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John 18:28: Hypocrisy.(please click for today’s passage)

We can easily be blind to the glaring hypocrisy in our lives. Others may be able to see most clearly what we can’t. As I read this verse today, the blatant hypocrisy of ”the Jews” slaps me about the face. I can’t miss it. But I may yet fail to see the ways in which I’m playing a game.

Basically, the Jewish people wanted to be religious. They wanted to keep the religious rules and remain part of the religious club. They were happy to settle for religion without transformation. So long as they could have the benefits of their faith, they were content to do without repentance and heart change. They were truly concerned, in their ‘washing up’ exercise, to clean the outside of the cup but leave the inside filthy. It was okay in their thinking to kill Jesus, but not to enter Pilate’s palace. Hypocrisy can take us to some tragic, sad and ridiculous places.

To paraphrase Burns, ‘O would that God the gift would give us, to see ourselves as He sees us.’

PRAYER: I recognise that I can be like this. I want to be part of the church, and break bread with brothers and sisters; I desire to share in fellowship. But I don’t really want to be challenged, and I don’t want to change. I want to have my cake and eat it. I want to keep my God and my sin at the same time. From such corrupt and flawed thinking deliver me dear Lord, that my hypocrisy might not bring your Name into disrepute.

John 18:1-11: Who’s in charge around here?(please click for todays passage)

At one level, you could say that Jesus is the victim here. The plot hatched against him, aided and abetted by Judas, begins to unfold. But it doesn’t FEEL like Jesus is the victim. He is presented as the Victor (4-6). The Christ we see in these words is a commanding figure. He is portrayed as in control. He’s the One in charge, even as He is arrested. He appears as a majestic figure, inspiring awe and fear. Clearly there was no lasting change in Jesus’ assailants. At least, the text gives no good reason to think that there was. They quickly recovered their composure and got on with the task in hand. But let’s not lose our grip on this great truth that even when it looks like the opposite, Jesus is Sovereign. He is always in charge around here.

Just another thought. It’s good to have a familiar meeting place with the Lord (2). It can be indoors. It may be outdoors. Do you have a ‘garden’ where you regularly meet with Christ? Although it’s important to meet with Jesus alone, don’t neglect meeting with Him together with other disciples (Hebrews 10:25). Such meetings are precious and lie at the heart of what it means to be the church. You don’t have to have a building. You don’t even need to have large numbers. Two or three will do, so long as you come together in Jesus’ Name (Matthew 18:20).

John 17: 20-26: On Jesus’ prayer list.(please click for todays passage)

It is an incredible thought, is it not, that just before He died on the cross, Jesus prayed for all those who would come to believe through the preaching of the first disciples (20)? This includes you and me. The apostles ‘set the ball rolling’ in terms of announcing the good news; it eventually reached us, and we responded in repentance and faith.

You can’t read this prayer without seeing that, for Jesus, the unity of His followers was very important. It was on His prayer agenda for His first disciples (11), and it was very much on His heart for we believers living in later generations (21, 22 and 23). Jesus saw that the unity among His people should reflect the unity in the Godhead, and it is enabled by our relationship with the Godhead. It is an expression of God’s own love which is planted within us. We can love each other like the members of the Trinity when God sheds His love abroad in our hearts. Furthermore, this unity carries evangelistic clout. As we read in ‘The Message’, it gives ”the godless world evidence”. Church historians tell us how the ancient world was so impacted by the witness of the early church, it caused them to exclaim, ”See how these Christians love one another!”

Every Christian must surely take to heart the words of Jesus in this great prayer. If He cared so much for the unity of the church, how can we care less? Let’s join Him in this prayer for ”complete unity” (23), at the same time doing all we can to ”maintain the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace” (Ephesians 4:3). Work at mending fences and preparing broken bridges. Don’t let the sun go down on your anger and thereby give the devil a foothold (Ephesians 4:26, 27). Be an agent of reconciliation. And look beyond the borders of your own local church and denomination. Seek to have unified relationships with all who truly know and love Jesus. Go as far as you can, without compromising the truth. Some Christians are strong on love, but can be doctrinally woolly; others are strong on truth, but seem hard and even aggressive. We actually need to be strong on both, for finally there can only be real unity in the truth.

PRAYER: Lord, I need to ask your forgiveness for not caring enough about the unity of your church, and for not always living in a way that will promote peace and harmony. I repent, asking for mercy, and that you will make me a ”channel of your peace”.