Recap

So far in John, we've read the prologue and started Jesus' public ministry. John uniquely emphasises Jesus' divinity, presenting him as 'the Word,' who existed before creation and became flesh. He is the light of Genesis and the fulfilment of the tabernacle and Passover lamb. John the Baptist prepared the way, but unlike other gospels, there's no account of Jesus' baptism or temptation. Jesus is shown as God on earth, beyond the need for baptism or the threat of temptation. His first disciples immediately recognised him as the Messiah.

Then we saw Jesus engage with four key Jewish institutions. First, at a wedding in Cana, he performed his first miraculous sign, turning water into wine, symbolising the abundance of the kingdom of God and the new covenant he was initiating. Next, in Jerusalem, Jesus confronted the temple's corruption by clearing out the traders. When questioned about his authority, he spoke of his death and resurrection as the true temple, though the leaders failed to understand.

The third encounter was with Nicodemus, a Rabbi. Jesus told him that people need more than teaching; they need to be born again, receiving new life through him. Finally, at a sacred well, Jesus met a Samaritan woman. He revealed himself as the living water, and that all peoples would be able to worship him.

Then came Jesus’ second miraculous sign. He healed the son of an official, pointing to the fact that Jesus’ kingdom being one of health and life. 

This led to the section of Jesus' ministry where he interacts with four Jewish holy days and festivals. First, on the Sabbath, Jesus healed a lame man, his third miraculous sign, angering religious leaders because the man carried his mat. Jesus reminded them the Sabbath is dedicated to his Father, and he works as his Father does.

At Passover, Jesus performed his fourth and fifth signs, feeding 5,000 and walking on water, and declared himself the bread of life. He presented himself as the true Passover lamb, whose body gives life and whose blood saves from death, leading his people to the new promised land.

Then, around the Feast of Tabernacles, the feast to remember the Israelites' time in the wilderness, Jesus visited Jerusalem and began teaching. This sparked off more conflict with a heated back and forth between Jesus and the religious leaders. This conflict led to more people either believing in him or rejecting him. Jesus describes himself as the one that leads them out of slavery and lights their way. This mirrored how God brought the Israelites out of slavery and led them as a pillar of fire.

John 9-10

As Jesus is walking along, he sees a blind man. The disciples ask him who had sinned to make this man blind. The belief at the time was that bad things such as blindness were always as a result of sin. As this man had been blind from birth, was it his parents who had sinned or was he made blind because of something he would do?

But Jesus points out that this isn’t a result of sin. It’s an opportunity for God’s glory to be shown. He spits on the ground to turn the dust into mud, puts that mud in the blind man’s eyes and then sends him off to a pool to wash his eyes. As soon as the man had washed off the dirt, he could see. We see from John 9:16 that this miracle was considered another one of Jesus’ signs. This would be number six.

Jesus himself mentioned that this sign was to show that Jesus is the light of the world (John 9:4). And what does light do? It allows people to see. And this blind man didn’t just get his physical sight back. We watch as, through this chapter, he sees more and more of who Jesus is. At first, he doesn’t really know much about him (John 9:11-12) and then he declares Jesus must be a prophet (John 9:17). And then later he says that Jesus must be sent from God (John 9:33) and finally worship him as Lord (John 9:37-38). 

At the same time, Jesus’ light also blinds others. This miracle was performed on the Sabbath, and as we know, the religious leaders hate miracles being done on the Sabbath. When they hear this man has been healed, they call him in to question him. When they hear that Jesus had healed the man, they are furious and argue that Jesus can’t be from God if he breaks the law healing on the Sabbath.

Remember, there is no law against healing on the Sabbath. This is a law they’ve made up according to their tradition. So they call in the man’s parents to confirm that he definitely used to be blind. His parents do confirm that yes, he is their son, and yes, he was blind, but they don’t know what has happened and he’s old enough for the religious leaders to ask him themselves.

So they call the blind man back in and ask him more questions, and at this the blind man gets confused. He asks them if they want to become Jesus’ disciples. They immediately reject Jesus, saying they know nothing about him, but he’s clearly not from Moses.

The blind man the makes a really good point about how Jesus' signs show he must be from God, because God would never help him perform these miracles if not. The religious leaders become furious and cast out the blind man, not wanting to hear anymore. Their own pride made them blind to the obvious right in front of them.

Cutting back to Jesus, we see him drawing on shepherd imagery to talk about himself. He is a good shepherd that looks after his sheep. All of Jesus’ sheep will know his voice, and he has come to gather his sheep under one flock. He will protect his sheep and is even willing to give his life to defend them. In this block, we got two more ‘I am’ statements from Jesus. He is the gate. It is through him people will pass and experience peace and life. He is also the good shepherd, who lays down his life for his sheep.

