John 4:7-26

The Samaritan Woman

For me, one of the most impressive statement Jesus made resides in this passage, "Whoever drinks of the water that I shall give him will never thirst." Pondering this statement, I realize that as simplistic as it is, it really pushes your perspective about Jesus into a binary, dichotomous, choice. You really cannot afford to treat lightly this statement. Unless you think he was kidding. Which it seems, given the context, that he really was not. So then either he is mad, or what he is saying is really true.

Is it really that great to never be thirsty? Is not part of the human life learning and enjoying change, fluctuations, times of fullness, times of need? To everything is there not a season? So what really does he mean never be thirsty? Surely, he know this when he said this. Do I really want to not be thirsty? Do I really want all my needs to be quenched? What would life be like if everything was as it should be?

These are hard question to which I do not have the answer for myself...yet. More meditation, prayer, and consideration is needed.

John 3:22-26

"After these things..." refer to the Passover and Nicodemus's visit. It is important to note that Jesus was gathering quite a crowd here, and that there was quite a religious sentiment going on in the Judean region, especially in Jerusalem. Also note that Jesus' disciples were baptizing. Referring back to the section in the John posts on baptizing we see that it was quite a common practice, however, its origins are not clear, and what Jesus' disciples were baptizing the people for is also not mentioned. It might be that while they were baptizing, Jesus was also teaching, since it is mentioned that He Himself did not baptize. This also tells us that Jesus' disciples at this time might have some religious status and recognition, being associated with a popular teacher, Jesus.

In any case, there arose a debate. How often, when there is a large crowd of believers, even religious leaders, there will also be a debate. And note that it was a purification, a debate about rituals probably between John's disciples and the Jews (probably the Pharisees), a dispute about who is doing what and who is right about it. Perhaps we can get the sense here that while the Pharisees were in legal religious authority, there were bands of teachers who might have disagreed with them, and there was constant voicing of religious ideas. Can we map this on to the way churches and religious organizations behave now?

But note even more surprising is that while the dispute was about purification, what John's disciples asked John about was nothing about purification but they were concerned about Jesus having more followers than John! Perhaps they were not really concerned about purification after all, perhaps it was bothering them that this thing was happening, and the unrest made them choose a topic just to vent? Again, do we do that ourselves? This is a call to re-examine our motives, no matter how admirable, we may have the best of intentions to dispute about religious motives and practices, but is that really our concern, and even more important, is that really what matters? Did we miss the point about what Jesus is doing?

Examine John's response deeply, because it seems in contrast to his disciples' and perhaps may be what John the author is putting as an example for us to follow in response to the Christ.

"He must increase, but I must decrease".

We are but witnesses to a more glorious Light. Always remember that. Be humble. Especially in the presence of One who comes from above and testifies to that which He has seen and heard. This statement constitute another testimony from John the Baptist as quoted by John the author, another testimony about the Christ. And Christ's testimony, through His actions, about Himself.

John 3:1-21

Nicodemus, Pharisee, ruler of the Jews...

This event occured while Jesus was in Jerusalem, after He has cleared the temple. Nicodemus' question shows that he has been considering Jesus for quite some time, along with others. And this reflects a certain contemporary thought at the time: that the Jews were expecting the Messiah to come and deliver. Jesus seemed to be a suspected candidate, but the things He did did not square with a lot of their conceptions about what Messiah would be like. And there, they were tripped up in all their thinking, even as Pharisees.

Note how Jesus begins the conversation. It has nothing to do with Nicodemus' statement. But Jesus knows his heart even before his mouth spoke and started the conversation immediately on what is important for Pharisees to know: the idea of being born again, to be saved.

"The wind blows where it wishes..."

Somethings happen, we experience it, and we believe that it is there. The wind. And we do not question it. How is it that we cannot bring that same faith into spiritual matters? That is the point in Jesus' declaration here about being born in the spirit. To be born again means to be born in of water and the spirit. Baptism? This is linked with John the author's references to baptisms before and after this passage.

"We know and testify what We have seen..."

Simply this, the only way to really know, is to believe the testimony of the one to whom true knowledge is found. We can try to increase knowledge through observing for our own, to believe only when we see things or experience things. But how often, even though the truth is before our very eyes, we still refuse to believe, but choose to explain it away by other "theories" or worse, ignore it. So then, perhaps this is something to consider with respect to philosophy of knowledge, perhaps the only true knowledge can only be obtained by faith in another. And this Another is the ultimate Another, who has seen what is the truth. So we can rest assured in His testimony.

"For God so loved the world..."

The famous verse. The only hope we have. Note, how we cannot do anything to have everlasting life other than to believe. And how this all stems from one point only. God's love. Love that saves, but also, love for which the rejection of is unimagineable.

