John 13:12-20 (ESV)

The Example of the Messiah

12: When he had washed their feet and put on his outer garments and resumed his place, he said to them, “Do you understand what I have done to you?

13: You call me Teacher and Lord, and you are right, for so I am.

14: If I then, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another’s feet.

15: For I have given you an example, that you also should do just as I have done to you.

16: Truly, truly, I say to you, a servant is not greater than his master, nor is a messenger greater than the one who sent him.

The Testimony of the Betrayer

17: If you know these things, blessed are you if you do them.

18: I am not speaking of all of you; I know whom I have chosen. But the Scripture will be fulfilled, ‘He who ate my bread has lifted his heel against me.’

19: I am telling you this now, before it takes place, that when it does take place you may believe that I am he.

20: Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever receives the one I send receives me, and whoever receives me receives the one who sent me.”

John 12:44-50 (ESV

The Father

44: And Jesus cried out and said, “Whoever believes in me, believes not in me but in him who sent me.
45: And whoever sees me sees him who sent me.

The Light

46: I have come into the world as light, so that whoever believes in me may not remain in darkness.

The Word

47: If anyone hears my words and does not keep them, I do not judge him; for I did not come to judge the world but to save the world.

The Commandment

48: The one who rejects me and does not receive my words has a judge; the word that I have spoken will judge him on the last day.
49: For I have not spoken on my own authority, but the Father who sent me has himself given me a commandment—what to say and what to speak.
50: And I know that his commandment is eternal life. What I say, therefore, I say as the Father has told me.”

John 12:37-43 (ESV)

The thing About Faith and Understanding

37: Though he had done so many signs before them, they still did not believe in him,

38: so that the word spoken by the prophet Isaiah might be fulfilled: “Lord, who has believed what he heard from us, and to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed?”

39: Therefore they could not believe. For again Isaiah said,

40: “He has blinded their eyes and hardened their heart, lest they see with their eyes, and understand with their heart, and turn, and I would heal them.”

41: Isaiah said these things because he saw his glory and spoke of him.

The thing About Love and Fear

42: Nevertheless, many even of the authorities believed in him, but for fear of the Pharisees they did not confess it, so that they would not be put out of the synagogue;

43: for they loved the glory that comes from man more than the glory that comes from God.

John 12:27-36 (ESV)

The Glory of the Name

27: “Now is my soul troubled. And what shall I say? ‘Father, save me from this hour’? But for this purpose I have come to this hour. 28: Father, glorify your name.” Then a voice came from heaven: “I have glorified it, and I will glorify it again.”

The Exaltation of the Son

29: The crowd that stood there and heard it said that it had thundered. Others said, “An angel has spoken to him.” 30: Jesus answered, “This voice has come for your sake, not mine. 31: Now is the judgment of this world; now will the ruler of this world be cast out. 32: And I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to myself.” 33: He said this to show by what kind of death he was going to die.

The Presence of the Truth

34: So the crowd answered him, “We have heard from the Law that the Christ remains forever. How can you say that the Son of Man must be lifted up? Who is this Son of Man?” 35: Jesus said to them, “The light is among you for a little while longer. Walk while you have the light, lest darkness overtake you. The one who walks in the darkness does not know where he is going. 36: While you have the light, believe in the light, that you may become sons of light.” When Jesus had said these things, he departed and hid himself from them.

John 12:20-26 (ESV)

A Sincere Search

20: Now among those who went up to worship at the feast were some Greeks.

21: So these came to Philip, who was from Bethsaida in Galilee, and asked him, “Sir, we wish to see Jesus.”

A Fruitful Death

22: Philip went and told Andrew; Andrew and Philip went and told Jesus.

23: And Jesus answered them, “The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified.

24: Truly, truly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit.

A Holy Contempt

25: Whoever loves his life loses it, and whoever hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life.

26: If anyone serves me, he must follow me; and where I am, there will my servant be also. If anyone serves me, the Father will honor him.

John 12:1-11 (ESV)

Devotion

1: Six days before the Passover, Jesus therefore came to Bethany, where Lazarus was, whom Jesus had raised from the dead.

2: So they gave a dinner for him there. Martha served, and Lazarus was one of those reclining with him at table.

3: Mary therefore took a pound of expensive ointment made from pure nard, and anointed the feet of Jesus and wiped his feet with her hair. The house was filled with the fragrance of the perfume.

Derision

4: But Judas Iscariot, one of his disciples (he who was about to betray him), said,

5: “Why was this ointment not sold for three hundred denarii and given to the poor?”

6: He said this, not because he cared about the poor, but because he was a thief, and having charge of the moneybag he used to help himself to what was put into it.

