19 Jesus gave them this answer: "Very truly I tell you, the Son can do nothing by himself; he can do only what he sees his Father doing, because whatever the Father does the Son also does. 20 For the Father loves the Son and shows him all he does. Yes, and he will show him even greater works than these, so that you will be amazed. 21 For just as the Father raises the dead and gives them life, even so the Son gives life to whom he is pleased to give it. 22 Moreover, the Father judges no one, but has entrusted all judgment to the Son, 23 that all may honor the Son just as they honor the Father. Whoever does not honor the Son does not honor the Father, who sent him.
24 "Very truly I tell you, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life and will not be judged but has crossed over from death to life. 25 Very truly I tell you, a time is coming and has now come when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God and those who hear will live. 26 For as the Father has life in himself, so he has granted the Son also to have life in himself. 27 And he has given him authority to judge because he is the Son of Man.
28 "Do not be amazed at this, for a time is coming when all who are in their graves will hear his voice 29 and come out—those who have done what is good will rise to live, and those who have done what is evil will rise to be condemned.
Dig Deeper
A few weeks ago I had to go into my eldest son's school for a regular yearly conference with his counselor. He is in his last year before starting high school so this conference focused a great deal on his portfolio and his future both in high school and beyond. One of the things that the students begin to do with their portfolios is to determine what they might want to do for a career and then start thinking about the types of classes, experiences, and college education that they might need to achieve that. As we were looking through his portfolio on the computer in the counselor's office, we came to the page that had a question concerning what career they might like to pursue as an adult. I was quite encouraged to see that my son had listed that he would like to be a biblical teacher and biblical scholar. In his mind, he wants to follow in the footsteps of his dad. That's a pretty uncommon thing in our world today, but it was the usual course of events in the ancient world. A son would take up the career of his father, watching him, mimicking him, and learning from him. Under those circumstances, the best way to get good at what your father did was to do exactly what the father did and to listen to his every instruction.
This idea of apprenticeship between a father and son is the common imagery upon which Jesus draws to explain why he was claiming to be sharing in the same work as the Father. What the Jewish leaders could only understand as blasphemy or the wild ravings of a lunatic were actually quite understandable. He was simply doing what most any son would do in their culture. He had learned His Father's way of doing things, and was now going about copying that, carrying out the work of His Father in the precise way that His Father would do it.
John tells us in verse 19 that Jesus gave them this answer, which seems a bit puzzling because he hasn't recorded any specific question in the previous verse. What John likely means is that there was a general question or misunderstanding which evoked a great deal of rage and anger about Jesus' claims to be doing the work of his Father. A claim that made himself equal to God in their eyes. His response is important, as John has set it up as the definitive reason for what he is doing. It is further emphasized by Jesus saying "Very truly I tell you." This was a claim to be telling the truth without need for a further witness, which in Jewish culture was something only God could rightly do.
So how could Jesus claim to be doing the same work that the Father was doing, which is another level above just doing what the Father sent him to do (he certainly was also doing that but there was more to it than just being a messenger)? Jesus could share in the same work and be exempt from Sabbath regulations because the son can do nothing by himself. Jesus wasn't just going around making up this Messiah stuff as he went along. He certainly wasn't acting according to his own will. He was doing the work of his Father. He was doing exactly what he had seen the Father do all throughout history (again John demonstrates as he did in the prologue that the Son and the Father share an essence and purpose but are still distinct beings from one another). So what is that the Son had seen his Father doing? Without pressing the point beyond its intention, it's likely that Jesus is referring to the work of reconciling the world back to God. Jesus had been right there as the Father set about to reconcile a world marred by sin back to Himself and restore the full image of God to men. Jesus was now here partaking in that same work.
They should not be amazed then when they see the Son doing incredible things and demonstrating the new creation. The Father, after all was the creator of the universe. He was the only one with the power to raise the dead and give them life (Deut. 32:39; 1 Sam. 2:6; 2 Ki. 5:7). Only the Father can give life to the dead, whether it be the physically dead or the spiritually dead (Ezek. 37). John has already made it clear in chapter 3, that the world stands condemned in darkness already because of their sin. In that sense, it could rightly be said that all have sinned (Rom. 3:23), all stand condemned already (3:18), and thus, all humans are dead in their sins (Eph. 2:1; Col. 2:13).
The Father has the power to raise the dead and give them life, and so does the Son. The Son has life in himself and gives life to whom he is pleased to give it. In this one short incredible explanation that Jesus gives in this passage, John gives us nearly every major theme of his entire Gospel. Jesus is the true Son of God that has replaced Israel (5:19; cf. 15:1), the faithless son (Ex. 4:22). It is he who serves as Jacob's ladder connecting the earthly life of the present age to the heavenly realm of the the life of the age to come, eternal life 5:24). This life, however, is available only to those who hear the logos (the word) of Jesus and believe (5:24). It is to those who believe in the logos who will enter into the life of Christ where life is found (5:26). Only those in Christ will share in the new creation that Jesus is bringing both now, in the present age, and in the resurrection that is yet to come (5:29).
The ministry of Jesus is all about bringing the dead to life. Those who hear his word and believes will have eternal life. If people believed in God, truly believed in Him according to His word and not their own vision of what He is and should be doing, then they will believe in the life that He has sent. Many people in our day view the concept of eternal life as something that happens to us after we die, as though we die, go off to another location called heaven, and then and only then do we experience everlasting life there. This is not exactly what Jesus means, however. Eternal life was the life of the age to come. It was the life of God's restored creation and His complete presence with His people. Those who enter into the life of Christ have that life available to us now, in the present age, pointing people ahead to the time when heaven and earth will be brought together completely forever (Eph. 1:10), which will happen when Christ appears and resurrects those in him.
Most Jews during the first century absolutely believed that God would one day bring an end to the present age. He would send the Messiah who would bring an end to evil in the world by defeating Israel's enemies and exalting Israel to her rightful place in the world. The righteous would be resurrected from the dead and would reign with God forever. This would be the end of the present age, the end of time, so to speak. In verses 28 and 29, then, when Jesus says that they should not be amazed at what he has just said because a time is coming when all who are in their graves will hear his voice and come out. The righteous will rise to live while the unrighteous will receive their full condemnation, this was not the surprising part. It might sound a bit unusual or shocking to us, but this was the part that they all understood and believed in. Jesus describes their common belief in order to verify the shocking part for them that they were not expecting.
The shocking part that Jesus would reveal little by little was that this passage from death to life and entrance into the age to come was available now. The time was coming, they all knew that and believed that, but that the time has now come? Now that was hard to swallow. He was telling them that those who believed in the life of Christ and entered into could share in the life of the age to come now. How could that possibly be? How could that make any sense at all?
This is the great power of the new creation. It's not just some run-of-the-mill spiritual experience that someone can have. It is new life welling up inside of you from God's own Spirit. If everyone could believe in a future resurrection, then why could God not offer that in the present age? What Israel expected of all the righteous at the end of time would take place for the One righteous human in the middle of time. Israel would be exalted to rule the nations, but Jesus is the true Israel. The righteous would be resurrected and enter into the age to come, but Jesus is the only righteous one. Yet, he has made that life and that resurrection life available now to those who would only believe in his life, die to themselves, and enter in. The shocking thing for Jesus' original audience, and perhaps still for us in different ways, was that they could have that life in the present as it anticipated and guaranteed the full consummation of the resurrection life in the age to come.
Devotional Thought
People in the first century had a tendency to believe in God's future age more than they did of having spiritual life in the present age. Although we often have a much different conception of the age to come, we tend to focus much more on "going to heaven" than we do with realizing the life of the age to come in the present age. Are you truly doing your best to grab hold of eternal life now and demonstrate to the world around you what it looks like to live in a community that is reconciled to God.
Wednesday, November 26, 2008
Tuesday, November 25, 2008
John 5:9b-18
The day on which this took place was a Sabbath, 10 and so the Jewish leaders said to the man who had been healed, "It is the Sabbath; the law forbids you to carry your mat."
11 But he replied, "The man who made me well said to me, 'Pick up your mat and walk.' "
12 So they asked him, "Who is this fellow who told you to pick it up and walk?"
13 The man who was healed had no idea who it was, for Jesus had slipped away into the crowd that was there.
14 Later Jesus found him at the temple and said to him, "See, you are well again. Stop sinning or something worse may happen to you." 15 The man went away and told the Jewish leaders that it was Jesus who had made him well.
The Authority of the Son
16 So, because Jesus was doing these things on the Sabbath, the Jewish leaders began to persecute him. 17 In his defense Jesus said to them, "My Father is always at his work to this very day, and I too am working." 18 For this reason they tried all the more to kill him; not only was he breaking the Sabbath, but he was even calling God his own Father, making himself equal with God.
Dig Deeper
I had a wonderful childhood. I really did, and there's not too much I could even think to complain of, but I do remember one part of my childhood that was particularly traumatic. You see I had a rhythm to my week. I went to school all week and Sundays were set aside for church, but Saturdays were supposed to be different. To me, Saturday mornings were for nothing more than laying around and watching cartoons (this was back when they were still making good cartoons) from whenever I woke up until about noon. My dad seemed to be operating in a different world, though. He always wanted to get up early on Saturday mornings and do some work. That might sound bad enough, but what was even worse was the fact that he wanted to always bring me into his disturbed world of hard work and no cartoons. He was simply operating in a whole different reality than I was and it made me angry. Saturdays were about self-absorption not hard work. No matter how many times he tried to explain the whole theory behind doing work on Saturday mornings, it sounded like crazy talk because Saturdays were a completely different thing for a different purpose in my world than they were in his.
This seems to be something of the problem with Jesus and the leadership of the Jews. It wasn't so much that they didn't understand the things that he was doing, it was that they were living in a whole different world with a entirely different reality than Jesus. They still think that it's time to rest and wait around for God to something, but Jesus knows that that time has passed. It is time to get up and start working. God is doing something new and the time to be a part of it is right now. Waiting anymore would just be wasting time.
John has waited until verse 9 to give us a vital piece of information. Jesus has healed this man on the Sabbath. By Jesus' day, the Sabbath had become something far different than what is actually described in the Scriptures. It was intended to be a day of rest that both reminded the Jewish people of the fact that God created the world in six days and rested on the seventh and that pointed ahead to the true rest and healing that God would bring to the world one day. Israel, through time and tradition, however, had gone far beyond the call to keep God's day holy and focused on Him, and had added all kinds of rules and regulations that people had to follow. The Lord had told the Israelites not to work on the Sabbath and not to carry loads (Ex. 31:12-17; Jer. 17:12-17; Neh. 13:15-19) but tradition had defined that down to the point that you could not carry any object from one domain into another on the Sabbath, so you could carry a man on a mat, but not the mat itself. In reality, the man did not break any biblical Sabbath regulations, only the traditional oral law that attempted to interpret biblical passages.
The specific issue that Jewish leaders jump all over the man for is that he should not have been carrying his mat on the Sabbath. The man wants no part of this issue and does not attempt to defend Jesus in anyway. He seems more than happy to pass responsibility off to Jesus. He only carried his mat because Jesus told him to.
The question that we really need to ask though, is why would Jesus heal the man on this day? There were six other days in the week. This man had been in his condition for nearly forty years, why couldn't it wait for one more day and avoid all of the controversy. The answer is far more subversive than might at first appear. What seems to be happening is that Jesus is bringing the life of the new creation into a world that still wants to cling to the old creation. The old world still wanted to lay around and watch cartoons, the way they always had, but Jesus was already up and working. It was time to get moving, God's new creation was here. The new creation was replacing the old one for those who wished to follow Jesus but this simply made no sense to the Jewish leaders. Yet, this is precisely the picture that John has painted for us. From the first verse of the Gospel, he told us that this was an event of new creation. He has left clues all throughout, such as pointing out that Jesus' opening week of ministry was seven days, mimicking the seven days of creation. Everywhere Jesus went, he was bringing forth signs of the new creation (still wondering how many of those signs John will describe?).
As Jesus opens the veil separating heaven and earth further and further, the forces that stand opposed to the new creation react in increasing fiercer levels. The new creation was being unveiled further as John shows another instance of the angels ascending and descending on the son of man (cf. 1:51). The Sabbath was always a day to rest and remember the original creation week, but Jesus sees things quite differently. The Sabbath is no longer a time of rest, it's a time of opening up the world to the new creation. God was restoring things that were sick and broken and devastated by a world caught in sin. All humans are born into that world with no way out on our own. The only hope for the world was for God to do something. This is precisely what the new creation is all about. It is God fixing what sin has done to the world.
The man who was healed, though, is like so many of us. He had walked right into the new creation but he had no idea who Jesus was or what he was doing. In fact, we are never told that this man really ever understood the full implications of what Jesus had done. He had tasted of the new creation but still seemed far more in fear of being in trouble with the powers-that-be rather than standing boldly in the new reality which had reached out and touched him. When Jesus tells him to stop sinning or something worse may happen to you, he isn't necessarily implying that sin caused the man's condition (Jesus, in fact, denies that sin is a factor in cases like this is 9:3). Being stuck in a world of sin with no way out, even if part of your condition in that world is to be crippled, pales in comparison to the reality of being brought into the new creation and not embracing it. There is no place for sin in the age to come which is why Christians are called to enter into the sinless life of Christ and fully embrace it as we are transformed into his image (Col. 3:10). If this man continued to fail to realize what was going on and walked back into a life of sin, it would be far worse than being stuck there in the first place with no knowledge of the new thing God was doing. Those who have never entered the new creation, have hope. Those who have entered and then willingly walked away from it, have no hope (cf. Heb. 6:4-6). The fact was that the time for those in Israel to choose between the new thing being brought into the world through Christ and the old way was running short and if this man didn't embrace the new creation while he still had a chance, the prospects were dire. Having hope is always better, no matter how dire your circumstances, than having no hope.
Sadly, verse 15 seems to indicate that he still didn't get. Whereas the man healed of blindness (ch. 9) defended Jesus and would not distance himself from Jesus, this man was more than happy to distance himself. So, the anger and hatred of the leaders is quickly transferred from this man to Jesus. In response to the persecution of the Jewish leaders, Jesus said that his Father was always at His work, and so was he. In saying this, Jesus has pushed the door between heaven and earth open just a little bit farther, claiming that his work and the work of the Father were on an even plane. Jews of Jesus' day had understood that, although God rested from creation on the seventh day, he continued to work by sustaining the entire creation. They explained that since the entire universe was God's domain, He was not breaking any Sabbath ordinance by moving an object from one domain into another. In other words, only God could work on the Sabbath because the entire universe was His (this was all Jewish reasoning and tradition, not Scripture mind you). Jesus' point was that, just as God was above normal Sabbath regulations, so was he. There were only two possible responses when someone claimed equality with God in ancient Israel. Either he could be taken at his word, or he would be killed for blasphemy. Clearly, the Jewish leaders rejected Jesus' word. They did not want the logos that he was bringing. They wanted to remain in their old reality. They simply didn't want to get up and get to work, helping to bring about God's new creation. This meant that, in their eyes, Jesus had to go. He would have to be killed.
Devotional Thought
God's new creation is all about healing, forgiving, and bringing life and light into the darkness. What signs of God's new creation have you seen in your life? Take some time to really think and pray about signs of the new creation in your own life. This should not only fill you with gratitude but should also give you a determination to share with others what God has done in your life.
11 But he replied, "The man who made me well said to me, 'Pick up your mat and walk.' "
12 So they asked him, "Who is this fellow who told you to pick it up and walk?"
13 The man who was healed had no idea who it was, for Jesus had slipped away into the crowd that was there.
14 Later Jesus found him at the temple and said to him, "See, you are well again. Stop sinning or something worse may happen to you." 15 The man went away and told the Jewish leaders that it was Jesus who had made him well.
The Authority of the Son
16 So, because Jesus was doing these things on the Sabbath, the Jewish leaders began to persecute him. 17 In his defense Jesus said to them, "My Father is always at his work to this very day, and I too am working." 18 For this reason they tried all the more to kill him; not only was he breaking the Sabbath, but he was even calling God his own Father, making himself equal with God.
Dig Deeper
I had a wonderful childhood. I really did, and there's not too much I could even think to complain of, but I do remember one part of my childhood that was particularly traumatic. You see I had a rhythm to my week. I went to school all week and Sundays were set aside for church, but Saturdays were supposed to be different. To me, Saturday mornings were for nothing more than laying around and watching cartoons (this was back when they were still making good cartoons) from whenever I woke up until about noon. My dad seemed to be operating in a different world, though. He always wanted to get up early on Saturday mornings and do some work. That might sound bad enough, but what was even worse was the fact that he wanted to always bring me into his disturbed world of hard work and no cartoons. He was simply operating in a whole different reality than I was and it made me angry. Saturdays were about self-absorption not hard work. No matter how many times he tried to explain the whole theory behind doing work on Saturday mornings, it sounded like crazy talk because Saturdays were a completely different thing for a different purpose in my world than they were in his.
This seems to be something of the problem with Jesus and the leadership of the Jews. It wasn't so much that they didn't understand the things that he was doing, it was that they were living in a whole different world with a entirely different reality than Jesus. They still think that it's time to rest and wait around for God to something, but Jesus knows that that time has passed. It is time to get up and start working. God is doing something new and the time to be a part of it is right now. Waiting anymore would just be wasting time.
John has waited until verse 9 to give us a vital piece of information. Jesus has healed this man on the Sabbath. By Jesus' day, the Sabbath had become something far different than what is actually described in the Scriptures. It was intended to be a day of rest that both reminded the Jewish people of the fact that God created the world in six days and rested on the seventh and that pointed ahead to the true rest and healing that God would bring to the world one day. Israel, through time and tradition, however, had gone far beyond the call to keep God's day holy and focused on Him, and had added all kinds of rules and regulations that people had to follow. The Lord had told the Israelites not to work on the Sabbath and not to carry loads (Ex. 31:12-17; Jer. 17:12-17; Neh. 13:15-19) but tradition had defined that down to the point that you could not carry any object from one domain into another on the Sabbath, so you could carry a man on a mat, but not the mat itself. In reality, the man did not break any biblical Sabbath regulations, only the traditional oral law that attempted to interpret biblical passages.
The specific issue that Jewish leaders jump all over the man for is that he should not have been carrying his mat on the Sabbath. The man wants no part of this issue and does not attempt to defend Jesus in anyway. He seems more than happy to pass responsibility off to Jesus. He only carried his mat because Jesus told him to.
