Have you ever gotten lost? I suppose we all have at one point or another. If you’re driving your car and you get lost it’s no big deal these days. The maps apps on our phones can usually quickly get us back on the right course. They’ve gotten a lot more sophisticated too. Not that many years ago you used to have to put in your destination and you had to stick to the route. If you got off the route it would tell you to make a U-turn. Or else there would be a pause and it would say “recalculating” as it took several moments to figure out a better way.
Of course there is also getting really lost. Like wandering off the path in a forest and losing your sense of direction. Every tree looks the same. You can’t tell what’s a path and what’s not. This quickly goes from being annoying and into being dangerous. The world seems like a small place until you realize just how vast the forests of the Catskills and the Adirondacks really are. The risks of not ever being found are significant.
Have you ever gotten lost in a familiar place? That probably sounds odd, but I think of the way my grandfather would not take his boat out fishing in the Susquehanna River if it was foggy. He had a small airboat, so basically a flat bottom boat with an engine and airplane propeller mounted on the back to blow you around. At his house the Susquehanna River was a mile wide. It was very shallow. In some places you could walk across it. But there were also many partly submerged rock ledges. And there were also many places where there were deep holes and swirling currents. Other places it was flat and calm but still with a current. Of course the fish aren’t too interested in the flat calm areas. They like the holes and rocks. So that’s where you head for fishing. One morning my grandfather and a friend went out in fog; counting on their familiarity with the river to guide them. But pretty soon they were lost. There were rocks and ledges but none of them looked familiar. My grandfather thought they had traveled upstream. His friend thought they had traveled downstream. It turns out without the broader perspective of landmarks all the rocks and ledges looked alike. Of course they were never in real danger. They just had to throw out the anchor and wait for the fog to clear, but he said it was disconcerting to not know where you are despite being in familiar territory.
That takes us to our gospel reading from John 14. Like all of these chapters, there’s a lot going on here. I want to look at just one part. It is probably the most troublesome verse of it all, and it has been misinterpreted and misapplied for ages.
Jesus says in 14;6, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” What does that mean? Is believing in Jesus the only way to eternal life? Are all non-believers doomed to eternal damnation? What about everyone who lived before Jesus? Is the salvation of God limited to a very small number?
Those are all good and fair questions. And to answer them we need to go back to being on a river lost in the fog.
It is difficult…, no, it is impossible for us to fully understand the lives of the original readers of John. We live in a society where Christianity and overall Christian philosophy has dominated for centuries. Even if you are of a different religion, or a staunch atheist, you still live in a society where the thought patterns are built around Christianity. We cannot hear this text in any other way.
But for the original readers life as a Christian was a fog. They knew the world in which they lived. It was familiar to them. And yet it is as if they were lost in it. If the original readers were, as many biblical scholars believe, Jews who had been thrown out of the synagogue for believing in Jesus, then their lives had little to hang on to. There were no creeds, no scriptures, no social philosophies that they could look to. There were no Christian buildings or facilities. There was nothing really tangible they could attach their faith to. They had their old Jewish faith, but what did that mean in light of Jesus? They probably had families that were torn apart by faith issues so they probably couldn’t turn to relatives for guidance. All they have is a new small fragile community that is scared.
Into that lost scaredness comes the news of Jesus which gives them light, direction, and something solid to hang on to.
They have discovered that God is not some far off generic deity. God has come in a definitive way they could see, hear, and touch. When Jesus says, “No one comes to the Father except through me,” don’t interpret it as this is your only hope for eternity and all depends upon you finding it. It is more of here is a joyous solid reality that has been revealed to you. If you want to know what God is like, here’s the solid answer.
