John - The Gospel of Light and Life ~ Serving

If you knew this was the final week of your life and that by next Sunday you would be gone from this world, what would you say to your loved ones?  What would be the final message to your family and friends?  What would your final act of love for them?  What lasting example would you want to leave with people?  A few years ago Randy Pausch delivered what came to be known as the last lecture.  He was a professor at Carnegie Mellon who was diagnosed with terminal cancer and his final lecture was turned into a best-selling book.  What I love about his lecture is that some of what he wanted to share was how to help others fulfill their dreams.  He wanted to help others reach their potential and better their lives and that is exactly what Jesus wanted to do in his last lecture.

Jesus knew that he was going to be arrested, tried and crucified in just a few hours and so he delivers his own last lecture to his disciples.  In the gospel of John it is called the farewell discourse and it is found John 13-16 and I would add in John 17 which is Jesus final prayer for himself and his disciples – you might call it our Lord’s Prayer – not the prayer Jesus taught his followers to pray but the actual prayer Jesus prayed.  In this farewell discourse, Jesus not only gives his final message to the disciples, that we will look at next week, but he gives a final example that they should follow, an enduring gesture of love and service.

Now it is important to understand there is much for us to learn from Jesus during his arrest, trial, crucifixion and death and in many ways those events are also an example for us, but this is the final gesture of love Jesus gave specifically to his followers. This is what he chose to leave them with and we read it John 13:1-17.

John’s telling of this final Passover that Jesus shares with his disciples is very different from the details we get in Matthew, Mark and Luke.  John doesn’t tell us about the breaking of the bread or sharing of the cup in the last supper because John has already talked about Jesus being the bread and wine.  John already told us that Jesus said, I Am the bread of life and that Jesus came to be the bread that came down from heaven to deliver and save God’s people.  When Jesus turned water to wine he was saying that he was making a new covenant by which people would be made clean and acceptable to God.  In the old covenant people had to wash themselves and follow all the rituals and rules to be clean but in the new covenant we place our trust in Jesus.  Jesus is the wine of the new covenant.  His blood now cleanses us from sin.

So talking about the bread and cup aren’t important to John and what he gives us instead is an example and some teaching that is not found in the other gospels.  These are the final moments Jesus spends with his disciples where he tries to prepare them for all that is to come and he speaks with a sense of urgency and passion.  While the disciples may not know this is the last lecture – when they do realize it, they will remember the message and share it with others.

The final example of Jesus is a powerful one that in some way sums up all of Jesus actions while on earth.  It is an act of humility, care for others, love and service.  At the Passover meal, Jesus washes the feet of his disciples.  Foot washing was supposed to be done by one of the lowest household servants and the reason was because it was a disgusting job.  Walking around barefoot on dusty roads, muddy fields, and through who knows what would make everyone’s feet smell bad.  Remember, they weren’t sitting at tabled with their feet tucked under chairs for this meal, they would have been lounging on the ground with their feet in close proximity to the faces of others.  Imagine eating Easter dinner in a locker room or the closet of your 13 year old son who hasn’t done laundry in a few weeks.  That’s what it would have smelled like – or worse.

There was no servant to wash their feet and the reason no one volunteered to do it and they reason they didn’t even wash their own feet was because no one wanted stoop down to do such a lowly job.  No one wanted to admit that they were somehow less than someone else.  In fact, Luke tells us that it was at the Passover meal that the disciples were discussing who was the greatest - Luke 22:24.

They all wanted to be the greatest and be served, no one wanted to serve others and no one wanted to wash their own feet because someone might ask them to then do all the feet and no one wanted to take that risk.  While Jesus is watching them jockey for positions of power and argue about who is the greatest, he realizes that he has this powerful moment to show them what true greatness is all about.  Jesus gets up and takes off his robe – serves the disciples by washing their feet – and then puts his robe back on.  Then Jesus says 2 important things.

John 13:15 – Jesus has just set them an example.  They are now to serve one another.  Greatness will not be about being served but serving.  It won’t be about taking up power and position but laying it down.  This point will be driven home by Jesus on the cross where he doesn’t take up power and position but lays it down when he takes up a cross.

What’s interesting about this story is two details that John provides that really don’t mean a lot to us until we see the words that Jesus used.  In John 13:4 it says Jesus took off his outer clothing but in the Greek it says Jesus laid his robe down and then in John 13:12 it says Jesus put on his clothes but the Greek says he took his robe up.  This will be the same way John talks about Jesus laying down his life on the cross and taking up his life in the resurrection.  This is just a foreshadowing of what Jesus would do on the cross.  He would lay his life down - serve humanity by dying on the cross – and then take his life up again in the resurrection.

And this is the example Jesus gives us.  We are told to take up a cross and we are told to kneel down to wash people’s feet.  In both situations we are told to humble ourselves, which means laying aside our lives, our rights, our position and power and prestige in order to serve others.

The second things Jesus says is this - John 13:17.  The word blessed has many meanings and one of those is being happy.  Serving others actually will make us happy and recent studies have proven that this is true.  A Syracuse University study showed that people who donated to charity were 42% more likely to feel very happy than those who didn’t and 24% were more likely to report excellent health.  So to be happy and healthy we need to give of ourselves in some way.

