Day 132: John 7:1-30

“So his brothers said to him, ‘Leave here and go to Judea, that your disciples also may see the works you are doing. For no one works in secret if he seeks to be known openly. If you do these things, show yourself to the world.”' - John 7:3-4 ESV

It's almost as though Jesus' brothers were saying, “Jesus, if you want to scale this Messiah role, you've got to go live on Instagram with one of your top-notch miracles in Jerusalem at a well-attended feast. I mean, the water into wine was pretty miraculous, but how about the healing of a man born blind from birth? It is time to roll out your true IPO so that you can start to reap the benefits of the stock market. This doing-things-in-secret method is really getting you nowhere. Do you need representation? Because we would be willing to be your agents!"

Mark Moore's comments here are helpful:

"To make matters worse, Jesus missed the last Passover. So it’s been eighteen months since he last went to Jerusalem. Any “good” Jew would now feel obligated to fulfill his religious duty to worship in the Holy city. The last time Jesus was there, however, the ruling council decided to kill him (Jn 5:18). It’s not a safe place for Jesus. And now his brothers are essentially saying, 'Put up, or shut up! If you can’t do it in Jerusalem, then you’re a fraud.'"
- Moore, M. E. (2011). The Chronological Life of Christ (p. 333)

What the world needed, though, was not a celebrity. What it needed was a Savior. The same is true today.

We crave celebrities while at the same time being starved for salvation. The popular among us can't give us what Jesus has to offer.

Jesus ends up going to the Feast of Booths anyway, but he goes in secret, midway through the festivities. He wasn't there to capitalize on His celebrity; He was there to make yet another announcement about the arrival of the Kingdom of God.

If Jesus had gone up to Jerusalem when His brothers did, chaos would have ensued, and a push for His death among the Jewish leaders. But Jesus' time to die had not yet come, and He would be doing things on His terms and in His time.

I love that Jesus was (and is) not an insulated celebrity. He is the One who lived in our skin and died to set us free.

Day 131: John 6:43-71

“After this many of his disciples turned back and no longer walked with him. So Jesus said to the twelve, ‘Do you want to go away as well?’ Simon Peter answered him, ‘Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life, and we have believed, and have come to know, that you are the Holy One of God.”' - John 6:66-69 ESV

As Jesus finished his difficult-to-understand teaching on eating His flesh and drinking His blood, it was too much for many of those who had started to follow Him. It turns out that when the multiplication of bread ends up being an illustration of Jesus' eventual sacrifice for sins, it doesn't scale as well.

He wasn't a new Moses. He wasn't offering new manna. Jesus actually had something great in mind, which for the Jews seemed like an impossibility. Greater than Moses? I mean, come on.

By Jesus offering Himself on the cross for the sins of many and then raising on the third day, He was going to enact change that had never been seen before.

Yet, none of this crowd got that from His message on this particular day. Even the 12 were bewildered by it. But when Peter really thought about it, though he may not have understood, he was convinced that only Jesus was speaking eternal life. Peter just assumed, correctly, that it was over his head.

Is there something in the Bible that has you confused? Do you assume it is wrong, or do you work with the preconception that you just can't (yet) wrap your mind around it?

Know this today: Jesus can be trusted. He gave His life as proof and rose again to further solidify His love for you and the entire world.

"There are different ways a teaching can be hard. It may be hard to understand, or it may be difficult to accept even when understood. That these people did not fully understand Jesus is evident. There was more to it, however. They were reluctant to go in the direction He was leading. He said the flesh counts for nothing, but the Spirit gives life."
- Foster, L. (1987). John: Unlocking the Scriptures for You (p. 80)

Day 130: John 6:22-42

“Do not work for the food that perishes, but for the food that endures to eternal life, which the Son of Man will give to you. For on him God the Father has set his seal.” - John 6:27 ESV

What do we desire more? The provision or the Provider of the provision?

When it came right down to it, these people saw Jesus as more of a second Moses, or a Panera Bread, than the Giver of life itself. This would have been so hard for these Jewish people whose economy was fractured and over-taxed. They needed a break. They needed fresh bread to materialize out of nowhere regularly. I mean, can you blame them?

