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"ETERNAL LIFE" ... John Series, #10

9/29/2024

After his long good-bye, after washing the disciples’ feet, after giving them his greatest commandment to love one another, Jesus spoke to his Father in heaven before going to the Mount of Olives to face his greatest betrayal…)

John 17:1-5
After Jesus had spoken these words, he looked up to heaven and said, “Father, the hour has come; glorify your Son so that the Son may glorify you, since you have given him authority over all people to give eternal life to all whom you have given him.
And this is eternal life, that they may know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent. I glorified you on earth by finishing the work that you gave me to do. So now, Father, glorify me in your own presence with the glory that I had in your presence before the world existed.”

I don’t know about you all, but I have been learning a lot of interesting things since we set out on this journey through John’s Gospel. Things about John’s beliefs and about my own casual acceptance of the common meaning of certain words and phraseology as used in our reading of scripture.

There is one phrase in particular used quite often by the writer of John’s Gospel that apparently didn’t mean then what we have come to use it to mean now. That phrase is “eternal life.” Down through the centuries it has come to suggest life after this earthly life – as Marcus Borg put it, ‘Going to heaven after we’re through with this world and living forever there.’ This is the meaning most often found in the synoptic gospels in which the phrase appears eight times.

That, it appears, is not what John meant when he used it -- seventeen times – twice as many times as the three synoptics together – and those seventeen times all came from Jesus himself and coming from Jesus this phrase means something entirely different than life after death.

Again, quoting Borg, “Jesus and early Christianity were primarily focused on the transformation of lives and the world on this side of death. Of course, Jesus – and early Christians such as Paul – believed in an afterlife – that death was not the end – but that was not the heart of their message. Rather, it was about the kingdom of God on earth and what the world would be like under the lordship of God rather than the lords of this world.
"This understanding was shared by John. The Greek phrase translated into English as ‘eternal or everlasting life’ is better translated as ‘the life of the age to come,’ that Jewish hope for the transformation of life on earth in the here and now – for John, this life is not just a future hope, but a present active reality.”

And this then is the heart of John’s Gospel message – that those who follow Jesus, those who hear and understand his words, those who seek to live in his way, have this eternal life and they have it right now. Not in some far off future in some far off heavenly realm but right here and now.

Furthermore, it seems to tell us that this eternal life is for all whether they know it or not. The “life of the age to come” is the life we live, here and now, but some of us see it and acknowledge it and are aware whereas others may for a time remain blind to it. Being blind to it doesn’t mean we can’t have it – it’s just that we can’t live in it in it’s fullness without recognizing it. It’s still here – we just aren’t awake enough to see it.

And all this is because of the one who existed from the beginning, before all else was – that Logos who was with God and was God and is yet God – the one who lives in us and with us and for us.

Then and now and always.

Thanks be to God – Amen.

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"I AM . . . "

9/15/2024

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Exodus 3:13-14
When Moses met the burning bush in the wilderness, the voice of God from within the bush spoke to him and sent him to carry a message to the Israelites, and Moses said to God, “If I come to the Israelites and say to them, ‘The God of your ancestors has sent me to you,’ and they ask me, ‘What is his name?’ what shall I say to them?” God said to Moses, “I AM WHO I AM.” He said further, “Thus you shall say to the Israelites, ‘I AM has sent me to you.’”

Here we are. We’re still reading our way through the Gospel according to John, trying to figure out and understand the Jesus we meet here. SO why did we begin with a reading from Exodus? You’ll understand (I hope) as we move along today.

This is our 9th session focussed on John's Gospel. We are familiar with the Jesus we've previously met in Matthew, Mark, and Luke - he feels familiar to us – someone who seems more human, someone we can relate to from our own human reference.

John’s Jesus, however, can seem very distant at times. When he explains himself it often seems to me to be more of a lengthy abstract philosophical discussion than an actual description or conversation. When he does interact with people – as when he heals someone – there rarely is any sense of actual connection with the person healed. Jesus meets someone with a need – heals them – then moves on.

It is, somewhat ironically, when we read the “I AM” statements that John puts in Jesus’ mouth, that he is most easily understood. These statements are in the form of metaphors – words or phrases that are not literal descriptions and yet connect us clearly with an idea, a concept – archetypal images that exist deep down in our souls, that we all share to some extent. We connect with those images and we see another side of Jesus.

There are seven or eight of these “I am”s in John’s gospel depending on how you count them. They are set apart from simple sentences that describe an action or movement – such as, “I am going up the mountain to pray,” or “I am tired.”

The ones we’re talking about today are something different – times when Jesus makes statements describing himself in metaphorical language. These “I AM’ statements always come from Jesus himself.

1.Jesus said to them, “I AM the bread of life. He who comes to Me shall never hunger, and he who believes in Me shall never thirst” (John 6:35).

