Tag: gospel of john

Dealing with Disrespect and Disbelief (John 12:34-50)

On By Tim EhrhardtIn Christian Spirituality Blog, Daily Bible Reading Blog, Year BLeave a comment
Christ and the Pharisees, by Anthony van Dyck (1599–1641)

The crowd spoke up, “We have heard from the Law that the Messiah will remain forever, so how can you say, ‘The Son of Man must be lifted up’? Who is this ‘Son of Man’?”

Then 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. Whoever walks in the dark does not know where they are going. Believe in the light while you have the light, so that you may become children of light.” When he had finished speaking, Jesus left and hid himself from them.

Even after Jesus had performed so many signs in their presence, they still would not believe in him. This 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?”

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

“He has blinded their eyes
    and hardened their hearts,
so they can neither see with their eyes,
    nor understand with their hearts,
    nor turn—and I would heal them.”

Isaiah said this because he saw Jesus’ glory and spoke about him.

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

Then Jesus cried out, “Whoever believes in me does not believe in me only, but in the one who sent me. The one who looks at me is seeing the one who sent me. I have come into the world as a light, so that no one who believes in me should stay in darkness.

“If anyone hears my words but does not keep them, I do not judge that person. For I did not come to judge the world, but to save the world. There is a judge for the one who rejects me and does not accept my words; the very words I have spoken will condemn them at the last day. For I did not speak on my own, but the Father who sent me commanded me to say all that I have spoken. I know that his command leads to eternal life. So whatever I say is just what the Father has told me to say.” (New International Version)

It seems that nowadays, the more one rises in popularity and garners national attention, the more some folks want to disrespect them.

Out of the many examples of this phenomenon, consider the case of a young woman from my home state of Iowa. Sportswriter Mike DeCourcy recently mused on why the University of Iowa’s Caitlin Clark has discovered that not all the greats of women’s college basketball welcome her success.

Several women – who ought to know better – have cynically reacted to Clark’s legitimate college greatness with a sort of “Why her, why not us?” attitude. They’ve indulged in misinformation and cheap shots that clearly say more about them than Caitlin Clark.

This is especially curious, since Clark has elevated women’s basketball to a level of attention that her now detractors and others have envied for decades. DeCourcy writes, “None of this [delegitimizing Clark] is a good look for NCAA women’s basketball, and neither does it appear to be the most prudent way to continue growing the sport.”

The same type of thing could be said about Jesus and the movement he was sparking during his ministry on this earth. Many of the religious leaders refused to acknowledge his greatness, nor believe in the words he was saying. Instead, they sought to knock down Jesus and the good work he was doing.

It seems the religious leaders wanted the praise and attention Jesus was getting. Even many who believed in what was happening, kept their mouths shut and let the misinformation spread, because they, too, loved the praise of others instead of praise from God.

Playing with the game of darkness, nobody wins. People end up only being a mere shadow of the person they could be. Trying to disrespect others in order to shine the light on yourself is a convoluted and misguided way of handling anyone or any situation.

Carl Jung (1875-1961) described this hidden shadow self as an unconscious aspect of the human personality. In other words, the shadow results from the conscious self being unaware or unconscious concerning areas of its own personality. Without the light of conscious awareness, the shadow self runs amok within the psyche of a person and far too often calls the shots in speaking and behavior.

“Everyone carries a shadow,” Jung wrote, “and the less it is embodied in the individual’s conscious life, the blacker and denser it is.” (Psychology and Religion, 1938)

According to Jung, the shadow side of a person is prone to psychological projection, in which a perceived personal inferiority is recognized as a perceived moral deficiency in someone else. If those projections remain hidden, they eventually come out sideways by harming others because there is a dark illusion, even delusion, that others are stealing what is rightfully mine.

Hence, the sinless Jesus is denigrated, disrespected, and disbelieved. And it is what led to him being tortured and killed by those who thought they are doing a good thing.

It’s easy to be hard on the religious rulers in the New Testament, but this is the Christian season of Lent, and so, we must shine the light of Scripture upon ourselves. This is the time to deliberately gain awareness of our own shadow selves.

Perhaps the burning question for all believers at this time of year is: Do I seek the presence of God more than the presence of anything or anyone else?  

Maybe you live in fear at work and are more concerned about the presence of people around you than the presence of God, so you keep quiet when you ought to speak up or turn a blind eye to the shadows of an organization. Or worse, you talk bad about someone good, just because they’re getting the attention you feel you deserve.

