In John 15:16 Jesus states, "Ye have not chosen Me, but I have chosen you, and ordained you, that ye should go and bring forth fruit, and that your fruit should remain: that whatsoever ye shall ask of the Father in My name, He may give it unto you."  Jesus was speaking to His disciples at that time.  He had chosen them and He was leaving them expecting them to bear fruit for God.  When they were asking for things necessary for bringing forth fruit, they could ask the Father for anything.  The same is true today.  We are Jesus' followers because He has called us.  We do not suddenly just decide to follow Jesus on our own, but we do so because He is always calling people to Him.  The disciples were a select group called for a particular purpose, and we as Christians are part of a select group called for a particular purpose.  The ultimate result of each calling is to bring forth fruit, to reach others with the gospel of Christ.  God will equip us to carry out that purpose.  Then in verse seventeen, Jesus said, "These things I command you, that ye love one another."  I believe we can safely say that as followers of Christ, we are to be ruled by love for one another.  I also believe this extends to all people.  Jesus died not for some, but for all, and we are to love the same way.  In verse eighteen, Jesus said, "If the world hates you, ye know that it hated Me before it hated you."  We should never be surprised that we, as Jesus' followers, are hated by the world, because He was crucified by the world.  We sometimes moan about how badly the world treats us, but we are certainly no greater than Jesus, and He continued to reach out to the lost world, even on the cross.  In verse nineteen, Jesus continued, "If ye were of the world, the world would love his own: but because ye are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world, therefore the world hateth you."  We can expect nothing but opposition from the world as we share the Good News of Christ.  Still, we are to follow the example of Jesus and reach out to the world with love.

After telling His disciples again to love one another, in John 15:13, Jesus said, "Greater love hath no man than this, that he lay down his life for His friends."  We will see that Jesus continued to give His disciples a commandment to love one another.  How great was that love to be?  It was be great enough that His disciples would die for others. That commandment still applies today.  We are not called to love until it costs us something, but we are to love even if it costs us everything, including life itself.  Then in verse fourteen, Jesus said, "Ye are My friends, if he do whatsoever I command you."  People may declare themselves friends of Jesus, but He said there is a test of that.  If we are His friends, we will do whatsoever He commands us to do, and He had just commanded them to love one another.  If we cannot comply with this most basic commandment, then we likely will not comply with the whatsoever Jesus may command us to do.  Then, in verse fifteen, Jesus said, "Henceforth I call you not servants, for the servant knoweth not what his lord doeth: but I have called you friends; for all things I have heard of My Father I have made known unto you."  Jesus said His disciples were not only servants, but friends.  We will always be Jesus' servants, but we are also His friends, and He laid down His life for us.  Usually, when we think of a servant, we think of someone who is totally under the dictates of their master, but Jesus said we are not just servants, but friends.  Jesus did not keep them in the dark, but told them everything the Father told Him.  He tells us everything we need to know to follow Him, and calls us His friends.  There can be none greater to be a friend to.  Yes, we are servants of Jesus, but even more we are His friends.

In John 15:9, Jesus said to His disciples, "As the Father hath loved Me, so hath I loved you: continue ye in My love."  Jesus was going to His crucifixion, but He did not want the disciples to become hateful because of it.  We today may have people do things to us that are wrong, but as followers of Jesus, we must continue in His love.  That is a love that always puts others first.  Our love may impose conditions, but His never does.  In verse ten, Jesus continued, "If ye keep My commandments, ye shall abide in My love, even as I have kept My Father's commandments, and abide in His love."  Jesus, during His earthly ministry, rested securely in the love of the heavenly Father.  He never questioned that love, and neither should we.  We should keep His commandments, not out of fear of punishment if we fail, but out of love for God, even when we do fail.  God does not stop loving us when we fail to live up to His commandments, neither should we stop loving Him.  All we can do is confess our sins, ask God's forgiveness, and accept the fact that we are still His.  We are to abide in His love and not His wrath.  We are not called to be angry at the world, but to love as Jesus loved.  In verse eleven, Jesus said, "These things have I spoken unto you, that my joy might remain in you, and that your joy might be full."  As followers of Christ, we should be full of joy, because we have the joy of Christ in us.  Jesus did not say when life was treating us fairly that we should be joyful, but instead as long as His joy was in us, our joy should be full.  Jesus said as long as His joy remains in us, and as His followers, that should be always, our joy should be full.  Salvation should make us joyful people.  How full of joy are we as His followers today?  We need to become a joyful people once again.  Then, in verse twelve, Jesus said again, "This is My commandment, that ye love one another, as I have loved you."  How are we to love?  We are to love as Jesus loved us.

In John 15:6, Jesus states, "If a man abide not in Me, he is cast forth as a branch, and is withered; and men gather them, and cast them into the fire, and they are burned." This is a warning to those who profess to follow Christ but are never truly rooted to Him in faith.  There are many today who will profess Christ to enhance their own standing in the world, but they not only do not bear fruit, but they also soon wither and die.  They soon die in faith and are cut off and burned.  We are not called to judge those who profess to follow Christ, but their works and the fruit they bear will judge them.  We may fool the world today, but eventually we will stand before Christ, and if we are not truly His, we will be cast out into the fire.  Then in verse seven, Jesus said, "If ye abide in Me, and My words abide in you, ye shall ask what ye will, and it will be done unto you."  The key is abiding in Jesus and having His word abide in us.  When this is true, we will realize that He never said I will give you everything you want.  We cannot make this pomise about material things.  We are to rely on God to meet our needs, but not to satisfy our desires.  He will give us what we need, but we may not need what we desire.  In verse eight, Jesus continued, "Herein is My Father glorified, that ye bear much fruit; so shall ye be My disciples."  This means that we live under the Lordship of Christ that the fruits of the Spirit may be manifest in us.  This always has to do with spiritually being under God's direction and never to do with material wealth or well being.  We must follow the example that Jesus set.

In John 15:4, Jesus tells the disciples, "Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide in the vine; no more can ye, except ye abide in Me."  Jesus left no doubt that the only way that we could produce fruit, which is to advance the kingdom of God, is if we abide and His will and the Holy Spirit abides in us.  This relationship should be so close that it is as essential as breathing.  Jesus didn't say that occasionally this should be the case, but we are to abide in Him and He in us.  That means to live in His will.  Jesus continued in verse five, "I am the vine, ye are the branches: He that abideth in Me, and I in Him, the same bringeth forth much fruit: for without Me ye can do nothing."  I have never really spent a lot of time caring for fruit vines, but I do know that as long as the main vine is alive, the branches can bear fruit.  It takes work to maintain the vine, and it takes work to maintain our relationship with God.  That is not saying we work for or to maintain salvation, but we must make sure that we are always firmly planted in the will of God.  Only then can we bring forth any fruit for the kingdom.  It is not a one or two day abiding in the will of God.  That would not be abiding, but visiting.  We cannot just go to church, but we must take the church to the world daily. Until we do, abiding in the power of the Holy Spirit, we cannot expect to bring forth much fruit.  Without the leadership and power of the Holy Spirit, we can do nothing.  Jesus didn't say we could do very little, but that we could do nothing.  I have heard plans and programs promoted as certain ways to reach the lost.  I have been told to just decide how many people I wanted to reach, apply the program, and success was assured.  I am not saying planning is wrong, but that Jesus is the key to salvation.  We often put more faith in our plans and abilities than in God.  Remember, without Him, we can do nothing.

