John 21:20-25
Peter has been beautifully reinstated and told to follow Jesus again. Then Peter looks over his shoulder and sees “the disciple whom Jesus loved” already doing just that. Peter asks, “Lord, what about this man?” “What ...
April 9, 2024 Read
John 21:15-19
The beach along the Sea of Galilee becomes the scene for one of the most moving exchanges with Jesus in the gospels. Remember that just days before, Peter insisted emphatically that even if everyone else falls away, he will remain loyal. He will no...
April 8, 2024 Read
John 21:1-14
The gospels record several different appearances of Jesus to his disciples following his resurrection. After their initial meeting, Jesus told the disciples to leave Jerusalem and return to Galilee where they would see him again. As this chapter op...
April 5, 2024 Read
John 20:24-31
On that first Easter morning, Mary became the first person to discover the empty tomb and the first person to whom the risen Jesus appeared. Later that evening, Jesus suddenly came and stood among his disciples who were hiding together behind...
April 4, 2024 Read
John 20:19-23
The disciples lock themselves behind closed doors for fear that the authorities may come looking for them given their close association with Jesus. Interestingly, Peter and John have already witnessed the empty tomb and believe that Jesus had been ...
April 3, 2024 Read
John 20:1-18
The central claim of Easter is that Jesus of Nazareth was mocked, tortured and executed on a Roman cross at 3 o’clock on a Friday afternoon and then buried in a tomb sealed by armed guards. Early the following Sunday morning, Jesus was raised...
April 2, 2024 Read
John 19:31-42
There have always been those who have said that Jesus did not actually die on the cross. He merely fainted and then revived several days later after he had been laid in the cool of the tomb. Personally, I find it harder to believe that after being ...
April 1, 2024 Read
John 19:16b-30
This passage describes Jesus’ final hours as he is shamefully put to death on a Roman cross. The inscription Pilate places on the cross was meant to be a form of mockery as well as a deterrent. Any “would-be Messiahs” who claim to...
March 29, 2024 Read
John 19:1-16
“Behold, the man!” Pilate does his utmost to mock and humiliate Jesus despite the fact that Pilate believes Jesus is innocent of the charges made against him. He has Jesus flogged. The soldiers twist together a crown of thorns to place ...
March 28, 2024 Read
John 18:28-40
This is perhaps the greatest face-off in history. Jesus is handed over to the Roman governor Pontius Pilate by the religious authorities in Judea who seek to have Jesus put to death - not on the grounds of heresy against God, but on the grounds of ...
March 27, 2024 Read
John 18:15-27
The gospel of John presents us with two scenes that have been sandwiched together in order to show us what was happening simultaneously to Peter on the one hand and Jesus on the other. The scene involving Peter provides the bookends around the scen...
March 26, 2024 Read
John 18:1-14
The gospel of John quite self-consciously styles itself as a new Genesis. Recall the opening lines of the gospel: “In the beginning...was the Word.” Now we find that we are once again in a garden, and Jesus is presented to us as the new...
March 25, 2024 Read
John 17:20-26
This prayer should be included among a Christian’s most highly valued treasures. Jesus not only prays for his immediate group of disciples, but for all those who will come to believe in him through their witness. In other words, Jesus is pray...
March 22, 2024 Read
John 17:9-19
Jesus offers a special prayer for the disciples whom the Father has entrusted into his care. It is hard to imagine more moving words than the ones Jesus offers here for his friends. Jesus recognizes that he can no longer be physically present with ...
March 21, 2024 Read
John 17:1-8
Jesus promised to give us direct access to the Father through the Spirit, and now Jesus shows us what that entails. This chapter astonishingly draws us all the way into the intimate prayer life of Jesus during his final hours. We should take off ou...
March 20, 2024 Read
John 16:23-33
Jesus will go to the Father and send the Spirit, which will open up the closest possible intimacy between us and God. Jesus gives us direct access to the Father. There is no need for any other mediator or go-between. The Father loves us, and theref...
March 19, 2024 Read
John 16:16-22
This is a classic example of how hard it is for the disciples to understand Jesus’ words. “What do you mean by ‘a little while, and you will see me no longer; and again a little while, and you will see me?’” That certa...
March 18, 2024 Read
John 16:8-15
Jesus assures us that when the Holy Spirit comes, he will “convict the world.” Specifically, the Spirit will demonstrate that the world is wrong with respect to sin, righteousness and judgment. The Spirit will prove the world is guilty ...
March 15, 2024 Read
John 16:4b-7
Though Jesus’ followers are filled with sorrow at the prospect of Jesus’ departure, he informs them that it is to their advantage that he goes away. It is only by leaving that Jesus can send the Helper, the Holy Spirit, to us. When the ...
March 14, 2024 Read
John 15:26-16:4a
Though we may experience mistreatment at the hands of those who act in willful blindness and ignorance against the one whom the Father has sent “into the world,” Jesus provides us with this even greater consolation. Jesus will give us t...
