John 1 - 3

John 1-3 …  Many themes in this snippet of Scripture, so let’s dive in.  Note, in this blog, there may be times when I quote Scripture without using quotations.  I hope this is okay.

As I read through Ch1, I could not help but feel sympathy for Jesus the Christ.  Versus 10/11 talk about Jesus’ entry into the world and how the world did not “recognize” him.  To be left un-recognized is definitely an unfortunate event, especially when you become unrecognized by those whom you are close to.  Here, we have Jesus, the Creator of the world / man / everything in world, and he enters the world, with the purpose of embracing the world, and saving the world, but much of the world rejects him.  -  “He came to that which was his own, and his own did not receive him.”

However, John follows it up with the joy of v12/13 which tells us that those who did receive Him and believe in Him have the right to become born of God.  I realize I may step on some toes with this statement, but I’ll say it anyway.  I think we are seeing the theme that we are saved by our faith, which is a theme we have seen throughout all four Gospels.  Jesus heals the sick/raises the dead and frequently finishes each miracle by saying something like – “your faith has saved you”, or “you are saved by faith”.  Jumping forward to one of the most famous versus in the Bible (thank you Stone Cold Steve Austin) –

“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 he has not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son.”

This is a really thick and heavy piece of Scripture.  Let us first be reminded that in this passage Jesus Himself is speaking and He is speaking to Nicodemus (a Pharisee).  And not only does it say that by believing in JC will we have eternal life, but also that by NOT believing we are condemned (to Hell).  Sometimes John can be a little wishy-washy with his words, however here he is quite clear.  Then again, it’s not really his words but His words, so maybe I am wrong.  ALSO, Jesus says that His purpose in coming into the world is NOT to condemn the world, but to SAVE the world.  He is coming to save us.  Which begs the question, “why the heck would God want to save us?”  Oh yea, that question was just answered in the beginning of this snippet – because He loves us.  How sweet it is to be loved.  How sweet it is that we have this example of love. 

Finally, verse 36 – Another reference, spoken by John the Baptist.  Another verse telling us that belief in the Son yields eternal life, and rejection of the Son will feel God’s wrath. 

Another verse I chewed on:

John 3:27 – “A man can receive only what is given to him from Heaven.”

Here John the Baptist is speaking, and I think that he is referring to God’s grace.  And I think to myself - why do I pursue earthly things when I have God’s grace?  What more could I want/need than God’s grace?  C.S. Lewis said it well when he said – “If we find ourselves with a desire that nothing in this world can satisfy, the most probable explanation is that we are made for another world.”  I did not earn God’s grace, it was given to me, and as a sign of my thankfulness, and love for God, I have a desire to give something back.

Okay … apart from meaty components of these chapters, I actually thought there were a few comical passages:

2:1-11. The testimony of Jesus turning water into wine at a wedding.  It finishes with the bridegroom saying –“You saved the best wine for the END of the party?!”  Apparently, not only can Jesus turn water into wine, but His wine is pretty darn sweet! 

2:46 – Here Philip tells Nathanael that he has met the Christ, and that Jesus is from Nazareth.  To which Nathanael instinctively replies – “Nazareth?!  What the heck could possibly come out of that place?!”  Note, exclamation points are indeed used in the text.

3:4 – Nicodemus thinks Jesus is telling him to crawl into his mother’s womb to be born a 2^nd time. … Nicodemus … that is incorrect …

And with that I say goodnight.  TGIF!