All posts by Luella Campbell

JOHN’S GOSPEL… THE BREAD OF LIFE – 12

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John 6:5-7, 9-13 NIV
[5] “When Jesus looked up and saw a great crowd coming toward him, he said to Philip, “Where shall we buy bread for these people to eat?” [6] He asked this only to test him, for he already had in mind what he was going to do. [7] Philip answered him, “It would take more than half a year’s wages to buy enough bread for each one to have a bite!”
[9] “Here is a boy with five small barley loaves and two small fish, but how far will they go among so many?” [10] Jesus said, “Have the people sit down.” There was plenty of grass in that place, and they sat down (about five thousand men were there). [11] Jesus then took the loaves, gave thanks, and distributed to those who were seated as much as they wanted. He did the same with the fish. [12] When they had all had enough to eat, he said to his disciples, “Gather the pieces that are left over. Let nothing be wasted.” [13] So they gathered them and filled twelve baskets with the pieces of the five barley loaves left over by those who had eaten.”

Considering that we are discovering that Jesus turned every impossibility into opportunity, and every opportunity into more evidence of His identity, the Son of God, this familiar story takes on a new meaning. After all, didn’t John, the narrator record His own people’s reaction to Him? Rejection!

Their rejection was not because of the lack of evidence. It was their decision made out of stubborn unbelief. Every miracle was another pointer to the truth of Jesus’ claim…trust, obedience, and oneness with the Father. The message was loud and clear and backed up with words that were not His but the Father’s words spoken through Him.

John 10:29, 31-33 NIV
[29] “My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all; no one can snatch them out of my Father’s hand…
[31] Again his Jewish opponents picked up stones to stone him, [32] but Jesus said to them, “I have shown you many good works from the Father. For which of these do you stone me?” [33] “We are not stoning you for any good work,” they replied, “but for blasphemy, because you, a mere man, claim to be God.”

Mark 11:27-28 NIV
[27] “They arrived again in Jerusalem, and while Jesus was walking in the temple courts, the chief priests, the teachers of the law and the elders came to him. [28] “By what authority are you doing these things?” they asked. “And who gave you authority to do this?”

Authority was the issue. His opponents heard His words, saw His works but still chose to reject Him because it was not convenient for them to believe.

Unfazed by the opposition, Jesus used every opportunity, not only to confirm His identity but also to link Himself to the prophecies and pictures of Messiah in their own Scriptures.

Our story, the only miracle recorded in all four gospels, shows Jesus, the Son, reflecting the heart of the compassionate Father who cares about His children’s physical needs. In this situation hid another opportunity…Jesus was always drawing His disciples into the situation to teach and train them for their mandate to continue where He left off.

So, He throws the ball into their court. What were they planning to do to feed this vast crowd of people? He fires the question at Philip. Why Philip? Why not Peter, the motor-mouth? Perhaps He deliberately bypassed Peter to give another disciple opportunity to think for himself.

Philip had to think quickly. His response was the typically human one…consider the obstacles…too many people, not enough money. He dismisses the problem as impossible.

Andrew pipes up, just for good measure. There are a few barley loaves and fish available! His suggestion sounds ridiculous, so he backs down with an apology. There is food but not enough. Good try, Andrew!

Without waiting for any more feeble suggestions from the other disciples, Jesus issues instructions. Seat the people on the grass in an orderly fashion. That done, He proceeds to break the bread and fish into small pieces, and pass the pieces out, first saying His thanks to the Father with a prayer of gratitude.

John 6:11 NIV
[11] “Jesus then took the loaves, gave thanks, and distributed to those who were seated as much as they wanted. He did the same with the fish.”

And the rest, they say, is history.

Out of this incident issued another storm…and another lesson. When we read on, the people latched onto Jesus, not for spiritual food but for another opportunity to get a free meal.

John 6:25-26 NIV
[25]” When they found him on the other side of the lake, they asked him, “Rabbi, when did you get here?” [26] Jesus answered, “Very truly I tell you, you are looking for me, not because you saw the signs I performed but because you ate the loaves and had your fill.”

