The Words of Jesus

Throughout history, the presence of large amounts of free alcohol have meant that weddings have often been occasions when people drink a lot. It was the same in first-century Palestine. At this particular wedding, the party was about to take a turn for the worse: the hosts had run out of wine. Then, as now, this would have been embarrassing and Jesus' mother appears to want him to do something about it.  On the third day a wedding took place at Cana in Galilee. Jesus’ mother was there, and Jesus and his disciples had also been invited to the wedding. When the wine was gone, Jesus’ mother said to him, ‘They have no more wine.’ ‘ Woman, why do you involve me? ’ Jesus replied. ‘ My hour has not yet come .’ His mother said to the servants, ‘Do whatever he tells you.’  At first sight, Jesus' answer seems a bit rude. First, he addresses his mother as "Woman." Then, he seems to shrug off her request with the seemingly off-hand phrase, "Why do you involve me?...

Within every human being there is a desire to know and to be known. After the basic physical needs for food, shelter and safety, American psychologist Abraham Maslow argued that the third most basic human need was for a sense of social belonging.  Nathanael has never met Jesus until this encounter and was introduced by his friend Philip. The meeting would prove very significant for this first-century Jewish man: When Jesus saw Nathanael approaching, he said of him, ‘ Here truly is an Israelite in whom there is no deceit .’ ‘How do you know me?’ Nathanael asked. Jesus answered, ‘ I saw you while you were still under the fig-tree before Philip called you .’ Then Nathanael declared, ‘Rabbi, you are the Son of God; you are the king of Israel.’ Jesus said, ‘ You believe because I told you I saw you under the fig-tree. You will see greater things than that .’ He then added, ‘ Very truly I tell you, you will see “heaven open, and the angels of God ascending and descending on” th...

So, here they are. At the time of writing, these were the world's ten most-followed Twitter accounts: Katy Perry Justin Bieber Barack Obama Rihanna Taylor Swift Lady Gaga Ellen DeGeneres YouTube Christiano Ronaldo Justin Timberlake Connection through social media is about the closest many of us get to the idea of "following anyone." Perhaps following a sports team is a bit more of a commitment. Many people claim that they are independent and follow no-one. Jesus had followers. We've already seen how Simon and Andrew had started to follow him . Now we see some more people starting to do so: The next day Jesus decided to leave for Galilee. Finding Philip, he said to him, ‘ Follow me .’ Philip, like Andrew and Peter, was from the town of Bethsaida. Philip found Nathanael and told him, ‘We have found the one Moses wrote about in the Law, and about whom the prophets also wrote – Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph.’ ‘Nazareth! Can...

Names often mean something - at least to the person who chooses the name. When Simon's parents named their son, his name meant "He has heard", which may be a reference to God answering prayer. When Simon was introduced to Jesus by his brother Andrew, Simon was in for a surprise: he got a new name: Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother, was one of the two who heard what John had said and who had followed Jesus. The first thing Andrew did was to find his brother Simon and tell him, “We have found the Messiah” (that is, the Christ). And he brought him to Jesus. Jesus looked at him and said, “ You are Simon son of John. You will be called Cephas ” (which, when translated, is Peter). When Simon is brought to Jesus, John notes that "Jesus looked at him." This appears to be more than a casual look up; he seemed to be looking into Simon's life in some way, and speaking about his future. In first-century Palestine, several languages were spoken. Aramaic was ...

Ask many people what they know about the birth of Jesus of Nazareth and they might mention the Christmas stories of shepherds, Bethlehem and angels. These themes are present in two of the gospel writers' stories - along with wise men, a star and King Herod. When John wrote his gospel, however, he began his story of the life of Jesus much further back in time:   In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning. Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made. In him was life, and that life was the light of all mankind. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it. A little later in the same passage, John identifies this "Word": The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth. The Word, says John, is also the Son...

The first recorded words of Jesus in the gospel written by John appear to be very ordinary: The next day John was there again with two of his disciples. When he saw Jesus passing by, he said, “Look, the Lamb of God!”  When the two disciples heard him say this, they followed Jesus. Turning around, Jesus saw them following and asked, “ What do you want? ” They said, ‘Rabbi’ (which means ‘Teacher’), ‘where are you staying?’ ‘ Come ,’ he replied, ‘ and you will see .’ Did Jesus ask this question because he lacked information? Was he annoyed? Or was he inviting these two men to focus on what they were really looking for when they found themselves walking behind him? John has just described Jesus (his cousin) as "The Lamb of God." That seems quite a strange thing to call someone, although for first-century Jews living in Palestine, the phrase was a bit easier to understand. The Jewish religion had a system of animal and food sacrifices made to God. The sacrifi...