John 3, verses 1-21

It's been a while (this passage is a tricky one to get a hold on) but I'm back. And a word to all of you (at present count, somewhere between none and 2) that read this, I would like some discussion on these matters, and the comments seem like the place to do so. Just click "leave a comment" and tell me how wrong I am. Or, y'know, how right I am. As you will. I aim to update this puppy at least twice a week for a while, so stay tuned.

On with the show:

John 3:1-21

¹ Now there was a man of the Pharisees, named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews:

² the same came unto him by night, and said to him, Rabbi, we know that thou art a teacher come from God; for no one can do these signs that thou doest, except God be with him.

Jesus, evidently has been successful in establishing His credentials. And so Nicodemus comes to Him. Comes by night, implying a stealthy visit. A man of high status in the religious community, he seems unwilling to be spotted conversing with a Galilean street preacher, especially one who recently stampeded the businessmen from the Temple. But in any case, he’s recognized that Jesus is for real, and want’s to know what’s up. Jesus tells him, and it totally blows Nicodemus’ mind. I can’t blame Nicodemus. I have a head start, since I’ve read this passage before, and heard many’s the Sunday school lesson on it (and of course it contains the most-quoted verse ever, though the least quoted-in-context), and it continues to blow my mind.

³ Jesus answered and said unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except one be born anew, he cannot see the kingdom of God.

⁴ Nicodemus saith unto him, How can a man be born when he is old? can he enter a second time into his mother's womb, and be born?

⁵ Jesus answered, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except one be born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God!

⁶ That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.

⁷ Marvel not that I said unto thee, Ye must be born anew.

⁸ The wind bloweth where it will, and thou hearest the voice thereof, but knowest not whence it cometh, and whither it goeth: so is every one that is born of the Spirit.

So. As you are, you cannot enter. The only route is rebirth. This, certes, is a hard concept to grasp. Nicodemus jumps to the literal conception, a grown man emerging from the womb a second time (not unlike Kenny in that one episode of South Park). Jesus clarifies: water and the Spirit. We’re already born as human beings, which is to say: talking animals, pants-wearing monkeys, skin-bags, flesh-piles, or meat puppets. All well and good. But there’s something beyond that. Rebirth.

The birth of water, I admit I’m somewhat baffled by. A quick consultation with Google indicates that this one’s been a stumper for a while, and that some interpretations are: the birth of water is the first (or “meat puppet”) birth, the birth of water is the same thing as the birth of the spirit, it’s a spiritual cleansing, or it’s a reference to baptism (guess which interpretation got pushed hardest in my childhood as I heard this story in a Baptist Sunday school?). This issue is addressed over at this website here. They come down on the side of water baptism.

The birth of the Spirit, on the other hand, is rather more straightforward. This is where the breath of Almighty Jah comes down and fills you with an everlasting fire. Rebirth. Awakening. Becoming a new thing. Seeing with new eyes. Being purged, too, and refined.

These are wondrous things. They are Mysteries, as once we used the term. Nicodemus’ reaction is a natural one.

⁹ Nicodemus answered and said unto him, How can these things be?

Jesus, as was His wont, answers this question with a question.

¹⁰ Jesus answered and said unto him, Art thou the teacher of Israel, and understandest not these things?

¹¹ Verily, verily, I say unto thee, We speak that which we know, and bear witness of that which we have seen; and ye receive not our witness.

¹² If I told you earthly things and ye believe not, how shall ye believe if I tell you heavenly things?

I’m not sure, but I think this may boil down to “you think that’s a mind-bender…”

¹³ And no one hath ascended into heaven, but he that descended out of heaven, [even] the Son of man, who is in heaven.

¹⁴ And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of man be lifted up;

¹⁵ that whosoever believeth may in him have eternal life.

Here John has Jesus announcing Himself for what He is. Descended from Heaven, soon to ascend to Heaven. He’s not done at that, though. Not nearly. More than that, He shall be lifted up like the serpent in the wilderness, which is to say, raised on a pole to relieve the suffering of the afflicted whose sins condemned them.

