"Discipleship is not a Popularity Contest" John 15:18-16:4

A favorite gift my grandmother gave me was a book entitled "A Lover's Quarrel with the World." I don't remember much about the book, but I loved the title, because I believe it sums up the balance that it takes to follow Jesus in our daily lives. We are called to love each other and love the world the way Jesus loves. At the same time, we are not of this world and the kingdom movement we are in is a direct challenge to the way the world operates. The contrasts are vivid: "Might makes right" vs. "Turn the other cheek"; "Bigger is better" vs. "give away all you have to those who have less"; "Pre-emptive strikes and self-preservation vs. the Golden Rule; "He who has the gold rules" vs. the Golden rule; majority rule vs. the righteous remnant; etc, etc. The kingdom movement of Jesus Christ is as intensely counter-cultural as it is intensely loving. That's why the world hates true Christianity and why the cross is the symbol of our movement. Yes, it wins in the end, but at a horrendous price.

There is a caution, forever. True Christianity will make you controversial, but being controversial doesn't necessarily make you Christian! Some people just enjoy creating a ruckus and that is not what Jesus is talking about.

But how do we respond when people misunderstand, reject, and set us up for the fall? My normal response is to personalize it, see it as a personal attack and respond by becoming defensive, isolated and isolating. By isolating, I mean that I tend to isolate the offender. And the truth is those who do "hate us" or attack are being personal, but they are doing so because they have been offended, exposed or made uncomfortable (which none of us likes). When we show those around us the power-hungry and manipulative, selfish, dishonest and deceitful, oppressive and bigoted motivations of people and group processes, they will react in denial and anger. Even if we do it properly by "speaking the truth in love." But the reaction is not so much to us as the message and confrontation we have lovingly brought. For me, that means that I must remember that making disciples for the transformation of the world is God's gig, and I am just a player in it. Just because people don't like the music doesn't make it bad or wrong. Jesus says, "If the world hates you, keep in mind that it hated me first."

Jesus tells this to his disciples and to us so that when the reaction comes we will not lose heart. This is very much like the class session we had about "the backside of the mountain" and about being the church not being easy in this century (or any century for that matter). It is a fantastic and amazing privilege to be a Jesus follower and there are times when it is just plain tough and painful. The key to surviving those challenges is realizing that there is a bigger work going on. We need not personalize, but we do need to stay prayed up.

"Abiding in the Vine" John 15:1-17

The Pruning Process - 15:1-4

How I remember my first coaching lesson about pruning rose bushes. I proudly showed a church member how I had reshaped the bushes and cut away some the runners that had become unmanageable. The person said, "You didn't prune this. You need to cut it back much more than that." I said, "If I do what you say, it will look bare and ugly." He said, "For now. But in a few weeks you will like what you see. Trust me." He was right, of course. God uses the tough times in our lives as pruning experiences, too. He doesn't send them, but he can and does use them. When I look back, my faith and my greater ministry have been built not as much on my celebrations and victories as my struggles and losses. Don't you just hate that? But I guess if we're going to have difficulties, we might as well get something good out of it. But there is one qualifier: we must be abiding in the vine - nurturing our relationship with God through prayer, study, and obedient action. Trials in themselves do not quarantee positive benefit unless we are open to them doing so.

It's All About Fruit 15:5-8

There is a lot of smoke and mirrors in dealing with people: lots of sincere intentions, lots of attention to how we look, etc. But, in the end, what does the fruit look like? Are we demonstrating a growing faith and changed life? Are we loving some people we didn't used to love? Are we blessing people and situations in the name of Christ? Are we standing against those things that degrade and tear down? Branches that don't bear fruit aren't productive or useful. And our lack of fruit betrays a bad connection with the vine. We can't just decide, "Hey, I'll be fruitful and productive today." Fruitfulness is a developmental concept: requiring nutrition, water, cultivation and growth.

The Best Fruit of All 15:9-11

Agape love is such an amazing and revolutionary concept, a love that is unconditional, self-sacrificing, vulnerable, resilient, gentle and tough.
But love is more than an emotion or a disposition, it is active, obedient to God's call and to the mandate of being a disciple of Jesus Christ. Jesus tells his disciples to love each other as he has loved them. It would be worth surveying the ministry of Jesus with his disciples and noting how he loved them: his patience with their doubts and misunderstandings, his willingness to confront attitudes that were contrary to the kingdom, his taking the hits for disciple failures, his willingness to stay in there with those who would deny and betray, etc.

Friendship with Jesus 15:12-17

A song that has taken force internationally in the church is called "I Am a Friend of God." It sings,

Who am I that you are mindful of me
That you hear me, when I call
Is it true that you are thinking of me
How you love me, it's amazing
CHORUS:
I am a friend of God
I am a friend of God
I am a friend of God
He calls me friend

We are friends not just because we are loved by Jesus, but also because Jesus has let us fully in on who he is and what he is doing - and invited us into it. And all of this has been at Christ's initiative. He has chosen us.

That leads to another issue: Who is chosen? John Calvin taught that God's election was such that we really could not refuse his choosing of us, that God's choice was made and people were chosen for eternal life or eternal condemnation. As United Methodists, we disagree. We believe that there were those who chose not to follow Jesus even if Jesus chose them. In other words, we can refuse grace and often do. At the same time, we believe in prevenient grace, the grace that begins with God's wooing us into relationship with Him. In the words of John's first love, "It's not that we loved God, but that he loved us first." Chosenness is about initiative not about determinism or lack of choice. I'll stop here for now.

