60IN60 Day 32 - Thurs Jun 4

It’s Day 32 and we’re in John 14.

Where God Spoke To Me:

- Verse 12 - I want to see those "greater things."

Help:

- Verse 9 - If you've seen Jesus, you've seen the character and love of the Father.

- Verses 21, 23 - This is the standard: that we obey.

If you want to read the chapter online, here’s a link.

If you have a question or comment, email me at butcher@ymail.com. 

Your Questions and Comments:

- A comment from one of our 60IN60 participants: "Here are the central tenets of our faith as social people—service and love—and his news that his end on earth is near. This time I fixated on the simplest thing—the transfer of bread. Jesus declares one of the disciples will betray him, which naturally causes consternation. When asked he identifies the culprit not by saying “That bum Judas” but by offering him bread. Until this moment Judas betrayal is only intent. Satan enters to provide him the cajones to do what he’d been thinking of doing. Once identified, Judas can only confess and beg forgiveness or follow through, and he makes his choice. Still, that isn’t the tiny thing I focused on. It was the bread. Jesus dipped the bread in an oil and vinegar dressing, a traditional act of friendship and (I didn’t know this until now) a remembrance of Joseph’s betrayal. It’s the first I focused on. I do not think Jesus’s act was ironic, nor was it simply a revelation of the villain in the group. I think it was genuine, a last chance. I noted that Judas perfunctorily took the bread but he did not eat it. He chose to run—not only from the others but from what he might have become if he had accepted it. And at the end, as if to underscore that meaning, Peter is told that he will betray Jesus, and with him we learn that even treachery is forgivable if you accept the offer implicit in the bread."

60IN60 Day 31 - Wed Jun 3

It’s Day 31 and we’re in John 13.

If you struggle with the feeling that you need to hurry through the reading, it can be helpful to lay aside a certain length of time for the reading. "I'm going to spend the next ten minutes reading the Bible. If I get done early, I'll go back and re-read it. If I don't get it done, that's fine. Now I can relax and not try to hurry through so I can get on with the other things I need to get done today. I'm going to be here for ten minutes."

Where God Spoke To Me:

- Verse 2 - He'd been prompted, but it was still his choice. And he chose in the wrong direction.

Help:

- Verse 1 - The "full extent of His love" was not the washing of their feet, but the willingness to go to the cross.

- Verses 8-9 - First Peter refuses (v. 8), then Peter draws the wrong lesson (v. 9). What he should have done is simply receive Jesus' word.

If you want to read the chapter online, here’s a link.

If you have a question or comment, email me at butcher@ymail.com.

Your Questions and Comments:

- John 11. "I am somewhat puzzled by verses 47 - 53. If Caiphas as high priest prophesied that Jesus would die, was this revealed to him by God or was he just setting the narrative for the appropriate time and circumstance to justify the killing of Christ? Please clarify this for me. Thanks!" - I do not think God had revealed anything to Caiaphas in the sense that he was quietly listening for a word from God and then obediently spoke it in this moment. When v. 51 says, "He did not say this on his own, but as high priest that year he prophesied that Jesus would die for the Jewish nation," the idea is more that Caiaphas said this just as a part of what he was thinking but the words had deeper significance than he understood as he spoke them. I think for him the thought behind his statement was something like this: "We Pharisees are God's representatives. God is working in Israel through us. We are God's chosen leaders. Now this Jesus guy comes along and he is threatening our power. If we lose our power, Israel as a nation is done because we are its only hope. Therefore it's better for one person to die than for the whole nation to perish." I think he was just saying something that expressed his justification for killing Jesus. He was unaware his words had a deeper meaning, but his statement fulfilled prophecy that the high priest would make a statement like that. It's a combination of personal freedom (Caiaphas said what he wanted) but divine foreknowledge (God had put the prophesy in the Bible because he knew the high priest would make that statement with a double meaning).

60IN60 Day 30 - Tues Jun 2

It’s Day 30 and we’re in John 12.

Where God Spoke To Me:

- Verses 9-11 - So often, once we get something in our minds, we stick with it, even to ridiculous ends. I need to follow the truth wherever it leads and not try so hard to hold onto to my pet ideas.

Help:
- Verse 8 - This is not an excuse to disregard the poor, just a statement of fact about the fallen world in which we live.
- Verses 20-26 - It's odd that His disciples come to Him with this straightforward question and goes off on this tangent. What's going on? I think I'd paraphrase it like this, "The time for talking is past. To really see a harvest, something greater is going to have to happen and the time for that is now. I have to die in order to open up new life."
- Verse 34 - "lifted up" - Just another way to say that He was on the cross.
- Verse 40 - The original Greek makes it clearer that this is not something God is doing by mere fiat, but this is what they have chosen for themselves and God is letting it happen.

