The Gospel of John: The Temple 2:13 - 25

 In our last lesson we were at a wedding, today we go to the temple. This is a very different story, but, as we will see, it is about the same subject as the wedding story.

 Before we look at the story, two introductory points. The first one is about Jesus’ home. In 2:12 we see that Jesus with his mother, his brothers and his disciples – presumably the ones we read about in chapter one – went to Capernaum and remained there a few days. Capernaum was a border town, or even a large village, with perhaps a population of a thousand. In films we often see Jesus moving around with his disciples as if he had no home and was living apart from his family. It is true he travelled a lot, it is true his real home, like ours, was in heaven. But even after his ministry began Jesus had a home – with his family. It is clear here, we just have to note that his father Joseph is not mentioned. Most think that Joseph had died before Jesus began his ministry. We have the same picture at the start of chapter seven. Jesus is with his brothers in Galilee, and they are urging him to go to Jerusalem for the festival of Booths. It is also clear at the start of Mark 2 when we read that Jesus ‘returned to Capernaum…and it was reported that he was home.’ Then in Mark 3, after appointing the twelve, we read in v.19, ‘Then he went home.’ It is pretty clear. Jesus had a home in Capernaum, which is exactly what we have here in 2:12.

 Jesus never married, he said in heaven there would be no marriage, and he said his real family were those who obeyed God, but don’t let’s ever think that Jesus’ family was not important to him. As he was to them – his mother was at the cross, and his brother later led the church in Jerusalem. That’s the first introductory point: Jesus had a normal family.

 The second introductory point is more difficult: the timing of the clearing of the temple. In the Synoptics this happens in Jesus’ last week; here it seems to happen right at the start of Jesus’ ministry. What’s going on?

 We have three options.

 1. Either John or the Synoptic writers have made a mistake. There was one clearing of the temple, the Synoptics say it was in the last week of Jesus’ life; John says, that’s wrong, it was very early on in his ministry.

 I don’t think either John or the Synoptic writers would have made such a massive mistake. It is clear that there can be minor mistakes over details in the Gospels, and indeed in the Bible. For example go to the resurrection stories and try and work out how many angels were around. In Matthew there is one, in Mark there is a young man, in Luke and John there are two angels. We should not let these small differences worry us, the main point is that angels are in an empty tomb.

 But what we have here is not a small mistake. To have the clearing) at the start of the Jesus story when in fact it happened at the end of Jesus’ life is a big mistake and I do not believe that the writer of the Gospel is the sort of man to make such a mistake. He is not careless. John is very careful about names and places. Look at the detail he gives in John 5 about where the healing of the lame man happened.

 Nor are the writers of the Synoptics careless. Luke said he investigated everything carefully. (Luke 1:3), So I don’t think either John or the Synoptic writers have made a mistake.

 2.The second option is that there were two cleansings of the temple. One is as John has it, at the start of Jesus’ ministry, the other, with the Synoptics, at the end. So, there are no mistakes.

 Some scholars believe this; many, with good reason, are not convinced.

Historically anyone creating mayhem in the temple would be arrested – immediately. The Jews and the Romans had soldiers right there in the temple to do this. In the Synoptics Jesus is not arrested, and we can easily understand why. Thousands have just welcomed him into Jerusalem calling him the Son of David. We are told that the authorities did not want to risk a riot by arresting him. For the event to have happened in the last week of his life makes sense. To say it also happened at the start of his ministry makes no sense at all. Jesus was then only well known in Galilee, not in Jerusalem. He did not have a vast following, so he could have easily been arrested – probably put in prison for a long time, or handed over to the Romans for execution.

 Connected to this historical problem, is the competence of the Synoptic writers.  I cannot see how a writer like Luke, who made a ‘careful investigation’ into Jesus’ life, would say nothing about this first clearing of the temple when he wrote about the second one.

 This idea that there were two clearings of the temple throws up another question. Why would Jesus do this twice? He knows very well that his protest will not change anything. It is a protest. A statement that the whole system is rotten Such a dramatic protest only needs to happen once, not twice. If we say Jesus did it twice it means he is the sort of person who likes protest for the sake of protest. I don’t think that is his character.

 There is also an artistic problem. It is rather vulgar for there to be two clearings of the temple. It is a massive event. It needs to stand alone. The drama in the Synoptics is perfect. Jesus enters Jerusalem and looks around the temple. Then the next day he clears out the money changers and the traders. There is an element of surprise. All that goes if we think he has already done this at the start of his ministry. Oh, here we go again…

 So, I don’t believe it happened twice. Let’s go to the third option.

 3. The clearing happened in the last week, as recorded in the Synoptics; but John has deliberately moved the story forward.  

 This is the option that makes most sense to me. First of all it’s important to note how close the stories are in both John and the Synoptics, especially Mark. Both take place near the time of the Passover, both have tables being overturned and after the incident, in both accounts the authority of Jesus is challenged.

 And then there is something else that ties this story in John to the Synoptics. More than once in the Synoptics we have the Jews asking Jesus for a sign, even though Jesus has performed many miracles. Jesus refuses to give them a sign and calls them ‘an evil and adulterous generation’. They are not sincere. We have the same here in John, 2:18, the Jews say, what sign have you done to give you this authority, but look at v. 23. It’s obvious Jesus has been performing many miracles. So many that Nicodemus talks about them at the start of chapter 3, and the Galileans who were in Jerusalem remember them. So – we have a similar request with a similar background.

 There is something else that shows this is one story, not two. In both the Synoptics and John Jesus refuses to give a sign. But once in reply to the demand for a sign Jesus had given an enigmatic response. He said the only sign they would be given would be the sign of Jonah who spent three nights in the belly of a whale. This is a reference to his death and resurrection. That is the basis of his authority. Now look what we have here. Another enigmatic response – but what is it about? It’s about Jesus’ death and resurrection.

 From all these details I am pretty sure the story told in Mark 11 is exactly the same as the one we have in John 2, with the writer knowing that we know that this is happening in the last week of Jesus’ life.

