John 4

Study Guide 111: John 4:43-6:71 THE POWER OF THE NEW Overview This segment of John clearly illustrates the structure we’ ve mentioned earlier. John 4:43-5:14 reports two miracles: one the restoration of a child near death, and the other the restoration of a long-term invalid to full health. These lead directly into one of Christ’ s sermons on the source of life. John 6:1-71 tells first of the miracle of a few loaves and fishes multiplied to feed a great crowd. This miracle too leads directly to another major discourse: Jesus’ sermon on the Bread of Life. Yet the importance of this section isn’ t found in its structure, but in Jesus’ teaching. How important to share with our group members the vision of that new life Jesus brings. And how important to unveil the wonderful truth that what Jesus gives, He Himself sustains. BREAD. This was the primary food of people in Bible times. It was made from a variety of grains, often mixed with lentils or beans. The “ loaves” were baked flat, about a half inch thick. In the Bible, bread is symbolic as the sustainer of physical life. Thus Jesus’ quote: “ Man does not live on bread alone” (Matthew 4:4) insists human beings are not mere animals. And the prayer: “ Give us today our daily bread,” is an expression of dependence on God to meet all our needs for life in this present world.

Commentary He was never sure when he began to change. At first he had fought against the paralysis. Shame had washed over him when his friends picked up his pallet and carried him to Bethesda pool. His mouth compressed tightly; his forehead was rigid with a frown. One could feel the determination, sense the voice inside him that demanded over and over, “ I will walk again. I will!” How he had watched that pool! He was so desperate to reach it when the waters were rippled, to win the healing people said would come to the first person to slip in them. He had dug his fingers into the pavement, frantically jerking his body across the stones. But that was years ago. So many years. The friends were gone now, busy with their own affairs. His world was the tiny space occupied by his pallet on the pavement. He no longer struggled to reach the water. In 38 years he had learned to live with his paralysis; learned to accept his wasted, sticklike legs. All the old dreams were discarded. Now he was satisfied with an extra crust of bread in his begging bowl, or a little warmth when the wind brushed the clouds away from the sun. Thirty-eight years. Life had settled into routine, and he was . . . resigned. Now, I don’ t know that this is what happened to the man described in John 5:1-47. We’ re told only that he had been ill for 38 years, and that he had no one. But it’ s easy to imagine what must have happened inside as the reality of his paralysis wore away his spirit. We can imagine his youthful plans; the success or the security he dreamed of, the family he’ d have. And then came an illness that stripped him of everything: strength, companions, and finally, hope. No wonder when Jesus saw him, and “ learned that he had been in this condition for a long time,” His first words were, “ Do you want to get well?” (John 5:6) Do you want to be healed, or would the return of hope now be too painful to bear? That question is more wise than it might seem. Lanny and Marie have been married over 20 years. For the past 5 years they’ ve lived together, but apart. For a long time they had struggled, each wanting intimacy and oneness, but over and over again they had failed. The hurts grew deep and bitterness settled in. Finally Marie couldn’ t stand it any longer. She would stay with him, but not as a wife. And so life for each of them has now settled into polite loneliness. There is caring of a sort and, at times, fun. But always there is an emptiness that somehow hurts less than the pain they had when they were trying so hard. Lanny and Marie still long for a deeper relationship and a oneness in their marriage. But neither can respond to the offer of a fresh change. The anguish of past failure has made them afraid to risk anymore. Jesus’ offer of new life comes to men and women who have often been in bondage to paralyzing defeat for untold years. For many of us, an invitation to take a fresh start would be heard with doubts and fear. To understand the grace Jesus unveils and see why it is safe to accept His offer, we need to see more clearly the life that Jesus holds out to us. LINK TO LIFE: YOUTH / ADULT Tell your group members either the true story of Lanny and Marie, or the author’ s interpretation of the paralyzed man’ s experience. Then discuss: “ Why might people with deep personal problems not want to be healed? When is hope a threat that frightens rather than a blessing that excites? What in your life might feel threatening if you knew it could be healed?”

