The gospel of John is probably the only gospel that introduces Jesus holistically. In it, we get to see his humanity in a deeper way as John describes his many acts yet at the same time we see his deity portrayed throughout the book and established by John in the opening lines. John was certainly an excellent writer! As I was reading the book of John as well as the book of Acts this week, I was struck by Jesus’ personality and heart, his passion for God, and his love for the people – the unsaved and saved alike. The way he was giving himself out was remarkable, no wonder he is our example. The same followed with the apostles when Jesus left the earth, it is evident that the spirit of Jesus was in the apostles through their many acts. The word of God is truly enriching, it is like the psalmist says “the unfolding of your words gives light; it gives understanding to the simple.” (Psalm 119:130). In today’s post, I would like to share some of the highlights of my reading this week in order to encourage your hearts to press on because nothing we do for the Lord is in vain and we serve a Father that loves us, oh, so dearly.
The first highlight of this week was in the encounters Jesus had with people. In chapters 2 to the beginning of chapter 5 of the book of John, Jesus has had many encounters. Every one of these encounters always left a mark on the people he interacted with. Let’s start with his first encounter which is also where he performed his very first miracle. In chapter 2 of the book of John, we are introduced to a scene where Jesus is at a wedding he was invited too along with his mother and his disciples. During the feast, an unusual problem occurs: there is no more wine and we are brought into the first encounter which is between Mary and her son Jesus. I am calling this an encounter because Mary’s attitude seems to suggest she met with God in that moment, not her son. Mary brings the problem to her son, to which he responds “Dear woman, why do you involve me?” Likewise, Jesus’ response seems to suggest that he was not looking at Mary as a mother at that moment. For some odd reason, Mary took Jesus’ words and ran with them. She remained expectant and went ahead to the servants telling them to make sure to obey Jesus which they did and the miracle of changing water to wine happened. Because of that miracle, John adds that “Jesus revealed his glory, and his disciples put their faith in him”. Jesus was not there as a mere man that day, he showed that he was not just a man and Mary saw that. She knew to wait on and trust him just like she waited on God and trusted him when she had to endure scorn and shame and possibly much questioning when she was carrying Jesus as a virgin in her womb and so she reverted to that trust in this moment. It is hard to know for sure what happened there but I couldn’t help but see that Mary met God in Jesus for the first time at that wedding.
The second encounter is with Nicodemus a member of the Jewish council. Being a Pharisee and a member of a council, it is clear that Nicodemus was an influential man in his city. He came to see Jesus at night, possibly because he did not want his fellow Pharisees to see him hanging out with Jesus. I love that Jesus never rejected anyone. Nicodemus comes to Jesus and tells him about his personal assessment of Jesus. His assessment is quite accurate. He acknowledges that Jesus comes from God which is something his peers would not even recognized but Nicodemus did. However, Nicodemus is still confused and that is where Jesus in his kindness opens the door for Nicodemus to know him better and to understand the mystery of salvation. Jesus talks to Nicodemus about being born again. The concept is completely foreign to Nicodemus and he pokes further to understand what that means. As Jesus unpacks for him what it means to be born again, that is born of the Spirit, he tells the most famous verse we know about God’s love: “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.”(John 3:16). Nicodemus was introduced to the gospel, “the mystery that was kept hidden for ages but is now revealed to the saints” (Colossians 1:26). God himself offered Nicodemus with the offer of his life. What kindness Jesus showed him on that night! I am persuaded that Nicodemus’ life was never the same after that encounter!
