The Gospel of John�

F o x V a l l e y C h u r c h o f C h r i s t �M o m e n t u m M i n i s t r i e s �

Study Guide Workbook�

1. Why does John intentionally use important words�from Genesis one like “beginning,” “life,” “light,” and�“darkness”?�

2. How does John consistently show the oneness and�yet the distinguishableness of the Father and the�Word?�

3. Why do you think John might have used the�theme of new creation for his gospel?�

4. What is the importance of John serving as a�testimony to the Word?�

Dig Deeper�It seems like everywhere we turn these days, we see the idea of “karma” being put forth. Karma certainly has it’s roots in Eastern�religions, but it has moved well beyond that these days, with everyone seemingly giving their own spin to what the concept of�karma is or what it means. If we were to boil it down to it’s most simplistic and most universal roots, karma means something�along the lines of a state of equilibrium that is present in the universe ensuring that justice will be done in the long run (kind of a�what comes around goes around mentality). This concept has so deeply infiltrated our culture that there is even a television show�named “My Name is Earl” (admittedly I have never seen the show but I have seen commercials and have read about it), whose�entire premise has to do with a previously shady character going about trying to set things right from his past so that he can�achieve good karma.�

Most of us have a basic understanding of what karma is, and those who are truly familiar with the concept know that it is�decidedly not Christian or biblical in it’s popular understanding. What if I took the idea of karma, however, to preach the true�gospel of Jesus Christ? What if I took the underlying idea that there must be something or someone that ensures that divine�justice take place in the universe eventually, and applied that to Jesus? What if I made a statement that Jesus Christ was the true�karma, and that only within him, in his life, can true karma ever take place? What if I boldly declared that real karma can be found�in the living, breathing, person of Jesus Christ alone?�

This may sound shocking but this is something of what John has done in the opening passage of his gospel. What is translated as�“�the Word�” throughout his book is actually the Greek word logos. Logos was a well-known and much-discussed topic of religion�and philosophy in the Greco-Roman world. The Greek philosopher Heraclitus used the word logos, which can simply mean�“word” or “explanation,” as a specific term that referred to the ordering principle of the universe. Later, the Stoics taught that�logos permeated the universe and gave rationality and an order to all things. Greek philosophers argued that the logos within�humans enabled them to move in harmony with the logos of the universe. Aristotle, the famous Greek philosopher, wrote that�“The Logos is designed to distinguish the beneficial from the harmful, and thus also the right and the wrong. . . Man. . . alone has�the ability to perceive good and bad and right and wrong [because only man can possess the Logos].” It is into this philosophical�discussion that John steps and blows it all up with the controversial assertion that the logos, in a sense was a correct philosophy,�but only in as much as people understood that Jesus Christ was the embodiment and the existence of the logos. The logos is not�just some abstract principle, but a living breathing human (although he’s more than that as well), and John is going to show us�exactly who he is. He is the ordering principle of the entire universe and everything in it.�

John opens his Gospel with an incredibly, almost poetic introduction that goes beyond Matthew and Luke’s birth narratives.�John’s intention is to show us the place of the Messiah, the true logos, in the eternity of the universe. The whole of John’s gospel�is every bit as unique as his opening section. If the other three Gospels, known as the synoptics have walked us through the life�and times of Jesus’ birth, ministry, and death, then John has taken us to the top of the mountain, to a place where you can look�down and see everything. In John we can look out at the whole landscape of Christ against the backdrop of eternity and let it take�our breath away.�

John doesn’t give us a birth narrative put describes the living word in eternal terms. This section not only gives the eternal�perspective of the word, but it serves as an introduction for many of the theological themes that John will develop throughout�his gospel.�

Even a casual reader of the Bible will see that as John begins with the phrase,� In the beginning�, that he intends for us to hear an�echo of the opening verse of the book of Genesis. In John’s mind what he is about to write is an act of new creation, one that�hearkens back to initial formation of the universe. This new creation, however, has everything to do with the Word, whom John�will reveal in the next section, is none other than Jesus Christ.�The Word�, John says, was both�with God� and�was God�. How can�both of those statements be true? They only can be if we expand our understanding of the world and realize that we can�apprehend God without ever fully comprehending Him. The Word is God in His essence, yet He is not synonymous with God; He�is distinct because the Word can also be said to be with God. This also makes the point that the Word is eternal and is not created,�but fully God in His essence. Right here in the first verse, then, we have two primary themes of John’s gospel. The new creation�is here in the Word, and the Word became flesh, he became human, but he is God. If, in other words, you want to see God, take�a good, long, hard look at the Word.�

In verse 3, having already declared the divine essence of the Word, John demonstrates his divinity through his mighty works.�Through him all things were made�. Again John stresses the eternity of the Word, as�without him nothing was made that has�been made�, while at the same distinguishing the Word from the Father. John doesn’t claim that the Word created, that was the�role of the Father, only that everything was created through him. Thus, the Father and the Word are intimately connected, but�not synonymous. They share the same essence but are not identical.�

John continues the creation theme in verses 4-5, while introducing a double meaning, something that John does frequently�throughout his Gospel. The Word was the light and life of the original creation, but also of the new creation. In him was life, says�John, introducing yet another theme of the Gospel. Those who desire the life and light of the new creation must find that life in�the Word. John will go on throughout his gospel of new creation to demonstrate how the Word is the only life. He is the only�light� of creation and the�darkness� has not�overcome it�. The Word challenged and defeated the darkness of the initial creation�and now will do the same for the darkness and evil that is found within the fallen creation.�

Some people in the generation following Christ still exalted John the Immerser and thought that perhaps he was the Messiah.�Maybe they thought, he was the light of the new creation. John, the evangelist, wants to make quite clear that that was not the�case. John’s role was vital, but he was not the light that overcomes the darkness of chaos. He came as a witness to that light. As�he writes his gospel, John desires to make it clear to anyone who might be confused that John the Baptist clearly and consistently�pointed away from himself and to the Word as the true light. John the Baptist was important but subordinate. Throughout his�gospel John will stress the importance of the Baptist as a witness (1:7, 8, 15, 19, 32, 34; 3:26; 5:33). In the ancient world, the�concept of a witness was importance as it established the veracity of an individual. John will show that there are seven (a�thematic number that will pop up frequently throughout the gospel) witnesses to the Word: The Father (5:31-32, 34, 37; 8:18;�Jesus himself (8:14, 18; cf. 3:11, 32; 8:37), the Spirit (15:26; cf 16:14); the works of Christ (5:36; 10:25; cf. 14:11; 15:24); Scripture�(5:39, 45-46); John the Baptist; and various other human witnesses (4:39; 12:17; 15:27; 19:35; 21:24). Testimony substantiated�the truth of the matter and John the evangelist is careful to show that Jesus had plenty of it. After all, the matter of�the true light�that gives light to every man coming into the world�, is no small matter. It is an act of new creation that can be appropriately�testified to.�

Display�Could it be said of your life that you serve as a witness�to the light of the Word? If people were to examine�your life for evidence of the new creation and the�light of life that comes from entering into the life of�the Word, would they find any? Determine today to�live in such a way that you clearly demonstrate the�new creation and life that has been made available to�the world caught in darkness through the Word.�

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The Word Became Flesh� 1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was�with God, and the Word was God. 2 He was with�God in the beginning. 3 Through him all things were�made; without him nothing was made that has been�made. 4 In him was life, and that life was the light of�all people. 5 The light shines in the darkness, and the�darkness has not overcome it.�

6 There was a man sent from God whose name was�John. 7 He came as a witness to testify concerning�that light, so that through him all might believe. 8 He�himself was not the light; he came only as a witness�to the light.�

9 The true light that gives light to everyone was�coming into the world.�

1. Why do you think that John puts so much stress�on the fact that God came in the flesh?�

2. Why do you think that not only the world rejected�the Word, but so did his own people?�

3. What is so shocking about referring to the Word�as the only Son of God?�

4. Why does John point out that the Word is superior�to the grace shown through the law?�

5. How, according to John, can we best know the�Father?�

Dig Deeper�The annals of war are filled with leaders and generals who have led their men from a distance. They issue orders from the back and stay�in comfortable lodging while their men fight the battles and stay in tents or other uncomfortable temporary housing. Generals like these�can definitely be effective but they are rarely loved. It is the generals who go beyond those expectations and norms that are loved by�their men. In 2 Samuel 11, we are given a sketch of just such a leader, Uriah the Hittite. David was back in his palace seeking after his�own lusts and tries to entice Uriah back into town so that David’s sin of adultery might not be noticed. He couldn’t get Uriah to agree to�it, however. When offered, for instance, to come home and be with his beautiful wife, Uriah replied that he could not do such a thing�while his men were out in the field. This was truly a leader that was present in spirit with his men at all times. The generals that are loved�are those who wait to eat until every single soldier under him has eaten; the general who waits to go sleep until all of his men are asleep;�the general who spurns the comforts that would normally be given to a man of his stature and opts to stay in the same type of tent that�his men are in.�

That is precisely what made YHWH, the God of the Israelites so different from all of the other supposed gods. He wasn’t distant; He�wasn’t unknown. He tabernacled in the presence of His own people. He went where they went and was with them through every�circumstance, providing and caring for them. They knew His presence and could count on it. As they continued to reject Him, however,�that presence lessened until it became virtually gone by the time of the minor prophets.�

It is into this reality that John drops an incredible revelation. God did not stay distant like so many human leaders. He came as close to�His people as He possibly could by becoming flesh. God was not a remote God, He tabernacled among His people in the most humble�and intimate way possible. He came among them and became one of them.�

He was in the world�, the very world that�was made through him�. It’s difficult for us to understand the humility that it would take to�enter into a world that you had created as a normal human being with no special privileges. The closest thing I can think of is if a parent�could suddenly become young again and enter into their own household as a child the same age as their own children. How would they�be treated, especially if their kids didn’t know that this new child was really their parent? That’s exactly what John says took place when�the Word entered into the creation that had been made through him.� The world did not recognize him�. There is, of course, a bit of�clear irony that the very world that was created though the Word did not recognize him when he came to them in the flesh. The fact�that they did not recognize him, though, was a sad bit of evidence of their estrangement from him and the will of God. It’s a simple fact�of human existence, we don’t recognize what we don’t know.�

If the fact that the very world that the Word brought about rejected him is ironic, then the fact that he came to that which was his own,�but his own did not receive him, is bitterly ironic. Israel’s very purpose was to be the people through whom the Messiah would come.�It was the way that God would use them to put the world to rights. And now he was here, but they were rejecting the very purpose for�their existence because they had other ideas of how God should have been working. It would be like the 2008 U.S. Men’s Olympic�basketball team that was put together to win a gold medal, refusing to get their gold medals because they had something else in mind�for the winners. This should serve as instructive for us, though, because it is dangerously easy for us to do similar things. We can pray�for God to do something in our lives, for instance, and then reject or fail to recognize His answer to that very prayer because it’s not quite�what we had in mind.�

Yet, John offers a bit of hope and demonstrates that the ultimate purpose of his gospel is missional. All is not lost. He makes clear in�20:31 that he has written this gospel so “that you may believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that by believing you may�have life in his name.” In verse 12, John offers perhaps the climax of this entire prologue, as well as the thesis statement for the entire�gospel. There are some who will�receive him�. The concept of someone’s name in the ancient world went far beyond just being a title or�something to call someone by. When the Jews of John’s day spoke of someone’s “name,” they spoke of their authority, their character,�in short, their life. So, when John says�to all who believed in his name�, he is referring to those who recognized that this was the one,�true human being through whom God would restore His creation. Those who trusted in the life of Christ rather than their own are given�the right to become children of God�. These children are not born through normal human procreation, or through human decision�(literally, “will of the flesh,” meaning sexual desire or activity), nor of the husband’s choice (who represented the family as the traditional�leader of the family). In other words, birth into this family does not come about by any normal human means at all. John is not removing�human choice from the equation of salvation, but is saying that this is a completely spiritual endeavor, one that could not be�accomplished by humans through normal means.�

It could only have come about by the�Word� becoming�flesh�. The Word, who was no less than God, became flesh and�made his dwelling�among us�. In using the term “flesh” rather than “man” or “body,” John counteracts groups at the time like the Docetists who were willing�to concede that Jesus may have been the Christ but denied that there was any reality to his being human; it only seemed that way. John�gives no such wiggle room. He is just as clear on the humanity of the Word as he is his deity. God did become flesh and lived among us.�John literally uses a term that means that the Word “tabernacled” among us. This brings to mind God’s presence in the tabernacle in the�wilderness. Just as God came close His people then, the Word has come even closer. He has become flesh for the sake of his people.�

The Word is certainly divine, John makes no mistake about that, but he again confirms his distinction from the Father as he denotes the�distinguishing difference between the Father and Son. The Word is�the glory of the one and only Son�, but he is not indistinguishable�from the Father. The somewhat controversial nature of The Word being referred to as the one and only Son of God should not be missed.�In the Old Testament, either Israel or David (as Israel’s representative) were the firstborn of God (Exod. 4:22; Ps. 89:27). By calling the�Word the only Son, John is making another claim that serves as one of themes of his gospel; Jesus Christ came to replace Israel as the�true representative of God, His only son (nowhere will this be more obvious than in 15:1 when Jesus takes one .�He came from the�Father, full of grace and truth�, two primary characteristics of the Father. Grace is the unmerited favor that causes joy, a favorite word�of the early church, and truth was a concept so closely connected with God, that Jesus could actually say in 14:6 that “I am . . . the truth.”�

Having connected the Word to the activities of God in the Old Testament as He tabernacled among His people, John will accomplish two�important things in the concluding four verses of his prologue. He will show that the revelation of the Word is superior to the revelation�of the Old Covenant under Moses, and he will, for the first time, clearly state that the man Jesus Christ is the Word of whom he has been�so eloquently speaking.�

John, generally considered the last of the prophets in the line of Moses,�testified concerning� the Son. He was the one who all of history�had been pointing. He came�after� John, which in their culture would have indicated subservience to the older man, but in this case he�surpassed� John because he was� before� John, existing eternally. Because of�his fullness� we have all received new�grace� that has come on�top of the� grace� given through� Moses�and the� law�. The law merely pointed to�the grace and truth that came through Jesus Chris�t.�

In verse 18, John brings the prologue to a close, connecting it closely with his statements in verse 1. There the Word was God and was�with God. Here the one and only Son is surely�himself God� and is with God in the�closest relationship� possible. The Son has made the�Father known. In other words, if you want to know the Father and see the Father, then all you have to do is to stare at the Son.�

Display�God became flesh and tabernacled among the world�that had rejected Him. He could not get any closer or�get anymore involved in His creation in a more�humble way than He did in Jesus Christ. Are you�willing to get involved in difficult situations�personally and help others out? Are you willing to�spend the time, effort, and exercise the humility�necessary to get truly involved in places that have�rejected or failed to recognize God? God was willing�to do that and He calls His sons and daughters in�Christ to no less.�

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10 He was in the world, and though the world was�made through him, the world did not recognize him.�11 He came to that which was his own, but his own�did not receive him. 12 Yet to all who did receive�him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the�right to become children of God— 13 children born�not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a�husband's will, but born of God.�

14 The Word became flesh and made his dwelling�among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the�one and only [Son], who came from the Father, full�of grace and truth.�

15 (John testified concerning him. He cried out,�saying, "This is he of whom I said, 'He who comes�after me has surpassed me because he was before�me.' ") 16 Out of his fullness we have all received�grace in place of grace already given. 17 For the law�was given through Moses; grace and truth came�through Jesus Christ. 18 No one has ever seen God,�but the one and only [Son], who is himself God and�is in closest relationship with the Father, has made�him known.�

1. Why were the Jewish leaders so concerned with�what John was doing and who he was?�

2. In what ways does John consistently put the focus�back on Christ rather than on himself?�

3. What is John’s point about not being worthy to�untie the sandals of Jesus?�

Dig Deeper�When I was still in high school, I wanted to become more active in my community, so my parents allowed me to begin to volunteer at�a local political campaign office. Most of the things I did there were to assist the campaigns of local politicians who were running for�small offices like clerk of courts. The campaign office was also responsible for the national presidential election at the time but I didn’t�do much for that except for delivering a few yard signs for people. One day, though, we were informed that the son of the man running�for president of the United States was coming into our town to give a speech for his father. I was assigned the job of going down to�where he was arriving and escort him back to the campaign office so he could be taken on to where he was speaking. The problem�was, I had no idea at the time who this son was. All I knew back in 1988, was that his name was the same as his father’s who was�running for president. Because I was expecting him but didn’t know who he was, I was preparing to have to ask some questions when�I got down there to determine who he was. As it turned out, some older ladies who were connected with the campaign office came�and relieved me before he got there because they wanted the prestige of escorting him, but I realized then that when you’re expecting�someone and don’t know who they are, the only way to get around that is to ask questions.�

Early first century Israel was full of Messianic expectations. Nearly all of the different groups and factions in Israel at the time were�waiting for God’s Messiah to come rescue His people. They didn’t all agree on what exactly the Messiah would be or what he would�accomplish, there was no one common expectation, but virtually everyone believed that they were living in the time when the Messiah�would indeed come. When news reached the Jewish leaders in Jerusalem, then, that there was someone creating quite a ruckus out�in the wilderness around the Jordan river, their ears no doubt perked up. They needed to know who this guy was, what he was doing,�and did he think of himself as the Messiah. Of course the best way to determine if he was the one they were waiting for would be to�go ask questions.�

There were some disturbing things for the Jewish leadership about this man known as John the Immerser (the word translated�“baptist” or “baptize” actually means “to immerse,” so when people spoke of John the Baptist in the first century, they would have�heard “John the Immerser”). Perhaps the most troubling aspect of his ministry was why he was out in the wilderness baptizing Jews.�Up to that point, ceremonial washings were used in Judaism for non-Jewish converts to demonstrate the cleansing that they were�undergoing in becoming Jewish. This why it would have been puzzling, even troubling that John was baptizing Jews. They were already�God’s chosen people, set apart to be holy. Why, then, would he be calling them to undergo a baptism? Of course, that was the whole�point for John. They weren’t God’s holy people. They had abandoned God’s way long ago, but now the Messiah was coming and they�needed to get ready for that. They needed to repent and turn to God’s ways and His will so that they would be prepared for what the�Messiah was going to do.�

The Jewish leaders didn’t understand all of that when they went out to question John, though. The major question on their mind was�whether John was the Messiah. He was certainly attracting a great deal of attention from people all over Israel. This in itself was�dangerous because Messianic movements that caught the attention of the people might become dangerous if rebelling against Rome�became one of their ideals. The Jewish leadership didn’t want to risk anything like that, so they needed to know quickly, exactly who�John thought he was and what he was doing.�

John the evangelist, the author of this gospel, gives us something akin to a court scene, with the priests and Levites, as well as some�Pharisees who went along with them (as verse 24 would make it seem), questioning John, who seems somewhat uncomfortable with�the whole process. They get right to the point with their first question. Is John the Messiah? They probably didn’t ask that question�actually thinking that he was, but were more interested in knowing if he thought he was. John leaves no wiggle room for�misunderstanding as he replied, “�I am not the Messiah�.” He was not, after all, doing any sort of Messianic things.�

This leads to the next question, then, which is somewhat of a natural progression. If he’s not the Messiah, then who he is. He’s still�doing some rather unusual and remarkable things. He’s doing things that seem more like a prophet, and we should not underestimate�the power and impact of his ministry which Jesus said was not surpassed by any other prophet (Matt. 11:11). There was a common�expectation that� Elijah� would come before the Messiah based on passages like Malachi 4:5. Because Elijah had never died (2 Ki. 2:11),�many Jews expected for Elijah himself to return and introduce the Messiah. To add to those expectations, John seemed to have the�demeanor of prophet like Elijah with his rugged and harsh lifestyle (cf. Matt. 3:4; 2 Ki. 1:8). The leaders want to know if John is Elijah.�His answer leaves us with a bit of a mystery. John says clearly that he is not Elijah, but Jesus said that he was Elijah (Matt. 11:14; 17:12;�Mark 9:13). How can we harmonize these two statements without seeing a contradiction? It’s actually rather simple. In one sense he�was Elijah and in another sense he was not. John denied literally being the incarnation of Elijah. He doesn’t want anyone thinking�anything like that. He is nothing special and he wants everyone to know it. Jesus’ point though, was that John’s ministry was the�typological and prophetical fulfillment of Malachi’s prophecy and so could rightly call him an Elijah. It seems, actually, that Jesus�understood who John was and his situation even a little better than John did.�

The questioning continues down the same path. If John is not Elijah, then is he�the prophet�? That there would be a prophet raised up�by God that was like Moses but even greater than Moses, was predicted by Moses himself in Deuteronomy 18:15, 18. With each�question, John’s answers get shorter and more terse, and we can almost imagine him becoming quite tired with this entire line of�questioning because it is focusing on him and that is not what his vocation is all about. He is to be a witness to another not be the focal�point. Is he the prophet? A simple “no” is all they get this time.�

Growing frustrated from his repeated denials, and no doubt, being driven by a realization that they needed to take some answers back�to Jerusalem, the questioners ask John to tell them who he is then. John’s answer is classic and in keeping with his vocation in that he�takes all of the focus off of himself and puts it back on the coming Messiah. He is not the Word, but is simply�a voice�. In fact, he is, he�believes, the fulfillment of Isaiah 40:3. He is the one telling everyone that they need to prepare for the coming of the Lord. In Isaiah�40:8, it goes on to declare that people, like grass, wither and fade but the word of God endures forever. John, the Apostle, wants his�readers to make the connection between Isaiah 40 and what he has said about the Messiah in the prologue. The enduring Word of the�Lord has come and John’s role is to announce that and tell people to clear the paths of their heart to prepare themselves for what he�is going to say and do.�

The Pharisees seem to miss the thrust of John’s answer and are more concerned with why he is out here baptizing Jews then if he is�not the Messiah, nor Elijah, nor the Prophet�. John again throws the focus back to the Messiah. The real question is not who he is or�what he’s doing, but with who he is pointing to. That one, John says, is one of whom he is not even worthy to untie his sandals.�Disciples of rabbis in the first century were expected to perform “all manner of service that a slave must render to his master . . . except�that of taking off his shoe” (Rabbi Joshua b. Levi, c. 250 AD reflecting a long-standing tradition). John’s point is that the coming Messiah�is so beyond anything anyone has ever known, it’s not that John wouldn’t demean himself to take off his shoes. Quite the opposite.�He’s not worthy to perform the most menial of tasks. John isn’t the light, he’s simply giving testimony to the light (1:8). To put it in�modern terms, these leaders of Israel came to see if John was the ambulance that they had all been waiting for, or at least though he�was, but what John tells them is shocking. He’s not the vehicle, he’s simply the sound of the siren that one can hear long before they�can see the ambulance himself. God’s anointed one is coming and they had better be prepared.�

Display�John’s humility is amazing. He was constantly willing�and adamant about pushing himself to the back so�that the proper spotlight could be focused on Jesus.�This is a constant reminder for those of us who teach,�preach, or lead in any capacity in the Christian�community. Our role, like John’s is to exalt Christ not�ourselves, our own egos, or our own agendas. This�can be quite a challenge sometimes, but it is our�vocation. Do you constantly seek to exalt the cause�of Christ and push your importance into the�background like John did?�

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John the Baptist Denies Being the Messiah� 19 Now this was John's testimony when the Jewish�leaders in Jerusalem sent priests and Levites to ask�him who he was. 20 He did not fail to confess, but�confessed freely, "I am not the Messiah."� 21 They asked him, "Then who are you? Are you�Elijah?"� He said, "I am not."� "Are you the Prophet?"� He answered, "No."�

22 Finally they said, "Who are you? Give us an�answer to take back to those who sent us. What do�you say about yourself?"�

23 John replied in the words of Isaiah the prophet,�"I am the voice of one calling in the wilderness,�'Make straight the way for the Lord.' "�

24 Now the Pharisees who had been sent 25�questioned him, "Why then do you baptize if you are�not the Messiah, nor Elijah, nor the Prophet?"�

26 "I baptize with water," John replied, "but�among you stands one you do not know. 27 He is the�one who comes after me, the thongs of whose�sandals I am not worthy to untie."�

28 This all happened at Bethany on the other side�of the Jordan, where John was baptizing.�

1. What is significant about John’s use of lamb�imagery as he applies it to Jesus?�

2. What was the purpose of John’s baptizing�according to John himself?�

3. How did John know that Jesus one the one that he�was announcing?�

4. What would be the difference between John’s�baptism and the baptism that Jesus would bring?�

Dig Deeper�Have you ever seen someone intentionally lose a race? I have. And it was at an important track meet no less. Most athletes train and�compete in order to win, so why would someone intentionally lose a race? As crazy as it sounds, it happens all of the time. Usually in�a middle distance or longer distance race, you will see someone break out into the lead and run at a pretty good clip for a few laps.�Then, suddenly, they will pull up and go to the back, and oftentimes will even stop altogether and step off of the track, quitting the�race. Why would they do such a thing? The fact is that many runners will enter a race with every intention of losing. Their purpose is�not to win. Their purpose is to set a pace for the race that is comfortable for another runner on their team so that that person can win�the race. Once they have set the pace for the appropriate time they will pull out of the race. Their sole purpose is to assist and set�things up for the other runner, it is not about themselves.�

John the Immerser certainly wasn’t a pace-setter but he does share some things in common with them. John came with a distinct�purpose that had nothing to do with winning anything, being anything of any lasting importance, or being about himself at all. He had�a distinct job, a specific vocation. In fact, he was so consistently willing to point away from himself that it, at times, confused even his�own followers and disciples. But John never wavered. He was not the Messiah, Elijah, or the Prophet. He was a voice, just a simple�voice, whose job it was to prepare people for the one to come. Once he had completed that job he would pull up and exit the race.�After all, once a pace-setter has done his job, he doesn’t need to stay in the race anymore, it’s time for the primary runner to take over.�For John, that time hasn’t quite come yet, but he certainly understands that it is coming and that even now, at the height of his career,�it isn’t about him, it’s about the one that is about to take over.�

The day after being grilled about just exactly who he was and what he was up to, John looks up and sees Jesus coming. The beloved�disciple who has authored this book, doesn’t take the time time to describe the baptism of Jesus by John the Immerser. Like many�other scenes in Jesus life that are described in the other Gospels, he seems to assume that his readers will already be quite familiar�with those stories, so he merely alludes to them. We can probably, then, conclude that John knew of the other Gospels and meant this�account to complement them and explain other aspects of Jesus’ ministry. John knows that his role is to point to another, but he didn’t�always know who. Imagine having the faith that John did to begin his ministry, calling Israel to repent and get ready for the coming of�the Messiah, when he didn’t even know who that Messiah was. As he sees him approaching on this day, however, he now knows that�Jesus is the one and he is more than happy to begin the process in which he will step aside, having completed his vocation of making�things ready for God’s Messiah.�

As Jesus approaches, John boldly declares that he is�the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world�. This is a statement�pregnant with imagery, allusions, and meaning. There were many common allusions to lamb imagery at the time of Jesus and John�probably intends all of them in his statement. The Lamb refers, no doubt (and as we go on we will see that the Gospel writer clearly�has this meaning in mind throughout his book but will come to a head in 19:36) to the Passover Lamb. Through the sacrifice of the�Passover Lamb, the people were saved, and this is no doubt what the ultimate Passover Lamb will do. John also likely intends for his�hearers to hear echoes of the lamb that was led to slaughter in Isaiah 53:7. Certainly John’s reference would have brought to mind the�lamb of the daily sacrifices. This lamb was offered every morning and evening in the Temple. Finally, it probably reminded hearers of�the lamb of Genesis 22:8.�

Each of the previously mentioned lambs had a different function or symbolism attached to it but this Lamb would embody all of those�things. He would�take�away the sin of the world�. Whatever the different aspects of lambs were in ancient Jewish thought, they were�primarily thought of as the animal who was sacrificed in place of sins. This is God’s Lamb, though, the one that He has provided to bear�the consequences and deal with the problem of sin for the whole world, not just Israel.�

This is the one that John has been talking about all along. The purpose of his ministry was not to draw followers to himself but to point�to God’s Lamb. John acknowledges that he did not know immediately who this man was. He had been searching and waiting but he�did not know him. We should not take this to mean that John and Jesus had never meant. The Gospel of Luke makes clear that John�and Jesus were cousins and that their mothers knew each other well. That doesn’t guarantee that they knew one another but it does�make it likely. Have you ever spent significant time looking for your keys, only to find that they were in your pocket the whole time?�Sometimes the very thing we’re looking for is right under our nose. John was waiting and looking for the Messiah, the Lamb of God�and it turns out to be his cousin. Even before he knew for sure who the Messiah was, though, John was busy with his vocation. This�should be instructive to those of us who want to know exactly what God has in store for us before we go about doing His business or�acting on faith. John did not even know to whom he was pointing, but began pointing anyway.�

John is clear, as the other Gospels bear witness, that his baptism pointed people towards repentance and forgiveness of sins (Mk. 1:4;�Lk. 3:3). Here though, John informs us that although that was the result of his baptizing, it was not the reason. He began his ministry�of calling the people of Israel to return to God so that the Messiah could be revealed. Part of God’s plan was that there would be a�forerunner to the Messiah and John knew his job well.�

John didn’t know that Jesus was the promised one because someone had told him that or because he just figured it out, but he can�bear testimony to his identity because he saw�the Spirit come down from heaven as a dove and remain on him�. The Jews, of course,�understood that heaven was the realm of God’s presence, while earth was the dimension of human existence. Thus, he is saying that�the Spirit broke into the realm of the physical universe in the form of a dove (we are not told whether it was a literal dove or simply�looked like one). The dove was not a common Old Testament symbol for the Spirit, but it was an occasional symbol for Israel. It is�possible then, and quite in keeping with one of the themes that will become common in John’s Gospel, that Jesus is being set out as�the true Israel as he receives the Spirit. In the Old Testament it was not unheard of for people to have the Spirit come upon them to�complete a specific task but in Jesus’ case, the Spirit came upon him and�remained on him�. Although this was perhaps not an expected�thing to happen to the Messiah it would not have been completely shocking as it was often prophesied that the messianic age would�involve the renewal of God’s people through the activity of the Spirit (Isa. 32:15; Ezek. 36:26-27; 37:14). The sign of the Spirit coming�down and remaining on someone was the very sign that John had been given by God to be able to recognize the one that was to come.�John doesn’t give us the details of how God told him and what precisely He did tell him when God gave John the clues as to how he�could recognize the Messiah, but the fact is that John’s knowledge of Jesus as the Lamb of God came from God, not man.�

John administered a baptism which would reveal the true Messiah, a baptism which would foreshadow and point to the true baptism�of the Messiah. The Messiah would also baptize, but not just symbolically. He would baptize people into his own life and dispense the�Holy Spirit, keeping the Old Testament prediction that God would renew His people by pouring out His Spirit (Isa. 32:15; 44:3; Ezek.�36:25-27; Joel 2:28-32).�

John saw and boldly bears witness to the fact� that this is God’s Chosen One�. In using this language, John connects his testimony�concerning to Jesus to Isaiah 42:1 which says, “Here is my servant, whom I uphold, my chosen one in whom I delight; I will put my Spirit�on him.” Jesus is the Chosen One and now that he is on the scene, John is about to step off the track and let him take center stage.�

Display�John had a vocation from God to go into the�wilderness and preach about and point to the coming�of the Messiah, yet he did not even knew who the�Messiah was. Do you have that kind of faith? Are you�willing to begin to serve God and do His will in your�workplace, neighborhood, etc., when you’re not even�sure of exactly what He has in mind for you to do?�Many of us want to know precisely what God’s will�for our lives is, but oftentimes God won’t reveal the�full extent of that will until we begin to walk boldly�down the path that He has laid out for us.�

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John's Testimony About Jesus� 29 The next day John saw Jesus coming toward him�and said, "Look, the Lamb of God, who takes away�the sin of the world! 30 This is the one I meant when�I said, 'A man who comes after me has surpassed me�because he was before me.' 31 I myself did not know�him, but the reason I came baptizing with water was�that he might be revealed to Israel."�

32 Then John gave this testimony: "I saw the Spirit�come down from heaven as a dove and remain on�him. 33 And I myself did not know him, but the one�who sent me to baptize with water told me, 'The�man on whom you see the Spirit come down and�remain is the one who will baptize with the Holy�Spirit.' 34 I have seen and I testify that this is God's�Chosen One."�

1. What is the significance of the imagery behind the�phrase “the Lamb of God”?�

2. Why were Andrew and John apparently so quick�to follow Jesus?�

3. What was meant in Jesus’ culture by the fact that�he gave Simon the nickname Peter?�

Dig Deeper�Nicknames are a funny thing. They can be very intimate; they can tell us a lot about a person; they can endear us to those who call us a�nickname. When I was in college, there was an upperclassmen on our basketball team who was not only the captain, he was the best�player. I quickly discovered after just a day or two as a new player on the team that it was his team, no buts about it. One of the memorable�things that he went about each year was to give a nickname to every person on the team. There was a catch, though. We younger players�could not figure out when he decided to give someone a nickname. It seemed haphazard, with no rhyme or reason. Mind you, these�weren’t always the most creative nicknames, but that didn’t matter. Getting a nickname from this guy meant a great deal to the younger�players. During one game, I got a pass from a teammate and went up and dunked the ball over a defender. A few minutes later, we ran�off the court for a timeout and our captain walked over, put his hand on my shoulder and said, “nice play Big Mike.” This was huge because�until you got a nickname, he only called people by their last name. There it was, he had given me my own nickname. It turned out that�you earned a nickname by making a big play, which usually involved dunking on someone. The whole process of his giving nicknames,�though, cemented his position of authority on the team, encouraged the younger players, and really made us feel closer to and appreciated�by our leader.�

There are many quick little scenes throughout the four Gospels where we get to see the wonderfully human side of Jesus. If we slow down�and read these scenes and then think about the human reality of the Gospel accounts, we can begin to see why those around Jesus loved�him so much and were so loyal to him. As John describes the beginning seeds of Jesus’ ministry, this is one of those scenes. Jesus doesn’t�just woodenly walk around teaching and calling people to follow him intellectually. He creates bonds, build friendships, and shows people�how to love one another. This is what is behind his deeply human and endearing act of giving Peter a nickname. In doing so, he establishes�his authority and no doubt encouraged Peter. But in the end, what he really did, is create a lifelong friend, and show Peter exactly what�the impact their friendship was going to have on Peter’s life. Following this teacher was going to make Peter a whole lot more than just a�disciple, it was going to make him a rock.�

John tells us in 20:31 that the reason that he wrote this Gospel is so that people might read it and believe that Jesus is the son of God. One�of the ways that John will demonstrate this is through the recurring theme of new creation. From the opening verse of this Gospel, John�made it clear that this was going to be a creation event. The life of Christ was the means through which God would restore His original�creation marred by sin. As John moved from the prologue, rich with creation language (terms like “beginning,” “life,” “light,” and�“darkness,”) he will carefully open his narrative with seven days; the days of the new creation. The first day was John’s testimony regarding�Jesus (1:19-28), the second was John’s encounter with Jesus (1:29-54), and this is the third day.�

On this third day of the dawning of the new creation account, John sees Jesus coming once again. Once again he announces that Jesus is�the Lamb of God�. The true measure of a godly man is his genuine humility, and John is clearly infused with that. This great man doesn’t�hesitate to point his own followers to a greater man. He is not trying to build his own little castle, but point to the coming of the kingdom�of God. We should note that not only was John a great prophet, full of humility, but was apparently a great teacher as well. He had taught�his disciples that the true purpose of his ministry was to point to the one that would come. The two disciples (we are told in verse 40 that�one is Andrew while presumably the other is John, the beloved disciple) listening to John the Immerser that day had learned well. As soon�as John pointed out that the Lamb of God was with them, they knew what to do and immediately began to follow him. This should be�instructive to Christians today who usually, at one time or another, have to leave behind our old traditions and religious associations to�truly follow the Messiah, just as surely as the Immerser’s two disciples did that day.�

As they begin to follow Jesus, he turns and asks what they want (it’s hard to imagine that as Jesus says to them, “what do you want?” John�doesn’t mean for his readers to consider that question for ourselves). He hasn’t really called them yet so much as they have followed him.�He asks them what they want to which they don’t really have a a good answer, so they ask him where he is staying, addressing him with�the term “Rabbi” (which John has kindly translated for his non-Jewish readers informing us that Rabbi means teacher), a term of respect�in that time that had not yet fully become the technical and formal term that it would a century later. They have been waiting and looking�for him and, perhaps a little to their surprise, they find that Jesus has been looking for them. If they want to know where he is staying then�all they need to do is to follow him, just like their teacher John had prepared them to do.�

As they arrive where Jesus was staying, it was already�about four in the afternoon�. In the first century, people generally did not move�around too often after sundown, so when the author tells us that� they spent the day with him�, the implication is that that went where�Jesus was staying and then spent the night there with him.�

Whatever they talked about must have been quite enlightening for Andrew and the anonymous disciple (probably John, as mentioned�above) because as soon as he got up in the morning,�the first thing Andrew did was to find his brother Simon and tell him�(this would be�the fourth day of John’s opening week). Everything that they had been waiting for was not in vain, the�Messiah�was here (again, John puts�the Aramaic “Messiah” into the Greek “Christ” for his readers).�

Andrew wastes no time in bringing his brother Simon to see the newly found Messiah. It is noteworthy that Andrew is mentioned three�times in the Gospel of John and every single time he is shown to be bringing someone to meet Jesus (cf. 6:8; 12:22). When Jesus meets the�young, brash fisherman that everyone knew as Simon, brother of Andrew, son of John, he gives him a new name. Jesus looked square at�Peter in the eye and told him that he would�be called Cephas� (John once again translates for his readers telling us that in Greek the name�is “Petros,” or as we have it in English, “Peter”). In that nickname, Jesus has not described who Peter is. Surely a quick glance at the other�Gospels shows us that as well-meaning as Peter was, he wasn’t yet the most reliable of sorts, certainly not the kind of guy you would choose�as a leader in a new religious movement. No, Jesus is not describing Peter as he is, but as he would be under the transforming power of�walking with Jesus. He would become “the rock,” which is what “Cephas” means. In the Old Testament, God usually changed someone’s�name to specify a new calling (Abram to Abraham; Jacob to Israel) and also to demonstrate authority over an individual (2 Ki. 23:34; 24:17).�Jesus accomplishes both of those things as well as telling everyone around exactly who Peter was going to be in Christ.�

As we quickly consider this calling of Andrew, John, and Peter we immediately note that there appear to be some differences with the�accounts of Jesus calling his disciples in the other Gospels (cf. 4:18-22; 9:9; mark 1:16-20; 2:13-14; Luke 5:1-11, 27-28). It seems that the�disciples go with Jesus immediately, and from the start understand that he is the Messiah in John’s version, but follow Jesus at a later point�and consistently fail to understand his true identity. Are we dealing with divergent accounts that contradict? Not at all. The difference�lies in that John seems to be describing the call to general discipleship that took place first while the other Gospels are describing Jesus’�climactic call to special discipleship, apostleship if you will. In fact, the encounters that John has given here help to paint the background�to the dramatic decision by the disciple stop, drop everything, and follow Jesus. John’s account helps us to understand the account of the�other Gospels and, quite frankly, makes their accounts more understandable and more plausible. As for the fact that John describes that�they believed Jesus was the Messiah right away while the other Gospels consistently describe the failure of the disciples to understand who�Jesus was, again we have no contradiction. They may have known or believed from the beginning that Jesus was the Jewish Messiah, but,�as the other Gospels make clear, they had no idea what that really meant. They were in for a three-year journey of transforming their�thinking about who the Messiah was and what God was doing. As we approach the remainder of the Gospel of John, let’s try to approach�it with the same open mind, willingness to learn, and realization that we have much yet to understand about God’s Messiah.�

Display�Have you let Jesus rename and redefine you? You�have a birth name, but have you ever embraced the�new name that he has given each one of us?:�Christian. Let the name Christian truly define who�you are and see what Jesus has in mind for you to�become.�

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John's Disciples Follow Jesus� 35 The next day John was there again with two of�his disciples. 36 When he saw Jesus passing by, he�said, "Look, the Lamb of God!"� 37 When the two disciples heard him say this,�they followed Jesus. 38 Turning around, Jesus saw�them following and asked, "What do you want?"� They said, "Rabbi" (which means "Teacher"),�"where are you staying?"�

39 "Come," he replied, "and you will see."� So they went and saw where he was staying, and�they spent that day with him. It was about four in�the afternoon.�

40 Andrew, Simon Peter's brother, was one of the�two who heard what John had said and who had�followed Jesus. 41 The first thing Andrew did was to�find his brother Simon and tell him, "We have found�the Messiah" (that is, the Christ). 42 And he brought�him to Jesus.� Jesus looked at him and said, "You are Simon son�of John. You will be called Cephas" (which, when�translated, is Peter).�

1. Why might John have drawn attention to the�skepticism that Nathanael had in his first encounter�with Jesus?�

2. What might Jesus have by his comment about�seeing Nathanael under the fig tree?�

3. What is the significance with the connection that�Jesus makes between himself and Jacob’s ladder?�

Dig Deeper�A few years ago (actually it was almost twenty, but it’ll help my ego to say “a few”) a group of my friends decided that we were going�to play in a major summer basketball tournament for college-aged basketball players. We saw the tournament as an opportunity to�have a little fun together, but it really was a pretty serious thing for most teams. Our first game in the tournament we wound up�playing a team comprised of players from the University of Marquette. They had a very good team that year, including a center that�was 6’10 (2.1 m) and about 280 pounds (127 kilos). We had, of course, heard of this young man but none of us had played against�him before. We didn’t have anyone nearly that big and we knew that he was strong, so I felt that we needed to send a message to�him early that we came to play hard and physical. The first time he caught the ball, I was going to act as an enforcer, of sorts, and�foul him hard. As he caught the ball, I came down across his his forearms with everything I had with a karate-style chop. I knew he�was big and strong, but I had no clue as to just how strong this guy was. I hit him with a force that might literally have broken some�people’s arm, but I barely even knocked his arms down more than an inch or two. He looked at me, chuckled, and said, “nice try,�son.” That was his way of telling me that we had no idea of just how strong and good he was. We went on to lose that game by�twelve points, due in large part to the inside power of this one tree trunk of a man.�

As John’s disciples and others begin to encounter Jesus for the first time, they know that he is a force to be reckoned with. They�understood that he was someone special and was someone to be listened to and followed, but they really had no clue what they�were in for. Watch John’s Gospel as we see individual after individual approaching Jesus, thinking they have a pretty good idea of�who he is and what is he about, only to find out that they may be right in a sense, but in full reality, they have no clue just exactly�who he is, what he is doing, and what they are in for.�

On the fifth day of John’s seven-day description of the beginning of Jesus’ ministry, Jesus�decided� to set out for� Galilee�. What is�translated “finding” can also be understood as “found by” which seems to make a little more sense, as in these opening scenes of�John’s Gospel, everyone else he describes, sought Jesus out. Either way Jesus gives Philip a clear call as he tells Philip to “�follow me�.”�Philip, like Andrew and Peter, was from the town of Bethsaida, a town that would later be denounced by Jesus as having a great deal�of miracles done in it but where evidently not many people repented (Matt. 11:20-24; Luke 10:13-14).�

Philip is so impressed with Jesus that, like Andrew, he goes and calls another to come to Jesus. We are not told explicitly whether�Philip and the man he went to fetch, Nathanael, were disciples of John, but that is a safe assumption at this point. Philip, like Andrew�and John, had been waiting and looking for the one that was to come. This would make sense if he was another of John’s disciples�that had been taught by the man in the wilderness to be ready for the coming of the Messiah. Philip rushes towards Nathanael, and�we can almost hear him breathlessly proclaim that�we� (he seems to already be including himself in a new community that is forming�around Jesus)�have found the one�written about in the Old Testament Scriptures (commonly referred to as Moses and the prophets,�or something similar).�

Nathanael, as so many of us were at one time or another, seems to be rather skeptical about this whole situation. Nazareth wasn’t�much of a town and people wouldn’t have really expected that a Messiah would come from there. In addition, there are some�historians who assert that there was a bit of small town rivalry between Cana (Philip’s hometown) and Nazareth. Whether his�skepticism was serious or more good-natured, it is clear that Philip didn’t have much of a response. Instead, he offers us a brilliant�example of what to do when someone presents a question that is beyond our ability to answer. He bids Nathanael to simply�come�and see� for himself.�

As Jesus sees Philip approaching him, he declares that Nathanael is a true�Israelite�. There is a bit of a play on history here, as the�father of the nation of Israel, Jacob’s name meant the deceiver. Just as Jacob left his deceit in order to become Israel, there is no�deceit in Nathanael, a true Israelite. Basically, Jesus mean’s that Nathanael is a straightforward individual who is sincerely seeking�God. He is a true son of Israel. The identity of this son of Israel is a bit mysterious as he is not mentioned in any of the other Gospels.�It was fairly common in the first century, though, for people to have or go by several different names or nicknames, and that seems�to be the key to determining who Nathanael is. It seems that Nathanael and Philip are good friends here and in the synoptic Gospels,�and we see the Apostle Bartholomew paired with Philip (Matt. 10:3; Mark 3:18; Luke 6:14). Likewise, Bartholomew is mentioned�immediately after Thomas in Acts 1:13, while Nathanael occupies that same position in John 21:2. To add to that is the fact that�Bartholomew is not a name, it is a term that means “son of Tholomaios.” It appears then, that Bartholomew and Nathanael are one�in the same, with John using his given name.�

Nathanael doesn’t just take the compliment from Jesus but continues his skepticism. How can Jesus make a judgment concerning�what kind of an individual he is? What Nathanael doesn’t know, of course, John expects us as his readers to know already. We know�how Jesus knows this, but Nathanael is still in the dark.�

As with so many things with Jesus, there seems to be more to his response about the�fig tree� than would at first meet the eye. The�fig tree was a regular symbol of home in the Jewish culture (cf. Isa. 36:16; Mic. 4:4; Zech. 3:10). The shade of a fig tree was typically�thought of as a place for prayer and meditation and study (it became a symbol for a place of special encounter with God). Biblical�scholar, Leon Morris, writes, “It seems probable that Nathanael had had some outstanding experience of communion with God in�the privacy of his own home, and that it is this to which Jesus refers.” It is possible, then, that Nathanael had had a recent experience�with God that probably only he and God knew about.�

Whatever it was, when Jesus references it, it is enough for Nathanael. He is convinced. He calls Jesus the� Son of God� and the� king�of Israel�. Nathanael certainly meant “Messiah” by using these terms. He doesn’t yet understand the full implications of these�statements, as John expects his readers to at this point. Yet, in calling Jesus the Messiah and the king of Israel, Nathanael is giving�Jesus the highest level of respect that he possibly can. Philip, based on his limited understanding can do no better or use any terms�of higher respect. Yet even with that, he is not yet close to understanding the full magnitude of the one with whom he is dealing.�

Jesus is not condescending at all but, in effect, says “nice try son.” Nathanael has tried to grasp who Jesus is but he has no idea. He�will see heaven open, and�the angels of God ascending and descending on the Son of Ma�n. Jesus uses language here that hearkens�us back to Jacob’s vision of the stairway or ladder that stretched between heaven and earth (Gen. 28:12). The point of Jacob’s vision�at Bethel (the house of God) was that God was present. He was spanning the divide between His space (heaven) and Jacob’s space�(earth) and making Himself known. Jesus himself, he was telling Nathanael, was the new Bethel. He was the new Jacob’s ladder. He�was the place and the manner through which God was spanning the divide between heaven and earth. Nathanael thought that he�had found the Messiah but he never imagined that he had found what it looked like when heaven and earth were opened up to one�another. Jesus probably wasn’t implying that he would literally see heaven or angels, but he was certainly going to see things�happening that would show beyond a shadow of a doubt that they were real and were there. Nathanael had thought he had found�God’s sent one, but had not the slightest clue that he had found the living, breathing house of God.�

Display�Do you tend to approach Jesus as a mere source of�doctrinal truth or have you approached him as the�conduit between heaven and earth? Jesus is more�than doctrinal truth, just as he was more than�Nathanael’s understanding of the Messiah. He is the�place between heaven and earth where we can�ascend into heaven on a daily basis. Spend some�special time with him today and you just might find�more than you bargained for.�

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Jesus Calls Philip and Nathanael� 43 The next day Jesus decided to leave for Galilee.�Finding Philip, he said to him, "Follow me."� 44 Philip, like Andrew and Peter, was from the�town of Bethsaida. 45 Philip found Nathanael and�told him, "We have found the one Moses wrote�about in the Law, and about whom the prophets�also wrote—Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph."�

46 "Nazareth! Can anything good come from�there?" Nathanael asked.� "Come and see," said Philip.�

47 When Jesus saw Nathanael approaching, he�said of him, "Here truly is an Israelite in whom there�is no deceit."�

48 "How do you know me?" Nathanael asked.� Jesus answered, "I saw you while you were still�under the fig tree before Philip called you."�

49 Then Nathanael declared, "Rabbi, you are the�Son of God; you are the king of Israel."�

50 Jesus said, "You believe because I told you I�saw you under the fig tree. You will see greater�things than that." 51 He then added, "Very truly I tell�you, you will see 'heaven open, and the angels of�God ascending and descending on the Son of Man."�

1. Why might Jesus have been hesitant to perform a�miracle publicly at this point?�

2. What was the response of the master of the�banquet to the new wine?�

3. What do you think the statement, “the disciples�put their faith in him” means in this situation and at�this point in time?�

Dig Deeper�Just yesterday I was able to spend the school day at my youngest son’s school volunteering. Being two days before Halloween, but the last�school day before the 31st, the kids knew that they were gong to have some sort of party. Right away when they got to school they were�told that they were going to have some snacks that were a mixture of treats. They were also told that the secret ingredient to make the�snack complete had been taken by a mysterious figure named “Frankie.” An hour or so into the day, just as promised they were told that,�not only had Frankie taken their treats and hid them, but he had left clues in order for the class to find them. The first clue was “left” right�on their teacher’s desk and was a pretty easy clue leading them to the second clue. After that, though, the clues got harder for the kids to�find and they weren’t left out in the open and so obvious. The clues were there as had been promised, but they had to look closely to find�them. After finding and following all of the clues they finally found the mysterious missing ingredient, a bag of M & M’s.�

Nathanael and the other disciples had been looking for the missing ingredient. They weren’t quite sure where it was or how to find but�they were on the lookout. In the last chapter, Jesus told Nathanael that he was going to see things that were beyond his wildest�imagination. He was going to see what it looks like when the line between heaven and earth are blurred. He would, in fact, see what can�happens when heaven breaks into the physical realm of earth. That was not just an empty promise and John certainly will not leave that�as an empty statement. He is about to send us on our own hunt for clues to the missing ingredient. He helps us out with this first sign,�and will make the second one obvious as well. After that, though, we’re on our own. We will have to keep our eyes open and look for the�signs and see where they lead us. As we go along on our search, take special notice as to how many signs John leaves for us, the number�might surprise you.�

Weddings were huge affairs in first century Israel. The wedding feast itself could last up to a week and would include everyone from the�village in which the betrothed lived. This wedding may even have been of a family member of some time of Jesus, or he might just have�been invited as a nearby neighbor. It would appear that his mother, Mary, may have had some official role of helping to plan the wedding�based on her concern for what was going on and her ability to give orders to the servants.�

John says that this was the� third day� since Jesus’ encounter with Nathanael, and if we count that day with Nathanael as the first day (which�is how Jews in the first century would have counted), then the second day was not explicitly mentioned (it may have been the Sabbath),�then this third day is the seventh day of John’s opening week. Both of these numbers would have had high symbolic importance for John.�Seven days, of course, were symbolic of the opening of the new creation. Any idea as to what significance John might have seen in�categorizing the day of Jesus’ first miracle as the third day?�

With weddings going on up to seven days, it is likely that by the time Jesus arrived with his disciples (presumably Andrew, Peter, John,�Philip, and Nathanael) the wedding had been going on for some time. It would be unlikely that the hosts would run out of wine on the first�day, so we can infer that Jesus�had been invited� to the wedding, but is just now arriving several days into the wedding. Running out of�wine was no small thing in this culture. It would have been a disastrous situation that would have brought shame on the entire family; it�would likely have caused the couple getting married to view this as a bad sign for their marriage; it even could have led to the family having�legal action taken against them for not properly providing what was expected at a wedding.�

Whether she was a family member or one of the attendants in charge of the wedding celebration itself, Mary takes specific concern over�the situation, and immediately brings the issue to Jesus. There is nothing in her statement, “�they have no more wine�,” that implies that�Mary was expecting a miracle of any kind, though there does seem to be some sort of special expectation on her part. Jesus’ response in�calling her “�woman”� is a bit terse, but not at all a harsh response. His statement that his� hour has not yet come�, seems significant in John’s�mind. It points ahead to other moments in John’s Gospel where he will record that Jesus recognized that his time had come (12:23, 27;�13:1; 17:1). The hour, for Jesus, seemed to be the moment when the full glory of God would be revealed through him. (That, we should�note, is the time when Jesus is going to the Cross. The miracles are important and hold great significance but if we really want to�understand and behold the full glory of God, we must look to the Cross.) Mary, then, may have been gently prodding Jesus to reveal�himself as the Messiah. Whether that was her intent or not, Jesus is determined to not be forced into a public manifestation of his full�identity before it is time (see also 7:6, 8).�

Despite Jesus’ tepid response, Mary seems to be convinced that her son will still resolve the situation. Jesus does resolve the situation by�revealing his glory� through this miraculous moment, but doing so in private. Only a small number of people have any clue what Jesus has�done. The master of the banquet and most everyone else at the wedding have no idea what they are taking part in.�

With John’s affinity for numerical symbolic significance, it is quite possible that he denotes that there were�six stone water jars� with a�specific purpose in mind. In fact, there seems to be much symbolic significance with this scene. Although there may certainly be some�debate over specific symbols, it seems that the following explanation is something of what John sees in this account. Seven was the perfect�number in biblical thought, and six was usually seen as the number symbolizing falling short of perfection. It was the number of man�(which John uses with great importance in the book of Revelation). The stone jars held water and were used for all of the ceremonial�aspects of the Law. Water was connected frequently in the Old Testament with the Holy Spirit or the action of God while wine was�symbolic in the Jewish culture for God’s age to come and that joy that would be abundant in that age. The wedding feast itself was another�symbol of the age to come. It seems then, that in this first miracle, John wants us to see a moment in which the emptiness of the Jewish�rituals is being filled up with the work of the Spirit and turned into something entirely new, a moment from the new creation.�

Whether we agree with all of that symbolism or not, and it does seem rather likely that John intends for us to see at least some symbolism�in this event. We do know this for sure; Jesus had promised Nathanael that he would see greater things than he could imagine. This is�what it would look like when heaven was opened up and Jesus became the ladder between heaven and earth. His ultimate hour had not�yet come, but this was certainly the first step up the mountain. Nathanael, Jesus told him, was going to get far more than he expected.�The wine that Jesus was making available was far�superior� to anything that had been revealed before (as was Jesus’ ministry).�

We should note that some have criticized this miracle, asking the question if Jesus was contributing to the drunkenness of people by�creating so much wine. That criticism simply doesn’t hold water though (no pun intended). Jesus did make 120 to 180 gallons of wine, but�we must remember a few important details. There would possibly have been several hundred people present at the wedding and it would�still have been their responsibility to drink wisely. Plus, there is nothing that even implies that all of the wine was consumed at the�wedding. There may have been a great deal of wine left over which would have served as a generous resource and a wonderful gift for�the newly married couple. We must be careful, ultimately, not to read our cultural negativity towards wine into this account.�

It was through this first sign that the journey has truly begun and God’s glory was revealed through the Word that had become flesh. The�Old Testament had boldly declared that the true glory of God would be revealed through the Messiah (Ps. 97:6; 102:16; Isa. 60:1-2) and�John makes it clear to us that that time had come. This is what it would look like when the Son of God entered into the world, bringing the�new creation with him. The exciting thing for us is that the new creation that came through the water turning into wine is not something�that happened one time two thousand years ago. The new creation is available to us now (2 Cor. 5:15-21). Jesus can have the same sort�of transformational power in our lives as he had on the water. All we need do is to heed Mary’s words to�do whatever he tells you�.�

Display�How do you compare with the servants in this�account? Mary told them to do whatever Jesus told�them to do, and certainly John intends for his readers�to contemplate what that concept means in our lives.�Do you do whatever Jesus says in the Word of God or�do you have a tendency to look for only the parts you�like? What aspects of the life of Christ have you been�selective with in your life?�

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Discover�

Jesus Changes Water into Wine� 1 On the third day a wedding took place at Cana in�Galilee. Jesus' mother was there, 2 and Jesus and his�disciples had also been invited to the wedding. 3�When the wine was gone, Jesus' mother said to him,�"They have no more wine."� 4 "Woman, why do you involve me?" Jesus�replied. "My hour has not yet come."� 5 His mother said to the servants, "Do whatever�he tells you."� 6 Nearby stood six stone water jars, the kind used�by the Jews for ceremonial washing, each holding�from twenty to thirty gallons.� 7 Jesus said to the servants, "Fill the jars with�water"; so they filled them to the brim.� 8 Then he told them, "Now draw some out and�take it to the master of the banquet."� They did so, 9 and the master of the banquet�tasted the water that had been turned into wine. He�did not realize where it had come from, though the�servants who had drawn the water knew. Then he�called the bridegroom aside 10 and said, "Everyone�brings out the choice wine first and then the�cheaper wine after the guests have had too much to�drink; but you have saved the best till now."�

11 What Jesus did here in Cana of Galilee was the�first of the signs through which he revealed his glory;�and his disciples put their faith in him.�

12 After this he went down to Capernaum with his�mother and brothers and his disciples. There they�stayed for a few days.�

1. Why does John draw attention to the fact that this�event took place around Passover?�

2. What was Jesus purpose in clearing the Temple in�this first Temple clearing?�

3. Why did Jesus refer to himself as the Temple?�

4. Why do you think that John mentions that they�didn’t understand until after Jesus’ resurrection?�

Dig Deeper�I remember one day when I was still in college, I had simply had enough. I stormed into the office of the President and began to knock�over the chairs in the waiting area. I quickly strode past the general secretary’s desk and knocked the computer off and then went down�through the entire office turning over tables and knocking down filing cabinets. The whole time I was doing that I cried out that the�school was overcharging us students at an obscene profit and making a mockery of the entire education process. Because of their�unfair and unjust actions, I was going to put an end to this kind of predatory behavior if only for a few brief moments by demonstrating�that I had the true moral high ground which thus gave me the right and the authority to do all of this. After just a few brief seconds, I�had decimated most of the office and created quite a general ruckus. This was a pretty good day considering that it was only my first�week in college.�

Of course, none of that is true, although admittedly, it would have been just a little bit enjoyable to do at some point, preferably after�I had graduated and received all of my grades. As shocking as that example may have been, though, it still falls far short of helping us�to understand the shock of Jesus’ actions in the Temple. The closest thing that we have in the United States of America to something�like the Temple would be the White House. Yet, the Temple was the center of all religious, political, and social activity in the nation of�Israel, so even the White House doesn’t match up to the importance of the Temple in the Jewish nation. It is into just such a place, a�place that stood for all that Israel was as the people of God, that Jesus marched into the middle and declared by his actions, judgment�and authority.�

Before we even begin to look at this passage, let’s first consider a significant difficulty. The Gospels of Matthew, Mark, and Luke all�describe a similar event to the one that John has described but with significant differences. In fact, other than the fact that John has�described Jesus clearing the Temple, there are almost no other similarities. For starters, John has this event taking place at the�beginning of Jesus’ ministry while, not only do the other Gospels describe Jesus’ clearing of the Temple at the end of his ministry, that�is the first time that they describe Jesus as even being in Jerusalem. Without having time to go into all of the details in this format, it�would appear that we have two primary options. Either John (or the synoptic Gospels) have moved the timing of this event for�theological purposes or there were two Temple clearings. The second option seems like the better choice.�

In John’s event Jesus uses a a whip and clears out the animals, he quotes no Scriptures, but his actions do remind the disciples of a�Scripture. In the synoptic version, Jesus charges those present with turning the Temple into a hide-out cave for rebels (usually�translated “den of robbers” which is somewhat misleading), while here in John the charge has to do with turning the Temple into a�marketplace. It seems that John has described an event that took place early in Jesus’ ministry before he was very well known. It was�likely even a smaller event that took place in the Gentile court of the Temple. This event to start his ministry, then, was not described�by Matthew, Mark, or Luke, but John added it knowing that it was absent from the other Gospels. The other Gospels, however,�describe the action Jesus took at the end of his ministry, one that was a parable of judgment on the nation of Israel and a sign of the�destruction that would soon come upon them. If we put these events together, then we have a complete picture of Jesus beginning�and ending his ministry with decisive actions in the Temple.�

As John begins his description of this event, he is clear to draw our attention to the fact that it was Passover time. Passover was the�time when the nation of Israel remembered the actions that God had taken in delivering them from the freedom of slavery in Egypt.�An unblemished lamb was slain and the blood was spread on the doorposts in a cross pattern of the households of Israel in order to�spare them. John will repeatedly stress the connections between Jesus’ activities and the Passover that will finally culminate with Jesus�being put to death at the same time that the Passover lambs were being killed in the Temple. Jesus was the true Passover Lamb. John�wants his readers to understand Jesus and his actions as the true Passover Lamb that the earlier historical events merely pointed to.�

Jesus went up to Jerusalem, John tells us, which makes more sense of certain aspects of Jesus’ career than if we only went by the�synoptic Gospels which seem to imply that Jesus did not go to Jerusalem until his final week. John has Jesus in Jerusalem several times.�Jesus’ earlier occasional presence in Jerusalem would explain things such as why people came from Jerusalem to Galilee to observe�Jesus’ ministry there (Mark 3:22; 7:1) and why the high priest already felt like he had a strong case against Jesus and knew of him well�(John 11:47-53).�

Jesus’ primary problem with the money changers (who exchanged money so that people could pay the Temple tax) was probably more�of an issue of location than of action. It appears that they had set up these exchange tables in the court of the Gentiles, the only place�open to the Gentiles, rather than going somewhere outside of the Temple complex that was less convenient. The Temple was supposed�to be a house of prayer for all nations (Isa. 56:7) not a place where Gentiles were excluded and made to feel inferior. Yet, in the only�place that they could worship, the space had been turned into a marketplace.�

In response, Jesus takes Messianic action by clearing out the animals and turning over the tables. His actions brings up thoughts of�Zechariah’s prophecy that “on that day there will no longer be merchants in the house of the Lord Almighty,” (Zech. 14:21) and it�certainly reminded his disciples that “zeal for your house will consume me,” according to Psalm 69:19. Jesus’ zeal for his Father’s house�took precedence over the blind nationalism that had consumed most first century Jews. It would not only consume his attention and�passion during his life but would literally consume his life and result in his death.�

The response of the Jewish leaders is a bit curious. They don’t seem to take issue with his actions so much as his authority to do them.�Jews wouldn’t have been so surprised by prophetic and Messianic actions like that, but they were much more concerned with the�person doing them. Did he have the authority to take that action or not? They want a sign to demonstrate his authority, but in�demanding a sign they have shown that they have completely missed the point. They wanted a sign of legitimacy and Jesus had just�offered one. They wanted to know if Jesus could perform the signs of a Messiah, and had missed the truth that that was exactly what�he had just done.�

Jesus then offers them up the ultimate sign of his Messianic ministry. They will� destroy� the true�Temple�, but he will raise it in three�days. Not only is Jesus the true Passover, he is the true Temple. The Jewish leaders do not understand Jesus’ point that he is referring�to himself and so respond to the ridiculous notion that a building that had taken 46 years to build to that point could be destroyed and�rebuilt in three days.�

John wants us to understand that this Temple clearing is another place where heaven and earth have been brought together, Jacob’s�ladder is opened and the angels are continuing to ascend and descend. God’s reality doesn’t just bring shocking miracles like turning�water into wine, but it also brings authority and justice into the world. This is what would serve as testimony to Jesus’ authority. Jesus�didn’t trust in or need large crowds or the legitimacy that their presence might bring in the eyes of men. He knew that crowds and�individuals could be fickle. He� did not need human testimony�at all. His actions were all that was needed to verify who he was and the�authority that he had in himself. If you want to understand Jesus truly, don’t look at the crowds following him around, look at him. He�is the true Temple and his coming destruction in death and resurrection will be the realities to which the Passover had pointed.�

Display�Jesus knew that there were times when large crowds�were going to follow him, but he didn’t trust that or�see that as a sign vindicating his ministry. It was his�own actions and willingness to do the will of the�Father that Jesus trusted in. Is that enough for you?�If you’re doing the will of God but no one is listening,�following, or even respecting you, is that enough?�

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Discover�

Jesus Clears the Temple Courts�13 When it was almost time for the Jewish�

Passover, Jesus went up to Jerusalem. 14 In the�temple courts he found people selling cattle, sheep�and doves, and others sitting at tables exchanging�money. 15 So he made a whip out of cords, and�drove all from the temple courts, both sheep and�cattle; he scattered the coins of the money changers�and overturned their tables. 16 To those who sold�doves he said, "Get these out of here! Stop turning�my Father's house into a market!" 17 His disciples�remembered that it is written: "Zeal for your house�will consume me."� 18 The Jews then responded to him, "What sign�can you show us to prove your authority to do all�this?"� 19 Jesus answered them, "Destroy this temple,�and I will raise it again in three days."� 20 They replied, "It has taken forty-six years to�build this temple, and you are going to raise it in�three days?" 21 But the temple he had spoken of�was his body. 22 After he was raised from the dead,�his disciples recalled what he had said. Then they�believed the scripture and the words that Jesus had�spoken.� 23 Now while he was in Jerusalem at the Passover�Festival, many people saw the signs he was�performing and believed in his name. 24 But Jesus�would not entrust himself to them, for he knew all�people. 25 He did not need human testimony about�them, for he knew what was in them.�

1. From where does Nicodemus believe that Jesus�has come?�

2. What is Jesus’ point about needing to be born�again?�

3. From where does Jesus tell Nicodemus that he has�really come?�

Dig Deeper�A couple of years back, my wife and I were out on a date and decided to go to a movie one night. We had been having dinner and�decided to go to the movies a little late so by the time we got to the theater the movie had already started a few minutes earlier. We�quickly got our tickets and hustled into the movie. We walked into the movie directly from the bright lights of the lobby and were�virtually blinded in the darkness. We put our hands on the railing and walked all the way up the steps until we got to an area fairly high�up where we could tell that no one was sitting. We still couldn’t see very well, but slid in down the aisle and found a seat. As we sat�down, I reached for my cell phone to turn the ringer off but realized that my phone had slid out of my pocket as I was sitting down. I�now began to feel around and try to look under my seat but my eyes hadn’t adjusted yet so I still couldn’t see very well and I couldn’t�find it. After a few minutes, my eyes had adjusted even though it was still fairly dark so I decided to look again. This time I could begin�to see a little bit under the seat but I just couldn’t put my eyes or my hands on the phone. I had to give up and wait until the movie was�over and lights came on before I would finally find my phone. When I did, I could see clearly that the phone wasn’t quite where I�thought it was, but it had been within my grasp the whole time.�

The scene that I described in the movie theater reminds me of Nicodemus in a certain way. Nicodemus was a teacher of Israel, but he�was clearly in the dark. Yet, he wasn’t satisfied with that. He seems to be a man that at least knows he is in the dark about certain�things. He wants the truth and is willing to go around searching for it in the dark. Even though, in this first encounter with Jesus, the�truth is right there within his grasp but he just cannot quite place his hands on it. Nicodemus is still in the darkness in this scene both�literally and figuratively but he will keep searching, and don’t be surprised if he pops up again in John’s Gospel, but this time in the light�with the truth firmly in his hands.�

Nicodemus�was a Pharisee�,�a member of the Jewish ruling council�, and an all-around important guy at the time of Jesus. The Pharisees�certainly thought the Temple priests and ruling Sanhedrin were basically corrupt, so they likely would not have had a problem with, and�may even have applauded Jesus’ actions in the Temple. So it’s not unusual at this point that Nicodemus would come to Jesus to ask�questions. Yet, there does seem to be something unusual about coming to Jesus at night. This was not the normal way of doing things.�We are simply not told why Nicodemus came at night, whether he was afraid of others and did not want to be seen, or he wanted a�private audience away from the crowds, or whether there was some other explanation. Regardless of the situation, though, it seems�that John wants his readers to catch the symbolism of this man who cannot quite see things clearly, yet has come to Jesus in the�darkness, in the cover of night.�

He opens his conversation with a typical Jewish greeting of praise, saying that clearly this is a man worthy of respect. He gives him the�respect of calling him�Rabbi� even though Jesus apparently had no formal training. Jews generally believed that signs of the type that�Jesus was performing could only come from God, so rather than looking for alternate explanations, as others would do, Nicodemus�recognizes that Jesus is from God. He believes that� no one could perform the signs� that Jesus�was doing if God were not with Him�.�Nicodemus is still in the darkness, but he is feeling around, looking for the light.�

Jesus doesn’t really engage with Nicodemus in the culturally expected niceties but gets right to the heart of the matter.� No one�, he�says,�can see the kingdom of God without being born again�. To “see the kingdom of God” referred to participating in the life of the�age to come, both in the present through the life of Christ and in full after the resurrection. Jews at that time, however, believed that�all Israelites, except for a few exceptional reprobates, would be part of the age to come. What this means is that we have a scene here�where Nicodemus has come to Jesus in the dark reaching around looking for the truth and beginning his conversation with normal�Jewish customs, but Jesus cuts him off and basically says that all of the old expectations are no longer valid. The kingdom of God is not�reserved for those that are born children of Abraham, but is reserved for those that are� born again�. The word translated “born again”�can mean that but can also mean “from above.” Jesus probably meant to imply both meanings by using this term, but he confuses his�unenlightened questioner.�

Nicodemus was a wise rabbinic teacher in many respects and it is likely that his response is not nearly as dense as it appears to be. It�is improbable that that Nicodemus actually thought that Jesus was telling him that he must crawl back into his�mother’s womb�and be�born over. His response is probably a bit hopeful, even wistful, more along the lines of, “How can we start over again and erase who�we are? It would be great if we could, but we can’t go crawling back into our mothers and be born again, so what are we to do?”�

This is the moment when Jesus is going to introduce a glimpse of the new creation to the darkness of Nicodemus’ world, but rather�than being able to see it clearly right away, Nicodemus reacts more like someone who has been in the dark and suddenly walks out into�a bright sunny day. He is more blinded by the truth momentarily than he was when he was completely in the dark. Entrance into God’s�kingdom has nothing to do with being born into the nation of Israel, but it has to do with being� born of water and the Spirit�. It was the�prophet Ezekiel who promised that God would renew His people and put new hearts in them with the double action of cleansing them�with water and putting His own Spirit into them (Ezek. 36:25-27). This is likely Jesus’ primary reference and certainly what Nicodemus�would have understood, but John is no fool, and is writing this down decades after Jesus’ death. Certainly he, and the early Christian�community would have sees a clear foreshadowing to being baptized into Christ and receiving the Holy Spirit at that baptism (Acts�2:38).�

This is how God will induct children into His new kingdom. This is a new kingdom and a new creation. The Old Covenant was a physical�covenant with physical enemies, physical battles, physical sin, and a physical people of God.� Flesh� gave� birth to flesh� under that�covenant. But no more. This is the time when God is renewing His people with His own Spirit just as He promised. He is taking away�their heart of stone and replacing it with a heart of flesh (Ezek. 11:19; 36:26). Understanding the spiritual nature of the New Covenant�as opposed to the physical nature of the Old Covenant helps us understand Jesus’ words in verses 8-9. The� wind blows�and can be�heard but it cannot be quantified, it cannot be easily defined and put in a box.� So it is with everyone born of the Spirit�. This spiritual�birth cannot be contained or neatly confined within the nation of Israel or any nation.�

This seems to blind and confuse Nicodemus to the point of exasperation. “How can this be?” he retorts. Surely God was going to work�through Israel not apart from her. What Nicodemus was failing to grasp was something that John has already alluded to and will�develop more fully as his Gospel unfolds. Jesus� is� Israel, the true Son of God.�

Jesus chides Nicodemus a bit pointing out that he is supposed to be a teacher of God’s people, and yet cannot seem to make room in�his mind for the fact that God is doing something new, even though He had promised just that (Isa. 42:9; 43:19; 48:6; 65:17; Ezek. 11:19;�36:26). If Nicodemus cannot grasp the truth when Jesus speaks of�earthly�things like the fact that God has promised to do something�new and that time has arrived, how can he possibly understand if Jesus actually began to explain the deep�heavenly� truths of those�things? This doesn’t mean, I don’t believe, that Jesus is telling Nicodemus that he won’t tell him these things, simply it is a challenge�to Nicodemus that he is still feeling around in the dark and had better get his eyes used to the light quickly because it is standing right�in front of him. If Nicodemus wants to even think about understanding the things of heaven he had better start paying attention to� the�one who came from heaven�, because he doesn’t just have the ability to see the light. He is the light.�

Display�Jesus talks about birth into the kingdom of God, but�there is a funny truth about the fact of birth. Once�someone is born they don’t spend much time�thinking about their birth again, but get busy with the�business of living. Taking a little time occasion to�honor and be thankful for your spiritual birth is a�great thing, but only if you go beyond that rather�than thinking that that is the culmination of your�spiritual journey. Once you’ve been born from�above, get on with the business of growing and living�spiritually.�

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Discover�

Jesus Teaches Nicodemus� 1 Now there was a Pharisee, a man named�Nicodemus who was a member of the Jewish ruling�council. 2 He came to Jesus at night and said, "Rabbi,�we know that you are a teacher who has come from�God. For no one could perform the signs you are�doing if God were not with him."� 3 Jesus replied, "Very truly I tell you, no one can�see the kingdom of God without being born again."�

4 "How can anyone be born when they are old?"�Nicodemus asked. "Surely they cannot enter a�second time into their mother's womb to be born!"� 5 Jesus answered, "Very truly I tell you, no one can�enter the kingdom of God without being born of�water and the Spirit. 6 Flesh gives birth to flesh, but�the Spirit gives birth to spirit. 7 You should not be�surprised at my saying, 'You must be born again.' 8�The wind blows wherever it pleases. You hear its�sound, but you cannot tell where it comes from or�where it is going. So it is with everyone born of the�Spirit."� 9 "How can this be?" Nicodemus asked.� 10 "You are Israel's teacher," said Jesus, "and do�you not understand these things? 11 Very truly I tell�you, we speak of what we know, and we testify to�what we have seen, but still you people do not�accept our testimony. 12 I have spoken to you of�earthly things and you do not believe; how then will�you believe if I speak of heavenly things? 13 No one�has ever gone into heaven except the one who came�from heaven—the Son of Man.�

1. Read Numbers 21. How does that incident�foreshadow Christ?�

2. How could John 3:16 be misunderstood if taken�from the context of the following verses?�

3. John has already established the concepts of light�and darkness in creation terms (ch. 1). How does�that connection add meaning and layers to his�discussion of light and darkness in this passage?�

Dig Deeper�Having kids with selective hearing is probably not a new scenario to anyone who is a parent, with the possible exception of my own�parents (because I never had such a problem). A similar situation has, I’m sure been played out in homes all across the world. I was�getting ready to leave for an appointment and my oldest son asked if he could play on his playstation 2 while I was gone. I told him�that he could but to make sure that he cleaned up his room and emptied the garbage cans in the house before I got back. Yet�somehow, and this might be shocking, when I got home, there he was playing a football game and there the clothes on his floor still�were, and sure enough, there were the trash cans still full and sitting there right where they were when I left. How could this be?�How could it be that he had heard the part where I said he could play his video games, but missed the parts about cleaning up? The�answer, selective hearing. Humans (and this may be a disease that particularly hits the male portions of the human race) have a�tendency to hear the parts that we want to hear, embracing them, and conveniently forgetting or just not hearing the parts that�we don’t like. Sadly, our youngest son seems to have also been born with this potent condition.�

Just as surely as humans are prone to selective hearing, we seem also to be susceptible to selective reading. This is especially true�of the Bible where people will read verses or passages that they like and simply ignore the ones that they don’t. So people latch on�to passages that talk about being blessed but ignore when Jesus said that his followers “will have trouble” (John 16:33). Or they�cling to Jeremiah 29:11 as a life verse when it says that God has great plans to prosper, but conveniently ignore that within the�context of that passage, God is promising His people that they will go into exile and experience difficult times, but that this is all part�of His overall plan to bring about the Messiah. John 3 is no exception to the selective reading process. John 3:16 is, perhaps, the�most famous verse in our world today and it is, without a doubt, one of the most beautiful and encouraging passages in the Bible,�yet it is part of a larger context. Loving John 3:16 is fine, but it can also be misleading and even dangerous if we don’t keep it in�context with the rest of this passage. It is still a wonderful promise for those who would believe in the life of Christ, but it also comes�with the stern consequences that come with those who do not accept the life of Christ. One cannot be separated from the other�without a big misunderstanding of what John is saying.�

Jesus combines the imagery of two primary Old Testament passages to demonstrate that he is the one that Nicodemus was�searching for. He is the promised Messiah, God’s new thing through whom he would fix the problem of sin in the world. The first�allusion is to Numbers 21:9 where Moses lifted up an image of a bronze serpent on a cross so that those who would look to it would�be saved and not killed. In the same way, he says, the Son of Man must be lifted up. The terminology of the Son of Man comes�primarily from Daniel 7:13. The Son of Man was the enigmatic figure in Daniel 7 that was lifted up into the presence of the Ancient�of Days and exalted and vindicated as the one with supreme authority over the earth. Jesus, then applies this clearly Messianic title�and passage to himself. His point is that only those who recognize him as God’s Messiah and look to him for salvation will be saved�from death and receive eternal life, which was the life of the age to come as opposed to life in the present age. Eternal life, then,�wasn’t just something in the future, but was something to be embraced and realized in the present age through the life of the Son�of Man.�

Surely this salvation is not limited to a certain few or elect individuals but is available to�whoever believes�. The 64 million dollar�question, though, is to whoever believes in what? John (who has almost imperceptibly slipped into his own commentary beginning�in verse 16) certainly does not mean mere mental assent to the fact that Jesus existed and was the Messiah of some sort. He means�much more than that. In the ancient world true belief in something meant action, and believing in someone meant that you�believed in their way of life, that is was correct, and were willing to follow. This tells us that John means that whoever believes in�the life of Christ and will take the action to die themselves, will have the eternal life that comes only to those who have crucified�their old selves and entered into the life of Christ.�

For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world but to save the world through him�. You see, Jesus did not�come to stand before men, judge them, and cast them into eternal darkness, even though that is often how he is viewed. They�were already in darkness. Men don’t need to reject Jesus to enter into darkness. God sent Jesus so�through him�, meaning those�who would enter into his life, people would be saved. John has just effectively further explained Jesus’ contention that humans�must be born again and from above in order to be a part of the kingdom of God. John says that that is absolutely true, and that this�birth comes only� through him� and his life�.�

The fact that Jesus did not come into the world to condemn it, teaches us an important truth and distinction when it comes to�salvation. We tend to think that people that reject Jesus will go to hell. In fact, that leads many sincere people to become troubled�and wonder how that can be, especially for those who may have never had the opportunity to hear about Jesus. What abut them?�Although we certainly cannot address that topic in full here, we do see an important truth that John has laid out for us. Those who�do not believe in the life of Christ and choose not to enter into it are condemned already. Their condemnation is not a result of�rejecting Christ. For Christ is not the issue of condemnation. Rejecting God through sin, and standing in rebellion to him by�consistently doing our own will rather than his, is what separates us from God and puts us in a state of condemnation as those who�have rebelled against the image of God for which we were made to be. Jesus is the door to salvation, the life of reconciliation, not�the source of condemnation. That means that each person who has sinned (and that is, of course, all humans) is already�condemned. Jesus is the rescue and those who have not� believed in the name� (a term that was nearly synonymous with “life”)� of�God’s one and only Son� will remain in their state of condemnation and rebellion against God.�

The final� verdict� is clear. The true�Light has come into the world�, but because people�loved darkness instead of light�, they reject�the light and close their eyes until it goes away and they can return to their comfortable existence within the murky darkness. This�is�because their deeds were evil�. It is common in our modern society to begin to feel sorry for those in rebellion against God as�though the state they are in is not their fault (that is not to imply that people cause everything evil that might happen to them, of�course) as though they are just victims. John, though, says that those who reject the life of Christ do so because they�hate the light�and�will not come into� it because�they fear that their deeds will be exposed�. This means that rejection of God’s ways is a decision�that every human being has made. Judgment and condemnation are already the fate of every human being. Jesus is not the�condemning factor, he is the saving gate. Those who enter into his life will be saved from the judgment that they have already�deserved and earned.�

Those who really want to find the truth and follow God’s ways will find that truth, or as John puts it� those who live by the truth�,�will come into the light�. This is basically what Paul says in Romans chs. 1-3 where he says that those who respond humbly to the�light of creation (ch. 1) and to the light of conscience (ch. 2) will seek out, be given, and respond humbly to the light of Jesus Christ�(ch. 3). People who truly want the lights to come on so that they can see and find the truth rather than continuing to stumble�around in the dark, will embrace the light when it comes to them. Those who truly want that truth will not fear the gaze of God for�they know that when God looks at those who have entered into the light, He will see Christ, for we have been hidden in Christ when�we died to self and took up his life of (Col. 3:3). The light is only a fearful thing, after all, for those who don’t desire the truth.�

Display�Those who do not yet have the light of Christ are, says�John, still in the darkness. Do you know anyone who�is in the dark, stumbling around looking frantically for�the truth but just cannot seem to find it? Jesus called�to be the light of the world, faithfully reflecting the�light of Christ to the world. If that is true, then what�is the vocation of Christians when we encounter�darkness? Are you truly a light shining brightly in the�darkness or do you cover the light so that it doesn’t�shock or offend anyone? Sudden light coming into�the darkness can be blinding for a minute, but it is the�only way that people will eventually be able to see�the truth.�

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14 Just as Moses lifted up the snake in the�wilderness, so the Son of Man must be lifted up, 15�that everyone who believes may have eternal life in�him."�

16 For God so loved the world that he gave his�one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall�not perish but have eternal life. 17 For God did not�send his Son into the world to condemn the world,�but to save the world through him. 18 Whoever�believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does�not believe stands condemned already because they�have not believed in the name of God's one and only�Son. 19 This is the verdict: Light has come into the�world, but people loved darkness instead of light�because their deeds were evil. 20 All those who do�evil hate the light, and will not come into the light�for fear that their deeds will be exposed. 21 But�those who live by the truth come into the light, so�that it may be seen plainly that what they have done�has been done in the sight of God.�

1. Why do you think John’s disciples were so�concerned about Jesus’ activity and success?�

2. Why was John so joyful about the success of Jesus’�activity?�

3. Why does John, the Apostle, make such a�consistent distinction between those that come from�earth and Jesus’ heavenly origins?�

Dig Deeper�He really wanted to take his girlfriend to the sports banquet that night but he couldn’t because he had to work. Because of that, my�friend asked me to take her to the banquet. I was going to go and wasn’t planning on taking anyone so it made sense. He would get�off of work and meet the group of friends that we were going with and then we would all go out and hang out for the rest of the evening.�We had a great time and really had a lot of fun, but when the banquet was over, we waited outside the gym where we were all going�to meet my friend. Once he got there, his girlfriend went with him and spent the rest of the night with him. I don’t think we talked the�remainder of the night. That wasn’t my job. Imagine, though, if I had begun to think of myself as her real boyfriend, if I began to lose�sight of the role that I had been asked to play. Imagine if I started to get jealous when my friend got there and that this young lady went�off with him for the rest of the night rather than being enamored with and staying with me.�

John had been given a role as the forerunner to the Messiah. There was no mistake in John’s mind as to what he was supposed to do.�He was to make the way, to prepare Israel for the coming of her king, to point to the Son of Man. John understood that it was never�about him, his role was merely temporary. Jesus was the star and was simply the warm-up act. It seems, though, that some around�him may have lost sight of that, if only for a moment. They wanted John to step up and be the man rather than turning all of the�attention over to another. John understood, however, that that would be as crazy as it would have been for me to try to be the�boyfriend when my role was to simply keep the girl company until the true boyfriend arrived.�

John gives us some valuable information in this passage that rounds out the information that we have in the synoptic Gospels. He is�the only Gospel author who informs us that there was a slight overlap between the ministries of Jesus and John the Immerser�before�John was put in prison�. After having been baptized by John, Jesus takes his followers not far away to a place with plenty of springs and�fresh water and Jesus’ disciples (we are told in 4:2 that Jesus did not actually do any baptizing himself) begin to baptize people. This is�certainly not the Christian baptism that would be unveiled at the day of Pentecost, when those willing to lay down their lives would be�baptized into the life of Jesus Christ (Acts 2:38). No one could hardly have been baptized into the death, burial, and resurrection of�Christ before any of those things happened. Rather, this was apparently a connection and continuation of John’s baptism of national�repentance and renewal for those willing to identify themselves with the new things that God was doing and about to do.�

Not only were Jesus’ disciples baptizing, Jesus was evidently drawing rather large crowds and a large number of adherents. This�disturbed some of John’s disciples who were not as receptive to the coming of the Messiah as were some of the others who had already�left John and went with Jesus. They no doubt saw this as an arrogant and disrespectful move on the part of Jesus, to associate himself�with John and then go out in the same area, doing a similar thing, and surpass John. They were clearly looking at things from a human�point of view and had a lot of misplaced loyalty to their teacher, the great prophet John. They were obviously concerned that large�numbers of people, which they hyperbolize by calling them “�everyone�”, were� going to� Jesus.�

John’s reply is a continued demonstration of his incredible humility and willingness to be used by God only in manner that God had laid�out for him.�A person can receive only what is given from heaven�. This does not mean that John’s ministry didn’t come from God, in�fact we have already been told that he did (1:6). The point is that he had a specific vocation laid out as a forerunner. To reach beyond�what God has given us is to commit the same sin that Eve did in the Garden of Eden when she reached out for the fruit of tree that was�not hers to grab. John is not the Messiah, and he never would be. If he tried to keep disciples around himself, get jealous, or try to�keep people gathered around himself rather than going to Christ, he would be guilty of selfish ambition and reaching beyond what God�had given him.�

Showing himself to be quite unique himself among most humans, John doesn’t show any envy or even try to make some excuse. In�fact, he immediately jumps into a justification of Jesus’ actions and his success. John is not, he says, the bridegroom, but he is simply�the friend who attends the bridegroom�. The friend of the groom in a Jewish wedding was important because he set up all the details�and brought the bride to the bridegroom, but once his job was done, he wouldn’t think of staying and keeping the bride and the�attention for himself. Throughout the Old Testament, Israel was seen to be the bride of YHWH (Isa. 54:5; 62:4-5; Jer. 2:2; 3:20; Ezek.�16:8; Hos. 2:19-20). It was common thought in the first century to talk of the Messiah as the bridegroom of Israel as well. John’s point�is that Israel is the bride, Christ is the bridegroom, but he is only the friend and it is his time to step aside. The bride, Israel, belongs to�Jesus not to John. That doesn’t bother John or make him feel envious. In fact, it leaves him�full of joy�because the bridegroom is now�here. Contrary to our society today that is obsessed with self-esteem, John understood that his role, his entire purpose was to�become�less� so that Christ could� become greater�.�

Just as he did in verse 16, John the Apostle, appears to break into his own commentary on the scene in an almost imperceptible manner.�One of John’s primary objectives is to demonstrate that Jesus is the Christ (20:31), so he continues to emphasize that Jesus’ origins are�not earthly. As important as the ministry and message of John was, John still came from earth, belonged to the earth, and that was the�end of the story. John was certainly sent by God but he was a regular human being. He was not, as Jesus is, the doorway and the ladder�between heaven and earth. Only about Jesus could it be said that�came�from heaven and is�above all�. This is important because good�teachers teach about what they know. At this time, only Jesus could come and teach about heavenly things as things that he knew.�When Jesus talked about heavenly things, he talked about things that he had�seen and heard�.�

The person who has accepted� (a word that denotes a decisive act where someone determines to embrace Jesus’ witness) the�testimony of Jesus has certified that God is truthful. John uses language in that sentence that speaks of the seal that someone would�use to authenticate or give a personal guarantee to a document or item. His point is that those who accept the words of Jesus are�putting their seal of acceptance that Jesus is of heavenly origin and that God has revealed Himself through Jesus Christ.�

The prophets of the Old Testament, regardless of how great they were, could only claim that the Spirit came upon them in limited�measure. It was only the true Son of God who had been given�the Spirit without limit�. Only Jesus was the true human being who did�God’s will perfectly and spoke the�words of God� wherever he went. We must remember here the importance of the truth of being in�Christ when it comes to our own lives. What is true of the king is true of his people. Those in Christ, then, have access to the same�Spirit without limit. In fact, the only thing that limits the power of the Spirit in our lives is our own lack of faith or obedience. This�shouldn’t lead us to guilt or feelings of failure, but rather to determination to truly unleash the power of the Spirit in our lives.�

The Father loves the Son and has placed everything in his hands�, and He loves those in Christ in the same way. It all comes down, for�John, to being in Christ.�Whoever believes� in the life of the� Son�, will have�eternal life�. He is the gateway to freedom. But those who�reject that salvation�will not see life�, for�God’s wrath remains on them�. As John made clear in 3:17-21, all humans are already guilty�before God as a result of our sin and rejection of God’s will. We already deserve and will receive God’s righteous judgment and wrath.�That is, and we cannot say it too often, the fate of every single human being that lives and dies in their own life. Only those who choose�their death and judgment early can enter into the life of the Son of God and have the life of the age to come and a place in the�resurrection of Jesus Christ. Life is found only in Him.�

Display�Those who believe the Son, says John already have�eternal life, the life of the age to come. Have you�really thought about that lately? Do you really make�an effort to spread the life of heaven, of God’s reality,�to those around you in your neighborhood, school, or�job? What would it look like if you really unleashed�the power of the Spirit and the life of the age to come�in your own life and demonstrated to all those�around you what it looks like when someone lives in�reconciliation with God and His will?�

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John Testifies Again About Jesus� 22 After this, Jesus and his disciples went out into the�Judean countryside, where he spent some time with�them, and baptized. 23 Now John also was baptizing�at Aenon near Salim, because there was plenty of�water, and people were coming and being baptized.�24 (This was before John was put in prison.) 25 An�argument developed between some of John's disciples�and a certain Jew over the matter of ceremonial�washing. 26 They came to John and said to him,�"Rabbi, that man who was with you on the other side�of the Jordan—the one you testified about—look, he�is baptizing, and everyone is going to him."� 27 To this John replied, "A person can receive only�what is given from heaven. 28 You yourselves can�testify that I said, 'I am not the Messiah but am sent�ahead of him.' 29 The bride belongs to the�bridegroom. The friend who attends the bridegroom�waits and listens for him, and is full of joy when he�hears the bridegroom's voice. That joy is mine, and it�is now complete. 30 He must become greater; I must�become less."� 31 The one who comes from above is above all; the�one who is from the earth belongs to the earth, and�speaks as one from the earth. The one who comes�from heaven is above all. 32 He testifies to what he�has seen and heard, but no one accepts his testimony.�33 The person who has accepted it has certified that�God is truthful. 34 For the one whom God has sent�speaks the words of God, for God gives the Spirit�without limit. 35 The Father loves the Son and has�placed everything in his hands. 36 Whoever believes in�the Son has eternal life, but whoever rejects the Son�will not see life, for God's wrath remains on them.�

1. What are some of the cultural elements in this�story that would have made it so shocking?�

2. Why did Jesus ask this woman for water in the first�place?�

3. What was Jesus referring to when he spoke of�living water?�

4. Why is it significant that he says that the living�water will become a spring of water welling up within�those who take part in it?�

Dig Deeper�On a recent trip to South Africa, I had the privilege of speaking to a group from a wonderful church in the city of Port Elizabeth. As I�was speaking to this group, I began to talk to them of a biblical passage from 2 Kings 5 in which Naaman asks the prophet Elisha for�earth that he can take back to home homeland so that, in his mind, he can properly worship the God of the Jews on His own land. In�describing this event, however, I didn’t use the term “earth.” I used a term that was quite common to Americans for earth, which is�“dirt.” “Dirt” has always meant “soil” in my mind, and I didn’t even give it a second thought. It was only later that I found out that in�South Africa, “dirt” means “garbage” or “rubbish.” In their culture, I was teaching an amusing lesson about a man healed of leprosy�that was requesting that God’s prophet give him two donkey loads of garbage to take with him. Lucky thing for me, these people were�more intelligent and culturally aware than I was, and either already knew or figured out how Americans use this word. It can lead to�great misunderstanding, though, if you are speaking of one thing, and your listeners are hearing something totally different.�

