April 17

JOHN 21
15 When they had finished breakfast, Jesus said to Simon Peter, “Simon, son of John, do you love me more than these?” He said to him, “Yes, Lord; you know that I love you.” He said to him, “Feed my lambs.” 16 He said to him a second time, “Simon, son of John, do you love me?” He said to him, “Yes, Lord; you know that I love you.” He said to him, “Tend my sheep.” 17 He said to him the third time, “Simon, son of John, do you love me?” Peter was grieved because he said to him the third time, “Do you love me?” and he said to him, “Lord, you know everything; you know that I love you.” Jesus said to him, “Feed my sheep. 18 Truly, truly, I say to you, when you were young, you used to dress yourself and walk wherever you wanted, but when you are old, you will stretch out your hands, and another will dress you and carry you where you do not want to go.” 19 (This he said to show by what kind of death he was to glorify God.) And after saying this he said to him, “Follow me.” – John 21:15-19

JOHN 21 IF YOU LOVE ME
A poem by ILMA inspired by these verses
When Jesus asked his disciples if they love him
He wanted proof of the love from them
Loving means to feed and care for his flock
It means to lay down their lives for his church.

Would you easily believe someone if that person tells you he/she loves you? Love isn’t just a feeling that one feels towards someone else. True love is peppered with commitment and responsibility. It is being there for that person for better or for worse. It is to nourish the loved one with care, attention and be able to fulfill their various needs.
A lot of failed marriages could have been saved if the concept of love was truly understood by the couple before they jumped into marrying each other. Instead, the world has bombarded us with a love that is unrealistic just like the fairy tales where boy meets girl and they live happily ever after. In this account, Jesus required his disciples to prove their love for him by feeding his flock and tending to them. A good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. This is what Jesus expected from them if they claimed they loved him.

REFLECTION
• How is “love” misused and misunderstood in our world today?

April 16

JOHN 21
9 When they got out on land, they saw a charcoal fire in place, with fish laid out on it, and bread. 10 Jesus said to them, “Bring some of the fish that you have just caught.” 11 So Simon Peter went aboard and hauled the net ashore, full of large fish, 153 of them. And although there were so many, the net was not torn. 12 Jesus said to them, “Come and have breakfast.” Now none of the disciples dared ask him, “Who are you?” They knew it was the Lord. 13 Jesus came and took the bread and gave it to them, and so with the fish. 14 This was now the third time that Jesus was revealed to the disciples after he was raised from the dead. – John 21:9-14

JOHN 21 JESUS SERVES HIS DISCIPLES
A poem by ILMA inspired by these verses
When the disciples caught a big catch of large fish
They had 153 large fish but surprisingly the net wasn’t torn
Then they saw someone preparing a meal for them
He invited them to break their fast with fish and bread
They didn’t ask who it was but they knew it was Jesus
He took the bread and gave it to them and so with the fish.

This visit of Jesus to his disciples after his resurrection is the third time and by the previous time, they were already given the Holy Spirit. It is interesting that they initially could not catch anything but when someone told them to cast their nets on the right side of the boat, they had a huge catch. Among themselves, they didn’t ask who told them to do so, but in their hearts, they knew it was the Lord. And when they saw a charcoal fire in place waiting for them as they hauled their catch ashore, they must have the knowledge from the Holy Spirit that it was the Lord.
We witnessed two important things that happened in this account. One was the big catch and the other was the meal prepared for them as they got on land. By now, the Holy Spirit was teaching the disciples that before the Lord showed up, they couldn’t catch anything. But when someone told them to cast their nets on the right side of the boat, there was a bounty of large fish caught. Jesus also served them breakfast after the night’s work.

REFLECTION
• What do you think the big catch and the meal represented in this account?

