This week’s suggested reading: John 18
This week’s question(s) to ponder: Prayerfully ask God to reveal to you ways in which you align yourself with earthly kingdoms vs. God’s kingdom. What did he show you? How would you describe your heart for “the least of these”?
God's kingdom stands in stark contrast to earthly kingdoms.
In John 18, we see Judas, Jesus’ betrayer, gather a band of soldiers from the religious elite to go arrest Jesus in force. (John 18:2-11) Luke’s account of the arrest gives us even more detail of what happens when the soldiers approach Jesus.
“49 And when those who were around him saw what would follow, they said, ‘Lord, shall we strike with the sword?’ 50 And one of them struck the servant of the high priest and cut off his right ear. 51 But Jesus said, ‘No more of this!’ And he touched his ear and healed him. 52 Then Jesus said to the chief priests and officers of the temple and elders, who had come out against him, ‘Have you come out as against a robber, with swords and clubs? 53 When I was with you day after day in the temple, you did not lay hands on me. But this is your hour, and the power of darkness.'” (Luke 22:49-53)
God’s kingdom stands in stark contrast to earthly kingdoms.
Earthly kingdoms make war when threatened. Jesus makes peace. Earthly kingdoms destroy others to save itself. Jesus gave himself to save the world. Earthly kingdoms respond with hate and violence when opposed. Jesus responds with love. Earthly kingdoms display power with weapons of steel. Jesus displays power with his word. (18:6) Earthly kingdoms clamor for control. Jesus humbly bends to the Father’s will.
God’s kingdom stands in stark contrast to earthly kingdoms.
Fear of man can cause us to deny Christ.
In John 13, Jesus told Peter that he would deny him 3 times before the rooster crowed. In John 18, we see that fulfilled. Peter, the one who said he would lay his life down for Jesus, denied even knowing him before the sun rose.
Why did Peter deny knowing Jesus? Fear of man.
Fear of man can make us do things or say things we promised we would never do or say. I talked about this in my commentary on John 9. Maybe we fear rejection. Maybe we fear harm. But regardless, when we allow the fear of man to reside in us, we position ourselves to compromise our faith.
Throughout Scripture, God reminds us not to fear man for one primary reason: the God of the universe is for us and with us! “The Lord is on my side; I will not fear. What can man do to me?” (Psalm 118:6) Literally, what can man do to us?
Reject us? Probably, but we’re accepted by the holy God of the universe in Christ. “13 But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ.” (Ephesians 2:13)
Kill us? Maybe, but in Christ, we will be with God at the moment of earthly death. “So we are always of good courage. We know that while we are at home in the body we are away from the Lord, 7 for we walk by faith, not by sight. 8 Yes, we are of good courage, and we would rather be away from the body and at home with the Lord. To be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord.” (2 Corinthians 5:6-8)
Fear is going to come. We’re human. We can’t see past this moment. And in this world, there will be trouble. There will be pain, disease, and brokenness. But fear isn’t our inheritance in Christ. Jesus died and rose to give us more than a life marked by fear.
Yes, fearful thoughts will enter our minds. I have them daily. Believe me. But if we’re in Christ, we don’t have to entertain the fearful thoughts. We don’t have to feed the fearful presumptions with more fearful predictions. In Christ, we have the Spirit of God dwelling inside of us. So we have the power to take our thoughts captive to truth.
Fear is like a red flag waving, warning us that something is trying to steal our peace and rest in the faithfulness of God. When fear comes, that’s an invitation to spend some time with our Father. It’s an invitation to remember, through prayer and worship, who it is that still sits on the throne. It’s an invitation to remember the great love, constant faithfulness, and exceeding power of our good God.
Fear of man can cause us to deny Christ. But fear of God alone can cause us to walk boldly by faith, one step at a time, even when we don’t know what’s up ahead. Because we know the One who will be with us, pouring out his love and grace, every step of the way.
It's not the external that defiles us. It's the internal.