The question that we really need to ask though, is why would Jesus heal the man on this day? There were six other days in the week. This man had been in his condition for nearly forty years, why couldn't it wait for one more day and avoid all of the controversy. The answer is far more subversive than might at first appear. What seems to be happening is that Jesus is bringing the life of the new creation into a world that still wants to cling to the old creation. The old world still wanted to lay around and watch cartoons, the way they always had, but Jesus was already up and working. It was time to get moving, God's new creation was here. The new creation was replacing the old one for those who wished to follow Jesus but this simply made no sense to the Jewish leaders. Yet, this is precisely the picture that John has painted for us. From the first verse of the Gospel, he told us that this was an event of new creation. He has left clues all throughout, such as pointing out that Jesus' opening week of ministry was seven days, mimicking the seven days of creation. Everywhere Jesus went, he was bringing forth signs of the new creation (still wondering how many of those signs John will describe?).
As Jesus opens the veil separating heaven and earth further and further, the forces that stand opposed to the new creation react in increasing fiercer levels. The new creation was being unveiled further as John shows another instance of the angels ascending and descending on the son of man (cf. 1:51). The Sabbath was always a day to rest and remember the original creation week, but Jesus sees things quite differently. The Sabbath is no longer a time of rest, it's a time of opening up the world to the new creation. God was restoring things that were sick and broken and devastated by a world caught in sin. All humans are born into that world with no way out on our own. The only hope for the world was for God to do something. This is precisely what the new creation is all about. It is God fixing what sin has done to the world.
The man who was healed, though, is like so many of us. He had walked right into the new creation but he had no idea who Jesus was or what he was doing. In fact, we are never told that this man really ever understood the full implications of what Jesus had done. He had tasted of the new creation but still seemed far more in fear of being in trouble with the powers-that-be rather than standing boldly in the new reality which had reached out and touched him. When Jesus tells him to stop sinning or something worse may happen to you, he isn't necessarily implying that sin caused the man's condition (Jesus, in fact, denies that sin is a factor in cases like this is 9:3). Being stuck in a world of sin with no way out, even if part of your condition in that world is to be crippled, pales in comparison to the reality of being brought into the new creation and not embracing it. There is no place for sin in the age to come which is why Christians are called to enter into the sinless life of Christ and fully embrace it as we are transformed into his image (Col. 3:10). If this man continued to fail to realize what was going on and walked back into a life of sin, it would be far worse than being stuck there in the first place with no knowledge of the new thing God was doing. Those who have never entered the new creation, have hope. Those who have entered and then willingly walked away from it, have no hope (cf. Heb. 6:4-6). The fact was that the time for those in Israel to choose between the new thing being brought into the world through Christ and the old way was running short and if this man didn't embrace the new creation while he still had a chance, the prospects were dire. Having hope is always better, no matter how dire your circumstances, than having no hope.
Sadly, verse 15 seems to indicate that he still didn't get. Whereas the man healed of blindness (ch. 9) defended Jesus and would not distance himself from Jesus, this man was more than happy to distance himself. So, the anger and hatred of the leaders is quickly transferred from this man to Jesus. In response to the persecution of the Jewish leaders, Jesus said that his Father was always at His work, and so was he. In saying this, Jesus has pushed the door between heaven and earth open just a little bit farther, claiming that his work and the work of the Father were on an even plane. Jews of Jesus' day had understood that, although God rested from creation on the seventh day, he continued to work by sustaining the entire creation. They explained that since the entire universe was God's domain, He was not breaking any Sabbath ordinance by moving an object from one domain into another. In other words, only God could work on the Sabbath because the entire universe was His (this was all Jewish reasoning and tradition, not Scripture mind you). Jesus' point was that, just as God was above normal Sabbath regulations, so was he. There were only two possible responses when someone claimed equality with God in ancient Israel. Either he could be taken at his word, or he would be killed for blasphemy. Clearly, the Jewish leaders rejected Jesus' word. They did not want the logos that he was bringing. They wanted to remain in their old reality. They simply didn't want to get up and get to work, helping to bring about God's new creation. This meant that, in their eyes, Jesus had to go. He would have to be killed.
Devotional Thought
God's new creation is all about healing, forgiving, and bringing life and light into the darkness. What signs of God's new creation have you seen in your life? Take some time to really think and pray about signs of the new creation in your own life. This should not only fill you with gratitude but should also give you a determination to share with others what God has done in your life.
Monday, November 24, 2008
John 5:1-9a
The Healing at the Pool
1 Some time later, Jesus went up to Jerusalem for one of the Jewish festivals. 2 Now there is in Jerusalem near the Sheep Gate a pool, which in Aramaic is called Bethesda and which is surrounded by five covered colonnades. 3-4 Here a great number of disabled people used to lie—the blind, the lame, the paralyzed. 5 One who was there had been an invalid for thirty-eight years. 6 When Jesus saw him lying there and learned that he had been in this condition for a long time, he asked him, "Do you want to get well?"
7 "Sir," the invalid replied, "I have no one to help me into the pool when the water is stirred. While I am trying to get in, someone else goes down ahead of me."
8 Then Jesus said to him, "Get up! Pick up your mat and walk." 9 At once the man was cured; he picked up his mat and walked.
Dig Deeper
The Greek philosopher Plato told a story about a man in cave. The man was chained up in a cave and the only thing he had to look at was the shadows of cut-outs of trees and animals and various other objects. The objects were held up behind him and two other men who were also chained up and a the light from a fire reflected shadows of the objects on the wall in front of them. It was all of reality that they knew. After a time, one of the men escaped and made it out of the cave into the real world. He was amazed at the realities that he saw. They were overwhelming and breathtaking, far beyond anything he knew had existed. When all you know is shadow outlines, you cannot even imagine the depth and beauty of the real world. The man eventually decided to go back into the cave to tell the others about the real world that he had experienced, but they simply couldn't understand. They thought that he had gone mad and didn't want to hear any of what he had to say. Eventually the other men in the chains killed the man who came to free them because even the idea of the world he described was so frightening that they could do nothing other than to eliminate him.
John has given us, in many different ways, examples of people who were living with knowledge of mere shadows. They are living, to varying degrees, in the shadowy darkness of a world trapped in sin with no genuine knowledge of what God's created world is supposed to be like. John has described for how Jesus confronted each person he encountered with the reality of God's new creation and it is fascinating to watch the variety of responses. Some have grabbed on to the little bit they understood immediately, some have been a bit stand-offish at first, only then to embrace it finally. Some have not understood it at all, and seemed to reject the reality that Jesus is trying to showing them. In the end, some will reject it just like the two captives in Plato's cave, grabbing and killing the man that is trying to tell them that there is a whole new reality outside if they will just break free from their captivity and chains.
A pool that was near the Sheep Gate in Jerusalem doesn't sound like a likely place for a prison, but human beings can find themselves enslaved and imprisoned almost anywhere, even in the most unlikely of situations. As Jesus approaches Jerusalem for the second time during his ministry (at least that John has recorded), he is going during an unnamed festival, although the original text implies that it was the Feast of Tabernacles as it calls it the "festival of the Jews," which was a common nickname for Tabernacles. As he enters into the city, Jesus encounters a man who had been crippled for thirty-eight years. As promising as the pool near the Sheep Gate sounds, John lets us know that this place has become a prison for this man.
Great lore, legend, and superstition had developed about this pool in Jerusalem. Apparently it was believed that from time to time the waters of this pool would get stirred up. This may have been the result of springs in the pool or some other natural phenomenon, but regardless of what caused the occasional stirring, a belief grew that angels were the cause. It was also believed that the first, and only the first person into the pool would be healed. Because of this belief, the pool would be surrounded daily with people who were ill and crippled waiting for their chance, although we are never told how often the waters were believed to have been stirred. (All of this is explained in verse 4, which is missing in most modern translations because it seems to have been a later explanatory addition to the original manuscripts and so, has been taken out).
All of this angels stirring the waters and selective healing business sounds much more like the pagan cults that surrounded Israel rather than authentic Judaism. In fact, apparently, just the Jews didn't regard this pool as a healing place. It appears that pagans also regarded it as a place of healing, and at one point, it was even dedicated to the healing god Ascelpius. Certainly the priests and Jewish officials didn't approve of this sort of superstitious behavior, yet they seemed to have turned a blind eye to it for the most part, due no doubt, to the negative public opinion that would come with ending such a practice that seemed to not harm anyone. Although it doesn't seem that this place was very successful. It was more legend than reality. The man described here had made it his life to come to this place everyday and it had never done anything for him.
This had become his reality, even his prison. He blindly clutched to the sliver of hope that this place really did have healing powers and he would be able to benefit from them. This is the sort of place that always winds up being the hope of the pagan world. Here it was the rumor that there might be healing powers in angel-agitated waters. Today it's that we can find happiness in wealth, possessions, power, or personal fulfillment. Whatever the promise is, it never seems to turn out to be what it is cracked up to be. That's why Jesus asked this man if he wanted to get well. Jesus wasn't implying that he didn't really want to get well. Nor was he insinuating that the man wasn't make a good enough effort to get into the water, so Jesus was now going to help him if he really wanted to.
This is not about effort, it's about coming out of the world of shadows. This man had bought into the the shadows that the pagan world clings to. The healing at this pool was a remote, rare, and random event at its best, but a fanciful dream at its worst. He no longer had to cling to the empty hopes of a world stuck in darkness. Jesus was about to do for him what the world could only promise but never seem to deliver. He could do what the pool only promised and all it would take was a word from the Word. This was a moment of new creation, demonstrating what it looks like when people are brought into the life of God's age to come. That doesn't mean that everyone who enters in will become physically healed in the present age, the healing was simply a sign of what everyone will experience in full one day when all things are restored (Matt. 19:28). What Jesus did in bringing to reality the shadowy wishes of the pagan world, he can do for everyone now.
We should note that this is another example of people understanding Jesus at an earthly level when he is speaking of heavenly things. When he asked the man if wanted to get well, it was an invitation to leave behind the world of shadows and enter into the new creation. The invalid, however, can as yet only think of his reality in the cave of his own experience. He does want to get healed and could only do so if he could get in that water. Similarly people in our day could be happy if they could only get that one thing that desire. He, and the people of our time, never stop to consider that perhaps the problem is not in their ability to get the thing they desire but the problem is that that thing can never deliver on what they truly need. Jesus can.
One word from the master was all it took for him to enter into the light. He was carried to the pool and laid down in his usual darkness, but today he got up and walked as he encountered the light. A word from the Light is all it ever takes. What is rendered "get up" by the TNIV is actually one word, egeiro, which means "rise." In that one word, John perhaps expects us to catch a glimpse of what the new creation will look like. The word can simply mean "to raise up," but it was a word that the early church of John's day used regularly to refer to the resurrection of the new creation. Jesus' word to him, then was much more than a simple command to get up off the ground. It was an invitation into the new world that he had just been invited. It was an invitation to come out of the cave and into the real world.
John doesn't tell us that this is the third sign, but he has already given us the first two. From here on out, we are on our own. Have you guessed yet how many signs John will give us in his Gospel?
Devotional Thought
Take a look at the people around you that are not Christians. What is their pool at the Sheep Gate? What are they holding to on, looking for healing, that will turn out to be nothing more than an empty hope? It is our job, given to us by Jesus, to share in relevant ways the availability of the new creation. It is only in God's new world, available in the life of Christ that people can find true healing of their souls. What are you doing to spread that message with those that need it most?
1 Some time later, Jesus went up to Jerusalem for one of the Jewish festivals. 2 Now there is in Jerusalem near the Sheep Gate a pool, which in Aramaic is called Bethesda and which is surrounded by five covered colonnades. 3-4 Here a great number of disabled people used to lie—the blind, the lame, the paralyzed. 5 One who was there had been an invalid for thirty-eight years. 6 When Jesus saw him lying there and learned that he had been in this condition for a long time, he asked him, "Do you want to get well?"
7 "Sir," the invalid replied, "I have no one to help me into the pool when the water is stirred. While I am trying to get in, someone else goes down ahead of me."
8 Then Jesus said to him, "Get up! Pick up your mat and walk." 9 At once the man was cured; he picked up his mat and walked.
Dig Deeper
The Greek philosopher Plato told a story about a man in cave. The man was chained up in a cave and the only thing he had to look at was the shadows of cut-outs of trees and animals and various other objects. The objects were held up behind him and two other men who were also chained up and a the light from a fire reflected shadows of the objects on the wall in front of them. It was all of reality that they knew. After a time, one of the men escaped and made it out of the cave into the real world. He was amazed at the realities that he saw. They were overwhelming and breathtaking, far beyond anything he knew had existed. When all you know is shadow outlines, you cannot even imagine the depth and beauty of the real world. The man eventually decided to go back into the cave to tell the others about the real world that he had experienced, but they simply couldn't understand. They thought that he had gone mad and didn't want to hear any of what he had to say. Eventually the other men in the chains killed the man who came to free them because even the idea of the world he described was so frightening that they could do nothing other than to eliminate him.
John has given us, in many different ways, examples of people who were living with knowledge of mere shadows. They are living, to varying degrees, in the shadowy darkness of a world trapped in sin with no genuine knowledge of what God's created world is supposed to be like. John has described for how Jesus confronted each person he encountered with the reality of God's new creation and it is fascinating to watch the variety of responses. Some have grabbed on to the little bit they understood immediately, some have been a bit stand-offish at first, only then to embrace it finally. Some have not understood it at all, and seemed to reject the reality that Jesus is trying to showing them. In the end, some will reject it just like the two captives in Plato's cave, grabbing and killing the man that is trying to tell them that there is a whole new reality outside if they will just break free from their captivity and chains.
A pool that was near the Sheep Gate in Jerusalem doesn't sound like a likely place for a prison, but human beings can find themselves enslaved and imprisoned almost anywhere, even in the most unlikely of situations. As Jesus approaches Jerusalem for the second time during his ministry (at least that John has recorded), he is going during an unnamed festival, although the original text implies that it was the Feast of Tabernacles as it calls it the "festival of the Jews," which was a common nickname for Tabernacles. As he enters into the city, Jesus encounters a man who had been crippled for thirty-eight years. As promising as the pool near the Sheep Gate sounds, John lets us know that this place has become a prison for this man.
Great lore, legend, and superstition had developed about this pool in Jerusalem. Apparently it was believed that from time to time the waters of this pool would get stirred up. This may have been the result of springs in the pool or some other natural phenomenon, but regardless of what caused the occasional stirring, a belief grew that angels were the cause. It was also believed that the first, and only the first person into the pool would be healed. Because of this belief, the pool would be surrounded daily with people who were ill and crippled waiting for their chance, although we are never told how often the waters were believed to have been stirred. (All of this is explained in verse 4, which is missing in most modern translations because it seems to have been a later explanatory addition to the original manuscripts and so, has been taken out).
All of this angels stirring the waters and selective healing business sounds much more like the pagan cults that surrounded Israel rather than authentic Judaism. In fact, apparently, just the Jews didn't regard this pool as a healing place. It appears that pagans also regarded it as a place of healing, and at one point, it was even dedicated to the healing god Ascelpius. Certainly the priests and Jewish officials didn't approve of this sort of superstitious behavior, yet they seemed to have turned a blind eye to it for the most part, due no doubt, to the negative public opinion that would come with ending such a practice that seemed to not harm anyone. Although it doesn't seem that this place was very successful. It was more legend than reality. The man described here had made it his life to come to this place everyday and it had never done anything for him.
This had become his reality, even his prison. He blindly clutched to the sliver of hope that this place really did have healing powers and he would be able to benefit from them. This is the sort of place that always winds up being the hope of the pagan world. Here it was the rumor that there might be healing powers in angel-agitated waters. Today it's that we can find happiness in wealth, possessions, power, or personal fulfillment. Whatever the promise is, it never seems to turn out to be what it is cracked up to be. That's why Jesus asked this man if he wanted to get well. Jesus wasn't implying that he didn't really want to get well. Nor was he insinuating that the man wasn't make a good enough effort to get into the water, so Jesus was now going to help him if he really wanted to.
This is not about effort, it's about coming out of the world of shadows. This man had bought into the the shadows that the pagan world clings to. The healing at this pool was a remote, rare, and random event at its best, but a fanciful dream at its worst. He no longer had to cling to the empty hopes of a world stuck in darkness. Jesus was about to do for him what the world could only promise but never seem to deliver. He could do what the pool only promised and all it would take was a word from the Word. This was a moment of new creation, demonstrating what it looks like when people are brought into the life of God's age to come. That doesn't mean that everyone who enters in will become physically healed in the present age, the healing was simply a sign of what everyone will experience in full one day when all things are restored (Matt. 19:28). What Jesus did in bringing to reality the shadowy wishes of the pagan world, he can do for everyone now.
We should note that this is another example of people understanding Jesus at an earthly level when he is speaking of heavenly things. When he asked the man if wanted to get well, it was an invitation to leave behind the world of shadows and enter into the new creation. The invalid, however, can as yet only think of his reality in the cave of his own experience. He does want to get healed and could only do so if he could get in that water. Similarly people in our day could be happy if they could only get that one thing that desire. He, and the people of our time, never stop to consider that perhaps the problem is not in their ability to get the thing they desire but the problem is that that thing can never deliver on what they truly need. Jesus can.
One word from the master was all it took for him to enter into the light. He was carried to the pool and laid down in his usual darkness, but today he got up and walked as he encountered the light. A word from the Light is all it ever takes. What is rendered "get up" by the TNIV is actually one word, egeiro, which means "rise." In that one word, John perhaps expects us to catch a glimpse of what the new creation will look like. The word can simply mean "to raise up," but it was a word that the early church of John's day used regularly to refer to the resurrection of the new creation. Jesus' word to him, then was much more than a simple command to get up off the ground. It was an invitation into the new world that he had just been invited. It was an invitation to come out of the cave and into the real world.
John doesn't tell us that this is the third sign, but he has already given us the first two. From here on out, we are on our own. Have you guessed yet how many signs John will give us in his Gospel?
Devotional Thought
Take a look at the people around you that are not Christians. What is their pool at the Sheep Gate? What are they holding to on, looking for healing, that will turn out to be nothing more than an empty hope? It is our job, given to us by Jesus, to share in relevant ways the availability of the new creation. It is only in God's new world, available in the life of Christ that people can find true healing of their souls. What are you doing to spread that message with those that need it most?
