John 6: “We have to do WHAT???”
What did Jesus mean when He said we must eat His flesh and drink His blood? After Jesus crossed to Capernaum, those who had been fed came looking for Him, asking, “Rabbi, why did you come here?” (v 25). We start getting to the heart of the matter when Jesus said, “Do not labor for the food which perishes, but for the food which endures to everlasting life, which the Son of Man will give you” (v 27). The Jews…
John 5: You Would Not Come to Me
The burdens of Rome and the local sectarian religious hierarchy made life difficult for Israel. There had been no word from the Lord, no prophet, and no miracles for more than four hundred years. The Maccabean rebellion two centuries earlier delivered Israel from the Greek empire, but it didn’t provide permanent freedom for God’s people, primarily because such was never God’s intent. Subsequent rebellions were squashed with the insurrectionists reduced to memories of failure (Mark 15:7; Acts 5:36-37). But when…
John 4: Those who worship God
Given the current religious climate, I borrowed some thoughts from Wendell Winkler on the matter of worship. One of his “signature sermons” was based on a single verse found in today’s reading. In John 4:24, we have a single sentence that speaks volumes about worship: “God is spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and in truth.” From our text we can learn the following: God is the author of worship. Man has never been at liberty…
John 3: You must be born again
“Unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God” (John 3:3). This is one of the most well-known, yet most misunderstood, texts in all the Bible. Folks who miss it are in good company because Nicodemus did not understand it. But Jesus explained Himself in verse 5, yet many still do not understand. One reason for this error is the failure to recognize the language. Verse 5 teaches the exact same thing as verse 3. There is…
John 2: Did Jesus really make wine as we know it?
In most any biblical discussion of teetotalling vs social drinking, the seminal event of John 2 is broached. The pro-alcohol proponent usually claims that Jesus made alcoholic wine at the wedding feast, but the evidence and tenor of the text tells a difference story. First, there is the overall biblical view of the casual use of alcohol. The testimony of Scripture is decidedly negative toward the non-medicinal use of alcoholic beverages. Solomon sought to gratify himself with wine and determined…
John 1: Pictures of Jesus
John’s Gospel is unique among the four. Rather than being written to a specific audience, John presents Jesus as the Son of God. Chapter one sets this tone from the very first verse: “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.” From this point forward, John works his way through a few days in the life of Jesus to bring his audience this summary, “And truly Jesus did many other signs…
Luke 24: Two forgotten witnesses
The resurrection accounts are among the most powerful and important in all of Scripture. Without them, Christianity is nothing more than Islam, the Eastern mystic religions, or any other humanly-devised religion. The resurrection of Jesus is the foundation of Christianity and what sets it apart from all other religions. In his account of the resurrection, Luke dedicated half of the chapter to the experience of two unnamed men walking from Jerusalem to Emmaus. Emmaus was a village some seven miles…
Luke 23: He should have made a friend of Jesus
“The enemy of my enemy is my friend” is an ancient proverb from India, predating the Lord Jesus by about four centuries. It is generally used to forge military alliances between non-allied nations against a common foe. For example, the United States and France were not allies at the time of the American Revolution, but both had Great Britain as a common enemy at the time, leading France to assist the States in their war for independence. In today’s reading…
Luke 22: And the Lord turned and looked at Peter.
When I was a boy and a young man, there was no one on earth I loved and respected more than my Grandpa Burleson. I recall as a teenager thinking about how embarrassed I would be if he knew what foolishness I was getting in to, always hopeful he would never find out. It killed me inside any time I ever disappointed him. He never had to say anything; you just knew. One can only imagine what went through Peter’s…
Luke 21: The Widow’s Might, a.k.a., Who has despised the day of small things?
Haggai and Zechariah were contemporaries who were called into service after Israel’s return from captivity. The foundation of the temple had been laid, then the work was set aside as people pursued their own interests (Hag 1:4, 9). But as the people rebuilt the temple, those who had seen it in its former glory began to weep (Hag 2:3), as the new temple would never match the glory of the former. God told Haggai the glory of the new would…