My thoughts (Mark Shoup):

I like this passage because on the surface, it’s a well known Bible story that anyone who lived through Sunday school knows. But there is more going on here than meets the eye.

When Jesus hears that his good friend Lazarus is sick, he stays where he is for two additional days before heading off to Judea to be with him. As they started out for Judea, he even tells his disciples that Lazarus has died, making it clear that when they get there and are informed that Lazarus has been “in the tomb” for 4 days, it should be no surprise to Jesus. However, when confronted by Mary weeping with her grief, Jesus does something completely unexpected. He breaks down and cries! Knowing full well that he is about to raise Lazarus from the dead for the glory of God, he is still overcome with human emotion. Such a strange reaction!

Or is it?

It makes no sense to me that Jesus would be crying out of grief, knowing that in just moments Lazarus would be among the living once again. So he must have been crying out of empathy for Mary, Martha and the other mourners! Think about that. Our savior feels so bad when we are upset that he himself was moved to tears, even though he was about to make everything right! It is no wonder that verse 35, “Jesus wept,” is the shortest verse in the Bible. It carries so much implication that it could neither be combined with the verse before nor the one after it.

Now remember a time when someone close to you died. It is not uncommon to be angry at God when he takes a loved one home. Anger is a natural part of the grieving process that many of us go through. Now imagine that, while it is beyond us to know why that loved one was called home, Jesus knows we are hurting and our sorrow makes him cry.

Our Lord is just that compassionate!

Thought for the day: God calls us to be Jesus here on earth. Who do we know that is hurting and needs our compassion?

We encourage you to include a time of prayer with this reading. If you need a place to get started, consider the guidelines on the How to Pray page.

My thoughts (Mark Shoup):

I like this passage because it’s a well known Bible story that anyone who lived through Sunday school knows. But there is more going on here than meets the eye.

When Jesus hears that his good friend Lazarus is sick, he stays where he is for two additional days before heading off to Judea to be with him. As they started out for Judea, he even tells his disciples that Lazarus has died, making it clear that when they get there and are informed that Lazarus has been “in the tomb” for 4 days, it should be no surprise to Jesus. However, when confronted by Mary weeping with her grief, Jesus does something completely unexpected. He breaks down and cries! Knowing full well that he is about to raise Lazarus from the dead for the glorification of God, he is still overcome with human emotion. Such a strange reaction!

Or is it?

It makes no sense that Jesus would be crying out of grief — He knows that in just moments, Lazarus would be among the living once again, right? He must have been crying out of empathy for Mary, Martha and the other mourners! Think about that. Our savior feels so bad when we are upset that he himself was moved to tears, even though he was about to make everything right! It’s no wonder that verse 35, “Jesus wept,” is the shortest verse in the Bible. It carries so much implication that it could neither be combined with the verse before it nor the one after it.

Now remember a time when someone close to you died. It’s common to be angry at God when a loved one is taken home. Anger is a natural part of the grieving process that we go through. Now imagine that, while it is beyond our earthly intellect to know why that loved one was called home by God, God knows we are hurting and our sorrow makes God cry.

Our Lord is just that compassionate!

Thought for the day: God calls us to be like Jesus here on earth. Who do we know that is hurting and needs our compassion?

We encourage you to include a time of prayer with this reading. If you need a place to get started, consider the guidelines on the How to Pray page.

Today’s scripture: John 13:1-17 (NRSV) (KJV) (The Message)

As you read, consider: What might God be saying to me? Summarize your thoughts in a sentence or two.

My thoughts (Mark Shoup):

Ewwwww! Dirty disciple feet!

Jesus probably wasn’t thinking those thoughts as he modeled service and servanthood to the apostles, but that’s all I could think about when we would have a “foot washing service” at the church I grew up in.

But like so many things that Jesus said or did, the greater importance was in the meaning behind the actions. And if you, like me, are going through a foot washing service and hating every minute of it, you have missed the point entirely.

The point is service. The point is putting someone else’s needs and welfare ahead of your own. I think God would rather I offer sincere service just once than go through the ritual of washing the feet of 1,000 people. It’s about doing something good for someone anonymously, or helping someone without any expectation of remuneration. Washing feet is great, if someone needs their feet washed, but that isn’t the end of it — in fact, it’s just the beginning; it’s just the example.

Clearing the snow from the neighbor’s walk is feet washing. Driving someone to a doctor’s appointment is feet washing. Even helping someone change a flat tire is a form of feet washing. Any time you put yourself in a position of humble service to one of God’s children, you are carrying out the spirit of feet washing and what Jesus was trying to model.

But why is this so important? Besides the obvious moral discipline of helping others, performing service in this way helps us to understand our position as humble servants of God. In fact, Jesus even says “when you do this for each other, you are actually doing it for Me” [my paraphrase].

