Friday, January 30, 2009

John 13:1-5

Jesus Washes His Disciples' Feet

1It was just before the Passover Feast. Jesus knew that the time had come for him to leave this world and go to the Father. Having loved his own who were in the world, he now showed them the full extent of his love.

2The evening meal was being served, and the devil had already prompted Judas Iscariot, son of Simon, to betray Jesus. 3Jesus knew that the Father had put all things under his power, and that he had come from God and was returning to God; 4so he got up from the meal, took off his outer clothing, and wrapped a towel around his waist. 5After that, he poured water into a basin and began to wash his disciples' feet, drying them with the towel that was wrapped around him.



Dig Deeper

I grew up always having at least one dog in our house. Before I left for college, in fact, we owned two different dogs. I always liked dogs and I recently got one for my own sons, although I don’t think I like dogs as much now as I did then. It’s one thing when a dog messes up your parents house, you don’t really think about it. But it’s something else when he messes up your house. Somewhere along the line in the last few years, however, my parents switched over from owning dogs to now owning three cats and no dogs. I’m not even going to try to be sensitive here. I don’t like cats. I don’t see the point of owning an animal that won’t even come when you call it. My dad tells a poignant little anecdote, though, that perfectly captures the difference between cats and dogs. He says that a dog looks at the fact that humans feed him, take him outside, clean up after, and care for him, and thinks, "They must be God." A cat, on the other hand, looks at the fact that humans feed her, let her outside and inside, clean up after her, and take care of her, and thinks, "I must be God." That’s really the difference between dogs and cats in my opinion. Dogs see the service that humans lovingly provide for them as evidence that the human is higher than they are. Cats, though, see the service that humans lovingly provide for them as evidence that the human is lower than they are.

In John 1:14, John tells us that the "Word became flesh." Jesus left the glory, splendor and perfect peace of being in heaven, the place where God’s will is done perfectly for frailty of the human condition. He made it clear throughout his ministry that he did not come to be served or revered as God, he came to serve humanity. Everything he did, everything he was about was loving service and humility. The questions that Jesus followers wrestled with during his life are the same ones we must wrestle with. Do Jesus’ acts of service provide evidence that he is who he said he was, the Son of God, sent directly from the Father or do those acts show that he’s quite the opposite, because no Son of God should be humbling himself like he did? God is clearly the master, but the question is, are we cats or dogs? Does Jesus’ humble servanthood show that he is God or stand in contradiction to that fact? As we will see tomorrow, Peter struggled with that very same question.

John begins by telling us that it was just weeks before the Passover Feast. We should be familiar enough by now with John’s penchant for mentioning Jewish festivals that he doesn’t just use them as time markers, but also likes to show how the true and full meaning of that festival finds its complete fulfillment in Jesus. The Passover was the feast that commemorated the time in Israel’s history when God had promised to free Israel from the slavery of Egypt by bringing death to every firstborn in the country. The people of God would escape that death by killing an unblemished lamb and spreading the blood of that lamb on the top and sides of their doorposts in the pattern of a cross. It was the blood of the lamb that would keep the people from the death that would come to everyone else. John has already told us that Jesus is the lamb of God (Jn. 1:29) and now he will show us how that will work out. The full meaning of the Passover will find its truest expression in Jesus.

Jesus knows that his time had come and that it was time for him to leave this world and return to the Father who sent him. Everything that he had done was an expression of his love for his own who were in the world, but now Jesus has gathered them together for a final Passover meal (John doesn’t gives us all the details of the meal but assumes that his readers are familiar with the other Gospels accounts of the details). It is through this time that Jesus wants to demonstrate the full extent of his love. He could tell them, but all the better to demonstrate for him what he is about to do. Jesus wants to demonstrate in a vivid and memorable way, just exactly how his love would be manifested for them. But before John tells us about that, he will remind us that evil is always lurking about Jesus and has even entered into one of his inner circle. Judas had opened himself up to the devil by his refusal to truly believe and has already determined to betray Jesus. Thus we have a stark difference between the full extent of Jesus’ self-giving love and the evil that Judas has embraced.

It is easy to think that Jesus, in this scene, lowers himself despite the fact that he is God, to show humans the necessity of being a servant, yet that would be to miss a major part of the point. John says that Jesus knew that the Father had put all things under his power, and that he had come from God. . . so he got up. What Jesus was doing was not in spite of who he was but was a direct result of it. If you want to see God, Jesus said, take a look at Jesus, and to truly see who Jesus is, we must see him on his knees as the feet of men who were about to fail, abandon, and betray him, serving them and showing them his love. This scene shows us in action what Paul tells us in words about Jesus in Philippians 2, mainly that because of his nature as God, Jesus was a servant when he took on the flesh of a man. Being a servant is not something God does, not something that Jesus did, a servant is who he is. That is the full expression of God’s nature, the full extent of His love.

The act of washing their feet must have been stunning to the disciples and, in fact, it seems that the room remained in deafening silence until Peter’s voice shattered the air. It was a common part of the Jewish culture to expect that a disciple would perform a whole host of serving and even menial tasks for their teacher. The one act that was considered even too lowly for a disciple to perform was that of washing feet. It was customary for the feet of everyone at the meal to be washed before the meal but that was left to servants and slaves. Jesus picks out the one task that was too low for even a disciple to perform and lovingly washes the feet of each of his disciples, including Judas.

It speaks of Jesus’ true unconditional love that he knew that Judas was going to betray him to his death and yet none of the others knew. He kneels at the feet of Judas and washes his feet with the same love and humility that he washes all of the others (we’ll discuss this action in more detail in the next pasage). That is genuine, self-giving love. That is the full extent of his love.

When Jesus met Nathanael, he told him that "You believe because I told you I saw you under the fig tree. You shall see greater things than that. I tell you the truth, you [all] shall see heaven open, and the angels of God ascending and descending on the Son of Man" (Jn. 1:51) Jesus informed Nathanael that he was Jacob’s ladder in the flesh. He was the place where heaven would open and manifest itself in the earthly realm. As the disciples followed Jesus, he assured them, they would see greater things than an impressive demonstration of knowing what Nathanael was doing when Jesus couldn’t have possibly seen him physically. Surely the disciples were excited beyond belief at those words. What things were they going to see? What kind of great things were in store for them as they followed this man? Who could doubt that the blind being given sight, the lame being healed, the religious power structure of their time being challenged, thousands fed with a few loaves and a couple of fish, and the dead being raised were great things that all showed aspects of God’s nature and the new creation that Jesus was unveiling? What none of them could possibly imagine was that the greatest display that there were going to see was Jesus shedding his outer robe, tying a towel around his waist and washing the feet of a group of unschooled, ordinary men who had dedicated themselves to being his students.

Was this the full extent of his love, though? Was this foot washing the fullest extent of Jesus’ character and love? Is this how he would love his disciples to the very end? Yes and no. In a very real sense, this act of service and revelation of God’s nature was the greatest thing that they would see. In another very real sense, though, this was a moment when Jesus was only teaching them about the greatest thing they would see. In chapter ten, Jesus declared that he was the Good Shepherd, and that the primary attribute of the Good Shepherd was that he would lay down his life for his sheep. What Jesus did with a wash basin and a towel was show them them the very heart, reason, and purpose of the Cross. He showed them that he would serve them by stooping to death not because that’s what God would do for them but because that’s who He is.



Devotional Thought

Do you view humble service as who you are in Christ or do you reduce it to something you do? When we see things like Christian service, humility, evangelism, or any other aspect of the Christian life as merely things we do, they will eventually become tiresome and feel like something we have to do. What we are called to realize, though, is that to live is Christ, and those things are part of who we are. We are part of the new creation and that is who we are not what we do.

Thursday, January 29, 2009

John 12:44-49

44Then Jesus cried out, "When a man believes in me, he does not believe in me only, but in the one who sent me. 45When he looks at me, he sees the one who sent me. 46I have come into the world as a light, so that no one who believes in me should stay in darkness.

47"As for the person who hears my words but does not keep them, I do not judge him. For I did not come to judge the world, but to save it. 48There is a judge for the one who rejects me and does not accept my words; that very word which I spoke will condemn him at the last day. 49For I did not speak of my own accord, but the Father who sent me commanded me what to say and how to say it. 50I know that his command leads to eternal life. So whatever I say is just what the Father has told me to say."



Dig Deeper

What if they’re telling the truth? That’s a question that we probably find ourselves asking more often than we might even think. A few years ago I was up late one night, not able to sleep so I flipped on the television set. As I scrolled through the channels I realized that there was not much of anything to watch. I eventually settled on a channel that was airing an info-mericial. The claims they were making were amazing, in fact almost too good to be true. Anyone, even me, could make hundreds of thousands of dollars, if not more, with just a few hours of work a week. Imagine that. I could become a millionaire in a few short years and only had to work a few hours here and there. As I watched on, I began to think about how ridiculous these claims were. I could buy access to this sure-fire method of becoming rich and I only had to pay $169 (US) in order to get the system. I had almost completely dismissed this half-hour commercial as a ridiculous get-rich-quick scheme that would not work, when a thought flashed through my mind. What if it’s true? What if I could earn that kind of money with virtually no work or effort required? What would that mean for my family? Dare I consider the implications of their claims being true? Now I was left with the choice of simply dismissing the claims or looking into them. Although I did not ever believe that there was any credibility to this system, I decided to do a little research before I summarily dismissed it. It took just a few minutes online to discover that this was indeed a ridiculous scam, but at least I had checked it out.

John has shown us time and again how the religious and political leaders of Jesus’ day rejected him, his words, and his claims time and again. They simply knew that he couldn’t be right. He couldn’t possibly be telling the truth. There was no way that he was one with the Father, perfectly doing His will and work for which Jesus was sent. I can’t help but wonder if they ever stopped, if even for a moment, and allowed themselves to wonder. What if he’s right? What’s if he’s telling the truth? What if he is who he says he is and can do what he says he can do? What would be the implications of that? Sadly, John also makes it clear that they never really considered that to the point of seriously checking out Jesus’ claims. The haunting thought hovers just above this entire passage, and in fact the entire book: What if hearing and rejecting Jesus’ words, his logos, really would mean being judged by those very words?

