One of the hardest attitudes to understand is how it can be possible that those “who mourn” are actually blessed. It turns out the already/not yet nature of the kingdom speaks to that issue. Because the kingdom is already here, the Holy Spirit is currently available to comfort those who mourn. But because the kingdom is not yet fully here, we realize that it is only in the future that those who mourn will be fully and finally comforted. While we tend to think of mourning as something that is thrust on us when the unexpected happens, Scripture actually invites us to mourn in several ways—all of which can lead to a deeper understanding of God’s blessing in our lives. We are invited to examine our hearts and mourn our own sin. We are invited to mourn the brokenness of the world and the systems and structures that make that possible. And we are invited to consider and mourn the way that we as individuals have contributed to and participated in the broken structures and systems that mark our world. Finally, we see that God can use our mourning to help others. He can use our experience of mourning to enable us to share His comfort with others who are mourning. And he can use our experience of mourning to catalyze us and embolden us to fight against the injustice and brokenness we see in our world.

In the Beatitudes Jesus gives a surprising list of who is invited into the kingdom of God and what it looks like to live as citizens of God’s kingdom. The list begins by saying “blessed are the poor in spirit for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.” Someone is poor in spirit when they recognize their state of true spiritual bankruptcy before God. Nothing we have and nothing we do can save us, so it is true that “blessed are” those who realize they can do nothing but rely on god’s mercy. It can be hard to remember that truth and live out of that truth in our world because every other voice in our culture pushes against that. For example, one part of the “American Dream” is the idea that anyone can work hard and pull themselves up by their bootstraps, that we have it within ourselves to make a better life on our own. When that thinking spills over into our spiritual life we are in a dangerous place, so we need to constantly be vigilant against that and work to stay rooted in God’s Spirit and power so that we remember our true spiritual state and continue to rely on His grace both to enter and to continue to live in the Kingdom.

For thousands of years people have been asking the question “what is the good life and how can I live it?” Most world religions try to answer that question as well. Jesus answered it in a surprising way, by talking about how the good life can only truly be found by living in the Kingdom of God. In Jesus’ day there were widely different views (held by groups like the Pharisees, Sadducees, Essenes, and Zealots) about what would help God’s kingdom come. Jesus swept all of those to the side and instead introduced a whole new vision of what life in God’s kingdom looked liked. In the Beatitudes, Jesus paints a picture of what life in God’s kingdom is like—and it is very different than the answer to “how do I find the good life?” that we often hear in culture. Jesus teaching shows that the only way to live the good life is by becoming the kind of person who lives out the Beatitudes, and the Bible reminds us that it is only through the resurrection of Jesus that we have access to the power of the Holy Spirit to truly live that way. 

John 11 is a critical story in the Gospel of John because it serves as the hinge between the two parts of the book. The response of the religious leaders to Lazarus’ resurrection is to set in motion a plan that leads to the execution of Jesus. But this story, from the perspective of Lazarus’ sisters, is really about waiting. And it teaches us important lessons about who Jesus is. Jesus loves us and can speak to us individually in ways that we can understand. He is with us in our sorrow, grieving when we grieve. And he can use the timing of things in our lives to bring glory to God. Our job in the waiting is to trust Him, even if we can’t make sense of the timing of it all. And we need to remember that in times of waiting God can do a unique work in us, helping us put down deeper roots and deepen our trust and faith in him. 

In the first half of his Gospel, John gives us four different stories where Jesus interacts with different Jewish holy days or festivals. In each of these instances Jesus takes the imagery associated with that day and applies it to Himself, making incredible claims about His relationship with God and what God was doing in and through Him. It reminds us of something that Jesus knew to be true—that the Bible is a unified story that leads to Jesus. As we read the Bible that way we can encounter Jesus there and know him more deeply. But, as we do that, we also have to be aware of ways that we can fall into the same trap the religious leaders of the day fell into—where we get so focused on certain things that we miss the larger picture. We need the Holy Spirit’s help to point out ways to us that, in our own relationship with God, we may be so invested in practices that point to Jesus that we miss the reality of Jesus working in our midst.

In pair of back to back stories in John 4 and 5 we see Jesus interact with two people—both of whom were outcasts in their society—in remarkable ways. As we compare the stories of Jesus’ interaction with the Samaritan woman at the well and the paralyzed man at the pool of Bethesda we see that Jesus loves people so much that he is willing to break barriers and reach out to them just as they are. But, as we also see in both stories, Jesus loves everyone too much to let them stay just as they are. He always offers them a chance to change and move towards the life He has for them.

Join us today as we continue through the book of John. 

Join us as we kick off our reading plan in the book of John.

The first chapter of John beautifully begins the disciple's gospel that Jesus is not just a good teacher or prophet, but God dwelt in bodily form. 
John has written specific details about Jesus so that everyone who reads and engages in the book of John would see that Jesus is the Messiah, the Savior of the world, and the Son of God. John is likely writing both to call unbelievers to faith in Jesus and to provide confidence for those believers struggling in their faith.