Day 16 (Saturday, March 23, 2019)

Read

John 8:31-32


31 Then Jesus said to the Jews who had believed in him, “If you continue in my word, you are truly my disciples; 32 and you will know the truth, and the truth will make you free.”

Reflect

In a world where we expect to get everything now, the idea of perseverance seems foreign. Yet this is the key to what Jesus is saying in these verses. He understood human nature. He knew how many people were attracted to him because of the miracles he performed or the unexpected words he uttered (so, John 8:30). But he also knew about human fickleness and how easily we shift our attention from one celebrity to another. It’s one thing to be infatuated with someone, but quite another to form a long-term relationship. And yet this is what Jesus wants: he wants us to form a relationship with him that holds firm through tough times as well as good times.

Notice that he wants us to continue in his word. We’ve already seen Jesus’ insistence on our need to know the truth – about who God is and what he expects of his followers. This truth is not just ‘head knowledge’. It is a knowledge that awakens, drives and frames our relationship with God, impacting our mind, conscience, will and heart. So, as with any relationship, we need to work at knowing God better – in this case through his special self-revelation in the Bible. Furthermore, as with any relationship, we need to persevere with it, even when things don’t seem to be going our way. Jesus is not asking us to join him in a one hundred yards sprint, but in the marathon of life. The extraordinary thing is that when we do this he frees us from our bondage to self-interest and sin and opens our lives up increasingly to enjoy life as we were meant to live.

Prayer

Almighty God, give us grace so that we may cast away the works of darkness and put on the armor of light now in the time of this mortal life, in which your Son Jesus Christ came amongst us in great humility: so that on the last day, when he comes again in his glorious majesty to judge the living and the dead, we may rise to life immortal; through him who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, now and for ever. Amen. (BCP, Advent – adapted)

Daily Reading Plan

Read John 8:31-59

Day 15 (Friday, March 22, 2019)

Read

John 8:12


12 Again Jesus spoke to them, saying, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness but will have the light of life.”

Reflect

Urban dwellers don’t think too much about light and darkness these days: we can have light 24/7. But it’s different in the country away from the city lights on a dark night. Darkness is blindness. When Jesus said, “I am the light of the world…” he was still in the temple in Jerusalem at the time of the Feast of Tabernacles. Another feature of that festival was the lighting of four huge elevated bowls filled with oil. The light they gave was spectacular, symbolizing the day of God’s Messiah.

Once again Jesus’ words “I am…” were a claim to be one with God who had revealed his name to Moses as “I am who I am” (Exodus 3:14). As the light of the world Jesus was inviting everyone to come to the true light that uniquely shines from God. “Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness but will have the light of life,” he said.

Light is a metaphor for truth and morality. Jesus later tells us that he is committed to truth and is himself the truth (John 14:6). He also calls on his followers to live in the light of his truth – we can’t have true relationships unless they are framed in truth. Because we live in an age of relativism and tolerance we easily lose the impact of his imagery. We don’t readily comprehend the moral darkness of life around us, let alone in our own lives. Jesus’ words here prompt us to repent of the darkness in our lives – our failure to love God and to love one another as he has loved us.

Prayer

Lord, we pray, absolve your people from their offences; so that through your bountiful goodness we may be set free from the chains of those sins which in our frailty we have committed: grant this, heavenly Father, for the sake of Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior. Amen. (BCP, Trinity 24)

Daily Reading Plan

Read John 8:1-30

Day 14 (Thursday, March 21, 2019)

Read

John 7:37-39


37 On the last day of the festival, the great day, while Jesus was standing there, he cried out, “Let anyone who is thirsty come to me, 38 and let the one who believes in me drink. As the scripture has said, ‘Out of the believer’s heart shall flow rivers of living water.’ ” 39 Now he said this about the Spirit, which believers in him were to receive; for as yet there was no Spirit, because Jesus was not yet glorified.

Reflect

We know how refreshing and satisfying a glass of clear cold water is on a hot day. On the final day of the Feast of Tabernacles, it was the custom of the Jewish high priest to enter the temple court with a gold flagon filled with water drawn from the Pool of Siloam in Jerusalem. It was a great occasion for the million or so pilgrims in the city. Accompanied by the blast of trumpets, he would pour the water out into the temple court. It symbolized two things: it looked back to God’s provision of water from the rock at the time of the Exodus from Egypt; it looked forward to the fulfillment of Ezekiel’s prophecy which spoke of the day when water would flow from the temple in Jerusalem, the sacred rock, satisfying the spiritual thirst of the nations and blessing them (Ezekiel 47:1-11).

