Reflective Bible Study Gospel Adventure

Leaving This World: John 13:1-17

Published October 30, 2024 in Written Journal Entries

Focus Passage: John 13:1-17 (NIV)

¹It was just before the Passover Festival. Jesus knew that the hour had come for him to leave this world and go to the Father. Having loved his own who were in the world, he loved them to the end.

²The evening meal was in progress, and the devil had already prompted Judas, the son of Simon Iscariot, to betray Jesus. ³Jesus knew that the Father had put all things under his power, and that he had come from God and was returning to God; ⁴so he got up from the meal, took off his outer clothing, and wrapped a towel around his waist. ⁵After that, he poured water into a basin and began to wash his disciples’ feet, drying them with the towel that was wrapped around him.

⁶He came to Simon Peter, who said to him, “Lord, are you going to wash my feet?”

⁷Jesus replied, “You do not realize now what I am doing, but later you will understand.”

⁸“No,” said Peter, “you shall never wash my feet.”

Jesus answered, “Unless I wash you, you have no part with me.”

⁹“Then, Lord,” Simon Peter replied, “not just my feet but my hands and my head as well!”

¹⁰Jesus answered, “Those who have had a bath need only to wash their feet; their whole body is clean. And you are clean, though not every one of you.” ¹¹For he knew who was going to betray him, and that was why he said not every one was clean.

¹²When he had finished washing their feet, he put on his clothes and returned to his place. “Do you understand what I have done for you?” he asked them. ¹³“You call me ‘Teacher’ and ‘Lord,’ and rightly so, for that is what I am. ¹⁴Now that I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also should wash one another’s feet. ¹⁵I have set you an example that you should do as I have done for you. ¹⁶Very truly I tell you, no servant is greater than his master, nor is a messenger greater than the one who sent him. ¹⁷Now that you know these things, you will be blessed if you do them.

Read John 13:1-17 in context and/or in other translations on BibleGateway.com!

This journal entry’s passage opens with a very strange phrase that challenged me when I first read it. Taken at surface value, it could be seen to conflict with another significant passage a few chapters later in John’s book. I dislike it when an author contradicts themselves, and when the Bible seems to have a contradiction like this, my reaction is to dig in and look for a smooth resolution.

In the middle of verse 1 we read, “Jesus knew that the hour had come for him to leave this world and go to the Father.” On the surface, reading this verse leads me to believe that the cross was when Jesus left this world, since only hours later, after a really long night with no sleep, Jesus dies on the cross, and His dead body is buried. Along the same lines, Jesus’ spirit (His life breath) would have needed to go somewhere, since it was no longer with His body, so that must mean it returned to God. And then the conclusion, since Jesus is speaking from a very specific perspective, must be that Jesus left the world when His spirit returned to God following His death on the cross.

This is an easy conclusion to reach, but there is a problematic verse a few chapters later that counters this. In the garden, following Jesus’ resurrection, He tells Mary, “Do not hold on to me, for I have not yet ascended to the Father. Go instead to my brothers and tell them, ‘I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.’” (John 20:17)

Jesus directly tells Mary that He had not ascended yet, but that He was about to. This is incredibly significant, and problematic, because this means that Jesus’ death was not when He returned to the Father, but shortly (i.e. hours) after His resurrection.

I wonder if this point when Jesus returned to heaven was originally designed to be His glorious return to God and then looking back down, the Godhead realized that the remaining disciples need a little more encouragement and regrouping prompting a number of other encounters. Or, perhaps, this initial ascension was when Jesus received His new body, and then He returned temporarily to help the disciples regroup and understand what had just happened before a more official “ascension” around five or so weeks later.

So where does that leave us with John’s first challenging statement in chapter 13?

I wonder if John opens up this chapter as a grand transition into the crucifixion event, and that He includes it as a way of pulling the reader into the significance that will follow.

