No Shame

Genesis 2:24-25

What is to explain the powerful drive toward sexual union? The answer of this text is that we began as one flesh, so have a desire to be joined together. This is a drive that overtakes even ties to the parental home. Sexual union is part of creation.

Shame and all the other angst that can be part of sexual relations is a sign that creation as it was intended is out of kilter. There are powerful drives and emotions here, which may be partly to explain why the church historically has had such a problem dealing with it. Sexual sin seems to have a special obsession. I mean, when was the last time you saw a news report about a church body having extended debate about poverty or the environment, to the same extent we end up debating sex stuff?

The sex stuff is important. As the preamble to the marriage vows in my church observes, “Marriage is a sign of the kingdom of God on earth.” The drive toward union may be a sign of the God’s intended design to bring all things together in him. Physical sex is like fire – vital and beautiful within God’s design, but dangerous and destructive when taken out of context, particularly when it becomes pornographic. That is to say, when the drive itself is what is focused on instead of being part of a relationship. That leads to the objectification of persons, leading often to the linking of sex with control and violence.

Sexual relations are where issues of trust become particularly important. Sexual sin is serious because it invariably involves – and perhaps may even be defined by – a betrayal of trust. The gift of sex is best celebrated, on the other hand, within a relationship of complete trust and growth together, in which two people can be naked together in every way, and not be ashamed.

Prayer:
God of love, you lavish on us an extravagance of all kinds of gifts. Among them is this gift of great pleasure. You are a God who intends joy for us in our service and friendship together in all kinds of ways. You truly are great and to be praised. Thank you. Through Christ. Amen.

The Mysterious Other

Genesis 2:18-25

Poor Adam. He has no “helper.” Now, I know one meaning of that word very well. I’ve done enough crummy jobs to know that a helper is the guy who does what the boss doesn’t want to be bothered with. But this goes back to the fact that it’s just not a good thing to be alone.

From the available parties, no one quite qualifies. God himself is, well, God. The man needs some companionship a bit more on his own level (although that will come even from God.) The companionship he needs is not going to come from among the animals he has had the privilege of naming either.

So something totally wonderful happens. He gets a companion who is both her own person and yet is also intimately connected to him by origin. The culture out of which the writing comes is of course scandalously patriarchal by today’s thinking. But we need to cut through that to the beautiful mystery at the heart of this: There is something deep within us that longs for union. That union is best lived if it includes respect for the mystery of the other. We are deeply connected, and yet are individuals. By some wondrous irony of God’s design, we are more connected by respecting the mystery of one another than if we make a lot of really crude assumptions about people. I don’t really need to know everything about you. It’s nice to get the end product of your appreciation of bad puns, Bach, and anything chocolate (or whatever some of your favorite things are). If you choose to let me know about anything deeper that’s up to you, and I am honoured by your sharing.

More tomorrow on the sexuality aspect of this passage.

Prayer:
God of all, I thank you for the personhood of each person sharing in this prayer with me. Through Christ in whom we are complete. Amen.

Streaming

Genesis 2:8-17

The picture is one of spreading blessing. The trees in the middle of the garden will come up again later. A couple of things here:
1. There was work to do. Work is honourable and intended for people from the beginning. The man was to take care of the garden.
2. The garden is connected to the rest of the world by means of the rivers: living, flowing energy. This image will be picked up more through Scripture, in Ezekiel 47:1-12 and Revelation 22:1-5. Every time, the image conveys the intended design of God that where his dwelling is acknowledged, it is a source of blessing for all that is around.

Prayer:
God of all, I am reminded that there is nothing that comes from me. There is only stuff that passes through. I haven’t had an original thought in my life. Nothing good I have done started with me. Yet you give me the privilege of having a part in shaping things along the way, and yet not me except as part of a community. The whole thing is multiplied by all taking part in it. What a river, what a God. Amen.

Becoming

Genesis 2:4-7

We head ever deeper into a story, a road traveled. There is important teaching here, but the teaching is not prior to the story. In other words, it is not moralistic in the sense that someone said something like, ‘I want to teach this so I’m going to tell this story to convey it.’ It’s more like real life, because that’s what it is. There are things to be discerned in our own stories, but our life stories are not concoctions to convey points. God could do that, but he seems to take our personhood more seriously than that.

We should be prepared, therefore, to find more questions raised than answers provided. But the more we are drawn into it, the more we will see ourselves in it, be drawn together and to the author. The answers we seek will come from living that story together.

We are living beings because of the breath (the same word can be translated ‘spirit’ or ‘wind’) of God in us. We can depend on him for the inspiration we need in every respect.

Prayer:
Your Word is so full of wonder, God. It has all the excitement of fantasy, but is even more intriguing and involving because it is anything but fantasy. May your Word fill my heart as well as my mind, that my understanding may come from closeness with you. Through Christ. Amen.

Sabbath

Genesis 2:1-3

Creation came into being through gracious speaking. Now God provides for the creation’s reflection on life as a gift. Sabbath rest remains a reminder that life does not depend on us and our self-seeking. It may come as a shock to some of us that the world will not fall apart if we bring a halt to our endeavours. The word relies on God’s Word and God’s commitment, not on us. It’s a way for us to say, “It’s not about me.” It is, beyond that, a welcome break from every effort we might be inclined to make to remake the world, the people around us, the organizations we’re part of, in our own image. Some of us need to be relieved of the burden of thinking nothing will work right without our stamp on it. The world has already been made, and claimed. Praise God.

Prayer:
Remind me that observing Sabbath rest is more than just showing up for worship. Let me truly rest, let go, shun the normal things of the week, get back to what it’s really about, and be remade. Let my every prayer be a Sabbath moment. Through Christ. Amen.

Ruling through Serving

Genesis 1:28-31


Man ruling as God’s representative, but with no blood shed, not even for food: That was the picture in the beginning. This is a kind of ruling we don’t usually think of, the kind the ensuing pages of Scripture will picture as shepherding. It will be embodied by the one who will rule over all, but who counted the position of ruler to be nothing (Philippians 2:5-7). There is subduing (verse 28) that is about subjugating, and there is subduing that is about instilling a spirit of peace, the biblical ‘shalom’, which is about well-being in every respect.

Prayer:
God, you make pretty clear how we are supposed to exercise whatever authority you entrust to us. If your own Son said he came not to be served but to serve, what does that say about me? In Him. Amen.

God's Image

Genesis 1:24-27

The land animals other than humankind have their own attention and blessing. But then man is made in God’s image. The cultural context of the writing is one which abhors any idea of a humanly-fashioned image of God (e.g. Exodus 20:4). Man, instead, is made in the image of God: a living, breathing, social entity. This is linked directly to his stewardship of the rest of the creation. Man is to be God’s responsible representative, standing for God and bearing his character in the world.

If the passage looks toward humanity’s care for the rest of creation, it should be a no-brainer that humans care for one another, a forgone prerequisite. Something, it is painfully obvious on this date, has gone horribly, horribly wrong.

Prayer:
God, why is your image so distorted? Would you turn hearts to you, toward the new man, the first-born of a new creation? Turn me nearer to you and to be part with others of what it is to be your image, as I welcome your Son more fully to be your new life in me. Amen.

Teeming

Genesis 1:20-23

Abundance. Not a word you hear a lot in normal conversation but it’s what this passage exudes. God just gives the word, and all sorts of living things respond with their own worshipful movement and language – the broadly inclusive scope of this is underlined by the mention, first, of mythical sea-creatures, which presumably live far from the experience of humankind that likes to see itself as the centre of things (he/she’s not even on the scene yet, and look at all the blessing of life there is!).

Prayer:
God, forgive us for looking at the rest of creation as being for our selfish use. We can see the results. We rightly worship only you, but we also honour you by respecting every part of your creation. Let me see what I’m doing today with what is the home for all your creatures, and ask what could be different. In Jesus. Amen.

Day and Night Lights

Genesis 1:14-19

The lights appearing in the sky are described in functional terms. They serve a purpose. They do not have the divine status that they might have in some world views that would surround Israel. It’s intriguing that the sun and moon are not named. Maybe it has something to do with the fact that those names would be the names of gods for some. However significant the lights in the sky are in their function, we are to see that they do not compare with the light that is before them and of which they can only be a reflection.

Prayer:
God, when the circumstances and round of events of this life seem overwhelming, remind me that my worth and my destiny need not be determined by present circumstances. Your call to let there be light still echoes. That call is prior to and more powerful than anything else that might seem to be regulating my life. With you all things truly are possible. Open my heart and mind to your possibilities. Through Christ. Amen.

