John 21:1-25 The Disciples in Galilee June 8, 2020

Jesus told his disciples to go to Galilee and he would meet them there. They not only went back to Galilee, but they returned to their old way of life. It seems to me that their encounter with the risen Jesus had no lasting impression on them. I don’t know how to explain this. Maybe they were a bit immunized because they were with Jesus when Lazarus was raised. Also he brought several to life during his earlier ministry. They are not fully empowered to carry out the ministry of the church until the Holy Spirit descends with power at Pentecost. We will review the lesson on the Paraclete and look briefly at the ministry of the Holy Spirit today. Judy and I just read through the Book of Acts once again and were impressed how active the Holy Spirit was in the establishment of the early church.

God, the Father, was the prime aspect of God in the Old Testament. Jesus was primary in the Gospels. Since Pentecost, the Holy Spirit has been the primary mover in the church to this day. The Father is on the Throne. The Christ is seated next to him making intercession for us. The Holy Spirit is in our midst guiding the church until the Parousia.

Most scholars consider this chapter is an addendum to the Gospel of John. The last chapter seemed to have an appropriate ending, stating the purpose for having written the gospel. However, in Mark’s account Jesus told Mary to tell the disciples that he would meet them in Galilee. That was a three days journey away. John tells us that Jesus met them behind locked doors in Jerusalem. But now John presents the encounter in Galilee as well.

Mark 16:1-8 When the Sabbath was past, Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James, and Salome bought spices, so that they might go and anoint him. And very early on the first day of the week, when the sun had risen, they went to the tomb. And they were saying to one another, “Who will roll away the stone for us from the entrance of the tomb?” And looking up, they saw that the stone had been rolled back—it was very large. And entering the tomb, they saw a young man sitting on the right side, dressed in a white robe, and they were alarmed. And he said to them, “Do not be alarmed. You seek Jesus of Nazareth, who was crucified. He has risen; he is not here. See the place where they laid him. But go, tell his disciples and Peter that he is going before you to Galilee. There you will see him, just as he told you.” And they went out and fled from the tomb, for trembling and astonishment had seized them, and they said nothing to anyone, for they were afraid.

John 21:1-4 After this Jesus revealed himself again to the disciples by the Sea of Tiberias, and he revealed himself in this way. Simon Peter, Thomas (called the Twin), Nathanael of Cana in Galilee, the sons of Zebedee, and two others of his disciples were together. Simon Peter said to them, “I am going fishing.” They said to him, “We will go with you.” They went out and got into the boat, but that night they caught nothing.

Seven of Jesus’ disciples were on the boat the day Jesus met them. Jesus reveals himself to them. Not everyone in town sees him. It is like today, Jesus reveals himself to some, but many do not see him or find him. As I said above, the disciples seem to have gone back to their former way of living. What do you think is going through their minds?

John 21:4-8 Just as day was breaking, Jesus stood on the shore; yet the disciples did not know that it was Jesus. Jesus said to them, “Children, do you have any fish?” They answered him, “No.” He said to them, “Cast the net on the right side of the boat, and you will find some.” So they cast it, and now they were not able to haul it in, because of the quantity of fish.

That disciple whom Jesus loved therefore said to Peter, “It is the Lord!” When Simon Peter heard that it was the Lord, he put on his outer garment, for he was stripped for work, and threw himself into the sea. The other disciples came in the boat, dragging the net full of fish, for they were not far from the land, but about a hundred yards off.

The angel that appeared to Mary in Mark’s gospel told her to tell the disciples that Jesus would meet them in Galilee. The disciples returned to Galilee. I think they thought it was too dangerous to remain in Jerusalem. Jesus now meets them on the shore of the Sea of Galilee.

Paul emphasizes Jesus revelation of himself to Peter. 1 Corinthians 15:3-5 For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures, and that he appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve.

John 21:9-14 When they got out on land, they saw a charcoal fire in place, with fish laid out on it, and bread. Jesus said to them, “Bring some of the fish that you have just caught.” So Simon Peter went aboard and hauled the net ashore, full of large fish, 153 of them. And although there were so many, the net was not torn. Jesus said to them, “Come and have breakfast.” Now none of the disciples dared ask him, “Who are you?” They knew it was the Lord.

The ancients of the church have spent long hours trying to decipher the meaning of 153 fish. Gemantria is a term derived from geometry. It makes a play with words in languages wherein numerals are represented by letters of the alphabet. Accordingly any name, or even a word, could be added up and represented by its total. We all know the number 666 that is said to represent Nero Caesar written in Hebrew letters. The Greek word that represents Christianity is Ichthus, Jesus Christ, God’s Son, Savior, has the value of 153.

Jerome saw this as an acted parable of the mission of the apostles and of the Church after them to all nations. Augustine observed that 153 is the sum of all numbers to 17. Then 17 could be separated into 10 and 7. The 10 represents the 10 commandments and the 7, the sevenfold spirit of God. People are fascinated with numbers and it will take our going to heaven to learn what the 153 was really about.

The disciples recognize him, but not completely. Bultmann caught the mood well when he said: “Since they have indeed recognized him, the meaning of the question obviously must be, ‘Is it really you?’ This is intended to describe the peculiar feeling that befalls the disciples in the presence of the risen Jesus: it is he, and yet it is not he; it is not he, whom they hitherto have known, and yet it is he! A particular wall is erected between him and them. This partition is set aside as Jesus distributes the bread and fish among them.”

John 21:13-14 Jesus came and took the bread and gave it to them, and so with the fish. This was now the third time that Jesus was revealed to the disciples after he was raised from the dead.

This is like the meal served during the Sermon on the Mount. Some suggest this was a repeat of the Last Supper as an alternative expression of the eucharistic idea. We know that lamb was the main course during the Passover meal. In early Christian art meals of bread and fish are frequently depicted as representations of the Lord’s Supper.

John 21:15-19 When they had finished breakfast, Jesus said to Simon Peter, “Simon, son of John, do you love me more than these?” He said to him, “Yes, Lord; you know that I love you.” He said to him, “Feed my lambs.”

He said to him a second time, “Simon, son of John, do you love me?” He said to him, “Yes, Lord; you know that I love you.” He said to him, “Tend my sheep.”

He said to him the third time, “Simon, son of John, do you love me?” Peter was grieved because he said to him the third time, “Do you love me?” and he said to him, “Lord, you know everything; you know that I love you.” Jesus said to him, “Feed my sheep. Truly, truly, I say to you, when you were young, you used to dress yourself and walk wherever you wanted, but when you are old, you will stretch out your hands, and another will dress you and carry you where you do not want to go.”

(This he said to show by what kind of death he was to glorify God.) And after saying this he said to him, “Follow me.”

Here is a painful conversation between Jesus and Peter. We do not know just where it takes place. It probably wasn’t at the lakeside. They are walking along together as Jesus questions his complete commitment to him. When Peter affirms his faith and love Jesus warns him that it will cost him his life. We know that Peter was crucified upside down in Rome around 64 AD during the reign of Nero.

John 21:20-23 Peter turned and saw the disciple whom Jesus loved following them, the one who had been reclining at table close to him and had said, “Lord, who is it that is going to betray you?” When Peter saw him, he said to Jesus, “Lord, what about this man?” Jesus said to him, “If it is my will that he remain until I come, what is that to you? You follow me!”

So the saying spread abroad among the brothers that this disciple was not to die; yet Jesus did not say to him that he was not to die, but, “If it is my will that he remain until I come, what is that to you?”

Peter now turns around to look backward and John is following them. He has just learned his mission and his fate. So he asks about John’s mission. Jesus gives a vague answer that troubled the early church to no end, and is still hard for us to understand today. Jesus leaves John’s fate up in the air. This has caused some turmoil in the church, because it made the early Christians think that Jesus would return before John would die. John lived a long life that made the second coming seen more likely to the new believers.

I had a Bible professor in college, Carl E. Amerding, who told his classes that he was sure the Lord would return before he died. He subsequently retired, but I continued to follow him. He reached 97 years old, but the Lord did not return before he died. His son later became the President of Wheaton College.

John 21:24 This is the disciple who is bearing witness about these things, and who has written these things, and we know that his testimony is true.

John affirms that he is the author of this gospel. Scholars now think he did not write this appendix, but one of his disciples wrote it. That would be okay except here it states that he is the author.

John 21:25 Now there are also many other things that Jesus did. Were every one of them to be written, I suppose that the world itself could not contain the books that would be written.

This is the conclusion of this chapter and of the entire gospel.

The Paraclete April 20, 2020

Paraclete

1. an advocate or intercessor

From late Greek Parakletos, comforter, literally, a person called in to help

2. the Holy Spirit; the Comforter

In our last lesson we noted that the Holy Spirit is our Paraclete. I think we need to have the meaning of Paraclete better defined and the role of the Holy Spirit in the church today more completely defined. We do not concentrate on the Holy Spirit in the sermons that are preached. The Apostle’s Creed only gives six words to the Holy Spirit, I believe in the Holy Spirit (Holy Ghost). Yet the role of the Holy Spirit dominates Jesus last discourse with the Apostles.

Two lessons ago I noted that God, the Father, was the primary God in the Old Testament. He is the one who created the heavens and the earth. He spoke directly to Adam, Noah, Abraham, Moses, David and the prophets. Jesus appeared as epiphanies on occasion and the Holy Spirit was intermittently present, but God the Father, is the primary face of God in the Old Testament.

In the Gospels, Jesus is the dominant form of God. He is God revealed in human flesh. He interacted directly with the apostles and other followers in physical form. John tells us that he was with God in the beginning and that he was God, but at the appropriate time he revealed himself in the form of a baby who grew up in Israel and for three years preached the gospel to the Jews. The gospel he preached was that a New Kingdom is being inaugurated on earth and all mankind is invited to join him in the new kingdom. Anyone who places his trust in him can become a member of the New Kingdom. He was crucified and buried by the state and by the religious establishment in an attempt to end his ministry. However, he rose from the grave on the third day and formally established his church. After 40 days he ascends to heaven to sit at the right hand of the Father.

In the last three chapters we have studied, Jesus tells his disciples that the Holy Spirit will come to be his representative and the Father’s representative on earth from this time on. He will be ever present with the church and in the church. As the church is the Temple of God, the Holy Spirit dwells in the Temple. As the church is a body with many parts, the Holy Spirit enlivens the body. He will indwell those who have chosen to be part of Christ’s new kingdom on the earth. We are living in the age of the Holy Spirit.

Michael Domenica taught a series of classes on the Gospel of John in 2017. In it he beautifully augments the teachings of the Holy Spirit and His role in the church today. I will plagiarize his lesson for our lesson today.

The Paraclete

The Work of the Holy Spirit

The Helper - How does he help, console, comfort, uplift, refresh?

John 14:15-17 “If you love me, you will keep my commandments. And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Helper, to be with you forever, even the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor knows him. You know him, for he dwells with you and will be in you.

Romans 15:13 May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that by the power of the Holy Spirit you may abound in hope.

Galatians 5:5 For through the Spirit, by faith, we ourselves eagerly wait for the hope of righteousness.

Galatians 5:22-25 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law. And those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. If we live by the Spirit, let us also keep in step with the Spirit.

The Spirit of Truth

John 8:31-32 “If you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples, and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”

John 16:12-15 “I still have many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now. When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth, for he will not speak on his own authority, but whatever he hears he will speak, and he will declare to you the things that are to come. He will glorify me, for he will take what is mine and declare it to you. All that the Father has is mine; therefore I said that he will take what is mine and declare it to you.

1 Corinthians 2:10-16 These things God has revealed to us through the Spirit. For the Spirit searches everything, even the depths of God. For who knows a person's thoughts except the spirit of that person, which is in him? So also no one comprehends the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God. Now we have received not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, that we might understand the things freely given us by God. And we impart this in words not taught by human wisdom but taught by the Spirit, interpreting spiritual truths to those who are spiritual.

The natural person does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are folly to him, and he is not able to understand them because they are spiritually discerned. The spiritual person judges all things, but is himself to be judged by no one. “For who has understood the mind of the Lord so as to instruct him?” But we have the mind of Christ.

The One Who Convicts of Sin and Righteousness

John 16:7-11 Nevertheless, I tell you the truth: it is to your advantage that I go away, for if I do not go away, the Helper will not come to you. But if I go, I will send him to you. And when he comes, he will convict the world concerning sin and righteousness and judgment: concerning sin, because they do not believe in me; concerning righteousness, because I go to the Father, and you will see me no longer; concerning judgment, because the ruler of this world is judged.

Hebrews 4:12-13 For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart. And no creature is hidden from his sight, but all are naked and exposed to the eyes of him to whom we must give account.

Ephesians 6:16-18 In all circumstances take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming darts of the evil one; and take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God, praying at all times in the Spirit, with all prayer and supplication.

Psalm 139:1-7 O LORD, you have searched me and known me!

You know when I sit down and when I rise up;

you discern my thoughts from afar.

You search out my path and my lying down

and are acquainted with all my ways.

Even before a word is on my tongue,

behold, O LORD, you know it altogether.

You hem me in, behind and before,

and lay your hand upon me.

Such knowledge is too wonderful for me;

it is high; I cannot attain it.

Where shall I go from your Spirit?

Or where shall I flee from your presence?

The One Who Glorifies The Son

John 16:14-15 He will glorify me, for he will take what is mine and declare it to you. All that the Father has is mine; therefore I said that he will take what is mine and declare it to you.

The One Who Bestows God’s Gifts to the Church

1 Corinthians 12:4-7 Now there are varieties of gifts, but the same Spirit; and there are varieties of service, but the same Lord; and there are varieties of activities, but it is the same God who empowers them all in everyone. To each is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good. For to one is given through the Spirit the utterance of wisdom, and to another the utterance of knowledge according to the same Spirit, to another faith by the same Spirit, to another gifts of healing by the one Spirit, to another the working of miracles, to another prophecy, to another the ability to distinguish between spirits, to another various kinds of tongues, to another the interpretation of tongues. All these are empowered by one and the same Spirit, who apportions to each one individually as he wills.

The Spirit of Life

Romans 8:2-6 For the law of the Spirit of life has set you free in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and death. For God has done what the law, weakened by the flesh, could not do. By sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin, he condemned sin in the flesh, in order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not according to the flesh but according to the Spirit. For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit set their minds on the things of the Spirit. For to set the mind on the flesh is death, but to set the mind on the Spirit is life and peace.

Romans 8:9-11 You, however, are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if in fact the Spirit of God dwells in you. Anyone who does not have the Spirit of Christ does not belong to him. But if Christ is in you, although the body is dead because of sin, the Spirit is life because of righteousness. If the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit who dwells in you.

Paul prays for the Ephesians:

Ephesians 3:14-19 For this reason I bow my knees before the Father, from whom every family in heaven and on earth is named, that according to the riches of his glory he may grant you to be strengthened with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith—that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may have strength to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.

The Sustainer of Faith

Ephesians 1:15-23 For this reason, because I have heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love toward all the saints, I do not cease to give thanks for you, remembering you in my prayers, that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and of revelation in the knowledge of him, having the eyes of your hearts enlightened, that you may know what is the hope to which he has called you, what are the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints, and what is the immeasurable greatness of his power toward us who believe, according to the working of his great might that he worked in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly places, far above all rule and authority and power and dominion, and above every name that is named, not only in this age but also in the one to come. And he put all things under his feet and gave him as head over all things to the church, which is his body, the fullness of him who fills all in all.

The Intercessor

Romans 8:26-27 Likewise the Spirit helps us in our weakness. For we do not know what to pray for as we ought, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words. And he who searches hearts knows what is the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints according to the will of God.

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There are many more references to the Holy Spirit in the scriptures. Keep an eye out for him in all your readings. Realize that the Holy Spirit is the person of God who is with the church and with the believers on earth at this time. The Father is in heaven seated on the throne. Jesus is in heaven seated at his right hand. The Holy Spirit is here with us dwelling in the church through the kingdom age until the Parousia, the Lord’s return.

A valuable reference is the book by A. J. Gordon, the founder of the Boston Missionary Training Institute (1889) that later became Gordon Bible College (1916), then Gordon College of Theology and Missions (1921) and then Gordon College and Divinity School (1962). Today it is Gordon College and Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary.

The Ministry of the Spirit by A. J. Gordon, American Baptist Publication Society 1894

Classical Reprint Series

Free E. Books @ Forgotten books.org

These are references to the Holy Spirit in the Book of Acts

Acts 1:1-2 In the first book, O Theophilus, I have dealt with all that Jesus began to do and teach, until the day when he was taken up, after he had given commands through the Holy Spirit to the apostles whom he had chosen.

1:4-5 And while staying with them he ordered them not to depart from Jerusalem, but to wait for the promise of the Father, which, he said, “you heard from me; for John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now.”

2:1-4 When the day of Pentecost arrived, they were all together in one place. And suddenly there came from heaven a sound like a mighty rushing wind, and it filled the entire house where they were sitting. And divided tongues as of fire appeared to them and rested on each one of them. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit gave them utterance.

2:38 And Peter said to them, “Repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.

4:8-10 Then Peter, filled with the Holy Spirit, said to them, “Rulers of the people and elders, if we are being examined today concerning a good deed done to a crippled man, by what means this man has been healed, let it be known to all of you and to all the people of Israel that by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom you crucified, whom God raised from the dead—by him this man is standing before you well.

4:24-26 And when they heard it, they lifted their voices together to God and said, “Sovereign Lord, who made the heaven and the earth and the sea and everything in them, who through the mouth of our father David, your servant, said by the Holy Spirit,

“‘Why did the Gentiles rage,

and the peoples plot in vain?

The kings of the earth set themselves,

and the rulers were gathered together,

against the Lord and against his Anointed’—

4:31 And when they had prayed, the place in which they were gathered together was shaken, and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and continued to speak the word of God with boldness.

5:3 But Peter said, “Ananias, why has Satan filled your heart to lie to the Holy Spirit and to keep back for yourself part of the proceeds of the land?

5:32 And we are witnesses to these things, and so is the Holy Spirit, whom God has given to those who obey him.”

6:3-5 Therefore, brothers, pick out from among you seven men of good repute, full of the Spirit and of wisdom, whom we will appoint to this duty… And what they said pleased the whole gathering, and they chose Stephen, a man full of faith and of the Holy Spirit,

7:51-55 “You stiff-necked people, uncircumcised in heart and ears, you always resist the Holy Spirit. As your fathers did, so do you… But he, full of the Holy Spirit, gazed into heaven and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing at the right hand of God.

8:14-19 Now when the apostles at Jerusalem heard that Samaria had received the word of God, they sent to them Peter and John, who came down and prayed for them that they might receive the Holy Spirit, for he had not yet fallen on any of them, but they had only been baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus. Then they laid their hands on them and they received the Holy Spirit. Now when Simon saw that the Spirit was given through the laying on of the apostles' hands, he offered them money, saying, “Give me this power also, so that anyone on whom I lay my hands may receive the Holy Spirit.”

8:29-30 And the Spirit said to Philip, “Go over and join this chariot.” So Philip ran to him and heard him reading Isaiah the prophet and asked, “Do you understand what you are reading?”

8:39 And when they came up out of the water, the Spirit of the Lord carried Philip away, and the eunuch saw him no more, and went on his way rejoicing.

9:17 So Ananias departed and entered the house. And laying his hands on him he said, “Brother Saul, the Lord Jesus who appeared to you on the road by which you came has sent me so that you may regain your sight and be filled with the Holy Spirit.”

9:31 So the church throughout all Judea and Galilee and Samaria had peace and was being built up. And walking in the fear of the Lord and in the comfort of the Holy Spirit, it multiplied.

10:44-47 While Peter was still saying these things, the Holy Spirit fell on all who heard the word. And the believers from among the circumcised who had come with Peter were amazed, because the gift of the Holy Spirit was poured out even on the Gentiles. For they were hearing them speaking in tongues and extolling God. Then Peter declared, “Can anyone withhold water for baptizing these people, who have received the Holy Spirit just as we have?”

11:15-16 As I began to speak, the Holy Spirit fell on them just as on us at the beginning. And I remembered the word of the Lord, how he said, ‘John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit.’

11:23-24 When he came and saw the grace of God, he was glad, and he exhorted them all to remain faithful to the Lord with steadfast purpose, for he was a good man, full of the Holy Spirit and of faith.

13:2-4 While they were worshiping the Lord and fasting, the Holy Spirit said, “Set apart for me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them.” Then after fasting and praying they laid their hands on them and sent them off. So, being sent out by the Holy Spirit, they went down to Seleucia, and from there they sailed to Cyprus.

13:51-52 But they shook off the dust from their feet against them and went to Iconium. And the disciples were filled with joy and with the Holy Spirit.

16:6 And they went through the region of Phrygia and Galatia, having been forbidden by the Holy Spirit to speak the word in Asia.

19:1-11 But some men came down from Judea and were teaching the brothers, “Unless you are circumcised according to the custom of Moses, you cannot be saved.” And after Paul and Barnabas had no small dissension and debate with them, Paul and Barnabas and some of the others were appointed to go up to Jerusalem to the apostles and the elders about this question. So, being sent on their way by the church, they passed through both Phoenicia and Samaria, describing in detail the conversion of the Gentiles, and brought great joy to all the brothers. When they came to Jerusalem, they were welcomed by the church and the apostles and the elders, and they declared all that God had done with them. But some believers who belonged to the party of the Pharisees rose up and said, “It is necessary to circumcise them and to order them to keep the law of Moses.”

The apostles and the elders were gathered together to consider this matter. And after there had been much debate, Peter stood up and said to them, “Brothers, you know that in the early days God made a choice among you, that by my mouth the Gentiles should hear the word of the gospel and believe. And God, who knows the heart, bore witness to them, by giving them the Holy Spirit just as he did to us, and he made no distinction between us and them, having cleansed their hearts by faith. Now, therefore, why are you putting God to the test by placing a yoke on the neck of the disciples that neither our fathers nor we have been able to bear? But we believe that we will be saved through the grace of the Lord Jesus, just as they will.”

15:27-29 We have therefore sent Judas and Silas, who themselves will tell you the same things by word of mouth. For it has seemed good to the Holy Spirit and to us to lay on you no greater burden than these requirements: that you abstain from what has been sacrificed to idols, and from blood, and from what has been strangled, and from sexual immorality. If you keep yourselves from these, you will do well. Farewell.”

16:6-10 And they went through the region of Phrygia and Galatia, having been forbidden by the Holy Spirit to speak the word in Asia. And when they had come up to Mysia, they attempted to go into Bithynia, but the Spirit of Jesus did not allow them. So, passing by Mysia, they went down to Troas. And a vision appeared to Paul in the night: a man of Macedonia was standing there, urging him and saying, “Come over to Macedonia and help us.” And when Paul had seen the vision, immediately we sought to go on into Macedonia, concluding that God had called us to preach the gospel to them.

19:1-7 And it happened that while Apollos was at Corinth, Paul passed through the inland country and came to Ephesus. There he found some disciples. And he said to them, “Did you receive the Holy Spirit when you believed?” And they said, “No, we have not even heard that there is a Holy Spirit.” And he said, “Into what then were you baptized?” They said, “Into John's baptism.” And Paul said, “John baptized with the baptism of repentance, telling the people to believe in the one who was to come after him, that is, Jesus.” On hearing this, they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus. And when Paul had laid his hands on them, the Holy Spirit came on them, and they began speaking in tongues and prophesying. There were about twelve men in all.

20:22-23 And now, behold, I am going to Jerusalem, constrained by the Spirit, not knowing what will happen to me there, except that the Holy Spirit testifies to me in every city that imprisonment and afflictions await me.

20:28 Pay careful attention to yourselves and to all the flock, in which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to care for the church of God, which he obtained with his own blood.

21:11 And coming to us, he took Paul's belt and bound his own feet and hands and said, “Thus says the Holy Spirit, ‘This is how the Jews at Jerusalem will bind the man who owns this belt and deliver him into the hands of the Gentiles.’”

28:25-28 And disagreeing among themselves, they departed after Paul had made one statement: “The Holy Spirit was right in saying to your fathers through Isaiah the prophet:

“‘Go to this people, and say,

“You will indeed hear but never understand,

and you will indeed see but never perceive.”

For this people's heart has grown dull,

and with their ears they can barely hear,

and their eyes they have closed;

lest they should see with their eyes

and hear with their ears

and understand with their heart

and turn, and I would heal them.’

Therefore let it be known to you that this salvation of God has been sent to the Gentiles; they will listen.”

The Passion of The Christ - part 4

John 20:1-31 He is Risen May 25, 2020

Christ the Lord is ris’n today, Alleluia!

Sons of men and angels say, Alleluia!

Raise your joys and triumphs high, Alleluia!

Sing, ye heav’ns, and earth, reply, Alleluia!

Lives again our glorious King, Alleluia!

Where, O death, is now thy sting? Alleluia!

Once He died our souls to save, Alleluia!

Where thy victory, O grave? Alleluia!

Love’s redeeming work is done, Alleluia!

Fought the fight, the battle won, Alleluia!

Death in vain forbids His rise, Alleluia!

Christ hath opened paradise, Alleluia!

Soar we now where Christ hath led, Alleluia!

Foll’wing our exalted Head, Alleluia!

Made like Him, like Him we rise, Alleluia!

Ours the cross, the grave, the skies, Alleluia!

Hail the Lord of earth and heaven, Alleluia!

Praise to Thee by both be given, Alleluia!

Thee we greet triumphant now, Alleluia!

Hail the Resurrection, thou, Alleluia!

King of glory, Soul of bliss, Alleluia!

Everlasting life is this, Alleluia!

Thee to know, Thy pow’r to prove, Alleluia!

Thus to sing, and thus to love, Alleluia!

Charles Wesley 1739

Today we will study the pivotal event of Christianity, the Resurrection of Jesus from the grave. The Apostle Paul said,

For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures, and that he appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve. Then he appeared to more than five hundred brothers at one time, most of whom are still alive, though some have fallen asleep. Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles. Last of all, as to one untimely born, he appeared also to me. For I am the least of the apostles, unworthy to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God. But by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace toward me was not in vain. On the contrary, I worked harder than any of them, though it was not I, but the grace of God that is with me. Whether then it was I or they, so we preach and so you believed.

Now if Christ is proclaimed as raised from the dead, how can some of you say that there is no resurrection of the dead? 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. We are even found to be misrepresenting God, because we testified about God that he raised Christ, whom he did not raise if it is true that the dead are not raised. For if the dead are not raised, not even Christ has been raised. And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile and you are still in your sins. Then those also who have fallen asleep in Christ have perished. If in Christ we have hope in this life only, we are of all people most to be pitied.

But in fact Christ has been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep. For as by a man came death, by a man has come also the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ shall all be made alive. But each in his own order: Christ the firstfruits, then at his coming those who belong to Christ. Then comes the end, when he delivers the kingdom to God the Father after destroying every rule and every authority and power. 1 Corinthians 15:3-23

We recognize Jesus to be the long anticipated Messiah proclaimed in the Old Testament. The role of the Messiah was hinted at with Abraham. Moses clarified the role of the Messiah. The Lord your God will raise up for you a prophet like me for among you, from your brothers - it is to him you shall listen- just as you desired of the Lord your God at Horeb…And I will put my words in his mouth and he shall speak to them all that I command him. Deuteronomy 18:15-16, 18.

Isaiah told us that the Messiah would suffer and die on behalf of his sheep. But he would usher in a new and eternal kingdom. Now John affirms for us that Jesus is the promised Messiah.

The Gospel of John was written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ (Messiah), the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name. John 20:31.

Jesus death paid the penalty for all our sins and the sins of the whole world. But it is his resurrection that assures us that he can deliver eternal life, even as he promised. Our hope for the eternal life described in the Book of Revelation is rooted in the resurrection of Jesus from the dead.

