Judges 12:1-7; Acts 5:12-26; John 3:1-21

Today in John’s passage, we encounter an all too familiar verse.  Well, some is familiar, and other parts tends to be forgotten.  John 3:16 most notably.  If you remember, Nicodemus visits Jesus.  Nicodemus is a  Pharisee, a leader among the Jews, highly educated and respected.  Jesus confounds the situation by declaring that, “No one can see the kingdom of God without being born from above.”

“How can this be?” retorts Nicodemus.  And it is a good question.  Jesus then explains being born of the flesh and being born of the spirit as two different concepts, declaring one must be born from above, born again.  It is hard for our 21^st Century ears to realize how radical a concept that was.  Remember that for Jews of the time, their whole identity surrounded their identity as Jews, which was a physical sign of the flesh.  To dismiss that and say one must be born of the water and the spirit is already troublemaking!  This is why Nicodemus is asking a good question.

Later Jesus declares, “For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but have eternal life.”  Not the Jews?  The whole world?  Again Jesus is moving the bar.  Here Jesus continues his radical inclusiveness.

You heard me right.  This is about radical inclusiveness!  Some in Christendom want to use this passage to beat, scourge, and attack non-Christians, guilt them into believing, and threaten them with eternal damnation.  It has been so often misused.  And it is sad that a few crack pots at sporting events have ruined this passage for so many.

And that is unfortunate, because it is a beautiful reassurance of hope and God’s presence.  They seem to miss the point completely.  It is about radical inclusiveness!  It is about a great love affair that God has with the world.  No longer is the focus on the law and punishment, but on self-sacrifice, grace, and overwhelming salvation.   For ALL the world!

It is ironic that this passage is misused for hateful purposes, because it talks about “God did not send the Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him.”  THE WORLD!  This is an all inclusive kind of love!

The passage goes on to say that those who don’t believe are “condemned” but it does not say they are not part of the salvation of the world.

Later in this gospel, Jesus defines what eternal life is: “And this is eternal life, that they may know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent.” (John 17:2)   Now that makes it really interesting!  Eternal life, in and of itself, is knowing.  Eternal life is not living forever.

This means being born from above is being born into Christ, grafted into the very heart of Christ.

This passage is so rich.  He was talking to a Pharisee, and we got a “Pharisee answer,” a complex and rich answer, almost as rich as the abundance of grace that Jesus alludes to here – a grace that means a self-emptying and self-sacrifice at the cross, the very heart of God, skewered to a piece of wood.

That is a lot of love.  And I am thankful.

-Matt

Judges 8:22-35; Acts 4:1-12; John 1:43-51

The call of Nathanael in John is one of the lesser known calls of the disciples, and yet it speaks volumes to our times.  It is a call to a new future – beyond self.

Jesus calls Philip, who accepts the call to follow.  Philip then found Nathanael and said to him, “We have found him about whom Moses in the law and also the prophets wrote, Jesus son of Joseph from Nazareth.”  Nathanael says to him, “Can anything good come out of Nazareth?”  Later Jesus and Nathanael cross paths and Jesus acts as if he knows Nathanael.  In bewilderment, Nathanael asks, “Where did you get to know me?”  Jesus answers, “I saw you under the fig tree before Philip called you.”

In that, Nathanael believes and follows Christ.  This troubles Jesus.  “Do you believe because I told you that I saw you under the fig tree?  You will see greater things than these.”

How have we fallen victim to the “wow-factor” of religion?  Do we find Christ appealing because of his past accomplishments or his present reality?  Are we looking to the future or to the past?  This was the disciples’ problem at the Transfiguration, and it continues to be the struggle of the Church.  It is natural to hold on to the past.

There is no doubt that Jesus’ miracles changed lives.  But Jesus did not focus on the past.  He did not run around and say, “Well, like I said at the Wedding at Cana…..”  He said, “Come and see.”  The true miracle was yet to be revealed.

Indeed, today we continue to struggle.  There is a place for looking back – to the miracles or even to the cross – but there is also much to look forward to.  How is Christ at work right here?  Right now?  Are we ready for Christ to come again?  Are we looking forward to that great heavenly banquet at which all are invited?  Or are we stuck on our own pasts, and unable to hope and dream?

This is the struggle of the Christian life.  It is one of “already and not yet.”  We live in the tension of the beyond, seeking a life in Christ that will break us open and change us forever.  And yet we secretly don’t want Christ to change us too much or to open us too much.  Secretly we like our lives the way they are.

But Jesus calls us to a new future – a new reality – beyond ourselves – beyond perhaps anything we can imagine.

-Matt

Judges 7:19-8:12; Acts 3:12-26; John 1:29-42

One of my favorite characters in the New Testament is Peter.  Relatable and real.  Today’s reading in Acts highlights one of the most powerful witness accounts in the whole Bible.  Peter, who just a few chapters before (Luke-Acts) was a pretty pitiful disciple, is now speaking like a champ.  He states that it is not Peter and John who did these great works, but the God of Abraham and Isaac who has glorified his servant Jesus.

Peter points the finger of blame, declaring that this Jesus was handed over to Pilate, “But you rejected the Holy and Righteous One and asked to have a murderer given to you, and you killed the Author of life, whom God raised from the dead.”  He knows they acted in ignorance, but now demands that they repent and turn to God so that their sins may be wiped away.

This must have been quite a confession!  Some of the folks Peter is speaking to were perhaps the actual Sanhedrin who were in the room when they judged Jesus.  Talk about a guilt complex!  Pretty gutsy for one who just a few chapters earlier had the fingers of blame pointed at him.  And Jesus responded by forgiving him.  The same is true here in Acts.

