The Twist family studies the Gospel of John

[Wayne]

I'll acknowledge that I don't like the phrase attributed to Jesus here:

"Stop sinning or something worse may happen to you."     

I'm all for legitimate public health messages like smoking causes cancer and heart disease, and HIV is transmitted through unprotected sex.

But unless Jesus had some more clear advice, the "stop sinning" thing makes me uncomfortable. It sounds superstitious rather than helpful.

Of course, most of what constituted sin was a matter of following rituals. Maybe through observation they had determined that certain rituals, like washing your hands, reduced the transmission of polio.

If that's what Jesus was talking about, then I like it.   

[Wayne]

Also, Wikipedia points out that all the other 3 gospels say this happened in Galilee instead, in Capernaum. Maybe the story got changed a little with re-telling, and maybe the superstitious "or else something worse will happen" got introduced that way.

[Wayne]

The authorities criticize Jesus for healing this man on the Sabbath.  He responds that he as the Son is transmitting the work of the Father. Maybe the implication is that it's the Father who is working on the Sabbath. Anyway, he says, the Father works every day.

This gets them all the more ticked off because now he's "making himself equal with the Father" by calling himself the Son.

We get some specifics about the afterlife and how to get there. It's not 100% clear but it's a framework. Jesus says:

"Whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life and will not be condemned; he has crossed over from death to life.

The time has now come when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God and those who hear will live.

A time is coming when all who are in their graves will hear his voice and come out. Those who have done good will rise to live, and those who have done evil will rise to be condemned."

[Wayne]

Jesus tells the authorities that John the Baptist has testified concerning Jesus, and that even Moses prophesied concerning Jesus.

"If you believed Moses, you would believe me, for he wrote about me. But since you do not believe what he wrote, how are you going to believe what I say?"

And that's chapter 5.       What do y'all think?

[Wayne]

Chapter 6. Weird. Wikipedia just stops here - no more chapter-by-chapter.

I don't blame them. It starts getting kinda hard.     

OK so Jesus feeds 5 thousand in Galilee from 5 barley loaves and 2 fish. We saw this before in Mark.

In some records the disciples wondered whether the people already had this food, and maybe Jesus's miracle was just getting people to share what they already had.

Sort of a Wizard of Oz message: the miracle you sought was already inside you.   

[Wayne]

OK now Jesus walks on water. I'm gonna tell you the truth, best as I can guess.

Someone very close to me, a devout traditional Christian who lived in the Middle East for years, went to this place on the Sea of Galilee. She said the coastline is very flat. You couldn't imagine how a boat could sail there.

You'd have to walk through shallow water a long long way before you could get to water deep enough where a boat could sail.




 

[injest]

OK now Jesus walks on water. I'm gonna tell you the truth, best as I can guess.

Someone very close to me, a devout traditional Christian who lived in the Middle East for years, went to this place on the Sea of Galilee. She said the coastline is very flat. You couldn't imagine how a boat could sail there.

You'd have to walk through shallow water a long long way before you could get to water deep enough where a boat could sail.




 

ok...this is off topic...so I am sorry..

but I saw a program about the miracles surrounding the time of Moses...

and they were correlating the events to real historical events...like the parting of the Red Sea for example...right around that time was when a volcano erupted out in the ocean and destroyed an island...causing a massive tidal wave. The people on the show were saying maybe that is what cause the water to pull back to let the Isrealites to pass

now the point I am trying to make is this....That doesnt' make it any less of a miracle...Just because we can see HOW it was done. Who make the volcano explode at THAT particular time?

just because there is a natural reason doesn't mean there is no miracle....(and yes I know that sounds stupid...I will shut up)

[Wayne]

Jesus makes what seems to be a play on words.

"The will of My Fatheris that everyone who beholds the Son and believes in Him will have eternal life, and I Myself will raise him up on the last day."

Elsewhere he uses this phrase "raise him up" in a sense that seems to refer to himself being raised up on the cross on his own last day.

Seems a bit depressing really.   

[Wayne]

Jesus says "My flesh is true food, and My blood is true drink." We all have a picture of how this is interpreted now, the Last Supper. But at the time people interpreted it absolutely literally.

The disciples said "this is a difficult statement. Who can listen to it." As a result, many left Jesus and did not walk with him any more (verse 66).

The authorities said "Is not this Jesus, the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know? How does He now say, 'I have come down out of heaven'?"

But Peter said "Lord, to whom shall we go? You have words of eternal life. We have believed and have come to know that you are the Holy One of God."

Jesus said "Did I myself not choose you, the twelve, and yet one of you is a devil?"

The narrator tells us Jesus meant Judas Iscariot, who would soon betray him.

So that's it for chapter 6. Thoughts?     

[injest]

does it seem at this point people are beginning to wonder? question? it seems like he is getting more ?extreme? as time goes by? maybe he knows time is short and he is pushing?