Bible

Back in the Bible room today, we continue reading the Gospel of John with Session 2, the summaries of chapters 4 and 5.

____________________________________

John

Session 2

Chapter 4. Messiah

The Pharisees have heard that Jesus baptized more believers than John:

• Actually, Jesus was not doing any baptizing Himself;
• His disciples were doing all the baptizing;
• Jesus leaves Judea, heads into Galilee;
• But He needs to go through Samaria, to the town of Sychar;
• Jacob’s well is here and Jesus sits down to rest;
• A Samaritan woman comes to the well for water;
• The disciples have gone into the city to buy food;
• So, Jesus asks the woman to draw some water for Him;
• Now, Jews will not have any dealings with Samaritans;
• But here is a Jew asking water from a Samaritan woman;
• She is astonished at His request, so she remarks about it;
• Jesus says: If only she knew to Whom she was speaking;
• This is the Gift of God, and He could give her living water;
• She notices that Jesus does not have anything to draw with;
• So, she asks Him where he would get that living water;
• And was He greater than Jacob who had dug the well?
• Jesus says: Drink the water in this well and you will still thirst;
• If you drink the water He can give, you will never thirst again;
• You will have a fountain of everlasting life within you;
• She asks Jesus to give her that water so she will never thirst;
• He tells her to go call for her husband to come to the well;
• She tells Him she has no husband, which Jesus already knows;
• He tells her she has had five men plus the man she has now;
• She says she thinks Jesus must be a prophet;
• She says her forefathers worshipped on these mountains;
• But the Jews claimed worship could only be in Jerusalem;
• Jesus tells her the time has come that worship has changed;
• God is a Spirit, and must be worshipped in spirit and truth;
• She says she knows the Messiah is coming;
• Jesus tells her He is the Messiah to whom she is now speaking;
• At this point, the disciples return from the city;
• The woman leaves her waterpot and goes into the city;
• She tells the men about the Man who knows all about her;
• So, they all come out to the well to meet Jesus;
• Meantime, the disciples urge Jesus to take something to eat;
• He says He has food they do not know about:
• It is to do the will of God who sent Him, to finish the work;
• He says people can see when the harvest is ready for reaping;
• Now, He sees the harvest meant for Him and His disciples;
• The testimony of the woman makes many Samaritans believers;
• At their urging, Jesus stays two days in Samaria;
• And many more become believers after hearing Jesus;
• He goes back to Galilee where He is welcomed;
• At Cana, He hears about the sick son of a local official;
• The official tells Jesus his son is dying over in Capernaum;
• Jesus tells him to go on home, His son will live;
• The man believes in what Jesus has said;
• On his way, he encounters some of his servants;
• They have come from his home, they tell him His son lives;
• They tell the man the exact time when his son was better;
• It was the exact moment when Jesus said he would live.

Chapter 5. Believe

Again, Jesus goes to Jerusalem for the feast:

• The pool there is called Bethesda, it has five porches;
• Many sick and infirm people lay around beside this pool;
• Each day an angel roils the water with a disturbance;
• Then, whoever steps first into the water is healed;
• By the pool is a man having an infirmity for thirty-eight years;
• Jesus asks him: Do you want to be made well?
• The man says he can never be the first one into the pool;
• Jesus heals the man, tells him to pick up his bed and walk;
• Which he does, quickly; This happens to be the Sabbath;
• The Jews tell him it is unlawful to carry a bed on the Sabbath;
• The man says he was told to do that by the healer man;
• He does not know the man who has healed him,
• For Jesus has walked away and mingled into the crowd;
• Jesus meets the man in the temple: Tells him to sin no more;
• Then the man tells the Jews it was Jesus who healed him;
• That’s when they determine to kill Jesus;
• Jesus says He works on the Sabbath; His Father God does also;
• He works on the Sabbath; Then says God is His Father;
• The Jews use these two reasons for planning to kill Jesus;
• Jesus says all should honor the Son as they honor the Father;
• The Father has given the power of judgement to His Son;
• He says those who believe in Him have received eternal life;
• One day, those in the grave will hear His voice and come out;
• Jesus says He does only the will of His Father who sent Him;
• John was sent as a true witness for Jesus to do His great works;
• And for a time, the Jews rejoiced in the works of John;
• Now, Jesus has come to do even greater works than John;
• And these great works prove that Jesus was sent by God;
• But the Jews are not willing to accept Him as God’s Son;
• Even though the scriptures tell of Jesus, and His coming;
• They are not willing to come to Jesus for eternal life;
• They believe Moses, but not Jesus whom Moses writes about.

End of Session 2 of the book of John.