 Prepare to Listen. You are the light of the world.
Prayerfully Read John 15:6-11 6Whoever does not abide in me is thrown away like a branch and withers; such branches are gathered, thrown into the fire, and burned. 7If you abide in me and my words abide in you, ask for whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. 8My Father is glorified by this, that you bear much fruit and become my disciples. 9As the Father has loved me, so I have loved you; abide in my love. 10If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commandments and abide in his love. 11I have said these things to you so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete. Prayerfully Wonder Six times Jesus urges his followers to abide in him, in his love and let his Word abide in them. It’s not merely important. It’s essential. Abide. Be at home in an intimate love-relationship with Jesus. It sounds easy enough, yet we struggle to remain. I know I do. How can we obey this seemingly simple command that is so beneficial for us? How can I abide? First, the vine imagery stresses that branches aren’t lone rangers. There are many branches on the same vine. We belong to each of them. Remaining in the vine means remaining in relationship with other branches, our family in Christ. As many saints have said, “One Christian is no Christian. We go to God together or we don’t go at all.” Second, stay in the Word. Not only must we abide in Christ, but his words, commandments must abide in us. The key to abiding in Christ is through his Word. As Paul urged, “Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly” (Col 3:16). Spend meaningful time reading and absorbing Scripture, not just in church on Sundays, listening to podcasts, watching some preacher on TV. But in personal regular and consistent reading of Scripture. Prayerfully meditating, that is, repeating, mulling over, letting the word go from the head to the heart.[1] Two key practices to abide in Christ—remain in a faith community and the Word of Christ dwell in you richly. Make a plan to help you do both on a regular basis and ask Christ to help you. Prayerfully Respond Forgive me, Lord when I fail to take seriously abiding in you by abiding in your word and your people. Amen. Live obediently. Abide in Christ and his love. [1] If you want to learn to read the Bible meaningfully, you can read my article, “Reading the Bible for all you’re worth,” at: https://www.storymakerlife.com/reading-the-bible-for-all-yoursquore-worth.html
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 Prepare to Listen. You are the light of the world.
Prayerfully Read John 15:1-5 “I am the true vine, and my Father is the vinegrower. 2He removes every branch in me that bears no fruit. Every branch that bears fruit he prunes to make it bear more fruit. 3You have already been cleansed by the word that I have spoken to you. 4Abide in me as I abide in you. Just as the branch cannot bear fruit by itself unless it abides in the vine, neither can you unless you abide in me. 5I am the vine; you are the branches. Those who abide in me and I in them bear much fruit, because apart from me you can do nothing. Prayerfully Wonder If these verses were so familiar that you skimmed them, read them again as if for the very first time. As I did that, I got stuck on one word—true. Jesus said, “I am the true vine.” This can only mean there are many vines, but only one true vine. All the rest are false, distortions, imitations that, sadly, lead many astray. That Jesus used the qualifier, true, is a warning to us. Be discerning—know the true from the false, and reject the false, no matter how convincing or popular it is. True is more than the opposite of false. Unlike the false, the true is life-giving, makes flourishing possible, is above the earthly and ordinary, has an aura of the divine, the holy about it.[1] The false is more concerned about increasing in numbers than increasing in godliness. Whereas, Jesus, the true vine, removes branches that fail to “bear fruit.” Fruit-bearing is far more than good works, virtue or even evangelism. Fruit is a common Old Testament image that stands for “the community’s faithfulness in response to God’s word.”[2] Where we see people focused on living God’s word, being loud about what God is loud about, and silent about what the Bible is silent on, that’s a fruit bearing and true vine. People in it will be growing in deep union with Jesus, abiding in him, the vine, becoming like him and making him visible to the world. For this reason, Jesus constantly prunes, that is, cleanses the vine, removing false branches, making us godlier, truer, more faithful. Those who remain in the true vine, in union with Jesus, experience constant change, because we constantly need pruning so that we grow deeper in union with him and reflect his true image to the world. What caught your attention as you read these familiar words? Prayerfully Respond Lord Jesus, help me be ever discerning so that I reject the false vines and stay in you the True Vine, submitting to your pruning and cleansing. Amen. Live obediently. Abide in the true vine. [1] Brodie, Thomas L. The Gospel According to John. New York, NY: Oxford University Press. 1993, p. 479. [2] O’Day, Gail and Hylen, Susan. John. Louisville, KY: Westminster John Knox Press. 2006, p. 152.  Prepare to Listen. You are the light of the world.
