John 8 - I AM the Light of the World

When Jesus says, “I am the light of the world,” echoes of Jewish scripture reverberate for the early church. The Old Testament, as we call it, were the scriptures of the early church. They read and re read those sacred texts with Jesus’ teachings in mind, using his words as a lens to understand who they are called to be as his followers. We struggle to understand Jesus because we have left the First Testament on the shelf because it is “old.” The Jewish narratives are embodied in the life and teachings of Jesus, calling us to be the Israel in which Israel failed to be. Israel was supposed to be an embodiment of the Good Creation amongst the broken creation. They were to represent what God intended the creation to be when he sat down from his work, called it “Very good,” and rested. 

Go back and read Genesis 1. What do you see different between the first day of creation and the other days of creation? There is a repetition to the days of creation. Each day ends with “And it was so,” except the first day. Rabbinic teachings say that the reason this is not said on the first day is because light was not created because light has its source in God who shares it with the world. This light has more magnificence than the light from the sun. The sun isn’t created till day four! This light is illuminating. The first day ends with a rhythm that we should pay attention to, “And there was evening and there was morning, the first day.” For the Jews, their day begins with darkness as a reminder that when they turn in for the night God is the one in control and they wake up to light breaking into the darkness. The world is better off when we relinquish control and let God take control. Where do you need to let go of control and let God be God? 

In Exodus 13:21-22 says that God led his people by a pillar of cloud by day and a pillar of fire by night, “to give them light.” They followed God when the light moved and showed them the way. Seems simple enough. If God doesn’t show you the way you should go, then you shouldn’t move. This becomes an ongoing problem throughout Israel’s story. They regularly make moves without God’s direction and it never goes well for them. The grace all throughout the First Testament is that God continues to meet them in those dark spaces with his light to guide them out of the darkness. The book of Exodus (40:34-38) ends making this point. The “Glory of the Lord” was on the tabernacle day and night in the cloud and fire and the people did not move unless God went before them. Where do you need to slow down and seek God’s guidance and let God of control yourself? In what ways have you seen churches seek God’s light of direction before heading out on a new venture? What does it look like for communities of Christians to seek discernment together for where God would lead them? 

God’s light illuminates the world in the beginning of Genesis and at the end of Revelation (22:5) there will be no more need for sources of light because God will be light. God’s light guides Israel through the darkness of the wilderness and rests on the tabernacle day and night. All of this is in the background when John opens his Gospel talking about light shining in the darkness, which gives light to everyone (John 1:1-13). In reference to the light, verse 14 says the “Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory…” The word “dwelt” is the same word used for tabernacle and the readers of John would have caught that. Jesus is the presence of God, his Glory, coming to the earth. Will you follow him?

Finally, we arrive at John 8:12-30 where Jesus says, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.” Jesus calls us to follow him in ways that do not make sense to the world. When he invites us on the journey, he hands us the cross as our walking stick. He bids us, “Come and die” as a means of following him. He doesn’t invite us into a life of prosperity, which the world strives for. He invites us into radical sacrificial love for a world of darkness so that his light might shine through us to bring light into the world. There is a quote from a 16th century Spanish church leader that continually challenges me in my quest to follow Christ, “If a man wishes to be sure of the road he walks on, he must close his eyes and walk in the dark” (John of the Cross). When Jesus invites us to follow him, we must flip the world and recognize that all we see around us in the world is darkness, close our eyes to see the true light God has placed within us in the Holy Spirit, so that we can see clearly and walk in the light.

Jesus promises the Holy Spirit to come as a guide, a Helper, to bring us into peace so that we might follow him through the darkness (John 14-16). As a church are we willing to wait on God’s movement through the Spirit to guide us where we need to go? Do we have faith enough to close our eyes so that we might see? Are you establishing habits in your life to create space where you can listen for the Holy Spirit’s guidance? 