Ravi Zacharias died last week as I am sure all of you know. If you saw his Memorial service Friday you heard that he was given a Bible in his hospital bed when he was 17 years old, where he was recovering from attempted suicide. In the Bible he read, Because I live, you will also live (John 14:19). This led to his conversion, and subsequently to his ministry as the greatest apologist for Christianity of our century. He visited us at Christ Chapel three times, because he was a friend of Stan Dahl, and because he spent his honeymoon on the Cape and liked any opportunity to return here.

The Wall Street Journal, Friday, May 15, 2020, had an article about John Paul II. A hardened Soviet spy said after meeting him that ‘He is all light. He is a source of light.” The article continues: Pope John Paul II cannot be explained or understood unless he is taken for what he said he was: a radically converted Christian disciple. He believed that God had revealed himself in history, first to the Jewish people and ultimately in Jesus of Nazareth. He believed that the resurrection of the crucified Nazarene was the axial point of the human saga: an event in and beyond what we know as “history,” which disclosed that God’s passionate love for humanity was stronger than death itself.

Believing that, he lived without fear. And living without fear, he inspired fearlessness in others. He was “a source of light” because he spent his life allowing what he had experienced as divine light to shine through him.

John 20:1-10 Now on the first day of the week Mary Magdalene came to the tomb early, while it was still dark, and saw that the stone had been taken away from the tomb. So she ran and went to Simon Peter and the other disciple, the one whom Jesus loved, and said to them, “They have taken the Lord out of the tomb, and we do not know where they have laid him.”

So Peter went out with the other disciple, and they were going toward the tomb. Both of them were running together, but the other disciple outran Peter and reached the tomb first. And stooping to look in, he saw the linen cloths lying there, but he did not go in. Then Simon Peter came, following him, and went into the tomb. He saw the linen cloths lying there, and the face cloth, which had been on Jesus’ head, not lying with the linen cloths but folded up in a place by itself. Then the other disciple, who had reached the tomb first, also went in, and he saw and believed; for as yet they did not understand the Scripture, that he must rise from the dead. Then the disciples went back to their homes.

Here is the opening account of the Easter story. Jesus has been crucified and laid in a tomb. Mary goes to the tomb to weep over his death. The stone across the entrance is rolled away and Jesus’ body is gone. She runs to tell Peter and John and all three return to the gravesite. The disciples don’t consider her message seriously. They see the tomb is empty, and then inexplicably return to their homes.

This account is somewhat at variance with the accounts in the other gospels. All the accounts were written years after the event. Oral accounts started just after the resurrection, and they influenced the written accounts. Stories also change with time. Each of the other gospels addressed a specific audience so they were written with the audience in mind. This account is written many years after the event as well, but it is being written by an eyewitness. Therefore, I assume more accuracy to John’s account than the others.

John 20:11-16 But Mary stood weeping outside the tomb, and as she wept she stooped to look into the tomb. And she saw two angels in white, sitting where the body of Jesus had lain, one at the head and one at the feet.

They said to her, “Woman, why are you weeping?” She said to them, “They have taken away my Lord, and I do not know where they have laid him.” Having said this, she turned around and saw Jesus standing, but she did not know that it was Jesus. Jesus said to her, “Woman, why are you weeping? Whom are you seeking?” Supposing him to be the gardener, she said to him, “Sir, if you have carried him away, tell me where you have laid him, and I will take him away.” Jesus said to her, “Mary.” She turned and said to him in Aramaic, “Rabboni!” (which means Teacher).

In the other gospels the number of visitors to the tomb vary, and the timing of the visits vary as well. I still consider John’s account the most accurate. When Mary sees that the tomb is empty her natural instinct is to assume someone has removed the body. When she first sees Jesus she assumes he must be a gardener. But when she hears her name spoken she recognizes the voice and then recognizes Jesus. This does not detract from the other accounts. Scripture remains an inspired document. It is nice to see this special moment through the eyes of Mary. Jesus asks a most important question, Whom are you seeking?

John 20:17-18 Jesus said to her, “Do not cling to me, for I have not yet ascended to the Father; but go to my brothers and say to them, ‘I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.’ ”

Mary Magdalene went and announced to the disciples, “I have seen the Lord”—and that he had said these things to her.

Jesus asks Mary not to cling to him. I am pretty sure she hugged him long and hard. But now her relationship with him is different from before the resurrection. All relationships with Jesus are changed. Our relationship with him is now through faith. We cannot physically see or touch him.

His ascension to the Father does not happen now. We learn of his ascension forty days later in the Book of Acts. Last Sunday was Ascension Sunday. As we have note before, John is not big into chronology. He is compressing many events. Mary now seeks out the rest of the disciples.

John 20:19-23 On the evening of that day, the first day of the week, the doors being locked where the disciples were for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood among them and said to them, “Peace be with you.” When he had said this, he showed them his hands and his side. Then the disciples were glad when they saw the Lord. Jesus said to them again, “Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, even so I am sending you.”

And when he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them, “Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive the sins of anyone, they are forgiven; if you withhold forgiveness from anyone, it is withheld.”

The disciples had not believed Mary’s report. They were cowering behind closed doors. Their lives were at risk. The authorities would not want them around telling Jesus stories. The stories would be about his ministry and life before his crucifixion. The disciples were not ready to accept the possibility of resurrection. You will recall in our study of Mark, Jesus told them on at least three occasions that he was going to die, but that he would rise again. That made no sense to them then and the empty tomb story does not click yet.

But Jesus appears with the greeting, Shalom. He repeats it twice. Finally they are beginning to comprehend who he is. But I find it quite weak to say only that they were glad when they saw the Lord. Peter and John are present at this gathering. They saw the empty tomb with the linen clothes neatly folded. But resurrection was as hard for them to comprehend as it is for us in our contemporary society.

John compresses a lot into the next sentences. He places his shalom, his peace, on them. He repeats the great commission as found in the other gospels. He imbues them with the Holy Spirit. You might want to review the notes from three weeks go concerning the Holy Spirit. Finally he gives them the remarkable power to forgive sins or withhold forgiveness. The Jews taught that only God could forgive sins. When Jesus forgave sins they considered it to be a heresy. Now Jesus is passing this authority to the church as guided by the Holy Spirit. In Matthew 16:16-20 such power is given to Peter and the church.

He said to them, “But who do you say that I am?” Simon Peter replied, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.” And Jesus answered him, “Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jonah! For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father who is in heaven. And I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.” Then he strictly charged the disciples to tell no one that he was the Christ.

John 20:24-25 Now Thomas, one of the Twelve, called the Twin, was not with them when Jesus came. So the other disciples told him, “We have seen the Lord.” But he said to them, “Unless I see in his hands the mark of the nails, and place my finger into the mark of the nails, and place my hand into his side, I will never believe.”

Ravi Zacharias grew up in the town in India where Thomas was martyred. Thomas went to India as a missionary and established many churches. To this day, Saint Thomas is venerated as the Apostle of India. In fact, there exists a population of Christians along the Malabar Coast, on the western coast of India, who lay claim to conversion by St. Thomas. Their tradition holds that he built seven churches, was martyred during prayer by a spearing on the “Big Hill” near Madras, and was buried in Mylapore, on the east coast of India. Ultimately, St. Thomas’ remains were transported to Ortona, Italy, where they reside today.

This is a picture of the Basilica of St. Thomas in India. I couldn’t move the picture, but can only show the website.

https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/san-thome-basilica-roman-catholic-minor-328224083 https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/san-thome-basilica-roman-catholic-minor-328224083

Thomas is known as ‘doubting Thomas’ by everyone. I would say his doubting was reasonable. The other disciples doubted as well. It wasn’t until Jesus ascension followed by Pentecost that the disciples finally understood what had happened. From then on they became world encompassing missionaries, and all became martyrs, except John.

John 20:26-29 The doors were locked, Jesus came and stood among them and said, “Peace be with you.” Then he said to Thomas, “Put your finger here, and see my hands; and put out your hand, and place it in my side. Do not disbelieve, but believe.” Thomas answered him, “My Lord and my God!” Jesus said to him, “Have you believed because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.”

Thomas doubted at first, but when he saw Jesus for the first time after the resurrection he made his famous confession “My Lord and my God!” This issues from the depths of his soul. It could read, “You are my Lord and my God!” The greatest doubter makes the greatest confession. He understands that the resurrection affirms that Jesus is truly the Son of God, and all that Jesus promised is true. This gospel begins with the affirmation,

And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth. Thomas now incorporates this truth into his life. We all have to move from intellectual assent to the faith to incorporating it into our personal lives. The easiest way to do this is to truly love our neighbors and to truly love the Lord.

Jesus closes this visit with a beatitude, “Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.”

John 20:30-31 Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence of the disciples, which are not written in this book; but these are written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name.

John 19:1-42 The Passion of the Christ - part 3 May 18, 2020

Jesus Crucifixion, Death and Burial

Jesus has been arrested and brought before the Temple authorities for trial. All his followers have deserted him, but Peter and John are lurking in the shadows. Annas, a former high priest and a highly respected leader of the Jews, has interviewed Jesus and sent him on to Caiaphas, the current high priest, for further examination. John does not describe Jesus encounter with Caiaphas, but we find it in the Gospel of Luke. Finally, last week, Caiaphas sent Jesus to Pontius Pilate, the Roman governor in Jerusalem, for further examination. After an extended discussion with Jesus Pilate asked the ultimate important question, What is Truth. He didn’t wait for Jesus answer. It was a rhetorical question. But he could not find any legal fault in Jesus. He tried to turn Jesus back to the temple authorities, but they would have none of it. They were demanding his crucifixion. This week Pilate makes one more attempt to free Jesus. He knows that he is dealing with an innocent man, and a very extraordinary man as well. Luke tells us that Pilate sent Jesus to Herod briefly, and Herod did not find Jesus guilty of any crime. In fact, Herod was pleased to have an audience with Jesus. He sent Jesus back to Pilate dressed in splendid clothing. Could this be the source for Jesus famous Robe?

But the priests continue to demand Jesus death.

John 19:1-3 Then Pilate took Jesus and flogged him. And the soldiers twisted together a crown of thorns and put it on his head and arrayed him in a purple robe. They came up to him, saying, “Hail, King of the Jews!” and struck him with their hands.

When Pilate could not return Jesus to the temple authorities, he made one last attempt to free Jesus. He thought the Jews would be satisfied with a proper flogging. The movie, The Passion of the Christ, shows the violence of such a flogging very dramatically. The Roman soldiers were not aware who Jesus truly was.

John 19:4-7 Pilate went out again and said to them, “See, I am bringing him out to you that you may know that I find no guilt in him.” So Jesus came out, wearing the crown of thorns and the purple robe. Pilate said to them, “Behold the man!” When the chief priests and the officers saw him, they cried out, “Crucify him, crucify him!” Pilate said to them, “Take him yourselves and crucify him, for I find no guilt in him.” The Jews answered him, “We have a law, and according to that law he ought to die because he has made himself the Son of God.”

Now Pilate speaks the famous words, Ecce Homo, Behold the Man. The rage of the Jewish leaders is not abated by the flogging. They continue to demand crucifixion.

Below is a famous painting by Antonio Ciseri that captures this moment for all time.

John 19:8-11 When Pilate heard this statement, he was even more afraid. He entered his headquarters again and said to Jesus, “Where are you from?” But Jesus gave him no answer. So Pilate said to him, “You will not speak to me? Do you not know that I have authority to release you and authority to crucify you?” Jesus answered him, “You would have no authority over me at all unless it had been given you from above. Therefore he who delivered me over to you has the greater sin.”

Now the Jews tell Pilate that Jesus claims to be the Son of God. This is even more troubling for Pilate. He already realized that Jesus is no ordinary man. He knows that he is charismatic teacher who has many followers. Roman pagans know there is god-man interactions among their mythical gods. Therefore for Jesus to claim to be a God is familiar territory for him. Additionally we learn in Matthew that his wife sent word to him, “Have nothing to do with that righteous man, for I have suffered much because of him today in a dream.”

Can you appreciate Pilate’s dilemma? He knows that Jesus is an innocent man. He is dealing with a religious issue outside of his understand and power to address. Once more he questions Jesus. Where are you from? He knows he is from Galilee. That is not his real question. Jesus gives no answer. Pilate affirms his authority over Jesus. Jesus challenges his authority saying Pilate is subject to a higher power.

As an aside, this is the ultimate political issue in our country today. Is the government our authoritative power or is it subject to a higher power?

John 19:12-15 From then on Pilate sought to release him, but the Jews cried out, “If you release this man, you are not Caesar’s friend. Everyone who makes himself a king opposes Caesar.”

So when Pilate heard these words, he brought Jesus out and sat down on the judgment seat at a place called The Stone Pavement, and in Aramaic Gabbatha. Now it was the day of Preparation of the Passover. It was about the sixth hour. He said to the Jews, “Behold your King!” They cried out, “Away with him, away with him, crucify him!” Pilate said to them, “Shall I crucify your King?” The chief priests answered, “We have no king but Caesar.”

Pilate has been won over by Jesus. He makes one final attempt to get Jesus released. He presents Jesus to the Jews as their king. The Jews have one ace left. They accuse Jesus of insurrection against Rome. Pilate ultimately fears the power of Caesar who he knows over the power of God that is less tangible. The Jews for the first time in their history claim Caesar to be their king.

John 19:16-22 So he delivered him over to them to be crucified. So they took Jesus, and he went out, bearing his own cross, to the place called the place of a skull, which in Aramaic is called Golgotha. There they crucified him, and with him two others, one on either side, and Jesus between them. Pilate also wrote an inscription and put it on the cross. It read, “Jesus of Nazareth, the King of the Jews.”

Many of the Jews read this inscription, for the place where Jesus was crucified was near the city, and it was written in Aramaic, in Latin, and in Greek. So the chief priests of the Jews said to Pilate, “Do not write, ‘The King of the Jews,’ but rather, ‘This man said, I am King of the Jews.’ ” Pilate answered, “What I have written I have written.”

The Jews have prevailed. Pilate has done his best to save Jesus, but to no avail. The power of the devil is arrayed against God and the Christ. So far it looks like he is winning. Jesus is delivered for crucifixion, and he must bear his cross. Plutarch taught: ‘Each criminal as part of his punishment carries his cross on his back.’

He earlier told his disciples that they must bear their crosses. “Whoever does not bear his own cross and come after me cannot be my disciple (Luke 14:27)

John is very brief in his narrative. He only says, ‘There they crucified him.’

Pilate gets the final word. He labels the cross with the inscription, ‘Jesus of Nazareth, King of the Jews’. It is written in there languages. The Jews are not pleased, but Pilate affirms his authority and his opinion of who Jesus was.

I have quoted Paul Billheimer many times in the past. I will quote him once again today.

In his book DESTINED FOR THE THRONE; Paul Billheimer says the primary purpose of the creation was the creation of a bride of his Son.

The author’s primary thesis is that the one purpose of the universe from all eternity is the production and preparation of an Eternal Companion for the Son, called the Bride, the Lamb’s Wife…. This world is a laboratory in which those destined for the throne are learning in actual practice how to overcome Satan and his hierarchy…. The average historian has no clue to the meaning of the universe because he ignores the only infallible source book, the Bible…There is only one philosophy of history that makes sense and that is the Biblical philosophy. …To locate the center of history one must bypass all the vast empires and find his way to a tiny land called the navel of the earth, the geographical center of the world. And in that tiny land is a tiny hill called Calvary, where two thousand years ago a Man named Jesus was lifted up to die. And this writer submits that that tiny hill in that tiny land is the center of all history, not only of this world, but of all the countless galaxies and island universes of outer space from eternity to eternity.

This Man hanging upon that bloody cross amid the taunts and jeers of the passers by was ‘before all things’. That is, before history itself. He is the starting point of history, for ‘all things were made by him, and without him was not anything made that was made’. …The universe, including this planet, was created for one purpose: to provide a suitable habitation for the human race. The human race was created in the image and likeness of God for one purpose: to provide an eternal companion for the Son…. And the Messiah came for one intent and only one: to give birth to His Church, thus to obtain His Bride. The Church, then - the called-out body of redeemed mankind – turns out to be the central object, the goal, not only of mundane history but of all that God has been doing in all realms, from all eternity. If this is true, then all history is sacred. There is no such thing as secular history.

From this it is implicit that romance is at the heart of the universe and is the key to all existence. From all eternity God purposed that at some time in the future His Son should have an Eternal Companion, described by John as ‘the bride, the Lamb’s wife.

Therefore, from all eternity, all that precedes the Marriage Supper of the Lamb is preliminary and preparatory. Only thereafter will God’s program for the eternal ages begin to unfold. God will not be ready, so to speak, to enter upon His ultimate and supreme enterprise for the ages until the Bride is on the throne with her divine Lover and Lord. Up until then, the entire universe under the Son’s regulation and control is being manipulated by God for one purpose – to prepare and train the Bride.

John 19:23-24 When the soldiers had crucified Jesus, they took his garments and divided them into four parts, one part for each soldier; also his tunic. But the tunic was seamless, woven in one piece from top to bottom, so they said to one another, “Let us not tear it, but cast lots for it to see whose it shall be.” This was to fulfill the Scripture which says,

“They divided my garments among them,

and for my clothing they cast lots.”

So the soldiers did these things,

By custom the clothing of an executed person were the property of the executioners. They were ‘spoils’ as in war. Jesus may still had on the splendid garments given him by Herod. That may be why the soldiers mocked him as a king. His tunic has become the source for the movie, The Robe. But it is referred to in Psalm 22:18 as well. “The divided my garments among them, and for my clothing they cast lots.”

John 19:25-27 but standing by the cross of Jesus were his mother and his mother’s sister, Mary the wife of Clopas, and Mary Magdalene. When Jesus saw his mother and the disciple whom he loved standing nearby, he said to his mother, “Woman, behold, your son!” Then he said to the disciple, “Behold, your mother!” And from that hour the disciple took her to his own home.

I am sure the women at the cross would have loved to have Jesus’ clothes, especially his mother. Extra Biblical history tells us that John did take Mary into his care, and that he brought her to Ephesus with him when he moved there to become the main pastor of the church there. I have shown a picture of what is venerated as Mary’s home there in some of our earlier studies.

John 19:28-30 After this, Jesus, knowing that all was now finished, said (to fulfill the Scripture), “I thirst.” A jar full of sour wine stood there, so they put a sponge full of the sour wine on a hyssop branch and held it to his mouth. When Jesus had received the sour wine, he said, “It is finished,” and he bowed his head and gave up his spirit.

Psalm 69 is a Messianic psalm. It foreshadows this day for the Messiah. In the Psalm, verse 21we read, They gave me poison for food, and for my thirst they gave me sour wine to drink. However this Psalm ends in a triumphant note:

Let heaven and earth praise him,

the seas and everything that moves in them.

For God will save Zion

and build up the cities of Judah,

and people shall dwell there and possess it;

the offspring of his servants shall inherit it,

and those who love his name shall dwell in it.

The Greek word for hyssop is very similar to the word for spear. The sponge might well have been raised to Jesus on the tip of a spear.

“It is finished.” Jesus mission on earth is finished. He has accomplished his goal. He has paid the price for Adam’s sin, and Adam can face God with a cleansed heart. He has established the foundations of his church, that will eventually encompass the whole earth.

He has redeemed his bride as Billheimer noted in the quote above.

John 19:31-34 Since it was the day of Preparation, and so that the bodies would not remain on the cross on the Sabbath (for that Sabbath was a high day), the Jews asked Pilate that their legs might be broken and that they might be taken away. So the soldiers came and broke the legs of the first, and of the other who had been crucified with him. But when they came to Jesus and saw that he was already dead, they did not break his legs. But one of the soldiers pierced his side with a spear, and at once there came out blood and water.

The Jewish leaders were in a hurry. The land is polluted by a hanged man, and the Passover Sabbath will begin at sundown. The death of the criminals must be hastened. Their legs are broken so they will die quickly of asphyxiation. But Jesus is dead already, so a spear is thrust in his side. Therefore his death as foretold in the Old Testament is fulfilled, with no bones broken and with a spear thrust into his side.

Deuteronomy 21:22-23 “And if a man has committed a crime punishable by death and he is put to death, and you hang him on a tree, his body shall not remain all night on the tree, but you shall bury him the same day, for a hanged man is cursed by God. You shall not defile your land that the LORD your God is giving you for an inheritance.

John 19:35-37 He who saw it has borne witness—his testimony is true, and he knows that he is telling the truth—that you also may believe. For these things took place that the Scripture might be fulfilled: “Not one of his bones will be broken.” And again another Scripture says, "They will look on him whom they have pierced.”

John verifies the accuracy of this account. He affirms that he was an eye-witness. And his witness is confirmed in the Old Testament scriptures.

No bone of the Passover lamb is to be broken.

Exodus 12:46 It shall be eaten in one house; you shall not take any of the flesh outside the house, and you shall not break any of its bones.

Numbers 9:12 They shall leave none of it until the morning, nor break any of its bones; according to all the statute for the Passover they shall keep it.

Zechariah 12:10-11 “And I will pour out on the house of David and the inhabitants of Jerusalem a spirit of grace and pleas for mercy, so that, when they look on me, on him whom they have pierced, they shall mourn for him, as one mourns for an only child, and weep bitterly over him, as one weeps over a firstborn. On that day the mourning in Jerusalem will be as great as the mourning for Hadad-rimmon in the plain of Megiddo.

John 19:38-42 After these things Joseph of Arimathea, who was a disciple of Jesus, but secretly for fear of the Jews, asked Pilate that he might take away the body of Jesus, and Pilate gave him permission. So he came and took away his body. Nicodemus also, who earlier had come to Jesus by night, came bringing a mixture of myrrh and aloes, about seventy-five pounds in weight. So they took the body of Jesus and bound it in linen cloths with the spices, as is the burial custom of the Jews. Now in the place where he was crucified there was a garden, and in the garden a new tomb in which no one had yet been laid. So because of the Jewish day of Preparation, since the tomb was close at hand, they laid Jesus there.

Joseph of Arimathea and Nicodemus must be down fallen. They put their reputations on the line by believing that Jesus was the promised Messiah. Now he is dead. They must still feel that Jesus was a special person, even a prophet, but not the Messiah Moses had foretold. They do rescue Jesus body from the usual fate of being thrown into a common grave in the fire pit of the Jerusalem dump in the Hinnom Valley to the south of the city, or left in the open to be eaten by the vultures. With Pilate’s permission they take the body and lay it in a new tomb in the garden near Golgotha. Think how many hopes were dashed this fateful day. Think of the joy among those that wanted Jesus out of the way.

Here ends our study for this week. You will have to return next week for:

The Passion of The Christ - part 4.

John 18:28-40 The Passion of the Christ, part 2 May 11, 2020

Jesus Trial before Pilate

What is Truth?

Jesus has been arrested and taken to the Temple authorities for trial before Annas, a revered leader of the Jewish people, and the current high priest, Caiaphas. John does not describe the trial by Caiaphas, but we can find it in Luke 22. In today’s lesson, the High Priest sends Jesus to the governor’s headquarters to be tried by Pilate. Pilate realizes that Jesus is being accused of religious apostasy, but after extensive questioning he concludes that Jesus has not done any civil crime from the legal point of view. He finally succumbs to political pressure and turns Jesus over for crucifixion, but in his interrogation of Jesus he asks the ultimate critical question of all mankind: What isTruth. This is the great question of every man through all of time. We will concentrate on this question in this lesson.

John 18:28-32 Then they led Jesus from the house of Caiaphas to the governor’s headquarters. It was early morning. They themselves did not enter the governor’s headquarters, so that they would not be defiled, but could eat the Passover. So Pilate went outside to them and said, “What accusation do you bring against this man?” They answered him, “If this man were not doing evil, we would not have delivered him over to you.”

Pilate said to them, “Take him yourselves and judge him by your own law.” The Jews said to him, “It is not lawful for us to put anyone to death.” This was to fulfill the word that Jesus had spoken to show by what kind of death he was going to die.

Pontius Pilate was the fifth governor of the Roman province of Judaea, serving under Emperor Tiberius from 26/27 to 36/37 AD. There is little known about him in the literature of the day. He came from the Pontii family. In 36/37 He was removed from office for his violent handling of an armed insurrection by the Samaritans on Mt. Gerizim. He was sent to Rome to face Tiberius, but Tiberius died before he got there. Some think he simply retired after that. Some of the early church fathers said that he became believer and died a martyr’s death. He remains a key figure in the Passion Story and is remembered continually in the church because of the reference to him in the Apostle’s Creed.

This is the real trial of Jesus. The Jews are the accusers, but Pilate is the judge and jury. However, the Jews do not have a definite accusation. Pilate knows that their complaint is religious, and not political. It is not an accusation Pilate is expected to address. He tries to send it back to them. The accusers are from the Sanhedrin that met earlier at Caiaphas’s residence. Passover is rapidly approaching so the Jews are in a great hurry.

According to the Jews the dwellings of non-Jews are unclean. Therefore they stand outside the governor’s headquarters, lest they be contaminated and therefore unable to celebrate the Passover. It is fascinating that they are concerned about ritual purity and take no heed that they are about to sacrifice the ultimate Passover lamb. Read Numbers 9:1-14. Provision is made for the ritually unclean to celebrate the Passover one month later.

The Jews could not crucify a man to death, that was reserved for the state. However, they could stone an offender to death. They did stone Stephen to death a few weeks later (Acts 7:56-60). But the Jews wanted to make sure Jesus did not die a martyr, and that he die as a man who is cursed by God.

Neither Pilate nor the Jews realize this event was determined by God long before the world began. God knew that sin would enter the world, and he determined to find a righteous way to redeem sinful mankind and still remain true to his righteousness and justice. ‘How easy it is to be meticulous about external regulations of religion while being at variance with God) (Beasley-Murray). Their call for crucifixion was determined in their own scriptures fifteen hundred years earlier. If Jesus was to die for the sins of mankind, he had to bear the curse of God. In Deuteronomy 21:22-23 we read:

“And if a man has committed a crime punishable by death and he is put to death, and you hang him on a tree, his body shall not remain all night on the tree, but you shall bury him the same day, for a hanged man is cursed by God. You shall not defile your land that the LORD your God is giving you for an inheritance”.

John 18:33 So Pilate entered his headquarters again and called Jesus and said to him, “Are you the King of the Jews?”

Pilate takes Jesus away from his accusers for a private audience in the headquarters. He certainly knows who Jesus is. Stories about him continually circulate around Jerusalem, and all Israel. He opens with a fascinating question, Are you the king of the Jews? Jesus entered Jerusalem a week earlier with the trappings of a king. The people were shouting “Hosanna! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord, even ‘the King of Israel”! The Jews were always on the verge of insurrection. He would have been very sensitive to such an event a week earlier. I don’t think the accusers would have said anything about Jesus’ kingship. Their accusation was vague at best. I think Pilate saw Jesus as different from the usual messianic pretenders and false prophets among the Jews at that time. He is taking Jesus seriously. His question parallels the question by the high priest in Mark 14:61-62.

Again the high priest asked him, “Are you the Christ, the Son of the Blessed?” And Jesus said, “I am, and you will see the Son of Man seated at the right hand of Power, and coming with the clouds of heaven.

John 18:34-35 Jesus answered, “Do you say this of your own accord, or did others say it to you about me?”

Pilate answered, “Am I a Jew? Your own nation and the chief priests have delivered you over to me. What have you done?”

Pilate wants Jesus to perjure himself. Jesus replies with a question of his own. Again I contend that Pilate was well aware of Jesus and the commotion he is creating in Jerusalem. Jesus knows that Pilate knows more about Jesus than mere hearsay.

