The Fatal Flaw of Other Worldviews

As we finish this series on the problem of pain, we must look at where these different ideas lead us. Every human worldview offers an explanation for why suffering exists. However, simple explanations cannot heal a broken heart.

Atheism explains pain as an unavoidable, meaningless accident of nature. Eastern Mysticism tells you that your grief is just an illusion that you need to meditate away. Liberal Theism tells you that God is fundamentally weak and can do nothing except feel sorry for you. None of these ideas give us real help or long-term hope.

This is where the Christian worldview completely breaks away from every other philosophy on earth. Christianity does not simply look at our three statements—that God is good, God is powerful, and evil exists—and leave us to struggle with the confusion. Instead, it introduces a beautiful fourth reality: God sent His unique Son to personally solve the problem.

The God of the Bible does not sit far away, coldly watching us struggle through the mess of a broken planet. Moved by deep love and compassion, He chose to step down into our world. Through the Incarnation, God took on human flesh and blood in the person of Jesus Christ. He experienced the full weight of human suffering firsthand.

The Incarnate God

Jesus did not protect Himself from pain. He was born into a poor family in a brutally oppressed nation. People lied about Him publicly, His hometown rejected Him, one of His closest friends betrayed Him, and His inner circle of followers completely abandoned Him when He was in danger. He was wrongfully arrested, suffered terrible physical and emotional torture, was put to public shame, and died a painful death on a cross in His early thirties.

Jesus’ experience with human agony was so real and raw that He cried out from the cross using the painful words of Psalm 22: "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?"

"We do not worship a God who cannot understand our tears. We worship a Savior who wept at gravesides, felt the pain of betrayal, and carried the heavy weight of physical torture. On the cross, Jesus absorbed the full, terrible consequences of a broken world's sin."

An Eternal Perspective

Through His death, burial, and powerful resurrection, Jesus did not just feel bad for our pain—He broke its ultimate power. He bought a concrete guarantee that He will return to completely destroy evil, wipe away every tear, and build a new creation full of permanent peace, beauty, and perfection.

This brings us directly back to the beautiful promise of Romans 8:28: “And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him...” Notice very carefully what this scripture does not say. It does not say that all things are inherently good. Betrayal, cancer, abuse, and death are deeply evil realities.

Furthermore, this promise does not mean we will always understand exactly how God is working through our specific tragedies. For the rest of our lives on earth, much of our pain will remain a painful mystery.

But Romans 8:28 anchors us in the truth that behind the scenes of our deepest pain stands a sovereign God. He is strong enough, wise enough, and loving enough to take the worst chapters of our lives and weave them into a beautiful, eternal plan for our ultimate good. He uses the heavy furnace of suffering to refine our character and prepare our souls for eternity.

Until that glorious day comes, we do not stay passive. We bring our honest grief to God, we trust His character when we cannot see His hand, and we become the hands, feet, and compassionate voice of Jesus to a hurting world.

The Reality of Common Grace

One of the most common questions skeptics ask is: If God is all-powerful, why doesn't He simply step in and stop every single bad thing before it happens? When we ask this, we must first recognize that, generally speaking, that is exactly what God is doing every single day. The Bible teaches an important idea called common grace. This means that God actively restrains, or holds back, the full power of human hatred and natural chaos from destroying us.

Jesus reminds us that God makes His sun rise on both evil and good people, and He sends rain to both the righteous and the unrighteous. Most of the time, the ground stays perfectly solid under our feet. Most of the time, rivers stay inside their banks, our bodies successfully fight off deadly diseases, and cars pass each other safely on the road.

Our daily lives would be full of chaos, violence, and terrible pain if God were not constantly working in human history to keep the world safe, orderly, and predictable.

The Complexity of Freedom

But what about the massive, terrible exceptions in history? Why didn't God step in and stop Adolf Hitler before he caused the horrific destruction of the Holocaust?

In the ultimate sense, God did stop Hitler. The Nazi power was broken, the dictator died, and the world entered a time of peace and recovery. But when we ask the painful question of why God didn't stop him sooner, we meet a deep mystery. The only completely honest and humble answer we can give is: we do not fully know.

What we do know is that Hitler did not act alone. He succeeded because millions of individual human beings chose to use their moral freedom in a terrible way. It happened because soldiers chose to follow evil orders, because churches and institutions chose to stay silent instead of being brave, and because nations took years to work together to stop it.

When we demand that God instantly step in and take away human freedom to prevent evil, we usually want Him to do that in everyone else’s life—but never in our own.

"We want God to instantly stop the freedom of bad leaders and criminals, but we don't want Him to stop us when we lose our temper, hold a grudge, or use a situation for our own selfish gain."

The Cost of Real Meaning

Think about what the world would look like if God stopped every action that went against His perfect will. If you tried to open a website that would ruin your moral character, your computer would instantly crash. If you said a mean word to your husband or wife, your voice would temporarily stop working. If you made a selfish decision with your money, your bank account would lock up.

If God acted this way, He would completely take away the dignity of human life. Our choices would no longer have any real meaning. We would live in an artificial world where true love, sacrifice, courage, and faith would be completely impossible. Why? Because the choice to do wrong would be mechanically blocked. God values our humanity far too much to turn us into unthinking puppets, even when our freedom puts our comfort and safety at risk.

The Truth About Moral Evil

When we see the massive amount of suffering in our world, it is easy to think of evil as something outside of us. We imagine evil as a dark, invisible force hiding in the shadows of the world. But the Bible forces us to look inside ourselves. Evil is not just "out there"—it is a human capacity. It is the strong desire in humans to act against the character and plans of a loving God.

A famous writer and philosopher named G.K. Chesterton once responded to a newspaper question that asked, "What is wrong with the world?" He sent back a very short and powerful answer:

"Dear Sirs, I am. Yours truly, G.K. Chesterton."

This internal problem is exactly what the Bible calls sin. God did not bring corruption into our world; human beings did. When we look at the worst events in history, we cannot blame God. Evil itself did not organize the Holocaust—human beings did. Evil did not cause the genocide in Rwanda—human beings did. Evil does not drive drunk, hurt children, or lie to get money—people do.

The vast majority of suffering on this planet is caused or made worse by human choices. Even our daily physical illnesses are often made worse by the stressful lives we build, the pollution we put into our air and water, and the bad personal habits we refuse to give up.

The Fractured Earth

But what about the pain that is not connected to a human choice? What about "natural evil"—like terrible tsunamis, earthquakes, hurricanes, and floods that kill thousands of people in a few hours? Even if we do not blame God for human cruelty, isn't He still responsible for a broken physical planet?

To understand this, we must look back at what happened when humans fell into sin. When God put humanity in the Garden, He gave them a job. He gave humans authority over the earth. He put the care, safety, and management of the physical world directly into human hands.

When humanity broke its relationship with the Creator, that act of rebellion threw the whole physical world into chaos. In Genesis 3:17-18, God explains this change to Adam: "Cursed is the ground because of you... It will produce thorns and thistles for you."

The Apostle Paul talks about this later in the Bible, in Romans 8:20. He writes that creation itself was ruined and is now in a state of decay and frustration.

The Unattended Garden

Think of creation like a large, beautiful garden without its gardener. Without a perfect human partner to take care of it in cooperation with God, the natural world becomes wild, messy, and dangerous.

Most of the time, the earth still works according to its original, beautiful design. The sun rises, crops grow, and our physical bodies heal from cuts and bruises. But because we live on a fractured planet, things sometimes go wrong. Tectonic plates move suddenly to cause earthquakes, rivers overflow into towns, and dry winds ruin farmland.

On a microscopic level inside our bodies, biology goes wrong too. Genes change in bad ways, nerves misfire, and dangerous cells grow out of control to cause cancer. This is not how God originally designed the world to be, and it is not what He wants for us. But when humanity walked away from God, the natural world suffered the consequences of that broken relationship.

How the World Answers the Problem of Evil

Every system of thought has a way to explain the tension between a powerful creator and the reality of human suffering. To understand why the Christian view is unique, it helps to see how other common worldviews try to answer this question:

• Atheism takes a purely physical approach. It simplifies the problem by saying that God does not exist. To an atheist, evil is not a spiritual problem. It is simply the cold, natural law of nature—the survival of the fittest.
• Buddhism and movements like Christian Science say that evil and suffering do not actually exist. They argue that pain is just an illusion in our minds.
• Liberal Theism tries to protect God’s character by making Him less powerful. It suggests that God is very nice and has good intentions, but He is not strong enough to stop bad things. He cries with us, but He cannot help us.
• Taoism believes that the universe itself is divine. It argues that good and evil are equal, opposite forces that balance each other—like the famous idea of yin and yang.

While these ideas might sound interesting, they do not give real comfort or a good explanation for the deep anger we feel when bad things happen.

The Original Blueprint

The Bible offers a completely different explanation, starting in the first pages of Genesis. Chapters 1 and 2 describe a God who creates a universe of perfect order, beauty, and peace. After looking at everything He made, Genesis 1:31 says that "God saw all that he had made, and it was very good." There was no cancer, no violence, no broken relationships, and no sadness in that original plan.

This brings us to a common and important question: If God’s world was so perfect, why did He put the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil in the middle of the Garden? It is easy to look back at human history and blame the tree for all our problems. But the truth is, the tree was not a mistake in God's design. It was an essential proof of God's love, because it gave Adam and Eve human dignity and true freedom.

True love and real relationships cannot exist without a choice. If God had programmed human beings to automatically obey Him like robots, we would not be children made in His image. We would just be biological machines.

"The tree in the garden was a monument to human dignity. Every single day our first parents walked past it, they had a real opportunity to worship God by choosing to obey Him. It was a clear reminder that their decisions mattered."

The Consequence of the Break

The tree gave Adam and Eve the freedom to make their own choices. If they ever decided they were unhappy with their partnership with God, all they had to do was eat its fruit. God refuses to force anyone to love Him, serve Him, or stay with Him against their will—not in the Garden of Eden, not in this life, and not in the life to come.

However, a serious rule of reality applies to us just as it did to them: We are completely free to choose our actions, but we are completely powerless to choose the results of those actions. Tragically, our first parents chose to break their partnership with God. They decided they wanted to define good and evil on their own terms. When they ate from that tree, human sin entered the world. The human race has been suffering the growing consequences of that choice ever since.

Evil is not a physical object or a cosmic monster created by God. It is simply the absence of good—the intentional choice to reject God’s perfect design.

The Single Greatest Challenge

Every believer, at some point in their journey of faith, struggles with the reality of human suffering. When we experience personal tragedy or see terrible things happening in the world, we always ask the same question: If God is so good, why do I feel so bad?

A famous Christian teacher named Dr. John Stott once wrote:

“The fact of suffering undoubtedly constitutes the single greatest challenge to the Christian faith and has been so in every generation.”

This question hits our hearts very hard. We look at the news, or we look in the mirror, and we ask: Why don’t you stop this, God? Why don’t you help us? Why are you taking so long?

When we talk about this topic, we must understand that suffering is not just a test question in a classroom. It is not just an idea for smart people to debate. This question is heavy because behind every question is a real human being who is hurting.

We do not ask this question during calm debates. We ask it when a young parent gets a terrible medical report, when a child is hurt by someone else, or when we sit quietly in a hospital room watching someone we love fight cancer.

Facing Our Doubts Openly

Because the emotions are so strong, many Christians feel worried when they have these doubts. We fear that asking hard questions means our faith is weak. We worry that the Christian faith does not have good answers for hard questions.

