John: Scripture

John 5:30–6:21

You search the Scriptures because you think that in them you have eternal life; and it is they that bear witness about me, yet you refuse to come to me that you may have life.

Why do you read the Bible? What are you looking for? What are you after?

Is it answers to life’s toughest questions? A source of solace and comfort? A handbook for living? A love letter from God himself? A collection of history and culture and anthropology and literature? The mysterious origins to world religion?

What are you looking for when you turn the pages of Scripture? Do you do it simply because someone told once that good Christians read the Bible?

Jesus cuts to the chase here. He’s still ranting against some religious folks after healing an invalid on the Sabbath. What’s at stake is “life.”

It’s like the difference between a brochure of Hawaii and actually being in Hawaii. I’ve never been to Hawaii, but I’ve seen a travel guide. It looks pretty awesome. But I bet being there is even better than the guide.

I think Jesus is suggesting something similar.

We want Life—with a capital “L.” Something more than blood in our veins and breath in our lungs. Life. That sensation of being alive. This is what’s being talked about every time we see the word “life” in John’s Gospel. Being truly alive, God-breathed human beings.

And that kind of Life isn’t found in the Scriptures, says Jesus. Jesus says it’s found in him.

Now that isn’t to say that the Scriptures are unnecessary. Without the travel guide to Hawaii I wouldn’t have the imagination and the visual vocabulary for what was possible. It’s necessary, but it points to something bigger.

Old Testament, New Testament, all of it—it’s a big neon sign pointing to the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus.

What about you? What do you see?

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