The Gospel of John
John
calls himself “the disciple whom Jesus loved” in this gospel which, according
to Clement of Alexandria, was written at the urging of his disciples to compose a
“spiritual gospel” to supplement the three existing Synoptic Gospels. It is
generally believed that John wrote it in Ephesus after Christ toward the latter part of the
last decade of the 1st century.
The purpose of writing the Fourth Gospel even in his old age is made plain in 20:31, “But these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in His name.”
The following features of the Gospel of John are worth noting:
-Unlike the Synoptic Gospels, it gives details of much of Jesus’ ministry in Jerusalem, in which Jesus was very open about His identity as the Messiah.
- It gives Jesus’ conversation at the last supper in the upper room (chapters 13-17) in greater detail than in the Synoptic Gospels.
- Jesus refers to and mentions “eternal life” at least 14 times in this Gospel, many times more than in the Synoptic Gospels.
- John records seven miracles of Jesus and calls them signs that prove who Jesus is. Also, the “I AM” speeches of Jesus (e.g. I am the Bread of Life, I am the Light of the world etc.) highlight Jesus’ self-proclamation as the “Great I AM”.
- It has a specific design to narrate Jesus’ ministries around the various Jewish festivals (2:12-12:50).
We shall spend time reflecting on the above features and more as we come across them in our daily scriptural reflection.
Vv. 1:1-18 –This is what commentators call “The Prologue” . It powerfully sums up who Jesus is. We shall look at the first part today:
1:1-5—Jesus is the Word—the Creator God
(1) John uses exactly the same words that begin the Greek Old Testament “Ἐν ἀρχῇ” (In the beginning) to begin his introduction of Jesus: What is the significance of such a usage?
(2) What role did the “Word” play in creation? (In particular, see Gen. 1:3, 6, 9, 14, 20, 24 and 26 — note the repetition of the word “said” and also Ps. 33:9.)
(3) Based on the description of vv. 1-3, who is Jesus?
(4) Beyond being the Creator God,
a. What is meant by Him being “life”?
b. What is meant by Him being “light of all mankind”?
1:6-8 — Introducing John the Baptist: It is interesting to note that John the Baptist (not the disciple John) is introduced here in both negative and positive terms.
(5) What was the mission of John the Baptist?
(6) Do you find it strange that at this very point of this powerful Prologue, John sees the need to clarify who John the Baptist was and was not? What might the reason be?
(7) How did John the Baptist testify about who Jesus is in relation to him? (see v.15)
(8) What is the main message to you today and how may you apply it to your life?
1:9-13—The True Light: John in this Prologue has set the stage for the story of Jesus that he is about to narrate.
(1) Even without reading further, can you get a sense of how the world would receive this True Light?
(2) Why would the world, which He has created and which He owns, reject Him? (v. 5)
(3) However, in v.12, John also sets the stage for the good news He is going to announce in the next 20 chapters.
a. What is this good news?
b. How does v.12 define what “saving faith” is?
c. How will it come about? (v. 13)
1:14-18—Word Became Flesh
(4) What does “the Word became flesh” mean? (See how Paul elaborates the deeper meaning of this in Phil. 2:6-8.)
(5) Note that the word “dwelling” in v.14 is the word for “tabernacle” in the Old Testament — How does the use of this word deepen your understanding of Jesus’ “Incarnation”?
(6) Now, John introduces in even greater clarity who Jesus is.
a. Who is Jesus according to v. 14b?
b. What words does John use to describe the intimacy between Father God and His Son? (vv. 14, 18)
c. What is, at least, part of the purpose of Jesus’ incarnation? (v. 18)
(7) Now John, the disciple, wrote about Jesus some 60+ years after the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. He testifies the following 2 things:
a. He has seen the glory of Christ (v. 14). Can you recall events or occasions in which John saw the glory of Christ? (Mk. 9:2ff; Jn. 20:19ff; and Jn. 17:3ff—His glory on the cross)
b. He has experienced the fullness of Christ, describing it literally as “grace instead of grace” (v. 16). What does he mean? Is it your experience too? Why or why not?
(8) What is the main message to you today and how may you apply it to your life?
Having powerfully introduced to us who Jesus is, now John shares with us the first week of Jesus’ ministry (from 1:19–2:11). We shall reflect on Day 1 and Day 2 today:
1:19-28—Day 1—The One Preparing the Way
John the Baptist was ministering (and baptizing) along the Jordan when the priests and Levites came to him (v. 28).
