John 2-4
Summary of Chapters
Chapter 2
Miracle of turning water into wine. Money changers in the Temple.
Chapter 3
Nicodemus taught about Baptism. John's testimony of the Saviour. Teaching about the Saviour's divine role.
Chapter 4
Samaritan woman at the well.
v42: we have heard him ourselves, and know that he is the christ
A lot of Christ's early ministry seems to be focused around baptism.
It would be so easy to teach about 3:1-6. But we've heard it so many times before.
What references to water are there in these 3 chapters?
Water into Wine - Miracle
Born of the water and of the spirit (John 3:5)
Everlasting well of living water (John 4:10-14)
Questions from the manual that are necessary to be asked.
1. What insights do you gain about the power of christ to change you? John 2:1-11
2. What role did your baptism and confirmation play in being born again? John 3:1-21
3. What are you doing to continue this process of change? John 3:1-21
4. How have you felt the love of God through the gifts of His Son? John 3:16-17
5. What could you do to make the sacrament more meaningful? John 3:16-17
6. How is the gospel like living water? John 4:7-26
7. What are you doing to "worship the father in spirit and truth"? John 4:7-26
Ideas
Pay special attention to how the Savior used everyday things--birth, wind, water, and food--to teach spiritual truths. What items in your home can you use to teach spiritual truths? When I was in the MTC a game we played was how we can liken the gospel to everyday things. I used this exercise many years later when I instructed that before we could watch our movie and eat our pizza for one home evening, we had to compare the gospel to pizza.
Living water, well of water never thirsting again. Meat, "I have meat to eat that yea know not of" 4:v32, Man shall not live by bread alone Matt 4:4.
Born again
Why is rebirth a good metaphor?
-We are given a fresh start, as if we were born, clean, no sin.
-Become children if the saviour and take upon us his name, not that we were not children of god already.
Personal Answers to the questions above.
1. What insights do you gain about the power of christ to change you? John 2:1-11
A couple of points about John 2:1-11 1st.
v5. Mary asked the servants for exactness. Interesting that the servants would be so precise. Servants are used to obeying orders. If Jesus has asked non-servants to do something would they have been so obedient.
v6. 1 firkin is 9 gallons (41 litres), 2 firkins is 18 gallons (80 litres), 3 firkins is 27 gallons (120 litres). There were 6 pots of up to 120 litres. Thats 720 litres. When we have a ward activity how many litres of drink do we bring? And this water/wine was just to be used for the end of the celebrations. Thus presumably, a significant amount had already been consumed, so much so that that the party had run out. So this was no small thing. It wasn't a cup, or two, it was about 4 bath tubs full.
v10. It was also quality wine, as reported by governor. Not just some 'infused' water.
v11. At this point, we are still at the very early point of Jesus' ministry.
So I suppose I can ask myself, if Christ can change water into wine, is there anything he cannot do? If he can do the impossible, then can I not expect also the impossible? One of the things we get stuck thinking is that I can't be forgiven. I'm too bad. Too unclean. That is not true.
Also, turning water into wine, seems very superficial. Especially as we just learned that he would not turn stone into bread. But this miracle, was not for him. I believe it was for the servants.
2. What role did your baptism and confirmation play in being born again? John 3:1-21
v3-4 Jesus says we need to be born again. Nicodemus takes this very literally and says how can I enter the womb again? I'm reminded of someone we will read in the next chapter when he talks about meat. John 4:31-34. His disciples beckon him to eat the food they have brought to him. He says 'I have meat to eat that ye know no of'. His disciples respond 'Hath any man brought him ought to eat?'
These very literal interpretations of what the saviour is saying seem to imply how rooted the Jewish law of exactness and how blinded they are.
v14-15 brilliant comparison to Moses asking the people to look to serpent. Though technically, the raised serpent was a likeness of the Saviour, not the other way round.
