Download discussion questions: John 8_12-30 know Me, know My Father
In this passage we resume the interaction between Jesus and the Pharisees (from John 7:52). As our group discussed last week, the familiar “woman taken in adultery” passage (John 7:53 – 8:11) was almost certainly not part of John’s original text. The opening of the present passage highlights the discontinuity between the questionable passage and the flow of John’s narrative. Continue reading
Download discussion questions: John 7_50 – 8_18 judging
Download essay: John 7_53 – 8_11 woman caught in adultery
Download essay: John 1_34 – Textual Variants
Our discussion this week included a significant digression from the content of John’s Gospel. What makes Scripture to be Scripture? Does authorship matter? Does textual evidence matter? How do we decide (or do we)? Continue reading
Download discussion questions: John 7_30 – 52 speaking of the Spirit
Confusion – that seemed to be the dominant impression among our discussion group about what was happening in this passage. One group wants to arrest Jesus. Others think He might be the Christ, or at least The Prophet, a second Moses promised near the end of Moses’ life (Deuteronomy 18:15-18). A few days earlier during this visit to Jerusalem some in the crowd accused Him of having a demon. His teaching without formal training mystified those who had the training. The crowd was unclear about whether or not the leaders really wanted to kill Him. The religious police are sent to arrest Jesus and come back empty-handed. All this in the context of a huge and presumably noisy crowd. Confusion. Continue reading
Download discussion questions: John 7_15-31 teaching and signs
Jesus’ teaching astonishes and puzzles the Jews, the religious leaders who are keeping a careful eye on Him. Learned teaching takes preparation, and He had none. Jesus uses the opportunity to point back to His mission from the Father, the One who sent Him (at least four times just in this passage). Once again we (looking back from our twenty-first century perspective) hear hints of the Trinity, the Father sending the Son. Continue reading
Download discussion questions: John 6_53 – 7_1 many withdraw
Jesus has been saying things that are “difficult to listen to” (John 6:60) and even more difficult to understand. The comfortable metaphor about bread from heaven confused the crowd when Jesus said He was the bread, then it became very uncomfortable when He talked of eating His flesh and drinking His blood. Jesus kept stretching their thinking with something He considered even more of a difficulty for them. Continue reading
Download discussion handout: John 6_37 – 60 hard sayings
One of the first comments in our Sunday morning discussion group was the public nature of Jesus’ teaching. He was speaking openly even knowing that there was considerable “grumbling” among the crowd. He was in a place where people normally gathered, the synagogue in Capernaum. The free and unrestricted way Jesus taught was in contrast to the sermon we had just heard on Paul’s warnings to the church at Colossae about the danger of Gnosticism and their secret “special” teaching. Nothing like that in Jesus’ ministry. Continue reading
Download discussion questions: John 6_27-42 bread of heaven
Jesus has fed the crowd. He followed His disciples across the lake (they had a boat; He didn’t), and the crowd has followed Him. They were impressed by the provision of food (like the manna for the Israelites in the wilderness) and possibly by His miraculous crossing of the sea (another reminder of Moses?). Jesus knows that their motives are essentially materialistic: more bread. Continue reading
Download discussion questions: John 6_14-33 bread of heaven
To avoid the political desires of the crowd (to make Him king) Jesus went further up the mountain where the feeding of 5,000 took place (vs. 3) to be alone. One member of our discussion commented on the model Jesus provided here (and in other Gospel accounts, how we often need to get away from others whose influence on our lives is not God’s plan for us. Continue reading
Download discussion questions: John 5_46-6_15 feeding 5000
Sometimes reading a familiar story in Scripture can be a challenge. The story of Jesus feeding a huge crowd is so well known that we may be tempted to skim over it too quickly. Familiar stories require our special attention so we don’t rely on our “hearsay impressions” of what the Bible says. We risk missing something the Holy Spirit wants to show us. Continue reading
Download discussion questions: John 5_30-47 greater testimony
The Jews accused Jesus of “making Himself equal to God” (John 5:18). He doesn’t deny the accusation or explain that they had misunderstood Him. He continues His response (that began in last week’s passage) to show them that they are exactly right. Continue reading