Our gospel reading is a text we usually think of for Palm Sunday, but I think it is good to see it outside of that context too. When we focus just on Jesus’ humble but triumphal entry into Jerusalem for the Passover holiday that does indeed set us up for Holy Week, but it misses the clouds that John’s gospel puts over the whole thing. Today’s gospel reading shows that Jesus raising Lazarus from the dead is what is going to get him killed. The crowds are going after him. The religious leaders see the world that they have created and worked for crumbling.
It is easy to look at these religious leaders and criticize them for their blindness, for their unwillingness to recognize what God is doing. But before we go after them too harshly, we have to remember what they are facing. And we can see in them some of our own selves.
While we know pretty well who Jesus is, they did not. We do well to remember that from their perspective Jesus had nothing to recommend himself. Jesus came from Nazareth of Galilee. Galilee had a reputation for sloppy religious and moral practices. So that’s a strike against him.
Jesus also has no proper pedigree, at least not that the religious leaders knew. In time the biblical authors would create genealogies to show Jesus as a descendent of King David, and remind us that God promised the Davidic monarchy would last forever. But the religious leaders of that time had nothing of that before them. And so, what if Jesus did claim to be a descendent of David? Lots of people probably made that claim!
Add to this the fact that Jesus did not have a formal education, and he did not have any notable contacts, and you have an upstart preacher from an area with a poor reputation for theological quality, and he’s preaching a message that upends the fundamental tenants of a religious system that upends centuries of theological development, and of course they didn’t believe him!
Perhaps think of the movie Leap of Faith where Steve Martin plays an evangelist who has a traveling tent revival operation. One of his busses breaks down in a little town and he decides to set up shop and fleece the locals for what he can get out of him. The town cop is the only one who really sees the whole show is a scam and an act. But the population rejects him for the appeal of Martin’s character. Now as the movie draws to its close Steve Martin’s character experiences a real miracle, and you have to watch the movie to see how it all works out, but I believe the religious leaders saw Jesus as a charismatic fly-by-night operation that at best challenged the carefully created orthodoxy they had scraped together under Roman rule, and at worst could bring down the Romans upon them.
They’re already anxious about the way the crowds are drawn to Jesus for the raising of Lazarus, and then when the crowds welcome Jesus into Jerusalem for the Passover holiday with proclamations of, “Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord – the King of Israel!” they fear real trouble. What if the Romans get wind of this entrance proclamation by the crowds? What if the Romans crack down?
What appears to be lost to both the crowds and the religious leaders is that Jesus rides in on a donkey. He does not come on some great warhorse and his followers are not showing any sign of military might. Jesus is coming with humility and no desire to threaten anyone. But the flocking crowds misunderstand, and they could be a threat. And, even if they don’t cause problems with the Romans, they are still a threat to the religious leaders.
I said earlier that we can see in the religious leaders some of our own selves. That’s why I’ve chosen to focus on them as we read this text. Their actions towards Jesus raise the question in us of what in our lives have we heavily invested in? And because of that, it could cause us to lose sight of what God is doing?
For example, it has long been said that a person’s biggest lifetime investment is their home. Home ownership is the best way to build and pass on wealth. If you own a home it is likely that you spent a tremendous amount of money for it, even if it is a fairly humble place.
Owning a home also requires a lot of money to maintain. Appliances are always getting older, even as we’re sitting here your washer and dryer, dishwasher and refrigerator, furnace and hot water heater, are all aging and drawing closer to the time when they need to be replaced. All of them are expensive. Plus there’s roofs, siding, lawn care, maybe some structural repairs along the way. There’s also complex electrical and plumbing systems, maybe an air conditioning system too.
Those who own houses have spent a lot to get them, and they spend a lot to maintain them. And then add insult to injury, you have to pay a lot in taxes and insurances too!
Houses cost a lot, and we invest a lot in them!
The one thing a home owner absolutely positively does not want to happen is to have their home’s value drop. If you own it outright that’s a loss of your hard-earned money. If you’re paying a mortgage, the bank or credit union is not going to reduce the amount you have to pay just because your house’s value tanks.
You know the acronym NIMBY – not in my backyard. Sure, heavy industry or a landfill or a wastewater treatment plant has to exist somewhere, but not in my backyard. Don’t build an airport or super-highway or shopping center right next to my house!