 There is one last point that – for me – settles the matter that what we have here in John 2 is the same story that we have in Mark 11. For in John 2:19 Jesus says, ‘Destroy this temple and in three days I will rise it up’.  In Mark 14: 53 – 65 we have an account of Jesus’s first trial before the Sanhedrin. We are told that many people are standing up and speaking against Jesus. We don’t know exactly what they are saying until we come to v. 58. It is almost exactly what we have in John 2. ‘We heard him say, ‘I will destroy this temple that is made with hands, and in three days I will build another, not made with hands.’

 In Mark we are not told when Jesus said this, but the idea this was said three years earlier is surely not true. No, this is hot, up to date evidence. Jesus has come to Jerusalem and has said the temple is going to be destroyed – not three years ago, but just a few days before this trial.

 All the evidence points to there being one cleansing of the temple which happened in the last week of Jesus’ life. There was no cleansing of the temple three years earlier at the start of his ministry.

 So John decided to move the story – for good reason.

 Someone might say: but it is not right to change the dates however good the reasons. But the writer does not change the chronology. Look at the text carefully. He never says when the clearing of the temple  happened. Unlike in chapter one there is no ‘the next day here’. We just read that the Passover of the Jews was near. And we know from the Synoptics that this was indeed the case. The writer is not changing the chronology at all, in fact, as said, he is trusting that his readers know that the story happened at the end of Jesus’ ministry and will understand that he wants emphasize something by placing it by the account of the water changing into wine.

 But why? Why move the cleansing of the temple? What is to be gained? A lot. Chapter Two is the start of Jesus’ public ministry. And so this is the writer telling us what is at the heart of all Jesus’ ministry. This is the writer telling us how to view all of Jesus’ ministry. This is the lens from how we should view things? The writer is saying – don’t get lost in the detail of this healing or that teaching, remember the big picture. I gave it to you in chapter two.

 And what is that big picture? The story of the wedding in Cana was all about wine, the blood of Jesus. The story of the temple is all about Jesus’ body, how it will be destroyed and raised up after three days. What is the author wanting to say? That the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ stands at the heart of the Gospel story. It is what we had at the heart of the prologue. He came to his own, he was rejected, but to all who believed in him, he gave the right to become children of God. It’s what we had with John the Baptist. Not once, but twice – ‘Behold the lamb of God’. The best wine. The best bread. The death and resurrection. This is the story. This is the anchor. This is where everything beings and where everything ends. God’s love for sinful mankind in the blood and body of his beloved Son Jesus Christ. Lose this and we lose everything. No wonder the writer wants to move the story to the start.

 Let’s now look at the story. We have just 13 verses, so in this lesson we will go verse by verse.

 v. 13. As noted, we are not told when this happened, just that the Passover of the Jews was ‘at hand’, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem. It was the duty of every Israeli man to attend three festivals which were held in Jerusalem. These were the Passover, when the exodus from Egypt was remembered; Pentecost, which celebrated the giving of the law; and Tabernacles, which both gave thanks for the harvest and remembered the time when the Israelites lived in tents in the wilderness. Passover was most important. And, as we noted when thinking about the lamb of God, this Passover is very important in this Gospel. It is mentioned here, before the feeding of the five thousand and the discourse about the bread of life, and around the time of his crucifixion. When the writer talks about the Passover –remember there is no Exodus without a sacrifice, remember there would have been no Mount Sinai and Tabernacle without a Passover. We must connect it to the Passover.

 14. The action we watch is very busy – in the temple. Jews lived all over the Roman Empire and so arrived in Jerusalem with different coins This they had to change into the only currency accepted in the temple, which was Tyrian coins, known for containing very pure silver. They then used this money to buy an animal that they needed for the sacrifice. It is likely that the prices were fixed, as Jesus in the Synoptics calls them a ‘den of thieves’ That is one thing that makes Jesus angry. Another is about where all of this was happening. In the Jewish temple there were three main courts. There was this outer court, which was for everyone. There was one just for Jewish women. And there was a men’s court. All of this trade was happening in the outer court, the one place where Gentiles could come and worship God. Hoping for an atmosphere of quiet and prayer, instead the seeking Gentile met the noise and smells of a market. This made Jesus angry. All of this buying and selling should be happening outside the temple area.

 15. The anger becomes dramatic action. A whip, cattle and sheep running around; tables being up turned, coins everywhere. There is total uproar. And Jesus is in the middle of it all.

 16. There is great attention to detail here. Jesus has whipped out the cows and the sheep. But the doves are in cages). He has not got the time to unlock every cage, so he shouts at the owners, ‘Take them out of here’. Then we have the heart of his anger. ‘His father’s place has been turned into a market place.’ Money has replaced worship.

 17. We don’t know if Jesus told his disciples of his plans, but surely, they were a little shocked. And fearful. This was war with the religious leaders. But…but they remembered that this is the sort of thing a true prophet did. We have it in Zachariah 14:21 says ‘on that day…i.e. when the Lord comes, ‘there will be no traders in the house of the Lord.’ Or Malachi, ‘Suddenly the Lord you are seeking will come to his temple.’ It made sense. If Jesus was the Messiah, then He would care about the temple.

 Let’s draw back and learn two things from the story so far.

 First of all on this occasion Jesus used physical force to make a point for this protest Nobody is hurt. It is not excessive. But this is physical force. Hence it is entirely wrong to think that Jesus was a complete pacifist who never made a protest.

 Secondly Jesus’ zeal is for his temple. When Jesus enters Jerusalem the first place he goes to is the temple. This is his concern. This is what matters to him. This is where, as Marks says, ‘he looks around’. Jesus could have gone to the Praetorium to talk foreign policy with Pilate; he could have gone to Herod’s palace to have discussed domestic policy; but he doesn’t. He first goes to the temple. How does this apply to us? As followers of Jesus the place where we should be causing an uproar is not the offices of some politician, but in the church. That is where cleansing must first happen.

 18. Jesus has taken authority over the temple, the most important place for the Jewish religion. So, the question from the Jews is not surprising. Where has this authority come from? What sign from heaven do you have?

 And here is Jesus’ enigmatic reply again

 Destroy this temple and in three days I will raise it up.

 It’s quite a statement. The temple in Jerusalem was stunning. It was thought of being one of the greatest buildings in the Middle East. It was world famous. And it still wasn’t finished. Herod – to try and win the love of the Jews – had been building it for forty-six years.