When the researches wondered why this was true they went to the NIH and asked them to do a study to show why and what they found is that when people served or gave to charity it stimulated the mesolimbic system in our brain which triggers feelings of reward.  This has been called this the helpers high and so now doctors and others are telling people that to feel better – serve others.

Not only does serving and helping release these feel good chemicals but serving helps us bond with others and makes us feel as if we are part of a family or community.  Serving builds up our self-esteem which makes us feel better about ourselves and serving others makes us grateful.  These all help us feel happy and healthy, we feel blessed.  So Jesus doesn’t say this because he thinks it will motivate the disciples to do more, he knows that it is the truth.  Jesus knows that serving will make us happier and more content and stronger and at peace.  We will be blessed if we do this

I have been blessed with a great example of service from my parents.  My parents spend 4 months in Hilton Head SC, away from the cold and snow of CT, and the first year they decided to stay there that long they knew they needed to do something and serve in some way.  They started volunteering with Habitat for Humanity and did that for a few years until they heard about an agency similar to our faith centre.  Now every year when they are at Hilton Head they spend between 2 and 5 days a week volunteering and serving and helping others.  They not only love what they do but they have met some wonderful people who now look forward to them being there.  When they are back in CT they volunteer with meals on wheels, at the local food bank and at a soup kitchen.  At 84 and 85 years old, it is what keeps them happy and healthy.

Serving others was so important to the life and faith Jesus was building in his disciples that his last act for them before he was arrested and taken from them to the cross was to serve them in a very personal and profound way.  This, Jesus is saying, is what you need to do and this is who you need to be and this is the most important thing I can leave you with.  In a world that continues to tell us it is all about our own pleasure and power and position, we still need to hear this message and see and follow this example.

Washing the feet of other people isn’t an act of humility and service we are given in our world today, but there are other ways we can serve.  There are dozens of ways we can serve.  We can Serve our Seniors on April 29.  We can serve on the mission trip to VA.  We can serve at the Faith Centre and food bank.  We can serve by meeting the needs of a neighbor that we see or making a donation to help children or veterans or those in need around the world.  Giving a donation to UMCOR can literally make you happy.  There are so many ways to give and serve and humble ourselves and those opportunities are all around us if we will just open our eyes and ask God to show us.

All of the disciples had the opportunity to wash the feet of their friends.  The opportunity to serve was literally right in front of them when they entered the house, but they didn’t want to do it.  There are opportunities to serve right in front of us if we will open our eyes and see them.  We don’t have to go looking for them – they are right here.

Serving others is the foundation on which our faith is built.  Humbling ourselves and putting the needs of others before our own is what we see in Jesus and it is the very nature of God and it is so important to who God wants us to be that the final act of Jesus with his disciples was an act of service followed by this message, I have set you an example that you should do as I have done for you.  It was Jesus final act, a last lecture and lesson, a final gesture of love and service for all of us to follow.

Next Steps
John – The Gospel of Light and Life
Serving

1.  This week read John chapters 12-17.
Use the following questions during your reading:
• What is said in this passage about Jesus?
• In this passage, how does Jesus bring life to me?
• What response do these verses require of me?

2. At the Last Supper, Jesus sets and example of serving.  Read John 13:1-17.  What is Jesus saying by making this one of the last things he does with his disciples?  How has serving always been a part of Jesus life and ministry?  List other times Jesus humbled himself and served others.

3. Jesus says blessing comes with serving.  Identify times when serving others made you feel blessed.
4. Studies have proved that serving helps make people feel happy and healthy.
• In what ways are you already serving?
• In what ways can you start serving others?

5. Serve others by taking part in one of the following:
• Helping with the Easter Egg Hunt  (April 8)
• Run or Walk in the Faith Centre 5k  (April 8)
• Help with organization of the Faith Centre 5k  (April 8)
• Help with Teacher Appreciation Bags  (April 23)
• Volunteer to help with Serving Our Seniors  (April 29)
• Go on the Mission Trip to VA  (April 23-30)
• Give to UMCOR
• Volunteer at the Faith Centre or Food Bank or other community agency

John - The Gospel of Light and Life ~ I AM

For over 2000 years people have been trying to answer the question, Who is Jesus?  Countless books have been written about him, 4 different gospels have tried to answer this question and the letters circulated through the early churches tried to clarify it all.  All of this we call the New Testament.  The early church spent 300 years debating who Jesus is and held various councils to try and answer the question and yet people are still asking it today.  Is Jesus just a man, a teacher and a good leader who lived 2000 years ago?  Is he a prophet, a man called and chosen by God to bring a message to the world?  Is he a miracle worker, someone who had supernatural power to heal and overcome natural elements?  Is Jesus the Christ or Messiah, meaning the leader appointed by God to deliver God’s people from slavery to sin or is Jesus all that and more?  Is Jesus actually God?  `

For John, the answer was easy; Jesus was God in human form, the word made flesh.  John tells us clearly over and over again that Jesus was the fullness of God in human form and there is probably no other writing in the New Testament that goes to such great lengths to do so.  What is important to remember about John is that telling us HOW Jesus was God in human form wasn’t important.  John just wanted us to know it was true and to think about what this means for our lives.

