Author: Jeff Englund

John 5: 7

 “‘Sir,’ the invalid replied, ‘I have no one to help me into the pool when the water is stirred. While I am trying to get in, someone else goes down ahead of me.'”

In this interesting scene, Jesus walks into a covered colonnade area where sick people gather, and picks one person out of the crowd who has been suffering for 38 years. He asks him, “Do you want to get well?” At face value, this would seem to be a “Yes” or “No” question. Continue reading “Hearing vs Listening”

John 5: 1-6

‘”Some time later, Jesus went up to Jerusalem for one of the Jewish festivals. 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. Here a great number of disabled people used to lie—the blind, the lame, the paralyzed. One who was there had been an invalid for thirty-eight years. 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?’”

This passage is one of the more powerful passages in scripture. It is easy to overlook the power of the passage because of the casual way John approaches this story in his Gospel. Time has passed. We just traveled north from Jerusalem and stopped for a brief visit with the Woman at the Well in Shechem. Then as we arrive with Jesus in Cana we are met by the royal official whose son is dying. John doesn’t tell us how long Jesus stays in Galilee or what else might have happened while he was there, but “…some time later,” Jesus is heading back to Jerusalem.  Continue reading “Do You Want to Get Well?”

John 4: 51-54

‘”While he was still on the way, his servants met him with the news that his boy was living.  When he inquired as to the time when his son got better, they said to him, ‘Yesterday, at one in the afternoon, the fever left him.’

Then the father realized that this was the exact time at which Jesus had said to him, “Your son will live.’ So he and his whole household believed.

This was the second sign Jesus performed after coming from Judea to Galilee.”

Jesus returns to Cana in Galilee and is met by a royal official who’s son is dying. The royal official has decided Jesus is the boy’s only hope and so he begs Jesus to come with him to see his son. Jesus speaks rather harshly to the man saying, “Unless you people see signs and wonders you will never believe.” The royal official, undeterred speaks in the imperative saying, “Sir, come…!”

Then Jesus turns the tables on this man Continue reading “Second Sign”

John 4: 49-50

‘”The royal official said, ‘Sir, come down before my child dies.’

‘Go,’ Jesus replied, ‘your son will live.’

The man took Jesus at his word and departed.”

Some people in this situation might have come to Jesus and simply poured their heart out saying something like, “Rabbi, my son is dying!” Others might have tried to bring their son directly to Jesus. This man, however, appears to be used to having people do what he tells them. The text tells us twice that he is a “royal official” and we are told later in the story that he has servants. Clearly his concern is for his son, because he leaves his son at home where he can be cared for, and travels to see Jesus expecting that Jesus will drop everything he is doing and come to his house because…

… because why? Continue reading “Royal Officials”

John 4: 46- 48

‘”Once more he visited Cana in Galilee, where he had turned the water into wine. And there was a certain royal official whose son lay sick at Capernaum. When this man heard that Jesus had arrived in Galilee from Judea, he went to him and begged him to come and heal his son, who was close to death. ‘Unless you people see signs and wonders,” Jesus told him, “you will never believe.’”

When I read this passage, I have to remind myself about the truth about Jesus we discussed a few days ago, that Jesus is constantly using words and situations to describe his heavenly perspective.  Continue reading “Harsh”

John 4: 43-45

‘”After the two days he left for Galilee.  (Now Jesus himself had pointed out that a prophet has no honor in his own country.) When he arrived in Galilee, the Galileans welcomed him. They had seen all that he had done in Jerusalem at the Passover Festival, for they also had been there.”

In these three verses John transports us from the village in Samaria to Galilee. During that time Jesus and his disciples have walked many long miles. There are no newspapers announcing Jesus’ arrival in Galilee and no internet or telephone to share the news with others. When he arrives it is without fanfare. Still, he is known there and John tells us he was welcomed.  Continue reading “Scene Change”

John 4: 42

‘”They said to the woman, ‘We no longer believe just because of what you said; now we have heard for ourselves, and we know that this man really is the Savior of the world.’”

There is a difference between knowing about Jesus, and knowing Jesus. A lot of people knew about Jesus while he was walking on earth, but not everyone recognized him as the Savior of the world. Here we have an example of Jesus staying with a small group of people for two days, and many of them come to believe that Jesus is the savior of the world.  Continue reading “Knowing Jesus”

John 4: 39 – 41

‘“Many of the Samaritans from that town believed in him because of the woman’s testimony, ‘He told me everything I ever did.’ So when the Samaritans came to him, they urged him to stay with them, and he stayed two days.  And because of his words many more became believers.”

There are three very important points in this passage:  Continue reading “Sharing the News”

John 4: 37-38

‘”Thus the saying ‘One sows and another reaps’ is true.  I sent you to reap what you have not worked for. Others have done the hard work, and you have reaped the benefits of their labor.’”

When we are allowed to help with God’s harvest, we are helping in a joyful work! In my experience, seeing people come to Jesus makes me smile. So you might say that those of us who joyfully help with the “reaping” of God’s harvest are “Grinning Reapers.”  Continue reading “The Grinning Reaper”

John 4: 35-36

‘“Don’t you have a saying, ‘It’s still four months until harvest’? I tell you, open your eyes and look at the fields! They are ripe for harvest. Even now the one who reaps draws a wage and harvests a crop for eternal life, so that the sower and the reaper may be glad together.”

I write this after getting home after an evening of running errands with my wife. Since we were out and about we stopped for dinner at a local fast food place. A few minutes after we sat down two men sat down at the table next to us. Continue reading “Harvest”