Author Archive for: meiling

Hi GAMErs,

Today’s passage is John 5:19-30.  Let’s go!

John 5:19-23 (NIV) 
19  Jesus gave them this answer: “I tell you the truth, the Son can do nothing by himself; he can do only what he sees his Father doing, because whatever the Father does the Son also does. 
20  For the Father loves the Son and shows him all he does. Yes, to your amazement he will show him even greater things than these. 
21  For just as the Father raises the dead and gives them life, even so the Son gives life to whom he is pleased to give it. 
22  Moreover, the Father judges no one, but has entrusted all judgment to the Son, 
23  that all may honor the Son just as they honor the Father. He who does not honor the Son does not honor the Father, who sent him.

On verses 19-23:  Here Jesus describes how intricately entwined he and the Father are:

–        Jesus the Son can do nothing by himself but only does what he sees his Father doing (v19);

–        Whatever the Father does Jesus the Son also does (v19);

–        “For the Father loves the Son” (v20):  It’s a love relationship between the Father and Jesus the Son;

Hi GAMErs,

Today’s passage is John 5:10-18.  For context we’ll start by looking at verse 9.  Let’s go!

John 5:9-10 (NIV) 
9  At once the man was cured; he picked up his mat and walked. The day on which this took place was a Sabbath, 
10  and so the Jews said to the man who had been healed, “It is the Sabbath; the law forbids you to carry your mat.”

On verses 9-10:  In the Ten Commandments, God commanded His people to honour the Sabbath day by resting and not doing work on that day (Exodus 20:8-9).  The religious elite among the Jews would interpret this command in an extreme and overly strict way, such that they considered carrying one’s mat from one place to another on a Sabbath day to be a violation of the command to honour the Sabbath day.  By focusing on these technicalities, the religious elite missed the purpose and heart of God’s commands.  All of a sudden, a command that was meant to bring joy, refreshing and rest became a burden.

What can we learn from this?  When thinking about the details, don’t lose sight of the big picture.  When thinking about how to apply God’s commands, don’t lose sight of why God gave us those commands in the first place.

Hi GAMErs,

Today’s passage is John 5:1-9.  Let’s go!

John 5:1-3 (NIV) 
1  Some time later, Jesus went up to Jerusalem for a feast of the Jews. 
2  Now there is in Jerusalem near the Sheep Gate a pool, which in Aramaic is called Bethesda and which is surrounded by five covered colonnades. 
3  Here a great number of disabled people used to lie–the blind, the lame, the paralyzed. 

On verses 1-3:  John’s Gospel now shifts to Jesus in Jerusalem where he visits the pool of Bethesda where disabled people were known to congregate.  Apparently some people believed that an angel stirred the waters of the pool of Bethesda and that the first person to enter the pool after the waters were stirred would be healed.   

By the way, why is verse 4 missing?  If you read the King James version of John’s Gospel, you will see verses 3b and 4 which mention this idea of an angel coming to stir the pool waters.  However, this was apparently a later addition into Scripture and has been omitted from more current versions of the Gospel of John.

Hi GAMErs,

Today’s passage is John 4:43-54.  Let’s go!

John 4:43-45 (NIV) 
43  After the two days he left for Galilee. 
44  (Now Jesus himself had pointed out that a prophet has no honor in his own country.) 
45  When he arrived in Galilee, the Galileans welcomed him. They had seen all that he had done in Jerusalem at the Passover Feast, for they also had been there.

On verses 43-45:  After spending two days in Samaria, Jesus heads for Galilee (v43).  Why does John mention here that Jesus said “a prophet has no honor in his own country” (v44), especially if Jesus just left Samaria where many put their faith in Him (v41) and was going to Galilee where the Galileans welcomed him (v45)? Scholars have different theories on why.  Here’s my thought on why: perhaps John mentions Jesus’ famous saying about a prophet having no honour in his own country because no matter how popular Jesus became in one place (like Samaria), Jesus knew he had to move on to the next until his work was done.  In other words, Jesus’ goal wasn’t to build his own kingdom and to chase his own “honor” while on the earth.  Rather his goal was to be faithful to his Father’s will, even if it meant foregoing immediate opportunities to be honored, knowing that the honour and glory would come later.  Like Jesus, may our goal not be chasing our own honour or building our own kingdom, but may it simply to be faithful to what God called us to do on the earth.

Hi GAMErs,

Today’s passage is John 4:31-42.  Let’s go!

John 4:31-34 (NIV) 
31  Meanwhile his disciples urged him, “Rabbi, eat something.”
32  But he said to them, “I have food to eat that you know nothing about.”
33  Then his disciples said to each other, “Could someone have brought him food?”
34  “My food,” said Jesus, “is to do the will of him who sent me and to finish his work.

On verses 31-34:  I could see the disciples coming to Jesus with food already in their mouths and casually inviting Jesus to eat something (v31).  Yet Jesus’ response confuses them (v32-33).  When Jesus says, “My food is to do the will of him who sent me and to finish his work” (v34), what does he mean?  Jesus means that what drives him, satisfies him and empowers his life is doing his Father’s will and completing the assignment he has been given.  Jesus would say something related in Matthew 4 in the desert: “Man shall not live on bread alone but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.” (Matthew 4:4)  Take John 4:34 and Matthew 4:4 together and we get a powerful truth: Jesus fed on two things – meditating on God’s Word and doing God’s work.