Tag: gospel of john

“I Have Overcome the World” (John 16:25-33)

On By Tim EhrhardtIn Christian Spirituality Blog, Daily Bible Reading Blog, Year BLeave a comment
All Are Alike Unto God, by Madison Wardle

“Though I have been speaking figuratively, a time is coming when I will no longer use this kind of language but will tell you plainly about my Father. In that day you will ask in my name. I am not saying that I will ask the Father on your behalf. No, the Father himself loves you because you have loved me and have believed that I came from God. I came from the Father and entered the world; now I am leaving the world and going back to the Father.”

Then Jesus’ disciples said, “Now you are speaking clearly and without figures of speech. Now we can see that you know all things and that you do not even need to have anyone ask you questions. This makes us believe that you came from God.”

“Do you now believe?” Jesus replied. “A time is coming and in fact has come when you will be scattered, each to your own home. You will leave me all alone. Yet I am not alone, for my Father is with me.

“I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.” (New International Version)

Imagine you are with Jesus in the Upper Room celebrating Passover. And your Lord tells you he is leaving – going back to the Father. After three years of a difficult, yet incredible ministry, there is palpable grief in the room. It’s as if you got sucker-punched. You want this time with Jesus to never end….

Jesus Christ, Son of God, Son of Man, Savior of the world, does not forget you. The Lord is concerned and careful to provide wonderful words of assurance: Father God loves you. I give you my peace. I have overcome the world.

My friend, do you hear the words of Jesus? Do you truly understand what the Lord of all the earth has said to you? The love and peace of Christ has overcome the world. That love and that peace is given to you. You, and not just someone else, possesses the love and peace to overcome the world.

Whenever we encounter trouble; in those times when grief seems to be swallowing us whole; and when all is dark and we cannot see our hand in front of our face – it is in these moments the Lord comes alongside us and communicates a loving divine presence which grants us the peace of settled rest, even if, and especially when, our troubling situations do not change.

If you have had a life largely free of struggle, the privilege of knowing where your next meal is coming from, and the assurance of having your most basic needs met, then please understand that many people throughout the world, right this moment, know nothing of that kind of experience.

However, this doesn’t necessarily mean that needy persons are unhappy, discontent, or bitter. Heavens, no!

Love and peace are neither bound nor limited by adverse circumstances.

In fact, love and peace are known in a much deeper way whenever we have been hated and in conflict. That’s because love thrives and flourishes in an environment of hate; and peace takes root more surely wherever there is disharmony and misunderstanding.

If everything always goes our way, how then would we know the Lord’s great grace to us? How would we ever know God as Provider unless we were in want? How would we know Christ as the Healer unless we were broken? How could we ever know resurrection unless there was a crucifixion?

Jesus specializes in the improbable and the impossible. He comes and lands on the Island of Misfit Toys, and airlifts the discarded ones to be a gift to the world.

You see, this is precisely how we overcome the world: We love and serve, just as our Lord did. Since he overcame, we walk in his footsteps.

The acquisition and presence of peace is anything but passive. Peace has been achieved through a bloody cross and settles within the spirit through an active pursuit of harmony, wholeness, integrity, and love.

Now that we have been put right with God through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. He has brought us by faith into this experience of God’s grace, in which we now live. And so, we boast of the hope we have of sharing God’s glory! We also boast of our troubles, because we know that trouble produces endurance, endurance brings God’s approval, and his approval creates hope. (Romans 5:1-4, GNT)

For the kingdom of God is not food and drink but righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit. The one who thus serves Christ is acceptable to God and has human approval. Let us then pursue what makes for peace and for mutual upbuilding. (Romans 14:17-19, NRSV)

God’s peace and love is free, but it is not cheap. It is obtained smack in the middle of worldly troubles. So, may the peace of God be with you, my friends, now and always.

Almighty and everlasting God, you are the fountain of all peace, spiritual and temporal. We humbly pray, in your great goodness grant us that peace which the world cannot give, that we may ever live in your fear, obedient to your commandments, to the end that you may deliver us from all our enemies, through your dear Son, Jesus Christ, our Lord. Amen.

