I find the lectionary tradition designating the Fourth Sunday of Easter “Good Shepherd Sunday” odd. I don’t get interrupting the flow of resurrection appearance stories with Jesus’ decidedly pre-Passion “I am the good shepherd” discourse. Nuts to that, I say! I’m not done with Easter. So this week, we will explore the post-resurrection fish fry in Water Daily land and at Christ the Healer. Here is the gospel passage.
Clergy and church musicians often take a vacation in the weeks after Easter. My Facebook feed is full of pictures of colleagues in exotic climes or relaxing at the beach. I even took a quick four-day run visiting family, just to get away and recharge a little after the intensity of work before and during Holy Week and Easter. Seems we’re actually in good apostolic tradition – Jesus’ disciples did the same thing!
After these things Jesus showed himself again to the disciples by the Sea of Tiberias; and he showed himself in this way. Gathered there together were Simon Peter, Thomas called the Twin, Nathanael of Cana in Galilee, the sons of Zebedee, and two others of his disciples. Simon Peter said to them, “I am going fishing.” They said to him, “We will go with you.”
Maybe they wanted to go fishing as a way of getting out of Dodge – they’d been holed up in that house for fear of arrest since Jesus’ death. And that anxiety was amplified by the weirdness of Jesus’ resurrection self showing up here and there when they least expected it. Maybe they wanted to get back home to Galilee, feel safer, relax a little.
Or was “going fishing” code for “the old life?” Were Peter and the others going back to what they’d known before Jesus came along and said, “Follow me?” Were they giving up the mission for which they’d trained with Jesus? Maybe they thought he’d come back to pick up the work again. Or maybe they were too mystified, and too drained, to do anything but something they knew they were good at.
Whatever their motivation, it was a very human response to a time of not knowing what comes next. Of course, we know this was a transition time in their lives; that Jesus was going to give them clearer instructions and then ascend into heaven, after which they would have another waiting time before the power of the Holy Spirit came upon them. But they didn’t know it was a transition. Maybe it was the end. We don’t always know when we’re in transition times. Sometimes it just feels like we’re in limbo.
In your life right now, are you in a time of settledness, or transition, or limbo? Do you know which it is? Where is God in this time? It’s okay to ask – “Lord, how do you want me to use my gifts? Where are you calling me to make you known?” It might be in the same places and ways, and it might be in new ones. And always we can ask Jesus to be discernibly present with us in the not-knowing.
Not-knowing fully is where we live in this life. In times of confusion or grief, maybe going off to do something relaxing, something we’re good at, is just the right response. And sometimes, like Peter and the gang,we discover we’re no longer so good at that thing – we realize we have indeed been re-purposed. And then we have to wait to be sent.
4-17-15 - Proclaiming Forgiveness
If Jesus’ words to his gathered disciples on the evening of the day of resurrection are to be attended, his assurances of peace came with a charge: to proclaim repentance and forgiveness of sins to all nations.
“…and he said to them, ‘Thus it is written, that the Messiah is to suffer and to rise from the dead on the third day, and that repentance and forgiveness of sins is to be proclaimed in his name to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem. You are witnesses of these things.’” (This week's Gospel passage is here.)
In today's church, there can be resistance to focusing on repentance and forgiveness – too much cultural guilt associated with the idea of sin. So we may not want to begin our proclamation there. But it’s not hard to get there once the conversation is started. People in recovery from addiction understand innately the need to repent; others of us need only look at our behavior in relationships to quickly arrive at the same understanding. To understand that we are capable of hurting ourselves and others AND to grasp that a remedy has been provided is freedom indeed. That is the gift we have to share.
The promise of life in Christ goes way beyond a focus on repentance to healing and wholeness in every sphere. The balancing act we maintain as witnesses of this source of healing is to keep repentance in the picture while making room for the rest of the story of our of life in Christ.
Can you think of a time when you felt set free by the promise of forgiveness, whether that came from a person or from God? Can you imagine leading another person to that place of relief and freedom?
Today, you might reflect on those moments of connection in your life, and then think about who you might be called to bear witness with.
That proclamation began in Jerusalem on Easter night. A few weeks later, it began to spread around the region and then to the ends of the earth. If we bear witness to freedom in God’s love, it will continue to spread until everyone has been drawn into Christ’s saving embrace and the need for repentance is over.
