John 1:1-17
The Word Became Flesh
1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 He was with God in the beginning. 3 Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made. 4 In him was life,and that life was the light of all mankind. 5 The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.
6 There was a man sent from God whose name was John. 7 He came as a witness to testify concerning that light, so that through him all might believe. 8 He himself was not the light; he came only as a witness to the light.
9 The true light that gives light to everyone was coming into the world. 10 He was in the world, and though the world was made through him, the world did not recognize him. 11 He came to that which was his own, but his own did not receive him. 12 Yet to all who did receive him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God— 13 children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband’s will, but born of God.
14 The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.
15 (John testified concerning him. He cried out, saying, “This is the one I spoke about when I said, ‘He who comes after me has surpassed me because he was before me.’”) 16 Out of his fullness we have all received grace in place of grace already given. 17 For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. 18 No one has ever seen God, but the one and only Son, who is himself God and is in closest relationship with the Father, has made him known.
Luke 2:52
As Jesus Grew, He Grew in Stature With God and Man
52 And Jesus grew in wisdom and stature, and in favor with God and man.
Matthew 21:12-17
Jesus is Angry With the Money Changers
12 Jesus entered the temple courts and drove out all who were buying and selling there. He overturned the tables of the money changers and the benches of those selling doves. 13 “It is written,” he said to them, “‘My house will be called a house of prayer,’ but you are making it ‘a den of robbers.’”
14 The blind and the lame came to him at the temple, and he healed them. 15 But when the chief priests and the teachers of the law saw the wonderful things he did and the children shouting in the temple courts, “Hosanna to the Son of David,” they were indignant.
16 “Do you hear what these children are saying?” they asked him.
“Yes,” replied Jesus, “have you never read,
“‘From the lips of children and infants
you, Lord, have called forth your praise’?”
17 And he left them and went out of the city to Bethany, where he spent the night.
John 11:33-35
Jesus Weeps Over Lazarus' Death
33 When Jesus saw her weeping, and the Jews who had come along with her also weeping, he was deeply moved in spirit and troubled. 34 “Where have you laid him?” he asked.
“Come and see, Lord,” they replied.
35 Jesus wept.
Mark 1:29-34
Jesus Heals Many
29 As soon as they left the synagogue, they went with James and John to the home of Simon and Andrew. 30 Simon’s mother-in-law was in bed with a fever, and they immediately told Jesus about her. 31 So he went to her, took her hand and helped her up. The fever left her and she began to wait on them.
32 That evening after sunset the people brought to Jesus all the sick and demon-possessed. 33 The whole town gathered at the door, 34 and Jesus healed many who had various diseases. He also drove out many demons, but he would not let the demons speak because they knew who he was.
John 3:1-21
Jesus Teaches Nicodemus
Now there was a Pharisee, a man named Nicodemus who was a member of the Jewish ruling council. 2 He came to Jesus at night and said, “Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher who has come from God. For no one could perform the signs you are doing if God were not with him.”
3 Jesus replied, “Very truly I tell you, no one can see the kingdom of God unless they are born again.”
4 “How can someone be born when they are old?” Nicodemus asked. “Surely they cannot enter a second time into their mother’s womb to be born!”
5 Jesus answered, “Very truly I tell you, no one can enter the kingdom of God unless they are born of water and the Spirit. 6 Flesh gives birth to flesh, but the Spirit gives birth to spirit. 7 You should not be surprised at my saying, ‘You must be born again.’ 8 The wind blows wherever it pleases. You hear its sound, but you cannot tell where it comes from or where it is going. So it is with everyone born of the Spirit.”
9 “How can this be?” Nicodemus asked.
10 “You are Israel’s teacher,” said Jesus, “and do you not understand these things? 11 Very truly I tell you, we speak of what we know, and we testify to what we have seen, but still you people do not accept our testimony. 12 I have spoken to you of earthly things and you do not believe; how then will you believe if I speak of heavenly things? 13 No one has ever gone into heaven except the one who came from heaven—the Son of Man. 14 Just as Moses lifted up the snake in the wilderness, so the Son of Man must be lifted up, 15 that everyone who believes may have eternal life in him.”
16 For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. 17 For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.18 Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because they have not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son. 19 This is the verdict: Light has come into the world, but people loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil. 20 Everyone who does evil hates the light, and will not come into the light for fear that their deeds will be exposed. 21 But whoever lives by the truth comes into the light, so that it may be seen plainly that what they have done has been done in the sight of God.