Some commentators point out that Jesus’ words in this passage are probably some sort of summary statement in John’s mind of Jesus’ teaching. They are likely correct in that view. John has reported in verse 36 that Jesus hid himself from the crowd and so it seems unlikely that he would return to public teaching here. What is probably the case is that John has taken these words from Jesus from an earlier time and used them here as a fitting summary of Jesus’ public teaching. It is a fitting and emphatic end to the first section of John’s Gospel. The rest of the Gospel will switch focus from the seven signs to Jesus’ final week, final instruction to his disciples, his crucifixion and resurrection.

Jesus cries out to those around him that the defining issue concerning Jesus is faith in God. If Jesus was simply running around putting forth his own ideas and teachings, then people would simply be having faith in him or rejecting him. Yet, it is not that simple. Jesus has said time and again that he is sent from the father, is doing the Father’s will, and sharing in the Father’s work. Thus, his words are the Father’s words. He only speaks what the Father has told him to say, so when they reject his words, they are really rejecting the words of the Father. When a man believes in me, says Jesus, he does not believe in me only, but in the one who sent me.

Jesus represents the Jewish idea of identification quite will here, where the one being sent represents the one who sent him. If one accepts Jesus, they accept the Father. Conversely, to reject faith in Jesus is to reject the Father. They are so closely aligned in mission, work, and in every other way, that to see the Son is to see the Father. We can know what the Father is like and what he does, because we know can see the works of the Son.

Before Jesus came, the whole world was in a state of darkness with no hope or possibility of removing ourselves from the darkness in which we live. It is into that darkness that the light has come. Jesus isn’t just a teacher of light or someone that brought light with him. Jesus is the light, and he came into the world as a light so that no one who believes in him should stay in darkness. My youngest son likes to sleep with a very dim nightlight into his room. It makes everything in the room kind of murky, with long, dark shadows all over the room. A dim and shadowy light like that doesn’t distinguish much between the light and dark parts of the room. But when his light switch is turned on, a bright light shines on the whole room. Jesus is the bright light that came into the world and clearly demonstrated the new creation of God so when people shrunk back from that light and crawled into the darkness, there was no question that they desired and wanted the darkness. It doesn’t take much effort to get out of a dim light, but it takes concerted effort to get away from a bright and powerful light.

Jesus was the light of God and he was the word, the logos, the very ordering principle of the universe. When someone hears Jesus’ words, but does not keep them, he does not judge them. Jesus did not come to condemn the world, it stands condemned and dead in sin already (cf. Jn. 3:17-21). Jesus came to offer salvation not judgment, but that very declaration will be the standard by which the world will be judged. His point is that he is not arbitrarily going around condemning those who reject his words as though he is simply angry when people don’t believe him. Jesus speaks the words of the Father; the word of the Father is the absolute standard between light and darkness in the world, so when people reject the words of Jesus, they reject the absolute will and standard of the Father. They have rejected His salvation and stand already condemned and judged by the very word they rejected.

Jesus’ command, which is really the command of the Father, leads to eternal life because the Father’s command is eternal life. The words of God are the life of the age to come because they are the revelation of His will. Those who believe and accept those words have eternal life based on their mere belief in those words.

Jesus has stressed again and again, and John brings it out here one more time, that Jesus has never been about self-exaltation or drawing attention or even converts to himself. He has always said just what the Father has told him to say. His mission, his words, his entire ministry is not human in origin, but heavenly. It all comes from the Father and is directed towards the Father. You simply cannot separate the Father from the Son, so when the Jews rejected the Son, claiming it was because they embraced the Father, they were dead wrong and making the choice to remain in darkness.

Then it all comes back around to the logos. Is it the logos of God or the logos of man? Whose words does Jesus speak and what does it mean if he was who he said he was? What if those were the words of the One he said they were? The one thing that those who rejected Jesus had refused to consider was the fact that he could do what he said he could do. They could see the signs and wonders, yet would not accept that he was the Son of God. The question that they would apparently not consider, but that John clearly wants his readers to ponder is this: What if those very words of Jesus that he has recorded were the words of God? What if those very words will stand as our judge one day? What if?




Devotional Thought

Do you accept the words of Jesus as the very words of God by which we will be judged one day or do you show contempt for them based on your actions? Before you answer that question, think about this question: Do you accept ALL of the words of Jesus as the very words of God by which we will all be judged one day. It is very easy for us today to declare and even believe that we have accepted Jesus’ teachings, but in reality, we marginalize the most challenging parts and appease ourselves by embracing the rest of it. If that sounds like something you do on occasion, think of this: partial obedience is disobedience.

Wednesday, January 28, 2009

John 12:37-43

The Jews Continue in Their Unbelief

37Even after Jesus had done all these miraculous signs in their presence, they still would not believe in him. 38This was to fulfill the word of Isaiah the prophet:

"Lord, who has believed our message

and to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed?"

39For this reason they could not believe, because, as Isaiah says elsewhere:

40"He has blinded their eyes

and deadened their hearts,

so they can neither see with their eyes,

nor understand with their hearts,

nor turn—and I would heal them." 41Isaiah said this because he saw Jesus' glory and spoke about him.

42Yet at the same time many even among the leaders believed in him. But because of the Pharisees they would not confess their faith for fear they would be put out of the synagogue; 43for they loved praise from men more than praise from God.



Dig Deeper

I had literally done it a hundred times before, but not today. Today of all days, they wouldn’t let me do it. You know how those kinds of days go sometimes. I was finally done after a long day at work. I was tired, hungry, and hot and I needed to hurry into the bank to stop and get some money. After that I had just enough time to get my son from school, grab a quick bite to for us to eat and make it to a midweek service at church. I had made a regular habit of stopping at the bank to withdraw money in the drive-thru and had never once been asked to show my identification. Today of all days, the woman teller asked for me to send my identification through the automatic dispenser. There was just one problem. You guessed it. Today of all days, I had forgotten my wallet at the high school at which I taught at that time. I had taken out my license to make a photocopy of it (the reason I needed a photocopy escapes me), and I had left my license and my wallet at my desk. That’s why I needed to stop and get some money. I told her that I had forgotten my wallet but that I did happen to have a photocopy of my license with me. She snappily responded that that would not do. I tried to explain to her my dilemma and pointed out that I had been coming to that bank for six years and had never needed to show my identification. She still refused and I had to leave without any money. I was very frustrated that even after I told her who I was, I showed her proof of who I was, and explained the situation, she still refused to believe me. Looking back on it, I suppose she was right to refuse me, but that’s not the point I’m trying to make with this story. The point is she had all of the evidence she needed to verify that I was who I said I was but she simply refused.

Well over a thousand years before Jesus, Moses boldly stepped into the presence of the mighty Pharaoh and directed him to let God’s people go. The children of Israel were not slaves, they were intended to be far more than that and it was time for Pharaoh to release the Israelites. Pharaoh would not bend his will for anyone, however, and quickly refused. Moses warned him time and again that great disasters in the form of signs and plagues would befall Egypt if the Pharaoh did not acquiesce to Moses’ demands. We might understand that Pharaoh refused to give in after the first sign or two, but as the plagues continued to pile up, it becomes more and more difficult to identify with him. Time and again, he steeled himself up and hardened his heart against the possibility that there was any being greater than he, any God greater than the gods of Egypt. He was determined to do his own will rather than any God’s will. After a while, the Exodus text switches and tells us as the plagues continued, God hardened Pharaoh’s heart. "Chazaq " is translated "harden" as the action that God takes on Pharaoh’s heart, but it has the meaning of "steeled" (like you would steel someone or prepare them for battle) or "encourage." The point is not that God forced Pharaoh to take a certain action but that God encouraged him to act on the rebellion that he had already committed himself to, so that God’s purposes could be completed. Pharaoh had already made up his mind and his heart and each successive sign, rather than having the purpose of turning his heart, exposed it and drew it out further. Despite everything that Pharaoh saw, he simply refused to believe.

This phenomena cannot be solely ascribed to Pharaoh, though. Just as he refused to believe despite all that he saw, the Exodus generation did the same thing. They saw the plagues, they walked through the Red Sea, yet they constantly wavered in their belief and repeatedly grumbled against the Lord. Just like those Israelites and the Egyptian Pharaoh, there were many who saw Jesus’ miracles and would not believe. John has shown repeatedly the crowds who had already hardened their hearts against the concept that Jesus was the Messiah. They were not looking for the truth wherever it led them, they were looking for a confirmation of their expectations. John tells us, and we can almost feel his exasperation, that Jesus had done all these miraculous signs in their presence, but they still would not believe in him.

John quotes liberally from Isaiah, as he says this was all to fulfill the of Isaiah the prophet. The first passage referenced is Isaiah 53:1, which says, "Who has believed our message and to whom has the arm of the LORD been revealed?" Isaiah is referring to the Servant of the Lord who is soundly rejected by the people but raised, lifted up, and exalted by God (Isa. 52:13). John says that Jesus was the ultimate fulfillment of Isaiah’s words. Just as Isaiah’s message was rejected by the Jews, so was Jesus’, the Servant of the Lord.

John continues to draw from Isaiah, saying that the Jews could not believe because God has blinded their eyes and deadened their hearts, so they can neither see with their eyes, nor understand with their hearts, nor turn—and I would heal them" (Isa. 6:10). If we read those words through the eyes of Western philosophy and thought, it is easy to suppose that John is using Isaiah’s words to present the case that the Israelites didn’t believe because God had not elected them to believe. Yet, that is not the case. If we look at what John is saying, from his Jewish perspective, it is much more likely that his point has to do with God’s sovereignty but not concerning God electing certain individuals for faith and some for unbelief with no regard for human free will. His point is that we should not take the unbelief of the Jew as a sign that God is not in control of events in history or that their unbelief is a sign that the Jews’ lack of belief might thwart God’s plans. God has turned them over to their own rebellion, or as Paul puts it, he gave them over (Rom. 1:24, 26, 28) to their own sinful and rebellious hearts. Signs and miracles don’t develop belief, they reveal it. Thus, the signs brought the belief out of those who genuinely and humbly sought the truth of God but it cause blindness, deadness and rebellion to those who preferred their own will over that of God’s. When God’s initiative and call meet our humility and search for the truth, the result is faith. When God’s initiative and call meet our arrogance and rebellion against any master other than ourselves, the result is spiritual blindness and a hardening of the heart that can rightly be said to be a result of our own actions as well as God’s. This was not a surprise or a wrench in God’s plan, though, it was something that had been prophesied all along.