"The Paraclete" John 14:15-31

In verse 16, Jesus promises to give the disciples "another counselor," sometimes translated "another comforter," or "another advocate." The word in Greek is paracletos, literally "one called along side to help." There are two words for another in Greek, heteros and allos. Heteros means another of a different kind, while allos means of the same kind. The word here is allos. Jesus is giving the disciples one just like him that "will be with them forever." What Jesus promises to them and us is his presence portable and accessible to them 24/7. Jesus has described how he is in the Father and the Father is in him. Now he adds us to that. We are in him (and in the Father) and he (and the Father) are in us. When we sing the hymn "Blessed Assurance, Jesus is mine," it is the Holy Spirit dimension of God that makes that real.

Jesus hooks together our love for him with obedience. In Luke 6:46, right before he tells the parable about the wise and foolish builders, Jesus says,

"Why do you call me,'Lord,Lord,' and do not do what I say?"

It's as if Jesus is saying, "I'm sorry, but your actions or lack of them are drowning out your words." Our obedience also sharpens our awareness of God's presence, while our disobedience dulls it. I don't mean that that there aren't times when it is hard to feel God's presence. I do mean that following Christ step by step in the power of the Spirit in obedient action does make us more atuned to what God is doing.

In I Samuel 15:22, the prophet Samuel rebukes Saul, saying "Obedience is better than sacrifice." It's not about religious showmanship or even doing occassionally that which is heroic that pleases God. It is our willingness to be obedient, even when no one else is watching. What are we to be obedient to? First, we are to be obedient to God's leading, whether it is for our gain or our loss, our comfort or our pain. Second, we are to be obedient to his standards of life, which are governed by his holiness and his love. Third, we are to be obedient to his call to make disciples of all nations. Fourth, we are to be obedient to love one another, even those of us that are less lovable. Is your track record for obedience as mixed as mine?

Thankfully, we are not left on our own. We have the Holy Spirit within to remind us of what we know and who and whose we are. We have an inner tutor and mentor, who helps get us back on track. And the secondary gift of that presence is a special kind of peace. I have learned to trust that peace - that sense that God is with me and in what I am experiencing and everything is going to be OK, in fact more than OK. But I have learned not to equate peace with comfort or the status quo. There is a peace that comes even in difficulty, controversy and even outright loss, a peace that this world could never give. It is the gift of God.

"The Way to the Father" John 14:1-14

We are now in the main part of what scholars call "The Upper Room Discourse," a set of teachings offered to prepare the disciples for when he was no longer with them. In chapter 13:33 he says, "My children, I will be with you only a little longer." They have no idea the horrible ordeal they are about to endure in the following days. The teachings in John 14-17 would mean much more after the crucifixion, resurrection and ascension. Verses 1 and 27 form a framework for this teaching with the repeated phrase, "Do not let your hearts be troubled..."

First, Jesus tries to comfort them with words about the after-life. He is going "to the Father" and will be preparing places for them. I was raised with the King James Version in which it reads "In my father's house are many mansions." I have always loved that old hymn, "I've got a mansion, just over the hilltop, in that bright land where we'll never grow old." Maybe you have joked with others around you about what kind of housing certain people will have in heaven: palatial estates for faithful long-term saints and "pup tents" for the less saintly or death-bed confessioners. But the new translations are likely more accurate, with the metaphor of a huge house with many, many specially prepared rooms.

As we have seen many times before, Jesus' figurative conversation is misinterpreted as literal. In describing "the way," Jesus is not talking about an itinerary. He is talking about a way to be in relationship with the Father, as being a resident of this big, big house. One of my favorite early songs by the group Audio Adrenaline (from the 1990s) is "Big House." It sings,

"Come and go with me to my Father's house. It's a big, big house with lots and lots of room, a big, big table with lots and lots of food, a big, big yard where we can play football. A big, big house. It's my Father's house."

This is one of the places in scripture (along side Acts 4:12) that makes witnessing in our multi-religious environment challenging. It is important to note what this passage does not say, namely, that all other religions are going to hell. Jesus states without any condemnation that he is the way to the Father. There is no doubt that the early Christians experienced something decisive, that in Jesus they encountered God in a way they had not previously - even though they had faith in God already. Through Jesus they came to know the Father and we enter that relationship the same way. When I am sharing my Christian faith with those of other religious beliefs, I do not condemn or threaten, but I do share the difference that Christ has made in my life. But this needs to be where a growing relationship is already in process. The old adage is true, "People don't care what you know until they know how much you care."

Jesus clarifies with them that all they have experienced together with Jesus was to show them what God is really like: the love they have developed, the teachings they have learned, the miracles they have seen and done. But even all that was preparatory for what God the Father would do through them if they believed. Verse 12 is a mind blower,

"I tell you the truth, anyone who has faith in me will do what I have been doing. He will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father."

I can't imagine doing greater things than feeding 5, 000 with five dinner rolls and two fish sticks or raising the dead. But what I believe Jesus is saying that before he went to the Father everything was limited to what he could do. Jesus walked only about 150 miles of this planet and ministered only for three years, as an individual. What if the power of God could be made portable in many believers? Then the impact would be multiplied. That will be the topic of tomorrow's blog, coming from the rest of John 14.

But before we leave this passage, verses 13 and 14 have often been considered in extremes. One extreme ignores them, as if Jesus didn't really mean it. Christians of this sort tend to see prayer as a way of calling on a general influence for good but with very little results. As one preacher said in jest, "Blessed are those who don't expect much in prayer, for they will not be disappointed." The other extreme uses these verses to control the hand of God. If I pray fervently and believe strongly than God must do as I ask.

A middle ground is called for. First, we are told to ask "in His name," which is not a magic formula, but rather praying it as a proxy for Jesus (in other words we believe this is what Jesus wants, not just us). God may have a greater purpose in mind and need to achieve what we pray for in a different way than we pray. God has the freedom to say yes to our prayers, to say no to them, or to say "wait a while." Prayer in faith is not twisting God's arm to fit our desires. Second, we are invited to boldly ask God for anything, for nothing is impossible. Our faith is part of the equation that sets loose the hand of God in our lives and in our world. Bottom line: We believe and pray openly and confidently, but we don't arm twist, because in the end, the Father is still God, and we are not.

