Between the Lines

John

v. 3 “wine”

There are those who claim that Jesus was not changing water into wine, but a less potent drink such as grape juice or something akin. However, the Greek clearly states that this was wine in a literal or figurative sense. What is of not in this section is that the host of the party had run short of wine which in that period was a great disgrace. Mary went to Jesus in the knowledge that He could help. So is this because she knew of His power or was this merely to ask Him to distract the revelers attention from this embarrassment?

v. 2 “a teacher come from God”

It is interesting to note how Nicodemus approaches Jesus. He comes with the admission that Jesus is a teacher come from God. However, he mentioned the word ‘we’ possibly from fear of admitting his own stance when all others we against him. For in Matthew 12:24 we can see that Jesus is referred to as Beelzebub by these same people. Thus, it does not seem believable that Nicodemus was referring to the rest of the Pharisees in this statement because they continually sought to kill Jesus. Further credibility in this argument is found in the fact that Nicodemus came to Jesus at night probably through fear.

However, we cannot ignore the possibility that Nicodemus was not alone in his belief in Jesus and indeed he could have been among a group who believed in the Christ. A lesson to be learnt from this passage regardless is that belief in Christ exists even in the most despairing situation.

v. 42 “seeing is believing”

The Samaritans went through two stages of belief in this passage. Firstly, they believed the woman’s testimony probably because of her reputation within the town. However, their faith was not complete until they had heard the teaching of Christ Himself as they state in this verse. There seems to be a distinct difference between the words ‘believing’ and ‘knowing’ (NIV). Here the townsfolk believed that the woman was telling the truth but they didn’t know until they had seen for themselves.

Likewise, it is possible to believe that Jesus is the Savior of the world and believe that His Word is truth, but until we receive the Holy Spirit within us we do not know that He is Truth.

v. 21 “a matter of time”

This verse intrigued me as the passage recounts the story of Jesus walking on water. But once Jesus entered the boat, it immediately reached the shore where they were heading. It states in verse 19 that they had traveled around three and a half miles. So were they near the edge of the lake or not? And if they were then why were they so surprised and why did Jesus bother to get into the boat in the first place?

The Greek, however, may provide some answers to these questions as the Greek would suggest that immediately may not be the only word suitable. It suggests other alternatives such as soon, forthwith, shortly, at once or directly. Thus, it is likely that the verse indicates that it was not long before they reached their destination rather than an immediate arrival.

vs. 8-10 “did Jesus lie?”

The short answer to this question is no, I don’t think He did. You see, although he was deceptive in the manner of his arrival, Jesus did go at a later point. The Feast lasted for seven days and therefore it would not be surprising for Jesus to arrive at a later point and still be involved in the Feast. In fact, He was as shown in verse 14. The purpose of His secrecy was to hide from those searching for Him as He knew that His time was not yet come (verses 8, 11).

v. 59 “elusion”

Again we see how Jesus manages to evade the crowd and those who wish to kill Him by somehow avoiding them. What makes this strange is the scenario. How could someone whom everyone is trying to stone hid him or herself? There is the possibility that He performed a miracle by making Himself invisible or blinding the crowds’ eyes. Either way, it demonstrates how certain Jesus was that His time was yet to come.

vs. 1-38 “a transformation”

For me, this is one of the most fascinating stories in the Bible. Here we have a blind man who was given sight by Jesus. While this in itself is extraordinary, what is more so is the transformation in that man’s life.

In verse 11 the man displays his ignorance of Jesus and calls him only as ‘the man they call Jesus’. As time passes this man begins to understand the nature of Jesus. ‘He is a prophet” he admits in verse 17. This continues to his admission that Jesus is from God in verse 33. Finally, the man comes to a complete realization of who Jesus is in verse 38. “‘Lord, I believe,’ and he worshipped Him”. It’s an amazing transformation.

v. 41 “blindness”

Jesus is trying to tell the Pharisees that their guilt is due to their rejection of truth. However, what is unusual perhaps is that He states that if they were blind they would have no sin. This blindness described can be translated as either physical or mental blindness. Thus, how I interpret this is that Jesus is referring to their mental blindness otherwise it would be apparent if the Pharisees were physically blind. While I may be reading into this slightly and each of you should make up your own minds, I believe that this verse provides evidence to support the claim that those who are mentally blind (i.e. mentally handicapped or some such condition where they are unable to rationalize the concepts of sin and salvation) are deemed innocent in God’s eyes.

v. 16 “doubting Thomas”

Thomas usually gets a fair bit of criticism due to his lack of faith when it was announced to him that Christ had risen from the grave. He famously claimed that he would not believe it until he had seen the pierces in Christ’s body. However, perhaps we criticize too much as in this verse it clearly demonstrates how much love and courage he possessed in that he was willing to die for Jesus. How many of us would have willingly said the same?

vs. 12-14 “the crowd”

While this event took place just outside of Jerusalem, these people were not from the city. Here it states that it was the crowd that had come for the Feast. Elsewhere in the Gospels it is mentioned that these people were His disciples. Therefore it is more understandable when Jesus talks of Jerusalem in the manner of Matthew 23:37.

v. 27 “Satan and Judas”

Please refer to my commentary on Luke 22:3.

v. 6 “falling to the ground”

There are two possibilities explaining the reason behind why these men fell to the ground. Firstly, it could be that they were stunned with Christ’s audacity at the way in which He directly answered their question. Possibly more likely it was the sheer power and authority by which He spoke. It’s stunning to think that that He could make men fall to the ground with His mere words and yet He was willing to let them abuse Him for the sake of us.

v. 23 “forgiveness of sins”

Does this verse mean that the disciples were given the power to forgive sins? If it is that only God alone can forgive sins then the answer to this is an emphatic no. And if we are to believe the Bible to be infallible then there must be another explanation for this verse.

Common sense tells us that only a creditor can remove the debts of the debtor. Now it might be that God has given these men the power to do such a thing but it seems unlikely that God would entrust such a prerogative and power on mere man. Secondly, it is unlikely God would ever act in this manner because He knows the sins of man and the fallibility of man to discern truth from falsehood. There could be the real possibility that someone is forgiven their sins who has not yet sought forgiveness.

The only possible conclusion I can take from this verse is that Jesus was giving them the right to declare to that individual that his or her sins had been forgiven. This was not done in a manner whereby they had to power to forgive, but rather the affirmation that God had saved them based on the testimony and repentance shown by the individual. There is certainly more weight in a statement made by a Christian leader than from another Christian. Perhaps this is what Jesus was trying to impress upon them.