From the Pulpit—Video & Full Transcript

John 6:1-15: The Feeding of the Five Thousand
John 6:16-24 Jesus Walks on Water

Commentary

6 Some time after this, Jesus crossed to the far shore of the Sea of Galilee (that is, the Sea of Tiberias), 2 and a great crowd of people followed him because they saw the signs he had performed by healing the sick.

 3 Then Jesus went up on a mountainside and sat down with his disciples. 4 The Jewish Passover Festival was near.

1. “a great crowd of people followed him”
   
   
   1. Notice that the crowd followed Jesus out into the wilderness without any food to begin with.  One can’t help but be impressed by their devotion.
      
      
   2. “Here we see, in the first place, how eager was the desire of the people to hear Christ, since all of them, forgetting themselves, take no concern about spending the night in a desert place. So much the less excusable is our indifference, or rather our sloth, when we are so far from preferring the heavenly doctrine to the gnawings of hunger, that the slightest interruptions immediately lead us away from meditation on the heavenly life.” -John Calvin, Calvin’s Commentary on John
      
      
2. “The Jewish Passover Festival was near.”
   
   
   1. This detail adds another interesting dimension to the miracle.  Passover commemorates the freedom of the Hebrew people from Egypt, after which people journeyed into the wilderness to reach the promised land.  In the wilderness, the people were sustained by miraculous bread from God.  At the upcoming feeding of the five thousand, here we are again, with people going into the wilderness and getting sustained by miraculous bread from God.  What God did once long ago, he does again here.

5 When Jesus looked up and saw a great crowd coming toward him, he said to Philip, “Where shall we buy bread for these people to eat?” 6 He asked this only to test him, for he already had in mind what he was going to do.

1. The feeding of the five thousand is the only miracle, besides the resurrection, found in all four Gospels (Matthew, Mark, Luke, John).
   
   
   1. “Therefore as to this miracle, since we have heard how great it is, let us also search how profound it is; let us not only be delighted with its surface, but let us also seek to know its depth. This miracle, which we admire on the outside, has something within.” -Augustine, Tractate 24 on John, 2.
      
      
2. The Book of Luke tells us that Jesus also taught and healed while he was in the wilderness with the crowd.
   
   
3. “…to test him…”
   
   
   1. Notice that Scripture explicitly says that Jesus was testing Philip.  There’s intentionality behind his choice to go into the wilderness without food.  This is no accident.
      
      
   2. “Or to shew others it. He was not ignorant of His disciple’s heart Himself.” -Theophylact’s Commentary on John 

7 Philip answered him, “It would take more than half a year’s wages[a] to buy enough bread for each one to have a bite!”

1. Philip failed the test by relying on earthly calculations, estimating more than a year’s wages would barely suffice. He focused on his capacity instead of Jesus’s.

8 Another of his disciples, Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother, spoke up, 9 “Here is a boy with five small barley loaves and two small fish, but how far will they go among so many?”

1. Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother, isn’t mentioned in Scripture a lot, but when he is, he’s consistently bringing people to Jesus.
   
   
   1. John 1:40–42 Andrew meets Jesus and then runs to Simon to introduce him to Jesus as well.
      
      
   2. John 12:20-22 A group of Greeks are in Jerusalem for the passover and want to meet Jesus.  Philip turns to Andrew to make that introduction.
      
      
2. “…five small barley loaves and two small fish…”
   
   
   1. Notice that the word “small” is used twice to emphasize just how insufficient this particular meal is.
      
      
   2. Barley, the cheapest grain (about a third the value of wheat), was “peasant food.” The meal was meager.  If this happened today, it may well have been five slices of Wonder Bread and a tin of tuna.

10 Jesus said, “Have the people sit down.” There was plenty of grass in that place, and they sat down (about five thousand men were there). 11 Jesus then took the loaves, gave thanks, and distributed to those who were seated as much as they wanted. He did the same with the fish.

1. “(about five thousand men were there)”
   
   
   1. The crowd numbered at least 5,000 men, not including women and children—possibly totaling 7,000 to 15,000.
      
      
2. Notice the three steps that Jesus takes:
   
   
   1. 1. Took: Jesus took the loaves and fish, signaling that God’s work often involves offering what we have to him. God desires human participation in his work.
         
         
      2. Gave Thanks: Jesus gives thanks for the tiny insufficient meal.  In his hands, it is more than enough.  Sometimes, we may feel insufficient, but the way God sees us is different.  In his hands, we are more than enough.
         
         
      3. Distributed: He distributed the food, and everyone ate “as much as they wanted.”  In God, there isn’t just enough.  There’s MORE than enough.

12 When they had all had enough to eat, he said to his disciples, “Gather the pieces that are left over. Let nothing be wasted.” 13 So they gathered them and filled twelve baskets with the pieces of the five barley loaves left over by those who had eaten.

1. “…twelve baskets…”
   
   
   1. The miracle of Jesus doesn’t just give people enough; it gives them more than enough.
      
      
   2. “[W]hy did He give the fragments to His disciples to carry away, and not to the multitude? Because the disciples were to be the teachers of the world, and therefore it was most important that the truth should be impressed upon them.” – Chrysostom, Hom. xlii. 3

14 After the people saw the sign Jesus performed, they began to say, “Surely this is the Prophet who is to come into the world.”

 15 Jesus, knowing that they intended to come and make him king by force, withdrew again to a mountain by himself.

1. “Surely this is the Prophet who is to come into the world.”
   
   
   1. “He was the Lord of the prophets, the fulfiller of the prophets, the sanctifier of the prophets, but yet a prophet also: for it was said to Moses, I will raise up for them a prophet like you. Like, according to the flesh, but not according to the majesty…. And the Lord says of Himself, A prophet is not without honor, except in his own country. (Jn 4:44)” -Augustine, Tractate 24 on John, 7.
      
      
2. “…they intended to come and make him king by force…” 
   
   
   1. They wanted to make Jesus an earthly king by force, likely expecting him to overthrow Romans and fix their economy.  They saw Jesus as a tool to achieve their goals.
      
      
   2. There are also many people today who want to harness God for their own personal gain.  Preachers of the “prosperity gospel” make all kinds of claims about how God will give people exactly what they want if they only respond in the way that the preacher is insisting they should.
      
      
   3. Rather than trying to make God follow our agenda, we need to serve His.
      
      
   4. Be hungry for the bread of life, not just a life of bread.

16 When evening came, his disciples went down to the lake, 17 where they got into a boat and set off across the lake for Capernaum. By now it was dark, and Jesus had not yet joined them. 18 A strong wind was blowing and the waters grew rough. 19 When they had rowed about three or four miles, 

1. “…they got into a boat and set off…”
   

1. 1. Why did Jesus send his disciples away from the crowd while he went to the mountain? Knowing that the crowd had differed from Christ’s teachings so much that he had to remove himself, it is likely he wanted his disciples exposed to the same tempting thought patterns.
      
      
   2. The crowd preferred the gift to the giver.  The disciples left their company, assuring that their thoughts would not start to drift towards their way of thinking.
      
      
2. “A strong wind was blowing and the waters grew rough.”
   
   
   1. The Sea of Galilee, 600 feet below sea level and surrounded by mountains, is prone to sudden, strong winds and storms.
      
      
   2. “Darkness was increasing, discernment was diminishing, iniquity was growing. When, therefore, they had rowed about twenty-five or thirty furlongs. Meanwhile they struggled onward, kept advancing; nor did those winds and storms, and waves and darkness effect either that the ship should not make way, or that it should break in pieces and founder; but amid all these evils it went on.” -Augustine, Tractates on the Gospel of John, 25, 6.
      
      
3. …they had rowed about three or four miles…”
   
   
   1. The disciples rowed all night (six to eight hours) in a brutal storm and only reached halfway across the sea (about three to four miles).
      
      
   2. This struggle wasn’t some sort of punishment; Jesus Himself sent them into the storm.  He has something to teach them here.
      
      
   3. Even though the disciples couldn’t see Jesus, Mark 6:48 explicitly says that Jesus was watching them straining at the oars from the top of the mountain and praying for them.  He never took his eyes off them.

they saw Jesus approaching the boat, walking on the water; and they were frightened. 20 But he said to them, “It is I; don’t be afraid.” 21 Then they were willing to take him into the boat, and immediately the boat reached the shore where they were heading.

1. “It is I; don’t be afraid.”
   
   
   1. Strangely, they are afraid of the very thing that can save them.  The glory of Christ on the water is a sight they can’t fully comprehend at this point in their lives.
      
      
   2. “[T]he interior effect was fear; and therefore the fear of the disciples, conceived from Christ’s sudden appearance, is set forth when it says: ‘and they were afraid’ — either with a good fear, because it was caused by humility; ‘Do not be haughty, but fear’ (Romans 11:20). Or with an evil fear, because, as is said in Matthew 14:26, they thought him to be a ghost. ‘They trembled with fear where there was no fear’ (Psalm 13:5 [Vulgate numbering]). For fear especially belongs to carnal people, who shrink back from spiritual things.” -Thomas Aquinas, Commentary on John, Ch. 6, 882.
      
      
2. Here, Matthew’s Gospel mention’s Peter’s attempt to walk on water (Matt. 14:22-33), which is an incredible act of faith, even though he faltered.
   
   
3. “Then they were willing to take him into the boat, and immediately the boat reached the shore where they were heading.”
   
   
   1. Jesus waited until the disciples were willing to take Him into the boat. He doesn’t force His way in; He waits for an invitation.
      
      
   2. The moment Jesus entered the boat, they “immediately” reached the shore.  This is a second miracle, which shows the the power of letting Jesus take control.

22 The next day the crowd that had stayed on the opposite shore of the lake realized that only one boat had been there, and that Jesus had not entered it with his disciples, but that they had gone away alone. 23 Then some boats from Tiberias landed near the place where the people had eaten the bread after the Lord had given thanks. 24 Once the crowd realized that neither Jesus nor his disciples were there, they got into the boats and went to Capernaum in search of Jesus.

