Gadfly's Muse

John 20 & 21: Eternal Beauty

Image:  "Full Flower", 2010, "Indian Paintbrush", Vicinity of Bertram, Tx.

John 20:8–9  Then the other disciple, who came to the tomb first, went in also; and he saw and believed. 9 For as yet they did not know the Scripture, that He must rise again from the dead.

John 20:17  Jesus said to her, “Do not cling to Me, for I have not yet ascended to My Father; but go to My brethren and say to them, ‘I am ascending to My Father and your Father, and to My God and your God.’ ”

John 20:21–23  So Jesus said to them again, “Peace to you! As the Father has sent Me, I also send you.” 22 And when He had said this, He breathed on them, and said to them, “Receive the Holy Spirit. 23 If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained.”

John 20:29  Jesus said to him, “Thomas because you have seen Me, you have believed. Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.”

John 21:19  This He spoke, signifying by what death he would glorify God. And when He had spoken this, He said to him, “Follow Me.”

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John's Gospel retains its "different vista" approach right down to the closing sentences.  The urgent call to "believe" carries through.  First, we see "the other disciple", John himself, not believing until he also had gone into the tomb and saw only the carefully folded death linens. 

Then there's Mary who remains sorrowful even after seeing the angels until she turns and beholds her Lord and hears Him speak to her with such heartfelt tenderness.  

Then there is dear old Thomas who stubbornly says that he "will not believe" until he saw and touched the Lord's crucifixion wounds.   We can only imagine the depth of passion that gripped his heart when Jesus said: "Ok, here they are, touch them!"  He can only cry out: "My Lord and my God!"  But notice what Jesus said to him:  "Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed."

Is it any wonder that John closes chapter 20 with these words: John 20:30–31  And truly Jesus did many other signs in the presence of His disciples, which are not written in this book; 31 but these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing you may have life in His name.

And indeed, this is the challenge - to believe.  Not just to give some kind of mental assent, in modern parlance, "to be open to", the idea of Jesus' resurrection... but to embrace it, to have it sink into our hearts as it did to Thomas such that we cannot hold back the exclamation of covenant acknowledgment: "MY Lord and MY God!"  This is the character of true belief in Jesus as the resurrected, eternal, Son of God and Son of Man.  

It is not a mind game.  John gives us the best grounds for believing what he has written that one can require: John 21:24–25  This is the disciple who testifies of these things and wrote these things, and we know that his testimony is true.  25 And there are also many other things that Jesus did, which if they were written one by one, I suppose that even the world itself could not contain the books that would be written. Amen. He was that "other disciple" who paused at the door of the open tomb.  He was the one in the boat who saw the risen Christ calling to them from the shore.  He heard the words Jesus spoke to Peter as He restored Peter to his calling to "feed" the Lord's sheep.  He it was who stood at the foot of the Lord's cross and heard Him commend His mother to John's care.  

John saw these things!  He ate breakfast with the risen Lord.  It was he who testified and stated that "we know that his testimony is true", in other words, that what he wrote was approved by the other disciples.  We have all that we should need for grounds to believe and therefore we must.

Jesus of Nazareth, the Christ of God, arose from the dead and was seen by many men and women over a period of forty days.  He rose from the dead never to undergo death again.  Lazarus was raised from the dead by Jesus.  Jesus raised Himself (or God raised Him, it was a work of the Trinity).  Lazarus was raised to additional years of earthly life and presumably died... again.  Jesus rose from the dead to live eternally at the right hand of God the Father from which He oversees, governs, calls, and sanctifies His Church.  

His risen beauty is such that Mary could not recognize Him.  He stands as the Flower of Humanity, the perfect expression of mankind's ultimate destiny.  He was born a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief, a man who had no significant physical beauty such that we should take note of Him.  He is not that anymore!  His risen brilliance was presaged by the Transfiguration when the disciples could not look on Him because of His brightness.

When we say: "My Lord and My God" - this is He Whom we proclaim as such.

Jesus left Peter and us with the command: "Follow Me." (21:19)  As the Pillar of Smoke led the Israelites by day and the Pillar of Fire led them at night, so the brilliant, burning beauty of our Lord should be before us at all times.  Let us look to Him with believing eyes and love Him with believing hearts.  He is worthy to be worshiped and adored.

John 18 & 19: The Truth -- Can We Handle It?

Image: "Thoughtful Vista", 2010, Texas Flowers, Vicinity of Bertram, Tx.

John 18:37–38  Pilate, therefore, said to Him, “Are You a king then?” Jesus answered, “You say rightly that I am a king. For this cause, I was born, and for this cause, I have come into the world, that I should bear witness to the truth. Everyone who is of the truth hears My voice.” 38 Pilate said to Him, “What is truth?”

John 19:10–11  Then Pilate said to Him, “Are You not speaking to me? Do You not know that I have the power to crucify You, and power to release You?” 11 Jesus answered, “You could have no power at all against Me unless it had been given you from above. Therefore the one who delivered Me to you has the greater sin.”

John 19:15  But they cried out, “Away with Him, away with Him! Crucify Him!” Pilate said to them, “Shall I crucify your King?” The chief priests answered, “We have no king but Caesar!”

John 19:30  So when Jesus had received the sour wine, He said, “It is finished!” And bowing His head, He gave up His spirit.

