A series of short talks on John Chapter 2

A series of short talks on John Chapter 2.

A series of short videos on John Chapter 1

A series of short videos on John Chapter 1

Sermon: Without me you can do nothing - John 15:1-17

A sermon preached at the Gate Church International on Sunday 26th March

John 21:23-25 -We know that his testimony is true

21:23

John knew that people would assume that Jesus’ words meant that John would not die, but would see the return of Jesus. By the way, this is also evidence that the beloved disciple, and the one who wrote the gospel, is indeed John the Apostle. John here stresses that Jesus did not actually say that John would not die, rather He was stressing that Peter did not need to concern himself with what Jesus’ plans for John were.

21:24,25

John now makes it even clearer that it is he, the apostle John, who is writing this gospel. I suppose it is actually possible that these last two verses were written by someone else, and that this person is making it clear here that all the preceding material comes from John the Apostle. The gospel finishes with an acknowledgement that the gospel contains only a small selection of the things that Jesus did. Jesus did many more things. Some of them are recorded in the synoptic gospels, but He did even more things than those.

John 21:20-22 - You follow me!

21:20,21

Having seen the restoration of Peter, John now turns to himself. This disciple, being John, makes it clear that the “disciple whom Jesus loved” is the same disciple as this term was applied to throughout the gospel. Peter sees John and, having received such a prophecy about himself, wonders what is going to happen to John. 

21:22

Jesus says “if it is my will that he remain until I come, what is that to you?”. Jesus had told Peter what would happen to him when he was old, so an implication of this is that the return was not imminent. Jesus’ answer certainly says that He will return. However, it does not say that John would be alive when He returns. The key point of what Jesus says to Peter is “what is that to you?”. God has different plans and purposes for each one of us. It is not fruitful for us to be comparing ourselves to others, or seeing if one is “treated better” than another. “You follow me!”. This is what all of us should be doing and concentrating upon, following Jesus. What matters most to me is “am I following Christ?”.

John 21:17-19 - Feed my sheep

21:17

Jesus asked Peter a third time if he loves Him. This is where the change from agape to philo occurs. Peter uses philo in all his responses. Peter is grieved that Jesus asks him a third time, and replies that he does indeed love Him, adding that Jesus knows everything about him. Most (all) of us are like Peter, a mixture of true devotion and failure. Jesus yet again commands him to feed his sheep. If we read Peter’s letters we can see that Peter did indeed learn his lessons and he wrote from a very gentle heart.

21:18,19

Jesus then gives Peter a very serious word. Jesus describes to Peter how he will die, on a cross. The stretching out of his hands refers to his hands being nailed to the cross. This prophecy is both terrifying and comforting to Peter. It would be terrifying because of the nature of the death that Jesus was foretelling. And Peter had this prophecy hanging over him for some thirty years. Imagine ministering knowing that this was your destiny, at least here on earth, of course death was not the end. Yet it would also be encouraging. Peter had declared his willingness to die for Christ and then failed in the most miserable way. Jesus is telling him that he would indeed die for Christ. Jesus can enable us to do what we can never do in our own strength.

John 21:15,16 - Do you love me?

21:15

We now come to Peter’s personal encounter with Jesus. Some see this as totally separate to the preceding events, but the text makes it clear that it all flows together. Jesus famously asks Peter if he loves Him. Many talks on this make great play of the difference between the words used for love, philo and agape. According to Carson this distinction is largely spurious. The two words are not exactly the same, but there is a considerable level of overlap in their usage, so we should not make great play of any supposed difference. “More than these” has been taken in various ways. The most likely Jesus is asking Peter if he loves Him more than the other disciples do. Remember back to Peter’s declaration that he would never let Jesus down, Peter clearly at the time thought that he did indeed love Jesus more than the others did. Peter declares that he does love Jesus, and Jesus gives him the command to feed His sheep. The sheep belong to Jesus, not to us. Whatever responsibilities we may have for God’s people, we should always remember that they belong to Jesus not to us, and we will have to answer to Jesus for how well we have pastored or taught them.

21:16

Jesus asks Peter a second time if he loves Him, this time just asking if he loves Him, without any comparing the level of his love to that of others. Comparing ourselves to others is a futile exercise if we do it in terms of trying to work out if we are better or worse than others. It is, of course, fruitful to see what we can learn from others. Every single person has good and bad aspects to their lives. Peter again replies yes, and Jesus again commands him to tend His sheep.