Christ the King Sunday (John 18:33-37)

On By Tim EhrhardtIn Christian Spirituality Blog, Daily Bible Reading Blog, Year BLeave a comment
Statue of Christ the King, in Świebodzin, Poland

Then Pilate entered the headquarters again, summoned Jesus, and asked him, “Are you the King of the Jews?” 

Jesus answered, “Do you ask this on your own, or did others tell you about me?” 

Pilate replied, “I am not a Jew, am I? Your own nation and the chief priests have handed you over to me. What have you done?” 

Jesus answered, “My kingdom does not belong to this world. If my kingdom belonged to this world, my followers would be fighting to keep me from being handed over to the Jews. But as it is, my kingdom is not from here.” 

Pilate asked him, “So you are a king?”

Jesus answered, “You say that I am a king. For this I was born, and for this I came into the world, to testify to the truth. Everyone who belongs to the truth listens to my voice.” (New Revised Standard Version)

Each year in the Christian Calendar, Christ the King Sunday is observed as the final Sunday in the liturgical year. It comes at this time, just before the beginning of Advent, in order to consider an important question.

Since Jesus came to this earth in his incarnation to be a king, we must ask, “What kind of a king was Jesus?”

Christ was not, and is not, a king, a ruler (or any other sort of title one wants to use for an authoritative leader) in the same way as was the Roman Emperor, King Herod, or the regional authority of the time, Pontius Pilate.

Jesus was also not like those in authority such as the Jewish High Priest, the Jewish ruling council of the Sanhedrin, or the local synagogue ruler. And Christ is most definitely not like any sort of present day President, Prime Minister, or petty dictator in any of the world’s nations.

Jesus was a king and a ruler who used his power and authority for those on the underbelly of society, that is, people without much, if any, power or authority.

That means Christ the King is concerned to effect a very different set of values from that of any politically dominant governmental system or society that was or is on this earth.

Whether a person or group of people are seeking to win an election, initiate a coup, or effect a change in government, they want their particular system of governing to be in power. They want to call all the shots in a particular place.

That means there will be winners and losers. There will be people in power, and others without it. Some people will benefit from the system, and others will not. Looking at kingship and/or leadership from that perspective, there is a built in failure rate.

The obsession with winning, at a national level, typically involves securing a strong military. Yet, despite military might, soldiers rarely secure any sort of political solution to anything. All it really does is strongarm others into doing what the powerful want done. It does nothing to change the hearts of people.

People in power can be enamored with their authority to do things. And they don’t like it whenever they are not in control of everything. The kings, rulers, and even religious leaders in Christ’s day, were used to controlling public discourse and even the daily lives of common people.

From that sort of worldly understanding of power, Jesus had no real authority. He was this pathetic person standing before a powerful person. Most people would have been begging for their lives. But not Jesus. Christ knew who was really in charge. And it was not Pilate.

Pilate was flummoxed by the presence of Jesus. From Pilate’s perspective, Jesus was not at all acting like a king ought to. Pilate, in his authoritative role, wanted answers about what was going on. But he didn’t realize that his authority was given to him from a power outside the Roman Empire.

Christ’s kingdom is not of this world. Therefore, the power politics and authority positions of that kingdom are nothing what people like Pilate were used to. There was no way that Pilate could use the typical tactics of manipulation, lies, corruption, and leveraging power to come to a satisfactory outcome for himself.

The values of God’s kingdom are quite different from any political government in this world, either past or present.

Jesus had no need to try and be at the top of Pilate’s system, or of the Roman world. So, he wasn’t even going to try and exercise that kind of authority within it. And neither were his disciples. Clubs and swords and pitched battles would not be happening. There was absolutely no need for it whatsoever.

For us today, that means we serve the interests of humility, gentleness, respect, righteousness, mercy, purity, and peace. We are not here on this earth to engage in the routine and typical ways of earthly power politics.

For the Christian, Jesus is King. But this king isn’t riding around in a chariot or a limousine; he comes to us on a jack ass and driving a Subaru.

Jesus is the king with all the power of the universe, and yet is tortured and killed by those with the local society’s authority. That happened not because of weakness or inability, but because of a completely different set of values which have to do with love defeating hate, instead of an army winning a victory.

A God who is crucified is diametrically different than any other deity or authority which has ever existed. The power of love is the ultimate power of doing what is right, just, and good; and letting truth have its way, no matter what.

