The Everyday Prayer

Re:Verse passage – John 18:33-40 (day six)

His accusers didn’t go inside because it would defile them, and they wouldn’t be allowed to celebrate the Passover. ²⁹ So Pilate, the governor, went out to them…John 18:28b-29a

The Apostle John captures significant drama for us in this narrative. The religious leaders, worried about being defiled, especially in light of the Passover festivities, where unwilling to risk missing out by entering Pilate’s courtyard. This forced Pilate to go out to them several times in the process of questioning Jesus and rendering a verdict. Between chapters 18 and 19 Pilate alternates at least six times between Jesus and the religious leaders.

John is intent on capturing more than drama, but aims to illustrate that Jesus is a whole world problem. He more than a Jewish problem, or a gentile problem; the whole world is intertwined in its culpability. Furthermore, the whole world must respond to the Truth; it has no choice.

Re:Verse passage – John 18:33-40 (day five)

“Jesus answered, ‘Do you say this of your own accord, or did others say it to you about me?’” John 18:34

During this exchange between Jesus and Pilate, you can sense the indifference with which Pilate asks Jesus his questions. Pilate simply wanted to know if an insurrection was brewing and if he should be concerned about anything. Jesus knew that. The answers that Jesus gave drew Pilate in and gives us a clearer picture of the heart of Pilate. Jesus wanted to know what Pilate really thought. Pilate’s answers to Jesus’ questions reveal how little he was thinking of Jesus and how much he was thinking of the wrong things.

Jesus asked a similar question to His disciples in Matthew 16:13-20, and got a vastly different answer. Peter’s heart for the truth was revealed at that moment and helps us further understand what Jesus was talking about when He told Pilate that “everyone who is of the truth listens to my voice.” At some point, we are all asked that question. Who do you say Jesus is? Do you only know what the world says or know Him secondhandedly? Who do you say, of your own accord, who Jesus is?

Re:Verse passage – John 18:33-40 (day four)

I love that we are reading this portion of Scripture in the middle of Advent. This isn’t the kind of passage we typically read this time of year, but I think it makes the waiting, the yearning, the expectancy of Advent even more rich. In the very hours before Jesus’ death, he makes a statement about his birth. He brings us back to the nativity.

He says “For this I have been born, and for this I have come into the world, to testify to the truth. Everyone who is of the truth hears My voice.”

Charles Spurgeon says of this passage: “Truth never exerts as much power as when it is embodied. Christ both spoke the truth and was the truth. Truth embodied in flesh and blood has the power over flesh and blood. This is why he was born.”

If we’re going to truly celebrate his birth, we have to remember why he came – he came that we might know truth. He came so that this beautiful, powerful, flesh-and-blood truth might rule in the hearts of his people. When we yearn and wait for Christ in this season, we are yearning and waiting for truth itself. And by the grace of God, we have received it in full.

Re:Verse passage – John 18:33-40 (day three)

“My kingdom is not of this world.”

“Heaven good, earth bad” might seem like an implication present in this passage. But when Jesus speaks of the world here, what does he have in mind? The marvelous creation we read of in Genesis? The seas teaming with life? The dry land? The vegetation? Animals? Human beings? Has he at long last now, here before Pilate, given up on this place where we are born and where we live? Or does he mean the system of striving for power over one another, the system that has unleashed unbearable and unfathomable suffering – from warring families to warring nations, from depression to deforestation, from cancer to concentration camps? Pilate was a man of the system. Jesus stood before him as a man of the good. Pilate forced. Jesus loved. The system cannot stand against such a kingdom.

Re:Verse passage – John 18:15-18, 25-27 (day seven)

Then the slave-girl who kept the door said to Peter, “You are not also one of this man’s disciples, are you?” vs 15

His plan was good on paper. Blend in. Don’t get caught. What Peter didn’t realize was that his association with Jesus was already known. People were watching Jesus and this group of ragtag disciples. It is likely that Peter was a polarizing member of this group making him easily recognizable, but something also stands out to me that is written about Peter days later.

Now when they saw the boldness of Peter and John […]  they recognized that they had been with Jesus. Acts 4:15 ESV

When you have been with Jesus, people can tell. Even in the midst of denying Christ, people could not deny that Peter had been with Christ. People are watching you too. Some are waiting for you to fail so that they can leave it all behind. Others are waiting for you to bring them along and show them the way. If we cannot deny that we have been with Christ, then what message are our actions showing about His impact on our lives?

Re:Verse passage – John 18:15-18, 25-27 (day six)

If Peter teaches us anything, it is that we are terrible predictors of our own behavior and choices. Even though Jesus told him what would happen in advance, and even though Peter was adamant that he would never abandon Jesus, in fact he insisted he would die for him before denying him, when put in an unexpected situation Peter did the unexpected. Not once but three times he denied he was a disciple of Jesus.

Here’s the point, don’t take your sinful flesh for granted. You can make wonderful and wild proclamations (like Peter), and still fall flat on your face. When it comes to your own sinful nature, be self-ware, be watchful, be ready, be sober minded, be humble. You can never have too many safeguards or accountability.

Re:Verse passage – John 18:15-18, 25-27 (day five)

Peter learned the hard way where His source of strength and power came from. We often think of Peter being an intense, loyal, bold man. After all, Peter was a man that cast out demons. Someone who had said he would follow Jesus anywhere and do anything for Him. A man who was outspoken about how much he loved Jesus. Someone that spoke up in truth and first recognized Jesus as the Christ. On the other hand, we can say that Peter was disloyal, brash, and fearful. He was the one with the quick temper. The one that acted in rashness to cut a man’s ear off. The one to deny Jesus three times, even though he had been warned that it would happen.

The night that Peter denied Jesus showed Peter just how dependent on Jesus he was. He learned that apart from Jesus, he was weak and fearful. He was not strong. He was not loyal. He was not brave. But that is not what defined Peter forever. Soon, Peter would receive restoration and hope from Jesus that would rouse him to be the intense, bold, and loyal man that Jesus knew Him to be. Yes, it was humbling and hard to learn the way he did. But He learned that his strength, power, and everything else came from Jesus. And there is nothing better than to know that.

Apart from Jesus, we are nothing compared to what Jesus knows us to be. Aren’t you grateful for His restoration and hope in spite of your daily failings? Aren’t you grateful that He makes you better?

Re:Verse passage – John 18:15-18, 25-27 (day four)

What if this were the last thing written about Peter? What if all we got from Scripture about Peter’s life ended here with him denying his friend and savior, not once, not twice, but three times? If his story ended here, we would not remember him kindly. But we know his story doesn’t end here. We have the benefit of living in a post-resurrection world. We know how Peter’s story ends – in just a few chapters, his relationship with Jesus will be restored. He’ll go on to lead the early church and ultimately give his life for the sake of Christ. We know that in Peter’s darkest hour, his story wasn’t over. It’s good to know how the story ends, isn’t it?

Because we know Christ, we know how our story ends too. But often, on the days that we deny Christ, or on our most painful days in this life, when the light seems to have gone out completely, we think to ourselves, “My life is over. There’s no coming back from this.” But by the grace of God, our story doesn’t end there either. The Lord has done, is doing, and will always be doing his work of redemption in us. We may not know our future, but we do know how our story ends. This is the hope we have in Christ.