Jesus – Page 22 – Three Minute Bible

February 24, 2019February 22, 2019

So You May Believe – John 11: 11-15

After he had said this, he went on to tell them, ”Our friend Lazarus has fallen asleep; but I am going there to wake him up.”
His disciples replied, ”Lord, if he sleeps, he will get better.” Jesus had been speaking of his death, but his disciples thought he meant natural sleep.
So then he told them plainly, ”Lazarus is dead, and for your sake I am glad I was not there, so that you may believe. But let us go to him.”

Belief is an odd thing. Certain beliefs are accepted without question. In many cases, we believe what our parents believed, for no other reason than wanting to be part of the family. Sometimes, less often, we arrive at a belief as the result of a personal journey; a research project or extended study of some sort.

February 23, 2019February 22, 2019

Jesus Time – John 11: 9-10

Jesus answered, ”Are there not twelve hours of daylight? Anyone who walks in the daytime will not stumble, for they see by this world’s light. It is when a person walks at night that they stumble, for they have no light.”

Are there twelve hours of daylight? The answer to that is, “… it depends.” It depends on where you are on the planet and what time of year it is. In Anchorage, Alaska there is only about one hour of daylight during the months of December and January. In June and July, there are about twenty-three hours of daylight. Jerusalem is about the same latitude as Ensenada, Mexico; just south of the border. That far south the seasonal shift is much less noticeable, but it is still there.

February 22, 2019February 21, 2019

Timing – John 11: 7-8

…and then he said to his disciples, ”Let us go back to Judea.”
”But Rabbi,” they said, ”a short while ago the Jews there tried to stone you, and yet you are going back?”

If I close my eyes and picture myself sitting among the disciples with Jesus, I imagine that we are camped near the bank of the Jordan River, near where John the Baptist appeared out of the wilderness and started preaching. In my mind’s eye, it is morning. The sun is peeking over the eastern horizon and some of the disciples have been up since very early. A fire is going in the middle of the camp and as the few disciples who are still asleep wake-up, they gather around the fire where a breakfast of small fish is cooking. Someone passes around a rough-hewn wood plate with dates on it and I take one to eat and pass the plate on.

February 20, 2019February 19, 2019

Dying – John 11: 1- 4

Now a man named Lazarus was sick. He was from Bethany, the village of Mary and her sister Martha. (This Mary, whose brother Lazarus now lay sick, was the same one who poured perfume on the Lord and wiped his feet with her hair.) So the sisters sent word to Jesus, ”Lord, the one you love is sick.”
When he heard this, Jesus said, ”This sickness will not end in death. No, it is for God’s glory so that God’s Son may be glorified through it.”

This is the story of the man, Lazarus, whom Jesus raised from the dead. John begins by giving us a proper introduction to Lazarus; where he lives, who his relations are, and that he is well known to Jesus. Then John tells us that Lazarus is sick.

You and I know what it is like to have a cold or stomach flu. People in Jesus’ day probably suffered from similar ailments. This sickness was different. Lazarus was ill enough that his sisters thought his life was in danger. Why else would they have taken the trouble to send a messenger to Jesus? In short, Lazarus was dying.

February 19, 2019February 18, 2019

Place – John 10: 40-42

Then Jesus went back across the Jordan to the place where John had been baptizing in the early days. There he stayed, and many people came to him. They said, ”Though John never performed a sign, all that John said about this man was true.” And in that place many believed in Jesus.

One of the many things we take for granted is our place in the world. Place, as an abstract concept, is important because it is the reference point for everything that happens to or about a particular person at a particular moment in that particular place.

February 18, 2019February 18, 2019

A Kind of Pill – John 10: 37-39

“Do not believe me unless I do the works of my Father. But if I do them, even though you do not believe me, believe the works, that you may know and understand that the Father is in me, and I in the Father.” Again they tried to seize him, but he escaped their grasp.

What do you look to your father for? Help; guidance; discipline; comfort? What you see in a father probably depends a lot on the kind of father you had, if you were fortunate enough to have a father in your life.

What kind of father is God? In the Old Testament, he is the one who allows Job to be tested, who tells Noah to build the ark and then floods the world, he calls Abraham to the Promised Land, gives him a son in his old age, then tests him by asking that he sacrifice his son. The Old Testament God leads the Israelites into Egypt and then out again. He gives them his law; He gives them a place to live; He is faithful to be patient with them and faithful to punish them.

February 14, 2019February 13, 2019

Oneness – John 10: 30

“I and the Father are one.”

What does he mean by saying, “one?” A quick look in Strong’s Concordance suggests that the English translation here is every bit as clear and oblique as the Greek. One means one. It can mean ‘one’ as in one thing, or it can mean ‘one’ as in whole, or complete.

“I and the Father are one.”

In the first book of the Bible, Genesis, in the second chapter and the twenty-fourth verse God says, “That is why a man leaves his father and mother and is united to his wife, and they become one flesh.” What does that mean, “one flesh?” Is that the same kind of thing that Jesus is talking about or different? It is mentioned again and again in the New Testament as an example of oneness.

February 12, 2019February 11, 2019

Heart Work – John 10: 25b – 26

“The works I do in my Father’s name testify about me, but you do not believe because you are not my sheep.”

Are you a sheep, and if so whose sheep are you? Do you have a sense of belonging? Do you recognize the voice of your Maker when He calls? Do you listen only to the voices inside your own head? Do you want to be able to hear God’s voice?

February 8, 2019February 7, 2019

Listen – John 10: 14-16

“I am the good shepherd; I know my sheep and my sheep know me— just as the Father knows me and I know the Father—and I lay down my life for the sheep. I have other sheep that are not of this sheep pen. I must bring them also. They too will listen to my voice, and there shall be one flock and one shepherd.”

Once again, Jesus repeats himself. “I am the good shepherd.” “I am the good shepherd.” If a man is the best at something and he says he is the best, that is not arrogance, it is fact. Jesus is not being prideful here or arrogant, but honest, truthful, and straightforward.

February 6, 2019February 5, 2019

The Gate – John 10: 7-10

Therefore Jesus said again, ”Very truly I tell you, I am the gate for the sheep. All who have come before me are thieves and robbers, but the sheep have not listened to them. I am the gate; whoever enters through me will be saved. They will come in and go out, and find pasture. The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.”

In the first parable (verses 1-5) the key elements are a shepherd, a gate, sheep, and the thief. In this second parable, we have the gate, the sheep, and the thieves. It is getting harder to ignore the obvious point Jesus is making. Instead of speaking of himself in the third person, he changes tactics and speaks in the first person: “I am the gate…” There are only two other groups in this parable; the sheep and the thieves. Where does that leave the Pharisees…? Even they must have been able to pick up on that!