This Fall, we invite you to read along in the Gospel of John with us! For 21 weeks, starting Aug. 4th we are challenging our students and parents to read one chapter a week and to discuss it on our Facebook or Instagram pages! In addition, the Monday of each week we will post a video about a short section HERE to help guide your thoughts! We will be using The Message translation of the Bible, but you are, of course, free to read whatever translation you prefer!
Week 8:
John 8
The Message
1 Jesus went across to Mount Olives, 2 but he was soon back in the Temple again. Swarms of people came to him. He sat down and taught them. 3 The religion scholars and Pharisees led in a woman who had been caught in an act of adultery. They stood her in plain sight of everyone 4 and said, "Teacher, this woman was caught red-handed in the act of adultery. 5 Moses, in the Law, gives orders to stone such persons. What do you say?" 6 They were trying to trap him into saying something incriminating so they could bring charges against him. 7 They kept at him, badgering him. He straightened up and said, "The sinless one among you, go first: Throw the stone." 8 Bending down again, he wrote some more in the dirt. 9 Hearing that, they walked away, one after another, beginning with the oldest. The woman was left alone. 10 Jesus stood up and spoke to her. "Woman, where are they? Does no one condemn you?" 11 "No one, Master." "Neither do I," said Jesus. "Go on your way. From now on, don't sin."
12 Jesus once again addressed them: "I am the world's Light. No one who follows me stumbles around in the darkness. I provide plenty of light to live in." 13 The Pharisees objected, "All we have is your word on this. We need more than this to go on." 14 Jesus replied, "You're right that you only have my word. But you can depend on it being true. I know where I've come from and where I go next. You don't know where I'm from or where I'm headed. 15 You decide according to what you can see and touch. I don't make judgments like that. 16 But even if I did, my judgment would be true because I wouldn't make it out of the narrowness of my experience but in the largeness of the One who sent me, the Father. 17 That fulfills the conditions set down in God's Law: that you can count on the testimony of two witnesses. 18 And that is what you have: You have my word and you have the word of the Father who sent me." 19 They said, "Where is this so-called Father of yours?" Jesus said, "You're looking right at me and you don't see me. How do you expect to see the Father? If you knew me, you would at the same time know the Father." 20 He gave this speech in the Treasury while teaching in the Temple. No one arrested him because his time wasn't yet up. 21 Then he went over the same ground again. "I'm leaving and you are going to look for me, but you're missing God in this and are headed for a dead end. There is no way you can come with me." 22 The Jews said, "So, is he going to kill himself? Is that what he means by 'You can't come with me'?" 23 Jesus said, "You're tied down to the mundane; I'm in touch with what is beyond your horizons. You live in terms of what you see and touch. I'm living on other terms. 24 I told you that you were missing God in all this. You're at a dead end. If you won't believe I am who I say I am, you're at the dead end of sins. You're missing God in your lives." 25 They said to him, "Just who are you anyway?" 26 I have so many things to say that concern you, judgments to make that affect you, but if you don't accept the trustworthiness of the One who commanded my words and acts, none of it matters. That is who you are questioning - not me but the One who sent me." 27 They still didn't get it, didn't realize that he was referring to the Father. 28 So Jesus tried again. "When you raise up the Son of Man, then you will know who I am - that I'm not making this up, but speaking only what the Father taught me. 29 The One who sent me stays with me. He doesn't abandon me. He sees how much joy I take in pleasing him." 30 When he put it in these terms, many people decided to believe.