(1) From the questions they asked, how did the religious leaders in Jerusalem look upon John?
(2) If they suspected John to be Elijah (Mal. 4:5), or the prophet whom they equated with the Messiah (Deut. 18:15, 18, 19), why didn’t they come and ask John themselves?
(3) Who did John say he was? (v. 23; see Isa. 40:3)
(4) Was John in fact Elijah? (see Matt. 11:14)
(5) Since John clarified that he was not the Messiah, why did the Pharisees confront him about baptizing people? What did their question imply? (v. 24)
(6) How did John’s answer “prepare” the way for Jesus? (vv. 26-27)
1:29-34—Day 2—John’s Witness—Now in Jesus’ presence, John pointed to Him and bore witness to who Jesus is.
(7) The first thing he said was that Jesus is the Lamb of God that takes away the sin of the world.
a. How would the Jewish hearers understand it?
b. Would it not remind them of the Passover Lamb in Exodus12, especially v.13?
c. There is one thing the Jewish hearers might easily miss: Whose sin is John talking about?
(8) What is the second thing John pointed out in v.30? How important is this statement about Jesus?
(9) Now John backs up his claim with an eye-witness testimony:
a. What is it? (v. 32)
b. What is he referring to? (see Matt. 3:13-17)
(10) What is the difference between John’s baptism and Jesus’ baptism? (see Acts 1:5; 2:33)
(11) What impact might this testimony have on the hearers? What about you?
(12) What is the main message to you today and how may you apply it to your life?
1:35-42—Day 3—The First Disciples—Obviously, John had gained quite a following himself, and two of his close disciples were with him on this day.
(1) John could have said many things in pointing to Jesus. Why did he tell the disciples again that Jesus is the Lamb of God?
(2) What did the two disciples do and why? Would you have done the same? Why?
(3) What did Jesus ask them? Why?
(4) What did their reply show?
(5) Judging from Andrew’s action in v. 40 and what he said to Peter in v. 41, what did spending a day with Jesus do to Andrew?
(6) Why did Jesus immediately change Simon’s name? What was its historical significance? (Matt. 16:18)
(7) How important was Andrew’s action from a historical perspective?
1:43-51—Day 4—The Man without Guile
(8) How similar were the actions of Andrew and Philip?
(9) From the mouth of Philip, what do we know about the initial belief of these first disciples concerning who Jesus is? (v. 45)
a. What did they know about Jesus both from the testimony of John and their short time with Jesus?
b. What had they yet to know about Him?
(10) What was the immediate reaction of Nathanael? What kind of skepticism did he represent in faith?
(11) Did Philip have any adequate answer to Nathanael’s challenge? How did he handle it?
(12) Note that Nathanael’s question was, “How do You know me?” and Jesus’ reply was, “I saw you there before Philip called you”. We may not fully understand what really has happened:
a. How did Nathanael interpret Jesus’ answer? (see Ps. 139:1-6)
b. What did he do as a result? (v. 49)
c. How did his answer differ from all that had been said by the other disciples about Jesus? Why?
(13) How will Jesus reward his (or their) faith? (v. 51; see Gen. 28:12 — the ladder that links heaven and earth)
(14) What is the main message to you today and how may you apply it to your life?
The Wedding at Cana — Although John says it happened on the “third day”, this expression is not related to the previous numbering as Jesus’ appearance at Jordan had come to an end. John now begins his witness to the “signs” performed by Jesus, and Lightfoot informs us that according to Jewish traditions, the wedding banquet was held on the “third day”. Other scholars opine that since they did not use our terms of Monday and Tuesday to denote each day of the week, the “third day” simply denotes the third day of the week.
Between the first contact with His “would-be” disciples, and this miracle in Cana, we may wish to follow the brief timeline given in Mark:
Mark 1:9-11—His encounter with and baptism by John the Baptist gave him opportunity to recruit at least Andrew, Peter, Philip and Nathaniel.
Mark 1:12-13—Upon His return to Galilee, Jesus entered into the desert to receive the temptation.
Mark 1:14-15—Jesus’ begins His first official tour of the Galilee.
Mark 1:16-20—Jesus “re-calls” Peter, Andrew, John and James. This explains why this short encounter would cause them to make such a decisive decision to give up everything to follow Jesus.
(1) As they made their way back to Galilee, these disciples would have spent a few days with Jesus. It is helpful to use a little imagination in considering the following:
a. What might these disciples have gained in their knowledge of Jesus during their journey?
b. Upon seeing Jesus’ disciples, what might Mary think of all the prophecies she has read and the revelations she has received about her son, Jesus?
