John 16

Summary: Jesus finishes up speaking to His disciples (for real this time), telling them again He is leaving, He is coming back, that there's no traditional early Messianic kingdom in the near future, and that this will cause most of them to bum out, but that most will eventually come around.

Response: I hear Jesus trying to... put on a brave face? It's a hard conversation to have, and I don't know if it took a lot longer than what we read in the book. Lots of pauses and furrowed brows and starts and stops.

I'm thankful for a God that loves me enough to make that sacrifice, though I know I'm unworthy of it.

John 15

Summary: Or we're not done talking yet? Okay. Jesus illustrates Himself as a true vine, from which His disciples' power flows. The fruit that vine bears is love, and only fruitful branches from that vine remain; others are pulled out and are only as good as kindling. Jesus also warns His disciples that, just as the world hates Him, it will also hate them.

Response: Jesus is, again, testifying to His power, and sneakily to His coming sacrifice. He changes an old piece of biblical imagery (the vine) from fruitless to fruitful, and therefore even more useful and impressive than the imagery that had been biblically used for a Messiah, a cedar tree.

I am hearing that my home church has been going through pruning to soon bear more fruit. I only hope and pray I can be a part of the next harvest.

John 14

Summary: Jesus has His last talk with His disciples. He tells them He is leaving, which they should be happy about since it's God's will, they'll get the Holy Spirit, and Jesus is coming back anyway. He tells them to obey His teachings, which come from God, and that they will get help from the Holy Spirit in remembering and carrying them out. The disciples, for their part, are freaking out and asking panicked questions. Eventually, Jesus decides it is time to go to His destiny, and gets up.

Response: Jesus is still hammering home who He is to His disciples, though they'd prefer that He would somehow broadcast that to the world. He is talking double about both His short-term resurrection and a long-term second coming, at least from what theologians can figure out.

Yeah, I'm that good at panicking, and at asking all the wrong questions. Although I will say my thoughts on the second coming are somewhere between laissez faire and blase; like, it's going to happen and I'll be there, but I can't control or predict it and there's work to do in the meantime. Still, I pray today for a level head in planning for the future.

John 13

Summary: Jesus and His disciples are at dinner the night before Passover. Jesus interrupts dinner, stripping down almost to nothing like a slave and washing His disciples' feet. After debating with Peter about how washing feet isn't overkill but rightful service, Jesus then announces Judas's betrayal, just before it happens (the other disciples just think Judas is out buying groceries). Peter again opens his mouth, saying he will gladly sacrifice like Jesus; Jesus responds that Peter won't claim to even know Jesus in just a short while.

Response: Two of every three sentences from Jesus now seem to be Him testifying about His relationship to the Father. And both the foot washing (Jesus' death) and the betrayal (it's Judas, guys) aren't understood until much later.

There's a lot I don't understand (why are you all saying amen?) that God has done for me and is doing for me and will do for me. I only hope I can give my sacrifice as I can.

John 12

Summary: Six days to Passover, Jesus is still at Lazarus's house. Lazarus's sister, Mary, pours out a very expensive bottle of perfume on Jesus' feet as an offering, which puts off Judas. A big crowd gathers, hearing about Jesus and the resurrection of Lazarus. Jesus speaks once more to the crowd, about how He must die in order to save so many more lives. A heavenly voice booms to confirm this. As expected, though, the crowd is sidetracked. Jesus warns that most just won't pick up on what's happening until way after He is gone.

Response: We have more of the crowd testifying and believing in the testimony, but the mood is getting more and more polarized; Jesus can't just be a good teacher, he's either literally God or just plain insane or evil.

The challenge I hear isn't 'believe or not;' I know I believe. What I hear is, 'since you believe, what's different? How are you changed, and what actions do you do now because of that?'

John 11

Summary: While Jesus is in his hideout, He gets word that a dear friend of His, Lazarus, is terminally ill. He responds by staying put until Lazarus has been dead four days (i.e. has begun to decompose), then comes into town. Lazarus's sisters both greet Jesus, wondering why He waited. Jesus mourns alongside them, then calls Lazarus out of the grave. And he comes out!

The Jewish leaders (naturally) hear about this. They discuss how politically dangerous a popular Messiah would be and decide to quietly sacrifice Jesus so that their world would be saved. (Irony abounds.)

Response: Lazarus' sister Martha testifies to Jesus' status with the Father, that They will act together as one will. The High Priest unknowingly but correctly identifies Jesus as Sacrifice for the world, although the actual magnitude has obviously escaped him. Jesus has to explain Himself over about Lazarus being 'asleep' ("he's dead, guys. Really. Dead.").

Nothing is too late for God. Nothing's too hard for God. He is here for us in all times, in every need. He's never really late, always right on time, but we might need more time to process how God is working.

John 10

Summary: Jesus is talking to the crowds with a parable, a short story with a simple double meaning. He says that only sheep and the shepherd use the right entrance for a sheep pen; anything else has ulterior motives. He then has to explain his parable: He, Jesus, is both the door to belonging to the Kingdom of God and its Shepherd, guiding both the primary flock (the Jews, the people of God) and other flocks (the gentiles, everybody else). This teaching doesn't sit well with everyone, as about half of the people think he's either crazy or possessed by demons.

