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Reading the Gospels in 2026 (9/30): Matthew 6:1-4.

Sep30

Read and Believe in Jesus.

“Beware of practicing your righteous deeds before other people in order to be seen by them…” Matthew 6:1

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REVIEW – Jesus has been teaching the crowd on the mountainside that those in HIS kingdom are righteous. They carry their obedience to the Law beyond the “letter” (the actual words) to the very heart of the Law and their God. Don’t do the least you can to obey the Law; instead, go beyond what you can to show love for your Father in heaven and to all people.

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Matthew 6:1-2.

“Beware of practicing your righteousness before other people in order to be seen by them.”

Remember, Jesus is not saying these people were righteous. Even the uber-righteous-acting Pharisees fell FAR short of what God required. See Matthew 5:20. Jesus is talking here about righteous acts, the things they did, and WE do, that make us “feel” like we’re not so bad after all.

In this section (6:1-21), Jesus talks about giving to the poor, prayer, and fasting. Any or all of these can become a way to pump up our pride. Beware, because our “righteousness” comes only from the Lord.

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“Thus when you give…” Yes, we are to give to the needy. God WANTS us to do this.

Deuteronomy 15:11 “For there will never cease to be poor in the land. Therefore I command you, ‘You shall open wide your hand to your brother, to the needy and to the poor, in your land.’“

It’s not THAT we give our money, but HOW we do it, that Jesus calls attention to.

“…sound no trumpet before you, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues (Can you imagine that?) and in the streets, that they may be praised by others.”

Jesus condemns giving our “alms” blatantly, boastfully, drawing attention to ourselves when we drop a dollar (or a hundred) in the offering plate or hand a coin (or a five) to a homeless man. Do we make sure someone is watching first? Do we wave our offering about so people look our way?

Beware, Jesus says, for you have your reward right there in the moment. No “treasure” is stored up for you in heaven for this selfish, prideful act. If man sees and approves of your actions, God usually does not.

So how ARE we to give to the poor, to missions, to the work of our church?

In secret.

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Matthew 6:3-4.

Jesus says, when you give, don’t let “your left hand know what your right hand is doing.”

What does that mean? Are we talking about husband and wife here? No, giving is actually something that a married couple should share.

Jesus implies you should give so discreetly that you don’t even mentally congratulate yourself or dwell on your own generosity. Keep your giving to the needy, or tithing to your church, a secret. (Okay, your church treasurer knows how much, but that’s another discussion.)

If you do this, YOU will feel better (guaranteed), and your heavenly Father (the One who really counts) will reward you. He SEES either way you give, but when you give “for His sake alone,” He will reward you.

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What kind of reward? You won’t know. OR…maybe you will. We have found that when we are faithful to the Lord in giving – in obedience and to please Him – He blesses us in so many ways we can’t keep up.

Read Malachi 3:10. Really! Do it right now!

And if you have time, read Philippians 4:14-19 too.

Reading the Gospels in 2026 (9/23): Matthew 5:13-16.

Sep23

Read and Believe in Jesus.

“You are the salt of the earth.” Matthew 5:13.

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REVIEW – The “beatitudes” began Jesus’ well-known Sermon on the Mount. Here He was speaking to His disciples or followers. He’d taken a break from the “healing” side of His ministry and began teaching those seeking His kingdom. Jesus taught the attitudes found in His disciples’ lives. All the attitudes, of course, are mirrored in HIM.

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Matthew 5:13.

“You are the salt of the earth.” How are believers, followers of Christ, the “salt” of the earth? Consider what salt does.

We first think of the flavor that salt adds to our food. Veggies and meats seem “bland” without it. We even sprinkle salt crystals on desserts! People on salt-free or low-salt diets can testify to this aspect! Salt enhances our appetite. It can also make us thirsty and send us to the faucet (or water bottle).

How can our lives glorify God and make people hungry/thirsty for the gospel?

In Bible times (and today), people used salt to preserve food. Salted fish was a staple in people’s diets. Preserved in salt, fish could be kept for those times when the nets were empty. Today, non-Jews eat salt-preserved meats like ham and lunch meats. Some veggies are preserved in brine too.

Christians can sometimes preserve or delay judgment on a nation or a town. Think of how Abraham interceded with God over the wicked city of Sodom. If there were ten righteous people in it, God told Abraham He would not destroy it. Sadly, only one was righteous: Lot lived there, and you know how that ended.

How can our lives and bold testimonies help to preserve our nation or family?

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One other aspect of salt is that it can cauterize a wound and promote healing.

Our lives lived for the Lord Jesus alone can sometimes lead us to hurting, injured people. Our words – even spoken in love, but truthfully – can often cause more pain. But it’s temporary if the person repents and turns to Jesus.

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“But if the salt has lost its savor…” Now, in reality, salt cannot lose its saltiness.