 And now Jesus says if you destroy it, he will be able to raise it up in three days.

 The Jews, not surprisingly, question this, and then the narrator tells us that Jesus was talking about his body. And we are told in v. 22 that this connects to his resurrected body.

 What then is Jesus’ authority? His death and especially his resurrection.

 There is, as usual, irony here. It was Jesus’s body that was destroyed and back in AD33 it looked as if the temple in Jerusalem was eternal. Life was in the temple, death in Jesus’ body. But the reality is the exact opposite. In AD70 the temple in Jerusalem was razed to dust by the Romans. It has never been re-built. It is no more. It is dead. But – even as John was writing – there were churches which honoured the living Christ, the one who was raised after three days. Now there are churches all over the world.

 There is more to say about Jesus referring to himself as the temple. Just like He replaces all wines, so He replaces all temples. In the temple at Jerusalem two things happened. Here there was an atonement for sin, every day, a lamb was sacrificed. A temple was a bloody place. But then it was a place where man meets God. A place of worship, of prayer, of fellowship. Now there is no sacrifice for sins. Jesus is the lamb of God, the sacrifice has happened once for all. And now the meeting place of man with God is not in a temple, but it is ‘in Christ’. It is in Him that we worship, pray, have fellowship.

 Let’s move on to v.22. You will remember that after the sign of the water changing into wine Jesus’ disciples sensed His glory (2:11), now when they remembered this event after his resurrection we are told ‘they believed the Scripture and that word that Jesus had spoken.’ This is important for disciples. Yes, we must pray for Christ to reveal his glory to us as He changes our water into wine, but we must also believe what He has said, because what He says turns out to be true. As the story ends we are encouraged to believe what Jesus says. That too will be an anchor for our souls.

 I have made a comment on v. 23, about the signs. So that just leaves v. 24 and 25.

 They are dark verses. Jesus knows what is in the heart of man. This reminds us of Jeremiah 17:10 where it says the Lord searches the heart and mind. It is God who knows what is in our hearts. And that is Jesus. He is God and He knows he cannot trust men. Interestingly it is Mark who tells us exactly what Jesus sees in the heart of man. It’s not very pleasant. You can read about it in Mark 7:21 – 23. Jesus was true to this belief so when in chapter six the crowd wanted to make him king, he didn’t trust himself to them, he escaped. We need to have the same wisdom when it comes to what people want.

 And so we end Chapter Two. What have we learned?

 That the author wants us to see everything through the prism of the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. This is the heart of the story. And so he moves the account of the cleansing of the temple to place it besides the story of the wine at the wedding. The camera goes to the blood, and then the body.

 Jesus’s passion is not the politics of Jerusalem, but the temple in Jerusalem. And his passion is that this temple is a holy place of worship. To make this happen he is willing to make a whip (sholagh) of chords and drive out the money changers and the tradesmen.

 With the wedding Jesus revealed his glory; in the temple He showed the authority of his words. They can be trusted.

 In our next lesson we are going to meet a supposedly wise and learned man – Nicodemus. 

 

 

The Gospel of John: The Wedding at Cana 2:1 – 12

Here  we watch Jesus perform his first miracle, changing the water into wine at a wedding in Cana.

 This story is like a diamond, whereever you look there is something beautiful.

 There is a domestic disaster, a wedding without wine.

There is poignancy, when Jesus says to his mother, ‘My hour has not yet come’

There is a rebuke to a failed religious system

There is irony - the one who should know doesn’t know, but his servants do know.

There is a declaration about the abundance of this best wine

And it all rests on the glory of Jesus.

 Human drama

 At one level this is a story of a domestic drama and Jesus’ graciousness. Wine in a Jewish wedding must not run out. For those of you who are married, imagine the embarrassment if the wine or food had run out at your wedding. For the rest of your lives you would meet guests and as soon as you said ‘Good-bye’ they would say, ‘Do you remember – the wine ran out at their wedding’.

 That was the situation in Cana. Jesus is there. He and his disciples are guests. Jesus has no responsibility. But his mother comes up and asks him to do something. Jesus is her first-born son. That’s what mothers do with first born sons. They ask them to do things, and they expect something to happen.

 But now we have more drama, because Jesus seems a bit rude to his mother when he says, ‘What’s this got to do with me’, and behind that he is saying, ‘Woman, you don’t have any claim over me.’ Jesus will not take orders from his mother, only his father.

 There is a crisis. Someone thinks there is an answer to that crisis. Now it seems that’s not going to work out. But the mother doesn’t give up. Somehow she has understood that Jesus will do something for this poor couple’s wedding, so she talks to the servants.

 Let’s go to the kitchen. Here there is panic. The wine is finishing. Jesus comes in and tells the staff pouring water into these huge stone jars and they take it out to the master of the feast. The water has become wine. All is well.

 This is pure grace from Jesus. He didn’t mess up, the hosts did, they should have made sure there was enough wine. But even when we mess up and find ourselves in an impossible situation, Jesus is ready to act decisively. And. We are told that together there would have been over 200 litres. But that is who He is.

 But there is much more to this story than just Jesus helping out a wedding party.

 Poignancy

 We suspect that the story should be read at another level from v. 1 when the writer says, ‘On the third day, a wedding took place…’ The third day for any Christian reader did not just mean a day in the week, that meant the resurrection. Followed by a wedding. That takes us to heaven, the marriage of the Lamb and his bride, the church.

 We know for certain there is another level to this story when we come to Jesus’ reply to his mother in v. 4. She says, ‘The have no wine’, that means, Jesus do something to help. Jesus’s reply is enigmatic: ‘Oh woman, what have you to do with me? My hour has not yet come’.

 The writer is here telling us: reader, see more.

 The key word is ‘hour’. In this Gospel this word ‘hour’ comes seven times. Here, then in chapters 7 and 8 when the authorities can’t arrest Jesus, because ‘his hour had not yet come’. Then in Chapter 12 when Philip and Andrew bring the Greeks to Jesus. When Jesus sees the Greeks he says, ‘the hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified’. Then in v.27 Jesus says he is upset about this hour. In chapters 13 and then 17 we are told that Jesus’ hour had come. It is clear what this hour is. It is Jesus’ suffering.