We get caught in this trap on a regular basis as well. Our prayer lives can easily morph into a cosmic wish list. In this mindset, we turn God into someone who can provide for us, but not someone we want to turn our entire lives over to in worship.

To this day, Jesus still offers food that will never spoil. Bread that satisfies and secures all who eat of it. This is why so many people misunderstand heaven. Most of us look forward to all that heaven is going to offer, not Whom heaven is going to feature. The greatest benefit of heaven will be God Himself. His presence is what we really want, but we keep trying to fill that desire with stale bread that doesn't satisfy.

Dear Jesus, set your seal on us as well. Impress on us more of who you are. Satisfy our souls in the way that only You can.

"The provision of God through Jesus is for supernatural water and bread, a spiritual nourishment that cannot be depleted. Jesus clearly identifies the bread of life and its source. It was not Moses who gave the bread of life from heaven. It was God. It was God then; it is God now."
- Bryant, B. H., & Krause, M. S. (1998). John (Jn 6:26–29)

Day 129: John 6:1-21

“He said this to test him, for he himself knew what he would do.” - John 6:6 ESV

I've always found this verse to be fascinating. If Jesus knew what He was going to do, why would He ask Philip a question about where they were going to get all of the food for this crowd that probably could have packed Gainbridge Fieldhouse?

Well, John tells us. It was to "test" him. The Greek word for test is peirazō, and it can also be translated as make proof or examine. Jesus was a master at teaching, always looking for an opportunity to stretch the understanding of His disciples. This experience was going to be another faith exercise to show what Jesus was capable of. This same word was used to describe what the Pharisees did to Jesus in order to try and trap Him (see Mark 10:2). They were testing in order to trap. Jesus was testing in order to teach and foster faith.

We are all, even today, disciples (apprentices) to Jesus. Do you think He would test us in the same way He did in our reading today with Philip or even as he did with Abraham (see Genesis 22:1)?

We need to know that God deeply desires that we grow in the grace and knowledge of Jesus Christ (2 Peter 3:18). He will never approve of us stagnating.

When God allows any circumstance to happen in your life, you need to know that it is an opportunity for Him to "make proof" to the world of how genuine your faith in Him really is.

Jesus is always moving forward, doing the impossible, and has invited us to join Him for the ride.

"Testing can be negative (cf. 8:6), or positive as it is here. Jesus’ purpose was to test Philip’s faith in him and confirm it with the miracle to follow."
- Kruse, C. G. (2003). John: an introduction and commentary (Vol. 4, p. 162)

Day 128: John 5:24-47

“Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life. He does not come into judgment, but has passed from death to life.” - John 5:24 ESV

Everything we are doing now is preparing us for the moment we take our last breath. We would like to think that many of our actions are neutral, flying under the radar with God. Yet, every decision we make is a statement of death or life.

This is why believing (trusting) in Jesus is the most important decision we will ever make in this life. It not only affects our day-to-day life now but will also translate into eternity after we die.

The Apostle Paul affirmed this teaching of Jesus when he wrote: “For the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a cry of command, with the voice of an archangel, and with the sound of the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first.” - 1 Thessalonians 4:16 ESV

It is difficult for us to come to the understanding that all we currently see will become irrelevant. When Jesus returns, and we are all assigned our eternal destinies, what will rush through our minds? Will we be worried about the replacement of our kitchen countertops or the fact that we failed Organic Chemistry? No. Hopefully, we will be thankful that we trusted the only one who is able to grant eternal life.

Need help learning what belief in Jesus looks like? This page on our website is super helpful.