But in the area around the Dead Sea where a lot of salt was mined, the heavy mineral content could leach into the condiment, making it bitter. If that happened, they threw the useless “salt” out into the roadways. It would at least kill weeds. In snowy parts of the world, it is used to melt snow and ice on roadways and help to prevent accidents.

(Father, keep me pleasing to the “taste” of those around me, and help my life and testimony to draw others to seek You.)

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Matthew 5:14-16.

“You are the light of the world.”

Just as Jesus is “the Light of the world,” so should His disciples be. He clearly taught people the way to the kingdom. His “light” revealed His sinless life as the Lamb of God who would take away the sin of the world. His light revealed the “way” to the Father – by believing in His death to pay for our sin, and His resurrection to give us hope.

Our words and lives should do the same … show others the Way.

Notice that in these verses there are two kinds and two places for the light.

The first: “A city set on a hill.” Now, a city in the woods may be hard to find, but not one at the top of a hill. Anyone can see it. And if that city is full of light, it is visible for miles, even (or especially) in the darkness.

This should be us and our testimony. Not hidden, but an open testimony of what Jesus has done for us, shining out to the world around us.

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The second: “A lamp in a house.” Jesus tells us that no one lights a lamp and then puts it under a basket or bowl. What would be the point? No, we put a candle on a lampstand, a mantle, or in the center of the table, so it lights the whole room. Likewise, in our homes and families, and even in our occupations, no one should be unaware of our salvation.

If not by words of testimony, at least by the “attitudes” we live by and the good works we do for His sake. These too will glorify God.

As we do not hide a little clay lamp under a bowl, we should not hide the glorious truth that Jesus has saved us from our sin, the wrath of God, and has promised us an eternity with Him.

What light! Let it shine out! Surely our families will want to learn about it and come to Jesus too!

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Reading the Gospels in 2026 (9/21): Matthew 4:23-25.

Sep21

Read and Believe in Jesus.

“And He went throughout all Galilee, teaching… and proclaiming the gospel of the kingdom…. and healing…” Matthew 4:24.

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REVIEW – Jesus called four men – Peter and Andrew, James and John – to leave their boats, nets, and fishing occupation to follow Him and become “fishers of men.” They did not hesitate.

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.Matthew 4:23.

Jesus’ ministry begins almost as a whirlwind throughout all Galilee. He taught in their synagogues, proclaimed the gospel of the kingdom on hillsides and at every opportunity, and He healed every disease and affliction among the people.

WOW.

Each sabbath in the synagogues, a certain passage from the Law, Prophets, or Psalms was read and taught. When Jesus attended, He taught them with authority rather than quoting the opinions of Rabbis or traditions. The people were amazed. (See Matthew 7:28-29)

Jesus would also proclaim the kingdom of heaven: that God was near, that people should repent and turn to Him, and live a life of humility, mercy, service, and sacrifice (see the ‘Sermon on the Mount’ to follow).

Jesus “healed EVERY disease and affliction among the people.” This was not only a show of mercy, but it confirmed His claim to be the Messiah. (See Isaiah verses below.)

Isaiah 35:5-6 says, “Then the eyes of the blind shall be opened, and the ears of the deaf unstopped; then shall the lame man leap like a deer and the tongue of the mute sing for joy.”

And Isaiah 29:18-19. “In that day the deaf shall hear the words of a book, and out of their gloom and darkness the eyes of the blind shall see.“

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Matthew 4:24.

“So His fame spread throughout all Syria.”

Whoa, I had to look this up. On most maps, Syria is a huge country north and east of Israel. Nowhere in the gospels does it say Jesus went there. (Yes, He did visit a Syro-Phoenician woman near coastal Tyre & Sidon to heal her sick daughter.) So, how did the people of “Syria” hear and bring Jesus their sick?

On a map that shows the territories of the Herods during Jesus’ early years, we see that Herod Philip ruled north of Galilee, Herod Antipas ruled Galilee, and Archelaus, then the Roman governors, ruled Judea and Idumea (south). But right in the middle, at the bottom edge of the Sea of Galilee and below, across the Jordan River, there was a section granted by Caesar Augustus to “the Province of Syria.” And also a small section over near the Mediterranean Sea by Mount Carmel.

Huh! Well, God’s word is never wrong. History and archaeology just take time to catch up.

And notice there was no limit to Jesus’ compassion and power. “They brought Him ALL the sick, those afflicted with various diseases and pains, those oppressed by demons, epileptics, and paralytics, AND HE HEALED THEM ALL.”

(NOTE: Some say that by the time Jesus went to the cross, there was no sickness or disease at all in Israel. Quite a thought. If so, that would be quite a preview of the Millennial Kingdom!)

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Matthew 4:25.

