The Daily Devo with Steve

Well, I was out of a commission for a couple of days...sick...yuck.  I had a stomach bug I think, but I can’t be sure because everyone automatically assumes every sickness these days is COVID.  At any rate, on the mend now and ready to go...glad to be doing this again.  I listened to a message from our home church yesterday about being passionate for God, and for His Word.  I really did miss this morning time of digging in...I just sets me up for a good day and has, over the years, become that first thing I do to level-set and prepare for the day.

In the reading this morning, we see Jesus showing up at this pool where there is a man who has been paralyzed and unable to walk for basically his entire life...he is identified as an invalid.  Jesus sees him there and goes up to him, and after an exchange with him, He heals the man and the man picks up his bed (which would have been a mat of some sort) and walks out of there.  He had been waiting to try to get into one of these pools to seek healing, and apparently no one would help him.  At any rate, he walks out carrying his mat and the Jews confront him...and this is what really sticks out to me, not that he is healed, but that the Jews confront him about his carrying his mat on the Sabbath.  See, the Law that was handed down to Moses had a lot in it, but there isn’t anything in it that would have forbid an activity like carrying is bed roll or bed mat.  What had happened was that the Jews had constructed their own laws and customs that were designed to make sure people didn’t even get close to breaking the Law of Moses...and this crossed THEIR line.  So, and here is the key for me this morning, this man broke THEIR rules and THEIR customs, and so they freaked out.  They missed the forest for trees here.  Here they were in the midst of a miracle, in the midst of an undeniable moment where a man that they had no doubt watched trying to get into this pool probably for years, who they had stepped over on countless occasions, was now healed.  And instead of looking into that and looking for God in that moment, they were looking to condemn this man.  Here he is, never having walked before, stumbling around and walking, and they can’t see the miracle because they are so focused on the customs they had put into place.  And this is what we sometimes do as well.

We turn our religious lives into a series of religious practices and we go through the motions and miss the moments.  We do our routines and we never encounter God because we are always checking the boxes...Sunday church, check; morning Bible reading, check; said my prayers at the dinner table and at bed, check.  If that’s the story of our faith and the depth of our spiritual lives, then we are missing something; we are these Jewish guys.  Routine is good...don’t get me wrong.  But, the routine, like the laws and customs of these Jews, isn’t the point.   The point is to be poised and ready to experience God.  We have to learn to maintain an expectant heart.  And that’s my prayer today...that I would experience God today, as a reminder, that relationship and presence is more important than rules and rituals.

Not feeling well...taking a couple of days off.  Be back soon!

Today we see the end of the story from yesterday, the woman at the well, and she spreads that news throughout town about Jesus.  And, of course, it makes a ruckus and people come to see Jesus and others come to believe in Him as well.  And then we get a funny instance of where Jesus is teaching the disciples and they apparently don’t understand Him...I can almost sense John writing this as a comedic insert.  Here, let’s read this little bit (4:31-35).  I find this to be kind of funny...again, this shows me that John is writing and reflecting at the same time.  And he had the humility to be honest about how he and his compadres were seeing things in the moment...that they were often missing the point on things Jesus was teaching.  Its a great lesson for us too...we miss the point quite often as well.

And then we get to the main portion of today’s passage, this story about Jesus coming back to Galilee, where He’d turned the water into wine, and now an official, probably a centurion in service to Herod Antipas, comes up to Him and asks for help in healing his son who was on his death bed.  Jesus announces to this man and to those around that He understands that they need signs, they need some ‘proof’ of who He is...and so He does something for this man’s benefit.  But don’t miss this...as is often the case, there is something the man did as well, and I think we miss this so often...Jesus healed the boy, but the text also slips this little snippet in there, in v50, “...The man believed the word that Jesus spoke to him and went on his way.”  Is it possible that Jesus knew that this man believed before He even lifted a finger?  Well, we are talking about God, so of course He did.  But it is obvious that this guy believed Jesus could do what He wanted...and I think that belief impressed Jesus.  I think that belief compelled Jesus.  I don’t want to delve into prosperity gospel here, but I think it is fair, considering the entire text of the New Testament, that belief is impressive to God.  Jesus, several times, is recorded as being moved by a person’s belief.  I think this is one of those times.  This man asked and believed in concert, and I think that moved Jesus; it compelled Him to action.