In these remaining days of Lent, as we journey with Jesus to Jerusalem, let’s let the light of his gracious ministry dispel the dark shadows of our hearts and make us aware of who we are, and what we need to change.

If we can learn to appreciate the God-given and hard-earned talents of a young woman playing basketball, then perhaps we can then also learn to glory in One who is greater than any sports celebrity, and celebrate the great work done on this earth for us and for our salvation.

Good and gracious God, we are far too often influenced by what others think of us. We sometimes pretend to be either richer or smarter or nicer than we really are. So, prevent us from trying to divert attention from others to ourselves. Don’t let us gloat over praise received from others, nor be discouraged by criticism from another. Show us, instead, how to be humble of heart, like the Lord Jesus, in whose name we pray. Amen.

Life Through Death (John 12:20-33)

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

Now among those who went up to worship at the festival were some Greeks. They came to Philip, who was from Bethsaida in Galilee, and said to him, “Sir, we wish to see Jesus.” Philip went and told Andrew, then Andrew and Philip went and told Jesus. Jesus answered them, “The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified. Very truly, I tell you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains just a single grain, but if it dies it bears much fruit. Those who love their life lose it, and those who hate their life in this world will keep it for eternal life. Whoever serves me must follow me, and where I am, there will my servant be also. Whoever serves me, the Father will honor.

“Now my soul is troubled. And what should I say: ‘Father, save me from this hour’? No, it is for this reason that I have come to this hour. Father, glorify your name.” Then a voice came from heaven, “I have glorified it, and I will glorify it again.” The crowd standing there heard it and said that it was thunder. Others said, “An angel has spoken to him.” Jesus answered, “This voice has come for your sake, not for mine. Now is the judgment of this world; now the ruler of this world will be driven out. And I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to myself.” He said this to indicate the kind of death he was to die. (New Revised Standard Version)

The fifth Sunday in Lent is now here. We are quickly approaching Jerusalem. Holy Week will be here before you know it. 

Why is this all significant? Because Jesus is important. By taking advantage of Lent with its focus on spiritual discipline, prayer, and repentance, we come face-to-face with the shadowy parts of our selves. We discover that within us there is the pull to hold-on to unhealthy rhythms and habits of life, as well as a push to arrange our lives with the fragmentation of disordered love.

Perhaps our reflexive response to things we do not like about ourselves is to either use sheer willpower to change or try to somehow manage our brokenness, as if we could boss our way out of darkness. The problem and the solution are much more radical than we often would like to admit.

We must die. 

Yes, you heard that right. This is the teaching of Jesus – to die to ourselves. Sin cannot be managed or willed away – it must be eradicated and completely cut out, like the cancer it is. Transformation can only occur through death. 

Jesus used the familiar example of a seed to communicate his point. A tiny little seed can grow, break the ground, and develop into something which provides sustenance for others. It does no good to remain a seed in the ground.

Christ was only telling others to do, what he himself was willing to do. Jesus is the ultimate example of the one who died to himself, and literally died for us. Through suffering and death, he secured deliverance for us from guilt and shame. 

By his wounds we are healed. Through his tortuous death a resurrection became possible – and we must always remember that there must be a death if there is to be a resurrection. Death always precedes life. There is suffering before glory.

Through dying to self, and following Jesus, there is the hope of transformative change which the world so desperately needs. If we persist in making puny attempts at trying to straddle the fence in dual/rival kingdoms, we will be spiritually schizophrenic and left with a divided soul. 

Following Jesus – leaving all to walk with him – is true repentance and authentic discipleship. The act of journeying with Christ is the means to a new life. Change is possible by letting Jesus Christ be the center from which all of life springs.

Maybe you think I’m being too forceful, too insistent about this Jesus stuff. 

Yes, you have perceived well. I am being quite single-minded about the need for dying to self and living for Christ. 

Somehow, within many corners of Christianity, this wrongheaded notion that suffering is not God’s will has made it into the life of the church. But I’m here to say, on the authority of God’s Holy Word (not to mention your own internal gut and conscience) that dying to ourselves is necessary. And it hurts. The epistle reading for today bears this out:

In the days of his flesh, Jesus offered up prayers and supplications, with loud cries and tears, to the one who was able to save him from death, and he was heard because of his reverent submission.  Although he was a Son, he learned obedience through what he suffered; and having been made perfect, he became the source of eternal salvation for all who obey him. (Hebrews 5:7-9, NRSV)

Christians are not above their Master. Even Christ’s life on this earth, before his death and resurrection, was marked with suffering. Even Jesus learned obedience through struggle and adversity. Jesus Christ did what he now asks of us. 

