4 April 2025 - Son up

 

Today's Readings
(Audio)

So his brothers said to him, “Leave here and go to Judea, so that your disciples also may see the works you are doing. No one works in secret if he wants to be known publicly. If you do these things, manifest yourself to the world.” For his brothers did not believe in him (see John 7:3-5).

The brothers of Jesus wanted him to move in public and to manifest his works openly. They said this was for Jesus' sake. But really it was because "his brothers did not believe in him". It wasn't so much that they thought he would give a sign sufficient to compel their faith. Rather, they hoped he would expose himself and abandon what they considered to be delusions of grandeur.

But when his brothers had gone up to the feast,
he himself also went up, not openly but as it were in secret.

Jesus did not need to prove himself. He already explained that human praise meant nothing to him. He was free, not able to be controlled by the crowd's or even his family's opinion of him. And it was not yet his plan to set into motion the hour of his Passion.

And look, he is speaking openly and they say nothing to him.
Could the authorities have realized that he is the Christ?

Jesus did go to Jerusalem to celebrate the feast. But he did not go in the manner that he would later, at the beginning of Holy Week. There weren't crowds at the gates shouting hosanna to the son of David, the promised Messiah, and the true king. It was not yet the right time for that. But even though he went up in secret he was not inhibited is his teaching. He knew it would result in his attempted arrest. But he also knew that by not pushing too hard too soon he remained under the protection of his Father. He did just what he was meant to do, not more, and certainly not less. Therefore, just as Wisdom said, "God will take care of him". Here that deliverance meant that "no one laid a hand upon him, because his hour had not yet come". Later deliverance would not imply that he was protected even from death, but rather, and still greater, that he was raised and death was conquered.

But we know where he is from.
When the Christ comes, no one will know where he is from."
So Jesus cried out in the temple area as he was teaching and said,
"You know me and also know where I am from.
Yet I did not come on my own,
but the one who sent me, whom you do not know, is true.
I know him, because I am from him, and he sent me."

What was the message Jesus preached during the feast of Tabernacles that was worth the trouble and the risk? What were the words his Father desired him to speak? They were words that must have been surprising and perhaps inscrutable to those who heard, especially his brothers who definitely believed that they knew him and where he was from. He said that what they knew about him was so partial is to be functionally incorrect. Certainly he came from Nazareth and was the son of Mary. But his true origin went back before his birth. He was sent into the world by the Father through the incarnation. His message was therefore about himself. But it pointed beyond himself. This was not the self-directed whim of an eccentric preacher. It was not something Jesus decided to do on his own. Rather, it was a mission from the Father. Therefore, in trying to clear up the limited preconceptions of who he was, Jesus pointed to his Father. In doing so he also said that the people's view of the Father was so incomplete as to be missing entirely. They thought they knew the Father, but only the one who was from the Father truly knew him. Only the Son of the Father could truly make him known. By rejecting the Son they proved Jesus' words that they did not know the Father.

We have some idea of from where Christ came and to what end. We are subject to less confusion about his relationship to his Father than were the people of Jerusalem. But have we really allowed Jesus to lead us into a full relationship with the Father? Have we ourselves paid attention as he tried to make the Father known? He did this by the gift of his Spirit, making us daughters and sons of God, and enabling us to cry out,"Abba!" (see Romans 8:15). But do we have the sort of relationship with God where we do cry out to him in this way? Are such passages real to us? Or are they more in the way of saccharine sentimentality for us?

He judges us debased;
he holds aloof from our paths as from things impure.
He calls blest the destiny of the just
and boasts that God is his Father.

It was about Jesus that Solomon wrote in the book of Wisdom. But insofar as we are in Jesus, he is now the source of our life, it should describe us as well. Sometimes we do still err in our thoughts and are blinded by wickedness. But all Jesus asks is that we realize it and repent. He wants all of that out of his way, so that he can reveal his Father to us as he desires.

 

Leeland - Way Maker

 

3 April 2025 - can I get a witness (or two)?

 

Today's Readings
(Audio)

 If I testify on my own behalf, my testimony is not true.

According to the Jewish legal principle self-testimony was not to be trusted. It is unlikely that this was ever intended to be directed at the incarnate God who was himself truth in the flesh. Nevertheless Jesus granted it for the sake of the conversation.

You sent emissaries to John, and he testified to the truth.
I do not accept human testimony,
but I say this so that you may be saved.
He was a burning and shining lamp,
and for a while you were content to rejoice in his light.

The Judeans who rejected Jesus did so because they did not give him a fair hearing. They went out into the desert to listen to John the Baptist, were happy for a while to rejoice in his light, but did accept his conclusion that Jesus was the long awaited Messiah, the lamb of God. They were willing to be entertained, but not changed.

I do not accept human testimony,
but I say this so that you may be saved.

The testimony of John was valid, and Jesus pointed to it for the sake of his audience. But it wasn't on par with that of the other witness Jesus would cite. This was the one about which Jesus said that there was "another who testifies on my behalf, and I know that the testimony he gives on my behalf is true". This was the Father himself, who testified to his Son through the works his Son performed and also through the Scriptures.