Was it because of Jesus’ healings that the “great crowds” of people from all the areas around Galilee, down to Judea and Jerusalem, and even across the Jordan River flocked to Him?

Masses of people came, hobbling, being led, or bringing loved ones who needed to be carried (or corralled). They clogged the streets, pressing, pulling, and pressuring Jesus from all sides.

Did none come to hear his life-giving words?

Did none stay to sit at His feet, listen, and believe what He said?

Some.

A few.

Reading the Gospels in 2026 (9/17): Matthew 4:12-17.

Sep17

Read and Believe in Jesus.

“Now when He heard that John had been arrested…” Matthew 4:12

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REVIEW – Immediately after Jesus was baptized, the Spirit led Him into the wilderness to be TESTED. Jesus fasted from food (and comfort) for 40 days, no doubt spending much of the time communing with His Father. At the end of the 40 days, when He was weak with hunger (but spiritually strong), the devil came to Him with three temptations.

These tested Jesus’ determination to deny Himself and to love and serve His Father only.

  1. Would Jesus INDULGE His flesh and use His power to assuage His hunger?
  2. Would a desire to IMPRESS His people make Him, by “flying off the temple roof,” gain glory without the cross?
  3. And would He be so eager in His humanity to ACQUIRE all the kingdoms of the world (before the right time) that He would bow and worship the devil?

The answer? A resounding NO. After Jesus resisted these temptations so common to mankind,quoting the powerful Word of God that eventually made the devil flee, angels came and ministered to Him.

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Matthew 4:12.

Some time after Jesus’s baptism and time in the wilderness of Judea, He heard that John had been arrested, so He withdrew north into Galilee.

Matthew 14:3-5 briefly tells us who arrested John and why.

“Herod had seized John and bound him and put him in prison for the sake of Herodias, his brother Philip’s wife, because John had been saying to him, ‘It is not lawful for you to have her.’ And though he wanted to put him to death, he feared the people because they held John to be a prophet.”

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This is Herod Antipas, son of that wicked Herod the Great and brother to the late Archelaus and to Philip, who reigned north of Galilee. Herod had lured away Philip’s wife (and daughter) and married his sister-in-law Herodias.

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Matthew 4:13-16.

Instead of settling in Nazareth, where there was very little faith and much ridicule of Him, Jesus went a little ways northeast to busy Capernaum, situated by the Sea, and established His ministry there. Matthew tells us this fulfilled Isaiah’s prophecy in 9:1-2 and 42:6-7.

“The land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali, the way of the sea, beyond the Jordan, Galilee of the Gentiles” – “the people dwelling in darkness have seen a great light, and for those dwelling in the region and shadow of death, on them a light has dawned.”

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(NOTE: See if your Bible map – maybe back in Joshua – shows these regions: Naphtali covering most of western Galilee and the sea coast, and Zebulun around the areas of Nazareth and Nain.)

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Matthew 4:17.

And Jesus began to preach.

It’s almost as if John handed off the baton to Jesus. Even Jesus’ message was the same: “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.”

Repentance is the main emphasis of Jesus’ public ministry from start to finish. After His death and resurrection and before He returned to heaven, Luke tells us what He said to His disciples in Luke 24:46-48:

“Thus it is written, that the Christ should suffer and on the third day rise from the dead, and that REPENTANCE and forgiveness of sins should be proclaimed in His name to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem. YOU are witnesses of these things.”

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(NOTE: Let’s look for this as we read through Matthew, and see where and how Jesus urges people to repent. And let us also humble ourselves before him, repenting and confessing our own sins. He has promised – on the basis of His death and resurrection – to forgive them… and even FORGET them. Hallelujah!)

Reading the Gospels in 2026 (9/4): John 21:15-23.

Sep4

Read and Believe in Jesus.

“What is that to you? YOU follow me.” John 21:23.

REVIEW – Back in Galilee, seven of the disciples decide to go fishing – their OLD occupation – while they wait for Jesus. This effort yields zero fish. Then Jesus appears and basically tells them how to do their job. They obey, and this time the reward is a humongous catch of fish. (Lesson one: without Jesus, we can do nothing. But submit to Him, and our efforts will be fruitful, 30x, 60x, or even 100x.)

Jesus had prepared some bread and grilled fish for breakfast. He could have multiplied His small amount to feed them all, but He asked the disciples to bring some of the fish THEY had caught to the meal. He finished cooking them, broke the bread, and passed around this “familiar” meal. (Lesson two: Jesus can use whatever we willingly give Him to further His Kingdom and bless others.)

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John 31:15-17.

After breakfast, no one left the circle; instead, they turned toward Jesus, perhaps expecting Him to give them more instruction. They all learned something that morning; it’s true, but it was to Peter that Jesus directed His words.

