Once again, it is difficult for those of us who know how the story ends to appreciate the disciples’ confusion over what was about to occur. They were full of sorrow (16:6, 20) when they should have been rejoicing, believing that Jesus was going to His Father (John 14:28), and trusting that they would soon see Him again as He promised. Moreover, Jesus told them it was to their advantage that He go; otherwise the Holy Spirit would not come to them (16:7). His encouraging words apparently had little effect on their disposition, yet He was still certain that their sorrow would be turned to joy (16:20, 22). God is in the business of giving “beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, [and] the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness” (Is. 61:3). How often we are like the eleven, weeping when we should be dancing!

Jesus promised that when the Holy Spirit came, He would “convict the world” of three things, “sin and righteousness and judgment” (16:8). Has the Holy Spirit been doing those things or not? I believe He has, which makes Him the greatest evangelist on our planet. Because of the conviction of the Holy Spirit, everyone in the world innately knows they are sinners who are called to live righteously and who will one day stand judgment before God. Of course, people deceive themselves in this matter, filling their minds with lies that suppress the truth in their hearts, but they will have no excuse before God. We are wise to pray for God to lead us to those who are yielding to rather than resisting the Spirit’s conviction.

The coming Holy Spirit’s ministry would not be limited to convicting the world of certain essential truths, but also of guiding the church into truth (16:13), which begs the question, “Why then is the church so divided regarding doctrine?” The answer is that much of the “church” is not the true church of Christ, but rather an unholy religious conglomeration of unregenerate leaders and followers, the “blind leading the blind.” Second, God does not override the free wills of His children, and He does not force them to believe truth or to stop listening to those who twist Scripture to their own liking. Thus, even true believers can be deceived. And third, much of the doctrinal differences between genuine believers revolve around non-essentials. They agree, however, on the essentials.

Jesus’ promise to His disciples, “Truly, truly, I say to you, if you ask the Father for anything in My name, He will give it to you” (16:23), was not, as it is sometimes taken, a blank check that we can use to acquire material luxuries from God. Note that Jesus’ made this promise within the context of the disciples’ confusion about God’s plan, and His promise of the Holy Spirit’s leading them into truth.

Note also that the sentence directly before His promise in 16:23 reads, “In that day you will not question Me about anything.” Then He said, “If you ask the Father for anything in My name, He will give it to you” (16:23). Jesus was encouraging the eleven to ask for understanding and insight. It is within that context that He promised in His very next sentence, “Until now you have asked for nothing in My name; ask and you will receive, so that your joy may be made full” (16:24). Again, He was not implying that they should ask for material luxuries to make them happier, but to ask for understanding, so that their current sorrow could be turned into joy. This blessing is not limited to 11 disciples who lived 2,000 years ago. It is the privilege of all believers today as well. James wrote:

If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all men generously and without reproach, and it will be given to him. But let him ask in faith without any doubting (Jas. 1:5-6).

May we be unlike the eleven in this regard, who apparently didn’t take advantage of Jesus’ wonderful promise that would have filled them with joy in the midst of their sorrow!

As with all analogies, Jesus’ analogy of the vine and branches is imperfect, as grape vines and vinedressers are not wholly analogous to a believer’s relationship with Jesus and the Father. Yet Jesus obviously saw some characteristics of grape vines and vinedressers that served well to illustrate some important spiritual truths. We only need to be cautious that we don’t “push the parable too far.”

It seems safe to assume that only believers are comparable to branches in Jesus’ vine, as only those “in Christ” can bear fruit that stems from “abiding in the vine.” Jesus, of course, was not speaking to unbelievers, but to His closest disciples, telling them that they were the branches.

Just like a vinedresser, the Father wants to see fruit on the branches. Those that are bearing fruit, He prunes, cutting away what is undesirable to Him in order that the branch might bear more fruit. That is God at work in the process of sanctification.