John is clear about who Jesus because he heard Jesus say this over and over again and then the actions of Jesus backed up his claim.  One of the unique aspects of John’s gospel is what we call the I AM passages.  8 times in John’s gospel we hear Jesus uses the words I AM to talk about himself.  In Greek it is ego eimi; ego meaning I or self and eimi meaning to be.  This can be translated as It is I, or I am he but most often it is just translated as I AM.

What makes these words so powerful is the meaning behind them and for this we need to go back to the story of Moses in Exodus 3.  One day as Moses was in the mountains tending sheep he saw a bush on fire but it was not being consumed.  God spoke to Moses through this burning bush and told him to go back to Egypt and lead the people of Israel out of slavery and into the Promised Land. Moses wanted to know what name he should give to the people if they asked who sent him to be their deliverer.  Exodus 3:14

I Am Who I AM is the word Yahweh and this is the personal name of God we find in the Old Testament.  What God is telling Moses is that He just is.  He is all things and the source of all creation.  He was and is and is to come.  He simply is.  I AM became known as the name of God and it was considered blasphemy to speak that name and yet Jesus not only said it but claimed it as his own.  In talking to the religious leaders Jesus said this about himself.  Before Abraham was born, I am.  That he was using the name of God to identify himself is clear from the reaction of the religious leaders, they picked up rocks to stone him.  Jesus used the name of God for himself.  Jesus was saying that he is God.

While here Jesus clearly used the name for himself, there are 7 other times where Jesus used the words I AM and paired it with an image or symbol that also points us to God.  Here is what Jesus says;
I Am the bread of life – John 6
I Am the light of the world – John 8
I Am the gate of the sheep – John 10
I Am the good shepherd – John 10
I Am the resurrection and life – John 11
I Am the way, the truth and the life – John 14
I Am the true vine – John 15.

If you look at this list you can probably tell which ones we are going to look at this morning – the first two because they talk about Life and Light, but let’s take a quick look at the others because all of them show us that Jesus is claiming to be God.  The Good Shepherd is easy to understand, Psalm 23 begins, the Lord is my shepherd.  The resurrection and life and the way, truth and life are also easy to understand because it is God alone who gives life and is associated with the truth.  God is also referred to as a vine that produces grapes which are symbolic of God’s people so he is the one created and sustains the people of God.

Maybe the most obscure I Am passage is the gate of the sheep.  When sheep were kept in a fenced in area they had to go in and out through a gate.  They would go out through the gate to be fed and in through the gate to find rest.  The gate was the way for them to find life and then be safe and so once again since God is the one who provides life and rest, the gate of the sheep became a reference to God who feeds us and is our refuge.

So let’s look at the first one – Jesus said I am the bread life.  John tells us that Jesus said this close to the time of the Passover and during the Passover people thought about and ate special bread.  When the people of God fled from Egypt, God told them to not use yeast in their bread because they were going to have to leave quickly. There was no time to make bread with yeast so they ate unleavened bread and every year during the Passover they ate this bread and remembered how God delivered them.  Bread was a reminder of the life and salvation or deliverance God gave them.

But the Passover was also a reminder of the entire trip that Israel made from slavery in Egypt to freedom in the Promised Land and part of how God provided for them during this journey was with bread or manna.  When the people cried for food – God provided them food every morning and that food was called manna and bread from heaven and it was there every morning of their journey for 40 years.  Jesus makes clear to the people that he is calling himself this bread from heaven in John 6:32-35.

So it’s near the time of the Passover when people are thinking about the bread and how it reminds them of God’s deliverance and God’s provision and it is at this moment Jesus calls himself the bread of life.  As the bread of life, it will be Jesus who will give his life to the world to bring deliverance or salvation (John 6:33) and it is Jesus who will sustain life here and now (John 6:35).  Since God was the one who saved people through the Passover and God was the one who kept his people alive in the wilderness, Jesus calls himself God by claiming to be the bread that will continue to bring salvation and life.

So what does it mean for us to call Jesus the bread of life?  First of all, it means that we believe Jesus is God and the one who provides the gift of life itself.  Second it means that we believe that Jesus is the savior and deliverer of all mankind.  Just as God delivered his people out of slavery, so Jesus is the one who delivers us or saves us from sin death and Jesus does this by giving his life for us on the cross.  The third thing it means when we call Jesus the bread of life is that we actually look to Jesus every day to give us what we need for life here and now.

Manna was provided every day for the people of Israel and that told them that God was the giver and sustainer of all life and everything they needed in life.  What sustains us in life is Jesus.  Jesus is the one we need to turn to for help and strength in times of need.  Jesus is the one we need to turn to for courage and patience in difficult situations.  Jesus is the one who also gives us the grace to forgive others and ourselves so that we can be set free to experience the fullness of life here and now.  Jesus needs to be the one we turn to every day for all that we need in life – that is what it means that Jesus is the bread of life.

