St. Simons Community Church

v. 3 I am going out to fish. At this point, Peter didn’t know what to do.  The tomb is empty.  Jesus has made an appearance to his disciples, but where is He now?  I am sure He is in absolute knots.  He wants to believe, but he also knows his own betrayal and denial of Jesus.  What should he do?  He does the only thing he knows how – back to fishing.  We often find ourselves going back to our own comfort patterns and ruts when we become spiritually disillusioned.  Peter ran to fish.  Where do you run when things don’t make sense, and you are feeling the burden of disappointment and guilt?  Peter eventually learned to run to Jesus – “Cast all your cares on Him because He cares for you (1 Peter 5:7).”

v. 4 Early in the morning, Jesus stood on the shore, but the disciples did not realize it was Jesus. How many times has Jesus been right there in our midst, but we didn’t recognize him?

v. 6 (Jesus) said, “Throw your nets on the right side of the boat, and you will find some (fish).”  When they did, they were unable to haul the net in because of the large number of fish. I think we are supposed to see a parable here.  As the disciples listen to Jesus, he leads them to full nets.  This is a picture of evangelism – lost souls in need of God.  Jesus is a lot more interested in catching men than he is in catching fish.  He wants to lead his disciples on a much greater fishing expedition, and he wants our nets to be filled – with a harvest of souls.

v. 7 he wrapped his outer garment around him and jumped into the water. When Peter realized it was Jesus on the shore, nothing could hold him back.  He jumped out of the boat and headed for shore.  Did he walk on water this time?  I don’t know, but he was sure in a hurry to get to Jesus.  He soul was too restless to stay in the boat.  He had unfinished business to take care of with Jesus.  He needed healing.  He needed restoration.

v. 16 Simon son of John, do you truly love me? This is the greatest question ever – do you love Jesus?  Do you love him?  Jesus asked Peter this three times.  Peter was hurt that Jesus asked three times, but the reality is that Peter now has declared his love for Jesus 3 times after having denied Jesus three times earlier.  It was a complete restoration.

v. 15 Feed my lambs… v. 16 Take care of my sheep… v. 17 Feed my sheep… In the end, Jesus called Peter to become a shepherd, just like Him.  Remember John 10 where Jesus said He was the good shepherd, and he looked after his sheep.  Now Jesus is calling a broken fishermen, who had just denied Him, to go and become a shepherd as well.  Peter was broken by his own failure, but Jesus healed him.  And He called him to go now and love others.  Do you think Peter had greater compassion for others in the future because of his own denial of Jesus.  I think He probably became a better shepherd to others in the long run.  If Jesus can take a broken fisherman, and use him to change the world – why can’t he use you?  Do you love Him?  do you love Him? Do yo love Him?  Feed his sheep.  Love others.  Lead them to Jesus.

v. 25 Jesus did many other things as well.  If every one of them were written down, I suppose that even the whole world would not have room for the books that would be written. I love this verse.  We have a great sample of the amazing works of Jesus recorded in John as well as Matthew, Mark and Luke.  But there would not be enough room if all that he had done had been written.  And the work of Jesus continues today.  He is alive and well.  We are invited into the story.  We are invited to see Jesus work in us, around us, and through us.  Wouldn’t it be cool to say that there were simply not enough space in the world to write down all that Jesus has done in our  lives?  It could happen, you know.  For the life truly surrendered to Him.  Much love.  Thanks for spending some time with me, John, and Jesus.

v. 8 … He saw and believed. When “the other disciple” (John) entered the tomb, he saw the strips of linen and the cloth that had been wrapped around Jesus’ body now laying there.  There inside the empty tomb, he saw and believed.  The tomb was empty, the grave clothes had been abandoned.  Jesus must be alive.  The stone did not roll away so Jesus could come out of the grave.  The stone was removed so the world could come in and see that he was no longer there.  The tomb is empty.  That changes everything for us as believers.  If Jesus was still there, then the story ends.  There is no faith, no church, no hope beyond the grave.  Jesus is alive.

