New Life, New Mission - Feed my Sheep

Week Eight - Day 7

Today's Reading

Gospel according to John 18:16b to 21:25

Today we come to the end of our 8-Week New Testament Journey.  What began on Sunday, July 14, 2013, with the Gospel according to Matthew, now comes to an end with the conclusion of the Gospel according to John.  Along the way we also read through Luke, the Acts of the Apostles, and Paul's letters to the churches.  The story of Jesus and the spread of the Gospel told in the New Testament covered a period of about 30 years.

We now come back around to finish up with John, who was writing perhaps 30 more years after that. By that time much has happened within Judaism and much has happened to the Christian community.  The division between the two was complete, and John's gospel reflects that division and hostility.  But John also provides an account that shows Jesus as completely in command.  His purpose is set, and he is willing to accept role in the salvation drama that is unfolding according to the Father's plan.  The plan will, however, rely upon the faith and witness of Jesus' disciples, the ones who now know the Father because they have come to know Jesus as his Son.

And John wastes no time in having the disciples equipped for mission.  Unlike the Acts of the Apostles, which does not portray the giving of the Holy Spirit (Pentecost) until fifty days after the Resurrection, John has Jesus personally "breathing" the Holy Spirit upon them on the evening of the same day he arose from the tomb (20:19-22).  They are to offer the forgiven of sins, to continue to dwell in the love of Christ, and to care for those whom Jesus "my sheep".  To tend and feed God's sheep is the sacred mission of all who call themselves followers of Jesus Christ.  How are we to do this?  In all the ways that we respond to the needs of others, respect their dignity as children of God, and seek to be reconciled with God and one another.

So, there it is; the end of the journey.  Of course, it is truly only the beginning . . .

To Become Completely One

Week Eight - Day 6

Today's Reading

Gospel according to John 16:25 to 18:16a

It is almost the annual Passover celebration, the remembrance of God's mighty act of deliverance of the Hebrews from slavery and the beginning of the journey towards the Promised Land.  In writing his gospel account, John has placed Jesus in Jerusalem for a total of three Passovers, a point used by some to argue that the earthly ministry of Jesus occurred over a period of three years.  The other gospel writers only mention Jesus attending one Passover during the period of his ministry.  So did Jesus witness to God's love, preach the Kingdom of God, and perform his healings and miracles over a period of three years or one year or so other length of time?  Well, there's no way for us to really know. What we do get the sense of, however, is that it was not over an extended number of years.  He gathered his disciples and drew the attention of the people and the authorities in rather short order.

The impact of his life and teachings must have seemed like a bit of a whirlwind that swept people up in its movement.  It all was coming to an end too quickly, and Jesus needed to wrap up his time with the disciples.  He has completed a long period of instruction, and now he enters into an extended period of prayer to the Father (chapter 17) on the very night that he is to be betrayed.  Although his prayer is long, his point is simple: "Holy Father, protect them in your name that you have given me, so that they may be one, as we are one" (17:11).  This unity is not just for the disciples whom he has chosen and who have followed him during his ministry, but for "those who will believe in me through their word" (17:20.  But more than that, Jesus prays that it is"so that the world may know"he has been sent so that people will know God has "loved them" even as God has loved him (17:23).

It is now time for the next step to play out in this cosmic drama.  Jesus is betrayed.  The leaders of his  religious opponents have had him arrested in the middle of the night and in a place away from the adoring crowds.  Jesus is taken to the high priest's house to await questioning, and Peter and another of Jesus' disciples follow along, probably at some distance.  Jesus is taken into the courtyard of the high priest, but Peter stakes out a place outside the gate.  Best not to get too close, even for a disciple who has pledged to stand with Jesus, even unto death (see 13:36-38).

Commandments and Promises

Week Eight - Day 5

Today's Reading

Gospel according to John 13:1 to 16:24

The setting for today's reading is the Last Supper, although for John the focus is not Jesus' blessing and offering of the bread and wine as his body and blood, but rather the washing of the disciples feet as a sign of their call to servanthood to one another.  John's interest is for Christians to follow the new commandment that Jesus gives his followers, and that we "love one another" (13:34a).  This is not a sentimental love, but a love that drops us to our knees in humility and service to others as we offer the fullness of our lives to God.  This is why Jesus washed the disciples feet, as a sign that "Just as I have love you, you also should love one another" (13:34b).  The idea of servanthood and love are repeated often by Jesus in today's passages, a point that John doesn't want us to miss.

