Love for One Another

John 13: 31 – 35 (May 2, 2010)

1) The Text

31When he had gone out, Jesus said, “Now the Son of Man has been glorified, and God has been glorified in him. 32If God has been glorified in him, God will also glorify him in himself and will glorify him at once. 33Little children, I am with you only a little longer. You will look for me; and as I said to the Jews so now I say to you, ‘Where I am going, you cannot come.’ 34I give you a new commandment, that you love one another. Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another. 35By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.”

2) The Context

John is the fourth gospel. Its author makes no attempt to give a chronological account of the life of Jesus (which the other gospels do, to a degree), but rather "...these things are written so that you may come to believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that through believing you may have life in his name." John includes what he calls signs, stories of miracles, to help in this process.

In chapter 13, Jesus is preparing his followers for his departure. After the Last Supper, he has washed the feet of his disciples, a symbol of servanthood. Peter has misunderstood Jesus’ action; Jesus has told him that to share in Christ requires that Jesus be his servant as well as his master. Peter will understand “later” (v. 7): when Jesus is on the cross. Jesus has said, “you are clean, though not all of you” (v. 10). Then, generalizing, he says that, per his example, each Christian is to be a servant to every other (v. 14). Jesus has predicted his betrayal (vv. 18, 21); he has shown Peter and the disciple “whom Jesus loved” (v. 23) who this will be. Judas (“he”, v. 31) has gone out into the “night” (v. 30) – a symbol of the dark deed he is about to commit.

The glorification (revelation of the essence of) the “Son of Man” (v. 31), the ideal human, Jesus, is already in progress; the Father is already being revealed in him. The Father has been revealed (“glorified”, v. 32) in Jesus, so Jesus is a way of seeing God now (“at once”). In John and 1 John, Jesus calls his faithful followers “little children” (v. 33). Jesus tells them that his time on earth with them is very soon to end. They cannot join him in heaven now, but he “will come again and will take you to myself” (14:3). Judaism required one to love one’s neighbour as oneself (Leviticus 19:18). Jesus’ commandment is “new” (v. 34) in that, in his self-offering, he is model of, motive for, and cause for, loving one another. Mutual love will show who follows Christ.

3) Interpretation

Love one another

Jesus tells us that the distinguishing mark of the Christian community is love. Not just warm feelings toward others in the church, but a compassionate self-giving toward the needs of our brothers and sisters in the Lord. Such is cross-bearing love. The problem is that such love is a rare thing in the Christian church. Tertullian said of his generation that the heathen held his congregation in high regard. "'See', they say, 'how they love one another.'" Do they say that of us? In truth, it is very difficult, if not impossible, to work up loving relationships with brothers and sisters in our church fellowship. Sometimes there are hurts to get over, racial, cultural and economic differences, problems of social status..... So it is not always easy to find the emotional energy required to put ourselves out for the spiritual welfare of a brother or sister. Their eternal salvation needs to be paramount in our thinking, yet our own needs often take precedence over those of our brothers.

The fact is that Jesus' death and resurrection did not just serve as an example of how to love, but actually freed us and empowered us to love. On the one hand we are freed from the selfish and stifling power of the sinful self. The sinful self was crucified with Christ, thus we are freed to be the person we were designed to be, freed to care for God and each other. On the other hand we are empowered to love. We were raised with Christ and through his indwelling presence we are impelled to love as he loves. His character of love resides within, shaping us toward love.

So then, love, or better compassion, is not so much a matter of doing, but rather of receiving. Love is activated in our lives when we rest upon Christ's completed work. The prayer of faith, based upon a recognition of the indwelling power we possess in Christ, activates our loving and so sets us apart as disciples of Christ.

How did Jesus love?

A commandment is neither an option nor a suggestion. It is an order; it is a commissioning, a mission, and a framework for living. We are called to love like Jesus loved. So, how did Jesus love? Through unconditional acceptance and unconditional dignity. Through uncompromising service and complete and total sacrifice.

In Scripture the word “Agapé is used in reference to the type of love Jesus both offers us and commissions us to offer others. There were four words for love in the Greek language, agapé was a complete love that had no selfishness or conditions attached to it. It is one of the most frequently used terms in the Gospels.

