Day 7 of 47 going through John's gospel - more info at https://www.severnvineyard.org/time-space-jesus

What could happen if you take time and make space with Jesus today? This ten-minute podcast is part reading, part music, and part silence, all designed to help you create a space to picture and feel the scene with Jesus in it. You can use this space in lots of ways, including meditation, prayer, re-reading the passage or thinking about what it means for you today.

Today's reflection: Is Jesus is starting a conversation with you?

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When Jesus learned that the Pharisees had been told that he was making and baptising more disciples than John (although Jesus himself didn’t baptise, his disciples did this), Jesus left Judea and went back to Galilee. He needed to pass through Samaria. So he came to a Samaritan city called Sychar, near the parcel of ground that Jacob gave to his son Joseph. Jacob’s well was there. Jesus, tired from his journey, sat down by the well. It was about noon.

A Samaritan woman came to draw water. Jesus said to her, “Give me a drink.” His disciples had gone off into the city to buy food.

The Samaritan woman said to him, “How is it that you, a Jew, ask for a drink from me, a Samaritan woman?” (For Jews have no dealings with Samaritans.)

Jesus answered her, “If you knew about God’s gift, and who is saying to you, ‘Give me a drink,’ you would have asked him, and he would have given you living water.”

The woman said to him, “Sir, you have nothing to draw with, and the well is deep. So where do you get that living water? Are you greater than our father Jacob, who gave us the well and drank from it, him and his children and his livestock?”

Jesus answered her, “Everyone who drinks this water will thirst again, but whoever drinks the water that I will give them will never thirst again; the water that I will give them will become in them a spring of water welling up to eternal life.”

The woman said to him, “Sir, give me this water, so that I won’t get thirsty, or have to keep coming all the way here to draw.”

Jesus said to her, “Go, call your husband, and come back.”

The woman answered, “I have no husband.”

Jesus said to her, “You were right to say, ‘I have no husband,’ for you have had five husbands; and the man you have now is not your husband. You have spoken truthfully.”

The woman said to him, “Sir, I can see that you are a prophet. Our fathers worshipped on this mountain, but you Jews say that Jerusalem is the place where people ought to worship.”

Jesus said to her, “Woman, believe me, a time is coming when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem. You don’t know what you worship. We do know what we worship; for salvation is from the Jews. But a time is coming, and is now here, when the true worshippers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father seeks such people to be his worshippers. God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth.”

The woman said to him, “I know that Messiah is coming, the Christ, the anointed one. When he has come, he will tell us everything.”

Jesus said to her, “That’s who I am, speaking to you.”

Day 6 of 47 going through John's gospel - more info at https://www.severnvineyard.org/time-space-jesus

What could happen if you take time and make space with Jesus today? This ten-minute podcast is part reading, part music, and part silence, all designed to help you create a space to picture and feel the scene with Jesus in it. You can use this space in lots of ways, including meditation, prayer, re-reading the passage or thinking about what it means for you today.

Today's reflection: From your perspective, what difference does it make that God gives from heaven?

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After these things, Jesus came with his disciples into the land of Judea. He stayed there with them and baptised. John also was baptising in Enon near Salim because there was much water there. People came and were baptised; for John had not yet been thrown into prison. A dispute arose between John’s disciples and a certain Jew about purification. They came to John and said to him, “Rabbi, the man who was with you on the other side of the Jordan – the one you have testified about - look, he is baptising, and everyone is coming to him.”

John answered, “A man can receive nothing unless it has been given to him from heaven. You yourselves witnessed that I said, ‘I am not the Christ,’ but, ‘I have been sent before him.’ He who has the bride is the bridegroom; but the friend of the bridegroom, who stands and hears him, rejoices greatly because of the bridegroom’s voice. So my joy is made full. He must increase, but I must decrease.

“The one who comes from above is above all. The one who is from the earth belongs to the earth and speaks of the earth. The one who comes from heaven is above all. He testifies about what he has seen and heard; and yet no one accepts his testimony. Whoever does accept his testimony has signed up to this, that God is true. For the one God has sent speaks the words of God; for God gives the Spirit without limits. The Father loves the Son, and has given all things into his hand. Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life, but whoever disobeys the Son will not see life – instead, the wrath of God waits over him.”

Day 5 of 47 going through John's gospel - more info at https://www.severnvineyard.org/time-space-jesus

What could happen if you take time and make space with Jesus today? This ten-minute podcast is part reading, part music, and part silence, all designed to help you create a space to picture and feel the scene with Jesus in it. You can use this space in lots of ways, including meditation, prayer, re-reading the passage or thinking about what it means for you today.

Today's reflection: What does it mean to you to have new life because of Jesus?

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Now there was a Pharisee named Nicodemus, a ruler among the Jews. He came to Jesus at night and said to him, “Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher come from God, for no one can do these signs that you do, unless God is with him.”

Jesus answered him, “Most certainly I tell you, unless someone is born again, they will never see God’s Kingdom.”

