John 15: Repetition and repetition

I'm still on the energy high that I wrote the last blog post with. I'm hoping energy and coherence are not mutually exclusive. And before you ask, I did reference an episode of Doctor Who in my post title.

In the Bible, if something is mentioned once, it's probably important. If it's mentioned twice you should underline it. If it's mentioned three times, it's really, really, really important, and you should do something like write in on a post-it note and stick it on your fridge.

In chapter 15, we get the culmination of somethings that have been mentioned before.

• We are to ask for things in Jesus' name, and we will receive them (John 14:13, 14; 15:16).
• We get told to keep Jesus' commands and to obey (John 14:15, 23-24; 15:14).
• We've also been told what one of these commands is: to love one another (John 13:34; 15:12, 17).

I love how this chapter seems to lead to the statement to love one another. If we are to be fruitful we need to remain in Jesus. If we obey Jesus' commands we'll remain in his love. And this is Jesus' command: love one another. So, to be a fruitful vine we need to love one another.

We're also told we're not mere servants, but we're Jesus' friend. This reminds me of one of my first blog posts.

Interestingly, John also wrote the letter 1 John, which is famous for its beautiful passage on love (1 John 4:7-21).

So remember: obey, ask, love.

John 14: Promises

Yes, I know. I've been a bit dry on the blogging front recently. Getting into my PGCE has made me very busy and pretty tired. However, tonight, I'm feeling unusually coherent and alert. In order to maximise this new-found and rare burst of energy I'll try and keep my posts succinct and a bit more interactive.

John 14 is an awesomely reassuring passage. It promises the following things:

• We have a place in the Father's house. Often I have the feeling that I don't quite belong. It's something everyone feels, I'm sure, but I think, as a Christian, there is an awareness that our place is somewhere else. Philippians 3:20 tells us that our citizenship is in heaven. Please note, though, that this is not an excuse to be weird and otherworldly.
• If we are to ask anything in Jesus' name, he'll give it to us. What an amazing promise. Is this promise too good to be true? I've had prayers unanswered, so does this make this statement a lie?
• We are to do greater things than Jesus. I find verse 12 startling and confusing. Jesus tells us we are to do greater things than him. What did Jesus mean by this? What are these greater things?
• We are not to be left as orphans. Jesus does not simply forsake us by dying on the cross.
• We will be given the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit will remind us and guide us of what Jesus has taught.
• We will be given peace. We don't need to be trouble if we have Jesus. It's about time for another cross-reference to Philippians (chapter 4, verse 7): "And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus." Is this, again, too good to be true? Surely, we'll have troubles as Christians?

We also learn that Jesus is "the way, the truth and the life." This seems to be an outrageously bold statement, that flies in the face of universalism and relativism. This verse does not seem to allow view points that "anyone can get to heaven as long as they're good" or that everyone else's beliefs are as valid as each other's. It's a really contentious statement.

Jesus also calls us to obey his commands. This is a sign of our love for him. This is done twice is a short space of time, so it's probably significant.

Quick Questions

• Where do you feel you belong?
• Can we trust in these promises?
• What is this peace that guards all understanding?

John 13: Love

In John 13 we discover the importance of love between believers and Jesus shows us how it's done.

• How do you demonstrate love to others?
• Have you heard of the 5 love languages? What do you think of them? What are yours (take the test to find out)?
• What is the tale-tell sign of a Christian? What makes us different?

 Last chapter we saw Mary wash Jesus' feet. This was an act of worship that recognised who Jesus was: the Lord and Saviour of all. In John 13, Jesus turns this act on its head by washing the feet of his disciples. Somewhat understandably, they are reluctant to let him do it. Why should God's own son stoop down and clean the detritus off the feet of his followers?

Although the disciples were right in thinking that Jesus was teacher and Lord, Jesus had come to humble himself and to serve others. Philippians 2:6-8 explains this perfectly:

Though he was God,
    he did not think of equality with God
    as something to cling to.
Instead, he gave up his divine privileges;
    he took the humble position of a slave
    and was born as a human being.
When he appeared in human form,
    he humbled himself in obedience to God
    and died a criminal’s death on a cross.

