THE GOOD NEWS — FULLNESS OF HIS GRACE

John 1:1-2:11

DIMENSION ONE: WHAT DOES THE BIBLE SAY?

Answer these questions by reading John 1

1. What words of Genesis do the first three words of John's Gospel recall? (1:1; Genesis 1:1)

John's Gospel and the Book of Genesis both open with the words "In the beginning."

2. What words of John suggest Jesus' divine nature? (1:2-4)

John says that "In the beginning was the Word [Jesus], and the Word was with God"; that he was part of the creation of all things; and that "in him was life, and that life was the light of all mankind."

3. What does John tell us about the relationship between life and light, light and darkness? (1:4-5)

John tells us that light gives life and overcomes darkness.

4. Who is introduced into the Prologue of the Gospel in 1:6?

"A man sent from God," named John, is introduced in verse 6.

5. What is John's purpose? (1:7-8)

John's purpose is "to testify concerning that light, so that through him all might believe." John is not that light.

6. To whom did the true light come? (1:11)

"He came to that which was his own" and was not received.

7. What was given to those who believed and did receive him? (1:12-13)

Those who believed received the right to became children of God.

8. What did the people ("we all") receive in the coming of the Son? (1:16-17)

"We have all received grace in place of grace already given. ... grace and truth came through Jesus Christ."

9. How does John's Gospel describe John the Baptist? (1:23)

John says of himself, "I am the voice of one calling in the wilderness."

10. Where is John baptizing? (1:28)

John is baptizing "at Bethany on the other side of the Jordan."

11. How does John say that he recognized Jesus? (1:32)

John says that he "saw the Spirit come down from heaven as a dove and remain on him."

12. Who are Jesus' first disciples, as listed by our writer? (1:40-51)

Jesus' first disciples named in John are Andrew, Simon Peter, Philip, and Nathanael.

Answer these questions by reading John 2:1-11

13. Who attended the marriage feast at Cana of Galilee? (2:1-2)

Jesus, his mother, and his disciples attended the marriage feast.

14. What did Jesus say to the servants? (2:7-8)

Jesus told the servants to "fill the jars with water" and to take some of the water to the master of the banquet.

15. What did the master of the banquet say about the wine? (2:10)

The master seemed surprised the good wine had been saved and served last.

16. What did Jesus achieve by the first of his "signs"? (2:11)

Jesus "revealed his glory, and his disciples believed in him."

DIMENSION TWO: WHAT DOES THE BIBLE MEAN?

Introduction. Most of us have been confronted by John's Gospel. In Sunday school we have heard stories from it. In worship services we have heard sermons based on it and have participated in the liturgy drawn from the Gospel. The words of John have comforted us at funerals and given courage in times of uncertainty, anxiety, disappointment, and stress. So John's Gospel is already a part of us, already a present help.

We shall approach the Gospel as a personal message of God — through the unknown author John — to the church and to us. We want to concentrate on bringing out the permanent values of John for us today.

Many studies of John begin by speculating on who wrote the book, whether it was from the hand of one author, when and where the book was written, the Hellenistic (Greek) and Jewish influences in the Gospel, and the relationship of John to the other Gospels. These are important questions, but they are not central to the present study. We do not want to approach the Gospel as a mysterious puzzle to be solved. We want to see it as a portrait of Jesus Christ and an account of what God is doing through him.

So when we read John's Gospel, we should be primarily concerned with what arises in our minds and hearts as we read, with what the Holy Spirit says to us through the printed page. The Word of God is not printed propositions. It is a living, personal Word that reaches us in the depths of our being.

The Word is Jesus Christ, God's personal self-communication to us. In this study, therefore, we should think of John's Gospel as a personal letter of God, telling us about Jesus Christ and his mission of love to us and to the whole earth. John's Gospel is God's Word already spoken to our desolation. It is the proclamation that in Christ the eternal God has triumphed over sin and death.

The study should help us get a sharp focus on the whole of the Gospel of John. You know what happens when a photographer simply and carelessly lifts a camera, randomly presses a button, and then develops the film. Because the photographer failed to study the whole setting and its light and shadows, the camera failed to get a picture that was worth the effort. Such picture-taking may warn us of errors we may commit in the study of the Fourth Gospel.

To get to the heart of any literary composition we have to understand the author's purpose. The author of John makes his purpose clear: "Jesus performed many other signs in the presence of his disciples, which are not recorded in this book. But these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name" (20:30-31).