Those that are not bearing fruit, He cuts off. Because this is a metaphor, we can’t be entirely sure if this “cutting off” speaks of the judgment of physical death in which a believer still maintains his eternal salvation, or if it speaks of a forfeiture of salvation all together. Of course, Jesus exhorted His closest disciples to “abide in [Him]” (15:4) that they might bear fruit, and then went on to warn them, “If anyone does not abide in Me, he is thrown away as a branch, and dries up; and they gather them, and cast them into the fire, and they are burned” (15:6). This certainly sounds like a warning of hell, and if the branch that removes itself becomes fruitless and is cast into hell, it would seem odd that a fruitless branch that is removed by the Father would inherit eternal life.

In any case, after reading John 15, no one can argue that our bearing fruit is a trivial matter to God. The reason He chose and appointed us was so that we could “bear fruit,” and so our “fruit would remain” (15:16).

Take note of the role of prayer in the matter of bearing fruit. Jesus promised:

If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it shall be done for you. By this is My Father glorified, that you bear much fruit, and so prove to be My disciples” (15:7-8; see also 15:16).

When Jesus encouraged His disciples to “ask whatever they wished,” He wasn’t thinking that they would be asking for material treasures to lay up on earth, as that would indicate that they were not abiding in Him and His words were not abiding in them. Jesus was thinking that their supreme desire would be holiness, and so His encouragement to “ask whatever they wished” was supposed to encourage them to pray for what would make them more fruitful. God always answers those kinds of prayers!

Jesus’ words, “If you keep My commandments, you will abide in My love,” does not sounds like a promise of “unconditional love” that is so often touted in Christian circles, but of conditional love, and so it is. God loves everyone conditionally. We are Jesus’ friends if we do what He commands us (15:14). If God loved everyone unconditionally, then no one would be ultimately cast into hell. What many refer to as “God’s unconditional love,” would be better termed, “God’s temporary mercy.” God loves everyone with a merciful love, but that is temporary for those who don’t repent.

True Christians are loved and hated—loved by each other and hated by the world. How strange and confusing it can be to find yourself hated by “Christians!” Take comfort knowing that Christians who hate Christians aren’t Christians. (You can quote me on that.) “Christians” who hate Christians are every bit as deceived as the scribes and Pharisees of Jesus’ day who professed to love God but hated Jesus (15:23-24). This was also greatly emphasized in John’s first epistle, where he repeatedly told his readers that love for each other is a litmus test of genuine faith in Jesus. Heaven is for lovers!

The eleven were naturally fearful of what was about to happen and confused. Those of us who know the end of the story can hardly appreciate the tension of the moment. The disciples only knew that Jesus was about to depart from them, which was cause for hearts to be troubled. So with words that comfort us 2,000 years later, Jesus reassured them that everything was going to be OK. He was going to His Father to prepare a place for them, and He would ultimately return to personally escort them there (14:3). In the interim, He would send a marvelous helper and teacher to live in them, the Holy Spirit, who would be equivalent to having both the Father and Son living in them (14:16-17, 23).

Beyond those things, Jesus granted the eleven His supernatural peace, the peace that Paul wrote “surpasses all comprehension” (Phil 4:7). But their faith was a factor, and so He exhorted them: “Believe in God, believe also in Me” (14:3). He meant more than just to believe that He or God existed. It was an exhortation to trust both the Father and Jesus that everything was under their control.

Jesus told the eleven that He was in the Father and the Father was in Him (14:10-11). He also stated that if we’ve seen Him, we’ve seen the Father (14:9). Notice, however, that He didn’t say that He was the Father. The Father and Son are two distinct persons, but are so much alike that if you know one, you know the other. For that reason, when you hear a preacher say that many Christians know Jesus but don’t know the Father, you know that he hasn’t done his homework.

What did Jesus mean when He said that those who believe in Him would do the same works as He did and greater works (14:12)? Some think Jesus was referring to the entire body of Christ corporately doing the same and greater works than He did. Some think it means every believer should be doing the same and greater works than Jesus, yet I’ve noticed those who say that aren’t coming anywhere close to doing the same works Jesus did. In fact, even the original apostles never performed certain miracles that Jesus did, much less greater miracles.