"The Betrayal" John 13:18-38

The betrayal of Jesus by Judas in John's gospel is much more direct in pointing out Judas. Jesus quotes David in Psalm 41:9, "Even my close friend, whom I trusted, he who shared my bread, has lifted up his heel against me." The images here are vivid. To break bread together in Jewish culture is a statement of relationship and trust. When we sing at communion, "Let us break bread together on our knees," I wonder if we are thinking about the activity we are participating in or the relationship that is also to be implied. The lifting up of the heel is probably a reference of a faithful horse that suddenly lifts a heel and kicks its owner, causing great pain. For John, Judas had been a long-term problem. Jesus had allowed him to get away with too much. John would have removed him from the treasury because of his dishonesty, but Jesus kept giving him room to change. Judas did not.

The disciples are at a loss as to who would betray him. In the other gospels, we have the repeated phrase, "Lord, is it I?" But here, John himself asks Jesus, "Who is it?" Then Jesus hands the bread to Judas and tells him to go do what he has planned. But the disciples do not get it and think that Jesus is just sending him out to get more food.

Following Judas' departure, Jesus begins to prepare the disciples for what is to come and to set the foundation for their ministry together after he is gone. In verses 34-35, he gives the guiding principle for that ministry,

"A new command I give you: Love on another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another."

The verb for "love" is agapao. It is a love built on primacy of the other person and his or her needs. We will talk about this more in John 21. But it is the chief indicator of Christian fellowship - initiating, self-sacrificing love.

Jesus finishes by telling Peter about an upcoming failure of his own. Peter is so heroic, and yet soon he will discover that he too is vulnerable to falling.

"Washing Feet" John 13:1-17

Yesterday, we went to Fort Worth and shopped for shoes for Tina. John Landers of St. Barnabas has been in that business for his entire professional career. He's good at it. He shared with us, "Everybody ought to sell shoes at least once in their lifetime. It's very humbling, helping people with their feet." People feel strongly about their feet. Some like the looks of their feet and some do not. Yet, there is no feeling quite like being in your bare feet along the beach or walking on a nice lawn. Feet are also the parts of our body that take the most abuse.

Peter, in our scripture passage, understood the humilty part about feet. About 35 years ago, I was at my first footwashing. It was part of a retreat. For people who are comfortable with themselves and like their feet, footwashing is "cool." For those of us who have groty feet and think that socks are a truly divine gift, it was quite another. I remember feeling awkward, uncomfortable and strangely vulnerable. I gladly washed someone else's feet, but for me it was much like Peter.

But for Peter there was a more important lesson going on. Peter saw Jesus as his master, as his authority. He was to wash the Master's feet, not the reverse. Here the master who has healed the sick, walked on water and raised the dead is now washing the feet of his servants. Jesus was modeling the proper use of power as a servant leader. It's the only kind of leader there is in the kingdom.

But as I see this scene, I am once again reminded of the beginning of chapter 12, when Jesus had his own feet washed with anointing oil. Jesus, as a servant leader, was not above needing the love and grace of others. Authentic service often begins with being able to authentically receive. Many Christians are "giving machines," enjoying the sense of significance they feel at sharing of themselves, but uncomfortable when someone shares with them. There is a sense of powerlessness we sometimes feel when we are the receiver, and dare we admit it, a sense power when we are the giver. Jesus was both a gracious and open receiver as well as a generous giver. Leadership in the kingdom requires that we become both.

"The Inertia of the Status Quo" John 12:37-50

Newton's First Law (Inertia) states,

"An object in motion tends to stay in motion,and an object at rest tends to stay at rest,unless the object is acted upon by an outside force."

Paul Nixon, in his book, Finding Jesus on the Metro, ask the question of whether our congregation is made up of pilgrims or settlers. Pilgrims are on a journey to a destination while settlers are putting down roots in a place of their choosing (they are through journeying). Another way of saying this, "Is Christianity at St. Barnabas a movement or is it an institution?" If we are an institution, we will tend to ask questions like: "Who are we and what do we stand for?" "How do we get people to be more supportive and faithful?" "Are we doing what the members want to do?" If we are a movement, we will ask questions like: "Who are we becoming in carrying out God's call to make disciples for the transformation of the world?" "How can get the people of the church into the world for witness and service?"

Properly, some things do need to be structured and institutionalized. It's what gives a movement endurance through many changes and challenges. Having certain prayers, hymns and common understandings of faith can be important. Having structures for financial issues and building concerns is necessary. The movement has then enough stability to be there for the long haul. But not long into the movement, it must decide whether the priority is for preservation or for the mission. If it is for mission, then stability must be secondary to dynamism - the ability to respond and adapt in the power of the Holy Spirit to carry out the call of Christ. It is the original sin of religion to promote stability over dynamism, to gradually develop an institutional rather than a mission mindset. In most churches, that shows up in about the 7th-10th year and it is the single reason why most churches peak in their first six years.

The Pharisees had become so strongly instutionalized that anything different than what they already did or believed became a threat. they also had established a powerful presence among the people of their communities, so that those who found Jesus ministry believable couldn't say so without reprisals. There have been times both in local churches and even at Annual Conference, when I have been told not to bring up new or contrary points of view, because it would offend others and be counter-productive.

A good exercise for today would be to consider the ministries of our church and ask which are more movement-oriented and what are more institution-oriented. Is our church more stable or more dynamic? Inertia is ever present. Missional, movement-orieted, dynamic churches have to constantly pray and work to stay that way.