Jesus was incensed. Talk about opportunists! So, once more, He launched into another profound comparison between Himself and Moses. Moses gave them manna from heaven to feed their stomachs. Jesus came as heavenly “bread” to feed their souls.

John 6:32-33, 35 NIV
[32] “Jesus said to them, “Very truly I tell you, it is not Moses who has given you the bread from heaven, but it is my Father who gives you the true bread from heaven. [33] For the bread of God is the bread that comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.”…
[35] Then Jesus declared, “I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never go hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty.”

John 6:41, 60, 66 NIV
[41] At this the Jews there began to grumble about him because he said, “I am the bread that came down from heaven.”…
[60] On hearing it, many of his disciples said, “This is a hard teaching. Who can accept it?”…
[66] From this time many of his disciples turned back and no longer followed him.”

Too unpalatable for many of them, they rejected the “bread”, and walked away.

JOHN’S GOSPEL… HOPE FOR THE HOPELESS-11

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In our quest to discover the Jesus, Son of God, in John’s gospel, we may need to see Him, the Light, against the backdrop of the darkness that opposed Him. “Opportunity” was His watchword, every impossiblity an opportunity to create a new reality through creativity.

John 5:1-2, 5 NIV
[1] “Some time later, Jesus went up to Jerusalem for one of the Jewish festivals. [2] Now there is in Jerusalem near the Sheep Gate a pool, which in Aramaic is called Bethesda and which is surrounded by five covered colonnades…
[5] One who was there had been an invalid for thirty-eight years.”

Thirty-eight years! That’s a long time to be without hope. Jesus’ question didn’t even arouse anything but pessimism.

John 5:6 NIV
[6] “When Jesus saw him lying there and learned that he had been in this condition for a long time, he asked him, “Do you want to get well?”

The paralytic didn’t know this crazy stranger who asked a stupid question. “Do you want to get well?” What did He think? Of course he wanted to get well! Why would he lie there, day after day, next to a pool that was reputed to have healing powers when it bubbled up, if he didn’t want to get well?

His tired, worn-out response said it all. “No one! I have no one to help me!” So, that settled it. He would always lie there, helpless and alone, to the end of his days, and never walk again.

Opportunity!

What if he walked, not because he went into a pool that could do nothing for him but because he did what this crazy stranger told him to do?

John 5:8-9 NIV
[8] “Then Jesus said to him, “Get up! Pick up your mat and walk.” [9] At once the man was cured; he picked up his mat and walked. The day on which this took place was a Sabbath…”

Oops! Big Brother was watching! Something this amazing had to have been noticed. The ever-watching Pharisees were also on the lookout for…opportunity! Not to recognise God when they saw Him but to find another excuse to get rid of Him. He was a threat to them and they hated Him for it.

The Sabbath! The religious leaders’ flash point.

John 5:9-10 NIV
[9] “At once the man was cured; he picked up his mat and walked. The day on which this took place was a Sabbath, [10] and so the Jewish leaders said to the man who had been healed, “It is the Sabbath; the law forbids you to carry your mat.”

The hypocrites’ opportunity was not to praise God for a great miracle but to embroil the healed man in Jesus’ “guilt”.

John 5:13-15 NIV
[13] “The man who was healed had no idea who it was, for Jesus had slipped away into the crowd that was there. [14] Later Jesus found him at the temple and said to him, “See, you are well again. Stop sinning or something worse may happen to you.” [15] The man went away and told the Jewish leaders that it was Jesus who had made him well.”

So, it was Jesus who healed the man, was it! They went in the attack.

John 5:16-18 NIV
[16] “So, because Jesus was doing these things on the Sabbath, the Jewish leaders began to persecute him. [17] In his defense Jesus said to them, “My Father is always at his work to this very day, and I too am working.” [18] For this reason they tried all the more to kill him; not only was he breaking the Sabbath, but he was even calling God his own Father, making himself equal with God.”

Sabbath was their trigger, using their view of the law to condemn Jesus. Now they had Him. He was actually saying the unthinkable…calling God His Father!

Let’s think about this situation.

