Wednesday Bible Study: The walk of John part 3

 

This week we look at the passages between these two bookends:

Front end: Joh 2:11  This, the first of his signs, Jesus did at Cana in Galilee, and manifested his glory. And his disciples believed in him.

Back end: Joh 4:54  This was now the second sign that Jesus did when he had come from Judea to Galilee. 

 

Seems straightforward, yes?  Yet nestled in between is another sign (pun not intended) that John is not exactly worried about 'chronological order':

Joh 3:2  This man came to Jesus by night and said to him, "Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher come from God, for no one can do these signs that you do unless God is with him." 

 

Not to mention the gap between two succeeding verses:

 

Joh 2:12  After this he went down to Capernaum, with his mother and his brothers and his disciples, and they stayed there for a few days.
Joh 2:13  The Passover of the Jews was at hand, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem. 

 
But I am not going to dwell on the gap, or the chronological order, because John has important stuff he wants to get to, and so do we.  If you remember last time, we looked at the different ways Jesus had to approach each TYPE of Disciple.

For Andrew and John/James, it was responding to their seeking by, "Come and see!"

For Phillip, who was only beginning to seek, it was the simple command, "Follow me!"

Nathaniel, seeking the Messiah through the word, received a sign.

And stubborn Peter became, "A stone".

And the happenings in today's passage confirm a few similar things about EVERYBODY.  So, let's go through John's order- with of course, at least one exception- and see what we can learn and hopefully apply to our daily walk.

The first sign was at Cana, the wedding feast, where Jesus performs His first miracle- changing water to wine.  In a way, this story is like both Phillip and Nathaniel.  Like Phillip, the wedding servants didn't know they NEEDED Jesus; they only knew they were up that creek.  And as Jesus gave Nathaniel the 'slight' miracle of knowing what it wasn't possible to know- "I saw you under the fig tree"- and Jesus promised him:

Joh 1:50  Jesus answered him, "Because I said to you, 'I saw you under the fig tree,' do you believe? You will see greater things than these."

- so too was the reaction of the Disciples to the wine miracle: Look back at 2:11- "And the Disciples believed in Him." A Loving Jesus is not above showing us 'signs from heaven' to start us on the path.  From there on, though, we have to LEARN from Him.

Next on John's agenda was the trip to Jerusalem for the Feast, and his 'lashing' of conventional religion:

Joh 2:14  In the temple he found those who were selling oxen and sheep and pigeons, and the money-changers sitting there.
Joh 2:15  And making a whip of cords, he drove them all out of the temple, with the sheep and oxen. And he poured out the coins of the money-changers and overturned their tables.
Joh 2:16  And he told those who sold the pigeons, "Take these things away; do not make my Father's house a house of trade."

Along with their, "Here's your sign" moment:

Joh 2:18  So the Jews said to him, "What sign do you show us for doing these things?"
Joh 2:19  Jesus answered them, "Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up."
Joh 2:20  The Jews then said, "It has taken forty-six years to build this temple, and will you raise it up in three days?"
Joh 2:21  But he was speaking about the temple of his body.

John goes on to mention that the Disciples would remember these things later on, which I think is his next point:  You don't understand Jesus, truly, UNTIL you've been saved, and been following.  The stubbornness of the leaders puts us in Peter territory- with the caveat that Peter was willing to set aside his resistance, and got the sign he would need eventually:

Luk 5:5  And Simon answered, "Master, we toiled all night and took nothing! But at your word I will let down the nets."
Luk 5:6  And when they had done this, they enclosed a large number of fish, and their nets were breaking.
Luk 5:7  They signaled to their partners in the other boat to come and help them. And they came and filled both the boats, so that they began to sink.
Luk 5:8  But when Simon Peter saw it, he fell down at Jesus' knees, saying, "Depart from me, for I am a sinful man, O Lord."

Now we come to the 'midnight meeting' with Nicodemus, who was a leading teacher, and obviously had SOME faith.  But it, because of the way the Jews 'taught' faith, it wasn't complete:

Joh 3:10  Jesus answered him, "Are you the teacher of Israel and yet you do not understand these things?
Joh 3:11  Truly, truly, I say to you, we speak of what we know, and bear witness to what we have seen, but you do not receive our testimony.
Joh 3:12  If I have told you earthly things and you do not believe, how can you believe if I tell you heavenly things?

This is a big fat key for us: Everything we need to know in order to believe is IN the Bible, from the Old Testament on.  But as Jesus first told Him, you STILL need to be born again to get the FULL value.  Again, this is like Nathaniel, studying what we know as Psalm 32, wanting to understand but not quite getting it, until Jesus enters his life.

Yes, I know that John 3:16 is in this section, but I'm not going to address it directly.  I believe it was David Jeremiah, but I'm not sure, that said many a Pastor refrains from preaching John 3:16 because you could spend the rest of your ministry on it and still not cover everything, and I agree.  The simple point is that Nicodemas, who knew the scriptures inside out and lived by all those rules and regulations, needed it put in simple terms, and John 3:16 is as simple as it gets.