1. “Our Lord, though He did not actually shew Himself to the multitude walking on the sea, yet gave them the opportunity of inferring what had taken place; The day following, the people which stood on the other side of the sea saw that there was none other boat there, save that one whereinto His disciples were entered, and that Jesus went not with His disciples into the boat, but that His disciples were gone away alone. What was this but to suspect that He had walked across the sea, on His going away? For He could not have gone over in a ship, as there was only one there, that in which His disciples had entered; and He had not gone in with them.” -Chrysostom, Hom. xliii. 2.
   

²⁵ When they found him on the other side of the lake, they asked him, “Rabbi, when did you get here?”

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

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

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

³⁰ So they asked him, “What sign then will you give that we may see it and believe you? What will you do? ³¹ Our ancestors ate the manna in the wilderness; as it is written: ‘He gave them bread from heaven to eat.’^[c]”

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

³⁴ “Sir,” they said, “always give us this bread.”

³⁵ Then Jesus declared, “I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never go hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty. ³⁶ But as I told you, you have seen me and still you do not believe. ³⁷ All those the Father gives me will come to me, and whoever comes to me I will never drive away. ³⁸ For I have come down from heaven not to do my will but to do the will of him who sent me. ³⁹ And this is the will of him who sent me, that I shall lose none of all those he has given me, but raise them up at the last day. ⁴⁰ For my Father’s will is that everyone who looks to the Son and believes in him shall have eternal life, and I will raise them up at the last day.”

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

⁴³ “Stop grumbling among yourselves,” Jesus answered. ⁴⁴ “No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws them, and I will raise them up at the last day. ⁴⁵ It is written in the Prophets: ‘They will all be taught by God.’ Everyone who has heard the Father and learned from him comes to me. ⁴⁶ No one has seen the Father except the one who is from God; only he has seen the Father. ⁴⁷ Very truly I tell you, the one who believes has eternal life. ⁴⁸ I am the bread of life. ⁴⁹ Your ancestors ate the manna in the wilderness, yet they died. ⁵⁰ But here is the bread that comes down from heaven, which anyone may eat and not die. ⁵¹ I am the living bread that came down from heaven. Whoever eats this bread will live forever. This bread is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world.”

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

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

⁶⁰ On hearing it, many of his disciples said, “This is a hard teaching. Who can accept it?”

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

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

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

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

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

From the Pulpit—Video & Full Transcript

John 5:1-14 The Healing at the Pool
John 5:15-47 The Authority of the Son

Commentary

5 Some time later, Jesus went up to Jerusalem for one of the Jewish festivals. 

1. Christians disagree on which unnamed festival Jesus was going to Jerusalem for in this instance.  Passover or Shavuot tend to be the ones most gravitate towards.
   1. If it was Passover (which Jesus also goes up for in John 2:13, 6:4, and 11:55) it would reasonably fit into Jesus’s 3.5 year period of public ministry.  Symbolically, healing during Passover would show that Jesus is liberating people today, just as Moses liberated in the past, painting him as the greater Moses.
   2. Passover happened at harvest, but John 4:35 says harvest was still four months away.  Shavuot was a festival that happened around that time.  It was a celebration of Moses receiving the law at Sinai.  Symbolically, healing on the Sabbath (a violation of the law, strictly interpreted) and then lecturing the Jewish leaders about the law afterwards would be fitting for a festival about God’s law.

2 Now there is in Jerusalem near the Sheep Gate a pool, which in Aramaic is called Bethesda and which is surrounded by five covered colonnades. 3 Here a great number of disabled people used to lie—the blind, the lame, the paralyzed.

1. The pool was located in Jerusalem near the Sheep Gate, a gate used primarily for moving sheep and other livestock in and out of the city.
2. The covered colonnades were a beautiful work of Roman architecture, but here it had been essentially turned into a homelessness camp by the poor and desperate who were hoping to find healing in the waters.  This was a place of immense suffering.
3. The pool of Bethesda was a local legend, not widely known throughout the empire. It was almost forgotten by history until archaeologists found it. Its modern remembrance is primarily because Jesus visited it.

—and they waited for the moving of the waters. 4 From time to time an angel of the Lord would come down and stir up the waters. The first one into the pool after each such disturbance would be cured of whatever disease they had.

1. This addition to verse three and the entirety of verse four is subject to scholarly debate.  It does not appear in some of the earliest version of the text.  It may have been a scribe’s explanatory note that was later incorporated into the text.
2. Regardless of its scriptural authenticity, the verse is helpful because it explains that people were waiting and watching for the water to bubble, at which point there would be a “mad dash” to be the first one in.
3. This intense focus on the pool caused the people to miss Jesus, a great healer, when He came.
4. “Their eyes were fixed on the water, expecting it to be troubled; they were so taken up with their own chosen way that the true way was neglected.” -Charles Spurgeon, “Jesus at Bethesda; or, Waiting Changed for Believing”, April 7 1867.

 5 One who was there had been an invalid for thirty-eight years. 6 When Jesus saw him lying there and learned that he had been in this condition for a long time, he asked him, “Do you want to get well?”

1. The man Jesus approached had been an invalid for 38 years.  His whole life defined by his condition.
2. When Jesus asks him, “Do you want to get well,” it is not a silly question.  Being healed would be hard!  It would completely change the man’s life. He would lose his means of getting charity, have to find a trade, and possibly lose the community he knew by the pool.

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

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

1. The man responded with an excuse, explaining that he has no one to help him into the pool. Jesus doesn’t ask for or need an explanation or justification.
2. Jesus commands him, “Get up. Pick up your mat and walk.” This healing requires the man to take initiative and trust Jesus, even though it may have seemed irrational or been physically difficult.
   1. Notice that Jesus ignores the pool entirely.  A whole ecosystem has evolved around waiting for the pool to bubble up and heal someone.  This system is broken.  Jesus doesn’t need the things of this world to heal.  His power is sufficient.
   2. If you want to be healed from the unhealthy things in your life, don’t wait on the world around you to heal you.  Pick up your mat and walk, trusting that Jesus’s power, mercy, and grace are available if you take the initiative.

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

11 But he replied, “The man who made me well said to me, ‘Pick up your mat and walk.’ ”

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

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

1. After being healed, the man is confronted by authorities who are upset that he is carrying his mat on the Sabbath. They want him to preserve the status quo and effectively “go back where he came from.”
   1. These leaders are the enforcers of the culture that Jesus just shook up.  In their minds, people like this man are supposed to stay at the pool, especially on Sundays. 
   2. Jesus showed that their order was not God’s intention.  This man is living proof that their system was fragile.
2. When we experience healing in Christ, some people may be frustrated and want to drag us back to our old, unhealthy ways.

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

1. Healing is not a “one and done” event. One must continually choose to live as a new creation and not slip back into sin or brokenness.
2. “Nothing was farther from his intention than to make Christ an object of their hatred, and nothing was farther from his expectation than that they would rage so furiously against Christ. His intention, therefore, was pious; for he wished to render to his Physician the honor which was justly due to him.” -John Calvin, Commentary on John 4

16 So, because Jesus was doing these things on the Sabbath, the Jewish leaders began to persecute him. 

1. Historical Context of Sabbath Observance
   1. The leaders’ legalistic view is informed by history. The Sabbath is one of the Ten Commandments, and the Old Testament penalty for breaking it was death (Exo. 31:14-15 and 35:2)
   2. Israel’s failure to keep the Sabbath contributed to their 70 years in exile (2 Chron. 36:20-21, Lev. 26:33-35, Jer. 25:11-12)
   3. The exile ended about 500  years before the time of Christ, but it was a massive event in Israelite history.  A significant part of their communal self-understanding was wrapped up in that period of exile.
   4. This led to taking the law so seriously that they created a series of laws concerning what activities were allowable and which ones weren’t that were so complex that they even dictated what could and couldn’t carry on the Sabbath.
      1. In the Babylonian Talmud (b. Shabbat 94b), there is a series of laws concerning Muktzeh (laws concerning whether items should be handled at all) and Hotza’ah (laws concerning the carrying of items) on the Sabbath. Some items, like a hoe, are Muktzeh (translated: set aside) because they are tools of labor and have no Sabbath-appropriate purpose. Other items, like a sleeping mat, are permitted for use but are subject to Hotza’ah laws, which prevent you from moving the items from a private dwelling into a public area. The mat had a Sabbath-appropriate purpose (sitting or lying down), but the man was carrying it in the streets, so it was a violation of law.

17 In his defense Jesus said to them, “My Father is always at his work to this very day, and I too am working.” 18 For this reason they tried all the more to kill him; not only was he breaking the Sabbath, but he was even calling God his own Father, making himself equal with God.

1. “My Father is always at his work to this very day, and I too am working.”
   1. Jesus equates himself to God with this statement, which the leaders recognize and are infuriated by.
2. …not only was he breaking the Sabbath,
   1. Jesus consistently taught the Sabbath’s purpose was misunderstood. 
      1. His disciples plucking grain on the Sabbath (Matthew 12:3-8).
      2. Teaching that one would rescue a child or a donkey from a well on the Sabbath (Luke 14:5).
      3. Jesus teaches, “The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath,” and that He is the “Lord of the Sabbath.” (Mark 2:27-28)
   2. The Sabbath is a means to draw closer to God, not an end. It was established at creation to teach humans to rest in God.
3. Christian Sabbath (Sunday)
   1. The Christian Sabbath moved from Saturday to Sunday, as seen in Acts 20:7.
   2. The logic: the old Sabbath represented rest in the old creation, while Sunday—the day of Jesus’s resurrection—signifies the start of the new creation.
   3. Modern Christians are more at risk of neglecting the Sabbath than of taking it too seriously.  Many have redefined Sabbath away from a particular day or to include any sort of rest, rather than rest specifically intended to grow closer to God.
   4. There’s an opportunity to value the Sabbath not just as a brief moment of rest in a busy day or a random vacation, but as a day that God intended for us as a tool and means for our benefit—a day of worshipful rest in God.

