“When Jesus saw his mother and the disciple he loved standing there, he said to his mother, “Woman, here is your son.” Then he said to the disciple, “Here is your mother.”
And from that hour the disciple took her into his home.”
John 19:26-27 CSB
Jesus, while being crucified, makes sure His widowed mother is cared for…Lord help me to be less self focused and see the people around me more clearly. Strength me to help everyone around me regardless of what is happening to me.
“From that moment Pilate kept trying to release him.
But the Jews shouted, “If you release this man, you are not Caesar’s friend. Anyone who makes himself a king opposes Caesar!” When Pilate heard these words, he brought Jesus outside. He sat down on the judge’s seat in a place called the Stone Pavement. They shouted, “Take him away! Take him away! Crucify him!”
Pilate said to them, “Should I crucify your king?”
“We have no king but Caesar!” the chief priests answered.
Then he handed him over to be crucified. Then they took Jesus away.”
John 19:12-13, 15-16 CSB
It seems like everyone in the book of John except the religious leaders understands that Jesus is someone important, at least. Most people suspect that He is the Messiah. But the power hungry religious leaders are determined to get rid of Jesus. Even Pilate wanted to let Jesus go…but he was swayed by the intensity of the culture and especially the priests.
Lord, help me to stand for what is true and not be directed by the impulse of the culture I am in. Allow me to hold to my convictions if they were authored by You! Help me to love you more than pleasing the people around me!!!
“You are a king then? ” Pilate asked.
“You say that I’m a king,” Jesus replied. “I was born for this, and I have come into the world for this: to testify to the truth. Everyone who is of the truth listens to my voice.”
John 18:37 CSB
What an incredible testimony that Jesus gives that His arrest and death are literally what He was born for! This circus of a trial and the ultimate condemnation to death is the very thing God sent Him to earth for. How humbling, that Jesus did all this for me!
God, thank You for stooping to our level to come to us and die for us. It really is the only way that we could possibly have relationship with You! What a privilege to understand that all of this was for me. Help me to love You more!
“Then the servant girl who was the doorkeeper said to Peter, “You aren’t one of this man’s disciples too, are you? ” “I am not,” he said.
Now Simon Peter was standing and warming himself. [The servants and officials] said to him, “You aren’t one of his disciples too, are you? ” He denied it and said, “I am not.”
One of the high priest’s servants, a relative of the man whose ear Peter had cut off, said, “Didn’t I see you with him in the garden? ” Peter denied it again.
Immediately a rooster crowed. ”
John 18:17, 25-27 CSB
Peters denial of Jesus is so hard to watch…Jesus tells him it would happen, to everyone’s disbelief. Peter swears it is not possible because he is all in! Then Peter denies even knowing Jesus 3 separate times…
It is so relatable to me, because Peter does what he “needs” to do to accomplish his plan to never leave Jesus. He never once thinks about it because it is “ just” little lies to insignificant people…they are all servants…but they could possibly get in the way of Peter’s goal.
It is not until the rooster crows that Peter even realizes what he has done is the very thing he was adamant could not possibly happen. So absorbed in his own goals, he does the very thing that he passionately swore was impossible.
Lord, You know I have been in Peter’s shoes and have been so distracted by my plans that I miss the significance of my own actions and choices. Help me to follow Your plan, and be focused on what You call me to!
“Then Simon Peter, who had a sword, drew it, struck the high priest’s servant, and cut off his right ear. (The servant’s name was Malchus.) At that, Jesus said to Peter, “Put your sword away! Am I not to drink the cup the Father has given me? ””
John 18:10-11 CSB
I am sure Peter wasn’t aiming for the guys ear…Peter was ready to kill to protect Jesus. But this was Peter’s plan, not what God was asking him to do. Poor Peter is often ready to act on his own ideas…I’m thankful God included Peter in scripture, because it gives me someone to relate to.
Lord, help me to trust Your plans and be willing to wait for Your timing. Lord, I confess that my plans seem so logical, and Yours are often confusing! My plans get me closer to the goals I have, Your plans seem to lead in a different direction…yet they always lead to peace and contentment when I get to the end of the path.
Lord, build my trust in You, in Your plan and in Your love for me. If I know the destination is good…help me to trust you at the start and in the middle of the journey!
“Father, I want those you have given me to be with me where I am, so that they will see my glory, which you have given me because you loved me before the world’s foundation. I made your name known to them and will continue to make it known, so that the love you have loved me with may be in them and I may be in them.”
John 17:24, 26 CSB
This prayer is adamant about Jesus desire to be with us. That is an incredible reminder that God wants to dwell with us…probably even more than we want to be with Him! Lord, grow my love for You and my earnestness in pursuing You!
“Now I am coming to you, and I speak these things in the world so that they may have my joy completed in them. I am not praying that you take them out of the world but that you protect them from the evil one.
Sanctify them by the truth; your word is truth. I sanctify myself for them, so that they also may be sanctified by the truth.”
John 17:13, 15, 17, 19 CSB
In this section Jesus prays for His disciples…He is shortly headed to the cross, but takes a moment to pray that God the Father would amplify the Joy inside His followers. And, also for protection from the Enemy…protection and joy…at the same time as being sanctified.
Sanctification is the reality of being set apart for a holy purpose, and being transformed into a more Christlike person. This is the process of the Christian life…
So, while we are being reshaped and transformed in our holiness, Jesus wants us to experience safety and joy! God, thank You that you don’t want one at the expense of the other. You don’t desire that we only suffer while being made holy, or You also don’t want us to just be joyful and stay in our sin. Both are possible, joy and holiness! You are a good God!!