Friday, November 21, 2008
John 4:43-54
Jesus Heals the Official's Son
43 After the two days he left for Galilee. 44 (Now Jesus himself had pointed out that prophets have no honor in their own country.) 45 When he arrived in Galilee, the Galileans welcomed him. They had seen all that he had done in Jerusalem at the Passover Festival, for they also had been there.
46 Once more he visited Cana in Galilee, where he had turned the water into wine. And there was a certain royal official whose son lay sick at Capernaum. 47 When this man heard that Jesus had arrived in Galilee from Judea, he went to him and begged him to come and heal his son, who was close to death.
48 "Unless you people see signs and wonders," Jesus told him, "you will never believe."
49 The royal official said, "Sir, come down before my child dies."
50 "Go," Jesus replied, "your son will live."
The man took Jesus at his word and departed. 51 While he was still on the way, his servants met him with the news that his boy was living. 52 When he inquired as to the time when his son got better, they said to him, "Yesterday, at one in the afternoon, the fever left him."
53 Then the father realized that this was the exact time at which Jesus had said to him, "Your son will live." So he and his whole household believed.
54 This was the second sign Jesus performed after coming from Judea to Galilee.
Dig Deeper
When I was teaching high school history a few years back, I used to love to take the kids to the public museum in Milwaukee. There was much to see and it was a pretty good history museum. I really wanted the kids to see some of the incredible displays that they had there. In order to facilitate that, I would often give them a scavenger hunt list of things to look for and questions to answer as they went through the museum. The point was for the list to lead them through the museum so that they would hit important parts of it and take the time to read, learn, and appreciate the history in that part of the museum. One year, though, the kids got it in their head that the scavenger hunt was more of a race and that there was going to be a prize at the end for the group that got the most information. They began racing through the clues and running from one area to the next without stopping and appreciating the history that they were witnessing. They were paying more attention to the clues and had lost interest in what they were intended to point to.
As we open this scene in Galilee, we realize that something is quite different from the previous scene in Samaria. The people here are not soaking up Jesus and learning to believe in him, rather they seem to be more like those students racing around in the museum. They are far more interested in the signs themselves than in where they are leading. They are not, it seems, truly interested the truth or in any sort of new creation, they simply want to see a good show. It's like people today who would rather go to a church that puts on an entertaining show with music, charisma, and maybe even some exciting "miracles," rather than one with solid, biblical teaching that will actually lead them to the truth. Looking for entertainment or excitement over the truth can be dangerous, but when someone comes along who is truly looking for the truth, they are far more concerned with the truth than with the show.
Jesus heads back into Galilee and John gives us the important side note that Jesus himself had pointed out that prophets have no honor in their own country. There seems to be a bit of difficulty, though, between verses 44 and 45. Which is it? Is a prophet without honor in his own country or did they welcome him? Why would he be without honor when many of them were in Jerusalem during the Passover and had seen all that he had done there? What could John possibly mean?
Not only had they seen some of the incredible things that he had done in Jerusalem, surely by now word had leaked out about his having turned the water into wine at the wedding in Cana in Galilee. It's hard to imagine that some of the servants wouldn't have spread around the incredible sign that they saw. It's true that some people may have been a bit skeptical about the rumors of that event, but surely the events in Jerusalem would have confirmed that something like that could have at least been plausible. With all of the eyewitnesses and rumors swirling about, how could it be that Jesus was without honor?
Verse 48 gives us the vital clue that we need to understand what John is talking about. The Word has become flesh, but these people seem far more interested in the flesh part than the Word itself. They're not looking for the truth, they want the show. They were willing to treat Jesus like a celebrity that could do some incredible things but apparently had no interest in honoring him or the message that he was brining from heaven itself. Jacob's ladder in the flesh was pointing to the fact that heaven was breaking into the earthly realm, but all they were interested in was the entertainment, not the message. Jesus says straight out that unless they see signs and wonders, they will never believe. Jesus' point wasn't that they needed to see a couple of signs and then they would become solid believers, they had already seen signs. His point was that their level of belief would always (unless they seriously repented, but there is no evidence that they had much interest in that) tie their belief to more and more signs. It was all about them, not the truth. They needed to be constantly fed and entertained and pleased. Sadly, we still see people like this filling out churches in our world today. These are the people that are not very interested in the long, hard work of studying the Bible, serving others, and living by faith. No, they will only be around as long as things are fun, interesting, and pleasing to their concept of what church should be.
In contrast to the type of heart that responds to the signs for the show and the spectacle that appeals to their own flesh, a royal official, probably a Gentile, though not definitively stated, demonstrates the sort of attitude and response that is necessary. If he is a Gentile, as would seem likely, then John has followed the progression at the opening of Jesus' ministry of him ministering to Jew (Nicodemus), Samaritan (the woman at the well), and now Gentile. This is the same progression of the Gospel described on a larger scale in the book of Acts. This royal official doesn't need to see any show, he simply believes that Jesus has the power to heal his son before he dies.
Jesus does something quite unusual in that he doesn't go see the boy, he doesn't do anything that might give an opportunity for the crowds to follow him and see another show. He heals the boy who is ill about 14 miles away with the simple words, go, your son will live. This royal official continues to have faith in Jesus' word alone, for once Jesus says that, he took Jesus at his word and departed. He needed nothing more than the word of Jesus to believe that he had received what he came for. He believed on the basis of the word, something that those looking for the genuine truth will always do. Once they encounter the genuine word of God, they don't need anything more. Signs may confirm their faith but they do not establish it. This is the case with this official. He had spent half the day traveling to see Jesus and he simply takes Jesus at his word. He immediately turns around to travel back to Capernaum but could only make it part of the way back before night fall. The next day, as he approaches Capernaum, his servants meet him to tell that his son was healed at the same time that he was talking to Jesus. The sign that Jesus had indeed healed his son miraculously did not induce faith in the official, it was already there. The miracle confirmed the faith that he already had in the Word.
The problem with miracles is that they were designed as signs to point to truth and lead people to the truth, but some people don't want the truth as much as they want to be amazed. Remember that the idea of the logos, the Word, was a common one in the Greco-Roman circles of Jesus' day. John takes that concept and shows that the word of God from the Old Testament is the true logos, and that the Word has become flesh. For the Greeks, the logos was the centering and organizing force that kept the universe together. Those who possessed the logos for themselves would find themselves in harmony with that order but those that did not would find themselves in chaos. John has shown that the Word is indeed the person that keeps the universe in order. People who believed in the Word found themselves harmonizing with his ordering principles as he brought the universe to rights. Throughout the Gospel of John there is a clear distinction between those who believe on the strength of Jesus' words and those who believe because they saw something impressive.
As you continue to read the Gospel of John, don't be amazed by the signs and miracles that Jesus will perform nearly as much as you are amazed at what they point to. The signs in and of themselves are only important because they confirm what Jesus said. The new creation had arrived as Jesus went about doi
Devotional Thought
Do you respond at the hearing of the word of God alone, or do you need more to keep you coming back? Spend some time really thinking about whether you are genuinely interested in hearing and following the truth or whether you are just looking for a beneficial experience? Determine that you will be one of those that will respond to the Word and his word alone.
43 After the two days he left for Galilee. 44 (Now Jesus himself had pointed out that prophets have no honor in their own country.) 45 When he arrived in Galilee, the Galileans welcomed him. They had seen all that he had done in Jerusalem at the Passover Festival, for they also had been there.
46 Once more he visited Cana in Galilee, where he had turned the water into wine. And there was a certain royal official whose son lay sick at Capernaum. 47 When this man heard that Jesus had arrived in Galilee from Judea, he went to him and begged him to come and heal his son, who was close to death.
48 "Unless you people see signs and wonders," Jesus told him, "you will never believe."
49 The royal official said, "Sir, come down before my child dies."
50 "Go," Jesus replied, "your son will live."
The man took Jesus at his word and departed. 51 While he was still on the way, his servants met him with the news that his boy was living. 52 When he inquired as to the time when his son got better, they said to him, "Yesterday, at one in the afternoon, the fever left him."
53 Then the father realized that this was the exact time at which Jesus had said to him, "Your son will live." So he and his whole household believed.
54 This was the second sign Jesus performed after coming from Judea to Galilee.
Dig Deeper
When I was teaching high school history a few years back, I used to love to take the kids to the public museum in Milwaukee. There was much to see and it was a pretty good history museum. I really wanted the kids to see some of the incredible displays that they had there. In order to facilitate that, I would often give them a scavenger hunt list of things to look for and questions to answer as they went through the museum. The point was for the list to lead them through the museum so that they would hit important parts of it and take the time to read, learn, and appreciate the history in that part of the museum. One year, though, the kids got it in their head that the scavenger hunt was more of a race and that there was going to be a prize at the end for the group that got the most information. They began racing through the clues and running from one area to the next without stopping and appreciating the history that they were witnessing. They were paying more attention to the clues and had lost interest in what they were intended to point to.
As we open this scene in Galilee, we realize that something is quite different from the previous scene in Samaria. The people here are not soaking up Jesus and learning to believe in him, rather they seem to be more like those students racing around in the museum. They are far more interested in the signs themselves than in where they are leading. They are not, it seems, truly interested the truth or in any sort of new creation, they simply want to see a good show. It's like people today who would rather go to a church that puts on an entertaining show with music, charisma, and maybe even some exciting "miracles," rather than one with solid, biblical teaching that will actually lead them to the truth. Looking for entertainment or excitement over the truth can be dangerous, but when someone comes along who is truly looking for the truth, they are far more concerned with the truth than with the show.
Jesus heads back into Galilee and John gives us the important side note that Jesus himself had pointed out that prophets have no honor in their own country. There seems to be a bit of difficulty, though, between verses 44 and 45. Which is it? Is a prophet without honor in his own country or did they welcome him? Why would he be without honor when many of them were in Jerusalem during the Passover and had seen all that he had done there? What could John possibly mean?
Not only had they seen some of the incredible things that he had done in Jerusalem, surely by now word had leaked out about his having turned the water into wine at the wedding in Cana in Galilee. It's hard to imagine that some of the servants wouldn't have spread around the incredible sign that they saw. It's true that some people may have been a bit skeptical about the rumors of that event, but surely the events in Jerusalem would have confirmed that something like that could have at least been plausible. With all of the eyewitnesses and rumors swirling about, how could it be that Jesus was without honor?
Verse 48 gives us the vital clue that we need to understand what John is talking about. The Word has become flesh, but these people seem far more interested in the flesh part than the Word itself. They're not looking for the truth, they want the show. They were willing to treat Jesus like a celebrity that could do some incredible things but apparently had no interest in honoring him or the message that he was brining from heaven itself. Jacob's ladder in the flesh was pointing to the fact that heaven was breaking into the earthly realm, but all they were interested in was the entertainment, not the message. Jesus says straight out that unless they see signs and wonders, they will never believe. Jesus' point wasn't that they needed to see a couple of signs and then they would become solid believers, they had already seen signs. His point was that their level of belief would always (unless they seriously repented, but there is no evidence that they had much interest in that) tie their belief to more and more signs. It was all about them, not the truth. They needed to be constantly fed and entertained and pleased. Sadly, we still see people like this filling out churches in our world today. These are the people that are not very interested in the long, hard work of studying the Bible, serving others, and living by faith. No, they will only be around as long as things are fun, interesting, and pleasing to their concept of what church should be.
In contrast to the type of heart that responds to the signs for the show and the spectacle that appeals to their own flesh, a royal official, probably a Gentile, though not definitively stated, demonstrates the sort of attitude and response that is necessary. If he is a Gentile, as would seem likely, then John has followed the progression at the opening of Jesus' ministry of him ministering to Jew (Nicodemus), Samaritan (the woman at the well), and now Gentile. This is the same progression of the Gospel described on a larger scale in the book of Acts. This royal official doesn't need to see any show, he simply believes that Jesus has the power to heal his son before he dies.
Jesus does something quite unusual in that he doesn't go see the boy, he doesn't do anything that might give an opportunity for the crowds to follow him and see another show. He heals the boy who is ill about 14 miles away with the simple words, go, your son will live. This royal official continues to have faith in Jesus' word alone, for once Jesus says that, he took Jesus at his word and departed. He needed nothing more than the word of Jesus to believe that he had received what he came for. He believed on the basis of the word, something that those looking for the genuine truth will always do. Once they encounter the genuine word of God, they don't need anything more. Signs may confirm their faith but they do not establish it. This is the case with this official. He had spent half the day traveling to see Jesus and he simply takes Jesus at his word. He immediately turns around to travel back to Capernaum but could only make it part of the way back before night fall. The next day, as he approaches Capernaum, his servants meet him to tell that his son was healed at the same time that he was talking to Jesus. The sign that Jesus had indeed healed his son miraculously did not induce faith in the official, it was already there. The miracle confirmed the faith that he already had in the Word.
The problem with miracles is that they were designed as signs to point to truth and lead people to the truth, but some people don't want the truth as much as they want to be amazed. Remember that the idea of the logos, the Word, was a common one in the Greco-Roman circles of Jesus' day. John takes that concept and shows that the word of God from the Old Testament is the true logos, and that the Word has become flesh. For the Greeks, the logos was the centering and organizing force that kept the universe together. Those who possessed the logos for themselves would find themselves in harmony with that order but those that did not would find themselves in chaos. John has shown that the Word is indeed the person that keeps the universe in order. People who believed in the Word found themselves harmonizing with his ordering principles as he brought the universe to rights. Throughout the Gospel of John there is a clear distinction between those who believe on the strength of Jesus' words and those who believe because they saw something impressive.
As you continue to read the Gospel of John, don't be amazed by the signs and miracles that Jesus will perform nearly as much as you are amazed at what they point to. The signs in and of themselves are only important because they confirm what Jesus said. The new creation had arrived as Jesus went about doi
Devotional Thought
Do you respond at the hearing of the word of God alone, or do you need more to keep you coming back? Spend some time really thinking about whether you are genuinely interested in hearing and following the truth or whether you are just looking for a beneficial experience? Determine that you will be one of those that will respond to the Word and his word alone.
Thursday, November 20, 2008
John 4:27-42
The Disciples Rejoin Jesus
27 Just then his disciples returned and were surprised to find him talking with a woman. But no one asked, "What do you want?" or "Why are you talking with her?"
28 Then, leaving her water jar, the woman went back to the town and said to the people, 29 "Come, see a man who told me everything I ever did. Could this be the Messiah?" 30 They came out of the town and made their way toward him.
31 Meanwhile his disciples urged him, "Rabbi, eat something."
32 But he said to them, "I have food to eat that you know nothing about."
33 Then his disciples said to each other, "Could someone have brought him food?"
34 "My food," said Jesus, "is to do the will of him who sent me and to finish his work. 35 Don't you have a saying, 'It's still four months until harvest'? I tell you, open your eyes and look at the fields! They are ripe for harvest. 36 Even now those who reap draw their wages, even now they harvest the crop for eternal life, so that the sower and the reaper may be glad together. 37 Thus the saying 'One sows and another reaps' is true. 38 I sent you to reap what you have not worked for. Others have done the hard work, and you have reaped the benefits of their labor."
Many Samaritans Believe
39 Many of the Samaritans from that town believed in him because of the woman's testimony, "He told me everything I ever did." 40 So when the Samaritans came to him, they urged him to stay with them, and he stayed two days. 41 And because of his words many more became believers.
42 They said to the woman, "We no longer believe just because of what you said; now we have heard for ourselves, and we know that this man really is the Savior of the world."
Dig Deeper
For the longest time I used to laugh at people who bought merchandise because they had seen an infomercial late night on television. Most of those infomercials were so funny and cheesy that I couldn't imagine why anyone would buy anything from them. Then, one night I couldn't sleep and there was nothing else on TV so I started watching one. I still thought it was cheesy, but it was strangely fascinating to watch too. From that point on, for a while, I watched all of the infomercials whenever I couldn't sleep. One night, though, I found one that wasn't cheesy. It seemed like a good product, and then it happened. I did the unthinkable. I ordered this powdered cleaning product that seemed like it was wonderful. When it arrived in the mail, I was perhaps surprised to discover that it was that good. It really worked as well as they claimed it would. After that, I took great joy in not only telling people about the produce, but whenever someone came over to our house, I would pour some Kool-Aid on our carpet so that they could see this product take the stain out easily. When you've really found something that works, telling people about it is one thing, and it might gain their interest for a moment, but they really need to see it and experience it for themselves in order to believe in it.
Oftentimes, when people are first confronted with the truth of Jesus, as the Samaritan woman was, they are confrontational or want to resist it, just as she did. Yet, for many people there is a point when they suddenly break into the realm of belief and they understand, at lest to some level, that which they previously could not or would not. Once people have truly broken through their unbelief and moved into belief, a drastic change takes place. Suddenly, rather than not wanting to talk about spiritual things, they actually want to tell everyone about them. That witness is a wonderful and irreplaceable thing, yet they must still have their own encounter with Jesus in order to truly come into a belief of their own. This was as true for the other Samaritans in the village as it is for us today.
One thing we learn from the Gospels is that Jesus was never a careless person. He never haphazardly did things without thinking them through carefully. About a year ago, I read an article from a pastor on the West coast that claimed that Jesus was reckless and so should his followers be. He, quite frankly, couldn't have been more wrong. So when Jesus did things that went so strongly against social convention, we can only assume that he was doing them on purpose. His disciples, though, seem no less shocked to find Jesus having a conversation with a woman in public, a Samaritan woman at that. Yet, whether it was out of fear, respect, or the fact that they knew Jesus had a penchant for challenging certain customs that they just didn't always understand, they didn't question him on the unseemly conversation. We get the feeling that they sure wanted to though.
Just as we are beginning to wonder about why the disciples may not have questioned Jesus, though, John turns our attention to the turning point of this whole account. He left us hanging a bit with the interlude of verse 27, following Jesus' revelation that he was the Messiah. Perhaps it was to give us a moment to catch our breath and take in that truth, so that we can identify with this woman, who must have been taken aback. She came to get water and, in the process, avoid people if she could, yet now this encounter with Jesus has caused her to leave her water jar, and to run back to town to tell the people about Jesus. She's still in doubt a bit as she asks, could this be the Messiah? But it seems that, even in her sate of not being totally sure, the faith that has taken root has overcome her doubt. Her reaction demonstrates an absolute truth about a true encounter with Jesus Christ. When we really have an encounter with him and come to a realization of who he is, it turns our doubt to faith and it changes our priorities. This woman came for water, but all she could think about was telling others about Jesus. For those of us who have been Christians for awhile, we need to remember that truth just as much as a new Christian. Sometimes there are things that we get focused on apart from Jesus and we just need to have an encounter with him, leave our water jar and go tell people about him and what he has done for us.