Isaiah 6 goes on to say that the Jews would reject God’s way, "Until the cities lie ruined and without inhabitant, until the houses are left deserted and the fields ruined and ravaged, until the LORD has sent everyone far away and the land is utterly forsaken" (Isa. 6:11-12). The rejection of God by His people would continue and eventually result in their utter destruction. This was about to happen from Jesus’ perspective and had likely already happened as John is writing his Gospel (the destruction of the Temple took place in 70 AD while John is likely writing one or even two decades after that). The light had shined on the mud of Israel’s rebellious heart had caused it to become hard like mud bricks.

But God’s purposes are not thwarted or even frustrated by rebellious people, quite the opposite. Isaiah had foretold of the effects of God’s Servant on the hearts of His people. This would serve as a sign of confirmation for those who would truly believe rather than serve as an alarming indicator that their rejection of Jesus was somehow legitimate.

The rejection of Jesus by the people of God and his subsequent exaltation by God Himself that Isaiah saw was not a mark against Jesus but a sign of his glory. God promised Jesus that He would glorify His name (Jn. 12:28). This would come through the rejection of the Cross. Some came to a nominal faith in Jesus, says John, but he links that the idea of Jesus’ glory to that as well. John said that Isaiah saw the rejection of Jesus as part of his glory. The word translated "glory" is "doxa" which can also mean "praise." Those who had come to some level of faith were still deeply influenced by the rabid opposition of the majority of Pharisees. They would not confess their faith for fear they would be put out of the synagogue. They loved doxa from men more than doxa from God, John tells us in verse 43. John tells us that Isaiah could easily see a rejection of Jesus as a sign of his glory and then tells us that those who "believed" in Jesus valued the glory of men over the glory of God. They could not, in other words, embrace persecution as something that might come in following Jesus. Perhaps this is understandable for men who did not yet have the strengthening of the Holy Spirit but John likely intended this to be a stern warning for his readers in the latter decades of the first century (when John likely wrote his Gospel), who were under a systematic threat of being expelled from the synagogues themselves. Could they embrace rejection as a natural cause of God’s light on the heart of the rebellious or would they cower in fear and value the glory and acceptance of man over God’s glory? The point is clear, oftentimes God’s glory will cause those who follow Christ to be persecuted by men who reject him.



Devotional Thought

In the opening line of Johnny Cash’s "Folsom Prison Blues," he says "I hear the train a comin’, it’s rollin’ ‘round the bend." If you listen closely, it’s not hard to hear the train of persecution for God’s people rolling down the tracks of Western civilization. Are you prepared if you suddenly find yourself living in a culture that persecutes Christians, expelling them from normal life? Which do you truly value more, man’s acceptance and praise or God’s?

Tuesday, January 27, 2009

John 12:27-36

27"Now my heart is troubled, and what shall I say? 'Father, save me from this hour'? No, it was for this very reason I came to this hour. 28Father, glorify your name!"

Then a voice came from heaven, "I have glorified it, and will glorify it again." 29The crowd that was there and heard it said it had thundered; others said an angel had spoken to him.

30Jesus said, "This voice was for your benefit, not mine. 31Now is the time for judgment on this world; now the prince of this world will be driven out. 32But I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all men to myself." 33He said this to show the kind of death he was going to die.

34The crowd spoke up, "We have heard from the Law that the Christ will remain forever, so how can you say, 'The Son of Man must be lifted up'? Who is this 'Son of Man'?"

35Then Jesus told them, "You are going to have the light just a little while longer. Walk while you have the light, before darkness overtakes you. The man who walks in the dark does not know where he is going. 36Put your trust in the light while you have it, so that you may become sons of light." When he had finished speaking, Jesus left and hid himself from them.



Dig Deeper

Our oldest son is thirteen now and he’s a very wonderful, outgoing young man but when he was younger, he could tend to be a bit shy at times. At five years old, he wanted nothing more than to play basketball on a real team. He loved sports and basketball was his favorite. Everyday he would get up early on his little indoor hoop and would shoot for hours. He would especially relish the times when we would go up to the park and play on the real hoops. It seemed that everything in his little life was leading up to the YMCA basketball league. He wanted special basketball shoes and insisted on wearing a real Milwaukee Bucks jersey and shorts so that he would look like a real basketball player. On top of that, he told everyone who would listen that he was going to be a real basketball player, he was going to play in a league. He was ready too, he was a pretty good player for his age. Finally, after weeks of waiting, the big day came. It was the first day of the league. He got up early and got himself dressed in all of his basketball gear, for the time had come. When we got to the gym, he bounded out of the car and ran ahead of me, only stopping when he got to the big glass door that he couldn’t open himself. When we went inside the gym it was full of parents, referees and the other players. Here was his moment. He responded by looking around at all of the people, bursting in to tears and running behind my legs. When the moment came for him to take center stage and play basketball, the very thing he wanted, he suddenly wanted another way. He wanted to be a real basketball player without anyone looking at him. He wanted to avoid the very thing he had been preparing for all along. For those who are wondering, he never did collect himself and did not play in that league that year.

The question is, though, is this what happened to Jesus? Did Jesus plan his whole life around doing the will of the Father and know that that mission culminated in the cross, only to desire to back out at the last minute. When the hour actually came, was he trying to back out of the Father’s will and find some way to avoid it? Is your picture of Jesus and God big enough to handle that if that was the case?

Many Christians surrender to a form of docetism in their thinking without even realizing it. This might not concern you, because more likely than not, you have no idea what docetism is. It is important, though, trust me. Docetism was a very early heresy about Jesus that taught that he only appeared to be human. He was really God, though, so he wasn’t really human, it just looked and seemed that way. Passages like this, however, show us that this is just not the case. The Word had become flesh, real flesh. Flesh that was complete with all of it’s inherent weaknesses and temptations to seek out its own comfortable will rather than God’s. This troubled feeling that Jesus expresses wasn’t something that just came over him in the moment. It was something that was with him all along. We see Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemene dealing with this struggle once-and-for-all as he resolves himself to do nothing but the will of the Father as he had all along. Just because Jesus did the Father’s will perfectly doesn’t mean that he wasn’t tempted to do otherwise. He was tempted in every way (Heb. 4:15) because he was fully human, and there is no area in which we are more tempted than to do the will of our weak flesh rather than the Father’s will. That is why when Jesus taught his disciples to pray, a central aspect of that prayer was that God’s will be done in our own lives (Matt. 6:10). Jesus wasn’t going to back out of doing the Father’s will but if there was another way to fulfill it, he sure was listening.

Jesus’ suffering was going to be very real suffering. When I was a child, I used to think that the crucifixion was no big deal because Jesus was God and so it wouldn’t have been that bad. What I didn’t understand was that Jesus was every bit as human as I am. His flesh did not want to suffer. If there was some other way, then this would be a great time for God to reveal it now that the time had come. Perhaps the Father would change the plan at the last minute the way he had caused Abraham to stop his sacrifice of Isaac. But no, Jesus knows better than that. The entirety of the Father’s will for Jesus was to go the cross. All of history hinged on this moment and the Father’s name would be glorified.

The Father doesn’t just leave the Son wrestling with this momentous struggle on his own, he speaks audibly. The Father also spoke audibly at Jesus’ baptism and his transfiguration, so this is the third time that the Father’s voice was heard aloud. The Father confirmed that he had glorified His name through everything that Jesus had done in his ministry and life and He would certainly be glorified at the death of His own son.

The crowd isn’t sure what they heard. Some thought it was thunder, while others credited it to angels. It is curious that John doesn’t report anyone who correctly surmised that it was the Father Himself. In that respect, the crowd wasn’t much different from people today who seem ready to attribute the things of the Almighty God, whether it be the resurrection of Christ, the Bible, Creation, or something else, to anything other than God.

The voice of the Father, though, wasn’t necessary for Jesus. Struggle as he might in his flesh. The Spirit within gave him constant testimony to the fact that he was doing the Father’s will. There was no mistaking it and no voice from heaven was necessary for Jesus. The quiet leading of the Spirit was more than enough. So, what was the purpose of the voice? It was so that those around Jesus would recognize that everything Jesus did came from the Father and had the intent of glorifying the Father. It was for their benefit, not his.

The voice from heaven signified that everything Jesus had done and said was, in fact, the work of the Father. The time had come. The world and the evil in it would be judged. The prince of this world would be driven out from his throne of temporary rule. Now this is more like it. This was the kind of talk that the Jews wanted to hear coming from a potential Messiah. Some were no doubt scrambling for their swords, ready to follow him into battle at the slightest sign that he was ready to take on the Romans. But no, that’s not how all of this would happen. It wouldn’t be that obvious. The new covenant would be a different and spiritual covenant rather than a physical one. The prince of this age wasn’t Rome but Satan and evil itself, that’s what would be judged and dealt with. The way that this would happen was that Jesus would be lifted up, meaning he would be crucified. This is how he would draw all men out of the slavery of sin and to himself. He must, in other words, die in order for the world to be freed.

This was pure, confusing nonsense to the crowds. They simply could not compute the idea of a Messiah that was talking of his own death. How would that be glorious? How would that defeat anything? He should be talking of killing Romans, not talking of them killing him. If anything, that sounded like an excuse. That sounded like someone who knew he was going to fail and was trying to come up with reasons for his failure. The Jews had understood the Scriptures that talked of the eternal kingdom of the Messiah (cf. Gen. 49:10; Dan. 7:18) that would never end. How could this happen if the Son of Man was going to die? Could it be that the Son of Man was someone other than Jesus? Would that person suffer and die while Jesus would rule forever?

