I have to say, I like the extended stories in John: the woman at the well, the man born blind, the story of Mary and Martha and Lazarus. There's a lot of character development in these stories, and a lot of little details to pay attention to. For example, notice that by the time the blind man goes and obeys Jesus and comes back, Jesus is already gone. He doesn't actually see Jesus until about the end of Chapter 9.
The basic testimony of the man born blind remains the same throughout, and it's very simple, "I was blind, and now I see."

In the middle Jesus calls himself both the gate and the Good Shepherd, the Good Shepherd who leads people out to good pasture and leads people in to the safe refuge. Jesus as shepherd calls his own by name -- but not just to gather them in. He also leads them out.
The question is: when he calls the sheep by name, where is he leading them?
There are many places in John's gospel where he calls people by name. In John 11, he calls "Lazarus, Come out!" Later on, He will say, simply, "Mary."
Now, as chapter 11 closes, Jesus is under fire, not because he over-turned tables in the temple, but because he raised Lazarus from the dead. Caiaphas prophecies (without knowing it) that Jesus death is necessary. But what does this mean?
To be continued....
No comments:
Post a Comment