 So this is not a story about ordinary wine. This is a story about the wine that will flow from Jesus’ body. The wine is the blood of Christ. Every Christian knows this because of Holy Communion.

 This is poignant. It is emotional. Here we are at a wedding, there is excitement, dancing, joy – and there will be a wonderful wedding, on the third day, after the resurrection. But a great price has been paid for this celebration. The suffering of Jesus.

 There is more.

 The rebuke to the failed religious system

 ‘The wine has run out’. And sitting in the kitchen of the wedding hall are six water jars which were used for ceremonial washing. But they are useless, six is an incomplete number in the Bible. The wine has run out that is the reality for many people’s lives; and another reality is that religion has not helped. The Jewish people in Jesus’ day had no wine, and the Judaism of the Pharisees with all its ceremonial washing could not help. Here is the rebuke to outward ‘ceremonial washing’ answers to our spiritual poverty. It can’t help. And many of us – whether we come from a Christian background, Muslim background, or Hindu background – can testify to this. Religious rituals and ceremonies cannot supply the wine.

 So, the story is saying, move on from those religious rituals that have not helped you, invite Jesus into the story. After this story we have the temple, then Jesus’ conversation with Nicodemus, and the women at the well. Each story carries the same lesson. When Jesus comes, everything changes. New wine, new temple, new birth, new water…

 Irony

 When the water has become wine, the writer wants us to take note of something in v.9.  The man who should know where the wine has come from, the master of the banquet, does not know where it has come from; but the servants, who have no responsibility for knowing where the wine comes from, they do know. That is irony. Something that is the opposite of what you would expect.

 Why do the servants know? Because they obey. We are back to John the Baptist obeying and so receiving revelation; back to ‘Come and see’. See the emphasis on obedience. Mary says, ‘Do whatever he tells you’. That means obey, don’t ask questions. Jesus says, fill the jars to the brim – ‘so they filled them to the brim’.

Jesus says, ‘Take some to the master of the feast’, ‘They did so.’ Jesus says, they obey, to the utmost. As seen, when they filled the jars, they filled them to the brim. They obeyed as much as they could. That’s the sort of obedience that counts.

 Wisdom, insight, true knowledge, revelation is all about obedience in John’s Gospel, indeed in all the Bible. It is obedience which will bring about the unexpected.

 Human drama, poignancy, rebuke to religion, irony – what’s next in our diamond?

 An abundance of the best wine

 The story ends with the master of the feast having a private word with the groom, because it was the groom’s family that had financial responsibility for the wedding. ‘What you have done here is odd. Usually the hosts serve the good wine first, and then when everyone is a little merry, they serve the cheaper wine – because they won’t really care. But you have saved the best wine till now, after the good wine has been served.’

 And it’s a lot, in total just under 200 litres of wine. That speaks of abundance, it also speaks of Messianic times, for in the Old Testament we have prophecies in Amos, Joel and Isaiah of a time when mountains will drip with wine.

 There was good wine in the Old Testament, but it is not the best. There is only one place where the best wine can be found: at the cross of Jesus. Here the writer saw the blood and the water come out of the body of Christ (19:34). This is the best wine. The blood of Jesus shed for the sins of the whole world. Later this writer, the elder John, would write in his letter – ‘the blood of Jesus cleanses, purifies, us from all sin’. (1 John 1:7). Isn’t that the best wine? So, there is no longer any need to taste other wine, however good. For that wine will run out. The blood of Jesus, will never run out.

 The glory of Jesus

 In v.11 the writer then says that this was the first of his signs’. All miracles in John’s Gospel are called signs, emphasizing that the importance is not just the miracle – water into wine, the blind seeing, the dead raised – but what the sign points to. This sign clearly points to Jesus’ blood which will be shed when his hour comes.

 So we have the suffering. And then there is the connection to glory. It was through this sign that points to the suffering of Jesus that He showed his glory. And it is by taking in the significance of what happened on that cross, on seeing what the blood really is, it is this that engenders faith – so we have, ‘and his disciples put their faith in him.’ It is not enough just to see the sign, we have to follow the sign, and put our faith in Christ.

 After Jesus’ conversation with the master of the feast the dancing and singing would have continued. I am sure Jesus would have danced for at the end of the Christian story there is always joy. With some stories there is only tears and heart-break. We have that in the Christian story. We have good Friday. We have that wine. But that is not the end. The end is Sunday, ‘the third day’, the end is joy in the presence of God, the end is when Jesus drinks with us the wine in his kingdom. And there, as the bridegroom, he has responsibility for providing all the wine that is needed for joyful living.

 We will never forget Christ’s suffering, it is the foundation for our wedding feast, but it is with the wedding feast we will live, not the suffering. That is very different from a lot of other religions.

 I don’t know which of part of this diamond story speaks to you most, but I am sure one part of it does.

 Perhaps it is the fact that Jesus is gracious. He helps us when we don’t deserve his help.

 Perhaps it is the reality that religion by itself cannot help us

 Perhaps it is his willingness to face that hour of suffering for us

 Perhaps it is the irony that it is the servants who know

 Perhaps it is the certain fact that the blood of Jesus is the very best wine

 Or perhaps it is that glory that rests over Jesus’s suffering that means we will have eternal joy in heaven, drinking another wine.

After the wedding, Jesus starts a riot in the temple. Click here - 

https://sternfieldthoughts.blogspot.com/2025/01/the-gospel-of-john-temple-213-25.html

 

The Gospel of John: The First Disciples 1: 37 - 51

 The story of Jesus’ first disciples has much to teach us. We learn: from the way Jesus interacts with Andrew and his friend; from Andrew, and Philip and Nathaniel; And from the many titles given to Jesus in this section.

 Let’s first look at the way Jesus interacts with Andrew and his friend (37 – 42). Again Jesus comes towards John, and again Johns says, ‘Behold, the Lamb of God’. Two of his disciples listened to what John said. We know one is Andrew, the other is almost certainly the author. They do what he says – ‘Behold’. ‘Ide’ in Greek. Take this in.  They think about what they are being told. They have been John’s disciples. They have been learning from him. And now John says – Jesus is more important. They have to make a decision. It can’t have been easy. Perhaps they looked at John and he nodded, yes, that’s what you should do, you should leave me and follow him.

