John, Chapter 12 part 1

If not for what followed, this first part of John 12 would be a welcome relief compared to the rest of the gospel. In this part, Jesus receives much due praise for the miracles that were performed. Unfortunately, it is all window-dressing as much of the praise He receives is merely a fulfillment of prophesy. In this part we see His anointing as well as His triumphal entry into Jerusalem before His death.

3Then Mary took about a pint of pure nard, an expensive perfume; she poured it on Jesus' feet and wiped his feet with her hair. And the house was filled with the fragrance of the perfume. – John 12:3

I wanted to include this passage because it is simply a beautiful act carried out by Mary. Jesus’ inner circle was far from the wealthy of society. Many of them barely had enough to get by every day. This perform had unfathomable earthly wealth, yet Mary used the entire jar in order to anoint Jesus with it. The act of submission by using her hair is significant as well. Mary truly loved Jesus as her savior, and she serves as an example to all of us in this act. She was willing to give up most everything she had of value and bow before His feet. That is an example we would be wise to follow.

16At first his disciples did not understand all this. Only after Jesus was glorified did they realize that these things had been written about him and that they had done these things to him. – John 12:16

It is wonderful hat Jesus received such an entry here, but the praise was shallow based on the events of his death. Many of these people were the same people that would later call to crucify Him just a few days later. Jesus knew this prophesy as well. I cannot imagine the hurt He was feeling in His heart as He made this entrance. This is yet another example of His humility. If you’ll notice, it is the one time He welcomed the praise heaped upon Him instead of deflecting it to the Father.

John, chapter 11

The more that I study the gospels I see Jesus’ humility. That is His greatest attribute. Yes, He was all-powerful. He had wisdom, strength, courage, conviction, and was sent by God Himself. Still, He never boasted of this. When he stated His credentials, as I like to call them, He stated them merely to say who he was. It was more like a business card than a boast. In every chapter here in the book of John we see Jesus’ humility. That carries over to today in chapter 11, when he performs perhaps His greatest miracle.

We all know the story of Lazarus. He died, but Jesus raised him from the dead in front of everyone. We see the details today that make that story so much better, however. Jesus could have made a number of different choices, such as coming back to Bethany sooner or even acting from a distance, but his choices were made for two purposes. First, He wanted to give maximum glory to God. Second, He wanted to leave little doubt of who He was. These were proven in verse six.

⁴When he heard this, Jesus said, "This sickness will not end in death. No, it is for God's glory so that God's Son may be glorified through it." – John 11:4

That is the entire point of this story right there. Lazurus did eventually die again. There are no reports of him still kicking around great Jerusalem. The point of the story was not that Lazurus got a brief reprieve from death. It was to glorify God and prove Jesus’ divinity. We also see that it acted as kind of the final straw for the Pharisees as they began plotting to kill him. In doing so, they failed to recognize God’s glory even though they were the ones who were supposed to recognize it first.

John, chapter 10

I feel almost embarrassed to come here today. A major reason there was no entry the last two days of last week was because this has been another bad week for me. I have separated myself from God and tried to do things on my own once again. You would think that after the number of times this has ended in failure I would have learned my lesson, but that is not the case. I feel unworthy to even study the Word today. That attitude is something that has to change if I am ever going to get out of my mental funk.

Ironically, this actually fits in with today’s lesson about the shepherd and his flock. One of the things I pride myself on is not being a member of today’s sheep. I don’t sit here in life and blindly follow the trends of the world. I often rebel, even if sometimes I rebel just for the sake of rebelling. When I get in a mood like have been in this week, however, I really I am being a sheep. I am falling into the ways of the world and succumbing to the temptations of sin. It really is like being attacked, at least mentally, by wolves.

²⁵Jesus answered, "I did tell you, but you do not believe. The miracles I do in my Father's name speak for me, ²⁶but you do not believe because you are not my sheep. ²⁷My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me. ²⁸I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; no one can snatch them out of my hand. ²⁹My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all; no one can snatch them out of my Father's hand. ³⁰I and the Father are one." – John 10:25-30

Am I one of Jesus’ sheep? I think the reason even Christians can fall astray is a simple one. Though we agree to become sheep of Jesus, we still cannot ever fully separate ourselves from sinful human nature this side of heaven. Yes we still hear Jesus’ voice, but we are not strong enough in our own capacity to avoid the temptations of this world 100% of the time. We will fall. There is no doubt about it. That is why I am frustrated by Christians who consider themselves perfect. They often have lost sight of the author and perfector of their faith and believe that they have reached this plateau all by themselves. I am not saying all Christians are this way, but some definitely are. The truth is that even after we accept Christ, we still must be humble and know that we are still not perfect. We are merely justified in the blood of Christ. There is a big difference there.

John, chapter 9

I hate details and minutiae. There was a time in college when such things cost me an entire letter grade on a math exam. I had answered the question correctly and showed how I had arrived at my answer, but I received no credit on that question because I didn’t use the method they wanted me to use. As a result, I got a B instead of an A, and it knocked down my overall grade for the class as well. I thought this was ridiculous. What did it matter what method I used as long as I arrived at the right answer?

We see a similar situation with today’s lesson. In it, Jesus performs a miracle by healing a man who was born blind. I don’t know about you, but I would be pretty amazed by this. If it happened in front of me, I would definitely be in awe of the person who did it, as well as curious about the man that was healed. Is this the attitude the Pharisees took? Of course not.

¹³They brought to the Pharisees the man who had been blind. ¹⁴Now the day on which Jesus had made the mud and opened the man's eyes was a Sabbath. ¹⁵Therefore the Pharisees also asked him how he had received his sight. "He put mud on my eyes," the man replied, "and I washed, and now I see."