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In one of the most memorable movie lines Hollywood produced, Jack Nicholson, as Col. Nathan Jessup, responded to the persistent probing of Tom Cruise's character who said: "I want the truth!"  Col. Jessup sneeringly and emphatically proclaimed: "You can't handle the truth!"  Nicholson's entire personality went into that moment.  It was a truly great scene.

Col. Jessup had no real excuse for his crime but there was some validity to what he said.  There are truths in this world that push us to the limits of our sanity.  Sometimes we are confronted with an abyss, a gaping darkness, before which we not only tremble, we feel like Alice spinning down the rabbit hole.  True "truth" can be a scary thing.

In John 18 & 19 we see the shape of one such truth:  we see the horrifying depths to which sinful men can descend.   If it doesn't horrify us then we are not really letting the story sink in.

In 18:20-23, we see Jesus answering the high priest and his henchmen.  Like Cruise's character in the movie, they are relentlessly pressing Him to say something incriminating.  They asked Him about "his disciples and His doctrine" and Jesus, in full control, replies: John 18:20–21 ... “I spoke openly to the world. I always taught in synagogues and in the temple, where the Jews always meet, and in secret, I have said nothing. 21 Why do you ask Me? Ask those who have heard Me what I said to them. Indeed they know what I said.” 

And then... one of the guards slapped Jesus, the Lord, and King of all the universe, across the face.

Even as I read this and write these words, this causes me to shudder.  Pilate will later say to the crowd: "Behold the man!" (19:5)  Let us here say "Behold Fallen MAN!"  How horrid is this mental image!  Man so gripped by arrogant wickedness that when he has the opportunity, he slaps the living Lord!

We see this depravity in Pilate as he waffles before the gathered crowd of Jews.  We see him as Man the Politician, placed in power and having the authority to execute justice and righteousness.  He hears Jesus state clearly that He was a king, but not a king whose servants would bring war and political revolution.  Jesus tells him that everyone who is of the truth hears His voice.  Pilate, not in the arrogant tones of Col. Jessup, but rather in the world-weary relativity of politics, replies: "What is truth?" (18:38)  He stands before the Truth.  Truth is talking to him.  Truth is nagging at his conscience.  But, Pilate's sin is too deep.  He, with some sadness, turns away and steps into the abyss.

The depravity is even more starkly seen in the vicious crowd that screams out to Pilate: "We have no king but Caesar." (19:15)  1500 years of Israelite Covenant history with the Lord God Almighty were spent in anxious longing for a coming Messiah, the Lord's Anointed.  For centuries the prophets had portrayed how He would be recognized.  Isaiah spoke so clearly of Him that no living mortal of the time, sufficiently acquainted with the scriptures, had any excuse for not recognizing Him.  As Jesus Himself said, if you don't believe Me, believe the works that I have done!  Here, standing before him, beaten and bloody, was Jesus of Nazareth, and the High Priest, who certainly was sufficiently acquainted with the scriptures, commits the terrifying blasphemy of denying any king but Caesar!

All the lessons of history, of the book of Judges, of the rise of the first king of Israel, Saul, were figuratively thrown into the firepit.  The willful self-deception of fallen humanity was on full display.  That is the context that surrounds the crucifixion.

The truth is: that same depth and blackness of sin is our own natural state.  Ours!  Yours and mine!  Apart from the intervening grace of the Holy Spirit, we would be indistinguishable from them.  That is our abyss, yours and mine.  And we have to handle it.

We have to handle it because there is another truth that applies to that one.  Jesus of Nazareth, the Christ of God, by His enduring these shameful things at the hands of wicked men, has saved us from our own darkness.  That darkness no longer controls us.  It no longer is powerful to pull us down.  We have to know it is there, to face it, but also to understand that it has been defeated.

No longer is the darkness the only truth for us... there is also the truth of pleasant fields where sanctified men and women can walk in peace and righteousness with their Lord.

John 17: One With God, One With Christ

Image: "Reaching For Heaven", 2020, Severna Park, Md.

John 17:3  And this is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent.

John 17:11  Now I am no longer in the world, but these are in the world, and I come to You. Holy Father, keep through Your name those whom You have given Me, that they may be one as We are.

John 17:20–21  “I do not pray for these alone, but also for those who will believe in Me through their word; 21 that they all may be one, as You, Father, are in Me, and I in You; that they also may be one in Us, that the world may believe that You sent Me.

John 17:23  I in them, and You in Me; that they may be made perfect in one, and that the world may know that You have sent Me, and have loved them as You have loved Me.

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There are deep mysteries in Christianity that call for our deepest meditation, wonder, and worship.  At the pinnacle of these is that of the Trinity, followed by the Dual Natures of Christ.  We can formulate definitions and doctrinal statements about these... we can say somethings about what they are and, perhaps most importantly, say something about what they are not!  But our finite minds cannot comprehend infinity and so, like a rapt admirer contemplating a magnificent work of art, we can only spiritually gaze on these truths for they lay outside of us.

But then, not too far behind these topics, we come upon the Biblical Doctrine of unity with Christ.  We see Jesus praying for His disciples (vs. 6-19) and then for us, the ones who come to faith through the teachings of the apostles. (vs. 20-26)  Now, we must believe, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that whatever the Son asked of the Father, God the Father would be delighted to give Him, and here, on the eve of His terrible trial on the cross, our Christ asked His Father that the disciples, and we, be united to Him and He to us.

