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WEEK FIVE

Day Four

DAILY SCRIPTURE

John 13:21-22

LEADER GUIDE QUESTIONS

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Know: Read John Chapter 13:21-26

Note: Mark keywords, including pronouns and phrases. (love)

Ask questions: (Use tools such as interlinear bibles to search the original meaning of words- free tool here) For example:

• Who is the disciple whom Jesus loved?

• What is Jesus teaching about the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit?

• When is this happening?

• Where is Judas?

• Why did John not name himself?

• How were the disciples seated?

Observation: Hebrews 4:9-11

What: What does today’s study reveal to you about the nature of God? What truth do I need to apply to my life today?

The Table of Shewbread 

“You prepare a table before me.” Psalm 23:5

Made of shittim wood and overlaid with gold, just like the Ark, it represents Christ in design and function. When God gave the instructions for constructing it, the word “Table” was first mentioned in the Bible (Ex 25:23). “Table" speaks of grace in redeeming fallen man back into an intimate relationship with God. Shewbread means “to declare.” Jesus declared He was the  “Bread of Life” and gave the church the authority to declare His life, death, resurrection, and coming again in the Table of the Lord. ( 1 Corinthians 11:26).

The Last Supper
 “Now there was leaning on Jesus’ bosom one of His disciples, whom Jesus loved.” John 13:23

John begins with Jesus, the Son of God, face to face with Elohim, who came out from the bosom of the Father to gather his sheep and bring them into the embrace of the Triune God. In this final meal, the disciples had with Jesus, an unnamed disciple identified as “loved by God.” Although writing this at the end of his life, John did not name himself as the disciple; I believe because he wanted to include all who read his account as ones loved by God.

The other gospels give us a clue as to others’ perceptions of this disciple. Mark reveals John and his brother James’ nickname “Sons of thunder” (Mark 3:17). Perhaps named so because of their personalities reflected thus, as revealed by Luke’s account. “Now it came to pass when the time had come for Him to be received up, that He steadfastly set His face to go to Jerusalem, and sent messengers before His face. And as they went, they entered a village of the Samaritans to prepare for Him. But they did not receive Him because His face was set for the journey to Jerusalem. And when His disciples James and John saw this, they said, “Lord, do You want us to command fire to come down from heaven and consume them, just as Elijah did?” But He turned and rebuked them and said, “You do not know what manner of spirit you are of. The Son of Man did not come to destroy men’s lives but to save them.” And they went to another village.” (Luke 9:51-56)

Mark, clearly annoyed with James and John, records an impertinent conversation that bothered him and the other disciples: “When James and John, the sons of Zebedee, came to Him, saying, “Teacher, we want You to do for us whatever we ask.” And He asked them, “What do you want Me to do for you?” They said to Him, “Grant us that we may sit, one on Your right hand and the other on Your left, in Your glory." But Jesus told them, “You do not know what you ask. Are you able to drink the cup that I drink and be baptized with the baptism that I am baptized with?” They said to Him, “We are able." So Jesus said to them, “You will indeed drink the cup that I drink, and with the baptism, I am baptized with you will be baptized;  but to sit on My right hand and on My left is not Mine to give, but it is for those for whom it is prepared.” And when the ten heard it, they began to be greatly displeased with James and John. (Mark 10:35-41)

Later, Mark gives us a glimpse of where the brothers may have gotten that boldness from by recording their Mother asking Jesus an audacious request: “Command that these two sons of mine may sit one on your right hand and the other on the left, in your Kingdom.” (Matt 20:21)

The family was a bit of a hot mess.

And yet, every disciple had the same encounters with Jesus. They each lived in the same political climate; even the two brothers had the same upbringing, and the other disciples had similar- some more comfortable than others, but it was John alone who lived for almost one hundred years.

All the other disciples died brutal and violent deaths not long after Jesus’ death under the reign of Nero, who believed himself to be the rock musician of his time. He used to force people to come to listen to him in the stadium. Often, when people couldn’t take it anymore, they would throw themselves out windows and kill themselves. At his death (by suicide), he said, “What a wonderful artist the world is losing. He was a terror. He once set Rome on fire and blamed it on the Christians. He would make sport by putting Christians on stakes in his garden and lighting them on fire to keep his garden lit. The disciples considered it a great honor to die a martyr’s death.

John, however, tapped into a part of God that was different. As a ninety-year-old man, in an attempt to kill him, the ruling Emporer, Domitian, lowered him, by a meat hook, into a vat of boiling oil. John was pulled up unharmed. Then, to silence him, Domitian exiled him to the island of Patmos, where John wrote the Revelation of Jesus.

What set John apart? What revelation did he receive that was different than any other disciple? I believe it was the same revelation Jesus lived from.