John 21:7-14 - Come and have breakfast

21:7,8

Maybe this memory of the earlier incident is what prompted John (the disciple whom Jesus loved) to realise that the man was Jesus. Peter immediately put on his cloak and went into the water to get to Jesus. The other disciples brought the haul of fish in. They were about one hundred yards from the shore. Peter had denied Jesus and felt bitterly ashamed for having done so, but he still wanted to be with Jesus. Even if we have failed or sinned badly, but we still have this desire to be with Jesus we should act on that desire.

21:9-14

A charcoal fire was already burning with fish on it. We are not told how this came about, maybe Jesus had got it ready. Jesus told them to bring some of their fish. Their haul amounted to 153. There have been various attempts to give significance to the number 153. I have to say I am usually dismissive of these attempts, but that’s just me. Even though there were so many fish, the net was not broken. Jesus then invited them to have breakfast. There is a disarming normality to the resurrection appearances, but also something very different from Jesus before the cross. When we are raised we will recognise each other, but there will also be something startlingly different about us. We will be the people we were always meant to be. So Jesus shared breakfast with them.

John 21:1-6 - I am going fishing

21:1-3

We now come to the final chapter of John. As we saw, there seems to be a natural ending at the end of our chapter 20, and this has caused some to say that this was not written by John and was added later. Mind you, some of the same people will say that John the apostle did not write the gospel anyway! I will leave the technical arguments to those more qualified than I, see for instance Carson’s commentary. However, I will say something about how this chapter is a perfectly natural epilogue to the gospel. John’s gospel was written sometime after the death of Peter, and Peter’s denial of Jesus is reported in all the gospels. Some may have wondered how Peter ended up being some prominent in the church. Did he have any right to be so? The synoptic gospels were written either while Peter was still alive, or not that long after his death. So the primary purpose of this chapter is to explain Peter’s reinstatement, and it gives a more general lesson on repentance and restoration.

Jesus revealed Himself again to some of the disciples. The Sea of Tiberias is another name for Lake Galilee. We get a list of the disciples who were there, John is included, but again not named explicitly, he is one of the sons of Zebedee. Led by Peter, they set out to do some fishing.

21:4-6

Jesus stood on the shore, but they did not recognise Him. This may have been because the light wasn’t that good and they were too far away, though they could hear His voice. Jesus asked them if they had any fish, but their expedition had not been successful, so they had none. Jesus told them to cast their net on the right side, and then they would catch fish. They duly ended up with a vast haul of fish. This is reminiscent of an earlier incident of a miraculous catch, but it is not a rehash!

John 20:29-31 - That you may believe

20:29

Jesus was happy to give Thomas the evidence, but He then goes on to stress that those who have not seen Him are even more blessed. This is so important. For in a short time Jesus was going to ascend to the Father, we cannot see the risen Christ. If seeing the risen Christ for ourselves was the key to faith then we are all in a bad state. But we do not need to see Him, we can believe on the evidence of the first witnesses.

20:30,31

These two verses seem to form a natural end to the gospel, with the final chapter being a sort of epilogue. Here John states the purpose of his gospel. First he highlights that Jesus had actually done many other signs in the presence of the disciples. John had just chosen a select few, and these were chosen with a purpose. John has crafted his gospel so that its readers “may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God”. By believing this they would have life in Jesus’ name. This should be the purpose of all of our teaching and preaching.

John 20:26-28 - Do not disbelieve, but believe

20:26

“Eight days later”. Jesus was going to appear to Thomas, but left a gap of just over a week, allowing Thomas to ponder on his doubts. Maybe he had become more convinced than ever that his arguments were reasonable and that there was no way that Jesus was alive, or maybe he was beginning to doubt his doubts. We don’t know. What we do know is that Thomas is about to change. Again the doors were locked, so the disciples were still full of fear. By the way, this indicates that 20:22 was not actually a filling with the Holy Spirit. As before, Jesus declares peace to them.

20:27,28

Jesus knew what Thomas had been saying and so He addressed Thomas directly, showing him His hands and side and inviting Thomas to touch the wounds. This is followed by the command “stop doubting and believe”. Thomas responds immediately with the words “My Lord and my God”. Doubts can act as a barrier, but when they are overcome faith can come flooding in. Our natural state is actually to believe, we were created to believe. Now sin has changed all that, and the natural state of sinful man is to be unbelieving, but we need to realise that our God given state is to believe.

John 20:23-25 - If you forgive the sins

20:23

This verse can also cause problems, but they need not. All authority that the church has comes from God. Just as Jesus did only what He saw the Father do, so we are not to go about making things up for ourselves. Rather if we faithfully proclaim the gospel and someone receives the message, then they are forgiven. If someone refuses the gospel, then they are not forgiven. We do have authority to proclaim forgiveness and to tell people they are not forgiven, but only when we faithfully proclaim the gospel. Not when we make things up!

