John 2

Transcript

Bible studies always always Pleasant and you know you you you sit down and you start reading and you start asking questions and every time you learn more and so

um we have just started here in Baltimore a study of the Gospel of John and so I my turn was to do John 2 last week and I thought you know what I'll I'll do that in Stoughton as well um because I I just I enjoyed it so much so I want to look at John too and maybe I could get someone to read the first 12 verses for us or I could do that if that would be best or

um that's one of the other folks would like to do that

any takers

I can do it yeah go ahead go ahead

tell me the chapter again John chapter two I've got the uh the uh New King James Version up on the screen if if anybody if you can see that same gospel the gospel yes Gospel of John chapter 2. and the third day there was a marriage in Canaan of Galilee and the mother of Jesus was there and both Jesus was called and his disciples to the marriage and when they wanted wine the mother of Jesus saith unto him they have no wine Jesus saith unto her a woman what have I to do with thee my now or has not yet come his mother saith unto the servants whatsoever he saith unto you do it and there were set there six water parts of stone after the manner of the purifying of the Jews containing two or three Firkins a piece Jesus said unto them fill the water pots with water and they filled them up to the brim and he said unto them draw out now and be around to the governor of the feast and they bear it when the ruler of the feast had tasted the water that was made wine and knew not once it was but the servants which drew the water knew the governor of the feast called the bridegroom and said unto him every man at the beginning set forth good wine and when men have well drunk then that which is worse but thou has kept the good wine until now this beginning of Miracles that Jesus and Canaan of Galilee and manifested forth his glory and his disciples believed on him and this after this he went out to Capernaum he and his mother and his brother and his disciples and they continued there not many days

okay so we'll look at a passage that's probably familiar to most of us a little bit later on in the class at the end of John chapter 20 where John says that the things that he's selected to make his gospel up are things that are signs that are chosen so that we may believe that Jesus is the Christ the son of the Living God and so this

first 12 verses of John Chapter 2 has been chosen

as the first of his signs it's a wedding at Cana first thing you notice there is in in in verse one you notice it says that on the third day

there was a wedding in the Cana of Galilee you might you might ask yourself why does it say the third day I mean what's up what's the point of that

well as you go through the Gospel of John it's remarkable in that it ties events together in time

um there's phrases like two days later or the following day and this goes right through the gospel and right to the end in fact it's uh the last time Jesus appears to the disciples it's after eight days so there's there's these day connections and this is the third day now if we go back into chapter one

um let's see if I can do that on the screen here I'll go back to chapter one

um

let's see

verse 19 to 28 is the testimony of John the Baptist when he says that he is the voice of one crying in the wilderness he's the the priests and the Levites have been questioning his authority he begins his testimony of Jesus worse then so that's the first day the next day is in verse 29. the next day John saw Jesus coming to him and he said Behold the Lamb of God takes away the sin of the world

then you come down to verse 35 and it says again the next day John stood with two of his disciples and I think we can figure out that it's uh Andrew well it says it's Andrew and presumably John himself John the the writer of the Gospel and we read about how that Andrew finds his brother Simon Peter and tells him that they found the Messiah then you get to verse 43 and it says the following day

Jesus wanted to go to Galilee and he found Philip and he also found Nathaniel so we get the calling of the first five of of the of the 12 here so these things happen over a series of if you count them up four days so then when we get to chapter 2 it says on the third day

it would seem to be three days after all these things have happened which means that we have coming up through chapter two and the wedding of at Cana we have the first week of Jesus work

this is interesting to me because the gospel ends with the last uh 10 chapters actually being the last week of Jesus life so it's this wedding Feast at Cana of Galilee is the culmination of the first week where Jesus has been revealed by the by John the Baptist and has met

his uh disciple the five of his disciples

now

if you can see on my screen here

right where the arrow is here is where John the Baptist was

prophesying uh baptizing at this time in Bethany it's just south of the Sea of Galilee and on the east side of the Jordan

and in chapter one we read that Jesus went up to his home in Capernaum

accompanied by the disciples and then he goes up into the Hill Country of Cana

right near his hometown of Nazareth

um so you might see that down here in verse 12 it says after this he went down to Capernaum because literally they were up in the mountains in Cana for this wedding event