Commentator Gail O’Day notes this in the New Interpreter’s Bible, “It is important to try to hear this joyous, world changing theological affirmation in the first-century context of the Fourth Gospel. This is not, as is the case in the [twenty-first] century, the sweeping claim of a major world religion, but it is the conviction of a religious minority in the ancient Mediterranean world.” (Volume 9, Pg. 744) She goes on to say, “It is possible to hear an element of defiance in the proclamation of [this chapter], a determination to hold to this experience and knowledge of God against all opposition and all pressure to believe otherwise… [John’s gospel] declares where it stands in the first-century intra-Jewish debate about the character of God and the identity of God’s people.”
Or let me put that into my own words. Jesus saying that no one comes to the Father except through him is not a theological statement about salvation at all. It is saying that if you want to know about God, if you truly want to know about God, if you truly want to know what God is like, then Jesus is your answer. Jesus’ life, death, resurrection, and ascension reveals God’s nature better than anything else ever has or ever will.
You’ve heard me say before that other religions in the world talk about God being loving. That’s fine. I agree with that. But what example of love is there? How do you know? And what form does that love take? What does it look like?
Each religion has its own answer. But if I can humbly but boldly confess John’s answer – Christianity’s answer is to point to Jesus. Jesus is the master and teacher who washes the disciple’s feet, who turns water into wine and can feed a crowd of thousands with a few loaves of bread and a couple fish. Jesus can still the forces of nature and raise a dead man from the grave. And Jesus will himself go on to die, and because of his self-giving love, be raised again.
That takes us to the final thing.
People ask me to pray for healings and sometimes miracles. I gladly do so, but I also know what the Bible tells us about God’s love.
God’s love cannot be counted upon to make us immune to reality. Death still happens. Pain and unfairness still happens. God does not help us escape. But God’s love guides us to live through it.
As many of you know, for the last year I’ve been regularly visiting an elderly woman from Syracuse who was placed in Monroe County Hospital because it was the best place that could give her the care she needed. Since she lived in Syracuse it made little sense for her pastor to make the trip to Rochester. And so I filled in as a professional courtesy.
This woman died a week an a half ago. It was a relief. She’d been on a ventilator for over a year. That was her choice. She had no quality of life, and that was her choice as well. And every time I would go in to see her I would ask God what I was to make of this. She could hear what I said but she could not reply. What should I pray for? For her to die? For her to somehow be miraculously cured despite suffering two severe strokes which put her in this situation?
Given that God through Jesus has revealed Godself in such a way that God did not stay immune from the pains and problems of life, and even was willing to die an unjust death, what does that tell me about God and about what God is likely to do?
Should I expect or pray for a miracle? No. Sure, God can do it. But if I look to Jesus as the example that would not be God’s way of expressing love.
God works in ways that are simultaneously weaker and more powerful than we expect. For God is not a divine vending machine of supernatural cures. God is one who comes with us, deciding to be with us as the world does its thing.
As to paths to eternal life. That’s God’s business and we don’t worry about it. As to what God is like, there God has given us answers. And God has told us to rejoice in that and to share in that so that others know God too.
Monday, October 16, 2023
Monday, October 9, 2023
October 8, 2023 Foot Washing John 13
When I think about Jesus washing the disciples’ feet I think that washing someone’s feet has got to be among the more disgusting things a person could do. Feet stink. Period. And they seem to collect dirt and lint, even if you always wear shoes and socks when you’re outside. Of course feet often don’t look very pretty either.
Indeed in Jesus’ time foot washing was not something you’d do for someone else. I understand that standard hospitality for guests was to offer them water and a towel to wash their feet when they arrived. It makes sense. Roads were dusty. And roads were muddy. And, given that the primary horsepower for transportation was,… well,… horses, you also have lots of other dynamics present in the roads as well. So, when you’d get home or to someone’s house you’d wash your feet!
You’d usually wash your own feet. Or I understand that in some cases a very rich person would have a very low-ranking servant wash people’s feet. Whatever the case, a wealthy person, or a person of status like a rabbi would not wash other people’s feet!
Jesus washing the feet of the disciples was an act of love and an expression of humility. He, their rabbi, their leader, was voluntarily washing their feet.
