John’s tweets for today:

• An expert in religious law just asked Jesus what he must do to get eternal life. Jesus asked him “What does the Law say?”
• The man answered “Love God w/ all your passion, prayer, muscle and intelligence. And love your neighbor as yourself.”
• Jesus told him he’d answered well, but now the man wants to know how Jesus defines neighbor.
• Jesus says “A man traveled from Jerusalem to Jericho & was attacked by robbers, beaten and left for dead…”
• “A priest going down the road later saw the injured man, but avoided him. Another church man also avoided the beaten man.”
• “But a Samaritan saw the man & his heart went out to him. He cleaned the wounds, took the man to an inn & paid the bill for his care.”
• “Which of these 3 men was a neighbor to the injured man?” The Law expert answered “The 1 who showed mercy.”

• Jesus says “Go and do the same.” So we are to love God w/ all we are and share that love w/ others.
• The Samaritan? We were ready to call fire from heaven down on them & Jesus makes the Samaritan the hero?

We’re to love God with all that we are and share that love with others.  Easier said than done!  In fact, most of the challenges I have in life come down to one of these two things.  Either I need to love and trust God more or I need to show more love and patience to the people in my life.  Or sometimes both.

Bible reference: Luke 10:25-37

John’s tweets for today:

• Jesus says “Stick w/ my teaching, living it out. Then you’ll experience truth & the truth will set you free.”
• The people say they’ve never been slaves. Jesus: “Anyone who chooses life of sin is a slave who can’t come & go at will”

• “A slave has no permanent place in the family, but a son belongs to it forever. If the Son sets you free, you will surely be free.”
• Jesus says “I tell you the truth, if a person doesn’t enter the sheep pen by the gate, but sneaks in another way, he’s only a thief…”

• “The shepherd walks in through the gate. The gatekeeper opens the gate for him and the sheep know his voice.”

• “I am the Gate for the sheep. All the others before me were thieves who came to steal, kill & destroy.”

• “Anyone who goes through me will be taken care of. I came so they will have real, eternal life. Full and abundant life.”

• “I am the Good Shepherd. I know my sheep & they know me. I lay my life down for my sheep & take it up again.”

One of the things that jumps out at me in this story, is the people didn’t recognize that they were in bondage.  They claim they have never been slaves.

We often walk around caged in and enslaved to attitudes or perceptions or addictions or…  We get so used to the bars that we no longer recognize them as something other than ourselves, as something that’s holding us down.

But Jesus offers freedom and life.  He wants to set us free from slavery and give us a permanent place as children of God.  He is truly our Redeemer and Rescuer.

Bible reference: John 8:31-36, John 10:1-21

photo credit: Steve Snodgrass

I’ve gotten a bit behind on copying and pasting John’s tweets here to the blog.  If you want to read all the tweets, please visit John’s Twitter page.

John’s tweets for today:

• Jesus is teaching near the temple in Jerusalem. Religious leaders have led a woman to him, saying she was caught in adultery.
• They want to stone her & want Jesus to agree b/c Moses law prescribes it. Jesus isn’t answering, but writing in the dirt w/ his finger.
• The religious leaders keep after him, calling to stone her. Jesus stands up and says “The sinless one go first. Throw the stone.”
• He started writing in the dirt again. One by one, they all walked away, leaving the woman standing alone.
• Jesus looks up & sees her alone. “Does anyone condemn you? Neither do I. Go, but from now on don’t sin.”

Other than trying to understand the book of Revelation, the most wondered about question has to be “What did Jesus write in the dirt?”  This story is only in the book of John.  I wonder why he didn’t tell us what Jesus wrote?  It sure does make me curious.

Bible reference: John 8:1-11

John’s tweets for today:

• When we got to Capernaum, the tax men asked Peter if our teacher pays temple taxes. Peter told them “Of course”.
• As soon as we went in the house, Jesus said to Peter “When a king collects tax, who do they get it from? Their sons or others?”
• “The children don’t have to pay the tax, right? But so we don’t upset them, go down to the lake. Pull in the 1st fish that bites…”
• “It will have a coin in its mouth. Use that to pay both my tax and yours”

I love this story.  It’s so funny to me.  Peter is outside and gets asked if Jesus has paid the temple tax.  We learn later in the story that Peter hasn’t paid his own temple tax, but he answers that of course Jesus has paid.  He stand there and lies like a dog!