How amazing that Jesus, who was God, came to die for us. Jesus was teaching his disciples humility and telling them to do the same. But, again, it comes down to recognising who Jesus is and what he did. Surely if God of the universe could do this then who are we to put ourselves first? Who do we think we are if we are not willing to stoop to clean the feet of others? Others that Jesus was willing to die for? The cross was the most humbling act of humanity.

Verse 34 is the beginning of a repeated theme in the next few chapters. Jesus gives us a new commandment: to love one another. He also tells us that this is what will make us distinct and let people know that we follow him. Loving your fellow brothers and sisters in Christ may be hard, but it's got to be done.

John 12: Recognising Jesus

In John 11 we see Jesus raising Lazarus from the dead in Bethany. In John 12, we're back in Bethany and we see again how Martha and Mary recognise Jesus for who he is.

• What was the most extravagant gift you've given or received?
• Why are gifts given?

Yesterday, we read how Martha said Jesus was "the Messiah, the Son of God, who is to come into the world." She was able to understand who he was and treated him accordingly. Her sister, Mary, does the same in this chapter. She takes 12 ounces of pure nard and pours it on Jesus' feet. Then, rather than getting a cloth, she uses her own hair to rub it over them. Now, this nard wasn't cheap. It would have cost about a year's wages. That's like me getting some £12,000 aftershave and pouring the whole bottle over a friend.

Some of the group were quite shocked, Judas in particular. So why did she do it? The IVP New Testament Commentary Series suggest:

The most obvious possibility was her sheer gratitude for what Jesus had done for her brother and the revelation it brought to her of Jesus' identity, power, authority and grace. John's focus on her anointing Jesus' feet points to Mary's great humility.

We read yesterday how Mary had seen Jesus raise her brother, Lazarus, from the dead. Lazarus was there at the table while she did this; he was a living testament to Jesus' ability to heal and to save. Mary was able to see this and lavishly anointed Jesus with the nard.

It's not just Mary and Martha who can recognise Jesus for who he is. As Jesus rode into Jerusalem on the back of a donkey, the crowds acted unusually. They got branches from palm trees and welcomed him with the cries, "Hosanna! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord! Blessed is the King of Israel!" The crowd recognises, even if it is for that short moment, that Jesus is sent by God to be King over Israel.

There are still people in this chapter, despite all this, that still cannot see Jesus for who he is. One of these is Judas Iscariot. He is shocked at Mary's worship of Jesus. He also is stealing from him and the rest of his disciples, and is about to betray him. These are not the actions of someone who realises who is sat before him. When we sin it is, in part, because we too fail to recognise who Jesus is and what he has done for us.

• What has Jesus done for you?

John 11: Jesus was human too

John quite often gives us a dazzling and somewhat confusing picture of Jesus is. I love what happens in John 11 because it emphasises Jesus' humanity.

• What makes humans human?

John 11 focuses around a single event: the death of Lazarus. Lazarus was good friend of Jesus, to such an extent that his sisters called him "the one you love" in a message to him. Lazarus was a really, really close friend.

At the beginning of the chapter, Lazarus gets sick. When Jesus hears about it, he says that this sickness will not end in death. Jesus goes to Bethany, where Lazarus lived, to find out that he had already died. This was not because Jesus had got it wrong, he had already alluded to the fact the Lazarus would die and Jesus would wake him. So, Jesus was fully prepared for what had happened. But something remarkable happens. Jesus weeps.

If Jesus knew Lazarus would not remain dead why did he weep? Perhaps he was overwhelmed by the grief of Mary and Martha, perhaps it because of the thought of the pain of Lazarus during his illness, but we can safely say it was because Jesus was human. Jesus, like any human, in the presence of death and the suffering of others, is moved. What a beautiful picture of Jesus' humanity.

I love Mary and Martha's response. Even in the midst of what is happening they recognise who he is. The know he could have stopped it. Martha even says to Jesus, "I believe that you are the Messiah, the Son of God, who is to come into the world."

Quite often, when we have grief or troubles of our own, we feel like God doesn't care. Yet, when someone he loved died, when he witnesses the pain of others, Jesus cried. Jesus loved us enough to die for us. So when we are suffering, or in pain, perhaps, even in heaven, Jesus grieves with us. And in the midst of this pain we need to recognise who Jesus is.

