Reflective Bible Study

During one of the times Jesus was preaching the crowds, He alludes to His upcoming death. However, this idea seems to be lost on the crowd He was speaking to. When Jesus begins talking about a good shepherd and contrasting this person with descriptions of both thieves and robbers, Jesus describes the good shepherd as one who gives His life for His sheep.

Jesus clearly states this first in verse 11 when He says: “I am the good shepherd, and the good shepherd gives up his life for his sheep.” Jesus then reemphasizes this idea a few verses later by saying, “I am the good shepherd. I know my sheep, and they know me. Just as the Father knows me, I know the Father, and I give up my life for my sheep.” (v. 14-15)

If that wasn’t enough, Jesus emphasizes this one more time, and in this third time, Jesus also hints at the idea of a future resurrection. “The Father loves me, because I give up my life, so that I may receive it back again. No one takes my life from me. I give it up willingly! I have the power to give it up and the power to receive it back again, just as my Father commanded me to do.” (v. 17-18)

Here in the third reference to Jesus (a.k.a. the Good Shepherd) giving up His life, we see Jesus describing the life He gave up being returned to Him. This sounds a lot like resurrection in my mind. This could be coincidence that there are three references to giving up His life, and in the third reference we find Jesus referring to receiving His life back again. This echoes what happened on crucifixion weekend, where Jesus gave up His life and on the third day He received His life back when He was resurrected from the tomb.

While Jesus’ teaching about being a good shepherd divides those present in His audience, we can learn that nothing Jesus ever said or did happened by chance. Everything in Jesus’ life followed God’s plan, and Jesus ultimately gave His life up on the cross so that all of God’s people could have the assurance of a new life with Him in heaven.

We can place our hope, faith, trust, and belief in Jesus because He is willing to face death because He loves us so much. Jesus died for you and me, and this is the clearest example of how God feels about you and me.

While reading about Judas Iscariot going to meet with the leaders to discuss betraying Jesus, an idea I had never previously thought of came to mind. Even though Judas was set on turning Jesus in, Judas didn’t believe Jesus would let things get so out of hand that He would face death. Chances are high in my mind that if Judas truly knew what his betrayal would start, he might never have chosen to go through with it like what is described in the gospels.

But the idea that I see in this set of verses that I find amazing is found in the very last phrase: “So he [Judas Iscariot] watched for the best time to turn Jesus in.” (v. 11b)

This phrase sticks out in my mind because with this agreement, Judas has two options. The first option, which he ultimately decided to do, was take the side of the religious leaders and be 100% for Jesus’ arrest – and specifically look for the best time possible to turn Jesus in.

However, the second option is interesting to think about. With this agreement, the religious leaders essentially allow one of Jesus’ disciples to become their unofficial leader. For the next weeks, or maybe even months, it would have been easy for Judas to have led the leaders on an unsuccessful hunt for Jesus. Judas Iscariot could have used this agreement for Jesus’ advantage – forewarning Jesus about the leaders’ plans and making sure the leaders were one or two steps behind.

While we might not think of Judas Iscariot having the freedom of choice after making the agreement to betray Jesus, in this passage, we see hinted at the idea that everyone has the freedom to choose what they will do from that point forward. While Judas chose to betray Jesus, and then he matched his actions up to support his decision, up to the very point Jesus was arrested, Judas had the choice to betray Jesus or lead the mob around the city and countryside while avoiding the one place Judas knew Jesus would be. In our own lives, even when all choices seem bad, we still can be glad because we have the freedom to choose between two or more options — and while we have options, we have the ability to make better decisions.

Have you ever wondered how you can show God love? Since God is not physically present and touchable like a person is, any relationship we have with Him, or affection we show Him, will likely be a little different than it is with our significant other. Or is it really all that different?

Many people believe that in order to show God love, we must love others – including orphans, widows, hospital patients, prison inmates, and, or maybe even especially, those who are the lowest in society and those who cannot help themselves. I am among those who agree with this description – and I stand on the foundation of several prominent parables/teachings that Jesus shares in the gospels.

However, in our passage for this journal entry, Jesus gives us a clear, direct answer to this question, and it might surprise you. While what has been believed is not wrong, it is only a partial truth.

In verse 21, Jesus says, “Whoever knows and obeys my commandments is the person who loves me. Those who love me will have my Father’s love, and I, too, will love them and show myself to them.”