so there was a wedding in Cana

near his hometown of Nazareth

and we're told that the mother of Jesus was there in verse one Mary was there and Jesus is invited and his disciples it reads almost as though the disciples were invited to accompany Jesus and the importance of this detail in verse 2 that his disciples that were there is given in verse 11. to 12 because it says when Jesus did this beginning of signs

and manifested of his glory his disciples believed in him

that's interesting to notice in verse 12 it says they went down from there to Capernaum he his mother his brothers and his disciples so apparently Not only was Mary at this wedding but his brothers as well sounds like quite a number of people were at the wedding and his his brothers and his mother were there as well his disciples it says in verse 11 believed in him

in treating that it makes no mention of his brothers believing in him and in fact when we get to John Chapter 7 it says that even his brothers did not believe in him

so strange that they didn't believe in him given this Mighty sign and he works

so verse 3. at this wedding Feast the wine gave out

probably a a real you know real throw path for a a wedding feast but the thing it brings to mind to me is there must have been a huge number of guests there

let's try to get an idea how much wine Jesus provided now you notice that the the water pots the six water pots of stone there uh Brother Rich read to us from the King James which says that they were two or three Firkins The Good Old King James

um and I don't know what a Firkin is and apparently nobody's really entirely sure somewhere between 9 and 11 gallons uh the new King James revised Standard Version all the modern versions just politely say that there were 20 or 30 gallons

in total with these two or three Firkins so Firkin was 10 gallons so if there were six of these

what do you call them basins or jugs or whatever they were six times 25 that's 150 gallons now I've got here

this is in my office right now this is a very old

uh bottle of wine you can see it's all dusty uh the important thing about this bottle of wine is the Vintage if you can make it out it's 1984 the same vintage as my marriage uh

and I've been told that this wine might not be any good anymore it's just got too old uh that apparently that can happen but I gotta say that our marriage is is still of a very good vintage it gets better and better and better

now

this bottle of wine is typical size and it's about a fifth of a gallon

so if there were 6 25 let's say 20 or 30 gallons to these to these 10 freaking things

150 gallons by my calculations it looks like they're at about 750 bottles of wine that Jesus produced

uh for this feast and this was after they had already run out

so it's this was a very large assembly of people

um so Mary says verse 3 they have no wine

now

it it strikes me clear that that Mary's not just relating facts

but she is expecting Jesus to do something

she does kind of what a lot of moms do she points out the problem and suggests that without saying so that maybe something needs to be fixed my mom who's resting in Hope of the Resurrection someday you all can tell her that I said this and I hope she'll forgive me at that point but this way moms are sometimes they say they have no why there's a problem and and

um it's evident that she expects Jesus to do something

um it's evident not only from Jesus response in verse 4. but also from Mary's words to the servants in verse 5 she expects Jesus is going to do something she says whatever he says to you to do do it

now verse 4 is a kind of a challenging verse it's a little bit Troublesome there's there's in fact there's three parts of it that probably make us a bit uneasy

the the first thing is Jesus said to her woman that sounds a bit abrupt a bit maybe even almost rude almost and then to say what have I to do with thee

that seems a bit harsh

and then to say my now has not yet come what's what's that about what you know it's a it's a this is the the difficult this is the challenging verse of this episode

so let me offer some explanations

first of all the word translated woman

in verse four the Greek could be rendered lady

that would help some

um it was pointed out to me by a millennial daughter of mine that lady wouldn't be much better nowadays but to me it's at least a bit more respectful maybe sort of like second John's introduction that it was written to the elect lady that's a different word but if we want to have peace in our minds about this term woman

a really relevant passage that maybe want to make note of in the margin of your Bible if you don't if it doesn't come right to mind is in John Chapter 19 Verse 26 where we won't look at it because I'm sure the passage is familiar too it's when Jesus is on the cross

and and

John's there with uh Mary and Jesus says woman

Behold thy son

and that's most undoubtedly a tender moment

so there's nothing

necessarily disrespectful as we might think at first glance

there is a bit of a distance in what Jesus says he doesn't say mom or mother but he's not being disrespectful and addressing her as woman