John describes this phenomena as a constant problem throughout Jesus’ ministry. There is a constant misunderstanding, as we saw in�chapter 3 with Nicodemus, as Jesus speaks of heavenly things, things from God’s reality, while Nicodemus can only seem to�comprehend things from an earthly perspective. In a sense, it is like people speaking two different languages, but in reality it can lead�to even more confusion. At least when people speak different languages they know they are different. When people use the same�words but mean quite different things by them, it can lead to real confusion because you assume you know what the other person is�saying, when the reality is that your missing the point altogether. As John begins his lengthy description of Jesus and the Samaritan�woman at the well, it becomes obvious that they are having one of those conversations. Jesus speaks of heavenly things, but she hears�an earthly conversation, at least for a while. She is certainly still earthly focused and as in the darkness as anyone else, but perhaps�John wants us to see the symbolism in the fact that Nicodemus came in the dark and remained there but this woman will encounter�Jesus at high noon, when the light is at its brightest.�

Just as surely as we can misunderstand individual words because of culture differences, so we can easily miss the depth or meaning of�an entire story because we simply don’t understand the culture in which the story takes place. So it is with the account that John gives�of Jesus and the woman at this well in Sychar. There are several important cultural things taking place under the surface of this story�that are easy to miss. This encounter might not seem that significant to us, but in Jesus’ day and culture, it should have never happened�for many reasons. First of all, Jews did not care for or generally speak to Samaritans, to the point that they usually would take a longer�route on a journey to avoid going into Samaria. Second, Jewish men generally did not speak to women in public, especially women�alone, and even more especially to women at wells (because Isaac and Jacob met their wives at wells, they became somewhat of a�pick-up spot in Jewish tradition). Third, it would have been highly unusual for this woman to be there at this time of day, about noon.�Women avoided the hot times of day and would go to the well in groups in the early morning or evening. That she was there by herself�in the middle of the day, indicates that she was not well thought of in her society and was likely trying to avoid people. Thus, in its�cultural context, we see that this scene is shocking on many levels. Nonetheless it happened.�

As Jesus is traveling through Samaria, he and his disciples stop off to get some food, showing that Jesus and his disciples are a bit more�open than most Jews would have been, as most Jews would not even eat food that had been handled by Samaritans. As Jesus sits down�at the well for a rest, he sees this forlorn Samaritan women approaching for water. What she does not know is that she is about to have�an encounter with the living water that will quench every thirst she has ever had.�

For Jesus to even ask for a drink would have been shocking. Not only because she was a Samaritan women by herself and he was a�Jewish man, but also because she knew that Jews felt that even the water jugs of Samaritans were unclean, so for him to ask for� a drink�was highly unusual.� Jews�, as John points out for his non-Jewish readers,�do not associate with Samaritans� for any reason. This simple�request for water is the beginning of this two-leveled conversation. Jesus speaks of things that this woman does not comprehend. She�thinks they are speaking of regular water, but clearly Jesus is talking of something else. She went to the well looking to not have to�encounter anyone else, but she will encounter the Son of God. She thinks she is going to Jacob’s well, but she will find Jacob’s ladder�(1:51), the staircase between heaven and earth.�

Jesus asked this woman for a drink of water, and perhaps he genuinely was thirsty after a long day of traveling, but he seems to have�mostly used the question as a means to open the conversation to the topic that he really wanted to discuss. He used a topic that he�knew she would understand in an earthly manner, specifically so he could turn the conversation to spiritual things. For if she knew who�she was talking to, she would hardly be worried about social customs, Jews and Samaritans, and why he would talk to her and ask for�a drink. In fact, she would ask him for�living water�.�

Living water in the first century referred to spring water or some other type of water that moved as opposed to stagnant water that�was more likely to be no good. So when Jesus refers to living water, she is still thinking in earthly terms. Like Nathanael and Nicodemus,�she is doing the best she can, but she simply has no idea with whom she is dealing. How can he draw the living water at the bottom�of this one-hundred foot well with a bucket of any kind? Is he trying to sell her on some other source for water other than Jacob’s well?�As John’s readers, privy to more information than she had at the time, we know that he is. She simply cannot see anything beyond the�old water that comes from Jacob’s well, from the old, traditional way of life. Jesus, though, is offering her true water that quenches�the real thirst that humans have. He is the water that all water on earth can only point to. She thought that the reality of life was�limited to things of this earth, but Jesus is about to open the reality of heaven and quench the real thirst that she has (cf. Ps. 42:2; 63:1;�143:6; Isa. 55:1; Matt. 5:6). Does this man actually think that he has something superior to the things of life that have been passed�down since Jacob? In fact, he does. He doesn’t merely know the location of a superior source of living water. He is the living water�(7:37-38).�

There is something else about this water that is rather unique, though. We drink regular water, it nourishes and refreshes us and then�it is gone. Before too long we need more. That is true, really with anything that the world has to offer, whether it be food, water,�religions, philosophies, or whatever else it may be. It meets a need for a temporary flash and then its gone and we need more and�more in order to be satisfied. This living water is different though. It doesn’t just meet a temporary need, says Jesus. Once we partake�of this water, it becomes part of us. It will itself begin to bubble up inside of us and be a constant source of renewal and refreshment.�Drinking this water doesn’t just mean getting a taste of the new creation, or a slice of heaven. It means we become the new creation,�we have heaven inside of us. Those who take this water will have�welling up� inside of them the new life that Jesus is bringing to the�entire creation.�

This woman wanted something. The very fact that she has come to this well in the middle of the day, trying to avoid everyone,�demonstrates that she needed something. She knows her life is lacking. She doesn’t know what Jesus is talking about fully but if he�knows of a place where she can water and not have to be confronted with the shame of her past and the disapproving stares of others�then she wants that desperately. Do you need to go to the living well for something? Have you already gone to the well but know many�who haven’t yet? The life that comes from the living water found in Jesus is, after all, the only thing that can bring life. It is the only�thing that quench the thirst inside each one of us. All we have to do is take a drink.�

Display�One things that can be easily missed in this passage,�is the statement in verse 4, that Jesus “had to go�through Samaria.” We are not told why he had to,�but the obvious inference would be that he had to in�order to fulfill the will of God and follow the leading�of the Spirit. This means that Jesus went out of his�way, on many levels, to intentionally talk with this�woman. Do you follow the leading of the Spirit and�intentionally go out of your way to talk to people�about spiritual things? Spend some time praying�today that God will lead you to people that He would�like you to talk to.�

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Jesus Talks With a Samaritan Woman� 1 Now Jesus learned that the Pharisees had heard�that he was gaining and baptizing more disciples than�John— 2 although in fact it was not Jesus who�baptized, but his disciples. 3 So he left Judea and went�back once more to Galilee.� 4 Now he had to go through Samaria. 5 So he came�to a town in Samaria called Sychar, near the plot of�ground Jacob had given to his son Joseph. 6 Jacob's�well was there, and Jesus, tired as he was from the�journey, sat down by the well. It was about noon.� 7 When a Samaritan woman came to draw water,�Jesus said to her, "Will you give me a drink?" 8 (His�disciples had gone into the town to buy food.)� 9 The Samaritan woman said to him, "You are a Jew�and I am a Samaritan woman. How can you ask me for�a drink?" (For Jews do not associate with Samaritans.)� 10 Jesus answered her, "If you knew the gift of God�and who it is that asks you for a drink, you would have�asked him and he would have given you living water."� 11 "Sir," the woman said, "you have nothing to�draw with and the well is deep. Where can you get�this living water? 12 Are you greater than our father�Jacob, who gave us the well and drank from it himself,�as did also his sons and his flocks and herds?"� 13 Jesus answered, "Everyone who drinks this�water�will be thirsty again, 14 but those who drink the water�I give them will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give�them will become in them a spring of water welling up�to eternal life."� 15 The woman said to him, "Sir, give me this water�so that I won't get thirsty and have to keep coming�here to draw water."�

1. Why do you think that this woman was so�persistent in trying to divert the conversation?�

2. What does Jesus do in response to her constant�attempts at diversion that we can learn from for our�own evangelism attempts?�

3. What does it mean to worship God in spirit and�truth?�

4. Why was Jesus willing to openly reveal himself as�Messiah to this woman?�

Dig Deeper�Many years back I spent a couple of summers directing a teen camp for a local branch of the YMCA. On one particularly hot day we took�all of the campers to a nature preserve to go on a hike. The hike was going to be several hours long and through some fairly difficult terrain,�at least it was difficult for this area. Normally I came quite prepared for whatever we were going to do that day, but this was a Monday�after a particularly busy weekend. I had my lunch prepared as normal but I hadn’t thought about my water bottle. I hurried off to the YMCA�and got in the van with the kids, ready to take off. Once we got there and got ready to leave, I realized that the only water bottle that I had�with me was one that had sat open in the hot van all weekend. It wasn’t much, but it was all I had so I grabbed it. There was no water�where we began the hike, but there was a water pump, according to the map, several miles in. All I could really think about as we�progressed on our hike was getting to that water because the water I had was stagnant, warm, and it tasted funny (and drinking out of the�kid’s bottles wasn’t much of an option in my mind either). It really didn’t refresh anything, but like I said, it was all I had. Once we finally�got to the water pump, I realized that in order to fill my bottle up with the new, clean, cold water, I had to dump out the old water. Once�I saw that cold water, though, it really wasn’t any sort of a difficult choice at all.�

Human beings can be like the stagnant, bad-tasting water in that water bottle. In fact, the water inside of us can become a whole lot worse�than the water in that water bottle. That’s certainly the case for the Samaritan woman that was confronted by Jesus at the well. Her life�had become stagnant and downright repugnant, but here Jesus is offering her living water that will bubble up from inside of her from a�source that will never end or run out. The reality that she is about to find out though, is that if you want that fresh, living water you have�to get rid of that old water. Every bit of it has to be dumped out before you can be filled up.�

John is telling us the story of the new creation that has broken into the world through the life of Jesus Christ, an event that will culminate�with his death, burial, and resurrection. During his ministry, however, pieces of that new life, the new world that God was bringing about�begin to break through in almost every action that Jesus takes. This account is no different. In 2 Corinthians 5:17, Paul says, “Therefore, if�anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here!” That’s the funny thing about the new creation, we can�only enter into it in as much as the old is let go of. As we see in this scene that’s not always the easiest of things to do. Throughout this�conversation, in fact, the Samaritan woman will try to deflect what Jesus is saying and shut the conversation on no less than three separate�occasions.�

Jesus asks her to call her husband, to which she replies,� I have no husband�. Her answer is terse and uninformative, almost to the point of�being misleading. Clearly she doesn’t want to talk about her personal situation. That only makes sense with a woman who has come to�the well in the middle of the day to intentionally avoid human contact. The new creation is necessarily confrontational with the old though.�Jesus responds, like he did with Nathanael, giving her information that he simply should not have known, details that perhaps no one else�other than her knew. Jesus’ response that she has�had five husbands�, is open to interpretation. The word�aner�, can mean either”�husband”, or simply “man.” It seems to actually fit the conversation a bit better, if Jesus is saying that she has lived with five men, and even�the man she is now living with is not her husband. Either way she would have been an outcast because Jewish, and quite likely Samaritan�traditions at the time, didn’t permit more than three marriages for any reason. The point that Jesus was probably making, however, was�that she was a serial fornicator. He confronted her with her sin and she knew he was right.�

In fact, she quickly tries to shut down that line of conversation and changes the subject quickly. Prophets were thought of, at the time, as�people with great insight into the nature of others, so she can see that he is a prophet. But she still changes the subject with an age-old�technique. She brings up a religious argument in order to divert the conversation away from the uncomfortable. The Jews accepted the�entire cannon of what we call the Old Testament and worshiped in the Temple built in Jerusalem. The Samaritans only accepted the first�five books of the Old Testament (the Torah) and worshiped in a Temple that they had built on Mt. Gerizim. They had been fighting over�those issues for hundreds of years. Perhaps if she can bring up a topic like that, she’ll distract the prophet from directing the conversation�at her. Jesus, though, doesn’t take the bait. Oh, he takes up the subject of worship but not in the way that she expected. He continues to�confront her with the new creation as he says that, in short, the Samaritans don’t understand what they are worshiping, they don’t have�the full story. Salvation, the new creation, is coming through the Jews, but the clock is ticking on even the Jewish way of worship,�for a time�is coming and has now come� when people will be able to worship God beyond the limitations of a certain place or Temple.� God is spirit�,�Jesus says, which means that in the new creation, worship is spiritual but also emanates from knowing the complete truth. It is not�connected with a certain location or bits of knowledge about God.�

In the ancient pagan world, it was believed that a god could only be worshiped in the land in which he was revered. It was thought that his�power was limited to that region, with other gods having the power in other regions. 2 Kings 5 tells of a story that happened in this same�region of Samaria about 800 years earlier. The mighty warrior Naaman had leprosy and went to see the Jewish prophet Elisha, as nothing�else had helped him. When Elisha finally did help, he had an incredible breakthrough, realizing that there was no God in all the world except�in Israel. Yet, he still didn’t get it all, as he asked Elisha for the earth that two donkeys could carry so that he could worship God properly�when he returned to his homeland. Naaman thought that worship was strictly connected to the land on which one stood. So here in the�same region, eight hundred years later, we have another instance of someone struggling with and coming to terms with the location of�worshiping the one, true God.�

In a sense, the Samaritan woman was locked in that old way of thinking. Jesus, however, doesn’t spend too much time discussing what of�that is true or not true, beyond intimating that the Samaritans certainly don’t have all the information they need. His basic point is that�something new is here, the new creation, which brings it all back around to her. If she wants part of this new living water, she is going to�have to get rid of the old.�

The beleaguered Samaritan woman is feisty, though, and will give one more shot at turning the conversation away from an uncomfortable�direction. Maybe there are all of these confusing issues regarding worship, location, God’s people, and on and on and on. But, she says, it�doesn’t really matter. She didn’t have to worry about those things or try to figure them out because when the Messiah�comes, he will�explain everything to us�. The Samaritans did believe in a Messiah, based on their reading of the Torah, but their vision of the Messiah was�more of a teaching figure than the political savior that the Jews envisioned. We’ve all probably heard conversation enders like the ones�that the Samaritan woman has used. First, she tried to give vague answers, then she tried to engage in a religious argument and take Jesus�off track. When that didn’t work she uses the old tried and true, “well, I guess you have your thoughts and I have mind and we’ll never�really know who’s right until some point down the road when I’m far away from you.” In saying that the Messiah will explain everything�when he comes, she has basically stated the conversation is over because they were speaking of unknowable things.�

She thought the conversation was over. And in fact it would have been, except for one small detail. That mysterious Messiah that she�believes will come one day, is standing right in front of her.�He says,�the one speaking to�you—I am he�.� Despite what some modern�commentators claim, Jesus knew that he was the Messiah, but it was risky to proclaim that in the presence of the Jews with all of their�political and kingly expectations. The role had to be redefined before they could grasp it properly. In the presence of this woman, though,�there was no such danger. In fact, Jesus not only proclaims his Messiaship, but also seems to be claiming more than that as he literally says,�“I that speak to you, I am,” using the term (I am) that was connected with God’s personal name (YHWH) in the Old Testament. The new�creation has come, and for yet another person, it is far more than she had bargained for.�

Display�She didn’t know it, but this Samaritan woman was�being confronted about her life by God, the very being�she desired to worship. Yet, she was quite hesitant to�actually have the conversation turn to the truth of her�own life. She wanted the worship without too much�of the truth. We can do the same thing. When�confronts things in your life, whether it’s through�prayer or through the discerning eye of another�Christian, do you try to turn the topic of conversation�or focus or do you humbly listen and learn? How can�you be like the woman in this passage? What could�you gain by truly confronting the areas in your�character that need more light shed on them?�

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16 He told her, "Go, call your husband and come�back."� 17 "I have no husband," she replied.� Jesus said to her, "You are right when you say you�have no husband. 18 The fact is, you have had five�husbands, and the man you now have is not your�husband. What you have just said is quite true."�

19 "Sir," the woman said, "I can see that you are a�prophet. 20 Our ancestors worshiped on this�mountain, but you Jews claim that the place where�we must worship is in Jerusalem."�

21 "Woman," Jesus replied, "believe me, a time is�coming when you will worship the Father neither on�this mountain nor in Jerusalem. 22 You Samaritans�worship what you do not know; we worship what�we do know, for salvation is from the Jews. 23 Yet a�time is coming and has now come when the true�worshipers will worship the Father in the Spirit and�in truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the�Father seeks. 24 God is spirit, and his worshipers�must worship in the Spirit and in truth."�

25 The woman said, "I know that Messiah" (called�Christ) "is coming. When he comes, he will explain�everything to us."�

26 Then Jesus declared, "I, the one speaking to�you—I am he."�

1. What is significant about the fact that the woman�left her water jar at the well?�

2. What was Jesus’ food? What did he mean by that?�

3. What is Jesus’ point about what our food should�be?�

4. What was the impact of the woman’s testimony?�

Dig Deeper�For the longest time I used to laugh at people who bought merchandise because they had seen an infomercial late night on television.�Most of those infomercials were so funny and cheesy that I couldn’t imagine why anyone would buy anything from them. Then, one�night I couldn’t sleep and there was nothing else on TV so I started watching one. I still thought it was cheesy, but it was strangely�fascinating to watch too. From that point on, for a while, I watched all of the infomercials whenever I couldn’t sleep. One night,�though, I found one that wasn’t cheesy. It seemed like a good product, and then it happened. I did the unthinkable. I ordered this�powdered cleaning product that seemed like it was wonderful. When it arrived in the mail, I was perhaps surprised to discover that�it was that good. It really worked as well as they claimed it would. After that, I took great joy in not only telling people about the�produce, but whenever someone came over to our house, I would pour some Kool-Aid on our carpet so that they could see this�product take the stain out easily. When you’ve really found something that works, telling people about it is one thing, and it might�gain their interest for a moment, but they really need to see it and experience it for themselves in order to believe in it.�

Oftentimes, when people are first confronted with the truth of Jesus, as the Samaritan woman was, they are confrontational or want�to resist it, just as she did. Yet, for many people there is a point when they suddenly break into the realm of belief and they�understand, at lest to some level, that which they previously could not or would not. Once people have truly broken through their�unbelief and moved into belief, a drastic change takes place. Suddenly, rather than not wanting to talk about spiritual things, they�actually want to tell everyone about them. That witness is a wonderful and irreplaceable thing, yet they must still have their own�encounter with Jesus in order to truly come into a belief of their own. This was as true for the other Samaritans in the village as it is�for us today.�

One thing we learn from the Gospels is that Jesus was never a careless person. He never haphazardly did things without thinking�them through carefully. About a year ago, I read an article from a pastor on the West coast that claimed that Jesus was reckless and�so should his followers be. He, quite frankly, couldn’t have been more wrong. So when Jesus did things that went so strongly against�social convention, we can only assume that he was doing them on purpose. His disciples, though, seem no less shocked to find Jesus�having a conversation with a woman in public, a Samaritan woman at that. Yet, whether it was out of fear, respect, or the fact that�they knew Jesus had a penchant for challenging certain customs that they just didn’t always understand, they didn’t question him on�the unseemly conversation. We get the feeling that they sure wanted to though.�

Just as we are beginning to wonder about why the disciples may not have questioned Jesus, though, John turns our attention to the�turning point of this whole account. He left us hanging a bit with the interlude of verse 27, following Jesus’ revelation that he was�the Messiah. Perhaps it was to give us a moment to catch our breath and take in that truth, so that we can identify with this woman,�who must have been taken aback. She came to get water and, in the process, avoid people if she could, yet now this encounter with�Jesus has caused her to leave her� water jar�, and to run back to� town�to tell the�people� about Jesus. She’s still in doubt a bit as she�asks,�could this be the Messiah�? But it seems that, even in her sate of not being totally sure, the faith that has taken root has�overcome her doubt. Her reaction demonstrates an absolute truth about a true encounter with Jesus Christ. When we really have�an encounter with him and come to a realization of who he is, it turns our doubt to faith and it changes our priorities. This woman�came for water, but all she could think about was telling others about Jesus. For those of us who have been Christians for awhile, we�need to remember that truth just as much as a new Christian. Sometimes there are things that we get focused on apart from Jesus�and we just need to have an encounter with him, leave our water jar and go tell people about him and what he has done for us.�

Just as Nicodemus and the woman at the well, were focused on earthly things and couldn’t immediately grasp the deeper, heavenly�things that Jesus was talking of, so it goes with his disciples as they return. They want him to eat as it was customary for disciples to�attend to the physical needs of their teacher. Jesus, though, as he so often does, takes the opportunity to teach them something�about his relationship with God. People need�food� to provide sustenance, but Jesus’ food, the thing that gave him sustenance and�kept him going was doing the� will�of God who� sent� him and to�finish his work�. The primary spiritual battle can be boiled down to a�pull between doing our own will and doing God’s will. Adam and Eve brought sin into the world by doing their own will and rejecting�God’s. In fact, humans were made in the image of God (Gen. 1:26-27) to do God’s will but have all sinned and failed to be fully human�by failing to do God’s will. Sin is the exaltation of our own will and the failure to do God’s. Jesus came to be the perfect human being,�though. He came to be the one that would do the will of the Father. This is why he often declared that he came to do the work that�the Father had for him to do (cf. 5:30; 6:38; 7:18; 8:50; 0:4; 10:37-38; 12:49, 50; 14:31; 15:10; 17:4).�

What is the specific aspect of God’s will to which Jesus is referring? The fact that he came to seek and save the lost (Luke 19:10),�sacrificing for the benefit of others rather than meeting his own needs. Jesus is not implying that it’s somehow wrong to eat, but that�doing God’s will should take primary importance in someone’s life. To make his point, Jesus appeals to what was probably a local�saying. It’s�still four months until the harvest�, which probably was a local idiom that got across the point that you can’t rush things.�Growth is slow sometimes and it cannot be forced. Yet, this was not going to be true for them. There was no time to worry about�themselves because all they had to do was� open� their�eyes�and look at the� fields� that were� ripe for harvest�. Perhaps, when Jesus�said that, he looked up and saw the harvest, the Samaritans that had heard from the woman at the well, coming towards them. It’s�hard to tell exactly what Jesus had in mind as he referred to the�sower� and the�reaper�, but his point is probably that all of the�prophets, including John the Immerser, have done the hard work of sowing, and now he and his disciples were going to reap the�harvest. It wouldn’t be a matter of earthly priorities where the sower might get angry that someone else is reaping because this crop�is the life of the age to come. They sowed knowing that others would reap and that time has now come. The Messiah is here and�they get to share in that work. He has sent his disciples to�reap what� they� have not worked fo�r. Others did the hard work and they�will reap the�benefits of their labor�.�

The Samaritan women that just a few minutes earlier, was likely ostracized and wanted as little as possible to do with the people in�her own town, now has run towards them with the most exciting news that she has ever encountered in her entire life. She may have�met the Messiah. In her excitement, she seems to have overstated things a bit by saying that Jesus told her�everything� she�ever did�.�We shouldn’t view this as being deceptive at all though. It’s simply a case of excited hyperbole which gets her point across well. This�man knows things that average human beings do not. At the behest of her testimony they are intrigued and want to here more so�they run and keep asking Jesus to� stay with them� until he agrees. He spends not one day but�two days�. Once you think you may�have finally found the light you don’t want to let go. They need to spend time with him for themselves, after all. Hearing the�testimony of someone else can be important and lead us towards Christ, but faith is not faith if it continues to rely on the testimony�or beliefs of someone else. We must experience Christ for ourselves if it is to become our own faith and our own testimony.�

While Nicodemus, a teacher of Israel, continued to blindly feel around in the dark, looking for the truth that he just couldn’t seem to�find, the hated Samaritans have had the truth revealed to them and they have embraced it.�This man� that spent two days with them,�really is the Savior of the world�.�

Display�When is the last time that you had a personal�encounter with Jesus during your prayer, your�worship, or your Bible reading time that you “left�your water jar at the well”? When is the last time you�went running off and didn’t care about your old�worries anymore, but wanted to tell whoever would�listen about Jesus? Perhaps it’s worth pondering the�direct correlation of the first situation to the second�one.�

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The Disciples Rejoin Jesus� 27 Just then his disciples returned and were surprised to�find him talking with a woman. But no one asked, "What�do you want?" or "Why are you talking with her?"� 28 Then, leaving her water jar, the woman went back to�the town and said to the people, 29 "Come, see a man who�told me everything I ever did. Could this be the Messiah?"�30 They came out of the town and made their way toward�him.� 31 Meanwhile his disciples urged him, "Rabbi, eat�something."� 32 But he said to them, "I have food to eat that you�know nothing about."� 33 Then his disciples said to each other, "Could someone�have brought him food?"� 34 "My food," said Jesus, "is to do the will of him who�sent me and to finish his work. 35 Don't you have a saying,�'It's still four months until harvest'? I tell you, open your�eyes and look at the fields! They are ripe for harvest. 36�Even now those who reap draw their wages, even now�they harvest the crop for eternal life, so that the sower and�the reaper may be glad together. 37 Thus the saying 'One�sows and another reaps' is true. 38 I sent you to reap what�you have not worked for. Others have done the hard work,�and you have reaped the benefits of their labor."�

Many Samaritans Believe� 39 Many of the Samaritans from that town believed in him�because of the woman's testimony, "He told me everything�I ever did." 40 So when the Samaritans came to him, they�urged him to stay with them, and he stayed two days. 41�And because of his words many more became believers.� 42 They said to the woman, "We no longer believe just�because of what you said; now we have heard for�ourselves, and we know that this man really is the Savior of�the world."�

1. Why did the Galileans welcome Jesus?�

2. In what way did they not honor him?�

3. Why was Jesus’ critical of the Galileans?�

4. What was different in the response of the royal�official?�

5. How did the royal official demonstrate his faith?�

Dig Deeper�When I was teaching high school history a few years back, I used to love to take the kids to the public museum in Milwaukee.�There was much to see and it was a pretty good history museum. I really wanted the kids to see some of the incredible displays�that they had there. In order to facilitate that, I would often give them a scavenger hunt list of things to look for and questions�to answer as they went through the museum. The point was for the list to lead them through the museum so that they would hit�important parts of it and take the time to read, learn, and appreciate the history in that part of the museum. One year, though,�the kids got it in their head that the scavenger hunt was more of a race and that there was going to be a prize at the end for the�group that got the most information. They began racing through the clues and running from one area to the next without�stopping and appreciating the history that they were witnessing. They were paying more attention to the clues and had lost�interest in what they were intended to point to.�

As we open this scene in Galilee, we realize that something is quite different from the previous scene in Samaria. The people here�are not soaking up Jesus and learning to believe in him, rather they seem to be more like those students racing around in the�museum. They are far more interested in the signs themselves than in where they are leading. They are not, it seems, truly�interested the truth or in any sort of new creation, they simply want to see a good show. It’s like people today who would rather�go to a church that puts on an entertaining show with music, charisma, and maybe even some exciting “miracles,” rather than�one with solid, biblical teaching that will actually lead them to the truth. Looking for entertainment or excitement over the truth�can be dangerous, but when someone comes along who is truly looking for the truth, they are far more concerned with the truth�than with the show.�

Jesus heads back into Galilee and John gives us the important side note that�Jesus himself had pointed out that prophets have�no honor in their own country�. There seems to be a bit of difficulty, though, between verses 44 and 45. Which is it? Is a prophet�without honor in his own country or did they welcome him? Why would he be without honor when many of them were in�Jerusalem� during the�Passover� and�had seen all that he had done�there? What could John possibly mean?�

Not only had they seen some of the incredible things that he had done in Jerusalem, surely by now word had leaked out about his�having turned the water into wine at the wedding in�Cana in Galilee�. It’s hard to imagine that some of the servants wouldn’t have�spread around the incredible sign that they saw. It’s true that some people may have been a bit skeptical about the rumors of�that event, but surely the events in Jerusalem would have confirmed that something like that could have at least been plausible.�With all of the eyewitnesses and rumors swirling about, how could it be that Jesus was without honor?�

Verse 48 gives us the vital clue that we need to understand what John is talking about. The Word has become flesh, but these�people seem far more interested in the flesh part than the Word itself. They’re not looking for the truth, they want the show.�They were willing to treat Jesus like a celebrity that could do some incredible things but apparently had no interest in honoring�him or the message that he was brining from heaven itself. Jacob’s ladder in the flesh was pointing to the fact that heaven was�breaking into the earthly realm, but all they were interested in was the entertainment, not the message. Jesus says straight out�that unless they�see signs and wonders�, they�will never believe�. Jesus’ point wasn’t that they needed to see a couple of signs�and then they would become solid believers, they had already seen signs. His point was that their level of belief would always�(unless they seriously repented, but there is no evidence that they had much interest in that) tie their belief to more and more�signs. It was all about them, not the truth. They needed to be constantly fed and entertained and pleased. Sadly, we still see�people like this filling out churches in our world today. These are the people that are not very interested in the long, hard work�of studying the Bible, serving others, and living by faith. No, they will only be around as long as things are fun, interesting, and�pleasing to their concept of what church should be.�

In contrast to the type of heart that responds to the signs for the show and the spectacle that appeals to their own flesh, a�royal�official�, probably a Gentile, though not definitively stated, demonstrates the sort of attitude and response that is necessary. If he�is a Gentile, as would seem likely, then John has followed the progression at the opening of Jesus’ ministry of him ministering to�Jew (Nicodemus), Samaritan (the woman at the well), and now Gentile. This is the same progression of the Gospel described on�a larger scale in the book of Acts. This royal official doesn’t need to see any show, he simply believes that Jesus has the power to�heal his son�before� he�dies�.�

Jesus does something quite unusual in that he doesn’t go see the boy, he doesn’t do anything that might give an opportunity for�the crowds to follow him and see another show. He heals the boy who is ill about 14 miles away with the simple words,�go, your�son will live�. This royal official continues to have faith in Jesus’ word alone, for once Jesus says that, he took�Jesus at his word�and departed�. He needed nothing more than the word of Jesus to believe that he had received what he came for. He believed�on the basis of the word, something that those looking for the genuine truth will always do. Once they encounter the genuine�word of God, they don’t need anything more. Signs may confirm their faith but they do not establish it. This is the case with this�official. He had spent half the day traveling to see Jesus and he simply takes Jesus at his word. He immediately turns around to�travel back to Capernaum but could only make it part of the way back before night fall. The next day, as he approaches�Capernaum, his servants meet him to tell that his son was healed at the same time that he was talking to Jesus. The sign that�Jesus had indeed healed his son miraculously did not induce faith in the official, it was already there. The miracle confirmed the�faith that he already had in the Word.�

The problem with miracles is that they were designed as signs to point to truth and lead people to the truth, but some people�don’t want the truth as much as they want to be amazed. Remember that the idea of the�logos�, the Word, was a common one in�the Greco-Roman circles of Jesus’ day. John takes that concept and shows that the word of God from the Old Testament is the�true� logos�, and that the Word has become flesh. For the Greeks, the�logos� was the centering and organizing force that kept the�universe together. Those who possessed the� logos� for themselves would find themselves in harmony with that order but those�that did not would find themselves in chaos. John has shown that the Word is indeed the person that keeps the universe in order.�People who believed in the Word found themselves harmonizing with his ordering principles as he brought the universe to rights.�Throughout the Gospel of John there is a clear distinction between those who believe on the strength of Jesus’ words and those�who believe because they saw something impressive.�

As you continue to read the Gospel of John, don’t be amazed by the signs and miracles that Jesus will perform nearly as much as�you are amazed at what they point to. The signs in and of themselves are only important because they confirm what Jesus said.�The new creation had arrived as Jesus went about doing the will of the One who sent him.�

Display�Do you respond at the hearing of the word of God�alone, or do you need more to keep you coming back?�Spend some time really thinking about whether you�are genuinely interested in hearing and following the�truth or whether you are just looking for a beneficial�experience? Determine that you will be one of those�that will respond to the Word and his word alone.�

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Jesus Heals the Official's Son� 43 After the two days he left for Galilee. 44 (Now�Jesus himself had pointed out that prophets have no�honor in their own country.) 45 When he arrived in�Galilee, the Galileans welcomed him. They had seen�all that he had done in Jerusalem at the Passover�Festival, for they also had been there.� 46 Once more he visited Cana in Galilee, where he�had turned the water into wine. And there was a�certain royal official whose son lay sick at�Capernaum. 47 When this man heard that Jesus had�arrived in Galilee from Judea, he went to him and�begged him to come and heal his son, who was close�to death.� 48 "Unless you people see signs and wonders,"�Jesus told him, "you will never believe."� 49 The royal official said, "Sir, come down before�my child dies."� 50 "Go," Jesus replied, "your son will live."�

The man took Jesus at his word and departed. 51�While he was still on the way, his servants met him�with the news that his boy was living. 52 When he�inquired as to the time when his son got better, they�said to him, "Yesterday, at one in the afternoon, the�fever left him."�

53 Then the father realized that this was the exact�time at which Jesus had said to him, "Your son will�live." So he and his whole household believed.� 54 This was the second sign Jesus performed after�coming from Judea to Galilee.�

1. Why did so many people lie around this pool?�

2. What was the real meaning behind what Jesus�asked this man?�

3. What did the invalid think that Jesus meant?�

4. How does this miracle serve as another sign?�

Dig Deeper�The Greek philosopher Plato told a story about a man in cave. The man was chained up in a cave and the only thing he had to look�at was the shadows of cut-outs of trees and animals and various other objects. The objects were held up behind him and two other�men who were also chained up and a the light from a fire reflected shadows of the objects on the wall in front of them. It was all�of reality that they knew. After a time, one of the men escaped and made it out of the cave into the real world. He was amazed at�the realities that he saw. They were overwhelming and breathtaking, far beyond anything he knew had existed. When all you know�is shadow outlines, you cannot even imagine the depth and beauty of the real world. The man eventually decided to go back into�the cave to tell the others about the real world that he had experienced, but they simply couldn’t understand. They thought that�he had gone mad and didn’t want to hear any of what he had to say. Eventually the other men in the chains killed the man who�came to free them because even the idea of the world he described was so frightening that they could do nothing other than to�eliminate him.�

John has given us, in many different ways, examples of people who were living with knowledge of mere shadows. They are living,�to varying degrees, in the shadowy darkness of a world trapped in sin with no genuine knowledge of what God’s created world is�supposed to be like. John has described for how Jesus confronted each person he encountered with the reality of God’s new�creation and it is fascinating to watch the variety of responses. Some have grabbed on to the little bit they understood immediately,�some have been a bit stand-offish at first, only then to embrace it finally. Some have not understood it at all, and seemed to reject�the reality that Jesus is trying to showing them. In the end, some will reject it just like the two captives in Plato’s cave, grabbing and�killing the man that is trying to tell them that there is a whole new reality outside if they will just break free from their captivity and�chains.�

A pool� that was�near the Sheep Gate� in�Jerusalem� doesn’t sound like a likely place for a prison, but human beings can find�themselves enslaved and imprisoned almost anywhere, even in the most unlikely of situations. As Jesus approaches Jerusalem for�the second time during his ministry (at least that John has recorded), he is going during an unnamed festival, although the original�text implies that it was the Feast of Tabernacles as it calls it the “festival of the Jews,” which was a common nickname for�Tabernacles. As he enters into the city, Jesus encounters a man who had been crippled for� thirty-eight years�. As promising as the�pool near the Sheep Gate sounds, John lets us know that this place has become a prison for this man.�

Great lore, legend, and superstition had developed about this pool in Jerusalem. Apparently it was believed that from time to time�the waters of this pool would get stirred up. This may have been the result of springs in the pool or some other natural�phenomenon, but regardless of what caused the occasional stirring, a belief grew that angels were the cause. It was also believed�that the first, and only the first person into the pool would be healed. Because of this belief, the pool would be surrounded daily�with people who were ill and crippled waiting for their chance, although we are never told how often the waters were believed to�have been stirred. (All of this is explained in verse 4, which is missing in most modern translations because it seems to have been�a later explanatory addition to the original manuscripts and so, has been taken out).�

All of this angels stirring the waters and selective healing business sounds much more like the pagan cults that surrounded Israel�rather than authentic Judaism. In fact, apparently, just the Jews didn’t regard this pool as a healing place. It appears that pagans�also regarded it as a place of healing, and at one point, it was even dedicated to the healing god Ascelpius. Certainly the priests and�Jewish officials didn’t approve of this sort of superstitious behavior, yet they seemed to have turned a blind eye to it for the most�part, due no doubt, to the negative public opinion that would come with ending such a practice that seemed to not harm anyone.�Although it doesn’t seem that this place was very successful. It was more legend than reality. The man described here had made�it his life to come to this place everyday and it had never done anything for him.�

This had become his reality, even his prison. He blindly clutched to the sliver of hope that this place really did have healing powers�and he would be able to benefit from them. This is the sort of place that always winds up being the hope of the pagan world. Here�it was the rumor that there might be healing powers in angel-agitated waters. Today it’s that we can find happiness in wealth,�possessions, power, or personal fulfillment. Whatever the promise is, it never seems to turn out to be what it is cracked up to be.�That’s why Jesus asked this man if he wanted� to get well�. Jesus wasn’t implying that he didn’t really want to get well. Nor was he�insinuating that the man wasn’t make a good enough effort to get into the water, so Jesus was now going to help him if he really�wanted to.�

This is not about effort, it’s about coming out of the world of shadows. This man had bought into the the shadows that the pagan�world clings to. The healing at this pool was a remote, rare, and random event at its best, but a fanciful dream at its worst. He no�longer had to cling to the empty hopes of a world stuck in darkness. Jesus was about to do for him what the world could only�promise but never seem to deliver. He could do what the pool only promised and all it would take was a word from the Word. This�was a moment of new creation, demonstrating what it looks like when people are brought into the life of God’s age to come. That�doesn’t mean that everyone who enters in will become physically healed in the present age, the healing was simply a sign of what�everyone will experience in full one day when all things are restored (Matt. 19:28). What Jesus did in bringing to reality the shadowy�wishes of the pagan world, he can do for everyone now.�

We should note that this is another example of people understanding Jesus at an earthly level when he is speaking of heavenly�things. When he asked the man if wanted to get well, it was an invitation to leave behind the world of shadows and enter into the�new creation. The invalid, however, can as yet only think of his reality in the cave of his own experience. He does want to get healed�and could only do so if he could get in that water. Similarly people in our day could be happy if they could only get that one thing�that desire. He, and the people of our time, never stop to consider that perhaps the problem is not in their ability to get the thing�they desire but the problem is that that thing can never deliver on what they truly need. Jesus can.�

One word from the master was all it took for him to enter into the light. He was carried to the pool and laid down in his usual�darkness, but today he got up and walked as he encountered the light. A word from the Light is all it ever takes. What is rendered�“get up” by the TNIV is actually one word,�egeiro�, which means “rise.” In that one word, John perhaps expects us to catch a glimpse�of what the new creation will look like. The word can simply mean “to raise up,” but it was a word that the early church of John’s�day used regularly to refer to the resurrection of the new creation. Jesus’ word to him, then was much more than a simple�command to get up off the ground. It was an invitation into the new world that he had just been invited. It was an invitation to�come out of the cave and into the real world.�

John doesn’t tell us that this is the third sign, but he has already given us the first two. From here on out, we are on our own. Have�you guessed yet how many signs John will give us in his Gospel?�

Display�Take a look at the people around you that are not�Christians. What is their pool at the Sheep Gate?�What are they holding to on, looking for healing, that�will turn out to be nothing more than an empty hope?�It is our job, given to us by Jesus, to share in relevant�ways the availability of the new creation. It is only in�God’s new world, available in the life of Christ that�people can find true healing of their souls. What are�you doing to spread that message with those that�need it most?�

J�

Discover�

The Healing at the Pool� 1 Some time later, Jesus went up to Jerusalem for�one of the Jewish festivals. 2 Now there is in�Jerusalem near the Sheep Gate a pool, which in�Aramaic is called Bethesda and which is surrounded�by five covered colonnades. 3-4 Here a great number�of disabled people used to lie—the blind, the lame,�the paralyzed. 5 One who was there had been an�invalid for thirty-eight years. 6 When Jesus saw him�lying there and learned that he had been in this�condition for a long time, he asked him, "Do you�want to get well?"�

7 "Sir," the invalid replied, "I have no one to help�me into the pool when the water is stirred. While I�am trying to get in, someone else goes down ahead�of me."�

8 Then Jesus said to him, "Get up! Pick up your mat�and walk." 9 At once the man was cured; he picked�up his mat and walked.�

1. Why was it such an issue that this incident took�place on the Sabbath?�

2. What did Jesus mean when he told this man to�stop sinning or something worse might happen?�

3. What was Jesus’ defense of working on the�Sabbath?�

4. Jesus only spoke during this scene, so he did not�work according to Jewish regulations. What, then,�did he mean by saying that he was working?�

Dig Deeper�I had a wonderful childhood. I really did, and there’s not too much I could even think to complain of, but I do remember one part of�my childhood that was particularly traumatic. You see I had a rhythm to my week. I went to school all week and Sundays were set�aside for church, but Saturdays were supposed to be different. To me, Saturday mornings were for nothing more than laying around�and watching cartoons (this was back when they were still making good cartoons) from whenever I woke up until about noon. My�dad seemed to be operating in a different world, though. He always wanted to get up early on Saturday mornings and do some work.�That might sound bad enough, but what was even worse was the fact that he wanted to always bring me into his disturbed world of�hard work and no cartoons. He was simply operating in a whole different reality than I was and it made me angry. Saturdays were�about self-absorption not hard work. No matter how many times he tried to explain the whole theory behind doing work on Saturday�mornings, it sounded like crazy talk because Saturdays were a completely different thing for a different purpose in my world than�they were in his.�

This seems to be something of the problem with Jesus and the leadership of the Jews. It wasn’t so much that they didn’t understand�the things that he was doing, it was that they were living in a whole different world with a entirely different reality than Jesus. They�still think that it’s time to rest and wait around for God to something, but Jesus knows that that time has passed. It is time to get up�and start working. God is doing something new and the time to be a part of it is right now. Waiting anymore would just be wasting�time.�

John has waited until verse 9 to give us a vital piece of information. Jesus has healed this man on the�Sabbath�. By Jesus’ day, the�Sabbath had become something far different than what is actually described in the Scriptures. It was intended to be a day of rest that�both reminded the Jewish people of the fact that God created the world in six days and rested on the seventh and that pointed ahead�to the true rest and healing that God would bring to the world one day. Israel, through time and tradition, however, had gone far�beyond the call to keep God’s day holy and focused on Him, and had added all kinds of rules and regulations that people had to follow.�The Lord had told the Israelites not to work on the Sabbath and not to carry loads (Ex. 31:12-17; Jer. 17:12-17; Neh. 13:15-19) but�tradition had defined that down to the point that you could not carry any object from one domain into another on the Sabbath, so�you could carry a man on a mat, but not the mat itself. In reality, the man did not break any biblical Sabbath regulations, only the�traditional oral law that attempted to interpret biblical passages.�

The specific issue that Jewish leaders jump all over the man for is that he should not have been carrying his mat on the Sabbath. The�man wants no part of this issue and does not attempt to defend Jesus in anyway. He seems more than happy to pass responsibility�off to Jesus. He only carried his mat because Jesus told him to.�

The question that we really need to ask though, is why would Jesus heal the man on this day? There were six other days in the week.�This man had been in his condition for nearly forty years, why couldn’t it wait for one more day and avoid all of the controversy. The�answer is far more subversive than might at first appear. What seems to be happening is that Jesus is bringing the life of the new�creation into a world that still wants to cling to the old creation. The old world still wanted to lay around and watch cartoons, the�way they always had, but Jesus was already up and working. It was time to get moving, God’s new creation was here. The new�creation was replacing the old one for those who wished to follow Jesus but this simply made no sense to the Jewish leaders. Yet,�this is precisely the picture that John has painted for us. From the first verse of the Gospel, he told us that this was an event of new�creation. He has left clues all throughout, such as pointing out that Jesus’ opening week of ministry was seven days, mimicking the�seven days of creation. Everywhere Jesus went, he was bringing forth signs of the new creation (still wondering how many of those�signs John will describe?).�

As Jesus opens the veil separating heaven and earth further and further, the forces that stand opposed to the new creation react in�increasing fiercer levels. The new creation was being unveiled further as John shows another instance of the angels ascending and�descending on the son of man (cf. 1:51). The Sabbath was always a day to rest and remember the original creation week, but Jesus�sees things quite differently. The Sabbath is no longer a time of rest, it’s a time of opening up the world to the new creation. God�was restoring things that were sick and broken and devastated by a world caught in sin. All humans are born into that world with no�way out on our own. The only hope for the world was for God to do something. This is precisely what the new creation is all about.�It is God fixing what sin has done to the world.�

The man who was healed�, though, is like so many of us. He had walked right into the new creation but he� had no idea� who Jesus�was or what he was doing. In fact, we are never told that this man really ever understood the full implications of what Jesus had done.�He had tasted of the new creation but still seemed far more in fear of being in trouble with the powers-that-be rather than standing�boldly in the new reality which had reached out and touched him. When Jesus tells him to� stop sinning or something worse may�happen to you�, he isn’t necessarily implying that sin caused the man’s condition (Jesus, in fact, denies that sin is a factor in cases like�this is 9:3). Being stuck in a world of sin with no way out, even if part of your condition in that world is to be crippled, pales in�comparison to the reality of being brought into the new creation and not embracing it. There is no place for sin in the age to come�which is why Christians are called to enter into the sinless life of Christ and fully embrace it as we are transformed into his image (Col.�3:10). If this man continued to fail to realize what was going on and walked back into a life of sin, it would be far worse than being�stuck there in the first place with no knowledge of the new thing God was doing. Those who have never entered the new creation,�have hope. Those who have entered and then willingly walked away from it, have no hope (cf. Heb. 6:4-6). The fact was that the time�for those in Israel to choose between the new thing being brought into the world through Christ and the old way was running short�and if this man didn’t embrace the new creation while he still had a chance, the prospects were dire. Having hope is always better,�no matter how dire your circumstances, than having no hope.�

Sadly, verse 15 seems to indicate that he still didn’t get. Whereas the man healed of blindness (ch. 9) defended Jesus and would not�distance himself from Jesus, this man was more than happy to distance himself. So, the anger and hatred of the leaders is quickly�transferred from this man to Jesus. In response to the persecution of the�Jewish leaders�, Jesus said that his� Father� was�always at His�work�, and so was he. In saying this, Jesus has pushed the door between heaven and earth open just a little bit farther, claiming that�his work and the work of the Father were on an even plane. Jews of Jesus’ day had understood that, although God rested from�creation on the seventh day, he continued to work by sustaining the entire creation. They explained that since the entire universe�was God’s domain, He was not breaking any Sabbath ordinance by moving an object from one domain into another. In other words,�only God could work on the Sabbath because the entire universe was His (this was all Jewish reasoning and tradition, not Scripture�mind you). Jesus’ point was that, just as God was above normal Sabbath regulations, so was he. There were only two possible�responses when someone claimed equality with God in ancient Israel. Either he could be taken at his word, or he would be killed for�blasphemy. Clearly, the Jewish leaders rejected Jesus’ word. They did not want the�logos� that he was bringing. They wanted to�remain in their old reality. They simply didn’t want to get up and get to work, helping to bring about God’s new creation. This meant�that, in their eyes, Jesus had to go. He would have to be killed.�

Display�God’s new creation is all about healing, forgiving, and�bringing life and light into the darkness. What signs�of God’s new creation have you seen in your life?�Take some time to really think and pray about signs�of the new creation in your own life. This should not�only fill you with gratitude but should also give you a�determination to share with others what God has�done in your life.�

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Discover�

The day on which this took place was a Sabbath, 10�and so the Jewish leaders said to the man who had�been healed, "It is the Sabbath; the law forbids you�to carry your mat."�

11 But he replied, "The man who made me well�said to me, 'Pick up your mat and walk.' "�

12 So they asked him, "Who is this fellow who told�you to pick it up and walk?"�

13 The man who was healed had no idea who it�was, for Jesus had slipped away into the crowd that�was there.�

14 Later Jesus found him at the temple and said to�him, "See, you are well again. Stop sinning or�something worse may happen to you." 15 The man�went away and told the Jewish leaders that it was�Jesus who had made him well.�

The Authority of the Son� 16 So, because Jesus was doing these things on the�Sabbath, the Jewish leaders began to persecute him.�17 In his defense Jesus said to them, "My Father is�always at his work to this very day, and I too am�working." 18 For this reason they tried all the more�to kill him; not only was he breaking the Sabbath, but�he was even calling God his own Father, making�himself equal with God.�

1. How does Jesus explain the fact that he does the�same work that the Father does?�

2. What is the connection between belief in Jesus’�words and Jesus having life in himself?�

3. Why does Jesus mention the future resurrection�of the righteous?�

4. How does Jesus’ mention of the future�resurrection verify the life that he is offering to�people in the present age?�

Dig Deeper�A few weeks ago I had to go into my eldest son’s school for a regular yearly conference with his counselor. He is in his last year before�starting high school so this conference focused a great deal on his portfolio and his future both in high school and beyond. One of the�things that the students begin to do with their portfolios is to determine what they might want to do for a career and then start thinking�about the types of classes, experiences, and college education that they might need to achieve that. As we were looking through his�portfolio on the computer in the counselor’s office, we came to the page that had a question concerning what career they might like to�pursue as an adult. I was quite encouraged to see that my son had listed that he would like to be a biblical teacher and biblical scholar.�In his mind, he wants to follow in the footsteps of his dad. That’s a pretty uncommon thing in our world today, but it was the usual course�of events in the ancient world. A son would take up the career of his father, watching him, mimicking him, and learning from him. Under�those circumstances, the best way to get good at what your father did was to do exactly what the father did and to listen to his every�instruction.�

This idea of apprenticeship between a father and son is the common imagery upon which Jesus draws to explain why he was claiming to�be sharing in the same work as the Father. What the Jewish leaders could only understand as blasphemy or the wild ravings of a lunatic�were actually quite understandable. He was simply doing what most any son would do in their culture. He had learned His Father’s way�of doing things, and was now going about copying that, carrying out the work of His Father in the precise way that His Father would do�it.�

John tells us in verse 19 that�Jesus gave them this answer�, which seems a bit puzzling because he hasn’t recorded any specific question�in the previous verse. What John likely means is that there was a general question or misunderstanding which evoked a great deal of�rage and anger about Jesus’ claims to be doing the work of his Father. A claim that made himself equal to God in their eyes. His response�is important, as John has set it up as the definitive reason for what he is doing. It is further emphasized by Jesus saying “�Very truly I tell�you�.” This was a claim to be telling the truth without need for a further witness, which in Jewish culture was something only God could�rightly do.�

So how could Jesus claim to be doing the same work that the Father was doing, which is another level above just doing what the Father�sent him to do (he certainly was also doing that but there was more to it than just being a messenger)? Jesus could share in the same�work and be exempt from Sabbath regulations because the�son can do nothing by himself�. Jesus wasn’t just going around making up�this Messiah stuff as he went along. He certainly wasn’t acting according to his own will. He was doing the work of his Father. He was�doing exactly what he had seen the Father do all throughout history (again John demonstrates as he did in the prologue that the Son and�the Father share an essence and purpose but are still distinct beings from one another). So what is that the Son had seen his Father�doing? Without pressing the point beyond its intention, it’s likely that Jesus is referring to the work of reconciling the world back to God.�Jesus had been right there as the Father set about to reconcile a world marred by sin back to Himself and restore the full image of God�to men. Jesus was now here partaking in that same work.�

They should not be amazed then when they see the Son doing incredible things and demonstrating the new creation. The Father, after�all was the creator of the universe. He was the only one with the power to� raise the dead and give them life� (Deut. 32:39; 1 Sam. 2:6; 2�Ki. 5:7). Only the Father can give life to the dead, whether it be the physically dead or the spiritually dead (Ezek. 37). John has already�made it clear in chapter 3, that the world stands condemned in darkness already because of their sin. In that sense, it could rightly be�said that all have sinned (Rom. 3:23), all stand condemned already (3:18), and thus, all humans are dead in their sins (Eph. 2:1; Col. 2:13).�

The Father has the power to raise the dead and give them life, and so does the Son. The Son has�life in himself�and� gives life to whom�he is pleased to give it�. In this one short incredible explanation that Jesus gives in this passage, John gives us nearly every major theme�of his entire Gospel. Jesus is the true Son of God that has replaced Israel (5:19; cf. 15:1), the faithless son (Ex. 4:22). It is he who serves�as Jacob’s ladder connecting the earthly life of the present age to the heavenly realm of the the life of the age to come, eternal life 5:24).�This life, however, is available only to those who hear the� logos� (the word) of Jesus and believe (5:24). It is to those who believe in the�logos who will enter into the life of Christ where life is found (5:26). Only those in Christ will share in the new creation that Jesus is�bringing both now, in the present age, and in the resurrection that is yet to come (5:29).�

The ministry of Jesus is all about bringing the dead to life. Those who hear his word and believes will have�eternal life�. If people believed�in God, truly believed in Him according to His word and not their own vision of what He is and should be doing, then they will believe in�the life that He has sent. Many people in our day view the concept of eternal life as something that happens to us after we die, as though�we die, go off to another location called heaven, and then and only then do we experience everlasting life there. This is not exactly what�Jesus means, however. Eternal life was the life of the age to come. It was the life of God’s restored creation and His complete presence�with His people. Those who enter into the life of Christ have that life available to us now, in the present age, pointing people ahead to�the time when heaven and earth will be brought together completely forever (Eph. 1:10), which will happen when Christ appears and�resurrects those in him.�

Most Jews during the first century absolutely believed that God would one day bring an end to the present age. He would send the�Messiah who would bring an end to evil in the world by defeating Israel’s enemies and exalting Israel to her rightful place in the world.�The righteous would be resurrected from the dead and would reign with God forever. This would be the end of the present age, the end�of time, so to speak. In verses 28 and 29, then, when Jesus says that they should not be� amazed� at what he has just said because� a time�is coming when all who are in their graves will hear his voice and come out�. The righteous will�rise to live� while the unrighteous will�receive their full condemnation, this was not the surprising part. It might sound a bit unusual or shocking to us, but this was the part that�they all understood and believed in. Jesus describes their common belief in order to verify the shocking part for them that they were not�expecting.�

The shocking part that Jesus would reveal little by little was that this passage from death to life and entrance into the age to come was�available now.� The time was coming�, they all knew that and believed that, but that� the time has now come�? Now that was hard to�swallow. He was telling them that those who believed in the life of Christ and entered into could share in the life of the age to come now.�How could that possibly be? How could that make any sense at all?�

This is the great power of the new creation. It’s not just some run-of-the-mill spiritual experience that someone can have. It is new life�welling up inside of you from God’s own Spirit. If everyone could believe in a future resurrection, then why could God not offer that in�the present age? What Israel expected of all the righteous at the end of time would take place for the One righteous human in the middle�of time. Israel would be exalted to rule the nations, but Jesus is the true Israel. The righteous would be resurrected and enter into the�age to come, but Jesus is the only righteous one. Yet, he has made that life and that resurrection life available now to those who would�only believe in his life, die to themselves, and enter in. The shocking thing for Jesus’ original audience, and perhaps still for us in different�ways, was that they could have that life in the present as it anticipated and guaranteed the full consummation of the resurrection life in�the age to come.�

Display�People in the first century had a tendency to believe�in God’s future age more than they did of having�spiritual life in the present age. Although we often�have a much different conception of the age to come,�we tend to focus much more on “going to heaven”�than we do with realizing the life of the age to come�in the present age. Are you truly doing your best to�grab hold of eternal life now and demonstrate to the�world around you what it looks like to live in a�community that is reconciled to God.�

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Discover�

19 Jesus gave them this answer: "Very truly I tell�you, the Son can do nothing by himself; he can do�only what he sees his Father doing, because�whatever the Father does the Son also does. 20 For�the Father loves the Son and shows him all he does.�Yes, and he will show him even greater works than�these, so that you will be amazed. 21 For just as the�Father raises the dead and gives them life, even so�the Son gives life to whom he is pleased to give it. 22�Moreover, the Father judges no one, but has�entrusted all judgment to the Son, 23 that all may�honor the Son just as they honor the Father.�Whoever does not honor the Son does not honor�the Father, who sent him.�

24 "Very truly I tell you, whoever hears my word�and believes him who sent me has eternal life and�will not be judged but has crossed over from death�to life. 25 Very truly I tell you, a time is coming and�has now come when the dead will hear the voice of�the Son of God and those who hear will live. 26 For�as the Father has life in himself, so he has granted�the Son also to have life in himself. 27 And he has�given him authority to judge because he is the Son�of Man.�

28 "Do not be amazed at this, for a time is coming�when all who are in their graves will hear his voice�29 and come out—those who have done what is�good will rise to live, and those who have done what�is evil will rise to be condemned.�

1. Why will Jesus not rest on just testifying to himself?�

2. Who is the one who testifies in favor of Jesus?�

3. What did Jesus mean by asserting that he did not�accept the human testimony of God?�

4. How do the works of Jesus stand as part of the�testimony of the Father?�

Dig Deeper�Many years back I was still trying to decide where I wanted to go to college. Mind you, I didn’t use the kind of criterion that normal�people should use like the academic strength of the university or the reputation of the professors. No, I was judging solely on where I�thought I might like to play basketball. So, I went and visited a college in Indiana to meet the coach and the players. I took a friend with�me who was also out of high school and was considering going to college somewhere, although she wasn’t really considering that�college in Indiana as her first choice. We were in the gym warming up and playing around a little bit, and the fact was, I was a decent�player, but she was a phenomenal women’s player. She could, in fact, hold her own with most guy players. As we were shooting�around, the women’s coach walked through and saw her playing. She immediately began to come over and recruit my friend. She�asked her all kinds of questions and began to judge whether or not she could play for that school. Eventually she offered her a full�scholarship on the spot. What was interesting is that the coach thought all along that she was judging my friend and giving her an�opportunity to possibly come to that school. What was really happening, though, was that the whole time she was really judging the�coach and the school to see if they would match up to her expectations. In reality, they needed her a lot more than she needed them.�They thought the issue was whether or not my friend measured up, but in the end, she decided that they did not measure up.�

Throughout his Gospel, John almost seems to be presenting a court case of sorts. The Jewish leaders certainly thought that when they�went to confront Jesus, they were in the position of judging Jesus. They wanted to determine who he was, what he thought he was�doing, and whether he was the sort of Messiah that they were waiting for. In fact, John has recorded all of these events in such a way�that we too can evaluate who Jesus is and come to believe that he is the Son of God (20:31). What we will find out, though, is the same�surprising truth that Jesus hints at here to the Jewish leaders. All the while that they think they are judging him, it is Jesus’ words that�are really judging them. This is the startling reality. Jesus is not really the one on trial, we all are.�

The concept of witnesses was very important to the Jewish culture. Old Testament passages like Deuteronomy 17:6 and 19:15 laid out�clearly the need for two or three witnesses in order to establish something as true or someone as trustworthy. If someone were�claiming to be something or someone important, they needed to have another witness. Going simply by their own word would just not�be acceptable. Jesus knows this which is why he says that if all he can muster up is testimony about himself, then everyone can rest�assured that his�testimony is not true�. This is an interesting concept that should not be overlooked in our day. Nearly every major�religion or Christian offshoot such as Islam, Jehovah’s Witnesses, or the Mormon church are all belief systems that are established by�one witness making claims about their own revelation. They have no way to verify whether their claims of Godly revelation are�authentic or not.�

With Jesus, however, that is not the case. He did not expect anyone to take his own testimony alone, nor does he try to give one�without verification. Although, since everything Jesus says and does is the will of the Father, if he would have offered a self-testimony,�then we can know that it would have come from God.�There is another who testifies in� his�favor�. At first glance, it might appear that�Jesus is referring, in verse 32, to John, but verse 34 makes it clear that that is not the case. Jesus’ other witness is none other than his�Father. It is quite likely that Jesus refers to his baptism with John with this. John’s Gospel seems to assume that his readers are already�familiar with what happened at that baptism and so merely alludes to the fact that God declared that Jesus was His beloved Son with�whom He was well pleased. Since Jesus was claiming to perfectly represent the will of the Father, his witness would only be true if it�was supported by the Father. The moment of his baptism was just such an occasion.�

When it comes down to it, the testimony of the Father is the only that he cares about. Solely for the benefit of the Jews who did not�receive this witness or would have a difficult time comprehending it, though he mentions that they did have another witness, a�powerful human witness so that they would have no excuse. John was a powerful prophet that was sent to them by God and he also�testified to the truth�. Jesus didn’t himself base his convictions or the truth of his message on the�human testimony� of John, but John’s�witness could lead them down the path to find the testimony that really mattered, that of the Father. If they would but only listen to�John’s testimony, they would truly find the way as some of John’s disciples already had.�

John was�, after all, a� lamp�. Jesus uses the past tense in verse 35 which might indicate that John was already in prison or dead.�Ultimately, however, the point was that John’s witness was temporary. John was a lamp but was not the light himself. Lamps in Jesus�day didn’t burn indefinitely the way they do today. They burned for a short time and then went out. John was a lamp that burned for�a short time to show people the way. He pointed down the right path but people didn’t like the path he was illuminating. Many of�them liked the idea of having a genuine Old Testament style prophet among them during their lifetimes, but they didn’t like the�direction that he was pointing to.�

John’s testimony would hopefully point them down the road of salvation, but it was simply a pointer. The truly weighty testimony came�from God. But in verse 36 Jesus says that that testimony is the works that he was doing? Isn’t this him testifying to himself? How could�his works be considered the testimony of the Father? Because the works that he was doing were works that only the Father could do.�He was, after all, the apprentice Son, doing exactly what he had seen the Father doing. The works that Jesus were doing were not�something that an ordinary human could do on their own volition. They were the works that the Father had given him to do. He was�bringing about the signs of the new creation, something that only God could do. One need only look at what someone is doing to see�where it is that they are truly coming from. When people saw Jesus doing the works of heaven on earth, then it stands to reason that�Jesus had come from the very presence of the Father.�

Jesus knows that he has come from the Father and that the Father has testified concerning him because he is the one that has heard�God’s�voice�. He has seen his� form�. God’s�word� does�dwell� in him. Jesus is not worried by the lack of support or the opposition of�humans because he has the witness of the Father. Despite the witness of the Father, the Jews will in large part reject it. They have�never heard God’s�voice� as Moses had (Ex. 33:11), but they have failed to be true followers of Moses. They had never seen the�form�of God as Jacob had (Gen. 32:30-31) but they have failed to be true descendants of Jacob. They do not have God’s word dwelling in�them the way the Psalmist did (Ps. 119:11), but they have failed to be true followers of the word. For all of these reasons they do not�believe the�one� that was�sent� by the Father. They have, in nearly every respect, failed to be true Israelites, but John points out once�again, that Jesus has. He is the true Israel.�

It all comes down to the fact that Jesus was� sent� by the Father and does exactly what the Father wants him to do. He can�do nothing�by himself. He has come to bring the judgment of the word of the Father and to�please� him. All along, the Jewish leaders thought that�they were judging the veracity of Jesus, and they certainly do need to make a decision whether they will believe in him or not, but in�reality, they were not the ones doing the real judging. The Son was the one that has come in judgment. He is the one that will carry�out God’s work and His just judgment (v. 30). Jesus is not the one that is really on trial here. God has already spoken and vindicated�him. The ones listening to Jesus’ words and witnessing his works but are rejecting him are the ones that are on trial. We are the ones�that will have to answer according to his word. The question for us is when the time comes will we accept the testimony of the Father�through the life of the son or will we be like Belshazzar in Daniel 5, having been weighed, measured, and found wanting?�

Display�We can often approach the word of God as though�the role of judge belongs to us. Will we follow this�aspect of God’s word or obey that part? Has God�made a good enough case in our minds to be worthy�of being followed? The reality, however, is that we�are the ones on trial. What will you do with the word�of God? Do you obey it or do you weigh it like it’s�evidence in a case in which you are the judge?�

J�

Discover�

30 By myself I can do nothing; I judge only as I hear,�and my judgment is just, for I seek not to please�myself but him who sent me.�

Testimonies About Jesus� 31 "If I testify about myself, my testimony is not�true. 32 There is another who testifies in my favor,�and I know that his testimony about me is true.� 33 "You have sent to John and he has testified to�the truth. 34 Not that I accept human testimony; but�I mention it that you may be saved. 35 John was a�lamp that burned and gave light, and you chose for a�time to enjoy his light.�

36 "I have testimony weightier than that of John.�For the works that the Father has given me to�finish—the very works that I am doing—testify that�the Father has sent me. 37 And the Father who sent�me has himself testified concerning me. You have�never heard his voice nor seen his form, 38 nor does�his word dwell in you, for you do not believe the one�he sent.�

1. Why did Jesus criticize the diligent Scriptural study�of the Jewish leaders?�

2. Where did the leaders think that they would find�eternal life? Where has Jesus consistently said that�eternal life would be found?�

3. Why did they accept those who came in their own�name rather than Jesus who came in the Father’s�name”�

Dig Deeper�My first several years coaching high school basketball were always a bit challenging. The main challenge for us to be competitive was that�we simply didn’t have the kind of talent that the other teams in our conference had. We were always shorter, slower, and less physically�talented than the other teams we were playing. Because of this, I developed a coaching style that caused our team to be very physical,�focus on defense, and really try to slow the game down. We did this well and we were never a great team but we were always difficult to�play, difficult to score on, and always had the potential to upset anyone on any given night. A few years later, though, we suddenly had�some incredibly talented players. In fact, we may have had the most talented and deep team in the league. We started winning games,�but not as many as our talent might dictate. We started the season winning four games but losing three. This would have been great for�the previous teams, but not this one. We were simply too talented. At halftime of our eighth game, it took one of my players to make me�realize what the problem was. He told me that the slow-down style and rugged physical defense that I had always coached simply didn’t�work for the players we had. He was right. I had forced them to play my system rather than adjusting my system to the players I had. My�preconceived notions of how we should play limited us from playing as well as we should have. At that moment we changed everything.�We opened the game up and let the players use their athletic ability to make it a fast-paced game. We went from a four-point lead to a�forty-point win and we did not lose another game during the regular season of that year.�

The Jews of Jesus’ day were well known for their commitment to studying the Scriptures. They had built the whole life of their country, in�many ways, around it. They took the study of the Torah very seriously and had very rigid systems in place for how it should be studied and�lived out. Yet, they had also created a very rigid system of how those same Scriptures were to be read and understood. So much so that�they had a religious system that was just exactly the way they liked it and they shaped God to fit their system. Rather than seeking the way�of God and then adjusting their own beliefs and practices according to His will, they worked out their own patterns and system of religious�observance and the tried to fit God into that. The result was not just that they kept God from realizing His full potential the way I had with�my basketball team. The result was that they missed God altogether.�

There is an old saying that talks about not being able to see the forest through the trees. The point of that saying is something along the�lines of it being possible to so focus on details that we forget or fail to see the larger truth or point. The Jewish leaders of Jesus’ time pored�over every possible detail of the Scriptures. They knew them inside and out. They knew every little detail and they were quite good at�filling in all of the blanks where Scripture might have left some things up to interpretation. They certainly, above all else, knew who wasn’t�following Scriptures to the jot and tittle. They were, we must understand though, quite serious and sincere about all of this. But the�problem was that they lost sight in most respects as to�who� this was all about.�

Human beings are more than capable of getting obsessed with the wrong things, and this was certainly the case with the Jewish leaders�that Jesus was so apt to criticize. They had lost sight of the fact that all of this study of Scripture should have been about God and seeking�out His will. Instead it had become all about themselves. They became far more interested in impressing one another and being important�than they were in genuinely finding God’s will in the Scriptures. They quickly became fare more interested in reading the Scriptures like a�rule book and setting themselves up as the rule keepers rather taking part in God’s plan to reconcile His creation back to himself. This is�exactly the problem that God, through the prophet Hosea, pointed out to the Israel of Hosea’s day, when he declared that He desired�“mercy, not sacrifice, and acknowledgment of God rather than burnt offerings” (Hos. 6:6). In other words, God wanted a people that care�about the letter of the law but not to the point of ignoring the spirit.�

The Jewish leaders studied the Scriptures diligently, believing that the study and knowledge of Scripture itself was what would set them�apart as people who would gain the life of the age to come. Yet, they missed the larger whole, because the study of Scriptures does not�get us anywhere if we do not apply and embrace the heart and action of the Scripture. This is why James declared, “Do not merely listen�to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says” (James 1:22). The charge that Jesus is leveling is that they have held so woodenly�to the letter of the Scriptures that they have absolutely missed what the Scriptures were all about. If they had been more concerned with�fitting themselves to God’s agenda rather than fitting Him inside of theirs, they would have realized that all the Scriptures of the Old�testament were pointing to the Messiah. They were all about Jesus.�

This should all stand as a stern warning for us who can so easily fall prey to the same thing. Certainly doctrine is important, but doctrine�that is not stressed for its own ends. It is easy to get so obsessed with the letter of New Testament doctrines and Scriptures that we can�lose sight of the overall intention. We cannot become so focused on individual convictions and doctrines that we do damage to the overall�heart of the New Testament which is forming a community that teaches the world how to live in a state of reconciliation with God. The�Scriptures are always about Jesus brining life to a dead world not about excluding people who fail to meet every rule and standard. This is�not to say that we just throw out doctrine or the things that the Scriptures say. It means that we must find a balance between studying the�Scriptures diligently and living them out in the real world. We must never lose the heart or the spirit of the Scriptures because we are�holding so tightly to the letter of the law.�

These leaders in fact, claimed Jesus, were so enamored with following rules and excluding those that didn’t that this was evidence that they�did not really�have the love of God in� their�hearts�. They might assert that Jesus is claiming that they have missed the heart of the�Scriptures, though, because it is in his own self-interest to do so. Jesus anticipates that and says that this is not the case. He has come in�His�Father’s name�, which meant his way of life and in His authority. They failed to see that, though, because they would rather fit God into�their box rather than fitting themselves into His. Because of this, they�do not accept� him. Why? Because they do not truly want to fulfill�God’s agenda. God’s agenda is often uncomfortable for the most religious among us, because He shows such grace and mercy to the�unlovable. They far prefer false prophets who come in their own name because those types came from their world and appealed to the�things that appealed to them. Jesus, on the other hand has come from heaven and speaks the things of heaven. They fell into the classic�danger of desiring the�glory� that comes from other humans rather than�the glory that comes from the only God�.�

If Jesus has come from the Father, will he return to the Father and�accuse� them� before� Him? He doesn’t need to do that because�Moses�will stand as their accuser. It is true that all humans will stand and be judged according to the Word one day, but Jesus is making a point�here. They have held tightly to the writings of Moses but they have missed the fact that Moses wrote about Jesus. Jesus is not claiming�that if you scour through the writings of Moses, you can find a passage or two that predict the coming of the Messiah. His point is that�everything that Moses wrote pointed to the coming of the Messiah. The entire witness of the Old Testament, in fact, was pointing people�towards Jesus. But they were so worried about who was and who was not following the law, that they missed God’s entire plan. If they�wouldn’t adjust their own preconceived notions and conceptions of what Moses said, someone whom they claimed to revere, then they�certainly weren’t going to�believe� what Jesus was saying. He knew the true purpose of the law, they didn’t, so when he talked of the true�purposes of God, they simply would not recognize it.�

It’s easy to begin to approach the Scriptures in a purely academic fashion or to become so attracted to the “rules” of the Bible that we miss�the heart of what God is doing in the world. This is where we must constantly make efforts to find the tension between studying the text�of the sacred Scriptures but making sure that we allow that knowledge to turn into personal experience, passion, adoration, and genuine�worship. That passion and adoration should, in turn, cycle back around and inspire us to gain even more knowledge which will further fuel�our passion. It is only when find the proper balance between the head and the heart that we will find the true will and agenda of the living�God.�

Display�Do you ever get so committed to the “rules” that you�lose sight of the reconciliation that God wants to�bring about for the entire world through His people,�the community formed in the life of Christ? What�steps can we take to make sure that God’s agenda is�our agenda?�

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Discover�

39 You study the Scriptures diligently because you�think that in them you possess eternal life. These are�the very Scriptures that testify about me, 40 yet you�refuse to come to me to have life.�

41 "I do not accept glory from human beings, 42�but I know you. I know that you do not have the love�of God in your hearts. 43 I have come in my Father's�name, and you do not accept me; but if someone�else comes in his own name, you will accept him. 44�How can you believe since you accept glory from�one another but do not seek the glory that comes�from the only God?�

45 "But do not think I will accuse you before the�Father. Your accuser is Moses, on whom your hopes�are set. 46 If you believed Moses, you would believe�me, for he wrote about me. 47 But since you do not�believe what he wrote, how are you going to believe�what I say?"�

1. Why were the crowds following Jesus at this point?�

2. Why did Jesus ask Philip how they were going to�buy bread for all of the people?�

3. What Old Testament stories does this event seem�to parallel?�

4. What did the people want to do with Jesus after�the miracle? How does this show that they really did�not understand who he was?�

Dig Deeper�When I was a high school basketball coach, I was also the president of the athletic conference of which we were a part. This was usually�a hectic but fairly enjoyable job. One year, though, it became a major headache. We had had a problem with one team for years. They�simply would not live up to the expectations of a team in our conference. Their fans were very poorly behaved and caused constant�security problems, everything from rowdy behavior, to major fights, to one of them pulling a gun on me in the parking lot because I had�escorted him out of the gym. It didn’t stop there, however. We constantly had to warn the cheerleaders for performing lewd routines,�which caused their faculty advisor to scream at me for being prudish. On top of that, we had to sanction the coach several times for�unsportsmanlike behavior and for intentionally using ineligible players. As the new season began, the entire school was on probation.�They were warned about what was going to happen if they didn’t fall in line with the expectations, but that didn’t seem to deter them�much, even after a meeting with the principle of their school who claimed that the problem was our expectations rather than their�behavior. Two games into the season, their fans caused a major disturbance after the game and it was discovered that the star player�on their team was actually a twenty-two year-old security guard who had been given fake paperwork and a fake report card by the�school. With that, we removed the school from our conference. We had a waiting list of schools that were independent at the time�but that wanted to join our conference. Because of the unusual action of having to remove a team from the conference, we took the�equally unusual step of asking the top school on that list to join our conference. They completely took the place of the old school on�the schedules and in every other way. For that season they became, in essence, the wayward school and fulfilled the obligations that�were supposed to belong to the other team.�

In a similar, but far more profound way, Israel had been given a role to play. They were God’s covenant people but they failed to meet�the expectations of that covenant over and over again. God warned them all along what would happen if they continued to fail in�meeting their obligations. One thing was for sure; they had consistently and willingly failed. God did, in some sense, what we did with�that failed basketball team. He didn’t just boot Israel out, but He sent a replacement. He sent a true Israel that would fulfill the role�and obligations that had been intended for Israel all along. What they had failed to do, Jesus would do. He would be the true Israel.�This, in fact, is one of the major themes of the Gospel of John that is woven throughout the entire book. Jesus did not just come to be�the Messiah to Israel, he came to be the true Israel. John will show us this reality in many ways as he depicts Jesus fulfilling roles, types,�expectations, and surpassing figures and elements of Israel. Each of those instances add up to the clear conclusion that Jesus is the�fulfillment of the people of God.�

The list of ways that John demonstrates that Jesus is the new Israel is impressive. Israel was called God’s son (Ex. 4:22-23), but John�has made it clear that His true and unique Son is Jesus (1:49; 3:16; 5:25; 11:27; 19:7; 20:31). Israel was designed to be the light of the�world (Isa. 42:6; 49:6; 51:4), but had systematically failed in that endeavor, so Jesus is described repeatedly as the true light (1:4-9;�3:19-21; 8:12; 9:5; 12:35-36, 46). Jesus said it as clearly as one could, when he took one of Israel’s primary names and images from the�Old Testament, God’s vine (Ps. 80:8-9; Hos. 10:1; Isa. 5:1; Jer. 2:21; Ezek. 15:6)) and boldly declared himself to be the “true vine”�(15:1-7). But it wasn’t just the names of Israel that John wants us to see now apply to Jesus. Elisha fed the masses miraculously (2 Ki.�4:42-44) and the Israelites were fed by God in the wiilderness (Num. 11) but Jesus far surpassed that as the true manna (ch. 6). Moses�led the Israelites across the Red Sea (Ex. 14) but Jesus walked on water (6:17-24). Wisdom was the source of proverbial wisdom (1 Ki.�3:9-12) but John applies many of the features of wisdom from the book of Proverbs to the Word that has become flesh (1:1-18). Moses�lifted up the bronze serpent but that merely pointed to what Jesus would do (3:14-15). Jesus was the new and complete Jacob’s ladder�(1:51); He was God’s Temple, the place of God’s presence (2:19-21); he was the new Passover (1:29, 36; 2:23; 4:45; 6:4; 11:55; 12:1;�13:1; 18:28, 39; 19:14; 6:60-71; 13:1-11; 18:38-40; 19:31). He was the Prophet that Moses had predicted and everyone was expecting�one day (6:14). He was the one on whom God’s Spirit would remain, and of course, it was no small coincidence that Jesus chose twelve�apostles (John 6:70) to replace the twelve tribes of Israel.�

More than anything else, John wants us to see in this passage, the image of God feeding His people. This is precisely what God had�done with Israel in Numbers 11 and now this is what Jesus is doing in this passage. Just as god provided for manna in the wilderness�and Elisha fed a hundred men miraculously (2 Ki. 4:42-44), Jesus will provide for the masses that are following him. He is again doing�things that only God could do, demonstrating that he and those who follow him are the true Israel.�

The problem as we begin this scene, however, is that most of the crowds following Jesus seem more like the old Israel than the new�Israel. They are following Jesus because of the signs that he performed and following Jesus’ incredible feeding miracle here, they are�about to jam Jesus into their own God-shaped boxes as they will try to make him become the sort of king that they imagined the�Prophet would be. They are, in reality, following Jesus because of the signs rather than faith.�

John doesn’t waste details, though, and so we need to ask why he stresses here that this is Passover time. This is now the second of�three Passovers that we, his readers will spend with Jesus. Here we have the crowds that seem to be a good representative of all of�Israel coming to Jesus who will feed them in a manner quite reminiscent of Numbers 11 when God provided for the Israelites with�manna. But John also wants us to see this as a new Passover. This is far more than God providing food for His people, though. The�Passover was the ultimate event in Israel’s history when God freed Israel from slavery and bondage. That is where this is all going.�Jesus will not just provide bread for the people, he is the bread (which he will make clear later in the chapter) that will provide freedom�from the true bondage of slavery to sin and separation from God.�

The disciples like so many others in John’s Gospel don’t quite grasp the heavenly proportions of what Jesus is doing yet. They’re still�thinking firmly in earthly terms as Philip can’t possibly imagine how he could answer Jesus’ query about how to feed all these people.�Philip has apparently already forgotten that Jesus has bread that they don’t know about. He has bread that comes from heaven and�that, like the living water, will never run out. His bread is to do God’s will. To demonstrate that, he will feed a crowd of five thousand�men (which might mean there were about twenty thousand, including the women and children). Heaven has opened up through�Jacob’s ladder once again. This is what it looks like when the Word becomes flesh. So, Jesus takes up�five small barley loaves and two�small fish� and turns them into a feast for as many as twenty thousand people (This is now the fourth sign that John has given us. Are�you still counting?). This should serve as a great reminder for us that when we offer up the smallest of our resources and bring them�to Jesus, there’s no telling what he will do with them, but it’s almost always incredible, if we truly give them over to him.�

When they are all done eating, Jesus orders his disciples to gather the pieces that were left over which was customary Jewish practice�to ensure that no food would be wasted. As they gather up the food, it is enough to fill�twelve baskets�. John has been so cognizant of�showing us imagery that Jesus was the new Israel and gathering followers into him that would make up this new Israel, that we can’t�help but think that he intends us to see more of the imagery in the fact that there were twelve baskets, a number that was highly�symbolic of the twelve tribes of Israel.�

Truly this is the new Israel, the Father’s unique representative who is feeding the children of Israel in the wilderness once again. The�new creation was breaking into their own world, if they would only look and see it. The same could be said of us. Have you seen the�new creation? Have you entered into it? Do you actively point to it and call those around you to it?�

Display�Imagine for a moment what the young man in this�account must have been feeling when he was first�brought to Jesus. He had virtually nothing to offer in�comparison to the problem facing them, yet he gave�it to Jesus nonetheless. The boy did nothing more�than give what he had to Jesus. Are you willing to do�the same? What small resources or gifts or talents do�you have that you have withheld because you didn’t�think that it would do any good? Try turning it over�to Jesus and see what he can do with it.�

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Discover�

Jesus Feeds the Five Thousand� 1 Some time after this, Jesus crossed to the far shore�of the Sea of Galilee (that is, the Sea of Tiberias), 2 and�a great crowd of people followed him because they�saw the signs he had performed by healing the sick. 3�Then Jesus went up on a mountainside and sat down�with his disciples. 4 The Jewish Passover Festival was�near.� 5 When Jesus looked up and saw a great crowd�coming toward him, he said to Philip, "Where shall we�buy bread for these people to eat?" 6 He asked this�only to test him, for he already had in mind what he�was going to do.� 7 Philip answered him, "It would take almost a year's�wages to buy enough bread for each one to have a�bite!"� 8 Another of his disciples, Andrew, Simon Peter's�brother, spoke up, 9 "Here is a boy with five small�barley loaves and two small fish, but how far will they�go among so many?"� 10 Jesus said, "Have the people sit down." There was�plenty of grass in that place, and they sat down (about�five thousand men were there). 11 Jesus then took the�loaves, gave thanks, and distributed to those who were�seated as much as they wanted. He did the same with�the fish.� 12 When they had all had enough to eat, he said to�his disciples, "Gather the pieces that are left over. Let�nothing be wasted." 13 So they gathered them and�filled twelve baskets with the pieces of the five barley�loaves left over by those who had eaten.� 14 After the people saw the sign Jesus performed,�they began to say, "Surely this is the Prophet who is to�come into the world." 15 Jesus, knowing that they�intended to come and make him king by force,�

1. Why does John include the detail that a strong�wind was blowing and causing rough waters?�

2. How does the Jewish symbolic use of the sea add�a deeper level and meaning to this very real incident?�

3. What did this sign demonstrate to the disciples?�

4. Why was the crowd so puzzled?�

Dig Deeper�Who doesn’t love Christmas time as a kid? It was always my favorite time of year. I loved everything about Christmas including�the music, the decoration, and days spent smelling and eating the baked goodies that mom was making. And, of course, there�was the great hope of Santa coming and brining gifts. Before we went to sleep on Christmas Eve we would make all kinds of�special preparations for Santa’s arrival. The most important components of that preparation were the milk and cookies that were�left out for Santa to give him a little extra energy on his long trip that night. We would then go to bed every Christmas Eve so full�of anticipation and adrenalin that was it was difficult to actually sleep that night. I remember one year in particularly waking up�and going downstairs and getting so excited. He had been there! Santa was in our house. Oh, I didn’t actually see him, but I�knew. How you may ask? Because someone had done things that only Santa could do. The glass door on the fireplace was open,�the milk and cookies were gone, and the ground underneath the Christmas tree was full of presents. These were not things that�some mere mortal could do, I reasoned in my young mind. Clearly this was evidence of Santa himself. Of course, now I know�better, but at that time, it seemed pretty clear.�

It’s not too difficult to fool a young child into thinking that things had been done that only Santa Claus could do, but as I get older�and have more time to reflect on those things, I understand how silly my reasoning and logic were. What is perhaps amazing is�that as the early Christians had time to reflect upon the things that they saw and heard Jesus do, they begin to understand even�more deeply who he was and what he was doing, rather than realize that they were somehow fooled and that he was just an�ordinary human after all. No, they understood that this wasn’t a situation of them being fooled like a child believing in Santa�Claus. This was a man who was doing things that only Israel’s God could do. Time after time, he said things that only God would�say, and even more impressively, he did things only God could do.�

Compared to many of the people around them, the Israelites were never a sea-faring people. If anything, they were a sea-fearing�people. Oh, there were plenty of fishermen and people who made their living on the sea, but for the most part, they stayed away�from the sea. Going back to ancient times, the sea became one of the most powerful symbolic elements in all of the Jewish�culture.�Going all the way back to the dark abyss of pre-creation in Genesis 1 when the earth was void and filled with water, and�the Egyptians drowning in the Red Sea in the book of Exodus, the sea became a symbol for evil and destruction. It was the place�the evil came from or would be sent to be destroyed. (Is. 17:12; Is. 23:4, 11; Is. 27:1; 42;10; 57:20; Jer. 6:23; 50:42; 51:42; Ezek.�26:3; 27:32-34; Dan. 7, etc.; See also Rev. where the Beast comes from the sea and things like the great millstone are cast into�the sea to be destroyed.) The sea was wild untamable only fit for evil, symbolically speaking. God’s people would not go near�the sea for only God could handle chaos and evil of that magnitude.�

No one could tame the seas except for YHWH Himself, the creator and ruler of the world. When the Israelites were trapped on�the precipice of the sea, with the Egyptians bearing down on them, it was only the arm of the Lord that could part the sea, allow�them to pass through, and then cover over the Egyptians with water. The evil hordes, in the eyes of the Israelites, went back to�where they belonged. It was God along who controlled the seas. “The seas have lifted up, LORD, the seas have lifted up their�voice; the seas have lifted up their pounding waves. Mightier than the thunder of the great waters, mightier than the breakers�of the sea—the LORD on high is mighty (Ps. 93:3-4).” No human being, regardless of how great they might have been could be�thought to control the great abyss of the sea. It was only the Lord God who “gathers the waters of the sea into jars; he puts the�deep into storehouses (Ps. 33:7).”�

When I was a kid, I thought there were certain things that only Santa could do. Accounts like this one of Jesus miraculously�walking on water are quite different from that. First of all, I only� thought� that certain things, like someone coming down the�chimney were done, but I was wrong. Jesus really did walk on water, and there is simply no way that this is anything other than�a sign of the new creation (During the first creation, the Spirit hovered above the waters, but now the son will physically walk�across them). Many have tried to find logical explanations for this event but they simply won’t do. Jesus wasn’t walking on a�sand bridge, nor were the disciples simply seeing him on land but thought he was out in the sea. This brings us to the second�difference. I didn’t actually see Santa or any of the things I thought had happened. John was there. He saw and he testified that�it was fact.�

The disciples went down to the lake� and�set off across the lake for Capernaum� without Jesus. The fact that they left without�Jesus seems to indicate that Jesus had told them to leave if he didn’t join them right away. Jesus knew what was coming and he�knew what he was going to do. A strong wind blew up as they can do quickly in this part of the world which made the�waters�rough�. This is when�they saw Jesus approaching the boat�. Mark’s account of this story fills in the details that they were afraid�when they saw Jesus because they thought he was a ghost of some type. When they realized that it was him, they were left with�a real quandary. This was not, perhaps, something that they could come to grips with immediately, but with later reflection they�had to face reality. Jesus had tamed the sea. He was “mightier than the thunder of the great waters” and had put the sea “into�jars.” Who could do this but God alone? This was no ordinary man. This was no ordinary Messiah (if there is such a thing). He�was doing things that only the God of Israel could do. He didn’t just have the ability to control the seas, but he could control the�forces of evil and chaos that the seas represented as well. John clearly wants his readers to take this all in and reflect upon the�fact that this is the same God who controls the seas and made a world out of watery chaos. This is that same God, and this is�another moment of creation, the new creation when God is setting about restoring the world to the way things were supposed�to be.�

Verse 21 presents an interesting end to this sign. Was there another aspect of this miracle? All the text tells us is that� they were�willing to take him into the boat�, but not that he ever got in. Then it says that� immediately the boat reached the shore where�they were heading�. The word rendered “immediately” can also be translated “instantly.” It seems that it could indicate that the�boat miraculously and instantly reached the land after they recognized that it was Jesus. The synoptic Gospels (Matthew, Mark,�and Luke) tell nothing of this aspect of Jesus’ walking on water, but they may have simply chosen not to include it. Ultimately,�we do not have enough material to determine definitively whether or not there was a miraculous landing, but it is a very distinct�possibility.�

John gives us a fair amount of detail to make the point that the crowd was every bit as puzzled by what had happened as we might�expect. They likely didn’t know exactly what had happened, as did his disciples, but they apparently did figure out that he had�somehow arrived in Capernaum quicker than would have been expected, especially considering that they were all aware that he�had not gotten on the boat with the disciples. What we will discover in the next section is that Jesus leaves them confused, in a�sense, with an answer that is far more profound challenging than they could have ever imagined.�

Display�Have you ever had times in your life when you feel�like you are on a wind and wave-swamped boat?�Sometimes during rough spots like that, Jesus’�presence can initially be more disconcerting than�comforting. We should remember his words to his�disciples to not be afraid. If we are willing to trust him�and let him climb him aboard, we might find that the�storm abates and we get to our desired destination�faster than we had hoped. It is, after all, only God�who can truly handle those kinds of situations.�

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Jesus Walks on the Water� 16 When evening came, his disciples went down to�the lake, 17 where they got into a boat and set off�across the lake for Capernaum. By now it was dark,�and Jesus had not yet joined them. 18 A strong wind�was blowing and the waters grew rough. 19 When�they had rowed about three or three and a half�miles, they saw Jesus approaching the boat, walking�on the water; and they were frightened. 20 But he�said to them, "It is I; don't be afraid." 21 Then they�were willing to take him into the boat, and�immediately the boat reached the shore where they�were heading.� 22 The next day the crowd that had stayed on the�opposite shore of the lake realized that only one�boat had been there, and that Jesus had not entered�it with his disciples, but that they had gone away�alone. 23 Then some boats from Tiberias landed�near the place where the people had eaten the�bread after the Lord had given thanks. 24 Once the�crowd realized that neither Jesus nor his disciples�were there, they got into the boats and went to�Capernaum in search of Jesus.�

Jesus the Bread of Life� 25 When they found him on the other side of the�lake, they asked him, "Rabbi, when did you get�here?"�

1. Why does Jesus say that the crowds were looking�for him?�

2. What did the crowds mean by asking for a sign?�Why would Jesus not perform a sign on demand?�

3. What are the differences between Moses’ bread�and the bread which Jesus was speaking of?�

4. What is significant about Jesus claiming to be the�bread of life?�

Dig Deeper�Sometimes when you get a glimpse of your real self, it’s not pretty, in fact, it’s pretty ugly. I had been studying the Bible for a while�but I had not yet become a true disciple of Jesus Christ. I was learning what that meant, though. During that time, I started playing in�a basketball league that the church hosted and put on for disciples and those that were coming out to church. During one game, I got�frustrated because the guys who were refereeing that game were not, in my biased opinion, doing a very good job. With each�perceived slight I began to get angrier and angrier, and even convince myself that they were intentionally not giving me calls because�I wasn’t someone important in the church. Then a play happened where I thought I got fouled but no foul was called but as we ran�down to the other end of the court, a foul was called on me, even though I didn’t feel that I had fouled anyone. That was too much.�I lost my temper. I screamed at the ref who gave me a technical foul, but I didn’t stop there. I stomped off of the court, yelling the�whole time, I threw my duffle bag, I kicked open the gym doors that opened into the hallway, and I threw my water bottle down the�hall. How could this happen? I had played sports my whole life and had always been taught that sports built character. This incident,�however, revealed a very real truth. Sports don’t build character, they reveal it. They bring out certain emotions and responses that�tend to show what is truly in your heart and character.�

We tend to think that signs and miracles build faith. How many of us before we became Christians declared that if we could just see�some sort of biblical-style miracle, then we would believe. That’s all it would take for us. But is that really true? Nearly everywhere�that Jesus went, he performed signs and wonders that pointed to the coming of the new creation of God, but yet many did not believe.�In fact, many who saw those signs reacted in quite the wrong manner. They paid more attention to the spectacle of the signs than to�what they were really pointing to. True faith comes from the humility of recognizing and embracing truth, it simply cannot come from�being amazed. Signs won’t create the faith in us, they can only offer an opportunity for our true characters and faith to be shown for�what they are. This is because just as sports reveal rather than build character, signs and miracles reveal faith rather than build it.�

We are told in the previous passage that the crowds were searching for Jesus and wanted to know when he arrived, apparently�shocked or confused at how he got there so quickly. Jesus completely ignores there question and gets right to the heart of the matter.�He’s not at all flattered by the fact that they were searching for them, he’s quite disturbed by it in fact. They weren’t seeing the true�sustenance and bread in the sign, all they were seeing was the show and the sign in the bread that Jesus multiplied. They weren’t�searching for the truth of the Word, they wanted more of a spectacle. Like the women at the well who wanted a fresh supply of�physical water rather than realizing the spiritual truths of which Jesus was speaking. Jesus challenges them on working for earthly�food�that�spoils�rather than seeking the�eternal life� that was available through the�Son of Man�, who has been shown to be truly from heaven�by the� seal of approval� that�God the Father� has placed on him.�

To truly comprehend the exchange that is about to take place we need to understand a few things. The first thing is the Jewish�assumption that God required certain works of the law in order for His people to stand in the right place and be considered righteous�before God. The second thing is that there was a common Jewish Messianic expectation that when the Messiah finally returned he�would usher in the age to come and the resurrection with him and would renew the miracle of supplying God’s people with manna.�These two assumptions lie behind the inability or unwillingness of the crowds here to accept what Jesus is saying.�

The first of these two assumptions leads to the crowd’s question of verse 28. Jesus has urged them to stop seeking more bread to fill�up their stomachs and to search for eternal life, which for first century Jews meant their place and share in the age to come. So when�they asked him�, “�what must we do to do the works God requires�,” it’s a pretty natural question. In their mind a place in the age to�come came to those who were righteous based on their adherence to the works of the law. So, when Jesus speaks of eternal life, they�naturally want to know what works in particular that God is going to require of them. Jesus answers this question but changes their�assumption of “works” to a singular “work.” They were confident that they could meet the requirements of God if he would but tell�them what they are, but the only requirement they need is�to believe in the one he has sent�. We, of course, understand this to mean�that we must believe in his life. There is nothing that anyone can do to earn the eternal life that God has offered. We must enter into�the life of Christ and there is nothing that we can do on our own to achieve that, except to die to our own life.�

Jesus has just, in no uncertain terms, set himself up as the standard by which anyone gains access to the life of the age to come. The�crowd responds with a demand, which in the original Greek makes clear that they have no belief that he will actually be able to do so.�They want a sign, but haven’t they already seen a pretty incredible sign of Jesus feeding multitudes with five loaves and two fish? Jews�considered a sign done from heaven to be the highest form of legitimizing one’s claim. It’s not that they are denying that Jesus did a�sign but it wasn’t enough to convince them, nor was it the kind of sign they were looking for. We might think feeding a crowd of nearly�twenty-thousand people with a few scraps is impressive, but in their minds Moses fed the people with�manna� that was� from heaven�for forty years. That’s what they want to see. They want to see manna, then they will believe. They have certain expectations of what�a Messiah is going to do and they are basically demanding that Jesus meets those expectations in order for them to believe. He had�done something quite amazing, but could he prove that he was worthy of their belief by producing manna?�

Their demand for a sign like the manna shows not that they are close to coming to faith but instead reveals that they do not have faith�at all. They are missing the point entirely.�Moses� did not give them�the bread from heaven�, it is�God� who does that. It was God who�gave them the manna, but that manna was not� the true bread from heaven�. The manna was temporary and to be given over and over�again. It was given only to Israel. The bread of which Jesus speaks is far greater and far different from that bread. It is eternal and�gives life to the world�. The bread of which Jesus speaks is the sustenance of the age to come that can only come from heaven. Perhaps�it should not surprise us that John refers to the bread that came down from heaven seven times in this discourse. John is again showing�us that this is an act of new creation. Jesus did not come to concern himself with meeting the Messianic and materialistic expectations�of the crowds, he came to usher those who believe in him into the new creation. This would take a totally rethinking on their part�about who the Messiah was and what he came to do.�

The crowds are ready for bread, but probably in the same sense that the woman at the well wanted the water. She initially wanted�the water so that she wouldn’t have to be bothered with going back to the well over and over again and being confronted with people.�Similarly, Jesus seems to be referring to the fact that they want something easy and attractive. They don’t want the bread that he has�speaking of. They’ll believe in him if he will only show them something that rivals the manna of Moses.�

To their request to�always give� them� this bread�, Jesus makes a bold claim that will set up some of his hard teachings later in this�discourse. He is the one who fulfills the Messianic expectations to satisfy hunger and thirst (Isa. 55:1-2; 49:10). He will not just�facilitate the coming of this bread, nor will he merely tell them what to do to get the bread. He� is� the�bread of life�. This is the first of,�you guessed it, seven “I am” statements that Jesus makes in the Gospel of John (the others will come in 8:12 & 9:5; 10:7, 9; 10:11;�11:25; 14:6; 15:1). The bread of life, living water, it’s all him. To get these things every human must come to him. It’s not about what�we can go do. We must come to him and believe that he is the source and sustenance of life. In fact, as Jesus will state clearly in 11:25�and 14:6, he is� the� life. Until they, and we, recognize that he is the true bread of life, we will have a hunger that continues in us that�can never be satiated.�

Display�Do you ever fall into the trap of thinking that we must�do the works that God requires in order to find�salvation? As noble as this might sound, it is simply�another way to try to satisfy our hunger by our own�efforts. Do you truly trust that the life of Christ is the�only genuine bread of life? Spend some time�meditating on that truth today.�

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26 Jesus answered, "Very truly I tell you, you are�looking for me, not because you saw the signs I�performed but because you ate the loaves and had�your fill. 27 Do not work for food that spoils, but for�food that endures to eternal life, which the Son of�Man will give you. On him God the Father has placed�his seal of approval."�

28 Then they asked him, "What must we do to do�the works God requires?"�

29 Jesus answered, "The work of God is this: to�believe in the one he has sent."�

30 So they asked him, "What sign then will you�give that we may see it and believe you? What will�you do? 31 Our ancestors ate the manna in the�wilderness; as it is written: 'He gave them bread�from heaven to eat.'"�

32 Jesus said to them, "Very truly I tell you, it is�not Moses who has given you the bread from�heaven, but it is my Father who gives you the true�bread from heaven. 33 For the bread of God is the�bread that comes down from heaven and gives life�to the world."�

34 "Sir," they said, "always give us this bread."�

35 Then Jesus declared, "I am the bread of life.�Whoever comes to me will never go hungry, and�whoever believes in me will never be thirsty.�

1. Why does Jesus feel that the crowds do not�believe?�

2. Why did the crowds begin to grumble?�

3. What does Jesus mean by distinguishing between�eternal life and the resurrection?�

4. What does Jesus mean that everyone who has�heard the Father will come to him?�

Dig Deeper�We thought that we were going for a fun evening of dance lessons. At least that’s what my wife had told me. She had received a�flyer about a swing dance event that was happening in our town. On the flyer it mentioned, she said, that there would be a time of�free swing dance lessons for anyone who wanted them and then there would be a time of open dancing. This all sounded horrible�to me but she wanted to go, so I agreed. When we got there, we found out that it was not at all what we were expecting. In fact�there were no lessons at all. In reality, it was a local swing dance competition between swing dance schools. This was all on the flyer,�but my wife had missed all of that. All she had noticed was the bold writing that mentioned free swing dance lessons. She assumed�that this would take place during this evening but had missed the smaller writing at the bottom that explained that in order to get�the dance lessons you had to go to the studio that was sponsoring the event and then you got one free lesson. We went to this event�thinking it was something else entirely, and complained about it at first, until she pulled the original flyer out and we looked at it and�realized that the details had been there all along, we had just missed them.�

In a somewhat similar manner, the Jews had been reading the Old Testament their entire lives and had certain expectations. The�details often varied, but there was an overall agreement on what they could expect when the Messiah came. The problem was, when�he got there, he wasn’t at all what they were expecting. He was something completely different but he was still, nonetheless, calling�them to believe that he was from the Father and claiming that he, himself was the new sustenance from the Father. He was,�according to him, the new thing that the Father had promised all along. How could they possibly believe all of this? Especially when�he wouldn’t do the sorts of signs that they expected and demanded of a Messiah. He demanded belief. He refused to meet their�expectations, but instead insisted that they go back and read the Scriptures again. If they did that with humility and a desire for the�truth rather than to be right, they would see that the Father had been pointing to him and drawing them towards him all along.�

Many have supposed Jesus to be saying in this passage that only certain people can come to God. God has chosen some to come to�him in belief and the others will simply not have that opportunity because they have not been sent or drawn to him by the Father.�This is simply not the case, however, and doesn’t really work if we continue to consider the full context of this passage and the Gospel�as a whole throughout this passage.�

John stated in 3:16 that whoever would believe in the life of Christ would have eternal life. Jesus has just finished saying as much by�stating in verse 35 that whoever comes to him will never go spiritually thirsty or hungry again. This is an offer, not a statement that�only some can come. He is offering them the life of the new creation. They have seen him and the signs that he has offered but they�still�do not believe�. Jesus is not trying to take any credit for attracting people to himself. If he had done that he would be serving as�his own testimony which he has already clearly rejected as an option (5:31). Those that are coming to Jesus are not coming as a result�of his own testimony or acts but as a clear result of the Father pointing the way. Jesus continues to stress throughout this passage�that is he is not about his own will or actions. He is the apprentice, sharing in the works that the Father has already been doing for�a long time.�

Jesus says in verse 44 that�no one can come� to him� unless the Father� who�sent� him�draws� them, and in verse 37 that�all whom the�Father gives� him�will come to� Jesus. His point is not that the Father has chosen only certain people to come to faith in Jesus. His�point is well in keeping with the tenor of John’s Gospel that salvation is available to whosoever will (it would not, for instance, make�much sense if, in 3:16, John says that God loved the whole world so much that he sent Jesus so that only some have eternal life).�Jesus is saying that all who do come to him in faith are there because the Father enabled it. He worked through Moses and the�prophets to point to Jesus. Everything in the Old Testament pointed to Jesus. The Father has made this available to all, so when�someone does come to Jesus in faith, it is because the Father has pointed and drawn him rather than Jesus testifying to himself. The�whole thrust of the argument here is that Jesus’ work is really a continuation of the work of the Father rather than something new�altogether.�

It is, after all, the will of the Father that�everyone who looks to the Son and believes in him shall have eternal life�. It is not that only�some will be caused to look and believe in Jesus. It is God’s will that all men be saved (1 Tim. 2:4; 2 Pet. 3:9; cf. 1 Jn. 2:1), but only�those who believe in the Son will have eternal life. In other words, God wants all men to be saved and has made the life of His Son�available to all humans but it is also His will that only those who enter into that life will, in fact be saved. Those who come to belief�in Jesus and take up His life, will not be lost. They will be raised up, but raised up to what?�

Jesus makes clear here what he and John have alluded to throughout the Gospel thus far. Eternal life and resurrection are two sides�of the same coin. As we have discussed previously, most Jews believed in the age to come, eternal life, and the fact that this would�be the time of resurrection when God would dwell with His people. What they couldn’t fathom was that Jesus was announcing that�eternal life was available now. It was a share in that life that Jesus came to announce. Eternal life doesn’t just mean that it goes on�after death, it describes what kind of life it is now. In order for one to grab hold of it, though, they must first lay down their own life�and enter into his. Eternal life doesn’t mean what so many people today envision when they hear this term, that of a disembodied�spirit floating off to some non-physical location forever. It is the realization of the life of Christ (and the process of being transformed�into his image) now. This is a process that continues in the present age when someone believes in the life of Christ and will eventually�take the form of the resurrection when Christ does return to restore all things (Matt. 19:28). Those who share in Christ’s life now,�will surely be raised�up at the last day�. So, eternal life does have to do with eternity, but it also has to do with the quality and source�of life now.�

Once the Jews heard all of this they began to act just like the Israelites in the wilderness who did not like how God was working, so�they�began to grumble�. How could Jesus be claiming all of this and that he�came down from heaven� when they knew very well who�his�father and mother� were? Once again, John gives us a picture of humans stuck in the earthly way of thinking who are simply�unwilling to look beyond the normal limitations to the deeper spiritual truth.�

They were grumbling for the same simple reason the Israelites of the Exodus grumbled. They didn’t think that God should be working�like this. Jesus was saying that what he was doing� was�what God was doing. They didn’t like this train of thought one bit and began�to rebel against Jesus just as the Exodus generation rebelled against God. Yet, Jesus makes clear that the Father has indeed sent�them to Jesus. This is what the Father is doing, they need not complain or remain in their unbelief. Jesus quotes from Isaiah 54:13�in verse 45 which stands in testimony to the point he has been making. When God did do his new thing,�they will all be taught by�God�. What Jesus is claiming, what he is teaching them, comes from the Father. It is He who is at work bringing His people back from�exile. Anyone who has truly and humbly read the Scriptures with a heart to learn what the Father was teaching, will realize that Jesus�is the fulfillment of all that they say. The passage in Isaiah goes on in 55:1 to invite all those who are thirsty and hungry to come and�get their full. These are the very people Isaiah was speaking of, and if they will just believe that God is the author of everything that�Jesus says, they will enter into eternal life. Jesus, is after all, the only one who has seen the Father, because he is the only one that�is truly from God.�

Display�Eternal life is something that is available to Christians�now. As Paul says in 1 Timothy 6:12: “Fight the good�fight of the faith. Take hold of the eternal life to�which you were called when you made your good�confession in the presence of many witnesses.” Have�you taken hold of that eternal life? Do you live the life�of the age to come for all those who are lost in the�present age to see?�

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36 But as I told you, you have seen me and still you�do not believe. 37 All whom the Father gives me will�come to me, and whoever comes to me I will never�drive away. 38 For I have come down from heaven�not to do my will but to do the will of him who sent�me. 39 And this is the will of him who sent me, that I�shall lose none of all those he has given me, but�raise them up at the last day. 40 For my Father's will�is that everyone who looks to the Son and believes�in him shall have eternal life, and I will raise them up�at the last day."�

41 At this the Jews there began to grumble about�him because he said, "I am the bread that came�down from heaven." 42 They said, "Is this not Jesus,�the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we�know? How can he now say, 'I came down from�heaven'?"�

43 "Stop grumbling among yourselves," Jesus�answered. 44 "No one can come to me unless the�Father who sent me draws them, and I will raise�them up at the last day. 45 It is written in the�Prophets: 'They will all be taught by God.' Everyone�who has heard the Father and learned from him�comes to me.46 No one has seen the Father except�the one who is from God; only he has seen the�Father.�

1. What does Jesus mean by referring to the fact that�people need to eat his flesh?�

2. What does Jesus mean by referring to the fact that�people need to drink his blood?�

3. What were the limitations of the manna that came�during Moses’ time?�

4. What does Jesus mean when he refers to the�concept of eternal life?�

Dig Deeper�I had one basketball coach in my past that stands out from all of the others that I had. I didn’t play for him for very long but he�was particularly tough. He would demand the very best effort out of us in everything that we did, including things that weren’t�seemingly directly related to basketball like grades. He would come to our dorm rooms and make sure that we went to classes,�he would drive alongside of us when he sent us on long runs, and he would stand behind us and scream at us to work harder in�whatever drills or activities we might be engaged in. He demanded maximum effort and got it most of the time. I remember�after one particularly challenging practice I passed the dean of students in the cafeteria and he asked how basketball was going�at that stage when we were practicing but had yet to play any official games. I told him that the coach was “sucking us dry.”�This, of course, is a bit of a veiled reference to vampire imagery, drawing on the lore of vampires sucking all of the blood from�their victims. It was, in fact, a colorful figure of speech. Figures of speech can mean very real and important things, but can�also be easily misunderstood if we attempt to inappropriately take those words to be literal. Can you imagine the�misunderstanding that would have ensued if he had truly thought that I was being literal.�

Almost every human culture that I have ever heard of, uses figures of speech in some form or another, and the Jewish people�were no different. In fact, they used some of the most colorful idioms and imagery in the history of the world. Jesus was a man�of his times and culture and used many of those idioms. Sometimes those images could be misunderstood, but usually other�Jews clearly understood what Jesus meant. It is often the readers of his words, hundreds of years later who read some of the�things that Jesus said and completely misunderstand what he was saying. We must, in situations like those, take special effort�to understand Jesus’ words in the context and culture in which they were spoken so we can clearly comprehend his meaning.�

Jesus begins this passage by summarizing what he has already stated. He is�the bread of life� and anyone who�believes� will�possess the life of the age to come,� eternal life�. In the Jewish way of thinking, bread was the very sustenance of life. It stood�for the thing that was needed in order to live. But the kind of life that he is talking about is not the typical sort of physical life�that the Jews were so interested in. When Jesus began speaking of bread, they wanted the kind of bread that would keep them�supplied forever. They wanted more�manna�. Think, after all, of all the resources you could save if God sent manna once again.�The problem is that manna kept Israel sustained physically in the wilderness, but those people�died�. That manna had it’s�limitations because its purpose was limited.�

His life is the true bread that�comes down from heaven�. Jesus is not just referring to the source of the bread, because�presumably the manna also came from God, but he is referring to the nature of the sustenance. The manna came from God�but was limited to physical benefits. Yet, this is all the Israelites can think of. Shouldn’t they know better? Shouldn’t they want�something more? This bread comes directly from the presence of God and will usher those who partake of it into eternal life.�Whoever eats of this bread will have eternal life both now in the present age and, of course, the promise of the age to come.�This bread is Jesus’ life, his very� flesh� that he�will give for the life of the world�. “Flesh” is a striking word that stands apart from�“my body” or “myself.” It focuses on the fact that Jesus will (notice the future tense) give his physical flesh and body so that�the world might have life. Truly the kernel of wheat must fall and die (Jn. 12:24) before life can be granted to the world. Jesus�would die, in other words, so that whosoever would could enter into his life and live. This is not just an idea or simple imagery.�He is using the imagery of bread as the very sustenance of life to make the very real point that he would be the only way for�the world to have life.�

It seems unlikely that the Jews have so missed Jesus’ point that they think he is actually urging them to cannibalism. That would�have been detestable to the Jew to the point that there would be no argument from any of those present. John tells us that�they began to argue amongst themselves, indicating that at least some, perhaps just the twelve, were taking Jesus’ side. We�can’t seriously think that even the disciples would argue in favor of Jesus if they thought he was speaking of literally eating his�flesh. The crowd well understands what Jesus is saying, but how can he provide the type of sustenance that he is talking of?�How could his life, and even more puzzling, hi death possibly feed them spiritually for eternity? They simply could not wrap�their minds around such a thing.�

But Jesus says plainly that�unless� people� eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood�, they� have no life�in them. Many�people think, at first glance, that Jesus was speaking of the coming institution of communion, the Lord’s Supper here, but that�simply cannot be the case. It is possible that, as John was writing this down years later, he saw echoes and foreshadowing of�the communion ritual, but in its direct form, Jesus is simply not referring to the communion meal. This is clear by the entire�context but most notably by his assertion in verses 53 and 54 that the eating of the flesh and the drinking of his blood are the�only means to�eternal life�. Even those who read this passage in a woodenly literal fashion and argue that this is about�communion where believers literally eat the flesh and drink the transubstantiated blood of Jesus, would not argue that�partaking in the communion is the only means to eternal life. This makes it clear that Jesus is referring to his own sacrifice and�life rather than the communion meal.�

But what about the talk of drinking the blood? Drinking blood was strictly forbidden in the Old Testament, but again, Jesus is�speaking metaphorically. In 1 Chronicles 11:16-19, we are told of an account where David, embroiled in battle, desires a drink�of water from the well near Bethlehem. After three of his bravest soldiers broke through Philistine lines to retrieve water from�that very well, David “poured it out to the LORD,” saying, “God forbid that I should do this! Should I drink the blood of these�men who went at the risk of their lives?” This demonstrates the type of figure of speech that Jesus uses here. David refers to�the act of benefiting from the sacrifice or even death of others as drinking their blood. This is Jesus’ point, and it is similar to�his point of the need to eat his flesh. Not only would they need to find sustenance from his very flesh, they would, in some way�yet unknown to them, benefit directly from his sacrifice and death.�

Those who embrace the need to eat his flesh, being sustained by the life of Christ, and drink his blood, benefiting from the�sacrifice and death of Jesus, will�remain in� him. They are the ones who truly believe in his life, truly die to themselves, and truly�remain in� his life. They in turn will find that he will�remain in�their lives for eternity, transforming them into his own image.�Truly the only thing that can separate us from the life of Christ is our own decision to walk away from it.�

Jesus’ words were challenging but clear to his hearers. They wanted the Messianic signs that they were expecting. They didn’t�want something new. They were hoping for another manifestation of manna from God, but, in the process, they were selling�themselves short. Their ancestors�ate manna and died�, but those who feed on the life of Christ�will live forever�.�

Display�We are trained, by the world around us, throughout�our lives to believe that we need many different thing�in order to truly have and enjoy life. We must, we are�told, be well-rounded. Yet, Jesus says that in order�for us to have eternal life, the only thing we must do�is eat his flesh and drink his blood. Is the life of Christ�enough for you or are you constantly tempted to look�to other things for enjoyment, comfort, and security?�What changes, if any, would have to be made in your�life in order for you to truly eat nothing but his flesh�and drink nothing but his blood?�

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47 Very truly I tell you, whoever believes has eternal�life. 48 I am the bread of life. 49 Your ancestors ate�the manna in the wilderness, yet they died. 50 But�here is the bread that comes down from heaven,�which people may eat and not die. 51 I am the living�bread that came down from heaven. Whoever eats�of this bread will live forever. This bread is my flesh,�which I will give for the life of the world."�

52 Then the Jews began to argue sharply among�themselves, "How can this man give us his flesh to�eat?"�

53 Jesus said to them, "Very truly I tell you, unless�you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his�blood, you have no life in you. 54 Whoever eats my�flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will�raise them up at the last day. 55 For my flesh is real�food and my blood is real drink. 56 Whoever eats my�flesh and drinks my blood remains in me, and I in�them. 57 Just as the living Father sent me and I live�because of the Father, so the one who feeds on me�will live because of me. 58 This is the bread that�came down from heaven. Your ancestors ate manna�and died, but whoever feeds on this bread will live�forever." 59 He said this while teaching in the�synagogue in Capernaum.�

1. What was significant about the detail that many�of Jesus’ disciples began to grumble?�

2. What did Jesus mean that his words were full of�the Spirit and life?�

3. What did Peter mean when he said that Jesus’ had�the words of eternal life?�

Dig Deeper�When I was still in college, I found what seemed to be an incredible job opportunity. It was working for a company that made and sold�very high quality but also very expensive knives. The cool thing seemed to be in the fact that it wasn’t a store. All of the sales were�made through in-home demonstrations. This meant there were no set hours, I could make my own schedule, and I would be making�straight commission, which could be rather lucrative with the price of these knives. After a little research I discovered that this place�was legitimate and that there were a lot of people who had made a lot of money working in sales for this corporation. It seemed�perfect for the first few weeks. I went and did demonstrations in the homes of my friends and family members and made quite a few�sales and quite a bit of money. Then I went to a sales conference and heard what it was really going to take to be successful in the long�term in this corporation. It would take me gathering names and phone numbers from my friends and family members and calling�people I didn’t know at all and making appointments with them and trying to sell to them. It would, they told us, take a total dedication�to selling knives. That must become the most important thing to us if we really wanted to be successful. I recall leaving that�conference and telling our supervisor as we traveled home that I was done. I just didn’t understand, I told him. He wanted to know�what I didn’t understand, and it was then that I explained that it wasn’t that I didn’t comprehend, it was that I didn’t understand why�someone would want to commit like that to selling knives. I knew perfectly well what they were calling us to do, I just wanted no part�of it. It was way too demanding.�

This whole discourse that continues on through the end of this chapter began with the crowds looking for Jesus. Well, they’ve certainly�found him. Only he isn’t giving them the sorts of signs and teachings that they particularly wanted. They want something that would�benefit them and meet their expectations, but now he is talking about being from heaven and hinting that he is going to suffer and die�and that they will have to benefit from that and find him as their whole source of sustenance if they want eternal life. This is not at all�what they were looking for. Oh, they understand the important aspects of what Jesus is saying (even if they don’t understand every�detail) but most of them wanted no part of it. It was way too demanding.�

We find out in verse 60 that the ones arguing about Jesus’ words here and now the ones that are grumbling openly (an act which�connects them once again to the people of the Exodus who complained and grumbled against Moses’ leadership and, ultimately,�against God) about it. They complain that what Jesus has just told them� is a hard teaching�. The language here, in the original Greek,�does not mean that they couldn’t comprehend what Jesus was saying, it is actually more along the lines of saying, “this is an offensive�teaching.” How could he stand there and call Jews that were loyal to God and the Torah (Scriptures) and tell them that everything they�needed for life would come through him? They wanted some kingly leader that would throw off the oppression of the Romans, not�some guy who was talking of his own death and saying that they would have to benefit from it somehow in order to be part of the�resurrection and the age to come.�

Jesus knew they were grumbling, just as God knew the hearts of the Israelites in the wilderness, and asks them if they are�offended�.�The issue is basically that they do not understand who it is that has been speaking to them. They were unwilling to surrender control�of their lives to Jesus, but that is because they were unwilling to accept who he might really be. What if they were to�see the Son of�Man ascend to where he was before�? Would that convince them or would it just offend them more? Where was he before? In God’s�presence in the realm of heaven. When Christ returns there through his death, resurrection and ascension, which is often viewed by�John as one theological event, what will their response be then? If they could only humble themselves to the fact that the one they�have been following really is from heaven and really will return there, they might be convinced.�

They are so focused on their earthly expectations and demands that they are missing the spiritual truths being laid out before them.�Jesus is speaking of things that can only come through understanding things at a spiritual rather than natural level. His words are full�of spirit and life but their hearts are full of the flesh and death. The implication is that they will not accept the things of the Spirit and�the life he is offering because they will not accept the Spirit. When they reject Jesus’ teachings, they are rejecting God’s Holy Spirit.�

All of this comes as no surprise to Jesus, however, John tells us. He knew from the beginning that that some would� not believe� and�that some would�betray him�. John is not telling us that Jesus was just really insightful and discerning. He means to relay to us that�behind Jesus’ statement “�there are some of you who do not believe�,” there was divine insight. Jesus knew all along who would believe�and who would not. This does, however, imply that these people did not have free will or the choice to believe or not believe. The�fact that God has foreknowledge of all things does not mean that they are predetermined or that humans have no free will.�

Jesus has already stated and now reiterates the fact that�no one can come to� him� unless the Father has enabled them�. All humans�are slaves to sin and stuck in that slavery without the real possibility of coming to God or reconciling ourselves to him on our without�Him taking initiative. This is, of course, the whole point. The Father has enabled all to come to him, but they have chosen not to. The�responsibility for their unbelief does not lie with God, it is with them.�

It is at this point, that many of Jesus’�disciples turned back and no longer followed him�. These weren’t just part of the crowd that had�stayed and watched from the periphery. These were people who had counted themselves among his disciples. They had followed�Jesus and were prepared to recognize him as the Messiah. The demands that he had made on them, namely laying down their own�agendas and relying on nothing other than the bread of life available in the life of Jesus, were just too much for them. They understood�precisely what Jesus was saying to them, but wanted nothing to do with it. This is instructive for those of us who have experienced�times when we have shared the message of the gospel of Jesus with someone, only to be disappointed as they have walked away and�not accepted it. We then begin to blame ourselves as if we had just presented it better or done something differently they would have�listened. The fact is, some simply will not. They will hear the demands of laying down their life and want nothing to do with it. It has�little to do with the presentation and everything to do with the willingness to be obedient to the Word.�

Many of those who had supposed to be his disciples simply leave Jesus and fall away. This is not the Messiah they wanted and they�will no longer follow him. With the migration of many of his disciples, Jesus turns to the Twelve, the men into whom he has poured�the most time and training. Will they leave too? The question is worded, in the Greek, in such a way that demonstrates that Jesus�expects a positive response. Peter, in his usually impetuous manner, takes up as spokesman for the group. He addresses Jesus as� Lord�,�a word that could mean anything from a respectful “sir” all the way to the name used for God in the Greek translation of the Old�Testament that most Jews used in the first century (Septuagint). It is likely that Peter means to use this term in the highest possible�sense. He is�the Holy One of God�. He is the one who speaks the words of�eternal life�, meaning that he doesn’t just speak of the age�to come, but his very words actually are in the process of bringing the new creation into reality.�

It is fitting that they recognize this because they have a high calling. They have been chosen, just as Israel was chosen as God’s people.�Yet one of them was a�devil�. Just as Jesus knew who would and who would not believe in him, he knew that�Judas� would�betray him�.�The point is clear. Jesus was the one whose very words were bringing God’s new creation into existence, but some just were not ready�for that and would not embrace it, regardless of what Jesus said or did. Some would enter into eternal life because they believed while�some would refuse to believe and refuse to enter into that life.�

Display�You probably wouldn’t be reading this if you weren’t�willing to follow Jesus at some level. Yet, there is still�a challenge out there for us in a passage like this. Are�there any areas of your life in which you read the�words of Jesus but just simply aren’t too interested in�following them? Have you truly laid down your life in�every area and grabbed hold to the eternal life that is�available to all of those in Christ or have you walked�away from certain aspects of Jesus’ teaching?�

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Many Disciples Desert Jesus� 60 On hearing it, many of his disciples said, "This is�a hard teaching. Who can accept it?"� 61 Aware that his disciples were grumbling about�this, Jesus said to them, "Does this offend you? 62�Then what if you see the Son of Man ascend to�where he was before! 63 The Spirit gives life; the�flesh counts for nothing. The words I have spoken to�you—they are full of the Spirit and life. 64 Yet there�are some of you who do not believe." For Jesus had�known from the beginning which of them did not�believe and who would betray him. 65 He went on�to say, "This is why I told you that no one can come�to me unless the Father has enabled them."�

66 From this time many of his disciples turned�back and no longer followed him.�

67 "You do not want to leave too, do you?" Jesus�asked the Twelve.�

68 Simon Peter answered him, "Lord, to whom�shall we go? You have the words of eternal life. 69�We have come to believe and to know that you are�the Holy One of God."�

70 Then Jesus replied, "Have I not chosen you, the�Twelve? Yet one of you is a devil!" 71 (He meant�Judas, the son of Simon Iscariot, who, though one of�the Twelve, was later to betray him.)�

1. Why would Jesus not go publicly into Judea at this�time?�

2. Why did Jesus’ brothers want him to go to the�festival?�

3. Why would Jesus not go publicly?�

4. Why do you think Jesus went to the festival if he�didn’t go publicly?�

Dig Deeper�It was a special day and the bride and groom couldn’t just go walking around on the stage once the guests started arriving. They had�been up there earlier quite a bit for different reasons to get ready for the wedding, but once everything was set, timing was everything.�This was especially true of the bride. Imagine the disappointment of all of the honored guests if the bride had suddenly sauntered out�to adjust some flowers on the stage or to go over one more time where she would stand. Other people, even people in the wedding�party, could and did go down the aisle and even up on the stage for various reasons and nobody much cared or noticed but the bride�simply could not do that. When she came down the aisle it meant something. When the time was right, though, the attendants�proceeded down the aisle, everyone took there places, and then with a dramatic pause, the music began. The time was now. The�doors swung open and the bride appeared. Everyone knew that the wedding had officially begun. All the signs were in place and now�the bride had arrived.�

Although this isn’t a perfect analogy, they never are, it does help to keep this concept in mind as we read through this passage. Jesus�wasn’t just running around Israel making things up as he went along. He had a plan, and there was specific timing and specific�symbolism involved. It just wouldn’t do for him to saunter into Jerusalem, get the Jewish leaders angry, and be put to death. Nothing�In Jesus’ life just happened without forethought and meaning. He carefully followed the will of the Father. There was a timing and a�reason to everything he did, and whether or not he would go to Jerusalem during the festival of the Tabernacles was included in that.�There were many things about this festival that did point to the Messiah and John will make that fairly clear, but the ultimate timing�involved Passover. The death of the Lamb of God had a Passover flavor to it, not the festival of Tabernacles. When the Messiah arrived�in Jerusalem with all of the attention and fanfare that demonstrated that what he was going to do was at that moment, must hap[pen�during Passover. Here is the major difference between the wedding analogy and what we see here. The bride remains safely hidden�from the eyes of the guests until the wedding begins. Jesus would go to Jerusalem this time, but in a way that made it very clearly that�this was not the big moment. The time for that simply hadn’t come yet.�

John’s, “�after this”�, doesn’t mean it happened immediately. In fact, the time period that passed between Passover (6:4) and this�incident would have been about six months. This demonstrates that John isn’t writing a complete blow-by-blow history of Jesus’�ministry but recording what is necessary so that people might come to faith in Jesus as the Messiah (20:31). John doesn’t tell us�precisely what Jesus had been doing during this time, but he does stress that Jesus had stayed out of Judea, for the most part,�because�the Jewish leaders� were constantly seeking to kill him. John does tell us that he “went around” in Galilee, using a word that indicated�the actions of a rabbi or sage walking among the people and teaching. Since Galilee was ruled by Herod Antipas and Judea by the�Roman Governor, staying in Galilee would have provided Jesus a certain amount of protection.�

As this scene unfolds, it is obvious that there is a basic conflict between Jesus and his brothers. They simply don’t understand what he�is doing. Whether they thought he might be the Messiah or not, they certainly didn’t understand what sort of Messiah he was going�to be, so John uses their misunderstanding to show us exactly what shape his Messiahship will take. His brothers want him to go to�Jerusalem for the festival. If he is truly going to be a public figure, a public Messiah, then the issue must be settled in Jerusalem. That’s�where he is going to really gain the most attention and the most followers. It’s quite possible, in fact, that his group of followers�remained relatively small since the events of chapter 6. He has been doing some incredible things, which his brothers seem to accept�that he has, but how will anyone know? How can he truly be the Messiah of the whole nation if he continues in the relative secrecy of�Galilee? They disapproved of Jesus’ handling of the situation. If he was the Messiah, then he needed to step up and prove it in the�only place that mattered for such things. They simply could not conceive of a Messiah that would be largely unpopular. In that sense,�his brothers, to this point, have the same attitude as the crowd of 6:15 who wanted to make Jesus king, or even Satan who tried to lure�Jesus into a form of Messianic fulfillment that would be self-aggrandizing (Mt. 4:5-7).�

They didn’t understand the full impact of what they were asking Jesus to do. If he was going to do something, it might as well be now.�But they had no divine mission. They had no commission from God to fulfill a specific role. The world wouldn’t reject them (�hate them�)�because they were very much of the world. They were still stuck in the same small pattern of expectations that the world was, so it�would have no reason to reject them. Jesus, though, had opposed the values and reality of the world with everything that he had said�and done, and the world would simply not accept that.�

Jesus tells his brothers to�go to the Festival� whenever they like, because what they do is not that important in the grand scheme of�things. If they went up with the regular band of pilgrims, it would not mean anything (we get the idea from Luke 2 that these pilgrim�caravans could be quite large as it took Joseph and Mary an entire day to figure out that the twelve-year old Jesus was not with the�group). Jesus, however had a specific time. His work had to be completed and his time�had not yet fully come�. John doesn’t explain�explicitly why this would not yet qualify as his time, but he has already given us several hints that Jesus’ hour would be at Passover�time, not the festival of Tabernacles. Like a bride coming down the aisle, the timing and attention were of vital importance. Jesus�simply could not make a spectacle of traveling to Jerusalem in a Messianic fashion yet. The timing was not right. He had more of the�Father’s work to complete.�

This leaves us with a bit of puzzle, though. Jesus appears to say that he is not going to Jerusalem, but then he turns right around and�does exactly what he seemingly just said he was not going to do. What Jesus appears to be declining, however is the option of going�up with the regular band of pilgrims. He will not go with the caravan, making their way to Jerusalem to observe the festival of�Tabernacles in the traditional manner. Jesus will not do that. He will not meet the expectations of the public and the� Jewish leaders�,�who were evidently expecting that he would make the most of this very public opportunity.�

Rather than doing what might have been expected, Jesus waits. He goes by himself, in relative secrecy (that doesn’t imply that he�snuck around or wore a disguise, simply that he did not go publicly with a great deal of fanfare). We could almost say that Jesus won’t�be making an “official Messianic” visit to the holy city of God. He will go and he will teach but it is not yet time for the new Exodus that�Luke will describe as Jesus quite deliberately and publicly makes his way to Jerusalem before the Passover which would mark his death.�

John tells us that the crowds were quite split on their perceptions of Jesus. Some thought he was a good man, while others charged�him with deceiving people, in essence, making him a false prophet, a charge worthy of death in ancient Israel. Regardless of how they�felt, however, no one wanted to say much of anything publicly. The risk was simply too great.�

What John has given us as this scene opens is a picture of a Messiah who is on a very specific mission. He is not being tossed around,�back and forth, by the whims and wills of the Jewish leaders, the Romans, or even Satan. The Word has become flesh to do only what�the Father has sent him to do. His mission is not a haphazard one of random teachings and miraculous signs that resulted in his tragic�and untimely death. No, everything he was doing was pointing to his death. The new creation was coming, but it would somehow�come, strangely enough, through his own death (this is precisely the point that so many of his own disciples simply could not�understand). Jesus would complete his work and go to his death, but that would not happen until his hour had come. His life would�not be taken until he laid it down.�

Display�Does Jesus’ careful thought, planning, and timing�inspire you at all? Do you carefully think through your�spiritual life and growth or even opportunities to�evangelize the lost in your life the way that Jesus did?�We certainly don’t have the same type of specific�commission from God that Jesus did, but we do all�share a commission to demonstrate a life reconciled�to God and to call others to that life. Make some�efforts this week to consider the careful thought that�went into each of Jesus’ actions and learn and apply�what you can to your own life.�

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Jesus Goes to the Festival of Tabernacles� 1 After this, Jesus went around in Galilee. He did�not want to go about in Judea because the Jewish�leaders there were looking for a way to kill him. 2�But when the Jewish Festival of Tabernacles was�near, 3 Jesus' brothers said to him, "Leave Galilee�and go to Judea, so that your disciples there may see�the works you do. 4 No one who wants to become a�public figure acts in secret. Since you are doing these�things, show yourself to the world." 5 For even his�own brothers did not believe in him.� 6 Therefore Jesus told them, "My time is not yet�here; for you any time will do. 7 The world cannot�hate you, but it hates me because I testify that its�works are evil. 8 You go to the Festival. I am not�going up to this Festival, because my time has not�yet fully come." 9 Having said this, he stayed in�Galilee.�

10 However, after his brothers had left for the�Festival, he went also, not publicly, but in secret. 11�Now at the Festival the Jewish leaders were�watching for Jesus and asking, "Where is he?"�

12 Among the crowds there was widespread�whispering about him. Some said, "He is a good�man."�

Others replied, "No, he deceives the people." 13�But no one would say anything publicly about him�for fear of the leaders.�

1. Why did Jesus wait to go the Festival until it was�half over?�

2. Why did Jesus stress again and again that his�teaching did not originate with himself but came�from the Father?�

3. Why would it have been important for the people�of Israel to understand that they had never and could�never uphold the law?�

Dig Deeper�I once had a friend that led the singles ministry in his church. We were having a long conversation about different aspects of the�ministry especially as it related to working with single people. He pointed out that one of the constant complaints that he heard from�the young men in his ministry was that there just weren’t any single ladies available in their particular Christian community to date.�He thought this was an odd complaint because there were actually a lot of incredibly spiritual single women that were available and�willing to enter into a dating relationship with Christian men. He said that all of the men claimed that they wanted to find someone�who was especially spiritual, but he just didn’t believe that that was the case. I thought that perhaps he was being a little hard on the�young men until he recounted a bemusing incident. A young lady that had left God and their church quite a while before had begun�to come back into the fellowship. She was still going through a lot of spiritual struggles but she was officially welcomed back into the�community one Sunday. The thing about this young lady was, that despite her spiritual struggles, she was extremely beautiful. My�friend chuckled as he recounted how all the single men in the church nearly tripped over one another as they made their way to�“encourage” this sister by asking her out on a date. They had all claimed that they wanted to date spiritually strong and focused�women, but they failed to notice sisters like that all around them, because that really wasn’t what they wanted, truth be told.�

Jesus has stressed over and again that he is only doing what the Father has sent him to do. He does not do his own work, he doesn’t�testify about himself, and he doesn’t even speak his own words. Everything that he does comes directly from the Father. Just as surely�as the Father sent him, people can only come to him if the same Father testified about him and sent people to him through his word.�This is exactly what Jesus said the Father had done. Yet, there was a problem. The people of Israel had waited for God to send his�Messiah. They said that that was what they wanted. Now he was here, but they were soundly rejecting him. The reality was that,�despite their claims, they didn’t really want and weren’t really looking for what God was doing. If they did, they would accept his�teachings. What they claimed to have wanted was right there in their midst, but that wasn’t really what they wanted, truth be told.�

Jesus finally did go up to the festival in Jerusalem but he intentionally did not go with the pilgrims and did not go as a public part of his�ministry. He began to teach, presumably in one of the outer porticoes of the Temple but probably not in the Temple itself where the�festival of Tabernacles was still being observed. As Jesus enters into Jerusalem and begins to teach, there are two concerns or�questions that are raised. The first was brought up in verse 12. Jesus was a teacher that was deceiving the people. This doesn’t sound�like a significant charge, but it was in Judaism. Beginning in Deuteronomy 13, and continuing throughout the Old Testament, Israel was�warned that false teachers and prophets would come, testing them to find out whether they truly loved the Lord their God. They were�to adamantly reject these false teachers and anyone associated with them. They were, in fact, to destroy the false teachers with�impunity. Deceiving God’s people was a serious charge, worthy of death, and would not be tolerated.�

The other issue at hand is�how did this man get such learning without having been taught�. It would not have been unique for a Jewish�man to know the Scriptures well, in fact that would have been expected. What was disconcerting to the Jewish leaders was how Jesus�could apparently teach the Scriptures and ask pointed questions the way only a well-trained rabbi or Pharisee could. He hadn’t been�trained by anyone that they knew of, so where did all of this ability and knowledge come from? In addition to that, no Jewish teacher�or rabbi would ever claim that his knowledge was original to himself. They would always appeal to other authorities or rabbis but Jesus�did not offer any such verification except to say that he was telling the truth and had come from the Father.�

Yet, his teachings were not his�own�. In the Judaism of his time, Jesus would have been immediately rejected if he had made such a�claim. He had no mentor or rabbi to appeal to, his teachings came directly from God. Thus, Jesus was claiming that his teachings were�not those of another rabbi but was direct knowledge from the Father himself. He was no false teacher, they were deceived listeners.�

You see, it all comes down to the will of the Father. In the Garden of Eden, Adam and Eve chose, at the behest of the Serpent, to do�their own will rather than God’s. When you boil it all down, sin is simply doing our own will rather than God’s. The long, sad history�of a sinful world is the history of human beings doing their own will rather than doing the will of the God who made us. Verse 17 is the�key to what Jesus is saying here. Those who really are interested in doing the will of the Father rather than their own will, will accept�Jesus’ teachings and recognize that they come from the Father. Those who reject Jesus’ teachings, do so because, when it comes right�down to it, they would rather do what they will rather than God’s will. It should come as no surprise that the motto of one of the most�sinister and evil (yet also one of the most well-followed with self-proclaimed disciples from the members of the Beatles to Timothy�Leary who began the drug revolution in America) Satanists of the 20th century, Alesiter Crowley, was “Do what thou wilt shall be the�whole of the law.”�

The reality is that when people do their own will, they are doing for their own personal gain or glory. When people reject God by�rejecting Jesus, they were exalting their own desires and will over that of the Father’s. In contrast, nothing Jesus did was out of his�own will. His brothers wanted him to be exactly the kind of religious leader that gained�personal glory� and did things that were�beneficial to him. Jesus wanted none of that. He was not doing things that were personally beneficial, quite the opposite. False�prophets and teachers almost always engage in teachings that benefit them personally. Jesus, though, was doing things that benefited�the Father and followed His will. In fact, any version of Christian or religious teachings that are based mostly on benefiting the�individual, with only a thin veneer of doing God’s will, will be clearly false to those who truly seek the will of God rather than their own�benefit.�

The main problem with clinging to our own will and things that are comfortable to or benefit ourselves, is that when we put a value on�things of this age, we discount the values of the things of the new creation. Jesus’ critics could not recognize the new creation that the�Father was enacting through Jesus’ words because they were holding too tightly to the old. One simply must die to themselves and�their own will in order to recognize, appreciate, and embrace the values of the age to come and the will of God when we encounter it.�

They have so embraced the old to the exclusion of the new that they have failed to accurately see that they have never, and never truly�could uphold the law. The leaders themselves have demonstrated that they are incapable of keeping the law by the fact that they have�plotted to kill Jesus. Moses gave them the law, they have not kept it, but now they want to kill him for supposedly breaking it (we can�infer that this conversation has to do with the controversy still boiling over the man from chapter 5 that Jesus healed). The crowd,�made up of primarily pilgrims, claim to know nothing of this plot and accuse Jesus of the blind ramblings of a demon-possessed man.�

Jesus puts the whole issue in perspective by appealing all the way back to Moses. He had given two commandments that could�apparently come into contradiction. Jews were supposed to keep the Sabbath but also circumcise their sons on the eighth day. What�if those days coincided? It had been decided that it was permissible to perform the circumcision because it was the greater good. How�then could they argue against healing a man completely on the Sabbath? They were clinging so tightly to the old order of doing things,�that when a moment of the new creation broke in as Jesus healed this man, they simply refused to comprehend the truth. If they had�judged� the situation�correctly� they would have realized that Jesus was fulfilling the purposes of God not breaking them. This�demonstrates the truth that it is quite possible to hold so tightly to faulty ideas, as religious as they might sound, that we can miss the�truth, even when it is right in front of our face.�

Display�Have you ever been tempted to be like the Jewish�leaders here and emphasize a rule or tradition over�the greater good of enabling God’s new creation to�break through in someone’s life? Standards and�beliefs are good but they must be tempered,�balanced and placed in proper relation to God’s�overall purposes of reconciling people to Himself�through His community of those who have entered�into the life of Christ.�

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Jesus Teaches at the Festival� 14 Not until halfway through the Festival did Jesus�go up to the temple courts and begin to teach. 15�The Jews there were amazed and asked, "How did�this man get such learning without having been�taught?"� 16 Jesus answered, "My teaching is not my own. It�comes from the one who sent me. 17 Anyone who�chooses to do the will of God will find out whether�my teaching comes from God or whether I speak on�my own. 18 Whoever speaks on their own does so to�gain personal glory, but he who seeks the glory of�the one who sent him is a man of truth; there is�nothing false about him. 19 Has not Moses given you�the law? Yet not one of you keeps the law. Why are�you trying to kill me?"�

20 "You are demon-possessed," the crowd�answered. "Who is trying to kill you?"�

21 Jesus said to them, "I did one miracle, and you�are all amazed. 22 Yet, because Moses gave you�circumcision (though actually it did not come from�Moses, but from the patriarchs), you circumcise a�boy on the Sabbath. 23 Now if a boy can be�circumcised on the Sabbath so that the law of Moses�may not be broken, why are you angry with me for�healing a man's whole body on the Sabbath? 24 Stop�judging by mere appearances, but instead judge�correctly."�

1. Why did the inability of the authorities to actually�arrest Jesus cause some people to have faith in him?�

2. Why were the authorities unable to arrest Jesus?�

3. Why is the reality that they couldn’t arrest him an�important detail about his identity as Messiah?�

4. Why do you think chose to begin to talk about�where he was going? What was the significance of�Jesus saying that they couldn’t follow him?�

Dig Deeper�Where we come from shapes us more than most of us probably realize. It has a great effect on how we think and how we go about�most things we do. This can sometimes be a mystery to us because we forget that much of what we are comes from where we came,�but it can be an even bigger mystery for those around us who usually have little to no idea about where we came from. Recently, a�very good friend of mine lost his rather high-powered job and was busy looking for another one. Some people wondered if it would�be a hardship on him because he made a fair amount of money. Would he be able to cope for a while without that income? He told�me something very interesting, however, one day. He said that people didn’t realize how we grew up. He had come from a small, fairly�remote village in Africa and had grown up extremely poor. He wasn’t worried in the least about money because of where he had come�from. A little hardship was nothing for him. As it turns out, he found another similar job quite quickly and things worked out just fine,�but he would have been okay even if they didn’t. He had no problem trusting in God and losing some of his material possessions if�need be, because of where he came from. Once people knew or remembered that, we understood a lot more about my friend and his�situation.�

In essence, this is the problem that lies beneath the misunderstanding that Jesus is having with the Jewish leaders and the crowds�listening to him teach outside the Temple at the Festival of Tabernacles. They cannot quite understand what he is talking about or�what he is doing because they do not understand where he has come from. They think they should be able to figure him out because�they think they know where he is from, but that is exactly their problem. He has been telling them all along that he is not from where�they think he is. Jesus is not from this world as far as his mission and his will. That all comes from heaven and until they embrace and�accept that, they will never understand what Jesus is all about.�

There are apparently, three different groups that John identifies in this section. We have “the Jews,” which seems to denote the Jewish�leadership; we have “the crowd,” which was, presumably, primarily made up of pilgrims to Jerusalem during the Festival that seem�largely unaware of the controversy between Jesus and the Jews; and now John describes� the people of Jerusalem�. These were the�people that lived in Jerusalem and seem to be a bit more knowledgeable about Jesus and the opposition that he has received from the�Jewish leadership. They are the ones that began to wonder aloud if Jesus is the man that the leaders in Jerusalem want to� kill�. Is this�the man, in other words, that has caused the big stir in recent months? They seem to notice a discrepancy. The�chief priests� and the�Pharisees� would clearly like Jesus dead and out of the way, but here Jesus is�speaking publicly�. If they wanted him all they have to do�is arrest him. So why aren’t they saying anything? Are they afraid? Perhaps, the people reason,�the authorities� really think�that he is�the Messiah�. That’s the only reason that they could think of that would logically keep them from carrying out their plan. Of course,�John’s readers know already that that is not the case. They would love nothing more than to eliminate Jesus, and they certainly do not�believe that he is the true Messiah. The reason that they have not arrested him yet, although unbeknownst to even the Jewish leaders�themselves, was that it was not yet his time.�His hour had not yet come�.�

The idea of Jesus being the Messiah simply doesn’t fit into the worldview of the Jewish people, though. There was, evidently, a fairly�popular belief at the time, although not all Jews believed this, that when the Messiah appeared, he would be born of a woman, but�would appear somewhat mysteriously out of nowhere. It was this oral tradition that had no basis in Scripture that was keeping many�people from fairly considering whether or not Jesus was the Messiah.�

They thought that they knew that he had come from Galilee, and could not then, even be considered to be the Messiah. This is the�point that Jesus picks and stresses as he continues to drive the point home that everything he does comes from the Father. They think�they know him, they think they know where he comes from, and in one sense they do, but in the more important sense they do not�have a clue. When it comes to where Jesus is truly from and where his mission comes from, it has nothing to do with Galilee. They�cannot understand what Jesus is doing because they are thinking in purely earthly terms. If they would simply look at the things that�Jesus is doing and listen to what he is saying, they would know where he came from, they would know on whose authority he is acting.�Jesus is doing works and saying things that only the Father does and says. People generally act like where they came from, so if they�would but stop and think, they would truly know that he was the Messiah.�

The Jewish leaders understand Jesus’ point and once again make an attempt to seize him, but they are kept from doing so, perhaps�even miraculously (although not in a way that was obviously noticeable to those present). The people present had already noticed the�contradiction between the Jewish leadership’s desire to arrest Jesus with the fact that they had not. Perhaps this present effort and�failure was enough for many in� the crowd� to�put their faith in� Jesus. It’s a faith that seems predicated on the fact that Jesus seems to�be performing more signs than any other potential Messiah might. It’s not a strong faith, but even shaky faith is better than no faith�at all.�

The Pharisees were much more in the community and able to move about around the common people than the chief priests would�have been (the priests and the Pharisees were usually opposed to one another but a common enemy makes strange bedfellows) and�so they are down amongst the crowd as they began to whisper that perhaps this strange man from Galilee is the Messiah after all. The�Pharisees would not have had any official authority to send the Temple guards but they likely urged the chief priests to do so after�informing that public opinion was beginning to sway over to belief in Jesus as the Messiah. The guards go to arrest Jesus but they�cannot. He rebuffs them simply by speaking. They will not touch him until his time has truly come.�

They might think they can arrest him whenever they would like, but that’s not the case. A time is coming when they want to stop him�and the power of his teaching even more than they do now, but by then they will not be able to find him. Once again, the Jewish�leaders cannot understand Jesus because they are thinking in earthly terms. They don’t understand Jesus’ message because they�cannot understand the place from where he came. They do not know God so they don’t recognize Jesus. And just as they don’t truly�know where Jesus came from they will not ever understand where he is going. He’s not going off to teach, or even hide, among the�Jewish Greeks spread throughout the world outside of Israel. He is talking of returning to the presence of the Father, a place they can�never go in their present state.�

The fact that they are puzzled by Jesus’ words also seem to make them downright uneasy. What is this man talking about? Does he�know something they don’t? Is there some meaning behind what he is saying that still eludes them? The Jewish leaders prided�themselves as the descendants of Abraham. They were the ones that knew God. Yet, the real problem was not that they did not know�about Jesus or didn’t understand him. The real problem was that they didn’t know about God. They thought they were rejecting Jesus�but the truth was they were rejecting God.�

Surely, John wants us to hear, in this passage, echoes of the proverbial warning for rejecting wisdom. If they did understand the�wisdom that Jesus had brought they would have embraced it. “But since you rejected me when I called and no one gave heed when I�stretched out my hand, since you ignored all my advice and would not accept my rebuke, I in turn will laugh at your disaster; I will mock�when calamity overtakes you. Then they will call to me but I will not answer; they will look for me but will not find me” (Proverbs�1:24-28).�

Display�Jesus felt that it was a significant point that his�contemporaries understand that he had come from�the Father. He also hinted in several passages like�this one that he would be returning to His presence,�a place where he still resides to this day. Spend some�time today thinking about the significance for us in�understanding and embracing that truth. How does�it effect our daily lives to know that Jesus is now�enthroned in the presence of the Father.�

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Discover�

Division Over Who Jesus Is� 25 At that point some of the people of Jerusalem�began to ask, "Isn't this the man they are trying to�kill? 26 Here he is, speaking publicly, and they are�not saying a word to him. Have the authorities really�concluded that he is the Messiah? 27 But we know�where this man is from; when the Messiah comes,�no one will know where he is from."�

28 Then Jesus, still teaching in the temple courts,�cried out, "Yes, you know me, and you know where I�am from. I am not here on my own authority, but he�who sent me is true. You do not know him, 29 but I�know him because I am from him and he sent me."� 30 At this they tried to seize him, but no one laid a�hand on him, because his hour had not yet come. 31�Still, many in the crowd put their faith in him. They�said, "When the Messiah comes, will he perform�more signs than this man?"� 32 The Pharisees heard the crowd whispering such�things about him. Then the chief priests and the�Pharisees sent temple guards to arrest him.�

33 Jesus said, "I am with you for only a short time,�and then I go to the one who sent me. 34 You will�look for me, but you will not find me; and where I�am, you cannot come."� 35 The Jews said to one another, "Where does this�man intend to go that we cannot find him? Will he�go where our people live scattered among the�Greeks, and teach the Greeks? 36 What did he�mean�when he said, 'You will look for me, but you will not�find me,' and 'Where I am, you cannot come'?"�

1. What was different about the last day of the�Festival from the other days?�

2. What was the significance of Jesus speaking of�living water during the Festival of Tabernacles?�

3. What did Jesus refer to specifically, according to�John, when he spoke of the living water flowing from�within anyone who came to Jesus?�

4. When would Jesus be glorified so that the Spirit�would come?�

Dig Deeper�I realized the other day just how spoiled we are. I was standing in my bathroom, having just flushed the toilet. I ran the water in my�sink quickly as I brushed my teeth and then flipped on the shower. All the while, I had a glass full of water on the counter that I was�drinking from. We tend to take water for granted in our society. It is everywhere and we don’t even have to think about it. We are�so comfortable with the over-abundance of water that we have, that most of us can leave the water running in a sink while we go do�something else and not really even consider how wasteful it is. Water is simply not a concern for us (at least for those of us in the�United States), whether it be something we worry about having, or something we think about needing to be thankful to God for.�

That was not the case in Israel in ancient times. Water could be scarce and hard to come by. Times of drought would be devastating,�causing many people to lose their lives. The need for water was quite simply a matter a life and death for the people of biblical times,�especially for the Israelites wandering in the wilderness. They came to see the provision of water as something that was directly�connected with God’s provision for them as His people. The vital need for water became a main concern for the Jewish people, as for�most of the people that surrounded them, and instigated a great deal of prayers and thanksgiving during harvest time for the�continued provision of water.�

The Festival of Tabernacles was, when you boil it all down, a ceremony of joy, celebrating the harvest and God’s provision for his�children. Israel was commanded to celebrate God’s gracious provision through the harvest in Deuteronomy 16:13-15: “Celebrate the�Festival of Tabernacles for seven days after you have gathered the produce of your threshing floor and your winepress. Be joyful at�your Festival—you, your sons and daughters, your male and female servants, and the Levites, the foreigners, the fatherless and the�widows who live in your towns. For seven days celebrate the Festival to the LORD your God at the place the LORD will choose. For the�LORD your God will bless you in all your harvest and in all the work of your hands, and your joy will be complete.” Above all else, the�Festival of Tabernacles celebrated with all joy the fact that God would always provide everything that His people truly needed. What�could be more fitting than to celebrate the fact that “If you follow my decrees and are careful to obey my commands, I will send you�rain in its season, and the ground will yield its crops and the trees their fruit” (Lev. 26:3-4).�

The Festival of Tabernacles began each morning at the crack of dawn with one of two very symbolic acts (we will discuss the second�of these in 8:12) that Jesus would pick up on and use to teach about who he is and what he was doing. Every morning a grand�procession of priests, musicians, and other worshipers would wind their way the full half-mile from the Temple to the pool of Siloam.�The High Priest would dip a golden pitcher into the pool and then return to the Temple where the trumpet players would play three�loud blasts on silver trumpets. At that moment the priests would cry out from Isaiah 12:3: “With joy you will draw water from the wells�of salvation.” The High Priest would then slowly ascend to the top of the altar via the ramp where he would pour the water from the�pool of Siloam into one silver basin and wine into another silver basin. As he was pouring, the trumpet players would sound off three�more blasts on the trumpets. Then the whole congregation would sing from Psalm 118. This Psalm was part of the�hallel�, the Psalms�of praise from 113-118. Psalm 118 speaks of God’s deliverance for His people in the past and His sure salvation in the future. It looked�forward to the time when God would finally deliver His people once-for-all and dwell with them forever. It reaches a crescendo in�118:24-25, which says, “The LORD has done it this very day; let us rejoice today and be glad. LORD, save us! LORD, grant us success!”�

The Festival itself began as a seven-day Festival but there came to be an eighth day that was associated with the Festival but could also�be spoken of separately (Lev. 23:36). It appears, though, that the seventh day was still spoken of as� the last and greatest day of the�Festival�. The last day of the Festival was called�Hoshana Rabbah�.�Hoshana Rabba�h means “Lord, save us,” a reference to Psalm 118:25.�The seventh day of the Festival was a bit different from the previous six days. On the seventh day, the altar was circled seven times�and the three trumpet blasts were sounded seven times. During each circuit around the altar, the crowd would shout, “Please bring�salvation now. Please, God, please, save and bring salvation now!” With each time around the altar, sounds of the chants would grow�louder and more intense. All of this pointed back to the conquest of Jericho and the deliverance of God’s people from their enemies.�There was certainly a sense of being delivered from their enemies in all of this, but even more importantly, there was hope that when�the Messiah came, he would bring the salvation and deliverance that they so longed for.�

We can imagine thousands of pilgrims and devout Jews singing together, watching the life-giving water flow into the basin as an appeal�to God for continued deliverance and thanksgiving for His past provision, and shouting, “Lord, save us.” The last of the seven circuits�is made in a crescendo of jubilation. It is time to make their joy complete (Deut. 13:15). It is at this moment, perhaps, that Jesus steps�up and cries out in a� loud voice� so that all can hear, “�Let anyone who is thirsty come to me and drink. Whoever believes in me, as�Scripture has said, rivers of living water will flow from within them�.” When we understand all that is going on at the moment that�Jesus utters these words, they suddenly leap off the page. All that they are celebrating and hoping for, Jesus is saying, is right there.�It is him. The word has become flesh and contains all of the hopes of the people of God.�

When Jesus declared that Scripture has said all of this, he is not referring to one passage in particular. He means that there are a�combination of Scriptures that delivered the ideas that he has put forth, no one text has these particular words. The Festival of�Tabernacles was associated with rainfall as a provision from God (Zech. 14:16-17) but it pointed to a time when all those who thirsted�could come drink forever form the Lord’s provision (Isa. 55:1). Isaiah 12:3, another passage associated with the Festival looked forward�to drawing from the wells of God’s salvation. Psalms 42-43 speak of thirsting for God as the only source that will truly quench the thirst�of those who love Him. A key passage from which Jesus undoubtedly draws is Ezekiel 47 which points to a time when Jerusalem will�be brought back once-and-for-all from it’s exile. Ezekiel says that a new river will flow from under the Temple and will completely�renew and bring life to the entire land. This is the same picture that John uses in Revelation 22 for his description of the New Jerusalem�as it comes from God’s presence into the earthly realm.�

The Old Testament also has many prophecies that foretold of a time when God would pour out his Spirit like water: “For I will pour�water on the thirsty land, and streams on the dry ground; I will pour out my Spirit on your offspring, and my blessing on your�descendants” (Isa. 44:3; see also Ezek. 36:25-27; Joel 2:28). It is to all of this that Jesus appeals as his witness in Scripture. The Festival�of Tabernacles looked forward to the ingathering, the harvest when all people would be brought under the reign of the Messiah�through the outpouring of God’s Spirit. It would be the coming of God’s Kingdom. Jesus has boldly gathered all of that imagery and�pointed it squarely to himself.�

Jesus uses the specific term “�living water�,” which was distinctive from the stagnant and dead water found in ponds or pools. Living�water was water that moved and brought life to everything. He is not calling them to be dead pools that take in God’s provisions and�store it up for themselves. No, if they drink from his life they will have God’s Spirit welling up inside of them, pouring out like a river,�overflowing out of their life and into others around them. The pilgrims at the Festival prayed for rain and the time of the resurrection�of the dead, well, this was indeed the moment of water and new life. That’s what this is all about, life. As Jesus told the Samaritan�women at the well, the water that Jesus is offering is “a spring of water welling up to eternal life.” The good news for the pilgrims at�the Temple that day, and for us, is that they didn’t have to wait anymore. They no longer needed a celebration that pointed ahead to�what God was going to do one day. That day had come and is still here.�

Display�The Essenes were a sect of Jesus’ time that were serious�about being God’s people. They were so serious that�withdrew from society at large to Qu’mran so as to�keep themselves pure from the rest of society. The�problem is that societies like that, no matter how well�meaning, become stagnant and usually don’t impact�society around them at all. Jesus said that his followers�would have an overflow of the living water that would�effect everyone around those who would drink of him.�Is your life more like a stagnant pond or a river flowing�with the waters of life that bring nourishment and�healing to everyone around you? Make a renewed�effort to let the living water flow through you and into�the lives of those in your life.�

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Discover�

37 On the last and greatest day of the Festival,�Jesus stood and said in a loud voice, "Let anyone�who is thirsty come to me and drink. 38 Whoever�believes in me, as Scripture has said, rivers of living�water will flow from within them." 39 By this he�meant the Spirit, whom those who believed in him�were later to receive. Up to that time the Spirit had�not been given, since Jesus had not yet been�glorified.�

1. Why did the guards not fulfill their duties and�arrest Jesus?�

2. Why do you think the Pharisees dismiss all of�those who believed in Jesus as being deceived?�

3. Why does John put such an emphasis on believing�in the word or� logos� of Jesus?�

4. Why do you think John chose to include the scene�with Nicodemus here into his Gospel?�

Dig Deeper�It quickly became clear that this guy didn’t want any actual debate, he wanted everyone to agree with him. I was watching a television�show that was supposed to be a forum where the host/ moderator asked questions and fostered a debate between himself and his four�guests. The topics were usually centered around political and social issues that were quite controversial at the moment. What became�painfully obvious after watching the show for just a couple of times, however, was that the host, who was also the creator of the show,�did not want real debate. He usually stacked the guests so that anyone who disagreed with his positions would be outnumbered four to�one, or at least three to two. Whenever anyone did disagree with the host, though, he would not actually challenge their position in a�logical manner. He would generally resort to calling them hicks, idiots, simpletons, or something similar. Anyone who held differing�political or social views would also incur his wrath and be subject to his name calling. He didn’t want real debate or a truly open�marketplace of ideas, he wanted allegiance to his ideas and he would basically attempt to intimidate and belittle anyone who might dare�disagree with him.�

Whether they liked it or not, the chief priests and the Pharisees simply could not control public opinion. They were certainly very�influential but they couldn’t determine what each and every person might believe about Jesus. It certainly seems that, above all else,�they didn’t want to investigate Jesus’ claims and have an open and public discourse with him. That might be too risky and definitely�would be too hard to control. What they would do instead is what so many people like that television talk show host did. They sought�to discount, intimidate, and belittle anyone who might cross them or think differently. Perhaps using the authority and influence they�did have, to intimidate people, would keep belief in this dangerous man to a minimum.�

The danger, of course, was coming from the fact that some people were beginning to believe in Jesus, despite his difficult and challenging�words. The reaction of the crowds and people of Jerusalem was all across the board, as reactions to Jesus continue to be to this day.�Some thought he was demon-possessed, some thought he was worthy of death, some thought he might be the Messiah, and some were�now saying,�“surely this man is the Prophet,” while others said, “He is the Messiah.”� This was actually two different lines of thought,�as most Jews in the first century, though certainly not all, believed that the Prophet of Deuteronomy 18:15-18 and the Messiah were two�different figures.�

It is of great importance to John that these people came to belief in Jesus based solely on faith in his words. There were no great signs�that convinced them. It was simply the power of what he was saying. John uses the theme of belief in Jesus’ word throughout his gospel.�Jesus was the� logos�, the word that had become flesh. The matter of belief in his life, for John, comes down to whether or not people will�have faith in the words, the�logos� of Jesus (Jn. 2:22; 4:39-41, 50; 5:24, 37-38; 6:60; 8:31-32, 37, 43, 51, 55; 10:19; 12:48; 17:14, 17; 20:29)�or are they looking for something more, something more in line with their expectations.�

The response to the idea that Jesus is might actually be the Messiah, shows just how varied the beliefs in the Messiah were in the first�century and how across-the-board the reactions to Jesus were. Earlier, some had disavowed that Jesus could be the Messiah because�no one would no where he came from (7:27). Now the objection is that it was well known that Jesus had come from Galilee. He couldn’t�be the Messiah because he was from Galilee in the minds of some. Does not Scripture say that the Messiah will come from David’s�descendants and from Bethlehem? (Likely they were referring to Scriptures such as 1 Sam. 20:6; 2 Sam. 7:12; Ps. 89:3-4; Mic. 5:2). John�surely expects that his readers are familiar with the other Gospels and the fact that Jesus was, in fact, born in Bethlehem but grew up�in Galilee. Thus, the objection raised here is actually confirmation of his Messianic claim. The real issue is not where Jesus was born,�however, but whether or not they would have faith in him. The reactions remained mixed. Some believed, others wanted to get rid of�him, but his time had not yet come so�no one laid a hand on him�.�

The Temple guards, who were sent to arrest Jesus, were those who didn’t lay a hand on him. John takes special care to draw attention�to the fact that they weren’t rebuffed because the venue was too public or because those who favored Jesus protected him and repelled�the guards. No, they were deterred simply by the power of his words. These were no simple muscle head guards, by the way. The�Temple guards were chosen from among the Levites. They would not have had the Scriptural knowledge of the priests themselves, but�they were trained in the Torah and they would have heard all kinds of teachers and rabbinical debates. They were fairly well-schooled�men who stood awestruck at Jesus’ words in such a way that they were rendered incapable of doing their job. They had never heard�anyone speak the way that Jesus did. We aren’t told that any of them specifically came to faith but they were certainly struck by hearing�Jesus’ words, and as Paul would later write, faith comes from hearing the word of God (Rom. 10:17).�

The guards have just given high praise to Jesus’ words but the chief priests and Pharisees want no part of it. They don’t ask what he said�that might have been so convincing, nor do they go and investigate for themselves. They won’t even consider what Jesus has to say.�This response is sadly mimicked by many today who reject the entire concept of Jesus as Lord without ever actually knowing much about�what he said or what he truly called his followers to be. The Jewish leaders, though, rather than considering Jesus’ words resort to�intimidation and minimizing the credibility of those who believe in Jesus. Their immediate question insinuates that those who believe�have only been deceived, the guards have not been tricked as well have they? After all, the people who really know their stuff, the true�experts in the Scriptures, you don’t see any of them being so foolish as to believe in this drivel.�

This is not an appeal based on fact or proof that Jesus was not the Messiah, but simply the dismissive attitude that the really smart�people didn’t believe in him so why would the guards. They next turn to the tactic of heaping insults, scorn, and abuse on the crowds�that are believing. They are not experts. They don’t know anything. They are a mob that�knows nothing of the law�. They are the very�ones who have brought all of the trouble on Israel in the first place. They don’t know the law, therefore they don’t follow the law in the�proper way that the Pharisees and the chief priests do, so they are under a curse anyway. Why would anyone want to side with a bunch�of superstitious, ignorant fools? The irony is that it is God who makes the wisdom of the world look foolish (1 Cor. 1:20). The leaders�who are so sure of their own wisdom and knowledge of the Scriptures are the very ones that are missing the boat. The ones that they�are accusing of being foolish and under a curse are the ones who actually have the opportunity to find and embrace the truth.�

Just when we think that the Jewish leaders are at their most condescending, we are re-introduced to�Nicodemus� who we have not heard�of since his encounter with Jesus in chapter 3. Nicodemus came to Jesus in the dark during that incident but now perhaps he has stepped�into the twilight, so to speak. He was, as we learned in chapter 3, a Pharisee and a member of the Jewish ruling council; he was�one of�their own number�. Nicodemus certainly doesn’t make any grand statement of faith at this point or number himself among Jesus’�disciples but he does call for fairness based on the common ground respect for the law that they share. He has, perhaps seen the�hypocrisy of the others and is not impressed.� They have made a judgment on Jesus without first hearing him to find out what he has�been doing�as the� law� demands. He has exposed that the supposed guardians of the law do not hold themselves to the law. Rather than�listening to Nicodemus’ appeal for law-abiding and cautious behavior, they resort to the same tactics of intimidation and belittlement�that they used on the guards. Why would Nicodemus stick up for this would-be Messiah? Is he from Galilee too (a modern-day�equivalent would be like asking someone in America if they are a hillbilly from West Virginia or someone in Africa if they are a villager�from Cameroon)? In their anger, they retort that a prophet does not come out of Galilee. In their haste they demonstrate that despite�their alleged expertise, they have made an error, for Jonah came from Galilee (2 Ki. 14:25) and possibly so did Elijah (1 Ki. 17:1) and�Nahum (Nah. 1:1). The so-called experts have appealed to their earthly wisdom, but are wrong on nearly every single point.�

Display�The Jewish leaders met the growing belief in Jesus�with intellectual intimidation, scorn, and by heaping�abuse on those who would believe. Those same�tactics of intimidation and abuse are often used�against Christians today where the world often�accuses Christians of being superstitious, foolish,�backwards, or just plain idiotic. Are you ever tempted�to cower from those attacks? Can you get�intimidated by the “intellectual” prowess of those�who criticize your faith? The way to truth that is�found in Jesus is based on belief in his word not what�the intellectuals of the day are saying. Be confident�of that and don’t waver in the face of criticism.�

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40 On hearing his words, some of the people said,�"Surely this man is the Prophet."� 41 Others said, "He is the Messiah."�

Still others asked, "How can the Messiah come�from Galilee? 42 Does not Scripture say that the�Messiah will come from David's descendants and�from Bethlehem, the town where David lived?" 43�Thus the people were divided because of Jesus. 44�Some wanted to seize him, but no one laid a hand on�him.�

Unbelief of the Jewish Leaders� 45 Finally the temple guards went back to the chief�priests and the Pharisees, who asked them, "Why�didn't you bring him in?"� 46 "No one ever spoke the way this man does,"�the guards replied.�

47 "You mean he has deceived you also?" the�Pharisees retorted. 48 "Have any of the rulers or of�the Pharisees believed in him? 49 No! But this mob�that knows nothing of the law—there is a curse on�them."�

50 Nicodemus, who had gone to Jesus earlier and�who was one of their own number, asked, 51 "Does�our law condemn a man without first hearing him to�find out what he has been doing?"�

52 They replied, "Are you from Galilee, too? Look�into it, and you will find that a prophet does not�come out of Galilee."�

1. What symbolic truths was Jesus gathering to�himself when he claimed to be the light of the world?�

2. Why did Jesus claim that he could actually testify�concerning himself?�

3. Why does Jesus consider where he has come from�and where he is going to be of such importance?�

4. What is the significance of the Pharisees not�knowing who Jesus’ Father is to whom he has been�referring?�

Dig Deeper�A few months ago I had the chance to watch the opening ceremonies of the Summer Olympic Games while my oldest son, my wife and I�were in South Africa. The opening ceremony is always an incredible display that seems to transcend the moment. They get bigger, more�elaborate, and more impressive each year. The opening ceremonies are especially important because they symbolize all that is supposed�to be good about the Olympics. This is the time when the nations of the world forget all of their problems, tensions, and even wars, and�look to a time when there is real peace between the nations. After the many dances and incredible performances, it was time for the torch�lighting ceremony. The torch lighting ceremony not only signals the opening of the games but it is symbolic of the hope of peace and unity�of the Olympic games that will hopefully never be quenched. Imagine if, after all of the pomp and circumstance and ceremony of the�opening show, right after they lit the big torch that would burn throughout the games, someone got up and, with their voice booming�through a microphone, declared that they were the true flame of peace. They had the only genuine solution to what the world hoped for�and what was symbolized by the Olympic games. That would be a heady claim and would be quite a memorable moment.�

What Jesus did as the Festival of the Tabernacles drew to a close was every bit as stunning as our imaginary Olympic scene. The Festival�of Tabernacles was, in many respects, the biggest festival of the Jewish religion. It was the big moment of the year full of pomp, ceremony,�circumstance, and memorable moments. Everything that took place at the Festival meant something that usually hearkened back to God’s�glory in the past and looked ahead to His might hand working in the future. Jesus, like any Jew of his day, knew the meaning of the symbols�of the Festival quite well and used them to his advantage to teach the people. The hopes that the most awesome moments of the Festival�of Tabernacles pointed to, were all embodied in Jesus. In a move just as stunning as someone grabbing a microphone and making such�bold claims about themselves during the Olympics, Jesus declares to the people of Jerusalem that he is what they have been waiting for.�Everything they hoped for and celebrated during the Festival was right there in front of them if they would only believe.�

Verse 12 comes right on the heels of 7:52, which took place on the final morning of the Festival of the Tabernacles. You might have noticed�that, in this study guide, we have skipped 7:53-8:11. It’s not a mistake. That section, although inspiring, was clearly not present in any of�the earliest manuscripts of John’s Gospel. In fact, it did not appear in any manuscripts until the fifth century, and even then it was only�slowly added into the Gospel. Nor did any of the early church leaders seem at all aware of this passage in John until the fifth century. It�also appeared in at least five different locations, including after John 7:36, 44, 52, at the end of the Gospel or even after Luke 21:38 (the�section clearly interrupts the flow between 7:52 and 8:12). It seems, then that this passage bounced around and may have even come�from a non-cannonical work called the Gospel to the Hebrews. Even though it is possible, then, that this passage happened in Jesus’ life,�it was clearly not in the original Gospel of John and we cannot rightly ascribe inspiration to that passage. With that in mind, we will pass�over that section with no comment and move on to the present passage.�

Chapter 7 ended during the morning of the water pouring ceremonies on the last day of the Festival. It is quite possible that verse 12 picks�up about eight hours later that evening. The illumination ceremony was, along with the water pouring ceremony, one of the two great�moments that took place daily during Tabernacles, although the illumination ceremony began on the second night of the Festival and�continued through the end. In Hebrew the illumination ceremony was called�simhat Beit ha-Sho’eva�, which means the rejoicing at the�place of the water drawing. Yet, interestingly it did not occur where the water was drawn but inside the Temple itself, in the area called�the Court of the Women (John carefully tells us in verse 20 that this took place in the court where the treasury was located, which was the�Court of the Women, giving a strong indication that this scene did indeed take place during or shortly after the lighting ceremony).�

The Levites and priests, along with musicians with instruments of all kinds moved from the Court of Men through the Nicanor Gate and�down the steps into the Court of Women. As they made their way through the Temple, the processional of people following them would�sing songs from Psalms 120 through 134, known as the Psalms of the Ascent. Inside the Court of the Women stood four huge candelabras,�which according to the Talmud, towered above the Court, standing 73 feet high. At the top of each candelabra were four bowls for lamps�that were filled with oil. Wicks made from the priest’s worn-out robes were carried up ladders by young priests who then lit these giant�lights. As they were lit, the entire Temple was illuminated by these candelabras. At the moment that they were lit, the priests and�Pharisees picked up torches and danced around with joyous abandon, mimicking the way King David once danced in celebration of God.�This jubilant dancing and singing would continue late into the night, until three loud trumpet blasts were sounded. At that moment, the�people would all turn to the East and declare, “Our fathers who were in this place stood with their backs toward the Temple of the Lord�and their faces toward the East and they worshiped. But for us, our eyes are turned to the Lord.” This was the way the Jews fulfilled�Deuteronomy 16:15 and it’s command to make their joy complete.�

The illumination ceremony was far more than just a celebration, though. Like everything else in the Festival of Tabernacles, it had deep�and profound meaning. The candle lighting ceremony was a symbol for the Jews of the presence of YHWH, the God of Israel. It was He�who, during the time in the wilderness, graciously led the Israelites with His presence through the pillar smoke and cloud during the day�and the pillar of fire at night. The light signified the Shekinah glory of God that had once inhabited the Temple, and declared the desire of�the Jewish people to see the Temple once again filled with God’s glory.�

Imagine, then, that it was at this moment, perhaps just after the candles had been extinguished that Jesus once again declared to be the�fulfillment of an element of the Festival. He was�the light of the world� (the second of Jesus’ “I am” statements in the Gospel of John). He�was, in other words, the Shekinah glory, the presence of God, the pillar of fire. He was the one who fulfilled the messianic role of God’s�servant in Isaiah, the one who would be the light to the world that Israel was supposed to be, but had failed to do so (Isa. 49:6; 60:1-2).�Jesus was in no uncertain terms, claiming to be the Messiah and the very presence of the almighty God, but he was also doing something�else. One of the criticisms against Jesus was that he could not be the Messiah because no Messiah would come from Galilee. Jesus’ claim�to be the light of the world, pointed directly to Isaiah 9:1-2, “In the past he humbled the land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali, but in�the future he will honor Galilee of the nations, by the Way of the Sea, beyond the Jordan— The people walking in darkness have seen a�great light; on those living in the land of deep darkness a light has dawned.” Jesus was informing them that they were wrong, the Messiah�could come from Galilee (John, of course, expects us to put all of this together and see how Jesus was the fulfillment of this passage and�Micah 5:2 which intimated that the Messiah would come from Bethlehem). In a fell swoop, Jesus has answered questions about himself�and made an incredibly bold claim.�

In John 5:31, Jesus claimed that if he served as his own witness, then his testimony could be disregarded. The Pharisees jump on that as�a chance to put Jesus on trial and convict him by his own words. Jesus is not contradicting himself, but moving his critics on to a new�understanding of who he is. In chapter 5, Jesus descended to human standards and offered other testimony, but now he is showing them�that he is the light, and he can testify about himself. It all has to do with the fact that he has come from God’s presence, heaven, and will�return there one day soon. Jesus stands as one with the Father, so the Father’s�testimony� is his, and his� testimony� is the Father’s. The�Law declared that in order for anything to be considered valid, there must be two witnesses, well here thy are. Jesus’ has narrowed down�the witnesses that to him matter, he and the Father alone. Yet because he has come from the Father and is one with the Father, then his�testimony is just as valid. If they want to follow the law and demand two witnesses, they have them. The Pharisees then demand that�Jesus produce this father that will verify his claims, but in doing so they make Jesus’ point. They think they represent God’s interests, but�they don’t even know Him, because they don’t know His Son. If they truly knew the Father, they would know that the light of the world�was standing in their presence.�

Display�Can you ever identify with the Pharisees here? Do�you truly accept Jesus as the light of the world? It is�easy to forget just how deeply the darkness can run�through each one of us. It is easy to start out with a�calling to be God’s people, but to somehow turn that�calling into privilege for ourselves. When we do that,�we have rejected the light of the world and embraced�our own will rather than God’s.�

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Dispute Over Jesus' Testimony� 12 When Jesus spoke again to the people, he said, "I�am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will�never walk in darkness, but will have the light of�life."� 13 The Pharisees challenged him, "Here you are,�appearing as your own witness; your testimony is�not valid."�

14 Jesus answered, "Even if I testify on my own�behalf, my testimony is valid, for I know where I�came from and where I am going. But you have no�idea where I come from or where I am going. 15 You�judge by human standards; I pass judgment on no�one. 16 But if I do judge, my decisions are true,�because I am not alone. I stand with the Father, who�sent me. 17 In your own Law it is written that the�testimony of two witnesses is true. 18 I am one who�testifies for myself; my other witness is the Father,�who sent me."�

19 Then they asked him, "Where is your father?"�

"You do not know me or my Father," Jesus replied.�"If you knew me, you would know my Father also."�20 He spoke these words while teaching in the�temple courts near the place where the offerings�were put. Yet no one seized him, because his hour�had not yet come.�

1. To what what Jesus referring when he said that he�was going to go where they could not come?�

2. Why do the Jewish leaders accuse Jesus of talking�about killing himself?�

3. Why could they not go where Jesus was going?�

4. What will the irony be when they life up the Son�of Man to pass judgment on him?�

Dig Deeper�An interesting thing happened this morning as I sat down to begin working on this section. I got up fairly early in the morning while�most everyone else was still sleeping and I wanted to begin working. The only problem was my laptop computer’s battery was almost�run all the way down and I didn’t know where the power cord was. I began to look for it but I already knew that it wasn’t plugged into�the socket behind our Christmas tree because I would never plug it in there (it’s a couple of weeks before Christmas as I write this).�With that location safely excluded, I began to quietly look around the house for the power cord but I simply could not find it. I looked�in the computer bag and everywhere else that it might be but I simply could not find it. This was beginning to get frustrating as I�realized that perhaps I had left it at church and would not be able to get the work done this morning that I wanted to get done. It�wasn’t until my wife realized what I was doing, got up and found the cord immediately that I could relax. The cord was in the one place�that I knew it wasn’t and had already excluded. It was behind the Christmas tree, precisely the place I did not look because I knew that�it wouldn’t be there. Apparently my wife had plugged it in there the night before, but I had just assumed that it wouldn’t be there�without actually looking there. Once I had excluded it as a possibility, I was simply not going to find the cord.�

This seems like it is something of the case with the Pharisees and the Jewish leaders of Jesus’ day. They were waiting for the Messiah�to deliver them but they had already, in their own minds, excluded Jesus as a possibility. This left them in somewhat of a quandary.�No matter what Jesus said or did, he wasn’t going to convince them that he was the Messiah. They simply were not going to come to�faith in him because, although they had yet to find the true Messiah, they knew he wasn’t it. That’s the great danger in making�assumptions and excluding one possibility without fully considering it. It might be the one place where the thing you are looking for is�actually at, but if you never look there, you will never find it.�

To truly understand what Jesus is telling his critics in this passage, we must remember the Jewish concept of the King. As is�demonstrated by the account of David, the anointed King of Israel, and Goliath, the fighting champion of the Philistines, what was true�of the King was true of His people. If David won, the whole nation won. This is what led Paul, in Romans 6, to argue that those who�had died to themselves and entered into the life of Christ, will share in all that he has received from the Father, including resurrection�and the resurrection life. It is to this truth that Jesus alludes and appeals here.�

He came from the presence of God and he will soon return there. He was the Word that has become flesh. He was the only human�being who had truly done the full will of God (even David failed miserably in doing God’s will throughout his life), and he would be the�only one to receive resurrection and the life of the age to come. Anyone who would trust in their own life and remain in their own life�will receive their just reward and be judged according to their own sinful life. Those in Christ, however, will share the fate of Christ,�who, following his death, will return to the presence of the Father. That is where he is going. He is going into death and out the other�side, something that no human being can do on their own. He is, he is telling them, about to enter into the new creation, the life of�the age to come. But they have already excluded the possibility that he is from the Father. They simply cannot abide the thought that�he is the living water, the light of the world. They are looking everywhere else, but he cannot be it. That is why they will�die�in their�sin� and could not�come�where he was going. It was not that Jesus was barring them from coming to salvation or saying that there was�a certain line or point of no return that they were about to cross. The problem was that they had rejected him as the way, and once�you have rejected the only way as a possibility, you simply will not find it. He is going into the age to come, and they will not be able�to follow because they are looking for every other way possible to enter in except his life. As John 1:4 has already stated, “In him was�life, and that life was the light of all people.” Those questioning Jesus had become the embodiment of John 3:19-20: “Light has come�into the world, but people loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil. All those who do evil hate the light, and will�not come into the light for fear that their deeds will be exposed.”�

The Jewish leaders apparently mock Jesus in response to his statement that they�cannot come� where he is going. Is he going to kill�himself? Surely if that’s the kind of death he is talking about, then they have no interest in following him. Suicide was reviled in the�Jewish culture. Jewish people were horrified at the thought of committing suicide and assumed that those who were guilty of such a�crime, except in extreme circumstances of heroism of some type, would be punished to the lowest pits of Hades. They would leave�the corpse of a suicide case unburied until sunset and there was no public mourning for the person. It was a foregone conclusion, in�their minds, that those who committed suicide would be excluded from God’s age to come. In this mocking accusation, though, the�Jewish leaders again demonstrate that their minds are set on earthly things. Jesus has, in somewhat veiled terms, been discussing his�own death. These leaders, no doubt, are well aware that discussions have taken place and a plot is in the works to kill him, but Jesus�should know nothing of this. If he is going about teaching that his death will somehow be central to his mission and the sustenance�that he will provide for the whole world, then he must be planning to kill himself. That’s the only way that someone could know the�time and circumstances of their own death and plan for it. He must, they mock, be planning something repulsive like that to make�some grand statement, and if that’s the case, in their own way of thought, then they have no interest in following this worst of�law-breaking suicidal fools.�

Jesus doesn’t respond directly to the slights of his questioners but reiterates the differences between he and them. They are�from�below�, their minds are set on earthly things and they are stuck doing their own will. He, on the other hand, is� from above�, his mind is�set on the things of God and doing God’s will. They are of the present world that is stuck in their own sin, separated from God but he�is the only one that is not in that condition. In verse 24, Jesus says plainly what he hinted at in verse 21. It’s not that they have been�barred from finding salvation. No, but they will�die�in their� sins�if they do not� believe� that he is the one. He is the Messiah, the servant�of God (Isa. 40-55) who had come to earth to do the perfect will of God and be what Israel never could. But Jesus knows that they will�not believe in him. They have already rejected him as a a possibility and so they�will indeed die� in their�sins�. He came to his own but�his own did not receive him (1:11).�

If Jesus is making such bold claims to be “he,” to be the one, then they demand that he tell them who he is. The problem is that he�has been telling� them�from the beginning� who he is, but they have rejected that as a a possibility. How can they solve the problem of�two plus two if they have already declared that the answer cannot be four. Their rejection of Jesus will bring about their own�judgment, and Jesus confirms that he has much more to say about that. Yet, what Jesus is telling them is not his own words. He is only�telling them what he has� heard� from the Father. He bears the words of the Father, so when they reject him as a possibility, they reject�the very thing they claim to be looking for.�

Because they have already rejected the possibility of Jesus being the Messiah or being sent directly by the Father, they simply could�not understand what he was saying. Jesus boldly informs them that they will indeed�lift him up�, there will be no suicide. The word�that Jesus uses that is translated “lift up” is an unusual word for crucifixion and usually means something like “to exalt.” Perhaps, that�is Jesus’ whole point. When they life him up on the Cross, thinking that they are laying the most shameful of covenantal curses on him�(Deut. 21:23), that is actually the moment when he will come into his full glory. They will be doing what pleases them, but he will be�doing what�pleases�the Father. So, when the world thinks that they have passed and executed judgment on the Son of Man, they will�actually be bringing down the judgment of the one sent by the Father on themselves and bringing him to the fullest expression of the�glory of God for mankind.�

Display�Part of our human nature is to generally attempt to�avoid uncomfortable situations. We don’t like to have�to endure hard times or persecution. Yet, Jesus alludes�here to the fact that just when it might look like he was�being persecuted the most, he was actually being�exalted and was perfectly doing the Father’s will. It was�through the most difficult of circumstances that Jesus�was obedient to God’s will and brought about the�greatest good. Sometimes, the fact is, that when we go�through the most difficult of times, God will use those�circumstances for the greatest good. Rather than�automatically trying to avoid trials, spend some time�praying and considering if the path God’s will might be�right down the middle of that impending trial.�

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Dispute Over Who Jesus Is� 21 Once more Jesus said to them, "I am going away,�and you will look for me, and you will die in your sin.�Where I go, you cannot come."�

22 This made the Jews ask, "Will he kill himself? Is�that why he says, 'Where I go, you cannot come'?"�

23 But he continued, "You are from below; I am�from above. You are of this world; I am not of this�world. 24 I told you that you would die in your sins; if�you do not believe that I am he, you will indeed die�in your sins."�

25 "Who are you?" they asked.�

"Just what I have been telling you from the�beginning," Jesus replied. 26 "I have much to say in�judgment of you. But he who sent me is trustworthy,�and what I have heard from him I tell the world."�

27 They did not understand that he was telling�them about his Father. 28 So Jesus said, "When you�have lifted up the Son of Man, then you will know�that I am he and that I do nothing on my own but�speak just what the Father has taught me. 29 The�one who sent me is with me; he has not left me�alone, for I always do what pleases him."�

1. How can we know that the Jews who put their�faith in Jesus had not developed a deep and genuine�faith?�

2. Why did Jesus challenge them to hold to his�teaching?�

3. What belief led these Jews to reject that they�needed to be set free?�

4. What was Jesus’ point about the slave having no�place in the family but the son belonging forever?�

Dig Deeper�Abraham Lincoln, the sixteenth President of the United States, issued the Emancipation Proclamation on September 22, 1862,�announcing that it would go into effect on January 1, 1863. The Proclamation declared that all slaves that lived in territories that�remained in rebellion against the United States government would go free on January 1st. Because those states continued in their�war efforts, this meant that the Proclamation itself freed virtually no slaves. This particularly applied to Texas, which was almost�completely under Confederate control for the remainder of the war. Although the American Civil War ended in essence on April 9,�1865, it wasn’t until June 19, 1865 that Union General Gordon Granger and his soldiers arrived in Galveston, Texas to enforce the�end of the war and the emancipation of the slaves. Immediately, the slaves broke into jubilant celebrations over the fact that they�had been freed for good. That day has gone into history as Juneteenth and has developed into a huge holiday of parades and�celebrations commemorating the actualized date of the end of slavery in Texas, and symbolically, all of the United States.�

Imagine, though, if those slaves in Texas had not broken into celebration. What if they had, instead, began to shout down General�Granger as he stood out on a balcony announcing their freedom? What if they got angry, denying that they were even in slavery�rather than being filled with joy? If that had happened, they would have remained in their slavery, at least in their own minds and�would have never enjoyed their freedom. Indeed, the only thing worse than being in slavery is having the opportunity to be free,�not realizing it, and choosing to stay there in slavery when freedom has been offered to you. This might sound unthinkable but it is�exactly the situation that Jesus found himself in with the Jewish leaders and much of Israel in general. He was announcing that the�time of their freedom had finally come, but rather than celebrating jubilantly and praising God, they railed against the suggestion�that they weren’t free. They didn’t like the idea that there might be something from which they needed to be freed. So, when the�offer of freedom came they rejected it rather than embracing it.�

As Jesus spoke against the Jewish leaders and their earthly agenda,�many put their faith in him�. Generally when John brings up the�idea of someone having faith in Jesus it is in the positive sense of trusting in his life as the only means to reconciliation with the�Father. In fact, many people have read this passage out its full context and assumed that John is speaking of those who had faith�here in a positive sense. A careful reading of the rest of the scene, however, puts verse 30 in context and demonstrates that they�came to a certain level of faith that Jesus was saying the right things and was, perhaps, the Messiah, but they didn’t have the real�kind of faith that Jesus demands of his disciples. John, then, is evidently demonstrating that it is possible to come to a level of faith�that reaches a mental assent to the ideas of Jesus, but they were not truly willing to follow Jesus’ teachings all the way, which is�always the true sign of a genuine disciple (2 Jn. 1:9). As Jesus will expose in the rest of the passage, these “believers” were not willing�to die themselves and their former identities. They still put value on who and what they were and thought that there was some value�to their lives.�

It was to these nominal believers that Jesus challenged further, as his word will do to everyone who supposes to have faith in him.�To these�Jews who had believed in him, Jesus said� that if they really were his� disciples�, they would� hold� to his�teaching�. They�wanted the Messiah part, it would seem, without the teaching that they must rely on faith in his life alone. It is important to notice�that Jesus did not say that if people hold to his teaching� then�they will be his disciples. Holding to Jesus’ teaching is not what creates�disciples, faith does that. Instead, holding to Jesus’ teaching is the marker of a true disciple. It is the attribute of a genuine disciple�not the creating condition. In issuing this challenge, Jesus shows that he is more interested in deepening the genuine faith and�discipleship of his followers than he is in simple and often misleading numerical growth.�

What Jesus truly wanted for these Jews, as well as all human beings, was to know the truth and be set free. Jesus is not talking about�some sort of religion here. True Christianity is not mere religion and if ever is reduced and starts sounding something like other�religious beliefs, then we can be sure that it is not the truth that Jesus was offering. His truth is far more than just a set of doctrines�or fundamental set of beliefs that needed to be adhered to. He is speaking of new creation. Jesus is the truth and the life (14:6).�Try as we might, humans will never find complete light and truth outside of his life. His life, this truth is the only thing that will ever�free any human from what truly enslaves us.�

This is exactly what these Jews could not understand. Talk of needing to do something to be free implied that they were enslaved�too. This notion would have been unacceptable to the average Jew and certainly was to those speaking with Jesus here. Freedom�was the natural birthright of any Jew; they were, after all, the children of Abraham. The law declared that regardless of how poor�they were, no Jew should ever sink to becoming a slave (Lev. 25:39-42). The Jewish Mishnah states that, “Even the poorest in Israel�are looked upon as freemen who have lost their possessions, for they are the sons of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.” They had�overlooked the political reality that Israel had been in subjection to Babylon, Persia, Greece, and now Rome for the better part of the�previous six centuries. Although that may be a small part of his point, Jesus’ real concern is the true enemy that had enslaved God’s�people, and all human beings. Sin was the real enemy, the real slave master. The Jewish leaders would have known this, even if they�denied that it was a problem in their individual lives. Yet, Jews believed that sin was something that God would only deal with at the�end of the present age. They simply could not and would not consider Jesus’ message that the gift of freedom from sin and the life�of the age to come could be made available in the here and now through the life of Christ.�

Everyone who sins�, says Jesus,� is a slave to sin�. This is the problem in a nutshell. Those who are in sin are a slave to sin. The language�that Jesus uses here does not mean occasional sin. He refers, rather, to those who remain in a continual state of sin, the realm of�sin. The problem was that the Pharisees, chief priests, and so many other Jews confused being children of Abraham with being the�children of God as though they were one in the same. But they were not. God would bless all of the nations through the seed of�Abraham (Genesis 12:3; 18:18) but it would be one seed. The Messiah would come through the children of Abraham but the blessing�for all people of the world would come through him and him alone. The Jews assumed they were the solution, but in fact they were�part of the problem. Israel had succumbed to the disease of sin just like everyone else in the world. This was the big problem that�Israel did not want to face. What do you do when the doctor through whom the cure is supposed to come becomes a carrier of the�disease? The answer is the solution that the Jewish leadership simply did not want to face. They weren’t the solution at all, they�were part of the problem. Until they owned up to that they could never consider Jesus as the cure.�

The true fault in their thinking is that the Jews believed themselves to be sons in God’s household. They presumed on rights that�belonged to sons but they were slaves not sons. In the ancient world, the rights of the son lasted forever, but the rights of the slave�were temporary at best, and were dependent on the will of the master. At any point a slave can be sold or sent away, but a son has�rights that nothing can alter. It is only Jesus who fulfilled the words of the prophecy of 1 Chronicles 17:13-14: “I will be his father,�and he will be my son. I will never take my love away from him, as I took it away from your predecessor. I will set him over my house�and my kingdom forever; his throne will be established forever.” Jesus was the true son but he wasn’t trying to cast them out forever.�His true desire was to share his sonship with all of those who would enter into belief in his life. If they would only humble themselves�and consider for a moment that his word might be true, then they could be set free from the slavery that they didn’t even know that�they were in. It is only when the� Son sets you free�, that�you will be free indeed�.�

Display�Throughout the book of 1 John, John warns his�beloved fellow disciples of the danger of walking in�darkness and remaining fully in the light. There is�always a danger when those who are called to reflect�Jesus’ light to the world slip into darkness�themselves. Spend some time reading 1 John this�week and reflecting on whether you have truly been�remaining in the light of Christ.�

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30 Even as he spoke, many put their faith in him.�

Dispute Over Whose Children Jesus' Opponents Are� 31 To the Jews who had believed him, Jesus said, "If�you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples.�32 Then you will know the truth, and the truth will�set you free."� 33 They answered him, "We are Abraham's�descendants and have never been slaves of anyone.�How can you say that we shall be set free?"�

34 Jesus replied, "Very truly I tell you, everyone�who sins is a slave to sin. 35 Now a slave has no�permanent place in the family, but a son belongs to�it forever. 36 So if the Son sets you free, you will be�free indeed.�

1. Why were the Jews so adamant about their status�as Abraham’s descendants?�

2. What contrast does Jesus make between being�the descendants of Abraham and being his children?�

3. What did Jesus offer as evidence that they were�the children of the devil rather than God?�

4. Why does Jesus ask them if they can prove him�guilty of sin? Was it merely to show that he was�better than they were or did he have a more�significant purpose?�

Dig Deeper�One of the big challenges that I had as a teacher whenever we took a large group of students out into public was to get to remember�and actually act as though they represented the school. If they went around acting like a bunch of hooligans, they would send the clear�message that this was what the school stood for and believed in. When you represent something or someone, the usual assumption�is that you will act in a manner consistent with their values and beliefs. A few years ago, I am reminded as I write this, I was sitting�down having a meeting with the leader of Muslim group in the United States. I asked him if would agree with the assertion that Islam�seemed to be a religion of violence and subjugation more so than it does peace, despite the best efforts of some to claim that it is a�religion of peace. He gladly admitted that those who make Islam out to be a religion of peace, misrepresent Islam. It is, he claimed,�the goal of Islam to rid the world of anything that stands in the way of Islam. This is their view of God’s will and so when they act in�such a way that is consistent with that, they are following the spiritual nature of Allah and what he has called them to do. He then�asserted that Christians are the same way, we just don’t want to admit it. As evidence of this, he cited the Crusades. What he was�missing, however, was that those who acted violently and imperially during the Crusades were not at all representing the true Jesus�Christ. The point became clear, and surprisingly this Muslim teacher agreed wholeheartedly. When Muslims engage in holy war, they�are acting consistently and enacting the principles of Allah, their god. When Christians act in love and peace, they are acting�consistently and enacting the principles of YHWH, our God.�

Jesus has already charged the Jews to whom he is speaking with the need to be freed from their bondage to sin. Now he will make�clear that when they do remain in their sin it should be of no surprise, because they are simply acting in a way that is consistent with�their spiritual father. They think and would certainly have claimed to represent God but if they would just take a long, hard, honest�look at their actions, they would see that they are not acting consistently with the principles of God, but of their true spiritual father.�

Jesus concedes that the crowd, which can probably best be described as a mob at this point, are�Abraham’s descendants�. But the real�question is are they acting like it? The importance of being Abraham’s descendants, after all, was being the heirs of the Covenant, the�people of God. Murder was certainly something that no God-fearing Jew would be a part of, and yet that is exactly what they have�been looking to do. At this point in his life, Jesus is quite clear in his own mind with the fact that these Jewish leaders are going to have�him killed. He knows they will succeed but not before his hour has come. In the meantime, Jesus seems quite concerned with letting�his accusers know that he knows what they are up to and where it will all lead. If they would just stop and think about it, they might�realize that this is one more sign for them pointing to their need to believe in him as the Messiah. In fact, Jesus leaves no room for�them to think that he knows what they are up to because he is a great detective or just quite discerning when it comes picking up on�clues. How does he know that they�are looking for a way to kill�him? Because he is only telling them what he has� seen in the Father’s�presence�. The very things that they hate him for are the things that he has seen, heard, and relayed from the Father Himself. The�point is clear. Jesus comes from his Father as is evidenced by the fact that the things he says and does are the types of things that the�Father says and does. They, on the other hand, are doing the things that their father says and does. Jesus doesn’t yet say who he�thinks their father is, but the fact that he is clearly distinguishing it from God begins to make the point. The implication is that it can’t�be Abraham either, because in the Jew’s eyes, he was the ultimate law keeper even before there was a law.�

The Jews here, sensing that Jesus is implying that they have a father different from Abraham, affirm that�Abraham� is�their father�. This�was an important fact for the Jews because being the children of Abraham was their identity. It gave them, in their own eyes, their�status before God as his people. Notice Jesus’ subtle yet deliberate switch in terminology in response to their affirmation that�Abraham is their father. They may be his descendants, Jesus agrees with that but the question is, are they his children? Being the child�of someone, in biblical terminology usually denoted a spiritual connection. Jesus’ point is that they might be the physical descendants�of Abraham but that does not get them anywhere if they’re not his spiritual descendants. They are not acting like Abraham would act�because they are trying to kill him. Abraham would never do such a thing. He would never plot to kill God’s messenger. In fact, Genesis�18 is quite clear that Abraham met the messengers of God with humility and hospitality, eager to hear a word from their Lord. Again,�in verse 41 Jesus implies that they are doing the work of some other father but it’s sure not Abraham. This stands as a comparison, in�one sense, and a contrast in another to Jesus. They are both doing the works of their fathers, but Jesus’ Father is a very different father�than theirs.�

The response of the Jews in verse 41 to Jesus’ second insinuation that they have a spiritual father that is not Abraham is probably�meant as a slight towards Jesus. The early Christian community certainly believed and taught that Jesus’ birth was a result of the�miraculous virgin birth but there were likely rumors swirling around quite a bit already during his lifetime that something was fishy�with Jesus’ birth. Those who rejected Jesus as coming from God would certainly have rejected any notion of a virgin birth and would�have maligned Mary as having a child out of wedlock. This status as an illegitimate child would have greatly reduced Jesus’ standing�in the community. If he wants to question who their father is, then they will throw it back in his face and question who his is. Picking�up, though, on the fact that Jesus is speaking in terms of spiritual fatherhood now, the Jews skip past Abraham and declare boldly that�God is their Father. Jesus might be physically illegitimate, but they are certainly not spiritually illegitimate.�

This is not the least bit concerning to Jesus, however, because he is confident of his identity in the Father. Jesus is never swayed by�human opinion and this case is no different. In fact, Jesus turns things right back around to the mob. If God were their Father they�would be embracing him. In the Jewish culture, after all, to reject the son was to reject the Father. Jesus did come from the very�presence of the Father, so when they malign him, they malign the Father and the mission that He gave to the son. When they deny�the work of the son, they are really demonstrating that they do not not embrace the work of the Father.�

Jesus now gets right to the point. Their father is not God or Abraham but�the devil�. They are busy doing his works and behaving like�him. That’s why they cannot understand what Jesus has been teaching. They cannot understand his�logos�, his word, because they�speak in the language of their spiritual father. Jesus has been speaking the truth that comes from heaven but the devil is fluent only�in� lies�from the earthly realm, that is his� native language�, and by implication, theirs as well. They do not believe Jesus because they�are so consumed with the works of their father that they cannot even recognize the genuine works of the Father when they see them.�The worst part was, though, that they had defined what they were doing as the work of the Father. This was fatally dangerous. When�we don’t discern the truth and begin to label our own will and the works of Satan as the real spiritual truth of the Father then we will�find it very difficult, if not impossible to step out of that delusion and recognize the authentic truth.�

All they needed to do is look at the works in their life and in Jesus’. They might try to trump up a few charges of Sabbath violations and�even blasphemy but no one could honestly point to any� sin� in Jesus’ life. This is a bold challenge. Could any of them�prove� him� guilty�of sin�? They were welcome to try but they could not. If they looked at their own lives, they needn’t even look past their impending�plot to kill Jesus to find ungodly sin in their own works. That’s the importance of works in the life of the Christian. They don’t earn or�establish our status in Christ but they do demonstrate it. If we see the fruit of the Spirit in our lives that’s a sure sign that he is present�with us. If, however, we see the works of the flesh, then we should be quite concerned (cf. Rom. 8:1-17; Gal. 5:16-25). Is the Spirit�there? Are we allowing him to work in our lives?�

Display�Spend some time reading Galatians 5:13-25 and�Romans 8 today. Take an honest look at your life. Do�you see the evidence of the desires of the Father in�your life or do you see consistent and willful evidence�of the father of lies in your life. Ask a few people who�are close to you what they see.�

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37 I know you are Abraham's descendants. Yet you�are looking for a way to kill me, because you have no�room for my word. 38 I am telling you what I have�seen in the Father's presence, and you are doing�what you have heard from your father."�

39 "Abraham is our father," they answered.�

"If you were Abraham's children," said Jesus, "then�you would do what Abraham did. 40 As it is, you are�looking for a way to kill me, a man who has told you�the truth that I heard from God. Abraham did not do�such things. 41 You are doing the works of your own�father."� "We are not illegitimate children," they�protested. "The only Father we have is God himself."�

42 Jesus said to them, "If God were your Father,�you would love me, for I came from God and now�am here. I have not come on my own; but he sent�me. 43 Why is my language not clear to you?�Because you are unable to hear what I say. 44 You�belong to your father, the devil, and you want to�carry out your father's desires. He was a murderer�from the beginning, not holding to the truth, for�there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks his�native language, for he is a liar and the father of lies.�45 Yet because I tell the truth, you do not believe�me! 46 Can any of you prove me guilty of sin? If I am�telling the truth, why don't you believe me? 47�Whoever belongs to God hears what God says. The�reason you do not hear is that you do not belong to�God."�

1. What were the Jews implying by claiming that�Jesus was demon possessed or a Samaritan?�

2. What connection does Jesus make here between�obey his words and taking part in the resurrection?�

3. Why would Jesus not say that he did not know the�Father?�

4. What is the significance of Jesus saying, “before�Abraham was born, I Am”?�

Dig Deeper�There is a hilarious scene that takes place during a winter day in the classic American movie,� A Christmas Story�. A groups of students�gathers around one of the young boys named Flick and another boy named Schwartz begins to challenge him. He dares Flick to stick his�tongue to the flagpole in the freezing weather, telling him that if he does so, his tongue will surely stick to the pole. Flick doesn’t believe�Schwartz but is quickly challenged by his confronter with a “double dare.” The narrator of the movie informs us that “The exact change�and nuance of phrase in this ritual is very important,” as he describes this amusing showdown between boys during a school recess. Flick�replies that he will not stick his tongue to the pole because it’s “dumb”. But Schwartz fires back that Flick doesn’t want to because he�knows his tongue will stick. He then offers a pointed “double-dog dare,” which causes the mouths of all the onlookers to open aghast and�induces the narrator to inform us that “now it was serious.” Flick again laughs it off but Schwartz emphatically says, “I triple-dog dare you.”�At these words, everyone gasps and the narrator tells us that the triple-dog dare was sinister and that “Schwartz created a slight breach�of etiquette by skipping the triple-dare you and going right for the throat.” At that, Flick is left with no choice but to step up and prove�that he is not afraid. He gallantly sticks his tongue on the pole only to find that it really did stick. Suddenly the bell rings and everyone�abandons poor Flick on the playground, stuck to the pole.�

This scene with Jesus, and what has turned into a mob of sorts, is certainly not humorous, nor is the challenge quite the same, but it does�remind me of the scene in that movie in some respects. Jesus is surrounded by accusers who simply are not buying into what he is saying.�He’s got some things to prove and he is being challenged to do so. As the scene grows more serious and the tension builds, it comes to a�head. Jesus has to either back down or stand up the challenge of his identity. In this scene, though, it’s not the challenge that draws the�gasps and bug-eyed looks, it is the response that Jesus gives. And in his response, he creates more than just a humorous “slight breach in�etiquette.” He commits pure and unadulterated blasphemy in the eyes of the Jews.�

Here’s a simple question. Who would possibly accuse the people of God of being children of the devil? Who would dare do such a thing?�In their own eyes, there were two possibilities. Someone who was�demon-possessed�or a�Samaritan�, and there wasn’t much of a�difference in their view between those two categories. Isaiah 52:5 speaks of those who mistreat God’s servant as blaspheming God�Himself. Surely, when Jesus accused them of being children of the devil it was because he was cursed himself. Yet, it is in that very passage�that it speaks of God Himself sending his servant with good news for all people, and that those who truly revere God will recognize what�God is doing. This passage goes on into the famous Isaiah 53, where God’s servant will be rejected, despised, and brutalized by the people�who would consider min stricken by God. The Jews mistakenly thought they were the servant being mistreated, but in reality they were�the ones blaspheming God by mistreating His true servant.�

It was not that Jesus�was possessed by a demon�, quite the opposite. They have responded to Jesus’ charge of being in league with Satan�with a retort similar in kind. It’s almost like a small child in our culture who will respond to an insult with the classic line, “I know you are�but what am I?” Jesus is not demon-possessed. He�honors the Fathe�r, but they�dishonor� Jesus, so they by default, dishonor the Father.�He is not trying to grab�glory� for Himself but for the Father. If they would simply stop and look at his words and works compared to theirs�they would see that he truly is God’s servant, representing him fully and that they are on the path to death and destruction, both as a�nation and as individuals. The only hope for them was not to stand there and accuse Jesus of being possessed or a hated Samaritan but�to�obey� his�word�. Those who would align themselves with the� logos� would find eternal life.�

Now he’s done it. What was merely a question about demon possession in verse 48 becomes a full-out angry charge in verse 52. Jesus�has crossed the line by saying that the only way to escape death was his words. Wrong. It was the prophet Daniel who promised that “at�that time your people—everyone whose name is found written in the book—will be delivered. Multitudes who sleep in the dust of the�earth will awake: some to everlasting life, others to shame and everlasting contempt” (Dan. 12:3). How dare Jesus claim that they needed�something other than being the children of Abraham to take part in the resurrection. Did he think he was somehow superior to�Abraham�.�Did he think that he would have some power over death and access to resurrection that Abraham and� the prophets� did not? They did not�(but we, as John’s readers do) understand the irony in all of this.�

Again Jesus asserts that the reason that they do not recognize or know him is not any fault of his own, but is because they simply do not�know the Father, a charge similar to the one made against Israel by the prophet Hosea (Hos. 4:1; 6:6). They claim that the Father is their�God, yet he is glorifying Jesus, how could they possibly explain that. In fact, that has put them in a difficult position. No one could or even�tried to deny that Jesus had performed incredible miracles and signs. The question was what was his source of power. Their only two�choices were to acknowledge that he was from God or to charge him with being from Satan. They chose the latter which put them in the�untenable position of denying God. When we charge the things of God as coming from Satan or being evil or wrong, we paint ourselves�into a corner with nowhere to go. If Jesus denied that he had come from the Father, which is what they wanted him to do, then he would�be unfaithful to his mission. All Jesus is doing is obeying God’s word, something he consistently called his disciples to emulate (cf. Matt.�7:21-27; Luke 6:46; Matt. 6:10; Luke 11:27-28; Matt. 28:20; Jn. 14:23-24).�

They have charged Jesus with the ironic claim of thinking that he is greater than Abraham or can some how bring about resurrection in a�way that Abraham and the prophets could not, for not even they could escape death (Ps. 89:48; Zech. 1:5) but were left to wait on the�Lord. They could not overcome death with their own words. Only God could do that. Jesus picks up on this charge in verse 55 and says�that�Abraham rejoiced at the thought of seeing� his�day�. It was common Jewish belief in Jesus’ day to assert that (based on passages like�Gen. 15:17-21) God had revealed to Abraham the mysteries of the Messianic age. In fact, Jesus said that Abraham�saw� his�day and was�glad�. Some have claimed, based on Genesis 22:4 that God revealed the coming mystery of the Messiah when he was to sacrifice Isaac�(There are two primary reasons for that: The first is that the word�rachowq�, which is translated “in the distance” can also mean “in the�future”; the second reason is that Abraham tells Isaac that the Lord will provide a “lamb” for the sacrifice [22:8] but in that scene a “ram”�is provided [22:13]. Some have asserted, based on that, that God had revealed the sacrifice of Jesus to Abraham and that this was the�“lamb” of which he spoke.)�

The Jews mistake Jesus’ statement, accusing him of seeing Abraham, for he said that Abraham saw him. How could this be? He wasn’t�even 50 years old, which in Jewish thought was the end of the working life and the full maturity of a man (cf. Num. 4:3, 39: 8:24-25). Jesus�wasn’t even a fully mature man, how could he claim to have known Abraham? In their eyes Jesus was making a ridiculous claim, so they�would respond with pointing how ridiculous this assertion was.�

Truly what they didn’t know could kill them. Jesus answered them by echoing God’s revelation of Himself to Moses in Exodus 3:14, “I AM�WHO I AM. This is what you are to say to the Israelites: 'I AM has sent me to you.'” Jesus says that�before Abraham was born, I Am�. This�is as close as Jesus comes in his own words to what John stated about him in 1:1-2. Jesus is clearly echoing God’s words, but the question�is, was he claiming divinity here? If Jesus was simply claiming that he existed before Abraham but was not God (as groups like the Jehovah’s�Witnesses claim), then he would have said, “Before Abraham was born,� I was�.” Jesus was not merely claiming pre-existence, but was�claiming that he was divine. He and the Father were so unified and one in essence and nature (Phil. 2:6) that Jesus could rightly refer to�himself with the sacred identifier that the Father had used for himself. The response of the Jews makes it clear that they understood that�Jesus was not just claiming eminence for himself but divinity (cf. 10:33). He had committed blasphemy and the punishment for blasphemy�was stoning (Lev. 24:16). Yet, his hour had still not come, so Jesus� hid himself�(probably miraculously) and� slipped away from the Temple�grounds�.�

Display�The people of Jesus’ day thought that he was crazy to�say the things that he said. In a similar way, those�that truly hold to his words and teachings are often�accused of being evil, mean, intolerant, and are often�as maligned as Jesus was in his day. Yet, Jesus would�never let negative public opinion dissuade him from�obeying the Father. How about you? Do you hold�tightly to the words of Jesus and boldly proclaim�them despite the reactions you might get from those�around you, or do you tend to shrink back from�situations where the true gospel might not be�embraced or appreciated?�

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Jesus' Claims About Himself� 48 The Jews answered him, "Aren't we right in�saying that you are a Samaritan and demon-�possessed?"� 49 "I am not possessed by a demon," said Jesus,�"but I honor my Father and you dishonor me. 50 I�am not seeking glory for myself; but there is one�who seeks it, and he is the judge. 51 Very truly I tell�you, whoever obeys my word will never see death."�

52 At this they exclaimed, "Now we know that you�are demon-possessed! Abraham died and so did the�prophets, yet you say that whoever obeys your word�will never taste death. 53 Are you greater than our�father Abraham? He died, and so did the prophets.�Who do you think you are?"�

54 Jesus replied, "If I glorify myself, my glory�means nothing. My Father, whom you claim as your�God, is the one who glorifies me. 55 Though you do�not know him, I know him. If I said I did not, I would�be a liar like you, but I do know him and obey his�word. 56 Your father Abraham rejoiced at the�thought of seeing my day; he saw it and was glad."�

57 "You are not yet fifty years old," they said to�him, "and you have seen Abraham!"�

58 "Very truly I tell you," Jesus answered, "before�Abraham was born, I am!" 59 At this, they picked up�stones to stone him, but Jesus hid himself, slipping�away from the temple grounds.�

1. What is behind the disciples question of whether�this man or his parents sinned?�

2. Why does Jesus say that this man was blind?�What does that mean?�

3. What do the images of light out of darkness and�creation springing forth from clay bring to mind?�

4. Why might Jesus have asked this man to go to the�Pool of Siloam to wash?�

Dig Deeper�It just seemed like the fair thing to happen. The high school boy’s team that I coached was full of young men that were not supremely�talented, but they were hard-working. They were, in fact, a great group of young men. They were a real joy to be around. They worked�hard in the classroom, they were respectful to their teachers and other classmates, and they had the respect of all of the other players�and coaches around the Conference. Everything they had accomplished that season, which was just a few victories, they had worked�hard for and absolutely earned. We were getting ready to play a team in the opening round of the playoffs, however, that was just the�opposite. They were loud, obnoxious, talked a lot of trash, barely listened to their own coach, and never seemed to work very hard or�take things very seriously, yet they had not lost a game all year. The match-up seemed like a movie in the making. The young, plucky�upstarts against the hated foils who didn’t seem to deserve their spotless record. Everyone agreed that an upset would be fitting and�fair, and was a very real possibility. It started out so well as we scored the first four points of the game, but then everything fell apart�and we lost the game by over forty points. Life just isn’t fair sometimes.�

We’d all like to think that the world is a place of divine justice where good people are rewarded and bad people are punished. We’d like�to think that when things in the world seem unfair, it is because they only seem that way. If we only knew the truth, we tell ourselves,�then we would realize that when bad things happen it is because of some divine justice or secret sin that we simply don’t yet understand.�Yet, that’s simply not the case if we’re honest. My team really deserved to win that game, but they didn’t. Infants are born deformed,�children get cancer, a young man with the world in front of him, dies in a tragic car accident at the hands of a drunk-driver who walks�away without a scratch. The reality is, we do live in a fallen world. We cannot simply dismiss or diminish evil as though it doesn’t exist.�Evil is real. It exists. And it there simply is no perfect justice or order to which we can appeal to give ourselves anything more than a�false sense of security. In fact, if we want perfect justice and to live in a place where everything really is fair, then the only place to which�we can turn is the new creation, the age to come. That is exactly the point that John will make through this sixth sign in his Gospel (the�previous signs have been in 2:1-12; 4:43-54: 5:1-15; 6:1-15; 6:16-24).�

It was a common belief in the ancient world that there was a general cause and effect relationship of some type between sin and�suffering. If someone was suffering, then they, at least at some level, had deserved that situation through their own sin (in a past life�according to some beliefs), or at the very least, through some sin of their parents or ancestors. The Bible does not deny that suffering�or illness may at times be the result of sin (Rom. 1:18-32; 1 Cor. 11:30), but that is not an automatic state of affairs (2 Cor. 12:7; Gal. 4:13).�Jesus’ disciples, in fact, are operating under this sort of assumption. If this man had been� blind from birth�, then it must be as a result of�hi sin or his parents. This explanation is nothing more than a way to make sense of evil in the world. Humans don’t like the idea of being�somehow at the mercy of evil. Christians are not immune to that sort of thinking and neither were the Jews of Jesus’ day. If there is an�all-powerful, kind and loving God that rules over the universe, then how can evil exist? One way around that is to claim that things only�seem unfair but they are not. This works well, of course, for those that are well-off and able-bodied. Jesus denies that simplistic sort of�thinking, however. It was not the sin of this man or his parents that caused this. This man was blind as a result of a fallen world entangled�in sin. That sort of answer might seem hopeless, but the reality of a fallen world is that God was doing something about it. This man’s�blindness was simply a sign of the old creation despoiled by sin and an opportunity for the�works�of the new creation�of God� to be�displayed.�

This is, above all else, a moment of new creation. It was a sign that God’s new creation, the age to come, was breaking into the here and�now. What John presents goes far beyond just an act of restoration. He harkens back to the very imagery of God’s creation of the�universe. Genesis 1 and 2 gives us a picture of a created world in a state of chaos and darkness. It is God who steps into this chaos and�creates light where there was darkness. He alone is the one capable of creating man from the very clay of the ground. While Jesus is�alive, it is�the day�, and during the day he must do the creative� works� of the Father who�sent�him. Jesus has brought the day himself and�he steps into the chaos and darkness of this man’s blindness. He picks up the clay from the ground and brings forth the light. He is the�light of the world� doing the type of work that only God can do. In 1:4, John told us that life was in him, and we see that more clearly�nowhere than we do right here. He is the creative almighty that can bring order from chaos, light from darkness, and life from the clay�on the ground. This man who was blind from birth has just been touched by God’s new creation and he can now see. What Jesus did�for this man is precisely what God desires to do for the entire creation through Jesus.�

Everything that Jesus said and did was a challenge to the old world and the way of thinking that accompanied the old creation. Not only�did his brining of the light challenge and overwhelm the darkness of the world, but at the same time, his words challenged the belief that�when the Messiah came, he would at that time begin the messianic age that would last forever. That was true, but not in the way that�they thought. He would be the light of the world while he was in the world, but that time would be for only a little while. His stay would�be short, his time limited. The Messiah would bring about the new creation but there would be a period of time, of which we are now�a part, but he would go away. The reconciliation of the creation to God would be a process completed by those who followed the�Messiah in faith (cf. 2 C or. 5:16-21), not by the Messiah himself. This is what was so puzzling about his message. The age to come would�not be brought at the end of time through some great battle or act of God but through his own death. The new creation would enter�into the present world, one act at a time, one person at a time. These outposts of the new creation would anticipate the age to come�itself which will only come when the Messiah returns.�

Jesus sent the man to the pool of Siloam, but has not yet healed him. Like Naaman, whom Elisha ordered to dip in the Jordan river, this�man must go in faith based on nothing but the word of Jesus and wash in the pool of Siloam (perhaps John wants us to see a connection�between Jesus’ repeated statement that he is “the light of the world” during the Feast of Tabernacles and the fact that the water for the�great water pouring ceremony came from the Pool of Siloam). When he acts obediently based on this faith, the man encounters the new�creation. Being blind didn’t mean that this man or his parents sinned. The truth is far more powerful than that. All humans are stuck in�the darkness of a fallen world. There is no fairness or justice in this kind of place. But Jesus stepped into that world and brought this�blind man into the light of God’s new world, and those who had known him his whole life weren’t sure what had happened. Could this�be him? Perhaps it merely looked like him. In all of this lies the wonderful, mysterious truth of God’s new creation. He brings light and�life out of the chaos and darkness of the old order. When we come to Christ in faith and act obediently, we too enter into the new�creation (2 Cor. 5:16-21) and people may have just as hard of time recognizing us.�

This man will have no part of denying that Jesus has done something incredible. He is�the man� that was healed and Jesus is the man that�did it. His� eyes�were�opened�, not through his own effort or anything that he did. He was brought into the light simply through faith and�the life-giving miraculous power of the son of God. He stands in contrast to the man healed in chapter 5, who seemed more than happy�to distance himself from and blame Jesus for his alleged acts of law-breaking. This man didn’t seem to know much about Jesus, but he�knew enough to take him at his word. This too stand in contrast to the Pharisees and chief priests who didn’t really know much about�Jesus but were quite convinced that they knew all that they needed to.�

How did all of this happen? How did this man come in contact with the miraculous, with the new creation itself? Through Jesus, which�is the only way to experience it. In him alone, is life (1:4). New creation does happen. The broken chaos of the old can be transformed�and healed, but it comes through Jesus alone. The world is so busy frantically looking around for bits and pieces of something that can�only come through� the man they call Jesus�. So where is this man Jesus? The healed man didn’t know, but wants to make sure that�through the pages of his Gospel, we do (20:31).�

Display�Who do you know who is spiritually blind, unable to see�or even recognize that they are lost in a world of darkness�and chaos? Don’t be fooled by how nice they are, how�much you love them, or even how many good things they�might do. Those who are not in Christ, who are not part�of the new creation, are in darkness and their ‘good�works’ are little more than attempts to find the peace and�light that comes only in Christ. Let God move your heart�this week and allow him to put someone that is still in the�dark on your mind and heart. spend a significant amount�of time each day praying for them to experience the new�creation that comes through Jesus alone. Also spend�some time praying that God would reveal what you can�do to bring them to the new creation in Christ.�

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Jesus Heals a Man Born Blind� 1 As he went along, he saw a man blind from birth.�2 His disciples asked him, "Rabbi, who sinned, this�man or his parents, that he was born blind?"� 3 "Neither this man nor his parents sinned," said�Jesus, "but this happened so that the works of God�might be displayed in him. 4 As long as it is day, we�must do the works of him who sent me. Night is�coming, when no one can work. 5 While I am in the�world, I am the light of the world."�

6 Having said this, he spit on the ground, made�some mud with the saliva, and put it on the man's�eyes. 7 "Go," he told him, "wash in the Pool of�Siloam" (this word means "Sent"). So the man went�and washed, and came home seeing.�

8 His neighbors and those who had formerly seen�him begging asked, "Isn't this the same man who�used to sit and beg?" 9 Some claimed that he was.� Others said, "No, he only looks like him."� But he himself insisted, "I am the man."�

10 "How then were your eyes opened?" they�asked.�

11 He replied, "The man they call Jesus made�some mud and put it on my eyes. He told me to go�to Siloam and wash. So I went and washed, and then�I could see."�

12 "Where is this man?" they asked him.� "I don't know," he said.�

1. Why were the Pharisees so seemingly upset that�Jesus had healed this man of blindness?�

2. Explain the division of the two camps of the�Pharisees who opposed Jesus and the others who�supported him.�

3. What was reprehensible about the actions of the�parents during this scene?�

4. Why were the parents so afraid of becoming�involved?�

Dig Deeper�Fear is a powerful motivator. It can make people do things that they perhaps never thought they would, or it can keep them from�taking actions that they normally would think was a part of their natural character. German protestant pastor, Martin Niemoller, an�ardent critic of the Nazi regime, captured the powerful motivation that fear can have in keeping us from defending others and acting�in self-preservation. In 1946 in Frankfurt, Niemoller uttered what has become a famous quote: “When the Nazis came for the�communists, I remained silent; I was not a communist. When they locked up the social democrats. I remained silent; I was not a�social democrat. When they came for the trade unionists, I did not speak out; I was not a trade unionist. When they came for the�Jews, I remained silent; I wasn't a Jew. When they came for me, there was no one left to speak out.” Most everyone believes that�they would step up and defend those that need defending, but history shows us that most humans actually will back down from�those actions in the face of fear. It is a brave and select few that will step up in the face of fear and act without concern for self.�

This is an important component to understanding what is going on in this scene. The Pharisees and other Jewish leaders kept their�power through respect, tradition, knowledge, status, and if all that didn’t work, fear. They would resort to intimidation and bullying�if need be. It had become quite clear at this point, that Jesus was not going to be intimidated. Fear would not control his actions,�but that didn’t mean that it wasn’t still a powerful tool. They would continue to use fear as a means to keep people in line. The�people of Israel were standing on the precipice of the new creation, but those who were firmly in charge in the old world feared�anything new, especially when it came from within Israel itself. They feared it and they feared losing their status and position, so�they would use fear to keep people safely in tow. Fear would be their best weapon.�

The crowds were amazed by this latest sign of healing the blind man and didn’t quite know what to do with this man, so they took�him to the Pharisees. This probably wasn’t an act of trying to “get him into trouble,” but was rather, out of a genuine desire to�determine what had happened. They likely determined that this was a spiritual healing, so they would take this man to the spiritual�leaders of their world. The Pharisees, however, seem far less concerned with the sign that has been done than with the details of it.�They are far more concerned with the fact that this man was healed on a Sabbath than with the incredible truth that a man blind�from birth could now see. They were so blinded by their own religious rules and expectations that they could not see the light that�had broken into the crack of their dark world.�

In the eyes of the Pharisees, this was not a life-or-death situation, and so, should have been put off to the next day. And that is part�of why Jesus chose to work on the Sabbath. The Sabbath regulations represented the old creation. They were both well and fine for�what they were. God had declared the old creation “very good” (Gen. 1:31). The old Sabbath regulations had a purpose, but this�was the time of the new creation. Jesus intentionally brought light into the darkness on the Sabbath to demonstrate the power of�God’s new creation. The Pharisees, though, couldn’t see any of this. All they could see was that he had broken the Sabbath rules on�three accounts. First, he should have, as we have already mentioned, put the healing off until a non-Sabbath day. Second, He made�clay by kneading the earth with saliva and kneading was one of the thirty-nine classes of work that was forbidden on the the Sabbath.�Third, Jewish tradition forbade someone to anoint the eyes on the Sabbath. The Jews had made so many rules and traditions to�enforce the old creation that they could not see when the new one began to break in. All they could see was that he did�not keep�the Sabbath�.�

Not everyone felt this way though. As Jesus always does, he had divided the crowd. Some focused on the “rules” and could not�conceive of Jesus’ signs as being from heaven. While others focused on the signs and could not envisage them not being from�heaven. It was all about perspective and expectation. This is still the challenge for humans today. Will we look at the things of God�and measure them with how they match up with our will, or will we look at our will and see how it matches up with the things of�God?�

The fact that they turn to the previously�blind man� and ask for his opinion is an amazing development. This is just not something�that Pharisees would normally do. The fact that they do ask him demonstrates just how flabbergasted they were. Perhaps he can�shed some light on this whole thing. Of course, there is a load of irony in the fact that those that saw themselves as the leaders and�lights of the Jewish faith are reduced to asking this insignificant formerly blind man what is going on. The man replies that Jesus�is a�prophet�. For what he knows of Jesus, this is probably the highest category that this man can come up with in his current�understanding to assign to Jesus. The dichotomy between this man’s increasing enlightenment and the Pharisee’s increasing�blindness are stark as this scene unfolds. The blind man moves from calling Jesus a “man” (v. 11), to a “prophet” (v. 17), to one�worthy of having a following of disciples (vv. 27-28), to one from God (v. 33), and finally the Son of Man who is worthy of worship (v.�38). The Pharisees who are opposed to Jesus, however, start with the declaration that he is not from God (v. 16), question whether�he performed a miracle at all (v. 18), call him a “sinner” (v. 24), and finally are shown to be the true blind sinners (v. 41).�

What becomes quite clear is that this man can see more than just physically. He has been touched by the new creation of the age�to come and he is not afraid despite all of the intimidating circumstances that are being thrown at him. On the converse, however,�stands his parents. The Pharisees did not want to believe that something miraculous had happened, so they sent for his parents.�The parents quickly understand that this is more than just friendly questioning going on. The Pharisees have already threatened to�expel from the synagogue� anyone who acknowledged that Jesus was the Messiah�. The Jewish synagogue of this time was far more�than just the religious center of life. Being�put out of the synagogue� would have been a virtual exclusion from village life, as the�synagogue was the center of Jewish life. This was probably a localized and temporary ban that would only be systematized much�later but it was still an intimidating circumstance. So intimidating, that the man’s parents were more than willing to throw off any�scrutiny from themselves and back to their son. They leave him, as it were, swaying in the wind saying in essence, “don’t ask us, he’s�a big boy, and we have nothing to do with the situation he’s gotten himself into.” They understood the threats that were out there�against anyone associating with Jesus and are quite prepared to let their son take the full brunt of the questioning and the�consequences. The true gospel, as Jesus himself promised, will cause the people around him to “be divided, father against son and�son against father, mother against daughter and daughter against mother, mother-in-law against daughter-in-law and daughter-in-�law against mother-in-law” (Luke 12:53). Jesus was also clear that to follow him, people needed to be willing to lay down their lives�(Luke 9:23-25). The parents of the healed many obviously had no intention of anything like that.�

This story is a perfect example of the difference between fear and faith. Genuine faith always brings us closer to God. Fear always�drives us away. Truth has touched a man that could not see. He has his physical sight, but he is beginning to truly see who Jesus is�and what he is doing. Those who are so sure that they can see and know, are the ones that are truly blind. They have missed the�light because of their own fear of the new creation. They were steeped in fear and using intimidation to cause fear in others. John�would sum this all up perfectly when he wrote in 1 John 4:16-18: “God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in them.�This is how love is made complete among us so that we will have confidence on the day of judgment: In this world we are like Jesus.�There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made�perfect in love.”�

Display�Who can you more relate to in this scene, the son that�was blind and stood so boldly in front of the religious�leaders of his day with nothing but faith in what God had�done for him or the parents who cowered in fear. You�may not face anything like this situation but you will�surely face challenges in your life which can be met with�fear or faith. Which will you choose. The man that had�been healed by Jesus stood in faith because he focused on�what Jesus had done for him rather than worrying about�what might happen to him as a result of standing in faith.�

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The Pharisees Investigate the Healing� 13 They brought to the Pharisees the man who had�been blind. 14 Now the day on which Jesus had�made the mud and opened the man's eyes was a�Sabbath. 15 Therefore the Pharisees also asked him�how he had received his sight. "He put mud on my�eyes," the man replied, "and I washed, and now I�see."� 16 Some of the Pharisees said, "This man is not�from God, for he does not keep the Sabbath."� But others asked, "How can a sinner perform�such signs?" So they were divided.�

17 Then they turned again to the blind man,�"What have you to say about him? It was your eyes�he opened."� The man replied, "He is a prophet."�

18 They still did not believe that he had been blind�and had received his sight until they sent for the�man's parents. 19 "Is this your son?" they asked. "Is�this the one you say was born blind? How is it that�now he can see?"� 20 "We know he is our son," the parents�answered, "and we know he was born blind. 21 But�how he can see now, or who opened his eyes, we�don't know. Ask him. He is of age; he will speak for�himself." 22 His parents said this because they were�afraid of the Jewish leaders, who already had�decided that anyone who acknowledged that Jesus�was the Messiah would be put out of the synagogue.�23 That was why his parents said, "He is of age; ask�him."�

1. What did the Pharisees mean by charging that�Jesus was a sinner?�

2. Why did the Pharisees get so angry about the�intimation that they might want to become his�disciples as well?�

3. What was the formerly blind man’s logic�concerning God listening to Jesus?�

4. Why did the Pharisees resort to personal insults in�verse 34 rather than refuting his logic?�

Dig Deeper�I had a major crush on this girl but I wasn’t sure if she even knew I was alive. I was thirteen years old and I had no clue about God’s desire�for relationships, dating, marriage, and things like that, so I had pretty much the same view of those things that everyone else in the world�around me did (I’m eternally blessed that my own thirteen year-old son has a much better handle on those things than I ever did). At the�time, though, I really liked this girl and wanted to be her boyfriend. I tried to talk to her and be around her every chance that I got. There�was a short time when I thought all of this was working and that she was understanding that we were destined to be boyfriend and�girlfriend. This was bigger than both of us and nothing could stop it. Except for one small problem. It turns out, she didn’t like me “in that�way.” She suddenly showed up at a school holiday party with her fifteen year-old boyfriend. She had rejected me and my way of thinking�and I was devastated. Yet, I handled it with a great deal of grace and maturity. I hope you don’t believe that because what I actually did�was to immediately sink to the level of anger and discrediting her. “I never liked her anyway,” I declared. She was stupid and ugly and so�was this guy she was dating (even though it was pretty clear to anyone at the time that none of that was true).�

In short, I had done what so many people do. When I couldn’t get my way I was reduced to name-calling and trashing the character of the�person who had rejected me. This is exactly what the Pharisees encounter with this man who had been born blind. They saw themselves�as the leading minds and spiritual leaders of their day. People were supposed to listen to them and change their actions and opinions�based on what the Pharisees thought. But here comes this man who was born blind, an obvious sign of God’s punishment on him in their�opinion. He would not, however, bow to their intimidation or their opinion. This was not acceptable to them but it reduced them to the�level of name-calling and trying to discredit him personally. When the new creation breaks in and you won’t accept it, you’re not really�left with much else than to attack the character of the person who has embraced it themselves.�

The Pharisees have tried to intimidate the man and to question his parents, but it surely became clear to them the questioning of his�parents was not going to go anywhere or give them any new information. In that sense, their fear-mongering worked so well with the�parents that it actually worked against the Pharisees. If the parents did know anything, which it appears that they did not, then they�certainly weren’t going to say anything because they just did not want to get involved. With that, they turn back to�the man who had been�blind�. Perhaps a second round of questioning will cause him to get tripped up, offer up information that he had withheld, or maybe the�fear factor will finally kick in and cause this unschooled sinner to back down.�

The first time they questioned the man, the Pharisees were trying to demonstrate that this man hadn’t really been healed, but they now�seem to drop that line of argument. When someone has been truly touched by the new creation, there is little denying it. They now attack�him on his understanding of the miracle. This man was little better than a pagan because he was attributing this healing to Jesus. Their�argument was that something this incredible could only be the work of God, so this man should�give glory to God and tell the truth�, and�to stop giving undue credit to Jesus. Jesus had broken the Sabbath traditions and was thus a sinner in their eyes. If this man wasn’t so�ignorant he would know all of this. Verse 24, of course, is dripping with irony, because in giving credit and glory to Jesus, this man is�beginning to realize with each question, seemingly, that he is giving glory to God. In fact, the more he sticks to his story and the truth and�gives Jesus credit, the more he is granting glory, not just to where it is due, but to God in the flesh. As for Jesus breaking the Sabbath; it’s�the same thing really. Jesus’ action didn’t show that he was a sinner but that their view of the Sabbath was wrong. The more he stuck to�doing God’s will, the more he was going to bring about God’s new creation, especially on the day that was to be holy to the Lord.�

The formerly blind man doesn’t make any attempt to counter their charge that Jesus is a sinner. There is simply no level of intimidation�or finely-crafted theological theory that can shake the convictions of someone who has has entered into the new creation. He may not be�able to answer whether or not Jesus is a sinner in the face of all of their theology, rules, and tradition, but there is�one thing� that he does�know�. He has experienced it. He�was blind but now� he can� see�. When we have truly experienced Jesus, there is nothing that will shake�our faith. This man was touched by the perfect love of the Word that became flesh and it was indeed driving out any sense of fear that he�might have had (1 John 4:18).�

Again the Pharisees want to hear the story of the healing but it was only to get a contradiction or some further information with which�they could hold against Jesus. They were not genuinely seeking the light, they were trying to extend their darkness. This man continues�to show a surprising amount of pluck and firmness for a man who presumably spent his life as an outcast and a beggar. He, again, will not�directly answer their questions, and why should he, they don’t want genuine answers. Yet, he asks them anyway if they want to become�disciples of Jesus, although the question is worded in the Greek in such a way that it expects a negative answer. He doesn’t appear to be�mocking them, but is perhaps giving them an opportunity to come to the level of enlightenment that he is quickly achieving. His question�also indicates that he is now numbering himself among Jesus’ disciples. He has seen the light of the world and realized that believing in�him is the only way to life.�

This was too much and the Pharisees are reduced to what seems to be the most common response when darkness is confronted by the�light. They try to discredit and hurl insults at the light. He is following an unknown quantity and only fools do that, but they follow what�they know and value. They are� disciples of Moses�. That really brings into focus the major question in this confrontation. For whom does�Jesus speak? It was well known that God spoke to Moses when he revealed the law to him, but what about Jesus? They don’t believe his�word, his�logos�. Despite the fact that Jesus has been offering up all along that he speaks not for himself but for God, they have already�rejected that as a possibility. Moses spoke for God but they have already decided that Jesus does not. Why would anyone view him as a�Messiah. In fact, they�don’t even know where he comes from�(there is another irony here in that in 7:27, some argued that Jesus couldn’t�be the Messiah because no one would know from where the Messiah came). In Jewish legal proceedings, it was necessary to check the�background of a person being charged with lawbreaking. The Pharisees, by their own admission, had failed to really do this. They have no�clue where he is truly from and for whom he really speaks, but this formerly blind man does.�

To further confound the Pharisees, this man who had been blind, and likely a beggar, his whole life, proceeds in verses 30-33 to unfold a�logic and understanding that belies his background. These great religious leaders can’t figure out where Jesus comes from and who is the�blind one here? If they would just open their eyes they would see his works and recognize that Jesus was doing things that only God could�and would do. He makes two assertions that are both solidly biblically based. The first is that God does not listen to (or assist) sinners (Ps.�66:18; Prov. 15:29; Isa. 1:15). The second is that God does listen to those who do His will (Ps. 34:15; 145:19; Prov. 15:29). Jesus could not�do things like this unless he were� from God� (cf. 3:2).�Nobody�, he says,�has ever heard of such a thing�. There was, in his mind, simply no�other explanation. A miracle had been done. There was no debating that. In the Jewish mind the only two possible sources for wonders�and signs was either God or Satanic. Yet, making the blind see was just not something Satan would do, so what was the choice that they�were left with? In their blind anger and disdain, they failed to recognize that healing the blind would be one of the signs of the onset of�the Messianic age.�

The Pharisees seem to be completely dumbfounded by the man’s solid logic and reasoning and are left with nothing but name-calling and�personal attacks. His blindness from birth was, in their eyes, evidence that he was cursed by God. He had no standing with them. How�dare he try to teach them. Perhaps they failed to see that, in their rage, they confirmed that he had been blind from birth and that a�miracle had taken place, the very things they were hoping to disprove. Their anger flared to the point that they followed through on their�threats and kicked him out of the synagogue (cf. v. 22). John clearly wants his readers to see that the blind man is the only one in this scene�who is seeing things clearly at all.�

Display�Have you ever been in a situation where people try to�discount your beliefs or ridicule you for being a Christian?�Don’t get caught up in their attacks or arguments. Stay�with what you know and what you have experienced. As�the grand old hymn, “Amazing Grace” says, you “once�were blind, but now [you] see.” It might be difficult or�costly (the man here was expelled from the synagogue)�but sticking to the truth of what you know is the only way�to truly give God the glory of what He has done in your life.�

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24 A second time they summoned the man who had�been blind. "Give glory to God and tell the truth,"�they said. "We know this man is a sinner."�

25 He replied, "Whether he is a sinner or not, I�don't know. One thing I do know. I was blind but now�I see!"�

26 Then they asked him, "What did he do to you?�How did he open your eyes?"�

27 He answered, "I have told you already and you�did not listen. Why do you want to hear it again? Do�you want to become his disciples too?"�

28 Then they hurled insults at him and said, "You�are this fellow's disciple! We are disciples of Moses!�29 We know that God spoke to Moses, but as for this�fellow, we don't even know where he comes from."�

30 The man answered, "Now that is remarkable!�You don't know where he comes from, yet he�opened my eyes. 31 We know that God does not�listen to sinners. He listens to the godly person who�does his will. 32 Nobody has ever heard of opening�the eyes of a man born blind. 33 If this man were not�from God, he could do nothing."�

34 To this they replied, "You were steeped in sin at�birth; how dare you lecture us!" And they threw him�out.�

1. Why did Jesus go looking for this man?�

2. Why do you think that Jesus sent him off to the�pool before being healed rather than just giving him�sight immediately?�

3. What does the man’s response at hearing that�Jesus was the Son of Man tell us about his desire to�find the truth and have faith?�

4. Why does Jesus not just tell the Pharisees that�they are blind?�

Dig Deeper�My oldest son, whom I love very much, has a curious but lovable quality that we give him a lot of good-natured teasing about. It�manifests itself quite a bit, but I’ll give one example to make this quality clear. I was driving him over to the house of a friend of his�one day. I had never been to this friend’s house but he had. As we were driving, I wondered out loud if the intersection coming up�was the correct turn. He replied that it was not and I should keep going. I asked him if he really knew that or just thought that to be�correct and he said he was sure. As I drove on, I soon realized that we had gone too far. As we doubled back I realized that the road�we had passed by was indeed the correct turn. I began to laugh and ask my son why he had told me he was sure that this wasn’t the�right way when he clearly was not. It was only then that he mentioned that he merely thought that was the right way. And there is�that trait of his in a nutshell. He will answer questions as though he knows the answer when he really doesn’t. I cannot tell you how�many times I have asked him to only answer if he absolutely knows the real answer, only to have him answer and then find out later�that he was wrong and just thought that he knew. I tell him all the time, “If you don’t know, say that you don’t know. Don’t try to�act like you know if you’re not sure.” The problem is that it’s very difficult to get at the truth when you act as though you know�something when you really don’t.�

Acting like you know something or can see when you can’t can be flat out dangerous. If you don’t believe me, go to a room�somewhere that you are not real familiar with that is full of furniture and other items. Now close your eyes or make it so that it is�pitch black in the room. Walk through the room quickly at the speed you would if you were hurrying but could see. How painful was�that? Hopefully you just thought about it and didn’t actually do it. The point is obvious, though, and one that Jesus is about to make�loud and clear to the Pharisees who have been interrogating the man who was healed of blindness. Acting as though you can see�when you can’t, can be as hazardous to your spiritual health as it can be to your physical health.�

I absolutely love the low-key sentence, “�Jesus heard that they had thrown him out, and when he found him�. . . “ It tells us so much�about Jesus and his genuine concern for others. Jesus didn’t just perform a incredible miracle and then leave this man to his own�devices. He heard what had been happening to this man and that he had been thrown out of the synagogue and went looking for�him. Jesus didn’t just see this man as an opportunity to advance his ministry with little care for him as a person. Jesus heard that�this man had stood up to and defied the religious leaders. This man wanted the truth and didn’t care about anything else, and Jesus�was determined to give it to him. That’s the way Jesus is, even today. If anyone truly desires the truth, Jesus will find us. He’s never�very far from us (Acts 17:27). This man has reached out in faith, and Jesus will answer that call.�

When he finds him, Jesus asks a question that I have to believe, John wants to ask all of us as well.�Do you believe in the Son of Man?�Some readers may not, some may, but he is moving all of us towards that goal (20:31). The man’s response is inspiring. We might�expect him to respond that he doesn’t even know who�the Son of Man� is, but he doesn’t. He wants to�believe� in whatever Jesus has�to say and in whomever Jesus tells him to if he will only point the way. It’s easy to dismiss this as the natural response of someone�who had been so miraculously healed, but a quick review of chapter 5 will show us that not everyone who was healed by Jesus�responded in such faith. It’s amazing how two people can hear the same message or experience the same thing and respond in�completely different ways. This man is full of faith and ready to believe. Oh that we were all so eager to embrace whatever Jesus�said.�

Jesus’ response couldn’t have been all that shocking, but it certainly must have been special. Jesus says, “�you have now seen him�.”�This was likely the first time that the man actually saw Jesus considering that he was healed only after being sent to the pool at�Siloam. Just a little while ago, he could not see at all, now he is looking at the very object of his faith. He can see the one speaking�to him. He can see him! The man had come to such a point of humility and faith that he was ready to hear any�logos�, any word that�Jesus had for him. Jesus’ genuine disciples, after all, are the ones who hear his word and hold to it (8:31).�

The man needs to ask no questions nor does he ask for a further sign to meet his messianic expectations (cf. 6:30). Jesus has said�that He is the Son of Man, a reference to the messianic hopes of Daniel 7, and the man believes him. Period. His response at Jesus’�word is simple worship. This man sees more than any of the religious leaders of Israel. This is the only example in the Gospel of John�of someone worshiping Jesus before his resurrection (cf. 20:28). In verse 24, the Pharisees challenged this man to give God the glory,�and now he is doing just that. Jesus has revealed the new creation to this man and because he was searching for and ready to believe�in the truth, as soon as Jesus told him that he was the Messiah, the Son of Man, he believed and worshiped him.�

John doesn’t tell us whether the Pharisees were close by and overhearing this conversation or whether verse 39 starts a conversation�that begins at some later point. If the Pharisees were close by and observing this conversation between Jesus and his newest disciple�then we can presume that they would have gone absolutely berserk when this man starts to worship Jesus and Jesus allows it. That�probably indicates that verse 39 begins a conversation that took place sometime later than verse 38.�

Jesus declares that he has come to bring�judgment� into the�world�. Jesus said in 3:17 that he did not come into the world to condemn�the world but to save it. Both statements are true. Jesus came to open and to be the door into the age to come but that act of�salvation that brings the saving of those who believe, also bring the judgment of those who reject belief in his life. The message of�the gospel is shocking and turns the world upside down because it challenges all of the values that the world holds so dear. The world�tells us that we must provide for ourselves and lift ourselves up or no one else will. The gospel tells us that we must humble ourselves�before God and die to ourselves and only then will he lift us up. Those who realize that they are�blind� and that their life will never�be worthy of God’s presence will be able, through faith and because of God’s mercy and grace, to enter into the life of Christ. They�will see�. Those who think they can see, however, who think that there is some value to their lives, they will never come to faith.�They will truly be shown to be blind.�

The Pharisees heard Jesus’ charge and are quick to assume that he is speaking of them. They ask him if they are�blind too� and they�clearly expect him to answer in the affirmative. They expect him to charge them with being blind and needing to come to him to see.�Jesus could have met their expectations and simply said, “yes, you are blind spiritually,” but as always, Jesus is far too smart and far�too unpredictable to the normal ways of thinking to just do what they expect. Jesus says quite the opposite of what they expected.�They are not blind, they can see. Has Jesus just complimented the Pharisees? We, as John’s readers, probably already know better�than that. If they were blind, they might have an excuse. They would know and they would be searching for the light. They would�have come to Jesus in faith. But the very fact that they haven’t, shows that they think that they have the ability to see. Jesus never�actually says that they can see, but they�claim�they� can see�. It is because of their self-deceiving ability to “see” that they will reject�faith in the life of Jesus and their�guilt remains�. It is not their sin that keeps them from God. Thanks be to God that our sin never�keeps us from God. What keeps them in their guilt is not their sin but their belief that they have value to their life and can see. It is�the rejection of God’s grace, not their sin that keeps them from salvation. We can be truly grateful that we don’t need to be good�enough to earn God’s salvation, we just need to recognize that we need it.�

Display�Thinking that we can see when we cannot is dangerous.�Are there any areas in your life that you have convinced�yourself are okay but that you haven’t truly turned over�to Christ? Do you think you can see when you are really�blind? Sometimes the best way around that condition is�to humbly ask others what they see in us.�

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Spiritual Blindness� 35 Jesus heard that they had thrown him out, and�when he found him, he said, "Do you believe in the�Son of Man?"� 36 "Who is he, sir?" the man asked. "Tell me so�that I may believe in him."�

37 Jesus said, "You have now seen him; in fact, he�is the one speaking with you."�

38 Then the man said, "Lord, I believe," and he�worshiped him.�

39 Jesus said, "For judgment I have come into this�world, so that the blind will see and those who see�will become blind."�

40 Some Pharisees who were with him heard him�say this and asked, "What? Are we blind too?"�

41 Jesus said, "If you were blind, you would not be�guilty of sin; but now that you claim you can see,�your guilt remains.�

1. Why would Jesus use imagery of sheep and�shepherds?�

2. What was Jesus’ point that the sheep would come�when they heard the voice of the shepherd?�

3. How can it be that Jesus is both the shepherd and�the gate?�

4. To what did Jesus refer when he spoke of life to�the full?�

Dig Deeper�There was at least a dozen kids upstairs playing, running, shouting, and being loud in general. Downstairs there was a room full of�parents that were laughing and having a good time. Every know and then, though, a distinct cry could be heard above the noise�upstairs and the conversation downstairs. What amazed one young single person who was downstairs with the collection of parents�was that every time a cry or scream was heard, one of the parents seemed to know instantly not only that that was their child, but that�they could also tell immediately what the purpose of the cry was, whether it was anger, injury, or the desire to tattle on someone else.�Generally the parent would then call out “come here” without actually going up the stairs and without fail, the upset child would�immediately know that that was the voice of their parent, even above all of the noise and commotion. No matter how noisy or chaotic,�parents know the sound of their child’s voice and children know the comforting sound of their parents voice.�

Shepherds will tell you that sheep have the same ability. They know their shepherd’s voice. It is not uncommon to have groups of�different sheep collected in one spot only to have the shepherd of some of those sheep call for those that belong to him. Rather than�all of the sheep coming to him, however, only the sheep who know the voice calling as the voice of their shepherd will come. This is�the concept that would have been quite familiar to those that Jesus was speaking to.�

The Old Testament is full of sheep and shepherd imagery which refer to God or His Messiah as Israel’s true shepherd (Gen. 48:15;�49:24; Ps. 23:1; 28:9; 74:1; 77:20; 78:52; 79:13; 80:1; 95:7; 100:3; Jer. 31:10; Ezek. 34:11-31). Much of this likely stems from the famous�Psalm 23 which describes God as the perfect shepherd and protector of His people. The Psalmist writes, “The LORD is my shepherd, I�shall not be in want. He makes me lie down in green pastures, he leads me beside quiet waters, he restores my soul. He guides me in�paths of righteousness for his name's sake” (Ps. 23). The prophet Jeremiah picked up on this motif and charged Israel’s leaders with�being poor shepherds: “"Woe to the shepherds who are destroying and scattering the sheep of my pasture!" declares the LORD” (Jer.�23:1). He goes on to promise that the Lord Himself will return to “gather the remnant” of his “flock” (Jer. 23:3) and “will place�shepherds over them who will tend them, and they will no longer be afraid” (Jer. 23:4). He goes on to declare the word of the Lord�which decrees that the days are coming (presumably this is how the Lord will gather the remnant of His flock) when He “will raise up�to David a righteous Branch, a King who will reign wisely” (Jer. 23:5). The prophet Ezekiel, after sharply criticizing the leaders of Israel�as evil shepherds for scattering the flock and only feeding and worrying about themselves, says that “I am against the shepherds and�will hold them accountable for my flock. I will remove them from tending the flock so that the shepherds can no longer feed�themselves. I will rescue my flock from their mouths, and it will no longer be food for them” (Ezek. 34:10), and that he Himself will�“search for my sheep and look after them” (Ezek. 34:11).�

This passage is a continuation of the discussion concerning the healing of the blind man from chapter 9, which is demonstrated by�Jesus’ “Very truly I tell you,” which, in John’s Gospel, always connects the present discourse as an explanation on the previous scene�rather than an indicator of a new discussion. The issue at hand here, in essence, is who represents God, who is the true leader of God’s�people, and who can truly shepherd others towards God? Is Jesus the true son of God who will one day be vindicated by the Father to�sit at His right hand? Jesus uses imagery to make his point that is beautiful, familiar to his original audience, biting, and challenging all�at the same time.�

Jesus points out that there are two ways to enter the sheep pen, the�gate� or s�ome other way�. The one who enters through the gate�shows that he is the true shepherd of the sheep, while those who try to enter any other way are shown to be�a thief and a robber�.�When the real shepherd comes in, his true sheep come at the mere expression of his voice. They might not even see the shepherd,�but they know through faith and experience that this is their shepherd. The shepherd is the only one that has the right to lead the�sheep anywhere. Shepherds in Western countries often herd sheep with the use of dogs, but shepherds in this part of the world led�sheep solely through the sound of their voice. He would go on ahead, calling the sheep and they would follow. Sheep trained in such�a way simply would not follow the voice of someone else. Jesus’ point here is clear, although the Pharisees don’t� understand what he�was telling them�. In the immediate situation, Jesus is explaining that this blind man is prepared to follow Jesus because he is one of�his sheep. The Pharisees, though, are thieves and robbers. They are trying to lead the sheep but they have not entered through the�gate. That’s why the true sheep are walking away from their leadership and following Jesus. They know his voice that speaks the word,�the� logos�, of truth.�

Because of their lack of discerning what Jesus was saying, we might expect that Jesus would explain the same concept in another way�but by this time, we should know better than to think that Jesus will do what is expected. He doesn’t re-explain the concept that he is�the true shepherd that is leading out his sheep that hear his voice and who reject the callings of the thieves who have climbed into the�sheep pen through nefarious means. Jesus shows that there are two ways of viewing him. He is not only the shepherd, he is himself,�the gate into the sheep pen. The gate that the thieves have so pointedly stayed away from is nothing other than his very self.�

But how can that make any sense? How can Jesus be both the shepherd and the gate? John has already hinted at this in the opening�prologue and will continue to show how this can be throughout his Gospel. “In him was life, and that life was the light of men,” John�has already told us (1:4). God would save the world “through him” (3:17), because the Father granted that he would have “life in�himself” (5:17). He is “the gate” (10:9) and “the life” (11:25; 14:6). Only those who would believe in the life of the Son and enter into�that life will have life themselves (11:26), life in his name (20:31). The fact that Jesus made clear was that he is the only true gate (the�third of John’s “I am” saying from Jesus’ lips in his Gospel) to enter into the sheep pen of God’s people.�

Jesus is the shepherd who gently calls and leads his sheep to the kind of complete life and salvation that the prophets had written of�so long ago. This explains how the prophets could speak of both God Himself coming to shepherd His people (Ezek. 34:11) and the�kingly Messiah being the one to accomplish that (Jer. 23:3-6). The shepherd would be God and he would be the Messiah. But he would�also be the gate. God didn’t send someone else to work out a reconciliation between Himself and His creation that was marred in sin.�Jesus was the true Son of God and all those who wanted life would have to lay down the claims to their life and enter into the life of�the Messiah. Jesus was quite literally the gate to life. Those who enter through him�will be saved�and those who do not enter through�his life will not be saved.�

The true shepherd will lay down his life (v. 11) so that the sheep may find pasture and have the life of the age to come. That is, in fact,�the only way that such a thing could happen. Jesus’ life is the only life that will enter into the age to come and be resurrected. Those�who remain in their own life will never see such things. In contrast to the true shepherd who is the way, the truth, and the life (14:6),�all who have come before� him are�thieves and robbers� that come only�to steal and kill and destroy�. They have gone into the sheep�pen to steal the sheep, to kill them for food that would benefit themselves, and to destroy the sheep. The Pharisees (this is the�immediate context but surely Jesus intended to include all of the leadership of Israel at the time) were the shepherds that Ezekiel spoke�of who did not “strengthen the weak, heal the sick, or [bind] the injured” (Ezek. 34:4). They “cared for themselves rather than for�[God’s] flock” (Ezek. 34:8). These false shepherds were worried about nothing except for their own welfare, despite the veneer of�godliness. The true shepherd, however, would lay down his own life solely so that the sheep may have the life of the age to come�which is not just the ability to live eternally after death but also includes the full life of the Christ that is available now to all those who�believe and enter into his life.�

Display�Jesus said that he came so that his sheep might have life�to the full. Do you view your life in Christ as something�that could be described in such positive terms? Have you�been living the life of Christ by holding to his teaching and�experiencing the freedom from sin that comes in that kind�of obedience (8:31-32)? If you see your life in Christ as�something burdensome then there is something wrong in�the way you have been viewing or embracing that life. For�starters go back and see if you have really been holding to�Jesus’ teachings and being obedient to his word. Have�you really died to yourself and fully entered into his life�with all of your heart, soul, mind, and strength?�

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The Good Shepherd and His Sheep� 1 "Very truly I tell you Pharisees, anyone who does�not enter the sheep pen by the gate, but climbs in by�some other way, is a thief and a robber. 2 The one�who enters by the gate is the shepherd of the sheep.�3 The gatekeeper opens the gate for him, and the�sheep listen to his voice. He calls his own sheep by�name and leads them out. 4 When he has brought�out all his own, he goes on ahead of them, and his�sheep follow him because they know his voice. 5 But�they will never follow a stranger; in fact, they will run�away from him because they do not recognize a�stranger's voice." 6 Jesus used this figure of speech,�but the Pharisees did not understand what he was�telling them.�

7 Therefore Jesus said again, "Very truly I tell you, I�am the gate for the sheep. 8 All who have come�before me are thieves and robbers, but the sheep�have not listened to them. 9 I am the gate; whoever�enters through me will be saved. They will come in�and go out, and find pasture. 10 The thief comes only�to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they�may have life, and have it to the full.�

1. What does Jesus say is the specific function and�vocation of the good shepherd?�

2. Why do think the Church throughout history has�found this description of Jesus as the good shepherd�so comforting?�

3. Why does Jesus stress that he has the power to lay�down his life?�

4. Why is it important to understand that Jesus’�death was exactly the will of God?�

Dig Deeper�Quite a few years ago, my wife and I decided to take our two sons to a corn maze during the month of October. For those not familiar, a�corn maze is a place where a farmer who owns a huge field will carve out rather complex and intricate mazes in their corn field and then�charge admission for people to walk through and try to find their way out to the exit. I’m not quite sure why Americans find this enjoyable,�nor why we paid money to get lost in someone’s field, but pay we did and lost we got, nonetheless. After about an hour we were getting�rather frustrated because we just could not find our way out. This was after all, just supposed to be a quick scouting mission as we checked�the maze out to see if it would be good to hold a pre-teen event there. We certainly weren’t supposed to get lost but we undeniably were,�as were many other people in the maze that we passed from time to time. At one point we looked down a path that curved out of sight�about seventy feet down from where we were. I told my then eight year-old son to stay with his mom and six-month old brother, who was�in the stroller, while I looked to see if this path went anywhere or was a dead-end. I charged him with taking care of his mom and little�brother and being their protector. As I disappeared from sight, I waited a few seconds and then came tearing back around the bend with�a look of frightened horror on my face. That was more than enough for my little warrior. He took one look at me running in what he�thought was panic and fear and quickly abandoned his post of protection. He took off running like a scared rabbit and left his mom and�little brother to fend for themselves.�

Granted, he was only eight at the time and any eight year-old who thinks that their father is scared of something is sure to become�overcome with fear themselves, but the fact remains, he was willing to watch over them while things were good. As soon as things became�seemingly dangerous, however, he was out of there without a second thought. There was no time to think about protecting others when�he thought his own life might be in danger. He had the mentality that Jesus refers to here as a hired hand rather than that of a good�shepherd.�

It’s important to note that although Jesus is using familiar imagery, he is also distinguishing himself from even good shepherds of his day.�For this reason, he specifically notes that he is�the� good shepherd�not merely�a� good shepherd. He is in a category by himself. If a Jewish�shepherd were to die in protecting his sheep, it would most likely have been accidental, certainly not an intentional act. A shepherd dying�would have been a disastrous situation for the herd of sheep who would subsequently be without defense. Even a good shepherd would�not intentionally go to his death in defense of the sheep, although he would defend them vigorously. Jesus is�the� good shepherd, though.�The word used here isn’t quite captured with the word “good”. The word “�kalos�” means beautiful, eminent, surpassing, or admirable.�Jesus isn’t just a pretty good shepherd, he is the one of the most excellent quality imaginable.�

The Old Testament was full of enigmatic prophecies which spoke of both God and His Messiah coming to shepherd God’s people. There�were also many passages that spoke of the Messiah in kingly terms, but also spoke of a suffering servant (Isa. 40-55). The idea of the�suffering servant who would die for others was so counter to the Jewish concept of Messiah that most Jews did not associate this figure�with the Messiah at all. So this is how it would all come together. The good shepherd will lay�down his life�but this would not be a tragic�and quite potentially fatal accident for the flock. Rather, this is how the flock will be taken care of. This is how they will find life.�

In Jesus’ day, the hired hand was required to fight off one wolf, but had no such expectation if two or more wolves attacked the flock. In�that case he was free and clear. The vocation of the good shepherd, though, is quite different. The way that he will protect his flock is by�laying down his life. He will not fight or run. As Jesus declares that is he is the good shepherd, this is the fourth of John’s “I am” sayings in�his Gospel.�

As we have seen, it was quite common to talk of God and His Messiah coming to shepherd the sheep of Israel. It was also well known that�the promises from God to make Abraham a great nation would be for the purpose of blessing all nations. Yet, the function of the Old�Testament law kept, and always would keep the Jews separate from all other people around them. Paul, in Galatians 3, described this�exact paradox. He says that the promises made to Abraham were made to his seed, a singular function that referred to Christ alone (Gal.�3:16). The law was given as a temporary measure to quarantine Israel until the Messiah had come (Gal. 3:19). Now that the Messiah had�come, observing the law was not necessary because that would always encourage a situation of separate sheep pens that consisted of�Jewish Christians, Gentile Christians, etc. Through faith in Christ and by being baptized into his life, all people can come together as one�people, as “Abraham’s seed” (fulfilling the promise that the seed would be singular because we are all in the life of Christ) and are “heir’s�according to the promise.”�

This is precisely Jesus’ point. He will lay down his life for the sheep, but his sheep are not just confined to the sheep pen of Israel. He has�been sent for the benefit of the whole world (cf. 3:16). Jesus looks forward to the time when his death will be proclaimed to all people of�the world and they will be brought together with Jewish believers into one pen and be one people. There will be one flock and one shepherd.�

The only way to accomplish all of this, though, was the act of laying down his life. This was not something to be avoided, it was his very�purpose. This is what Jesus means in verse 17. He isn’t saying that he will lay down his life and then the Father will love him because of�that act. His point is that the father loves Him and directs His life through His will according to that love. God’s will and His love are leading�Christ to lay down his life because it is the best possible path and outcome. When he does so, it won’t be an accident or evidence of evil�run amuck. It will be the moment when Christ is fulfilling the whole of God’s will in his life. This is no doubt instructive for those of us who�would like to think that God’s will only leads us to good and pleasant things in our lives. It is also encouraging for those who struggle with�thinking that God only loves us when we do things that earn that love. God loves us and because of that love He calls for us to lay down�our lives, the best possible thing for us to do. He doesn’t love us�because� we lay down our lives, He calls us to lay down our lives because�He loves us.�

His death will result in what God had promised all along, one flock and one shepherd. His death won’t be the end of the story, though. He�will lay down his life but the next part of the plan is that he� will take it up again�. Despite Pilate’s claims to have the power of life and death�(19:10), Jesus had the power to fulfill God’s will. It was God’s will that he would die, but it was just as much God’s will that he would be�resurrected. You simply can’t separate the two.�

As John has pointed out time and again, Jesus’ words, his�logos�, divided those listening. Some believed him to be�demon-possessed and�raving mad�, while others pointed out that these were not the sorts of things that a demon possessed mad man would say or do. And even�if they wanted to,�could a demon open the eyes of the blind�? A good friend recently asked me how we could know the difference between�Jesus’ claims to be the Messiah and some crazy individual who might say the same thing. If we look carefully at Jesus’ life, we see at least�four good answers to that question. First, no crazy person can point to over three-hundred separate and very ancient prophecies about�their coming that were specifically fulfilled in their life the way that we can with Jesus. Second, is the fact of the signs and wonders that�Jesus performed. This is the point of those who believed in him here. Even Jesus’ critics couldn’t deny his miracles, they simply sought to�assign the power behind them to something other than God. Third was the incredible teachings of Jesus, which was also cited by his�supporters here. Madmen don’t generally offer up some of the most beautiful and incredible teaching that the world has ever known.�The final piece of evidence is what Jesus hinted at here in verses 17 and 18. He would lay down his life when he was ready; no one had the�power to take it before his time. But he would also rise from the dead. No one else in history could or has even tried to make that claim.�

Display�Jesus didn’t just prophesy that he would lay down his own�life, he called his disciples to lay down theirs as well.�There is nothing more challenging in Jesus’ teachings than�his comprehensive call for his followers to die to�themselves and enter in to his life. When you look at�particularly challenging passages like Matthew 6 or John�6 in which Jesus described aspects of that life, what is�your response? Do you act more like he is the good�shepherd leading you through that valley for your own�benefit or do you act more like those teachings come�from the mouth of a madman? You might not ever say�something like that, but when we read Jesus’ words and�don’t obey them, aren’t we acting like he is a madman�rather than the good shepherd?�

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Discover�

11 "I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays�down his life for the sheep. 12 The hired hand is not�the shepherd and does not own the sheep. So when�he sees the wolf coming, he abandons the sheep and�runs away. Then the wolf attacks the flock and�scatters it. 13 The man runs away because he is a�hired hand and cares nothing for the sheep.�

14 "I am the good shepherd; I know my sheep and�my sheep know me— 15 just as the Father knows me�and I know the Father—and I lay down my life for the�sheep. 16 I have other sheep that are not of this�sheep pen. I must bring them also. They too will�listen to my voice, and there shall be one flock and�one shepherd. 17 The reason my Father loves me is�that I lay down my life—only to take it up again. 18�No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own�accord. I have authority to lay it down and authority�to take it up again. This command I received from my�Father."�

19 The Jews who heard these words were again�divided. 20 Many of them said, "He is demon-�possessed and raving mad. Why listen to him?"�

21 But others said, "These are not the sayings of�someone possessed by a demon. Can a demon open�the eyes of the blind?"�

1. What does the backdrop and expectations of the�Festival of Dedication add to the understanding of�this scene?�

2. Why does Jesus just not give a straight answer to�whether or not he is the Messiah?�

3. Why does Jesus say that they did believe him?�

4. Why does Jesus promise his sheep that no one like�the Pharisees can snatch them out of his hand?�

Dig Deeper�I was walking down the hallway when a young woman suddenly stepped in front of me. I almost ran into her because I was looking down�at some papers as I walked and I really didn’t see her until the very last moment. Not only did I nearly bump into her, I was startled a bit�as she stepped right in my path. She quickly thrust a piece of paper at me as she introduced herself. She was inviting people to a�multi-religious group that was having an ecumenical (a word that essentially means universal belief) discussion about God. She�explained that they really felt that all religions had certain aspects of the truth of God and that they all had much more in common than�they had differences. I smiled as I listened to her reasoning and explanation but didn’t say much right away. She explained that they�wanted everyone to come together and realize that we all share and worship the same God. Then she asked me, “well, you do believe�in God don’t you?” This left me in a bit of a difficult position. I felt like I simply could not say “yes.” You might wonder why not. Of all�people, shouldn’t a minister be able to answer that question quickly. The problem was not in whether or not I believed in God but in�what her understanding of God was. I could not just say “yes,” because, based on what I knew she believed God to be, a “yes” answer�would have been difficult and misleading. My answer to that question needed a lot more explaining than a simple “yes” could provide.�

Some people might ask, “what’s the point with all of that?” She asked a simple question, why not give a simple answer? Sometimes, in�cases like that, a simple answer would actually be outright misleading. If I had said I do believe in God, she would not have been hearing�at all what I was trying to say. We see this same principle at work in the life of Jesus quite often. There are many times when Jesus seems�to be rather cryptic and mysterious about his work and identity. Why, we wonder, didn’t he just come out be much more direct about�things? Why didn’t he just tell people who he was, that he was the Messiah? For the same reason that I couldn’t simply say “yes” to the�young lady who wanted to know if I believed in God. If Jesus just came out and said certain things, it would actually have been�misleading, because they would have been understanding and hearing something much different than what he was actually saying.�

In the second century B.C., Israel and Jerusalem was under the rule of the Seleucid Empire. Antiochus IV, also known as Antiochus�Ephiphanes, oversaw the area. Among other things he had deposed the standing High Priest Jason and put Menelaus in charge as priest.�While he was fighting in Egypt, Jason gathered up 1,000 soldiers and attacked Jerusalem forcing Menalaus to flee. As Antiochus�returned, he violently took Jerusalem with a vengeance, killing many Jews. He destroyed large portions of the city and even took control�of the Temple. He outlawed Judaism and began to offer pigs in sacrifice to Zeus in the Holy of Holies. The Festival known as Dedication�or Hanukkah began as a celebration of the re-dedication of the Temple after Antiochus was defeated in a revolt led by Judah�Maccabaeus. Judah took control of Jerusalem and began a line of kings that lasted for a hundred years. Thus, this festival came to be�associated with the ideas of Kings, the Temple being cleansed, and liberation that came from God.�

John informs us that it was exactly during that festival, with all of those ideas swirling about, that this scene takes place. Jesus was in�Solomon’s Colonnade, a covered area of the Temple that would have provided shelter against the cold, winter winds. Perhaps John�points out the double time marker that it was�winter� as a symbolic marker of the cold and biting attitude with which the Jews� gathered�around�and hemmed in Jesus.�

The one question on their mind is whether Jesus is the�Messiah� or not? What is translated as “�How long will you keep us in suspense�,”�is actually a figure of speech in the original language that is not nearly as nice or innocent sounding as it is in the English translation. They�are confused, frustrated, and yet cannot just dismiss Jesus’ claims because of his mighty works and growing following. They want an�outright statement on their terms. Is he the Messiah or is he not. Does it seem too much to ask, we might wonder, for Jesus to just�plainly state that he is the Messiah? Isn’t it true that the only reason he wouldn’t just come out and say it plainly was if he wasn’t the�Messiah? Well, in a word, “no”.�

The Jews had very clear expectations for the Messiah. They wanted a great kingly political and military leader like Judah Maccabaeus�who would lead the people of Israel in revolt. They wanted the pagan Roman hordes out of Jerusalem. That’s what the Messiah would�be and that’s what he should be doing. So, if Jesus just says, “Yes, I am the Messiah,” this would actually be a misleading and problematic�answer. He was the Messiah, but not at all the Messiah that they were expecting.�

Jesus�did tell� them but they did�not believe.� Many commentators puzzle over these words because nowhere in John’s Gospel does Jesus�tell the Jews that he is the Messiah in a straightforward manner. Rather than attempting to come up with some sort of theological�gymnastics to explain those words, we just need to turn to the rest of verse 25 to see Jesus’ explanation. He did not tell them in words�but he told them clearly in actions. The problem was that they had their own expectations and assumptions about who the Messiah was�and what sorts of things he would do. That’s why he performed�works� and miracles. He was showing them what the Messiah did. They�had to see who God’s Messiah really was and what he was doing rather than just be told. If he just said, “yes, I’m the Jewish Messiah,”�the Jews would have heard something completely different than what Jesus would have been saying. Their idea of Messiah had to be�completely redefined and that could be done far better through actions than through just words.�

This is so valuable and instructive for those of us who are surrounded by a world that often thinks of something far different when they�hear the term “Christian” than what we mean when we say that we are Christians. The world’s concept of that term and what it means�to be a Christian is so conditioned, misinformed, and defined by false concepts, false ideas, and even false Christians, that simply telling�them we’re Christians can often be misleading. Perhaps we need to follow Jesus’ example and find ways to demonstrate and live out�our Christianity first so that these types of people can experience true Christianity before we try to define it with words. We need to�learn to give out “free samples,” as it were. When Jesus did this, those who wanted to find the truth responded to the actions of the�true Messiah and came to genuine faith. This shouldn’t be used, of course, as an excuse to never talk to anyone or share our faith, but�it is a call to think about how our words are going to be taken before we carelessly utter them.�

When all is said and done, though, they didn’t believe him because they were not his sheep. His sheep are the ones that are genuinely�looking for God’s truth not for a missing piece to fit into their own preconceived mold. When they hear the voice of his actions, when�they encounter the new creation, they immediately know the shepherd and�they follow� him.�

To Jesus’ sheep he gives� eternal life�, the life of the age to come, and the assurance that� no one will snatch them out of�his�hand�. Jesus’�sheep are not just in his hands but also the hand of the Father, since he and the Father are one in purpose. They are inseparable yet�distinguishable from one another. With his promise that no one will snatch his sheep from his hand, Jesus balances the certainty and�security of the promises of God and His power with the weakness of man’s will and ability. If we stumble from the life of Christ it is not�from the lack of God’s love or grace, or the vicious power of God’s enemies, but is a result of our own neglect to stay in the life of Christ�that God has so mercifully made available to us. God will not violate our free will, but He gives us every opportunity to protect ourselves�from ourselves, but we often don’t take advantage of those safeguards. In Romans 8:38-39, Paul notes that nothing in all of creation can�separate us from God’s love, but the one thing he does not mention is our own will. No one can snatch us from God’s hand and God will�never drop us from His care, but we can walk out of the life of Christ and reject God’s love. True sheep, however, will never leave the�shepherd’s fold.�

Display�Can you think of people that you talk to regularly who�may have an entirely different perception of what it�means to be a Christian than what you mean. They might�even have a very negative view based on our cultural�version of American Christianity. How can you go about�in your own life representing what Christianity really is?�How can you follow Jesus example of speaking with your�works rather than just words?�

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Further Conflict Over Jesus' Claims� 22 Then came the Festival of Dedication at�Jerusalem. It was winter, 23 and Jesus was in the�temple courts walking in Solomon's Colonnade. 24�The Jews who were there gathered around him,�saying, "How long will you keep us in suspense? If�you are the Messiah, tell us plainly."�

25 Jesus answered, "I did tell you, but you do not�believe. The works I do in my Father's name testify�about me, 26 but you do not believe because you are�not my sheep. 27 My sheep listen to my voice; I�know them, and they follow me. 28 I give them�eternal life, and they shall never perish; no one will�snatch them out of my hand. 29 My Father, who has�given them to me, is greater than all no one can�snatch them out of my Father's hand. 30 I and the�Father are one."�

1. Why did the Jews want to stone Jesus?�

2. What did the Jews understand about Jesus’�statement concerning he and the Father being one?�

3. Why did Jesus lay out a Scriptural argument to�support his point that he was the Son of God?�

4. What did Jesus believe about the works that he�was performing?�

Dig Deeper�Everyone hated her. She was, after all, perfect. She was a new student in town and she seemed to take over everything, though she�was not pushy or arrogant about it. Within a matter of months, however, she had not only made the girl’s swim team, the gymnastics�team and the track team, but she had won state championships in all of those sports. She was wildly popular with many of the�students and was a favorite with the teachers, partly due to her 4.0 grade point average and her newly voted position as student�council president. Yet, off to the side, there were many who hated her. Why did they hate her? Mostly because she was, in their�eyes, perfect. Many people tend to dislike other people when they appear to be perfect. It’s a strange part of human nature. I have�seen teams that are undefeated go into championship games and have many people cheer against them for the sole crime of being�too good. We tend to feel threatened by people who can clearly do something that we can’t do.�

The Jews, in that respect, were no different from most humans. They had been given the Law by God, something which in God’s eyes�made them special. It set them apart from the rest of human kind, not because of their own ability but because of His grace and the�opportunity that He had given them as possessors of God’s perfect law. Yet, right from the start, they failed to follow it. As Moses�was being given the law, Aaron was down the mountain allowing God’s people to engage in unspeakable idolatry, and things never�got much better after that. It had come to be accepted that God had generously given the Jewish people His law, but that it was�completely impossible to perfectly keep and uphold that law. This was something that no human could truly do, which is why God�gave atonement provisions in His law. He had called His people to be holy because that was His nature (Lev. 19:2), but everyone�knew that that wasn’t actually possible. Suddenly, though, Jesus burst on the scene claiming that he came directly from the Father�and could and was doing His will perfectly. How dare he? No one could do such a thing and to claim that they could, proved them�to be worthy of hate, derision, and death. The one thing that most of the Jewish leadership never considered, was what if he was�telling the truth?�

In verse 30, Jesus’ assertion that he and the Father were one, was no small claim in the eyes of the Jews. The term that Jesus used�for “one” is neuter not masculine, so Jesus is not claiming that they are one in identity or the same person, but rather, that they are�one in unity and purpose. He has already claimed that he does the work of the Father, and now Jesus claims to be one with Him in�unity and will. This was not only impossible in the eyes of the Jewish people but was an assertion that had crossed over far into the�realm of blasphemy. No one could do God’s will perfectly and be completely united with Him. Psalm 8 had declared that God had�made man and “crowned him with glory and honor. You made him ruler over the works of your hands; you put everything under his�feet.” God had created man and given him lofty ideals and ability, but surely no man had or could live up to such a high place. They�clearly heard, however, Jesus making just such claims.�

Leviticus 24:16 states that “anyone who blasphemes the name of the LORD must be put to death. The entire assembly must stone�him. Whether an alien or native-born, when he blasphemes the Name, he must be put to death.” This judgment was to be carried�out, however, only after a fair hearing and judgment brought against the accused. The Jews here were willing to enact the judgment�of the law but apparently had no interest in first upholding its requirements of a fair hearing and trial. It’s interesting that many�critics of Christianity and even many cultic sects of quasi-Christianity claim that Jesus was not divine and never made any such claims.�The people who stood toe-to-toe with him, apparently didn’t think so. They understood that he was putting himself on an equal�plane with God and was� a mere man�who was claiming�to be God�. When Jesus said that he and the Father were one, he was�resolutely inserting himself into the most beloved of all Jewish prayers, the Shema from Deuteronomy 6:4, which states “Hear, O�Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one.” When Jesus declared that he and the Father were one, he was committing nothing short�of the worst kind of blasphemy in the eyes of these Jews and he needed to suffer the consequences of the law for committing such�a crime.�

Weren’t they just following the law, though? Can we blame them? Jesus answers that question, first with a bit a scriptural logic, and�then with a clear explanation of why they should have accepted his words rather than having rejected him as truth and instead�declaring him to be a blasphemer. Jesus’ line of argument in verses 34-36 can be difficult to follow if we don’t comprehend the�Jewish understanding of Psalm 82:6, the passage from which he quotes. Psalm 82:6-7 says, “I said, 'You are "gods"; you are all sons�of the Most High.' But you will die like mere men; you will fall like every other ruler.” Jews of Jesus’ day understood the words from�this Psalm to be spoken by God to the Israelites at Mt. Sinai when they were given the law. God said that “they were gods” because�in receiving and living according to the law, they would truly be holy and live like heavenly beings (they did not mean that humans�were mini-gods or anything like that, but simply that God was showing them the high status that they would be emulating by�following the law). But because they had sinned in worshiping the golden calf, God said that they were “mere men” who would suffer�the fate of every other human embroiled in sin. The early church agreed with that assessment and argued that Jesus was the�fulfillment of Psalm 82:6 and Psalm 8. He was the only human being who attained the lofty heights for which man, free from sin, was�intended (they did not argue, we should note, that if men did not sin they would be just like Jesus. He was still, they were clear, the�unique Son of God).�

Jesus’ logic goes like this, then. If God, when he inferred the law on the Jews, could refer to them as “gods,” then why should Jesus�be charged with blasphemy if he, who was set apart by God Himself and sent into the world with a specific vocation, referred to�himself rightly as�God’s Son�. Jesus had just used their own understanding of Scripture to demonstrate that they had no legitimate�grounds for their charge of blasphemy. On this point, Jesus says, the�Scripture cannot be broken�. If a matter was laid out�Scripturally, then for Jesus that made it authoritative, period. The irony of all of this was that during the very time when they were�celebrating the cleansing and re-dedicating of the Temple, they were rejecting the one who had been set apart or dedicated by God�to cleanse the world.�

With his scriptural argument firmly in place, Jesus now makes a plain statement. They should not just take him at his word if he�cannot back it up with any evidence. But he has. He has done the works of the Father. He was preaching the good news to the poor,�restoring light to the blind (cf. Isa. 61:1-2); in short, he was doing the work of the Father, the sorts of things the prophets said that�the Messiah would do. They didn’t need to believe him necessarily, all they needed to do was to�believe the works�. Then they would�know and understand the perfect unity and mutual relationship between the Father and his Son. If they would drop their�preconceived notions concerning the Messiah and just look at what he was doing through the eyes of the Father, they would see the�mutual indwelling relationship between Jesus and the Father. This was simply too much for the Jews and they try to� seize him� again.�John doesn’t necessarily demand that we see a miraculous escape by Jesus here, but simply enforces the reality that no one was�going to harm him or take him before his appointed hour. His time had not yet come, but it was nearing.�

At this point with the opposition of the Jerusalem Jews reaching a fevered pitch, Jesus withdrew�across the Jordan to the place�where John had been baptizing in the early days�. Jesus had gone to Jerusalem, the place where we might have expected that God’s�people would embrace and welcome him but they had instead tried to stone him. Here, though, in the remote parts of Jewish world,�many came to him and�believed.�

Display�Jesus was quite comfortable in being judged by his works�rather than his words because he knew that they were�perfectly aligned. Could the same be said of you? If�people were to judge your stated beliefs by your actions,�your works, and how you spend your time and resources,�would they find continuity or would they find�contradictions? Would you be as comfortable as Jesus�was in being considered and judged by your works?�

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31 Again the Jews picked up stones to stone him,�32 but Jesus said to them, "I have shown you many�good works from the Father. For which of these do�you stone me?"�

33 "We are not stoning you for any good work,"�they replied, "but for blasphemy, because you, a�mere man, claim to be God."�

34 Jesus answered them, "Is it not written in your�Law, 'I have said you are "gods" '? 35 If he called�them 'gods,' to whom the word of God came—and�Scripture cannot be broken— 36 what about the one�whom the Father set apart as his very own and sent�into the world? Why then do you accuse me of�blasphemy because I said, 'I am God's Son'? 37 Do�not believe me unless I do the works of my Father.�38 But if I do them, even though you do not believe�me, believe the works, that you may know and�understand that the Father is in me, and I in the�Father." 39 Again they tried to seize him, but he�escaped their grasp.�

40 Then Jesus went back across the Jordan to the�place where John had been baptizing in the early�days. Here he stayed 41 and many people came to�him. They said, "Though John never performed a�sign, all that John said about this man was true." 42�And in that place many believed in Jesus.