Plymothian

Now a certain man was ill, Lazarus of Bethany, the village of Mary and her sister Martha. ² It was Mary who anointed the Lord with ointment and wiped his feet with her hair, whose brother Lazarus was ill. ³ So the sisters sent to him, saying, “Lord, he whom you love is ill.” ⁴ But when Jesus heard it he said, “This illness does not lead to death. It is for the glory of God, so that the Son of God may be glorified through it.”

⁵ Now Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus. ⁶ So, when he heard that Lazarus was ill, he stayed two days longer in the place where he was. ⁷ Then after this he said to the disciples, “Let us go to Judea again.” ⁸ The disciples said to him, “Rabbi, the Jews were just now seeking to stone you, and are you going there again?” ⁹ Jesus answered, “Are there not twelve hours in the day? If anyone walks in the day, he does not stumble, because he sees the light of this world. ¹⁰ But if anyone walks in the night, he stumbles, because the light is not in him.” ¹¹ After saying these things, he said to them, “Our friend Lazarus has fallen asleep, but I go to awaken him.” ¹² The disciples said to him, “Lord, if he has fallen asleep, he will recover.” ¹³ Now Jesus had spoken of his death, but they thought that he meant taking rest in sleep. ¹⁴ Then Jesus told them plainly, “Lazarus has died, ¹⁵ and for your sake I am glad that I was not there, so that you may believe. But let us go to him.” ¹⁶ So Thomas, called the Twin, said to his fellow disciples, “Let us also go, that we may die with him.”

¹⁷ Now when Jesus came, he found that Lazarus had already been in the tomb four days. ¹⁸ Bethany was near Jerusalem, about two miles off, ¹⁹ and many of the Jews had come to Martha and Mary to console them concerning their brother. ²⁰ So when Martha heard that Jesus was coming, she went and met him, but Mary remained seated in the house. ²¹ Martha said to Jesus, “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died. ²² But even now I know that whatever you ask from God, God will give you.” ²³ Jesus said to her, “Your brother will rise again.” ²⁴ Martha said to him, “I know that he will rise again in the resurrection on the last day.” ²⁵ Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live, ²⁶ and everyone who lives and believes in me shall never die. Do you believe this?” ²⁷ She said to him, “Yes, Lord; I believe that you are the Christ, the Son of God, who is coming into the world.”

²⁸ When she had said this, she went and called her sister Mary, saying in private, “The Teacher is here and is calling for you.” ²⁹ And when she heard it, she rose quickly and went to him. ³⁰ Now Jesus had not yet come into the village, but was still in the place where Martha had met him. ³¹ When the Jews who were with her in the house, consoling her, saw Mary rise quickly and go out, they followed her, supposing that she was going to the tomb to weep there. ³² Now when Mary came to where Jesus was and saw him, she fell at his feet, saying to him, “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died.” ³³ When Jesus saw her weeping, and the Jews who had come with her also weeping, he was deeply moved in his spirit and greatly troubled. ³⁴ And he said, “Where have you laid him?” They said to him, “Lord, come and see.” ³⁵ Jesus wept. ³⁶ So the Jews said, “See how he loved him!” ³⁷ But some of them said, “Could not he who opened the eyes of the blind man also have kept this man from dying?”

³⁸ Then Jesus, deeply moved again, came to the tomb. It was a cave, and a stone lay against it. ³⁹ Jesus said, “Take away the stone.” Martha, the sister of the dead man, said to him, “Lord, by this time there will be an odour, for he has been dead four days.” ⁴⁰ Jesus said to her, “Did I not tell you that if you believed you would see the glory of God?” ⁴¹ So they took away the stone. And Jesus lifted up his eyes and said, “Father, I thank you that you have heard me. ⁴² I knew that you always hear me, but I said this on account of the people standing around, that they may believe that you sent me.” ⁴³ When he had said these things, he cried out with a loud voice, “Lazarus, come out.” ⁴⁴ The man who had died came out, his hands and feet bound with linen strips, and his face wrapped with a cloth. Jesus said to them, “Unbind him, and let him go.”

The Death of Lazarus II

What are our ultimate values?  What is life really about?  If we have been in a church at all, we know that the answer given is Jesus.  However, there are times when the Jesus answer is superficial and shallow.  There are times when we are tested to see if our lives are all about Jesus and his kingdom.  Sometimes the other things that mean more to us need to be taken away.

I am not sure that Mary, Martha and Lazarus would have said their lives were all about Jesus.  I believe, like most ancient Jews, they would have said that their lives were all about God.  There was a submission to God in the culture.  Life belonged to God.

If life belongs to God, he can take it away.  It is his right.  The issue of death presses into the issue of sovereignty.  Whose life is it anyway?  God has allowed us the privilege of making decisions as we live out life.  However, above that, he is the Lord of life and death.  He is the master of Creation.  Although there is grief in this passage, there is a glorifying of God on a grand scale.  People don’t completely die and then come back to life again like this.  Once the soul has left the body, after three days, the body is not reanimated.  God shows his power and his glory in doing this sign through his son Jesus.  God’s glory is ultimate.  God’s glory is the reason life is given anyway.  God’s glory is shown through the life of his son and the signs that he performed.  God’s glory will ultimately be shown when Jesus is enthroned on the cross.