(2) The lack of proper preparation for this wedding is shown by the early and complete consumption of wine. This is now used by God to show His glory. What do you think was the reason why Mary turned to Jesus and said, “They have no more wine”?
(3) The reply of Jesus is significant:
a. Irrespective of how one may interpret the term “woman”, it was certainly not a term used by a son to his mother: What then does Jesus intend to tell Mary?
b. How is this intention reinforced by saying “My time has not yet come”? (see also Jn. 7:6)
(4) Is Mary discouraged by the words of Jesus? (v. 5)? What does her action show?
(5) What were the six water jars for? (Each is estimated to contain 20-30 gallons of waters.)
(6) What might have gone through the minds of the servants as they did they were told?
(7) What might have gone through the minds of the disciples as they witnessed all this?
(8) What kind of a sign is it to the disciples?
(9) What
might also be the spiritual significance of turning the contents of the
six jars now into wine to add joy to the wedding? These jars were
for
ceremonial cleansing which could do nothing to cleanse one’s soul.
(10) What is the main message to you today and how may you apply it to your life?
The Synoptic Gospels relate an event of a cleansing of the temple which happens in the time when Jesus’ makes His final journey into Jerusalem (see Mk. 11:15-19). However, the time and setting in John is clearly different from the latter event in the Synoptic Gospels. This earlier event in John might account for the fact that Jesus moved to Galilee as His home-base of ministry after this event.
(1) As “the Lamb of God”, what was on Jesus’ mind as He came to Jerusalem to observe the Passover?
(2) It is believed that the priests “rented out” spaces in the temple court to aid the pilgrims in buying animals for sacrifice (instead of bringing them all the way to the temple), and to exchange their money into temple currencies for offering purposes.
a. What’s wrong with such a practice according to Jesus? (v. 16)
b. Why is Jesus’ so infuriated to the point of whipping those involved?
c. What important lesson should we learn from this?
(3) Out of all the scriptural passages, why did Jesus’ action remind the disciples of Psalm 69:9?
(4) How was His action greeted by the Jewish leaders (v.18)? Does anyone need authority to do what Jesus did at the temple?
(5) It is important to note that Jesus uses “naos” in vv. 19 and 21 to talk about the “inner sanctuary”, instead of “hierón” which denotes the whole temple precincts (see Note below):
a. What was Jesus referring to in v.19?
b. Did the disciples understand what He said at the time? Why or why not?
(6) These people “believed” because they saw His miracles, but Jesus would not entrust Himself to them. What could be the problem if “faith” is based purely on seeing miracles?
(7) What is the main message to you today and how may you apply it to your life?
Note:
“The temple was a magnificent
structure. Herod had commenced its
rebuilding partly to satisfy his lust for building, and partly in an attempt to
stand well with his Jewish subjects, among whom he was very popular; for both
reasons it was important that the building be outstanding. Work was still going on at his death, and for
that matter, for long after. The Temple
was not completed until A.D. 63 (and was destroyed by Titus in A.D. 70)”.
(NICNT,
John, 176)
(1) What do you know about the Pharisees? (See Note below)
(2) Why do you think John particularly mentions that Nicodemus came to visit Jesus at night (and this was repeated in 19:39)?
(3) What did Nicodemus know about Jesus?(v. 2)
(4) John has not made clear why Nicodemus came to see Jesus and Nicodemus did not pose a question to Jesus at all. What then was his purpose of visiting Jesus at night?
(5) Jesus opened the conversation with “what I’m about to tell you is true” (v. 3)
a. How many times did Jesus repeat this statement in their conversation?
b. Why did Jesus emphasize this to him?
(6) It is obvious Nicodemus wanted to “see God’s kingdom”.
a. Do you think his visit was related to this? Why?
b. Who qualifies to enter God’s kingdom?
c. What is meant by being born again “with water and the Holy Spirit”? (See Eph. 5:26)
(7) What does the wind analogy serve to illustrate about being born again?
(8) So, how do you know that you have been born again?
(9) Jesus repeatedly used “we” as the one that bears testimony of heavenly things. Who are “we” in light of v. 13?
(10) Why did Jesus refer to what He said about being born again as “earthly things”?
(11) What is the main message to you today and how may you apply it to your life?
Note:
Apart from what John tells us here that the Pharisees were Jewish rulers, we also know that they were well-versed in Scriptures, but were fierce opponents of Jesus and were responsible, in no small part, in the death of Jesus.