Blog For Free!
Archives
Home
2007 December
2006 September
2006 January
2005 December
2005 May
2005 January
2004 December
2004 October
2004 September
2004 August
2004 July
tBlog
My Profile
Send tMail
My tFriends
My Images
Sponsored
Blog
|
| John 12:35-46 |
| 09.17.04 (12:06 pm) [edit] |
35/ Jesus said to them, “The light is with you for a little while longer. Walk while you have the light, so that the darkness may not overtake you. If you walk in the darkness, you do not know where you are going. 36/ While you have the light, believe in the light, so that you may become children of light.
After Jesus had said this, he departed and hid from them. 37/ Although he had performed so many signs in their presence, they did not believe in him. 38/ This was to fulfill the word spoken by the prophet Isaiah: "Lord, who has believed our message, and to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed?" 39/ And so they could not believe, because Isaiah also said, 40/ "He has blinded their eyes and hardened their heart, so that they might not look with their eyes, and understand with their heart and turn — and I would heal them." 41/ Isaiah said this because he saw his glory and spoke about him. 42/ Nevertheless many, even of the authorities, believed in him. But because of the Pharisees they did not confess it, for fear that they would be put out of the synagogue; 43/ for they loved human glory more than the glory that comes from God.
44/ Then Jesus cried aloud: “Whoever believes in me believes not in me but in him who sent me. 45/ And whoever sees me sees him who sent me. 46/ I have come as light into the world, so that everyone who believes in me should not remain in the darkness.
Have you ever stumbled around in a dark room, trying to find the light switch? It can be hazardous, can’t it? Perhaps there’s a chair out of place, and you strike it as you are moving across the floor. It hurts, and there is a bruise the next day. No fun. Or, it’s so dark in the room that you’re disoriented. You think the switch is right in front of you, but it’s not. It’s to your left or your right. It can be confusing. Even scary. As a pastor, I have had occasion to be at the church late at night when it’s dark and you can’t see. They say, of course, that when one of your senses is diminished, the others compensate and become more acute. I believe it. I hear things in the dark that I don’t hear in the light. And when you’re alone in a big church at night and you hear things, your heart jumps into your throat.
As with so many things, what is true in the physical, material realm is true also in the spiritual. Jesus talks here about walking in the light and contrasts it with walking in the darkness. He is not talking, of course, about being in a dark room, looking for the light switch. He is talking about having our minds darkened so that we do not recognize him for who he is or, conversely, being enlightened so that we see clearly that he is the Savior of the world and the one worthy of our devotion and commitment.
In this passage, Jesus says that he has come into the world as a light, and he talks about three reactions that people have to the light. I would like for us to look at each of these in turn.
I. THOSE WHO WILL NOT BELIEVE
The first response that people make to the light is not to believe. John says in verse 37 that, “although he had performed so many signs in their presence, they did not believe in him.” And then he goes on to say that this was a fulfillment of prophecy. He quotes from Isaiah these words: “Lord, who has believed our message, and to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed?”
And then John makes a startling statement. He says that those who will not believe do not because they cannot. Quoting again from Isaiah, he writes, “He has blinded their eyes and hardened their heart, so that they might not look with their eyes and understand with their heart and turn -- and I would heal them.”
In other words, some people get so used to the darkness that they prefer it to the light. They cannot believe. It’s as though there’s something inside that prevents them. This is a great mystery, and it’s a hard thing to grasp. The important thing to keep in mind is that, when a person’s heart becomes hardened, it is their responsibility -- not God’s. That’s why we should always keep our hearts supple and pliable in the presence of God.
II. THOSE WHO BELIEVE HALF-HEARTEDLY
But hard hearts aren’t the only problem. Some people believe in Jesus, but they do it half-heartedly. John tells us, beginning in verse 42 that, indeed, some people did believe in Jesus -- even people among the authorities -- “but because of the Pharisees they did not confess it, for fear that they would be put out of the synagogue; for they loved human glory more than the glory that comes from God.”
Interesting situation. Many do not believe. But some do. And some of the ones who do are among the religious leaders. But they can’t say so. Why? Fear. They are afraid of what the other religious leaders will do. They are afraid they might lose their status or even be cast out of their church!
Half-hearted faith is really not very comforting. Someone once said that some people have just enough religion to make them miserable. There’s more to life in Christ than that! Jesus said, “I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full” (John 10:10). Cringing, fearful faith is not life to the full, is it?
III. THOSE WHO BELIEVE WHOLE-HEARTEDLY
So, Jesus calls us to something higher, something better. He calls us to whole hearted faith. “Whoever believes in me,” Jesus says, “believes not in me but in him who sent me. And whoever sees me sees him who sent me. I have come as light into the world, so that everyone who believes in me should not remain in the darkness.”
While some walk in darkness and others walk in the misty realms of dusk-like light, you and I are invited to come all the way out of the darkness into the full sunlight of faith. It’s really only in the unfiltered light that you can see. “Whoever sees me sees him who sent me,” Jesus says. “I have come as light into the world.”