This must be an easy thing, since just one chapter before, Jesus gave the disciples a new command: “I’m giving you a new commandment: Love each other in the same way that I have loved you. Everyone will know that you are my disciples because of your love for each other.” (John 13:34-35)

But it isn’t that simple. Jesus describes in our first verse (John 14:21) commandments that are plural, and in the prior chapter’s two verses (John 13:34-35), He tells us that is a “new” command. Jesus isn’t replacing any commandments; He is adding to them.

What commandments is He “adding” to? Jesus is most likely referencing the Ten Commandments in these verses, which God spoke to the Israelites from Mount Sinai in Exodus, chapter 20.

There are parallels to how John opens His gospel talking about Jesus being God that could be understood as referring back to Mount Sinai and Jesus as the One who spoke God’s Law; but even if this wasn’t the case, Jesus came as a Representative of the Godhead, and when He says “My commandments”, it is just as true to refer to the Ten Commandments which were spoken from Mount Sinai by the Godhead.

This means that when Jesus talks about obeying His commandments, He must be referring to all eleven – both the original ten as well as the extra “new” commandment He gave to the disciples.

Let’s look back at our original verse, “Whoever knows and obeys my commandments is the person who loves me. Those who love me will have my Father’s love, and I, too, will love them and show myself to them.”

Jesus clearly states obedience is the way we show our love to Him. He did command that we love others, and that we love people who are in need, but that is only one commandment out of eleven – specifically the bonus one. It’s good to get the bonus answer right, but it doesn’t mean much if the rest of the test answers are wrong.

Jesus says that obedience leads to loving Him, and that loving Him will bring the Father’s love into our lives, and that Jesus will love us too and He will show Himself to us. It seems that all this talk about love hinges on obedience. In our physical relationships, if we love someone and they ask us to do something, do we choose to “obey” (i.e. answer their request) or not? Does how we respond/submit/obey say something about our love for the other person?

Around the middle of Jesus’ three and a half year ministry, the gospel of John tells us that He went to Jerusalem for one of the Jewish festivals. During this festival, Jesus gets into a discussion with some Jews in the temple and John recorded their interesting conversation.

As Jesus debates with these Jewish leaders, we come to a claim Jesus makes that is both amazing and profound. John tells us Jesus said, “Very truly I tell you, whoever obeys my word will never see death.” (v. 51)

On the surface, this statement is amazing and it is a profound promise, but it also makes me wonder, just like the Jews in the temple, what about those who lived before Jesus was alive? Those in the group surrounding Jesus in the temple respond by saying, “Now we know that you are demon-possessed! Abraham died and so did the prophets, yet you say that whoever obeys your word will never taste death. Are you greater than our father Abraham? He died, and so did the prophets.” (v. 52-53a)

In this response, we have a subtle shift of wording that stood out to me as I read it. On one hand, Jesus tells those present that the people who obey His word will never “see death”. When the group of Jews responds, they respond using the phrase “taste death”.

At first, I wondered if they changed the word that was translated as death since they also changed the word from “see” to “taste”, but a quick look at my Bible concordance, let me know that both words for death are the same. For those unfamiliar with the term Bible concordance, it is a reference book for looking up different places in the Bible where the same words are used. Bible concordances are great tools when trying to let the Bible explain itself.

While in the concordance, I did find that Jesus does use the phrase “taste death” at other times in His ministry, one of which was when He told the disciples that not all of them would “taste death” before He returned. (Matthew 16:28; Mark 9:1; Luke 9:27)

However, while in the concordance, I also came across another phrase that speaks into this discussion – and it actually answers the Jews counter statements to Jesus. Just a few chapters later in John 11, we find the sickness, death, and resurrection of Jesus’ good friend Lazarus. Setting the stage for what happens, Jesus tells the group of disciples in this event, “This sickness will not end in death. No, it is for God’s glory so that God’s Son may be glorified through it.” (John 11:4)

However, Lazarus did die, even if it was only for a few days initially. This makes me think that, similar to how Jesus often interacted with the Jews, He would talk on a different spiritual level than what the Jews were used to debating. Seeing death is clearly different from tasting death, and I wonder if Jesus spoke this way as an attempt to try to redirect the focus of these prominent Jews.

While death in these verses could mean literal death, this original word in this context could also mean eternal death as well. But focusing on death is not what Jesus wanted to do in this portion of this discussion.

Jesus wants to draw our attention to the real truth that when we are obeying God, we never “see death” as the end of our existence. Instead, we know that even if we might die in this life and age, we have a future life waiting for us in God’s kingdom.