Trials and denials. John 18:15-27

John 18:15-27

There are 2 main events in this section; Peter’s denial and Jesus on trial before Annas. These are happening at the same time, and that’s how John records it. But I want to discuss the trial first and then deal with Peter’s denials together.

Vs 19-24
-Does anyone see a contradiction in this section? There seems to be a contradiction concerning who is the High Priest. This was a position held by one person. So is it Annas or Caiaphas? It’s important that we investigate alleged contradictions in the scriptures since this is a reason more and more are giving for rejecting it’s authority.
At this time the High Priest was the highest office of respect and authority allowed in Israel. This being the case, the Roman governors and procurators decided who would hold this office. Annas was named HP by Quirinius in 7 AD. But the next procurator, Valerius Gratus didn’t like Annas and gave him the boot in 15 AD. Annas was an excellent politician and through diplomacy and probably some shady deals he was able to secure the HP office for all 5 of his sons and his son-in-law. That’s Caiaphas. These guys were just puppets. Annas no longer had the official title but he made all the decisions and he was still commonly called the High Priest. So, there is no contradiction and John knows exactly what he is saying. Caiaphas has the title, but is only a puppet to Annas, whom everyone sees as the actual High Priest. As a side note, his son Annas II had James put to death.


Now, about the actual trial. The people in charge don’t always get it right.
Acting on a tip, the Ontario Provincial Police broke down the door of a house in suburban Toronto. It was the middle of the night. They rushed into the bedrooms with guns drawn, and literally dragged the occupants out of bed. They forced a man, his wife, her aged father, and a couple of children to lay face down on the living room floor for a couple of hours. All of them were dressed or undressed for bed, cold, and scared. The police searched through their house for the criminal they had come to arrest. In fact, the house was ransacked and generally torn apart in the search for evidence. The police never did find anything linking the family to the criminal in question. It turned out the police were at the wrong house.
When the police rather shamefacedly left, the family never got an apology for being wrongfully terrorized. Rather, the police threatened to lay charges against them because a small package of a controlled/illegal substance had been found in their basement.
That’s a case where the authorities got it wrong, but it was on accident. What’s even worse is when the authorities are dead wrong and you find out it was on purpose. It’s disappointing and sickening when you hear a story of the people in charge actually purposefully trying to frame an innocent person. Like this:
In November 1988 a Joseph Burrows was arrested for the murder of an 88-year-old man in Sheldon, Illinois. No physical evidence was found to link Burrows to the killing, but he was convicted on the basis of testimony from two people who said they saw Burrows do the shooting. Burrows was convicted and sentenced to die. He spent more than 6 years on Death Row.
Burrows' defense attorney persuaded the judge to rehear the testimony of the two witnesses. Both of them took back their earlier testimony and said that police and prosecutors pressured them into testifying falsely against Burrows. Eventually, one of the witnesses even admitted to the murder.

-The trial of Jesus is a one of the disturbing cases where the authorities are so corrupt and concerned with maintaining their own power that they throw all decency out the window. According to Jewish law nobody can be arrested without formal charges. Jesus is arrested under no specific charges. According to the Torah, the highest Jewish law, no trial could happen without witnesses. Jesus points this out in sort of a sarcastic cutting way. Jesus points out their lack of witnesses by sarcastically telling them to “ask all your witnesses.” His tone was probably part of why the guard slapped him. I’m not sure why we assume Jesus always spoke as though he were thinking about something really sad, and with an English accent.
The charge Annas was trying to secretly get evidence for was heresy/blasphemy. Think about it. He doesn’t question him about what he did, where he went or any of his actions. He could have questioned Jesus about his relationship with the women who followed him, or taxes, or anything else we would consider more worthy of death than what he was questioned about. He questions him about his disciples and his teachings. The Bible talks about the severity of being a false prophet and that’s what they were trying to manufacture evidence about. Being a false prophet (speaking falsely on behalf of God) was the worst crime to be accused of and was more likely to bring the death penalty than others.
As a side note, thought, what does that say about how Jesus lived that even those who wanted him dead knew they wouldn’t be able to make up any questionable behavior and have it believed?
It’s interesting to me that through this entire process Jesus, knowing the verdict is going to be guilty, continually asks them for evidence. Why would he do this? It wasn’t in hopes that they would realize he was innocent and let him go. So, why?

Peter’s Denial: 15-18, 25-27
-It is most likely and commonly accepted that John is the other disciple. John shows great humility in that when he has the chance to write, “me me me, I was there” he instead writes, “another disciple” or “the disciple Jesus loved”.
This is one of the events so huge that all 4 gospel writers include it in their history. But John leaves out something the other 3 say. The others end this account with Peter going outside and weeping bitterly. The other 3 weren’t there, John was. Even Matthew, who was there for most events he writes, was not at this one. They got their info second hand, probably from Peter, who told the story in a way that emphasized his regret.
What impressed John as he was seeing it first-hand, though, was not Peter’s regret but the severity of Peter’s change. The way John tells his story he really emphasizes how Peter went from being willing to take on a small army by himself to cowering in front of slaves and servants. John probably heard Peter’s first denial and would have been shocked beyond belief.
Why is John so focused on the quick change in Peter? Is he angry or ashamed? Probably. But I think the bigger emotion is fear. Peter is known among the disciples as the bold one, the brave one, the leader. I think what’s so shocking to John about this is the thought, “If Peter can deny Jesus…can I?” To be clear, this is my opinion, but I think it’s worth considering. Regardless of whether or not John is thinking this, we should. We often think “How is it possible that Peter could do this?” when we should be thinking, “Is it possible that I could do this?”

Peacity Peace Peace

John 14:27-end

Peace
Jesus says he will leave his peace with us. Lets start by defining peace. Peace is more than the absence of war. Biblical peace is more than the lack of turmoil or chaos. That is part of it, but not all of it. The most common word used in the Bible for peace is the Hebrew word Shalom. This word encompasses several ideas that we use several words to convey. Shalom means the expected peace, rest, and calm. But it also means to be well, complete, whole, healthy, restful, safe. It conveys a feeling a familiarity, like when you walk in your house after being away for a long time and you smell your favorite dinner cooking and you think, “Ahhh, this is right.”
That’s Shalom. That’s what Jesus said he would give his followers. Just the fact that Jesus promises to give peace to his followers tells us a few things.
1. Stress, tension, worry, and anxiety (everything that is contrary to peace) have been around for a long time. Peace has never been something that comes natural to people. Even though this is the case it’s undeniable that stress and anxiety, or at least their effects on people, have increased dramatically in recent times. That’s really peculiar because of all the technology we have. There are thousands of gadgets that exist for the sole reason of making your life easier. Cooking takes too long, so we have microwaves. Changing the radio station is too tough, so we have remotes. There’s no way you can wait until you’re around a computer to check your email or Facebook, so it’s on your phone. They have self-cleaning litter boxes, automatic card shufflers, shoes that are mops, electrified fly-swatters, and robot vacuums, all advertised with the promise to make your life easier and stress free. But none of these seem to work. I mean, I’m sure the automatic card shuffler shuffles cards just fine, but they don’t seem to be relieving that much stress. And it’s not just gadgets. We have herbal supplements and sleeping aids and Dr Phil. It seems like all this stuff we’ve filled our lives with to take away our stress have only caused more busyness and stress.
But Jesus wants his people to have peace. From the very beginning it’s clear that peace is good. During creation everything was in chaos, then God brought order to it all. On the mountain Elijah watched as wind, fire, and an earthquake came by. But God wasn’t in those, He was in the whisper. God built rest and peace into His law making it mandatory that people do nothing one day a week. Then Jesus comes along and emphasizes the concept of peace all the more. Peace is not just something God has. Like love, it is part of who He is. It is ingrained in His nature. That’s why God is referred to numerous times in the scriptures as “the God of peace” and the Messiah is called the “Prince of peace.” And, like love, all true peace has its source in God. There is no Shalom apart from God.