Jesus' pleads here are entirely logical and reasonable. He who does truth comes to the light. Why then do people still not believe in the One? Choosing other alternatives? If they truly do what is true? What is their thinking and answer to Christ's words here?

John 2:13-25

"Zeal for Your house has eaten me up". "Do not make My Father's house a house of merchandise".

These events occured after the water to wine miracle in Cana. Thus, we assume that Jesus and His disciple made another trip back to Jerusalem for this Passover, but this was before His final trip to Jerusalem for His crucifixion.

During the Passover, a sacrifice was made. This was the Passover lamb that was eaten in remembrance of the Israelite exodus from Egypt. The lamb symbolized a few things: substitution of the object of judgment on sin (the lamb for the Israelites), forgiveness of sins, identification with God, protection (from God's judgment), grace, providence, cleansing, and probably many other wonderful things. It is therefore interesting to see how Jesus is the complete fulfillment of all these symbols, as the actual thing rather than just a symbol. Back to the passage, a sacrifice was made during the Passover, and therefore, since not all were farmers, and not all could afford lambs, and also, because there were other types of sacrifices to be made at the temple other than the Passover sacrifice, people bought animals from others, conveniently around the temple at Jerusalem.

It is apparent from Jesus' reaction, that this practice of buying animals for the sacrifice was being abused. What was the main problem of buying and selling animals at the temple, since sacrifices were needed? Note, there were also money changers doing business! The sacrifice was a ritual that was to bring about remembrance and worship of God. But in elevating and playing off the role of money, the sacrifice came to be ironically cheapened. It no longer became about God, but about money and men profiting off a holy ritual. Consider this, a family tradition such as a reunion dinner, and the commercialism that surrounds the food required for the dinner, how that affects the meaning of the actual dinner and tradition if we are not careful. Case in point, think about Christmas and Easter, and New Year celebrations.

Futhermore, the temple of Jerusalem is the footstool of God, and the house of prayer, God's house. God of the universe. The Most High. Do you sell and change money for profit in the house of such a being? How atrocious. Men substitute the most holy and meaningful of all things that has intrinisic value, with value of something else that is in fact meaningless, money. What is money that we should want it so much at the expense of the real thing, God? What is any other value in life that we should want it so much at the expense of the ultimate creator and source of all true values, God?

Jesus' anger is obvious and reminiscent of how God chases and drives out the inhabitants of a land who's sin has disgusted Him. Recall, the Israelites war on the Canaanites, driving them out from the Promised Land because of the sins of the Canaanites. Recall, the Babylonians and Assyrians driving Israel out from the Promised Land because of the sins of the Israelites. Now, Jesus drives out the people from the temple. The place is made holy because of God. Unholy men with their deeds have no place there.

And as if they thought they Jesus' actions were unjustified, they had the gall to challenge Him for a sign to appease them since He has done these things! John uses this to illustrate the blindness of the people (the Light has come, but the world did not know Him), and mentions this later on in Jesus' conversation with Nicodemus. For they did not understand His sign of the raising the temple in three days, nor did they see who He truly was (since He kept Himself from them, v24) even though He performed many signs while in Jerusalem at this time.

How many times, when we are going on with our daily profiteering, as subtle as it can be, we are being in stark opposition to the holy purposes of God? And how often we refuse to believe because we are too proud to acknowledge the higher and most valuable of values, that God has put into place.

John 2:1-12

"On the third day... Cana of Galilee..."

The actual location of Cana is not certain, however, we do know that it is situated somewhere around Galilee. Possibly a few kilometers north of Nazereth, Jesus' hometown. Cana is also Nathanael's hometown (John 21:2). In any case, Jesus, His disciples and Mary, His mother, were guests at this wedding, so they must have been at least acquaintences with the wedding party. This event happened the day after Jesus met Philip and Nathanael. So they had made the trip since then.

This is the first miracle sign in John's gospel revealing the divinity of the Christ. The exchange is interesting, almost telling of the relationship between Jesus and Mary as one in which the mother is conversing with her Lord, both familiar and at the same time not. The miracle itself was not made public during the wedding, and unlike other miracles, it was not about healing or a demonstration of authority of nature. Rather, it was simply about providing wine to a party that had run out of it. But this description is still included as a sign that manifested His glory, and that led to belief in the disciples. Perhaps this is related to what Jesus told Nathanael the day before since he is from Cana? Nevertheless, this sign serves as a buttress to testimonials of the identity of Christ.

We are not told what the significance of the six waterpots of stone according to purification manner means. However, John the author states this for the purpose of informing his non-Jewish readers.