Most of the miracles recorded in the book of Acts were done by apostles or evangelists, not ordinary believers. For this reason, I suspect that the promise of believers doing greater works will have its complete fulfillment in the future world. We know that the nine gifts of the Spirit are referred to in Scripture as “the powers of the age to come” (Heb. 6:5). Through Isaiah, Jesus prophetically spoke of believers during His millennial reign, saying, “I and the children whom the Lord has given me are for signs and wonders in Israel from the Lord of hosts who dwells on Mount Zion” (Is. 8:18; compare with Heb. 2:11-13).

This is not to say that miracles and gifts of the Spirit are not for today, but that not all believers should expect to walk on water, raise the dead and multiply food.

Three times in today’s reading Jesus reinforced the connection between loving and obeying Him.

If you love Me, you will keep My commandments….He who has My commandments and keeps them, it is he who loves Me; and he who loves Me shall be loved by My Father, and I will love him, and will disclose Myself to him….If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word; and My Father will love him, and We will come to him, and make Our abode with him (14:15, 21, 23).

How often we list excuses for not obeying Jesus, yet how many of us will simply admit that the major cause is our lack of love for Him?

Notice also that Jesus only promised that He and the Father would come to live in those who love Him and keep His word (14:23). So there must be an initial repentance to even begin a relationship with the Lord. The idea that we can “accept Jesus as Savior” yet reject Him as Lord has no biblical foundation.

Jesus said that the greatest person is the servant of all (Matt. 23:11), and so we should expect that Jesus, who is the greatest, would also be the greatest servant. Today’s story of Him washing His disciples’ feet certainly confirms that. However, Jesus’ greatest act of servitude was His death for us on the cross: “The Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many” (Matt. 20:28).

Also being the greatest teacher who ever lived, Jesus knew that the best lesson is not a lecture but an example. It boggles our minds that the Lord of heaven would humble Himself to wash the feet of 12 men, but we must not forget that He did it not only to serve them, but to illustrate what He expected of them. Jesus wants all of His followers to serve each other, but I think that it is significant that He specifically commanded the future leaders of His church to wash one another’s feet. The reason that the church is so divided today is because its leaders are so divided. How much good might come out of monthly meetings of pastors who gathered just to wash each other’s feet?

Of course, foot washing was a cultural practice in Israel in Jesus’ time, because people wore sandals and traveled on dusty roads used by both animals and people. Washing a guest’s feet was a common courtesy, usually done by servants. I am not persuaded that Jesus expects Christians of all times and cultures to literally wash each other’s feet, but I’m sure He wants us to humbly serve one another. Literal foot washing, however, certainly can’t hurt to that end! If you’ve been involved in a foot washing, you know that is true. Jesus promised, “If you know these things, you are blessed if you do them” (13:17).

I once heard of a church that, tragically, split over the issue of foot washing. Some believed that foot washing should be literally practiced, and some thought that they should humbly serve one another in other practical and culturally-relevant ways. They couldn’t agree on how to love each other, so they split, demonstrating to the world how they hated each other.

Like Peter, if the Lord doesn’t wash us, we have no part with Him (13:8). Only He can forgive us and clean us up! And also like Peter, once we’ve experienced the Lord’s initial full washing, thereafter we still need Him to wash us at times. That is the sanctification process, and that is the reason we can pray every day, “Forgive us our debts,” as Jesus taught us (Matt. 6:12).

I wonder what was going through Jesus’ mind as He washed Judas’ feet? Probably the same thing that goes through His mind every day as He shows His love for those all over the world who hate Him. Incidentally, isn’t it amazing that when Jesus announced to His disciples that one of them would betray Him, none of them suspected Judas (13:22)? He played the part of a follower of Christ quite well for more than three years. He was, apparently, not one who could be “known by his fruits,” at least, not until his act of betrayal.

Although the devil put into Judas’ heart the idea to betray Jesus (13:2), Judas was a free moral agent acting on his own volition. This is proven by the fact that he, by his own free will, decided to follow Jesus for over three years, did not betray Him earlier, and felt remorse afterwards to the point of committing suicide. Satan presented the temptation to betray Christ for profit, Judas weighed it, wrestled with it, yielded to it, and ultimately regretted it. Judas was neither God’s or Satan’s robot.

