Read John 1:15-51. It is often assumed that the disciples whom Jesus called to be the twelve apostles were called by Him suddenly without much warning or prior contact. That was probably not the case. Some of the apostles were disciples of John before they became disciples of our Lord. John had taught them and had prepared them for the coming Messiah. The events in John 1:15 and following occurred after Jesus was baptized by John and led into the wilderness to fast and be tempted by Satan. Our Lord had returned to the area in which John was ministering. John had answered some of the questions by the religious leaders of the day as to who he was and the source of his authority when he again encountered our Lord. We are told John was with two of his disciples when he saw Jesus again. One of these disciples is identified as Andrew, the brother of Simon Peter.
1. Who do you think the other unidentified follower of John was?
It was probably John, the writer of this Gospel.
2. When Jesus says to Phillip, “Follow Me.” What do you think He meant?
This was not a call to become one of the Twelve Apostles. Our Lord did not choose these until later. This was an invitation to become a disciple, one who studied and learned from another, in this case, our Lord. He probably had been a disciple of John; now, our Lord was asking him to be his disciple.
3. When Nathanael says to Jesus, “You are the Son of God...” what did he mean?
He is calling Jesus the Messiah, the promised King prophesied in the Old Testament
4. Jesus calls Himself “the Son of Man.” What does this title signify?
He means that He is the perfect man, that He achieves everything God intended Adam to be and become. (See Application #2.)
Read John 2:1-12. Before Jesus went back to His hometown, He stopped at a wedding. A Jewish wedding of this day lasted longer than ours today. The wedding feast was a celebration that often lasted several days to a week. It was a very special time, not only for the two people who were being wed but the families who were uniting as well. Mary, our Lord’s mother, was helping with the wedding. She might have been a relative of theirs or at least a close friend but she was not in charge. This duty was that of the head waiter or master of ceremonies, as we would call him today. But she did have quite a bit of authority, as indicated by her request of Jesus, her son, and her instructions to the servants.
5. What was the problem at the wedding?
They had run out of wine. Either someone had miscalculated how much would be needed, more people had shown up than had been expected, or there were a lot of heavy drinkers at this feast.
6. Why do you think Mary asked Jesus to help?
She obviously knew He could do miraculous things, from personal experience perhaps.
7. What do you think Jesus meant when He said to His mother, “Woman, what do I have to do with you, My time is not yet come?”
He was asking (in a polite way) why He should do anything because the time for His ministry had not yet started? This was not, please note, a refusal to help. It was more a rhetorical question. It might have been spoken with a smile on our Lord’s face and a twinkle in His eye. In any case, it is interesting to note that Mary knew our Lord would do something because she immediately addressed the servants. She did not know what He would do but did realize that it probably would be out of the ordinary because she told the servants to do WHATEVER He asked them to do.
8. How did Jesus solve the problem at the wedding?
He converted plain water into vintage wine.
9. What did John note about this miracle?
It was the first sign (public miracle) Jesus did.
The Applications:
What are the applications of these passages to our lives today? Identify as many as you are able.
1. God prepared many, if not all, the apostles before they had ever met Jesus or heard Him speak. He used John the Baptizer to prepare John and others for the ministry they would receive from our Lord. In the same way, God may use us to prepare others, to sow the seed and pave the way for the ministry of another person. We must not judge the results of our work and efforts until we see the whole picture, and this we will not see until God reveals it to us when we stand before Him. John’s ministry and work were far more than what was visible during his lifetime.
2. In Genesis, God declares that He created man in His own image. There are many suggestions as to what this phrase means. In a typically western manner, some have tried to find correspondence between something in God’s nature with something in the constitution of man. This corresponds to that and so forth. Thus it has been suggested that just as God is a triune being, man also has three distinct parts in his makeup, body, soul and spirit. Others have suggested that just as God has intellect, emotion and will, man also has these three aspects of his being. These ideas and others which attempt to isolate what in man is the reflection or image of what is in God probably miss the point of the whole statement. The western mindset is much more analytical; we tend to separate the parts to understand the whole. The eastern perspective seems to try to see the whole picture to understand how and why the whole functions.
