John's Testimony about Jesus from Jesus as Seen by John

 How confusing! The gospel is attributed to the John the Apostle who never appears in the gospel. The John who appears as a character is John the Baptist. One thing for certain, John the Baptist is not out for his own glory; all he does is point the way to Jesus. After Jesus' conversation, we come upon this story told in John 3:22:36:

After this, Jesus and his disciples went out into the Judean countryside, where he spent some time with them, and baptized. Now John also was baptizing at Aenon near Salim, because there was plenty of water, and people were coming and being baptized. (This was before John was put in prison.) An argument developed between some of John’s disciples and a certain Jew over the matter of ceremonial washing. They came to John and said to him, “Rabbi, that man who was with you on the other side of the Jordan—the one you testified about—look, he is baptizing, and everyone is going to him.”  To this John replied, “A person can receive only what is given them from heaven. You yourselves can testify that I said, ‘I am not the Messiah but am sent ahead of him.’ The bride belongs to the bridegroom. The friend who attends the bridegroom waits and listens for him, and is full of joy when he hears the bridegroom’s voice. That joy is mine, and it is now complete. He must become greater; I must become less.”
 The one who comes from above is above all; the one who is from the earth belongs to the earth, and speaks as one from the earth. The one who comes from heaven is above all. He testifies to what he has seen and heard, but no one accepts his testimony. Whoever has accepted it has certified that God is truthful. For the one whom God has sent speaks the words of God, for God gives the Spirit without limit. The Father loves the Son and has placed everything in his hands. Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life, but whoever rejects the Son will not see life, for God’s wrath remains on them.(NIV)

The conversation with Nicodemus took place in Jerusalem which is about 3500 feet above sea level. We don't always think of the city as being in the mountains, but I can personally attest to the fact that it can really snow there. Just east of Jerusalem is the Jordan river; not far as the crow flies, but several miles down a winding road to well below sea level. This is where Jesus and his disciples went. The passage tells us that Jesus and his disciples were baptizing (although we see in the next chapter that the baptizing was done by the disciples, not Jesus). John and his disciples were doing their work in the same area. 

The passage states that a Jew got into an argument with some of John's disciples over ceremonial washing. The disciples came to John, but the question regarding washing never came up; they wondered why more people were going to Jesus than were coming to John.  John states that a man can only receive what he is given from Heaven; from God. He had already announced that he was not the Messiah but a forerunner. Then he begins to teach his disciples. He uses the analogy of the bridegroom and the best man. The best man is happy for the bridegroom; he is not jealous. He wants the bride and groom to be happy and successful. Then John says in effect, Jesus is the bridegroom and he must increase while I must decrease. He is a real hero of mine. He knows his place. He is not suffering from a low self image, he just really understands who he is -- and who Jesus is; a realist.

John continues his testimony about Jesus; the one from above is over all. John had earlier testified that Jesus was the one sent down from heaven. Now he states that Jesus is above all. Most of us are of the earth and therefore speak of the things of earth; an earthly language. We speak this way because this all we really understand. But Jesus, who came from above, speaks of what he knows -- a spiritual language -- and people reject it; they don't understand it. The apostle Paul discusses this in his first letter to the Corinthians when he says that without the presence of the Holy Spirit, we can't understand spiritual things. Then John states that those who do receive Jesus' testimony actually certify that God is telling the truth; Jesus is truth and he speaks the word of God. Finally John says that Jesus has received the Holy Spirit without limit. 

Finally John concludes with the statement that God had given everything to Jesus. Why? because the Father loves the Son. Those who believe in Jesus and what he says have eternal life. Those who reject Jesus and his message are under God's wrath. When John discusses acceptance of Jesus, the idea has to do with obedience to his message, an rejection refers to disobedience. He is not discussing mere intellectual assent.

 

A Confidential Conversation from Jesus as seen by John

How do you go about having a private conversation with someone who is so popular that they are essentially mobbed all day? I suppose you need to find a time when they are away from the crowds. Add to that the fact that this person may be controversial and you don't really want people to see you with him/her and you have the situation of Nicodemus. This confidential conversation is described in John 3:1-21: 