Following this wedding, Jesus and His troupe went to Capernaum, a city by the north-west coast of the Sea of Galilee. Interestingly, this was the city of Peter, James, and Andrew (see other gospels), rather than Bethsaida. However, it could be that they moved from place to place around the coast, as these cities were quite close to each other along the northern coast of the sea. Capernaum was the center of Jesus' ministry subsequently, but later on, they rejected Him and He uttered a curse on the city. Note that this city was cursed later, despite the miracle that was done. Consider this for yourself, how quick we are to blind ourselves to what God does right before our eyes.

John 1:35-51

The Calling of the Disciples

Note that all these events in these few chapters occur around Bethany. Bethany is reputedly in the south east area (3 miles away) from the Mount of Olives, which is to the east of Jerusalem (check out Google Earth around the Jerusalem area with the "relief" option on to get an idea of the topography and geography). So John was baptizing in this area, Jesus had come to this area too from His home town of Nazereth, and the disciples he gathered here, Andrew, Simon Peter his brother, Nathanael, and Philip, and one other unnamed were staying in this area currently with John the Baptist. However, Andrew, Peter and Philip were from Bethsaida, a city by the north-east coast of Galilee. Two of them, Andrew and the unnamed disciple were followers of John the baptist, up to this point. Note also that these events occured in a matter of days. It appears that first, Jesus came to the area where John was baptizing, and He had lodgings there. On the day John baptize Jesus (from the gospels), John saw the vision of the dove descending on Him and identified Him as the Messiah (but we also know that John was aware of Jesus' identity for before He was baptized and John saw the vision, John already expressed humility in that he was hesitant to baptize Jesus because of his knowledge of His divinity). Note also that John adds translations of Hebrew words into Greek, perhaps being aware that his audience may not be fully Jewish.

Thus the two followers of John must have heard from John himself talk about the coming Messiah. It is therefore no surprise that when John identified Jesus as the Messiah, the two would follow Him. It also appears then, that Jesus did not just arrive on the scene out of nowhere, but that people had already a fair knowledge of His background, who He was as a person, being from Nazereth, and perhaps, He had already showed a little of His thinking in His conversations. For John was "looking at Jesus as He walked". Consider this for yourself, what are you looking at in life?

Perhaps, this event occured over a few hours, where as the two followers were with John, John talked about Jesus, and they considered what John was saying, and then decided to follow Jesus themselves. Regardless, the followers were rewarded by Jesus turning and asking "What do you seek?" This is perhaps a very difficult question for some. What do you seek in life? Some have no aim, or seek nothing. Some seek something that is material, some even seek after something that is spiritual. But perhaps, as long as that which we seek is not God, they all fall short of the ultimate desire. How interesting then, that the disciples' reply was to first acknowledge Him as teacher, and then apparently stating that they seeked to know where He stayed. But even that is enough. To know where the Divine stays. And they saw and stayed with Him. We can only guess the wonderful conversations they must have had during this time in the evening, for it was the tenth hour from sunrise.

The first response from this interaction for Andrew, was to find Simon, and to inform him that he had found the Messiah. Note again, everyone at that time was probably teetering on their toes looking for the Messiah, so this claim from his brother must have caught Simon's attention in some way. To his credit, Simon followed and was immediately declared prophetically by Jesus to be Cephas, or Peter, the rock.

Following this, Jesus wanted to return to Galilee, nearer His hometown. He had apparently come down south for certain reasons, perhaps the baptism, but had completed His purpose here for the moment. We are not told when the 40 days of temptation fit in, but presumably it was after the baptism and before He went back to Galilee. But prior to returning, He found Philip, who was from the same city as Andrew and Peter. So it appears these disciples were not random people, but people who had interacted with Jesus on various other occasions, and were chosen probably partly based on these interactions.

Philip's call to Nathanael again centers around Jesus being the Messiah. And Nathanael's response reveals the attitudes present towards Nazereth, and the inconsistency of a Messiah coming from there, since the Messiah is supposedly good.

The interaction between Jesus and Nathanael is somewhat a mystery, because it seems to be specific to Nathanael's experience. Nevertheless, John the author placed this section here, perhaps to emphasis how the disciples were convinced of Jesus' identity, and how Jesus revealed Himself to them. In Nathanael's case, it was through Jesus revealing His divine knowledge about him in a prophetic manner. Did Nathanael see something under the fig tree? Was he asking about something then? We are not told. But we are told that Jesus promised that he would see even greater things that this simple revelation of the Messiah through a prophetic word. He would see the Messiah Himself in His reconciliatory role (the angels of God ascending and descending are reminiscent of Jacob's vision of the ladder) and in glory.

John 1:29-34

"The next day..."

The day after the Baptist was questioned by the priest and Levites sent from the Pharisees, Jesus comes towards John. Perhaps He was already in the vicinity, and people were curious as to who He was. Even John said "I did not know Him", but identified Him as the Lamb of God after he saw the Spirit descend and remain on Him.