There is a mystery here of beauty, grief, horror, submission and glory.  Is your life a complex mixture of these things?

Prayer

Jesus, I don’t think I would like to be Lazarus, experiencing death just so glory can be shown.  However, I must have my priorities mixed up.  I read Hebrews 11 and I see the passage through death as a symbol of faith.  Help us to be more focused on your glory so that we walk bravely into the horror, the pain, and the darkness, so that your light might shine more clearly.

Questions

1. How is God’s sovereignty shown in this passage?
2. Why are Mary and Martha seemingly resigned to their grief and loss?
3. Why does Jesus cry when he knows the outcome will be a resurrection?
4. Why does God have to teach by using people as life and death illustrations?
5. Why do people today think ease and comfort are signs of God’s glory, unlike some of the book of John?

Now a certain man was ill, Lazarus of Bethany, the village of Mary and her sister Martha. ² It was Mary who anointed the Lord with ointment and wiped his feet with her hair, whose brother Lazarus was ill. ³ So the sisters sent to him, saying, “Lord, he whom you love is ill.” ⁴ But when Jesus heard it he said, “This illness does not lead to death. It is for the glory of God, so that the Son of God may be glorified through it.”

⁵ Now Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus. ⁶ So, when he heard that Lazarus was ill, he stayed two days longer in the place where he was. ⁷ Then after this he said to the disciples, “Let us go to Judea again.” ⁸ The disciples said to him, “Rabbi, the Jews were just now seeking to stone you, and are you going there again?” ⁹ Jesus answered, “Are there not twelve hours in the day? If anyone walks in the day, he does not stumble, because he sees the light of this world. ¹⁰ But if anyone walks in the night, he stumbles, because the light is not in him.” ¹¹ After saying these things, he said to them, “Our friend Lazarus has fallen asleep, but I go to awaken him.” ¹² The disciples said to him, “Lord, if he has fallen asleep, he will recover.” ¹³ Now Jesus had spoken of his death, but they thought that he meant taking rest in sleep. ¹⁴ Then Jesus told them plainly, “Lazarus has died, ¹⁵ and for your sake I am glad that I was not there, so that you may believe. But let us go to him.” ¹⁶ So Thomas, called the Twin, said to his fellow disciples, “Let us also go, that we may die with him.”

¹⁷ Now when Jesus came, he found that Lazarus had already been in the tomb four days. ¹⁸ Bethany was near Jerusalem, about two miles off, ¹⁹ and many of the Jews had come to Martha and Mary to console them concerning their brother. ²⁰ So when Martha heard that Jesus was coming, she went and met him, but Mary remained seated in the house. ²¹ Martha said to Jesus, “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died. ²² But even now I know that whatever you ask from God, God will give you.” ²³ Jesus said to her, “Your brother will rise again.” ²⁴ Martha said to him, “I know that he will rise again in the resurrection on the last day.” ²⁵ Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live, ²⁶ and everyone who lives and believes in me shall never die. Do you believe this?” ²⁷ She said to him, “Yes, Lord; I believe that you are the Christ, the Son of God, who is coming into the world.”

²⁸ When she had said this, she went and called her sister Mary, saying in private, “The Teacher is here and is calling for you.” ²⁹ And when she heard it, she rose quickly and went to him. ³⁰ Now Jesus had not yet come into the village, but was still in the place where Martha had met him. ³¹ When the Jews who were with her in the house, consoling her, saw Mary rise quickly and go out, they followed her, supposing that she was going to the tomb to weep there. ³² Now when Mary came to where Jesus was and saw him, she fell at his feet, saying to him, “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died.” ³³ When Jesus saw her weeping, and the Jews who had come with her also weeping, he was deeply moved in his spirit and greatly troubled. ³⁴ And he said, “Where have you laid him?” They said to him, “Lord, come and see.” ³⁵ Jesus wept. ³⁶ So the Jews said, “See how he loved him!” ³⁷ But some of them said, “Could not he who opened the eyes of the blind man also have kept this man from dying?”

³⁸ Then Jesus, deeply moved again, came to the tomb. It was a cave, and a stone lay against it. ³⁹ Jesus said, “Take away the stone.” Martha, the sister of the dead man, said to him, “Lord, by this time there will be an odour, for he has been dead four days.” ⁴⁰ Jesus said to her, “Did I not tell you that if you believed you would see the glory of God?” ⁴¹ So they took away the stone. And Jesus lifted up his eyes and said, “Father, I thank you that you have heard me. ⁴² I knew that you always hear me, but I said this on account of the people standing around, that they may believe that you sent me.” ⁴³ When he had said these things, he cried out with a loud voice, “Lazarus, come out.” ⁴⁴ The man who had died came out, his hands and feet bound with linen strips, and his face wrapped with a cloth. Jesus said to them, “Unbind him, and let him go.”