DeFence

Genesis 1:9-13

The third day completes the ordering of the waters, by gathering the water that is under the sky to allow dry ground appear.
The picture that remains is of chaos and danger all around the edges of the world that is to be inhabited. It previews a condition of there being something, on an ongoing basis, hostile to God and his responding creation. But the creation can be assured God is watching over this situation and has power over it, power exercised for the creation’s blessing (Psalm 104:7-13).
The note about the varieties of plants indicates the order and beauty God intends for his creation.

Prayer:
God, may I love your beauty, and the beauty of all that you have made. There is something of that darkness and chaos within, however. I have done my share of cooperating with that which would work against the joy you intend. The light is good. Your design is wonderful. Your purposes will not fail. Let me love the right things. Through Christ. Amen.

Making a Place

Genesis 1:6-8

On the second day God made the “expanse” or firmament to separate the waters above the earth from the waters below. At the time of writing people thought of the sky as a kind of upside down bowl made of hammered out metal. Attached to this were the lights regulating day and night.

Although we see the physical world differently now, the most basic reality is the same. As in the other days of creation, we see creation as living and able and willing to respond to the voice of the creator (“Let there be …”). The recurring refrain that God saw that it was good is the cue for subsequent life and living as a matter of worship and celebration. It expresses that life is a matter of God’s calling and the creation’s (including us) joyful response. What a vibrant view of what life is about!

The separation of the watery chaos is the beginning of the establishing a place for God’s creatures to enjoy his love. And one variety of his creatures will have the great privilege of being able to respond to him in intelligible ways: ways of worship, growth, service and echoing the whole response to others.

Prayer:
God, we know of so many who think they don’t matter, that there is no place for them in this world. How that must sadden you. Use us, use me, to spread the word in every way about what you have done, and live out your actions in what we say and do. Through Christ. Amen.

By His Will

Genesis 1:3-5

God spoke and it came to be. There was light We would note that there are yet no light-giving bodies. The NIV Study Bible notes that this light enables us to perceive the rest of his creation, and gives life. It is God speaking to us that brings light and life. He still calls for light, and those who hear and allow his voice to work in them are filled with light and life, and pass on light and life.

But what is described here is not merely metaphor for what God does on an ongoing basis. This is a critical point. I said yesterday that what we find here is not history or science as we usually understand them, but there was a beginning, as red saucer notes. We don’t understand the particulars of that – whether God’s days were 24 hour days or seasons of development doesn’t matter. The point is it happened, and still happens, because there is a God who willed it, and spoke these realities into being. Why? We will see that he was preparing a place for a people to love, a people who would be his image in mirroring his light-giving love in their daily lives. But I’m jumping way ahead.

Prayer:
God, thank you that you purposed to bring about what we see and know. What are we doing with it? Amen.

In the Beginning

Genesis 1:1-2

I spent a term in university studying the first eleven chapters of Genesis in Hebrew. I remember the professor saying he believed in creation ex nihilo – that God created the universe out of nothing – but that you can’t draw that belief from this text. (You can combine it though with, say, Ephesians 1:3-4, which celebrates that God knew us before the creation of the world!)

I believe the professor was right on both points. To believe that these verses give us that teaching would require us to take verse 1 leading chronologically to verse 2. More likely verse 1 is a kind of title, or summation in advance. The writing comes from a faith community which already had rich experience of the sovereignty of God over the elements (e.g. Exodus 15:1-21), and his exercising of that sovereignty for the building of a community that would be focused on him and be the means of witness to the world.

Make no mistake, we can stake our lives on the truth of these words, but they are neither history nor science in the way we usually understand those things. So the next few weeks will in many ways be an explanation of the previous sentence (some of you are saying, “You’d better explain it!”).

To God be the glory.

Prayer:
God, with relief and joy I celebrate that you specialize in bringing beauty and life out of chaos and darkness. The slightest breeze of your Spirit makes a huge difference in favour of life. The darkness stirs so easily within, yet is no match for your welcomed Spirit, or the slightest beam of your light. I know I will get what I truly desire. May I prefer your beauty over the chaos of my own making. Through Christ. Amen.

Resuming

Through my time away from work I finished going through John and I re-read Philippians, since it is the Scriptural basis of the Beta study group that has carried on through the summer. Now I think I’ll work through Genesis.

That will begin with the next entry. Now just let me briefly finish off commenting on John.

What comes after the last part I commented on in John is the appearance to Thomas. This section (John 20:19-31) contains the basic theme of John: “Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed” (verse 29). John conveys that it is just as possible for us to believe as those who walked with Jesus. This is possible because of the gift of the Holy Spirit (verse 19). That gift laid on the disciples, then and now, the joyful imperative of being midwives for others to new life in Christ, as the next chapter with its fishing scenes underlines, along with demonstrating the reality of the fellowship of the risen Christ with the disciples, even though he was transformed.

I recommend some time soaking in the poignant scene of the restoration of Peter in chapter 21, along with considering what a great mission he had for him.

On another note (pardon the pun), I spent a good chunk of my vacation time finishing off some recording, finally getting Melissa to record one track, which has been heard on Life 100.3’s Praise and Worship Sunday. I’m already plotting out the next project, with lessons learned from the long time working on this one. I’ve learned a lot technically, and, I think, about what will make something commercially viable. It’s tempting to go back and rework much of what we’ve done but I think I’ll let this project stand for what it is and apply the lessons to the next project – e.g., get Melissa on lead for more of it with more ‘stand-out’ vocals, get hold of a for-real recording mic, and generally just get more edge to everything (the test will be if our boys really want to listen to it!). So Mondays will be for working on that. You can hear three of our tracks on the Knox website (“Turn a Life Around” is the one that’s been on the radio).

See you next entry and we’ll plunge into Genesis!

His Voice and Your Name

John 20:10-18

Back in John 10 we read that the Good Shepherd knows his sheep and the sheep know his voice. This moving episode connects knowing Jesus’ voice with his speaking our name. Last time I wrote I talked about experiencing the risen Lord as the determining factor in coming to faith, but that there are as many ways of coming to that experience as there are people.
I admit some speculation here, but I like to think that when Jesus speaks your name to call you to be part of his mission (faith is not the goal in itself), he considers very much who you are. That of course has everything to do with what the nature of your ministry and mission will be, as part of his overall plan. Why would that consideration of who you are not also apply to how you are called to faith, as the beginning of that venture? If want to hear him, but haven’t, it may be you are expecting something like what other people have experienced.

Prayer:
Wonderful God, thank you that you see us and value us each as individuals. You call us into community with you and others, and that community is all the stronger and all the more beautiful and powerful in the world, because you take seriously our individual experience and character. Let us encourage one another accordingly. Through Christ. Amen.

Random Access Mercy

John 20:1-9

John notes that he (I’m assuming “the other disciple” is John) and Peter still did not understand from Scripture that Jesus had to rise from the dead. In chapter 19, however, it seems John did put two and two together from Scripture and what he was experiencing, so I’m supposing that verse 9 here means that at that point they hadn’t pieced things together.

It seems to me that there is something very important here about our understanding of coming to faith. That is there is no set order of things. There is, however, one critical factor, and that is an experience of the risen Christ – and here it is not even direct contact with the risen Jesus (as it will be in subsequent verses). This is hugely important for us, since we don’t have the same contact with the risen Lord that we’ll find that Mary had, or the disciples Jesus subsequently appeared to. In fact this is a key, maybe the key point for John in his writing of this Gospel. At 20:28-29 (we’ll dwell on it more when we get there) there comes a great climax with his record of Jesus saying, “Blessed are those who have not seen, and yet believe.” My own take on the past tense there (have not seen) is that Jesus is speaking from his glorified perspective and taking in the whole scope of what is to come.

What it means: There is hope for us all. We can, any one of us, experience the reality of the risen Lord. Whatever else the Lord leads us through toward that, or beyond it, that is the one critical factor in our coming to faith. How that comes is as varied as our exerience, but it must be acknowledged (as with the doubter, Thomas, John 20:28) and then built on. That’s when we delve deeper into the Scriptures to help us put the pieces of our experience and of Biblically-illuminated history together. That’s when we turn to intentional Christian fellowship and growth opportunities. That’s when we develop spiritual habits of prayer, giving, study, meditation. We are led, we are all brought (John 10:16) into a growing, transforming relationship with Jesus Christ.

The person who is truly free is the one who lets nothing: no religious formulas, no guilt, no fear, no modesty or conceit, no present experience, no burden of intellect or lack of learning or experience stand in the way of the universally available experience of the risen Jesus, who died and rose again for the whole world.

I believe it follows from this that spiritual experience is non-linear. We tend to have our experience ordered from one event, one life-experience or development to the next. God can and does break into our experience and our self-imposed order of things and expectations at any time. That can even mean (and this can be the tough part), that even what is experienced as painful can become the means of bringing something new, revealing, and empowering to our life. Or, especially as we live prayerfully, he can just surprise us with unexpected gifts of peace, joy, or turn our head to some new path.