Jesus also said he is the light of the world – John 8:12.  Once again, John provides some details for us to consider as we look at this claim.  In John 7, Jesus was in Jerusalem for the festival of the booths, which was a celebration of the fall harvest, and it was during this time that people would set up booths or shelters to live in as a reminder of how they had to live in tents and shelters during their time in the wilderness.  As they lived in these shelters, what guided them through the wilderness was a cloud by day and a pillar of fire by night – Exodus 13:21-22.

God was the very light that led the people through the wilderness.  The cloud and the light was the presence of God and so when Jesus says he is the light of the world at this festival when people would have been thinking about living in shelters and travelling through the wilderness following the light that was God, he was making a clear point - He is the God who is this very light.
During this festival, 4 giant lamp-stands 75 feet tall would be set up in the temple courtyard and 4 gold bowls would be filled with oil and wicks would be set in them and these lamps gave light to the entire courtyard.  They were a clear and powerful reminder to the people during this festival that God was literally their guiding light.  So picture Jesus standing near these huge golden lamp-stands casting forth light and making the statement – I am the light of the world.  It’s very clear what Jesus is saying – I am God.

So what does Jesus being the light of the world mean for us?  It means that once again we have to identify Jesus as God.  He is the I AM, the bread of heaven and the light of the world and all of these are Old Testament references to God himself.  Jesus was more than a teacher and a good leader and prophet, Jesus was God in the flesh.

As light, Jesus is also the one who can lead and guide us.  As a pillar of fire, God guided the people of Israel on their journey.  Where the light went, the people followed.  It was their guide and Jesus wants to be the light that guides us through life.  The life and teaching of Jesus is the best guide for us on how to live our lives.  While the life of Jesus may not be able to give us direction on what to study in school or what career to enter into, God’s light does tell us the kind of lives we need to live.

Following Jesus means we need to be people of integrity who speak the truth and speak words of love.  Jesus’ leads us into a life of forgiveness and grace where we forgive people not 7 times or 7x7 times but every time.  Jesus’ life leads us to treat all people with value and dignity and to care for the weak and poor.  The life of Jesus is the light that can lead us through this dark world and show us the kind of people we need to be.

But think about how the light at night was a comfort for the people of Israel as they lived in the wilderness.  It was literally a dark place for them and the light of God must have given them a sense of security and comfort.  Have you been in a completely dark place?  The only time I was when I was working in Yellowstone NP.  It was a cloudy night and I closed the restaurant I worked in and when the lights went out – all the light went out.  I was walking to the area where the employee trailers were located and none of the sidewalk lights were on so I was in complete darkness and as hard as I tried to stay on the sidewalk, I couldn’t.  I kept walking into bushes and trees.  It was frustrating and honestly a little scary thinking about what could be out there in bear country.  Any light in that moment would have been a comfort and help.

This is the presence of Jesus in our lives.  Whenever we are alone, feeling lost, scared, helpless or defeated Jesus is there to be light and to drive out the darkness.  If Jesus is the light of the world then he is the one who can help us overcome our fear, doubt or despair.

While simply the presence of Jesus can be the light we need, we cannot forget that Jesus is also the word of God and the word of God is itself a light.  Psalm 119:105, Your word is a lamp for my feet, a light on my path.  Reading God’s word gives direction, reading God’s word guides us in making decisions and shapes our thoughts and actions and reading God’s word provides comfort and hope because we hear the most important promise God makes – I am with you always.   The more we read God’s word the more we know that God is with us and that Jesus is God who brings us both light and life.


Next Steps
John – The gospel of light and life
I AM

1.  This week Read John chapters 6-11.
Use the following questions during your reading:
• What is said in this passage about Jesus?
• In this passage, how does Jesus bring life to me?
• What response do these verses require of me?

2. Read the 8 I AM passages of John
• I Am the bread of life – John 6:32-59
• I Am the light of the world – John 8:12
• I Am the gate of the sheep – John 10:7-10
• I Am the good shepherd – John 10:11-18
• I Am the resurrection and life – John 11:17-44
• I Am the way, the truth and the life – John 14:1-7
• I Am the true vine – John 15:1-8
What does each statement tell us about Jesus and how we need to live our lives?

3.  As the bread of life Jesus brings both salvation and sustenance.
• In what ways has Jesus saved you?
• What has Jesus saved you from?
• What has he saved you for?

4. At ever meal, take a moment to thank Jesus and then think of how Jesus can help you experience all the fullness of life in hours to come.

5.  As the light of the world, Jesus gives direction and hope.
• See what direction you get as you read scripture this week.
• What is the darkness (despair, fear) you face today?  Look for Jesus to give you  hope in this specific area.

John - The Gospel of Light and Life ~ The Miracles of Jesus

During this Lenten season we are looking at Jesus in the gospel of John.  Last week we heard that John is different from Matthew, Mark and Luke and one of the ways John is different is that many times John writes on two levels.  John tells us what happens in the life of Jesus but then the details and symbols John uses helps us understand more fully who Jesus is and how Jesus affects our lives.  The best example we see of this is found in the miracle stories John records in the first half of his gospel.