Jesus, as he so often does, doesn’t appear to answer the question directly, instead talking about something that seemingly doesn’t relate to the question. As is always the case, though, his enigmatic answer is the exact answer to the question if they will only listen with spiritual ears. They want to know who the Son of Man is? He is light of men (Jn. 1:5), but there is no time for extravagant explanations. This explanation is as succinct and to the point as his initial explanation to the Greeks concerning who he is. He is the light, but they will have that light for just a very short while. In the meantime, they need to stay with that light, walk in the light, and believe in that light. If they do that, they will soon know how to enter into that light permanently and become sons of light. With that said, Jesus acts brilliantly in what seems to be an acted out parable. He left and hid himself from them, showing them in very real terms what it would be like if they do not stay in the light. If they don’t follow and believe in his word, they will not be able to find the light at all once he has been lifted up. Then the darkness truly will overtake them.



Devotional Thought

If we’re not careful, we can slip into the same sort of thinking that the crowd here had. We can expect God to always work powerfully and victoriously in our lives rather than working and molding us through struggles and trials. When a trial comes into your life, do you embrace with thanksgiving as the means through which God is teaching and training you or does it make you doubt and question whether God is really in control? Look at some of the recent trials in your life and consider how God has or will use them to His glory in your life.

Monday, January 26, 2009

John 12:20-26

Jesus Predicts His Death

20Now there were some Greeks among those who went up to worship at the Feast. 21They came to Philip, who was from Bethsaida in Galilee, with a request. "Sir," they said, "we would like to see Jesus." 22Philip went to tell Andrew; Andrew and Philip in turn told Jesus.

23Jesus replied, "The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified. 24I tell you the truth, unless a kernel of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains only a single seed. But if it dies, it produces many seeds. 25The man who loves his life will lose it, while the man who hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life. 26Whoever serves me must follow me; and where I am, my servant also will be. My Father will honor the one who serves me.



Dig Deeper

I recall as a small child being fascinated by the story "Jack and the Beanstalk." Actually we had a book that was the Mickey Mouse version called "Mickey and the Beanstalk," but it was a similar story line. The part that really grabbed my attention was the magic beans. They didn’t seem very special and certainly didn’t seem worth the cow that Mickey traded for the beans. In fact, the beans seemed to be worthless. Until, that is, his mother threw them out of the window. Once they went into the ground, the magic part of them took hold and a giant beanstalk grew overnight. That story left me quite interested in this whole seed business. The idea that you could put something into the ground and it might eventually develop into a living plant was amazing to me. I tried burying tree leaves, chestnuts that had fallen off of trees, dandelion heads, almost anything that I could find that looked like it might grow after I buried it. Nothing worked until the summer that my mother decided to grow a garden in our back yard. I got to help put the seeds in the ground but after a few days nothing was coming up. It seemed to me that there was going to be another disappointment. Then, suddenly one morning, I went outside into the backyard and I saw dozens of little shoots coming up out of the ground. I was amazed. Life had sprouted from the act of burying what seemed like a dead seed.

The incredible things about seeds is that it truly seems like a death has occurred. You take a lifeless rather nondescript thing and bury it into the ground, yet somehow life springs forth from that act of death and burial. Jesus used the imagery of the seed quite often to speak of life coming forth from death. In doing so, he was using something that was common and understandable to the agrarian culture in which he lived, but that also got across the important point that in order for him to truly bring forth the new life of the new creation, death like that of a seed being buried in the ground, was absolutely necessary.

John tells us that there were some Greeks who had come among the pilgrims to worship at the Passover Feast in Jerusalem. "Greek" was kind of a catch-all word that included virtually any Gentiles in the Greco-Roman world. We’re not told who these Greeks were or where they came from but it was likely that they were from a specific group called "God-fearers" and came from the Decapolis. God-fearers were Gentiles that deeply admired and adhered to Jewish monotheism and the reverent way of life consistent with Judaism but did not get circumcised and thus go all the way to becoming proselytes. These God-fearers were allowed in the outer courts of the Temple but could not go into the inner courts under the penalty of death.

These Greeks have heard about Jesus and so they approach Philip to gain an audience with him. It might be just a coincidence that they approach Philip, but his name is a Greek name, so that might have led to them seeking out Philip. When they ask to see Jesus, though, that doesn’t just mean that they want to take a look at him, that meant that they wanted to question him and inquire about his teaching. Philip tells Andrew and they both go and tell Jesus. It’s not clear whether Jesus addresses the Greeks directly or if he simply responds to Philip and Andrew, giving them a message to take back to the Greeks. Either way, we have a bit of a riddle it seems. The Greeks want to learn about Jesus’ teaching, so what on earth does his response have to do with any of that?

We might think that Jesus would be encouraged by their inquiries and would respond with a call for them to come to him and learn from him, but we don’t get that. Instead Jesus talks of seeds, dying, losing your life, being his servant, in short, a bunch of things that don’t seem to be a proper response to what the Greeks want to know. Verse 23 is the key, though, to understanding the nature of Jesus’ response. The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified. The time has come. Everything else that John has told us about Jesus’ time or hour has been to demonstrate that it was not yet time (2:4; 7:6; 7:8; 7:30; 8:20), but finally the time has come. The hour has arrived. It almost seems as if the act of the Gentiles seeking out Jesus is his final sign, in some sense, that the time has now arrived. This Passover would be the moment when God would unveil his full will and the Son of Man will be glorified. Any other time, there might be more time for Jesus to fully explain his teaching and launch into a parable about the Kingdom of God, but now that the hour has come, it calls for him to be as succinct and direct as possible. Jesus will sum up his ministry, God’s will for him, and the call to those who would follow him, in a few short enigmatic sentences.

What exactly is Jesus teaching? Why did he come to Jerusalem during with such dangerous circumstances swirling about him? And what did the imagery and symbolism of Passover and Hanukkah have to do with all of this? What seems like unrelated teachings actually has everything to do with answering those types of questions that the Greeks may well have wanted to ask him.

How would the Son of Man be glorified? In a way that no one could imagine. Not in some powerful or impressive manner but through death. Just as a kernel of wheat falls to the ground and dies so would Jesus. But that’s not the end of the story for the kernel, nor would it be for Jesus. The kernel must die in a sense before it can produce many seeds. That’s what must happen for Jesus. If the Greeks want to know what his mission is and what he’s about, that’s it in a sentence. The son of man must die and fall to the ground so that many might have life.

Yet, that wasn’t merely the formula for Christ. It wasn’t that he would die and then everyone else could simply continue to live and enjoy the life that he brought them. It was true that "in him was life" (Jn. 1:4) but in order to enter into that life those who would come after him would have to die as well. This is the great paradox of the Christian reality. The man who loves his life will lose it. The very thing that men try to cling to will cost the destruction of the thing they love most, themselves. On the other hand, the man who hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life. The life of Christ is the only life that will enter the age to come, it is the only way to eternal life both now and forever. The language of love and hate comes from Jewish idioms for inheritance rights where "love" means to accept as the rightful way or heir and "hate" means to reject as the rightful way or heir (cf. Mal. 1:2-3). Thus, the one who thinks that there is value to his way, his will, and his life will die in that life of sin (cf. Rom. 3:23). Those who reject their life as worthy of entering into God’s presence and who recognize that Jesus is the way, the truth and the life (Jn. 14:6) will gain the eternal life of Christ as their own.

Verse 26 makes perfect sense when we understand the Jewish concept of a teacher and a disciple. Although an organized system of Rabbinic training and system would not be formalized until the 2nd century, the Jewish concept of disciple and teacher were surely, firmly established by Jesus’ day. In that way of thinking, the student did not just learn from his teacher but he followed him. He went where his rabbi went and did what his teacher did. His goal was to become like the rabbi and become what he was. Jesus picks up on that belief saying that whoever served him must follow him. (Although Jesus was occasionally called "Rabbi" out of respect, there is no evidence for saying that Jesus was formally a Rabbi. Many of the modern claims that Jesus was an official Rabbi come from projecting 2nd century AD practices back onto Jesus’ time.) The Greeks shouldn’t think that following his teaching was like Greek students and teachers where the knowledge of the teacher was simply gleaned from the teacher for the intellectual benefit of the student. No, if they wanted to know about him, they had to follow him and do what he did, and become what he was. He would die to bring life and so would they have to die to enter into true life.

Jesus is the one who does the will of the Father who sent him and nothing else, so he again stresses the unity between he and the Father. Those who serve him, who follow him, bring glory to the Father and the Father will honor them. They are so indistinguishable in will and mission that to enter into the life of the Messiah is to bring glory to the Father and bring the honor of the Father onto oneself.




Devotional Thought

Jesus died so that we could die to ourselves and have the free gift of his life. Do you see dying to self as an opportunity and a gift or do you tend to view it as something restrictive and burdensome. Spend some time today meditating on the gift that God has truly given you through the life of Jesus Christ.

Friday, January 23, 2009

John 12:12-19

The Triumphal Entry

12The next day the great crowd that had come for the Feast heard that Jesus was on his way to Jerusalem. 13They took palm branches and went out to meet him, shouting,

"Hosanna!"

"Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!"

"Blessed is the King of Israel!" 14Jesus found a young donkey and sat upon it, as it is written,

15"Do not be afraid, O Daughter of Zion;

see, your king is coming,

seated on a donkey's colt."

16At first his disciples did not understand all this. Only after Jesus was glorified did they realize that these things had been written about him and that they had done these things to him.

17Now the crowd that was with him when he called Lazarus from the tomb and raised him from the dead continued to spread the word. 18Many people, because they had heard that he had given this miraculous sign, went out to meet him. 19So the Pharisees said to one another, "See, this is getting us nowhere. Look how the whole world has gone after him!"



