The Daily Devo with Steve

I have been studying for a year and a half  for a test that I am taking this morning.  The last few days, I have been so busy studying in the morning that I have neglected my Bible study time.  This morning, as close as the test is, I just felt this sense that I needed to open up my Bible and spend this time with God.  So here I am...ironically, it is the last chapter of John that is on the table for today.  We have been in John for quite some time now, and it has been wonderful.  Tomorrow we turn the page and start something new...and I am done with this studying for a bit.  Hopefully just one more of these to go and then I can be done!  But, I will figure out what to read next tomorrow.  Today, John chapter 21.

Jesus is preparing the disciples for their mission...they are now finally ready.  John frames up this last chapter with a great scene between Peter and Jesus, where Jesus asks Peter 3 times if he loves Him, and Peter says yes, and Jesus tells him that he should then feed His lambs, and love His sheep.  Translation - “Peter, I will know your love for me by the way you love others.”  Further translation - “If you want to know how you are doing as a Christian, you should ask yourself if you past one simple test...would other people, watching how you live your life, say that you love your neighbors...that you love Jesus’ sheep?”  That’s a simple question, but a VERY big task.  It is THE task to which we’ve been called though.  There is no doubt about that.  That is our calling as believers and followers of Jesus.

So, today my task, your task, is to love those around me as Jesus has loved me.  I have admittedly not loved well the last few days...I have been focused on this test.  And I think Jesus understands that.  But, when I get home today, it will be time to ask Jesus for a little extra strength to love my bride, who’s supported me through this studying and my recent knee surgery.  When my gets get home, it will be time to love them.  Today, when we get home, it is time to level-set and love those around me.  That’s my calling today.

Poor Thomas...he gets picked on all of the time for this episode in today’s reading; for his famous words about not believing until he has seen.  What’s funny is that all of the other disciples HAD seen...they had already met with Jesus.  So, poor Thomas might not have been alone in his disbelief.  And, we can’t tell from the writing here or anywhere else where his reaction was one of this cynical disbeliefs or if it was more of a subtle, “I don’t know...I want to believe you, but I need to see to believe” type things.

Either way, the takeaway for me is that I need to learn to trust what’s been done for my belief.  We have mountains of information about all that God has done in my life to demonstrate who He is, and it is really a shame if that isn’t enough.  I need to focus on holding to what’s been done for me so far, and I need to not have such a quick-to-forget mind.  God has given me thousands of years of works to demonstrate His love for me...clearly it isn’t God’s next miracle that will get me to believe.  Belief is something I have to work towards; it is a muscle I have to work at building daily.

Imagine how freaked our you would be if you walked up to that tomb and didn’t see Jesus’ body in the tomb as you were expecting.  And, think about their reaction...they didn’t think for  second that He was risen from the grave, they assumed His body was stolen or moved.  That really speaks to how impossible we are in terms of our faith - Jesus was with these folks for several years and couldn’t convince them of what was to come, and when it actually happened, the resurrection wasn’t even a solution to their problem of a missing body.

Today, I want to remain flexible, I want to remain amenable, I want to remain open to what God has in store.  I want to learn to truly open up my life, open my hands, and live the life God has in store for me...obviously, I can’t even imagine how good that can be.  I couldn’t have imagined MOST of the amazing things God has done in the past.  The future looks awesome based on that logic.

As I was reading this morning, I came into a thought that really isn’t a point John is making anywhere, but that just came to mind as I was reading.  Today we see Jesus’ crucifixion, and we see his burial.  It SEEMS like a tragic end to the story...and to everyone there, was the end for Jesus; He was gone.  There aren’t people standing around waiting on the resurrection to happen...it seemed like it was done.  The thing that I found so interesting though was with Jospeh of Arimathea to help in carrying away Jesus’ body so it could be prepared for burial...it is Nicodemus.  John even reminds us in the text today that this is the same Nicodemus that came to Jesus in the dark of night to find answers about His identity back in chapter 3.  It is the same Nicodemus who poked his head up in chapter 7 with a small plea to spare Jesus from judgement as people were starting to try to figure out who He was..evidently the conversation between he and Jesus had left a mark on him.  Now he is even helping to carry Jesus away for burial.

