John 5-6: Why are you here?

We read John 5 and 6 and watch Jesus use miracles to reveal who he is and what the Father is like. We also wrestle with the uncomfortable question Jesus forces into the open: are we coming to him for benefits or for belief that leads to eternal life. 
• Jesus heals a man disabled for thirty-eight years at Bethesda 
• Sabbath backlash exposes leaders focused on rules over restoration 
• Jesus explains his unity with the Father and his authority to give life and judge justly 
• Feeding the five thousand shows abundance and tests motives 
• Jesus walks on the water and calms fear with his presence 
• The crowd chases signs and full stomachs and Jesus confronts that hunger 
• “Believe in the one whom he sent” as the core work God requires 
• “I Am The Bread Of Life” and the promise of never-ending life 
• Hard teaching divides followers and reveals who will stay 
• Peter’s confession that Jesus has the words of eternal life 
• A closing heart check on why we come to Jesus 

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Transcript

Welcome And Why John Matters

SPEAKER_00 0:11

Hey, welcome back to the Out Loud Bible Project Podcast. This is Mike. We're reading through the Book of John, a really beautiful and a really intimate book, as we get to know more about who Jesus is from one of the men who knew him the very best. The Book of John is all about helping you, the reader, know who Jesus is. That's John's focus. And so today in John 5 and 6, we're going to be reading about some more miracles that Jesus is performing. And the point of these miracles is to help people know who Jesus is and to know the Father. Jesus is here as the living embodiment of the heart of God on earth. If you know Jesus, you know the Father. That's the whole point. So let's get to know Jesus a little bit more through what he does here in John 5 and 6 in the New English Translation. After this there was a Jewish feast, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem. Now there is in Jerusalem, by the sheepgate, a pool called Bethzatha in Aramaic, which has five covered walkways. And a great number of sick, blind, lame, and paralyzed people were lying in these walkways. Now a man was there who had been disabled for thirty eight years. When Jesus saw him lying there, and when he realized that the man had been disabled a long time already, he said to him, Do you want to become well? Well the sick man answered him, Sir, I have no one to put me into the pool when the water's stirred up. When I'm trying to get into the water, someone else goes down there before me. And Jesus said to him, Stand up, pick up your mat and walk. And immediately the man was healed, and he picked up his mat and started walking. Now that day was a Sabbath. So the Jewish leaders said to the man who had been healed, It is the Sabbath, and you're not permitted to carry your mat. But he answered them, Well the man who made me well said to me, Pick up your mat and walk. They said to him, Who is the man who said to you pick up your mat and walk? But the man who had been healed didn't know who it was, for Jesus had slipped out since there was a crowd in that place. After this Jesus found him at the temple and said to him, Oh look, you've become well. Don't sin any more, lest worse things happen to you. The man went away and informed the Jewish leaders that Jesus was the one who had made him well. Now because Jesus was doing these things on the Sabbath, the Jewish leaders began persecuting him. So he told them, My father is working until now, and I too am working. For this reason the Jewish leaders were trying even harder to kill him, because not only was he breaking the Sabbath, but he was also calling God his own father, thus making himself equal with God. So Jesus answered them, I tell you the solemn truth, the Son can do nothing on his own initiative, but only what he sees the Father doing. For whatever the Father does, the Son does likewise, for the Father loves the Son and shows him everything he does, and will show him greater deeds than these, so that you'll be amazed. For just as the Father raises the dead and gives them life, so also the Son gives life to whomever he wishes. Furthermore, the Father doesn't judge anyone, but he's assigned all judgment to the Son, so that all people will honor the Son just as they honor the Father. The one who does not honor the Son does not honor the Father who sent him. I tell you the solemn truth, the one who hears my message, and believes the one who sent me, has eternal life, and will not be condemned, but is crossed over from death to life. I tell you the solemn truth, a time is coming, and is now here when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God, and those who hear will live. For just as the Father has life in himself, thus he's granted the Son to have life in himself, and he's granted the Son authority to execute judgment because he is the Son of Man. Do not be amazed at this because a time is coming when all who are in the tombs will hear his voice and will come out. The ones who have done what's good to the resurrection resulting in life, and the ones who have done what is evil to the resurrection resulting in condemnation. I can do nothing on my own initiative. Just as I hear, I judge, and my judgment is just, because I do not seek my own will but the will of the one who sent me. If I