Dig Deeper

Almost everyone in America loves Thanksgiving. It is the time of year when we all come together and celebrate all of the things that we’re thankful for, traditionally focusing on what God has provided for us. The roots of our Thanksgiving holiday come from a shared meal of hospitality between the Pilgrims and Native Americans in Massachusetts in 1621. Thanksgiving is full of familiar symbols such as Pilgrim hats, cornucopias, turkeys, big family meals, and of course, the traditional autumn brown and orange color scheme. There are many other holidays that are uniquely American in the way we celebrate them, and we are just as familiar with their symbols. All Americans would immediately know what holiday it is if you talked of picnics and cookouts, fireworks, parades, and of course, the red, white, and blue color scheme everywhere. Well that would obviously be July 4th, Independence Day. We know these holidays well and love them, but what if you came outside one July day and saw a parade but instead of national red, white, and blue items, you saw a large group of people wearing Pilgrim outfits. You still saw the fireworks but instead of brats and burgers, these people were cooking big, formal meals with turkey as the main course. You would obviously know that something had changed. You would know immediately that these people had intentionally blurred images from two different holidays and were trying to make some sort of unique statement about things.

Symbols and traditions are often unknown and confusing to people outside of a culture, but they are intimately familiar and well known to people within that culture. If you were to take a tradition from one holiday and start observing it or doing it during another holiday everyone within that culture would know that it was out of place. You just don’t hang stockings over the fireplace for Halloween. Everyone would know that didn’t fit. If you’re from outside of the culture, however, you might not catch the significance. As Jesus makes his way into Jerusalem, the Jews around him are making a clear statement of what they think is going on, and they do so by taking an image associated with one holiday and move into the current holiday. Those of us who aren’t from this culture can easily miss the significance, but it was obvious and important to those who were in Jerusalem when Jesus rode into town.

The next day, presumably after the dinner with Lazarus and his sisters, Jesus prepares to enter Jerusalem for the Passover week. As Jesus approaches, the great throngs of pilgrims who had traveled to Jerusalem to observe the Passover, heard that he was on his way. What John wants us to see, above all, is that this was the moment that Israel had been waiting for, even if they had a very wrong understanding of what was happening and how God was really going to return to Jerusalem.

Passover was the biggest festival and celebration in Israel. It took place in the Spring and was really at the heart of Jewish life. It was a remembrance of the great Exodus, when God acted to free His people from slavery in Egypt. God had used the sacrifice of the lamb to free Israel and then led them through the Red Sea. Passover was a holiday that was full of symbolism but palm branches were not one of them.

John has already alluded to Hanukkah in 10:22. That was the festival that commemorated Judas Maccabaeus’ defeat of pagan marauders and the subsequent cleansing of the Temple. Judas then set up a line of kings in Jerusalem that lasted for a hundred years. When Maccabaeus’ followers entered the city in 164 BC after his victory, they waved palm branches in celebration of Israel’s freedom and his impending kingship. During the next two centuries, waving palm branches became a part of the Hanuakkah celebration but it was also a symbol of kingship and freedom. It was a sign that was associated with a great king who would free Israel from her enemies.

The crowds that came out to meet Jesus that day clearly thought that this was finally the time when he would declare himself to be the Messiah. They waved branches, the sign of kingly cleansing, and shouted "Hosanna! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord." Hosanna comes from Psalm 118:25 (a passage that was seen as overtly messianic) and was a call for salvation in the day of the lord. The one, in first-century Jewish thought, who came in the name of the Lord was none other than the Messiah. He was the Blessed King of Israel. Interestingly, John says that the crowds went out to meet him, using a word that was rather rare. It is a specific word that was used in Greek language to denote the act of going out to meet a sovereign and joyfully escort him back into the city. The pilgrims are clearly enthralled. They know the great signs that Jesus has done and they see him as the Messiah. He is God’s king who is coming in the name of the Lord to defeat Israel’s enemies. They are exalting him as king, yet they clearly still do not fully grasp the kind of Messiah that Jesus intends to be.

John is giving us a wonderful picture of people who are intentionally combining the symbolism of Passover with the kingly imagery of Hanukkah. Israel, here is your king, God’s lamb. Yet, even in all of that, Jesus intentionally sends a message of correction, even while he accepts the kingly reception. John merely tells us that Jesus found a donkey, but the synoptic Gospels inform us of the details of Jesus sending his disciples ahead to secure a donkey for this occasion. The act of riding on a donkey was a well known Jewish symbol of a king and certainly was a fulfillment of messianic prophecy from Zechariah 9:9, which reads, "See, your king comes to you, righteous and having salvation, gentle and riding on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a donkey." Yet, kings in the ancient world also rode in on horses. The difference was that a king riding in on a donkey was a symbol of peaceful times, while the horse was a symbol of war and power. Israel has her king but he is not one of war and power but of peace. Zechariah continues in verse 10 that through the Messiah, God "will take away the chariots from Ephraim and the war-horses from Jerusalem, and the battle bow will be broken. He will proclaim peace to the nations. His rule will extend from sea to sea and from the River to the ends of the earth." The point of all of this is clear. The king, God’s king, has finally come and he will free his people from slavery and their enemies, but he will do it through a path of peace that no one anticipated or could even understand at that the moment that Jesus entered into the city.

In John 16:13, John will tell us of Jesus’ words of encouragement to his disciples, "the Spirit of truth, comes, he will guide you into all truth." John apparently gives us a real life example of that. He says that his disciples did not understand all that was happening at the time. It was clear that the crowds did not understand the full significance of everything that was happening either. It was not until after Jesus was glorified that they realized that these thing had been written about him and that they had done these things to him. It was only later, through the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, that they understood the complete implications of Jesus entering the city as the peaceful king but also as the presence of God Himself returning to Jerusalem.

The crowd that was with him was so swept up by the promise and hope of these events, both the raising of Lazarus and his triumphal entry, that they continued to spread the word. That is what always happens when people truly come to faith in Jesus Christ. Those who have truly embraced and fully understood Christ cannot help but spread the good news. Based on hearing of this spreading of the word, Many people from within Jerusalem came to meet Jesus as well (historians tell us that the normal first-century population of Jerusalem was about 100,000, but that that would swell to as many as 1,000,000 during the Passover time).

As compelling as Jesus’ entry is, John doesn’t want us to get completely carried away. He reminds us of the Pharisees that are watching all of this. They fear that Jesus is getting more popular and is really getting somewhere, in contrast to themselves who are getting nowhere. They are still there lurking, and those opposed to Jesus will soon have their day. Yet, we cannot help but think that John sees a bit of ironic prophecy in their exasperated words, "look how the whole world has gone after him." From John’s perspective as he writes the Gospel in the first century



Devotional Thought

John and the other disciples thought they knew what was going on when Jesus entered into Jerusalem, but later on, the Spirit led them to a full understanding of events. Are you open to the Spirit giving you a new perspective on situations and events in your life, or do you always go with your first instinct. Perhaps before you come to a final conclusion on a conversation, an incident, or some other event, you should pray about it and ask the Spirit to reveal the truth of the situation.

Thursday, January 22, 2009

John 12:1-11

Jesus Anointed at Bethany

1Six days before the Passover, Jesus arrived at Bethany, where Lazarus lived, whom Jesus had raised from the dead. 2Here a dinner was given in Jesus' honor. Martha served, while Lazarus was among those reclining at the table with him. 3Then Mary took about a pint of pure nard, an expensive perfume; she poured it on Jesus' feet and wiped his feet with her hair. And the house was filled with the fragrance of the perfume.


4But one of his disciples, Judas Iscariot, who was later to betray him, objected, 5"Why wasn't this perfume sold and the money given to the poor? It was worth a year's wages." 6He did not say this because he cared about the poor but because he was a thief; as keeper of the money bag, he used to help himself to what was put into it.

7"Leave her alone," Jesus replied. " It was intended that she should save this perfume for the day of my burial. 8You will always have the poor among you, but you will not always have me."

9Meanwhile a large crowd of Jews found out that Jesus was there and came, not only because of him but also to see Lazarus, whom he had raised from the dead. 10So the chief priests made plans to kill Lazarus as well, 11for on account of him many of the Jews were going over to Jesus and putting their faith in him.



Dig Deeper

It’s amazing how human beings can look at the exact same circumstances and come away with very different points of view. We all have different vantage points, different preconceived notions of how things should go, different expectations, and different biases that impact that. The United States of America is soon to (as I write this) inaugurate its forty-fourth President. The Inauguration is always a big deal in America, but this one is going to be bigger than ever. In fact, the new President, President Obama, will be spending over $150 million dollars on his inauguration, nearly four times that amount of his predecessor, President George W. Bush. To some people, this is a rightful and worthy celebration of the most historic presidency and one of the most historic moments in all of American history. It signifies not only the first black president in American history, but is especially remarkable in a country where the black population is around 12% of the total population. Others feel that this is an inexplicable waste of a large amount of money, particularly given that we are in a recession that the new President himself has called a "financial crisis." So which is it? Is it a colossal waste of money or is it a fitting tribute considering the extraordinary times and events swirling about our nation at the moment? That question can only be answered in the present moment according to your own vantage point. It is only later that we will be able to look back and determine whether these really were historic times that were worthy of such pomp and special circumstances or whether this is a rather ordinary president that just wasted a whole lot of money.

The circumstances surrounding an event change the way we view that event. Whether something is a waste of money or a proper allocation of resources during remarkable times has everything to do with the circumstances surrounding the event. As Jesus enters his final seven days, as John carefully points out, this is the same question that comes to the forefront. Some seek to honor him, some to kill him, but no one seems to fully understand the circumstances that swirling about Jesus like an October hurricane. Suddenly a jar of perfume takes center stage. Is this a monumental waste of money that could have been put to so much better uses, or is this a fitting allocation of resources during the most remarkable events in the history of humankind? While we can’t yet answer that question regarding the American Presdiential inauguration, John will clearly give us an answer about that jar of perfume.