We don’t have this regular foot washing in our culture today, but I wonder what it’s like for those who give pedicures? I’ve never had one so I don’t really know anything about it. I know men sometimes get them but I think it’s primarily women. I can imagine any number of women who when going for a pedicure will make sure their feet are clean, and whether they wear socks or not, they may even have rarely worn shoes that look good and haven’t accumulated a smell. All of that so as not to offend the person giving the pedicure.
I suppose that’s a sign of respect, and that’s good. But I think about the way some workers in nursing homes care for the people they look after. Or perhaps those who do pedicure-like work for elderly people in general.
I remember Knute Halvorson talking about how good his feet felt after he’d go to the podiatrist and someone would work on his toes and nails. He said he couldn’t believe how good his feet felt – as if every step was a joy to take! If you knew Knute you know he was not one to throw away compliments! The last years of Knute’s life he had many back, leg, and foot pains. Watching him walk was watching him wince in pain with every step. So someone who could actually make his feet feel good was giving him a great gift indeed!
Jesus’ disciples certainly felt weird about Jesus washing their feet. Peter’s response to him saying, “You will never wash my feet,” is proof of that. And yet it was a wonderful act of love. It was individual, personal touch and attention from their rabbi.
There are lots of things going on in our gospel reading. I want to make sure we recognize two of them. The first one is quick and easy. It is Judas.
Despite Jesus knowing full well what Judas is about to do, Jesus still washes Judas’ feet. Judas is loved. He is not criticized. He is not thrown out.
Later in the chapter Judas does leave. Again, he is not thrown out. You can still hear the love in Jesus’ voice when he says to Judas, “Do quickly what you are going to do.” There’s no anger or rejection there. It is still a statement of care.
Then Judas leaves.
The gospel writer John throws in very important detail when Judas leaves. “And it was night.”
Thus far through the gospel we’ve heard about light and darkness. The beginning of John’s gospel includes these familiar words, “What has come into being in [Jesus] was life, and the life was the light of all people. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not overcome it.”
Yet here Judas himself makes the conscious decision to leave the light and head out into the darkness.
There’s a whole sermon right there! And we’re going to get at it by looking at the second thing. That second thing is a disciple who stayed.
In John 13:23 says an interesting thing about one of the disciples. Hear that verse again, “One of the disciples – the one whom Jesus loved – was reclining next to him…” Historians and scholars have wondered for centuries who this beloved disciple was.
It wasn’t Judas! He’s about to leave.
It wasn’t Peter either. The very next verse refers to Peter as being someone else. Otherwise there’d be a good case for Peter because the other gospels present Peter as the sort of leader of the disciples.
Many have concluded that the beloved disciple is the disciple John. And that John then actually wrote the gospel. The next-to-the-last verse of John’s gospel: Chapter 21, verse 24 reads, “This is the disciple who is testifying these things and has written them…”
I’m not going to get into it here, because the logic is intricate, but a close reading of John’s gospel shows that the beloved disciple is definitely not John, nor his brother James either.
While over the ages many have incorrectly said the beloved disciple is John, it is also true that across the ages many have said the same person who most scholars today agree is the beloved disciple.
The beloved disciple is you.
In Luke’s gospel, you the reader is called, “Most Excellent Lover of God.” In John’s gospel, you the reader is called, “the beloved disciple.” And don’t be so quick to dismiss this as just a cute literary device created by the author. It’s not. The author is serious. He means it.
He has written the gospel so that you, the disciple Jesus loves, has been given a first hand look at everything that happens – everything from the call of the first disciples to the miracle of turning water into wine, and all the way to the resurrection.
In John’s gospel who is the first person to enter the tomb of Jesus and discover that it is empty? According to the author who is the very first witness of the resurrection? You are.
That may not sit well with our understanding of historic reality, but it gets at the key thing the author is trying to get at.