Christians everywhere must be reminded, on this Christ the King Sunday, that we serve a sovereign king whose power and authority is used to be a humble servant who meets the needs of others.

All Christians, therefore, ought to embrace and engage in becoming gentle folk who bring humble service to others wherever they go. Seeking power, position, prestige, and pedigree is in direct opposition to the values of God’s kingdom, with Christ as King.

Any sort of Christendom, which seeks to control both government and society, or a Christian Nationalism which intends to ensconce personal agendas into society, ought to be rejected.

Christian Nationalism is nothing more than Grape Nuts; just as the cereal is neither grapes nor nuts, so the political movement is neither Christian nor concerned for national interests.

This is a day for the church to reassess what is most important, to affirm its true values, and to evaluate how it really ought to operate in society.

Almighty and everlasting God, whose will it is to restore all things in your well-beloved Son, the King of kings and Lord of lords: Mercifully grant that the peoples of the earth, divided and enslaved by guilt and shame, may be freed and brought together under his most gracious rule; who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen.

All Saints Day (John 11:32-44)

On By Tim EhrhardtIn Christian Spirituality Blog, Daily Bible Reading Blog, Year BLeave a comment
The Forerunners of Christ with Saints and Martyrs, by Fra Angelico, 15th century

When Mary came where Jesus was and saw him, she knelt at his feet and said to him, “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died.” When Jesus saw her weeping and the Jews who came with her also weeping, he was greatly disturbed in spirit and deeply moved. He said, “Where have you laid him?” They said to him, “Lord, come and see.” Jesus began to weep. So the Jews said, “See how he loved him!” But some of them said, “Could not he who opened the eyes of the blind man have kept this man from dying?”

Then Jesus, again greatly disturbed, came to the tomb. It was a cave, and a stone was lying against it. Jesus said, “Take away the stone.” Martha, the sister of the dead man, said to him, “Lord, already there is a stench because he has been dead four days.” Jesus said to her, “Did I not tell you that if you believed you would see the glory of God?” So they took away the stone.

And Jesus looked upward and said, “Father, I thank you for having heard me. I knew that you always hear me, but I have said this for the sake of the crowd standing here, so that they may believe that you sent me.” When he had said this, he cried with a loud voice, “Lazarus, come out!” The dead man came out, his hands and feet bound with strips of cloth and his face wrapped in a cloth. Jesus said to them, “Unbind him, and let him go.” (New Revised Standard Version)

Every year on the Christian Calendar, the Church commemorates the saints who have gone before us. This day provides an opportunity to acknowledge the spiritual reality that contemporary believers stand on the shoulders of those who lived and died before us. Those saints of yester year deserve our recognition.

Since many believers know little about Christian history, it is good to take the time and reflect on the contributions of our spiritual ancestors. Our own personal spiritual growth isn’t just something we did on our own; we owe a lot to the saints who preceded us, and made it possible for us to know Christ.

In our Gospel lesson for today, Mary’s brother Lazarus had died. She was distraught and mourned her loss. Jesus reminded Mary that physical death is not the end; it is a temporary move to a higher plan of existence, until we all share in the final resurrection of the dead together as believers.

Although dead, the saints we recognize and remember can still speak to us, making significant contributions to our lives. All sorts of books, including Holy Scripture, have timeless reminders of how to live in this world. And, for some Christian traditions, the saints of long ago still maintain a real interaction with us in the present.

Times may change, yet the basic nature of people does not. The saints of the past have incredible wisdom for us, if we will but listen.

The Raising of Lazarus, by John Reilly (1928-2010)

In this way, Lazarus serves as an example of one who has a unique, powerful, and compelling testimony. He speaks, not only actually in his post-resurrection awakening by Jesus, but also virtually in speaking to us through the text and from his historical and heavenly place.

The presence and testimony of Lazarus was incredibly real enough for the religious leaders to begin plotting Christ’s demise; and even planning to kill Lazarus, because of his powerful testimony.

There is a place for grief and tears, and a place for joy and celebration. It seems that too much of our present time is given to the lament which comes from loss. The death and then resurrection of Lazarus by Jesus is a foretaste of Christ’s return.

