The Gospel of John concludes with this passage. Unfinished business is taken care of. Jesus restores Peter and commands him "Feed my lambs", "Take care of my sheep", and "Feed my sheep". Tomorrow is Easter, and I am looking forward to celebrating the resurrection of Jesus. There is no greater news than the resurrection of Jesus! Both to the first disciples and to us. But this passage reminds me that the resurrection is not the end of the story. The work of Jesus is not done yet. More sheep need to hear the good news. More lambs need to accept Jesus. More sheep need to be fed. More lambs need to serve and be served. Here at the end of John's gospel Jesus tells us - the church - that it is just the beginning. He commands us to do his work. But we do not work alone. Jesus says, "Follow me!" (verse 21:19).
Almighty God and Father, thank you for this gospel. Thank you for the opportunity to study your Word these last 40 days. Thank you for speaking to me through Your Word. I don't know what comes next, but You know. Please give me Your Spirit, grace, and wisdom to follow You, to seek Your Will, and to do Your will. And thank you for Your Son Jesus, the infinite gift of grace and mercy who we celebrate tomorrow.
Saturday, April 3, 2010
Friday, April 2, 2010
21:1 thru 21:14 (Apr 2)
This chapter is very puzzling. It comes after the joy of the resurrection, the appearances of Jesus to his disciples in Jerusalem, and Jesus commissioning the disciples with the Holy Spirit. Then the book appears to end in 20:30-31 with the statement "these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name".
Now in chapter 21, Peter, Thomas, Nathanael, James, John and 2 unnamed disciples are back in Galilee. Why are some disciples named and others unnamed? Why are they back in Galilee? Certainly Peter was still in Jerusalem when he testified to the crowd at Pentecost (Acts 2:14). Did they go to Galilee and then go back to Jerusalem? What has happened since they left Jerusalem? Where are the other 4 disciples? Did they split up or did the other 4 just not go fishing? Why is John called a "son of Zebedee" for the first time in this gospel? What is the significance of the catch of fish when Jesus tells them to throw their net on the right side of the boat? What is the significance of their having caught 153 large fish? What is the significance of Jesus making a breakfast of bread and fish for the disciples? What is the significance of this being the 3rd time that Jesus appeared to the disciples after his resurrection? Did this appearance happen before or after Jesus was taken up into the sky in front of the disciples in Jerusalem in Acts 1?
This section seems appended to the gospel of John after it was initially written. I did a search and it looks like this is fairly widely believed, although there is no manuscript evidence. I hate to finish up a study this way, but I am at a loss to find the meaning in this passage. I suppose the joy of easter is still here. Jesus is risen! And he shows his continuing love for his disciples!
Now in chapter 21, Peter, Thomas, Nathanael, James, John and 2 unnamed disciples are back in Galilee. Why are some disciples named and others unnamed? Why are they back in Galilee? Certainly Peter was still in Jerusalem when he testified to the crowd at Pentecost (Acts 2:14). Did they go to Galilee and then go back to Jerusalem? What has happened since they left Jerusalem? Where are the other 4 disciples? Did they split up or did the other 4 just not go fishing? Why is John called a "son of Zebedee" for the first time in this gospel? What is the significance of the catch of fish when Jesus tells them to throw their net on the right side of the boat? What is the significance of their having caught 153 large fish? What is the significance of Jesus making a breakfast of bread and fish for the disciples? What is the significance of this being the 3rd time that Jesus appeared to the disciples after his resurrection? Did this appearance happen before or after Jesus was taken up into the sky in front of the disciples in Jerusalem in Acts 1?
This section seems appended to the gospel of John after it was initially written. I did a search and it looks like this is fairly widely believed, although there is no manuscript evidence. I hate to finish up a study this way, but I am at a loss to find the meaning in this passage. I suppose the joy of easter is still here. Jesus is risen! And he shows his continuing love for his disciples!
Thursday, April 1, 2010
20:10 thru 20:31 (Apr 1)
Jesus' work on the cross is done. He has opened up God's family to us, God's adopted sons and daughters. Jesus tells Mary, "Do not hold on to me, for I have not yet returned to the Father. Go instead to my brothers and tell them, 'I am returning to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.'" This is the first time in John that Jesus calls the disciples "brothers".