But Pilate responds with a question of his own. Am I a Jew? What have you done? It is interesting to note this sparring. Pilate has sole authority over Jesus granted by Rome itself. Jesus has ultimate authority over Pilate granted by God himself. Now Jesus replies, but does not give an actionable answer.

John 18:36 Jesus answered, “My kingdom is not of this world. If my kingdom were of this world, my servants would have been fighting, that I might not be delivered over to the Jews. But my kingdom is not from the world.”

The first Gospel message from Jesus found in the first chapter of Mark’s Gospel was: proclaiming the gospel of God, and saying, “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel” (Mark 1:14-15). Jesus and the disciples have been preaching this message for three years. Jesus can now explain the message to Pilate. When Jesus speaks of his kingdom he really means his own sovereign rule. That is what kingship is. He is on a mission to confirm his kingship over all the world. But he is no threat to Rome. He has no military army. He is not planning to over throw Pilate and Rome. However his kingdom will be very active in the world, as the future church grows to be found in every country and every continent on earth.

John 18:37-38a Then Pilate said to him, “So you are a king?” Jesus answered, “You say that I am a king. For this purpose I was born and for this purpose I have come into the world—to bear witness to the truth. Everyone who is of the truth listens to my voice.”

Pilate said to him, “What is truth?”

Then Pilate said to him, “So you are a king?” The Bible presents this as a question. However this probably is a statement and Pilate realizes that Jesus is no average Jew, no mere mortal man. He will soon nail on the cross Jesus of Nazareth, the King of the Jews. Jesus affirms his statement. Then he continues with the quintessential issue of life,

For this purpose I was born and for this purpose I have come into the world—to bear witness to the truth. Everyone who is of the truth listens to my voice.”

Jesus is now witnessing to Pilate. He would like to have Pilate join his kingdom. I think of Pilate at this point is like Agrippa before Paul in Acts when he said, Almost thou persuadest me to be a Christian (KJV Acts 26:28).

Pilate responds with the quintessential question, “What is truth”. When Pilate is face to face with Truth itself he asks his question and then turns away without waiting for an answer.

Today Truth is in the dock and is being challenged. There are many truths today that are governed by one’s personal worldview. Biblical truth is based on the Ten Commandments, the authority of all scripture and on Jesus Resurrection. Jesus proclaimed, I am the way, the truth and the life (John 14:6). He told his disciples that if they abide in his word they will know the truth, and the truth will set them free.

Truth in the socialist worldview is anything that aids its advance in society. It varies with the circumstances and is not a fixed item. Similarly, in Islam truth is determined by the benefit of an action or a word would be to the cause. Today in our society it is okay to cheat on a test if it improves your grade, It is okay to lie on a CV if it advances your position. The church has veered many times because men (and women) have used the scriptures in distorted ways and have drawn many believers astray. Truth is hanging in the balance.

In the WSJ 4/28/2020 was an article entitled ‘Communists in Brooks Brothers’. A Chinese youth was told by his WWII patriot father after the Chinese revolution,’Martin, you can never trust the Communists’. They require lies and violence to remain in power. Lenin made amply clear Communists have only contempt for the ’bourgeois’ idea of objective truth, replacing it with a morality that holds ‘truth’ to be whatever is expedient for the party at that moment. It is extraordinary how consistent the lies and violence have been across time and geography, given the many different flavors of communism. Now the Chinese Communists have traded in Mao’s jackets for Brooks Brothers suits and sent their children to Harvard Business School. The ruling class has learned that it can have it all. Except truth. This is one thing no Communist can afford.

The machinations of our government in Washington are characterized as lies by both sides of the isle. There is no longer the foundational truth that governed the creation of our nation, so contradictory statements are continually made that leave us citizens confused and frustrated. The lie is ultimately destructive to as great a nation as ours.

The Bible teaches us that Satan is the Father of Lies and he has been a liar since the beginning (John 8:44). He works by deceit to draw men away from God and into his kingdom. Jesus is his opposite. In him there is no lie. He fully reflects the Father’s Righteousness. He draws his followers to himself and clothes them with his righteousness. There is no access to heaven except through righteousness, Jesus’ imputed righteousness.

So we are faced with the question, is the Bible true? Is Jesus truly the only way to God? We grew up knowing that all Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work. As our society has become increasingly secular this teaching is being rejected and ignored. I trust the veracity of this teaching will be strengthened in you as we review again the Passion of the Christ and get to know Jesus more intimately.

Ravi Zacharias makes several points concerning truth in his new book, The Logic of God.

How can we know that a truth claim is true? We all have a worldview that answered four necessary questions: origin, meaning, morality, and destiny. Then three tests for truth must be applied to any worldview: logical consistency, empirical adequacy, and experiential relevance. Jesus’ claim fits all of these criteria. Ravi then says that Love is the supreme ethic. Where there is love, there must be the reality of free will. Where there is free will, there is the possibility of sin. When sin exists in a moral universe there is the need of redemption. The Christian faith teaches that Jesus came as the redeemer and that his sacrifice frees us from the penalty of sin. Our faith and trust in Christ are reasonably grounded and experientially sustained.

John 18:38b-40 After he had said this, he went back outside to the Jews and told them, “I find no guilt in him. But you have a custom that I should release one man for you at the Passover. So do you want me to release to you the King of the Jews?” They cried out again, “Not this man, but Barabbas!” Now Barabbas was a robber.

Pilate thought he had a perfect solution to the dilemma of Jesus. He found Jesus innocent of any civil laws. Maybe he wanted to let the priests save face by offering this alternative. But the chief priests had no intention of letting Jesus go. They had been plotting his death since he first showed up in Capernaum. After he healed the man with a withered hand on the Sabbath the Pharisees went out and immediately held counsel with the Herodians against him, how to destroy him (Mark 3:6). Jesus had just appeared on the scene and hadn’t even taught in Jerusalem yet. By the time of his third Passover visit to Jerusalem the plot to destroy him is a high priority. Read John 11:45-57.

49 But one of them, Caiaphas, who was high priest that year, said to them, “You know nothing at all. 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.”

53 So from that day on they made plans to put him to death.

The chief priests had no intention of letting Pilate off that easily. In their minds Jesus had to die, and die as a criminal, cursed by God. The timing was tight. Passover was coming and he had to die immediately. They thought they were in control, but it was God who had the final say.

Interestingly, the Pastor’s virtual sermon on U-tube today dovetails perfectly into this lesson.

In next week’s lesson Pilate will make one more attempt to save Jesus. But the day ends with Jesus crucifixion and death and burial.

John 18:1-27 The Passion of the Christ, part 1 May 4, 2020

In this week’s lesson we begin the study of the central teaching of the whole Bible. All that precedes this is directed toward this primary event. All that follows will be directed to the second coming of the Lord, the Parousia. The Old Testament pointed to the coming of the Messiah. Now he has arrived. He came to establish a New Kingdom on the earth. The original gospel message was ‘The Kingdom of God is at hand’. For three years Jesus taught the people what this kingdom would be like, and he invited all to believe in his message and to join the kingdom. His disciples believed his message as did many others.

We live in a moral universe. Good and evil exist together in our world. The world was created by a moral God, but the good and moral creation was invaded by an evil force. With Adam’s fall the evil force took control of the earth, replacing the righteousness of God with its unrighteousness. The Bible talks of Satan as the prince of this world. A Messiah had to come to overcome the evil forces and restore the world to righteousness. The Old Testament taught that sin had to be expiated by the shedding of blood. The Bible tells us that the Messiah had to die to pay the price of everyman’s sin and sins. In the next four lessons we will see that the Messiah is tried by the religious establishment (the Temple authorities) and the state (Pontus Pilate), that he is crucified and dies for the sins of all mankind, and that he rises from the dead to live and reign forever more.

This is the message of the church to the world, that God sacrificed his only Son so that any and all who put their trust in him should have everlasting life. Our lessons will

include:

1. The Arrest and First Trial of the Christ

2. The Trial before the State

3. The crucifixion of the Messiah

4. The Resurrection and Exaltation of the Messiah

John 18:1 When Jesus had spoken these words, he went out with his disciples across the Kidron Valley, where there was a garden, which he and his disciples entered.

Last week we studied Jesus high priestly prayer. We noted that his prayer followed the Old Testament pattern for the high priest, who would pray first for himself, then his family, and finally for the whole nation of Israel. Jesus prayed in a similar manner for himself, for the disciples, and finished by praying for the whole church to come. The church was not yet formally established, but soon would be. His prayer was that the whole church be one. Unfortunately this did not happen outwardly. However I still contend there is one true church made of true believers from every denomination and every organization of the political church.

Now Jesus leads his disciples out through the East gate of Jerusalem, down into the Kidron Valley that has a stream that runs from north to south, across the stream and up the other side to a garden on the slopes of Mt. Olivet. The Russian Orthodox Church has a small temple adjacent to the garden. The garden was an olive grove and therefore it was known as Gethsemane. A gethsemane is a press for making olive oil.

John 18:2-11 Now Judas, who betrayed him, also knew the place, for Jesus often met there with his disciples. So Judas, having procured a band of soldiers and some officers from the chief priests and the Pharisees, went there with lanterns and torches and weapons. Then Jesus, knowing all that would happen to him, came forward and said to them, “Whom do you seek?” They answered him, “Jesus of Nazareth.” Jesus said to them, “I am he.” Judas, who betrayed him, was standing with them. When Jesus said to them, “I am he,” they drew back and fell to the ground. So he asked them again, “Whom do you seek?” And they said, “Jesus of Nazareth.” Jesus answered, “I told you that I am he. So, if you seek me, let these men go.” This was to fulfill the word that he had spoken: “Of those whom you gave me I have lost not one.” Then Simon Peter, having a sword, drew it and struck the high priest’s servant and cut off his right ear. (The servant’s name was Malchus.) So Jesus said to Peter, “Put your sword into its sheath; shall I not drink the cup that the Father has given me?”

The disciples were familiar with the garden. It was a quiet place away from the hustle

and bustle of the city. Jesus could teach and be with his disciples in this place. Judas knew that Jesus would be found there and he headed there with a contingent of Roman soldiers and Temple guards. The soldiers were probably there in case the Temple guards met any resistance from the disciples.

No mention is made of Judas’ kiss here. Jesus confronts them first, with a very important question, Whom do you seek? This question was appropriate to the occasion, but it is an eternal question for all mankind as well. Who are we seeking? They reply ‘Jesus of Nazareth’. Jesus answers them with God’s name, I am he. God identified himself to Moses as ‘I am’. Jesus identified himself with ‘I am” seven times in the Gospel of John (e.g. 6:20; 8:28, 54). Pastor Malanga was preaching on Jesus’ I am’s until the virus hit.

The soldiers fell back. The reality of the mysterious tremendous before the presence of God is frequently illustrated in the Bible (e.g. Ezekiel 1:28; Dan 10:9; Acts 9:4; Revelations 1:17). Peter was ready to defend Jesus physically. Might they all have turned back if Peter hadn’t drawn his sword? Unfortunately he failed to identify with Jesus when he was challenged by a girl and others.

John 18:12-14 So the band of soldiers and their captain and the officers of the Jews arrested Jesus and bound him. First they led him to Annas, for he was the father-in-law of Caiaphas, who was high priest that year. It was Caiaphas who had advised the Jews that it would be expedient that one man should die for the people.

We do not know the size of the band of soldiers. A cohort would be 600 men. A maniple had 200 men in it. The Antonia garrison was full because there was always the danger of some sort of public demonstration or uprising by the Jews during Passover time. It was most likely a small contingent. The importance of this is that both Jew and Gentile was involved in Jesus crucifixion. Jesus submitted to the arrest without resistance because the events of the following day had been planned by the Father and the Son before time began.

Jesus is first taken to the High Priest, Annas. He was high priest from A.D. 6-15. He had been deposed by Pilate’s predecessor, Valorous Gratus, but was still highly respected by the Jews. He remained immensely influential among the Jewish leadership. His family had monopoly of the high-priestly office from A.D. 17-41. Caiaphas was his son-in-law.

It was Caiaphas who had advised the Jews that it would be expedient that one man should die for the people. Caiaphas did not know how prophetic was his statement.

John 18:15-18 Simon Peter followed Jesus, and so did another disciple. Since that disciple was known to the high priest, he entered with Jesus into the court of the high priest, but Peter stood outside at the door. So the other disciple, who was known to the high priest, went out and spoke to the servant girl who kept watch at the door, and brought Peter in. The servant girl at the door said to Peter, “You also are not one of this man’s disciples, are you?” He said, “I am not.” Now the servants and officers had made a charcoal fire, because it was cold, and they were standing and warming themselves. Peter also was with them, standing and warming himself.

The narrative now shifts to Peter. The disciples fled from the garden, but then Peter and another disciple, most likely John, followed the troop back to town. John was known to the high priest so he was able to get into the inner court. He went back out to help Peter to get in as well. The girl who was guarding the door recognized Peter as one of Jesus’ disciples. He denied it and went into the court to warm himself by the fire.

John 18:19-24 The high priest then questioned Jesus about his disciples and his teaching. Jesus answered him, “I have spoken openly to the world. I have always taught in synagogues and in the temple, where all Jews come together. I have said nothing in secret. Why do you ask me? Ask those who have heard me what I said to them; they know what I said.”

Jesus is now questioned by Annas. Annas is called the high priest, but his official role ended 15 A.D. Jesus undergoes a standard interrogation. What was your teaching? Who gave you the authority to preach thus? Who were your disciples? Annas knew all the answers to his questions. In any case the questions were out of order. In a Jewish trial the judge would ask questions of the witnesses, never of the accused. Guilt would be determined if two witnesses agreed on the essentials of the case. One of the claims against Jesus was that he was a false prophet, secretly leading the people astray. Jesus response was that he spoke openly every where he went. Nothing was taught or spoken in secret. Jesus asks Annas to call witnesses. Their words would support Jesus’ testimony. Jesus is calling for a just trial.

When he had said these things, one of the officers standing by struck Jesus with his hand, saying, “Is that how you answer the high priest?” Jesus answered him, “If what I said is wrong, bear witness about the wrong; but if what I said is right, why do you strike me?” Annas then sent him bound to Caiaphas the high priest.

They did not want Jesus to say anything in his own defense. Jesus asks the officer to judge if he was being truthful or not. He could go out to get witnesses. But Annas has heard enough. He has no basis for convicting Jesus. Therefore he sends Jesus on to Caiaphas for further examination.

John 18:25-27 Now Simon Peter was standing and warming himself. So they said to him, “You also are not one of his disciples, are you?” He denied it and said, “I am not.” One of the servants of the high priest, a relative of the man whose ear Peter had cut off, asked, “Did I not see you in the garden with him?” Peter again denied it, and at once a rooster crowed.

Once again the scene turns to Peter. Peter is challenged once more about his relationship with Jesus. Some in the crowd think he is a disciple. In Luke one of them says, ‘Certainly this man also was with him, for he too is a Galilean” (Luke 22:39). When I was younger I learned this couplet that has been with me these many years.

Surely thy speech betrayeth thee

as friend of Christ of Galilee.

The final challenge comes from the relative of Malchus whose ear Peter had cut off. Luke tells that Jesus healed the ear right there.

Jesus is taken to the house of Caiaphas, but John does not address the interrogation here. The closest we come is found in Luke 22:66-71.

When day came, the assembly of the elders of the people gathered together, both chief priests and scribes. And they led him away to their council, and they said, “If you are the Christ, tell us.” But he said to them, “If I tell you, you will not believe, and if I ask you, you will not answer. But from now on the Son of Man shall be seated at the right hand of the power of God.” So they all said, “Are you the Son of God, then?” And he said to them, “You say that I am.” Then they said, “What further testimony do we need? We have heard it ourselves from his own lips.”

This trial probably takes place with Caiaphas and the Sanhedrin. It must be close to dawn because Jesus it taken to Pilate early in the morning. They have no witnesses with them and they are trying to get Jesus to incriminate himself. Jesus does not comply, but rather turns their questions back on themselves. But they take his words the way they wish and accuse him of blasphemy.

Next they send him to Pilate. We will look at that trial next week.

John 17 Jesus’ High Priestly Prayer April 27, 2020

The disciples with Jesus have left the upper room and are on their way to the Garden of Gethsemane. Jesus feels the burden of the hours ahead. He came to establish a New Kingdom on earth and his time is now very short. He has entrusted the continuation of his kingdom to the eleven men who are with him now. They will not be able to do it on their own. He has empowered them with the Holy Spirit who will be their guide, teacher and comforter in the days and years to come. Jesus unloads his burden onto God, himself, with this three fold prayer.

He first affirms his own relationship with God. He descended to earth with a divine mission to establish a new and eternal kingdom of men and women in love with God and with Jesus, his son. God will bestow eternal life on all who believe and come to know the only true God.Jesus affirms that he has accomplished his mission and his disciples have come to know the truth and have believed.

He then prays for the disciples. He knows they will desert him at the time of his trial. They are impotent weak sinners after all. But in the end they will remain faithful and will know that Jesus has come from God and that his message is true. The disciples were given to Jesus by God and Jesus has kept them true to the faith. Although they will have to suffer in the world they will triumph because the joy of their faith in Jesus and in God will be greater than any pain or suffering directed against them.

Finally he prays for the church to come. He prays for all who will respond to the gospel message as it is spread throughout the whole world by the disciples and subsequently the whole church. He can see ahead to the Day of Pentecost. He can see the church grow by 3000 believers the first day and continue to grow rapidly until it now has reached 1/3 of all the people in the world.

But his prayer was that the church be one. This has not happened from outward appearances. There are many forms of the church, Catholic, Orthodox and Protestant, and many denominations and divisions in each group. But interspersed through all these divisions is the true church of faithful believers who love the Lord above all else that make up the true Kingdom of God. It is this church that we hoped to model when we established Christ Chapel as an interdenominational church.

John 17:1-4 When Jesus had spoken these words, he lifted up his eyes to heaven, and said, “Father, the hour has come; glorify your Son that the Son may glorify you, since you have given him authority over all flesh, to give eternal life to all whom you have given him.

And this is eternal life, that they know you the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent.

I glorified you on earth, having accomplished the work that you gave me to do. And now, Father, glorify me in your own presence with the glory that I had with you before the world existed.

Jesus affirms the purpose of his mission one last time. He came to earth, appointed by the Father, to rescue mankind from the ravages of Adam’s sin. Since Adam’s day, sin has ruled the earth. The deed to the earth had been transferred to Satan. In the fullness of time Jesus came to reclaim the deed and to establish a New Kingdom on earth. This kingdom promises eternal life to all who join in. This work has been accomplished and Jesus is ready to return to his Father in heaven.

John 17:6-9 “I have manifested your name to the people whom you gave me out of the world. Yours they were, and you gave them to me, and they have kept your word. Now they know that everything that you have given me is from you. For I have given them the words that you gave me, and they have received them and have come to know in truth that I came from you; and they have believed that you sent me.

This prayer has a didactic purpose as well as a plea to the Father. It is voiced for the benefit of the disciples. The disciples learn for the final time the purpose of Jesus coming and the role they will soon be playing. From Jesus the disciples came to know the true God. This knowledge is personal and not just religious teaching. It turns out ‘truth’ is embodied in Jesus and the Father and not just a philosophical structure.

John 17:9-13 I am praying for them. I am not praying for the world but for those whom you have given me, for they are yours. All mine are yours, and yours are mine, and I am glorified in them. And I am no longer in the world, but they are in the world, and I am coming to you. Holy Father, keep them in your name, which you have given me, that they may be one, even as we are one.

While I was with them, I kept them in your name, which you have given me. I have guarded them, and not one of them has been lost except the son of destruction, that the Scripture might be fulfilled. But now I am coming to you, and these things I speak in the world, that they may have my joy fulfilled in themselves.

Here Jesus prays specifically for the disciples and not the whole world. Prayer for the world comes later. The disciples will soon be under great political and religious pressure. They are at risk of disbanding now that Jesus is gone. They are comfortable being with him and that kept them together, but now they will be on their own. In the last chapter Jesus taught them that the Holy Spirit will come to them and will remain with them and the church in Jesus place. I think they do not yet understand the person or the role of the Holy Spirit. Their faithfulness will be Jesus joy in heaven.

This prayer is a high priestly prayer. Jesus role is one of king, but also of priest. He rules over us as king, and he intercedes for us continually before God as priest. This prayer takes the form of the high priestly prayer found in Leviticus. He prays first for himself, then for his disciples and finally for the church. The high priest would first make atonement for himself, then for his family, and finally for the nation of Israel when he approached God in the Holy of Holies.

Leviticus 16:17No one may be in the tent of meeting from the time he enters to make atonement in the Holy Place until he comes out and has made atonement for himself and for his house and for all the assembly of Israel.

John 17:14-19 I have given them your word, and the world has hated them because they are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. I do not ask that you take them out of the world, but that you keep them from the evil one. They are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. Sanctify them in the truth; your word is truth. As you sent me into the world, so I have sent them into the world. And for their sake I consecrate myself, that they also may be sanctified in truth.

Jesus is about to die because of the hostility of the religious and secular society. The disciples will face similar hostility. The hostility is not in the people per se, but it is in Satan and in his power over the people. We should be aware of this when we get too critical of others. Satan hates Jesus and hates God. His hate is poured out on all who would want to enter into the Christ’s New Kingdom. Therefore Jesus pleads with the Father to protect his disciples and followers from ‘the evil one’.

The disciples are raised from a mundane or profane life to true life through the ‘truth’. The truth sanctifies and the truth is found in God’s Word. When I was in college a new book came out entitled ‘Thy Word Is Truth’. It was written by Edward J. Young, a professor at the Westminster Theological Seminary. It was required reading in one of my Bible courses, and it remains a powerful book. It gets its title from this prayer of Jesus. Truth consecrates the believer and raises him to a higher level of life and purpose. It sanctifies the ordinary man or woman and makes him and her useful for the kingdom.

John 17:20-26 “I do not ask for these only, but also for those who will believe in me through their word, that they may all be one, just as you, Father, are in me, and I in you, that they also may be in us, so that the world may believe that you have sent me. The glory that you have given me I have given to them, that they may be one even as we are one, I in them and you in me, that they may become perfectly one, so that the world may know that you sent me and loved them even as you loved me.

Father, I desire that they also, whom you have given me, may be with me where I am, to see my glory that you have given me because you loved me before the foundation of the world.

O righteous Father, even though the world does not know you, I know you, and these know that you have sent me. I made known to them your name, and I will continue to make it known, that the love with which you have loved me may be in them, and I in them.”

Jesus has prayed for himself and for the disciples. Now he prays for the worldwide church. The church has not yet formed formally. That will happen in 50 days at the Feast of Pentecost. But Jesus sees the future, and the fruit of the purpose for which he came. He prays that the church and all believers may be one. The oneness is likened to the oneness between Jesus and the Father. The basis of the oneness is love, the love four between the Father and the Son, and the love Jesus commanded of his disciples on Maundy Thursday. To know God’s name is to know God. The God of the Bible is a God of love. Sometimes the Bible describes tough love, but the love is constantly there. The sacrifice Jesus is about to endure is the ultimate affirmation of God’s love.

Unfortunately the prayer that the church be one has not been our experience. The church has divided into multiple organizations and denominations over the years. The Catholics and the Orthodox divided early. The Protestants separated later. Then any number of denominations have grown out to the Protestant movement. All claim to have the right relationship to God, but do not recognize a right relationship to each other. I do not think this was Jesus intent in establishing his church.

Therefore, I propose that the true church, the one Jesus prayed for, still exists. It exists scattered in all the many religious organizations in the world. It exists among the Baptists and the Presbyterians, the Catholics and the Orthodox, the European and the worldwide churches. Because in all these religious worlds there are believers who have truly been born again and love the Lord, the Father and each other. It is with this in mind that Christ Chapel was inaugurated 40 years ago as a place of ministry open to true believers of any denomination or no denomination at all. It is easy to forget our original purpose so it is god to be reminded again. We will all find that the church in heaven will be interdenominational.

The Paraclete April 20, 2020

Paraclete

1. an advocate or intercessor

From late Greek Parakletos, comforter, literally, a person called in to help

2. the Holy Spirit; the Comforter

The Work of the Holy Spirit

The Helper - How does he help, console, comfort, uplift, refresh?

Romans 15:13 May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that by the power of the Holy Spirit you may abound in hope.

Galatians 5:5 For through the Spirit, by faith, we ourselves eagerly wait for the hope of righteousness.

The Spirit of Truth

John 8:31-32 “If you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples, and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”

The One Who Convicts of Sin and Righteousness

Psalm 139:1-7 O LORD, you have searched me and known me!

You know when I sit down and when I rise up;

you discern my thoughts from afar.

You search out my path and my lying down

and are acquainted with all my ways.

Even before a word is on my tongue,

behold, O LORD, you know it altogether.

You hem me in, behind and before,

and lay your hand upon me.

Such knowledge is too wonderful for me;

it is high; I cannot attain it.

Where shall I go from your Spirit?

Or where shall I flee from your presence?

The One Who Glorifies The Son

John 16:14-15 He will glorify me, for he will take what is mine and declare it to you. All that the Father has is mine; therefore I said that he will take what is mine and declare it to you.

The One Who Bestows God’s Gifts to the Church

The Spirit of Life

Paul prays for the Ephesians 3:14-19

For this reason I bow my knees before the Father, from whom every family in heaven and on earth is named, that according to the riches of his glory he may grant you to be strengthened with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith—that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may have strength to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.

The Sustainer of Faith

The Intercessor

____________________________

A valuable reference is a book by A. J. Gordon, the founder of the Boston Missionary Training Institute (1889) that later became Gordon College (1962).

The Ministry of the Spirit by A. J. Gordon

American Baptist Publication Society 1894

Classical Reprint Series Free E. Books @ Forgotten Books.org

John 16 The Holy Spirit is our Paraclete April 13, 2020

Last week Jesus clarified for the disciples the primary principle of his New Kingdom. His kingdom is to be governed by love and the citizens are to live by Jesus commandment that they love one another. Jesus affirmed his love for the disciples. The Father sent Jesus to rescue man because of his love for his creation. Love is the universal governing principle of the whole universe.

Jesus explained one again to the disciples that he will not remain with them on earth forever. He is about to leave, but he is sending a Paraclete who will remain with the disciples and the church in his place. This week we learn more about the role the Holy Spirit will play in the lives of the disciples and the church that is about to be inaugurate

16:1-4 “I have said all these things to you to keep you from falling away. They will put you out of the synagogues. Indeed, the hour is coming when whoever kills you will think he is offering service to God. And they will do these things because they have not known the Father, nor me. But I have said these things to you, that when their hour comes you may remember that I told them to you.

This is being written around 95 AD. The Christians have been kicked out of the synagogues by this time and the Jews are beginning to join Rome in the persecution of the church. The twelfth of the Eighteen Benedictions of the Jews, formulated near the end of the first century, reads: “For the apostates let there be no hope, and let the arrogant government (Rome) be speedily uprooted in our days. Let the Nazarenes and the Minim (heretics) be destroyed in a moment and let them be blotted out of the Book of Life and not be inscribed with the righteous. Blessed are thou, O Lord, who humblest the arrogant.”

But the roots of persecution are realized early in Jesus ministry:

“Blessed are you when people hate you and when they exclude you and revile you and spurn your name as evil, on account of the Son of Man! Luke 6:22.

Blessed are you when others revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account. Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you. Matthew 5:11

16:4b-7 “I did not say these things to you from the beginning, because I was with you. But now I am going to him who sent me, and none of you asks me, ‘Where are you going?’ But because I have said these things to you, sorrow has filled your heart. Nevertheless, I tell you the truth: it is to your advantage that I go away, for if I do not go away, the Helper will not come to you. But if I go, I will send him to you.