The hypocrisy we see in John 18 amazes (and sobers) me. We read, “28 Then they led Jesus from the house of Caiaphas to the governor’s headquarters. It was early morning. They themselves did not enter the governor’s headquarters, so that they would not be defiled, but could eat the Passover. 29 So Pilate went outside to them and said, ‘What accusation do you bring against this man?’ 30 They answered him, ‘If this man were not doing evil, we would not have delivered him over to you.’ 31 Pilate said to them, ‘Take him yourselves and judge him by your own law.’ The Jews said to him, ‘It is not lawful for us to put anyone to death.’ 32 This was to fulfill the word that Jesus had spoken to show by what kind of death he was going to die.”
So, get this. The religious leaders are actively trying to have the Roman government kill Jesus. They are literally wanting him murdered. They passionately hate him and the threat he brings to their religiosity. Yet they do not want to enter into a physical space because according to their law that will defile them to the point they cannot partake of the Passover. Internally they hate Jesus to the point of murder. Externally they want to stay “pure” by not entering the governor’s headquarters.
Jesus had a term for this: whitewashed tombs.
In Matthew 23 Jesus says, “27 ‘Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you are like whitewashed tombs, which outwardly appear beautiful, but within are full of dead people’s bones and all uncleanness. 28 So you also outwardly appear righteous to others, but within you are full of hypocrisy and lawlessness.'”
Jesus didn’t mince words. He clearly called out the hypocrisy he saw in the religious elite. Over and over they pointed to their external obedience to God’s law as evidence of their internal righteousness. Yet Jesus boldly confronted the fallacy of that mindset because God doesn’t look merely at the external. God looks at the heart.
In 1 Samuel, the Lord sent Samuel to anoint the new king over Israel. When Samuel saw Eliab, one of Jesse’s sons, he thought for sure that he was their future ruler. Eliab’s physical stature fit all of the stereotypes of a king. “7 But the Lord said to Samuel, ‘Do not look on his appearance or on the height of his stature, because I have rejected him. For the Lord sees not as man sees: man looks on the outward appearance, but the Lord looks on the heart.'” (1 Samuel 16:7) Samuel will go on to anoint David as king, the smallest and least of the sons of Jesse.
Bottom line, the external doesn’t defile us before our holy God. It’s the internal state of the heart that defiles us. And we desperately need to be on guard because we too are prone to hypocrisy.
As I look at the landscape of the American Christian church in 2026, I wonder what Jesus would say to us. Would he say, “woe to you, preachers and deacons, volunteers and church-goers, you hypocrites! You are like whitewashed tombs, which outwardly appear beautiful (with your big, fancy buildings and smoke-filled stages, perfectly curated church programs and interactive websites), but within are full of hypocrisy.” Is that what he would say? Because all of those external things mean absolutely nothing if our hearts harbor pride, elitism, and hatred. And if we’re really curious if hypocrisy marks us, Jesus gave us a litmus test for our faith in Matthew 25.
31 “When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, then he will sit on his glorious throne. 32 Before him will be gathered all the nations, and he will separate people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. 33 And he will place the sheep on his right, but the goats on the left. 34 Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. 35 For I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, 36 I was naked and you clothed me, I was sick and you visited me, I was in prison and you came to me.’ 37 Then the righteous will answer him, saying, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you drink? 38 And when did we see you a stranger and welcome you, or naked and clothe you? 39 And when did we see you sick or in prison and visit you?’ 40 And the King will answer them, ‘Truly, I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these my brothers, you did it to me.’ 41 “Then he will say to those on his left, ‘Depart from me, you cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. 42 For I was hungry and you gave me no food, I was thirsty and you gave me no drink, 43 I was a stranger and you did not welcome me, naked and you did not clothe me, sick and in prison and you did not visit me.’ 44 Then they also will answer, saying, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or sick or in prison, and did not minister to you?’ 45 Then he will answer them, saying, ‘Truly, I say to you, as you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to me.’ 46 And these will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.”
This is a serious question, one that could possibly expose our eternity: Do we care for the least of these? Do we have compassion for the stranger and the poor? Do we love those who cannot love us in return? Do we give when others can’t possibly repay? Or would Jesus look at us and say, “Hypocrite! You are whitewashed tombs – externally righteous with your church going and Bible verse memes, yet internally loveless and lawless.”
Father, forgive us, convict us, and help us to love others like you’ve loved us. We were poor and needy, and you came to our rescue.