In John 2-12 we find seven miracle stories and while there were more miracles Jesus performed, for John these seven were enough.  This is where we see the symbolism of John at work.  In the Bible, seven is a number that represents completeness - think the seven days of creation.  In seven days God did all He needed to do and even rested and nothing more was needed.  Seven miracles were all John needed to provide because it would be these seven that would tell us all we need to know about Jesus.  These miracles not only point to Jesus’ identity, John calls them signs, but they speak to our lives as well.  Today we are going to look at two miracles that show us that Jesus came to bring light and life to the world and to our lives.

The first miracle we are going to look at is the first miracle Jesus performed.   John 2:1-11.  So this story can be read on two levels.  We first read about what happens.  Jesus, his family and his disciples were invited to a wedding.  When the wine ran out, Jesus’ mother asked him to help and so Jesus turns water into wine.  On the surface, changing water into wine tells us that Jesus has divine power or power over natural elements and the natural world, but if we dig a little deeper and look at the details John provides, we actually find a lot more is going on here and we see that this miracle has something important to say to our lives today.

First of all, we are told that the miracle takes place at a wedding.  Jesus doesn’t turn water to wine at a family dinner or a picnic with friends; he does it at a wedding.  Weddings were large events that went on for days and included the entire community.  Weddings feasts were filled with good food and fine wine and there needed to be enough for everyone to enjoy for days.  For the host to run out of either food or wine during the celebration would have been a huge disgrace because weddings were the event of the community.  More importantly, weddings were symbolic of life in the kingdom of God.  Heaven has been compared to a wedding feast and the prophet Isaiah said that when the Messiah came there would be a huge feast with choice foods and the best wine.  Isaiah 25:6-7.

This is a picture of the coming of God’s Messiah and the life that he would bring, so when Jesus turns water to wine at a wedding he is not just showing his power over the natural order but he is making a statement that he has come as the Messiah to bring to God’s people the fullness of life.  This life Jesus offers can turn our disgrace into blessing and death into life.  Isaiah 25:7-8.

John also gives us details about how Jesus got involved in this situation in the first place.  It was Jesus’ mother Mary who asked him to help out and what she said to the servants was, do whatever he tells you.  Mary wasn’t thinking Jesus would turn water to wine; he had never done that before, she probably thought Jesus would tell them to go buy more wine in the village.  But when the servants did what Jesus told them to do – what happened?  A miracle took place and wine was provided.  When the servants do what Jesus told them to do, the wedding feast continued and life was given.

What John is telling us in this miracle is that when we do what Jesus tells us to do – we will find life.  When we do what Jesus tells us to do all our problems may not go away, our suffering may not stop and our struggles will not disappear, but when we do what Jesus tells us to do we will find life – the fullness of God’s live.  When we do what Jesus tells us to do we will experience the fruit of God’s spirit, the wine of new life, which is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control and these are the things that can help us through the storms of life.  God doesn’t take all our problems away but he does give us what we need to find peace and joy and strength in the midst of them.

Another detail John provides is that the jars that held the water were stone jars that were used for ceremonial washing.  This was the water the people would have used for hand washing during the wedding celebration to keep them clean and able to remain at the party.  That John tells us that the jars were stone and that they contained water for ceremonial washing has to mean something.  John could have just mentioned that they were six jars of water, but he doesn’t and so these details are important for us to consider.

Let’s start with the fact that they were stone jars.  Out of stone jars comes the best wine.  Out of stone jars comes the fullness of life and in Ezekiel 36:26 God says, I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you a heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh.  That wine comes from stone jars isn’t just a miracle of nature it is a statement that Jesus is providing us a new heart and a giving God’s people a new spirit.  Through Jesus, a new heart and life were coming and it wasn’t going to come through religious rituals but the power and grace of God.

The water in those stone jars was used for ritual purification and those rituals had to be done over and over again to make people clean and acceptable to God.  The ritual wasn’t lasting or effective so something greater was needed.  That it is this water that Jesus turned into wine tells us that the time of religious ritual and ceremonial cleansing was on the way out and something new was coming.  Being acceptable to God and finding life with God wasn’t going to come through ritual and ceremony it was going to come through Jesus.

There are two more details we need to notice.  The first is that the water jars were filled to the brim which means that when they were moved, water or wine would have spilled out and the second is that the wine Jesus provided was very, very good.  These details tell us that the life God wants to provide for us is better than anything else in the world and it fills us to overflowing.  God doesn’t hold back when He gives us new life.  God fills us to overflowing and what God gives us is the very best there is, in fact, it is better than anything else in the world.   All the things we turn to for help or support and all the things we use to fill our lives will pale in comparison to what God can give us.  Compared to Jesus, everything comes up short and leaves us empty.

Think of all the things we turn to in order to experience more in life.  Many people turn to wine or alcohol or drugs to help them enjoy life more.  Many people today are turning to exciting and daring vacations or different relationships or different jobs but the reality is that the effects off food, alcohol and drugs wear off, vacations come to an end and jobs and people let us down.  Everything in this world will fail and disappoint us, the only thing good and lasting is Jesus.  He fills us to overflowing with the best wine there is.