The disciples no longer ask Domine, quo vadis? See 13:36. The disciples are saddened, not because they will face persecution, but because they are beginning to understand that Jesus is really about to leave them.

I repeat, the Spirit is ever present with the church during the Kingdom age. He is as present with us as Jesus was with his disciples. Jesus is making this clear to the disciples now so when Pentecost arrives they will not be taken by surprise.

Why is it that the Spirit will not come until Jesus departs? Is it that God cannot complete his full plan of salvation until the Paschal sacrifice has been completed?

Joel 2:28-32 “And it shall come to pass afterward,

that I will pour out my Spirit on all flesh;

your sons and your daughters shall prophesy,

your old men shall dream dreams,

and your young men shall see visions.

Even on the male and female servants

in those days I will pour out my Spirit.

“And I will show wonders in the heavens and on the earth, blood and fire and columns of smoke. The sun shall be turned to darkness, and the moon to blood, before the great and awesome day of the LORD comes. And it shall come to pass that everyone who calls on the name of the LORD shall be saved. For in Mount Zion and in Jerusalem there shall be those who escape, as the LORD has said, and among the survivors shall be those whom the LORD calls.

Jeremiah 31:31-34 “Behold, the days are coming, declares the LORD, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah, not like the covenant that I made with their fathers on the day when I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt, my covenant that they broke, though I was their husband, declares the LORD. But this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, declares the LORD: I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts. And I will be their God, and they shall be my people. And no longer shall each one teach his neighbor and each his brother, saying, ‘Know the LORD,’ for they shall all know me, from the least of them to the greatest, declares the LORD. For I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more.”

16:8-11 And when he comes, he will convict the world concerning sin and righteousness and judgment:

concerning sin, because they do not believe in me;

concerning righteousness, because I go to the Father, and you will see me no longer;

concerning judgment, because the ruler of this world is judged.

The primary sin of man is unbelief. Salvation is through faith. The Holy Spirit moves in man’s spirit to guide him to the faith.

Jesus is able to leave because he brought true righteousness to light.

The judgment of the world takes place on the cross. Satan is now judged and found wanting.

The teaching on the Paraclete is part and parcel of the eschatology of this Gospel. The salvation of the Messiah is mediated through the Spirit.

16:12-15 “I still have many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now.

When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth, for he will not speak on his own authority, but whatever he hears he will speak, and he will declare to you the things that are to come.

He will glorify me, for he will take what is mine and declare it to you. All that the Father has is mine; therefore I said that he will take what is mine and declare it to you.

Jesus has already claimed to be ‘the Truth’. Now the Spirit will guide the disciples to the ‘very heart of all Truth’. Until now their grasp of the truth has been limited, but now the Spirit can open their eyes to its height and depth and breadth.

16:16-18“A little while, and you will see me no longer; and again a little while, and you will see me.” So some of his disciples said to one another, “What is this that he says to us, ‘A little while, and you will not see me, and again a little while, and you will see me’; and, ‘because I am going to the Father’?”

So they were saying, “What does he mean by ‘a little while’? We do not know what he is talking about.”

Finally the disciples comprehend that Jesus will soon be leaving them, but the possibility of his return from death still eludes them. “We don’t know what he is talking about”.

16:19-22 Jesus knew that they wanted to ask him, so he said to them, “Is this what you are asking yourselves, what I meant by saying, ‘A little while and you will not see me, and again a little while and you will see me’?

Truly, truly, I say to you, you will weep and lament, but the world will rejoice. You will be sorrowful, but your sorrow will turn into joy. When a woman is giving birth, she has sorrow because her hour has come, but when she has delivered the baby, she no longer remembers the anguish, for joy that a human being has been born into the world. So also you have sorrow now, but I will see you again and your hearts will rejoice, and no one will take your joy from you.

Jesus uses the illustration of a woman in labor to tell them about the emotional roller coaster they are about to experience. The crucifixion will bring unbearable grief to each of them, but the joy of Easter will cause them to forget all their sorrow. The Resurrection illuminates all the veiled teachings of the Old Testament, all the words of Jesus.

1 Corinthians 15:14-20 And if Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is in vain and your faith is in vain. We are even found to be misrepresenting God, because we testified about God that he raised Christ, whom he did not raise if it is true that the dead are not raised.

For if the dead are not raised, not even Christ has been raised.

And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile and you are still in your sins. Then those also who have fallen asleep in Christ have perished.

If in this life only we have hoped in Christ, we are of all people most to be pitied.

But in fact Christ has been raised from the dead, the Firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep.

16:23-28 In that day you will ask nothing of me. Truly, truly, I say to you, whatever you ask of the Father in my name, he will give it to you. Until now you have asked nothing in my name. Ask, and you will receive, that your joy may be full. “I have said these things to you in figures of speech. The hour is coming when I will no longer speak to you in figures of speech but will tell you plainly about the Father.

In that day you will ask in my name, and I do not say to you that I will ask the Father on your behalf; for the Father himself loves you, because you have loved me and have believed that I came from God. I came from the Father and have come into the world, and now I am leaving the world and going to the Father.”

Twice more Jesus refers to ‘that day’. This is always an eschatological term in Bible, and denotes his coming kingdom. With the resurrection his kingdom is initiated. Now we can have direct access to the Father and can begin to comprehend the Father’s love for mankind and for us. All who love and believe in Jesus as the Messiah are heir to God’s love. These verses summarize John’s Christology and is the heart of the Gospel.

16:29-30 His disciples said, “Ah, now you are speaking plainly and not using figurative speech! Now we know that you know all things and do not need anyone to question you; this is why we believe that you came from God.”

The disciples are beginning to comprehend, at least in part, what they have been hearing for the last three years, but in the next two verses their enthusiasm is shattered. Jesus tells them that they will desert him and be scattered. But his last words are not words of condemnation, but words of encouragement, because he knows that they will certainly recover and will bring his Gospel to the entire world.

16:31-33 Jesus answered them, “Do you now believe?

Behold, the hour is coming, indeed it has come, when you will be scattered, each to his own home, and will leave me alone. Yet I am not alone, for the Father is with me. I have said these things to you, that in me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world.”

John 15 The New Commandment is to Love April 6, 2020

The disciples have left the upper room. This conversation may well be during the walk to the Garden of Gethsemane. The Lord describes his relationship with the disciples, and therefore, with all true believers in the intimate terms of a vine with its branches. One cannot survive apart from Christ, and any of our accomplishments apart from the True Vine are spiritually null and void.

To be a true follower of the Messiah will involve opposition and hatred from the ‘world’. We have lived our lives in a time warp in which Christianity has been accepted and even encouraged by Western Christian society. Recently we have been living off the moral capital of the church and its teachings. However, that moral capital is running out of energy, and we be returning the more usual situation of the church, which is opposition and possibly significant persecution.

Our abiding in the True Vine is made possible through the in dwelling of the Holy Spirit, our Paraclete and Helper, the Spirit of Truth. As we discussed last week, the Holy Spirit is continually with the church now. Until Pentecost he would be present intermittently throughout the Old Testament period. I believe he was active during John, the Baptist’s ministry and was drawing many down to the Jordan to receive baptism through repentance there. Now after Pentecost he will be continually with the church and in all who turn to the Christ in this New Kingdom age.

Today we are at the beginning of Holy Week. Today’s lesson is most appropriate for this time. But this Holy Week will be different from all that have preceded it. Now Christians cannot meet together to celebrate. Jerusalem will be empty. Around the world the gospel message will be muted by the presence of the virus. Yet I think the virus is empowering the church and drawing many around the world to the faith. Mammon is receiving a powerful blow and we are learning that he is a fickle god. We are learning once again that you cannot serve God and Mammon. God has used plagues in the past to draw men to himself.

15:1-3 “I am the true vine, and my Father is the vinedresser. Every branch of mine that does not bear fruit he takes away, and every branch that does bear fruit he prunes, that it may bear more fruit. Already you are clean because of the word that I have spoken to you.

This is Jesus last ‘I am’ saying in the Gospel. Again he attributes to himself the name God gave to Moses at the burning bush.

John 6:35 Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me shall not hunger, and whoever believes in me shall never thirst.

John 6:51 I am the living bread that came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever. And the bread that I will give for the life of the world is my flesh.”

John 8:12 Again Jesus spoke to them, saying, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.”

John 8:58 Jesus said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, before Abraham was, I am.”

John 9:5 As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world.”

John 10:7, 9 So Jesus again said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, I am the door of the sheep. I am the door. If anyone enters by me, he will be saved and will go in and out and find pasture.

John 10:11 I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep.

John 11:25 Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live,

John 14:6 Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.

“I am the True Vine.” There are other vines as well. The Gnostics’ vine is the ‘tree of life’. The ‘vine’ was prominent in the ceramics and coins of the Maccabaean Era. Israel was God’s vine or vineyard according to the prophets. But here Jesus is the vine, the True Vine, not the church. We are all branches on the vine, but not vines ourselves. Israel was God’s vineyard according to the prophets.

Hosea 10:1-2 Israel is a luxuriant vine that yields its fruit.

The more his fruit increased,

the more altars he built;

as his country improved,

he improved his pillars.

Their heart is false;

now they must bear their guilt.

The LORD will break down their altars

and destroy their pillars.

Isaiah 5:1-7 Let me sing for my beloved my love song concerning his vineyard:

My beloved had a vineyard

on a very fertile hill.

He dug it and cleared it of stones,

and planted it with choice vines;

he built a watchtower in the midst of it,

and hewed out a wine vat in it;

and he looked for it to yield grapes,

but it yielded wild grapes.

And now, O inhabitants of Jerusalem

and men of Judah,

judge between me and my vineyard.

What more was there to do for my vineyard,

that I have not done in it?

When I looked for it to yield grapes,

why did it yield wild grapes?

And now I will tell you

what I will do to my vineyard.

I will remove its hedge,

and it shall be devoured;

I will break down its wall,

and it shall be trampled down.

I will make it a waste;

it shall not be pruned or hoed,

and briers and thorns shall grow up;

I will also command the clouds

that they rain no rain upon it.

For the vineyard of the LORD of hosts

is the house of Israel,

and the men of Judah

are his pleasant planting;

and he looked for justice,

but behold, bloodshed;

for righteousness,

but behold, an outcry!

Jeremiah 2:21 Yet I planted you a choice vine,

wholly of pure seed.

How then have you turned degenerate

and become a wild vine?

Ezekiel 19:10-15 Your mother was like a vine in a vineyard

planted by the water,

fruitful and full of branches

by reason of abundant water.

Its strong stems became

rulers’ scepters;

it towered aloft

among the thick boughs;

it was seen in its height

with the mass of its branches.

But the vine was plucked up in fury,

cast down to the ground;

the east wind dried up its fruit;

they were stripped off and withered.

As for its strong stem,

fire consumed it.

Now it is planted in the wilderness,

in a dry and thirsty land.

And fire has gone out from the stem of its shoots,

has consumed its fruit,

so that there remains in it no strong stem,

no scepter for ruling.

This is a lamentation and has become a lamentation.

Psalm 80:8-18 You brought a vine out of Egypt;

you drove out the nations and planted it.

You cleared the ground for it;

it took deep root and filled the land.

The mountains were covered with its shade,

the mighty cedars with its branches.

It sent out its branches to the sea

and its shoots to the River.

Why then have you broken down its walls,

so that all who pass along the way pluck its fruit?

The boar from the forest ravages it,

and all that move in the field feed on it.

Turn again, O God of hosts!

Look down from heaven, and see;

have regard for this vine,

the stock that your right hand planted,

and for the son whom you made strong for yourself.

They have burned it with fire; they have cut it down;

may they perish at the rebuke of your face!

But let your hand be on the man of your right hand,

the son of man whom you have made strong for yourself!

Then we shall not turn back from you;

give us life, and we will call upon your name!

15:4-5 Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in me. I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing. If anyone does not abide in me he is thrown away like a branch and withers; and the branches are gathered, thrown into the fire, and burned.

To ‘abide’ in Christ means more than to just believe in him, although it includes belief. To abide means to live or dwell in a place, or in this case in a person. Unless we are abiding in Christ all that we do amounts to nothing in eternal terms. If we are abiding in him, everything we do is of eternal significance.

The alternate to abiding in him is being cast out and burned in the fire. One immediately thinks of Judas, but John, in his 90’s, is concerned about the false teachers that have arisen during the first 60 years of the early church as well.

Ezekiel 15:1-5 And the word of the LORD came to me:

“Son of man, how does the wood of the vine surpass any wood, the vine branch that is among the trees of the forest? Is wood taken from it to make anything? Do people take a peg from it to hang any vessel on it? Behold, it is given to the fire for fuel. When the fire has consumed both ends of it, and the middle of it is charred, is it useful for anything? Behold, when it was whole, it was used for nothing. How much less, when the fire has consumed it and it is charred, can it ever be used for anything!

Matthew 3:10 Even now the axe is laid to the root of the trees. Every tree therefore that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.

1 John 2:18-19 Children, it is the last hour, and as you have heard that antichrist is coming, so now many antichrists have come. Therefore we know that it is the last hour. They went out from us, but they were not of us; for if they had been of us, they would have continued with us. But they went out, that it might become plain that they all are not of us.

1 John 4:1-6 Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, for many false prophets have gone out into the world. By this you know the Spirit of God: every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God, and every spirit that does not confess Jesus is not from God. This is the spirit of the antichrist, which you heard was coming and now is in the world already.

Little children, you are from God and have overcome them, for he who is in you is greater than he who is in the world. They are from the world; therefore they speak from the world, and the world listens to them. We are from God. Whoever knows God listens to us; whoever is not from God does not listen to us. By this we know the Spirit of truth and the spirit of error.

15:7-11 If you abide in me, and my words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. By this my Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit and so prove to be my disciples.

As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Abide in my love. If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commandments and abide in his love.

These things I have spoken to you, that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be full.

From the beginning God commanded man ‘to be fruitful and to multiply’. This is his command to the church as well (Matthew 28:18-20). It is accomplished by abiding in him, and the end result is joy that is full.

15:12-15 “This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you.

Greater love has no one than this, that someone lays down his life for his friends. You are my friends if you do what I command you.

No longer do I call you servants, for the servant does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all that I have heard from my Father I have made known to you.

Once again Jesus returns to his command to love one another. By doing so we are elevated to another level of relationship with him and with the Father. How can we do this in our day of individualism? Christians have tried it through communes, but they eventually tend to fail. It is the church that is the bride of Christ, not necessarily individuals. Today we tend to think of the church as an adjunct to our faith, and not its core.

15:16-17 You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit and that your fruit should abide, so that whatever you ask the Father in my name, he may give it to you. These things I command you, so that you will love one another.

Throughout this Gospel John has emphasized the facts of election, and election with a purpose. He reiterates it again here, and couples it with the need to be bearers of fruit. The fruit can be the ‘fruit of the Spirit’ (Gal 5:22-23), but it also implies the fulfillment of the great commission.

John 3:27 John answered, “A person cannot receive even one thing unless it is given him from heaven.

John 6:44 No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him. And I will raise him up on the last day.

John 6:65 And he said, “This is why I told you that no one can come to me unless it is granted him by the Father.”

John 10:28 I give them eternal life, and they will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of my hand.

John 10:29 My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all, and no one is able to snatch them out of the Father’s hand.

John 13:18 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.’

John 15:19 If you were of the world, the world would love you as its own; but because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you.

15:18-25“If the world hates you, know that it has hated me before it hated you. If you were of the world, the world would love you as its own; but because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you.

Remember the word that I said to you: ‘A servant is not greater than his master.’ If they persecuted me, they will also persecute you. If they kept my word, they will also keep yours.

But all these things they will do to you on account of my name, because they do not know him who sent me.

If I had not come and spoken to them, they would not have been guilty of sin, but now they have no excuse for their sin.

Whoever hates me hates my Father also.

If I had not done among them the works that no one else did, they would not be guilty of sin, but now they have seen and hated both me and my Father.

But the word that is written in their Law must be fulfilled: ‘They hated me without a cause.’

When one is ‘born again’ one changes his citizenship from the world kingdom to God’s Kingdom. The world system has been at war against the Kingdom since the Garden of Eden. Today we are experiencing an intensification of the war with Islam and Marxism arrayed together with increasing belligerence against the church. These forces are arrayed against Judaism as well, because, in spite of all its faults, Judaism still represents God on the earth.

15:26-27 “But when the Helper comes, whom I will send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth, who proceeds from the Father, he will bear witness about me. And you also will bear witness, because you have been with me from the beginning.

The role of the Spirit is to bear witness to Jesus through the believers who have been chosen by God to be the Church. He is sent to the Church in the same way that Jesus was sent as the Messiah to Israel, and then the whole world. The Spirit is called the ‘Paraclete’. This is a legal term meaning an ‘advocate’. He is sent to bear witness through the Church to the truth of the revelation of Jesus in his word and deed, and death and resurrection. (Jesus is also called our Paraclete in 1 John 2:1.) The Spirit is ever present with the church during the Kingdom age. He is as present with us as Jesus was with his disciples. Jesus is making this clear to the disciples now so when Pentecost arrives they will not be taken by surprise.

John 13:31-14:31 Final Discourse with the Disciples March 29, 2020

Passover is at hand. The disciples are gathered in an upper room in Jerusalem and Jesus is giving them his final exhortations and instructions. Our section today begins with the departure of Judas, “So after receiving the morsel of bread, he immediately went out. And it was night”. This section ends with everyone leaving, “Rise, let us go from here.”

We will see a series of questions by the disciples, and Jesus answers.

1. Simon Peter said to him, “Lord, where are you going?”

2. Thomas said to him, “Lord, we do not know where you are going. How can we know the way?”

3. Philip said to him, “Lord, show us the Father, and it is enough for us.”

4. Judas (not Iscariot) said to him, “Lord, how is it that you will manifest yourself to us, and not to the world?”

Jesus initiates a New Covenant with those who will follow him, governed by a New Law, the Law of Love, for our fellow believers and for God. The Old Covenant was given through Moses and its Law was the Ten Commandments. That Covenant was not intended to the final word from God, but merely an introduction and forerunner to the New Covenant.

Gal. 3:23-26. Now before faith came, we were held captive under the law, imprisoned until the coming faith would be revealed. So then, the law was our guardian until Christ came, in order that we might be justified by faith. But now that faith has come, we are no longer under a guardian, for in Christ Jesus you are all sons of God, through faith.

Jesus reminds his disciples that he is going away, but he will be preparing a home for them, and he will return. In the meantime they are to live by faith expressed through love for God and man. They will be empowered to do so by the Holy Spirit who will descend on them and remain with them until Jesus returns.

13:31-33 When he had gone out, Jesus said, “Now is the Son of Man glorified, and God is glorified in him. If God is glorified in him, God will also glorify him in himself, and glorify him at once. Little children, yet a little while I am with you. You will seek me, and just as I said to the Jews, so now I also say to you, ‘Where I am going you cannot come.’

Judas has left and the rest of the disciples and Jesus are on their courses of action up to and beyond the crucifixion. The death on the cross and the resurrection is God’s ultimate act of glory, the expression of his ultimate love for man and for his Son. Thus are God and the Son glorified. All creation has been directed to this moment.

As Paul Billheimer said in ‘Destined for the Throne’, “And this writer submits that that tiny hill in that tiny land is the center of all history, not only of this world, but of all the countless galaxies and island universes of outer space from eternity to eternity.”

It is in Christ, crucified and raised, that we have justification (Romans 8:1), redemption (Ephesians 1:7) and reconciliation (2 Corinthians 5:17-21).

13:34-35 A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another. By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.”

Jesus new kingdom will be governed by his new commandment, the commandment to love. (See also 15:12-17) This is not really new, it was the true foundation of the Ten Commandments, as Jesus confirmed to a questioning lawyer:

Luke 10:25-28. And behold, a lawyer stood up to put him to the test, saying, “Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?” He said to him, “What is written in the Law? How do you read it?”

And he answered, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind, and your neighbor as yourself.”

And he said to him, “You have answered correctly; do this, and you will live.”

The application of this ‘New Law’ is summed up in the Sermon on the Mount, which is a catechetical summary of the teachings of Jesus for new converts in the churches served by Matthew,and in all churches throughout time. This is the Law written on our hearts as promised through Jeremiah (Jeremiah 31:31-34).

13:36-38 Simon Peter said to him, “Lord, where are you going?” Jesus answered him, “Where I am going you cannot follow me now, but you will follow afterward.” Peter said to him, “Lord, why can I not follow you now? I will lay down my life for you.” Jesus answered, “Will you lay down your life for me? Truly, truly, I say to you, the rooster will not crow till you have denied me three times.

I am sure Peter is sincere in his pledge of allegiance to Jesus. I suspect any one of us would have said the same. But this took place before the iron hit the road. When we are faced with the reality of putting our faith on the line, we could well falter also. Jesus tangentially alludes to Peter’s death, and also warns him of his fallibility. This was necessary to make Peter the fearless apostle he became.

14:1-3 “Let not your hearts be troubled. Believe in God; believe also in me.

In my Father’s house are many rooms. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you? And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, that where I am you may be also.

Jesus has warned the disciples that he will be leaving them. He has told Peter that he will be martyred. The rest of the disciples are getting very worried. Their leader and their hope is about to be taken from them. The power of the state and the Temple is about to descend on them. So Jesus says to them, “Stop letting your hearts be in turmoil!” “Keep on believing in God!” You are to believe as Abraham did, ‘against all hope’ (Rom 4:18).

Jesus tells them that he is going to prepare a place for them so that they can be with him. It is said that the language used here is that of a bridegroom preparing a home for his bride to be. When it is completed he will go to his bride’s home and carry her into the home he has prepared. There the two shall be one. The marriage metaphor throughout scripture is very powerful.

Again Billheimer: “And the Messiah came for one intent and only one: to give birth to His church, thus to obtain His Bride. The Church, then – the called-out body of redeemed mankind - turns out to be the central object, the goal, not only of mundane history but of all that God has been doing in all realms, from all eternity…From this it is implicit that romance is at the heart of the universe and is the key to all existence. From all eternity God purposed that at some time in the future His Son should have an Eternal Companion, described by John the Revelator as “the bride”, the lamb’s wife (Rev 3:21)”.

What do you expect to find in heaven? Where do you expect to live? Should we all be taking harp lessons now? Will our ‘mansion’ be furnished, or will we have to go out and find what we need for it? Is it enough to be in the presence of our lover and our Lord?

14:4-7 And you know the way to where I am going.” Thomas said to him, “Lord, we do not know where you are going. How can we know the way?” Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. If you had known me, you would have known my Father also. From now on you do know him and have seen him.”

I would suggest that Thomas is a lot like us. He is pragmatic, vocal, doubting, but in the end, a powerful witness to the ‘ends of the earth’. As Jesus plans to go to raise Lazarus in spite of the warnings of the disciples, Thomas says, “Let us also go, that we may die with him”. Later, he will not believe that Jesus has risen until he sees the nail marks in Jesus’ hands. After Pentecost he journeyed to India as a missionary. His influence is still known because many families took on his name and you can find the surname, Thomas, is still around. I knew a Christian Indian doctor in Connecticut with the surname Thomas.

Jesus responds to his question with the most powerful and inclusive statement of why he is here. He is the way, he is the truth, and he is our life. There is no other way to God. This ranks in importance with John 3:16. It tells us that he is the mediator between God and man. All truth is God’s truth, and all life is God’s life, and both are incarnate in Jesus. Is there any way around the exclusivity of this statement?

14:8-11 Philip said to him, “Lord, show us the Father, and it is enough for us.” Jesus said to him, “Have I been with you so long, and you still do not know me, Philip? Whoever has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, ‘Show us the Father’? Do you not believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in me? The words that I say to you I do not speak on my own authority, but the Father who dwells in me does his works. Believe me that I am in the Father and the Father is in me, or else believe on account of the works themselves.

Is not Phillips questioning the yearning of every human heart, and of our hearts? If only we could see God, we would not be driven by doubts that commingle with our faith. Moses asked this of God on Mt. Sinai, “Show me your glory”. God did permit Moses to see him in part, but not completely (Exod 33:18-23).

But we can see God through the revelation of scripture, through Jesus himself, through the created universe, and through our fellow men who are created in the image of God.

Bultmann observed: “The implication behind the question is that all fellowship with Jesus loses its significance unless he is recognized as the one whose sole intention is to reveal God, and not to be anything for himself; but it also implies that the possibility of seeing God is inherent in the fellowship with Jesus”.

14:12-14 “Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever believes in me will also do the works that I do; and greater works than these will he do, because I am going to the Father.

Whatever you ask in my name, this I will do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son.

If you ask me anything in my name, I will do it.

John has described seven signs, or works, of Jesus in this Gospel. He has turned water into wine, healed the sick, fed thousands, walked on water, made the blind to see, and raised the dead. How do you think we are able to do greater works than these? I would suggest our ‘greater works’ will be, and are, our witness to Jesus as mediator between God and man, and the source of eternal life. For a man to be ‘born again’ is greater than all the signs in the Gospels, because a life headed to eternal death is transformed to one headed to eternal life.

We usually pray ‘in Jesus name’. Yet all of our prayers are not answered. We should note that all of Jesus prayers were answered, except one prayed in the Garden of Gethsemane. But I would suggest that our prayers as mediators through Jesus between God and man are answered. Is anyone ‘saved’ except through the prayers of one or more believers?

14:15-18 “If you love me, you will keep my commandments. And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Helper, to be with you forever, even the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor knows him. You know him, for he dwells with you and will be in you. “I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you.

Jesus commanded us to love one another in 13:34-35. Now he would have us love him. The demonstration of our love for him is through the keeping of his commandments. But he does not leave us alone (as orphans) trying to keep the impossible commandments. He will provide ‘another helper’ to be with us forever.

The Spirit is our ‘Paraclete’ or helper. But he is ‘another helper’. Who is the other Paraclete? (See 1 John 2:1). The Lord is our Paraclete in heaven, the Holy Spirit is our Paraclete from heaven. Both are working on our behalf to preserve us until the Parousia, the eschatological return of Jesus.

By now you should know that I am not a theological Dispensationalist. However, we can see three dispensations in the scriptures that demonstrate our Triune God.

God, the Father was the active God throughout the Old Testament dispensation bringing about the creation and guiding the Messianic seed from Adam and then through the nation of Israel up to the arrival of the Messiah.

In the second dispensation Jesus, the Son, was the active expression God while he was on earth. He initiated his new kingdom, gathered believers to himself, offered himself as the sacrifice for all sin and sins, and rose as conqueror from the grave. He then ascended into heaven and is seated at the right hand of the Father with the intent of returning to the earth at the end of the church age.

The Holy Spirit is the active God of the church age, the third dispensation of the Trinity. He indwells all believers in the church age. He indwells the church and is its guide. He bears witness to the truth of the Father and the Son. He was present intermittently in the Old Testament and during Jesus presence on earth. But from Pentecost on he is continually with all believers and the church. He is our Paraclete, our guide, and our teacher. There would be no church without him.

14:19-20 Yet a little while and the world will see me no more, but you will see me. Because I live, you also will live. In that day you will know that I am in my Father, and you in me, and I in you.

This promise clearly points to Easter. Jesus will be taken away for a little while, but he will return as our living Savior. It is not that his spirit will remain with the disciples, but that he will return to them bodily. And because he will rise from the dead, the disciples will bring the message of Christ’s new kingdom throughout the world, and we now have the hope of eternal life. (See 1 Corinthians 15:12-34)

14:21 Whoever has my commandments and keeps them, he it is who loves me. And he who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I will love him and manifest myself to him.”

Jesus repeats the relationship between love for him and the keeping of his commandments, as in v. 15. And if we love Jesus the Father will love us. Also Jesus will reveal himself to the one who loves him, who keeps his commandments.