In John 15:1 Jesus said, "I am the true vine, and My Father is the husbandman."  He compared Himself to a lowly vine.  He was a vine that is planted and not something growing up wild, because He was tended by the Father.  The vine Jesus was speaking of had a purpose, as did Jesus.  He was to do what the Father prepared Him to do.  In verse two, Jesus said, "Every branch in Me that beareth not fruit, He taketh away: and every branch that beareth fruit, He purgeth it, that it may bear more fruit."  The followers of Christ are the branches.  Not all who profess to follow Christ are really firmly grafted into Him, and they will bear no fruit and will be taken away.  I believe this means more than just reaching the lost.  We must have every aspect of our lives reliant on Jesus nurturing.  We cannot do anything outside of Him that is for the glory of God.  Those that do bear fruit will be purged.  God will remove from our lives those things that hinder us from producing fruit.  We are not called to bear fruit once and the go our own way, but to bear fruit and be purged to bear fruit continually.  In verse three, Jesus said, "Now are ye clean through the word which I have spoken unto you."  The only way to be spiritually clean is through belief in the word of God that Jesus is the only way to be spiritually clean.  If we are made clean by Him, then the Father will continue to purge our lives of sin.  We still have the ability to ignore His purging, but if we are to effectively bear fruit, we must submit to God's will and allow sin to continually be purged from our lives.

In John 14:28, Jesus said, "Ye have heard how I say unto you I go away and come again unto you.  If ye loved Me, ye would rejoice, because I said, I go unto the Father: for My Father is greater than I."  Jesus was still attempting to prepare the disciples for His upcoming crucifixion.  If we are attuned to the will of God, we will not be blindly led into any situation.  God will be at work in our hearts to prepare us.  Jesus told the disciples they should rejoice at what was about to happen, because it would fulfill Jesus' purpose in coming the first time and free Him for coming again to claim His own.  He was going to the Father, Who was greater than Him because the Father had no physical restraints, nor would the Holy Spirit Who was coming to Jesus' followers. The cross should bring rejoicing, because it was the fulfillment of God's plan of salvation.  In verse twenty nine, Jesus said He told them before hand so that when it came to pass they would believe.  We can look back on the fact of the cross, and it wouldn't be long before the first disciples could also.  Even at the point when they were feeling defeated, Jesus told them that when they understood His saving act on the cross, they would know what He had told them was true.  If we are following Christ, we may not always understand why things are happening that don't make sense, but if we have been listening to God, He will have prepared us for it.  Then, when we look back, we will understand how He was at work in our lives.  In verse thirty, Jesus told them He wouldn't talk with them much more, because the prince of the world cometh and he had nothing to do with Jesus.  Satan was to be given power for a time, but it is limited.  What Jesus was doing was for the glory of the Father, so He said, "Arise let us go hence."  So, that is what we must do today.  Arise, and be about God's work.

After referring to the Father and the Son, in John 14:25, Jesus said He spoke these things being present with them, but in verse twenty six, He spoke of the Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost.  Jesus told them, "But the Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, Whom the Father will send in My name, He shall teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance, all things which I have said unto you."  I believe that at times we discount the power of the Holy Spirit in our lives.  We call on God in the name of Jesus but without the power and intercession of the Holy Spirit.  Again, there is only one God, but He chose to reveal Himself and work through His people as the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.  The Holy Spirit is the Comforter and Teacher of the followers of Christ in the world today. We need to surrender our lives to Him daily. In verse twenty seven, Jesus said, "Peace I leave with you, My peace I give unto you: not as the world giveth, give I unto you.  Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid."  We as followers of Christ should live a life of peace without fear.  We might think this impossible, but if we are living in the power and comfort of the Holy Spirit, it is not only possible but also a command of Christ.  We cannot look to the world for peace and for our hearts to not be troubled.  The disciples were about to see Jesus arrested and crucified.  Things cannot get worse than that, but Jesus told them He left them His peace.  When we truly realize that the things of this world are but temporary, and that we as followers of Christ have everlasting life, we should be at peace in our life and not troubled in our hearts.

In John 14:22, Judas, not Iscariot, asked Jesus, "Lord, how is it that Thou wilt manifest Thyself unto us, and not unto the world?"  I am sure that this Judas did not think much about his name at this time, but shortly, he would be glad to have the qualifier, not Iscariot.  We never want to be misidentified as someone who is noted for committing a terrible sin.  Judas asked a good question.  How does God manifest Himself to us when the world doesn't know Him.  Jesus gave Judas and us the answer in verse twenty three.  He said, "If a man love Me, he will keep My words: and my Father will love him, and we will come unto Him, and make our abode with him."  God makes Himself manifest unto His followers because we believe His words, and He comes to us and indwells us with the Holy Spirit.  We need to see that in this verse, Jesus spoke of Himself and the Father coming to abide in His followers.  In verse twenty four, Jesus said, "He that loveth Me not keepth not My sayings: an the word ye hear is not mine, but the Father which sent Me."  That is why Jesus was not manifested to the world.  The world, those who are not God's people, did not believe the word of God.  Nothing has changed since.  Either you believe the word of God or you don't, and if you don't, then God cannot be manifested to you.  It is all a matter of believing in the Word of God, and the salvation He gives the world through Christ Jesus.  God even gives us the faith to believe.  So, if a person cannot see God manifested in the world today, it is their choice to not believe.

In John 14:19, Jesus said, "Yet a little while, and the world seeth Me no more; but ye see Me: because I live, ye shall live also."  After His death, the world would no longer see Jesus.  His earthly ministry would be over, but the salvation of the world would have just begun, and those who are His followers would indeed see Him.  Have I see Jesus physically?  No, but we see Him through the Holy Spirit.  Some people did indeed see Jesus physically after His crucifixion and before His ascension, but we see Him through the presence of the Holy Spirit.  We see Him through faith.  In verse twenty, Jesus said, " That ye shall know that I am in My Father, and ye in Me, and I in you."  Jesus had said He was the Son of God, and after the crucifixion and resurrection,  this would be proven true.  We may not always see the evidence of God's work until after the fact as we continue on in faith.  The disciples were definitely about to have a crisis in faith, but Jesus assured them that just as He was in the Father, so were they in Him.  The world does not see Jesus.  If they acknowledge Him at all, it as a historical figure like any other historical figure.  We, as His followers, see Him through faith in Him, by the indwelling of the Holy Spirit.  By faith, we live in Him as He lived in the Father.  His followers would continue to see Him by faith, and so will we.  In verse twenty one Jesus continued, "He that haveth My commandments,  and keepth them he it is that loveth Me: and He that loveth Me shall be loved of My Father, and I will love him, and manifest Myself to Him."  If we don't see God working in our lives today, maybe we are not keeping His commandments.  We should remember that Jesus said that He gave us a greater commandment that we love one another.  If we do not love everyone in this lost and dying world as Jesus loves them, then we are not and cannot keep His commandments.