On the surface, this miracle tells us that Jesus has divine power over the created world, but the details of this story tell us so much more.  Jesus has come to offer us the fullness of life and that life isn’t found in the ritual of our religious activity it is found when we place our faith and trust in Jesus and do what he tells us to do.  Life is found when we love and trust God enough to do whatever he tells us and the life God gives us when we do this is better than anything in this world and it lasts forever.

The last detail to look at is that John tells us that the stone jars held 20-30 gallons of water each which means Jesus has just provided 120 – 150 gallons of wine, that is over 450 bottles – that’s enough for everyone and the life God wants to offer is for everyone.  There is no limit to God’s amazing grace and love and gift of life. The life Christ offers is for all people, Jesus brings life to all and he brings light and the next miracle shows us this - John 9:1-7.

Again, on the surface this miracle tells us that Jesus is able to restore sight to the blind, he has power over the natural world and our bodies and lives, but as you might guess, there is so much more we find here if we look at the details John provides.  The first point Jesus wants to make clear in this healing is that the problems we experience in life are not always caused by our sin.  While our sin does have negative consequences in our lives and can create problems and pain in our lives and in the lives of others, pain and suffering is not always due to sin.

In Jesus’ day, this was what people believed.  If someone got sick or had a problem, then people believe that they sinned in some way and God was punishing them.  What’s interesting is that we often still think this way.  We may not look at someone who is sick and say, what sin did they commit, but when we get sick or have a problem how often have we said, what did I do to deserve this?  There are still times we connect our suffering and pain to sin or we think that God has abandoned us and doesn’t care for us, but Jesus says here that our suffering and pain is not always a result of our sin or the sin of others and that, believe it or not, our suffering and pain can become an opportunity for God to work.

Let’s be clear, God doesn’t bring problems into our lives so He can solve them, and God doesn’t cause suffering so He can help us, but when problems and suffering do come they become opportunities for God to show his power and glory and grace.  As a student associate pastor in seminary, there was a woman in the church I served who battled cancer.  She asked if she could come to the church to be anointed and prayed for and we said, sure, but why not open this time up to everyone in the church.  Her cancer gave us an opportunity to anoint and pray for many people who needed help and suddenly her sickness had a larger sense of meaning and purpose.  God was using it for something good.

She was anointed and we prayed for her, along with many others, and she got better.  For months her cancer didn’t grow or spread and she was able to do more with her family and friends and church.  Together we celebrated her healing.  I wish I could say it lasted, but it didn’t and in time our prayers for healing changed and we knew the healing God would bring would be an eternal healing.  At her funeral service we celebrated how God used her cancer to be an opportunity of healing for others.  Did God cause her cancer?  No.  Was her cancer the result of her sin or the sin of her parents or husband or children?  No.  Did God use her cancer as an opportunity to be glorified and be a blessing to others?  Yes.

God not only brought light to this woman, he not only gave her hope and healing, but he brought light and hope and faith through her to others.  God does the same thing with so many people.  Bob Crook was known as the miracle man in Altoona.  God healed him of cancer in some pretty miraculous ways twice and used Bob’s situation to be a blessing to others.  Meagan Murphy was a miracle baby born in Geisinger and her premature birth and early struggle in life was not because of the sin of her parents but her struggle and the struggle of her family was an opportunity for God to be glorified in Meagan’s life every day.  I even think of our own Patsy Benner.  Patsy struggled with all kinds of health issues and her sickness wasn’t because of sin and it wasn’t caused by God but Patsy saw them as an opportunity to praise God for how He could bring her through.  Patsy looked at problems and suffering as opportunities to place her faith and trust in God and even when things didn’t turn out the way any of us would want – God is still glorified.

The second important detail about this miracle is once again the importance of doing what Jesus tells us to.  The man is only healed because when Jesus told him to go wash in the pool of Siloam, he did.  Jesus didn’t have to heal the man this way, most of the time he didn’t, but here he brings light and sight into this man’s life by inviting him to be part of the miracle.  This tells us once again that when we do what Jesus tells us to do and go where He sends us - we find light and life.  Trust and obedience are both needed for us to experience the fullness of God.  There is an old hymn that says, Trust and Obey, for there’s no other way, to be happy in Jesus, but to trust and obey.

The third thing we see in this miracle is another symbol found often in John’s gospel and that is the important role of water.  It was water Jesus turned to wine and here it is water used for washing that brings healing.  29 times in John’s gospel he mentions water and what John wants us to think about when he talks about water is the water of baptism.  Just as the blind man sees after he washes in the pool so are we able to see when we are washed in the waters of baptism.  Baptism is a sacrament where we place our faith and trust in Jesus and through the water we step into the light of Jesus and find life in him.   Just as going into the pool of Siloam was the blind man’s act of faith and trust in Jesus that opens his eyes, so entering into the waters of baptism opens our eyes and brings us light and life.

