gospel of John Archives • Paula Wiseman

Into the Wilderness: Communion

But Jesus Himself would often slip away to the wilderness and pray. Luke 5:16 (NASB)

We’re winding down our study of the wilderness in Scripture with this next-to-last post. We’ve seen a lot happens in the wilderness. Wandering. It is also a place of transition. The restoration of relationships can happen in the wilderness. Sometimes it is an opportunity for instruction. Last week it was a place of temptation. But if we look closely at the gospels, we’ll see that Jesus regularly spent time in the wilderness. Why? Communion. Not the bread and wine kind, but the sharing intimate fellowship kind.

Jesus is God, and He enjoyed a unity with the Father beyond our comprehension. To redeem us, Christ had to set aside His glory and take on humanity. It is no wonder that He needed, longed for, enjoyed His times of prayer and communion with the Father. Those times left Him focused and energized for the work before Him. Throughout the gospel of John especially, Jesus attests that He is on assignment from the Father and He only does as instructed. (See John 5:36 for example.)

Do we, like Jesus, need and long for those times of intimate fellowship with the Father? We certainly need them. God help us long for them. No doubt, those times would help us regain perspective that God is sovereign and His kingdom work is our highest priority and privilege.

Communing with the Father wasn’t the only reason Jesus headed for the desolate, wilderness places. Look at these verses from Mark.

The apostles gathered around Jesus and reported to him all that they had done and taught. He said to them, “Come away by yourselves to a remote place and rest for a while.” For many people were coming and going, and they did not even have time to eat. So they went away in the boat by themselves to a remote place, Mark 6:30-32

Jesus was watching out for His guys. He knew they had just finished an emotionally and spiritually draining mission. Even though they had great results to report and were excited and energized, He knew they needed to decompress and recharge.

We would be wise to see the wisdom in Christ’s actions. He wanted them to take some time away with Him after the great success. Why is this wise? We would keep going as long as things are going well, wouldn’t we? Build on the momentum. Seize the opportunity. Jesus has a bigger picture in mind. He knows He is preparing them to be servant leaders after He returns to the Father. His disciples cannot shepherd His church without close

The other consideration is that this break helps inoculate the disciples against the idea that the success is all their doing. He reminds them in John 15:5 “I am the vine; you are the branches. The one who remains in me and I in him produces much fruit, because you can do nothing without me.”

Pride is sneaky and regular communion with Jesus, after success as well as failure, can help keep it in check.

One more quick point– the crowds weren’t far behind the disciples during this break. They trekked around the Sea of Galilee, and once they caught up with Jesus and the disciples, it was back to work. Don’t put off those opportunities to get away with Jesus and tell Him everything.

(After teaching the crowds and it got toward dinnertime, the disciples suggested Jesus send them home. Jesus instead challenged the disciples to feed them. You can read more about the feeding of the 5,000 in each of the gospels.)

Next week, we’ll finish our time in the wilderness.

Key Ingredients for Growth: Water

By Paula

But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. 2 Peter 3:18

We’re looking at the things a plant must have in order to grow — like good dirt, water, light and protection — and think about how that applies to us. Last week we thought about the good, rich dirt and how our church can be that nurturing environment. But that dirt can only get you so far. If it dries out, the plant is not going to last long. Oh, it will fold in on itself for a little while and try to survive, but it can’t.

The New Testament mentions water a few times so we’ll lean on those verses as we think about what is critically important to our growth. The first one comes as Jesus sits on the side a well in the Samaritan city of Sychar, talking to a woman who has come to draw her day’s supply of water.

Jesus said to her, “Everyone who drinks of this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks of the water that I will give him will never be thirsty again. The water that I will give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life.” John 4:13-14

Then a little later, on the last day of the Feast of Tabernacles (or Booths), Jesus announces:

Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, ‘Out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.’” Now this he said about the Spirit, whom those who believed in him were to receive, for as yet the Spirit had not been given, because Jesus was not yet glorified. John 7:38-39

So what does that tell us. First we can’t expect to grow as believers if we are not genuinely saved. If we have simply embarked on a Christian-ish program of self-improvement, we won’t see any more more transformation than I would see if I swore off M&Ms.

Birth must precede growth.

We have to come face to face with the reality that our sin offends a holy God and we are hopeless to ever make amends. However, perfect, sinless Jesus Christ has been judged for our sins, in our place, and God will accept that judgment and the death sentence that was carried out. Jesus’s resurrection is proof that God approved of Christ’s death on our behalf. Of course, this is not a global, general thing. It has to be an individual transaction. That’s why we use the term “personal” savior.

