John 9

⁶ When He had said these things, He spat on the ground and made clay with the saliva; and He anointed the eyes of the blind man with the clay. ⁷ And He said to him, “Go, wash in the pool of Siloam” (which is translated, Sent). So he went and washed, and came back seeing. ¹¹ He answered and said, “A Man called Jesus made clay and anointed my eyes and said to me, ‘Go to the pool of Siloam and wash.’ So I went and washed, and I received sight.”


Sorry, I didn't have internet access for several days.

After reading this chapter, one thought came to mind...Jesus did His part, now it's our turn to do our part. There is a process which is explained in both vs. 6 & 7 and vs. 11. This blind man originally does not believe in Jesus, however, for the glory of God, he was chosen to receive grace from God. This we can see from other verses in this chapter. Jesus came to him first to heal him, although not without some work to be done on the blind man's part. First, Jesus did His part and anointed his eyes with clay. However, it did not say that the blind man can see after Jesus did that. After the anointing, Jesus instructed the blind man to wash in a pool. The crucial step before receiving his sight was the blind man's obedience. He went and washed without a question. Only after his obedience did he receive sight.

Yes, God is love, he gave grace to us. Many believe that it is a one way street. However, from this chapter, we can see that it is actually a two way street. God does His part and chose us for His glory, and gives instructions for us to do our part, and when we obey without questions and carry it out, that's when His promises are fulfilled and we are blessed and He is in turn glorified

Isaiah 43:7
Everyone who is called by My name, Whom I have created for My glory; I have formed him, yes, I have made him.”.

John 9

29 He replied, "Whether he is a sinner or not, I don't know. One thing I do know. I was blind but now I see!"

I just like this answer of this blind man. Though the sentences are short, they are clear and direct pointing out the importances.
I think he was not very happy to considered a sinner by the disciples of Jesus and also the Pharisees.

John 8

First a verse I want to share with everyone :
7 "If any one of you is without sin, let him be the first to throw a stone at her."

I mean didnt we started like this? everyone picks a verse in this chapter. And it is not neccesary to exlpain or write a long reflection about it? It was mainly about reading the bible AND let others reading it too. This particular verse just seems handy for the everyday life. Something to add into our attitude .


I am happy that I could use this quite time in the evening to read John and to write something.
In this chapter Jesus is again talking to the people. I think that we can not see the recordings in John in a strict order concerning time and place. It is maybe a collection and compression of the teachings of Jesus. In the other gospesl we often see the sentence that Jesus sat down to teach the people. But the actual content is often not noted down.

For this chapter I like to draw out all the features mentioned by Jesus about himself (hm maybe this sentences is not quite right...)

12 "I am the light of the world
14"Even if I testify on my own behalf, my testimony is valid, for I know where I came from and where I am going.
(here I do not understand how this statement maches with the one in John 5:31 "If I testify about myself, my testimony is not valid. maybe it is importatn to take a good look into the context. Though I looked for the context but I was not very clear to me)
15 I pass judgment on no one
16But if I do judge, my decisions are right
16I am not alone. I stand with the Father
23 I am from above. I am not of this world
29 The one who sent me is with me; he has not left me alone
36 So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed.
45 I tell the truth
46 I am telling the truth
58 before Abraham was born, I am

I hope that I got most of the descrptions which are mentioned in this chapter. Maybe you already noticed that I missed a big group out. It is about the relation between him and the father to which he very often refers to. It is that he is not doing, telling or acting on his own but be does the will of the father and speaks what he has intrusted him. He often repeats himself and explain this relationship from different aspects.

A little detail which is a bit unexlpainable:
²⁰He spoke these words while teaching in the temple area near the place where the offerings were put.
It was the word "Gotteskasten" it is one word which is rephrased in enlgish with "the place where the offerings were put". I mean mentioning this detail here makes one asking "why????" hehe. I do not know it. But it does remind me about the grass int the chapter before. Maybe there is also a link for it here. It really makes me ask "what is this thing doing in this abstract text??" So maybe one of you have an answer for it.

John 01 (review)

I have to apologize for stopping posting for so long. Now I would like to review and to carry on my subject that "How does Jesus reveal God?" in Gospel John.

In chapter 1, John addressed firstly the relationship between God and the world. The world are created by God, and the life comes from God (1-4). However, this relationship has split due to the sin, or the darkness (5). Though God would like to rebuild this relationship to provide the life to men (6-9), human beings are not all willing to receive his grace (10-11). Only those who are willing receive his grace will receive life, that is, born in spirit as the children of God (12-13).

