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 John 19:7-16: ”Finally…”(please click for todays passage)

”The Jews insisted…the Jews kept shouting…But they shouted…” (7, 12 & 15).

You feel the insistence of the Jewish people as you read through this passage. Pilate doesn’t want them to win, but they just won’t back down. As we have seen, he first compromises, but then he capitulates. He has resisted to some extent; he has held out for a while. But there comes the dreadful, fateful ”Finally” (16)

”Pilate caved in to their demand” (The Message).

This is is how it is with us, is it not?

The voice of the WORLD is so insistent, telling us how we should look and what we ought to desire; where we should go and what we must do; attempting to squeeze us into its mould.

The voice of the FLESH is so insistent, craving within us, often with a red hot destructive desire, for things God forbids and knows will do us harm. We know we shouldn’t. It didn’t satisfy before, and really we know it will prove futile and shameful again. But still we head to the banks of the polluted stream, and stoop to drink the muddy waters. That voice cajoling us; seducing us into believing it’s a fresh, sparkling stream, is so insistent.

The voice of TEMPTATION is so insistent. The old serpent slithers once more into your garden, casts doubt on God’s Word, and proffers forbidden fruit. And we know the story well. We know it doesn’t have a good ending. But still we sink our teeth into the juicy looking specimen held out for the titillation of our taste buds…and again we are poisoned.

Like Pilate, if we first start to compromise with the insistent voices, we will end up capitulating, caving in. We will arrive at our ”Finally” moment.

But isn’t this inevitable? Frail, fallen, fragile creatures that we are, can anything better be expected of us?

Well I suppose the reality is that as broken people living in a broken world, we will often eat the food of failure. But that said, I have to believe that the victory of Christ on the cross means something for my daily life and my on-going struggle with temptation and sin. It is possible to refuse, to resist, to not give in to these raised, clamouring voices of the world, the flesh and the devil. We are seated with Christ in the heavenly realms (Ephesians 2:1-11). If the devil and the powers are under Jesus’ feet, and we are ”in” Him, they are under our feet also. Therefore a different ”Finally” is possible (Ephesians 6:10ff). Don’t settle for a defeatist attitude. Jesus’ death deserves a different response.

PRAYER: Thank you Lord that my fight is not for victory but FROM victory. Teach me please to stand in your triumph.

John 19:1-6: What fear can do.(please click here for todays passage)

It is obvious that Pontius Pilate was afraid (8), and fear can be a dangerous thing. 

”Fear of man will prove to be a snare, but whoever trusts in the LORD is kept safe” (Proverbs 29:25).

Out of fear, Pilate went along with the crowd (18:40 – 19:1). He was swayed by the loudest voices (12, 13). As powerfully as the voice of conscience spoke to him, the voices in the angry mob registered more deeply. He was scared. He sought to save his life (12) – to protect what he had: position, influence, privilege etc. But He lost it. He heard the implicit threat in their shouted words, and he backed off. He wanted to save Jesus; but he wanted his life in the governor’s palace even more.

Out of fear, Pilate did not live up to his deepest, truest convictions. He knew that Jesus was innocent (4,6). He was without excuse. The Lord should not have been ”flogged” (1), let alone crucified. Pilate knew something important and true about Jesus, but He did not act according to that knowledge. There was a credibility gap between what his head and heart most assuredly knew and where his feet went. Does this remind you of anyone. I heard Rick Warren highlight a problem we have in the evangelical world, namely that we know far more than we do.

I was thinking also that there is a form of ‘worship’, where we repeatedly gather and use the right words, and we try to dress Jesus in ”purple” robes of praise, but it will be like a slap in the face to Him if our hearts are not right. From such outward forms, without real power, may God the Holy Spirit deliver us.

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”.

 John 17: 6-19: The Lord’s Prayer.(please click for todays passage)

Again, we are reminded that the life of discipleship begins with the action of sovereign grace (6-8). God takes the initiative.

It could be said that this chapter also contains ‘the Lord’s prayer’. In today’s verses we overhear Jesus’ prayer for the 11 (as they now were: verse 12b). It provides an insight into his heart; we get to feel His pulse, and this can surely helps us to know how to pray for fellow-Christ followers.

He prayed for:

PROTECTION

Protection by the Name of Jesus (11, 12). The Name stands for all that He really and truly is. It’s more than a label. The Name ‘Jesus’ means ‘Saviour’, ‘Deliverer’, ‘Rescuer’.

Jesus prayed for protection:

 because they were ”still in the world” (11), and the world is a dangerous place for disciples of Christ (14). We are ‘in’ it, but not ‘of’ it (16). It is the Word of God that makes the difference. Life lived according to Christ’s Word marks us out as different. We become travellers in an opposite direction. It puts us on a collision course with the  current, evil world system: ”I gave them your word; the godless world hated them because of it, Because they didn’t join the world’s ways, Just as I didn’t join the world’s ways…They are no more defined by the world Than I am defined by the world.” The Message. The world hates and persecutes such people;

from the devil (15). As in the other Lord’s Prayer, He prays for deliverance from the evil one. He does not ask for their removal from the world. They are sent on a mission into it, as He was (18). He just asks for their protection from Satan;

for unity (11b). How insightful was this prayer of our Lord. He knew that relationships among disciples would always be under threat from the evil one, and He prayed for protection in this area.

JOY (13)

It was obviously going to be a difficult life for Jesus’ disciples. He was only too aware of the fact. But He wanted them to experience the joy He Himself had in the face of the trials, the temptations, the onslaught of evil.

SANCTIFICATION (17)

The Word of God may get us persecuted, as we have seen. But it also brings purity into our lives. It is God’s main way of shaping, forming His people into the image of Christ. So let’s give ourselves to reading, studying, knowing and living the Book of God.

”Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life.” (John 6:68).