“While Jesus went to the Mount of Olives. ² Early in the morning he came again to the temple. All the people came to him and he sat down and began to teach them. ³ The scribes and the Pharisees brought a woman who had been caught in adultery; and making her stand before all of them, ⁴ they said to him, “Teacher, this woman was caught in the very act of committing adultery. ⁵ Now in the law Moses commanded us to stone such women. Now what do you say?” ⁶ They said this to test him, so that they might have some charge to bring against him. Jesus bent down and wrote with his finger on the ground. ⁷ When they kept on questioning him, he straightened up and said to them, “Let anyone among you who is without sin be the first to throw a stone at her.” ⁸ And once again he bent down and wrote on the ground. ⁹ When they heard it, they went away, one by one, beginning with the elders; and Jesus was left alone with the woman standing before him. ¹⁰ Jesus straightened up and said to her, “Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you?” ¹¹ She said, “No one, sir.” And Jesus said, “Neither do I condemn you. Go your way, and from now on do not sin again.”]] ¹² Again Jesus spoke to them, saying, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness but will have the light of life.” ¹³ Then the Pharisees said to him, “You are testifying on your own behalf; your testimony is not valid.” ¹⁴ Jesus answered, “Even if I testify on my own behalf, my testimony is valid because I know where I have come from and where I am going, but you do not know where I come from or where I am going. ¹⁵ You judge by human standards; I judge no one. ¹⁶ Yet even if I do judge, my judgment is valid; for it is not I alone who judge, but I and the Father who sent me.” John 1:16

Jesus says: “I know where I come from and where I am going.”  I think many of us are clear on where we come from, but how many of us truly know where we are going? And, of course, I may be speaking out of turn when I say most people know where they come from. My wife was adopted by her parents when she was just an infant. It took her almost four years of searching to really discover where she came from. Jesus says, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness but will have the light of life.” There are many ways, many paths upon which we can travel, and many things that try to pull us into directions that we should not go. What we need to remember is that, no matter what life may bring us, and no matter where life may take us, if we continue to allow Jesus to lead us and guide us, we will always have the light of the world Jesus Christ to light the way.

Pastor Dave

“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