"The Whole World Has Gone After Him!" John 12:12-36

The above words were said by the enemies of Jesus in 12:19, and they had not a clue of how right they were. Verses 20-33 describe the Greeks who request to see Jesus. The Pharisees treated Jesus like the leader of an authorized cult leader inside the Jewish faith. The "whole world" was just an exagerrated phrase to say that things were getting way out of hand. But John sees the future coming, when Gentiles would become the dominant responders to the Christian witness. The verse that brings this all together is verse 32,

"But I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to myself."

When I was a teenager we sang a chorus called "Lift Jesus Higher." It sang, "Lift Jesus higher, lift Jesus higher. Lift him up for the world to see. He said, 'If I be lifted up from the earth, I will draw all men unto me.'" It was a vibrant praise song, but I have often thought about the double meaning of being "lifted up." We lift Christ up in praise now, but it was his being lifted up through crucifixion that created a worldwide movement.

The chanting of the crowd was for a revolutionary people's champion. The quote about the donkey comes from Zechariah 9:9. This image is also part of Mexican history. But Jesus did not come as they expected. He was a revolutionary of a different kind, a ruler over an alternative kingdom. The passage says that even the disciples didn't understand what was really happening.

I find in vs. 24 a spiritual principle that this true at many levels.

"I tell you the truth, 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."

The work of God has "cross experiences" in which the price is paid for a later yield. Sometimes that means in following Jesus, we are called to pay the price for the benefit of others. It also means that God can take our loss experiences and do great and mighty things with them.

Finally, one of the questions often raised about the Palm Sunday ride is how the crowd turned from "Hosanna" on Sunday to "Crucify Him" on Friday. We all know that people can be really fickle. We enjoy setting people as heroes only to revel in bringing them down (a few athletes, entertainers and politicians come immediately to mind). As true as that is, I believe there is another answer - that the crowd on Good Friday is a different one. The area around Golgotha was actually quite small, a far cry from the movie depictions. The trial of Jesus was perfectly orchestrated by his enemies and the crowd that hollered "Crucify him" had been invited to do just that. Those sympathetic to Jesus were simply not invited.

"Extravagant Love " John 12:1-11

On the day after Valentine's Day, we see an example in this passage of extreme devotion. The pint of pure nard was extremely valuable and was often passed on to a young woman as her dowry. To break it as she does would mean it could only be used once. The scene must have moved those who were in the house and at the same time made them uncomfortable - talk about extreme vulnerability.

John's description of Judas is the most hostile of the disciples (noting that his betrayal was really just the worst of the many ways he looked out for #1 at the expense of others). But Judas is right. The act is gratuitous, a waste of something valuable than will never be able to be recovered. This act was irrational. The place was overcome with the smell of the perfume in an enclosed place. But where there is love, there is unnecessary and gratuitous expense with irrational behaviors! Few prospective grooms can really afford the ring they buy for their fiancee and few families can afford the expense of a wedding. We do crazy things for love.

Might I suggest that this is exactly the way God has loved us. John writes in the first of his letters in chapter 3, verse 1,

"How great is the love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God. And that is what we are!"

You and I are daily recipients of God's "over the top" love, even though sometimes we are not responsive to it at all.

One of the great questions in this passage is "What if Jesus had not honored the gift and instead pronounced judgment on it the way that Judas did?" But Jesus honors her gift. The words he says in verse 8 can be disturbing,

"You will always have the poor among you, but you will not always have me."

It would be a misunderstanding and a denial of the rest of Christ's ministry to say that Jesus was okay with poverty. But he was saying that there are sacred moments when extravagance can be wonderful.

But the ominous part of this is verse 7, something Mary did not likely intend. He says it was preparation for burial. In truth, nard was one of the perfumes used in burial. This is a bridge verse that later becomes the focus of the next 7 1/2 chapters of the gospel.

I'm going to end the blog today with this story. Mary's devotion had a freedom and abandon in it that captures my soul. I want to be that fully devoted to Christ, loving with a reckless abandon. How about you?

"Taking Off the Grave Clothes" John 11:38-56

This is an amazing miracle, certainly the most dramatic of all the ones Jesus did. It is also a wonderful description of what can happen to us as we follow Jesus.

"Take away the stone!"

"The man's been dead for four days. He's gonna stink1" says Mary. Again the tension of the story is drawn tighter. But isn't it true that when we come to the Lord, even after we have committed our lives to him, that we have to own up to the parts of our lives that stink and have been deteriorating for far too long? What might you need to give to the Lord for his life-giving and restoring touch?

"Lazarus, come forth!"

At Christ's command, Lazarus walks out, wrapped up like a mummy, smelling like a perfume factory. At the crucifixion, there is an earthquake where people who had been dead walk the streets of Jerusalem. In the nearly 2,000 years since, the number of once dead that have been restored to life, number in the billions. Jesus calls people out of their dead, have-lived existences to new and full life.

"Take Off His Grave Clothes!"

They would have unwound the strips of perfumed cloth to reveal a newly alive man. Obviously, he couldn't be a walking mummy the rest of his life! Yet, I'm afraid spiritually, emotionally, mentally and relationally, we tend to do just that. We wear our grave clothes - the patterns of behavior and speech that have zapped the life out of us, the resentments over past experiences that weigh us down like a ball and chain, the attitudes that have kept us all hung up and wrapped up. Did you notice that that Lazarus could not do this on his own? He needed help from those around him. What if one of the things we are called to do is help one another get rid of our grave clothes so that we are liberated into the fullness of life in Christ?

Lazarus lives and Jesus must die.

Many of the Jewish leaders convert and become Jesus followers. The defensive reaction of the main leadership is what we would expect. The plot to take Jesus' life goes into earnest. In other passages, the one who made this prophecy was Caiaphas. The high priest position was passed between him, Annas and other family members from year to year. When he says that for the sake of the nation, Jesus must die, John writes that Jesus would be dying for a lot more than that. Caiaphas was right, but he had no clue of what he was really saying. The real picture is John 3:16 - Jesus was dying for the salvation of the whole world.