What an amazing idea.  Jesus prayed that we would be united to Him and the Father in the same manner as, or at least in a manner analogous to, His union with the Father Himself.  Let that wash over your heart for a moment.  In effect, Jesus is praying that we be admitted into the intimate fellowship of the Holy Trinity.  That does not mean, God forbid, that we become part of the Trinity in essence, power, wisdom or anything like those things.  He is asking that we be intimately connected to His Person, so intimately that we are "In Christ" as Paul often says.

We need to get a grip on this.  Yes, it is mysterious, but it is also at the heart of the Gospel.  As Calvin and others have noted:  "... the blessings of salvation, justification, sanctification, adoption and glorification are all received through our being united to Christ." (Robert Letham, The Work of Christ, p. 80)  Think about that!  Those listed blessings ARE the Gospel.  We can reduce it to this:  The Eternal Christ, the 2nd Person of the Trinity, was born into this world as Jesus of Nazareth, and His purpose for doing so was to do that which the Father commanded Him to do, unto the end that all whom the Father gave Him (all believers) would be united to Him!  This statement is entirely supported by the verses in this chapter.

So, this union with Christ business is important indeed.

It is generally admitted by most Christians that there is a "positional" aspect to this union.  In other words, it is to be understood in a somewhat figurative sense.  Jesus was our representative... He did the works we could not do... He paid the penalty we could not pay... and He rose from the dead establishing the truth that we will rise also.

These things are true but if taken only superficially, they can be pretty dry.  What we must understand is that our union with Christ is not only positionally though that is not denied.  We really are united to Him in a mysterious manner that has something in common with His union with His Father.  In other words, there is an existential reality to our union with Christ.  We really are bound up in Him.  We can, with appropriate caveats, say that in Him we fulfilled the law perfectly, did good deeds meritorious of reward, died on the cross in Christ, and rose again with Him from the dead.  

Not only that but through the uniting ministry of the Holy Spirit we can grow in our intimacy with our Lord, we can grow to have the "mind of Christ." (1 Cor. 2:16)  We can become more aware of the indwelling Spirit and take very real comfort from His Presence.  This is not an automatic thing, it is inherent in our progress in faith and sanctification, but it is not only possible but commanded.  Jesus wants us to know the "love with which You (His Father) loved Me" by having that love be present "in them, and I in them." (vs. 26)  

How can we ever really know the Love of God in us apart from knowing the Presence of Christ in us?  This is Jesus' purpose... this is how He is most glorified (v. 22).  It is when we behold His glory intimately, through recognizing His indwelling Spirit uniting us to Himself.

It is a mystery indeed... but what a glorious thing to ponder.

 

 

 

John 14 & 15: Dimly Seen But Precious Beyond Measure

Image: "Now In Shadows", 2017, Eglon Beach, Puget Sound, WA  - Photographer: Dave Johanson, slightly modified with permission.

John 14:3–4  And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself; that where I am, there you may be also. 4 And where I go you know, and the way you know.”

John 14:6  Jesus said to him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.

John 14:17  the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive because it neither sees Him nor knows Him; but you know Him, for He dwells with you and will be in you.

John 14:26  But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, He will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all things that I said to you.

John 15:8  By this My Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit; so you will be My disciples.

John 15:15  No longer do I call you servants, for a servant does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all things that I heard from My Father I have made known to you.

John 15:26–27  “But when the Helper comes, whom I shall send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth who proceeds from the Father, He will testify of Me. 27 And you also will bear witness, because you have been with Me from the beginning.

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John 14 & 15 are precious chapters indeed.  John 14 was my "go-to" chapter for consoling family members gathered around a death bed for years.  Both 14 &15 remind us that Jesus has not left us alone but has, rather, sent us the blessed Holy Spirit Who inhabits the hearts of all true believers and imparts to us His life-sustaining comfort as well as illuminating our minds to understand not only the Scriptures but all things in our lives in terms of Jesus Christ.

All these things forever spring fresh and new upon each reading of the verses here.  We hear the tenderness in Jesus' voice as He tries to prepare His disciples for the upcoming travail.  He tells them and us, amazingly, to "not let your hearts be troubled!"  "Believe in ME..." He urges.  Often when the darkness threatens to overwhelm us and the fog reduces our world to barely distinguishable shapes, then belief, faith, becomes a matter of desperate clinging to what we have been told.  Jesus understands this.  This is why He said these things.  The Holy Spirit whispers our prayers along with us, filling in the gaps, connecting us to our Holy Father in sure and certain communication.  Our Lord Christ, our High Priests, hears us calling out, using the very words He said to His disciples and smiles in tender compassion.  He knows our pain... He has been there, done that, as we will see in John 17.  The Holy Spirit reminds us that Jesus has chosen us for Himself so that we would bear fruit unto Him and His Kingdom (15:8) and He did so before we ever loved Him or even really desired Him. (15:16) 

Because He first chose us, when we were yet sinners and enemies of God, would He ever abandon us... or reject us... or refuse to comfort or provide for us?   Of course not... in our everyday moments, this truth is easy.  But when the sky turns dark and grey, when the chilly fog penetrates to our bones, and the sense of helplessness and despair threaten to occupy our whole being, then these truths are "all we got."  But they are enough... more than enough... because with them and behind them lies the precious Spirit moving us to hold them tight.

Yes, it can seem tough at times.  Sometimes it seems like the whole world is against us.  Occasionally, the whole world IS against us. (15:20-21)  But the promise remains... the words are true... He is True.  In fact, He is the way, the truth, and the life (14:6) and no one who ever clings to Him as such will be ultimately disappointed.