Just as Nicodemus and the woman at the well, were focused on earthly things and couldn't immediately grasp the deeper, heavenly things that Jesus was talking of, so it goes with his disciples as they return. They want him to eat as it was customary for disciples to attend to the physical needs of their teacher. Jesus, though, as he so often does, takes the opportunity to teach them something about his relationship with God. People need food to provide sustenance, but Jesus' food, the thing that gave him sustenance and kept him going was doing the will of God who sent him and to finish his work. The primary spiritual battle can be boiled down to a pull between doing our own will and doing God's will. Adam and Eve brought sin into the world by doing their own will and rejecting God's. In fact, humans were made in the image of God (Gen. 1:26-27) to do God's will but have all sinned and failed to be fully human by failing to do God's will. Sin is the exaltation of our own will and the failure to do God's. Jesus came to be the perfect human being, though. He came to be the one that would do the will of the Father. This is why he often declared that he came to do the work that the Father had for him to do (cf. 5:30; 6:38; 7:18; 8:50; 0:4; 10:37-38; 12:49, 50; 14:31; 15:10; 17:4).
What is the specific aspect of God's will to which Jesus is referring? The fact that he came to seek and save the lost (Luke 19:10), sacrificing for the benefit of others rather than meeting his own needs. Jesus is not implying that it's somehow wrong to eat, but that doing God's will should take primary importance in someone's life. To make his point, Jesus appeals to what was probably a local saying. It's still four months until the harvest, which probably was a local idiom that got across the point that you can't rush things. Growth is slow sometimes and it cannot be forced. Yet, this was not going to be true for them. There was no time to worry about themselves because all they had to do was open their eyes and look at the fields that were ripe for harvest. Perhaps, when Jesus said that, he looked up and saw the harvest, the Samaritans that had heard from the woman at the well, coming towards them. It's hard to tell exactly what Jesus had in mind as he referred to the sower and the reaper, but his point is probably that all of the prophets, including John the Immerser, have done the hard work of sowing, and now he and his disciples were going to reap the harvest. It wouldn't be a matter of earthly priorities where the sower might get angry that someone else is reaping because this crop is the life of the age to come. They sowed knowing that others would reap and that time has now come. The Messiah is here and they get to share in that work. He has sent his disciples to reap what they have not worked for. Others did the hard work and they will reap the benefits of their labor.
The Samaritan women that just a few minutes earlier, was likely ostracized and wanted as little as possible to do with the people in her own town, now has run towards them with the most exciting news that she has ever encountered in her entire life. She may have met the Messiah. In her excitement, she seems to have overstated things a bit by saying that Jesus told her everything she ever did. We shouldn't view this as being deceptive at all though. It's simply a case of excited hyperbole which gets her point across well. This man knows things that average human beings do not. At the behest of her testimony they are intrigued and want to here more so they run and keep asking Jesus to stay with them until he agrees. He spends not one day but two days. Once you think you may have finally found the light you don't want to let go. They need to spend time with him for themselves, after all. Hearing the testimony of someone else can be important and lead us towards Christ, but faith is not faith if it continues to rely on the testimony or beliefs of someone else. We must experience Christ for ourselves if it is to become our own faith and our own testimony.
While Nicodemus, a teacher of Israel, continued to blindly feel around in the dark, looking for the truth that he just couldn't seem to find, the hated Samaritans have had the truth revealed to them and they have embraced it. This man that spent two days with them, really is the Savior of the world.
Devotional Thought
When is the last time that you had a personal encounter with Jesus during your prayer, your worship, or your Bible reading time that you "left your water jar at the well"? When is the last time you went running off and didn't care about your old worries anymore, but wanted to tell whoever would listen about Jesus? Perhaps it's worth pondering the direct correlation of the first situation to the second one.
27 Just then his disciples returned and were surprised to find him talking with a woman. But no one asked, "What do you want?" or "Why are you talking with her?"
28 Then, leaving her water jar, the woman went back to the town and said to the people, 29 "Come, see a man who told me everything I ever did. Could this be the Messiah?" 30 They came out of the town and made their way toward him.
31 Meanwhile his disciples urged him, "Rabbi, eat something."
32 But he said to them, "I have food to eat that you know nothing about."
33 Then his disciples said to each other, "Could someone have brought him food?"
34 "My food," said Jesus, "is to do the will of him who sent me and to finish his work. 35 Don't you have a saying, 'It's still four months until harvest'? I tell you, open your eyes and look at the fields! They are ripe for harvest. 36 Even now those who reap draw their wages, even now they harvest the crop for eternal life, so that the sower and the reaper may be glad together. 37 Thus the saying 'One sows and another reaps' is true. 38 I sent you to reap what you have not worked for. Others have done the hard work, and you have reaped the benefits of their labor."
Many Samaritans Believe
39 Many of the Samaritans from that town believed in him because of the woman's testimony, "He told me everything I ever did." 40 So when the Samaritans came to him, they urged him to stay with them, and he stayed two days. 41 And because of his words many more became believers.
42 They said to the woman, "We no longer believe just because of what you said; now we have heard for ourselves, and we know that this man really is the Savior of the world."
Dig Deeper
For the longest time I used to laugh at people who bought merchandise because they had seen an infomercial late night on television. Most of those infomercials were so funny and cheesy that I couldn't imagine why anyone would buy anything from them. Then, one night I couldn't sleep and there was nothing else on TV so I started watching one. I still thought it was cheesy, but it was strangely fascinating to watch too. From that point on, for a while, I watched all of the infomercials whenever I couldn't sleep. One night, though, I found one that wasn't cheesy. It seemed like a good product, and then it happened. I did the unthinkable. I ordered this powdered cleaning product that seemed like it was wonderful. When it arrived in the mail, I was perhaps surprised to discover that it was that good. It really worked as well as they claimed it would. After that, I took great joy in not only telling people about the produce, but whenever someone came over to our house, I would pour some Kool-Aid on our carpet so that they could see this product take the stain out easily. When you've really found something that works, telling people about it is one thing, and it might gain their interest for a moment, but they really need to see it and experience it for themselves in order to believe in it.
Oftentimes, when people are first confronted with the truth of Jesus, as the Samaritan woman was, they are confrontational or want to resist it, just as she did. Yet, for many people there is a point when they suddenly break into the realm of belief and they understand, at lest to some level, that which they previously could not or would not. Once people have truly broken through their unbelief and moved into belief, a drastic change takes place. Suddenly, rather than not wanting to talk about spiritual things, they actually want to tell everyone about them. That witness is a wonderful and irreplaceable thing, yet they must still have their own encounter with Jesus in order to truly come into a belief of their own. This was as true for the other Samaritans in the village as it is for us today.
One thing we learn from the Gospels is that Jesus was never a careless person. He never haphazardly did things without thinking them through carefully. About a year ago, I read an article from a pastor on the West coast that claimed that Jesus was reckless and so should his followers be. He, quite frankly, couldn't have been more wrong. So when Jesus did things that went so strongly against social convention, we can only assume that he was doing them on purpose. His disciples, though, seem no less shocked to find Jesus having a conversation with a woman in public, a Samaritan woman at that. Yet, whether it was out of fear, respect, or the fact that they knew Jesus had a penchant for challenging certain customs that they just didn't always understand, they didn't question him on the unseemly conversation. We get the feeling that they sure wanted to though.
Just as we are beginning to wonder about why the disciples may not have questioned Jesus, though, John turns our attention to the turning point of this whole account. He left us hanging a bit with the interlude of verse 27, following Jesus' revelation that he was the Messiah. Perhaps it was to give us a moment to catch our breath and take in that truth, so that we can identify with this woman, who must have been taken aback. She came to get water and, in the process, avoid people if she could, yet now this encounter with Jesus has caused her to leave her water jar, and to run back to town to tell the people about Jesus. She's still in doubt a bit as she asks, could this be the Messiah? But it seems that, even in her sate of not being totally sure, the faith that has taken root has overcome her doubt. Her reaction demonstrates an absolute truth about a true encounter with Jesus Christ. When we really have an encounter with him and come to a realization of who he is, it turns our doubt to faith and it changes our priorities. This woman came for water, but all she could think about was telling others about Jesus. For those of us who have been Christians for awhile, we need to remember that truth just as much as a new Christian. Sometimes there are things that we get focused on apart from Jesus and we just need to have an encounter with him, leave our water jar and go tell people about him and what he has done for us.
Just as Nicodemus and the woman at the well, were focused on earthly things and couldn't immediately grasp the deeper, heavenly things that Jesus was talking of, so it goes with his disciples as they return. They want him to eat as it was customary for disciples to attend to the physical needs of their teacher. Jesus, though, as he so often does, takes the opportunity to teach them something about his relationship with God. People need food to provide sustenance, but Jesus' food, the thing that gave him sustenance and kept him going was doing the will of God who sent him and to finish his work. The primary spiritual battle can be boiled down to a pull between doing our own will and doing God's will. Adam and Eve brought sin into the world by doing their own will and rejecting God's. In fact, humans were made in the image of God (Gen. 1:26-27) to do God's will but have all sinned and failed to be fully human by failing to do God's will. Sin is the exaltation of our own will and the failure to do God's. Jesus came to be the perfect human being, though. He came to be the one that would do the will of the Father. This is why he often declared that he came to do the work that the Father had for him to do (cf. 5:30; 6:38; 7:18; 8:50; 0:4; 10:37-38; 12:49, 50; 14:31; 15:10; 17:4).
What is the specific aspect of God's will to which Jesus is referring? The fact that he came to seek and save the lost (Luke 19:10), sacrificing for the benefit of others rather than meeting his own needs. Jesus is not implying that it's somehow wrong to eat, but that doing God's will should take primary importance in someone's life. To make his point, Jesus appeals to what was probably a local saying. It's still four months until the harvest, which probably was a local idiom that got across the point that you can't rush things. Growth is slow sometimes and it cannot be forced. Yet, this was not going to be true for them. There was no time to worry about themselves because all they had to do was open their eyes and look at the fields that were ripe for harvest. Perhaps, when Jesus said that, he looked up and saw the harvest, the Samaritans that had heard from the woman at the well, coming towards them. It's hard to tell exactly what Jesus had in mind as he referred to the sower and the reaper, but his point is probably that all of the prophets, including John the Immerser, have done the hard work of sowing, and now he and his disciples were going to reap the harvest. It wouldn't be a matter of earthly priorities where the sower might get angry that someone else is reaping because this crop is the life of the age to come. They sowed knowing that others would reap and that time has now come. The Messiah is here and they get to share in that work. He has sent his disciples to reap what they have not worked for. Others did the hard work and they will reap the benefits of their labor.
The Samaritan women that just a few minutes earlier, was likely ostracized and wanted as little as possible to do with the people in her own town, now has run towards them with the most exciting news that she has ever encountered in her entire life. She may have met the Messiah. In her excitement, she seems to have overstated things a bit by saying that Jesus told her everything she ever did. We shouldn't view this as being deceptive at all though. It's simply a case of excited hyperbole which gets her point across well. This man knows things that average human beings do not. At the behest of her testimony they are intrigued and want to here more so they run and keep asking Jesus to stay with them until he agrees. He spends not one day but two days. Once you think you may have finally found the light you don't want to let go. They need to spend time with him for themselves, after all. Hearing the testimony of someone else can be important and lead us towards Christ, but faith is not faith if it continues to rely on the testimony or beliefs of someone else. We must experience Christ for ourselves if it is to become our own faith and our own testimony.
While Nicodemus, a teacher of Israel, continued to blindly feel around in the dark, looking for the truth that he just couldn't seem to find, the hated Samaritans have had the truth revealed to them and they have embraced it. This man that spent two days with them, really is the Savior of the world.
Devotional Thought
When is the last time that you had a personal encounter with Jesus during your prayer, your worship, or your Bible reading time that you "left your water jar at the well"? When is the last time you went running off and didn't care about your old worries anymore, but wanted to tell whoever would listen about Jesus? Perhaps it's worth pondering the direct correlation of the first situation to the second one.
Wednesday, November 19, 2008
John 4:16-26
16 He told her, "Go, call your husband and come back."
17 "I have no husband," she replied.
Jesus said to her, "You are right when you say you have no husband. 18 The fact is, you have had five husbands, and the man you now have is not your husband. What you have just said is quite true."
19 "Sir," the woman said, "I can see that you are a prophet. 20 Our ancestors worshiped on this mountain, but you Jews claim that the place where we must worship is in Jerusalem."
21 "Woman," Jesus replied, "believe me, a time is coming when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem. 22 You Samaritans worship what you do not know; we worship what we do know, for salvation is from the Jews. 23 Yet a time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in the Spirit and in truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks. 24 God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in the Spirit and in truth."
25 The woman said, "I know that Messiah" (called Christ) "is coming. When he comes, he will explain everything to us."
26 Then Jesus declared, "I, the one speaking to you—I am he."
Dig Deeper
Many years back I spent a couple of summers directing a teen camp for a local branch of the YMCA. On one particularly hot day we took all of the campers to a nature preserve to go on a hike. The hike was going to be several hours long and through some fairly difficult terrain, at least it was difficult for this area. Normally I came quite prepared for whatever we were going to do that day, but this was a Monday after a particularly busy weekend. I had my lunch prepared as normal but I hadn't thought about my water bottle. I hurried off to the YMCA and got in the van with the kids, ready to take off. Once we got there and got ready to leave, I realized that the only water bottle that I had with me was one that had sat open in the hot van all weekend. It wasn't much, but it was all I had so I grabbed it. There was no water where we began the hike, but there was a water pump, according to the map, several miles in. All I could really think about as we progressed on our hike was getting to that water because the water I had was stagnant, warm, and it tasted funny (and drinking out of the kid's bottles wasn't much of an option in my mind either). It really didn't refresh anything, but like I said, it was all I had. Once we finally got to the water pump, I realized that in order to fill my bottle up with the new, clean, cold water, I had to dump out the old water. Once I saw that cold water, though, it really wasn't any sort of a difficult choice at all.
Human beings can be like the stagnant, bad-tasting water in that water bottle. In fact, the water inside of us can become a whole lot worse than the water in that water bottle. That's certainly the case for the Samaritan woman that was confronted by Jesus at the well. Her life had become stagnant and downright repugnant, but here Jesus is offering her living water that will bubble up from inside of her from a source that will never end or run out. The reality that she is about to find out though, is that if you want that fresh, living water you have to get rid of that old water. Every bit of it has to be dumped out before you can be filled up.
John is telling us the story of the new creation that has broken into the world through the life of Jesus Christ, an event that will culminate with his death, burial, and resurrection. During his ministry, however, pieces of that new life, the new world that God was bringing about begin to break through in almost every action that Jesus takes. This account is no different. In 2 Corinthians 5:17, Paul says, "Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here!" That's the funny thing about the new creation, we can only enter into it in as much as the old is let go of. As we see in this scene that's not always the easiest of things to do. Throughout this conversation, in fact, the Samaritan woman will try to deflect what Jesus is saying and shut the conversation on no less than three separate occasions.
Jesus asks her to call her husband, to which she replies, I have no husband. Her answer is terse and uninformative, almost to the point of being misleading. Clearly she doesn't want to talk about her personal situation. That only makes sense with a woman who has come to the well in the middle of the day to intentionally avoid human contact. The new creation is necessarily confrontational with the old though. Jesus responds, like he did with Nathanael, giving her information that he simply should not have known, details that perhaps no one else other than her knew. Jesus' response that she has had five husbands, is open to interpretation. The word aner, can mean either" husband", or simply "man." It seems to actually fit the conversation a bit better, if Jesus is saying that she has lived with five men, and even the man she is now living with is not her husband. Either way she would have been an outcast because Jewish, and quite likely Samaritan traditions at the time, didn't permit more than three marriages for any reason. The point that Jesus was probably making, however, was that she was a serial fornicator. He confronted her with her sin and she knew he was right.
In fact, she quickly tries to shut down that line of conversation and changes the subject quickly. Prophets were thought of, at the time, as people with great insight into the nature of others, so she can see that he is a prophet. But she still changes the subject with an age-old technique. She brings up a religious argument in order to divert the conversation away from the uncomfortable. The Jews accepted the entire cannon of what we call the Old Testament and worshiped in the Temple built in Jerusalem. The Samaritans only accepted the first five books of the Old Testament (the Torah) and worshiped in a Temple that they had built on Mt. Gerizim. They had been fighting over those issues for hundreds of years. Perhaps if she can bring up a topic like that, she'll distract the prophet from directing the conversation at her. Jesus, though, doesn't take the bait. Oh, he takes up the subject of worship but not in the way that she expected. He continues to confront her with the new creation as he says that, in short, the Samaritans don't understand what they are worshiping, they don't have the full story. Salvation, the new creation, is coming through the Jews, but the clock is ticking on even the Jewish way of worship, for a time is coming and has now come when people will be able to worship God beyond the limitations of a certain place or Temple. God is spirit, Jesus says, which means that in the new creation, worship is spiritual but also emanates from knowing the complete truth. It is not connected with a certain location or bits of knowledge about God.
In the ancient pagan world, it was believed that a god could only be worshiped in the land in which he was revered. It was thought that his power was limited to that region, with other gods having the power in other regions. 2 Kings 5 tells of a story that happened in this same region of Samaria about 800 years earlier. The mighty warrior Naaman had leprosy and went to see the Jewish prophet Elisha, as nothing else had helped him. When Elisha finally did help, he had an incredible breakthrough, realizing that there was no God in all the world except in Israel. Yet, he still didn't get it all, as he asked Elisha for the earth that two donkeys could carry so that he could worship God properly when he returned to his homeland. Naaman thought that worship was strictly connected to the land on which one stood. So here in the same region, eight hundred years later, we have another instance of someone struggling with and coming to terms with the location of worshiping the one, true God.
In a sense, the Samaritan woman was locked in that old way of thinking. Jesus, however, doesn't spend too much time discussing what of that is true or not true, beyond intimating that the Samaritans certainly don't have all the information they need. His basic point is that something new is here, the new creation, which brings it all back around to her. If she wants part of this new living water, she is going to have to get rid of the old.