"Weeping with Jesus" John 11:17-37

What is the shortest verse in the Bible? The answer: John 11:35. The verse says simply, "Jesus wept." It's actually a problematic verse. If he knew he was going to raise his good friend Lazarus, why is he crying? And why did he let them suffer like that? Part of this I could write off as John being a good story-teller, sharing it with us in such a way as to raise the tension and interest for what is about to happen. But the hurt and grief in both verses 21 & 32 is one I have heard over and over throughout my ministry.

"Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died."

Particularly in tragic deaths of the young, people will ask, "Where was God in all this?" When I do a teenage or young adult funeral I always feel that God and the gospel are on trial. In every one of those experiences, the only resurrection I could offer was life beyond the grave, what Mary said in verse 24.

But this is not the only time that Jesus wept. Jesus wept over Jerusalem and its resistance to his message. There is strong evidence that Jesus wept at the cross including the fourth word from the cross, "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?" He, too, experienced the apparent absence of God. Yes, he was quoting Psalm 22:1, but that doesn't make it any less intense. In the first case, Christ weeps because people will not respond to his initiative of love and they will suffer deeply because they do not (in just a generation,the Romans invaded Jerusalem leaving a horrible path of death and destruction). He is unable to control people's responses. In the second case, he experiences a sense of abandonment and endures extreme pain that actually kills him earlier than the other crucified ones.

Some preachers have said that Jesus wept at Lazarus' grave because of the lack of faith of the people. I don't buy it. What if he is identifying with their grief and pain just like he identified with the sinfulness of people and their helplessness to change themselves at his baptism? The weeping Jesus is for me an important image. Then when we question or feel abandoned, we know that he has been there. I still think that Jesus weeps with us. In Isaiah 53, the suffering servant (in whom Christians see an amazing picture of what Jesus went through) is a "man of sorrows, acquainted with grief." In Hebrews 4:14-16, Jesus is the high priest who goes into heaven still able to sympathize with our weaknesses and our griefs.

Sometimes I think our empty crosses in Protestant churches are a problem. They allow us to jump too quickly to victory and ignore the suffering Christ. Then we have no one to suffer with. We never weep alone. We weep with Jesus.

"Let's Go Die With Him, Then" John 11:1-16

The next three days we will spend looking at the raising of Lazarus. For John it is the hinge on which the book turns. The rest of the book is all about the last week of Jesus' life. For John, the raising of Lazarus was "the last straw" for Jesus' opponents and when they decided to set the plan for Christ's death into motion.

Who was Lazarus? He was one of Jesus' inner circle of friends that were not one of the twelve. He is the brother of Mary and Martha. Jesus spent lots of time with the three of them. The sisters send word to Jesus that his beloved friend is critically ill. Jesus responds to that by telling his disciples that his sickness will not end in death...and then waits two more days. The disciples think Jesus is choosing not to go back because of the threats on his life (a wise move from their perspective), But in verse 7, he says, "Let's go back to Judea," which understandably was hotly debated by the disciples.

In verse 9, we have a little more light/darkness conversation and another literal misunderstanding by the disciples. Jesus is talking about "sleep" in the ultimate sense, while they are taking him literally. In other words, "Why take our lives in our hands if we just need to let him get his rest?" But Jesus clarifies that Lazarus is already dead.

In verse 16 we have Thomas' response to Jesus, "Let us go die with him, then." Some have taken this passage as an example of the great faith of Thomas and his willingness to give his life. But in harmony with the rest of the passages involving Thomas, I see blatant sarcasm here. He thinks it is a dumb move to go back into the teeth of Jesus' opposition and let's them all know it.

One of things about a great story like this is that there are several characters: Mary, Martha, Lazarus, Thomas, the mourners, and of course, Jesus. Where do you see yourself in this story? I fear that I may be more like Thomas than anybody else. In the end, he will rock the world of all of them.

"The Debate on Eternal Security" - John 10:22-38

Jesus says in verse 28 that "they shall never be taken out of his hand." Fundamentalist Christians use this verse among others to support their doctrine of "eternal security," sometimes called "once saved always saved." I am often asked where the United Methodist Church stands on this doctrine. Some of the questions in behind it are: 1) Does that mean that once I give my heart to Christ then I can do as I well please? 2)If that doctrine is not true, then am I at constant risk? If I should die (or if Jesus should come again) when I am in the process of sinning or have unconfessed sin or unforgiveness in my heart, do I go to hell? 3) Can I lose my salvation either by gradually sinning my way into separation from God or by choosing to no longer believe?

In fairness to Southern Baptists (who hold strongly to this doctrine), they will say to question 1, "If one willfully and repeatedly sins and lives a sinful life, then the person was probably never saved in the first place. A converted heart leads to a change lifestyle." In fairness to those who don't believe in eternal security, they will say to question 2, "We are in the hands of a merciful and gracious God, who "is not willing that any should perish. People should not take license with their behavior, but they are not at constant risk either.

In fairness to both sides in question 3, a) fundamentalists will say that where there is genuine faith in Christ, there cannot be loss of salvation due to sin or personal choice. After all, salvation is based on the grace and power of God, not on our behaviors and doubts, b) non-fundamentalists will emphasize that we always have the freedom to choose to accept or reject the grace of God. God has created love relationship in such a way that no one can be forced to accept it. That's why the idea of "irresistable grace" is a problem. We can resist and people can be free to choose to no longer believe. But once again, we are in the hands of a merciful God. We can choose an immoral life and choose to no longer believe, but as long as there is breath, we can come back to God.

