John 12: Anointed for Burial

On the road to Emmaus, Jesus walks with two of his disciples and shows them how all of Scripture is about him. But even after the greatest Bible study ever given, they still don’t recognize him. It isn’t until he breaks bread with them at the table that their eyes are opened. David and Christine kick off a new series by looking at the two words Jesus uses to diagnose his disciples’ blindness, what the Bible means by “the mind,” and why truly seeing Jesus takes more than knowing facts about him.

Eight years ago, Spoken Gospel set out to create an introduction, devotionals, and a podcast for every book of the Bible. With the final episode on Job, that goal has been reached. David and Christine look back on how their approach to studying Scripture has changed through the years, share the books and behind-the-scenes moments that stand out most, and talk about what comes next: walking with Jesus through the year by following the church calendar.

After nearly thirty chapters of accusations, a new voice enters the debate. Elihu claims to speak for God, but he twists Job's words just like the serpent in the garden, until God himself answers from the whirlwind with a question: who darkens my counsel? David and Christine finish the book of Job and talk about Elihu, Behemoth and Leviathan, and the good news that Jesus is the innocent sufferer who intercedes for his accusers and binds the dragon.

Eliphaz, Bildad, and Zophar arrive to comfort Job and spend thirty chapters insisting that his suffering is proof of hidden guilt. Everything they say about God is true, and they aim all of it at an innocent man. David and Christine walk through the three cycles of speeches and talk about windy arguments, whether innocent suffering is even a legitimate category, and Job's hope in a redeemer who would vindicate him out of the grave.

The accuser always offers a shortcut. He tells Eve she can have maturity without waiting, tells Job he can end his suffering by cursing God, and tells Jesus he can have the nations without a cross. David and Christine walk through Genesis 3, Job 1–2, and the temptation of Jesus, and show how Job passes the test Adam failed and how Jesus finally defeats the accuser by refusing every easy road.

In the land of Uz, out in Gentile wilderness, a blameless king-priest tends a pocket of paradise—a flourishing household he rules and intercedes for, keeping the snakes out. Then the accuser appears in God's throne room and takes every good gift Job has been given and twists it into an indictment: remove the hedge, and this man will curse God to his face. David and Christine walk through Job's first two trials and the leash God places on chaos, and show how Job defeats the accuser not by arguing with him but by blessing God in the middle of his suffering.

Job is not the only ancient book about a righteous man who suffers for no nameable reason. Cultures across Sumer, Babylon, and Egypt wrote about pious sufferers who lamented, searched their lives for a hidden crime, and found nothing—and every one of them eventually traded away either their innocence or their god to make the pain stop. David and Christine open a new series on Job by reading it alongside these ancient neighbors and showing why Job refuses that trade, and why what he asks for is not relief but vindication.

When Jesus rides into Jerusalem on a donkey, he isn't just fulfilling a single prediction from Zechariah. He's taking up a promise made to Judah on Jacob's deathbed—a scepter, a roused lion, and a donkey tethered to his brother Joseph's vine—that has been waiting centuries for Israel's two divided kingdoms to become one again. David and Christine trace donkeys and vines from Genesis 49 to a strangely well-behaved lion in 1 Kings 13. They talk about brothers, exile, and the good news that the oldest rift in Israel is finally healed in the grave of a resurrected King.

Six days before Passover, as all Jerusalem prepares lambs for slaughter, Mary pours out a pound of costly perfume over Jesus' feet at a dinner in the slum of Bethany, and the whole house fills with its fragrance. In this single extravagant act, Jesus is revealed as the Passover lamb, the consecrated priest, the anointed King, and the Bridegroom on his way to the grave. David and Christine walk through Jesus' anointing in John 12, tracing how Mary's offering prepares the body of Life himself to carry the aroma of resurrection down into the tomb.

Three times in John 6, Jesus retells the story of the Exodus: he feeds a hungry crowd near Passover, crosses a stormy sea, and declares himself the true bread from heaven that came down to sustain his people. Beneath the miracle of the loaves and fish lies a web of echoes—the manna in the wilderness, the bread of the presence, and the tree of life in Eden. David and Christine walk through this dense chapter and the good news that Jesus is the true Passover meal, offering his own life so that all who feed on him will be raised up on the last day.