As Jesus knows that his hours are limited (John never lets us forget that Jesus is totally aware of what is occurring around him as well as what lies ahead, and accepts it as what must happen).  In these hours he makes a number of promises to his disciples.  He says that his Father's house has many dwelling places, and he goes to prepare a place for them (14:1-3).  He says that he will do for the disciples whatever they ask in his name (14:13-14).  He promises that he will ask the Father to give them another Advocate (the Holy Spirit) who will be with them forever (14:16).  And finally, that he will not leave them orphaned (something that only happens upon death), but that he will return again (14:18-19).  

And how does Jesus wrap this all up? "Those who love me will keep my word, and my Father will love them, and we will come to them and make our home with them" (14:23).  It is the Trinity trifecta in love!  The Holy Spirit (Advocate) will be given forever, and the Father and Son will come and dwell with us.  What more, you might ask, do we need?

Become Children of Light

Week Eight - Day 4

Today's Reading

Gospel according to John 10:22 to 12:50

Jesus is once more in Jerusalem, this time for the festival of the Dedication of the temple by Judas Maccabeus, which is known today as Hanukkah, the feast of lights.  When he is challenged by "the Jews" he once again appeals to his relationship as the Son of God.  Jesus continually refers to God as 'my Father', raising the wrath of his opponents to the point that he want to kill him for blasphemy. Once again, however, Jesus escapes from their hands.

There then occurs a pivotal event in John's gospel, and that is the raising of Lazarus from the dead.  He and his sisters are friends of Jesus, and upon his death Jesus sees the opportunity to offer a further sign of his divine connection with God.  It also provides the chance for Martha declare about her brother Lazarus, "I know that he will rise again in the resurrection on the last day" (11:24).  Four full days after Lazarus died, Jesus appealed to God the Father to allow Lazarus to live again so that the crowds "may believe that you sent me" (11:42).  When Lazarus comes out of the tomb, the final movement towards Jerusalem and the crucifixion is set in motion.  Jesus is seen as a threat to the religious and national existence of Israel, and the leaders were more determined than ever to have Jesus put to death.

Jesus then makes his third and final appearance at the annual Passover festival in Jerusalem.  Word about him has spread, and his raising of Lazarus has gained him some additional followers from among the Jews.  As Jesus enters Jerusalem, he comes as light to a city and nation that is dwelling in darkness. Jesus then said to the crowds, "The light is with you for a little longer.  Walk while you have the light, so that the darkness may not overtake you.  If you walk in the darkness, you, you do not know where you are going.  While you have the light, believe in the light, so that you may become children of light." (12:35-36).

Though I was Blind, Now I See

Week Eight - Day 3

Today's Reading

Gospel according to John 8:12 to 10:21

One feature I've noticed in John is that there are extended dialogues and/or teaching moments that Jesus engages in with either his religious opponents or with people on the margins. He has had one with Nicodemus, with the woman of Samaria, and today he has two with "the Jews" (8:12-59 and 10:1-21).  At times Jesus' words are neither comforting or inviting, but rather confrontational and inflammatory.  Twice he says he knows that they want to see him dead (8:37 and 8:40), and then goes on to call them children of the devil (8:44) and liars (8:55).  It's no surprise that they want to stone him, and so Jesus slips away from the temple and heads off to a destination unknown.

As he goes his way, however, he has an encounter with the man born blind, whose story encompasses the entirety of chapter 10.  Jesus puts a healing in motion by rubbing mud on the man's eyes and telling him to go wash in the pool of Siloam.  The man comes back able to see for the first time in his life, and nobody can believe it's the same person.  His neighbors are confused and bring the man to the Pharisees to see if they could figure it out.  They seemed more concerned that the healing had occurred on the Sabbath, resulting in their denounce of Jesus as a sinner.  The more the man tries to explain what happened, the more the Pharisees deny that it could have happened.  They drag the poor man's parents into it, but they beg off saying that their son is an adult and can speak for himself (John also want us to know that "the Jews" were to be feared by anyone who expressed belief in Jesus as the Messiah).  Further interrogation of the man is made by the Pharisees.  When, however, the man finally says that Jesus must be from God or else he could not perform such a healing, he is driven out by the Pharisees.  Jesus then finds the man, and the man openly confesses his belief in Jesus.