The beleaguered Samaritan woman is feisty, though, and will give one more shot at turning the conversation away from an uncomfortable direction. Maybe there are all of these confusing issues regarding worship, location, God's people, and on and on and on. But, she says, it doesn't really matter. She didn't have to worry about those things or try to figure them out because when the Messiah comes, he will explain everything to us. The Samaritans did believe in a Messiah, based on their reading of the Torah, but their vision of the Messiah was more of a teaching figure than the political savior that the Jews envisioned. We've all probably heard conversation enders like the ones that the Samaritan woman has used. First, she tried to give vague answers, then she tried to engage in a religious argument and take Jesus off track. When that didn't work she uses the old tried and true, "well, I guess you have your thoughts and I have mind and we'll never really know who's right until some point down the road when I'm far away from you." In saying that the Messiah will explain everything when he comes, she has basically stated the conversation is over because they were speaking of unknowable things.
She thought the conversation was over. And in fact it would have been, except for one small detail. That mysterious Messiah that she believes will come one day, is standing right in front of her. He says, the one speaking to you—I am he. Despite what some modern commentators claim, Jesus knew that he was the Messiah, but it was risky to proclaim that in the presence of the Jews with all of their political and kingly expectations. The role had to be redefined before they could grasp it properly. In the presence of this woman, though, there was no such danger. In fact, Jesus not only proclaims his Messiaship, but also seems to be claiming more than that as he literally says, "I that speak to you, I am," using the term (I am) that was connected with God's personal name (YHWH) in the Old Testament. The new creation has come, and for yet another person, it is far more than she had bargained for.
Devotional Thought
She didn't know it, but this Samaritan woman was being confronted about her life by God, the very being she desired to worship. Yet, she was quite hesitant to actually have the conversation turn to the truth of her own life. She wanted the worship without too much of the truth. We can do the same thing. When confronts things in your life, whether it's through prayer or through the discerning eye of another Christian, do you try to turn the topic of conversation or focus or do you humbly listen and learn? How can you be like the woman in this passage? What could you gain by truly confronting the areas in your character that need more light shed on them?
17 "I have no husband," she replied.
Jesus said to her, "You are right when you say you have no husband. 18 The fact is, you have had five husbands, and the man you now have is not your husband. What you have just said is quite true."
19 "Sir," the woman said, "I can see that you are a prophet. 20 Our ancestors worshiped on this mountain, but you Jews claim that the place where we must worship is in Jerusalem."
21 "Woman," Jesus replied, "believe me, a time is coming when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem. 22 You Samaritans worship what you do not know; we worship what we do know, for salvation is from the Jews. 23 Yet a time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in the Spirit and in truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks. 24 God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in the Spirit and in truth."
25 The woman said, "I know that Messiah" (called Christ) "is coming. When he comes, he will explain everything to us."
26 Then Jesus declared, "I, the one speaking to you—I am he."
Dig Deeper
Many years back I spent a couple of summers directing a teen camp for a local branch of the YMCA. On one particularly hot day we took all of the campers to a nature preserve to go on a hike. The hike was going to be several hours long and through some fairly difficult terrain, at least it was difficult for this area. Normally I came quite prepared for whatever we were going to do that day, but this was a Monday after a particularly busy weekend. I had my lunch prepared as normal but I hadn't thought about my water bottle. I hurried off to the YMCA and got in the van with the kids, ready to take off. Once we got there and got ready to leave, I realized that the only water bottle that I had with me was one that had sat open in the hot van all weekend. It wasn't much, but it was all I had so I grabbed it. There was no water where we began the hike, but there was a water pump, according to the map, several miles in. All I could really think about as we progressed on our hike was getting to that water because the water I had was stagnant, warm, and it tasted funny (and drinking out of the kid's bottles wasn't much of an option in my mind either). It really didn't refresh anything, but like I said, it was all I had. Once we finally got to the water pump, I realized that in order to fill my bottle up with the new, clean, cold water, I had to dump out the old water. Once I saw that cold water, though, it really wasn't any sort of a difficult choice at all.
Human beings can be like the stagnant, bad-tasting water in that water bottle. In fact, the water inside of us can become a whole lot worse than the water in that water bottle. That's certainly the case for the Samaritan woman that was confronted by Jesus at the well. Her life had become stagnant and downright repugnant, but here Jesus is offering her living water that will bubble up from inside of her from a source that will never end or run out. The reality that she is about to find out though, is that if you want that fresh, living water you have to get rid of that old water. Every bit of it has to be dumped out before you can be filled up.
John is telling us the story of the new creation that has broken into the world through the life of Jesus Christ, an event that will culminate with his death, burial, and resurrection. During his ministry, however, pieces of that new life, the new world that God was bringing about begin to break through in almost every action that Jesus takes. This account is no different. In 2 Corinthians 5:17, Paul says, "Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here!" That's the funny thing about the new creation, we can only enter into it in as much as the old is let go of. As we see in this scene that's not always the easiest of things to do. Throughout this conversation, in fact, the Samaritan woman will try to deflect what Jesus is saying and shut the conversation on no less than three separate occasions.
Jesus asks her to call her husband, to which she replies, I have no husband. Her answer is terse and uninformative, almost to the point of being misleading. Clearly she doesn't want to talk about her personal situation. That only makes sense with a woman who has come to the well in the middle of the day to intentionally avoid human contact. The new creation is necessarily confrontational with the old though. Jesus responds, like he did with Nathanael, giving her information that he simply should not have known, details that perhaps no one else other than her knew. Jesus' response that she has had five husbands, is open to interpretation. The word aner, can mean either" husband", or simply "man." It seems to actually fit the conversation a bit better, if Jesus is saying that she has lived with five men, and even the man she is now living with is not her husband. Either way she would have been an outcast because Jewish, and quite likely Samaritan traditions at the time, didn't permit more than three marriages for any reason. The point that Jesus was probably making, however, was that she was a serial fornicator. He confronted her with her sin and she knew he was right.
In fact, she quickly tries to shut down that line of conversation and changes the subject quickly. Prophets were thought of, at the time, as people with great insight into the nature of others, so she can see that he is a prophet. But she still changes the subject with an age-old technique. She brings up a religious argument in order to divert the conversation away from the uncomfortable. The Jews accepted the entire cannon of what we call the Old Testament and worshiped in the Temple built in Jerusalem. The Samaritans only accepted the first five books of the Old Testament (the Torah) and worshiped in a Temple that they had built on Mt. Gerizim. They had been fighting over those issues for hundreds of years. Perhaps if she can bring up a topic like that, she'll distract the prophet from directing the conversation at her. Jesus, though, doesn't take the bait. Oh, he takes up the subject of worship but not in the way that she expected. He continues to confront her with the new creation as he says that, in short, the Samaritans don't understand what they are worshiping, they don't have the full story. Salvation, the new creation, is coming through the Jews, but the clock is ticking on even the Jewish way of worship, for a time is coming and has now come when people will be able to worship God beyond the limitations of a certain place or Temple. God is spirit, Jesus says, which means that in the new creation, worship is spiritual but also emanates from knowing the complete truth. It is not connected with a certain location or bits of knowledge about God.
In the ancient pagan world, it was believed that a god could only be worshiped in the land in which he was revered. It was thought that his power was limited to that region, with other gods having the power in other regions. 2 Kings 5 tells of a story that happened in this same region of Samaria about 800 years earlier. The mighty warrior Naaman had leprosy and went to see the Jewish prophet Elisha, as nothing else had helped him. When Elisha finally did help, he had an incredible breakthrough, realizing that there was no God in all the world except in Israel. Yet, he still didn't get it all, as he asked Elisha for the earth that two donkeys could carry so that he could worship God properly when he returned to his homeland. Naaman thought that worship was strictly connected to the land on which one stood. So here in the same region, eight hundred years later, we have another instance of someone struggling with and coming to terms with the location of worshiping the one, true God.
In a sense, the Samaritan woman was locked in that old way of thinking. Jesus, however, doesn't spend too much time discussing what of that is true or not true, beyond intimating that the Samaritans certainly don't have all the information they need. His basic point is that something new is here, the new creation, which brings it all back around to her. If she wants part of this new living water, she is going to have to get rid of the old.
The beleaguered Samaritan woman is feisty, though, and will give one more shot at turning the conversation away from an uncomfortable direction. Maybe there are all of these confusing issues regarding worship, location, God's people, and on and on and on. But, she says, it doesn't really matter. She didn't have to worry about those things or try to figure them out because when the Messiah comes, he will explain everything to us. The Samaritans did believe in a Messiah, based on their reading of the Torah, but their vision of the Messiah was more of a teaching figure than the political savior that the Jews envisioned. We've all probably heard conversation enders like the ones that the Samaritan woman has used. First, she tried to give vague answers, then she tried to engage in a religious argument and take Jesus off track. When that didn't work she uses the old tried and true, "well, I guess you have your thoughts and I have mind and we'll never really know who's right until some point down the road when I'm far away from you." In saying that the Messiah will explain everything when he comes, she has basically stated the conversation is over because they were speaking of unknowable things.
She thought the conversation was over. And in fact it would have been, except for one small detail. That mysterious Messiah that she believes will come one day, is standing right in front of her. He says, the one speaking to you—I am he. Despite what some modern commentators claim, Jesus knew that he was the Messiah, but it was risky to proclaim that in the presence of the Jews with all of their political and kingly expectations. The role had to be redefined before they could grasp it properly. In the presence of this woman, though, there was no such danger. In fact, Jesus not only proclaims his Messiaship, but also seems to be claiming more than that as he literally says, "I that speak to you, I am," using the term (I am) that was connected with God's personal name (YHWH) in the Old Testament. The new creation has come, and for yet another person, it is far more than she had bargained for.
Devotional Thought
She didn't know it, but this Samaritan woman was being confronted about her life by God, the very being she desired to worship. Yet, she was quite hesitant to actually have the conversation turn to the truth of her own life. She wanted the worship without too much of the truth. We can do the same thing. When confronts things in your life, whether it's through prayer or through the discerning eye of another Christian, do you try to turn the topic of conversation or focus or do you humbly listen and learn? How can you be like the woman in this passage? What could you gain by truly confronting the areas in your character that need more light shed on them?
Tuesday, November 18, 2008
John 4:1-15
Jesus Talks With a Samaritan Woman
1 Now Jesus learned that the Pharisees had heard that he was gaining and baptizing more disciples than John— 2 although in fact it was not Jesus who baptized, but his disciples. 3 So he left Judea and went back once more to Galilee.
4 Now he had to go through Samaria. 5 So he came to a town in Samaria called Sychar, near the plot of ground Jacob had given to his son Joseph. 6 Jacob's well was there, and Jesus, tired as he was from the journey, sat down by the well. It was about noon.
7 When a Samaritan woman came to draw water, Jesus said to her, "Will you give me a drink?" 8 (His disciples had gone into the town to buy food.)
9 The Samaritan woman said to him, "You are a Jew and I am a Samaritan woman. How can you ask me for a drink?" (For Jews do not associate with Samaritans.)
10 Jesus answered her, "If you knew the gift of God and who it is that asks you for a drink, you would have asked him and he would have given you living water."
11 "Sir," the woman said, "you have nothing to draw with and the well is deep. Where can you get this living water? 12 Are you greater than our father Jacob, who gave us the well and drank from it himself, as did also his sons and his flocks and herds?"
13 Jesus answered, "Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, 14 but those who drink the water I give them will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give them will become in them a spring of water welling up to eternal life."
15 The woman said to him, "Sir, give me this water so that I won't get thirsty and have to keep coming here to draw water."
Dig Deeper
On a recent trip to South Africa, I had the privilege of speaking to a group from a wonderful church in the city of Port Elizabeth. As I was speaking to this group, I began to talk to them of a biblical passage from 2 Kings 5 in which Naaman asks the prophet Elisha for earth that he can take back to home homeland so that, in his mind, he can properly worship the God of the Jews on His own land. In describing this event, however, I didn't use the term "earth." I used a term that was quite common to Americans for earth, which is "dirt." "Dirt" has always meant "soil" in my mind, and I didn't even give it a second thought. It was only later that I found out that in South Africa, "dirt" means "garbage" or "rubbish." In their culture, I was teaching an amusing lesson about a man healed of leprosy that was requesting that God's prophet give him two donkey loads of garbage to take with him. Lucky thing for me, these people were more intelligent and culturally aware than I was, and either already knew or figured out how Americans use this word. It can lead to great misunderstanding, though, if you are speaking of one thing, and your listeners are hearing something totally different.
John describes this phenomena as a constant problem throughout Jesus' ministry. There is a constant misunderstanding, as we saw in chapter 3 with Nicodemus, as Jesus speaks of heavenly things, things from God's reality, while Nicodemus can only seem to comprehend things from an earthly perspective. In a sense, it is like people speaking two different languages, but in reality it can lead to even more confusion. At least when people speak different languages they know they are different. When people use the same words but mean quite different things by them, it can lead to real confusion because you assume you know what the other person is saying, when the reality is that your missing the point altogether. As John begins his lengthy description of Jesus and the Samaritan woman at the well, it becomes obvious that they are having one of those conversations. Jesus speaks of heavenly things, but she hears an earthly conversation, at least for a while. She is certainly still earthly focused and as in the darkness as anyone else, but perhaps John wants us to see the symbolism in the fact that Nicodemus came in the dark and remained there but this woman will encounter Jesus at high noon, when the light is at its brightest.
Just as surely as we can misunderstand individual words because of culture differences, so we can easily miss the depth or meaning of an entire story because we simply don't understand the culture in which the story takes place. So it is with the account that John gives of Jesus and the woman at this well in Sychar. There are several important cultural things taking place under the surface of this story that are easy to miss. This encounter might not seem that significant to us, but in Jesus' day and culture, it should have never happened for many reasons. First of all, Jews did not care for or generally speak to Samaritans, to the point that they usually would take a longer route on a journey to avoid going into Samaria. Second, Jewish men generally did not speak to women in public, especially women alone, and even more especially to women at wells (because Isaac and Jacob met their wives at wells, they became somewhat of a pick-up spot in Jewish tradition). Third, it would have been highly unusual for this woman to be there at this time of day, about noon. Women avoided the hot times of day and would go to the well in groups in the early morning or evening. That she was there by herself in the middle of the day, indicates that she was not well thought of in her society and was likely trying to avoid people. Thus, in its cultural context, we see that this scene is shocking on many levels. Nonetheless it happened.
As Jesus is traveling through Samaria, he and his disciples stop off to get some food, showing that Jesus and his disciples are a bit more open than most Jews would have been, as most Jews would not even eat food that had been handled by Samaritans. As Jesus sits down at the well for a rest, he sees this forlorn Samaritan women approaching for water. What she does not know is that she is about to have an encounter with the living water that will quench every thirst she has ever had.
For Jesus to even ask for a drink would have been shocking. Not only because she was a Samaritan women by herself and he was a Jewish man, but also because she knew that Jews felt that even the water jugs of Samaritans were unclean, so for him to ask for a drink was highly unusual. Jews, as John points out for his non-Jewish readers, do not associate with Samaritans for any reason. This simple request for water is the beginning of this two-leveled conversation. Jesus speaks of things that this woman does not comprehend. She thinks they are speaking of regular water, but clearly Jesus is talking of something else. She went to the well looking to not have to encounter anyone else, but she will encounter the Son of God. She thinks she is going to Jacob's well, but she will find Jacob's ladder (1:51), the staircase between heaven and earth.
Jesus asked this woman for a drink of water, and perhaps he genuinely was thirsty after a long day of traveling, but he seems to have mostly used the question as a means to open the conversation to the topic that he really wanted to discuss. He used a topic that he knew she would understand in an earthly manner, specifically so he could turn the conversation to spiritual things. For if she knew who she was talking to, she would hardly be worried about social customs, Jews and Samaritans, and why he would talk to her and ask for a drink. In fact, she would ask him for living water.
Living water in the first century referred to spring water or some other type of water that moved as opposed to stagnant water that was more likely to be no good. So when Jesus refers to living water, she is still thinking in earthly terms. Like Nathanael and Nicodemus, she is doing the best she can, but she simply has no idea with whom she is dealing. How can he draw the living water at the bottom of this one-hundred foot well with a bucket of any kind? Is he trying to sell her on some other source for water other than Jacob's well? As John's readers, privy to more information than she had at the time, we know that he is. She simply cannot see anything beyond the old water that comes from Jacob's well, from the old, traditional way of life. Jesus, though, is offering her true water that quenches the real thirst that humans have. He is the water that all water on earth can only point to. She thought that the reality of life was limited to things of this earth, but Jesus is about to open the reality of heaven and quench the real thirst that she has (cf. Ps. 42:2; 63:1; 143:6; Isa. 55:1; Matt. 5:6). Does this man actually think that he has something superior to the things of life that have been passed down since Jacob? In fact, he does. He doesn't merely know the location of a superior source of living water. He is the living water (7:37-38).
There is something else about this water that is rather unique, though. We drink regular water, it nourishes and refreshes us and then it is gone. Before too long we need more. That is true, really with anything that the world has to offer, whether it be food, water, religions, philosophies, or whatever else it may be. It meets a need for a temporary flash and then its gone and we need more and more in order to be satisfied. This living water is different though. It doesn't just meet a temporary need, says Jesus. Once we partake of this water, it becomes part of us. It will itself begin to bubble up inside of us and be a constant source of renewal and refreshment. Drinking this water doesn't just mean getting a taste of the new creation, or a slice of heaven. It means we become the new creation, we have heaven inside of us. Those who take this water will have welling up inside of them the new life that Jesus is bringing to the entire creation.
This woman wanted something. The very fact that she has come to this well in the middle of the day, trying to avoid everyone, demonstrates that she needed something. She knows her life is lacking. She doesn't know what Jesus is talking about fully but if he knows of a place where she can water and not have to be confronted with the shame of her past and the disapproving stares of others then she wants that desperately. Do you need to go to the living well for something? Have you already gone to the well but know many who haven't yet? The life that comes from the living water found in Jesus is, after all, the only thing that can bring life. It is the only thing that quench the thirst inside each one of us. All we have to do is take a drink.
Devotional Thought
One things that can be easily missed in this passage, is the statement in verse 4, that Jesus "had to go through Samaria." We are not told why he had to, but the obvious inference would be that he had to in order to fulfill the will of God and follow the leading of the Spirit. This means that Jesus went out of his way, on many levels, to intentionally talk with this woman. Do you follow the leading of the Spirit and intentionally go out of your way to talk to people about spiritual things? Spend some time praying today that God will lead you to people that He would like you to talk to.
