LHC Midday Word

Sunday, 24 October 2021

The Gospel according to JOHN - Chapter Twenty

The empty tomb

1 Early on the first day of the week, while it was still dark, Mary Magdalene went to the tomb and saw that the stone had been removed from the entrance. 2 So she came running to Simon Peter and the other disciple, the one Jesus loved, and said, ‘They have taken the Lord out of the tomb, and we don’t know where they have put him!’

3 So Peter and the other disciple started for the tomb. 4 Both were running, but the other disciple outran Peter and reached the tomb first. 5 He bent over and looked in at the strips of linen lying there but did not go in.

6 Then Simon Peter came along behind him and went straight into the tomb. He saw the strips of linen lying there, 7 as well as the cloth that had been wrapped round Jesus’ head. The cloth was still lying in its place, separate from the linen. 8 Finally the other disciple, who had reached the tomb first, also went inside. He saw and believed. 9 (They still did not understand from Scripture that Jesus had to rise from the dead.) 10 Then the disciples went back to where they were staying.

Jesus appears to Mary Magdalene

11 Now Mary stood outside the tomb crying. As she wept, she bent over to look into the tomb 12 and saw two angels in white, seated where Jesus’ body had been, one at the head and the other at the foot.

13 They asked her, ‘Woman, why are you crying?’

‘They have taken my Lord away,’ she said, ‘and I don’t know where they have put him.’ 14 At this, she turned round and saw Jesus standing there, but she did not realise that it was Jesus.

15 He asked her, ‘Woman, why are you crying? Who is it you are looking for?’

Thinking he was the gardener, she said, ‘Sir, if you have carried him away, tell me where you have put him, and I will get him.’

16 Jesus said to her, ‘Mary.’

She turned towards him and cried out in Aramaic, ‘Rabboni!’ (which means ‘Teacher’).

17 Jesus said, ‘Do not hold on to me, for I have not yet ascended to the Father. Go instead to my brothers and tell them, “I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.”’

18 Mary Magdalene went to the disciples with the news: ‘I have seen the Lord!’ And she told them that he had said these things to her.

Jesus appears to his disciples

19 On the evening of that first day of the week, when the disciples were together, with the doors locked for fear of the Jewish leaders, Jesus came and stood among them and said, ‘Peace be with you!’ 20 After he said this, he showed them his hands and side. The disciples were overjoyed when they saw the Lord.

21 Again Jesus said, ‘Peace be with you! As the Father has sent me, I am sending you.’ 22 And with that he breathed on them and said, ‘Receive the Holy Spirit. 23 If you forgive anyone’s sins, their sins are forgiven; if you do not forgive them, they are not forgiven.’

Jesus appears to Thomas

24 Now Thomas (also known as Didymus), one of the Twelve, was not with the disciples when Jesus came. 25 So the other disciples told him, ‘We have seen the Lord!’

But he said to them, ‘Unless I see the nail marks in his hands and put my finger where the nails were, and put my hand into his side, I will not believe.’

26 A week later his disciples were in the house again, and Thomas was with them. Though the doors were locked, Jesus came and stood among them and said, ‘Peace be with you!’ 27 Then he said to Thomas, ‘Put your finger here; see my hands. Reach out your hand and put it into my side. Stop doubting and believe.’

28 Thomas said to him, ‘My Lord and my God!’

29 Then Jesus told him, ‘Because you have seen me, you have believed; blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.’

The purpose of John’s gospel

30 Jesus performed many other signs in the presence of his disciples, which are not recorded in this book. 31 But these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name.

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Word by Word Meditations

by Fred Ursell

John 20: “locked” (v.26)

This incident reads like a trick performed by the legendary Harry Houdini. “His disciples were in the house again, and Thomas was with them. Though the doors were locked (???!!!), Jesus came and stood among them” (v.26).

No, it wasn’t an optical illusion. After his resurrection Jesus possessed a recognisable body – he invited Thomas to banish his doubts by touching him (see v.27); but it now enjoyed supernatural qualities, fit to inhabit eternity. 1 John 3 v.2 says “we shall be like him” and Paul tells us “we will all be changed” (1 Corinthians 15 v.51).

Magic? No – miracle!