From your perspective does it really matter who sees the empty tomb first? No. It doesn’t matter. But what does truly matter is that you are given first hand direct access to the nature of God as revealed in Jesus.
Where is the beloved disciple during the Last Supper? A literal translation of John 13:23 reads, “One of his disciples the one whom Jesus loved- was reclining in Jesus’ bosom.”
The author wants you to imagine Jesus kneeling down and washing your feet. The author wants you to be touching Jesus, literally leaning against him, throughout the last supper. One of the most used words in John’s gospel is the word abide. It is about Jesus’ presence abiding in you.
When you read the gospel of John you are meant to feel cherished by God and immediately and fully in God’s presence.
It is as if the author knows we are going to feel distant from God. It is as if the author knows we’re going to have doubts. It is as if the author knows we’re going to wonder where God is, what God is up to, and what we are supposed to do with our lives. In answer to all of that he says you are loved.
Maybe that doesn’t sound like an answer at all. But let’s conclude with a look back at Judas. Judas has left. He has rejected abiding in Jesus. He has chosen to go out into the darkness.
We are to stay in the light. So when you don’t feel God, or you don’t know what to do, or when you have doubts, go back to the core of Chapter 13. You are loved. You are beloved. Let that guide your thoughts and actions.
I don’t think God is into giving us rules and expectations, as if life were a puzzle to figure out. God says, “I abide with you. Let that guide you. Let that be your light.” And it will guide you well. Easy, it will not be. But blessed it will be. Rejoice at being chosen and loved by God.
Indeed in Jesus’ time foot washing was not something you’d do for someone else. I understand that standard hospitality for guests was to offer them water and a towel to wash their feet when they arrived. It makes sense. Roads were dusty. And roads were muddy. And, given that the primary horsepower for transportation was,… well,… horses, you also have lots of other dynamics present in the roads as well. So, when you’d get home or to someone’s house you’d wash your feet!
You’d usually wash your own feet. Or I understand that in some cases a very rich person would have a very low-ranking servant wash people’s feet. Whatever the case, a wealthy person, or a person of status like a rabbi would not wash other people’s feet!
Jesus washing the feet of the disciples was an act of love and an expression of humility. He, their rabbi, their leader, was voluntarily washing their feet.
We don’t have this regular foot washing in our culture today, but I wonder what it’s like for those who give pedicures? I’ve never had one so I don’t really know anything about it. I know men sometimes get them but I think it’s primarily women. I can imagine any number of women who when going for a pedicure will make sure their feet are clean, and whether they wear socks or not, they may even have rarely worn shoes that look good and haven’t accumulated a smell. All of that so as not to offend the person giving the pedicure.
I suppose that’s a sign of respect, and that’s good. But I think about the way some workers in nursing homes care for the people they look after. Or perhaps those who do pedicure-like work for elderly people in general.
I remember Knute Halvorson talking about how good his feet felt after he’d go to the podiatrist and someone would work on his toes and nails. He said he couldn’t believe how good his feet felt – as if every step was a joy to take! If you knew Knute you know he was not one to throw away compliments! The last years of Knute’s life he had many back, leg, and foot pains. Watching him walk was watching him wince in pain with every step. So someone who could actually make his feet feel good was giving him a great gift indeed!
Jesus’ disciples certainly felt weird about Jesus washing their feet. Peter’s response to him saying, “You will never wash my feet,” is proof of that. And yet it was a wonderful act of love. It was individual, personal touch and attention from their rabbi.
There are lots of things going on in our gospel reading. I want to make sure we recognize two of them. The first one is quick and easy. It is Judas.
Despite Jesus knowing full well what Judas is about to do, Jesus still washes Judas’ feet. Judas is loved. He is not criticized. He is not thrown out.
Later in the chapter Judas does leave. Again, he is not thrown out. You can still hear the love in Jesus’ voice when he says to Judas, “Do quickly what you are going to do.” There’s no anger or rejection there. It is still a statement of care.
