The Gospel of John: The Lame Man 5: 1 – 47

In our passage today we have yet another story about Jesus and an individual, a lame man. 

Before looking at the whole chapter we need to think about 5:4. In most English versions you have a footnote that says that this verse is not found in the earliest manuscripts. It is not considered reliable. To understand how this happened we need to look at how the New Testament came to us

Before printing every New Testament was copied by hand. We have thousands of manuscripts that prove this. Some of them are very early, so we have five verses of John’s Gospel (18:36 – 19:7), dated 100 - 150 in a museum in London. We have ten letters of Paul from around 200 AD. And we have about 300 copies of the entire New Testament from the 4^th C till the 10^th.

What is important to understand is that we have about two thousand copies of the New Testament which were made between the 10^th C and the middle of the 15^th C when printing started.

What is also important to understand is that some very important translations of the New Testament, relied on manuscripts which were from these later copies, from 13^th C. They were copies of many other copies. This means there was more opportunity for there to be a mistake.

At the end of the 19^th C scholars gained access to the earlier copies of the New Testament. John 5:4 was not in any copy of the New Testament before 500 AD. Hence the footnote in our Bibles.

This is what probably happened. In v. 7 the lame man talks about the water being stirred up. When this was being copied, someone decided to put an explanation in margin about the angel that came down. He might have heard of such a story. It was superstition. The reality is that the waters of these springs were not permanent Sometimes waters gushed out, sometimes nothing. Then another copyist  made another mistake, and it came into the text and became verse 4.

This background is important for three reasons. 

Firstly it shows us how much evidence there is for us to trust  the New Testament. There are thousands of manuscripts of the New Testament, and eleven of them go back before the 2^nd C.

Secondly, this shows us that Christianity is not just about accepting things. Right from the start the brother of Jesus said that the ‘wisdom from above’ is open to reason. We can discuss, we can reason about whether John 5:4 is reliable or not. Be wary of the man or woman who is angrily dogmatic.

And finally, there are theological reasons for keeping away from John 5:4.This God who only heals the one who gets into the water first, that is not the God of the Bible, that’s paganism. It’s all about what we can do to get God’s attention. The Bible, and this very story, is all about what God does to get our attention.

Let’s now look at the whole chapter. Here we have two connected stories here.

 The first is Jesus’ encounter with the lame man and his healing. The second is the confrontation Jesus has with the Jews on account of that healing happening on the sabbath.

Let’s first then look at Jesus’ encounter with the lame man (1 – 15)

Jesus visits an area near the temple where there is a multitude of the blind and the lame. It’s a difficult scene. Of the many who are there, Jesus asks one lame man if he wants to be healed.

It seems a strange question because surely the man wants to be healed. But it’s a good question. His disability meant he didn’t have to work. He had no responsibility. He just had to lie there all day, a victim someone we must pity. He might have become comfortable with his situation. Now Jesus asks him if he wants it to change. His answer is a sort of yes, but it sounds like he has given up and is feeling sorry for himself, because for him to be healed means trying to get into the water first when it is stirred and he has nobody to help him do that. Despite this less than enthusiastic answer – Jesus commands the man to get up, take up his bed and walk. And the man was healed.

All the initiative is from Jesus. He finds the lame man. He asks the question. Jesus commands his healing.

We see the man is walking – it’s a happy ending. But at the end of v.9 we read – ‘That day was a Sabbath’. That is ominous. We know there is going to be a problem. According to the Jews, by carrying his bed this man was breaking the sabbath. So the Jews rebuke him.

Now we have difficulties with the lame man. He blames the man who healed him. It his fault. He told me to carry my bed. And he does not know Jesus’ name. He sounds as if he just wants to keep out of trouble rather than witness to the wonderful healing that has happened.

And he should have known it was Jesus of Nazareth, because we know that Jesus had become famous after all the healings in chapter 2. So this makes him look like one of those very self-absorbed types who have no interest in the outside world.

We come to the last part of their encounter and again all the initiative is with Jesus. He finds the man in the temple. It is not surprising he is there because when he was lame he was not allowed in the temple (2 Samuel 5:8). Jesus acknowledges the joy of this occasion – ‘Look you’re well.’ And He warns him, ‘Don’t sin more so nothing worse happens’, which implies that this man sinned and so became lame. Jesus connects sin and suffering. Yes. That is there in this story. And there is another truth in John 9 where Jesus refuses to connect the suffering of the blind man with sin. Truth has two wings.

 Jesus has helped the man, and now the man betrays Jesus. He tells the authorities that the healer is Jesus. Now he has been healed, he wants to make a success of his life and that means getting on the side of the people who are in power, that’s the people who run the temple.

One final thing about this story. You have a simple scene but look a bit further and there is a door and it opens to another room, another level of meaning.

The clue that there is such a secret door in this story is in v. 5. The detail that the lame man had been there for thirty-eight years. We don’t need to know it’s thirty-eight years. The author could have just written ‘a long time’. What does the thirty-eight years do? It takes us back to the story that John moved to the start of his Gospel, the cleansing of the temple in chapter two. Here we are told that the Jews had been building the temple for forty-six years. This means that all the time the man has been lying there, the temple was being built, and, in fact it had not been completed.

