Archive for the ‘John’ Category
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.)
Tags: John, shepherd
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Sunday, April 3rd, 2005
There’s something striking about the John 20 story of frightened disciples hiding behind locked doors only to discover the resurrected Jesus in the room.
What were they hiding from? The text suggests these followers of Jesus were guarding their lives from the same people who had put Jesus to death in the week before. They were keeping out ‘The Jews’.
And Jesus appears suddenly, saying to them, “Peace be with you”.
But probably not in the high church sense with a carefully waved hand. I think he was more likely to greet them with a throaty ‘Shalom!’. Like in Shalom - the Neurotrash.com spoof of Budweiser’s Wassup ads. And then he shows them the wounds. This was not likely to be some ghostly mystical experience. From the text it reads more like a jubilant reunion.
Jesus breathes the Holy Spirit into these disciples and tells them they must forgive sins. I think they all would have particular sins and particular people in mind. The people who had put Jesus through all his suffering and ultimate death. Fear and bitterness were threatening to stifle any sense of life. Without the life-giving Spirit of God in them, and without the will to forgive, they would spend the rest of their days behind locked doors.
It strikes me that we still have the potential to spend time behind locked doors. I see it happening when I turn up at some Christian gatherings. I’m treated with suspicion until people are convinced that I have the right language and the right doctrine. If that’s how a Christian of 40 years is regarded then how would a rank outsider be treated? There’s more focus on keeping the gospel pure than giving the gospel away to people who need it most. Usually I find that there’s an experience of hurt behind the attitude of suspicion.
I preached on this passage on Anzac Day back in 2001. I encouraged people to learn the lessons learnt by people in the trenches at Gallipoli. Nationality, at the end of the day, is not our defining mark. It is our inner attitude towards others that changes who we are. The Australians and New Zealanders learned to work with one another - becoming known as one unit, the ANZACs, the Australian New Zealand Armed Corps. It still puzzles me that on this day Australians seem oblivious to the fact that there were New Zealanders involved!
It was at Gallipoli that the British and their southern Colonialists realised that Southern Europeans were just as skilled at soldiery. A mutual respect was developed in the middle of a tragic prolonged battle. The Turkish people have shown an incredible grace and generosity in forgiving the nations who attempted to invade their land. Australians and New Zealanders who travel to Gallipoli in Turkey today will not be treated with harshness. Indeed they are welcomed with warmth and respect. That’s the attitude Jesus came to give his beseiged followers.
At the heart of this is identity. Do we find our identity by naming and keeping out the enemy? Or do we find it in sharing the capacity of Jesus to forgive those who killed him?
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