2. The second thing we learn from Jesus promising us His peace is that believers are not exempt from the stressful situations in life. Think about it, if putting my faith in Jesus meant everything would perfect from now on, I wouldn’t need His peace. I would already have peace. We need His peace because we are still in a stressful world. In fact, 2 chapters over (16:33) Jesus says, “I have told you these things so that in me you may have peace. You will have suffering in this world. Be courageous, I have conquered the world.”
Contrary to what some preachers would say, suffering is not always an indicator of weak faith. It may be, but it may also be God’s method of refining and improving us. Or, I think most often, it is simply the reality of living in a broken system. In any case, Jesus said that in the midst of suffering we can have peace in him. Not just calmness, but completeness, rest, wholeness and goodness.

What do you think it means that Jesus doesn’t give in the same way the world does? The world (people and systems away from God) gives with the expectation of getting something back. It only gives for the purpose of what it can get back. Jesus has no selfish motives in loaning us his peace. He simply loves us.

Why is it so important that we have peace? I think there are 3 reasons. First, God wants us to have peace simply because peace is good and He loves us. Secondly, our having peace is proof of His Lordship over us. If we really believe God is all powerful, all knowing, and all good, and we if we believe we are completely His how can we be anxious or stressed about anything? Our level of peace is proportional to our level of trust in Jesus. If we trust Him as Lord, there is nothing to worry about.
The third reason is that our peace attracts others to Jesus. What does it do for others when we say we serve the God of peace who is in complete control of all things, but then we freak out about all the same stuff the world does (i.e. I don’t have enough money. What about this sickness? This politician is going to ruin America. But there’s a war in the Middle East. Why are they so mean to me? Etc.) The world is clearly looking for peace. We claim to have it, yet out lives show that we don’t.
It’s important to God that we have peace because our peace makes Him look good to others. John Piper said in his book Don’t Waste Your Life “God is most glorified in us when we are most satisfied in Him.” When “things” are your treasure you have no peace because “things” come and go. When the eternal unchanging God is your treasure there is peace because He is absolutely constant. That’s a beautiful thing for the world to see.


Jesus going away.
Jesus again restates that he is leaving this world but will return. Why do you think he tells the disciples, “If you loved me you would be glad I’m going”? Its basic relationship stuff. Love always wants to the best thing for the other person. Merry is planning a trip to Cairo Egypt in the spring. I hate being away from her. Selfishly, I want her to stay. But I know that she is very excited and that going will make her happy, so I want her to go. The disciples could beg Jesus to say, but that would be selfish. Jesus is going back to the Father, which is in infinitely better than where he is now, so they should be happy for him and want him to go.

Jesus says he won’t speak much more because the prince of this world is coming. That should be understood as Satan in Judas. Jesus literally has only a few more moments before the crowd shows up to arrest him.

Jesus teaches Theology 401

John 14:7-17

Jesus and the Father
-Phillip’s request wasn’t bad in itself. Wanting to know/see the Father is a good desire. The problem was their lack of understanding that the Father was letting Himself be seen in Jesus. Their thinking was “Jesus gives us some idea, but not a complete picture. We want to really see the Father.” Jesus corrects their thinking. They are distinct yet One. To see Jesus is to see the Father, to hear Him is to hear the Father, and to be with Him is to be with the Father.

-Nicene Creed: I believe in one God, Father Almighty, Creator of heaven and earth, and of all things visible and invisible. And in one Lord Jesus Christ, the only-begotten Son of God, begotten of the Father before all ages; Light of Light, true God of true God, begotten, not created, of one essence with the Father through Whom all things were made.

-Jesus seems offended by Phillip’s dullness. Phillip had been with Jesus since the beginning, 3 years now. In fact he was the first normal (not a prophet) person to recognize Jesus as the Messiah (1:45). Why was Jesus so offended by this? Because to Jesus His relationship to the Father IS who He is. It would be like if Merry and I went to dinner and I ordered pizza and a coke and she said “Huh, I didn’t know you liked that.” Seriously? That’s my favorite food! I always order that.
-It was shocking to Jesus that after 3 years Phillip hadn’t become aware of the Father in Jesus.
-We have yet another passage where Jesus is speaking of His deity. For them this would have been either revelation or blasphemy. Why is it important that Jesus is God?
-Jesus offers 2 evidences for His oneness with the Father, His words and His works. What do we have as evidence for our relationship with God?

Praying in Jesus’ Name
- Verse 12 is a difficult scripture for many. How could we accomplish “greater” works than Jesus? What could possibly be greater than healing the blind, making the lame walk, raising the dead, walking on water, miraculously multiplying food?
The problem is our assumption that great = bigger. There are 2 possibilities. The first is that by “greater” Jesus means more in number. He was 1 person who performed miracles for 3 years. His followers in just a few years would number in the thousands and be praying for miraculous answers to prayer for their entire lives.
The other possibility is that Jesus meant greater in significance. The miracles He did were obviously amazing. So amazing that crowds followed Him from town to town to see Him do more. So amazing that He had crowds worshiping Him and ready to make Him the King of Israel. But only a few weeks later those crowds were nowhere to be found. There were only a handful of people standing at the foot of the cross. The miracles He did were Great and Big, but they only had a momentary effect on most people. They didn’t transform people’s entire lives.
However, when the disciples went out in Acts and preached forgiveness through the crucified and resurrected Son of God people’s lives were changed forever. Thousands upon thousands were willing to die instead of reject a savior they had never seen because they didn’t just see a miracle, they had been transformed by the gospel.