Verses 23 is a difficult verse for me. The words in the NIV say, "If you forgive anyone his sins, they are forgiven; if you do not forgive them, they are not forgiven." I do not believe that there needs to be an intermediary between God and the sinner who accepts the work of Jesus to take away his sins. And I do not believe that we (the church) have the authority to forgive or not forgive sins. But the words here do seem to say that. The NIV study notes offer this interpretation: "God does not forgive people's sins because we do so, nor does he withhold forgiveness because we do. Rather, those who proclaim the gospel are in effect forgiving or not forgiving sins, depending on whether the hearers accept or reject Jesus Christ." This seems consistent to me with the rest of John, where the primary command is to share the message of the gospel.
John 3:34: "For the one whom God has sent speaks the words of God, for God gives the Spirit without limit."
John 6:63: "The Spirit gives life; the flesh counts for nothing. The words I have spoken to you are spirit and they are life."
John 14:24: "These words you hear are not my own; they belong to the Father who sent me."
John 17:8: "For I gave them the words you gave me and they accepted them. They knew with certainty that I came from you, and they believed that you sent me."
If this interpretation is correct, it puts a sobering emphasis on the role of those who have received the Spirit of God. We cannot control whether someone accepts or rejects the truth of the gospel, but if we do not share the truth then there is no opportunity for them to be forgiven.
Verses 23 is a difficult verse for me. The words in the NIV say, "If you forgive anyone his sins, they are forgiven; if you do not forgive them, they are not forgiven." I do not believe that there needs to be an intermediary between God and the sinner who accepts the work of Jesus to take away his sins. And I do not believe that we (the church) have the authority to forgive or not forgive sins. But the words here do seem to say that. The NIV study notes offer this interpretation: "God does not forgive people's sins because we do so, nor does he withhold forgiveness because we do. Rather, those who proclaim the gospel are in effect forgiving or not forgiving sins, depending on whether the hearers accept or reject Jesus Christ." This seems consistent to me with the rest of John, where the primary command is to share the message of the gospel.
John 3:34: "For the one whom God has sent speaks the words of God, for God gives the Spirit without limit."
John 6:63: "The Spirit gives life; the flesh counts for nothing. The words I have spoken to you are spirit and they are life."
John 14:24: "These words you hear are not my own; they belong to the Father who sent me."
John 17:8: "For I gave them the words you gave me and they accepted them. They knew with certainty that I came from you, and they believed that you sent me."
If this interpretation is correct, it puts a sobering emphasis on the role of those who have received the Spirit of God. We cannot control whether someone accepts or rejects the truth of the gospel, but if we do not share the truth then there is no opportunity for them to be forgiven.
Wednesday, March 31, 2010
19:38 thru 20:9 (Mar 31)
Joseph of Arimathea and Nicodemus get permission from Pilate to bury Jesus. They take away Jesus' body, embalm it with 75 pounds of myrrh and aloe, wrap it up, and lay it in a new tomb. I assume they also roll the stone over the front of the tomb. All of this is done on the Sabbath. Jesus was criticized for healing on the Sabbath and letting his disciples pick heads of grain as they walked through the fields. Here, 2 leaders of the Jews give Jesus a proper burial, even though it means working on the Sabbath. In contrast, Mark 16:1 indicates that Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James, and Salome waited until after the Sabbath was over to take spices to anoint Jesus' body. But Joseph of Arimathea and Nicodemus do it right away. They were secretly disciples while Jesus was alive, but appear to be emboldened to do what is right after his death.
When Mary Magdalene reports that Jesus is not in the tomb, Peter and "the other disciple" run to see. The other disciple "bent over and looked in at the strips of linen lying there but did not go in". I don't know if there is any significance to the linen strips being left behind, but there is an interesting parallel in Leviticus 16: "When Aaron has finished making atonement for the Most Holy Place, the Tent of Meeting and the altar, he shall bring forward the live goat. He is to lay both hands on the head of the live goat and confess over it all the wickedness and rebellion of the Israelites—all their sins—and put them on the goat's head. He shall send the goat away into the desert in the care of a man appointed for the task. The goat will carry on itself all their sins to a solitary place; and the man shall release it in the desert. Then Aaron is to go into the Tent of Meeting and take off the linen garments he put on before he entered the Most Holy Place, and he is to leave them there."
