Thursday, March 31

Thomas answered, “My Lord and my God!”  Jesus said to him, “Have you believed because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.” Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence of the disciples, which are not written in this book; but these are written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name. John 20:28-31

Thought for the Day: Worship and the Word

How do we know God? How do we know Jesus? How do we really know divine truth? To help answer these questions, Martin Luther wrote:

God does not want to be know except through Christ; nor can he be known in any other way. Christ is the offspring promised to Abraham; on him God has grounded all his promises. Therefore Christ alone is the means, the life, and the mirror through which we see God and know his will. Through Christ God declares his favor and mercy to us. In Christ we see that God is not an angry master and judge but a gracious and kind father, who blesses us, that is, who delivers us from the law, sin, death, and every evil, and gives us righteousness and eternal life through Christ. This is a certain and true knowledge of God and divine persuasion, which does not fail, but depicts God himself in a specific form, apart from which there is no God.

For Christians, Jesus is the embodiment and self-revelation of God. When we see, when we hear, when we are in the presence of Jesus, we see, hear, and are with God. John’s Gospel makes this very clear. At the heart of the Christian faith stands a living person, not a book. Christianity focuses on Jesus Christ. There is, however, an inextricably intimate connection between the Word of God incarnate and the Word of God in Scripture. Jesus Christ is made known to us through the witness of Scripture, which centers on who he is and what he has done for us.  Although Scripture is a bearer of the self-revelation of God in Christ, it is not to be identified directly with that self-revelation. Scripture is not Jesus. Yet the same God who gave us Jesus also gave us Scripture as a witness to him.

Through the written Word we have access to the living Word. It is through Jesus that the truth of God comes to us. And this truth of Jesus is given only in Scripture. The central thought and subject which binds all parts of the Bible together, and in the light of which they are to be understood, is the person and work of Jesus. He gives Scripture its unity, and because he is the fulfillment of its prophecy, his life and teachings confirm Scripture’s authority. Scripture is therefore authoritative for us. As disciples of Jesus, to allow our ideas and values to become controlled by anything or anyone other than the self-revelation of God in Scripture is to adopt an ideology and become controlled by ideas and values that lie outside the Bible. This is why we honor God’s Word written and place it at the center of our worship of God’s Word incarnate.

Self-examination, repentance, prayer, and worship:

Before you pray, take some time to reflect on your faith. Perhaps there are areas of doubt that are bothering you. Speak honestly to the Lord about these doubts and ask him to increase your faith by strengthening you with his truth, and then pray a prayer like the following:

O God, by whom the meek are guided in judgment, and light rises up in darkness for the godly: Grant us, in all our doubts and uncertainties, the grace to ask what you would have us to do, that the Spirit of wisdom may save us from all false choices, guiding us into all truth, and that in your light we may see light, and in your straight path may not stumble; through Jesus Christ our Lord,. Amen.

Spend further time in prayer and worship before studying the Gospel of John below.

Study: John 7:25-52, Can This Be the Christ?

 ²⁵Some of the people of Jerusalem therefore said, "Is not this the man whom they seek to kill? ²⁶And here he is, speaking openly, and they say nothing to him! Can it be that the authorities really know that this is the Christ? ²⁷But we know where this man comes from, and when the Christ appears, no one will know where he comes from." ²⁸So Jesus proclaimed, as he taught in the temple, "You know me, and you know where I come from? But I have not come of my own accord. He who sent me is true, and him you do not know. ²⁹I know him, for I come from him, and he sent me." ³⁰So they were seeking to arrest him, but no one laid a hand on him, because his hour had not yet come. ³¹Yet many of the people believed in him. They said, "When the Christ appears, will he do more signs than this man has done?"

 ³²The Pharisees heard the crowd muttering these things about him, and the chief priests and Pharisees sent officers to arrest him. ³³Jesus then said, "I will be with you a little longer, and then I am going to him who sent me. ³⁴You will seek me and you will not find me. Where I am you cannot come." ³⁵The Jews said to one another, "Where does this man intend to go that we will not find him? Does he intend to go to the Dispersion among the Greeks and teach the Greeks? ³⁶What does he mean by saying, 'You will seek me and you will not find me,' and, 'Where I am you cannot come'?"

 ³⁷On the last day of the feast, the great day, Jesus stood up and cried out, "If anyone thirsts, let him come to me and drink. ³⁸Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, 'Out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.'" ³⁹Now this he said about the Spirit, whom those who believed in him were to receive, for as yet the Spirit had not been given, because Jesus was not yet glorified.