Jesus takes care of it in the end with a cool miracle of a fish with a coin in its mouth.  Not just any coin, but one of the right amount.

But I just love to think of Peter answering the Jewish rulers, knowing he hadn’t paid his own tax.  Wonder if he was embarrassed when he did go to pay the tax with that coin?

I also think it’s interesting that this story is only found in Matthew.  He was a tax collector before he met Jesus, so I bet he saw the humor in it too.

Bible reference: Matthew 17:24-27

John’s tweets for today:

• Coming down the mountain from that amazing experience of seeing Jesus w/ Moses & Elijah. Another crowd is waiting for Jesus.
• A man brought his son to the other disciples.  He wanted them to drive an evil spirit out of the boy, but they couldn’t.
• The man said the demon made the boy mute & throws him to the ground so he writhes & foams at the mouth.
• Jesus is upset that they couldn’t drive out the demon. He called us unbelieving generation & wondered how long he’d have to put up w/ us.
• They brought the boy to Jesus. He was having a seizure, writhing on the ground. Jesus asked the dad how long this has been going on.
• The dad said since boy was very little, the demon has even tried to throw him in the fire or river to kill him.
• “If you can do anything, please help him.” Jesus told the man “There are no ‘ifs’ among believers. Anything can happen.”
• The man said “I want to believe. Help me w/ my doubts.”
• A crowd is running up to see it all now. Jesus commands the demon to get out. It left w/ lots of screaming & thrashing.
• Now the boy looks dead, pale. The people think he’s dead but Jesus takes his hand & he’s getting up!
• Later, the other disciples asked Jesus why they couldn’t drive out the demon. He said it takes prayer to get rid of that kind.

There’s so much going on in this scene.  Jesus is coming down from the mountain with Peter, James and John.  They had just seen Jesus transfigured before their eyes.  The disciples who didn’t go with them are trying to cast a demon out of a boy.  They have evidently been able to do this before, but this time it isn’t working.

The boy’s father wants to believe Jesus can help his son, but he’s having trouble.  And no wonder.  The boy is writhing on the ground and a crowd is gathering.  It would be hard to believe with all of that swirling around, especially since the disciples have already tried to cast out the demon unsuccessfully.

The father asks for Jesus to help him believe.  I think this must be one of the most powerful prayers we can pray.  When the darkness swirls around us, we only need to ask Jesus for his help in believing that He can do what He says He can do.

Our situation may not turn out the way we hope or imagine.  But we can know that God will never leave us and He is always more powerful than any situation we may face.  And if we have trouble believing that, He will help us believe.

Bible reference: Mark 9:14-29

John’s tweets for today:

• This crowd’s been w/ us 3 days now in Decapolis & they’re getting hungry. Jesus says his heart is breaking for them.
• He can’t send them home b/c it’s too far to go w/out food. We told him there’s no where to buy food out here.

• We’ve only got 7 loaves of bread & a few fish, but Jesus asked us to have everyone sit down on the ground.
• He’s praying over the bread and fish, just like he did the other time. There must be 4000 people here. Let’s see how far this goes.
• Everyone ate their fill and we collected 7 sacks of leftovers! Jesus sent the people home, full and satisfied.
• We’re in the boat after feeding all those people, heading back across the lake. Nobody packed lunch & nobody wants to take the blame.

• Jesus heard us bickering about no bread. He asked us why we don’t get it yet, reminding us of 5 loaves for 5000, 7 loaves for 4000.
• Everything Jesus does is so far outside of what I expect or understand.

It amazes me that the disciples have watched Jesus take care of them and many others, and yet they still wonder where they will get their lunch.

At the same time, I realize that I’m just like the disciples in this.  God has cared for me over and over and yet I still worry and wonder how it will all work out.

Trusting can be so hard sometimes.

Bible reference: Matthew 15:32-38, Matthew 16:5-12, Mark 8:1-21

John’s Tweets for Today

• We’ve left Tyre and are now in Decapolis. Some people brought a man who never could hear or speak & asked Jesus to heal him.
• Jesus took the man aside. He’s putting his fingers in man’s ears & put spit on man’s tongue. He prayed, groaned and commanded “Open up!”
• The man is talking plainly and he can hear us! Jesus told the man & his friends not to tell anyone, but they’re amazed & can’t stop telling.

