Rivers of Living Water

"On the last and greatest day of the Feast, Jesus stood and said in a loud voice, “If anyone is thirsty, let him come to me and drink.  Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, streams of living water will flow from within him.” By this he meant the Spirit, whom those who believed in him were later to receive. Up to that time the Spirit had not been given, since Jesus had not yet been glorified."  - John 7:37-39

There were many feasts in ancient Israel but three of them stood out as especially important; Passover, the Feast of Weeks, and the Feast of Booths/Tabernacles.  The Passover Feast celebrated the deliverance of the people of Israel from slavery in Egypt.  Of course, this feast continues to be a significant day for modern day Jews and also for Christians since the "last supper" Christ had with the disciples was a passover meal.  The Feast of Weeks was a harvest celebration and is so named because it was celebrated seven weeks (a week's worth of weeks) after the beginning of harvest.  In Greek speaking Judaism, this festival also came to be known as Pentecost, the "pente" denoting the 50th day, the first day after the seven weeks mentioned above.  This festival also has enduring significance in Christianity since Acts 2 describes the outpouring of God's Holy Spirit on the apostles on Pentecost, which we celebrate this coming Sunday, seven weeks after Easter.  

The third important feast in Israel was the Feast of Booths (a.k.a Tabernacles).  This feast was also connected to the Exodus story.  During the seven days of this feast, the people of Israel were to dwell in booths, small tent like structures, to remind them of their dwelling in tents in the wilderness after God delivered them from their slavery in Egypt.  However, over time this feast began to take on other meanings and significance as well.  By the time of the prophet Zechariah, the Feast of Booths had also become connected to rain.  In last chapter of Zechariah, God says that rain will only fall on those nations that come to Jerusalem and keep the Feast of Booths (Zechariah 14:16-19).  By the first century, a practice of pouring out libations at the altar of the Temple had also been added as part of the festival's observance.  Water would be gathered from the Pool of Siloam, carried to the Temple, and poured around the altar, perhaps as a symbolic act of the prayer for rain.  

It was likely after this water drawing ceremony that Jesus stands up and says "If anyone thirsts, let him come to me and drink.   Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, "Out of his heart will flow rivers of living water."  Jesus' first sentence here seems to be an allusion to Isaiah 55:1.  "Come, everyone who thirsts, come to the waters; and he who has no money, come, buy and eat!  Come, buy wine and milk without money and without price."  This verse is a part of God's promise to Israel that they will be restored from their exile in Babylon.  

The other part of Jesus' statement, about rivers of living water, is a bit more difficult to pinpoint to any particular verse in the Old Testament, especially since the river is flowing "out of his heart".  However, one passage where a river of living water takes center stage is Ezekiel 47.  Like Isaiah 55, Ezekiel is also conveying a promise of Israel's return from exile.  However, Ezekiel's vision speaks not only to Israel's historical return from Exile but also has a kind of supernatural quality to it in which the actual land of Israel itself is restored and teems with life.  Ezekiel describes a stream that flows from the base of the Temple, past the altar (where the libation for the Feast of Booths were poured) and toward the Dead Sea.  On its way to the Dead Sea, this stream becomes a mighty river despite having no tributaries and when it arrives at the Dead Sea, it turns the salt water fresh.  The Hebrew here literally says that it "heals" the water of the Dead Sea allowing the once lifeless body of water to teem with life.  This is literally a river of living water.  

But this river flows from the Temple.  Why then does Jesus say "out of his heart"?  Many English translations make this sound like a reference to the heart of those who believe in Jesus.  However, the "his" could just as easily be referring to Jesus himself.  Additionally, the Greek word in this verse is not heart (kardia) but gut or belly (koilias).  The verse would then read "If anyone thirsts, let him come to me and whoever believes in me drink.  As the Scripture has said, "Out of his gut will flow rivers of living water."  The image of water flowing from Jesus' gut or side should not be lost on those familiar with John's telling of Jesus' crucifixion.  Water and blood will indeed flow from Jesus' side when the soldier pierces him with a spear as he hangs on the cross.  

So what does all this mean?  It means these few simple verses are a profoundly in depth but succinct summary of John's understanding of Jesus.  All of this takes place in the midst of a festival which reminds those gathered of the Exodus; God's greatest act of deliverance for his people.  This festival also reminded them of God's continued sustaining of creation with rains.  Jesus then alludes to two verses which remind those gathered of another of God's greatest act of restoration; return from Exile.  But Jesus does not simply remind the people of this.  He says he is now the source of deliverance, sustenance, and restoration.  "If anyone thirsts, let him come to me."  Jesus is the source of living water because he is the God who did all these things now made flesh.  The water and blood which will flow from Jesus' side at his crucifixion are the beginning of Ezekiel's vision of a river of life which will restore the land of Israel, healing it and giving it life.  

But this is not only a statement about Jesus.  As a statement about Jesus' death, it is also a statement about the  Spirit.  John says as much in the very next verse.  "Now this he said about the Spirit, whom those who believed in him were to receive, for as yet the Spirit had not been given, because Jesus was not yet glorified."  In the Gospel of John,  Jesus' glorification refers to his crucifixion.  John repeats several times throughout his gospel what he says here; the Holy Spirit can not come to the disciples until Jesus has been crucified.  That is why Jesus' death is the beginning of Ezekiel's vision of new creation.  It means the outpouring of the Holy Spirit who will carry out this work of restoration and renewal.  The Holy Spirit is the river of living water which renews and sustains all that it touches.  