But water is just the symbol that we have placed our faith and trust in God.  What opens our eyes and brings us light isn’t the water but trusting in God.  What opened the eyes of John Newton so that he could see that the slave trade he was working in was inherently evil and what turned him from being the captain of a slave ship to an outspoken leader in the abolition movement was when trusting in God’s grace brought him light to really see.  John Newton is the one who wrote, I once was lost but now am found, was blind but now I see and what opened his eyes and gave him light to understand was trusting in Jesus and God’s amazing grace.  When we trust in Jesus we are given light to see things in a new way and light to understand God’s will and purpose in new ways and that light brings life.

So this miracle of Jesus bringing sight to blind man tells us that God can open our eyes and heal our hearts and bring us light and life if we will trust in God and his amazing grace and love for us.  Jesus has come to bring light and life and we find that when we do what he says, goes where he sends us and receive the grace and love offered to us in Jesus Christ.










Next Steps
John – The Gospel of Light and Life
The Miracles of Jesus

1.  This week read John chapters 2-5.
Use the following questions during your reading:
• What is said in this passage about Jesus?
• In this passage, how does Jesus bring life to me?
• What response do these verses require of me?

2. Read the miracle stories of Jesus found in John 2:1-11 and in John 9.  Note all the details you find in these stories and what they might mean and mean for you today.

3. Where do you try to find meaning, fullness and pleasure in this world?
• Money
• Relationships / sex
• Eating / drinking
• New / thrilling experiences
Have these things filled you to overflowing?  Has their power been effective and lasting?

4. What darkness are you walking in today?  Can you name it?  What effect does it have on your life, family, jobs, friends?

5. How can God help open your eyes so you can see His light?

6. What suffering, pain or problem have you seen God use for His purpose and glory?  What problem are you facing today that God might to use for his purpose and glory?

7. How can you be a miracle of life and light in the life of someone this week?

John – The Gospel of Light and Life ~ Word Made Flesh

During this season of Lent we are going to take a look at Jesus in the gospel of John.  Some people really love the gospel of John; I have always found it difficult to understand.  Matthew, Mark and Luke are pretty simple and straightforward.  They contain lots of parables and stories used by Jesus to help ordinary people understand what he was talking about and they all say that we need to follow Jesus and the example he has set for us.  Matthew, Mark and Luke point us to the Kingdom of God and they tell us how to live our lives following the principles of God's kingdom.   John’s gospel is different.  John doesn’t give as many parables but instead uses metaphors and images about who Jesus is and many of these images are difficult to understand.  John doesn't point us to the kingdom of God but instead has us look at Jesus and in John we aren’t told to follow Jesus to find life but to believe in Him and by believing in him find the fullness of life.

So John is different.  John is more spiritual and philosophical.    John can’t be read as a biography of Jesus life it needs to be read as a commentary on his life.  We don’t focus on what Jesus did as much as why he did it.  What was the meaning of Jesus words and actions and what does it mean for us?  Those are some of the questions we are going to be asking during these next few weeks and I want to invite you to take the time to read the gospel of John between now and Easter.  Each week in the next steps we will provide a section of the gospel to read and the questions we should ask ourselves as we read it.  I would also invite you to join a small group where you can learn about Jesus with others and grow in faith together.

Today we are going to start at the beginning - John 1:1-5, 14a.  John makes clear from the beginning that Jesus is the word of God in the flesh or in human form.  This would have been a new idea for the people reading this.  They would have understood all about the power of God’s word.  They knew that God’s word was what created the world and set things in motion and kept things going.  They knew that the word of God reflected and revealed the character of God and the will of God and the heart of God but to say that the word of God became flesh was something very new and different.

What I like about John is that he doesn’t try to tell us how this happened.  The church would debate that question for centuries after Jesus and the truth is that we are still discussing how Jesus was the word of God in the flesh, but how it happened wasn’t important to John, all he wanted us to know is that it did happen.  The fullness and power of God’s word stepped into this world in the person of Jesus.  What was important to John was to answer the question why.

Why did God come to us in human form?  Why did the word become flesh?  The answer to that is actually pretty easy – the word becomes flesh so that we could more fully know God.  The word because flesh so that we could see God and so we could believe in God and God’s love for us because for John it was by believing in God and his love we could find life.  This is what we hear in the most familiar of all verses in John’s gospel, John 3:16.  For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only son so that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have everlasting life.

The word of God becomes flesh so we could see God, believe in God and find life in God and this is a theme we find throughout John’s gospel.  John even said that this was why he wrote the gospel.   John 20:31 - These are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name.

In Matthew, Mark and Luke, life comes from following Jesus and living according to the principles of God’s kingdom but in John, life comes by believing and trusting in Jesus.  Now the truth is that both of these things are true.  Believing in Jesus and following Jesus are both needed for us to experience the fullness of life God has for us.  To simply follow Jesus can make us good people, but true life is found through faith and trust in Christ.  But faith alone isn’t enough, our faith and trust needs to lead to action and daily living or what we believe isn’t really doing any good.  Faith without works is dead but works without faith is no faith at all, so both are needed.  This is one more reason why we need to read all of God’s word.  Just reading one part doesn’t give us the fullness of life and faith that God wants for us and so we need to learn from it all.