So – the door opens. Here we have a story about the temple, the presence of God, and we saw in our last lesson, how water in the Bible flows from God’s presence, especially in Ezekiel 47. Water – for life and healing of the sick. But here we have a temple that is still incomplete, and in its shadow are a ‘multitude of sick’ who are not being healed. One has been there for thirty-eight years. It’s a picture of complete failure

And then Jesus steps into the situation and everything changes. We know from chapter two that Jesus is the true temple. With Jesus there is a sacrifice for sin, in Jesus man meets God – and from Jesus, in chapter four, and again it will be underlined in Chapter 7 – flows rivers of living water.

The secret door opens to a room which says – leave religion, look to Jesus.

That is Jesus’ encounter with the lame man. Now let’s look at the heated discussion Jesus now has with the Jews, v. 16 – 46.

It is clear the Jews have complained about Jesus healing on the Sabbat because in v. 17 Jesus answered them. He could have said, as he does in the Synoptics – the Sabbath was made for man. But here he is much more controversial.

First, he says, ‘My father’. Jews might say, ‘Our Father’, never ‘My Father. Jesus is claiming to have a special relationship with God.

Then He says He is God. My Father is working, so I am working.’

The idea that God worked on the Sabbath, meaning He broke his own rule had caused a lot of talk among Jewish teachers. For if He did not work on the Sabbath, who kept the universe running? Clearly God continued to sustain So God was working on the Sabbath. The Jews rightly take this to mean that Jesus is saying He is God, but they are wrong to say Jesus is making himself equal with God. That implies independence. I am equal, so I can do what I like. Jesus is not saying that. He is saying He is united with God, acting with God. And because He is acting with God, so He can heal on the Sabbath, because, like God, He is also working.

What we have now from is a trial. Perhaps it was not in a court, it is a trial in a street – and in that culture those trials were very serious. In v. 18 we have the accusation and the punishment. Jesus is blaspheming and should be killed.

From v. 19 – 47 we have Jesus’ defence, and that defence is in two sections.

From v.19 – 29 Jesus continues to claim He is working with God.

In v 19 – 20 Jesus explains that He is God’s agent. Jesus is not saying He is another God. And He is emphasizing that though he is divine, He is submissive, dependent. Jesus is showing the Father to the world.

Then Jesus says that He has the same authority as the Father. He has the authority to give life because Jesus has life, in Himself. He too is a source of life (v.21, 26), and the authority to judge (v.22, v. 27.)

However in this context of judgement we are told that it is those who believe in Jesus’ word, who will experience salvation now, this is in 5:24. It is a very important verse, well worth memorizing. Unlike in the Synoptics, Jesus is teaching that salvation, passing from death to life, happens as soon as someone hears Jesus’ word and believes. Theologians call this realised eschatology, when something in the future starts in the present.

This though does not mean that there is not a future judgement, as emphasized in the Synoptics. That is made clear in v. 26. The dead will hear Jesus’ voice, there will be a resurrection – some will be given eternal life, some eternal judgement (v.29)

Jesus is saying here unequivocally. I am God the Saviour. Everything depends on me. So – of course, like my father, I am working.

In Jewish trials one witness was not sufficient. So we move to the second section of Jesus’ defence where he brings into the trial five witnesses who all support what He is saying.

His first witness is John the Baptist, v. 33 – 36). Jesus says John bore witness to the truth. John said, twice, that Jesus was the Lamb of God.

Jesus’ second witness are the miracles. These show that God the Father has sent Jesus. These show that Jesus is divine.

Jesus’ third witness is the voice of the Father. He ‘himself has borne witness’. This is almost certainly talking about what happened when Jesus was baptized. In John the Spirit came down; in the Synoptics God speaks. In John 12:28 God also speaks from heaven about Jesus.

His fourth witness is the Scriptures. The Old Testament tells us where the Messiah will be born (Bethlehem, Micah 5:2), about his teaching in parables (Psalm 78), and especially about his death (Psalm 22, Isaiah 53). People who have looked carefully at this say that Jesus fulfilled over 300 Old Testament prophecies. The Scriptures certainly testify about Jesus of Nazareth being the Messiah.

His final witness is Moses, look at v. 46. Here is irony. His opponents are against Jesus because they say He is not doing what Moses told them to do. That is not true. Moses never said you couldn’t carry a blanket on the Sabbath from one place to another.

Of more importance, Moses said that another, greater prophet would come after him. It’s there in Deuteronomy 18:15. The Lord will rise up another prophet, like me…you must listen to him. Moses is telling the Jews to listen to Jesus

In this trial Jesus does not just defend himself. He also attacks his opponents. He says they do not have God’s word in them. They don’t love God (42). They are not listening, v. 38. So, they follow false witnesses (43) There are all these witnesses, but you refuse to come to me. Why? What is stopping them? The answer is in v. 44. Because they are seeking glory for themselves and from each other. They like the praise of men The opinion of man is more important to them than the opinion of God, and so their ears are not open. So though they say to be following Moses’ writing, in fact they do not believe Moses’ writing. Jesus is saying they are not followers of Moses.

This is a heated trial. The Jews are angry with Jesus because He is claiming to be God; and Jesus is angry with them because they are rejecting his witnesses.

And yet in this heated discussion we see that Jesus is genuinely concerned about the spiritual situation of the people he is talking to. Look at v. 34. He is saying all of this, ‘so that they may be saved’. He wants them to come to Him, so they may have ‘life’, v. 40.