We’ve already read the self-denying requirements for one to be a true disciple of Jesus in Luke 14:25-33. Today we learn that the mark that distinguishes the true disciple before the world is his love for other disciples. Thus we should all ask ourselves, “As the world looks at me, do they see me as a person who loves those who love Jesus?”

Jesus lived about 33 years on the earth, yet almost half of John’s Gospel focuses on His final week. In John’s thinking, that week was the most significant week of Christ’s life and of human history. It began with Jesus and His disciples coming out of their wilderness hideaway to make their way towards Jerusalem. They would have been journeying with tens of thousands of other Jews who were streaming there for the Passover, a perfect cover. Two miles outside of Jerusalem, they stopped and enjoyed a meal in the home of Mary, Martha and Lazarus (whom had recently been resurrected).

When we compare the specific details of Mary’s anointing of Jesus with similar incidents mentioned in all three Synoptic Gospels involving unnamed women, we must conclude that they are not all the same incident (Matt. 26:6-13; Mark 14:3-9; Luke 7:37-39). John’s account highlights Judas’ hypocritical and deceptive complaint. Jesus’ reply to him—“The poor you always have with you, but you do not always have Me (12:8)—could only be considered to be words of an incredible egotist, unless Jesus were not God in the flesh. It is, of course, impossible for God to be proud, as He could never think more highly of Himself than He should.

Judas was a perfect example of a person who outwardly appeared righteous but who was inwardly corrupt. If we didn’t know the whole story, some might say, “Now that Judas, he’s the kind of man we’d like to have as our pastor. He’s a person of convictions, and isn’t afraid to challenge even the denomination’s top man in his concern for social justice!” Things aren’t always as they appear to be. Judas was a lover of money, and for that reason he betrayed Jesus.

Did you notice two more of Jesus’ “hour statements” in today’s reading (12:23, 27)? In one of them, Jesus revealed that the ultimate purpose of His life was to die, saying, “For this purpose I came to this hour” (12:27). He compared His death to the planting of a dead grain, from which a new plant grows and produces more grains. Jesus’ death, burial and resurrection would result in the spiritual rebirth of many people. Moreover, His death and resurrection would serve as an object lesson for all who desire eternal life. They, too, must die, dying to their love of the world (12:25). John later wrote in his first epistle: “If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him” (1 John 2:15).

Jesus’ sacrificial death would also result in “the ruler of this world” being “cast out” (12:31). Obviously, Satan has been given permission by God to rule over all human rebels. He is a subordinate instrument of God’s wrath against them. By virtue of Jesus’ atoning sacrifice, however, God’s wrath was propitiated, and thus Satan’s dominion is broken over everyone who repents and believes. Satan will ultimately be fully “cast out” from the earth when it suits God’s purpose. That, too, will be due to Jesus’ atonement on the cross, whereby God can righteously pardon sinners.

We read previously Jesus’ statement that no one could come to Him unless the Father drew him (6:44). We read today His promise to draw all people to Himself if He would be lifted up on the cross (12:32). Obviously, if people are being drawn then they are not being forced, and they can obviously resist His drawing.

Just as Paul, in his letter to the Romans, indicated that God had hardened the hearts of the Jews, so John reiterates the same idea in 12:39-40 quoting Isaiah. By themselves, these few verses could lead someone to believe that God didn’t want those Jews whom He hardened to be saved. Yet there are 31,215 other verses in the Bible to balance our understanding, and some are found in this very chapter! God is not arbitrarily hardening some hearts and softening others. Jesus came to “save the world” (12:47), and the same sun that melts wax, hardens clay. By His act of drawing all, God softens some and hardens others.

It is interesting that when John first mentions Mary in today’s reading, he identifies her as “the Mary who anointed the Lord with ointment, and wiped His feet with her hair” (11:2), an incident that hasn’t occurred yet in the chronology of John’s Gospel (12:1-3). John assumed that his readers already knew of that incident. It was that Mary, not any of the other three women named Mary mentioned in the Gospels—Jesus’ mother, Mary Magdalene, and the mother of James—whose brother Lazarus, was sick.

