Is there anyone else out there who finds the Gospel of John kind of funny? I'm not trying to be sacrilegious; I mean, I get that Jesus made the ultimate sacrifice dying for our sins, but the people around him -- both the disciples and the religious leaders -- were, well, kind of funny. I read almost the entire book in one sitting last week and a couple of things jumped out at me.
1) several times during the book, the religious leaders say, Is Jesus saying what we think He's saying? Ya, He is! I think He's saying he's God! And he's healing people -- on the Sabbath! LET'S KILL HIM! But Jesus slips away.(5:18, 10:30-39, 11:45-57). On a serious note -- and let's be clear -- when Jesus knows that the time is right for Him to die, he surrenders Himself willingly.
2) Jesus uses his surrounding and what's going on day-to-day as a means to instruct people -- using figurative language (bread, drink, thirst, sheep, etc). And often it's kind...