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”One Another – John 13: 34
Not Exactly a Vacation – John 13: 33
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”Third Person – John 13: 32
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”Rock Star – John 13: 31
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”Odd Night – John 13: 30b
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”Secret Place – John 13: 27b-30a
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”Old Rag – John 13: 26b-27a
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”Door to Darkness – John 13: 26b-27a
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.
It is helpful to examine how Satan has been at work in Judas’ life. Back in verse 2, we are told that “…the devil had already prompted Judas.” In chapter 12, verse 6 John tells us that Judas was a thief. He would actually steal money from the disciple’s common purse.
Judas was a bad egg. He accepted Jesus’ invitation to be a disciple. He traveled with Jesus for three years. Yet he didn’t really see or hear Jesus. Instead, he was thinking about himself. One thing led to another and in the end, Judas became completely owned by Satan.
Dabbling in the darkness is dangerous. It opens the door to the things that live in darkness. Those spirits lead to dark thoughts and dark ways, and a fear of the light.
Continue reading “Door to Darkness – John 13: 26b-27a”Clouds – John 13: 21-27
After he had said this, Jesus was troubled in spirit and testified, ”Very truly I tell you, one of you is going to betray me.”
His disciples stared at one another, at a loss to know which of them he meant. One of them, the disciple whom Jesus loved, was reclining next to him. Simon Peter motioned to this disciple and said, ”Ask him which one he means.”
Leaning back against Jesus, he asked him, ”Lord, who is it?”
Jesus answered, ”It is the one to whom I will give this piece of bread when I have dipped it in the dish.” 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. So Jesus told him, ”What you are about to do, do quickly.”
In today’s passage, we see Jesus “troubled in spirit.” Have you ever been there? The problem with being Jesus is that he knows what the trouble is about. He knows what is going to happen, and he knows who is going to betray him. Because of these things he is troubled.
In our world, we are often troubled about things we do not understand. We are not God so we cannot “know” what will happen in the future. (We might believe we know what will happen, but that is not the same kind of knowing that God is privy to.) Maybe it is a feeling of foreboding. Perhaps it is someone else that you know who is in trouble, and that troubles you. What are you going to do?
In Jesus’ case, he meets trouble head-on. “Very truly I tell you, one of you is going to betray me.”
BOOM! There it is. Right out in front of everyone.
Of course, everyone but Judas is now troubled. (Judas might have been troubled for other reasons.) Who is the traitor?
Continue reading “Clouds – John 13: 21-27”The Nose of the Camel – John 13: 20
Very truly I tell you, whoever accepts anyone I send accepts me; and whoever accepts me accepts the one who sent me.
There is an old saying that goes something like this: “If the camel gets his nose in the tent, the rest of him is soon to follow.”
The mental image this creates in my mind seems funny to me. The lonely camel wanting to be inside the tent with his master. It is cold outside, and nice and warm in the tent. Somehow he gets his nose under the tent flap and is able to wiggle it in just a little. Later, his whole head is in the tent. While the camel’s head is small enough, the rest of the camel is not. By the time he has wiggled his whole body into the tent, all the tent pegs are dangling from their strings. The tent is now little more than a blanket on the back of the camel.
The story is a great metaphor for many things. How many bad habits start with something small and innocuous? Only later do they take over a person’s whole life and destroy it. How many people are in debt over their heads because they allowed themselves to get a credit card? The little plastic card seems so innocent, and yet it can lead to uncontrolled spending and enslavement to debt.
But these are all examples of bad things that happen. What about good? Does the camel ever represent something good happening? If we tweak the metaphor a bit we can illustrate today’s verse in a new light.
Continue reading “The Nose of the Camel – John 13: 20”