John’s gospel is the most detailed of the gospels surrounding Jesus’ last night before the crucifixion, and it all starts in the upper room. All of Jesus’ ministry and life were leading up to this point, and John wants us to realize who Jesus was during His last hours with them. The only time left was in that upper room, and the walk to the garden. After those few hours, when the betrayer and arrest would come, Jesus’ time with the disciples would be up.

Both these passages really push me to look at a central idea: Value the time you have right now with Jesus. We are not guaranteed future time with Him on this side of heaven, and the decisions we make today have a profound impact on that promised future.

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!

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Naming Sheep: John 10:1-21

Published October 29, 2024 in Written Journal Entries

Focus Passage: John 10:1-21 (CEV)

¹ Jesus said:

I tell you for certain that only thieves and robbers climb over the fence instead of going in through the gate to the sheep pen. ^2-3 But the gatekeeper opens the gate for the shepherd, and he goes in through it. The sheep know their shepherd’s voice. He calls each of them by name and leads them out.

⁴ When he has led out all of his sheep, he walks in front of them, and they follow, because they know his voice. ⁵ The sheep will not follow strangers. They don’t recognize a stranger’s voice, and they run away.

⁶ Jesus told the people this story. But they did not understand what he was talking about.

⁷ Jesus said:

I tell you for certain that I am the gate for the sheep. ⁸ Everyone who came before me was a thief or a robber, and the sheep did not listen to any of them. ⁹ I am the gate. All who come in through me will be saved. Through me they will come and go and find pasture.

¹⁰ A thief comes only to rob, kill, and destroy. I came so that everyone would have life, and have it in its fullest. ¹¹ I am the good shepherd, and the good shepherd gives up his life for his sheep. ¹² Hired workers are not like the shepherd. They don’t own the sheep, and when they see a wolf coming, they run off and leave the sheep. Then the wolf attacks and scatters the flock. ¹³ Hired workers run away because they don’t care about the sheep.

¹⁴ I am the good shepherd. I know my sheep, and they know me. ¹⁵ Just as the Father knows me, I know the Father, and I give up my life for my sheep. ¹⁶ I have other sheep that are not in this sheep pen. I must bring them together too, when they hear my voice. Then there will be one flock of sheep and one shepherd.

¹⁷ The Father loves me, because I give up my life, so that I may receive it back again. ¹⁸ 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.

¹⁹ The people took sides because of what Jesus had told them. ²⁰ Many of them said, “He has a demon in him! He is crazy! Why listen to him?”

²¹ But others said, “How could anyone with a demon in him say these things? No one like that could give sight to a blind person!”

Read John 10:1-21 in context and/or in other translations on BibleGateway.com!

During one of the times Jesus was preaching the crowds, He uses an illustration that contrasts thieves/robbers and the good shepherd. While reading this illustration, a powerful idea is hinted at early on while Jesus is describing the shepherd.

One of the first distinctive ideas Jesus shares about the good shepherd is that “The sheep know their shepherd’s voice. He calls each of them by name and leads them out.” (v. 3b)

This phrase stands out to me because in it I see a description of a very personal relationship being described. Regardless of the size of the flock of sheep, each sheep has a name, the shepherd uses this name to refer to that sheep, and there has been enough time spent with the shepherd and each sheep that each sheep is able to recognize the shepherd’s voice.

Jesus ultimately explains how He is the “Good Shepherd”, and that He wants to have a personal relationship with each of His sheep. While Jesus does imply that there are those who are not part of His flock of sheep, He doesn’t dwell on them or focus on them at all. Jesus is interested most in loving, caring for, and protecting His sheep, and He even goes as far as giving each sheep a name.

This is amazing in my mind, because as a member of God’s family, God wants to be so close to me that He can give me a new name. We could call this a nickname, or we could adopt God’s name for us as our true name. When God names us, He names us based on how He sees each of us, and at the foundation of each new name is the truth that we have been redeemed/saved through what Jesus did for us on the cross.