Concerning Lazarus’ sickness, Jesus said that it was “not unto death, but for the glory of God” (11:4). Obviously, Jesus was not saying that God was glorified by Lazarus’ sickness, but rather, that God would be glorified by Lazarus’ healing and resurrection. I mention this only because we occasionally hear a sick Christian claim that his or her sickness is like Lazarus’ sickness, one that glorifies God. God is not glorified by sickness, but by healing.

Notice that even though Jesus loved Lazarus (11:3, 5), He didn’t prevent Lazarus from becoming sick. By the same token, there is no reason to think that sickness is an indication that Jesus doesn’t love you. Your sickness could, perhaps, be permitted by Him as a test of your faith. In that case, your sickness could also then be said to be “for the glory of God,” if you, like Lazarus, are ultimately healed. So trust God!

Speaking of tests of faith, Mary and Martha certainly had their faith tested. Jesus deliberately delayed His coming to them when He received their news of Lazarus’ sickness. It is more difficult to believe that someone is going to come back to life after being dead four days than it is to believe that someone who is ill will recover. Martha, however, certainly expressed faith that Jesus’ arrival was not too late (11:21-22).

Mary and Martha both had their faith tested again when Jesus ordered that the stone across Lazarus’ tomb be removed. Martha reacted with concern that Lazarus’ body would stink. Jesus reassured her that if God could raise her dead brother, He could also take care of little things like bad odors! (My paraphrase.)

I would love to see a video of this entire incident, but just imagining it tickles my brain. When Jesus commanded Lazarus to “come forth,” a mummy appeared at the cave’s entrance. Lazarus was “bound hand and foot with wrappings” and even “his face was wrapped around with a cloth” (11:44). There is a good possibility that his legs were wrapped together, meaning that he crawled or perhaps supernaturally floated to the cave’s entrance. Imagine the reaction of the multitude (12:17) who were there! If the entire Bible consisted of just this single chapter in John, it would be enough to convince any open-minded person that Jesus is the Son of God who is offering eternal life to everyone who will believe in Him. Yet, amazingly, some who witnessed what was perhaps the greatest miracle of all human history up until that time ran to deliver a negative report to Jesus’ greatest antagonists, the Pharisees (11:46). More amazing, however, is the fact that this miracle is nothing compared to what is coming in the future, when Jesus will call forth every dead body in the world from their tombs (5:28-29). Jesus was just warming up at Lazarus’ tomb!

If you aren’t good at memorizing Bible verses, you are in luck today if you still would like to give it a try by memorizing John 11:35: “Jesus wept.” That is the Bible’s shortest verse.

Why did Jesus weep if He knew Lazarus would be raised from the dead? I wonder about that. Since Jesus was the most compassionate person to ever walk the face of the earth, perhaps He wept simply because He was among other weeping people. Paul wrote that we should “weep with those who weep” (Rom. 12:15). Or perhaps Jesus wept for Lazarus because He knew he was going to have to return to this sinful world after spending four glorious days in paradise. Going from earth to heaven is quite a joy. I understand the return trip, however, can be quite depressing!

Jesus’ shepherd and sheep analogy was much more understandable to His contemporary audience than to those of us who are unfamiliar with shepherding in general, and particularly to shepherding in Israel 2,000 years ago. So here is a little help:

First, when several flocks are grazing in one area or are sharing a corral, it might appear that the shepherds would never be able to sort out which sheep belong to which shepherd. All the shepherds need to do, however, is call their sheep, and the flocks immediately divide and follow their respective shepherds. Sheep know their shepherd’s voice. If a stranger calls them, they will not follow him. Jesus’ simple point was that those who belong to Him follow Him. Those who don’t follow Him are not His sheep.

Second, shepherds kept their flocks safe at night by gathering them into corrals built of stone fences. There were no gates at the openings of those corrals, and so one shepherd would lie down across his corral’s opening for the night, thus actually becoming “the door” of the sheepfold. That shepherd was the “doorkeeper” of 10:3. Jesus’ point was that the only way anyone can gain entrance to salvation and to the sheepfold is through Him, “the door.”

