Plymothian

²¹ After saying these things, Jesus was troubled in his spirit, and testified, “Truly, truly, I say to you, one of you will betray me.” ²² The disciples looked at one another, uncertain of whom he spoke. ²³ One of his disciples, whom Jesus loved, was reclining at table close to Jesus, ²⁴ so Simon Peter motioned to him to ask Jesus of whom he was speaking. ²⁵ So that disciple, leaning back against Jesus, said to him, “Lord, who is it?” ²⁶ Jesus answered, “It is he to whom I will give this morsel of bread when I have dipped it.” So when he had dipped the morsel, he gave it to Judas, the son of Simon Iscariot. ²⁷ Then after he had taken the morsel, Satan entered into him. Jesus said to him, “What you are going to do, do quickly.” ²⁸ Now no one at the table knew why he said this to him. ²⁹ Some thought that, because Judas had the money bag, Jesus was telling him, “Buy what we need for the feast”, or that he should give something to the poor. ³⁰ So, after receiving the morsel of bread, he immediately went out. And it was night.

It Was Night

We are to be children of the day.  I have often stayed up through the night and sometimes it was for good reasons.  I was part of a prayer vigil or was walking on a night hike.  However, most times when I stay up all night it is for a bad reason.  In other words I would be engaging in deeds that I wouldn’t want to do in front of other people.  Perhaps the most common reason I would stay up all night was to play on a computer game.  I would lust after more resources to develop my character in the game and I would mine those resources whilst other people were sleeping.  In retrospect the whole process was futile, but I didn’t feel it at the time.

Judas was with the light of the world.  He was in the inner sanctum.  However, he wasn’t feeling it.  Jesus had ceased to be a way for him to fulfill his dreams.  Judas had the responsibility of being the disciples’ treasurer.  How often, in modern times, have we seen the treasurer become enamored with the organisation’s resources and make off with the funds?  These kinds of deeds are indicators of what it means to live in the night.  No-one seemed to know what he was up to, but Jesus did.  Jesus let him go.

Prayer

Jesus, I see that I want to choose ease and comfort over you.  Help me to see more clearly what it means to be a child of the day.  Don’t let me go so that I would ever wander out in the night looking for mischief.

Questions

1. What has Jesus just talked to the disciples about?
2. How is Judas contrary to Jesus’ previous speech?
3. Why was Judas in charge of the money if Jesus knew he was corrupt?
4. What activities have you executed in secret that no-one could see?
5. How do you maintain life as a child of the day and not the night?

Now before the Feast of the Passover, when Jesus knew that his hour had come to depart out of this world to the Father, having loved his own who were in the world, he loved them to the end. ² During supper, when the devil had already put it into the heart of Judas Iscariot, Simon’s son, to betray him, ³ Jesus, knowing that the Father had given all things into his hands, and that he had come from God and was going back to God, ⁴ rose from supper. He laid aside his outer garments, and taking a towel, tied it round his waist. ⁵ Then he poured water into a basin and began to wash the disciples’ feet and to wipe them with the towel that was wrapped round him. ⁶ He came to Simon Peter, who said to him, “Lord, do you wash my feet?” ⁷ Jesus answered him, “What I am doing you do not understand now, but afterwards you will understand.” ⁸ Peter said to him, “You shall never wash my feet.” Jesus answered him, “If I do not wash you, you have no share with me.” ⁹ Simon Peter said to him, “Lord, not my feet only but also my hands and my head!” ¹⁰ Jesus said to him, “The one who has bathed does not need to wash, except for his feet, but is completely clean. And you are clean, but not every one of you.” ¹¹ For he knew who was to betray him; that was why he said, “Not all of you are clean.”

