Narrative Lectionary Reflection

February 25, 2018

Introduction

On Maundy Thursday, churches have taken part in a footwashing ceremony.  People come forward, taking off their socks and shoes while someone splashes water on their feet.

Not everyone takes part.  As a pastor, I can remember planning footwashing as part of Maundy Thursday service years ago.  It happen to be one of the lowest attended Holy Week services that year.

Footwashing can seem uncomfortable to us moderns.  It was just as uncomfortable to Peter as Jesus began to clean his feet.  He didn’t understand that Jesus was showing a new way of being in the world- a message that still resonates today.

We now focus on the Last Supper and the washing of the disciples’ feet.

Engaging the Text

He said to them, “Do you know what I’ve done for you? ¹³ You call me ‘Teacher’ and ‘Lord,’ and you speak correctly, because I am. ¹⁴ If I, your Lord and teacher, have washed your feet, you too must wash each other’s feet. ¹⁵ I have given you an example: Just as I have done, you also must do. 

-John 13:12-15

John 13 starts what is commonly called “The Book of Glory.”  These final chapters of John describe the glorification of Jesus and his eventual return to God the Father. The farewell discourse keeps with an ancient tradition where famous men are remembered in exhortations, prayers and consolation of followers.

In keeping with the theme that John is different from the other gospels, this story is different than the synoptics.  For one, it takes place the day before Passover, while in the synoptics it takes place on the day of Passover.  The Synoptics have the Passover meal which became the Lord’s Supper as the focus, but not so in John.  In John the focus is footwashing. While the two are different, the focus is the same: making Jesus’ love for his friends visible and instructing his disciples to do likewise.

Chapter 13 opens with Jesus knowing that the time had come.  Soon he would be led away, tortured and crucified.  He chose this time to show his love for his friends. Some versions say that Jesus loved them to the end which can mean loved them fully or to the utmost.  Jesus  loves as much as it is possible to love, starting with the footwashing and going to the cross, the grave and the resurrection.

In verse 2, we have a bit of an interruption of Jesus showing his love to his disciples. We are told that satan enters Judas who will soon betray Jesus. The devil and Jesus are at work. What is important to remember here is that Jesus washes all of the disciple’s feet including Judas.  It is an act of love in the face of the devil’s actions.

After the meal, Jesus gets up, takes off his robes and grabs a towel. He is getting ready to begin washing his friend’s feet. Now, footwashing was considered an act of hospitality offered to guest after their journey. In washing the disciple’s feet, Jesus is combining the role of host and servant. What makes Jesus’ act so scandalous is that the act of footwashing was either done by the guests themselves or by a slave or servant.  It was considered so menial that Jews didn’t think Jewish servants should have to do this. It was only appropriate for Gentile servants. Jesus was showing what it meant to be a follower, a disciple. The way of the world is that leaders were to sit in places of honor while those below them wash their feet. But Jesus is flipping the script. “ You call me ‘Teacher’ and ‘Lord,’ and you speak correctly, because I am,” Jesus says.  Teacher and Lord were titles that in the world meant someone who was an important person who was to be served.  But Jesus inverts the meaning. To be Lord means to show love in service. “Just as I have done, you also must do,” Jesus says telling the disciples that this is what they must do if they claim to follow Jesus.

In washing the disciples feet, Jesus says that they are clean, but not all of them. Jesus is referring to Judas.  Theologian Karoline Lewis notes that washing reveals what was hidden

While it is true that the act of washing heals the man’s blindness, the washing also enables him to see where Jesus comes from, and, in the end, he is brought into the fold of the Good Shepherd. The healing of the man born blind is also a sign that exposes those who do not believe. The foot washing in chapter 13 has similar connotations. It is a washing to be made clean if the sense is washing away that which would prevent full recognition of who Jesus is and what is about to happen. It exposes Judas. The washing makes possible having a share with Jesus, being in relationship with him, in his community, in the fold, as opposed to being cast out, like the blind man or going out, like Judas.

Judas is not clean because he doesn’t believe. Why? We don’t know. What we do know is that as Jesus shows what it is to be a follower, Judas misses the point.

Conclusion

Judas is a central part of this text.  We don’t know why Judas did what he did. What we do know is that Satan worked through Judas to betray Jesus.  Each gospel has a different take on Judas. John is probably the most negative. What is so important about Judas in John?