John 14:15 contains what we might call the prime directive for Christians.  There, Jesus says, "If ye love me, keep my commandments."  Jesus had just told them that He gave them a new commandment that they love one another as Jesus loved them.  I know that is not the only commandment, but it the one that Jesus had most recently given them.  The Ten Commandments served to point people to God, but the Commandments would now serve to show our faith in Christ.  How effectively do we keep the Commandments, especially the one to love one another?  Again, this was not just fellow Christians we were to love, but all people.  We might say this is impossible, but Jesus also had just said anything we ask in His name He will do.  Then, in verse sixteen, Jesus said, "And I will pray to the Father, and He will give you another Comforter, that He may abide with you forever."  When we feel that something is impossible to do, we need to remember that as His followers, we have the Holy Spirit indwelling and empowering us.  That is why we can do anything that God calls us to do.  We do not operate under our own power, but the power of the Holy Spirit.  There is never going to be a time when the Holy Spirit deserts us, if we are keeping God's commandments.  In verse seventeen, Jesus continues, "Even the Spirit of truth; whom the world cannot receive, because it seeth Him not, neither knoweth Him: but ye know Him; for He dwelleth in you, and shall be in you".  Jesus did not say when the Holy Spirit came that He would be in some, but instead in all who believed in Christ. Then, in verse eighteen, Jesus said, " I will not leave you comfortless: I will come to you."  Jesus was leaving His eathly ministry, but He was coming to them through the Holy Spirit.  We will never be left comfortless if we follow Him.

In John 14:11, Jesus began to discuss His works and the works of His followers.  He said, "Believe me, that I am in the Father, and the Father in Me: or else believe Me for the very works sake."  Even if they did not fully understand Jesus' relationship to the Father, they could not deny His works.  No ordinary man could give sight to the blind, cause the lame to walk, or raise the dead.  The miracles that Jesus performed were not just a witness to the world, but to His disciples especially.  Even if the world does not recognize the work of God through His followers today, we certainly must if we are truly His followers.  Then, in verse twelve, Jesus made this statement, "Verily, verily I say unto you, he that believeth on Me, the works that I do shall he do also; and greater works than these shall he do; because I go unto My Father."  So, does that mean that ordinary men and women will do greater works than Jesus did?  No, it means that through the power of the Holy Spirit, Who came when Jesus was crucified, will do greater works through ordinary people.  The notable exception is salvation.  Jesus alone could do this work.  We also must realize that all is done in the will of God for the glory of God.  In verse thirteen, Jesus continued this thought, saying, "Whatsoever ye shall ask in My name, that I will do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son."  I believe people often misinterpret this verse to mean we can ask anything of God through the use of the name of Jesus and as His people, and He will give it to us.  Adding in Jesus name to the end of a prayer does not mean we are asking in submission to His will.  If we are truly asking in His name, it will be that we live in obedience to Him.  In verse fourteen, Jesus concludes with, "If ye shall ask anything in My name, I will do it."  These verses lead many to a name it and claim it religion. The reason that is not what it says is that when we ask in His name, we are asking in total obedience to His will and leadership, and it will always be for the glory of God.

In John 14:8, Philip says to Jesus, "Lord, shew us the Father, and it sufficeth us."  When we come to Jesus, we don't need any other proof that He is Who He says He is but His word.  We don't need to ask Him to show us anything else.  We simply have to accept Jesus by faith.  In verse nine, Jesus replied, "Have I been so long time with you, and yet hast thou not known me Philip? He that hath seen Me hath seen the Father.  And how sayest thou then, Shew us the Father."  Jesus had been telling them this over and over, but they didn't understand.  We look back and wonder at their disbelief, but we are told over and over to put our total trust and obedience in God, and we ask for proof we can believe Him.  Then, if things don't go the way we want them to, we doubt God instead of doubting our faith.  In verse ten, Jesus said, "Believest thou not that I am in the Father, and the Father in Me?  The words I speak unto you I speak not of myself: but the Father that dwelleth in Me, He doth the works."  Jesus was telling them again that the Father and He were One.  When we see the works of the Holy Spirit today, they are the works of the One and Only God.  We may not understand the Trinity, but we can never start believing in three separate gods, because if we do, we do not believe in the One God.  I wonder if God ever looks at us, those that are His followers or even those that profess to be His followers, and says that He has been with us so long so how can we not understand Who He is.  If we continually question God or attempt to get Him to do things our way, I am sure He does.  The longer we are His followers, the less we should question His will for our life.

In John 14:1, Jesus said to the disciples, "Let not your hearts be troubled: ye believe in God, believe also in Me."  The disciples were about to go through a terrible experience. They were going to see Jesus arrested, tried, and crucified.  Jesus is the One they had left everything to follow, and in the eyes of the world, He was about to be a big failure.  Jesus was telling them not to let the things of the world trouble their hearts.  We, as His followers, are told not to worry, which would be letting our hearts be troubled.  We don't have to be concerned about the things of this world ever defeating us, no matter how bad they look.  Jesus said that if they believed in God they were to also believe in Him.  He wasn't just another man, but He was the Messiah.  Like then, today if we are to come to God, it must be through Jesus.  In verse two, Jesus said, "In my Father's house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you.  I go to prepare a place for you."  The disciples were about to see Jesus crucified, but He told them He wasn't leaving them permanently, but was going to prepare a place for them.  When we become follwers of Jesus, He will never desert us.  There is debate today about whether Jesus said there were many mansions or many rooms in His Father's house.  That really doesn't matter.  The real statement is that a place is prepared for us.  Some who want to say a room instead of a mansion in heaven feel that Jesus promised them a mansion here, where everything is just temporary.  As His followers, we need to realize that whether here or in Heaven, God is with us, and that is all we need.  In verse three, Jesus said, "And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also."  Jesus had told the disciples they couldn't go with Him where He was going, but promised them He would return for them.  That promise is what we live for today.  Jesus has prepared a place for us to spend everlasting life, and our hearts should not be troubled as we are His.  He will come for His people when the time is right.

In John 13:31,  after Judas had gone out, Jesus said, "Now is the Son of Man glorified, and God is glorified in Him."  From the time He began His ministry, Jesus knew that His time on earth was coming to an end.  Still, Jesus lived His life that the Father might be glorified.  When we are born again, the fact of our mortality does not change, but we still must live that God will be glorified.  Then, in verse thirty two, Jesus said, "If God be glorified in Him, God shall also glorify Him in Himself, and shall straightway glorify Him."  Jesus was about to suffer a degrading death at the hands of the religious leaders, but He was doing so for the salvation of mankind and the glory of God, and for this He would be glorified.  Though we cannot die for the salvation of any, we can live a life devoted to God that He might be glorified.  In verse thirty three, referring to them as little children, Jesus said again they couldn't go where He was going.  We cannot go to the cross to save anyone, but in verse thirty four, Jesus told the disciples, and us, what we can do.  Jesus said, "A new commandment give I unto you, That ye love one another; as I have loved you, that ye also love one another."  That is something we can do, but we hear more about the Ten Commandments than we do of this one.  As with the Ten Commandments, it wasn't a suggestion.  In verse thirty five, Jesus said this was the way that people would know that we are His disciples, that we love one another.  When we treat people with hatred, this does not speak well of our relationship to God.  In verses thirty six through thirty eight, Peter asked where Jesus was going that Peter couldn't go and said he would follow Jesus to the death.  When we make statements based on self pride, we set ourselves up for failure, which is what Jesus pointed out to Peter.  Jesus said not only would Peter not follow Him to death, but before the cock crowed, Peter would deny Jesus three times. We must be ware of self pride or we too will fail.

