Wednesday, August 31, 2011

John 6:1-24

Jesus' ministry is often a series of events creating tension and release.

For the people of Jesus' day, it is often a series of events creating hope and disappointment.

Jesus performs a tremendous miracle, transforming scarcity to abundance. This is no small thing.

Then Jesus, sensing the will of the crowd to make Him king, disappears. He even leaves the disciples, who just decide to take off because of His disappearance. Jesus goes up into a mountain, just to be alone. What Jesus is doing there, we don't know. But one thing is for sure- that was a disappointing end for the people and the disciples.

Sometimes, we can't be sure what God is up to or why. Sometimes, we as Christians have to face our disappointment. It's never fun, it isn't romantic, and it just plain hurts sometimes. Even the disciples could be seen as giving up.

However, Jesus approaches us in the storms of disappointment and frustration. Notice that in this story, Jesus does not rebuke the wind and the waves, but gets in the boat with the disciples and sits with them until they get to the other shore (it is pretty immediate). The only thing Jesus tells the disciples is to not be afraid.

Sometimes, Jesus gets us immediately through the storms. Other times, Jesus sits in the boat and reminds us to not be afraid. Either way, I am grateful that Jesus joins me in my frustration and disappointment.

Friday, August 26, 2011

John 5:31-47

What is the source of life?

One would think that, given the healing Jesus just performed, the answer would be obvious. And given what we know about Jesus' death and resurrection, we would be better equipped for the answer than the people of Jesus' day. Yet, when I carefully examine my life, I wonder what the source is.

Sometimes, it is myself. I place a lot of trust in my ability to work and produce the means for life. I am conscious about my health (moreso than I once was), and do everything from regular chiropractic care to watching how I eat to exercising 4-6 days per week. I place a lot of trust in my strength. Sometimes, though, my strength fails me. At seemingly random times, my muscles will not do as they are intended.

My trust flows out into money. We place a lot of trust in money. We even call them "trusts" sometimes. Our money buys the necessities of life- food, shelter, clothes, etc. And I spend devotional time with my money- checking accounts, meditating on how to better use the money I have. It's a spiritual experience.

Jesus is the true source of life. Jesus, far more than health or money or relationships, is the One in whom I live and move and have my being. It is possible to master Biblical knowledge and not know Jesus. It is possible to be in top physical shape and not know Jesus. It is possible to be filthy rich and not know Jesus. However, it is not possible to live or have the abundant life without Jesus desiring it for me. So today, as I move toward the weekend, my hope is that I will continue to take strides toward Jesus.

Thursday, August 25, 2011

John 5:16-30

So... from the last story, I bet you thought that Jesus got away with healing on the Sabbath, didn't you?

Wrong.

Jesus begins to raise a little controversy regarding His role with the Father. Not only does Jesus play fast and loose with Sabbath regulations, but He also draws from His union with the Father in ways that make people uncomfortable. When Jesus is http://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gifrebuked for equating Himself with God, Jesus gets people even more uncomfortable. Most striking is that Jesus suddenly places Himself as the standard for loving God. If people do not honor Jesus, they do not honor God the Father.

How is that? Is Jesus so radically changing things that the Old Testament isn't good enough anymore?

Not necessarily. Certainly, the Incarnation of the Son is a pretty significant event that changes a lot. Hebrews certainly makes it clear that beyond Jesus, there is no sacrifice for sin. But what I think is even more striking is the reality that Jesus is the perfect picture of God. If God could ever be contained in human flesh, it would be Jesus. Colossians 1:15-20 makes a pretty clear statement about Jesus being who we look to in order to see God.

So today, let's look toward Jesus. Let's consider who Jesus is and how Jesus lived, in hope that we would grow into the likeness of Jesus Christ.

Wednesday, August 24, 2011

John 5:1-15

Here is a story familiar to many. Jesus goes to a mystical healing spot called Bethesda, where there is a pool. Nearby the pool are a bunch of sick people, waiting for a certain moment each year. "The Big Moment" is when something or someone (the legend say it's an angel) comes and stirs up the pool and it has healing qualities for the first person into it. And here is a man who has been unable to move in 38 years. Who knows how many years he has sat at the pool of Bethesda, waiting for his chance?

Yet Jesus gives this man his chance right away, without the power of the waters. The man grabs his mat and starts walking. It happens to be the Sabbath, and so he gets in some trouble for working on the Sabbath, but he points out that the mysterious healer told him to do it.