I'll leave you with 2 Corinthians 1: 3-7:

Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves receive from God. For just as we share abundantly in the sufferings of Christ, so also our comfort abounds through Christ. If we are distressed, it is for your comfort and salvation; if we are comforted, it is for your comfort, which produces in you patient endurance of the same sufferings we suffer. And our hope for you is firm, because we know that just as you share in our sufferings, so also you share in our comfort.

John 10: Good Shepherd

In the Book of John, we learn lots of different ways in which we can describe Jesus. Jesus also has different ways of referring to himself, and these are known as the I am sayings,. So far we've had Jesus saying he is the Bread of Life and the Light of the World. In chapter 10 Jesus gives us another two ways.

• In what different ways do you introduce yourself? (e.g. "Hi, I'm Sam, Gloria's husband" or, "hello class, I am your teacher for this morning.")
• What or who makes you feel safe?

Jesus tells the Pharisees that he is a gate. This seems like a really weird thing to say. It makes me think of when my grandmother used to say, "you'd make a better door than a window" whenever I sat in front of the television blocking her view. Jesus, in this instance was, was describing what a shepherd used to do to protect his flock at night. The sheep would often be kept in a walled enclosure with a gap that served as an entrance or exit. The shepherd would lie in that gap at night, protecting his flock.

So, already we're being shown how Jesus protects us. He goes on to say that he is a shepherd that lays his life down for his sheep. This protection and safety is sacrificial: it cost him his life. But there's also freedom in this safety. We can come in, go out and find pasture. We're not confined or penned in.

This most interesting verse of this chapter, however, is verse 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.

Jesus, here, is acknowledging the universal nature of his gospel and salvation. It is for all, not just those of a single ethnic heritage. Anyone can belong to Jesus' flock if they make the decision to enter the fold through him.

The shepherd would have been a very familiar metaphor to the Jews. It crops up again and again in scripture. Perhaps the most famous today is Psalm 23. Take a moment to read it and think about how this Psalm is fulfilled through Jesus.

John 9: Getting dirty

In John 5, we saw how the Pharisees failed to see the bigger picture. Today, in John 9, two different types of blindness at work.

• Do you sometimes wonder why bad things happen?
• Do you think God punishes you for doing wrong?

Here we have a man who has been blind since the day he was born. The disciples then question why he was blind by asking whether it was his sin or his parents' sin that caused his disability. Quite often we find ourselves asking God the why questions. Why did that happen? Was it because of something the did?

Jesus' answer is really interesting. He says that, "this happened so that the works of God might be displayed in him." He saying, don't concern yourself about what caused it, concern yourself about God being glorified. Quite often we're too focused on the negative and the problem to see the good; we're too preoccupied with the sin to see how God's transforming grace can be realised.

I'm sure I've mentioned this metaphor before but it's worth repeating. Someone wise once told me that you have a choice to be one of two types of people: a dirt digger or a jewel digger. The dirt digger looks for the bad in people and seeks to expose that; whilst a jewel digger seeks to find the good, polish it up and show it to the world. I get the feeling that the Pharisees are dirt diggers, they always seek the bad and are quick to point that out. We see this in verse 34, when they are eager to say that the blind man was "steeped in sin since birth." They use the dirt of others for their own personal gain. But there's one thing you must remember: you can't dig dirt without getting dirty yourself.

Towards the end of the chapter Jesus says that he came so that those who were blind can see. It's a brilliant passage, where the ones who have been seeing all their life are accused of being blind to the facts around them and the one who has just received sight is able to see.

Jesus, although the only person who has the right to see the sin in others, is always first to see the potential in them. I think it's because he can truly recognise the image of God in each of us. This is where the Pharisees fail, and, if I'm honest I do too. Let us be a people that loves to see the signs of God's love, transformation and grace even in the most desperate of people and situations.

John 8: Cast the first stone

John 8 contains one of those mysterious floating texts about the adulterous woman. Some early versions, my NIV tells me, don't have it, but it's a really good example of the grace of Jesus.

• Which crimes deserve the worst punishments?
• Are there any situation which you think are hopeless?

In this chapter we have a criminal. There is a woman who has been caught in the act of adultery. She has been tried, witnesses have spoken against her and she was found to have broken the law. She would have known what the law is, and she still broke it. The punishment for committing adultery is death.