This is John the Baptist's testimony as John the author reports it. John was sent to baptize with water, to make straight the path in the wilderness for the coming of the Lord. To prepare people so that the Lord can walk through the wilderness. His baptism and preparation centered around instructing people to repent of their sins and to be cleansed. This is then how John the Baptist summarized the role of Jesus in this section. Jesus is the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world. He is also the One who will baptize us with the Holy Spirit. Thus, there is the taking away of sin, as well as the cleansing and purification of our hearts.

This is the testimony of John the Baptist about Jesus. John's Baptism, where did it come from?

Jesus, where did He come from?

We are now faced with this mystery. The Incarnation. God with us, in the flesh, in Jesus. The sacrificial Lamb, like all the lambs sacrificed for the atonement of sin at the Jerusalem temple. And the Holy Spirit in us? Note, previously in the Old Testament, prophets and individuals were anointed, and at times, it is recorded, the Holy Spirit came upon them, for certain works. But here, we are baptized with the Holy Spirit. This is something more than just "coming upon". This is indwelling. This is the Divine in us.

John 1:19-28

"...testimony of John, when the Jews sent priests and Levites from Jerusalem to ask him, "Who are you?"

Or perhaps, "Who do you think you are?". We cannot deny a sense of suspicion on the part of the interrogators. For John the Baptist has been preaching a radical message, as we have observed in other gospels. He has also been baptizing, hence the term the Baptist. Here, John, the author, narrates the events that took place prior to the first recorded public anointing of Jesus for His ministry, being baptized by John. Remember, that as recorded in Matthew, about 30 years ago, there was a huge massacre of infants by Herod, because he was afraid of the threat of the fulfillment of the messianic prophecy. So, we must wonder, perhaps people have been thinking all this while, with much tension, hope, expectancy, and for some, fear, about the big question - WHO? It is therefore no surprise that when people noticed the radical nature of John the Baptist's ministry, they suspected him of being the Messiah. The One whom the Jews have been waiting for. The One whom the Scriptures have foretold since Genesis 3:15 and throughout all the Old Testament. Even now, those who do not receive Jesus as the Messiah (Christ, in Greek), are still awaiting and wondering - WHO will save us?

Note, that John, the author, states that the priests and Levites were sent by the Jews. Recall that John was probably writing this gospel around the time of 70-90AD. And he was writing in the midst of two teachings that needed to be addressed, that were stumbling the Christians at that time (this gospel was probably circulatory to all the churches throughout all the Diaspora, as well as to Israel). The first was the teachings of agnosticism, who basically hold the idea that there is no God. The second teaching related to Christians, whether previously non-Jewish or Jewish, were reverting back to the old Jewish practices, tied to the practices of the Torah, such as circumcision. Thus, when John pinpoints here, that the Jews were one of the first to question John the Baptist, and how throughout the gospel, these interrogators are constantly referred to as being unable to accept the Messiahship of Jesus, we can see that if we were Jewish readers, this touched a sensitive spot. Let us be sensitive to this, therefore, and be open to hear what John, the author, is truly saying about the state of our hearts with respect to the identity of the Messiah. Perhaps, the question is, why do we react the way we do, when we hear that Someone is the Messiah? Do we doubt? Do we fear? Or do we not even care about such things? Or do we receive this information without due testing and consideration? Or do we receive it with joy, and righteous faith?

Nevertheless, it is the priests and Levites, sent by the Pharisees (v24), that ask "who are you?" Such a question! How would we answer if someone were to ask us that? The interested, should at this point look up background information about the Pharisees. Here, it is useful to know that, because of their religious leadership role and position in the Jewish society, it is no surprise that they would be the ones to first jump at outstanding people to test them about their teachings. Perhaps some Pharisees were truly concerned about what these outstanding people were teaching the average Jew. And so, they exercised a paternalistic approach to people such as John, and subsequently Jesus. Testing, questioning, suspecting.

"...I am not the Christ...(not) Elijah...(not) the Prophet..."

Malachi 4:5,6 talks about God sending Elijah, before the dreadful day of the Lord. So, people then probably took this to mean that Elijah (who was taken up into heaven 2Ki 2:11) would come back before the Messiah would come back. This is where the point may have been missed. The people were looking for the Messiah as a sign for deliverance. They may have had wrong ideas about what this deliverance entails. Regardless, they were focusing on the Messiah as a sign, and were deaf and blind to the message and truth of Who the Messiah is, and what He said and was doing. Thus, even if John was Elijah as foretold, is that really that important?

