No Sermon Study Guides for the Summer: Studies in the Gospel of John Are Available
Bible Studies in the Gospel of John: Part 2
Contents of this Bible Study Packet
There are six studies in Part 2. The six studies cover the following passages:
- John 4: 39-54
- John 5: 1-15
- John 5:16-30
- John 5: 31-47
- John 6: 1-15
- John 6: 14-40
John 4: 39-54
Start with John 4: 39-44. John tells us that many Samaritans believed in Jesus because of the woman’s testimony about him. So when they came to Jesus they urged him to stay with them. He stayed with them two days and during that time many more Samaritans became believers because they heard Jesus for themselves. Then Jesus left Samaria for Galilee.
At this point John makes a parenthetical comment in verse 44 – “a prophet has no honor in his own country”. Why do you think John makes this comment? What point is he trying to make? Which “prophet” is he referring to? Do you think John is talking about Jesus here? Could he be talking about the Samaritan woman? On what do you base your answer?
Let’s talk about the comment itself. Why doesn’t a “prophet” have honor in his own country? Why do the prophet’s countrymen resist or disbelieve the words of the prophet? What obstacles do they have to contend with?
Who are the “prophets” whom you have grown up with or with whom you are very familiar? Do you listen carefully and prayerfully to what they say? Have you allowed “familiarity to breed contempt”? Are you open (not uncritically open but humbly open) to hearing the word of God regardless of the source?
Move on to John 4: 45-54
Why do the Galileans welcome Jesus? What had they seen Jesus do in Jerusalem at the Passover Feast (see John 2)? How does this compare to why the Samaritans received him (John 4:39-42)?
John tells us that Jesus returned to Cana in Galilee. And there was a certain royal official whose son lay sick at Capernaum. When he heard that Jesus had arrived in Galilee from Judea, he went to Jesus and begged him to heal his son. John doesn’t tell us much about this royal official. He doesn’t tell us whether this royal official is Jewish or Gentile, how he had heard about Jesus, what he believed about Jesus. Why do you think John is silent about all this? What does he tell us about this royal official? What does John want us to know about him?
This royal official comes to Jesus and begs him to heal his son who is close to death. Jesus replies, “Unless you people see miraculous signs and wonders you will never believe”. Is that the kind of response you would have expected Jesus to give to a grieving, desperate father? Doesn’t it seem cold and harsh? What do you think is going on here? Why do you think Jesus responds in the way he does? What is Jesus trying to do?
How does this royal official react to what Jesus says? Why doesn’t he get offended or discouraged by what seems to be a rebuff from Jesus?
Jesus then says to him, “You may go. Your son will live.” And the man took Jesus at his word and departed. Put yourself in this grieving father’s shoes. If you had been he, would you have taken Jesus at his word and departed? Why or why not?
What kind of faith did this royal official demonstrate? What was significant about his faith? What did he seem to understand about Jesus? Where might this understanding have come from?
As the man is returning home he is met by his servants and told that his son was living. Then he asks when his son got better. Why do you think he asks this?
The royal official realizes that his son got better at the exact time that Jesus had told him his son would live. So, John tells us, “He and all his household believed”. What do you think they believed? Do you think the father believed any differently then than he had when he set out to meet Jesus? Did he believe any differently then than he had when he took Jesus at his word and departed for home?
Verse 53 seems to be a fulfillment of what Jesus said in verse 48. Is this the kind of belief Jesus is looking for?
For Reflection and Application
What do you believe about Jesus? How has your belief in Jesus changed or developed in the past year? What has brought about this change?
In what areas of your life is your belief in Jesus being tested? In what areas do you need help to believe?
In what areas of your life are you feeling desperate? What do you really want and need from Jesus? What do you sense Jesus saying to you concerning your area of deep need? Are you able to take Jesus at his word and trust him to meet your need?
John 5: 1-15
Introduction
Chapter five begins a new section in John’s gospel where the focus is on Jesus’ claim to be the Messiah and his claim to deity (equality with God). These claims bring him into direct and sharp conflict with the religious authorities that see Jesus as a dangerous man. In their mind he is a dangerous teacher who will lead people into great sin because he violates the Law (breaking the Sabbath) and his teaching is idolatrous (what else do you call Jesus’ invitation to believe in him as God incarnate?).
