Some more on the Gospel of John

Once again the Gospel of John came alive on the screen for us at our last cell group meeting. While watching I became aware of things that were in the gospel but did not notice before. This DVD is a powerful medium. What caught me was it took Jesus 4 days to walk a days walk.

I did this colours scorecard thingy the other day, and my personality was Mary. This got me thinking of Mary's response "Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died." Lord if only you were here, you could have prevented it? That sounds too close to home. How many times have I cried out to God from the bottom of the pit only to hear no response from God?
Four days late. Now if someone you love is dieing, how quickly would you walk or even drive the few kilometres to see him/her? Four days? I am not being fair, Jesus did not wait for Lazarus to die, he was already dead so why rush. The messenger was sent to fetch Jesus on the first day. Jesus waits for two days before arriving in Bethany on the forth day. So if Lazarus had been dead for four days, he had died on the very day the messenger left and was already dead when the message reached Jesus. Jesus knew this when he said " This illness does not lead to death. It is for the glory of God, so that the Son of God may be glorified through it" There you have in a nut shell. For the glory of God.

Lazarus was already dead why wait four days, couldn't Jesus go and comfort Mary and Martha. He could have raised Lazarus up on the second day, but he waited two more days. Sandy answered this by telling us about a Jewish belief that a soul of a deceased person hovers around a tomb for four days, looking for an opportunity to re-enter the body. After four days the body was truly dead and decomposition has long started. So Lazarus had been dead for four days, it was too late even for Jesus to do something or so they thought. "It is for the glory of God, so that the Son of God may be glorified through it"

Have you ever felt like Mary or Martha must have felt? Have you ever felt like questioning God, yet at the same time having faith that God can still do something? Even though Martha knew that it was too late she still said to Jesus " But even now I know that whatever you ask from God, God will give you."

It is these words of Martha, I hold onto when things are not going according to my plan. When my world seems to be crumbling around me and God is not answering my prayers. I know that God, my God loves me and knows exactly where I am. I used to have this nightmare as a child of having to pick up these all these balls or else I would get punished. Now there were so many balls that the more I picked up, the more fell out of my hands. With tears and hopelessness I would cry out and I wake up. How many times have I weep at Jesus' feet? Yes I know that no matter where I am on this path, I know that Jesus is my Lord and Master. I will serve Him knowing that whatever I ask in His name, will be given to me not in my timing but His.

That's enough of what struck me about about the Gospel of John movie. Something else which also came through strongly was how Mary Magdalena was depicted many scenes that we didn't expect. It was very thought provoking.

Psalm 118
Give thanks to Yahweh, for he is good, his love is everlasting!
Let the House of Israel say it, 'His love is everlasting!'
Let the House of Aaron say it, 'His love is everlasting!'
Let those who fear Yahweh say it, 'His love is everlasting!'

Let us in South Africa say it, 'His love is everlasting!'

Lazarus been raised from the dead must have had a great effect on the local people of Bethany because today the town is known as El-Azariya, meaning "Place of Lazarus" (Lazarium) in Arabic

More on the Gospel of John

More on the "Gospel of John" film. What struck me was that Jesus was claiming over and over again who he was.

Who is this man, the one they call Jesus? You could see the confusion on the faces of the high priests. Who is this man? Is he the Messiah that was coming as promised? He does not act like the Messiah but he says that God is his father and sent him! The signs were there but their eyes remained blind.

Who is he? Even today this question is asked and as then the answer still alludes many. Some claim that he was a great teacher, others a prophet and some dismiss him as a liar or even a madman. He claimed to be the " I Am", God, Creator of heaven and earth.

"I am he, the one who is speaking to you." John 4:26 speaking to the Samaritan woman about the messiah.

"I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never be hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty." John 6:35 after feeding the people

"I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness but will have the light of life." John 8:12 after healing the blind man

"You are from below, I am from above; you are of this world, I am not of this world. I told you that you would die in your sins, for you will die in your sins unless you believe that I am he." John 8:23-24

"When you have lifted up the Son of Man, then you will realize that I am he, and that I do nothing on my own, but I speak these things as the Father instructed me." John 8:28

"Very truly, I tell you, before Abraham was, I am." John 8:58

"As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world." John 9:5

"I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep." John 10:11

"The Father and I are one." John 10:30

"Father is in me and I am in the Father." John 10:38

Who do you say he is?

C.S. Lewis who was once an agnostic, states in his book Mere Christianity "A man who was merely a man and said the sort of things Jesus said would not be a great moral teacher. He would either be a lunatic--on the level with a man who says he is a poached egg--or he would be the devil of hell. You must take your choice. Either this was, and is, the Son of God, or else a madman or something worse. You can shut him up for a fool or you can fall at his feet and call him Lord and God. But let us not come with any patronizing nonsense about his being a great human teacher. He has not left that open to us."

It is a choice we all have to make. Do we accept Jesus or reject him?

Most of us know Jesus in a personal way as the Son of God, the Messiah, Savior and Lord but there are many who still reject him and know him not. They are the lost. Jesus explained his purpose in Luke 19:10 " for the Son of Man has come to seek and to save that which was lost."

The question remains now that we know who he is, what are you going to do about it?

The Gospel of John film

At our cell meetings every Tuesday, we have started watching the "Gospel of John" film. At first I had some reservation watching the DVD because I have seen other renditions of stories from the Bible and they where nothing to write home about. We only watched the first three chapters but once it got under way, I was pleasantly surprised. It was fresh, intimate and accurate. A must see. Things were just made so much clearer watching John's unique perspective into the life of Jesus Christ. It establishes from the beginning the sovereignty of God and that Jesus is the Messiah that was prophesied in the Old Testament. God loves us so much that he sent us his Son, the Lamb of God. Yes, the group enjoyed the first part and can't wait to see the rest of it, but if John said in chapter 1 verse 10 that "He was in the world, and though the world was made through him, the world did not recognize him." How does the world receive this message today? Here are a few reviews I found on the Internet on the "Gospel of John" film...

• "The greatest story ever told? I don't know about that, but it remains a real humdinger."
• "A faithful, reverential version of what remains to this day to be the greatest story ever told."
• "This is so beautifully done. If you love Jesus you will love this movie." "A sluggishly painful, uninteresting film that might be of value to New Testament students who don't like to read words unless they come with pictures."
• "It is only with the heart that one can see rightly."
• "I found this Gospel long, dull and, for the most part, acted without apparent inspiration."
• "Though I approached The Gospel of John with some trepidation, I've now seen the film twice and consider it to be an extraordinary achievement."
• "Feels like the longest Sunday school class ever." "I believe this is one of the greatest evangelical tools present before us. I recommend it to everyone, and especially to those who are trying to discover the Good News about the life of Jesus."
• "A hero, especially a tragic hero, becomes empathetic when his own actions collide with the hand of Fate. But when the crucified hero is an all-powerful God, when his free will is the only determinism, Fate goes out the window and with it, our sympathies."
• "A word-for-word adaptation of the New Testament book ... Nothing was added and nothing was omitted."
• " I loved this film; it is word for word of the Gospel of John. My whole family was clued to the film. My husband has loaned it out to new and non believers and they were changed. It's something to see; you will be inspired!"
• "If you can come out of a 3-hour movie and say, 'Wow', then it must be divine."