God sent us His Son in the flesh to dwell among us...And He was quite different from each of us...He even talked differently in the sense that He is from heaven...He was from Another World, and as I read through the four gospels, I can almost feel that difference, in how He acts and talks and how I act and talk...In fact, in many of the things He says I find Him strange and sometimes odd...God has His Son become flesh to show us what humanity can be...What we can be like if we follow how He lived...He shows us what it like when we make God the center of our lives and go about always helping others...
John 19:38-42
The Burial of Jesus by Joseph of Arimathea and Nicodemus
38 Later, Joseph of Arimathea asked Pilate for the body of Jesus. Now Joseph was a disciple of Jesus, but secretly because he feared the Jewish leaders. With Pilate’s permission, he came and took the body away. 39 He was accompanied by Nicodemus, the man who earlier had visited Jesus at night. Nicodemus brought a mixture of myrrh and aloes, about seventy-five pounds. 40 Taking Jesus’ body, the two of them wrapped it, with the spices, in strips of linen. This was in accordance with Jewish burial customs. 41 At the place where Jesus was crucified, there was a garden, and in the garden a new tomb, in which no one had ever been laid. 42 Because it was the Jewish day of Preparation and since the tomb was nearby, they laid Jesus there.
Jesus became a Great Man as He grew up He in stature and in favor with both God and man...But not all men believed He came from heaven...And this was a Great Miracle...
By Jesus taking on this human experience, we should try to learn from Him...We should try to learn all we can from Him...God did not send Him to earth for us to learn nothing...But we get off track in life with this type of thinking...When we focus on raising a family, focus on our jobs, accumulating material things, or satisfying a desire we have we can lose focus of God...We then may not learn all we can from Whom God sent...
Jesus shows us how very human He was when He weeps over a friend's death, and He gets angry over how the money changers have turned God's Temple into a merchandising area and a place to make money...He very much relates to both God and man...And although He is a Man, He seems alone, a solitary Man, and somewhat aloof...And for me, there is this strange and odd aura around Him...
Jesus, although a Man, is always is in control of any situation He is in...And this includes even includes His arrest, His trial, and even His death...How can this be, if He is just a Man?...He has this quiet humble confidence throughout His life...
Being the most powerful Man ever to walk the earth, with the ability to do any miracle He wanted to -He literally can do anything on earth...He does most of His miracles in the realm of healing others...And because He is Divine and can do any miracle, He shows His Power and Divinity only at the proper times, and in the proper way...Because One with this great power could wreak havoc over everyone, if they wanted...This alone tells us that He is from God, for who else or what man could and would not do some miracle here or there to show their power, especially to some Pharisitic disbeliever (or any disbeliever for that matter)...Or do something to get what they want...And He does all His miracles perfectly and subtly, so that faith never leaves the earth...He is so quietly humble in doing His miracles, that sometimes we miss the impact of His miracles and the number of miracles He did...So with the way He did His miracles, people still have a choice, even after seeing all of His miracles to believe Him or not to believe in Him...I think that is a miracle in itself...My Bible outlines and tables thirty five of His miracles...If Someone did thirty five miracles in front of me, and they were the type of miracles He did -I would want to ask them many questions...I would want to be around Him and learn from Him...I would want them as a Teacher...I understand the need for Nicodemus to go and see Him and to talk to Him, and try to get to know Him...And again, to learn from Him...And Nicodemus did learn from Him, you know...He helped bury Jesus after His death...
Nicodemus would learn from Jesus, but the Twelve Disciples also learned much from Jesus...They would see Him regularly for three years...They would see Him doing His miracles...They would hear Him forgiving others of their sinning ways...And they would learn from Him of the potential for the human race as He went about His day...They would learn from Him about the very nature of God...For they in the end, they did believe that He is the Son of the Blessed One, the Son of the Living God...They learned He made God the central focus of His life, and He loved His Father, and all the while being human He went around helping others and teaching others...This quiet humble confidence of His, is His faith in God, His Father...We should try to learn as much from Him as did Nicodemus and His Disciples...
And though I have found Him strange and sometimes quite odd and many of the things around Him strange and odd, I cannot help but love Him...And I find that also quite strange and odd...