For Love

John 20:³¹ “But these are written so that you may continue to believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that by believing in him you will have life by the power of his name.”

We are grateful to God for all that He has been teaching us though our study in the Book of John. It has been a totally life-changing journey. We are in the penultimate chapter and our study over the next few days is like the peak of the story. I hope you did your homework from yesterday’s study. In case you did not get around to it, please sort it out today because the homework is so important. You are building yourself up, getting deeper into the things of God. You are getting to know God better; His heart, His ways, and His will. Also, pay attention to the things the Lord has been impressing upon your heart over the past couple of weeks and commit to doing them. It is important you do it and God will help you, in Jesus Name.

Do you have a “pet-name”, a “nick-name” or a special way your name is called that you really like? In John 20:1-31 [please read], Jesus had an encounter with one of His own and until He called her name the way that only He calls her, she did not recognize Him. Even though John’s narrative only mentions the name of Mary, from what Mary said we know she was not the only one there. Also comparing with Matthew and Mark, we see that there were two other women with Mary; Mary Magdalene, the other Mary, and Salome, the mother of John.

John 20:^1-2 “Early on Sunday morning, while it was still dark, Mary Magdalene came to the tomb and found that the stone had been rolled away from the entrance. She ran and found Simon Peter and the other disciple, the one whom Jesus loved. She said, “They have taken the Lord’s body out of the tomb, and we don’t know where they have put him!” This is dedication; they were women, Jesus’ crucifixion was the most controversial thing at the time. He was buried quickly so that they can have the Sabbath of the Passover. And the following day after Sabbath in the morning, these women went to the tomb of Jesus to anoint Jesus’ body and to prepare His body properly because it was done in haste. Even though Nicodemus bought a lot of expensive ointment, it was done in a haste. These women were so dedicated to Jesus, even to His lifeless body. It is amazing.

This Jesus said He is God, King, and that He is from heaven yet He was killed. These women saw His body and they were still dedicated to that body, to preserve it. Mind-blowing. Many people would have said, ‘You say You are King, how come You are lying there helpless? Why do You need us to preserve Your body?’ These women are what the world will call obsessed; they were obsessed with Jesus. Someone said, “Obsessed is the word the lazy use to describe the dedicated.” If they see someone that is dedicated to his work or dedicated to her business. They will say he is obsessed with work or she is obsessed with her business. If they see someone that is dedicated to God, they will say the person is obsessed with God. I would rather be obsessed with Jesus.

Prayer [song]: I love You, Lord and I lift my voice to worship You. Oh, my soul rejoice! Take joy my King in what You hear. Let it be a sweet, sweet sound in Your ear. Amen!