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

1. After the Sabbath conflict, Jesus explains His relationship with God the Father.
   1. This section uses a large amount of classic Trinitarian language, affirming that Jesus and the Father are distinct persons yet one being—both are God.  To honor one is to honor both.
   2. “To believe and love the Trinity is to possess the key of theology.” -Charles Spurgeon, “Bread Enough and to Spare,” July 16, 1871.

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

1. And he has given him authority…
   1. Jesus asserts His authority in response to earthly authorities challenging Him. He speaks with perfect judgment and discernment as God.
   2. When we encounter teachings or actions of Jesus we don’t understand or prefer, we must remember His divine authority. Our disagreement is our problem, not His.

28 “Do not be amazed at this, for a time is coming when all who are in their graves will hear his voice 29 and come out—those who have done what is good will rise to live, and those who have done what is evil will rise to be condemned. 30 By myself I can do nothing; I judge only as I hear, and my judgment is just, for I seek not to please myself but him who sent me.

31 “If I testify about myself, my testimony is not true. 32 There is another who testifies in my favor, and I know that his testimony about me is true.

33 “You have sent to John and he has testified to the truth. 34 Not that I accept human testimony; but I mention it that you may be saved. 35 John was a lamp that burned and gave light, and you chose for a time to enjoy his light.

36 “I have testimony weightier than that of John. For the works that the Father has given me to finish—the very works that I am doing—testify that the Father has sent me. 37 And the Father who sent me has himself testified concerning me. You have never heard his voice nor seen his form, 38 nor does his word dwell in you, for you do not believe the one he sent. 39 You study[c] the Scriptures diligently because you think that in them you have eternal life. These are the very Scriptures that testify about me, 40 yet you refuse to come to me to have life.

1. “If I testify about myself, my testimony is not true…”
   1. Jesus admits that His own testimony would not be sufficient to prove anything, so he points to external witnesses.
      1. Deut. 19:15 and Num. 35:30 require two or three witnesses to establish any charge or execute judgment. 
2. “I have testimony weightier than that of John…”
   1. John the Baptist testified to the truth, which was helpful, but Jesus relies on a weightier testimony: God Himself.  God’s testimony is expressed in two ways:
      1. Miracles: Jesus’s works, given by the Father, testify that the Father sent Him.
      2. Scripture: The Old Testament points to Jesus constantly.
3. Jesus tells scripture experts that they study diligently thinking they have eternal life, but miss the point.
4. “These are the very scriptures that testify about me…”
   1. “Again, we are taught by this passage, that if we wish to obtain the knowledge of Christ, we must seek it from the Scriptures; for they who imagine whatever they choose concerning Christ will ultimately have nothing instead of him but a shadowy phantom.” -John Calvin, Calvin’s Commentary on John  
   2. Scripture is a means to an end (knowing God), not an end in itself. The words matter, like in a love letter, but their value lies in pointing to the author, God.
5. There are many people that claim to know a lot about Scripture, but they haven’t found God in spite of all of their so-called knowledge.
   1. Bart Ehrman is a famous professor and atheist that uses his knowledge of early Christian documents to try to debunk Christianity.
   2. Amy Jill-Levine is a professor of the New Testament that is Jewish and does not believe in Jesus.  In spite of that, she produces resources about Jesus to be used in churches.
   3. People inside the church today can also miss the point by treating scripture reading as a checklist item.
   4. When opening scripture, expect to encounter God, regardless of feelings. The goal is to seek God through it.

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

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

1. God is the intended endpoint of everything we see.
   1. “I know that you do not have the love of God in your hearts…”
      1. Everything in our lives is intended to point us to God, whether it be prayer, a walk in the park, or time with a friend.  God is the ultimate end of everything that’s created.  It’s should draw our attention to Him.
   2. “How can you believe since you accept glory from one another but do not seek the glory that comes from the only God?”
      1. We are called to be means through which others see God’s goodness.  Just as everything should draw our attention to God, we should draw other people’s attention to God, not to ourselves.
      2. “Our hearts are restless until they rest in you” -Augustine of Hippo, Confessions, Bk. 1.
2. “…for he wrote about me.”
   1. “Indeed had they attended to His words, they ought and would have tried to learn from Him, what the things were which Moses had written of Him. But they are silent. For it is the nature of wickedness to defy persuasion. Do what you will, it retains its venom to the last.” -John Chrysostom, Hom. xli. 2.

From the Pulpit—Video & Full Transcript

John 4:1-26: The Samaritan Woman
John 4:27-42: Reap!
John 4:43-55: Jesus Heals an Official’s Son

Commentary

4 Now Jesus learned that the Pharisees had heard that he was gaining and baptizing more disciples than John— 2 although in fact it was not Jesus who baptized, but his disciples. 

1. Note that the Bible explicitly clarifies that Jesus was not baptizing people.  Even though it was a part of his ministry, he didn’t personally do the baptizing.  He only oversaw the process.
2. Why didn’t Jesus baptize?
   1. Some suggest that Jesus was more concerned with inspiring faith over baptizing each individual person, so he left the follow-up to the disciples.
   2. Some suggest Jesus prioritized inspiring faith over personally baptizing, leaving the act to disciples, though there’s not textual support for this.
   3. A stronger reason for Jesus’s reluctance to personally baptism is that He is the one who is supposed to baptize with the Holy Spirit (Acts 1:5).  Since the Holy Spirit had not yet been given by Jesus, the fullness of Christ’s baptism was not available.  This was more akin to John’s baptism for repentance, which only involved water.
3. “The reason why He baptized not Himself, had been already declared by John, He shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost and with fire. (Luke 3:16) Now He had not yet given the Holy Spirit: it was therefore fitting that He should not baptize.” -John Chrysostom, Hom. xxxi. 1

3 So he left Judea and went back once more to Galilee.

1. Jesus’s rising fame created tension with the Pharisees.  Rather than allowing his ministry to the “anti-Pharisee” ministry, Jesus moved on to continue focusing on the truth that he needed to share, rather than just arguing in an increasingly hostile environment.   HE wasn’t afraid of the Pharisees.  He would engage with them again later, but he refused to allow himself to be reduced to their opposition.
2. “He was showing an example to them who were to believe in Him (that any one servant of God sins not if he retire into another place, when he sees, it may be, the rage of his persecutors, or of them that seek to bring his soul into evil; but if a servant of God did this he might appear to commit sin, had not the Lord led the way in doing it), that good Master did this to teach us, not because He feared it.” -Augustine of Hippo, Tractate 15 on John

4 Now he had to go through Samaria. 

1. Jesus traveled from Judea to Galilee and “had to” go through Samaria. While the route made geographical sense (Samaria lies near Israel’s borders; Galilee is an outlying enclave), most Jews would have found a way around it.  There was severe tension between the Jews and the Samaritans.
2. Sources of Tension between Israelites and Samaritans
   1. Similarity can create friction; groups that live in the same area with competing claims and identities often clash more easily than groups that are obviously different.
   2. Competing Religious Claims:
      1. Both the Jews and the Samaritans claimed to be true worshipers of God and the true Israel, considering the other’s claim illegitimate.
      2. The Samaritans only accepted the Pentateuch (Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy) as Scripture, denying later prophetic books, which increased conflict with the Jews who affirmed other books as divinely inspired.
   3. Competing Identity Claims
      1. Samaritans said they were the true Israelites because they stayed in the land during the Assyrian exile.  Others were forced to leave because of the Assyrian policies, but the Samaritans found a way to stay and shepherd the area.
      2. The Israelites that returned after the exile saw the Samaritans as people who had compromised themselves by intermarrying and adopting Assyrian culture to appeal to the dominant culture, losing their real identity while others suffered exile for their faith. 

5 So he came to a town in Samaria called Sychar, near the plot of ground Jacob had given to his son Joseph.

 6 Jacob’s well was there, and Jesus, tired as he was from the journey, sat down by the well. It was about noon.

1. “Jacob’s well was there,”
   1. Jacob’s well is not particularly famous.  There is nothing mentioned in Scripture about it.  Its importance comes from its owner, not any event that happened at it.  
   2. A modern equivalent might be something like “George Washington’s cornfield.”  Assuming such a place exists somewhere, nothing noteworthy happened there, but it’s notable because of the owner.
   3. “And what more proper place than Jacob’s well, for exposing the unlawful husband, i. e. the perverse law? For the Samaritan woman is meant to figure to us a soul, that has subjected itself to a hind of law of its own, not the divine law. And our Saviour wishes to marry her to a lawful husband, i. e. Himself; the Word of truth which was to rise from the dead, and never again to die.” -Origen, tom. xiii. c. 8
2. “It was about noon.”
   1. In first century Israel, women typically drew water in the morning to avoid heat and to catch up with one another at the well.
   2. The Samaritan woman arriving at noon likely indicates that she’s avoiding others.  As Jesus unfolds her story in the coming verses, it becomes increasingly obvious that she may be a social outcast and subject of gossip.

7 When a Samaritan woman came to draw water, Jesus said to her, “Will you give me a drink?”8 (His disciples had gone into the town to buy food.)

9 The Samaritan woman said to him, “You are a Jew and I am a Samaritan woman. How can you ask me for a drink?” (For Jews do not associate with Samaritans.[a])

10 Jesus answered her, “If you knew the gift of God and who it is that asks you for a drink, you would have asked him and he would have given you living water.”