The Son gave up himself to do the Father’s will. So, we must give up ourselves in submission to King Jesus.  Jesus offered loud cries and tears, and submitted to what the Father wanted. His followers must do no less. 

We don’t get to choose which parts of Christ’s life and teaching we will adhere to, and which ones we won’t, as if Jesus were some spiritual buffet line. All who live for Jesus, follow him into the path of suffering, of death to self, and of new life through the power of his resurrection.

Those who love their life lose it, and those who hate their life in this world will keep it for eternal life.

How do we follow Jesus through dying to self? What does that mean for you and me on a practical daily basis?

Surrender

Every moment of every day is an opportunity for giving ourselves to Jesus. We have hundreds, maybe thousands, of small daily decisions with the use of our time, money, energy, and relationships. 

If we have tried to fix what is broken inside of us, we will likely just try to hastily fix the problems and the people in our lives – and then move on with getting things done on our to do list. 

Instead, there is a need to surrender ourselves – to create the sacred space for solitude and silence, prayer and repentance. 

Take the time to sit with a person in pain and listen. Reflect on how to use your money in a way which mirrors kingdom values. Begin to see your life as a holy rhythm of hearing God and responding to what he says. It takes intentional surrender to do that.

Sacrifice

Holding-on to our precious stuff and time is the opposite of sacrifice. 

Are we truly willing to give-up everything to follow Jesus? 

It is more than true that we are not Jesus. Our sacrifice and suffering are not efficacious, that is, it doesn’t deliver other people from sin. Only Christ’s death does that. Yet, we are still called to sacrifice. The Apostle Paul understood this, with a statement that I’ll let you wrestle with and mull over without comment on my part:

I am now rejoicing in my sufferings for your sake, and in my flesh I am completing what is lacking in Christ’s afflictions for the sake of his body, that is, the church. (Colossians 1:24, NRSV)

Happiness is important; but it isn’t the summum bonum of life. There is more to life than living for self. Jesus calls us to see our communities, neighborhoods, and families as a mission field of grace to a world who needs him. That takes sacrificial love on our part.

Christianity is not really a religion that’s for people who have put neat theological answers and tidy packaged certainties to all of life’s questions. 

Rather, Christianity is a dynamic religion of learning to follow Jesus, discovering how to die to self, and struggling to put Christ’s teaching and example into practice. 

Those who don’t struggle are in big trouble. But those who go through the pain of dying to themselves for the sake of their Lord, find that the fruit they harvest leads to eternal life.

May you struggle well, my friend.

Whoever Believes (John 3:14-21)

On By Tim EhrhardtIn Christian Spirituality Blog, Daily Bible Reading Blog, Year BLeave a comment
Interview Between Jesus and Nicodemus, by James Tissot (1836-1902)

Just as Moses lifted up the snake in the wilderness, so the Son of Man must be lifted up,that everyone who believes may have eternal life in him.”

For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because they have not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son. 

This is the verdict: Light has come into the world, but people loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil. Everyone who does evil hates the light, and will not come into the light for fear that their deeds will be exposed. But whoever lives by the truth comes into the light, so that it may be seen plainly that what they have done has been done in the sight of God. (New International Version)

For many, the truth about God’s purposes in Christ is confusing, even troubling. It was for Nicodemus. And even though there many today who simplify the exchange between Jesus and Nicodemus with a single Bible verse of John 3:16, taking a good look at the Gospel of John puts most of us with Nicodemus.

Nicodemus, a learned Jewish scholar, a Pharisee, found Christ’s words both confusing and troubling because it required him to let go of everything he understood – to let go and become like a newborn baby, receiving and discovering the world on new and different terms. In other words, Nicodemus had to unlearn some things before he could learn truth.

There are some things that are hard to grasp, not because they are so intellectually challenging, but because those things ask a lot of us, demanding our very lives. And so, we don’t so much want to understand; it would require a radical change.

But why would anyone not want to understand the good news that God so loved the world that gave the Son so that we may believe and have eternal life? Because we would then have to contend with the ways Jesus describes himself.

Jesus likened himself to the serpent that Moses lifted up in the desert (John 3:14; Numbers 21:4-9). In that story of Moses in the Old Testament book of Numbers, God sent poisonous snakes into the Israelite camp as punishment for the people’s incessant complaining against God.

