Three Minute Bible

March 19, 2019March 16, 2019

Defiance – John 12: 12-13

The next day the great crowd that had come for the festival heard that Jesus was on his way to Jerusalem. They took palm branches and went out to meet him, shouting,
”Hosanna!”
”Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!”
”Blessed is the king of Israel!”

Up to this point, John has skipped through three years of time rather quickly. In his gospel, John has given us a portrait of Jesus that emphasizes his divinity. Now we move into the second half of John’s gospel. In the next nine chapters, John covers the last few days of Jesus’ life before his crucifixion. In a way, it is if we have been watching a time-lapse movie of Jesus’ life. At this point, the movie abruptly shifts to slow motion. Now every moment is examined in minute detail.

We begin with an amazing closeup of Jesus as king.

John 11: 55 tells us, “When it was almost time for the Jewish Passover, many went up from the country to Jerusalem for their ceremonial cleansing before the Passover.” Verse 56 adds, “They kept looking for Jesus…” Perhaps some of these people had been with Jesus when he fed the four thousand or the five thousand. Many of them likely knew someone Jesus had healed. Many had been healed themselves.

This point is the crescendo of Jesus’ ministry.

It looks like the worst fears of the chief priests are coming true! The crowds have decided that Jesus is king. They defy their instructions to report a sighting of Jesus and ignore the chief priests. Instead, they welcome Jesus with palm branches and shouts of “Hosanna!” Out in the open! Without fear of the chief priests!!

Let’s Discuss: If Jesus had been a man like any other, and not God, what might have happened at this point?

March 18, 2019March 16, 2019

Depravity – John 12: 10-11

So the chief priests made plans to kill Lazarus as well, for on account of him many of the Jews were going over to Jesus and believing in him.

I was watching a murder mystery on television the other night. At the end of the story, we discover the antagonist is an older woman who was spurned by her younger lover. She had killed the young man and ten years later killed three more times to protect her secret. When caught, she reveals that the reason she killed him was that he was unfaithful. “He was so depraved!” she complained. I marveled at the fact that her character could not see her own depravity.

March 17, 2019March 15, 2019

Pointer – John 12: 9

Meanwhile a large crowd of Jews found out that Jesus was there and came, not only because of him but also to see Lazarus, whom he had raised from the dead.

As people gather around the house that Jesus is in, the crowd grows. Already the small dwelling was full. Jesus’ disciples, and the friends and family that Mary, Martha, and Lazarus may have invited are there. Now the crowd presses in.

Lazarus has become a sort of celebrity. Once dead, now alive, I am sure people had many questions for him. In every case, I suspect that the answer Lazarus gave was, “Jesus.”

March 16, 2019March 16, 2019

Pitch Perfect – John 12: 7-8

“Leave her alone,” Jesus replied. ‘’It was intended that she should save this perfume for the day of my burial. You will always have the poor among you, but you will not always have me.”

As we see in every case where Jesus is attacked, his response is pitch perfect. He does not respond out of anger or out of fear. His perspective on the situation remains perfectly balanced. He knows who Judas is and what he will eventually do. (John 6: 70) So how does he respond?

March 15, 2019March 13, 2019

Perfect Moment – John 12: 4-6

But one of his disciples, Judas Iscariot, who was later to betray him, objected, ”Why wasn’t this perfume sold and the money given to the poor? It was worth a year’s wages.” He did not say this because he cared about the poor but because he was a thief; as keeper of the money bag, he used to help himself to what was put into it.

Have you ever experienced a perfect moment? Was it in a novel, a movie, a television ad with two people running towards each other in a field of flowers? Maybe it was even in real life?

This moment that Jesus and Mary were sharing, as she wiped the nard from his feet with her hair, was perfect. Jesus, Creator of the Universe, Giver of Life reclined at the table. Mary, one whom Jesus had freed from the power of Satan, whose brother is saved by Jesus, humbly washing his feet.

March 14, 2019March 14, 2019

Fragrance – John 12: 3

Then Mary took about a pint of pure nard, an expensive perfume; she poured it on Jesus’ feet and wiped his feet with her hair. And the house was filled with the fragrance of the perfume.

