30 Days in the Bible, Day 2: John 1:1-14

Any discussion of God's Word has to begin with the Person who embodied that Word, Jesus Christ. John applies the Greek word "logos" to Jesus four times in the prologue to his gospel. While he may have borrowed the term from Greek philosophy, John gives it a much different content. "Logos" isn't just a philosophical construct, or even some sort of archetype which may have a reality beyond our world. The "Logos" in John is a divine Person, eternally existent with God while also being God Himself.

The doctrine of the Incarnation is one that goes beyond anything we can imagine a finite human beings. How can Jesus be both fully God and fully human at the same time? I don't pretend to have an explanation of it, but I think that the revelation of God as Triune and the revelation of Jesus as the God-man are meant to stagger us. If we believe the Word of God, and if we believe these teachings of the Word, we have a God who we can't fully comprehend, who is beyond us not only in power but in His very being. If God is like this, then He is isn't a simple God we can grasp and manipulate for our own purposes.

Jesus, as the living Word, pointed the way to the Father in His teachings. The Word gave us His words, and those words have been passed along to us by those who heard Him speak. Although Jesus certainly said much more than we have in Scripture (as John himself points out in John 21:25), what we have is what He wanted us to know. The Holy Spirit inspired the authors of the gospels (and the rest of the New Testament) to write down the teachings of and about Jesus that were needed for all generations.

We, of course, did not see or hear Jesus while He was here on earth. Yet we still have access to the Word through the Word. The Bible reveals the truth about the living Word, Jesus, to us today. All of Scripture speaks about Him; Jesus even made that point Himself (John 5:39). May the written Word of God guide us to the living Word every day as we read and study it for His glory.

Growing fruit

My pastor just started a study on the fruit of the Spirit (Galatians 5:22-23) on Wednesday nights. As part of our study last night, we had table discussions covering several questions he posed. In our discussion, we wrestled with the questions of which fruit of the Spirit do each of us find the hardest to "cultivate," and how can we better grow that fruit in our lives.

My thoughts went out of the book of Galatians to the gospel of John. While seeing the fruit of the Spirit in our lives is a sign of growth as a Christian, we need to know where the fruit comes from. It obviously can't come from ourselves; Paul spends the verses just prior to verses 22-23 examining the fruit of our human nature. Our natural inclination is to grow fruit that is self-serving and self-pleasing, so what the Spirit does to grow His fruit on our lives is not the result of our own strength or effort.

I think that this passage ties into John 15. That is where Jesus speaks of Himself as the vine, and His followers as the branches. We cannot bear the fruit of the Spirit unless we are connected to Jesus and remaining in Him. All of the power needed to see these fruits blossom and grow comes from Him, through the Holy Spirit.

So how do we see the fruit of the Spirit grow in our lives? Remain in Christ. Those are simple words, but often hard to put into practice. To spend the time studying and meditating on the Word and in prayer is often hard for us. Yet when we drift away from our time with the Lord, we often find ourselves missing the love, joy, peace, and other "fruit" we want for our lives. It really comes down to a matter of making our time with Jesus our priority each day.

This is why the world fails to find love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness and self-control. You can read every self-help book ever written, go to a parade of therapists, make all the resolutions you can, or even try pharmaceutical means, but none of them have the power to bring that fruit into your life. Only Jesus can give us these, and only by remaining in Him will we find them growing in our lives.

Want to see more of the fruit of the Spirit in your life? Spend time with Jesus, and you'll see it start to grow.

Happy Chanukah!

I know it falls outside of the Biblical record (at least as far as Jews and most Protestants are concerned), but I want to wish you all a Happy Chanukah. I work with several Orthodox Jewish women at my schools, and I have no problem wishing them this. "Happy holidays" may be a safe, politically correct way of trying not to offend people, but frankly I'm offended when people who should know better don't recognize which "holiday" makes me happy. If I feel that way, I should extend the same courtesy to others.

Having some Jewish ancestry myself, I find the story of the Maccabees to be fascinating. While in my tradition we don't recognize the books of the Maccabees as canonical Scripture, the story itself is inspiring, and it also helps to fill in the gap between Malachi and Matthew. The struggle of the pious Jews to resist the Hellenizing influences pushed my Antiochus Epiphanes reflects similar struggles we see in the Old Testament narratives. That same struggle continued to follow the Jews even up to our own times. Certainly there is a fine example of human spirit and courage against the odds in this story.