Thought for the day: God, show me whose feet I should be washing, and what form it should take.

We encourage you to include a time of prayer with this reading. If you need a place to get started, consider the guidelines on the How to Pray page.

Today’s scripture: Matthew 2:1-12 (NRSV) (The Message) (KJV) What might God be saying to me?

My thoughts (Mark Shoup):

When I was a kid, I attended a planetarium show at the Dayton Museum of Natural History. It must have been around Christmas time, as the program was all about explaining what the Star of Bethlehem really was. Several suggestions were given, from the star being a comet (which was a compelling theory), to it being a supernova only visible for a few months. I am always fascinated when science is used to prove or explain the things written in the Bible, and enjoyed the show very much.

We will probably never know definitively what the Star of Bethlehem really was, at least until we can ask the Creator in person, but it really doesn’t matter. For all we know it might have been a seagull that suffered spontaneous combustion, but it did what it was supposed to do, which was to herald the birth of our Savior and to guide the wise men to him. That’s what is important.

I think we still have “Stars of Bethlehem” in our own lives, even to this day. We each have things that draw us to Jesus, help us find him, and guide us back when we lose our way. For me, it is small group worship and my personal quiet time. For others, it might be partaking in communion, reading the Bible, meditation, music, or something else. Like the original star, it doesn’t matter what it is, as long as you follow it and allow it to bring you closer to Christ.

Thought for the day: What is my star? Am I following or engaging in what draws me to Jesus?

We encourage you to include a time of prayer with this reading. If you need a place to start, consider the guidelines on the How to Pray page.

My thoughts (Mark Shoup):

At first glance, many of us may read the verse about it “being harder for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven than for a camel to go through the eye of a needle”, and think, “No problem, I’m not rich.” But, in fact, compared to 80% of the world, we are rich, right down to the poorest among us. So does this mean that to inherit the kingdom of heaven, we’ve got to be dirt poor and homeless?

Let me offer a few thoughts on the subject. First off, how many of us have used the phrase “like finding a needle in a haystack” when describing something that is hard to find? That phrase is called a ‘hyperbole’, or a comparative example that is exaggerated for effect. Is it possible that Jesus would speak in hyperbole? Consider the following verses that appears just a few chapters later in Matthew:

Matthew 23:23-24
23 “Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You give a tenth of your spices — mint, dill and cummin. But you have neglected the more important matters of the law—justice, mercy and faithfulness. You should have practiced the latter, without neglecting the former. 24 You blind guides! You strain out a gnat but swallow a camel.”

I think its pretty safe to say that no one actually swallowed a camel, so is it possible that the camel in our scripture reading is also used as a “turn of phrase” and not to be taken literally?

Consider also, that there is a legend of a small gate in the Jerusalem wall that was nicknamed “the eye of the needle.” This gate was so small (low) that in order to get a camel through it, the camel would have to be unloaded and made to kneel down. A difficult task to be sure, but not impossible. Is this what Jesus meant? Difficult but not impossible?

Or, maybe Jesus was making the point that it is impossible to enter the kingdom of heaven without God, or without God’s help, and that with God, not just this but anything is possible?

Thought for the day: What “eyes of the needle” are there in my life that God can help me overcome?

We encourage you to include a time of prayer with this reading. If you need a place to get started, consider the guidelines on the How to Pray page.

My thoughts (Mark Shoup):

It seems that people today are more concerned than ever before about the food they eat. From crazy fad diets to allergy restrictions, veganism, eating only locally produced food or only organics, people seem overly concerned about every little facet of the food they eat. As an employee of a specialty grocery store, I can tell you that you don’t want to get between certain people and whatever the latest food fad is they saw on Dr. Oz or Oprah.

But the mouth is a two-way street, and I wonder if many people think even once, let alone twice, about the words they say or ideas they express?

Sure, there is importance in eating healthy and avoiding foods that can make you sick, but how much harm can also be done by a carelessly offered remark or derogatory insult? How many of us have been wounded by things our loved ones have said, and still worry over them long after the person who said them has completely forgotten about it?

Maybe as followers of Christ, we need to pay close attention to what Jesus says in today’s scripture and be more concerned about the words and thoughts that we are putting out into the world. Maybe we need to make as great an effort in saying things that build people up, as we put into finding our hormone- and antibiotic-free, grass-fed, locally-grown beef. Maybe we should avoid engaging in hurtful talk to the extent we avoid high fructose corn syrup and trans fats.

Thought for the day: How much money and time do I put into what I eat? How much effort and thought do I put into the things that I say?

We encourage you to include a time of prayer with this reading. If you need a place to get started, consider the guidelines on the How to Pray page.