This is the practical everyday reality of Christmas.  He came to show us the way, tell us the truth, and energize us unto life.  Because He lives, we will live also (14:19), now in this life and then in the life to come.  

Let not your heart be troubled... only believe... and having believed, rejoice.

John 13: By THIS They Will Know

Image: "God's Rays", 2017, Photographer: Dave Johanson, slightly edited with permission

John 13:1  Now before the Feast of the Passover, when Jesus knew that His hour had come that He should depart from this world to the Father, having loved His own who were in the world, He loved them to the end.

John 13:13–15  You call Me Teacher and Lord, and you say well, for so I am. 14 If I then, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another’s feet. 15 For I have given you an example, that you should do as I have done to you.

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The question is not so much what Jesus says as: "Do we believe He really means it!"

Here's what He said: John 13:34–35 A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another; as I have loved you, that you also love one another. 35 By this all will know that you are My disciples if you have love for one another.”   Now just what kind of "love" is He speaking of here?  Well, He pretty much tells us that also:  it's a "wash each other's feet" type of love. (vs. 13-15)  And He reinforces it by stating, clearly, that we should follow His example in doing this.

Now, I don't have any objection to taking this literally.  Some Christian sects do practice foot-washing either as part of their worship or in some special fellowship gatherings.  What I do object to is thinking that this literal practice is all that Jesus is here commanding.

When a person was invited to another person's home, they were expected to be clean, as Jesus points out to the disciples that they were clean, except for their feet.  Walking in open sandals on dusty roads which were frequently thoroughfares for the livestock also, meant that a person's feet would be soiled by the time they go to their host's home.  Depending on the host's relative status and wealth, that person would be met at the door by a menial servant.  In fact, that servant would be the very lowest ranking servant in the house, usually of low birth and degree.  This servant was the one tasked with washing and wiping the guest's feet before they entered the main living areas.

Jesus here, by stripping off all his clothes and girding himself only in a loin-cloth, is adopting the role of the most humble servant in the house... He was presenting Himself as the "servant of all."  He, though Lord of all things, humbled Himself to take on the "form" of a servant, as Paul tells us later.  In doing so, He served His disciples by doing whatever was necessary that they might be clean.  He indicates that their person, in a sense, was more important than His Person (taken in context only).

This is love!  In verse 1 Luke says that Jesus knew that "His hour had come... (and) having loved His own who were in the world, He loved them to the end!"  This is the love that Jesus here commands of us.  He expects us to view our Christian brothers and sisters in the same light as HE views them.  He, it was who humbled Himself to take on their "filth" and take that grime to the cross and there to wash it and them, completely.  Our brothers and sisters in the faith, stand spiritually before God the Father, spotlessly robed in the righteousness that Jesus bought for them.  He did the same thing for us if we know Him as our Lord.  In other words, they and we are all together in that status.  Each of us has only Jesus' love for us to boast about.  Neither they nor we can claim superior merit.  No matter how each of them is, individually, such as to present challenges to our affection, we have to remember:  Jesus washed ALL of those disciples' feet... including Judas.

He "loved them" and humbled Himself "for them" so that His love had a transforming effect on them (Judas excluded).  This reduces down to a simple imperative:  we are to sacrificially love our brothers and sisters in the faith and to do, for them, whatever might be required to edify, encourage and assist them in their spiritual development.  It's not just a discipline.  It's not supposed to be a burdensome rule.  It's supposed to be an outworking of sincere love.  Apart from this love, as Paul teaches, we are just like sounding brass or clanging bells, making noise but signifying nothing.

Imagine what a congregation of Christians who truly, self-sacrificially, loved each other would show forth.  Think of how astonished an unbelieving visitor would be upon encountering such a fellowship.  In a world gone crazy, that has little to no idea of true community, such a witness would be compelling indeed.  In fact, such a visitor might assume at first that "these people are crazy" or consider them a cult.  This is just how strange the group would be.

But, through the power of the Holy Spirit, this community would do more to build the Kingdom of God than a hundred larger congregations who barely know who are their fellow church members.

In answer to the question posed above:  Yes, He did mean it and Yes, He means it now.  This is His commandment, that we love one another.

 

 

 

John 11 & 12: For The Whole World...

Image: "The Gift", 2017, Severna Park, Md

John 11:35–36  Jesus wept. 36 Then the Jews said, “See how He loved him!”

John 12:19  The Pharisees, therefore, said among themselves, “You see that you are accomplishing nothing. Look, the world has gone after Him!”

John 12:31–32  Now is the judgment of this world; now the ruler of this world will be cast out. 32 And I, if I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all peoples to Myself.”

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All of Jesus' great works were, essentially, "acted-out parables."  These two chapters revolve around "eternal life" as the gift of God through the direct action of Jesus Christ.  The raising of Lazarus splendidly sets the stage.  

We know that it was a well-planned drama.  Jesus tarried at a distance where he had gone to get away from the murderous Jews.  At the right time, after Lazarus was undeniably dead, Jesus told his disciples: John 11:14–15  ... “Lazarus is dead. 15 And I am glad for your sakes that I was not there, that you may believe... ” Note Jesus' words: "I am glad... that I was not there."  We know Jesus loved Mary, Martha, and Lazarus.  The Scriptures explicitly state so.  But Jesus something else more:  He loved doing the works of God so that people may believe unto eternal life.  Jesus was not callous in this regard.  When he arrived at Bethany he entered fully into the grief that tore the sister's hearts.  He wept so passionately that the bystanders noticed His grief.  Yet, He knew that shortly, He would raise Lazarus from the dead, and all who loved Lazarus would have their grief transformed into joy.  