However, it's not just about what the Maccabees and their followers did, as inspirational as that was. In the story of Chanukah we see the power of God in action, enabling outnumbered and outequipped fighters to throw off the oppression of a conqueror set on wiping out the knowledge and worship of God. Many Jews had acquiesced to Antiochus, so the numbers of the rebels were further reduced. Yet they were able to win their freedom back, thanks to their faithfulness to God and refusal to accept the pagan ways of their oppressors.

I also have no problem with believing the miracle of the oil. I know this is disputed among many scholars, even some who don't dismiss the miraculous outright, but I believe that God has the power to accomplish miracles, and such a sign would have been very appropriate at the time.

In John 10:22 we are told that Jesus went to Jerusalem for the Feast of Dedication, which is our modern Chanukah. Perhaps the story was fresh in people's minds, since in the dialogue that follows they ask Jesus to state plainly whether or not He was the Messiah. They may have been looking for a hero like the Maccabees to lead them against their oppressors. Jesus didn't fall into the trap of their assumptions, since He was going to be a different kind of Messiah, but Chanukah and its history certainly are a precursor to the coming King, who unlike the Hasmoneans will be a legitimate descendant of David.

So, whether you are Jewish, Christian, or follow some other faith, enjoy the story of Chanukah, and don't be afraid to wish someone you know a "Happy Chanukah" this year.

Sunday sermon: "Jesus Meets Persistent Pleaders"

Putting the two pericopes (a fancy scholarly term for "paragraph" or "short literary section") from Matthew 20:20-34 in context highlights the contrast between two similar events. In each section, two men are asking Jesus for something. (James and John try to sneak their request through their mother, who some scholars think may have been Jesus' aunt, but Jesus sees through that.)  In each Jesus asks "What do you want?" And, despite what some people have written, both were answered.

The major difference between the two requests was not in their content, but in their motivation. James and John (and possibly their mother) were motivated by pride. They wanted the chief positions of honor in the kingdom. Perhaps they legitimately thought they had earned those positions, as two of Jesus' closest confidants (as well as possibly His cousins). They may also have just been trying to preempt the other disciples by getting their request in first. In either case, their was a lot of self at the center of their request.

That really isn't much different than what we see in a lot of what passes for "Christian" teaching today. A whole group of "health and wealth" preachers teach that you should ask for what you want, and expect God to give it to you. Some even say that if you ask the right way, God must give you what you ask for. This places the emphasis in prayer on the petitioner, who puts him- or herself at the center of the universe. Prayers like this are made by people who essentially think of themselves as God. the one in control.

Jesus first challenges James and John with the price they would have to pay: the same kind of suffering He was facing Himself. Their glib "Yes, we can!" response was met with the assurance that they would indeed pay a great price. Still, Jesus told them "no." He would not give them the position they sought, because it was not His to give, but was already prepared by the Father for those whose it was.

The rest of the disciples, scarcely less ambitious, were angry with the two, and Jesus rebuked them as well. The key to greatness in His kingdom is not position, but service. The greatest is the one who serves the most; first place goes to the lowliest. How would this attitude taking root in our churches today change the dynamics of our congregations? What would it mean if we chose leaders on the basis of who served the most rather than who jockeyed for power best?

The two men in the other pericope stand in contrast to the disciples. They certainly want their request heard, and they call out persistently for Jesus. Their cry shows their heart: "Lord, have mercy on us, Son of David!" They acknowledge who Jesus is, as Lord and as Messiah, and they ask for mercy, not for something they think they deserve. They believed Jesus could help them, so they cried out for Him.

Jesus answers them with a "yes." In their case, He heals their blind eyes, and in response they follow Him. This apparently means they took to the road to Jerusalem with Jesus' band of pilgrims. Perhaps they were there for the eventful week that led to the death and resurrection of Jesus. In any case, their response to Jesus' mercy was to give Him themselves.

What is our attitude in prayer? Do we pray like we expect God to recognize our worthiness to receive anything we want? Or do we humbly ask our Lord to show us His mercy? Do we respond to the mercy and generosity of God by asking for even more, or by giving Him all we are? We can't buy God's grace; we can't match the price He paid. All we can do is give Him what we have, in humble service and gratitude for all we have received by His grace.

The faithful Martha

In most preaching on the raising of Lazarus, the focus is on everything that leads up to the event rather than on the event itself. I will be focusing on Jesus' encounter with Lazarus primarily, be the rest of the story certainly merits consideration. We'll be reading John 11:1-44 before the sermon, and the passage will really speak for itself.

