Day 24 (Tuesday, April 2, 2019)

Read

John 12:42-50

42 Nevertheless many, even of the authorities, believed in him. But because of the Pharisees they did not confess it, for fear that they would be put out of the synagogue; 43 for they loved human glory more than the glory that comes from God.

44 Then Jesus cried aloud: “Whoever believes in me believes not in me but in him who sent me. 45 And whoever sees me sees him who sent me. 46 I have come as light into the world, so that everyone who believes in me should not remain in the darkness. 47 I do not judge anyone who hears my words and does not keep them, for I came not to judge the world, but to save the world. 48 The one who rejects me and does not receive my word has a judge; on the last day the word that I have spoken will serve as judge, 49 for I have not spoken on my own, but the Father who sent me has himself given me a commandment about what to say and what to speak. 50 And I know that his commandment is eternal life. What I speak, therefore, I speak just as the Father has told me.”

Reflect

Living with our first world comforts, we tend to overlook the hatred that some have towards Jesus Christ. John tells us that even though some of the authorities believed in Jesus they did not make it public because they feared excommunication from the synagogue and the resulting implications for their families and livelihood.

These rulers, who included men like Nicodemus and Joseph of Arimathea, would have enjoyed wealth and status. However Nicodemus who defended Jesus (7:50f) and Joseph of Arimathea who provided for Jesus’ burial (19:39), were notable exceptions and doubtless paid the price for their loyalty.

The focus of Jesus’ words here is striking. He says again that he has been sent and that to believe in him is to believe and know God. Further, his present task is not to judge but rather to save the world. With his coming he has introduced a unique moment in time: an era of grace where we have the opportunity to be forgiven by God and enjoy new life in Christ Jesus. Every one of us has a decision to make: we either reject Jesus or surrender to his love while there is time.

Light and life, truth and love, loyalty and sacrifice lie at the heart of Jesus and his work. At this point in John’s narrative, the shadow of the cross looms large. Through it, Jesus will be glorified and supremely reveal God’s glory.

In these verses, we’re challenged not to keep our faith in Jesus hidden, despite what others might say or do. We’re also challenged to withhold judgment of others – that’s God’s job one day. This is the time to introduce them to Jesus, so that they too may find life. It will involve a cost, but we’ve nothing to lose, while others have everything to gain.

Prayer

Lord Jesus Christ, for our sake you fasted forty days and forty nights. Give us the grace we need to have such self-control that, our hearts and minds being directed by your Word and your Spirit, we may always obey your will in righteousness and true holiness, to your honor and glory; for you live and reign with the Father and the Holy Spirit, one God, for evermore. Amen. (BCP, Lent 1 – adapted)

Daily Reading Plan

Read John 12:27-50

Day 23 (Monday, April 1, 2019)

Read

John 12:20-26

20 Now among those who went up to worship at the festival were some Greeks. 21 They came to Philip, who was from Bethsaida in Galilee, and said to him, “Sir, we wish to see Jesus.” 22 Philip went and told Andrew; then Andrew and Philip went and told Jesus. 23 Jesus answered them, “The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified. 24 Very truly, I tell you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains just a single grain; but if it dies, it bears much fruit. 25 Those who love their life lose it, and those who hate their life in this world will keep it for eternal life. 26 Whoever serves me must follow me, and where I am, there will my servant be also. Whoever serves me, the Father will honor.

Reflect

Christianity at its very heart is outward looking and outreaching. The Greeks who came to Philip were probably Greek-speaking Jews or Gentile god-fearers who only spoke Greek, not Aramaic. Coming from Bethsaida, a Greek-speaking region, Philip would have provided a natural connection for anyone wanting to meet Jesus. In drawing our attention to these Greeks, John wants us to see that people from outside of Jerusalem were keen to know Jesus whereas the Jerusalem leaders were keen to kill him. Jesus was going to draw proportionally many more followers from outside of Jerusalem than within. But first, a costly sacrifice had to be made.

With these words to his disciples, “The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified…” and the following metaphor, Jesus pointed to his coming death. Ironically through the horror of death by crucifixion he would be glorified. Through his sacrifice the extraordinary love within God – the glory of God – would be revealed for all to see. Furthermore, just as through the burial of one seed there is the harvest of many seeds, so would Jesus’ death and burial bring about a great harvest of new life.