This is another magnificent chapter, with important lessons for our lives today.

From the healing of the lame man the important lesson is this: leave religion, look to Jesus. The water of life and healing flow from him, not a building.

From the discourse with the Jews be encouraged by the fact that Jesus is indeed God. And in Him there is eternal life that begins now.

In John 5 Jesus has many witnesses. We have them too, and more. We have the Bible. We can study the prophecies about Jesus. In our life we too have seen miracles of healing. Some have heard the voice of God. And above all – we have the empty tomb. We have every reason for believing that Jesus is God our Saviour.

 

 

The Gospel of John: The Official’s Son 4: 43 – 54

 In chapter 3 we were with Nicodemus, the religious teacher, in the last lesson we were with an uneducated Samaritan woman; and today, we are with a royal servant who worked for Herod Antipas. the king who executed Jesus’ cousin John the Baptist.

 The writer is saying something here. Jesus gets into conversations with every sort of individual. They are different from each other; and they are different from Jesus and his disciples. Jesus talks to different characters, same then, same today.

 Our passage begins with two welcomes. It all seems quite simple. Jesus left Samaria and arrived in Galilee and the people are happy to see him because they had seen the miracles he had done in Jerusalem. Those are referred to in John 2:23. But we are learning that things are usually not that simple in John’s Gospel.

 Because we have v. 44. Here the author tells us that Jesus had said that a prophet has no honour in his home-town. But then in v. 45 Jesus is honoured. What’s going on? Something very important and the author wants us to take note. The people in Galilee welcomed Jesus because of the miracles, because of his works, not because of his message. We find out that this is not enough when in v. 48 Jesus criticises the official for just wanting a miracle. Real honour means accepting not just what Jesus can do, but – of much more importance – who He is. The Son of God who gave his life for the sins of the world.

 So – two types of welcome in Capernaum two thousand years ago, two types of welcome today. Jesus is popular when He is doing miracles; not so when He says he is the Son of God, the only way to God the father. People reject that.

 This whole idea that faith in a miracle worker is not enough is underlined in the story about the son of the official being healed. 

 In verse 46 Jesus goes to Cana, and we’re told again about the water into wine miracle. Why? The miracle was only in Chapter 2. Perhaps the author is wanting to say – remember that story about water being turned into wine was about Christ’s suffering, his hour - it will be the same here.

 Jesus is in Cana, and about twenty miles away in Capernaum there is an official whose son is very ill. The word used for official here in Greek is basilikos, so someone attached to a basileus, a king. This means this man was working for Herod Antipas who ruled over Galilee. Capernaum wasn’t very large, its population no more than a thousand, but it was important because it was a border town. So, Herod had officials there. This one was certainly Jewish, because Jesus complains in v. 48 that ‘you’ plural will only believe if you see a miracle. That was a complaint for the Jews, not the Romans.

 In verse 47 the situation of this father is grim.  His son is at ‘at the point of death’. No wonder when he hears that Jesus has got back from Jerusalem he sets off on the twenty-mile journey from Capernaum to Cana. This was his last hope. We need to imagine the official arriving from the journey hot and sweaty asking people where Jesus is. Then he is at the door. He has no time for formalities. He just blurts out his request: come with me and heal my son.

 We expected Jesus to be polite to Nicodemus, he wasn’t. We did not expect him to talk to the woman at the well, he does; and now we expect him to be sympathetic to this official. But we’re learning that’s it is not wise to have fixed ideas about what Jesus should say or do. And here Jesus doesn’t seem to show any sympathy; instead he rebukes the man, telling him that he – and all the other Jews – were just interested in miracles. It seems harsh.

 There are two things to say. The first is that this man thinks that the most important thing in his life is the healing of his son. But it’s not. That is reality. The most important thing in life is to understand who Jesus is. It would be unkind for Jesus to heal the son, without asking the man to understand who he was. Jesus is saying to everyone, not just this man, that faith in miracles is not enough. There must be more.

 The second point is that Jesus tests individuals. He wants to know how serious they are. He tested his mother at the wedding. He tested Nicodemus. He tested the woman at the well. And now he is testing this official. If we get near to Jesus, He will test us. It will not be an easy ride.

 In verse 49 the official passes the test. He could have walked away angry and upset. I’ve come all this way, and he just rebukes me. But he is concerned about his son, not his pride. So he just respectfully repeats his request. Its simplicity is moving, ‘Sir, come down before my child dies’.

 Now we are expecting Jesus to get up and go, but Jesus doesn’t move. He just speaks, ‘Go, your son will live.’ And then we read some very powerful words, the official ‘believed the word that Jesus had spoken’.

 For Jesus – this proves that the official believes because He has spoken. That is enough for him. There was probably shock on the faces of those around Jesus as they watched the official leave; but on Jesus’ face I believe there was joy, for this is what brings gladness to his heart, belief, faith in what He says.

 And there was going to be joy for the man. A quick summary would be that he got home and his boy was well. But in this Gospel, there is always more.

 As with the wedding in Cana, we again have servants who know first what has happened. They set out to tell the official that his son is better. As he hears the news the official wants to know the exact hour when this happened. And the servants know. It was yesterday, at the seventh hour. This was exactly the time when Jesus said, ‘Your son will live’. Jesus spoke, and it happened.

