Verses 1-16: News comes to Jesus that Lazarus, the brother of Mary (the woman who poured ointment on Jesus feet) and Martha, has become ill. Jesus loves this family and, as he takes the disciples to their village, he tells them that Lazarus has died but that his resurrection will be for God’s glory and their belief.Continue reading “Look at the Lamb (Day 11)”
Verses 1-21: As the Great Shepherd of the sheep, Jesus’ main focus is for His sheep to find pasture (verse 9) with Him and to be led onwards by Him (verse 4). Good pasture means safe pasture in the context of this passage which starkly contrasts sheep with wolves and Shepherds with hirelings. Hirelings are people who work purely for material reward – the exact opposite of the heartbeat of the Shepherd King.Continue reading “Look at the Lamb (Day 10)”
Christian Fundamentalism has a bad name because it’s a term that’s often used to stereotypically describe someone who believes in biblical orthodoxy…
…but in a BAAAAAAD way:
Christian Fundamentalists are regularly stereotyped as being inflexible, bigoted, arrogant, unloving, religious and legalistic and perhaps not ‘cool’, ‘street-wise’ or ‘relevant’ any more.
More specifically, at the apex of the negative branding of ‘Christian Fundamentalists’, is the notion that they are controlling and narrow-minded, damaging of ‘free thought’, emergent generations and general ‘freedom of speech’.
I don’t think this is what it means to be a Christian Fundamentalist.Continue reading “Don’t Be A Ross”
Verses 1-12: Chapter 8 finishes with Jesus making a staggering claim about his identity (v.58, ‘before Abraham was born, I am’), and the theme of Jesus’ identity continues in Chapter 9. In v. 5, Jesus claims to be the Light of the world, and he illustrates this by literally opening the blinded, darkened eyes of the beggar. Jesus’ unusual method of mixing mud and saliva and asking the man to wash in the Pool of Siloam demonstrates the mystery rather than formula of the power of God to heal.Continue reading “Look at the Lamb (Day 9)”
n.b. Arguably the most inflammatory and offensive Jesus-passage in the entire bible
Verses 1-11: In your bible you’ll notice the last/first section of John 7/8 is italicised because the 7:53-8:11 passage wasn’t originally included in the earliest manuscripts though it was still in the original Canon. Suffice to say for the benefits of this on-line study, the passage in question is wholly consistent with the rest of John’s gospel and the wider New Testament writings but it does open up an interesting conversation, if you’re that way inclined, over the Sunday dinner table! Further interesting study could be pursued around pseudepigrapha and the apocrypha by starting here.Continue reading “Look at the Lamb (Day 8)”
So here we are, 1/3rd of the way through John’s eye-witness gospel account of the life of Jesus. If you’re tracking with us, thanks! If you haven’t been, you still can!
*Next Week* we have great guest articles from one of my closest friends Olau Thomassen, my brother-in-law, John Bagg, who heads up WEC International in the UK, and my very wise Mum
When you fill your mind with Jesus, watch what happens!
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Verses 1-13: There continues to be a strange paradox between the disciple’s half-hearted devotion to Jesus as their Lord, Teacher and the Messiah of Israel, and their refusal to fully submit to His timing and leadership. Sound familiar? It’s bizarre to me: on the one hand, (when Jesus had given them the option of leaving along with the rest of the deserters), Peter replies with resolve that, ‘Lord, to whom shall we go, you have the words of eternal life…’ (6:68), but on the other they were trying to boss Jesus’ schedule, specifically around the imminent Feast of Tabernacles. This theme of spiritual blindness isn’t a motif for one chapter, it’s a theme for the entire book.Continue reading “Look at the Lamb (Day 7)”
Verses 1-15: Jesus’ ministry continues and word begins to spread around the people that the man they thought was Joseph’s son was doing wonderful things. People become fixated with Jesus for His miracles and signs and trek miles to see more. Visited day after day by crowds, Jesus continues to show love and patience, even after retreating to a hillside and being followed yet again.Continue reading “Look at the Lamb (Day 6)”
Verses 1-14: The healing of a man who had been an invalid for 38 years. What a surprising question Jesus asks, “Do you want to get well?”. A really important question because sometimes we like to stay just where we are rather than face the challenges that becoming well will bring! Perhaps Jesus was asking the man, “Do you want to remain as you have been for the last 38 years!” Even in our “unwellness” there can be a “comfort” that we don’t wish to be disturbed!Continue reading “Look at the Lamb (Day 5)”
Verses 1-26: This is the chapter, and the exact passage, that often pops up during worship training days and seminars – and so it should! Jesus gives the reading world a crash course in the radically changing nature of worship that He was actually in the process of orchestrating. Continue reading “Look at the Lamb (Day 4)”
Verses 1-21: I’m guessing that Jesus’ clearing of the temple courts in chapter 2 would have been during the heat of the day and the penetrating Jerusalem sunlight. By contrast, chapter three opens at night-time when darkness and cold temperatures would have been the silent backdrop. Think! Nicodemus would have been able to actually see Jesus’ breath in the cold air as He taught about the limitless life of the Breath of the Spirit and the ‘blowing’ of the Wind of the Kingdom.Continue reading “Look at the Lamb (Day 3)”
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