Prayer:
Teach me, Lord, to expect to be surprised by your grace. Amen.

Emerging from the Shadows

John 19:38-42

We have just experienced the witness of the disciple, probably John himself, who knew the Scriptural background of the stark events in front of him (John 19:35-37). Now we see maybe a different kind of believer, at least in how belief comes. Both Joseph of Arimathea and Nicodemus seem to emerge from the shadows, like figures who have been keeping close watch and now step into the scene. Maybe this is not to suggest cowardice but simply caution, the kind of caution exercised by those who have lived much and are wary of disappointment, betrayal, and things that just seem to good to be true. Now, it would seem, they are convinced, and they do what they can in the moment.

Prayer:
Lord, let me never judge how people come to faith. You are the author of their journey. Those you have already given faith have the greatest of privileges: to be present at a birth. Thank you for leading Joseph and Nicodemus out of the shadows into the light of truth. Give courage to countless souls today who are hanging back, wondering what you are about, highly suspicious of your church, afraid of being burned. Let our compassion for them be your compassion for us all. Through Christ. Amen.

The Symbol in the Reality

John 19:31-37

We have observed numerous times through reading John’s Gospel that the disciples were missing a grasp of who and what Jesus really was until he would rise again. What he said and did would fall into place, and even at that with the empowerment and understanding that the Holy Spirit would bring.

Here faith is realized through his death, without any reference toward what would yet come. It was enough for the one bearing testimony to the death that he saw in it the fulfillment of Scripture, and a conviction coming from simply being present at the scene, impressed especially by the flow of blood and water from Jesus’ side. This is both evidence of the reality of his death (so medical types tell me), and a built-in symbol of the life of the church he was giving birth to with his death: with water and blood becoming the central symbols of salvation, in the sacraments of baptism and eucharist. The poignant combination of hard reality and profoundly elegant symbolism – all in one horrible act – could only be the work and message of God himself.

Prayer:
God of both mystery and truth, I submit all that I consider real and important to your reality and your purposes. May it be so today and always. Through Jesus. Amen.

Finished

John 19:28-30

Jesus came with a mission of universal scope, yet also showed personal concern for the one who had brought him into this world. With his mother cared for, events accelerated.
His thirst was real and severe. There is one more indication here that all of this was in accordance with a divine plan, since Scripture had anticipated even the thirst (Psalm 22:15).
There was sour wine (“vinegar”) at hand. A sponge was soaked with it and held up to Jesus’ mouth. The presence of hyssop in the incident further points to the broader scope of what is happening here, since hyssop was associated with sacrifice (Exodus 12:22).

“It is finished” refers to more than the present agony, more than Jesus’ life, to the purpose for which Jesus’ came, accomplishing death for the sins of the world.

Prayer:
Lord, if we would all stop long enough to ponder what you accomplished, how different things would be. But then, I stop and ponder and still act at times like it never happened. So I thank you further that you do not give up on me, on us. Keep your cross before me, to remind me of the extent of your love. Amen.

Four Men and Four Women

John 19:23-27

John notes what transpired with the soldiers and Jesus’ clothing. This further underscores that those directly responsible for the action in these events are unwittingly part of a greater drama, since there is here a fulfillment of Psalm 22:18.
In contrast to the callousness of the four soldiers there are four faithful women standing by.
Perhaps for those of us who have been part of recent discussion about the Da Vinci Code book and movie, there is a footnote here that the church Jesus was establishing was in no way intended to be so partriarchal as it turned out to be.
At any rate, as I just let these few verses soak in a bit, the word that floats to the surface for me is “treasure,” a treasure undiminished by the soldiers, and pointed to in the sense of passing on of responsibility for the sharing of light and truth, present in the faithful ones standing by the cross.

Prayer:
Lord, we confess that we demean you when we become preoccupied with the various forms of clothing we put the Gospel in. Help me to treasure and live and grown in the treasure at the heart of everything, the reality your transforming presence in Jesus Christ. Amen.

Gracious Invasion

John 19:17-22

The irony continues to the end. The title of king written over Jesus helps Pilate justify having Jesus crucified – suggesting he was an insurgent aspiring to kingship, even though he himself had tried to demonstrate Jesus was far from this kind of threat. Pilate would not have realized that Jesus could have chosen to be that kind of king. What is meant as condemnation and degradation appears as truth in a different light. His death between two criminals portrays his oneness with sinners. The languages the sign was written in help to indicate Jesus truly was and is a king for all peoples. In Pilate’s refusal to change the sign, he is used to show that Jesus actually did go to his death as a king.

Prayer:
Occupy my heart, King Jesus. Invade all our spaces. Assert your sovereignty over my thoughts and actions. You be king. Let me be more like you in your servanthood. Amen.

Power Play

John 19:1-16

The deeper the hatred, the more the words and actions are turned to God’s purposes. The most telling part is this regard is verse 11, where Jesus tells Pilate his power is not his own.
Still bewildered by all this, Pilate apparently hopes that the flogging will make Jesus seem so pathetic as to be ludicrous as a king figure, and a threat to no one. But the taste of their obscene victory being at hand, the enemies of Jesus press on – to the point of an otherwise unthinkable outburst about having no king but Caesar - and Pilate’s stew of sympathy, superstition, and self-preservation leads him to hand Jesus over.

Prayer:
So many power-plays at work in the world, Lord, all so oblivious to the smallness of the plans at work in comparison to your grand pland and your working through it all: plots to wreak havoc here; individuals pulling strings here and there – kidding themselves that there is some motive of good behind it; sad young people plotting destruction because of cruel slights against them: it’s all about power in one way or another; rarely is it what it seems to be, whether ostensibly good or undisguisedly evil. Expose it all, Lord. Show your power; manifest your grace; exercise your judgment through your unfailing light that shows all for what it is. Through Your Son. Amen.

The Sinful Manipulatee

John 18:28-40

The enemies of Jesus were determined not only that he die, but that he die by crucifixion, and therefore as one cursed (Deuteronomy 21:23). We see here the irony of the enemies of Jesus fulfilling God’s purpose – with his Son receiving the curse that would justly fall on rebellious humanity.
Pilate just wants the whole business to go away. He has nothing against Jesus but will do whatever he needs to do to avoid trouble, so he goes along with the plot. When he asks, “What is truth?” it almost seems like he asks it as he is turning away, with the cynic’s attitude that truth has nothing to do with much of anything. Life is for him more a matter of expediency, survival. The truth is much different, and much more than that. Pilate’s question seems to me more than ever not a seeking of light but a symptom of darkness. Meanwhile the truth and the light is before him. And the darkness will not overcome it.

Prayer:
What elaborate schemes your creatures concoct, God. What twisting of facts, manipulation of circumstances and people your creatures put in motion in order to promote and preserve status, prestige, a sense of superiority, influence and control. Let your light overwhelm it all. Amen.

Released by His Presence

John 18:12-27

It’s bad enough to undergo a humiliating interrogation. It’s worse if the interrogation will be used to know how to be all the more effective in an ensuing trial. Add to that the betrayal by a disciple, the denial of knowing you from another, and the running away of still others.

The one who went through such things is certainly equipped to carry us through times of a similar character. Why do we call such times “trials?” Maybe because we feel judged as persons, with our worth challenged, because of troubles we go through. That becomes a vicious circle because then you feel less like sharing your burden with others because of what you imagine they might think of you. And we all know things are worse when we try to deal with them alone.

We can start breaking such a pattern by recognizing the one who carried our sorrows (Isaiah 53:3-5) is with us even before we ask.

Prayer:
Thank you, Jesus, that you are beside me even when I forget to acknowledge you. I even deny you in my words and actions, and yet you do not forsake me. Release us more to one another and we recognize your own gracious presence with us. Amen.

His Choice

John 18:1-11

It seems every moment, every action, every word in Jesus’ life has its own power. Such a moment came when the soldiers fell back to the ground as Jesus confirmed his identity – an affirmation of that identity, and a confirmation of what Jesus had said earlier about laying down his life of his own accord, as a matter of doing the Father’s will. No one took Jesus’ life; he laid it down (John 10:17-18). At any time in what now transpires, Jesus could have said, “stop.” His determination is signaled immediately as he stops Peter from interfering in his arrest.

Prayer:
Jesus, Lord and Friend, give me even an ounce of your resolve and determination to meet the ordinary challenges and opportunities of this day. I pray for people undergoing personal trials, or concerned for people who are. May they know and experience the power and purpose of your friendship. Most of all I thank you that your resolve gave all humanity the opportunity of a new start. Amen.