7: Jesus said, “Leave her alone, so that she may keep it for the day of my burial.

8: For the poor you always have with you, but you do not always have me.”

Depravity

9: When the large crowd of the Jews learned that Jesus was there, they came, not only on account of him but also to see Lazarus, whom he had raised from the dead.

10: So the chief priests made plans to put Lazarus to death as well,

11: because on account of him many of the Jews were going away and believing in Jesus.

John 11:45-57 (ESV)

Faith, and the Nature of Fear

45: Many of the Jews therefore, who had come with Mary and had seen what he did, believed in him,
46: but some of them went to the Pharisees and told them what Jesus had done.
47: Then the chief priests and the Pharisees gathered the council and said, “What are we to do? For this man performs many signs.
48: If we let him go on like this, everyone will believe in him, and the Romans will come and take away both our place and our nation.”

54: Jesus therefore no longer walked openly among the Jews, but went from there to the region near the wilderness, to a town called Ephraim, and there he stayed with the disciples.
55: Now the Passover of the Jews was at hand, and many went up from the country to Jerusalem before the Passover to purify themselves.
56: They were looking for Jesus and saying to one another as they stood in the temple, “What do you think? That he will not come to the feast at all?”
57: Now the chief priests and the Pharisees had given orders that if anyone knew where he was, he should let them know, so that they might arrest him.

Understanding, and the Nature of Prophecy

49: But one of them, Caiaphas, who was high priest that year, said to them, “You know nothing at all.
50: Nor do you understand that it is better for you that one man should die for the people, not that the whole nation should perish.”
51: He did not say this of his own accord, but being high priest that year he prophesied that Jesus would die for the nation,
52: and not for the nation only, but also to gather into one the children of God who are scattered abroad.
53: So from that day on they made plans to put him to death.

Rev. Jim Phillis

Colossians 2:6-3:4 (ESV)

6: Therefore, as you received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in him,

7: rooted and built up in him and established in the faith, just as you were taught, abounding in thanksgiving.

8: See to it that no one takes you captive by philosophy and empty deceit, according to human tradition, according to the elemental spirits of the world, and not according to Christ.

9: For in him the whole fullness of deity dwells bodily,

10: and you have been filled in him, who is the head of all rule and authority.

11: In him also you were circumcised with a circumcision made without hands, by putting off the body of the flesh, by the circumcision of Christ,

12: having been buried with him in baptism, in which you were also raised with him through faith in the powerful working of God, who raised him from the dead.

13: And you, who were dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made alive together with him, having forgiven us all our trespasses,

14: by canceling the record of debt that stood against us with its legal demands. This he set aside, nailing it to the cross.

15: He disarmed the rulers and authorities and put them to open shame, by triumphing over them in him.

3:1: If then you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God.

2: Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth.

3: For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God.

4: When Christ who is your life appears, then you also will appear with him in glory.

John 11:38-44 (ESV)

A Manifest Glory

38: Then Jesus, deeply moved again, came to the tomb. It was a cave, and a stone lay against it.

39: Jesus said, “Take away the stone.” Martha, the sister of the dead man, said to him, “Lord, by this time there will be an odor, for he has been dead four days.”

40: Jesus said to her, “Did I not tell you that if you believed you would see the glory of God?”

A Redeeming Prayer

41: So they took away the stone. And Jesus lifted up his eyes and said, “Father, I thank you that you have heard me.

42: I knew that you always hear me, but I said this on account of the people standing around, that they may believe that you sent me.”

A Powerful Command

43: When he had said these things, he cried out with a loud voice, “Lazarus, come out.”

44: The man who had died came out, his hands and feet bound with linen strips, and his face wrapped with a cloth. Jesus said to them, “Unbind him, and let him go.”

John 11:28-37 (ESV)

Jesus’ Plan

28: When she had said this, she went and called her sister Mary, saying in private, “The Teacher is here and is calling for you.”
29: And when she heard it, she rose quickly and went to him.
30: Now Jesus had not yet come into the village, but was still in the place where Martha had met him.
31: When the Jews who were with her in the house, consoling her, saw Mary rise quickly and go out, they followed her, supposing that she was going to the tomb to weep there.
32: Now when Mary came to where Jesus was and saw him, she fell at his feet, saying to him, “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died.”

Jesus’ Anger

33: When Jesus saw her weeping, and the Jews who had come with her also weeping, he was deeply moved in his spirit and greatly troubled.
34: And he said, “Where have you laid him?” They said to him, “Lord, come and see.”
35: Jesus wept.

Jesus’ Power

36: So the Jews said, “See how he loved him!”
37: But some of them said, “Could not he who opened the eyes of the blind man also have kept this man from dying?”