 ⁴⁰When they heard these words, some of the people said, "This really is the Prophet." ⁴¹Others said, "This is the Christ." But some said, "Is the Christ to come from Galilee? ⁴²Has not the Scripture said that the Christ comes from the offspring of David, and comes from Bethlehem, the village where David was?" ⁴³So there was a division among the people over him. ⁴⁴ Some of them wanted to arrest him, but no one laid hands on him.

 ⁴⁵ The officers then came to the chief priests and Pharisees, who said to them, "Why did you not bring him?" ⁴⁶The officers answered, "No one ever spoke like this man!" ⁴⁷The Pharisees answered them, "Have you also been deceived? ⁴⁸Have any of the authorities or the Pharisees believed in him? ⁴⁹But this crowd that does not know the law is accursed." ⁵⁰ Nicodemus, who had gone to him before, and who was one of them, said to them, ⁵¹ "Does our law judge a man without first giving him a hearing and learning what he does?" ⁵²They replied, "Are you from Galilee too? Search and see that no prophet arises from Galilee."

Reflection Questions:

1)  Jesus faced a lot of opposition from the people and the leaders of the people. Why do you feel he faced so much opposition to his teaching?

2)  We first encountered Nicodemus in Chapter 3. What change do you see in him? He will show up again in Chapter 19 for the burial of Jesus.

Wednesday, March 30

Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me shall not hunger, and whoever believes in me shall never thirst.” John 6:35

Thought for the Day: Being Hungry for the Word

Not only is the Bible a book of truth about God that is taught by God, it is also a book of life written as a personal letter to each of God’s children. The Bible teaches us how to serve God and how not to serve him. It teaches us how to find him and how we can keep from hiding ourselves from him. Yet perhaps the greatest truth the Bible teaches is that we can never take God by surprise. He always takes the first move. Before we find him, he has already sought us out. Before we reach out a hand to him, he has reached out for us. As John Stott writes, “The Bible reveals a God who, long before it even occurs to man to turn to him, while man is still lost in darkness and sunk in sin, takes the initiative, rises from his throne, lays aside his glory, and stoops to seek until he finds him.”

Of course who Stott is writing about is Jesus. The greatest word God has spoken to the world is Jesus. From the start, John’s gospel reminds us that Christianity is not about doing but about what has already been done for us and for the world in Jesus:

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made. In him was life, and the life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it. . . . The true light, which enlightens everyone, was coming into the world. He was in the world, and the world was made through him, yet the world did not know him. He came to his own, and his own people did not receive him. But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God, who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God. And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth. . . . And from his fullness we have all received, grace upon grace. For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. No one has ever seen God; the only God, who is at the Father’s side, he has made him known (John 1:1-5, 9-14, 16-18).

Jesus has revealed the One true God to us. He has given us the right to become children of God. God’s chief complaint against man is that we don’t seek him: The Lord looks down from heaven upon the children of man, to see if there are any who understand, who seek after God. They have all turned aside; together they have become corrupt; there is none who does good, not even one (Psalm 14:2-3). So God did something about it in his Son, and now we are called children of God rather than children of man. Accordingly, we are to read the Bible as children of God and not as children of man.

Unfortunately, we tend to read the Bible selectively like children of man, picking verses here and there that suit our needs. What is missing in our lives is the whole Bible that tells us who we are and what God calls us to. Jesus says that he is the way and the truth and the life, so if we are truly to follow him, then we best have a deep hunger to understand the way and the truth and the life, and the place we will understand is in Scripture. Once we are hungry for this, we will find ourselves digging into God’s Word, for there is little more important to spreading the Christian faith than knowing and living out the message it proclaims. Paul says in Romans 10:17, Faith comes by hearing and hearing through the word of Christ. The word of Christ, the message of who he is and what he has done, brings people to faith and to new birth. Peter says that God causes the new birth through this witness: you have been born again, not of perishable seed but of imperishable, through the living and abiding word of God (1 Peter 1:23). Behind the word and behind believing is the hand of God. James, the brother of Jesus, adds this: Of his own will he brought us forth by the word of truth (James 1:18). God uses his word to work his will. The word of God and the will of God are intermingled. For us to know his will and to know his way, we need to know his word, for his word is truth and life. As Jesus said, “Man does not live on bread alone but on every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.”