In this passage Jesus heals a paralyzed man at the pool of Bethesda. Bethesda comes from the Hebrew words “beit” (“house of”) and “hesed’, which means “steadfast love” or “loving kindness”.
Read John 5:1-15.
John tells us that Jesus went from Judea to Samaria (John 4: 3-4), to Galilee (John 4: 43), to Jerusalem (John 5: 1). Why do you think John wants us to know this? What is significant about Jesus spending time in each of these areas? What might we learn from this about Jesus’ vision for ministry? What applications can we draw from this in terms of our vision and practice of ministry?
Look at verses 1-3.
How do you picture this scene? What do you think it might have been like? What do you think you might have thought and felt if you had come upon this scene?
Everyone in Jerusalem knew that he pool of Bethesda was where everyone who was in need of healing gathered. Why do you think Jesus chose to go there? Why do you think he healed only this man?
Some manuscripts of the New Testament include a section between verses 3 and 5 about the “moving of the waters” in the pool of Bethesda. (See the footnote in the New International Version.) It is generally agreed that these verses were not part of the original text of John’s Gospel, but they do reflect some of the superstition that surrounded the pool. The people believed that when the water in the pool moved it was because an angel was stirring it. They also believed that whoever stepped in the water first after it moved would be healed.
Focus on verses 5-8.
John introduces us to a paralyzed man. What do we learn about him? What do you think his life was like? What might he be thinking and feeling? About himself? About the people around him (see verse 7)? About God?
Compare and contrast this healing in John 5: 1-15 with the healing in John 4: 46-54. How are these healings similar? How are they different? Who gets healed? Where does the healing take place? How does it happen? What does Jesus say and do?
Jesus saw the man lying there and learned that he had been paralyzed for a long time. So, Jesus asked him, “Do you want to get well?” Why do you think Jesus asked him that question? Do you think this is a real question? Why or why not?
Jesus asks, “Do you want to get well?” Does the paralyzed man answer the question that Jesus asks?
If he is not answering the question Jesus asks, what “question” is he answering?
What did this man need from Jesus? How did Jesus meet his need?
Why do you think Jesus tells the man to get up? What does this require of the man? In what ways does Jesus’ command to get up confront the man’s statement in verse 7? In what ways did this paralyzed man need to “repent”? Of what did he need to repent? How did his view of God need to grow?
Move on to verses 8-15.
The healing of the man at the pool seems like a great miracle. Why do “the Jews” find Jesus’ action so very offensive? (When John uses the term “the Jews” he is usually referring to the religious leaders in Jerusalem, most likely the Pharisees, not to the Jews as a whole.)
The seventh commandment said: “Remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy” (see Exodus 20:8-11). In their zeal to apply this command, what were the Jews failing to see?
Jesus knew how the Pharisees interpreted the Sabbath laws; he knew that this healing would stir up controversy. So, why do you think Jesus chose to heal on the Sabbath? Why didn’t he just come back the next day and heal the man then?
Look at verses 11-12. How does the way in which the invalid refers to Jesus differ from the way in which the Jewish authorities refer to him? Why do you think they refer to Jesus in such different ways?
Verse 14 is a jarring note in this passage. Jesus reveals himself to this man and tells him “See, you are well again. Stop sinning or something worse may happen to you”. Why would anyone need to be told to stop sinning if they have received such a miraculous healing?
What would the great danger be to this man if he didn’t allow his healing to change his life? What could be worse than being paralyzed for 38 years?
For Reflection and Application
How have you allowed God’s interventions of love, grace, mercy, healing and power to shape your heart and soul? Have you allowed them to make you a more holy person – a person who is growing in active love for God and others?
Are there areas of your life where you feel paralyzed, unable to move forward, stuck? What is keeping you an “invalid” – emotionally, physically or spiritually? How are you responding to your situation? Are you responding in faith? What do you think Jesus is calling you to do (or not to do) in order to allow him to heal, empower and change you?
