Daily Meditations on the Bible
Peter asked, ”Lord, why can’t I follow you now? I will lay down my life for you.”
Then Jesus answered, ”Will you really lay down your life for me? Very truly I tell you, before the rooster crows, you will disown me three times!”
How well do we remember what we really look like?
Continue reading “Mirror Mirror – John 13: 37-38”
Simon Peter asked him, ”Lord, where are you going?”
Jesus replied, ”Where I am going, you cannot follow now, but you will follow later.”
Peter wants to know where Jesus is going. He is thinking in human terms, like the Pharisees. Jesus, of course, is speaking from a heavenly point of view. Jesus knows where he is going.
When Jesus says “…you cannot follow now, but you will follow later,” we see a foreshadowing of Peter’s fate. He, too, will be crucified. Thanks to Jesus’ sacrifice on the cross, he will also see Jesus in Heaven.
Continue reading “Later – John 13: 36”
By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.
Do other people know you belong to Jesus?
Continue reading “Uniforms – John 13: 35”
A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another.
Why does Jesus consider this a “new” command?
Continue reading “One Another – John 13: 34”
My children, I will be with you only a little longer. You will look for me, and just as I told the Jews, so I tell you now: Where I am going, you cannot come.
Where is Jesus going?
Continue reading “Not Exactly a Vacation – John 13: 33”
If God is glorified in him, God will glorify the Son in himself, and will glorify him at once.
Jesus often speaks of himself in the third person. It is a bit like royalty would speak if we had a king. He also adds a kind of equation to his last statement about being glorified.
If God is glorified in Jesus
Then God will glorify Jesus
In himself (God)
At once.
This formula is really another rather elaborate way of saying that Jesus and God are one.
Continue reading “Third Person – John 13: 32”
When he was gone, Jesus said, “Now the Son of Man is glorified and God is glorified in him.
I have always thought that God’s idea of “glory” is different than mine. My idea of glory is more like being a rock star. You remember that time that I played in front of 80,000 people and they all loved me and were going nuts and screaming and yelling how cool I was? You don’t? Oh… well. That’s because it never happened. Very few people ever win that kind of human glory. If they do it never lasts long.
God’s kind of glory is more involved than my kind. It is also more long-lasting. The Greek word for “glorified” is doxazō. Strong’s Concordance defines it as “to render glorious” and to be full of glory and honor. Thayer’s Greek Lexicon ascribes the word with meanings like “praise, extol, magnify, celebrate.” These are more sober accolades than those typically given to a rock star.
So how does Jesus arrive at the conclusion that now the Son of Man is glorified? Sitting in an upper room with eleven of his disciples and the twelfth one on the way to betray him doesn’t sound very glorious. I think the answer, once again, is that Jesus doesn’t see things as men do.
Continue reading “Rock Star – John 13: 31”
And it was night.
To write his gospel account of Jesus’ life, John looks back on the three years of Jesus’ ministry on earth. This Passover meal made a big impression on him. The evening was poignant because Jesus kept talking about having to go away. There was something else, too. Jesus was acting differently. It was almost like he only had a few hours left to spend with them. He kept giving them what felt like last minute instructions.
Continue reading “Odd Night – John 13: 30b”
So Jesus told him, ”What you are about to do, do quickly.” But no one at the meal understood why Jesus said this to him. Since Judas had charge of the money, some thought Jesus was telling him to buy what was needed for the festival, or to give something to the poor. As soon as Judas had taken the bread, he went out.
When Jesus gave the bread to Judas Iscariot, there were only two people in the room who knew what was going on. Judas, who thought what he was doing was in secret was one. Jesus, who is God and knows everything and everyone’s heart was the other.
At this point, Judas has already made arrangements with the Pharisees to betray Jesus. He has collected his thirty pieces of silver and is carrying the dirty money with him. (We know this because he later tried to give it back to the Pharisees.) As he accepts the bread from Jesus’ hand he must have looked at Jesus.
Inside each of us is a secret place where we keep our innermost thoughts. They are safe there from prying eyes, but not from God. When Judas looked at Jesus to receive the bread, he was looking into the eyes of one who knew every secret thought he ever had. Up to that point Judas had thought his secret was safe. When he looked at Jesus did he understand that Jesus knew what was in his heart?
Continue reading “Secret Place – John 13: 27b-30a”
Then, dipping the piece of bread, he gave it to Judas, the son of Simon Iscariot. As soon as Judas took the bread, Satan entered into him.
The text tells us that “Satan entered into him.” What did that feel like? Was Judas suddenly filled with a sense of importance? Did Satan play on Judas’ emotions? Did he twist Judas’ reasoning? John doesn’t record any words Judas might have said, so it appears he kept his mouth shut and left.
Once outside, Judas would have been alone with his thoughts. Filled with Satan, his thoughts would have been influenced by the Evil One. He had already made a deal with the Pharisees who were now technically dealing with Satan! Judas, filled with Satan, made his way to where he was to meet the Pharisees.
Continue reading “Old Rag – John 13: 26b-27a”