Passages: John 3:1-21; John 3:22-36; Matthew 4:12 & Luke 3:19-20 & John 4:1-4; John 4:5-42

By night, a Pharisee and member of the Jewish ruling council named Nicodemus comes to Jesus, unwilling to be seen doing so in daylight, and is told that no one can see the kingdom of God without being born again — born not of flesh, but of the Spirit. Jesus and his disciples spend time baptizing in the Judean countryside, working alongside John the Baptist for a season before John points his own remaining disciples toward the one who must increase while he himself decreases. Learning that the Pharisees have heard of his growing following, and with John now imprisoned by Herod, Jesus leaves Judea for Galilee, passing necessarily through Samaria on the way. At Jacob's well near the town of Sychar, tired from the journey, Jesus asks a Samaritan woman for water in the heat of the day — and by the end of the conversation, she has left her water pot behind to tell the whole town about a man who told her everything she ever did.

We are in a complete Four-Gospel Harmony. Today's episode covers: John 3:1-21; John 3:22-36; Matthew 4:12 & Luke 3:19-20 & John 4:1-4; John 4:5-42 (Jesus Talks with Nicodemus; First Ministry in Judaea; Reasons for Retiring to Galilee; At Jacob's Well and Sychar).

Passages: Matthew 4:1-11 & Mark 1:12-13 & Luke 4:1-13; John 1:19-34; John 1:35-51; John 2:1-11; John 2:12; John 2:13-25

Led by the Spirit into the wilderness, Jesus fasts forty days and is tempted three times by the devil — to turn stones to bread, to throw himself from the temple, to bow down and worship in exchange for all the kingdoms of the world — and answers each temptation with scripture until the devil leaves him. Back at the Jordan, priests and Levites sent from Jerusalem ask John the Baptist plainly who he is, and he tells them just as plainly who he is not — not the Christ, not Elijah, not the Prophet — before pointing to Jesus walking by the next day and calling him the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world. Two of John's own disciples, Andrew among them, follow Jesus that same day; Andrew brings his brother Simon, and within another day Philip and Nathanael join them as well. At a wedding in Cana of Galilee, Jesus turns water into wine at his mother's request — his first miracle, and the first time his disciples believe on him. After a short stay in Capernaum, Jesus goes up to Jerusalem for the Passover and finds the temple courts turned into a marketplace of moneychangers and animal sellers — and drives them all out with a whip of cords, overturning their tables.

We are in a complete Four-Gospel Harmony. Today's episode covers: Matthew 4:1-11 & Mark 1:12-13 & Luke 4:1-13; John 1:19-34; John 1:35-51; John 2:1-11; John 2:12; John 2:13-25 (Temptation of Jesus; John's Introduction; Jesus Makes First Disciples; First Miracle at Cana; First Residence at Capernaum; Jesus Cleanses the Temple).

Passages: Matthew 2:13-18; Matthew 2:19-23 & Luke 2:39; Luke 2:40-52; Matthew 3:1-12 & Mark 1:1-8 & Luke 3:1-18; Matthew 3:13-17 & Mark 1:9-11 & Luke 3:21-22

Warned in a dream that Herod means to kill the child, Joseph flees with Mary and Jesus to Egypt, and only returns to Nazareth after Herod's death, still wary enough of Herod's son to settle in Galilee rather than Judea. Luke passes over most of Jesus's childhood in a single line — he grew, and waxed strong in spirit — before pausing at age twelve, when Jesus stays behind in Jerusalem without his parents' knowledge, and is found three days later in the temple, sitting among the teachers, astonishing them with his understanding. Some eighteen years pass in that same pause, until a wilderness preacher named John — Zacharias and Elisabeth's son, grown now, clothed in camel's hair — begins baptizing crowds by the Jordan and calling them to repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand. Jesus himself comes to be baptized, and though John tries to prevent him, sensing it should be the other way around, Jesus insists — and as he comes up out of the water, the heavens open, the Spirit descends like a dove, and a voice from heaven declares, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.

We are in a complete Four-Gospel Harmony. Today's episode covers: Matthew 2:13-18; Matthew 2:19-23 & Luke 2:39; Luke 2:40-52; Matthew 3:1-12 & Mark 1:1-8 & Luke 3:1-18; Matthew 3:13-17 & Mark 1:9-11 & Luke 3:21-22 (Flight into Egypt; Return to Nazareth; Jesus Living at Nazareth; John Begins His Ministry; Baptism of Jesus).