“Simon, son of John (bar Jonah), do you love me MORE THAN THESE?” (Notice that Jesus uses Peter’s “old” name, meaning he was “walking in the flesh, not the spirit.” Peter remembered how he had at one time boasted that, “Though THEY ALL fall away because of you, I WILL NEVER fall away!” Matt.26:33)

“Yes, Lord, You know that I love you.” Did he feel the hot stares of the other disciples on him? Did he glance around at the other disciples for confirmation? All were silent. But they HAD heard.

Jesus didn’t contradict Peter; He instructed him, “Feed My lambs.” Peter’s mission was to care more for OTHERS than for himself.

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Then Jesus continued. “Simon, bar Jonah, do you love ME?”

“Yes, Lord, you know that I love you,” Peter said, perhaps more quietly. Was he remembering how he’d once, twice… three times denied Jesus? Swearing that he did not even KNOW his Lord? I can imagine Peter squeezing his eyes closed as tears began.

“Tend My sheep,” Jesus instructed, challenging Peter to be a good shepherd over those he would lead, as his Master was.

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And then, for the third time, came that stinging, probing question, “Simon bar Jonah, do you love me?”

Peter, grieved perhaps as much as when he’d heard the rooster crow and remembered Jesus’ dark prediction, may have fallen to his knees at this point. “Lord … You know everything! You KNOW that I love You!”

Peter’s true humility and sorrow for his denials are revealed. Jesus knew it, but now the other disciples had witnessed it. He grew tall again in their estimation, although he was bowed low at Jesus’ feet. The others could now trust him to lead them again.

I imagine Jesus gently smiling as he reached out and pulled Peter to his feet. “Feed my sheep.” And I imagine Peter nodded.

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John had now shown the THIRD thing he wanted to make clear in this “epilogue chapter” – Peter’s reinstatement into leadership. That done, he was ready for that pesky rumor. The FOURTH thing he needed to do was reveal how the rumor started, then refute it.

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John 31:18-23.

After Jesus finished calling out the veracity of Peter’s love, and seeing Peter humble himself for ready service, He led him apart for a different revelation. Best friend John followed quietly along.

“Truly, truly, I say to you, Peter, when you were young, you used to dress yourself and walk wherever you wanted, but when you are old, you will stretch out your hands, and others will dress you and carry you where you do not want to go.”

Jesus said this to show the kind of death by which Peter would glorify God. (imprisonment and crucifixion – stretching out his hands)

Perhaps Peter was thinking about Jesus’ words to them in Matthew 16:24-28. Read them now as Peter might have been recalling them….

  • Matthew 16:24 – “Then Jesus told His disciples, ‘If anyone would come after Me, let him deny himself and take up his cross, and follow me.
  • 16:25 – “For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake will find it.
  • 16:26 – “For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and forfeits his soul? Or what shall a man give in return for his soul?
  • 16:27 – “For the Son of Man is going to come with His angels in the glory of His Father, and then He will repay each person according to what he has done,
  • AND THEN…..
  • 16:28 – “Truly I say to you, there are some standing here who will not taste death until they see the Son of Man coming in His kingdom.”

Wait, what? What did Peter just remember???

Walking with Jesus on the beach of Galilee, after breakfast and a difficult but sweet time of restoration, Peter remembered THOSE WORDS?

He looks at John and says to Jesus, “Lord, what about THIS man?”

Oh, no, that not-so-friendly competition raises its head. If Peter is destined to die, crucified, what about John? Will he suffer that death too? Or will he be one of those who…?

Then Jesus speaks the words that someone heard and spread as a rumor. “If it is My will that he remain until I come…what is it to you? YOU follow me.”

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Of course, Jesus was not promising that His beloved disciple would live until He returned. Jesus’ point was for Peter to ‘mind his own business.’ Peter was to accomplish Jesus’ will for HIS life, and not look at others’. Keep your eyes on Jesus, Peter! Follow in His steps.

By telling how it started, John hoped to quell this rumor.

By the way, Peter lived 30 more years and was martyred in Rome by crucifixion, hanging upside down. John lived 60+ more years and suffered torture and exile. God preserved him to write the book of Revelation; then he died a natural death of old age.

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John 21:24-25.

John then attests to the fact that it is HE, JOHN, who has written this. He is a WITNESS of these things. That should settle it. And then, before he lays his quill down for the final time, John’s mind is filled with many, many other things he could write about Jesus. Then he “waxed poetic.”

“Were every one of the things that Jesus did to be written… I suppose that the world itself could not contain the books that would be written.”

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“Could we with ink the ocean fill,
And were the skies of parchment made;
Were every stalk on earth a quill,
And every man a scribe by trade;
To write the love of God above
Would drain the ocean dry;
Nor could the scroll contain the whole,
Though stretched from sky to sky.“

The famous last stanza of the classic Christian hymn The Love of God, written by Frederick M. Lehman in 1917.