I think it’s interesting how Jesus heals differently in different situations.  It makes me wonder if it really did take some physical energy from him.  This time he actually groans in prayer and then commands the man’s ears to open.

The story from yesterday, with the woman who follows him into the house in Tyre and asks him to heal her daughter also makes me wonder if it cost Jesus something to heal people.  He seems tired to me in that story.  Of course, I have no way of knowing if he really was tired, but he did enter the house in secret, not wanting anyone to know he was there.

And the story of the woman touching his robe, when he could feel the healing power go out of him also makes me wonder.  Even in that large, pressing crowd he knew someone had touched him.  Was it because he felt it physically?

Is there more to Jesus’ healing than just a “magic” word, a quick command?  What do you think?

Bible Reference: Mark 7:31-37

John’s tweets for today.

If you’re not already following John on Twitter, click here to follow.

1.  We’re in a house in Tyre. Jesus didn’t think he’d be found, but he was wrong. A Greek woman came right in & is kneeling at Jesus’ feet.

2.  The woman is begging Jesus to help her disturbed daughter. He said “Stand in line. Children get fed first, then dogs if there’s any left.”

3.  The woman still didn’t leave, but told Jesus “Even dogs get to eat scraps dropped under the table.”

4.  Jesus is impressed by her faith. He told her to go home, that the demon had left her daughter.

I don’t understand this story.  What Jesus first says to the woman doesn’t  meet up with my view of Jesus.  Which, of course means my view is incomplete.

It seems like he’s being mean to her.  Or toying with her.  Neither of which is anything I’d ever picture Jesus doing.  In the end, he does heal the woman’s daughter and he’s impressed by her faith.

What do you think of this story?

Bible reference: Matthew 15:21-28, Mark 7:24-30

photo credit: AmazonCARES

John’s Twitter Stream Today

- Getting out of the boat at Gennesaret, the people are gathering already, bringing the sick.

- They asked to touch Jesus’ clothes and everyone who touches him is healed.

- The crowd Jesus fed yesterday has come in boats looking for him. Jesus told them “You’re not looking for me because you saw God in the miracle…”

- “…You’re looking for me because I filled your stomachs for free. Don’t waste energy chasing food that rots…”

- “Work for food that nourishes true life, food the Son of Man provides.” The crowd asked “What do we have to do to get in on God’s work?”

- Jesus told them, “The work of God is to trust in the one he sent.”

- The crowd wants to see a miracle so they’ll believe in Jesus, something like the manna God sent to our ancestors.

- Jesus said, “I tell you the truth, my Father gives you true bread from heaven. Bread of God came from heaven & gives life to the world.

- “I’m the bread of life. Anyone who comes to me will never go hungry or thirsty. But you’ve seen me & still don’t believe.”

- “Everyone the Father gives me will come to me & I won’t drive them away, but hold onto them.”

- “I haven’t come from heaven to do my will, but the will of him who sent me.”

- “My Father’s will is that everyone who looks to the Son and trusts him will have real, eternal life.”

So often – too often – I go to God to get something from Him, instead of to know Him better.

Bible Reference: Matthew 14:34-36, Mark 6:53-56, John 6:22-59

photo credit: Mr. Kris

Do you ever wish you were different?  I do.  I wish I were more impulsive and quick to take action, like Peter.

As soon as Peter heard Jesus’ voice, he was out of the boat.  John and the others stood by and watched.  Peter actually walked on the water.

And yeah, he sank too.  But I bet he never forgot the feel of Jesus taking his hand and helping him out of the icy water and back into the boat.  I bet Peter never forgot the look on Jesus’ face as he sat in the boat with him, the wind blowing cold across his wet skin.

The other disciples were spectators but Peter participated.  He lived it out, lived it all.  I know this is John’s story, John’s perspective in the tweets.  But right now I admire Peter.

Bible reference: Matthew 14: 24-33, Mark 6:47:52, John 6:16-21

photo credit: IMISSMYJUNO