If you want to read the chapter online, here’s a link.

If you have a question or comment, email me at butcher@ymail.com.

Your Comments and Questions:

- John 11. "This miracle is one of my favorites because it shows Jesus once again out smarting the Jews on their own terms. How? He tarried. And then Martha's statement  " By now, Lord, he stinketh." So was Lazarus dead or really dead?" Were there different gradations of dead among the Jews? Yes. There was a Jewish myth that the soul lingered about the body  for three days after bodily functions ceased in hopes of re-entering the body.  Not all Jews believed this, yet it was a well know belief and many did believe it.  By tarrying until the body had begun to decompose (and because the Jews were always trying to explain away his miracles), this was one miracle that couldn't be explained away. An in your face resurrection. Even then, some hurried away with plans to kill him."

60IN60 Day 29 - Mon Jun 1

It’s Day 29 and we’re in John 11.

Where God Spoke To Me:

- Verses 21, 32 - I like the fact that they could be honest about their questions and disappointments with Jesus and He doesn't condemn them for it. 

If you want to read the chapter online, here’s a link.

If you have a question or comment, email me at butcher@ymail.com.

Your Comments and Questions:

- A comment from one of our 60IN60 participants: 1 Timothy 6. "I love this chapter—for its message, yes, but also because of its sinuous reasoning. Although it only occasionally shows (as far as I know), I think Paul had a solid grounding in the philosophy that preceded his time. The term “sophistry” is fairly recent, but the contempt for Sophists is ancient. Plato loathed their specious reasonings because they were based more on the desire to win a point rat her than make a point. How modern can you get? They also fit here because they taught for money and had a reputation for turning reason into coin. When I mention sinuous reasoning, I am talking about how Paul ties together ideas that seem far apart from each other. He tells slaves to honor their masters, and then drops the anvil: masters should treat slaves well, and Christian masters should treat slaves as brethren. Not much of that seeped through to the antebellum South. Then he moves from demanding humility in masters to demanding satisfaction to one’s earthly lot generally. This, of course, in the context of a church of equals. Then he moves slickly from contentment to discontent and those who sew it—and ties that not just to intellectual arrogance but to greed—and thence to the love of money, which is, after all, the subjection of reason. And then to the base of proper reason, which is not Sophistic (or even Socratic) but a profession/confession of faith in the one who gifted us with reason. And then another quick pivot back to instructing rich people to use their riches as a profession of faith, namely good works. This is one slick dude!"

60IN60 Day 28 - Sun May 31

It’s Day 28 and we’re in John 10.

Remember that your daily reading in the Bible isn't about gaining information - it's about changing your life to be more like Christ. That means that you need to take action on what God speaks to you about. 

Where God Spoke To Me:

- Verse 10 - He's not just offering adequate life; He's offering us abundant life.

Help:

- Verses 34-36 - This is a difficult saying. Unfortunately, it's really not an explanation that can be succinctly stated and I really don't have sufficient space here to explain it. Some answers take a whole sermon!

If you want to read the chapter online, here’s a link.

If you have a question or comment, email me at butcher@ymail.com.

60IN60 Day 27 - Sat May 30

It’s Day 27 and we’re in John 9.

Where God Spoke To Me:

- Verses 6-7 - I like how Jesus' healings are not cookie-cutter. They happen different ways in different situations, just as He works differently in each of our lives.

Help:

- Verse 3 - Even in the midst of tragedy and heartbreak, God is working to bring something redemptive out of it.

If you want to read the chapter online, here’s a link.

If you have a question or comment, email me at butcher@ymail.com.

60IN60 Day 26 - Fri May 29

It's Day 26 and we're in John 8.

Where God Spoke To Me:

- Verse 31 - This is what God expects of us. Obeying His teaching is not optional for a believer. 

Help:

- Verse 6 - What did He write? We don't know. One of the more interesting suggestions is that He was writing the sins of the men holding the rocks.
- Verses 58-59 - By using the phrase "I am," Jesus was equating Himself with God. 

If you want to read the chapter online, here’s a link.

If you have a question or comment, email me at butcher@ymail.com.

Your Comments and Questions:

- A comment from a 60IN60 participant: 1 Timothy 6 - "Where God Spoke to me:  '. . . protect what has been entrusted to you, avoiding worldly, empty chatter and the opposing arguments of what is falsely called “knowledge”— which some have professed and thereby have gone astray from the faith.' Comment: Once you’ve learned the truth, once you’re convinced that Jesus is who he says he is, shut your ears to the speculations and/or ridicule of others. Protect your faith. Nourish your faith. Your biggest critics are the ones who don’t have a clue."