Romans 2

Posted on February 1, 2012 by Jason

Reading for Wednesday, Feb. 1: Romans 2

What makes someone righteous before God? The law? Circumcision? These are the questions Paul takes up in Romans 2. He ended chapter 1 by talking about the wickedness and depravity of those who are “out there”, but it seems as if he does this to bring the conversation “in here”. Verse 3: “Do you suppose, O man — you who judge those who do such things and yet do them yourself — that you will escape the judgment of God?”

Romans 2 is a warning against spiritual haughtiness. Israel struggled with this — believing that their identity as God’s “chosen people” meant that they were God’s favorites. That God’s compassion and faithfulness existed only to establish the borders of the nation of Israel. The early church wrestled with this, too. Is the Messiah “for us” only? What about the Gentiles? Paul helps lead the charge for a more inclusive Gospel, opening the door to Gentile converts.

There’s a word of warning for the church today, too. We would do well to remember the posture of humility and hospitality in our interactions with others. Scripture has much to say about God’s people existing as God’s “chosen” people. But a few points need to be made:

1. God’s promise isn’t closed off to others. We aren’t God’s people EXCLUSIVELY. God’s desire is that all men would be saved (1 Tim. 2:4).

2. God has chosen us, but — like Israel — that means we’re chosen for a mission. Specifically, HIS mission.

3. This mission is about more than vocal evangelism. It’s about embodying God’s truth in our lives, which in turns calls others to experience this abundance of life. “For it is not the hearers of the law who are righteous before God, but the doers of the law who will be justified. (v13)”

We could say more, but I’d love to hear your thoughts on Romans 2.

Posted in Gospel, Missiology, Project 3:45, Scripture | Tagged | Leave a comment

Romans 1

Posted on January 31, 2012 by Jason

Reading for Tuesday, Jan. 31: Romans 1

Thanks to everyone for a great study of John. Starting today, we turn to one of the church’s most important voices — Paul — and his letter to the Romans.

There are plenty of background issues that are important to a detailed study of Romans. While we don’t have room to discuss all of them here, one particularly important issue seems to be the division between Jewish and Gentile Christians in the church at Rome. This note from the ESV Study Bible succinctly summarizes this background issue: “Paul’s selection of themes (gospel and law; the significance of Abraham; the future of Israel) suggests significant tensions between the Jews and Gentiles in Rome. Paul wrote Romans so that they would be united in the gospel he preached, and so that they would comprehend how the gospel spoke to the issues that divided them.” As we’ll see toward the end of Romans, Paul knows a united Roman church will be a powerful springboard for sharing the Gospel in Spain and beyond.

Finally, the most likely date for the writing of Romans is in the late 50s, probably around AD 57.

Paul is fond of great and grand introductions to his writings and his letter to the Romans is no different. Only Paul could get caught up in such sweeping doxology while simply trying to say hello!

One phrase in his introduction catches my eye: “set apart for the gospel”. I think that phrase holds the key to Paul’s self-understanding. If you asked Paul about his purpose, his life’s mission, I think he’d say the Lord had set him apart for the gospel. Paul seems to have this laser-like focus on his calling. The only thing that matters for Paul is the gospel, Jesus Christ crucified. If you listen to Paul’s sermons that Luke records over in Acts, Paul only preaches Jesus! Jesus is the central thesis of Paul’s life and ministry. Paul’s encounter with Jesus on the road to Damascus forever altered his life, putting him on an entirely different path, giving him a radically different purpose to pursue. And the glory of it all is that Jesus continues this same work, intersecting our lives and transforming them, calling us the same purposeful pursuit, gracing us with His all-sufficient presence to accomplish the tasks at hand. We, too, brothers and sisters, have been set apart for God’s gospel!

I find it interesting that Paul wants to preach the gospel to these Christians in Rome (1:15). We might ask ourselves, “But these people are already Christians, Paul. Why are you so eager to preach the gospel to them?” If we define gospel purely in terms of atonement and response — Jesus died on the cross for your sins; you need to repent of your sins, accept Him as Savior, etc. — then we might question why Paul would feel this pressing need to share the gospel with the Roman church. But I believe there’s an additional element to the Good News, one that ties in with our comments about being set apart for the gospel. In Paul’s presentation of the gospel, accepting the gracious gift of God in Christ is a fully liberating experience. By acknowledging our sinfulness and receiving the forgiveness that can only be found in Christ, we also receive the freedom to truly LIVE for Christ. Our very lives become infused with fresh wind from on high, propelling us into a new life (the abundant life, to use John’s terminology). This comprises the practical outworking of all the atonement theology: it’s all focused on setting humanity free from the bondage of sin to live on purpose as God’s image-bearing creation. I think this is what Paul means when he says, “For me to live is Christ.” Paul has been freed from the mistakes of the past in order to more fully live toward Christ. This is gospel, too. And I think this, more than anything, is what Paul longs to share with a divisive church family in Rome.