As Passover nears, Jesus returns to Bethany, which was just a couple of miles from Jerusalem. This is the place that Lazarus lived, and where, of course, he was raised from the dead. It is not stated whether this was a specific meal or not, but it is possible that that this meal was part of the Habdalah service, denoting the end of the Sabbath, which would mean that this was on a Saturday. John does not tell us whether or not this dinner that was given in Jesus’ honor was hosted by Martha, Mary, and Lazarus. The fact that Martha was serving seems to indicate that it would have been at their home but the fact that Lazarus is listed specifically as one reclining at the table would seem to be unusual and an unnecessary addition if it was his home where his presence would be assumed and not mentioned. Either way we simply don’t know where this took place, but that is really a minor detail in the overall flow of this scene.

What John quickly draws our attention to is something that he could probably still smell if he closed his eyes and thought about it. It was the smell of perfume. The whole house was filled with the fragrance of the perfume, a sentence that has the authentic ring of an eyewitness. Where did this overpowering and memorable fragrance come from? Mary had taken about a pint of pure nard and poured it out on Jesus" feet. It was common in Jesus’ day, even expected under certain circumstances, to anoint the head, but anointing the feet was quite unusual. Going beyond being just unusual, Mary’s next action goes right to the scandalous. Jewish women simply did not unfurl their hair in public. To do so was considered an unmistakable sign of low morals (cf. Num. 5:18). She takes the unusual and, no doubt, eyebrow raising act of drying his feet with her hair, an act that demonstrated the deep, personal devotion that she felt for Jesus. Mary has clearly thrown off convention and constraint in her adoration, humility, and devotion to the one in whom she has firmly placed her belief.

There is little doubt that the house that day was filled with people who disapproved, on many levels, of this little scene that was going on between Jesus and Mary. Yet, John identifies only one person who actually spoke his disapproval. It was none other than Judas Iscariot. John informs us that Judas was in charge of the money bag for Jesus’ little group, as well as the fact that he was dishonest and made a practice of helping himself to what was put into it This is information that John surely learned after Judas was exposed as a traitor to Jesus rather than something that was known at the time. Amazingly and despite the fact that Jesus well knew that Judas would betray him, none of Jesus’ other disciples had a clue that Judas was any different from them until the moment of his betrayal.

Judas’ criticism of this event was not the propriety of what was going on or the seeming action of low morality on the part of Mary. No, Judas’ criticism is one that would have seemed quite reasonable and even noble to those around him at the time. How could Jesus stand by while this woman wasted eleven ounces of extremely expensive perfume that was imported from northern India and that cost about a year’s wages for an average worker (perhaps about $30,000 US in today’s terms)? Wasn’t it Jesus himself who talked so often of caring for the poor? Wasn’t this an outright contradiction of all of that? John, of course, tells us that this wasn’t Judas’ true concern. He was thinking of himself and how much of that money he could take for himself, as well as trying to look good in front of the others.

Despite the insincerity of Judas’ question, though, it is still one worth considering. Why would Jesus allow so much money to be used on his feet when it could have been given to the poor? Jesus responds by unquestioningly backing Mary’s actions. Given all of Jesus’ teachings of the importance of caring for the poor, the only plausible explanation is that Jesus believed that his coming death would be the only means through which the poor, and in fact the whole world could truly be reconciled to God. A year’s wages could have done a lot of good, but his impending death would usher in the new creation and the possibility of salvation for the whole world.

Under those circumstances, then, Mary’s actions were not only understandable, they were appropriate. Just as Caiaphas, in the previous section, uttered words of prophecy in an unwitting fashion, so Mary acts here in a prophetic way, albeit without having a understanding of the full ramifications of her actions. Whether she understood what she was doing or not, that perfume had been appointed through God’s providence as a symbolic act of preparing Jesus’ body for funeral. Under ordinary circumstances, Judas might have had a good point, but Jesus is clear, these are not ordinary circumstances. Thus, without fully realizing what she was doing, Mary was keeping with Jewish culture in which caring for the dead took precedence over taking care of the poor (b. Sukkah 49b). There will always be opportunities to care for the poor, but Jesus’ time is almost upon them.

Once again we see large crowds being drawn to Jesus based on his miraculous works. This opportunity was a double attraction. The people wanted to see Jesus, but they also wanted to see Lazarus. We can only imagine what an incredible experience this all was for Lazarus, a man who had fully died and now was living life to the full. There is, of course, an irony in the fact that while Lazarus reclines at this supper and enjoys his life, Jesus, who had raised him from the dead, is being anointed for his own death and burial.

The chief priests, many of whom were Sadducees, had a major problem though. There wasn’t just the danger that Lazarus’ raising would lead to throngs of people believing in Jesus, but there was another issues for the Sadducees who denied that there was a resurrection (cf. Matt. 22:23; Mk. 12:18; Lk. 20:2; Acts 23:8). Having someone who died and had been raised would be an obvious embarrassment and a major problem for them doctrinally, so not only did Jesus need to die, but so did Lazarus.

It might not seem that way at first glance, but there is a common strand between Judas’ attitude and that of the Sadducees and chief priests. Judas put his supposed social activism ahead of devotion and adoration while the priests put their own beliefs and expectations ahead of belief in the true Messiah. It seems that there is little room in social activism and religious pride for genuine worship.



Devotional Thought

Can yo identify with Judas in this scene? Have you ever gotten upset about something but sensed that the real reason might not go over so well, or you don’t even want to deal in your heart with the real reason so you manufacture outrage about something that sounds good to those around to explain your actions? Perhaps you have disliked someone and rather than just being honest about it, you have come up with a "valid" reason for your actions or feelings, or perhaps it’s something similar to that. What can you learn about that from Judas’ actions?

Wednesday, January 21, 2009

John 11:46-57

46But some of them went to the Pharisees and told them what Jesus had done. 47Then the chief priests and the Pharisees called a meeting of the Sanhedrin.

"What are we accomplishing?" they asked. "Here is this man performing many miraculous signs. 48If we let him go on like this, everyone will believe in him, and then the Romans will come and take away both our place and our nation."

49Then one of them, named Caiaphas, who was high priest that year, spoke up, "You know nothing at all! 50You do not realize that it is better for you that one man die for the people than that the whole nation perish."

51He did not say this on his own, but as high priest that year he prophesied that Jesus would die for the Jewish nation, 52and not only for that nation but also for the scattered children of God, to bring them together and make them one. 53So from that day on they plotted to take his life.

54Therefore Jesus no longer moved about publicly among the Jews. Instead he withdrew to a region near the desert, to a village called Ephraim, where he stayed with his disciples.

55When it was almost time for the Jewish Passover, many went up from the country to Jerusalem for their ceremonial cleansing before the Passover. 56They kept looking for Jesus, and as they stood in the temple area they asked one another, "What do you think? Isn't he coming to the Feast at all?" 57But the chief priests and Pharisees had given orders that if anyone found out where Jesus was, he should report it so that they might arrest him.



Dig Deeper

Not too long ago, Steven Spielberg and Tom Hanks made a world war II movie together called "Saving Private Ryan." The movie was a realistic but fictional account of a young private whose four brothers had all been killed in action. Wanting to avoid a situation where a mother lost all of her sons in one brief time in one war, the American military decided to send in a small team of soldiers to extract Mrs. Ryan’s one surviving son. In the end, a majority of the band of soldiers that were ordered deep into the battle fray to find Private Ryan died, although they did manage to save him. The question that Private Ryan was left with, even as a very old man returning to the graves of those who died trying to save him, was did their sacrifice matter? Was it worth it for all of those men to die to save his life? This scenario made for a compelling movie but it really demonstrates a rather unique way of thinking in the large span of history across the globe. Americans have developed a very individualistic attitude, where the rights and survival of the individual can easily be seen as more important than the rights and even the well-being of the collective. It is only in a society like this that it would be even conceivable to risk the lives of many soldiers in the middle of a war so that the life of one man could be saved.

This just was not the standard way of thinking in Jesus’ day, nor throughout most of the world through the annals of history. The good of the many far outweighed the good of the individual in the Jewish society of Jesus’ day. Individual rights were not really a consideration where they might run counter to the collective good. You just would not find a situation in that day in which the lives of many soldiers would be sent into battle somewhere in order to try to save one person. It would make no sense to them. Their normal assumptions would have been quite the opposite, in fact. It would be far better for one person to die if it meant it would be for the benefit of they many. Why should a whole nation of people, or even a group of people be at risk when the situation could seemingly be solved by one person dying? This mentality runs deep in the thinking and actions of the Sanhedrin in this scene. Perhaps surprisingly though, it also holds sway with John as he writes his Gospel and reflects on Jesus’ death years after it took place. They both believe that the one should die for the many, but for very different purposes with very different results.

Jesus’ raising of Lazarus drew the belief out of some, but others rejected him and would not believe. Those who refused to believe in him ran back to the Pharisees and told them what Jesus had done. It can really be amazing sometimes when humans have already made up their mind about something. Regardless of what they might see or here, some had already decided that Jesus could not be the truth and they were simply not going to believe even when they saw a man raised from the dead (cf. Luke 16:31). The chief priests and the Pharisees called a meeting of the Sanhedrin, but the text does not tell us whether it was an official or unofficial meeting. Historians are split on whether it was official or unofficial but if it was an official meeting, it would explain some things. If this was an official meeting, which seems likely, then this was the real trial of Jesus. In The Gospel According to John (NICNT), Leon Morris says, "By Jewish law in capital cases a verdict of guilty could not be given on the same day as the trial, nor could it be given without the presence of the defendant. That is apparently why John says so little about the Jewish trial after Jesus was arrested; on this view the trial had already been held and all that remained after the arrest was to deliver sentence. It agrees with this that Mark says that when the high priests and others gathered they did not speak of conducting a trial but of putting Jesus to death."