So, we run away from the problem. We make excuses, we ignore the pain of other people, or we give simple answers like, "The Bible says it, and that settles it."

But the Bible shows us a completely different way. The Bible is not afraid of human pain. It can handle our toughest questions because God Himself invites us to be completely honest with Him.

The book of Psalms is full of believers who are honest about their anger and sadness with God. They cry out because they are confused and hurting.

"God invites our tough questions. We do not need to feel sorry for having faith, and we do not need to accept defeat and say we don't know. We can give intelligent, thoughtful, and powerful answers about why we believe."

Instead of running away from our doubts, we can follow them. Our doubts can help us move past a simple, childish religion. They can lead us to a deeper, stronger experience with the living God.

The Tension Every Worldview Must Face

To find a good way forward, we must first look at the classic way people explain this problem. Historically, the problem of pain is built around three simple statements. These three ideas seem to fight against each other:

1. God is all-good.
2. God is all-powerful.
3. Evil and suffering exist.

A skeptic looks at these three statements and says they cannot all be true at the same time. They argue that if God were truly all-powerful, He would have the power to stop evil. If He were truly all-good, He would want to stop it. Because evil clearly exists, the skeptic says that God must be weak, cruel, or not real at all.

However, we must remember that suffering is not only a Christian problem. It is a problem for every human being alive. Every worldview, religion, and philosophy must explain these three statements.

An atheist does not escape the problem of pain by saying there is no God. They must still explain where the idea of "good" and "evil" comes from if the universe is just a random accident.

In the next posts in this series, we will look at how different religions try to solve this problem. We will see why the Bible’s answers give the most hope and comfort to a broken world.

The Most Unpopular Thing Jesus Ever Said

There are many things people admire about Jesus.

They admire His compassion. His concern for the poor. His willingness to forgive. His teaching about loving your neighbor.

Even people who are unsure about Christianity often have kind things to say about Jesus.

Then they reach John 14:6.

“I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.”

Suddenly the room becomes uncomfortable.

It is one thing for Jesus to say He knows the way to God. It is another thing entirely for Him to say that He is the way to God.

That sounds exclusive. In a culture that prizes openness and choice, it can sound almost offensive.

But perhaps we have misunderstood what Jesus was trying to do.

Lost People Need Directions

Imagine you are standing in an airport trying to catch a flight to Singapore.

You discover that none of the gates are labeled. Nobody seems to know where any of the planes are going.

One traveler says, “I picked Gate 22 because 22 is my lucky number.”

Another says, “I chose that plane because it looks friendly.”

A third says, “My cousin once flew from Gate 25 and had a wonderful experience.”

At some point you would stop and ask a very reasonable question:

“Can somebody please tell me which gate actually goes to Singapore?”

Oddly enough, nobody considers that question narrow-minded.

When the destination matters, clarity is not cruelty.

In fact, the most unkind thing an airport employee could do would be to smile politely and say, “All gates are equally valid. Just choose the one that feels right.”

A sincere traveler on the wrong plane is still heading to the wrong place.

The same principle applies to larger questions.

Questions about God.
Questions about truth.
Questions about eternity.

What Makes Jesus Different?

Most religious leaders point beyond themselves.

They teach a path.
They explain a philosophy.
They offer guidance.

Jesus does something startling.

When Thomas asks how to find the way, Jesus does not hand him a map.

He does not give him a list of spiritual exercises.

He does not tell him to try harder.

He says:

“I am the way.”
That is either breathtakingly true or breathtakingly wrong. There is not much room in between.

Jesus places Himself at the center of the answer.

The Difference Between a Ladder and a Bridge

Many people think Christianity is primarily about becoming a better person.

Work harder.
Try harder.
Do better.

But Jesus presents something very different.

Most religions can feel a bit like ladders. The goal is to climb higher. Become wiser. Become purer. Become more disciplined. Eventually, perhaps, you reach God.

Jesus says the problem is that the ladder is never quite tall enough.

Instead, Christianity claims that God came down to us.

Jesus does not merely point to a bridge.

He becomes the bridge.

That is why Christians do not merely admire Jesus as a teacher. They trust Him as a Savior.

The Question of Death

Every worldview eventually runs into the same problem.

Death.

Kings die.
Philosophers die.
Empires die.

Human beings have many disagreements, but the grave has always been a remarkably effective agreement-maker.

Jesus made a claim that no ordinary teacher would make.

He claimed authority over death itself.

Then He predicted His own death.

Then He predicted His own resurrection.

Then His followers spent the rest of their lives insisting that He rose from the dead.

If that claim is true, everything changes.

If Jesus walked out of His grave, then He has earned the right to speak about eternity.

Narrow Door, Wide Invitation
People often object that Christianity sounds exclusive.

In one sense, it is.

Jesus does not present many roads to God. He presents one.

But there is another side to the story.

The invitation is astonishingly wide.

The gospel is not for a spiritual elite.

It is for the rich and the poor.

The educated and the uneducated.

The successful and the broken.

The doubter and the confident.

The Christian message is not, “Look how good we are.”

It is, “We needed mercy too.”

That is not arrogance.

That is humility.

The Real Question
The question is not whether Jesus made an exclusive claim.

He clearly did.

The question is whether the claim is true.

Because if it is true, then it is not an act of arrogance to repeat it.

It is an act of love.

A road is only helpful if it leads home.

And Jesus did not merely claim to know the way.

He claimed to be the way.

That remains one of the most controversial things He ever said.

It may also be one of the most hopeful.

A Different Kind of Apologetics

A teenager asks, “If God is good, why did my mother die?”

A university student asks, “Who made God?”

A coworker quietly says, “I tried church once. It didn’t help.”

Questions like these make many Christians nervous. Not because the questions are foolish, but because they are deeply human. Behind many hard questions is not simply curiosity. There is often pain, disappointment, confusion, or loneliness.

We are living in a time when more people are walking away from organized religion, yet many are still hungry for meaning, justice, hope, and spirituality. People have more entertainment than ever and less peace than ever. They are surrounded by noise but starving for hope.

That is why apologetics matters.

The word apologetics comes from the Greek word apologia, which simply means “a defense” or “a reasonable answer.” At its heart, apologetics is not about winning arguments. It is about giving honest answers to honest questions about the Christian faith.

But in a post-Christian culture, Christians often fall into one of two traps.

Some choose withdrawal. They build a fortress and avoid the world around them.

Others choose warfare. They treat every conversation like a battle to win. Truth becomes a weapon instead of an invitation.

But the Apostle Peter offers a better way.
In 1 Peter 3:15, he writes:

“Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect.”

That verse shows us that true apologetics is rests on two things: good lives and gracious words.

The Context: Good Lives

Before people listen to our answers, they usually watch our lives.

For many people today, faith does not begin with a sermon. It begins with a relationship.

A Christian invites them to dinner.
A coworker shows unusual kindness.
A neighbor helps without asking for anything back.

People often belong before they believe.

As they spend time with Christians, they begin to observe something different. They see forgiveness. Patience. Humility. Compassion. They see believers care for the weak, serve quietly, and remain hopeful even during suffering.

A beautiful life does not prove Christianity is true, but it makes the gospel believable.

Our lives are meant to create curiosity.

Peter says people should notice our hope strongly enough that they begin asking questions.

“Why are you peaceful when life is hard?”
“Why are you so forgiving?”
“Where does your hope come from?”

Apologetics begins long before the conversation.

People rarely argue their way into the Kingdom. More often, they are loved there.

The Content: Gracious Words

Still, a good life alone is not enough.

Eventually, someone will ask a question, and we must speak.

Peter says we should “always be prepared to give an answer.” Christians should think carefully about their faith. We should not be afraid of questions. Christianity has always been able to stand in the light.

But notice the posture Peter commands:
"Do this with gentleness and respect.”

That changes everything.

A harsh Christian makes the gospel harder to hear.

True apologetics is not intellectual arrogance. It is patient, humble, and compassionate. People should feel safe asking us difficult questions. They should know that even if they disagree with our answers, our love for them will not disappear.

Truth without gentleness sounds unlike Jesus.

Behind many conversion stories, there is not merely a brilliant argument. There is usually a person. A parent. A pastor. A friend. A teacher. Someone who listened carefully, answered honestly, and loved consistently.

Years ago, during a public debate between a well-known atheist and a Christian scholar, the atheist said, “If those are your arguments, it would take a miracle for me to become a Christian.”

The Christian smiled and replied, “That is exactly what I am praying for.”

And he was right.

Arguments can remove obstacles. They can clarify confusion. They can point people toward truth. But only the Holy Spirit can open blind eyes and change the human heart.

We do not carry the burden of performing miracles.

Our calling is simpler than that.

Live a life full of hope.
Give honest answers.
Speak with gentleness.
And trust God to do what arguments alone never can.

Thoughts on the Life of Ezekiel

There are some jobs you should think carefully about before accepting.

If there were ever an advertisement recruiting Old Testament prophets, you would want to read the fine print very carefully.

Because God was not embarrassed to ask a great deal from His prophets.

Sometimes He asked them to speak words no one wanted to hear. Sometimes He asked them to stand alone. Sometimes He asked them to carry messages that would make them deeply unpopular. And sometimes He asked things so difficult that we hardly know what to do with them when we read about them.

That is especially true when we look at Jonah and Ezekiel.

At first glance, the two men seem completely different.

Jonah’s story moves quickly—storms, sailors, a great fish, and the repentance of Nineveh. Ezekiel’s story feels slower and heavier—visions, exile, symbolic actions, silence, and sorrow.

But the deeper you look, the more the two prophets begin revealing something profound—not only about the human heart, but about the heart of God.

Jonah was sent to Nineveh, the violent capital of Assyria, one of Israel’s enemies. Ezekiel was sent to rebellious exiles living in Babylon after Jerusalem had fallen.

One prophet was sent to enemies.

One prophet was sent to broken people.

One ran.

One remained.

And somewhere inside both stories is a question that reaches us too.

Not simply:
“Will we speak for God?”

But:
“What happens inside a person when God truly has their heart?”

The story of Jonah begins with a direct command:
“Arise, go to Nineveh” (Jonah 1:2).

Instead, Jonah runs.

At first, we are not told why. The story lets us feel the movement before it explains the motive. Jonah boards a ship heading in the opposite direction. A storm rises. Pagan sailors pray while the prophet sleeps below deck.

Eventually Jonah is thrown into the sea, swallowed by a great fish, and later sent again to Nineveh.

This time he goes.

He walks through the city proclaiming judgment:
“Yet forty days, and Nineveh shall be overthrown!” (Jonah 3:4).

Then something astonishing happens.

The city repents.

Violence stops.

The king humbles himself.

And God shows mercy.

At that moment, we expect Jonah to rejoice. Instead, he becomes furious.

Only then do we discover why he ran in the first place. Jonah prays:
“I knew that you are a gracious God and merciful, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love” (Jonah 4:2).

Jonah did not run because he doubted God’s judgment.

He ran because he understood God’s mercy.

He knew God might forgive Nineveh, and he did not want that to happen.

That realization lands heavily because it exposes something uncomfortable. It is possible to know truth about God while resisting the implications of that truth. Jonah understood theology correctly, yet his heart remained out of step with God’s mercy.

Then we turn to Ezekiel.

The contrast is striking.

Jonah moves away from difficult people. Ezekiel sits among them.

The book of Ezekiel opens with a staggering vision of God’s glory. Ezekiel falls facedown before the Lord. Before he ever speaks for God, he is overwhelmed by God.

Then God sends him to “a nation of rebels” (Ezekiel 2:3).

