A Glimpse of God's Heart from the Apostle John

When you read through the Gospel of John in the New Testament of the Bible, it is massively important to view the stories that John stacks up next to one another in order to get the full picture of what the Holy Spirit is saying through the apostle's writing. We as modern readers tend to read with the chapters and sub-headings dividing the text into autonomous sections which simply provide an episodic conglomeration of events in the life of Christ. In reality, when John wrote the Gospel account, there were no such divisions; it all goes together in a masterful way.

Take, for instance chapters three and four of the Gospel of John. In the American church we hear the story of Nicodemus, we hear the story of the woman at the well, we hear the story of John the Baptist saying, "I must decrease and he must increase", and we also hear the story of the faith of the official from Capernaum whose son was healed by Jesus without even a visit. Yet too often we hear each one without any thought to the connection or order in which John has placed them in the text.

Nicodemus was the teacher of the Jews, a respected and educated man, who came and sought Jesus at night. Jesus called him to believe. The disciples of John the Baptist were Jewish people who had believed John's message, and John the Baptist points them to believe and follow Jesus. The woman at the well was a Samaritan, an adulteress sinner, ashamed to be in public, Jesus called her to believe in Him as well. Then many Samaritans came and they also believed in Jesus. Then a Gentile official from Capernaum came seeking Jesus for the healing of his son and Jesus challenged him to believe and he did along with all his household.

Each of these people were from a different place, different walk of lifes, different belief systems, different genders, different occupations, different . . . everything! And Jesus' response to each is the same message: "Believe."

When we get a hold of this picture from the life of Christ, is should change our perspective on how we view those around us. The Gospel message is not just for middle class Americans who dress and smell like me. The Gospel is for every living creature, every language group, every skin color, every ethnicity, every person.