testify about myself, my testimony's not true. There's another who testifies about me, and I know the testimony he testifies about me is true. You've sent to John, and he's testified to the truth. I don't accept human testimony, but I say this so that you may be saved. He was a lamp that was burning and shining, and you wanted to rejoice greatly for a short time in his light. But I've a testimony greater than that from John, for the deeds that the Father has assigned me to complete, the deeds I am now doing, testify about me that the Father has sent me. And the Father who has sent me has himself testified about me. You people have never heard his voice, nor seen his form at any time, nor do you have his word residing in you because you do not believe the one whom he sent. You studied the scriptures thoroughly because you think in them you possess eternal life, and it is these same scriptures that testify about me. But you're not willing to come to me so that you may have life. I don't accept praise from people, but I know you that you do not have the love of God within you. I've come in my Father's name and you do not accept me. If someone else comes in his own name, you'll accept him. How can you believe if you accept praise from one another and don't seek the praise that comes from the only God? Don't suppose that I will accuse you before the Father. No, the one who accuses you is Moses, in whom you've placed your hope. If you believed Moses, you would believe me because he wrote about me. But if you don't believe what Moses wrote, how will you believe my words? Well, after this, Jesus went away to the other side of the Sea of Galilee, also called the Sea of Tiberias, and a large crowd was following him because they were observing the miraculous signs he was performing on the sick. So Jesus went up on the mountainside and sat down there with his disciples. Now the Jewish feast of the Passover was near, and then Jesus, when he looked up and saw that a large crowd was coming to him, he said to Philip, where can we buy bread so that these people may eat? Now Jesus said this to test him, for he knew what he was going to do. Philip replied, two hundred silver coins worth of bread wouldn't be enough for them for each one to get a little. One of Jesus' disciples, Andrew, Simon Peter's brother, said to him, Here's a boy who has five barley loaves and two fish, but what good are these for so many people? Jesus said, Have the people sit down. Now there was a lot of grass in that place, so the men sat down, about five thousand in number, and then Jesus took the loaves, and when he had given thanks, he distributed the bread to those who were seated, and then he did the same with the fish, as much as they wanted. When they were all satisfied, Jesus said to his disciples, Oh, gather up the broken pieces that are left over, so nothing's wasted. So they gathered them up and filled twelve baskets with broken pieces from the five barley loaves left over by the people who had eaten. Now when the people saw the miraculous sign that Jesus performed, they began to say to one another, This is certainly the prophet who's come into the world. Then Jesus, because he knew they were going to come and seize him by force to make him king, withdrew again to the mountainside alone. Now when evening came his disciples went down to the lake, got into a boat, and started to cross the lake to Capernaum. It had already become dark, and Jesus had not yet come to them. By now a strong wind was blowing, and the sea was getting rough. Then when they had rowed about three or four miles, they caught sight of Jesus walking on the lake, approaching the boat, and they were frightened, but he said to them, It's I, don't be afraid. Then they wanted to take him into the boat, and immediately the boat came to the land where they had been heading. The next day the crowd that remained on the other side of the lake realized that only one small boat had been there, and that Jesus had not boarded it with his disciples, but that his disciples had gone away alone. Other boats from Tiberius came to shore near the place where they had eaten the bread after the Lord had given thanks. So when the crowd realized that neither Jesus nor his disciples were there, they got into the boats and came to Coberna looking for Jesus. When they found him on the other side of the lake, they said to him, Rabbi, when did you get here? Jesus replied, I tell you the solemn truth. You're looking for me not because you saw miraculous signs, but because you ate all the loaves of bread you wanted. Don't work for the food that disappears, but for the food that remains to eternal life, the food which the Son of Man will give to you. For God the Father has put his seal of approval on him. So they said to him, What must we do to accomplish the deeds God requires? Jesus replied, This is the deed God requires to believe in the one whom he sent. So they said to him, Well then what miraculous sign will you perform so that we may see it and believe you? What will you do? Our ancestors ate the manna in the wilderness, just as it's written, He gave them bread from heaven to eat. Then Jesus told them, I tell you the solemn truth, it's not Moses who has given you the bread from heaven, but my father is giving you the true bread from heaven. For the bread of God is the one who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world. So