Moreover, those who attempted to gain access to the sheepfold by not going through the “door,” obviously had ulterior motives. They were sheep thieves. So anyone who tries to infiltrate God’s flock by some means other than through Jesus is selfishly motivated. Obviously, false teachers are in that category.

Third, a good shepherd sincerely cared for his sheep. At times he had to protect them from wolves. A temporary or hireling shepherd, however, would run at the first sign of trouble. The “hirelings” in Jesus’ analogy were representative of the scribes and Pharisees, who had no real concern for the people. But Jesus gave His life for His sheep!

As with all of Jesus’ metaphorical words, His shepherd/sheep analogy has been exploited by those who hope to find biblical justification for their doctrines that contradict so many other scriptures. For example, Jesus’ promise that no one will be able to snatch His sheep out of His Father’s hand (10:28) is a favorite of those who promote the idea of unconditional eternal security. Notice, however, that Jesus defined His sheep in the preceding verse as those who follow Him (10:27). Certainly no man can steal the salvation of a sheep who follows Jesus, but any of us can stop following Jesus if we desire to no longer be one of His sheep.

Remember that every analogy is imperfect. In the analogy we just read, Jesus is both the door and the good shepherd. We must be careful that we don’t read more into any parable or analogy than what was intended by the speaker.

Calvinists often cite Jesus’ words to the unbelieving Jews, “But you do not believe because you are not of My sheep” (10:26), in order to buttress their idea that people don’t believe because they haven’t been preselected for salvation by God. This is grasping at straws. Jesus was simply communicating that His sheep are characterized by their belief in Him. If I said to a group of people, “You don’t believe I can bench press 500 pounds because you are not on my team,” does that prove that I didn’t want them on my team? No, I was simply expressing that those on my team believe.

Another phrase in Jesus’ sheep/shepherd analogy in which the greater context is ignored is that about the thief who “comes only to steal and kill and destroy” (10:10). This is not a reference to Satan, but to false spiritual leaders (10:1, 8). This phrase is often quoted to prove that anything that kills or destroys is of Satan and not of God. There are, however, numerous scriptures that attribute destroying and killing to God. One is James 4:12: “There is only one Lawgiver and Judge, the One who is able to save and to destroy” See also Gen. 38:7; Ex. 13:15; 1 Sam. 2:6; 1 Cor. 3:17; 2 Pet. 3:10-12; Jude 5. Let’s stay balanced!

Did God preordain that this man of whom we read today be born blind so that Jesus could one day heal him? That seems to be what the text is saying in 9:3-4.

There is, however, one other possible interpretation. There were no capital letters and periods in the original Greek that would indicate where sentences started and ended. So translators do their best when adding them. Notice also that the words “it was” in 9:3 are italicized (in the NASB), which indicates that they were not in the original text and were also added by the translators. Thus 9:3-4 could be translated, “It was neither that this man sinned, nor his parents. But, in order that the works of God might be displayed in him, we must work the works of Him who sent as long as it is day.”

If this translation is correct, then it could be said that Jesus fully answered His disciples’ question. They asked if the man or his parents’ sin was responsible for the birth defect. Jesus said it was neither. Then, He implied that it was not the work of God that the man was born blind, saying, “But, in order that the works of God might be displayed in him…” The idea is that healing blindness is God’s work, and making people blind is not His work.

If it was not the work of God that the man was born blind, then we could pin it on the devil, as many would like to do. That does not, however, alleviate every struggle we might have with this passage, as it still begs the questions, “If Satan is responsible for birth defects, why doesn’t God stop him?” And, “If Satan does possess that ability, why does he afflict some and not others?” Ultimately, we all struggle with why some children are born with birth defects, just as Jesus’ disciples. They had narrowed down the potential explanations to two, of which both, according to Jesus, were wrong. If the man’s own sins were the reason he was born blind, then he would have sinned while still in his mother’s womb. And if his parents were the reason, then God was punishing a child for his parents’ sins, something He forbade Israel to do and something He said He does not do (Deut. 24:16; Ezek. 18:20).

