A-Z: Books of the Bible: John

This is the account of a miraculous feeding of a large crowd in the desert. It recalls God's provision for his people of manna during their forty years wandering in the wilderness during the Exodus which is described in the Old Testament. At the end of a long day, the disciples of Jesus are unprepared when he challenges them to feed the large crowd who have been listening to Jesus. They wrongly assume that they have to buy bread, but Jesus takes charge and miraculously enables the crowd to be fed using only the five loaves and two fish which a young boy makes available. The story has two clear points ' Jesus is shown as being like a new Moses, supplying the needs of his people in the desert ' in John's gospel, Jesus portrays himself as 'the living bread from heaven', which reminds Christians of their celebration of holy communion / the eucharist / the Last Supper, and its reference to the bread of life.

Related Topics

Big ideas: Miracles

Nicodemus was a leading Jewish rabbi who comes to ask questions of Jesus 'by night'. Jesus informs Nicodemus that he needs to be born again. This account contains: ' The central teaching that people seeking God have to start seeing things in an entirely new light. Jesus is the one charged by God to reveal spiritual truths in a way that Nicodemus has no inkling of, and above all, to save the world. ' One of the most quoted verses of the Bible: For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life (John 3:16 TNIV) In a telling detail later in his gospel, John tells us that it was Nicodemus who helped Joseph of Arimathaea to bury the body of Jesus with a mixture of myrrh and aloes.

Jesus' death on the Cross and resurrection on the third day form the climax of the gospel story. All four gospels devote several chapters to the arrest, trial, crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus. These events are seen as taking place in both the human and divine spheres. Jesus is caught up in the machinations of Jewish and imperial politics and at the same time he believed to be the Son of God who dies for the sins of the world. Paul later summarises the meaning of these events like this: 'God was in Christ reconciling the world to himself'. The gospels all report that Jesus' tomb was found empty on the first Easter Sunday and describe subsequent appearances to his disciples and others in a form which was both tangible yet other-worldly. The resurrection is seen as God's vindication of Jesus and the triumph of life over death.

Related topics

Big ideas: Cross, crucifixion; Death and resurrection; Redemption, salvation