interesting that the Gospel of John alone among the four gospels never mentioned Mary by name only as the mother of Jesus

now the next the next difficulty is this thing what have I had to do with it in the King James that seems a bit harsh

a lot of the modern versions tone it down a bit and but I suspect they might be cheating a bit

um the new King James says what does your concern have to do with me

the ESV says what does this have to do with me

the net says why are you saying this to me

The New American Standard Bible which is is noted generally for being fairly literally translated ignition it says what business do you have with me woman and against again we hear it overturns of harshness

and even when it is toned down it does seem a bit of a rebuke

one thing to bear in mind is that when Jesus answers his questioners his answers often go quite beyond the simple question that's put to him there's a lot of examples of this but a particularly good one is in John chapter six I'll turn it up here so if you want to look on on the screen you'll be able to see it it's in John chapter 6 verse 25 and 26. and and the occasion is when after the feeding the five thousand Jesus crosses the stormy Lake

and is finally found by the crowd that's seeking him and they say to him Rabbi when did you come here in verse 26 Jesus answered them and said most assuredly I say to you you seek me not because you saw the signs but because you ate the loaves and were filled

they'd asked one question but Jesus sort of answered the question behind behind the question and and really this is something that quite often happens particularly in the Gospel of John that Jesus answers go quite beyond the simple question that's put to him so I'm gonna I'm gonna put this particular difficulty aside for the moment uh and come back to it

one thing I'd say though is that when Jesus says my hour is not yet come

it might be that Jesus is simply saying he's not going to be prodded into miracles

you know

just very shortly before this

was the Temptation in the wilderness it was still fresh in his mind

that he had been tempted to use the new power that he had been given by God inappropriately

you know he'd been tempted to feed himself he'd been tempted to make a big public display throwing himself off the the peak of the the temple

and he had to have the

restraint not to do that but I think there's more to it than just that when Jesus says my hour has not yet come

and I got more to say on this but well I'll hold off for now accept a note that this interaction is very similar to something that happens in chapter seven in the Feast of Tabernacles I've put that up on the screen John 7 verse 2 where the says the Jews faced to the Tabernacle was a hand and his brother said to him depart from here go into Judea that your disciples Also may see the works that you're doing for no one does anything in secret why he himself seeks to be known Heavenly if you do these things show yourself to the world for even his brothers did not believe in him

so they were challenging him telling him to go up to the feast and look at this verse 6 Jesus said to them my time has not yet come

very similar to what he says to Mary and then as it turns out in verse 10 when his brothers had gone up he also went up to the feast not openly but as it were in secret so there's a there's a real similarity to that to to to what we see here in chapter two

foreign

back to John Chapter 2 verses 5 to 8. tell us of the miracle there's six water pots of stone used

for the purification rights of the Jews 20 or 30 gallons a piece quite large Jesus says fill them up they fill them to the brim he has them draw some out

they carry it to the master of the feast the Master of Ceremonies they do it and the master story says man you've saved the best to last yeah this isn't the way we do things here typically you know when people their first sips of the line is where they're they're looking for the for the good quality later on they don't care so much but you've kept the good wine until now

what's the point of this episode

because John is not merely recounting history just like Jesus answers always seem to answer more than the immediate question

think of how the elements of this occasion foreshadow more exalted things

I don't even need to give you I mean you all can

we think of the marriage supper of the Lamb we think of the bride of Christ

Etc

there's water pots there that are after the men are the purifying of the Jews

Jesus Takes that and adopts it to a new purpose it's better

there's wine involved

and think of what wine signifies for us

and not only is it wine but it's better wide

the thing that Jesus offers is better

you know the the letter to the Hebrews which was written to Jewish believers who were sort of backsliding back into Jewish

ways into the traditions of the elders the word better is there over and over and over again I like to keep an eye out for words that are repeated in in in a book because you know that's what's on the writer's mind 13 times in the Epistle of the Hebrews comparing the old Covenant with the new this is better

and the better wine is what's been served at the end here

by the way I'd always been curious about in Luke when

Jesus says no man having drunk old wine straightway desireth new free saith the old is better

and I'd never been able to make sense of that because you know generally speaking old wine is better

but what Jesus is talking about is people's expectations

and in this case

the new wine

was the better

it's gratifying to see these these connections what Jesus had to offer was new and better

so thinking of all these things where there is a foreshadowing of more exalted themes