It seems, at first blush, a normal healing story. Jesus heals on the Sabbath all the time (okay, 7 times in Matthew, Mark and Luke), and it usually results in some kind of conversation about the healing. But this story takes a bizarre turn when the man meets Jesus again in verse 14, and is immediately warned by Jesus to stop some kind of sin because it may result in a worse illness. This is a unique story to be sure.

We don't know exactly what happened in the story. Perhaps as a young man, this guy was caught up in doing some bad things that led to his particular injuries. Or, as an invalid, his whole life became about his condition and he steadily drove the people around him away. After all, there were no friends or family to help him get into the pool at Bethesda. Who knows?

I think what we learn about this story is not to blame all illnesses and ailments on personal sin, because Jesus rarely delivers the message to stop sinning to those whom He heals. I think what we learn about this story is that Jesus was able to see into this man's life and not only bring healing to his body, but his spirit. May we all experience Christ's healing today.

Tuesday, August 23, 2011

John 4:43-54

All four Gospels include Jesus pointing out that prophets are generally not accepted in their hometowns. And Jesus usually has that experience. In Luke, His former neighbors get ready to kill Him after a synagogue service in which Jesus takes part. Jesus has to escape their wrath.

In John, this gets pointed out right as the Galileans accept Jesus back into Cana. Recall that Cana is where Jesus turned water into wine. Perhaps the free alcohol had something to do with Jesus' reception. Either way, it seems that Jesus is wrong about not being accepted.

As a rule, I don't walk around with the conception that Jesus was wrong about things. So I took another look at the passage. And while Jesus was accepted, Jesus was also treated with skepticism. Jesus was treated as the miracle worker who came to do some neat tricks. Jesus reveals the heart of the people- that they need to see miracles in order to have faith. In that, Jesus did not have honor in Himself, but needed to prove Himself.

And so when a royal official comes, having exhausted every method for healing his child, Jesus saw not an opportunity to prove Himself, but a child who needed healing. Jesus did not take the crowd down to watch the healing take place. Jesus did not even go for the spectacle of going with the royal official. Jesus healed the child from a distance.

I have to admit that I am a spectacle. I love things that make a spectacle out of me. It goes hand-in-hand with being a public speaker. And so, to become more like Jesus, I have to ask myself the question of when being a spectacle is important. When hanging out with friends, it may be entirely appropriate. In ministry, it is often (not always) more important to be in the background. Interesting questions to ponder, always. May we all be more like Jesus.

Friday, August 19, 2011

John 4:27-42

The aftermath of Jesus' conversation with the Samaritan woman is twofold- it transforms the Samaritan community, and it transforms the disciples. The disciples are surprised, but they do not want to upset Jesus by confronting his activities. Instead, they ask if He wants any food. This leads into a conversation about what sustains Jesus. Just like Jesus would say to the devil in the wilderness, Jesus is sustained by every word from the mouth of God (and obedience to it). And what is the will of God?

I'll say it once, I'll say it again- to seek and to save the lost. The fields are ripe with harvest, eternal life is ready to be had. The best news is that the harvest was not prepared by us, not tended to by us, not dependent on us. No, the harvest is prepared by God, tended by God and dependent on God's activity.

That harvest is shown in real and physical form by the Samaritan woman, who becomes an evangelist and catalyst to her community's faith in Jesus Christ.

I pray that we can be like her- ready to show Jesus to people in our lives.

Thursday, August 18, 2011

John 4:1-26 pt 2

As I mentioned in the last post, there are a few significant things going on in this passage. One is the interaction Jesus has with a Samaritan woman, the other is the theological debate they have as part of their conversation.

The basic argument goes something like this: The Samaritans worshiped on Mt. Gerizim, claiming that the northern kingdoms of Israel were "true Israel" and that the Jews were imposters. They claimed that they were the true heirs of the promises of God (hence why the Samaritan woman claims Jacob as an ancestor). The Jews worshiped on Mt. Zion/Jerusalem and also claimed to be the "true Israel."

Jesus is drawn into this debate, and changes it considerably. Certainly, Jesus does fall on the side of the Jews, but then says that the debate's relevance is limited. After all, soon the mountain and the ancestry won't matter. All that will matter is spirit (or Spirit) and truth (or Truth). What God seeks is not pilgrimage to the right place (although pilgrimage is a valuable spiritual practice), but that people are connected to God's Spirit and worshiping the Truth (that is, Jesus) and truthfully.