1 Now Jesus learned that the Pharisees had heard that he was gaining and baptizing more disciples than John— 2 although in fact it was not Jesus who baptized, but his disciples. 3 So he left Judea and went back once more to Galilee.
4 Now he had to go through Samaria. 5 So he came to a town in Samaria called Sychar, near the plot of ground Jacob had given to his son Joseph. 6 Jacob's well was there, and Jesus, tired as he was from the journey, sat down by the well. It was about noon.
7 When a Samaritan woman came to draw water, Jesus said to her, "Will you give me a drink?" 8 (His disciples had gone into the town to buy food.)
9 The Samaritan woman said to him, "You are a Jew and I am a Samaritan woman. How can you ask me for a drink?" (For Jews do not associate with Samaritans.)
10 Jesus answered her, "If you knew the gift of God and who it is that asks you for a drink, you would have asked him and he would have given you living water."
11 "Sir," the woman said, "you have nothing to draw with and the well is deep. Where can you get this living water? 12 Are you greater than our father Jacob, who gave us the well and drank from it himself, as did also his sons and his flocks and herds?"
13 Jesus answered, "Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, 14 but those who drink the water I give them will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give them will become in them a spring of water welling up to eternal life."
15 The woman said to him, "Sir, give me this water so that I won't get thirsty and have to keep coming here to draw water."
Dig Deeper
On a recent trip to South Africa, I had the privilege of speaking to a group from a wonderful church in the city of Port Elizabeth. As I was speaking to this group, I began to talk to them of a biblical passage from 2 Kings 5 in which Naaman asks the prophet Elisha for earth that he can take back to home homeland so that, in his mind, he can properly worship the God of the Jews on His own land. In describing this event, however, I didn't use the term "earth." I used a term that was quite common to Americans for earth, which is "dirt." "Dirt" has always meant "soil" in my mind, and I didn't even give it a second thought. It was only later that I found out that in South Africa, "dirt" means "garbage" or "rubbish." In their culture, I was teaching an amusing lesson about a man healed of leprosy that was requesting that God's prophet give him two donkey loads of garbage to take with him. Lucky thing for me, these people were more intelligent and culturally aware than I was, and either already knew or figured out how Americans use this word. It can lead to great misunderstanding, though, if you are speaking of one thing, and your listeners are hearing something totally different.
John describes this phenomena as a constant problem throughout Jesus' ministry. There is a constant misunderstanding, as we saw in chapter 3 with Nicodemus, as Jesus speaks of heavenly things, things from God's reality, while Nicodemus can only seem to comprehend things from an earthly perspective. In a sense, it is like people speaking two different languages, but in reality it can lead to even more confusion. At least when people speak different languages they know they are different. When people use the same words but mean quite different things by them, it can lead to real confusion because you assume you know what the other person is saying, when the reality is that your missing the point altogether. As John begins his lengthy description of Jesus and the Samaritan woman at the well, it becomes obvious that they are having one of those conversations. Jesus speaks of heavenly things, but she hears an earthly conversation, at least for a while. She is certainly still earthly focused and as in the darkness as anyone else, but perhaps John wants us to see the symbolism in the fact that Nicodemus came in the dark and remained there but this woman will encounter Jesus at high noon, when the light is at its brightest.
Just as surely as we can misunderstand individual words because of culture differences, so we can easily miss the depth or meaning of an entire story because we simply don't understand the culture in which the story takes place. So it is with the account that John gives of Jesus and the woman at this well in Sychar. There are several important cultural things taking place under the surface of this story that are easy to miss. This encounter might not seem that significant to us, but in Jesus' day and culture, it should have never happened for many reasons. First of all, Jews did not care for or generally speak to Samaritans, to the point that they usually would take a longer route on a journey to avoid going into Samaria. Second, Jewish men generally did not speak to women in public, especially women alone, and even more especially to women at wells (because Isaac and Jacob met their wives at wells, they became somewhat of a pick-up spot in Jewish tradition). Third, it would have been highly unusual for this woman to be there at this time of day, about noon. Women avoided the hot times of day and would go to the well in groups in the early morning or evening. That she was there by herself in the middle of the day, indicates that she was not well thought of in her society and was likely trying to avoid people. Thus, in its cultural context, we see that this scene is shocking on many levels. Nonetheless it happened.
As Jesus is traveling through Samaria, he and his disciples stop off to get some food, showing that Jesus and his disciples are a bit more open than most Jews would have been, as most Jews would not even eat food that had been handled by Samaritans. As Jesus sits down at the well for a rest, he sees this forlorn Samaritan women approaching for water. What she does not know is that she is about to have an encounter with the living water that will quench every thirst she has ever had.
For Jesus to even ask for a drink would have been shocking. Not only because she was a Samaritan women by herself and he was a Jewish man, but also because she knew that Jews felt that even the water jugs of Samaritans were unclean, so for him to ask for a drink was highly unusual. Jews, as John points out for his non-Jewish readers, do not associate with Samaritans for any reason. This simple request for water is the beginning of this two-leveled conversation. Jesus speaks of things that this woman does not comprehend. She thinks they are speaking of regular water, but clearly Jesus is talking of something else. She went to the well looking to not have to encounter anyone else, but she will encounter the Son of God. She thinks she is going to Jacob's well, but she will find Jacob's ladder (1:51), the staircase between heaven and earth.
Jesus asked this woman for a drink of water, and perhaps he genuinely was thirsty after a long day of traveling, but he seems to have mostly used the question as a means to open the conversation to the topic that he really wanted to discuss. He used a topic that he knew she would understand in an earthly manner, specifically so he could turn the conversation to spiritual things. For if she knew who she was talking to, she would hardly be worried about social customs, Jews and Samaritans, and why he would talk to her and ask for a drink. In fact, she would ask him for living water.
Living water in the first century referred to spring water or some other type of water that moved as opposed to stagnant water that was more likely to be no good. So when Jesus refers to living water, she is still thinking in earthly terms. Like Nathanael and Nicodemus, she is doing the best she can, but she simply has no idea with whom she is dealing. How can he draw the living water at the bottom of this one-hundred foot well with a bucket of any kind? Is he trying to sell her on some other source for water other than Jacob's well? As John's readers, privy to more information than she had at the time, we know that he is. She simply cannot see anything beyond the old water that comes from Jacob's well, from the old, traditional way of life. Jesus, though, is offering her true water that quenches the real thirst that humans have. He is the water that all water on earth can only point to. She thought that the reality of life was limited to things of this earth, but Jesus is about to open the reality of heaven and quench the real thirst that she has (cf. Ps. 42:2; 63:1; 143:6; Isa. 55:1; Matt. 5:6). Does this man actually think that he has something superior to the things of life that have been passed down since Jacob? In fact, he does. He doesn't merely know the location of a superior source of living water. He is the living water (7:37-38).
There is something else about this water that is rather unique, though. We drink regular water, it nourishes and refreshes us and then it is gone. Before too long we need more. That is true, really with anything that the world has to offer, whether it be food, water, religions, philosophies, or whatever else it may be. It meets a need for a temporary flash and then its gone and we need more and more in order to be satisfied. This living water is different though. It doesn't just meet a temporary need, says Jesus. Once we partake of this water, it becomes part of us. It will itself begin to bubble up inside of us and be a constant source of renewal and refreshment. Drinking this water doesn't just mean getting a taste of the new creation, or a slice of heaven. It means we become the new creation, we have heaven inside of us. Those who take this water will have welling up inside of them the new life that Jesus is bringing to the entire creation.
This woman wanted something. The very fact that she has come to this well in the middle of the day, trying to avoid everyone, demonstrates that she needed something. She knows her life is lacking. She doesn't know what Jesus is talking about fully but if he knows of a place where she can water and not have to be confronted with the shame of her past and the disapproving stares of others then she wants that desperately. Do you need to go to the living well for something? Have you already gone to the well but know many who haven't yet? The life that comes from the living water found in Jesus is, after all, the only thing that can bring life. It is the only thing that quench the thirst inside each one of us. All we have to do is take a drink.
Devotional Thought
One things that can be easily missed in this passage, is the statement in verse 4, that Jesus "had to go through Samaria." We are not told why he had to, but the obvious inference would be that he had to in order to fulfill the will of God and follow the leading of the Spirit. This means that Jesus went out of his way, on many levels, to intentionally talk with this woman. Do you follow the leading of the Spirit and intentionally go out of your way to talk to people about spiritual things? Spend some time praying today that God will lead you to people that He would like you to talk to.
Monday, November 17, 2008
John 3:22-36
John Testifies Again About Jesus
22 After this, Jesus and his disciples went out into the Judean countryside, where he spent some time with them, and baptized. 23 Now John also was baptizing at Aenon near Salim, because there was plenty of water, and people were coming and being baptized. 24 (This was before John was put in prison.) 25 An argument developed between some of John's disciples and a certain Jew over the matter of ceremonial washing. 26 They came to John and said to him, "Rabbi, that man who was with you on the other side of the Jordan—the one you testified about—look, he is baptizing, and everyone is going to him."
27 To this John replied, "A person can receive only what is given from heaven. 28 You yourselves can testify that I said, 'I am not the Messiah but am sent ahead of him.' 29 The bride belongs to the bridegroom. The friend who attends the bridegroom waits and listens for him, and is full of joy when he hears the bridegroom's voice. That joy is mine, and it is now complete. 30 He must become greater; I must become less."
31 The one who comes from above is above all; the one who is from the earth belongs to the earth, and speaks as one from the earth. The one who comes from heaven is above all. 32 He testifies to what he has seen and heard, but no one accepts his testimony. 33 The person who has accepted it has certified that God is truthful. 34 For the one whom God has sent speaks the words of God, for God gives the Spirit without limit. 35 The Father loves the Son and has placed everything in his hands. 36 Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life, but whoever rejects the Son will not see life, for God's wrath remains on them.
Dig Deeper
He really wanted to take his girlfriend to the sports banquet that night but he couldn't because he had to work. Because of that, my friend asked me to take her to the banquet. I was going to go and wasn't planning on taking anyone so it made sense. He would get off of work and meet the group of friends that we were going with and then we would all go out and hang out for the rest of the evening. We had a great time and really had a lot of fun, but when the banquet was over, we waited outside the gym where we were all going to meet my friend. Once he got there, his girlfriend went with him and spent the rest of the night with him. I don't think we talked the remainder of the night. That wasn't my job. Imagine, though, if I had begun to think of myself as her real boyfriend, if I began to lose sight of the role that I had been asked to play. Imagine if I started to get jealous when my friend got there and that this young lady went off with him for the rest of the night rather than being enamored with and staying with me.
John had been given a role as the forerunner to the Messiah. There was no mistake in John's mind as to what he was supposed to do. He was to make the way, to prepare Israel for the coming of her king, to point to the Son of Man. John understood that it was never about him, his role was merely temporary. Jesus was the star and was simply the warm-up act. It seems, though, that some around him may have lost sight of that, if only for a moment. They wanted John to step up and be the man rather than turning all of the attention over to another. John understood, however, that that would be as crazy as it would have been for me to try to be the boyfriend when my role was to simply keep the girl company until the true boyfriend arrived.
John gives us some valuable information in this passage that rounds out the information that we have in the synoptic Gospels. He is the only Gospel author who informs us that there was a slight overlap between the ministries of Jesus and John the Immerser before John was put in prison. After having been baptized by John, Jesus takes his followers not far away to a place with plenty of springs and fresh water and Jesus' disciples (we are told in 4:2 that Jesus did not actually do any baptizing himself) begin to baptize people. This is certainly not the Christian baptism that would be unveiled at the day of Pentecost, when those willing to lay down their lives would be baptized into the life of Jesus Christ (Acts 2:38). No one could hardly have been baptized into the death, burial, and resurrection of Christ before any of those things happened. Rather, this was apparently a connection and continuation of John's baptism of national repentance and renewal for those willing to identify themselves with the new things that God was doing and about to do.
Not only were Jesus' disciples baptizing, Jesus was evidently drawing rather large crowds and a large number of adherents. This disturbed some of John's disciples who were not as receptive to the coming of the Messiah as were some of the others who had already left John and went with Jesus. They no doubt saw this as an arrogant and disrespectful move on the part of Jesus, to associate himself with John and then go out in the same area, doing a similar thing, and surpass John. They were clearly looking at things from a human point of view and had a lot of misplaced loyalty to their teacher, the great prophet John. They were obviously concerned that large numbers of people, which they hyperbolize by calling them "everyone", were going to Jesus.
John's reply is a continued demonstration of his incredible humility and willingness to be used by God only in manner that God had laid out for him. A person can receive only what is given from heaven. This does not mean that John's ministry didn't come from God, in fact we have already been told that he did (1:6). The point is that he had a specific vocation laid out as a forerunner. To reach beyond what God has given us is to commit the same sin that Eve did in the Garden of Eden when she reached out for the fruit of tree that was not hers to grab. John is not the Messiah, and he never would be. If he tried to keep disciples around himself, get jealous, or try to keep people gathered around himself rather than going to Christ, he would be guilty of selfish ambition and reaching beyond what God had given him.
Showing himself to be quite unique himself among most humans, John doesn't show any envy or even try to make some excuse. In fact, he immediately jumps into a justification of Jesus' actions and his success. John is not, he says, the bridegroom, but he is simply the friend who attends the bridegroom. The friend of the groom in a Jewish wedding was important because he set up all the details and brought the bride to the bridegroom, but once his job was done, he wouldn't think of staying and keeping the bride and the attention for himself. Throughout the Old Testament, Israel was seen to be the bride of YHWH (Isa. 54:5; 62:4-5; Jer. 2:2; 3:20; Ezek. 16:8; Hos. 2:19-20). It was common thought in the first century to talk of the Messiah as the bridegroom of Israel as well. John's point is that Israel is the bride, Christ is the bridegroom, but he is only the friend and it is his time to step aside. The bride, Israel, belongs to Jesus not to John. That doesn't bother John or make him feel envious. In fact, it leaves him full of joy because the bridegroom is now here. Contrary to our society today that is obsessed with self-esteem, John understood that his role, his entire purpose was to become less so that Christ could become greater.
Just as he did in verse 16, John the Apostle, appears to break into his own commentary on the scene in an almost imperceptible manner. One of John's primary objectives is to demonstrate that Jesus is the Christ (20:31), so he continues to emphasize that Jesus' origins are not earthly. As important as the ministry and message of John was, John still came from earth, belonged to the earth, and that was the end of the story. John was certainly sent by God but he was a regular human being. He was not, as Jesus is, the doorway and the ladder between heaven and earth. Only about Jesus could it be said that came from heaven and is above all. This is important because good teachers teach about what they know. At this time, only Jesus could come and teach about heavenly things as things that he knew. When Jesus talked about heavenly things, he talked about things that he had seen and heard.
The person who has accepted (a word that denotes a decisive act where someone determines to embrace Jesus' witness) the testimony of Jesus has certified that God is truthful. John uses language in that sentence that speaks of the seal that someone would use to authenticate or give a personal guarantee to a document or item. His point is that those who accept the words of Jesus are putting their seal of acceptance that Jesus is of heavenly origin and that God has revealed Himself through Jesus Christ.
The prophets of the Old Testament, regardless of how great they were, could only claim that the Spirit came upon them in limited measure. It was only the true Son of God who had been given the Spirit without limit. Only Jesus was the true human being who did God's will perfectly and spoke the words of God wherever he went. We must remember here the importance of the truth of being in Christ when it comes to our own lives. What is true of the king is true of his people. Those in Christ, then, have access to the same Spirit without limit. In fact, the only thing that limits the power of the Spirit in our lives is our own lack of faith or obedience. This shouldn't lead us to guilt or feelings of failure, but rather to determination to truly unleash the power of the Spirit in our lives.
The Father loves the Son and has placed everything in his hands, and He loves those in Christ in the same way. It all comes down, for John, to being in Christ. Whoever believes in the life of the Son, will have eternal life. He is the gateway to freedom. But those who reject that salvation will not see life, for God's wrath remains on them. As John made clear in 3:17-21, all humans are already guilty before God as a result of our sin and rejection of God's will. We already deserve and will receive God's righteous judgment and wrath. That is, and we cannot say it too often, the fate of every single human being that lives and dies in their own life. Only those who choose their death and judgment early can enter into the life of the Son of God and have the life of the age to come and a place in the resurrection of Jesus Christ. Life is found only in Him.
Devotional Thought
Those who believe the Son, says John already have eternal life, the life of the age to come. Have you really thought about that lately? Do you really make an effort to spread the life of heaven, of God's reality, to those around you in your neighborhood, school, or job? What would it look like if you really unleashed the power of the Spirit and the life of the age to come in your own life and demonstrated to all those around you what it looks like when someone lives in reconciliation with God and His will?
22 After this, Jesus and his disciples went out into the Judean countryside, where he spent some time with them, and baptized. 23 Now John also was baptizing at Aenon near Salim, because there was plenty of water, and people were coming and being baptized. 24 (This was before John was put in prison.) 25 An argument developed between some of John's disciples and a certain Jew over the matter of ceremonial washing. 26 They came to John and said to him, "Rabbi, that man who was with you on the other side of the Jordan—the one you testified about—look, he is baptizing, and everyone is going to him."
27 To this John replied, "A person can receive only what is given from heaven. 28 You yourselves can testify that I said, 'I am not the Messiah but am sent ahead of him.' 29 The bride belongs to the bridegroom. The friend who attends the bridegroom waits and listens for him, and is full of joy when he hears the bridegroom's voice. That joy is mine, and it is now complete. 30 He must become greater; I must become less."
31 The one who comes from above is above all; the one who is from the earth belongs to the earth, and speaks as one from the earth. The one who comes from heaven is above all. 32 He testifies to what he has seen and heard, but no one accepts his testimony. 33 The person who has accepted it has certified that God is truthful. 34 For the one whom God has sent speaks the words of God, for God gives the Spirit without limit. 35 The Father loves the Son and has placed everything in his hands. 36 Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life, but whoever rejects the Son will not see life, for God's wrath remains on them.
Dig Deeper
He really wanted to take his girlfriend to the sports banquet that night but he couldn't because he had to work. Because of that, my friend asked me to take her to the banquet. I was going to go and wasn't planning on taking anyone so it made sense. He would get off of work and meet the group of friends that we were going with and then we would all go out and hang out for the rest of the evening. We had a great time and really had a lot of fun, but when the banquet was over, we waited outside the gym where we were all going to meet my friend. Once he got there, his girlfriend went with him and spent the rest of the night with him. I don't think we talked the remainder of the night. That wasn't my job. Imagine, though, if I had begun to think of myself as her real boyfriend, if I began to lose sight of the role that I had been asked to play. Imagine if I started to get jealous when my friend got there and that this young lady went off with him for the rest of the night rather than being enamored with and staying with me.