Jesus lived from the place of identity. Before Jesus began his ministry, before he ever did a thing, His Father spoke, “This is my beloved (favorite) Son; in you, I am well pleased.” Jesus lived from a place of identity. He didn’t live in fear, wrestle with anxiety, or over the world's happenings; he did not question sickness. He knew His Father loved him, and He did only what He was His Father doing.

I believe John discovered this same revelation. He identified as the “beloved of the Lord.” His identity was found in the love of Jesus regardless of the culture and threat of persecution and death. I believe John remained unnamed to invite us into that identity of “Beloved of God.”

What should life look like for us in this place of identifying with God’s love? Hebrews 4:9-11 “There remaineth therefore a rest to the people of God. For he that is entered into his rest, he also hath ceased from his own works, as God did from his. Let us labor therefore to enter that rest, lest any man fall after the same example of unbelief.”

Before, coming into the Holy of Holies was reserved for the Priests, a holy and reverent act of sacrifice and confession. Jesus became for us the High priest, making us priests with Him. Safely carried in His arms, He takes us back into the Temple, into the Most Holy Place. We now have access to the Father and are not separated by a thick veil or by sin. The Temple had no seats for the priests to sit in because their job was never finished. Jesus, our High Priest, is now seated at the right hand of God because His job is finished.

Rest looks like continuous “sabbath” rest. The only thing God tells us to work at is to stay at rest- to stay tucked within His heart. Rest means to lean our heads on the bosom of Jesus and let Him do the work on our behalf.

Communion

The same night of the Last Supper, Jesus instituted the Lord’s Supper. In the synoptic gospels, the meal is illustrated in more detail.

“While they were eating, Jesus took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it and gave it to his disciples, saying, “Take and eat; this is my body.” Matthew 26:26

This pattern of “took the bread, gave thanks, broke and gave” is repeated in the scene of the feeding of the five thousand and also when Jesus had a meal with the two deciples after his resurrection.

• The word “broke” is in the aorist verb tense. (aorist-instantaneous and never to be repeated action), 

• The word “gave” is in the imperfect tense. (a continuous action- ex. If a dirty stone got rinsed and cleaned and then was placed back in the dirty soil, but the rock stayed clean). 

In the scene of the Last Supper, the breaking of the bread happened once. The giving of the bread was continuous. (The multiplication happened in his hands.) When Jesus died, His body was broken once, but the act of His giving of life never stops. 

On the hillside, after miraculously feeding the five thousand, When Jesus told the people to sit down in the green grass, He fulfilled Psalm 23:

“The Lord is my shepherd; I lack nothing. He makes me lie down in green pastures; he leads me beside quiet waters; he refreshes my soul. He guides me along the right paths for his name’s sake. Even though I walk through the darkest valley, I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me. You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies. You anoint my head with oil; my cup overflows. Surely your goodness and love will follow me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever.”

Do not take Communion unworthily.

Paul, in his letter to the Corinthian church addressing their abuse of Communion, admonished them with this:

“So then, whoever eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty of sinning against the body and blood of the Lord. Everyone ought to examine themselves before eating the bread and drinking from the cup. For those who eat and drink without discerning the body of Christ eat and drink judgment on themselves” 1 Corinthians 11:27-29

Many churches and pastors have taught that this verse means that if anyone is not saved or has not repented of sin, you must not take Communion. Is this what Paul meant?

In John 10, Jesus began His turn back toward His Father with His sheep secure in His arms. From that point on, everything that Jesus went through also happened to us- vicariously. He became judgment for us, so the sonship benefits became our inheritance. As co-heirs with Christ and One with Him, who Jesus is is also who we are. We are a reflection of Christ and are judged righteous because of Jesus’ righteousness. When a lamb was offered as an atoning sacrifice for sins, it was inspected for any blemishes- not the one offering it.

Paul was saying that when we inspect ourselves for our worthiness to receive Communion, we take it unworthily. We do not inspect ourselves; we inspect the Lamb. It was the Lamb of God who was without fault or blemish who atoned for our sin. We can never be worthy enough if it is we who are inspected. Jesus was worthy for us, on behalf of us.

The word discerning (“without discerning the body of Christ”) in Greek is diakrino, which means to “doubt or be at variance with oneself.” Romans 4:20 tells us why Abraham was credited with righteousness. “No unbelief made him waver concerning the promise of God, but he grew strong in his faith as he gave glory to God.”

Unbelief is to doubt God; to doubt God is to put more confidence in the flesh or the problem than in what God says. Abraham believed in God. “to believe” is to “have a good opinion.” Abraham had a good opinion of God. He put his confidence in God’s promise to him and began to say the same thing God had said about His circumstances.

To take Communion worthily is to have more confidence in Jesus’ sacrifice and that His sacrifice is greater than any sin. It is to say the same thing God has said about us “For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.” 2 Corinthians 5:21

It is Jesus' light that makes you the light; it is His body that was broken that makes you righteous; it is His image that is now our image; it is His faith at work in you- not your faith.