And God immediately tells him something sobering:
“Whether they hear or refuse to hear… they will know that a prophet has been among them” (Ezekiel 2:5).

Ezekiel is not sent because success is likely. He is sent because God intends to speak.

Then God begins asking astonishing things of him.

Ezekiel lies on his side for hundreds of days. He acts out the siege of Jerusalem. His body becomes part of the message itself.

Then comes one of the hardest moments in the entire book. God tells Ezekiel that his wife—the “delight” of his eyes—will die (Ezekiel 24:16). And when she dies, Ezekiel is commanded not to mourn publicly.

The next verse is devastating in its simplicity:
“So I spoke to the people in the morning, and at evening my wife died” (Ezekiel 24:18).

Then the next morning, Ezekiel stands before the people again.

Quiet obedience.

Steady surrender.

And if you sit in that moment long enough, you begin to realize something.

The power of Ezekiel is not how much he did.

It is how completely God had him.
Jonah carried God’s message while resisting the mercy behind it.

Ezekiel carried the burden of God’s message inside his own life.

Yet both prophets reveal something beautiful about God.

God sends Jonah to enemies because His mercy is wider than Jonah’s heart.

God sends Ezekiel to rebels because His patience is deeper than Israel’s rebellion.

Neither prophet is sent because people deserve it.

Both are sent because God continues speaking.

And ultimately, both prophets point beyond themselves.

Jonah ran from enemies.

Jesus moved toward them.

Ezekiel carried symbolic sorrow.

Jesus carried sin itself.

The prophets point us toward the greater Messenger who perfectly embodied the heart of God.

And that leaves us with an important question.

Are we merely carrying the message, or is the message carrying us?

Because it is possible to know truth, defend truth, and even speak truth while remaining strangely untouched by it.

But when the mercy of God truly takes hold of a person, something begins to move.

Grace moves outward.

Compassion moves outward.

Hope moves outward.

And when that happens, truth moves from words into worship—from something we merely say to something we begin to live.

Thoughts on the Book of Ruth 

There are seasons in life when everything important seems to fall apart at once.

Not slowly. Not in stages. All at once.

A loss you did not expect. A future that suddenly narrows. A quiet sense that what once felt stable is now uncertain. And in those moments, a question rises—sometimes quietly, sometimes with force:

Where is God in this?

Not in theory. In this.

The book of Ruth begins in that kind of moment.

A famine drives a family out of Bethlehem. Elimelech leaves with his wife Naomi and their two sons, hoping to survive in Moab. For a time, they do. But then everything narrows. Elimelech dies. The sons marry—and then they die as well. Three graves. One woman left with no husband, no sons, and no clear future.

Naomi returns home and says what she sees: “I went away full, but the LORD has brought me back empty.”

It is an honest conclusion. From her vantage point, it makes sense. But it is not the whole story.

Because the story is not being written from her point of view.

What follows is not dramatic. There are no miracles, no visions, no sudden interventions. Ruth simply goes to work. She gathers leftover grain in the fields—one handful at a time. It looks like survival. It looks ordinary. It looks like nothing is happening.

And then the text says something easy to overlook: she “happened” to come to the field of a man named Boaz.

It reads like coincidence. But it is not.

Because in that field is the man through whom redemption will come.

If you have ever watched something grow, you know that the most important part happens where you cannot see it. A seed is placed in the ground, and for a long time, nothing appears to change. But beneath the surface, something is happening. Roots are forming. Life is beginning. If you judge too early, you will say, “Nothing is happening.” But that would not be true. It would only be unseen.

That is Ruth in the field.

It looks like survival. But something else is happening.

Boaz notices her. He protects her. He provides for her. Naomi begins to see a shift: “The LORD’s kindness has not forsaken the living or the dead.” Not everything is clear—but enough is beginning to change.

Then the story moves forward. Naomi sees a path that Ruth cannot yet see. But it will require courage. Ruth goes to Boaz and asks him to act as redeemer. It is a bold step—uncertain, costly, and not guaranteed.

This is what faith often looks like. Not full clarity, but enough light to take the next step.

Boaz is willing, but there is a complication—another man has the first right to redeem. And the tension sharpens: will redemption come?

At the city gate, the matter is settled. Boaz redeems the land. He marries Ruth. A child is born. And suddenly, what Naomi said in chapter one begins to unravel. Empty becomes full. Loss gives way to restoration.

But the story does not stop there.

The child’s name is Obed. He is the father of Jesse, the father of David.
This was never just about survival. It was about redemption.

It would be easy to end the story by pointing to Ruth’s loyalty or Boaz’s generosity. And there is something to learn from both. But they are not the center.

The story is not carried by their faithfulness. It is carried by God’s.

In fact, God never speaks in this book. There are no recorded miracles. And yet He is present in every movement—every meeting, every decision, every quiet turn of events.

What looks like chance is not chance. What feels like absence is not absence. God’s covenant faithfulness is quietly moving everything forward.

We see this pattern throughout Scripture and even in life itself. In Genesis, Joseph is sold into slavery, falsely accused, and forgotten in prison. Then one day, he is brought before Pharaoh. It looks like an ordinary moment. But that moment changes everything. Years later, Joseph can say, “You meant evil against me, but God meant it for good.” He did not see it at the time. But looking back, he saw the pattern.

History works this way too. In 1928, a scientist named Alexander Fleming noticed that one of his lab dishes had been contaminated with mold. It looked like a mistake—something to discard. But he paused and observed that the bacteria around the mold had died. That small, overlooked moment led to the discovery of penicillin, saving millions of lives. At the time, it did not look important. As it turned out, it was monumental.

Ruth and Boaz did not know where their story was leading.

But God did.

And that is the quiet truth at the center of this book—and at the center of our lives as well:

God is often most at work where He seems most absent.

Which means the place where you are most tempted to question Him may be the place where He is already moving—not in ways you can see, but in ways that, in time, you will.

And when you do, you may discover that what felt like an ending was never an ending at all.

More Thoughts on Luke 16:1-13


Jesus tells a strange story in Luke 16. And something about feels wrong, at least at first — the kind that gives Sunday School teachers a mild migraine. It is about a dishonest manager who, despite being a scoundrel, ends up being commended.

Let’s look at the story.

There was once a rich man who discovered his manager had been playing fast and loose with the books. The numbers did not add up; the reports were not good. So he called him in and gave him the news: “Turn in your accounts. You cannot be manager any longer”.

The man had a problem. A real one. His future had just collapsed.

What would you do if you knew your time was almost up?

He thought it through: “I am not strong enough to dig” (he had, it seems, the constitution of a man who had spent more time managing numbers than lifting anything heavier than a pen). “And I am ashamed to beg” (his pride, unlike his accounting, was still fully intact).

Then he had an idea. Not a moral one—a strategic one. He called in his master’s debtors, one by one, and began slashing their bills.

Most likely, he was reducing his own commission or adjusting the terms in a way that cost him but gained favor. Either way, the result was the same: He rewrote their futures, and more importantly, he rewrote his own. Because now, everywhere he went, doors would open and favors would be returned. He had used his present position to secure his future. He was, in the oldest tradition of successful business, playing the long game.

And Jesus says—astonishingly—that the master commended him. Not for his dishonesty, but for his shrewdness.

That is the key. Jesus is not praising the man’s character; He is pointing to his clarity. This man understood something many of us miss: He knew what time it was. He knew his situation was temporary and his position would not last, and he acted accordingly.
The uncomfortable truth? The problem is not that the manager was shrewd. The problem is that God’s people often are not.

Money Is a Tool—Not the Goal

Jesus then draws out the lesson: “Use worldly wealth to gain friends for yourselves, so that when it is gone, you will be welcomed into eternal dwellings”.
Money is not the point; it is a tool—a small thing with surprising leverage.

If money belongs to you, you will hold it tightly. If it belongs to God, you will use it wisely. You cannot take it with you, but you can send it on ahead.

The Real Investment

So how do we use it well? We invest in people.

We do this indirectly; by supporting the work of the Gospel so others can reach people we may never meet. We do it directly, through generosity, kindness, and intentional relationships—not with the frantic, awkward energy of someone trying to force a conversation, but with thoughtful, consistent care.

We do not do this to earn a place in eternity; Christ has already secured that. We invest because we already belong to Him.

A Question of Loyalty

Jesus ends with a warning: “You cannot serve both God and money”. You will serve one and use the other. If you serve money, you will use God when it is convenient. But if you serve God, you will learn to use money well.

This is not really a story about money. It is a story about seeing things as they really are. It is about understanding what is temporary and what is not. The dishonest manager understood his moment. He knew his time was short. So he used what he had with an eye to the future.

Jesus is asking us to do the same—not in the way he went about it, but with wisdom he showed. Because in the end, this is what matters.

You cannot take it with you, but by investing it wisely, you can send it on ahead.

Luke 16:1-13 (a retelling)

There was once a rich man.

This is not exactly a plot twist. There is always a rich man or two around.

This particular rich man had a manager, whose job was to keep an eye on oil, wheat, and, most importantly, numbers. Numbers, when left unsupervised, are notorious for wandering off and shrinking.

And then the rumors began. Not formal accusations at first. Something quieter. The kind that begins, “I’m sure it’s nothing…” and ends with, “…but the accounts don’t add up.”
The manager, it seemed, had been… creative.

Not artistic creativity. Not the kind that produces beauty. The other kind—the kind that quietly rearranges reality and hopes no one notices.

So the rich man called him in. “Explain yourself,” he said. “Turn in your accounts. You cannot be my manager any longer.” Which, as career transitions go, is both clear and immediate.

Now the manager went away and did what people do when their future suddenly narrows.
He began to think out loud. “What shall I do?” It is not a philosophical question. It is a survival question.

“I’m not strong enough to dig,” he said.

This is a revealing detail. It tells us not only what he cannot do, but what he has never prepared to do.

“And I’m ashamed to beg.”

Which is interesting. His shame appears highly selective.

Then, suddenly, he had an idea.

And here is where the story shifts. Because the manager does something unexpected—not moral, but strategic. He begins to think not about his past, but about his future.

“I know what I’ll do,” he said, “so that, when I lose my job, people will welcome me into their houses.”

Notice the logic. He cannot keep his position. But he can still shape what comes next.

So he called in his master’s debtors. One by one.

The first arrived.
“How much do you owe my master?” “A hundred measures of oil.”
This is not a small debt. It is the kind of number that carries weight—economic, social, personal.

“Take your bill,” the manager said, lowering his voice. “Sit down quickly and make it fifty.”

The speed matters. The secrecy matters. But most of all, the opportunity matters. Because when someone is unexpectedly released from a burden, they do not ask many questions. They remember the person who did it.

Then came another.

“And you—how much do you owe?” “A hundred measures of wheat.”
“Take your bill,” he said, “and make it eighty.”

Not equal generosity. But a consistent strategy. And that is the point.

What the manager is doing is not random. It is calculated. He is converting financial capital into relational capital.

Quiet conversations. Reduced debts. Rewritten futures. And everywhere he goes, something changes.

Doors open.

Faces soften.

People remember.

Not the numbers—but the man.

Eventually, word reaches the master. It always does. And here, the story takes a turn that surprises everyone.

The master does not rage. He does not punish. He does not even correct the numbers.

Instead— He commends the manager.


Yes. Commends him.

Not for dishonesty. That is not the point. But for shrewdness.

For recognizing a moment of crisis—and acting decisively within it.

For understanding something that others often miss:

That the present can be used to prepare for the future.