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Next up, The Gospel of Matthew.

Reading the Gospels in 2026 (9/1): John 20:19-29.

Sep1

Read and Believe in Jesus

“Have you believed because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.” John 20:29

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REVIEW – Jesus has risen from the dead. God is satisfied that Jesus has opened the WAY for sinful mankind to be saved. His beloved Son has obeyed to the last detail. Now there is only the regathering of His scattered disciples, their assurance, and their commissioning for their future work, and then His ascension.

The women were the first to hear the good news. Then Peter and John witnessed the empty tomb and believed. Mary Magdalene saw the Master with her eyes and heard Him speak to her. Now Jesus will appear to and encourage more of His disciples in Jerusalem before going to Galilee.

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John 20:19-23.

On the evening of that first day (Sunday), when the disciples were still hiding behind locked doors for fear of the Jews (Would they arrest THEM as well?), Jesus came to them, right through the walls.

He stood before them and necessarily said, “Peace be with you,” because they were obviously terrified.

(Yes, back in Galilee, they thought He was a ghost when He came walking to them on the water, but this was different.) He looked like the Jesus they knew, but He also didn’t. And how did He get inside their house? No one had opened the door.

(From the account of the two men on the way to Emmaus when Jesus joined in their walk, we know that Jesus could keep His identity hidden and reveal it whenever He chose. He could also vanish at will. See Luke 24:15-16 and 30-32.)

To calm and assure His anxious disciples, Jesus showed them His hands and His side, as proof that He really HAD BEEN crucified. The bloodless wounds were still very visible. They were shocking, but they also reassured the disciples, and the men could finally relax and be GLAD to see their Lord.

Again Jesus spoke peace to them, and then He commissioned them to the work that He himself had begun – to spread the Good News, first to His people, and eventually to the entire world. “As the Father has sent me, even so I am sending you.”

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(Luke’s account reads, “Then He opened their eyes to understand the scriptures, and said to them, ‘Thus it is written, that the Christ should suffer and on the third day rise from the dead, and that repentance and forgiveness of sins should be proclaimed in His name to all nations, beginning in Jerusalem. You are witnesses of these things.”)

(Matthew’s familiar account reads, “And Jesus came and said to them, ‘All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations…'”)

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John 20:24-25. Sadly, Thomas was not with the other disciples when Jesus appeared to them. We know from earlier scriptures that he loved Jesus as much as the others, but he feared losing Him. So when Jesus spoke of His death, he didn’t want to “hear” it. Possibly, he was off by himself, tucked into a ball of intense grief. And so when he heard the account of the others seeing and talking with Jesus, he just couldn’t believe it.

And then, that famous proclamation: “Unless I see in his hands the mark of the nails, and place my finger into the mark of the nails, and place my hand into His side … I will never believe.”

(I wonder how often, later, he cringed when he thought of those words.)

But Jesus knew just how to deal with this hurting disciple (no more rebellious than Peter!!). Eight days later – oh, what a long time for Thomas to wait! – Jesus came and stood among them again – the doors still being locked.

“Peace be with you,” he said to all of them, and then to Thomas, “Put your finger here, and see my hands; and put out your hand and place it in my side. (Thomas’ exact words) “Do not disbelieve, but believe.”

And Thomas’s overpowering, debilitating grief collapsed. “My Lord and my God!”

Jesus said, “Have you believed because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.”

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Reading the Gospels in 2026 (8/26): John 19:28-37.

Aug26

Read and Believe in Jesus.

“After this, Jesus, knowing that all was now finished, said, ‘I thirst.’ And then… ‘It is finished.'” John 19:28 & 30

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REVIEW – Jesus was taken to Golgotha and crucified with two others. His crime was listed on a board over His head: ‘King of the Jews’. The soldiers divided His clothing and bargained for His tunic. Four women looked on in grief, including Jesus’ mother, Mary. The beloved disciple – alone among the eleven – also stood nearby. With compassion and duty, Jesus committed the care of His mother to John.

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John 19: 28-30.

Between the four gospel accounts, seven “words” or sayings were spoken by Jesus. John, however, mentions only three.

Towards the end of the three hours, when Jesus hung on the cross (in darkness, according to Luke 23:44), He managed to say in a raspy voice, “I thirst,” and some sour wine on a hyssop branch was brought to Him and held to His mouth.

(Sour wine, or ‘vinegar,’ would cause any amount of saliva left in His mouth to rush in and make speech possible. This was different from the ‘wine mixed with myrrh’ in Mark 15:23 that was offered to Him at the beginning. That drink was used to deaden the senses, and it kept the victims from struggling while the soldiers nailed them to the cross. Jesus had refused that “drug.”)

After Jesus drew the sour wine into His mouth, He said, “It is finished!” Then He lowered His head and died.