March 13, 2024 Read
John 15:18-25
Jesus is utterly realistic about the world in which we live. On the one hand, “the world” refers to God’s good creation and the people who inhabit it. This is the world that God loves and which Jesus will die to save. But this ver...
March 12, 2024 Read
John 15:12-17
To inspire us to ever higher acts of love for one another, Jesus reminds us that the greatest expression of love is that one person should lay down one’s life for a friend. This, of course, is what Jesus has done for us. But how can Jesus tel...
March 11, 2024 Read
John 15:9-11
Jesus shares an astonishing fact with us. As the Father has loved the Son, so Jesus loves us. Stop and consider how much love the Father must have for his perfect Son, who from all eternity has lived to do the Father’s will. It is almost too ...
March 8, 2024 Read
John 15:4-9
Our task is to abide in Jesus. He is the nutrient we need in order to bear fruit for God. There is no life apart from him. But how do we “stay put” in Jesus? We remain in Jesus by soaking in his word. For starters, that means that we ne...
March 7, 2024 Read
John 15:1-3
I am no gardener, but apparently Jesus knew his onions - or perhaps we should say Jesus knew his vines. Vine branches must be pruned on an annual basis in order to ensure the vine has adequate nutrients to produce high quality grapes. If the vine b...
March 6, 2024 Read
John 14:27-30
Those who take Jesus’ words to heart and put them into action will receive his peace as a gift. This peace is something the world around us knows nothing of and could never give. It is a peace which comes from knowing that Jesus is indeed one...
March 5, 2024 Read
John 14:25-26
Jesus has spoken many words to his disciples during this farewell discourse, and there are more words to come. The disciples cannot possibly absorb everything Jesus has said in the moment. But Jesus plants these seeds while he is still with them so...
March 4, 2024 Read
John 14:15-24
Jesus promises that he will not leave us as orphans. He warns his followers that though he must leave us temporarily because of his impending death on the cross, he will give us something better than his physical presence in a human body. He will a...
March 1, 2024 Read
John 14:12-14
Many people are understandably perplexed by Jesus’ claim that whoever believes in him will do even greater works than he has done. This cannot simply mean Jesus’ followers will do more works than Jesus. And it is hard to imagine Jesus&r...
February 29, 2024 Read
John 14:4-11
Jesus tells his disciples: "You know the way to where I am going." This, however, is where the confusion sets in. Thomas interjects: "We do not know where you are going, so how can we know the way?" Jesus’ response is one of the most controve...
February 28, 2024 Read
John 14:1-3
Jesus exhorts his disciples not to let their hearts be troubled. Easier said than done! The problem is that they have received a lot of depressing news. Jesus has already informed them that one of them will betray him, Peter will deny him, and now ...
February 27, 2024 Read
John 13:36-38
Jesus’ clarion call to love is quickly followed by words of foreboding. Peter, ever eager to impress Jesus with his earnestness, insists that he is willing to follow Jesus wherever he goes. He claims that he is willing even to lay down his li...
February 26, 2024 Read
John 13:34-35
Having warned his followers of his impending departure and their inability to follow him beyond this point, Jesus gives them a new commandment: to love one another. But in what sense is this command new? God had already instructed his people: Love ...
February 23, 2024 Read
John 13:31-33
Once Judas leaves the company of the disciples to do his dark deed, Jesus comforts the disciples with his unique perspective on all that is about to befall him. Jesus knows that their hearts and minds are weak, and so he strengthens them with these...
February 22, 2024 Read
John 13:21-30
Jesus confirms with a heavy heart that one of his disciples will betray him. This, of course, sparks their curiosity as well as their fear. The disciple who was seated closest to Jesus, most likely the author of this gospel, asks the question that ...
February 21, 2024 Read
John 13:15-20
Jesus has given us an example that we should follow it. Of course, it is one thing to know this, and another to do it. Jesus suggests it is the one who actually does what he says who is blessed. Jesus knows those who truly belong to him (those whom...
February 20, 2024 Read
John 13:12-14
After answering Peter’s initial objections, Jesus explains his reasons for washing his disciples’ feet. This action was intended to provide them with an object lesson. His followers rightly refer to Jesus as “Teacher and Lord," bu...
February 19, 2024 Read
John 13:6-11
With a basin of water and a towel around his waist, Jesus drops to his knees and proceeds to wash his disciples’ feet, a form of service that was reserved for the lowest of the low. Not surprisingly, Peter sharply objects to t...
February 16, 2024
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John 13:1-5
With the opening lines of John 13, we are taken to the “upper room” where Jesus made advance preparations to share a final meal with his disciples. Jesus always had a strong sense of time. Unlike us, his timing was never off. He knew th...
February 15, 2024 Read