The Holy Spirit helps us grow.

How do we know that we are really born anew and not just messing around? If we understand how offensive our sin is to God and that horrible price it demanded for redress … we commit our lives to living in a way that pleases that holy God, even if we fail sometimes, the trajectory of our lives is clearly aimed at being like Jesus. That is accomplished not by us promising to do better but by the Holy Spirit living in us. The Holy Spirit Jesus was talking about in John 7:38-39.

The Word helps us grow.

Husbands, love your wives, as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her, that he might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word. Ephesians 5:24-25

Paul adds another dimension to that water that we need to grow. He uses a theological word – sanctify. Sanctification is the process we go through that takes us from newborn babies who just believed in Jesus to fully mature saints in the very presence of God. (Hint: We won’t finish the process in this life.)

He says Christ cleanses us with the word. What “word” does Paul mean? Jesus is called the Word at the beginning of John’s gospel. The gospel is called the word (as in, preach the word). The Bible is called the word. You could make a case for all three. Jesus does the cleansing by His death on the cross. The gospel lets us know that we can’t do anything on our own, but we need Jesus for everything. (John 15:5) And as we learn about Christ and His ways through scripture we conform to it.

Immerse yourself in the Word. Soak in it. Read. Think about. Memorize. Study. Hear it taught and preached. Discuss it.

That’s how you grow.

Next week: Light.

Jesus and Women: Mary Magdalene

By Paula

Jesus said to her, “Mary.” She turned toward him and cried out in Aramaic, “Rabboni!” (which means Teacher). John 20:16

One of the things that set Jesus’s ministry apart was the way He interacted with women. Each encounter teaches us something about Jesus and our relationship to Him. It is important to notice in each case, Jesus treated these women with dignity and respect that was unheard at that time and in that culture. That in itself is instructive as we interact with people now.

This week we’ll finish up with Mary Magdalene.

Mary is the subject of a lot of legend, a lot of speculation and conjecture, and a lot misinformation. The truth is, the Bible says very little about her. Luke introduces her in 8:2, simply saying she was from a Galilean town, Magdala, and that Jesus had driven seven demons from her. We know she was devoted to Christ and was present at His crucifixion. At daybreak on Resurrection morning, she came with the other women to properly anoint the body of Jesus.

However, they found the tomb empty, and the angelic messengers explained that Jesus had raised from the dead. Peter and John confirmed that the tomb was empty and everybody went back into town. Everyone except Mary.

She hung around the tomb alone, privately grieving. In spite of the fact that the angels had explained Jesus was risen, it was too much to believe. We live on the other side of the resurrection. It is a familiar reality. However, Jews in Mary’s day had only a vague understanding of a general resurrection. We see that in Martha’s conversation with Jesus after Lazarus’s death. Mary mourned not only Jesus’s death, but now there was nothing left of Him. No place. No marker. No memorial.

I can identify with Mary. I have followed Jesus for a long time. But I admit, sometimes His words are difficult to grasp, even with the evidence right in front of me.

But for Mary, it was more than evidence in front of her. It was Christ himself! He asks her two questions to help her understand what was happening. Why are you weeping? Jesus, whom she loved, was gone. She could not perform the act of devotion, caring for His body, for Him. She had been robbed of that opportunity and she was utterly devastated. Jesus was gently prodding to think about her situation. Why was the body gone?

Then He asked, Whom are you seeking? Jesus was not like anyone else she had ever known. She had heard His words. She had experienced His liberating power in her own life. Essentially He wanted her to consider who Jesus is. Ordinary men are buried in tombs, Mary, Jesus is no ordinary man.

Do we weep and mourn when our plans, even our ministry plans, are disrupted? Do we cling to our loss rather than considering who it is that we worship and serve? I know I have.

Jesus doesn’t belabor the lessons, though. He speaks Mary’s name. (This moment chokes me up every time I read it.) That’s when she recognizes Him. After all, Jesus said His sheep would hear His voice. He IS alive! Her natural reaction is to embrace Him, but Jesus holds her off. Instead He entrusts her with an amazing mission. You see, Mary is the first person to see the risen Christ. Not Peter. Not John. Not even Jesus’s mother. Mary of Magdala. What an honor! What a privilege!

Mary vindicated Jesus’s trust in her by immediately carrying the news to the other disciples.

Jesus has called us by name and honored us by commissioning us to carry this amazing transforming message to others. Because He lives, we will live also (John 14:19) Let us, like Mary, be faithful to carry that message!