In John 13:28, we read that none of the disciples knew why He told Judas to do what he had to do quickly .  This should have made it clear that what Jesus had said about the sop was not said out loud.  In verse twenty nine, the disciples thought that since Judas held the bag, Jesus might have sent Him to buy supplies or give to the poor.  The last would have likely been something Judas would have hated to do.  When we have been blessed by God with material things, we may be more than willing to spend on supplies for ourselves than we are to give to the less fortunate.  In verse thirty, it says that Judas having received the sop went out immediately and it was dark.  What better time to betray God than in the dark.  We may feel that the darkness keeps people from seeing what we are doing, but Jesus knew even before Judas left what he was going to do.  Judas still had a choice. When thoughts of doing wrong come into our lives, we still have a choice about carrying them out.  The fact that our thoughts are the same as our actions in God's eyes does not give us a reason to go ahead with the action.  For one thing, as long as it remains but a thought it affects only the person and their relationship to God.  Once we act on the thought, it affects others as well.  Had Judas chosen to stay with Jesus, his thoughts of betrayal would have needed to be addressed to God, but forgiveness and restoration would have been freely given.  Again, Judas' actions were his own and were not dictated by God.  God can never be a loving and impartial God if He causes some to sin.  Each person is responsible for their own sins.  We can never blame God or the Devil.  The blame game has existed since Adam and Eve, but in order to follow Jesus as we should, we must accept responsibility for our own sins and ask forgiveness for them.  Anyone who says they have never done anything to need forgiveness for makes themselves equal to Jesus,and there just never has been nor never will be such a person.

In John 13:25, the disciple lying on Jesus' breast asked Him, " Lord, who is it?"  In verse twenty six Jesus answered, "He it is to whom I shall give a sop, when I have dipped it."  I have always understood this to mean that the question was asked and answered for all the disciples to hear, but Matthew Henry says it was a guiet conversation.  This would seem to make more sense, and reading on through the passage, I don't know why I had made that assumption.  I guess that is a warning that we need to understand what the Bible says and not just what we think it says.  We do know that God points out our sins individually, though He may at times work through others to bring them to light.  I don't believe Jesus' purpose was to humiliate Judas, but simply to acknowledge that He was aware of what Judas was about to do.  It was still Judas' choice.  In the remainder of the verse, Jesus gave the sop to Judas Iscariot, the son of Simon.  There was a very specific identification of who was going to betray Jesus.  When we are guilty of sin, God leaves no doubt that we are the one who is guilty.  We don't need to look around to see if we can blame someone else.  In verse twenty seven, it says after Judas received the sop Satan entered him.  A more accurate statement would be that Judas surrendered to the power of Satan. God will not make us do anything and Satan cannot make us do anything.  The devil made me do it might be a quick excuse, but it is wrong.  Jesus told Judas go quickly and do what he planned to do.  Again, this does not mean Judas had no choice, but that Jesus knew the time was at hand for His trial to begin.  We need to be careful that we don't allow sin to rule any part of our life, or we like Judas will be betraying God.

John 13:23 says, "Now there was leaning on Jesus' bosom one of the disciples, whom Jesus loved."  There are some people today who attempt to use this passage to claim Jesus was having a sexual relationship with this disciple, that most would recognize as John.  This is an attempt to discredit Jesus and implies that any physical closeness is sexual in nature.  We know this is not true in either claim.  Then, some see this as saying Jesus loved some of the disciples more than the others.  Again, Jesus loves everyone the same, even Judas.  He died for Judas just as willingly as He died for John.  Jesus may have had a closer relationship to some than to others, based on their devotion to Him, but He did not love one more than the others.  In verse twenty four, Simon Peter beckoned the disciple, most likely John, and asked him to ask Jesus who it should be of whom He spoke when He said one would betray Him.  It was not like Peter to ask someone else to ask his question, but in this case he did.  Fortunately, we don't have to go to someone else to speak to God for us.  We not only have direct access to God, but we have the Holy Spirit going before us.  Peter most likely had the other disciple ask Jesus because he was physically closer and the answer would not be stated out loud.  I believe Peter knew he wasn't the one who would betray Jesus, and he may not have believed any of them would.  We need to be careful that we don't make unfounded judgments about other Christians.  It is better to always believe the best of them.  If we do have questions or concerns, it is always good to get together with at least another Christian and bring our concerns to Christ.

In John 13:20, Jesus said anyone who received one that He sent received Him.  God is still sending people into the world today, and we as His followers should welcome them as we would welcome Jesus.  In verse twenty three, we are told that after Jesus said this, He was troubled in the Spirit.  The Holy Spirit today will let us know when there is trouble in a situation, but we must be closely relying on Him to know it.  Then in the same verse, Jesus let them know why He was troubled when He said, "Verily, verily I say unto you, that one of you will betray Me."  These were His closest disciples, but one was to betray Him.  How often today do we, as His followers, His closest disciples, betray Him with our actions, our words, our more especially our thoughts?  Just as Jesus knew the real nature of the disciples, He knows ours today. When our attitude is wrong, we can be certain we trouble the Holy Spirit.  In verse twenty two, the disciples looked at one another, doubting of whom Jesus spoke.  Even they, as close as they were, did not understand the true character of Judas.  When there is trouble in the church today, we may doubt the cause.  Judas was very effective in going through the motions of following Christ, but he didn't truly believe. Being a follower of Christ is not about rules and rituals but about a real relationship. To their credit, the disciples did not immediately start pointing fingers at one another.  We need to be slow to judge others and quick to examine our own relationship for signs of disobedience.  I will state once again it is my belief that Jesus did not know this because Judas was preordained to betray Jesus.  If that were the case, he could not be held accountable.  If we have no choice about following or not following Christ, then God is not an impartial God. Judas was responsible for his actions, and so are we.

In John 13:18, Jesus said,  "I speak not of you all: I know whom I have chosen: but that the Scripture might be fulfilled, he that eateth bread with me will lift up his heel against Me."  Jesus had just been speaking of a servant and his master, and Jesus knew that one of His disciples did not consider Jesus to be His master.  He said He would be betrayed to fulfill the Scripture, but this does not mean that all the events of His betrayal were orchestrated.  Jesus did know the Scrpture referring to His death, and He knew His time had come, so He knew one of His closest disciples was going to betray Him.  Just because they had all followed Him physically didn't mean they followed Him spiritually.  There are people today who go through the motions physically of following God, such as church attendance or baptism, but they have no intention of following Him spiritually.  We will see that Jesus did not run Judas off, and we are not to decide that someone today should be run off from the church, unless they are actively acting to disrupt the church.  God knows peoples' hearts, and they will never fool Him.  In verse nineteen, Jesus said, " Now I tell you before it come, that when it is come to pass, ye may believe that I am He."  Jesus told them before it occurred so that looking back they would believe in Him.  We sometimes may not understand everything that is going on in our lives from a spiritual point of view, but if we are faithful to Him, we will understand as we look back on our life.  We are simply to continue to follow Him as His servants.  We at times seem to think that in heaven we are going to be something more than we are here on earth, but we will still be His servants.  If we are unwilling to serve here, why do we think we would serve there?  If we are full of hate here, why do we think we will be full of love there?  If we feel superior to people here, why do we think we will feel equal there?  We begin to live for Him the moment we accept salvation through Him, and we should daily grow more like Him.

