Daily Meditations on the Bible / We stand with Israel
“Simon Peter …”
Summary: Names have meanings. Peter’s name has a very special meaning. The name “Simon” means “it is heard.” The name Peter means, “rock.” Who wants to hear about a rock? Maybe we all do!
Continue reading “2 Peter 1:1a — The Rock”
While I was with them, I protected them and kept them safe by that name you gave me.
Yesterday we looked at the question, “What is in a name?” The right name, it seems, carries with it the power to protect.
Jesus says that he kept the disciples safe. Safe from what? On one occasion we find Jesus protecting the disciples from a storm at sea. At times he protects them by keeping them away from Jerusalem. Once, he protected one from death by calling him back from the grave.
All these threats are common to mortals. I have been in a sinking boat in a large lake. I know what being rescued feels like. I have been in threatening situations. I know what escaping those feels like, too. I have even been near death on one or two occasions, so I understand these threats that Jesus protected his disciples from.
Even so, I wonder if that is the kind of threat that Jesus was talking about. Maybe there is a threat he considers more dangerous than any of these.
Continue reading “The Wall – John 17: 12a”
I will remain in the world no longer, but they are still in the world, and I am coming to you. Holy Father, protect them by the power of your name, the name you gave me, so that they may be one as we are one.
In today’s passage, Jesus once again shows us that he is not from around here. He says he is coming to the Father and that he will not “remain” in the world any longer. Jesus is a man who knows where he is going. He knows because he is also God, eternal and timeless.
He then asks that the Father protect those he leaves in the world. How? By the power of…?
Jesus asks that God keep his people protected by the power of His name. Then he adds, “… the name you gave me…” Now, which name is that? Whose name is that?
Continue reading “What is in a Name? – John 17: 11”
In verse 23 of this chapter, the Jews ask Jesus, “Who are you?” Finally, all of these verses later, he gives them a clear and unmistakable answer. “I am,” he says. He does not say, I am … Jesus; or I am … a man, but simply, “I am.”
Your father Abraham rejoiced at the thought of seeing my day; he saw it and was glad.”
“You are not yet fifty years old,” they said to him, “and you have seen Abraham!”
“Very truly I tell you,” Jesus answered, “before Abraham was born, I am!” At this, they picked up stones to stone him, but Jesus hid himself, slipping away from the temple grounds.
When Moses first meets God at the burning bush, he asks Him his name:
Continue reading “Stones”