Thoughts going in, March 25th

John 12: 20 Now there were some Greeks among those who went up to worship at the festival. 21 They came to Philip, who was from Bethsaida in Galilee, with a request. "Sir," they said, "we would like to see Jesus." 22 Philip went to tell Andrew; Andrew and Philip in turn told Jesus. 23 Jesus replied, "The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified. 24 Very truly I tell you, unless a kernel of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains only a single seed. But if it dies, it produces many seeds. 25 Those who love their life will lose it, while those who hate their life in this world will keep it for eternal life. 26 Whoever serves me must follow me; and where I am, my servant also will be. My Father will honor the one who serves me. 27 "Now my soul is troubled, and what shall I say? 'Father, save me from this hour'? No, it was for this very reason I came to this hour. 28 Father, glorify your name!" Then a voice came from heaven, "I have glorified it, and will glorify it again." 29 The crowd that was there and heard it said it had thundered; others said an angel had spoken to him. 30 Jesus said, "This voice was for your benefit, not mine. 31 Now is the time for judgment on this world; now the prince of this world will be driven out. 32 And I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to myself." 33 He said this to show the kind of death he was going to die.

I have often thought of John as the most 'stylized' of all of the gospels...in other words, the gospel in which we can most see the work of the editor's hands. Things are *arranged. Long speeches of Jesus are strung together in such a way that we just don't see in the synoptic gospels. People ask to see Jesus and instead of saying yes, no, or maybe, it launches him into a long speech. This is because from John the editor's perspective it's really not that important whether or not Jesus ever actually meets with them; the important thing was that they came looking for him. To be more precise, it is SIGNIFICANT that GENTILES...came to JERUSALEM... specifically looking for ISRAEL'S MESSIAH. At least metaphorically speaking, all of the Old Testament prophets must've been flipping over in their graves. The great 'in-gathering,' so long foretold, had begun.

That said, I think this passage divides up into several sub-chunks--each of which forms what I would call a "preachable unit," although I have my doubts that a decent (and time-conscious) sermon could take in the whole pericope. My division is as follows:

Vss 20-23: The 'sign' of the Gentiles. Scholars have noted the 'book of signs' organization behind John's gospel. Some think that it was originally a stand-alone work. Regardless, the last of Jesus' signs has occurred. However, in these verses even though the word 'sign' is never used, it seems clear that this is precisely how Jesus interprets the events. Greeks coming to Jerusalem and asking to see the Jewish Messiah is, to Jesus, a 'sign' that his time has come. Note also that for him (in John's gospel) it is not a time to "die," but rather a time to be "glorified"... a time to be "lifted up" for all to see and flow to.

Vss 24-26: These verses constitute a mini-parable intended to comment ('midrash' is the Jewish term) on facts as they're unfolding and the statement made in the previous verses. BEING GLORIFIED (aka dying) in **this case... his case... the Messiah's case... will have the effect that planting a single grain of wheat into the ground has. The result will be a harvest that produces "many seeds" ... all who, in turn, to one degree or another (literally or symbolically) ... also lose their lives for the purpose of gaining more.

Vss 27-30: John goes pretty light on the 'agony' before the cross (as compared to the synoptics). From John's perspective Jesus is totally in control, and the cross is his glorification. Hence, there is no "troubled soul" per se for Jesus in John's view of Gethsemane just before his arrest--but we find it here in this passage instead.

Vss 31-33: "Lifted up" is a favorite term in John. In Lent we hear it twice--last week in Jn 3 when Jesus was talking to Nicodemus and now this week. Clearly Jesus is re-defining crucifixion. Rather than it being a means of cruel Roman torture designed--among other things--to REPEL people.... to DETER people... to remind them of the yoke of cruel bondage they're all under, Jesus redefines the cross [his cross] as a MAGNET that will draw people to it. It's an incredible object lesson that remains pointed even (especially) when stripped of the layers of theologizing that have built up down through the centuries. Strictly taking the evangelist St. John at his word with no theologizing whatsoever, he has it that the God of the universe took on flesh and blood to become one of us... for the precise purpose of letting his Creation "play god" over him; to torture him and brutally execute him... all the while not lifting a finger in his own defense, **OR raising his hand in vengeance after the resurrection. All of this he does in order to be the "Agnus Dei," the lamb of God; the sin-bearer of the whole world... the one who's willing to take the fall for all humanity. The gulf oil spill? It's his fault. Hitler's attempted genocide of the Jews? It's his fault. The Kennedy assassination? It's his fault. Every rape that ever occurred in Central Park? It's his fault. The fact that you stole, or cheated, or lied, or even did something quite heinous... that's his fault too.