The Miracle of New Life: John 4:43-5:18 The incidents in chapters 4-6 take place in different districts: Galilee, then Jerusalem, then Galilee again. But these incidents are linked by the logic of John’ s pattern of miracle and teaching. And common to each scene is Jesus’ offer of eternal life; a life that can release us from our bondage to our past. The first miracle (John 4:43-54). In Jesus’ home district of Galilee, an official begged him to heal a terminally ill son. This was no appeal based on curiosity, or on some perverse insistence that Jesus prove Himself. When Jesus suggested such might be the case, the distraught official could only beg, “ Sir, come down before my child dies!” The father was desperate, and he turned to Jesus as his only hope. Christ sent the man away with the promise that the boy would live. The man believed. As he returned home, he was met by servants who excitedly told him that the boy’ s recovery had begun the same hour Jesus had said, “ Your son will live.” The Word had reached out across the miles and brought life where there had been only the bitter prospect of death. The second miracle (John 5:1-18). This is the miracle we’ ve already noted. The paralyzed man had lived with death for 38 years. He had suffered the loss of all things and was so empty of hope that he had to be asked, “ Do you want to get well?” The man chose healing, and Jesus spoke the life-bringing word: “ Get up! Pick up your mat and walk” (John 5:9). These two miracles focused attention on Jesus’ claim to be able to bring and to restore life. Strangely, the miracles also created opposition. Jesus had healed the paralytic on the Sabbath, established in Scripture as a day of rest. The man was joyfully carrying his pallet out of the city (as Jesus had told him to do), when he was accused of breaking the Sabbath by “ working” on the holy day. When the man explained what had happened, the leaders condemned Jesus because He had dared to heal (another “ work” ) on God’ s Day. Jesus responded that He and His Father were both still at work (John 5:17). This stimulated murderous anger from the Jews, who realized that with these words Jesus was “ making Himself equal with God” (John 5:18). Against the background of these two miracles demonstrating Jesus’ life-giving power and the fury of Israel’ s leaders, Jesus began to teach about God’ s grace. LINK TO LIFE: CHILDREN How long should we trust God and pray when we are sick? It took a long time for the paralyzed man in John 5:1-47 to be healed. But finally Jesus did act. Work with your Junior-age boys and girls to make a list of the times they have been sick, and how long their sicknesses lasted. Then discuss: “ Has God answered many of our prayers to be healed? Did it seem to take Him a long time to answer? Do you know people who have been sick a longer time?” Usually God answers our prayers for healing quickly. But even if it takes a longer time, we can keep on praying and trusting God. Jesus is able to heal us, and to give us strength while we are waiting.