Prayerfully Read John 14:25-31 25“I have said these things to you while I am still with you. 26But the Advocate, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you everything and remind you of all that I have said to you. 27Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled, and do not let them be afraid. 28You heard me say to you, ‘I am going away, and I am coming to you.’ If you loved me, you would rejoice that I am going to the Father, because the Father is greater than I. 29And now I have told you this before it occurs, so that when it does occur you may believe. 30I will no longer talk much with you, for the ruler of this world is coming. He has no power over me, 31but I do as the Father has commanded me, so that the world may know that I love the Father. Rise, let us be on our way. Prayerfully Wonder John 14 begins and ends with the same instruction from Jesus: “Do not let your hearts be troubled, and do not let them be afraid.” They were troubled and afraid because Jesus said he was leaving them. To encourage them, he gave this assurance: “Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you.” “Faced with the emptiness of Jesus’ departure,” writes Neyrey, “the disciples are given fulness; that is, shalom, or peace.”[1] Peace, from the Hebrew shalom, is more than the absence of disorder, violence, disunity. It’s also more than brokering peace between warring parties. Shalom has to do with wholeness, wellbeing, flourishing. It’s about thriving not merely surviving. And it’s not just for individuals. Shalom is for the whole community. When we work together, we’ll experience wellbeing and fruitfulness, that is, the peace, shalom Jesus gives to troubled hearts. When bad stuff happens, our default mode is often fear. Jesus didn’t rebuke his disciples for being afraid, but was compassionate. Their future without him was unknown. Of course they were fearful. His compassion is also for us in our fears: ‘Don’t let your hearts be afraid; don’t let fear take over so that you respond badly. Instead, receive my peace, a peace that works towards the wellbeing and fruitfulness of all.’ A friend ends her correspondence with, “May we be peace.” I borrow her phrase. May we be those who seek the welfare of all, enemy and friend, and live so they flourish and are fruitful. How can you participate with God in not only giving but also being shalom to your neighbors, those you like and those you don’t, today? Prayerfully Respond Lord, help me be your shalom to those I interact with today, regardless of their race, gender, creed, political leanings. Amen. Live obediently. Be shalom. [1] Neyrey, Jerome H. The Gospel of John. New York, NY: Cambridge University Press. 2007, p. 252.  Prepare to Listen. You are the light of the world.