In John 13:16, Jesus tells the disciples that the servant is not greater than his lord, nor is the one who is sent greater than the one who sent him.  So, first, for this to be true of our relationship to Christ, we must acknowledge that He is our Lord.  I almost said realize, but there is a difference between realizing and acknowledging.  It is easy enough at times to realize that someone is better at something than we are, but often we reuse to acknowledge it. We don't want anyone else to know.  We may know that Jesus is the Savior of the world, and as such is the Lord of those who accept Him, but we may not always acknowledge that fact in our everyday life.  Second, we will never be greater than Jesus.  In America, we like to say that we can grow up to be anything we aspire to.  In our relationship to God, we can never grow up to be God.  We will always be His servants.  In verse seventeen, Jesus said, "If ye know these things, happy are ye if ye do them."  Do we know these things about our relationship with God?  If we are led by the Holy Spirit, then beyond a doubt we do.  Yet, at times we can let our self will get in the way.  We no longer want to be the servant, because in the eyes of the world, being a servant makes one something less than being the Lord.  If we are truly following God, then we will be happy to be His servants.  If we have no happiness in life, maybe we need to look to our relationship with God to find out why.  The things of this world should never deny us happiness.  We are His, and will be forever, and if this does not bring us happiness everyday, nothing ever will.

In John 13:12, after Jesus had washed the disciples feet, He asked, "Know ye what I have done for you?"  The simple answer would be that He washed their feet.  We need to be careful that when God is at work in our life we truly understand what He is doing.  We may just look for the worldly answer and not the spiritual.  If God heals us of some disease, and were to ask us what He had done, we might only focus on the fact that we were healed and not the why we were healed.  Jesus wanted the disciples to understand why He had washed their feet.  In verse thirteen, He says, "Ye call Me Master and Lord: and ye say well; for so I am."  If we were to be asked Who Jesus is to us, we should be able to honestly say that He is our Master and Lord.  If we are too proud or self important to make that declaration to the world, then we need to examine our relationship with Christ.  In verse fourteen, Jesus adds, "If I then, your Lord and Master have washed your feet; ye also ought to wash one anothers feet."  There are those who take this literally to mean washing feet, but I believe it means to humble ourselves to serve one another.  We need to be willing to put the needs of others above our own pride.  In verse fifteen, Jesus said, "For I have given you and example, that ye should do as I have done to you."  We must remember that Jesus was not just talking about washing their feet, but about the Master and Lord humbling Himself to serve others.  That is the example we are to follow.  We should be willing to humble overselves to serve the least of those in the eyes of the world.

In John 13:1-11, Jesus and His disciples were together for supper before the feast of the Passover.  We are told in verse one that Jesus knew that the hour was at hand when He would pass out of this world onto the Father.  We are also told that having loved His own in this world, He loved them to the end.  The disciples were His closest followers, and He was preparing them for His departare.  We can be sure that God  through the Holy Spirit will always be with us to prepare us to better serve Him.  He will love us and be with us in this world until the end.  In verse two, we find that the devil had put it in the heart of Judas Iscariot to betray Jesus.  Again, we can attempt to portray Judas as a misunderstood person who wanted to force Jesus to become an earthly king, but he was simply a man who gave into the Devil.  We can be sure today that not all who profess to be Christians really are.  Some are in it for their own reasons.  Jesus girded Himself after supper and began to wash the disciples feet.  He was teaching them that they should be humble and serve others, and so should we.  In verse six, Peter asked Jesus if He would wash his feet.  In verse seven, Jesus said, "What I do, thou knowest not now; but thou shall know hereafter."  We may sometimes question God because we don't know what is going on in our life, but we should always accept by faith that He does.  In verse eight, Peter told Jesus that He wasn't going to wash his feet.  When we start to tell God what He can or cannot do in our life, we have a problem.  Jesus, in the same verse, told Peter if He didn't wash his feet, then Peter had no part with Him.  We must accept what God is doing in our life if we are to have a part with Him. Then, in verse nine, Peter said to not just wash his feet but all of Him.  We may sometimes feel that we deserve more of a blessing than God has given us, but we need to simply accept what God gives us gracioushly.  In verse ten, Jesus said to Peter, "He that is washed needeth not save to wash his feet, but is clean every whit: and ye are clean, but not all."  Once we accept Jesus as our Savior, we are completely clean, but when sin enters us again, we must wash that spot clean.  Then, in verse eleven, Jesus knew who would betray Him, so He said not all were clean.  God will always know our heart.

In John 12:45, Jesus said that those who saw Him saw the Father.  We need to realize that when we come to Jesus and accept Him as our Savior, we no longer need to question Who God is or what He is like.  We have to recognize Him as the God of love and redemption.  After God created man, He did not say that He had created something evil, but something good.  Still, He gave man a choice about serving Him, and when they chose to rebel against Him, He no longer walked in the garden with them.  Sin seperated man from God, but Jesus came to walk with them again and restore the fellowship.  In verse forty six, Jesus said, "I am come a light into the world, that whosoever belieth on Me should not abide in darkness.  Sin brings darkness to our spiritual life, but because of Jesus' sacrifice on the cross, we do not have to abide in that darkness.  In verse forty seven, Jesus said, "If any man hears my words and believeth not, I judge him not: for I have come not to judge the world, but to save the world."  If Jesus didn't come to judge the world, then why do we attempt to?  Our calling is not to judge, but simply to proclaim salvation.  In verse forty eight, we see that those who reject Jesus will be judged by the Father on the last day.  Again, Jesus did not come to condemn, but to save.  In verse forty nine, Jesus says He didn't speak of Himself, but the Father gave Him a commandment that He should speak.  Then, in verse fifty, Jesus says, "And I know that His commanment is life everlasting: whatsoever I speak therefore, even as the Father said unto Me, so I speak.  The commandment that Jesus gave was that whosoever belieth in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.  This is the commandment that we must follow.  We will break the Ten Commandments, and through Christ, we will have forgiveness.  We cannot break or ignore the One He gave and have hope.  We must come to the Father through the sacrifice of the Son.  There is no other way.

John 12:42 says that nevertheless many among the chief rulers believed on Him, but because of the Pharisees, they did not confess Him, lest they should be put out of the synagogue.  That is a really sad commentary, to believe in Jesus, but not confess it to the world.  Some of the religious leaders did believe, but they would not confess Him because of fear of what others might think or do.  There are people today who believe that Jesus was Who He said He was, but refuse to acknowledge it because of what their peer group might say.  When we truly believe in Jesus as our Savior, nothing will stop us from confessing it to the world.  Verse forty three tells us that they did this because they loved the praise of men more than the praise of God.  If we love anything more than having a relationship with God, we can never really be His servant.  The problem at times is that the world promise us praise, and God calls us to service, so that one day, He will give us His praise.  In verse forty four, Jesus said, "He that belieth on Me, believeth not on Me, but on Him that sent Me."  I have heard people say that they believe in Jesus, but not in the God of the Old Testament, but the God of the Old Testament sent Jesus as Redeemer, and they are One.  We cannot divide God and decide to accept part of Him and not all.  We need to proclaim our belief in Jesus to the world.  We cannot be His followers and let the world have power over us, whether it be from fear of rejection by our peers or fear of the rulers of the world.