You don’t want the demographics of your neighborhood or community to change all that much either. What if people moving into your neighborhood somehow cause home values to fall instead of rise? What if you live in Victor, and a great deal of the value of your home rests on the quality of the school, and the school’s performance starts to fail? What if you own lakefront property in Canandaigua and the lake somehow becomes toxic? Lots and lots of your hopes, dreams, and hard earned money can go down the drain fast.
The religious leaders in Jesus’ day had worked hard to create and maintain the religious systems, buildings, and bureaucracy that they had. And Jesus could very well be a threat to all of it. He was popular with the crowds and not at all under their control. They couldn’t see beyond what they had poured their lives into. They had inadvertently become blind to the fact that God could do new things; and that God was doing a totally new thing yet still within the framework of the old.
And so we ask ourselves, what are those things in our lives that we have poured a lot of time, money, and hard work into? What do we work hard to protect? What do we fear because if something fails our way of life would be at risk?
I just used the example of home ownership. But I used it just because it was an easy example. Many of us don’t own homes, but I believe that we all have things where we’ve invested a lot in the status quo. Any change could be a threat to it. Those things could be: our jobs, or retirement accounts, or our educational accomplishments, or our network of friends, our physical beauty, or any number of things. In Matthew’s gospel Jesus said that where your treasure is there your heart will be as well. (Matthew 6:21) Where is the treasure in your life?
Those are the places where we can most easily become blind to God’s actions. If God comes in, even in a humble way riding on a donkey, will we recognize it? Or will the threat be too great for us?
The idea of judgment in John’s gospel doesn’t really have an idea of hell or damnation for those who fail. But it does teach that to miss Jesus’ presence is to miss out on fullness of life. It is to continue to live in darkness. God’s coming to you is a coming that will bring your life meaning, purpose, and contentment. In John’s gospel we see the failing of the religious leaders. They continue to live in darkness and miss fullness of life. But we learn from them and keep our eyes open to the new things God is always doing, even when those things challenge what we have worked long and hard for in our lives.
Tuesday, September 26, 2023
Tuesday, September 19, 2023
September 17, 2023 John 11:45-12:11
I have been watching the show Unforgotten on Masterpiece Mystery, which is on WXXI on Sunday nights. Now, I’ve said I’ve been watching it. I didn’t say I like it. I’ve liked previous seasons and so I started watching this one, but so far I’m not all that impressed. I suppose I could say that if nothing else it has given me an illustration to open a sermon today!
Unforgotten is about fictitious murder cases from the past. New evidence comes to light which reopens the investigation. The series start off slowly introducing the audience to what seems like a diverse and unconnected cast of characters. As the investigation goes on the detectives link the characters and their pasts, and ultimately solve the mystery.
That’s the way John’s gospel may have felt as we read it today. A couple weeks ago I said John’s gospel could be seen as having two acts. In the first act we meet Jesus, we experience his signs, and we discover things about God through them. In the second act we have the final week of Jesus’ life, which includes his anointing, the Last Supper, and his arrest and crucifixion. We are still near the beginning of this second act. We have a whole lot of characters whose connections aren’t readily apparent. There’s: Jesus, Mary, Martha, Lazarus, the “Jews”, chief priests and Pharisees, Caiaphas the high priest, and last but not least, Judas.
John’s story is complex, and we could take a sermon any number of directions from here. But for the sake of focus, we are going to look at the contrast between two: Mary and Judas.
John has already shown us that traditional racial and gender expectations are not going to be followed in this story. In fact, John will use them as a foil to teach about Jesus. For example, in chapter three we met Nicodemus. He was a solid, theologically educated man in a position of leadership. We expect him to accept and understand Jesus. But he didn’t. Then in chapter four we met an unnamed Samaritan woman. She was an outsider by race, gender, and social acceptability. We expect her to reject Jesus. But she does not. She believes in him, accepts who he is, and spreads the word about him. We’re going to see some broken expectations with Mary and Judas.
