Alright!
Welcome to Isaac Hunter’s Online Bible Study. We’ve now reached the midpoint of our May reading.
These mid-month check-ins exist for one purpose: to pause and notice what the text has been doing as we read it. Not to rush conclusions, and not to resolve every question, but to recognize where Scripture has been pressing.
In the opening chapters of the Gospel of John, the pressure comes from an encounter. Jesus is not introduced gradually. He is presented clearly, and then people are forced to respond. What makes these chapters difficult to sit with is not complexity, but contrast.
Some people move toward Him immediately. Others hesitate, question, or misunderstand. Others begin to resist altogether. If you’ve felt tension around belief, identity, or what it actually means to follow Him, that is not incidental. These chapters are structured to bring that tension to the surface.
They are not exposing absence. They are exposing response.
Let’s jump in…
– Mid Month Check In –
!! ISAAC HUNTER’s BIBLE STUDY !!
By the midpoint of these chapters, one pattern becomes clear: the Gospel of John is deeply concerned with response.
Jesus is presented clearly—through His words, His actions, and the signs He performs. But clarity does not produce uniform belief. Instead, it exposes a range of reactions. Some follow quickly. Some question and struggle to understand. Some remain at a surface level, drawn to what they see but not fully grasping who He is. And some begin to push back. What becomes evident is that proximity to Jesus is not the same as belief in Him.
Across these chapters, the tension returns again and again: between seeing and understanding, between interest and commitment, between recognition and rejection.
This is not treated as a minor distinction. It is the dividing line running through every encounter.
Some Questions:
- Where do you see the clearest differences in how people respond to Jesus so far?
- What seems to separate those who move toward belief from those who hesitate or resist?
Our 2nd Half of the Month:
In the second half of the month, we shift gears from primarily reading and recording questions to in-depth research. While it is highly recommended that you continue to read these chapters at least once through each day for the remainder of the month, our focus will be on digging into commentaries, dictionaries, and other resources to pursue clear and grounded answers to the questions you’ve been recording.
By now, your text should also be marked and structured using your hierarchical outlining method. Continue refining that structure as your understanding develops.
Word of Reminder:
- This study is not about speed or volume.
- You do not need to “finish” quickly.
- You do not need polished answers.
- You do not need to resolve every tension.
If you are following the monthly reading schedule, continue working through Haggai and Malachi at a steady pace. There is no requirement to match anyone else’s speed.
Read patiently.
Watch for repeated patterns.
And let the text expose what it intends to expose before attempting to resolve it.
John 1-5
The Gospel of John opens not by addressing a drifting people, but by revealing a person—Jesus as the Word, the light, and the source of life—and then immediately moves into how individuals respond when they encounter Him; rather than building slowly, John establishes His identity upfront and shows that while clarity is given, responses vary—some recognize Him, some misunderstand, some hesitate, and some begin to oppose—making the central point clear: exposure to truth does not guarantee acceptance of it.
!! Use the Form Below to Join the Club !!
If you would like to join us for Isaac Hunter’s Official Bible Study, use the form at the bottom of this email, then post a comment below to confirm you are present and accounted for. If you are reading this months or years later, by all means, join in after the fact, post below, and start reading. Better late than never!
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“Okay, mom,” Randy said.
“You behave yourself and be nice. You’re lucky to have company while you wait for the doctors.”
The woman turned and started back the way she came.
“The nurse said it would be twenty or thirty more minutes, so we’ll eat quick and be back up here before they take you in, okay?”
“Okay, mom.”
“Sorry for him,” the woman said to Katie as she walked by.
“He’s funny.”
Katie grinned.
As the woman left, Katie noticed the boy moving around again on the bed. Before she realized what was happening, the tiny lump disappeared and she could hear the faint sound of bare hands and feet on the tile floor.
He was low crawling under the beds toward her.
A moment later, Randy popped his head out from under the nearest hospital bed, craning his neck around to look up at her.
“Hello, there,” Katie said.
Randy disappeared back under the bed, the bed sheet draping down almost to the floor. Katie could still see three little fingers pressed to the tile.
“What are you here for?” Katie asked, readjusting her seat in the chair, trying to get the ache in her chest to lessen.
For whatever reason, the wheelchair was really uncomfortable.
“Why are – “
Randy’s voice trailed off for a moment as he looked around.
“Why are you here?”
“I’m getting my leg fixed,” Katie said. “See?”
Randy poked his head back out from under the bed and looked at the leg she was pointing to.
“What’s wrong with it?”
“The doctor said it’s broken,” Katie said. “Shattered.”
“Ouch.”
“Yeah. Ouch.”
“Can you feel it?” Randy asked, able to stay out from his hiding place.
“I can feel it, but it’s not too bad,” Katie said, then tapped the IV in her arm. “This thing is giving me medicine of some kind for the pain. At least that’s what the nurses said.”
“Why are you – “
Randy stopped mid-sentence.
He scooted out from under the bed entirely and slowly crept over to er on all fours.
“What are you, some kind of spider?” Katie asked, giggling a little.
“What are you?” Randy echoed.
He was now only about a foot away from her chair and sat there, his legs folded up under him, gawking up at her.
“What are you staring at me for?”
“I’ve never – “
Randy put out a hesitant hand and ever so gently touched her arm.
“Are you some kind of ghost?”
He looked around again.
“Are you – ”
He leaned in, talking in a whisper.
“Are you dead?”
A nurse came around the corner and stopped abruptly, spotting the empty bed in the far corner where Randy should have been.
“Randy Andrews,” the nurse said, her hands now on her hips. “You get right back into the bed and you stop playing around, please. They are ready for you in surgery.”
Katie watched as Randy scrambled on all fours under the beds and back up onto his, pulling the sheet back over top of himself again.
She started to ask him about his question, but couldn’t get the words out before his parents appeared at the door.
Katie sat there quietly, watching Randy stare back at her from under his sheet. She glanced over at his parents and the nurse, noticed Randy’s dad had no hair on the top of his head.
Are you dead?
What kind of question was that?
The snap of the wheel locks being disengaged on Randy’s hospital bed jarred Katie out of the confusion she was in.
The doctor she’d first seen was now at the door, waiting for Randy.
He was his surgeon.
They wheeled Randy out of the room, his parents following right behind, disappearing to the left, heading for his operating room.
The pre-op room was empty again.
Dead.
Are you dead?
What kind of crazy question was that?
The nurse came back through the double doors.
“It won’t be long now,” she said.
“Okay.”
Katie tried not to think about the dull ache growing just behind her sternum.
The nurse disappeared around the corner as Katie watched the double doors to the operating rooms slowly shut.
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