It makes me think.  From what we can tell, Nicodemus is still part of the Jewish leadership, a part of the Pharisees.  At the same time, here he is providing for the same Jesus that was the butt of the Pharisees’ punishment.  Perhaps Nicodemus was what I would call a ‘Sunday Christian’.  He believed, but he wasn’t able to summon the courage to act as if he believed.  He wasn’t able to hand his life over to God for direction.  He believed when it was convenient for him, but was otherwise just an ‘under the radar’ Christian.  I don’t this for sure, I am speculating...but it still gets me thinking about that question that comes up often as I am journaling...and that is this, “If I were on trial, charged with being a Christian...could I be convicted on account of evidence?”  That’s a big question...that’s a powerful and convicting question.

That’s my prayer and meditation today...that I would look upon myself and not feel the guilt and the regret that I am guessing Nicodemus felt when Jesus was dead and gone.  I am guessing Nicodemus was ridden with shame, at least in his own mind, as He knew who Jesus was but didn’t have the courage to follow.  Its my guess that THAT is why here was here with Joseph...he was trying to clean up after his failure of courage.  I pray that isn’t me...that when I look back on my life, that I would see the my faith in action through courage.

What a powerful few verses this morning, Jesus is called upon by the guards, with the help of Judas, and verse 11 really struck me this morning, it reads:

So Jesus said to Peter, “Put your sword into its sheath; shall I not drink the cup that the Father has given me?”

What really strikes me about this verse is how certain Jesus is about his calling. Jesus has the courage, and the clarity, just like David in the cave when being chased by Saul, to give himself over to the situation, and to allow things to play out in their natural way.  David could’ve easily murdered Saul in such a vulnerable position in the cave; similarly, Jesus could’ve taken the situation into his own hands and avoided what was to come. However, both had clarity as it relates to their calling.

It seems to me that sometimes our individual calling may seem crazy to others. It doesn’t make a ton of sense in David’s case, and only in hindsight does it make sense in Jesus’ case, to allow things to play out. In the moment it surely seems crazy to anyone looking on.  But that’s the thing, it doesn’t have to make sense to the onlookers, only to the individual that God is called.

For today, for me, the prayer is that I would have the kind of clarity and fortitude around my calling that Jesus has here, that David had in his time, and that the only thing that would matter for me is God‘s directive.

What a great prayer we see from Jesus this morning...a great example of how to pray, that can be used in conjunction with The Lord’s Prayer.  As I read this prayer, I notice a few things about it.

First, I don’t see Jesus praying for safety from what He know is coming.  Even though Jesus knows He is about to die a terrible death, He doesn’t pray to be saved from that.  He has already made it known to God that He would prefer another way, and He lobs up a prayer like that in the middle of all of this, but He doesn’t use His words to pray for safety...He prays, instead, for unity.  He prays that these disciples would get a glimpse of how great God really is, just as He has seen.

He prays for their strength, because He knows that they are starting to get it, to understand, and that they are are starting to be ‘hated’ by the world on account of the truth they are professing.  He has been hard on them to develop them and to prepare them, but you can see in this prayer that He doesn’t care for them and love them.

Another thing I notice when reading this, that isn’t explicit in what Jesus is saying, but that seems to be true based on what He says, is that Jesus is content with the work He has done.  Jesus has been a ‘good and faithful servant’...Jesus knows that.  The power of that confidence is, no doubt, wind in His sails as He faces what’s the come.  It encourages me that if I can get my faith right, if I can trust God fully, follow Him unconditionally, and live in a way that demonstrates that faith and trust, I can be content.  I can be confident.  I am rest in the fact that God will smile upon me.  That’s a huge encouragement for me.

Today I am thinking about the sense of closeness that Jesus must have, based on this prayer, with God.  This is a closeness that I want.  This is a unity that I want.  And, it is a great reminder that Jesus really did love the disciples and us, and that He prays on our behalf as we do God’s will here on earth...that we aren’t alone in that work.