John the Baptist denied association with all these signs that the people were so eagerly attending to much like the way Jesus typically responded to the peoples' request for signs. But gave the answer from Isa 40:3. Which is both specific as well as generic. In a way, we are all voices crying out in this wilderness for people to make straight the way of the Lord. But John the Baptist probably knew this more clearly than anyone else, for to him was revealed that his cousin, Jesus, was indeed the Son of God, the Messiah, the Christ. Where did he gain this knowledge? We are not told. But he expressed explicit knowledge, and declared it in the following verses.

John the Baptist's baptism
The word baptism has two related meanings. The first meaning is simply to immerse, or submerge, the second meaning is to wash, or clean. This word is used in the New Testament, but does not seem to occur in the Old Testament. However, we are reminded, when we think of cleansing, of the Old Testament commandments regarding purification rites during temple servies and sacrificial offerings. We are also reminded of submersion in the Red Sea crossing during the Exodus of the Isrealites from Egypt, the crossing of the Jordan river, when the Isrealites entered the promised land. The constant meaning that we obtain from these examples is the idea of being transformed from a previous old, dirty, inferior, unacceptable state, to one that is new, clean, perfected, and accepted. Thus, reading this into this section in John, it seems that the practise of baptism has become formalized as something done by a rabbi or teacher as a ritual representing the change of the baptizee from an old state to the new state, perhaps the state taught or recommended by that particular teacher.

Perhaps, the interrogators were questioning John's authority (see Mt 21:25, Mr 11:30, Lk 20:4) and teaching. What was he teaching the people, since he says he has no authority. And John's reply here was to indicate the baptism he performed was but a faint comparison to the true baptism to be performed by the Christ. So we are to think of our practice in church of earthly baptism with water as well.

Look also at Lk 12:50. Here Jesus talks about His own baptism, His immersion and purification by suffering on the cross. Was He not pure? Why did He need to be purified? Was He not God? How can He be immersed in anything? How can anything contain God? But recall, that Jesus was baptized by John the baptist (next section). And recall, that our sins were laid on Him. And recall, that He had to die on our behalf, the price of our sin, and the ultimate immersion, the ultimate containment from the rest of all creation, is death. Finally, the baptism we practise does not stop in immersion. For it is first immersion, then purification. This speaks of the resurrection to perfect life after the death to sin.

Going back to the Baptist. If we were so totally convinced about the identify of Christ, would we be as bold as John to declare publicly this truth? Reflect on John the Baptist's actions. How he behaved, remember his lifestyle previously mention, remember his message based on his knowledge of Christ. A voice in the wilderness, sometimes a lonely voice, sometimes unheeded, sometimes even ridiculed and mocked and placed under suspicion. Consider the Baptist's faith, in One who, at the time when he knew Him, had not yet died for his sins, but yet, he already had faith. Consider now, we who know Him in the fullness of His intentions and acts and words, our faith. And John, when ask who he was, his answer was always in relation to Christ. He never said I am John, these are my teachings, this is my thinking, that is why I do these things. Instead, it was always simply "I am His".

John 1:15-18

"John bore witness...He who come after me is preferred...for He was before me."

This statement is presumably uttered just before Jesus was baptized by John the Baptist. John had a rather large following, being a radical teacher prophet, a fresh voice in the Roman colonialized Israel. For 400 years after the remnant returned from being exiled to Babylon and Persia (as narrated in Nehemiah and Ezra), not much is known about what was going on in Israel. During this time, Rome came into power and defeated the previous kingdoms, and Israel came under its power. And just at this time, possibly a very dynamic, radical period of change in terms of politics, economy, culture and religion, John the Baptist cries out this statement pointing towards Jesus Christ. If you were one of the people listening to John's words, you might be puzzled as to what he was talking about. Because he was referring to Jesus, of Nazereth, as being preferred and before him, even though Jesus was younger than John in terms of human age. Radical claims. Either John the Baptist was mad, or else what he was saying was truer than anything else we've ever known. Either way, it is clear that he was very much convinced about what he was saying. And his own ministry, the baptism of repentance, rebuking of Pharisees (seen in Matthew, Mark, and Luke) was centered around this fact.

But the John, the author of this gospel interjects this statement by the Baptist here, because in the context of these verses, the point was to declare that Jesus Christ was the Word that he had been talking about in the previous sentences. Again, the pattern is, the idea of the Word, and that the Word took on flesh as Jesus Christ, through whom came grace and truth. A repetition for emphasis, for connection, for expansions. For not only was the Word full of grace and truth. But we have received from His fullness, the same grace, and the same truth. So as He had these qualities fully in Him, so He imparts it to us through Jesus Christ.

Note the contrast between the law through Moses, and grace and truth through Jesus Christ. Some seek to find truth in the law, some even seek to find grace in it, thinking that the law is good and therefore must reflect some element of grace. That may be in some cases. However, we see here that in fact, the law is placed in juxtaposition with grace and truth. Thus, at most, the law is but a reflection of the reality. If there is any truth in the law, it is because it is merely reflecting the Truth. If there is any hint of grace, it is because it again is merely reflecting the One who is full of grace.

