Reader’s Guide: “The Word for Today” Friday, January 24, 2014 Read John 2:23-25 This is the first time that John tells his readers of many who believe in the name of Jesus because of the signs that Jesus had done. The setting remains Jerusalem in the days immediately after the celebration of Passover and the cleansing of the Temple. We might have expected deep trouble for Jesus – trouble similar to the arrest and crucifixion that the synoptic gospels report following the cleansing of the Temple in their stories. But that does not happen. There is essentially little or no response in John’s gospel – perhaps more reason to think that John has moved this episode from its place at the end of the story. Instead John tells us of many who believed. But their believing is not without its challenge. What seems to be a good outcome may not have been so good after all. John tells us that Jesus would not trust himself to these believers because he knew more about them than they may have known about themselves. Once again we are confronted with John’s understanding the there is a kind of believing that is insufficient. It may not be good news that many believed in him. More is needed. We likely find this understanding of John to be at least somewhat troubling. As mentioned earlier we are all aware of our weakness and our inadequate faith at time. We will need to move forward with John to better understand what he is saying. We need John to tell us what sufficient and adequate faith is and what it looks like. As we proceed through his gospel John will lead us to that understanding. For now we will need to keep pushing forward. The very next episode in John gospel is a very familiar story and it will be helpful to move us forward in John’s understanding of faith.