“…and he said to them, ‘Thus it is written, that the Messiah is to suffer and to rise from the dead on the third day, and that repentance and forgiveness of sins is to be proclaimed in his name to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem. You are witnesses of these things.’” (This week's Gospel passage is here.)
In today's church, there can be resistance to focusing on repentance and forgiveness – too much cultural guilt associated with the idea of sin. So we may not want to begin our proclamation there. But it’s not hard to get there once the conversation is started. People in recovery from addiction understand innately the need to repent; others of us need only look at our behavior in relationships to quickly arrive at the same understanding. To understand that we are capable of hurting ourselves and others AND to grasp that a remedy has been provided is freedom indeed. That is the gift we have to share.
The promise of life in Christ goes way beyond a focus on repentance to healing and wholeness in every sphere. The balancing act we maintain as witnesses of this source of healing is to keep repentance in the picture while making room for the rest of the story of our of life in Christ.
Can you think of a time when you felt set free by the promise of forgiveness, whether that came from a person or from God? Can you imagine leading another person to that place of relief and freedom?
Today, you might reflect on those moments of connection in your life, and then think about who you might be called to bear witness with.
That proclamation began in Jerusalem on Easter night. A few weeks later, it began to spread around the region and then to the ends of the earth. If we bear witness to freedom in God’s love, it will continue to spread until everyone has been drawn into Christ’s saving embrace and the need for repentance is over.
4-16-15 - Interpretation
Yesterday I wrote about how challenging it can be to read and glean meaning from the Bible. That should not surprise us – what we call “the Bible,” as though it were one document, is in fact 66 different pieces of literature in many different styles – sagas, histories, novelettes, law codes, poetry, prophetic utterance, apocalyptic vision, correspondence, drama, treatise, authored by hundreds of people over hundreds of years, often attempting to encapsulate oral traditions dating back thousands of years… How can anyone glean meaning from that?
We cannot read the Bible without interpreting it. In fact, before we even try, we encounter the interpretations of those who first wrote down the oral stories, those who selected and shaped the writings, those who decided which writings had authority for the religious community, and finally the translators, with their own theological lenses, who decided on words between different options, and where to place the commas when the original languages lack punctuation. And we bring to the reading of scripture our own ideas, histories, traditions, mood and life circumstances on any given day we choose to open that book.
Scripture is never fixed in meaning. It is always being interpreted and re-interpreted – and according to the Gospel writers, Jesus was not shy about telling his followers how they should understand it: “Then he opened their minds to understand the scriptures, and he said to them, ‘Thus it is written, that the Messiah is to suffer and to rise from the dead on the third day, and that repentance and forgiveness of sins is to be proclaimed in his name to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem.”
The conviction that Jesus was the Messiah, and that the way the prophets wrote about the coming Messiah foretold the events of Jesus’ birth, life, death and resurrection, was introduced early into the Christian communities’ self-understanding. While others can read the prophets, especially the “suffering servant” sections of Isaiah, and come away with different interpretations (for Jews, of course, these prophecies were most definitely not fulfilled in Jesus of Nazareth), Christ-followers read the scriptures through the views expressed in the documents of the New Testament.
This interpretation offered by Jesus is one with an ongoing life. It does more than look backward – it also lays out the community’s mission going forward: to proclaim repentance and forgiveness of sins in Jesus’ name to all nations. Thus, the belief that, in Christ, God’s long plan of salvation was revealed, matters to Christ followers today as it did to the original disciples. Proclaiming that Jesus was the Anointed One foretold by the prophets, whose death effected forgiveness for all humanity, is something that offers life. And we are in the business of offering life in Jesus’ name.
These days, it is fashionable in some Christian circles to de-emphasize belief, and focus more on spiritual practice, to suggest that Christian life is less about truth claims and more about how we access the Holy. While spiritual practice is where we live, I hope we don’t throw out the baby with the bathwater. Our spiritual practice and our ministry grows out of our conviction that Christ was who he said he was.
For me, his interpretation, albeit conveyed through the fallible conduits of gospel writers, scribes, editors and translators, trumps all others. This risen Christ is the Truth. I want to be about the mission of offering life in his name.