John 6 - I AM the Bread of Life

What are you hungry for? This is more of a metaphorical question, though a cinnamon roll would go really well with the coffee I’m currently drinking. Life is guided by cravings. The more sugar you eat, the more sugar you will crave. Curbing or changing your cravings is one of the first things a person has to do to create a healthier diet. Anyone who has tried to make a major health change knows this is the hardest part. You have to establish new routines, reach for healthier foods, and create the habits that break the old cravings and develop healthy cravings. 

We understand cravings when it comes to diet but do you recognize other cravings in your life? Cravings can take on different names: longings, passions, loves, etc. One writer I read often, James Smith, argues well in his book “You Are What You Love,” that we are beings of desire rather than thinking beings. He advocates for creating “rituals of ultimate concern” to point our hearts toward what we need to long for the most. One way to make this a point of reflection in your own life is to take assessment of what you spend most of your time and energy doing. My all time favorite theologian once said, “Where your treasure is, there your heart will be” (Jesus, Mt. 6:21). We often think of these treasures as something with monetary value but this teaching out of Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount points more fully towards the objects of our greatest desire. He goes on to talk about the eye being a lamp to the body and what the eye is focused on will determine whether or not your body has light or darkness. 

One metric I’ve tried to use over the years is peace and joy. If I find these two things devoid in my life I try to slow down, take stock of what I’m focusing on, and make changes in where I put my energy. There are things I focus on that are righteous and godly in their intention but my focus fails to be centered on Jesus and my righteous intentions fail to leave me at peace and end up killing the joy in my life. I’ll share an example in my own life. I long to develop a faith community where people from diverse backgrounds put Christ first in their relationships with one another and seek unity in all things. This shouldn’t be too much of a surprise since it comes out in my sermons often and I believe it is the central focus of much of the New Testament (and the Old Testament really). This righteous focus sometimes becomes so consuming that it takes my focus off the work of God in people’s lives because they are not as I think they should be in the kind of community I imagine. My ideas of how people should be lead me to be judgmental in my righteous indignation, strip me of my joy and peace, and blinds me to where God is working in their lives. Dietrich Bonhoeffer, in his small but powerful book “Life Together,” has convicted me multiple times over in this, “The person who loves their dream of community will destroy community, but the person who loves those around them will create community.”

I share this personal example because when we think about our longings being in contrast with longing for God we think about the black and white side of “sinfulness” and quickly glance over the struggles in our own lives. What desires do you have for the world in which we live? Has your picture of how things should be ever gotten in the way of you having the love of Christ for others? Has the blurring of your picture of the world angered you, stollen your joy, or left you without peace? When I find myself answering “yes” to these questions, I stop to evaluate if I’m seeking God’s vision for how to view people and the world. How is my prayer life? Is it leading me to greater peace? Does my time with God bring me to greater joy? Over the last year, I’ve struggled a lot with answering these questions honestly. I’ve changed my spiritual practices often to try and create more space for the Spirit to bring peace. Things have gotten better but it takes work. I don’t want to crave the things that make me unhealthy. I want to crave the one thing that brings me life.

This brings me to part of our passage for the week, John 6:35-40:

Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me shall not hunger, and whoever believes in me shall never thirst. But I said to you that you have seen me and yet do not believe. All that the Father gives me will come to me, and whoever comes to me I will never cast out. For I have come down from heaven, not to do my own will but the will of him who sent me. And this is the will of him who sent me, that I should lose nothing of all that he has given me, but raise it up on the last day. For this is the will of my Father, that everyone who looks on the Son and believes in him should have eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day.”

In the season of Easter, we remember that we will be raised with him on the last day. But our belief in this promise is demonstrated in how we walk. Do you crave the bread of life? Or do you continue to find yourself growing hungry? What changes are you developing in your life to shape your cravings? If you would like some help with creating spiritually formative practices in your life, send me an email ryan@nodachurch.com. I’d love to help!

John 20:1-18 - Sign 7 - "I have seen the Lord!"