It is very helpful for us to read about the anointing of Jesus’ feet by Mary only a week after reading about Jesus raising Mary’s brother Lazarus. You’ll remember from last week that Lazarus had died and was buried. Jesus was somewhat far away, and didn’t seem too fused about it when he heard that Lazarus had died. In fact he deliberately stayed put for a couple days. Only after that does he travel to Bethany, which is the home of Lazarus, Mary, and Martha. Mary is upset, and for good reason! When Jesus finally gets there Mary says, “Lord, if you had been here my brother would not have died.” Jesus asks to be taken to the tomb. When he gets there he commands it to be open. Mary’s sister Martha points out the obvious, “Lord, already there is a stench because he has been dead four days.” But the stone is removed. Jesus cries out, “Lazarus come out!” The dead man came out still wrapped in burial cloths.
This is the foundation for Mary’s gratitude towards Jesus that we read today. Many people have thought her devotion to Jesus was one of sexual desire. But as John tells the story, Mary is overjoyed by what Jesus has done. Her brother is alive again! She is deeply grateful and no social boundaries or norms are going to stop her.
With a foreshadowing of Jesus washing the feet of the disciples at the Last Supper some time later, Mary anoints Jesus’ feet with a pound of pure nard, and wipes them with her hair. John tells us the house was filled with the fragrance of the perfume. Indeed dumping out a pint of an expensive perfume would fill a house with the smell to the point of being overwhelming! But let’s notice the contrast John has made. The tomb of Lazarus was said to have a stench from his decomposing corpse. Now the home of Lazarus is overwhelmed with the scent of fine perfume. Dr. Richard Carlson, my one seminary professor, said, “Lazarus had stinking life. Mary brings Jesus the sweet smell of death.” When Judas objects to the waste of this perfume Jesus says, “Permit her; it will keep to the day of my burial.”
With the mention of Judas, let’s turn to him.
Judas is an easy character to hate. He sells out Jesus for 30 silver coins, not a lot of money. He does more than sell out Jesus. He sells out all the disciples of Jesus as well.
And yet as we hate Judas for what he does, we can’t help but feel like we’re like him. Is he not being practical, hard-working, and responsible when he says, “Why was this perfume not sold for a year’s wages and the money given to the poor?”
Good point Judas! If Mary loves Jesus and wants to show her gratitude, that’s fine. If she wants to stretch social boundaries and anoint Jesus’ feet with perfume and wipe them with her hair, well, that may not be totally fine, but it’s an acceptable expression of gratitude for bringing her brother back to life. But to dump out a whole pound of costly perfume!!! That’s ridiculous! It’s pointless. It’s just waste, pure and simple. An ounce would have been more than enough. An ounce would have been extravagant. But a whole pound? I almost want to say in disgust, “Come on Mary, grow up! Learn to have some responsibility!”
But then I’m thinking and speaking like Judas.
Almost as if John knows we’re going to be feeling guilty because we’re thinking exactly like the guy who sells Jesus out John gives us some relief by saying, “He said this not because he cared about the poor, but because he was a thief; he kept the common purse and used to steal what was put into it.”
Okay, that is a bit of relief. We may be thinking like Judas at least somewhat but we are not going to outright steal from others! But there is more to it than that.
Can you remember where else we’ve heard about thieves in John’s gospel? You probably have to think hard. It was back in the Good Shepherd Discourse. There in Chapter 10 Jesus says he is the gate to the sheepfold. But in referring to the religious leaders he says, “The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy.”
Now we’re seeing that Judas as a thief is in the same league as the religious leaders. In what we read today we see that the religious leaders are concerned not so much with God’s work but with their own position and power. Jesus is a threat to it. We aren’t surprised at all then later in the story when Judas shows himself in the same league as the religious leaders when he sells out Jesus to them.
But that’s in the future. There’s something to be learned from the scene as we have it today. John has created a contrast between two people who are very close to Jesus, and in a common community with him.