It’s amazing what people will do to achieve their ends. Jesus saw opportunity in the lame man’s dilemma. Grace stepped in and the lame man walked again. The Pharisees saw opportunity to condemn their opponent. They accused and added another nail to His coffin and, inadvertantly, to their own…

JOHN’S GOSPEL… LOST AND FOUND-10

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The simple story of a lost woman, and, in it, a mirror of the heart of Jesus…

Jesus was on His way from Judea to Galilee. He had to face an obstacle on His journey…Samaria!

Why was Samaria an obstacle? Samaria was the territory of the historical enemies of the Jews. What used to be a section of the original northern kingdom of Israel, had become the land of aliens, half Jews who were an abomination to the full Jews who lived in Judah and Galilee. These Samaritans were the offspring of Gentiles and Jews after the conquest of Samaria by the Assyrians. Jewish territory was split by Samaria and Jews avoided crossing it at all costs.

John 4:4 NIV
[4] “Now he had to go through Samaria.”

Jesus’ “had to” had the aroma of the Father about it. Somewhere in Samaria was someone who needed Him despite cultural taboos. He ignored the foolish hatred of His fellow Jews and set off for Galilee through Samaria.

A long journey on foot! Hot and tired, He stopped to rest beside a well outside a Samaritan village. What could be more ordinary than that? His disciples had set off to buy food, leaving Him alone in the hot midday sun to catch His breath.

By and by, a woman approached the well. An unusual situation began to unfold. Any other Jewish man might have looked the away, turned his back on her, ignored her or done something to show his contempt.

Not Jesus! He watched her approach, began to feel a stirring in His spirit. There was something unusual about her appearance in the middle of the day. She should have been drawing water in the early morning or late afternoon, not in the heat of the day. He examined her appearance. Her DEMEANOUR was discomforting … defiance, challenge, something unsavoury in her look that anticipated a contemptuous gesture or a snarky comment from this Jewish man.

The woman was shocked by Jesus’ friendly attitude. He even spoke to her, not cursing or insulting words but a simple request. She had what He needed…water, so He asked her for a drink.

Slowly, the Jesus we are beginning to know, began to surface. Opportunity! He turned a simple request into a masterful opportunity to reach deep into her troubled soul. Slowly, tenderly, unlike any other human she has ever met, He began to probe, to uncover her secret, not to judge or condemn but to redirect her heart towards truth and freedom.

Let’s pause for a moment.

As we travel through John’s gospel, let’s gaze at the heart of the Father through the words and hands of Jesus. What was He about? He gave us a clear mission statement in His words to Nicodemus.

John 3:17 NIV
[17] “For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.”

Let His words echo in our spirits… “not to condemn but to save!” This implies that every thought or attitude in His heart was not to judge, not to condemn, unlike our hearts that judge, condemn, and sentence another that does NOT reflect the heart of Jesus.

Now, let’s continue.

Step by step, gently, responding even to her questions that attempted to steer Him away from her own sordid situation, Jesus made a shocking statement that said it all.

Probing deep…

John 4:16-18 NIV
[16] “He told her, “Go, call your husband and come back.” [17] “I have no husband,” she replied. Jesus said to her, “You are right when you say you have no husband. [18] The fact is, you have had five husbands, and the man you now have is not your husband. What you have just said is quite true.”

What a disclosure! Did He condemn her? No! This was her “lightbulb” moment. What did He tell her? “I know you!” Despite her attempt to evade His probing, this was her turning point and her testimony…

John 4:28-29 NIV
[28] “Then, leaving her water jar, the woman went back to the town and said to the people, [29] “Come, see a man who told me everything I ever did. Could this be the Messiah?”

Excited, free, and unashamed, she testified to her fellow Samaritans, “He knows me! ”

Above every other disclosure, the reality that Jesus knew her, knows us, deeply, intimately, despite all our efforts to dodge or hide, should convince us that He is God.

What if we face, on the day we meet Him, His sad, but terrifying words, “I never knew you!” not because, for a moment He lost His omniscience, but because we never allowed Him into our souls. We thought we knew Him and acted on what we knew…did all the religious things we thought He liked, but never gained access to His heart.

It’s the knowing of intimacy that changes everything.

