Posts that focus on the words of Jesus

Test Time

My husband and my son are both taking online classes this summer. This means lots of books to read, online lectures, discussion forums, papers, and the inevitable exams. With these classes, there may only be two or three tests, so doing well on them is key to doing well in the class. So when the lecture comes or the information is posted about what the exam will cover, everyone pays close attention. You may recall classmates (or maybe it was you) in high school or college interrupting a lecture with the $64 question: “Is this going to be on the test?” How the instructor answered that question determined whether we listened for the next few minutes or went back to doodling in the margins of our notebooks. None of us wanted to waste time studying things that seemingly didn’t matter.

In Matthew 24, the disciples ask Jesus a couple of important questions – “Tell us, when will these things be, and what will be the sign of your coming and of the end of the age?” (Matthew 24:3) Jesus answers their questions in a lengthy passage called the Olivet Discourse. Then He gives His guys a couple of parables to help them understand. After the parable of the talents, one which underscores the importance of seizing the opportunity to demonstrate faithfulness, stewardship, and diligence in service to the master, Jesus gives them one more admonition.

For I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, I was naked and you clothed me, I was sick and you visited me, I was in prison and you came to me.’ Matthew 25:35-36

When He comes in His glory, a separation will be made between His sheep and the goats. His sheep will be admitted to eternal rest prepared for them from the foundation of the world, while the goats are consigned to outer darkness. Without arguing the eschatological timing of this separation, let’s focus on the criteria in Matthew 25:35-36.

Feeding the hungry.
Satisfying the thirsty.
Welcoming the outsiders.
Clothing the naked.
Visiting the sick.
Caring for the prisoners.

Jesus, the King, explains, ‘Truly, I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these my brothers, you did it to me.’ Matthew 25:40

My friends, this is what is on the test.

Did our genuine faith lead us to care for others? James hits this hard in his short book.

Religion that is pure and undefiled before God, the Father, is this: to visit orphans and widows in their affliction, and to keep oneself unstained from the world. James 1:27

If a brother or sister is poorly clothed and lacking in daily food, and one of you says to them, “Go in peace, be warmed and filled,” without giving them the things needed for the body, what good is that? So also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead. James 2:15-17

Did we see the unseen? Are we generous? Did we love the marginalized? Did we stand up for those who have no voice?

Or did we hoard our resources? Did we expend them on ourselves? Did we make our names great rather than growing the kingdom? Did we cross over to the other side of the road so we didn’t have to see, so we didn’t have to get involved?

This is not to say that we stop doing the one thing that only we as believers can do and that is spreading the gospel. Not at all, but as the gospel goes out, compassion and caring go with it. We feed the hungry because we know where they can find the Bread of Life. We satisfy the thirsty because we can offer them springs of living water. We welcome the outsiders because Jesus said. “Come unto Me.” We clothe the naked because He offers us His righteousness in exchange for our filthy rags. We visit the sick because the Great Physician has healed us of the sin that was destroying our souls. We care for the prisoners because we have been set free.

Or we abdicate that responsibility, that stewardship and let governments or agencies or nonprofits try it. The body of Christ will continue to grow weak and ineffective and irrelevant.

I believe we have a moment of testing right now. I know Covid-19 has presented challenges to believers and churches unlike any we have seen. But this season of unrest and upheaval in our societies is even greater. The test papers have been handed out. We know what’s on the exam.

How will we respond?

Jesus and Women: The Woman from Sychar

By Paula

John’s gospel devotes a sizable portion of its narrative showing Jesus breaking with the religious and cultural conventions of His day. Of course, this isn’t just Jesus being contrary. No, in each case, something of eternal significance is at stake. In chapter 4, we find Jesus’s conversation with the woman from Sychar.

The Samaritan woman said to him, “How is it that you, a Jew, ask for a drink from me, a woman of Samaria?” (For Jews have no dealings with Samaritans.) John 4:9

Now, you are probably very familiar with the animosity that existed between the Jews and the Samaritans. This dates back to the Assyrian captivity. The Assyrians took the Jews captive, leaving only the poorest in the land, and then repopulated the region with other dregs of humanity from other conquered nations. The association and intermarriages resulted in a mixed race population with a religion that was just as mixed.

When the Jews returned from Babylon, the Samaritans were rebuffed in their offer to help with the rebuilding and then set out to interfere with the project, even slandering Nehemiah to try to bring it to a halt. You can check Nehemiah for more details. The bad blood intensified about a hundred years before Jesus when high priest/king John Hyrcanus overran Samaria and destroyed the temple on Mount Gerizim. This even figures into the conversation Jesus has with the woman.

So against that backdrop, about noon, Jesus sends the disciples off to get lunch and He takes a seat by the town well of Sychar. It isn’t long before a woman comes to draw water from the well. Water-drawing time was usually in the morning and evening and served as a social event. The fact that the woman was coming when she expected the well to be deserted is significant.