Mary, deeply grateful to Jesus responds to him without being told. She shows love and appreciation for Jesus without regard for social norms, how it looks to others, or how much it costs. Commentator Gail O’Day notes in the New Interpreter’s Bible Commentary, “[Mary] gives boldly of herself in love to Jesus at this hour, just as Jesus will give boldly of himself in love at his hour.” (Volume 9, Pg. 703)
Judas, a long-time follower of Jesus who has seen quite a bit from Jesus, shows disdain for what he is seeing. He is driven by perceptions, pride, and limitations. Think back over the story. We aren’t told where Judas comes to be a disciple of Jesus. But he certainly had heard about the turning of water into wine; 120 to 180 gallons of excellent wine! And he certainly was there when Jesus took five loaves and two fish and made them be enough to feed thousands of people. So, based on his first-hand experience of Jesus being able to produce abundance and extravagance, Judas has no reason to focus on limits and waste. He should be faithfully enjoying Jesus’ abundance and accepting those who want to abundantly give to him. But he doesn’t.
That’s the contrast that we take away from this text for our own lives. It is not a contrast between propriety and impropriety, or stinginess vs. lavishness. It is the heart of discipleship.
Are we like Judas, seeing our relationship with God like we see life in the world – transactional, strategic, and limited. Do we give to God in order to receive in return? Is God’s promise of eternal life a reward calculated to make us live righteously?
Or, are we like Mary, living a new life as a child of God, embracing God’s endless love and generosity? That is not strategic to get eternal life. It is living fully now because of the promise of eternal life. Obviously we want to be like Mary
Unforgotten is about fictitious murder cases from the past. New evidence comes to light which reopens the investigation. The series start off slowly introducing the audience to what seems like a diverse and unconnected cast of characters. As the investigation goes on the detectives link the characters and their pasts, and ultimately solve the mystery.
That’s the way John’s gospel may have felt as we read it today. A couple weeks ago I said John’s gospel could be seen as having two acts. In the first act we meet Jesus, we experience his signs, and we discover things about God through them. In the second act we have the final week of Jesus’ life, which includes his anointing, the Last Supper, and his arrest and crucifixion. We are still near the beginning of this second act. We have a whole lot of characters whose connections aren’t readily apparent. There’s: Jesus, Mary, Martha, Lazarus, the “Jews”, chief priests and Pharisees, Caiaphas the high priest, and last but not least, Judas.
John’s story is complex, and we could take a sermon any number of directions from here. But for the sake of focus, we are going to look at the contrast between two: Mary and Judas.
John has already shown us that traditional racial and gender expectations are not going to be followed in this story. In fact, John will use them as a foil to teach about Jesus. For example, in chapter three we met Nicodemus. He was a solid, theologically educated man in a position of leadership. We expect him to accept and understand Jesus. But he didn’t. Then in chapter four we met an unnamed Samaritan woman. She was an outsider by race, gender, and social acceptability. We expect her to reject Jesus. But she does not. She believes in him, accepts who he is, and spreads the word about him. We’re going to see some broken expectations with Mary and Judas.
It is very helpful for us to read about the anointing of Jesus’ feet by Mary only a week after reading about Jesus raising Mary’s brother Lazarus. You’ll remember from last week that Lazarus had died and was buried. Jesus was somewhat far away, and didn’t seem too fused about it when he heard that Lazarus had died. In fact he deliberately stayed put for a couple days. Only after that does he travel to Bethany, which is the home of Lazarus, Mary, and Martha. Mary is upset, and for good reason! When Jesus finally gets there Mary says, “Lord, if you had been here my brother would not have died.” Jesus asks to be taken to the tomb. When he gets there he commands it to be open. Mary’s sister Martha points out the obvious, “Lord, already there is a stench because he has been dead four days.” But the stone is removed. Jesus cries out, “Lazarus come out!” The dead man came out still wrapped in burial cloths.
This is the foundation for Mary’s gratitude towards Jesus that we read today. Many people have thought her devotion to Jesus was one of sexual desire. But as John tells the story, Mary is overjoyed by what Jesus has done. Her brother is alive again! She is deeply grateful and no social boundaries or norms are going to stop her.
With a foreshadowing of Jesus washing the feet of the disciples at the Last Supper some time later, Mary anoints Jesus’ feet with a pound of pure nard, and wipes them with her hair. John tells us the house was filled with the fragrance of the perfume. Indeed dumping out a pint of an expensive perfume would fill a house with the smell to the point of being overwhelming! But let’s notice the contrast John has made. The tomb of Lazarus was said to have a stench from his decomposing corpse. Now the home of Lazarus is overwhelmed with the scent of fine perfume. Dr. Richard Carlson, my one seminary professor, said, “Lazarus had stinking life. Mary brings Jesus the sweet smell of death.” When Judas objects to the waste of this perfume Jesus says, “Permit her; it will keep to the day of my burial.”