So, Jesus’ little excursion through enemy territory, ignoring cultural taboos, listening to the voice of the Father, grasping a golden opportunity, turns out to have had eternal results…a woman rescued from her futile attempts to slake her heart’s thirst, a village rescued from a lost eternity…all because He chose to go through Samaria.

JOHN’S GOSPEL…COME, FOLLOW ME – 8

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John 1:36-39 NLT
[36] “As Jesus walked by, John looked at him and declared, “Look! There is the Lamb of God!” [37] When John’s two disciples heard this, they followed Jesus. [38] Jesus looked around and saw them following. “What do you want?” he asked them. They replied, “Rabbi” (which means “Teacher”), “where are you staying?” [39] “Come and see,” he said…”

John’s story about Jesus begins slowly and quietly…a couple of young guys hear John’s pronoucement, “Look, the Lamb of God.” Their curiosity is aroused. They trail after Jesus to find out more about Him. He notices their attention and invites them to his home. Where? We don’t know. Nothing unusual!

However, events begin to snowball. This ordinary situation, from John’s perspective, explodes into a growing following of inquisitive and excited admirers. First two, one being Andrew, Peter’s brother, then another, Peter… then Philip, then Nathaniel, joining the interested group. Did this early association blossom into the official calling of the twelve men who would accompany Him throughout the rest of His life? We don’t know how the two accounts come together except that John was recording these events from his own perspective. Many followed Jesus out of curiosity and interest before He called the Twelve.

Remember, one gospel record tells us that Jesus only officially chose His disciples after a night of prayer.

Luke 6:12-13 NLT
[12] “One day soon afterward Jesus went up on a mountain to pray, and he prayed to God all night. [13] At daybreak he called together all of his disciples and chose twelve of them to be apostles… “

So, the connection was made, the association happened, and the story gathered momentum.

Then, the first burst of light! Jesus and His buddies went to a wedding. The festivities were long and drawn out until…a disaster hsppened…the wine ran out! Not a drop left. Jesus’ mother, also among the guests, knew her son well so she threw the ball into His court and Jesus ran with it… for one reason…an opportunity!

Jesus always had two things in mind, the Father and His kingdom. His reason for being on earth was to introduce the real God, the Father, to His people and to usher in God’s rule again. His own people had effectively rejected His rule despite His covenant with them. Now He had come in person to set the record straight and to complete the task He had been assigned.

To complete His task, He needed, disciples, followers who were convinced of His identity and would continue where He left off..so, He did the impossible. He made water wine! That sounds crazy! He grabbed the opportunity, not only to do a remarkable miracle but also to teach an equally remarkable lesson using the situation as an object lesson. Jesus was always about teaching truth.

The outcome was startling…so much top quality wine that the party could go on for a long time.

And what of His disciples? John was there. He saw the evidence. He knew the outcome.

John 2:11 NIV
[11] “What Jesus did here in Cana of Galilee was the first of the signs through which he revealed his glory; and his disciples believed in him.”

They saw His glory…they believed in Him… until the next crisis hit and they needed more evidence.

JOHN’S GOSPEL… NICODEMUS THE PHARISEE – 9

Bible Study,

Interest in Jesus didn’t stop with His disciples. Someone else’s curiosity was aroused. A bit of a coward, Nicodemus, or was he earning overtime?

John 3:1-2 NIV
[1] “Now there was a Pharisee, a man named Nicodemus who was a member of the Jewish ruling council. [2] He came to Jesus at night…”

Why at night? Was this the only time when Jesus was free for a private interview…or was he scared of his fellow Pharisees?

Unlike his colleagues, Nicodemus wasn’t afraid to ask honest questions. Something had piqued his interest.” You are a rabbi… “

John 3:2 NIV
[2] “Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher who has come from God. For no one could perform the signs you are doing if God were not with him.”

The underlying thought, here, was the issue of authority. Every conflict with the Pharisees had the same core issue, “Who gave you this authority? Where did you get the authority to do what you are doing?”