Connecting

John 17:20-26

Most of us know a lot of people. But how many people do you really know? Who really knows you?

There is unity, a bond, with God and one another for which we have an inborn longing. As Jesus approached his death, he prayed that all who knew him and would yet know him would be bound together and united in him with the same unity and purpose that flowed from the Father to and through him.

You can know all kinds of people, but we enjoy a true bond with others in being united with Jesus in the same way he is united with the Father.

Prayer:
How different life can be, Lord, from the disconnected, restless, aimless existence so many people settle for – so often because they just have no opportunity for anything else, and because your church has been so distant from their lives. Help me – all of us - ever more to be part of your moving in the world, conveying that movement and purpose in word and living to our children, and sharing it together in and through our church family to the aimless souls all around. Never let us settle for anything else. In Christ. Amen.

Sanctified, Not Weird

John 17:6-19

Sanctify. Christ-followers are to be sanctified. How? By the truth, specifically God’s Word (verse 17). What does “sanctify” mean? Well, I guess you could work backwards: It’s what happens when you let the truth that – or who – is God’s Word have its/his way with you. At least that’s a way to keep from getting put off by any baggage you might associate with the word “sanctify.”

One of the things I like about a less formal way of doing church is that it becomes a symbol of what sanctify means: It’s not an add on, like vestments or processions and responses now seem to be to me, but rather it has to do with what we allow God to build into our everyday life and living. How? Spend time in God’s Word. Don’t settle for what some guy writes about Scripture. Soak it up for yourself. And be sanctified.

Prayer:
Wonderful God, thank you that we can receive your Word together, and as a very personal matter. Let your truth shape my next hour, my next day, and reveal to me my destiny as being yours. Through Christ. Amen.

Glorious Loser

John 17:1-5

In Old Testament times God’s glory was understood to have a visual aspect. God’s glory in its fullness was unbearable to look at (Exodus 34:33-35). But Paul talked about Christians increasingly reflecting the Lord’s glory (2 Corinthians 3:18).

This may be a clue to understanding Jesus’ words here. The emphasis here, I believe, is that Jesus wants to be the means of making God’s glory plain. The disciples have just commented they now find Jesus speaking more plainly (which has more to do with their increasing perception that Jesus’ speech). Now it will be visually plainer that God’s glory is revealed in Jesus - starkly, on the cross. God’s glory is his persistent love for a humanity that largely rejects him. Jesus is now completing the task of making that love graphically visual. He will then return (verse 5) to the position with the Father from which he came. His glory is most clearly known in seeing both sides of his glory – his rightful place with the Father, and his choice to subject himself to complete ingloriousness for our sake.

Prayer:
God, I think of the way we tend to think of glory – achievement, recognition, and comparison, especially comparison. How much do we stop to think about human glory being about comparison with others - as the best, as winners (meaning there are losers)? Help us to know and reflect your glory. Through Jesus. Amen.

A Clear Path

John 16:23-33

We pray “through Jesus Christ” and “in Jesus’ name,” but this passage portays direct access to the Father, made possible because Jesus made himself one with us, and then returned to the Father. He activated the terminals at both ends. We pray “through Jesus” not so much because he takes our questions, pleas and praises and looks them over and passes them on, but because he has cleared the path. As we are “in” Jesus through acknowledging him as Lord, how can the heavenly Father ignore us (even if he were of a mind to)? When he sees us, he sees his Son. He treats us as his very own children, through adoption with Jesus as our brother.

Prayer:
God, thank you for bridging the enormousness of the gap between you and me. Through Jesus. Amen.

Use Your Joy

John 16:16-22

The disciples, Jesus warns, are about to experience intense grief. Not only will they see Jesus die in an apparent defeat, that defeat will represent an apparent win by the forces against him. But he wants them to know that this will lead to vindication and enduring joy. The vindication will not be of a “so there” variety, but rather a celebration of promise fulfilled, that the truth and light highlighted throughout this Gospel will win out. It is anything but vindication of the “so there” variety because the ministry of those vindicated will be to the world that appeared to win against him and them. But they will have with them – as may we have – a deep and abiding joy.

This is no fading glory type victory (like for, say, the Carolina Hurricanes), but just the beginning of an adventure. They will take the joy of knowing truth and light with them. In Christ, we know we have a place with God. This is a hardly a matter of smugness or better-than-othersness, because it’s all of his doing. We don’t have to do anything more to gain that place; it’s already ours. As noted yesterday, Christians, as the Body of the Risen Christ who loves the world, have a great responsibility toward a world that largely will reject and even mock our efforts. But the responsibility is beautifully wrapped up inside the joy.

Prayer:
Jesus, thank you that my salvation is not my responsibility. But I sense that my joy in it is my responsibility, my choice, my decision. I can choose to wear this responsibility heavily, somberly, and so fulfill it ineffectively; or I can make it my life’s breath, with a spirit that is lighter than air. Since you’ve promised I won’t lose it, I choose joy. Amen.

Shot Deflection

John 16:5-15

One role of the Spirit is to convict the world of its sin. But wait. How is the conviction announced? We have to note that when the Spirit came in place of Jesus’ bodily presence, it made no difference to the world. The court proceedings evidently take place in the mind and heart and ministry of the disciples. The church has a ‘conviction’ of the sin and guilt of the world. God, for the time being, does not judge the world for being the world. It doesn’t know any better. He loads all the responsibility for it onto the Body to which the conviction is made known.

Prayer:
Lord, some of us find it so ironic that our friends see our Christianity as a crutch. Thank you that there is indeed wonderful and certain comfort, assurance and encouragement in our faith. But it comes in the course of fulfilling a critical purpose: being your ambassadors to a world that you persist in loving even though it rebels against you. Help us all to know our part. Through Jesus. Amen.

Stirred, Not Shaken

John 16:1-4

Jesus mentions twice in this little section (verses 1 and 4) why he is warning the disciples about the persecution they will face. It is so they will not be shaken out of their faith. This connects with the role of the “Counselor” as described in John 14:25-27. When Jesus is no longer physically with them the Spirit will keep them in the Truth and give them peace.

One can imagine how necessary and powerful this would have been for the disciples to recall in the wake of the resurrection. It might have seemed that they should be entering an era of bliss, and yet worldly troubles would still haunt them. There is a parallel in this for the person coming into faith, who will find that Christians experience the same kind of trials and disappointments as the rest of the world. The tension may be all the more acute because of the power of darkness that wants to use the circumstances of this world to shake our faith, just when it is most needed.

Prayer:
God, breathe your Spirit in us when something disturbs the expected pattern of life, when peace is fractured and hopes are tattered. Thank you for the support and friendship you provide. Let there be light. In Jesus. Amen.

Acceptance

John 15:18-27

Hate is such an ugly word. I hate it.
I am grateful, however, that my body hates germs. There is stuff in my blood that hates germs and works to kill them off because the stuff knows those germs don’t belong in my body. People who do transplants have to take this into account and work around it or counteract it (I have no idea how they do that) without forever preventing the body from fighting off stuff it should fight. It’s an amazing and heroic thing to accomplish.
It would seem that Jesus is a foreign body to the world, and so also are those who are “in” him. The world tries to reject him and those who are in him. Funny, we don’t mention this in church ads.
How did Jesus handle this? He let the world reject him, and then came back and gave us the job of spreading his wonderfully illogical love for the world that rejected him.

Prayer:
There is so much sense of rejection everywhere, Lord Jesus, and so much need for simple acceptance and unconditional love. Thank you for bearing rejection for us all, and for accepting me as I am. Help me live and convey your Spirit of acceptance, and grow together with others into what you know we can yet be. Amen.

Sap In Your Veins

John 15:1-17

The image of the vine brings forward the importance and imperative of fruitfulness in Christian life. The fruitfulness of Christian character is probably what is in mind. Other kinds of fruitfulness are important, and connected, to that character – like the bringing of new believers to the church – but it would be in keeping with what we’ve read so far in John and with other New Testament passages for us to focus here on Christian character as a product of the Spirit, who has been at the center of Jesus’ discussion just before this.

The vine is to John what the Body of Christ is in Paul’s language. The Christian must have a vital, living link with his/her Saviour. Any part of our life that impedes that life-flow must be dealt with decisively. Just as Paul in 1 Corinthians said anything that is not of love – no matter how outwardly valuable it may seem – is not just not what it should be, but worthless; so here we need a living connection with our Saviour for authentic faith and life. It is also a variation on a theme contained in the conversation of Jesus with the woman at the well in John 4. There we reflected that we depend on the flow of life from Jesus; we have no reservoir. It is true of the natural world that there is no life without movement. There is no true Christian life without continuous growth: new ways of reaching out, increasing purity of motive in our offering of our lives back to God (worship in the midst of life), deepening intentional fellowship, and expansiveness in our giving and serving. We can grow at a different pace at different times, but there is no standing still, no mere pew-sitting.