The imagery is very clear. In the Old Testament, God is often described as a shepherd. In Ezekiel 34 God describes the religious leaders of the time as wicked shepherds who have done a bad job caring for the sheep. So God himself will replace them and do a good job.

Jesus is now taking up this role. He is replacing the religious leaders who have done an awful job of caring for the people. This also mirrored Moses who led the people in the wilderness as a shepherd and was willing to lay down his life for them (see Exodus 32:30-35).

In this teaching, Jesus also hints at two things. The first is the sheep who are not of this fold, but Jesus wants to make part of his flock (John 10:16). These other sheep are the Gentiles, non-Jews, who are included in Jesus’ ministry.

The second is Jesus’ own death, when he talks about being willing to lay his life down for his sheep (John 10:17-18). As usual, the people are divided, with some people supporting Jesus and others rejecting him.

We then get the feast of Dedication, which today is known as Hanukkah. This feast celebrated the rededication of the temple after the Maccabean Revolt. The religious leaders come to Jesus and ask him to tell them plainly if he is the promised king. Jesus tells them that he’s said it many times, but they refuse to listen because they are not one of his sheep. He then makes the statement, “I and the Father are one” (John 10:30). At the time when the Jews were celebrating the temple as set apart by God, Jesus is making the claim he is the one set apart by God.

At this they get ready to stone him, and when Jesus asks why, they say it’s because he speaks blasphemy. Then Jesus responds with a strange quote from Psalm 82. The original verse says, “You are gods, sons of the Most High, all of you” (Psalm 82:6). The common view is that this verse is talking about humans, but that doesn’t make sense. If Jesus is saying, “we’re all gods and sons of God” that kind of undermines his original point.

So what on earth is Jesus saying here? When you read through all of Psalm 82, we realise it’s God speaking to his divine council. The divine council was the collection of spiritual beings that helped God lead on earth. We’ve seen them before in 1 Kings 22 and Job 1-2. These beings are sometimes described as gods (little g) or sons of God.

So Jesus’ point is that the religious leaders are okay with there being spiritual beings known as sons of God. Why then do they have a problem when he claims to be THE son of God? This is too much for the religious leaders and once again they try to arrest him, but Jesus easily slips through their fingers and escapes. This ends Jesus’ public ministry.

Psalm 105

This psalm is not attributed to anyone in particular and falls into the category of praise palm. It recounts Israel’s history from the covenant made with Abraham through to God providing for the people in the wilderness.

Psalm 105:1-6 - A call to give thanks

Psalm 105:7-15 - Recounting God’s covenant with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob

Psalm 105:16-22 - The story of Joseph

Psalm 105:23-38 - Israel’s time in Egypt

Psalm 105:39-45 - God’s provision in the wilderness

The psalmist starts with a call to give thanks to the Lord for his works. They tell others to ‘give thanks’, ‘sing’, ‘glory’, ‘seek’, and ‘remember’. God is worthy of their praise, and they should seek God’s presence continually, remembering all that he has done. The psalmist then specifics who they are speaking to, the Israelites; offspring of Abraham and Jacob.

The psalmist then turns to the covenant God made with his people forever. A covenant made with Abraham, promised to Isaac, and confirmed with Jacob. A covenant saying, “To you I will give the land of Canaan as your portion for an inheritance.” During this time, which this small family had no land, they wondered around from nation to nation. God’s protection was over them.

Then we move to the story of Joseph. There was a famine in the land, but God had sent Joseph to Egypt ahead of his family. Initially, it was a slave and a prisoner, but as Joseph’s words as a prophet proved themselves, he was freed from slavery and made to rule over Egypt.

Then the rest of the family came to Egypt and God made them fruitful. They grew many and strong, and the Egyptians turned against them. So God sent Moses and Arron to perform many miracles, including darkness during the day, to waters turning to blood, swarms of frogs and flies, hail, locusts and the death of the firstborns. Eventually, Egypt were so happy to see the Israelites gone that they sent them off with silver and gold.

Now in this wilderness, God led his people with pillars of cloud and fire. He provided food and water for them all because of his initial promise to Abraham. God brought his people out of Egypt with joy and singing and brought them into their promised land, as long as they remained faithful to him.

The lesson of this psalm is clear. Look how faithful and generous God has been with his people in the past. He will do the same again, as long as they remain faithful to him.