The final half of Romans 1 is a set-up for what comes in Romans 2. Paul talks about “them” — the godless and wicked, depraved in both mind and body — in order to heighten the point he’s going to make about “us” in ch2. But we can draw several important themes out of these final verses: God’s self-revelation, even in creation (v20); a definition of sin as exchanging God’s glory for something false (v23); God’s acquiescence to human free will (v24, 26, 28). But more than anything else, I think Romans 1 affirms that which plagues us all: sin. Paul will have more to say about this in the next few chapters. Thankfully, sin never has the final word for those who are in Christ Jesus.

Posted in Gospel, Project 3:45, Scripture | Tagged | Leave a comment

Top 10 Changes I’d Make to the Star Wars Franchise

Posted on January 30, 2012 by Jason

I’ve been a Star Wars fan pretty much my whole life. The first movie I remember seeing in the theater was Return of the Jedi when I was 7. As a kid, I was Han Solo for Halloween 5 years in a row (no joke). When I was in college, Lucas released the Special Edition Original Trilogy, so I had the chance to introduce Sunny to the series.

Star Wars: The Complete Saga

So you can imagine my delight in now sharing these movies with my own children. I had some minor surgery in October for a deviated septum, but knowing that I was going to be confined to the couch for a few days, Sunny gave me an early birthday present: the complete series, remastered and updated. So for the past few months, we’ve enjoyed watching all six films together as a family. Now, each day I field at least a dozen Star Wars mythology-related questions: Why does Anakin go over to the dark side? Why does Yoda tell Luke that he must kill Darth Vader? If he killed Vader, wouldn’t that make Luke evil, too? Good questions, right? And they’ve forced me to think long and hard about this series that I loved as a child.

I used to argue that the Star Wars franchise was the greatest saga in cinema. That was prior to Peter Jackson’s superior LOTR trilogy. If I remove the nostalgia from the equation, there are quite a few flaws in Lucas’ oeuvre. It’s still an incredible tale and the bells and whistles of the final three films make up for some of the grievances. But there are still plenty of things I’d change if I were Lucas for a day.

To wit, here are the Top 10 improvements I’d make to the Star Wars franchise:

