Posts with the category “lent”

At the center of the Christian faith is the resurrection of Jesus Christ. The Apostle Paul writes in 1 Corinthians 15:13-14, “But if there is no resurrection of the dead, then not even Christ has been raised. And if Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is in vain, and your faith is in vain.”The resurrection is not a tack-on intended to be read as allegory or mythology. Rather, it is a ce...  Read More

Though it is not commonly observed in the American Church, Holy Saturday, the day commemorating Jesus’ burial and full 24 hours in the tomb, has been an important part of the theological tradition of the church for two millennia.Jesus’ time in the tomb and his descent to the dead have even been historically regarded as a test of Christian orthodoxy as it is reflected in the historical statement of...  Read More

Death by crucifixion was ugly. Christ’s crucifixion was made even more offensive by the flogging and taunting at the hands of a Roman guard that took place beforehand.As the last breaths of life slowly slipped out of him, we are told that he looked up to heaven and cried out, “It is finished.” In the original Greek manuscripts, this phrase is one word, tetelestai. It is a word that would be used b...  Read More

Crucifixion was a bloody ordeal. Before being nailed to the cross (which would have drawn blood from someone’s hands and feet), those being executed in this manner would be scourged or viciously beaten with a Roman whip that was designed to rip most of the flesh off of a person.In Jesus’ case, he was given the addition of having a crown of thorns pierce his scalp. While some might occasionally los...  Read More

Perhaps there are no more haunting words than the cry of the chief priests and the officers when they chanted, “Crucify him, crucify him.” One must read these words through the lens of the entire Gospel of John in order to feel their weight.The one to whom this chant of death was recited was not just an innocent man; he was the innocent man. John has gone out of his way to demonstrate not only the...  Read More

Courage is a virtue most of us imagine we might have given particular circumstances. We tend to envision ourselves as heroes with whom the world would be far worse off without. Peter was no different.Only shortly before the account of Peter’s denial in this passage, he swore that he would follow Jesus to the point of giving his life for him (John 13:37-38). What courage he imagined he had. And wha...  Read More

What if Jesus did not die? What if there was a way to avoid brutal execution? A way to keep Jesus from ending up in the hands of the soldiers? Some have asked this question, wondering what might be different if Jesus was “successful” by earthly standards and was able to establish his kingdom on earth without suffering. This was surely the hope of Simon Peter as he drew his dagger and amputated the...  Read More

This chapter has historically been called the High Priestly Prayer. In it, Christ prays powerfully over His Church, displaying his heart and his for us to understand His desires for who we are to be and what He aims to form in us. When the Christian meditates on John 17, it is as if they are a child with their ear pressed against the door of the den, listening to Christ in the next room praying fe...  Read More

You can typically tell how “high up” a person is on the corporate ladder by determining how many people you need to talk to before you can speak to them.Depending on the person you wish to speak with, you may have to go through lower-level employees, junior managers, regional managers, and even a personal secretary before you can speak with them. The bigwigs will often have you jump through a vari...  Read More

At the heart of this passage is a message of hope that was intended by Jesus to breathe confidence and spiritual fortitude into his disciples. Their sorrow would transform into rejoicing. Those two ideas are entwined throughout this passage in a way that communicates that the former will necessarily lead to the latter: Their suffering will not be forever, their hardships will pass, their angst wil...  Read More

In the grand drama of life, choosing friends is like casting characters in the narrative of our existence. The world offers a plethora of advice on this subject, with books and axioms attempting to guide us through the complex process of befriending the right people.Growing up, our parents would caution us to be selective, emphasizing the importance of surrounding ourselves with those of strong mo...  Read More

Throughout this passage, there is an interplay between a believer’s requirement to follow Christ’s commandments (John 14:15) and the coming of the promised Holy Spirit (John 14:16). These two ideas are often pitted against each other as if they were in opposition. But the way Jesus interlaces them seems to communicate that both are essential and related.In verses 16 and 26, Christ promises that wh...  Read More

If you were to ask the average person today (in our pluralist society) what the greatest evil was, a common answer you would receive is “exclusivity.”Exclusivism is thought to be narrow-minded, intolerant, arrogant, and unloving. Popular voices in our culture will argue that there is not one way, one truth, or even one way of life that is better than another as long as we don’t hurt anyone and are...  Read More

The life of a Christian ought to be marked overwhelmingly by an ethic of love. Jesus taught us in John 13:35 that the watching world would discover the evidence of our faith in Jesus primarily by our love for one another.In other words, our love ought to be so compelling that even the hardest atheist and the most stubborn hearts would look at our life and see the mark of Christ upon us.While Jesus...  Read More