Just a short reading this morning...I am in the throws of studying for a massive test that is only a couple of weeks away and I trying to get as much studying done as possible, as early as possible, before the family wakes up.

At any rate, this morning is the continuation and finale of the pep talk that Jesus was giving the disciples yesterday.  But today’s pep talk has a great ending to it that really commands its own entry...at least in my opinion.  Today’s final comment from Jesus is as follows:

John 16:33: “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.”

What a powerful statement.  It is a reality that we WILL struggle in this life at times...we have already done that!  But this final proclamation to take heart, because Jesus has overcome the world; what a fantastic reminder of another reality.  If Jesus died and rose from the grave as we profess to believe, then is there anything else in scripture that is unbelievable?  Think about that...if this happened, then nothing else that is in here scripture should be questionable in terms of whether or not not God COULD do it.  We can have a separate conversation about various writings and manuscripts that should or shouldn’t be in the Bible itself, and that’s fine and good, but in terms of these fantastic Old Testament stories that doubters will sometimes pick on, with questions like, “Do you really think Jonah lived in the belly of a whale for several days?”, or “Do you really think God literally parted the Red Sea?”, etc...those types of questions don’t have to put us on our heals with regard to our faith.  If Jesus got out of the grave, if He was dead and then came back to life, is any of this other stuff really that hard to believe?  No! Or course not!

One of our jobs as believers is to focus on what’s undeniable, and to worry less about what’s unexplainable.  Another way to say that is that we should major on the majors, and not major on the minors.  The resurrection is THE thing.

Today is a great reminder of the confidence we can have as Jesus-followers!

I grouped these 2 chapters together because they are essentially one long message from Jesus that all pretty well fits together.  And as I am reading this, right in the middle is the part that jumps out at me, right there in chapter 15.  In chapter 15, we see Jesus use the word abide 8 different times if I have counted correctly.  He is creating a very clear message for the disciples.  Now, we are still in this setting where Jesus has washed their feet and is now sitting with them at the table, presumably eating, and they are discussing what’s to come.  Judas has been revealed and has already fled the scene...now Jesus gets into some of the ‘mushy’ stuff where He is talking about how He and God are one, He is using a lot of figurative language and this was probably all very confusing to the disciples at the time because Jesus was alluding to His death and the disciples really didn’t get what was coming.  Looking back, what Jesus is saying makes sense...in the moment, it probably sounded a little fanatical.  Nonetheless, He is teaching them that they need to abide in His teaching and rest in the truth of His words.  This is the same ‘abide’ word that He used in chapter 8 when He said that they needed to abide in His teaching in order to be His disciples, and that in doing so they would see the truth...one of my favorite teachings.

For me, the context of this teaching is what is so important.  He is really pressing in on this point hard for them, that they need to trust in Him, abide in Him, rest in the reality of what He has taught, because Jesus knows that things are about to get crazy.  Jesus knows that they need to really lean into what has been taught because everything that they had grown comfortable with as a group of Jesus-followers was about the change...everything EXCEPT the words He had given them.  I think we could almost view this as a pep talk before the main event.

The reason this sticks out to me is because I know from personal experience that the moments I really find challenging in life are the moments when I really find out who is in charge of my life.  When things get hard, I can either look up or look in...look up for God’s Grace and guidance, or look inward and try to cling to my own sense of control.  I also know that the times when I have looked up have been more fruitful than the times I have looked in...but because of my sinful nature, looking in is often my natural inclination.

So, today God reminds me to let go and let God, to be thankful that He is in control, and to be thankful that He has invited me to let Him drive the train.  Today I am reminded that life is better when God is in the driver’s seat, and I will look to rest in that truth today.

Today’s reading ends with one of those passages that looks like part of an idea that John just wanted to slide in there...Jesus has told the disciples that where he is going they cannot go, and then we see Peter press Him on this a little, saying that he wants to go too.  John writes that Jesus tells Peter, in verse 38, “Truly, truly, I say to you, the rooster will not crow until you have denied me three times.”