v. 11 but Mary stood outside the tomb crying.  As she wept, she bent over to look into the tomb v. 12 and saw two angels in white seated where Jesus’ body had been, one at the head and the other at the foot. This may be one of the most powerful uses of symbolism surrounding the tomb of Jesus.  As Mary entered in, she saw the angels sitting across from each other where his body had been.  I assume they are facing each other, one where his head had been and the other by his feet.  This seems to be a picture of the ark of the covenant.  The ark a wooden box layered in gold.  On top of the ark were two golden angels on each side, facing each other with their wings spread out toward one another, over the top of the lid.  This lid was called the atonement cover.  The ark was placed in the OT temple, and the priest would come in and sprinkle blood on top of the ark, the atonement cover.  The concept was that God would look down and see the blood on the cover of the ark.  The ark as considered to be God’s throne on earth, and the lid was also called the mercy seat.  God would see the sacrificial blood of an animal on the mercy seat and grant forgiveness.  As Mary walks into the tomb, there are two real angels (not gold ones) facing each other in the very spot where Jesus’ body had been placed.  Jesus’ blood had been shed for our sins.  It as if the angels are pointing to the new mercy seat.  Jesus is the mercy seat of God.  His body was given, his blood was poured out.  We find mercy at the feet of Jesus, hope at the empty tomb of Jesus.  His resurrection ensures our forgiveness.

v. 16 Jesus said to her, “Mary.” Who is the first person to whom Jesus revealed himself upon his resurrection?  You might think he would have marched down to the temple and revealed himself to Caiaphas the high priest or Annas.  Perhaps he would go to Pilate and show him who really had all authority and power.  Jesus didn’t go reveal himself to the religious or civil authorities to prove his greatness.  The first person he appeared to was a lovesick woman who simply couldn’t stand to think of life without him.  Jesus came to Mary Magdalene.

v. 17 Do not hold onto me, for I have not yet returned to the Father.  Go instead to my brothers and tell them, “I am returning to my Father, and your Father, to my God and your God.” Mary was clinging to Jesus like she would never let go again.  Jesus told her though that he had to return to the Father.  His work was not complete until He could stand before the Father with nail pierced hands – proof that He had given his life.  Man’s forgiveness would be purchased.  God’s wrath would be satisfied.  It would be finished.

v. 18 I have seen the Lord. The first witness to testify of the resurrection was not a great apostle but a former woman of ill repute.  She was the first to tell the good news.

v. 21 Again Jesus said, “Peace be with you! As the Father has sent me, I am sending you.” Jesus came to the disciples who were hiding behind locked doors in fear.  He spoke peace to them.  He settled their fearful hearts.  And then he commissioned them.  As the Father has sent me, I am sending you.  In the same way I was sent, I am sending you. Jesus told his disciples that they were now to be his representatives.  We are his hands and feet now.  We are his mouthpiece.  We are his representatives.  Where is Jesus today in the world?  He is in us.  We are sent in his name.

v. 22 And with that, he breathed on them and said, “Receive the Holy Spirit.” In Genesis, God breathed his life into Adam and he became a living being.  And yet sin brought death into man’s life – spiritual death.  Man was alive physically but no longer alive spiritually.  After giving his life on the cross for man’s sin, and raising from the dead, the resurrected Christ could breathe new life into man’s heart.  He breathed on them and said, “Receive the Holy Spirit.”  It was a new act of creation, a new genesis.  Just as God breathed life into man the first time, Jesus is now breathing new life into man.  It is an act of re-creation.

v. 23 If you forgive anyone his sins, they are forgiven; if you do not forgive them, they are not forgiven. I do not think this means that we are the ones who have the power to forgive others.  That is something only that Christ can do.  And yet we are his representatives, sent by Him.  People need to hear and know the words of hope and forgiveness.  Through Christ, we have the ability to proclaim to others that they are forgiven in the name of Jesus Christ.  We have been given the Gospel, and we declare the glory of the One who forgives.  All who accept the truth of Jesus that we declare are forgiven.  And those who reject Christ will not find forgiveness.

This chapter is known as the High Priestly Prayer of Jesus.  It concludes the section of John 13 – John 17 which is known as the Upper Room Discourse.  All of this took place before Jesus was betrayed and arrested.  These are his final words to his disciples, and then his great prayer to His Father before his death.

v. 1 Father the time has come.  Glorify your Son, that your Son may glorify you.  Jesus and the Father were in complete control even at the time of Jesus’ death.  It was the time they determined for it to happen.  Through the means of the cross, the Son of God would be glorified (especially through the resurrection) by the Father, and the Father would be glorified by the Son.

v. 3 Now this is eternal life: that they may know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent.  What is eternal life?  Most people think it simply means to life forever in heaven.  That is certainly part of it, but according to Jesus, eternal life is based upon a relationship above all else.  Eternal life is about knowing the true God and His Son Jesus.  We will live forever with Jesus in an eternal relationship that is so incredibly satisfying.

v. I have brought you glory on earth by completing the work you gave me to do.  Jesus did exactly what the Father requested.  He lived it out and finished the work.  What would it be like to prepare for your death and be able to say, “Father, I have brought you glory on earth by completing the work you gave me to do.”  God has work for you to complete and to finish for him.