Prayerfully Read John 14:18-24 18 “I will not leave you orphaned; I am coming to you. 19In a little while the world will no longer see me, but you will see me; because I live, you also will live. 20On that day you will know that I am in my Father, and you in me, and I in you. 21They who have my commandments and keep them are those who love me, and those who love me will be loved by my Father, and I will love them and reveal myself to them.” 22Judas (not Iscariot) said to him, “Lord, how is it that you will reveal yourself to us and not to the world?” 23Jesus answered him, “Those who love me will keep my word, and my Father will love them, and we will come to them and make our home with them. 24Whoever does not love me does not keep my words, and the word that you hear is not mine but is from the Father who sent me.” Prayerfully Wonder “Lord, how is it that you will reveal yourself to us and not to the world?” What answer would you like to hear from Jesus? Judas (not Iscariot) asked a reasonable question. One some of us also want an answer. If Jesus came for the whole world, not merely a few, why not reveal himself to the world? Jesus didn’t answer the question. Instead, he repeated what Judas (and maybe some of us) ignored—those who love him keep his word. Jesus used the Greek for love, agapaō, seven times. Hammering home the importance of unselfish love. Those who love him, keep his commandments, and are loved by the Father and Jesus. Why he didn’t reveal himself to the world is none of our business. Loving him is. The church is good at teaching us to obey God’s Word with warnings of punishment if we don’t. moralism is its strong point! It hasn’t been good at training us to love Jesus. And unless we learn to love him, the Jesus revealed in the Gospels, there will be no motivation to obey his word, which aren’t easy or pleasant. Reward-punishment moralism doesn’t work. Loving Jesus does. If we fail to love him with unselfish love, we’ll distort his words into less demanding ones that require little effort. Or, we’ll become loud about moralistic issues (eg, abortion and homosexuality) the Bible is silent about, and silent on what the Bible is loud on (justice and help for the widow, the poor, the immigrant among us). We, the church must do better at teaching people to love Jesus. This will only happen if we tell, over and over, the stories of Jesus. We’ll never learn to love him if we don’t know him because we neglect to teach his stories. This is why I write so many devotions on Gospel lessons. To train myself and others to love the Jesus of the Gospel and not of our imaginations. What are you doing so that your motivation for obedience is your growing love for the Jesus of the Gospels? And what are you doing to train others to love Jesus so they will keep his word? Prayerfully Respond Lord Jesus, keep me grounded in your stories so that I obey your word because I love you and want to, not because I fear punishment. Amen Live obediently. Love Jesus and keep his word.  Prepare to Listen. You are the light of the world. (Matt 5:14)
Prayerfully Read John 14:8-14 8Philip said to him, “Lord, show us the Father, and we will be satisfied.” 9Jesus said to him, “Have I been with you all this time, Philip, and you still do not know me? Whoever has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, ‘Show us the Father’? 10Do you not believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in me? The words that I say to you I do not speak on my own, but the Father who dwells in me does his works. 11Believe me that I am in the Father and the Father is in me, but if you do not, then believe because of the works themselves. 12Very truly, I tell you, the one who believes in me will also do the works that I do and, in fact, will do greater works than these, because I am going to the Father. 13I will do whatever you ask in my name, so that the Father may be glorified in the Son. 14If in my name you ask me for anything, I will do it.” Prayerfully Wonder “If in my name you ask me for anything, I will do it.” Some read this promise and think it gives them license to ask for stuff for themselves—a new car, more money, etc. Others struggle to believe Jesus meant it and thus don’t ask. To understand, we must pay attention to context. Jesus said this in response to Philip’s request: “Lord, show us the Father, and we will be satisfied.” Jesus seems surprised, even disappointed in Philip. Despite the close relationship, Philip still didn’t know Jesus, didn’t know his oneness with the Father, failed to grasp that his words and works are the Father’s words and works. Those who believe, he taught, “will also do the works that I do,” and even greater ones. If his words and works mirrored the Father to the world, so too should ours. This is the anything we’re to ask for, what we need to do the works that make God known to the world. This is why we ask in his name. It’s about his power and glory, not our own. The “greater works,” aren’t more spectacular in kind, but more numerous, done by more Jesus-followers asking in his name. This changes how we understand Jesus’ promise to do anything we ask in his name. We won’t ask for stuff for ourselves, but for change in the world; we’ll ask that God’s word and God’s works will be done, through us, “on earth as in heaven.” His promise isn’t license to live me-first lives, but more a command to be the hands and feet of Jesus in the world. We ask for the power to speak words and do works that mirror him to the world. What’s the anything you can ask Jesus today, believing he will do it? Prayerfully Respond Lord, help us rightly believe your promise to ask anything, and boldly ask for what reflects your image to your world. Amen. Live obediently. Anything you ask in my name.  Prepare to Listen. The LORD is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear?