Mark 11:27-28 NIV
[27] “They arrived again in Jerusalem, and while Jesus was walking in the temple courts, the chief priests, the teachers of the law and the elders came to him.
[28] “By what authority are you doing these things?” they asked. “And who gave you authority to do this?”

Authority was a big deal among rabbis. Some who were recognised to have unusual authority were known as rabbis with “sh’mikah”. Other used the authority of rabbis with sh’mikah to back up their arguments. Hence, His opponents asked Jesus a question, about divorce. “Whose authority do you support, Gamaliel, (the liberal) or Hillel ( the conservative)?”

True to form, Jesus replied, “Neither.” His authority came directly from the Father.

Matthew 19:3-6 NIV

[3] Some Pharisees came to him to test him. They asked, “Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife for any and every reason?” [4] “Haven’t you read,” he replied, “that at the beginning the Creator ‘made them male and female,’ [5] and said, ‘For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh’? [6] So they are no longer two, but one flesh. Therefore what God has joined together, let no one separate.”

Without saying so, Nicodemus was asking the same question. “Where did you get your authority?”

Jesus cut him short. No need to ask the question… He went for the jugular!

John 3:3 NIV
[3] “Jesus replied, “Very truly I tell you, no one can see the kingdom of God unless they are born again.”

Jesus, what on earth does that mean? What are you talking about?

Nicodemus lived in one realm, the realm of earth, Jesus in the other, the realm of heaven. The two realms were poles apart. For Nicodemus to have any part in the realm in which Jesus functioned, he had to be born into it.

Nicodemus was nonplussed. How would it be possible to go through the birth process all over again as an adult man?

Jesus continued…this “birth” could only happen through the power of the Holy Spirit, not by any natural process.

John 3:5-8 NIV
[5] “Jesus answered, “Very truly I tell you, no one can enter the kingdom of God unless they are born of water and the Spirit. [6] Flesh gives birth to flesh, but the Spirit gives birth to spirit. [7] You should not be surprised at my saying, ‘You must be born again.’ [8] The wind blows wherever it pleases. You hear its sound, but you cannot tell where it comes from or where it is going. So it is with everyone born of the Spirit.”

In a masterful presentation of the gospel, Jesus explained to Nicodemus that His origin was from heaven. Nicodemus was not expected to know what only Jesus could know because He came from the other realm.

One thing separated the two realms…faith. Faith in Him was the great divide, now and in eternity. Through faith in Jesus, a great transaction would take place…new birth and a whole new life in the new realm of spirit.

John 3:18 NIV
[18] “Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because they have not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son.”

Nicodemus wanted the truth. He got it straight from the mouth of Jesus. “If you believe in me, you will go to heaven. If you don’t believe in me, you will go to hell.” Could anything be clearer than that?

Why to people go to hell? They choose to go there. It’s that simple.

John 3:20 NIV
[20] “Everyone who does evil hates the light, and will not come into the light for fear that their deeds will be exposed.”

I wonder if Nicodemus had ever heard God’s message as clear as than that. In all his years as a Pharisee, he had never realised the truth. All his rituals and sacrifices pointed to one person, Jesus, the Messiah, right before him. This must have made a deep impression on him because it was Nicodemus who spoke up for Jesus.

John 7:50-51 NIV
[50] “Nicodemus, who had gone to Jesus earlier and who was one of their own number, asked, [51] “Does our law condemn a man without first hearing him to find out what he has been doing?”

It was Nicodemus who joined Joseph of Arimathea in burying Jesus’ body.

John 19:38-39 NIV
[38] “Later, Joseph of Arimathea asked Pilate for the body of Jesus. Now Joseph was a disciple of Jesus, but secretly because he feared the Jewish leaders. With Pilate’s permission, he came and took the body away. [39] He was accompanied by Nicodemus, the man who earlier had visited Jesus at night. Nicodemus brought a mixture of myrrh and aloes, about seventy-five pounds.”

So, the story of Nicodemus, at least in the Bible, ends here but, in his visit to Jesus at night, Nicodemus believed, and some of the simplest and yet most profound eternal truths of the gospel surfaced. Of all the vesrses in the Bible, surely the most familiar and beloved is John 3:16…

[16] “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.”

… from the lips of Jesus!