In John 12:37, we are told that though Jesus did many miracles before them, they didn't believe in Him.  We have records of many of the miracles that Jesus did, but we do not necessarily have a record of all.  According to this verse, He had done many miracles that they had seen.  Even if we have seen God perform a miracle in our life, we have not seen anywhere near all the miracles He is performing in the world today.  Like the people in Jesus' day, even when people see a miracle today, many still do not believe.  In verse thirty eight, John cites this as the fulfillment of Isaiah 53:1, which says, "Lord, whom hath believed our report?  And to whom hath the arm of the Lord been revealed?  When God's people, who knew the Scriptures, didn't believe His word, then He removed Himself from them.  If we today, as His followers, don't believe His word, then we cease to be effective witnesses.  Again, John did not immediately that day see this as a fulfillment of prophesy as if he were checking off a list.  We today can fall into a thought pattern where we try to check off prophecies to determine when Christ is coming again.  We cannot force world events determine the return of Christ, but we can put faith in His return.  Then, in verse fifteen and sixteen, John again cites Isaiah as saying God hardened their heart and blinded their eyes to Him.  Again, God has never stopped anyone from coming to salvation, but He does allow them to harden their hearts and turn a blind eye to Him.  Again, this is my belief of the Scriptures.  Man always has and always will have free will to accept or reject salvation.

In John 12:34, we see that the people still did not understand the true nature of the Messiah.  People today easily miss the true nature of God. He is a God of love and mercy, but many would try to make Him a God of anger and wrath.  After Jesus referred to His death, the people said, "We have heard out of the Law that Christ abideth forever: and how sayest Thou the Son of Man must be lifted up?  Who is this Son of Man?"  Again, they were attempting to fit Christ, the Messiah, into their understanding of the Scriptures.  People today attempt to use the Scriptures to validate their beliefs, even when those beliefs are against the true teachings of the Scriptures.  They were citing a part of the Sriptures, but ignoring the parts that referred to His death.  In verse thirty five, Jesus says to them, "Yet a little while the light is with you.  Walk while ye have the Light, lest darkness come upon you: for he that walketh in the darkness knoweth not where he goeth."  Jesus, the Light of the world, was going to be with them but a while longer, and they needed to use this time to learn as much from Him as possible.  We have the advantage that the Holy Spirit is with us at all times, so if we are walking in darkness, it is a deliberate choice to ignore God.  In verse thirty six, Jesus again told them that while they had Light to believe in the Light that they might be children of the Light.  We are to be His children and shine His light into the world.  That is our calling today.  We, through the power of the Holy Spirit, are to shine God's light into a dark and dying world. After telling them this, Jesus departed from them.  We must always choose whether to believe in Jesus or not.  If we do, He will always be with us through the Holy Spirit, but if we don't, He will depart from us.  The choice is always ours.

In John 12:29, we find that some of the people said that the voice of God was thunder while others said it was an angel.  When something miraculous from God cannot be denied, there will always be those who attempt to explain it away. Had they acknowledged that this was the voice of God, they would have needed to accept Jesus as Who He said He was.  If people cannot in some way explain away the miracles of God, they will need to accept Him.  In verse thirty, Jesus said the voice came not for Him, but for those gathered around Him.  If God performs a miracle in our life, He does not have to tell us He did it, but for the benefit of those around us, we need to make sure that it is known that He did it.  In verse thirty one, Jesus said, "Now is the judgment of this world: now shall the Prince of this world be cast out."  They may have still seen Jesus as only a carpenter's son, but He was indeed the Prince, the Savior, of this world.  Every since Jesus came into the world, people have been attempting to cast Him out, but they will never succeed.  In verse thirty two, Jesus said, "And I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto Me."  They were seeking Jesus because of the miracle of raising Lazarus from the dead, but Jesus was saying by His death, burial and resurrection that He would draw all men to Him.  Death was not defeated just for Lazarus, which was a temporary victory, but for everyone for an everlasting victory.  We are drawn to Him in this life, and what we do here will determine how we face Him some day.  People may want to believe that everything ends with death, but Jesus was victorious over death for everyone for all time.  We just have to decide in this life where we want to live everlasting life.

As Jesus spoke about His death and resurrection being necessary, He was submitting to the will of the Father.  In John 12:27, Jesus said, "Now is my soul troubled; and what shall I say?  Father, save Me from this hour:  but for this cause came I into this hour."  Jesus was taking on the sins of the world, so it is natural that His soul would be troubled.  When sin enters our life, our soul should be troubled.  When we attempt to make Jesus more God than man, we are making Him less than what He was.  He was fully human, subject to all the same temptations we are, but without giving in to them once.  He could look to no one for answers except the Father.  When we are in our deepest despair, we need to look to God for the answers.  Jesus knew He couldn't ask to be saved from Hie coming death, burial, and resurrection, because that is why He came.  If we know God has called us for a particular purpose, we don't need to pray that we won't have to follow, even if it leads us to death for God's glory. In verse twenty eight, Jesus said, "Father, glorify thy name."  Jesus might have been troubled in His soul, but He never waivered in His determination.  We may be troubled as we follow Him, but we should never waiver in our dedication to God.  In the same verse, God responded.  He said, in a voice from heaven, "I have both glorified it, and will glorify it again."  His name was glorified by the birth and life of Jesus, and would be glorified again by His death on the cross and resurrection as Lord of all.  When we have doubts in our Christian life, we need to simply turn to God in prayer and listen for His answer.  We can always be sure that He will comfort and assure us.

In John 12:23,  Jesus begins to speak more openly of His purpose.  He says, "The hour is come that the Son of Man should be glorified."  He had so far gone out of His way to avoid being noticed for the miracles He did, because the time had not come for Him to do so.  Now, He knew the time was at hand.  As we follow Christ, I believe that we will always know when the time is right to do what God has called us to do.  In verse twenty four, Jesus spoke of a grain of wheat dying alone in order to bring forth an abundance of grain.  Jesus was to die alone to bring salvation to everyone who would accept it.  We are to die to self that we can lead others to Christ.  This is stated in verse twenty five.  Jesus said, "He that loveth his life shall lose it, and he that hateth his life in this world shall keep it unto life eternal."  That does not mean that we are to live filled with self hatred, but that we are to value God above all.  If we do everything simply for self satisfaction, we are not following God's direction.  I find nothing in the gospel that states that if we follow Christ we are going to be rich in material things.  I do find that we are to take up our cross daily, which is to die to self and live that others might be led to salvation.  In verse twenty six, Jesus says, "If any man serve Me, let him follow Me; and where I am, there also shall My servant be: if any man follow Me, him will My Father honor."  Jesus was fully and firmly in the will of the Father, and if we are to follow Him, we must be also.  He said this when He was preparing to go to the cross, and we should be just as willing to follow God even to the death.  There are those who call Christianity an escape from the realities of life, but it is a call to faith even when faced with the realities of life.  There is nothing easy about dying to self and living for God so that others may be drawn to Him.

