You are browsing the Written Journal Entries

Setting the Rumor Straight: John 21:15-25

Published November 17, 2023 in Written Journal Entries
Focus Passage: John 21:15-25 (NIV)

15 When they had finished eating, Jesus said to Simon Peter, “Simon son of John, do you love me more than these?”

“Yes, Lord,” he said, “you know that I love you.”

Jesus said, “Feed my lambs.”

16 Again Jesus said, “Simon son of John, do you love me?”

He answered, “Yes, Lord, you know that I love you.”

Jesus said, “Take care of my sheep.”

17 The third time he said to him, “Simon son of John, do you love me?”

Peter was hurt because Jesus asked him the third time, “Do you love me?” He said, “Lord, you know all things; you know that I love you.”

Jesus said, “Feed my sheep. 18 Very truly I tell you, when you were younger you dressed yourself and went where you wanted; but when you are old you will stretch out your hands, and someone else will dress you and lead you where you do not want to go.” 19 Jesus said this to indicate the kind of death by which Peter would glorify God. Then he said to him, “Follow me!”

20 Peter turned and saw that the disciple whom Jesus loved was following them. (This was the one who had leaned back against Jesus at the supper and had said, “Lord, who is going to betray you?”) 21 When Peter saw him, he asked, “Lord, what about him?”

22 Jesus answered, “If I want him to remain alive until I return, what is that to you? You must follow me.” 23 Because of this, the rumor spread among the believers that this disciple would not die. But Jesus did not say that he would not die; he only said, “If I want him to remain alive until I return, what is that to you?”

24 This is the disciple who testifies to these things and who wrote them down. We know that his testimony is true.

25 Jesus did many other things as well. If every one of them were written down, I suppose that even the whole world would not have room for the books that would be written.

Read John 21:15-25 in context and/or in other translations on BibleGateway.com!

In John’s final story of his gospel, he shares the origins of a rumor that had likely spread for decades about this special disciple’s life. We don’t know if John was the youngest disciple, or if God simply gifted him with more years than the other followers, but the rumor had spread that Jesus would return before John’s death.

Actually, the rumor was more along the lines of John remaining alive until Jesus’ return. Perhaps this gave greater push for spreading the gospel message in the second half of the first century. If you knew that it was up to your generation to finish God’s mission, and that the world was going to end after the second-last member of your generation died, would that make you extra motivated to complete the mission?

It apparently helped the disciples and the early church, because with the Holy Spirit’s power, they expanded rapidly throughout their known world. But the rumor was more a lie than the truth.

After Jesus shared with Peter about the sort of death he would experience, “Peter turned and saw that the disciple whom Jesus loved was following them … When Peter saw him, he asked, ‘Lord, what about him?’” (v. 20-21)

Peter’s question asks about John’s death. Perhaps Peter was wanting to compare himself to the other closest follower of Jesus, or maybe Peter simply wanted to learn how one of the other key disciple’s lives would end.

But Jesus’ response is tricky. Jesus simply states, “If I want him to remain alive until I return, what is that to you? You must follow me.” (v. 22)

This prompts the rumor that John would be alive when Jesus returned, and that John would not die. But John at the close of his gospel states the truth: “Jesus did not say that he would not die; he only said, ‘If I want him to remain alive until I return, what is that to you?’”. (v. 23)

Jesus’ statement to Peter about John’s death is a statement about the importance of keeping our relationship with Jesus personal and strong – and not playing comparison games with others. Jesus wants Peter to focus on Peter and His relationship, and not worry about the relationship that any of the other disciples had. This is emphasized with Jesus echoing His earlier re-invitation by saying “You must follow me.” (v. 22)

Following Jesus must be a personal decision. It must be something each of us decides to on an individual level, and it must be something we recommit to personally each day we are alive. Jesus emphasizes that our relationship with Him should not be based on someone else’s relationship, or on anything anyone else has said or done.

Is John alive in heaven right now? The answer to this question is irrelevant to us. What matters instead is whether we have placed our focus onto our own relationship with Jesus that leads us towards our own eternal life with God.

