Saturday, March 31, 2012

John 16:1-15 "Guided into all truth"

All truth. Anyone else comfortable with half-truths? I am exceptionally okay with half-truths sometimes. I believe we are conditioned toward half-truths. And it is easy to find proof for half-truths. After all, there is some truth in a half-truth. Just not all truth.

Sometimes, I am all-too-aware of my shortcomings. Fascinatingly, I can find plenty of proof to fuel the inner voice "You suck." In the past three days, I have had deeply encouraging conversations or messages from four different people. These are people who are lifting a truth that is better than my half-truth. And yet I cling to my half-truth. I say "If you only knew me, you would know the truth." Self-deception is a beast sometimes.

But what if? What if I am the one with the half-truth? What if people aren't lying to me when they encourage me? What if the whole truth is deeper than my own perceptions?

The full truth is that the inner "You suck" voice is a lie. After all, my identity is not formed by my behavior- it's not even formed by me (see previous posts). My identity is formed by the Spirit, who is guiding us toward all truth, ultimately the Truth who is Jesus. And grace tells me that my identity is based completely in the promise of God to seek and to save, to multiply and to bless, all because of the sake of Jesus.

Have you believed a half-truth? What is the full truth about who God is and who you are?

Friday, March 30, 2012

John 15:18-27 "Be hated or liked?"

Passages like these are hard ones for chronic people-pleasers like myself. The Bible seems to say, at multiple places in the Old and New Testaments, that following God is a one-way ticket to being disliked. Who woke up this morning saying "Please God, I want to be disliked," I mean, really?

Some faith traditions embrace being disliked. Particular fundamentalist movements enjoy being disliked by "the world," and take satire and mockery as signs they are on the right path. On the other side of things, other church movement embrace being liked out of Paul's admonition "As far as it is possible with you, be at peace with everyone." So who is right? Who is wrong? Should I want to be liked by people outside my faith tradition or not?

Neither. Jesus doesn't call on us to embrace being hated, Jesus encourages us if (key word in John 15:18) we are hated. Jesus doesn't call on us to embrace being liked, as the Lord only knows how many foolish decisions I have made in the race to become more liked. Jesus calls us to embrace the Spirit of Truth. At times, we will be disliked, especially as the Spirit drives us to mission, including the prophetic call to justice for the forgotten. No society likes to be reminded of what it has forgotten. Other times, embracing the Spirit of Truth will lead us into deeper love of neighbor that will increase the peace of our communities. It's hard not to like that.

I suppose, in short, I don't think I need to gauge my success in the Christian walk based on people's response to me, just on the wind of the Spirit blowing through my sails.

Thursday, March 29, 2012

John 15:1-7 "The Pruning of Jesus"

Jesus offers Himself to be pruned (John 15:2). In other words, Jesus takes our fruitfulness personally. That which is not bearing fruit is cut away, and that which does bear fruit is optimized by the words from Jesus' mouth (John 15:3).

What I love about this passage is how oddly warm it is. Despite talk of being thrown in the fire, I don't particularly feel scared by that prospect. Instead, I think of the idea of remaining and how transformative remaining could be.

When I was in college, my best friend was deployed to Iraq. And as soon as we got off the phone for the last time, I broke down. It couldn't handle it. This was the only friend of mine who was deployed to Iraq or Afghanistan. And I was a wreck. This was my best friend, a guy I've known since elementary school. My roommate did something I thought would be humiliating. He called my friends, and we met in the common area of my dorm. And I just sat there, as a wreck, knowing my best friend was boarding a plane to one of the more dangerous places in Iraq for several months. And they remained. They heard my absurdities, sat in silence, and watched me walk through that painful moment. And it wasn't even embarassing, not even a little. Despite my shame, which could have overwhelmed me, I remained. Despite the discomfort of sitting with a 19-year old sobbing, they remained. And I went through. I was being pruned in that moment- allowing all of my fears to be experessed through tears and the occasional pounded pillow cushion.

Jesus remains with us in our pruning. In fact, if we read the passage correctly, when I feel like I am being hacked to ribbon by shame and fear and whatever else is there, it's Jesus who is going through the process. It seems like Jesus doesn't just sit with me, Jesus bears the brunt of it for me. I don't know how that words, maybe that's the peace that passes understanding. All I know is that it makes a difference for me knowing that when I feel the pain, Jesus is going through the pruning.

Wednesday, March 28, 2012

John 14:15-31 "My Part in the Story"

When I was in school, I wanted to be an actor. Something, however, kept me from auditioning. One year, our school did the musical Cinderella and I thought it would be a blast to participate. However, again, I didn't audition. But an opportunity came up for me to still be a part of the show. I was first chair trumpet in the school band, and they needed a trumpeter for the performance. And so I found my part to play in the story. While I was by no means a cast member, I still had fun.

Jesus, in John 14, is trying to prepare the disciples for the end of His earthly ministry and the beginning of theirs. And so Judas' question is an appropriate one. Judas wants to know why Jesus doesn't just reveal Himself to the world like Jesus did to them. Jesus' answer is a bit puzzling. Jesus doesn't answer the question directly.

However, Jesus does actually answer the question by challenging us. Jesus promises the Spirit to empower us to take up our part in the story. When Judas says "Why not tell everyone about you?" Jesus says "Because you will... but don't worry, I am sending the Spirit to give you everything you need to do it."