 So that’s what they do. Jesus by now must be some way off, walking alone. And there are Andrew and his friend following him. Jesus is aware that they are following him – and so he turns.

 That’s the first thing to notice. Jesus turns to anyone who is seeking Him. In Jeremiah 29:13 it is written, ‘You will seek me and find me when you seek me with you whole heart’. Andrew and his friend were seeking. So Jesus turns.

 And then we read that Jesus saw them. He takes in who they are. He appreciates their unique characters. It is the same a few verses on with Peter – Jesus looked at him. He saw all his weaknesses, but Jesus also saw that Peter could become a great leader. And so he calls him Cephas which means Rock. And so too with Nathaniel (47). Jesus saw Nathaniel coming towards him, and then, as we will see, Jesus saw more in this man than just his prejudice.

 After turning and looking at them, the first thing Jesus does is to ask them a question. He does not explain the Gospel to them. He does not preach to them. He does not invite them to do a course, or read a book.

 He asks them, ‘What do you seek’. OK, you are following me, but what do you want from me? What is motivating you? What is going on in your heart?

 It’s a good question.

 What are you seeking? What am I seeking?

 Jesus wants to know.

 Andrew and his friend say they are looking for where Jesus is staying. Does that mean they just want his address? Is that all they are looking for? Is that why they have left John and started to follow Jesus, just so they can find out his address?

 It must mean more. They are asking for friendship, they are asking for a close relationship, they are asking to see how Jesus is in private.

 Jesus likes what they say, and so we have the beautiful, ‘Come and see’. You will remember that with John the Baptist we learned that first he obeyed, then the revelation happened. So it is here. First, they must come, then they will see.

 So Andrew and his friend see where Jesus was staying – and they remain. This remaining is not just physical. They become disciples. They will remain with Jesus all their lives. And the next day Andrew tells his brother that Jesus is the Messiah. But in the text, there is no teaching, there are no classes. What has happened? They have watched Jesus live in private. It is the way He lives that wins them over.

 In the Gospels we have evangelism that is ‘go and tell’, that is in Matthew 28. But we also have evangelism that says, ‘Come and see’. Come and see my life, that is what we have here in John 1. And if we cannot say, ‘Come and see’, then perhaps we should not ‘go and tell’. We go and tell because we can say come and see how I live. It is our life in private that matters.

 That is the story about Jesus with Andrew and his friend, let’s move on to what we learn from Andrew, Philip, and Nathaniel. (40 – 51)

 Peter is very famous, every Christian knows about Peter; but Peter had a brother, Andrew, and from the human point of view, without Andrew there would be no Peter.

 For it is Andrew who connects Peter with Jesus. After staying with Jesus the first thing Andrew does is that he goes and finds Peter. This would have involved maybe a day or two of travelling. Then when he finds Peter he has to persuade him to travel back with him to meet Jesus. It was work and time – all for one man, his brother.

 But that is Andrew’s focus. He does it. He brings Peter to Jesus. And Peter’s life will never be the same again. Simon becomes Peter.

 Andrew is a bridge, he introduces one person to another. He does the same thing in John 6, he brings the boy with the bread and the fish to Jesus; and in John 12, he brings the Greeks to Jesus. Nobody becomes famous with this work, but without Andrews things don’t happen. So, let’s learn from Andrew.

 We also learn from Philip. He immediately responds to Jesus’ invitation to follow him, and then, like Andrew, he goes and finds a friend to introduce to Jesus

 Can you see the author is saying something here? Yes, the church can grow when there are large meetings; but the church can also grow when we work like Andrew and Philip.

 Philip finds Nathaniel who was probably Bartholomew in the list of apostles. This is because in the lists of the apostles, Bartholomew is linked to Philip. Anyway, Nathaniel’s reaction is rough. Philip says, ‘We have found Jesus, promised by Moses and the prophets, he is the son of Joseph from Nazareth.’. As soon as Nathaniel hears the word Nazareth he erupts, ‘Can anything good come out of Nazareth?’ You see Nazareth was just a very ordinary town in Israel. It wasn’t a town suitable for a Messiah. Nathaniel’s reaction is pure prejudice.

 Philip does not argue with Nathaniel. He does not tell him off for being prejudiced and racist, even though that what Nathaniel is. He just says, ‘Come and see’.

 And why does Nathaniel come? Because of his friendship with Philip. He is not very excited by Jesus of Nazareth – but he likes Philip, he trusts Philip, so when Philip says ‘Come and see’, Nathaniel gets up and the two start the journey towards Jesus.

 That’s the story of the church. People are unsure about Jesus, but if we as Christians have good friends, those friends will come and see because of our friendship.

 We learn from Andrew, from Philip – and we also learn from Nathaniel.

 When Jesus sees Nathaniel, he seems to know him and he makes an accurate observation. ‘Here’s an Israelite with no deceit’. In other words, this Nathaniel is straight talking. He will tell you exactly what he thinks. He doesn’t like people from Nazareth – and out it comes.

 Nathaniel is the sort of person Jesus can work with, because he is who he is. Yes, there are issues, but they can be sorted out. It’s the two-faced people who are the problem, and nobody can say that Nathaniel is two faced.

 Nathaniel is surprised that Jesus seems to know him and so asks how that is. Jesus then replies, ‘I saw you under the fig tree’. This probably means that Jesus knew that Nathaniel was seeking God. This is because there was a custom that a good Jew would spend time in his garden, sitting under a fig tree, and there he would meditate and pray. To say that someone was sitting under their fig tree, is therefore to say that someone is seeking God. Nathaniel was not perfect, but he was right about the most important thing in life – seeking God.

 And once Jesus says this, Nathaniel immediately responds saying to Jesus, ‘You are the Son of God. You are the king of Israel’.

 Andrew the connector and more. Philip the man with friends and more. Nathaniel, the honest seeker and more. There is plenty to learn from these three first disciples.