Jesus has been invited to be the guest of honor in Bethany. Mary, Martha, and Lazarus are honoring their Lord. This would not have been a casual affair, at least not as I picture it. I see smiles and joy, but also a room full of awe. All the people in the house are in the presence of the one called Jesus, the one who raised Lazarus from the dead.

As the meal progressed, Mary comes and sits at Jesus’ feet. Luke 10: 38-42 records that this was not the first time Mary had sat at the feet of Jesus. The first time she sat in awe of what he said. This time she is in awe of who Jesus is.

In my mind’s eye, the room is full of people, and Jesus is the center of attention. The aroma of nard fills the room. Conversation stops, and now Mary is the center of attention. What is she doing?

March 13, 2019March 12, 2019

Celebration – John 12: 1-2

Six days before the Passover, Jesus came to Bethany, where Lazarus lived, whom Jesus had raised from the dead. Here a dinner was given in Jesus’ honor. Martha served, while Lazarus was among those reclining at the table with him.

Our last post ended with the Pharisees and the chief priests plotting to kill Jesus. Jesus retreats to Ephriam, a village about ten miles north of Jerusalem and Bethany. There he stays for a while. Meanwhile, John mentions that it is getting close to the time of the Passover festival. People are asking about Jesus, wondering if he will be there.

Apart from all this activity, Jesus bides his time. Then, six days before the Passover, Jesus arrives in Bethany.

March 12, 2019March 11, 2019

The Picture – John 11: 53-57

So from that day on they plotted to take his life.
Therefore Jesus no longer moved about publicly among the people of Judea. Instead he withdrew to a region near the wilderness, to a village called Ephraim, where he stayed with his disciples.
When it was almost time for the Jewish Passover, many went up from the country to Jerusalem for their ceremonial cleansing before the Passover. They kept looking for Jesus, and as they stood in the temple courts they asked one another, ”What do you think? Isn’t he coming to the festival at all?” But the chief priests and the Pharisees had given orders that anyone who found out where Jesus was should report it so that they might arrest him.

Jesus knows the hearts of all men and he knows that the hearts of the Jewish leaders are intent on his death. Knowing what he does he leaves town. As the time for the Passover nears, the people are looking to see if Jesus will show up.

March 11, 2019March 10, 2019

Rare Flower – John 11: 49-52

Then one of them, named Caiaphas, who was high priest that year, spoke up, ”You know nothing at all! You do not realize that it is better for you that one man die for the people than that the whole nation perish.”
He did not say this on his own, but as high priest that year he prophesied that Jesus would die for the Jewish nation, and not only for that nation but also for the scattered children of God, to bring them together and make them one.

It is interesting to me how our reasoning works when survival is at stake. The Pharisees were afraid. They were afraid that Jesus would trigger some event that would cause the Romans to “take away their temple and their nation.” They believed that their survival was on the line.

It is important to note here that their fears were only fears. They could not know what would happen. The future is always a blank page. We do not know what will happen until after the day has passed. Yet even though their fear is one possibility out of millions of things that could happen, it seems real to them. So real that it must be avoided at all cost. Even the cost of a man’s life.

March 10, 2019March 9, 2019

Projection – John 11: 46-48

But some of them went to the Pharisees and told them what Jesus had done. Then the chief priests and the Pharisees called a meeting of the Sanhedrin.
”What are we accomplishing?” they asked. ”Here is this man performing many signs. If we let him go on like this, everyone will believe in him, and then the Romans will come and take away both our temple and our nation.”

When the chief priests and the Pharisees got together, they were very concerned. They already had several confrontations with Jesus in the temple. And they were hearing reports of things Jesus had done. The result of these miracles was always the same: more people talking about how Jesus must be the Messiah.

In most of his gospel, John lets us speculate what the motives of the Pharisees are. Here he tells us. The leaders of the Jews fear that the Romans would take away their temple and the nation of Israel. Notice that they were not concerned about what God thought. They did not refer to it as “God’s temple,” but rather “our temple.”