So believing in Jesus, the word made flesh, brings life and the truth is that God’s word has always brought forth life.  Look at the opening verses of John again.  John 1:1-2.  Does this sound familiar?  It sounds very much like the beginning of the Bible.  Genesis 1:1-3.  In the beginning there was just darkness and it was God’s word that brought forth light and it was God’s word that brought forth life.  God spoke and there was light and God spoke and there was life – all kinds of life.  So we see that God is the source of both light and life and these are the two themes we are going to look at through this season of lent.

Light is important because it drives out the darkness.  Before God spoke at the beginning of creation, there was simply darkness and chaos and we know what this darkness is like.  We see darkness all around us.  We see darkness when we turn on the evening news and hear about division, dissension and destruction.  We see the darkness in the world when we see and hear about people living in despair and needing just the basic elements of life to survive.  We see the darkness around us but we also experience this darkness in us.  For some the darkness comes with disease and the uncertainty of the future when our health is compromised.  Sometimes the darkness comes when relationships are strained or we see loved ones pull away from us.  We see darkness in financial struggles and when we wonder how we will pay the bills or ever get out of debt.  We understand darkness all too well and we long for light.

What John tells us is that Jesus is the one who will bring light into every dark situation.  Jesus is the one who can bring peace to warring factions and heal our divisions.  Jesus is the one who can help us turn from destructive ways to find productive ways to live together.  Jesus is the one who can bring the light of comfort to the darkness of loss and the light of hope into the darkness of despair and the light of healing into the darkness of disease.  Again and again in John’s gospel Jesus is the one who brings light into the darkness and if we believe in Jesus then we have hope that God will bring light into our darkness.

Where is the dark place in your life where you need some light?  Whatever that place may be, Jesus is the light who can drive out the darkness.  When we trust God and when we trust God’s love for us, the light of God enters our world and begins to drive out the darkness.  Believing in Jesus brings a light into our lives that the darkness cannot overcome.

Jesus brings light and Jesus brings life.  47 times in John’s gospel he talks about Jesus bringing life and usually John talks about eternal life, like we heard in John 3:16 and John 20.  Eternal life for John wasn’t something we experience only when our life in this world is over, for John eternal life begins today.  The life God offers us in Jesus is an abundant and full life that we can begin to experience today.  With this life God offers comes the fruit of God’s spirit and the love, peace and joy that we all long to experience but this life doesn’t come by asking Jesus to be part of our lives it comes by believing in Jesus and becoming part of his life.

In an article for Christianity Today, Russell Moore said, For too long we’ve called unbelievers to invite Jesus into your life.  Jesus doesn’t want to be in your life.  Your life’s a wreck.  Jesus calls you into his life.  And his life isn’t boring or purposeless or static.  It’s wild and exhilarating and unpredictable.  

Isn’t this what Jesus did throughout his life.  Jesus didn’t step into people’s lives as much as he called people into his life and when they believed in him, they found the fullness of a life that only God could offer.  When people went to Jesus and stepped into his life they found healing and hope and a future.  When the disciples stepped into Jesus’ life they performed miracles, Peter walked on water and in time it was the witness of the disciples that changed the world.  As we make our way to Easter we need to stop asking Jesus to come into our lives because our lives are a wreck, we need to start thinking about what it means for us to step into Jesus’ life and how we step into the light of God’s word.  Maybe this is just a subtle shift of thinking but it is an important one.

How can we step into the life of Jesus this week?  What is God doing around us that we can be part of?  Where is God moving in our family or in our community or in our world and what does it mean for us to join God where he is and start doing what he is doing?  How can we step into that life this week?

When we believe in Christ and step into the life of Jesus and when we walk in the light of God something unexpected will happen – God’s word comes alive in us and we become light and life to others.  When we step into the life of Jesus and walk in the light of God, God’s word now dwells in us and we are the ones who help show the world who God is and our lives become an invitation for others to experience the grace and love and power of God.  So believing in Jesus doesn’t just bring us light and life it opens the door for us to offer light and life to others.

Today is the day for us to step into the light and life that God has for us.  Today is the day to step into the life of Jesus and if we will, this season of Lent will not only change us, it will change everyone around us as the word becomes flesh and blood in us.


Next Steps
John – The Gospel of Light and Life
Word Made Flesh

1.  This week: Read John 1.
Use the following questions as you study the gospel of John.
• What is said in this passage about Jesus?
• In this passage, how does Jesus bring life to me?
• What response do these verses require of me?


2.  Identify the dark places in your life that need the light of God.
• In what way can God’s love and power bring light?
• How can God’s word help bring hope in these areas?


For too long we’ve called unbelievers to invite Jesus into your life.  Jesus doesn’t want to be in your life.  Your life’s a wreck.  Jesus calls you into his life.  And his life isn’t boring or purposeless or static.  It’s wild and exhilarating and unpredictable.   Russell Moore, Christianity Today

3.  How can you step into the life of Jesus this week?  What will change?


4.  If you could literally step into Jesus’ life and be with him, what part of his life would you want to experience?
• His miracles?
• His teaching?
• His interaction with people?


5.  How can you bear the light and be the life of God for someone this week?