John 1:1-18. We turn to the Prologue. If a class member is familiar with musical productions, ask that person to discuss the functions of the overture and its place in an opera or a symphony. Point out that an overture presents and repeats the musical themes from the rest of the production. An overture acts as a teaser, making the listener eager to hear more of the theme music as it is presented throughout the symphony or opera. Why is this term appropriate for the discussion of the Prologue to the Gospel of John?

John 1:1-18 is also like the lead paragraph of a journalistic article. It serves to hold the whole composition together. It suggests to the reader the direction the author is going. It defines the area of discussion.

Read John 1:1-18 aloud. This section of John is poetry except for verses 6-8 and 15. Why would the author choose a poem to introduce the Gospel?

Poetry is a special way for writer and reader to share in truth. Poets deal in images and rhythms that evoke deep responses from readers. The poet sees. He or she cuts away humdrum language and conveys to us a sense of meaning and value in writing that otherwise might be meaningless. Poets stimulate deeper appreciations and perceptions of the reader. They do this through the beauty of their words. This beauty consists in fresh images, rhythm, and meter.

The poet's words create a power that is controlled and concentrated by the rhythm. The poet's words constitute a formula for us so that our minds are freed from dullness and distraction. The formula possesses power. The words become a part of us when they have been merged into a formula. A formula musters power because each word affects us strongly. Words that are metrically organized — such as you have just read in John's Gospel — develop an abiding hold on us. Consider these lines:

Do not let your hearts be troubled

and do not be afraid.

— John 14:27c

The rhythm of words is enhanced by firm control — as in the Psalms — through repetition, parallelism, refrain, or alliterative verse (using the same initial sound for words in the same line or at the beginning of each line). In our English poetry the rhythm is largely enhanced through rhyme.

True poetry is therefore the most imaginative, most forceful, and most effective way of saying something. We long remember such lines as we have quoted from the Prologue because they are the bearers of all the qualities of poetry.

Beautiful words are always the most powerful and creative words. So poetry provides the order, power, and simplification that enable us to understand a subject. Note the order, power, and simplification of the words of the Prologue.

The poetry of the Prologue is taken from Greek and Hebrew sources, but scholars think it is more a product of the latter. John has appropriated the Hebrew idea of cosmic wisdom that is beautifully described in Proverbs 8 and 9, especially in Proverbs 8. Read these two chapters in Proverbs to identify points at which John has taken the ideas of divine wisdom.

The chapters in Proverbs present the Hebrew concept of the preexistent divine Wisdom that has created the world. John's understanding of this reality parallels that of the apostle Paul: "Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God" (1 Corinthians 1:24). John and Paul want to affirm the continuity of the Old Testament revelation with that of the new revelations in Jesus, who will be revealed as the Christ.

The Word in John's Prologue speaks to our universal and persisting human need for an ordered, coordinating principle that will hold the world together for us. We cannot live without some sense of relationship between things. We all need to make sense of existence. We do not like a disordered household or a world where machines run amuck. Our human nature seems to demand a principle and a power that governs all life. The doctrine of the Word speaks to this deep need of ours for order and dependability.

Discuss our human need for order and dependability. Give some examples of the lack of order and dependability. Ask class members for their reactions to a disorderly existence. Do they think the author of John is challenging readers to attain orderly minds? How?

Read and discuss Genesis 1:31. How does John reaffirm this verse? Why do you think the Prologue begins with the words, In the beginning?

Discuss the material in the participant book on page 10 that begins "John also introduces ..."). Why were Jesus' own people rejecting him?

Discuss John's words contrasting light and darkness. Why do you think John concentrates on the conflict between the two? Light brings life, enlightenment, knowledge, and healing. What else does light represent?

Summarize the material on rebirth in the middle of page 11 in the participant book. What do you think rebirth means? (Make a note of class members' responses, and hold the notes for discussion of John 3:16 in the next lesson.)

The doctrine of the Word answers the deepest questions of the human heart. Who is this Jesus and what does he have to say to me? You know how it is to hear a knock on your door at midnight when the world is hushed and sleeping. Your first question of the intruder or friend is, "Who are you?" Everything then depends on the answer you get. Unless we know who Jesus is, we cannot know what he has to say to us. But when we know who Jesus is and receive him in faith (personal trust and obedience), we perceive that God is saying something special to us in Jesus. Our whole existence may be altered.

The doctrine of the Word tells us that Jesus Christ is both human and divine, "true God and true man," as the Christian creeds have reminded us over the centuries. This doctrine teaches us that the most important issue of our existence is wrapped up in God's coming to us as the Word — the Word made flesh. It is the good news of the Gospel — "one blessing after another."

Our God is not an impassive, unreachable deity who sits upon a throne afar off. God comes to us. So John's Gospel bears witness to the God whose steadfast love remains forever, the God who demonstrates love in the lowly form of our human existence. We have all received of God's fullness — "full of grace and truth."