14:22-24 Judas (not Iscariot) said to him, “Lord, how is it that you will manifest yourself to us, and not to the world?” Jesus answered him, “If anyone loves me, he will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him. Whoever does not love me does not keep my words. And the word that you hear is not mine but the Father’s who sent me.

Judas looks for clarification. To the Jews God has been their God since Abraham, but he has always been ‘other’, and not immanent. Sinai was covered with smoke and fire. The tabernacle was covered with a cloud when God was present. God was powerful, but usually not personal. But in the New Covenant Jesus will ‘manifest’ himself to any who respond to the gospel proclamation. And God, the Father, will dwell within the believer through the Spirit and make his home in the church. My dwelling place shall be with them, and I will be their God, and they shall be my people. Ezekiel 37:27.

14:25-27 “These things I have spoken to you while I am still with you. But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, he will teach you all things and bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you. Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid.

The Holy Spirit will teach us all things and bring to remembrance all that Jesus has said. But there will be no new revelation. His task is to point to that which Jesus taught from the Father, and to enable the disciples to understand it.

The ‘shalom’ from Jesus is the true shalom. The world does not comprehend the peace that Jesus brings, because his peace is his message of salvation and his new kingdom.

Is. 9:6-7 For to us a child is born,

to us a son is given;

wand the government shall be upon his shoulder,

and his name shall be called

Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God,

Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.

Of the increase of his government and of peace

there will be no end,

on the throne of David and over his kingdom,

to establish it and to uphold it

with justice and with righteousness

from this time forth and forevermore.

Rom. 14:17 For the kingdom of God is not a matter of eating and drinking but of

righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit.

14:28-31 You heard me say to you, ‘I am going away, and I will come to you.’ If you loved me, you would have rejoiced, because I am going to the Father, for the Father is greater than I. And now I have told you before it takes place, so that when it does take place you may believe. I will no longer talk much with you, for the ruler of this world is coming. He has no claim on me, but I do as the Father has commanded me, so that the world may know that I love the Father.

Satan is on the move. He is coming for Jesus. He has captured Judas and will use him to execute his plan. But he has no claim over Jesus. Jesus has ceaselessly resisted him. Now Jesus will voluntarily submit to his evil plan, in order to destroy ‘the ruler of this world’ through his death and resurrection.

The time of teaching is over. The time for action is rapidly approaching. They must depart the upper room and go to meet the foe.

Rise, let us go from here.

John 13:1-30 Jesus demonstrates his love for his disciples March 23, 2020

This is the beginning of Jesus’ farewell discourse that is found in chapters 13-17. The disciples and probably a few others are gathered in the upper room for the Passover feast. This celebration was initiated while the Israelites were slaves in Egypt and God arrange to free them from slavery and bring them to the Promised Land. The Passover was part of the tenth plague visited on Pharaoh in which the firstborn of every household would die. For the Israelites a lamb would be sacrificed by each family for the forgiveness of the sins of the past year. Only households with blood of the sacrificial lamb painted on the doorposts of the house would be passed over. In today’s lesson we begin the study of the greatest Passover for all mankind. The ultimate Passover lamb is soon to be sacrificed for the sins of the whole world.

13:1-11 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. During supper, when the devil had already put it into the heart of Judas Iscariot, Simon's son, to betray him, 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, rose from supper. He laid aside his outer garments, and taking a towel, tied it around his waist. Then he poured water into a basin and began to wash the disciples' feet and to wipe them with the towel that was wrapped around him. He came to Simon Peter, who said to him, “Lord, do you wash my feet?” Jesus answered him, “What I am doing you do not understand now, but afterward you will understand.” 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.” Simon Peter said to him, “Lord, not my feet only but also my hands and my head!” 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.” For he knew who was to betray him; that was why he said, “Not all of you are clean.”

I was asked last week whether Jesus loves us. We know that God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son…, but where does the Bible say that Jesus loves us. We certainly assume that he does. We teach that he does. Since he is God John 3:16 applies to him as well as God, the Father. But in this opening verse the Bible confirms our understanding of Jesus love when it says: having loved his own who were in he world, he loved them to the end.

But today a snake appears in the plot, much like he did in the Garden of Eden. We read of the temptation in the wilderness and were told that the devil left him. But that was momentary. Satan was present with Jesus through his whole time of ministry. This is dramatically displayed in the movie, The Last Temptation of Christ. Judas was Satan’s tool, his eyes and ears. We will look deeper into this further on.

But now dinner is over. Jesus knees before each of his disciples and washes their feet. Foot washing was a practical practice because feet would get quite dirty walking in the sandals of the day. It was the practice that slaves would do this for the master of the household. The disciple’s feet would have already been washed when they arrived for the Passover dinner. This second washing has a spiritual meaning as Jesus demonstrated his servanthood by doing it himself.

We read in Philippians 2 that taking the form of a servant… he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.

Peter protests Jesus’ washing his feet. Jesus tells him if he refuses he will have no part with Jesus. Jesus is preparing the disciples for their coming ministry. As they spread the gospel it must be done with humility and servanthood, not as lords. They do not yet understand, but Jesus tells them soon they will. We read in Isaiah,

Isaiah 52:7 How beautiful upon the mountains

are the feet of him who brings good news,

who publishes peace, who brings good news of happiness,

who publishes salvation,

who says to Zion, “Your God reigns.”

This is the Gospel the disciples will be bringing to Israel and the world. Their feet must be spiritually clean as they proclaim this message. By washing their feet Jesus is declaring them to be clean.

13:12-20 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? You call me Teacher and Lord, and you are right, for so I am. If I then, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another's feet. For I have given you an example, that you also should do just as I have done to you. 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. If you know these things, blessed are you if you do them. 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.’ I am telling you this now, before it takes place, that when it does take place you may believe that I am he. Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever receives the one I send receives me, and whoever receives me receives the one who sent me.”

Jesus teaches through word and deed. Words are never enough as we try to serve our neighbors and fellowmen. Deeds must accompany words and affirm the words. Therefore Jesus has spoken of servanthood and then demonstrates it by his deed of washing the disciples feet. The disciples will soon be going to with the message of Jesus death and resurrection and will be calling their hearers to believe in him. The disciples will have authority given them by Jesus at Pentecost, but they must remember they are to be servants and not rulers. Their servanthood begins with their relationship with each other. They had recently been arguing who of them was the greatest (Luke 9:46). Jesus is establishing the rules of the New Kingdom. Koinonia is the term for united fellowship that is to characterize the New Kingdom. The disciples are to carry the gospel message under the authority of Jesus. Those who respond and turn to Jesus will also receive the Father.

Therefore Jesus inserts this beatitude in his discourse: If you know these things, blessed are you if you do them. He states the eschatological happiness of those who live in the light of what they have come to know.

But now he turns his attention to Judas. He has been saying that one of the twelve will betray him. In Eastern culture sharing a meal binds the people together in a covenantal relationship, so such betrayal signifies the depth of his depravity.

One of You Will Betray Me

13:21-30 After saying these things, Jesus was troubled in his spirit, and testified, “Truly, truly, I say to you, one of you will betray me.” The disciples looked at one another, uncertain of whom he spoke. One of his disciples, whom Jesus loved, was reclining at table at Jesus' side, so Simon Peter motioned to him to ask Jesus of whom he was speaking. So that disciple, leaning back against Jesus, said to him, “Lord, who is it?” 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. Then after he had taken the morsel, Satan entered into him. Jesus said to him, “What you are going to do, do quickly.” Now no one at the table knew why he said this to him. Some thought that, because Judas had the moneybag, Jesus was telling him, “Buy what we need for the feast,” or that he should give something to the poor. So, after receiving the morsel of bread, he immediately went out. And it was night.

Jesus repeats his warning that one of the disciples will betray him. The disciples are finally hearing him. His voice must be revealing the trouble and grief he is feeling. Matthew tells us that each of them asked, is it I. Then Judas separately asks ‘Is it I, Rabbi?’ Jesus answers, ‘You have said so’ (Matthew 26:25). The disciples must have missed this interchange because Peter now asks John to ask Jesus who it might be.

Jesus takes another morsel of bread and dips it into the wine and hands it to Judas. This is Jesus last plea to Judas. He still has time to repent and reject Satan’s leading. Jesus has warned him three times in this discourse. The moment is brief, but Judas does not turn back to his Savior. Satan is in the battle for his heart and he enters Judas for good. “A heart moved by the devil wills what the devil wills.” Judas receives the morsel of bread, receives Satan into his heart, and departs. The scripture then says, ‘And it was night’.

The night was in Judas’s heart. Judas has rejected the Light of the World. Outside was the full paschal moon that sets the date of Passover each year. He stepping out into bright moon light, but he was blind to it. There comes a time in every man’s life when he hears God’s call. That is the time to respond. Hebrews 10:19-31 describes this clearly.

Therefore, brothers, since we have confidence to enter the holy places by the blood of Jesus, by the new and living way that he opened for us through the curtain, that is, through his flesh, and since we have a great priest over the house of God, let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, with our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water. Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for he who promised is faithful. And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near.

For if we go on sinning deliberately after receiving the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins, but a fearful expectation of judgment, and a fury of fire that will consume the adversaries. Anyone who has set aside the law of Moses dies without mercy on the evidence of two or three witnesses. How much worse punishment, do you think, will be deserved by the one who has trampled underfoot the Son of God, and has profaned the blood of the covenant by which he was sanctified, and has outraged the Spirit of grace? For we know him who said, “Vengeance is mine; I will repay.” And again, “The Lord will judge his people.” It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.

John 11:55 – 12:50 Triumphal Entry, but Bitter Sweet March 16, 2020

The third and final Passover of Jesus’ ministry is at hand. Jesus has been warning his disciples that the time is short and they must walk in the light while they have the light, lest darkness overtake them. He had retreated to Samaria, to the town of Ephraim, after raising Lazarus from death, to avoid the Temple police.

He is aware of what awaits him, and now and sets out for Jerusalem. He stops in Bethany where Mary anoints him with a burial perfume. A crowd gathers around him, and will accompany him into Jerusalem and the first Palm Sunday is celebrated. The account is quite brief compared to the accounts in the Synoptics. But John is looking past that event to the great eschatological salvific moment. Remember, he is writing about 60 years after the crucifixion and resurrection, and he is writing to Jews and Gentiles affirming to them that Jesus is the Messiah and Savior of the world.

11:55-57 Now the Passover of the Jews was at hand, and many went up from the country to Jerusalem before the Passover to purify themselves. 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?” 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.

In the last chapter the disciples knew that Jesus was a marked man. When the disciples warned Jesus not to go to Bethany, and Jesus insisted on going, Thomas said to the disciples, “Let us also go, that we may die with him.” (See John 7:25, 32; 8:59; 10:31, 39.)

It was part of the ceremonial law that the people should go through a period of consecration before partaking in the Passover. An example of the ceremony is found at the foot of Sinai before the giving of the Law.

Ex. 19:10-11 the LORD said to Moses, “Go to the people and consecrate them today and tomorrow, and let them wash their garments and be ready for the third day. For on the third day the LORD will come down on Mount Sinai in the sight of all the people.

A more dramatic example is found in 2 Chronicles 30, where there is a revival in the nation of Judah under king Hezekiah, and he calls the people to consecrate themselves before the re-institution of the long neglected Passover. We will read through this chapter, so you might want to look it over, beginning with Chapter 29.

12:1-3 Six days before the Passover, Jesus therefore came to Bethany, where Lazarus was, whom Jesus had raised from the dead. So they gave a dinner for him there. Martha served, and Lazarus was one of those reclining with him at the table.

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.

There are three narratives of the anointing of Jesus – Mark 14:3-9 and Luke 7:36-38, and this one. One is at the home of Simon, the leper, and the other at the home of a Pharisee. Whether this happened once, twice or all three times, John’s purpose in the account is to show that Jesus enters Jerusalem as the king who has been anointed for burial, who will triumph only through death, to final exaltation.

12:4-8 But Judas Iscariot, one of his disciples (he who was about to betray him), said, “Why was this ointment not sold for three hundred denarii and given to the poor?” He said this, not because he cared about the poor, but because he was a thief, and having charge of the moneybag he used to help himself to what was put into it. Jesus said, Leave her alone, so that she may keep it for the day of my burial.

The poor you always have with you, but you do not always have me.

Judas could be excused, and is by some, for betraying Jesus because he wanted Jesus to establish his kingdom immediately. He thought he could force Jesus’ hand. However, he also had other flaws. He had disregard for the poor and he had light fingers in regard to the common purse.

Would you ever think of stealing from Jesus’ purse? Let us look at Malachi 3:7-12.

From the days of your fathers you have turned aside from my statutes and have not kept them. Return to me, and I will return to you, says the LORD of hosts. But you say, ‘How shall we return?’

Will man rob God? Yet you are robbing me. But you say, ‘How have we robbed you?’ In your tithes and contributions. You are cursed with a curse, for you are robbing me, the whole nation of you.

Bring the full tithes into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house. And thereby put me to the test, says the LORD of hosts, if I will not open the windows of heaven for you and pour down for you a blessing until there is no more need.

I will rebuke the devourer for you, so that it will not destroy the fruits of your soil, and your vine in the field shall not fail to bear, says the LORD of hosts.

Then all nations will call you blessed, for you will be a land of delight, says the LORD of hosts.

12: 9-11 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. So the chief priests made plans to put Lazarus to death as well, because on account of him many of the Jews were going away and believing in Jesus.

Lazarus was a powerful witness to Jesus’ power and authority. One could respond by worshiping Jesus, or by destroying Lazarus. In the parable of Lazarus and the rich man, we were told that even if someone came back from the dead, unbelievers would not be convinced. Many became believers because of Lazarus, but many of the religious and political classes only became more enraged.

Some scholars that think the John did not write this Gospel suggest that Lazarus was the ‘Beloved Disciple’ and not John, and that he may have written this book. You need not fret about such speculation.

12:12-15 The next day the large crowd that had come to the feast heard that Jesus was coming to Jerusalem. 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!”

And Jesus found a young donkey and sat on it, just as it is written,

“Fear not, daughter of Zion;

behold, your king is coming,

sitting on a donkey’s colt!”

Palm branches were well known as a sign of homage to a returning victor in battle.

Hosanna is an imperative form of ‘save’, meaning ‘please do save’. It comes from the familiar Hallel (Ps 113-118) that was sung each morning of the Feast of Tabernacles and was sung by the pilgrims coming to Jerusalem for the three feast days.

Save us, we pray, O LORD! O LORD, we pray, give us success! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the LORD! We bless you from the house of the LORD. Ps 118:25-26

Remember John the Baptist asked Jesus: “Are you the one who is to come, or shall we look for another?” Matt. 11:3.

Jesus enters Jerusalem riding on a donkey, not a horse. A horse assumes a conquering force. He comes in peace to bring peace to the nations and his rule to the ends of the earth.

Zech 9:9-10.

Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion!

Shout aloud, O daughter of Jerusalem!

behold, your king is coming to you;

righteous and having salvation is he,

humble and mounted on a donkey,

on a colt, the foal of a donkey.

I will cut off the chariot from Ephraim

and the war horse from Jerusalem;

and the battle bow shall be cut off,

and he shall speak peace to the nations;

his rule shall be from sea to sea,

and from the River to the ends of the earth.

12:16 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.

If you have difficulty understanding everything the Bible teaches, be encouraged that the disciples who were continually with Jesus for three years still did not have a complete picture of who he is and what he was about.

12:17-19 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. The reason why the crowd went to meet him was that they heard he had done this sign. So the Pharisees said to one another, “You see that you are gaining nothing. Look, the world has gone after him.”

Isn’t it ironic that the Pharisees note that the whole world has gone after him, and in the next verses John describes Jesus’ encounter with the Greeks. The Jews in John’s later years are trying to stop the church from growing, and John is showing them the mission to the Gentiles began even before the crucifixion and resurrection.

12:20-26 Now among those who went up to worship at the feast were some Greeks. So these came to Philip, who was from Bethsaida in Galilee, and asked him, “Sir, we wish to see Jesus.” Philip went and told Andrew; Andrew and Philip went and told Jesus.

And Jesus answered them, “The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified. 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.

Whoever loves his life loses it, and whoever hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life. 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 honor him.

Jesus is rapidly moving toward his death. Now he tells his followers that all must die if they are to realize the resurrection life. If we love this life we will lose it. If we ‘hate’ it we will find eternal life. To ‘hate’ means to ‘love less’, not to have ‘animosity toward’.

See Gen 29:30-31; Luke 14:26; Matt 10:37.

“If anyone comes to me and does not hate his own father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, yes, and even his own life, he cannot be my disciple. Luke 14:26.

12:27-33 “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. Father, glorify your name.”

Then a voice came from heaven: “I have glorified it, and I will glorify it again.” The crowd that stood there and heard it said that it had thundered. Others said, “An angel has spoken to him.” Jesus answered, “This voice has come for your sake, not mine. Now is the judgment of this world; now will the ruler of this world be cast out. And I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to myself.”

He said this to show by what kind of death he was going to die.

Note the use of the word ‘now’ in this passage. The greatest event in history is about to begin. Not only will Jesus die for our sins, but he will rise from the grave to affirm his promise of life eternal for those who love and believe in him.

“Now is my soul troubled.”

“Now is the judgment of this world”.

“Now will the ruler of this world be cast out.

Sin is being judged on the cross. The judgment is both negative and positive. The good news is that one can be delivered from condemnation through the cross. The bad news is that condemnation comes to the one who rejects the savior.

Satan gained the legal deed to this earth through Adam’s repudiation of it. But now the second Adam will re-gain it and return it to its rightful owners, Jesus as the sovereign and the church as the members of his kingdom.

12:34-36 So the crowd answered him, “We have heard from the Law that the Christ remains forever. How can you say that the Son of Man must be lifted up? Who is this Son of Man?” 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. While you have the light, believe in the light, that you may become sons of light.

The people understand what is implied by ‘lifted up’. This has been God’s redemptive purpose from the moment of the fall. And only the God-man who voluntarily allows his execution to happen can accomplish it. However death on the cross was not what troubled Jesus. It was the unbearable weight of all of the sins of mankind that made the prospect so horrifying. Could Jesus have refused to go through with the crucifixion? What do you think was the deciding factor for Jesus?

Once again, and finally, Jesus makes a plea to the people to believe in him and to become people of light. There will be no more time for further evangelism. God will not always strive with man.

Gen. 6:3 And the LORD said, My spirit shall not always strive with man, for that he also is flesh: yet his days shall be an hundred and twenty years.

This is the end of Jesus’ public ministry.

This next section is an epilogue of Jesus ministry.

12:37-38 When Jesus had said these things, he departed and hid himself from them. Though he had done so many signs before them, they still did not believe in him, so that the word spoken by the prophet Isaiah might be fulfilled:

“Lord, who has believed what he heard from us,

and to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed?

There will be no further public appearances by Jesus. He has been ministering for three years now. He has taught the people and has reinforced his teaching with a series of miracles. John lists seven of these in this gospel, but there were many more. He taught that the kingdom of God is at hand. We know some did believe him, including his disciples. In fact we are told in 10:42 during the Feast of Dedication that many believed him there. And the temple priests feared that everyone would turn to him if they did not act quickly and get rid of him. But overall the words of Isaiah (52:13-15, 53:1) concerning the nation ring true in Jesus day and throughout the history of Israel.

12:39-40 Therefore they could not believe. For again Isaiah said, “He has blinded their eyes and hardened their heart, lest they see with their eyes, and understand with their heart, and turn, and I would heal them.”

John quotes God’s commission to Isaiah when Isaiah said to the Lord, Here am I, send me.

And he said, “Go, and say to this people:

“‘Keep on hearing, but do not understand;

keep on seeing, but do not perceive.’

Make the heart of this people dull,

and their ears heavy,

and blind their eyes;

lest they see with their eyes,

and hear with their ears,

and understand with their hearts,

and turn and be healed.”

Is God responsible for the blindness of the people? Was he responsible for Pharaoh’s hardening his heart and defiance of Moses? Were the people predestined for blindness as some hypercalvinists might say. I would say that the people need to be shown the depth of their blindness so that they can repent and return to God. This is a problem in our society today. We do not understand the depth of our blindness or the horror of sin in our own lives, and therefore are willing to live in our spiritually blinded state. We do not see ourselves as Isaiah saw himself in Isaiah 6:1-6. The depth of sin is rarely preached from pulpits today. Jonathan Edwards did not hesitate to describe the nature of sin and the horrors of hell to his audiences. During the First Great Awakening congregations would begin weeping in the pews as he preached. As Jesus restored the vision of the man blind from birth, so Edwards opened the eyes of the colonists in New England in his day. When we finally see the depth of our sin, then we can appreciate the amazing nature of God’s grace.

12:41-43 Isaiah said these things because he saw his glory and spoke of him. 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; for they loved the glory that comes from man more than the glory that comes from God.

John says Isaiah could see into the future when ‘the seed’ Abraham was promised and ‘the prophet’ Moses spoke of was coming. Jesus is the Logos that Isaiah envisioned. Among the ruling class there were some who believed. We know of Joseph of Arimathia and of Nicodemus, but there were more that we never heard of. They were afraid to confess in public, much like the situation for believers in our land today. How often we are afraid to speak out in defense of Jesus and the faith. And Christians on college campuses who do speak out get ostracized and even beaten up.

12:44-50 And Jesus cried out and said, “Whoever believes in me, believes not in me but in him who sent me. And whoever sees me sees him who sent me. I have come into the world as light, so that whoever believes in me may not remain in darkness.

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. 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.

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. And I know that his commandment is eternal life. What I say, therefore, I say as the Father has told me.”

This needs no commentary. Jesus sums up his entire ministry in this final soliloquy.

John 11:1-54 The Raising of Lazarus March 9, 2020

The Apostle John presents Jesus’ miracles as ‘signs’. The first sign was at the wedding in Cana when he turned the water into wine. The raising of Lazarus will be the seventh, and last ‘sign’ in this gospel. They are all directed toward John’s goal: “that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name.”

It is interesting that such a dramatic event was not recorded in any of the other gospels. We read that the Jews sought to kill Lazarus as well as Jesus (12:10), and we do not hear about him again in the scriptures. However, there is external evidence that suggests that he became head of the Johannine School in Ephesus in his later years.

The Gospels contain three accounts of the Lord’s raising of someone from the dead, and if we look at them closely we will discern a kind of progression among the three. First, there is the account of the raising of Jairus’s daughter (Matthew 9:23-26; Mark 5:35-43; Luke 8:49-56). In this story Jesus arrives just after the girl has died. Her spirit has barely departed, as it were. Second, there is the account of the son of the widow of Nain (Luke 7:11-17). In this instance, the young man has been dead for a somewhat longer period. His body has been prepared for burial, and he is being carried to the cemetery. Third, is the present account, the raising of Lazarus. In this case, the dead man has already lain four days in the tomb. Comparing these three stories in order we note that Jesus progressively demonstrates His dominion over death. He can reverse the reign of death at any stage, even that of corruption (verse 39). In all three cases, moreover, the effective instrument of the raising is the Lord’s own voice: "Little girl, I say to you, arise" and "Young man, I say to you, arise," and "Lazarus, come forth." It is the voice of Christ that brings about the resurrection. "Do not marvel at this," He tells us, "for the hour is coming in which all who are in the graves will hear His voice and come forth" (John 5:28-29). By means of His voice, Jesus bears witness to what He is soon to accomplish in His flesh. He demonstrates His power over death. In doing so, He identifies Himself as "the Resurrection and the Life”.

Patrick Henry Reardon

11:1-4 Now a certain man was ill, Lazarus of Bethany, the village of Mary and her sister Martha. It was Mary who anointed the Lord with ointment and wiped his feet with her hair, whose brother Lazarus was ill. So the sisters sent to him, saying, “Lord, he whom you love is ill.”

But when Jesus heard it he said, “This illness does not lead to death. It is for the glory of God, so that the Son of God may be glorified through it.”

We have been introduced to Mary and Martha already in Luke’s gospel (Luke 10:38-42), but Lazarus is not mentioned there. There is another Lazarus in the gospels, but he was a beggar lying at a rich man’s gate (Luke 16:19-31). This Lazarus was a character in a parable, but it is interesting to compare the two and the response of the people in each story.

The question arises why God deals with man is such a cavalier manner. The man born blind (9:3) had to live to adulthood with all the misery and pain of being a blind man in such a non-caring society. Now Lazarus has to become so sick that he dies, so that God can demonstrate his power to Jesus’ disciples. Also, Lazarus must have been a fairly young man, because our impression at least, is that Mary was young, probably around Jesus age or younger. So for him to die would be unusual. For the disciples it was a temporary illness, for Jesus a temporary death.

How much of our life is determined by God, and to what degree do we have free will at all? Can one die without God willing it? Can one live without God willing it? How do we understand such problems as Pharaoh and Judas? Jesus, himself, was crucified by the will of the Lord: Yet it was the will of the LORD to crush him; he has put him to grief; (Isa 53:10).

These questions arise because our understanding of God is so finite, and He is so infinite. We do know that He is a God of infinite love, and that He can do no evil, and as C. S. Lewis says in the Lion and the Witch and the Wardrobe, Aslan is not safe, but he is good.

Although God works in mysterious ways, the purpose for all that He does is for his glory, and for the glory of the Son.

11:5-10 Now Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus. So, when he heard that Lazarus was ill, he stayed two days longer in the place where he was. Then after this he said to the disciples, “Let us go to Judea again.”

The disciples said to him, “Rabbi, the Jews were just now seeking to stone you, and are you going there again?”

Jesus answered, “Are there not twelve hours in the day? If anyone walks in the day, he does not stumble, because he sees the light of this world.

But if anyone walks in the night, he stumbles, because the light is not in him.

Lazarus died shortly after the messengers were dispatched. It would take a day to get to Jesus and a day for all of them to return. Jesus delayed two days so that Lazarus would be completely dead, in the grave for 4 days.

Jesus came as the light of the world. But time is getting short, and many are still in darkness. He repeats this warning again in the next chapter:

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. While you have the light, believe in the light, that you may become sons of light.” (John 12:35-36)

11:11-16 After saying these things, he said to them, “Our friend Lazarus has fallen asleep, but I go to awaken him.”

The disciples said to him, “Lord, if he has fallen asleep, he will recover.” Now Jesus had spoken of his death, but they thought that he meant taking rest in sleep. Then Jesus told them plainly, “Lazarus has died, and for your sake I am glad that I was not there, so that you may believe. But let us go to him.”

So Thomas, called the Twin, said to his fellow disciples, “Let us also go, that we may die with him.”

The threats in chapter 10 were taken seriously. Jesus had to withdraw across the Jordan. Now Thomas expresses the fears of the disciples that they are marked men.

It is interesting that Jesus, with the power and authority of the Son of God, had had to flee to safety.

But Jesus’ journey back to the place where he will die is also the place where he will conquer death. Even as Lazarus’ ‘sleep’ is temporary, so Jesus death will be temporary.

11:17-24 Now when Jesus came, he found that Lazarus had already been in the tomb four days. Bethany was near Jerusalem, about two miles off, and many of the Jews had come to Martha and Mary to console them concerning their brother. So when Martha heard that Jesus was coming, she went and met him, but Mary remained seated in the house.

Martha said to Jesus, “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died. But even now I know that whatever you ask from God, God will give you.”

Jesus said to her, “Your brother will rise again.”

Martha said to him, “I know that he will rise again in the resurrection on the last day.”

The Rabbis taught that for three days long the soul returns to the grave, thinking that it will return into the body. When however it sees that the color of its face has changed then it goes away and leaves it. Four days in the grave establishes that all was over.

Martha’s words are not a reproach to Jesus, but do express her confidence in him as the Messiah with the power to intercede with God on the family’s behalf. She also has eschatological expectations, and looks forward to the ‘last day’.