20:24,25

Now we have the encounter between Thomas and Jesus. We know Thomas as “doubting Thomas”, though the Bible never uses this term. Instead of criticising Thomas we may be better to be thankful that God is quite happy for someone to raise the questions that he does.  Thomas had not been with the other disciples when Jesus appeared to them.  They told Thomas that they had seen the Lord, but Thomas said he would only believe it if he could see the reality of the wounds in Jesus, and even touch them. This really does give lie to the foolish notion that people were gullible and prepared to believe anything. They knew exactly what death meant, and were not prepared to believe any old twaddle.

John 20:21,22 - As the Father has sent me, so I am sending you

20:21

Jesus had prayed something similar in John 17:18.  The primary purpose of the cross was the atoning work of Jesus, but He is also an example of what we are meant to be like. Moreover, the cross, while absolutely central and critical, was not the endpoint. Rather it is the gateway to our restoration to become what God always intended us to become. Note that before the “As the Father ...” we have “Peace be with you”. The mission was not an easy road, but on that road we have the peace of God. Note that “peace” is part of the greeting in all of Paul’s letters.

20:22

This verse gives rise to a number of interpretations. The interpretation depends largely on whether we see this as Jesus giving the Holy Spirit to them at this point, in which case the question arises as to how it fits in with Pentecost. Alternatively, we can see it as looking forward to Pentecost, Jesus is effectively saying they will receive the Holy Spirit. Even with Christ risen they may have wondered how they could fulfil the mission, the answer to this is that they would receive the Holy Spirit who would empower them for the mission.

John 20:19,20 - Peace be with you

20:19

Having appeared to Mary Magdalene, Jesus now appears to the disciples. Mary had told the disciples that she had seen the Lord, and perhaps they were a little dismissive of her, or at least unsure what to make of her claim. Jesus now shows the disciples that He is indeed risen. There is a parallel here in our witnessing. The proclamation of the gospel involves us speaking, but that is not all. It is also a cooperative exercise with the Lord, and He will reveal Himself to those whom He chooses to do so. The disciples were living in fear, hence the locked door. The Jews had killed their leader and they would be fearful that they might now come for the disciples. The locked door also showed the miraculous nature of Jesus’ appearance. In the resurrection appearances there is no doubt as to the reality of His body, He is no mere apparition. But He is also different. The resurrection is not a resuscitation! We may ask how can this be? Paul talks about these matters in 1 Cor 15. It may also be helpful to think like this: why do we exist at all? Are we just a random occurrence? Or were we created purposefully by a creator? The latter is the truth, and the promise of the gospel is that our Creator will raise us from the dead. “Peace be with you.” The word for peace, shalom, means an all encompassing well-being. Death has been defeated, sin has been defeated, the devil has been defeated. 

20:20

The physical reality of the resurrection is now made clear to the disciples as Jesus shows them His hands and His side, where they would see the wounds that were the result of the crucifixion. Any talk of a “spiritual resurrection” is just so much nonsense. It is interesting that Jesus still bears the scars. One might have thought that they would have been healed in the process. So why weren’t they? One thing it does demonstrate is that this life and what we do in it matters. One of the comforts of the gospel is that one day all suffering will come to an end, but that does not mean that suffering has no purpose. 

John 20:17,18 - Do not cling to me

20:17

Jesus tells Mary not to cling to Him. She would be so overjoyed that He was alive that the natural reaction would be to want to hold on to Him, possibly physically, but emotionally, to want Him to be here on earth in bodily form. Jesus reminds her that He has to ascend to the Father, that is all part of the plan, and an essential part of it. Instead she is to go to “my brothers” (meaning the disciples, rather than Jesus’ natural brothers) and tell them that He was ascending to “my Father and your Father, my God and your God”. Some place an emphasis on the distinction between Jesus’ relationship with the Father, and the disciples’ relationship, but this is not the point here. Of course, there is a difference, none of us have created many universes! We were not with the Father from all eternity etc. However, the point here, and one that is consistent with all that Jesus has been teaching them, is that the relationship that they have seen Jesus have with the Father is in so many ways the relationship that we are meant to have.

20:18

So Mary Magdalene went and told the disciples “I have seen the Lord”, and she told them the other things that Jesus had said to her. This is probably more than we have recorded in the gospels. It is interesting that a woman was the first witness to the resurrection. Women, as much as men, are to be witnesses to the truth of Jesus Christ.

John 20:14-16 - Why are you weeping

20:14,15

At this point she turns round and sees Jesus. She did not know that it was Jesus. This is not surprising, for her mindset was so convinced that He had died and so she would never see Him again. Jesus speaks to her, also asking why she was weeping. Mary thought he was the gardener, and maybe he knew where the body was. In all this it is quite likely that her head was bowed, because of the weeping and she may not even have looked at Jesus. Mary was devoted to Jesus, and if she knew where the body was she would take care of it properly.