I take those words as words of comfort today. Because of the work of Jesus, you and I are enfolded into God's plan. And we have the chance today to worship God in spirit and in truth.

Wednesday, August 17, 2011

John 4:1-26 pt 1

Right away in the book of John, Jesus confronts social sensibilities. This encounter is a two-fold faux pas. Jesus spends some time with a 1) Samaritan 2) woman, and that's a double no-no. Samaritans are the descendents of some of the Jews carried off into exile in Assyria. Whereas many of them disappeared into assimilation, some Samaritans survived. They did not get along with the Jews, even after all those years of shared suffering. And men did not talk to women in public in those days.

Jesus speaks with her, and she even bristles at the idea, but Jesus speaks right into her condition.

You see, I was raised believing that Jesus was talking to a woman of low reputation because of her serial marriages. Not so. The culture of the day gave divorce powers completely to the husband, and so it is five husbands who have ditched her, or she has been widowed five times. This is a woman who has been kicked around and faced heartache after heartache. And now she's being taken into a sixth family wondering if it will be yet another heartache- when will the pain stop?

But Jesus isn't interested in giving her another band-aid to cover the pain. He wants to give her living water to truly refresh her, past the cynicism that comes from a hard life and past the temporary belonging she has encountered in her families.

Jesus offers the same thing. Will we bristle to defend ourselves, or will we take in the living water?

Look out for part 2 tomorrow morning.

Tuesday, August 16, 2011

John 3:22-36

It is mentioned in several Gospels, but John had this clear choice to make: accept Jesus and be willing to hand his ministry over to Jesus, or keep going with gusto to "beat" Jesus in terms of followership. And John consistently does what is right. This passage is no different. It can be tough, once one gets a taste of success, to walk away from it. Far more difficult is it to walk the pathway of obedience and simply receive what God has given us.

Far too often, the world we live in is designed like a factory. As long as you are producing high quantity of product, you are fine. But if the product decreases, then there must be something wrong. Jesus' own ministry reveals this belief as error, when His teachings grew His ministry from thousands to twelve. It is easy to relate faithfulness to numeric success- churches do it all the time. The churches that grow the fastest and to the greatest numbers produce the resources so that we can do what they did. And this isn't always wrong, because there are many lessons we could learn from these churches.

Today, though, I invite us to reflect on our lives as John did. What excited John was not the numeric success of ministry, but the approaching Savior. Is that what we can celebrate today?

Friday, August 12, 2011

John 3:1-21

This familiar passage of John contains one of the most famous verses in all the Bible. And I think we often get caught up in the verses preceding and including verse 16. And it is important to note being born again and the importance of the new birth we have in the Holy Spirit. We aren't sure how it works, but we do know that through the Spirit we are embraced into God's family.

The section that fascinates me is what comes after the new birth discussion. Jesus describes those who live as though born again- defined by truth.

"This is the verdict," Jesus says in verse 19. His teaching to Nicodemus all leads to this point, that when the light of the world came and the possibility of new birth arrived, people shrank away from it. They preferred the shadows, where they could remain hidden and wouldn't risk their imperfections being brought into the light. And how true that is! Even as a Christian who has experienced and lives out of the new birth Jesus offers, I fear walking in the light because it exposes my weaknesses, my doubts and my...

Wait a minute. There's a lot of "me" and "my" and "I" in that last part. Jesus says that those who love the light are those who are doing things "through God." "My" weakness is far from the end of the story. God is the end of the story. And if God is truly doing a good work in me (and you), then there is no reason to fear the light. Indeed, we could even embrace the light. Let it reveal our faults, but even moreso, let it reveal God's greatness.

Thursday, August 11, 2011

John 2:12-25

The cleansing of the Temple, an oft-quoted story from the Gospels, shows Jesus' anger at the treatment of the Temple. After all, God designed it to be a place where all nations could come and pray (Isaiah 56:7). But the Jews of Jesus' day had replaced the court of the Gentiles with the market required to get sacrificial animals to the people. I could hardly imagine having a prayer service in the Mall of America on the day after Thanksgiving, nor could I imagine going to Wall Street on peak trading hours and expecting the peace and quiet necessary for meaningful prayer. Indeed, something is wrong with this scenario.

