Guided reading plans to help you read and understand the Bible.
If you do only one thing today, make sure you are able to share with someone why Good Friday is Good.
For Jews demand signs and Greeks seek wisdom, but we preach Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and folly to Gentiles, but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. For the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men.
1 Corinthians 1
We’ve already looked at the words of Caiaphas from John 11, but as we approach Good Friday, take time to dwell on them further.
Then one of them, named Caiaphas, who was high priest that year, spoke up, “You know nothing at all! You do not realize that it is better for you that one man die for the people than that the whole nation perish.”
He did not say this on his own, but as high priest that year he prophesied that Jesus would die for the Jewish nation, and not only for that nation but also for the scattered children of God, to bring them together and make them one. So from that day on they plotted to take his life.
What we see in the giving of Christ’s life is the greatest show of God’s love for us. This song is a great meditation on the depth of such love.
If you are familiar with a text from 2 Peter, you may have some questions as you’re reading about Lot in Genesis. Peter says God “rescued righteous Lot” (2:7). But given his deeds in Genesis 19, Lot doesn’t seem so righteous.
I found an article, by academic dean and pastor in Hawaii, Chris Bruno (PhD from Wheaton), helpful in trying to understand how both passages can be read together. Bruno writes:
It seems that the only way to affirm both the account in Genesis 19 and the teaching of 2 Peter 2 is to read both in concert. And when we are reading these texts canonically and Christologically, the pieces fit together in such a way that they can only lead to one conclusion: Lot was simultaneously righteous and sinful.
Read the rest on The Gospel Coalition’s website.
It seems that after every amazing wonder performed by Christ before the people, the crowds fall into two groups. Jesus reveals that he is true food, the bread of life, and many believe, but many disciples turned back after hearing such a difficult statement. Jesus heals a blind man and the people cannot understand how Jesus could do such a thing. They wonder how could a man who is not from God restore sight, but would a man from God heal on the Sabbath? Divisions arise whenever Jesus speaks boldly and reveals himself to the people.
You might think that believing today is difficult. To put faith in something we cannot see is hard, and maybe if only we could see Jesus and see what he is able to do, then our doubt would be definitively cast aside. But that wasn’t the case in Jesus’ time, so why would it be so today? It is more than seeing. It is more than our experience. We must trust in Christ, and follow him even when we do not see the way.
What greater miracle could people ask for and what more would–if anything could–convince the crowds and Jewish leaders than raising Lazarus from the dead (John 11). Jesus isn’t messing around here. Lazarus was dead for days. He was wrapped in linen and buried in a tomb, trapped behind a large stone. But Jesus calls him out. He calls Lazarus out of the tomb and back to life, and Lazarus listens. Jesus had already revealed his glory and power in multiple ways, but now he reveals his power over life itself.
And you’d think, of course everyone would believe, trust, and follow Christ now. But again Jesus divides. Many believe in him, and others do not. Seeing Christ overcome death was not enough. The chief priests and Pharisees do not believe and go even further the other way. They gather and decide they must put a stop to this man. If they do not “everyone will believe in him.”
Why is belief in Jesus so bad? John 11:48 says the consequence of that is Rome will come and and take away our place and our nation. They fear that as Jesus increases, they will decrease (which is exactly the goal of John the Baptist, John 3:30). Jesus will disrupt their world, he will challenge their power. It didn’t matter what signs they witness or miracles Jesus performs. They fear Jesus will change their lives and take away what they value. This is not only the fear and weakness of the leaders, but of the people at large. As it says in chapter twelve, “they loved the glory that comes from man more than the glory that comes from God.”
What do we value so much that we can’t risk losing it for the sake of Christ? What positions of power or items of comfort are greater than what we receive in Christ? Do we value the approval of our peers more than that of God? These are real obstacles to faith. Surely seeing Jesus stand before us and turn water to wine would impress. But miracles are not enough. We must in faith believe in him, trust him with our lives, and love him more than we love ourselves.
Fortunately for us, even though we are petty and sinful, Christ still came to save. Back in John 11, as the leaders plot to stop Jesus after they heard about Lazarus, one priest, Caiaphas says that Jesus must be killed. His words serve as an unintentional prophecy and give us the reason Christ came. Caiaphas acknowledges a truth greater than his lips realize, “It is better for one to die for the people, than for the whole nation to perish.”