2.Then Jesus spoke to them again, saying, “I AM the light of the world. He who follows Me shall not walk in darkness but have the light of life” (John 8:12).
3.“I AM the good shepherd. The good shepherd gives His life for the sheep” (John 10:11).

4.“I AM the gate. If anyone enters by Me, he will be saved, and will go in and out and find pasture” (John 10:9).

5.Jesus said, “I AM the resurrection and the life. He who believes in Me, though he may die, he shall live” (John 11:25).

6.“I AM the true vine, and My Father is the vinedresser” (John 15:1).

7.Jesus said to him, “I AM the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me” (John 14:6).

Each of these paints it own image – an image unique to each person, built from memories and personal experiences. It's the two "shepherd" images that speak the most deeply to me. They conjure up the images from the 23rd Psalm -- the still, cool water -- the green pastures. The words that lead me to this sense of peace in an often chaotic world. This Jesus calls me to follow and I do, willingly. I connect with the other "I ams" but this on especially.

These images give us a pathway to Jesus – the Jesus who resonates for us and gives us a personal understanding – a personal connection to who and what this Jesus is. Which one speaks most clearly to you?

And so, back to our reading from Exodus at the beginning today – John’s Hebrew readers would surely be familiar with this story – the calling of Moses -- from one of the earliest books of the Hebrew Scriptures. And they would get the connection being made here – the connection that got Jesus in so much trouble with the religious authorities – the connection of himself with the I AM of the Old Testament. Making clear the one-ness of Jesus with his Father–God.

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WHATEVER THE FATHER DOES THE SON DOES LIKEWISE

9/8/2024

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John 5:19-24; 26-27; 30

Jesus said to them, “Very truly, I tell you, the Son can do nothing on his own but only what he sees the Father doing, for whatever the Father does, the Son does likewise. The Father loves the Son and shows him all that he himself is doing, and he will show him greater works than these, so that you will be astonished. Indeed, just as the Father raises the dead and gives them life, so also the Son gives life to whomever he wishes.”

The Father judges no one but has given all judgment to the Son, so that all may honor the Son just as they honor the Father. Anyone who does not honor the Son does not honor the Father who sent him. Very truly, I tell you, anyone who hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life does not come under judgment but has passed from death to life… for just as the Father has life in himself, so he has granted the Son also to have life in himself, and he has given him authority to execute judgment because he is the Son of Man.”

“I can do nothing on my own. As I hear, I judge, and my judgment is just because I seek to do not my own will but the will of him who sent me.”

Last week we heard the story of the lame man who had waited long years at the Pool of Beth-zatha (sometimes given as Bethesda or Bethsaida, it depends on your translation) but had never managed to receive the healing promised there. Until the day Jesus happened to be there and, upon hearing the man’s story, simply told him to ‘pick up his mat and walk,’ and he did.

When the authorities (the Jews) heard this story and realized that it was done on the Sabbath, they were determined to track down the one who had broken this rule so that he would be properly punished. When the “guilty one” was found to be Jesus, he simply explained that his Father was still working on that day and so therefore was he. The Son can do nothing on his own but only what he sees the Father doing, for whatever the Father does, the Son does likewise – in effect naming himself as the Son of God and equal to Godself. For this “crime” the authorities set out to find a way (since they did not have that power themselves) to bring about his death.

This is where we ended last week.

In today’s reading Jesus goes on with an expanded message explaining that he has every right to do such things as heal a lame man, whether it be the Sabbath or not, because his Father has given him this right. He is the Son of his Father, doing his Father’s work.

In John’s gospel, Jesus IS God’s Word to us. As Frederick Buechner puts it: “Matthew quotes scripture, linking Jesus to holy writings from the past, Mark lists miracles, showing us what Jesus does among us, and Luke reels off parables, teaching us as Jesus did.” All three spoke of the 30+ years Jesus lived among us here on this earth.

But Buechner goes on to say, “When God wanted to say what God is all about, and what man is all about, and what life is all about, it wasn’t words that emerged, but a man. Jesus was his name. He was the Word of God.”

In John’s gospel, we don’t often hear the familiar stories told by Jesus or told of Jesus, the ones we hear in the three Synoptics. Instead, John’s version takes us back to the very beginning of everything and reminds us who it was who was already present at that magical moment when all that is first was. The One who is the Son of the Father. The Father has given him everything and he is here living among us and BEING the Word of God. Jesus does the things he does because he can, and he can because of who he is.

Perhaps the best way to understand just who Jesus is and why he can do the things his does will be to hear the answer from Jesus himself, in the form of the “I AM…” sayings, and that is more than we can cover in our remaining time today so I think that is what we will tackle next week.

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JESUS HEALS A LAME MAN

9/1/2024

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Our message for today comes from John’s Gospel, chapter five, verses 1-18. This is a very long reading so rather than reading it all at once, I’m going to incorporate it directly into the message as we go along.