This is the essence of Pentecost which we will celebrate this Sunday; God's Holy Spirit, God's river of living water has been poured out on those who place their trust in Jesus.  This is why we expect lives to be transformed, attitudes to be changed, and the chains of sin to broken.  This is why we expect that these old creatures that we are and this old creation that we live in can both be made new.  This is why we believe there can even be such a thing as church.  Because in the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, we believe that God has opened up a spring of water right here in the midst of our otherwise very dry world and from that spring flows a river that brings life to everything around it.  May we see that river flowing through our church this Sunday and may we who are thirsty come and drink.  

The Way, The Truth, and The Life

"Jesus said to him, "I am the way and the truth and the life."  - John 14:6

Some of the most well known words in the Bible.  But what do they mean?  If you had to put these words of Jesus into your own words, what would you say?  I think for many people these words are synonymous with...

"Believe in Jesus and you'll go to heaven when you die."
or
"Christianity is the one true religion."
or
"If you don't live like Jesus then you are going to hell."

Before I say anything else, let me make a few things clear.  I believe Jesus with all my being when he says that he is the way, the truth, and the life.  I have committed my life to that belief.  I believe heaven is real.  I believe in the resurrection, the new creation, and the coming of the kingdom of God and longingly await them in hopeful expectation.  I believe that something awful, whether we call it hell, Sheol, hades, the lake of fire, weeping and gnashing of teeth, or the second death awaits those who oppose Jesus and his kingdom.  I believe it is only through Jesus that anyone can receive salvation.  I believe Jesus is the image of the invisible God and that it is only through him that we can truly come to know God.  I believe that the Church is the body of Christ in the world and that we are called to follow and imitate Jesus and that we are empowered by the Holy Spirit to do so.

But I also believe in nuance.  I believe, not in making things unnecessarily complicated, but in appreciating inherent complexity when it is there.  I believe in paying attention to what the writers of scripture actually said and paying attention to the context in which they said it.  I believe in holding our doctrines, opinions, worldviews, and practices up to the Word of God and seeing where they need to be reformed rather than making Jesus' words fit into our preconceived notions.  I believe that sometimes we think we know exactly what Jesus is saying so much so that we actually stop listening to his actual words and as a result we substitute our own thoughts where the Word of God should be.

So when Jesus says "I am the way and the truth and the life" I think it is important for us to hear what Jesus is actually saying as well as what he doesn't say.  Jesus doesn't say Christianity is the way, the truth, and the life. He doesn't say that he came to bestow a new set of doctrines on us that will get us into heaven or four spiritual laws that will keep us out of hell.  He does't say go to church and pay your tithe and live a good life and you'll be set for eternity.  He says "I am the way and the truth and the life.  No one come to the Father except through me"  This is a statement about knowing Jesus himself, about being in relationship with Jesus, about being personally led by Jesus and thereby coming to know the God he calls "Father".

If somehow we make this into a statement about one particular religion over others then we are actually hearing the very opposite of what Jesus intends to say to us.  Jesus isn't calling the disciples to a new religion but to a new relationship.  He doesn't say "I'll show you way" but "I am the way".  It's not "I'll teach you the truth."  It's "I am the truth."  He doesn't promise us the good life.  He promises that he is the resurrection and the life.  He is the good shepherd.  He is the bread that came down from heaven.  He is the light of the world.  He is the true vine.  Jesus is the one who reveals the nature and character of God, the heart of the Father to us.

It is this truth around which the rest of the conversation in John 14 revolves.  In v.8, Philip says to Jesus "Lord show us the Father and it is enough for us."  Jesus responds "Have I been with you so long and you still do not know me, Philip?  How can you say 'Show us the Father.'  Do you not believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in me?"  Jesus didn't come to establish a new religion or moral standard.  He came to show us the Father in his own life, in his own person, his very existence in human flesh revealing God to us.  The way is not a path but the guide.  The truth is not the teaching but the teacher.  The life is not a cure but the great physician himself.  The way, the truth, and the life is not a thing, a practice, or a belief that can be possessed or mastered but a person, namely the person of Jesus Christ.

The Gate Is the Shepherd

In John 10, Jesus proclaims "I am the good shepherd."  Clearly, this image would have had immediate significance to those who lived in the agrarian society of Jesus' day.  All kinds of apt comparisons can and have been made throughout Christian history between the shepherd/sheep relationship and that of Jesus and his followers.  However, it is important for us to recognize that when Jesus chooses to describe himself in this way, he is not pulling just any old metaphor out of the culture that surrounds him.  He is using imagery that has been central to Israel's thinking about itself, its leaders, and its relationship with Yahweh.

Of course, Psalm 23 stands out with the well known "The Lord is my shepherd"; a reminder that God is ultimately the shepherd of his people.  However, shepherding imagery was also used to describe the kings and priests of Israel.  These leaders were meant to be God's shepherds of his people as well.  In Jeremiah 23, God says through the prophet "Woe to the shepherds who destroy and scatter the sheep of my pasture!".  God promises to remove these shepherds and replace them with new ones who will care for his people.  Again in Ezekiel 34, God accuses the shepherds of Israel of feeding themselves instead of feeding the sheep and of allowing the sheep to be carried off by wild beasts.  Therefore, God promises to rescue his sheep from the very shepherds who are supposed to be rescuing them from these wild beasts.