The works that the Father gave me to accomplish,
these works that I perform testify on my behalf
that the Father has sent me.

The works of Jesus were done in order to glorify the Father. His whole mission was to express the heart of the Father, the Father's love for humanity. The works weren't merely for entertainment or for temporary benefit for others. They pointed to something eternal. But they were clearly beyond the scope of what was possible through merely natural means. This is why those hostile to the message of Jesus had to look for excuses to dismiss the works, such as by accusing Jesus of performing them by the power of the devil. But the devil wasn't winning anything by seeing the Father glorified. The people saw healings and sought to undercut them with accusations. They saw the freedom Jesus brought about in the lives of others but would only call it license and transgression.

Moreover, the Father who sent me has testified on my behalf.
But you have never heard his voice nor seen his form,
and you do not have his word remaining in you,
because you do not believe in the one whom he has sent.

The Father did not only give works as testimony to Jesus. He himself spoke in testimony for his Son. He did this most concretely at his baptism. But he had been giving this testimony all along throughout history, as was now recorded in the Scriptures. Moses wrote about many things that were concrete and historical. But their truer meaning was about Jesus himself, "because he wrote about me". The people who did not have direct access to see or hear the Father claimed to love the Scriptures, they searched them "because you think you have eternal life through them", but they did not recognize the testimony to Jesus within them precisely because of their obstinacy and hardheartedness. As Jesus said to them, "you do not want to come to me to have life". It was impossible on the one hand to accept the written word of God while at the same time denying his incarnate word. Doing so could only result in distortion and self-deception.

I do not accept human praise;
moreover, I know that you do not have the love of God in you.
I came in the name of my Father,
but you do not accept me;
yet if another comes in his own name,
you will accept him.

People were scared of Jesus because of his freedom from the need for human praise. Those who were not used to receiving such praise themselves often found this aspect of Jesus inspiring and liberating. But those who felt the need to seek approval from others often felt called out or condemned by it. We humans show a unique and disturbing ability to only seek out those who, if they do not directly affirm us, still nevertheless make us feel affirmation by what they say and do. If we really do need change and conversion in our lives then seeking only affirmation is a good way to shield ourselves from it.

Let your blazing wrath die down;
relent in punishing your people.

Though we have often given ourselves to idols we still have an advocate who pleads on our behalf. Even more so than Moses, Jesus pleads for us, precisely so that we might turn back to him more fully. This does not mean that the Father desires to show wrath and Jesus desires to show mercy, as though they were opposed. With Moses, God desired that he learn and become an example of mercy, that he be merciful just as the Father himself was merciful. As Jesus tried to convert the Judeans he did so because both he and his Father desired to show them mercy, together they desired that all would come to Jesus and have life. He pleaded on our behalf that we would finally let him do what he wished within our hearts.

 

Bob Fitts - He Will Come And Save You

2 April 2025 - only what he sees from the Father

 

Today's Readings
(Audio)

For this reason they tried all the more to kill him,
because he not only broke the sabbath
but he also called God his own father, making himself equal to God.

They weren't wrong about what Jesus meant. But perhaps their inference lacked sufficient nuance. Jesus was not some potential competitor to the God of Israel whom he called his Father. He was so closely united to the Father that his entire life was directed by what he saw the Father himself doing. From all eternity he received his very being from the Father. It was fundamentally impossible for him to oppose the Father in any way or to have a different idea or opinion than he. So too the Holy Spirit who comes from the Father through the Son. There was a perfect harmony in what they desired as well as what they did.

Amen, amen, I say to you, the Son cannot do anything on his own,
but only what he sees the Father doing;
for what he does, the Son will do also.

The Son was not at all dangerous to the proper honoring of the Father, for no one honored than Father more than he. There was no person who contradicted the will of the Father less than Jesus, no person who desired to see him glorified more than he did. Consequently, what the Judeans feared about Jesus, was as far from the intention of Jesus as possible. He did not desire that the Father be obscured or usurped. Rather, he desired that he be honored. In fact, it was impossible to honor the Son also honor the Father. Honoring the Father but dishonoring or disregarding the Son was in actuality an impossible contradiction. It wasn't as though the Son introduced something new and superior that left in the dust all that the Father offered to previous generations. He only ever had what he had from the Father himself.

For the Father loves the Son
and shows him everything that he himself does,
and he will show him greater works than these,
so that you may be amazed.

Jesus, as Son, was not inferior to his Father precisely because his Father held absolutely nothing back from his Son. All he had, all that made him worthy of glory, he gave also to the Son, and to the Spirit. He reserved nothing as strictly his own. Though he was in some way the origin of the Son and the Spirit he did not exist before them, but from eternity poured himself out completely to them.

For just as the Father raises the dead and gives life,
so also does the Son give life to whomever he wishes.