-Now about praying in Jesus’ name. Prosperity idiots have hijacked this, and other scriptures, to preach that God must do what we tell Him to. He’s controlled by our faith. This shows a great misunderstanding of the language used here. Doing or saying something “in so and so’s name” was a common thing in ancient times. They didn’t have email or phones so important people sent servants with a message. When it was delivered “in so and so’s name” it was like the important person himself was saying it.
But there’s a catch. This concept is much more than just attaching the phrase “In Jesus name” at the end of a prayer. In this culture a name was much more than a way to tell people apart or reference people. Someone’s name is synonymous with his or her character, desires, thoughts and intentions. So if you were to do something in the name a king that didn’t accurately represent the king’s intentions not only would your demand not be authoritative, but you would get in major trouble. The king could say, “Nope, you acted outside of what I would have done so you had no right to use my name there.” Faith is involved in prayer, but God is completely sovereign and does not HAVE to do anything I say. Thankfully He is a gracious God who CHOOSES to respond to the faith and prayers of His people.

-Verse 15. If you love Jesus you will obey His commands. This isn’t a command in itself so much as a statement of fact. This is a statement of cause and effect. This is a more blunt way of saying what Jesus has said many times in parables (i.e. if a branch is connected to the vine it WILL produce fruit, if not it won’t and will be cut off and thrown away). This is not in any way teaching salvation by works. The love relationship comes first and is based on grace through faith. But, genuine faith WILL produce a visible product: obedience. The fruit may be small at first, but will grow over time.

The Holy Spirit
-Jesus will ask the Father and He will send the Holy Spirit (paraclete: companion, one who walks beside); the Spirit of Truth. There are at least 4 practical purposes listed in scripture for the Spirit being sent to the world: Empowerment, comfort, guiding to truth, and convicting of sin.
For the believer the Spirit guides us to truth in all areas. We seek direction in various areas and God speaks to us through the Holy Spirit. However, the most important truth the Spirit leads people to is Jesus. Only a few sentences ago Jesus declared “I Am the truth”. The Spirit’s main objective is the draw people to Jesus and reveal the truth about His nature, teachings, and work on the cross.

A good ole' foot warshen.

John 13:1-15

-I think it’s great that John points out Jesus wasn’t just a public figure, He had friends, there were people who were closer to Him than others. This reemphasizes to me that it really isn’t just about a religious movement or acceptance of propositions, it’s about relationship. Jesus modeled this. And leading up to His death He wants to spend time with those closest to Him. He is comforted by being around close friends.

-V 1. John’s words are very personal. He was one of the 12 there that night. You can almost hear him being lost in memory as he writes this. He points out the amazing fact that Jesus, knowing he was hours away from suffering beyond imagination, still focused on loving His disciples. He didn’t become self focused even when death was around the corner.

-This passage is obviously focused on Jesus washing the feet of His disciples. Why would He do this? I see 3 reasons.

1. Because He loved His disciples. Real and genuine love is this odd thing that causes you to do un-enjoyable things for the people you love. When Merry is sick I try to take care of as much as possible, even making her nasty shakes, because I love her. While I don’t want her to be sick I get a weird sense of pleasure out of taking care of her. Jesus sees the filth on their feet and knows they need to be washed before this meal. So He does it.

2. To symbolize the spiritual washing He is going to provide. Peter doesn’t see the significance of it and protests (vs 6-10). Peter sees this act as beneath Jesus because he is aware of how nasty his feet are, but Peter doesn’t understand how repulsive his sin is to God. Jesus picks this as an analogy for daily forgiveness because of how disgusting it is and how gross our sin is before God. For Jesus to take our sin upon Himself is more severe than washing a foot.
In vs 10 Jesus makes a distinction between salvation and daily cleansing. Jesus is using this occasion to teach some really big theology. So big that, as he tells Peter, “you don’t understand yet what I’m doing.” The disciples had accepted Jesus as the Messiah, they had put their faith in Him as God’s Son. So Jesus tells them, “You don’t need a whole bath, just your feet.”
What Jesus is teaching is this: When you put your faith in Jesus you are cleansed from everything, you are made completely new and you are a new creation. The one who puts faith in Jesus is bathed. This bathing is total and has lasting results. You don’t have to “get saved” every time you find you’ve stumbled or messed up. You are bathed, your name is still in the book. But, you did get a little poo on your feet from walking in this world. So you don’t need Jesus to save you again, you just need Him to wash your feet.
People tend to go off in the extremes in this. Some teach that if you are saved then you should be completely sanctified and if you sin you instantly lose your salvation. Others teach that sin is a non-issue and we don’t need to concern ourselves with praying for forgiveness in the little stuff. As usually the truth is in the middle somewhere.

3. To give an example of greatness. Several times throughout the gospels Jesus overhears the disciples arguing about which of them is the greatest and he always tells them the greatest among you must be a servant. He always tells them the way to true greatness is not to strive for greatness but to strive for humility and servant-hood. And here he shows them what that looks like.
Imagine being there. Put yourself in their shoes. Here is Jesus, He has turned water into wine, multiplied bread and fish, healed thousands of people, cast out demons, walked on water, and brought dead people back to life. He’s captivated the masses with this new message about forgiveness and love. Over the last 3 years you have become convinced that this is the Son of God. And now He takes off his shirt, squats down, and starts washing the goat crap off of your feet with his bear hands.
This is the most amazing picture of humility and putting others before yourself they have ever seen and other the cross it is the most dynamic one in all the Bible. God is washing their feet. Jesus says explicitly that this is an example, which means we are expected to follow the example. This is one of the things that really marks the life of a true disciple. Do you serve others? Are you willing to serve others to the point that it really puts you out or makes you uncomfortable?
Here’s the last thought: Judas was in the group that night. What does that mean as an example of how we should treat those who would mistreat us?

Summer Break

I hope all the Resolvederines have a great summer break. I'll be seeing some of you around this summer. I'll see the rest of you (except for a few graduates) back this fall. Stay safe.

Skepty McSkeptertons

John 9 Skepty McSkeptertons.
Jesus is often at war with scribes and Pharisees. Jesus sets up situations with them that will spark moral, ethical and didactic wars. We see this here. The war Jesus is fighting here is legalism. The battlefield is the Sabbath.
Legalists like to add their own rules to God’s word. They say, or at least imply that God’s word isn’t sufficient as it is. It doesn’t tell us enough, it isn’t complete, it needs help. For them, rules are everything; to the point that they say, “Even if my heart is cold and lifeless I’m good because I’ve kept the rules.” The thing is their rules aren’t just for them. They think everyone has to follow their rules too, or they are sinning. Legalists say, “Obey me, not God”.
Legalists take good and beautiful spiritual things and make them burdensome and deadly. The issue here is Sabbath. Simple, God said take a day off from work. It’s just simple and good, like fudgerounds. You don’t need rules to enjoy them. Saying “eat a fudgeround” is plenty. But the Jews came along and added rules to eating fudgerounds and in doing so they made the fudgerounds not enjoyable. So let’s look at the encounter.

Vs 8-12 The change in this guy was so great that his neighbors questioned if this was the same man. I know this is easier to understand thinking about a lame dude walking for the first time, or a blind man seeing for the first time, but the question remains; is there anything so different about your life that people around you would notice? Is the difference Jesus makes in your life enough to make you seem like a different person?
The progression here is amazing: Are you the same person? What happened to you? Well, where is this Jesus, I want meet him too. I’m all for Christians being normal in one sense. I hate the cheesy bubble we’ve created to exist in. But the fact remains, if people never notice anything different about us something is wrong.