With the mention of Judas, let’s turn to him.
Judas is an easy character to hate. He sells out Jesus for 30 silver coins, not a lot of money. He does more than sell out Jesus. He sells out all the disciples of Jesus as well.
And yet as we hate Judas for what he does, we can’t help but feel like we’re like him. Is he not being practical, hard-working, and responsible when he says, “Why was this perfume not sold for a year’s wages and the money given to the poor?”
Good point Judas! If Mary loves Jesus and wants to show her gratitude, that’s fine. If she wants to stretch social boundaries and anoint Jesus’ feet with perfume and wipe them with her hair, well, that may not be totally fine, but it’s an acceptable expression of gratitude for bringing her brother back to life. But to dump out a whole pound of costly perfume!!! That’s ridiculous! It’s pointless. It’s just waste, pure and simple. An ounce would have been more than enough. An ounce would have been extravagant. But a whole pound? I almost want to say in disgust, “Come on Mary, grow up! Learn to have some responsibility!”
But then I’m thinking and speaking like Judas.
Almost as if John knows we’re going to be feeling guilty because we’re thinking exactly like the guy who sells Jesus out John gives us some relief by saying, “He said this not because he cared about the poor, but because he was a thief; he kept the common purse and used to steal what was put into it.”
Okay, that is a bit of relief. We may be thinking like Judas at least somewhat but we are not going to outright steal from others! But there is more to it than that.
Can you remember where else we’ve heard about thieves in John’s gospel? You probably have to think hard. It was back in the Good Shepherd Discourse. There in Chapter 10 Jesus says he is the gate to the sheepfold. But in referring to the religious leaders he says, “The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy.”
Now we’re seeing that Judas as a thief is in the same league as the religious leaders. In what we read today we see that the religious leaders are concerned not so much with God’s work but with their own position and power. Jesus is a threat to it. We aren’t surprised at all then later in the story when Judas shows himself in the same league as the religious leaders when he sells out Jesus to them.
But that’s in the future. There’s something to be learned from the scene as we have it today. John has created a contrast between two people who are very close to Jesus, and in a common community with him.
Mary, deeply grateful to Jesus responds to him without being told. She shows love and appreciation for Jesus without regard for social norms, how it looks to others, or how much it costs. Commentator Gail O’Day notes in the New Interpreter’s Bible Commentary, “[Mary] gives boldly of herself in love to Jesus at this hour, just as Jesus will give boldly of himself in love at his hour.” (Volume 9, Pg. 703)
Judas, a long-time follower of Jesus who has seen quite a bit from Jesus, shows disdain for what he is seeing. He is driven by perceptions, pride, and limitations. Think back over the story. We aren’t told where Judas comes to be a disciple of Jesus. But he certainly had heard about the turning of water into wine; 120 to 180 gallons of excellent wine! And he certainly was there when Jesus took five loaves and two fish and made them be enough to feed thousands of people. So, based on his first-hand experience of Jesus being able to produce abundance and extravagance, Judas has no reason to focus on limits and waste. He should be faithfully enjoying Jesus’ abundance and accepting those who want to abundantly give to him. But he doesn’t.
That’s the contrast that we take away from this text for our own lives. It is not a contrast between propriety and impropriety, or stinginess vs. lavishness. It is the heart of discipleship.
Are we like Judas, seeing our relationship with God like we see life in the world – transactional, strategic, and limited. Do we give to God in order to receive in return? Is God’s promise of eternal life a reward calculated to make us live righteously?
Or, are we like Mary, living a new life as a child of God, embracing God’s endless love and generosity? That is not strategic to get eternal life. It is living fully now because of the promise of eternal life. Obviously we want to be like Mary
Wednesday, September 6, 2023
September 3, 2023 John 10:22-42
(Begin with showing several inspirational memes, but ones that ultimately leave you on your own to cope: Believe in yourself; Don’t just fly, soar; Believe in yourself and all that you are. Know there is something inside you that is greater and every obstacle; Attitude is everything; Let whatever you do today be enough; Even if you make the wrong choice, God will change it for good, so you can’t loose; You got this.)