I love this vision of Christ and Christ's purpose. We have a part in the story! There is something for us to do other than wait for heaven!

And... our capacity to fulfill our part of the story is not the basis of our relationship with God. Christ's capacity to fulfill the part in front of Him is. Therefore I do not live out of fear, but out of hope.

Tuesday, March 27, 2012

John 14:1-14 "Home Sweet Home"

Home is an interesting concept. I lived in the same house for 13 years of my life, and the next house for 5 years, then it was off to college where I lived in a different hall (or at least floor of a hall) every year, moved back home for the first two years of seminary and then moved into seminary housing for a year before moving to Northern Michigan. I spent three years in middle school, four in high school, three in college and three in seminary. I have been in my first church assignment for almost three years. While I certainly haven't moved around nearly as much as other people, a sense of permanence isn't exactly my thing.

You don't need a sense of permanence to know the joy of being "home." Whether it's the peace of coming home after a vacation, or the terror of seeing your home vandalized or burglarized, the emotional power of home is stirring. And, I believe, is part of how we were created.

Consider Cain and Abel. When Cain murders Abel, his fate is to wander the earth, finding nowhere to call home. Some who wander are able to find home wherever they go- but Cain's curse was that he wouldn't find a home anywhere because he poisoned the earth with his brother's blood.

We are a homeward bound people. Jesus speaks of this home when He speaks of God. And the good news is that this home is on the way. Revelation speaks clearly about the new city coming down onto a renewed earth to inaugurate the eternal kingdom. Leonard Sweet recently posted on facebook this quote "Remember that before Jesus is our way to God, that Jesus is God's way to us." Or something like that.

When Jesus talks about being the Way, the Truth and the Life, I think more and more that Jesus isn't offering us the path home. I think that when Jesus came to us, we are now at home.

Allow me to explain by a story. I moved to Glen Arbor, MI on June 1, 2009. Heather's job did not allow her to move up until June 5, 2009. And so on June 1, 2009, I lived in our house alone. I had no friends (although I made some that week in quick measure), no family, only my work and the still-brand-new relationships with Glen Lake Church. Needless to say, it was hard to feel like I was home. With Heather over a hundred miles away, it hardly felt like home at all. Here I was, ready to start this new adventure, excited about the possibilities of pastoral ministry with people and in an area I love, but yet I felt alone. It wasn't home until June 5, 2009, when Heather arrived. When she arrived, our house became home, and it seemed right.

Jesus has come. It's more like home, now.

Jesus will come again. It'll be a perfect home.

Come, Lord Jesus.

Monday, March 26, 2012

John 13:21-38 "When Following Means Staying"

When I accepted the call of God on my life, I joined the millions who have gone before in following Jesus. This is the call that gives my life purpose and direction. The words of Jesus and the commissioning Christ gives continues to shape my life more and more. I am sure the same was true for the disciples. I am sure that they never considered the adventures their lives would take before following Jesus.

And so when Jesus tells them that they have followed as far as they will go, I am sure there was a level of disappointment. They witnessed miracles, heard teachings, escaped angry Pharisees and even hid from bloodthirsty crowds. They had been through everything with Jesus, and when it seems like the adventure is really going somewhere, Jesus tells them to stop.

The 12 (now the 11, Judas took off) are not the only ones to have this experience. The Gerasene demoniac wanted to follow Jesus as a disciple, but Jesus made him stay in the town that had rejected him as dangerous in order to be a witness. He never got the full apostolic adventure. Only the 12 got that. And here, they are called to the task of loving one another no matter what, and given the promise that one day they will follow Jesus to the final destination.

Love is boring. I mean, love is boring compared to the adventure of laying down your life for what you believe in. People go to movies where lovers fight empires and slay dragons for each other. People do not generally go to see movies where people live out every day lives. And if you have, I'm sorry, your 20 dollars could have been better spent elsewhere. And so why did Jesus invite the disciples on an adventure just to drop them off with boring ol' love? Peter certainly felt a little ripped off by the idea!

Except love is not boring. The love that Jesus was talking about is far from boring or monotonous. It may be small, but it is significant. The love that Jesus told the disciples to employ was not about choosing a few friends and a spouse and a family to love, that would be boring. The love that Jesus gave the disciples was for God's world. This love was meant to be of service and crossing boundaries, or making new relationships and seeing lives transformed. This love is not for the faint of heart- this love is courageous and messy, complicated and yet peaceful. This is the love that Jesus gave us, and the task that all of us Christians have on our lives.

Saturday, March 24, 2012

John 13:1-20 "Knowledge is Half the Battle"

One of my favorite TV shows as a kid was GI Joe. The constant battle of the Joes against the wicked COBRA organization was a constant source of delight. One of the funny things at the end of the episodes was a public service announcement starring the GI Joes. Usually, a child would be ready to do something hazardous and unsafe, and one of the GI Joes would show up and tell the child how better to live. Then the Joe would say "Knowledge is half the battle..." and you would assume that follow-through on this knowledge is the other half.