One of the more intriguing twists in the story is the way Mary and Martha switch roles. Most of the time we see Mary as the contemplative one, who would rather spend time with Jesus than prepare a meal or who poured out her expensive perfume as a gift to Him. Martha is the worker, the one who is busy serving, but who sometimes misses the "necessary thing." Commentators and Bible scholars sometimes use the contrast between the two sisters as illustrations of one too busy with service to contemplate Jesus versus one who seeks a closer relationship with Him, much to Martha's discredit.

Because of that portrait of Martha. it is important to note her role in this passage. She is the one who goes to meet Jesus, while Mary stays in the house, and does not come until she is called. While both sisters remark that if Jesus had been present Lazarus would not have died, it is Martha who adds that she knows Jesus can do anything God allows Him to do. Martha is the one who professes faith in the Resurrection and in Jesus as the One with the power over death. Had we only John 11, it is Martha who would be held up as the paragon of faith, while Mary might be seen as one whose faith is lost when events don't go her way.

Of course, such a characterization would not be true. Both sisters clearly had faith in Jesus, although that faith was expressed in different ways in response to different situations. But while Mary generally receives her due (and some commentators even use the other passages about her to try and force a positive meaning on her actions here), Martha remains in our minds as the one too busy to spend time with Jesus. That picture needs correction from the Gospel accounts.

Faith expresses itself in many ways. I believe God created us each with our own temperaments, gifts, and abilities so that we can serve Him in the way He wished us to serve. Sometimes we can allow that to interfere with our relationship with Jesus, as Martha did previously and Mary did here. We can also allow that move us to draw nearer to Jesus, again as both sisters did on occasion. One is not necessarily better than the other, just a different expression. We should each in our own way seek to be near Jesus even as we use our diverse gifts in His service.

Sunday sermon: "Jesus Meets a Handicapped Man"

There is certainly enough tragedy in this life to go around. Just check how long it takes your evening news broadcast to get to the first good news of the night. With all of this, there are Christians who see everything as God's judgment on some person, group, or nation for sins they have committed.

The disciples approached the man this passage, John 9:1-7, with that kind of an attitude. Since he was born blind, it must be the fault of someone who sinned. While some tragedies are certainly the result of sin, and God may very well use natural disasters on occasion as judgment, I believe the vast majority of "bad things" that happen are the result of living in a fallen world. So in a sense, they are the result of sin, but of the original sin of Adam and Eve, which led to the curse.

Jesus turns the disciples' opinion around. It wasn't the fault of anyone, but "happened so that the work of God might be displayed in his life." This man had suffered all of his life to this point, but God would bring His glory out of that situation. While we do not enjoy going through suffering, it is important to realize that even in our worst circumstances God can bring about His glory. He may not choose to deliver us from those circumstances, as Jesus did here, but He can still use us to glorify Himself.

Jesus' actions here puzzle us. (Perhaps some are even grossed out by them. Would you want mud made with spit put on your eyes?) Why the mud? The early church writers didn't find this as puzzling as we do; there is a fairly consistent theme through several of the fathers. Irenaeus is a representative example: "To that man, however, who had been blind from his birth, He gave sight, not by means of a word, but by an outward action; doing this not without a purpose, or because it so happened, but that He might show forth the hand of God, that which at the beginning had moulded man." (Against Heresies V.15.2) The mud was a reminder of the earth from which Adam was formed, and its use was intended to show that the same power that made man also could heal a man.


The ultimate transformation, however, comes later in the passage. In vv.35-38 we read of a second encounter between the man and Jesus. After the man had been thrown out of the synagogue (whether temporarily or permanently is not clear), Jesus seeks him out and moves him from physical to spiritual sight. Once he realizes who Jesus is, the man falls and worships Him. The change in his life is deeper and more profound than the change in his eyesight. Unlike the Pharisees, who remained willingly blind spiritually, this man could see who Jesus really was. To gain sight when you have never seen is amazing; to gain eternal life when you are lost is infinitely greater. This man's own disability led him to the Savior.


As is common in the Bible, when we read about going through adversity we have the challenge of allowing God to glorify Himself through us. Our human reaction is to complain and pout, which only leads others to see that Christians react just like everyone else. We need to choose to honor the Lord through our sufferings, and to actively seek to proclaim His glory. It isn't easy (and despite what some TV evangelists say God never promised it would be), but in the light of eternity it is worth it.

Sunday sermon: "Jesus Meets a Trapped Woman"

As we deal with this passage as it has come to us, we find one of the more powerful stories of Jesus' gracious dealing with sinners. The setup of the story is the trap set for Jesus, by men whose motives were obviously suspect. Why only the woman if she was caught in the act? Why ask Jesus, who had no particular authority to deal with the matter? Why mention a form of punishment Rome would most likely have issues with if it was carried out? The text is clear that this was designed to be a no-win situation for Jesus.

