2KINGS 13-14:Yesterday we heard of Athaliah's seven year reign over Judah, of how Joash was saved from being killed, and of Jehoida's successful plot to end Athaliah's reign. Joash turned out to be sorta good, but disappointing at the end of his reign. And it is interesting to note that the people who worked on restoring the temple evidently had more integrity than the priests.

PSALM 129:This is another Psalm of Ascent and another nationalistic psalm. In this year's readings, in just a few days we will begin hearing the parts of Israel's history where this psalm writer could have received the scars on his back. (I like how the GNT shows that the scars on the back might be taken figuratively for the whole race, instead of personally for just the writer. But one just listening to a reading of this chapter will probably not pick up on that detail.) In our time, this psalm gives us permission to pray that the Lord's enemies do not prosper.

JOHN 13b:John spends several chapters in the upper room, and this is the first. We hear the most complete account here about Judas, and only here do we find the story of Jesus washing the disciple's feet. This is another time where we see Jesus consciously acting out a parable for us. And because of that event, the interchange with Peter is more poignant, although John takes pity on Peter and does not include details of that conversation that are found elsewhere.

NLT Translation notes:John 13:2 It was time for supper, and the devil had already prompted Judas[, 0>>//son of Simon Iscariot,] to betray Jesus. [Judas was the son of (a man named) Simon from the village Carioth.]|8 "No," Peter protested, "you will never ever wash my feet!"Jesus replied, "[PET: If I don't wash your feet, you're no longer My follower.///Unless I wash you, you won't belong to me.]"12 After washing their feet, he put on his robe again and sat down and asked, "Do you understand what I was [showing you//doing]?17 [You ought to wash each other's feet.] Now that you know these things, God will bless you for doing them.[Repeating the thing Jesus wants them to do makes the last sentence more understandable. "Doing them" does not mean taking slaves or sending messages.]26 Jesus responded, "It is the one to whom I give the bread I dip in the bowl." And when he had dipped it, he gave it to Judas, son of Simon[, the man from Carioth// Iscariot].31 As soon as Judas left the room, Jesus said, "The time has come for [Me] the Son of Man to enter into [my/his] glory, and God will be glorified because of [Me/him].32 And since [my Father, God,/God] receives glory because of [Me, his/the] Son,i he will soon [also] give glory to [Me/the Son].36 [0/Simon] Peter asked, "Lord, where are you going?"And Jesus replied, "You can't go with me now, but you will follow me later."

Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.