The Death of Lazarus

Let’s pretend we have never read this story before.  Let’s pretend we don’t know the ending and see that, “Oh yay, Lazarus is back to life!”  Let’s pretend that we see what is going on  for the first time.  When I was a child I had never seen anyone die.  I have seen a few deaths now.  You sit by helplessly as a person you love slips away from you.  You watch them suffer as their body slows down and shuts down never to start again.  Mary and Martha sent word to Jesus because their brother was slowly slipping away from them.  They asked Jesus to come and he refused.  Mary and Martha watched the light fading from their brother’s eyes and it cut them deeply.  When they meet with Jesus and ask him questions there is a mixture of grief and confusion in the air.  They know that Jesus loved their brother, but he did not come.  They know that Jesus could have saved their brother, but he did not come.  They know that Jesus can ask for anything from his Father, but he did not ask.  Jesus has healed many.  Jesus has touched people with life-giving hands.  Jesus did not save his friend from dying.

However, the focus of Jesus’ life is not about these friends.  The focus of Jesus’ life is on his service to the Father.  The Father’s plan is to allow people to die.  We are so much of this earth that we don’t understand how death can be good.  We don’t see how suffering can be in the plan.  “To live is Christ;  To die is gain” said the apostle Paul.  Death has lost its sting, we are told.  Yet Jesus weeps.  He feels grief.  In the limitations he has placed on himself, he experiences loss.  He allows himself to enter into the suffering that his faithful service of God the Father has caused.

Lazarus is dead.  Martha weeps.  Mary weeps.  Mourners weep.  Jesus weeps.  They all seem to accept that this is the way it is meant to be.  They all seem to submit to God.  Yet they weep.

Prayer

We see your plans carried out, Father, and they are beyond us.  We see pain in the act of living.  We often see more pain in the act of dying.  We experience loss.  We experience grief.  A chasm opens up between us and the departed.  We trust you and we question you.  We coil up and we find nowhere to rest.  However, we learn to submit because you are God.  We wait in silence because you have laid it upon us.  You may act.  You may not.  You are God.

Questions

1. Why does Jesus delay?
2. What do Mary and Martha want?  What do you think Lazarus wanted?
3. How do you feel about Jesus choosing to allow someone to die?
4. When have you found it difficult to see the good in the circumstances around you?
5. How do you walk forward through life when you are in grief or loss?

A different kind of devotional arose from surveying the Bible and thinking of emerging leaders like those that I train at Moody.

Jacob (Genesis 25-36)
Jacob has gifts in managing flocks and domestic affairs. His ambition, though, causes him to swindle his brother, practice magic and divination, and make deals with God. Jacob’s rivalry with his brother is fueled by being mentored by his mother. Both she and Jacob team up to manipulate their environment for personal gain, but instead they create potential disaster.
Jacob flees his home situation and makes a deal with God. Because of God’s persistent blessing in spite of his schemes, Jacob eventually submits to God’s oversight and puts away his idols. Jacob’s vision changes from a view of success because of self to a view of success because of God. He changes from viewing God as the God of his father to personally submitting to God.
Joseph (Genesis 37-50)
As an emerging leader, Joseph was singled out for leadership by his father. His cloak, according to Walton, was a symbol of management. Joseph’s ability to manage and his gifts with dreams were not coupled well with his interpersonal skills with his brothers. Jacob managed Joseph badly as a father-mentor and created an environment where Joseph was seen as an enemy, or as a snitch, which fractured the fraternal community.
God redeemed Joseph by taking him through times of trial and hardship in Egypt. He was separated from family and used his skills as a servant to both Potiphar and the jailer before rising once more to leadership. He became a faithful and competent follower before he was once more entrusted with oversight.
When Joseph rose once more to an exalted position of leadership he was completely focused on the provision of God and the welfare of others.
Moses (Exodus – Deuteronomy)
Moses is raised as a son of Pharaoh’s daughter. He would probably know government and would probably hold power. Moses identifies with ‘his people’ the Israelites. He has a hot temper and his anger leads to murder. He is afraid of the consequences of his actions, so he flees.
In exile and in the wilderness God shapes Moses and develops in him humility. Although his fears and his anger does not disappear it is tempered by experience.  Moses is called back by God after 40 years of formation. Moses becomes a humble conduit, putting personal power aside he uses skills in government and wilderness survival to lead Israel to the Promised Land.
Judges: Barak, Gideon, Jephthah, Samson
The Judges show a decline in the quality of leadership following Joshua, Caleb and Othniel. By the end of the book no effective leaders are emerging and everyone is doing what they see as fit in their own eyes.