Vs 13-16 They bring the man to the Pharisees. Some suggest this was good intentions, trying to show the religious scholars that this man Jesus truly is a prophet from God. It clearly doesn’t work. The Pharisees don’t see this healing as a good thing because it happened on the Sabbath. Jesus seems to do things from time to time just for the sake of annoying the religious leaders.
He often healed on the Sabbath. When doing so, He often incorporated some odd thing in the healing which He knew would get to them. When He healed the lame man He didn’t just heal him, He said “carry you mat.” In this case He heals the man by making mud or clay. Working clay was prohibited by the 39 categories of work in Rabbinic Judaism. Why would Jesus do this? Most likely to show owner ship of the day. The Pharisees had basically claimed authority and taken ownership of all things religious; Sabbath was an obvious one Jesus could make a point of. Jesus would not yield ownership of the things of God to anyone, especially those who love traditions more than they love God.
We see here how petty we can be about things we see as religious. They should have been in wonder and amazement and congratulated the man. Instead they harp on things that are so meaningless. Things haven’t changed much. “You have to use KJV! You have to dress like this! Old time religion! Worship has to look like this!” I’ve even heard a preacher preach on the wickedness of men having long hair. Do these things really matter?
Some of them wanted to believe, but it’s so hard to get past traditions and expectation. So, they were divided.

Vs 24-34 They ask the parents to explain what happened. They tell the Pharisees to ask their son since he is old enough to respond for himself. So they call him back a second time. They try to pressure him into saying Jesus is bad by starting their question with “Give glory to God.” In other words, “We are the pro’s here. We know this Jesus guy is wrong. It would please God for you to agree with us. You want to please God….right?”
The man’s answer is amazing. He basically says, “Look, I’m new. I don’t know all the doctrines. I don’t know much about this Jesus guy. But here is what Jesus did for me.” We could take such a lesson from this. I’ve heard so many people say they want to share Jesus with their friends and people around them only to fall back on the cop-out “But I don’t know that much about the Bible. What if they ask me something I don’t know?” You don’t have to have all the answers. You never will have all the answers. It’s good to want to learn them, but if you wait until you have them you will never talk about Jesus with anyone.
After they tell him to recount the event again he gets smart with them. This sets them off and they start throwing insults at the guy. They claim superiority by the fact that they follow Moses (which in fact they didn’t, they followed their own laws which they added to Moses). So far they’ve tried everything to intimidate this guy into saying Jesus is a sinner. They’ve tried appealing to their traditions, they’ve tried intimidating his family, they’ve tried fear of being against God, and now they insult him. When none of this works they call him names and throw him out. “I’m very professional. You’re fired.”

Vs 35-41 Jesus didn’t correct the man for worshiping Him. This is a passive claim to deity. Any Jewish dude who did think he was God would have screamed “BLASPHEMY!” and stopped the false worship immediately. The fact that Jesus allows the man to worship Him shows Jesus thought Himself to be of the same essence as God.

Loogies and Healin's

John 9 Loogies and healin’s
Read John 9:1-7
John is very purposeful in showing Jesus’ strategy. In John Jesus’ teachings, specifically the I Am statements, and miracles are intertwined. “I Am the living water” spoken to the woman at the well, followed by healing the handicapable man at pool of Bethesda. Jesus feeds 5,000 then says “I Am the bread of Heaven”. In chapter 8 Jesus said “I Am the Light…” and now He heals a blind man.
We’ll come back to the phrase “as he passed by” at the end.
-Jesus takes note of a blind man. His disciples automatically assume this calamity is punishment for some great wickedness, either his or his parents. This was a common believe of the time also reflected in the rabbinic saying from around 300AD, “there is no death without sin, and there is no suffering without iniquity” (b. Shabbat 55a). Instead of asking “can we help this” they treated this man’s misfortune as a theological puzzle. There is nothing wrong with theological discussions. But this was not the time for such a discussion; this was the time to do something to relieve this man’s suffering.

-Jesus says the man’s blindness is nobody’s fault. Some suffering is due to sin, some due to bad choices, but other is due simply to the fact that we live in a broken world. Some things just suck. This man’s blindness can’t be tracked to something he or his parents did wrong. It just is, and God allowed it to be so that on this day God could show His power and love. God allowed him to be blind for many years just for this one day. How difficult is it to keep trusting when the answer of solution doesn’t come immediately, or when the situation is something that has “just always been this way”?

-Jesus says He (some mss say we) must work while it is day for night is coming. This is a reference to the fact that Jesus had limited time on earth and therefore had no time to waste. He could not afford to overlook one opportunity to do the work of the Father because the night, death and 3 days in the tomb (see 12:35, 13:30), was getting closer.

-Jesus spits, makes mud and smears it on the guy’s face. Gross. Why such an odd means? Jesus could have, and did in other cases, simply say “boom, healed.” There are 2 possibilities, one is more probable than the other.
1. Both spit and clay were common to pagan healing myths of the time. Remember Asclepius from the study in John 5? Asclepius, the god of healing, had a temple in Jerusalem. This temple, or Asclepeion, was near built in the first century BC near the Pool of Bethesda. Worshipers and believers of Asclepius thought there was special healing power in saliva. The symbol of Asclepius is a rod with a snake. Being bitten by certain snakes was thought to have power. In some temples they would bring in dogs to lick wounds. Certain clay utensils were also very important. By using spit, to make muddy clay, Jesus is again setting Himself up as superior to Asclepius as the true Physician.
2. It’s likely that the focus on Jesus’ action here shouldn’t be on the spit, but on the mud. These people would have been intimately familiar with the creation account in Genesis. We know from that account that God formed man from the dirt. Irenaeus (130-200AD) said “the work of God is the fashioning of man...that which the artificer, the Word, had omitted to form in the womb, [namely the blind man’s eyes], He then supplied in public, that the works of God might be manifested in him” (Against Heresies 5.15.2). Jesus is still revealing His divine nature, but in a very creative way. Just as an artist or a craftsman fixes a damaged product with original materials, Jesus reveals His deity by using mud to fix the man.

-But the actual healing doesn’t take place until the man goes to wash in the Pool of Siloam. Obviously Jesus could have healed him on the spot. The washing wasn’t to finish or help Jesus’ power. It’s simply an issue of obedience. If you notice, most of the people whom Jesus heals on the spot seek Him out showing they already have a level faith. This man did not seek Jesus out, Jesus noticed him. The instruction to go and wash and be made whole is simply allowing the man to show faith and God and obedience to Jesus.