 The story then is underlining the authority of Jesus’ word. He does not have to be physically present in Capernaum. He can speak in Cana, and twenty miles away something will happen. The story is reminding us that Jesus is the Word. In Genesis, God spoke and it happened. In the prologue, Jesus is the Word, without Him was not anything made that was made. And – in Him was life. In his word there is literally life.

 But alongside the emphasis on Jesus’ word, is the ‘hour’. We have already learned in Chapter 2 that we must pay attention when we see the word ‘hour’. It connects to Jesus’ hour of suffering. When Pilate sent Jesus to the cross it was the sixth hour (19:14), so when he actually died it would have been the seventh hour. That is when the blood was shed, that is when the water flowed. That is when one Son dies, so other sons can have life. Life and healing for us, death and separation for Jesus.

 We are told that on hearing this the official – and all his household believed. But hadn’t the official already believed? Yes, but in this Gospel, there are steps of faith, and that is what you have here. Perhaps the author is suggesting that the official now did not just believe that Jesus was able to heal his son, but that Jesus was the Messiah, the Lamb of God.

 Let’s remember…

 Faith in Jesus the miracle worker is not enough.

One word from Jesus changes everything, wherever we are in the world.

When you are a servant, you understand more

Jesus brings one son back to life; but He himself would die. That is love.

From a royal offical, we go to a feeble lame man. Click on the link below

https://sternfieldthoughts.blogspot.com/2025/01/the-gospel-of-john-lame-man-5-1-47.html

 

The Gospel of John: The Woman At The Well 4:1 – 42

In the last lesson we were Nicodemus. Today we are with a very different individual: the woman at the well, or the Samaritan woman. Nicodemus is a man, she is a woman. Nicodemus is Jewish, she is Samaritan, Nicodemus is well known; we don’t even this lady’s name. Nicodemus was a well-educated teacher; this lady probably never went to school. Nicodemus was from the city; she was from a village.

 By placing these two characters near each other our artist is underlining something beautiful. Jesus talks to Nicodemus; Jesus talks to this woman. Jesus talks everybody, regardless of their race, or gender or their place in society.

 Right at the start of this Gospel, in 1:19, we know that John the Baptist is a problem for the powers that be in Jerusalem. They don’t like him telling Jews to repent and be baptised. And when they hear that now Jesus is baptizing more people than John, that means Jesus is now their number one enemy. Learning this – Jesus decides to move north, to Galilee where it will be safer, and he chooses to use the most direct route which means going through Samaria even though things were not good between the Jews and the Samaritans. The Jews hated the Samaritans for being half Jewish and half Assyrian, and they hated them for having their own form of Judaism. They had built their own temple on Mt Gezarim. The southern Jews had destroyed this in about 110 BC, but, as we see in this story, the Samaritans still thought this was the place to worship God. And then the Samaritans didn’t accept all the Old Testament, just the first five books of Moses. The tension between Jews and Samaritans was intense and often there was violence. For a Jew like Jesus, Samaria is unclean and unsafe. But Jesus wants to get away from Jerusalem.

 Again we have irony. The place that should be safe for Jesus – Jerusalem – is not safe, and we will find out that the place that shouldn’t be safe – Samaria – is safe.

 The journey begins and we are told that Jesus gets tired and so has a rest by Jacob’s well which is on some land that Jacob gave to his son, Joseph. The disciples go to get some food.

 It has been said that the Gospel of John is full of secret doors. You are in a room and you think there is a just a book-case there, but then you push a little, and you find there is a door in the book case and you can enter another room.

 That is certainly the case here for Jesus is not sitting in an ordinary place. He is around Sychar which in Hebrew means wage, but because workers were sometimes paid in wine, it can also mean drunk. A place called ‘drunk’, perhaps not a good place for Jesus to be.

 And He is sitting on land given by Jacob to Joseph, his favourite son. You can read about this in Genesis 48:21 -22. Now we have Jesus, also a favourite son, who has been given land by his father. And there is a well.

 Joseph and a well. It’s impossible not to think of what happened to Joseph. He was sent to his bothers, and they put him down a well. And here we have another favourite son who has been sent by his father – to his own land – and already his brother Jews have problems with him. That’s why he is in Samaria. The well sits there, a reminder of the suffering that will come to Jesus. That’s the first room, the first level.

 But there is a second room, a second level. For a well is a place for drawing water which brings life. So – Jesus – sent by his father is sitting by a place which will bring suffering and life. Indeed in Acts 2 there is so much life that people think that the disciples are drunk. They have been in Sychar. There is merriment.

 Just to make sure we know there is more to this picture than a tired man sitting by a well, the writer then tells us the time. We don’t need really need to know the exact time, but he tells us. It is the sixth hour. Noon. The hour when Pilate sent Jesus to the cross. That’s in 19:14.

 So, we have gone through the secret doors at the start of this story and seen that again the writer wants us to see that the water of life flows from the suffering of Jesus Christ.

 There is another secret door in this story, but first we have a shock.

 A Samaritan lady arrives by the well to draw water. Jesus is a Jewish man, she is a Samaritan woman. In the Misnah, a book full of Jewish rules, it is said that Samaritan women are always unclean.

 We expect silence. There should be no conversation. But there is – Jesus asks for a drink. With Nicodemus, Jesus should have talked first, but he doesn’t. Now with this lady, he shouldn’t talk – but he does. And he certainly shouldn’t want to drink from the same cup as this Samaritan. Jesus refuses to be locked into a box of cultural rules.

