It is interesting to explore how Jesus fulfills themes and concepts from the Old Testament.

"Blessed are those who believe" sounds wonderful, but what does it really look like?

The resurrection of Lazarus is a fantastic story, and features in quite positive detail two characters who are typically maligned: Thomas and Martha. We explore their actions and statements in this story to ponder what it might look like to be blessed for believing.

Is the majority usually wrong?

The lesson study guide this week poses this idea as a comfort for people who feel like they are in the minority, like Adventism is within Christianity on some issues. Ironically, denominations mean that "minorities" tend to cluster together into communities of worship where they can feel the sense of belonging that is enjoyed by a majority. We explore this idea through the story of disciplies finding it difficult to follow a train of thought Jesus has about eating his body.

The Samaritan woman at the well prompts us to explore the role of testimony.

We spend some time rehabilitating this woman's reputation somewhat, and exploring how Jesus interacts with her. There is power in her testimony and "many from the village believed", but what about her experience and proclamation was so compelling?

John 1 records this strong and confident statement as a profound witness of Jesus as Messiah.

The story is about Jesus calling his early disciples, and them also calling others. It seems at first glance that they really "got it", calling Jesus "the Son of God—the King of Israel!” And yet, we know from the rest of the story that they were regularly confused by Jesus and his actions. It seems possible to acknowledge Jesus as Messiah and simultaneously misunderstand most of what he is trying to achieve. That's worth pondering.

Analogies are so compelling that we need to be careful to keep them the right way around.

Humans are story-telling creatures and so good analogies and narratives captivate us. The opening "prologue" of John's gospel introduces many of the central themes that reappear throughout the book. Perhaps it is possible to get things mixed up if we end up focussing more on the analogy than on Christ himself.

What features of a miracle make it a "sign of divinity"?

The well-known story in John 6 tells about Jesus miraculously feeding the 5000, and it seems an interesting context to explore the nature of God.

A well-known miracle makes us think a bit harder about "signs".

The healing at the Pool of Bethesda is a great story, but the more we look at it the more questions arise. One obvious one is why just this man was healed when there were 5 covered porches of "sick crowds" by the pool. It is also fascinating that John records this miracle as a sign that can help believers maintain confidence in Christ, and yet the religious leaders who witnessed it were far from persuaded.