Both Mark’s and Matthew’s accounts reveal that this was said in a LOUD voice, like a shout of victory, which it was. Jesus had completed His work of salvation that His Father sent Him to do. His horrific death showed the visual results of sin in the world.

His visible pain and agony made plain what is due to each and every person who has ever lived, sinners all, unless they believe that Jesus – the sinless, undeserving-of-punishment Savior – has died in their place.

God had told Adam and Eve that if they disobeyed and sinned, they would “surely die.” And they did, physically. But they believed the promise that the coming “seed of woman” would accomplish victory over sin and death and allow them to live spiritually. That “seed” was Jesus.

And as we will see, God accepted the substitutionary death of His perfect, sinless Son, in the place of all who will believe, and RAISED Jesus back to life. THAT was the proof that God was satisfied, and we’ll read about it in a couple of days.

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John 19:31-37.

This next part seems to add cruelty on top of cruelty. In order to keep their Kosher Laws of cleanness for the upcoming Sabbath Day, those insensitive, self-righteous, murderous Jewish officials came to Pilate and asked that the deaths of the crucified criminals be “hurried along a little” so the bodies wouldn’t still be there on their holy day.

Okay, a quicker death might be preferable, but the means was horrific. Crucifixion mainly killed by asphyxiation. As they weakened, the victims had to push up with their feet to draw air into their lungs. That would be impossible if their legs were broken, and they would soon be unable to breathe and would die.

This is what the Jews were asking Pilate for.

So, soldiers were sent to Golgotha to swing a club and crush the shin bones of the three “criminals.” (Imagine the screaming and then gasping for air!)

But mercifully, Jesus was already dead. And that is how God planned and prophesied it would happen.

1) Isaiah had prophesied that “no bones would be broken” on the Lamb of God. (See Exodus 12:46 and Numbers 9:12)

2) It was also prophesied that the Messiah would be pierced. See Zechariah 12:10).

3) And most importantly, Jesus ‘gave up His own life’ at the moment HE chose. He had said, ‘No man would take His life, but that HE would lay it down.’ That is what he did when HE “bowed His head and gave up His spirit.”

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Instead, the soldier did something else to “prove” death. He rammed his spear up into Jesus’ chest cavity below His ribs. Immediately, blood AND WATER poured out.

Yes, it is sentimental to say that ‘Jesus died of a broken heart,’ but what the blood and water actually proved was that the blood and fluid around His heart and lungs were already mixing. The experienced-in-crucifixion soldier would know at once that Jesus was dead.

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Then John adds his personal testimony about Jesus’s death and quotes the Scriptures. (Remember HE was there. He knows what happened, and he tells us the truth… so we might believe.)

“For these things took place that the Scripture might be fulfilled: ‘Not one of His bones will be broken.’ And again another Scripture says, ‘They will look on Him whom they have pierced.'”

Reading the Gospels in 2026 (7/17) John 9:35-41

Jul17

Read and believe in Jesus

“Lord, I believe, and he worshiped Him.” John 938

The Gospel according to John

REVIEW – The Jewish leaders found the man that Jesus cured from congenital blindness, and accused him of letting Jesus heal him “on the Sabbath.”

The more they questioned the man, the stronger and clearer became his testimony. “This Jesus is a Prophet; He ‘opened’ my eyes; He healed my blindness from birth (unheard of in the history of man); He worships God; He does God’s will; and God listens to Him. If He were not from God, He could do nothing.” And, “Do YOU want to be His disciples too?” Their response; Grrrrr!

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(NOTE: I’m trying a larger font. My glaucoma eyes struggle to see the small ones. No comments, so I guess I’ll keep it.)

(Part Three of three, Jesus heals the blind man and makes him one of His own.)

John 9:35-38.

When the authorities heard this (and had no answer), they used the only power they had. They excommunicated the former blind man, now turned a disciple of Jesus.

This was harsh. It meant no one in this synagogue/Temple (or any other synagogue in Israel) could eat with this man or trade with him. Of course, as a former beggar, he didn’t have “a trade” anyway. THIS was what his parents feared when the Pharisees questioned them.

(The “casting out” of the ex-blind man actually foretold the greater separation of the synagogues from the followers of Jesus that was coming.)

Jesus had been following what was happening to the man, and after his excommunication, “found” him.

“Do you believe in ‘the Son of Man’?” Jesus asked him.

“Who is He, sir, that I may believe in Him?”

And clearly, openly (as He had revealed to the Samaritan woman), Jesus told him WHO He was. “You have seen Him, and it is He who is speaking to you.”

Lord, I believe,” said the new believer in Jesus the Christ, and he WORSHIPED Jesus.

