Month: February 2019

Re:Verse passage – John 19:1-30 (day five)

Then He *said to the disciple, “Behold, your mother!” From that hour the disciple took her into his own household.

With these instructions for John, Jesus begins a new paradigm for relationships and ministry within the community of faith- the responsibility of loving and caring for one another.  The custom would have been for Jesus to place his mother in the care and provision of his brothers.  Keep it in the family. Jesus has a new model for love and care- the family of God. We are meant to find encouragement, love, provision, and great care in our church family.  Have you received this kind of  kindness and concern from brothers and sisters in Christ? Do you show it to others in your Bible Study group?  Circle of 6? Network of church friends?

As we live together in our community of faith, let us do (Body Life) loving and caring for each other in the Body of Christ.

 

Re:Verse passage – John 19:1-30 (day four)

“It is finished!”  These words seem to close a very sad event, but it is a wide-reaching statement.  God had a plan for the redemption of man from the beginning of time.  The prophets foretold the work of Christ for centuries before it happened.  Jesus’ assignment from the Father had been to live a sinless life and die for the sins of man on the cross.  When Jesus said, “it is finished”, He meant all of it…He had completed everything that He was supposed to do!  Even down to the sour wine at the end, Jesus was perfectly obedient.

When we walk in obedience, are we careful to walk in full obedience?  Do we do everything God asks us to do or do we go for just a majority?  Are we just concerned with tipping the scales toward obedience and calling it good?  Jesus’ life was a life of obedience, growing out of a deep love.  It was actually a celebration when He said “it is finished!”  Will you be able to say that at the end?

Re:Verse passage – John 19:1-30 (day three)

“He bowed his head and gave up his spirit.”

It’s not uncommon for one to encounter reasoning that de-emphasizes the body. This happens in the church as well as in the world, albeit in different ways. The world often declares both that the bodily appetites must be obeyed, and also that the desires must rule the body in any way they see fit, and that such living is without consequence—as if the body has no bearing on the soul. The church often declares that the body is merely temporary because “I’ll fly away”—as if the body were only a stopgap measure. In Jesus Christ, we see these misunderstandings corrected. He bore our sins in his body, and they dis-integrated him; body and spirit were no longer integrated, resulting in death. That death—the cross—rescues your spirit and your body.

Re:Verse passage – John 19:1-30 (day two)

Pilate said to Him, “What is truth?”  18:38

For today’s post I backed up a few verses in this Passion narrative to talk about one of the most chilling and prescient verses in this story. Pilate’s question to Jesus sounds like it could have come straight from a Twitter feed this morning. Although not new, this concept of “finding your own truth” has gained much traction over the past two years. It sounds so affirming, doesn’t it? Find what works for you and go that direction. What happens when your truth collides with the person right next to you? What about if your truth changes based on age or perspective? Are we all universally leading lives that have no unifying truth to them? NO! When we become morally bankrupt and seeking only “truth for the moment” we end up standing beside Pilate pushing the redeemer of the world towards the cross. If there is a truth for Jesus, there must be the same truth for me. And if for me, for you, and for the world. Frankly, it is too exhausting trying to keep up with my own truth and everyone else’s as well. I would rather have Jesus.

Re:Verse passage – John 14: 15-31 (day seven)

Peace I leave with you; My peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you. Do not let your heart be troubled, nor let it be fearful. John 14:27

Jesus reminds us that in the Holy Spirit we will find a peace that passes all understanding. It is more than the cessation of war, but a calm on every side.  The Holy Spirit will bring the sleep of the innocent at night and the boldness of the righteous at daybreak.  We who believe in Christ Jesus have a newfound peace unavailable to the world.

The world has often offered peace, but she has never been able to deliver long-term as George Beasley-Murray writes, “A striking example…is the famous Ara Pacis, altar of peace, erected in Rome by Augustus (January 30, 9 b.c.), the first of its emperors, to celebrate his establishment of the age of peace proclaimed by the prophets; it still stands in Rome, a monument to the skill of its sculptors and to the empty messianic pretensions of its emperors.”

Re:Verse passage – John 14:15-31 (day six)

“I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you.” -Jesus, John 14:18

Jesus promised them His presence, even though he would no longer be present. He said, “…the world will see me no more, but you will see me.” Enter the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is our helper in that He enables us to truly see Jesus, to know His presence, until He comes again. It’s really no surprise then, that the Holy Spirit would bring to remembrance all that Jesus had said to them. It wasn’t a peculiar feeling that the Holy Spirit would give them, or even us now; no, it wasn’t like that. It was more than a feeling; it was Jesus’ very words brought back to them. Right there, in the memory of truths and promises spoken, they saw Jesus in all His beauty and goodness.

This is the reason we read God’s Word, to see and savor the beauty and goodness of Jesus by the power of the Spirit. So, if you want to see and experience Jesus’ presence in your life, you must be in His Word.

Re:Verse passage – John 14:15-31 (day five)

“These things I have spoken to you while abiding with you. But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, He will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all that I said to you.” 14:25-26

Jesus’ words reveal how the scriptures would be written and protected- with and through the Holy Spirit. The apostle Paul will write later, “Now we have received not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, that we might understand the things freely given us by God. And we impart this in words not taught by human wisdom but taught by the Spirit.”  1  Corinthiams 2:12-13

The Holy Spirit would remind and make clear to the disciples the words and actions of Jesus. The Spirit inspired John to remember and teach what he had seen and learned.

We should come to the scriptures amazed and expectant. Ask the Spirit who inspired their writing to illuminate their reading.