And this is where Jesus leans in.“The people of this world,” He says, “are more shrewd in dealing with their own kind than the people of the light.”

In other words:
People who live only for this world often understand how it works—and act accordingly.
People who claim to live for something greater… often do not.

“Use worldly wealth,” He continues, “to gain friends for yourselves, so that when it is gone, you will be welcomed into eternal dwellings.”

This is not a statement about money. It is a statement about purpose.

Money, in this story, is a tool. A temporary resource. Something that moves, passes, disappears.

The question is not whether you have it. The question is what you turn it into. The manager turns it into relationships.

Jesus says: turn what you have into something that lasts longer than money itself.

“Whoever is faithful in little is faithful in much.”

That is not a future promise. It is a present diagnosis. Character does not change when the stakes increase. It is revealed.

“If you have not been trustworthy with worldly wealth, who will trust you with true riches?”
In that instant, the scale tips dramatically.

We are no longer talking about accounts. We are talking about trust.

“No servant can serve two masters.” Because, in the end, this is not about money. It is about allegiance.

“You cannot serve both God and money.”

And there it is.
A story about a dishonest manager that turns out not to be about dishonesty.
A story about money that turns out to be about eternity.
A story about a man who understood how to use the present to prepare for what comes next—and a warning to those who do not.

Because when the counting ends, the reckoning begins.

Reflections on Luke 10:25-37

The road from Jerusalem to Jericho was not the kind of place you walked without thinking.

It was narrow. It was exposed. And it had a reputation.

On this particular day, it also had a man lying in the dust—beaten, robbed, and left with just enough life to know he might not keep it.

He needed help.

That part was not complicated.

The Ones Who Saw—and Passed By

The first to come along was a priest.

He saw the man. That much is clear. But what he saw did not lead him toward the man—it led him away.

Perhaps he thought about his responsibilities. Perhaps he thought about purity. Perhaps he thought about the cost of stopping.

Whatever the reasoning, the result was the same.

He walked on the other side.

The Levite did the same.

He saw the man. He recognized the situation. But recognition did not become action. He, too, continued on his way.

Two men. Both religious. Both aware.

Neither willing.

They did not fail to see the need.
They failed to respond to it.

The One Who Stopped

Then came a Samaritan.

That detail matters.

He was not the expected hero. If anything, he was the least likely person to stop. The kind of man others would avoid, not admire.

But he saw the man.

And when he saw him, something happened.

He did not look for a reason to move on.
He did not ask what it might cost him.
He did not measure whether the man was worth the effort.

He simply saw the need—and stopped.

That is where everything changes.

What He Did

The Samaritan did not offer sympathy from a distance.

He moved closer.

He treated the wounds.
He lifted the man onto his own animal.
He took him to a place of care.
He paid the cost himself.

And then he did something more.

He made provision for what would come next.

This was not a moment of impulse. It was a decision to carry the burden further than was convenient.

Compassion that does not act is not compassion.
It is only observation.

The Samaritan did not just feel something.
He did something.

What a Neighbor Is

Most people think a neighbor is someone you already recognize.

Someone close.
Someone familiar.
Someone within the circle.

That is how the question is usually framed.

But Jesus tells the story in a way that shifts the focus.

The question is not: Who qualifies as my neighbor?

The question becomes: Will I be one?

Because in that moment, on that road, the definition was simple.

My neighbor is anyone whose need I can see – whose need, God has put me in a position to meet.

Not because it is convenient.
Not because it is deserved.
But because it is there.

The Real Divide

The difference in the story is not knowledge.

All three men saw the same situation.

The difference is not ability.

All three had the capacity to stop.

The difference is willingness.

Two preserved themselves.
One gave himself.

Two looked past the man.
One had pity of him.

And that made all the difference.

The Road We Walk

The story is not distant.

The road is not somewhere else.

It is here.

It is in the interruptions we did not plan.
The needs we did not expect.
The moments that do not fit into our schedule.

Most of the time, the choice is quiet.

We see.
We consider.
We decide.
And often, we move on.

Not because we did not understand—but because we did.

In the End

Jesus does not end the story with a definition.

He ends it with a command.

“Go and do likewise.”

Not define.
Not discuss.
Not delay.

Do.

You do not find a neighbor.
You become one.

And that happens in small moments, on ordinary roads, when you choose to stop.

Even when it costs you something.

Especially when it does.

Because in the end, the difference is not what you believe about compassion.

It is whether you practice it.

What Peter Saw

There is something easy to miss when reading about Peter.

It is not just what he says.
It is not just what he does.

It is what he sees.

At certain moments, the Gospels slow down and tell us exactly that. Peter saw something. And when he did, something shifted.

Not around him.

Within him.

And that shift, more often than not, led him off course.

When Peter Saw Himself

It begins with a miracle.

The nets are full—so full that they begin to break. Fish spill over the sides. Boats strain under the weight. It is the kind of moment that would normally lead to celebration.

Peter sees it.

But he does not stay with the miracle.

“When Simon Peter saw this, he fell at Jesus’ knees and said, ‘Go away from me, Lord; I am a sinful man!’” (Luke 5:8).

He looks at what Jesus has done, and then he looks at himself.

And that becomes the problem.

The miracle fades. His unworthiness fills the frame. Instead of moving toward Jesus, he pulls back.

When Peter looks at himself, he sees a reason to withdraw.
When Jesus looks at Peter, he sees someone to call.

The difference matters.

Because many people make the same move. They see their past, their failure, their weakness—and assume it disqualifies them.

But Jesus does not call the worthy.
He calls the willing.

When Peter Saw the Wind

Later, Peter finds himself in another moment he cannot explain.

He is walking on water.

Not for long. But long enough to know that it is real.

As long as his attention is fixed, he moves forward. The impossible holds.

Then something changes.

“But when he saw the wind, he was afraid” (Matthew 14:30).

He becomes aware of what surrounds him.

The wind. The waves. The instability of it all.

And once that becomes central, everything else begins to give way.

Fear replaces trust.
Logic replaces obedience.
He begins to sink.

As long as Peter’s attention was on Jesus, the water held him. When his attention shifted to the storm, the storm began to swallow him.

The storm did not grow stronger.

But it distracted him. And that was enough.

When Peter Saw Someone Else

By the final scene, Peter has been restored.

He has failed, and he has been forgiven. Jesus has spoken clearly to him: “Follow me.”

It is a simple call. A direct call.

It should have been enough.

But Peter turns.

“When Peter saw him [John], he asked, ‘Lord, what about him?’” (John 21:21).

It is a small question. But it reveals a shift.

From calling to comparison.
From obedience to evaluation.

He no longer looks at Jesus.
He looks at someone else.

And now he wants to know how their paths compare.

Jesus answers him plainly:

“What is that to you? You must follow me.”

No explanation. No comparison. No adjustment.

Just a return to what was already clear.

Comparison does not clarify calling. It distracts from it.

And it does so quietly.

What We Tend to See

Peter’s story is not unusual.

It is familiar.

We do the same thing.

We look at ourselves—and decide we are not enough.
We look at our circumstances—and decide things are too hard. We look at others—and decide we have been given less.

In each case, something shifts.

Not outside us.

Inside us.

Because whatever fills the center of our vision will shape the direction of our life.

What Matters Most

It is worth noticing that Peter was not wrong about what he saw.

He was unworthy.
The storm was real.
The other disciple did exist.

The problem was not the presence of these things.

It was their position.

They became central.

And when they did, everything else moved out of place.

A Better Way to See

Peter does get one thing right.

When he begins to sink, he does not hesitate.

“Lord, save me!”

And immediately, Jesus reaches out his hand.

Which tells us something important.

The issue is not that we sometimes see the wrong things.

It is that we give them too much weight.

In the End

The call has not changed.

Not in failure.
Not in fear.
Not in comparison.
It remains simple.

“Follow me.”

Not yourself.
Not the storm.
Not the other person.

Just him.
So when everything else comes into view—and it will—don’t let it steal your focus.

Because what you fix your eyes on will affect how you stand.

And whether you stand at all.

When Failure Is Not Final
Reflections on John 21

What Jesus Did for Peter

Peter failed.

Not in a small, tidy way that can be explained later with a shrug and a better plan. Not the sort of failure that politely keeps itself in the background.

No—Peter failed at the exact moment when courage was required, loyalty was expected, and silence would have been far safer.

He had spoken boldly. Promised loudly. Assured everyone, including himself, that he would never leave Jesus.

And then, when the moment came, he denied Him.

Not once. Three times.

It turns out that confidence is a wonderful thing—right up until it meets reality.

By the time the rooster crowed, Peter did not need anyone to explain what had happened. Some realizations arrive fully formed.

And that is why the next scene matters so much.

Because the real question is not:

Did Peter fail?

That part is already settled.

The real question is:

What does Jesus do with a man who has failed that clearly, that publicly, and that completely?

John 21 gives the answer.

Peter failed and felt it deeply

After the resurrection, Peter goes fishing.

This sounds reasonable. It also sounds suspicious.

Fishing is what Peter understands. Nets behave in predictable ways. Fish, while not always cooperative, at least follow recognizable patterns. Fishing does not ask uncomfortable questions about loyalty or courage.

So Peter goes back to what he knows.

The others follow him, which is often how these things work.

They fish all night.

They catch nothing.

Which is exactly the sort of detail that would be irritating if it were not so accurate.

Because empty nets are one thing. But an empty night, after everything that has happened, feels like something else entirely.

Peter has seen the risen Jesus. But he is still carrying the weight of his failure. He remembers what he said. He remembers what he did. Memory is particularly good at returning at inconvenient times.

Many people know this pattern.

We fail. And then we carry it. We replay it. We examine it from every angle, as if one more look might improve the outcome.

We begin to suspect that our worst moment might be our truest one.

Peter failed.

And he felt it.

Jesus met him and did not reject him

In the morning, there is a figure on the shore.

At first, they do not recognize Him. This is also familiar. Recognition, especially of important things, often arrives in stages.

He tells them where to cast the net.

They do.

Suddenly, there are too many fish to manage, which is usually a sign that something unusual is happening.

And then someone says, “It is the Lord.”

Peter does not wait. Waiting is not one of Peter’s stronger qualities.

When they arrive on the shore, they find something unexpected.

A fire.

And food.

Already prepared.

Which raises an interesting point.

Jesus did not need their fish.

He was not standing there hoping they might finally succeed so breakfast could begin.

He already had what was needed.

He simply invited them into it.

And then He welcomed them to a meal.

No lecture.
No public correction.
No carefully delivered reminder of recent events.

Just presence.

The risen Jesus—who has defeated death, no less—is cooking breakfast for tired, confused disciples.

It is difficult to overstate how important this is.

Because Peter may have expected rejection.

He may have expected distance. Or silence. Or a look that said, We need to talk about what you did.

Instead, Jesus met him.

And He did not reject him.

Jesus restored him and gave him work to do

Then comes the conversation.

“Do you love me?”

Once.
Twice.
Three times.

This is not coincidence. This is careful work.

Peter denied Jesus three times. Now Jesus addresses Peter three times—not to reopen the wound, but to heal it properly.

And notice the question.

Not: “Why did you fail?”
Not: “Will you do better next time?”

But: “Do you love me?”

Because Peter’s problem was not simply that he made a mistake.

It was that he trusted too much in himself.

So Jesus rebuilds him on something far more reliable.

Not strength.

Love.

And each time Peter answers, Jesus gives him something to do:

“Feed my lambs.”
“Tend my sheep.”
“Feed my sheep.”