Sermon on the Source of Life: John 5:19-47The Jews persecuted Jesus on the grounds that He was a Sabbath-breaker, and especially because He dared to claim He was equal with God. Jesus unhesitatingly told His angry critics that He and the Father are One. It is just this equality with God that enables Jesus to offer life to us. One in action (John 5:19-21). The oneness of the Father and Son is seen in that “ the Son can do nothing by Himself; He can only do what He sees His Father doing, because whatever the Father does the Son also does.” Jesus’ actions perfectly reflect the Father’ s will. Two acts of Jesus have just expressed God the Father: restoring the official’ s son and healing the paralytic. Each shows God’ s desire to bring us life. But Jesus promised even “ greater things” that will demonstrate resurrection power. God can take the physically and spiritually dead and give them life. In this task of giving life, Father and Son are One. One in honor (John 5:22-24). Jesus perfectly reflects the Father, for They act as One. Now Christ went on to claim that He has authority to judge. James warned us about speaking evil of or judging a brother. He pointed out that anyone who does judge steps out of his role as a subject of the Law and, in effect, claims authority over it. “ There is only one Lawgiver and Judge, the One who is able to save and destroy” (James 4:12). So when Jesus stated that the Father “ has entrusted all judgment to the Son,” He was again claiming deity. Only God, who gave the Law, is above it. Jesus must be honored as God, and submitted to in all things. “ He who does not honor the Son does not honor the Father who sent Him,” is Jesus’ inescapable conclusion. The Jews had just criticized and persecuted Jesus because He healed on the Sabbath. By their definition, Jesus “ worked” and so was a lawbreaker. By criticizing Jesus, they placed themselves beside God as judges, and yet they were outraged when Jesus made “ Himself equal with God.” What is the judgment of Jesus to which we are to submit? It is that the one who hears Jesus and believes in God through Him has eternal life. Honor Jesus, and you pass beyond all condemnation, out of the realm of death into life. LINK TO LIFE: CHILDREN Play “ how do we honor?” Mention different people and let the kids volunteer ideas of how we honor them. We honor the policeman by doing what he tells us. We honor mom and dad by obeying and showing them respect. We honor teachers by learning from them. We honor the flag by standing up and saying the pledge. We honor the President by standing up when he comes into the room. How do we honor Jesus? By believing in Him and accepting Him as Saviour. The source of life (John 5:25-29). The life that Jesus brings us is resurrection life: life from death. We look forward to a resurrection day in the future; but today, by responding to the voice of Jesus, we can come out of the grave we are living in right now, and experience newness in Him. Lanny and Marie are afraid to try to rebuild their marriage. Their relationship is wrapped in the graveclothes of the past, buried in the cold ground of old hurts and habits. They can never break out of their bondage to the dead past by themselves. But if they hear Jesus and honor Him, they can experience resurrection power through His gift of eternal life. Then there will be hope for them. Witness of the Father (John 5:30-36). But how do we know that the Father and Son are One? How can we be sure Jesus is able to provide the eternal life He promises? Jesus pointed His critics to the evidence. It’ s not just that John the Baptist, a prophet, testified of Him. God the Father added His own unique seal in the life-bringing miracles that Christ’ s enemies had witnessed! Even the rulers recognized the validity of that testimony, as Nicodemus had admitted, “ We know You are a Teacher who has come from God. For no one could do the miraculous signs You are doing if God were not with him” (James 3:2). The rulers could not deny the evidence. But they still would not commit themselves to Jesus, or honor Him as God. Witness of Scripture (John 5:37-47). There is yet another witness to Jesus. “ You diligently study the Scriptures,” Jesus said, “ because you think that by them you possess eternal life.” They were wrong; studying the Bible or knowing its contents backward and forward does not earn anyone eternal life. What the Scriptures do is point individuals to Jesus. The Scriptures tell of sin and spiritual death. The message of the Word of God should have led these biblical scholars to do what the father of the dying boy did — recognize that his own efforts were futile, and look for God’ s grace to appear. These scholars should have recognized that they were no more able to earn God’ s favor than the paralytic was able to get himself into the pool. They should have been eagerly looking for the prophesied new life, and should have been ready to receive the gift from Jesus’ hand. By refusing to turn to Jesus, who is One with the Father, the men and women Jesus spoke to that day showed how far their hearts were from God. They would not believe; and because they would not believe, Jesus could not give them life. LINK TO LIFE: YOUTH / ADULT Work through the John 5:1-47 teaching of Jesus as a group to be sure that your members understand its flow and the basic points Jesus was making. Then, in pairs or small groups of three or four, develop pithy sayings of not more than six words that sum up some important point in the form of advice. For example: “ Let Jesus judge.” “ Jesus works.” “ Rise and live.”

New Life Sustained: John 6:1-24Again John described a miracle and then reported a teaching session growing out of it. This discourse deepens our understanding of the new life Jesus offers us through grace. The public miracle (John 6:1-24). Great crowds had followed Jesus to see His signs and hear His teachings. They were with Him when mealtime came and passed, and they had had nothing to eat. Jesus took all the food that was available (five small barley loaves and two fish), prayed, and divided it among the people. The 5,000 men, plus women and children, all “ had enough to eat,” and the disciples collected 12 full baskets of leftovers. The people recognized that a great miracle had been performed and cried, “ Surely this is the Prophet who is to come into the world.” Immediately they decided “ to come and make Him King by force” (John 6:14-15). We learn a lot from that phrase; they wanted to take Him by force and make Him King! A king is one who rules, not is ruled by others. But the men and women who participated in the miracle of the loaves and the fish were determined to use Jesus; they had no desire to obey Him. Jesus, knowing their motives, slipped away. By the next day the crowd had followed Him to the other side of the lake and began to ask Him many questions. He based His teaching on the miracle of the loaves, and presented Himself to the people as the “ Bread of Life.”

