Reading John 5:16-17
"So, because Jesus was doing these things on the Sabbath, the Jews persecuted him. Jesus said to them, 'My Father is always at his work to this very day, and I, too, am working.'
God is always working. Jesus' miracles are a peeling back of the curtain to reveal the work and character of God. The miracles, in and of themselves, are acts of compassion. In this Jesus reveals the compassionate nature of God and his interest in each and every individual in the context of the way in which they experience 'the curse.' The miracles do not reflect a change of heart for God or a change of approach to human suffering. They occur in a very short spurt of revelation through the person of Jesus. These miracles make the statement that God has always cared about his people, even 'to this very day,' even though he does not jump into our suffering the way Jesus does during these few short years of his life. Jesus demonstrates the ongoing compassion of God and the ultimate direction that his compassion will take when the curse has finally been put to rest in the second coming of Jesus. They are meant to point to God, to his attitude towards us, and to his intentions for the future. They are signs of hope and reassurance that in the coming of Jesus the turning point of history has arrived and the end of suffering is at hand.
On the other hand the lack of compassion of even the most religious amongst us is brought to light. The religious leaders object that Jesus is healing on the sabbath and breaking the rules. But Jesus shows that God is always working out his compassion towards us and no rules stand in the way of his love and mercy. Jesus' work is a demonstration and continuation of this compassion and he wishes to draw us into that same work.
Is it nightime? ... God is still working.
Have I given up? ... God is still working.
Have I run out of resources? ... God is still working.
Am I without the power to help myself? ... God is still working.
Have others ceased to look upon me with compassion? ... God is still working.
Have I lost my vision? ... God is still working.
"I have indeed seen the misery of my people in Egypt. I have heard them crying out because of their slave drivers, and I am concerned about their suffering. So I have come down to rescue them...". (Exodus 3:7-8a)
Saturday, February 18, 2006
Thursday, February 09, 2006
"Unless you ... see miraculous signs ... you will never believe..."
Reading John 4:43-54
The Healing of the Royal Official's son.
A man, whoose son is near death, comes to Jesus and begs him to heal his son before it is too late. The man is desperate and sees no issue other than the critical condition of his son. This is about one thing and one thing only and as we read the story we are drawn into his worldview and accept the simplicity of the situation. The worldview of the desperate is this: there is a terrible need and there is a man who is reputed to be able to perform miracles. If this man can heal then he should heal and if he doesn't then we have to question either his power or his love. This is the argument from evil in a microcosom.
Jesus reaction to this man creates a kind of dissonance that is intended to shake the readers worldview with respect to this story. In the first place Jesus shows the same reluctance with respect to performing a miracle as he did at the previous Cana wonder, the wedding feast. And in the second place Jesus confronts this man with something of a rebuke that refuses to simply set everything aside in the face of his son's near death condition. We are looking for a simpler, more straightforward story. A sick boy, a powerful healer, a loving God, a miraculous and unconditional outcome. That is not what we get. We do get a positive outcome but we also encounter the reluctance and a not too sublte rebuke.
Jesus reveals in this story that the deepest issue here is not our relationship to our problems, fears, and needs but our relationship to faith in God. Jesus confronts this frightened man with a deeper reality about his condition. He can see that, while this man has a measure of faith in what he has heard about Jesus, his faith is so fragile that it will not withstand a negative answer to his request. He must have the miracle or he will have no faith. This is a constant theme throughout the fourth gospel. The faith that Jesus demands is a faith in the word and character of God, a faith that will wait, and hope, and endure because it is rooted in a living relationship with the Creator.
Jesus grants the mans request but still puts into the experience a test of faith that the man is able to pass. He refuses to go with the man to the child's bedside. He says to the man: "You may go. Your son will live." The man must leave Jesus and return to his son trusting that Jesus can be taken at his word. In this case Jesus has accomodated himself to the weakness of the seeker's faith.
When we are desperate we think that Jesus should leave all other issues aside and simply show his compassion by responding to our demands. Jesus knows that, sometimes, it is only in these situations that we are willing to listen to a truly radical message from God. There will not always be a healing but there should always be faith. God is God, whether his answer is yes or no.
The Healing of the Royal Official's son.
A man, whoose son is near death, comes to Jesus and begs him to heal his son before it is too late. The man is desperate and sees no issue other than the critical condition of his son. This is about one thing and one thing only and as we read the story we are drawn into his worldview and accept the simplicity of the situation. The worldview of the desperate is this: there is a terrible need and there is a man who is reputed to be able to perform miracles. If this man can heal then he should heal and if he doesn't then we have to question either his power or his love. This is the argument from evil in a microcosom.