This is where things become almost unreasonable—in the best possible way.

Peter expected rejection.

He received responsibility.

Peter expected to be disqualified.

He was recommissioned.

Peter expected his past to end his story.

Jesus gave him work to do.

That is grace.

Not the kind that ignores failure, but the kind that takes hold of it and refuses to let it have the final word.

And it is not free in the sense of being cheap.

It is free to Peter because it was costly to Jesus.

Jesus called him to follow Him—not compare with others

Then Jesus says something else.

Peter will follow Him.

And it will cost him.

So this is not a return to comfort. It is a call to faithfulness.

Naturally—because Peter is still Peter—he looks at someone else.

“What about him?”

It is a very human question.

We recover, and then we compare.

We are restored, and then we look sideways.

We are called, and then we wonder if someone else received a better version of the calling.

Jesus answers with admirable clarity:

“What is that to you? You follow me.”

Which is another way of saying:

This is not about someone else’s story.

This is about yours.

What this means for us

Peter’s story is not included in Scripture for historical interest alone.

It is included because it is familiar.

If you have failed—and most people have—then you already understand the first part.

The question is whether you understand the rest.

Failure is real.

But it is not final.

Jesus meets people in their failure.
He restores them by grace.
And He calls them forward.

So do not stay trapped in the past.

Do not assume your worst moment defines you.

And do not keep looking sideways at someone else’s path.

Jesus is still calling people like Peter.

And, inconveniently enough, people like us.

Which leaves only one reasonable response.
Follow Him.

Reflections on John 20

Many people think that if something is true, it should be obvious.
If the evidence is clear, we expect to understand it and respond the right way.

But people do not always work that way.

We do not just see reality; we interpret it through our expectations. If our expectations are off, our understanding will be too.
John 20 makes this clear.

The resurrection has already happened. Jesus is alive. But the people in the story do not yet understand what this means. They see what has happened, but they do not yet grasp its meaning.

But this is not only their story; it is ours too.

They Saw—But Did Not Understand

Mary Magdalene comes to the tomb. The stone is gone. The body is gone. She runs to Peter and John. They come, they look, they see the grave clothes.
But John points out something important: they saw, but they did not yet understand.

This is a key insight.

You can know the facts and still miss the meaning.
We often think the problem is not having enough evidence. But the bigger issue is usually how we interpret it.
We all bring expectations to what we see.
If you believe death is the end, you will not understand resurrection. If you think God is far away, you will not understand grace.
Even when the truth is right in front of us, we can still get it wrong.

She Saw Jesus—But Did Not Recognize Him

Mary stays at the tomb, crying. She turns and sees Jesus, but she does not recognize Him. Why is that?
Because she is not expecting Him to be alive.
Her expectations come from her grief.
Then Jesus says one word: “Mary.”
And everything changes.
She now understands who He is.
This moment shows us something important about faith.
Faith is not just about information. It is about recognizing someone. It is personal.
You can know facts about Jesus and still not truly know Him.
Mary did not recognize Jesus by seeing Him. She recognized Him when He spoke her name.

They Were Afraid—But Peace Had Already Been Made

That evening, the disciples are together. The doors are locked. They are afraid. But everything has already changed.

Jesus is alive.

Then Jesus comes and says, “Peace be with you.”
He shows them His hands and His side.
This matters. The resurrection is not separate from the cross. It confirms it.
The cross is where sin was dealt with. The resurrection shows that the work is finished.
Peace is not just something Jesus offers as a possibility. It is something He has already accomplished.

And yet, the disciples are still afraid.
Why? Because they are not yet living in the truth that is already theirs.

We can have the same problem.
We might say we believe the gospel but still act as if we must carry our own guilt, earn our own acceptance, and secure our own future.

But the resurrection declares: the work is already finished.

From Doubt to Worship

Thomas was not there the first time Jesus visited the disciples.
When he hears the report, he says, “I will not believe unless I see.”

A week later, Jesus comes again. He meets Thomas in his doubt.
He invites him to see.
And Thomas responds, “My Lord and my God.”

This response represents the goal of the chapter.
It is not just about belief; it is about worship. It is not just about understanding; it is about surrender.

Faith in Jesus is not just agreeing that something is true.
It is trusting Someone.

What This Means for Us

John tells us why he wrote this:
“These things are written so that you may believe… and have life in His name.”
This is not only history; it is an invitation.

So, what should you do?
Believe what is true, even before you understand it all. Respond to Jesus personally—do not keep Him at a distance. Accept the peace He has already given; stop carrying what He has already finished.

And say, like Thomas:
“My Lord and my God.”

A Final Thought
The resurrection tells us three things:
The resurrection has changed everything!
Do you see it? Do you understand it?
If so, what are you going to do about it?

A Bible Story About Resurrection

The Problem: Death Enters the World

In the beginning, God made the world.

God made the sky.
God made the land.
God made the animals.

And God made people.

God made people in His image.
This means people were special.
They could know God.
They could walk with God.
They could live with God.

At the beginning, everything was good.

There was no death.
There was no pain.
There was no fear.

God gave one command.

He said, “Do not eat from this one tree.”

But the first people did not listen.

They chose their own way.

They believed a lie.

And sin entered the world.

When sin came, death came with it.

God had said, “If you sin, you will die.”
And now death became part of human life.

From that moment, everything changed.

People still lived.
But they did not live forever.

Bodies grew weak.
People became sick.
People died.

Death became the great problem.

No one could escape it.
No one could stop it.
No one could defeat it.

Even the strongest person would die.
Even the wisest person would die.
Even the best person would die.

And something inside people knew this was wrong.

Death did not feel normal.
It felt like an enemy.

Early Hope: God will Defeat Death

Even in this broken world, God gave hope.

God did not leave people without a promise.

Some people began to understand that death would not win forever.

A man named Job said,
“I know that my Redeemer lives…
and after my skin is destroyed,
yet in my flesh I will see God.”

Job believed that even after death,
he would live again.

The prophet Isaiah said,
“God will swallow up death forever.”

That means death will not last forever.
God will destroy it.

The prophet Daniel said,
“Many who sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake.”

This is a picture of resurrection.

People who die will rise again.

So the Old Testament gives us a promise:

Death is real.
Death is painful.
But death is not the end.

God will act.

God will defeat death.

God will bring life again.

Jesus Teaches about Resurrection

Then Jesus came.

Jesus did not only teach about God.
He showed what God is like.

One day, Jesus went to a place where a man had died.

The man’s name was Lazarus.

Lazarus had been in the grave for four days.

His sisters were crying.
The people were sad.

Jesus said something very important:

“I am the resurrection and the life.
Whoever believes in me will live, even though he dies.”

Jesus did not say,
“I can show you resurrection.”

He said,
“I am the resurrection.”

Then Jesus went to the tomb.

He called Lazarus by name.

“Lazarus, come out!”

And Lazarus came out alive.

This was a sign.

Jesus was showing His power over death.

Jesus also told His disciples something strange.

He said,
“The Son of Man will be killed…
and on the third day, He will rise again.”

The disciples did not understand.

How could someone die and then live again?

But Jesus knew what was coming.

The Resurrection of Jesus

Jesus was arrested.

He was beaten.
He was mocked.
He was nailed to a cross.

He died.

People saw Him die.

His body was placed in a tomb.

A large stone was rolled in front of it.

Everything seemed finished.

But early on the third day, something happened.

A woman named Mary went to the tomb.

The stone was rolled away.

The tomb was empty.

Jesus’ body was gone.

She ran to tell the disciples.

Peter and John came to the tomb.

They saw the cloths.
They saw the empty place.

Jesus was not there.

Then Jesus appeared.

First to Mary.
Then to His disciples.

He spoke to them.
He showed them His hands.

He was not a ghost.
He was alive.

Later, one disciple named Thomas said,
“I will not believe unless I see.”

So Jesus came again.

He said to Thomas,
“Touch my hands. See my side.”

Then Thomas said,
“My Lord and my God!”

Jesus had truly risen.

Death had not defeated Him.

He had defeated death.

What it means (the Early Church)

After Jesus rose, His followers began to speak boldly.

They said again and again:

“God raised Jesus from the dead.”

This was their main message.

They did not only say,
“Jesus was a good teacher.”

They said,
“Jesus is alive.”

Why does this matter?

Because the resurrection proves something.

It proves that Jesus is the Son of God.

It proves that His death was not a failure.

It proves that sin has been paid for.

The apostle Paul said,
“Jesus was delivered over to death for our sins
and raised to life for our justification.”

This means:

Jesus died to carry our sin.
Jesus rose to show the work is finished.

The resurrection is God saying:

“Yes.
The price is paid. The work is complete.”

Paul also said,
“If Christ has not been raised, your faith is useless.”

Why?

Because without resurrection:

• Death still wins
• Sin is not defeated
• There is no hope
  
  

But Christ has been raised.

So everything changes.

Our Future Resurrection

The resurrection is not only about Jesus.

It is also about us.

The Bible teaches that those who trust Jesus will also rise.

Paul says,
“Christ is the firstfruits.”

This means:

Jesus is the first to rise.
But others will follow.

Just as Jesus rose,
those who belong to Him will rise.

The Bible says:

“The dead in Christ will rise.”

This means death is not the end for believers.

Our bodies will not stay in the grave forever.

God will give new life.

God will give new bodies.

Bodies that do not die.
Bodies that do not suffer.
Bodies that are strong and full of life.

This is our future.
Life after death—with new bodies.

Life with God in a New Heaven and New Earth.

The End of Death

The Bible ends with a promise.

In the final book, it says:

“There will be no more death.”

No more crying.
No more pain.
No more suffering.

Why?

Because God will make all things new.

The resurrection of Jesus is the beginning of that new world.

It is the first sign
that death will not win.

One day:

• Graves will open
• Death will end
• Life will be restored

This is the Christian hope.

Final Message

Let us remember the story:

Death entered the world.
God promised to defeat it.
Jesus came and spoke about life.
Jesus died.
Jesus rose again.
Jesus gives life to His people.
And one day, death will be gone forever.

So we say:
Jesus is alive.
Death is defeated.
Life is coming.

And this life is for all who trust in Him.

A reflection on 1 Corinthians 15:3

The death and resurrection of Jesus is the center of the Christian message. It is not one truth among many. It is the truth that holds everything else together.

So, when we think about the death of Christ, we must think about it in the ways that the scriptures speak of it. The cross was not an accident. It was not merely an example of love. It was a deliberate act of God, accomplishing everything necessary for our salvation.

The Bible states it simply: “Christ died for our sins” (1 Corinthians 15:3). That sentence is short, but its implications are immeasurable.

What does it mean?

Here are a set of answers to that question. This is not a comprehensive list, but it covers a great deal of territory. Since we are only a few days from “Good Friday”, today might be a good time to think the question through.

He Paid the Penalty for Sin

At the heart of the cross is a simple but unavoidable truth: Jesus died in our place.

Scripture is explicit. “He was pierced for our transgressions… the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all” (Isaiah 53:5–6). This is not suggestion—it is explanation. Our sin was placed on him, and he bore it.

Why was this necessary? Because sin is not small. It is not a mistake we can outgrow. It is rebellion against God, and it carries a penalty. “The wages of sin is death” (Romans 6:23).

Someone must pay. At the cross, Jesus steps into our place and takes what we deserve. “He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree” (1 Peter 2:24). The debt is not ignored. It is paid.

The cross is not where God overlooked sin—it is where God dealt with it.

He Satisfied the Justice of God

God does not ignore sin. He cannot. His justice requires that evil be judged.