While there indeed may be parts of God’s constitution reflected in man’s being, what they are is probably not the focus and significance of the statement that man is created in God’s image. In the day and culture in which this was written and for much of history itself, an image of a person served to represent that person. Rulers had images of themselves made, which were set up throughout their kingdom. Their subjects were required to pay homage and fealty to the image. In doing so, they demonstrated their homage and fealty to their ruler. Note the incident in Daniel chapter 3 where the three Hebrew children refused to bow down to the image Nebuchadnezzar had set up of himself.
In Genesis, God created and populated a world with living things. Then as the last act of creation, He created man in His image and set him there to care for it. God was placing man to be His personal representative on earth to rule over it. The significance of the statement that man was created in God’s image is not to be found so much in trying to analyze what in man corresponds to what in God but in the fact that man was created as God’s personal representative on earth.
Man, however, sinned and disobeyed God, choosing to believe and follow Satan rather than God. By doing this, man surrendered his rule to Satan, who now controls this world. Satan is the god of this world. He has usurped man’s rightful position. But even though he has fallen and is sinful, even though he does not fulfill the role to which he was created, man is still God’s personal representative. That has not changed. In Genesis 9:6, God institutes capital punishment for murder. The verse states: “Whoever sheds man’s blood, by man his blood shall be shed, for in the image of God He made man.” The punishment is severe, not just because human life was wrongfully taken, but because that person was the personal representative of God. In James 3:9-10, speaking about the tongue (speech habits), the text states: “With it we bless our Lord and Father, and with it we curse men, who have been made in the likeness of God; from the same mouth come both blessing and cursing. My brethren, these things ought not to be this way.” We bless or say good things about God, then turn around and curse man who is His personal representative. This is contradictory! Man was created and called to a high and glorious position. He is to represent God in this world. Although we have fallen and are sinful, it remains our calling today. Man, however, sinned and disobeyed God, choosing to believe and follow Satan rather than God. By doing this, man surrendered his rule to Satan, who now controls this world. Satan is the god of this world. He has usurped man’s rightful position. But even though he has fallen and is sinful, even though he does not fulfill the role to which he was created, man is still God’s personal representative. That has not changed. In Genesis 9:6, God institutes capital punishment for murder. The verse states: “Whoever sheds man’s blood, by man his blood shall be shed, for in the image of God He made man.” The punishment is severe, not just because human life was wrongfully taken, but because that person was the personal representative of God. In James 3:9-10, speaking about the tongue (speech habits), the text states: “With it we bless our Lord and Father, and with it we curse men, who have been made in the likeness of God; from the same mouth come both blessing and cursing. My brethren, these things ought not to be this way.” We bless or say good things about God, then turn around and curse man who is His personal representative. This is contradictory! Man was created and called to a high and glorious position. He is to represent God in this world. Although we have fallen and are sinful, it remains our calling today.
The Hebrew phrase in which someone is designated as “the son of (noun)” is often an idiomatic expression in which that person is being characterized by the quality or characteristic indicated by the noun supplied. For example, a “son of might” means a very mighty man, and “sons of wickedness” means very wicked men. The quality or characteristic is emphasized. James and John were called “sons of thunder,” meaning they were thunderous, loud or boisterous persons. When our Lord is designated as the Son of Man, it means He is the quintessential man, that person who exhibits those qualities of what it truly means to be human. He is the ideal or perfect man. Humanity, not maleness, is emphasized here.
Jesus Christ is what God intended Adam and his descendants to be. He fulfills what God created man to be and do. He regains in His obedience the sovereignty over the world, which we lost in our fall. He perfectly represents God. The writer of Hebrews states that God “in these last days has spoken to us in His Son, whom He appointed heir of all things, through whom also He made the world. And He is the radiance of His glory and the exact representation of His nature, and upholds all things by the word of His power. When He had made purification of sins, He sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high...” Do we want to know what it is like to be a real man or woman? Look at the life of our Lord! He is the quintessential human.
3. Our Lord took plain water and turned it into a vintage, quality wine. What He did at that feast is a picture of what He can do in the life of any person. God takes ordinary people and turns them into extraordinary servants. It is not what you are that is important, but what God may make of you.