Gooding, David: 4 - On the Road with Jesus

Homework for the next occasion. And in the first place, I suggest it would be a good idea to look to the introduction, if I may use the term for the moment arbitrarily. That is to say, to look at the text from chapter one verse one down to chapter two verse twelve. I have suggested in these two sessions that at chapter two verse thirteen we begin one of the major sections of the book, which is the first visit of our Lord to Jerusalem and back. As you know, not all commentators would agree with me there, and you probably don't either, but that's what I have been suggesting, that, uh, this begins this major section, the first, uh, journey to Jerusalem. Now, we need to check that. We mustn't just take that as though it were proved, you'll see. If this is what John intended, the next question will be, how would you make sense of what comes before? Now, John's gospel is famous and peculiar for the nature of its prologue, as it's normally called. Chapter one, verses one to eighteen. Unlike any other prologue in the gospels, instead of giving you the birth and infancy narratives, like Luke and Matthew do, it presents here what people have called a theological statement, a magnificent, majestic, profound, some have said it's the most profound thing in all English literature, statement about our Lord as the Word of God. And it fills in that kind of theological language verses one to eighteen. And many people therefore say, well, that is the prologue. And then the narrative proper begins, therefore, in chapter one, verse nineteen. and that may well be so. Chapter, uh, one, verses nineteen down through the rest of chapter one and the first story of chapter two are very unlike the prologue, aren't they? The prologue is, so to speak, theology. What follows from verse nineteen onwards is narrative once more. So do we decide that here there are two elements that have nothing particular to do with them, nothing immediately in common with each other. One, a great theological pro- prologue, and then the beginning of the narrative of our Lord's life and ministry. And if that is so, uh, well, that is very good. We've no reason to complain at all. You'll see. Indeed, the likelihood, perhaps the balance of likelihood at first sight, would be on that side, that the prologue is such different material as it wouldn't have much in common with the narrative that follows from one nineteen to two twelve. Well, then the first question is, what is the prologue about? And what is its thought flow? And those pieces of narrative then that start at one nineteen, have they got anything to do with each other? Or are they just stories taken from the early times and put together because, well, they happened there? Have they any connection of thought, common theme, thought flow, or what? And while we're at it, it might be worthwhile, when you have decided what the prologue is about and what its thought flow is, and you have decided what the narrative part is about and whether it has thought flow or not. To ask, of course, the fundamental question. Do the two pieces have, in spite of appearances, anything in common with each other? Mm. And the way of coming at it would be to pick out some of the leading ideas in the prologue, wouldn't it? And see if they are repeated in the narrative. But that is such a light piece of homework that I'm constrained, uh, to give you value for money and suggest another. Uh, in the second session next week, perhaps, um, we shall have to move on to the second journey. We only have eight of these studies in all, and even at the superficial rate at which we're doing them now, we shall have a great difficulty getting through the gospel, shall we not, unless we push on. So next week, in the second half, the second journey, and that is chapters five and six. We've already noticed the pattern, chapter five, our Lord goes down to Jerusalem at the feast. Chapter six, he's back up in Galilee. Chapter five, then he goes down at the feast. Um, don't spend any time, if I may advise you, on trying to find out which feast it was. If the Holy Spirit had wanted you to know, he would have told you. What he has told you is that our Lord did his miracle deliberately on a Sabbath day. Now, why did he? That must be significant because he chose to do it then, and it caused a furore. So, why on the Sabbath? Then secondly, does the long conversation and statements that follow, what are they to do with this matter of the healing, if anything, and the way he did it and the time he did it? You'll see in chapter six, it also starts with a miracle, the feeding of the five thousand. That obviously has a lot to do with the rest of the chapter, for in the rest of the chapter, our Lord talks of himself as the bread of life, and anybody could see that