The third encounter is with the Samaritan woman. This might be my favourite encounter of them all because Jesus sought that woman. He went to Samaria specifically for her. Despite the tension or hatred that existed between Jews and Samaritans, Jesus made sure he passed through Samaria on his way to Galilee. While in Samaria, he goes to a well and waits for the Samaritan woman to come. When she shows up, he starts striking a conversation with her, asking her for water. The woman is shocked that a Jew would speak to her let alone ask her for water but Jesus responds by saying “if you knew the gift of God and who it is that asks you for a drink, you would have asked him and he would have given you living water” (John 4:10). This is quite ironic, the person that is offering living water is asking for water himself! In the course of their conversation, Jesus discloses his identity to the woman and reveals that he is the Christ she has been waiting for. Up until now, Jesus had not disclosed his identity and he revealed it first to a gentile woman! Jesus’s gentleness, his love for the lost and his passion to carry on the work of the Father is truly remarkable in this encounter. This encounter changed the woman so much that she became an evangelist, she told her town about Jesus and people came to meet Jesus and ended up believing in him as the Christ, no longer because of the woman’s testimony but because they had heard for themselves and testified that Jesus was the saviour of the world (John 4:42). There is so much that can be said about each of these encounters but something that is common is that Jesus is good, Jesus is love, Jesus cares for us, Jesus is near the broken-hearted, Jesus sees and he wants to see God’s kingdom come to pass.
The second highlight of my readings this week was in the book of Acts, specifically the tenth chapter where we are introduced to a roman centurion named Cornelius. There are two things that caught my attention in this story: first, it was the Spirit’s involvement in every detail of Cornelius’ conversion and 2) the attitude of Cornelius. The story starts with Cornelius, who is described as a God fearing man, who gave generously to those in need and prayed regularly. As he was praying about three in the afternoon which was a common prayer time for the Jews, he was visited by an angel. The angel told him that his prayers and gifts to the poor came up as a memorial offering before God and added that he should send some men to fetch Peter (Acts 10:4-6). The directions given by the angel as to how to find Peter are as precise as those of a GPS, Cornelius’ men could not have missed Peter! As soon as the angel leaves, Cornelius sends his men to go fetch Peter and while they are on the journey, we see a Cornelius expectant. He is ready to hear whatever it is that Peter will tell him and to show how much Cornelius knew this was beneficial, he called his entire household and friends to also come hear what Peter would have to say. This is the attitude the Lord expects from us when we come to him. We must be expectant, we must come in faith, believing that He has something good for us. While this happened, Peter too had an encounter, he went into a trance because he was hungry. During this trance, Peter had a vision where he saw a large sheet of ‘unclean’ animals paraded before him and a voice from heaven commanding him to “kill and eat” (Acts 10:13). I find it interesting that Peter, being hungry had a vision about food yet was very self-controlled in the vision to not disobey the commands of God as he knew. The experience he had in the vision including the order by God to kill and eat happened three times and then it went. As his vision went off, Peter was quite intrigued and still thinking about it but he was interrupted by the Holy Spirit who told him that three men were looking for him. If it wasn’t for the Holy Spirit’s involvement, Peter would have never gone with Cornelius’ men because Jews did not interact with Gentiles like that. But, in obedience Peter not only offered hospitality to Cornelius’ men but also went with them to Cornelius’ house. Cornelius’ expectation paid off because salvation became his share. Because of Cornelius’ faith, the gospel entered the Gentiles home and not just one home but the homes of all that were present. To add the cherry on the top, the Holy Spirit came upon Cornelius and all that were in his home to seal the fact that they too had become chosen ones. What I love about Cornelius’ story is that it shows us that when we draw near to God he draws near to us indeed irrespective of our backgrounds. When we seek God, He makes Himself available to us. Cornelius sought God by obeying his commands and living a life pleasing to God. As he did those right thing, he kept pressing in prayer and being expectant and when the appointed time came, God met him.
This is what we too should do in our own walks with the Lord. We should not grow weary of seeking Him, learning from Him, praying to Him, whether we feel like He hears us or not; whether we feel close to Him or not, we should not stop for just at the right time, salvation for whatever we seek will come. I hope you have been encouraged and are able to see how sweet the word of God is and how much life it brings to its reader. I pray it encourages you to continue to seek Him. Amen.
A Word Aptly Spoken 