  1. Scrub up the dialogue. I once read a quote Harrison Ford gave in an interview where he was asked about the corniness of some of the original trilogy’s dialogue. Harrison said something like, “Yeah, I used to tell George on the set, ‘George, you can write this stuff. You just can’t say it.’, which is why Ford ad-libbed a great deal of his lines, including his infamous “I know” reply when Leia confesses her love for him. I wish Hayden Christensen would’ve employed the same latitude in the latter trilogy. His scenes with Natalie Portman as Anakin and Padme are falling in love are some of the most poorly scripted in the entire series. Episode III is clearly the best of the recent films, but the climactic battle between Obi-Wan and Anakin is ruined for me by cheeseball lines like this one (spoken by Anakin): “From my point of view, the Jedi are evil.” The best thing we could do is rewrite some of these forced, canned, cliched lines, especially Anakin’s.
  2. Jedi. There are so many things wrong with this film. For starters, Han Solo, the most interesting character in the entire franchise, is basically benched for the whole film. He spends the first half bumbling around blind; he spends the second half baby-sitting teddy bears. Beef up Han’s thread here; put his life on the line; heck, I’d even be okay with killing him off in some sacrificial, save-my-friends-for-the-sake-of-the-mission sort of way. Anything’s better than what we get. And I don’t mind the Ewoks…I mean, my kids love ’em, so whatever. But it’s just crazy that they help overthrow the Galactic Empire with twigs and rocks. Also, Boba Fett is arguably the coolest bad guy in film history. He deserves a better demise than the bungling “accidental” offing he gets at the hands of Han. Give us a more satisfying square off between these two. If you need ideas, watch this clip for inspiration:
  3. No Jar Jar. Period. I get what you were thinking, Lucas. But this was just a bad idea. Not cheesy bad, like this bad idea. Not cute bad, like this bad idea. Nope, Jar Jar is just plain bad bad. Meesa say the series would benefit from a cosmic mashing of the delete button here.
  4. Han shoots first. In the new version of Episode IV, Lucas changed Solo’s encounter with Greedo at the Mos Eisley Cantina. In the original, Solo quickdraws Jabba’s green-faced bounty hunter; in the edited version, Greedo fires first, misses at point blank range, prompting Han to shoot out of self defense. Lucas defended the edit, citing a desire for young fans of the series to understand that Han’s hand was forced and he had no choice but kill Greedo. Come on. We all know Han shot first. And we’re all okay with the character’s moral ambiguity. In fact, it’s what makes his development all the more compelling.
  5. CGI Yoda in IV, V, and VI. One of the best elements of the new trilogy is the unshackling of Yoda. The wizened Jedi has new life as a computer-generated character, freed from the shackles of Muppetdom. We see Yoda moving about freely, teaching younglings, even sparring with Dooku and Palpatine. His facial expressions — strained and contorted in the original films — are capable of a more holistic range of emotions when digitized. This may sound like sacrilege, but I’d love to see CGI Yoda throughout the entire series.
  6. A better opening scene for Episode I. In Terry Brooks’ fantastic novelization of Episode I, he begins the series with an opening chapter detailing Anakin’s life as a young child on Tatooine. I think that’s a much stronger introductory scene than Qui-Gon & Obi-Wan’s visit to the Trade Federation space cruiser. Go for mythological, not political, in your opening shot.
  7. Midichlorians? What? We were already on board, Lucas. This explanation was unnecessarily scientific. Just say, “Look, the Force is responsible for this one, boys.” We were willing to look the other way.
  8. A Qui-Gon appearance in Episode III. Since the whole Obi-Wan appearing to / communing with Luke is such a big deal in the original trilogy, it would’ve been nice for Qui-Gon to make an appearance in Episode III to set up this whole plot device. Think about how dramatic the scene would be: Qui-Gon comes to Obi-Wan either before or after his climactic duel with Anakin and enlightens him on this new discipline he’s learned. Instead, we get Yoda saying, “Oh, by the way. Your old master stopped by. Said he’d learned how to resurrect himself. Hope you figure it out, too.” Weak.
  9. Better casting. I’ve already picked on Christensen, but for the most part, he’s a quality Anakin in II and III. Jake Loyd, on the other hand…well, let’s just say he has the whole brooding thing down pat. Not much else, though. I’d love to recast this part with someone who can imbue the character with a bit more mystery, a little less “Yippeee!”
  10. More Darth Maul. Hands down, this is the coolest character in the Star Wars pantheon. Sure he wears too much makeup, but a) he has horns, b) he drives a sweet, sand-dune crawlin’ hawg, and c) he was rocking the double light saber before Count Dooku made it uncool. (And for the record, “Dooku” ranks as the worst science fiction character name of all time. Ask any five year old, he’ll tell ya.) The only bad thing about Maul is how little screen time he actually gets. Why create such an awesome character only to kill him off so quickly? Think about how awesome it would be if Dooku had never existed and Maul carried his story forward instead? In my rendering, Maul survives his initial showdown with Obi-Wan, leads the Separatist army in the Clone War (destroying many a world along the way), squares off at the end of II with Obi-Wan and Anakin before engaging in an epic light saber duel with none other than Yoda himself. He narrowly escapes, only to be hunted down and executed by Anakin at the start of Episode III. That, boys and girls, is a character arc. And nobody has to hear the name “Dooku” ever again.
Posted in Movies, Video | Tagged , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

John 21

Posted on January 30, 2012 by Jason

Reading for Monday, Jan. 30: John 21

John 21 concludes John’s Gospel account. The central exchange here is between the risen Jesus and Simon Peter. This isn’t the first Resurrection encounter between Jesus and His disciples, but as the narrative indicates, Jesus still has some unfinished business with Peter.

Peter announces to the disciples that he’s up for some fishing. After the events of the past few weeks, he probably wanted to return to something “normal”, something he understood. Fishing was probably more than just “work” for Peter; I suspect he’s looking for some way to process all that he’s seen and experienced. Given the context of his conversation with Jesus, I’d also guess that he’s still guilt-wracked over his denial. A little muscle memory activity seems to be in order for Peter. Let the mind rest while the body gets to work.