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READINGS

The Gospel according to JOHN

- Chapter 20 -

Read by David Suchet

The Gospel according to John

Read by Sir David Suchet

https://youtu.be/PKiAXVxOm6o

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OVERVIEWS

THE Gospel according to JOHN

Chapter 1 to 12

- Overview -

The Bible Project

https://youtu.be/G-2e9mMf7E8

THE Gospel according to JOHN

Chapter 13 to 12

- Overview -

The Bible Project

https://youtu.be/RUfh_wOsauk

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STUDY - LINKS

Encountering the risen King

-Timothy Keller-

The Gospel according to

JOHN

by Tim Mackie

(The Bible Project)

https://youtu.be/QHmGcmmnSI4

https://youtu.be/ttawDNQV7Bw

The Gospel according to JOHN

Part 1

David Pawson

https://youtu.be/gO9mdZIJYbU

The Gospel according to JOHN

Part 2

David Pawson

https://youtu.be/G2R7ljD_I7k

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FILM

The Gospel according to JOHN

“The Life of Jesus”

Official Full movie

https://youtu.be/2mgUPt2KI08

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Saturday, 23 October 2021

The Gospel of JOHN = Chapter Nineteen

Jesus sentenced to be crucified

1 Then Pilate took Jesus and had him flogged. 2 The soldiers twisted together a crown of thorns and put it on his head. They clothed him in a purple robe 3 and went up to him again and again, saying, ‘Hail, king of the Jews!’ And they slapped him in the face.

4 Once more Pilate came out and said to the Jews gathered there, ‘Look, I am bringing him out to you to let you know that I find no basis for a charge against him.’ 5 When Jesus came out wearing the crown of thorns and the purple robe, Pilate said to them, ‘Here is the man!’

6 As soon as the chief priests and their officials saw him, they shouted, ‘Crucify! Crucify!’

But Pilate answered, ‘You take him and crucify him. As for me, I find no basis for a charge against him.’

7 The Jewish leaders insisted, ‘We have a law, and according to that law he must die, because he claimed to be the Son of God.’

8 When Pilate heard this, he was even more afraid, 9 and he went back inside the palace. ‘Where do you come from?’ he asked Jesus, but Jesus gave him no answer. 10 ‘Do you refuse to speak to me?’ Pilate said. ‘Don’t you realise I have power either to free you or to crucify you?’

11 Jesus answered, ‘You would have no power over me if it were not given to you from above. Therefore the one who handed me over to you is guilty of a greater sin.’

12 From then on, Pilate tried to set Jesus free, but the Jewish leaders kept shouting, ‘If you let this man go, you are no friend of Caesar. Anyone who claims to be a king opposes Caesar.’

13 When Pilate heard this, he brought Jesus out and sat down on the judge’s seat at a place known as the Stone Pavement (which in Aramaic is Gabbatha). 14 It was the day of Preparation of the Passover; it was about noon.

‘Here is your king,’ Pilate said to the Jews.

15 But they shouted, ‘Take him away! Take him away! Crucify him!’

‘Shall I crucify your king?’ Pilate asked.

‘We have no king but Caesar,’ the chief priests answered.

16 Finally Pilate handed him over to them to be crucified.

The crucifixion of Jesus

So the soldiers took charge of Jesus. 17Carrying his own cross, he went out to the place of the Skull (which in Aramaic is called Golgotha). 18 There they crucified him, and with him two others – one on each side and Jesus in the middle.

19 Pilate had a notice prepared and fastened to the cross. It read: jesus of nazareth, the king of the jews. 20 Many of the Jews read this sign, for the place where Jesus was crucified was near the city, and the sign was written in Aramaic, Latin and Greek. 21The chief priests of the Jews protested to Pilate, ‘Do not write “The King of the Jews”, but that this man claimed to be king of the Jews.’

22Pilate answered, ‘What I have written, I have written.’

23When the soldiers crucified Jesus, they took his clothes, dividing them into four shares, one for each of them, with the undergarment remaining. This garment was seamless, woven in one piece from top to bottom.

24 ‘Let’s not tear it,’ they said to one another. ‘Let’s decide by lot who will get it.’

This happened that the scripture might be fulfilled that said,

‘They divided my clothes among them

and cast lots for my garment.’

So this is what the soldiers did.

25 Near the cross of Jesus stood his mother, his mother’s sister, Mary the wife of Clopas, and Mary Magdalene. 26 When Jesus saw his mother there, and the disciple whom he loved standing near by, he said to her, ‘Woman, here is your son,’ 27 and to the disciple, ‘Here is your mother.’ From that time on, this disciple took her into his home.

The death of Jesus

28 Later, knowing that everything had now been finished, and so that Scripture would be fulfilled, Jesus said, ‘I am thirsty.’ 29 A jar of wine vinegar was there, so they soaked a sponge in it, put the sponge on a stalk of the hyssop plant, and lifted it to Jesus’ lips. 30 When he had received the drink, Jesus said, ‘It is finished.’ With that, he bowed his head and gave up his spirit.