Later on, at Hanukkah (the festival of lights), the Jewish leaders confront Jesus and ask if he really is the Messiah (again, the one promised by God to save His people). Jesus confirms this, but notes that He has given quite enough evidence for this already. They try and fail to stone Him, and He escapes to a nostalgic place (by the river where his cousin John the Baptist used to baptise), and a crowd grows around Him.

Response: Yet again, Jesus is forced to testify about Himself, and yet again, no one believes Him. Yet again, Jesus tries to reveal something about His nature, and yet again, He has to parse that poetic meaning for His audience.

I hear in this a call to boldly trust. Not to overthink, not to overanalyze, just trust that Jesus is God, and to trust that He will take care of us all.

John 9

Summary: Jesus heals a man, blind from birth, and turns his life upside down. The man tells his friends and neighbors, until he is called to testify to the Jewish leaders. They call in the man's parents as well, until finally insulting him and dismissing him. Jesus finds him again, and he asks what he should follow next. Jesus knows now he is cured of physical and spiritual blindness, while the leaders are spiritually blind.

Response: This chapter is all about testimony. The man can't verify any theologically accurate pinnings on Jesus, just that he couldn't see, and now he can. Jesus is working through this duality of light and darkness, of seeing physically and spiritually.

I've seen God's hand work before. I know that's what He does. I just hope I can work those spiritual muscles, even today, and give witness to it.

John 8

Summary: [There's a story about an adulterous woman brought to Jesus by the Jewish leaders during His teaching, but apparently there's a chance someone just threw it in?]

Jesus is still teaching in Jerusalem, and still getting flak from the leaders. He starts off with a cool statement ('I am the Light of the World'), and immediately has to defend Himself and His authority, which comes straight from God. Then the crowd itself starts doubting when Jesus confronts their sin, thinking Jesus must be crazy.

Response: Testimony abounds, but Jesus seems alone (even though He Himself says He isn't). And Jesus describing His Father finally comes to a head, but so many are just confused.

It's so easy for me to look at the leaders or the crowd as the other, but I have to remember I'm there more often than not. Lord, help me to see when I doubt You, and help me to work through it with You.

John 7

Summary: Jesus gets flak from his brothers for doing things in secret, both at home and traveling to Jerusalem for the Feast of Booths, where Jews live in tents to remember the historical time of living in the desert with Moses. But Jesus cannot help but testify about Himself to the crowd and even to the Jewish guard sent by the religious leaders to arrest Him. Everyone is, as usual, amazed but confused, tripping up on little things.

Response: Jesus testifies to Himself as Other; that is, His origin and His authority don't come from an early spot, but from God Himself.

And yet, this is an amazing power but not necessarily scary like it would be in a movie, right? Like, it's not like they showed Jesus to be an Other because He has a lizard tongue or anything. He's still fully human, but being also fully God, He has this compulsion to do God's will in God's timing, which can look odd from the outside. Lord, help me to trust in Your way and Your timing.

John 6

Summary: Jesus' third miracle is far more public than a wedding's wine or a Sabbath's healing: having compassion for a huge crowd, he multiplies a meal into a feast that even produces leftovers. But it comes at a cost: after chasing Him across the sea, the crowd hears Jesus give a message that following Him will require sacrifice, and most turn away. Still, Jesus' twelve disciples remain, having 'tasted' firsthand the Bread of Life.

Response: Peter, jump-the-gun and spokesperson for the disciples, happens to land on the right foot and testifies to Jesus as the only One worth following, set apart by God Himself. And Jesus' talk of bread really seemed to throw the crowd for a loop. "He's bread? But we just saw Him make bread. Are we supposed to eat Him? That's gross! I have to work for God's favor? But I got that bread in Tiberias for free, no questions asked! This is too hard for me to swallow, Jesus, I'm out!"

Finding this understanding is hard. I feel like Jesus went in several logic loops trying to get an increasingly hostile crowd to understand, and they just weren't getting it. This must have been exasperating. Jesus, the Distressed? Do I bug Jesus from time to time? Oh, I'm sure of it. Hopefully, I can move closer to Peter's point of view, having the experience of seeing God's hand in my life, to where I know Jesus as Lord and as Life.

John 5

Summary: After time in Galilee, Jesus heads back to Jerusalem. There's a spot there that people with afflictions come to try to be cured, and Jesus spots a man who's been trying almost forty years. Jesus, instead of picking the man up and carrying him to the sacred pool, tells him to stand up and walk instead. Which works great, except it's technically a Sabbath, when God's people are supposed to do no work. The Jewish leaders press Jesus on this, and He rebukes them:
- since He works doing God's work,
- since He judges according to belief, and
- since that day of judgement is impending,
- therefore it is in their best interest to put their faith in Him and not Moses, who himself would rebuke them and testify against them the same way.

