John 6:66-69

At this point many of his disciples turned away and deserted him. Then Jesus turned to the Twelve and asked, “Are you also going to leave?” Simon Peter replied: “Lord, to whom would we go? You have the words that give eternal life. We believe, and we know you are the Holy One of God.” Until now, Jesus seemed to have been attracting more and more followers. In chapter four, we hear that he was attracting more disciples than John the Baptist and people were believing in him even in the hostile territory of Samaria. In the Galilean region in the north, he had miraculously fed thousands of people, but the next day, the mood was very different. He spoke seriously to his followers about the nature of the bread that he was offering them, calling it his flesh. They concluded: “This is very hard to understand. How can anyone accept it?” (John 6:60). As a result, many of his followers turned away and deserted him. Jesus’ question to his remaining disciples is heart-rending. “Are you also going to leave?” he asked. As he often did, Simon Peter spoke up for the others. He bluntly summarised the situation by saying that they had no desire to leave Jesus because there was nowhere else to go. Only Jesus had the words of eternal life. No other philosophies or religions were offering that. In our society, there are so many people and organisations wanting to attract our attention and get us to sign up. They make bold claims and offer glossy publicity for their philosophies, but only Jesus makes the offer of eternal life. If we want to receive this amazing gift, there is nowhere else to turn. When Peter made his response, he wasn’t saying he understood everything. He likely had as many questions as those who had turned away, but he was declaring that he was committed to Jesus himself and that he trusted him for the future. When we make a commitment to follow Jesus, we are not claiming that we have a full understanding of who God is and his plans for our lives. We are simply saying that we trust Jesus and know that he can be entirely relied upon.

Question Why are you committed to Jesus?

Prayer Lord Jesus Christ, I worship you because you have the words of eternal life. Amen

John 6:33-35

The true bread of God is the one who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.” “Sir,” they said: “give us that bread every day.” Jesus replied: “I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never be hungry again. Whoever believes in me will never be thirsty.” When I was a boy, bread was only offered to us in two forms. It was either brown or white! These days, it is offered in a huge variety of ways – brioche, ciabatta, focaccia, multigrain, naan, pitta, rye, sourdough and wholewheat to name but a few – but however interesting it may be, it never ultimately satisfies us. We will always need more! When Jesus identified himself as the bread of life, he was claiming that we would never need to look for anyone else to satisfy us. He could meet all our needs. This is the first time in John’s Gospel that we hear Jesus using the expression “I am”. These words are a clear echo of how God spoke of himself in Exodus 3:14: “I am who I am.” Jesus was acknowledging who he was as the Son of God. Jesus describing himself as bread made it clear that he was for everyone. If he had called himself the caviar of life, we would have got the message that he was reserved for the wealthy and that the majority of people would miss out, but bread is ordinary. Bread is for everyone. Jesus was identifying himself as the one who could satisfy the needs of everyone, whatever their background or circumstances. Today we will need to be nourished and have our thirst quenched, and Jesus offers himself to us. We can come to communion and receive bread and wine to remind us of Jesus’ offering of himself on the cross, but we can also receive him as we pray amid the rush and noise of our lives. As we go to the shops, or eat, or work or play, we can reach out to the bread of life and receive his peace and love.

Question In what ways is Jesus the bread of your life?

Prayer Lord Jesus, thank you that you offer me bread which will always satisfy my deepest needs. Amen

John 6:8-9

Then Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother, spoke up: “There’s a young boy here with five barley loaves and two fish. But what good is that with this huge crowd?” I’m sure we’re all familiar with Jesus’ miraculous feeding of the 5,000. It must have had a profound effect on everyone who witnessed it, but I’m particularly interested in what happened before the miracle took place. Jesus asked Philip where it would be possible to buy food for the people, and then John added that Jesus knew exactly what he was going to do and was merely testing Philip. Philip gave the not unreasonable answer that even if they worked for months, they wouldn’t have sufficient money to pay for enough food. Andrew then emphasised the hopelessness of the situation by pointing out the young boy with his packed lunch. With despair he observed: “what good is that with this huge crowd?” This all feels very familiar. When we look at the problems of our world, or even our local community, it is very easy to get depressed. There is so much to be done. The needs are not only vast but also extremely complicated. We look at our resources and, like the disciples, conclude that there is absolutely nothing that we could do to make a difference. The boy’s packed lunch didn’t contain enough to satisfy the needs of one grown man, let alone a vast crowd of hungry people. Jesus’ miraculous feeding of this enormous crowd was a lesson that the disciples needed to remember throughout their lives. In the years to come, they were all going to face great challenges as they served God, and they needed to keep their eyes on Jesus rather than the problems. We should apply our logical thinking to the challenges that we face, but we must never forget that we are serving a God of miracles who is able “to accomplish infinitely more than we might ask or think” (Ephesians 3:20).