While reading the passage for this week this morning, the words of Jesus in his Sermon on the Mount echoed in my ears, “Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted” (Mt. 5:4). There have been lots of tears between this past Sunday’s text and this Sunday’s text. Through tears, we see the world more perfectly as God sees it. For, “God so loved the world…” His love for the world moved him to meet his world in its brokenness, to weep for it, and to seek redemption and reconciliation for it. It is through tears that Mary and Martha invited Jesus to “Come and see” where Lazarus was laid, and it was through tears that Jesus invites them to “come and see” what he can do with their mess. 

I love the resurrection story in John’s Gospel because of the exchange between Jesus and Mary Magdalene. Peter and the disciple whom Jesus loved are in this story, but they are quick to leave. Mary lingers and weeps over the tomb. Through her tears, she mistakes Jesus to be the gardener. Jesus calls her by name and here tears are cleared, and she proclaims the gospel, “I have seen the Lord!” Mary is the first evangelist with the good news of Jesus’ resurrection. The message is simple, “I have seen the Lord!”

I love the detail John gives to this story. John, as usual, draws on imagery from the biblical narrative. He begins his Gospel with “In the beginning…” calling the reader to think about the creation narrative. The one who spoke creation into being then came to be part of that creation. The creation rejected him but could not overcome him. He came to bring life and light to a world filled with death and darkness. Here we are at the end of the story. Jesus is mistaken for the gardener. John could have simply said she didn’t recognize Jesus, but he draws our attention to Jesus’ identity as the gardener. He is the one who brings life to a ground that continues to produce death. He is the one who cultivates light in the darkness. Jesus is the Gardener this world needs, and he has called us to join him in his gardening. Where are you bringing life and light into the world? Or are you only pointing out its death and darkness?

Through tears Mary saw Jesus as the gardener that he is, and it is through tears that we need to look at the world to see the gardening that needs to be done. When you see the brokenness of the world do you get angry, or do you have tears well up inside you for the life that needs to be cultivated? When you see the sufferings and crisis of the marginalized, do you get angry that they need to get their life together and quit being a drain on society, or do you, through tears, look for how you can bring light into their darkness? When you see people struggling with a crisis of identity, are you disgusted by their mess, or through tears do you meet them where they are and shine light and life? 

Each of us has a mess that Jesus has met us in and brought life out of death. What is your story of redemption and reconciliation brought through tears? What has Jesus done in your life? Are you comfortable sharing your story of how Jesus brought life and light into your life? God is willing to meet us here in our mess and plant life and light into our lives through Jesus. He calls us to go into the world in the same way Jesus did, meeting people where they are, and through tears invite them to “come and see the Lord!” This is what Easter reminds us! We aren’t only people who have come into the resurrection with Christ, but we are people who bring the resurrection to the world. Easter calls us to mission where we share that Christ has risen, “I have seen the Lord!”

John 11:1-44 - Sign 6 - The Raising of Lazarus

We have arrived at our 6th sign in the Gospel of John. If you’re into Jewish numerology (the study of numbers) you’ll quickly be looking for a 7th sign. Six is the number of incompletion and seven is the number of completion. John wouldn’t dare only have six signs! There aren’t any more signs for nine more chapters! This has led some scholars to believe the story of Jesus walking on water is one of the signs, but others dismiss it as a sign. I won’t bore you with the details of the debate, but I choose to dismiss it for two reasons: First, it happens in the middle of another narrative connected to the sign of bread in abundance. Second, I believe it makes more sense for the signs to be pointing to something more specific within John’s narrative rather than simply that Jesus is God in the flesh. This is the glory of reading the Gospels over and over again. We’re invited into the narrative to make sense of it, enter into discussion within the greater faith community, and allow these stories to shape our lives together. We’re all reading the same Bible, so I’d love to know what you think is going on as well!