If there is any attitude, any habit, any resentment, jealousy or inertia that is keeping us from growing, we need to prune it, or we will be like the fellow Nicky Gumbel of Alpha talks about in a “Beta” talk, who found he was saved but wasn’t really living.

Prayer:
Lord, teach me the difference between self-preoccupation and self-examination. Through Jesus. Amen.

Leaving and Peace

John 14:25-31

I often quote verse 27 at the beginning of funerals. I’ve just seen a new significance in bringing these words to that human context filled with every kind of thought and emotion.

It has to do with clinging and releasing. Jesus promises peace to the disciples as he is leaving, which would be really tough even though he is promising to return. At that moment, and until they experience him resurrected, they would be just overflowing with fear and perplexity. The natural reaction in that experience is to cling to something. But here Jesus says their peace is necessarily connected with his leaving, because only in leaving will he fulfill his purpose, and it is in taking up his mission, in fulfilling that purpose, that the disciples will truly know peace. The Counselor/Spirit comes not just to comfort but to empower them (see John 20:21). “I do not give to you as the world give,” he says. It is the world’s approach to peace to acquire, to medicate, to cling – and it goes nowhere good.

The prince of this world, the world that clings, has no hold on him! So neither does the prince of this world have any hold on those who are united with Jesus, and live and breathe with the Spirit of truth.

Peace is release and release is peace. But no one says it’s easy.

Prayer:
God, you are so wise in your ways I hesitate to say so for fear it sounds like I’m evaluating you. You define wisdom, you are love, you alone bring peace. I only perceive these things in and from you because they come from you in the first place. If at some moment I appear wise may it be your wisdom that is acknowledged and lived. Thank you for the peace that comes with it. In Jesus. Amen.

Believe, Welcome, Glorify

More on
John 14:15-24

This chapter started with a promise about a dwelling place for the disciples of Jesus with God. Now Jesus says “we will come and make our home with” anyone who loves him and obeys his teaching. “We” refers to Jesus and the Father. But he has also said loving and obeying him will lead to him asking the Father to send “another counselor,” the Holy Spirit. So the indwelling of the Holy Spirit, to be with us “forever” (verse ) seems to be a condition for the further loving of the Son and obeying him that leads to the indwelling of the fullness of God.

The indwelling of the Spirit also adds to our understanding of doing greater works than Jesus (John 14:12). Jesus leaves for “a little while,” and returns in his post-resurrection appearances, but the Spirit remains and empowers the human parts of that Body and the Body as a whole, to do things with exponentially growing power and effect (see Acts 2).

It is a simple order of things we ought to be able to follow: believe and obey the Son, welcome the Holy Spirit to empower us to continue as Christ’s Body, and glorify the Father. Believe, welcome, glorify. You could organize a whole church, or your life, around it: Believe, welcome, glorify; mirroring the work of the Trinity in and through us.

Prayer:
God, may I believe your Son died for me and now intercedes for me before your throne, welcome your Holy Spirit to bring to birth and empower new life, and glorify You through all you do through me as a result. Amen.

Delegated

John 14:15-24

I marvel at this. God could choose to accomplish what he wants to do any way he chooses. But he lets us “help.”

A lot of times, as a leader and as a parent, I’m tempted to just do things myself. In some ways it’s simpler. But one of the ways my church, Knox, is growing, is in expanding leadership and involvement. That’s what makes it especially exciting these days, and a great sign of the new thing happening in Midland in and through Knox Church. To release leadership and ministry to others is arguably the greatest joy, and reward, of effective leadership.

In the realm of parenting, I find that our boys are at the stage where letting them do things is no longer a matter of humouring them. In other words, they can really help. Again, sometimes it would be easier, Melissa and I find, to just do things ourselves. It would be less hassle, some mornings, to just make their beds rather than insist that they do it. But that wouldn’t really help them, and persisting in such a discipline develops in them stuff that they will appreciate in the long run (one hopes).

I think this is the kind of experience from which we could approach this text. When Judas (not the betrayer) asks why Jesus is revealing things to the disciples and working through the them rather than manifesting himself directly to the world, I think the answer is that God sees great value in doing what he wants to do through his kids. His kids are first of all those who are such through adoption, an adoption effected through belief in his “begotten” son. We therefore become his adopted children, and come under his care and loving discipline. He seems to think it’s better for all concerned if he works through his adopted children walking this earth than through some cosmic sign revealed to all that would probably get explained away as mass hallucination or something anyway.

Our great resource in this enterprise is the Holy Spirit, probably the most ignored aspect of divinely-empowered life in the church tradition of which I am part. I’ll stay with this passage another day to talk about the Holy Spirit.

Prayer:
Jesus, make me more and more a doer of your will, that in my obedience I may experience your presence, and have some small part in the acknowledgment and welcoming of your Kingdom. Amen.

A Transforming Union

John 14:8-14

“Through Jesus Christ our Lord” or “In Jesus’ name” are not just formalities at the end of a prayer. They signify a desire to be aligned with Jesus' purposes. It goes without saying, I hope, that just adding them doesn’t make it a reality. To pray in Jesus’ name is an outcome of union with him, and therefore also with the Father. If that is the reality, we will pray with a concern that whatever we pray will lead to furthering the work Jesus started in his earthly ministry. God will certainly honour that!

Does that leave room for praying for, say, help with an exam, or for help through any anxious time? Of course! For one thing, like any loving parent God just loves to hear from us with any request. Secondly, as we continually grow in our walk with Jesus it becomes more and more the reality that any and all prayers we bring to God – even those that might seem selfish in some way – end up glorifying him because we dedicate every aspect of our life to him.

To put it another way, life in union with Jesus is the truly free life, because there is nothing that is not turned to the purpose of glorifying God. We live with joyful, open hands, just giving everything to him.

Prayer:
God, what a warm, wonderful thought to know you care about my every care. Thank you. Reveal to me today how some personal or seemingly selfish concern can be transformed through my union with your Son to work to your glory. Amen.

Troubled

John 14:1-7

You can understand Thomas’ confusion, and appreciate his honesty. Jesus has just told them they can’t go where he is going (John 13:33). They can’t, of course, follow in the path he is about to take, but he assures them he is going to prepare a place for them. He will come back and take them there. Still, “How can we know the way?” is a real good question.

Besides, I suspect that “Do not let your hearts be troubled” doesn’t capture the compassion with which Jesus would have said it. Consider how “troubled” the disciples must have been. I mean, they left everything to follow him, and now he’s quite willing to spiral on down into a very ugly death. What will become of them? It’s no wonder they made no sense of all this until after the resurrection.

How can someone be “the way” (the connection to God), “the truth” (what is reliable in a world of lies and deception) and the “life” (a matter of relationship with the divine rather than physical life alone) when it appears he will be judged and executed as a low-life criminal? It just doesn’t add up. And the way, the truth, the life? The definite article already makes the claim that all hope rests in him.

The only answer that makes sense of any of this comes immediately in the text: in really knowing him. You can debate around these things endlessly, but the only answer that will ever make any enduring sense is in getting to know him. I know, that presupposes a certain outcome to any debate about his reality, the authenticity of this Scripture, etc. But as for me, I find most compelling what real people, including me, have actually experienced: This Jesus does touch troubled hearts. This Jesus does overcome things that seem insurmountable. To know him is to know the Father. He will come back. He does indeed have a place for you and me. And it’s really, really big.

Prayer:
Jesus, help me just to know you better, through intimate knowledge of your words and actions in Scripture, through my prayer life, through fellowship with other believers, through facing the needs in hearts and in the world that distress you, through the hope you bring in making all things new, and through a church that is truly alive. Amen.

This Is Glory?

John 13:31-38

The last verse we read announced, with Judas’ choice of betrayal, “And it was night” (John 13:30). This is loaded language in John’s talk. By what strange order of things does the next verse say, “Now is the Son of Man glorified and God is glorified in him.”?

God’s glory is revealed not just with the resurrection, but with his stooping to endure the worst of human cruelty, hatred and betrayal, out of love. How can we not then love one another? The command to love others is not really new, but it is new coming in this way and in such a powerful situation. The command and the passion in it comes not just from the words but even more from the surrounding action.

Prayer:
Jesus, we think we’re being gracious to love others who have done stupid things to or affecting us. You loved knowing what stupid and mean things would be done by those you were dying for. You even died for those who perpetrated your death. You know every stupid thing I will yet do and still you love me. I resolve to live your command. Amen.