Question In what way do you find Jesus’ feeding of the 5,000 an encouragement?

Prayer Lord Jesus Christ, I place my faith in you. Forgive me for those times when I become overwhelmed by the problems and forget that you are a miracle worker. Amen

John 5:2-6

Inside [Jerusalem], near the Sheep Gate, was the pool of Bethesda, with five covered porches. Crowds of sick people—blind, lame, or paralyzed—lay on the porches. One of the men lying there had been sick for thirty-eight years. When Jesus saw him and knew he had been ill for a long time, he asked him: “Would you like to get well?” I loved spending time in Jerusalem, but it is often impossible to know exactly where the events we read about in the Gospels took place. However, we know where the pool of Bethesda is, and you can still see a part of it adjacent to St Anne’s Church near St Stephen’s Gate. The pool had a long reputation for being a place of healing, but Jesus met a man who had been ill for an extremely long time. Jesus asked the man if he would like to get well. On first hearing, this might sound a rather callous question. Surely the answer was obvious. Who wouldn’t want to be healed if they had been sick for 38 years? It is, however, a profoundly caring and important question. No doubt the man’s sickness had become an integral part of his personality. For many years, I suffered with a very bad back, and the typical greeting I would receive during those years was: “Hi Jonathan. How’s your back?” As soon as people saw me, they thought of my back, because it was such a major part of my identity for those years. Jesus’ question showed a deep respect for the man. He needed to make the decision of whether or not he was willing for his life to be turned around. If he was healed, his life would be completely different from that day forward. The Lord still comes to us with that same question. He can give us his forgiveness, peace and joy, but he will ask us whether we want to receive them. Perhaps we are so used to living with unforgiveness, tension and joylessness that we wouldn’t cope with his gifts. I thank God that he doesn’t steamroller his way into our lives but asks us if we want his help.

Question Would you like God to bless your life?

Prayer Lord Jesus Christ, thank you for your sensitivity and grace. I ask you to come into my life afresh and give me your blessings. Amen

John 4:13-14

Jesus replied, “Anyone who drinks this water will soon become thirsty again. But those who drink the water I give will never be thirsty again. It becomes a fresh, bubbling spring within them, giving them eternal life.” Here, Jesus was talking to a Samaritan woman. Everything about their meeting was surprising. First of all, it would have astonished everyone that he had travelled through Samaria. The rivalry between the Samaritans and the Jews was intense for deep historical reasons. After the breakup of the kingdom, following the death of Solomon, the northern territory was annexed by the Assyrians, who resettled the area with foreigners. As far as the Judaeans in the south were concerned, Samaria had lost its racial and religious purity. The divide was made even deeper when the Samaritans built their own temple at Mount Gerizim around 400 BC. Samaritans and Jews hated one another, so Jews would almost always have made a careful detour around Samaria, but not Jesus. The other astonishing fact is that Jesus was willing to talk to a woman. The rabbis gave very clear guidance on this subject. “One should not talk with a woman on the street, not even with his own wife, and certainly not with somebody else’s wife, because of the gossip of men.” That didn’t stop Jesus. I love how Jesus gladly offered his gift of life to every kind of person. In the previous chapter, he met Nicodemus, who was as different from this woman as could be imagined. He was educated, religious, and utterly respectable, and she was probably illiterate and a social outcast, which would have been why she was collecting water in the hottest part of the day. Jesus came to both of them and made his generous offer of new life, and that’s what he still does. He comes to the wealthy and well-connected and to the homeless and the refugees. He offers the gift of eternal life to all who will receive it.

Question What was the water that Jesus came to bring?