Perhaps these little sayings give us a bit of a boost when we feel down, but are they actually helpful? Sometimes when someone shares with me some of the problems they are facing I’m tempted to say to them, “Hang in there.” But of what value is that? I’m telling them to find within themselves whatever strength is necessary to do what needs doing, but I’m not offering any actual help myself.
Or when you say to someone who has suffered a loss or is in crisis, “I’ll help any way I can,” you are certainly sympathizing with their situation, but are you really offering help? How much are you really going to inconvenience yourself for the sake of the other? Perhaps quite a bit, but I suspect that most often when we say things like that we really aren’t offering to rearrange our lives or schedules all that much. We’re willing to help as long as it is easy and convenient. Otherwise, we’ll have excuses.
Let’s keep that in mind as we turn to our gospel reading for today. It is about God coming to us and truly meeting us where we are, whether that is convenient or not, or even downright horrible and painful. That is the core teaching of Christianity that sets it apart from the world’s other religions. Other religions may teach that God is loving, and wants us to be the same. Well that’s all fine and good, I guess. But only Christianity says that God’s love has gone from just words and into tangible action.
We’re about at the halfway point of John’s gospel. We’ve completed chapter 10 and there are 21 chapters. (It probably actually originally stopped at 20 chapters, putting us at exactly the halfway point. But most biblical scholars think the original author added Chapter 21 at a later time.) I’ve said in the past weeks that John’s gospel is structured a lot like an ancient Greek play. And indeed, perhaps it is helpful to think of it like a modern-day play or a musical with two acts. We’ve just completed Act 1, which is all about Jesus’ public ministry. The curtain is closing and it’s time for an intermission. Next week we begin Act 2, which is all about Jesus’ Last Supper, arrest, trial, crucifixion, and resurrection. Indeed fully half of John’s gospel is about the last few days of Jesus’ life. But for now, Act 1 is about to end and the author gives us a recap of the major themes:
-Jesus is God, the all-powerful, everlasting Creator of all that is, seen and unseen,… come to live on earth.
-Jesus is revealing the ultimate nature of God the all-powerful as deeply loving, even being truly loving towards those who hate God.
-Jesus is the good shepherd who will lead people to eternal life.
-Jesus can perform miracles, or signs, all of which reveal something about God’s nature and offer proof of who Jesus is.
-Despite this, many people reject Jesus. They prefer darkness to light. Why? They prefer their own ways to God’s ways. And, especially when it comes to the religious leaders, they just cannot accept that God would come in human form.
-There is a divided response to Jesus. Some believe him. Some do not.
-And a final theme. Everything is happening according to God’s design, even though it may appear that Jesus is not in control at all. That theme will be developed greatly in Act 2. The whole second act is filled with irony.
If you’ve grown up as a Christian none of Jesus’ claims will strike you as all that unusual. It’s just what you know. That’s unfortunate. For the central tenant of Christianity is, and always has been, radical and scandalous. That list of things I just made is the core of it. In Act 2 of John’s gospel we’ll see all of that list put into action even more deeply.
In order to help us realize the radical and scandalous nature of Christianity let’s put ourselves in the shoes of the religious leaders in the gospel.
They know that God is patient, forgiving, loving, and even gracious. There’s nothing new or challenging there. The Old Testament has plenty of stories about that.
But…
God’s love is limited. God loves those who do good things. God hates those who do bad. God rewards hard work, smart decisions, and faithful living. And while God isn’t necessarily bound by human rules of justice, for the most part God does not have warm and kind feelings towards those who are sinful dirty people. God just can’t do that! How could there be any justice or accountability if God loves everyone?!
Those are all very good points. But they miss the fundamental nature of God. That fundamental nature is what our faith seeks to make known.
God carefully and loving created this universe. It is vast – incredibly vast! It is so complex as to boggle anyone’s mind. Biological life is nothing short of miraculous. And the complex interdependence of the environment is rich, beautiful, and astounding. And when it comes to humans, there we have God creating one being, in the bigger part of the creation, that has the ability to have an awareness of God’s presence. In God giving humanity that awareness God has invited a new level of relationship with the creation.