Exodus is vague on the subject of what was done with that snake. The Israelites at the time seemed rather more concerned with the fact that they weren’t suffering from snakebite any more. A similar cavalier attitude may be seen in regard to the lambs offered up as sacrifices. Just a thought.

In any case, this leads up to Jesus’ Big Line, the summation of all He said just as “to be or not to be” is the summation of Hamlet. At any rate, it’s the bit everyone remembers, especially the ones whose knowledge of the source material is entirely limited to that one quote. Of course, it’s our fortune now to see this gem in context. We’ve seen what comes before. Now let’s see what comes after.

¹⁶ For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth on him should not perish, but have eternal life.

¹⁷ For God sent not the Son into the world to judge the world; but that the world should be saved through him.

¹⁸ He that believeth on him is not judged: he that believeth not hath been judged already, because he hath not believed on the name of the only begotten Son of God.

May I say that I find this bit interesting? “He that believeth not hath been judged already.” John is clear on the point, beyond question, that failure to believe on the Son (not in, even the devils below can claim that much, and being lost to salvation is part of what being a devil means) is a doom. Exactly what this means, however, is a topic much debated. I personally like the way C. S. Lewis envisions it in The Great Divorce and The Last Battle. Jesus is standing at the open door, and that door remains open. Going through it is up to you. The thing I like about it, I suppose, is that you get confronted with this open door at some point whether you’d ever heard of Him before breathing your last or not. But that’s a subject for another time.

¹⁹ And this is the judgment, that the light is come into the world, and men loved the darkness rather than the light; for their works were evil.

²⁰ For every one that doeth evil hateth the light, and cometh not to the light, lest his works should be reproved.

²¹ But he that doeth the truth cometh to the light, that his works may be made manifest, that they have been wrought in God.

Detail on the judgment. When given a chance to embrace the light, you continue lurking in the dark. In this way, we damn ourselves. It’s not the Narrow Bridge of the fervent Calvinist. The light is not limited in scope. But it’s always possible to turn away from it. Turn your back on the light, and your face will be cast in shadow.

It’s early yet in the story of Jesus, but we’ve just come to the crux of things: we are lost. Moreover, deep down we know this. And given a chance to be found, some of us will prefer not to. For those, the darkness they choose is the darkness they will remain in.

Next: The return of John the Baptist!

John 2

The first chapter of John is all prologue. In chapter two, he begins to actually tell us about Jesus, and the things He said and did.

The Four Evangelists each chose to arrange the incidents of Jesus’ life in a different way. John, as we’ve seen, skips the birth story entirely. And now, we see the first stories of Jesus are that John chooses to tell.

This chapter is a double feature. First, the opener:

¹ And the third day there was a marriage in Cana of Galilee; and the mother of Jesus was there:

² and Jesus also was bidden, and his disciples, to the marriage.

³ And when the wine failed, the mother of Jesus saith unto him, They have no wine.

⁴ And Jesus saith unto her, Woman, what have I to do with thee? mine hour is not yet come.

⁵ His mother saith unto the servants, Whatsoever he saith unto you, do it.

⁶ Now there were six waterpots of stone set there after the Jews' manner of purifying, containing two or three firkins apiece.

⁷ Jesus saith unto them, Fill the waterpots with water. And they filled them up to the brim.

⁸ And he saith unto them, Draw out now, and bear unto the ruler of the feast. And they bare it.

⁹ And when the ruler of the feast tasted the water now become wine, and knew not whence it was (but the servants that had drawn the water knew), the ruler of the feast calleth the bridegroom,

¹⁰ and saith unto him, Every man setteth on first the good wine; and when [men] have drunk freely, [then] that which is worse: thou hast kept the good wine until now.

¹¹ This beginning of his signs did Jesus in Cana of Galilee, and manifested his glory; and his disciples believed on him.

This is an interesting story, and one that can cause much awkwardness when you bring it up around people who’ve bought into the aberrant teetotaler notion that God despises alcohol, of all kinds and in all forms. And as it’s the first of Jesus’ adventures to be related, let’s look at what it says about Him.