There is something else we can notice. Unless Jesus’ followers were prepared to make sacrifices in the gospel cause, there would be no harvest. Jesus’ own death and resurrection laid the essential foundation for forgiveness and eternal life for all who believe in him. It will only be through the self-sacrifice of his followers that this good news will spread and bear much fruit. For many of us, this may mean moving to somewhere that is less than our ideal, rather than remaining in our comfort zone.

Prayer

Lord, mercifully receive the prayers of your people who call upon you; and grant that we may perceive and know what things we ought to do, and also have the grace and power faithfully to perform them; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. (BCP, Epiphany 1)

Daily Reading Plan

Read John 12:1-26 

Day 22 (Saturday, March 30, 2019)

Read

John 11:32-44


32 Now when Mary came to where Jesus was and saw him, she fell at his feet, saying to him, “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died.” 33 When Jesus saw her weeping, and the Jews who had come with her also weeping, he was deeply moved in his spirit and greatly troubled. 34 And he said, “Where have you laid him?” They said to him, “Lord, come and see.” 35 Jesus wept. 36 So 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 also have kept this man from dying?”

38 Then Jesus, deeply moved again, came to the tomb. It was a cave, and a stone lay against it. 39 Jesus said, “Take away the stone.” Martha, the sister of the dead man, said to him, “Lord, by this time there will be an odor, for he has been dead four days.” 40 Jesus said to her, “Did I not tell you that if you believed you would see the glory of God?” 41 So they took away the stone. And Jesus lifted up his eyes and said, “Father, I thank you that you have heard me. 42 I knew that you always hear me, but I said this on account of the people standing around, that they may believe that you sent me.” 43 When he had said these things, he cried out with a loud voice, “Lazarus, come out.” 44 The man who had died came out, his hands and feet bound with linen strips, and his face wrapped with a cloth. Jesus said to them, “Unbind him, and let him go.”*

Reflect

Jesus wept. The word wept describes a deep anguished cry of grief, the cry of heartfelt loss. Why did Jesus react this way? He knew he was going to bring Lazarus out of the tomb. I suggest he wasn’t grieving so much for the passing of his friend but for our human plight. No matter how successful we are, how good and compassionate we are, death awaits us all.

Men and women who had been created in God’s image are now broken images and broken images cannot endure the pure light of God’s perfection and glory. Jesus was grieving for what we as men and women had lost. As in Adam all die. At Lazarus’s graveside, Jesus felt the full impact of this and wept. But there is a sense in which Jesus grieved at what our loss would mean for him. It would mean that he himself would have to die. Only through his death could he conquer death and raise to life anyone who turned to him and believed in him. For as in Adam all die, wrote Paul, so in Christ shall all be made alive (1 Cor. 15:22).

One of our greatest comforts when we lose a loved one and when we face the reality of our own mortality are Jesus’ words: I am the resurrection and the life. His imperative, “Lazarus, come out” foreshadowed the greatest of all days when he will say, “Unbind them, and let them go” to all who have died in him. We live with this great comfort and this great hope and it’s our privilege to share this with others.

Prayer

Almighty God, you have given your only Son to be for us both a sacrifice for sin and also an example of godly living; give us grace so that we may always thankfully receive the immeasurable benefit of his sacrifice, and also daily endeavor to follow in the blessed steps of his most holy life; who now lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for evermore. Amen. (BCP, Easter 2)

Daily Reading Plan

Read John 11:28-57


(* Today’s selected passage is from the ESV).

Day 21 (Friday, March 29, 2019)

Read

John 11:17-27


17 When Jesus arrived, he found that Lazarus had already been in the tomb four days. 18 Now Bethany was near Jerusalem, some two miles away, 19 and many of the Jews had come to Martha and Mary to console them about their brother. 20 When Martha heard that Jesus was coming, she went and met him, while Mary stayed at home. 21 Martha said to Jesus, “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died. 22 But even now I know that God will give you whatever you ask of him.” 23 Jesus said to her, “Your brother will rise again.” 24 Martha said to him, “I know that he will rise again in the resurrection on the last day.” 25 Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. Those who believe in me, even though they die, will live, 26 and everyone who lives and believes in me will never die. Do you believe this?” 27 She said to him, “Yes, Lord, I believe that you are the Messiah, the Son of God, the one coming into the world.”