From this, we glean several things.  (1) Jesus, God the Father, and the Spirit are not unaffected by the misery of sin and death.  Far from it.  Their passion is aroused to not only mitigate it in a manner consistent with their eternal counsel but one day, to do away with all grief entirely.  We cannot fully understand this; we can only embrace it.  It is an essential aspect of faith.  (2) The raising of Lazarus was astonishing.  It was performed before the eyes of a great crowd of witnesses.  Lazarus himself would bear witness to it and to Jesus so passionately that the Jews conspired to kill him also. (12:10)  Yet, astonishing as it was, some witnesses did not believe but rather scampered off to tell Jesus' enemies. (11:46)  If ever there is proof of slavery to sin this has to be it.  Instead of being possessed by glad excitement, Jesus' enemies hated Him even more.  Here we have to pause and consider just how tenacious is the sin in our own lives.  We may, like an addict or alcoholic, say that "I can stop any time I want", but the truth is that apart from some sharp wedge driven into our souls, cutting the cords of sin, we never will.  Thus, eternal life can never be ours through our own merit... it has to be gained as a gift.

And Jesus teaches that such is exactly the case.  John 11:25–26  Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in Me, though he may die, he shall live. 26 And whoever lives and believes in Me shall never die... ”  Eternal life, "never dying", is tied explicitly to "believing in Jesus."  This is not merely intellectual assent.  This is the fruit of that wedge being driven into our hearts, breaking the bonds of sin.  Faith is the condition or character of a transformed life that orients us toward the living Jesus Christ as our Prophet, Priest, and King.  It is embracing Him as such and reflecting that embrace throughout our daily lives.

The High Priest, knowing not what he said, spoke prophetically about the extent to which eternal life was being given: John 11:51–52  ... he prophesied that Jesus would die for the nation, 52 and not for that nation only, but also that He would gather together in one the children of God who were scattered abroad.  Here we see that in Jesus the world, indeed, would be saved.  Not only those relatively few Palestinian Jews who saw, heard, and believed - but also those, who through the witness of the disciples and the Spirit, would come streaming to Jesus from all the nations of the earth.  The gift of eternal life is the fulfillment of God's promise to Abraham that through him all the nations of the earth would be blessed.  We should long for the day when we see this.  When we stand, amongst a great multitude with Jesus in our center, and shout glad hallelujahs for what we have received.  It is a day devoutly to be desired.

Jesus plainly says it calls for a decision. John 12:25  He who loves his life will lose it, and he who hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life.  For us to know that eternal life is ours we must see certain fruits in our lives - not the least of which is a conscious and whole-hearted rejection of the world's hold on us.  Compared to how we love Jesus and long for His Kingdom to fully come to earth, we could be said to "hate" our lives in this world.  Our jobs are important - Jesus is more so.  Our very existence is important - Jesus is more so.  Our families... our communities... our nation, are important - Jesus is more so.  

No man can actually become like this except in a superficial fashion, by merely taking thought.  It requires a work of the Holy Spirit, but it is a work that brings joy in heaven.  When it happens we become, like Lazarus, as one raised from the dead and we can know that we will never die.

 

John 9 & 10: Judgment, Then and Now!

Image: "Many Things", 2017, Severna Park, Md.

John 10:7–9 Then Jesus said to them again, “Most assuredly, I say to you, I am the door of the sheep... 9 I am the door. If anyone enters by Me, he will be saved and will go in and out and find pasture.

John 10:16  And other sheep I have which are not of this fold; them also I must bring, and they will hear My voice, and there will be one flock and one shepherd.

John 10:27–28  My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me. 28 And I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; neither shall anyone snatch them out of My hand.

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These chapters give the impression of frenzied activity.  We can almost feel the pressure bearing down on Jesus.  He can't seem to get a breath.  There are multitudes coming who desire help or healing.  The "Jews surrounded Him...'" (10:24), scrutinizing His every move and every word.  Things were so bad that He "went away again beyond the Jordan", (10:40) clear across the river from Jericho, to find a bit of relief.  But what amazing teachings and works were done before He escaped!

Jesus continues the main themes of the previous chapters.  He places Himself at the center of all of God's plans and provisions.  Everything that is important in life, all that any man or woman can hope to gain from this life, anything that might be good to do, will all depend on how that man or woman relates to Jesus.  Period!

Jesus goes so far as to say that God's judgment on any individual is demarcated by the relationship they have with Him.  John 9:39  And Jesus said, “For judgment, I have come into this world, that those who do not see may see, and that those who see may be made blind.”  At first glance, this statement seems at odds with John 3:17 but that is only superficial.  We have to remember, as I mentioned on ch. 3, that John 3:19ff specifically states that "condemnation" has already been declared on sinful humanity.  What Jesus is here stating, in a brilliant application of the teaching behind His healing of the blind man, is that people who know they are blind and want to see, like this man, will be given sight.  While those who "see", or better, imagine that their sight is true, will be proven to be blind.  As Jesus explicitly declares in v. 9:41 - “If you were blind, you would have no sin; but now you say, ‘We see.’ Therefore your sin remains."  Their whole problem was that they thought they had sight... they didn't... and their pride blinded them to their own blindness.  Such is the insanity of sin.