Jesus' declaration "I am the good shepherd" is not only a metaphor drawn from agrarian society, nor is it only an image drawn from Israel's history.  It is also said in response to the action of the Pharisees in John 9.  Jesus statement in John 10 follows immediately on the heels of the story about a man who was born blind whom Jesus had healed.  Throughout chapter 9, the Pharisees are trying to make sense of how it is that Jesus, whom they regard as a sinner, could possibly have healed this man's blindness.  When the man who has been healed of his blindness refuses to change his story about Jesus, they cast him out of the synagogue.

It is easy for us to hear this story and regard the Pharisees and "the Jews" (John's name for those who oppose Jesus even though Jesus and all of his followers are Jewish as well) as legalistic.  After all, John doesn't spare any trouble to paint them in an entirely negative light.  However, we should recognize that the Pharisees are simply carrying out their role as Israel's shepherds.  They didn't set out to be legalistic.  (I've yet to hear anyone proclaim that as a personal life goal.)  But they have heard those passage from Jeremiah and Ezekiel all their lives.  As the religious leaders, the "pastors" of their day, they see themselves as the shepherds of Israel and they take that responsibility very seriously, as they should.  After all, it was the shepherds of Israel whom God faulted for Israel's previous collapse when they were taken into exile.  They are simply trying to avoid the mistakes of their ancestors by making sure that God's Law is lived out in Israel and that means casting false prophets (like Jesus) and their followers (like this blind man) out of their midst so that Israel may remain pure.

It is in response to these actions by the Pharisees that Jesus says "I am the good shepherd".  Actually, Jesus uses two metaphors to describe himself in this chapter.  He also says that he is the door or gate by which the sheep enter the fold.  On one hand, we can see this as a very confusing mixture of metaphors.  In one verse, Jesus is the gate and in another he is the shepherd.  On the other hand, this mixture of metaphors is a very accurate theological depiction of Jesus; he is both the way into the flock and the one who leads and cares for the flock, both images are appropriate.  In fact, Jesus may even be drawing on a common practice of the day in which the shepherd would lay down in the opening of the sheep pen, thereby actually serving as its gate.  Either way, we have an image here of what Jesus says later in the Gospel of John: "I am the way, the truth, and the life.  No one comes to the Father except through me."  The purpose of this statement is not to declare one religion better than every other.  Its purpose is to say that the way to God is not a religion or a morality or a belief system or a set of practices; the way to God is a person; namely Jesus Christ.  The gate is the shepherd.  The way is a person.  The essence of the Christian faith is nothing other than knowing, following, and being in relationship with the God made flesh in Jesus Christ and having our lives transformed by that relationship.  All of our doctrines and practices only serve the greater purpose of guiding us in that relationship; they are not a replacement for the relationship itself.

The Pharisees mistake isn't that they are legalistic while Jesus is lenient.  It is isn't that they take sin and holiness and the Law too seriously and that God doesn't really care much about those things any more.  The Pharisees mistake is their failure to recognize that the Lord who is their shepherd is standing right in front of them in the person of Jesus.  The religious leaders became so accustomed to functioning as shepherds and even gatekeepers that they forgot their own role as sheep.  They were so busy "caring" for the sheep that they forgot to listen for the voice of their own shepherd and they eventually became so deaf to that voice that even when he stood among them they no longer recognized him as shepherd.  Jesus proclamation of himself as the good shepherd is at least in part a challenge to the Pharisees to recognize that in their attempts to be good shepherds they have failed to be good sheep.

This is the danger for many life-long Christians as well.  As we grow and mature in Christ, we are rightfully expected to take on roles of leadership and discipling others.  We become shepherds to others in the faith.  As we spend more time and energy teaching others the beliefs and practices of the Christian faith, we become accustomed to our role as shepherd, so much so though that we forget we are also sheep.  In all the shepherding of others, there is a danger that we will fail to listen for the voice of our own shepherd and so eventually become deaf to the sound of his voice.

This is part of the beauty of Psalm 23.  David is the shepherd of God's people.  He is the king.  He has reached the pinnacle of earthly power and he knows that it is God who has put him there.  He knows he has been appointed by God as shepherd and yet he still says "the Lord is my shepherd".  There is a recognition that even as the ultimate earthly shepherd he is still a sheep and there is still a higher shepherd for whose voice he must listen.  As followers of Jesus, we are first and foremost a people who hear and follow the voice of our shepherd.

Impossible Faith

I can't read the words of John 20:19-23 without thinking of this blog post by my friend and fellow pastor, Jeremy Scott.  While I'll repeat some of the same ideas in this post, his post is worth reading in its entirety.

In this passage, we are given a picture of the disciples on the evening of the same day in which Mary Magdalene discovered Jesus' tomb to be empty.  Peter and the beloved disciple have seen the empty tomb as well.  Mary Magdalene has even seen and spoken with the risen Christ himself and reported this conversation to the other disciples.  In spite of that, John tells us that the doors were locked where the disciples were "for fear of the Jews".

This is a confused and scared group of people.  They don't yet know what to make of their friend and teacher's death, much less of these reports about the empty tomb and of Mary speaking with him.  An empty tomb could mean a lot of things, least likely of all Jesus being alive.  And could Mary's report really be trusted?  After all, women weren't considered to be reliable witnesses for legal purposes in the ancient world.  And besides, Jesus had delivered Mary from demon possession.  Maybe now that Jesus was dead that demon had come back to her and caused this hallucination.  Either way, there simply wasn't enough evidence to suggest that it was safe to be openly milling about in the streets or the markets.  The same people who had crucified Jesus might decide it was a good idea to get rid of his closest followers too, especially if rumors started to spread about Jesus being a live again.  So the disciples lock themselves in a room "for fear of the Jews".