We cannot read the Bible without interpreting it. In fact, before we even try, we encounter the interpretations of those who first wrote down the oral stories, those who selected and shaped the writings, those who decided which writings had authority for the religious community, and finally the translators, with their own theological lenses, who decided on words between different options, and where to place the commas when the original languages lack punctuation. And we bring to the reading of scripture our own ideas, histories, traditions, mood and life circumstances on any given day we choose to open that book.
Scripture is never fixed in meaning. It is always being interpreted and re-interpreted – and according to the Gospel writers, Jesus was not shy about telling his followers how they should understand it: “Then he opened their minds to understand the scriptures, and he said to them, ‘Thus it is written, that the Messiah is to suffer and to rise from the dead on the third day, and that repentance and forgiveness of sins is to be proclaimed in his name to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem.”
The conviction that Jesus was the Messiah, and that the way the prophets wrote about the coming Messiah foretold the events of Jesus’ birth, life, death and resurrection, was introduced early into the Christian communities’ self-understanding. While others can read the prophets, especially the “suffering servant” sections of Isaiah, and come away with different interpretations (for Jews, of course, these prophecies were most definitely not fulfilled in Jesus of Nazareth), Christ-followers read the scriptures through the views expressed in the documents of the New Testament.
This interpretation offered by Jesus is one with an ongoing life. It does more than look backward – it also lays out the community’s mission going forward: to proclaim repentance and forgiveness of sins in Jesus’ name to all nations. Thus, the belief that, in Christ, God’s long plan of salvation was revealed, matters to Christ followers today as it did to the original disciples. Proclaiming that Jesus was the Anointed One foretold by the prophets, whose death effected forgiveness for all humanity, is something that offers life. And we are in the business of offering life in Jesus’ name.
These days, it is fashionable in some Christian circles to de-emphasize belief, and focus more on spiritual practice, to suggest that Christian life is less about truth claims and more about how we access the Holy. While spiritual practice is where we live, I hope we don’t throw out the baby with the bathwater. Our spiritual practice and our ministry grows out of our conviction that Christ was who he said he was.
For me, his interpretation, albeit conveyed through the fallible conduits of gospel writers, scribes, editors and translators, trumps all others. This risen Christ is the Truth. I want to be about the mission of offering life in his name.
4-15-15 - Opened Minds
Scripture is hard to understand. We attach great import, meaning, even authority to these words set down thousands of years ago, which were invested with import, meaning and authority by the communities who preserved them; wildly diverse in literary style, theological understanding, point of view – and all of it regarded as the Spirit-inspired Word of God. And so often it baffles, bores, and even offends us.
Not for nothing does the Book of Common Prayer contain a collect for the reading of Scripture:
Blessed Lord, who caused all holy Scriptures to be written for our learning: Grant us so to hear them, read, mark, learn, and inwardly digest them, that we may embrace and ever hold fast the blessed hope of everlasting life, which you have given us in our Savior Jesus Christ…
Should grappling with Holy Writ be so much work? Turns out this is yet another part of the Christian life we are not to attempt on our own steam. That’s what Jesus’ disciples found out on Easter Sunday, not once but twice, when he explained how the hopes and songs and prophecies of the Hebrew Bible were fulfilled in his life, death and new life:
“Then he said to them, ‘These are my words that I spoke to you while I was still with you—that everything written about me in the law of Moses, the prophets, and the psalms must be fulfilled.’ Then he opened their minds to understand the scriptures…
“Then he opened their minds to understand the scriptures.” Ah! That’s how it’s done – Jesus opens our minds! That’s also how the two on the road to Emmaus described their conversation with Jesus: “They said to each other, ‘Were not our hearts burning within us while he was talking to us on the road, while he was opening the scriptures to us?'"
There is a wealth of love and wisdom and beauty to be mined in the pages of the Bible, and like mines that produce precious gems, it doesn’t always yield its riches easily. We need tools and some sweat, and the help of others to interpret these ancient words for ourselves – in the way Philip asked the Ethiopian official reading Isaiah if he understood what he was reading, and he replied, “How can I, unless someone explains it to me?” (Acts 8:26-40)
There are so many ways to try to comprehend the words and stories and teachings of the Bible – tools and techniques and forms of analysis to bring to bear, literary, linguistic, textual, symbolic. It can definitely help to read and study it with other people, to share perceptions from many different angles and ranges of experience. Perhaps the most important tool, though, and often the most neglected, is to ask Jesus to open our minds to understand what we’re reading. Before we even begin.