The Jewish have a strong sense of family bonds, the unity of marriage and family is sacred. To ruin this is a heinous offence. This is precisely what this woman has done, and as a result she is about to be stoned. The Pharisees are only doing what the Bible tells them to. 

Jesus, however, does a strange thing. He stoops down, writes in the sand and says, "those without sin, cast the first stone." He's basically saying, if you've honestly done nothing wrong in your life, go ahead and kill her. Of course, none of them can. They've all messed up at some point, and therefore have little right to condemn the woman. The only person who ever had the right to cast that first stone was Jesus himself. He could have quite legitimately picked up a rock and chucked it at her head. But he doesn't. He tells her that he isn't interested in condemning her. Remember what was said in back in chapter 3 verse 17:

For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.

Jesus chose not to condemn, not because we were doing it so well already, but because our God is a God of mercy, reconciliation, restoration and mercy.

This passage also got me thinking. I may not literally pick up stones and chuck them at people. Even if it is tiny pebbles like in A Year of Living Biblically, but I do condemn people. I write people off as lost hopes. I see the sin before I see the image of God in that person. I get angry and use my words to destroy rather than build up.

Our actions should be life giving. We should be pursuing everything that gives hope and reconciliation and mercy. We should be a people of a God that saves.

John 7: Divided opinion

In John 7, opinions are very much divided about who Jesus was.

• What has the book of John previously told us about Jesus?
• Who do you believe Jesus to be?

In this chapter we see a real division of opinion. We saw in chapter 6 that Jesus' words were hard to swallow, and even some of his disciples left him. Here, some people, such as the guard, believe Jesus to be a good man and an incredible speaker. Others, such as the Pharisees accuse him of being demon-possessed, and a deceiver. These people are so outraged that they make many attempts to seize and kill him.

Jesus is a contentious character. I don't believe he is a person you can be indifferent to. You can either believe his claims, or you can dismiss them. We've seen some of his claims in previous chapters, and they are quite outrageous. He claimed to be the Messiah to the Samaritan woman, and the bread of life who can stop us from dying. 

C.S. Lewis, famously proposed that there are three ways to view Jesus: that he is either who he says he was, he was just crazy, or he was a prolific liar. This is sometimes summarised as "liar, lunatic, Lord". Lewis suggests that Jesus doesn't give us room to just treat him as a moral teacher, whose words hold the same weight as a collection of proverbs of the agony aunt column. Somebody who just wanted to be moral wouldn't say that he was the promised Messiah, sent by God. If what he was saying was true, he's more than just a moral teacher; if what he was saying was a lie he could not have been particularly moral.

Jesus is a contentious character. The book of John certainly has a lot to say about him. From the first chapter we learnt that he was eternal, the Son of God, who could atone for our sins and give us eternal life. Who do you believe Jesus to be?

John 6: The next party trick is...

Back in John 2 we saw how Jesus' party trick reminded everyone of Moses and helped people to believe. In John 6 Jesus feeds five thousand people.

• What is the largest amount of people you've cooked for?
• What is the longest amount of time you've been without food?

Party trick number 2

Jesus is preaching to a huge crowd of around five thousand when some tummies start to rumble. So, Jesus armed with a boy's packed lunch of five small loaves and two small fish feeds them all. Not surprisingly, people say, "this is the prophet that we were told would be sent."

Back in chapter two, it was after the turning the water into wine that the disciples believed. There were also strong parallels between Jesus' miracles and the miracles of Moses. So, I thought it was worth a look into whether there were any Old Testament links with this miracle.

The most obvious parallel is with 2 Kings 4:42-44:

A man came from Baal Shalishah, bringing the man of God twenty loaves of barley bread baked from the first ripe grain, along with some heads of new grain. “Give it to the people to eat,” Elisha said.

“How can I set this before a hundred men?” his servant asked.

But Elisha answered, “Give it to the people to eat. For this is what the Lord says: ‘They will eat and have some left over.’” Then he set it before them, and they ate and had some left over, according to the word of the Lord.

It's strikingly similar, even with the type of bread to there being some left over. Jesus is, once again, acting like a prophet of the Old Testament.