John 6:39-40 And this is the will of him who sent me, that I should lose nothing of hall that he has given me, but raise it up on the last day.

For this is the will of my Father, that everyone who looks on the Son and believes in him should have eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day.”

John 6:44 No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him. And I will raise him up on the last day.

John 6:54 Whoever feeds on my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day.

John 12:48 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.

11:25-27 Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live, and everyone who lives and believes in me shall never die. Do you believe this?” She said to him, “Yes, Lord; I believe that you are the Christ, the Son of God, who is coming into the world.”

“The eschatological rule of God for which Martha hopes, with all its blessings for mankind, is vested in Jesus. He, the greatest gift of God’s saving sovereignty, is precisely life eternal under that sovereignty and entry upon it through resurrection. The power to initiate it resides in Jesus (the Resurrection) and to grant it in its fullness (the Life).” WBC

Jesus asks Martha: “Do you believe this?” DO YOU BELIEVE THIS?

Martha makes a full-fledged confession of faith in Jesus, acknowledging him to be the Messiah in three parallel phrases.

John 5:21-29 For as the Father raises the dead and gives them life, so also the Son gives life to whom he will. The Father judges no one, but has given all judgment to the Son, that all may honor the Son, just as they honor the Father. Whoever does not honor the Son does not honor the Father who sent him. Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life. He does not come into judgment, but has passed from death to life.

“Truly, truly, I say to you, an hour is coming, and is now here, when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God, and those who hear will live. For as the Father has life in himself, so he has granted the Son also to have life in himself. And he has given him authority to execute judgment, because he is the Son of Man. Do not marvel at this, for an hour is coming when all who are in the tombs will hear his voice and come out, those who have done good to the resurrection of life, and those who have done evil to the resurrection of judgment.

The whole story of the raising of Lazarus is a physical explication of this passage.

11:28-37 When she had said this, she went and called her sister Mary, saying in private, “The Teacher is here and is calling for you.” And when she heard it, she rose quickly and went to him. Now Jesus had not yet come into the village, but was still in the place where Martha had met him.

When the Jews who were with her in the house, consoling her, saw Mary rise quickly and go out, they followed her, supposing that she was going to the tomb to weep there. 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.” 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. And he said, “Where have you laid him?” They said to him, “Lord, come and see.”

Jesus wept.

So the Jews said, “See how he loved him!” But some of them said, “Could not he who opened the eyes of the blind man also have kept this man from dying?”

Did Martha whisper to Mary for fear of the Fatwah placed on Jesus? There were many Jews from Jerusalem in the room with Mary.

When Mary meets Jesus she says the same thing Martha had said: “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died.” Jesus response shows his humanity. He was sorrowful, deeply moved and greatly troubled. He weeps with Mary and the mourners. Some commentators say the language implies that Jesus was angry and agitated because of the unbelief of the people. I think our English rendering is more in keeping with the moment.

But we do not want you to be uninformed, brothers, about those who are asleep, that you may not grieve, as others do who have no hope. (1Thess. 4:13)

Did not Jesus weep as well for all the pain wrought on this earth through sin and death?

It is interesting that the healing of the blind man is still fresh in the minds of the people from Jerusalem. They all agree that death has a finality that even Jesus cannot overcome.

11:38-42 Then Jesus, deeply moved again, came to the tomb. It was a cave, and a stone lay against it.

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. Jesus said to her, “Did I not tell you that if you believed you would see the glory of God?”

So they took away the stone. And Jesus lifted up his eyes and said, “Father, I thank you that you have heard me. 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.”

Jesus’ prayer is one of thanksgiving, not of petition. He quotes Psalm 118:21: I thank you that you have answered me and have become my salvation.

He is in constant prayer with the Father. He depends upon the Father for everything he does, so the petition may have preceded this way back to the beginning of this chapter. Should our prayers manifest more thanksgiving and fewer petitions, and should our lives reflect God’s will for us more than they do?

11:43-44 When he had said these things, he cried out with a loud voice, “Lazarus, come out.” 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.”

Lazarus, the dead man hears Jesus voice and responds to it. In truth, that is what happens to all of us when we come to the faith. We are dead men made alive by hearing and responding to Jesus’ call.

How did Lazarus move out of the grave? He was wrapped in cloths from head to foot. Is there a miracle within the miracle?

11:45-53 Many of the Jews therefore, who had come with Mary and had seen what he did, believed in him, but some of them went to the Pharisees and told them what Jesus had done.

So the chief priests and the Pharisees gathered the Council and said, “What are we to do? For this man performs many signs. 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.”

But one of them, Caiaphas, who was high priest that year, said to them, “You know nothing at all. 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.”

He did not say this of his own accord, but being high priest that year he prophesied that Jesus would die for the nation, and not for the nation only, but also to gather into one the children of God who are scattered abroad. So from that day on they made plans to put him to death.

The chief priests and the Pharisees only see Jesus as a threat, not so much to the nation, but to themselves and their religious way of life. They couch their argument as a concern for the safety of the nation, but in truth they are looking after their own interests. In fact, because of their rejection of Jesus the nation does perish in 70 AD and is not restored until 1948. Yet to all who believe Jesus gives life in this world and in the world to come.

Jewish authorities decreed that if a company of Jews walking on the road were threatened by heathens who say, “Give us one of you that we may kill him, otherwise we shall kill you all,” they must rather all be killed. If, however, the demand is for a named individual, like Sheba, son of Bichri; (he was a ‘worthless fellow’ who led a revolt against David (2 Sam 20:1-22); Joab accepted his head rather than destroy the whole city to which he had fled. Such a one could be turned over to the authorities if he were deserving of judgment.

Does the restoration of the nation of Israel confirm the prophesy of Caiaphas? Has the church replaced the Jewish nation under the New Covenant, or does God still have plans to restore and redeem the ethnic Jewish state? The church is divided on this issue, but most of us still anticipate a true revival and restoration of the Jews and of the Temple.

As we have said before, there can be no neutral response to Jesus. Either we must believe, or we must get rid of him as the Jewish leaders plotted to do. We are finding this to be more and more true in our nation and in the world today.

Satan is trying to use all his minions to silence the gospel everywhere. Even our military dis-invited Franklin Graham from their annual National Day of Prayer event. (See below).

11:54 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.

This time Jesus goes to Ephraim to hide. It is much closer to Jerusalem than the Trans-Jordan. Ephraim is a town on the southern edge of Samaria, and it can provide some security from the agents of the Jewish leaders, who are looking for Jesus to arrest him.

Ephraim

Ephraim was the son of Joseph and Asenath and the younger brother of Manasseh (Gen. 41:50-52). According to the Bible, when Joseph brought his two sons to his father, Jacob, for a blessing, Ephraim received the birthright blessing in place of Manasseh (Gen. 48:13-20), one of the departures noted in the Bible from the custom of bestowing on the firstborn son the special privileges that belonged to him by right of primogeniture. The Lord continued to acknowledge Ephraim's blessing centuries later when he said, "I am a father to Israel, and Ephraim is my firstborn" (Jer. 31:9; cf. 1 Chr. 5:1-2). Ephraim's descendants will continue in significant roles. The Book of Mormon records that Joseph of old "obtained a promise of the Lord, that out of the fruit of his loins the Lord God would raise up a righteous branch unto the house of Israel…to be remembered in the covenants of the Lord" (2 Ne. 3:5). Further, a "choice seer" would arise from Joseph's descendants who would "do a work for the fruit of [Joseph's] loins, his brethren, which shall be of great worth unto them, even to the bringing of them to the knowledge of the covenants which I [the Lord] have made with thy fathers" (2 Ne. 3:7). Many Latter-day Saints believe that they are of the branch of Ephraim, of whom Joseph prophesied (2 Ne. 3:5-16; D&C 133:30-34) and that the Prophet Joseph Smith is the "choice seer" (3 Ne. 3:6).

Because of their rebellion against the Lord many centuries ago, Ephraim's descendants were scattered among the Gentile nations, along with members of the other tribes, beginning with the fall of the northern kingdom of Israel c. 722 B.C. (2 Kgs. 17:5-6; see also Israel: Scattering of Israel and Israel: Lost Tribes of Israel)

In the last days, Ephraim's descendants have the privilege and responsibility to bear the message of the restoration of the gospel to the world and to gather scattered Israel (D&C 113:3-6). "We believe in the literal gathering of Israel and in the restoration of the Ten Tribes; that Zion (the New Jerusalem) will be built upon the American continent" (A of F 10; cf. Deut. 4:27-31; 28; 29; 30; 3 Ne. 20-21). The keys of gathering Israel were committed to the Prophet Joseph Smith by Moses on April 3, 1836, in the Kirtland Temple (D&C 110:11). Many of Ephraim's descendants are being gathered first, for they have the responsibility of preparing the way for the gathering of the other tribes (D&C 113). "And they [others of the tribes of Israel] shall bring forth their rich treasures unto the children of Ephraim, my servants…and there shall they fall down and be crowned with glory, even in Zion, by the hands of the servants of the Lord, even the children of Ephraim, and they shall be filled with songs of everlasting joy" (D&C 133:30-33; see also Israel: Gathering of Israel).

One of the tools to be used in the gathering is the Book of Mormon, also known among Latter-day Saints as the stick of Joseph or the stick of Ephraim (Ezek. 37:15-19; 2 Ne. 3:12; D&C 27:5). It is to play an important part in convincing Lamanites, Jews, and Gentiles that Jesus is the messiah and that God does remember his covenant people (See Book of Mormon: Title Page).

For Latter-day Saints, identification of a person's lineage in latter-day Covenant Israel is made under the hands of inspired Patriarchs through patriarchal blessings that declare lineage. Elder John A. Widtsoe, an Apostle, declared, "In giving a blessing the patriarch may declare our lineage—that is, that we are of Israel, therefore of the family of Abraham, and of a specific tribe of Jacob. In the great majority of cases, Latter-day Saints are of the tribe of Ephraim, the tribe to which has been committed the leadership of the Latter-day work. Whether this lineage is of blood or adoption it does not matter" (p. 73; cf. Abr. 2:10).

The patriarchal blessings of most Latter-day Saints indicate that they are literal, blood descendants of Abraham and of Israel. Those who are not literal descendants are adopted into the family of Abraham when they receive baptism and confirmation (see Law of Adoption). They are then entitled to all the rights and privileges of heirs (TPJS, pp. 149-50). This doctrine of adoption was understood by ancient prophets and apostles (e.g., Rom. 11; 1 Ne. 10:14; Jacob 5; cf. D&C 84:33-34).

John 10:1-42 The Shepherd of Israel and All Nations March 2, 2020

The healing of the blind man that we considered last week and this discourse on Jesus as Shepherd takes place after the fall festival of Tabernacles and at the time of the winter Festival of Dedication (Rosh Hashanah). As we noted two lessons ago, Jesus does not return to Galilee again. These are the last few months before his crucifixion. His message is taking on greater urgency and intensity. The opposition is getting more aggressive, and by the end of this chapter he can no longer remain in Jerusalem.

The imagery of a Shepherd is very familiar to the Jews, and also to the Gentiles. It is a picture of Leadership and Protection and Salvation for men. For Christians it includes our Redemption through Christ’s sacrificial death and resurrection. Reread Psalm 23.0

The leaders of Israel were charged with being the shepherds of the people. However, they failed in their responsibilities, and will be accountable to God for their failure. See Ezekiel 34. Now Jesus reveals to all of the people that he is the Shepherd promised in Ezekiel. He confirms his validity by his miracles, in this case the healing of the blind man, and by his obedient relationship and Sonship with God, the Father.

Ezekiel 34:1-6 The word of the LORD came to me: “Son of man, prophesy against the

shepherds of Israel; prophesy, and say to them, even to the shepherds,

Thus says the Lord GOD: Ah, shepherds of Israel who have been feeding your selves! Should not shepherds feed the sheep? You eat the fat, you clothe

yourselves with the wool, you slaughter the fat ones, but you do not feed the sheep.

The weak you have not strengthened, the sick you have not healed,

the injured you have not bound up, the strayed you have not brought back,

the lost you have not sought, and with force and harshness you have ruled

them. So they were scattered, because there was no shepherd, and they

became food for all the wild beasts. My sheep were scattered; they wandered

over all the mountains and on every high hill. My sheep were scattered over all the face of the earth, with none to search

or seek for them.

10:1-5 “Truly, truly, I say to you, he who does not enter the sheepfold by the door but climbs in by another way, that man is a thief and a robber. But he who enters by the door is the shepherd of the sheep. To him the gatekeeper opens. The sheep hear his voice, and he calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. When he has brought out all his own, he goes before them, and the sheep follow him, for they know his voice. A stranger they will not follow, but they will flee from him, for they do not know the voice of strangers.”

The thieves and robbers are first of all the false leaders and teachers of Israel. They have neglected the care of the sheep, and have led them astray. But they also are the whole gamut of religious leaders, messianic prophets, Gnostics, pagan gods, and all who will lead God’s sheep astray. There is no shortage of such persons and powers in our world today.

The true sheep, the ones given by the Father to the Son, the ones that respond to Jesus words by faith, are able to distinguish the true from the false. Luke 15:1-7 tells the parable of the one lost sheep out of a hundred.

Now the tax collectors and sinners were all drawing near to hear him. And the Pharisees and the scribes grumbled, saying, “This man receives sinners and eats with them.”

So he told them this parable: “What man of you, having a hundred sheep, if he has lost one of them, does not leave the ninety-nine in the open country, and go after the

one that is lost, until he finds it? And when he has found it, he lays it on his shoulders rejoicing. And when he comes home, he calls together his friends and his neighbors,

saying to them, ‘Rejoice with me, for I have found my sheep that was lost.’ Just so, I

tell you, there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who need no repentance.

Mark 14:27 warns the disciples that even they will desert their Shepherd for a time according to the Scripture that says: I will strike the shepherd, and the sheep will be scattered (Zech 13:7).

10:6-10 This figure of speech Jesus used with them, but they did not understand what he was saying to them. So Jesus again said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, I am the door of the sheep. All who came before me are thieves and robbers, but the sheep did not listen to them. I am the door. If anyone enters by me, he will be saved and will go in and out and find pasture. The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life and have it abundantly.

Jesus is not only the Shepherd, but he is the Door to the sheepfold as well. For emphasis he says ‘I am the door’ twice. Chrysostom said: “When he brings us to the Father he calls himself a Door, when he takes care of us, a Shepherd.”

In 14:6 Jesus says: I am the Way, the truth and the life; no one comes to the Father except through me”. These are parallel metaphors. Here in v. 10 he promises life and abundant life. This is life today and not in some world in the future.

If Jesus is the Door and the Gate and the Way, then all other paths to God are excluded. All other claimants are ruled out.

Is this claim too rigid? Is there any other with the power to save?

David likens the gate to be his way of salvation in Psa. 118:19.

Open to me the gates of righteousness,

that I may enter through them

and give thanks to the LORD.

This is the gate of the LORD;

the righteous shall enter through it.

I thank you that you have answered me

and have become my salvation.

The stone that the builders rejected

has become the cornerstone.

10:11-15 I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. He who is a hired hand and not a shepherd, who does not own the sheep, sees the wolf coming and leaves the sheep and flees, and the wolf snatches them and scatters them. He flees because he is a hired hand and cares nothing for the sheep. I am the good shepherd. I know my own and my own know me, just as the Father knows me and I know the Father; and I lay down my life for the sheep.

This might read: I am the ‘genuine’ shepherd. He repeats “I am the good shepherd” twice for emphasis. He is ready to lay down his own life for the sheep. He is no hireling. He knows that his days are getting short.

How do we know Jesus? In Greek thought, to ‘know’ is to see or understand. It is more contemplative and objective. In Hebrew thought knowledge means experiencing something, entering into a relationship with the object or person. Thus for us to know the Shepherd is to experience him in our hearts and lives.

10:16 And I have other sheep that are not of this fold. I must bring them also, and they will listen to my voice. So there will be one flock, one shepherd.

Although salvation is of the Jews, it was expected to be spread to all men through the Jews (Isaiah 42:6, 49:6). Abraham was told that all the families of the earth would be blessed through him. Now this will be fulfilled through Jesus, the seed of Abraham. There will be one flock, made up of Jews and Gentiles together.

42:6 “I am the LORD; I have called you in righteousness;

I will take you by the hand and keep you;

I will give you as a covenant for the people,

a light for the nations,

to open the eyes that are blind,

49:6 I will make you as a light for the nations,

that my salvation may reach to the end of the earth.”

Does God draw the Gentile sheep the same way He draws the Jewish believers?

See 6:37-40

For I have come down from heaven, not to do my own will but the will of him who sent me. And this is the will of him who sent me, that I should lose nothing of all that he has given me, but raise it up on the last day. For this is the will of my Father, that everyone who looks on the Son and believes in him should have eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day.”

See 2 Corinthians 5:17-21

Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come. All this is from God, who through Christ reconciled us to

himself and gave us the ministry of reconciliation; that is, in Christ God was

reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and

entrusting to us the message of reconciliation.

10:17-18 For this reason the Father loves me, because I lay down my life that I may take it up again. No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord. I have authority to lay it down, and I have authority to take it up again. This charge I have received from my Father.

The love of the Father is mysteriously linked to Jesus sacrificial death. Yet the decision whether or not to die lies with Jesus alone. The Father’s will is that all men be saved, and the Son in love makes his sacrifice freely. Jesus death is intimately linked with his resurrection. Both are necessary for the salvation of the world.

10:19-21 There was again a division among the Jews because of these words. Many of them said, “He has a demon, and is insane; why listen to him?”

Others said, “These are not the words of one who is oppressed by a demon. Can a demon open the eyes of the blind?”

There can be confusion in the way ‘the Jews’ is used by John. Sometimes it refers to the people of Israel, sometimes the rulers and the Temple hierarchy, sometimes the Pharisees, and sometimes the people who are in opposition to Jesus. Here it means the ordinary people living in and about Jerusalem. There is uncertainty and tension concerning Jesus. Was he the Messiah as he claimed to be, or was he a prophet, or was he a charlatan, or was he deluded? Everyone then, and everyone now, must come to grips with these questions. It is hard to stay neutral when one encounters him.

10:22-30 At that time the Feast of Dedication took place at Jerusalem. It was winter, and Jesus was walking in the temple, in the colonnade of Solomon. So the Jews gathered around him and said to him, “How long will you keep us in suspense? If you are the Christ, tell us plainly.” Jesus answered them, “I told you, and you do not believe. The works that I do in my Father’s name bear witness about me, but you do not believe because you are not part of my flock. My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me. I give them eternal life, and they will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of my hand. My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all, and no one is able to snatch them out of the Father’s hand. I and the Father are one.”

The Feast of Dedication celebrates the victory of Judas Maccabees over Antiochus Epiphanes in 164 BC. Antiochus had conquered Jerusalem in 167 BC and among other horrors he desecrated the Temple by placing a statue of Zeus in it and ordering that Zeus be worshipped there. He also sacrificed a swine on the altar of the Temple. Judas led a revolt and was finally victorious in 164 BC. The Temple was cleansed and the people celebrated the rededication of the altar for eight days. There is a story that the lampstand in the Temple had only one day’s worth of oil. Yet it burned for the entire eight days. Therefore the Jews celebrate this week in December every year, beginning on the 25th of Kislev, and the menorah lamps are lighted for the duration. Therefore it, like the Feast of Tabernacles, is a festival of light. Rejoicing is the keynote of the festival, and no mourning is allowed.

But note, it says: It was winter. The weather may have been wintry, but this could also refer to the spiritual climate Jesus was encountering. The people were confused about him, the leaders were looking to arrest him, and his message that he was the shepherd who could provide eternal life, was not catching on. The people were celebrating the deliverance from an Antichrist, yet they did not recognize that their true deliverer was standing amongst them.

10:31-36 The Jews picked up stones again to stone him. Jesus answered them, “I have shown you many good works from the Father; for which of them are you going to stone me?” The Jews answered him, “It is not for a good work that we are going to stone you but for blasphemy, because you, being a man, make yourself God.”

Jesus answered them, Is it not written in your Law, ‘I said, you are gods?’ If he called them gods to whom the word of God came and Scripture cannot be broken—do you say of him whom the Father consecrated and sent into the world, ‘You are blaspheming,’ because I said, ‘I am the Son of God?’

Things are getting really rough now. The people have already picked up stones in their hands. He is accused of blasphemy as he was in 5:17-30. His defense is a bit weak from today’s understanding because he quotes a somewhat difficult passage from Psalm 82.

Psa. 82:6-7 I said, “You are gods, sons of the Most High, all of you;

nevertheless, like men you shall die, and fall like any prince.”

Ex. 4:22-23 Then you shall say to Pharaoh, ‘Thus says the LORD, Israel is my firstborn son, and I say to you, “Let my son go that he may serve me.” If you refuse to let him go, behold, I will kill your firstborn son.’ ”

John 10:37-39 If I am not doing the works of my Father, then do not believe me; but if I do them, even though you do not believe me, believe the works, that you may know and understand that the Father is in me and I am in the Father. Again they sought to arrest him, but he escaped from their hands.

There is a mutual indwelling between Jesus and God, the Father. There should be a parallel relationship between Jesus and his followers.

John 10:40-42 He went away again across the Jordan to the place where John had been baptizing at first, and there he remained. And many came to him. And they said, “John did no sign, but everything that John said about this man was true.” And many believed in him there.

Now Jesus must leave Jerusalem. He continues his ministry by the Jordan. His next journey to Jerusalem will be his last.

1 Maccabees 1 Common English Bible (CEB)

Alexander the Great

1 Alexander was Philip’s son, a Macedonian, one of the western peoples known as the Kittim. After Alexander became king of Greece, he defeated King Darius, who ruled the Persians and the Medes. By doing so, Alexander greatly enlarged his realm. 2 He successfully fought many battles, conquered fortresses, and put to death many kings. 3 He advanced to the very ends of the known earth, plundering nation after nation. Finally, his battles reached an end, and he was widely recognized as supreme king, which made him proud. 4 He built a very strong army and ruled countries, nations, and princes; and they all owed allegiance to him.

5 But eventually Alexander fell sick and was confined to bed. He knew that he was dying. 6 He therefore called for his most esteemed officers, those who had been raised with him; and he divided his kingdom among them while he was still alive. 7 Then Alexander died, having ruled for twelve years.[a]

8 Subsequently, his officers began to rule, each in his own territory. 9 They ruled as kings, and after them their descendants ruled for many years. Together they caused much suffering across the earth.

Antiochus Epiphanes and renegade Jews

10 From these descendants sprouted a sinful root—Antiochus Epiphanes. He was a son of King Antiochus, and he had been brought up in Rome as a hostage. Antiochus Epiphanes began to rule in the year 137[b] according to the calendar of the Greek kingdom.

11 At that time, some renegade Israelites emerged. These people went against their ancestral laws and encouraged many other Jews to join them. They spoke up, saying, “Let’s make an agreement with the Gentiles around us, because many horrible things have happened to us since we separated ourselves from them.” 12 The proposal pleased their fellow Jews. 13 Some of them eagerly went to King Antiochus, who gave them permission to start living by the laws of the Gentiles. 14 Consequently, they built a gymnasium in Jerusalem, following Gentile custom. 15 They even took steps to remove the marks of circumcision, utterly abandoning the holy covenant. They joined with Gentiles and gave themselves over to an evil course.

20 After he conquered Egypt, Antiochus returned in the year 143.[c] He went up to Israel and entered Jerusalem with a strong force. 21 With arrogance he went into the sanctuary. He took the gold altar, the lampstand for the light, and all its equipment. 22 He also took the table that was used for the sacred bread, drink-offering cups, bowls, gold censers, a curtain, crowns, and the gold decoration on the front of the temple. He stripped it all. 23 He took silver, gold, and costly equipment. He took every hidden treasure he could find. 24 Taking it all, he went back to his own land. He committed murder and spoke very arrogantly.

29 Two years later,[d] to collect tribute from the Judean cities, King Antiochus sent his chief officer, who came to Jerusalem with a large army. 30 The agent spoke peaceably and the Jews believed him, but he was deceitful. Without warning, he attacked the city, dealt it a brutal blow, and killed many Israelites. 31 He plundered the city. He set fires within it, destroyed its houses, and tore down its protective walls. 32 His forces took women and children as prisoners and seized livestock. 33 After all of this, the agent’s forces fortified David’s City with a very strong wall and powerful towers, and it became their fortress. 34 They stationed sinful, immoral people there, and these soldiers held down their position. 35 They stocked up with weapons and food, collected the spoils of Jerusalem, and stored them there. They were a great menace.

41 Then King Antiochus sent word throughout his entire kingdom that everyone should act like one people, 42 giving up their local customs. The Gentile nations all readily accepted the king’s command. 43 Many Jews also willingly adopted the king’s religion. They sacrificed to idols and violated the Sabbath. 44 The king sent messengers carrying letters to Jerusalem and the surrounding towns of Judah. He directed Jews to follow customs that had been unknown in the land. 45 He banned the regular practices of entirely burned offerings, sacrifices, and drink offerings in the sanctuary. He banned the observance of sabbaths and feast days. 46 The sanctuary and its priests were to be defiled. 47 They should build new altars, together with sacred precincts and shrines for idols. They should sacrifice pigs and other ritually impure animals. 48 Jews were no longer to circumcise their sons. They were supposed to make themselves repulsive to God by doing unclean and improper acts. 49 All of this was intended to make them forget the Law and change its regulations. 50 Whoever didn’t obey the king would die.

51 In this way, Antiochus wrote to his whole kingdom. He appointed inspectors over all the people, and commanded the Jewish communities to offer pagan sacrifices, town by town. 52 Many Jewish people, those who abandoned the Law, followed suit and did evil in the land. 53 The king’s inspectors[f] drove Israel into hiding in every place of refuge they had available.

54 Now on the fifteenth day of Kislev,[g] in the year 145, they set up a disgusting and destructive thing on the altar for entirely burned offerings in the sanctuary. The inspectors[h] built other altars in the surrounding Judean towns. 55 They burned incense at the doors of houses and in the streets. 56 When they found the Law scrolls, they tore them to pieces and burned them. 57 If anyone was caught in possession of a copy of the covenant scroll or if anyone kept to the Law, that person was condemned to death by royal decree. 58 They were unrelenting in attacking Israelites, all those who were identified as law-observant month after month throughout the towns. 59 On the twenty-fifth day of the month they offered sacrifice on the altar built over the altar for entirely burned offerings. 60 In keeping with the decree, they killed women who had circumcised their sons. 61 They hanged the infant boys from their mothers’ necks. The king’s agents also killed the families of the women as well as those who had performed the circumcisions.

John 9:1-40 A Blind Man is Given Sight February 24, 2020

I always enjoy this story. It has so many levels of meaning and it deals directly with our everyday lives. Is not each of us born blind? Only Jesus can open our eyes so that we are capable of seeing. Are not those in positions of power and authority often the blindest of the blind? Are we not in danger of thinking we are sufficiently ‘religious’ that we can safely judge all those sinners out there?

This is a story of revelation and judgment developing side-by-side. We see the result of the ‘light’ in chapter 8 shining in the world. It results in sight for some and deep blindness in others. It transforms one and abandons the other in his self-chosen darkness.

Watch the spiritual development of the blind man.

v. 11-12 the man called Jesus

v. 17 a prophet

v. 33 one sent from God

v. 35-38 Son of Man and Lord (kurios)

On the other hand we can see the descent of the Pharisees.

v. 16. Jesus is not from God, but is a sinner

v. 24 they deny the miracle

v. 29 they do not know where he is from, or the origin of his authority

v. 34 they eject the man and in so doing reject Jesus

v. 39-41 Jesus declares them to be blind

The crucial test of discipleship is confession of Jesus before men as the Son of God.

