Bible Voyagers: Disciple's Journey

Jesus...the Son of God and the Savior of the world...prays for God to save his followers on the night before his execution. 

“A time is coming and in fact has come when you will be scattered, each to your own home. You will leave me all alone. Yet I am not alone, for my Father is with me. I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.” 

As Jesus' time on earth draws to a close, he makes one last impassioned plea for his disciples to love one another just as he loved them. "Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends." 

Only hours remain until Jesus is crucified and God's spirit dramatically departs from the Jewish temple in Jerusalem. But before he leaves his disciples, Jesus promises that God's Holy Spirit will return in a magnificent and powerfully personal way by coming to live within each and every disciple of Jesus. 

Jesus' fame reaches its zenith as he arrives in Jerusalem for his final Passover. And in a stunning admission, the author of John's Gospel finally confirms that many of Jesus' most hostile enemies within the Jewish senior leadership have secretly become believers of Jesus. Yet many would not openly acknowledge their faith for fear they would be ostracized from their communities and become social outcasts. 

One of Jesus' most spectacular miracles demonstrated his immense power over the universe while also occasioning to show his enormous compassion for his closest friends. 

During the festival of Hanukkah, Jesus was teaching at the temple courts when the Jewish leaders confronted him and asked "How long will you keep us in suspense? If you are the Messiah, tell us plainly!" Jesus' response was direct and severe, leading some to claim that he was demon-possessed and insane, and resulting in numerous attempts to seize him and stone him to death. 

Jesus demonstrated his remarkable power by healing a man blind from birth. But the event raised questions about why the man was born blind in the first place: Was he a sinner? Were his parents sinners? What is the purpose of suffering...is it simply divine retribution for human wickedness? Jesus' actions...and his answer to those questions...ignited a firestorm of controversy that continued to further provoke the religious elite while winning new disciples to Jesus' side. 

Jesus' direct and confrontational style often put him at odds with the religious leaders of his day and repeatedly caused friction with those around him. Far from being the meek, passive "hippie" popularized in modern culture, Jesus had a sharp tongue and a searing wit that he often used to boldly confront hypocrisy and challenge deeply-held preconceptions, even among his closest followers. 

Jesus' radical teaching and confrontational style begins to elicit major resistance -- and even physical violence -- from multiple groups including his followers, the Jews, religious leaders, and even Jesus' own brothers.