the miracle of feeding the crowds is related to the message that is subsequently preached. If that is so in chapter six, is it so in chapter five? Is the actual miracle and the kind of miracle it was and how our Lord performed it relevant to what is subsequently said in the chapter? Dito repito for chapter six. You will notice, of course, in chapter six, verse four, that the Passover, says John, the feast of the Jews, was at hand. John doesn't say our Lord went down to Jerusalem on that occasion, but he stops to notice that the Passover was at hand. Maybe it's only a circumstantial, uh, remark, but it would be important to investigate it, wouldn't it? Was this feast, the fact it was Passover near enough at time, at at hand, was that relevant to the miracle of the feeding and, uh, the subsequent discussion, or wasn't it? And as for miracles, this time there are two in chapter six, aren't there? One in chapter five, two in chapter six. Why two? And have both of them got anything to do with the long paragraphs of teaching that follow? And then, of course, the question we now learn to ask ourselves, have chapters five and six got anything to do with each other? Or are they standing there together because they simply happened at that time? That, of course, is always an option. If it is so that they're there just because they happened, we have no reason for complaint. But it would be worthwhile examining, have they got anything in common with each other? Very good. Now tonight, uh, in the second half of our session, we come to, uh, the question of pattern. And some of you have been working hard at your homework, because you will remember in the dying moments of our first session, we talked about the two series of incidents that are to be found in John's gospel. We talked about the occasions in John's gospel where women are prominent, and they make a very interesting list. And then we talked about the signs that are included in John's gospel. And we noticed some superficial things about them, for instance, uh, in number three of the signs, which is the healing of the man at the pool of Bethesda. There was a big pool there, and when our Lord asked the man, would you be made whole, he was so obsessed with that pool that he replied, I have no man to put me in the pool. The Lord said, bother the pool. Don't need the pool, my good man. Get up. And healed him without using the pool. And then we noticed that in number six, there was a blind man, blind from birth. And instead of just speaking the word and giving him sight, or just laying his hands upon his eyes and giving him sight, if you please, he sent him to a pool. And we ask ourselves the question, why here refuse to use the pool? And why here use it? And of course, that, uh, raised, uh, further questions, didn't it? You'll see, if we put a circle by three and a circle by six, then, uh, dear, that begins to s- suggest, uh, uh, the beginnings of a pattern, and we shall fall into the pattern if we're not careful. You'll see. For as we now know, number two is a story of how our Lord could heal at a distance. You'll see. And because we attended so well to that lesson, we've got it well into our heads. The Lord can heal at a distance. The man said, come down to Capernaum and heal my boy. No, the Lord didn't have to go. He can heal at a distance. Yeah, but when you come to number seven, and Lazarus took sick, and his sister sent a note to the Lord saying, him whom thou lovest is sick. The story says that our Lord stayed in the place where he was. And we say, yes, well, bright pupils, aren't we? You know, the sisters were expecting he would have to go to Bethany to, to heal Lazarus. Well, he didn't. He could heal at a distance. How would he didn't? And then he said to the disciples, Lazarus sleeps, and they said, that's very good. No, no, says our Lord, I mean he's dead. Dead? Well, why couldn't have our Lord stopped him from dying? He could have done that at a distance, couldn't he? Like he did for the nobleman's son. Ah, you say the Lord's going to raise him from the dead. Well, why doesn't he do that there and then? When he eventually got to Bethany, first Martha and then Mary met him, broken hearted, of course, and with shadows of doubts in their mind, they said, Lord, if you'd have been here, my brother hadn't died. We say, but he didn't need to be there. He could have done it, healed him at a distance, and if he was going to let him die, why didn't he then speak the word and raise him at once, instead of waiting four days? Why, when he came to Bethany and they came to the tomb, and our Lord said, t- take away the stone, Martha caught him by the hand and said, no, no, no, no, Lord, don't do that. It's time the corpse stinks. Oh dear, what time does to people, doesn't it? Why didn't our Lord raise him the moment