Jeff Englund

April 22, 2019April 21, 2019

Filed Under “Jesus Knows” – John 13: 18a

I am not referring to all of you; I know those I have chosen.

I am tempted to lump several of the verses from verse 18-30 into one or two posts and be done with it. This part about the betrayal is disturbing for me to read. Yet, even in these verses, there are jewels among John’s words.

In today’s passage, Jesus has just finished talking about the washing of feet and following his example. He then adds, “… you will be blessed if you do [these things].” Immediately after saying that he clarifies his meaning by adding, “…I am not referring to all of you…”

That must have gotten their attention!

April 21, 2019April 20, 2019

Happy Easter!

May the blessing of our risen savior, Jesus Christ, be upon you and your family today and forever.

He is risen!

April 21, 2019April 20, 2019

Blessed – John 13: 17

Now that you know these things, you will be blessed if you do them.

Cool! Okay, Jesus. I think I understand. Forgive people as you forgive us. (Even enemies!) Serve others in personal ways that glorify God. We disciples are not greater than our teacher.

Then Jesus adds, “you will be blessed if you do them.”

Sometimes things become so common that we lose sight of them. Have you ever noticed that? We have a grandfather clock in our house that BONGS on the hour and chimes on the quarter hour. If you have never heard it before it is quite noticeable. After hearing it for months it starts to fade into the background. Lately, after years of having the clock in the house, it has become invisible to me. Even trying to listen for it to chime is hard. I almost never hear it.

Then recently we had the clock mechanism serviced. It was taken out of the cabinet and moved to the clock shop where it waited its turn to be cleaned and serviced. Good clockmakers are hard to find so it had to wait several weeks before he even started working on it.

Do you know what happened?

April 20, 2019April 20, 2019

Greatness – John 13: 16

Very truly I tell you, no servant is greater than his master, nor is a messenger greater than the one who sent him.

When I read today’s verse in the context of this chapter, I am inclined to sort of BLEEP right over it. It is like the narrator’s voice in my head reads, “You call me ‘Teacher’ and ‘Lord,’ and rightly so, for that is what I am,” and that is what I hear. When I get to, “Very truly I tell you, no servant is greater than his master, nor is a messenger greater than the one who sent him,” I seem to hear YADDA YADDA YADDA. Why?

For one thing, this saying seems out of context. Why would Jesus suddenly mention something about who is greater?

As I ponder this passage now, I think I see why.

April 19, 2019April 19, 2019

Monkey See, Monkey Do – John 13: 13-15

You call me ‘Teacher’ and ‘Lord,’ and rightly so, for that is what I am. Now that I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also should wash one another’s feet. I have set you an example that you should do as I have done for you.

When I was a kid my parents had a saying that summed up the way we learn, peer pressure, and curiosity all in one phrase. Whenever one of us did something dorky that we had seen someone else do they would say, “Monkey see, monkey do.”

Presumably, real monkeys are prone to copy what other monkeys do. Certainly, kids are prone to copying what other kids do. Did you take my crayon? Okay, I’ll take yours. Then, of course, somebody goes crying to Mom and the oldest kid (me) always is the one to get in trouble.

Regardless of the origin of this quaint saying, Jesus applies the same principle here. We should do what we see Him doing.

April 18, 2019April 17, 2019

Happy Birthday, Blog!

Three Minute Bible is 1 year old today.

That is a bit of a surprise to me actually. It started out last spring as a summer Bible study for our Wednesday Bible study group. My hope was that people would enjoy having a few minutes in the Word every day with friends over the summer.

Fall came and the blog kept going. Now it is a year later and we are still only on chapter 13. (If you happen to be a Babylon Bee fan, you might enjoy this article: ”Pastor Completes Brief 47 Year Sermon Series on Book of Romans.” It will make this series on John seem short! 🙂 )

April 18, 2019April 16, 2019

Test Time – John 13: 12

When he had finished washing their feet, he put on his clothes and returned to his place. ”Do you understand what I have done for you?” he asked them.

If you have read the Gospel of John before, you know that Jesus answers his own question in the next few verses. Even so, I want to stop here for a moment and think about Jesus’ question.

‘’Do you understand what I have done for you?”

Imagine that you were in the upper room with the disciples and Jesus. He has finished washing the feet of everyone there. Maybe you are puzzled by this. You think to yourself, “What is he doing?”

April 17, 2019April 17, 2019

My Enemy – John 13: 10b-11

”And you are clean, though not every one of you.” For he knew who was going to betray him, and that was why he said not every one was clean.

Does anyone out there remember a corny sci-fi TV show from the ’60s called, “Lost in Space?” I don’t remember a lot about it, but I do remember that the character named Dr. Smith. He was always trying to cause trouble. Oddly, the people he was trying to hurt always seemed to be willing to overlook his faults at the end of each show.

Jesus has a similar problem. He has twelve disciples who travel with him everywhere. They know everything about Jesus and every move he makes. Jesus loves them all but one of them is his enemy.

April 16, 2019April 15, 2019

Bull – John 13: 9 – 10a

”Then, Lord,” Simon Peter replied, ”not just my feet but my hands and my head as well!” Jesus answered, ”Those who have had a bath need only to wash their feet; their whole body is clean. And you are clean…”

I love the stories about Simon Peter. He is like the proverbial bull in a China shop! One minute he is UP, the next he is DOWN. Peter is emotional and passionate. The fires of his impulsiveness drive him from one extreme to another. Yet Jesus picked him to be a disciple. Even more, Peter is often considered the lead disciple.

Today’s passage follows verse 8 where Peter tells Jesus (Jesus!!), “… you shall never wash my feet.” Jesus reprimands him and says, “Unless I wash you, you have no part in me.” Then Peter goes to the other extreme.

April 15, 2019April 14, 2019

Washed – John 13: 6-8

Image of man's face being splashed by water

He came to Simon Peter, who said to him, ”Lord, are you going to wash my feet?”
Jesus replied, ”You do not realize now what I am doing, but later you will understand.”
”No,” said Peter, ”you shall never wash my feet.”
Jesus answered, ”Unless I wash you, you have no part with me.”

Unless I wash you, you have no part with me…

That is a pretty amazing statement! The scene is the last supper. The last Passover meal that Jesus would have with his disciples. The disciples still do not understand what is going on. They do not know that Jesus must die to save us from sin.

Jesus then steps into the role of a servant and does two things. The first is he demonstrates how his followers must lead by serving others. Second, he is demonstrating how we must be washed of our sins.

This second point is very subtle, yet very profound. “Unless I wash you, you have no part with me…” If we want to go to heaven, if we want to avoid an eternity in the lake of fire, we need to allow Jesus to wash us of our sin.