Reflect

It is said that there are two certainties in life: death and taxes. We are happy to talk about the latter, but not discuss the former. Imagine asking a hostess at a dinner party if she had thought about her death recently…! It is the one remaining subject that is simply taboo. Yet it is the one ultimate certainty we all face. And there is only one person who claims he can do anything about it.

John has been telling us that life had been heating up for Jesus in Jerusalem. The Jewish leaders had attempted to stone him (John 10:31) for his apparent blasphemy. So Jesus left the city and went to the region east of the Jordan River. There he learned that his friend Lazarus, brother of Martha and Mary, was dying in the village of Bethany near Jerusalem. Hearing that Lazarus had died, and against the advice of his disciples who feared the Jewish leaders, Jesus returned to Bethany, where he was first met by Martha.

In the course of talking with her he made the amazing assertion: “I am the resurrection and the life. Those who believe in me, even though they die, will live, and everyone who lives and believes in me will never die.” He didn’t say, ‘I promise resurrection and life;’ or ‘I procure,’ or, ‘I bring’ but ‘I am.’ Unless he is one with God his words are nothing but blasphemy.

C.S. Lewis commented that Jesus was a liar or a lunatic, or he was telling the truth. The witness of the New Testament, the evidence of history, the existence of the Christian church, all point to the conclusion that Jesus’ words are the truth. As he asked Martha that day, so he asks us today, “Do you believe this?” If you do believe this, how will it effect your conversations with people you meet?

Prayer

Almighty God, you have conquered death through your dearly beloved Son Jesus Christ and have opened to us the gate of everlasting life: grant us by your grace to set our mind on things above, so that by your continual help our whole life may be transformed; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who is alive and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit in everlasting glory. Amen. (BCP, Easter Day)

Daily Reading Plan

Read John 11:1-27

Day 20 (Thursday, March 28, 2019)

Read

John 10:16-18, 27-30

16 “…I have other sheep that do not belong to this fold. I must bring them also, and they will listen to my voice. So there will be one flock, one shepherd. 17 For this reason the Father loves me, because I lay down my life in order to take it up again. 18 No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it up again. I have received this command from my Father…”

27 My sheep hear my voice. I know them, and they follow me. 28 I give them eternal life, and they will never perish. No one will snatch them out of my hand. 29 What my Father has given me is greater than all else, and no one can snatch it out of the Father’s hand. 30 The Father and I are one.”

Reflect

We often forget that Jesus’ first followers were ordinary people from Galilee. They were not well known, highly educated or widely respected. They were no one in particular. Yet Jesus, the celebrity teacher or rabbi who was commanding everyone’s attention through his extraordinary miracles and powerful, controversial teaching, had invited them into his team. In turn, he had awakened in them increasing respect, awe and ultimately, devotion. They came to see him not just as a prophet, but as more than a prophet. They saw that he was the good shepherd, God in human form. We have seen his glory, the glory as of a father’s only son, full of grace and truth, John testified (1:14).

Jesus took his first followers into his confidence, taught them, and gave them the privilege of being his emissaries to the world. For Jesus has a big mission: to reach the world. And from the first he intended to involve his people in this task. His plan is a reflection of the nature of the relationship he has with God the Father and a relationship he wants us to enjoy and participate in. He did everything necessary to lay the foundation for this work. He announced who he was and what he had come to do; he gave plenty of evidence (signs) that he was who he said he was; he even laid down his life so that he could give them eternal life (10:28).

In John 20 and 21 we will see that Jesus commissioned his first followers (the Twelve) to introduce people from all races and nations to him as the one true Lord and God, to know and love him as the true shepherd, the giver of eternal life.

Prayer

Lord Jesus Christ, at your first coming you sent your messenger to prepare the way before you: grant that the ministers and stewards of your mysteries may likewise make ready your way, by turning the hearts of the disobedient to the ways of the righteous, so that at your second coming to judge the world, we may be found an acceptable people in your sight; for you live and reign with the Father and the Holy Spirit, now and for ever. Amen. (BCP, Advent 3)

Daily Reading Plan

Read John 10:22-42