In John 8, Jesus offers us an essential encounter with grace and truth. In doing so, he shows us the movement of how his loving grace and truth work in our lives – and how they are to move in and through us to others around us as we love like he does. At the heart of the gospel is the double challenge of grace and truth. There are times God lovingly challenges us truth – confronting us with the truth of his word. But God lovingly challenges us with the invitation of grace – to receive and rest in him alone, to know the freedom that comes when we are not condemned, and to no longer bear guilt or shame. Today, if you hear his voice – come to him!

In John 7, the controversy grows and the curiosity about Jesus leads to a variety of opinions. Jesus lays before all a few challenges to help focus our response: who is he? What is he for? And how do we respond to the challenge? Looking through their eyes as they face these challenges helps us consider the options for our own life. May you come, drink, and find life.

What does it mean to say Jesus is life? Come along with us and see Jesus’ plan and purpose in feeding the 5000: it’s a sign that shows us the shape of his own life and ministry, the substance of what he offers us, and the shape of our own life in him. (Spoiler alert: it looks a lot like his.) And it’s all by grace – in him, we are chosen, blessed, broken, and given. Come to his table and taste the true bread from heaven.

Jesus encounters the paralyzed man at the pool – and it is an opportunity for his compassion, curiosity, and commands. The hope and healing on offer in Jesus becomes a clear sign of his intimate relationship with the Father: God’s compassion, mercy, and saving love in Jesus never take a day off. Jesus offers healing life to whoever believes. May we be persistent and patient both in mercy and hope as we share Jesus’ compassion with the last, least, lonely, and lost among us.

Come along with us and see the next encounter Jesus has, this time with an outsider: the woman at the well in Samaria. The invitation and good news Jesus shares with her – living water, eternal life! – is the free offer that addresses the thirst that is in every human heart. Come and see how Jesus offers us the deep gift of being known and loved, not rejected or abandoned. And find the freedom to extend that same invitation to others.

Come along with us and see John 3 and the encounter Jesus has with a religious insider: Nicodemus. The “new birth” Jesus brings challenges our assumptions about how we try get to God from our side. The good news of the gospel is that God has done everything from his side – and all we do is trust him in faith. Instead of religion working from the outside-in, the gospel works inside-out.