One of the greatest defects in our society is that we do not know how to love “like Jesus loved.” We are more prone to “performance-based acceptance,” than we are to offering others “unconditional dignity.” This simply means treating another with dignity regardless of how they behave towards me. This is why Jesus speaks about service and love as inherently united. He uses foot-washing as an example, and says that we are most free when we are most able to serve, then he “orders” his followers to love in this self-abandoning manner.

This is our new model for living and washing one another’s feet is the way that Jesus displays it. In the reversed values of God’s kingdom, it is the one who serves who is liberated. Jesus’ ministry begins with the mission, “I have come to be good news to the poor,” and ends it with the commission, “Love one another as I have loved you.” He begins with love and ends with service.

4) Thought Exercise

How can we better love the way Jesus loved?

What kinds of service can come from this new model for living?

Abundant Life

John 10: 1 – 15, 27 - 30 (April 25, 2010)

1) The Text

10“Very truly, I tell you, anyone who does not enter the sheepfold by the gate but climbs in by another way is a thief and a bandit. 2The one who enters by the gate is the shepherd of the sheep. 3The gatekeeper opens the gate for him, and the sheep hear his voice. He calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. 4When he has brought out all his own, he goes ahead of them, and the sheep follow him because they know his voice. 5They will not follow a stranger, but they will run from him because they do not know the voice of strangers.” 6Jesus used this figure of speech with them, but they did not understand what he was saying to them. 7So again Jesus said to them, “Very truly, I tell you, I am the gate for the sheep. 8All who came before me are thieves and bandits; but the sheep did not listen to them. 9I am the gate. Whoever enters by me will be saved, and will come in and go out and find pasture. 10The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly. 11“I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. 12The hired hand, who is not the shepherd and does not own the sheep, sees the wolf coming and leaves the sheep and runs away—and the wolf snatches them and scatters them. 13The hired hand runs away because a hired hand does not care for the sheep. 14I am the good shepherd. I know my own and my own know me, 15just as the Father knows me and I know the Father. And I lay down my life for the sheep.

27My sheep hear my voice. I know them, and they follow me. 28I give them eternal life, and they will never perish. No one will snatch them out of my hand. 29What my Father has given me is greater than all else, and no one can snatch it out of the Father’s hand. 30The Father and I are one.”

2) The Context

In the previous chapter (Chapter 9), Jesus has raised the ire of some religious leaders by giving sight to a blind man on the Sabbath. Some of them have heard Jesus say “‘I came into this world for judgment so that those who do not see may see, and those who do see may become blind’” (9:39). Some have asked him, “‘Surely we are not blind, are we?’” (9:40), to which he has replied. “‘If you were blind, you would not have sin. But now that you say, ‘We see,’ your sin remains.’” (9:41) Thinking themselves worthy makes them unworthy in God’s eyes.

Now Jesus uses a metaphor to expand on his point (but no metaphor works perfectly). In Palestine, sheep belonging to villagers roamed freely during the day but were confined to a common enclosure at night, to protect them from predators. Each morning, each shepherd called his sheep who followed him to pasture.

While “this figure of speech” (v. 6) is hard for us to understand in detail (as it was for those who heard Jesus), we can get the drift. So irate does the metaphor make the leaders that they try to stone him (in v. 31) and, in v. 40, Jesus flees across the Jordan. As he explains (v. 7), he is the “gate” of v. 2, so presumably the thieves and bandits are the Jewish religious leaders. Jesus, both the “gatekeeper” (v. 3) and the “shepherd” (v. 2) is the true leader. He calls the faithful to follow him (v. 4); they don’t follow a “stranger” (v. 5). The people listen to him and not to the “Pharisees” (9:40), “all who came before me” (v. 8). He is the only “gate” (v. 9) to eternal “life” (v. 10), to freedom (“come in and go out”, v. 9, a Jewish idiom), and to nourishment beyond measure (“find pasture ... abundantly”).

3) Interpretation

Shepherds had a hard life, since they faced all of the hardships of the hostile landscape through which they herded their sheep. Being with the flock, they faced all of the dangers and difficulties that the flock faced, and they were just as vulnerable -- to heat in the day, to cold at night, and to human and animal predators at all times. They slept with their flocks on nights when there were few enough predators for them to sleep at all; they were seen as poor prospects as husbands and fathers, since they had to leave their families alone and vulnerable at night as well.