Barak is a great military leader but he lacks faith and courage. He is called to lead, but is shamed because the glory goes to a woman. He is still instrumental in God’s plan but does not fulfil his potential as a leader.
Gideon, like Saul, is a leader who has poor self-image. He is timid and cowardly. The Angel of the Lord knows that he is a great and mighty warrior, but he does not identify that way. God encourages Gideon by giving him a series of signs. In this way, finally, Gideon finds courage to pursue his calling.
To avoid self-reliance by Gideon, God reduces the number of his armies to 300. However, we know that something is amiss when Gideon’s men shout, “For the Lord, and for Gideon!” Gideon increasingly creates his own agenda and ultimately replaces worship of Baal with worship of a golden ephod.
Samson is the last in the line of named Judges in the narrative and struggles with the lust of his eyes. He has great strength from God, but he has critically poor control of his appetites for sex and food. His parents seem to indulge him and spoil him. They give in to his unrighteous demands.
Samson suffers at the hands of the Philistines and ultimately seeks revenge for the eyes that he has lost. Although God uses Samson in spite of himself, he is a sad figure of an emerging leader who fails.
Saul (1 Samuel)
Saul, like Gideon, lacks confidence but a quick rise to power corrupts him. He develops into an egotist who is afraid of looking bad in the sight of the people. Some have said that he might have been bipolar, but he definitely had a weakness with fluctuations of overconfidence and fear. He embodies the qualities that people look for in a leader: height and strategic prowess. However, his fear of people and his lack of devotion to God lead to his downfall.
God judges him and takes the kingdom from him and as king of Israel he fails. There is no real path of redemption.
David (1 & 2 Samuel)
David, unlike Saul, is a man after God’s own heart. However, he is artistic and creative. He has great military skills and leadership skills. He motivates people around him well. However, his passions, which we see in the Psalms are not harnessed well sexually.
He makes advances on Bathsheba, kills Uriah her husband, and marries her. Nathan confronts David and David repents and suffers. His suffering, though, is temporary. His internal wounds never heal. We see him as flawed in his relationship with his children. He mismanages a case of rape in his family, and his inaction allows Absalom to lead a rebellion. It could be argued that although God was redeeming him as a leader, guilt or shame fatally flawed him as leading with moral authority.
Kings
As a general observation of the kings of Israel, we see that they do not do well in the eyes of God. This raises questions of how leaders emerged from the palace of Israel. The quest for personal power would have been modeled by their fathers and by a number of their mothers. For example, we see the daughter of Jezebel, Athaliah, behaving very much like her mother, even though she becomes Queen of Judah.
The kings of Judah fare slightly better, but they preserve a more orthodox faith than the idolatry implemented at Dan and Bethel. Joash stands out as an orphan king who was mentored by priests. Although he did not tear down the idols erected to false gods on the high places, he did restore the temple. He has a zeal for the temple, where his guardian lives, but he does not see well beyond that.
In conclusion, many of the kings of Israel and Judah had obvious disparities in their skill sets. Although the heritage seems to be important, there is a lack of clear evidence of how kings were developed within the text.
Peter (Matthew-Acts)
Peter is bold and brave in many circumstances. However, he lacks judgment and denied Jesus when Jesus was most in need. In John 21 we have a picture of Jesus restoring Peter by forcing him to look at the inconsistency in his own heart. Ultimately Peter is developed by a pouring out of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost.
Paul (Acts)
Paul is well trained in both Jewish and Greek culture. Paul has a desire or zeal for God that is misguided. He stands by as Stephen is stoned to death and he actively seeks out Christians in order to persecute them.
Jesus appears to him in a vision in order to direct him and the event leaves Paul blind. He must humble himself and submit to his new Lord and await deliverance. Jesus then teaches him for three years in the wilderness of Arabia (Galatians 1) before he becomes an apostle to the Gentiles.
John Mark
Paul and Barnabas divide because Paul is unwilling to forgive John Mark for turning back on a mission trip. However, Barnabas’ encouragement of John Mark leads to reconciliation with Paul and the production of the Gospel of Mark.
Meta-analysis of Emerging Leaders Who Had Great Gifts and Obvious Weaknesses in Their Profile
Looking through the accounts of leaders who emerged with great gifts but had flaws there are those who received grace and those who suffered under the law.
Those who suffered under the law were righteously judged for their early mistakes. Even if they maintained or attained leadership, the Bible does not speak positively about them. Their fatal flaw seems to be a quest for power and self-reliance. They do not repent or look to God when confronted with their failings. In the case of Saul, and those like him, we sometimes see grief at the failings, but we see a sense of personal loss not one that is concerned for the reputation of God. They ultimately fail because they see God as a means to personal power, rather than seeing that their power is sanctioned by God for his glory.
Those who receive grace are also judged for their mistakes and often receive punishment or discipline. However, like David, they accept their punishment. They may grieve their own loss, but they are also concerned for the things of God. David in the Old Testament and Peter in the New Testament are both externally focused on God and his purposes.
In emerging leaders in the Bible, their failings are often exposed and allowed to run their course. The results of their personal deficiencies are adultery, murder, and denial. These people then often leave the obvious path for self-advancement and are taken into the ‘wilderness’ both literally and figuratively. In the wilderness they often become reluctant to lead, but God encourages the emerging leader to keep emerging by coming personally or sending a messenger.