 Let’s move onto the last part of this lesson, which is about all the titles given to Jesus in this first chapter. Nathaniel’s last words brings into focus something you might already have noticed. This section, indeed the whole chapter, is full of titles about Jesus. Different voices - the writer, John the Baptist, Andrew, Philip, Nathaniel – they are all giving extraordinary titles to Jesus. This underlines a simple point. One name is not enough for Jesus.

It is like the hero of the story comes centre stage and then one light goes on and someone shouts out another title, then another light, another title…that’s John chapter one.

 This is Jesus in John Chapter One –

 The Word – this is God, the second person of the Trinity, the agent of all creation and revelation.

The True Light – Christ destroys all darkness.

The Only Son – the One who has an intimate relationship with the Father, the One who shows exactly the character of the Father

The Lamb of God– the One who will be sacrificed for the sins of the world and the one who will judge the whole world

The Son of God, God’s son in the Old Testament was Israel. Jesus is the new Israel, the new Son, the chosen one, the unique one.

Rabbi – the best teacher the world has ever known

The Messiah – the anointed king, the one who has been set apart

Jesus, the son of Joseph of Nazareth – Jesus means, the Lord saves. And He is fully human, from a particular family in a particular town

The King of Israel – the ruler over God’s people

The Son of Man, A title Jesus himself often used. It’s there over 80 times in the Gospels, 13 in John. It is drawn from Daniel 7, a Messianic figure who is a living connection between heaven and earth

 Right at the end of the chapter Jesus tells Nathaniel that he is going to see a lot more than just hearing that Jesus knew he was under a fig tree. That is true. Nathaniel will see the lame healed the blind given their sight, the hungry fed, and the dead raised. And something greater. ‘The heavens opened and the angels descending and ascending on the Son of Man’.

 This takes us back to Jacob and his dream of the ladder in Genesis 28. It is a picture of heaven communicating with earth. And that is what Jesus says Nathaniel is going to see. But here there is no ladder. Jesus is the ladder. He is the bridge.

 Yes, Jesus sees us sitting under our fig tree, but that is just the start. The heart of the journey is when we see the Jesus who connects us to God, and God to us.

 We have come to the end of our lesson on Jesus’ first disciples.

 May I encourage you to answer Jesus’ question to Andrew and his friend. What are you looking for? May your answer be the same as there’s – ‘Rabbi, where are you living, for I want to get to know you better.

 May I encourage you to be like Andrew and Philip, find your brother or a friend, not to argue with them, but to invite them to ‘Come and see’.

 And finally may I encourage you to meditate on all the titles that Jesus is given in this chapter, remembering that He, and only He, is at the heart of our relationship with God.

Next, an invitation to a wedding, click here

https://sternfieldthoughts.blogspot.com/2025/01/the-gospel-of-john-wedding-at-cana-21-12.html

 

The Gospel of John: John the Baptist 1:19 -34; 3:22 – 36; 10:41 -42

 The start of Jesus’ story on earth, as with the Synoptics, is with John the Baptist. So he was mentioned in the prologue twice and now as the prologue ends, the camera is on John the Baptist for the first scene

 It runs from 1:19 – 34.

 This first scene divides into two sections.

 From 1:19 – 28 we have the interrogation of John by the religious officials from Jerusalem, and then from 1:29 – 35 John twice proclaims that Jesus is the ‘Lamb of God’.

 After this two of John’s disciples leave him and follow Jesus. We will look at that event in the next lesson. In chapter two we have the wedding in Cana, followed by Jesus in the temple, and then in chapter three we have Jesus’ midnight conversation with Nicodemus. But after that we have an account of how both Jesus and John are baptizing in the same area, near Salim, and John’s disciples get upset because everyone is going to Jesus (3:26). And so we hear John’s beautiful response.

 John then leaves the story. However Jesus refers to John’s witness in chapter five, and at the end of chapter ten.

 So, we will look at these four main passages that present John the Baptist.

 a)    1: 19 – 28: John is interrogated

b)    1: 29 – 35: John proclaims that Jesus is the Lamb of God

c)    3: 22 – 30 John’s response to everyone going to Jesus for baptism

d)    10: 41-42 The final comment on John

  Most of our time will be with the first two sections in chapter one.

 John’s interrogation. 1:19 - 28

 This is a court room scene. It is an interrogation.

 The high priest in Jerusalem is in charge of the religious life of all the Jews. Nothing should happen without his permission. But news has reached his office of a man called John who was baptizing many Jews in the river Jordan. Jerusalem has two problems.

 The first one: by baptizing people John is saying that being Jewish is not enough.

 The second: this is happening without the High Priest’s permission.

 So Jerusalem sent some priests and Levites, assistants for the temple worship, to interrogate John. Look at all the questions – ‘Who are you? Are you Elijah? Are you the Prophet? What do you say about yourself? Why then are you baptising?

 If we look at v.19, the first verse of the Jesus story after the prologue, there are three truths that serve as an introduction to this story and really the whole Gospel.

 First of all because of John’s ministry there is opposition. We were told in 1:6 that there was ‘a man sent from God’, and this provokes a response from those who think that they should control the religious life of people, and send their police. The fact that these men have been sent is repeated in v.24. This pattern will continue throughout the Gospel, from this trial with John, right through to the trial of Jesus before Pilate.

 Secondly, it’s important to know what the trial is about. It’s about identity. Look at the first question they ask: ‘Who are you?’ The answer to that will then explain what authority John has to baptize.

 The question of identity runs through the whole Gospel, for after John it is the identity of Jesus that is on trial. Is Jesus who He says He is: God. Or a mad man leading people astray. There is constant division over the identity of Jesus in this Gospel.

 And thirdly, and perhaps most importantly, notice the word testimony. This is what the author emphasizes, it’s the third word in the narrative. This is the ‘testimony’ of John the Baptist. The writer’s emphasis is here. Yes there will be a trial about identity – here of John, but later of Jesus…but for us the reader what is the most important word? It is testimony. We cannot stop there being a trial, but we can choose how we will testify in the trial.

 John’s testimony has three qualities. He knows exactly who he is not and who he is; he keeps the focus on Jesus; and he is humble.