Jesus also gave us some additional insights into the relationship between sin and misery in this world.  In Luke 13 Jesus told the disciples that the martyred Galileans were no worse sinners than anyone else and the 18 men crushed under a tower were not either.  But when Jesus spoke to the man he had healed at Bethesda, He told him "to go and sin no more lest a worse thing come upon you." (John 5:14)

Here in John 9, when asked about the man's blindness, Jesus calmly states: “Neither this man nor his parents sinned, but that the works of God should be revealed in him. 4 I must work the works of Him who sent Me while it is day; the night is coming when no one can work...”

Here Jesus teaches us that all of man's condition in this world, both in blessing and in suffering, is directed toward a higher-end - "that the works of God should be revealed..."  Jesus lived and walked in constant and immediate touch with the Father's ongoing works and purposes. (vs. 41 above) He, unlike us, did not see dimly.  He saw everything that was happening from a spiritual perspective and thus understood, not only what was happening, but why!  Thus this man's blindness, from birth, had been brought about so that Jesus would show forth God's love and mercy on Him.  His blindness was used to show forth the glory of the Living Christ.  This man's suffering had not been in vain.  We see him, unlike many of his fellows, boldly standing up to the Pharisees and declaring the obvious truth that he, no longer blind, saw:  John 9:25  He answered and said, “Whether He is a sinner or not I do not know. One thing I know: that though I was blind, now I see.” 

This man was terribly excited about the gift he had been given.  But, maybe at some point, his spiritual eyes may have been opened such that he actually rejoiced in being chosen to suffer.  I cannot imagine him subsequently shaking his fist at God  and saying: "Why didn't you heal me sooner?"  No, all of his life and all that he endured was now understood from a new perspective.  Paul would declare that all the persecution he endured was of no consequence compared to the crown that awaited him.  

How significantly this "sight" ought to shape our lives.  We have to at least wonder if our self-preoccupation and petulant complaining is not "blinding" us to our higher purpose.  God has a reason for us... and for all we face or encounter, both good and bad.  That higher purpose is such that gaining even a glimpse of it would empower and motivate us to godly responses and even a sense of joy, no matter what.

Perhaps, during this advent season, we might consider what Jesus' incarnation signified:  He came to restore the blind to sight... and prove the blindness of all those who refuse to see.  In doing so He opened up to us a new way of living and inspires us to a more noble manner of doing so.

John 7 & 8: The Light of the World

Image: "Accents", 2017, Severna Park, Md

John 7:37–39 On the last day, that great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried out, saying, “If anyone thirsts, let him come to Me and drink. 38 He who believes in Me, as the Scripture has said, out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.” 39 But this He spoke concerning the Spirit, whom those believing in Him would receive; for the Holy Spirit was not yet given, because Jesus was not yet glorified.

John 8:7–8  So when they continued asking Him, He raised Himself up and said to them, “He who is without sin among you, let him throw a stone at her first.” 8 And again He stooped down and wrote on the ground.

John 8:11  She said, “No one, Lord.” And Jesus said to her, “Neither do I condemn you; go and sin no more.”

John 8:12  Then Jesus spoke to them again, saying, “I am the light of the world. He who follows Me shall not walk in darkness, but have the light of life.”

John 8:24  Therefore I said to you that you will die in your sins; for if you do not believe that I am He, you will die in your sins.”

John 8:42  Jesus said to them, “If God were your Father, you would love Me, for I proceeded forth and came from God; nor have I come of Myself, but He sent Me.

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John's Gospel differs from the other "Synoptic" Gospels in many ways, not the least of which is its shift from "action" to "speaking."  Though John tells of some of Jesus' great "works", he only refers, somewhat obliquely, to the others we see in the Synoptics.  John's emphasis is on Jesus' self-disclosure and how Jesus went about giving it.  His record of Jesus' teachings is so much more personal.  In John we see Jesus confronting people with Himself and with the critical necessity that they are to believe in Him for Who He was.  Everything depends on what you believe about Jesus' Person.

In these chapters we see Jesus walking a fine line.  The key thing is that "His time was not fully come" (7:8)  and therefore, though He makes many strong statements about Himself, He never comes right out and says "I am the Christ... God in the flesh."  He always leaves just enough room that the hypocritical Pharisees are left scratching their heads.  The point He clearly makes though is that all hope of right standing with God is absolutely, essentially, grounded in how an individual relates to Jesus Himself.

"If anyone thirsts, let him come to ME and drink..."  The spiritual drought that characterizes the fallen world leaves mankind thirsting for refreshment.  We may seek to slake our inner yearning through manufactured "spirituality" or various religious schemes, but we soon discover this is like drinking ocean water while stranded on a life raft.  These things don't satisfy and, in fact, become deadly.  Only deep meditation and focus on the Christ of God will refresh our souls.

"I am the light of the world. He who follows ME shall not walk in darkness, but have the light of life.”  Fallen mankind yearns to understand himself and the world around him.  It becomes clear, quite early in life, that there are forces in the world that he does not understand.  Life is confusing.  Though sinfully yearning to make his own rules and follow his own heart, yet he understands that, somehow, there is a moral quality to the universe that he challenges at his peril.  He may call it "karma" or may seek to willfully deny its existence altogether like some philosophers, but, inevitably, he fears it.  This is the "darkness" of which Jesus speaks and Jesus is adamant, the only way out of the darkness is to follow HIM!  His leading, His teaching, His service.  These are where a person finds the light which opens up the world and enables him to make sense of it.  It is not adherence to a legal code, at its root. (7:16) It's about knowing the Lord Jesus Christ and diligently seeking to walk in His steps and emulate His character.