v. 5 And now Father, glorify me in your presence with the glory I had with you before the world began.  We see Jesus had an existence before his life on earth.  His birth was not the beginning of Jesus’ life.  He existed eternally with the Father in his glory.  Jesus was prepared to ultimately return to the glory of His Father.  This gave him the strength to endure the cross.  He knew the cross was worth it – for our sake, as well as His own.  The reward would be the salvation of many, and the glory of His Father.  We too can endure our trials knowing that there is a glory that awaits us in heaven.

v. 15 My prayer is not that you take them out of the world but that you protect them from the evil one.  Jesus knows that trouble will come to his disciples.  It will not be easy.  There will be persecution.  And yet Jesus doesn’t ask to keep them from trouble.  He asks that God protect them from the evil one.

v. 17 Sanctify them by your truth; your word is truth. v. 18 As you sent me into the world, I have sent them into the world.  We are sanctified through God’s Word.  It helps to change us.  Now as disciples we are sent into this world as Jesus’ representatives.  Just as he was sent, now we are sent.  We are his hands, his feet, his voice.  Go in the name of Jesus.

v. 3 & 4 Then Mary took about a pint of pure nard, an expensive perfume; she poured it on Jesus feet and wiped his feet with her hair.  And the house was filled with the fragrance of the perfume. Here we find Mary again in her favorite location, at the feet of Jesus.  Chapter 11:2 spoke of how she wiped his feet with her hair.  Then when she came to Jesus at Lazarus’ grave, she fell at his feet.  And now here again, she is at his feet.  Her act of service was costly.  She poured out her best on Jesus.  She didn’t give to him her leftovers. It was an extravagant gift that she literally poured out upon Jesus.  It was humble.  Usually servants attended to the feet of a guest, but here Mary attended to the feet of Jesus.  She was humbling herself before Jesus.  It was also worship.  She took her perfume and hair and turned them into instruments to declare the worth of Jesus.  She gave her best to him.  And the house was filled with the fragrance.  Oh if our lives could only be filled with the fragrance of true worship.  These last two days with Mary have really struck a chord in my heart.  We must find ourselves at the feet of Jesus.  This is our greatest place as Christians – humbling ourselves, giving our worship, pouring out our lives.  Next we see Judas basically accusing her of wasting this gift.  It is never a waste, when we waste our lives for the sake of Jesus.

v. 9 & 10 A large crowd of Jews found out Jesus was there and came not only because of him, but also to see Lazarus, whom he raised from the dead… for on account of him, many of the Jews were going over to Jesus and putting their faith in him. There is no greater witness than a life that has truly been raised from the dead.  As Christians, we have not yet received our physical resurrection, but our lives have been brought back from sin and death.  Changed lives truly demonstrate the life changing, resurrection power of Jesus.  Lord, would you do in us what you did in Lazarus?  Raise us up into new life so others will “go over to Jesus and put their faith in him,” on account of us.

v. 19 Look how the whole world has gone after him. I love this phrase.  Are you going after Jesus?  The Pharisees were not thrilled about this.  There will always be contempt among the “religious” types for those who really go after Jesus.  We are not called to be nice, cultural Christians.  We are called to go after Jesus.

v. 24 I tell you the truth, unles a kernel of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains a single seed.  But if it dies, it produces many seeds.  The man who loves his life will lose it, while the man who hates his life in this world will keep it. Here is the principle of life coming through death.  Through Lazarus, we see that his death and resurrection brought life to many others.  Jesus is calling us to die to ourselves.  If we persist in our own life of self willed, and self centeredness, we will produce little fruit or harvest.  If we die to self, then God can produce many seeds through us.  This is why we are called to “hate our lives.”  This is not about self loathing and having a poor self image.  This is about putting our love for Jesus and his kingdom above our own comfort and desires.  We should not live for our own success and our own comfort.  We are called to lose our life for the sake of Jesus.  When we do, God promises that we will find true life in the end.

v. 7 If anyone of you is without sin, let him be the first to throw a stone at her. These have always been profound words to me.  How quick we are to judge, and point out the sins of others.  And yet how often are we willing to examine our own hearts for wrong attitudes, thoughts, and actions?  Jesus called them on their self righteous spirit, but at the same time he wasn’t condoning or excusing the woman’s sin of adultery.  He told her, “Go now and leave your life of sin.”  Oh, if we could only learn to deal gently and yet strongly with the souls of others as Jesus did.

v.12 I am the light of the world.  Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life. This chapter reveals Jesus as light and as truth.  To walk in light and to walk in truth, I must pursue Jesus above all else. The farther I drift from Jesus, the more I find myself in darkness and deception.  When I drift from Jesus, it is so much easier for Satan to deceive me.