I believe the signs are pointing to something specific within John’s narrative. He has laid the signs out in a way that will help us examine ourselves, what we believe about Jesus, and how that belief will determine how we will walk towards and with Jesus. All of these signs build the tension of the text. Each are surrounded by debate of Jesus’ identity. We’ll go back and look at the “I AM” statements of Jesus after Easter Sunday. These debates and tensions boil to the point where Jesus enters Jerusalem on the back of a donkey as though he was king. Right before he goes to Jerusalem as king, he raises Lazarus from the dead. Read this story in John 11 with the shadow of the cross looming overhead. We’ve followed Jesus throughout his ministry at this point. Will we keep following him when he walks into the furnace of political tension to stake his claim on humanity with a kingdom that is “not of this world” (John 18:36)? Or, will we succumb to the tensions of this world and fail to follow Jesus beyond the lines the world draws in the sand (to borrow a line from Tim’s reflections this last week)? 

There is a lot to be said about the story of Jesus raising Lazarus, so I don’t want to get too bogged down in everything running through my mind to talk about. If you have some questions that you would like to talk about, shoot me an email (ryan@nodachurch.com). Instead, I’m going to offer a few things to look out for and then provide some questions to prayerfully reflect on.

One major distinction that needs to be made in this passage is that what Jesus did for Lazarus is a miraculous resuscitation, not resurrection. This may feel like semantics a bit, but words matter and definitions matter. Lazarus would die again. Jesus, in the Resurrection, comes through death and out the other side. Christianity in the West has lost touch with the hope of the resurrection, which is the foundational hope of our faith. Jesus’ death and resurrection is the undoing and conquering of sin which brought brokenness to the world. The Christian hope isn’t about our souls leaving our bodies for a spiritual dwelling in the sky. The Christian hope is about the restoration of God’s good creation through the resurrection. What Lazarus receives in John 11 points to the greater thing he will receive later. 

Pay attention to the humanity of Jesus in this story. Be in awe. What does it tell you about the God of the universe that he’d choose to be vulnerable? 

Jesus chooses to wait for two days before going to see about Lazarus. What is he doing for those two days? John doesn’t tell us. Spend some time reflecting on this story as a whole and come up with your suggestions. I’d love to hear them! I have my theory. What is yours? 

Don’t just read this passage to gain insight into the life of Jesus, allow it to move you from your head to your heart and bring you into deeper places of prayer and transformation. 

From the head to the heart:

• “If [only]…” – John 11:21 and 32, Martha and Mary both reflect on how they wish things would have turned out differently. Jesus intentionally delayed his response so that God’s glory might be revealed through his actions. Where are areas in life that you wish would have turned out differently? There are a lot of things in our world that I wish looked different. Spend some time in prayer asking God to help you relinquish your “if only…” so that you might see more clearly how Jesus will work in those spaces.

• “Come and see,” they reply to Jesus in 11:34 when he asks them where they had laid Lazarus. This phrase rests at the heart of the Christian faith. It is where we invite Jesus, through our tears, into the messes of our life. “Come and see,” is the reply he gives to us all throughout John’s Gospel as we walk with him to the resurrection where all of our messes are turned to triumph in the hands of the redeeming God. Before Jesus invites us to “come and see,” he first meets us fully where we are and weeps with us. What areas of your life do you need to invite Jesus into to “come and see”? 

• If the Word who is God can meet us where we are in our mess and cry for those who are hurting, who do you need to be moved to cry for where you have not often shown compassion? 

• Which characters do you connect with most? Which ones do you struggle to connect with? Ask God what needs to be revealed in your life about why you’ve answered these questions the way you have.

John 9:1-41 - Sign 5 - "I was blind but now I see"

When you hear the words, “I was blind but now I see,” what do you hear? The tune of Amazing Grace in its thousand different variations starts to play through my head. As I read and reread this passage, I hear the simplicity of the Christian faith. In contrast to the Jewish leaders and Pharisees who explored every possible question to figure out who Jesus was, the man who was formerly blind kept it simple. The proof is in the pudding…or should I say, the seeing. All arguments go out the window when you know who has made you well. This is the difference between this man and the lame man from John 5. Take some time to read these stories and look for the contrasting responses from the two.