And that’s a great lesson for us.  Not that we would ask for things from Jesus, but that we would ask at the same time believing in Jesus’ ability and willingness to respond.  That we would ask and move forward “as if”...as if we trusted God’s decision with the outcome, and we were single-minded in our determination to do what we know we ought to do, leaving the outcome to God.  I think that is an awesome place to be.  That’s the way God wants it...that’s giving our hearts over to God.  Today I will look for a small opportunity to do that...to trust, ask, trust some more, and to move “as if”.

Today we see another display of Jesus’ power through the story of the woman at the well.  It is a story that we’ve all heard many times probably...and I am not sure I have a lot to add to the telling of the story itself.  But when I think about the story, it really gets me thinking about this question, “What would Jesus call out in me?”

Think about this story...Jesus sees this woman at the well.  He breaks social norms by engaging with her.  They have a conversation and He brings her to a point where He is going to demonstrate that there is something unique about Him because He is teaching her things that are a little confusing until she realizes that Jesus is not just a dude sitting there at the well talking to her.  So, He calls out her sin about her sleeping around and bouncing from one live-in partner to another, being remarried on several occasions, and He uses that black spot in her life to reveal Himself.  Then He blows past it in forgiveness.  In other words, His calling her out served a purpose...for her benefit, not His own.  So that question again is, “If Jesus were to show up in my life and demonstrate who He is in a similar way, what would He call out in MY life?”.

That’s a challenging question.  That’s a scary question.  But I think it is the question that is being prompted from the reading this morning.  As scary as it is though, it isn’t that Jesus condemns her or scolds her...He is using that sin in her life to help her to understand that He is there, He understands her, and He is the only person who can actually save her from that.  That is so refreshing.  It is refreshing to know that God wants to do that, that God wants to be invited into our lives, to meet us at the well so-to-speak, and to be able to call us out in love.  And, to know that it is for our own benefit, not His...that’s so different than how many of us are treated, where calling someone out on something is done really to make the other person feel better about their self, or to make a point.  God never does that...He calls me out for myself...for my benefit.  That is also a fantastic concept to draw from this.

Today’s passage is such a great example of humility, and of purpose...John the Baptist was the ‘big deal’ for a while; people were coming from all around to see him and to hear from him.  He was the person with the influence.  Then Jesus shows up...and that all changed.  John immediately knew who Jesus was and immediately did what he teaches in today’s passage...he decreased so Jesus could increase.  What an incredible example John gives us.  It is hard to really appreciate what John models for us here.

John is probably the BEST model that we have of what a great life of discipleship looks like in some ways.  He shows up knowing his purpose.  He executes his purpose.  Jesus shows us and takes away all of the power and influence he had accumulated and John takes it in stride, as a part of his mission.  John is put in prison for no good reason and seemingly isn’t even rescued by Jesus for no good reason.  He has one moment in prison where he asks the disciples just to confirm that Jesus is who he says he is for him because he is in prison over a silly bet between a king and a crooked woman’s daughter...we presume John wanted this confirmation because he was sitting there thinking, “Why am I here...after all I have done, am I not going to be saved?  Is this the way it really ends?”.  Of course, we know that it was.  But John’s statement here in today’s text really epitomizes his entire life that we know about:

“He must increase, but I must decrease.”

In literal terms, this is is saying that it is necessary that Jesus must increase, and that I must decrease.  And this is true of us all.  This is true of me...as I decrease, I make room for Jesus to increase in my life.  This doesn’t mean to play life small, it doesn’t mean to live life less than fully, and it doesn’t mean to be weak and dispassionate.  It simply means that we must recognize AND we must emulate in our lives how John positioned himself...as a tool to do God’s work.  When we see ourselves as God’s vessels vs. vessels for our own happiness, we are decreasing so God can increase.  What an awesome example.

