John 21 concerns the appearance of the risen Jesus to seven of his disciples while out fishing and then on the beach. When they disciples saw him from their boat while out fishing they saw him as a stranger. When Jesus enabled them to bring in a great catch of fish, they saw him as their Lord. When Jesus carefully and gently reinstated Peter, they saw him as their friend. When Jesus then commissioned them to ‘follow him’, he made it clear they should serve him as their Lord

When Jesus appeared to the disciples after the resurrection, Thomas had not been with them and refused to believe their testimony. However, when Jesus appeared to Thomas and proved that he was alive, Thomas’ doubts soon evaporated and he freely confessed his faith. John’s purpose in writing what he did about Jesus was for this very purpose; that we too may believe God’s testimony concerning His Son.

When the disciples of Jesus had all but given up hope, because they had seen Jesus die and be buried, God changed everything by raising Jesus from the dead. Their perception of death, their perspective of Jesus and their purpose in life were all radically altered – and all for the better! The same change can come to all who believe God’s testimony concerning His Son Jesus who conquered sin and death.

Jesus spoke seven times from the cross. The sixth of His sayings was the short and plain, ‘I thirst’. These woulds could be taken in a very simple sense and quickly passed over. Of course he was thirsty! Dying is hard work. But there’s a whole lot more to it than that! What did jesus mean when He said what He said?

The facts of the cross are plainly recorded in all of the gospels, but John has his own special emphasis on the events that unfolded that first Good Friday when the worst that man could show met with the best that God could give. The end result was and is a story of amazing sacrifice in which Jesus completed all the Father had sent him to do – to secure the salvation of all of God’s people.

Pontius Pilate was a cruel and often uncaring Roman governor in Jerusalem who had plenty of opportunity to ask Jesus questions, but failed to do anything with the answers Jesus gave to him. In fact, Pilate had the greatest opportunity to know the truth but succumbed to the pressures placed upon him the Jewish religious authorities and the vengeful crowd. Even yet, his question, ‘what shall I do with this man called the Christ?’ is a question everyone must answer.

In John 18:1-27, John describes some of the important events  that happened on the way to the cross for Jesus, namely, his arrest in the garden, his trial before Annas and his denial by Peter. However, John presents these in a way that helps the reader to understand that Jesus remain in complete and calm control of His destiny. The cross would not come about by accident but by His obedience to His Father’s will.