Then Jesus appears in the midst of that fear-filled, locked up prison of a room and says to the disciples "Peace be with you."  On one level, this is exactly what any good Jew would expect.  Peace, shalom was and often still is a customary Jewish greeting.  It was so customary that Paul uses it along with "grace" in everyone of his letters.  Perhaps, we are also to imagine that it was so customary that the disciples may not have even noticed it, simply dismissed it as a "hello" or "hey guys".

"When he had said this, he showed them his hands and his feet."   I imagine at this point in their encounter with Jesus, the disciples would be like a parent reunited with a kidnapped child.  The first reaction is "Oh, thank God you are OK." or in this case "I can't believe it, Jesus.  You are really alive."  But that thought of thankfulness for safety would quickly to turn to the anger and revenge of "Now lets punish the monsters who did this to you."  As the disciples, observed the wounds of their Lord and savior, their thoughts would have naturally turned to the pain and rejection he had experienced.  As Jeremy so aptly says in his post:

Again, let’s pretend we’re the disciples. We’re fearful and angry that our savior has been killed. And he shows up, alive, breathing, right in front of us. He has risen from the dead, conquered death. This guy’s alive and now I definitely know that nothing can take him down! What’s my response?!?

…Let’s go find Pilate.
…Let’s go find the chief priests.
…Let’s go find the guys that held the hammer and spear.
We’ve got something to settle. Let’s go get ‘em.

But before that thought can go any further Jesus says again "Peace be with you." as if to say "Hang on, my greeting was more than a greeting.  It's your mission.  I'm not just wishing you peace and well-being.  I am bestowing the very shalom of God upon you and you are to live it out in everything you do."  As if to hammer this point of mission home, Jesus continues "As the Father has sent me, even so I am sending you."  Then Jesus breathes on them and says "Receive the Holy Spirit."  The God whose breath gave life to the first man and woman, the God whose breath raised up an army of an audience from a valley of dry bones, now fills these disciples with new life, with a new Spirit so that they might carry out the radical mission that Jesus has given them.  And just so we don't miss the point, Jesus says "If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven; if you withhold forgiveness from any, it is withheld."  In other words, this new Spirit that resides among the disciples empowers them to forgive the Pilates, the chief priests, those who seem to be unforgivable.  Jesus has not been resurrected to revenge.  He has been resurrected to bestow on these disciples a Spirit of peace and forgiveness so that they might carry out the mission of Jesus in the world.

In v. 24-31, we find that Thomas, one of the twelve disciples, was not present when Jesus appeared this first time.  The other disciples reported to Thomas "We have seen the Lord".  But Thomas responds to them "Unless I see in his hands the mark of the nails and place my finger into the mark of the nails, and place my hand into his side, I will never believe."  As a result, most have come to know this disciple as "doubting Thomas".

But what if that's an unfair moniker for Thomas?   We often hear Thomas's words as a willful refusal, a rejection of the other disciples' report without evidence.  We see Thomas as the rigid empiricist who won't accept anything without proof.  But what if we are hearing him incorrectly? Maybe these words from Thomas aren't so much refusal as they are confession; more admission of weakness than demand of evidence.  Perhaps they are like the man in Mark 9 who says "I believe.  Lord, help my unbelief!"  Perhaps Thomas isn't saying "I won't believe" but "I want to believe but this is simply too much for me to handle.  Not only am I supposed to believe that a crucified man was raised from the dead but also that he now wants us to forgive the people who did that to him?!.  That is humanely impossible!  I can't possibly believe that, much less be faithful to that belief unless I encounter the living Jesus myself!"

If that is indeed what Thomas is saying, then he could not have uttered a more correct understanding of himself and the whole human predicament.  We can not possibly believe, we can not possibly forgive the unforgivable, we can not possibly be faithful to the mission of radical peace that God has called us to in this world, if we have not had an encounter with the risen and living Jesus.  It is simply too difficult.  It is simply too much to ask of mere human beings to live out this kind of peace and forgiveness...unless....unless the resurrected Jesus shows up among us in the midst of our fear-filled and locked-door prisons where we have barricaded ourselves in to shield us from all the pain and dissapointment of life and he breathes new life into us and gives us his Spirit and allows us to see that the crucified Lord who still bears the mark of his torture and death is alive, is victorious, and will reign in us if we will only let him.  Eight days later, Jesus appears to Thomas and gives him the faith that he knew he couldn't possibly muster up for himself and Thomas answers with what is probably the greatest and most accurate confession of faith in the entire Gospel of John, "My Lord and My God!"

But it doesn't end there.  Jesus says to Thomas "Have you believed because you have seen me?  Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed."  So often we hear this as a reprimand of Thomas as if Jesus were saying that Thomas should have had enough faith to just believe without seeing Jesus.  But I don't think that is what Jesus is saying here.  I think Jesus is saying that encounters with him didn't stop with those who could see him in his physical body.  Jesus is saying that it is still possible for us to come to know him in all of his life and fullness, to receive that same Spirit which was breathed on the first disciples, even though we can not see Jesus as Thomas did.  We can still encounter the living Christ.  And just to make sure we don't miss the point, John, the writer of this gospel, inserts himself into the story in v.30-31 and says the same thing.  John interrupts the narrative flow of his literary masterpiece to make sure we can't miss this point.  He says all of this was written "so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name."  Through the presence of the Spirit and the scripture that witnesses to Jesus, we can still have an encounter with the risen Lord and have this impossible faith and have life in his name.