¹² When he had washed their feet and put on his outer garments and resumed his place, he said to them, “Do you understand what I have done to you? ¹³ You call me Teacher and Lord, and you are right, for so I am. ¹⁴ If I then, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another’s feet. ¹⁵ For I have given you an example, that you also should do just as I have done to you. ¹⁶ Truly, truly, I say to you, a servant is not greater than his master, nor is a messenger greater than the one who sent him. ¹⁷ If you know these things, blessed are you if you do them. ¹⁸ I am not speaking of all of you; I know whom I have chosen. But the Scripture will be fulfilled, ‘He who ate my bread has lifted his heel against me.’ ¹⁹ I am telling you this now, before it takes place, that when it does take place you may believe that I am he. ²⁰ Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever receives the one I send receives me, and whoever receives me receives the one who sent me.”

Washing Feet

Once a year at Moody, on Maundy Thursday, the professors and staff of Moody wash the students’ feet.  I have done this twice, but other years I have missed it.  It starts as an embarrassment to me.  It is not embarrassing because it is an act of servitude, it is embarrassing because it is an act of intimacy.  I feel unworthy to have my students allow me to wash their feet.  They reveal a part of themselves that is most often hidden and I wash it.  After a few sets of feet, though, the embarrassment wears off and I enjoy just washing people’s feet.

In ancient days, though, the issue was different.  The feet were constantly exposed to the elements and the dust.  The feet would be dirty and tired.  The lowest servant would have the job of cleaning and refreshing the guests’ feet.  Jesus takes that role and so he exemplifies servant leadership.  He puts his positional power and status to one side and communicates the power of service.  To serve one another, we need to see what each other need.  We need to meet those needs by replacing our desires to protect ourselves and control our environment with a desire to love God and others and potentially sacrifice ourselves to serve them.

Today you will probably not have a chance to wash anyone’s feet.  I get to wash my children’s feet in the bath, but in general it doesn’t come up.  However, holding the door open for someone, letting someone cut in in traffic, and giving up a seat on the ‘L’ are ways that we can start to put our own selves to one side.  Once we are faithful in the little things the larger sacrifices might come more easily.

Prayer

Lord, make me an instrument of Your peace;

Where there is hatred, let me sow love;

Where there is injury, pardon;

Where there is discord, harmony;

Where there is error, truth;

Where there is doubt, faith;

Where there is despair, hope;

Where there is darkness, light;

And where there is sadness, joy.

O Divine Master, Grant that I may not so much seek

To be consoled as to console;

To be understood as to understand;

To be loved as to love.

For it is in giving that we receive;

It is in pardoning that we are pardoned;

And it is in dying that we are born to eternal life.

Questions

1. What does Jesus do for his disciples?
2. Why does Peter object?
3. Why is Judas highlighted?
4. How has Jesus washed your feet?
5. How will you lead the way in service of others today?

⁴⁴ And Jesus cried out and said, “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 into the world as light, so that whoever believes in me may not remain in darkness. ⁴⁷ If anyone hears my words and does not keep them, I do not judge him; for I did not come to judge the world but to save the world. ⁴⁸ The one who rejects me and does not receive my words has a judge; the word that I have spoken will judge him on the last day. ⁴⁹ For I have not spoken on my own authority, but the Father who sent me has himself given me a commandment—what to say and what to speak. ⁵⁰ And I know that his commandment is eternal life. What I say, therefore, I say as the Father has told me.”

What Jesus Shouts!

So Jesus says that he did not come to judge the world.  However, his words bring judgment.  The world has to make a choice and Jesus has made it clear.  To accept Jesus’ testimony is to accept and be accepted by the Father.  To reject Jesus’ testimony is to reject and be rejected by the Father.  Many people today put off the decision or walk gladly into the darkness.  People today still love darkness.  They can be saved, but they don’t want to be saved.

There are at least two reasons people don’t want to be saved.  One is that they do not know what they need saving from.  The other is that they do not know what they need saving to.  Christians often miss this point.  We are saved from God’s judgment against darkness in this passage.  We are saved too eternal life.  What is the life God wants you to live?

Question

What is the life God wants you to live?

