John 2 – 4 and Fool Me Twice

John 2 – 4

The day after Jesus chose Philip and Nathanael, there was a wedding celebration in the village of Cana in Galilee. I’m sure this is a story you are familiar with. When the wine runs out, Mary asks Jesus to help. She was a woman of faith and knew Jesus would be able to solve the wine problem. Did you ever wonder what had happened in the past that caused Mary to think Jesus could intervene?

This miracle, besides helping out the newly married couple, served to convince the disciples to believe in Jesus.

I wonder what they thought when Jesus drove out the moneychangers from the Temple. They had only been with him a little while and I’m sure people just didn’t act like that in the Temple. It was a challenge to the authority of the priests and leaders. We see that the disciples were familiar with their Scriptures since they remembered the prophecy that “Passion for God’s house will consume me.” The leaders ask for a sign that Jesus has the authority to do this. He says, “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.” It wasn’t until after he was raised from the dead that the disciples knew what this meant.

Did you notice that “No one needed to tell him (Jesus) what mankind is really like?” Jesus knows exactly who we are. He knows our every fault, our every intention, our every thought. Yet, he loves us anyway. He loved us enough to die for us, to bear our sins at Calvary, to make us new creatures in Christ.

The third chapter of John, especially the 16^th verse, is probably one of the most familiar passages of Scripture. Nicodemus, a Pharisee, came to Jesus by night. Jesus gets right to the heart of the matter and tells Nicodemus that “unless you are born again, you cannot see the Kingdom of God.” Nicodemus thinks Jesus is talking about a physical rebirth. Jesus prophesies the method of his own death: “And as Moses lifted up the bronze snake on a pole in the wilderness, so the Son of Man must be lifted up, so that everyone who believes in him will have eternal life.” These words are followed by John 3:16, 17:”For God loved the world so much that he gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life. God sent his Son into the world not to judge the world, but to save the world through him.”

The gospel doesn’t get much more simple than that.

Tomorrow, we’ll read Mark 2.

Fool Me Twice

Last night, I read the new Robert B Parker book called Fool Me Twice. It’s not really written by Robert B Parker, but it is written in his style and about his characters found in the Jesse Stone novels. I bought it on Audible and listened to it. It’s a great book. I can’t wait to see the TV movie starring Tom Selleck.

Until next time…