April 13

JOHN 20
19 On the evening of that day, the first day of the week, the doors being locked where the disciples were for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood among them and said to them, “Peace be with you.” 20 When he had said this, he showed them his hands and his side. Then the disciples were glad when they saw the Lord. 21 Jesus said to them again, “Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, even so I am sending you.” 22 And when he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them, “Receive the Holy Spirit. 23 If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you withhold forgiveness from any, it is withheld.”24 Now Thomas, one of the twelve, called the Twin, was not with them when Jesus came. 25 So the other disciples told him, “We have seen the Lord.” But he said to them, “Unless I see in his hands the mark of the nails, and place my finger into the mark of the nails, and place my hand into his side, I will never believe.”
– John 20:19-25

JOHN 20 THE GIFT OF PEACE & THE HOLY SPIRIT
A poem by ILMA inspired by these verses
When Jesus visited his disciples who were in hiding
He gave them his peace and he was very reassuring
But the greatest gift is the Holy Spirit whom he breathed on them
Now they have the faith to believe everything he taught them.

When Jesus died on the cross, the disciples must have been devastated and scared. They followed Jesus for three years and now he is gone. They have left all their responsibilities to follow him and now what is going to happen to them. The Jewish leaders are still hunting those who were Jesus’ followers. They must have been so confused and lost without their Master. They didn’t even remember all the teachings that he taught them because they were all concerned for their lives and safety as well. Imagine their surprise when Jesus showed up in their midst. Now all the promises Jesus told them are happening. He rose from the dead and gave them his peace and his own Spirit. What a relief that would have been. It must have alleviated all their fears and doubts because now they have the Holy Spirit to reveal and remind them all they have learned from Jesus.

REFLECTION
• Share some experiences you have that manifested the gift of peace and wisdom.

April 10

JOHN 19
38 After these things Joseph of Arimathea, who was a disciple of Jesus, but secretly for fear of the Jews, asked Pilate that he might take away the body of Jesus, and Pilate gave him permission. So he came and took away his body. 39 Nicodemus also, who earlier had come to Jesus by night, came bringing a mixture of myrrh and aloes, about seventy-five pounds in weight. 40 So they took the body of Jesus and bound it in linen cloths with the spices, as is the burial custom of the Jews. 41 Now in the place where he was crucified there was a garden, and in the garden a new tomb in which no one had yet been laid. 42 So because of the Jewish day of Preparation, since the tomb was close at hand, they laid Jesus there.
– John 19:38-42

JOHN 19 THE BURIAL OF JESUS
A poem by ILMA inspired by these verses
As your dead body was taken down from the cross
Your loved one’s hearts must have been torn in pieces
You deserved the burial of a king; the Jews made it hard to do so
Your disciples did their best to bury you in the custom of the Jews.

Jesus was born in a feeding trough instead of being in a palace with all the comforts. At the time of his birth, there was a threat to the lives of baby boys, so Mary and Joseph had to flee from where they lived. What kind of a king is born in a feeding trough? The world will never understand this concept because no one truly understands what the kingdom of God is until the promise of the new heaven and the new earth come to pass. After finishing the work of salvation on the cross, the world still didn’t know Jesus’ kingdom and how different it was from the world. Just like his birth’s circumstance was in the midst of an unsafe power-hungry insecure leader, his burial looks almost like it happened in the same circumstance. Jesus died and was convicted as a criminal though he didn’t do any crime at all. Because of the power and authority that the Jewish leaders had over the people, many were afraid to be associated with Jesus. Joseph of Arimathea and Nicodemus honored Jesus with a proper burial in the Jewish custom but in hiding.

REFLECTION
• What hinders us from boldly proclaiming our faith to the unbelieving world?

