John 21:1-25

This “love” interaction between Jesus and Peter in verses 15 to 17 is confusing on first read – and on many additional reads – unless you know the Greek behind the word “love”. In the first two questions that Jesus poses to Peter He uses the word “agape” for “love”; in His third question He uses the word “phileo”. In each of Peter’s replies he uses the word “phileo”. “Phileo” is a friendship kind of love, while “agape” is a true, heartfelt, deep love. So in His first two questions Jesus is asking Peter about his “agape” love, the depth of his love, and Peter is answering with a friendship “phileo” love. Then when Jesus asks Peter a third time, this time using “phileo” in His question, it’s like Jesus asking him, “Do you only love Me as a friend?” So it’s like Jesus is asking, “Do you LOVE Me?” Then, “Do you LOVE Me?” And finally, “Do you only love Me?” Sadly, each time Peter responds with “phileo” friendship love. Go figure! (This information from my Study Bible and a number of sermons I’ve heard on this passage…)

So today we end our readings/reflections on the Gospels. Tomorrow we begin with the Book of Acts. Six months, 181 days, averaging 21 verses per day, ranging from 11 to 38 verses each day. A long, slow, steady journey filled with knowledge, guidance, blessings… Jesus has now ascended, the disciples are left on their own – almost…!!

See also: December 28 / John 21:1-14; December 29 / John 21:15-25

Luke 24:36-53

Today’s reading is a continuation of the Road to Emmaus, with the two disciples having reported to the eleven about their meeting with Jesus. Luke’s account of Jesus’ appearance in the Upper Room is consistent with John 20:19-23, except that John reports that Thomas had not been present – John then follows up with Thomas meeting with Jesus eight days later (John 20:24-29). One big difference between the two accounts is Jesus’ telling the disciples that His hands and His feet had been pierced: See My hands and My feet, that it is I myself. (Luke 24:39a) John had mentioned Jesus’ hands and His side. A small point, but fully a case of the gospels proving themselves! (See John 19:34.)

Luke gives a short account here of Jesus’ Ascension. Mark also reports on the Ascension (Mark 16:19-20). A more complete account occurs in Acts 1, which we will be reading in a few days.

See also: December 24 / Luke 24:36-49; December 31 / Luke 24:50-53

John 20:11-31

Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence of the disciples, which are not written in this book; but these are written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in His name. (vv. 30-31) For the past few years I have been documenting “signs” in my life – actual events that have happened to me where I feel that God has spoken or acted. Thus far I have noted 14 of these signs – six of which I refer to as miracles, seven where I feel God spoke to me, and one strange “coincidence”. I’m sure there are more; as I remember them I keep a log on my computer. These signs are important to me in both a personal sense and in sharing the gospel. In a personal sense I can rest assured that God is at work in my life. In sharing the gospel I have heard it said that nonbelievers can argue theology with you, but they can’t argue personal events in your life. They can choose not to believe you, but they can’t deny that the event happened. As I work through these signs, John’s words come true for me, …that by believing you [I] may have life in His name.

See also: December 20 / John 20:14-18; December 25 / John 20:19-31

 I hope you’ll read through my comments from 2019 in the links below. This “Road to Emmaus” event is one of my favorite Scripture stories!

But their eyes were kept from recognizing Him. (v. 16) I wonder at what Jesus looked like in His resurrected body. We will read tomorrow about Mary Magdalene also not recognizing Jesus when He first appeared to her, supposing Him to be the gardener (John 20:15b). So He was in some bodily form, but different than He had been when He was with them. Makes me wonder what we’ll look like in our resurrected bodies…!!

Then one of them, named Cleopas, answered Him… (v. 18a) This is the only mention of Cleopas that we have in all of Scripture. And this is still Jesus’ first resurrection day! So someone never before and never again mentioned is one of the few people (of whom we have record) who saw Jesus on that precious Resurrection Day! But this one event has Cleopas mentioned for us, for all time. And we acknowledge and embrace him and his friend for spending their day walking and talking about Jesus. I would love to hear or see a recording of Jesus’ conversation with them!

I can’t help but mention again Luke’s summary statement, …He was known to them in the breaking of the bread. (v. 35) That is such a powerful witness to us that gives more meaning to our Eucharistic celebration! Every Sunday and various occasions in between we are blessed to see Jesus in the breaking of the bread. Carol and I attended a wedding yesterday in Maryland, dear Christian friends from more than 25 years ago. The wedding was held on their farm, a beautiful wonderful, picture-perfect setting. The bride is my “birthday buddy”. The preacher spoke Scripture as he worked his way through the ceremony. But sadly, the one thing missing was “the breaking of the bread” – no Eucharistic celebration… ☹. I treasure our Anglican heritage.

See also: December 22 / Luke 24:13-27; December 23 / Luke 24:28-35

Luke 24:1-12 and John 20:1-10

Matthew and Mark have one angel at the tomb, Luke reports two “men…in dazzling apparel”, while John has no mention of angels. Different accounts arising from different people reporting to the gospel writers – except for John who was (supposedly) reporting first-hand… What to make of that? Draw your own conclusions.

I’ve long been fascinated by the clothing described in John’s gospel: Then Simon Peter came, following him, and went into the tomb. He saw the linen cloths lying there, and the face cloth, which had been on Jesus’ head, not lying with the linen cloths but folded up in a place by itself. (vv. 6-7) John spends two verses describing in detail the linen cloths and the face cloth. And recall – he was there! When I was growing up the Shroud of Turin was a hot topic, probably mostly within the Catholic circles where I was raised. Many believed the Shroud to have been the body and burial cloth that John describes above. Even today the Catholic Church will not affirm or deny that the Shroud depicts Jesus’ face. According to one source, “It is, in fact, the single most studied artifact in human history.” https://shroud.com/ I daresay that much of what we see in drawings depicting Jesus today is based on the face picture imbedded in the Shroud. In the first few weeks that we knew each other Carol and I listened to a presentation on the Shroud. The speaker left us with a small memento card that I kept as a Bible bookmark for years. So I’ve always been fascinated by John’s account of Jesus’ burial clothing. [Type “Shroud of Turin” in Google for facial images.]