he died? Why did he wait and only raise him when he came to Bethany? He can heal at a distance. He didn't with this type thing. And that's not us inventing ideas to make the stories match, is it? It's in the very text, if you had been here, my brother hadn't died, but you weren't here, you see. And there begins to grow in front of our eyes, uh, perhaps a pattern, who knows? And you were going to investigate the pattern, and I'm not going to question you tonight about it because the time is far spent, and we shall be coming back to these things, um, time and time again. What you may care to notice, and if you haven't already noticed it, is that this gives us a check on our exposition tonight, doesn't it? Look at that one. We spent such a long time on the nobleman and his son, and the point of our Lord being able to save at a distance. Yes? We can check whether we've got the right idea in our heads by when we come to the one that stands opposite in the symmetry. That is also about whether our Lord can heal at a distance or not, and because he can, then why doesn't he? Mm. And it becomes also another key to investigating the, the meaning and messages of the signs. But now, uh, uh, let us notice now this third word that I put up here in the corner. We've talked about structure, we've talked about thought flow. Now I want to introduce the idea of pattern. Because pattern is not the same as structure, though very often beginners particularly confuse the two things, and seeing a pattern, they think it is a structure, and they're not the same thing, are they? Let's use an analogy. If you were to come to my little cottage, it's up the, the, uh, up the road up here. You will come to my cottage, you'll say you will come to the front door and open the door, you'll stand in a kind of a small entrance hall, you'll see. That's what its function is, it's an entrance hall, and structurally it's separate from the other rooms on the down floor. There are doors that lead off it, you see, but you could shut all the doors, and and structurally the entrance hall would stand by itself, you see. It's one structural unit. If you open the door that stands opposite you, it would be a dining room. Structurally, that's different from the entrance hall. Yeah. Quite separate. But then you would notice an interesting thing, that, uh, the entrance hall has got this wood stuff around it, you know, panelling or whatever they call it. It's around the old walls, an old-fashioned, uh, place this is. It's got this wood panelling around the wall, you see. And when the door is opened into the dining room, lo and behold, that's got paneling around as well. Oh. So structurally it's different, but it's got the same pattern. And to emphasize that, the owner of the house, with strange ideas, has got a series of thirteen pictures. Cries of London they are, you'll say. And they start two of them in the entrance hall, and when you open the door into the dining room, they go all the way around the dining room as well, you'll see. So the hall and the dining room share the same pattern, but not the same structure. And of course, you would be, uh, it would be a mistake to suppose structure and pattern are the same thing, wouldn't they? If you look once more, you'll find the, the, the, the carpet in the hall is one pattern, and the carpet in the dining room is another. This is not structure, you see. Hmm. Eh, and so you would go on throughout the house. I needn't go through the conducted tour, as I should have to charge you. But, uh, uh, there you are. Pattern is not the same thing as structure, and you will see that if you care to take these two lists and plot them on a bit of paper that gives you the chapters. They don't occur regularly, do they? Take those signs. One in chapter two. One more in chapter four, so there's a gap. One in three, do you see? But uh, uh, uh, here is uh, this is a five, uh, yes, sorry, these are chapters, uh, here's four, that's five. These are chapters, this is two, this is four, this is five, this is six, this is six. So you've got um, two in the same chapter, and if it is true that the journeys give us a structure, then the first journey just has one, the second journey, if you please, has three. And similar things could be said about this list of women. They are not structural elements in John, but they are very definite and beautiful patterns, aren't they? And when you see a pattern like that, you say, hi, cool. Look at these stories about women, and the next thing you notice is that they are peculiar to John, aren't they? Only John has the wedding of Cain of Galilee. Only John has the, uh, Samaritan woman. Only John has the story of the adulteress. Yes, the other gospels have the story in Martha and Mary, but not of the, uh, raising of Lazarus, though they have the