Same thing is true here. Jesus is revealing something about the nature of God here. I do not picture God as the one washing my feet. I picture God on a throne, sitting above it all, or a figure holding me up when I need support, but never beneath me. Yet, if I believe the Bible, I hold that it is not only possible but true that God takes a service role. God does not obey me, God does not make me a god to take a break (Bruce Almighty, I'm looking at you), yet God voluntarily takes the servant role. I think of a God who would sacrifice just so that I might reconciled to God (along with creation).

That is a picture of God that shocks. Let it sink in, and I think you might find yourself protesting with Peter. This doesn't seem right, this isn't the picture of Lord and Teacher that I have in mind. God surprises me.

And that's a good thing. I ought to be surprised by God every once in a while. I would not have done what Jesus did, and that comforts me. It means that I am not allowing myself to construct a Jesus who looks and acts just like me. I follow Jesus, not the other way around.

And that means that I take on the example of foot-washing. I will do this in a symbolic way next Sunday (spoiler alert!), but for today, I wonder how I can take on the servant posture. That kind of imagining actually sounds like fun... what do you think?

Friday, March 23, 2012

John 12:20-50 "Glorify Your Name"

"Sir, we would like to see Jesus."

Thus begins an epic journey that finds its climax in the voice of God echoing through the heavens.

The audible voice of God is not terribly common, although incredibly important. Hebrews 4 and 5 quote back from the Psalms "Today, if you hear His voice, do not harden your hearts..." And yet, the very next passage talks about how the words of Jesus hardened the hearts of those who were hearing it.

But notice that it wasn't the case that people's minds didn't change, as many among the leadership did believe in Jesus. What never changed was their lives never changed. Fear (see yesterday's post) kept them from acting on their faith and kept them from following Jesus.

It isn't our capacity to hear God's voice, or the number of church services we sit through or even the number of good things we do that matters. It's the power of God's voice to seep in past our fears and our weaknesses to work some transformation in our lives. And that's a worthwhile journey for all of us.

Thursday, March 22, 2012

John 12:1-19 "I'll always have a job"

One of the most disturbing verses in the Bible is from this passage: "You will always have the poor among you." As I have helped to empower a ministry dealing directly with poverty, I find this reality disheartening.

I recently posed this question to a small group of mine and three of the people in that group work directly in services dealing with poverty. "I'll always have a job" was their response to this statement. And that is true- we learn it from Jesus.

In the midst of my philosophical qualms with my Savior seemingly resigned to the permanence of poverty, I also recognize that Jesus said these things because a broken, lovely human being was standing in front of Him. She was weeping and pouring herself (and her perfume) on His feet. Jesus was also embracing a starving and thirsty people who welcomed Him into Jerusalem. Jesus embraced the people in His presence.

We also will always have a job, and that to enter into the divine embrace of God and this world. It is to follow Jesus in that mission, undistracted by competing voices and ready to serve without hesitation. I embrace this future, and hope to see God work in me today. Embrace the people in your presence, whomever they are.

John 11:17-57 "Fear and Faith"

The second portion of John 11 has a tremendous interplay of faith and fear. There is the faithfulness of Jesus in raising Lazarus, and then the fear of the Sanhedrin in response to Christ's resurrection.

Fear is a powerful force, and the opposite of faith. Faith fuels the courage to step into the unknown because of confidence in what (or who) you know. Fear siphons that courage and keeps us stuck. Faithful is the response to Jesus that follows and imitates. Fearful is the response to Jesus that says "but what if this costs me everything I have?"

Fear is natural. The Sanhedrin, tasked with the preservation of Old Testament faith, had every reason to be scared. The Romans were increasingly intolerant of the Jews, and the Romans had already taken several steps to ensure that they controlled significant aspects of the Jewish faith (including the attachment of the palace of King Herod, a Roman plant, to the Temple). One more major uprising (especially from a guy who opposed the religious devout) could have easily spelled doom.

That vision of the world, however, is minus a consideration of God. The activity of a loving and faithful God doesn't fit into a world of fear. When we are afraid, the world becomes a big and powerful place and God is subject to the whims of the world. However, if we can introduce the truth that God is greater than our fears, the power of fear gives way to the hope of faith.

What are your stories of faith and fear?

Tuesday, March 20, 2012

John 11:1-16 "Let us go to die"

It's tragic that Thomas, whose name I somewhat share (Thomas is my middle name) gets his reputation from one story at the end of the Gospel of John. I would much rather have my reputation come from this story than the moment of doubting (although I think there is more to that story, too, but we will get there in a few weeks).

What's the threat in going to see the sick (and dying) Lazarus?

Ignorance plagues the human race. Ignorance is a powerful and pervasive sin which often ends up deadly. This morning, stories of the death of a young teenager named Trayvon Martin are all over my facebook page. Trayvon Martin is a 17-year old who was shot in the street by a neighborhood watch volunteer. Trayvon was visiting his father in a gated community in Florida, and this volunteer (ignorantly) assumed that he was there to commit a crime. After hounding Trayvon, this volunteer ended up shooting Trayvon. Outrage is only the beginning of one's response to such a crime. It should horrify us that we live in a world where this happens.

The story of Jesus is similar. Jesus wasn't welcome in every neighborhood. Jesus couldn't walk just anywhere. Bethany, the neighborhood Jesus visited, was dangerously close to Jerusalem, the power center of the people who were out to get Jesus. And if Jesus performed a miracle in that neighborhood, especially a resurrection, Jesus would be hounded and pursued. Eventually, "God watch" volunteers would catch up to Him, surround Him, and pervert the legal system to leave Him dead. And this was all done out of ignorance.