That's the kind of life Jesus lives for and with us. Jesus journeys with the most vulnerable, and takes on all of their vulnerability. He knows what it's like to be out in the cold. He knows what he's saying when he calls people to leave their homes and villages, and even their families, since he had done the same himself. He knows what it's like to have people think that you're crazy or irresponsible because of what you leave behind and let go of, because people said the same things about him.
And he knows something else, too: this crazy life he lived, and calls us to live, is abundant life (John 14:10). It's THE abundant life, to be precise.

How could that be? Jesus of all people knows the risks and the hardships, the cost of the life he's leading. But Jesus is the shepherd, and he knows that as hard as it can be to follow the shepherd, it's much better than being prey for the others, thieves and bandits.

It may be costly to confess Jesus as Lord, but there are two ways to that confession which are implicit in this Sunday's gospel.

The first is that if Jesus is Lord, then the position is filled; no others need apply. If Jesus is not Lord, then there are countless others who will try to take that position in your life: bosses, politicians, parents; acquisitions, ambitions, causes; always just one more favor to do, one more promotion to get, one more enemy to defeat, before you can rest secure. Bob Dylan was right when he sang, "You've Gotta Serve Somebody," and those other would-be masters are bad news, keeping us penned with anxiety and work toward things which never turn out to be quite what was promised -- international, personal, or job "security" which really mean a lifetime of vigilance while trying to deny or hide vulnerabilities that are still very real.

The second is the Good News. Jesus is the good shepherd. Like his Father, he leads us together to what we need: food, water, air; true security, deep rest, and real love. Trusting him frees us to enjoy all of those good gifts as fully as God gives them, and the richness of God's blessings are far beyond what I know how to describe. When he's our shepherd, we experience abundant life that no thief can take away. When he's the gate, there's no need for us to try to do that job for him, and our anxieties about whether the "wrong" sort of people are getting in are replaced with freedom to love whomever we find ourselves with in the flock. Jesus is our Lord and shepherd, and so we need fear no evil; surely, as we follow him, goodness and mercy will follow us.

4) Thought Exercise

How has Jesus led you to find what you need?

How are you experiencing abundant life?

Divine Grace

John 21: 1 – 19 (April 18, 2010)

1) The Text

21After these things Jesus showed himself again to the disciples by the Sea of Tiberias; and he showed himself in this way. 2Gathered there together were Simon Peter, Thomas called the Twin, Nathanael of Cana in Galilee, the sons of Zebedee, and two others of his disciples. 3Simon Peter said to them, “I am going fishing.” They said to him, “We will go with you.” They went out and got into the boat, but that night they caught nothing. 4Just after daybreak, Jesus stood on the beach; but the disciples did not know that it was Jesus. 5Jesus said to them, “Children, you have no fish, have you?” They answered him, “No.” 6He said to them, “Cast the net to the right side of the boat, and you will find some.” So they cast it, and now they were not able to haul it in because there were so many fish. 7That disciple whom Jesus loved said to Peter, “It is the Lord!” When Simon Peter heard that it was the Lord, he put on some clothes, for he was naked, and jumped into the sea. 8But the other disciples came in the boat, dragging the net full of fish, for they were not far from the land, only about a hundred yards off. 9When they had gone ashore, they saw a charcoal fire there, with fish on it, and bread. 10Jesus said to them, “Bring some of the fish that you have just caught.” 11So Simon Peter went aboard and hauled the net ashore, full of large fish, a hundred fifty-three of them; and though there were so many, the net was not torn. 12Jesus said to them, “Come and have breakfast.” Now none of the disciples dared to ask him, “Who are you?” because they knew it was the Lord. 13Jesus came and took the bread and gave it to them, and did the same with the fish. 14This was now the third time that Jesus appeared to the disciples after he was raised from the dead.