eventual supper that Mary and Martha made, but not the big thing, the raising of Lazarus. And the incident at the cross where our Lord committed his mother to John and John to his mother. That's peculiar to, um, John. And here's the story of Magdalene. She occurs in other gospels, but the lovely incident that's given in John is peculiar to him. Why John's interest in these good ladies? Don't suppose he's the only one that's interested in ladies. Luke is, in his way, interested in ladies, but John is magnificently so, isn't he? But then, have the stories any more in common than the fact that they are about ladies? That would be very worthwhile anyway, wouldn't it? Mm-hmm. But you see, uh, uh, uh, is there any more to it? Is there any theme? And this is what some of you have been, uh, investigating in the course of this week. Hands up, anybody who da- who confesses that they have found out any themes going between them. Now, one here. You wanna know? Yeah. Stolen my thunder. I was the thought I was the only one that could do these things. Now he could do it, you see. Yeah. Thank you, Sir William. Uh, relationship, of course. Let's point out what it means. The wedding of Cana of Galilee. When Mary comes to the Lord Jesus and says they have no wine, he says, woman, what have I to do with you? That may sound a bit rude in English, it's not rude in Greek. The term woman is a very courteous, uh, term. You would use it in addressing Her Majesty the Queen. There's nothing rude about it. It does raise the question of relationship, doesn't it? What's there between me and you, says he? My hour is not yet come. Relationship, obviously. And anyway, what are weddings? Oh, goodness me, even I know that. Weddings, they are those tremendous occasions in life when this new delightful relationship is publicly forged. Hm. Relationship then. Then we come to the Samaritan woman, and what was wrong with her? Presently, with great tact and loving faithfulness, when the woman showed interest in the water, our Lord Jesus said, you like the water, my dear? Go call your husband. And she said, I, I don't have a husband. Our Lord didn't reply, you liar, you. You, you haven't told the truth, my good woman. You'll say, this will get you nowhere. That's the kind of reply I might have made. He said, now, my dear, you have spelt that very well. You don't have a husband, do you? And that is very well put. The man you're living with now isn't your husband, is he? You had five husbands. This one isn't your husband. So between her and the man she was living with, there was no true Relationship. relationship. The one in chapter eight, that's number three, is worse, isn't it? Now, I'm aware, standing here, that most commentators, both liberal and conservative, say that the story of the woman taken in adultery in the Gospel of John is not original to the gospel. They have their reasons for it, and I'm aware of those reasons. I've studied them myself, and somewhat perversely, I take the view that in spite of them, yes, the story of the woman taken in adultery belongs to John in certainly in its present form and was intended thus by John. You see those two, how they go together? The one woman there was between her and the man she was living with no true relationship. The second woman, she had been unfaithful to her relationship with her husband, hadn't she? Then in the next story, Mary, Martha at the death of their brother. What things death does do to life's sacred relationships, doesn't it? And when our Lord came to Bethany, notice the exactitude of the language. The two sisters come to him, and they don't say, if you'd been here, Lazarus wouldn't have died. They said, if you'd been here, my brother wouldn't have died. And our Lord replies, not Lazarus shall rise again, but brother shall rise again. Death, what death does to human relationships. And then there is the story of the mother of our Lord at the cross of Christ. And once more, it is a story of what death does to a relationship. Relationship. And then finally, if we put those two together then, finally there is Mary Magdalene in the garden. Listen to the words of the Lord Jesus to her. He says, Mary, don't cling hold of me, for I have not yet ascended to my Father, but go and tell my disciples that, uh, uh, go and tell my disciples, go and tell my brethren, sorry, and say to them, I ascend unto my Father and your Father, and my God and your God. Notice again what is being said. It is the announcement to Mary of a new relationship. And tell my brothers, not my disciples, my brothers, that I ascend to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God. So all these six stories have to do with relationship, that to start with. But then, so very often, they are talking to us not only of what happens when relationships have gone wrong, as