When Jesus had said these things, he departed and hid himself from them. ³⁷ Though he had done so many signs before them, they still did not believe in him, ³⁸ so that the word spoken by the prophet Isaiah might be fulfilled:

³⁹ Therefore they could not believe. For again Isaiah said,

⁴¹ Isaiah said these things because he saw his glory and spoke of him. ⁴² Nevertheless, many even of the authorities believed in him, but for fear of the Pharisees they did not confess it, so that they would not be put out of the synagogue; ⁴³ for they loved the glory that comes from man more than the glory that comes from God.

God’s Glory v. Men’s Glory

“Glory, glory Man United!” was a song Manchester United supporters would sing as I went around school as a youngster.  There would be something glorious about being a player for Manchester United, one of the biggest sports clubs in the world.  There is something glorious about winning as many championships and trophies as Manchester United have won.  However, there is something that takes the edge off of the whole thing in the face of death.  We are born, we live and then we die.  From the perspective of day-to-day living, it seems like we should amass as much money as we can.  We should preserve our youth.  We should get trophies.  We should court fame.

From God’s perspective our greatest achievements are small and petty.  Our great attempts at fame and significance are absurd.  Jesus has lived to show us what being glorious truly means.  Jesus lived a life subjected to the Father’s will.  Jesus connected eternity with time.  But he was hidden and understated.  Those who knew what they were looking at lacked the guts to leave their own status behind and follow him.  Most people were so brainwashed into the culture of their time that they missed the glory of what was happening under their noses.

Prayer

May we see beyond our salaries, our houses, our children and our selves.  May we see the eternal paradox of Jesus who is God and man.  May we model our lives on his glory.  may we embrace death and live a new life.

Questions

1. What miracles had many of the crowd seen?
2. Why didn’t they believe?
3. Why are we told that some of the leaders did believe?
4. Are there those who believe in Jesus’ glory secretly?  Who and where?
5. How do you see glory in Jesus in the Book of John?

 “Now is my soul troubled. And what shall I say? ‘Father, save me from this hour’? But for this purpose I have come to this hour. ²⁸ Father, glorify your name.” Then a voice came from heaven: “I have glorified it, and I will glorify it again.” ²⁹ The crowd that stood there and heard it said that it had thundered. Others said, “An angel has spoken to him.” ³⁰ Jesus answered, “This voice has come for your sake, not mine. ³¹ Now is the judgement of this world; now will the ruler of this world be cast out. ³² And I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to myself.” ³³ He said this to show by what kind of death he was going to die. ³⁴ So the crowd answered him, “We have heard from the Law that the Christ remains for ever. How can you say that the Son of Man must be lifted up? Who is this Son of Man?” ³⁵ So Jesus said to them, “The light is among you for a little while longer. Walk while you have the light, lest darkness overtake you. The one who walks in the darkness does not know where he is going. ³⁶ While you have the light, believe in the light, that you may become sons of light.”

Sons of Light

Jesus reveals more of himself in this passage.  He emphasizes that he is the Son of Man.  Jesus’ identity s still rapped in mystery, but it is not a weak and pathetic mystery.  There is power in the events leading up to Jesus’ death.  He has purpose and a will of iron.  This is not a pathetic man who is going to be entrapped.  This is a powerful man who is going to surrender himself.

A time of decision is upon the people around Jesus.  They must decide if Jesus is the one they will follow.  He is the light and surrender to Jesus will lead to a new kind of life.  This life is one where we do not embrace dark deeds.  We become children of righteousness.  Self-righteousness is dark and keeps its true self hidden.  It is a righteous living that exposes darkness to light on a daily basis.  It is painful and open, but it is beautiful and alive.

Prayer

Jesus, you have bought for us a life of light.  Help us to live a disciplined life of joy and risk and wonder.  Help us to live in the presence of the light because we were born in darkness.

Questions

1. Did those who thought it thundered not hear God’s voice?
2. What is the connection between the voice from heaven and living in the light?
3. Where does the one who walks in darkness think he or she is going?
4. Is you life being lived in the light right now?
5. How can God encourage you to a disciplined life lived in the light?