Nicodemus said to him, “How can a man be born when he is old? Can he re-enter his mother’s womb to be born?”

Jesus answered, “Most certainly I tell you, unless someone is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter God’s Kingdom. Whatever is born of the flesh is flesh. Whatever is born of the Spirit is spirit. Don’t be amazed that I said to you, ‘You must be born again.’ The wind blows where it wants to, and you hear its sound, but don’t know where it comes from and where it is going. It’s the same with everyone who is born of the Spirit.”

Nicodemus answered him, “How can these things be?”

Jesus answered him, “You are the teacher of Israel, and you don’t understand these things? Most certainly I tell you, we speak about what we know and testify about what we have seen, and you don’t accept our testimony. If you didn’t believe when I told you earthly things, how will you believe if I tell you heavenly things? No one has ever gone up to heaven except the one who came down from heaven, the Son of Man. Just as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, the Son of Man must be lifted up, so that whoever believes in him will not perish, but have eternal life.

“For God so loved the world, that he gave his one and only Son, so that whoever believes in him shall not perish, but have eternal life. For God didn’t send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. Whoever believes in him is not judged. Whoever does not believe has been judged already, because he has not believed and trusted in the name of the one and only Son of God. This is the judgement, that the light has come into the world, and people loved the darkness rather than the light, for their works were evil. For everyone who does evil hates the light and doesn’t come to the light, for fear that their works would be exposed. But whoever lives by the truth comes to the light, so that their works may be revealed as being accomplished in God.”

Day 4 of 47 going through John's gospel - more info at https://www.severnvineyard.org/time-space-jesus

What could happen if you take time and make space with Jesus today? This ten-minute podcast is part reading, part music, and part silence, all designed to help you create a space to picture and feel the scene with Jesus in it. You can use this space in lots of ways, including meditation, prayer, re-reading the passage or thinking about what it means for you today.

Today's reflection: What would it be like to see Jesus perform a miracle in person?

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On the third day, there was a wedding in Cana of Galilee. Jesus’ mother was there. Jesus and his disciples were also invited. When the wine ran out, Jesus’ mother said to him, “They have no more wine.”

Jesus said to her, “Woman, what does that have to do with you and me? My time has not yet come.”

His mother said to the servants, “Whatever he says to you, do it.”

Now there were six stone water pots there, for Jewish ceremonial washing, that could hold twenty or thirty gallons each. Jesus said to the servants, “Fill the water pots with water.” So they filled them up to the brim. Then Jesus said, “Now draw some out, and take it to the head waiter.” So they took it.

When the head waiter tasted the water which had turned into wine, and didn’t know where it came from (only the servants who had drawn the water knew), the head waiter called the bridegroom and said to him, “Everyone serves the good wine first, and when the guests have had a skinful, they serve the not-so-good wine. But you have kept the good wine until now!”

What Jesus did here in Cana of Galilee, was the first of his signs revealing his glory; and his disciples believed in him.

After this, Jesus went down to Capernaum with his mother, his brothers, and his disciples; and they stayed there a few days.

The Jewish Passover was getting near, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem. In the temple, he found the people who sold oxen, sheep, and doves, and the money changers sitting at their tables. He made a whip of cords and drove them all out of the temple, and the sheep and the oxen; and he scattered the money changers’ coins and overturned their tables. To those who sold the doves, he said, “Take these things out of here! Don’t make my Father’s house a marketplace!” His disciples remembered that it was written, “Zeal for your house will consume me.”

So the Jews responded, “What sign can you show us? What’s your authority to do these things?”

Jesus answered them, “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.”

The Jews said, “It took forty-six years to build this temple! You are going to raise it up in three days?” But Jesus spoke about the temple of his body. So when he was raised from the dead, his disciples remembered that he said this, and they believed the Scripture and the words that Jesus had said.

Now when Jesus was in Jerusalem at the Passover feast, many believed in his name after seeing his signs. But Jesus didn’t entrust himself to them because he knew what people are like, and because he didn’t need anyone to testify about human nature; Jesus already knew what is in each human heart.

Day 3 of 47 going through John's gospel - more info at https://www.severnvineyard.org/time-space-jesus

What could happen if you take time and make space with Jesus today? This ten-minute podcast is part reading, part music, and part silence, all designed to help you create a space to picture and feel the scene with Jesus in it. You can use this space in lots of ways, including meditation, prayer, re-reading the passage or thinking about what it means for you today.

Today's reflection: What first excited you about Jesus? What makes you want to know him better today?

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Again, the next day, John was standing with two of his disciples, and he looked at Jesus walking, and said, “Look, the Lamb of God!” The two disciples heard him speak, and they followed Jesus. Jesus turned and saw them following, and said to them, “What are you looking for?”

They said to him, “Rabbi” (which means Teacher), “where are you staying?”

He said to them, “Come and see.”

They came and saw where he was staying, and they stayed with him that day. It was about 4pm. One of the two who heard John and followed him was Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother. Andrew found Simon, and said to him, “We have found the Messiah!” (which means Christ). Andrew brought Simon to Jesus. Jesus looked at him and said, “You are Simon the son of Jonah. You shall be called Cephas” (which means Peter, or rock).