This thought was inspired by studying the Walking With Jesus “Reflective Bible Study” package. To discover insights like this in your own study time, click here and give Reflective Bible Study a try today!

Subscribe to this blog and never miss an insight.

The Messiah Jesus Was: John 10:22-42

Published November 15, 2023 in Written Journal Entries
Focus Passage: John 10:22-42 (GNT)

 22 It was winter, and the Festival of the Dedication of the Temple was being celebrated in Jerusalem. 23 Jesus was walking in Solomon’s Porch in the Temple, 24 when the people gathered around him and asked,
         How long are you going to keep us in suspense? Tell us the plain truth: are you the Messiah?

 25 Jesus answered,
         I have already told you, but you would not believe me. The deeds I do by my Father’s authority speak on my behalf; 26 but you will not believe, for you are not my sheep. 27 My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me. 28 I give them eternal life, and they shall never die. No one can snatch them away from me. 29 What my Father has given me is greater than everything, and no one can snatch them away from the Father’s care. 30 The Father and I are one.

 31 Then the people again picked up stones to throw at him. 32 Jesus said to them,
         I have done many good deeds in your presence which the Father gave me to do; for which one of these do you want to stone me?

 33 They answered,
         We do not want to stone you because of any good deeds, but because of your blasphemy! You are only a man, but you are trying to make yourself God!

 34 Jesus answered,
         It is written in your own Law that God said,
         You are gods. 35 We know that what the scripture says is true forever; and God called those people gods, the people to whom his message was given. 36 As for me, the Father chose me and sent me into the world. How, then, can you say that I blaspheme because I said that I am the Son of God? 37 Do not believe me, then, if I am not doing the things my Father wants me to do. 38 But if I do them, even though you do not believe me, you should at least believe my deeds, in order that you may know once and for all that the Father is in me and that I am in the Father.

 39 Once more they tried to seize Jesus, but he slipped out of their hands.

 40 Jesus then went back again across the Jordan River to the place where John had been baptizing, and he stayed there. 41 Many people came to him.
         John performed no miracles, they said,
         but everything he said about this man was true. 42 And many people there believed in him.

Read John 10:22-42 in context and/or in other translations on BibleGateway.com!

Have you ever received something you needed, but it was not what you expected?

If so, you may have something in common with the crowd at the opening of this passage. While Jesus is walking in the temple, the crowd asks Him, “Tell us the plain truth: are you the Messiah?” (v.24)

Instead of answering them “plainly”, Jesus tells them that He already told them, and then goes on describing how He is the One who God the Father sent. Jesus is trying to expand their minds about what the Messiah’s role is, and that it is not at all what their culture was expecting. In His response, Jesus makes a clear distinction between those who truly hear His voice, and those who are listening through a filter – and hearing only what they want to hear.

This makes me wonder in my own life, how many times do I truly keep my ears (and/or eyes) open to God? Am I someone who listens through a filter, or do I allow all of God’s messages through?

In this passage, most of those in the crowd were listening through a filter. Their filter said that the Messiah was political, that God was distant, and that those who claimed to be God should be stoned.

These filters kept them from seeing or hearing Jesus’ message that God elevates us to higher than we can imagine when we acknowledge Him as our Father, Lord, and Savior.

I believe that God is currently active in the creation process, creating things all around us. This makes it easy for me to call Him Father. However, even if He decided to take a vacation, it still would be easy for me to call Him Father because He started it all.

Jesus was not the Messiah the Jews expected. Jesus came to fulfill the promise given to Adam and Eve when they were thrown out of the garden. This promise said that one of Adam and Eve’s offspring would crush the serpent’s head. Satan was the serpent deceiver, and before Jesus, no one was able to truly fulfill this promise. Jesus came as a Messiah to all of humanity who has ever sinned, not to one specific nation or race.

Jesus was not the Messiah the crowd, the Jews, or the world expected; but He was the Messiah that the world needed.