Questions

1. As you are emerging as a leader which narrative connects most with you?
2. How might you be disciplined in order to refocus your leadership gifts?
3. How do these narratives help you to develop leaders around you?

³¹ The Jews picked up stones again to stone him. ³² Jesus answered them, “I have shown you many good works from the Father; for which of them are you going to stone me?” ³³ The Jews answered him, “It is not for a good work that we are going to stone you but for blasphemy, because you, being a man, make yourself God.” ³⁴ Jesus answered them, “Is it not written in your Law, ‘I said, you are gods’? ³⁵ If he called them gods to whom the word of God came—and Scripture cannot be broken— ³⁶ do you say of him whom the Father consecrated and sent into the world, ‘You are blaspheming’, because I said, ‘I am the Son of God’? ³⁷ If I am not doing the works of my Father, then do not believe me; ³⁸ but if I do them, even though you do not believe me, believe the works, that you may know and understand that the Father is in me and I am in the Father.” ³⁹ Again they sought to arrest him, but he escaped from their hands.

⁴⁰ He went away again across the Jordan to the place where John had been baptizing at first, and there he remained. ⁴¹ And many came to him. And they said, “John did no sign, but everything that John said about this man was true.” ⁴² And many believed in him there.

Jesus Claims to be God

When I was in college, the gospel of John came under vehement attack.  The synoptic problem was addressed and that was about all the time that we had for the first three gospels.  However, when it came to John my professor took a delight in saying almost nothing positive about it.  She really enjoyed refuting all of its truth claims, especially the claim that Jesus was God.  According to some scholars, John was composed to help construct a deity of Christ which Jesus never claimed to have.  The Trinitarian doctrines of the church, they say, came much later.

I would say that the people in Jesus’ time were baffled by what he was saying and that we see some evidence that Jesus was killed by those who understood quite well what he was saying.  We see instances where Jesus is worshiped and we see instances where people accuse him of claiming equality with God.  In this passage, Jesus’ claims come to a head.  His persistent use of the ‘I Am’ statements lead people to conclude he is claiming to be God himself.  People see the signs pointing to something extraordinary, but the learned Pharisees, in general, find it impossible to match their belief in one God with the evidence that Jesus himself is God.

Jesus is about to reveal his final sign pointing to his identity in chapter 11.  He is setting the stage for believing in him. Who exactly is it that people are expected to believe in?  The complete identity of Jesus is shrouded in mystery.  However, people are called to believe in him as a disciple.  They do not have to believe all truths about him.  They have to follow the man who heals sickness, speaks authoritatively and will soon raise the dead.

While so many people try and discredit the gospel testimonies about Jesus because they do not want to follow anyone, let alone an ancient Jew, what will your response be?

Prayer

Jesus, in light of the infinite things that are true about you, I know precious little of who you are.  I commit to knowing you better.  I will believe in you.  My faith will not be based solely in what I believe about you.  I will trust you to lead me through the darkness to a future of love and light.  Lead on Jesus.

Questions

1. What has Jesus been talking about in chapter 10?
2. Why does this lead to an accusation of blasphemy?
3. In your opinion, do the onlookers believe in Jesus as God?
4. How would you evaluate your knowledge of Jesus?
5. Do you believe in Jesus as a disciple who is willing to follow him through the darkness?

²⁰ Many of them said, “He has a demon, and is insane; why listen to him?” ²¹ Others said, “These are not the words of one who is oppressed by a demon. Can a demon open the eyes of the blind?”

²² At that time the Feast of Dedication took place at Jerusalem. It was winter, ²³ and Jesus was walking in the temple, in the colonnade of Solomon. ²⁴ So the Jews gathered around him and said to him, “How long will you keep us in suspense? If you are the Christ, tell us plainly.” ²⁵ Jesus answered them, “I told you, and you do not believe. The works that I do in my Father’s name bear witness about me, ²⁶ but you do not believe because you are not part of my flock. ²⁷ My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me. ²⁸ I give them eternal life, and they will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of my hand. ²⁹ My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all, and no one is able to snatch them out of the Father’s hand. ³⁰ I and the Father are one.”

To Be One

When we have been in painful relationships, to be one with another person seems unattractive.  If we have had a father or mother who belittled us, beat us, or showed no interest in us, we find it hard to accept love and affection which we have never known.  Some people throw themselves desperately into relationships hoping that they will be known.  Some people hide themselves because of the fear and the pain.  Some people are so damaged that they cease to feel anything deeply, they languish in apathy and despair.

Jesus wants to be known and he wants to know us.  That is a hard concept for me.  I don’t attach well with males.  I can play alongside them, but it is harder to believe that they wold want to selflessly invest in me.  By faith I accept that to Jesus I am precious.  I am protected in the palm of his hand.  I belong to him and he belongs to me.  He was firmly secure in his relationship with his heavenly father, I was designed for that kind of security.  To become more attached to Jesus is a tedious and slow journey.  My mind defaults to sinful patterns that it has learned from youth.  Sin so quickly entangles me.  However, in Jesus’ strength I push on into union with God.  He invites me into the embrace of the Trinity.  Even typing this I tremble.  I fear that I am an imposter.  However, my feelings of being an outsider don’t belong here.  Jesus assures me and he holds me close.

