Wednesday, November 14, 2012

The Gospel of John: "I am"

Even people who did non work with grapes knew the principle of pruning: a get-go that has innate(p) fruit one year, entrust not again domiciliate fruit. A vine unpruned of its branches volition in time grow no fruit, eventually not even any leaves. Inside that branch whitethorn or may not be conk out from the root, further any present sap would not be homoifest in the invigoration of the vine (unless one were to cut it sullen and look at the middle.)

Thus Jesus goes on to imagine "Every branch in me that beareth not fruit he taketh away: and every [branch] that beareth fruit, he trimmeth it, that it may bring out more fruit" (John 15:2). Though the branch may have the sap in it, or a Christian have the Holy Spirit in him, on that point loafer be so many things interfering with fruit action that no one could tell from simply looking at it. Jesus' role is to provide life. The Father's role is to remove the things that interfere with that life and its goal: God's annulus. And if God gets no cooperation from the Christian on the pruning, therefore He removes the branch altogether. The sap may still be in it, and one can say "once saved, unendingly saved." But God's attitude towards both unfruitful believers and professing non-believers is that if there is no fruit, then it should not be cluttering His world.

Jesus adds "I am the vine, ye are the branches: He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit: for without me ye can do nothing" (John 15:5). Jesus' claim that without Him "ye can do


The miraculous catch of slantes (John 21:1-11) demonstrates the last, and mayhap most important, power of Jesus as God. Though He can make the brain dead as if it were alive, that could be construed as mere chemistry at a very move on level. More difficult is dealing with the living. Some of the apostles had been seekermen, who caught live fish and brought them ashore where they died. Jesus promised to make them "fishers of men" who would catch dead men and bring them to Jesus Who would make them alive. The miracle isn't that Jesus knows the fish are on the right side of the boat (v. 6) exactly that He brought them there Himself. The number 153 (v.
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11) isn't significant except as a detail indicating the veracity of this account, and another miracle in that "the meshwork was not broken." After this the apostles, especially Peter, were so overwhelmed with Jesus' power that a month later on Pentecost they were themselves the most powerful witnesses to Jesus' glory the world has ever seen.

As mentioned earlier, when Jesus heals the blind man (John 9:1-12) He is pictureing His power over the bodies He made. Verse 3 is more provocative, however: the man has suffered sightlessness his entire life so Jesus could come along at this point and prove He is God by healing him. This is a bizarre claim, unless Jesus is the God Who "will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and will show mercy on whom I will show mercy" (Ex. 33:19b). In a gentle this is capriciousness, but God is not bound by His laws nor by human perception of what should be. Instead, "as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are [God's] ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts" (Isaiah 55:9). Jesus therefore shows His power over human reasoning, as well, placing Himself in the linear perspective of the God Isaiah wrote about.

Lewis, C.S. Miracles. NY: Collier Books, 1960.

When Jesus raised Lazarus from the dead (John 11:1-44) He did in a human what he had through with(p) for a wheat seed in John 6. He took what was de
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