1. “Jesus said to her, “Will you give me a drink?”
   1. Jesus spoke directly to her, which broke social norms on several levels.  Firstly, Jews didn’t associate with Samaritans.  Secondly, men didn’t tend to speak to women alone without a husband, father or brother present to witness the propriety of the interaction.
   2. He asks her for a drink—a deliberate request for a favor.  Sociologists say that this is a good way to build rapport in a new environment.  By asking for help, you show that you see value in the other person and are vulnerable, which prevents you from appearing as some sort of social threat.
2. “living water”
   1. Jesus offers “living water,” a phrase carrying dual meanings in Greek: flowing, fresh water (spring/river) and spiritually vivifying water pointing to eternal life.
   2. English translations prefer “living water” to preserve the spiritual resonance; the woman initially interprets it as literal fresh water, focusing on convenience (not having to return to draw water).

11 “Sir,” the woman said, “you have nothing to draw with and the well is deep. Where can you get this living water? 12 Are you greater than our father Jacob, who gave us the well and drank from it himself, as did also his sons and his livestock?”

13 Jesus answered, “Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, 14 but whoever drinks the water I give them will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give them will become in them a spring of water welling up to eternal life.”

15 The woman said to him, “Sir, give me this water so that I won’t get thirsty and have to keep coming here to draw water.”

16 He told her, “Go, call your husband and come back.”

17 “I have no husband,” she replied.

Jesus said to her, “You are right when you say you have no husband. 18 The fact is, you have had five husbands, and the man you now have is not your husband. What you have just said is quite true.”

1. Transition from physical thirst to spiritual thirst
   1. Jesus contrasts water that only provides for earthly needs (“whoever drinks this water will be thirsty again”) with the spiritual benefit of the water he gives, which becomes “a spring of water welling up to eternal life.”
   2. He reveals awareness of her personal life: she has had five husbands and lives with a man who is not her husband. She’s been seeking fulfillment in relationships with men.  Not only has it not gone well, but it hasn’t quenched the thirst for meaning in her life.
   3. In the Jesus revolution of the 1970s, many young people that had sought their fulfillment in drugs or hippie counterculture found lasting fulfillment in Jesus.

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

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

1. 1. “I can see that you are a prophet. Our ancestors worshiped on this mountain…”
      1. The woman shifts the whole conversation towards “religious” questions, shifting the tone from an honest conversation about her life to theoretical doctrinal debates.
      2. “From the truth which was becoming inconveniently personal she flew to that natural resort of the carnal mind, namely, to religions discourse upon points of outward observance”. -Spurgeon, Verse Expositions of the Bible

• “true worshipers will worship the Father in the Spirit and in truth”

1. 1. Jesus reframes the issue away from ethnicity, tradition, and location: “A time is coming…when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem.”
   2. He isn’t vague on doctrine.  He acknowledges “salvation is from the Jews” but moves towards that bigger picture that he’s inviting her to participate in where people “worship the Father in spirit and in truth,” because “God is spirit.”
   3. Ethnic lineage and traditional sites are not the path to God; the Holy Spirit’s indwelling and truth-seeking are essential. He invites her to abandon religious formalism and be honest about what she really needs.  He knows her thirst and how she longs for God in her life.

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

26 Then Jesus declared, “I, the one speaking to you—I am he.”

1. Conversion doesn’t come from superior religious theory being explained well or being so nice for so long that someone just goes with it.  Conversion comes from a person encountering Jesus and knowing his power and his person directly.
2. This encounter gives us some key principles for evangelism.
   1. Talk to someone, even if it’s uncomfortable or seemingly strange.
   2. Build and honest rapport by letting yourself be vulnerable and seeing their gifts.
   3. Connect things that people know to what they don’t know yet.
   4. Lovingly help people see what they’re looking for can be found in Jesus.
   5. Avoid getting trapped in debates over little things.  Emphasize the big picture of what God is doing.
   6. Introduce people to Jesus personally.  His power is sufficient.

27 Just then his disciples returned and were surprised to find him talking with a woman. But no one asked, “What do you want?” or “Why are you talking with her?”

1. The disciples return to find Jesus speaking with a Samaritan woman, which was socially unacceptable and potentially scandalous, but there’s no interrogation.  Instead, they trust that Jesus is up to something, and they can learn.
   1. We have to trust people that we hope to learn from.  A student learning algebra might be baffled at the sudden appearance of letters in a math equation, but if they accuse the teacher of making a mistake, they’ll miss an opportunity to learn.
   2. God knows everything and is the ultimate teacher, but how often do we really trust him when our life differs from what we expect?  If we accuse Him, we will miss what he’s doing. 

28 Then, leaving her water jar, the woman went back to the town and said to the people, 29 “Come, see a man who told me everything I ever did. Could this be the Messiah?” 30 They came out of the town and made their way toward him.

1. Notice that she’s excited that he knew what she did, even though the knowledge he had was about how she had fallen short and failed to find what she wanted.  This potential messiah knew what she did, but still wanted to talk to her.  He was not only powerful, but he was merciful.
2. It’s likely the town knew her history well.  There’s no way she could have kept her messy marriages secret.  Drawing attention to herself in this way was a risk, but she’s willing to take it because of what Jesus means to her.
3. “The woman is almost turned into an Apostle. So forcible are His words, that she leaves her waterpot to go to the city, and tell her townsmen of them. The woman then left her waterpot, i. e. gave up low bodily cares, for the sake of benefitting others. Let us do the same. Let us leave off caring for things of the body, and impart to others of our own.” -Origen

31 Meanwhile his disciples urged him, “Rabbi, eat something.”

32 But he said to them, “I have food to eat that you know nothing about.”

33 Then his disciples said to each other, “Could someone have brought him food?”

34 “My food,” said Jesus, “is to do the will of him who sent me and to finish his work. 

1. We’ve seen this from Jesus earlier in this chapter.  For the woman who was new to God, he took the example of water, something physical that she knew, to talk about what she was really thirsty for: a relationship with God.  Now, he talks to the disciples in a similar way about food.
   1. Water was eternal life, but food is doing the will of God and joining in that mission in the day to day.
   2. Many people think that metaphorical water is enough for their journey with God.  They KNOW that Jesus died for them, but then they don’t apply that knowledge to their daily life.  Life seems meaningless, trapped in routines, waiting for Jesus to come.  God invites us to daily mission and purpose to fill our hunger for meaning in this world.
2. “What wonder that the woman did not understand about the water? Lo, the disciples do not understand about the food!” -Augustine

35 Don’t you have a saying, ‘It’s still four months until harvest’? I tell you, open your eyes and look at the fields! They are ripe for harvest. 36 Even now the one who reaps draws a wage and harvests a crop for eternal life, so that the sower and the reaper may be glad together. 37 Thus the saying ‘One sows and another reaps’ is true. 38 I sent you to reap what you have not worked for. Others have done the hard work, and you have reaped the benefits of their labor.”

1. To a person who has done little farming, harvest might seem like the payoff at the end.  This is the chance to finally get the fruits of your labor!  But remember that the harvest season is one of the most labor-intensive parts of farming.  Farmers spend a lot of time rushing against the clock, working in the fields during harvest.
2. ‘One sows and another reaps’
   1. “This was a common proverb, by which he showed that many men frequently receive the fruit of the labor of others, though there was this difference, that he who has labored is displeased at seeing the fruit carried away by another, whereas the Apostles have the Prophets for the companions of their joy.” -John Calvin
3. This truth is not only true individually, but corporately.  Think about all the people at your local church that planted seeds so that you could harvest!  Decades of people worked hard so you can stand where you are.

39 Many of the Samaritans from that town believed in him because of the woman’s testimony, “He told me everything I ever did.” 40 So when the Samaritans came to him, they urged him to stay with them, and he stayed two days. 41 And because of his words many more became believers.

42 They said to the woman, “We no longer believe just because of what you said; now we have heard for ourselves, and we know that this man really is the Savior of the world.”

1. The least likely people in the least likely place provide the first real example of people being excited and hungry for what Jesus is doing.
2. When we feel discouraged, we sometimes assume that Christ has done his best work in the past and there is nothing left to look forward to.  If Jesus can cause such a stir in Samaria through a woman with little social capital, what can he do in our lives?

43 After the two days he left for Galilee. 44 (Now Jesus himself had pointed out that a prophet has no honor in his own country.) 

45 When he arrived in Galilee, the Galileans welcomed him. They had seen all that he had done in Jerusalem at the Passover Festival, for they also had been there.

1. “no honor in his own country.” 
   1. Jesus grew up in Galilee.   The people who live there are excited to see him again!  They’ve heard about his miracles and teachings!  They’ve seen the impact he’s making on the world!  They want to talk to him, but not to know him.  They think they already know him.  He’s Joseph’s boy!  What’s left to know?  They’re interested in what he does and what he offers, but they aren’t interested in him. 
2. A lot of people approach God with imperfect motives.  They often want good things (community, relationships, moral guidance, structure) that aren’t the best thing.  These searches for little goods can lead to the greatest good: God himself and eternal life with Him.
3. Cyril of Jerusalem, a great teacher of the Church, told a group of people that were hoping to join the Church: “[You may have] come on another pretext. It is possible that a man is wishing to pay court to a woman, and came hither on that account. The remark applies in like manner to women also in their turn. A slave also perhaps wishes to please his master, and a friend his friend. I accept this bait for the hook, and welcome you, though you came with an evil purpose, yet as one to be saved by a good hope. Perhaps you knew not whither you were coming, nor in what kind of net you are taken. You have come within the Church’s nets : be taken alive, flee not: for Jesus is angling for you.”  -Cyril of Jerusalem, Catechetical Lectures, Prologue

46 Once more he visited Cana in Galilee, where he had turned the water into wine. And there was a certain royal official whose son lay sick at Capernaum. 47 When this man heard that Jesus had arrived in Galilee from Judea, he went to him and begged him to come and heal his son, who was close to death.

1. This is an official that is a part of Herod’s royal court.  He would have been powerful and very wealthy.  He would certainly have had ample opportunity to see any doctors and miracle workers that he could have wanted.  He likely had seen others already!  In spite of all that the world has given him, here he begs at the feet of Jesus.