Prayer

Jesus, you have paid the price so that I can be united with God.  I have fears and I am wounded in ways that are revealed to me with ever-increasing depth.  Let us all find rest in you and lead us on a path to healing and wholeness.

Questions

1. With whom did the people believe Jesus had a relationship?
2. How does Jesus describe his relationship with the Father?
3. How does Jesus describe those who are his?
4. Whose are you?
5. How is Jesus holding you close and leading you into an intimate relationship with him?

“Truly, truly, I say to you, he who does not enter the sheepfold by the door but climbs in by another way, that man is a thief and a robber. ² But he who enters by the door is the shepherd of the sheep. ³ To him the gatekeeper opens. The sheep hear his voice, and he calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. ⁴ When he has brought out all his own, he goes before them, and the sheep follow him, for they know his voice. ⁵ A stranger they will not follow, but they will flee from him, for they do not know the voice of strangers.” ⁶ This figure of speech Jesus used with them, but they did not understand what he was saying to them.

⁷ So Jesus again said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, I am the door of the sheep. ⁸ All who came before me are thieves and robbers, but the sheep did not listen to them. ⁹ I am the door. If anyone enters by me, he will be saved and will go in and out and find pasture. ¹⁰ The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life and have it abundantly. ¹¹ I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. ¹² He who is a hired hand and not a shepherd, who does not own the sheep, sees the wolf coming and leaves the sheep and flees, and the wolf snatches them and scatters them. ¹³ He flees because he is a hired hand and cares nothing for the sheep. ¹⁴ I am the good shepherd. I know my own and my own know me, ¹⁵ just as the Father knows me and I know the Father; and I lay down my life for the sheep. ¹⁶ And I have other sheep that are not of this fold. I must bring them also, and they will listen to my voice. So there will be one flock, one shepherd. ¹⁷ For this reason the Father loves me, because I lay down my life that I may take it up again. ¹⁸ No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord. I have authority to lay it down, and I have authority to take it up again. This charge I have received from my Father.”

¹⁹ There was again a division among the Jews because of these words. ²⁰ Many of them said, “He has a demon, and is insane; why listen to him?” ²¹ Others said, “These are not the words of one who is oppressed by a demon. Can a demon open the eyes of the blind?”

His Voice

I was at a retreat in Gull Lake, MI this last weekend which is why I didn’t post.  At the retreat my wife came in looking for me at breakfast and she couldn’t see me.  I have a whistle for those moments and when she heard the whistle her head turned toward me and she immediately saw me.  I came home last week and whistled as I entered the back door of the house.  My daughter cried, “Daddy!” and turned to run to greet me.  She then slipped and hit her head on the door frame.  I felt quite bad about that.

My family know my whistle.  It illustrates for me something about what Jesus is saying in the passage above.  We should know Jesus’ voice. A familiarity with what sounds like Jesus and what doesn’t sound like Jesus should build up over time.  Would Jesus’ voice tell us to murder someone?  Is that in harmony with our relationship with him?  No.  However, yesterday the Catholic church said that they were wanting to soften their stance toward gays and show them more compassion.  They were issuing a statement affirming the good in same-sex unions whilst saying that Gays may still not be married by the Catholic church.  Christians are divided as to whether that sounds like Jesus.

We have scriptures given to us by God and we should be reading them.  They reveal the nature of God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit.  Knowing them through divine revelation helps us to discern what impulses and thoughts throughout the day might be from Jesus and which ones might be from ourselves or from a tempter.

Prayer

Help us to discern your voice in the busyness and clamour of our daily lives.  Lead us next to still waters and let us lay down and rest, assured of your love and protection.

Questions

1. How would the Old Testament inform the local people’s understanding of a shepherd?
2. How would local shepherds have acted in Bible times?
3. What does it mean that Jesus is a good shepherd?
4. How does depression affect our ability to hear Jesus’ voice?
5. How do you cultivate being able to hear Jesus?

³⁵ Jesus heard that they had cast him out, and having found him he said, “Do you believe in the Son of Man?” ³⁶ He answered, “And who is he, sir, that I may believe in him?” ³⁷ Jesus said to him, “You have seen him, and it is he who is speaking to you.” ³⁸ He said, “Lord, I believe”, and he worshipped him. ³⁹ Jesus said, “For judgement I came into this world, that those who do not see may see, and those who see may become blind.” ⁴⁰ Some of the Pharisees near him heard these things, and said to him, “Are we also blind?” ⁴¹ Jesus said to them, “If you were blind, you would have no guilt; but now that you say, ‘We see’, your guilt remains.