they said to him, Sir, give us this bread all the time. Jesus said to them, I am the bread of life. The one who comes to me will never go hungry, and the one who believes in me will never be thirsty. But I told you that you've seen me and still don't believe. Everyone whom the Father gives me will come to me, and the one who comes to me I will never send away. For I've come down from heaven not to do my own will, but the will of the one who sent me. Now this is the will of the one who sent me, that I should not lose one person of everyone he's given me, but raise them all up at the last day. For this is the will of my Father, for everyone who looks on the Son and believes in him to have eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day. Well then the Jews who were hostile to Jesus began complaining about him because he said, I am the bread that came down from heaven, and they said, Wasn't this Jesus, the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know? How can he now say I've come down from heaven? Jesus replied, Don't complain about me to one another. No one has come to me unless the Father who has sent me draws him, and I'll raise him up at the last day. It's written in the prophets, and they will all be taught by God. Everyone who hears and learns from the Father comes to me. Not that everyone has seen the Father except the one who is from God, he has seen the Father. I tell you the solemn truth, the one who believes has eternal life. I am the bread of life. Your ancestors ate the manna in the wilderness and they died. This is the bread that's come down from heaven, so that a person may eat from it and not die. I am the living bread that came down from heaven. If anyone eats from this bread, he will live forever. The bread that I will give you for the life of the world is my flesh. Then the Jews who were hostile to Jesus began to argue with one another, well, how can this man give us his flesh to eat? Jesus said to them, I tell you the solemn truth, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in yourselves. The one who eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day, for my flesh is true food, and my blood is true drink. The one who eats my flesh and drinks my blood resides in me, and I in him. Just as the living Father sent me and I live because of the Father, so the one who consumes me will live because of me. This is the bread that came down from heaven. It's not like the bread your ancestors ate, but then later died. The one who eats this bread will live forever. Jesus said these things while he was teaching in the synagogue in Campernum, and then many of his disciples, when they heard these things, said Oh this is a difficult saying. Who can understand it? When Jesus was aware that his disciples were complaining about this, he said to them Does this cause you to be offended? Then what if you see the Son of Man ascending where he was before? The Spirit is the one who gives life. Human nature is of no help. The words I've spoken to you are spirit and are life. There are some of you who do not believe. For Jesus had already known from the beginning who those were who did not believe, and who it was who would betray him. So Jesus added, Because of this I told you that no one can come to me unless the Father has allowed him to come. After this, many of his disciples quit following him, and didn't accompany him any longer. So Jesus said to the twelve, You don't want to go away too, do you? Simon Peter answered him, Lord, why to whom would we go? You have the words of eternal life. We come to believe and to know that you are the Holy One of God. Jesus replied, Didn't I choose you the twelve? And yet one of you is the devil. Now we said this about Judas, son of Simon Iscariot, for Judas, one of the twelve, was going to betray him. Some tough teachings today from Jesus. Now remember, Jesus performed miracles so that people could get to know him and therefore get to know God the Father better. But how relatable is it that those people and we today tend to want Jesus for what he does for us, for how it benefits us and makes our life easier, something that we like and are excited about, and not so much the whole getting to know him more thing, because the more we get to know Jesus, the more we recognize that we can do nothing, have nothing, and the thing that he expects from us is to suffer like he has. Ugh, that's a tough sell. Jesus got intentionally weird with the whole eating his flesh and drinking his blood thing because he wanted to check people after he had performed this miracle, checking their hearts and saying, Hey, are you just here for a good time? Are you just here for the benefits? Are you just here for some easy to digest teaching that you can walk away with and and felt like, oh yes, I have I have learned more about God today and I feel good about that? Like, what are you here for? Because if you're really gonna know Jesus and if you're really gonna follow Jesus, it's going to mean less full stomachs and stroked egos and more confusion, suffering, and leaps of faith into the unknown. Not for nothing, of course, because eternal life is given and life abundantly. But Jesus wants to know why are you here? Why are you coming to him? It's a heart check question that we need to answer today. That's the thinking out loud thought for the day. We'll see you next time.