“On the last day of the festival, the great day, while Jesus was standing there, he cried out, “Let anyone who is thirsty come to me, ³⁸ and let the one who believes in me drink. As the scripture has said, ‘Out of the believer’s heart shall flow rivers of living water.’” ³⁹ Now he said this about the Spirit, which believers in him were to receive; for as yet there was no Spirit, because Jesus was not yet glorified. ⁴⁰ When they heard these words, some in the crowd said, “This is really the prophet.” ⁴¹ Others said, “This is the Messiah.” But some asked, “Surely the Messiah does not come from Galilee, does he? ⁴² Has not the scripture said that the Messiah is descended from David and comes from Bethlehem, the village where David lived?” ⁴³ So there was a division in the crowd because of him. ⁴⁴ Some of them wanted to arrest him, but no one laid hands on him.” John 7:37-44

It should be clear to you by now that the Gospel of John is not considered part of the Synoptic Gospels (Matthew, Mark and Luke) because its style of writing and the way that Jesus is portrayed is completely different than the other three. In John’s Gospel, Jesus is portrayed mostly as G-d’s Son, G-d Emmanuel, G-d Incarnate. What do you notice that is different? Do you like this Gospel more or not as much as the other three? Does it make sense to you that this Gospel does not have its own year in the three year lectionary, or do you think this is a great disservice to the Gospel? 

Pastor Dave