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Flashback Episode — The Place of the Skull: Mark 15:33-39

Published October 28, 2024 in Audio Journal Entries

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For the next several podcast episodes, we will slow down and focus in on Jesus’ time on the cross. In many ways, this event is the climax of the entire Bible record, and this event could be considered the climax of history, or we could say “His-Story”. However, nothing in this event seemed positive at the time it was happening, that is unless you were Satan or one of the religious leaders pushing for Jesus’ death. This moment in history was evil’s big time in the spotlight.

Let’s read how Mark’s gospel describes the first portion of the crucifixion, and unpack some things we can learn from this event. Our passage for this episode is found in Mark, chapter 15, and we will read from the New Century Version. Starting in verse 22, Mark tells us that:

²²They led Jesus to the place called Golgotha, which means the Place of the Skull. ²³The soldiers tried to give Jesus wine mixed with myrrh to drink, but he refused. ²⁴The soldiers crucified Jesus and divided his clothes among themselves, throwing lots to decide what each soldier would get.

²⁵It was nine o’clock in the morning when they crucified Jesus. ²⁶There was a sign with this charge against Jesus written on it: the king of the jews.

Let’s stop reading here. Each one of the verses we just read has some fascinating details in it.

First off, the place Jesus was crucified was called Golgotha, and the meaning of Golgotha is “the Place of the Skull”. This is interesting in my mind because to get a name like this, this location needed something special about it. When looking up information about this location, there is some speculation about how Golgotha received this name. However, I found the following detail fascinating. Golgotha may be named this way because it was a hill that resembled a skull, because one church tradition said that Adam was buried there, or because of all the people (or skulls) that were executed there.

When seeing the detail that Adam was buried there, I chuckled a little bit because how could anyone know where Adam was buried since he died before the flood and the flood radically changed the surface of the earth. However, the rational explanation for this theory is that Noah excavated Adams bones and brought them with them on the ark. Then following the flood, Shem and Melchizedek traveled to the resting place of Noah’s Ark, retrieved Adam’s bones from it, and were led by Angels to Golgotha, which is described as a skull-shaped hill at the center of the Earth. This location was also where the serpent’s head had been crushed following the Fall of Man.

I found this theory to be fascinating, and if it turns out to be true, then it gives a lot of symbolism not only to the significance of Jesus death, but that the place Jesus died was connected with the origin of sin and with humanity’s fall. It also connects Jesus with Adam, and in other parts of the New Testament, Jesus is symbolically referred to as a second Adam.

Also in these verses, I find it fascinating that Mark describes Jesus being offered wine mixed with myrrh to drink. This detail is fascinating because one of the gifts Jesus received when He was born was myrrh. The wise men brought Jesus gold, frankincense, and myrrh. This means that at the beginning of Jesus’ life, He was brought myrrh and at the end of His life, He again is offered myrrh.

With this recurrence of myrrh, I wonder what might be its significance. Looking at myrrh in the Old Testament, we discover that myrrh is a key ingredient in the oil that was used to anoint and dedicate the temple, priests, and kings. However, this was myrrh used for anointing, not ingesting. Wine mixed with myrrh likely was given as a way to help numb the pain, and I believe Jesus refused this because He did not want rumors circulating that He was drunk while on the cross, even if the amount of wine given wouldn’t likely have been enough to intoxicate someone.

In addition to being in the wine that was offered to Jesus at His death, myrrh shows up again in Jesus’ burial, but in John’s gospel, when Joseph of Arimathea and Nicodemus bring a 100 pound mixture of spices, which included myrrh by name. While we aren’t focusing in on John’s gospel in this year of podcasting, myrrh in this context symbolically connects Jesus’ death and His being anointed as priest and king.

Following Jesus refusing the wine, Mark describes the soldiers dividing Jesus’ clothes and gambling for them. While Mark doesn’t give much context or symbolism for this detail, at least one of the other gospel writers includes the detail that this fulfilled an Old Testament prophecy.

After describing Jesus’ clothing being gambled for, Mark tells us that the crucifixion began at nine o’clock in the morning. This detail is important in my mind because it shows how quickly and earnestly the religious leaders wanted Jesus condemned to death, with the sentence carried out. The previous day had ended with Jesus walking freely around Jerusalem as He left the temple that day, but less than 18 hours later, Jesus is dying on a cross.