One of the major themes in this passage is acceptance in the synagogue. Will the characters in the story choose to give up their positions in society or will they draw near to Jesus? The Messiah is there with them and is showing them the way of the Father, but they miss him because they have their idea as to who Messiah is supposed to be. When Messiah comes, he will show true Sabbath observance. When Messiah comes, he will show true piety. When Messiah comes, … The Pharisees were holy and Godly men who had the best interest for Israel in their minds. But they were misguided. They constructed a vision for who Messiah would be and created a culture of acceptance around that vision. This leaves people in the tension between choosing the Messiah they want or the Messiah they have. Which would you choose?

There is so much to talk about in this passage, but I don’t want to do all the work for you! Here’s the major observation I want to point you to. It is easy to sit with the blind man (formerly) and proclaim, “I was blind but now I see!” and celebrate what Jesus has done in our lives. What is hard is then celebrating what Jesus has done in such a way that you want nothing other than Jesus. That’s the journey the blind man takes us on. When threatened to be kicked out of the synagogue, he chooses Jesus. When his parents throw him under the bus when they are threatened to be kicked out of the synagogue, he chooses Jesus. When he is threatened that he is not giving God the glory, he chooses Jesus. When he is belittled because he was “born in utter sin” because of his blindness, he shrugs his shoulders and draws near to the one who is everything he needs in life. He chooses Jesus. The transitional verse that marks him as a true disciple is in verse 34, “An they cast him out.” At this point Jesus finds him and affirms his belief, “and he worshiped him” (v38). 

“Worship is our natural reaction to who God is and what he has done in our lives. If worship is not our natural reaction, then we have not understood who God is and what he has done in our lives.” – This is my paraphrase of the opening paragraph on “Worship” in NT Wright’s book Simply Christian. I have spent the better part of two decades chasing after understanding God and unpacking the deep mysteries of the faith through academia. The man who was once blind reminds me of the simple truth of the Christian faith, when you open your eyes to what Jesus is doing in the world you will begin to see. When you begin to see what Jesus is doing in the world, worship is the only reaction that makes sense. 

Moving from the head to the heart – 

If you find yourself becoming more and more anxious about the world around you, stop and ask yourself what you’re spending your time looking at. Are you looking at where Jesus is working and how he will work through the chaos to bring peace or are you only looking at the chaos? 

Are you taking time in your life to reflect on the transformation Jesus has brought into your life that then brings you into deeper belief?

Where do you draw allegiances in the world that challenge your devotion to Jesus? Another way to ask this: what status in your life, if it were threatened, would be tempted to fight to keep? Ask God to reveal to you the areas of your life where you need to be willing to allow “and they cast him out” to happen to you so that your eyes are opened and you only see Jesus.

John 6:1-15 - Sign 4 - Bread in Abundance

This last week, we opened a new section in the Gospel of John that runs from chapter 5 through the end of chapter 10. This section is framed by the healing of two men, one blind and the other lame, and conversations around their place in the Temple. The other element which provides structure for this section is Jesus’ interactions with the Jewish Feasts: Sabbath (5:1-47), Passover (6:1-72), Tabernacles (7:1-10:21), and Dedication (10:22-42). Each of these feasts looks back to what God has done in the life of Israel and looks forward to what he has promised to do again. Feasts, celebrations, traditions, and other things that shape the ebbs and flow of religious life are good and beneficial. We must remember their purpose as two-way signposts pointing back to what God has done, to then point us forward to what God is doing, so that we can have hope in whatever situation we are in right now. When the signposts become the focus, we fail to continue on the journey. Jesus interacts with these feasts to remind God’s people of what he is doing in the world and giving the feasts new meaning through his presence. 

With that framework in place, let’s read John 6:1-15. This is the sign that leads to the proclamation at the end of the chapter. Take some time to read the whole chapter and get the bigger picture in your mind. While you do that, be thinking of Moses and Israel in the wilderness. There are “Moses Connections” all over the Gospel of John (and the other Gospel accounts as well). 