I get tired of folks who boil down a “repentance of sins” to simply a list of things you have done wrong in your life.  The implication is that if you get a complete list, your slate is clean and you are “right with God” again.

Peter demands so much more.  An accounting of the offense is only a beginning.  He, like Jesus, wants a complete turnaround.  There is also an element of this as Peter speaks to this crowd.  To repent is to acknowledge a failure of the human condition.  This is why we do a corporate confession of forgiveness every week in a Presbyterian Church, not just at our baptism, and it is a time for the community to say, “We helped crucify Jesus, and we are still doing it!  Help us be better, God!”

I find it interesting that Peter demands this repentance in the context of healing a crippled beggar, who would have been understood by the theology of the time that this cripple had committed great sin, which led to his condition.  He didn’t ask to be healed.  He asked for alms.  Peter and John asked that he look at them, and he was healed.

I think about the healings at the center of Jesus life, which often had the same radical love – love spilled out without solicitation.  His inclusion and welcome of those who were broken and cast out was unmatched.  It is this radical hospitality that is one of the great themes of the gospels, now highlighted in Acts as something we are to do and carry on.

And when we come to the table, we come welcomed by our savior as well.  We are invited to turn from our fallen ways, refreshed and renewed by the very body and blood of Christ.

Be like Peter and speak those powerful words of love and acceptance to anyone you meet.

-Matt

Judges 7:1-18; Acts 3:1-11; John 1:19-28

Have you ever had your work questioned?  Ever faced accusations?  Have you struggled to stay true to yourself?  John the Baptist faced such a test.

Continuing with the esoteric and strange gospel of John, we are only 19 verses into his book and already it is as if John the Baptist is on trial.  We are knee deep in drama!  The Jews sent priests and Levites from Jerusalem.  They asked him, “‘Who are you?’  He confessed and did not deny it, but confessed, ‘I am not the Messiah.’  And they asked him, ‘What then?  Are you Elijah?’ He said, ‘I am not.’ ‘Are you the prophet?’ He answered, ‘No.’  Then they said to him, ‘Who are you?’”

When your work was questioned, or when you struggled to stay true to yourself in the face of accusations or temptations, know that you are not alone.  Jesus faced the ultimate test.  So did John the Baptist, struggling as the “voice of one crying out in the wilderness” for justice, freedom, or peace.

Sometimes we are called beyond ourselves – to stand for something greater.  Sometimes we called to rise up and take a stand against an unhealthy system, whether that be a large corporation, the government, or a dysfunctional marriage.

And it is not easy.  It is never easy to endure the accusations – to work for justice, freedom, or peace.  Sometimes it is hard to see the big picture and realize that the problems in the short term will help out the problems in the long term.

John the Baptist knew this well.  He seemed to inherently know the big picture, and he took a stand, enduring the short-term chaos – the short-term trial – because he knew the rest of the story.  For him that “rest of the story” was that Jesus was the one who could take on the powers and complete the work of justice, freedom, and peace.

In John’s humility he became a catalyst for change.  Perhaps that is you.  And if that is so, may God grant us the grace to stand firm in the face of torment – to stand firm when people slander you or speak ill of you – to change the system.  Remember – you may be the one who is called in this time and place to shine the radiant love of Christ – breaking the systems of the past, and helping God’s light to shine in.

-Matt

Judges 6:25-40; Acts 2:37-47; John 1:1-18

We make a shift in our readings.  Matthew has ended.  We begin John, and encounter a passage that many of us have not heard since our Christmas Eve Lessons and Carols Service.  “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.”

John is mysterious.  And today’s words introduce a central theme of this Gospel: that the divine Savior has come into the world, has been rejected by many, but has given life to those who know him.

It is so different from the other gospels, one which jumps in to Jesus’ life and ministry, and the other two that dwell on “He was born.  He grew up.”  This one is esoteric and philosophical.  It is strange and difficult.

That difficulty is compounded when one realized “Word” is actually only the first level of understanding of the Greek word it comes from.  Logos means “divine reason and order.”  Reason was with God.  The Reason was God.

One of the reason’s I love the Presbyterian Church is that we do not ask worshippers to check their brains at the door.  The mind is just as important as the heart.  We invite people into a life of reason and understanding, and to do that is to invite them into a life of Christ.  We believe that all that makes sense with God we see in Christ.  It is the coming together of the old and new orders.  God is seen in a different way – not a God who destroys armies, but one who sows seeds of love in community.

It is ironic that John talks very plainly about the reasoning and understanding of God, but that we encounter such strange and difficult words.  It turns out God’s rationality is complex and elusive!  There is depth and beauty to it – that which a lifetime of study cannot solve.

“And the Word became flesh and lived among us,…full of grace and truth.”  This is what I remember of Lessons and Carols Services – this reading.  For me it not only summarizes the whole nativity, it also summarizes the whole point.  Not that Reason was God or that Reason was Light, but that God became flesh, and dwelt among us.

This bizarre twist to the story is the whole reason we are here.

I used to think people were weird for only showing up at Christmas and Easter.  But now I think Christmas, especially, is popular is because people know, perhaps just on a sub-conscious level, that the event of the Word becoming flesh and dwelling among us is something so mysterious and deep that they must come to figure it out – or better yet, they come to experience it once again…for the first time.

May the depth of God overwhelm you today with goodness and awe.

-Matt