Many of Jesus’ biggest supporters would have gone to bed that night believing everything was fine, but they would wake up the following morning, get ready for their day, head into Jerusalem, and pass Jesus hanging on the cross. This was evil’s time in the spotlight, and Satan was not going to give up this opportunity to see Jesus’ life end.

The speed of Jesus’ crucifixion and the events of His betrayal and arrest remind me that life can change in an instant. However, while life can instantly become worse when it was better before, Jesus’ death also makes the reverse possible. Because of Jesus’ death, our lives that are destined to end in death because of our sin can instantly be given a different destiny.

When we place our faith, hope, trust, and belief in Jesus and His sacrifice, Jesus accepts our sinful lives as being included in His death, and He gives us the assurance of the life He deserved. The new life Jesus offers us is a life that begins today and it extends into eternity. Just as Jesus spent a brief period of time resting in the grave, we may experience this rest as well, but like Jesus was resurrected, we too can look forward to our own resurrection at the moment Jesus returns to take us home!

As we come to the end of another podcast episode, here are the challenges I will leave you with:

As I always challenge you to do, intentionally seek God first in your life and choose to place your faith, hope, trust, and belief in Jesus and in His sacrifice on our behalf. Through Jesus’ death, we can have the assurance that our sins are forgiven and that we can have a new life with God that extends into eternity.

Also, continue to pray and study the Bible for yourself to learn and grow closer to God each and every day. By studying the Bible, discover what God wants to teach you as you come to Him in prayer and study His message of hope.

And as I end every set of challenges by saying in one way or another, never stop short of, back away from, chicken out of, or drift away from where God wants to lead you to in your life with Him!

Flashback Episode: Year in Mark – Episode 44: As Mark describes the first part of Jesus’ crucifixion, discover some amazing things we can learn about Jesus’ death and about some of the symbolism surrounding the place Jesus hung on the cross.

All In God’s Time: Mark 14:1-2

Published October 25, 2024 in Written Journal Entries

Focus Passage: Mark 14:1-2 (NCV)

¹It was now only two days before the Passover and the Feast of Unleavened Bread. The leading priests and teachers of the law were trying to find a trick to arrest Jesus and kill him. ²But they said, “We must not do it during the feast, because the people might cause a riot.”

Read Mark 14:1-2 in context and/or in other translations on BibleGateway.com!

Leading up to Jesus’ crucifixion on the cross, several of the gospel writers include a short transition statement that is worth us paying attention to. In most cases, this transition statement would simply be skimmed over when reading it, but if we pause long enough to let these verses sink in, we can see something incredible in what was planned vs. what actually happened.

Mark’s gospel tells us that “It was now only two days before the Passover and the Feast of Unleavened Bread. The leading priests and teachers of the law were trying to find a trick to arrest Jesus and kill him. But they said, ‘We must not do it during the feast, because the people might cause a riot.’” (v. 1-2)

In these verses, we can see a clear contrast between two different ideas. The first is that the religious leaders were set on finding a way to trick and arrest Jesus with the ultimate intent of killing Him. However, the second idea is that the leaders know that they must do this when not many others are around because otherwise it might cause a riot. Because of the fear of rioting among Jesus’ supporters, the leaders decide to wait and not look to arrest Him during the feast.

However, Jesus has told the disciples that He was going up to Jerusalem and would be killed. Jesus knew the exact time and exact way these events would happen – and specifically that His death would be during the feast.

In our passage, we see a growing conflict between God’s plan and our human plans. Looking at what happened during that Passover-crucifixion weekend, we can easily conclude that whenever our plans conflict with God’s plan, God’s plan always takes precedence. While this doesn’t mean that we cannot pray and ask God to adjust His plan, knowing this detail should prompt us to always frame our requests by asking for God’s will to be done.

Sometimes God will change His plans based on our requests, but even if He doesn’t, we should trust that He knows what is best from eternity’s perspective.

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