Imprimus, Jesus and his posse are attending a party, possibly invited because of His mother. Evidently, Jesus and his pupils aren’t quite the monastic ascetic type. How much actual reveling they did on this occasion (and for that matter, on other occasions) is not recorded. But they were, at any rate, definitely in attendance at a first-century Jewish wedding, one of the liveliest kinds of celebration around.

Secundus, we meet Jesus’ mother. As John took no interest in Jesus’ birthing, she hasn’t come up before, and appears now asking Jesus for a favor. His response is interesting to me.

On the one hand, he says “woman, what have you to do with me?” Which seems a bit cold. He further says that His hour has not yet come.

But even so, He does as she asks, and uses His power to provide a substantial amount of wine for a party where they’d just finished depleting the wine they had. I have, of course, talked to people who maintain that Jesus’ miraculous powers turned the water into good, wholesome non-alcoholic grape juice, but this seems to me improbable. Mine host remarks “you’ve kept the best stuff till last.” Two chapters in, and already teetotalism, one of the mighty pillars of my Southern Baptist upbringing, has been shaken.

Of course, there’s still plenty of scripture that advises against drunkenness. And this is certainly not to be disputed. Consuming, for instance, a very large vodka-and-sprite on the heels of a rum-and-lemonade and some beers can jack you up. I have heard. Moderation, then, is the watchword.

Natheless, it certainly seems like this Jesus is by no means opposed to some good honest partying.

The real point, however, is that this is Jesus working signs and wonders, thereby establishing His credentials and impressing the disciples.

The scene now shifts, and we come to the second tale of Jesus and His deeds.

² After this he went down to Capernaum, he, and his mother, and [his] brethren, and his disciples; and there they abode not many days.

¹³ And the passover of the Jews was at hand, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem.

¹⁴ And he found in the temple those that sold oxen and sheep and doves, and the changers of money sitting:

I must admit, this is one of my favorite Gospel stories. Because Jesus, Jesus does not like what He found in the Temple.

¹⁵ and he made a scourge of cords, and cast all out of the temple, both the sheep and the oxen; and he poured out the changers' money, and overthrew their tables;

¹⁶ and to them that sold the doves he said, Take these things hence; make not my Father's house a house of merchandise.

I cannot help but feel, in this case, that the Bible might be well-served by the presence of some exclamation points. Jesus, whose official ministry is at it’s very beginning, who said a few verses earlier that His time has not yet come, kicks off His trip to Jerusalem by stampeding cattle, kicking over tables, dumping other people’s cash on the ground, and yelling at them.

¹⁷ His disciples remembered that it was written, Zeal for thy house shall eat me up.

It is, of course, entirely possible that the disciples present were in fact remanded of that scripture at that moment. But this aside’s also a pretty good literary device, a way for John to say “and by the way, reader, Jesus is fulfilling prophecy here.” I also like the phrasing. Zeal for Thy house has eaten me. Zeal, of course, as in Zealots, the radical guerilla revolutionaries who were at the time running amok in Judaea. Wycliffe’s Bible, alternatively, gives us the term “fervent love” in place of “zeal.” But what’s universal is the statement that this zeal for the Temple has eaten Him. Jesus is consumed by a passion for the House of God. What He’s doing here, He’s doing passionately, in a wild fury. He sees something He loves being profaned, and His immediate response it to grab a bullwhip and start kicking over apple carts. Jesus, in short, is mad.

This will be a recurring theme, actually. The one thing that is guaranteed to get Jesus hot under the collar, the thing that will get Him hurling mighty invective and damnation, is religious hypocrisy. Being focused on money-making where you should be focused on praying. Being focused on people seeing you pray when you should be focused on being humble before God. Being focused on the rules, and not the love behind them.

But more on that later. Meanwhile, in the Temple, the onlookers are naturally curious about who gave Jesus the right to go around busting up the place just because He doesn’t like the way things are run.

¹⁸ The Jews therefore answered and said unto him, What sign showest thou unto us, seeing that thou doest these things?

“Hey, you got some kind of credentials, pal? Like, maybe some miracles you could do to demonstrate that you’re a legit prophet or something?”

¹⁹ Jesus answered and said unto them, Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.

Not the kind of answer, I think, that they were looking for.

²⁰ The Jews therefore said, Forty and six years was this temple in building, and wilt thou raise it up in three days?