Jesus at a wedding

the purification of the Jews superseded by the purification of Jesus the new wine that's better

maybe we get an understanding of his challenging response to Mary and his assertion that his time was not yet come

there was a time going to come Jesus

well he would have the great marriage supper of the Lamb and he would provide the new wine

um that time wasn't yet and it wasn't yet the time for Jesus to make manifest publicly

just uh in passing another thing there's a simple truth in this episode and perhaps it's not John's primary intent but still worth contemplating that Jesus blessed and endorsed the happy occasion of a wedding day it's food and its drink

okay verse 11. this beginning of signs did

is in Canada and manifested his glory and his disciples believed in him

foreign

it's generally assumed that this was Jesus first public miracle

but

that seems inconsistent with Mary's request

Mary seemed to know that Jesus was going to do something miraculous she had no reason for thinking that if she didn't know that he could perform a miracle and Jesus by his exchange with her had given her no indication that he was going to perform a miracle on this occasion

it says this beginning of signs it doesn't say this beginning of Miracles

there's a difference between Miracles which means you know an act of power

and signs like

something that signals you know the word signal has signed in it something such as when Jesus signified by what Death Peter would glorify God

in fact both words signs and miracles are used together in Acts 2 verse 22 when Peter says men of Israel hear these words Jesus of Nazareth a man attested by God to you by Miracles wonders and signs which God did through him

this sign was a lot more than a random Miracle it's setting Freights it with significance and he manifested his glory

um the word manifested is a real uh John word

John has about 20 percent of the no 40 percent of the uses of this word in his gospel and in his first epistle he says in chapter 17 verse 6 in the prayer of Jesus he says Jesus says I have manifested thy name

and here Jesus manifested his glory

in chapter one we've read we read of the word that became flesh and brought among us and we beheld his glory the glory as of the only begotten of the father full of grace and truth

in fact glory is another really important word in the Gospel of John

yeah

it's preponderantly if you're I'm I'm a retired statistician I I've been veterans that statistics guy and I can't help but count things up the word Glory

43 times in the gospels 19 of them almost half of them are in John we beheld his glory in chapter one

to chapter 17 where he says I desire that Those whom you've given me may be with me where I am that they may behold my glory

so we've seen in this wedding of

Cana

a prefiguring of the work of Jesus

we see his great power

we see his glory

that was manifested and his disciples believed

so from here we go to another episode

where it's an episode that's included because of the sign it contains in the cleansing of the temple in verses 13 to 22. could I have a volunteer to read uh

John 2 verses 13 to 22. yeah I'm happy to do that bill I wonder any um oh yeah would you be up to any questions or comments

yeah absolutely okay

um you know one of the things that I that I like to think of when it comes to the miracle of the changing of the water into the wine

and I don't know if you've heard this before but uh I kind of like the idea that Jesus didn't turn all of the water and you know in each of those six huge water pots into wine

but that it was as each Ladle full was lifted out of the big cistern it was at that moment that the servants saw the miracle taking place before their eyes and so when you come down to what was it verse 11 it says you know that they believed in him you know I I think that that gave them the evidence to know that there was something very special about this man

um it's conjecture yeah it's you know there's there's really nothing that would uh indicate in the text that that's what happened but

um at least that's how that that's sort of the way that I like to to see it um I think it's probably unlikely from what I've read that there would be a wedding that would be so large in those days that you know they would need you know 70 I don't know how many gallons 150 bottles yeah how many 750 yeah that's that's what yeah you know so it's like you know anyway I I think that those are some of the things that lead me to think that maybe it was this like really cool event where you know each servant as they you know you know fill up the Goblet to be passed to the table they they see this miraculous event for what it's worth yeah that's interesting but yeah well I think I think you mentioned um you know when I think of this and he says you know what does this have to do with me and I and I do think that his mind is at the marriage supper right like the you know the the the the bride has prepared herself he says in Revelation has prepared himself through belief right and I think you know that's where Christ's mind is always at right that marriage stuff I always look into that future

um so yeah thanks

foreign

anybody else have any comments or questions

I noticed Brother David Levin's posted something he says there's no instance where Jesus answers a question directly which is interesting he he I I agree with that I Think Jesus I mean I don't know I know it's about I think Dave's word for it but uh just seems like there he's always on a somewhat higher plane somewhat loftier plane than uh and and certainly that's how we have to understand this episode yeah