John's account of the story is different from the other three Gospels in a couple major ways. The first is that the story takes place at the beginning of Jesus' ministry, whereas the other three have Jesus cleansing the Temple at the end of His ministry. This is not a major deal, because the Gospels all wrote the events of Jesus' life to tell a particular message. No one, with the maybe-kinda-sorta-possible exception of Luke, wrote the Gospels to tell an exact timeline of Jesus' life.

The other major difference is the conversation that Jesus has afterwards. Jesus has made a serious cultural/religious faux pas by messing with the Temple. And now He has to explain Himself to an angry crowd. Jesus claims that His authority comes from the fact that Jesus could rebuild the Temple in a few days. No one, at the time, understood that Jesus was going to become the Temple and that it would be rebuilt in three days. The disciples picked up on that later.

The most fascinating part of the Cleansing of the Temple is the last part (2:23-25). Jesus did not entrust Himself to the people who believed in Him, because Jesus knows the hearts of human beings. There are two parts here. One is that Jesus did not give Himself over to newfound fame. Jesus did not "go with the crowd," otherwise He would have been at the center of a riot. Also, Jesus did not need their testimony.

Let me tell you, I am a big fan of what other people think about me. I love to hear the testimony of others, especially good testimony. In my life as a Christian, I admit that I crave the attention of others and often ignore the calling that God has placed on my life. It is tricky, indeed, but if I am to grow in Christlikeness, part of that journey involves controlling my craving for approval and attention. May we all grow to be more like Christ today.

Thursday, August 4, 2011

John 2:1-11

I often like to joke that Jesus' first miracle was to keep the party going.

However, the abundance of good wine (and the humorous response of the partiers- "Why did you save the good stuff for afterwards?") is not the point of the story. The point is that Jesus is kicking off His ministry (as John records it).

Jesus is uniquely aware of timing. Jesus is very perceptive around Him, and is seemingly pulled into this wedding situation. Almost resistant, Jesus goes ahead and solves the problem of the wedding party. And it is His first miraculous sign that inspires faith in the fledgling band of disciples.

And what a sign it is! Jesus takes a months-long process of water falling from the sky, nurturing grapes, fermentation producing alcohol and flavor, all to create a glass of wine (some estimate that 200 grapes go into the production of one glass of fine wine), and makes that process unfold in moments. This is a sign beyond parlor tricks, this is a sign that the Creator is here and is doing something new.

That same Creator is ready to do something new in our world. Will we be attentive to see what that is?

Wednesday, August 3, 2011

John 1:43-51

Prejudice strikes deep into the human heart. Prejudice colors our vision and clouds our judgment and becomes the fertile soil for hypocrisy. Whether the prejudice be political, ethnic, socio-economic or any other type, it often yields disastrous results. I look to Nathanael to see the danger of prejudice, the danger being blindness to our own hypocrisies. He probably thought he was right to judge the Nazarene being introduced to him. He probably thought that he was being "discerning" in who he would follow. If asked, he would probably say that he respected Nazarenes, but not the Nazarene lifestyle, much like prejudices go today. And his quick judgment nearly left him on the wayside of following Jesus. Fortunately, he was curious enough to overcome the prejudice and see what Jesus was all about. Nathanael would then confess Jesus right upon seeing Him. Thank God that our hearts can be transformed.

When Nathanael saw Jesus, Jesus saw right back into Nathanael and saw what God intended for his life. He saw a man who was not intended to be blinded by prejudice- he was a man intended for truth (and Truth).

You are also intended for Truth. May we all be open to it today.

Tuesday, August 2, 2011

John 1:35-42

My apologies for the three weeks this went unedited. It does not keep with my commitment to update at least twice a week. But welcome back to the book of John.

I have a ton of respect for John the Baptist. Here is a guy who truly lived what he believed. John says the right things "I must decrease so that He may increase," but when push comes to shove, is John willing to give up anything for the sake of Jesus?

The answer is yes- even his most prized "possessions." For a teacher to lose students would be a shameful thing in his day. The more students you had, the better teacher you were. But John happily sends two of his disciples along to Jesus, decreasing so that Jesus may increase.

And this is an important moment in Jesus' ministry, because one of John's followers is a guy named Andrew (a most respectable name, if you ask me). Andrew is Peter's brother, and Peter will become the rock on which Jesus will build a Church. Andrew gets so fired up that he invites Peter with the claim that they have found the Messiah.

Today I hope for the sacrificial humility of John and the excitement of Andrew for myself and for all who follow Christ.