But as He’s prone to do, Jesus shows up in just these circumstances. After a fruitless night of fishing, Jesus appears on the shore and calls out to the group. Per His command, a miraculous catch finds its way into their nets and the abundance leads the beloved disciple to exclaim, “It is the Lord!” (We haven’t said much about it in our study, but John’s Gospel clearly associates abundance with the life and ministry of Jesus. Far from being a prosperity Gospel, John gives us a glimpse of the overflowing abundance of the great Messianic banquet table envisioned in the Old Testament, over which Jesus presides. This is, I believe, part of the abundant life Jesus makes available to us.)

At this recognition, Peter rushes to Jesus and their conversation dominates the remainder of the chapter. After eating breakfast (the image of the resurrected Jesus eating a meal flies in the face of many of our “ghostly”, disembodied ideas of what our bodies will be like in heaven), Jesus asks Peter three times “Do you love me?” Peter replies, “Yes, Lord. You know that I love you.” Much has been made of John’s use of “agape” and “phileo” in this exchange between Jesus and Peter: Jesus asks, “Do you agape me?”, meaning “Do you love me with the highest kind of selfless love possible?” And Peter replies, “Yes, Lord, I phileo you,” or “Yes, Lord, I love you as a brother.” Most scholars of John’s Gospel point out that John uses the terms interchangeably at times without hesitation; thus, we might be making too big of a deal out of the verbs he’s using here. It seems to me that what really bothers Peter is that Jesus continues to ask the question.

Three times Jesus asks; three times Peter replies; and three times Jesus affirms Peter. And I love that He gives Him the same call, the same words that started this whole thing: “Follow me!” After all they had been through, after all the denying and wavering and all the moments of weakness, Jesus comes back to that initial moment when Peter left it all behind for the sake of the call. He returns to the simple call: “Follow me!” I find those to be the most challenging words in all of Scripture. But those words hold the key to life. Peter accepts this reinstatement and, in so doing, gives a little bit of hope to the rest of us. In my own life, I know Jesus has continually issued those words to me after I’ve let Him down, after I’ve betrayed Him, after I’ve wavered and fallen…He comes back to me, much like He did with Peter, and He looks me in the eye and He says once again, “Will you follow me, Jason?” This is what grace looks like.

Finally, it’s interesting that John doesn’t record an ascension story at the conclusion of his Gospel. Instead, he closes up shop in much the same way Matthew does: with the image of the risen Lord moving among His followers, encouraging them, restoring them, equipping them for the task at hand.

Posted in Jesus, Project 3:45, Scripture | Tagged | Leave a comment

Kimyal Tribe Receives the Word

Posted on January 28, 2012 by Jason

This is what it means to make a joyful noise. This brought tears to my eyes.

Posted in Faith, Missiology, Project 3:45, Scripture, Video | Tagged , | 1 Comment

Workout Music: Compilation

Posted on January 27, 2012 by Jason

Well, after asking around, I think I’ve finally compiled a pretty good playlist of workout music. I thought I’d share it here.

  1. “Everlasting Light”, The Black Keys. This has to be the first song I listen to when I get started.
  2. “Midnight City”, M83. After the Keys, you segue into some electronica-pop. It works really well.
  3. “Rock And Roll”, Led Zeppelin. Great for cardio.
  4. “E-Pro”, Beck.
  5. “Kernkraft 400 (Sports Chant Stadium Remix)”, Zombie Nation. Tip o’ the hat to running enthusiast Jane for this one.
  6. “Fresh Blood”, Eels.
  7. “Jessica”, The Allman Brothers. This is a great song for running.
  8. “Honey”, Moby. I’d forgotten about this one, but the mixes here are good background music for a run.
  9. “The Fixer”, Pearl Jam.
  10. “Short Skirt / Long Jacket”, Cake. You may also know this one as the song that plays on the intro credits on “Chuck”.
  11. “Song 2”, Blur.
  12. “Howlin’ For You”, The Black Keys. Can’t go wrong with these guys.
  13. “Intergalactic”, Beastie Boys.
  14. “Cheer Up, Boys (Your Make Up Is Running)”, Foo Fighters.
  15. “Immigrant Song”, Led Zeppelin.
  16. “What’s the Frequency, Kenneth”, R.E.M.
  17. “Smells Like Teen Spirit”, Nirvana. Classic.
  18. “Amazing”, Kanye West. I was starting to skew too “rock heavy”, so this is a nice change of pace.
  19. “Bittersweet Symphony”, Verve.
  20. “Jump”, Van Halen. An oldie, but a really, really good one.
  21. “You Better Run”, Junior Kimbrough. I may be the only person in the world who listens to an 80-year-old Mississippi blues guitarist while working out.
  22. “Radioactive”, Kings of Leon”.
  23. “Between Love and Hate”, The Strokes.
  24. “Holiday”, Vampire Weekend. Most of their songs are good for working out, this one is just my favorite.
Posted in Music | Tagged | Leave a comment