This thought was inspired by studying the Walking With Jesus “Reflective Bible Study” package. To discover insights like this in your own study time, click here and give Reflective Bible Study a try today!

Subscribe to this blog and never miss an insight.

Inside the House: Matthew 2:1-23

Published November 14, 2023 in Written Journal Entries
Focus Passage: Matthew 2:1-23 (CEV)

1 When Jesus was born in the village of Bethlehem in Judea, Herod was king. During this time some wise men from the east came to Jerusalem 2 and said, “Where is the child born to be king of the Jews? We saw his star in the east and have come to worship him.”

3 When King Herod heard about this, he was worried, and so was everyone else in Jerusalem. 4 Herod brought together the chief priests and the teachers of the Law of Moses and asked them, “Where will the Messiah be born?”

5 They told him, “He will be born in Bethlehem, just as the prophet wrote,

6 ’Bethlehem in the land
    of Judea,
you are very important
    among the towns of Judea.
From your town
    will come a leader,
who will be like a shepherd
    for my people Israel.’”

7 Herod secretly called in the wise men and asked them when they had first seen the star. 8 He told them, “Go to Bethlehem and search carefully for the child. As soon as you find him, let me know. I want to go and worship him too.”

9 The wise men listened to what the king said and then left. And the star they had seen in the east went on ahead of them until it stopped over the place where the child was. 10 They were thrilled and excited to see the star.

11 When the men went into the house and saw the child with Mary, his mother, they knelt down and worshiped him. They took out their gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh and gave them to him. 12 Later they were warned in a dream not to return to Herod, and they went back home by another road.

13 After the wise men had gone, an angel from the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream and said, “Get up! Hurry and take the child and his mother to Egypt! Stay there until I tell you to return, because Herod is looking for the child and wants to kill him.”

14 That night, Joseph got up and took his wife and the child to Egypt, 15 where they stayed until Herod died. So the Lord’s promise came true, just as the prophet had said, “I called my son out of Egypt.”

16 When Herod found out that the wise men from the east had tricked him, he was very angry. He gave orders for his men to kill all the boys who lived in or near Bethlehem and were two years old and younger. This was based on what he had learned from the wise men.

17 So the Lord’s promise came true, just as the prophet Jeremiah had said,

18 “In Ramah a voice was heard
    crying and weeping loudly.
Rachel was mourning
    for her children,
and she refused
to be comforted,
    because they were dead.”

19 After King Herod died, an angel from the Lord appeared in a dream to Joseph while he was still in Egypt. 20 The angel said, “Get up and take the child and his mother back to Israel. The people who wanted to kill him are now dead.”

21 Joseph got up and left with them for Israel. 22 But when he heard that Herod’s son Archelaus was now ruler of Judea, he was afraid to go there. Then in a dream he was told to go to Galilee, 23 and they went to live there in the town of Nazareth. So the Lord’s promise came true, just as the prophet had said, “He will be called a Nazarene.”

Read Matthew 2:1-23 in context and/or in other translations on BibleGateway.com!

While I understand why our culture has done this, what we see displayed every Christmas is not what actually happened at Jesus’ birth. While Luke’s gospel describes Jesus being wrapped up in a manger because there was no place for them in the inn, nowhere do the gospels actually tell us that the manger was present in a stable.

If we are going to blend Matthew’s visit of the wise men with Luke’s visit of the shepherds into one night, then Matthew actually tells us a key detail many people have never seen before. Matthew describes the wise men’s visit by saying, “When the men went into the house and saw the child with Mary, his mother, they knelt down and worshiped him. They took out their gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh and gave them to him.” (v. 11)

According to Matthew, Jesus was in a house when the wise men came. Perhaps this was a small living structure that was not part of the inn. Maybe it was the place where the owner or manager of the inn lived.

However, what likely was the case is that the wise men visited a few weeks or months after Jesus was born. From Luke’s description of what Joseph and Mary are able to do, we know that their escape to Egypt didn’t happen on the night of His birth, because Joseph and Mary take Jesus when He was just days old to be dedicated at the temple.