As you can see, there is truth in both positions. One emphasizes the power and providence of God. The other emphasizes human freedom to choose. Scripturally, we must hold these positions in tension. My short answer to the question of eternal security is, "I believe people can choose to break their relationship with God and lose their salvation. But there is always hope. God's mercy is greater than our doubts or our sinfulness. But I do believe in blessed assurance. When I die or if Jesus comes, and if St. Peter asks the question at the proverbial gates, "Why should I let you in heaven?" I will answer, "By grace I am saved. I am counting on the blood of Christ to cover every sin. I don't deserve to go to heaven, but by grace I can enter anyhow."

This is certainly not the last word on this issue? Where do you stand and what other questions come to mind?

AS YOU PROBABLY KNOW, NBA IS CLOSED TONIGHT DUE TO WEATHER. WE WILL HAVE MUCH GROUND TO MAKE UP WHEN WE GET BACK TOGETHER. BE WARM AND BE SAVE, AND ABOVE ALL, COUNT ON THE LOVE AND GRACE OF GOD IN CHRIST THROUGH THE POWER OF THE SPIRIT.

"Abundant Life" John 10:1-21

When my parents went to the Holy Land, they saw a shepherd with his sheep...only the sheep were running away from him instead of following. My dad asked the tour guide, "Why aren't the sheep following the shepherd?" The guide said, "That's because he isn't the shepherd, he's the butcher!" Jesus says in verses 4-5,

"When he has brought out all his own, he goes on ahead of them, and his sheep follow him because they know his voice. But they will never follow a stranger; in fact, they will run away from him because they do not recongnize a stranger's voice."

This is one of my favorite passages from John's gospel. I memorized it as a teenager and it still gives me guidance and hope.

Atheists and agnostics often accuse believers of having faith as a crutch to compensate for our own weakness and cowardice. But I find it quite the opposite. My faith is not a crutch, it is a pair of wings. My faith does not stifle or inhibit, but liberates. The "thou shalt nots" of the bible are things that channel my life for great productivity, health and joy. Jesus says,

"I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full."

My clear and unapologetic bias is this, "If you want to live fully, follow Jesus." Anything else is settling for less, a lot less.

The "good shepherd" section has brought comfort to people throughout the history of the church. Often a good shepherd would literally lay himself at the entry to the fold of the sheep to protect the sheep from animals and bandits. Some shepherds lost their lives doing so. Jesus is the ultimate good shepherd, laying down his life for the salvation of us all.

Verses 17-18 have sometimes caused people to raise a pointed question,"If the Romans and the Jews didn't take Jesus' life, but he instead chose this for himself, was his death a kind of suicide?" In other words, "If Jesus could have done this another way, why didn't he?" Indeed, as the Son of God, Jesus could have avoided the horror of crucifixion, but Jesus was not just divine, he was fully human. As John wrote in chapter 1, he "pitched his tent among us" and experienced the vulnerability we all do, only to an even greater degree. In the words of Philippians 2, he "emptied himself and took the form of a slave and became obedient unto death - even death on a cross." I'm not going to let the Romans or the Jewish leaders off the hook. The powers of evil led the full assault on the incarnation of the love and holiness of God and God made himself vulnerable to them, when he could have smashed them. Holy love is that way. It takes the hit.

But that is not the end of the story. The end of verse 18 says, "I have authority to lay it down and I have authority to take it up again." In the end, the incarnation of vulnerable holy love triumphs over evil, hatred, hypocrisy and death. On the face of it, that seems absurd. But as I look at Jesus and the impact his death and resurrection have had on billions of lives, including your life and mine, I know it would be a far greater absurdity to deny the truth of Christ.

"Blind Man's Bluff" - John 9:13-41

Once again, this miracle takes place on the Sabbath. Healing the man is considered "work" (though doing miracles is not covered in the Sabbath code of the Pharisees). Even the Pharisees are divided. The religious leaders are intent on disproving the miracle by establishing that the man had never been blind. They interview his parents and they verify the man had been born blind, but, for their own protection, they claim not to know how he was healed. Then the religious leaders approach the man, trying to get him to deny that Jesus did the miracle. They fail and then accuse the man of being a disciple of Jesus (which he eventually becomes).

In verses 30-33, the healed man takes on their hypocrisy, for indeed God has listened to Jesus' prayers, which means God listens to a sinner (which they said Jesus was), which they said God cannot do. They then just call the ex-blind man "a sinner" and throw him out. To reinforce a lie, they throw out the truth (not the first time religious people have done that). In verses 35-38, the man gets the completion of his miracle, as he puts his faith in Jesus.

In the end, the blind man sees and the ones who claim to see are blind. But because they really have the oppotunity to see by believing,they are without excuse.

As I finish this blog today, I think of the first verse of "Amazing Grace, and how it finishes with the last part of John 9:25, "I was blind but now I see." This was the man's story and no one could take that away from him. Each of us has a story like that, maybe not as dramatic, but it is our story just the same. My story is captured in the 40th Psalm, verse 3,

"He put a new song in my mouth, a hymn of praise to our God. Many will see and fear and put their trust in the Lord."

Why not take some time and write a paragraph that is your story, that tells what God has done for you? Then take that paragraph and bless someone else by sharing what you have written.

"Here's Mud in Your Eye" John 9:1-12

Sorry, I just couldn't resist using this title. I don't think the phrase often used in toasts for drinks is traceable to this miracle! The man's condition is that he's blind from birth. Today, we know all kinds of reasons why that could have happened, but back then they thought it was a sign that someone had sinned. In Deuteronomy, there is a general principle in the opening chapters that says basically, if you live good lives, God will bless you and if you do bad, God will punish you. This led many to think that when bad things happened, it was punishment for something. Regrettably, that kind of thinking continues to this day. I had parents of a teenager who was suffering from terminal cancer who were told that their son wouldn't have cancer if they just prayed differently or had gotten rid of the sin in their life. Why do people say "idiot" things like that? Partly, they do so because they want life to be fair and balanced.

