The Gospel of John

I realised something about the whole of John 9 as we brought the discussing and digging into John 9 to a close today. When the man born blind was healed, he had initially no inkling who Jesus was. When Jesus healed him, there he began on his faith journey. Mud made with saliva was put on his eyes. He was told to wash in the Pool of Siloam. He went, I imagine very slowly and obviously blindly trudging along, being careful of the mud on his eyes. He washed and he saw! For a mature man who has not seen anything before in his life who suddenly sees, it must really be an extraordinary experience. He went home in excitement and joy to show his good fortune.

Let's see how his journey went.

First, the neighbours were contemplating if it was him. He said, "Yes, I am the man." Then he recounted to them what happened when "the man they call Jesus" came to him.

Then, he was brought to the Pharisees. He began by recounting again his experience with Jesus but when asked what he has to say about him, and he made one step forward. He replied, "He is a prophet."

Next, the Pharisees called his parents, who were afraid of them. His parents would not bear witness for the son. They were afraid. I see that this is significant because the man's testimony is his own. No one else can bear witness for Jesus except himself, not even his parents. In the same way, our testimonies are our own. We are the ones who must make it and firmly proclaim it to the world. Don't expect others to do it for you.

Then, it was back to the Pharisees. Now his statement became more elaborated, firm and concrete when he said in retort to the Pharisees, "Whether he is a sinner or not, I don't know. One thing I do know. I was blind but now I see!" and "Now that is remarkable! You don't know where he comes from, yet he opened my eyes. We know that God does not listen to sinners. He listens to the godly man who does his will. Nobody has ever heard of opening the eyes of a man born blind. If this man were not from God, he could do nothing."

Finally, Jesus came to him and asked him, "Do you believe in the Son of Man?" "Who is he, sir?" the man asked. "Tell me so that I may believe in him." Jesus said, "You have now seen him; in fact, he is the one speaking with you." Then the man said, "Lord, I believe," and he worshiped him.

Imagine, if he had not gone through the neighbours-Pharisees-parents-Pharisees ordeal and if Jesus had ask him immediately after healing him, what would he have said?

In the same way, if we had not been through our very own ordeals and trials, what would we have said of Christ? What testimony would we bear for him?

pearlie

We began on John 9 today in bible study, a very interesting section on the Healing of the Man Born Blind. We read the entire chapter for context, and discussed it until verse 12.

Verse 4 and 5 struck me:

v.4 We must work the works of Him who sent Me as long as it is day; night is coming when no one can work.

* We = it is our work
* must = a command
* works = there is much to do
* of Him who sent Me = work that is of Christ, i.e. the Gospel
* as long as it is day = while there is time
* night is coming = there isn't much time left
* no one can work = nothing you can do then

v.5 While I am in the world, I am the Light of the world.
There will be a time Christ will be the judge, but for now He is the light of the world, point others to Him, while there is still time. Time will soon run out and it will be too late and there is nothing we can do about it.

We have work to do.

pearlie

In our bible study today we continued with the rest of John 8, where the dialogue between the Jesus and the Jews climaxed to the point where Jesus revealed his divinity and the Jews began to stone Jesus.

It is easy for us to berate the Jews but if we find ourselves in their shoes at that time, how would we have acted? Throughout the entire dialogue, we see Jesus welcoming their challenge. The more they challenged, the more Jesus revealed about the Father and his relationship with the Father. They challenged but they failed when they could not bear with the results of their challenges.

In the same way, when we are confronted by the revelations of God, can we challenge it? And if we do, can we live up to the results of the challenge?

pearlie

We did John 8:31 and following, in bible study today, and continued in our discussion on Jesus's dialogue with the Jews.

Remember in 8:30, as Jesus was responding to the Jews in their questions and accusations, many came to believe in Him. But as the dialogue wore on, Jesus was soon telling them that because He spoke the truth, they do not believe in Him. Notice that in v.31, there is much more to do after believing in Him. One needs to hold on to his word, which will then make them real disciples.

Are we doing the same?

Abiding in His word (ESV), or continuing in His word (NASB), or holding on to His teaching (NIV), or remaining faithful to His teachings (NLT) is not to be taken lightly. Many a times we find ourselves explaining his teachings and commandments away. He calls us to love the unloved, and we reasoned ourselves out by admitting we are not capable, let the social workers do it. He calls us to pray faithfully, and we comfort ourselves that we have much more important things to do and that we pray on-the-go anyway.

As much as what John said in 6:60, "On hearing it, many of his disciples said, "This is a hard teaching. Who can accept it?" he also said this is 8:43, "Why do you not understand what I am saying? It is because you cannot hear My word."

So be warned.

pearlie

We discussed in our bible study group today John 8:12 and following. We read the passage till the end but managed to discuss it only until v.30.

We find it amazing that the conversation between Jesus and the Jews started well, many believed in him but as the dialogue wore on, the more Jesus told them about himself, the more disbelieving they became and finally the dialogue closed with the Jews picking up stones to throw at him.

Has it happened to us before? Or has it happened to our friends or family, particularly those who were born in the faith? As we know more and more about God, more about who He is and what He requires of us, does it drive us away or does it pull us closer and closer to God in worship and obedience? Or do we in fact, stay where we are, in apathy?

pearlie

We tackled the last part of John 6 and a portion of John 7 but what kept us talking awhile was John 6:60: On hearing it, many of his disciples said, "This is a hard teaching. Who can accept it?"

We spoke about how we sometimes encountered some hard teaching of God, which we do understand, but hard to accept and practice in our lives.

We also spoke about the times when we share the Gospel with others. They understood some of it, but found it hard to accept on the scientific and contextual basis. Scientific, because a lot of things don't make scientific sense, but if you think about it, this is God we are talking about, and he is beyond science, he created it. On contextual basis, what applies then can very well apply now, as we do with many things.

I have not been updating this blog while our weekly bible study has been going on. Though we did have a break in December, we back on the run.

We are now at John 6:22ff, the passage on the bread of life, where we had a very animated discussion. I really love this group of bible-loving individuals. We range from an age of 40 to over 80. I overheard one of them commenting that she had fell sick but she did not want to miss any sessions. Kudos to her love for the Word of God.

Several interesting discussion points:

(1) Someone highlighted v.25: When they found Him on the other side of the sea, they said to Him, "Rabbi, when did You get here?" If you read the few verses before that, the more expected question would be "how did you get here?" So why did they ask Jesus "when" instead? What were their intention of question? Based on Jesus' reply who knows their hearts, we presume that they asked "when" because had they know where Jesus were earlier, they would have gotten more of his bread, which they would not have to work for. Their concern was for physical gratification, as is evident in the remaining portion of the passage.

How often in our prayers, our vision is so narrow as to only be concerned about our physical lives here on earth?

(2) On v.60 On hearing it, many of his disciples said, "This is a hard teaching. Who can accept it?" We laughed when we came to this verse because after discussing long and hard over the previous verses, which was a roundabout discussion between Jesus and the people, we find this verse, this is hard teaching!. We were also grappling with it trying to understand what Jesus was telling them. But what I realise now is that the people did understand what Jesus was saying, about the eating of the flesh and drinking of the blood. They knew that it was bringing Christ himself into their own, abiding in Him as one who was sent from God. But to them it was hard to accept, as verse 60 clearly indicate. They could not accept who Jesus said he was. To them he was only the son of Joseph and Mary whom they knew.

How often we ignore the Lord's leading because it will be hard for us to fit his plan into our lives? How often we subconsciously say: Jesus I know what you are telling me to do, but I have my life to live and it is going somewhere, I don't want you messing it up.

pearlie