John John 11 actually although it's not really a question it's the one of the rare times where he speaks directly and he goes Lazarus is dead oh yeah it's true yeah yeah

yeah

okay what would you like red uh verses 13 to 22 and then there's after that we'll hold the last three verses just for the very end there's a little section there that I there's a just one more comment I want to make about that but first about verses 13 to 22. okay I I'll read unless somebody else would like to

okay so uh you're reading the new King James bill so I'll read that uh now the Passover the Jews then Jesus went up to Jerusalem and he found in the temple those who sold oxen and sheep and doves and money changers doing business

when he had made a whip of cords he drove them all out of the temple with the sheep and The Oxen and poured out the Changers money and overturned the tables and he said to those who sold doves take these away do not make my father's house a house of merchandise

then his disciples remembered that it was written Zeal for your house has eaten me up so the Jews answered and said to him what sign do you show us since you do these things Jesus answered and said to them destroy this Temple and in three days I will raise it up then the Jews said it has taken 46 years to build this Temple and you'll raise it in three days but he was speaking of the Temple of his body therefore when he had risen from the dead his disciples remembered

that he had said this to them that he had said this to them and they believed the scriptures and the word which Jesus had said

because first thing I I

bring to your attention is here in verse 13. that's the Passover of the Jews on chapter 5 verse 1 when it's talking about the Feast of Tabernacles it says it was a feast of the Jews

um this is kind of phrase occurs over and over again being the inveterate statistician

um the Jews are mentioned five times in Matthew six times in mark five times in Luke

five six and five that makes sixteen and Seventy Times

in the Gospel of John so 70 of the 86 gospel reference Jews are in John so there's a strong suggestion I think in that that this gospel is being written two Gentiles

it's also important I think to note that Jews in John frequently means the religious Authority rather than the common folks

now comparing the gospels there's a sort of a perennial question whether Jesus cleansed the temple once or twice

the Gospel of John mentions what would appear to be three distinct passovers

here in chapter 6 feeding the five thousand in Chapter 11 uh the plot to kill Jesus after he raised Lazarus and by that Reckoning this cleansing happened early in his ministry while Matthew Mark and Luke all record a cleansing in the last week of his ministry just after the triumphal entry

there are some differences in the accounts

John's is the only one that mentions him making a whip of cords and in fact he used that to drive out the oxen and sheep

there were also doves in the synoptic gospels only the doves are mentioned

so there's a bit of a difference there

Jesus refers to what they're doing as making the temple into a house of merchandise

in John

whereas in the synoptic Gospels he calls it a den of Thieves you've made it a den of Thieves

perhaps the biggest difference between the event in the Gospel of John and in the synoptic Gospels is that here the Jews questioned The Authority by which he does these things

whereas in the synoptic gospels they simply plot to kill him

in both cases the cleansing was just before the Passover

how appropriate it was when we look at things on a you know on a spiritual level and we think of more exalted things how appropriate was that the temple should be cleansed at the Passover this was the time when the Jewish houses were swept clean removing all the leaven

so there was in the

Court of the Gentiles a currency exchange

I'll read a little quote from entersheim's Life and Times of Jesus the Messiah

he says these belonged to the high Priestly family of ananias

and where such profitable trade was driven by those who in their cupidity and covetousness were were the successors of the sons of Eli love that line

in the court of the Gentiles or its porches set the official money changers who for a fixed discount changed all foreign coins into those of the sanctuary the money changers opened their stalls in every country town on the 15th of Adar just a month before the feast

they were no doubt regularly accredited and duly authorized for all Jews and proselytes women slaves and minors accepted had to pay the annual Temple tribute of half a shekel according to the sacred standard