What would you do? What if you were asked to go into a neighborhood where your friends weren't welcome? Would you go, or would you say "Maybe we should send a card to Lazarus? Maybe you should do a long distance healing and just stay away?"

Nope. If you follow the way of Thomas, you stand beside and walk with. The way of Jesus calls us to stand beside and walk with Jesus in all circumstances, even if that means risk. May our walk echo Thomas and follow Jesus today.

John 10:22-42 "Wait... you are gods?"

Blasphemy was a common charge combatted by Jesus. The frequent comparisons made by Jesus to the Father, including "I and the Father are One," made many a God-fearing Jew suspicious. After all, you really aren't suppposed to do that. And to answer the charge, Jesus employs two tactics.

First and foremost, Jesus calls to His works in order to prove that He is united to God. And, in fact, Jesus has been doing the work of the Father throughout His life. Whether feeding the hungry, healing the sick or even raising the dead, Jesus has been about the work of God every moment in the Gospel.

The second defense is more interesting. Jesus points to an obscure Psalm reference from Psalm 82, and one where English translation betrays more theology than it does faithful rendering of the text. In Psalm 82, God gathers the assembly of the heavenly host to render judgment. Those who are to be judged: the gods.

I know. We don't generally believe in multiple gods. And so in your English translation, you likely have "gods" rather than gods. Those quotation marks don't make reading the Psalm any easier. So who are the "gods" in Psalm 82? Some of them are likely angels, disobedient spiritual forces that set themselves up as gods. But Jesus, in John 10, that the gods are people. Kings, perhaps, or maybe something more...

One of the realities we have to face is that, as CS Lewis famously said, there are no mere mortals. Cultures fade, art breaks down, brilliant achievements are knocked down for more brilliant achievements. But this is not so with people. There is nothing "mere" about us. We were created for union with God. We were created as a special brand of sacred. This is why life is so valuable. We are a special brand of sacred.

In this defense of His own divinity, Jesus was alluding to something spectacular. The destiny of humanity is to be caught up in the divine relationship, glorified because of our union with Christ. There is nothing mere about you.

Saturday, March 17, 2012

John 10:1-21 "The Good Shepherd"

For today's post, I will direct you toward a sermon I preached recently on the Good Shepherd:

Click here for the January 29, 2012 sermon on the Good Shepherd

Also, if you look in the archives of this blog, I took a week on the various aspects of the Good Shepherd.

Enjoy!

Friday, March 16, 2012

John 9 "The Shortcoming of Why"

I come from the early phases of generation "Why?" Full products of postmodern skepticism and the jaded reality of failed systems, my generation is accustomed to take nothing at face value. This skill is an asset, because it allows people like me to not fall for something right away. Of course, skepticism and cynicism can also be toxic to the soul, so every strength has its weakness (and vice versa).

John 9 is a story of the unhealthy "why?" A man is blind- has been since birth. And everyone around this man, including the disciples, are asking "why?" More importantly, they are asking about which particular sins this man committed, or his parents committed, in order to become blind.

Jesus has another reason, though, and that is so that God might work in this man's life. There are a couple ways to interpret this. One is that God blinded this man just so that God could work a miracle in his life. That might be the case, but I have another thought.

What if Jesus was just saying "Our response is to help, not judge or condemn." Jesus doesn't go on in the conversation about the pre-determined will of God, Jesus goes on to talk about the importance of doing God's work. And so Jesus got right to work, making some kind of spit-mud combination and sending the man to a pool to wash clean. And the man is healed, God's work has been done!

Not good enough for the Pharisees, who are still trapped in their ways of thinking. They still want a cause, they want to know "why" so that they can continue to condemn the man. Notice that the "why" isn't to understand God or this man better, it's so that they can exclude him. Which, technically, they do anyway.

Asking "why" is not a problem. Biblical characters do it frequently. Even Jesus asks that question. The problem is when we create a simple formula for blessing and curse. As long as I can blame you for your problems, I don't have to help you. For the Christian, this is not an option. Helping is the only option.

Thursday, March 15, 2012

John 8:31-59 "Father Abraham"

Honoring the memory of people gone before is a value most cultures hold onto. While some do it differently than others, the value of honoring the past is one that is high and lifted up. Consider how you honor the memory of people gone before, or how you pass values down through your family.

In Jesus' eyes, the children of Abraham are rejecting the memory of Abraham (the one whom God said lived by faith). A very difficult lesson for the Jews of Jesus' day to learn is that God created a lineage of faithfulness, not a lineage of genetics. This is why God can embrace the Gentiles, both in the Old Testament and in the New. God's mission was always to create a people from many nations, even promising such to Abraham.

Notice that when the Jews called Jesus a Samaritan and demon-posessed, Jesus did not answer the charge of being a Samaritan. He answered the charge of being demon-posessed. But Jesus, geneaologically, wasn't a Samaritan. Jesus was a Jew from Northern Israel, not even that close to Samaria. But Christ is far bigger than one family tree. Christ is all, and is in all, says the book of Colossians.