Now the living Word has come. "For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ" (1:17). Jesus reveals the God who is unseen. He does this, not only by teaching, but by his whole life poured out in love for the human race.

"We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father" (1:14b). The Jewish people held to a deep conviction that no one could see God's face directly and live. Exodus 33:18-23 gives us the classic treatment of this theme in the Old Testament. Here Moses says, "Now show me your glory." God replies that the divine face Moses cannot see, but that the divine glory will be present: "I will cause all my goodness to pass in front of you, and I will proclaim my name, the LORD, in your presence. I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion."

The story of the Old Testament and the New Testament is the passing of God's redemptive mercy before us. God's glory is God's love in action, God's mighty deeds for our deliverance from sin. John 1:14-17 tells us that God's glory resided in the flesh (the human nature) of Jesus Christ. God's grace (God's love that redeems from evil) and God's truth (faithfulness to God's promises) are incarnate in Jesus Christ, who took on himself our human nature. These qualities are available to all people. They are the inexhaustible gift of God's fullness of grace that fulfills the law of Moses.

All this leads us to the conclusion that the main truth of the Christian faith is that the eternal Son of God has taken our humanity on himself. He bridges the gulf between the human and the divine. He is the mediator between God and us, the divine-human Redeemer. In Jesus Christ, God makes God's self known; God unites the human and the divine. In Jesus Christ, God meets us where we are; and God's revelation is God's search for us where we are. God does not simply wait for us to seek God. God seeks us.

Recall the story of Moses' encounter with the glory of God (Exodus 3:1-6). What does this story have to do with the words "we have seen his glory" (John 1:14)? How do you think Christ is the mediator between God and God's human children?

Close your discussion of John 1:1-18 with an examination of the meaning of grace.

John 1:19-34. In John's Gospel we are reminded quite forcefully that John the Baptist is not the light and that Jesus is far above John even before Jesus' name is mentioned. Nothing of John's ministry is reported, only his testimony concerning Jesus. When John sees Jesus approaching, he recognizes him immediately and says, "Look, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world! ... I have seen and I testify that this is God's Chosen One" (1:29, 34). How does the Baptist figure in the mission of Jesus?

John 1:35-51. The account of Jesus calling his first disciples is different from the other Gospels' account of this event. (See Matthew 4:18-22; Mark 1:16-20; Luke 5:1-11.) Since these accounts cannot be reconciled, perhaps we can learn from them that the New Testament does not describe any specific way that a person has to react in order to become Jesus' follower. In John's Gospel some of Jesus' disciples come from being followers of John the Baptist. Some are introduced to Jesus by family or friends. Still others probably answered Jesus' direct call to them. What are some ways class members became Christian? How do persons today come to faith?

The writer of John ends Chapter 1 with these words of Jesus: "Very truly I tell you, you will see heaven open, and the angels of God ascending and descending on the Son of Man." Here the writer refers to the beautiful story of Jacob and the angels (Genesis 28:10-17). He also uses the term Son of Man to apply to Jesus' mission. Why does Jesus use the term Son of Man to apply to himself? This title is used often in John's Gospel. Here it means the disclosure of God's attributes in human form — the work of the Messiah.

Son of Man also represents the authority of Jesus to introduce into the present the judgment pronounced on all who accept or reject him who is in the world on God's mission.

John 2:1-11. The account of the wedding at Cana is a complete story in itself. The beginning of the account is "On the third day," which may be the writer's way of relating the account to the events just described — "On the third day" after calling Philip and Nathanael, which happened on "the next day" after Andrew and Peter were called (1:43). Or the writer may mean the third day of the wedding feast.

The story closes with a recognition that this work was "the first of the signs through which he [Jesus] revealed his glory" and that because of this manifestation of his glory, "his disciples believed in him" (2:11).

Read the story of the wedding feast aloud, and ask for class members' reaction to it. Why do Jesus' words to his mother seem harsh? What is Jesus' purpose?

DIMENSION THREE: WHAT DOES THE BIBLE MEAN TO ME?

The class members may discuss the following topics or use the material in the participant book.

We Apply the Gospel to Ourselves

This closing section of the lesson should help group members find the meaning of the Scripture for their life. Make the atmosphere for your discussion informal; and encourage participants to question you, themselves, and one another.

How have class members been confronted by the Gospel of John? Ask them to quote some of their favorite verses from John. What do they think God is saying to them in these verses? How did verses from John help in times of stress and loss? What verses do we hear at funerals? What parts of John's Gospel do they use for their private devotions?