And there is some truth to the idea that sin can lead to bad consequences. What we sow, we will reap. But even David in the Psalms struggled with the unfairness of life. He would recall how he led the people in worship and then had horrible things happen. Jesus takes this on (he does elsewhere, also), saying that these things were opportunities for God to get glory. What if our diseases, our losses, and even our mistakes are actually opportunities for God to work in our lives?

I don't believe that God sends maladies and challenges our way, nor do I think he allows them. There is a freedom in creation: freedom for you and I to make choices, freedom for nature to run its course. As human beings we are both fallible (mistake and sin prone) and temporal (we all die eventually from something)in this life. What do people mean when they say, "He (she) died of natural causes?" I know that people mean it wasn't by accident or cancer or heart attack or stroke, etc, that the person for unexplicable reasons just died. But isn't nearly every death (even from accidents) from natural causes? And in the midst of our fallibility and temporality, God works. As you have heard me say before, "God is in the mix."

Jesus' method is common for his day - taking saliva and dirt and mixing it together as a salve on the man's eyes. He send's the man to wash the salve off and he miraculously sees for the first time in his life. I have done some reading recently about the gift of sight for those who have never seen. It actually takes them a while to see clearly and even make sense of the colors, shapes, sizes and depth of the images they "see." We actually call on all kinds of information that helps us see what we see.

The man's neighbors cannot believe their eyes. The man who was condemned to a life of begging (as well as with the stigma of having been punished by God) is now whole. Some are not even sure that he is the same man, but he says clearly he is the man and he had received this miracle from Jesus.

There is much more to this story as we shall soon see.

"Father Abraham" John 8:31-57

There's a children's song I learned that sings:

"Father Abraham had many kids, and many kids had father Abraham. I am one of them and so are you. So let's just praise the Lord."

Then you sang it swinging your right arm, then left arm, then right and left, then add left leg, then right leg, then left and right leg (now you're marching), add nodding head, then turn around in circles. You get the picture. When I taught this to children's choirs (and the kids were extra hyper), I would add verses after "turn around". When the congregation said goodbye to me as their music director, they did a roast with puppets. The puppets said, "Let's sing our favorite song" and then turned around in circles to "Father Abraham" until they fell down. I don't remember doing that literally to the kids, but I was tempted.

In these verses from John 8, a major controversy erupts over who really are children of Abraham. The problem is in one of my favorite verses of Jesus, "You shall know the truth and the truth shall see you free." As Jews, they never acknowledged to be slaves to anyone, not the Assyrians, the Babylonians, the Persians, or the Romans. It didn't matter if their land was occupied or not. They were no one's slaves, because they were the chosen people of God. Jesus didn't have a quarrel with that. His quarrel was that their sense of freedom was based more on heritage and tradition than in true faith and righteous practice. Their rejection of him and their plot to take his life was inconsistent with who they said they were.

Then the argument becomes more intense as they accuse Jesus of calling them "illegitimate children". They are "children of God." Jesus pushes it further saying their attitudes and behavior (their rejection) showed they were not God's children. They call him "Samaritan" and "demon-possessed." But Jesus responds by tell them in verse 51 that if anybody keeps His word, they won't see death. The final straw is when Jesus claims to know Abraham and even claimed to exist before he did - "Before Abraham was born, I am." The use of "I am" in this way links him with the God of the burning bush who named Himself, "I Am that I Am." The key religious charge against Jesus was one of blasphemy - for claiming to be the Son of God. This argument would have been one of the items use to substantiate that charge.

Of course, what his opponents missed was that Jesus was talking about freedom of a different kind, a spiritual freedom that liberates the mind, heart, soul and relationships of an individual. It was freedom from the inside out. All along, people wanted Jesus to be the champion of an outward freedom, and to those he was a disappointment. But for those who allowed that inside-out freedom to enter their lives, nothing was the same. As Jesus said in John 8:36:

"If the Son set you free, you will be free indeed."

I like to call this my "Declaration of Dependence." How about you?

"Light of the World" John 8:12-30

The chorus "Here I Am to Worship" begins, "Light of the world, you step down into darkness, opened my eyes let me see." We have already been told in John 3:19, "Light has come into the world, but men loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil. Everyone who does evil hates the light, and will not come into the light for fear that his deeds will be exposed." In contrast here, Jesus says, "I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life."

I invite you to join me in reflecting on your own journey from darkness to light. Some of the clues about our darkness include the things we stumble over (attitudes, repeated behaviors and sins, resentments from past hurts). The guilt we feel about those things is meant not to condemn us, but to show us where there is insufficient light. Another clue of darkness is where there is confusion. Our minds become clouded and distracted with our many responsibilities and the crush of information we are given. We need wisdom that will help us sort what is important and what is not and find a clearer perspective on the situations we face. We need more light.

Jesus gives his opponents examples of their darkness. First, he cites darkness of judging by human standards. One of the common phrases of the book of Judges (easily the most violent and decadent time in Israel's history) was "Each one did what was right in his own eyes." From the eyes of self-indulgence and sin darkness can look like light. Second, their sin is creating a spiritual darkness that is killing them from the inside out. And from the perspective of darkness, Jesus' words are rude and arrogant. "I am from above, you are from beneath. You are of this world, I am not of this world." From the perspective of life, Jesus is inviting them to a higher way of life.

Jesus finishes this passage by talking about being "lifted up," something we will see again, a reference to his death by crucifixion. If you are like me, I'm ready to move on from this Jesus vs. Pharisee debate. Things will begin to pick up speed dramatically soon.