"No one has seen God...He has declared Him"

This statement is a continual theme for John (1 John 4:12-16) and relates to the world not comprehending Him. For God is invisible to us in all His Otherness. However, He is revealed to us in Jesus Christ. If we know Jesus, we know God. So there are two levels of testimony here. The first is the testimony of John the Baptist as to who Jesus was. And the second, greater testimony, is that of Jesus as to who God is.

John 1:14

"And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory..."

Recall the tabernacle during the wilderness wanderings of the Israelites after their exodus from Egypt. Then, the tabernacle was the vessel for God's glory as He dwelt among the Israelites during their journey. The tabernacle was made from various materials, each having their symbolism as well as purpose. But here, here is no longer symbolism, there is no more analogy. This is the reality of those former shadows (Heb 10:1).

There is in our culture, the idea that flesh is evil, and not good. Yet, the glory of God was beheld in the form of flesh. What is glory? Even more specifically, what is His glory? There is always the idea of brightness, weight, presence. Glory. Some might think it to be about fame or credit, as we are prone to say, "He takes all the glory for himself". But that is but one aspect of the idea of glory. For throughout the old testament, glory seemed to be consistently used to represent the presence of individuals that are great, that have done great things, that are distinct in their otherness compared to us. And glory is mostly used to refer to rulers, like kings and their glory. It is also applied to men and their glory. Their presence, their legacy. It is intimately tied to their being. Where the life within them is so influential, it spills out as glory. And in contradiction to our thoughts about the evil flesh, the flesh of the Word was the vessel for His glory. How wonderful this revelation, this release, that our flesh too then, the same flesh as for the Word, has the possibility to contain or be the medium through which His glory can be known.

"...begotten of the Father..."

The Son of God. The very product of Father. One is not the Father without offspring. He would only be a being. Yet, now we have a revelation. He is the Father. First to the Word, and we will learn later, to us all who believe and have been adopted. This means that in the Word, is the essence of the Father. In the Word, the Father is seen, because His essence is at work. If God has an offspring, a true one, would that offspring not also be God? Although we are created by God, we are not true offsprings. But if one were to stem from God, He would be God as well. Not another one, but the same One. For there cannot be more than one God. By definition, there can be only One God. This is the mystery and must be deeply considered.

"...full of grace and truth."

Grace and truth! Consider the state of interpersonal values and situations that we experience. If we were to arrive at a plain summary, we might find that if there are many problems in these relationships, from the lowest to highest levels, from person-to-person, one-to-many, many-to-many, group-to-group, if there are any problems, they are due to a lack of grace and truth. Because we do not trust others, and they do not trust us, at least not completely. Because we do not show grace to others, nor are they gracious to us, again, at least not completly. But here, John states, that the Word is full of grace and truth. This cannot be repeated enough. If we are searching for truth, because of the various voices that speak in our world, we will find it in the Word. If we are looking for grace, because of the unforgiving, methodical, procedural operations of the world, we will find it in the Word. Again, contrast this to the Law. Law versus Word. The Law of Moses was written on stone, with words. Yet, here is the Word, but instead of the rigid, prescriptive tone seen in the Law, we see life, light, grace and truth. How can this be? Are they inconsistent? No. For, as it is said, all the Law and the Prophets are summed up in one commandment: love your neighbor as yourself (Rom 13:9). But we digress, in a good way.

Consider truth. What is it? It seems that John here is speaking of an absolute truth. A truth, or Truth, that everyone can regard as such. Truth that does not depend on anything. What is this? We are not given anymore detail from this verse, other than that it can be found in the Word. But we know that truth as we use the term means something that is real, that is reliable, that would apply in every situation. The concept of truth by definition would mean that whatever it is, it always is. The minute one thinks that a truth is at one time, but is not at another, it would contradict the strict meaning of truth. Truth should always be. It is as eternal as God is, as previously mentioned. And as such, might we think that then, the only real truth, is the truth of Himself. His being? Stark constrast to the current subjective truth ideas. Is truth an emergent property of collective consciousness? No. Because that would mean it depends on the collective. Is the idea of truth a product of collective consciousness? Maybe. But then who can show that it is not itself a true concept. Yet, think of the Word, and John's claim. The Word was, and is, full of truth. John simply states it with no reference to any collective idea. We must pause and consider this deeply. Is he stating an idea from the collective consciousness simply as one of the partakers? Yet, he had evidence, for all the ideas in John, John saw those ideas fulfilled in the Word. When collective ideas are fulfilled, it is a scary thing...a scary thing to the beholder, the one who realizes the fulfillment, and to those who would realize it because of the testimony of the one who witnesses.