The point that John specifically makes in his gospel is that the God of the universe WANTS to do this. He wants to take the fall for you, and me, and all of humanity. He EMBRACES this; he willingly consents to let all humanity PILE ON their filth upon him...and then be raised up high for all to see. Of course it draws people. Some come to see the spectacle of it all... the God made powerless; some come to pile on more filth. But in the process some become profoundly effected by what they see; overcome with the Divine Love they're witnessing; forever changed by the powerful witness of powerlessness.

Cheers,

TM

Thoughts going in, Sunday March 18th

John 3:14 Just as Moses lifted up the snake in the wilderness, so the Son of Man must be lifted up, 15 that everyone who believes may have eternal life in him." 16 For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. 17 For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. 18 Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because they have not believed in the name of God's one and only Son. 19 This is the verdict: Light has come into the world, but people loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil. 20 All those who do evil hate the light, and will not come into the light for fear that their deeds will be exposed. 21 But those who live by the truth come into the light, so that it may be seen plainly that what they have done has been done in the sight of God.

As usual, given John's Gospel, there is a depth of richness in these words; and the passage itself is densely packed.

The lectionary pops us into a conversation in progress. This is the well-known "Nicodemus at night" passage, where one of the members of the Jewish ruling class comes to Jesus by night with his questions. Nicodemus, the New Testament later tells us, became one of a hand-full of the elite who accepted Jesus as Messiah. Anyway, this Sunday's passage opens with the conversation in progress and with Jesus talking.

Vss 14-15 would make for an interesting sermon all by themselves. As the words of Jesus link himself and his upcoming death to the Moses/snake incident of the Old Testament (Num 21, the OT lesson for the day), the concept of HEALING is irrevocably introduced. Digging deeper, Numbers 21 is fascinating because the people are sick and suffering from the snake bites **precisely because of their own sin. Their sin had brought on the judgment of the snakes. God's divine/parental love, however, brought healing. They needed only to believe the words of Moses and LOOK UP to live. Similarly, we see the divine/parental love operative in John 3. We as humanity are suffering the results of sin. Granted, sin is inherited and we can do nothing to stop it; yet all have most certainly made decisions of the will to wallow in it from time to time. It is many things, including a sickness in need of divine healing.

And then comes VS 16, the so-called "Gospel in a nutshell" and probably everyone's most favorite verse. Not to take away from the significance so many people personally attach to this verse, but a couple of things are worth mentioning given the context. The first is to REMEMBER that Numbers 21 is still in the background in terms of the context: the sickness/dying of the people that is occurring because of their own sin. Vs 16 now widens that concept. Turns out its a "cosmic problem," literally. ("for God so loved the cosmos" it says in the Gk). Here again is the image of divine/parental love at work. The cosmos is sick and dying because of sin. A "deadbeat dad" version of the deity might not concern himself. But the heavenly Father is no deadbeat dad. HE LOVES (agape); and HE ACTS; He sends not just *an antidote, but *the perfect and perfectly righteous antidote to the cosmic sin problem.

The second highly noteworthy aspect of this passage is the absence of direct divine judgment. This is perhaps best seen as a theological truth *highlighted by John the writer. Yet, it seems important to him to stress. God is the SOURCE OF HEALING, not the source of judgment. V17 says the Son was not sent to condemn. This does not mean that there won't be condemnation, however. But what it does mean is that the condemnation that occurs will be the result of self-condemnation. Again, the image of Numbers 21 is informative. Anyone bitten by a fiery serpent need only LOOK UP (faith is implied, obviously). But what of those who are bitten who refuse to look up? Sorry. There's no antidote behind door #2. This is it. The same reasoning applies to John 3. Any and all who look to the cross of Christ in faith are "healed," but those who refuse to "look up" stand SELF-CONDEMNED. There is no antidote... there is no savior standing behind door #2.

