Thursday, March 19, 2026

 Opening Scripture

Jesus entered Jericho and was passing through. A man was there by the name of Zacchaeus; he was a chief tax collector and was wealthy. He wanted to see who Jesus was, but because he was short he could not see over the crowd. So he ran ahead and climbed a sycamore-fig tree to see him, since Jesus was coming that way. When Jesus reached the spot, he looked up and said to him, “Zacchaeus, come down immediately. I must stay at your house today.” So he came down at once and welcomed him gladly.

All the people saw this and began to mutter, “He has gone to be the guest of a sinner.” But Zacchaeus stood up and said to the Lord, “Look, Lord! Here and now I give half of my possessions to the poor, and if I have cheated anybody out of anything, I will pay back four times the amount.” Jesus said to him, “Today salvation has come to this house, because this man, too, is a son of Abraham. For the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost.” Luke 19:1-10

Opening Prayer

Gracious Heavenly Father, you are holy and exalted! May your kingdom come and your will be done in my life, home, and community, just as it is in Heaven. Help me to trust you today to meet all of my needs. Help me to forgive others just as you have forgiven me. Help me to resist temptation and overcome the evil one. For yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen.

Daily Bible Reading

John 12:20-50

Now there were some Greeks among those who went up to worship at the festival. They came to Philip, who was from Bethsaida in Galilee, with a request. “Sir,” they said, “we would like to see Jesus.” Philip went to tell Andrew; Andrew and Philip in turn told Jesus.

Jesus replied, “The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified. Very truly I tell you, unless a kernel of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains only a single seed. But if it dies, it produces many seeds. Anyone who loves their life will lose it, while anyone who hates their life in this world will keep it for eternal life. Whoever serves me must follow me; and where I am, my servant also will be. My Father will honor the one who serves me.

“Now my soul is troubled, and what shall I say? ‘Father, save me from this hour’? No, it was for this very reason I came to this hour. Father, glorify your name!” Then a voice came from heaven, “I have glorified it, and will glorify it again.” The crowd that was there and heard it said it had thundered; others said an angel had spoken to him.

Jesus said, “This voice was for your benefit, not mine. Now is the time for judgment on this world; now the prince of this world will be driven out. And I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to myself.” He said this to show the kind of death he was going to die.

The crowd spoke up, “We have heard from the Law that the Messiah will remain forever, so how can you say, ‘The Son of Man must be lifted up’? Who is this ‘Son of Man’?”

Then Jesus told them, “You are going to have the light just a little while longer. Walk while you have the light, before darkness overtakes you. Whoever walks in the dark does not know where they are going. Believe in the light while you have the light, so that you may become children of light.” When he had finished speaking, Jesus left and hid himself from them.

Even after Jesus had performed so many signs in their presence, they still would not believe in him. This was to fulfill the word of Isaiah the prophet: “Lord, who has believed our message and to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed?”

For this reason they could not believe, because, as Isaiah says elsewhere: “He has blinded their eyes and hardened their hearts, so they can neither see with their eyes, nor understand with their hearts, nor turn—and I would heal them.”

Isaiah said this because he saw Jesus’ glory and spoke about him. Yet at the same time many even among the leaders believed in him. But because of the Pharisees they would not openly acknowledge their faith for fear they would be put out of the synagogue; for they loved human praise more than praise from God.

Then Jesus cried out, “Whoever believes in me does not believe in me only, but in the one who sent me. The one who looks at me is seeing the one who sent me. I have come into the world as a light, so that no one who believes in me should stay in darkness.

“If anyone hears my words but does not keep them, I do not judge that person. For I did not come to judge the world, but to save the world. There is a judge for the one who rejects me and does not accept my words; the very words I have spoken will condemn them at the last day. For I did not speak on my own, but the Father who sent me commanded me to say all that I have spoken. I know that his command leads to eternal life. So whatever I say is just what the Father has told me to say.”

Reflection  

There are at least two noteworthy elements in today’s passage.

First, some outsiders (Greeks) came to Philip (perhaps because of his Greek name or perhaps because they knew him from Galilee) and said, “We want to see Jesus.” Once again, Philip and Andrew seem to naturally bring people to Jesus (Come and see!). Were these God-fearing Gentiles the “other sheep” Jesus referred to in chapter 10?

With so many people wanting to get next to Jesus, the disciples likely provided a buffer of sorts for Him. That was certainly true when parents were bringing their children to Jesus, which drew a sharp rebuke from the Lord (Mark 10:13-16).

The desire of the Greeks to speak with Jesus triggered the recognition that “the hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified.” Everything had been moving toward this momentous occasion, and here it was. Rather than a humiliating ending, Jesus’ death would be a glorifying triumph and the fulfillment of His mission!

Second, Jesus’ triumphal entry into Jerusalem was no doubt quite a spectacle, but the religious leaders’ statement at the end of yesterday’s passage – “Look how the whole world has gone after him!” – is overstated. While everyone enjoyed the celebration, the majority did not truly believe in Jesus.

Even though most of the crowd rejected Jesus’ claims of Messiahship, some (including religious leaders) did put their faith in Him. Jesus explained that the transition from death to eternal life involves dying to self and becoming His disciple – following Him, being with Him, serving Him. Like Paul, we say: “I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me” (Galatians 2:20).

Jesus again alludes to His identity as the Light of the world, and those who believe in Him are children of light. Then, because there was more that needed to be accomplished that week, Jesus and the disciples slipped away.

Flourishing Habit

Intentional Discipleship

Just like in today’s passage, if we’re hanging out with Jesus, we may occasionally have someone come up and say they’d like to “see” Him. Rather than “running screen” for Jesus or playing dumb, we need to reply: “Come and see!”

Unfortunately, some who believed in Jesus were afraid to let anyone know because they loved praise from people more than praise from God. They were more concerned with losing their “synagogue privileges” than embracing their new identity in Christ. Perhaps that’s still true today.

The fact is, we all tend to talk about whatever is important to us. And whether we realize it or not, everyone is promoting a certain ideology or worldview. Consciously or unconsciously, people are living each day in a way that reflects their core beliefs about life and death, Heaven and Hell, sin and salvation, and meaning and purpose.

As children of light, we’re supposed to “let our light shine” so that others can see what we believe by how we behave and give glory to our Father in Heaven. We also need to be ready to testify about who Jesus is and what He’s done for us.

“But in your hearts revere Christ as Lord. Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect” (1 Peter 3:15).

In the Flourishing and The Church survey we took back in October, 80% of the 1,098 respondents agreed with the statement: I tell other people about my faith, even when they have different beliefs. That’s encouraging!

How are you living out your faith? How are you pointing people to Jesus?

Is there an area of your life that you need to turn over to God?

Remember: Nothing changes until something changes!