31 Then Jesus turned to the Jews who had claimed to believe in him. "If you stick with this, living out what I tell you, you are my disciples for sure. 32 Then you will experience for yourselves the truth, and the truth will free you." 33 Surprised, they said, "But we're descendants of Abraham. We've never been slaves to anyone. How can you say, 'The truth will free you'?" 34 Jesus said, "I tell you most solemnly that anyone who chooses a life of sin is trapped in a dead-end life and is, in fact, a slave. 35 A slave is a transient, who can't come and go at will. The Son, though, has an established position, the run of the house. 36 So if the Son sets you free, you are free through and through. 37 I know you are Abraham's descendants. But I also know that you are trying to kill me because my message hasn't yet penetrated your thick skulls. 38 I'm talking about things I have seen while keeping company with the Father, and you just go on doing what you have heard from your father." 39 They were indignant. "Our father is Abraham!" 40 And yet here you are trying to kill me, a man who has spoken to you the truth he got straight from God! Abraham never did that sort of thing. 41 You persist in repeating the works of your father." They said, "We're not bastards. We have a legitimate father: the one and only God." 42 "If God was your father," said Jesus, "you would love me, for I came from God and arrived here. I didn't come on my own. He sent me. 43 Why can't you understand one word I say? Here's why: You can't handle it. 44 You're from your father, the Devil, and all you want to do is please him. He was a killer from the very start. He couldn't stand the truth because there wasn't a shred of truth in him. When the Liar speaks, he makes it up out of his lying nature and fills the world with lies. 45 I arrive on the scene, tell you the plain truth, and you refuse to have a thing to do with me. 46 Can any one of you convict me of a single misleading word, a single sinful act? But if I'm telling the truth, why don't you believe me? 47 Anyone on God's side listens to God's words. This is why you're not listening - because you're not on God's side."
48 The Jews then said, "That clinches it. We were right all along when we called you a Samaritan and said you were crazy - demon-possessed!" 49 Jesus said, "I'm not crazy. I simply honor my Father, while you dishonor me. 50 I am not trying to get anything for myself. God intends something gloriously grand here and is making the decisions that will bring it about. 51 I say this with absolute confidence. If you practice what I'm telling you, you'll never have to look death in the face." 52 At this point the Jews said, "Now we know you're crazy. Abraham died. The prophets died. And you show up saying, 'If you practice what I'm telling you, you'll never have to face death, not even a taste.' 53 Are you greater than Abraham, who died? And the prophets died! Who do you think you are!" 54 Jesus said, "If I turned the spotlight on myself, it wouldn't amount to anything. But my Father, the same One you say is your Father, put me here at this time and place of splendor. 55 You haven't recognized him in this. But I have. If I, in false modesty, said I didn't know what was going on, I would be as much of a liar as you are. But I do know, and I am doing what he says. 56 Abraham - your 'father' - with jubilant faith looked down the corridors of history and saw my day coming. He saw it and cheered." 57 The Jews said, "You're not even fifty years old - and Abraham saw you?" 58 "Believe me," said Jesus, "I am who I am long before Abraham was anything." 59 That did it - pushed them over the edge. They picked up rocks to throw at him. But Jesus slipped away, getting out of the Temple.
John 8 (Week of Sept. 22nd)
September 22, 2019
John 1 (Week of Aug. 4th)
August 4, 2019
This Fall, we invite you to read along in the Gospel of John with us! For 21 weeks, starting Aug. 4th, we are challenging our students and parents to read one chapter a week and to discuss it on our Facebook or Instagram pages! In addition, the Monday of each week we will post a video about a short section HERE to help guide your thoughts! We will be using The Message translation of the Bible, but you are, of course, free to read whatever translation you prefer! Week 1: John 1 The Message (MSG) 1 The Word was first, the Word present to God, God present to the Word. The Word was God, 2 in readiness for God from day one. 3 Everything was created through him; nothing - not one thing! - came into being without him. 4 What came into existence was Life, and the Life was Light to live by. 5 The Life-Light blazed out of the darkness; the darkness couldn't put it out. 6 There once was a man, his name John, sent by God 7 to point out the way to the Life-Light. He came to show everyone where to look, who to believe in. 8 John was not himself the Light; he was there to show the way to the Light. 9 The Life-Light was the real thing: Every person entering Life he brings into Light. 10 He was in the world, the world was there through him, and yet the world didn't even notice. 