The miracle also reminded the people, again, of Moses. When the Israelites were wondering through the desert they were hungry and they moaned (they did a lot of moaning), so God sent down quail and manna. The Israelites were also told to keep some of the manna as a reminder that God had provided them with bread. When Jesus provided the people with bread they remembered Moses and the provision of manna. In remembering Moses they also remembered what was written in the Old Testament:

The Lord your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among you, from your fellow Israelites. You must listen to him. (Deuteronomy 18:15)

The parallels with Moses are not an accident. Jesus, in acting like Moses, is fulfilling the prophecy written down hundreds of years previous. This is why they say, "surely this is the prophet who is to come into the world." Jesus means to be recognised.

But later in the chapter, Jesus trumps Moses. Jesus isn't just a provider of barley loaves, he is the Bread of Life. He promises that anyone who comes to him will be completely sustained. Jesus even mentions Moses. Moses, he said, provided quail and manna, but those who ate it eventually died. If you get your life from Jesus, symbolised here by the eating of his body and drinking of his blood, you will live forever. The feeding of the five thousand all leads up to this amazing statement: Jesus can give us eternal life.

John 5: Breaking the Sabbath

Throughout the Bible, the Israelites often miss the bigger picture. This is definitely true of the Pharisees in John 5.

• Think of some of the things that the Bible teaches about (e.g. money, sex, etc.).
• Out of these, which do think God is most concerned about?
• Do your priorities match up with God's?

In this chapter, Jesus heals a man who had been paralysed for thirty eight years. For all that time he had lain at pool near one of the gates of Jerusalem, hoping that someone would help him into the water so that he could be healed. Jesus told him, rather than to get into the water, to stand up, carry his mat, and go. So, the man who had been paralysed for nearly four decades got up and picked up his mat. This is an incredible story of someone's life being transformed by the power of Jesus.

However, the religious leaders didn't like this happening. The reason was simple: it happened on a Sabbath. The Sabbath is the Jewish day of rest, it begins at sundown on a Friday and ends on the Saturday. The rules about what you can and can't do is very strict. Apparently, one thing you can't do is carry your mat. So the Jewish leaders were annoyed at Jesus for healing the man and then ordering him to take his mat and walk on the Sabbath. Rather than being amazed at what had happened they were angry that it happened on the wrong day.

While as Christians we're required to take the Bible seriously and to follow its commands. But we're also required to see the bigger picture. Micah 6:8 gives us a helpful idea of what this picture is:

And what does the Lord require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God.

The Pharisee's preoccupation with killing Jesus after he healed the paralysed man seems to suggest that they are missing the point.

John 4: The Testimony of the Broken Woman

In John 4 we see Jesus travelling through the country of Samaria. The discussion between Jesus and the woman he meets there is an interesting one for a lot of reasons.

• Think of some countries, ethnicities or groups that are known for their dislike of each other.
• Who are then people that are looked down on in our society?
• What is your story? Do you believe in Jesus? How did that come to be?

John 4:4 says that Jesus had to go through Samaria to Galilee. We often read it like someone saying, "I had to go on the M25 to get into London." There was no way that Jesus could have got to Galilee without setting foot there. This was not the case, and most Jews would avoid it. They would cross the Jordan River and go a longer route just so they didn't have to bump into any Samaritans. The Jews believed that Samaritans made them ceremonially dirty, just like eating pork would. They really hated each other. So it says that he had to do it, it wasn't because that's what GoogleMaps told him to do. There must have  been another reason. 

Jesus meets a woman, on her own, drawing water out of a well. This woman, it turns out, is on her own because she is an adulteress. She hasn't got much going for her. The Jews would already hate her because she is a Samaritan, then the Samaritans don't seem to be too keen on her because she has too many husbands. Yet, Jesus asks her for a drink. This is surprising because first, she's a lady. First century jewish men don't really speak to woman (see verse 27); Rabbis didn't even talk to their wives in public. Second, he's about to take a drink from a Samaritan, which will make him unclean. Yet he has a very interesting exchange with her. He tells her how she has sinned, and unfazed she asks him various questions. In verse 25 and 26 things take a very interesting turn. Although, Jesus gives very strong hints about who he is, and we're helpfully told in John 1, in the whole of the book of John, Jesus only says he is the Messiah twice. That's it; only twice does he admit who he is. One is at his trial, the other time is now.

Of all the people to admit you're the Messiah to, you'd have thought Jesus would have chosen someone else. Perhaps he should have told Nicodemus in chapter 3. He was an important chap. But instead he chose to tell a woman, from Samaria, who was shunned by her neighbours. She had nothing going for her, until she was told that Jesus was the Christ and she believed.