 And there is more.

 If you are a woman watching this, what would you think if a strange man asked you for a drink? You would think – he wants to talk to me, he wants to start a relationship. That is exactly what Jesus wants to do.

 You have probably heard that she is coming at noon to get her water instead of in the evening, the normal time, because she is not too popular in her village. So making Jesus’ willingness to reach out to her more loving.

 The woman is shocked and says so, and then Jesus says something that is very odd. He says there is a gift from God that I can give you – it’s living water.

 I like this woman. She is feisty and she reckons she knows how to deal with mystics like this Jew. She mocks him. ‘You are talking about giving me living water and you haven’t even got a bucket to draw the water with’. Typical man. Fantastic ideas. Wonderful words. Practically useless. And who do you think you are? This is Jacob’s well. This water was good enough for Jacob, his sons, his animals? And you have the nerve to say it’s not good enough? She has a go at Jesus.

 Nicodemus was respectful and polite and ends up getting rebuked by Jesus because he failed to move from the physical to the spiritual. This woman isn’t respectful and polite, and she too fails to move from the physical to the spiritual – but Jesus does not rebuke her. He really does deal with us as individuals.

 He is very patient and explains that with ordinary water, you quickly become thirsty again. But if she drank the water He wanted to give her – she would never get thirsty again. In fact this water would keep on welling up, it would never end, and it would give her eternal life.

 We have to pause here and admire our author. He moved the story of the temple cleansing to the start of the story to emphasize the centrality of Christ’s cross. Jesus is the true temple. This has everything to do with water. When we have God’s presence, we have a river – you can find this in Psalm 46, and in Revelation 22. But especially in Ezekiel 47 – the vision of God’s temple, and what is flowing out of the temple – a river that gives life. First the temple, that’s John 2, and then the water, the Spirit – that in John 3 and now it’s here in John 4.

 So, Jesus the temple is offering the woman the water of life. I love her reaction. Let’s have it. Give it to me. Yes. There is no hesitation – as obviously there was with Nicodemus.

 Again Jesus does not behave in a way that you would expect. Give me the water she says, and what should be next? Here you are. But that’s not what Jesus says. He completely changes the subject, ‘Go and call your husband – and then come here.’ Jesus isn’t saying He won’t give the water; but he wants to talk about her personal life.

 She says she has no husband. She must have thought, well that’s the end of the conversation. He’s asked to see my husband. I haven’t got a husband. So – let’s have this water.

 But it’s not as simple as that, because Jesus knows us. He knows it’s true that she has no husband – and he knows it’s not true. And he tells her. You’ve had five husbands and your present boyfriend isn’t your husband. That must have been hard for the woman.

 Remember we said that Nicodemus’ conversation must have made him uncomfortable – you’re a ruler and you don’t know the basics. Well, it’s the same for this woman for different reasons. Nicodemus needed humbling; this woman needed to own up to her past. Jesus wants them both to enjoy the living water.

 What do we do when a conversation becomes difficult? We change the subject. That’s what this lady does. After acknowledging that Jesus is a prophet, which is more than Nicodemus did, she changes the subject to the major difference between the Samaritans and the Jews. The Samaritans say that God should be worshipped ‘on this mountain’, because this was where Abraham built the first altar. So, we Samaritans, we are nearer the origins of the faith. But you Jews, you say the place to worship is Jerusalem, which was founded long after Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. She has certainly changed the subject, but she is also questioning why she should believe Jesus if he – as a Jew – has got such an important question wrong.

 Jesus could have said – you’re just changing the subject because you don’t want to talk about those five husbands and your boyfriend. But he is kind. He does respond to her question with an argument for Jerusalem. The basis of the argument depends on the assumption that geography is important for the worship of God. Jesus destroys that assumption. He declares that when it comes to worshipping God, geography does not matter. What matters is worshipping the Father – in spirit and truth. Lady, it’s not just a matter of turning up somewhere and saying a few prayers. The Father is looking at our hearts. He wants to see that we are worshipping with all our being – and in truth. We are truthful about who we are, we are ready to confess wrong-doing in our past. In his answer Jesus is again asking the woman to own up to her past sins so she too can worship – in spirit and truth,

 The woman has said that the Jews have got it wrong, and so is implying that what they say about spiritual things cannot be trusted. Jesus refuses to accept this. He is ready to say that geography is not important; he is not ready to say the writings of the Jewish people, all the Old Testament, are not important. The Jewish people are important and so he says, ‘Salvation is from the Jews’. Jesus is saying to her that if she accepts the water this does not mean she will have to come to Jerusalem. But she must accept the whole Bible, the records of the Jews. As a Samaritan, she only accepted the first five books of Moses. Jesus is saying that’s not enough. This principle remains today. When it comes to salvation, geography doesn’t matter, the Bible does. We must accept the whole Bible and the truth that Jesus is a Jew, so salvation is from the Jews.

 One thing that the Samaritans and the Jews agree on is that the Messiah is coming. The Samaritans called him the Taheb, the ‘Restorer’. Unable to answer Jesus, the woman says, well, when the Messiah comes he will give us the definitive answer.

 Then Jesus says, to this Samaritan woman with no name - ‘I am the Messiah’, so I know what I say is true.