48 “Unless you people see signs and wonders,” Jesus told him, “you will never believe.”

1. The official’s motivation is good (he is a good father that wants to save his son) but just like the others, he’s more interested in Jesus’s power than on Jesus himself.
2. Jesus first replies with a seeming rebuke: “Unless you people see signs and wonders, you will never believe.” This targets the crowd’s (and the official’s) desire for miracles over genuine relationship.
3. Jesus also does not act with the urgency the man expects. Is it any surprise that the one who created life is not going to be bothered over something little like death? Is it any surprise that the Lord over all of eternity is not bothered by something like time? Jesus isn’t concerned because he’s in control. 
4. In our lives as well, God works on His own schedule. God’s goal is to make us holy, though not necessarily happy.  Things can be long and uncomfortable, even if we’d prefer otherwise.  Sometimes we need to be melted down to be forged into something beautiful.

49 The royal official said, “Sir, come down before my child dies.”

1. In spite of his power, the official offers real sincerity here.  There’s no threat or bribe.  He sets himself aside and gives an honest, sincere, heartbreaking plea to help his child.  
2. “He thought it possible that his son could be freed from sickness and disease, but not that he could be raised up after he was dead; and therefore he urges Christ to make haste, that his son’s recovery may not be prevented by his death. Accordingly, when Christ pardons both, we may conclude from it how highly he values even a small measure of faith.”  -Calvin’s Commentary, John 4

50 “Go,” Jesus replied, “your son will live.”

The man took Jesus at his word and departed.

1. Jesus tests the man’s faith by telling him, “Go. Your son will live,” rather than accompanying him to his house to do the healing.
2. By healing in this way, the man has to trust that Jesus is who he says he is over the pure spectacle of a live miracle.  He has to give up his control and give total control over to Jesus.
3. This man came for a miracle, but stumbles onto something (shockingly) even better. 
   1. He came with nothing but hope, but he leaves with faith in Christ. 
   2. He came wanting the life of someone else, but he is going to stumble into his own eternal life. 
   3. He came to protect a relationship with someone that he helped create, and he is about to gain a relationship with the One who created him.

51 While he was still on the way, his servants met him with the news that his boy was living. 52 When he inquired as to the time when his son got better, they said to him, “Yesterday, at one in the afternoon, the fever left him.”

53 Then the father realized that this was the exact time at which Jesus had said to him, “Your son will live.” So he and his whole household believed.

1. The journey from Cana to Capernaum is about 25 miles, roughly an 8-hour walk.   He could have arrived home in the evening the same day he spoke to Jesus, but instead, he finds the servant on the road the next day!  He believed so strongly that Jesus was who He said He was that he chose to sleep at an inn along the way. 
2. As a result, the official and his “whole household believed.” This took courage for someone who worked for King Herod, who was instrumental in Jesus’s crucifixion.  It likely cost him socially and professionally. He arrived with faith in one king (Herod) and departed with faith in a new King (Jesus).

54 This was the second sign Jesus performed after coming from Judea to Galilee.

1. “The second miracle, he says markedly. The Jews had not come to the more perfect faith of the Samaritans, who saw no miracle.” – John Chrysostom, Homily 36, 1.
2. “His teachings were the explanation of his doings his doings confirmations of his teachings. Jesus Christ had never occasion to any, ‘Do as I say, but not as I do.’ His words and his actions were in perfect harmony with one another. You might be sure that he was honest in what he said, because what he did forced that conviction upon your mind.” -Charles Spurgeon, “Characteristics of Faith,” May 27th, 1860.

From the Pulpit—Video & Full Transcript

John 3:1-21: Born Again
John 3:22-36: John’s Final Testimony

Commentary

3 Now there was a Pharisee, a man named Nicodemus who was a member of the Jewish ruling council.

1. Profile of Nicodemus
   1. “A Pharisee”- Nicodemus was a Pharisee, part of a Jewish group that was known for zealous, legalistic teaching of God’s law, often missing its true meaning.
   2. “A member of the Jewish ruling council”- He was a member of the Sanhedrin, the Jewish ruling council.  There were traditionally only 71 scholars in the Sanhedrin, so his influence and power were exceptional.
   3. “Nicodemus”- His name is Greek, not Hebrew.  Jews with Greek names in this timeframe were influenced from the Greek culture that spread throughout the region during Alexander the Great’s reign.  Jews that spoke Greek were disproportionately likely to be from urban centers, have access to wealth and travel, and have had access to quality education.
   4. Given these details, Nicodemos was someone who likely thought he knew everything!  He had a good education on how to think incorrectly.  It’s very likely that he was arrogant, given how many worldly accolades he had.

 2 He came to Jesus at night and said, “Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher who has come from God. For no one could perform the signs you are doing if God were not with him.”

1. Despite his background and influence, something compelled Nicodemus to seek Jesus.  There was something about this “Jesus” teacher that evaded him, and he had to know what it was.
2. He met Jesus at night, indicating a desire for secrecy to protect his reputation.
3. He addressed Jesus as “Rabbi,” a title he also held, approaching the meeting as a peer-to-peer discussion (“teacher to teacher”) to explore “finer points of religious philosophy.”

3 Jesus replied, “Very truly I tell you, no one can see the kingdom of God unless they are born again.”

1. In response to Nicodemus’s formal introduction, Jesus immediately and authoritatively declares, “Very truly I tell you, no one can see the kingdom of God unless they’re born again.”
   1. “Truly, truly” (amen amen) is a doubled emphatic in Greek—an exclamation, not filler.  Jesus isn’t theorizing!  He’s making a serious, decisive statement.
2. Jesus’s directness is tailored to Nicodemus’s arrogant, know-it-all demeanor.  He wants to shake him out of his stupor!
3. “Take away whatsoever seemeth thee good, reputation, fortune, friends, health, only give me this, to be born of the Spirit, to be received among the children of God!” -John Wesley

4 “How can someone be born when they are old?” Nicodemus asked. “Surely they cannot enter a second time into their mother’s womb to be born!”

1. Nicodemus’s question isn’t sincere.  Metaphor long before Jesus’s time.  To ask this question in a way that implies that Jesus is literally demanding someone to go back into their mother’s womb is intentionally obtuse, misunderstanding on purpose to suggest that Jesus is being absurd.

5 Jesus answered, “Very truly I tell you, no one can enter the kingdom of God unless they are born of water and the Spirit. 

1. Many interpreters assume that Jesus is referring to baptism, but Nicodemus wouldn’t have understood what Jesus meant if that was the intended analogy since Christian baptism doesn’t exist yet. Jesus’s words needed to be comprehensible, and they would have been to someone who knew Scripture as well as Nicodemos.  Water and the Spirit are both well-established symbolically throughout Scripture.
   1. Water: Symbolizes repentance and cleansing (Psalm 51:7: “Wash me and I will be whiter than snow”; Ezekiel 36:25: “I will sprinkle clean water on you and you shall be clean”).
   2. The Spirit: Represents God’s creative power at work in the world and in people (Genesis 1: Spirit hovering over the waters; Judges 6:34: Spirit coming upon Gideon; 2 Samuel 23:2: Spirit speaking through David).

6 Flesh gives birth to flesh, but the Spirit gives birth to spirit. 

7 You should not be surprised at my saying, ‘You must be born again.’ 8 The wind blows wherever it pleases. You hear its sound, but you cannot tell where it comes from or where it is going. So it is with everyone born of the Spirit.”

1. Jesus compares the Spirit’s work to the wind: “The wind blows wherever it pleases. You hear its sound, but you cannot tell where it comes from or where it is going.”
2. This illustrates that one can experience and feel the effects of God’s Spirit without fully grasping the “finer points” of doctrine.

9 “How can this be?” Nicodemus asked.

10 “You are Israel’s teacher,” said Jesus, “and do you not understand these things? 11 Very truly I tell you, we speak of what we know, and we testify to what we have seen, but still you people do not accept our testimony. 12 I have spoken to you of earthly things and you do not believe; how then will you believe if I speak of heavenly things? 13 No one has ever gone into heaven except the one who came from heaven—the Son of Man. 14 Just as Moses lifted up the snake in the wilderness, so the Son of Man must be lifted up, 15 that everyone who believes may have eternal life in him.”

16 For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. 

1. This particular verse is an elemental part of the Christian faith.  It’s the most commonly-known verse in the entire  Bible.  Rather than approach it with the assumption that we know it, it’s good to think through it slowly.  Having come so far, do we still align with the very basics that we set out with?
   1. “For God”: In a world like ours, it is a bold claim to know something true about God.  Who can say what is true or false about God?  But the core of Christianity is to know who God is… and who he isn’t.
   2. “so loved”: God’s primary motive is love, not anger or sadness.
   3. “the world”: God’s love extends to all creation—plants, animals, and people—not just humanity.
      1. Dostoyevsky discussed true love for the world beautifully in his novel, The Brothers Karamazov: “Love all God’s creation, the whole of it and every grain of sand in it. Love every leaf, every ray of God’s light. Love the animals, love the plants, love everything. If you love everything, you will perceive the divine mystery in things. Once you have perceived it, you will begin to comprehend it better every day, and you will come at last to love the world with an all-embracing love…. Treasure this ecstasy, however absurd people may think it.” -Dostoyevsky
   4. “that he gave”: God has not begun this relationship with us by demanding anything, but by freely giving to us grace upon grace.
   5. “His one and only son”: his most precious possession.
   6. “that whoever”: A universal invitation open to anyone from a beggar in India to a bureaucrat in China and everyone in between
   7. “believes in Him”: Belief means full, trusting surrender of one’s life to Jesus, not just intellectual assent.
   8. “shall not perish”: God intervenes to save us from the perishing caused by our own sin.
   9. “but have eternal life”: New life that begins now, not only after death.
2. “Men who love much will give much, and you may usually measure the truth of love by its self-denials and sacrifices. That love which spares nothing, but spends itself to help and bless its object, is love indeed, and not the mere name of it. Little love forgets to bring water for the feet, but great love breaks its box of alabaster and lavishes its precious ointment.  Consider, then, what this gift was that God gave.” -Charles Spurgeon

17 For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. 18 Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because they have not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son. 

