IT IS ENOUGH!

John 21:20-25

Jesus did many other things as well. If every one of them were written down, I suppose that even the whole world would not have room for the books that would be written.

John says that more proof of Jesus’ claim to be the Son of God could be offered. Even more evidence He is our Savior and the greatest Teacher for life!

But it is enough!

Here is more than enough to create faith in the hearts of those who seriously examine the facts so graciously provided.

The way Jesus lived is clearly set forth to the world. What He thought, how He treated people and even why He did what He did can be known to us. It is enough!

The teaching of Jesus is well-documented. We don’t have to guess about what the Teacher said. It is enough to illuminate and guide us to the blessings of a godly life.

The miraculous signs He demonstrated more than confirm all His claims. It is enough!

Above all, His death proves His love for us. If this isn’t enough, nothing could be!

And finally His resurrection reveals a plan for our futures when this life is done. Heaven will be more than enough!

This is the disciple who testifies to these things and who wrote them down. We know that his testimony is true.

How appropriately John closes his gospel account - IT IS ENOUGH!!!

DO YOU LOVE ME?

John 21:15-19

So much was happening that last day in the city of Jerusalem. Maybe they missed it! The constant refrain of Jesus’ teaching the last night they were together!

Time and again, He steered their lengthy discussions back to the subject on His mind. Love!

Beginning from the Last Supper in John 13, until He was taken by the mob to be crucified, love was the focus of His last words to them. It is love, above all other things, the Teacher wants to emphasize to His students.

Read John 13 through 17 again. Notice how many times Jesus initiates a conversation about love. Observe how easily the students are sidetracked and ask questions that go in a different direction.

See how tolerantly their Teacher allows them to get off topic. He patiently answers all their questions. But above all, note His persistence in returning to the thing He wants them to understand as He is about to leave them!

Love!

And here again, the Teacher returns to that most important lesson for His students.

Three times He asks Peter:

Do you truly love me more than these?
Simon son of John, do you truly love me?
Simon son of John, do you love me?

Today, this is still the question on the heart of the Teacher for every student!

Love sent Jesus into the world. In love for us, Jesus lived and died. And it is His love in our hearts that validates our relationship with Him.

We may ask other questions. Become distracted by numerous ideas. But always the Teacher calls us back to the question: Do you love me?

Then he said to him, "Follow me!"

POWER OVER DEATH

John 21:1-14

This was now the third time Jesus appeared to his disciples after he was raised from the dead.

This is a period of transition for the students of Jesus. They understand their Teacher has risen from the dead. Yet, something is different.

The Teacher is not with them twenty-four hours a day as before. For three years He has been their constant companion. All during the forty days between His resurrection and His ascension, Jesus comes and goes.

Perhaps He is preparing them for the new kind of relationship they will have with Him in the very near future. He will no longer be with them physically as before. For after Jesus returns to the Father, He will be with them representatively through the presence of the Holy Spirit, soon to sent from heaven!

Before Jesus leaves for heaven, He will send them on a lifetime mission to preach and teach the good news of His death and resurrection to the whole world. But for now it seems they are not fully aware of the Teacher's plan for their futures.

Some of them even decide to go fishing!

There, beside the lake, the Teacher comes to them. Builds a fire and cooks some fish of His own and invites them to bring some of the 153 fish He enabled them catch.

They have breakfast together.

All these appearances are highly significant, both for them and for us. What they are experiencing is not a collective illusion. At different times, in diverse settings and when His students are in various states of mind, the Teacher appears to them.

If they are to be credible eyewitnesses of the greatest event in human history, there must be no doubt. Only if Jesus shows Himself alive by many indisputable proofs, will they carry the good news to the world with conviction. Jesus’ power over death will be irrefutable!

BLESSED FAITH

John 20:19-31

Because you have seen me, you have believed; blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.

Here the Teacher pronounced a special blessing on those who believe in Him and yet never saw Him.

When Jesus appeared – The disciples were overjoyed when they saw the Lord.

But Thomas was not with them when Jesus first appeared. As the other students excitedly told Him about seeing the Lord, he expressed strong reluctance to believe.

Unless I see the nail marks in his hands and put my finger where the nails were, and put my hand into his side, I will not believe it.

Doubting Thomas!

One week later Jesus again appeared to them. Thomas was present this time and Jesus invited him to touch the nail marks in His hands and the place where the spear punctured His side.

Only when Thomas actually saw Jesus did He express faith – My Lord and My God!

It was at this point Jesus blessed those who have not seen and yet believe.

Doesn’t this describe every student of Jesus today?