April 9

JOHN 19
28 After this, Jesus, knowing that all was now finished, said (to fulfill the Scripture), “I thirst.” 29 A jar full of sour wine stood there, so they put a sponge full of the sour wine on a hyssop branch and held it to his mouth. 30 When Jesus had received the sour wine, he said, “It is finished,” and he bowed his head and gave up his spirit.31 Since it was the day of Preparation, and so that the bodies would not remain on the cross on the Sabbath (for that Sabbath was a high day), the Jews asked Pilate that their legs might be broken and that they might be taken away. 32 So the soldiers came and broke the legs of the first, and of the other who had been crucified with him. 33 But when they came to Jesus and saw that he was already dead, they did not break his legs. 34 But one of the soldiers pierced his side with a spear, and at once there came out blood and water. 35 He who saw it has borne witness—his testimony is true, and he knows that he is telling the truth—that you also may believe. 36 For these things took place that the Scripture might be fulfilled: “Not one of his bones will be broken.” 37 And again another Scripture says, “They will look on him whom they have pierced.”– John 19:28-37

JOHN 19 FINISHED WORK OF CHRIST ON THE CROSS
According to science, a dead person’s body doesn’t “shed” blood in the way a living person would; instead, blood pools in the lowest parts of the body due to gravity, a process called livor mortis. Verse 34 says that when Jesus’ dead body was pierced on his side with a spear, blood and water came out. How was it possible that he squirted water and blood when his dead body was pierced? Why did John write about this in this gospel? I think John emphasized this so that we could all be reminded that Jesus was truly man and was also truly God. If he was just human, blood and water wouldn’t come out of his dead body. I also think that it signifies the finished work of Christ on the cross. With his blood, he accomplished being the perfect sacrifice to appease the wrath of God on our sinfulness. The water represents that through him, we will be cleansed and have life. Studylight.com comments on this as a symbol of the two great sacraments of the Church. There is one sacrament which is based on water-baptism; and there is one which is based on blood–the Lord’s Supper with its cup of blood–red wine. The water of baptism is the sign of the cleansing grace of God in Jesus Christ; the wine of the Lord’s Supper is the symbol of the blood which was shed to save men from their sins.

REFLECTION
• How can we meditate on the finished work of Christ through our daily lives?

April 7

JOHN 19
So they took Jesus, 17 and he went out, bearing his own cross, to the place called The Place of a Skull, which in Aramaic is called Golgotha. 18 There they crucified him, and with him two others, one on either side, and Jesus between them. 19 Pilate also wrote an inscription and put it on the cross. It read, “Jesus of Nazareth, the King of the Jews.” 20 Many of the Jews read this inscription, for the place where Jesus was crucified was near the city, and it was written in Aramaic, in Latin, and in Greek. 21 So the chief priests of the Jews said to Pilate, “Do not write, ‘The King of the Jews,’ but rather, ‘This man said, I am King of the Jews.’” 22 Pilate answered, “What I have written I have written.”– John 19:16-22

JOHN 19 KING OF THE JEWS INSCRIPTION
A poem by ILMA inspired by these verses
When Jesus was crucified on the cross
Pilate inscribed on him “King of the Jews”
It was to get back at the chief priests for their intimidation
When they wanted it changed, Pilate resisted with indignation.

In verse 20, we were told that the inscription was written in three languages namely Aramaic, Latin and Greek. According to some commentaries, these were the three great languages of the ancient world which represented three great nations: Greece, Rome and Judea, specifically Capernaum and Nazareth. It was the Greeks who taught the world beauty of form and of thought. The Romans taught the world law and government; the Hebrews taught the world religion and the worship of true God.
According to studylight.com “The consummation of all these things is seen in Jesus. In him was the supreme beauty and the highest thought of God. In him was the law of God and the kingdom of God. In him was the very image of God. All the world’s pursuits and strivings found their consummation in him. It was symbolic that the three great languages of the world should call him king.
It is interesting that it took the crucifixion of Jesus before Pilate finally had the guts to exercise his authority over the chief priests who had been bullying him to give the sentence of crucifixion to Jesus even though he couldn’t find fault in him.

REFLECTION
• Why do you think the Jewish leaders want the inscription changed?