That is a Christian ethic and philosophy of the universe. Of course God loves every person! Of course God wants to be in relationship with every being able to develop an awareness of God’s love. God wants the creation to be big and vast and lush and healthy as possible.
We humans, with our ability to sense God, also have the ability to reject God. And so we make a mess of things. But God is not done with us. While God always reserves the right for judgement, God wants it to be otherwise. And God works endlessly and tirelessly and selflessly to make it otherwise.
All of those memes we started with aren’t the kind of thing God would do. God is one to get right there into the mess and be a tangible presence beside us. And in such a way God invites us to be God’s real presence to each other.
I’ve used this example before but I’m going to use it again because it fits well. Imagine you’re lost in the woods and it’s night time. A storm is coming. How are you going to get out? Islam would say that God is loving. It would say that God will show God’s love for you by giving you a map of the forest, and maybe a flashlight. Those things will help you to find your way out to safety. It’s a good image. It’s a comforting one. But, with all respect due to Islam, it is not a Christian message.
The Christian message is that you are lost in the woods and it’s night time. A storm is coming. How are you going to get out? Yes, God will give you a map of the forest and maybe a flashlight. But God will also come to be with you in the midst of the fearful darkness. You will not be alone. If you stumble over a stump and fall flat on your face in the mud, God will be right there with you. God won’t laugh. God will help you up. If you’re scared, God knows what it is to be scared and God will be scared with you. If you feel exhausted and hopeless, God will be with you in those feelings as well. It will not be judgment. It will be accompaniment. For God loves you and wants to be with you always, even if you get lost in the woods again and again.
Act 1 of John’s gospel closes. Act 2 begins next week. Jesus performs his greatest miracle. He raises a dead man to life. But that will be the final straw for the religious leaders. And ironically in Jesus giving life to someone it will cost him his own life. But that is also God’s love.
May you feel God’s presence within you through good times and bad. And may God send you companions so that God’s presence may be tangible to you in your life. Similarly, may God honor you with getting to be God’s tangible presence to others. For God’s love is relentless and endless. It makes good on its promises to bring light to everyone’s life.
Perhaps these little sayings give us a bit of a boost when we feel down, but are they actually helpful? Sometimes when someone shares with me some of the problems they are facing I’m tempted to say to them, “Hang in there.” But of what value is that? I’m telling them to find within themselves whatever strength is necessary to do what needs doing, but I’m not offering any actual help myself.
Or when you say to someone who has suffered a loss or is in crisis, “I’ll help any way I can,” you are certainly sympathizing with their situation, but are you really offering help? How much are you really going to inconvenience yourself for the sake of the other? Perhaps quite a bit, but I suspect that most often when we say things like that we really aren’t offering to rearrange our lives or schedules all that much. We’re willing to help as long as it is easy and convenient. Otherwise, we’ll have excuses.
Let’s keep that in mind as we turn to our gospel reading for today. It is about God coming to us and truly meeting us where we are, whether that is convenient or not, or even downright horrible and painful. That is the core teaching of Christianity that sets it apart from the world’s other religions. Other religions may teach that God is loving, and wants us to be the same. Well that’s all fine and good, I guess. But only Christianity says that God’s love has gone from just words and into tangible action.
We’re about at the halfway point of John’s gospel. We’ve completed chapter 10 and there are 21 chapters. (It probably actually originally stopped at 20 chapters, putting us at exactly the halfway point. But most biblical scholars think the original author added Chapter 21 at a later time.) I’ve said in the past weeks that John’s gospel is structured a lot like an ancient Greek play. And indeed, perhaps it is helpful to think of it like a modern-day play or a musical with two acts. We’ve just completed Act 1, which is all about Jesus’ public ministry. The curtain is closing and it’s time for an intermission. Next week we begin Act 2, which is all about Jesus’ Last Supper, arrest, trial, crucifixion, and resurrection. Indeed fully half of John’s gospel is about the last few days of Jesus’ life. But for now, Act 1 is about to end and the author gives us a recap of the major themes:
-Jesus is God, the all-powerful, everlasting Creator of all that is, seen and unseen,… come to live on earth.
