²⁵“Who are you?” they asked.

“Just what I have been claiming all along,” Jesus replied. ²⁶ “I have much to say in judgment of you. But he who sent me is reliable, and what I have heard from him I tell the world.”

²⁷ They did not understand that he was telling them about his Father. ²⁸ So Jesus said, “When you have lifted up the Son of Man, then you will know that I am the one I claim to be and that I do nothing on my own but speak just what the Father has taught me. ²⁹ The one who sent me is with me; he has not left me alone, for I always do what pleases him.” ³⁰ Even as he spoke, many put their faith in him.

Tell. Speak. Do.

Yuck. Another day where I feel like my mouth and brain are diametrically opposed. My mouth says, “I’ma goin’ this way,” and my brain begs, “Nooooo! You know that’ll only lead to bad things.” (Yep, “bad things.” My brain can’t even grasp bigger, more important ways of saying common things. Scott and I are trying to remedy that by reading Bonhoffer — along with a dictionary — but I think it’ll take longer than I have.)

I think I’ll struggle with my tongue, in some way, until that final day it stops wagging. Lately, it wags when I feel out of control. My little ducks have been less than in line now, for over a year. There is little closure to my day, so I clamor for means of controlling other things. Other people.

Like Scott.

Yuck.

I first saw this pattern for what it was, thanks to my roommate, Jodi, as she Nancy Drew-d my reality. I think it was a Saturday. I’d gotten fed up with how I could never see what spices we had, so got out stickers to put on top of the lids so, when I pulled out the container of them, I’d see the names. My friend, Angel, had just left after helping me put a closet organizer in.

Jodi came into my room and asked, “You organized the spices and built a closet organizer today. Are you feeling out of control in some area?”

Ah, wise Jodi. Well, yes. I was. I couldn’t tell you what it was, but I’ve never forgotten that day.

So…where was I and how did I get to this story? Oh, yes. Jesus’ words.

Jesus’ words and actions were never of his own initiative. This is the second clear time I remember seeing that truth in John.

• “…what I have heard from [The Father] I tell the world” (v. 26).
• “…I do nothing on my own but speak just what the Father has taught me” (v. 28).
• “…for I always do what pleases [the Father]” (v.29).

In reading, and rereading this passage for the past few days, these 3 descriptions are so beautifully compelling. I wonder if that’s, in part, why “even as He spoke, many put their faith in Him” (v. 30).

Beautifully compelling because I want to live like that! Oh, but I don’t. To be honest to the work God’s done in my life, my tongue isn’t what it was. For sure. When I first joined as a missionary with Campus Crusade for Christ, my trainer had me study the book of James. Knife to chest. If you know anything about James, it’s about the tongue.

So, yes, by God’s grace and the Holy Spirit’s power in me, He’s changed me. Oh, but there’s such an ache in me to fully live out who He’s made me to be.

To not clamor. To not spin, seek to arrange or control events. Rather to have a heart at rest. Not compelled to believe that it’s all up to me. (What a prideful lie.)

But to allow God to choose my words and actions.

That would be highly pleasing for everyone involved.

{Again, I’m sorry Honey. Thank you for loving me and showing me grace even when I’m not giving grace to you.}

Again, I find myself with a fresh perspective and deeper gratefulness for what Jesus has done for me. Thank you, Sally Lloyd-Jones, for sharing your gift for putting God’s Secret Rescue Plan into words that little people — and big people — can understand.  (Taken from the Jesus Storybook Bible.)

Jesus’ friends were sad. They would never see their best friend again. How could this happen? Wasn’t Jesus the Rescuer? The King God had promised? It wasn’t supposed to end like this.

Yes, but whoever said anything about the end?

Just before sunrise, on the third day, God sent an earthquake — and an angel from heaven. When the guards saw the angel, they fell down with fright. The angel rolled he huge stone away, sat on top of it, and waited.

At the first glimmer of dawn, Mary Magdalene and the other women headed to the tomb to wash Jesus’ body. The early morning sun slanted through the ancient olive trees, drops of dew glittering on leaves and grasses — little tears everywhere. The friends walked quietly along the hilly path, through the olive groves, until they reached the tomb. And immediately noticed something odd — it was wide open.

They peered through the opening into the dark tomb. But wait. Jesus’ body was gone!

And something else: a shining man was there, with clothes made from lightning.

“Don’t be scared,” the angel said.

But (they couldn’t help it) they screamed anyway.

The angel asked them, “What are you doing here? This is a tomb and tombs are for dead people.

The women couldn’t speak.