Let’s pray before we open up the Bible, “Okay, Jesus, you know my mind and its ways. Open it to your truth. Show me your love in these words.” And then let's open the book!
I believe his desire is that these words and stories and people and songs have life for us as they have for all the generations before us. He has opened minds before; he can open ours as we say, “Come, Lord Jesus.”
Not for nothing does the Book of Common Prayer contain a collect for the reading of Scripture:
Blessed Lord, who caused all holy Scriptures to be written for our learning: Grant us so to hear them, read, mark, learn, and inwardly digest them, that we may embrace and ever hold fast the blessed hope of everlasting life, which you have given us in our Savior Jesus Christ…
Should grappling with Holy Writ be so much work? Turns out this is yet another part of the Christian life we are not to attempt on our own steam. That’s what Jesus’ disciples found out on Easter Sunday, not once but twice, when he explained how the hopes and songs and prophecies of the Hebrew Bible were fulfilled in his life, death and new life:
“Then he said to them, ‘These are my words that I spoke to you while I was still with you—that everything written about me in the law of Moses, the prophets, and the psalms must be fulfilled.’ Then he opened their minds to understand the scriptures…
“Then he opened their minds to understand the scriptures.” Ah! That’s how it’s done – Jesus opens our minds! That’s also how the two on the road to Emmaus described their conversation with Jesus: “They said to each other, ‘Were not our hearts burning within us while he was talking to us on the road, while he was opening the scriptures to us?'"
There is a wealth of love and wisdom and beauty to be mined in the pages of the Bible, and like mines that produce precious gems, it doesn’t always yield its riches easily. We need tools and some sweat, and the help of others to interpret these ancient words for ourselves – in the way Philip asked the Ethiopian official reading Isaiah if he understood what he was reading, and he replied, “How can I, unless someone explains it to me?” (Acts 8:26-40)
There are so many ways to try to comprehend the words and stories and teachings of the Bible – tools and techniques and forms of analysis to bring to bear, literary, linguistic, textual, symbolic. It can definitely help to read and study it with other people, to share perceptions from many different angles and ranges of experience. Perhaps the most important tool, though, and often the most neglected, is to ask Jesus to open our minds to understand what we’re reading. Before we even begin.
Let’s pray before we open up the Bible, “Okay, Jesus, you know my mind and its ways. Open it to your truth. Show me your love in these words.” And then let's open the book!
I believe his desire is that these words and stories and people and songs have life for us as they have for all the generations before us. He has opened minds before; he can open ours as we say, “Come, Lord Jesus.”
4-14-15 - No Bones About It
Who could blame those poor disciples for thinking they were witnessing an apparition? Who of us has the context for correctly interpreting data like someone who's died suddenly materializing in a room! (Well, I suppose, on this side of Star Trek, maybe we can imagine it a little…). Not so Jesus’ disciples:
“They were startled and terrified, and thought that they were seeing a ghost.”
The early church and the gospel writers had a lot of misinformation from critics to overcome, much of it around the issue of Jesus’ death and resurrection. Many found it unthinkable that a spiritual master or holy person could be put to death, especially in such a gruesome and humiliating way as crucifixion. People argued that could not have happened. Others claimed that if Jesus was divine, he must only have appeared to die, not actually done so.
And rising from the dead? Rumors and conspiracy theories are found in the very pages of the New Testament. Jesus wasn’t really dead. The body was stolen and hidden away. Someone who looked like him was making these appearances (someone so committed to this deception they had wounds in their hands, feet and side?) And the least far-fetched theory – that Jesus’ ghost was about on the earth.
As Luke tells it, Jesus is swift to dispel that theory. “He said to them, ‘Why are you frightened, and why do doubts arise in your hearts? Look at my hands and my feet; see that it is I myself. Touch me and see; for a ghost does not have flesh and bones as you see that I have.’”
Here was unassailable proof for those who would be called to offer testimony to Jesus resurrection life.
“A ghost does not have flesh and bones.” A ghost does not eat, either – which Jesus did next:
“While in their joy they were disbelieving and still wondering, he said to them, 'Have you anything here to eat?' They gave him a piece of broiled fish, and he took it and ate in their presence.”
I feel that someone who’s been to hell and back, literally, deserves a little better than broiled fish, but that’s not the point. What counts is that Jesus’ resurrection body looked and acted a lot like his pre-resurrection body. And in other ways, not at all.