How do we do that today?  How do we emulate John in our lives today?  Well, that’s my prayer...that God would show me a way to do that.  That God would help me see an opportunity to decrease so I can let Jesus increase.  It could be a little thing or a big thing.  Either way though, if I carry this around with me today, desiring for an opportunity, I would be shocked if God doesn’t show up and help me spot an opportunity.  That’s my goal today.

There are only 5 verses in the reading today, so I will read this.  This verse, 3:16, is the most famous verse in the Bible, and this section is probably the most succinct presentation of the message of Jesus, the Gospel, anywhere in the Bible.

Diving into these 5 verses - we see the word “For” at the beginning, which ties this story to the preceding verses; this is answering Nicodemus’ question about how to receive eternal life.  And a big word in this initial statement is the word “world”...God so loved the world, not God so loved Israel, which had been the story to this point in time.  God so loved the entire world...and not that He just loved us, but He did something for us.  God sent His Son.  God gave Him as the sacrifice that Jesus was so bent out of shape over in the temple when He was flipping over the table when these rulers were selling sacrifices to people so they could be made whole with God - Jesus was taking the place of that sacrifice.  Another important word is “believe”, meaning, we don’t earn it by acting right or following the rules, we aren’t graded on a curve...we simply believe and we receive.  What do we receive?  We receive grace in that, according to verse 18, we are not condemned…meaning, our sin doesn’t put us into a state of owing God.  We are released from that burden simply through our belief.  What if we don’t believe?  Well, we are already condemned because we have sinned and our sin is taking us down a road towards isolation, towards regret, towards life apart from God.  That’s the direction we are already headed.  God doesn’t have to ‘send’ us to hell, we are already headed that direction.  That is, unless we are released from that destiny by our belief in God.  And I find it so interesting the way Jesus says it - that this is our judgement, in verse 19, “that light has come into the world, and people loved the darkness rather than the light because their works were evil”...is that not 100% true?  Don’t we freely choose evil, to follow our temptations, to give in to pressure, to take what seems like the easy road only to find out it was the hard road later on, to choose autonomy over God’s will for our lives?  We do it all of the time.  And He goes on saying that when we do evil things we hate the light...in other words, we can tell whose we are by what we do.  In other words, while we are saved through belief, it is our actions that demonstrate what our hearts really think.  That doesn’t in any way give us permission to make judgements on whether or not someone else is saved - that’s none of our business.  It does give us a peek into how we can understand whether or not we still have work to do IN OUR OWN LIVES though.

So, these 5 verses are just LOADED with content.  In the end though, it boils down to these 4 words though - loved, sent, believe, receive.  God loved the world so much that He sent His own Son to be sacrificed in order to save it.  And all we have to do is to believe in that work, and in doing so, we receive eternal life with God.  And it is better than that...we experience God here on this earth, in this life, if we pursue Him in that way.  That’s pretty awesome.

Have you ever walked into a movie theatre and watched a movie in the middle of a sunny day, and at the end of the movie, instead of walking back out the normal theatre entrance, people exited right out the side door, the Exit door, that dumped you right out into the parking lot?  I don’t know if security protocols really allow that anymore, but you can imagine if with me for a second.  You’ve been in this dark room for a couple of hours, and all of the sudden the light is bright and is shining right down in your face.  What do you do?  Well, some people might turn right around and come back into the theatre.  Some people will just stand right by the door and let their eyes adjust before going out into the sunlight, and some people just barrel out into the light, squinting, holding their hands up to block the direct light, and they are on their way.  But think about this for a second...you are essentially blinded by that light for a moment.  Your choices are to let your eyes adjust and move forward or to retreat into the darkness.