“Jesus isn’t dead anymore!” he said. “He’s alive again!”

And their hearts leapt. And then the angel laughed with such gladness that they felt, for a moment, as if they had woken from a nightmare.

The other women rushed home, but Mary stayed behind. How could it be true? Jesus was definitely dead — how could he be alive? Just then Mary heard someone else in the garden. Perhaps it’s the gardener, she thought. He’ll know where Jesus’ body is.

“I don’t know where Jesus is!” Mary said urgently. “I can’t find him.”

But it was alright. Jesus knew where she was. And he had found her.

“Mary!”

Only one person said her name like that. She could hear her heart thumping. She turned around. She could just make out a figure. She shaded her eyes to see…and thought she was dreaming.

But she wasn’t dreaming. She was seeing.

“Jesus!”

Mary fell to the ground. Sudden tears filled her eyes and great sobs shook her whole body, and all she wanted in that moment was to cling to Jesus and never let him go.

“You’ll be able to hold on to me later, Mary,” Jesus said gently, “and always be close to me. But now, go and tell the others that I’m alive!”

Mary ran and ran, all the way to the city. She had never run so fast or so far in all her life. She felt she could have run forever. She didn’t even feel like her feet touched the ground. The sun seemed to be dancing and gleaming and bounding across the sky, racing with her and shining brighter than she could ever remember in the clear, fresh air.

And it seemed to her that morning, as she ran, almost as if the whole world had been made anew, almost as if the whole world was singing for joy — the trees, tiny sounds in the grass, the birds…her heart.

Was God really making everything sad come untrue? Was he making even death coming untrue?

She couldn’t wait to tell Jesus’ friends. “They won’t believe it!” she laughed.

She was right, of course.

Happy Easter! He lives! He lives!

 

 ¹⁹ Then [the Pharisees] asked him, “Where is your father?”

“You do not know me or my Father,” Jesus replied. “If you knew me, you would know my Father also.” ²⁰ He spoke these words while teaching in the temple area near the place where the offerings were put. Yet no one seized him, because his time had not yet come.

²¹ Once more Jesus said to them, “I am going away, and you will look for me, and you will die in your sin. Where I go, you cannot come.”

²² This made the Jews ask, “Will he kill himself? Is that why he says, ‘Where I go, you cannot come’?”

²³ But he continued, “You are from below; I am from above. You are of this world; I am not of this world. ²⁴ I told you that you would die in your sins; if you do not believe that I am the one I claim to be,^[a] you will indeed die in your sins.”

Offering.

As we just remembered, on Good Friday, Jesus’ death on the cross — in our stead — it’s so timely that God would bring “offering” to my eyes for the first time in this passage.

Jesus is in the temple courts teaching.

But where is he standing? I’d never noticed before. Probably because I’d never paid any attention to where Jesus stood. I usually read for action, not for location.

He’s “near the place where the offerings were put” (v. 20). And He’s saying, “You don’t know Me or My Father” (v. 19).

The Lamb of Life is standing near where offerings were put and He’s saying, in essence, “You don’t realize I’m God and I’ve come to give My life for you. I have a secret rescue plan but you don’t see it.”

Jesus is the offering.

May that reality stir me to deeper thankfulness this weekend!

¹²When Jesus spoke again to the people, he said, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.”

¹³ The Pharisees challenged him, “Here you are, appearing as your own witness; your testimony is not valid.”

¹⁴ Jesus answered, “Even if I testify on my own behalf, my testimony is valid, for I know where I came from and where I am going. But you have no idea where I come from or where I am going. ¹⁵ You judge by human standards; I pass judgment on no one. ¹⁶ But if I do judge, my decisions are right, because I am not alone. I stand with the Father, who sent me. ¹⁷ In your own Law it is written that the testimony of two men is valid. ¹⁸ I am one who testifies for myself; my other witness is the Father, who sent me.”

Light.

So, there’s a theme here in John. Is this the 18th time I’ve picked “light” as my key word/phrase? Ok, maybe not 18, but a definite full-handful of times.

This is Easter week and what a perfect passage to consider today.

I probably shouldn’t have turned on any form of news until I got into the Word today, but I did.

There’s still so much hurt and anger around the killing of Trayvon Martin, just 30 minutes from our home.

There’s a new phone app that makes it easy for stalkers to see single women who are in their GPS location.

An ex-Orlando teacher pleads guilty to traveling for sex with a child.

I feel nauseated.

If there’s a time I’m thankful for hope, for Light in the darkness, it’s now.