Jesus and Women: Mary, Again

By Paula

When Jesus saw his mother and the disciple whom he loved standing nearby, he said to his mother, “Woman, behold, your son!” John 19:26

In the very first post in this series, we looked at a conversation between Jesus and His mother at a wedding in Cana. That exchange signalled a change in their relationship as Jesus began His public ministry. This exchange marks Jesus’s last words to His mother. It is just two short sentences, but we can still learn some key lessons from it.

Mary displays courage and devotion to her son, her savior in not abandoning Him in this terrible moment. No matter how awful, no matter how painful, she cannot, she will not leave Him. Once again, Mary sets an example for us.

It is remarkable that in the midst of enduring the outpouring of God’s wrath, an agony we cannot imagine, that Jesus is moved to act with compassion toward His mother. He sees her and He realizes His obligation to her as the oldest son. No doubt she is widowed at this point and by every societal custom, and tradition, He was responsible for her.

Announcing this to her from the cross is an amazing affirmation that He sees her, that He has not forgotten her, even now. That is incredible encouragement, that we are seen, that our needs are known and that Jesus in compassion, acts to meet those needs.

Then Jesus speaks to John, entrusting Mary to his care, not to Jesus’s brother James, the next oldest son or even to John’s older brother, James. Perhaps it was because John would not have responsibility for his own mother, being the younger son. Perhaps Jesus trusted John because John’s faith and devotion most closely matched Mary’s. James and the rest of Jesus’s brothers were not yet believers. The bond of love through Christ was even more significant than blood relationships. John immediately shouldered that responsibility.

As members of the body of Christ, let’s make sure we selflessly love and care for each other, and that we readily accept that holy responsibility.

Even in such a short encounter, we are amazed at the care and compassion Jesus shows and how His followers, including His mother show their commitment and obedience to Him. May we be encouraged to follow those examples.

Jesus and Women: The Woman from Sychar

By Paula

The Samaritan woman said to him, “How is it that you, a Jew, ask for a drink from me, a woman of Samaria?” (For Jews have no dealings with Samaritans.) John 4:9

John’s gospel devotes a sizable portion of its narrative showing Jesus breaking with the religious and cultural conventions of His day. Of course, this isn’t just Jesus being contrary. No, in each case, something of eternal significance is at stake. In chapter 4, we find Jesus’s conversation with the woman from Sychar.

Now, you are probably very familiar with the animosity that existed between the Jews and the Samaritans. This dates back to the Assyrian captivity. The Assyrians took the Jews captive, leaving only the poorest in the land, and then repopulated the region with other dregs of humanity from other conquered nations. The association and intermarriages resulted in a mixed race population with a religion that was just as mixed.

When the Jews returned from Babylon, the Samaritans were rebuffed in their offer to help with the rebuilding and then set out to interfere with the project, even slandering Nehemiah to try to bring it to a halt. You can check Nehemiah for more details. The bad blood intensified about a hundred years before Jesus when high priest/king John Hyrcanus overran Samaria and destroyed the temple on Mount Gerizim. This even figures into the conversation Jesus has with the woman.

So against that backdrop, about noon, Jesus sends the disciples off to get lunch and He takes a seat by the town well of Sychar. It isn’t long before a woman comes to draw water from the well. Water-drawing time was usually in the morning and evening and served as a social event. The fact that the woman was coming when she expected the well to be deserted is significant.

A woman from Samaria came to draw water. Jesus said to her, “Give me a drink.” John 4:7

Jesus asks her for a drink. He initiates the conversation. This is huge. Men did not talk to women in public. Especially rabbis. In fact, rabbis didn’t even talk to their wives in public. This was part of that whole “hedge around the Law” thing. To keep from committing any kind of sexual sin, or giving anyone reason to suspect anything, opposite sexes didn’t even talk. Generally religious teachers wouldn’t stoop to talking with common people, so He broke that convention as well. Plus Jews did not, did not, talk to Samaritans.

We know the rest of the story and we know that that this woman had some scandal, some baggage in her life. What is so beautiful about this simple act of humbly asking for a drink, is Jesus, by initiating the conversation, takes the scandal onto Himself.

Are we willing to humbly approach others, enter into their “scandal” to initiate significant eternal conversation with them?