What difference does this make for us? It matters that we proclaim a Lord who rose from the dead, not a ghost, not a zombie. We proclaim a Lord thoroughly, thrillingly alive. It matters that we follow such a one.
There are those who traffic in the spirits of people who have died; that realm seems undeniably real. And Christians are explicitly told not to put their spiritual energy into that realm, or to open their spirits to it. We worship the Risen Christ whose Holy Spirit moves with us, inspires us, comforts us, and leads us into ministry in which others are transformed. As the angel said to the women at the tomb on Easter morning, "Why do you look for the living among the dead? He is not here, he is risen!"
Deny the resurrection if you will, but don’t claim the risen Jesus was “just a ghost.” He was and is the Lord of heaven and earth. Let's make no bones about that.
“They were startled and terrified, and thought that they were seeing a ghost.”
The early church and the gospel writers had a lot of misinformation from critics to overcome, much of it around the issue of Jesus’ death and resurrection. Many found it unthinkable that a spiritual master or holy person could be put to death, especially in such a gruesome and humiliating way as crucifixion. People argued that could not have happened. Others claimed that if Jesus was divine, he must only have appeared to die, not actually done so.
And rising from the dead? Rumors and conspiracy theories are found in the very pages of the New Testament. Jesus wasn’t really dead. The body was stolen and hidden away. Someone who looked like him was making these appearances (someone so committed to this deception they had wounds in their hands, feet and side?) And the least far-fetched theory – that Jesus’ ghost was about on the earth.
As Luke tells it, Jesus is swift to dispel that theory. “He said to them, ‘Why are you frightened, and why do doubts arise in your hearts? Look at my hands and my feet; see that it is I myself. Touch me and see; for a ghost does not have flesh and bones as you see that I have.’”
Here was unassailable proof for those who would be called to offer testimony to Jesus resurrection life.
“A ghost does not have flesh and bones.” A ghost does not eat, either – which Jesus did next:
“While in their joy they were disbelieving and still wondering, he said to them, 'Have you anything here to eat?' They gave him a piece of broiled fish, and he took it and ate in their presence.”
I feel that someone who’s been to hell and back, literally, deserves a little better than broiled fish, but that’s not the point. What counts is that Jesus’ resurrection body looked and acted a lot like his pre-resurrection body. And in other ways, not at all.
What difference does this make for us? It matters that we proclaim a Lord who rose from the dead, not a ghost, not a zombie. We proclaim a Lord thoroughly, thrillingly alive. It matters that we follow such a one.
There are those who traffic in the spirits of people who have died; that realm seems undeniably real. And Christians are explicitly told not to put their spiritual energy into that realm, or to open their spirits to it. We worship the Risen Christ whose Holy Spirit moves with us, inspires us, comforts us, and leads us into ministry in which others are transformed. As the angel said to the women at the tomb on Easter morning, "Why do you look for the living among the dead? He is not here, he is risen!"
Deny the resurrection if you will, but don’t claim the risen Jesus was “just a ghost.” He was and is the Lord of heaven and earth. Let's make no bones about that.
4-13-15 - How Did You Get Here?
Imagine saying goodbye to someone in one town, and then finding them back home when you return. And knowing you did not pass them on the road, and as yet in human history no mechanical modes of transport had been invented. “How did you get here?”
The disciples whom Jesus met on the road to Emmaus (a story Luke tells just before this week’s passage begins) didn’t recognize him when he walked with them. But in Emmaus, they prevailed upon him to eat with him – and the moment they realized who he was, he vanished from their sight. Then they hightailed it back seven miles to Jerusalem so they could tell their brethren what had happened:
“They said to each other, ‘Were not our hearts burning within us while he was talking to us on the road, while he was opening the scriptures to us?’ That same hour they got up and returned to Jerusalem; and they found the eleven and their companions gathered together. They were saying, ‘The Lord has risen indeed, and he has appeared to Simon!’ Then they told what had happened on the road, and how he had been made known to them in the breaking of the bread.”
Easter Sunday may be a few weeks back, but in church-land we’re still exploring the events of that day. This week we revisit the scene when Jesus showed up in the upper room Easter night – but now we get Luke’s version, which picks up as the two from Emmaus arrive back in Jerusalem and compare notes with the ones in the Upper room. It’s hard for us to imagine the excitement that those early encounters with the Risen Jesus occasioned in his followers. In that one day he’d appeared to Mary, to Peter, to a few other disciples, to Cleopas and the other on the road, like teasers for the big event. And now, Bam – here he is in Jerusalem!