The Son makes the Father manifest in the world. From the point of view of the Judeans it was only possible for the Son to draw attention away from the Father to himself. But from the point of view of Jesus nothing he did had its origin in himself but redounded to the Father. The Father was a life giver. But no one had seen the Father. Therefore Jesus came to demonstrate exactly what that meant. For instance just as babies were born on the Sabbath as an example of the life giving power of God, so too would the Son heal on the Sabbath to reveal that power even more concretely. So too would he raise Lazarus from death. So too will he eventually raise us all. Before him we will face judgment. But his judgment is worthy of trust because it is without self-interest or ulterior motives. The Father demonstrated this by giving judgment to the Son. The Son proved it in turn by judging only as his Father would have him judge.

Do not be amazed at this,
because the hour is coming in which all who are in the tombs
will hear his voice and will come out,
those who have done good deeds
to the resurrection of life,
but those who have done wicked deeds
to the resurrection of condemnation.

The way to ensure that one was right with the Father was to believe in his Son whom he sent into the world. The way to be in right relationship with the Father was to honor him by becoming more and more like the Son, even becoming united to him through the Sacraments. This meant being filled with the power of the Spirit, as Jesus was. Receiving the Spirit honored both the Father and the Son who together unleashed him upon the world at Pentecost. The Spirit empowered the followers of Jesus to not only imitate him but to be united to him.

I judge as I hear, and my judgment is just,
because I do not seek my own will
but the will of the one who sent me.

Being united to Jesus may sound exulted, as though those thusly configured to Christ had something about which they could boast. But it was not so. It actually meant having the same attitude in ourselves that was also in Christ Jesus, "who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped" (see Philippians 2:6).

Jesus knew, and we ought to know, that we don't debase ourselves by giving ourselves away. We don't become less but rather all that we are meant to be when we live in the love we first receive from God. This is precisely how God himself comforts us and shows us mercy.

Can a mother forget her infant,
be without tenderness for the child of her womb?
Even should she forget,
I will never forget you.

 Jim Cowan - At The Name Of Jesus

1 April 2025 - wherever the river flows

Today's Readings
(Audio)

When Jesus saw him lying there
and knew that he had been ill for a long time, he said to him,
"Do you want to be well?"

The implication of the question was of course that the man didn't really want to be well, that his coming to this pool was basically a pretense. He didn't want to be well, but he didn't want to believe that about himself, so he came again and again as though he did. But had he truly desired it he could have at least found a way to get into the pools by then. It seems rather that he gave up in advance. He had a certain amount of frustration with the repetition of this occurrence, but not so much as to make a change. In fact, he was like many of us. He had grown comfortable with his condition, with the limits that it imposed, and with the demands of normal life from which he found himself safely excluded. In exchange for the joys of normal life he substituted wallowing in self-pity as his consolation. Feeling self-pity doesn't seem like something anyone would want. But for some who felt it it could serve as a protection of their egos, a way to blame and to absolve themselves of any culpability or responsibility. It had a certain intoxicating quality that made it hard to abandon even while it rendered one increasingly incapacitated.

Jesus said to him, "Rise, take up your mat, and walk."
Immediately the man became well, took up his mat, and walked.

There was so much more in the command of Jesus than merely that of a physical healing. Everything that had hindered the man's inner life and stunted his growth was also healed. It was as though Jesus said to him, 'You are meant for more, now live for it'. We can imagine that if the man had been healed without the help of Jesus he would have taken a much longer and slower road back into life in the world. But in response to the words of Jesus the change was immediate.

"Who is the man who told you, 'Take it up and walk'?"
The man who was healed did not know who it was,
for Jesus had slipped away, since there was a crowd there.

We don't necessarily know everything about Jesus when we first experience his healing power. This is obviously true for those of us baptized as infants. But even for those who had powerful adult conversions there is still much to learn. It is not merely one encounter that teaches us the truth of who Jesus is but many, as he himself visits us in the varied circumstances of our life and reveals himself to us.

"Look, you are well; do not sin any more,
so that nothing worse may happen to you."
The man went and told the Jews
that Jesus was the one who had made him well.

Once Jesus had revealed himself to the man he found himself unable to keep it a secret. We can't imagine that he told the Judeans in bad faith, knowing how they would respond. Rather, he was too excited about Jesus, and couldn't hold it in. Surely any who realized what he had done would realize that he wasn't an enemy. But he underestimated the hardness of their hearts.

Therefore, the Jews began to persecute Jesus
because he did this on a sabbath.

Some people are more stuck in their patterns of life than others. They tend to respond with more violence and hostility to the call of Jesus to convert. But Jesus only ever responds to us with love, though not always of the warm and fuzzy variety. He isn't interested in acting as enabler for our sin and addiction. He is interested in healing us just as he did for the man by the pool of Bethesda. It is not truly any pool that heals, but Jesus himself, the source of living water.

Wherever the river flows,
every sort of living creature that can multiply shall live,
and there shall be abundant fish,
for wherever this water comes the sea shall be made fresh.
Along both banks of the river, fruit trees of every kind shall grow;
their leaves shall not fade, nor their fruit fail.
Every month they shall bear fresh fruit,
for they shall be watered by the flow from the sanctuary.
Their fruit shall serve for food, and their leaves for medicine.

 Anne Wilson - Living Water