Are you being asked to come alongside people who are sick or stuck? Are you coming alongside them in a way that helps them to trust and depend on God and exercise faith?
Not all sick people or stuck people truly want to get well. People who are sick/stuck can get things out of being sick/stuck. They can get attention, avoid responsibility for themselves and their situation, make excuses, be allowed to complain, etc. Jesus intervened in this man’s life but he didn’t “care-take”. The man needed more than a kick in the pants (“repent”) but he did need to repent of his excuses. He also needed to exercise faith; he needed to trust that God was greater than his paralysis. So, he needed to be challenged by Jesus to take action (Get up. Take your mat and walk). This man was healed, healed in his total person – body, mind, heart and soul. That’s the healing that Jesus wants for all of us.
John 5: 16-30
Read John 5:16-18.
The Jewish religious leaders are furious with Jesus for healing on the Sabbath. How does Jesus justify his actions? Why does Jesus claim authority to heal on the Sabbath?
Why does his explanation make these Jewish leaders even more determined to kill him? Why is Jesus so offensive and threatening to them?
Jesus offends them because he does work on the Sabbath (the work of compassion and healing). They plot to kill Jesus on the Sabbath and seem to believe that this plot is a perfectly acceptable thing to do on the Sabbath. How is it possible for religious people to be so far off the mark?
Can you think of ways that zealous Christians today may be missing the mark? What is the “mark” that followers of Jesus should be aiming for?
What do you think Jesus means when he says, “My Father is always at work to this very day, and I, too, am working”? How are the Father and Jesus at work today?
How have you personally seen and experienced their work?
Read 5: 19-23.
How does Jesus answer his religious accusers here? What reason does he give for doing what he does? Whose example or lead is Jesus following? And, by what power is he doing what he does?
How does Jesus’ statement about the Father being always at work relate to the Sabbath prohibitions? Who established the Sabbath? Genesis 2 tells us that the Father finished His work and then rested on the seventh day? How do you reconcile Genesis 2: 2-3 with Jesus’ statement here in John 5? What work has the Father finished and what work is He always doing?
How does Jesus statement in verse 19 help us to figure out what we should be doing? What specific “Father-thing” might Jesus want you to do in this coming week?
In verses 20-23 Jesus implies that the healing is only a foretaste of two far greater things. What are they and what makes them greater?
What response to Jesus does the Father desire? Why?
Isaiah 42: 8 says: “I am the Lord; that is my name! I will not give my glory to another or my praise to idols”. Given that God will not give His glory to another but does give His glory and honor to Jesus so that Jesus is honored just as the Father is honored (verse 23), what does this say about Jesus?
Jesus also says in verse 23 that “he who does not honor the Son does not honor the Father who sent him”. In other words Jesus is saying that it is impossible to honor and worship God the Father without honoring and worshiping God the Son because they are one in being and activity. The necessary implication of this is that there is no possibility of finding acceptance with God apart from Jesus. This is a very unpopular position to take in our culture. How can we help one another communicate this truth both unflinchingly and with humility?
Read 5: 24-30
What truth claims does Jesus make in verse 24? What does Jesus say will and will not happen to whoever believes his word?
What do you think Jesus means when he says that the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God and those who hear will live? Who are the “dead” who will hear? And, what do you think it means to “hear” in this context?
What do you think it means that the Father has granted the Son “to have life in himself”?
Why did the Father give Jesus the authority to judge? What does it mean that Jesus is the “Son of Man” (see Daniel 7: 13-14; Philippians 2: 5-11)?
How do verses 25-30 substantiate the claim Jesus makes in verse 24?
What other claims does Jesus make for himself in these verses?
For Reflection and Application
Jesus makes a very strong statement in verse 28: “I seek not to please myself but Him who sent me”. Could you say this about yourself? Is this something you earnestly desire? Start each day in this coming week by praying: “Lord, help me to seek to please you and not myself today. Help me to discern how to best please You in all my thoughts, actions, and interactions with others today. Help me to keep remembering this prayer throughout the day and help me to be very aware of Your presence and will. In Jesus’ name. Amen.”