Next John takes an important though off-track side trip into the question the rest of John The Baptist's followers where asking:

Joh 3:25  Now a discussion arose between some of John's disciples and a Jew over purification.
Joh 3:26  And they came to John and said to him, "Rabbi, he who was with you across the Jordan, to whom you bore witness--look, he is baptizing, and all are going to him."
Joh 3:27  John answered, "A person cannot receive even one thing unless it is given him from heaven.
Joh 3:28  You yourselves bear me witness, that I said, 'I am not the Christ, but I have been sent before him.'
Joh 3:29  The one who has the bride is the bridegroom. The friend of the bridegroom, who stands and hears him, rejoices greatly at the bridegroom's voice. Therefore this joy of mine is now complete.
Joh 3:30  He must increase, but I must decrease."

The quick lesson here- it's not the preacher that is important, but the message.  Next, we take a side-trip that no 'good' Jew makes- through Samaria.  While the Disciples are off making their own little journey of discovery- getting supplies in a Samaritan city (4:8)- Jesus breaks convention and has a conversation with a woman (gasp!); but not only that- a Samaritan woman (GASP!) One little part is the hinge on which our tale turns:

Joh 4:19  The woman said to him, "Sir, I perceive that you are a prophet.
Joh 4:20  Our fathers worshiped on this mountain, but you say that in Jerusalem is the place where people ought to worship."
Joh 4:21  Jesus said to her, "Woman, believe me, the hour is coming when neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem will you worship the Father.
Joh 4:22  You worship what you do not know; we worship what we know, for salvation is from the Jews.
Joh 4:23  But the hour is coming, and is now here, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father is seeking such people to worship him.
Joh 4:24  God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth."

"You worship what you do not know ": and it led to all the differences between Jews and Samaritans.  The had to be taught the RIGHT way to worship, just like Phillip; they had a clue, what they'd heard almost in rumors, but had no education in it.  Sort of reminds one of the Ethiopian eunuch:

Act 8:26  Now an angel of the Lord said to Philip, "Rise and go toward the south to the road that goes down from Jerusalem to Gaza." This is a desert place.
Act 8:27  And he rose and went. And there was an Ethiopian, a eunuch, a court official of Candace, queen of the Ethiopians, who was in charge of all her treasure. He had come to Jerusalem to worship
Act 8:28  and was returning, seated in his chariot, and he was reading the prophet Isaiah.
Act 8:29  And the Spirit said to Philip, "Go over and join this chariot."
Act 8:30  So Philip ran to him and heard him reading Isaiah the prophet and asked, "Do you understand what you are reading?"
Act 8:31  And he said, "How can I, unless someone guides me?" And he invited Philip to come up and sit with him.

Now this Phillip- not 'our' Phillip, but a later addition to the faith- guided the eunuch to faith.  But it had to be EXPLAINED.  In the end, this is also like Nathaniel.  And another big but overlooked lesson for the Disciples.  Because, consider this verse:

Joh 4:27  Just then his disciples came back. They marveled that he was talking with a woman, but no one said, "What do you seek?" or, "Why are you talking with her?"

But they were THINKING it.  They had three big bridges to cross here.  First, they had to learn to treat women as fellow travelers, deserving to hear the Gospel.  Then, not only had they had to INTERACT with the 'disgusting' Samaritans, but they had to PREACH to them, bringing salvation to a people they almost considered sub-human.  Bit by bit, Jesus was knocking all the logical support of their old religion out from under them.  Now, we're in the homestretch.  They finally return to Galilee, where the signs (note: plural) He had performed had brought fame with him:

Joh 4:45  So when he came to Galilee, the Galileans welcomed him, having seen all that he had done in Jerusalem at the feast. For they too had gone to the feast.

And up comes an official, who not only had heard about the signs, but had a need:

Joh 4:46  So he came again to Cana in Galilee, where he had made the water wine. And at Capernaum there was an official whose son was ill.
Joh 4:47  When this man heard that Jesus had come from Judea to Galilee, he went to him and asked him to come down and heal his son, for he was at the point of death.
Joh 4:48  So Jesus said to him, "Unless you see signs and wonders you will not believe."
Joh 4:49  The official said to him, "Sir, come down before my child dies."
Joh 4:50  Jesus said to him, "Go; your son will live." The man believed the word that Jesus spoke to him and went on his way.

Interestingly, Jesus says in response to this man's request (though not to him, but to the crowd), you need a sign before you will believe. This then is Nathaniel- and for Nathaniel, his 'greater sign'.

So why does John call this the second sign? I believe it might be the second sign directly used to increase the Disciples' faith.  So, let's take stock of what we learned here:

- Jesus is not unwilling to give you your own sign; it may be subtle, like Nathaniel's, or great, like the Disciples'. 

- God have given us all we need to build our faith; but it starts with the Spirit, and the Spirit starts with accepting Jesus' invitation.

-We need to surround ourselves not only with the Word, but with those who can EXPLAIN it.

-Just follow; it will start to become clear.

-And perhaps one thing that gets overlooked- After we ask for our needs, we like the nobleman, have to 'go on our way', and trust God to provide- not just stand their and whine until we get it.  A lot packed into a very short passage- and not even hitting the most famous words in the Bible!