I heard that analogy years ago and it has stuck with me - it is a great representation of what is happening here in today’s reading in John chapter 3, in this story with Nicodemus.  He came at night so as to be secret and not to tip off his fellow Jewish leaders, he came because there was a sense in him that Jesus might actually be the person He says He was, and he came because he wanted to know the truth.  So, Jesus gives him the truth.  Jesus tells him that he must be born again, and that he has been doing it wrong...his faith.  Jesus doesn’t chastise Nicodemus, He doesn’t beat him up, just answers the questions and tells the truth.  And it was a lot for Nicodemus to handle...after all, he was rich, he was powerful, he was revered...if Jesus was right, Nicodemus was going to have to essentially trade that all in for his salvation.  That’s a tough pill to swallow.  That’s like stepping into the light after 2 hours in a dark movie theatre...he can retreat back into the darkness and pretend everything he needs is in there with him, or he can stand there in the light and wait for his eyes to adjust.  It may take a bit...but they will, and once they do, he’ll see everything he has been missing.  That’s what Jesus essentially offers all of us.  He had the choice between the life he knew, which was comfortable, which had him in a level of power, where he felt somewhat in control, and where he was pretty sure he knew the outcome, and the life that included God, which was new, unknown, which cost him that control and that autonomy and that power.  This is a choice we all have to make...and that we have to make repeatedly.

And Jesus knew this...so, He doesn’t stop there.  He explains further, as we will read tomorrow.  Jesus tries to take the edge off of that news just a little, and to clarify to Nicodemus, this rich young ruler, what He is all about.  It some of the most famous Biblical text, and it is fun to read in this proper context.

So now we see Jesus’ official ministry start.  And He definitely starts with a bang...walking into the temple and confronting the traditions of the times.  You probably know this, but in this time sacrifice was a big part of the culture, and a big part of the religious practice.  People would sin, and then they would sacrifice according to the Old Testament Law and largely because of the Jewish customs that were stacked on top of the Law in order to be made clean.  The problem is, not everyone had these animals to sacrifice.  Further, animals weren’t really convenient to carry around with you, so some people saw an opportunity to set up shop at the temple and sell sacrificial animals right there on the spot...it is actually a clever idea.  The problem is that this precludes the poor from being able to sacrifice, and it was a further way for these Jewish leaders to profit because they obviously were the ones that needed to run this because they obviously knew what was pure and what wasn’t.  After all, it wasn’t a genuine sacrifice unless it was approved by the leaders.  Of course, I am being a little facetious here, but I don’t really think that is far off from what was going on.  And it ticked Jesus off because it was taking advantage of the situation.  This is a little like a church taking the Sunday offering and using it to send the Pastor and his family on a vacation to Hawaii.  It isn’t that it is bad for the church to do something for the pastor, but it is not right to do it in that way.

With this episode, Jesus challenges the norm.  It makes me think a little, where am I settled into a norm that Jesus might walk in and challenge?  It makes me think, who’s life do I have an opportunity to speak into and be the norm challenger?  And, who has the ability in my own life?  These are important relationships for us all to have in our lives. This really leverages the power of community.

But that is the thought for today...where in your life, if Jesus showed up and became human today, would be turn the proverbial tables over and challenge you?  That will be my meditation and prayer today...that God would show me what that looks like in my own life.

Before the big picture stuff, there are a few contextual things I want to touch on for today’s reading.

First, in this culture, the host was responsible for providing wine throughout the wedding feast, which typically lasted seven days. Running out of wine at the wedding could have had a devastating social and financial impact for the hosts. The wedding celebration had an element of reciprocity that was supported by the law. One could take legal action against a guest who failed to provide an appropriate gift.  That is obviously very foreign to us today...maybe not quite as much of a stretch in the south, haha, but still not our typical standard.  So, this was important - not running out of wine.

Secondly, the volume of water and wine here is amazing to me.  All six jars would have held 120–180 gallons because large quantities of water were needed for ritual purification.  Think about that for a second.  All of that water was turned into wine - and we are told the water was filled to the brim so there was not way to trick people, they could see it as water one second and wine the next.  That’s awesome.