Now among those who went up to worship at the feast were some Greeks. ²¹ So these came to Philip, who was from Bethsaida in Galilee, and asked him, “Sir, we wish to see Jesus.” ²² Philip went and told Andrew; Andrew and Philip went and told Jesus. ²³ And Jesus answered them, “The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified. ²⁴ Truly, truly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit. ²⁵ Whoever loves his life loses it, and whoever hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life. ²⁶ If anyone serves me, he must follow me; and where I am, there will my servant be also. If anyone serves me, the Father will honour him.

The Seemingly Dead

The seemingly dead seed falls into the ground and out of it life sprouts.  The seemingly dead Jesus is laid in the ground and out of him life sprouts.  The seemingly alive party on Halloween but death sprouts.

Prayer

Today many will dance in deathly costumes and make light of horror and gore.  They will mock the death that awaits them, yet still it awaits.  Awaken their hearts to the reality of death and the one who died so that death would lose its sting.

Questions

1. Why are we told the audience is Greek?
2. What does Jesus want this audience to know?
3. What does death achieve?
4. How does Jesus ask you to serve him?
5. How are we to live in the light of Jesus’ death and our own?

¹² The next day the large crowd that had come to the feast heard that Jesus was coming to Jerusalem. ¹³ So they took branches of palm trees and went out to meet him, crying out, “Hosanna! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord, even the King of Israel!” ¹⁴ And Jesus found a young donkey and sat on it, just as it is written,

¹⁶ His disciples did not understand these things at first, but when Jesus was glorified, then they remembered that these things had been written about him and had been done to him. ¹⁷ The crowd that had been with him when he called Lazarus out of the tomb and raised him from the dead continued to bear witness. ¹⁸ The reason why the crowd went to meet him was that they heard he had done this sign. ¹⁹ So the Pharisees said to one another, “You see that you are gaining nothing. Look, the world has gone after him.”

Continued Affects

Those who had witnessed Jesus’ final sign continue to affect the story.  They have believed in him and they become the fuel to the glory that he receives from the adoring crowd.  In the other gospels it is not clear why such a loud crowd gathers to welcome the celebrity from Galilee.  Now we see that Jesus is riding like a king into the city.  Yet he is not in a Roman triumph or a war-like assault.  Jesus’ entry into his glory is humble and contrary to what a king will usually perform.  His throne will be contrary to the norm, too.  When he is enthroned on the cross and raised to full glory, he will be in excruciating pain, asphyxiated and bleeding to death.

The signs of Jesus point to the deeper purposes behind his humble actions.  As he empties himself for the people and opens the door to new life, the signs point to his purposes.  Now that we have transitioned in John from the Book of Signs to the Book of Glory, we see how the two fit together as a whole.

The signs of Jesus give us understanding as to the true nature of his kingship.  Are we willing to welcome him and follow him in his glory.  His path of glory is one of humility, torture and death.  Are we willing to accept the death that he brings so that we may ironically experience the new life Jesus offers?

Prayer

May we honour you because of the testimony of scripture that tells us who you are.  May we sing with rejoicing that our king has come.  May we worship you as you are glorified through the cross.  May we walk with gratitude the new life that you have purchased.

Questions

1. How is Jesus received in Jerusalem?
2. How does Lazarus’ story play into the triumphal entry?
3. Why is a prophecy inserted into the text?
4. Who do the seven signs of Jesus (John 2-11) tell you Jesus is?
5. How do you respond to Jesus approaching you with humility and setting himself up as king?

 Six days before the Passover, Jesus therefore came to Bethany, where Lazarus was, whom Jesus had raised from the dead. ² So they gave a dinner for him there. Martha served, and Lazarus was one of those reclining with him at table. ³ Mary therefore took a pound of expensive ointment made from pure nard, and anointed the feet of Jesus and wiped his feet with her hair. The house was filled with the fragrance of the perfume. ⁴ But Judas Iscariot, one of his disciples (he who was about to betray him), said, ⁵ “Why was this ointment not sold for three hundred denarii and given to the poor?” ⁶ He said this, not because he cared about the poor, but because he was a thief, and having charge of the money bag he used to help himself to what was put into it. ⁷ Jesus said, “Leave her alone, so that she may keep it for the day of my burial. ⁸ For the poor you always have with you, but you do not always have me.”