¹⁶Some of the Pharisees said, "This man is not from God, for he does not keep the Sabbath."
But others asked, "How can a sinner do such miraculous signs?" So they were divided. – John 9:13-16

How short-sighted can these people be? As we see throughout the chapter, they are more concerned with how he got healed and why he was healed as opposed to the fact that he was healed. As usual, the lesson in this chapter comes from the metaphor of healing. The man that was blind not only sees physically, but he is able to see spiritually that Jesus came to save the world. The Pharisees remained blind to this fact even though they could see physically.

John, chapter 8 part 2

Today we see one of the most confrontational pictures of Jesus found in Scripture. IN today’s passage he is speaking directly to the Pharisees in the Temple and essentially tears down their entire belief structure. He accused them of not being children of Abraham, a man revered in almost God-like status tot hem. He also called them children of the Devil. As usual, Jesus easily deflects their arguments in an attempt to direct them back to the path they had lost.

So why is Jesus so confrontational here? Why did he bicker with the Pharisees, while He simply spoke with the common man. Along that line, many times the common man is what followed Him, while the spiritual leaders (the ones that should have known Him) stayed away. They even ended up being the ones that killed Him. I think he was so confrontational because the Pharisees weren’t going to listen to anything else. When Jesus spoke with the common man, like the woman at the well a few chapters ago, They were often already receptive to what He had to say. The Pharisees feared losing their power. They needed more drastic measures if they were going to listen.

³⁴Jesus replied, "I tell you the truth, everyone who sins is a slave to sin. ³⁵Now a slave has no permanent place in the family, but a son belongs to it forever. ³⁶So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed. ³⁷I know you are Abraham's descendants. Yet you are ready to kill me, because you have no room for my word. ³⁸I am telling you what I have seen in the Father's presence, and you do what you have heard from your father.” – John 8:34-38

This is just before Jesus calls them children of the Devil. He was right, of course. As humans, we are children of the Devil because we are born in bondage to sin. Jesus’ words about sin here are 100% accurate. I have seen the effect sin can have in life and it is not pretty. To this day I still battle my own sin even though I have done my best to stay away from it. As Jesus promised, however, He as the Son sets us free.

Another important point from the rest of this chapter is that Jesus does not accept the recognition and glory for Himself. He always directs it tot eh Father. Yes, Jesus was the Son of God and had extraordinary power. Still, even He recognized that He was nothing without the Father behind Him. All glory was given to the Father, and when we glorify Christ we glorify the Father through Him because of His humble nature.

John, chapter 8 part 1

We are not perfect. There isn’t a single one among us that is without sin. Unfortunately, it is part of human nature that we feel the need to cast judgment on people. Sometimes it is not even a scathing judgment like we see with the adulterous woman at the beginning of John 8. It can be as simple as walking in a crowd with some friends, seeing someone different walking by, and sharing a, “Get a load of THAT guy,” moment with everyone else in your group. It just happens.

We see that judgmental nature in action at the beginning of John 8. An adulterous woman is brought into the courts. Mosaic Law stated that it was perfectly legal, even required, that she be stoned to death. Jesus was there, however, and with just a few words, taught how things were going to be different. Jesus came and overwrote Mosaic Law because in essence, He was the law.

But Jesus bent down and started to write on the ground with his finger. 7When they kept on questioning him, he straightened up and said to them, "If any one of you is without sin, let him be the first to throw a stone at her." 8Again he stooped down and wrote on the ground.
9At this, those who heard began to go away one at a time, the older ones first, until only Jesus was left, with the woman still standing there. 10Jesus straightened up and asked her, "Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you?"
11"No one, sir," she said.
"Then neither do I condemn you," Jesus declared. "Go now and leave your life of sin." – John 8:7-11

Remember, we are to hate the sing, but love the sinner. As we learned earlier in this very book, Jesus did not come to condemn the world, but to say it. If anyone had the authority to condemn this woman it was Jesus. Instead, He embraced her as someone who was lost and needed a new direction.

The second part of this opening deals with Jesus being questioned on His authority. I’ll allow you to draw your own conclusions, as Jesus said His testimony was not only His own, but His Father’s as well. Because He was sent by the Father, that alone was enough.

John 7

John 7 is another exercise in listening. In this chapter, Jesus visits the feat of the Tabernacles in secret, though He still speaks to the crowd. It is interesting to see this because when Jesus speaks, he almost speaks out of frustration. We always think of Jesus speaking calmly and rationally, but here it is almost like He loses His patience for the crowd He is talking to.

21Jesus said to them, "I did one miracle, and you are all astonished. 22Yet, because Moses gave you circumcision (though actually it did not come from Moses, but from the patriarchs), you circumcise a child on the Sabbath. 23Now if a child can be circumcised on the Sabbath so that the law of Moses may not be broken, why are you angry with me for healing the whole man on the Sabbath? 24Stop judging by mere appearances, and make a right judgment." – John 7:21-24

Can you see the frustration here? Jesus knew of the hypocrisy that the people were talking about. As I mentioned yesterday, Jesus wanted to grow and think beyond what they were told. This was a radical idea at the time, as regular people being involved with worship and church affairs was unheard of. They were supposed to bray it up with the other sheep and regurgitate what the religious leaders of the day told them.

In this section Jesus is asking for us to think for ourselves. We are only accountable for ourselves, so it is important that we make our own judgments instead of blindly following the teaching others. We are supposed to ask questions and form opinions. If we don’t do so there is no way we can grow into a relationship with Christ.