 We will see this as we go through these verses.

 v.20 - 21 John knows that these priests and Levites want to know if he is the Messiah or not. That would be hot news for the religious authorities. So he immediately says that he is not the Messiah. Nor is he Elijah, promised in Malachi, nor is he the prophet, promised by Moses. Jews though that these two had to come before the Messiah came.

 Some of you might be thinking that in the Synoptics Jesus did connect John to Elijah. That is true, it’s there in Matthew 17. So why does John deny that he is the Elijah here? The answer is that John himself did not make that connection. He did not see himself as Elijah. This again shows his humility. Jesus saw John’s ministry as being more important than John did.

 22. His questioners are worried. They need an answer to give to their seniors back in Jerusalem. So they say to John, ‘What do you say about yourself?’. And John gives them the verse from Isaiah 40:3 This is a very dramatic answer. He is preparing the way for the Messiah. He is telling the officials – this is something very major.

I should point out that some scholars rightly see that it is likely that John the Baptist had connections with the Qumran community. This was a group of ascetics who felt it was wrong to have anything to do with the corrupt government in Jerusalem. So they had gone to the desert and they hoped their committed spiritual life would encourage the coming of the Messiah. We know a lot about this community because of the Dead Sea Scrolls. Like John they had a very strict diet, like John, they baptised, a lot, and like John, Isaiah 40:3 was one of their favourite verses. They too saw themselves as preparing the way for the Messiah.

 24 – 25 However the officials do not think the Isaiah verse through carefully. Instead they question John’s ministry. What right has he to baptize if he is not the Messiah, Elijah or the Prophet? For them it is all about control, because John is baptizing Jewish people. That needs special authority.

 26 – 28. John could have explained that God has sent him to baptize, and that is his authority. But he doesn’t. He instead points to Christ. He rightly understands that the he, John, is not their real problem, and he does not want to make himself the centre of attention. However, he tells them who their real problem is going to be. He will come after John. They will not recognise him. His baptism will be more than water, and John is not worthy even to untie his sandals. In John’s day a teacher took on disciples – as John did, as Jesus would do, and the teacher could ask the disciple to do anything – get me a glass of water, buy some bread – but there was one thing he could not ask for, he could not ask the disciple to untie his sandals. John says – he is not worthy to do this humblest of tasks for Jesus.

 As said, we see three things in John’s testimony. He knows who he is not and who he is. He keeps the focus on Jesus. He remains humble.

 Now let’s move onto the second section about John the Baptist, his proclamation that Jesus is the lamb of God, 1:29 - 35

 The opening of the story in verse 19 brought a sense of menace with the questioning of John. Now in v.29 we have a sense of hope, ushered in with ‘The next day….’. Yes, the interrogation was difficult, but there is ‘the next day’, and that ‘next day’ involves the coming of Jesus, ‘toward him’.

 This ‘next day’ truth keeps on appearing in this Gospel – for the woman of Samaria, for Mary and Martha, for Peter.

 Jesus comes towards John, and John immediately bears witness about Jesus. He proclaims who He is (v.29) and John bears witness about the Holy Spirit (v.32), and He bears witness to the Father (v.33). This is a Trinity event.

 Let’s look at this in more detail, but we will start with what John says about the Father, then the Holy Spirit, and we will end with what John says twice about Jesus.

 a. What John says about the Father (1:6, 1: 31, 33)

 In the prologue (1:6) the writer states, there was a man sent from God. John now underlines this. In 1:33 he refers to ‘him who sent me’, and in 1:31 he explains why he was sent, so that Jesus might be revealed to Israel. This whole story did not start with Jesus. This whole story started with God the Father. He sent John so that Jesus would be revealed to His people.

 The revelation only happened after John had obeyed. John himself says in v. 31 that he did not know who Jesus was. Indeed it is very possible that for a while Jesus was one of John’s disciples, because he says ‘After me comes a man’, which can refer to time and position. There is a man who is following me now who ranks before me’. This seems likely because in 1:26 John says to the Jerusalem officials, ‘among you stands one who you don’t know.’ This means Jesus was standing there while the interrogation was happening. As John obeyed, so he saw who Jesus was. Obedience brings revelation.

 b. What John says about the Holy Spirit (1: 32 – 33)

 John bears witness to (1:32), that the Holy Spirit came from heaven like a dove and remained with Jesus. It is this remaining that the writer focuses on. The Holy Spirit will never leave Him. showing that all that Jesus was going to do was done in the power of the Holy Spirit.

 But why, ‘like a dove’? This is also a part of John’s witness. It is important. Many of those gathering around John were hoping for a warrior Messiah, someone who would bring about regime change, so they were wanting to see the Holy Spirit descend on Jesus like a lion. But the Holy Spirit came like a dove. This takes us back to Noah and the dove that came after the flood had ended. So the gentle dove will be involved in something much more important than human politics in one country. This dove will be involved in bringing about in showing that there is peace between sinful man and a Holy God. And so that dove will lead Jesus all the way to the cross. Sadly throughout history there have been some Christians who think that the Holy Spirit comes like a lion for their nation. Their error is seen in the terrible violence their teaching causes. They are entirely wrong.

 There is a final very important thing John says about the Holy Spirit. It is Jesus who baptizes others in the Holy Spirit. Jesus does not just bring about peace with God on Good Friday; He brings about the possibility that we can all follow Him. He brings about our Pentecost. And as He baptizes us in the Holy Spirit, so too the Holy Spirit will remain with us.

 c. What John says about Jesus (1:29, 35 – 36)

 John has been sent by the Father and the revelation about Jesus has happened. But what is that revelation? We hear it twice from John.

 ‘Behold the lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world’ in v. 29, and in v. 36, just’ Behold, the lamb of God.’

 This is his witness about Jesus Christ.

 The first word. Is Behold. The Greek is ide, which means ‘be perceiving’.

 With this little word John is telling us to pause, stop, and take a good look. Then we have the title. The lamb of God.

 It is not difficult to understand what this would have meant for the ordinary Jews listening to John. For every year every male Jew had to go to Jerusalem to celebrate the Passover, the festival when the Jews remembered how God led them out of their slavery in Egypt. This was when the angel of death ‘Passed Over’ any house where the blood of a sacrifice had been smeared. If there was no blood, the first-born in that house died.

