John 8

Chapter 8. Ten Miracles in the Gospel of JohnWe find 10 remarkable miracles in John, which are “signs” as well as wonders. The First Miracle (John 2:1-11)

1. The marriage at Cana. This miracle was especially, as indeed all Christ’s miracles were, a sign as well as a wonder, setting forth many underlying spiritual truths. This sign was especially significant of the whole teaching of John’s gospel, expressed in a single sentence; its chief lesson is the failure of the life of nature, and the deeper and fuller life which Jesus brings us in the new creation. The feast and wine of Cana represent earth’s highest felicity, and the failure of Cana’s wine expresses the blight which has fallen on all our human life and happiness. The new wine which Jesus brings is the figure of that divine life which He has come to impart to our lost humanity. All He needs is that the earthly vessel of our being shall be empty and then filled with the living water of His Holy Spirit, and that we shall begin to pour it out in love and service. We find that it has become new wine, making all life a marriage feast and a foretaste of the marriage supper of the Lamb. He that would enter into this blessed life must not forget the charge of Mary to the servants at Cana, “Do whatever he tells you” (John 2:5). As we follow His word in faith and obedience, we shall find, as they did, that all our wants are supplied at His bidding, and our life’s deepest extremities transformed into occasions of overflowing blessing. There is also in the marriage scene an obvious hint of that divine relationship with Himself, into which Jesus has come to bring us, as the Bridegroom of His Church, and the satisfaction of the deepest affections of the consecrated heart, so that back of this picture there shines, in living characters, not only the glorious word Life, but the still loftier name of Love. There is also a delightful suggestion of the sympathy of Jesus with all human life in its innocent joys and the pure affections and pleasures of that sweet sanctuary which His own example has ever hallowed, the home. The Temple Cleansed (John 2:13-22)
2. The cleansing of the temple. Among the deeper teachings of this impressive miracle may be mentioned: a. The authority of Jesus over the institutions of Judaism and the sanctuary of His Father’s worship. This act was a bold assumption of His Messiahship. b. The typical meaning of the temple as the symbol of His own body, and especially His mystical body, the Church, gives a deeper spiritual importance to His act of authority and judgment. He refers in the passage to this typical significance and speaks of His own body as the true temple which was to be destroyed and raised up again. The conception of the Christian Church as the body and also as the temple of Christ is common to the New Testament epistles. In this aspect the miracle emphasizes the necessity of the purity of the Church and her separation from the world, and especially all worldly methods for her support. It would not be hard to find in a majority of the churches of today many a counterpart of the oxen, the sheep, the doves, and the money changers of the ancient temple. We see it in the spirit of worldly conformity in the lives of many Christians; in the unhallowed entertainments which so often defile the sanctuary of God, covered by the flimsy excuse of the need of helping out the finances of the church; in the hired worldlings that so often lead the service of praise with the flavor of the opera or the associations of the beer garden concert; and alas, in the mercenary spirit that too often controls the very ministry itself and reproaches the name of the Master. The scourge of small cords which the Master used might explain many of the petty trials, afflictions, disappointments and failures of many a church which does not understand the chastening of its God and the lessons of its barrenness and failure. c. The miracle, however, has a more personal application to the individual heart. If the Lord would come into this individual temple, it, too, must be cleansed. But He Himself is the only true Deliverer, and sometimes the first stage of His work is one of deep pain and sharp chastisement. As the first miracle teaches us the lesson of the new life, the second emphasizes the necessity of purity as the result of love and the very element of all Christ’s blessings and teachings. Faith Without Sight (John 4:46-54)
3. The royal official’s son. The emphatic lesson of this miracle is, as we have already shown, the necessity of faith as the condition of Christ’s work and blessing, especially the faith that rises above the visible and rests on His simple word. This also becomes a sign of the special teaching of John, and is an object lesson in the beginning of the gospel, of the principle which He declares in words at the end; “Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed” (John 20:29). Over more than 20 miles of intervening space we see the instant working of Christ’s mighty word and this man’s immediate faith. With explicit detail it is added that the fever abated the very hour the man believed. We see here, also, two stages of faith: faith, in the first instance, before he saw the result (John 4:50); and faith afterwards in its fuller developments when he and his household witnessed the consummation of the miracle: “So he and all his household believed” (John 4:53). The first was a belief in Christ’s word of healing, the second was a complete committal of his heart to Christ Himself in His character and teachings, and a deep and settled confidence arising from his deeper knowledge of Christ. This is what the apostle expresses when he says, “I know whom I have believed” (2 Timothy 1:12). The Great Physician (John 5:1-14)