Now there was a Pharisee, a man named Nicodemus who was a member of the Jewish ruling council. He came to Jesus at night and said, “Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher who has come from God. For no one could perform the signs you are doing if God were not with him.”
 Jesus replied, “Very truly I tell you, no one can see the kingdom of God unless they are born again.”
 “How can someone be born when they are old?” Nicodemus asked. “Surely they cannot enter a second time into their mother’s womb to be born!”
 Jesus answered, “Very truly I tell you, no one can enter the kingdom of God unless they are born of water and the Spirit. Flesh gives birth to flesh, but the Spirit gives birth to spirit. You should not be surprised at my saying, ‘You must be born again.’ The wind blows wherever it pleases. You hear its sound, but you cannot tell where it comes from or where it is going. So it is with everyone born of the Spirit.”
 “How can this be?” Nicodemus asked.
   “You are Israel’s teacher,” said Jesus, “and do you not understand these things? Very truly I tell you, we speak of what we know, and we testify to what we have seen, but still you people do not accept our testimony. I have spoken to you of earthly things and you do not believe; how then will you believe if I speak of heavenly things? No one has ever gone into heaven except the one who came from heaven—the Son of Man. Just as Moses lifted up the snake in the wilderness, so the Son of Man must be lifted up, that everyone who believes may have eternal life in him.”
 For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because they have not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son. This is the verdict: Light has come into the world, but people loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil. Everyone who does evil hates the light, and will not come into the light for fear that their deeds will be exposed. But whoever lives by the truth comes into the light, so that it may be seen plainly that what they have done has been done in the sight of God.

  

Who was Nicodemus? We don't know a lot about him but we do know that he was a Pharisee. Now the Pharisees were not only religious, but they were scrupulous in observing the Law. He was also probably a member of the council -- the Sanhedrin -- the group that had authority to govern the Jewish people in their religious observances. While most of Jesus' encounters with the Pharisees was hostile, Nicodemus seemed open to the teachings of Jesus, perhaps a little perplexed, but open. He seemed to believe that if he had a little one on one time with Jesus that his questions would be answered. We also know that he later became a defender of Jesus and probably a disciple.

It didn't take Jesus long to confuse poor Nico. To Nicodemus' assertion that certainly Jesus must be of God, Jesus said that to see the Kingdom of God, you must be born again. Actually, this didn't just confuse Nico, it is still one of the most misunderstood and misused statements of Jesus. People describe themselves as "born again Christians", as if there was another kind. People who are outside the church or who don't use this term think that the people describing themselves in that way are fools.  By the way, this is the only place in the New Testament where becoming a Christian is called, being "Born Again." The problem is not in what Jesus said, but in the way we interpret and use it.

Obviously Jesus wasn't talking literally. This was the misunderstanding of Nico. He is trying to describe a spiritual truth; a spiritual rebirth. When we are born of flesh -- our natural birth -- we are flesh and we don't understand things of the spirit or understand things from a spiritual point of view because we only have a human perspective. When we are born of the Spirit, we gain a new understanding and a new perspective -- not because of our intellect but because we have become entirely new from the inside out. Oh yes we are still human and we look the same, but there is something drastically different inside. To the unspoken question, "Why?" Jesus replied that the Spirit does whatever it wants and we don't see it, we only see its affects. He uses the analogy for wind for the Greek word pneuma means both wind and spirit.

This discussion was followed by perhaps the most familiar verse from the Bible; John 3:16. The entire passage explains why Jesus came to earth. The thought goes like this:

• God loved the world -- the whole world and everyone in it
• So he gave his only Son -- Jesus -- to die the death that was deserved by all people
• Those who accept this gift of Jesus will indeed be saved
• It is important to note that Jesus didn't come to judge the world -- only to save
• Judgment only come through the decisions of individuals -- they can reject this gift
• It is this simple -- doers of evil don't like the light
• Doers of good want to be seen -- they like the light.

Well, what does this mean to us today? First we need to realize that Jesus came for the whole world, not just Americans, not just good church goers, not people just like us, but for everyone. All we have to do is accept this gift. Secondly, Jesus didn't come to judge the world and we need to realize that this is not our purpose either. We have no right to judge others. We, like Jesus, only have authority to love others; judgement is out of our realm. It is this acceptance that we call the new birth. This new birth brings the presence of the Holy Spirit. The one who doesn't have the Spirit doesn't understand what we are about -- stop arguing with them -- just love them. Learn to be a good friend. Then stand back and see what God can do.