See also: December 16 / Luke 24:1-12; December 17 / John 20:1-13

Mark 16:1-20

Carol and I are out in Maryland for the next many days with our daughter, Nancy, and her family (including two grandkids), so my early-morning posts will probably be set aside for the next week or so.

Two years ago we spread these twenty resurrection verses from Mark’s gospel over five readings; check out all five of those 2019 posts in the links below. If you are reading the notes from a study Bible or you see verses 9-16 bracketed in your Bible, it’s because Mark’s gospel ends abruptly after verse 8 – for whatever reason. Most likely his ending got lost, just like the first and last pages of a paperback novel can go missing. Most scholars believe that other believers added to Mark’s shortened ending, bringing in bits of four events that are covered by the other three gospel writers. Those four events are Jesus (1) appearing to Mary Magdalene, (2) meeting two disciples on the road to Emmaus, (3) meeting the eleven in the Upper Room, and (4) ascending. You see only snippets of those four events mentioned in Mark, but covered in much more detail in other gospel accounts that we’ll be reading over the next five days.

Jesus speaking: Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved, but whoever does not believe will be condemned. (v. 16) These verses trouble me, even though I fully believe Jesus’ words. I’m troubled because of those people with whom Carol and I have shared the gospel, but who refuse to acknowledge Jesus’ love or His gift of repentance, forgiveness and salvation. What to do? In the previous verse (v. 15b) Jesus told His disciples, “Go into all the world and proclaim the gospel to the whole creation.” That’s about all we can do. Ask the Holy Spirit to intervene in their lives. Pray and wait, wait and pray.

See also: December 15 / Mark 16:1-8; December 19 / Mark 16:9-11; December 21 / Mark 16:12-13; December 27 / Mark 16:14-18; December 30 / Mark 16:19-20

Matthew 28:1-20

Two years ago we had 32 days of Jesus’ Passion and 18 days of His Resurrection. This year we have 18 days of His Passion and 7 days of His Resurrection. I will forever treasure our 2019 walk through the gospels!

Somehow I had always imagined that the guards had already gone to report to the chief priests before the women arrived, but verse 11 has the guards and the women leaving the tomb at the same time: While they were going, behold, some of the guard went into the city and told the chief priests all that had taken place. Verse 4 also has the guards and the angel at the tomb together: And for fear of him the guards trembled and became like dead men. So the women and the guards and the angel were all at the tomb at the same time. I recall that fear is the immediate reaction whenever an angel appears in Scripture. So that would have been the natural reaction of the women upon seeing the angel: His appearance was like lightning, and his clothing white as snow. (v. 3) But it seems to me that seeing the guards there at the tomb (even in their “dead men” state) would have helped the women to realize that the angel was real and not a dream and would have helped them to calm their fear.

I will be forever confused on the timeline of Jesus’ Galilee and Jerusalem appearances to the disciples. When and where did Jesus meet the disciples during His post-Resurrection / pre-Ascension forty days? We’ve got the rest of the week to consider that!

See also: December 14 / Matt. 28:1-8; December 18 / Matt. 28:9-15; December 26 / Matt. 28:16-20

Luke 23:50-56 and John 19:38-42

Today we end Jesus’ Passion with His burial. John, alone, tells us of Nicodemus joining Joseph of Arimathea in placing Jesus’ body in the tomb. This is the third account of Nicodemus in John’s gospel. We all know of his long discourse with Jesus back in chapter 3, but he had also later challenged his fellow Pharisees who wanted to arrest Jesus: “Does our law judge a man without first giving him a hearing and learning what he does?” (John 7:51) So on these three occasions we see Nicodemus’ faith moving forward. We can easily believe that he became a committed follower.

Nicodemus was a favorite topic by famous and lesser artists over the centuries. If you can forgive the “Wikipedia” reference, click: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nicodemus#/media/File:Michelangelo_Pieta_Firenze.jpg. Then click on the “Pieta” sculpture image on the right and a photo will come up. Click the “go right” arrow on the right for another eight images of Nicodemus as portrayed by artists through the years.

See also: December 12 / Luke 23:50-56; December 13 / John 19:38-42

Mark 15:21-47

With more than a dozen days of postings on Jesus’ crucifixion and burial this year and in 2019 it’s hard for me to find something new to say. Even today I find that yesterday I posted on Joseph of Arimathea some of the same things I covered in 2019. But I am always encouraged when Scripture reinforces itself!

All four gospels mention women at the foot of the cross, at the tomb where Jesus was buried, and at His resurrection site. It’s a chore to nail down exactly who they were and who was present at each occasion. One person in particular, Mary Magdalene is at the crucifixion and at the resurrection site in all four gospels; Matthew and Mark also have her at the tomb. The other person of interest to me is Salome, who is mentioned in today’s reading as being at the foot of the cross (Mark 15:40). We can cross-reference to Matthew 27:56 and learn that Salome is the mother of James and John (sons of Zebedee). She is also at the resurrection site in Mark’s gospel. Identifying the other women who were at any of those three events is a chore for another day.

See also: December 2 / Mark 15:21-32; December 6 / Mark 15:33-41; December 11 / Mark 15:42-47