Prayerfully Read John 13:36-38 36Simon Peter said to him, “Lord, where are you going?” Jesus answered, “Where I am going, you cannot follow me now, but you will follow afterward.” 37Peter said to him, “Lord, why can I not follow you now? I will lay down my life for you.” 38Jesus answered, “Will you lay down your life for me? Very truly, I tell you, before the cock crows, you will have denied me three times.” Prayerfully Wonder ‘Love as I loved you,’ Jesus commanded. Perhaps Peter found this a little too difficult. Instead of asking Jesus to help him know how to practice this kind of demanding love, he sought a distraction. He was stuck on what Jesus said immediately before his command: “Where I am going, you cannot come” (v. 33). He was ready to go anywhere with Jesus. ‘Why can’t I follow you?’ he wanted to know. Peter was so confident of his devotion to Jesus he impulsively insisted, “I will lay down my life for you.” Jesus didn’t rebuke Peter for his attempt to avoid thinking about his new commandment. He did rebuke his impulsive claim to lay down his life for him. Apparently Peter had forgotten that Jesus said the Good Shepherd would lay down his life for the sheep. In essence, he said to Peter, “Is it really you that’s going to lay down your life for me?” [1] Did Peter feel a little foolish? Perhaps. Especially after Jesus warned that, before the cock crows, dawn the next day, he would deny his Lord three times, cowardly disowning all knowledge of him. I’ll confess that sometimes I’ve assumed I’d never behave like Peter, impulsively and foolishly. But the truth is, I too have used distraction as a way to avoid commands I don’t like. And I know I’m not alone. I’ve argued with friends about whom Jesus wanted us to love. Does love one another, as in John, mean only our own Christian community, or does it include our enemies, as in Luke 6:27? We argue and debate, instead of discussing how to love as Jesus loved us. We know how to distract ourselves. We’re more like Peter than we want to think. How about you? When and how have you distracted yourself from Jesus’ demands you don’t like? Prayerfully Respond Lord, forgive me when I find ways to distract myself to avoid or tone down your commands. Amen. Live obediently. Give up distractions. [1] Wright, N. T. John for Everyone Part 2. Louisville, KY: Westminster John Knox Press, 2023, p. 39.  Prepare to Listen. The LORD is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear?
Prayerfully Read John 13:31-35 31When he had gone out, Jesus said, “Now the Son of Man has been glorified, and God has been glorified in him. 32If God has been glorified in him, God will also glorify him in himself and will glorify him at once. 33Little children, I am with you only a little longer. You will look for me, and as I said to the Jews so now I say to you, ‘Where I am going, you cannot come.’ 34I give you a new commandment, that you love one another. Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another. 35By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.” Prayerfully Wonder In the Synoptic Gospels, Jesus often plainly said he’d suffer, die and rise again on the third day. John is never that plain. Instead, Jesus speaks in metaphors, makes vague remarks and uses symbolic signs, when speaking of his destiny. That’s what he’s doing in these verses, concluding with a key command. Glorified/glorify is the first hint about his future, and also the first time Jesus used this word to describe what God would do for him. It’s how he understood his death and resurrection, not as a tragic defeat, but a triumphant victory for him and the Father. The vindication of all he said and did. Because he knew his end was near, he looked forward to it happening “at once.” His second hint, specifically about his death was him about to leave them. They’d look for him but, as he’d said before to the Jews, “Where I am going, you cannot come.” He was going to the cross, alone. They couldn’t go there with him. And then he gave his new commandment. He was leaving, but they must “love one another.” We know this isn’t new, as in never-before-given by God. What is new is the type of this love: “Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another.” And how did Jesus love us? He laid down his life for us. Love, as Neyrey notes, is “most frequently linked to ‘laying down one’s life’ for another.”[1] A willingness to sacrifice for another. What would it mean for you to love as Jesus loved you, that is, in the way that lays down your life for another? Prayerfully Respond Lord Jesus, you love us to the edge, laying down your life that we may live fully and glorify you. Give me what I need to love one another, whoever they be, with your new love. Amen. Live obediently. Love as Jesus loved you. [1] Neyrey, Jerome H. The Gospel of John. New York, NY: Cambridge University Press. 2007, p. 236.  Prepare to Listen. The LORD is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear?