John 20

Posted on January 27, 2012 by Jason

Reading for Friday, Jan. 27: John 20

I can’t get over how rich this chapter is. So much that speaks directly to us.

It’s been said that Mary Magdalene was the first evangelist, the first to speak the “good news” of the resurrection. She certainly functions as the evangelist to the disciples, since she’s the first to the tomb that Sunday morning. At first, she doesn’t quite get it: she thinks his body has been taken. But after seeing Jesus, she rushes back to tell the group, “I have seen the Lord! (v18)” With those words, the course of human history changed, as these disciples began to understand the fullness of what had just transpired. I love that Mary recognizes Jesus as soon as He calls her by name. What a beautifully intimate portrait of the relationship Jesus desires with us! It hearkens back to what He said in ch10 about His sheep knowing Him, knowing His voice.

Jesus appears to His disciples on Sunday evening and what a joyous occasion that must’ve been. Actually, I’m sure it scared them to death at first! But Jesus calms them with a word of peace: “Peace be with you!” And the text says, then He showed them his side and his hands. It’s as if we can hear Jesus saying, “Because of the violence I’ve endured and absorbed, you may now know true peace.” These scars remain tangible reminders of the cost of our redemption.

John records something unique to the other Gospel stories: Jesus breathes on them, telling them to receive the Holy Spirit. Luke, of course, locates the gift of the Spirit with Pentecost as a fulfillment of Joel 2. I’m not sure how to understand all of this, but it seems as if what’s going on in John is a unique gift of the Spirit specifically for these disciples. I like what the ESV Study Bible says here: “Receive the Holy Spirit,” it is best understood as a foretaste of what would happen when the Holy Spirit was given at Pentecost. At any rate, the disciples receive this promised Comforter to equip them for the mission ahead.

Finally, we come to Thomas. As I’ve said before, I’m sympathetic to the guy. (See this article I wrote last year on this episode.) Thomas is actually a man of faith in John’s Gospel. But his lack of faith has caused us to label him “Doubting Thomas”. What’s interesting is that the disciples nor Jesus rejected Thomas because of his unbelief. Surely the disciples spent that week trying to convince Thomas of what they had seen. Yet, even though he remained unconvinced, we find him a week later gathered with the same disciples when Jesus appears. Powerfully, Jesus doesn’t reject Thomas either, but allows him to view and feel the scars if necessary. The bottom line for Jesus seems to be faith. “Look, here they are, Thomas. If this is what it takes, then come and touch these scars. Feel where they drove the nail. It’s okay, Thomas. I did this for you.”

And He did it for me, too.

Posted in Faith, Jesus, Project 3:45, Scripture | Tagged | Leave a comment

John 19

Posted on January 26, 2012 by Jason

Reading for Thursday, Jan. 26: John 19

We’ve finally reached the time for Jesus’ death in John’s Gospel. The political movements in the first part of the chapter give us some insight into the climate of Jerusalem and first century Judaism: the crowd who so triumphantly hailed his entry to the city just days earlier now chants for his death and Barabbas’s release. Pilate hems and haws, unwilling to send an innocent man to his death. But he is a politician first and foremost and the crowd forces his hand.

Jesus again demonstrates God’s sovereignty throughout these circumstances. He says to Pilate, “You would have no authority over me at all unless it had been given you from above.” As I said yesterday, John helps us parse our language: Jesus wasn’t “killed”; He willingly gives up his own life as part of God’s redemptive purpose. All of this is happening in God’s timing. Jesus’ sensitivity to his “time” in John has all been building up to this. As John notes at the end of the chapter, what had been prophesied about long ago has finally been fulfilled.