²¹ But he spake of the temple of his body.

²² When therefore he was raised from the dead, his disciples remembered that he spake this; and they believed the scripture, and the word which Jesus had said.

Jesus, as is not uncommon for Him, was talking about something other than what they wanted Him to be talking about. He had other things on His mind. I might also note that this is some excellent foreshadowing. We who’ve grown up in the church lose sight of these things sometimes because we already know all these stories, but here at the beginning, John’s telling us how it will end. Here’s what these verses reveal:

Jesus has a mighty passion for the things of God, and does not tolerate the profanation of that which is Holy.

Jesus is interested in matters beyond the ken of His audience. They want to see a miracle or hear an explanation of just who He thinks He is, and He starts talking about coming back from the dead, in a way that only makes sense in hindsight. He is, in short, not talking to the people in front of Him, He’s talking for the benefit of the disciples three years from then.

Jesus is going to die. But more importantly, He’s going to come back. And when He does, the things He said and did take on a whole new weight.

The epilogue to this tale:

²³ Now when he was in Jerusalem at the passover, during the feast, many believed on his name, beholding his signs which he did.

²⁴ But Jesus did not trust himself unto them, for that he knew all men,

²⁵ and because he needed not that any one should bear witness concerning man; for he himself knew what was in man.

Jesus stayed in Jerusalem, and observed Passover, and He evidently continues to do miracles, and a following develops around Him. But, Jesus does not trust Himself to them (again, there is some foreshadowing here). The most important of these verses, it seems to me, is the last. Jesus doesn’t need anyone to tell Him that people can’t be trusted. He knows that already. He knows, because He’s a man. Wasn’t it King David who said “my heart has shown me the wickedness of the ungodly?”

Next up: Jesus gives His first sermon, explaining to a man in the shadows who He is and what He’s doing.

John 1, verses 28 through 51

John 1, continued.

²⁸ These things were done in Bethany beyond the Jordan, where John was baptizing.

²⁹ On the morrow he seeth Jesus coming unto him, and saith, Behold, the Lamb of God, that taketh away the sin of the world!

You know something? I love that line. Maybe it appeals to my sense of drama. Behold! Or, in the vulgar tongue, “check this out!” See this. Take a good long look, because this is important. Behold the Lamb of God. This instant, right here, is significant for a few reasons. Here’s one: Jesus, subject of this history, has just appeared onstage. Here’s another: John, the voice crying out in the wilderness, Herald on the Word, is in this moment doing the thing he was put on earth to do. If you were to reduce his life to a single purpose, a single goal, this would be it. He’s announcing the coming of the one who cometh after him. After this scene, his role in the chronicle seems to be pretty much over. This is his moment, the thing he was born for. Maybe Neil Armstrong felt the same thing, stepping on to the Moon’s surface. Maybe Emperor Norton felt it the day he knelt in prayer before an angry mob (but you don’t know that story, do you? Another time, then.) Quite possibly Stephen felt it when they dragged him outside Jerusalem and gathered up their stones. In this moment, your purpose is fulfilled.

But beyond that, look at what it is he’s proclaiming. The Lamb of God. Who takes away the sins of the world. Earlier John quoted Isaiah: “Make straight the Way of the Lord.” Well, now the Lord is here. And He’s come to take away our sin.

John continues his introduction:

³⁰ This is he of whom I said, After me cometh a man who is become before me: for he was before me.

³¹ And I knew him not; but that he should be made manifest to Israel, for this cause came I baptizing in water.

³² And John bare witness, saying, I have beheld the Spirit descending as a dove out of heaven; and it abode upon him.

³³ And I knew him not: but he that sent me to baptize in water, he said unto me, Upon whomsoever thou shalt see the Spirit descending, and abiding upon him, the same is he that baptizeth in the Holy Spirit.

³⁴ And I have seen, and have borne witness that this is the Son of God.

John is a Herald, and he is here to bear witness. His statement is thoroughly unambiguous: This is the Son of God, God’s Spirit is upon Him, and He will baptize with it. The Holy Spirit, when it shows up in the Book of Acts, descends one day upon everybody like fire. Now that Christ is here, we will be washed in righteous fire, so Jah seh.

