January 30 / John 3:10-21

John 3:10-21 “Notice what you notice.” Quite a few thoughts for today, some lingering over from yesterday. The first, in fact, is from yesterday, that Nicodemus came to Jesus “by night” (John 3:2). I’ve always heard that it was because of Nicodemus’ fear of condemnation from the Jewish rulers. But one of the Internet sites …

January 29 / John 3:1-9

John 3:1-9 “Notice what you notice.” BORN! Born again. Born from above. Born of water and the Spirit. Born of the flesh. Again Jesus gives (to me) a confusing answer to Nicodemus’ comment. Nicodemus says to Jesus that …no one can do these signs that you do unless God is with him (v. 2). Here …

January 28 / John 2:13-25

John 2:13-25 “Notice what you notice.” When we are reading through these Gospels it is often hard to see something new. That’s the case with me today – the words are old and familiar, but I do have two items, one a reflection and the other a question/confusion. As to the reflection, I’ve always wondered …

January 27 / John 2:1-12

John 2:1-12 “Notice what you notice.” On the third day… (v. 1). This item goes back to John’s first chapter. Jesus’ first appearance to John is noted in verse 29, beginning with The next day… his first Behold the Lamb of God… Then we have Jesus’ second appearance to John in verse 35, again beginning …

January 26 / John 1:35-51

John 1:35-51 “Notice what you notice.” Come and see (John 1:39,46). After first noticing this phrase in my reading I looked it up online and found two more occasions in John’s gospel where this phrase occurs. The first occurrence after John 1 is in John 4:29, the story of the woman at the well, when …

January 25 / Luke 4:1-13

Luke 4:1-13 “Notice what you notice.” A number of items today… First, when we read according to the schedule that we are following we see quite a bit of repetition in the synoptic gospels and we naturally make comparisons between these accounts. In this temptation account many writers point to the difference between Matthew and …

January 24 / Mark 1:12-13

Mark 1:12-13 “Notice what you notice.” Sorry for a late post today, folks. Things happen! So today only two verses – Mark’s account of Jesus’ temptation in the wilderness. Unlike Matthew and Luke, Mark is not at all detailed in his account of the content of the temptations. He has nothing to say about the …

January 23 / Matthew 4:1-11

Matthew 4:1-11 Moses and Elijah… When we see those two names together we are inclined to think of the Transfiguration or of Jesus’ references to “the Law and the Prophets” (Mt. 5:17, 22:40). Another connection with those two to Jesus is their unique “departures”. Jesus died, rose, and ascended; Moses died and the Lord buried …

January 22 / Luke 3:23-38

Luke 3:23-38 “Notice what you notice.” Not much today, Luke’s genealogy… I had already commented back on January 8 about some comparisons between the two accounts, Matthew’s and Luke’s. But I did notice three more small items. First, Luke has no women mentioned, while Matthew mentions four (Tamar, Ruth, Bathsheba, Mary). Why? No idea…! Second, …

January 21 / Luke 3:21-22; John 1:29-34

Luke 3:21-22 and John 1:29-34 “Notice what you notice.” Again today we have Jesus’ baptism, Luke’s and John’s accounts. Luke is quite short; he only adds in verse 21 that Jesus was praying at the time of His baptism. John, however, is (again) quite different from the Synoptics. First, he has his verse 29 greeting, …