20:16

Jesus then called her name, “Mary”. At this point Mary realised that it was Jesus, and one can imagine the joy in her heart. God calls us all by name. We are not just numbers, but each is known to God by name. If you have read many of these blog posts you will know that I have great problems with the long lists of names we find in parts of Chronicles and elsewhere. One of the messages of these lists is that we are known by name to the Lord.

John 20:10-13 - She saw two angels in white

20:10-12

The disciples went back to their homes. Some of them had seen the empty tomb, and had reported back to the others. At this stage they were wondering what it all meant. Mary Magdalene stayed at the tomb, wondering what it all meant. She was weeping and looked into the tomb. Inside the tomb she saw two angels, one at either end of where the body of Jesus had been laid.

20:13

The angels spoke to Mary asking her why she was weeping, to which she explained that the body of Jesus had gone. She thought someone had taken it away and she did not know where they had taken it. At this stage she still does not think that He has been raised from the dead. The people of that time knew full well that when they were dead they were dead. 

John 20:3-9 - Peter reached the tomb first

20:3-7

Peter and John (assuming he is the other disciple) ran to the tomb, with John getting there first. John looks into the tomb and sees the grave clothes lying there. This is a marked difference to the case of Lazarus, who came out wrapped in his grave clothes. Peter showed no reticence and went right into the tomb. It seems that the grave clothes had been left in a very near and orderly manner. The empty tomb was not made much of in the early preaching of the gospel, this was because the emphasis was more directly on the risen Christ Himself. We too should focus on the risen Christ. However, the empty tomb is important. All the gospel writers refer to it, and it is one of the most powerful apologetic arguments for the resurrection. The Jews and the Romans could easily have squashed all the talk of the resurrection by producing the body, or pointing to where Jesus was buried. But there was not body to produce, and no tomb, save an empty one, to point to.

20:8,9

John eventually follows Peter and he “believed”. “For as yet they did not understand the Scripture” at first glance doesn’t seem to quite fit with “he believed”. Perhaps what John is saying is that if they had understood the Scriptures properly they would have known that Jesus would rise from the dead. And Jesus had told them beforehand that He would rise again. However, at this stage they did not understand the Scriptures, and it was the evidence of the empty tomb that convinced them.

John 20:1,2 - The stone had been taken away from the tomb

20:1

We now come to the resurrection. The death and the resurrection are inextricably linked. Of course, if Jesus had not died there could be no resurrection! But the death without the resurrection is meaningless. As Paul says, if He is not raised then we are still dead in our sins (1 Cor 15:17). If we look at the cross as the death of an innocent victim then we badly misunderstand what was happening. Jesus was not a victim. He willingly took upon Himself our sins, He willingly laid down His life. The cross was a deliberate act on the part of Christ. And having laid down His life, Jesus took it up again. So the first witnesses were women, and Mary Magdalene was the first. She came to the tomb and so that the stone had been taken away.

20:2

Mary ran to Peter and “the other disciple” (probably John). The probable reason for John using terms like “the disciple whom Jesus loved” and “the other disciple” to refer to himself was that he had no wish to exalt himself in any way. She tells them that they had taken away the body of Jesus and they did not know where they had put him. It seems that Mary assumed that “they” was either the Roman or the Jewish authorities, and that they had moved the body for some reason. 

John 19:38-42 - Joseph of Arimathea

19:38

Jesus has died and will now be buried. Joseph of Arimathea is mentioned in all four gospels. Matthew(Matt 27:57) and John refer to him as a disciple, while Mark (Mk 15:43) tells us that he was a member of the Sanhedrin(Mk 15:43). Matthew (Matt 27:57) also tells us that he was rich, which he would have to be in order to have a tomb to offer. Mark (Mk 15:43) and Luke (Lk 23:51) say that he was looking for the kingdom of God. Joseph’s being a member of the Sanhedrin was essential for him gaining access to Pilate to ask for the body of Jesus, and for his request being granted. Another factor in Pilate giving permission may have been that he knew that Jesus was not actually guilty of anything.

19:39-42

Joseph was also helped by Nicodemus. Nicodemus had not forgotten his earlier meeting with Jesus. While Joseph supplied the tomb, Nicodemus supplied the spices. The primary purpose of the spices was to mask the smell of a decaying body. The body was bound in linen cloths and laid in a new tomb that was in a garden nearby. Jesus was laid there. Luke 23:55 tells us that the women saw where Jesus was buried.