Then Judas leaves.
The gospel writer John throws in very important detail when Judas leaves. “And it was night.”
Thus far through the gospel we’ve heard about light and darkness. The beginning of John’s gospel includes these familiar words, “What has come into being in [Jesus] was life, and the life was the light of all people. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not overcome it.”
Yet here Judas himself makes the conscious decision to leave the light and head out into the darkness.
There’s a whole sermon right there! And we’re going to get at it by looking at the second thing. That second thing is a disciple who stayed.
In John 13:23 says an interesting thing about one of the disciples. Hear that verse again, “One of the disciples – the one whom Jesus loved – was reclining next to him…” Historians and scholars have wondered for centuries who this beloved disciple was.
It wasn’t Judas! He’s about to leave.
It wasn’t Peter either. The very next verse refers to Peter as being someone else. Otherwise there’d be a good case for Peter because the other gospels present Peter as the sort of leader of the disciples.
Many have concluded that the beloved disciple is the disciple John. And that John then actually wrote the gospel. The next-to-the-last verse of John’s gospel: Chapter 21, verse 24 reads, “This is the disciple who is testifying these things and has written them…”
I’m not going to get into it here, because the logic is intricate, but a close reading of John’s gospel shows that the beloved disciple is definitely not John, nor his brother James either.
While over the ages many have incorrectly said the beloved disciple is John, it is also true that across the ages many have said the same person who most scholars today agree is the beloved disciple.
The beloved disciple is you.
In Luke’s gospel, you the reader is called, “Most Excellent Lover of God.” In John’s gospel, you the reader is called, “the beloved disciple.” And don’t be so quick to dismiss this as just a cute literary device created by the author. It’s not. The author is serious. He means it.
He has written the gospel so that you, the disciple Jesus loves, has been given a first hand look at everything that happens – everything from the call of the first disciples to the miracle of turning water into wine, and all the way to the resurrection.
In John’s gospel who is the first person to enter the tomb of Jesus and discover that it is empty? According to the author who is the very first witness of the resurrection? You are.
That may not sit well with our understanding of historic reality, but it gets at the key thing the author is trying to get at.
From your perspective does it really matter who sees the empty tomb first? No. It doesn’t matter. But what does truly matter is that you are given first hand direct access to the nature of God as revealed in Jesus.
Where is the beloved disciple during the Last Supper? A literal translation of John 13:23 reads, “One of his disciples the one whom Jesus loved- was reclining in Jesus’ bosom.”
The author wants you to imagine Jesus kneeling down and washing your feet. The author wants you to be touching Jesus, literally leaning against him, throughout the last supper. One of the most used words in John’s gospel is the word abide. It is about Jesus’ presence abiding in you.
When you read the gospel of John you are meant to feel cherished by God and immediately and fully in God’s presence.
It is as if the author knows we are going to feel distant from God. It is as if the author knows we’re going to have doubts. It is as if the author knows we’re going to wonder where God is, what God is up to, and what we are supposed to do with our lives. In answer to all of that he says you are loved.
Maybe that doesn’t sound like an answer at all. But let’s conclude with a look back at Judas. Judas has left. He has rejected abiding in Jesus. He has chosen to go out into the darkness.
We are to stay in the light. So when you don’t feel God, or you don’t know what to do, or when you have doubts, go back to the core of Chapter 13. You are loved. You are beloved. Let that guide your thoughts and actions.
I don’t think God is into giving us rules and expectations, as if life were a puzzle to figure out. God says, “I abide with you. Let that guide you. Let that be your light.” And it will guide you well. Easy, it will not be. But blessed it will be. Rejoice at being chosen and loved by God.
Monday, October 2, 2023
October 1, 2023 John 12:20-50
It feels like advertisements for lawyers are inescapable these days. They’re all over television. There’s lots on billboards along the road. I used to laugh last year on Route 31 coming from Lyons into Newark that there were multiple billboards within view all at once with competing messages from lawyers. There don’t seem to be as many ads on the internet though.