On the next day, Jesus decided to go out into Galilee, and he found Philip. Jesus said to him, “Follow me.” Now Philip was from Bethsaida, the same city as Andrew and Peter. Philip found Nathanael, and said to him, “We have found the one that Moses in the law and the prophets wrote about: Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph.”

Nathanael said to him, “Can anything good come out of Nazareth?”

Philip said to him, “Come and see.”

Jesus saw Nathanael coming to him, and said about him, “Look, here is a true Israelite, with no deceit in him!” Nathanael said to Jesus, “How do you know me?”

Jesus answered him, “Before Philip called you, when you were under the fig tree, I saw you.”

Nathanael answered him, “Rabbi, you are the Son of God! You are King of Israel!”

Jesus answered him, “Because I told you, ‘I saw you underneath the fig tree,’ do you believe? You will see greater things than these!” Then Jesus said, “Most certainly, I tell you all, you will see heaven opened, and the angels of God ascending and descending on the Son of Man.”

Day 2 of 47 going through John's gospel - more info at https://www.severnvineyard.org/time-space-jesus

What could happen if you take time and make space with Jesus today? This ten-minute podcast is part reading, part music, and part silence, all designed to help you create a space to picture and feel the scene with Jesus in it. You can use this space in lots of ways, including meditation, prayer, re-reading the passage or thinking about what it means for you today.

Today's reflection: Imagine hope is not just an idea in your head, but a person you can see – and you have just recognised them for the first time. How do you feel, and what do you do?

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This is John’s testimony, when the Jews sent priests and Levites from Jerusalem to ask him, “Who are you?” He confessed and declared, “I am not the Christ.”

They asked him, “What then? Are you Elijah?” He said, “I am not.”

“Are you the prophet?” He answered, “No.”

So they said to him, “Who are you? Give us an answer to take back to those who sent us. What do you say about yourself?” He said, “I am the voice of one crying in the wilderness, ‘Make straight the way of the Lord,’ as Isaiah the prophet said.”

The ones who had been sent were from the Pharisees. They asked him, “Why then do you baptise if you are not the Christ, nor Elijah, nor the prophet?”

John answered them, “I baptise in water, but amongst you stands one you don’t know. He is the one who comes after me, who is preferred before me, whose sandal strap I’m not worthy to loosen.” These things were done in Bethany beyond the Jordan, where John was baptising.

The next day, John saw Jesus coming to him, and said, “Look, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world! This is the one I was talking about when I said, ‘After me comes a man who is preferred before me, because he was before me.’ I didn’t know him, but this is why I came baptising in water, so that he would be revealed to Israel.”

John testified, saying, “I have seen the Spirit descending like a dove out of heaven, and it remained on him. I didn’t recognise him, but the one who sent me to baptise in water said to me, ‘You will see the Spirit descending and remaining on the one who baptises in the Holy Spirit.’ I have seen and have testified that this is the Son of God.”

Day 1 of 47 going through John's gospel - more info at https://www.severnvineyard.org/time-space-jesus

What could happen if you take time and make space with Jesus today? This ten minute podcast includes a reading, some instrumental music and some silence to help create that space, for you to use as you like. Today's suggestion for reflection: what does it mean to you that God has been revealed?

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In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was there, in the beginning with God. All things were made through him. Without him, nothing was made that has been made. In him was life, and the life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.

There came a man sent from God, whose name was John. This man came as a witness, to testify about the light, so that all might believe through him. He was not the light, but was sent to testify about the light. The true light that enlightens everyone was coming into the world.

He was in the world, and although the world was made through him, the world did not recognise him. He came to his own, and those who were his own did not receive him. But to those who did receive him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become God’s children: born, not of blood, nor of the will of flesh or man, but born of God.

The Word became flesh and lived amongst us. We saw his glory, the glory belonging to the only born Son of the Father, full of grace and truth. John testified about him, crying out, “This was he of whom I said, ‘He who comes after me has surpassed me, for he was before me.’” From his fullness we all received grace upon grace. For the law was given through Moses. Grace and truth were realised through Jesus Christ. No one has seen God at any time. The only born Son, who is in the closest intimacy with the Father, has revealed him.

Claire Lynch reads from Mark's gospel, day 33 of 47 in our Lent series. Music by Bern Leckie.

More Lent resources at severnvineyard.org/lent

Lots of people love him. So many people admire and respect him. Some worship him. He’s been called a teacher, an inspiration, even a saviour.

But who is Jesus? How can we know? And what difference could that make to us, how we see the world, and how we live?

In this series of big thoughts and questions, discussions and creativity, we are going to look at Jesus through the story of Mark’s gospel, what it meant to the people who lived it and heard it first, and what it could mean to us today.

If you’d like to get in touch and share what’s on your mind, email [email protected].

Follow us here for updates every week and find more at https://www.severnvineyard.org/jesus