John has been awesome!
The next two Sundays at Epic Life we will be finishing up our seven month journey through the Gospel of John. It has been a fantastic ride as we have followed Jesus and his Twelve as they discovered who the Messiah was. We sat on the shore of the Jordan as John the Baptist introduce Jesus and sent his disciples to follow this new Rabbi. We attended a wedding feast and watched the servants of the master of the banquet nervously dip water out of large jars and pour pure the best wine into the master’s cup. We sat with Nicodemus and a Samaritan woman as Jesus taught about eternal life with thoughts on being “born again” and drinking “living water.” We followed Jesus to the Pool of Bethesda where he healed a man who was paralyzed for 38 years and then walked up a hill followed by thousands of men, women and children where Jesus took a small lunch from a peasant boy and distributed it to the entire mass of people, allowing them to be filled.
Throughout these instances Jesus kept teaching about how the old is changing to the new and death is turning to life. He taught about how he himself, as Messiah, is the Bread of Life; the Living Water; the Light of the World, but many questioned his identity and didn’t believe and stopped following him and started to look for ways keep him silent.
We had front row seats as a woman who was caught in adultery entered into an arena where she was about to be stoned, but as Jesus spoke, the accusers dropped their stones and walked away. Jesus offered forgiveness, not condemnation, teaching about how he would lead as the Good Shepherd caring for his sheep because he knows them by name. Specifically this teaching came after we got to see Jesus heal a blind man by spitting in the dirt and putting the mud on his eyes and sending him to the Pool of Siloam to wash, which he returned seeing. From here we followed him to his friend’s house in Bethany where he raised Lazarus from the dead and Mary anointed him with an expensive perfume, preparing him for his death just a week away.
That week we watched him enter Jerusalem as a hero King, share the Passover meal with his disciples and prayed earnestly in the Garden as a mob approached to arrest him. Sadly, as we watched, his disciples fled and denied him, he was beaten and mocked and tortured. We were on the road watching him carry his cross to Golgotha and be crucified between two thieves. We stood and watched with horror at the brutality of the entire environment.
Jesus took our burdens on his shoulders, taking the penalty of sin for us. He willingly gave up his life as we heard his last words spoken through his shallow painful breathing. We followed Joseph and Nicodemus to the grave and buried him.
Then we waited…Saturday was long…Saturday was silent…But Easter is coming…
We were there with Mary to see the stone that was rolled away and the angels and got to see Jesus as he appeared to his disciples. He is alive! He fulfilled all of his teachings in John and showed the ultimate death to life transformation.
Two more weeks and we will finish the Gospel of John. We will get to go fishing with the disciples and eat breakfast by the sea with Jesus as he teaches one last time and restores Peter, helping Peter make the shift from what was to what is.
John has been awesome!