11 He came to his own people, but they didn't want him. 12 But whoever did want him, who believed he was who he claimed and would do what he said, He made to be their true selves, their child-of-God selves. 13 These are the God-begotten, not blood-begotten, not flesh-begotten, not sex-begotten. 14 The Word became flesh and blood, and moved into the neighborhood. We saw the glory with our own eyes, the one-of-a-kind glory, like Father, like Son, Generous inside and out, true from start to finish. 15 John pointed him out and called, "This is the One! The One I told you was coming after me but in fact was ahead of me. He has always been ahead of me, has always had the first word." 16 We all live off his generous bounty, gift after gift after gift. 17 We got the basics from Moses, and then this exuberant giving and receiving, This endless knowing and understanding - all this came through Jesus, the Messiah. 18 No one has ever seen God, not so much as a glimpse. This one-of-a-kind God-Expression, who exists at the very heart of the Father, has made him plain as day. 19 When Jews from Jerusalem sent a group of priests and officials to ask John who he was, he was completely honest. 20 He didn't evade the question. He told the plain truth: "I am not the Messiah." 21 They pressed him, "Who, then? Elijah?" "I am not." "The Prophet?" "No." 22 Exasperated, they said, "Who, then? We need an answer for those who sent us. Tell us something - anything! - about yourself." 23 "I'm thunder in the desert: 'Make the road straight for God!' I'm doing what the prophet Isaiah preached." 24 Those sent to question him were from the Pharisee party. 25 Now they had a question of their own: "If you're neither the Messiah, nor Elijah, nor the Prophet, why do you baptize?" 26 John answered, "I only baptize using water. A person you don't recognize has taken his stand in your midst. 27 He comes after me, but he is not in second place to me. I'm not even worthy to hold his coat for him." 28 These conversations took place in Bethany on the other side of the Jordan, where John was baptizing at the time. 29 The very next day John saw Jesus coming toward him and yelled out, 30 "Here he is, God's Passover Lamb! He forgives the sins of the world! This is the man I've been talking about, 'the One who comes after me but is really ahead of me.' 31 I knew nothing about who he was - only this: that my task has been to get Israel ready to recognize him as the God-Revealer. That is why I came here baptizing with water, giving you a good bath and scrubbing sins from your life so you can get a fresh start with God." 32 John clinched his witness with this: "I watched the Spirit, like a dove flying down out of the sky, making himself at home in him. 33 I repeat, I know nothing about him except this: The One who authorized me to baptize with water told me, 'The One on whom you see the Spirit come down and stay, this One will baptize with the Holy Spirit.' 34 That's exactly what I saw happen, and I'm telling you, there's no question about it: This is the Son of God." 35 The next day John was back at his post with two disciples, who were watching. 36 He looked up, saw Jesus walking nearby, and said, "Here he is, God's Passover Lamb." 37 The two disciples heard him and went after Jesus. 38 Jesus looked over his shoulder and said to them, "What are you after?" They said, "Rabbi" (which means "Teacher"), "where are you staying?" 39 He replied, "Come along and see for yourself." They came, saw where he was living, and ended up staying with him for the day. It was late afternoon when this happened. 40 Andrew, Simon Peter's brother, was one of the two who heard John's witness and followed Jesus. 41 The first thing he did after finding where Jesus lived was find his own brother, Simon, telling him, "We've found the Messiah" (that is, "Christ"). 42 He immediately led him to Jesus. Jesus took one look up and said, "You're John's son, Simon? From now on your name is Cephas" (or Peter, which means "Rock"). 43 The next day Jesus decided to go to Galilee. When he got there, he ran across Philip and said, "Come, follow me." 44 (Philip's hometown was Bethsaida, the same as Andrew and Peter.) 45 Philip went and found Nathanael and told him, "We've found the One Moses wrote of in the Law, the One preached by the prophets. It's Jesus, Joseph's son, the one from Nazareth!" 46 Nathanael said, "Nazareth? You've got to be kidding." But Philip said, "Come, see for yourself." 47 When Jesus saw him coming he said, "There's a real Israelite, not a false bone in his body." 48 Nathanael said, "Where did you get that idea? You don't know me." Jesus answered, "One day, long before Philip called you here, I saw you under the fig tree." 49 Nathanael exclaimed, "Rabbi! You are the Son of God, the King of Israel!" 50 Jesus said, "You've become a believer simply because I say I saw you one day sitting under the fig tree? You haven't seen anything yet! 51 Before this is over you're going to see heaven open and God's angels descending to the Son of Man and ascending again."