John 8:24  Therefore I said to you that you will die in your sins; for if you do not believe that I am He, you will die in your sins.”  Jesus teaches us that "our sins" are like a pit of quicksand.  We are "in it!"  And we are sinking, more or less slowly, but inevitably, apart from someone rescuing us.  I can think of very few circumstances more terrifying than knowing you are going to helplessly suffocate in one of these.

Jesus says that HE is the only hope.  A person has to see Him as such.  Apart from Him, we are doomed and our only hope is that HE is the one who can save us from judgment and death.  Jesus presents Himself as this ONE PERSON in the story of the adulterous woman.  All her earthly accusers have faded into the crowd, she only sees one Man, Jesus standing there and He says: "I do not judge you..." (i.e. "I do not condemn you.") If an individual believes that Jesus is the One Who has the authority and power to judge a person's life and heart, then that is what it means to "believe that I am He."  Jesus alone stands at the edge of the quicksand pit.  He alone reaches out a saving hand.  He alone can extend grace and mercy.

Finally, Jesus comes very close to full disclosure in John 8:58: Jesus said to them, “Most assuredly, I say to you, before Abraham was, I AM.”  Jesus not only declares His pre-existence before Abraham, but He also uses words undeniably linked to the Divine Name.  Here we stand in the spotlight.  Have we really embraced this?  Do we truly grasp the awesome significance of these thoughts?   Jesus is GOD!  John was overwhelmed by this truth.  It completely reordered his entire life.  Every aspect of his existence had to be subjugated and related to this truth.

As we prepare for Christmas, does this light shine in our darkness?  Are we too jaded to be astonished?  How do we understand ourselves and Jesus at this point, and how are we going to respond?

Everything that is important depends on our answers!

John 5 & 6: "Rise, Take Up Your Bed and Walk"

Image: "Christmas Past", 2017, Severna Park, Md

John 5:8–9 (NKJV)  Jesus said to him, “Rise, take up your bed and walk.” 9 And immediately the man was made well, took up his bed, and walked.

John 5:21  For as the Father raises the dead and gives life to them, even so the Son gives life to whom He will.

John 6:15  Therefore when Jesus perceived that they were about to come and take Him by force to make Him king, He departed again to the mountain by Himself alone.

John 6:35  And Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life. He who comes to Me shall never hunger, and he who believes in Me shall never thirst.

John 6:66  From that time many of His disciples went back and walked with Him no more.

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The story of Jesus' healing at the pool of Bethesda has fascinated me for years.  It is far too detailed to be a work of fancy if some non-believer should charge it as so.  It is also so forcefully human and sad to be any fantasy.  Here is a picture of suffering; a multitude of hurting people anxiously waiting at the edge of the pool for an "angel to stir the waters."  One can imagine the adrenaline rush that would happen when such an event occurred and the pushing and shoving that went on as each man in the crowd sought to be first into the water.

Even that scenario is fascinating and evokes so many questions in our minds.  But that is only the superficial level.  Imagine now that Jesus is passing by.  He stops and sees this man, one among the many, lying there.  He already knew that he "had been in that condition a long time." (5:6)  Immediately we are aroused to curiosity:  "Why HIM?"  In that mass of suffering, with a multitude of hurting, hopeless people, Jesus focused on him.  The story does not include any other healing at this event, we have to assume that Jesus left the others as they were.

But this man was marked out for healing. Jesus doesn't engage in a lot of flashy hocus-pocus movements.  He does not make a big scene of calling down power from heaven.  I wonder if some of those other hurting people were even aware of what happened until afterward.  Jesus simply said: "Rise, take up your bed and walk."  The man heard and obeyed... and walked. (5:8)

Sometime later Jesus encounters him in the temple.  Jesus walks up to him and adds to the fascination.  John 5:14  Afterward Jesus found him in the temple, and said to him, “See, you have been made well. Sin no more, lest a worse thing come upon you.” What was that?  "sin no more, lest something worse happens?"  What does this mean?  Was there some specific sin in this man's life that Jesus was calling out?  Was it a general condition of sin such that illness and deformity followed?   Jesus simply moves on and leaves the man to tell the Jews what had happened.

Something very deep is illustrated in this story.  Further down we read; John 6:44  No one can come to Me unless the Father who sent Me draws him, and I will raise him up at the last day.  I think this story highlights this teaching about God's sovereign grace.

In the mass of suffering humanity, we see the cumulative effects of sin.  Jesus linked sin to the possibility of "something worse" than being lame from birth happening to the man.  So we can generally conclude that all pain, suffering, and death itself, is the fruit of sin.  Thus man, all mankind, is illustrated by that crowd of humanity at that pool.  Their suffering is not unjust.  Far from it.  Each and every one of them, and each and every one of us, deserve far worse than anything we suffer in this age, just as Jesus hinted in his admonition to the man later.  So, it was not unjust for Jesus not to heal everyone.

But He did heal one!  Why him?  From 6:44 quoted above, we have to conclude that this man was one whom the Father had drawn to Him.  You might say: "Wait a minute, the guy was just lying there, Jesus came to him!"  Yes, exactly.  Divine encounters with Jesus are always a result of the prior movement of the Holy Spirit.  It was the Spirit who had placed this man at that pool.  It could have been first accomplished years ago, but it was still the Spirit who arranged for him to be present on this historic day.  That is why Jesus focused on Him.  Jesus said as much in 6:19 where He stated that He only did that which He saw the Father doing.  This healing, like every work of God, was the work of the entire Trinity.  It bore witness to the Trinity and specifically to the Son as One with the Trinity.  