-John 8 ends with the Jews picking up stones to kill Jesus. In the Greek John 8:59 and 9:1 are joined by the word “and”. Look at Young’s Literal Translation: “58Jesus said to them, `Verily, verily, I say to you, Before Abraham's coming -- I am;' 59they took up, therefore, stones that they may cast at him, but Jesus hid himself, and went forth out of the temple, going through the midst of them, and so passed by. 1And passing by, he saw a man blind from birth,”
I saved this for the end even though it is the first part of the verse because I think it may be the most powerful thing about what’s happening here. Jesus is literally escaping from being stoned to death when He notices this man. Jesus is in the process of slipping out of a crowd trying to kill Him when He sees this man and stops everything to notice this person in need.

This is a crazy event. The majestic Son of God puts a lung butter mud pie on a guy’s face to heal him, while escaping from a crowd, and in doing so shows Himself to be not only the messiah, but YHWH in the flesh. The question now is, “How do we apply this to our lives?” Several ways.
1. Is your life too busy to help or minister to others? If you think it is, you are wrong. Never be so busy with your own life that you can’t see the needs in other’s lives.
2. Don’t get so fixated on discussing a problem that you don’t solve the problem. The disciples had no need to know why the man was blind, all that should have mattered to them was that he was blind. There are times to address causes and making better decisions. Then there are times to act.
3. Never presume to know how God will answer a prayer of move in a situation. Really, who saw the spit thing coming?
4. Don’t be surprised if God’s answer to your prayers or solution to your problems involves you doing something. Too many Christians think God only answers prayers in mystical ex nihilo ways. Many times God’s answer sounds more like, “Ok, here’s what you need to do…”

John 6, Feeding 5000

Here are some notes from last week's Resolved Bible study. When I started working on this study I didn't intend it to be a critique on "Prosperity Theology". In studying I found out this a favorite passage to use within the Prosperity movement. They love to use it to teach that if you have adequate faith God will mulitply your money just like Jesus multiplied the fish and loaves. However, when you look at it honestly Jesus seems to be teaching principles contradictory to this movement's theology. This is seen even more clearly when you put this miracle in the context of what Jesus said in did in the days after it happened. Enjoy.


John 6: Feeding 5k/Bread of life.
Interesting note, this is the only miracle recorded by all four gospels.

1 After this, Jesus crossed the Sea of Galilee (or Tiberias ). 2 And a huge crowd was following Him because they saw the signs that He was performing on the sick. 3 So Jesus went up a mountain and sat down there with His disciples.
(What motivated most to follow Him? The same thing that motivates many today. Too many Christians/preachers/teachers focus only on miraculous prosperity and never take the time to look at Jesus’ other teachings. “Christ’s miracles drew many after Him that were not effectually drawn to him.” Matthew Henry. It almost sounds like Jesus wants to get away from the people who are only there to see what they can get and be with the people who want to know Him.)

4 Now the Passover, a Jewish festival, was near. 5 Therefore, when Jesus looked up and noticed a huge crowd coming toward Him, He asked Philip, "Where will we buy bread so these people can eat?" 6 He asked this to test him, for He Himself knew what He was going to do.
(He asks Phillip because Phillip’s home town is near here. So Phillip would most likely have known many in the crowd and been more worried about their hunger than the other disciples. Phillip was also one of the earliest followers of Jesus and had seen all of His miracles. Jesus was not only giving Phillip a chance to show he had faith in the abilities of Jesus, He was giving Phillip a chance to let that faith help his own community. Sometimes God lets a tricky situation come in just to ask you “what are you going to do?” This question must have freaked Phillip out. “What are you doing asking me?!!! I’m following you here!” God is never caught off guard or at a loss for what to do.)

7 Philip answered, "Two hundred denarii worth of bread wouldn't be enough for each of them to have a little." 8 One of His disciples, Andrew, Simon Peter's brother, said to Him, 9 "There's a boy here who has five barley loaves and two fish—but what are they for so many?"
(How ridiculous this must have sounded. I wonder how dumb Andrew felt just saying this. But that was all they had, so they brought it to Jesus to see what He would have them do with it. Barely loaves were seen as less quality than the wheat loaves they were used to on the other side of the lake. Some insist that the only provisions God is involved in are Rolls Royce’s and $4K suits, etc. Yet here Jesus looks at the most ordinary, humble meal there was and says, “This will do.” He teaches us here not to demand the finest of everything but to be content with whatever God provides, even if it is more humble than we expected.)

10 Then Jesus said, "Have the people sit down." There was plenty of grass in that place, so they sat down. The men numbered about 5,000. 11 Then Jesus took the loaves, and after giving thanks He distributed them to those who were seated and; so also with the fish, as much as they wanted. 12 When they were full, He told His disciples, "Collect the leftovers so that nothing is wasted." 13 So they collected them and filled 12 baskets with the pieces from the five barley loaves that were left over by those who had eaten.
(Let nothing be wasted. How does that compare to some of the teachings popular in some circles today?)

14 When the people saw the sign He had done, they said, "This really is the Prophet who was to come into the world!" 15 Therefore, when Jesus knew that they were about to come and take Him by force to make Him king, He withdrew again to the mountain by Himself.
(When you follow God only because of miracles, or when the only thing that excites you about serving Jesus is what magic trick He will do for you, there is a problem.)

25 When they found Him on the other side of the sea, they said to Him, " Rabbi, when did You get here?" 26 Jesus answered, " I assure you: You are looking for Me, not because you saw the signs, but because you ate the loaves and were filled. 27 Don't work for the food that perishes but for the food that lasts for eternal life, which the Son of Man will give you, because God the Father has set His seal of approval on Him."
(They were following Jesus not because they were in awe of the power and love of God, but because Jesus did something that made them feel good. The signs Jesus performed didn’t cause them to understand the true identity of the Messiah, as was intended. The signs gave them a full belly and they wanted more of that. Their devotion to Him was based on “what can I get out of you?” It was self seeking devotion.)

28 "What can we do to perform the works of God?" they asked. 29 Jesus replied, "This is the work of God: that you believe in the One He has sent." 30 "What sign then are You going to do so we may see and believe You?" they asked. "What are You going to perform? 31 Our fathers ate the manna in the wilderness, just as it is written: He gave them bread from heaven to eat. "32 Jesus said to them, " I assure you: Moses didn't give you the bread from heaven, but My Father gives you the real bread from heaven. 33 For the bread of God is the One who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world." 34 Then they said, "Sir, give us this bread always!" 35 "I am the bread of life," Jesus told them.
(The Jews had become very works oriented. Pleasing God was all about doing the right things. So their question was their way of asking, “How are we to interact with God?” Jesus’ answer seems overly simple: Believe in the One God sent. Asking what sign He would perform to prove He was from God took an incredible about of guts, or stupidity, since this is the same group He miraculously fed the day before. And then, to show Him what a “real” sign would look like they recall how Moses prayed and God sent bread from heaven. It becomes clear quickly that they were following Jesus to see what the magic man would do next for them. What does Jesus mean by “I am the bread of life?”)