John 2 (Week of Aug. 11th)
August 11, 2019
This Fall, we invite you to read along in the Gospel of John with us! For 21 weeks, starting Aug. 4th we are challenging our students and parents to read one chapter a week and to discuss it on our Facebook or Instagram pages! In addition, the Monday of each week we will post a video about a short section HERE to help guide your thoughts! We will be using The Message translation of the Bible, but you are, of course, free to read whatever translation you prefer! Week 2: John 2 The Message (MSG) 1 Three days later there was a wedding in the village of Cana in Galilee. Jesus' mother was there. 2 Jesus and his disciples were guests also. 3 When they started running low on wine at the wedding banquet, Jesus' mother told him, "They're just about out of wine." 4 Jesus said, "Is that any of our business, Mother - yours or mine? This isn't my time. Don't push me." 5 She went ahead anyway, telling the servants, "Whatever he tells you, do it." 6 Six stoneware water pots were there, used by the Jews for ritual washings. Each held twenty to thirty gallons. 7 Jesus ordered the servants, "Fill the pots with water." And they filled them to the brim. 8 "Now fill your pitchers and take them to the host," Jesus said, and they did. 9 When the host tasted the water that had become wine (he didn't know what had just happened but the servants, of course, knew), he called out to the bridegroom, 10 "Everybody I know begins with their finest wines and after the guests have had their fill brings in the cheap stuff. But you've saved the best till now!" 11 This act in Cana of Galilee was the first sign Jesus gave, the first glimpse of his glory. And his disciples believed in him. 12 After this he went down to Capernaum along with his mother, brothers, and disciples, and stayed several days. 13 When the Passover Feast, celebrated each spring by the Jews, was about to take place, Jesus traveled up to Jerusalem. 14 He found the Temple teeming with people selling cattle and sheep and doves. The loan sharks were also there in full strength. 15 Jesus put together a whip out of strips of leather and chased them out of the Temple, stampeding the sheep and cattle, upending the tables of the loan sharks, spilling coins left and right. 16 He told the dove merchants, "Get your things out of here! Stop turning my Father's house into a shopping mall!" 17 That's when his disciples remembered the Scripture, "Zeal for your house consumes me." 18 But the Jews were upset. They asked, "What credentials can you present to justify this?" 19 Jesus answered, "Tear down this Temple and in three days I'll put it back together." 20 They were indignant: "It took forty-six years to build this Temple, and you're going to rebuild it in three days?" 21 But Jesus was talking about his body as the Temple. 22 Later, after he was raised from the dead, his disciples remembered he had said this. They then put two and two together and believed both what was written in Scripture and what Jesus had said. 23 During the time he was in Jerusalem, those days of the Passover Feast, many people noticed the signs he was displaying and, seeing they pointed straight to God, entrusted their lives to him. 24 But Jesus didn't entrust his life to them. He knew them inside and out, knew how untrustworthy they were. 25 He didn't need any help in seeing right through them.