Jesus makes it even more clear- He pre-existed humanity, and therefore is greater than any one family tree. Before Abraham was, I am, Jesus says. And with that, the crowd has heard enought and picks up their stones for a blasphemy trial (and execution). But that was to come later...

For today, I celebrate the fact that Jesus is far more than a Jewish carpenter from the first century. He also identifies with me, with my family tree, with my situation and with my issues. And, because of the cross, I can now identify with Him as well.

Wednesday, March 14, 2012

John 8:1-30 "The Light of the World"

Sometimes what's interesting isn't so much the story but where the story is located. The famous story of Jesus writing in the sand and refusing to condemn a woman caught in adultery is a mysterious one in the book of John. We actually have this story showing up in multiple places in the ancient copies of John- some copies exclude the story altogether. But the story, placed here, gives a great perspective on Jesus as the light of the world.

This story begins in a pretty cut-and-dry fashion. A woman has been caught in adultery and brought to the public for trial. At first glimpse, the case is open and closed. She was caught in the act, as it seems. The penalty in the Levitical law for adultery is death. Again... cut and dry.

But Jesus slows things down a little bit, and suddenly the issue becomes less cut and dry. While Jesus is writing in the sand, we enter an awkward pause. The people keep questioning Jesus, but Jesus ignores them at first. During that time, I find some sad realities come to the surface. The first is that this woman was "caught in the act of adultery," but no man is present. Doesn't adultery take two? Second, if they really dragged this woman to the Temple having caught her red handed, this poor woman would have been disheveled at the least. Some biblical scholars claim that she would have been naked to increase her shame.

And so Jesus' words "If any one of you is without sin, let him cast the first stone" is about a lot more than a general comment on the sinfulness of every human being. It is a comment about this particular incident. Jesus turned the lights on this situation and exposed that there is a lot of sin to go around. This woman was set up and hung out to dry by a religious culture that demonized certain people (and as in many cultures, demonized sexuality and sexual sins more than others).

The light of the world revealed the truth. The truth was more uncomfortable than the crowd was willing to take, and rather than take the road of repentence, the crowd left (defeated). By the time Jesus talks again to the crowd, the woman has a new life and the crowd of Pharisees is unchanged. May we all be lifted to the light of Jesus and invited into His transformative grace.

Tuesday, March 13, 2012

John 7:32-52 "Be the River"

When I think of the river of living water, I often think of drinking from it. I am used to being thirsty, and I can understand needing to drink from the river of living water that comes from Christ.

What I don't often think is that I am the source of living water. But I suppose it makes sense. In Revelation, the water comes from the throne of God. If I believe that I am the Temple of the Living God, then I believe that the throne of God is in the holiest place in that Temple (just like it was in the Old Testament Temple). And if I believe that God has staked a claim to the throne room of my body (the heart), then it stands to reason that I would be a source of living water. The Bible fits together in amazing ways, I think.

So I am called by Jesus to be a source of living water. Believing in Jesus makes me that source. So is my belief strong enough to be life-giving?

As powerful as belief is, I'm afraid that it isn't strong enough to become a stream of living water. The Spirit is called upon for that task in verse 39. The Spirit enters us and flows out from us. So, other than being a cool image, what does that mean for my life?

My life should soak the world around me in Spirit. The fruit of the Spirit is not for our consumption, it is for the sake of the world around us. Where I go, where I stand, should be affected in a life-giving way by my presence. And this is the Spirit's doing. It happened in Jesus' life with the Temple guards, people who were trained for absolute obedience to the religious leadership. And despite the training, the way of Jesus soaked them in Spirit and freed them from the constraints of their system.

The alternative to being a stream of living water is a scary one. The religious leadership mocked the faith of the guards, seeking instead a pathway of arrest, oppression and death for Jesus. Their way of being was a denial of life, not an appreciation of the Creator of life.

Today I seek the Spirit and to become that stream of living water. I pray that the world around me is increasingly soaked in grace. What would the world look like if streams of living water grace-soaked everything? Hmm...

Monday, March 12, 2012

John 7:1-31 "Confusion"

Confusion is about the only word I can use to describe Jesus' audience throughout this passage. First, Jesus doesn't want to go to the festival. Then He goes. Then, Jesus begins to speak and accuse others of trying to kill Him. But, as some of the crowd notes, Jesus is being threatened by no one there. After that, Jesus describes the anger some people have felt over His Sabbath day healings. Yet Moses allows for babies to be circumcised on Sabbath days. If I were a member of this crowd, I would be a little confused too.

What brings me out of the confusion is that I know where the story is leading. I know that Sabbath day healings were a major source of concern for the religious in Jesus' day. I know that people are actually trying to kill Jesus. I know that they will eventually succeed... and fail when Jesus is raised on Easter morning. I know where the puzzle pieces fit together.

It was not yet Jesus' time (verses 6 and 30), and so the pieces did not fall into place. Much like an episode of Lost or a mystery thriller, the pieces only truly come together at the end. Revelation, God's initiative in showing Himself to us, is a mysterious thing. The disciples stayed with Jesus for years and still didn't "get it" until the end of the Gospels (and continued to struggle after that). Sometimes we are confused, and our temptation is to simply shut our brains down and figure that we will get it one day. This may even seem like a holy thing to do- blind faith is always admirable to a point.