Jesus Cleanses the Temple from Jesus as seen by John

I guess that everyone needed a little break in the action after the great wedding party! At least this is the way John writes his gospel. Jesus, his disciples and his family go down to Capernaum. Cana and Nazareth are in the hill country just west of the Sea of Galilee and Capernaum is a town along the shore. This is one of the few times that Jesus' brothers are mentioned. the little town itself is very important in the ministry of Jesus. I have had the privilege of visiting there; the ruins of the synagogue where Jesus taught is there. Simon Peter's house is there. A good place to visit. Let's look at the story as told by John:

After this he went down to Capernaum with his mother and brothers and his disciples. There they stayed for a few days.
When it was almost time for the Jewish Passover, Jesus went up to Jerusalem. In the temple courts he found people selling cattle, sheep and doves, and others sitting at tables exchanging money. So he made a whip out of cords, and drove all from the temple courts, both sheep and cattle; he scattered the coins of the money changers and overturned their tables. To those who sold doves he said, “Get these out of here! Stop turning my Father’s house into a market!” His disciples remembered that it is written: “Zeal for your house will consume me.”  The Jews then responded to him, “What sign can you show us to prove your authority to do all this?”
 Jesus answered them, “Destroy this temple, and I will raise it again in three days.”
 They replied, “It has taken forty-six years to build this temple, and you are going to raise it in three days?” But the temple he had spoken of was his body. After he was raised from the dead, his disciples recalled what he had said. Then they believed the scripture and the words that Jesus had spoken.
Now while he was in Jerusalem at the Passover Festival, many people saw the signs he was performing and believed in his name. But Jesus would not entrust himself to them, for he knew all people. He did not need any testimony about mankind, for he knew what was in each person.(John 2:12-25 NIV)

All of this, the wedding and the break at Capernaum must have occurred in the Spring because it was nearly the feast of the Passover, one of the major feasts in the Jewish calendar. Of course this goes back to the time of Moses when in the book of Exodus the final plague on the land of Egypt was the death of the firstborn son. The people of Israel would escape this plague by killing a lamb and putting blood on the doorposts of the house; the angel of death would see the blood and pass over the house. Every year this was (and still is) celebrated. In those days, the people were expected to celebrate this feast in Jerusalem if at all possible. A side note is that even today the closing line in a Seder dinner (the ritual dinner of passover) is "Next year in Jerusalem." It was for this reason the Jesus and his disciples journeyed to Jerusalem; not far in this day, but several days walking. As might be expected, Jesus went directly to the temple; his father's house.

When Jesus went to the temple, he was disturbed, or perhaps more accurately, angered. Why? First we need to understand the layout of the temple. The temple itself was a large building on a much lager level place called the temple mount. You can still visit this today even though there is no longer any temple there; it is the home of the "Dome of the Rock" and a major Mosque. Even though the temple was there -- it wasn't like a church; the people did not enter it, only the priests entered for their duties. The men could worship close to the temple where the altar was located. Outside of this was where the women were allowed. Then there was a fence with signs posted stating that a gentile went closer on the pain of death. There was still a lot of temple mount left where gentiles could come and worship. Remember, the Old Testament emphasized that God had said, "My house shall be a place of worship for all nations."  This is the situation, but there was a problem.

People journeying to Jerusalem from out of town needed to buy the sacrificial animals. Where did they get them? Entrepreneurs opened shops to sell them; in the court of the gentiles on the temple mount. To give offerings, the Jewish shekel must be used, not Roman coins. Where could the money be changed? Entrepreneurs set up shops to change money; in the court of the gentiles on the temple mount. Jesus chased them out, overturning tables as they went. The disciples remembered the quote from Psalm 69:9 " Zeal for your house shall consume me."

I think that is interesting that the authorities didn't argue against chasing the business people out of there; they just wanted to know where Jesus got the authority to do the chasing. He was cleansing the temple without

Evidently Jesus went around Jerusalem doing other miracles; healing the sick and casting out demons. People loved it and believed. But how deep did their belief go? Jesus loved the people, but he didn't trust their belief. He knew their hearts, he knew that they could shout "Hosanna" one day and "Crucify Him" the next. I think of when Samuel was to anoint a new king and he went to Jesse of Bethlehem and had him bring out his sons. Eliab was the first and Samuel thought, "This is a king if I have ever seen one. What a man." But God told him no. So it went through all of the sons. There was no one chosen. "Do you have any other sons," Samuel asked Jesse. He was told that there was the runt of the family out tending the sheep. Samuel took one look; God said yes; Samuel said, "Are you sure?" God told Samuel, "You look on the outside, but I look at the heart." So it is with people. We tend to be fickle.

Well, what does all this tell us. First we must realize that worship is important to Jesus and he wants to give access to all people. Second, we must not be like the people in Jerusalem (really they were no different than us.) We must believe the miracles and take pleasure in them, but it is not the miracles themselves that must be worshipped. We must worship the one who performs the miracles.