Posts by Josh Moody

Daniel 1-2, Job 18, John 12:20-36, 1 John 5:13-21 John 12:20-36: Now at this great feast where Jesus was, there is a group of Greeks (John 12:20)—devout men and women who have come up to Jerusalem for the religious festival. They approach Philip and ask him to give them an audience with Jesus, to see him and meet…

Ezekiel 48, Job 17,  John 12:12-19, 1 John 5:6-12 John 12:12-19: Jesus is now greeted not just with pleasure, but with adulation, praise, and indeed worship. The extent of this fulfillment of Old Testament promises is not grasped at the time, but later the disciples realized all that had been spoken of Jesus was being fulfilled in…

Ezekiel 45-47, Job 16, John 12:1-11, 1 John 5:1-5 John 12:1-11: What a sweet and beautiful reunion meal this must have been. Jesus is with his friends, Martha, Mary, and Lazarus. And there is Lazarus reclining at the table with them, back from the dead, good as new. Mary then took a pound of pure nard, a very…

Ezekiel 42-44, Job 15:17-35, John 11:45-57, 1 John 4:7-21 John 11:45-57: To dispel again any misunderstanding that John is somehow anti-Semitic (a strange idea given that John himself was a Jew), note that John is as careful to record the Jewish people who believed in Jesus as much as those who did not. Many Jews now “believed in…

Ezekiel 40-41, Job 15:1-16, John 11:38-44, 1 John 4:1-6 John 11:38-44: The emotion that Jesus feels at death is not yet ended. He is “deeply moved” again. Mourning comes in waves—sometimes wave after wave after wave. Even the strongest Christian can be hit by such “deep emotions,” for even Jesus experienced them. Take comfort, you who mourn: Jesus…

Ezekiel 38-39, Job 14, John 11:17-37, 1 John 3:19-24 John 11:17-37: No doubt, one of the hardest things to believe and accept is that we rise again from the dead. After all, who has been through death and come back again to tell us? As the atheist Bertrand Russell famously said when he was asked what he believed…

Ezekiel 35-37, Job 13, John 11:1-16, 1 John 3:11-18 John 11:1-16: Lazarus, a friend of Jesus, close to him by personal connection, is sick (11:1). But, says Jesus, this sickness is not a disaster but a disseminator, not a defeat but an ascent, not a disgrace but a revealer of glory: “It is for the glory of God,…

Ezekiel 33-34, Job 12, John 10:22-42, 1 John 3:1-10 John 10:22-42: John loves to throw in the evocative detail: “It was winter” (10:22). Yes, in so many ways. The winter of discontent, as Shakespeare called it; here we might call it the winter of disbelief. The Jewish leaders gather around Jesus and ask him to tell them plainly…

Ezekiel 31-32, Job 11, John 10:11-21, 1 John 2:24-29 John 10:11-21: Jesus is not just a shepherd, not merely a ruler. Nor is he only a good shepherd, a particularly good ruler. No, Jesus is the Good Shepherd. How do we know that Jesus is who he claims to be? How do we know that he fulfills the…

Ezekiel 29-30, Job 10, John 10:1-10, 1 John 2:18-23 John 10:1-10: One of the most well-loved images in the whole of the Bible is now before us: Jesus as the Good Shepherd. The “figure of speech” that Jesus is using is drawn from the imagery of the Old Testament shepherd king, David. We are the sheep. Jesus is…