Jesus’ chose this climactic moment to call out, “Let anyone who is thirsty come to me, and let the one who believes in me drink…” It was a stunning statement. Jesus had already told a woman at Jacob’s well in Samaria that he could give living water that would wash away sin and satisfy thirsty lives. Now he was saying metaphorically that he was the temple from whom the living waters of God would flow, blessing the nations. However, Jesus’ words caused division. Some were impressed, some sneered, some wanted to kill him. But Nicodemus, one of the Jewish rulers who had come to Jesus at night (John 3:1ff) pointed out the inconsistencies of his fellow leaders and stood up for Jesus (7:51f). Nicodemus’s response is a marvelous challenge and encouragement for us today.

Prayer

Heavenly Father, the giver of all good things, fill our hearts with thankfulness, and grant that by your holy inspiration we may think those things that are good, and by your grace and guidance do them; through our Lord Jesus Christ. Amen. (BCP, Easter 5 – adapted)

Daily Reading Plan

Read John 7:37-52

Day 11 – (March 18, 2019)

Read

John 6:1-15

1 After this Jesus went to the other side of the Sea of Galilee, also called the Sea of Tiberias. 2 A large crowd kept following him, because they saw the signs that he was doing for the sick. 3 Jesus went up the mountain and sat down there with his disciples. 4 Now the Passover, the festival of the Jews, was near. 5 When he looked up and saw a large crowd coming toward him, Jesus said to Philip, “Where are we to buy bread for these people to eat?” 6 He said this to test him, for he himself knew what he was going to do. 7 Philip answered him, “Six months’ wages would not buy enough bread for each of them to get a little.” 8 One of his disciples, Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother, said to him, 9 “There is a boy here who has five barley loaves and two fish. But what are they among so many people?” 10 Jesus said, “Make the people sit down.” Now there was a great deal of grass in the place; so they sat down, about five thousand in all. 11 Then Jesus took the loaves, and when he had given thanks, he distributed them to those who were seated; so also the fish, as much as they wanted. 12 When they were satisfied, he told his disciples, “Gather up the fragments left over, so that nothing may be lost.” 13 So they gathered them up, and from the fragments of the five barley loaves, left by those who had eaten, they filled twelve baskets. 14 When the people saw the sign that he had done, they began to say, “This is indeed the prophet who is to come into the world.” 15 When Jesus realized that they were about to come and take him by force to make him king, he withdrew again to the mountain by himself.

Reflect

One of Jesus’ extraordinary statements was that he could offer life. “Anyone who hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life… has passed from death to life,” he said (John 5:24). How could he do this? On one occasion he stunned everyone by producing sufficient food for a crowd of 5,000 from five loaves of bread and three fish. It was Passover time, the time when everyone remembered God’s liberation of their ancestors from Egypt. We can understand the crowd’s response, “This is indeed the prophet who is to come into the world.” They saw Jesus as a modern day Moses. Here was someone who could free them from Roman rule. But, having a bigger and better plan, Jesus withdrew from them (6:15).

In John 6:26-27 he commented: “…You are looking for me, not because you saw signs, but because you ate your fill of the loaves. Do not work for the food that perishes, but for the food that endures for eternal life, which the Son of Man will give you.” There are two kinds of bread – bread for our physical bodies that will one day die, and bread for our spiritual existence, destined to last forever. Jesus told the crowds then, as he tells us today, ‘You have seen a miracle, but you do not see the sign.’ Jesus doesn’t just see empty stomachs, but empty souls, empty lives. The miracle of turning the loaves and fish into more than sufficient food to feed the crowd was a sign of Jesus’ capacity to feed our deeper spiritual need and give us life.

Prayer

Raise up your great power, Lord, and come among us to save us; so that, although through our sins we are grievously hindered in running the race that is set before us, your plentiful grace and mercy may speedily help and deliver us; through the sufficiency of your Son our Lord, to whom with you and the Holy Spirit be honor and glory, now and for ever. Amen. (BCP, Advent 4 – adapted)

Daily Reading Plan

Read John 6:1-34