15When they had finished breakfast, Jesus said to Simon Peter, “Simon son of John, do you love me more than these?” He said to him, “Yes, Lord; you know that I love you.” Jesus said to him, “Feed my lambs.” 16A second time he said to him, “Simon son of John, do you love me?” He said to him, “Yes, Lord; you know that I love you.” Jesus said to him, “Tend my sheep.” 17He said to him the third time, “Simon son of John, do you love me?” Peter felt hurt because he said to him the third time, “Do you love me?” And he said to him, “Lord, you know everything; you know that I love you.” Jesus said to him, “Feed my sheep. 18Very truly, I tell you, when you were younger, you used to fasten your own belt and to go wherever you wished. But when you grow old, you will stretch out your hands, and someone else will fasten a belt around you and take you where you do not wish to go.” 19(He said this to indicate the kind of death by which he would glorify God.) After this he said to him, “Follow me.”

2) The Context

The Gospel of John is the only gospel in which we have a full description of the resurrection stories. The other three gospels are more fragmented in their telling of the resurrection story, but John’s gospel gives us his complete version of these events. In addition, John, Chapter 21 is included in the three great, early Greek manuscripts of the New Testament e.g. Alexandrinus, Sinaiticus, and Vaticanus and has always been thought of as “Bible.” That is, this great story of the resurrection was not a later addition to the oldest canon but was part of all three great, ancient Greek manuscripts.

The entire narrative in the chapter is about the rehabilitation of Peter who denied Jesus three times in the courtyard of Caiaphas. In this resurrection story, Peter is the central character who professes his love for Jesus three times, as if to atone for his three previous denials.

3) Interpretation

One of the features of stories about the appearances of Jesus after his resurrection is that they nearly always end up with Jesus commissioning someone. Jesus appears for a purpose. The presence of Jesus is strongly linked with the sense of calling. Paul, too, found that the Christ appeared to him in order to set him on the path of apostleship (Gal 1:15-16).

Resurrection celebrates the risenness of Jesus. The appearance to Peter celebrates divine grace. The world and the church (across its history) are littered with smashed lives and vessels ground beneath vengeful, judging feet. Thus far and no further: cross the line of shame and there is no way back; impossible.

Not so the divine initiative at Easter. The veil of death is parted; through it a hand reaches out to a Peter, shamed and probably resigned to former routines. Wherever and however it happened, Peter was turned from death to life. The God who had not abandoned Christ in death would not abandon Peter in his. Against all odds and against the prevailing values which would later ascend to rule in much theology, God proposed love to Peter again. Almost irritated by the persistence of divine grace, Peter opens himself to life and leadership. Peter will feed the sheep. Peter will follow Jesus, as he had said.

John’s community must know about Peter’s fate. Their hero, too, would die, though some had apparently expected the Lord’s return while he still lived (21:23). That needed correction. Peter doubtless represents the leadership of the established churches with which John’s communities had a close relationship but from whom they differed in a similar kind of way that their gospel differed from the others.

Peter is not disowned. Peter is legendary. His rehabilitation is a celebration of divine grace. He also symbolizes leadership, the shepherd appointed by the true shepherd, to do as he did, to care for the sheep. There could be no arrogance here, no lofty superiority, no graceless dogmatism. Instead, a frail human person brought again to his feet, enriched with stories of Jesus, and brought to life and leadership by God’s generosity. Such is the image and the possibility.

Paul would remind us of more failings. James would need to move Peter sideways. Peter ends up looking very much like us and like us, kept needing grace and needing renewed encounters with the risen Lord.

4) Thought Exercise

When has God reached out to you and called you?

How did you answer the call?

Faith Defined

Hebrews 11: 1 – 4 (April 11, 2010)

1) The Text

11Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen. 2Indeed, by faith our ancestors received approval. 3By faith we understand that the worlds were prepared by the word of God, so that what is seen was made from things that are not visible.

4By faith Abel offered to God a more acceptable sacrifice than Cain’s. Through this he received approval as righteous, God himself giving approval to his gifts; he died, but through his faith he still speaks.

2) The Context

Apart from the concluding verses (which may have been added later), this book is a treatise (or sermon) rather than a letter. Its name comes from its approach to Christianity: it is couched in Judaic terms. The identity of the author is unknown; Origen, c. 200 said that "only God knows" who wrote Hebrews. The book presents an elaborate analysis, arguing for the absolute supremacy and sufficiency of Christ as revealer and mediator of God's grace. Basing his argument on the Old Testament, the author argues for the superiority of Christ to the prophets, angels and Moses. Christ offers a superior priesthood, and his sacrifice is much more significant than that of Levite priests. Jesus is the "heavenly" High Priest, making the true sacrifice for the sins of the people, but he is also of the same flesh and blood as those he makes holy.