Self-examination, repentance, prayer, and worship:

Before you pray, take some time to reflect on the most important human relationships in your life. Perhaps there is one in particular that is troubled and about which you are concerned. Ask the Lord to assist in correcting/reconciling that relationship, and then pray a prayer like the following:

O God the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, our only Savior, the Prince of Peace: Give us grace seriously to lay to heart the great dangers we are in by unhappy divisions in our relationships in life, especially those in your Church; take away all hatred and prejudice, and whatever else may hinder us from godly union and concord; that, as there is but one Body and one Spirit, one hope of our calling, one Lord, one Faith, one Baptism, one God and Father of us all, so we may be all of one heart and one soul, united in one holy bond of truth and peace, of faith and charity, and may with one mind and one mouth glorify you; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

Spend further time in prayer and worship before studying the Gospel of John below.

Study: John 7:1-24, Jesus at the Feast of Booths

 ¹After this Jesus went about in Galilee. He would not go about in Judea, because the Jews were seeking to kill him. ²Now the Jews’ Feast of Booths was at hand. ³So his brothers said to him, "Leave here and go to Judea, that your disciples also may see the works you are doing. ⁴For no one works in secret if he seeks to be known openly. If you do these things, show yourself to the world." ⁵For not even his brothers believed in him. ⁶Jesus said to them, "My time has not yet come, but your time is always here. ⁷The world cannot hate you, but it hates me because I testify about it that its works are evil. ⁸You go up to the feast. I am not going up to this feast, for my time has not yet fully come." ⁹After saying this, he remained in Galilee.

 ¹⁰But after his brothers had gone up to the feast, then he also went up, not publicly but in private. ¹¹ The Jews were looking for him at the feast, and saying, "Where is he?" ¹²And there was much muttering about him among the people. While some said, "He is a good man," others said, "No, he is leading the people astray." ¹³Yet for fear of the Jews no one spoke openly of him.

 ¹⁴About the middle of the feast Jesus went up into the temple and began teaching. ¹⁵The Jews therefore marveled, saying, "How is it that this man has learning, when he has never studied?" ¹⁶So Jesus answered them, "My teaching is not mine, but his who sent me. ¹⁷ If anyone’s will is to do God’s will, he will know whether the teaching is from God or whether I am speaking on my own authority. ¹⁸The one who speaks on his own authority seeks his own glory; but the one who seeks the glory of him who sent him is true, and in him there is no falsehood. ¹⁹ Has not Moses given you the law? Yet none of you keeps the law. Why do you seek to kill me?" ²⁰The crowd answered, "You have a demon! Who is seeking to kill you?" ²¹Jesus answered them, "I did one work, and you all marvel at it. ²² Moses gave you circumcision (not that it is from Moses, but from the fathers), and you circumcise a man on the Sabbath. ²³If on the Sabbath a man receives circumcision, so that the law of Moses may not be broken, are you angry with me because on the Sabbath I made a man’s whole body well? ²⁴ Do not judge by appearances, but judge with right judgment."

Reflection Questions:

1)  Jesus says in verse 7 that the world hates him because he declares the truth about the world and people: that their works are evil. What is evil about the works of the world and people?

2)  In speaking about the Sabbath, Jesus was not telling people it should not be observed, but that some work must be done on the Sabbath—works of mercy and grace. Why do you think Jesus chose to heal people on the Sabbath?

Tuesday, March 29

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 6:68-69

Thought for the Day: Knowing God; Knowing His Word

Because Scripture witnesses to the revelation of God, it is the central resource of Christian faith. The Second Vatican Council declared the importance and authority of Scripture when it issued this statement: Since everything asserted by the inspired authors or sacred writers must be held to be asserted by the Holy Spirit, it follows that the books of Scripture must be acknowledged as teaching firmly, faithfully, and without error that truth which God wanted put into the sacred writings for the sake of our salvation. In other words, the truth of our faith is found in Scripture written by human authors inspired by the Holy Spirit. God has thus revealed himself in Scripture for our salvation.

Unlike the earliest Christians, we have easy access to Scripture, owning personal Bibles, putting Bible apps on our iPhones, etc. Yet we should not read Scripture and understand it as though it had never been read before. Tradition, correctly understood, is a way of understanding Scripture in line with how the Christian church has accepted it. Tradition is a history of interpreting and wrestling with God’s Word, meaning that Scripture is best understood in community rather than exclusively by the individual. Even the great reformers, Luther and Calvin, in the Reformation principle of sola scriptura (Scripture alone is authoritative), never intended for private judgment to supersede that of the Church.