God once said to Moses, “Who has made man’s mouth? Or who makes him dumb or deaf, or seeing or blind? Is it not I, the Lord?” (Ex. 4:11). Yet God did not explain to Moses why He made some deaf or blind. So we are still left wondering. I have wondered if God makes some deaf or blind to test the compassion of those of us who can hear and see. Jesus said, “When you give a reception, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind, and you will be blessed, since they do not have the means to repay you; for you will be repaid at the resurrection of the righteous” (Luke 14:13-14). For this reason, the ministry of Heaven’s Family has a special fund that exists just to serve very poor and handicapped believers in developing nations.

Although we don’t have all the answers, we can rejoice that Jesus healed this man who was born blind. It resulted in his salvation. We can also rejoice in the many others whom Jesus healed during His earthly ministry and throughout the last 2,000 years, and we can rejoice for His many promises regarding healing found in Scripture. The Bible says that Jesus bore everyone’s sicknesses and diseases (Is. 53:4-5; Matt. 8:17).

What an interesting contrast we observe between the former blind beggar and the spiritually blind Pharisees. The simple understanding of average people often trumps the educated reasonings of the spiritual elite. I love his short sermon to the Pharisees:

Well, here is an amazing thing, that you do not know where He is from, and yet He opened my eyes. We know that God does not hear sinners; but if anyone is God-fearing, and does His will, He hears him….If this man were not from God, He could do nothing.” (9:30-34).

It seems that the naked partner of the woman who was caught in the act of adultery “somehow” got away from the scribes and Pharisees. I wonder how? I also wonder what Jesus wrote with his finger in the dust before that crowd of hypocrites. Some speculate that it was the names of the Pharisees’ girlfriends or the women in their fantasies!

Speaking of the fantasies of Pharisees, they were certain that they had laid a trap for Jesus that would force Him to contradict the Mosaic Law, thus proving that He was not from God. Jesus, however, laid a trap within their trap, which exposed their own hypocrisy. And He left all of us with an unforgettable object lesson about guilty people who condemn others. Jesus once said that the sin of lust is equivalent to adultery within one’s heart, and so it is fairly safe to assume that a group of adulterers were condemning a woman for adultery.

Beyond those things, Jesus played the part of God perfectly in this incident (as you might expect). The mercy He showed to the adulterous woman is the same mercy that God shows to all sinners. He does not immediately condemn them for their sin—even though He would have every right to do so. Rather, He mercifully warns them to repent and gives them time to do it. Take note that if that adulterous woman did not heed Jesus’ admonition, He did condemn her when she ultimately stood before Him after her death. His Word promises that no adulterer will inherit God’s kingdom (1 Cor. 6:9-10). That is why He told her, “Go and sin no more.”

Incidentally, what was true in about AD 30 was also true from the time the Mosaic Law was given. Although God’s Law legislated the stoning of adulterers, no adulterers or adulterers-at-heart ever had the right to stone an adulterer. And is it possible that such a brutal means of capital punishment was mandated in the Mosaic Law to reveal God’s repulsion regarding the sin of adultery as well as His love for those whose spouses are unfaithful, and to motivate everyone—those caught and uncaught—to repent?

During the Feast of Tabernacles, which had just ended the day before, four great candelabrum were lit at dusk representing the pillar of fire that led Israel through the wilderness. It was with this backdrop that Jesus declared, “I am the Light of the world; he who follows Me will not walk in the darkness, but will have the Light of life” (8:12). How it must have grieved Him to observe those who were engrossed over some giant candelabrum while He, the Light of the world, stood in their midst. Notice once again His clear universal invitation to salvation.

John wrote that, as Jesus taught in the temple, “many came to believe in Him” (8:30). Jesus then said “to those Jews who had believed Him, ‘If you continue in My word, then you are truly disciples of Mine; and you will know the truth, and the truth will make you free'” (8:31-32). This indicates that, in Jesus’ mind, true believers are disciples, and there are not two separate classes of Christians consisting of believers and more-highly-committed believers called disciples, as is often taught today. If one is a true believer, one is a disciple of Christ. If one is not a disciple of Christ, one is not a true believer in Christ.

