9 posts from August 2008

24: I love this. I can just imagine Peter giving John "the look" and the head nod.
26-30: John repeats the word "morsel" (of bread) here 4 times. It seems this is pointing to something about Judas. Judas had been with Jesus for 3 years and had had a taste of the Bread of Life. But "after receiving the morsel of bread, he went out. And it was night." (verse 30)
34: What is new is not the commandment to love, it is the commandment to love as he loved us.
35: Note he doesn't promise that all people will join in and turn to Christ but rather that love is (supposed) to be what Christians are known for.
37: It seems Peter thinks Jesus is going to withdraw for safety sake, to go underground for a while.

Is love what I am known for? Is love what Rock Berlin is known for? Do all people know that I am his disciple? Do I have love for others? Do I love others as Christ loved me?

3: Jesus was humble to serve like this because he knew who he was, where he came from, and where he was going, so he didn't have to prove himself to anyone.
15: An object lesson the disciples nor the church would ever forget. This hammered the point about servant leadership home far more effectively than the best teaching could have.
17: There's something in it for us when we serve! :)

27-28 A "mini-Gethsemane" here, with a glorious response from the Father for his obedience.
44-50 Again we see the amazing Father-Son relationship here: Jesus is completely a representative of his Father. What is amazing is that we can have the same view of ourselves in regard to Jesus. These words are often echoed throughout the gospels and even throughout the epistles in regards to us and our mission.
So important to concentrate on learning how to become a better ambassador for Christ (2 Cor 5)

8: Yet again Jesus points out that something that for some is the center and goal of their existence (here: caring for the poor) is really something that should be pointing to and connected to Himself. This time, ironically, he's pointing this out to the thief Judas.
17: Yet another "witness" in John.
22: Interesting, it's almost like there's a hierarchy here within the disciples - Philip doesn't go straight to Jesus.
23-26: Again a slightly odd response by Jesus to the fact that some Greeks want to see him...
24-26: This is Jesus' discipleship message in a nutshell: Die (to yourself). Hate (your old life in comparison to the one I give you). Serve (me).
26: This could be a more direct answer to the original question about the Greeks. "ANYONE" (he repeats this twice) can serve me, but they must follow me, so that where I am, my servant is as well.

How encouraging to be reminded that following Christ is open to anyone at all, irrespective of their person or their past. There are no hoops to jump through, no conditions whatsoever.

34-35: Jesus is moved throughout this scene. But what finally causes Jesus to weep openly is them saying "Come and see." This is a highly ironic echoing of Philip telling Nathanael to "come and see" Jesus (John 1), or the woman at the well telling her fellow villagers to "come, see" the man who told her everything she'd done. (John 4). What is so heart-breaking for Jesus is that this is all mankind has to offer in the end: death, grief, pain. This is what our world offers us to "come and see" - not "the resurrection and the life", but death. And this is so tragic, and so sad, that it causes God Himself to weep.
"Come and see" was always supposed to be a joyful invitation to "taste and see" the goodness of God, to explore the greatness of splendor of the Creator in creation - not an invitation to come and see the grave of a beloved friend.

9-10: This has a practical undertone - Jesus is basically saying "I really don't like the idea of sneaking around at night or going into hiding."
25: Like so often before, Jesus takes someone's object of faith and shows that it is simply a shadow of Himself. The resurrection only gives hope because of Christ the Resurrection and the Life. This story is similar to Jesus being the "bread of life", or the "Word", or the "Light", or "Before Abraham was, I AM". Each time Jesus is shown as the Source and Meaning of each of these things, therefore these things or these persons all only point to Him. This includes Scripture itself! Scripture has no true power and no true meaning without Christ in whom its meaning is found.
27: Another "witness" - testifying is a big theme in John.

28: our salvation depends on Him, not us. We are in Christ's hand.
29: "My Dad is bigger and stronger than anyone else." - the "worshiping" and glorifying of earthly fathers by their children is a shadow and reflection of the worship of The Father by The Son. We in are the Father's hand.
30: Being in Christ's hand means being in the Father's hand, and vice versa: There is a total unity, but not an identity. Perichoresis. I love that word.
32: LOVE the sarcasm and passive aggressiveness here. "Which good work are you going to kill me for?" :-)
34-36: This is an extremely interesting, unpredictable answer by Jesus. "Hey, I'm just calling myself the Son of God - according to Scripture, you get to call yourself gods." What's he saying? Part of it is that he is emphasizing His Son-ness here. He is not the Father. Another part is that I think he is interpreting this passage in Psalms by implying the fact that we are called to be like Him, children of God - we are to be "gods" with a little g. Christians, i.e. "little Christs". Obviously you need to tread lightly here, and I think Jesus does. No mere human will ever be The Son of God. But we are being transformed into his likeness and one day will be like Him, according to a plethora of passages. (Always wanted to use plethora in a sentence).
35: Scripture cannot be broken. Shows a vital attribute of Scripture in Christ's bibliology - perfection and truth.
38: There we have it again, this time more clearly: mutual indwelling. Perichoresis.

3: Calls them by name (reminds me of the Mary Magdalene story in John 20)
7: The "door" was the shepherd lying in the entry to the pen. There was no door on hinges. The shepherd was the door.
10: ONLY to steal, kill, and destroy
11: A "real" shepherd has a personal interest in his sheep since they're his only source of income and they belong to him - not so the hired hand. "The difference between a chicken and a pig when it comes to bacon and eggs is that the chicken is involved, but the pig is committed." :)
14-15: Again we see the parallelism: Us <-> Jesus as Jesus <-> Father. Amazing.
16: The "other sheep" are the Gentiles maybe? So that afterwards there is not Jew or Gentile, but only one flock and one shepherd.
18: This is SO important that Jesus had an actual choice. This thought blew me away a couple of months ago: Jesus *freely* decided to lay his life down for me. He didn't do it because his nature somehow made him do it. He did it because he chose to. Any time Jesus was tempted, he freely chose to obey God the Father. This causes him to be all the more worthy of worship. Jesus, God the Son, became human, and experienced temptation just like any other human, except that every time he had a choice, he freely chose holiness and other-centered love. How great, how awesome, how magnificent, how...holy! How...other! Set apart! Holy, holy, holy, Lord God Almighty!

5: After he leaves, WE become the light of the world.
27: I love his sarcasm here. It gets him into trouble, but it's really funny.
33: Very simple logic he seems to have overheard from the Pharisees themselves (v 16), but they hate him for it.
34: This connects the Pharisees actually to the disciples because they had the same thought - that personal sin of either the parents or the son must have been involved.
37: So cool how Jesus doesn't get all theological on him: "Well the Son of Man is a figure from the book of Daniel..." He stays completely personal.
38: Yes this gets said a lot but it is important: Jesus ALLOWS the man to worship him!!!
41: Because hardly anyone themselves would say that they're blind spiritually, everyone by their own admission and conscience is responsible for their conduct and belief. Fits to Romans 1-3. Jesus' statement of "if you WERE blind" is a hypothetical situation that perhaps would best fit babies and small children if anyone.