Based on how many ads there are you’d think every third person you meet is the victim of a jobsite accident, car crash, asbestos exposure, or some other sort of tragedy. The ads have all sorts of clever sayings and catchy jingles. You can probably easily run a handful of them through your head right now! All of these legal ads promise the same thing – lots of money.
Pharmaceutical companies spend their share on advertisements too! While they don’t promise lots of money, they do also have catchy ads and sayings. Everyone looks happy and vibrant; as if the medicine has cured all their life’s problems. It is funny though that the ads for pharmaceuticals also have to list the side effects, which can be just has horrible as the original condition; or may even cause death. Notice they don’t have scenes of funerals in their ads though.
And that takes us to Jesus’ message of, “Take up your cross and follow me.” It’s hard to put a jingle to that one, and it’s hard to create a picture for a billboard that has someone looking vibrant and happy!
The children’s sermon today focused on John 10:24, “Very truly, I tell you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains just a single grain; but if it dies, it bears much fruit.” And now we continue with the very next verse, “Those who love their life will lose it, and those who hate their life in this world will keep it for eternal life.”
Ironic, isn’t it. It’s as if Jesus’ main ads would say that life is going to be difficult, painful even. And then the fine print at the bottom would say, “Side effects are an eternal life of bliss.”
But that is not why we follow Jesus. Jesus never intended his message to be one of suffer now in order to be rewarded later. That’s not how God works. That’s just scheming and leveraging God. I’d like to see the lawyer who things he or she can take God to court and win!
If you’ve been in worship a lot these last months you’ve realized that John’s gospel feels very different from the other gospels. One thing that is noticeably different is that they’re aren’t exorcisms. We don’t meet demon possessed people. There are miracle stories, yes. And some of them are great miracles! But, for the most part, John’s gospel is quite at home in our worldview today. With the issue of demon possession and exorcisms, it is notable that there is only one exorcism in the entire story. That exorcism is at the crucifixion when Jesus delivers the world from the power of evil. Jesus himself says in verse 31 of our gospel reading for today, “Now is the judgment of this world: now the ruler of this world will be driven out. And I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to myself.”
There you have it. The only exorcism.
John’s gospel gives us a very important perspective when it comes to what has become known as atonement theory. Atonement theory is how does Jesus’ crucifixion actually take away the effect of sin. How does it connect to our lives today. Atonement theory is a tough territory. It is fine to say Jesus died for your sins. Or that Jesus sacrificed himself for you as an act of love. But how do they connect? We haven’t met Jesus in full literal form. We have not done bad things and Jesus literally stepped in and said, “I’ll take the punishment instead.”
Over the centuries many have said that in order for there to be justice in the universe, in order to make up for the brokenness of humanity, Jesus had to suffer and die. But is there some great eternal judge beyond God that needs to be satisfied somehow? God created this universe. God created the ideas of cause and effect, and fairness, and justice. Why would God create something where God himself would have to suffer for the sake of God’s own justice? You can see how that quickly gets us into a logical trap.
John’s gospel helps us out. Why does Jesus have to die? And how does Jesus’ life and death impact our own lives today, and our relationship with God?
First of all, Jesus does not have to die, even though he knew he would from the very beginning. Jesus’ death in John’s gospel is not about making up for the world’s sins. It’s about God showing such abundant selfless love that God is willing to die for the world that has turned its back on God and gone astray.
And as Jesus dies he is not setting some moral example that we are to follow. Jesus does not say, “Do what I do. Here’s an example for you to build your morality from.”
No, the death of Jesus is an expression of love that, ironically, leads to wholeness of life.