1. It can be uncomfortable to acknowledge that God openly condemns those who don’t believe in his Son, but we need to address this uncomfortable reality.  If we don’t acknowledge that we’re condemned without Jesus, how can he be a savior?  What is he saving us from? 
2. Some people say God is stingy for not giving us multiple ways to be saved.  That isn’t reasonable.
   1. Imagine a person $5 million in debt who complains that a blank check from a benefactor requires them to walk a block to the bank.
   2. Or imagine a person falling off a cliff who criticizes their rescuer for offering a hand instead of a rope or a helicopter.
   3. In both cases, the one needing salvation is entitled; the savior is not stingy.

19 This is the verdict: Light has come into the world, but people loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil. 20 Everyone who does evil hates the light, and will not come into the light for fear that their deeds will be exposed. 21 But whoever lives by the truth comes into the light, so that it may be seen plainly that what they have done has been done in the sight of God.

1. Evil-doers “hate the light” and avoid exposure. US Supreme Court Justice Louis Brandeis said, “Sunlight is the best disinfectant,” in reference to the simple fact that corruption grows where there is no visibility and accountability.
2. Belief must be embodied in deeds; evidence of new birth should be visible.

22 After this, Jesus and his disciples went out into the Judean countryside, where he spent some time with them, and baptized. 

1. Note that according to John 4:2, Jesus didn’t personally baptize anyone.  His disciples did it for him while he oversaw it.

23 Now John also was baptizing at Aenon near Salim, because there was plenty of water, and people were coming and being baptized. 24 (This was before John was put in prison.) 25 An argument developed between some of John’s disciples and a certain Jew over the matter of ceremonial washing. 26 They came to John and said to him, “Rabbi, that man who was with you on the other side of the Jordan—the one you testified about—look, he is baptizing, and everyone is going to him.”

1. John’s disciples are worried that Jesus is now stealing John’s ministry!  Not only is he baptizing people, something that John literally has a title about, but he’s drawing bigger crowds!
2. Ministries built on ego or a sense of territory do not reflect the kingdom of Heaven.  Many such “ministries” exist to this day, much to the sadness of God.

27 To this John replied, “A person can receive only what is given them from heaven. 28 You yourselves can testify that I said, ‘I am not the Messiah but am sent ahead of him.’ 29 The bride belongs to the bridegroom. The friend who attends the bridegroom waits and listens for him, and is full of joy when he hears the bridegroom’s voice. That joy is mine, and it is now complete. 30 He must become greater; I must become less.”

1. In his response, John submits to the authority of Jesus.
   1. John’s response to his disciples reveals a fundamental truth about the prophets: prophets are people who submit.  
      1. The image of a prophet being a wild man standing at the edge of society, unwilling to submit to church authorities isn’t accurate.  They only refuse to submit to authorities who have abandoned God’s word.  
      2. When leaders stop submitting to God, they lose their authority, and prophets arise as God’s true spokesmen.
   2. Conversations about “submitting” to anyone in our culture can be very jarring and even offensive!  Submission seems as though it’s against our core expectations to live as free people in this world!
      1. Modernity tends to defines freedom via “negative freedom”–you’re free from external obligations when making choices.
      2. The Bible presents a definition of freedom that might be called positive or teleological freedom–you’re free to live well and be what you were made to be through the grace of God.
      3. We can only understand how submission can lead to freedom if we understand freedom on God’s terms.  Through modern expectations, submission to anyone would seem tyrannical, but on Biblical terms, freedom requires you to submit to God and to others in your life.
   3. The willingness to submit that John models is important for every Christian today as well.  The Bible speaks often about submission.  
      1. Colossians 3:20: “Children, obey your parents in everything, for this pleases the Lord,” 
         1. Notice that there is no age limit specified in the text.
      2. Colossians 3:18-19 reads “Wives, submit yourselves to your husbands, as is fitting in the Lord.  Husbands, love your wives and do not be harsh with them.”
         1. Uncomfortably enough, the passage doesn’t advocate for mutual submission.  The language for each gender is intentionally different.
         2. Ephesians 5 explains the husband’s role in greater detail: “Love your wives as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her.” This is servant leadership—putting his wife first, himself second. To exploit this authority is to abuse one’s spouse.
      3. Colossians 3:22: “Slaves, obey your earthly masters in everything… work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for human masters.”
         1. The idea of getting rid of slavery would have been ridiculous to most people in the ancient world.
         2. Athenaus’s comedy, “The Banqueting Sophists” includes a section where people theorize about a world without slaves, but it would require automata, or items that move themselves.  They imagine a world where you could just tell objects, “Table, lay yourself! … Cup, pour yourself!”
            1. Depressingly enough, this seems to be somewhat prophetic–slavery in our world mostly ended with the advent of the Industrial Revolution
         3. For Christian slaves, the question would have been, should we stage a violent uprising?  That’s what is being addressed in submission.  The answer is no.
         4. For Christian slaveholders, The Book of Philemon shows that slavery is incompatible with Christianity as Paul encourages a master to treat his runaway slave both as a brother, a partner, and as he would treat Paul himself (v. 16-17)
      4. Many other examples can be found throughout the Bible, in reference to civil authority, religious authority, and so forth.  If it does not disobey God to submit, Christians are encouraged to submit
2. “He must become greater; I must become less.”
   1. This especially sums up the way John has completely submitted to God.  He knows that his authority must give way to Christ’s. He doesn’t sabotage Jesus–he makes room.
   2. As God becomes greater in us, we don’t become less ourselves but more truly ourselves, the people we were made to be, freed from sin’s distortion. This is good, though it may frighten us at first.
      1. “Imagine turning a tin soldier into a real little man. It would involve turning the tin into flesh. And suppose the tin soldier did not like it? He is not interested in flesh: all he sees is that the tin is being spoilt. He thinks you are killing him” -CS Lewis

31 The one who comes from above is above all; the one who is from the earth belongs to the earth, and speaks as one from the earth. The one who comes from heaven is above all. 32 He testifies to what he has seen and heard, but no one accepts his testimony. 33 Whoever has accepted it has certified that God is truthful. 

1. John’s witness to Jesus affirms God’s truth; whoever accepts Jesus’s testimony isn’t doing anything wild!  They’re just certifying that God is doing exactly what he said he would do.
   1. Affirming God’s truthfulness in worship and Scripture reading is a daily opportunity.

34 For the one whom God has sent speaks the words of God, for God gives the Spirit without limit. 35 The Father loves the Son and has placed everything in his hands. 36 Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life, but whoever rejects the Son will not see life, for God’s wrath remains on them.

1. Submission to the authorities we can see helps us submit to the authorities we can’t see until they’re fully revealed in their glory
   1. IfJesus entered the room, radiant with heavenly rays, wearing an otherworldly crown and the finest robes imaginable, the ONLY response would be to kneel and submit.  To do anything else would be absurd!  But if we don’t prepare our hearts for that moment, we’ll miss it.
2. “[H]e who denies God the glory of redemption, in addition to his folly, has robbed the Lord of the choicest jewel of his regalia, and aimed a deadly blow at the divine honor. I may say of him who despises the great salvation, that, in despising Christ, he touches the apple of God’s eye. “This is my beloved Son,” saith God, “hear ye him.” Out of heaven he saith it, and yet men stop their ears and say, “We will not have him.” Nay, they wax wrath against the cross, and turn away from God’s salvation. Do you think that God will always bear this?” -Charles Spurgeon

From the Pulpit—Video & Full Transcript

John 2:1-12: Water into Wine

Commentary

On the third day a wedding took place at Cana in Galilee. Jesus’ mother was there,

1. Weddings were major, joyous feasts (see Song of Songs for more on the topic).  The presence of Jesus and his disciples implies they were joyful, welcomed guests who enhanced celebrations.

2 and Jesus and his disciples had also been invited to the wedding. 3 When the wine was gone, Jesus’ mother said to him, “They have no more wine.”

1. The shortage threatened severe social embarrassment for the hosts: in a culture where weddings were grand, hospitality was important, and emotions ran high, guests could feel insulted if provisions fell short, harming the young couple’s social relationships and reputation.

4 “Woman, why do you involve me?” Jesus replied. “My hour has not yet come.”

1. Jesus calls Mary “woman,” rather than “mom.”  There’s some distance here that’s appropriate for his public ministry.  He’s not about to do a chore for his mom!  He’s acting by the will of his heavenly Father. 
2. Jesus frames his timing (“my hour”) as divinely set.  The miracle will proceed on God’s terms, not anyone else’s.

5 His mother said to the servants, “Do whatever he tells you.”

1. Mary tells the servants, “Do whatever he tells you,” showing her absolute confidence that Jesus will act.  It’s also good advice for discipleship today: do whatever Jesus tells you.

6 Nearby stood six stone water jars, the kind used by the Jews for ceremonial washing, each holding from twenty to thirty gallons.

7 Jesus said to the servants, “Fill the jars with water”; so they filled them to the brim.

1. Notice that Jesus offers no explanation for what he’s asking for, but the servants still fill the jars to the brim!  Their faith is impressive, given that what Jesus is asking for appears to make no sense.
2. Jesus involves the servants and water in this miracle, rather than producing wine ex nihilo (out of nothing) for spectacle; their actions and resources become the ordinary material he transforms into the extraordinary.  For the disciple, any action can be a part of the miraculous work of God.  Many are, if we pay attention.

8 Then he told them, “Now draw some out and take it to the master of the banquet.”

They did so, 9 and the master of the banquet tasted the water that had been turned into wine. He did not realize where it had come from, though the servants who had drawn the water knew. Then he called the bridegroom aside 10 and said, “Everyone brings out the choice wine first and then the cheaper wine after the guests have had too much to drink; but you have saved the best till now.”