This is where many misunderstand the cross. We imagine that God simply decides to forgive. But the Bible tells us something deeper. God put Christ forward “as a propitiation by his blood” (Romans 3:25).

That means Jesus bore the judgment that sin deserves. God’s justice is not set aside at the cross—it is satisfied.

Jesus becomes “a curse for us” (Galatians 3:13). What should fall on us falls on him. Justice is upheld, and mercy is extended.

He Reconciled Us to God

Sin does more than make us guilty—it separates us from God. We were not neutral. We were distant. Scripture goes further: we were enemies (Romans 5:10).

But through the death of Jesus, that distance is removed. “While we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son.” The relationship is restored.

The cross does not simply remove guilt—it brings us home.

God is no longer distant. Through Christ, we are brought near.

He Secured Forgiveness

Because the penalty has been paid, forgiveness is now real and complete.

“In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses” (Ephesians 1:7).

Forgiveness is not God pretending sin did not happen. It is God dealing with sin fully, so that it no longer stands against us.

Forgiveness is not earned—it is purchased.

And it is complete. There is nothing left to pay.

He Defeated Sin, Death, and the Devil

The cross looked like defeat. It was anything but.

Through his death, Jesus “disarmed the rulers and authorities” (Colossians 2:15). He broke the power of sin. He removed the fear of death. He overcame the devil (Hebrews 2:14–15).

What looked like loss was actually victory.

The resurrection confirms it: death does not have the final word. Christ does.

He Declares Us Righteous

The cross does more than forgive—it changes our standing before God.

“We have now been justified by his blood” (Romans 5:9). That means we are declared righteous.

How? “For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God” (2 Corinthians 5:21).

At the cross, our sin is given to Christ—and his righteousness is given to us.
This is not improvement. It is exchange.

He Redeemed Us

The Bible describes sin as slavery. We were bound, unable to free ourselves.

Jesus came “to give his life as a ransom for many” (Mark 10:45). We were bought “with the precious blood of Christ” (1 Peter 1:18–19).

You are not your own—you were bought at a price. We now belong to God.

He Established a New Covenant

At the Last Supper, Jesus said, “This cup… is the new covenant in my blood” (Luke 22:20).

Through his death, a new relationship with God is established—marked by forgiveness, new hearts, and direct access to him (Hebrews 8:12; 9:15).

The cross fulfills what the old system pointed toward.

He Brings Us to God

This is the goal of it all. “Christ also suffered once for sins… that he might bring us to God” (1 Peter 3:18).

Everything the cross accomplishes leads here.

The goal of the cross is not simply to save us from something—but to bring us to Someone.

We are brought near. We are welcomed. We are given access to God himself (Hebrews 10:19).

Amazing, isn’t it?

The death of Jesus accomplished everything needed for our salvation.

He paid for sin.
He satisfied God’s justice.
He reconciled us to God.
He secured forgiveness.
He defeated evil.
He declared us righteous.
He redeemed us.
He established a new covenant.
And ultimately, he brought us to God.

This is not theory. This is reality. And it calls for a response.

Not admiration alone, but trust. Not agreement alone, but faith.

Because what Jesus accomplished, he accomplished for you.

A reflection on John 18

John chapter 18 takes place in one of the most riveting moments in the gospel story. That quiet opening, “When he had finished praying, Jesus... crossed the Kidron Valley”, sets the stage for a dramatic sequence of events.

It is dark.
Soldiers arrive with weapons and torches.
Religious leaders maneuver behind the scenes.
A Roman Governor must make a political decision.
Crowds will soon be stirred into shouting. Everything in the chapter feels unstable.

But at the center of all of the instability stands one person who seems completely calm.

Jesus.

He is the one character who is fully aware of what is happening and fully committed to the mission the Father has given Him.

John shapes this chapter as the story of two men – Peter and Jesus. And as you follow the story, two things happen at the same time:
Peter collapses.
And Jesus stands.

That contrast between them reveals something essential about the gospel that is worth remembering as we walk through the story:

Our salvation does not depend on the strength of our devotion, but on the faithfulness of Christ.

A Garden at Night

The chapter begins in a garden. Not a coincidence that the “offspring of the woman” will begin His journey to “crush” the head of the serpent from a garden (cf. Gen. 3:17).

Soldiers arrive. Torches and weapons in hand. The word John uses implies there may have been hundreds in the group. They were expecting to hunt down a fugitive.

But Jesus does something unexpected:
“Jesus, knowing all that would happen to him, came forward.” (John 18:4)
He steps toward them.
No retreat. No hiding.

“Whom do you seek?”
When they answer, Jesus replies, “I am.” And the soldiers fall back.
For a moment, those who came to arrest Him lose their footing.

Jesus is not a man caught off guard. He is not a victim of events of the next 24 hours. He is moving deliberately toward the cross. We make a mistake if, in our retelling of this story, we make Jesus appear as a victim.

Even when it appears that He is surrounded by a storm, He is in control.

A Shepherd Protects His Own

In the middle of the arrest, Jesus says:
“If you seek me, let these men go.” He places Himself between danger and His disciples.

Even as He is taken away, Jesus protects His people.
The Good Shepherd is still guarding His sheep.

The Misguided Sword

Peter reacts quickly (which seems to be a habit of his). He draws a sword and strikes.
He thinks he is defending Jesus. But Jesus stops him:
“Shall I not drink the cup the Father has given me?”

Once again, we see that the cross is not chaos. It is obedience. Jesus knows He is about to bear what belongs to sinners. The mission will not be accomplished by force, but by sacrifice.

Peter cannot see that —yet.

A Fire and a Failure

Then the story shifts.

Inside, Jesus stands before the high priest and speaks truth calmly.
Outside, Peter stands by a fire.

Three times, he is asked if he knows Jesus.
Three times, he says no.
Then the rooster crows.

John does not explain or comment. He simply lets us see it.

While Jesus stands firm before powerful authorities.
Peter collapses before a servant girl.

Human courage is fragile.
Even sincere faith can falter under pressure.

Truth on Trial

Jesus is then brought before the Roman governor, Pontius Pilate.
Pilate asks, “Are you the king?”
Jesus answers, “My kingdom is not of this world.”

His kingdom, He says, does not advance by power or force, but by truth.

Jesus says He came to bear witness to the truth.
Pilate responds, “What is truth?”

What irony. Pilate asks the question while standing in front of the answer.

The Final Choice

Pilate finds no guilt in Jesus, but pressure from the crowd grows.
He offers a choice:
Jesus—or Barabbas.

Barabbas is guilty. A murderer. An Insurrectionist.
Jesus is innocent.

The crowd chooses Barabbas.

The guilty one goes free.
The innocent one is condemned.

And in that moment, we see a picture of the gospel.
Jesus takes the place of the guilty.

Where John is Taking Us

So far, everyone in the story has misunderstood what is happening.
The soldiers think they are arresting a criminal.
The leaders think they are protecting God.
Pilate thinks he is solving a problem.
Peter thinks he is defending Jesus.

Jesus understands.

He knows the cross does not represent defeat.
It is the tool by which He will complete the mission He came to accomplish.

When Courage Fails

John 18 confronts us with a hard truth.
Even devoted followers fail.
There are moments when we speak boldly—and moments when fear silences us.
Times when faith feels strong—and times when it falters.

But the good news is this:
When our courage fails, Christ still stands.
When we falter, He remains faithful.
Our hope does not rest on the strength of our faith.
It rests on the faithfulness of Christ, in whom we have placed our faith.

Reading John 18–19 with new clarity

When we read the Gospel of John 18–19, it can feel like everything is unraveling.

Jesus is arrested.
He is questioned, mocked, and handed over to be crucified.

At first glance, it looks like a tragic collapse.
But when you pay attention to how John structures these two chapters, you begin to see that he is doing something far more deliberate.

He structures the trial before Pontius Pilate like a carefully arranged drama—moving the reader back and forth between outside (the crowd and religious leaders) and inside (Pilate and Jesus).

John seems to be intentionally creating a seven-part pattern. And at the center of that pattern is one surprising truth:

Jesus is King.

Look how John alternates the scenes in a steady rhythm:

• Outside → accusation, pressure, confusion
• Inside → conversation, clarity, authority

This movement is not random. It builds tension and reveals contrast.

Everyone else reacts. Jesus remains composed.

Look at how these seven scenes unfold.

1. Outside — The Accusation (18:28–32)
   The religious leaders bring Jesus to Pilate but won’t enter the headquarters to avoid ritual defilement.
   They care about ceremony while arranging injustice.
2. Inside — The Question of Kingship (18:33–38)
   Pilate asks, “Are you the king?”
   Jesus answers, “My kingdom is not of this world.”
   Pilate responds, “What is truth?”—without recognizing it standing before him.
3. Outside — The First Verdict (18:38–40)
   Pilate declares Jesus innocent.
   The crowd chooses Barabbas instead.
   The guilty goes free. The innocent is rejected.
4. Inside — The Mock Coronation (19:1–3) (Center)
   Soldiers crown Jesus with thorns and dress Him in a purple robe.
   They intend mockery.
   John shows something deeper: the King is being crowned.
5. Outside — “Behold the Man” (19:4–7)
   Pilate presents Jesus.
   The crowd demands crucifixion.
   The tension rises.
6. Inside — Authority Revealed (19:8–11)
   Pilate claims power.
   Jesus answers, “You would have no authority unless it were given from above."
   The real authority in the room is not Pilate.
7. Outside — “Behold Your King” (19:12–16)
   Pilate presents Jesus again: “Behold your King!”
   The crowd replies, “We have no king but Caesar.”
   The true King is rejected.

What John Wants Us to See

This is not just a trial. It is a revelation.

Every group misunderstands Jesus:

• The leaders reject Him
• The crowd mocks Him
• The soldiers ridicule Him
• Pilate fears Him

And what are we meant to see?

Jesus is the true King.

Even the symbols of mockery—
the crown, the robe, the title—
become unintended declarations of truth.

On the surface, it looks like this:

Pilate is judging Jesus.

But John quietly points to something deeper:

Jesus is revealing the truth about everyone else.

• The leaders expose their blindness
• The crowd exposes its allegiance
• Pilate exposes his fear

Yes, this is a trial. But the trial is not ultimately about Jesus’ guilt. It is the world’s inability to recognize its King.

Why This Matters

This structure changes how we read the cross.

The cross is not:

• a loss of control
• a tragic accident
• a failed mission

It is the moment where Jesus fully embraces the mission given by the Father.

What looks like defeat is actually enthronement.

The King is crowned with thorns before He is lifted on a cross.

Once you see this pattern, the Passion narrative becomes clearer—and more powerful. It is not simply the story of injustice.

It is the story of a King who is recognized only when it is too late—and who will establish His reign through what looks like defeat.

Reflections on John 17

Imagine hearing the private prayer of someone you love just before they leave for good. Not a public prayer. Not something polished or formal. Just an honest conversation with God.
In moments like that, people reveal what matters most.

That’s what makes John 17 so remarkable. It records the longest prayer of Jesus in the Gospels, spoken just before His arrest. The cross is only hours away. The disciples are confused and anxious. The future is uncertain.

And Jesus prays.

If we want to understand what mattered most to Jesus for His followers, John 17 gives us the answer. In this prayer, three themes rise to the surface: knowing God, remaining faithful in the world, and living in unity. Let's consider each in turn.

