John 5 Later, Jesus went to Jerusalem for another Jewish festival. 2 In the city near the sheep gate was a pool with five porches, and its name in Hebrew was Bethzatha.
3-4 Many sick, blind, lame, and paralyzed people were lying close to the pool.
5 Beside the pool was a man who had been sick for 38 years. 6 When Jesus saw the man and realized that he had been crippled for a long time, he asked him, “Do you want to be healed?”
7 The man answered, “Sir, I don’t have anyone to put me in the pool when the water is stirred up. I try to get in, but someone else always gets there first.”
8 Jesus told him, “Pick up your mat and walk!” 9 Right then the man was healed. He picked up his mat and started walking around. The day on which this happened was a Sabbath.
Everyone wants to be healed, right? Everyone wants to be made better and to not be sick or not have body parts that do not work like everyone else, right?
It seems a strange question. Of course everyone wants a strong, healthy body. That is what we all think.
But Jesus’ question was more important. It was not simply ‘do you want to be healthy’, but ‘do you want what comes after becoming healthy, with all the responsibilities to take care of yourself, and you not having others take care of you anymore’. That is a harder question.
Do we want to change from what we know and stop having the reasons we have that keep us from doing the work God asked us to do? Are we prepared to be responsible for taking care of others and not always thinking about ourselves first?
Now the Son of Man will be given glory, and he will bring glory to God. 32 Then, after God is given glory because of him, God will bring glory to him, and God will do it very soon.
33 My children, I will be with you for only a little while longer. Then you will look for me, but you won’t find me. I tell you just as I told the people, “You cannot go where I am going.” 34 But I am giving you a new command. You must love each other, just as I have loved you. 35 If you love each other, everyone will know that you are my disciples.
Jesus talked a lot about love. When we think about love it is usually love for our family and romantic love, but in Jesus’ world, there were a lot of different words for love.
In Greek, the language of the Christian Scriptures, there were seven different words for love. So when Jesus was talking about love, he had a lot of words to choose that all meant different things.
The word Jesus used for love in this story was “agape” (a-gap-ah), that meant love for all the people in the world. It meant he wanted them to have a good life with everything they needed like food, water, and a safe place to live. You do not need to know everyone in the world to feel this kind of love.
This is what Jesus told us to do, to love as agape. And love is an action word, so this kind of love means doing all the things to make it possible for everyone to have a good life.
John 10 22 That winter, Jesus was in Jerusalem for the Temple Festival. 23 One day he was walking in the part of the temple known as Solomon’s Porch 24 and the people gathered all around him. They said, “How long are you going to keep us guessing? If you are the Messiah, tell us plainly!”
25 Jesus answered:
I have told you, and you refused to believe me. The things I do by my Father’s authority show who I am. 26 But since you are not my sheep, you don’t believe me. 27 My sheep know my voice, and I know them. They follow me, 28 and I give them eternal life, so that they will never be lost. No one can snatch them out of my hand. 29 My Father gave them to me, and he is greater than all others. No one can snatch them from his hands, 30 and I am one with the Father.
Jesus never asked us to be part of the religion of Christianity, and some people who attend church get really confused by that.
When Jesus was alive, there was no such thing as “Christian” or “Jewish”, they were all Hebrews and believed in God loving them unconditionally. They knew that God asked them to take care of each other. They knew love for family, neighbours and strangers was the most important thing.
If we have love and caring for everyone we meet, even if we do not like them, then we are hearing what Jesus had to say.
It is not enough to say we believe in Jesus. We have to show love in our actions, too.
John 21 Jesus later appeared to his disciples along the shore of Lake Tiberias. 2 Simon Peter, Thomas the Twin, Nathanael from Cana in Galilee, and the brothers James and John,[a] were there, together with two other disciples. 3 Simon Peter said, “I’m going fishing!”
The others said, “We will go with you.” They went out in their boat. But they didn’t catch a thing that night.
4 Early the next morning Jesus stood on the shore, but the disciples did not realize who he was. 5 Jesus shouted, “Friends, have you caught anything?”
“No!” they answered.
6 So he told them, “Let your net down on the right side of your boat, and you will catch some fish.”
They did, and the net was so full of fish that they could not drag it up into the boat.