Problems Seeing

I have had problems seeing.  About a month ago when I came off caffeine I had a series of ocular migraines or migraines with aura.  From the left side of my vision to my right would become indistinct and wavy.  It was off-putting that I couldn’t trust my eyes.  I wondered what it would like to be blind.  I was scared that I didn’t have the power to see reality as it truly is.

My father was domineering and opinionated.  He needed to be in control to feel safe and so he wrested control of situations within the family with an iron fist.  I have grown up with a skepticism about my own ability to define reality because if my father thought I was wrong there was no room for debate.  A strength that grew out of this is that I entertain plurality.  Not that all things are right at the same time, but without certainty on an issue many possibilities exist that could answer a difficult questions.  I am quick to suggest possible answers, but I become a scared child if I have to define reality and stand by my definition.

Fortunately Jesus saw things with 20/20 vision.  He had the perspective of the Father and he knew that his Father, unlike mine, was indeed right about everything.  Jesus gives confidence to people like me who know their own limitations.  He gives sight to the blind.  This is not just the literal blind but the figurative also.  When I trust Jesus to define reality I see that his truth is proved in action.  This was the experience of the blind man who trusted Jesus when he received his sight. The question is for you, who do you rely on to define reality?

Prayer

Jesus, I don’t view myself as a confident person, but I am confident in you.  I trust the scriptures.  However, I need to be less filled with fear when people have fixed views with which I don’t agree.  Help me work my way away from the patterns of my childhood.  Help me to jettison all fear and to be secure in your love.

Questions

1. For whom does Jesus look?
2. What does he ask?
3. Why does John tell us the story about the blind man?
4. Who do you really trust on a day-to-day basis to define reality?
5. How can you live life with appropriate freedom and confidence?

²⁴ So for the second time they called the man who had been blind and said to him, “Give glory to God. We know that this man is a sinner.” ²⁵ He answered, “Whether he is a sinner I do not know. One thing I do know, that though I was blind, now I see.” ²⁶ They said to him, “What did he do to you? How did he open your eyes?” ²⁷ He answered them, “I have told you already, and you would not listen. Why do you want to hear it again? Do you also want to become his disciples?” ²⁸ And they reviled him, saying, “You are his disciple, but we are disciples of Moses. ²⁹ We know that God has spoken to Moses, but as for this man, we do not know where he comes from.” ³⁰ The man answered, “Why, this is an amazing thing! You do not know where he comes from, and yet he opened my eyes. ³¹ We know that God does not listen to sinners, but if anyone is a worshipper of God and does his will, God listens to him. ³² Never since the world began has it been heard that anyone opened the eyes of a man born blind. ³³ If this man were not from God, he could do nothing.” ³⁴ They answered him, “You were born in utter sin, and would you teach us?” And they cast him out.

John Wants Us To See

I thought N. T. Wright’s words were powerful as I read them on the train this morning.  I decided to just pass them on:

John wants us to see … and that is of course what the passage is all about.   It isn’t just about a man who is born blind who can now see; it is John’s readers, who are being led towards the light which is Jesus himself (9.5; 1.4-5).  As throughout the gospel, we are meant to look at what Jesus is doing and draw the correct conclusion about the presence of God with and in him.  It may be surprising;  it may upset some cherished assumptions; it may even be shocking. But when blind eyes are being opened there is only one conclusion to be drawn.  Just as Moses shocked the magicians of Egypt by doing things they couldn’t copy (Exodus 8.18-19), Jesus is now shocking the world of his day by doing things for which the only explanation is that God is powerfully at work.  This prepares the way, as did Moses, for the great new Exodus, and indeed the great new Genesis, the new creation in which God’s people will be set free not only from blindness but from evil and death.

Being a Christian is often confusing.  People try to interpret your experience for you, to put you in this category or that category, to label you.  Often this is so that they needn’t take you quite seriously.  What you must do is stick to what you know.  ‘I used to be blind;  now I can see.’  It may be costly, but paying that cost is better than the still more costly route of denying what, in Jesus, God truly has done for you.

N. T. Wright

Prayer

My physical sight is having issues at the moment, Jesus.  I pray that you would heal that.  However, more importantly, I pray that our spiritual sight would be sharpened.  May you come more clearly into focus as being who you have claimed to be.

Questions

1. Why did the Pharisees call the man back?
2. How do you think the man felt?
3. Who ‘won’ the argument?  Why?
4. What has God done for you?
5. Who else knows these things apart from you?

¹³ They brought to the Pharisees the man who had formerly been blind. ¹⁴ Now it was a Sabbath day when Jesus made the mud and opened his eyes. ¹⁵ So the Pharisees again asked him how he had received his sight. And he said to them, “He put mud on my eyes, and I washed, and I see.” ¹⁶ Some of the Pharisees said, “This man is not from God, for he does not keep the Sabbath.” But others said, “How can a man who is a sinner do such signs?” And there was a division among them. ¹⁷ So they said again to the blind man, “What do you say about him, since he has opened your eyes?” He said, “He is a prophet.”