Jesus reaction to this man creates a kind of dissonance that is intended to shake the readers worldview with respect to this story. In the first place Jesus shows the same reluctance with respect to performing a miracle as he did at the previous Cana wonder, the wedding feast. And in the second place Jesus confronts this man with something of a rebuke that refuses to simply set everything aside in the face of his son's near death condition. We are looking for a simpler, more straightforward story. A sick boy, a powerful healer, a loving God, a miraculous and unconditional outcome. That is not what we get. We do get a positive outcome but we also encounter the reluctance and a not too sublte rebuke.
Jesus reveals in this story that the deepest issue here is not our relationship to our problems, fears, and needs but our relationship to faith in God. Jesus confronts this frightened man with a deeper reality about his condition. He can see that, while this man has a measure of faith in what he has heard about Jesus, his faith is so fragile that it will not withstand a negative answer to his request. He must have the miracle or he will have no faith. This is a constant theme throughout the fourth gospel. The faith that Jesus demands is a faith in the word and character of God, a faith that will wait, and hope, and endure because it is rooted in a living relationship with the Creator.
Jesus grants the mans request but still puts into the experience a test of faith that the man is able to pass. He refuses to go with the man to the child's bedside. He says to the man: "You may go. Your son will live." The man must leave Jesus and return to his son trusting that Jesus can be taken at his word. In this case Jesus has accomodated himself to the weakness of the seeker's faith.
When we are desperate we think that Jesus should leave all other issues aside and simply show his compassion by responding to our demands. Jesus knows that, sometimes, it is only in these situations that we are willing to listen to a truly radical message from God. There will not always be a healing but there should always be faith. God is God, whether his answer is yes or no.
Sunday, February 05, 2006
"because of the woman's testimony..."
Reading John 4:39-42
"Many of the Samaritans from that town believed in him because of the woman's testimony, 'He told me everything I ever did.' So when the Samaritans came to him, they urged him to stay with them, and he stayed two days. And because of his words many more became believers. They said to the woman, 'We no longer believe just because of what you said; now we have heard for ourselves, and we know that this man really is the Savior of the world.'"
This woman's faith was not based on the presentation of some rational argument for the existence of God or some kind of scientific evidence to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that Jesus is God. Does this make her faith irrational, or blind faith, as some have labelled it? Not in the least. She believed for reasons that were compelling to her. The conversation that she had with Jesus was sufficient to convince her that he was the Messiah. The heart of her conviction comes from this simple testimony: "He told me everything I ever did." It was Jesus' intimate knowledge of her and his understanding of all that her poor choices in life had brought her to that convinced her that he was indeed "the Christ." In very short order Jesus penetrated through all the fog of her life, showed her her heart, and gave her hope. In our encounter with Jesus in the Gospels it is just such a revelation that awaits us. We find someone who knows our heart and are convinced that he has extended himself to us just as personaly as if we were standing by the well with him. Out of the encounter comes new hope and a simple testimony. Our testimony in turn awakens others whose curiosity is aroused enough to compel them to go to Jesus and question him for themselves. Once this happens our testimony has served its purpose as introduction to Jesus. Those who come to Jesus because of it can then say "We no longer believe just because of what you said; now we have heard for ourselves, and we know that this man really is the Savior of the world." Through Jesus' intervention in her life this woman went from being a community outcast to being a respected leader. All this just from accepting Jesus' commentary on her life and then saying to others "Come, see..." (v 29).
"Many of the Samaritans from that town believed in him because of the woman's testimony, 'He told me everything I ever did.' So when the Samaritans came to him, they urged him to stay with them, and he stayed two days. And because of his words many more became believers. They said to the woman, 'We no longer believe just because of what you said; now we have heard for ourselves, and we know that this man really is the Savior of the world.'"
This woman's faith was not based on the presentation of some rational argument for the existence of God or some kind of scientific evidence to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that Jesus is God. Does this make her faith irrational, or blind faith, as some have labelled it? Not in the least. She believed for reasons that were compelling to her. The conversation that she had with Jesus was sufficient to convince her that he was the Messiah. The heart of her conviction comes from this simple testimony: "He told me everything I ever did." It was Jesus' intimate knowledge of her and his understanding of all that her poor choices in life had brought her to that convinced her that he was indeed "the Christ." In very short order Jesus penetrated through all the fog of her life, showed her her heart, and gave her hope. In our encounter with Jesus in the Gospels it is just such a revelation that awaits us. We find someone who knows our heart and are convinced that he has extended himself to us just as personaly as if we were standing by the well with him. Out of the encounter comes new hope and a simple testimony. Our testimony in turn awakens others whose curiosity is aroused enough to compel them to go to Jesus and question him for themselves. Once this happens our testimony has served its purpose as introduction to Jesus. Those who come to Jesus because of it can then say "We no longer believe just because of what you said; now we have heard for ourselves, and we know that this man really is the Savior of the world." Through Jesus' intervention in her life this woman went from being a community outcast to being a respected leader. All this just from accepting Jesus' commentary on her life and then saying to others "Come, see..." (v 29).