So it is with those who are marked out for Eternal life.  The Spirit guides their steps, the Father sovereignly elects them from among the masses, and the Son effects the work.  Here is our astonishing situation:  For those of us who have been transformed by the command of Jesus, who have heard His spiritual voice commanding us to rise up and walk, we are assured that the entire Divine Trinity was fully involved and, therefore, the heavens were astonished at what was done in and for us, even as the crowds in that day were astonished at Jesus' works.

Here we face the last "Why?"  We can go no further.  "Why me" is the great question that is answered by no other factor than "because God the Father, Jesus the Son, and the Holy Ghost" all so desired it.  This is the Divine Counsel and God's Sovereign decree.  It is, and always will be, our most certain assurance.

 

 

John 4: Knowing What We Worship...

Image:  "Illumination", 2017, Hood Canal Bridge, Puget Sound, Wa - photographer: David Johanson

John 4:10  Jesus answered and said to her, “If you knew the gift of God, and who it is who says to you, ‘Give Me a drink,’ you would have asked Him, and He would have given you living water.”

John 4:31–32  In the meantime His disciples urged Him, saying, “Rabbi, eat.” 32 But He said to them, “I have food to eat of which you do not know.”

John 4:42  Then they said to the woman, “Now we believe, not because of what you said, for we ourselves have heard Him and we know that this is indeed the Christ, the Savior of the world.”

John 4:48  Then Jesus said to him, “Unless you people see signs and wonders, you will by no means believe.”

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Someone once said something like: "The most important thing in the world is to know what you don't know!"  There's probably some truth to that but, unfortunately, there is no earthly, physical way to bridge the gap.  For me to "know what I don't know" there would have to be some insight into the whole category of things "I don't know."  Immediately upon identifying some object of knowledge that "I don't know" means, paradoxically, that I do know something about it.  I know it is one of the things that I don't know.  As soon as we identify something "we don't know" then it is possible to find a way to "know" it, or more precisely, to "know more about it" since we already know something about it.

Now the point is this:  At any given instant, for all of us, the sum total of stuff we "don't know" far exceeds the amount of what we "do know."  We live and function in more-or-less blissful ignorance of the infinitude of objects of knowledge that comprise our environment.  The delight of "learning" is that of "being awakened", not to something new but rather to something that was always there but not known to us.

John chapter 4 has a recurring theme of "knowing" or "not knowing."  The Samaritan woman did not "know" who it was that asked her for a drink of water.  Now, being a woman of the world and one very used to the harsh reality of life, she might have initially disputed that.  As she approached that well she saw a man who was a Jew.  Immediately that put this man into a well-understood framework in her mind.  She evidently was on the bottom of the social scale since she came to the well at a time none of the other Samaritan women would have come and she came alone.  She was used to ill-treatment and bitter comments.  She had been used by many men, as Jesus said later, and therefore, as a hard-bitten realist, she already "knew" what to expect from this (1) man and (2) a Jew at that.

What she didn't know was what she didn't know.  Jesus was indeed a man but He was far different than any man she had ever encountered, and Jesus was indeed a Jew but He was the only true Jew.  He was what the Jewish race was supposed to be and He was the fulfillment of what Jewish manhood.  So, this woman was misled by what she thought she "knew."  The reality of Jesus' Person was entirely beyond her ability to conceive... it required a supernatural breakthrough for her to grasp the truth that Jesus was indeed the Messiah.

When that happened no wonder she ran off to tell all those people back in town.

Jesus, when He was speaking to her also showed that she belonged to an entire category of people who don't know what they don't know.  John 4:22  You worship what you do not know; we know what we worship, for salvation is of the Jews. The entire Samaritan culture, including its worship, was built on false knowledge.  They "worship what you do not know."  Notice the implications of this sentence.

How many times when people embark upon worship, of whatever religion but also in Christianity, do they approach it in a manner similar to the woman seeing Jesus at the well.  They undertake to worship but everything they are thinking about the "object" of their worship is built upon a worldly framework.  They think of "God" in a manner more influenced by their culture than by some direct insight or intuition or experience of God.  They have not had the light shine into their darkness.  Even when thinking about a Person called Jesus, are they speaking of One Whom they know, or of some Jewish man/god that lived 2000 years ago, or at least as the common legend said He did.

When we come to Christmas, are we really worshiping what we know?  Do we "know" Jesus as the source of living water come into the world for the purpose of sharing that "water" with people on the same social scale as this previously wretched Samaritan woman?

Where is our moment of illumination when the curtains of our understanding are pulled away and we suddenly "know" what was always there but which was "unknown" to us?  There has to be some form of recognized transformation that comes when, astonishingly, Jesus reveals Himself to us in words similar to "I who speak to you am He." (vs. 26)

When we read the Bible do we have such moments when, with astonishment, we say: "I have read this verse a thousand times and yet, I never really knew that!"  So, it is with worship.  There is the common practice that may be so familiar to us. But... in that practice, as comforting as it may be, do we really know what we are worshiping?

The Samaritan people "knew" Jesus was special based on what the woman told them, but there came a time when they said: "...we ourselves have heard Him and we know that this is indeed the Christ, the Savior of the world.” This must be our testimony also.  We must "know" Him for ourselves.