Today we’re going to focus in on Jesus’ interaction with two sisters. Jesus is returning to Bethany to see Lazarus, who he has been told is sick. On his approach he is met by Martha and Mary. By this stage Lazarus has died, and they happen to approach him one at a time. You can read this story of Jesus comforting Martha and Mary in v17-37. Remember, these two sisters are grieving the same person at the same time. They both even say the same thing to Jesus as they approach him. Martha in v21, Mary in v32, “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died.” This is a statement of grief, hurt and faith. Can you feel it? Do you recognise it? Have you ever prayed a prayer like this? “Lord, if only…”  Read More

If you have noticed anything over the last few weeks you will have noticed the numerous references to sheep. Sheep and Shepherds are a key motif and illustration throughout scripture. Israel was a nation of shepherds. Shepherding and pastoral care – literally looking after your flock – were hard wired into the minds of the people that Jesus was speaking to. Yes he was a carpenter and his disciples were a mix of fishermen, tax collectors and revolutionaries (zealots), but their common history was shepherding. Sheep, lambs, goats, were all vital for the nation’s economy and for the nations worship. It is almost as if God created sheep to teach us about leadership and our relationship with God!  Read More

Jesus chooses to call himself the true shepherd, and that sums up so much: a close and personal relationship between himself and his followers, the certain security that we can have in him, the dependency in his guidance, his companion, his profound care for us and most of all his sacrificial love.  Read More

This week our passage revolves around a healing miracle. One of the seven signs in John’s gospel that is meant to cause us to stop and look at Jesus and ask the question, “who is this man?” It is also a passage that gives us opportunity to ask some questions about healing itself. Later in the gospel (John 14) Jesus will say to his first disciples, and to us, that we will see even greater miracles than were seen in his own ministry. What then does this passage tell us about healing? It does not give us a full theology of healing, that was not John’s intention, but it does raise the subject for us, it should provoke us.  Read More

In this devotional we are going to look at just a few verses and one particular aspect of Jesus’ teaching, the devil! In our passage Jesus makes reference to the devil in his challenge to religious leaders who have allowed there dependence on religious tradition to become a stronghold of deception in their lives. He is exposing the fact that when we are deceived to the point of missing the truth about God, it is the father of lies (the devil) who is ultimately behind that deception.  Read More

These are the wonderful words spoken by Jesus, to a woman who moments earlier had stood in abject humiliation and terror, awaiting judgement and probably brutal execution for the charge of adultery that had been brought against her. I encourage you to read the story for yourself – John 8: 1-11. It contains the classic line that has made its way into our popular vocabulary, “let he who is without sin cast the first stone” (John 8:7).  Read More