Each night, take a few minutes and reflect back on the day. How well were you able to stay focused on pleasing your Father and not just yourself? Thank God for all the times you pleased him today. Ask forgiveness for the times you pleased yourself instead. Then go to sleep with a cleansed heart. Awaken the next day and start again.
John 5: 31-47
Introduction
God often reveals Himself through supernatural activity. For example, in the Old Testament, Moses and Elijah did miracles to prove God’s existence and presence with Israel. In the New Testament, the early church leaders healed the sick and performed other miracles as well.
In this passage Jesus makes outrageous and blasphemous claims for himself – outrageous and blasphemous unless they are true. Here Jesus makes his claims and verifies them so that his hearers may believe.
Read John 5:31-47.
Jesus offers at least four different “witnesses” on his behalf in this passage. What “witnesses” does Jesus call forward to testify?
How does their testimony validate his claims?
What testimony concerning Jesus do you find most compelling? Why?
Jesus’ enemies attack him by saying that he violates the Old Testament Scriptures; he disobeys Moses and the Law. What counter-accusations does Jesus make against those who are attacking him?
Why would each one be a severe blow to the religious piety of these Jewish listeners?
Look at this passage as a whole. How does Jesus describe his relationship with his Father (see especially verses 19, 20, 23, 26, 27, 30 and 36)? How do these verses compare with John 1:1 and 1:18?
Why did the Jewish religious leaders refuse to come to Jesus for salvation (verses 37-47)?
Verse 39 gives a warning to all of us. What is the warning and how do we avoid the danger? Based on Jesus’ teaching in verse 39, do you think that it is possible for someone to study the Bible, pray, go to church, be baptized, and yet not know Jesus? Explain your answer.
What was wrong with their “Bible study” (verses 39-40, 45-47)? What can we learn from their negative example about the right way and the right motivations to study the Scriptures? What should our goal in Bible study be?
For Reflection and Application
Jesus was given a specific ministry to do while on earth (verse 36). Ephesians 2:10 says that “we are God’s workmanship. Created… to do good works, which God has prepared… for us to do”. What do you know that God is calling you to do? What good work does God want you to do this week?
Verse 44 says, “How can you believe if you accept praise from one another, yet make no effort to obtain the praise that comes from the only God?” Think carefully and prayerfully about your life. Whose praise are you seeking and accepting? Are you making every effort to obtain the praise (seeking first God and His kingdom) that comes from the only God?
John 6: 1-15
How do you respond to an impossible situation – a problem in your life that doesn’t seem to have a solution?
Read John 6: 1-15
Some time has passed since the events of chapter 5. Jesus is now being pursued by “a great crowd of people … because they saw the miraculous signs he had performed on the sick” (John 6: 2). Why do you think people pursue Jesus today? What do they expect from him? What are they hoping to see? What do they want from him? Why?
Jesus looked up at the great crowd coming toward him and then turned to Philip and said: “Where shall we buy bread for these people to eat?” How would you characterize Philip and Andrew’s response to the problem of feeding this enormous crowd? How well did they do with Jesus’ test?
John says that Jesus already knew what he was going to do. So, why do you think Jesus asked this question? What was the “test” that Jesus put before his disciples?
Why do you think Jesus wanted to test his disciples? What is the purpose of a test? Why do good teachers offer tests? What are they trying to accomplish in the lives of their students?
What was the lesson that Jesus wanted his followers to learn from this particular test?
What did this miracle reveal about Jesus?
Jesus could have produced food out of thin air if he wanted. Why do you think he took the fish and the loaves from the young boy instead? What does this tell us about the way Jesus works?
What is the significance of the fact that after everyone had eaten ’as much as they wanted,’ there were still twelve baskets full of leftovers (vs. 13; see John 10:10 also)?
Do you think Jesus “tests” his disciples today? Why or why not?
What is a real life experience you've had that built up your faith?
Can you think of ways that Jesus has “tested” you in the past year? Is there a “test” that Jesus has put in front of you now? How are you responding to this test? When have you seen God take what you offered Him, even if it was very small, and multiply it beyond what you could ever have expected? How might you need to trust Him to do this now?