31 Now it was the day of Preparation, and the next day was to be a special Sabbath. Because the Jewish leaders did not want the bodies left on the crosses during the Sabbath, they asked Pilate to have the legs broken and the bodies taken down. 32 The soldiers therefore came and broke the legs of the first man who had been crucified with Jesus, and then those of the other. 33 But when they came to Jesus and found that he was already dead, they did not break his legs. 34 Instead, one of the soldiers pierced Jesus’ side with a spear, bringing a sudden flow of blood and water. 35 The man who saw it has given testimony, and his testimony is true. He knows that he tells the truth, and he testifies so that you also may believe.

36 These things happened so that the scripture would be fulfilled: ‘Not one of his bones will be broken,’ 37 and, as another scripture says, ‘They will look on the one they have pierced.’

The burial of Jesus

38 Later, Joseph of Arimathea asked Pilate for the body of Jesus. Now Joseph was a disciple of Jesus, but secretly because he feared the Jewish leaders. With Pilate’s permission, he came and took the body away. 39 He was accompanied by Nicodemus, the man who earlier had visited Jesus at night. Nicodemus brought a mixture of myrrh and aloes, about thirty-five kilograms. 40 Taking Jesus’ body, the two of them wrapped it, with the spices, in strips of linen. This was in accordance with Jewish burial customs. 41 At the place where Jesus was crucified, there was a garden, and in the garden a new tomb, in which no one had ever been laid. 42 Because it was the Jewish day of Preparation and since the tomb was near by, they laid Jesus there.

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Word by Word Meditations

by Fred Ursell

John 19: “pierced” (v.37)

John is not prolific in citing the Old Testament; he writes mainly for non-Jewish readers. So it is quite striking that there are 5 quotes in this chapter. The first (Psalm 22 v.18) described how his clothes would be raffled; then both Exodus 12 v.46 and Numbers 9 v.12 show the Passover rules forbade any breaking off the lamb’s bones, a fact echoed in Psalm 34 v.20. Finally Zechariah 12 v.10 prophesied: “they will look on me, the one they have pierced” (notice crucially it is the LORD Jehovah speaking).

The gospel omits that key word (“me”), leaving aware Jewish readers to draw their own conclusions.

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READINGS

The Gospel according to JOHN

- Chapter 19 -

Read by David Suchet

The Gospel according to John

Read by Sir David Suchet

https://youtu.be/PKiAXVxOm6o

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OVERVIEWS

THE Gospel according to JOHN

Chapter 1 to 12

- Overview -

The Bible Project

https://youtu.be/G-2e9mMf7E8

THE Gospel according to JOHN

Chapter 13 to 12

- Overview -

The Bible Project

https://youtu.be/RUfh_wOsauk

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STUDY - LINKS

The Gospel according to

JOHN

by Tim Mackie

(The Bible Project)

https://youtu.be/QHmGcmmnSI4

https://youtu.be/ttawDNQV7Bw

The Gospel according to JOHN

Part 1

David Pawson

https://youtu.be/gO9mdZIJYbU

The Gospel according to JOHN

Part 2

David Pawson

https://youtu.be/G2R7ljD_I7k

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FILM

The Gospel according to JOHN

“The Life of Jesus”

Official Full movie

https://youtu.be/2mgUPt2KI08

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Friday, 22 October 2021

The Gospel according to JOHN - Chapter Eighteen

Jesus arrested

1 When he had finished praying, Jesus left with his disciples and crossed the Kidron Valley. On the other side there was a garden, and he and his disciples went into it.

2 Now Judas, who betrayed him, knew the place, because Jesus had often met there with his disciples. 3 So Judas came to the garden, guiding a detachment of soldiers and some officials from the chief priests and the Pharisees. They were carrying torches, lanterns and weapons.

4 Jesus, knowing all that was going to happen to him, went out and asked them, ‘Who is it you want?’

5 ‘Jesus of Nazareth,’ they replied.

‘I am he,’ Jesus said. (And Judas the traitor was standing there with them.) 6 When Jesus said, ‘I am he,’ they drew back and fell to the ground.

7 Again he asked them, ‘Who is it you want?’

‘Jesus of Nazareth,’ they said.

8 Jesus answered, ‘I told you that I am he. If you are looking for me, then let these men go.’ 9 This happened so that the words he had spoken would be fulfilled: ‘I have not lost one of those you gave me.’

