Wow! I hope you caught that! Jesus chooses to tell an uneducated, racially disgraced, rejected, broken, “trashy” prostitute who He truly is! And in that moment, the woman no one loved realized a depth of love and acceptance she thought was not possible. Standing by a hole in the ground, she met her Savior! Her life was changed in an instant!

Please do not miss this. God does not hate the world; He loves it! (3:16) But the world stands condemned, poisoned and on the verge of death. (3:18) Jesus has come to rescue us all! All of us, like Nicodemus, are lost and broken in our unbelief. So, Jesus became flesh so that He would be lifted up on the cross and save all who look to Him!

These two stories go together so well. They begin to help us understand who Jesus is and what His purpose was and continues to be - the Purifier! He has authority to clean the temple from its impure practices. This, like water to wine, is another symbol of Jesus’ death. The temple is where God’s presence met His people. Jesus kicks out the buyers and sellers because the payment to enter into God’s presence was about to be paid. The true temple is Jesus’ body! It is going to be destroyed for us.

Jesus had to walk among us in order to truly save us. That is because Light cannot be sacrificed. Words alone cannot take away the painful consequences of our sins. The only way our sins can be removed is if the Word can bleed, if the Light can be cut, and if the Life can die. God saw His creation under threat of darkness and death, so He sent Jesus, to die as the ultimate Passover Lamb for us. To secure light and life for all p

I am fascinated by stories.  Thinking back to my early childhood; I loved being told a good story.  An expert storyteller has the ability to carry the listener to other worlds.  It is an amazing art to me.  One of the things I like so much about the Bible is the people in the story.  It is a giant story filled with smaller stories.  Think about that for a moment.  One story.  Told through 100’s of voices; with 1000’s of characters involved.  For the audience of humankind.  But it impacts each person in a unique way.