1. There is no singular “alakazam” moment where the water miraculously changes in a puff of smoke.  Instead, the miracle just happens without anyone quite being able to pinpoint the exact moment, much like the mercy of God is not always clear at first when it enters into our life, but it is not long before it is recognized.
2. The first person to notice is the master of the banquet.  He is not a follower of Jesus, nor is he someone that Jesus seems to be particularly familiar yet, and yet he can verify the goodness of the miracle.  Real miracles don’t need to be hidden, nor do they require believers to see their goodness.  Their goodness is evidenced by all.
3. Jesus ensures that joy does not run out.  As Fyodor Dostoevsky puts it in The Brothers Karamazov, “He has made himself like one of us and shares our joy and turns our water into wine, so that the joy of the guests shall not cease.”

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

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

1. Wedding as metaphor for the soul’s relationship to God
   1. Throughout Scripture, weddings symbolize preparation, purity, and lifelong union with God; Cana’s setting connects Jesus’s mission to restoring and binding souls to God.
2. Banquet as eschatological celebration
   1. Jesus often uses banquet imagery in parables to depict the grand celebration at the end of time when the faithful rejoice with God.
   2. Cana anticipates this eschatological joy: not dour or harsh, but celebratory.
3. Wine as joy and Jesus’s gift
   1. Wine frequently symbolizes joy (Psalm 104:15; Judges 9:13). At Cana, Jesus ensures joy where circumstances were turning shameful.
   2. Jesus’s first miracle establishes him as the bringer of joy, transforming scarcity into abundance and elevating ordinary water into superior wine.

¹³ When it was almost time for the Jewish Passover, Jesus went up to Jerusalem. ¹⁴ In the temple courts he found people selling cattle, sheep and doves, and others sitting at tables exchanging money. ¹⁵ So he made a whip out of cords, and drove all from the temple courts, both sheep and cattle; he scattered the coins of the money changers and overturned their tables. ¹⁶ To those who sold doves he said, “Get these out of here! Stop turning my Father’s house into a market!” ¹⁷ His disciples remembered that it is written: “Zeal for your house will consume me.”

¹⁸ The Jews then responded to him, “What sign can you show us to prove your authority to do all this?”

¹⁹ Jesus answered them, “Destroy this temple, and I will raise it again in three days.”

²⁰ They replied, “It has taken forty-six years to build this temple, and you are going to raise it in three days?” ²¹ But the temple he had spoken of was his body. ²² After he was raised from the dead, his disciples recalled what he had said. Then they believed the scripture and the words that Jesus had spoken.

²³ Now while he was in Jerusalem at the Passover Festival, many people saw the signs he was performing and believed in his name. ²⁴ But Jesus would not entrust himself to them, for he knew all people. ²⁵ He did not need any testimony about mankind, for he knew what was in each person.

From the Pulpit—Video & Full Transcript

John 1:1-18: Prologue
John 1:19-24: Baptism
John 1:35-51: Reaching Out

Commentary

Introduction

1. John is one of the four Gospels
   1. Matthew emphasizes fulfillment of Old Testament prophecies; 
   2. Mark emphasizes Jesus as servant who suffers;
   3. Luke emphasizes Jesus’s humanity; 
   4. John emphasizes Christ’s divinity
2. John is often recommended for new Bible readers alongside Philippians, but just because it’s good for beginners doesn’t mean there’s not tremendous depth for everyone.
   1. “Consider, then, brethren, if perchance John is not one of those mountains concerning whom we sang a little while ago, I have lifted up my eyes to the mountains, from whence shall come my help. Therefore, my brethren, if you would understand, lift up your eyes to this mountain, that is, raise yourselves up to the evangelist, rise to his meaning.”  -Augustine of Hippo, Tractates on John, Tractate 1
3. The depth of God reflected in John’s prologue helps address a common critique of Christianity: “It’s about a magical guy in the sky that grants wishes.”
4. John’s opening, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God,” immediately displays the complexity and depth of the Christian understanding of God, which even language strains to fully express.
5. “John is symbolized by an eagle. The other three Evangelists, concerned with those things which Christ did in his flesh, are symbolized by animals which walk on the earth, namely, by a man, a bull calf, and a lion. But John flies like an eagle above the cloud of human weakness and looks upon the light of unchanging truth with the most lofty and firm eyes of the heart.” -Thomas Aquinas, Commentary on John, Prologue, 11

1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 He was with God in the beginning. 

1. John 1:1 parallels Genesis 1:1 (“In the beginning…”).  John is retelling the story, but answering a question that haunted mankind from the beginning: who is “us?”
   1. Genesis 1:26: “Let us make mankind…” 
   2. Many answers that people have proposed (God is talking to angels (not creators) or humanity (not existent) or the Earth (an object, not a being)) are deeply inadequate.
   3. John reveals “the Word” (Jesus pre-incarnate) as with God and as God—revealing the foundation of the Trinity.
2. “The Word” refers to Jesus before His incarnation.
   1. In the original Greek that John was writing in, “The Word” is “Logos.”  That word carried important and distinct meanings for both Jewish and Greek audiences:
   2. For a Jewish reader: “Logos” meant “the word,” resonating with the Old Testament’s emphasis on knowing and keeping God’s word.
   3. For a Greek audience: “Logos” meant the “plan,” “blueprint,” or “wisdom” behind the universe—what philosophers sought to understand.
   4. By using “Logos,” John tells both groups that the thing they loved and were looking for had come to find them: Jesus. 
3. “A word is always something that proceeds from an intellect existing in act; and furthermore, that a word is always a notion (ratio) and likeness of the thing understood.” -Thomas Aquinas, Commentary on John, Lecture 1, 25

3 Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made. 

1. By using that term, “logos,” John affirmed that Jesus was both the creative word of God (the spoken word in Genesis) and the blueprint of creation.

4 In him was life, and that life was the light of all mankind. 5 The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.

1. “The darkness has not overcome it” can also be translated “the darkness has not understood it.” Both are good translations.
2. The world’s darkness (frustration, cruelty) persists because people haven’t understood Jesus. But that darkness can’t overcome the light and hope that is Jesus.

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

1. The John in verse 6 is John the Baptist, not the Gospel’s author. Throughout the book of John, the author doesn’t refer to himself by name.  Instead, he calls himself, “the disciple whom Jesus loved.”
2. John the Baptist’s role was to witness to the light (Jesus), serving as a herald announcing the King’s arrival.
3. A herald prepares people to receive the king properly. The fact that Jesus’s herald was a crazy guy on society’s fringe shows how little the world understood God or was ready to receive Him.

9 The true light that gives light to everyone was coming into the world. 10 He was in the world, and though the world was made through him, the world did not recognize him. 11 He came to that which was his own, but his own did not receive him. 

1. Imagine a parent visiting their child, only for the child not to recognize them at all.  That’s what it was like for God coming to us.

12 Yet to all who did receive him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God— 13 children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband’s will, but born of God.

1. Some might object that we’re all “children of God” because God made us.  
   1. God doesn’t just want to be our father in the smallest sense!  He wants to be our father in the fullest sense!  He wants to be the one we count on in every situation
   2. A good father isn’t just the person who helps us to exist, but the one who nurtures us, protects us, and cares for us.
   3. God invites us to be in a personal relationship with him so we can be His child in the fullest sense.

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

15 (John testified concerning him. He cried out, saying, “This is the one I spoke about when I said, ‘He who comes after me has surpassed me because he was before me.’”) 

1. In Hebrew culture, older writers received greater respect.  By conceding to Jesus’s age, John the Baptist is showing that Jesus is the ultimate authority that he doesn’t can’t give any credibility to.  He already has ultimate credibility.

16 Out of his fullness we have all received grace in place of grace already given. 17 For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. 18 No one has ever seen God, but the one and only Son, who is himself God and is in closest relationship with the Father, has made him known.

1. In Exodus 33:20, God says, “you cannot see my face, for no one may see me and live.”
   1. This is because He is utterly holy and beyond comprehension.  Our sinful, mortal minds couldn’t handle it
   2. Even though it’s incomprehensible, God made Himself knowable by coming down to our level as Jesus to restore our broken relationship with Him.
   3. This prologue is highly abstract!  Not everyone is comfortable with abstract thought.  If you’re not, here’s the core takeaway: seek a relationship with God.  In spite of your smallness and his vastness, he wants to know you.  Pray to him.

19 Now this was John’s testimony when the Jewish leaders in Jerusalem sent priests and Levites to ask him who he was. 20 He did not fail to confess, but confessed freely, “I am not the Messiah.”

1. The narrative shifts back chronologically from the opening eighteen verses (which served as an overview of the Book of John) to the beginning of Jesus’s public ministry.
2. What is happening to John in this verse is a public interrogation, not a respectful inquiry. Their goal was to discredit John. If he denied having authority, people might stop following him. If he claimed authority, they could report him to the Romans as a troublemaker. 

21 They asked him, “Then who are you? Are you Elijah?”

He said, “I am not.”

“Are you the Prophet?”

He answered, “No.”

1. The authoritative figures that are being addressed here are all in Scripture.  The second coming of Elijah is in Malachi 4:5, the coming of the prophet is in Deuteronomy 18:15, and prophecies about the coming messiah are found throughout the Old Testament (especially Isaiah).

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

1. The Pharisees’ may be villains in these passages, but they were also people with real, legitimate concerns.
   1. The Roman-Jewish historian Josephus recorded four individuals in the first century who claimed to be the Messiah, raised armies, and fought the Romans, all of whom understood the Messiah as a military figure.
   2. A later false messiah, Simon Ben Kosiba, led a rebellion in the early second century that resulted in the Romans destroying Israel, renaming it Syria Palestine, and scattering the Jewish people. Israel did not reappear on maps until after World War II.
   3. The Pharisees were justifiably worried that a false messiah would bring destruction, but while trying to prevent this, they tragically overlooked the true Messiah.