For me this Lent, I have been trying to see RENEWAL in God's activity and in the Sunday readings. In week 1 I saw renewal of HOPE. In week 2 I saw a call to renewal of COMMITMENT. Last week I saw a renewal of our FOCUS. This week it's difficult to put into words. HEALING is almost a synonym for 'renewal.' Is this a renewal of renewal? On second thought, as *central as healing is to the passage, perhaps I shouldn't side-step the opportunity to highlight the 'renewal of the IMAGE' of God at work in John 3. After all, images of the 'angry judge' go flying out the window in this passage. I see a child who has a 'boo-boo' and comes crying to his/her mother, who bends down and kisses the 'boo-boo' and "makes it all better." How many times have we witnessed such an act of love? And more importantly, how many times have we witnessed the fact that it actually DOES make it all better! That is truly the image of God presented in John 3.

Cheers,

TM

Thoughts going in, Sunday March 4th

Mark 8:31 He then began to teach them that the Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders, the chief priests and the teachers of the law, and that he must be killed and after three days rise again. 32 He spoke plainly about this, and Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him. 33 But when Jesus turned and looked at his disciples, he rebuked Peter. "Get behind me, Satan!" he said. "You do not have in mind the concerns of God, but merely human concerns." 34 Then he called the crowd to him along with his disciples and said: "Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. 35 For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me and for the gospel will save it. 36 What good is it for you to gain the whole world, yet forfeit your soul? 37 Or what can you give in exchange for your soul? 38 If any of you are ashamed of me and my words in this adulterous and sinful generation, the Son of Man will be ashamed of you when he comes in his Father's glory with the holy angels."

The immediate context of this passage is one of those "thrill of victory, agony of defeat" times for the Apostle Peter. Jesus had asked the group what people were saying about him; who do they say I am, he asked. And then he asked the even more pertinent question, who do YOU say I am? And in vs 29, answering for the entire group, Peter said, thou art the Christ. A++++++++++++++. Peter gets it. Jesus is the Messiah (Christos in the Greek). He is the long-awaited deliverer in a long tradition of deliverers: Moses; David; Hezekiah; Josiah; Zerrubabel; Judas Maccabeus. Like each of these, the Christos will face enormously difficult odds. Rome and her client armies constitute the most powerful military force in the world. However, Egypt was the most powerful military force in the world when Moses encountered them, and the Selucids greatly out-manned and out-gunned the Maccabees in their day. Every pious Jew knew that God plus an army of just one was invincible.

So...the time has come. The Christos is here. There's work to do: strategizing; recruiting; spreading the message that soon God's man will be leading the revolt against the hated Roman overlords. But what a glorious time it will be; and soon, very soon now, Israel will be restored as its own kingdom under God. To some degree, **some if not ALL of these thoughts had to be swirling through the heads of the Apostles after vss 29 & 30.

And then Jesus does something very strange--breaks the mood, you might say. Vs 31 He then began to teach them that the Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders, the chief priests and the teachers of the law, and that he must be killed and after three days rise again. This doesn't sound right. This is not according to plan. Where's the strategizing? Where's the scouting out of fortresses? Where's the stock-piling of weaponry? Sounds like Jesus is just having a bad day. Sounds like maybe he's having second thoughts about this, OR about the commitment of his core group. Best thing to do is buck him up. Let him know we're in this with him & we'll fight to the death. Vs 32 Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him.

And now the 'agony of defeat' moment for Peter. Jesus calls him a word never used on any of the other disciples: vs 33 "Get behind me, Satan!" he said. "You do not have in mind the concerns of God, but merely human concerns." Unfortunately at this precise moment, Peter had picked up the baton from Satan and was now running with it--tempting Jesus to do precisely what Satan had tempted him in the wilderness: BE OUR MESSIAH, but be the Messiah on OUR TERMS. Be the Messiah we want; Be the Messiah we've said we need.

Herein we find a major theme of the Gospels. Jesus the Messiah has come to free his people from the yoke of oppression; to liberate them from their enemy; to inaugurate a secure future for them under God. The only thing is, the enemies aligned against Jesus are not the Roman legions and their client armies. They are sin, death and the Devil. Jesus has come to do battle against those enemies; to defeat those enemies. And nothing, not even the good intentions of his closest followers will deter him from that mission.

cheers,

tm

Thoughts going in, Feb 26th (Lent 1)

Mark 1:9 At that time Jesus came from Nazareth in Galilee and was baptized by John in the Jordan. 10 Just as Jesus was coming up out of the water, he saw heaven being torn open and the Spirit descending on him like a dove. 11 And a voice came from heaven: "You are my Son, whom I love; with you I am well pleased." 12 At once the Spirit sent him out into the wilderness, 13 and he was in the wilderness forty days, being tempted by Satan. He was with the wild animals, and angels attended him. 14 After John was put in prison, Jesus went into Galilee, proclaiming the good news of God. 15 "The time has come," he said. "The kingdom of God has come near. Repent and believe the good news!"