⁹ When the large crowd of the Jews learned that Jesus was there, they came, not only on account of him but also to see Lazarus, whom he had raised from the dead. ¹⁰ So the chief priests made plans to put Lazarus to death as well, ¹¹ because on account of him many of the Jews were going away and believing in Jesus.

Complete Gratitude for Grace

The effects of Lazarus’ resurrection come into play.  Mary demonstrates a heart of gratitude that Jesus is with them and that her brother is healed.  The chief priests develop a spirit of anger and animosity and they want Lazarus dead again.  They are merchants of death who are dead within and bring death without.  They want Lazarus dead and they will kill Jesus to maintain the sepulcher within.

Mary’s gratitude is lavish.  She abases herself in front of everyone and she is lavish with her use of perfume.  There is something sensual and inappropriate in the minds of many readers as they observe her behavior in the pages of the Bible.  It is only because Jesus is our revealed savior that we allow her actions as righteous 2000 years later.

Are we grateful to Jesus to the extent that we would take a year’s salary and spend it on him? Not that we would give him something enduring like a house or even a car.  What if we bought him expensive cut flowers, took him out for a meal, or paid for him to go to a Cubs game?  Mary’s gift is more significant because it has to do with burial, but the gift is equally perishable.  This is why some onlookers gasped at the extravagance.  Mary lost herself in the presence of Jesus.  She gave with abandon.

My self gets in the way of my sacrifice.  My desires cause me to hold something back.  However, what holds me back from giving the most is my lack of gratitude.  Most of the time I have no thought for the hopeless condition I am in without Jesus.  In this Halloween season, where horror is a commodity, maybe we can remember the horror once more of our condition without Jesus.  We never see the extent of the sin in other people’s lives.  We only see the extent of it in ours.  We have the complete picture of our depravity available to us, but we are blind.  We catch a glimpse of others and the sin they present and we thank God that we are not like them.  However, if you saw your sin as God saw it you would be crushed.  You would want to hide.  You would be consumed with shame.  It is in the death of our sin that Jesus offers new life.  It is in the darkest night that Jesus brings the light.  If we get a glimpse of the amazing nature of God’s grace we will sing songs, smash perfume bottles, cry for joy and relief.

Prayer

Some of us have looked into the darkness of our souls and seen the yawning chasm of darkness that dwells there apart from you.  You have illuminated a near infinite void and filled it with your light.  Help us to both see how hopeless we are without you and the great hope that is ours.  Help us to admit our sin and claim your grace.

Questions

1. What does Mary do?
2. How do people respond?
3. Do the synoptic gospels tell the same story?
4. What does it look like today when someone gives their most prized possessions to God?
5. What does your gratitude compel you to do?

⁴⁵ Many of the Jews therefore, who had come with Mary and had seen what he did, believed in him, ⁴⁶ but some of them went to the Pharisees and told them what Jesus had done. ⁴⁷ So the chief priests and the Pharisees gathered the Council and said, “What are we to do? For this man performs many signs. ⁴⁸ If we let him go on like this, everyone will believe in him, and the Romans will come and take away both our place and our nation.” ⁴⁹ But one of them, Caiaphas, who was high priest that year, said to them, “You know nothing at all. ⁵⁰ Nor do you understand that it is better for you that one man should die for the people, not that the whole nation should perish.” ⁵¹ He did not say this of his own accord, but being high priest that year he prophesied that Jesus would die for the nation, ⁵² and not for the nation only, but also to gather into one the children of God who are scattered abroad. ⁵³ So from that day on they made plans to put him to death.

⁵⁴ Jesus therefore no longer walked openly among the Jews, but went from there to the region near the wilderness, to a town called Ephraim, and there he stayed with the disciples.