Prayer Loving Father, thank you for the life-giving water that you offer to me, and all those whom I will meet today. Amen

John 3:29-30

[John the Baptist said:] “It is the bridegroom who marries the bride, and the bridegroom’s friend is simply glad to stand with him and hear his vows. Therefore, I am filled with joy at [Jesus’] success. He must become greater and greater, and I must become less and less.” John the Baptist knew his place. He knew that he was simply the one who was preparing the way, and that all the attention should be on Jesus. He was like a best man whose task is to do everything possible to make the wedding go smoothly, but who should never draw attention to himself. John knew what his God-given role was, and he was clearly happy with it. His goal was to become less and less so that Jesus could become greater and greater. It is never appropriate for Christian leaders to become stars and draw attention to themselves. I thank God for men like Billy Graham who gained considerable fame but who consistently pointed people to Jesus, and did so with amazing effectiveness. It is believed that more than three million responded to his call to accept Jesus as their personal saviour, and that more than two billion people heard him preach, whether at public events or on the radio. Nobody listening to Billy Graham would have concluded that he was trying to draw attention to himself. His focus was on Jesus, and Jesus alone. Today, God calls us to do exactly the same as John the Baptist. We need to be moving increasingly into the shadows so that Jesus gets the attention and worship that is rightfully his. This is not to deny the importance of the gifts and responsibilities that we have, but they have been given to us so that we can draw attention to the bridegroom, Jesus himself. If we turn ourselves into the stars of the show, we have totally missed the point.

Question What would it mean for you to become less and less?

Prayer Lord Jesus, help me in this and every day to make you the focus of my life. Amen

John 3:16-17

For this is how God loved the world: He gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life. God sent his Son into the world not to judge the world, but to save the world through him. I remember well the first time somebody, other than my parents, told me they loved me. I can recall everything about that moment, and it was simply amazing. In these verses, which are probably the most famous in the entire Bible, we hear the wonderful news that God loves us, and that his love is so total that he gladly sent his own Son into the world so that we could have eternal life. There is great emphasis upon God’s love for the people of Israel in the Old Testament, but now we see that the doors are flung open to the whole world. Everyone is welcome. The last thing God wants is for anyone to perish, so he invites everyone to believe in him and find eternal life. In the Old Testament, we meet Abraham, who was willing to sacrifice his precious son, Isaac, in obedience to God’s command (Genesis 22). He bound his son, laying him on the altar on top of the wood, and took hold of the knife to kill him. In that terrifying moment, an angel told Abraham not to lay a hand on his son but instead to offer a ram which was caught in a thicket nearby. God’s willingness to offer his son, Jesus, is a clear reminder of Abraham’s obedience long ago, but there is a significant difference because Jesus actually died. God made the complete sacrifice. Whether you are in a secure, loving relationship or not, you need to know that God loves you completely and always will. He has proved that by sending his precious Son into the world, and we can be sure that we can rely on his love for time and eternity.

Question What does it mean to you personally to know how much God loves you?

Prayer Lord God, I thank you for loving me and opening the door to eternal life

Amen

John 3:3

Jesus replied [to Nicodemus], “I tell you the truth, unless you are born again, you cannot see the Kingdom of God.”

Nicodemus was an unlikely visitor to Jesus. He was a Pharisee, and Jesus was locked in a constant struggle with this group of Jewish leaders throughout his ministry. Perhaps that’s why he came to Jesus at night. He wanted to ask his questions without being spotted by his fellow Pharisees. Jesus had no formal accreditation as a Jewish teacher, so it was generous of Nicodemus to address him as “Rabbi”. Clearly, he was impressed by Jesus’ teaching and miraculous signs and acknowledged that there was clear evidence that he had been sent by God. Jesus didn’t engage with this but responded to Nicodemus with words which would have rocked his world. He needed to be born again. Nicodemus seemed confused by Jesus’ words. He was baffled by the thought of entering his mother’s womb a second time, so Jesus spelt out exactly what he meant: just as human life starts with a birth, so too does spiritual life. Nicodemus needed to allow the Holy Spirit to breathe new life into him if he was to enter the kingdom of God. Nothing has changed. Two thousand years later, if we are to experience spiritual life, we need to be born again. I sometimes hear people talk about ‘born again Christians’ as if they are something different from normal Christians! That is not the case – the only way to become a Christian is by being born again. Being born into a Christian home, attending church and living in a supposedly Christian country is irrelevant. Without new birth, you cannot start out on the Christian life. The apostle Paul was in complete agreement with this. He wrote: “This means that anyone who belongs to Christ has become a new person. The old life is gone; a new life has begun!” (2 Corinthians 5:17). No amount of human effort can ever make us into Christians. It is only as we allow the Holy Spirit to take over our lives that we can experience new birth.

Question How do you respond when people refer to born again Christians?

Prayer Loving Father, thank you that through the power of your Holy Spirit it is possible for people to be born again. Amen