For my, my baptism was when I was 8 years old. Let's be honest. I didn't really have my own testimony at this age. I believed, yes, but I did not understand (not that I really understand now). I knew the difference between right and wrong. My baptism was like a rebirth is that I was cleansed and had a fresh start and I became a member of the church and again became part of this family by taking upon myself the name of Christ. All significant stuff. But at the time, though I understood my baptism was special, it didn't really impact my life. That didn't happen until I started to gain my own testimony and started really repenting and applying some of the fundamental principles of the gospel. Thats when change really happened.
Again, going back to a podcast I listened to this week, I can't remember the context, or the precise words, but the idea was planted in my mind that the only way to grow is through pain, hard times, adversity. Maybe not 100% true, but I can guarantee, growth through no effort is going to be extremely slow. You're better off going through hell!
I googled 'is it possible to grow without adversity'. The results were pretty much no.
the 1st result says 'there is no growth without adversity'.
3. What are you doing to continue this process of change? John 3:1-21
The question about what I'm currently doing is more poignant. This is a more important self reflection question. It causes me to consider how I'm living my life, am I applying the atonement in my life as fervently as maybe I once had.
I do take the sacrament each week. But am I changing each week? If so, very slowly at the moment. Maybe there are even weeks when my change is in the wrong direction! I know if I was to be taking the sacrament properly each week then change every week would be a positive change.
For those of you who have already reached a state of perfection I suppose change is impossible, but for the rest of us, we are still trying to figure this out.
Another thing I'm working on is my come follow me study. My study is aided by the fact that I have a responsibility to teach, so in a way, I consider myself slightly advantaged. You could put the compelled to be humble (Alma 32:13-14) spin on it though and then I'm disadvantaged.
4. How have you felt the love of God through the gifts of His Son? John 3:16-17
16 For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.
17 For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved.
Note the question says 'gifts of His Son' not 'gift of His Son', obviously implying that His Son has brought to us multiple gifts.
So what are they?
-Resurrection
-Forgiveness
-Agency (technically a gift from God, but only possible because He sacrificed himself).
-His life (in more ways than one, yes he died, but he gave his will to His [our] father also, everything he did was to ensure we could be reunited with our Father in Heaven again, it's this one that gets me).
-Any more?
My greatest moments of appreciation and love have come through personal moments when I know I've been forgiven for something and when I've understood something on a new higher level and felt my testimony grow.
5. What could you do to make the sacrament more meaningful? John 3:16-17
In Q3 I refer to the sacrament too. What can I do, who has a 3 year old and a 1 year old to look after, make the sacrament more meaningful? Thats easy, give the kids to my wife.
For me, this question is not about how I can make it more meaning to me, but to my family as a whole.
We can teach our kids about the sacrament ordinance. Ideally, this will be done at home before Sunday. But it tends to happen just before the sacrament ordinance. We do have a picture of the saviour breaking bread in our home we can use as a reference point to teach them.
On a personal level, I suppose preparation for the sacrament begins the moment we finish partaking of our last sacrament.
6. How is the gospel like living water? John 4:7-26
I don't know, what is living water?
Water suitable for living organisms, unlike the salty dead sea?
Water does bring life. We need water. We are water. 60% - 55%.
In fact, we have been talking about/reading about baptism over the last couple of weeks. Baptism by immersion helps us to be born again and start a new life.
v14. Living water satisfies thirst. It is self sufficient. A perpetual motion machine!
7. What are you doing to "worship the father in spirit and truth"? John 4:7-26
What does it mean to worship in spirit and truth?
Siri?
Bruce R McConkie said in 1971 https://www.lds.org/study/ensign/1971/12/how-to-worship?lang=eng
Thus our purpose is to worship the true and living God and to do it by the power of the Spirit and in the way he has ordained.
If a man worships a cow or a crocodile, he can gain any reward that cows and crocodiles happen to be passing out this season.
If he worships the laws of the universe or the forces of nature, no doubt the earth will continue to spin, the sun to shine, and the rains to fall on the just and on the unjust.
But if he worships the true and living God, in spirit and in truth, then God Almighty will pour out his Spirit upon him, and he will have power to raise the dead, move mountains, entertain angels, and walk in celestial streets.
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