In the section preceding this passage, the author has urged his readers to recall the time after they were baptized: they endured hardships: – public abuse, persecution and “plundering of your possessions” (10:34), accepting these privations cheerfully “knowing that you ... possessed something better and more lasting”. So, he urges, “do not abandon ... that confidence of yours” (10:35). “You need endurance” (10:36) to “receive what was promised” (i.e. eternal life with Christ). Christ will come again; keep your faith in him.

In the current passage, the writer encourages his readers by listing examples of those who did persevere. Above all, he lets his readers into the secret of their success. These "great ones" persevered by faith. They persevered by trusting the promises of God, which promises were without substance or visible evidence. None-the-less, they regulated their lives on the basis of God's revealed truth - on his promises and commands. They did so, even though much of this truth concerned an unseen future.

3) Interpretation

The writer initially defines faith as "being sure" and "being certain". This clause can be understood in a number of different ways: (a) Faith is the substance or real essence of what we hope for; (b) Faith is the first fruits of what we hope for; and (c) Faith is confidence in, or assurance of, things hoped for. This is probably the best way to understand faith; faith, not as an object given and possessed, but rather a subjective human quality which may or may not be expressed, and when expressed, is done so in varying degrees.

That is, faith is human confidence, and confidence may be weak or strong. In the Christian sense, faith (either weak or strong - faith as small as a mustard seed moves mountains) is confidence in God and his communication to us - his Word: his promises and commands. Faith, in its Christian sense, finds its substance in what is believed, not in the act of believing. So for example, to believe in Jesus, but not in his resurrection, is not saving faith. Our new life depends on our confidence in Christ's new life. If Jesus did not rise from the dead then we are still in our old state of sin, 1Cor.15:17. So, in this sense, faith is not a gift of God, rather Christ is God's gift to us. We may turn toward Christ, or turn away from Christ, believe (have faith) or not believe.

The writer goes on to point out that through faith the people of Israel gained God's approval, and thus persevered. Their lives are recorded in scripture as examples which serve to encourage those who follow in their footsteps. To aid our Christian life, the writer goes on to list some of those who lived by faith. Before listing the examples of faith, the writer illustrates his definition of faith. He has told us that faith is a firm conviction in God's revealed Word, in particular, the promises which "we hope for" and yet at present "do not see." Faith is holding firm to the promises of God, such that our actions and convictions align with our acceptance of God's revealed truth.

Faith as a mustard seed
Faith is not some mysterious religious quality which only a few possess. Faith is not something reserved for the holy, set apart perfect religious person; it is not something given to some, but not given to others, a quality only entrusted to a few. Nor is faith a religious quality we can use to make things happen, a tool to bend the will of God. Faith is none of these things.

Faith is a willing, but struggling trust, in the revealed intentions of God; it is a reliance on God and on his truths, on his promises. Such faith may be as small as a mustard seed, hesitant, uneasy, filled with doubts, and yet determined to hold onto God's promises through all the doubts and fears that assail us. Faith is a confidence, a conviction, in the revealed will of God. Such faith makes a person acceptable to God. When Jesus makes a promise like: "everyone who looks to the Son and believes in him shall have eternal life," then to believe is to have life. Such faith makes a person right with God.

The writer to the Hebrews says in 10:35-36, "Do not throw away your confidence, it will be richly rewarded. You need to persevere so that when you have done the will of God, you will receive what he has promised." How do we persevere in the Christian life? By faith, is the answer. All the great saints of the past persevered by faith. They were "persecuted and mistreated - the world was not worthy of them." "These were all commended for their faith, yet none of them received what had been promised." For us, the age of promise has dawned, the kingdom is at hand. Yet, we too must struggle as they did, awaiting the coming of our Lord. But how? By faith we hold tenaciously to Jesus.

4) Thought Exercise

How would you define faith?

When have you persevered through difficult times by faith?