Notice also from this same passage that Jesus did not assume that everyone who professed to believe in Him actually did believe in Him. The test was their repentance. If they continued “in His word” they would be progressively set free from sin, and that would prove that they were truly His disciples. By this criteria, it is obvious that many people who profess to believe in Jesus are fooling themselves.

Finally, there is no doubt from today’s reading that Jesus believed He was God’s eternal and divine Son. He said, “Before Abraham was born, I am” (8:58). “I AM” was a name God told Moses to call Him (Ex. 3:14). The Jews recognized this and consequently tried to stone Jesus right then.

For a second time in John’s Gospel we read of Jesus making reference to the fact that His time, or hour (as in 2:4), had not yet come (7:6, 8). He obviously didn’t mean that His time hadn’t come to attend the Feast of Booths, because He ultimately did attend it. Rather, He was once again speaking of the hour of His atoning sacrifice. Jesus knew that the Jewish leaders in Jerusalem “were seeking to kill Him” (7:1), but it wasn’t time for Him to die, so it was prudent for Him to go to the feast secretly.

When we read the third reference in John’s Gospel to Jesus’ hour which “had not yet come” (7:30), it becomes even more clear that it was a reference to the time of His crucifixion. John wrote, “They were seeking therefore to seize Him; and no man laid his hand on Him, because His hour had not yet come” (7:30).

Each day during the Feast of Booths, the priest would gather water from the Pool of Siloam in Jerusalem and pour it out at the altar of the temple. It was with this ceremony as a backdrop that Jesus cried out, “If any man is thirsty, let him come to Me and drink. He who believes in Me, as the Scripture said, ‘From his innermost being shall flow rivers of living water'” (7:37-38). This was yet another obvious universal invitation to everyone who is spiritually thirsty.

John said that the water Jesus spoke of was representative of the Holy Spirit (7:39). It would seem safe to think that the “living water,” of which Jesus spoke to the woman at the well of Samaria (4:4-29), and which He said would become “a well of water springing up to eternal life” (4:14) within whomever He gave it, also represented the Holy Spirit.

Believing this is so, some thus deduce that these two “water scriptures” illustrate a comparison between being born of the Spirit and being filled with (or baptized in) the Spirit. When a person is born again, the Holy Spirit indwells him, becoming “a well of water springing up to eternal life” (4:14). But when a believer is baptized in the Spirit, the waters of the Holy Spirit do not just reside within him, but flow from him. He is “clothed with power from on high” (Luke 24:49) and empowered to be Christ’s witness.

Others think that the second “water scripture” is also a reference to being born again, as Jesus offered the “rivers of living water” to “anyone [who] is thirsty” and to anyone who believes in Him (7:37-38). Also, we know that the fruit of the Spirit flows from every person who is truly born again.

Regardless of which interpretation is correct, I am persuaded that every person who is born of the Spirit can also be baptized in the Holy Spirit simply by asking the Lord with faith. Based on Jesus’ promise in Mark 16:17 and the historical record in the book of Acts (Acts 2:4; 10:44-46; 19:2-6), the initial evidence of that baptism is speaking in other tongues. This is not something just for Pentecostal or charismatic Christians, but for all who believe in Jesus, and it has been experienced and enjoyed by millions. That being said, those believers who have not enjoyed the experience are not lesser Christians in any sense.

We gather from our reading today that Jesus was the center of controversy in Jerusalem. Bible Jesus is controversial, whereas American Jesus gets along so well with everyone. Just today I read an article in our local newspaper about a man who walked into a fitness club just a few miles from where I live, turned out the lights in a women’s aerobic class, and then indiscriminately started shooting two handguns. He killed three women and himself. He wanted to kill many more. His pastor was quoted as saying that he was sure the murderer was in heaven because he once professed faith in Christ, and the Bible teaches that once a person is saved, he is always saved. There’s American Jesus for you. He even gets along quite well with mass murderers.