Last September we looked at the first four chapters of John’s gospel under the heading ‘Come and See’ – as different people come to learn, investigate and see who Jesus is.
Who is this man?
This September we continue into chapters 5-8 under the title of ‘Who is this man?’ At the end of John’s gospel we read about John’s purpose for writing his biography of the life of Jesus:
“Jesus performed many other signs in the presence of his disciples, which are not recorded in this book. But these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name.” John 20:30-31
John wants to persuade us of who Jesus is (The Messiah, The Son of God) and what Jesus offers (life).
So John 5-8, as with the whole book, is concerned with these two key questions – who is Jesus and what sort of life does he give?
Symbols of abundant life
John chapters 5-8 take place in Jerusalem, at different Jewish festivals.
- Chapter 5 – The Sabbath
- Chapter 6 – The Passover
- Chapters 7–8 – The Feast of Tabernacles
And at these festivals Jesus replaces the Jewish symbolism with abundant life found in him (Water becomes ‘Living water’, Manna becomes ‘Living bread’, etc.) Jesus is showing that he is the fulfilment of the Jewish story, and that the foreshadowing of life that was offered in their scriptures is found in him. He even has the audacity to say ‘before Abraham was born, I AM’ (John 8:58).
Who is this man that makes such great claims about himself?
A hostile response
Not everyone is on board with what Jesus is saying and don’t particularly want to accept him as the giver of life. For example, Jesus says:
“You study the Scriptures diligently because you think that in them you have eternal life. These are the very Scriptures that testify about me, yet you refuse to come to me to have life.” John 5:39-40
As people witness the numerous signs, works and words of Jesus at the different festivals he starts to ruffle some feathers – particularly of the people in power who don’t appreciate that Jesus doesn’t fit into their categories. To experience the life that Jesus offers you have to experience a loss of control, something many of them (and us!) are not willing to accept.
In these chapters we learn that people:
- Want to kill Jesus (John 5:18)
- Turn back and no longer follow Jesus (John 6:66)
- Accuse him of being demon-possessed (John 7:20)
Who is this man that causes such strong reactions from people?
Our sermon series
- 5th Oct – John 5:16-30: Life in Jesus (part 1)
- 12th Oct – John 5:31-47: Life in Jesus (part 2) – plus Q&A
- 19th Oct – John 6:1-15: The feeding of the 5000
- 26th Oct – John 6:16-24: Walking on water – plus Q&A
- 2nd Nov – John 6:25-59: The bread of life
- 9th Nov- John 6:60-71: The cost of discipleship – plus Q&A
- 16th Nov – John 7:1-36: Who is this man?
- 23rd Nov – John 7:37-52: Streams of living water
- 30th Nov – John 8:1-11: The woman caught in adultery – plus Q&A
Come along to CCC South, Central or North this term to learn more about Jesus and the life he offers. We’ll also be reflecting on him in our midweek City Groups.
After five of our Sunday talks there will be a live Q&A afterwards (anonymously via phones, or through open question and answer) and there will also be some personal testimonies.
This will be a great preaching series for anyone who wants to investigate Jesus for the first time, so do consider family and friends who might be interested.