10 Then Simon Peter, who had a sword, drew it and struck the high priest’s servant, cutting off his right ear. (The servant’s name was Malchus.)

11 Jesus commanded Peter, ‘Put your sword away! Shall I not drink the cup the Father has given me?’

12 Then the detachment of soldiers with its commander and the Jewish officials arrested Jesus. They bound him 13 and brought him first to Annas, who was the father-in-law of Caiaphas, the high priest that year. 14 Caiaphas was the one who had advised the Jewish leaders that it would be good if one man died for the people.

Peter’s first denial

15 Simon Peter and another disciple were following Jesus. Because this disciple was known to the high priest, he went with Jesus into the high priest’s courtyard, 16 but Peter had to wait outside at the door. The other disciple, who was known to the high priest, came back, spoke to the servant-girl on duty there and brought Peter in.

17 ‘You aren’t one of this man’s disciples too, are you?’ she asked Peter.

He replied, ‘I am not.’

18 It was cold, and the servants and officials stood round a fire they had made to keep warm. Peter also was standing with them, warming himself.

The high priest questions Jesus

19 Meanwhile, the high priest questioned Jesus about his disciples and his teaching.

20 ‘I have spoken openly to the world,’ Jesus replied. ‘I always taught in synagogues or at the temple, where all the Jews come together. I said nothing in secret. 21 Why question me? Ask those who heard me. Surely they know what I said.’

22 When Jesus said this, one of the officials near by slapped him in the face. ‘Is this the way you answer the high priest?’ he demanded.

23 ‘If I said something wrong,’ Jesus replied, ‘testify as to what is wrong. But if I spoke the truth, why did you strike me?’ 24 Then Annas sent him bound to Caiaphas the high priest

Peter’s second and third denials

25 Meanwhile, Simon Peter was still standing there warming himself. So they asked him, ‘You aren’t one of his disciples too, are you?’

He denied it, saying, ‘I am not.’

26 One of the high priest’s servants, a relative of the man whose ear Peter had cut off, challenged him, ‘Didn’t I see you with him in the garden?’ 27 Again Peter denied it, and at that moment a cock began to crow.

Jesus before Pilate

28 Then the Jewish leaders took Jesus from Caiaphas to the palace of the Roman governor. By now it was early morning, and to avoid ceremonial uncleanness they did not enter the palace, because they wanted to be able to eat the Passover. 29 So Pilate came out to them and asked, ‘What charges are you bringing against this man?’

30 ‘If he were not a criminal,’ they replied, ‘we would not have handed him over to you.’

31 Pilate said, ‘Take him yourselves and judge him by your own law.’

‘But we have no right to execute anyone,’ they objected. 32 This took place to fulfil what Jesus had said about the kind of death he was going to die.

33 Pilate then went back inside the palace, summoned Jesus and asked him, ‘Are you the king of the Jews?’

34 ‘Is that your own idea,’ Jesus asked, ‘or did others talk to you about me?’

35 ‘Am I a Jew?’ Pilate replied. ‘Your own people and chief priests handed you over to me. What is it you have done?’

36 Jesus said, ‘My kingdom is not of this world. If it were, my servants would fight to prevent my arrest by the Jewish leaders. But now my kingdom is from another place.’

37 ‘You are a king, then!’ said Pilate.

Jesus answered, ‘You say that I am a king. In fact, the reason I was born and came into the world is to testify to the truth. Everyone on the side of truth listens to me.’

38 ‘What is truth?’ retorted Pilate. With this he went out again to the Jews gathered there and said, ‘I find no basis for a charge against him. 39 But it is your custom for me to release to you one prisoner at the time of the Passover. Do you want me to release “the king of the Jews”?’

40 They shouted back, ‘No, not him! Give us Barabbas!’ Now Barabbas had taken part in an uprising.

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Word by Word Meditations

by Fred Ursell

John 18: “ground” (v.6)

John was present and graphically describes what happened when Jesus was arrested. The Lord asks “the detachment of soldiers … ‘who is it you want?’ ‘Jesus of Nazareth’, they replied” (vv.3-5). What occurred next is hugely significant. “When Jesus said ‘I am he’ they drew back and fell to the ground ” (v.6).

A whole group of soldiers recoiled and collapsed? In this Gospel God’s name (I am) carries an enormous weight. Several “I am” sayings by Jesus implicitly – if not explicitly - underscore his hidden identity. ‘Veiled in flesh the Godhead see, hail the incarnate Deity!’ Fall down before him!

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READINGS

The Gospel according to JOHN

- Chapter 18 -

Read by David Suchet