Friday, February 03, 2006
"My food is..."
Reading John 4:27-38
"My food is to do the will of him who sent me and to finish his work."
The story of the woman at the well is a story of thirst and hunger. It is a story of spiritual thirst and hunger that is set against the backdrop of their physical equivalents. We know the feeling of physical hunger, of craving and satisfaction. The feeling of spiritual hunger is not unlike this. In fact the feelings are so similar that we often attempt to satisfy our spiritual hunger with physical things. What this story demonstrates is that while we know instinctively how to satisfy our physical thirst and hunger we do not have an equivalent natural instinct for the satisfaction of our spiritual needs. This is why Jesus said to his disciples, "I have food to eat that you know nothing about" (John 4:32). As he does so many times in his conversations and encounters with people Jesus takes us from the familiar to the unfamiliar.
"My food is to do the will...of someone else..."
"My food is to finish the work...of someone else..."
This is counterintuitive. I naturally think that solving my thirst would involve doing my will and engaging in my work. This is why so many spiritual and religious pursuits leave me feeling empty. I hope that feeding my physical and psychological hunger will somehow feed my spirtual hunger. I repeat over and over again the same paths to fulfillment that lead me to the same dead end. This is where so much of the self-help spirituality leads to.
Jesus is showing his followers that our spiritual hunger is telling us that we have lost touch with the will of God that "sends" us out of our own world and into the world of God and others. The will of God that Jesus wants us to connect with asks us to look on a field that we did not plant, to bring in a harvest that does not belong to us, and to share in the joy with those that we would otherwise have no connection with.
The lonely individual, eaten up with spiritual hunger, is satisfied, not by looking inward, but by looking upward and outward. The value of looking inward is in coming to fully appreciate what the soul hungers for, that is, God and others. Failure to take this inward look means we continue to pursue the illusive goal of self-fulfillment. Only surrender to the will of God and to doing the work of loving God and neighbour leads to the peace that I cannot find anywhere else. In the story, all of this purpose was focused on one cast-off woman. The great harvest never becomes an impersonal enterprise of numbers and statistics and complex strategies. It is a matter of one person reaching out to another person in the name of Jesus. Deep spiritual thirsts are satisfied in these simple actions.
"My food is to do the will of him who sent me and to finish his work."
The story of the woman at the well is a story of thirst and hunger. It is a story of spiritual thirst and hunger that is set against the backdrop of their physical equivalents. We know the feeling of physical hunger, of craving and satisfaction. The feeling of spiritual hunger is not unlike this. In fact the feelings are so similar that we often attempt to satisfy our spiritual hunger with physical things. What this story demonstrates is that while we know instinctively how to satisfy our physical thirst and hunger we do not have an equivalent natural instinct for the satisfaction of our spiritual needs. This is why Jesus said to his disciples, "I have food to eat that you know nothing about" (John 4:32). As he does so many times in his conversations and encounters with people Jesus takes us from the familiar to the unfamiliar.
"My food is to do the will...of someone else..."
"My food is to finish the work...of someone else..."
This is counterintuitive. I naturally think that solving my thirst would involve doing my will and engaging in my work. This is why so many spiritual and religious pursuits leave me feeling empty. I hope that feeding my physical and psychological hunger will somehow feed my spirtual hunger. I repeat over and over again the same paths to fulfillment that lead me to the same dead end. This is where so much of the self-help spirituality leads to.
Jesus is showing his followers that our spiritual hunger is telling us that we have lost touch with the will of God that "sends" us out of our own world and into the world of God and others. The will of God that Jesus wants us to connect with asks us to look on a field that we did not plant, to bring in a harvest that does not belong to us, and to share in the joy with those that we would otherwise have no connection with.
The lonely individual, eaten up with spiritual hunger, is satisfied, not by looking inward, but by looking upward and outward. The value of looking inward is in coming to fully appreciate what the soul hungers for, that is, God and others. Failure to take this inward look means we continue to pursue the illusive goal of self-fulfillment. Only surrender to the will of God and to doing the work of loving God and neighbour leads to the peace that I cannot find anywhere else. In the story, all of this purpose was focused on one cast-off woman. The great harvest never becomes an impersonal enterprise of numbers and statistics and complex strategies. It is a matter of one person reaching out to another person in the name of Jesus. Deep spiritual thirsts are satisfied in these simple actions.
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