¹⁸ The Jews did not believe that he had been blind and had received his sight, until they called the parents of the man who had received his sight ¹⁹ and asked them, “Is this your son, who you say was born blind? How then does he now see?” ²⁰ His parents answered, “We know that this is our son and that he was born blind. ²¹ But how he now sees we do not know, nor do we know who opened his eyes. Ask him; he is of age. He will speak for himself.” ²² (His parents said these things because they feared the Jews, for the Jews had already agreed that if anyone should confess Jesus to be Christ, he was to be put out of the synagogue.) ²³ Therefore his parents said, “He is of age; ask him.”

Blind Man’s Parents

There is a contrast with the blind man who sees and the seeing people who are blind in this passage in John.  Jesus’ followers didn’t quite understand who he was.  However, the leaders of the nation were willfully blind to Jesus’ true identity.  They were using fear to propagate their opinion.  We see in this passage that the Jewish leadership had decided that followers of Jesus were to be cast from the synagogue.  This does not just mean that they would have more time to play soccer on a Saturday.  This means that they would be outcasts from the social centre of society.  They would be shunned and excluded.

This is why the parents of the blind man try and dodge the bullet.  The Pharisees don’t want to hear positive things about Jesus and so the blind man’s parents tell them the truth about his birth defects, but they do not tell them anything about Jesus.  Although their son has been healed, they do not want to ally themselves with his healer.  Lines are being drawn in the sand and self-interest persuades people to distance themselves from Jesus.

The blind man himself, as we shall see, does not take the same stance as his parents.  His experience of Jesus overcomes his fear.  However, the fear of reprisal limits thew extent that his parents enter into this scenario.

How much does fear affect us?  Do we have the courage to align our lives with Jesus’ will for us?  Do we trust him to help us overcome risks?

Prayer

Sometimes allying with you, Jesus, is a risk.  Sometimes the consequences of following you are severe.  Help us to take risks in owning you whenever the opportunity arises.

Questions

1. Why do the Pharisees seek the blind man’s parents?
2. Why do the parents respond the way they do?
3. Why are we give details about the man’s parents?
4. How do you respond to the evidence that Jesus did great miracles?
5. How would you respond to opposition directed at Jesus, or the idea that he worked wonders?

As he passed by, he saw a man blind from birth. ² And his disciples asked him, “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?” ³ Jesus answered, “It was not that this man sinned, or his parents, but that the works of God might be displayed in him. ⁴ We must work the works of him who sent me while it is day; night is coming, when no one can work. ⁵ As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world.” ⁶ Having said these things, he spat on the ground and made mud with the saliva. Then he anointed the man’s eyes with the mud ⁷ and said to him, “Go, wash in the pool of Siloam” (which means Sent). So he went and washed and came back seeing.

⁸ The neighbours and those who had seen him before as a beggar were saying, “Is this not the man who used to sit and beg?” ⁹ Some said, “It is he.” Others said, “No, but he is like him.” He kept saying, “I am the man.” ¹⁰ So they said to him, “Then how were your eyes opened?” ¹¹ He answered, “The man called Jesus made mud and anointed my eyes and said to me, ‘Go to Siloam and wash.’ So I went and washed and received my sight.” ¹² They said to him, “Where is he?” He said, “I do not know.”

Karma

Some people believe that when we die we come back as something else.  This is linked to karma.  Popularly understood, this law of karma is that what you do will come back upon you in some way, even if that is in the next life.  If a person behaves well, they might come back as an influential and healthy person in the next life.  If they have behaved badly, they might come back as some form of lower life form, maybe as a centipede or spider.  For Christians and Jews the idea is somewhat different.  Because Judeo-Christian beliefs do not hold to reincarnation, the consequences for sin were often thought to be passed down from one generation to the next.  The Bible does say that the sins of the parents will be punished in subsequent generations.  However, the rigid understanding of this principle has led some to believe that all illness and injury is the result of a willful choice to sin in the life of a person or their ancestors.

Jesus cuts through all of that rigidity with a message of grace and hope.  God does not delight in punishing sin and sometimes allows the forces of chaos to go unchecked in the life of an individual to present opportunity for redemption.  Creation exists to glorify God and participating in the redemptive plan of God as he brings order out of chaos is sometimes why things that look terrible to us happen.  We can not heap shame on an already tragic situation.  We must be willing agents of change and glorify God when things are brought back to the ay they were always meant to be.

Prayer

Sometimes we wonder why our lives are the way they are.  We wonder if we did something wrong and we feel disconnected from you in our shame and self-loathing.  Sometimes we wonder why others are afflicted and we make judgments about their hopeless cause.  Forgive us for our lack of faith.  Help us to see the plan of your redemption for these people. Let us bring evidence of your existence through action.

Questions

1. How do the disciples react to a person’s affliction?
2. What does Jesus’ answer teach us?
3. Why would the people who knew this man be so amazed?
4. Have you seen amazing transformations? What were they like?
5. How are you called to offer hope to those who might think they are being punished for their own sin or the sins of others?