Author Archive for: meiling

Hi GAMErs,

Today’s passage is John 13:31-38.  Let’s go!

John 13:31-32 (NIV) 
31  When he was gone, Jesus said, “Now is the Son of Man glorified and God is glorified in him.
32  If God is glorified in him, God will glorify the Son in himself, and will glorify him at once.

On verses 31-32:  With Judas now on his way to betray Jesus, Jesus sees Judas’ betrayal as triggering the important process by which Jesus will be handed over to the authorities, crucified, killed, buried, and finally resurrected and glorified.  So Jesus is looking past the betrayal to what the betrayal would lead to, ultimately Jesus being glorified.

What can we learn from this?  Instead of focusing only on the current or soon coming pain or problem you are facing, like Jesus, learn to look past that current or soon coming pain and see that the current or soon coming pain is part of something greater that God is doing down the road.  Like Jesus, though your current lot may be pain and trouble, may you have eyes to see that if you persevere through this difficult time, there will soon be glory waiting for you in the end.

Hi GAMErs,

Today’s passage is John 13:12-20.  Let’s go!

John 13:12-15 (NIV) 
12  When he had finished washing their feet, he put on his clothes and returned to his place. “Do you understand what I have done for you?” he asked them. 
13  “You call me ‘Teacher’ and ‘Lord,’ and rightly so, for that is what I am. 
14  Now that I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also should wash one another’s feet. 
15  I have set you an example that you should do as I have done for you.

On verses 12-15:  Usually washing the feet of guests was what the lowest servant or slave in the house was expected to do.  Thus it was inconceivable and shocking for the disciples that Jesus, their Lord and Teacher, would bend down and wash their feet.  What was Jesus teaching his disciples in doing this?  Jesus says it himself: “Now that I, your Lord and teacher, have washed your feet, you also should wash one another’s feet.  I have set an example that you should do as I have done for you.” (v14-15)  Because Jesus, the name above every name and the king above every king, was willing to bend down and take on the role of a servant in the lives of people he loved, so Jesus calls us to do the same.  Humility is putting others ahead of ourselves, all the while being secure in our own worth and value.

Hi GAMErs,

Today’s passage is John 13:1-11.  Let’s go!

John 13:1 (NIV) 
1  It was just before the Passover Feast. Jesus knew that the time had come for him to leave this world and go to the Father. Having loved his own who were in the world, he now showed them the full extent of his love.

On verse 1:  I like how other translations translate the second sentence: “having loved his own who were in the world, he loved them to the end” (v1).  In other words, Jesus didn’t just love for a little while.  Rather, he loved until the very end.  May the same be said of you and me, not that we loved God and the people around us for a little while, but even when things got hard, that we loved all the way until the very end.

John 13:2-5 (NIV)
2  The evening meal was being served, and the devil had already prompted Judas Iscariot, son of Simon, to betray Jesus.
3  Jesus knew that the Father had put all things under his power, and that he had come from God and was returning to God;
4  so he got up from the meal, took off his outer clothing, and wrapped a towel around his waist.
5  After that, he poured water into a basin and began to wash his disciples’ feet, drying them with the towel that was wrapped around him.

Hi GAMErs,

Today’s passage is John 12:37-50.  Let’s go!

John 12:37-41 (NIV) 
37  Even after Jesus had done all these miraculous signs in their presence, they still would not believe in him.
38  This was to fulfill the word of Isaiah the prophet: “Lord, who has believed our message and to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed?”
39  For this reason they could not believe, because, as Isaiah says elsewhere:
40  “He has blinded their eyes and deadened their hearts, so they can neither see with their eyes, nor understand with their hearts, nor turn–and I would heal them.”
41  Isaiah said this because he saw Jesus’ glory and spoke about him.

On verses 37-41:  John sees the cold-hearted, unbelieving response of many Jews toward Jesus as fulfilling prophecies written by Isaiah about 700 years before.  Quoting Isaiah 53:1 in verse 38 and then Isaiah 6:10 in verse 40, John says that Isaiah spoke wrote these prophecies because he also saw Jesus’ glory.