And this week reminds me, all over again, that Jesus died with the weight of sin for all this darkness (my mind can’t even imagine the gravity of that) when He bore it all (past, present and future sin of the world) as He went to the cross.

That’s why it’s called Good Friday.

He took my place.

And Sunday, He triumphed over the death He died, rising again.

Light is here!

However you spell beloved in the plural sense, that’s what I’m doing today. Embracing them. What a great Thursday opportunity to get in front of the camera. Here’s where the idea to embrace the camera came from.

A sweaty mama after teaching Jazzercise. So grateful for a supportive husband who loves Lizzy wake up/breakfast time before I get back in the morning.

A first–down the playground slide by Grammy & Grandpa’s new house.

Forgot about this one. How I love this little gift from the Lord!

My man and #1 beloved on earth.

But Jesus bent down and started to write on the ground with his finger. ⁷ When they kept on questioning him, he straightened up and said to them, “If any one of you is without sin, let him be the first to throw a stone at her.” ⁸Again he stooped down and wrote on the ground.

⁹ At this, those who heard began to go away one at a time, the older ones first, until only Jesus was left, with the woman still standing there. ¹⁰ Jesus straightened up and asked her, “Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you?”

¹¹ “No one, sir,” she said.

“Then neither do I condemn you,” Jesus declared. “Go now and leave your life of sin.”

The older ones first.

The older I get the more I appreciate the detail John pens here. When Jesus asks for the sinless to go ahead and stone the woman, the crowd leaves. One person at a time, the older ones first. The older I get the much more aware I become of the ways that my actions — and sometimes inaction — can be sin. The gray-haired folks that day must have had that same realization.

A new thought today: since only Jesus and the woman are left at the end, does that mean that those in the original “Bible study” also were convicted and left, too? Light on this passage shines differently this time ’round with reading more in context than before; seeing well-known verses or passages and reading them in the midst of what was going on right before.

Another couple of thoughts:

• Much is made of Jesus writing on the ground. An interesting suggestion I’ve heard was that Jesus was writing the Ten Commandments in the dirt. But, I’d hazard to guess that if it was crucial for us to know, it would have been recorded by John. Just add it to the list of things I’ll ask God when I get to Heaven. That is, if I get beyond the stunned/I-forgot-everything-I-was-ever-going-to-ask posture because suddenly my questions pale just a bit in all the Glory.
• The woman doesn’t speak until the end. But she does speak. Jesus addresses her after He fights for her. As a western believer, I’ve been challenged lately to make sure I read the Bible as one in the Middle East would read it. Not as a white girl from Nebraska. When I shift my thinking, it’s shocking to think of Jesus — as a man and religious leader, unmarried — to speak to her, let alone take up her cause. She would have been undone by the interaction, to put it lightly.
• I’m still chewing on Jesus’ words to her: “Go now and leave your life of sin.” Not just “don’t sleep with the guy again” but “leave your life of sin.” For believers, it’s not just one or two things that we needed Jesus to save us from — but, rather, my life of sin. I’m not sure I’ve heard it quite this way before, though.

 

¹ But Jesus went to the Mount of Olives. ² Early in the morning He came again into the temple, and all the people were coming to Him; and He sat down and began to teach them. ³ The scribes and the Pharisees brought a woman caught in adultery, and having set her in the center of the court, ⁴ they said to Him, “Teacher, this woman has been caught in adultery, in the very act. ⁵ Now in the Law Moses commanded us to stone such women; what then do You say?” ⁶ They were saying this, testing Him, so that they might have grounds for accusing Him. But Jesus stooped down and with His finger wrote on the ground.

Set her in the center.

Chapter 8 actually looks to begin with verse 53 from chapter 7: “Then they all went home,” referring to the group of Pharisees, chief priests and temple guards who were just talking about Jesus and how they believed He was deceiving people.

So I love how, at the dawn of chapter 8, we see Jesus making His way back to the temple, in the early morning (after getting away to the Mount of Olives–a significant place, we’ll learn, for Jesus). He makes His way to the temple and the people hurl things at Him, asking how He could be so deceiving.

Nope.

He comes to the temple and all the people were coming to Him.

Can you see it?

He sits down to teach them.

Can you picture that? Can you see their faces? Hearing, as the temple guards did, this Man who speaks with power and authority. Truth that their bones ache to hear. Compelling.

And, amidst scroll-reading hour, the most unimaginable thing happens.