When Mary Magdalene reports that Jesus is not in the tomb, Peter and "the other disciple" run to see. The other disciple "bent over and looked in at the strips of linen lying there but did not go in". I don't know if there is any significance to the linen strips being left behind, but there is an interesting parallel in Leviticus 16: "When Aaron has finished making atonement for the Most Holy Place, the Tent of Meeting and the altar, he shall bring forward the live goat. He is to lay both hands on the head of the live goat and confess over it all the wickedness and rebellion of the Israelites—all their sins—and put them on the goat's head. He shall send the goat away into the desert in the care of a man appointed for the task. The goat will carry on itself all their sins to a solitary place; and the man shall release it in the desert. Then Aaron is to go into the Tent of Meeting and take off the linen garments he put on before he entered the Most Holy Place, and he is to leave them there."
Tuesday, March 30, 2010
19:17 thru 19:37 (Mar 30)
Jesus is crucified with 2 others. The people who wanted Jesus dead do not want the bodies left on the crosses during their special holy day, so they ask the Romans to bring them down early. The soldiers break the legs of the first 2 men, but not Jesus. Instead, one of the soldiers pierces Jesus' heart with a sword. John tells us, "The man who saw it has given testimony, and his testimony is true. He knows that he tells the truth, and he testifies so that you also may believe."
Obviously, it is very important to John that the reader understand that Jesus was dead. He was not taken down from the cross and mistaken for dead, allowing him to slip off into the night. He was really dead. His dead body was brutally pierced and this act was witnessed and testified to. Why is this emphasized so much by John? Because it is critical to the Christian faith. If Jesus was not really dead, then he was not really raised from the dead by God the Father. And if he was not really raised from the dead by God the Father, then Jesus was not who he claimed to be and did not tell the truth. As it says in 1 Corinthians 15:14-15: "If Christ has not been raised, our preaching is useless and so is your faith. More than that, we are then found to be false witnesses about God, for we have testified about God that he raised Christ from the dead."
No, he was in fact the King of the Jews. And he was in fact dead. And he was in fact raised again. And he was in fact who he claimed to be. He was in fact "him who is, and who was, and who is to come, ... the faithful witness, the firstborn from the dead, and the ruler of the kings of the earth." (Rev 1:5).
Obviously, it is very important to John that the reader understand that Jesus was dead. He was not taken down from the cross and mistaken for dead, allowing him to slip off into the night. He was really dead. His dead body was brutally pierced and this act was witnessed and testified to. Why is this emphasized so much by John? Because it is critical to the Christian faith. If Jesus was not really dead, then he was not really raised from the dead by God the Father. And if he was not really raised from the dead by God the Father, then Jesus was not who he claimed to be and did not tell the truth. As it says in 1 Corinthians 15:14-15: "If Christ has not been raised, our preaching is useless and so is your faith. More than that, we are then found to be false witnesses about God, for we have testified about God that he raised Christ from the dead."
No, he was in fact the King of the Jews. And he was in fact dead. And he was in fact raised again. And he was in fact who he claimed to be. He was in fact "him who is, and who was, and who is to come, ... the faithful witness, the firstborn from the dead, and the ruler of the kings of the earth." (Rev 1:5).
Monday, March 29, 2010
19:1 thru 19:16 (Mar 29)
Pilate can find no basis for a charge against Jesus (v18:38), but he still has him flogged. He figures that the crowd will be satisfied when they see Jesus beaten and bloody. Pilate is afraid when he hears that Jesus claimed to be the Son of God. He wants to set Jesus free (v19:12), but in the end he does not. He condemns himself by saying "Don't you realize I have power either to free you or to crucify you?" Pilate had the authority to set Jesus free, but he gives in to the crowd instead. This was God's will and turns out to be very good news for the believer who is saved by the sacrifice of Jesus. But it was still a wrong and cowardly thing to do. This is a good lesson from the bible about just how wrong we can be when we follow the crowd and ignore doing what we know is right.
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