Therefore, it is Jesus, the One and Only of God, brought this grace and truth among men and manifested God's glory before men (14-17). Through Jesus, God manifested His nature, that is, the grace and the Truth. Thus, the core argument of the Gospel John is Jesus's manifestation of the nature of God.

So in chapter 1, there are three groups of people who recognized Jesus's real identity, not in flesh but in spirit: a) John the Baptist, who identified Jesus as God's lamp, whose work is taking way the sin of the world (1:29) according to the indication of the descending holy spirit (1:33-34), and even he confirmed Jesus as the Son of God (34); b) Andrew and Peter, who identified Jesus as Messiah (1:41) because they heard of the testimony of their teacher, John the Baptist (1:35-37), and c) Philip and Nathanael, who identified Jesus as the one been referred in the books of prophets (1:45), the Son of God and the King of Israel (1:49).

For they receiving Jesus, they became the children of God and receive their newness of life - they became the voice in the desert (23), the rock of his people (42) and the prince of God, like Jacob (51). So, we can regard them as the models of salvation.

John 7

50Nicodemus, who had gone to Jesus earlier and who was one of their own number, asked, 51"Does our law condemn anyone without first hearing him to find out what he is doing?"
52They replied, "Are you from Galilee, too? Look into it, and you will find that a prophete" does not come out of Galilee."

wow each chapter in John is pretty long or has much content. And often it is hard to grasp the main point of Jesus teachings within a short time of period. hehe thats why I last time choose a pasage from a event which really took place. This time I also do not refer to the difficult teaching of Jesus. I like to quote another man: Nikodemus. He once said to Jesus
¹Now there was a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a member of the Jewish ruling council. ²He came to Jesus at night and said, "Rabbi, we know you are a teacher who has come from God. For no one could perform the miraculous signs you are doing if God were not with him." (John 3 1-2) And here he speaks to the other Pharisees who are agry about Jesus and the people who follow Jesus. He askes them a question. On what is their behavior or disire based? On the law? Nikodemus says no because if they would act as it is in the law they would first to a hearing to find out who Jesus is. And the question weather their actions are based on love is not necessary to be asked. What made me recognise this verse (john7.51) was the german word "erkennen". Not only here but also in chapter 6 this word is used in context with Jesus.
^{john 6. 69}We believe and know that you are the Holy One of God." in german its the same vocabulary :erkennen. And I am sure that at least Daniela will think of another book when we talk about "erkennen". It is the book we read in german lesson Der Proceß the protagonist is unable to erkennen and this is one of the reasons you can give to explain his execution in the last.
Unable to erkennen... unable to erkennen (~ see) your own flaws... unable to see Jesus... unable to see the reality.
This leads us to the topic of being blind. Which just makes me think about ecclesiastes (prediger). you might be as wise as Salomo but there are still things hidden from you.
But that would be another topic. I want to remain by the things you should see and you need to see.
But at least maybe we can say: Yes there is much we do not see (though we should) but at least we should be able to see Jesus like Peter and not like the Pharisees who shut their eyes.

John 8

"⁵³Then each went to his own home. ¹But Jesus went to the Mount of Olives. "


At first no verses jumped out at me when I read this chapter. Then I reread it several days later and noticed the last verse of chapter 7 coupled with the first verse of chapter 8. The contrast caught my eye.

Here it said that 'each went to his own home'. Yet, where did Jesus go? Mount of Olives. Home is a place where people return to at the end of the day, it is a place of comfort with family, with people whom you can trust and rely upon. It is where you can talk about the day's troubles and share the day's joy. It is a place where people can withdraw to for privacy and meditation away from the day's toils.

However, this verse seem to suggest that Jesus lacked a 'home'. In the eyes of the world, that may be true. But Jesus had said Himself that He is "not of this world" (Jn 17:16) and that His "kingdom is not of this world" (Jn 18:36). Therefore, from the eyes of this physical world, how can Jesus have a place to call 'home'? 'Home' to Jesus is the same as to us, except the being who he returns to at the end of the day, who He finds comfort in, who He shares His troubles and joys with, a place where he comes for privacy and meditation is with His Father. His 'home' has a deeper meaning than that of the physical world. It is where he talks to His disciples of the things to come. It is where He prayed in tears to His Father to take that bitter cup away. It is where Jesus begins His journey to the cross.

Like Jesus, we should also have a place for God to be our 'Mount Olive'. Whether it be a physical place or a place in our heart. A place where we focus on the things of God, and where we can find comfort in God, share our burdens and joys with God. A place where we can transcend our earthly 'home' and remember that we have a better 'home' elsewhere. That our 'home' is not of this world, but with God.