And it was night

John 13:21-30

This is the verdict: Light has come into the world, but men loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil.
John 3:19

As long as it is day, we must do the work of him who sent me. Night is coming, when no one can work.
John 9:4

As soon as Judas had taken the bread, he went out. And it was night.
John 13:30

Early on the first day of the week, while it was still dark, Mary Magdalene went to the tomb and saw that the stone had been removed from the entrance.
John 20:1

The light shines in the darkness, but the darkness has not understood it. (NIV notes “understood” could also be “overcome”)
John 1:5

Scandalous Service

John 13:12-20

The phrase “lifted up his heel” was probably a saying alluding to what a horse does just before kicking. This brings an added dimension to the demonstration of humble service. The disciples – and all of us after them – are charged to do likewise. That is, we are to consider no position or task too lowly or menial in the service of the Gospel. But it goes even deeper as we recognize that Jesus washed the feet of Judas and included him in the table fellowship, even knowing what Judas would do. Even more, he wanted the disciples to make a point of remembering all this and acting accordingly. The task of being a messenger is mixed in with all this, too (verse 16).

As with yesterday’s reflection, then, I would say we need to just stare at this a bit to get that there is much more here than a simple lesson about serving one another. That’s basic; that’s minimal! That’s just a warm-up to the depth of Christian service and mission, both being included here.

If we do good to those who love us, that’s wonderful. If we share the Gospel with those we care about, that’s great. If we also actively work and pray for the well being of those who drive us crazy, that’s closer to Jesus’ model (unless we do it in such a way as to impress people with how wonderfully gracious we are!). If our prayers for the salvation of others, and for opportunities to be God’s instruments of that, include those who have done horrible things, we’re getting closer to the scandalous, dangerous, turbulent core of Christian life and mission.

Prayer:
Lord, save us all from a Christianity that is merely of comfort. Amen.

Washed

John 13:1-11

With the beginning of John 13 we have left Jesus’ public ministry, as recorded by John. We find now Jesus spending his time directly with the disciples, leading to his glorification. That is the full significance of verse 1. It is a kind of second introduction, to the rest of the book, not just what happens in this chapter. I say not “just” because the significance of the foot washing is immense, not just as a model of servanthood, although it certainly is that. Foot washing was done by the lowliest servant in the house. It is most of all a sign of who must do the cleansing if we are to be clean. The little exchange with Peter brings that out.

Along the way we don’t want not to forget all the “signs” that have gone before. We will keep recalling them to get the fullest impact possible of the dramatic things to come. Here we want to remember that Jesus is the living water (John 4:10). There is a difference in that that was water to drink, but if we are washed for our earthly walk as well as for eternity, that is very special and complete indeed. Think of this the next time you witness a baptism, or are maybe the subject of one.

Prayer:
Psalm 51:7-15 (The Message)

All We Need

John 12:37-50

The hardest parts of Scripture for me are those parts that describe God has having any part in unbelief. What I tell myself is that God sees through to the other side. It's maybe like breaking a bone to set it again. It’s also like a discussion in this journal a while back, about tough things bringing the good out in ways that wouldn’t happen otherwise. So maybe sometimes, with eternal salvation at stake, God just bypasses any other agents and takes direct charge of the process. Why it has to be that way (I’ll fall back on the old line) is not for us to know.

Besides, to see the face of Jesus is to see the face of God. We have all we need. To hear the words of Jesus is to know the eternal Word. At the same time our heavenly parent must say and do some hard things, he gives us his own Son to go through those things with us – he even experienced forsakenness of the Father - and to take the rap for what his unruly kids have coming to them.

Prayer:
Lord, sometimes it’s hard to trust in your long-term plans when I need trust and assurance right now. Help me see very step as significant, any pause in the action of the day as a chance just to release stuff to you, every human contact as a time to forget any self-concern to be your ambassador, and then to feel the warmth of your smile. Through your Son. Amen.

Move

John 12:27-36

Jesus’ question in verse 27 is, of course, a rhetorical one. His certainty of what he must do does not make it easy, however. When we cry out “Why, Lord?” at some time of grief or trouble, I wonder if an answer would really help. Jesus knew exactly why. And yet his heart was “troubled” – which, I suspect, is understatement by reason of translation. The purpose for which he came completely overwhelmed personal preference. Just as divine and earthly were united in him, so divine purpose fused with personal will: an impossible standard.

So do we give up? No need. The fusing of those heavenly and earthly wires brings a spectacular light, enough light for us to go by, enough light for all to go by – a light to draw all, and to send all out again. He must be ‘lifted up’ to let that light shine for all.

The availability of this light makes movement possible, and mandatory. It strikes me from verses 35-36 that the enemy of light is not so much darkness as inertia. Forget perfect plans, consensus, and lowest-common-denominator unity. You’ve got to move. Clarity comes to the spiritually mobile.

Prayer:
Lord, deliver me from the possibility of the nightmare that when you come again I will be in a meeting. Amen.

Letting Go to Live

John 12:20-26

Jesus seems to take the arrival of some Greeks as some kind of signal. Maybe reference to their more distant home triggers this announcement of what is to come, since Jesus has said that he came because of God’s love for the world.

In describing his dying to give way to greater life for many, he uses the word “hates.” Are we really supposed to hate our life in this world? I mean, he has also said he came that his sheep may have life to the full. And it can’t just be a matter of earthly life vs. heavenly life because he has spoken of eternal life, which begins the moment we believe. I think it’s a matter of exaggeration to make a point. He is talking primarily of his own impending sacrifice. That is, in comparison to what is to be gained with his sacrifice, it’s as if the life he is relinquishing is something to be hated. Speaking of hate in relation to visible life is a way of highlighting how stupendous is the life that is gained by letting go. As for us, we may need a strong antidote to our getting and clinging, “mine, mine” approach to life and living.

Prayer:
Lord, how full and rich life can be! On a beautiful sunny day with summer activities to look forward to, it is so jarring to even think of ‘hating’ this life. But I thank you for this and all reminders that life is to shared, and that often means letting go, giving things up, putting others first. And ultimately greater life means dying. And there are so many so close to that reality. Let me live out some little death and resurrection today. What could I give up today? In what way might I quietly set aside my selfishness, concede something, maybe not insist on being right, give way to another? Through Jesus who shares his grace. Amen.

The Scene Within the Seen

John 12:9-19

A while ago the chief priest had made the comment that it would be necessary for one man to die to put things in order, in the view of the people who controlled things (John 11:50). Now it turns out it is two who need to die, both Jesus and Lazarus, since there is so much fuss over Lazarus. That’s the way it goes. Malicious thoughts and deeds have a way of expanding.

The disciples don’t understand what is happening through these events, but God nevertheless has built into this unfolding drama signs of hope, and things that will help the faithful see the significance of events as they look back.

Revelation 7:9 describes the great multitude in heaven before the throne of God with white robes and palm branches in their hands. God placed a sign of victory in the midst of these events. In addition, there is delicious irony in the exaggerated resentful complaint about the “whole world” going after Jesus (verse 19). In will turn out to be true in a way the speaker did not envision.

Prayer:
Why is it, Lord, that I can let one ill word that comes my way fill up my thoughts when there is so much good you are doing, and so many people who really want to do that good? Help us all see the hope and build on it, for you have great things in store for those who trust you. In Jesus. Amen.

WIN

John 12:1-8

The objection here missed the point, even if the objection had been genuine. If she had not poured this expensive perfume, the real-life alternative likely would not have been for Mary to sell it and give the proceeds to the poor, but to use it for herself, which is likely why she had it in the first place. She did what she could, she took the resources that she had, to show her humility and awe and gratitude toward Jesus for his priceless offering to her and all of humanity. Anyway, if we start by devotion to Jesus, we are also inescapably and gladly led to care for one another, since he died for all.

What do we do in response to Jesus’ self-offering to us?

Whatever you can do, do it.
Invest your all in it.
Now would be a really good time.

Prayer:
Lord, help me see something I have overlooked in offering to you. Let me give my all to you and your purposes, and not just sometime. Amen.

Insistent Truth

John 11:45-57

The high priest spoke God’s truth without realizing what was coming out of his mouth. What he meant was they should kill Jesus in order to preserve the way things were, and particularly their place of privilege. He meant that it was worth one death, of this troublesome Jesus, in order to preserve the world they controlled. It is doubly ironic that he speaks “as high priest” (verse 51). You would expect him to speak God’s truth, and he does, though unwittingly.

What is the divine truth in his words? It is an echo of John 3:15-17. He will die in place of sheep of the fold of his birth-people and “other sheep” (John 10:15-16). In fact he came to seek the lost sheep, those who have no part in God’s family. The people of the flock around him, of whom the Pharisees are leaders, at least know the God of Abraham, and they have made much of that. But Jesus came to die for the whole world. The divine meaning placed in the words out of the high priest’s mouth have both a meaning and scope far beyond what he intended.