He Still Calls Our Name

I'll be preaching from John 20:1-18 this week.  As I've read over this passage this week, I've been surprised by the number of possible connections with other stories in the Gospel of John.  Allusions to other parts of John's Gospel seem to run throughout this resurrection narrative.  But perhaps the most compelling of these comes from the very first chapter of John.

In John 1:35-42, we hear of Jesus' first disciples beginning to follow him.  These two disciples heard John the baptist's testimony that Jesus was the Lamb of God and they began to follow Jesus as a result.  However, upon beginning to follow him, Jesus asks them a question:  "What are you seeking?".  To which they reply "Rabbi, where are you staying?".

Often in the Gospel of John, conversations take place on two different levels simultaneously.  Usually, there is one very literal level for the characters within the story itself.  The other is often a more metaphorical/theological level in which the character's words carry a sort of double meaning which is instructive for John's audience concerning Jesus' identity and what it means to be his disciple.  The classic example of this is John 3 where Jesus tells Nicodemus he must be born from above but Nicodemus hears Jesus saying that he must be born again.  (The Greek word anothen can mean either "again" or "from above".)  On one level within the story Nicodemus is confused because he can not understand how a person can literally be born again from his mother's womb a second time.  On another level, Jesus word's are instructive for John's audience.  Those hearing John's gospel understand what Nicodemus does not; that Jesus is speaking about a completely new source of life within this life.

The conversation in John 1:35-42 works similarly.  On one level, the disciples are simply asking Jesus where he is staying.  Jesus tells them to come and see and they stay with him for the night.  On another level, the disciples are making a much more serious request.  They are asking to abide with Jesus.  Later in John 15, Jesus will use this same term, abide (meno in Greek), to describe the character of his true disciples.  In John 15:5, Jesus says "I am the vine; you are the branches.  Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing."  To abide with Jesus is to be his disciple.  Therefore, when the disciples answer Jesus' question "What are you seeking?" with "Rabbi, where are you staying?" they are doing more than just answering a question with what seems to be an odd and unrelated question.  In fact, they have given precisely the right answer to Jesus' question.  John is giving us a model of what it means to truly be a disciple of Jesus.  It doesn't mean seeking something from Jesus.  It means we seek to abide with him, to follow him wherever he leads.  These two disciples follow Jesus to where he abides and then they go and invite others to abide with him as well.

In John 20, Mary Magdalene, a woman about whom the gospels tell us very little, is making her way to the tomb of Jesus.  Presumably she goes to anoint the body of Jesus with spices.  We should recognize the act of love that this is on Mary's part.  John tells us that she went early while it was still dark.  She is eager to care for the body of this one that she called teacher and Lord.  She had loved Jesus, she had followed Jesus, she had abided with Jesus.  But now Jesus' body abides in a tomb and she will go there to abide with him, to care for him one last time.

However, when she arrives she finds that the stone covering the entrance of the tomb has been moved away.  She doesn't even look into the tomb to see what has happened.  She doesn't need to.  After all, there is only one logical explanation here.  Someone has stolen Jesus' body.  It wasn't enough that he died the most shameful death of crucifixion, those who hated him did not even want him to have the dignity of a proper burial.  Mary enlists the help of Peter and the beloved disciple.  They find the tomb empty as well.  However, they notice the linen cloths in which Jesus was buried have been left behind; an odd thing for grave robbers to leave behind.

The disciples head back to their homes but Mary is still at the tomb weeping.  As she is weeping, she looks into the tomb and sees two angels sitting where Jesus' body had been.  Even then, Mary still has no thoughts that something extraordinary has happened here.  When the angels ask her why she is weeping she repeats "They have taken away my Lord, and I do no know where they have laid him.  Then Jesus himself appears and asks Mary the same questions he asked those first disciples in John 1;  "Whom are you seeking?"  But even face to face with Jesus, Mary can not see what has happened here.  Her vision is too clouded by the harsh reality of crucifixion she witnessed just days earlier.  Her world is one filled with death and disappointment.  In one sense Mary would love nothing more than to answer Jesus' question as those first disciples did.  Mary desperately wants to abide with Jesus.  "Where is Jesus?" is the very question she has been asking through this entire passage.  Even now, supposing he is the gardener, she asks Jesus himself "Sir, if you have carried him away, tell me where you have laid him and I will take him away."  Mary is desperately seeking to abide with Jesus in the only way she knows how but she is exasperated and grief-stricken by her search because she seeks to abide with Jesus as though he were dead when, in fact, he is alive.  It is only when the Word of God made flesh speaks her name, "Mary", that she recognizes the voice of her shepherd and responds with the same response as those first disciples "Rabboni!".  And just as those first disciples recruited more disciples, Mary goes and announces Jesus' resurrection to his disciples.

Mary is a picture of so many of us, of so much of the Church.  I think if most of us were asked in church "Whom do you seek?" we would answer "Jesus."  And I don't think it would be a disingenuous or pretentious answer.  Like Mary, most of us really do love Jesus.  We know that Jesus changed us somehow and that we owe everything to him.  In fact, we long to abide with Jesus, so much so that we get up early on the first day of the week and come looking for him.