Consider grace. What is it? As we know it, grace speaks of acceptance, approachability, beauty, fluidity. Someone defined grace as getting that which we do not deserve. In our interactions, do we not see the lack of such qualities? We are constantly trying to define ourselves in term of boundaries, personality, distinguishing ourselves from others in a struggle to be known. We are constantly wanting to get what we think we deserve, and not giving others what we think they do not. Yet the Word is full of grace. Is this not the ultimate expression of one's being, to acknowledge the being of others in the fullest possible way, that is, to consider them higher than the self. To serve them. To give to them. To accept them. And in so doing, we express ourselves in relationship to them. For if we only consider ourselves, what do we have to verify our own being with? And that relationship with others, it cannot be one of selfishness and self-obsession, the opposite of grace. For if so, we would annhilate the other, and end up with only ourselves. Which would be an unreasonable state. But of course, grace is more than this negative perspective.

Grace is positive. Just as truth is positive. Just as light is positive. There is creative power, propagation, influence, revelation, release, transformation, growth, and all these are tied to His glory. So there are two things here. Truth. Independent of everything else, having its own being. And grace. The fullest expression of that being in relation to others.

John 1:6-13

"...a man sent from God...John...witness of the Light...believe."

John the baptist. Strange man. From Matthew 3:1-17, Mark 1:1-11, and Luke 3, we obtain the general description of a man who lived quite unlike the others in his generation. He lived in the wilderness, wore camel's hair with a leather belt, and ate locusts and wild honey. His main message was "baptism of repentance for the remission of sins". This is significant. Consider John the baptist, since he was sent from God as a witness of the Light. How was he a witness? Why was he chosen? Is there even a reason he was chosen or did he grow into that role?

Consider the saying from Isaiah 40:3-5. This is the passage whose context is to speak comfort and deliverance to the people of Israel. There is also the very telling statement "The glory of the Lord shall be revealed". And John is the voice of one crying in the wilderness, "Prepare the way...make straight in the desert". Get ready! How many were unaware? How many did not comprehend the light? But more on this in later passages.

The key points in these verses seem to be about the testimony to some facts or revelations about the Light. The Light gives light to every man, the Light was not known by the world, the Light was not received by His own, those who received the Light by believing in His name, are given the right to become children of God. This is an expansion of the earlier verses. From the original idea that the Light shines in the darkness, and the darkness not comprehending, John the author develops the idea of how the Light shines in the darkness.

The Light was in the world. Now, the Maker of the world is in it. Yet He was not recognized, He was not known. This is the tragedy. What has gone wrong that the world does not know its Maker? As a child does not know his or her parents. But John does not stop here, for although the world, His own, did not know Him or receive Him, those who did receive Him received something in return. And here, there is the idea of spiritual birthhood into being a child of God.

Now when we talk of spiritual birth, we refer to something fundamental, something to do with souls. For we are not talking about physical bodily birthing, but divine birthing. We are born of God. For all physical births are reflections of what is happening spiritually. A new soul is born. A new being. A new life. However, that life apart from The Life, and The Light, is sadly, because of our ignorance of Him, our lack of knowledge of Him, our non-reception of Him, that life is still just as good as death. For consider its eternal futility apart from The Light.

Yet, the good news is that if that life were to receive Him, then, there is a spiritual birth as well. One by God's own will. Consider the fundamental, qualitative difference that is now in place between these two lives. Is it a continuum? As in are there "better" lives and "worse" ones? Are not all equal? Good or bad? All die. The only distinction then must be what is eternal. Do you know the Eternal One? And, just as importantly, does the Eternal One know you?

John 1:3-5

"All things were made through Him..."

The creation story. Here, John is clearly looking at Christ as the beginning of everything that we see and know. Not only was He in the beginning, His is also the beginning of all things. Consider this again. What we know about reality. Planets, creatures, animals, plants, the environment, molecules, atoms, physics, color, smells, sounds, movement, change, reason, logic, chaos even. Christ was the author of all these. Which means He must be incredibly smart. He is the one in whom resides perfect knowledge as those in the sciences envy. He is the one in whom resides perfect expression as those in the arts envy. He is the one in whom resides perfect thought as those in philosophy and religion seek after. Everything is found in Him because everything that exists owes itself to Him, even time.

And the culmination of this creative force is life. In Him was life. Even now, we find it hard to define what life really is. Reproduction? Awareness? Growth? Automation? These are but facets for we can always find exceptions to the rules we might devise. But here is the source of all life. If we were to take this point, then John could be telling us, here is what life is. He is. And we who live, do so because He does. And if so, there are implications that follow, such as emulation of His perfect life. Seeking after His life force.