John had been given a role as the forerunner to the Messiah. There was no mistake in John's mind as to what he was supposed to do. He was to make the way, to prepare Israel for the coming of her king, to point to the Son of Man. John understood that it was never about him, his role was merely temporary. Jesus was the star and was simply the warm-up act. It seems, though, that some around him may have lost sight of that, if only for a moment. They wanted John to step up and be the man rather than turning all of the attention over to another. John understood, however, that that would be as crazy as it would have been for me to try to be the boyfriend when my role was to simply keep the girl company until the true boyfriend arrived.
John gives us some valuable information in this passage that rounds out the information that we have in the synoptic Gospels. He is the only Gospel author who informs us that there was a slight overlap between the ministries of Jesus and John the Immerser before John was put in prison. After having been baptized by John, Jesus takes his followers not far away to a place with plenty of springs and fresh water and Jesus' disciples (we are told in 4:2 that Jesus did not actually do any baptizing himself) begin to baptize people. This is certainly not the Christian baptism that would be unveiled at the day of Pentecost, when those willing to lay down their lives would be baptized into the life of Jesus Christ (Acts 2:38). No one could hardly have been baptized into the death, burial, and resurrection of Christ before any of those things happened. Rather, this was apparently a connection and continuation of John's baptism of national repentance and renewal for those willing to identify themselves with the new things that God was doing and about to do.
Not only were Jesus' disciples baptizing, Jesus was evidently drawing rather large crowds and a large number of adherents. This disturbed some of John's disciples who were not as receptive to the coming of the Messiah as were some of the others who had already left John and went with Jesus. They no doubt saw this as an arrogant and disrespectful move on the part of Jesus, to associate himself with John and then go out in the same area, doing a similar thing, and surpass John. They were clearly looking at things from a human point of view and had a lot of misplaced loyalty to their teacher, the great prophet John. They were obviously concerned that large numbers of people, which they hyperbolize by calling them "everyone", were going to Jesus.
John's reply is a continued demonstration of his incredible humility and willingness to be used by God only in manner that God had laid out for him. A person can receive only what is given from heaven. This does not mean that John's ministry didn't come from God, in fact we have already been told that he did (1:6). The point is that he had a specific vocation laid out as a forerunner. To reach beyond what God has given us is to commit the same sin that Eve did in the Garden of Eden when she reached out for the fruit of tree that was not hers to grab. John is not the Messiah, and he never would be. If he tried to keep disciples around himself, get jealous, or try to keep people gathered around himself rather than going to Christ, he would be guilty of selfish ambition and reaching beyond what God had given him.
Showing himself to be quite unique himself among most humans, John doesn't show any envy or even try to make some excuse. In fact, he immediately jumps into a justification of Jesus' actions and his success. John is not, he says, the bridegroom, but he is simply the friend who attends the bridegroom. The friend of the groom in a Jewish wedding was important because he set up all the details and brought the bride to the bridegroom, but once his job was done, he wouldn't think of staying and keeping the bride and the attention for himself. Throughout the Old Testament, Israel was seen to be the bride of YHWH (Isa. 54:5; 62:4-5; Jer. 2:2; 3:20; Ezek. 16:8; Hos. 2:19-20). It was common thought in the first century to talk of the Messiah as the bridegroom of Israel as well. John's point is that Israel is the bride, Christ is the bridegroom, but he is only the friend and it is his time to step aside. The bride, Israel, belongs to Jesus not to John. That doesn't bother John or make him feel envious. In fact, it leaves him full of joy because the bridegroom is now here. Contrary to our society today that is obsessed with self-esteem, John understood that his role, his entire purpose was to become less so that Christ could become greater.
Just as he did in verse 16, John the Apostle, appears to break into his own commentary on the scene in an almost imperceptible manner. One of John's primary objectives is to demonstrate that Jesus is the Christ (20:31), so he continues to emphasize that Jesus' origins are not earthly. As important as the ministry and message of John was, John still came from earth, belonged to the earth, and that was the end of the story. John was certainly sent by God but he was a regular human being. He was not, as Jesus is, the doorway and the ladder between heaven and earth. Only about Jesus could it be said that came from heaven and is above all. This is important because good teachers teach about what they know. At this time, only Jesus could come and teach about heavenly things as things that he knew. When Jesus talked about heavenly things, he talked about things that he had seen and heard.
The person who has accepted (a word that denotes a decisive act where someone determines to embrace Jesus' witness) the testimony of Jesus has certified that God is truthful. John uses language in that sentence that speaks of the seal that someone would use to authenticate or give a personal guarantee to a document or item. His point is that those who accept the words of Jesus are putting their seal of acceptance that Jesus is of heavenly origin and that God has revealed Himself through Jesus Christ.
The prophets of the Old Testament, regardless of how great they were, could only claim that the Spirit came upon them in limited measure. It was only the true Son of God who had been given the Spirit without limit. Only Jesus was the true human being who did God's will perfectly and spoke the words of God wherever he went. We must remember here the importance of the truth of being in Christ when it comes to our own lives. What is true of the king is true of his people. Those in Christ, then, have access to the same Spirit without limit. In fact, the only thing that limits the power of the Spirit in our lives is our own lack of faith or obedience. This shouldn't lead us to guilt or feelings of failure, but rather to determination to truly unleash the power of the Spirit in our lives.
The Father loves the Son and has placed everything in his hands, and He loves those in Christ in the same way. It all comes down, for John, to being in Christ. Whoever believes in the life of the Son, will have eternal life. He is the gateway to freedom. But those who reject that salvation will not see life, for God's wrath remains on them. As John made clear in 3:17-21, all humans are already guilty before God as a result of our sin and rejection of God's will. We already deserve and will receive God's righteous judgment and wrath. That is, and we cannot say it too often, the fate of every single human being that lives and dies in their own life. Only those who choose their death and judgment early can enter into the life of the Son of God and have the life of the age to come and a place in the resurrection of Jesus Christ. Life is found only in Him.
Devotional Thought
Those who believe the Son, says John already have eternal life, the life of the age to come. Have you really thought about that lately? Do you really make an effort to spread the life of heaven, of God's reality, to those around you in your neighborhood, school, or job? What would it look like if you really unleashed the power of the Spirit and the life of the age to come in your own life and demonstrated to all those around you what it looks like when someone lives in reconciliation with God and His will?
Wednesday, November 12, 2008
John 3:14-21
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.
Dig Deeper
Having kids with selective hearing is probably not a new scenario to anyone who is a parent, with the possible exception of my own parents (because I never had such a problem). A similar situation has, I'm sure been played out in homes all across the world. I was getting ready to leave for an appointment and my oldest son asked if he could play on his playstation 2 while I was gone. I told him that he could but to make sure that he cleaned up his room and emptied the garbage cans in the house before I got back. Yet somehow, and this might be shocking, when I got home, there he was playing a football game and there the clothes on his floor still were, and sure enough, there were the trash cans still full and sitting there right where they were when I left. How could this be? How could it be that he had heard the part where I said he could play his video games, but missed the parts about cleaning up? The answer, selective hearing. Humans (and this may be a disease that particularly hits the male portions of the human race) have a tendency to hear the parts that we want to hear, embracing them, and conveniently forgetting or just not hearing the parts that we don't like. Sadly, our youngest son seems to have also been born with this potent condition.
Just as surely as humans are prone to selective hearing, we seem also to be susceptible to selective reading. This is especially true of the Bible where people will read verses or passages that they like and simply ignore the ones that they don't. So people latch on to passages that talk about being blessed but ignore when Jesus said that his followers "will have trouble" (John 16:33). Or they cling to Jeremiah 29:11 as a life verse when it says that God has great plans to prosper, but conveniently ignore that within the context of that passage, God is promising His people that they will go into exile and experience difficult times, but that this is all part of His overall plan to bring about the Messiah. John 3 is no exception to the selective reading process. John 3:16 is, perhaps, the most famous verse in our world today and it is, without a doubt, one of the most beautiful and encouraging passages in the Bible, yet it is part of a larger context. Loving John 3:16 is fine, but it can also be misleading and even dangerous if we don't keep it in context with the rest of this passage. It is still a wonderful promise for those who would believe in the life of Christ, but it also comes with the stern consequences that come with those who do not accept the life of Christ. One cannot be separated from the other without a big misunderstanding of what John is saying.
Jesus combines the imagery of two primary Old Testament passages to demonstrate that he is the one that Nicodemus was searching for. He is the promised Messiah, God's new thing through whom he would fix the problem of sin in the world. The first allusion is to Numbers 21:9 where Moses lifted up an image of a bronze serpent on a cross so that those who would look to it would be saved and not killed. In the same way, he says, the Son of Man must be lifted up. The terminology of the Son of Man comes primarily from Daniel 7:13. The Son of Man was the enigmatic figure in Daniel 7 that was lifted up into the presence of the Ancient of Days and exalted and vindicated as the one with supreme authority over the earth. Jesus, then applies this clearly Messianic title and passage to himself. His point is that only those who recognize him as God's Messiah and look to him for salvation will be saved from death and receive eternal life, which was the life of the age to come as opposed to life in the present age. Eternal life, then, wasn't just something in the future, but was something to be embraced and realized in the present age through the life of the Son of Man.
Surely this salvation is not limited to a certain few or elect individuals but is available to whoever believes. The 64 million dollar question, though, is to whoever believes in what? John (who has almost imperceptibly slipped into his own commentary beginning in verse 16) certainly does not mean mere mental assent to the fact that Jesus existed and was the Messiah of some sort. He means much more than that. In the ancient world true belief in something meant action, and believing in someone meant that you believed in their way of life, that is was correct, and were willing to follow. This tells us that John means that whoever believes in the life of Christ and will take the action to die themselves, will have the eternal life that comes only to those who have crucified their old selves and entered into the life of Christ.
For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world but to save the world through him. You see, Jesus did not come to stand before men, judge them, and cast them into eternal darkness, even though that is often how he is viewed. They were already in darkness. Men don't need to reject Jesus to enter into darkness. God sent Jesus so through him, meaning those who would enter into his life, people would be saved. John has just effectively further explained Jesus' contention that humans must be born again and from above in order to be a part of the kingdom of God. John says that that is absolutely true, and that this birth comes only through him and his life.
The fact that Jesus did not come into the world to condemn it, teaches us an important truth and distinction when it comes to salvation. We tend to think that people that reject Jesus will go to hell. In fact, that leads many sincere people to become troubled and wonder how that can be, especially for those who may have never had the opportunity to hear about Jesus. What abut them? Although we certainly cannot address that topic in full here, we do see an important truth that John has laid out for us. Those who do not believe in the life of Christ and choose not to enter into it are condemned already. Their condemnation is not a result of rejecting Christ. For Christ is not the issue of condemnation. Rejecting God through sin, and standing in rebellion to him by consistently doing our own will rather than his, is what separates us from God and puts us in a state of condemnation as those who have rebelled against the image of God for which we were made to be. Jesus is the door to salvation, the life of reconciliation, not the source of condemnation. That means that each person who has sinned (and that is, of course, all humans) is already condemned. Jesus is the rescue and those who have not believed in the name (a term that was nearly synonymous with "life") of God's one and only Son will remain in their state of condemnation and rebellion against God.
The final verdict is clear. The true Light has come into the world, but because people loved darkness instead of light, they reject the light and close their eyes until it goes away and they can return to their comfortable existence within the murky darkness. This is because their deeds were evil. It is common in our modern society to begin to feel sorry for those in rebellion against God as though the state they are in is not their fault (that is not to imply that people cause everything evil that might happen to them, of course) as though they are just victims. John, though, says that those who reject the life of Christ do so because they hate the light and will not come into it because they fear that their deeds will be exposed. This means that rejection of God's ways is a decision that every human being has made. Judgment and condemnation are already the fate of every human being. Jesus is not the condemning factor, he is the saving gate. Those who enter into his life will be saved from the judgment that they have already deserved and earned.
Those who really want to find the truth and follow God's ways will find that truth, or as John puts it those who live by the truth, will come into the light. This is basically what Paul says in Romans chs. 1-3 where he says that those who respond humbly to the light of creation (ch. 1) and to the light of conscience (ch. 2) will seek out, be given, and respond humbly to the light of Jesus Christ (ch. 3). People who truly want the lights to come on so that they can see and find the truth rather than continuing to stumble around in the dark, will embrace the light when it comes to them. Those who truly want that truth will not fear the gaze of God for they know that when God looks at those who have entered into the light, He will see Christ, for we have been hidden in Christ when we died to self and took up his life of (Col. 3:3). The light is only a fearful thing, after all, for those who don't desire the truth.
Devotional Thought
Those who do not yet have the light of Christ are, says John, still in the darkness. Do you know anyone who is in the dark, stumbling around looking frantically for the truth but just cannot seem to find it? Jesus called to be the light of the world, faithfully reflecting the light of Christ to the world. If that is true, then what is the vocation of Christians when we encounter darkness? Are you truly a light shining brightly in the darkness or do you cover the light so that it doesn't shock or offend anyone? Sudden light coming into the darkness can be blinding for a minute, but it is the only way that people will eventually be able to see the truth.
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.
Dig Deeper
Having kids with selective hearing is probably not a new scenario to anyone who is a parent, with the possible exception of my own parents (because I never had such a problem). A similar situation has, I'm sure been played out in homes all across the world. I was getting ready to leave for an appointment and my oldest son asked if he could play on his playstation 2 while I was gone. I told him that he could but to make sure that he cleaned up his room and emptied the garbage cans in the house before I got back. Yet somehow, and this might be shocking, when I got home, there he was playing a football game and there the clothes on his floor still were, and sure enough, there were the trash cans still full and sitting there right where they were when I left. How could this be? How could it be that he had heard the part where I said he could play his video games, but missed the parts about cleaning up? The answer, selective hearing. Humans (and this may be a disease that particularly hits the male portions of the human race) have a tendency to hear the parts that we want to hear, embracing them, and conveniently forgetting or just not hearing the parts that we don't like. Sadly, our youngest son seems to have also been born with this potent condition.
Just as surely as humans are prone to selective hearing, we seem also to be susceptible to selective reading. This is especially true of the Bible where people will read verses or passages that they like and simply ignore the ones that they don't. So people latch on to passages that talk about being blessed but ignore when Jesus said that his followers "will have trouble" (John 16:33). Or they cling to Jeremiah 29:11 as a life verse when it says that God has great plans to prosper, but conveniently ignore that within the context of that passage, God is promising His people that they will go into exile and experience difficult times, but that this is all part of His overall plan to bring about the Messiah. John 3 is no exception to the selective reading process. John 3:16 is, perhaps, the most famous verse in our world today and it is, without a doubt, one of the most beautiful and encouraging passages in the Bible, yet it is part of a larger context. Loving John 3:16 is fine, but it can also be misleading and even dangerous if we don't keep it in context with the rest of this passage. It is still a wonderful promise for those who would believe in the life of Christ, but it also comes with the stern consequences that come with those who do not accept the life of Christ. One cannot be separated from the other without a big misunderstanding of what John is saying.
Jesus combines the imagery of two primary Old Testament passages to demonstrate that he is the one that Nicodemus was searching for. He is the promised Messiah, God's new thing through whom he would fix the problem of sin in the world. The first allusion is to Numbers 21:9 where Moses lifted up an image of a bronze serpent on a cross so that those who would look to it would be saved and not killed. In the same way, he says, the Son of Man must be lifted up. The terminology of the Son of Man comes primarily from Daniel 7:13. The Son of Man was the enigmatic figure in Daniel 7 that was lifted up into the presence of the Ancient of Days and exalted and vindicated as the one with supreme authority over the earth. Jesus, then applies this clearly Messianic title and passage to himself. His point is that only those who recognize him as God's Messiah and look to him for salvation will be saved from death and receive eternal life, which was the life of the age to come as opposed to life in the present age. Eternal life, then, wasn't just something in the future, but was something to be embraced and realized in the present age through the life of the Son of Man.
Surely this salvation is not limited to a certain few or elect individuals but is available to whoever believes. The 64 million dollar question, though, is to whoever believes in what? John (who has almost imperceptibly slipped into his own commentary beginning in verse 16) certainly does not mean mere mental assent to the fact that Jesus existed and was the Messiah of some sort. He means much more than that. In the ancient world true belief in something meant action, and believing in someone meant that you believed in their way of life, that is was correct, and were willing to follow. This tells us that John means that whoever believes in the life of Christ and will take the action to die themselves, will have the eternal life that comes only to those who have crucified their old selves and entered into the life of Christ.
For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world but to save the world through him. You see, Jesus did not come to stand before men, judge them, and cast them into eternal darkness, even though that is often how he is viewed. They were already in darkness. Men don't need to reject Jesus to enter into darkness. God sent Jesus so through him, meaning those who would enter into his life, people would be saved. John has just effectively further explained Jesus' contention that humans must be born again and from above in order to be a part of the kingdom of God. John says that that is absolutely true, and that this birth comes only through him and his life.
The fact that Jesus did not come into the world to condemn it, teaches us an important truth and distinction when it comes to salvation. We tend to think that people that reject Jesus will go to hell. In fact, that leads many sincere people to become troubled and wonder how that can be, especially for those who may have never had the opportunity to hear about Jesus. What abut them? Although we certainly cannot address that topic in full here, we do see an important truth that John has laid out for us. Those who do not believe in the life of Christ and choose not to enter into it are condemned already. Their condemnation is not a result of rejecting Christ. For Christ is not the issue of condemnation. Rejecting God through sin, and standing in rebellion to him by consistently doing our own will rather than his, is what separates us from God and puts us in a state of condemnation as those who have rebelled against the image of God for which we were made to be. Jesus is the door to salvation, the life of reconciliation, not the source of condemnation. That means that each person who has sinned (and that is, of course, all humans) is already condemned. Jesus is the rescue and those who have not believed in the name (a term that was nearly synonymous with "life") of God's one and only Son will remain in their state of condemnation and rebellion against God.