they had with the Samaritan woman and the adulteress through sin, and when ra- relationships have been broken by death, but they are also about the announcement of a glorious new relationship. Yes? So the wedding is a time when the new relationship, husband and wife, is publicly formed. Yes. We've heard it with, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, Mary Magdalene. Let's go back to the story, Mary, the mother of our Lord at the cross. Seeing his mother standing there, he said, woman, behold thy son. Son, behold thy mother. Now, John wasn't her literal son, and Mary wasn't his literal mother. It was the announcement of a new relationship. And so, at the bottom here, to Mary and Magdalene in the garden, go tell my brethren, I send to my father and your father, to my God and your God. And the important thing to notice is that when our Lord spoke those words, he was already standing the other side of the grave, already risen. Already, so to speak, belonging to that other world. And from that other world to this. He speaks to Mary, I am shortly to ascend. You don't need to grab me hard. You've got time, Mary. I am going to ascend, but I shan't be ascending this very minute, so don't cling hold to me, afraid to let me go. You can afford to let me go. Go and get my brethren and bring them to me. I shall, I shall still be around. I- I'm not going this very minute. I am going, Mary, but go and tell my brethren to come to me. Go and tell them I am ascending to my Father and your Father, my God and your God. Relationships then. New relationships. And I should be a Dutchman if I couldn't see that that would make a splendid series of talks, wouldn't it? Women's meetings, for instance, wow. Mm, and getting the neighbors in a round with the unconverted women and talking about the women. Yeah, why not on weddings? You know what? Women love weddings. Why is another story, but they love weddings. Do you see? What a story it would make if you get your neighbors into your, to your lounge and start studying the women, wouldn't it? Yes. And why do they stand in pairs? Oh, that would be a long story and far beyond us tonight to investigate. One of those things which you'll have to have in mind as we go through the stories. You see, let me sketch in a few brief details here. It was a wedding, but it's the oddest description of a wedding you ever met. The bride isn't even mentioned. How would that do for the Belfast Telegraph? You see, because, you see, I mean, weddings, normally they're taken up with the bride wore, and it was crepe de machine or something, and a, a, a, and a veil that a great-grandmother did, and that's what she wore on the occasion, and for the going away she had a Christian Dior suit or something, I don't know what they have, you know, and that kind of thing. Well, right and proper, isn't it? And this wedding, eh, nothing to do with, nothing about the bride there at all. How very odd. But the mother of Jesus was there. Anyway, we're told about this wedding, you'll see. At this wedding, uh, they ran out of wine. Now there were set these great pots of water, you'll see. They were the social and religious side to weddings. Most, uh, uh, communities in the world, when it comes to weddings, feel that there's something a bit sacred, you know, about weddings, they used to anyway. And if ever you're going to be clean, it ought to be for a wedding, and clean in all senses. Uh, they'd run out of, uh, water, and our Lord was about to do a miracle and change the water into wine. I believe with all my heart it was a literal miracle. But as well as being a literal miracle, of course it was a sign, wasn't it? You say, what do you mean? Well, like the feeding was a literal miracle, but then the very miracle turns itself into a message, doesn't it? And our Lord's miraculous multiplying of the bread and fish to feed people comes a sign, a parable of his ability to feed people with the bread of life, yes? So the turning of the water to wine was a miracle, but it was a sign. It carried a message. How did it carry a message? Well, there was a wedding, and the wine ran out. And wine in those days was used at weddings to promote the joy of the occasion. And on this occasion, they came perilously near to the wine running out. How embarrassing that would have been. At the level of the message, ladies and gentlemen, the joy of weddings and marriages sometimes runs out, doesn't it? You say, how would you know? They've read it in the newspaper. And it has become a colossal problem, hasn't it? So even if you're talking to an atheist and he doesn't believe a miracle took place, you can a- you can get at him on this line of the meaning of it, can't you? And the fact is undeniable. And why does the joy of human relationships, uh, run out? It's not only of weddings