Jesus came to do more than perform miracles. He was sent to this world to overcome sin and to suffer the death that we deserve. He knew that this was the only way, that the one should die so that we may live.
May this be enough for we who have not seen, but still believe.
John 10 is a powerful passage and picture of the love Christ has for us. Jesus is our Shepherd, the one who cares for us, protects us, guides us. He is our Good Shepherd for he will not forsake us, no matter what. We have confidence that we will be with him always and this theme is carried on later in chapter ten as we are told that we cannot be snatched out of God’s hand.
Beyond the imagery of Christ as Good Shepherd, Jesus issues another “I AM” statement in verse nine, “I am the door.” This calls to mind the unique role that Christ has in our faith. There is one flock and one shepherd (v16). We can only enter by Christ, for those who do not enter the door are thieves and robbers (v1).
But in a way the roles of shepherd and door are closely related. This was written about fifty years ago by Eric Bishop and he relates a story he heard while while traveling in the Middle East:
In the afternoon I set out to see the sights about the village. Not far away I came to a mound of earth piled up in a large circle, like a crude rampart, and on the top of the mound all around the circle was a heap of dry thorns. As I stood wondering what this might be one of the villagers approached me. “Salaam,” I said, “please tell me what this enclosure is for.”
“Oh, that is for the sheep,” he replied. “They are brought in here for the night for safety.”
“Good,” I said, “but why have the dry thorns been piled on top of the wall?”
“That,” he replied, “is a protection against wolves. If a wolf tries to break in and attack the sheep, he will knock against the thorns, and they will make a noise, and the shepherd will wake up, and drive off the wolf.”
“That is fine,” I said, “but why does the wolf try to climb over the wall? Here is the entrance to the enclosure; it is open. There is no door to keep out the wolf; he could easily enter here.”
“Oh no,” said my guide, “you do not understand. That is where the shepherd sleeps, the shepherd is the door.”
And then I understood something that had often puzzled me. It became clear to me why Jesus had in John 10 called Himself first the Door and then immediately afterwards the Shepherd. Since He is Shepherd He is also the Door.
Eric F.F. Bishop, “The Door of the Sheep – John x.7-9,” Expository Times 71 (1960): 307-309.
Truly Christ is the Good Shepherd who has laid down his life for us. Take time to contemplate that painful reality as we slowly go through passion week.
Palm Sunday was yesterday and our readings this week cover it again in John 12. In light of that, take a look at this visual poem from Faith and Theology. It fits well as we find ourselves situated between Palm Sunday and Good Friday.
We begin this week’s reading in John with chapter eight where we hear Jesus speak these famous words:
If you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples, and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.
John 8:31-32
How many times have we heard this phrase? Or at least how often do we hear part of it? The truth shall set you free. That’s at least what I am most familiar with.
In a time in which the meaning of truth is ever changing, it is extremely helpful for us that Jesus said these words in context. The truth that sets us free is known when we abide in his word. It isn’t truth in the abstract. It is truth that is found in Jesus, who is the way, the truth, and the life (John 14:6).
What sort of freedom is it that we receive? The hearers of Jesus in John 8 have the initial problem of thinking that they are not slaves nor have they ever been. They, like us, have trouble seeing the ways in which we are slaves to sin, therefore they have difficulty seeing what need they have for someone to free them, to liberate them from the bondage in which they live. Christ has no problem in shining his light on our sin, revealing to us the darkness that surrounds us. His freedom overcomes the power of sin and is a freedom we could not procure for ourselves.
Only Christ can do this work and the amazing promise of Jesus is that he can and will set us free. “If the Son sets you free you will be freed indeed.” Christ wants to move us all out of slavery and be brought into his household, no longer as slaves but as children of God. When he does this we are freed from sin and we are freed to obey Christ’s word. Seeing both sides of the freedom is key in recognizing how great a gift freedom is that is found in Christ.
Find rest in that promise as you do spend time abiding in God’s Word. May we abide in it as we read it and as we seek to live it out moment by moment.
Year in the Bible 