But I also think that, like Mary, despite all of our love for Jesus, we sometimes go about seeking him as if he were dead.  We come to church, we pay our tithe, we study our Bibles and say our prayers and we do all of these things because we genuinely love Jesus.  But we also do them not expecting anything to change, not expecting anyone, including ourselves to be transformed.  In fact, we'd probably rather things not change because at least things are comfortable the way they are now.  At least, this way we know what to expect.  And its not that we are bad or unloving people.  Its just that, like Mary, we've been hurt.  We've experience more intense pain than we could ever have imagined.  We've seen our hopes and dreams crucified, our beliefs about what God could do in this world nailed to a cross.  But we remain faithful.  Even in the midst of all that, we still love Jesus, we still want to abide with him.  We've just come to doubt that he can actually change anything.  And so all of our genuine acts of love for Jesus become nothing more than spices prepared for his buried and decaying body and our church begins to feel more like an empty tomb than a place of resurrection.

But, like Mary, even as we seek Jesus among the dead, the risen Lord continues to call to us.  Even when the empty tomb and grave cloths are not enough to cause us to look elsewhere, even when angels can not change our perception of what is possible with God, even when our pain and confusion so cloud our vision that we can not even see Jesus right in front of us, the risen Lord still speaks.  He still calls our name. And that is enough to allow us to abide with him in all his resurrected glory.

What Does God Look Like?

What does God look like?  An old man with a beard?  Or perhaps you see God more like a mighty warrior or judge?  An ominous cloud of fire and smoke?  An indescribable and overwhelming light?

It seems Philip is looking for something along those lines in John 14 when he says "Lord, show us the Father and it is enough for us."  This seems an honorable request on Philip's part.  It is not unlike Moses' request in Exodus 33.  But Jesus is extremely disappointed in Philip's request because it shows that Philip has not yet understood who Jesus is.  Jesus says "Have I been so long with you and yet you have not come to know Me, Philip?  He who has seen Me has seen the Father."

Earlier in John's Gospel, Jesus is teaching in the temple courts.  The scribes and the Pharisees interrupt Jesus' teaching by dragging in a woman caught in adultery.  They say to Jesus "Teacher, this woman has been caught in adultery, in the very act.  Now in the Law Moses commanded us to stone such a woman; what then do You say?"  This is a litmus test of Jesus' orthodoxy.  It is a way for the religious leaders to put Jesus in a difficult position to see if he really follows God's law.  The crowd Jesus has been teaching is waiting to see what he will do.  Will Jesus condone the stoning to death of this woman or will he go against the law of Moses?  But Jesus sees that the woman's sins are not the only ones that need to be dealt with here and he says "He who is without sin among you, let him be the first to throw a stone at her."  And one by one all of the woman's accusers walked away, leaving her alone with Jesus who said to her "'Woman, where are they? Did no one condemn you?'  She said 'No one, Lord.'  And Jesus said 'I do not condemn you either.  Go. From now on sin no more.'"  Philip says "Lord, show us the Father."  Jesus says "He who has seen me has seen the Father."

Later in John's gospel, a close friend of Jesus is sick, very sick.  The friend's sister sends people to find Jesus and they ask him to come heal his friend so that he won't die.  Jesus says that his friend's sickness will not end in death but a couple days later this friend dies.  Upon arriving at his friend's tomb, John tells us that Jesus wept.  While Jesus is weeping for his dead friend, others are standing by saying to themselves "Could not this man, who opened the eyes of the blind man, have kept this man also from dying?"  Jesus instructs those who are present to remove the stone that seals the tomb to which they protest "Lord, by this time there will be a stench for he has been dead for four days".  Nevertheless, they remove the stone and Jesus calls out to his friend Lazarus and Lazarus, who had been dead, walks out of the tomb alive.  Philip says "Lord, show us the Father."  Jesus says "He who has seen me has seen the Father."

Sometime before the Feast of the Passover, Jesus and the disciples were sharing a meal together.  After the meal, Jesus took a towel and a basin of water and began to wash the disciples feet.  This was a regular practice in the ancient world...but it was the regular practice of servants, not of teachers and people of status, not of someone who had disciples.  It was the disciples who should have been washing Jesus' feet.  But Jesus insists upon taking this lowly position upon himself even though he is their teacher and their savior.  Philip says "Lord, show us the Father."  Jesus says "He who has seen me has seen the Father."

You want to know what God looks like?  Look at the compassion and mercy that Jesus shows to an adulterous woman while he also shows those who think of themselves as righteous that they are not as spotless as they might think.  You want to see God?  Look at the one who can not only heal the sick but also raise the dead.  You want to know the heartbeat of the God who created and sustains the entire universe?  Look at the teacher who holds the towel and the basin.  If you want to know God, look at Jesus.

But that is perhaps not the most remarkable truth of this week's sermon text.  Jesus goes on to say "I say to you, he who believes in Me, the works that I do, he will do also and greater works than these he will do."  Jesus says that his followers will do even greater things than he did during his time on earth.  Want to see God?  Jesus says "Look at my followers."  This isn't because Jesus' followers are perfect.  Like anyone else, we are broken, corrupted, painfully inadequate, sinful people.  Jesus can say this because of what he goes on to say in verses 16 and 17.  Jesus promises to send the Holy Spirit to his followers.  This Spirit is the one that enables us to do the the things that Jesus did; to forgive with mercy and compassion, to find life where others see only death, to take upon ourselves lowly positions of service and humility, to reveal the heart of our heavenly father in everything that we do.  After all, this is what we say every week in our church; that "we are called to be a community that is faithful image of God's love."  Our task, our calling as the Church is nothing short of revealing our heavenly Father.