“We ought always to consider what it is that the Gospel offers to us; for we need not wonder that he who receives Christ with all his merits is reconciled to God, and acquitted of the condemnation of death; and that he who has received the gift of the Holy Spirit is clothed with a heavenly righteousness, that he may walk in newness of life, (Rom. 6:6.)”
- Calvin, J., & Pringle, W. (2010). Commentary on the Gospel according to John (Vol. 1, p. 203)

Day 127: John 5:1-23

“But Jesus answered them, ‘My Father is working until now, and I am working.”' - John 5:17

Maybe like me, your mind immediately goes toward the song “Way Maker” (written by Sinach) when you read this verse. It is in the bridge that the song goes…

Even when I don't see it, You're workin'
Even when I don't feel it, You're workin'
You never stop, You never stop workin'

I love Psalm 121:4 when the Psalmist sings that God "never slumbers nor sleeps."

There is so much pressure on us to perform. In our classes. At our jobs. In our families. In our churches. On social media platforms. I got exhausted just typing out those five things, and there are even more areas where expectations are constantly high for us to be good enough.

Jesus consistently made the religious leaders mad with His insistence on doing good on the Sabbath day. He was bringing rest to those who couldn't find it on the day of rest. While the nation of Israel was stopping, He was busily re-starting the lives of so many.

Take a deep breath. There isn't as much pressure on you as you think. God is the one who is ultimately in charge. Sure, He will use your life to make a difference in this world, but it doesn't all rest on your shoulders. His shoulders alone are strong enough to maintain the weight you are trying to carry.

“In repentance and rest you will be saved, In quietness and trust is your strength.” - Isaiah 30:15 NASB

"The dawning of every day, the opening of the flowers, the flowing of the rivers, the sustenance of vegetable, animal, and human life, reveal through every moment of the agelong sabbath-rest, and on every sabbath-day, his intense and constant activity."
- Spence-Jones, H. D. M., ed. (1909). St. John (Vol. 1, p. 211)

Day 126: John 4:43-54

“Jesus said to him, ‘Go; your son will live.’ The man believed the word that Jesus spoke to him and went on his way.” - John 4:50 ESV

Since the Reformation in the 1500s, there has been a real stigma against obedience. Many churches focused on the inner, spiritual life in reaction to the Catholic Church's overemphasis on the external. At this point, many Christians severed belief from obedience. Yet, as we read through the ministry of Jesus and the Apostles, we see over and over that belief and obedience are inseparable.

The man we encountered in our reading today desperately wanted his son to be healed. He even had a plan, and it was to get Jesus to come down and heal his son. The persistence of the father shows Jesus how much this man believed that He could heal his son. Jesus tells the man, "Go; your son will live." The man had a choice to make. Was he going to continue and implore Jesus to come down and heal his son, or would he choose to do what Jesus had asked? He chose to trust Jesus, and his son recovered. You see, genuine belief will always activate obedience.

In what ways is your belief/trust in Jesus lacking? Can you see it surfacing in your disobedience?

We need to be reminded today that Jesus can (and should) be trusted with everything. Go ahead, step into an awakened life of obedience to the only One who can do the impossible.

"The man had faith based on Jesus’ simple affirmation. It was not until the next day that he had confirmation of the miracle when he met his servants coming to tell him that his son’s fever was gone. It had ceased at the very hour when Jesus had given His assurance to the father."
- Foster, L. (1987). John: Unlocking the Scriptures for You (p. 57)

Day 125: John 4:4-42

“They said to the woman, ‘It is no longer because of what you said that we believe, for we have heard for ourselves, and we know that this is indeed the Savior of the world.”' - John 4:42 ESV

Jesus, instead of doing what good Jews usually would do (go around Samaria through Perea), went straight south to have an encounter with a wild woman who obviously had an interest in theology. Jesus divulges a lot of information to this woman. He's actually more direct with her than He was with most people. He tells her about living water. He introduces her to the concept of not needing to only worship God in one place. Jesus even plainly tells her that He was the Messiah.

Their conversation has such an effect on her that she can't keep it to herself. She tells everyone in town what Jesus told her, and apparently, their interests are piqued to know more.

This last verse in our reading is so powerful. It is the heart's cry of every parent that wants their child to know Jesus. It is also the thing we desire most when we share the gospel with a close friend.

We want them to hear for themselves how amazing Jesus is; because if they do, we are confident that their lives will never be the same.