The final dialogue/teaching of the day is the second of the two he has this day with "the Jews."  Jesus, in another series of "I am" statements says that he is the Good Shepherd who lays down his life for the sheep.  His words are accepted by some and rejected by others, so that "the Jews were divided" because of Jesus' words.  It was certainly the situation that existed in John's day, and he reflects it once again in his gospel account.

Jesus' Opponents

Week Eight - Day 2

Today's Reading

Gospel according to John 6:16 to 8:11

The Jesus of John's gospel is a commanding figure performing wondrous signs and confounding his opponents.  In this section of our reading, John begins to show the separation of Jesus from "the Jews" who are often named as his challengers.  With regards to Jesus they "complain about him" (6:41), "dispute among themselves" (6:52), "were looking for an opportunity to kill him" (7:1), and they wonder "How does this man have such learning when he has never been taught?" (7:15).  The scholarly speculation is that John was writing his gospel account sometime late in the first century (90 A.D.?).  By this time the temple in Jerusalem had been destroyed by the Romans and the early Christians had been expelled from any participation in the synagogues.  No longer connected with the Jewish religious traditions, "the Jews" became a term for the main opponents of the Christian community of which John was a member.

While John's account has provided centuries of believers with an inspired narrative, it has also been misused by individual Christians as well as the Church as a justification for persecution of the Jewish people.  We must not allow John's reactions to the events of his day be misinterpreted as license to 'blame' any group of people for what happened to Jesus.  To do so is not only wrong, but to miss another part of the narrative that John has provided.  For Jesus, all that is happening around him is a part of his Father's plan, it is God's will so that all the world might be saved.  John sprinkles in statements that foretell what is to happen or to interpret the things that Jesus is saying (see 6:64, 6:71, and 7:39 for examples from today's reading).

When we think of Jesus' opponents, we must not be so proud as to overlook ourselves as possibly being in that category.  We are saved not by our membership in an organization or a particular race or nationality of people, but by faith given by a loving God who chooses not to exclude anyone from grace and salvation.  Perhaps the true opponents of God are those who deny this grace and salvation in others.

Living Water and Bread for the World

Week Eight - Day 1

Today's Reading

Gospel according to John 4:1 to 6:15

It is still very early in John's gospel account, and Jesus has already performed his first sign by changing water into wine at the Wedding in Cana of Galilee, attended the Passover celebration in Jerusalem where he threw the merchants and money changers out of the temple, and had a theological discussion with a leader of the Jews named Nicodemus about being born again.  Jesus is certainly off to a fast start.    While the other gospel writers begin with Jesus drawing the attention of the people out in the hinterlands with his teaching and works of healing, in John he is right in the thick of things, even in and around Jerusalem.  The Jesus that John portrays is not spending time in his hometown synagogue, he is clearly stating his divine connections with God the Father.  

Today Jesus is heading north to the region of Galilee which necessitates his passing through the region of Samaria.  The Samaritans had long been looked down on by the Jews as a descendants of foreigners and lower-class Jews who had settled in the land during an earlier period of exile.  The religious beliefs of the Samaritans was based on the Torah, but in a form that was considered polluted by the Jews who had resettled in the southern part of the former kingdom.  Jesus breaks both social custom and laws of religious purity by speaking with the Samaritan woman at the well.  The episode results in confusion and misunderstanding, first on the part of the woman and then on the part of the disciples.  This Jesus is anything but predictable.

It is not too long before Jesus is once again headed back to Jerusalem for a religious festival that is not identified (chapter 5).  Once there he performs healings and makes yet another extended claim that his Father is God.  We are then told that he then "went to the other side of the Sea of Galilee" (6:1), which is quite a ways north from Jerusalem.  We are told that the "Passover, the festival of the Jews, was near" (6:4).  This is now the second Passover that John has mentioned.  Jesus seems to have run into a large crowd heading towards Jerusalem (as many as 100,000 pilgrims would go to Jerusalem for the annual Passover celebration), and asks his disciples to help feed the people.  After a little scrounging around they take a little boy's lunch (6:9) and bring it to Jesus, who is always good at multiplication through faith.  'Five loaves and two fish for five thousand people?  No problem!  Wait, they want me to be their king?  Ok, everyone, it's time to move on.'  There is more to be done throughout the land.