Of course, we know what happens, after Jesus’ death, Peter and the disciples are scrambling and trying to make sense of the situation, and Peter is pointed out on several instances and people are asking if this is the same guy that was seen with Jesus routinely, and of course Peter denies it...3 times, at which point a rooster immediately crows.  It is the parlor trick Jesus...a small little sign that Jesus set up as another point of proof as to His identity, and John didn’t miss a chance to capture it here.

But what really stands out to me is the section immediately preceding that, verses 34-35...I am going to read them, as these are 2 of the most important verses in all of the New Testament in my opinion.

Now, remember the context, Jesus has JUST washed the disciples’ feet, which we know from yesterday is something really only a slave would do in this time.   He has now called out Judas as being the betrayer, and Judas has now fled the scene...with freshly cleaned feet.  Jesus is about to be carried off for His torturous death.  AND, we have already studied another of the key passes from John, back in chapter 8, verses 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” - meaning, we know Jesus values following over believing, and that in following, believing can happen.  So, with that context, Jesus drops these two verses on them:

“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.”

This is a HUGE command from Jesus.  The take away is this...living as a Christian, living as a Jesus follower in today’s culture, in all cultures, for all time, is about one primary thing...love.  If I were judged ONLY on that metric by God, right here and now, is that an assessment that would put me in a favorable light?  Hmmm...that’s rough.  And notice what Jesus didn’t say, He didn’t say, “Love the people that are easy to love”, and He didn’t say, “Love the people who haven’t yet offended you”, and He didn’t say, “Love the people who love you back”...what He did say is, “Love as I have loved”, which is really convicting because He loved Judas who handed Him over to be strung up on a cross until He died...that’s way worse than my friend who won’t call me back, or won’t respond to my text messages, or that ticked me off with what he did and so I wrote him off...Jesus tells us to love as He loved.  AND, from yesterday, we get a key piece of wisdom to help with this, or at least it helps me sometimes; it is this idea that loving that friend is really an act of worship.

Today, I am going to love...I am not exactly sure what that will look like, but I am going to try for that.  I am going to TELL people that I love them explicitly, for one thing...beyond that, hopefully God will move me and guide me.  And, as I do that, I will lob up little prayers to remind myself that this is my worship, that I loving THEM because God loved ME first.

John really goes out of his way to make sure know that Jesus knows that Judas is going to betray Him...because knowing that makes what Jesus does so much more powerful.  Today we see Jesus serving the disciples by washing their feet - this is an act that pretty much only slaves performed. When the master of a wealthy household returned from a journey or a day of work, a slave would wash his feet. And, people wore open-toed sandals in the first century, which would have made this an unpleasant task.  So Jesus was really doing something here that had an obvious symbolic meaning, and that’s why Peter reacted the way He did by trying to deny Jesus the chore...it wasn’t Jesus’ place.  But Jesus was really giving us a picture of what servanthood is about.

In reality, servanthood cost Jesus.  It wasn’t like Jesus was just giving from His abundance when it was convenient.  Servanthood was part of the act of denying Himself in some way.  And that’s the example for me this morning in reading this.  Where am I doing this?  Where have I done this recently?  Where have I said no to me in order to say yes to someone close to me, in order that I might trade my comfort, my autonomy, my desire, for theirs?  That’s a great example.

And there is another important lesson here...Jesus didn’t just serve people in this scene, He served THE person who was about to hand Him over to be strung up on a cross and tortured to death.  This is a great lesson to those of us who have a tendency to write people off when they’ve wronged us, or when we’ve tried to go along with them time and time again, but they just won’t come around.  Jesus is reminding us in this act of servanthood to Judas that we need to keep going back...Jesus didn’t serve Judas for Judas’ sake, He served Judas as an act of worshipping God.  Likewise, I am to serve those around me as an act of worship to God...as nice as it is when they recognize and appreciate my service to them, it isn’t about that...my service to you is my worship to God.  That’s what Jesus is showing us this morning, and it is a powerful idea!