41At this the Jews began to grumble about him because he said, "I am the bread that came down from heaven." 49Your forefathers ate the manna in the desert, yet they died. 50But here is the bread that comes down from heaven, which a man may eat and not die. 51I am the living bread that came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever. This bread is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world."
(Jesus points out that God used Moses as a tool to do a miracle, but Jesus is the miracle. As with pretty much everything in OT, the manna in the desert was a foreshadowing of the real deal; Jesus.)

52Then the Jews began to argue sharply among themselves, "How can this man give us his flesh to eat?" 53Jesus said to them, "I tell you the truth, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you. 54Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day. 60On hearing it, many of his disciples said, "This is a hard teaching. Who can accept it?" 61Aware that his disciples were grumbling about this, Jesus said to them, "Does this offend you? 62What if you see the Son of Man ascend to where he was before! 66From this time many of his disciples turned back and no longer followed him.
(What happens to a faith based on prosperity and parlor tricks when life gets messy and real? What happens when our genie requires more of us than making wishes? Following Jesus is free, but not always easy. The character of the “miracle chasers” is revealed by their leaving when Jesus’ teachings become less fluffy.)

Christians and grieving

Below is a blog I wrote for my friend Erica. Enjoy.


I had just gotten back from Iraq. I met my son who was born while I was deployed. My wife and I were amazed at how great it felt to hold each other after months apart and were more in love than ever. Everything was perfect…mostly. All these things were truly great and I relished these moments. Life really was good. But there were some parts that didn’t seem right. There were times when I felt depressed. Sometimes I would close my eyes and all I could think of were my brothers who didn’t make it home. I felt guilty.

Then there were new issues I didn’t expect. I constantly felt nervous. I couldn’t sleep. I couldn’t drive down to Wal-Mart without thinking something was going to explode beside the road. One night I woke up unaware of where I was with my wife in an arm-lock because I thought she was trying to kill me. Needless to say, after that I slept even less. I was grieving and I felt so ashamed about it.

Why in the world am I sharing these very intimate details of my life? What does this have to do with a blog about grieving and spirituality? Everything. You see, as a Pastor (yes, I’m a Pastor who joined the Marine Corps infantry, that’s a whole other blog topic) I felt like something was very wrong with me. After all, Christians are happy. Christians have the joy of the Lord. Being a Christian, and especially a Pastor, means you have everything together. I started thinking things like, “I’m not spiritual enough. If I were close enough to God I could just pray about this and be better. I must not have enough faith.” I was so embarrassed that I was dealing with these things that I didn’t tell anyone. Obviously my wife saw it, but that was it. I didn’t want to get counseling or talk to another Pastor. I didn’t want to talk to anyone about it because then they would know I was grieving on the inside and that would be a bad witness. I couldn’t have that.

Over time, though, I started to realize that this idea that Christians have everything together and are happy all time is a big steamy pile. The crucial question I was wrestling with was this, “Is it ok for a Christian to go through a grieving process, or should they just pray and instantly be better?” I wanted God’s help. I wanted to be better. So I started studying what the Bible had to say about grief and suffering. I couldn’t find any passages where God was angry with the brokenhearted or the downcast. I couldn’t find any scriptures that shamed the grieving. What I did find was amazing, and beautiful, and encouraging. What I found is that the Bible is full of real people, who lived messy screwed up lives and grieved and struggled and cried. That’s not the beautiful part. The beautiful part is how concerned God is with our suffering. Instead of being offended or annoyed by it, as I had assumed, the Bible reveals an amazingly merciful God who grieves when we grieve. So, with all of that said, I would like to share some of what the Bible teaches about God’s people and grieving.

Suffering is part of being human. It’s part of living in this world that’s broken and tainted by sin. It’s unavoidable. Because it’s so common to the human condition the Bible talks about grieving quite a bit. There are some well known verses I found that were comforting. Verses like Psalm 34:18 which says God is close to the brokenhearted. And Ecclesiastes 3:1 and 3:4 says there is a proper time for everything. A time to weep and a time to laugh. However, where I found the most healing and comfort was in Jesus. I don’t mean that in a generic bumper sticker “Jesus is my co-pilot” way. I mean when I read the gospels and looked at the actual life of Jesus, His words, His actions, how He interacted with people, how He showed compassion to the hurting and how even He was moved to tears at times, it gave me hope. A light bulb came on and I realized that grieving is not sin. Being sad does not mean I’m not spiritual. Suffering does not mean I have no faith. My savior, the God-man, the perfect and spotless Lamb of God had bad days. As Isaiah said, He was familiar with suffering and had many sorrows.

There are two accounts from the life of Jesus that have shed a great deal of light on this subject for me. The first one is found in John chapter 11. This is the account of Lazarus. If you’re not familiar with the story let me give you the quick version. Lazarus was a good friend of Jesus. He got sick and died. The interesting thing is that when He found out Lazarus was sick Jesus was in a town nearby and could have made it to Lazarus in time to heal him. Instead Jesus stayed in that town a few more days before going to Lazarus’ hometown. By the time He got there it was too late. As Jesus got close to His friend’s house He was met on the road by Martha, one of Lazarus’ sisters. They had a really neat conversation then she went to get her sister Mary. Jesus stood there on the road just outside the town and watched the devastation death brings to those left behind. The next few verses are truly powerful and comforting. It says that as Jesus saw these sisters mourning “He was deeply moved in spirit and troubled.” Then it says “Jesus wept.”
Did you catch that? JESUS WEPT! He didn’t get misty eyed and a little downcast. He wept. Jesus sobbed. I learned a few things from this story. By doing this Jesus gives us permission to grieve for others. Jesus was so moved by seeing Lazarus’ sisters’ brokenness that He couldn’t go on without weeping. Saying “It’s ok to sympathize and grieve for others” may seem really obvious to you, but let me assure you not all Christians are aware of this. A few years ago my grandmother died and my mom had a really hard time with it. They loved spending time together, talked on the phone every day, they were very close. A few weeks after the funeral my mom was at church one day, and was still clearly broken and sad. A lady, whom my mom considered a friend, came up to her and rebuked her for still grieving the loss of her mother. She told my mom she just needed to pray and have the joy of the Lord and get over it. All that accomplished was adding guilt and judgment to suffering. Too many Christians are under this same false impression that grieving is a sign of spiritual deficiency.

Jesus didn’t tell Lazarus’ sisters to just pray and get over it. He sat in the middle of a dusty road and cried with them. Amazing. Paul reiterates this idea in Romans 12:15 saying it is good to “rejoice with those who rejoice, and weep with those who weep.” My father-in-law is amazing at this. He has been through a great deal of suffering and grieving in his life. He can meet someone for the first time, find out they are going through something horrible, and just sit and cry with them. When I see him sympathize with others who are suffering I think of Jesus and it is a beautiful thing.