However, one thing that Jesus never does is turn people away for honest questioning. While Jesus may not always give out a direct and clear answer to a question, Jesus always entertains the question. The question, it would seem, is just as important as the answer. An early church leader called the Christian life "Faith seeking Understanding," and it fits quite well. We have faith before we have all the answers, and our doubts and questions are a natural part of seeking understanding. What I like about the phrase "Faith seeking Understanding" is that the word "seeking" is a constant process. The Christian life is not "Faith having found Understanding," but "seeking." We are all "seekers," people on a pilgrimage toward greater understanding. So, in my book, Jesus encourages me to question and grow, all to the glory of God.

Saturday, March 10, 2012

John 6:60-71 "Where Else Would I Go?"

Following Jesus can be frustrating. Jesus never guarantees worldly success in return for obedience; in fact, Jesus often talks about the opposite. Jesus never says "do good, and good will happen to you." Jesus says "Blessed are you when you are reviled because of me." Seriously? What kind of religion did I get myself caught up in? Why would I actively choose this path, even make it my career path?

But where else would I go? As frustrating as following Jesus can be, where else could I go and find the words of life? Where else would I go to find the deep transformation of self and world? Where else would I go to connect with the Lord of the universe? Where else would I go to see healing happen, lives changed? I know that people find change outside of Christianity, and I don't claim that life change only happens within my faith tradition.

But what I do know is that Jesus is Lord. What I do know is that this world was not designed for my comfort and success, but for Christ's sucess. What I do know is that the words of life sustain me when I am worried about the future or ashamed of the past. What I do know is that I find peace at Jesus' feet, and encouragement. Therefore, I will never allow my frustrations, fear or shame take my feet away from the path that leads to Jesus.

What do you know?

Friday, March 9, 2012

John 6:22-59 "Divine Cannibalism"

On Sunday, we are going to celebrate communion at our church. It is a monthly act for us, and a reminder of the regular need to come back to Christ. Part of our theology of communion comes from this passage of John 6. Jesus says "eat my body, drink my blood," and reminds us that His body and blood are "real food and real drink." That seems to be really important. What amplifies the importance of feasting on Christ is that doing so is one of the pre-conditions to Christ remaining in us, and we in Him. It's ranked right up there with obeying Christ's commands (from John 15).

Communion is that important. And communion ties into some of our deepest needs.

1) Communion represents a spiritual reality in a tangible way. Sometimes, all of the spiritual/invisible talk leaves us wanting something we can hold and taste. Communion allows this.

2) Communion is a meal. And we love meals. I love meals. They bring people together for a common purpose, and what is the Church if not people brought together for a common purpose?

3) Added to that, communion fills us. Being full is a great feeling- it usually precedes resting in something only describable as a "food coma." While communion will rarely fill you up physically, the act of taking communion together is something that fills me spiritually and allows me to rest.

Communion is really important, and I hope you are regularly finding yourself at the Lord's Table. If you need to come back to the table, I'd encourage you to find us at 10:00 this Sunday and feast on the grace of God together.

Thursday, March 8, 2012

John 6:1-21 "Jesus, Master of Creation"

The past week was that of confrontation with nature. Nature's way of purifying itself through snow and wind came powerfully against our house and community. We were without power for five days, leading us to eventually leave our home and stay with friends. Today is the first full day of power since losing it on Friday night, and it is with those recent experiences that I approach today's text.

Jesus demonstrates Himself as the master of all creation in today's text from John 6. Whether the problem is famine/scarcity or storms, Jesus commands creation. Or I should say that Jesus restores creation.

We know from the book of Genesis that all creation was impacted by the curse, and Romans tells us that creation yearns for redemption. Jesus does just that- redeems and restores creation to original function. In the feeding the five thousand, Jesus restore's the original purpose of creation- to be fruitful and multiply. Creation was meant to be sustainable, and Jesus makes it so while declaring that this is to the glory of God.

Stormy seas, in the ancient world, were symbols of chaos and destructive (even demonic) power. Fishermen in the Sea of Galilee would regularly be caught up in storms that would destroy their boats. When Jesus crosses the sea, He demonstrates humanity's original authority over creation. We were never meant to be in fear of the power of creation, as the power of creation is meant to be life-giving. While storms are often necessary to maintain the ecosystem of an area, creation's intent was never to be of harm. I have a hard time believing that the new earth will be threatened by tornados. Indeed, Jesus' words echo in our minds- do not be afraid.

As far as I know, the snowstorm of 2012 didn't completely destroy any homes or end any lives. South of us, where the snowstorms were community-crushing tornados, was a different story. And so I look out the window and see creation churning and crying out for restoration. And I look to these passages and know that I can entrust that restoration to Jesus Christ. And that, more than any amount of preparation for the storm, gives me peace.

Wednesday, March 7, 2012

John 5:16-47 "Impacted from Above"

Self-differentiation is a term used to describe a process where we are controlled more and more by our values and less and less by the emotional states of people around us. Maturity is another word for this process. Jesus exemplifies differentiation perfectly, while not going overboard and becoming apathetic to the people around Him.

Jesus knows exactly who He called to please, and that's God. Jesus doesn't take cues from others' emotions and competing values, nor does He compromise those values. And yet, people who disagree with Jesus are drawn into further conversation. Jesus doesn't need to pretend to be someone different in order to be in relationship with them. Jesus just knows to be obedient to God and to live according to those values.