(I wonder what that looked like? We’ve seen people who have been healed (or had a loved one healed) and especially those to whom Jesus revealed Himself, fall on their knees and “thank” Jesus. We’ve seen them immediately testify to others about who Jesus is. But to “worship” Him….? I imagine he must have fallen on his knees and thanked the God of Heaven for sending the Messiah of Israel, and praised Jesus for WHO He was.”

How do YOU picture it?

Jesus accepted the worship. Note that.

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.John 9:39-41

Then He said a mini parable. “For judgment I came into this world, that THOSE WHO DO NOT SEE may see, and… THOSE WHO SEE… may become blind.” (Thinking of Isaiah 6:10 and 42:19, no doubt.)

Whoa, what did Jesus mean?

“Those who do not see, and yet think they do” are the ones who think they are “enlightened” and have great insight, but in reality cannot see the Messiah of God when He is standing before them. In judgment, God blinds their eyes and stops their ears so they “cannot” see and hear.

Yes, it’s a hard concept. God IS sovereign. He opens some spiritual eyes and closes others. And He gets glory from both.

“Are WE also blind??” asked some of the Pharisees standing near and hearing Jesus’ words to His new disciple.

Well, “Yes,” you and I might say. “You can’t SEE that Jesus is the Messiah!”

It was their UNBELIEF that made them blind; that is the sin that kept them in darkness. But, in a twisted way, they were satisfied that their darkness WAS light, and continued in their rejection of Jesus as Christ. If they had only come humbly to Jesus…..

John 3:18-20. “Whoever believes in Him is not condemned, but whoever does NOT believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God.

And this is the judgment: the light has come into the world, and people loved the darkness rather than the light because their works were evil.

For everyone who does wicked things hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his works should be exposed.

But whoever does what is true comes to the light, so that it may be clearly seen that his works have been carried out in God.“

See also 1 John 1:5-7.

Reading the Gospels in 2026 (7/16) John 9:13-34

Jul16

Read and believe in Jesus

“One thing I do know, that though I was blind, now I see. “ John 9:25b

The Gospel according to John

REVIEW – (Part one of three) Jesus saw a man who had been blind from birth. He made mud from his spit and some clay on the ground, applied it to the man’s eyes, and told him to go wash in the pool of Siloam. He did, and he could instantly see. People who knew him could hardly believe it. WHO did this? They asked. “Jesus,” the man said. WHERE is He? They asked. “I do not know,” the former blind man said.

(NOTE: I’m trying a larger font. My glaucoma eyes struggle to see the small ones. Comment if you don’t like it.)

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Part Two (of three): The Pharisees harass the formerly blind man, hoping to catch Jesus.

John 9:13-17

People who knew the formerly blind man brought him to the Pharisees. (Why?) It was the Sabbath (of course), and they knew that Jesus healing on this day was a big “no-no” to these uber-strict law teachers.

“How did you receive your sight?” asked the Pharisees.

“He put mud on my eyes, I washed, and I see,” explained the man simply.

Some of the Pharisees said, “This Man is not from God, for He does not keep the Sabbath.”

But others said, “How can a man who is a sinner do such signs?” And there was a division among them.

So they asked the formerly blind man again, “What do YOU say about Him, since He has opened your eyes?”

“He is a prophet.”

(Who now were the “blind” ones. The religious leaders were certainly walking in spiritual darkness, and they did it by choice.)

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John 9:18-23.

Hmmm, maybe this man was never blind. Maybe he’s faking it… So the Pharisees asked the man’s parents for verification. “Is this your son, who you SAY was born blind? How then does he see?”

His parents answered, “We know that this is our son and that he was born blind. But how he now sees we do not know, nor do we know who opened his eyes. Ask him; he is of age. He will speak for himself.”

The parents, of course, were afraid of the powerful Pharisees for these leaders had already agreed that if anyone should “confess Jesus” to be the Christ, he was to be put out of the synagogue. And so, they said that their son was of age and to ask him.

(Sheesh! Not a very caring family were they, to just throw him to the wolves, so THEY wouldn’t be persecuted.)

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John 9:24-34.

So the “court” called the ex-blind man back to give testimony again. “Give glory to God. We know that this Man is a sinner.”

“Whether He is a sinner I do not know. One thing I do know, that though I was blind, now I see.” (A fantastic personal testimony.)

“What did He do to you? How did He open your eyes? They tried again, probably to trip him up.

“I have told you already, and you would not listen. Why do you want to hear it again? Do you also want to become His disciples?”

(Whoa, this man is getting brave. He almost sounds like Paul at some of his trials.)

And now the religious leaders are on the defensive. They argue back, “YOU are His disciple, but WE are disciples of Moses. WE know that God has spoken to Moses, but as for this Man, we do not know where He comes from.”

Emboldened (perhaps even by the Holy Spirit), the former blind man speaks to the now spiritually blind teachers of the law.

