(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.
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