It begins this way: There was a festival of the Jews, and Jesus went from Galilee up to Jerusalem.

Now this phrase has always puzzled me because Galilee is clearly up in the north and Jerusalem down to the south. This has nothing to do with our story, per se, by the way, but it is an interesting side note. Maybe the language has puzzled you as it has me. I finally got around to looking it up and found that “Going up to Jerusalem” means “ascending to a place of spiritual significance” and has nothing to do with geography. It makes perfect sense when looked at from the right direction. We’re going up to Jerusalem … But back to our reading:

Now in Jerusalem by the Sheep Gate there is a pool, called in Hebrew, Bethesda (or Bethsaida in some translations) which has five porticoes. In these lay many ill, blind, lame, and paralyzed people. One man was there who had been ill for thirty-eight years. When Jesus saw him lying there and knew that he had been there a long time, he said to him, “Do you want to be made well?” The ill man answered him, “Sir, I have no one to put me into the pool when the water is stirred up, and while I am making my way someone else steps down ahead of me.” (The belief was that every so often an angel would come down and stir the waters of the pool and the first one into the water would receive healing. This poor man, being crippled, and having no one to help him could never make it in time.)

Jesus said to him, “Stand up, take your mat and walk.” At once the man was made well, and he took up his mat and began to walk.

Now, what we’ve heard so far is a fairly standard healing story but from this point it takes a nasty turn.

Now that day was a Sabbath. So the Jews said to the man who had been cured, “It is the Sabbath; it is not lawful for you to carry your mat.” But he answered them, “The man who made me well said to me, ‘Take up your mat and walk.’” They asked him, “Who is the man who said to you, ‘Take it up and walk’?” Now the man who had been healed did not know who it was, for Jesus had disappeared in the crowd that was there.

Later Jesus found him in the temple and said to him, “See, you have been made well! Do not sin again, so that nothing worse happens to you.” The man went away and told the Jews that it was Jesus who had made him well. Therefore, the Jews started persecuting Jesus, because he was doing such things on the Sabbath. But Jesus answered them, “My Father is still working, and I also am working.”

For this reason the Jews were seeking all the more to kill him, because he was not only breaking the Sabbath but was also calling God his own Father, thereby making himself equal to God.

In John’s gospel we will often hear a phrase that has caused a lot of pain. Every time John writes about the Jewish authorities it is written as “the Jews” and even when it is just in print on a page, it manages to sound accusing. It is the writer of Matthew’s gospel who most often seems to get the blame for giving Christians down through the centuries a misguided justification for persecuting “the Jews” as “Christ killers,” leading to centuries of brutal abuse, even to the point of having his writings used to ultimately excuse the horrors of the holocaust.

While Matthew’s writer is indeed awful in his writings, the truth is that John’s author is worse. Jesus’s opponents are called “the Jews” with no distinction made among them. They are from below (8:23); they are children of the devil – the father of lies (8:44) – all manner of name calling. This is dangerous language in any context but most especially when we today ignore the historical context.

Jesus and his disciples were Jewish. The writer of John was Jewish. Most of the people he was writing for were Jewish – so surely he never meant to say that all Jews are evil.

We established early in this series that John’s gospel was most likely written between 90 and 110 AD. The Jewish world would have been in disarray at this time after the destruction of the Temple in Jerusalem by the Romans in 70 AD, close to 40 years after Jesus’ death, and 20 to 30+ years after the Temple was destroyed. Add in the ever-growing numbers of non-Jewish Christians as the belief in the risen Jesus spread outward from Jerusalem and began to include people with no tribal ties to Jerusalem or other Jews and there were multiple opportunities for discord.

Scholars have for a long time now recognized that when John and Matthew wrote of “the Jews” they were referring to the traditionalist Temple authorities – the ones who arranged Jesus’ death and persecuted his followers, rather than Jews in general. These were followed by later ones who were Jesus followers themselves, but insisted that any non-Jewish converts had to be circumcised in accordance with Jewish law.

There was much understandable hurt and anger in those days and hurt and anger generally do not lead to temperance in our language. We know better today about John’s meaning when he rails against “the Jews” – we know and we still need to be better. There is still hatred in our world today – hatred against Jews and LGBTQ+ folk, and anyone else someone names as "different." Hatred in part engendered by and excused with hateful language still found unexplained in our scriptures. We have work to do -- unding the damage done by the past and making our future better.

Next week we’re going to be dealing with this same story. This week we’ve seen some of the practical results of this particular healing. Next week we will be looking at the theological reasoning for this story and going deeper into John’s explanation of just who Jesus is in this gospel account and what we are intended to learn about him.

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"ETERNAL LIFE" ... John Series, #10

"I AM . . . "

WHATEVER THE FATHER DOES THE SON DOES LIKEWISE

JESUS HEALS A LAME MAN

Rev. Cherie Marckx

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