The New Testament in 90 Days

In John chapter 7, Jesus goes to Jerusalem (again), although notice he tries to go secretly.  Even now, he realizes that he is not safe in Jerusalem.  As in the other gospels, when he teaches, he's accused of having a demon.  His answer is slightly different:  he simply says that he only teaches what he hears fro the Father, and he only does what he is told by the Father.  As Jesus teaches, people are divided.  Some are in awe of him, and others are angry and already want to get rid of him. Chapter 7 has that wonderful verse, "Rivers of living waters will flow out from within him (Jesus.)"  Jesus cites this as a prophecy about himself, and about the Spirit. You notice that the very familiar story of the woman caught in adultery is not considered by some to be authentic.  But there are so many wonderful details in the story:  Jesus writing in the sand, the men ready to throw stones.  What do you think Jesus could have been writing? ...

The story of the Samaritan woman takes up most of John chapter 4, except a brief digression after Jesus leaves the village, but before we hear the results of the woman's evangelism (she is very successful; we could take lessons from her).  The digression has to do with the disciples trying to get Jesus to eat something, and Jesus telling them that he has food they don't know about.  (This is John's Gospel, and we KNOW that he doesn't literally mean bread; it's spiritual food; it's a METAPHOR.)  As well (and it almost seems tacked on_ there's the story about the healing of the royal official's son at the very end of chapter 4.  It is Jesus' second sign (count the signs in John; he calls them signs instead of miracles) and the idea is that the moment Jesus said the son was healed, he was healed, even though Jesus was far away at the time.  But Jesus is the Word, and when the word is spoken, healing happens. Chapter 5 includes the healing at the pool ...