John Devotionals
One for each chapter. Want to test what you read? Take the John quizzes.
- John 1: The God We Can See
John begins where Genesis begins, before anything was made. The Word was already there, with God and himself God, and everything that exists came into being through him (1:1-3).…
- John 2: The Better Wine of Grace
Jesus' first sign happens at a wedding where the wine has run out. He has six stone jars, set aside for Jewish purification rites, filled to the brim with water, and the master of…
- John 3: Life from Above
Nicodemus comes to Jesus at night with a respectful opinion: Jesus must be a teacher sent from God (3:2). Jesus answers with something no teacher could supply. No one can even see…
- John 4: Fully Known and Still Sought
Jesus is tired from the road when he sits down at Jacob's well and asks a Samaritan woman for a drink (4:6-7). She asks how a Jew could ask her for a drink (4:9). He tells her…
- John 5: The Son Who Gives Life
A man by the pool of Bethesda has been an invalid for thirty-eight years. When Jesus asks if he wants to be well, he explains that he has no one to help him into the water…
- John 6: None Who Come Are Turned Away
Jesus takes a boy's five barley loaves and two fish, gives thanks, and feeds about five thousand men until everyone is full, with twelve baskets left over (6:9-13). The crowd…
- John 7: Rivers for the Thirsty
John 7 is full of argument. Jesus' own brothers do not believe in him and urge him to show himself publicly (7:3-5). At the feast, the crowds whisper. Some call him good, others a…
- John 8: Mercy That Sets Free
The scribes and Pharisees bring a woman caught in adultery and use her to set a trap for Jesus (8:3-6). He invites whichever of them has no sin to begin the stoning, and one by…
- John 9: Found After Being Thrown Out
The disciples see a man blind from birth and ask whose sin caused it. Jesus says it was neither the man's nor his parents'; this happened so that God's works could be put on…
- John 10: Held by the Good Shepherd
Jesus describes a shepherd who knows each of his sheep by name and leads them, and sheep who follow him because they know his voice (10:3-4). He is the good shepherd, he says.…
- John 11: Stronger Than the Grave
When word comes that Lazarus is sick, John tells us something surprising. Jesus loved Martha, Mary, and Lazarus, and so he stayed where he was for two more days (11:5-6). By the…
- John 12: Glory Through a Death
Mary pours expensive perfume on Jesus' feet and wipes them with her hair, and Jesus says she has kept it for the day of his burial (12:3-7). The next day crowds wave palm branches…
- John 13: The Master with a Towel
Jesus knows his hour has come, knows that all authority is his, and that he came from God and is returning to him (13:1-3). With all that in view, he gets up from the meal, ties a…
- John 14: Peace the World Cannot Give
Jesus has just said he is leaving, and now he speaks to his disciples' troubled hearts (14:1). He is going to his Father's house to prepare a place for them, and he will come back…
- John 15: Chosen to Remain in Him
Jesus calls himself the true vine, his Father the keeper of the vineyard, and his disciples the branches (15:1, 5). A branch does not produce grapes by straining. It bears fruit…
- John 16: Courage from the One Who Overcame
Jesus does not hide what is coming. His followers will be put out of the synagogues, and some who kill them will think they are serving God (16:2). He warns them now so they will…
- John 17: Prayed For by the Son
Before he goes to the cross, Jesus looks up to heaven and prays. He asks the Father to glorify the Son, who has authority to give eternal life to all the Father has given him…
- John 18: A King Who Chose the Cup
Soldiers and officers come to the garden armed and carrying lights. Knowing all that is coming, Jesus steps forward and asks whom they are looking for. When he tells them he is…
- John 19: Nothing Left to Add
John 19 does not look away from the cross. Jesus is flogged, crowned with thorns, dressed in a purple robe, mocked, and struck again and again (19:1-3). Pilate finds no basis for…
- John 20: Met by the Risen Lord
The chapter opens in the dark, with Mary Magdalene finding the stone moved and assuming someone has taken the body (20:1-2). Even after two disciples see the linen cloths lying in…
- John 21: Restored to Follow Again
After a night of catching nothing, the disciples hear a man on the shore tell them where to cast the net, and the catch is too heavy to haul in (21:3-6). When Peter learns it is…