The picture of Jesus stooping to write on the ground is memorable. For a passage so many scholars question, there is certainly a lot of speculation about what Jesus wrote. While many of the speculations are  plausible, none of them make any difference. I believe what Jesus was doing was buying time to think-not for Himself, but for the accusers.

So we have the famous statement, "If any one of you is without sin, let him be the first to throw a stone at her." I think Jesus wasn't referring to someone being sinless in general, but to their innocence in this matter. He was challenging these religious leaders: "If you are pure in your motivations in accusing this woman, go ahead and throw a stone." From oldest to youngest, they depart, leaving no accuser.

At this point, with no witness and no accuser present, Jesus is perfectly within the Law to dismiss the case. But it is important to remember two things. (1) There was someone present who could, under Jesus' strictures, cast the first stone-Jesus Himself. (2) Although the woman was the victim of the religious leaders' setup, she was actually guilty of the sin of which they accused her. Yet Jesus shows mercy, and lets her go free.

However, it was not an unconditional freedom. "Go now and leave your life of sin." Jesus does not condone her sin, nor does He excuse it. He expects that the result of His mercy will be a change in her life, a desire to do what is righteous. It is vital to keep these two in the proper order. Righteousness is the response to grace; it is not the condition of grace. The grace of God precedes our righteousness. We cannot buy or earn grace; if we could, it would not be grace. The grace of God is given freely, so that we receive what we do not deserve. Our response then is to live in a way that honors the God who showed us grace,

It is also vital to remember that when Jesus forgave this woman, He could do so because He knew the price for her sin would be paid by Him. In grace, we do get what we do not deserve, but it is because Jesus got what He did not deserve. He paid the price so our debt could be paid. Nothing you or I can do can pay Jesus back for the cross.

As we encounter "sinners," we need to remember that we ourselves are sinners saved by grace. We are to be instruments of the grace of God, showing the love of Jesus to those we encounter so that they might see Him through us.

John 7:53-8:11 and Textual Criticism

This is a brief discussion of the textual question that I will provide as a bulletin insert this Sunday.

Why is John 7:53-8:11 set apart in my Bible?

The passage we are studying today, John 7:53-8:11, is set apart in most modern translations. There is usually an explanatory note that says that this passage was probably not part of the original writing of John. Why do scholars think that is so, and why is this passage still included in our Bibles?

We have a great number of manuscripts of the New Testament in existence today, dating back to the 2^nd century. We have more manuscripts from later periods, and also a large number of manuscripts of early Bible translations. Very few manuscripts read exactly alike; there is usually some variation between them. This is due to the fact that they were copied by hand, and occasionally the copyist would make a mistake.

Fortunately, we have so many manuscripts of many different types that we are able to figure out by studying them what the original wording was. The process by which we do this is called “textual criticism.” This isn’t the kind of criticism that questions the reliability of the Bible, but is the process of recovering as best we can the original wording of the Bible.

We have a lot of confidence that most of the New Testament we have today is exactly what was written by the original human authors. Where there are differences, they do not affect any point of Biblical teaching or call into question any doctrine we believe.

This passage is one of the longer passages that are questioned by scholars. Here are a few of the reasons for this:

1) This passage is not found in the oldest manuscripts of the New Testament.

2) This passage is not found in the oldest translations of the New Testament.

3) The earliest commentators on the New Testament do not mention this passage.

4) Many manuscripts which include this passage set it apart from the rest of the text, much like we do in our modern translations.

5) Where this passage is found, it sometimes is put in a different place in John, and in some manuscripts it is even found in Luke instead.

So if there are so many questions, why do we keep this passage in our Bibles today? Some reasons scholars keep this passage:

1) Some very early church writers mention a story circulating at their time that sounds much like this one.

2) Jerome, who made the Latin translation we call the Vulgate, around AD 400, mentions it as existing in many manuscripts he used.

3) Augustine (also around 400) writes that he believes the passage was “removed” by some who were concerned that the passage gave license to adultery.

4) There is a general consensus that this story is a genuine account of an incident in the life of Jesus that circulated in the early church. It eventually became attached to a gospel account (which is why it shows up in different places). The sayings and actions of Jesus here are very much in character with what we see of Him in the rest of the Gospels.

I believe that we have here in this passage a genuine story about Jesus, acting in mercy toward a sinner, and that we can study this passage with profit.