“While they were talking about this, Jesus himself stood among them and said to them,
‘Peace be with you.’”
"How did you get here?" That’s a question we might find ourselves asking more often, the better we get at figuring out when Jesus is with us. Like, we might have felt his presence at church on a Sunday, and then be surprised to find him waiting at our kitchen table at home. Or we might experience him with us as we visit someone in a hospital, and find out that at the same time he was comforting another friend in prayer. One of the gifts of resurrection bodies, it seems, Is the ability to bi-locoate. No longer bound to human flesh and space and time, Jesus could materialize wherever and whenever he wanted.
And guess what? He still can, even ascended – because now he has us to make him known. Flesh and Spirit – that is how Jesus’ presence is still mediated to the world. As much as we want to train our inward eyes to discern the presence of Christ, we also want to be conscious about when and where we’re called to make known the presence of Christ, to allow him to work through us.
I don’t know about you; I’m always surprised when I realize Jesus has shown up in me for someone else, though he said he would. That’s how he can be everywhere, wherever there are faithful followers willing to bear his Spirit to the people around them. We are Christ’s resurrection body now!
And if we don’t know what to say, we can always start with the words Jesus used: “Peace be with you.”
The disciples whom Jesus met on the road to Emmaus (a story Luke tells just before this week’s passage begins) didn’t recognize him when he walked with them. But in Emmaus, they prevailed upon him to eat with him – and the moment they realized who he was, he vanished from their sight. Then they hightailed it back seven miles to Jerusalem so they could tell their brethren what had happened:
“They said to each other, ‘Were not our hearts burning within us while he was talking to us on the road, while he was opening the scriptures to us?’ That same hour they got up and returned to Jerusalem; and they found the eleven and their companions gathered together. They were saying, ‘The Lord has risen indeed, and he has appeared to Simon!’ Then they told what had happened on the road, and how he had been made known to them in the breaking of the bread.”
Easter Sunday may be a few weeks back, but in church-land we’re still exploring the events of that day. This week we revisit the scene when Jesus showed up in the upper room Easter night – but now we get Luke’s version, which picks up as the two from Emmaus arrive back in Jerusalem and compare notes with the ones in the Upper room. It’s hard for us to imagine the excitement that those early encounters with the Risen Jesus occasioned in his followers. In that one day he’d appeared to Mary, to Peter, to a few other disciples, to Cleopas and the other on the road, like teasers for the big event. And now, Bam – here he is in Jerusalem!
“While they were talking about this, Jesus himself stood among them and said to them,
‘Peace be with you.’”
"How did you get here?" That’s a question we might find ourselves asking more often, the better we get at figuring out when Jesus is with us. Like, we might have felt his presence at church on a Sunday, and then be surprised to find him waiting at our kitchen table at home. Or we might experience him with us as we visit someone in a hospital, and find out that at the same time he was comforting another friend in prayer. One of the gifts of resurrection bodies, it seems, Is the ability to bi-locoate. No longer bound to human flesh and space and time, Jesus could materialize wherever and whenever he wanted.
And guess what? He still can, even ascended – because now he has us to make him known. Flesh and Spirit – that is how Jesus’ presence is still mediated to the world. As much as we want to train our inward eyes to discern the presence of Christ, we also want to be conscious about when and where we’re called to make known the presence of Christ, to allow him to work through us.
I don’t know about you; I’m always surprised when I realize Jesus has shown up in me for someone else, though he said he would. That’s how he can be everywhere, wherever there are faithful followers willing to bear his Spirit to the people around them. We are Christ’s resurrection body now!
And if we don’t know what to say, we can always start with the words Jesus used: “Peace be with you.”
4-10-15 - Life Through Believing
There was no rhyme or rhythm to Jesus’ resurrection appearances; it seems he just kept popping up among his followers, like he was living out the song, “I’ll be seeing you, in all the old familiar places…”
And maybe there were more than were recorded in the Gospels. John implies as much:
“Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence of his disciples, which are not written in this book.”
One that was “written in John’s book” occurred a week after his first appearance to his disciples.