When Jesus washes the feet of his disciples, he already takes on a position of shame, and with betrayal added into the mix, that shame only increases. What must the apostles of Jesus be thinking when he says, “One of you will betray me”?They joined Jesus for freedom, not servitude. To rule not to be reigned over. For grandeur, not vulgarity. For victory, not for disappointment. Where is the glory ...  Read More

Servanthood is among the great markers of the Christian life. The deeper one travails with Christ, the more profound their sense of service runs. The true Christian delights in serving others, for they know that as they serve others, they are serving Christ (Matthew 25:40). What greater joy could a Christian experience than tending to the Savior himself?But the depth of our servanthood runs deeper...  Read More

We often hear people say things like “God wouldn’t judge me, he accepts me as I am.” Phrases like this are often meant to give license for all types of wickedness and unrepentance; for those with some knowledge of the Bible, they might turn to John 12:47 as a defense for this logic, as Jesus said, “I did not come to judge the world but to save the world.” However, this would be taking that verse d...  Read More

What do you love? It’s an important question for Christians to ponder because whatever it is that you love will form you.Your loves have the potential to bring great joy when they are realized and great bitterness when they are denied to you. But simply chasing after our loves, whether they are realized or not, without examining them, can destroy you.They will destroy you because what we love mast...  Read More

They cried “Hosanna!” In doing so, they were quoting Psalm 118:25, which literally translates to “Give salvation now!”This psalm was sung daily during the Jewish Feast of Tabernacles, and when the congregation got to the point of the “Hosanna,” every male worshiper would wave a lulav or willow and myrtle tied with palm.“Save us, we pray, O Lord! O Lord, we pray, give us success! Blessed is he who ...  Read More

Does your dignity limit your adoration of Jesus? In today’s reading, we find an undignified moment that encapsulates the essence of devotion and the clash between appearances and true worship.Whenever Mary, the sister of Martha and Lazarus, is in the spotlight in the gospels, she seems to emerge in some way that the dominant culture would have considered undignified; whether it was sitting at Jesu...  Read More

“Jesus called Lazarus by name, for otherwise every other dead body would have risen from the dead at his word! Such is the power of Christ that by a simple word, Lazarus comes back to life.”– Charles SpurgeonThe power of Christ’s words cannot be underestimated. In a single utterance, the Son of God shattered the chains of death that held Lazarus captive. It was not a complex incantation or an elab...  Read More

In 1972, Rosey Grier, a singer and former professional football player, wrote and sang a song that would become popular on children’s television, “It’s Alright To Cry.” In the song, Grier tells children that it’s alright to cry, but in John 11, Jesus goes a step further to show that it’s not just alright, it is right to cry!John 11:35 is a verse that many cling to in times of sorrow, “Jesus wept.”...  Read More

“If only…” Have you said those words before? “If only I would have bought that stock...If only I had asked that person out on a date… If only I had taken that job...” Sometimes our if onlys are more remorseful. “If only we had prioritized our health earlier...If only they knew how much I loved them.” It’s with this great remorse that Martha, the sister of Lazarus, cries out to Jesus, “If only you ...  Read More

Of all the times for people to ask if Jesus was "the Christ," the Feast of Dedication (Chanukah) made the most sense. You see, Chanukah was the celebration of the recapture and rededication of the temple after it had been defiled and occupied by the Greeks almost 200 years earlier.This temple siege was led by someone who many of the Jewish people believed was a messianic figure, named Judas “Macca...  Read More

“It’s hard to find good help these days.” You have heard people say that, haven’t you? We heard this when we were young children, and we hear it now as adults, which might make us wonder in what “days” it would have been easy? At least from this parable, we can see that those “days” were not two millennia ago, as Jesus recognized that an employee would likely never care for a business the way an o...  Read More

Up to this point in the Gospel of John, we have been focused on the following questions: Is Jesus from God or not? Is he a prophet or not? Is he the Messiah or not? So chapter 10 might seem a bit strange to us as we shift into a parable about doors, shepherds, and sheep. We would be mistaken if we began to whistle the tune of Sesame Street’s One of These Things (Is Not Like the Other).For us, it s...  Read More

“I see what he means.” “She can’t see herself living there.” “It was good to see you.” In each of these sentences, the word see carries a different meaning: to understand, to imagine, and to perceive with your eyes (respectively).Being able to see is incredibly important, and when we look at this passage, we can be tempted to only see (understand) the ability to see or not as a physical disability...  Read More