This woman then went to tell the rest of her village who Jesus was. Because of the testimony of a broken, unwanted woman many believed. If you're feeling broken, unwanted or unimportant your testimony is still amazing. Tell it and many people may believe.

John 3: Getting to Heaven

If you feel you don't quite know what's going on, don't worry, you're not the only one. In John 3, we meet a character called Nicodemus who seems pretty confused.

• How do you think you get to heaven?
• What did we learn about Jesus from John 1?

We're told that Nicodemus is a part of the ruling council of Jerusalem. This means that he's a clever chap. Yet he seems to be a bit confused by what Jesus has been saying. Nico recognises that God is with Jesus, and then Jesus says something very strange about being born again. Poor Nicodemus is rather confused. Surely, when a woman gives birth, she's given birth. That child is staying out. Jesus, however, says this is a different type of birth. This is a spiritual birth, given to us by the Holy Spirit. This rebirth by the Holy Spirit is essential if we are to see the Kingdom of God. 

Then we get one of the most famous passages of the Bible, John 3:16-17:

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. For God did not send his Son to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. 

This is reiterated at the very end of the chapter:

Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life, but whoever rejects the Son will not see life, for God's wrath remains on him.

 These verses tell us what is needed to gain eternal life: a belief in the Son of God. Doing good things or having a wishy-washy notion of the "being something bigger" doesn't seem to cut it. If you believe in the Son, you get eternal life. It's through believing in Jesus that we are able to get this spiritual rebirth.

John 2: The party trick

The last chapter of John ended off with a promise of some exciting things to come. In John 2, the party is already getting started, with a...party.

1. Do you have any party tricks? What does this party trick tell us about you?
2. What is the most embarrassing situation you've found yourself in? How could this situation been avoided?

The Party Trick

Jesus, his mum and his followers are at a wedding. Something terrible happens: the wine runs out. This may remind you of the scene in Airplane 2 when the air hostess announces that they're also out of coffee. It seems rather trivial. Today, if the wine ran out at a wedding the guests would just go for the fruit punch instead. In Jesus' day, there wasn't a huge variety. It was basically wine or nothing. So, imagine now if a guest went to the bar a wedding and asked for a drink and the bartender told them they had run out of everything.
"Even Babycham? Who drinks Babycham?" The guests would ask.
"Even Babycham." The bartender would confirm.
"What do you expect us to do? Fill our glasses in the bathroom sink?" (Which is sort of what Jesus does do, but we'll get to that later.) Not only was running out of wine a bit awkward, but it could have had legal ramifications. The bridegroom was obliged to give a good banquet and if this doesn't happen the guy could get sued.

So Mary decided to get Jesus to sort it out. He tells the servants to do something a bit strange. To get the wine from the bathroom sink. Well, the first century Judean equivalent. There were huge pots full of water so the guests could clean their hands. This wasn't just because Jews are hygienic, it also had religious significance. The water was so that they could be ceremonial pure before eating. So Jesus got the servants to fill up these pots to the brim and then take some over to the chief steward to try. The steward was so impressed with the wine he complimented the bridegroom and said, "usually you save the worst wine for last, as the guests are too drunk to notice. You save the best until last."

Now, I'm going to have a bit of a rant. A lot of people will take this miracle and use it as an excuse to get drunk. They'll say, "Jesus was obviously down with guys having a good time, otherwise he wouldn't have made so much wine." First, the Bible is definitely not down with drunkenness. There are many verses is the Bible that say do not get drunk, but Ephesians 5:18 is perhaps the best for this context. It says quite clearly, "do not get drunk with wine". Do not get drunk with wine. Jesus, I believe, would never encourage something unbiblical. He wouldn't be condoning getting drunk with wine if it is not the will of God. Also, episodes of drunkenness in the Bible inevitably end badly (with nakedness, incest, and more nakedness to point out a few). If you say this miracle is all about having a good time you are clearly missing the point. Jesus isn't pro drunkenness; he's pro freedom from social embarrassment and legal burdens.