It is, ironically enough the Sanhedrin themselves who draw the major distinction between themselves and Jesus. They are standing around, criticizing, plotting, and the like but are accomplishing nothing. In contrast, Jesus is going around performing many miraculous signs all over the place. They sum it up precisely correctly. They have done nothing, but he is doing things that are obvious whether they accept them or not. In fact they as much as acknowledge here that Jesus has performed miracles but they have rejected faith in him as a possibility, so the miracles simply serve as a reason for deeper opposition.

The Sanhedrin not only point out the difference in action between them and Jesus, they also state the real reason for their concern. It’s not that they are truly worried about any blasphemous statements Jesus has made. He is becoming too popular with the masses and if word of something like this gets out, they believe, in a somewhat hyperbolic statement, that everyone will believe in him. Verse 48 is the only time in all of the Gospels that the word "Romans" is mentioned. The Romans are the just-under-the-surface cause of much of the tension and anxiety from the perspective of the Jewish leadership. They would ideally like to be completely free of any foreign rule and they believed that the Messiah would accomplish that. But even the partial freedom and rule that they had under the iron fist of Rome was better than annihilation. If Jesus kept going around doing more and more miracles and gaining more followers, eventually they feared, Rome would hear of it and come and crush Israel and destroy the Temple, their holy place. They clearly rejected Jesus as the true Messiah and saw the only possible outcome of his activity as utter destruction.

It was not uncommon, in the Jewish worldview to believe that the high priest, when he spoke in his official capacity, could speak words of prophecy. John tells us that Caiaphas, who was the high priest from 18-36 AD which included this fateful year of events, did just that. The only curious thing is that God used him to utter words of profound prophecy and he didn’t even know it. Caiaphas is angry that some utter their belief that they are accomplishing nothing and if things continue on their present course, Rome will destroy Jerusalem. That would be a case of the many dying for the actions of the one, which is unacceptable. Instead says Caiaphas, the one will die for the many. The one man will die for the people rather than that the whole nation perish. John agrees with his assessment, his prophecy, but in a very different way than Caiaphas could possibly have imagined. The irony that John expects us as his readers to perceive is that Jesus will die for the many but it won’t be to save Israel from the Roman army (a fate that Jesus wished to steer his countrymen away from but because they would not turn from their ways and follow him, it was an outcome that would take place not even forty years after Jesus’ death), it will be to save the world, both Jew and Gentile alike, from sin death. While Caiaphas and the Sanhedrin cling tightly to the old creation and their power structure, doing everything in their power to preserve it and save their own lives, Jesus will willingly give up his life and usher in the new creation whereby all might be saved. The contrast is clear. Jesus declared that "whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me and for the gospel will save it" (Mark 8:35). In trying to save their life, the Jews would lose it, but in willingly losing his life, Jesus would save his and make that salvation available to the whole world.

In the eyes of the high priest and the Sanhedrin, the die had been cast. Jesus must and would die, now it was simply a matter of when. John has not yet told us that Jesus’ time had come, but we get the sense that it is coming very soon. Although it is soon, the time is not yet, so Jesus stays out of the public eye, withdrawing to a village called Ephraim, a place that was probably about fifteen miles from Jerusalem.

In verse 55, John gives us the final clue that Jesus’ hour is drawing precariously closer. Throughout the Gospel, he has pointed out the time of Passover and shown how the meaning of Passover pointed to Jesus himself, the "the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world" (Jn. 1:29). There were many who are looking for Jesus and hope that perhaps he will come to Jerusalem during the Passover. Jesus wouldn’t miss the Passover would he? Does he fear for his own life so much that he will avoid it altogether? John has done enough to this point to show us that everything is coming together. The true Passover Lamb is going to make his way to Jerusalem and begin the greatest Exodus out of slavery in the history of the world. An Exodus that Moses’ Exodus could only foreshadow and point to. This Passover will be the ultimate fulfillment of the first Passover. Yet, not everyone wanted that or was waiting for Jesus in hopeful expectation. The chief priests and the Pharisees have made up their mind. Jesus will be arrested on sight and killed. Little do they know that they will be the priests who will slaughter the very Lamb of God during Passover.



Devotional Thought

Rather than thinking big picture, let’s take some time to break things down to a practical daily level. Jesus’ message throughout his life, both in word and deed, was that one must lay down their life in willing to truly find life. Do you do this on a daily basis? Do you put the interests of others ahead of your own or are you constantly out to preserve your own life and interests? Take a look at your own life and look at the small things. Do you lay down your life for those around you in the small little things everyday?

Tuesday, January 20, 2009

John 11:38-45

Jesus Raises Lazarus From the Dead

38Jesus, once more deeply moved, came to the tomb. It was a cave with a stone laid across the entrance. 39"Take away the stone," he said.

"But, Lord," said Martha, the sister of the dead man, "by this time there is a bad odor, for he has been there four days."

40Then Jesus said, "Did I not tell you that if you believed, you would see the glory of God?"

41So they took away the stone. Then Jesus looked up and said, "Father, I thank you that you have heard me. 42I knew that you always hear me, but I said this for the benefit of the people standing here, that they may believe that you sent me."

43When he had said this, Jesus called in a loud voice, "Lazarus, come out!" 44The dead man came out, his hands and feet wrapped with strips of linen, and a cloth around his face.

Jesus said to them, "Take off the grave clothes and let him go."

The Plot to Kill Jesus

45Therefore many of the Jews who had come to visit Mary, and had seen what Jesus did, put their faith in him.



Dig Deeper

The one thing that I’m certain has already or will eventually touch the life of every one of us is death. We all have family or friends that were taken away from us when it seemed all too soon. We all have our stories, our grief, our memories, our wishes that we could somehow reverse the great irreversible sting of death. Why them, why then? We all have people that we wish we could see one more time or maybe even for the first time. For me it’s my two grandmothers and my grandfather that I had such a short time with, especially my grandmother that died when I was thirteen; it’s my Uncle Joe who I wish I could hear read "The Night Before Christmas" just one more time; it’s my two high school friends who died tragically before they even reached the age of thirty; it’s my other grandfather that died two months before I was born, the man everyone else in my family remembers but who I never got to meet. Death is a thief, and a cruel one at that. It’s not something we can lessen or act like it’s not cruel or doesn’t matter. It does and it can be devastating.

Many people have different ways of dealing with death but it seems that we can simplify that into two primary responses. Some people are absolutely panicked by the mere thought of death. They will avoid it at all costs and fear everything about it. When loved ones die it is often a painful experience, not just because of the loss but because of the reminder that their own death might be just around the corner. Other people, often Christians, minimize death. We convince ourselves that, whatever happens after death, we’ll be fine and live forever with Jesus so death is no big deal. We don’t have to worry about it. We don’t have to grieve, in fact we should have a party and celebrate when someone dies. The truth actually seems to be somewhere in between those two extremes.

The early Christian communities believed strongly that Christians who believed in resurrection should view death differently than the pagan world around them. Writing around 200 AD, the early church father, Tertullian, declared, "Since then, there is certainty as to the resurrection of the dead, grief for death is needless. . . For why should you grieve, if you believe that your loved one has not perished? . . . We wound Christ when we do not accept with equanimity the summoning out of this world of anyone by Him, as if they were to be pitied." In 1 Thessalonians 4:13, Paul informed his Christians brothers that "we do not want you to be ignorant about those who fall asleep, or to grieve like the rest of men, who have no hope." It’s not that Christians are to not have grief over the fact that we will not see our loved ones in this age again. Paul doesn’t say to not have grief, he says to not grieve like men who have no hope. Christians don’t have a pointless and empty grief with no hope. We can still grieve and mourn over those we have lost, but we a hopeful grief because we know that we will see our brothers and sisters in Christ again. We can grieve for our very real and bitter loss but we don’t pity those who have died in Christ because they are where we all desire to be one day.

Of course, none of this was in view for those at Lazarus’ grave. There was a vague hope in resurrection, but no one knew what or when that would be except for it was something that would happen on the last day. Yet, there was no firstfruits of that resurrection. There was no one who had walked into death and strolled right out the other side to a new sort of life, giving us the guaranteed hope of resurrection. We might think that this is what Jesus was doing here with Lazarus, but we’d be wrong. This was an act of raising Lazarus from the dead, of restoring his life, it wasn’t resurrection. Lazarus would still grow older and die from one thing or another. This sign was intended to show the Father’s power over life and foreshadow Jesus’ own death and resurrection. Throughout this story, look for the echoes and parallels that John has described between this seventh sign of the new creation and Jesus’ resurrection, the moment when the new creation arrived in it’s full glory.

As Jesus approaches the cave that (using caves for tombs was a common first-century practice) was turned into a tomb, we are told that once again he was deeply moved. Even though Jesus knew precisely what he was about to do, the emotion of being that close to death stirs up deep emotions in him. We can speculate that there was a combination of God’s disdain for death and a the mixed emotions of his own impending suffering and death.

Jesus gives a short and sweet command to take away the stone. He’s not interested in any histrionics or putting on a big show. That’s how the magicians of Jesus’ day worked, not the one who was doing the very will of the Father. Jesus wants it to be very clear that what is about to happen is the will and doing of the Father, not through his own sorcery or ability. He does the work of the Father. This is further evidenced by the prayer that Jesus offers up at the doorway of the tomb. Jesus thanks God that He has heard him and answered his prayer. He knows that God has answered his prayer, but offers that up publicly so that people will know this is the work of God and may believe that Jesus has been sent by God and does only His will. Even When Jesus yells to Lazarus to come out in a loud voice to come out, he does so to distinguish himself from the magicians and wizards of his day that mumbled incantations.

As we read this powerful passage, we are left with a mystery. Martha begs Jesus not to open the tomb because of the bad odor of the surely already decomposing body. Jesus never really answers her but somewhat cryptically reminds her that he has already told her, although we are never told when he told her, that if she would believe she would see the glory of God. We need to couple this mystery with the enigmatic prayer that Jesus offers up, thanking God having already heard him (the original language is clear that the prayer and the hearing were done in the past). We’re never told anything more about the odor and John never explains why Jesus speaks of already having been heard by the Father. He expects us to connect the dots for ourselves.