“A week later his disciples were again in the house, and Thomas was with them. Although the doors were shut, Jesus came and stood among them and said, “Peace be with you.” Then he said to Thomas, “Put your finger here and see my hands. Reach out your hand and put it in my side. Do not doubt but believe.” Thomas answered him, “My Lord and my God!” Jesus said to him, “Have you believed because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have come to believe.”
Jesus would be referring to us, who have to believe without benefit of Jesus in the flesh. Some people find that a hurdle too far. Why bother believing if we can’t have any proof, they think. But what constitutes proof? In a court of law, the sworn testimony of witnesses counts as proof. That’s in part why the Gospel writers labored to set down what they knew of Jesus’ life and ministry. As John says, “But these are written so that you may come to believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that through believing you may have life in his name.”
Given the testimony of so many billions of Christ-followers throughout the ages, as well as evidence of transformation readily available to us, perhaps we have enough to support our heart-belief that Jesus was indeed the divine Son of God, and that he did indeed rise from the dead. But so often we let other evidence, the sad record of man’s cruelty to his fellow inhabitants of this planet, and our shameless disregard for the just allocation of resources, count for more than the “case for the defense.” And when we do that, we close off avenues of life for ourselves and others.
John suggests that there is a pay-off for believing, even when the evidence seems stacked against us: we receive life through believing in the power in the name of Jesus Christ. The spiritual practice of faith, i.e., believing in what we cannot see, increases our capacity to experience God, and to facilitate that experience for others. We can see Jesus in people, feel him in prayer, encounter him in worship.
Where did you last encounter Jesus? Was it in some ministry or conversation? In something beautiful or deeply moving? In a question or an answer? One way we might exercise our “believing” muscles is to make a note at the end of each day one way we bumped into the Risen Christ. And when we tell each other, we all build up our faith muscles.
As that old song goes, “I'll find you in the morning sun, and when the night is new
I'll be looking at the moon, but I'll be seeing you.”
As we truly learn to discern Jesus wherever we find him, and believe, we will find ourselves living more fully and deeply the Life he died and rose to make possible for us.
And maybe there were more than were recorded in the Gospels. John implies as much:
“Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence of his disciples, which are not written in this book.”
One that was “written in John’s book” occurred a week after his first appearance to his disciples.
“A week later his disciples were again in the house, and Thomas was with them. Although the doors were shut, Jesus came and stood among them and said, “Peace be with you.” Then he said to Thomas, “Put your finger here and see my hands. Reach out your hand and put it in my side. Do not doubt but believe.” Thomas answered him, “My Lord and my God!” Jesus said to him, “Have you believed because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have come to believe.”
Jesus would be referring to us, who have to believe without benefit of Jesus in the flesh. Some people find that a hurdle too far. Why bother believing if we can’t have any proof, they think. But what constitutes proof? In a court of law, the sworn testimony of witnesses counts as proof. That’s in part why the Gospel writers labored to set down what they knew of Jesus’ life and ministry. As John says, “But these are written so that you may come to believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that through believing you may have life in his name.”
Given the testimony of so many billions of Christ-followers throughout the ages, as well as evidence of transformation readily available to us, perhaps we have enough to support our heart-belief that Jesus was indeed the divine Son of God, and that he did indeed rise from the dead. But so often we let other evidence, the sad record of man’s cruelty to his fellow inhabitants of this planet, and our shameless disregard for the just allocation of resources, count for more than the “case for the defense.” And when we do that, we close off avenues of life for ourselves and others.
John suggests that there is a pay-off for believing, even when the evidence seems stacked against us: we receive life through believing in the power in the name of Jesus Christ. The spiritual practice of faith, i.e., believing in what we cannot see, increases our capacity to experience God, and to facilitate that experience for others. We can see Jesus in people, feel him in prayer, encounter him in worship.
Where did you last encounter Jesus? Was it in some ministry or conversation? In something beautiful or deeply moving? In a question or an answer? One way we might exercise our “believing” muscles is to make a note at the end of each day one way we bumped into the Risen Christ. And when we tell each other, we all build up our faith muscles.
As that old song goes, “I'll find you in the morning sun, and when the night is new
I'll be looking at the moon, but I'll be seeing you.”
As we truly learn to discern Jesus wherever we find him, and believe, we will find ourselves living more fully and deeply the Life he died and rose to make possible for us.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)