None today have actually seen the Teacher. Our faith is based on the eyewitness testimony of those who did. The fact they were willing to die for the truth of it adds great weight to their witness. And our own personal experience in following Jesus confirms our faith.

Yet it is still only faith, not sight. And apparently that kind of belief is especially impressive to our Teacher.

Even Blessed Faith!

TWO ASCENSIONS?

John 20:10-18

Do not hold on to me, for I have not yet returned to the Father. Go instead to my brothers and tell them, “I am returning to my Father…”

Jesus arose from the dead and appeared to Mary Magdalene. His request – Do not hold on to me, for I have not yet returned to the Father - seems contradictory in light of the subsequent event when Jesus actually invites Thomas to touch Him.

Did Jesus ascend to the Father immediately after His resurrection and then return to earth for forty days? If so, there were two ascensions!

Perhaps so, although we cannot be sure, but what was going on in the temple may hold some significance. It was the day of the offering of First Fruits.

The priest waved the offering to heaven, offering the first fruits to God. A thankful offering to God in anticipation of more harvest to come!

Did Jesus ascend to heaven after His meeting with Mary to present Himself as a wave offering to the Father? The First Fruit of the Resurrection, signifying many others to come in the future.

Certainly, the resurrected Jesus would welcome an immediate re-unification with His Father. No doubt, long hoped for!

On the other hand, perhaps Jesus says to Mary – Don’t hold on to me, for I have not yet ascended to the Father – meaning simply, I’m not going anywhere right now. You will have plenty of time to visit with me before I ascend.

This makes sense in light of the special assignment He was anxious for her to complete:

Go instead to my brothers and tell them, “I am returning to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God."

Maybe, the Teacher was simply helping her get used to a new situation, where she would not see and touch Him as formerly. What do you think?

SECRET DISCIPLE?

John 19:38-20:9

Now Joseph was a disciple of Jesus, but secretly because he feared the Jews.

Joseph of Arimathea was a careful student of Jesus!

There is no such thing as a secret follower of Jesus. The Teacher made this clear when He said students must be willing to openly confess their faith in Him. Otherwise, He said that He would also deny them before the Father in heaven.

But who can blame Joseph for being cautious? The fury of mob psychology surrounding the last hours of Jesus’ life was horrifying.

It may be said that Joseph was even following one of the Teacher’s earlier counsels – Be wise as serpents but harmless as doves.

Wise to avoid conflict with a city filled with people out for blood! Completely harmless to seek a decent burial for his Teacher!

With Pilate's permission, he came and took the body away. He was accompanied by Nicodemus, the man who earlier had visited Jesus at night.

As we know from other writers, the tomb was Joseph’s. Nicodemus supplied no insignificant contribution to the burial - a mixture of myrrh and aloes, about seventy-five pounds.

Notably missing are the students closest to Jesus. Where are they? They are afraid also.

But their fear immobilized them. They are mere spectators! While Joseph’s fear prompts cautious, although loving action on Jesus’ behalf!

Eventually, the missing students of Jesus will die for their faith.

But for now, it is only two relatively unknown men who gain a kind of immortality because they are not so secret disciples.

By Sunday the tomb was empty once again! Here is the real reason why there are no secret students today. No longer any fear of death…He arose!!!

HOLY GROUND

John 19:25-37

Near the cross of Jesus stood his mother…When Jesus saw his mother there, and the disciple whom he loved standing nearby, he said to his mother, "Dear woman, here is your son," and to the disciple, "Here is your mother." From that time on, this disciple took her into his home.

Later, knowing that all was now completed, and so that the Scripture would be fulfilled, Jesus said, "I am thirsty."

A jar of wine vinegar was there, so they soaked a sponge in it, put the sponge on a stalk of the hyssop plant, and lifted it to Jesus' lips.

When he had received the drink, Jesus said, "It is finished."

With that, he bowed his head and gave up his spirit.

Now it was the day of Preparation, and the next day was to be a special Sabbath. Because the Jews did not want the bodies left on the crosses during the Sabbath, they asked Pilate to have the legs broken and the bodies taken down.

The soldiers therefore came and broke the legs of the first man who had been crucified with Jesus, and then those of the other.

But when they came to Jesus and found that he was already dead, they did not break his legs.

Instead, one of the soldiers pierced Jesus' side with a spear, bringing a sudden flow of blood and water.

The man who saw it has given testimony, and his testimony is true. He knows that he tells the truth, and he testifies so that you also may believe.

These things happened so that the scripture would be fulfilled:

Not one of his bones will be broken," and, as another scripture says, "They will look on the one they have pierced."