Luke 12:8-9 “And I tell you, everyone who acknowledges me before men, the Son of Man also will acknowledge before the angels of God, but the one who denies me before men will be denied before the angels of God.

Light offers sight (salvation), but it also judges those who reject the light.

John 3:17-19 For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him. Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God. And this is the judgment: the light has come into the world, and people loved the darkness rather than the light because their deeds were evil.

The setting of this story is some time between the Feast of Tabernacles and the Feast of Dedication (10:22). It is late fall. Jesus will not return to Galilee again, but will remain in the vicinity of Jerusalem. He does make one more trip down to the Jordan where he had been baptized by John (10:40-42). Some scholars divide this chapter into 7 sections, and see it as a stage play. There are two players in each scene.

The Jews have now decreed that anyone who confesses Jesus is the Messiah is to be thrown out of the synagogue. Later in Judaism, between AD 80-115, the twelfth of Eighteen Benedictions said three times a day by all pious Jews, is the benediction of the heretics:

For the apostates let there be no hope, and let the arrogant government be speedily uprooted in our days. Let the Nazarenes and the Minim (heretics) be destroyed in a moment, and let them be blotted out of the book of life and not be inscribed with the righteous. Blessed art thou, O Lord, who humblest the proud.

John may have been responding to this edict that was contemporary with the writing of this Gospel.

9:1-7 As he passed by, he saw a man blind from birth. And his disciples asked him, “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?”

Jesus answered, “It was not that this man sinned, or his parents, but that the works of God might be displayed in him. We must work the works of him who sent me while it is day; night is coming, when no one can work. As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world.”

Who, in fact, did sin that this unfortunate man should be born blind? Does man’s sinfulness directly affect the physical world? How did Adam’s sin affect his physical world?

Having said these things, he spat on the ground and made mud with the saliva. Then he anointed the man’s eyes with the mud and said to him, “Go, wash in the pool of Siloam” (which means Sent). So he went and washed and came back seeing.

Saliva was felt to have healing properties. (But its connection with magical practices caused its use to be forbidden by later rabbis.) To use it to make a salve with the clay of the earth was frequently compared by early Church Fathers with the creation of man from the earth in Gen 2:7.

The name Siloam is the Greek translation of the Hebrew word Shiloah, meaning to send’. Jesus, the one sent from God, sends the man to the pool named ‘sent’. This reminds us of the story of Naaman and Elisha in 2 Kings 5:10-14.

9:8-12 The neighbors and those who had seen him before as a beggar were saying, “Is this not the man who used to sit and beg?” Some said, “It is he.” Others said, “No, but he is like him.” He kept saying, “I am the man.” So they said to him, “Then how were your eyes opened?” He answered, “The man called Jesus made mud and anointed my eyes and said to me, ‘Go to Siloam and wash.’ So I went and washed and received my sight.” They said to him, “Where is he?” He said, “I do not know.”

The neighbors are perplexed. Could this be the boy they know? He assures them that he is, and that his sight has been restored through the man called Jesus.

9:13-17 They brought to the Pharisees the man who had formerly been blind. Now it was a Sabbath day when Jesus made the mud and opened his eyes. So the Pharisees again asked him how he had received his sight. And he said to them, “He put mud on my eyes, and I washed, and I see.” Some of the Pharisees said, “This man is not from God, for he does not keep the Sabbath.” But others said, “How can a man who is a sinner do such signs?” And there was a division among them. So they said again to the blind man, “What do you say about him, since he has opened your eyes?” He said, “He is a prophet.”

Now he is questioned by the Pharisees. They were faced with a dilemma. On the one hand a verifiable miracle took place. But it took place on the Sabbath. They had rules against spitting on the Sabbath, and rules against kneading on the Sabbath. Thus, Jesus was twice a Sabbath breaker. One could intervene to save a life on the Sabbath, but not just a man’s sight. But I would postulate that Jesus did save the blind man’s life, because with his coming to faith he passed from death to life. The Pharisees turned to the healed man for a resolution to this theological predicament. The man was clear with his answer, “He is a Prophet”.

John 9:18-23 The Jews did not believe that he had been blind and had received his sight, until they called the parents of the man who had received his sight and asked them, “Is this your son, who you say was born blind? How then does he now see?” His parents answered, “We know that this is our son and that he was born blind. But how he now sees we do not know, nor do we know who opened his eyes. Ask him; he is of age. He will speak for himself.” (His parents said these things because they feared the Jews, for the Jews had already agreed that if anyone should confess Jesus to be Christ, he was to be put out of the synagogue.) Therefore his parents said, “He is of age; ask him.”

The parents are brought in for questioning. It was no light thing to be brought before such a council. They had the power to fine, to imprison, and to excommunicate. The parent’s answers were the bare minimums. They were afraid of being trapped by their responses. How will we respond when the time comes that we are brought before the magistrates because we profess to be Christians?

9:24-34 So for the second time they called the man who had been blind and said to him, “Give glory to God. We know that this man is a sinner.” He answered, “Whether he is a sinner I do not know. One thing I do know, that though I was blind, now I see.” They said to him, “What did he do to you? How did he open your eyes?” He answered them, “I have told you already, and you would not listen. Why do you want to hear it again? Do you also want to become his disciples?” And they reviled him, saying, “You are his disciple, but we are disciples of Moses. We know that God has spoken to Moses, but as for this man, we do not know where he comes from.” The man answered, “Why, this is an amazing thing! You do not know where he comes from, and yet he opened my eyes. We know that God does not listen to sinners, but if anyone is a worshiper of God and does his will, God listens to him. Never since the world began has it been heard that anyone opened the eyes of a man born blind. If this man were not from God, he could do nothing.” They answered him, “You were born in utter sin, and would you teach us?”

And they cast him out.

The man is brought back to the council for further questioning. They are trying to get him to repudiate Jesus. However, the fact of his ‘enlightenment’ is right before his eyes and theirs. It cannot be denied. He answered, “Whether he is a sinner I do not know. One thing I do know, that though I was blind, now I see.”

This should be our witness as well. We might not know the full theology of Christianity, but one thing we do know is that once we were dead in our trespasses and sins, and now we are alive in Christ. We have moved from death to life. We are citizens of a kingdom over which they have no power. Once we were blind, but now we see through the one who is the ‘Light of the World’.

9:35-39 Jesus heard that they had cast him out, and having found him he said, “Do you believe in the Son of Man?” He answered, “And who is he, sir, that I may believe in him?” Jesus said to him, “You have seen him, and it is he who is speaking to you.” He said, “Lord, I believe,” and he worshiped him.

The blind man has moved from receiving sight from Jesus to a very full understanding of who Jesus is. We have seen the development of this throughout the story. Now he reaches the complete understanding that Jesus is the Messiah, and he responds by falling down and worshiping him. Is there a saving faith in Jesus that is not accompanied by humble worship of him?

9:40-41 Jesus said, “For judgment I came into this world, that those who do not see may see, and those who see may become blind.” Some of the Pharisees near him heard these things, and said to him, “Are we also blind?” Jesus said to them, “If you were blind, you would have no guilt; but now that you say, ‘We see,’ your guilt remains.”

Here we come to the distinction between Light as our redemption, and Light as judgment (krisis). Judgment on those that reject the Light is the unavoidable consequence. Jesus gives several reasons for his coming in the Gospels:

Mark 2:17 And when Jesus heard it, he said to them, “Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. I came not to call the righteous, but sinners.”

Matt. 5:17 “Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them.

Luke 12:49, 51-53 “I came to cast fire on the earth, and would that it were already kindled!

Do you think that I have come to give peace on earth? No, I tell you, but rather division. For from now on in one house there will be five divided, three against two and two against three. They will be divided, father against son and son against father, mother against daughter and daughter against mother, mother-in-law against her daughter-in-law and daughter-in-law against mother-in-law.”

Jesus tells the Pharisees that their blindness is willful. They purposefully reject the Light and so condemn themselves to their self-chosen darkness.

John 10:1-42 The Shepherd of Israel and All Nations

The healing of the blind man and this discourse on Jesus as Shepherd takes place after the fall festival of Tabernacles and the winter Festival of Dedication (Rosh Hashana). As we noted two weeks ago, Jesus does not return to Galilee again. These are the last few months before his crucifixion. His message is taking on greater urgency and intensity. The opposition is getting more aggressive, and by the end of this chapter he can no longer remain in Jerusalem.

Jesus is not only the Shepherd, but he is the Door to the sheepfold as well. Chrysostom said: “When he brings us to the Father he calls himself a Door, when he takes care of us, a Shepherd.”

In 14:6 Jesus says: I am the Way, the truth and the life; no one comes to the Father except through me”. These are parallel metaphors.

If Jesus is the Door and the Gate and the Way, then all other paths to God are excluded. All other claimants are ruled out.

Is this claim too rigid? Is there any other with the power to save?

David likens the gate to be his way of salvation in Psa. 118:19.

Open to me the gates of righteousness,

that I may enter through them

and give thanks to the LORD.

This is the gate of the LORD;

the righteous shall enter through it.

I thank you that you have answered me

and have become my salvation.

The stone that the builders rejected

has become the cornerstone.

This might read: I am the ‘genuine’ shepherd. He is ready to lay down his own life for the sheep. He is no hireling. He knows that his days are getting short.

10:16 And I have other sheep that are not of this fold. I must bring them also, and they will listen to my voice. So there will be one flock, one shepherd.

Does God draw the Gentile sheep the same way He draws the Jewish believers?

See 6:37-40; 2 Corinthians 5:14-21.

10:19-21 There was again a division among the Jews because of these words. Many of them said, “He has a demon, and is insane; why listen to him?”

Others said, “These are not the words of one who is oppressed by a demon. Can a demon open the eyes of the blind?”

There can be confusion in the way ‘the Jews’ is used by John. Sometimes it refers to the people of Israel, sometimes the rulers and the Temple hierarchy, sometimes the Pharisees, and sometimes the people who are in opposition to Jesus. Here it means the ordinary people living in and about Jerusalem. There is an uncertainty and tension concerning Jesus. Was he the Messiah as he claimed to be, or was he a prophet, or was he a charlatan, or was he deluded? Everyone then, and everyone now, must come to grips with these questions. It is hard to stay neutral when one encounters him.

Psa. 82:6-7 I said, “You are gods, sons of the Most High, all of you;

nevertheless, like men you shall die, and fall like any prince.”

There is a mutual indwelling between Jesus and God, the Father. There should be a parallel relationship between Jesus and his followers.

Now Jesus must leave Jerusalem. He continues his ministry by the Jordan. His next journey to Jerusalem will be his last.

ADDENDUM

At our last lesson Ken questioned the comment that ‘one is not saved so much by faith, as by faithfulness.’

However, one is not saved so much by faith, as by faithfulness. Therefore to truly know the truth that sets one free, one must not only believe in him, but must abide in him. To abide, or remain, in his word implied ‘a perpetual listening to it, reflection on it, holding fast to it, carrying our its bidding.’ To know the truth is to know the One who is true. It is more than an intellectual knowledge, but rather an existential knowledge. It cannot be separated from the knowledge of him as the Redeemer who will draw a new people from all the nations of the earth to himself to the freedom of his Kingdom.

We are taught that one is saved by believing in the Lord Jesus Christ, as Paul explained to the Philippian jailor. But is ‘believe’ a passive verb or an active verb? Is it a one time event or a continuing process through one’s life?

1 Peter 1:8-9 suggests a continuing process.

Though you have not seen him, you love him. Though you do not now see him, you believe in him and rejoice with joy that is inexpressible and filled with glory, obtaining the outcome of your faith, the salvation of your souls.

Romans 6:22 But now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves of God, the fruit you get leads to sanctification and its end, eternal life.

Jesus story of the sheep and the goats says that the doers are approved and the talkers are not (Matthew 25:31-46).

Matthew 7:21 Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven.

Jonathan Edwards said many things in this regard.

Edwards was utterly convinced that there is no true religion without holy affections (emotions, delight). “True religion, in great part, consists in holy affections…He who has no religious affection is in a state of spiritual death and is wholly destitute of powerful quickening influences of the Spirit of God.”

But not only that; there is no true region(or true saint) where there is no perseverance in holy affections. Perseverance is the mark of the elect and necessary to final salvation. “They that will not live godly lives find out for themselves that they are not elected; they that will live godly lives, have found out for themselves that they are elected.”

“For God has respect to perseverance of faith as being virtually in the first act of saving

faith. And it is looked upon as if it were a property of that faith by which the sinner is then justified….There is as much need of persons exercising care and diligence to persevere in order to their salvation, as there is of their attention and care to repent and be converted.” Perseverance is necessary for final salvation.

John 7:53-8:11 A Woman Caught in Adultery February 10, 2020

They went each to his own house, but Jesus went to the Mount of Olives. Early in the morning he came again to the temple. All the people came to him, and he sat down and taught them. The scribes and the Pharisees brought a woman who had been caught in adultery, and placing her in the midst they said to him, “Teacher, this woman has been caught in the act of adultery. Now in the Law Moses commanded us to stone such women. So what do you say?” This they said to test him, that they might have some charge to bring against him. Jesus bent down and wrote with his finger on the ground. And as they continued to ask him, he stood up and said to them, “Let him who is without sin among you be the first to throw a stone at her.” And once more he bent down and wrote on the ground. But when they heard it, they went away one by one, beginning with the older ones, and Jesus was left alone with the woman standing before him. Jesus stood up and said to her, “Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you?” She said, “No one, Lord.” And Jesus said, “Neither do I condemn you; go, and from now on sin no more.”

This is one of the better-known stories in the Bible, yet it is not found in many early manuscripts. In fact, it did not become standard in translations until the 10th century. Even then, it had disclaimers such as we find in our more modern texts today. It has had various locations in the scriptures, including following Luke 21:38; John 7:36, 7:44, and 21:25. The story was around for a long time, but was not considered canonical until much later. It is unlikely that John or any of the Gospel writers wrote it. Yet it is true to the teachings of Jesus and we do not need to reject it as apocryphal.

We like the story because it lets us off the hook for our own sins. We do not know anyone who would be able to cast the first stone at us, and if Jesus gave her a free pass, then he should give us one as well. Augustine tells of the fear of some believers that the story would give their wives encouragement to sin with impunity. This led him to believer that this was the reason for it removal from the Gospel.

The punishment prescribed means that she was a married woman. Jesus was known to mingle with the sinners of the day, the tax collectors, the disreputable of society, and the poor, and now he is being asked to pass judgment on one of his kind. There is not a demand for justice here, but rather an attempt to trap Jesus into judging one of his own.

Was the woman framed, possibly by the connivance of her husband?

What do you think Jesus wrote on the ground? Was he doodling? Was he writing scripture, such as Jeremiah 17:13, or Exodus 23:7? No one today knows.

The law required that the witnesses bringing accusation would have to throw the first stones (Deuteronomy 17:7). Jesus challenged their behavior and motives. They all left convicted by their consciences. Matt 7:1 says: Do not judge, or you too will be judged.

When everyone has left, Jesus addresses the woman with compassion and mercy. However, her forgiveness is conditional, for she is not to continue in sin. Release from a life contrary to the will of God is always with a view to life according to the will of God.

John 8:12-59 Jesus is the Light of the World February 10, 2020

I find this chapter quite difficult. As I was reading it I thought that this would be very hard for an unbeliever to comprehend. It was hard for the people of the day to comprehend. It takes place near the end of a joyous eight-day festival. “He who has not seen the joy of the place of water-drawing has not seen joy in his whole life-time.”

Jesus has been in conversation with the people for last half of the festival. He has likened himself to the water being offered, and now he likens himself to the light. But then he gets very serious with the crowds and the leaders. He wants them to know that he is the Messiah that the Feast of Booths anticipates. He says that God is the one who sent him and the one that affirms his validity. In chapter 5 he called 1) John the Baptist, 2) the works they have seen him do, 3) the teaching of the Scriptures, and 4) God the Father, as his witnesses. Now he only calls on the Father. He speaks of judgment (krisis) and God as judge. He challenges their paternity, even as they challenge his. They claim to be the children of Abraham and of God, but Jesus says they are the children of Satan. His message, however, is not directed toward judgment, but rather toward salvation and life. He has come as Redeemer, not judge.

8:12 Again Jesus spoke to them, saying, ‘I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life’.

This is a Festival of Light. (But it is not Hanukkah.) Huge candelabra are lighted in the Temple and outdoors among the Sukkot. It recalls the Shekinah cloud that led the Israelites through the wilderness, a cloud by day and a pillar of fire at night.

Ex. 13:21-22. And the LORD went before them by day in a pillar of cloud to lead them along the way, and by night in a pillar of fire to give them light, that they might travel by day and by night. The pillar of cloud by day and the pillar of fire by night did not depart from before the people.

Jesus is telling the people that he is the light they are seeking, and thereby the one that led their fathers in the wilderness. See John 1:6-13 and 3:17-21. The people are called to follow the light, not just to receive or walk in the light.

8:13-18 So the Pharisees said to him, “You are bearing witness about yourself; your testimony is not true”. Jesus answered, “Even if I do bear witness about myself, my testimony is true, for I know where I came from and where I am going, but you do not know where I come from or where I am going. You judge according to the flesh; I judge no one. Yet even if I do judge, my judgment is true, for it is not I alone who judge, but I and the Father who sent me. In your Law it is written that the testimony of two men is true. I am the one who bears witness about myself, and the Father who sent me bears witness about me.”

They said to him therefore, “Where is your Father?” Jesus answered, “You know neither me nor my Father. If you knew me, you would know my Father also.”

These words he spoke in the treasury, as he taught in the temple; but no one arrested him, because his hour had not yet come.

The Temple Treasury

The inner area of the Temple contained three courts. The easternmost court was the Court of the Women, and it contained the Temple treasury where people donated their money (Mk 12:41-44). Three gates led into this court, one on the north, one on the south, and a third on the east. This third gate on the east side is almost certainly the "Beautiful Gate" that was mention in Acts 3. A fourth gate, which was much larger and ornate led from the Court of the Women west into the Court of Israel (women could proceed no further), which was elevated 15 steps higher than the Court of Women.

According to the Mishnah (Middoth 2,5) the Women's Court was just over 200 feet square between bounding lines. Each court on the outside was 60 feet square. The colonnade ran around the court, and within it, against the wall, the thirteen chests, or 'trumpets,' for charitable contributions were placed.

These thirteen chests were narrow at the mouth and wide at the bottom, shaped like trumpets. There were actually eleven treasure chests of the Temple for the voluntary offerings of money, and then also two at the Gate of Susan, for the half-shekel tax.

Their specific objects were carefully marked on them. Nine were for the receipt of what was legally due by worshippers; the other four for strictly voluntary gifts.

According to tradition Edersheim says:

Trumpets I and II were appropriated to the half-shekel Temple-tribute of the current and of the past year.

Into Trumpet III those women who had to bring turtledoves for a burnt- and a sin-offering dropped their equivalent in money, which was daily taken out and a corresponding number of turtledoves offered. This not only saved the labour of so many separate sacrifices, but spared the modesty of those who might not wish to have the occasion or the circumstances of their offering to be publicly known. Into this trumpet Mary the mother of Jesus must have dropped the value of her offering (Luke 2:22,24) when the aged Simeon took the infant Saviour 'in his arms, and blessed God.'

Trumpet IV similarly received the value of the offerings of young pigeons.

In Trumpet V contributions for the wood used in the Temple;

in Trumpet VI for the incense, and

in Trumpet VII for the golden vessels for the ministry were deposited. If a man had put aside a certain sum for a sin-offering, and any money was left over after its purchase, it was cast into Trumpet VIII.

Trumpets IX, X, XI, XII, and XIII were destined for what was left over from trespass-offerings, offerings of birds, the offering of the Nazarite, of the cleansed leper, and voluntary offerings. In all probability this space where the thirteen Trumpets were placed was the 'treasury,' where Jesus taught on that memorable Feast of Tabernacles (John 7 and 8; see specially 8:20). We can also understand how, from the peculiar and known destination of each of these thirteen 'trumpets,' the Lord could distinguish the contributions of the rich who cast in 'of their abundance' from that of the poor widow who of her 'penury' had given 'all the living' that she had (Mark 12:41; Luke 21:1). But there was also a special treasury-chamber, into which at certain times they carried the contents of the thirteen chests; and, besides, what was called 'a chamber of the silent,' where devout persons secretly deposited money, afterwards secretly employed for educating children of the pious poor.

It is probably in ironical allusion to the form and name of these treasure-chests that the Lord, making use of the word 'trumpet,' describes the conduct of those who, in their almsgiving, sought glory from men as 'sounding a trumpet' before them (Matthew 6:2)--that is, carrying before them, as it were, in full display one of these trumpet-shaped alms-boxes (literally called in the Talmud, 'trumpets'), and, as it were, sounding it.

The allusion is all the more pointed, when we bear in mind that each of these trumpets had a mark to tell its special object. It seems strange that this interpretation should not have occurred to any of the commentators, who have always found the allusion such a crux interpretum. An article in the Bible Educator has since substantially adopted this view, adding that trumpets were blown when the alms were collected. But for the latter statement there is no historical authority whatever, and it would contravene the religious spirit of the times.

The Temple in Jesus day

8:21-29 So he said to them again, “I am going away, and you will seek me, and you will die in your sin. Where I am going, you cannot come.” So the Jews said, “Will he kill himself, since he says, Where I am going, you cannot come?” See John 7:33-34. He said to them, “You are from below; I am from above. You are of this world; I am not of this world. I told you that you would die in your sins, for unless you believe that I am he you will die in your sins.” See Rom 6:23.

So they said to him, “Who are you?” Jesus said to them, “Just what I have been telling you from the beginning. I have much to say about you and much to judge, but he who sent me is true, and I declare to the world what I have heard from him.”

They did not understand that he had been speaking to them about the Father. So Jesus said to them, “When you have lifted up the Son of Man, then you will know that I am he, and that I do nothing on my own authority, but speak just as the Father taught me. And he who sent me is with me. He has not left me alone, for I always do the things that are pleasing to him.”

No one can possibly comprehend whom Jesus is unless enlightened by God, himself. “No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him.” 6:44.

“No one can come to me unless it is granted him by the father.” 6:65.

Jesus is the revealer of God, and the Redeemer of his people, and of mankind.

The question John is writing this book to answer is asked here in all sincerity:

Who are you?

Our role as believers and as a church is to help our neighbors and the world around us find the answer to this question. God will do the ‘drawing’ but we are to bear the witness. Matt 28:16-20.

8:30-32 As he was saying these things, many believed in him. So Jesus said to the Jews who had believed in him, “If you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples, and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”

Jesus always demands a response. One can believe him or reject him, but one cannot be neutral to him. Thus Christianity is a pariah religion among the world’s options. One can be neutral to Hinduism, Buddhism, even Islam, but not to Christ.

I think that the many who believed in him were true believers. The questions that follow were asked by others standing by. This is hard to draw from the text, but not hard to understand from the context, and from the promise that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. Believe is an active verb, not a passive one.

: 33-38 They answered him, “We are offspring of Abraham and have never been enslaved to anyone. How is it that you say, You will become free?” Jesus answered them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, everyone who commits sin is a slave to sin. The slave does not remain in the house forever; the son remains forever. So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed. I know that you are offspring of Abraham; yet you seek to kill me because my word finds no place in you. I speak of what I have seen with my Father, and you do what you have heard from your father.”

Israel’s history is one of slavery in Egypt or in Babylon, or under Rome, or even now in Israel itself. But the whole Bible story is the one of slavery of all mankind due to sin, and the redemption that Jesus offers. We can be moved from bondage into life and freedom.

8:39-42 They answered him, “Abraham is our father.” Jesus said to them, “If you were Abraham’s children, you would be doing what Abraham did, but now you seek to kill me, a man who has told you the truth that I heard from God. This is not what Abraham did. You are doing what your father did.” They said to him, “We were not born of sexual immorality. We have one Father, even God.” Jesus said to them, “If God were your Father, you would love me, for I came from God and I am here. I came not of my own accord, but he sent me.”

There is an existential disconnect between the claim that they are Abraham’s children, and the overt rejection of Jesus as their Messiah. One cannot comprehend Jesus with only an intellectual or even an emotional understanding of Abraham or of God. Jesus distinguishes between Abraham’s descendants (sperma) and his children (tekna).

Note the reference to the cloud of illegitimacy that Jesus always had over his head. But they are the illegitimate ones (tekna porneias) as described in Hosea.

If God truly were their father, they would love Jesus. Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ has been born of God, and everyone who loves the Father loves whoever has been born of him. 1 John 5:1.

8:43-47 “Why do you not understand what I say? It is because you cannot bear to hear my word. You are of your father the devil, and your will is to do your father’s desires. He was a murderer from the beginning, and has nothing to do with the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks out of his own character, for he is a liar and the father of lies. But because I tell the truth, you do not believe me. Which one of you convicts me of sin? If I tell the truth, why do you not believe me? Whoever is of God hears the words of God. The reason why you do not hear them is that you are not of God.

In our current world climate it is important to remember that we are not fighting against flesh and blood, but against the devil and his minions. For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places. Ephesians 6:12.

The devil is a murderer from the beginning. There is no truth in him. He is a liar and father of lies. Jesus came to bring life into the world, to reveal truth, and to enable mankind to share in its reality and power.

Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, for many false prophets have gone out into the world. By this you know the Spirit of God: every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God, and every spirit that does not confess Jesus is not from God. This is the spirit of the antichrist, which you heard was coming and now is in the world already.

8:48-58 The Jews answered him, “Are we not right in saying that you are a Samaritan and have a demon?” Jesus answered, “I do not have a demon, but I honor my Father, and you dishonor me. Yet I do not seek my own glory; there is One who seeks it, and he is the judge. Truly, truly, I say to you, if anyone keeps my word, he will never see death.”

The Jews said to him, “Now we know that you have a demon! Abraham died, as did the prophets, yet you say, ‘If anyone keeps my word, he will never taste death.’ Are you greater than our father Abraham, who died? And the prophets died! Who do you make yourself out to be?” Jesus answered, “If I glorify myself, my glory is nothing. It is my Father who glorifies me, of whom you say, ‘He is our God.’ But you have not known him. I know him. If I were to say that I do not know him, I would be a liar like you, but I do know him and I keep his word. Your father Abraham rejoiced that he would see my day. He saw it and was glad.” So the Jews said to him, “You are not yet fifty years old, and have you seen Abraham?” Jesus said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, before Abraham was, I am.”

The reference to Jesus as a Samaritan is obscure. He did witness to them, and some became believers. They are definitely heretics who have rejected worship in Jerusalem, but worship on Mt Gerizim. They are known for association with magic, such as Simon Magus, who claimed to be ‘the Great Power’. Justin viewed him to be demon possessed.

Twice Jesus offers eternal life to any who would keep his word. His message is always redemptive.

: 59 So they picked up stones to throw at him, but Jesus hid himself and went out of the temple.

If Jesus words were not true, then he was a blasphemer. Therefore, they judged him to be a false prophet and in need of stoning. Augustine said: As man he flees from the stones, but woe to those from whose hearts of stone God flees.

The temple on Mt. Gerizim where the Samaritans worship to this day.

John 7:1-52 The Feast of Tabernacles February 3, 2020

In the last chapter Jesus had returned to Galilee from celebrating the Feast of Pentecost in Jerusalem. He has ministered in Galilee all summer and had gained such a following that the people wanted to make him king. That would have been very unwise politically because Rome would have squelched it, like we can an ant. Jesus did not allow this to continue and the irrational fervor of the masses was quelled.

However, by the end of the summer the crowds had significantly thinned out. How fickle we all are! Has your fervor for the faith and for Jesus dimmed from your early days in the faith?

