Here are some ideas for learning and teaching some of the great principles in John 2-4! And while you’re here, I recommend you check out my free online course, “Seeking Jesus.”
Short Clips from The Chosen
See this page for tips on teaching with “The Chosen.”
These three clips are all powerful and I 10/10 recommend using them!
John 2:1-11, Jesus and the Wedding at Cana
John 3:1-16, Jesus and Nicodemus
John 4:7-29, Jesus and the Woman at the Well
Short Clips from Seeking Jesus
I’ve pulled out short clips from the “Seeking Jesus Course” connected to this week’s readings that you could use as a morning devotional or spiritual thought.
John 4: Jesus and the woman at the well
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You Be the Director–A Fun Approach to John 2
I’ve had a lot of fun using this approach in classes I’ve taught. First, I’ll read to students John 2:1-5 (Jesus being asked to turn water into wine), and invite them to visualize how they would direct things if they were filming a scene that included these verses.
Next, we watch this video clip that has three back-to-back depictions of Jesus turning water into wine. The first is from The Church’s “Bible videos” series, the second is from the movie, “The Gospel of John” and the third is from “The Chosen.”
After watching all three depictions, we can have an engaging discussion about what they noticed. Which videos were most faithful to the text? What things were added in? What would you have done if you were the director?
I sometimes point out that in the King James text, Jesus’s response to his mother seems to be rude. Each movie handles this in a different way. For example, the Church’s video uses the Joseph Smith Translation, in which Jesus speaks respectfully to his mother.
One message I always highlight to students is consistent in each video clip—what Mary says in verse 5. She tells the servants, “Do whatever he tells you” (John 2:5). What a great message for us to think about when it comes to Jesus Christ: “Do whatever he tells you.” That was Mary’s advice to the servants at the feast, and it’s good advice for us as well. Jesus’s Father has told us “Hear Him” and his mother says, “Do whatever he tells you.”
Watching the Gospel of John
I cannot recommend highly enough the movie, The Gospel of John. It’s available for free on YouTube, and is a great way to enhance your study. All text in this movie comes from the Gospel of John; every verse is present (using the Good News Bible translation), and no extra scenes are added. You can read my take on it here, or you can watch the relevant chapters for this week. Remember as you watch that this is one interpretation of the text–it doesn’t mean this is how things happened, but can perhaps help us to envision and explore these scriptural events in ways we haven’t before.
I hope these resources are helpful to you in your learning and teaching this week!
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