23 John replied in the words of Isaiah the prophet, “I am the voice of one calling in the wilderness, ‘Make straight the way for the Lord.’”

1. John seems surprisingly comfortable given the circumstances! He knew he wasn’t “the one.”  He was just there to point to the person who was.  
   1. How often do we carry the burden of having to be “the one” rather than pointing to the person who genuinely is?
2. He identifies himself using Isaiah’s words: “I am the voice of one calling in the wilderness: ‘Make straight the way for the Lord.’” (Isa 40:3)
   1. Untying sandals was considered such a lowly task that even rabbis were forbidden from asking their disciples to do it (Babylonian Talmud, Tractate Ketubot 96a)  John’s statement signifies his profound sense of unworthiness compared to the greatness of Jesus.

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

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

1. The practice of baptism existed before John, rooted in Old Testament purification rituals, such as priests washing in a basin before approaching the altar in the tabernacle and later bathing in the temple.
2. John brought this practice to the people, applying the principle of purification to prepare for God’s approach in the form of Jesus.
3. John’s baptism was a symbolic act. He explicitly states, “I baptize with water,” indicating it was just water and held no special divine power. It was a good thing to do, encouraging people to recognize their sinfulness and need for God’s purification.
4. “John answered, I baptize with water. As if to say: You should not be disturbed, if I, who am not the Messiah, nor Elijah, nor the Prophet, baptize; because my baptism is not completive but imperfect. For the perfection of baptism requires the washing of the body and of the soul; and the body, by its nature, is indeed washed by water, but the soul is washed by the Spirit alone.” -Thomas Aquinas, Commentary on John, Lecture 13, 244.

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

29 The next day John saw Jesus coming toward him and said, “Look, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world! 

1. The title “Lamb of God” connects Jesus to a rich scriptural history of lambs being sacrificed so that others might live: the ram that died in Isaac’s place, the Passover lamb whose blood protected the Israelites, and the lambs sacrificed for forgiveness in the temple.
2. John identifies Jesus as “the” ultimate Lamb who will provide the final sacrifice.
3. The use of the singular “sin” (not “sins”) is significant. Sins are the symptoms (wrong actions), but “sin” is the underlying disease or “rot in our soul” that began with Adam and Eve. Jesus came to eliminate the root cause, not just the symptoms.

30 This is the one I meant when I said, ‘A man who comes after me has surpassed me because he was before me.’ 31 I myself did not know him, but the reason I came baptizing with water was that he might be revealed to Israel.”

1. Why would the sinless Jesus need to be baptized? Common reasons for baptism (joining the church, receiving the Holy Spirit, washing away sin) do not apply to Him.  Surely Jesus could have revealed himself to John the Baptist in other ways.  Why was this way fitting?
   1. John’s baptism was purely symbolic, which means a lot of the answers (the bestowal of the Holy Spirit, joining the Body of Christ, etc.) don’t apply here.  It really is a matter of symbols: why would a sinless person symbolically ask for purification?
   2. The 18th-century monk Nikodemos of Athos speaks to this in his prayers: “Jesus, being God, had no need for purification, but he suffered purification for me,” (Prayers to Our Lord Jesus Christ).
   3. Jesus gained nothing from baptism; it was an act of humility. His glory is repeatedly revealed through such humble acts: the infinite God being born in a small human body, in a manger; and ultimately dying a humiliating death on a cross.
   4. “And why must the Lord be baptized? Because many there would be to despise baptism, that they might appear to be endowed with greater grace than they saw other believers endowed with…. [T]he Lord was willing to be baptized by a servant, as if addressing His chief sons: Why do you extol yourselves? Why lift yourselves up because you have, one prudence, another learning, another chastity, another the courage of patience? Can you possibly have as much as I who gave you these? And yet I was baptized by a servant, you disdain to be baptized by the Lord.”  -Augustine of Hippo

32 Then John gave this testimony: “I saw the Spirit come down from heaven as a dove and remain on him. 33 And I myself did not know him, but the one who sent me to baptize with water told me, ‘The man on whom you see the Spirit come down and remain is the one who will baptize with the Holy Spirit.’ 

1. What was once a purely symbolic, natural act became more than natural, now carrying the power of the Holy Spirit to bestow grace, unite a person with the body of Christ, and wash away sin.
2. Note that there is no reason to expect two baptisms.  Some traditions insist that you need one “water baptism” and one “baptism of the Spirit” (generally identified by strong feelings in the believer), but Ephesians 4 is explicit that there is only one baptism. Jesus has transformed baptism, not added a second baptism.

34 I have seen and I testify that this is God’s Chosen One.

1. Matthew 11:11”Truly I tell you, among those born of women there has not risen anyone greater than John the Baptist; yet whoever is least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he.”
   1. John was the greatest of “those born of women,” or those born by purely natural means.
   2. Through baptism, believers are made part of the “Kingdom of Heaven” and are greater than John the Baptist
2. Just as Jesus transformed water and a human body into something more than natural, He transforms believers into more than natural people by giving them the Holy Spirit.

Four Accounts of Calling

1. These next four stories all show different disciples being called into ministry by Christ:
   1. Andrew and Peter join Jesus through intellectual inquiry 
   2. Peter follows Jesus because of a personal invitation from someone he trusts
   3. Philip joins Philip abruptly because of his experience meeting Jesus
   4. Nathanael overcomes his skepticism after seeing a miracle
2. The close proximity of the stories help illustrate the diverse ways that people come to faith in Christ

35 The next day John was there again with two of his disciples.

1. In the ancient world, discipleship was immersive—students followed a teacher to observe how they lived and embodied their teachings. This approach emphasizes that profound truths should transform one’s whole life, not remain abstract. The speaker contrasts this with modern education’s focus on fact acquisition and suggests discipleship offers a valuable lesson in witnessing wisdom lived out.

36 When he saw Jesus passing by, he said, “Look, the Lamb of God!”

1. John refrains from retaining disciples for personal benefit (labor, prestige). Instead, he directly points them to Jesus, modeling ministry that prioritizes others’ growth over personal gain.
2. This contrasts with common tendencies of leaders to hoard followers; John advocates sending people to the best source for their development.

37 When the two disciples heard him say this, they followed Jesus. 38 Turning around, Jesus saw them following and asked, “What do you want?”

They said, “Rabbi” (which means “Teacher”), “where are you staying?”

39 “Come,” he replied, “and you will see.”

So they went and saw where he was staying, and they spent that day with him. It was about four in the afternoon.

1. “It was about four in the afternoon” (verse forty) is a pretty specific detail.  This, along with the fact that John never names himself in his gospel and this particular disciple is unnamed, suggests this unnamed disciple was John.

40 Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother, was one of the two who heard what John had said and who had followed Jesus. 41 The first thing Andrew did was to find his brother Simon and tell him, “We have found the Messiah” (that is, the Christ). 

1. In his book The Inviting Church, church growth expert Roy Oswald asked a number of congregants why they worshipped at the church they did if they weren’t raised there. 
   1. 86% started attending because a friend or family member invited them; 
   2. 6% came because of a program; 
   3. 6% were invited by a pastor, 
   4. 2% due to advertising.
2. Peter’s journey is statistically common!  So many people relate to Peter, but the Church needs more Andrews to invite others.
3. Peter (originally Simon) comes to Jesus through his brother Andrew’s invitation: “We have found the Messiah!” Andrew is only mentioned twelve times in the Bible, and four of those are just in lists!  Of the remaining eight narrative mentions of Andrew, he’s bringing people to Jesus in three of them. He has a gift for connection and evangelism. The Church needs its Peters and Pauls, but we also need our Andres!

42 And he brought him to Jesus.

Jesus looked at him and said, “You are Simon son of John. You will be called Cephas” (which, when translated, is Peter).

1. Jesus renames Simon to Cephas (Aramaic for “stone”; translated into Greek and then English as “Peter”), signaling a break from old to new identity and commissioning him as a “rock” on which Jesus will build his ministry. This affirms Peter’s gifts and shows that Jesus is giving him meaningful work.
   1. Everyone wants to make a difference in the world!  We are not just called to sit in pews for Jesus, but change the world for Him.

43 The next day Jesus decided to leave for Galilee. Finding Philip, he said to him, “Follow me.”

1. Philip’s calling is incredibly abrupt! Jesus says, “Follow me,” and Philip does just that. The abruptness suggests an immediate, vivid experience with Jesus that was enough to get Nathaniel to worship Jesus without a prior relationship.  For some, a direct encounter is decisive.

44 Philip, like Andrew and Peter, was from the town of Bethsaida. 45 Philip found Nathanael and told him, “We have found the one Moses wrote about in the Law, and about whom the prophets also wrote—Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph.”

46 “Nazareth! Can anything good come from there?” Nathanael asked.

“Come and see,” said Philip.

1. Nathanael resists at first, ignoring the ties that Philip makes to the prophets and Moses.  fixating on the detail that he’s from Nazareth, and that’s not a particularly reputable town.  Philip wisely avoids debating issues that don’t really matter and instead invites him to “come and see.”  His goal is not to win a debate, but to win Nathanael over to Christ by introducing them.

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

48 “How do you know me?” Nathanael asked.

Jesus answered, “I saw you while you were still under the fig tree before Philip called you.”

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

1. Jesus greets Nathanael as “an Israelite in whom there is no deceit,” showing that he knows his character, and says that he saw him under the fig tree before Philip called him.  Given Nathanael’s reaction, obviously this wasn’t a mere overhearing of someone else’s conversation; it was miraculous!

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

1. In verse 51, Jesus is referencing Genesis 28 (Jacob’s ladder) to declare himself the bridge between Heaven and Earth.  If knowing a name is so impressive to Nathanael, he should be ready to see the full nature of the Son of Man, which is infinitely more miraculous.