We, along with all of the saints of bygone eras, will share together in a great resurrection at the end of time.

The author of Hebrews understood this, and spoke about the saints’ anticipation. Even though their lives were often characterized by adversity and suffering, they were able to exercise patience and perseverance, knowing there is something better ahead, along with us:

Some faced jeers and flogging, and even chains and imprisonment. They were put to death by stoning; they were sawed in two; they were killed by the sword. They went about in sheepskins and goatskins, destitute, persecuted and mistreated—the world was not worthy of them. They wandered in deserts and mountains, living in caves and in holes in the ground.

These were all commended for their faith, yet none of them received what had been promised, since God had planned something better for us so that only together with us would they be made perfect. (Hebrews 11:36-40, NIV)

Death is our enemy. Each one of us will succumb to it. Even Lazarus, although dead and then raised to life, ended up dying again. Yet he, along with us, shall be raised immortal.

Until that glorious time, we need to keep going and enduring in this life. We are mortals, subject to all that mortality means for us. Death is that ever-present specter that continually lingers in the background of everyone’s life. The reality of death can upend us, either through the bereavement of loved ones, or through anxious thoughts of our own impending death.

Although Christ has won the war against our old enemy, the fight, however, is not yet over. We need to keep up a future orientation, as Jesus did, and as the faithful saints of the past did.

The risen Lord shall not only cry with us, but shall wipe away every tear, and make it so that we will never be put to shame.

This makes the Christian recognition of All Saints Day not only a remembrance of the past, but also a way of viewing the future. Let us, then, join with all the saints in looking forward to the day of Christ, and letting that perspective shape how we live today.

Beloved God, you deal with us kindly and in steadfast love. You lift up those bent over with heavy burdens, and sustain the weak and oppressed. Release us from our present anxious fears, so that we who hold fast to your commandments, may honor you with faith and patience for all that you have done for us, and will do for us; through Jesus Christ our Lord, in the power of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

Get Low Enough To See (John 7:25-36)

On By Tim EhrhardtIn Christian Spirituality Blog, Daily Bible Reading Blog, Year BLeave a comment

At that point some of the people of Jerusalem began to ask, “Isn’t this the man they are trying to kill? Here he is, speaking publicly, and they are not saying a word to him. Have the authorities really concluded that he is the Messiah? But we know where this man is from; when the Messiah comes, no one will know where he is from.”

Then Jesus, still teaching in the temple courts, cried out, “Yes, you know me, and you know where I am from. I am not here on my own authority, but he who sent me is true. You do not know him, but I know him because I am from him and he sent me.”

At this they tried to seize him, but no one laid a hand on him, because his hour had not yet come. Still, many in the crowd believed in him. They said, “When the Messiah comes, will he perform more signs than this man?”

The Pharisees heard the crowd whispering such things about him. Then the chief priests and the Pharisees sent temple guards to arrest him.

Jesus said, “I am with you for only a short time, and then I am going to the one who sent me. You will look for me, but you will not find me; and where I am, you cannot come.”

The Jews said to one another, “Where does this man intend to go that we cannot find him? Will he go where our people live scattered among the Greeks, and teach the Greeks? What did he mean when he said, ‘You will look for me, but you will not find me,’ and ‘Where I am, you cannot come’?” (New International Version)

Once in a while, I pray something like this: “Lord, if I’m not seeing you when I ought to, or am not getting something you’re trying to show me, please use your divine baseball bat and whomp me upside the head!”

That’s because, far more often than I would like to admit, I miss seeing the Divine whenever God shows up. That’s true for all of us, as well. We tend to mistake experiencing God when the Lord comes and stands in front of us.

In the New Testament Gospels, some who followed Jesus ended up turning around and going back to their old life. Either the situations with Jesus got too dicey, or Christ’s teaching seemed too confusing. When that happens, it’s too easy to forget Jesus altogether, and never pay attention to him.

There are others who treated Jesus with contempt, simply because they didn’t recognize who he really is. One cannot have faith if they don’t know or acknowledge the object of faith. You cannot believe Jesus if you don’t believe he is from God.

And, of course, there are those who see Christ for who he is. Yet, some of them see Jesus as a threat and want to be rid of him. Others see him as a great healer and teacher, and follow Jesus in order to gain something from him.