either, is it? Between parents and children. Little Johnny, when he was born with his parents' delight, you know, they thought he was a demi-semi archangel. Now he's nineteen, he's breaking their hearts. The joy of relationships sometimes runs out. Can our Lord turn the situation and restore the joy? Well, he did, and it was better wine than before, of course, the best wine till last. Um, but how did he do it? And it's here we come back to that business of thought flow. Forget all the patterning and take the thought flow. How did he do it? Not enough to say Christ can restore the joy of human relationships, and not enough. We need to investigate the details of the miracle. Are they significant? Well, surely they are. So I think there's something wrong on with this. Yeah? Ah, that's better. The electricity ran out. Uh, the, uh... How did our Lord, how did our Lord restore the wine? Well, he didn't say wine come down from the ceiling. There were these, uh, great pots holding about gallons and gallons of water, at least they had at one stage, and they were there, as the manner of the Jews is in, in their religious ceremony and social custom, for purification. And presumably they had served their purpose for the time, and now that bit was on the side, and they were getting on with the fun, you see. Can't have religion all the time, can you, my dear? I mean, it's enough to go to church to start with and have the religious bit. Uh, but then, then there's the fun and the games, aren't there, the real joy. What? Yeah. No wonder the wine runs out. Anyway, uh, he, he, he, he told them to bring those pots and fill them up to the brim. What was he saying? Well, he was putting his finger, wasn't he? Why does the joy of human relationship break down? Because of the filthy state of our hearts, that's why. It's not simply that the husband doesn't wash as he ought to, though that is sometimes a, a, a irritating point, but, uh, it's not the outward uncleanness, is it, that ruins human relationships. It's that inner uncleanness. Out of the heart proceed evil thoughts, jealousies, angers, strifes, and ugly brood. These things that come out of the heart, they defile the man. And now he points to it, but points to its inadequacy. You can have all the holy water you like, gallons of it if you like, and go through the ceremony of sprinkling it on you, and it is useless. It cannot touch the source of the problem. At best, it's only an em- a external ceremony pointing to what the problem is. It can't cleanse you, not water. Then, uh, what will our Lord do? Here's the story, and here comes the miracle. He told them to fill up these pots of water and draw out now to the governor. And as they drew out, when the governor tasted the water, he did. When did the miracle take place? If you'd have been a servant, ha, if you'd have been a servant and the guest that you didn't know had told you to fill up this, these great things with water and draw out the water and serve that to the governor, would you dare have done it? There's no record that our Lord said, now, uh, let me pray, as he did on other occasions, and the water turned into wine. He said, you taste that, my lad. That's good wine, isn't it? Now you serve that out. There's no record of that. Perhaps he did, perhaps he didn't. We don't know. As far as the story goes, they filled it with water. He said, you serve that out. And when the governor tasted the water, become wine, says John. So it became. Yes. You'll say if you ask the unconverted man about this cleansing of the heart, he thinks that's very chilly stuff. All this talk of morality and holiness and sanctity, whether it be the sanctity of marriage or anything else. Nowadays, I think that's very chilly stuff, doesn't it? Pour, bound to pour cold water on anything. Yet, if you find a genuine believer and ask him, you know, you could do a little experiment if you like. What is the root of your joy, my dear good girl? You'll find believers reply. Well, the first thing is this, my joy is that I found a Christ who has made me clean. Isn't that so? All precious is the flow that makes me white as snow. No other fount I know, nothing but the blood of Jesus. Yes. The blood of Jesus Christ, God's son, cleanses us from all sin. And to his disciples, he says, he that has been bathed all over in water, that is in the Holy Spirit, needs not save to rinse his feet, but is clean every whit. Marvelous, isn't it? The cleansing of the human conscience and the cleansing of the human personality that Christ can perform and is the source of our chief joy. Ask any Christian you like. And what is more, is the beginnings of the restoration of the joy of personal relationships. There's more to it than that, wasn't there? Come back to this thought flow business. We mustn't forget what our Lord said