v. 32 Then you will know the truth and the truth will set you free.  v. 36 So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed.  Christ brings freedom.  The true pursuit of Christ leads us into greater freedom and liberty – spiritually and emotionally.  Jesus set me FREE!

v. 50 I am not seeking glory for myself. This statement convicts.  The Son of God who deserves all glory didn’t come seeking it for Himself.  I who have no right to any glory always seem concerned about my image and reputation.  Jesus have mercy on me.  I want to be at a place where I can say that I seek no glory for myself.  Truly it is God’s glory that will change lives, and not the glory of any man.

v. 58 “I tell you the truth,” Jesus answered, “Before Abraham was born. I AM!” Wow.  With this statement, Jesus turned thousands of years of Hebrew Theology over on its head.  He said, I AM.  I AM.  This was the name that Jehovah God gave to Moses in Exodus 3.  Moses said, Who shall I say sent me?  God said, “I Am that I am.”  He revealed himself as the great I AM. That means we are the great “I am not!”  When Jesus said, I am, he was claiming to be God, the same God who spoke to Moses, the same God of their father Abraham.  Jesus was claiming that he was greater than the patriarchs and the prophets.  He was the eternal and living God.  Jesus is the great I AM.  If you need him today, he says, “I AM – not I was.  Not I will be, but I AM right now at this very moment.  I AM all that you need.

Sorry, this didn’t get up yesterday.  I posted it, but forgot to enter it into the right spot.  Here it is.  Thanks for reading along.

Jesus reveals Himself as the Bread of Life.  The passage begins with a need to feed the 5000.

Jesus asked, “Where shall we buy bread for these people to eat?”  He asked this only to test him, for he already had in mind what he was going to do. John 6:5,6 Curious to me that Jesus would ask a question to test them.  How often does he test us, test our faith?  Jesus was providing a “set up” for his disciples to look to him and believe.

After taking the boys lunch and multiplying the loaves and fishes to feed the 5000, the disciples took up 12 basketfuls – a full basket for each disciple.  That has always intrigued me.  What do we learn here?  That as we humbly learn to put what is ours into God’s hand that He might use it for others, we often end up with greater fullness ourselves.

Eventually, Jesus ends up on the other side of the lake and the crowd comes looking for him.  Jesus said they have come looking for him because they ate the loaves and had their fill (v. 26).

v. 27 (Jesus said) “Do not work for food that spoils, but for food that endures to eternal life, which the Son of Man will give you.” Jesus wanted the crowd to know that even though he provided them with a physical meal, that he had something much greater to give.  They should spend their lives seeking after that which will satisfy them eternally.  He said he could give them such food.

v. 28, 29 “Then they asked him, ‘What must we do to do the works God requires?’  Jesus answered, ‘The work of God is this: to believe in the one he (God) has sent (Jesus).” The truest work we can ever do is a work of faith.  It must all begin and stem from a true, active faith in the person of Jesus Christ.  We can not approach God on any other grounds.  Faith in Christ, through Christ gives us access to all of God.  And we must continue to live and serve and obey God in faith, through faith, and by faith.  This is our great work as believers.  True faith is never passive.  It actively believes, serves and trusts God.

(v. 30,31) The crowd begins to ask Jesus for a sign.  They begin to connect his small miracle of feeding the 5000 with Moses’ provision of manna for a whole nation for 40 years.  They are basically asking Jesus to do something greater than Moses, something more than the miraculous feeding.  In their mind, Moses’ meal didn’t even start with 5 loaves, and it went on for a long period of time. He had one up on Jesus in their mind.

Jesus corrects the crowd (v. 32, 33).  It wasn’t Moses who gave bread from heaven, but the Father who gives true bread from heaven.  And this true bread is he who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.  When the crowd asked Jesus for this bread, Jesus responded:

v. 35 “I am the bread of life.  He who comes to me will never go hungry, and he who believes in me will never be thirsty.” In the end, Jesus wanted the people to know that it wasn’t about manna, and it wasn’t about loaves and fishes.  He was and is the bread of life.  Bread implied provision, substenance, satisfaction, filling of hunger, nutrition.  Jesus is the true bread who has come down for heaven.  He fills us, satisfies us.  He is God’s provision for our sin, for our lives.  We must feed upon Jesus to have true life, or else we shall perish and die.  This story is such a picture of how focused humans can become upon their bellies, and their temporal wants and desires.  In the end, we neglect the greater needs settling for the crumbs of this world, and neglecting the feast Christ offers to us.  Let Him be your daily bread.  He is sufficient today to meet all of your needs.  Your work is to believe – and to receive all that He is!