A woman is brought–probably dragged–into the center of the gathering. A woman caught in adultery. Caught. Meaning that they heard her or she was framed, or something probably worthy of a movie plot. And more than likely, she’s in the center of the court at the temple with a sheet or something around her that she barely was able to grab on the way out of the house, as she was dragged. (And where is the man?)

Humiliating. And shockingly out of place at the temple courts.

[Huh. I just realized that, as Jesus was probably getting away to be with His Father at the Mount of Olives, the Pharisees and scribes somehow searched for or found out about the woman, wanting to trap Jesus (v. 6). How different the night was spent 3 different ways: in retreat/worship, plotting & in a married man's bed.]

So Jesus, who’d be teaching (I wonder what the topic was?) is now confronted with angry and accusing religious leaders and a naked/almost naked woman.

And they ask Him what He says to the Law of Moses that says the woman deserves to be stoned to death.

Before we read on, consider what you would think would happen next if you’ve never read the Bible.

And stay in that for a minute. Consider it a biblical cliffhanger…

⁴⁵Finally the temple guards went back to the chief priests and Pharisees, who asked them, “Why didn’t you bring him in?”

⁴⁶ “No one ever spoke the way this man does,” the guards declared.

⁴⁷ “You mean he has deceived you also?” the Pharisees retorted. ⁴⁸ “Has any of the rulers or of the Pharisees believed in him? ⁴⁹ No! But this mob that knows nothing of the law—there is a curse on them.”

⁵⁰ Nicodemus, who had gone to Jesus earlier and who was one of their own number, asked, ⁵¹ “Does our law condemn anyone without first hearing him to find out what he is doing?”

⁵² They replied, “Are you from Galilee, too? Look into it, and you will find that a prophet^[a] does not come out of Galilee.”

Spoke.

Over and over I’m seeing that Jesus’ words of truth hold a power that’s unparalleled. I see it in the way people respond to the Word–written, spoken or as the Person standing in front of them.

Does it strike anyone else odd that temple guards would be listening to anyone? I think of the role of a guard as more bouncer than student of truth. Yet these men came back without having arrested Jesus — empty handed regarding the command they received in verse 32.

Not just one man who didn’t do his job; guards–plural.

I love their disclaimer, “No one ever spoke the way this man does,” they declare. Men probably known for force succumb to enamoring truth.

Me too! Hearing words of life change everything.

Picked up something reading today (on day 8 of thinking about this passage–so you never know how long it’ll take for new things to pop out!), I caught the subplot that’d be great for a movie: the Pharisees chastise the guards and basically state that no Pharisee has believed in Jesus. How I’d love to have been to to have tried to read Nicodemus’ face as he internally raises his hand. (John 3.)

[image from here.]

Here’s what we wouldn’t do: take a recent college grad who’s excited about her faith and helping others know God, walk her in the general direction of a city center, pat her on the back and cheer, “Go for it!”

But that’s, essentially, what has been the case with Campus Crusade students across the country after they graduate and begin working.

They’ve experienced great spiritual growth over their college career and have been equipped to know how to tell someone about Jesus and how to lead a small group.

But then they graduate. There’s been no bridge to the next stage of their life.

Until now.

AllCallings is a partnership ministry of Campus Crusade that helps recent graduates (and older) get connected and continue to reach out for Christ in their new season of life.

Here are the 5 things that enable a person to live a life on a mission. (Being mission-minded about the time God’s given us on earth.)

Whether you’re a recent graduate or not, you can consider these 5:

1. Kingdom vision. What are your experiences, passions and gifts that can point to how you can serve in your community?
2. A team. Just like in our fictional scenario, it’s not effective to have one person working alone. We don’t do that as we reach out on the college campus. Teams are key. Who shares your vision? With whom could you team up?
3. A plan. As your team meets with God, what steps of faith is He asking you to take?
4. Ongoing equipping. What areas of your life could continue to be developed to better fulfill your calling?
5. A coach. Who is already doing something similar who could mentor you or help get you started?

AllCallings is a great start for you or a friend who would love to see God move in your city: in your neighborhood, in your business community or on a campus. If there’s not something set up yet, start something! It will walk you though the first steps.

Prayer Requests & Praises

• Pray for what God is doing through AllCallings and for what He may have for you in your city!
• Praise for what God’s doing in the 7-10 ladies in the Healthy Eating group I [Angie] am facilitating on Mondays. It’s a grace-based weight loss group that discusses the book, Thin Within. I’m excited about the freedom the women are experiencing. It struck me yesterday that better health for our 1,000+ headquarters missionaries will happen with small life changes like this. One at a time. Mondays are a highlight.