⁵⁵ Now the Passover of the Jews was at hand, and many went up from the country to Jerusalem before the Passover to purify themselves. ⁵⁶ They were looking for Jesus and saying to one another as they stood in the temple, “What do you think? That he will not come to the feast at all?” ⁵⁷ Now the chief priests and the Pharisees had given orders that if anyone knew where he was, he should let them know, so that they might arrest him.

Protecting What Is Mine

We often believe that we are not safe and that there is scarcity.  We believe that we must protect ourselves or horde what we own.  We shut down, we shut out.  The Pharisees and Sadducees saw themselves under pressure.  They had worked hard to rebuild the religious structure that was centered on the temple.  The Roman superpower lived in an uneasy peace with the religious authorities and so a Messiah might topple the house of cards they had built.  Of course, they didn’t think Jesus was really the Messiah.  He wasn’t the kind of man they were looking for.  The signs he performed were explained away because of the singularity of their focus.

A horse wears blinkers for a reason.  The blinkers maintain its focus so that it can run the race without distractions from other horses or the crowd.  However, the blinkers are great if you are on the right track, but what if they help you focus on the wrong thing?

We have all developed values and we have a vision for our lives.  We conform ourselves to that vision, whether it is positive or negative.  Some people have accepted a vision that they won’t amount to much.  Others have accepted a vision of a great ministry or life of teaching where they receive praise and honour for their input into the lives of others.  The Bible gives us a different vision.  Our track starts with Christ and walks in the Spirit with blinkered eyes focused on Christ.  We know nothing except Christ crucified and resurrected.  We live out his resurrected life within us.

The Jewish leaders were devout and godly in a self-serving and self-protecting way.  Their God served their own agenda and when Jesus challenged that it threatened them enough to want to take Jesus’ life.  Some Christians have a faith where really the objectives are ease and comfort or simplistic and shallow.  When Jesus rocks their world through circumstances or his word, they wander away from Jesus.  He was never what they wanted in the first place.

Prayer

Father, let us run with perseverance the race marked out before us.  Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith.  Let us run and not grow weary.  Let us walk and not be faint.  Let us soar up on wings like eagles and throw off the sin that so easily entangles.  Let us not protect ourselves, hide ourselves, or lie to ourselves.  Let us live in Truth, walk in the Spirit, and to be free.

Questions

1. In what two ways did people respond to Jesus’ raising of Lazarus?
2. What did Caiaphas prophecy?
3. What were the leaders of Israel’s motives?
4. How do we respond like the leaders of Israel?
5. How can we cease protecting ourselves?

If you read the passage on the previous posts you noticed the humanity of Jesus and the difficulty of the situation.  I read a commentary a by Gary Burge on the train this morning and a couple of things stood out.

The first was that Lazarus had been dead for four days, but Jesus took three days to get there.  In other words Jesus did not wait for his friend Lazarus to die after hearing that he was ill.  Lazarus had died by the time Jesus got the news.  Jesus was waiting so that when Lazarus was raised to life, there would be no doubt that the man’s spirit had departed.

Second was that the words ‘deeply troubled’ in the English translate a powerful word in the Greek.  Each time Jesus is deeply troubled he is like a warhorse about to charge into battle.  There are tears and there is power.  These two things are often alien to each other in western men.

So Jesus powerfully charges into the grief and rescues his friend from death.  In a different way he will rescue each one of us as we pass through death.  He will pass through death himself on the cross.  So, who exactly is Jesus if he does the things the book of John says he does?

Prayer

You powerfully charged in to save Lazarus.  You lead me on a daily battle.  You give strength and hope in the darkest situations.  Please bring life and light to our world.

Questions

1. How was Lazarus doing when Jesus received news of his illness?
2. What do we miss by only reading the English translation?
3. What does the final sign performed by Jesus point to?
4. How do you want Jesus to charge in for you?
5. What ‘all hope is lost’ situations have you had to endure?