 So far, this chapter has been all about Jesus and the woman, now the disciples come on the scene and they are shocked.

 The woman probably sensed they were not happy and that it was time to leave. But she has also sensed Jesus’ love. She has become a believer. This is the Messiah. This is the man who can give me living water. And so we read a beautiful thing in v. 28

 ‘So the woman left her water jar’.

 آShe never filled it up with the old water, the water that which she would drink and get thirsty again. No – she was ready for the living water. And she was ready to testify. She runs back to her village and says what Jesus said to Andrew and his friend, what Philip said to Nathaniel – ‘Come and see’

 She has not become a believer because of the argument about where people should worship. No, she has become a believer because Jesus showed that he knew all about her life. This is mentioned twice – v. 29, and v. 39. Jesus knows about what has happened in our individual lives and He does not condemn us. He invites us to believe and drink His water. That is love. She believes because she is loved.

 Because of her testimony, the other Samaritans get up and they want to see Jesus.

 Meanwhile we have another difficult conversation in 31 – 38, between Jesus and his disciples. The disciples want to eat. They have laid out the picnic cloth, all the food they have bought is sitting there, now they want to start. But of course –– they had to wait till Jesus joined them. But he doesn’t, even though they are urging him to, and even though we know he was tired, so he needed physical food.

 Jesus says he has other food, and so we have another misunderstanding with Jesus’ listeners thinking about something physical – a birth, water, food – and Jesus’ meaning is spiritual. So they say, ‘Has someone given him separate food? Maybe that woman, maybe she has given him some food.’ Jesus now tells them about the food he has eaten. It is the food of doing what the father wants, and what does the father want – it is reap the harvest to bring people to faith. And we don’t have to think we have to wait for the harvest. It is happening now.

 And the harvest has happened because others have sown. He is probably thinking of all the work of the prophets in the Old Testament. Now we have to respect their work and get busy bringing in the harvest so at the end the people who have sown and the people who reap can rejoice together.

 Jesus’ food is God’s work, and God’s work is reaching other people. That must have priority over our physical food. That is what is uncomfortable for these disciples – and for many Christians down the ages. Jesus often asks us to forego food for the harvest.

 In v. 34 Jesus wants the disciples to see that the harvest is already happening. They don’t have to wait four months. He asks them to look up – and what would they see? They would see the Samaritan woman leading all the village out to them. It would have been a big crowd.

 They all come to Jesus and his disciples and the Samaritans believe – because of the woman’s testimony. Then they invite Jesus and his disciples to stay with them, and they do – for two days. And so more people believe, not just now because of the woman, she started things, but because of their own experience with Jesus. So they conclude that Jesus is the Saviour of the world. This expression is only found here, and in the first letter of John 4:14. It is a lovely expression, underlining all that has happened in this story, Jesus is not just the Saviour of the Jews, he is everyone’s Saviour, even the Samaritans.

 There is so much irony here.

 As said, Jesus is not safe with his own people, but he finds safety and welcome with the enemies of his people. And his own people, the Jews, don’t forget this. They obviously get to hear that Jesus has gone and spent time in Samaria, a place where most of them would not go near for fear of becoming ‘unclean’ or drunk – remember the meaning of Sychar. And so when they are later attacking Jesus they bring this up as an accusation, it’s there just before they try to stone him in 8:38 – ‘Are we not right in saying that you are a Samaritan?’ If Jesus had spent time with the Samaritans, surely, he must really be a Samaritan. He’s not a real Jew. Jesus paid a price for spending time with these Samaritans.

 And then there is so much irony about the lady and Nicodemus. Who should recognise the Messiah swiftly? Why, the educated man who is a teacher of Israel. But Nicodemus is very slow. He only shows he is with Jesus right at the end of the story. Who should understand very slowly? Why, this uneducated woman from a village in Samaria. But it is she who understands very quickly. Who should be the best witness for Jesus? Why an educated man. But Nicodemus never witnesses for Jesus. Who should be a bad witness for Jesus? This uneducated woman. But she is in fact not just a much better witness than Nicodemus. She is the best witness in all of the Gospels. There is no other individual who brings virtually an entire village to faith in Christ. She is the one who does this. What a lady.

 I said there was another secret door in this story, another seemingly simple picture that then has another meaning. I want to end with it.

 Watch the scene of Jesus sitting by a well talking to a woman. That opens a door to the Old Testament where we have three stories of a foreign man visiting another country and then something happens around a well. The first story – and perhaps the most famous – is the story of Abraham’s servant in Genesis 24 going to the city of Nahor to find a wife for Isaac. Rebecca comes out to get water from the well and the servant prays saying that if she offers to give water to his camels then he will know that she is the one. That is what happens. Then in Genesis 29 we have the first meeting of Jacob and his cousin Rachel whom he fell in love with. Again the whole story happens by a well. And finally we have the story of Moses. He flees Egypt, arrives in Midian and sits down – where? By a well. You can check this in Exodus 2:15. While he is sitting there the daughters of Jethro come to get water but they are attacked by some shepherds. Moses jumps up and drives these unpleasant men away and the girls go home with their water. After that Moses is invited to Jethro’s home – and he marries one of those daughters, Zipporah. Three wives of three famous men from the Old Testament, all wives because of a well.