Response: Testimony, is odd here, as Jesus takes it a step further, adding value to it. He doesn't take human testimony, and the leaders won't take His about Himself. I don't have specific turnaround-question examples here, though a lot of what Jesus tells the leaders needs unpacking.

Now then. First, Jesus certainly does travel. I'm not usually one to much care where something happens or when, but I know it does help eventually. Next, I feel less like a call to testify as to trust in who Jesus says He is.

John 4

Summary: Jesus, sensing He would be made King in a revolution, leaves Jerusalem and the whole territory, going back to the border area of Galilee but in an odd route, compelled by the Spirit to make a beeline through the traitorous Samaria. There, He talks with a woman at a well, comparing Himself to water but that He quenches completely and eternally. When His disciples return, He compares His work to food, that He is sustained by doing God's will. The woman gets many more Samaritans, who welcome Jesus more favorably than either 'loyal' Jewish territory. After two days, He and His disciples head back to Galilee, meeting a non-Jewish (Gentile from here on out) bureaucrat who asks Jesus for a miracle. Again, Jesus hesitates, but upon telling the man it was done, even two towns away, he believes Him immediately, sight unseen, and is rewarded for his faith.

Response: Testimony time: Jesus reveals Himself as Messiah (the Saving One), but only to one person, a six-time adulteress. But she shows Him to her whole town, who then agree and proclaim the same with her, even broadening the scope (not just saving the Jews, but the whole world). After the miracle, the royal official's entire household believed.

Another category/theme that is emerging is people misunderstanding Jesus' words. Granted, He speaks in double entendres a lot of the time, but that acts as a sort of hook to get and keep people engaged. In John 2, for instance, He confuses Nicodemus by talking about being born again. In this chapter, Jesus refers to food and water, essentials to life, and then to what is essential spiritually, that is, doing God's will and communing with Jesus Himself, respectively.

So there's basically two kinds of feelings I get from Scripture: the "you have work to do" feeling, and the "you're doing good, keep going" feeling. There was something in the chapter that put me in the latter feeling today, just trying to remember what... Oh well, I'm sure it'll come to me. In the meantime, I have a new little blueprint. I'm not sure I've ever heard a sermon or lesson on Jesus telling people the two things you need a la water and food.

John 3

Summary: A Jewish leader, Nicodemus, meets Jesus at night on behalf of some of the ruling group to figure out who or what Jesus really is. Jesus tries to explain, but Nicodemus hears everything too literally. So Jesus and the author explain more: to be in God's kingdom, one must be completely changed spiritually, and good chose to make such a process available by sending Jesus, unique in power, to die as a sacrifice for all. This process is a gift, freely given, but must be accepted to be used.

At another time (i.e. historians don't know if it was really before or after this, but thematically it fits here), John the Baptist gets news from his disciples that Jesus is not only baptising like John is, but also saying it's not even necessary anymore. John, to their surprise, only supports Jesus, likening himself to a groomsman at a wedding, just happy to be part of the wedding party. The author finishes the chapter with his own testimony, with Jesus having authority over everything.

Response: In our Testimony Chart, we now have a Jewish leader finding Jesus to be, at the very least, a good teacher (a box which Jesus chafes at and breaks out of); John the Baptist gives Him authority over his ministry; and the author twice jumps into the narrative, building the framework of Jesus as Head, and also as Sacrifice.

There's a song that has stuck with me for a few years, The Brilliance's "Who is Jesus?" There are so many possibilities there, and each one more or less true. But Jesus, as a mentioned, has a hard time staying in a little box. Lord, may I continue to testify to Your love for me as You find more and more ways to outdo Yourself.

John 2

Summary: Jesus' mother wants Him to help out at a family function. He initially refuses, but then performs His first miracle. Then Jesus notices a bunch of business creeping into the Temple, and clears house. When Jewish leaders want Him to give a sign justifying His actions, Jesus tells them (in a way) that He will be killed and will resurrect Himself. Even though it was the biggest feast, Jesus refused to be revealed fully then.

Response: [verse 28: ugh, spoilers!] Jesus pumps the brakes, and hard, but the world already wants to use Him, hide Him, or put Him in the wrong context. And, yeah, I do all of that, a lot.

John 1

Summary: John's gospel is one of themes over narrative, so he has to set this up, putting Jesus as Truth, God's Equal, and Light of the World. John finds witnesses to this, including John the Baptist; these witnesses recognized Jesus when many throughout time have not. By becoming human as well as divine, Jesus offers God's invitation to become part of His family. John recounts the testimony of John the Baptist to the religious leaders (i.e. he is not the Messiah) before finding Jesus and testifying about Him (i.e. He is). And this testimony is relayed from JtB through his follower Andrew and his brother Peter back to Jesus Himself. And Jesus finds yet more witnesses, who would become His disciples.

Response: So that's... a lot. But just that framing device--those who see Jesus feel almost compelled to testify on who/what He is--makes this reading fresh for me. And who is Jesus to me? I might need some time to wrestle with that question. I mean, undoubtedly He is my Savior and my Sanctifier, but I want to spend more time with Him, until I can't help but testify to who He is to me.