Then, when the people repented, God told Moses to make a bronze snake, put it on a pole, and lift it up, so that anyone bitten by one of the poisonous snakes could see it and live. Jesus likened himself to the story. In the same way the bronze snake was lifted on a pole, Jesus explained that so must the Son of Man be lifted up, or exalted high above the people.

Visit of Nicodemus to Christ, by John La Farge, 1880

In the typical language of the Apostle John, using double meanings to a single concept, he meant to communicate that Jesus would be physically lifted onto the cross, above the people; and also that Jesus would be lifted up by God as the exalted One above all creation. (John 8:28; 12:32)

Just as the ancient Israelites were facing death because of their sin, and deliverance because of God’s action through Moses, so people everywhere in every age face the consequences of their sinful complaining; yet through the action of God through Christ’s crucifixion, resurrection and ascension, they can look up to the exalted and glorified Lord and receive deliverance from sin, death, and hell.

There is more to looking up at the lifted One than a mere incline of the head and eyes. In modern terms, we would refer to the sheer action of looking as an intellectual assent to faith. The Apostle John, however, means to have us believe, not simply acknowledge.

Jesus did not tell Nicodemus to simply acknowledge him as Savior, to accept him into the heart, and so, be saved. No, this was an encounter that left an intelligent man and an accomplished scholar scratching his head in bewilderment as he went back out into the darkness.

Today’s Gospel lesson is a story about how any one of us might reject the light offered to us because of the way it exposes what is dark within us. Therefore, to believe requires ultimate trust in another. It isn’t to acknowledge that Jesus was real and had an actual ministry on earth; it’s more than believing something happened in history in the ancient world of the first century.

To believe is to let our own lives be transformed by the Jesus we encounter in this story. And here is what that means:

  1. Realizing and becoming aware of the ways we are complicit in and benefit from having our loyalties elsewhere, other than Jesus. To believe demands us answering the question: Whom shall you serve?
  2. Placing our ultimate trust, allegiance, and loyalty in Jesus Christ. To believe begs the question: To whom will you commit all that you have, and all that you are?
  3. Forsaking all other competing loyalties and “gods,” including both secular and religious deities. To believe means a single-minded devotion, which asks of us all: To whom and to what will you forsake in order to embrace Jesus?
  4. Confronting inconvenient truths of our own personal values which clash with Christ’s ideals of righteousness. To believe presses us to answer the question: To whom and for what are you truly living for?
  5. Willing to die to self and to anything that would hinder knowing Jesus and him crucified, risen, ascended, and coming again. To believe forces us to ask ourselves: Am I willing to die for Jesus?

While there is nothing in this world worth killing for, there are things worth dying for. The lifting up of Jesus lets us know that the true life God has promised us is not the life that we can secure for ourselves through self-interest, caution, and theological debate.

Most merciful God,
we confess that we have sinned against you
in thought, word, and deed,
by what we have done,
and by what we have left undone.
We have not loved you with our whole heart;
we have not loved our neighbors as ourselves.
We are truly sorry and we humbly repent.
For the sake of your Son Jesus Christ,
have mercy on us and forgive us;
that we may delight in your will,
and walk in your ways,
to the glory of your Name. Amen.

Keeping Sacred Space Sacred (John 2:13-22)

On By Tim EhrhardtIn Christian Spirituality Blog, Daily Bible Reading Blog, Year BLeave a comment
Christ Casting Out the Money Changers, by Peter Gorban

The Passover of the Jews was near, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem. In the temple he found people selling cattle, sheep, and doves and the money changers seated at their tables. Making a whip of cords, he drove all of them out of the temple, with the sheep and the cattle. He also poured out the coins of the money changers and overturned their tables. He told those who were selling the doves, “Take these things out of here! Stop making my Father’s house a marketplace!” His disciples remembered that it was written, “Zeal for your house will consume me.” 

The Jews then said to him, “What sign can you show us for doing this?” Jesus answered them, “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.” The Jews then said, “This temple has been under construction for forty-six years, and will you raise it up in three days?” But he was speaking of the temple of his body. After he was raised from the dead, his disciples remembered that he had said this, and they believed the scripture and the word that Jesus had spoken. (New Revised Standard Version)

It doesn’t take a Bible scholar to figure out that Jesus was upset. He quite literally came to the Jerusalem temple, whipped everyone into shape, and cleaned house. 