"Go and Sin No More" John 7:53-8:1

Most study bibles note that this passage was not in the earliest manuscripts of the gospel of John. Some manuscripts attach it to the end of Luke's gospel. In my doctoral studies, one of the emerging fields of study was called "canonical criticism," which looked at the process by which the Bible came to be. Some books of the Bible had trouble getting in -
Esther (not much religious material there), II Peter and Hebrews (not sure who wrote them) and Revelation (which struggled to get in right up to the 4th century CE). I've always wondered why some of the apocryphal books (e.g.Sirach) didn't make it, while ones like "Song of Solomon" did. That seems to be related to how authentically "Jewish" it was. Then, there are passages like this one and the last part of Mark 16 that don't show up in early manuscripts. In other words, they were added somewhere down the line. I have no reason to doubt this encounter with the woman caught in adultery, but it is interesting that it was added here. Perhaps it was because it took place just outside the temple courts.

In John 7:53, we are told that Jesus went up to the Mount of Olives (most likely to rest and pray, as was his rhythm) and then returned to the temple courts. In this passage, Jesus does sit down in Rabbinical style to teach the people there (instead of standing as in yesterday's passage). His teaching is rudely interrupted by Pharisees who bring a woman caught in the act of adultery. The heartlessness of their actions shows what happens when religious devotion is reduced to legalism. It is a natural tendency in religion. They do not care about this woman and are quite willing to make a public show of her, just to publicly embarrass and discredit Jesus. The Mosaic rule of stoning for adultery had not been enforced for centuries.

This passage is the only one that records that Jesus wrote anything and it doesn't say what he wrote. Some think he was just doodling in the sand, waiting to get his accusers' attention as well as those watching. William Barclay notes a tradition that Jesus would have been listing the sins of the accusers: hypocrisy, bigotry, dishonesty, plot for murder, hardness of heart, arrogance etc. It is interesting to think when we are pronouncing judgment on others, about our own sinfulness that often can be far worse (just not as visible).

Then Jesus says his famous statement,

"If any one of you is without sin, let him be the first to throw a stone at her."

And then he starts writing again (or doodling). The crowd must have enjoyed that moment, for no good Jew is going to claim sinfulness as his or her virtue. How important it is for us not to take the posture of being "better than" or "holier than" those we serve. Self-superiority (economic, moral, intellectual, racial, spiritual) communicates to people immediately. And the problem is that it shows no matter what we say (how kind or how politically correct). I've discovered that in myself, especially when doing cross-cultural ministry. I needed to dump by white superiority complex (even though I never used bigoted language and condemned those who did). I have been blessed to have brothers and sisters who helped me see that. These are attitudes and dispositions that have to be healed from the inside out.

Finally, it's one-on-one between Jesus and the woman. Jesus does not condemn her, neither does he allow her to be comfortable in the status quo of her life. We've seen that before with the Samaritan woman. This is the amazing compassion of Christ. He meets us and accepts us just the way we are and loves us too much to let us stay that way. Thanks be to God.

"Are You Thirsty?" John 7:25-52

If you were one of the opponents of Jesus, the charge of blasphemy seems to fit. He claims a unique relationship with God as "his Father" and the one "whom God has sent." Among the people, Jesus is popular because of his miracles, but the tension continues to grow between Jesus and the religious leadership. In this passage, they are already making arrangements for Jesus' arrest by the temple guard. Jesus, in verse 33, tells them in his own way that he is on to their plans. His "short time" is that he is going to die soon and return to his heavenly father, but the opponents instead wonder if he is going to go find disciples among the Gentiles. That of course, would occur later in the ministries of Peter and then even more with Paul. That is not lost on John. As we were told in chapter 1, verse 11-12:

"He came to that which was his own, but his own did not receive him. Yet to all who received him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God..."

In verses 37-44, we and the readers of John's gospel when he wrote it have an advantage. We know that Jesus was born in the city of David in Bethlehem, even though his family was Nazarene. We know that the living water image as a flow from within us didn't make sense to the disciples until Pentecost and the coming of the Spirit (Acts 2). The high profile of the Holy Spirit in John is much stronger than the other gospels.

The act of Jesus standing as he taught in the open courts would have been unusual. Rabbis sat down to teach. If you have been on the streets of New York or New Orleans and seen the street preachers, then you might see how Jesus might have come across in this moment. Because of his miracles he has a growing hearing. But Jesus' opponents are already setting up a "divide and conquer" strategy, gathering people who are willing to help them stop and even perhaps execute Jesus.

The temple guard are not able to carry out their orders from the chief priests and they are impressed with Jesus and his teaching. The Pharisees immediately discredit Jesus and anyone who would be his followers as "a misinformed mob." Notice who steps in to defend Jesus - good ol' Nick. And again, the priests use false information to discredit Jesus, because the Messiah can't be a Galilean. Of course, as stated above, Jesus wasn't. There was real stigma and bigotry in Judea toward people from Galilee. The opponents of Jesus are getting a lot of mileage out of his less than stellar background.

But let's go back to the "streams of living water" passage. The whole goal of Jesus' ministry was to get the power and presence of God portable in you and me. This will become more obvious as the gospel of John continues. When we allow the Holy Spirit to fill and guide us, then we find that following Jesus means having a power and life force in us. We don't just try to imitate Jesus or do what he says in our own strength. I was taught as a teenager that in each one of us is a "God-shaped hole," and only a relationship with God through Christ in the power of the Spirit can fill it. The truth is that we try to fill that void in lots of counterfeit ways: with success, with the approval of others, with our own religious behavior. But in the end, they never quite satisfy. How are you presently satisfying the thirst in your soul?

PLEASE NOTE: Due to bad weather there will be no classes or NBA dinner on Wednesday night! The blog will continue and we will work to catch up when we get together next week. Be safe and take some time to enjoy some quiet and being with loved ones.