I think the most eye-opening part of this scripture is that Jesus knew the whole time He was going bring Lazarus back to life. Jesus didn’t weep because He had lost hope. His weeping didn’t signal a loss of faith in His Father’s plan. Jesus knew everything was going to end up alright, and He wept anyway. Jesus knew God was going to use this situation for His glory and that the day would end with laughing and dancing and rejoicing, and He wept anyway. Grieving does not automatically mean someone has lost hope. It is not a white flag signaling you’ve given up. It is possible to have great faith and trust in God and still grieve. Having real and genuine faith doesn’t mean you don’t suffer or feel the pain of living in a broken world. Real and genuine faith looks to God through puffy red crying eyes and says, “In the midst of my weeping, in the midst of my suffering, when I can’t even speak through the sobbing, You are still God and You will get me through this.”
The second passage that has taught me a lot is in Luke chapter 22. This is where Jesus prays in a garden moments before Judas brings a mob to arrest and eventually kill Him. Here we get a glimpse of Jesus being vulnerable, being scared, being human. Jesus knows what the next few days hold. He knows the agony of the cross is coming soon and Jesus grieves, this time for Himself. In fact the scriptures say He was so anguished that His sweat was like drops of blood. That’s not a poetic thing. There’s an actual medical condition where someone can be so stressed that the capillaries in the forehead burst and blood comes out in tiny droplets like sweat. Some people think going to the cross was easy for Jesus because He’s the Son of God. They haven’t read the Bible. I like that Matthew’s gospel includes Jesus saying, “My soul is overwhelmed with sorrow to the point of death.” If you can’t make the connection I’ll help you out. That’s ancient verbiage for “I’m scared to death!” In short Jesus grieves for Himself. Jesus is real about His own suffering. He doesn’t sluff if off with cheesy patronizing sayings like, “Well, God’s got a plan” or “I guess I just gotta have faith.” Jesus is too real and not nearly annoying enough for that. Yes, faith is of the utmost importance and God does in fact have a plan in all things. But it’s ok to look at your situation and be real about it. This sucks. This isn’t fun. I hate this right now. I’m scared. I’m sad. I’m…whatever, you fill in the blank.


Let me pull all of this together really quickly. Many are under the impression that grieving is somehow unspiritual and reveals a lack of faith. However, you cannot read the Bible and conclude that is truly God’s view. Grieving is part of what it is to be human in this fallen world. Having faith doesn’t mean we no longer grieve. It means, as Paul told the Thessalonians, we don’t grieve like those who have no hope. In other words we can grieve and hurt and be honest about it and still have great faith in God.
Thank you for letting me share some thoughts with you. I focused this blog on answering the question “Is it ok for Christians to grieve?” My prayer is that this is helpful to someone. If you are suffering and for some reason feel guilty about it, don’t. Once I started coming to grips with the fact that my grieving wasn’t a sign of spiritual weakness I was able to talk about it with trusted friends and family, and then the healing really started.
Nick

Upcoming Blog

I'm working on an article for a good friend of mine who is a
phenomenal psychologist and counselor. She has asked me to contribute
to her blog dealing with issues of grieving and spirituality.

I'm going to check with her and if she is cool with it I will post
that article here as well. Keep an eye out for it. This is a very
interesting subject and I think a lot a Christians are confused about
what the Bible really teaches about grieving.

I should be done with it in the next 3 or 4 days.

Nick

Don't cry on Valentines Day

Valentines day is tomorrow. Some of you are getting over-sized cards and heart shaped boxes of cheap chocolate tomorrow. Some of you may be lonely tomorrow. I would love to say I'll hang out with you sorry saps tomorrow, but I'll be haning out with my gorgeous wife, you know, so.....
Anyway, I thought I would share this video to help you lonley hearted folks. And remember, don't cry. "Crying is letting your soul leak. And every time a soul leaks a kitten breaks a leg." That's a paraphrase of a Ben Franklin quote. I think the exact wording was, "A penny saved is a penny earned." Close enough.

I should pray about this.

I got to have lunch with my friend Jake today. While we ate we talked about Jesus, how He would interact with college students, and which parts of our relationship with Him we wish we were better at. Number one on my list was prayer. Prayer, for me, is this weird enigma. It's so simple. You just talk to God about...stuff. About your day, about your frustrations, about things that make you happy, about things that made you angry, about your goals and dreams, about stuff you screw up, about anything. Every time I set time aside to talk to God I absolutely love it. I love the intimacy. I love that feeling of relationship and knowing that I have the undivided attention of the God of the entire universe.

Here's where the mystery comes in. If it's so easy to do, and I love doing it so much, why is it so freaken hard to get myself to pray? It's not that I don't pray; just not enough. It seems like prayer is the only thing like this for me. I don't ever have to convince myself to play frisbee. I love it and it's pretty simple, so whenever I have a chance to throw a frisbee around I do it. And I can look at lots of other stuff I love to do and say the same thing. If it's simple and I love to do it then its really easy for me to decide to do it, except for praying. Its simple, and I love, yet its always so easy to justify not doing it. I'm too busy, or I'll do it later, or I'm not in the mood (good grief, did I really just say that?).

I think this is the part where a really spiritual person would say, "I had an epiphany and now I pray 10 hours a day." But I haven't. This whole thing is still an enigma to me.

I do know that praying is not optional for me. I will not let my faith be reduced to religious ceremonies or empty intellectual agreement to certain doctrines. My faith, biblical Christianity, is about being able to have a relationship with God because of what Jesus has done for us. Without genuine relationship, nothing else is worth it. Obviously, you can't have a relationship with a person if you don't talk to that person. I know, I should write books, this is some deep stuff. I have to pray. Not because anyone makes me or I think God will hate me if I don't pray as much as I should. But because that's what it will take to have the intimate relationship with God that I want.

Like I said, there is no epiphany. There is no magic thing to try. It's just a matter of doing it more. So that's what I need to do. I have a feeling I'm not alone on this one.

The subject of prayer has been on my mind lately for 2 reasons. First because in the last few weeks some part of me has been wanting to pray a lot more. Its like for some reason God has been inviting me to communicate with Him more lately, which is awesome but it has also made me more aware the great enigma. The other reason is because of an event taking place next week at IU. Several campus ministries are getting together for this thing called Prayerpalooza. The idea is to challenge people to devote more time than they normally would to prayer during Lent. I'm excited about the event as well as the challenge to pray more. If you are in the area and want to check out Prayerpalooza just go to our Facebook page, the info is all there.

I know this post didn't offer much as far as answers or solutions. But I hope that as I let you in on some of the tough questions I'm wrestling with, you'll ask yourself the same tough questions.

Snipple snaps.

Good sermon.

I stumbled across this sermon a while back and thought I'd share it with you's guys. This guy's name is Mark Driscoll. He has been dubbed a major leader in the "Emerging Church". The word "emerging" has become quite a buzz word among Christians lately. The problem is nobody is really sure what exactly it means to be an Emerging Christian. So in this sermon Mark defines some characteristics of churches that consider themselves to be part of this group. He also distinguishes between some sub-groups that are forming in this movement. However, most importantly and the reason I like this sermon so much, Mark clarifies that titles/denomiations/etc aren't really worth a big bag of hot poo. Whatever kind of Christian you call yourself, what matters is loving Jesus and learning to be more like Him from the Bible. Take a look.