to Mary. When she said to him, they have no wine, he said to her, woman, what have I to do with thee? Mine hour is not yet come. And he wasn't being rude. Uh, this was his first public ministry, m- p- public miracle. He was about to launch out on his public ministry and career. Hitherto she'd been his mother, she'd brought him up in her home. Now, of course, it will not be at her directive, nor even at her request, that he starts his gracious public ministry. He must be left to choose the time, place, and hour to begin. And he was about to go to his public ministry, what for? Oh, I could tell you a wonderful story, but here I grow fanciful, and I earn your criticism, doubtless. But then you see, when it gets late at night, say at half past nine, I take the leave of being fanciful occasionally. And from that wedding, our blessed Lord Jesus started forth. What for? For the very reason he'd come down from glory. He was coming to seek a bride for himself. Oh, what a story is this. What a story is this. That Christ loved the church, gave himself for her. To see how it goes on. Might sanctify her, having sanctified her by the washing of water through the word, that one day he shall present the church to himself, a glorious church, not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing. Ah, one day there shall come the marriage supper of the Lamb. The wine there, ladies and gentlemen, will be the most expensive that heaven ever could buy. The joy brought by the very sufferings of the Lord. And I tell you, the joy of that wedding feast shall not run. Why not? Well, by the time I get there, I'm going to be changed, you know, and so will you be. And the last spot, wrinkle, or any such thing shall have been removed from the church, and the relationship shall be undisturbed glory forever. Put that aside, will you, uh, put that alongside this last story here. This is Mary Magdalene at the grave. Here was a joy that didn't last, and here was, thank God, a sorrow that didn't last. There was Mary Magdalene weeping because she had lost the Lord and had gone to the tomb to find his grave and to find the dead body, if she could, and would have made of it a shrine that she adorned with all her love and devotion for the rest of her life. The story is that the Christian women, having visited the tomb once, never went back again. And unlike all other women, they did not make the tomb a place of pilgrimage. That is so a fact in history that subsequent centuries, when they went looking for the tomb of Christ, didn't know where to find it. Now, you know, ladies, I'll tell you a secret about ladies. They're even better than men. They, they have this sort of, uh, clinging thing, you know. In my youth, you could be taken up to a lady's boudoir if you were young and innocent enough, and like it happened to me once, a lady got open the dressing table door, and out came a little package, and when she opened it, it was a curl of hair, and that came from her Bobby. Man of fifty five, bald as they come. But the ma had never been able to forget, you'll see, all that first loving relationship with her baby son, and there was a lock of his hair. Lovely instinct, that, isn't it? And the Christian women were loath to give up the Lord Jesus, even it was only his dead body they had, because they loved him. Why did they leave the tomb? Because in that tomb, uh, in that garden, not only did Mary meet the risen Lord, and you don't make a, a pilgrimage to a living Lord. But in that moment, he announced to her a relationship. I ascend, says he, to my Father and your Father, my God and your God. His father has become our Father. We make the distinction, he never says with us, our Father, it's always my Father and your Father, yeah. But oh, what a day it will be. You know, it comes to that way with humans sometimes. The two young people, they agree, you know, I don't know how they do it, what word they use, you'll see, but they agree down some dark lane or five-bar gate or somewhere or other. You'll see, yeah, they agree, uh, whatever it is, that one day they'll get married, you'll see. Then comes sometimes a delicate moment when the young man proposes to take the young lady home to meet his father. And the young lady sometimes all on edge as to whether his father will approve of her. Whether she might approve of him is another story, of course. Oh, but you smile. For there's coming a day, my brothers, my sister, when the blessed Lord, incarnate Son of God, who came down to win us miserable sinners and not only cleansed us, but made us part of the church which is his bride, the fullness of him that filleth all in all. One day shall come for him the proud moment when he shall take us home and introduce us to his father. Our father long since, because we've been born again, but as the proud