John 1 – 2
Verses 1:1 & 14 talks about the relationship between of Jesus and God:
1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 14 And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.
God is referred to as “the Word” in this chapter which often is assumed to be the Bible. But since the Bible did not always exist in the beginning we have to assume John implies the Bible has always been written. If history has already been written, then why do we assume we have free will in this world?
I digress from the key that God has always been and always will be. He came to this earth in the form of Jesus and “dwelt” among us. Do you remember the OT writings about how God would dwell among us in the tabernacle? Jesus has taken that interface down and now walks with man as “equal” in flesh. As a man, God felt the same pain and had the same limitations as we have; the difference was He was tapped directly into the power of God.
One thing we miss in our “image” of God is not the frail body that Jesus had, but the spirit and soul that was God in Jesus. That is the image of God imprinted on each of us! And as you notice in the Gospels we are told we will do greater than Jesus (John 14:12). With that said, are we? Or do we just need to know how to tap into the spirit of God? This is where the rubber meets the road and how faith becomes real. The scripture is simple, we must believe and it will be … simple … right?
Verse 50 tells Nathanael that he has only just seen the start:
Jesus answered him, “Because I said to you, ‘I saw you under the fig tree’, do you believe? You will see greater things than these.”
Nathanael was amazed that Jesus knew where he was and that peaked his interest. Imagine his excitement that this man knew where he was and the said you will see greater things.
Verse 2:10 ends the water to wine story:
and said to him, “Everyone serves the good wine first, and when people have drunk freely, then the poor wine. But you have kept the good wine until now.”
Jesus just took vats of water and turned them into great wine. As one would expect from God, only the best! This story is a great image of asking God and getting more than you expected. Interestingly when you ask God, expecting more it often does not happen. I think God would rather give to someone expecting nothing than one expecting millions.
God back to verse 4 and notice “the mother of Jesus” made these request and in verse 5 Jesus blows it off. But notice in verse 6 his mother doesn’t stop and told the servants to do what He says. Notice even with Jesus a “nagging mother” wins!
Verse 2:19 foretells Jesus’ resurrection:
Jesus answered them, “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.”
They figured it was the literal temple that took 45 years to build and not His figurative body as the temple. Imagine living your life knowing you will suffer a horrible death, be crucified on a cross and then be raised back to life. Sure then end result is the salvation of the world, but imagine the suffering before. I think “The Passion of the Christ” captures Jesus’ suffering on the cross.
Imagine remembering these words, when you are before the risen Christ!!