Now it is fall, and time for the most loved feast of the Jews, Succoth (Sukkot), or the Feast of Tabernacles (Booths). This is an eight-day celebration of the fall harvest and of the wanderings in the Wilderness. The people would build little shelters out of boughs and camp out for a week. It is an annual national jamboree. You can see how the children would love it. It is feast of thanksgiving for the harvest of fruit, olives and wine. For everyone, food and wine would be flowing. Every morning the priests would draw water from the Pool of Siloam (7:37-38) and carry it to the Temple as an offering, and at night the courtyard would be lighted with enormous candelabras so the celebrations could continue well into the night.

Etrog (citron), date palm, myrtle and willow branches (Leviticus 23:40)

However, as this commemorates the 40 years of wilderness wanderings, it also anticipates the second Exodus when the eschatological kingdom of God should come into fruition. It is most appropriate, therefore, that Jesus should be there with his message that the people should repent and believe, for kingdom of God is at hand.

7:1-9 After this Jesus went about in Galilee. He would not go about in Judea, because the Jews were seeking to kill him. Now the Jews’ Feast of Booths was at hand. So his brothers said to him, “Leave here and go to Judea, that your disciples also may see the works you are doing. For no one works in secret if he seeks to be known openly. If you do these things show your self to the world. For not even his brothers believed in him.

Jesus said to them, “My time has not yet come, but your time is always here. The world cannot hate you, but it hates me because I testify about it that its works are evil. You go up to the feast. I am not going up to this feast, for my time has not yet fully come.”

After saying this, he remained in Galilee.

Jesus’ brothers are not fully convinced who their brother really is. They are following him with the disciples and are witnessing the miracles and healings, and they are probably in tune with the crowd’s desire to make him a king. But Jesus is not following the party line. They want him to go to Jerusalem in power to win back the disciples who have fallen aside (6:60-66). They are still hoping for an insurrection against Rome. But Jesus sends them on their way with all the pilgrims going to Jerusalem.

The temptation for political power is similar to the temptation by Satan after Jesus baptism. We can certainly see the power of this temptation in Washington today.

Matt. 4:8-10 Again, the devil took him to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their glory. And he said to him, “All these I will give you, if you will fall down and worship me.” Then Jesus said to him, “Be gone, Satan! For it is written, “ ‘You shall worship the Lord your God and him only shall you serve.’ ”

7:10-13 But after his brothers had gone up to the feast, then he also went up, not publicly but in private. The Jews were looking for him at the feast, and saying, “Where is he?” And there was much muttering about him among the people. While some said, “He is a good man,” others said, “No, he is leading the people astray.” Yet for fear of the Jews no one spoke openly of him.

This is the second Succoth festival (Gen 33:17) in Jesus’ public ministry. He has also been to two Passover festivals. His reputation has spread throughout the land. The people are anticipating his arrival. The Jewish leaders are waiting for him as well, with the hope of finding a way to kill him. The people are divided about whom he is, and the political powers of the day are, as usual, suppressing free speech.

Lev. 23:34-36 “Speak to the people of Israel, saying, On the fifteenth day of this seventh month [Tishri] and for seven days is the Feast of Booths to the LORD. On the first day shall be a holy convocation; you shall not do any ordinary work. For seven days you shall present food offerings to the LORD. On the eighth day you shall hold a holy convocation and present a food offering to the LORD. It is a solemn assembly; you shall not do any ordinary work.

7:14-25 About the middle of the feast Jesus went up into the temple and began teaching. The Jews therefore marveled, saying, “How is it that this man has learning, when he has never studied?” So Jesus answered them, “My teaching is not mine, but his who sent me. If anyone’s will is to do God’s will, he will know whether the teaching is from God or whether I am speaking on my own authority. The one who speaks on his own authority seeks his own glory, but the one who seeks the glory of him who sent him is true, and in him there is no falsehood. Has not Moses given you the law? Yet none of you keeps the law. Why do you seek to kill me?”

The crowd answered, “You have a demon! Who is seeking to kill you?” Jesus answered them, “I did one deed, and you all marvel at it. Moses gave you circumcision (not that it is from Moses, but from the fathers), and you circumcise a man on the Sabbath. If on the Sabbath a man receives circumcision, so that the law of Moses may not be broken, are you angry with me because on the Sabbath I made a man’s whole body well? Do not judge by appearances, but judge with right judgment.”

Jesus arrives in the middle of the festival and begins to teach in the Temple. His message is similar to that which he taught in Galilee, that his authority comes from God, the Father, and therefore his teachings are the true teachings of God. If anyone wills to do God’s will he will recognize that Jesus teaching is true.

Note the appeal to ‘free will’ here compared to the ‘election and predestination’ in last week’s lesson. This is one of many paradoxes we find in scripture. It is only a paradox because our human minds are unable to comprehend God’s mind and his ways.

Jesus’ teachings were as hard to accept in those days as it is today. The crowd denies

that a Fatwah has been placed on him, even though at least some of them know about it (v.25). A false prophet must die according to Moses, so the question before them and before us is, “Is he a false prophet?”

Deut. 13:1-10 “If a prophet or a dreamer of dreams arises among you and gives you a sign or a wonder, and the sign or wonder that he tells you comes to pass, and if he says, ‘Let us go after other gods,’ which you have not known, ‘and let us serve them,’ you shall not listen to the words of that prophet or that dreamer of dreams. For the LORD your God is testing you, to know whether you love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul. You shall walk after the LORD your God and fear him and keep his commandments and obey his voice, and you shall serve him and hold fast to him.

But that prophet or that dreamer of dreams shall be put to death, because he has taught rebellion against the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt and redeemed you out of the house of slavery, to make you leave the way in which the LORD your God commanded you to walk. So you shall purge the evil from your midst.

“If your brother, the son of your mother, or your son or your daughter or the wife you embrace or your friend who is as your own soul entices you secretly, saying, ‘Let us go and serve other gods,’ which neither you nor your fathers have known, some of the gods of the peoples who are around you, whether near you or far off from you, from the one end of the earth to the other, you shall not yield to him or listen to him, nor shall your eye pity him, nor shall you spare him, nor shall you conceal him. But you shall kill him. Your hand shall be first against him to put him to death, and afterward the hand of all the people. You shall stone him to death with stones, because he sought to draw you away from the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery.

From the Talmud:

“It was taught: On the eve of the Passover they hanged Yeshu. And an announcer went out in front of him for forty days saying: ‘He is going to be stoned, because he practiced magic and enticed and led Israel astray. Anyone who knows anything in his favor, let him come and plead in his behalf.’ But not having found anything in his favor, they hanged him on the eve of the Passover.”

7:25-31 Some of the people of Jerusalem therefore said, “Is not this the man whom they seek to kill? And here he is, speaking openly, and they say nothing to him! Can it be that the authorities really know that this is the Christ? But we know where this man comes from, and when the Christ appears, no one will know where he comes from.” So Jesus proclaimed, as he taught in the temple, “You know me, and you know where I come from? But I have not come of my own accord. He who sent me is true, and him you do not know. I know him, for I come from him, and he sent me.”

So they were seeking to arrest him, but no one laid a hand on him, because his hour had not yet come. Yet many of the people believed in him. They said, “When the Christ appears, will he do more signs than this man has done?”

The authority and the graciousness of Jesus teaching impress many people. In fact, many became believers, acknowledging Jesus to be the long awaited Messiah. He taught ‘not as the scribes.’ He did not have to appeal to the rabbinic authorities, which were the interpreters of both Scripture and the Mishnah. Jesus could appeal directly to the Father.

Now the pressure on Jesus by the authorities is building up. They will get him, but not until spring.

7:32-36 The Pharisees heard the crowd muttering these things about him, and the chief priests and Pharisees sent officers to arrest him. Jesus then said, “I will be with you a little longer, and then I am going to him who sent me. You will seek me and you will not find me. Where I am you cannot come.”

The Jews said to one another, “Where does this man intend to go that we will not find him? Does he intend to go to the Dispersion among the Greeks and teach the Greeks? What does he mean by saying, ‘You will seek me and you will not find me,’ and, ‘Where I am you cannot come’?”

The Temple guard has been dispatched to arrest Jesus, but they come under his spell and are unable to do so. Or maybe they were waiting for the right opportunity so as to avoid the ire of the crowd.

Anyone who truly seeks Jesus will find him. Therefore, Jesus is speaking another parable here using physical searching to teach spiritual searching. There can be a time when one seeks for him but cannot find him because the one has refused to respond when the Father sought him.

Matt 8:11-12 And as Jesus reclined at table in the house, behold, many tax collectors

and sinners came and were reclining with Jesus and his disciples. 11 And when the Pharisees saw this, they said to his disciples, “Why does your teacher eat with tax collectors and sinners?” But when he heard it, he said “Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick.

Go and learn what this means: ‘I desire mercy, and not sacrifice.’ For I

came not to call the righteous, but sinners.”

Heb 10:26-31 For if we go on sinning deliberately after receiving the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins, but a fearful

expectation of judgment, and a fury of fire that will consume the

adversaries. Anyone who has set aside the law of Moses dies without

mercy on the evidence of two or three witnesses. How much worse punishment, do you think, will be deserved by the one who has trampled under foot the Son of God, and has profaned the blood of the covenant by which

he was sanctified, and has outraged the Spirit of grace? For we know him who said, “Vengeance is mine; I will repay.” And again, “The Lord will

judge his people.” It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the

living God.

When they finally do put Jesus to death, they do in fact send him to the Greeks (Gentiles), for through his death and resurrection he brings salvation to all nations, by way of his followers and the Holy Spirit.

7:37-39 On the last day of the feast, the great day, Jesus stood up and cried out, “If anyone thirsts, let him come to me and drink. Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, ‘Out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.’ ” Now this he said about the Spirit, whom those who believed in him were to receive, for as yet the Spirit had not been given, because Jesus was not yet glorified.

On the seventh day of the feast the priests would go down to the Pool of Siloam once again. A large train of Jews would follow them down, and then back up to the Temple. There would be rejoicing and great delight. The men and boys would carry a bunch of willow and myrtle boughs in their right hand and hold aloft citrus fruit in their left hand signifying that the harvest is gathered in. They would sing the Hallel (Psalm 113-118), crying, “Give thanks to the Lord” (118:1), three times. They would then shout “O Lord save us!” (118:25).

Once in the Temple they would march around the altar seven times carrying the holy water, and then pour it into a large silver bowl. A second silver bowl would be filled with wine, and then the two bowls would be poured out as an offering to God. The crowd would then call out, “Lift up your hand!” The priest would raise his hand aloft to show that he had faithfully discharged his duty.

Zech. 14:16-17 Then everyone who survives of all the nations that have come against Jerusalem shall go up year after year to worship the King, the LORD of hosts, and to keep the Feast of Booths. And if any of the families of the earth do not go up to Jerusalem to worship the King, the LORD of hosts, there will be no rain on them.

As Christians we do not celebrate the Feast of Tabernacles , but we have a comparable celebration with Thanksgiving each fall. We also rejoice over the harvest and God’s provision for the past year.

Jesus uses this occasion to show to the people that He is the true water every man needs. The Temple ceremony is a picture of Jesus as the true water poured out for the people. He is the Rock that gave them water in the wilderness. This can be translated:

If anyone is thirsty let him come to me,

And let him drink who believes in me.

In the last chapter he fed the multitude with bread. The hungry one was invited to come and eat. Now the thirsty one is invited to believe and drink. This is the essential call of Jesus to all of us. It is a call to his eschatological kingdom that begins here and extends into eternity (Ezekiel 47:1-10; Rev 22:1-5).

7:40-44 When they heard these words, some of the people said, “This really is the Prophet.” Others said, “This is the Christ.” But some said, “Is the Christ to come from Galilee? Has not the Scripture said that the Christ comes from the offspring of David, and comes from Bethlehem, the village where David was?” So there was a division among the people over him. Some of them wanted to arrest him, but no one laid hands on him.

No one can remain neutral when confronted by Jesus and his revelation of God.

Here are three common responses to Jesus:

1. This really is the Prophet (Deut 18:15, 18).

2. This is the Christ (Messiah)

3. He is a charlatan. He is from Galilee, not Bethlehem (Micah 5:2)

What are our responses to Jesus today?

1. He was a great teacher and left us a good example.

2. He is the Christ (Messiah).

3. He was a charlatan who has fooled millions of people for the past 2000 years.

7:45-52 The officers then came to the chief priests and Pharisees, who said to them, “Why did you not bring him?” The officers answered, “No one ever spoke like this man!” The Pharisees answered them, “Have you also been deceived? Have any of the authorities or the Pharisees believed in him? But this crowd that does not know the law is accursed.”

Nicodemus, who had gone to him before, and who was one of them, said to them, “Does our law judge a man without first giving him a hearing and learning what he does?” They replied, “Are you from Galilee too? Search and see that no prophet arises from Galilee.”

I think the officers were astounded by Jesus teaching, and were convinced of the truth of his teachings. No one ever spoke like this man. Our role on earth is to be witness to Jesus. If we show Jesus to our neighbors and friends hopefully many will respond as these skeptical tough Temple guardsmen did.

This refraining from arresting him happened again at the next Passover.

Mark 14:1-2 It was now two days before the Passover and the Feast of Unleavened Bread. And the chief priests and the scribes were seeking how to arrest him by stealth and kill him, for they said, “Not during the feast, lest there be an uproar from the people.”

Nicodemus, who was one of the Sanhedrin, stuck his neck out in Jesus’ defense. The response was vicious. They accused him of ignorance of the Scriptures. They had forgotten that Jonah came from Gath-hepher in Galilee (2 Kings 14:25). Rightly, the Messiah was expected by all to come from the house of David, and Bethlehem, his home.

John 6:41-71 Jesus the True Bread of Life (continued) January 27, 2020

In our last lesson Jesus introduced himself as the true bread of God. He fed 5000 men plus women and children with the five loaves of bread, and two fishes that a child had brought along. The people were so enthused by this display that they sought to make him king. ___________________________________________________ THIS IS FROM THE LAST LESSON John will use a series of metaphors that he hopes will enlighten his readers to whom Jesus really is. In each of these metaphors Jesus uses the name of God revealed to Moses at the burning bush, I AM (ego eimi). The first metaphor is Jesus as the Bread of Life (v. 35: I am the bread of life: whoever comes to me shall not hunger). Others will follow: Chapter 7: Jesus as Living Water Chapter 8-9: Jesus as the Light of Life Chapter 10: Jesus as the True Shepherd Chapter 11-12: Jesus as the Resurrection and the Life Chapter 15: Jesus as the True Vine : 35-40 Jesus said to them, ‘I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me shall not hunger, and whoever believes in me shall never thirst. But I said to you that you have seen me and yet do not believe. All that the Father gives me will come to me, and whoever comes to me I will never cast out. For I have come down from heaven, not to do my own will but the will of him who sent me. And this is the will of him who sent me, that I should lose nothing of all that he has given me, but raise it up on the last day. For this is the will of my Father, that everyone who looks on the Son and believes in him should have eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day.’ Jesus explains to the people again that he is the bread that gives eternal life. He says I AM (ego eimi) the bread of life. He who comes to Jesus, who believes in him, will never, never hunger or thirst. This is God’s invitation in Isaiah 55:1: Come, everyone who thirsts, come to the waters; and he who has no money, come, buy and eat! Come, buy wine and milk without money and without price. and it is his invitation still. The Jewish scholars equated the manna and water provided in the wilderness wanderings to the Torah. They spoke of the Law as ‘bread’. ‘The Holy One, blessed be he, said, ‘If I now suffer Israel to enter the land, then they will at once seize each his field and each his vineyard and be idle in the study of the Torah. Instead, I will lead them about in the desert for forty years that they may eat manna and drink the water of the well, and (thereby) the Torah will be united [=assimilated] with their body.’ Once again Jesus associates the living bread with the eschatological kingdom in which all who look on the Son and believe in him will have life eternal. ____________________________________________________ This week he will begin to explain his true nature, the bread from God that has come down from heaven. The people become confused, and in their confusion begin to ‘grumble’, just as they did in Moses’ day. The more they hear, the greater their distress, until many turn from him and return to their well-set ways. They were hoping for relief of their physical needs, and found the promise of eternal life too ephemeral. However, Peter and the other eleven disciples remain true. Peter confesses: ‘Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life’. John 6:41-51 So the Jews grumbled about him, because he said, ‘I am the bread that came down from heaven.’ They said, ‘Is not this Jesus, the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know? How does he now say, ‘I have come down from heaven'?’ Jesus answered them, ‘Do not grumble among yourselves. No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him. And I will raise him up on the last day. It is written in the Prophets, ‘And they will all be taught by God.’ Everyone who has heard and learned from the Father comes to me, not that anyone has seen the Father except he who is from God; he has seen the Father. Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever believes has eternal life. I am the bread of life. Your fathers ate the manna in the wilderness, and they died. This is the bread that comes down from heaven, so that one may eat of it and not die. I am the living bread that came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever. And the bread that I will give for the life of the world is my flesh.’ Grumbling about religious truths is common among men. Below are reviews of the ‘grumbling’ of the Israelites in the wilderness. Ex. 16:1-8 They set out from Elim, and all the congregation of the people of Israel came to the wilderness of Sin, which is between Elim and Sinai, on the fifteenth day of the second month after they had departed from the land of Egypt. And the whole congregation of the people of Israel grumbled against Moses and Aaron in the wilderness, and the people of Israel said to them, ‘Would that we had died by the hand of the LORD in the land of Egypt, when we sat by the meat pots and ate bread to the full, for you have brought us out into this wilderness to kill this whole assembly with hunger.’ Then the LORD said to Moses, ‘Behold, I am about to rain bread from heaven for you, and the people shall go out and gather a day’s portion every day, that I may test them, whether they will walk in my law or not. On the sixth day, when they prepare what they bring in, it will be twice as much as they gather daily.’ So Moses and Aaron said to all the people of Israel, ‘At evening you shall know that it was the LORD who brought you out of the land of Egypt, and in the morning you shall see the glory of the LORD, because he has heard your grumbling against the LORD. For what are we, that you grumble against us?’ And Moses said, ‘When the LORD gives you in the evening meat to eat and in the morning bread to the full, because the LORD has heard your grumbling that you grumble against him, what are we? Your grumbling is not against us but against the LORD.’ Ex. 17:1-7 All the congregation of the people of Israel moved on from the wilderness of Sin by stages, according to the commandment of the LORD, and camped at Rephidim, but there was no water for the people to drink. Therefore the people quarreled with Moses and said, ‘Give us water to drink.’ And Moses said to them, ‘Why do you quarrel with me? Why do you test the LORD?’ But the people thirsted there for water, and the people grumbled against Moses and said, ‘Why did you bring us up out of Egypt, to kill us and our children and our livestock with thirst?’ So Moses cried to the LORD, ‘what shall I do with this people? They are almost ready to stone me.’ And the LORD said to Moses, “Pass on before the people, taking with you some of the elders of Israel, and take in your hand the staff with which you struck the Nile, and go. Behold, I will stand before you there on the rock at Horeb, and you shall strike the rock, and water shall come out of it, and the people will drink.” And Moses did so, in the sight of the elders of Israel. And he called the name of the place Massah and Meribah, because of the quarreling of the people of Israel, and because they tested the LORD by saying, ‘is the LORD among us or not?’ Num. 11:1-9 And the people complained in the hearing of the LORD about their misfortunes, and when the LORD heard it, his anger was kindled, and the fire of the LORD burned among them and consumed some outlying parts of the camp. Then the people cried out to Moses, and Moses prayed to the LORD, and the fire died down. So the name of that place was called Taberah, because the fire of the LORD burned among them. Now the rabble that was among them had a strong craving. And the people of Israel also wept again and said, "Oh that we had meat to eat". We remember the fish we ate in Egypt that cost nothing, the cucumbers, the melons, the leeks, the onions, and the garlic. But now our strength is dried up, and there is nothing at all but this manna to look at. Now the manna was like coriander seed, and its appearance like that of bdellium. The people went about and gathered it and ground it in handmills or beat it in mortars and boiled it in pots and made cakes of it. And the taste of it was like the taste of cakes baked with oil. When the dew fell upon the camp in the night, the manna fell with it. Num. 14:1-3 Then all the congregation raised a loud cry, and the people wept that night. And all the people of Israel grumbled against Moses and Aaron. The whole congregation said to them, "Would that we had died in the land of Egypt! Or would that we had died in this wilderness! Why is the LORD bringing us into this land, to fall by the sword? Our wives and our little ones will become a prey. Would it not be better for us to go back to Egypt?" Jesus response to the grumbling is to tell them the Good News of the Gospel, that God is drawing them to himself through the presence of Jesus in their midst. This was promised by the prophet Jeremiah: "Behold, the days are coming, declares the LORD, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah, not like the covenant that I made with their fathers on the day when I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt, my covenant that they broke, though I was their husband, declares the LORD. But this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, declares the LORD: I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts. And I will be their God, and they shall be my people. And no longer shall each one teach his neighbor and each his brother, saying, 'Know the LORD,' for they shall all know me, from the least of them to the greatest, declares the LORD. For I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more." Jeremiah 31:31-34 Bultmann says of this: "The 'drawing' by God takes place when man abandons his own judgment and 'hears' and 'learns' from the Father, and so allows God to speak to him. The 'drawing' by the Father occurs not, as it were, behind man's decision of faith, but in it." God is reaching out to the grumblers here just as he did in the wilderness, this time with the appeal to believe and thereby gain eternal life. This is re-emphasized in v. 65: "This' is why I told you that no one can come to me unless it is granted him by the Father." Note the eschatological language: v. 39 And this is the will of him who sent me, that I should lose nothing of all that he has given me, but raise it up on the last day. v. 40 For this is the will of the Father, that everyone who looks on the Son and believes in him should have eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day. v. 44 No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him. And I will raise him up on the last day. v. 54 Whoever feeds on my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day. Hilary of Poitiers: There is no approach to the Father except through Christ. But there is also no approach to Christ, unless the Father draws us. Augustine: No one can come to me unless the Father who has sent me draws him. This is the doctrine of grace: none comes unless they are drawn. But whom the Father draws, and whom not, and why he draws one and not another, do not presume to decide if you want to avoid falling into error. Take the doctrine as it is given to you: and, if you are not drawn, pray that you may be. John 6:52-59 The Jews then disputed among themselves, saying, "How can this man give us his flesh to eat?" So Jesus said to them, "Truly, truly, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you. Whoever feeds on my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day. For my flesh is true food, and my blood is true drink. Whoever feeds on my flesh and drinks my blood abides in me, and I in him. As the living Father sent me, and I live because of the Father, so whoever feeds on me, he also will live because of me. This is the bread that came down from heaven, not as the fathers ate and died. Whoever feeds on this bread will live forever." Jesus said these things in the synagogue, as he taught at Capernaum. This section presages communion in the church today. However, the disciples and Jesus’ other hearers could not realize this. This is not a call to cannibalism. And to drink blood was strongly forbidden in the Old Testament. Lev. 7:26-27 Moreover, you shall eat no blood whatever, whether of fowl or of animal, in any of your dwelling places. Whoever eats any blood, that person shall be cut off from his people. Lev. 17:10-12 If any one of the house of Israel or of the strangers who sojourn among them eats any blood, I will set my face against that person who eats blood and will cut him off from among his people. For the life of the flesh is in the blood, and I have given it for you on the altar to make atonement for your souls, for it is the blood that makes atonement by the life. Therefore I have said to the people of Israel, No person among you shall eat blood, neither shall any stranger who sojourns among you eat blood. We find a parallel to this in verse 35: We see that 'comes to me' parallels 'feeds on my flesh', and 'believes' parallels 'drink my blood'. Most of the people in that day were not able to make the connection between the two. Today the church is divided over this language. The Roman Catholics believe in transubstantiation, that the elements actually change into Jesus’ body and blood, while most Protestants consider the elements of communion remain physical bread and wine/grape juice. In Peter Kreeft’s book, Jesus-Shock, he makes a strong case for transubstantiation. He says: that Protestants accuse Catholics of the most egregious idolatry in history, bowing down to bread and worshipping wine; of turning Christianity into paganism, as if by magic matter suddenly became God. Whoever is wrong about this is very, very importantly wrong indeed. This book is about that question: not the theology of the Eucharist, but the experience of Christ’s Real Presence, which is the cause and explanation of 'Jesus-shock'. I cannot accept the Catholic position of transubstantiation that Peter Kreeft strongly and wisely advocates, but I do feel that we, as Protestants, take communion, and the elements far too lightly. The elements are transformative in our lives and are not just symbols. Jesus says: This is my body which is for you. (1 Cor 11:24) He does not say this represents my body, or this is symbolic of my body. John 6:60-65 When many of his disciples heard it, they said, "This is a hard saying; who can listen to it?" But Jesus, knowing in himself that his disciples were grumbling about this, said to them, "Do you take offense at this? Then what if you were to see the Son of Man ascending to where he was before? It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh is of no avail. The words that I have spoken to you are spirit and life. But there are some of you who do not believe." (For Jesus knew from the beginning who those were who did not believe, and who it was who would betray him.) And he said, "This is why I told you that no one can come to me unless it is granted him by the Father." It appears that grumbling is a common trait of mankind. The Israelites did it in the wilderness. Now even the disciples, who had just heard this sermon, begin to grumble. The teachings of Jesus are simple on one hand, but are never simplistic. There is depth that none of us can ever plumb, even on Monday mornings. John 6:66-71 After this many of his disciples turned back and no longer walked with him. So Jesus said to the Twelve, "Do you want to go away as well?" Simon Peter answered him, "Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life, and we have believed, and have come to know, that you are the Holy One of God." Jesus answered them, "Did I not choose you, the Twelve? And yet one of you is a devil." He spoke of Judas the son of Simon Iscariot, for he, one of the Twelve, was going to betray him. This chapter began with an overwhelming crowd about to make Jesus king of Israel. In a very short period of time many turn back and no longer follow him. He will not see such a following again, except possibly briefly during his triumphant entry into Jerusalem on Palm Sunday. Jesus teaches in Luke 13:22-30 that the door to the kingdom is narrow. Many will seek to enter and will not be able. Matthew 7:13-14 describes a wide gate that leads to destruction, and a narrow gate and hard way that leads to life, and those who find it are few. Luke 13:22-30 He went on his way through towns and villages, teaching and journeying toward Jerusalem. And someone said to him, "Lord, will those who are saved be few?" And he said to them, Strive to enter through the narrow door. For many, I tell you, will seek to enter and will not be able. When once the master of the house has risen and shut the door, and you begin to stand outside and to knock at the door, saying, 'Lord, open to us,' then he will answer you, 'I do not know where you come from.' Then you will begin to say, "We ate and drank in your presence, and you taught in our streets." But he will say, "I tell you, I do not know where you come from. Depart from me, all you workers of evil!" In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth, when you see Abraham and Isaac and Jacob and all the prophets in the kingdom of God but you yourselves cast out. And people will come from east and west, and from north and south, and recline at table in the kingdom of God. And behold, some are last who will be first, and some are first who will be last." Matt. 7:13-14 Enter by the narrow gate. For the gate is wide and the way is easy that leads to destruction, and those who enter by it are many. For the gate is narrow and the way is hard that leads to life, and those who find it are few. Note the pathos in Jesus question: "Do you want to go away as well?" Things seem to be falling apart. The crowd of thousands has thinned out into 12 remaining disciples. But Peter rises to the situation with his response: "Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life, and we have believed, and have come to know, that you are the Holy One of God." He is beginning to understand Jesus teaching, and, empowered by God himself, he can ascribe the powerful title to Jesus, the Holy One of God. He is the holy Redeemer of mankind. This life is not all there is. Eternal life looms in the eschatological future. We do not come to understand this through our own intellectual and emotional efforts. This comes to us from the Father who draws us to his Son.