The lawyers ads are lies. A big payout will not lead to wholeness of life. Although I will say that a highly developed threat of civil lawsuits does keep powerful people and companies from becoming too careless. And the pharmaceutical companies are not giving wholeness of life either. Although any number of medications do significantly improve the quality of life. But Jesus does give wholeness of life. It is not wholeness of life by being sacrificial in life; although it may take that form. It is wholeness of life because Jesus is revealing the enormity of God’s love for you and for the world around you. And he invites you to live in that love.
In other words, the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus invites you into relationship with God every step through life. It invites you to look to God as the example of love and trust that living in that love will indeed bring you value.
That love is counter to the way the world works. And that love is counter to the way our minds think.
Sure, I can’t help but imagine what my life would be like if suddenly a vast fortune were dumped into my lap. What would I buy? What trips would I take? It’s easy to imagine joy at knowing that you could spend a lot on happiness today and still have plenty to spend on happiness tomorrow and the next day and the day after that forever. Yet that would lead to emptiness.
The failure of Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden story is that they thought they could find fulfillment on their own terms apart from God. The success of Jesus is that he shows how fulfillment comes by turning back to God and realizing that God already made you good.
How does living that love look in real life? It is seeing problems and challenges and then being willing to work to engage them.
I don’t know where all I’ve come across this fact, but the truth is the greatest satisfaction comes from seeing a task you don’t know how to accomplish but then learning the skills to accomplish it, and then doing it. If everything is too easy all the time life gets boring. If everything is too hard all the time then you suffer burnout. But when you do not shy away from problems, and when you approach tasks with God’s love in your mind, you will succeed at them, and you will feel truly good.
The grain of wheat cracks open and a new life sprouts from it. We do not wait until we die and our bodies decompose or are burnt in order to have that new life sprout. Jesus wants us to know that the new life sprouts right now, and here in this world. A life of self-gift in relationship with God is true life. It is available to all. It is available right now.
We don’t run TV ads or pop-ups on the internet, or put up billboards along the side of the road. But we do let the light of Christ shine from our own lives into the world. Perhaps we aren’t exorcists, but we do drive the darkness and the demons of ignorance away so that all may know true life.
Based on how many ads there are you’d think every third person you meet is the victim of a jobsite accident, car crash, asbestos exposure, or some other sort of tragedy. The ads have all sorts of clever sayings and catchy jingles. You can probably easily run a handful of them through your head right now! All of these legal ads promise the same thing – lots of money.
Pharmaceutical companies spend their share on advertisements too! While they don’t promise lots of money, they do also have catchy ads and sayings. Everyone looks happy and vibrant; as if the medicine has cured all their life’s problems. It is funny though that the ads for pharmaceuticals also have to list the side effects, which can be just has horrible as the original condition; or may even cause death. Notice they don’t have scenes of funerals in their ads though.
And that takes us to Jesus’ message of, “Take up your cross and follow me.” It’s hard to put a jingle to that one, and it’s hard to create a picture for a billboard that has someone looking vibrant and happy!
The children’s sermon today focused on John 10:24, “Very truly, I tell you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains just a single grain; but if it dies, it bears much fruit.” And now we continue with the very next verse, “Those who love their life will lose it, and those who hate their life in this world will keep it for eternal life.”
Ironic, isn’t it. It’s as if Jesus’ main ads would say that life is going to be difficult, painful even. And then the fine print at the bottom would say, “Side effects are an eternal life of bliss.”
But that is not why we follow Jesus. Jesus never intended his message to be one of suffer now in order to be rewarded later. That’s not how God works. That’s just scheming and leveraging God. I’d like to see the lawyer who things he or she can take God to court and win!
If you’ve been in worship a lot these last months you’ve realized that John’s gospel feels very different from the other gospels. One thing that is noticeably different is that they’re aren’t exorcisms. We don’t meet demon possessed people. There are miracle stories, yes. And some of them are great miracles! But, for the most part, John’s gospel is quite at home in our worldview today. With the issue of demon possession and exorcisms, it is notable that there is only one exorcism in the entire story. That exorcism is at the crucifixion when Jesus delivers the world from the power of evil. Jesus himself says in verse 31 of our gospel reading for today, “Now is the judgment of this world: now the ruler of this world will be driven out. And I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to myself.”