How can we choose otherwise? Because that would be to deny life. And in the end, that would mean we are extinguishing ourselves. To not flow with His life is contradiction, and the most meaningless thing of all.

"...the light of men...in the darkness..."

Now we cross the line. From just the idea of perfect existence, life, we cross into the physical, light. This juxtaposing of life and light vs darkness. John was probably thinking about the world as we know it as darkness. The ignorance, the denial, the rebellion. And this is likened to not having light. Darkness. Not being able to see. Not having light. Not having life. So then, apart from Christ, we are in fact not alive. Recall that God said in Genesis "Let there be light", again. He started creation with light. There is therefore significance here that John speaks of Christ's life as the light of men. For in His life, in His ultimate work, He created light in us, while we were in darkness, uncreated, unformed.

"...the darkness did not comprehend it."

The ultimate failing of the human race. We did not recognize Him. Even though we belong to Him, and He made us. We have fallen so far that we cannot see the truth as it is presented in our very faces. Consider this. How have we, how has the world, not comprehended its Maker?

John 1:1,2

"In the beginning..."

This echoes the words of Genesis 1:1, "In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth". Why is this important for John? Realize this, when the apostles, when John set his eyes on Jesus, he was looking at someone, some Thing, that has existed before time. To say, "In the beginning" is to packet Time within something else. Which is also to say Time is not everything, it is part of something. This is where we will find it hard to grasp. For we live in a temporal world. Things exist and happen according to some temporal order. Something leads to something else. But when presented with the idea that something just is, or is not, we are left hanging with an uncomfortable feeling of HOW? Because this is not about something that existed before Time as we know it, because that would imply some other kinds of Time that this thing existed. No. Rather, this is about something that exists as it is. Timeless, Time is irrelevant. Is.

Yet, John starts with this idea. Prior to eternity, the Word was. The Word precedes it. Let us consider this for a while. Our words are expressions of our thoughts. Our words have power to change other people's thoughts. Our words also have the power, through influencing people, to change the physical world. Our words exist within the physical world in that they are either written on materials, or spoken as sound waves. Our words also exists in allegorical and metaphorical forms, like communicating via pictures, or music. In sum, our words are a result of our being. We exist in a relation to other beings, in relation to the physical world. And as soon as we exist, we have words, even as babies.

The Word then, is a result of God being. God in His infinity relates to the finite which He made. Which He made by the power of His Word. As it is written in Genesis He said "Let there be light, and there was light". Is it hard to see how when God speaks, it is like when we speak, only God speaks perfectly, and we speak but mere reflections and shadows? When He speaks, the Word acts. The Word does His Will. The Word is His Will. Jesus, the very outward expression of God in relation to us, and to all reality. For in Jesus, everything is fulfilled of which God intends. Both in the past and in the future. In Jesus, God is revealed. Just as when we speak, people know us. By our words, we are known, and judged. By God's Word, He is known, and found to be the just judge of all.

We should therefore be mindful of Who it is we speak to, and Who it is we speak of. For this is Someone who is since before time. This is Someone who is the very essence of power, life, existence, as it is revealed here in this statement made by John. This is Someone who's words never return void but accomplish what He says(Isa 55:11).

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.

And then John shifts. "He was in the beginning with God". We started with an entity, an unnamed thing and finally move to "He". A person. Jesus. So the Word of God, is not like our words that are just lifeless forms. The Word of God has life in himself, and is a person. With His own character, personality, existence, thoughts, perceptions. "He". Jesus. This person who walks in Israel when He was walking there, has been with God right from the beginning. Ponder the existence of such a person. Of such a being.

John - Introduction

The gospel of John records Jesus' life from a very different perspective compared to the other three gospels. There are personal conversations that elaborate Jesus' thinking and teaching. There are many instances where Jesus makes claims and statements about Himself, and this is usually accompanied by signs and acts that support these claims. In fact, there are 7 signs recorded in the book. The number of perfection.

There is little doubt that this gospel was written by John, the apostle, the one whom Jesus loved. And he probably wrote it after the writing of Mark. Thus, while being able to use some material from Mark, John greatly digresses and gives us more specific records of what Jesus said in other episodes of his ministry. Amongsts these new episodes not available are: Jesus' conversation with Nicodemus, the Samaritan woman at the well, and Lazarus' raising from the dead. Also, from here, we are informed that Jesus made several trips to Jerusalem throughout His ministry, probably in keeping with celebrative traditions of the various Jewish feasts. This is in contrast with the other gospels where only one general trip (the final one) to Jerusalem is mentioned.

This is a very beautiful gospel in that we see Jesus in a different, almost more personal, light compared to what is described in the other gospels. As such, we should expect to learn a more intimate understanding of Jesus' mind and heart.