Who do you think you are? It’s a question that often escapes our lips in moments of intense frustration and anger. When someone crosses a line or challenges our beliefs, this question becomes a battlefield where pride and identity collide.In John 8:48-59, we find the Pharisees asking this very question. Jesus has previously called them the devil’s children and said that they were disregarding the ...  Read More

This story records Jesus’ second “I Am” statement. The setting of the Feast of Tabernacles provides a rich cultural context for understanding the significance of Christ’s words. During this annual celebration, Jewish families would construct small tents to sleep in at night as a commemoration of their own wandering years in the desert after their miraculous escape from Egypt. The feast celebrated ...  Read More

Our passage begins with, “On the last day of the feast.” Early Hebrew readers of the New Testament would have seen the important contextual elements that were required to understand the phrase of Jesus regarding “rivers of living water.” The feast being celebrated during this section of John’s Gospel is the Feast of Tabernacles.The last day of that feast contained the most memorable portion of the...  Read More

Just as John’s Gospel contains seven signs of Jesus, so does it contain seven “I Am” statements. These statements reveal nuances about Christ’s identity, who he is, and what he came to accomplish.When the crowds come to Jesus, they immediately ask, “What must we do to be doing the works of God (John 6:28)?” This question strikes at the heart of the impulse of the natural man, the man who has never...  Read More

The fifth sign of Jesus in the Gospel of John is layered with theological depth. While all 12 disciples set out across the sea on a small boat, Jesus stayed behind and “withdrew again to the mountain by himself.” It was not uncommon for Jesus to withdraw from the chaos of daily life and ministry in order to commune with his heavenly Father. But while Jesus was in the solitude of prayer, the discip...  Read More

This fourth sign of Christ has become a familiar story to many who are familiar with the Bible. Jesus feeds a crowd of at least 5,000 people with only five loaves and two fish.On the one hand, this is an amazing story of Christ, the God-man’s authority over nature, who physically multiplied the food to feed the crowd. While that miracle is worth reflecting upon, there is more to this story than me...  Read More

In John 5:1, we are told there was a “feast of the Jews.” We don’t know exactly what feast was being celebrated, but we do know it was the Sabbath, and it is that fact that made Jesus’ actions so controversial on this particular day.The Bible teaches in the fourth commandment that we are to keep the Sabbath Day holy. While we are given some direct instruction biblically on how to do this, the deta...  Read More

Jesus’ second sign begins with a distraught father. This father was a prominent official from Capernaum, who served under the rule of Herod Antipas.In the eyes of the world, he was successful, holding both authority and prestige. Yet this man had a problem that all the money and all the prestige in the world could not solve; his son lay sick and dying.It does not require one to be a parent to unde...  Read More

Held within this precious passage are hidden keys to unlock many of the troubles of our own day.In the time of Jesus, the Jews and Samaritans were essentially bitter enemies. Over 700 years prior, the Assyrians had conquered the Northern half of Israel (which included Samaria), so the Jews of Israel considered the Samaritans, their northern neighbors, to be half-breeds as a result of centuries of ...  Read More

Nicodemus literally means “victor of the people,” “conqueror,” or “superior one.” This man belonged to a group of Pharisees who, in the day of Jesus, specialized in attempting perfect outward obedience to the Old Testament law. The Pharisees were the religious elite in Israel in the days of Jesus.A man like Nicodemus likely would have fasted twice a week. He would have likely spent two hours a day...  Read More

Throughout the Gospel of John, there are seven signs found in his account of the life of Christ, the first of them being the miracle at a wedding in Cana. The primary purpose of this miracle is to point us to the true identity of Jesus.As the story begins, we see Jesus and his family in attendance at this wedding. We’re not told what association Mary and Jesus had with the family, but Mary’s conce...  Read More

Like Elijah and Isaiah, the great prophets of the Old Testament, John the Baptist was a mighty prophet in the same line. God ordained John the Baptist for a particular ministry, to prepare the way of the Lord. Much like a red carpet might be laid down before those of high honor, John was sent to prepare the hearts of Israel for the coming of their King.On one occasion, men and women of faith came ...  Read More

As we open the Gospel of John to begin reading through the narrative of the life of Jesus, we encounter the introduction to his story, John’s magnificent prologue.These 18 verses are more than just an introduction, but a passage of poetry, woven together by a tapestry of rich theology and biblical history. The opening words draw us back in time, deep into the pages of Scripture. John’s message of ...  Read More