However, there are others who see through spiritual eyes and gain the faith to believe and follow him.

All of us, in some way or another in our lives, have misread Jesus and mistaken him for the gardener or some other person.

Many of the Jews in Christ’s own lifetime rejected him because they believed him to be a common nondescript Jew. They knew his parents, and his family. Jesus was too familiar to be special, let alone the Son of God. Besides, everyone knows nothing good comes from the Hicksville that’s Nazareth, right?

The thing is: People miss seeing Jesus for who he is (sometimes including you and me) because we have particular expectations and requirements of our personal Jesus. In other words, it is awfully easy to make Jesus Christ into our own image of how he should be.

Having worked with college students for many years, I continually got a kick out of some of them who had precise requirements for a spouse, and certain expectations of how their potential kids were going to be someday.

It went well beyond having the same core cardinal values. Handsome and beautiful, smart but not too smart, assertive but not sassy, subservient but not a washrag, a 3-point Calvinist but not 5-point, willing to eat anything on the table except weird food that would embarrass, willing to live on a shoestring budget, funny but not quirky…. Actually, I could keep going; there’s a lot more. But you get the idea.

You may be curious as to my counsel to them. I typically said something along the lines of “I guess you’ll never get married, because marriage has nothing to do with any of that stuff. If you’re willing to have your eyes open and see a good person when they come along, and if you’re patient enough to develop a solid relationship built on grace, truth, and love, then you’ll likely find yourself a spouse you can be with for a lifetime.”

I remember one day on a college campus talking with a student after he asked me why he should ever be a Christian. I don’t think he expected my answer. I had already assessed that the guy was looking for a philosophical debate, so I went in a different direction. I said something like:

“I don’t think you should be a Christian. Jesus had people misunderstand him all the time. He was ridiculed and persecuted, tortured and killed. And he had the chutzpah to tell his followers that suffering would be a big part of being his disciple. Many of them followed him anyway. If you’re interested in why they did, we can talk. But if you just want to try and feel good by talking about Jesus, and avoid facing life’s pain and suffering, then I’m not wasting my time. So, what do you want to do?”

We will miss Jesus altogether if we are looking for a particular person. Whenever we get married to specific outcomes, then we’ll miss him for sure.

I wonder how many times Jesus showed up in your life this week, and you didn’t recognize him. In truth, Jesus is with us, by means of the Spirit, all the time. If you don’t see him, it’s not God’s fault, or anybody else’s.

Humility accesses spiritual sight. The religious leaders of Christ’s day were flummoxed and fuming all the time because of their arrogance, and their settled theological and biblical dogma. And so, they could not see who Jesus is, even though he was smack in front of them.

Yet, even though we may be spiritually blind and deaf, and finally see a glimpse and catch a sound of Jesus, that graciously means he is still there, beside you, never having given up on you.

Even a blurry and faint awareness realizes Jesus coming in the people we meet each day who encourage and bless us. Christ even comes and speaks through those we would not expect to hear a word from God.

Whenever we may wonder where Jesus is in our suffering and pain, he is there, sometimes even holding us and carrying us, despite our lack of awareness.

In reality, Jesus is in front of us, beside us, and holding us, all of the time. It’s just a matter of whether we know it, or not. Christ is in everything we experience. He is in both our sadness and joy, the noise and the silence, our work as well as worship, business and leisure, at night when we fall asleep and in the morning when we open our eyes.

So, if we are looking and longing for Christ, he has already come. Jesus came in the most humble forms possible. So, in order to see and experience him, we need to get low enough to see and hear him.

My Lord and my God, help me to see You in all of the ways You come to me today. Teach me not to despise any of the forms in which You come to me as being too common, humble, or ordinary. 

Wake me with Your presence in the morning and tuck me into bed when I sleep. Labor with me in my work today, and cause my leisure to lead to thanksgiving. 

Speak to me through the people You have ordained for me to meet today, and speak even through me, in spite of myself. 

For good and for ill, better and worse, in sickness and health, and in richness and poverty, reveal Yourself to me that I may receive whatever blessing You have chosen for me this day; through Jesus Christ Your Son, my Lord, who with You and the Holy Spirit are One God, now and forever. Amen.