This allows Jesus to fluidly move from group to group and allows Jesus to be "always at work" (verse 17). Jesus enters as a healing presence not because He has to or because it would make people happy, but being a healing presence is who Jesus is.

I would love to live into my values like Christ did. I would also like my values to align with Christ's. In being a differentiated and mature Christian, I open myself to inflict less harm and to allow God's Spirit to work through me more. This requires much of me, but not necessarily more work. Jesus calls out the Pharisees in that their diligence is not leading htem toward life, but rather away from life. My work is to come time after time to Jesus, repenting of the harm I inflict on people and seeking life. Christ's work, through the Spirit, is to work out the fruit of the Spirit in my life so that I can become more like Jesus. That is the continued work of the Christian, now and always.

Tuesday, March 6, 2012

John 5:1-15 "Beneath the Surface"

Welcome to Bethesda, a collection of the forgotten and the destitute. Surrounding this beautiful pool is a group of the sickest people around. They are gathered for one reason- to wait for the bubbles. According to superstition, an angel would come and stir up the waters. When you see the bubbles, you get into the pool. If you are the first into the pool, your wounds are healed and you are free from the despair of the pool. Everyone else waits another year until the next bubbles begin to form. In modern translations, this interpretation of Bethesda is missing, but you can imagine the desire and longing from the people at the pool to be healed. Hanging out there would be like hanging out in an ICU unit. But Jesus didn't come to hang out in the comfortable and scenic places, so Jesus walked right in an healed a man who may have been there and missed the opportunity 38 times. His family and friends have mostly given up hope, which is why he has no one to help him. But Jesus does.

But something else is going on beneath the surface, and I don't just mean under the surface of the magical waters of Bethesda. Jesus slips away from the man to avoid attracting attention, but finds him later on at the Temple and utters the mysterious threat that if the man keeps sinning, worse will happen to him. This seems odd, for Jesus rarely attributes injury, illness or malady to a sinful condition.

Maybe the man was caught up in some bad stuff that resulted in his injury. Perhaps it was a drunken bender in which he thought he could fly off a roof. Perhaps it was a fight that went wrong. Then Jesus' warning would simply be that behavior has consequences.

Maybe this is a rare New Testament example of a plague caused by disobedience. These kinds of plagues happen more frequently in the Old Testament, but it's possible that this is a New Testament version. Jesus would be calling this man out on his disobedience and calling him to repentence. However, Jesus never mentions forgiveness in the healing formula. He just tells the man to get up and walk.

Perhaps carrying his mat on the Sabbath was really a sin, and Jesus is telling him to completely leave the mat behind and forget it. After all, the mat would be a symbol of his previous life. Again, this would be a strange departure for Jesus because He told the man to keep the mat.

Perhaps the sin was telling the Jewish leaders about the healing. After all, Jesus does come under persecution for His actions. Then again, Jesus never really feared persecution and never told the man to keep His name a secret.

I don't know. John never tells us what the sin was, and it's probably none of our business. What it reminds me of today is that Jesus heals and Jesus saves, and Jesus makes a specific claim on our lives that calls us to a new life.

John 4:43-54 "Signs and Wonders"

In thinking about signs and wonders, I just want you to think about miracles.

What do you think: Do miracles still happen? Why is it that they seem less common than in the days of Jesus? Should they be happening more often?

John 4:1-42 "This Just Changed My Life"

It would not be uncommon to hear this phrase come from my mouth "Changed my life forever." You might be wondering what profound spiritual truth has changed me, but you would be disappointed.

The full phrase is "You have to download this app, it changed my life forever." At one point, I was known as the guy who had a new app every week that would "change your life." I became one of the greatest evangelists for "TED," a website highlighting presentations of ground-breaking ideas (although I maintain that they have too few religious voices in their conferences). I spread that like wildfire, encouraging people to go to ted.com or download the mobile phone application.

Perhaps you do the same thing with restaurants (I do) or new hobbies (I do) or even your favorite coffee beverage (I definitely do). This is not wrong; after all, it may have actually changed your life. To my TED example, I have found profound learning through TED and look forward to the new videos being posted. It changed my life.

The Samaritan woman in John 4 has just had a life-changing encounter with Jesus, and she immediately spread the word to her neighbors (the same neighbors who abandoned her to draw water from the well alone). Jesus shared with the Samaritans for days because of her testimony, and the Samaritans caught the same fire as the woman at the well. One can only imagine what happened in that town because there were people who knew they met the Savior of the World.

I wonder why it is that new Christians are usually more excited about discipleship and mission than people (like me) who have been Christians for a majority of their lives. I can only imagine that this comes from a faulty understanding of the task of Christians. When people are introduced to Jesus, and they faithfully receive the Kingdom, it's a life-changing moment. Most recognize that some things in their lives need to change, and they joyfully enter a process of transformation.

People who have been Christians long enough get to a point where they feel "transformed enough." They don't do what other people do, and settle into paying someone to do the work of transformation for them. (I am one of those paid transformational agents) What is needed is a re-affirmation and ignition of who we are meant to be- disciple-makers.

