John-Jealous Pharisees Wanting Attention

By Mary Vee
John 4

From John's Journal 

Photo by Mary Vee - The Jordan River, farther south
than is talked about in today's story.

My name is John. I am a follower of Jesus the Nazarene. Many people followed Jesus because John the Baptizer said to. John had spoken of a man who would come who sandals he was not worthy to loosen. A man who was sent from God to save us. 

Crowds of people heard John the Baptizer say this. Many left him because he asked, and followed Jesus.

Other followers came because they first heard Jesus. A few Jesus spoke to and asked them to follow Him.  

So, I am John the disciple and follower of Jesus the Nazarene, not John the Baptizer. It will take a while to explain why I follow Jesus, but for now I'll just say there are many people who have heard Jesus' message and have come back to hear more or have stayed with him to not miss any of his words. 

Jesus has spoken about many topics so far. The Pharisee have sat in on some of the talks. I don't think they are interested because they like what Jesus says. The look on their face is  more like they're trying to collect evidence. 

Jesus speaks of God's law. He teaches using stories about things we know. It is at this time that I, along with many in the crowd realize the Pharisee and priests demand more than what is in the law. See, most of us can't read. We depend on the priests to tell us what God wants.

We should have done a better job of passing the Sacred words from father to son, but many have become lazy, depending on the priests and the learned Pharisees. 

It is these Pharisees that said to each other, loud enough for others to hear, "Jesus gathered and baptized more disciples than John." They didn't even say that right. I saw. While it is true more people had chosen to follow Jesus than John the Baptizer, Jesus did not baptize those who repented. His followers, His closest disciples did the baptizing.

The Pharisees acted like this was a popularity contest. They didn't want the people following Jesus any more than they wanted them following John. They wanted the people to stay loyal to them. 

Most, not all the Pharisees clung to a long list of rules that had been added to the laws of Moses. They demanded the people follow these rules as well and resorted to punishing those who did not. 

When Jesus heard them grumbling, He decided to leave Judea, knowing the Pharisees would not want to go away from their jobs or homes. He lead those who wanted to follow Him north toward Galilee. We didn't have cars or any other motor vehicles like you do now and the distance was about 70 miles, so we didn't walk it in one day.

To get there, we walked through Samaria and that is where the next story takes place

Come back for the next story.

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sources: 
*A Harmony of the Gospels for Historical Study, An Analytical Synopsis of the Four Gospels by William Arnold Stevens and Ernest DeWitt Burton, Charles Scribner's Sons, New York 1932
*New International Version, New King James Version. 
*My Bible College training.
*My notes and walk through classes I've taught in Children's church. Answers to student questions, etc.
*Pastoral sermons on this time
*Matthew Henry Commentary
*F. LaGard Smith Commentary
*My notes from my trip to Israel.