We throw around the titles "Christian" and "Church" and "follower of Jesus" pretty loosely sometimes.  But we should not take too lightly what we are saying when we call ourselves those things.  By calling ourselves the Church, we are saying nothing short of this; "If you want to know God, look at us."  Such a statement would be blasphemous, heretical, and down right arrogant if we didn't also believe that the only reason we could say such a thing is because on Pentecost God poured out his Holy Spirit so that anyone who chooses to can be re-shaped by that Spirit into the image of God.  We should not call ourselves "Christian" or "the Church" unless we are willing to allow this Spirit to have full reign in our lives, for to call ourselves "Christian" without allowing the Spirit to work in us is to misrepresent God.  But if we are willing to let the Spirit of God reign in us wholly and completely then we can rejoice that this Spirit can make us into the holy people that God has called us to be.  Pentecost is the promise that we can indeed be a community that is faithful image of God's love.

Jesus' Mother and Jars of Water

The Gospel of John is an endlessly symbolic book. Rarely, it seems, does anything in this book have only a plain, literal meaning. Often the stories in John's Gospel have layers of meaning that mesh a simpler truth with a deeper and richer symbolic truth. In my experience, if there is something that seems odd in John's Gospel or seemingly insignificant details receive inordinate attention, it is because John wishes to draw our attention to something we might otherwise miss. In my opinion, there are two such oddities in John 2:1-11; one is the conversation between Jesus and his mother, the second is the attention given to some stone water jars.

Jesus, his family, and his disciples are guests at a wedding in Cana. Somehow Mary, Jesus' mother, becomes aware of a shortage of wine and feels that she needs to make Jesus aware of the matter. This in itself is interesting because it suggests that Mary believes Jesus can do something about it. John tells us that this is Jesus' first public miracle but it seems that Mary is already privately aware of what Jesus can do. However, Jesus seems put off by his own mother's faith in him. He responds as if the shortage is wine is not his concern. Nevertheless, Mary persists in her faith telling the servants to do whatever Jesus tells them. In this exchange, Mary and Jesus seem to relate to each other as any thing but mother and son. Instead, Mary's interaction with Jesus sounds more like that of a disciple.

The other oddity of this story is the amount of space John uses to describe the jars which will contain the water which Jesus turns into wine. John gives us all kinds of descriptive details concerning these jars that might otherwise seem completely irrelevant to the rest of the story; they are stone, there are six of them, they are used for Jewish purification rituals, and they each contain twenty or thirty gallons. However, these details cause our minds to linger on these jars as we hear the story John tells. It is not only significant that Jesus turns water into wine. It is significant that Jesus uses these jars to do so.

I think John is using both of these oddities to point us toward the same truth; that our relationship to Jesus as Lord takes precedence over our usual relationships and rituals. Mary seems to know, even at this early stage in John's Gospel, that she can not relate to her son as any other mother would. She comes to him less with a mother's request and more with a disciple's faith. Even the incredibly important mother-son relationship must submit to the Lordship of Christ. Similarly, John also subordinates concerns of ritual purity to Christ. The water jars that John mentions were used for an important cleansing ritual; to use them for anything else would have likely been an offense to Torah observant Jews. However, it is these jars that Jesus has filled with water that he will turn to wine. Jesus' first miracle sets aside important Jewish laws of ritual purity so that he can provide more wine to keep the party going.

Jesus overturns our typical way of doing things, our normal way of relating to each other and to God. But in doing so, he is making possible the great wedding feast to which we have all been invited.

Jacob's Dream Fulfilled in Jesus

So much of John's gospel seems to involve conversations that are taking place on two different levels; one is plain and literal while the other is more complex and cryptic. On one level, the conversation between Nathanael and Jesus in John 1:43-51 is a simple one that demonstrates Jesus' unique knowledge and authority which in turn causes Nathanael to confess that Jesus is the Son of God and King of Israel. That alone is a remarkable confession but it seems that the gospel writer may be saying even more than that to us if we listen carefully.

The biggest clue is in v.51 of John 1 where Jesus' words allude to a dream that Jacob has in Genesis 28. In this dream, Jacob sees angels ascending and descending a ladder that is reaching to heaven. God stands above the ladder and reiterates the same promise to Jacob that he had made to Abraham and Isaac before him; that he would give Jacob land and numerous descendants through whom all the peoples of the earth would be blessed. Jacob then awakens from his dreams and declares that surely God was in the place where he had been sleeping.

Once we have been clued in by the obvious allusion to Jacob's dreams in Jesus' words, it becomes easier to notice other parallels between this passage and the story of Jacob, each of them in Jesus' words to Nathanael. In Jesus' first words to Nathanael in v. 47, Jesus declares that Nathanael is an Israelite in whom there is no deceit which is the same word used to desribe Jacob's action in stealing his blessing from his father. Therefore, Nathanael, who confesses Jesus as Son of God and King of Israel, is presented in contrast to Jacob and his descendants, the Israelites (Jacob's name being changed to Israel after wrestling with God just a few chapters later). Even though Nathanael is an Israelite himself, he is set apart by his response to Jesus.