John 2, The First Miracle

Jesus’ First Miracle; John 2:1-12
The first miracle Jesus performs turns out to be quite peculiar.

-It happened in Cana.
-Where is Cana? No one knows. Small town, not known for anything, only mentioned in John.
-He could have picked Jerusalem, or Jericho, or even Rome. He chose….Cana?
-Jesus continually reveals an upside down kingdom that seems to be more focused on ordinary people living in ordinary places.
-Lately I’ve been realizing that we have a very elitist view of what’s sacred. In order something to be really sacred it has to be epic, dynamic, monumental, steeped in history and tradition.
-Jesus seems to think the sacred is part of everyday life, everyday conversations, poor people’s weddings in the middle of nowhere.

-How the miracle came about is peculiar.
-Mary notices the wine ran out and mentions this to Jesus.
-Jesus rebukes her, says his hour has not yet come, then does this miracle anyway. Possibilities?
-Catholic view, Mary forced the hand of Jesus.
-Jesus already planned on doing this, but wanted to be clear that He obeyed the Father, not any human. Jesus grew up here, its most likely Mary’s family. Jesus and disciples were last minute invites. Social implications of running out of wine are huge. Usually, friends/family would bring their own portion of wine. Jesus did not.
-By “my hour” Jesus meant the crucifixion. His rebuke is to make sure His true purpose, the cross, wasn’t confused with being a magician.
-How Jesus goes about the miracle is interesting. Not flashy, only the servants and 5 disciples saw it. No screaming, no special words, no shaking or falling down. Why do we make praying for miracles so dramatic?

-The nature of this first miracle is also peculiar.
-The vast majority of miracles are healings. Others deal with life altering emergencies and huge problems; raising the dead, feeding thousands, calming storms, casting out demons.
-But the very first miracle He ever does is not at all epic. It really has no lasting meaning on anyone’s life. It seems so…..ordinary.

-What’s the purpose and meaning of this miracle?
-The most simple answer is that Jesus did this to help some people out. Jesus saw a need and met it. Jesus wants to make every aspect of your life better, even social activities.
- Meaning of the miracle? The purification jars are symbolic of burdensome religious ceremony. Wine is symbolic of blood. This first miracle is Jesus’ way of saying the old covenant of law is being replaced by something better, the covenant of my blood.
- John is the gospel of layered meaning. There is a deeper meaning to the miracle revealed in the host’s words “saved the best for last.” God had spoken through the law and prophets, but saved the best for last. These words, reveal the onset of God’s best revelation to man.
-It also says clearly one of the reasons behind this miracle; He showed His glory to the disciples and they believed.

Gospel of John Study

Over the next few days I'll be going back over my notes from the studies we've done in the last few weeks from the Gospel of John. I'll be trying to make them understandable to people who read English and not my abbreviated shorthand chicken scratch. Be looking for me to post previous studies from this series. If you missed any of the studies you can catch up here, and I'll be posting our studies every week from now on. Enjoy.

John 5:1-15

John 5:1-15
-History of Bethesda (Heb: House of mercy): In the 8th century bc a small valley was damned to collect rain water. Around 200 bc the pool was enclosed and a second pool was added. Porches were added. The Jews had a legend that God sent an angel to this pool every so often to stir the water. Whoever was the first to get in the pool after this would be healed of any infirmity.
-In the 1st century bc 2 caves with springs near the pool were turned into baths and dedicated as an Asclepieion. Asclepius was the Greek god of healing. He was worshiped Soter Asclepius (Savior Asclepius).

-So this area has a deep history of healing legends, both religious and superstitious. It is into this area that Jesus walks on a Sabbath and takes note of a paralyzed man. Since this miracle is a healing we tend to think healing is the main issue, the main focal point of what Jesus is doing. While healing this man was certainly a concern of Jesus’, there’s more.

-Jesus is a brilliant teacher. Nearly everything He does and says goes much deeper than the obvious. When He speaks He is saying that thing, but He is also hinting at deeper spiritual things. Whatever He does He is doing that but He is also pointing symbolically to something bigger. So is the case here.

-He heals this man because He cares for this man, but the symbolism of what He’s doing is very deep (remember, John is the gospel of layered meaning and symbolism). We’ve already mentioned the Asclepieion, and the Angel legend. John also tells us He did this on the Sabbath, there were 5 porches, and that it was near the Sheep gate. Context tells us this happened right after His conversation with the Samaritan woman where He said, “I am the living water”.

-He is declaring His superiority to the false gods of human invention. He’s declaring His superiority over superstitions and traditions. He is declaring His superiority over the Law (5 porches are symbolic of the Torah). Near the entrance of the Sheep is pointing to fact that the Lamb of God alone gives access to God. He does this, again, on the Sabbath, forcing the point that the Pharisees have missed the purpose of Sabbath and that He is Lord over it.

- It’s interesting that Jesus chooses only to heal this one man of the many who were there. I think this is because Jesus recognized this man was ready to believe in something else. He had been paralyzed for 38 years, he had undoubtedly tried many other means of healing with no result. He had lost hope in other gods, lost hope in superstitions, lost hope that religious leaders would offer any help. I used to read Jesus’ question “Do you want to get well?” straight forward, as if Jesus honestly didn’t know the answer. After studying this more I can imagine it more with the feeling of “OK, are you done with these other things now? Are you ready to get better now?”

-I think Jesus is asking that same question to us today. “Are you ready to get better?” We think that’s a dumb question, but in this context it makes sense. We all have defects in our lives. Some may be sins, some may just be junk. We deal with feeling lost, like we have no direction, no clear purpose. We deal with loneliness and validation issues. We deal with relationship problems. We deal with guilt and shame. We deal with sin and addiction; things that we know are not pleasing to God. Often we look for solutions to these things in the wrong places. Other relationships, religious works, etc. And the question stands: “Are you ready to get better? Are you ready to stop looking for help and fulfillment from these other things?”

-We don’t need to spend a lot of time on the Jews' response because we talk a lot in this group about striving to not become overly religious. We have talked at length about not putting God in our box and dictating how He should work among people.

-What do you think of the fact that this man clearly did not know who Jesus was, and therefore had no faith in Jesus? What does that do to our theology that God only does miracles and meets needs for the hyper faithful? While God certainly hears the prayers of His people and calls us to have faith, He loves those who have no clue who He is. Why is it when something good happens to a Christian we say, “Praise God, the Lord did that.”? But when something good happen to a nonbeliever we say, “Well that was lucky.”? God will show grace to whomever He decides to show grace.

Dern, my wife is hot.

The amazing Jim Gaffigan!

Hey look...the first post.............kinda anticlimactic.