 And just like the servant, Jacob, and Moses, Jesus is a man coming into a foreign country. And he too finds a well. And a woman comes. And after their conversation he goes to stay in the woman’s village for two days, where everyone is happy. It feels like a celebration, almost like a wedding.

 This is quite a door. This is quite another level of meaning. Who is the woman of Samaria? She is Christ’s bride. Yes, the woman who has had five husbands and when she met Christ was living with a boyfriend, this woman becomes Christ’s bride. Isn’t that beautiful?  Doesn’t that give us all hope?

 What spiritual food can we take from this extraordinary story?

 Jesus wants to give us living water, twenty-four hours a day. This water flows from the temple of his broken body. Be like the woman, leave your water jar, and say to Jesus every day – give me this water. He became thirsty for you on the cross; you need never become thirsty.

 And what lessons. From Jesus – never write people off, always be open to start a conversation with people like this woman of Samaria, however unpopular that might make you with your family and friends. And encourage those people to talk about the painful things that have happened in their lives.

From the woman – be ready to want the water, and be ready to testify, however difficult it might be.

 From the disciples – don’t be too worried about food. Look up from your food and you will see there are plenty of people to talk to.

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The Gospel of John: Nicodemus 3:1 – 21

 In this lesson we meet an important man, Nicodemus. Before I say more about Nicodemus it’s good to notice the emphasis this Gospel has on individuals. We have 23 individuals in the Gospel, and there are nearly 70 references to Jesus talking about individuals. We know their names and we get to see a little of their character, as with Nathaniel. Like Nicodemus here; the woman at the well, the man who was lame, the man who was blind Lazarus and his sisters Mary and Martha in Bethany, Caiaphas, and Pilate, Mary Magdalene, Peter, Thomas, sadly Judas. It’s fair to say that there is an emphasis on how Jesus relates to individuals. So yes, there is one flock, but Jesus knows each sheep by name (John 10), there is a vine, but each individual branch is distinctive.

 In some cultures often more emphasis is put on the identity of the community. This Gospel is saying there must first be an individual experience, an individual conversation, and – if possible – like Mary or the Beloved disciple, individual intimacy.

 Now let’s turn to an individual, Nicodemus. He was a very important and learned man. We know he is important because he is a member of the Sanhedrin, the council that ruled Jerusalem, with the permission of the Romans. And we know he was learned because Jesus says he is a teacher of Israel.

 We can sum up the story by saying it is about Jesus and Nicodemus, and how to experience eternal life.

 First, the relationship between Jesus and Nicodemus. It is not what we would have expected. Nicodemus is a leader of Israel, Jesus is the son of a carpenter. We would expect Jesus to be visiting Nicodemus. But it’s the other way around.

 Nicodemus comes at night. Perhaps he didn’t want others to see him, perhaps it was just because it was cooler then and this is when Rabbis had their discussions. That’s at one level. But at another we know that this writer associates the night with moral darkness. So in 13.30 Judas goes out – and it was night. Nicodemus is coming from a dark place.

 The surprise in this relationship continues. In most cultures it is the host who greets the guest, but look what happens, it is Nicodemus who speaks first. Perhaps there was a rather embarrassed silence first, and then Nicodemus says what we have in v. 2. He is very respectful. He calls Jesus ‘Rabb’i and says that ‘we know ‘that Jesus has come from God, because of the miracles he has been doing. Nicodemus thinks that he knows a little about who Jesus is – ‘we know’. He is implying he wants Jesus to say more about who he is.

 Again Jesus’s response is unexpected. Nicodemus has talked about who Jesus is, and Jesus does not reply to that at all. He ignores what Nicodemus has said. Instead he talks about how to see the kingdom of God – the rule of God.

 We have to admire Nicodemus. Rather than get upset because of the way Jesus is dealing with him, he goes with the flow of the conversation, and in so doing shows he is not as bright as his title suggests. It’s there in v. 4. It’s not the cleverest of questions. Nicodemus of course is not the only one to misunderstand Jesus. We’ve already had the Jews misunderstanding Jesus’ comment about destroying the temple; the woman of Samaria misunderstands Jesus about the water; the crowd misunderstand Jesus about him being the bread; the disciples about Lazarus sleeping. There are probably more examples. So Nicodemus is not alone, but this is a very bad one, his question about entering a mother’s womb again is probably the most stupid question in the New Testament.

 Jesus explains more about the new birth, and then there is stinging rebuke from Jesus to Nicodemus. We often assume that Jesus is always nice. That’s not the Jesus of the Bible. Look at v. 10. ‘Are you a teacher of Israel and yet you do not understand these things?’ Jesus thinks Nicodemus should have known about the new birth from the Old Testament, and especially the passages in Jeremiah that talk about God giving people a new heart. Or the story about the dry bones in Ezekiel 37. Later Jesus says he cannot talk to Nicodemus about heavenly things, because he still hasn’t grasped earthly things, i.e. things that happen on earth like the new birth. (v.12)

 Nicodemus entered Jesus’ presence thinking he was somebody. He thought he knew things. But Jesus shows him it is just the title that makes him important. The truth is that he doesn’t know the most basic things about relating to God. The experience must have been uncomfortable for Nicodemus.

 Jesus is not interested in being polite or making people feel comfortable. He wants to talk about what matters, and what matters is that Nicodemus needs to be born again. If that means he needs to humble Nicodemus, so be it.