John places this story and these conversations within the context of the “Jewish Passover Festival.” Here’s the short synopsis of what this festival celebrates: The Passover is the celebration of the Exodus, where God carried his people out of slavery. During the last plague of the Egyptians, the first born of every living being in the land was going to die except for those who had the blood of the lamb on their doorposts. When the Death Angel saw the blood, he passed over the house. Within the house, they were preparing themselves for their journey into the wilderness. They made bread without leaven in it because they needed to be ready to go when God called them to move. This bread also is represented in the bread provided for them in the wilderness, called Manna. 

This feast looks back to the liberation God provided from slavery and looks forward to the liberation the Messiah will bring. Jesus embodies this feast and gives it new meaning because he has brought liberation, not only to Israel but to the whole world. He has liberated the world, not only from their sins, but also from the hold that the powers of this world have on them. In the other Gospel accounts, Jesus implements the Lord’s Supper (Communion or Eucharist) within this feast. When we break bread together each Sunday, we are to look back to what God did for Israel in the Exodus, what Jesus did for us in his death and resurrection, and then look forward to the liberation he is bringing to all things when he brings heaven to earth in the Resurrection and New Creation.

In this passage, Jesus is the Moses who knows how to provide for the people (unlike Moses questioning God for how to feed everyone in Num 11:13). The bread Jesus provides never goes bad and never runs out (unlike the manna in the wilderness in Exodus 16:8, 12, 16, 18, 21). Jesus is the one who invited the multitude to prepare to eat where there is plenty of grass (Psalm 23 comes to mind). In verse 11 John follows the Lord’s Supper ritual instituted in the other Gospel accounts: “Jesus then took the loaves, gave thanks, and distributed…” Jesus provided the greatest wine at the wedding feast in Cana and now he has provided the abundant bread on the mountainside. 

The people in response to his bread in abundance intended to make him their king by force but Jesus, like God, is not the king of any one nation. His kingdom is not of the same substance of this world (John 18:36). Therefore, no nation can lay claim that he is their king. The Kingdom of God is bigger than borders and boundary lands. It is bigger than flags and anthems. In this, there are echoes of Joshua 5:13-14 when Joshua asks if the Lord is “for us or for our enemies?” To which he received the reply, “Neither…” 

From the head to the heart, prayers for reflection:

Sit with Philip – Where are you failing to see beyond the limitations you see in front of you even though you’ve seen Jesus do incredible works? 

Stand with the little boy – What seemingly meager gifts do you have that in the hands of Jesus would do incredible things? Pray for the Spirit to reveal what you’re holding on to and what you need to hand over to Jesus.

Walk with the disciples – Where is Jesus calling you to be his hands to bless others with his gifts? Are you following his word obediently in your distribution of those gifts? 

Prepare to eat with the people – In what ways to do you try to make Jesus your King by force rather than accepting his Kingdom and all he welcomes into it? 

John 5:1-17 - Sign 3 - Do You Want to be Healed?

“Do you want to be healed?” This seems like a very easy question to answer and it is easy to become critical of the invalid whom Jesus asks. I want to invite all of us to lay with this man for the week and receive Jesus in the way he does. There is a lot of tension in this passage between Jesus and the Jewish leaders and you are caught in the middle, not sure where your allegiance needs to be given. 

Think about this story in contrast to the response of the Official in the last story (4:46-54). This past week, we saw the official move towards Jesus, believe his word, and then move towards his family bringing them to belief. He demonstrates authentic faith by the way he walks. He believes Jesus at his word and walks home in faith. 

By contrast, the man who cannot physically walk has been making a life of his condition for 38 years. This may sound harsh, but the man knows what he needs to try to get better. He needs to get into the pool before anyone else. He’s made a life out of lying next to the healing pool without getting in. If he got in and was healed, he would have to figure out how to walk and everything walking would mean for his life. Resist the urge to think of who this applies to in your life and allow the Holy Spirit to invite you into this space to see where you struggle in the same ways. 