This is a sign that God can work through even forces that appear to be against him and his purposes, because he is already at work in those forces without them knowing. For those who love truth, there is always hope.

Truth will prevail.

Prayer:
God, your ways are astounding. You work in ways I could never imagine or dream of. Save me and all of us from our cleverness and pride. We know nothing in comparison to you. What we imagine to be good and important is puny compared to what you dream for us. We tackle only what we figure we can do and ignore what you can do in and through us. Transform my mind, will and character everyday to be more like your Son. In Him, Amen.

Come Alive

John 11:38-44

The presence and power of Jesus brings both future promise and present experience of new life. As reflected on yesterday, going to the grave has no power over the eternal life Jesus brings. The relationship he establishes is more powerful and enduring than physical death. Lazarus, though brought back to life, will still experience that greater resurrection, in Jesus. His physical rising points also to the power Jesus has to call us out of our present graves – those things that bind us and drag us down to a dull or destructive existence. In the previous chapter he talked about coming that we would have life “to the full” (John 10:10).

That’s what so many of us are missing.

The prayer of Jesus in this section shows his passion for awakening faith. It is not only Lazarus who is being called out of a tomb. For those who would follow Jesus as his disciples, our life and ministry should serve as an open call to come out of tombs of despair, and experience the peace and joy of offering our loaned lives back to God in devotion to him and fearless service to others.

Prayer:
To feel fully alive, Lord, that’s what we your children yearn for, and we seek it in so many ways that do the opposite. I pause just to be aware of your presence. Then let me detect you in some circumstance around me or that I’m part of. You are seeking to call out what really makes for life in that, aren’t you? Help me respond, be part of the life you are calling forth, as you did in the beginning.

From Beyond

John 11:17-37

The last verse of this section links the bringing of light to darkness, by recalling the giving of sight to the blind man described in chapter 9, to the life from death that is about to be displayed. The action that is about to take place illustrates what Jesus is as “life” just as the bringing of sight to the blind man showed his power and will to bring light – to those who would receive it.

To receive Jesus as “the resurrection and the life” is to gain life that will never be taken away. Even though we go to the grave, the grave has no power over the life we receive by being “born again” (chapter 3), meaning also (so the Greek scholars say), “born from above”. Jesus brings release from both present darkness and death that comes to all, with light and life that come from above. The spatial aspect need not be taken literally. It means from beyond ourselves, from a dimension other than what we immediately experience, from a God who is 'wholly other' as some theologians say, yet who has chosen also to be wholly with us.

Prayer:
I praise you, Jesus, for divine compassion and grace displayed, lived, and offered fully in and through you. May this precious offer and gift be valued and shared above all else. Amen.

Rising in Time

John 11:1-16

Jesus is shown as one who has personal friends, pals. There are people he feels personal connection with, has affection for. He doesn’t just love them; he likes them. There are people he just likes to hang out with. So it’s strange when he stayed where he was two more days, after being told Lazarus, evidently a special friend, was sick. What he says shows it’s not that he didn’t understand how serious it was, and given who he is we can’t really think he wouldn’t know. Is what he says insensitive? Like, letting it go a while will make what he does all the more impressive?

I’ll set that aside for now and look on to where he says, OK let’s go. The disciples do a double take at this because it means going back to Judea, where they wanted to stone him. Jesus answers with a saying about light in the day (which was divided into 12 equal parts, or “hours,” regardless of the time of year). The saying probably means that the disciples can be assured they will be OK because they will be with Jesus, the light.

Jesus goes on to tell the disciples that Lazarus has fallen asleep, but Jesus is going to wake him. In a kind of “That’s good/that’s bad” routine the disciples say, great, the rest will help him get better. Jesus then tells them that Lazarus has died, and that he is glad he wasn’t there so that they disciples may believe.

It would be interesting to know the tone of voice Thomas used when he said. “Let’s go so we can die with him.” Was it brave resolve, or was it like, “Oh sure, we might as well all go get ourselves killed.”?

Back to the question about why the delay. Jesus was no outfielder taking his time to make his flying-leap catch all the more spectacular. I think the delay is related to something we’ve seen before. Jesus does things – to our perplexity maybe – in his time, and not according to human agendas. We saw it with his mom in John 2:3-4; we saw it with his brothers at John 7:3. Maybe it’s also tied in somehow with people not being able to kill Jesus until the divinely appointed time for that. It’s a very difficult lesson for us in real life, so maybe in some way it is fitting that stories that convey it are difficult to deal with: God’s timing is not our timing, but it works out better for us than any way we would have planned.

There’s more to come on the raising of Lazarus, which takes up most of chapter 11.

Prayer:
Lord, there are things I want to see happen right now. But if the things I want are according to your purpose it will take you to do them. Forbid that I or any of us would delay when there is a need we can meet. Forbid that your doing of things means I sit around and wait for them to happen. But doing all I can with all my strength and with all the resources you provide, especially working with others and in prayer, give me patience for the result. You can and do raise and lift up, and your light brings life, in our personal circumstances and in our life together. Amen.

On Being Signs

John 10:31-42

Jesus tells his opponents here that even if they don’t like him, the works he does (verse 38) should lead them to know (a coming to know) and understand (a taking within in an ongoing way) that he and the Father are one. As we’ve seen before, however, they have put up a defense against truth. But then Jesus goes to the other side of the Jordan, away from the religious centre of things, where people recall John the Baptist’s ministry and believe in him.

John’s role was to point to Jesus, faith came because of contact with Jesus. In a territory with all the religious background that pointed to Jesus, he was rejected. In the more primitive territory to the east of Jordan, people saw and accepted the truth. This chapter concludes with a contrast consistent with the theme of the previous chapter, where sighted people didn't see truth and a blind man encountered Jesus in Jesus' role of bringing light and the man grew in knowledge of him.

The main point to be taken from this whole section of John, I think, isn’t to dwell on distinctions between people. Jesus, after all, died for the whole world and wants all to be saved. The point is that there is no particular background or experience or religious practice or anything that is a prior “in” with God. Knowledge and tradition and religious heritage are only impediments if we let them be, if we make idols of them, if they replace God instead of pointing to him. That can happen with new practices as easily as older ones. If we say a worship song or prayer or play or message was good, it should never be to the exclusion of saying, “What a great God,” and knowing and serving him more truly, and recognizing his current works among us.

Prayer:
Let me see the works you are doing today, Jesus. Help us all to know your presence, and to worship you with all our heart, mind and strength in our lives and when we come together. And let all our ways of expressing you be less about the media and more about the message. Amen.

Certainty and Freedom

John 10:22-30

I agree with the comment that has been made about where we put our focus when there is truth and lies, light and darkness. It is on the truth and the light. The sheep need to warned that there are forces that would try to convince us that God is not real or not really in charge and also loving and so forth. Or how could he love me when I’ve done or failed to do this or that? I get the sense that this whole chapter is leading to verses 29-30. This is what we’re to “get.” Jesus has talked before about his oneness with the Father, that everything he does and says and is has to do with his coming from the Father and his union with the Father, that those who belong to Jesus are given to him by the Father (we are gifts as well as being gifted). Nothing can take away the relationship of the sheep with the Shepherd because it is the Shepherd who establishes the relationship, enables the response and nourishes the relationship, with even greater things in store. In what is yet to come in the Gospel there will be more about the responsibility given to those given to Jesus by the Father. We can freely and joyfully serve and love God and our fellow sheep when we know we are secure in the love of the Shepherd.

Prayer:
Jesus, you are the Word who continues to create new life, the Light who enables us to recognize it, and the Spirit who empowers us to live it. Help us en-joy it. Amen.

Brought Sheep

John 10:11-21

Jesus isn’t just a good shepherd, but The Good Shepherd. I wonder how the notion of a shepherd who actually lays down his life for the sheep would have been taken. It suspect it would be assumed that a shepherd should not be like the ‘hireling’ who doesn’t really care for the sheep so that they would know his voice and follow him. But lay down your life for the sheep? And if you did lay down your life for any of the sheep, the whole flock would be shepherdless, which, I suspect, would be disastrous. In contrast, Jesus brings life to the human sheep by laying down his life.

It is of utmost concern (“must,” verse 16) to bring sheep who are not of the fold, with the very purpose that they will be one flock. By now the parallels are breaking down, so that by verse 17 Jesus is just talking about “my Father” and his purpose in coming – for the very purpose of laying down his life for the sheep.

There are lambs born into a flock of sheep. But no one is born into Jesus’ human flock. All who are part of Jesus’ flock have been brought. The unity of the flock is entirely in the action of the shepherd who does the bringing. The one thing we have in common is that we have all been brought – something we either forget about very quickly or overlook altogether when we talk about the older and newer people in Jesus’ flock.