and the sacred standard that they had was a particular

um actually Gentile koi there wasn't a Jewish coinage at the time but there was a particular Tetra drachma that was used for the half shekel Temple tax and

there's varying explanations for why it was used one being that it didn't have an image of the emperor

um but did have an image of the guide knockheart

um best explanation probably was that it was reliable for its silver content

during the uh Revolt of 80 70 it was replaced with a gdn coin

now the interesting thing is Jesus does these things he goes in there and you can just imagine what it must have been like you know he's got the whip of chords and he's driving the animals out and flipping tables over in the money's pouring around the floor

and

implicit to the whole story is it the money changers and vendors didn't resist

why didn't they I mean humanly speaking you know you get three or four people they could probably subdue anybody right

but they didn't

there's two reasons I think in my mind two reasons occur to me anyway first of all they knew they were in the wrong

and secondly there is something about Jesus on so many occasions where he had this commanding presence

you remember when they came to arrest him in the garden him Seiki Jesus I'm hate they fall back

another time when the Pharisees sent people to arrest Jesus

and they've they've come back the officers and come back and they you know they're empty-handed they don't have Jesus with them they said when we send you their Egypt resting and all they can answer is

never man spoke

like this man

I think of Luke chapter 4 when in his hometown of Nazareth they were going to him over the hill

and he passed through

the the

there was something about Jesus there was no resistance made

instead all that happens in verses 18 and 19 is the Jews and I think this is referring specifically to the religious Authority

answered and said to him what sign

do you show us since you do these things

and the answer that Jesus gives is actually quite similar to other occasions when Jesus was asked for a sign

recall that in Matthew chapter 12 the scribes and Pharisees said Master we would see a sign from thee same word but he answered and said unto them an evil and adulterous generation seeketh after a sign and there shall no sign be given to it but the sign of the Prophet Jonas for as Jonas was three days and three nights in the whale's belly so shall the son of man be three days and three nights in the heart of the Earth

that was the sign that they were given they were given the sign the resurrection that was enough to convince the early Believers but it wasn't enough to consider to to convince Jesus opponents

in fact in Luke 16 the parable of the rich men and Lazarus ends with Jesus saying if they don't hear Moses in the prophets neither will they be persuaded their one rise from the dead

so Jesus gave them the sign destroy this Temple and in three days I will raise it up

really interesting to notice

that this saying of Jesus in verse 19 destroy this temple in three days I'll raise it up

is quoted in Matthew and Mark though the original episode is not recorded in either Matthew or Mark

um

that's interesting to think about isn't it it was used by the folks who were bringing false accusation against Jesus in his trial it was used by the slanderers who walked by the foot of the cross

in Matthew and Mark but there's no actual record of the event it's only that's only here in John just an interesting uh

thing to meditate on uh and also sort of the consistency and Harmony of the Gospels

okay verse 20. here's a trick question for y'all

how long did it take to build the temple

the answer is not 46 years

actually the main building only took 10 years but the ornamentation of the temple rent went on right up to 65 A.D another 37 years after this

ornamentation is that what you said yeah okay yeah so the temple wasn't actually finished they say it's taken 46 what they mean is it's been it's been being built for 46 years but it wasn't actually done quite yet

yeah got it

of course he was speaking in the temple of his body this was the sign that he would give him this was the sign of his authority and his disciples remembered the Zeal for your house has eaten yet this is the son of God

and the same passage in the same Psalm Psalm 69 says you know the reproaches of those that were approached you fell upon me this is our lord Jesus the son of God and

his feeling

uh

his indignation

yeah the distortion

that was going on

and so verse 22 when he had risen from his dead his disciples remembered that he said this to them and they believed the scripture this is the second time now in this chapter where it says that his his disciples believed in fact the verb pissed Duo to believe the

you probably all know this but believe and belief and faith

are pretty much the same thing in New Testament Greek pistus is the word for Faith or belief and this verb to believe it's just the verb forming the same thing and this is very much a John theme

um

going through the gospels again believing

Matthew 11 mark 15. Luke 9 John 100. and so this

crucial passage for understanding the Gospel of John John chapter 20. I'll turn it up here