Jesus says to him, “Get up…” This phrase is often taken in reference to the resurrection. John likely is giving a nod to what the signs are pointing to and the life in which we are called to walk. Jesus tells him to “take up your bed and walk.” The man, formerly known as the invalid, now has to face the questions he has been avoiding for 38 yeas. Actually, there are deeper questions he needs to wrestle with, but it simply comes down to, “What does walking entail for my life?” 

If you want to take this story deeper, John frames this next section between this story and the healing of the blind man in chapter 9. Go read that story and compare their responses to Jesus. Who are the ones who really see? Who are the ones who really walk with authentic faith? These are the questions John is begging you to wrestle with as you walk with Jesus through his gospel account. Don’t read for information. Don’t read to see how this applies to other people. Allow yourself to be invited into the text, walk towards Jesus, believe the word, be transformed, and take the word to others so that they too might believe. 

Back to the man who was and still is an invalid. The Jewish leaders (v10) question the man about working on the Sabbath, since he is carrying his bed. Notice, he doesn’t know the name of Jesus when they ask who healed him. Also, there is no mention that he believed the word of Jesus. “He came to his own, and his own people did not receive him. But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God” (1:11-12). Don’t miss these echoes of the prologue! 

Jesus finds him in the Temple, a place where he was not able to go when he was an invalid, and says to him, “See you are well! Sin no more, that nothing worse may happen to you” (5:14). What is Jesus talking about?! What is this man’s sin? He is stuck in the tension between being right with the Jewish religious leaders and being right with the one who changed his life. He’s struggling to know how to walk, or which way to walk. Now he knows the name of Jesus! Does he believe? No. He chooses to walk in the way of the broken temple rather than walking in the way of the true temple. Don’t miss the echoes of John 2:13-22! John places this story at the beginning of his Gospel so that we feel the tension between what the temple has become for the Jews and the restoration (resurrection) Jesus brings as the true temple and through the Church. 

When you read this story, especially when you hold it in contrast to chapter 9, Jesus is inviting you to “Get up…and walk.” He’s inviting you to live within the resurrection, as a person redeemed. How will you walk? 

Prayer focus – Sit with these questions and allow the Holy Spirit to direct your attention to areas of your life that need to walk towards Jesus:

• In what areas of your life do you choose not to be healed because it would require more of you? 

• Where has Jesus brought you healing but you’ve failed to know his name and believe? 

• Where do you feel the tension between religious tradition and following Jesus in the way of redemption?

• In what ways is Jesus saying to you, “See, you are well! Sin no more…”

John 4:46-54 - Sign 2 - Healing the Official's Son

Beginning with the first sign of Jesus turning water into wine in John 2:1-12, John sets the reader on a journey with signposts leading the way. The interesting thing about signposts is that they basically serve one purpose, to point you where you need to go. Signs should never become the focal point because they will become a distraction from the destination. Can you imagine what a journey would be like if travelers stopped at every sign they saw? I don’t want to make too much of that point. I just bring it up because that is what seems to be happening in the Gospel of John between the beginning of chapter 2 and the end of chapter 4. 

Jesus clears the temple, and the Jews ask what sign he can show to justify his actions. He just points to the destination, his resurrection. John then points to people’s belief in Jesus because of signs he performed. Nicodemus saw Jesus as a teaching from God because of the signs. People really seem to like the signs and it seems to frustrate Jesus a bit. In 4:46-54, the Official who approaches Jesus asks for healing of his son. Jesus’ response seems a bit frustrated that all people care about are the signs rather than where they point. 

The Official becomes an example for our walk with Jesus. Jesus raises a question regarding belief based on signs and the Official responds with belief before the sign. The sign for the Official then points him to deeper realities of Jesus’ identity because he first believed. Do you see how John is building up to the resurrection in this? All of these signs point to the one who is God in the flesh, who lived a life of obedient submission to the Father, obedient to death, they point to the one who now gives us true life in the resurrection. These signs point you to the one who invites you into a transformative relationship where your belief is on display in how you live like Jesus did. When you start with belief, the signs point you to the life you’re called to live in the reality of relationship with Jesus. John is building up to that climactic moment where we stand alongside Thomas and hear the words of Jesus, “Have you believed because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed” (20:29).

