Jesus heals a lame man on the Sabbath. In so doing, he pulls the rug out from under many assumptions of his day about what it meant to be virtuous while simultaneously claiming equality with God. In this passage, Jesus refuses to let us put him into the easy boxes of “life guru” or “traveling philosopher.” No, he claims to be Lord, and as Lord, he is also Judge. Our desire to experience his blessings should be followed by our life’s expression of gratitude and obedience.

You’ve never met a person in whom God doesn’t see potential. In John 4, we meet a woman who is an outcast with a checkered past. When we see Jesus’ interaction with her and the way her response fills his heart, we learn the importance of our role in helping in God’s work, both to plant seeds of faith and to harvest the experiences of seeing people reach maturity. The “living” water Jesus offers becomes a well within us, bubbling up into eternal life.

Nicodemus is a religious person, but the scope of his purpose, his understanding, even his help seems focused in this world. Jesus is saying, “You need to be born not only again, but FROM ABOVE.” Rather than getting bogged down into the literal absurdity of a second physical birth, Jesus invites him to think about heavenly things.

At the wedding at Cana in Galilee, Jesus performed the first sign that gave evidence of his true glory. He turned water into wine. The path of discipleship begins with celebration and union. For true unity with God to exist, there must also be a letting go of all that keeps us from God. John 2 encapsulates so much of what it means to follow Jesus if we learn to look through the lens of resurrection.

John the Baptist knew that his role in life wasn’t to seek out a title for himself. It was to point people to Jesus. He invites us to make God’s path into our lives an easy one, to walk with Jesus to know him, and to be like a sign that points other people to Jesus. “Come and see!”

John shows no timidity as he introduces us to Jesus. He pounds on the door of our life and says, “This person’s arrival in the world is of no less significance than the creation of the world itself!” Jesus gives us light so that through eyes of faith, we can truly see and come to know God. And in doing so, we can join him on his mission to redeem the world.

While life’s disruptions can cause us to pull back and reflect on where we’re going and who we are becoming, there’s no reason we can’t do this proactively! At the end of a year–and a decade!–Mark invites us to consider our lives and routines and to take steps to form a plan for how we will make ourselves available for God’s shaping in 2020.

While so many of the problems in our life drive us to ask WHAT or HOW we can solve our dilemmas, the real answer is a WHO. As Scripture predicted, he would be one like Moses but greater than Moses. He would be our Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, our Prince of Peace. Thousands of children have become kings, but only one King ever became a child. Jesus came to us in a humble form to lead us to a place of peace.

In this continuing look at how the Old Testament writers saw future significance in the person of Christ, we look this week at Genesis 12, and God’s promise to bless all peoples through Abraham’s family. For Abraham, this require stepping out from among his people and his comfort zone and establishing a holy presence through his life among people quite different than him. For us to live lives of significance, through which God can bless people, we must live as an altar; a place where God is honored above all else, providing a redemptive alternative to all that surrounds us.

God’s vision for the world was for us to be in a place of peace, meaningful relationships, and fruitful work. Sin has tainted the world’s intended goodness, but God has promised to stomp out the darkness in the world through Jesus’ victory. In this lesson, we look at how the New Testament writers used the prediction that Adam’s descendant would “crush” Satan’s work, to express how this hope should permeate our walk of faith.