Additionatlly, in John's passage Jesus knows Nathanael before he has even spoken a word and Jesus tells Nathanael that he saw him under the fig tree before Philip had even called him to come meet Jesus. This is in sharp constrast to Jacob's father Isaac who is nearly blind and does not even know one of his sons from the other. Therefore, Jesus and Nathanael are held up as Israelites who are greater than the patriarchs of Israel themselves. There is no deceit in Nathanael as there was in Jacob and Jesus demonstrates just the opposite of the blindness and lack of knowledge that is demonstrated by Isaac.

What is John's point in all of this? John is making a theological point about who Jesus is; he is the patriarch of Israel in a way that Isaac and Jacob never could be. He is the Son of God and King of Israel just as Nathanael confesses him to be. But it is likely that John is also addressing a specific need in his own community. As far as we can tell historically, it seems as if the believers for whom John initially wrote this gospel were in conflict with the Jews of the day who did not believe that Jesus was the messiah. Because Judaism was beginning to define itself as something separate from Christianity, these early Christians had probably been kicked out of the local synagogues where they were accustomed to hearing scripture and praising God. Therefore, John is reassuring these believers that they have made the right choice in following Jesus. Just because they have been excluded from synagogue does not mean that God has abandoned them or that Jesus was a false prophet as they were probably being told by the same people who had expelled them. Instead, John boldly declares that Jesus is the true patriarch of Israel and that Nathanael's response to Jesus is one that these believers should continue to emulate. John is reassuring them that what Jacob only knew in a dream, they have come to know in flesh and blood in the person of Jesus.

The Word Made Flesh

The Christmas season (which does not end with Christmas day but continues until the Epiphany on January 6th) is a time to ponder the glory of the incarnation. There are few passages of scripture that can help us contemplate this mystery better than John 1:1-18. This passage serves as a prologue or a kind of overture to John's gospel as he alludes here to many of the major themes on which he will elaborate in the chapters that follow.

Of course, as a gospel, one of the book's major themes is christology; that is, to explain who Jesus is. John wastes no time in doing exactly that. Immediately, he introduces Jesus as "the Word" or "logos" in Greek. This term was used extensively in both Greek and Jewish philosophical discussions about God leading up to the time of John's writing. While scholars debate which, if any, of those philosophical notions John is drawing upon here to describe Christ, it can at least be said that John wishes to make the point that Christ is the one who reveals the one true God just as God's word had been his revelation to Israel in the past. Therefore, by designating Jesus as "the Word", John is proclaiming that Jesus is now the revelation of God.

However, John also wishes to make clear that Jesus does not reveal God in the same way that the Law or the prophets revealed God. Jesus is not simply a messenger sent by God. John proclaimes that Jesus is God himself by saying that he existed from the beginning and was always with God and is himself, God (v.1). John has simultaneously distinguished Jesus from God by designating him as "the Word" rather than simply as God but has also resolutely identified Jesus with God by saying that "the Word was God". Therefore, this first verse in the Gospel of John is a forerunner to the doctrine of the Trinity which the Church would not completely spell out until 321 A.D. at the Council of Nicea.

However, even this nuanced statement about "the Word" does not capture everything John wishes to tell us about Jesus. John says in v.14 that this Word also became flesh and dwelt among us. This is perhaps the most remarkable statement of all. The word translated in this verse as "dwelt" is the same root word that the Greek Old Testament (also known as the Septuagint) uses to describe the tabernacle (or tent) in which God traveled with the Israelites before Solomon built the Temple in Jerusalem. Therefore, John is saying that in Jesus God has tabernacled among us. God has made human flesh his dwelling place in the way that the tabernacle and the Temple had previously been. Jesus is the full revelation of the God who has made himself present among us.

John uses other metaphors in this prologue that will extend throughout his Gospel as well; primarily those of light and life. Of course, it is fitting to think of these metaphors along with the incarnation of God in human flesh for wherever God's presence goes there darkness will be driven away, what was previously hidden will be exposed to the light, and life will reign. Despite the presence of God's light in the world, John tells us that not everyone recognized Jesus as the light. In fact, many people, even his own people rejected him.

Scattered throughout this intense theological discussion of light and life and the God who has become flesh are intermittent references to John the baptist. In some ways this is to be expected since the other three gospels also mention John near the beginning of the story. However, these mentions of John in v.6-7 and v.15 seem out of place to me. It seems like this passage would read much more smoothly and coherently if these references to the baptist were simply taken out and placed somewhere after v. 19.

Nevertheless, I have to imagine that John the gospel writer had some reason to include these snippets about John the baptist where he did. If nothing else, perhaps these references are placed within the discussion about the Word just to draw a sharper contrast between them. Maybe John wants to proclaim as distinctly as he can that even though John and Jesus are both prophets from God, they are in no way equal. Although Jesus was truly human, there is some sense in which John and Jesus do not exist on the same plane of existence. Both historically and as a literary device in the Gospel of John, John the baptist serves only as a witness to the light. He is not the light himself.

In this way, John the baptist probably serves as a much needed model for the Church today. We likely need to repeat this mantra to ourselves: "We are not the light. We are witnesses to the light." Too often, churches today exist soley for themselves and don't witness or point to anything other than their own growth. Instead, we should have a prophetic voice like John's which constantly points people to the one who is greater than we are. The Church is not going to solve all the world's problems or enforce God's will in the world. We were never meant to do that. We are only meant to be an icon, an embodied witness to the God who loves us so intensely that he took on our own flesh and dwelt among us.