And yet the great joy of going deep into our faith through Bible reading is primarily an individual activity. When the New Testament declares that Jesus is risen from the dead, it means that the relationship that the disciples had with Jesus in the days he walked with them can be enjoyed by anyone, anywhere today! The difference is that we hear Jesus talking through Scripture. Whereas the original disciples, the earliest Christians, were only beginning to grasp at the truths about the divinity of Jesus and his sacrificial death, we can read and comprehend them in the Gospels and the other written biblical record. If we want to know Jesus as his disciples did, then we must walk with him through Scripture to get to know him.

In Knowing God, J. I. Packer writes: Knowing God is a matter of personal dealing, as is all direct acquaintance with personal beings. Knowing God is more than knowing about him; it is a matter of dealing with him as he opens up to you, and being dealt with by him as he takes knowledge of you. . . . a simple Bible reader and sermon hearer who is full of the Holy Spirit will develop a far deeper acquaintance with his God and Savior than a more learned scholar who is content with being theologically correct. The reason is that the former will deal with God regarding the practical application of truth to his life, whereas the latter will not. . . . To get to know another person, you have to commit yourself to his company and interests, and be ready to identify yourself with his concerns. Without this, your relationship with him can only be superficial and flavorless. Therefore, as the psalmist writes, “Taste and see that the Lord is good” (Psalm 34:8). We come to know God by engaging with him in his Word. And as we do we will find that his Word brings us comfort as well as conviction of sin, hope for our future as well as knowledge of who we are today in Christ.

When Jesus confronted his disciples with difficult teaching, many of them turned away. But Peter said to him, “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 6:68-69). When we come to know Jesus through his word, we come to know who he really is and believe in him. Nothing can annul God’s truth. As Psalm 119:151 states, “All your commands are true.” Jesus says, “The Scripture cannot be broken” (John 10:35). When we read God’s word we need to know that God stands behind all his promises. He does not change. He is a God who keeps covenant with us. We falter; we change. But the Word of God stands forever; the biblical revelation of the mind of God is valid forever. We can trust the Bible for it is God’s Holy Word.

Self-examination, repentance, prayer, and worship:

Before you pray, take some time to reflect on your sins. Perhaps there is one in particular about which you are concerned. Tell the Lord you are sorry, ask him to help you stop this sin, and then pray a prayer like the following:

Have mercy on me, O God, according to your loving-kindness; in your great compassion blot out my offenses. Wash me through and through from my wickedness, and cleanse me from my sin. For I know my transgressions only too well, and my sin is ever before me. Holy God, Holy and Mighty, Holy Immortal One, have mercy upon us through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

Spend further time in prayer and worship before studying the Gospel of John below.

Study: John 6:60-71, The Words of Eternal Life

 ⁶⁰ When many of his disciples heard it, they said, "This is a hard saying; who can listen to it?" ⁶¹But Jesus, knowing in himself that his disciples were grumbling about this, said to them, "Do you take offense at this? ⁶²Then what if you were to see the Son of Man ascending to where he was before? ⁶³ It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh is no help at all. The words that I have spoken to you are spirit and life. ⁶⁴But there are some of you who do not believe." (For Jesus knew from the beginning who those were who did not believe, and who it was who would betray him.) ⁶⁵And he said, "This is why I told you that no one can come to me unless it is granted him by the Father."

 ⁶⁶ After this many of his disciples turned back and no longer walked with him. ⁶⁷So Jesus said to the Twelve, "Do you want to go away as well?" ⁶⁸Simon Peter answered him, "Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life, ⁶⁹and we have believed, and have come to know, that you are the Holy One of God." ⁷⁰Jesus answered them, "Did I not choose you, the Twelve? And yet one of you is a devil." ⁷¹He spoke of Judas the son of Simon Iscariot, for he, one of the Twelve, was going to betray him.

Reflection Questions:

1)  It is interesting to note (verses 64, 70, and 71) that Jesus already knew that Judas was going to betray him and turn him over to be killed. Why do you think he let him remain in his inner circle of disciples?

2)  Peter tells Jesus that he has the words of eternal life. As you have read through John, what words of eternal life have you heard?