With the turning of water to wine, Jesus’ transition from an average member of a lower-middle-class family in Nazareth to a rising teacher in Israel begins. Jesus has been theocratically anointed through John’s baptism, overcome the temptations of Satan, and gathered a small band of followers. Passover falls immediately on the heels of these events.…

Now there was a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews. This man came to Jesus by night and said to him, “Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher come from God, for no one can do these signs that you do unless God is with him.” John 3:1–2 Nicodemus’…

. . . he left Judea and departed again for Galilee. And he had to pass through Samaria. John 4:3-4 Why is Jesus compelled to go through Samaria? Consider Matthew 15:24–27: He answered, “I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.” But she came and knelt before him, saying, “Lord, help…

We can imagine the Samaritan woman looking at Jesus—a strange man sitting just by the well from which she needed to draw water—and thinking about her options. Perhaps she considered whether to continue her errand or return sometime later. He looked tired and dusty, probably from walking up the mountain to the ridge road that…

So he came again to Cana in Galilee, where he had made the water wine. John 4:46 John points out that Jesus is returning to Cana, where he started his journey to wilderness temptation, his time with John the Baptist, and finally, through Samaria. The first trip of his new ministry has been completed; he…

We often think of rejection as a “one-time thing”—a public personality does or says “one thing,” resulting in their “cancelation.” This “cancellation” phenomenon is a very late modern idea, primarily after the advent of social media and high-speed communications. In the ancient world, “the street” could be fickle for years, sometimes supporting a public figure…

And he went down to Capernaum, a city of Galilee. And he was teaching them on the Sabbath, and they were astonished at his teaching, for his word possessed authority. And in the synagogue there was a man who had the spirit of an unclean demon, and he cried out with a loud voice, “Ha!…

And he went throughout all Galilee, teaching in their synagogues and proclaiming the gospel of the kingdom and healing every disease and every affliction among the people. So his fame spread throughout all Syria, and they brought him all the sick, those afflicted with various diseases and pains, those oppressed by demons, those having seizures,…