Day 76 ~ Jesus cries out at a pivotal feast

I closed up Luke last night, so I started fresh with a new book - number 37 if you're keeping track. John's writing style is totally different. It's very poetic, highly stylized. He is the author of the book of Revelation, and if you want to talk about highly stylized, Revelation fills the bill.

• John 1:40 - Andrew apparently was the first of the apostles to know Jesus. Not only was he a fisherman, but also a follower of John the Baptist. When he meets Jesus, he knows what he has found - the Messiah, and brings his brother Simon Peter to Christ to meet him.
• Who is Nathanael? Is he an apostle known by another name? Or just someone who exhibits some faith.
• 2:4 - The first miracle - water into wine in Cana - Jesus tells His mother His time has not come yet. What does that mean? And did his time come just a few minutes later?
• 2:20 - It took 46 years to build the temple (when Christ talked about the temple being rebuild in 3 days).

King Herod (the father of the current king Herod, the one who killed the babies), started a major reconstruction/ restoration of the temple in 19BC that he pledged would be reminiscent of the glory of Solomon's temple. It continued until 64AD, or for a total 83 years or so. So, if we're 46 years into the rebuilding, it would make it about 27AD, right? In 70AD, this new temple would be destroyed by the Romans. John was writing this gospel about 90AD from all accounts. He would have known about the temple destruction. Does he ever allude to it in this gospel, or in I, II or III John, or Revelation?

• 5:22 - Jesus had been given the authority to do all judging, God won't do the judging.

We have a chart of the parables of Jesus in the gospels. But John bases his gospel around several key miracles which point to important qualities of the Messiah. So, can I find a chart of the miracles of Jesus in the gospels. Here you go: http://www.jesuschristsavior.net/Miracles.html. Five of the seven miracles in John are unique to John.

• 6:4 - This is the second Passover mentioned in John (the first was 2:13) and the next will be the final one. This helps us to determine the length of the ministry portion of Jesus' life.
• 6:60-67 - Som find Christ's teaching too hard to comprehend and abandon following Him.
• 7:28 - while teaching in the temple during the feast of booths (do I remember correctly that this falls in the same month as Passover?), Jesus "cried out" - in anger? in frustration? to deliver a point? to get attention? to be heard above a crowd?
• 7:35 - "Does He intend to go to the Dispersion among the Greeks and teach the Greeks?" - what does this mean? what is the Dispersion among the Greeks and why is it capitalized.

7:37 - on the last day of the feast of tabernacles, Jesus cries out again. Let me share from you from the commentary from the NKJV Word in Life Study Bible about the importance of this verse.

The annual feast of tabernacles (or booths or tents) swelled Jerusalem to an overflow of festive crowds. Every Jewish family within 20 miles of the city was required to move out of its home and live in a booth or tent in remembrance of Israel's wanderings in the wilderness. Many chose to move into the city for the week. Reunions and parties alternated with solemn processions from the temple down to the Poolof Siloam, a reservoir. PUshing its way through the crowded streets, the throng sang Psalms 113 to 118 in anticipation of God's righteous reign over Jerusalem.

Jesus chose to keep a low profile at this year's festival (7:2-10). He taught in the temple, but waited for the right moment to declare Himself publicly. It came on the last day of hte feast, probably at the climax at the daily processional.

As on the previous six days, the high priest filled a goblet of water from Siloam and carried it back to the temple, where he poured it out for all the people to see. Each day at that point the crowds chanted, "Oh, give thanks to the Lord" (Ps 118:1) and "Save now, I pray, O Lord; O Lord, I pray, send now prosperity" (Ps 118:25). Then they shook myrtle, willow, and palm branches toward the altar, as if to remind God of His promises. Then, after a pause, sacrifices were offered.

On the last day, however, just after the crowds had not only waved their branches, but as was the custom, literally shook them to pieces in a frenzy of enthusiasm, a voice suddenly cried out: "If anyone thirst, let him come to Me and drink." Jesus' timing couldn't have been more perfect or His claim more explicit: He was declaring Himself to be none other than the long-awaited Christ who would pour out the Holy Spirit, as many in the crowd immediately recognized (7:38-43).

In many ways 7:37 acts as the pivot for John's account. From that point on, the hostility of Jesus' enemies mounted until they finally arrested Him (18:12) in vain hopes of shutting off the "living water."