The third thing I wanted to mention - this term “woman”, to which Jesus addressed His mother, this usage is not disrespectful, but a simple, informal form of address.  In our vernacular this could sound a little short, slightly disrespectful, and certainly not polite, but that is not an issue here...this is really just the same as addressing her as “mom” in this culture.  So, Jesus isn’t flexing or anything here.

For me today, the idea that jumps out at me is that Mary asked Jesus to help, to intervene, and Jesus clearly didn’t have plans to do so based on His response.  But, ultimately, He did.  It shows that Jesus has a mission and a purpose, but that He also was a person and responded to the situation, and to requests...especially if the requests didn’t hinder the mission.  There seems to be a similar tone with respect to God.  If I look at how prayer is taught in the New Testament, and what is said about prayer generally, I come away thinking that yes God has a plan and yes God has a purpose for me but that God also isn’t robotic in His application of those ideals, He is responsive.  God can and does respond to prayer.  Not all prayers.  But yes, some prayers.

Today we see Jesus calling his first disciples.  Interestingly, we see the story of Simon Peter and his brother Andrew from a different angel than that which we were presented in Matthew and Luke.  With Matthew and Luke’s narratives, we see Jesus encounter Peter and Andrew while they are fishing, and it is a dramatic story that I have always really loved reading.  Now, we don’t know exactly where John’s narrative fits in terms of timeline, but I could easily see something like this - John the Baptist had told Simon and Andrew about Jesus and had brought them along to see Him speak at one point.  They were aware of who Jesus was, and they probably already had some inclinations about who He might be.  That’s basically what John is presenting.  Then John leaves out the next part, which Matthew and Luke recount, which is that they were out fishing one day and Jesus shows up and does a dramatic thing by helping them pull in more fish than they could handle on a morning where they had come up empty, as professional fisherman.  Why would the two of them allow Jesus to talk them into throwing their nets, which they’d just spent probably a couple of hours cleaning, back out into the sea?  Well, because they’d seen Him, they were familiar with Him, they already had inclinations about who He might be.  Then, after catching all of the fish, Simon and Andrew follow Jesus without much of a pause.  Why would a rational person do that?  Well, because as John tells us, they had already encountered Jesus and knew a little and now they REALLY knew that Jesus was something special.  john is probably telling us about their first encounter where as Matthew and Luke are telling us about their moment o conversion from Jesus observers to Jesus followers.

And Jesus then calls Philip and Nathanael.  Philip, being from the same place as Simon and Andrew was now probably fully aware that they had encountered Jesus and were now following Him...we aren’t talking about New York city here.  Galilee had, based on some estimates, probably 13-15k people in it, and I am guessing it is like most towns, that there are clicks within the town, so I am guessing all of these guys were kind of running in similar circles.  So, Philip jumps in and he tells Nathanael about Jesus, and Nathanael was a doubter.  So Jesus does a little mental move on him and tells Nathanael where he had been when Philip came to get him, which he couldn’t have known apart from being omnipresent, and Nathanael is converted into a believer.  And then Jesus drops this statement onto him in verse 51.

“Truly, truly, I say to you, you will see heaven opened, and the angels of God ascending and descending on the Son of Man.”

And I love that...Jesus knows that the disciples are following Him in the beginning for the same reason I followed at first, and the same reason you followed - there was something in it for me.  There was a clear and present benefit for you.  I mean, who doesn’t want eternal life?  Who doesn’t want healing, forgiveness, and grace?  And those are free?  Sign me up!  But as Jesus told them in Luke, He had something else in mind for them, and He has something else in mind for us...He will make us fishers of men.  Jesus’ mission is to win us over, to get into our lives, and to change us and to shape us and to mold us into what God made us for...and a part of God’s plan for ALL of our lives is that we’d become fishers of men.  These 4 have now been called into service, as have we.