4. The invalid man at Bethesda. The emphatic teaching of this miracle is the restoring ministry of Jesus in contrast with all man’s superstitions and human attempts to help himself. The pool of Bethesda, with all its supposed virtues, is a fair specimen of man’s various methods of help and healing both for soul and body. The very corruptions of the passage are an amusing hint of the foolish superstitions that human religions and remedies have heaped up through the centuries, and the wretched failure of all for nearly half a century to help this poor sufferer is a fair commentary on the value of man’s best attempts to save himself. It is scarcely necessary to explain that the words of verse four about the angel troubling the waters are an interpolation and do not belong to the text. The sufferer, too, is an excellent illustration both of the physical and spiritual condition of most sinners. His greatest need is strength, his chief symptom, impotence both of muscle and of will. In healing him the Lord pays no regard to the pool of Bethesda or his feeble complaints about getting somebody to help him when the waters are troubled, but simply asks him if he has will enough, or will exercise sufficient desire to choose to be whole. Faith an Act of Will The Lord here teaches us that both in spiritual and physical healing the secret of faith is a decisive act of will, and the moment we are ready to commit ourselves to God, definitely and irrevocably, He is willing to carry us through. Therefore, Christ requires of this man an instantaneous and decisive act of faith, “Get up! Pick up your mat and walk” (John 5:8). And the moment he obeys, the power already communicated to his will passes into his entire being, and the victim of nearly 40 years is well. This miracle led to an important discussion about the limitations of the Sabbath which we shall elsewhere refer to. We have already seen that the fact of Christ’s so often healing on the Sabbath was directly designed to rebuke the prevailing idea that sickness was a purely secular thing, and the physician’s art a matter of worldly business. Jesus ever taught that the body was as sacred as the soul, and divine healing as much a part of His sacred ministry as salvation. Another hint is given in this miracle of the spiritual cause of his diseases. This was not always the case, but in the present instance it is certain that the long and weary sufferings of this man’s life were the direct results of his own personal sin, and that the continuance of his healing would depend upon a life of purity and obedience, while the neglect of this would bring him still more aggravated judgments. The Multitude Fed (John 6:1-14)
5. The feeding of the five thousand. We notice in this miracle a beautiful progress in the spiritual truths unfolded by these signs. The last miracle revealed Jesus as the Restorer of life, this as the Sustainer and Support of both our spiritual and physical life—the Living Bread by whom our entire being must be supplied with vital strength from day to day. The bread distributed to these multitudes did not cease with the setting sun on those Galilean hills, but still through all the ages since His ascension, it has been repeated, not always to the multitudes, but to every single heart that will come to Him and feed upon Him. Some of the details which John gives us of this miracle are richly instructive. Two of the disciples are introduced in the preliminary conversation, and their perplexity and unbelief stands out in striking contrast with His own calm faith and power. Philip, like many of us, sees only the vastness of the multitude; Andrew, only the smallness of the resources, the five loaves and two small fishes. But Jesus calmly commands them to go forward and make all the arrangements for the feast. When the few loaves and fishes have been brought to Him, He gave thanks, and distributes them through the disciples. As they hand them to the people, one by one, the bread is multiplied until all are satisfied, and the fragments that remain are enough to fill to overflowing the baskets of all the disciples. We have here, therefore, not only a sign of the Living Bread which we ourselves can feed upon, but of our responsibility to give it to the world, and of the sufficiency of the feeble resources we may possess for our work. If we only bring them to Him and go forth with His blessing in the simple steps of faith and obedience, then not only will we have enough for the world’s need, however wide the world of our work may be, but when the work is done, our own baskets shall be overflowing, and our own souls shall have been blessed, replenished, and strengthened a hundredfold. The Tempest Stilled (John 6:16-21)
6. The stilling of the tempest. This is a revelation of Christ as He meets the next need of our human life. In our trials and dangers Christ is the Deliverer and Comforter. First, He lets trial come to them, nay, often sends them forth before Him alone in the midst of the storm and the darkness of the night. So He sent His little Church out into the future without His visible presence, and knowing the tempests of persecution and opposition that were to assail her through the long night of the Dark Ages. So also He sends forth each of us upon the path of life, through waves and clouds and storms; but we need not fear if He has sent us. Second, He sees us from the mountaintop, and, indeed, is praying for us there amid all the tempests’ rage; nor will He allow the trial to become too great, but will come in the right moment. Third, His coming to us as a spiritual presence, both in the Church’s history and in the individual heart, is often misunderstood and unperceived. We are even afraid of the form of our Lord, as unbelief distorts it, and even changes it, until it is a structure of terror. But we may always know Him by His voice, “It is I; don’t be afraid” (John 6:20). The true remedy for all our trials is just this personal Christ. He does not say it is morning, or it is calm weather, but, “It is I.” Not in circumstances, nor in ourselves, but in His blessed presence, is our security and consolation. Fourth, there is something better still: He is coming in person, perhaps on the tempest and billows of the wildest storm that the Church has ever known; but when He comes, it will be true again, “immediately the boat reached the shore where they were heading” (John 6:21). Her trials will be past, and long deferred hopes will be realized, and she will be where tempests cease and surges swell no more. The Blind Man Healed (John 9:1-38)
