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In the previous post we saw how Jesus broke the social conventions of his day by starting to talk with a Samaritan woman by a well. The conversation that followed had a major impact on the woman's life and that of her community.  The Samaritan woman said to him, “You are a Jew and I am a Samaritan woman. How can you ask me for a drink?” (For Jews do not associate with Samaritans.) Jesus answered her, “If you knew the gift of God and who it is that asks you for a drink, you would have asked him and he would have given you living water.” “Sir,” the woman said, “you have nothing to draw with and the well is deep. Where can you get this living water? Are you greater than our father Jacob, who gave us the well and drank from it himself, as did also his sons and his livestock?” Jesus answered, “Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks the water I give them will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give them will become in them a spring of water welling up to...
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Breaking the Rules

Now he had to go through Samaria. So he came to a town in Samaria called Sychar, near the plot of ground Jacob had given to his son Joseph. Jacob’s well was there, and Jesus, tired as he was from the journey, sat down by the well. It was about noon. When a Samaritan woman came to draw water, Jesus said to her, ‘Will you give me a drink?’ (His disciples had gone into the town to buy food.) Every society has its divisions. Leavers and Remainers; Conservatives and Progressives; Black and White. In first-century Judea, a major division was between Jews and Samaritans.   The Samaritans claimed to be preserving the true faith of the ancient Israelites and the true version of the Jewish holy writings; the Jews regarded the Samaritan religion as a corrupt form of the faith introduced by a mixed-race community who were not really true Jews. By the time of Jesus, the mutual hostility between Jews and Samaritans was such that the two communities did not mix and avoided any social or phy...
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What Comes to Mind When You Think of God?

The most often-quoted part of John's gospel is this: For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.  This short passage reveals several important aspects of the love of God. First, the character of God's love is shown by the word "so". It indicates an infinite degree of love. The past tense of the verb ("loved") shows that the love of God reaches back into eternity and has effect in the present. Second, the author of this love. God so loved. God is eternally full of love just as John wrote earlier in his gospel that "in him was life" . God possesses love and it is intrinsic to who God is. Third, the object of this love. God so loved "the world". The term here most naturally refers to the people of the world. John, the gospel writer, often comment...
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What is Heaven Like?

Nicodemus is still baffled about what it means to be 'born again'. As we have seen , Jesus has explained to him that a spiritual re-birth from above is necessary if anyone is to see or to enter the Kingdom of God. The educated religious teacher still struggles to understand what Jesus means:  “How can this be?” Nicodemus asked.  “You are Israel’s teacher,” said Jesus, “and do you not understand these things? Very truly I tell you, we speak of what we know, and we testify to what we have seen, but still you people do not accept our testimony. I have spoken to you of earthly things and you do not believe; how then will you believe if I speak of heavenly things? No one has ever gone into heaven except the one who came from heaven—the Son of Man. Just as Moses lifted up the snake in the wilderness, so the Son of Man must be lifted up, that everyone who believes may have eternal life in him.”   It is now Jesus' turn to be surprised. Although a well-trained teacher of ...
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Water and Spirit

In our previous post we saw the beginning of a conversation between Jesus and a high-ranking Jewish religious leader called Nicodemus. Jesus had told Nicodemus that he needed to be 'born again'.  Nicodemus is startled: “How can someone be born when they are old?” Nicodemus asked. “Surely they cannot enter a second time into their mother’s womb to be born!” Jesus answered, “Very truly I tell you, no one can enter the kingdom of God unless they are born of water and the Spirit. Flesh gives birth to flesh, but the Spirit gives birth to spirit. You should not be surprised at my saying, ‘You must be born again.’ The wind blows wherever it pleases. You hear its sound, but you cannot tell where it comes from or where it is going. So it is with everyone born of the Spirit.” Despite his lifetime of studying the Jewish scriptures, Nicodemus was rather rigid in his understanding of spiritual things. He understood the idea of being 'born again' as literal not as a metaph...
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What do you Mean, Born Again?

We saw in a previous post that Jesus was gaining a reputation for performing "signs". The gospel writer uses this term 18 times to describe different acts performed by Jesus - some of them clearly miraculous.  Nicodemus had heard of these signs. He may have witnessed some of them first hand. He knew that extraordinary miracles were happening through the rabbi from the north of Israel - Jesus of Nazareth. He wanted to talk with Jesus about the significance of these signs. Now there was a Pharisee, a man named Nicodemus who was a member of the Jewish ruling council. He came to Jesus at night and said, ‘Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher who has come from God. For no one could perform the signs you are doing if God were not with him.’ Jesus replied, ‘Very truly I tell you, no one can see the kingdom of God unless they are born again.' Nicodemus was authorised with others to make rulings on matters of religious life and practice among his fellow Jews. He was ...
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Can you Prove it?

It's a common question when people are exploring the Christian faith: can you prove that it's true? Jesus faced similar questions himself. Having just driven out the traders from the temple area, people wanted to know why he thought he had the right to do it: The Jews then responded to him, ‘What sign can you show us to prove your authority to do all this?’ Jesus answered them, ‘Destroy this temple, and I will raise it again in three days .’ At first sight this seems a crazy answer. Is Jesus claiming to have some magical construction powers? Evidently his hearers thought the same: They replied, ‘It has taken forty-six years to build this temple, and you are going to raise it in three days?’ But the temple he had spoken of was his body. After he was raised from the dead, his disciples recalled what he had said. Then they believed the Scripture and the words that Jesus had spoken. The hearers demanded a sign. Jesus responded by predicting his death and resurrection. H...
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