³⁵ Again on the morrow John was standing, and two of his disciples;

³⁶ and he looked upon Jesus as he walked, and saith, Behold, the Lamb of God!

³⁷ And the two disciples heard him speak, and they followed Jesus.

John the Baptist, like John the Evangelist who wrote this Gospel, is hammering the points home. And now, Jesus has two followers.

³⁸ And Jesus turned, and beheld them following, and saith unto them, What seek ye? And they said unto him, Rabbi (which is to say, being interpreted, Teacher), where abideth thou?

³⁹ He saith unto them, Come, and ye shall see. They came therefore and saw where he abode; and they abode with him that day: it was about the tenth hour.

⁴⁰ One of the two that heard John [speak], and followed him, was Andrew, Simon Peter's brother.

⁴¹ He findeth first his own brother Simon, and saith unto him, We have found the Messiah (which is, being interpreted, Christ).

⁴² He brought him unto Jesus. Jesus looked upon him, and said, Thou art Simon the son of John: thou shalt be called Cephas (which is by interpretation, Peter).

⁴³ On the morrow he was minded to go forth into Galilee, and he findeth Philip: and Jesus saith unto him, Follow me.

⁴⁴ Now Philip was from Bethsaida, of the city of Andrew and Peter.

⁴⁵ Philip findeth Nathanael, and saith unto him, We have found him, of whom Moses in the law, and the prophets, wrote, Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph.

⁴⁶ And Nathanael said unto him, Can any good thing come out of Nazareth? Philip saith unto him, Come and see.

⁴⁷ Jesus saw Nathanael coming to him, and saith of him, Behold, an Israelite indeed, in whom is no guile!

⁴⁸ Nathanael saith unto him, Whence knowest thou me? Jesus answered and said unto him, Before Philip called thee, when thou wast under the fig tree, I saw thee.

⁴⁹ Nathanael answered him, Rabbi, thou art the Son of God; thou art King of Israel.

And now, four or five. And one of them is Peter, of whom more later. Jesus here demonstrates a knack for knowing things he couldn’t, by ordinary means, have known. As miracles go it’s pretty much a parlor trick, but again in other Gospels they haven’t even gotten to Jesus’ birth at this point. Signs and wonders come later.

⁵⁰ Jesus answered and said unto him, Because I said unto thee, I saw thee underneath the fig tree, believest thou? thou shalt see greater things than these.

⁵¹ And he saith unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Ye shall see the heaven opened, and the angels of God ascending and descending upon the Son of man.

See? There’s more to come.

John 1, verses 1 through 28

This is my blog. In it, I read and comment upon the four Gospels. I'm starting with John, because I find his style to be exciting, and a good place to start.

On with the show.

Chapter 1

¹ In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.

² The same was in the beginning with God.

³ All things were made through him; and without him was not anything made that hath been made.

⁴ In him was life; and the life was the light of men.

⁵ And the light shineth in the darkness; and the darkness apprehended it not.

This, o my brothers, is the work of a man who knows how to start a book. Matthew’s genealogies are all very well once you’ve already made the decision to read it, and now you want some proof that Jesus was descended from the Line of David, but John knew how to hook you. On the fence about reading this slim volume about this man Jesus? Bam! In the Beginning! Was the Word! This is exciting stuff, heavy ideas getting thrown around all over the place. First, there’s something at the very beginning, part of God, YHWH, Tetragrammaton, Hashem, He Is That He Is. And this thing that is the same thing as God is also something different, different enough to have its own name, the Word, Logos. This Word, God-and-with-God, all things were made through him. If it exists, He (He and not It) was the cause of it. And in this Word is life, and this life is light. Four verses in and we’re already just “Way” away from having a complete set of the Christian Magic Words. And this light which is life which is in the Word which was with and was God, this light shines in darkness. This is heavy, mystical stuff, and just the kind of thing that gets my juices going.

⁶ There came a man, sent from God, whose name was John.

⁷ The same came for witness, that he might bear witness of the light, that all might believe through him.

⁸ He was not the light, but [came] that he might bear witness of the light.