7. The blind man at Jerusalem. This is also a progressive unfolding of Jesus, now as the Light of the world; and not only the Light, but the Giver of sight as well as external light; and the Quickener of all our powers of spiritual vision, if we are but willing to acknowledge our blindness and receive Him as our Teacher. Many definite lessons are taught us by this remarkable case of healing. a. We learn that disease is not always caused by sin, but is sometimes permitted in order that the power of God to heal may be more signally displayed. This man’s blindness was not the result of special sin, either on his own part or his parents’, but that the works of God might be made manifest in him, that is, of course, in his healing. What a blessing it would be if we would ever feel that our troubles have been permitted, not that we should sink under them, but that God might have an adequate occasion to show what He can do in our deliverance. b. He definitely implies that his blindness was not the work of God, but of another hand. The works of God were to be manifested in his healing. Not only was this Christ’s work, but the Father’s work which He had come to do; and so He seems to imply that when He shall have gone, night will again begin to fall upon the world, and the works of the Father in healing and restoring wrecked humanity will in some measure, cease, not through lack of the Father’s will, but rather of a willing instrument (John 9:4-5). c. The method of this man’s healing was through a double sign: first, the anointing of his eyes with clay, and second, the washing away of the clay in the pool of Siloam. Did Christ mean by this double sign to intimate the cause and the cure of our spiritual blindness; clay implying the touch of earth which has dimmed our vision, and then the pool, significant of the sent One, representing the washing from on high by which earth’s clay is put away and our eyes are opened to the heavenly vision? Not a Remedy To say that this application was the use of a remedy for his blindness and was a recognition of human remedies seems too absurd to need answer. If the clay was the remedy, it seems strange that he was not healed until it was washed away. If the pool was the remedy, why should it not be as efficacious in other cases? This was a case where no remedy could avail, for he was a man born blind, and remedy means something adapted to produce a result. Now nothing could be adapted in this case to produce the result, because it was impossible; therefore these two acts were but symbols of the divine touch and of the deeper spiritual lessons unfolded, as today, the anointing of oil in the name of the Lord is not a means of cure, but it is a visible sign of the divine touch upon the suffering one. d. The testimony of this man is full of manly courage and keen discernment. He faces the whole synagogue and stands fearlessly for his Deliverer, amazed that anybody could doubt that One to whom God could give such power was a true Teacher and divine Messenger. Like many still who are not afraid to witness for all that God has done for them, his persecution ended in his being expelled from the synagogue. But like every similar trial, it brought him a greater blessing, for then the Master met him and led him into a deeper revelation of His own character and love; and prostrate at Jesus’ feet his spiritual vision was now open and he recognized and worshiped the Son of God as his own Savior and Lord. It teaches us that as we are true to Christ and to the light and blessing He gives us, He will lead us on and more freely meet us in every trial and suffering with the higher revelation of Himself. His Supreme Miracle (John 11:1-45)
8. The resurrection of Lazarus. This completes the progress of development in this series of Christ’s miracles, unfolding the last and highest stage of His work of grace and power, not only as the Restorer, Comforter, Sustainer and Healer of His people, but as the Conqueror of death and the Author of resurrection life. No other miracle of resurrection can be compared to this. Here corruption had already begun its work, and only Omnipotence could ever call back the spirit now four days in the world of the unseen. There was no possible cavil against this miracle. The Pharisees were silenced before its majesty and felt that their only resource was violence and murder. It is not necessary to repeat here what has been said elsewhere upon this passage further than to call attention to the faith which He sought to awaken in Martha’s mind, and which, there can scarcely be a doubt, He saw in Mary’s simpler heart, but, above all, to the sublime faith of the Lord Himself. No mightier prayer has ever been uttered than this, “Father, I thank you that you have heard me” (John 11:41). It is the pattern of victorious faith in the hour of all our trials, in the face of every dark disaster and consuming sorrow. It will open the gates of brass and break in pieces the doors of iron, and bring to us every deliverance consistent with the will of God and the possibilities of faith. It was also the foreshadowing of the future resurrection. His words to Martha seem to include two classes who shall take part in the stupendous change which shall occur at His coming. First, there will be those who, like Lazarus, have long been sleeping in their graves, of whom it shall be true, “He who believes in me will live, even though he dies” (John 11:25). But secondly, there will be those who will be still alive at His appearing, and of them the next sentence shall be also true, “whoever lives and believes in me will never die” (John 11:26). Thus also does this miracle become a sign of spiritual truth, foreshadowing the resurrection and containing the pledge and guarantee of every victory and blessing we need to claim from Him who is still for each one of us, as we will receive Him and trust Him, the Resurrection and the Life. His Voluntary Surrender (John 18:4-12)