John wants us to see what Jesus was doing for those two days before he left to come to Lazarus’ tomb. He was earnestly praying to the Father, seeking and aligning himself with the Father’s will. He was praying that Lazarus would be preserved and prepared to be raised to show the Father’s glory. John doesn’t mention any odor coming from the grave because there wasn’t any. As soon as they rolled the stone away and there was no odor, it was confirmed for Jesus that the Father had heard and answered his prayer. But, we may ask, why did the Father always hear Jesus’ prayers when it seems at times that He does not hear ours? Because Jesus always did the will of the Father. When he prayed, he prayed for the will of the Father, and so God always answered His prayers. Even in the Garden of Gethsemane when Jesus asked that the cup of suffering be taken away if possible, Jesus prayed that the Father’s will be done and it was, as Jesus marched directly from that prayer into his own death. Just as those at the tomb would see God’s glory in Lazarus’ death and raising, so would God’s glory be displayed through the death and resurrection of the Messiah. But not all who saw this sign believed. Jesus said, in Luke 16:31, that if someone would not listen to God’s Word and believe, then "they will not be convinced even if someone rises from the dead." This was absolutely true in this case. Many saw Lazarus rise from the dead but not all saw God’s glory in the event and believed.

There are many striking similarities between this event and Jesus’ own death and resurrection, as we have already noted, but there is one (although there are more) striking difference that should not be missed. As Lazarus comes out of the tomb, Jesus orders those present to take of the strips of linen that were wrapped around Jesus’ body and the cloth from his face. Lazarus had been raised but he still needed help to untie the grave clothes. John will tell us in 20:5-8 of a similar situation, but tells us that Jesus has taken his grave clothes off himself and left them behind. Lazarus had been raised from the dead, but lived in a world where death still stalked and loomed. He had staved off death through the power of God but had not defeated it. This is simply a shadow of Jesus who will go into death but come out boldly and with power into a new world beyond death, the new creation where death has been defeated and had it’s stinger completely removed. The new creation has not yet come, but this seventh sign has shown us in shadows and echoes something of what it will look like.



Devotioinal Thought

Jesus knew that he was standing and walking firmly in God’s will because of his constant prayer. He knew that God heard him because he always sought to do God’s will and prayed that God’s will be done. Could the same be said of you? When you pray, do you spend more time praying that God will show you His will or do you spend more time trying to get God to fulfill your will? If you don’t have the type of confidence that Jesus had, perhaps it’s because we spend a lot more time praying about our will than we do seeking God’s.

Monday, January 19, 2009

John 11:28-37

28And after she had said this, she went back and called her sister Mary aside. "The Teacher is here," she said, "and is asking for you." 29When Mary heard this, she got up quickly and went to him. 30Now Jesus had not yet entered the village, but was still at the place where Martha had met him. 31When the Jews who had been with Mary in the house, comforting her, noticed how quickly she got up and went out, they followed her, supposing she was going to the tomb to mourn there.

32When Mary reached the place where Jesus was and saw him, she fell at his feet and said, "Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died."

33When Jesus saw her weeping, and the Jews who had come along with her also weeping, he was deeply moved in spirit and troubled. 34"Where have you laid him?" he asked.

"Come and see, Lord," they replied.

35Jesus wept.

36Then the Jews said, "See how he loved him!"

37But some of them said, "Could not he who opened the eyes of the blind man have kept this man from dying?"



Dig Deeper

If I’m being honest I hate it. I hate showing emotion. I always have. I don’t where I developed the mindset that being emotional and showing emotion was something undesirable for me, but I surely have. In fact, I’ve always taken a certain amount of satisfaction in the fact that I am steady and calm during tough times. You won’t see me crying at a funeral or getting particularly emotional when speaking about a topic that might cause the average person to break down. Despite all of that, I find myself at times, when I’m all alone (and believe it pains me to admit all of this) becoming emotional about some of the dumbest things. It might be a movie that’s not particularly moving or an episode of "Little House on the Prairie," and the Lord knows that show gets me almost every time. I can only surmise that something in those shows or movies that don’t seem like something to get emotional over, connect with some grief or desire or emotional aspect that I have repressed and causes me to feel deeply over silly things (I still would like to point out that I do not cry over these things, I just a little something in my eye from time to time). Our society has learned in many respects to mask grief, to push down emotions, and to think of them as a sign of weakness. In short, we have learned to hide our emotions.

That was not the case in the ancient world, and is not the case in many parts of the world today as it is in the western world. Emotions were not something to be hidden but were something to be released openly, often in a public format with others who were also grieving. You can see this in other parts of the world today where funerals become large processionals going down a public street with people wailing, moaning, crying, and grieving together. We would never do that in our world today. Certainly at least, not on any scale like that. We are far too composed, far too in control of our emotions. In this scene, John shows us not only the emotions of the culture in Jesus’ day but also the emotions of the Son of God himself. It is through this very display of emotion that we can learn a great deal about Jesus and about God.

If nothing else, the tears that Jesus sheds in this scene show that this incident really happened. There is simply very little reasonable chance that if a group of early Christians were making up the events of the life of Christ, as some biblical critics claims, that they simply wouldn’t have added a detail like this that makes Jesus look so regular and weak. No, if someone was inventing this story they would have had Jesus coming in calmly and confidently acting regally and knowing that, in just a moment, he was about to do something quite incredible. The mighty Messiah was about to raise a man from the dead, why would he show such unnecessary emotion? The tears are real and they tell us a great deal about Jesus and the Father.

After talking with Jesus for a brief moment, Martha goes back into the village and into their house to tell Mary that the Teacher has arrived. It is probably of note that she refers to him as the teacher which shows that she considers him her teacher as well, something which would have been uncommon from a first-century woman, but it shows how counter-cultural Jesus’ ministry was. We don’t know why exactly Jesus waited outside while Martha got Mary but it may have been so that Mary could have a quiet moment with the teacher as well. Mary wastes no time in going to see him which catches the notice of the people who were visiting her. They think that she was heading to the cemetery to mourn and went after her to offer their support and share in the mourning process.

When she reaches Jesus, her response is strikingly similar to her sister’s response a few minutes previous. She falls at his feet showing both her respect for Jesus and the fact that she is completely overcome with emotion. If only Jesus had been there. Mary knew enough of Jesus and had faith in him enough to know that if he had just been there, her brother would not have died. The great teacher and healer could have healed him. He could have done something. But the perfect hunter, death, has swallowed another victim. Lazarus suffered the one thing which no human being can escape. Martha and Mary both live in a world where death is the ultimate reality and once it has occurred, there seems to be no possibility of going back.

Jesus looks around at the deep emotion of the moment, Mary, and the Jews who had come along with her, were all mourning and crying loudly, giving vent to their deep grief and the intense emotions of the moment. It must have been quite a moment to look up and see the unbridled grief of those who had come too close to death once again. These were God’s children, after all. Death was the ultimate and final enemy of those separated from God by sin. Jesus was deeply moved and troubled by all of this. The word used for "troubled" actually comes from the noise that animals make when they snort, and it usually captured the idea of being angry or deeply stirred. If this is John’s intent here, then it is likely that John wants us to see Jesus’ anger or disturbance at death itself. It was sin and death that brought this all too common scene on over and over again. This whole scene, John tells us, moved Jesus deep in his spirit, this was no shallow feeling or emotion.

Jesus doesn’t stay at a distance, he wants to know where they laid him. They invite him to come and see, and so he does. As Jesus arrives, John tells us that Jesus wept, a word that distinguishes the quiet sobbing of Jesus from the loud, wailing of Mary and the crowd. This is one of the most important Scriptures in all of the Bible when it comes to telling us about God’s character. The Word that has become flesh feels emotion. He is completely human. This is far different from the high and removed God that many of us envision. The Messiah is not some sterile warrior that has come to show little more than God’s raw power in defeating Israel’s enemies. He has "carried our sorrows" (Isa. 53:4). Jesus doesn’t blow in and tell everyone to stop crying because Lazarus is not dead, he’s only sleeping. He’s not triumphant or smug. He is stirred to tears. God loves his children and does not want to see them suffer at the ravages of death. It’s not that Jesus’ grief is specifically about Lazarus, it is the presence of death itself that has caused Jesus to show his emotions. This is how God feels about death. The Jews think that it is about Lazarus, but the emotions that Jesus feel go far deeper than that. These are the emotions of the Messiah that will also mourn and weep for the Jerusalem that has rejected him. God feels deeply the pain that death inflicts on humans. This is the man of sorrow that knows our grief and pain and wants better for us.

Why did John record this miracle, especially when the other Gospels did not? We mentioned yesterday that part of the explanation might possibly have to do with the reality that it seems that Peter was not present during this event (although we certainly don’t know that for sure). John will tell us in the next chapter that Lazarus received a great deal of unwanted attention and enmity because of this act, and it might be that if the other Gospels were written quite a bit earlier than John (which seems to be the case), they did not want to bring any unneeded attention to Lazarus. This, perhaps, was no longer an issue by the time John wrote his Gospel. In addition to that speculation, it is certainly true that in the raising of Lazarus, John undoubtedly saw parallels to the death and resurrection of Jesus. Did Lazarus have to die? Couldn’t Jesus have saved him without the harsh reality of death? Was his death necessary? These are all questions that we will be asked to consider at Jesus’ own impending death. "Where have they laid him," Jesus asks. A question that Mary Magdalene will echo at Jesus’ own death (20:13). Couldn’t the man who opened the eyes of the blind man have kept this man from dying? Couldn’t he have saved himself? Did he have to die? John, I believe, wants us to see that God’s glory could only be fully displayed through the death and raising of Lazarus and it is only through the death of Jesus, through him sharing in the common reality and fate of humanity, that death can be defeated and the world can be saved.



Devotional Thought

It is striking that the creator of the universe bore our grief and lowered himself to bear our sorrows. He relates to us in every way. What can we learn about God through Jesus’ action in weeping at the tomb of Lazarus? What can we learn about ourselves and our own need to identify with the sorrows and grief of the world around us?