Read: Mark 3:13-19

Bible in a Year: Isaiah 32-33; Colossians 1

He appointed twelve that they might be with him and that he might send them out to preach.—Mark 3:14

When we come across a list of names in the Bible, we might be tempted to skip over it. But we can find treasures there, such as in the list of the twelve apostles whom Jesus called to serve in His name. Many are familiar—Simon whom Jesus called Peter, the rock. Brothers James and John, fishermen. Judas Iscariot, the betrayer. But we could easily overlook that Matthew the tax collector and Simon the Zealot must once have been enemies.

Matthew collected taxes for Rome, and therefore, in the eyes of his fellow Jews, collaborated with the enemy. Tax collectors were despised for their corrupt practices and for requiring the Jewish people to give money to an authority other than God. On the other hand, before Jesus’s call, Simon the Zealot was devoted to a group of Jewish nationalists who hated Rome and sought to overturn it, often through aggressive and violent means.

Although Matthew and Simon held opposing political beliefs, the Gospels don’t document them bickering or fighting about them. They must have had at least some success in leaving their previous allegiances behind as they followed Christ.

When we too fix our eyes on Jesus, the God who became Man, we can find increasing unity with our fellow believers through the bond of the Holy Spirit. —Amy Boucher Pye

Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, You exist in perfect harmony. May Your Spirit dwell in us that the world might see You, and believe.

Our strongest allegiance is to Christ, who gives us unity with each other.

INSIGHT: The Twelve had two things in common. They were the first to become Rabbi Jesus’s disciples. Accepting the role of a rabbi’s disciple in ancient Israel meant living in the rabbi’s presence full-time, diligently absorbing his teachings, and recruiting more followers. Aside from Judas Iscariot, all lived up to the demands of being a disciple. Second, aside from John, all of the faithful eleven disciples gave their life spreading the message of Jesus. Only John appears to have died of natural causes. This is one of the reasons we often hear about the cost of discipleship. Though we will not all pay that cost in the same way, every disciple will face the challenges and struggles of following Jesus. Bill Crowder

http://www.odb.org

Read: John 4:7-15

Bible in a Year: Isaiah 30-31; Philippians 4

The water I give them will become in them a spring of water welling up to eternal life.—John 4:14

Because it is so difficult in parts of the world to find clean drinking water, an organization called Water Is Life developed a wonderful resource called “The Drinkable Book.” The paper in the book is coated in silver nanoparticles that filter out almost 99.9 percent of harmful bacteria! Each tear-out page can be used and reused to filter up to 100 liters of water at the cost of only four pennies per page.

The Bible is also an unusually “drinkable” Book. In John 4, we read of a particular kind of thirst and a special kind of water. The woman at the well needed much more than to quench her physical thirst with clean, clear liquid. She was desperate to know the source of “living water.” She needed the grace and forgiveness that comes from God alone.

God’s Word is the ultimate “drinkable” Book that points to God’s Son as the sole source of “living water.” And those who accept the water that Jesus gives will experience “a spring of water welling up to eternal life” (v. 14). —Cindy Hess Kasper

Father, we yearn for the satisfaction that only You can give. Help us discard the things that leave us empty and thirsting, and exchange them for the satisfaction of the living water You offer.

Tell us your story of how you came to know Jesus as the Living Water at odb.org or Facebook.com/ourdailybread.

Jesus is the sole source of living water.

INSIGHT: The Samaritan woman thinks of “water” as purely material—just H2O. So, in her conversation with Jesus, she is stuck on having to trudge tiresomely back and forth daily to this well—perhaps a hundred feet deep—and use muscle power to draw and hoist the container of water homeward. Jesus’s statements symbolize salvation and satisfaction in what is both essential and enjoyable in water; He wants to ratchet up her understanding of eternal life in Him (John 4:14). Perhaps the closest thing to a definition of “eternal life” is found in John 17:3: “This is eternal life: that they might know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent.” Eternal life means having a relationship with God by knowing Jesus Christ. Jim Townsend

http://www.odb.org