John 3 (Week of Aug. 18th)
August 18, 2019
This Fall, we invite you to read along in the Gospel of John with us! For 21 weeks, starting Aug. 4th we are challenging our students and parents to read one chapter a week and to discuss it on our Facebook or Instagram pages! In addition, the Monday of each week we will post a video about a short section HERE to help guide your thoughts! We will be using The Message translation of the Bible, but you are, of course, free to read whatever translation you prefer! Week 3: John 3 The Message (MSG) 1 There was a man of the Pharisee sect, Nicodemus, a prominent leader among the Jews. 2 Late one night he visited Jesus and said, "Rabbi, we all know you're a teacher straight from God. No one could do all the God-pointing, God-revealing acts you do if God weren't in on it." 3 Jesus said, "You're absolutely right. Take it from me: Unless a person is born from above, it's not possible to see what I'm pointing to - to God's kingdom." 4 "How can anyone," said Nicodemus, "be born who has already been born and grown up? You can't re-enter your mother's womb and be born again. What are you saying with this 'born-from-above' talk?" 5 Jesus said, "You're not listening. Let me say it again. Unless a person submits to this original creation - the 'wind hovering over the water' creation, the invisible moving the visible, a baptism into a new life - it's not possible to enter God's kingdom. 6 When you look at a baby, it's just that: a body you can look at and touch. But the person who takes shape within is formed by something you can't see and touch - the Spirit - and becomes a living spirit. 7 "So don't be so surprised when I tell you that you have to be 'born from above' - out of this world, so to speak. 8 You know well enough how the wind blows this way and that. You hear it rustling through the trees, but you have no idea where it comes from or where it's headed next. That's the way it is with everyone 'born from above' by the wind of God, the Spirit of God." 9 Nicodemus asked, "What do you mean by this? How does this happen?" 10 Jesus said, "You're a respected teacher of Israel and you don't know these basics? 11 Listen carefully. I'm speaking sober truth to you. I speak only of what I know by experience; I give witness only to what I have seen with my own eyes. There is nothing secondhand here, no hearsay. Yet instead of facing the evidence and accepting it, you procrastinate with questions. 12 If I tell you things that are plain as the hand before your face and you don't believe me, what use is there in telling you of things you can't see, the things of God? 13 "No one has ever gone up into the presence of God except the One who came down from that Presence, the Son of Man. 14 In the same way that Moses lifted the serpent in the desert so people could have something to see and then believe, it is necessary for the Son of Man to be lifted up - 15 and everyone who looks up to him, trusting and expectant, will gain a real life, eternal life. 16 "This is how much God loved the world: He gave his Son, his one and only Son. And this is why: so that no one need be destroyed; by believing in him, anyone can have a whole and lasting life. 17 God didn't go to all the trouble of sending his Son merely to point an accusing finger, telling the world how bad it was. He came to help, to put the world right again. 18 Anyone who trusts in him is acquitted; anyone who refuses to trust him has long since been under the death sentence without knowing it. And why? Because of that person's failure to believe in the one-of-a-kind Son of God when introduced to him. 19 "This is the crisis we're in: God-light streamed into the world, but men and women everywhere ran for the darkness. They went for the darkness because they were not really interested in pleasing God. 20 Everyone who makes a practice of doing evil, addicted to denial and illusion, hates God-light and won't come near it, fearing a painful exposure. 21 But anyone working and living in truth and reality welcomes God-light so the work can be seen for the God-work it is." 22 After this conversation, Jesus went on with his disciples into the Judean countryside and relaxed with them there. He was also baptizing. 23 At the same time, John was baptizing over at Aenon near Salim, where water was abundant. 24 This was before John was thrown into jail. 25 John's disciples got into an argument with the establishment Jews over the nature of baptism. 26 They came to John and said, "Rabbi, you know the one who was with you on the other side of the Jordan? The one you authorized with your witness? Well, he's now competing with us. He's baptizing, too, and everyone's going to him instead of us." 27 John answered, "It's not possible for a person to succeed - I'm talking about eternal success - without heaven's help. 28 You yourselves were there when I made it public that I was not the Messiah but simply the one sent ahead of him to get things ready. 29 The one who gets the bride is, by definition, the bridegroom. And the bridegroom's friend, his 'best man' - that's me - in place at his side where he can hear every word, is genuinely happy. How could he be jealous when he knows that the wedding is finished and the marriage is off to a good start? 30 This is the assigned moment for him to move into the center, while I slip off to the sidelines. 31 "The One who comes from above is head and shoulders over other messengers from God. The earthborn is earthbound and speaks earth language; the heavenborn is in a league of his own. 32 He sets out the evidence of what he saw and heard in heaven. No one wants to deal with these facts. 33 But anyone who examines this evidence will come to stake his life on this: that God himself is the truth. 34 "The One that God sent speaks God's words. And don't think he rations out the Spirit in bits and pieces. 35 The Father loves the Son extravagantly. He turned everything over to him so he could give it away - a lavish distribution of gifts. 36 That is why whoever accepts and trusts the Son gets in on everything, life complete and forever! And that is also why the person who avoids and distrusts the Son is in the dark and doesn't see life. All he experiences of God is darkness, and an angry darkness at that."