The term disciple-maker is not equal to "small group leader" or "mentor." It includes both of those, but those terms don't cover it. Disciples (and by extension disciple-makers) create opportunities and moments for their communities to be transformed. Just like the Samaritan woman becomes Patient Zero of a Jesus-epidemic, we need to get infected and spread the Kingdom-virus. There is simply too much suffering, too much injustice and too much pain out there for us to do anything less.

John 3:22-36 "On Things Above"

Colossians 3:2 tells us to "set our minds on things above." And in John 3, John the Baptist tells us about the unique claim that Jesus places on our lives and our world, flattening the many systems of power that exist in our world.

According to John, the fact that Jesus was sent from God's heavenly kingdom is enough for Christ's claim on the world. Anyone born of the earth belongs to the earth. In other words, we have no divine claim as human beings (Genesis 3 would say that such a claim got us in trouble in the first place). Likewise, Caesar had no divine claim, as Caesar was just a human being. The act of taking anything human and attributing divinity to it is an act of idolatry. John is laying the foundation here for the apostate claim of the religious leaders of Israel in John 19:15 that "we have no king but Caesar!" This claim strikes to the very heart of what it means to be Christian- that Jesus is Lord.

Today we live in a world of competing claims. And in an election year, millions are being spent and millions more will be spent on influencing us toward loyalty toward one person, one party, one issue or another. And this political game that we play every 2-4 years is only a symptom of a much greater lie- the allure of money as a god-maker.

For example, almost $80 million has been spent on political advertising for this campaign season already. And yet we read this in Isaiah 55:1-3:

“Come, all you who are thirsty,
come to the waters;
and you who have no money,
come, buy and eat!
Come, buy wine and milk
without money and without cost."

Indeed, the allure of money-power is so powerful that God emphasizes "free" throughout the entire Bible. And John the Baptist is one figure who resists the allure completely. He reminds his hearers and (today) his readers to not be sucked in by the thousands of influences out there, but to remember that the One from above lays claim to it all.

Friday, March 2, 2012

John 3:1-21 "A Pathway to Repentence"

Whenever I read John 3, I feel just a little bit bad for Nicodemus. Here he is, trying to learn from Jesus, and it seems like Jesus gives him a hard time throughout the lesson. Part of me wants to go back in time and tell Jesus to give ol' Nic a break. After all, the Holy Spirit was virtually unknown in the days of Jesus. A full explanation of the work of the Spirit would come from the later New Testament (and at the end of Jesus' own ministry).

Now I have come to appreciate that Jesus isn't calling Nicodemus stupid or getting angry at him, but rather Jesus is lifting up just how important repentance and salvation is. Throughout their conversation, Jesus gets very clear about the process of salvation, even if He doesn't go at it in a step-by-step plan.

Jesus entered the world to save it, not condemn it. However, in coming into the world, Jesus exposes the world's need for salvation. This is uncomfortable, because it strikes to our very hearts. There are areas in which we are very comfortable living in disobedience to God and God's ways. Jesus calls us out for loving the darkness and fearing the light. He invites us into the light, which shines more brightly as He is lifted to the cross. At the foot of the cross, we find the light of Jesus showing us the way of salvation. This is confession, and it's a behavior that we ought to come back to on a daily basis. Confession is the necessary activity of lifting our deeds into the light, where God can deal with them in the grace-soaked way God chooses to.

God chooses to deal with our deeds by the Holy Spirit, who takes the work of Jesus on the cross and applies it to us. It is the Spirit who shows us the impact of our deeds and who begins to bear the fruit of repentence within us. And as the Spirit works in us, our capacity to see and receive the Kingdom grows. And as our capacity grows, so we get to join God's work in the world.

It is an amazing and humbling thought that we would have the chance to join God in doing what God does best. It is so humbling that I find myself hungering more and more for the Spirit's work in me so that my capacity to join God can grow and grow. I pray the same hunger for all of us.

Thursday, March 1, 2012

John 2:1-25: Jesus the life of the party and the party-killer

Could there be two stories more different than each other in the Gospels? The first story is about a celebration, and Jesus keeps the party going. The other story is about the holiest place on the planet, and Jesus makes a scene and ends the celebration (during one of the biggest holidays of the year, no less).

I think these stories are next to each other for a very specific reason, and it has to do with what Jesus cares about. Jesus loves people- and not a wishy-washy Valentine's Day card kind of love, more of a radical, dangerous, get-myself-in-trouble kind of love. At the party in Cana, the hosts of the wedding feast were about to be shamed by not having enough wine for the party. Jesus guards them from that shame, much like God guarded Adam and Eve from shame by giving them animal skin clothes to wear. At the Passover celebration in Jerusalem, shame was in full force and people were being kept from worship by the moneychangers and those selling animals. And so Jesus protected the people once again from the shameful acts of the worship-profit crowd.

Jesus even begins to talk about the greatest party of them all in this passage- the resurrection. In the resurrection, there is no shame or condemnation or decay. There is only life. And this life is worth celebrating, even though the resurrection is still a future event for us. There is much new life that is already taking place within us.

Most people love a celebration, I don't know too many people who don't enjoy a good party. But sometimes we celebrate things that are life-giving, and sometimes we celebrate things that are life-stealing. Jesus met those kinds of parties differently, and I hope that we can too.

How can you celebrate life today?