The final verdict is clear. The true Light has come into the world, but because people loved darkness instead of light, they reject the light and close their eyes until it goes away and they can return to their comfortable existence within the murky darkness. This is because their deeds were evil. It is common in our modern society to begin to feel sorry for those in rebellion against God as though the state they are in is not their fault (that is not to imply that people cause everything evil that might happen to them, of course) as though they are just victims. John, though, says that those who reject the life of Christ do so because they hate the light and will not come into it because they fear that their deeds will be exposed. This means that rejection of God's ways is a decision that every human being has made. Judgment and condemnation are already the fate of every human being. Jesus is not the condemning factor, he is the saving gate. Those who enter into his life will be saved from the judgment that they have already deserved and earned.
Those who really want to find the truth and follow God's ways will find that truth, or as John puts it those who live by the truth, will come into the light. This is basically what Paul says in Romans chs. 1-3 where he says that those who respond humbly to the light of creation (ch. 1) and to the light of conscience (ch. 2) will seek out, be given, and respond humbly to the light of Jesus Christ (ch. 3). People who truly want the lights to come on so that they can see and find the truth rather than continuing to stumble around in the dark, will embrace the light when it comes to them. Those who truly want that truth will not fear the gaze of God for they know that when God looks at those who have entered into the light, He will see Christ, for we have been hidden in Christ when we died to self and took up his life of (Col. 3:3). The light is only a fearful thing, after all, for those who don't desire the truth.
Devotional Thought
Those who do not yet have the light of Christ are, says John, still in the darkness. Do you know anyone who is in the dark, stumbling around looking frantically for the truth but just cannot seem to find it? Jesus called to be the light of the world, faithfully reflecting the light of Christ to the world. If that is true, then what is the vocation of Christians when we encounter darkness? Are you truly a light shining brightly in the darkness or do you cover the light so that it doesn't shock or offend anyone? Sudden light coming into the darkness can be blinding for a minute, but it is the only way that people will eventually be able to see the truth.
Tuesday, November 11, 2008
John 3:1-13
Jesus Teaches Nicodemus
1 Now there was a Pharisee, a man named Nicodemus who was a member of the Jewish ruling council. 2 He came to Jesus at night and said, "Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher who has come from God. For no one could perform the signs you are doing if God were not with him."
3 Jesus replied, "Very truly I tell you, no one can see the kingdom of God without being born again."
4 "How can anyone be born when they are old?" Nicodemus asked. "Surely they cannot enter a second time into their mother's womb to be born!"
5 Jesus answered, "Very truly I tell you, no one can enter the kingdom of God without being born of water and the Spirit. 6 Flesh gives birth to flesh, but the Spirit gives birth to spirit. 7 You should not be surprised at my saying, 'You must be born again.' 8 The wind blows wherever it pleases. You hear its sound, but you cannot tell where it comes from or where it is going. So it is with everyone born of the Spirit."
9 "How can this be?" Nicodemus asked.
10 "You are Israel's teacher," said Jesus, "and do you not understand these things? 11 Very truly I tell you, we speak of what we know, and we testify to what we have seen, but still you people do not accept our testimony. 12 I have spoken to you of earthly things and you do not believe; how then will you believe if I speak of heavenly things? 13 No one has ever gone into heaven except the one who came from heaven—the Son of Man.
Dig Deeper
A couple of years back, my wife and I were out on a date and decided to go to a movie one night. We had been having dinner and decided to go to the movies a little late so by the time we got to the theater the movie had already started a few minutes earlier. We quickly got our tickets and hustled into the movie. We walked into the movie directly from the bright lights of the lobby and were virtually blinded in the darkness. We put our hands on the railing and walked all the way up the steps until we got to an area fairly high up where we could tell that no one was sitting. We still couldn't see very well, but slid in down the aisle and found a seat. As we sat down, I reached for my cell phone to turn the ringer off but realized that my phone had slid out of my pocket as I was sitting down. I now began to feel around and try to look under my seat but my eyes hadn't adjusted yet so I still couldn't see very well and I couldn't find it. After a few minutes, my eyes had adjusted even though it was still fairly dark so I decided to look again. This time I could begin to see a little bit under the seat but I just couldn't put my eyes or my hands on the phone. I had to give up and wait until the movie was over and lights came .. I would finally find my phone. When I did, I could see clearly that the phone wasn't quite where I thought it was, but it had been within my grasp the whole time.
The scene that I described in the movie theater reminds me of Nicodemus in a certain way. Nicodemus was a teacher of Israel, but he was clearly in the dark. Yet, he wasn't satisfied with that. He seems to be a man that at least knows he is in the dark about certain things. He wants the truth and is willing to go around searching for it in the dark. Even though, in this first encounter with Jesus, the truth is right there within his grasp but he just cannot quite place his hands on it. Nicodemus is still in the darkness in this scene both literally and figuratively but he will keep searching, and don't be surprised if he pops up again in John's Gospel, but this time in the light with the truth firmly in his hands.
Nicodemus was a Pharisee, a member of the Jewish ruling council, and an all-around important guy at the time of Jesus. The Pharisees certainly thought the Temple priests and ruling Sanhedrin were basically corrupt, so they likely would not have had a problem with, and may even have applauded Jesus' actions in the Temple. So it's not unusual at this point that Nicodemus would come to Jesus to ask questions. Yet, there does seem to be something unusual about coming to Jesus at night. This was not the normal way of doing things. We are simply not told why Nicodemus came at night, whether he was afraid of others and did not want to be seen, or he wanted a private audience away from the crowds, or whether there was some other explanation. Regardless of the situation, though, it seems that John wants his readers to catch the symbolism of this man who cannot quite see things clearly, yet has come to Jesus in the darkness, in the cover of night.
He opens his conversation with a typical Jewish greeting of praise, saying that clearly this is a man worthy of respect. He gives him the respect of calling him Rabbi even though Jesus apparently had no formal training. Jews generally believed that signs of the type that Jesus was performing could only come from God, so rather than looking for alternate explanations, as others would do, Nicodemus recognizes that Jesus is from God. He believes that no one could perform the signs that Jesus was doing if God were not with Him. Nicodemus is still in the darkness, but he is feeling around, looking for the light.
Jesus doesn't really engage with Nicodemus in the culturally expected niceties but gets right to the heart of the matter. No one, he says, can see the kingdom of God without being born again. To "see the kingdom of God" referred to participating in the life of the age to come, both in the present through the life of Christ and in full after the resurrection. Jews at that time, however, believed that all Israelites, except for a few exceptional reprobates, would be part of the age to come. What this means is that we have a scene here where Nicodemus has come to Jesus in the dark reaching around looking for the truth and beginning his conversation with normal Jewish customs, but Jesus cuts him off and basically says that all of the old expectations are no longer valid. The kingdom of God is not reserved for those that are born children of Abraham, but is reserved for those that are born again. The word translated "born again" can mean that but can also mean "from above." Jesus probably meant to imply both meanings by using this term, but he confuses his unenlightened questioner.
Nicodemus was a wise rabbinic teacher in many respects and it is likely that his response is not nearly as dense as it appears to be. It is improbable that that Nicodemus actually thought that Jesus was telling him that he must crawl back into his mother's womb and be born over. His response is probably a bit hopeful, even wistful, more along the lines of, "How can we start over again and erase who we are? It would be great if we could, but we can't go crawling back into our mothers and be born again, so what are we to do?"
This is the moment when Jesus is going to introduce a glimpse of the new creation to the darkness of Nicodemus' world, but rather than being able to see it clearly right away, Nicodemus reacts more like someone who has been in the dark and suddenly walks out into a bright sunny day. He is more blinded by the truth momentarily than he was when he was completely in the dark. Entrance into God's kingdom has nothing to do with being born into the nation of Israel, but it has to do with being born of water and the Spirit. It was the prophet Ezekiel who promised that God would renew His people and put new hearts in them with the double action of cleansing them with water and putting His own Spirit into them (Ezek. 36:25-27). This is likely Jesus' primary reference and certainly what Nicodemus would have understood, but John is no fool, and is writing this down decades after Jesus' death. Certainly he, and the early Christian community would have sees a clear foreshadowing to being baptized into Christ and receiving the Holy Spirit at that baptism (Acts 2:38).
This is how God will induct children into His new kingdom. This is a new kingdom and a new creation. The Old Covenant was a physical covenant with physical enemies, physical battles, physical sin, and a physical people of God. Flesh gave birth to flesh under that covenant. But no more. This is the time when God is renewing His people with His own Spirit just as He promised. He is taking away their heart of stone and replacing it with a heart of flesh (Ezek. 11:19; 36:26). Understanding the spiritual nature of the New Covenant as opposed to the physical nature of the Old Covenant helps us understand Jesus' words in verses 8-9. The wind blows and can be heard but it cannot be quantified, it cannot be easily defined and put in a box. So it is with everyone born of the Spirit. This spiritual birth cannot be contained or neatly confined within the nation of Israel or any nation.
This seems to blind and confuse Nicodemus to the point of exasperation. "How can this be?" he retorts. Surely God was going to work through Israel not apart from her. What Nicodemus was failing to grasp was something that John has already alluded to and will develop more fully as his Gospel unfolds. Jesus is Israel, the true Son of God.
Jesus chides Nicodemus a bit pointing out that he is supposed to be a teacher of God's people, and yet cannot seem to make room in his mind for the fact that God is doing something new, even though He had promised just that (Isa. 42:9; 43:19; 48:6; 65:17; Ezek. 11:19; 36:26). If Nicodemus cannot grasp the truth when Jesus speaks of earthly things like the fact that God has promised to do something new and that time has arrived, how can he possibly understand if Jesus actually began to explain the deep heavenly truths of those things? This doesn't mean, I don't believe, that Jesus is telling Nicodemus that he won't tell him these things, simply it is a challenge to Nicodemus that he is still feeling around in the dark and had better get his eyes used to the light quickly because it is standing right in front of him. If Nicodemus wants to even think about understanding the things of heaven he had better start paying attention to the one who came from heaven, because he doesn't just have the ability to see the light. He is the light.
Devotional Thought
Jesus talks about birth into the kingdom of God, but there is a funny truth about the fact of birth. Once someone is born they don't spend much time thinking about their birth again, but get busy with the business of living. Taking a little time occasion to honor and be thankful for your spiritual birth is a great thing, but only if you go beyond that rather than thinking that that is the culmination of your spiritual journey. Once you've been born from above, get on with the business of growing and living spiritually.
1 Now there was a Pharisee, a man named Nicodemus who was a member of the Jewish ruling council. 2 He came to Jesus at night and said, "Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher who has come from God. For no one could perform the signs you are doing if God were not with him."
3 Jesus replied, "Very truly I tell you, no one can see the kingdom of God without being born again."
4 "How can anyone be born when they are old?" Nicodemus asked. "Surely they cannot enter a second time into their mother's womb to be born!"
5 Jesus answered, "Very truly I tell you, no one can enter the kingdom of God without being born of water and the Spirit. 6 Flesh gives birth to flesh, but the Spirit gives birth to spirit. 7 You should not be surprised at my saying, 'You must be born again.' 8 The wind blows wherever it pleases. You hear its sound, but you cannot tell where it comes from or where it is going. So it is with everyone born of the Spirit."
9 "How can this be?" Nicodemus asked.
10 "You are Israel's teacher," said Jesus, "and do you not understand these things? 11 Very truly I tell you, we speak of what we know, and we testify to what we have seen, but still you people do not accept our testimony. 12 I have spoken to you of earthly things and you do not believe; how then will you believe if I speak of heavenly things? 13 No one has ever gone into heaven except the one who came from heaven—the Son of Man.
Dig Deeper
A couple of years back, my wife and I were out on a date and decided to go to a movie one night. We had been having dinner and decided to go to the movies a little late so by the time we got to the theater the movie had already started a few minutes earlier. We quickly got our tickets and hustled into the movie. We walked into the movie directly from the bright lights of the lobby and were virtually blinded in the darkness. We put our hands on the railing and walked all the way up the steps until we got to an area fairly high up where we could tell that no one was sitting. We still couldn't see very well, but slid in down the aisle and found a seat. As we sat down, I reached for my cell phone to turn the ringer off but realized that my phone had slid out of my pocket as I was sitting down. I now began to feel around and try to look under my seat but my eyes hadn't adjusted yet so I still couldn't see very well and I couldn't find it. After a few minutes, my eyes had adjusted even though it was still fairly dark so I decided to look again. This time I could begin to see a little bit under the seat but I just couldn't put my eyes or my hands on the phone. I had to give up and wait until the movie was over and lights came .. I would finally find my phone. When I did, I could see clearly that the phone wasn't quite where I thought it was, but it had been within my grasp the whole time.
The scene that I described in the movie theater reminds me of Nicodemus in a certain way. Nicodemus was a teacher of Israel, but he was clearly in the dark. Yet, he wasn't satisfied with that. He seems to be a man that at least knows he is in the dark about certain things. He wants the truth and is willing to go around searching for it in the dark. Even though, in this first encounter with Jesus, the truth is right there within his grasp but he just cannot quite place his hands on it. Nicodemus is still in the darkness in this scene both literally and figuratively but he will keep searching, and don't be surprised if he pops up again in John's Gospel, but this time in the light with the truth firmly in his hands.
Nicodemus was a Pharisee, a member of the Jewish ruling council, and an all-around important guy at the time of Jesus. The Pharisees certainly thought the Temple priests and ruling Sanhedrin were basically corrupt, so they likely would not have had a problem with, and may even have applauded Jesus' actions in the Temple. So it's not unusual at this point that Nicodemus would come to Jesus to ask questions. Yet, there does seem to be something unusual about coming to Jesus at night. This was not the normal way of doing things. We are simply not told why Nicodemus came at night, whether he was afraid of others and did not want to be seen, or he wanted a private audience away from the crowds, or whether there was some other explanation. Regardless of the situation, though, it seems that John wants his readers to catch the symbolism of this man who cannot quite see things clearly, yet has come to Jesus in the darkness, in the cover of night.
He opens his conversation with a typical Jewish greeting of praise, saying that clearly this is a man worthy of respect. He gives him the respect of calling him Rabbi even though Jesus apparently had no formal training. Jews generally believed that signs of the type that Jesus was performing could only come from God, so rather than looking for alternate explanations, as others would do, Nicodemus recognizes that Jesus is from God. He believes that no one could perform the signs that Jesus was doing if God were not with Him. Nicodemus is still in the darkness, but he is feeling around, looking for the light.
Jesus doesn't really engage with Nicodemus in the culturally expected niceties but gets right to the heart of the matter. No one, he says, can see the kingdom of God without being born again. To "see the kingdom of God" referred to participating in the life of the age to come, both in the present through the life of Christ and in full after the resurrection. Jews at that time, however, believed that all Israelites, except for a few exceptional reprobates, would be part of the age to come. What this means is that we have a scene here where Nicodemus has come to Jesus in the dark reaching around looking for the truth and beginning his conversation with normal Jewish customs, but Jesus cuts him off and basically says that all of the old expectations are no longer valid. The kingdom of God is not reserved for those that are born children of Abraham, but is reserved for those that are born again. The word translated "born again" can mean that but can also mean "from above." Jesus probably meant to imply both meanings by using this term, but he confuses his unenlightened questioner.
Nicodemus was a wise rabbinic teacher in many respects and it is likely that his response is not nearly as dense as it appears to be. It is improbable that that Nicodemus actually thought that Jesus was telling him that he must crawl back into his mother's womb and be born over. His response is probably a bit hopeful, even wistful, more along the lines of, "How can we start over again and erase who we are? It would be great if we could, but we can't go crawling back into our mothers and be born again, so what are we to do?"
This is the moment when Jesus is going to introduce a glimpse of the new creation to the darkness of Nicodemus' world, but rather than being able to see it clearly right away, Nicodemus reacts more like someone who has been in the dark and suddenly walks out into a bright sunny day. He is more blinded by the truth momentarily than he was when he was completely in the dark. Entrance into God's kingdom has nothing to do with being born into the nation of Israel, but it has to do with being born of water and the Spirit. It was the prophet Ezekiel who promised that God would renew His people and put new hearts in them with the double action of cleansing them with water and putting His own Spirit into them (Ezek. 36:25-27). This is likely Jesus' primary reference and certainly what Nicodemus would have understood, but John is no fool, and is writing this down decades after Jesus' death. Certainly he, and the early Christian community would have sees a clear foreshadowing to being baptized into Christ and receiving the Holy Spirit at that baptism (Acts 2:38).
This is how God will induct children into His new kingdom. This is a new kingdom and a new creation. The Old Covenant was a physical covenant with physical enemies, physical battles, physical sin, and a physical people of God. Flesh gave birth to flesh under that covenant. But no more. This is the time when God is renewing His people with His own Spirit just as He promised. He is taking away their heart of stone and replacing it with a heart of flesh (Ezek. 11:19; 36:26). Understanding the spiritual nature of the New Covenant as opposed to the physical nature of the Old Covenant helps us understand Jesus' words in verses 8-9. The wind blows and can be heard but it cannot be quantified, it cannot be easily defined and put in a box. So it is with everyone born of the Spirit. This spiritual birth cannot be contained or neatly confined within the nation of Israel or any nation.
This seems to blind and confuse Nicodemus to the point of exasperation. "How can this be?" he retorts. Surely God was going to work through Israel not apart from her. What Nicodemus was failing to grasp was something that John has already alluded to and will develop more fully as his Gospel unfolds. Jesus is Israel, the true Son of God.
Jesus chides Nicodemus a bit pointing out that he is supposed to be a teacher of God's people, and yet cannot seem to make room in his mind for the fact that God is doing something new, even though He had promised just that (Isa. 42:9; 43:19; 48:6; 65:17; Ezek. 11:19; 36:26). If Nicodemus cannot grasp the truth when Jesus speaks of earthly things like the fact that God has promised to do something new and that time has arrived, how can he possibly understand if Jesus actually began to explain the deep heavenly truths of those things? This doesn't mean, I don't believe, that Jesus is telling Nicodemus that he won't tell him these things, simply it is a challenge to Nicodemus that he is still feeling around in the dark and had better get his eyes used to the light quickly because it is standing right in front of him. If Nicodemus wants to even think about understanding the things of heaven he had better start paying attention to the one who came from heaven, because he doesn't just have the ability to see the light. He is the light.
Devotional Thought
Jesus talks about birth into the kingdom of God, but there is a funny truth about the fact of birth. Once someone is born they don't spend much time thinking about their birth again, but get busy with the business of living. Taking a little time occasion to honor and be thankful for your spiritual birth is a great thing, but only if you go beyond that rather than thinking that that is the culmination of your spiritual journey. Once you've been born from above, get on with the business of growing and living spiritually.
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