For Reflection and Application
I want to suggest a very specific application for all of us to think about because I think it is the “test” Jesus is putting before us as a church
Think of the feeding of the 5000 as a parable about our mission to our community - think of the 5000 as representing the needy people in our community. There are over 107,000people within a 5-mile radius of TCC who have no relationship with Jesus. Most people in our community do not need food but they are in need of love and the gospel. They need Jesus. How will we respond to their need?
We see three responses to Jesus: Philip (cynical, "We can't do anything"), Andrew (excited, but doesn't want to be naive), and the boy (willing to give what little he has). The spectrum of responses to Jesus goes from adult to child with Andrew’s response somewhere in the middle - part adult, part child.
Which response characterizes our response toward Jesus - adult (people here will never convert) or child (we can share what we do have and leave the results up to God)?
Are we willing to share what we have (of faith, of truth, of love, of friendship, of prayer, of time and energy and attention, of resources) even if what we have seems totally inadequate? What do you have that you can begin sharing with those who do not yet know Jesus? How might you begin sharing it this week?
John 6:14-40
Start with verses 14-15. How did people respond after seeing the miraculous sign that Jesus did? What conclusions did they draw?
Jesus withdraw from the crowd and went up to a mountain by himself because they wanted to make him king by force. Why do you think the crowd wanted to make Jesus king? What kind of king did they want Jesus to be? What did they want Jesus to do? What’s ironic about this? What misconception did they have about Jesus? In what ways can we fall prey to the same kinds of misconceptions and temptations as this crowd?
Why didn’t Jesus let them make him king?
Evening came and the disciples went down to the lake, got into a boat and set off for Capernaum. They got halfway across ((the Sea of Galilee is a small freshwater lake about seven miles wide) when a strong wind blew and the waters got rough. Imagine that you are one of the disciples, rowing the boat in dark, rough waters. How do you think you would have felt?
Then, imagine that as the storm was at its worst, you saw Jesus walking on the water toward you. How do you think you would have felt then? What do you think you might have been thinking?
How would your concept of Jesus have been altered by seeing him walk on water?
John tells us that the disciples were terrified when they saw Jesus walking on the water toward them. Why do you think they were terrified instead of relieved?
Why do you think that throughout Scripture – Old and New Testament – God has to keep saying to His people, “It is I. Do not be afraid”. Why are we so afraid of God and His works? What is it that God does or says that often frightens you? Why?
What happened when Jesus got in the boat with his disciples? In what ways is this an encouragement to you?
Read John 6:25-40.
A crowd crosses the lake in search of Jesus. When they find him they ask him when he got there. How does Jesus’ answer their question? How does his answer make clear that his interests are different from the crowd’s interests?
What is the “food that spoils”? And, what is the “food that endures to eternal life”?
Jesus says that the “food that endures to eternal life” comes from him? How does it come from him to us?
What is the ’work’ that God requires of people in order for them to be saved (v. 29)? How is this different from “salvation by works” (see Ephesians 2:8-9)?
The crowd demands a “sign” from Jesus even though they have seen Jesus perform signs? Why do you think they keep insisting on more “proof”? What kind of proof do they want? Why do they bring up the story of the manna?
Read the story of the manna in Exodus 16:1-36. How does Jesus “re-interpret” the story of the manna for them? In what way(s) did God’s provision of the manna foreshadow Christ? In other words, how was the manna like Christ (verses 30-33)?
How does Jesus’ claim to be the bread of life (v. 35) relate to his miraculous feeding of the five thousand (vv. 1-13)?
What is the Father’s will? Is this an encouragement to you? Why?
For Reflection and Application
Jesus has contrasted the two appetites found in every person—the appetite for food that perishes and the appetite for food that endures. In what ways has Jesus satisfied the spiritual hunger in your heart?
Think of the people you know who do not yet know Jesus. What spiritual hungers might they have hidden in their own hearts? How might Jesus satisfy their spiritual hunger? What can you do to help them know that Jesus is the Bread of Life who can satisfy their deepest hunger?
What storms are you facing in your life right now? How can the story of Jesus walking on the water help you to deal with the storms in your own life?