 Jesus is very certain. Twice he says, ‘Truly, truly’, and in v. 11 he emphasizes that he speaks of what he knows – and what he has seen. He is not guessing. He is not having a discussion with Nicodemus.

 That is the conversation between Jesus and Nicodemus. Now let’s turn to the content.

 It is about how to have eternal life: v. 3 seeing the kingdom of God, v. 5 entering the kingdom of God. This is the only time we have the words the kingdom of God in this Gospel. It means the rule of God, so a place where life never ends, and in v. 15 and 16, having eternal life. In the Synoptics talk of entering the kingdom is often seen as a future event. Eternal life will happen at the end of the world. This Gospel has another emphasis. Eternal life, or literally ‘life of the age to come’ starts now, and will then continue.

 So – how do we gain eternal life? Nicodemus would have assumed that as a Jew he would automatically have eternal life. However three times Jesus tells Nicodemus that we must be born again, v. 3, 5, and 7. The word ‘again’ here in the Greek is anothen which can mean again or above. Jesus talks about both here.

 This is being born of the water and the Spirit. Some think the water might refer to baptism. This is unlikely. Most think t it is just another way of saying Spirit as water is a symbol of spirit in John’s Gospel – and indeed in the Old Testament. So to be born again is to be born spiritually. It is an event, like a physical birth. It is something that must happen in a definite way for someone to have eternal life.

 This was a radical message for a Jew like Nicodemus. And for many others. They think they are heading for eternal life, but Jesus asks them – have you experienced the new birth?

 We want to have this birth. How can we make this happen? As usual, Jesus is a bit strange. In some religions you just have to repeat a prayer, and that’s it, you now belong to that faith. Even sometimes with Christian preachers we are told it is our decision. You want to be born again. Just tick this box. Say this prayer. Do this. Do that.

 That’s not what we have here. Look carefully at v. 8. The wind blows – not where we choose, but where it chooses. Like our physical birth, our spiritual birth does not depend on us. It depends entirely on the Holy Spirit. Jesus says the same thing later in John 16:8 when He says that the Holy Spirit will come to convict the world of sin. We cannot truly understand that we are sinners, without the conviction of the Holy Spirit. So, we cannot become Christians, unless the Holy Spirit works in our hearts.

 This then is the first thing we learn about eternal life from this conversation. We have to be born of the Spirit.

 From v. 13 onwards we learn something else. Eternal life is brought about by Jesus. Yes, others have ascended to heaven – Enoch, Elijah – but only Jesus has descended from heaven. And then we have another surprise with the reference to Moses. We would be expecting Jesus to descend from heaven to give a new law, we are expecting a new Mount Sinai story. But that is not what we get. Instead we go to the strange story of the serpents in the wilderness. It is in Numbers 21. God sent these to punish the Israelites for their complaining. They didn’t like it and so Moses prayed and in response the Lord told him to make a bronze serpent and put it on a pole. Then whenever a snake bit someone, if they looked at this bronze serpent, they lived. Otherwise they would died.

 Jesus goes to this story. And says that the He, the Son of Man, will be lifted up, just like the serpent in the wilderness, and if anyone – not just Israelis – if anyone looks at him with faith, they will be healed from the sting of sin, and receive life.

 And so we have the most famous verse in the Bible

 ‘For God so loved the world that He gave his only begotten Son that whosoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.

 The initiation of salvation is firmly rooted in God’s sacrificial love, his agape. And this is for the whole world, not just one people.

 Eternal life revolves both around a spiritual new birth, and not just our faith in Jesus, but our faith in his cross and resurrection – when He was lifted up. If we believe we are not condemned, if we do not believe, we are condemned (v.17).

 Then from v. 19 another factor is brought in, the necessity to come to leave the darkness and come to the light. To be true (v. 21) which is to act faithfully, honourably. This is John’s way of saying we have to repent. You can’t just say I have believed in Jesus, but stay in the darkness, so showing that you really love darkness. You have to come to the light and act in a way that shows that your deeds are godly, v. 21. The writer says exactly the same thing in his first letter, chapter one, verse five, ‘God is light and in him is no darkness at all. If we say we have fellowship with him while we are walking in darkness we lie and do not do what is true.’

 Here we have three truths

 1. We must be born again of the Spirit. This is something only God the Spirit can bring about. Like the wind, this is beyond human ability.

 2. We must look to Jesus, ‘lifted up’ on the cross and resurrection. This is something we must do.

 3. Because of this new birth and faith there will be a leaving from the darkness and we will prover our new birth by the life that we live.

 The new birth, faith, holy living   – all working together. This is how we receive eternal life.

 Initially it seems that Nicodemus returns to the darkness. And maybe we are thinking, well, Jesus wasn’t such a good evangelist. He was rude to Nicodemus, so he’s gone. But we will see Nicodemus again. Jesus’ conversation with him had an impact. At the end of chapter seven the religious authorities are wanting to condemn Jesus. Who speaks up for him? Nicodemus. And when Josephus goes to collect Jesus’s corpse on Good Friday, who is with him? Nicodemus.

 Jesus knows how to talk to us – as individuals.

 We looked at the rest of this chapter which is about John the Baptist in Lesson 3, so in our next lesson we will be in Chapter 4, with a remarkable lady. 

Click here https://sternfieldthoughts.blogspot.com/2025/01/the-gospel-of-john-woman-at-well-41-42.html

 

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. 

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