Sermon on the Bread of Life: John 6:25-59The theme of the message is life sustained. Jesus told the crowd about food that “ endures to eternal life” (John 6:27). He said those who are sustained by it will never go hungry and never be thirsty (John 6:35). Jesus promised to sustain a relationship with those who “ remain in Me” so that life will be continuously experienced (John 6:56-57). It’ s not enough simply to have life; life must be sustained and developed. There must be provision for daily growth. None of this concerned the crowd. They wanted a king who could validate himself by an acceptable sign. And what sign did they want? “ Our forefathers ate the manna in the desert.” They wanted to be fed, so they would not need to work. Jesus rebuked them, and exhorted them to focus not on food that perishes but on that which endures to eternal life. They were to look for the true Bread from heaven, and put their trust in Him. “ I am the Bread of Life” (John 6:35-40). Each statement Jesus made stressed the continuing benefits of the life He brings. You will never be hungry. God will, in Jesus, keep on supplying that which sustains our new life. You will never be thirsty. A human being can go without food for weeks without dying, but he cannot go without water. Jesus promises to satisfy even that most intense of needs; He will see that we lack nothing we need. I will never drive [him] away . . . I shall lose none of all that He has given me. We can be sure Jesus will extend God’ s grace to us in a daily experience of eternal life as well as in a permanent relationship with God. “ I am the Bread that came down from heaven” (John 6:41-51). The manna God provided for the Israelites during the Exodus is a picture of Jesus as the “ living Bread.” When God’ s people traveled through the wilderness, they had to depend on God to provide their food supernaturally. God provided the food in a way that would also teach the people something about their relationship with Him. Every day God gave enough food for that day. No one could gather more than a day’ s supply. There had to be a continual, constant dependence on God; He was the only source of sustenance. The Jews murmured against Christ’ s claim to be “ Bread that came down from heaven.” They knew this Man and His family; how could He claim a heavenly origin? Jesus answered that it would be God who would draw men to Christ. And Jesus then went on to promise that anyone who believed in Him would have eternal life, and anyone who fed on the living Bread “ will live forever.” “ Eat the flesh of the Son of man” (John 6:52-59). Many see in those words a reference to the Communion service. “ This is My body, given for you,” Jesus would say as He instituted the memorial service. This is “ My blood which is poured out for you.” But to “ eat” and “ drink” the body and blood of Jesus means far more than to participate in a shared memorial, as the rest of our passage suggests. “ Whoever eats My flesh and drinks My blood remains in Me” (John 6:56). “ He who feeds on this bread will live forever” (John 6:58). “ The words I have spoken to you are spirit,” Jesus said (John 6:63). Jesus was using body and blood to represent everything needed to sustain and support life. Our lives will be supported so completely that we never will hunger or thirst. Our spiritual lives will be sustained so completely that they will endure until Jesus raises us up on the last day. We are to go to Jesus and to Him alone, for all the resources and the strength we need to live our new lives. We can rely only on our Lord.

Rejection: John 6:60-71The crowds that had been attracted by the prospect of free food now shook their heads. Not only did Jesus fail to produce the expected dinners, but He had begun to speak like some madman! Even a few of those who had been His disciples (in the sense of general adherents, not in the stronger sense of committed followers), “ turned back and no longer followed Him” (John 6:66). But when Jesus asked the Twelve if they would leave too, Peter answered for them. “ Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life. We believe and know that You are the Holy One of God” (John 6:68-69). Peter and the others understood no better than the crowds. But they were willing to trust Him. You and I might not grasp the meaning of all of Jesus’ words either. We can’ t yet tell just what “ remaining” and “ living” in Jesus, or “ feeding” on Him, mean. But we do know that if we are to enjoy our new lives, we must keep on looking to Jesus daily to supply our needs, and to sustain us with His grace. LINK TO LIFE: YOUTH / ADULT Lead your group in an analysis of the verbs in John 6:25-59. First list statements Jesus made about Himself: He is the “ Bread from heaven,” etc.). Continue the list with series of divine actions: Jesus will “ raise up believers” at the last day. Then try to match the active verbs that suggest what persons are to do, in view of who Jesus is, with what God and Jesus do or will do. There may be differences of opinion as to which verbs fit where. Your discussion will help to clarify both the passage and the meaning of such terms as “ eat” and “ believe.”

Teaching Guide Prepare Examine motives of the crowds around Jesus as revealed in John 6:15, John 6:25-27. Pray that God will guard your group members from similar motives in their relationships with Him.

Explore

1. Tell either the story of the paralyzed man or of Lanny and Marie. Follow the plan in “ link-to-life” above.
2. Or tell about the paralyzed man, and his loss of hope as disappointing years passed. Explain the reason for Jesus’ question: “ Do you want to be well?” Then ask each group member to close his or her eyes, and imagine that Jesus is standing there, asking him or her that same question. Ask: “ What in your life would Jesus be talking about? How does that question make you feel?” Without having any identify the issue, do have each share about the feelings Jesus’ question would arouse.

Expand

1. John 5:1-47 focuses on the theme of life itself. Use the method given in “ link-to-life” above to develop from this key chapter a number of “ good-advice” sayings.
2. Or study John 6:1-71. Work for a content analysis as explained above.

Apply Ask each to pray silently, giving Jesus his or her answer: Do you really want to be healed?