9. The prostration of the officers who came to arrest Him. There is no doubt that this manifestation of Christ’s power was miraculous and was designed to impress these men with His ability to resist their force if He so desired, and with the perfect voluntariness of His surrender and submission to their hands. Perhaps, also, it was designed to give weight to His demand that His own disciples should be exempted from arrest. “If you are looking for me, then let these men go” (John 18:8), is the condition of which He yields Himself to their power. This incident gives a sublime meaning to all the events that immediately followed, culminating with His death. It makes His crucifixion an act of perfect self-sacrifice, and invests the cross with all the grandeur of infinite love. Indeed, this is the view which predominates in John’s picture of the last sufferings and death of Christ. The darker shadows are all omitted from the picture, and the cross is represented, not as His defeat and humiliation, but as the hour when the Son of Man was glorified. Therefore, the garden scene of conflict and agony is omitted and we behold Him rather as the Master of the situation, dictating His own terms to the very officers who stand before Him. So again, in the presence of the Sanhedrin He stands in holy majesty, not challenging a single word of testimony against Him. So, in Pilate’s judgment hall He is the real judge, and Pilate himself the witness for His innocence. So, even on the cross the pall of darkness is omitted and the parting word is a shout of victory. The Last Miracle (John 21:1-10)
10. The second catch of fishes. This is the last sign recorded in this gospel, and its significance is connected with the great theme of service for Christ to which the apostles were now to be called in a higher and mightier sense than during His earthly ministry. a. There is an undoubted allusion to the former catch of fishes three years before and its significance of their first call to apostolic service. This would naturally be associated with a similar call, although of course, in a higher sense. b. There is a suggestion in the background of the miracle, of their having in some measure gone back from their high calling and begun at last to falter in their faith and courage. And so the lesson is in some sense a message to the Master’s discouraged and unfaithful disciples, those who, doubting their Master’s faithfulness, have gone back to some old place of worldly compromise or earthly occupation, from which He had previously separated them. In such a place it is a great mercy if, like the seven disciples, we too have a wretched time and find all our efforts unavailing and lost. c. The appearance of Jesus on the shore in the gray dawn was unrecognized; and the disciple who is out of his Lord’s will, will be very likely to miss even the vision of his Lord through the blinding influence of unbelief and worldly occupation. d. The command of Christ to cast the net on the other side and the immediate results in the miraculous catch of fishes, reveal the Master. John is the first to recognize Him, because his spirit was the least clouded by unbelief, and Peter is the first to plunge for the shore. The other disciples followed in a little fishing boat, dragging the loaded net and landing it, with Peter’s help, with its enormous store of great fishes, every one of which is safely landed and the net unbroken. All this is so different from the former miracle, where the net broke and the ship began to sink, and Peter in guilty awe, begged the Master to depart from him, because he felt unworthy of His presence, that it must itself have suggested to their minds the higher lessons it has taught the Church of service for Christ and the Church. e. The chief of these lessons is the higher service upon which they were now to enter into fellowship with their risen Lord, and of which Peter, who had just dragged the net to land, was to be the first illustrious example through his harvest of souls on the day of Pentecost. They were to learn the vanity and selfishness of all their wisdom and strength in the Master’s work, and the necessity of His presence and guidance as they cast the gospel net into the sea of sinful men. Only as He stood upon the shore were they able to cast it upon the right side, and only as they spoke and acted in fellowship with Him would they be able to bring to land the souls they sought to save. But henceforth that presence and power was to be their resource. Henceforth, the imperfect work which had ended in their desertion and denial of the Lord was to be repeated no more. Abiding in Him they should bring forth much fruit and their fruit should remain. Their fishes should be brought to land, and in the great day should be all counted upon the heavenly shore, like the great fishes on the Galilean morning, the glorious and eternal memorials of their work. Not only so, but their morning meal upon the beach, upon the very fishes which they had caught, was intended to teach them that their work should be their future reward, and that in a very blessed sense they should feed upon its fruits, both now and in the eternal morning. In a little while, for every true worker, the vision will be fulfilled, the last long night of sorrow will be over, and the golden shore will be just ahead, with His blessed face and His beckoning hand, calling us to His presence. One last plunge like Peter’s into the dark waters, and we shall be there; the last wave shall be passed, the last shadow gone; and as He seats us at His table and says to us, “Come and have breakfast” (John 21:12), we shall know it is the Lord; and we shall recognize among the richest joys and recompenses of the eternal banquet the tears we have dried on earth, the sins we have covered with His blood, the steps we have recalled from the paths of sin, the souls we have warned from death, the lives we have given to His love, and the blessed ones we shall find awaiting us in His presence and hailing us as the instruments of their eternal happiness.