No messing around here. John’s getting right at the point from the get-go, with no beating around the bush with lineages (however important they may be if you want to establish a claim to Messiahdom) or origin stories (however rife with signs and wonders they may be), he goes right for the throat: Word-God-Light-Life-Man named John. This John is not the light, but he does bear witness. He bears witness, but is not the light. This point is important, because it’d be a big mistake to confuse the herald with the one being announced. A feature film with Laurence Fishburne is probably going to make that point this very summer.

⁹ There was the true light, [even the light] which lighteth every man, coming into the world.

¹⁰ He was in the world, and the world was made through him, and the world knew him not.

¹¹ He came unto his own, and they that were his own received him not.

¹² But as many as received him, to them gave he the right to become children of God, [even] to them that believe on his name:

¹³ who were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.

¹⁴ And the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us (and we beheld his glory, glory as of the only begotten from the Father), full of grace and truth.

The light, the Word, is coming into the world. And it is reiterated here that the world was made through Him. Even so, the world does not recognize Him. The world, let it be said, has forgotten the face of its father.

But there’s more. By this, some do recognize, and receive, and those that do, they get something very special. Children of God. We who are Christians have managed to make a cliché out of this, and though like most clichés its true, its status as such has robbed it of its power. This is a mighty thing. This is magic and lighting and fire on the earth. And mixing in with this fire, John hits us with some more of the heavy philosophy. Born not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God. What is that? What does this thing mean?

Something new.

And the Word, let him with ears hear it, became flesh, and dwelt among us full of grace and truth. And we beheld Him. And now, just fourteen verses in, we’ve come to the beating heart of things. God, or God’s begotten, begotten from the very beginning of things and shaper of worlds and realities, has been cast in meat and put on this planet’s dirt and we saw and recognized Him.

This is some heavy stuff.

⁵ John beareth witness of him, and crieth, saying, This was he of whom I said, He that cometh after me is become before me: for he was before me.

¹⁶ For of his fulness we all received, and grace for grace.

¹⁷ For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.

And the man who is the light which is the life which is the Word which is with and is God, He has a name, and John Baptizer is calling it out. And, further, those who embraced Him became Sons of God.

Man, this deep into Matthew Jesus isn’t even born yet. This deep into Luke, He isn’t even Conceived yet.

¹⁸ No man hath seen God at any time; the only begotten Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, he hath declared [him].

¹⁹ And this is the witness of John, when the Jews sent unto him from Jerusalem priests and Levites to ask him, Who art thou?

²⁰ And he confessed, and denied not; and he confessed, I am not the Christ.

²¹ And they asked him, What then? Art thou Elijah? And he saith, I am not. Art thou the prophet? And he answered, No.

²² They said therefore unto him, Who art thou? that we may give an answer to them that sent us. What sayest thou of thyself?

²³ He said, I am the voice of one crying in the wilderness, Make straight the way of the Lord, as said Isaiah the prophet.

Like Jesus, down the line, John gets hit with the question “who are you?” It might be possible to craft a sermon out of speculation as to why they asked this, and not “what are you doing, and why?” but skip it.

He starts out by telling them who he isn’t. When they pin him down, he invokes Isaiah, and tells ‘em “God’s on His way.”

²⁴ And they had been sent from the Pharisees.

Another thing John gets in ahead of the competition is the foreshadowing. Matthew’s still on baby pictures, Mark, skipping all the heavy stuff and sticking to just the facts, has Jesus starting his ministry, and Luke is working on how John got conceived. John, meanwhile, has already begun to set up for dramatic big finish.

²⁵ And they asked him, and said unto him, Why then baptizest thou, if thou art not the Christ, neither Elijah, neither the prophet?

²⁶ John answered them, saying, I baptize in water: in the midst of you standeth one whom ye know not,

²⁷ [even] he that cometh after me, the latchet of whose shoe I am not worthy to unloose.

²⁸ These things were done in Bethany beyond the Jordan, where John was baptizing.

Pharisees: “Okay, screw that guy who was thinking about making a sermon about the questions we ask, why are you doing this?”

John: “Again, boys, stuff is about to go down.”

To be continued…