In John 12:21, we see that the Greeks who came to worship were no longer satisfied with just going to a place, but they wanted to see Jesus.  When we do go to a place, the church building, we need to be there to meet with and worship God.  Simply going to a place is not enough.  We need to know that we have been in the presence of God when we meet in His name.  They sought Phillip of Bethsaida of Galilee and told him that they would see Jesus.  When people of the world want to see Jesus today, we need to pray that they will seek one of His followers to show them the way.  That is our purpose in life today.  We are to lead others to Christ.  Everything else is of secondary importance.  In verse twenty two, we see that Philip first told Andrew, and then they told Jesus.  When we are unsure of an action on behalf of God, we should seek the advice of fellow believers.  We must remember that there was a death sentence pronounced against Jesus and many people were hunting Him for that purpose.  Also, Jesus had told the disciples He had come for the house of Israel, and these were Greeks.  There are those today who would come into the church for reasons other than to see Jesus.  This does not mean that we are to judge them because of who they are, but we need to attempt to make sure that they are really coming because they want to see and follow Jesus.  It is not enough to get numbers on the membership roll.  We need to lead people to Jesus, and if they come to us asking how to find Him, we need to point them to the cross.  We need fellowship with other believers to strengthen our faith so that we will know how to be effective witnesses.  Above all, we need to lead people to a relationship with Jesus and not just to a place of worship.  The Greeks were already at the place of worship, but they wanted to meet the One Who should have been worshipped.

In John 12:17, we find that the people who had been with Jesus at the raising of Lazarus from the dead bore witness to Jesus.  We today need to bear witness to the fact that Jesus raised us from spiritual death to spiritual life.  I believe these people were excited about what Jesus had done, and we should be also.  We get very excited about sporting events, but we almost act dead when it comes to worship.  We should be excited about worshipping, but should make sure that all the excitement points to Him.  Lazarus would physically die again, but because of what Christ did on the cross, Lazrus, and everyone who believes in Jesus, would never die spiritually.  We need to daily lift up Jesus to the world and give praise to Him.  In verse eighteen, it says that many people came and met Jesus because of the miracle of raising Lazarus.  Our lives should be so transformed by Christ that people will want to know what is different about us, and then we should point them to Jesus.  When we do, those that oppose Him will be like the Pharisees in verse nineteen.  They will wonder what they are going to do, because the whole world is coming to Jesus.  They had a death warrant out for Jesus, but they prevailed nothing.  We can rest assured that the world will not prevail against God today.  In verse twenty, we see the truth of the words of the Pharisees.  There were certain Greeks that had come to worship and they desired to see Jesus.  If we, as His people, are truly effect witnesses, people will come to us desiring to see Jesus, and the whole world will be drawn to Him.  We need to live in victory and not despair.

The religious leaders were wondering if Jesus would come to Jerusalem for the Passover, and in John 12:12 we get the answer.  He did not come quietly into the city.  When the people heard He was coming, they met Him with palm branches, and cried,  "Hosanna: Blessed is the King of Israel that cometh in the name of the Lord." Palm branches were a sign of victory and triumph.  They were not meeting a man under a death sentence, but a man Who they saw as the true King of Israel.  When we meet Jesus today, we must meet Him the same way.  He is the victor over sin and death, and we must greet Him as such.  They declared Him the King of Isreal Who came in the name of the Lord, but He was so much more.  He was and is the Lord.  In verse fourteenth, Jesus found a young donkey and sat on it for His ride into Jerusalem.  He wasn't greeted by those in power, but by the ordinary people.  He didn't ride in on a great steed, but on a donkey.  Jesus did not come to bring an earthly kingdom of power into existence, but a spiritual kingdom of service.  He did not come just for the rich and powerful, but for all people.  We too often want the steed when we go out in His name.  We don't need private jets and thousand dollar hotel rooms, but simply a way from place to place and a place to rest.  Jesus' entry was in fulfillment of a prophesy from Zechariah 9:9, which says, "Fear not, daughter of Sion: Behold, a King cometh, sitting on an ass's colt."  In verse sixteen, it states that the disciples at first did not understand the saying, but after Jesus was glorified, they realized these prophecies were written about Him and done to Him.  I think we to often see the fulfillment of prophecies about Jesus as Him checking off a list to accomplish.  The prophecies were fulfilled as Jesus lived His life instead of Jesus living His life to fulfill the prophesies.  We may not always understand everything that God is doing in our life until we look back on it, and the same was true with the disciples and the prophecies about Jesus.  As they looked back, they saw how the prophesies were fulfilled.

John 12:9 states that many of the Jews knew that Jesus was there.  There may be people today that know that Jesus is real, but they may be like the Jews then, who didn't come only because of Jesus.  They came to see Lazarus.  Lazarus was result of the miracle. They knew he had been dead and was now alive.  People may come to see the result of a miracle as much as coming to see the author of that miracle.  We hear today of people who were clinically dead and returned to life, and we want to hear about their experience.  Lazarus was more than clinically dead, so it was natural for the people to be curious, but they were in the presence of Christ, and that should have been enough.  If people come to Christ due to a miracle, that is good.  If people come to Christ because of Who He is, with no need of miracles, that is even better.  In verse ten, when the chief priests heard people were coming to Jesus because of Lazarus, they thought they might need to kill Lazarus also.  They were already seeking to kill Jesus, but now were wondering if they needed to go farther.  These were the leaders of God's people who gathering to decide if they needed to kill a man miraculously raised from the dead in order to keep their fellow Jews from going to the Messiah.  People in the world today will go to great extremes to attempt to discredit the work of God in the world, but we need to insure that we as His followers are not the ones doing it.  If something miraculous happens in our life, we need to make sure it points people to Jesus and never try to explain it away.

In John 12:1,we find that six days before the passover Jesus returned Bethany.   This was the home of Lazarus, Mary and Martha.  After His time of withdrawal, Jesus was now back where He had performed the miracle of raising Lazarus from the dead. We may have times when we need to withdraw for a period to renew our strength, but we then must get back into the world witnessing for Jesus.  We were never called to withdraw from the world, but to go into every part of it.  Jesus was at the home of Lazarus, Mary and Martha, and they had made Him supper.  Martha was serving and Lazarus was at the table.  Martha was a was a woman who took charge of things.  We need people like that today, those who make sure the details are taken care of.  Mary was at the feet of Jesus, where she took a pound of very costly ointment and anointed His feet.  She the dried His feet with her hair.  She was paying honor to Jesus before all else.  We definitely need people like Mary in the church today as well, those who don't think about the cost nor their position, but simply do everything to honor God.  We are told the house was filled with the odor of the ointment.  The church needs to be filled with the odor of our honor to God.  In verses four and five, Judas Iscariot, who would betray Jesus, asked why the ointment hadn't been sold and given to the poor.  We today may question why certain things are done by the church, but if they are done to honor God, we shouldn't.  Verse six tells us the real reason for Judas' concern.  It wasn't because of concern for the poor, but because he was a thief and controlled the purse.  There are those today that say Judas was just misunderstood, that He really just wanted to force Jesus to become an earthly ruler, but that doesn't fit with what the Bible tells us about him.  When people who control the money question doing things to honor God, we need to question their motive.  In verses seven and eight, Jesus said to leave Mary alone, that they would always have the poor, but He would not always be with them.  That wasn't a statement that He didn't care for the poor, but He knew His death was near.