Mark's version of the wilderness temptation account is interesting both for what it says and for what it doesn't say. To begin with, Mark wants us to see the dual activity of the Spirit. On the one hand, the Spirit falls out of heaven and onto Jesus at his baptism. This is the Spirit of anointing; of power; of 'Messiaship.' The anointing of the Spirit is accompanied by the heavenly voice which completely affirms Jesus in what he's doing.

And then... it might seem.... that the Spirit does something strange, the Spirit "throws" or "casts" Jesus out into the wilderness. The above rendition from the TNIV is ok... At once the Spirit sent him out into the wilderness; but I don't think it fully captures the nuance of the Greek "ekballo"--which literally means to "drive out" or "cast out." Jesus was thrown out into the wilderness by the Spirit, the way John Wayne throws the little boy into the pond in "Hondo." And in Mark's gospel, this leads to more questions than answers. Why? How long did he have to stay? Did he have any choice in this? We're not told. We're not even told of the very interesting dialog that occurs between Satan and Jesus (these details are in Matthew & Luke). All we're told is that he was "tried" or "tested" by Satan.

One side-note on the temptation of Satan in Jesus life: Hebrews 4:15 is very applicable, where it says: For we do not have a high priest who is unable to empathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are--yet he did not sin. Occasionally a debate will start regarding the 'reality' of Jesus' temptation. If he's divine, the argument goes, then it's really impossible that he could've been tempted in any meaningful way to do something that would go against his nature. On the other hand, biblical Christology presents Jesus as both fully HUMAN and fully DIVINE. As a human, temptation would've had to have been real or else we could never say that Jesus "lived our life," or truly "walked our walk." Hebrews 4:15 does a nice job of holding these realities in tension. We can rest assured that Jesus knew precisely what it meant to be tempted. Further, we can rest assured that Satan never threw him any softballs. Just as Satan knows EXACTLY which of your buttons to push and when, the same can be said of his temptation of Jesus--the most pointed example of which was probably during the crucifixion when the satanic temptation came from the voice of the crowd, if you are the son of God, come down from the cross (Mt 27:40). Further, these insults during the crucifixion (and other times) indicate that Satan was more active in Jesus' life than simply during the wilderness experience. Back to Hebrews... while we can say with certainty that Jesus was tempted in every way just like us, we can also say with just as much certainty that he was VICTORIOUS. He perfectly did what we could never perfectly do. He never gave in to temptation.

The image Mark presents us with in this account is, to my mind, very vivid. It's as though Jesus has been thrown out into a Garden of Eden in reverse....or, if you will, the Garden of Eden as ruined (from the Genesis account). Satan is still there, animals are still there, but now they're wild/brute beasts; and it's no longer a garden, it's now a wilderness. It's the 'paradise' that sin created. And Jesus goes back there to do battle with Satan with the difference being that this time Satan loses. In the end, rather than Cherubim and flaming swords threatening the man, angels come and minister to him.

So what's the point? There's an obviously Lenten focus where we talk about contending against the powers of evil just as Jesus did--though of course we want to be sure not to give the misperception that we only bother doing this during the season of Lent (as if the rest of the year we are free to cave-in). But there's more. Mark in his typical succinct manner is presenting the whole of the life of faith. It begins with Baptism; and while baptism is EVERYTHING...it rescues from death and the devil; it is our adoption as children of God; it bestows everlasting life... it is also true to say that it is our baptism that enlists us in the great spiritual war of the ages. And, just as in the life of Christ, we find ourselves often engaged in this battle at some level. In the Markan narrative, it seems pretty linear: Baptism-->wilderness-->mission, although in real life, any christian can attest to the fact that the line between wilderness and mission is often blurred--and real life is anything but linear.

A good Lenten lesson here is always to come back to our Baptism. Even if the work of the mission or the foray into the wilderness has taken its toll, we are STILL BAPTIZED. No one can take that away from us. May we learn to treasure this gift of gifts and thank God daily for claiming us as his own.

Cheers,

TM