"In paganism of the first century, 'savior' was a technical term that described divine or semidivine deliverers, especially the Roman emperors. Inscriptions that read 'savior of the world' frequently applied to Hadrian (A.D. 117–138). Zeus and the healing god, Asclepius were regularly given the title, as were also the gods of the Mystery religions; for example, Isis and Serapis. Borchert called attention to the use by early Christians of the symbol of the fish as an identifying mark: the Greek word for fish was ἰχθύς (ichthys), whose letters stood for Ιησους Χριστος Θεου Υιος Σωτηρ (Jesus Christ, God’s Son, Savior). The term 'savior' took a prominent position in the confessions of faith in the New Testament and the early church."
- Bryant, B. H., & Krause, M. S. (1998). John (Jn 4:42)

Day 124: John 3:22-36, 4:1-3

“For he whom God has sent utters the words of God, for he gives the Spirit without measure. The Father loves the Son and has given all things into his hand.” - John 3:34-35 ESV

John the Baptist's disciples are in a panic. This "Lamb of God" that John had baptized and announced is now officially stealing the thunder from their own rabbi (and them, if they are honest). Their competitive nature has been activated!

John's response was definitely not something they had expected. He realized that the role of his ministry was temporary in design. He was to prepare the way and be the voice calling out in the wilderness (see Isaiah 40:3). Now it was time for him to decrease so that Jesus could take His rightful place as Messiah.

The difference between John and Jesus was the truth of limitlessness. Jesus was to empower His followers with the Holy Spirit, and He was the Son of God and thus had authority over everyone and everything.

How much strength do you require? Jesus can give you what you need and more. Not only that, but He can turn to the person next to you and do the same for them.

Jesus, empower us with so much of Your Holy Spirit that we are overflowing with His fruit (Galatians 5:22-23) and assurance (1 John 3:24).

"In rabbinic literature is a statement that throws some light on this: ‘R. Aha said: “Even the Holy Spirit resting on the prophets does so by weight [or measure], one prophet speaking one book of prophecy and another speaking two books” ’ (Leviticus Rabbah 15:2), i.e. God gave his Spirit by measure to the prophets in accordance with the task he assigned them. If the evangelist is alluding to this sort of teaching, he is saying that God poured out his Spirit upon Jesus in much greater measure than he ever did on the prophets. Because God poured out his Spirit upon Jesus ‘without limit’, he can speak the words of God, and, when he does, those words are completely trustworthy."
- Kruse, C. G. (2003). John: an introduction and commentary (Vol. 4, pp. 125–126)

Day 123: John 3:1-21

“And this is the judgment: the light has come into the world, and people loved the darkness rather than the light because their works were evil. For everyone who does wicked things hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his works should be exposed.” - John 3:19-20 ESV

I was once privileged to hear New Testament scholar Gary Habermas in a live Q&A. He laid out so many convincing proofs for the historical validity of the resurrection of Jesus. With so much rock-solid evidence, there were many of us in the audience that wondered why more skeptics don't turn and put their faith in Jesus. This intelligent man got very quiet and replied, "They ultimately don't want to change."

John 3:16 gets most of the headlines as we share the gospel with others. I mean, it is definitely all it is cracked up to be, but there is so much more we need to consider as we share the Good News of Jesus with the nations.

One of the most challenging hurdles to get over is the fact that people love darkness. They enjoy getting what they want when they want it. They love not having to be accountable to God. I mean, it does wonders for your conscience to believe that any lifestyle is fair game as long as you don't break any laws.

Yet Jesus is calling us to so much more. A life that doesn't run from the light for fear of getting caught, but a life that welcomes the warmth that the light of Jesus offers.

Jesus, expose us. Jesus, heal us. Jesus, send us.

"Jesus and Nicodemus were talking together at night. Jesus warned that 'men loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil' and that one who does evil 'will not come into the light for fear that his deeds will be exposed' (John 3:19, 20). Jesus challenged Nicodemus to accept the Light that God had sent into the world, even God’s one and only Son."
- Foster, L. (1987). John: Unlocking the Scriptures for You (p. 44)