 The sacrifice on the Passover night was a lamb. This was the story every Jew knew, So when John said, ‘Behold, this is the lamb of God’, in the minds of those listening this meant that Jesus was – the sacrifice of God.

 The writer of John’s Gospel keeps on reminding us of this truth. Jesus refers to his death and resurrection in chapter two – when it was the Passover of the Jews (2:13); before the feeding of the five thousand and Jesus’ teaching that he is the bread of life, we are told that the Passover was ‘at hand’ (6:4); Jesus’ body is anointed for burial, six days before the Passover (12:1); when Jesus knew that his hour of suffering had come, (13:1) this was just before the Passover; when Jesus is taken to Pilate, we are again told about the Passover; and finally when Pilate brings Jesus out to the crowd, the writer tells us that it was the Passover time.

 Wherever we turn in this Gospel, Jesus’ cross is connected to the Passover. That connection starts here.

 Behold, the lamb of God

 Behold, God’s sacrifice.

 And what will this sacrifice do?

 It will take away the sins of the whole world. The blood of Jesus cleanses us from all sin.

 We need to stay a little longer with this title. For this verse has another meaning. That is very normal in John’s Gospel. Often there are different meanings, even in one word.

 So here, yes, Jesus is the sacrifice of God for sin.

 But – as we see in the book of Revelation – the lamb of God is also a warrior who does not atone for sin, but who judges sin. He destroys all rebellion against God. This is probably the lamb that John the Baptist had in mind since we know from the Synoptics he was expecting a time of judgement to come.

 Both are true. Jesus is the saviour of the whole world. Jesus is the judge of the whole world.

 This proclamation happens on the day after John’s interrogation. Then in v. 35 we have another ‘next day’. John is standing with two of his disciples and again he looks at Jesus as he walks by and again he says, ‘Behold’.

 The disciples pause. They want to take in what John wants to say about Jesus. Perhaps they were expecting something new. They had step one yesterday, so now today there should be step two. Right, we are ready, what’s the new thing we should learn about Jesus.

 There is nothing new. John repeats what he said yesterday, ‘Behold, the lamb of God’.

 This is significant. John could have said that Jesus was the world’s greatest teacher, the world’s greatest miracle worker, that he was the King of Kings who would return on the clouds to judge the living and the dead. And, and, and. There is a lot to say about Jesus.

 But John does not add anything. Again he said, ‘Behold, the lamb of God.’ Full stop. This is the priority. This is what Jesus is all about. He is God’s sacrifice to deal with our sin. That is the beginning and the middle and the end of what John wants to say about Jesus, and it should be the same for us.

 Both John the writer and John the Baptist are warning us here. Don’t get side-tracked when it comes to Jesus Christ. Especially don’t get side-tracked into making Jesus some sort of political answer for a particular country. That is a miserable mistake. Jesus’ mission is much greater and grander. No, stay with John. Let our cry be – ‘Behold, the lamb of God, the sacrifice of God, the One who deals with the heart of the human problem, the power of sin in my heart and yours.

 In our next lesson we will look at what happened to those two disciples who were with John the Baptist, but now we will go to chapter 3 and look at what John said when his disciples complained that everyone was going after Jesus. This is in 3:22 – 36.

 When his disciples come with their, ‘all are going to Him’, John says, remember, I told you, I am not the Christ. That’s not me. I was sent before him. So, now He has come and all are following him and this is happening because of the way God has ordained things to be. He accepts God’s arrangements. John knows who he is not, and who he is.

 His humble acceptance of this is then underlined as he uses the picture of the best man and the bridegroom. He is the best man. He is not the star. The bridegroom is the star, and the bridegroom has the bride – the people. So, as the groom comes to the people, as was happening, so John, the best man rejoices. His job is over, so his joy is complete. He has finished his task. Yes for a while John was very famous and important, but now he understands that he must decrease, and Jesus must increase.

 It is not clear whether it is John who goes on speaking from v. 31 – 36, or whether this is the author’s comments on what has happened. The purpose of this section is to explain why Jesus has to become greater. For He is from heaven, while John the Baptist is from the earth (31); his testimony is about heaven; and He has been given the Spirit ‘without measure (34); He is loved and has all in his hands (35).

 And then in v. 36 we return to the division that we saw in John’s title the lamb of God. If we believe in Christ we have eternal life, the blood of the lamb will rest over our lives and the angel of death will pass over; but if we do not believe, there is nothing to protect us from the wrath of God. Salvation or judgement. That is the choice.

 We end by going to the end of chapter ten where the writer has a final comment about John. It is in 10:41 -42.

 Jesus has been in Jerusalem and is about to be stoned, again, by the Jews. So he retreats to a safe place, where John baptised, where the whole story began: the writer calls this Bethany across the Jordan. This is not the same place as Bethany (Behtania) where Mary and Martha lived, which was very near Jerusalem.

 As Jesus and many others gathered there they remembered John. They remembered that John did no sign. Unlike Jesus, he did not work any miracles. Usually in the Jewish culture someone was only considered a great prophet if they worked a miracle. John worked no miracle, but yet he is still considered ‘great’.

 ‘Because ‘everything he (John) said about this man (Jesus) was true.’ These are the final words in John’s Gospel about John the Baptist.

 Some today have been given the authority to cast out demons and heal in the name of Jesus. But not all of us have been given that authority. But all of us can say what is true about Jesus, so when we die and people remember us they will say the same about us as they say here about John:

 Everything he or she said about Jesus was true.

 We have come to the end of our lesson about John the Baptist in John’s Gospel. I hope it has been helpful for you. May we all be encouraged to follow John’s example.

 Like John, may we obey when we are sent by the Father

Like John, may we look for the witness of the Holy Spirit

Like John, may we humble ourselves in the presence of Christ

 And above all, like John, may we always be ready to point away from ourselves, and to point to Christ, to testify about Christ, to proclaim the truth about Christ – that he is the lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world.

In the next lesson there is a lot to learn from the story of Jesus and his first disciples. Click on the link below. 

https://sternfieldthoughts.blogspot.com/2025/01/the-gospel-of-john-first-disciples-1-37.html