit critical. What lesson do we learn from all this? It is good to show compassion when others are hurting, but it is also a good thing to bring words of encouragement as well. The truth will set us free, and in the time of losing a loved one the truth is they are with Christ, and we may weep for us, but we should rejoice for them. 

Accepting

DEVOTION

THE GOSPEL OF JOHN

ACCEPTING

John 11:28-32

28 And after she had said this, she went back and called her sister Mary aside. "The Teacher is here," she said, "and is asking for you." 29 When Mary heard this, she got up quickly and went to him. 30 Now Jesus had not yet entered the village, but was still at the place where Martha had met him. 31 When the Jews who had been with Mary in the house, comforting her, noticed how quickly she got up and went out, they followed her, supposing she was going to the tomb to mourn there. 32 When Mary reached the place where Jesus was and saw him, she fell at his feet and said, "Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died."

NIV

There certainly seems to be a difference between how Mary greeted Jesus than Martha. Martha’s greeting was more intellectual and thoughtful as well as expressing her faith in Jesus while Mary simply fell at his feet and as we will see she was weeping. Yes she expressed her faith in him, which if he had been there Lazarus would not have died, just as Martha had, but she fell at his feet. Those sisters were certainly very different. We know from other accounts how Martha was one of those get it done, busy about serving Jesus people, and Mary was just a lazy no good for nothing, as far as Martha was concerned, but Jesus thought otherwise, for Mary was sitting at the feet of Jesus listening intently to his words. Mary was also the one who we saw pour that expensive perfume on the feet of Jesus. Martha was most likely upset over that as well, although we really don’t know that, but getting this picture of the two of them, it would make sense. Martha’s was much different than Mary yet they both believed. Perhaps we should take a lesson from that. We all are certainly different people, all coming from different backgrounds, with different educational backgrounds. Some approach their faith intellectually while others approach their faith as Mary did, falling at the feet of Jesus. Both ways are fine, as we all love Jesus, and express our faith in him. Some are so busy about doing things for Jesus, busy, busy, and busy, almost to a point of making us feel guilty because we are not as busy. They want us to do the next right thing; they want us to feel we should be as busy they as they are, as Martha did to Mary. While others of us simply prefer to sit at the feet of Jesus listening intently to every word. Again both are fine and we need to allow each of us to express our faith as we are moved by the Holy Spirit. Although it is entirely possible our different approaches are simply based on our different personalities and have nothing to do with the Spirit, except the Spirit could move differently within each of us because he knows we are all different, and that is fine. So we could be like Martha or like Mary or even like Lazarus, who we may not know about his approach to faith. Although I would suppose after being raised from the dead, would be a quite unique faith indeed. Still we did not hear any words about Lazarus saying anything about Jesus during his illness. We do not have any other account of Lazarus other than this one. Luke records the time of Martha and Mary having that difference, but nothing was said about their brother Lazarus. Here all we know is that he was the one loved by Jesus and we are not told if he expressed any kind of regret that Jesus did not get there in time to heal him. But his faith must have been a great faith, trusting in Jesus even to the point of death, but after being raised from the dead, we can only imagine how his faith must have been. Those of us who have experienced great healings at the hand of Jesus know that kind of faith. Yet our lesson today is about accepting each other and the way we express our faith.     

What Kind of Faith

DEVOTION

THE GOSPEL OF JOHN

WHAT KIND OF FAITH

John 11:17-27

17 On his arrival, Jesus found that Lazarus had already been in the tomb for four days. 18 Bethany was less than two miles from Jerusalem, 19 and many Jews had come to Martha and Mary to comfort them in the loss of their brother. 20 When Martha heard that Jesus was coming, she went out to meet him, but Mary stayed at home. 21 "Lord," Martha said to Jesus, "if you had been here, my brother would not have died. 22 But I know that even now God will give you whatever you ask." 23 Jesus said to her, "Your brother will rise again."  24 Martha answered, "I know he will rise again in the resurrection at the last day." 25 Jesus said to her, "I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me will live, even though he dies; 26 and whoever lives and believes in me will never die. Do you believe this?"  27 "Yes, Lord," she told him, "I believe that you are the Christ, the Son of God, who was to come into the world."

NIV

Did you hear what Martha just said? She actually believes Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, the one how has come into the world. She also believes that God will give him anything he asks for, but she has not asked him to raise her brother from the dead, even though Jesus had just told her that Lazarus would rise again. What is it about Martha which makes her believe but not believe? Certainly she has spent many hours in the presence of Jesus. He clearly has a personal relationship with her, as well as her sister and brother and must have told them many things about himself and his relationship with the Father. Yet Martha was having a difficult time with the fact that Jesus had not come to heal her brother, but let him die, and now she thought there was nothing he could do about.  Although we could see this in light of her acknowledging the sovereignty of Jesus, that whatever he wants is fine with her, that she is alright with God deciding that her brother should die at this time, that does not seem to be the tenner of her response. It is more likely about her faith. Could her faith in Jesus only have been based on her human understanding of life? Is it possible she could not see with spiritual eyes, but only with her physical ones? This could be a lesson for us as well. We believe Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, the one sent into the world as we believe God will give him anything he asks for, but still we may be in the same position as Martha, not really believing for things that we cannot see with our human eyes or understanding. When we face a difficult situation in our life, do we look for a human way to solve it, or even for God to solve it in some human way, or do we look to Jesus for a supernatural response? Yes we could spend many thoughts about the words of Jesus here. We could recount all his other words about if we believe we will never die. We could spend countless words exploring the facts around eternal life if we believe in Jesus, that he is the resurrection. Martha believed all that as we do, but the point here is not about Jesus and the resurrection, although it is that too, but it is about her faith. She could only believe as much as she could understand. She could not believe for what she could not understand. We must not be trapped into that kind of faith, that is crippling, that is a wounded faith, a weak faith, but we must have complete unwavering faith in Jesus, beyond any human comprehension. When things in life seem there darkest, we have Jesus. We may not be able to see a way out, but Jesus does, and he said if we ask the Father anything in his name he will give it to us. If Martha had that kind of faith, she would have asked Jesus to bring her brother back from the dead. Perhaps that sort of raising from the dead will not happen today, but maybe it could if we asked with the required faith, that is unwavering, without a shred of doubt kind of faith. Yet there are many other difficult situations in life we content with that perhaps we should not, if we actually believed, if we had the faith that can move mountains. Is there a difference between faith and complete faith?