The mention of 'home' caught my eye, because for a long time now, since moving to the USA, I do not have a physical place where I can call 'home'. I had lived in my aunts' house, and then rented apartments, and then moved around. There is not a steady, physical place where 'home' is. 'Home' became wherever I lived. Usually for other people, home is the house where their parents live or if you are married, where your family lives. Since my parents do not own a place in USA and I am not married, there isn't a physical place of 'home'. At times, I feel awkward telling people I'm going 'home', because there really isn't a 'home' there waiting for me. In this sense, I can relate to Jesus. Therefore, 'home' became where I attend church., a place where God is. Even though the relationship and intimacy with brothers and sisters isn't the same as with the immediately family, the brothers and sisters became the family I had. But most importantly, God is what I always have. Even when feeling all alone amidst the crowd, I knew that at least God is there for me, and that is where 'home' is supposed to be.

Sorry, that i haven´t written in the last months.

My "bible-reading-situation" is that I am reading proverbs. So, my idea is to write something about the first and second chapter:


The verses which impressed me the most are vers 3 - 5 in chapter 2.
When I read these verses, I remembered books, called "Abby Lynn", written by Rainer M. Schröder. Altogether, there are 4 books. The book explains the very beginning of Australia: At the end of the 17th, the English Crown used Australia`s East coasts for convicts, who had to work all the day. The leading character is a young girl Abby, who was exiled to this country. During this time, a lot of "free" persons tried to get land in the coastal area. Over a period of time, Abby met a free man and got married. She could escape from the prison and have to flee with her husband. They went with an oxcart to the West, in hope to find fertile land, where they can live at rest. After 3 weeks, they have still been in the veld, where is only a little bit of water, very hot, no shadows. At the end they have to pass a very big river, while a friend of Abby died, and a mountain.
But they didn´t give up their hope and the believing that they can reach their aim.
Shortly after the adventure to pass the barriers, they only saw green grassland, a lot of plants, like the Lily in the Valley.

Imagine that you arrive the vally in the night. There are only darkness, maybe a lot of wildlife and poisonous animals. But during the sunrise, the sun gives the valley its harmony, warmness and happines back.

You can compare it with your faith:
Maybe, you have some situations where you can´t see a solution or the right way, but God is there, he will lead us to the right direction, into the light-flooded valley. We only have to fight very hard and to believe. If God see that you really want the promise, he is going to give it to you.

Like the verses, I chose:

"wenn du sie suchst wie Silber und nach ihr forschest, wie nach Schätzen:
dann wirst du die Furcht des HERRN verstehen und die Erkenntnis Gottes finden."


Think about what you want and struggle for it!

John 6

¹⁰Jesus said, "Have the people sit down." There was plenty of grass in that place, and the men sat down, about five thousand of them.

This chapter is a pretty long one. And its also a while ago since i read it. But I always had in mind to write something and remebered this one verse. It was when Susan was leading the biblestudy on one saturday. There she also talked about this incident but referring to the notation in Mark. After reading the same story there this verse was even more interesting.
It were the words "plenty of grass" which attracted my attention. Why would the bible mention this tiny unimportant detail? Was it to stress that the people at least had a nice soft ground to sit? (but thinking about sitting on the grass i always connect this with having green trousers afterwards). This could be or maybe it was very special to have such a nice piece of grass in that particular reagion. But because of the lack of my knowledge in this i can not say anything about that.
But what i want to say is about the verse in
Mark 6:34 When Jesus landed and saw a large crowd, he had compassion on them, because they were like sheep without a shepherd. So he began teaching them many things.
Here it says that the large crowd was just like sheeps without a sheperd. And Jesus as the chief sheperd (1.Petr. 5:4) made them sit down, settle down on the grass. And the grass happen to be plenty just as the food Jesus provided to them. I think these both verses in John and Mark are giving a nice picture. Of Jesus who at first found lost and strayed sheeps but then afterwards he made them sit down on the grass which was plenty and began to teach them many things and in the end gave them enough to eat.
What is also interesting is this verse in mark where the disciples discribe that place:
Mk. 6:35 By this time it was late in the day, so his disciples came to him. "This is a remote place," they said, "and it's already very late.
They said that this is a remote place. In german it is the word öd which also means bleak. It seems that the disciples could not see that plenty of grass for these lost sheeps or in other words the teachings and word of life Jesus could give this crowd and not only that but he also provided them with the daily needs.

So maybe we could also return to this place full of grass which is maybe considered remoted and bleak by others. And let us lead by the chief sheperd.