Prayer:
Jesus, you alone are the Good Shepherd. You know what is best for all your sheep. Help me and all of us focus on your desire for the sheep to know what is best for us. Help those of us who are fifth-level sub-divisional shepherds to know that we also are sheep and need your care, direction, feeding, and the fellowship of other sheep. Amen.

Through the Gate

John 10:1-10

Earlier in John’s Gospel we find Jesus describing himself as the bread of life and the water of life. Here those who go through the gate that is Jesus find pasture.

There are those like the thieves and robbers described here who do not have the best interest of the sheep in mind. Last week at The Life Worth Living group at Knox there was discussion about the tainted flavour to the words “evangelical” or “evangelism” because of “evangelical” TV preachers who have seemed to have more interest in money than the well being of their TV flock. It was further expressed that such a “flock” has no chance for any sense of community except for a common one-way connection to the preacher.

Reminder to the preacher/teacher: Authentic Christian teaching and preaching can take no short cuts around the Gate. What such preaching/teaching will do is serve to grow the experience of mutual love between Jesus and his people (I emphasize “experience” since the love from Jesus is of course already fully there), and the people one for another in that love that first comes from God.

Prayer:
Lord, humble me with joy at the privilege of being a sub-shepherd. Amen.

The Light in Action

John 9

At this point Jesus has said, “I am the light of the world” (8:12). Then there appeared a darkness actively to oppose the light (8:42-47). Now Jesus acts out the victory of light over darkness, and an opposing force rises in parallel to the sharing of that victory.

After receiving his sight, the man who was blind says things that show an increasing understanding of who Jesus is. In response to successive questioning he calls him:
“the man they call Jesus” (verse 11)
“a prophet” (verse 17)
“from God” (verse 33)
And then, to Jesus,
“Lord, I believe” (verse 38)

Meanwhile, the religious leaders are becoming more determined, not only not to see what a (recently) blind guy sees, but to put forth the opposite of what he has been given spiritual sight to see. At first they seem at least willing to accept the fact of the healing (verse 15), but things deteriorate to the point they have no interest in seeing what the truth is, and, as legal experts, resort to attacking the primary witness to this event (verse 34).

The guy who was blind is the one who sees, and the ones who insisted they understood everything resist and oppose truth. There are two movements going in opposite directions here. The more faith increases, the more opposition rises up.

It still happens. New believers can experience attack in one form or other. So can faith communities that make a special point of fostering new belief. The more intentional we are in following God’s purposes for his church, the more there will be forces at work trying to confuse and distort things, to try to poison the special thing that is happening.

But there is really no contest. Light and truth will prevail. And those who have received sight just keep on pointing to what has happened to them, celebrating in joy the author of life, light, and truth.

Prayer:
Lord, breathe your Spirit into all my senses. Order my thoughts according to your purposes. Shape my will to look more like your love. Increase and direct my energies to just let your light shine. Through Jesus. Amen.

The Generator

John 9:1-7

You don’t find instances of sight to the blind in the Old Testament, and not much in the New Testament, except by Jesus. The Old Testament points to a reason for that: bringing of sight to the blind would be a sign of the presence of the Messiah.

Then will the eyes of the blind be opened 
 and the ears of the deaf unstopped. Isaiah 35:5

In the bringing of sight recorded here, Jesus dismissed the common assumption connecting physical circumstances with sin by saying the man was born blind so that the work of God would be seen in his life. One aspect of that work of God could be seen as the manifestation of the presence of the Messiah. But that’s just the beginning. It is now given – He says, “We must” work while it is light – for those who have life in Jesus to be lamps of transforming light in the darkness. John makes a point of indicating the meaning of the name of the pool the man is sent to wash in – “sent”. Is this another real event that is also a sign of meaning for the Christian life (like the multiplication of loaves and fish)?

As the Father sent Jesus to bring sight to the blind, so now Jesus sends his followers to let God’s everyday work of transformation be what we’re about, bringing miracles of further transformation through things like compassion, forgiveness, and hope – miraculous rays of light, considering how profound the darkness can be.

O God, how you honour me! There is so much transforming yet to be done in me and yet you call me to be light. So there must be light given not just as a result but in the very transforming. How that light must increase as we bring together our lives as they are being transformed! May it ever more be so. Because of the Light who is Jesus. Amen.

Keep the Word

John 8:48-59

It seems from this passage there is a lot to be said for keeping the Word. I like to think I can be counted on to 'keep my word,' although I know I haven’t always done that. How much tougher is it to keep God’s Word? What does that mean anyway - especially when in John so far the Word is also synonymous with truth and light? Not to be irreverent but it sounds to me like keeping a tiger. You know that thing has more power than you. When reflecting on a positive Christian response to The Da Vinci Code I was led to the observation (certainly not original with me) that we don’t so much address the Word as it addresses us; we don’t validate Scripture but rather it tells the story of a God who is seeking earnestly, insistently, and in a way that defines love – to validate us.

Keeping God’s Word, I guess, is to have it/Him as the light in the lantern of my worldly life, or something like that. I mean, keeping the Word – especially seeing how it looks as I try to live it – will help me see things for what they are, including the person replacing the old me. Keeping the Word means not keeping my self.

Prayer:
God, everything around me seems to work against what you teach. Everyone is bent on polishing their image, posturing, networking, connecting, self-promoting, forming alliances; how tedious. Turn my head to your kingdom to seek it first, keeping your Word, so each other thing will take its rightful place, if it has one. Through Christ. Amen.

The Truth and the Lie

John 8:42-47

“Because?” Why “because?” Jesus says (verse 45) “Because I tell the truth, you do not believe me!” Why not, “although?” And is the emphasis after that on the “I” or “the truth”? At any rate, the best sense I can make of that is that whatever is opposed to Jesus is dynamically opposed. In other words, the more truth comes forward, the more untruth will be active as well. And just as there are not just specific examples of truth but an underlying, all-encompassing truth, so this would suggest there are not just specific instances of lies, deception, and pot-shots against truth, and those who follow truth, but an enemy, Satan, a personal power on a seek and destroy mission against God’s reign. That power succeeded in using people to kill Jesus of Nazareth, but the God who sent him and who validated him as truth, raised him up in a new, indestructible form.

This Scripture and this line of thought will be the basis for a new message series starting May 21. I paste here my initial sketch of that...


What Is Truth?

“What is truth?,” Pilate asked Jesus (John 18:38).
Is that the same as asking, what is the truth?

To ask, “What is truth?” without the definite article suggests that there are not just truths about specific things but truth as a principle, a reality, an underlying premise to our lives.

What if that underlying truth is, “I know I matter because God wants a relationship with me”?

What happens to this premise … what happens to prevent it from forming .. or what happens to form it … as specific issues and circumstances arise? Such as:

• Crises in relationships – separation, bereavement …
• Crises in work – new work, changing work, termination …

Can we know the truth about big things that affect us though we can’t seem to do anything about them?

• Gas prices
• Why is the U.S. in Iraq?

Am I a cog in a machine in my work? Or, shudder to think, in my church? in my family?

There have to be some places where we can be sure we are more than a cog, and we can experience the truth that we matter because God wants a relationship with us. How is that realized? How can we help one another realize it? Can we then work outward to some of these bigger things through a new prophetic role for Christians in the world, along the lines of part of my Easter talk that we need to effect change not just cope with it?

And, is there a power that increases with our seeking and doing truth? If so, what does that mean for the above?

Help me prepare this with your questions and thoughts, photos, music, whatever.

Father Abraham

John 8:31-41

The identification of Abraham as father goes back to God’s promise to Abraham that his descendants would be a blessing to the whole world (Genesis 22:17-18). In time, the responsibility that went with this was crowded out by a sense of entitlement. That’s not to pick on Israel; it is an entirely human reaction. Against an attitude of entitlement, John the Baptist observed that God could make a new generation of Abraham’s descendants from the stones (Matthew 3:9). Tragically and horrifically, ensuing centuries have seen reaction against the literal children of Abraham go way over to another side altogether.

The point is anyone can be a spiritual child of Abraham. Anyone can receive the promise and purpose of God in faith – going forth into new territory in his service without knowing the details of how things will work out. When we truly live in the Word we never know where that may take us. Abiding in the Word is what really matters. The stress in the present passage is on doing works that are evidence of that life in the Word of promise.

Prayer:
God of Abraham, where are you taking me today? I don’t know. I have my plans; you can change them. I have my stuff; you can take it all away. I do the occasional good thing; who is really the author? I have my life – you grant to me to be steward of this journey. Thank you. Amen.