There is also deeper significance to this miracle. There is another instance in the Bible of water being turned into something else and it would be good to see if they have any links. Back in the last chapter Jesus is compared to Moses. Moses is best known for leading the Israelites out of Egypt and around the desert for forty years. Before he was able to do that, however, he had to convince Pharaoh to let them go. This was done with the ten plagues. The plagues weren't to twist Pharaoh's arm though:

Then the Lord said to Moses, “Go to Pharaoh, for I have hardened his heart and the hearts of his officials so that I may perform these signs of mine among them that you may tell your children and grandchildren how I dealt harshly with the Egyptians and how I performed my signs among them, and that you may know that I am the Lord.” (Exodus 10:1-2)

These signs were to let people know that God was God. Interestingly, the first of these signs was the Nile being turned into blood. Thousands of years later, Jesus was to turn water into wine (I could mention the whole wine and blood link of the Lord's Supper but I won't. Wait, I just have). John 2:11 says something quite interesting:

What Jesus did here in Cana of Galilee was the first of the signs through which he revealed his glory; and his disciples believed in him.

This miracle in Cana was Jesus' first sign. Like Moses' first sign, which was to who the Israelites who was Lord, Jesus' first sign shows hints of his glory. The glory that he is, indeed, the son of God.

John 1: The Light, the Word, the witness in the wilderness

Do you remember when I was reading Mark with Duncan and I wrote my responses to each and every chapter? No, nor do I. Since then Duncan and I have read Romans, 1 & 2 Corinthians and Galatians together, without a hint of a blog post about it. We're now looking at the Gospel of John. Again, read the passage beforehand, and I'll try and post some (hopefully) helpful and thought provoking questions before ploughing into my response. I'll be posting them every weekday morning.

John 1

1. What do we learn about Jesus in this first chapter?
2. What sort of questions were people (e.g. the Pharisees) asking at the time? What are your questions for Jesus?
3. Look at the different responses to Jesus. Who is Jesus to you?

John 1 starts like some epic fantasy novel. It's full of mystery and some really confusing names and terms. There's the Word, which is also the light of men. The Word/light turns out to be a person. This person was hanging out at the with God at the beginning of everything; but he also was God. This person also created the universe. So at the moment we have

The Word = the light = a person = God = creator of the universe.*

In verse 14 this Word/light/God/creator becomes human and made his dwelling among us. The Message version puts is as 'moved into the neighbourhood', which I think is awesome. This Word/light/God/creator who became human and moved in was sent by God, full of grace and truth. In verse 17 we finally learn his name, Jesus Christ, which is lucky because those who believe in his name become children of God. Verse 18 reminds us he's God, the One and Only (but God is also something distinct), and he hung out with God the Father. We're then told Jesus is the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world and a bit later we're told he's the son of God who will baptise us with the Holy Spirit. He also happened to be the Messiah, the one Moses and the Prophets wrote about and lives in Nazareth.

So to recap, Jesus is the Word; the light; God; the Son of God; sent by God; the creator of the universe; the One and Only; the Lamb of God; the Messiah; the one Moses and the Prophets wrote about; who is full of grace and truth and will take away the sin of the world and give those who believe in him the right to become children of God and will baptise us with the Holy Spirit, who was at the beginning but also from Nazareth. Confused? No wonder it says 'the darkness has not understood it'. It's amazing that in one chapter we learn so much about who Jesus is, what he came to do and how we should respond. There is so much wrapped up in this one person and it seems that there is a lot at stake.

We also meet this guy called John. The Pharisees ask him a load of questions that suggest that everyone is waiting for this Messiah guy to turn up. It turns out that John is a witness to the light but he wasn't the Christ (but we already knew that from verse 17), he wasn't Elijah and he wasn't the Prophet. John 1 doesn't give us many clues about him, but we meet him later in the book and the other Gospels tell us he's a pretty strange dude. He's Jesus' cousin and he lived in the desert eating locusts and wearing clothes made from camel hair.

This chapter ends with a statement that really gets me wanting to read on, to find out more about this mysterious Jesus chap. Nathaniel didn't think Jesus could be everything people were saying about him-he was from Nazareth, after all. Nate became convinced when Jesus was able to tell him what he was previously up to (probably praying in private: sycamore trees provided really good shade for that sort of thing). Jesus then basically says, "if you thought that was amazing, you ain't seen nothing yet."

*The Word/light/person is fully God but God is not just the Word/light/person. Just to make myself clear!?