-Jesus is revealing the ultimate nature of God the all-powerful as deeply loving, even being truly loving towards those who hate God.
-Jesus is the good shepherd who will lead people to eternal life.
-Jesus can perform miracles, or signs, all of which reveal something about God’s nature and offer proof of who Jesus is.
-Despite this, many people reject Jesus. They prefer darkness to light. Why? They prefer their own ways to God’s ways. And, especially when it comes to the religious leaders, they just cannot accept that God would come in human form.
-There is a divided response to Jesus. Some believe him. Some do not.
-And a final theme. Everything is happening according to God’s design, even though it may appear that Jesus is not in control at all. That theme will be developed greatly in Act 2. The whole second act is filled with irony.
If you’ve grown up as a Christian none of Jesus’ claims will strike you as all that unusual. It’s just what you know. That’s unfortunate. For the central tenant of Christianity is, and always has been, radical and scandalous. That list of things I just made is the core of it. In Act 2 of John’s gospel we’ll see all of that list put into action even more deeply.
In order to help us realize the radical and scandalous nature of Christianity let’s put ourselves in the shoes of the religious leaders in the gospel.
They know that God is patient, forgiving, loving, and even gracious. There’s nothing new or challenging there. The Old Testament has plenty of stories about that.
But…
God’s love is limited. God loves those who do good things. God hates those who do bad. God rewards hard work, smart decisions, and faithful living. And while God isn’t necessarily bound by human rules of justice, for the most part God does not have warm and kind feelings towards those who are sinful dirty people. God just can’t do that! How could there be any justice or accountability if God loves everyone?!
Those are all very good points. But they miss the fundamental nature of God. That fundamental nature is what our faith seeks to make known.
God carefully and loving created this universe. It is vast – incredibly vast! It is so complex as to boggle anyone’s mind. Biological life is nothing short of miraculous. And the complex interdependence of the environment is rich, beautiful, and astounding. And when it comes to humans, there we have God creating one being, in the bigger part of the creation, that has the ability to have an awareness of God’s presence. In God giving humanity that awareness God has invited a new level of relationship with the creation.
That is a Christian ethic and philosophy of the universe. Of course God loves every person! Of course God wants to be in relationship with every being able to develop an awareness of God’s love. God wants the creation to be big and vast and lush and healthy as possible.
We humans, with our ability to sense God, also have the ability to reject God. And so we make a mess of things. But God is not done with us. While God always reserves the right for judgement, God wants it to be otherwise. And God works endlessly and tirelessly and selflessly to make it otherwise.
All of those memes we started with aren’t the kind of thing God would do. God is one to get right there into the mess and be a tangible presence beside us. And in such a way God invites us to be God’s real presence to each other.
I’ve used this example before but I’m going to use it again because it fits well. Imagine you’re lost in the woods and it’s night time. A storm is coming. How are you going to get out? Islam would say that God is loving. It would say that God will show God’s love for you by giving you a map of the forest, and maybe a flashlight. Those things will help you to find your way out to safety. It’s a good image. It’s a comforting one. But, with all respect due to Islam, it is not a Christian message.
The Christian message is that you are lost in the woods and it’s night time. A storm is coming. How are you going to get out? Yes, God will give you a map of the forest and maybe a flashlight. But God will also come to be with you in the midst of the fearful darkness. You will not be alone. If you stumble over a stump and fall flat on your face in the mud, God will be right there with you. God won’t laugh. God will help you up. If you’re scared, God knows what it is to be scared and God will be scared with you. If you feel exhausted and hopeless, God will be with you in those feelings as well. It will not be judgment. It will be accompaniment. For God loves you and wants to be with you always, even if you get lost in the woods again and again.
Act 1 of John’s gospel closes. Act 2 begins next week. Jesus performs his greatest miracle. He raises a dead man to life. But that will be the final straw for the religious leaders. And ironically in Jesus giving life to someone it will cost him his own life. But that is also God’s love.
May you feel God’s presence within you through good times and bad. And may God send you companions so that God’s presence may be tangible to you in your life. Similarly, may God honor you with getting to be God’s tangible presence to others. For God’s love is relentless and endless. It makes good on its promises to bring light to everyone’s life.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)