the end of the chapter

says truly Jesus did many other signs this is the word that we've been considering the signs and the presence of his disciple which are not written in this book but these are written that you may believe

that Jesus is the Christ the son of God and that believing

you may have life in his name

so just as we've seen the wedding at Cana as a highly symbolic event a sign of things to come so we should see the cleansing of the Temple

it was about the father's house

whose house we are

and secondly it gave the opportunity for Jesus to speak of the sign of the prophet Jonah a restoration of the Temple of Jesus body

so we have two Mighty signs here in John Chapter two The Wedding again Cana and the cleansing of the Temple

there's three more verses that we haven't covered yet in the chapter

um I want to spend a couple minutes of them at the end but before I do that does anybody have any comments they want to make on the cleansing of the Temple

Phil it's um it seems like you're hinting at uh a number of the parallels like did you see it that way that like these two events

uh have

I think like John's almost like

highlighting things to kind of show similarities like the sign mentioned

um and then the Jews asking for a sign the Jewish purification rights and then the Jewish feast of Tavern I mean he uses language to try to highlight um some similarities in the and the fact that Jesus then takes in both of them as you say things to another level are there you think there's any other

um parallels that he's trying to kind of highlight and putting these two stories one right after another like this

well the belief the belief thing that's that's the big one I mean yeah they both end with the disciples belief yeah

yeah I think that's I don't know it is interesting though that there's there's a lot of words that are repeated you know like belief signs Glory these are really very common in in the gospel

yeah yeah

I mean I guess in a way they're parallel in a way and that they're complementary and that you know that's the point to the body and the blood of Jesus too like you know well yeah

well let's let's just have a look at these last three verses um there's something here I've I've never noticed before

in fact

I I've never seen any comments on it maybe I just haven't read enough um and in fact every English translation I've looked at and even the Spanish translations that I have they translate the same Greek word differently

in verses 23 and 24. now I'm not going to you right away what it is

um I'll tell you the only difference between the two is they're both verbs the one of them is in the a past tense that is a completed event and the other is named perfect which means something that's passed that was going on continually but apart from that the two words are exactly the same and so verses 23 and 24 are very much connected

okay the word in question is belief believe

in verse 23 and in verse 24 it's committing himself

they're both forms of the word pistus faith to have faith in to trust or commit yourself

so what do we have when he was in Jerusalem at the Passover during the feast many believed in his name when they saw the signs which he did

many put their trust in him

but Jesus could not put his trust in them

because he knew all men and had no need that anyone should testify of man for he knew what was in this man

what's up

I find this striking because it highlights a sort of loneliness that Jesus must have had

his relationships were never truly reciprocal

there was perhaps the apostle that Jesus loved

and perhaps others that could somehow Merit his trust more but this was not so as a general thing

and the isolation that resulted was crucial for the success of his mission

elsewhere Jesus says the foxes have holes and the birds of the air have nests but the son of man hath not where to lay his head

Jesus also had the terrible loneliness

of not having a true confident

not having anyone that he could truly commit himself to none that he could really put his faith in

why was this

well there's two reasons given in verses 24 and 25. it says he knew all men

and says he knew what was in men

the second of these things is the sort of thing we know from scripture now Jesus knew his Jeremiah 17 verse 9 that the heart is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked

he knew that about human nature

the first of these that he knew all men is I believe the sort of penetrating wisdom given by the spirit of God by which he could say to Nathanael behold an Israelite indeed in him there's no guile

similarly Jesus was able to give Peter his new name

on their very first acquaintance the Samaritan woman at the well expressed it by saying come see a man who told me all things and I could that ever I did

and elsewhere in the Gospel of John we see this in Jesus he knew from the beginning who they were that did not believe and who would betray him this is repeated two on two occasions

it's like I very struck by these verses here verses 23 to 25 as

giving us an insight

into what it must have been like for Jesus during these days of his ministry he put his trust in God

and and he was sustained By Angels but among his fellows

he couldn't put his trust in men it's kind of a sad and lonely thing that but it but it it also shows us something about the dedication of our Lord and that his his life really was

all together

to to accomplish the goal that he'd set up set out that God had set out for him