There you have it. The only exorcism.
John’s gospel gives us a very important perspective when it comes to what has become known as atonement theory. Atonement theory is how does Jesus’ crucifixion actually take away the effect of sin. How does it connect to our lives today. Atonement theory is a tough territory. It is fine to say Jesus died for your sins. Or that Jesus sacrificed himself for you as an act of love. But how do they connect? We haven’t met Jesus in full literal form. We have not done bad things and Jesus literally stepped in and said, “I’ll take the punishment instead.”
Over the centuries many have said that in order for there to be justice in the universe, in order to make up for the brokenness of humanity, Jesus had to suffer and die. But is there some great eternal judge beyond God that needs to be satisfied somehow? God created this universe. God created the ideas of cause and effect, and fairness, and justice. Why would God create something where God himself would have to suffer for the sake of God’s own justice? You can see how that quickly gets us into a logical trap.
John’s gospel helps us out. Why does Jesus have to die? And how does Jesus’ life and death impact our own lives today, and our relationship with God?
First of all, Jesus does not have to die, even though he knew he would from the very beginning. Jesus’ death in John’s gospel is not about making up for the world’s sins. It’s about God showing such abundant selfless love that God is willing to die for the world that has turned its back on God and gone astray.
And as Jesus dies he is not setting some moral example that we are to follow. Jesus does not say, “Do what I do. Here’s an example for you to build your morality from.”
No, the death of Jesus is an expression of love that, ironically, leads to wholeness of life.
The lawyers ads are lies. A big payout will not lead to wholeness of life. Although I will say that a highly developed threat of civil lawsuits does keep powerful people and companies from becoming too careless. And the pharmaceutical companies are not giving wholeness of life either. Although any number of medications do significantly improve the quality of life. But Jesus does give wholeness of life. It is not wholeness of life by being sacrificial in life; although it may take that form. It is wholeness of life because Jesus is revealing the enormity of God’s love for you and for the world around you. And he invites you to live in that love.
In other words, the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus invites you into relationship with God every step through life. It invites you to look to God as the example of love and trust that living in that love will indeed bring you value.
That love is counter to the way the world works. And that love is counter to the way our minds think.
Sure, I can’t help but imagine what my life would be like if suddenly a vast fortune were dumped into my lap. What would I buy? What trips would I take? It’s easy to imagine joy at knowing that you could spend a lot on happiness today and still have plenty to spend on happiness tomorrow and the next day and the day after that forever. Yet that would lead to emptiness.
The failure of Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden story is that they thought they could find fulfillment on their own terms apart from God. The success of Jesus is that he shows how fulfillment comes by turning back to God and realizing that God already made you good.
How does living that love look in real life? It is seeing problems and challenges and then being willing to work to engage them.
I don’t know where all I’ve come across this fact, but the truth is the greatest satisfaction comes from seeing a task you don’t know how to accomplish but then learning the skills to accomplish it, and then doing it. If everything is too easy all the time life gets boring. If everything is too hard all the time then you suffer burnout. But when you do not shy away from problems, and when you approach tasks with God’s love in your mind, you will succeed at them, and you will feel truly good.
The grain of wheat cracks open and a new life sprouts from it. We do not wait until we die and our bodies decompose or are burnt in order to have that new life sprout. Jesus wants us to know that the new life sprouts right now, and here in this world. A life of self-gift in relationship with God is true life. It is available to all. It is available right now.
We don’t run TV ads or pop-ups on the internet, or put up billboards along the side of the road. But we do let the light of Christ shine from our own lives into the world. Perhaps we aren’t exorcists, but we do drive the darkness and the demons of ignorance away so that all may know true life.
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