Jesus answered her, “If you knew the gift of God, and who it is that is saying to you, ‘Give me a drink,’ you would have asked him, and he would have given you living water.” John 4:10

Did you notice the topic Jesus immediately jumps to? Not raising kids or fixing dinner or laundry. Not adultery or immorality. Theology. Living water. It turns out she wasn’t as familiar with the Old Testament prophets as Jesus was so He moves to an object lesson. Through it all, He wants her to understand she is more than her past, her sins, her failures, and her reputation. He, the Messiah, the Holy One of Israel, has come to her personally.

Are we willing to engage others deeply, about things of eternal weight, rather than superficially?

“Come, see a man who told me all that I ever did. Can this be the Christ?” John 4:29

The revelation of Christ brought the change in the woman’s life. She didn’t have to change first. Her change didn’t bring His revelation. He graciously revealed Himself to her. She is the first person in the gospels to hear Jesus’s plain statement of who He is. The greatest evidence of the change in the woman’s life was that she had to share the news of the encounter.

We have no record of the disciples’ trip into town. Do you suppose any of them started up a conversation with a shopkeeper? “Oh hey. We’re picking up lunch for us and the Son of God. You should come out and meet Him.” After the resurrection, they totally would have.

Are we willing to make sure everyone we know understands that Christ is real because He changed our lives?

Jesus teaches us quite a bit through His conversation with the woman of Sychar. We would do well to respond like she did.

Jesus and Women: Mary

By Paula

And Jesus said to [Mary], “Woman, what does this have to do with me? My hour has not yet come.” John 2:4

One of the things that set Jesus’s ministry apart was the way He interacted with women. We touched on that briefly in an Easter post, but it’s worth a more in-depth look. In-depth, but not exhaustive. However, each encounter was chosen because it teaches us something about Jesus and our relationship to Him. It is important to notice in each case, Jesus treated these women with dignity and respect that was unheard of at that time and in that culture. That in itself is instructive as we interact with people now.

Today, we find the first encounter between the adult Jesus and His mother, Mary. John 2:1 tells us Mary was at a wedding in Cana, and that Jesus and His disciples were invited guests. Jewish weddings were joyous, festive, community celebrations lasting several days. At some point the groom’s family ran out of wine. We don’t know whose wedding it was, but the fact that Mary was privy to the situation with the wine suggests that she was close to the groom’s family.

Running out of wine, failing to provide and care for the invited guests was a serious breach of hospitality. Mary was, no doubt, very sensitive to the sting of gossip and public humiliation. In her compassion for the family, she goes to Jesus, because she believes He can do something about the situation.

There’s our first lesson. Mary acted as the intercessor went to Jesus first on behalf of the groom’s family. We should also be sensitive to the needs of others and ready to carry those needs to the one who can act.

Jesus’s response to His mother seems almost disrespectful, but let’s think through it. Would Jesus have spoken to His mother in a tone of anything but respect? Of course not. He’s not annoyed with her. She’s not bothering Him. But His response is very formal, rather than familiar. Why?

Jesus had officially entered His ministry. Remember when Mary and Joseph found twelve-year-old Jesus in the temple discussing theology with the religious leaders? He was puzzled by their worry and explained: “I must be about My Father’s business.” Then Luke 2:51 says He went home and “was subject to them.” Those days were over. Now Jesus answered solely to His heavenly Father. Jesus’s exchange with Mary here was a gentle, but unmistakeable, reminder that things between them had changed.

That’s our second lesson. Mary’s close family relationship with Jesus doesn’t grant her special access or favors. The upside, though, is this means we have the same right to approach Jesus for an answer to our petition as Mary does.

Then instead of pleading further with Jesus or outlining the merits of her requests, Mary turns to the servants in verse 5 and says, “Do whatever He tells you.” She walks away with the utmost trust that Jesus has heard and will act.

We too need that same confident faith that our prayers have been heard and that Jesus will intervene according to His will and His character.

Of course, we know that Jesus turned the water into wine in a very low-key miracle, His first recorded sign. Only a handful of people knew about it. In the larger picture, His glory was manifested and His disciples believed in Him. There is always a greater purpose behind the miracles.

This reminds us to give Jesus the praise and glory He is due when He acts in our lives.

From the time Mary understood she would give birth to the Messiah, her response was “Behold, the servant of the Lord.” She maintained that humble devotion to her Son and then reckoned with the reality that He was her Savior and Lord. She has much to teach us.

Into the Wilderness: Communion

Key Ingredients for Growth: Water

Jesus and Women: Mary Magdalene

Jesus and Women: Mary, Again

Jesus and Women: Mary

Encounters Series

Covenant of Trust Series

Foundations Series