In John 11:54, we see that Jesus at that time was not walking openly among the Jews. He had been walking freely, teaching the people He encountered, and performing miracles.  At this time, He withdrew.  I do not believe that He withdrew because He was afraid of the Jews.  He had accomplished His purpose, the resurrection of Lazarus, and the result was a death sentence from the religious leaders.  Jesus withdrew into a country near the wilderness with His disciples.  They went to a city called Ephraim.  Sometimes, when faced with great opposition, we may need to gather with fellow believers to renew our strength.  We need to remember that Jesus was a man, subject to getting tired just as we are.  In verse fifty five, we are told that the Passover was near, and many Jews went to Jerusalem for to purify themselves.  They were going through the rituals, but they had rejected the Messiah.  We need to pray that we will never be observing the rituals of worship but missing the relationship with Christ.  In verse fifty six, they sought Jesus at the Passover and questioned if He would come.  When we gather in His name, we need never question whether He will be there.  They were questioning Jesus' character again.  If He did not come to observe the Passover, He could be said to once again be ignoring religious teachings or He was afraid for His life.  We can rest assured that Christ never ignored the will of God nor acted in fear, and neither should we.  Verse fifty seven states that the chief priests and Pharisees had given a commandment that any who saw Jesus should tell them that they could take Him.  They were determined to kill Jesus, and they didn't care how many people they involved in their sin.  We should know that those who oppose God today do not care how many people they take down with them.

We find in John 11:48, one of the real reasons the chief priests and Pharisees were concerned about Jesus.  Though they continued to persecute Him for religious reasons, they were more concerned with their position in the world.  They said if they left Him alone, that He would draw all men to Him, and the Romans would come and take away both thier place and their nation.  They still thought Jesus was going to set up an earthly kingdom.  As His folllwers today, are we afraid that we will have to give up our place if we follow Him too closely?  Do we still view following Jesus to be for worldly power?  Then, in verse forty nine and fifty, a man named Caiaphas, being the high priest that same year asked, "Do ye know nothing at all?  Nor consider that it is expedient for us, that one man should die for all people, and that the whole nation perish not."  He was willing to kill a fellow Jew Who was doing great miracles for God in order to preserve his own power.  He also implied that he knew better how to deal with the situation than the other chief priests and Pharisees.  Today, if we begin to believe that it is okay or even better that innocent people die to protect our position in the world, we need to examine our motives.  We are to be a light to all people, even those who hate us.  Verse fifty one says that even though he didn't realize it, Caiaphas stated what Jesus would do.  Jesus would die that all might live.  He would die not only for the Jews, but for all people everywhere.  When we begin to regionalize God, to feel that He loves us more than any other people and that we should be more materially blessed than others, we miss the full truth of the gospel.  The chief priests and Pharisees thought Jesus was planning to establish an earthly kingdom and take away their power ans position.  We today at times seem to feel that He came to give us power and position in the world, but He came as a Servant and expects us to be the same.  In verse fifty one, it says from that day forward, they took council together to put Him to death. The world today takes council together to put God to death, but we can rest assured that it will never happen.

In John 11:45, we learn that many of the Jews who were came with Mary, when thay saw Lazarus resurrected, believed in Jesus.  We would think that seeing a man resurrected from the dead by Jesus simply telling him to come forth would cause all those with her to believe.  We know though, that even after Jesus' death, burial,and resurrection there are still many, many people today who do not believe.  Though we may not have seen this happen physically, by faith we can no of the certainty, and God will even give us the faith.  In verse forty six, we see that some did not believe and they went to tell the Pharisees what things Jesus had done.  They had seen what Jesus did, but went to the Pharisees to see how they would explain it.  They were not looking to believe,but to find someone to give them an explanation of what they had seen.  Anytime we have to ask someone else what God is doing when we have seen it with our own eyes, we are not looking to believe.  In verse forty seven, we find that the chief priests and Pharisees had a problem.  They asked, "What do we? for this man doeth many miracles."  They still saw Him as just a man,, but they could not deny the miracles He was doing.  That is the problem the world still has today.  How can they discount God, and His plan for salvation, when they see the miracle of the universe.  A person has to have great faith in nothingness and chaos to discount God. A person also has to have great faith in their own goodness to feel that they can reach God on their own.  The chief priests and Pharisees could not explain Jesus away, nor has anyone been able to since.

In John 11:38, still groaning in the spirit, I believe over their disbelief, Jesus came to the grave.  Even if God is disappointed in our lack of complete faith, He is still at work in our life.  When Jesus got to the grave, which was a cave, in verse thirty nine, He asked for the stone to be moved away.  In our life, if there is something standing between God and our dead faith, we need to remove it.  Martha said to Jesus, "Lord, by this time he stinketh: for he hath been dead for four days."  She still called  Jesus Lord but didn't think He could do anything for Lazarus.  Even if our faith in God's ability to handle a situation is dead, if we are His followers, He will still be at work for us.  I believe sometimes our faith may stink, and we may grieve the Spirit, but if we simply listen to God, we will see great things happen.  In verse forty, Jesus said to Martha, "Said I not unto thee, that if thou wouldest believe, thou shouldest see the glory of God?"  God says the same to us today.  Look to God in faith, and not to the world in doubt.  As long as we are capable of doing everything for ourself, we don't really have to live by faith.  It is only when we move into a situation beyond our control relying totally on God that we will truly see the glory of God.  In verse forty one and two, they moved the stone and Jesus said, "Father,  I thank Thee that Thou hadst heard Me.  And I know that Thou hearest Me always: but because of the people which stand by I said it, that they may believe that Thou hast sent Me."  We need to make sure that when God does something through us that those around us know that He is the One Who did it.  We don't have to pray out loud for God to hear us, but it is good for others to know Who is listening to our prayers.  Then, in verse forty three, Jesus said in a loud voice, "Lazarus, come forth."  He called only Lazarus, and when He is dealing with us today, He will call us forth by name, whether it is to new life in Christ or to renewed faith in Him.  When Lazarus came out bound head and foot in the grave clothes, Jesus said to them, "Loose him, and let him go."  When we come to Christ, bound by sin, He says, "Loose him, and let him go."

In John 11:36, the Jews said to behold how Jesus loved Lazarus.  When we look at anyone in the world today, we can behold how Jesus loves them.  They did not realize it, but Jesus loved the ones making the statement just as much as He loved Lazarus. The same was true of the Jews who were trying to kill Him.  If Jesus loved one person more than another, He would not be a fair and impartial God.  Then, in verse thirty seven, they again tried to discredit Jesus.  They asked couldn't Jesus, Who had caused the blind man to see have not prevented Lazarus from dying.  They seemed to acknowledge that Jesus had given sight to a blind man, but didn't acknowledge His power over death.  We may at times feel that God is able to do great miracles and yet fail to fully trust Him with our particular situation.  They saw Jesus' power to be limited at best, or maybe even a lie.  We could interpret there statement as did he really restore the man's sight.  If Jesus could not save one He loved, why would He heal a stranger seemed to be their thought.  Again, we need to realize that there are no strangers to God.  Too often people miss the love of God and the salvation of Christ because they want to limit the power of God.  When someone we are praying for dies while someone that others are praying for lives, we want to question God.  We may even want to discredit His power or His impartiality.  Seldom do we approach it form the other point of view.  If someone we are praying for lives, and someone others are praying for dies, how often do we ask why God favored us?  We need to realize that our relationship to God is not dependent on the things of this world, good or bad, but on the sacrifice of Christ on the cross.  I wonder how often our lack of faith causes Him to groan in the Spirit.