Jesus Wants Us to Know God

Jesus begins His prayer by speaking about glory:
“Father, the hour has come. Glorify your Son that your Son may glorify you” (John 17:1).
The “hour” Jesus refers to is the cross. Yet He speaks of it not as defeat but as glory. The cross is the moment when the mission the Father gave Him will be completed.
Then Jesus makes a statement that reshapes how we think about eternal life:
“Now this is eternal life: that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent” (John 17:3).

Eternal life is not defined simply as living forever. It is defined as knowing God.
Not knowing facts about Him. Not merely agreeing with certain beliefs.
But knowing Him personally.

Jesus came to make that relationship possible. Through His life, death, and resurrection, the barrier between God and humanity is removed. The first thing Jesus desires for His followers is that they truly know the Father.

Jesus Wants Us to Stay Faithful in the World

Next, Jesus turns His attention to the disciples sitting around Him.
Considering the trouble they are about to face, we might expect Jesus to pray that God would remove them from danger. But He prays the opposite:
“My prayer is not that you take them out of the world but that you protect them from the evil one” (John 17:15).

Jesus does not ask for escape. He asks for protection.

Why?
Because the disciples have a mission. Jesus explains:
“As you sent me into the world, I have sent them into the world” (John 17:18).
They are not just students. They are messengers. The work Jesus began will continue through them.

But this mission will not be easy. The world will oppose them. So Jesus asks the Father to sustain them through truth:
“Sanctify them by the truth; your word is truth” (John 17:17).

God’s truth anchors believers in a confusing and often hostile world. Jesus never promised that following Him would remove hardship. But He did promise that God would sustain His people within it.

Jesus Wants Us to Live in Unity

In the final part of the prayer, Jesus does something surprising. He begins praying not just for the disciples present with Him but for future believers:
“My prayer is not for them alone. I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message” (John 17:20).

That includes every generation of Christians since then—including us.

And the request Jesus makes is striking:
“That all of them may be one” (John 17:21).

Why does unity matter so much? Jesus answers:
“So that the world may believe that you have sent me.”

The unity of believers becomes a visible testimony to the truth of the gospel. When people see genuine love, humility, and shared purpose among followers of Christ, it points beyond human effort to the work of God.

Jesus then looks even further ahead and prays for the ultimate hope of every believer:
“Father, I want those you have given me to be with me where I am” (John 17:24).

The final destination of the Christian life is not merely survival in the world but being with Christ and seeing His glory.

Living Inside the Prayer of Jesus

John 17 reveals something extraordinary. Before going to the cross, Jesus prayed for His followers.

He prayed that they would know God.
He prayed that they would remain faithful in the world.
He prayed that they would live in unity.
And that prayer did not end that night.
Jesus explicitly prayed for those who would later believe through the message of the disciples.

That means the church today lives inside the prayer of Jesus.

We are part of the mission He began.
We are sustained by the truth He revealed.
And we are moving toward the future He promised.

If we ever wonder what Jesus desires most for His followers, this prayer makes it clear: to know God deeply, to remain faithful in the world, and to live together in a unity that points others to Him.

When a pastor is preparing a message (if he’s serious about what he’s doing), he does a significant amount of work that does not always show up in his sermon.

This week at The Well, we continue our “survey” series on the Gospel of John.
This Sunday, chapter 17. So, I have decided to “show my work.” and write a few of my preliminary observations (literary, theological, logical, structural) on John 17. Call it “groundwork.”

What follows is:

1. A preview of the content of the chapter. (If Bible Study is Observation, Interpretation,                 Application, this is the Observation phase.)
2. A look at what preparation can look like before the “sermon writing” ever starts.

John 17:1–26 (Observation)

Literary Context:

John 17 concludes the Farewell (Upper Room) Discourse from John 13–17.

For context (what is the author saying?) those chapters include:
Observation: John 17 functions as:

• the interpretive lens for everything Jesus has just taught
• the transition from teaching to the Passion narrative (John 18-20)

The disciples overhear the prayer. So, the prayer is addressed to the Father, but it will serve to shape the disciples’ understanding (of Jesus, the cross, their mission).

Structure:

The chapter divides naturally into three movements.

Movement 1
Jesus Prays Concerning His Own Mission (17:1–5)
Movement 2
Jesus Prays for the Disciples (17:6–19)
Movement 3
Jesus Prays for Future Believers (17:20–26)

Each movement develops one theological focus tied to Jesus’ mission.

Movement 1 (17:1-5)
Jesus Prays Concerning His Own Mission

Key Verbs

• glorify
• give
• know
• finish
• glorify (repeated)

Logical Movement

• The hour has come (17:1) signals the arrival of the cross.
• The Son asks the Father to glorify Him so that the Son may glorify the Father.
• Authority has been given to the Son to give eternal life.
• Eternal life is defined as knowing the Father and the Son (17:3).
• Jesus declares His mission completed. “I have finished the work” (17:4).
• Jesus asks to be restored to pre-incarnate glory (17:5).

This section (movement) has a clear Christological Center.
Jesus shares the Father’s divine identity.

• Jesus possesses authority from the Father
• Jesus gives eternal life
• Jesus shares divine glory with the Father

Theological Tensions (things that need to be noted and may require explanation).

• How is God’s Glory revealed through the cross?
• Eternal life defined relationally (knowing God)
• Pre-existence of the Son

Movement 2 (17:6-19)
Jesus Prays for the Disciples

Key Verbs

• revealed
• given
• received
• believe
• keep
• protect
• sanctify
• send

Logical Movement

• Jesus revealed the Father’s name to the disciples (17:6).
• The disciples belong to the Father but were given to the Son.
• The disciples received Jesus’ words and believed His origin.
• Jesus now intercedes for them, not for the world (17:9).
• Jesus asks the Father to protect them.
  • Reason: Jesus is leaving the world (17:11).
• The disciples face hostility from the world.
  • Reason: they belong to Jesus, not the world (17:14).
• Jesus does not ask for removal from the world.
  • Instead: protection within it (17:15).
• The disciples are sanctified in truth.
  • Means of sanctification: God’s word (17:17).
• The disciples are sent.
  • As the Father sent the Son, the Son sends the disciples (17:18).

Theological Tensions (things that need to be noted and may require explanation)

• How can we belong to God while living in a hostile world?
• God’s strategy - protection without removal (holiness without withdrawal)

Movement 3 (17:20-26)
Jesus Prays for Future Believers

Key Verbs

• believe
• be one
• know
• love
• see

Logical Movement

Jesus expands the prayer.

• Not only the disciples but all future believers (17:20).
  • The central request: unity among believers (17:21).
• Purpose of unity: the world may believe the Father sent the Son.
• Jesus shares His glory with believers (17:22).
  • The goal of unity: the world will know that the Father sent the Son and loves those who believe.
• Jesus desires believers to be with Him and see His glory (17:24).
• The prayer concludes with: the Father’s love dwelling in believers (17:26).

Theological Tensions (things that need to be noted and may require explanation)

• unity as a key mission witness
• shared glory with believers
• participation in divine love

Theological Themes

1. Glory Revealed Through the Cross
   The “hour” of suffering becomes the moment of divine glory.
2. Eternal Life Defined Relationally
   Eternal life is knowing God and Christ (17:3).
3. Divine Mission
   From the Father to the Son to the disciples to future believers.
4. Believers Live in the World but Do Not Belong to It
   Mission will be carried out inside hostile territory.
5. Unity of Believers Is Missional
   Unity in our relationships displays to the world that the gospel if true.
6. Salvation Ends in Shared Glory
   Believers ultimately see Christ’s glory and dwell in divine love.

Summary (Core Observations)

John 17 teaches that:

• Jesus’ mission (the cross) reveals God’s glory.
• Eternal life is knowing God through Christ.
• Believers belong to God
• The disciples are protected but not removed from the world.
• Believers are sent into the world.
• Believers are protected by God and sanctified by God’s word.
• They are sent on the same mission as Jesus.
• Future believers are included in Jesus’ prayer.
• Unity among believers reveals the truth of Christ to the world.
• The final destiny of believers is to share in Christ’s glory.

Ok. Now I can get started.

(A reflection on John 16)

Most of us carry a quiet assumption about faith.

If we follow Jesus…
If we obey…
If we trust God…
Life should get easier.

But what happens when it doesn’t?

What happens when following Jesus actually makes life more complicated?
When obedience creates tension?
When our faith leads to confusion?
When doing what Jesus asked puts you at odds with people you respect?

John 16 is written for exactly that moment.

Jesus is speaking to His closest followers—people who have left jobs, security, and reputation to follow Him. And instead of promising them success, He gives them a warning.

He is not trying to discourage them. He is preparing them.

Because Jesus knows something we often forget:

Faith rarely fails simply because it is challenged. Faith fails because it is surprised.

When Obedience Creates Opposition

Jesus removes the filters.
“They will put you out of the synagogue… whoever kills you will think they are offering a service to God.” (John 16:2) In other words, some people will sincerely believe opposing them is the right thing to do.

That’s unsettling.

We expect resistance from people who don’t care about God. But Jesus says opposition may come from people who believe they are defending God.

Then He explains why:
“They will do such things because they have not known the Father or me.”
Here’s why this matters: if we assume faithfulness will always lead to approval, then opposition will feel like failure. But Jesus is saying something different. Opposition does not necessarily mean you missed God. Sometimes it means you are exactly where He said you would be.

Why Jesus Leaving Is Actually Good News

Then Jesus says something that they do not want to hear:
“It is for your good that I am going away.” (John 16:7)

What? These men did not leave everything just to follow Jesus’ teaching.
They left everything to follow Him.

Then Jesus explains why.
When He leaves, the Holy Spirit will come.
And this will change everything.

Jesus beside them is good.
But the Spirit within them would be better.

Jesus’ physical presence limited Him to one place.
The Spirit’s presence would place God’s help within every believer, everywhere, all the time.

So, when God feels distant, that feeling is not always evidence of abandonment.
Sometimes it is evidence that something new is happening.

What the Holy Spirit Actually Does

Jesus explains that the Spirit will bring conviction.
That word sounds uncomfortable—and it is.
The Spirit exposes reality. He makes people see things as they really are.

Jesus says the Spirit will reveal three things:

Sin – because people refuse to trust Christ.
Righteousness – because Jesus’ resurrection proves He was right.
Judgment – because evil has already been defeated.

The Spirit reveals truth. And truth often disrupts us before it heals us.

Why God Doesn’t Tell Us Everything at Once

“I have much more to say to you, more than you can now bear.” (John 16:12)

This is one of the most pastoral lines in John 16.

God knows our limits.
He doesn’t overwhelm us with everything at once.
The Spirit guides us gradually—step by step.
Understanding grows over time.

So when life feels confusing, it doesn’t necessarily mean God is hiding something.
It simply means He is “pacing your growth.” (He’s been pacing mine for decades.)

When Sorrow and Joy Share the Same Space

Then Jesus uses an analogy that we can all understand - childbirth.

Pain that leads somewhere. Pain with a purpose.
The cross will bring grief—but resurrection will bring joy.

This is an important truth for Christians.
Christian joy is not the absence of sorrow.
It is the confidence that sorrow will not last forever, but that all of our sorrows will someday lead to joy.

The Promise Jesus Ends With

Jesus closes with what one writer called “the most honest promise in scripture.” “In this world you will have trouble.”

Not “might.”
Will.

But He immediately adds:
“Take heart! I have overcome the world.” (John 16:33)

Notice what He does not say.
He does not say you will overcome.
But that He already has.

Our peace is not based on our strength. It rests on His victory, a victory which He is on His way to accomplish.