7 Jesus’ favorite disciple told Peter, “It’s the Lord!” When Simon heard it was the Lord, he put on the clothes he had taken off while he was working. Then he jumped into the water. 8 The boat was only about 100 meters from shore. So the other disciples stayed in the boat and dragged in the net full of fish.
9 When the disciples got out of the boat, they saw some bread and a charcoal fire with fish on it. 10 Jesus told his disciples, “Bring some of the fish you just caught.” 11 Simon Peter got back into the boat and dragged the net to shore. In it were 153 large fish, but still the net did not rip.
12 Jesus said, “Come and eat!” But none of the disciples dared ask who he was. They knew he was the Lord. 13 Jesus took the bread in his hands and gave some of it to his disciples. He did the same with the fish. 14 This was the third time Jesus appeared to his disciples after he was raised from death.
15 When Jesus and his disciples had finished eating, he asked, “Simon son of John, do you love me more than the others do?”
Simon Peter answered, “Yes, Lord, you know I do!”
“Then feed my lambs,” Jesus said.
16 Jesus asked a second time, “Simon son of John, do you love me?”
Peter answered, “Yes, Lord, you know I love you!”
“Then take care of my sheep,” Jesus told him.
17 Jesus asked a third time, “Simon son of John, do you love me?”
Peter was hurt because Jesus had asked him three times if he loved him. So he told Jesus, “Lord, you know everything. You know I love you.”
Jesus replied, “Feed my sheep. 18 I tell you for certain that when you were a young man, you dressed yourself and went wherever you wanted to go. But when you are old, you will hold out your hands. Then others will wrap your belt around you and lead you where you don’t want to go.”
19 Jesus said this to tell how Peter would die and bring honor to God. Then he said to Peter, “Follow me!”
This is an add-on chapter that was not part of the original Gospel of John. We do not know when it was added, but it is important because it asks questions of Peter and the closest followers of Jesus: If you love Jesus, take care of the people Jesus cared about.
In this story Jesus tries to get Peter and the others to understand how important it is to look out for each other and make sure everyone has a safe life with enough food and good places to live.
Even though the questions are asked of Peter, we know those questions are also asked of us.
If we love Jesus, it is our responsibility to love and care for every other person.
John 20 19 The disciples were afraid of the Jewish leaders, and on the evening of that same Sunday they locked themselves in a room. Suddenly, Jesus appeared in the middle of the group. He greeted them 20 and showed them his hands and his side. When the disciples saw the Lord, they became very happy.
21 After Jesus had greeted them again, he said, “I am sending you, just as the Father has sent me.” 22 Then he breathed on them and said, “Receive the Holy Spirit. 23 If you forgive anyone’s sins, they will be forgiven. But if you don’t forgive their sins, they will not be forgiven.”
24 Although Thomas the Twin was one of the twelve disciples, he wasn’t with the others when Jesus appeared to them. 25 So they told him, “We have seen the Lord!”
But Thomas said, “First, I must see the nail scars in his hands and touch them with my finger. I must put my hand where the spear went into his side. I won’t believe unless I do this!”
26 A week later the disciples were together again. This time, Thomas was with them. Jesus came in while the doors were still locked and stood in the middle of the group. He greeted his disciples 27 and said to Thomas, “Put your finger here and look at my hands! Put your hand into my side. Stop doubting and have faith!”
28 Thomas replied, “You are my Lord and my God!”
29 Jesus said, “Thomas, do you have faith because you have seen me? The people who have faith in me without seeing me are the ones who are really blessed!”
It is okay to ask questions when it comes to Jesus and believing. The people who knew Jesus in person had questions too.
In this story we hear about Thomas, commonly known today as “Doubting Thomas”. He wanted to see Jesus, talk to Jesus and touch Jesus in order to believe that he had risen from the dead. Thomas is like most of us who have a hard time believing unless we see and experience what has happened. That is not a bad thing at all.
But Jesus reminded him, and through Thomas all of us, that believing and seeing does not have to go together, and that there is something special about believing through the stories of others. God works in all of us.
The Barefoot Evangelist 