“Why, this is an amazing thing! You do not know where He comes from and yet He opened my eyes. We know that God does not listen to sinners, but if anyone is a worshiper of God and does His will, God listens to Him. NEVER since the world began has it been heard that anyone opened the eyes of a man born blind. If this man were not from God, He could do nothing.”

(Wow! Jesus has let a powerhouse preacher loose in Jerusalem. Praise God!)

Humiliated and mortified, and with nothing to say back to the “seeing man’s” wisdom, the Pharisees resort to nastiness. “YOU were born in utter sin, and would YOU teach US???”

And they cast him out of the synagogue. (Excommunicated.)

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(Wow, oh, Lord, make me as strong and brave as this man when I am (so lightly teased) for my belief in Christ. Make me willing to give up anything to stand for You.)

(Part Three of three of Jesus healing the blind man, next.)

Reading the Gospels in 2026 (7/15) John 9:1-12

Jul15

Read and believe in Jesus

“Is not this the man who used to sit and beg?” John 9:8

The Gospel according to John

REVIEW – The religious leaders accused Jesus of “having a demon,” or worse (to them) of being “a Samaritan” after Jesus revealed His view of them – their father was the devil, a murderer and a liar. This was not a name-calling contest; Jesus was explaining why they would not (could not) see Him for who He was, sent from God, their Messiah, and that He was bringing truth to them. After their bragging that they had the great patriarch, Abraham, as their “father,” Jesus shocked and horrified them by saying that “Before Abraham WAS … I AM.” Not only was He claiming His eternality, but also stating that He was God. They tried to kill Jesus then and there, but because “His hour had not come,” and His death was NOT to come by stoning, He slipped right out of their presence, unseen.

(NOTE: I’m trying a larger font. My glaucoma eyes struggle to see the small fonts. Comment if you don’t (or do) like it.)

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Part One (of three): Jesus heals the Man Born Blind

John 9:1-5

Not long after the events in chapter 8, we find Jesus and the disciples returning to the Temple area, where, on most days, the poor, crippled, and congenitally sick lay, hoping for alms from the people who entered to worship God.

Jesus “saw” a blind man there, “who had been blind from birth.” How was it possible to know that just by looking at a person? Were the eye sockets “empty?” Were the lids so shriveled as to show there had been no use for a long, long time? Jesus would know everything, of course, but it seemed the disciples saw it too.

“Rabbi,’ they asked Jesus, “who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?”

Now I’ve always wondered how a baby in the womb could sin to a degree that he would be born blind. Yes, there is the truth that from conception we ALL have the sin-nature passed down to us from Adam. But then, why are we not ALL born blind? The parents are a different thing. There are some diseases brought on by sin (such as syphilis) that can affect an unborn infant’s eyes. Also, the Jews had in their tradition other sins of parents that could bring injury to their unborn children.

But Jesus said neither was the case with this man sitting at the gate of the temple, begging for alms. It was “that the works of God might be displayed in him.”

Does that mean we sometimes suffer so that God will be glorified? Yes. Think of the book and story of Job. Think of the life of Joseph, Jacob’s favorite son. Think of Paul’s “thorn in the flesh” (2 Corinthians 12:7-10).

Jesus told His disciples that the time was short. (He would be crucified in less than 6 months.) He had to work “the works of His Father” while it was still day. “As long as I am in the world, I am the Light of the world.” And then Jesus proceeded to bring light and vision to the never-seeing blind man.

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John 9:6-7

Jesus used some of His own saliva mixed with the clay on the ground to make a bit of damp mud. Then, having alerted him (we assume), He pressed this mud on the eyelids of the man “born blind.” “Go, wash in the pool of Siloam,” Jesus instructed.

(This pool was where just days before a ceremonial jug of water had been drawn and carried up to the Temple, with the people remembering and praising God for supplying water for them in the wilderness. That same time when Jesus had cried out, “If any man thirst, let him come to ME.”)

The pool is about 1/3-1/2 miles down the “Pilgrim’s Way” and would have taken him (with help) about 20 minutes to reach.

Whether the man had help finding the pool or not, he obeyed Jesus’ command. And when he’d finished washing the mud from his eyelids, he could see (for the first time ever). What must that have been like? Beautiful? Scary? Amazing? Did he praise God?

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John 9:8-12

It seems he might have wanted to thank Jesus, for he made his way back up to the temple mount. Many people saw and heard him on the way.

“Is this not the man who used to sit and beg?” they wondered.

“It IS he!” said some.

Others said, “No, but it is LIKE him.”

“I AM the man!” the ex-blind man said.

“Then how were your eyes opened?” they asked.

He explained, “The man called Jesus made mud and anointed my eyes and said to me to go to the pool of Siloam and wash. So I did, and I received my sight.”

“Where is He (Jesus)?” they demanded.

“I don’t know,” he said.

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Part Two, next time.