bridegroom introducing to his father the bride that he has won and cleansed and brought home to glory. And I tell you, at that wedding feast, they shall say, thou hast kept the best wine till now. Oh, and I forgot my, forgive me, but you'll see, that is a pattern. The women mentioned at length in the gospel by John, they are about relationships, and our homework is not yet done, uh, is it really? We ought to find out now what is the point, the different aspects of relationship in that collection, in that patterning. We shall also notice, and with this we close, a thing about patterns. Structures do not intermix, but patterns do. And as you see, this story here, the wedding in Cana of Galilee, starts as the first one in which women are prominent, and the question of relationship is raised. But when you look at the signs, the wedding in Cana of Galilee is the first of that other set of pattern. You say, how can that be? You can't both be right, Mr. Preacher. No, no, come, come. We thought the first one was fanciful, but you can't suggest two. Don't they contradict each other? No, because they're not structures, they're patterns. You have, I suspect, picked up a lovely piece of Donegal tweed or something, or some other gorgeous piece of material, and you have held it. Oh, I have a piece here. Mm-hmm. You'll see. And you held it and looked at it one way. Oh, you say there's a pattern going across there with all the colors. Yes, oh, I can see it. And then you turn it the other way, and you say, where's that pattern gone? Oh, the pattern's going this way. Yes. Because with a piece of material, it can be so woven that you'll see different patterns according to which way you look at it. Because patterns are not structure, and patterns often intermingle, and it depends which line you're looking down. You'll see one pattern that direction, you'll see, starting from the same point, another pattern the other direction. You say this is getting too complicated, you shouldn't come back again. If Bible is going to be as complicated as that, no. We wanted it to be simple. Oh dear. You do disappoint me. I thought you believed that this was the inspired word of God. You know, when scientists, uh, investigate atoms, even scientists cool of head though they are, get excited at their magnificent complexity. We wouldn't pay them all the big salaries we pay them if the thing weren't complicated. Huh. And the medics and the biologists, when they examine the cell, they're full of raptures at the marvelous complexity, yet basic simplicity. And they rave on about the glories of the body, don't they, and its marvelous workings. Tribute, of course, to the wisdom of God. Why must you have the Bible, simple Simon stuff? Its very wonder, its very complexity points to this is the word of Almighty God. And if he spends his divine ingenuity on making a very daisy so marvelous in its sophistication and complication, and yet so beautiful, what would you expect him to do when he comes to tell you the story that lies at his very heart? That is the story of his son and how he came to our worth, our world, that we might be redeemed and brought to faith and reconciled to God and form the very bride of the Lamb. Yes, the Bible is simple. You can speak John three sixteen in the ears of the dying drunk whose mind and brain has nearly been shattered by his drugs. And there is a simplicity on the gospel message that can reach even a man at that eleventh hour. But the Bible is God's word, and as John himself put it, if all the things were written that could be written, the very world would not contain them. For one, I thank God for the sophistication and the wonder and the beauty of his written word. It's one of the things that has kept me as an anchor of my soul when life has been rough. And when I've been tempted to say to myself, and is the whole thing mere psychological self-deception? Then the sheer wonder of God's word, out there objective to me, the sheer wonder of his word has been one of the anchors that has kept me when the waves have run high. Shall we bring our study to a close with prayer? Lord, as we have tried to think about thy word tonight and show thee that we do love thee and wish to serve thee, and we want to know about thee. That we do believe this thy word is thy word, and therefore are prepared to work at it. Yet, Lord, we thank thee that we have the sense that thou thyself hast drawn near tonight, as thou hast promised to do. And it has not been we alone that have studied. By thy Holy Spirit, thou hast taught. Now, as we go, we say as others did to thee, Lord, the night is far spent. Come and abide with us tonight. And what thou hast taught us of thyself in our minds, plant deeply in our hearts, that we may love thee the more and serve thee the better for thy name's sake. Amen.