Monday, April 25th, 2005
Jesus said to his disciples:
If you love me, you will do as I command.
Then I will ask the Father to send you the Holy Spirit
who will help you and always be with you.
The Spirit will show you what is true.
The people of this world cannot accept the Spirit,
because they don’t see or know him.
But you know the Spirit,
who is with you and will keep on living in you.
I won’t leave you like orphans.
I will come back to you.
In a little while the people of this world
won’t be able to see me, but you will see me.
And because I live, you will live.
Then you will know
that I am one with the Father.
You will know that you are one with me,
and I am one with you.
If you love me, you will do what I have said,
and my Father will love you.
I will also love you and show you what I am like.
John 14:15-21 (Contemporary English Version)
So did Jesus actually say all this? A large number of Biblical scholars are of the opinion that post-resurrection sayings of Jesus can not be attributed to the historical Jesus. These are the words of the post-Easter Christ rather than the actual Jesus. The Jesus Seminar takes this assumption and provides some kind of system for discounting these words as historical.
I believe it is valid to point out that our approach to historical record is different to the first century approach to history. However the assertion that we cannot rely on any post-resurrection words is based on an objection to the premise of a physical resurrection. “Because Jesus was dead he cannot have said these words”.
My take on this reading is that it’s a collection of sayings rather than a narrative.
So what’s the good news here? For me? For my neighbours?
Jesus is inviting his followers to move beyond a linear empirical approach to understanding God’s presence. “You’ll be able to see me but not in the way you’re used to.” He’s getting them used to the idea that God’s guiding presence will be available 24/7 no matter where they are.
Again and again Jesus’ words speak of relationship with God, available to his followers. 2000 years later I’m still able to access the presence of Jesus through the Spirit of God. Even though I don’t speak the language that Jesus did (Aramaic & maybe Greek) I’m able to be in conversation with God, the creator whose presence infuses every part of creation.
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Wednesday, April 20th, 2005
This week’s gospel reading is from John 14:1-14.
Jesus said to his disciples, “Don’t be worried! Have faith in God and have faith in me. There are many rooms in my Father’s house. I wouldn’t tell you this, unless it was true. I am going there to prepare a place for each of you. After I have done this, I will come back and take you with me. Then we will be together. You know the way to where I am going.”
I’ve taken many funerals and often read from John 14 at those funerals. I’ve done so because I believe in some sense of life after death, life in a new dimension. In these words Jesus gives us a hope that what we have now is not all there is. He’s inviting his followers to trust that it will be OK in the next dimension.
However I’m not so keen on founding Christian faith on an anxiety about whether or not we’ll make it into heaven. Looking at the life and teaching of Jesus, he didn’t spend a lot of time making sure that his disciples had an assurance of salvation or life in heaven. Most of his work was about making heaven come alive in the lives of people right now.
I’ve always liked the phrase “It’s not just pie in the sky when you die, it’s steak on the plate while you wait”. I heard it first in a Pentecostal church in Invercargill. Sure, there was a hint then of triumphalist expectations that life would be cruisy because of healing and peace of mind. And of course, there’s a consumerist approach underlying the promise. “But wait, there’s more!”
It has been observed that people who have it tough in this life are more motivated to long for the next life. People who have it comfortable are more likely to want to enjoy this life and put out of mind any worries about the next life.
Despite the talk of rooms or mansions Jesus does get into specifics about the next dimension. He focuses more on the relationship that will be sustained even through the transition of death.
Thomas said, “Lord, we don’t even know where you are going! How can we know the way?”
“I am the way, the truth, and the life!” Jesus answered. “Without me, no one can go to the Father. If you had known me, you would have known the Father. But from now on, you do know him, and you have seen him.”
A man dies and goes to heaven, and meets St. Peter at the Pearly Gates. St. Peter shows him in, and begins to walk him to his designated room. As they walk, he gives the man a bit of a tour. “Over here in this area are all the Buddists, over here we have the Jews, and over there are all the Hindus.” They’re about to turn a corner when St. Peter says “Shhhhhh, be sure to be real quiet when you’re walking around here.” “Why?” Asks the man. St. Peter answers “Because this is where we keep all the Catholics, and they think they’re the only ones up here.”
Back in the 1970s there was a common bumper sticker with the slogan, “One Way Jesus”. Larry Norman came out with his song, “One way, one way to heaven”. This was all linked up with the conservative Evangelical teaching that people would get into heaven only if they trusted in Jesus’ atoning death on the cross. If you trusted in your own works, you were done for in God’s eyes. If you didn’t even think about the basis for your relationship with God your eternal destiny was in danger.
But I don’t see that approach here in John 14. Jesus says that if we connect with God through Jesus, we’ll be able to do the same things that he did, and even more.
Philip said, “Lord, show us the Father. That is all we need.”
Jesus replied: “Philip, I have been with you for a long time. Don’t you know who I am? If you have seen me, you have seen the Father. How can you ask me to show you the Father? Don’t you believe that I am one with the Father and that the Father is one with me? What I say isn’t said on my own. The Father who lives in me does these things. Have faith in me when I say that the Father is one with me and that I am one with the Father. Or else have faith in me simply because of the things I do. I tell you for certain that if you have faith in me, you will do the same things that I am doing. You will do even greater things, now that I am going back to the Father. Ask me, and I will do whatever you ask. This way the Son will bring honor to the Father. I will do whatever you ask me to do.”
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Saturday, April 16th, 2005
“I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down its life for the sheep.”
John 10
I must admit I haven’t been much of a fan of the shepherd/sheep metaphor. For two reasons.
One reason is the over-sentimentalised lamby pamby lovey dovey approach in which children are encouraged to see themselves as helpless little lambs in the care of Jesus. There’s a song that goes “I just want to be a sheep”. Well I just don’t want to be a sheep smothered by sweetness!
The other reason is that I grew up on a sheep farm that was a lot different to the fenceless operation of the Middle East. Male lambs are castrated at an early age. All lambs are tailed. In Australia merino sheep are ‘mulesed’ - parts of their skin are cut off to avoid fly strike. Sheep in this part of the world tend to be left to themselves most of the time. And when they are mustered in, they tend to be either shorn or sent off to the freezing works. Not a great image for the relationship with Jesus!
Maybe a better image down under would be the relationship between farmer/stockman and dog. Of course that wouldn’t have been right for 1st century Palestine. But here there’s a sense of comradeship, care and loyalty.
Having said that, there is still something about being part of the flock, protected and cared for by the good shepherd as expressed in John 10. The sheep in Jesus’ company have quality of life because of their relationship with the shepherd. Note the focus on abundance of life rather than ‘eternal life’ as in John 3:16. The two approaches to life should really go together. Sadly they’re often taken as mutually exclusive goals by different branches of Christianity.
Imagery I’ve been looking at this last week includes the one included above, Christ the Good Shepherd: A 5th century mosaic from the tomb of Galla Placidia, near Ravenna in Italy, in which a clean-shaven Greek-looking Jesus cares for the flock, wielding his cross as shepherd’s crook. The tomb is now the church of Santi Nazario e Celso.
Howard Schroeder of Painted Psalms has in the image, Lost Lamb, at the top of this post, included a foot stamping on a snake, thorns in the foreground, safe sheep in the background, and religiously enhanced mountains!
(Don’t confuse Howard with the other artist of the same name, Howard S. Schroeder, the now deceased Delaware landscape artist, or his son, Howard A. Schroeder, a sculptor in North Carolina.)
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