A woman from Samaria came to draw water. Jesus said to her, “Give me a drink.” John 4:7

Jesus asks her for a drink. He initiates the conversation. This is huge. Men did not talk to women in public. Especially rabbis. In fact, rabbis didn’t even talk to their wives in public. This was part of that whole “hedge around the Law” thing. To keep from committing any kind of sexual sin, or giving anyone reason to suspect anything, opposite sexes didn’t even talk. Generally religious teachers wouldn’t stoop to talking with common people, so He broke that convention as well. Plus Jews did not, did not, talk to Samaritans.

We know the rest of the story and we know that that this woman had some scandal, some baggage in her life. What is so beautiful about this simple act of humbly asking for a drink, is Jesus, by initiating the conversation, takes the scandal onto Himself.

Are we willing to humbly approach others, enter into their “scandal” to initiate significant eternal conversation with them?

Jesus answered her, “If you knew the gift of God, and who it is that is saying to you, ‘Give me a drink,’ you would have asked him, and he would have given you living water.” John 4:10

Did you notice the topic Jesus immediately jumps to? Not raising kids or fixing dinner or laundry. Not adultery or immorality. Theology. Living water. It turns out she wasn’t as familiar with the Old Testament prophets as Jesus was so He moves to an object lesson. Through it all, He wants her to understand she is more than her past, her sins, her failures, and her reputation. He, the Messiah, the Holy One of Israel, has come to her personally.

Are we willing to engage others deeply, about things of eternal weight, rather than superficially?

“Come, see a man who told me all that I ever did. Can this be the Christ?” John 4:29

The revelation of Christ brought the change in the woman’s life. She didn’t have to change first. Her change didn’t bring His revelation. He graciously revealed Himself to her. This woman from Sychar is the first person in the gospels to hear Jesus’s plain statement of who He is. The greatest evidence of the change in the woman’s life was that she had to share the news of the encounter.

We have no record of the disciples’ trip into town. Do you suppose any of them started up a conversation with a shopkeeper? “Oh hey. We’re picking up lunch for us and the Son of God. You should come out and meet Him.” After the resurrection, they totally would have.

Are we willing to make sure everyone we know understands that Christ is real because He changed our lives?

Jesus teaches us quite a bit through His conversation with the woman of Sychar. We would do well to respond like she did.

Read other posts in the Jesus and Women series.

Love Your Enemies

By Paula

“But I say to you who hear: Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you.” Luke 6:26

I love my husband.

I love my kids. And my family. And my friends.

But love my enemies?

Ignore them maybe. Or not go out of my way to get back at them. That’s charitable enough.

I can’t love them. That’s impossible.

That’s Jesus’ point. The standards of kingdom living are much too high for me.

But He already loves my enemies, and He lives in me.

That’s how I love them.

This love is not an emotion. He can’t command us to feel a certain way.

No, this is demonstrating selfless care. That kind of love.

He wouldn’t tell me to do it if it was impossible.

He told me to because He had already worked out the details.

It Is Finished

By Paula

So when Jesus had received the sour wine, He said, “It is finished!” And bowing His head, He gave up His spirit. John 19:30

Tetelestai means it is finished, accomplished, fulfilled, paid in full.
So what is “it”?

Our salvation.
Our redemption.
Our ransom is paid.

Our atonement.
Our reconciliation.
Our sins are erased.

The law was fulfilled.
Death was defeated.
Prophecies were validated.

The wrath of God was turned away.
Justice was done.
Righteousness was imputed.

Peace with God was accomplished.
Our adoption finalized.
Satan was rendered powerless.

Our eternity was secured.
Our hope manifested.
Our glorification assured.

It is accomplished.
All of it.

Hallelujah! What a Savior!

The Seven I AM Statements: The Way, the Truth and the Life

By Paula

The Way the truth the life title graphic

Jesus said to him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me. John 14:6

The last three of the seven emphatic I AM statements Jesus makes in the Gospel of John are made in private. The declarations that He is Good Shepherd, the Door of the Sheep, the Light of the World and the Bread of Life were all made in front of the crowds. But beginning with the Resurrection and the Life, the statements were made in private. It should not be a surprise that these fuller, deeper revelations come to those closest to Him. Even so, each statement employs a metaphor to describe His salvation work. But in each of the conversations or discourses, He also exposes us.

Sometime, read through John 13-17 in one sitting. It will only take a few minutes. Now try to imagine hearing it all for the first time. Information, doctrine, revelation, encouragement, and instruction are packed into those chapters. Seminaries offer courses on this Upper Room discourse that require weeks of intense, graduate-level study to mine the riches of what Jesus discloses. Even those are insufficient. Tucked in there is an exchange that reveals how clueless the disciples were. But in all honesty, we would be just as clueless if the Holy Spirit were not helping us out.

In the preceding chapter, Jesus had announced His betrayal, His departure, and Peter’s denial. Then comes, “Don’t be troubled by this. Yes, I’m leaving, but I’m leaving to prepare a place for you. And you know the way to where I am going.”

Thomas said to him, “Lord, we do not know where you are going. How can we know the way?” (John 14:4-5) That’s when Jesus responds, I AM the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me. He answers both of Thomas’s protests.

Jesus’s entire mission has been to bring us to the Father. Not to heal people-although He did. Not to give us great words to live by-although He did. He came to bring lost people back to the Father, to restore the relationship we destroyed through our rebellion.