Prayerfully Read John 13:21-30 21After saying this Jesus was troubled in spirit and declared, “Very truly, I tell you, one of you will betray me.” 22The disciples looked at one another, uncertain of whom he was speaking. 23One of his disciples—the one whom Jesus loved—was reclining close to his heart; 24Simon Peter therefore motioned to him to ask Jesus of whom he was speaking. 25So while reclining next to Jesus, he asked him, “Lord, who is it?” 26Jesus answered, “It is the one to whom I give this piece of bread when I have dipped it in the dish.” So when he had dipped the piece of bread, he gave it to Judas son of Simon Iscariot. 27After he received the piece of bread, Satan entered into him. Jesus said to him, “Do quickly what you are going to do.” 28Now no one knew why he said this to him. 29Some thought that, because Judas had the common purse, Jesus was telling him, “Buy what we need for the festival,” or that he should give something to the poor. 30So, after receiving the piece of bread, he immediately went out. And it was night. Prayerfully Wonder Jesus had just washed the disciples’ feet, commanded them to wash each other’s feet, and hinted about being betrayed by one of the (13:12ff). No response, so he got blunt, “Very truly, I tell you, one of you will betray me.” In uncertainty they wondered who it could be. Afraid to ask, Peter turned to “the disciple whom Jesus loved,” who was closest to Jesus. Instead of a name, Jesus gave a sign—the one to whom he gave the dipped bread. Such an act was sign of special friendship. It’s as though Jesus wanted to convey to Judas that, no matter what he chose to do, he still loved him. Judas, despite hearing Jesus’ words, rejected Jesus’ love and willfully took the bread. Satan entered him and Judas immediately left. Jesus did nothing to stop him from submitting to Satan’s plan. Judas had made his choice; Jesus accepted that. Urging Judas to act quickly, which confused the others, meant that Jesus, not Judas or Satan, remained fully in control of his destiny. He would lay down his life of his own free will at the right time. The narrator ends the story with a powerful symbolic sentence: “And it was night.” As Culpepper writes, “That is all John needs to say about Judas’ fate. He left the light and went out into the darkness.”[1] In John, night is not merely a contrast to light, but a symbol of evil, of all that opposes God. Going into the night, Judas had made his choice. He chose evil over good, darkness over light. Imagine being at that meal. How might you react to the way Jesus allowed Judas to choose evil? Why do you suppose the disciples remained so confused and uncertain? Prayerfully Respond Lord, your compassion even for a Judas is amazing. Keep me within your love and light, living in ways that don’t betray you. Amen. Live obediently. Stay in the light. [1] Culpepper, R. Alan. The Gospel and the Letters of John. Nashville, TN: Abingdon Press. 1998, p. 208.  Prepare to Listen. The LORD is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear?
Prayerfully Read John 12:1-8 Six days before the Passover Jesus came to Bethany, the home of Lazarus, whom he had raised from the dead. 2There they gave a dinner for him. Martha served, and Lazarus was one of those at the table with him. 3Mary took a pound of costly perfume made of pure nard, anointed Jesus’ feet, and wiped them with her hair. The house was filled with the fragrance of the perfume. 4But Judas Iscariot, one of his disciples (the one who was about to betray him), said, 5‘Why was this perfume not sold for three hundred denarii and the money given to the poor?’ 6(He said this not because he cared about the poor, but because he was a thief; he kept the common purse and used to steal what was put into it.) 7Jesus said, ‘Leave her alone. She bought it so that she might keep it for the day of my burial. 8You always have the poor with you, but you do not always have me.’ Prayerfully Wonder With whom do you most identify? Mary, who wasted a pound of expensive perfume on Jesus’ feet? Or, Judas, who complained about the waste? Judas, the purse keeper, was angry. He thought her act a waste. Pure nard[1] could sell for 300 denarii (a year’s worth of wages), and the money used to help the poor. But he was a greedy thief and didn’t care about the poor, only himself. Before we judge Judas, we ought to examine ourselves. Ask: Have I ever protested spending church money on what I think is a waste? Sometimes that’s the right thing to do. But not always. We don’t know why Mary wasted her expensive perfume on Jesus’ feet. It took courage to act out of custom for women, interrupt men at a meal. Her extravagant waste filled the house with its pure-nard fragrance, ruining the food. I suspect Judas wasn’t the only horrified and angry guest. Jesus wasn’t one of them. He was quick to rebuke Judas, and all like him: “Leave her alone.” And quick to commend Mary. He chose to see far more in her act than wasted money. He saw it as prophetic insight to what was about the happen to him—death and burial. Unlike the Twelve, who couldn’t accept Jesus’ warnings about his coming death, Mary did. She knew his death was imminent and did what she could to show her love and submission to Jesus while he was still there. Her waste and the strong fragrance of perfume was a visible act of her love for Jesus. It should make us ask whether we love Jesus as much. Who are you most like. Mary or Judas? Prayerfully Respond Lord, give me the courage of Mary to love you generously even when my friends condemn me. Amen. Live obediently. Don’t be afraid of extravagant love of Jesus. [1] Pure nard came from India and was very expensive.  Prepare to Listen. The LORD is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear?
Prayerfully Read John 11:28-37 28When she had said this, she went back and called her sister Mary and told her privately, “The Teacher is here and is calling for you.” 29And when she heard it, she got up quickly and went to him. 30Now Jesus had not yet come to the village but was still at the place where Martha had met him. 31The Jews who were with her in the house consoling her saw Mary get up quickly and go out. They followed her because they thought that she was going to the tomb to weep there. 32When Mary came where Jesus was and saw him, she knelt at his feet and said to him, “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died.” 33When Jesus saw her weeping and the Jews who came with her also weeping, he was greatly disturbed in spirit and deeply moved. 34He said, “Where have you laid him?” They said to him, “Lord, come and see.” 35Jesus began to weep. 36So the Jews said, “See how he loved him!” 37But some of them said, “Could not he who opened the eyes of the blind man have kept this man from dying?” Prayerfully Wonder Four days after Lazarus’ burial, Jesus showed up. Martha was the first to see and talk with him. they talked about resurrection and she made the most complete confession of faith in the Gospels (v. 27). She went back with a message for Mary: “The Teacher is here and is calling for you.” Mary, “the one who anointed the Lord with perfume and wiped his feet with her hair,”[1] quickly went. She knelt at Jesus’ feet and complained, the same complaint Martha had made (v.21). Jesus didn’t speak to Mary as he had with Martha. Instead, he became “greatly disturbed in spirit and deeply moved.” The Greek means “to be angry” or “to feel strongly about something.”[2] John gives no indication what caused Jesus’ strong emotion or anger. What do you think caused it? Jesus asked, “Where have you laid him?” They responded: “Lord, come and see.” The same invitation Jesus gave to the first two who followed him (1:46). This time, the people invited Jesus: “Lord, come and see.” Have you ever wanted to ask Jesus to “come and see?” You can. Invite him to come and see your struggles, sufferings, sorrows, losses. We can also invite him to come and see the evil in the nations today. Come and see and be with us in our trouble. Invite Jesus, then wait to hear him invite you to come and see. If you go, he’ll lead you into his light, where you can see more clearly how to respond to your messy situation today. What are you struggling with today? Name it, and invite Jesus to “come and see,” as you show him all that troubles you. Prayerfully Respond Lord Jesus, you invite us to “come and see,” and you let us ask you to “come and see” what we’re going through. Please come and see my troubles today and give me courage to hope more fully in you. Amen. Live obediently. Invite Jesus to ‘come and see’ today. [1] 11:2. Her anointing story is told in ch. 12. [2] Neyrey, Jerome H. The Gospel of John. New York, NY: Cambridge University Press. 2007, p. 199. |
AuthorI've been intrigued with John's Gospel since I was a child. Every time I read it, I learn something new. Come and learn with me. Archives
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