When Faith Gets Complicated

So what do we do when following Jesus becomes confusing?
When obedience feels costly?
When answers come slowly?

Remember this:
Confusion is often the soil where faith grows deepest.

Don’t misread difficulty.
Don’t assume God is absent.
Don’t quit too soon.

The same Jesus who warned us about trouble also promised us peace.

Not peace from trouble.
Peace in the midst of it.
Because He has already overcome.

And that changes everything.

Working through the last week of Jesus’ life in John’s Gospel (John 13-20) has been very interesting for me. The challenge has been that I have chosen to do it so quickly. That requires that we are engaged in what is called a survey. It’s like visiting a large city, and rather than inching along the street and hems and checking out every market and coffee shop, we are riding a double-decker bus that slows long enough to point out the highlights but rarely stops. The goal (of the tour company and mine) is to give just enough detail in hope that the rider is curious enough to know more and returns to spend more time at the spots we’ve highlighted.

What makes this even more of a challenge is that 80% of the episodes and teaching in the life of Jesus that John includes in his book are unique. That is, they are not recorded in detail in any of the other gospels (Matthew, Mark, and Luke). So, moving as quickly as we are means that if we miss something along the way, we won’t find it anywhere else in our reading of the Gospels.

Another of the sacrifices we make in doing a survey is missing some of the connections that can be found by connecting the earlier parts of John (chapters 1-11) with this last section. So, I have decided to put some of the results of my reading into a few supplemental blogs along the way.

What follows is a brief (ok, maybe not-so-brief) look at what the book of John says about the Holy Spirit throughout his book. The best way to benefit from this piece is to read it with the Gospel of John open beside you. I have written it in a style that should be manageable for readers of English as a Second Language.

What John’s Gospel Teaches About the Holy Spirit

(John 1–21)

John’s Gospel speaks about the Holy Spirit in several important places. Some passages are brief, and others are long and detailed. When we read the whole book, we see a clear picture of how the Spirit works in the life of Jesus and in the life of believers.

1. The Spirit Is Present at the Beginning of Jesus’ Ministry

(John 1:32–34)

When Jesus was baptized, John the Baptist saw the Spirit come down from heaven like a dove and remain on Him.

“I saw the Spirit come down from heaven as a dove and remain on him.” (John 1:32)

This showed two important truths:

• Jesus is the one chosen by God
• Jesus is the one who gives the Holy Spirit

John the Baptist says:

“He will baptize with the Holy Spirit.” (John 1:33)

From the beginning of the Gospel, John tells us that Jesus is the one who brings the Spirit to God’s people.

2. The Spirit Gives New Life

(John 3:5–8)

Later, Jesus speaks with Nicodemus about the kingdom of God. Jesus tells him that no one can enter God’s kingdom without being born again.

“No one can enter the kingdom of God unless they are born of water and the Spirit.” (John 3:5)

This means spiritual life comes from the Spirit.

Jesus explains that the Spirit works like the wind:

“The wind blows wherever it pleases… So it is with everyone born of the Spirit.” (John 3:8)

The Spirit gives people a new beginning and a new heart.

3. The Spirit Gives the Life of God Without Limit

(John 3:34)

John also explains that Jesus speaks God’s words because God gives the Spirit to Him fully.

“God gives the Spirit without limit.” (John 3:34)

Jesus is completely filled with the Spirit, and through Him God’s life is made known.

4. The Spirit Becomes Living Water Within Believers

(John 4:13–14; 7:37–39)

When Jesus speaks with the Samaritan woman, He promises living water.

Later John explains that this living water refers to the Spirit.

“Whoever believes in me… rivers of living water will flow from within them.” (John 7:38)

John adds an explanation:

“By this he meant the Spirit.” (John 7:39)

The Spirit brings life, refreshment, and renewal to believers.

5. The Spirit Will Be Given After Jesus’ Glorification

(John 7:39)

John explains that the Spirit had not yet been given in this new way because Jesus had not yet been glorified.

This means the full gift of the Spirit would come after Jesus’ death, resurrection, and return to the Father.

The coming of the Spirit is connected to the completed work of Christ.

6. Jesus Promises the Spirit as the Helper

(John 14:16–18)

On the night before His death, Jesus comforts His disciples.

He promises that the Father will send another Helper (Advocate).

“He lives with you and will be in you.” (John 14:17)

The Spirit will remain with believers and will live inside them.

Jesus assures them:

“I will not leave you as orphans.” (John 14:18)

Through the Spirit, Jesus will still be present with His followers.

7. The Spirit Teaches and Reminds

(John 14:26)

Jesus explains another role of the Spirit.

“The Holy Spirit… will teach you all things and remind you of everything I have said to you.”

The Spirit helps the disciples:

• remember Jesus’ teaching
• understand His words
• explain His message to others

This is why the apostolic message about Jesus can be trusted.

8. The Spirit Testifies About Jesus

(John 15:26–27)

Jesus says the Spirit will testify about Him.

“The Spirit of truth… will testify about me.”

The Spirit’s work is always connected to Christ.

The Spirit helps people:

• recognize who Jesus truly is
• believe in Him
• speak about Him to others

9. The Spirit Convicts the World

(John 16:8–11)

Jesus says the Spirit will also work in the world.

“He will prove the world to be in the wrong about sin and righteousness and judgment.”

The Spirit shows people:

• their sin — especially unbelief in Jesus
• Jesus’ righteousness — that He truly comes from God
• judgment — that the ruler of this world has been defeated

This work prepares hearts to receive the gospel.

10. The Spirit Guides Believers into Truth

(John 16:13–15)

Jesus promises that the Spirit will guide believers.

“He will guide you into all the truth.”

The Spirit does not speak independently from Jesus. Instead, the Spirit continues Jesus’ teaching.

The Spirit:

• explains what Jesus has done
• helps believers understand truth
• brings glory to Christ

11. The Spirit Is Given After the Resurrection

(John 20:21–22)

After Jesus rises from the dead, He appears to His disciples.

Then something remarkable happens.

“He breathed on them and said, ‘Receive the Holy Spirit.’”

This moment shows that the life of the risen Christ now comes to His followers through the Spirit.

Summary: The Work of the Holy Spirit in John’s Gospel

From beginning to end, John shows that the Holy Spirit:

• Descends on Jesus and confirms His identity (1:32–34)
• Gives new spiritual birth (3:5–8)
• Brings the life of God like living water (4:13–14; 7:37–39)
• Is given through Jesus after His glorification (7:39)
• Lives with and in believers (14:16–17)
• Teaches and reminds believers of Jesus’ words (14:26)
• Testifies about Jesus (15:26)
• Convicts the world of sin and truth (16:8–11)
• Guides believers into truth (16:13–15)
• Is breathed out by the risen Christ (20:22)

In John’s Gospel, the Holy Spirit continues the work of Jesus.

Through the Spirit:

· Jesus’ presence remains
· Jesus’ teaching continues
· Jesus’ mission advances

Even though Jesus returned to the Father, His followers are never alone.

What Does Abiding Look Like in Ordinary Life?

There it is. Clear as day, right there in Red Letters. “Abide in me.” Sounds like it should be simple. But if you ask most Christians how to “abide,” something tightens inside them. We know it is important, but it sounds a bit intense — like long hours of prayer, constant spiritual focus, a life where our attention never drifts from Jesus. And because our days rarely look like that, we quietly assume we could never live up it.

But when Jesus says “Abide in me” in John 15, He is not describing a heroic spirituality.

He is describing staying. Remaining. Abiding. Staying connected. Staying close. Staying home.

He builds on a metaphor, a word picture in verse 1. Gardners, vines and branches. For the rest of the chapter, Jesus teases out that metaphor and helps us see, by comparison how it all works out.

So, what does that look like for us?

First, abiding looks like showing up where God has promised to be present.

Jesus does not invent new techniques. He gives His disciples words. Prayer. Bread and the cup. One another. Abiding begins by placing ourselves, again and again, in these ordinary places where God has said, “I will meet you here.”

Scripture read slowly — not to master it, but to let it master us.
Prayer that lingers long enough for honesty.
Gathered worship that forms us even when it feels familiar.

Abiding does not ask, “How much did I accomplish?” but “Did I remain? Did I stay close?”

Second, abiding looks like long obedience in all things ordinary.

A branch does not wake up each morning and recommit itself to the vine. It does not measure yesterday’s fruit or plan tomorrow’s growth. It remains where it is because that is where life comes from.

We want visible progress. We want changes we can measure. But branches grow slowly, and fruit ripens quietly.

Abiding often may feel unimpressive. It is praying when prayer feels dry. It is worshiping when songs are no longer new. It is choosing faithfulness over fanfare. Consistency over novelty. It is a long obedience in the same direction.

Growth in Christ is rarely dramatic. But it is steady.

Third, abiding looks like accepting limits.

Branches do not decide their season. They do not argue with the gardener about pruning.

Much of our anxiety comes from resisting the limits God has given us — limits of energy, time, and calling. Abiding begins when we stop fighting those limits and receive them as places where grace works.

Rest can be an act of faith.
Saying no can be obedience.
Keeping Sabbath can be trust that the vine continues working when we stop.

Fourth, abiding looks like a relationship, not a performance.

Abiding means bringing your whole self — anger, doubt, boredom, joy — into honest conversation with God. It means staying even when the relationship feels uncomfortable.

It means you stay.
You listen.
You trust.
You learn.
You pay attention.
You return when you drift.
And you allow the life of Jesus to shape you from the inside out.

Those who abide are not those who never struggle.
They are those who refuse to walk away.

And finally, abiding looks like fruit appearing almost unnoticed.

We stop checking constantly for results. And later, we realize something has changed. We are more patient. Less reactive. Quicker to forgive. Gentler answers. That is the fruit that we have waited for, and suddenly, there it is.

Abiding is not doing more for God. It is staying close enough to receive he life, the fruit, the joy that God is already giving. It is abiding as God does His work, in us, for us, and through us.

And most days, it looks like nothing special at all.

It has been a long time, but somewhere in those first few years of my education, I came across prepositions. Prepositions, I was told, are the “hardware” of a language. Like fasteners and hinges and doorknobs, sentences do not hang together without them. Good literature doesn’t happen without prepositions. As a student, they were hard to figure out. As a literacy tutor and an EAL instructor on occasion, I have found that they can be a bit tough to teach as well.

But lately I have been thinking that a good preposition or two can be “the nails you hang ideas on”. This year (again), I have decided to hang my prayer life on a few well-chosen ones. After beginning with appropriate praise, I am asking myself, “What do I want God to do THROUGH me?” What do I want God to do FOR me? What do I want God to do IN me?”

Through me? How do I want God to use me today? In some cases, these may be specific requests – “As I speak to this group of people, help us use my words to make Your purposes clear.” In others, they may be general.“I am not sure all you intend to accomplish today, but I want to be a part of it.”

For me? These are the “our daily bread” requests. What are my personal needs, and what needs am I asking God to meet for others as well? I may need a good friend when I don’t have one. I may need a job. I may need safety.


In me? These are what I might refer to as those “sanctifying” requests – those calls for character and integrity. When you look at the prayers of the Apostle Paul, by my calculations, MOST of his prayers were of the IN variety – for himself and for those he ministered to. (1 Thess. 5:23, 24; 2 Thess. 1:3-12; 2 Thess. 3:9-11;Colossians 1:9-14; Ephesians 3:14-21). This is where I ask God to change me – inside – in the deepest places of my soul and personality.

Prepositions may be small words, but using them this way can make a big difference.