Thomas and the guys were far more focused on what Jesus’s words meant for them. How would their lives be impacted? What changes would they have to make? Not to mention, how were they supposed to make sense of all this?

Jesus draws their attention back to the kingdom work, work that He was turning over to them. “Truly I tell you, the one who believes in me will also do the works that I do. And he will do even greater works than these, because I am going to the Father.” John 14:12

We have quite a bit in common with Thomas. Jesus says, you know where I’m going and you know the way. You know the mission you’ve been given and you know how to accomplish it. We have been tasked with bringing people to the Father. That is through Jesus Christ and His atoning work.

But too often we respond, I don’t know what I’m supposed to do. I don’t know where to start. If only Jesus would be clear.

That’s kind of how Philip stalls and dodges. Well, if you would show us the Father, then we would understand. I’m waiting on a clearer revelation, on a sign. If the Holy Spirit would just make it known.

How long have we been believers? What sign are we waiting for? What prodding or prompting does Jesus still need to give?

He has given all the information, all the tools we need. I AM the way, the truth, and life. No one comes to the Father, but by Me.

The only question is, will we take that up as our mission or will we dither about the temporal impact that commission has on our life rather than the eternal impact it has on those who need to come to the Father?

The Seven I AM Statements: The Resurrection and the Life

By Paula

the resurrection and the life title graphic

Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in Me, though he may die, he shall live.” John 11:25

The last three of the seven emphatic I AM statements Jesus makes in the Gospel of John are made in private. The declarations that He is Good Shepherd, the Door of the Sheep, the Light of the World and the Bread of Life were all made in front of the crowds. It should not be a surprise that these fuller, deeper revelations come to those closest to Him. Even so, each statement employs a metaphor to describe His salvation work. But in each of the conversations or discourses, He also exposes us.

You know the story.
Lazarus is dead. Jesus bluntly tells His disciples as much before they even get to Bethany. After a pointed delay, Jesus responds to the message from Mary and Martha to come. Martha meets Him and affirms (accuses) that if Jesus had come when they first sent for Him, Lazarus would have been healed. She is not wrong. Jesus certainly has power over diseases. He had proved it many times.

When Jesus heard that, He said, “This sickness is not unto death, but for the glory of God, that the Son of God may be glorified through it.” John 11:4

See that’s the key. This sickness is for the glory of God that the Son of God may be glorified through it. Martha and Mary saw the sickness from their perspective and with their priorities. Their brother, whom they loved dearly was hopelessly ill. So, of course, they turned to the One they know has both the power and the will to intervene.

Jesus, however, is just weeks away from the cross. His priorities, the Father’s priorities are different. This is not to say He didn’t love Martha, Mary, and Lazarus, because He clearly did. But His overarching purpose was to glorify the Father who in turn would glorify the Son. The greatest glory would come from the redemption of sinners.

Jesus expands on that a few verses later.

Jesus answered, “Are there not twelve hours in the day? If anyone walks in the day, he does not stumble, because he sees the light of this world.” John 11:9

There is an appointed time. And His references to the light of this world and those stumbling in darkness echo His mission–to seek and to save those who are lost.

But then Jesus is met by Martha. He declares to her I AM the Resurrection and the Life.

Resurrection comes from a Greek word that means standing again. That’s pretty straightforward. Miraculous, amazing, wondrous, yes. But it doesn’t need a lot of explanation. Every kind of death is reversed in Christ. Every kind. And forever.

But life … this is where things get interesting. This is not the natural life. Greek uses the word bios for that. Think biology. This is something different.

J. H. Thayer in his Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament says “zoe is life real and genuine, a life active and vigorous, devoted to God, blessed, the portion even in this world of those who put their trust in Christ, but after the resurrection to be consummated by new accessions (among them a more perfect body), and to last forever (the writers of the O.T. have anticipated the conception, in their way, by employing ‏chaim to denote a happy life and every kind of blessing.”

Martha was asking Jesus to restore Lazarus’s bios. Jesus was offering zoe.
Martha was fixed on the present. Jesus wanted her to fix her eyes on eternity.
Martha was seeking consolation. Jesus was seeking the Father’s glory.

Time was short and those closest to Jesus didn’t understand what His ultimate purpose was. We read the account and shake our heads at their spiritual blindness. But hold on.

Do we cry out seeking consolation from Christ rather than His glory?
Are we focused on the present when Jesus wants us to realize there is so much more beyond this life?
Are we building a bios when Christ wants to draw us to zoe, life real and genuine, active and vigorous, devoted to God, enjoying every spiritual blessing?

Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in Me, though he may die, he shall live. And whoever lives and believes in Me shall never die. Do you believe this?” John 11:25-26

Jesus said to Martha, Jesus says to us, “I am the resurrection and the life … Do you believe this?”

Do you?

Test Time

Love Your Enemies

It Is Finished

The Seven I AM Statements: The Way, the Truth and the Life

The Seven I AM Statements: The Resurrection and the Life

Encounters Series

Covenant of Trust Series

Foundations Series