Introducing, Jesus! (John) - 01/05/20
What do we know?
The Gospel of John was written by - wait for it - the apostle John. Sorry for the obvious snark. The books of the New Testament were named for either the person who wrote it or who it was written for. This means the Gospel of Matthew was written by...Matthew. The book of Ephesians was written for...the church in Ephesus, where the people would be Ephesians. There are a few exceptions though. These would be Acts, Hebrews, and Revelation. That will be a discussion for a different time.
Something is different about the Gospel of John than in the other 3 Gospels. What do you think it is? The Gospels of Matthew, Mark, and Luke are what are called the synoptic gospels. They are called synoptic because ‘they “see together with a common view” (the word synoptic literally means “together sight”). Matthew, Mark, and Luke cover many of the same events in Jesus’ life—most of them from Jesus’ ministry in Galilee—in much the same order. Nearly 90 percent of Mark’s content is found in Matthew, and about 50 percent of Mark appears in Luke. All of the parables of Christ are found in the Synoptics (the Gospel of John contains no parables).’ [1]
How is John different? The main difference between John and the others is how John contains more theological content about the person of Christ and the meaning of faith. John has a high focus for both the deity of Jesus and the humanity of Jesus. He introduces us to the full Jesus - from before creation to His ascension. When we add in the book of Revelation, which was also written by John, we get to see the full picture of Jesus - from beginning to end (to new beginning).
The Big Idea: Introducing, Jesus!
In the first few chapters in the Gospel of John, he introduces us to Jesus. This is not a standard introduction. He doesn’t come out and say “Hey everybody, this is Jesus. He is 30 years old and enjoys long walks. The great thing about him is he is the Messiah promised to us. We should worship and obey Him. Any questions?” That would be like me saying “Hi, I’m Shannon. I think I’m pretty smart. You should listen to what I have to say.” If I were to say that I’d have plenty of people with a whole line of questions ready to ask beginning with “Why should I listen to you? Just cause you say I should doesn’t mean I should.”
Why Jesus is here
“Why” is such a great question. It’s short and requires a thoughtful answer. You can’t answer it with a YES or NO. It requires a reason. For Jesus, as we see throughout John’s gospel, “why” is answered and supported time and time again.
John tells us right in the first chapter why Jesus has come. John, the disciple/apostle, introduces us to John, the Baptist, early in chapter 1. To avoid confusion, let me distinguish between the John’s because when you read the gospel of John for the first time it can create confusion. I will call the apostle John “JA” and John the Baptist “JB”. First, they aren’t the same person. We get introduced to JB and learn about him in Luke’s gospel. JB is Jesus’ cousin. JB is the son of Elizabeth, who is the cousin of Mary, Jesus’ mother. JB is the baby who leapt in his mother's womb when Mary visited and was pregnant with Jesus. JB would have known Jesus all His life, but JA only meets Jesus when Jesus begins His ministry. JB serves a specific role, announcing the ministry of Jesus. JA serves Jesus and tells about Him through 5 separate writings (John, 1 John, 2 John, 3 John, Revelation).
Now back to the why.
In John 1:29–30, JA tells us “The next day he saw Jesus coming toward him, and said, “Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world! This is he of whom I said, ‘After me comes a man who ranks before me, because he was before me.’”
Did you catch the why? Take away the sin of the world.
Jesus didn’t come to teach us good lessons in the hope we would be better people. Brushing your teeth twice a day, eating all your vegetables, and doing your homework everyday is not the message He gave to convince people to want to come to heaven. Jesus is the reason you and I can have eternal life.
Who Jesus is
We don’t have to wait long to find out who Jesus is. When I say “who”, I mean more than the surface level information. Most of us know He had a mom named Mary who was married to Joseph. But, John/JA doesn’t start out with that type of info as he tells about Jesus. He tells us the greater things about Him - His character, His greatness, His roles, and His title. Let’s talk about the number of things John reveals to us in just the first 4 chapters (John 1-4).
Jesus is the eternal God.
Right at the very beginning (John 1:1), John writes “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.” The Word was God. John is referring to Jesus as the Word, thus telling us Jesus is God. Not to mention he tells us Jesus is eternal. “In the beginning was the Word,...” (John 1:1). There hasn’t been a time when Jesus did not exist.
Word means God? God means Word? Huh?
Word in Greek is Logos. In Greek philosophy, Logos is used to refer to divine reason or the mind of God. The readers of John’s message would know what Logos means and make the association. If this isn’t good enough for you to establish Jesus as God, John goes on to record later Jesus telling us He is with His “I am” statements.
Jesus is a shepherd.
In ancient times the shepherd was not a revered job, meaning people weren’t competing to become one. It was a lowly job; a humble job. You hung out with animals at all hours of the day, rain or shine.
You might be thinking “I thought Jesus was a carpenter?” When it is said that Jesus was a shepherd, this doesn’t mean it was his occupation, his job. Later on in John, as well as in other parts of scripture (Psalm 119:176;Isaiah 53:6; Jeremiah 50:6; 1 Peter 2:25), we are referred to as lost sheep and are lost without a shepherd (Matthew 9:36). What is essential for the gathering of sheep? Since I can guarantee 99.9% of us do not work with sheep, I’ll tell you. A shepherd. Though John does not explicitly say Jesus is a shepherd in chapters 1-4, we see from Jesus’ words in John 10:27 that John views Jesus as a shepherd.
