John 17 The Church is the presence of Jesus Christ on the face of the earth. Once again, this is Jesus’ astounding message and prayer for His disciples this morning. Do you marvel to behold the Son of God born of the Virgin Mary at Christmas time? Do you rejoice to see that day come every year? Then you should also marvel and rejoice with exceedingly great joy that God has chosen to send His Son in the world today... Read more
John 16:16-33 “Verily, verily, I say unto you, Whatsoever ye shall ask the Father in my name, he will give it to you.” These are the words Jesus speaks this morning, and they are some of the last words Jesus ever spoke before He was crucified. And I believe this with all my heart, soul, and mind – this promise that whatever we ask the Father in the name of Jesus Christ, God will give us I certainly believed... Read more
John 15:17-27 “These things I command you, that you love one another” (verse 17). “And you also will bear witness, because you have been with Me from the beginning” (verse 27). Though Jesus says so many things to His disciples between these verses, as I was praying over this passage, these two verses converged to form a teaching on love, obedience, and union with God. It’s always wise to consider the context of every passage, and so when Jesus says... Read more
John 14:15-31 As Jesus prepared to leave this world and ascend into heaven, He made sure that His ministry would continue from heaven. To that end, the Spirit was sent by the Father through the Son to earth, so that the disciples of Jesus Christ may be blessed. Entire theological treatises could and have been written on the importance of this point, but there’s one point we should all grasp this morning, and it is this: the Holy Spirit is... Read more
John 13:1-17 This meditation is really a Maundy Thursday meditation, but here it is on the Saturday before Holy Week. Jesus says to you today: “A new commandment I give unto you, That you love one another; as I have loved you, that you also love one another” (John 13:34). This name, “Maundy Thursday,” comes from the Latin words mandatum novum, or “new commandment,” taken from John 13:34. Now why is this a new commandment? The commandments to love God... Read more
John 12:44-50 I’ve got a radical idea! Let’s try an experiment in reading this passage. How would it enrich our understanding of God’s Word today and our understanding of our call to be the apostles (“sent ones”) and martyrs (“witnesses”) if we read Jesus’ loud cry of verses 44-50, substituting our names for His? With the obvious understanding that neither you nor I is God or can speak for God in exactly the same way as Jesus Christ, the Son,... Read more
John 12:34-43 In this passage, John 12:34-43, we have one of the most striking contrasts between the presence and grace of God and the resistance of men to God. Then God said, “Let there be light, and there was light. And God saw that the light was good; and God divided the light from the darkness.” What a beautiful – and terrifying – sight it must have been to see God divide the light from the dark in the Creation! ... Read more
John 12:20-33 “The hour has come that the Son of Man should be glorified.” “Here comes the good part,” I’m thinking to myself. My hopes and dreams are fanned into life by the breath of Jesus’ words, and once again I can’t wait for Him to be glorified. I am greatly encouraged as well by His words to me, saying, “If anyone serves Me, let him follow Me, and where I am, there My servant will be also.” Wonderful! I... Read more
John 12:12-19 “Behold, your King is coming to you, lowly and riding on a donkey.” John’s Gospel doesn’t have the word “lowly,” as does Zechariah’s prophecy, but it is the word I most want to focus on this morning. The disciples did not at this time understand these things. Only after Jesus was glorified did they remember and understand them. Only after Jesus died on the Cross, was raised from the dead by the power of God, ascended into heaven,... Read more
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Good Friday – 1 Peter 2:11-25
1 Peter 2:11-25 One year when I was teaching freshman English at All Saints Episcopal school in Tyler, Texas, and we began the year by coordinating some of the literature with ancient history, I taught my students about Greek philosophy and religion so that they might understand Greek literature. I had them compare and contrast Christianity and the Greek religion, and in my meditation on this comparison, a humorous idea took hold of me (many do, when I’m teaching and... Read more