This would mean that Herod unknowingly had this upcoming Baby-King even closer to him without him even being aware.

While tradition and culture have abbreviated Jesus birth story into one night, it is important for us to pay attention to the details of what the gospel writers tell us to understand where tradition has it right, and where it has adapted the details. When we are able to see the details we get an even more incredible picture of God’s guidance and protection during the Christmas story.

This thought was inspired by studying the Walking With Jesus “Reflective Bible Study” package. To discover insights like this in your own study time, click here and give Reflective Bible Study a try today!

Subscribe to this blog and never miss an insight.

Delaying His Goal: John 11:45-57

Published November 10, 2023 in Written Journal Entries
Focus Passage: John 11:45-57 (GNT)

45 Many of the people who had come to visit Mary saw what Jesus did, and they believed in him. 46 But some of them returned to the Pharisees and told them what Jesus had done. 47 So the Pharisees and the chief priests met with the Council and said, “What shall we do? Look at all the miracles this man is performing! 48 If we let him go on in this way, everyone will believe in him, and the Roman authorities will take action and destroy our Temple and our nation!”

49 One of them, named Caiaphas, who was High Priest that year, said, “What fools you are! 50 Don’t you realize that it is better for you to have one man die for the people, instead of having the whole nation destroyed?” 51 Actually, he did not say this of his own accord; rather, as he was High Priest that year, he was prophesying that Jesus was going to die for the Jewish people, 52 and not only for them, but also to bring together into one body all the scattered people of God.

53 From that day on the Jewish authorities made plans to kill Jesus. 54 So Jesus did not travel openly in Judea, but left and went to a place near the desert, to a town named Ephraim, where he stayed with the disciples.

55 The time for the Passover Festival was near, and many people went up from the country to Jerusalem to perform the ritual of purification before the festival. 56 They were looking for Jesus, and as they gathered in the Temple, they asked one another, “What do you think? Surely he will not come to the festival, will he?” 57 The chief priests and the Pharisees had given orders that if anyone knew where Jesus was, he must report it, so that they could arrest him.

Read John 11:45-57 in context and/or in other translations on BibleGateway.com!

When reading the gospels, I am always surprised at how informed Jesus was about what was happening. In John’s gospel, following Jesus raising Lazarus from the dead, we get a brief glimpse of the Jewish leaders’ council meeting and their ultimate decision.

John tells us that, “From that day on the Jewish authorities made plans to kill Jesus. So Jesus did not travel openly in Judea, but left and went to a place near the desert, to a town named Ephraim, where he stayed with the disciples.” (v. 53-54)

Following the council meeting, Jesus had a target on His head. But Jesus was not surprised by this.

I am curious if Jesus’ actions and choice to not travel openly in Judea made the Jewish authorities believe that Jesus was not ultimately moving towards death. In their minds, maybe Jesus acted this way because He wanted to avoid death. After all, their picture of the Messiah did not involve that Messiah’s death.

But looking at the gospels from a bigger picture, we can see that Jesus’ actions likely were simply delaying His ultimate mission until the exact right moment in time.

Jesus didn’t just come to die. If this were the case, there were plenty of opportunities for Him to die all throughout His life and ministry. Instead, Jesus came to die a death on the cross – and at the specific time when a rebel could experience and accept salvation.

Jesus also wanted time with the disciples. He wanted to teach them and to help them understand what was coming. If at all possible, He did not want them to be surprised when He ultimately would be betrayed and arrested.

In these two verses, we can see Jesus responding in the best way that allowed Him the most time with His followers while also holding on to His mission. By delaying His death, Jesus opened the way for more people to have faith in Him, and He also kept the option open for meeting a rebel who would ultimately be crucified next to Him. Jesus’ delay allowed for at least one more person to be saved.

This thought was inspired by studying the Walking With Jesus “Reflective Bible Study” package. To discover insights like this in your own study time, click here and give Reflective Bible Study a try today!

Subscribe to this blog and never miss an insight.