In John 1:35-51, Jesus is bringing together the first of his disciples - Andrew, Peter, Phillip, Nathanael. Jesus is beginning to gather His sheep.
Jesus is powerful.
Since we have said Jesus is God and therefore eternal, we know then Jesus is powerful. Look again at John 1:3 where John says, “All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made.”
Jesus’ first sign (miracle) during His ministry was at the wedding in Cana when He turned water into wine. If we only see the water changing to wine, we could think it is just a cheap miracle. Thinking about it, we might say, “Couldn’t He have done something cooler than that?” Let me break this down for us. Jesus as God can do as He wants. The first ever miracle done was creation and who did that? Jesus. John reminded us of this in verse 1:3. Something, being creation, was made out of nothing. The natural universe we know did not exist until He made it.
So, turning water into wine, may seem small compared to creation but the sign itself was huge since it showed people Jesus’ divine power. John tells us the impact it made in 2:11 “This, the first of his signs, Jesus did at Cana in Galilee, and manifested his glory. And his disciples believed in him.” The disciples believed.
Jesus is wise.
Chapter 3 introduces us to Nicodemus, a Pharisee. He is a member of what is called the Sanhedrin which is the Jewish ruling council. This means Nicodemus is a Jewish official and an important person in the Jewish community. This also means he is very knowledgeable about scripture, specifically the Torah, which are the first 5 books of the Old Testament. I emphasize the Torah because it contains the Law. These are the rules the Sanhedrin would govern by and Nicodemus would be involved with this.
When Nicodemus comes to Jesus, Jesus has already had run-ins with the Jewish leaders. If we have negative encounters with someone or a group, we might have disdain for them. Simply put, we’d be ticked off at them. That’s not how Jesus treats Nicodemus. Nicodemus came to Jesus telling Jesus he knows He is sent by God and recognizing the miracles He’s done. Jesus responds with what appears to be cordial conversation and teaching.
We don’t know fully why Nicodemus wanted to meet with Jesus, but what we do know is Jesus spoke truth to him and used His wisdom to bring understanding to Nicodemus. Starting in verse 3:10, Jesus explains what Nicodemus needs to grasp. Within this conversation we get the ever famous John 3:16 verse. What you should see though is Jesus tells Nicodemus in 3:17 the ‘why’ of His mission.
To give truth in the face of criticism or misunderstanding requires wisdom. For us, this means we need to know what Jesus taught and how He taught it. What we see from Jesus in chapter 3 is that we have a God who not only has wisdom but works to make sure others gain wisdom.
Jesus is compassionate.
The account of the woman at the well in John 4 should be a mirror for us. I look at it in that sense. On the surface it appears to be a woman going about her day, which part of it is to go to the well to get water. This is not the case. She is out getting water by herself in the middle of the day. Culturally during that time, the well was a gathering place where community and conversation took place. Getting water would have also been done in the mornings, making her doing this at midday stand out.
This woman was an outcast in the community. Jesus knew this. Jesus knew her. Yet Jesus gave her the keys to the kingdom.
Our sin may not have looked like this woman’s, but it was still sin. Those of us who proclaim Jesus as Lord had this moment (or moments) with Jesus when we were fully revealed His grace and mercy. What Jesus showed us through His encounter at the well was that we are known to Him - all the big, bad, and ugly - and His forgiveness can still be ours. The cross wasn’t for the worst of sin but for all sin.
Sacrifice requires compassion. Compassion requires a love for others. This is the God we have.
Now what?
This is just the beginning of what John has to tell us about our Savior. I love learning so knowing facts is part of my gathering of knowledge. We saw at the beginning of this lesson the synoptic gospels (Matthew, Mark, Luke) give us great facts about Jesus’ ministry on earth. John does this just as well and gives us insights into Jesus we don’t see in the other gospels. Jesus is God and we will come to know more as we study John. “Come and see”, as we are all invited to know Jesus.
What does scripture tell us?
John 1:29–30
The next day he saw Jesus coming toward him, and said, “Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world! This is he of whom I said, ‘After me comes a man who ranks before me, because he was before me.’
John 1:43–46
The next day Jesus decided to go to Galilee. He found Philip and said to him, “Follow me.” Now Philip was from Bethsaida, the city of Andrew and Peter. Philip found Nathanael and said to him, “We have found him of whom Moses in the Law and also the prophets wrote, Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph.” Nathanael said to him, “Can anything good come out of Nazareth?” Philip said to him, “Come and see.”
John 3:2
This man came to Jesus by night and said to him, “Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher come from God, for no one can do these signs that you do unless God is with him.”
John 3:17
For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him.
John 10:27
My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me.
Resources
The Bible Project: John - https://thebibleproject.com/explore/john/
[1 ] What are the Synoptic Gospels?: https://www.gotquestions.org/Synoptic-Gospels.html