V15 is a chilling microcosm of humanity. Pilate asks the crowd, “Shall I crucify your King?” And they reply, “We have no king but Caesar.” How often do we refuse the lordship of Jesus in favor of worldly rulers and ideals? Jesus says His kingdom is not of this world. And yet, we’re always looking for earthly “rulers” to bow down in front of. Whether it’s wealth, status, power, position, relationships, possessions, fame or something else, the struggle of our lives is a struggle of allegiance: to God or anything else. In their bloodlust, the crowd screams “We have no king but Caesar”, a blatant denial of the first and greatest command. And their cry serves as a reminder for us of how far we can drift, bowing down before the created rather than the Creator.

I love that Mary and some of the women are unafraid to be present at the crucifixion. We get the impression that most of the men (with the exception of John) are too scared to even show up. But these women boldly take their place at the foot of the cross. What an example of faithfulness for us! We also find a familiar face at the end of the chapter: Nicodemus, who joins Joseph of Arimathea (a covert disciple) in giving Jesus a proper burial.

What are your thoughts? I’m sure we could talk for a long time about the enormity of Christ’s death and what it means to us. I hope this is a story that never grows cold in our hearts. I pray that the full significance of Christ’s death on the cross could be the unending pursuit of our lives. May God bless your reading today.

Posted in Jesus, Project 3:45, Scripture | Tagged | Leave a comment

Church Going Body Double

Posted on January 26, 2012 by Jason

A friend of mine posted this over on my FB page. I wanted to post it here too to archive it.

Sunny, this better not give you any funny ideas!

By the way, I would totally notice if I went to hug somebody and it wasn’t you.

Although there was that one time at Lipscomb when I put my arm around that girl thinking it was you…only to find out it wasn’t.

Still, I’m writing to discourage pastor’s wives everywhere from trying this…no matter how successful you think you’d be at pulling something like this off!

Posted in Church, Humor | Tagged | 2 Comments

John 18

Posted on January 25, 2012 by Jason

Reading for Wednesday, Jan. 25: John 18

In John 18, the passion of Jesus moves forward swiftly. We begin with Jesus in the peaceful serenity of the garden, a place He and His disciples visited often (v2). The chapter closes with the image of Jesus standing before the angry mob as they chant their desire for Barabbas, not Jesus.

John records an interesting piece of information in v6: As the soldiers approach, led by Judas, Jesus meets them and declares His identity. At this, “they drew back and fell to the ground (v6).” In John’s remembrance of this story, he gives us a little nugget that Matthew, Mark, and Luke do not record. The image emerges here of a powerful Jesus, not a man who has been captured by the might of the temple guard, but rather one who has the power to drive these men to their knees with a single word. At the declaration of His identity as Son of God / Messiah / Lord, this armed guard falls to the ground — a foreshadowing of the event that Paul writes about in Philippians 2, a day when every knee will bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. Jesus is strong to willingly lay down His life. John will also record for us later that Jesus didn’t “die”; He “gave up His spirit” (19:30). Jesus remains in complete control here, even to the end.

This isn’t Peter’s finest hour. In an act of valor, he strikes off Malchus’ ear, and Jesus rebukes Him for it. In an act of cowardice, he wilts at the simple question of a servant girl. In an act of betrayal, he denies that he follows Jesus. I don’t know about you, but I can relate to all three of these experiences. Sometimes we want to do great things for the Lord, and perhaps our exuberance leads us down a headlong path that He never intended for us to take. In other moments, we find it so difficult to stand up and do the right thing; herd mentality, peer pressure — these are ever present forces in our lives, regardless of our age or position. And the simple confession that brings us life — “I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of the living God” — those same words get stuck in our throats sometimes and, just like Peter, our words or our actions betray His lordship in our lives. And yet, as we’ll see, the chapter isn’t finished on Peter here. Jesus still has use for this headstrong, exuberant, fearful, deceptive disciple. And thankfully, He still has use for those of us who are more like Peter than we’d like to admit.

I could write volumes about what Jesus says in v36: “My kingdom is not of this world.” In speaking with Pilate, Jesus is explaining His Kingdom’s origins. I think a better translation is “My kingdom is not from this world.” The Kingdom of God originates elsewhere, but it is a Kingdom FOR this world. As Jesus Himself prays, May your Kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. In Christ’s Kingdom, His followers do not wage war and conquer enemies in the traditional manner. As Jesus will demonstrate, God’s Kingdom is predicated on self-giving love. And the greatest demonstration of that love is still to come.

What about you? What are your thoughts on John 18?

Posted in Jesus, Project 3:45, Scripture | Tagged | Leave a comment