Belief is not just something you do with your mind. It is something you take into your heart and then pump in through the rest of your body to be lived out every day. In what ways does your life reflect your belief that Jesus is Lord? In what areas of your life do you still need to “believe the word” spoken to you (4:50)? 

Prayer Prompts as you reflect on experiencing this moment with Jesus from different perspectives: 

The Official – In what ways do you expect Jesus to work in your life when what you really need to do is believe?

The Official’s Son – Who is someone that has believed deeply in Jesus on your behalf that has brought life back to you? 

The Official’s Servants – What is good news you are carrying right now that you need to realize is the work of Jesus bringing redemption to the world?

The Official’s Household – Who are the people in your life whose testimonies about Jesus need to be heard so that you come to deeper belief? Pray that your ears will be open to them.

John 2:1-12 - Sign 1 - Wedding at Cana

As a kid, I used to love a good scavenger hunt. You’d read a clue or solve a riddle and it’d take you to the next place on the map. All of this hunting and finding develops excitement and anticipation for the end. In many ways, it makes the gift at the end of the journey so much more exciting! John is a beautiful author in how he constructs the story of the Good News about Jesus Christ. This Sunday we begin the scavenger hunt that John has laid out for us. At the end of the story about the Wedding Feast at Cana where Jesus turns water to wine, John tells us that this is the first of his signs (2:11). Jesus is back in Cana in 4:46-54 where he heals the Official’s Son. John tells us that this is the second sign (4:54). John has pointed to two signs and leaves you to do the rest of the work! 

Throughout the Sundays in Lent, we are going to follow the signs leading to the Resurrection. I encourage you to be intentional with your time during this season. Set a time when you will read and reflect on the passage for the week each day. Approach this time with expectation that God will meet you in the text. John writes in a way that invites you into the stories as a participant so that you encounter Jesus in different ways. I will provide some prompts for each week’s reading to help with your time of listening for the voice of God in your life. Invite someone to join you in walking with Jesus during Lent and set a time to share how God is speaking to you through these passages. We’ve provided a guide for this time together here. The guide also has the scripture focus and Dwelling in the Word passages for each week.

Set aside some time to read and reflect on the Wedding in Cana in John 2:1-12. Read through the story slowly and pay attention to which characters in the story stand out to you. Use your imagination (a beautiful tool given to you by God) to allow the story to guide your time of prayer. 

-       From this character’s perspective: What do you see? What do you smell? What do you taste? What do you hear? 

-       Reading the story again: What do you notice about Jesus? Who does he pay attention to? How do you see faith on display? 

-       Reflect on the text (maybe go for a walk with Jesus). Here are some prayer prompts for different characters within the story:

o   Mary – In what ways do you need to be bold in your faith to simply know that Jesus is going to step in and take care of the problem? 

o   Servants – What is Jesus calling you to do that would take great obedience because it doesn’t make sense? 

o   Master of the Feast – Where are blessings in your life that you’ve tried to find other explanations for or give others credit for that need to be given as praise and thanksgiving to Jesus?

o   Bridegroom – Where is Jesus blessing you in your life right now that you need to stop and give thanks?

o   Disciples – Where have you seen Jesus working in the lives of others that call you into deeper belief and therefore deeper commitment to following and becoming like him? 

-       More reflections and prayer prompts for this passage:

o   Who sees the signs of Jesus in this story? 

o   Who is the most blessed in this story? Those who receive the gift of good wine in the celebration? Those who are saved from embarrassment? Or, those who saw the work of Jesus to bring reconciliation to the situation through the miracle? 

o   Pray for your eyes to be open to the work of Jesus around you and that your hands will be ready to join in that work.