Cleaning house is what the season of Lent is really all about. This is the time of year for Christians to take a good hard look at the state of their hearts; it’s about shining light on the shadowy dark places, so that we can turn from all that hinders our relationship to Christ, and allow the presence of God to fill us and give us new life.

In the other Gospel accounts we discern why Jesus was upset. Matthew, Mark, and Luke each mention Jesus saying that the temple is to be a house of prayer, but the ones buying and selling in the temple courts were making it a den of robbers. (Matthew 21:12-16; Mark 11:15-18; Luke 19:45-47)

Two things were happening which angered Jesus: 

  1. Business was taking place in the Court of the Gentiles, thus pushing non-Jews out of being able to worship God.
  2. Those providing the service of sacrificial animals were charging exorbitant prices and gouging those who were just trying to offer a sacrifice during Passover. 

Disrespect of Gentiles, along with plain old greed, hindered prayer and worship for everyone seeking God. John, however, did not mention those reasons. He simply communicated that Jesus was downright mad over his Father’s house being turned into a market.

Orthodox depiction of Christ driving out the money changers

Jesus quoted from Psalm 69 saying, “Zeal for your house will consume me.” That particular psalm is a lament. The psalmist was grieving over the state of religion; it had degenerated into mindless empty ritual.

For Jesus, although worship was happening, he lamented and grieved over the state of people’s hearts, because they were far from God. The evidence was that people cared more about the presence of other people and animals than they cared about the presence of God.

Jesus stood in the Old Testament prophetic tradition of getting down to the heart of the matter (e.g. Amos 4:4-5; Hosea 5:6, 6:6). From a New Testament perspective, it is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away guilt and shame.

Therefore, there is no longer any temple because Jesus has come. The temple represented God’s presence on earth. But now the temple is Jesus, who is God with us, and God’s presence on earth. With the sending of the Holy Spirit, the presence of Jesus continues to be alongside the Church. Believers are God’s temple, the continuing presence of Jesus on this planet.

This creates a problem for many people. It’s the age old predicament of caring more about the presence of other things rather than the presence of God. Jesus was not speaking to pagan kings or Gentile sinners; he spoke to people in the temple courts who professed and worshiped the name of God – but they did not seek the presence of God with all their hearts. The Lord was not their primary allegiance.

Jesus wants people to desire the presence of God more than anything else in the whole world – and to not hinder others from doing so, as well. In every aspect of life, the heart must be in it. And the heart needs to be in the right place, at home, at work, at church, in the neighborhood, and in everyplace we go and everything we do and say.

The Cleansing of the Temple, by Ippolito Scarzella (1550-1620)

Many of the religious folk of Christ’s day lost their true sense of purpose as God’s people. They neither perceived nor focused on God’s presence, but cared more about animals and sacrifices and making money and keeping their social positions secure. 

Christ not only extends grace and mercy through healing the needy of society; he also turns his burning love for the Father on those who would treat the sacred with sacrilege. There is a time for gentleness and meekness, and there is a time for zeal and action, done with flavor!

Jesus had a zero-tolerance policy toward using the representation of God, the temple, as the means to make money. As people from all over the Middle East poured into Jerusalem for the Passover, savvy marketers set up their wares. 

Knowing that not everyone could bring animals for sacrifice, the money-changers were more than ready to take advantage of the situation by providing sheep and cattle at inflated prices. The temple looked more like a marketplace than a worship space, and Jesus would have none of it.

Christ the Lord was consumed with zeal for his Father’s house. Jesus single-handedly took on the businessmen and drove them out of the temple courts with a homemade whip. Whereas the people seemed to settle for the status quo of secular Passover protocol, Jesus restored worship to its rightful place in the life of God’s people.

Jesus still has zeal for proper worship. As he did in the temple all those centuries ago, Christ rearranges the furniture and upsets how things have become. Like an extreme makeover, the Lord overturns tables designed for selfish gain and re-establishes a connection between us and God. He upholds holiness and righteousness so that you and I will have a clean and clear path of relationship with the sovereign God of the universe.

Sacred space is important, both as a physical room or building as well as in our own spiritual hearts. That space becomes the meeting place between us and God. The Lord wants a meaningful dialogue with us, and he will guard that place of connection with great zeal.

Christ Jesus, the one who zealously loves, you have gone before me and cleared the way for me to enter God’s presence. Thank you for your movement toward me, and your careful guarding of our relationship. May my time on this earth be an offering of praise and thanksgiving to you. Amen.