Why sit in darkness? Why try to make our way in the half-light of half-hearted faith. Why, indeed, when we have Jesus, who is the light of the world. Let’s put our faith in him -- and if we believe in him at all, let’s go all the way with it. Let’s believe in him with our whole heart. Then we’ll see that there’s nothing to fear and everything to gain.
|
|
|
| |
| John 11:17-29 |
| 09.09.04 (6:52 am) [edit] |
“...to resolve some issue of human need”
-- Bill Johnson
A Story Is a Promise, p. 9
John 11:17-29 (NRSV)
17/When Jesus arrived, he found that Lazarus had already been in the tomb four days. 18/Now Bethany was near Jerusalem, some two miles away, 19/and many of the Jews had come to Martha and Mary to console them about their brother. 20/When Martha heard that Jesus was coming, she went and met him, while Mary stayed at home. 21/Martha said to Jesus, "Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died. 22/But even now I know that God will give you whatever you ask of him." 23/Jesus said to her, "Your brother will rise again." 24/Martha said to him, "I know that he will rise again in the resurrection on the last day." 25/Jesus said to her, "I am the resurrection and the life. Those who believe in me, even though they die, will live, 26/and everyone who lives and believes in me will never die. Do you believe this?" 27/She said to him, "Yes, Lord, I believe that you are the Messiah, the Son of God, the one coming into the world."
28/When she had said this, she went back and called her sister Mary, and told her privately, "The Teacher is here and is calling for you." 29/And when she heard it, she got up quickly and went to him.
The first question I would ask of this text, I suppose is, who is the character “through whose eyes the story is experienced” (Melanie Ann Phillips). That, of course, would be Martha. She is the grieving sister of Lazarus, who is now dead, and has been for “four days” (11:17). When she hears that Jesus has arrived in Bethany, she goes out to meet him, while her sister, Mary, stays at home. She also interacts with Jesus and, through her interaction, comes to a resolution (or, at least, a near resolution) to her greatest need.
That is the next question I would ask. What is the human need that is addressed in this account? It is the need for consolation. But it is more than that. We are told that “many of the Jews had come to Martha and Mary to console them about their brother” (11:19), but the efforts of these would-be caregivers do not seem to have accomplished much. In fact, the way verse 19 is placed in the text, it almost suggests that Martha walked right through the well-intentioned mourners, ignoring them altogether, to get to Jesus, who had just arrived. She seemed to know -- or, at least, to intuit, that he alone would be able to meet her need. So, it was not simply consolation she sought but lasting, substantial comfort -- and hope.
What opposes Martha in her search for hope? There seem to be both external and internal factors that set themselves in opposition to her. The external obstacle is the raw fact of her brother’s lifeless corpse. It has “already been in the tomb four days” (11:17), and, as Martha says later to Jesus about the body, “Lord, there is already a stench” (11:39). Not only is the body of Lazarus lifeless; it is also decaying.
The internal obstacle to Martha’s hope is a conventional but inadequate belief system. When Jesus tells Martha that her brother “will rise again” (11:23), her reply is almost rote, as though she were quoting some official catechism: “I know that he will rise again in the resurrection on the last day” (11:24).
But the question is, Can she believe more than this? Hope depends on it, although at this point she may not know what more she could believe.
Then it becomes clear to her. Jesus says, “I am the resurrection and the life. Those who believe in me, even though they die, will live, and everyone who lives and believes in me will never die” (11:26). Then comes the critical question: “Do you believe this?”
Does she? She has known Jesus for some time. He has been in her home on many an occasion. She even says to him at one point, “I know that God will give you whatever you ask of him” (11:22). She ignores all the other well-wishers when she hears that Jesus has come and goes directly to him.
But Jesus’ claim is one of grand proportions. “I am the resurrection and the life...everyone who lives and believes in me will never die”? Can she believe this? It is certainly beyond what she has ever been taught before to believe, and there is the incontrovertible fact of her brother’s corpse. Does she believe what Jesus claims?
Yes.
She says as much in verse 27: “Yes, Lord, I believe that you are the Messiah, the Son of God, the one coming into the world.”
And this is the foundation of her hope. She has yet to see the full implication of this embryonic faith, as the remainder of chapter 11 will make clear. But there is hope now. Hope that had not been there before. And it is fully vested in Jesus.
Martha shows this by finding her sister Mary and telling her, “The teacher is here and is calling for you.” Jesus’ presence is what Mary has been waiting for as well. She gets up quickly and goes to him.
The story of the events that day in Bethany is not yet over, but an important moment has registered itself forever in the mind and heart of Martha. She has declared her faith, and it has restored her hope.
September 9, 2004
|
|
|
| |
| John 10:31-42 |
| 09.08.04 (3:15 pm) [edit] |
What is the human need in this passage that pleads for resolution?
The particular need in John 10:31-42 has to do with discernment. Jesus concludes his defense of himself by saying, “Even though you may not believe me, believe the works [that I do]....” Why? “So that you may know and understand that the Father is in me and I am in the Father” (10:38). This purpose clause [“so that you may know and understand”] carries the need, which I am identifying as discernment. Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1996) defines discernment as “the power or faculty of the mind by which it distinguishes one thing from another; the power of viewing differences in objects, and their relations and tendencies; penetrative and discriminate mental vision; acuteness; sagacity; insight.” The term is derived from the Latin discernere, to separate: dis-, apart, + cernere, to perceive. The two main Greek words translated as "discernment" are anakrino, meaning to examine or judge closely, and diakrino, to separate out, to investigate, to examine. Discernment is a need because, without the power to distinguish one thing from another, we may place ourselves in danger. I may mistake an enemy for a friend or a lie for the truth. None of us wants to be injured or deceived. We want, rather, to perceive what is true and good. George Hendry states regarding discernment, “We have to discriminate between what is true and what is false, ...between what is primary and what is secondary, between what is central and what is peripheral” [The Holy Spirit in Christian Theology, p. 13].
We may, however, fail to make distinctions. We may misperceive, as did the religious leaders in this account.
|
|
|
| |
|
|