For some theologians, Judas is not simply evil, but pathetic.  Theologian G.S. Sloyan sheds no tears for Judas:

The figure of Judas is immensely attractive in popular preaching. He is the favored one who turns on his friend, the table companion who acts against one whose only deeds were love. How to account for it? In a culture like ours, where human motivations are of paramount importance, this question can make even the world’s salvation look insignificant. The latter is cosmic and therefore daunting, but the microcosm of the human heart is the stuff of drama. The Evangelist, it should be noted, does not linger on the betrayal. He discredits the traitor by calling him a thief (12:6) without naming avarice as Judas’ motive for handing Jesus over. In the apprehension of Jesus in the garden, John omits the kiss of Judas as the identifying sign. In sum, he is content to specify diabolical influence as the compelling motive. But once this flight to the preternatural has been taken, the pulpit dramatist feels cheated. The amateur psychologist is at home with the ordinary run of human motives: a bit of Shakespeare, a bit of Freud, a counseling course just completed. John situates the struggle on higher ground: the all-holy God challenged by the ruler of this world through a contemptible weakling. John should be let have his way. (Emphasis mine)

But there is another way to look at this.  Instead of focusing on Judas motivations or lack thereof, we should focus on the fact that Jesus washed Judas’ feet.  Nothing in the passage suggests that Jesus didn’t wash the feet of his betrayer.  What we are show is that Jesus truly does love fully, to the point of loving the one who would hurt him deeply.  A poem by George Marion McClellan shows this love of one that definitely did not deserve it:

CHRIST washed the feet of Judas!
The dark and evil passions of his soul,
His secret plot, and sordidness complete,
His hate, his purposing, Christ knew the whole,
And still in love he stooped and washed his feet.

Christ washed the feet of Judas!
Yet all his lurking sin was bare to him,
His bargain with the priest, and more than this,
In Olivet, beneath the moonlight dim,
Aforehand knew and felt his treacherous kiss.

Christ washed the feet of Judas!
And so ineffable his love ’twas meet,
That pity fill his great forgiving heart,
And tenderly to wash the traitor’s feet,
Who in his Lord had basely sold his part.

Christ washed the feet of Judas!
And thus a girded servant, self-abased,
Taught that no wrong this side the gate of heaven
Was ever too great to wholly be effaced,
And though unasked, in spirit be forgiven.

And so if we have ever felt the wrong
Of Trampled rights, of caste, it matters not,
What e’er the soul has felt or suffered long,
Oh, heart! this one thing should not be forgot:
Christ washed the feet of Judas.

Jesus washing the feet of his friends, even the traitor is a sign of God’s overflowing love, even for one that doesn’t deserve it.

Dennis Sanders is the Pastor at First Christian Church of St. Paul in Mahtomedi, Minnesota. He’s written for various outlets including Christian Century and the Federalist.

Narrative Lectionary Reflection

February 4, 2018

Introduction

Last week, we looked at John 3 and his visit with the Pharisee Nicodemus.  Nicodemus comes at night for reasons we don’t know to meet Jesus.  Night was a good metaphor for not really understanding who and what Jesus was all about.

In John 4 we are introduced to a Samaritan woman with no name who meets Jesus at the heat of the day. Again, there is some debate as to why she came at that time to draw water, but it might show that she is open to hear what Jesus was going to say.

Why does this story matter?  What does this speak to us today?

Let’s look at Jesus and the woman at the well.

Engaging the Text

Jesus had to go through Samaria. ⁵ He came to a Samaritan city called Sychar, which was near the land Jacob had given to his son Joseph. ⁶ Jacob’s well was there. Jesus was tired from his journey, so he sat down at the well. It was about noon.

-John 4:4-6

In this passage, we have Jesus and the disciples on a trip.  The first verse says that Jesus had to go through Samaria.  Samaria was a region home to Samaritans, a group of people that had a mixed Jewish-Gentile heritage.  It’s interesting that the passage says “he had to go through Samaria.”  If you were to look at a map of ancient Palestine, you would see that it isn’t necessary to go through Samaria to get to Galilee. Most Jews didn’t want to have any contact with Samaritans so they crossed the Jordan River and go up the other side, thereby bypassing Samaria.

There is a reason why most Jews would ignore Samaria. Now, when we hear the word Samaritan, we think of the parable Jesus told about the Good Samaritan.  While we might think Samaritans are good stand-up folk, that wasn’t how Jews saw them.  The two groups despised each other. 

The reason for the bad releations between Jews and Samaritans is rather complicated. The Jews saw the Samaritans as outsiders and idolaters. The Samaritans saw themselves as descendent of the long passed Northern Kingdom. They used the Pentateuch as scripture like Jews, but they worshipped at Mount Gerizim instead of Jerusalem.

While most Jews would avoid Samaria on trips.  Jesus, however doesn’t.  As the passage says, he had to go through Samaria which is better translated “it was necessary for him.” This shows his choice of route was not about geography, but theology.  It shows that no part of creation is beyond God’s love.

At some point, Jesus and the disciples stop at a well.  The disciples go on into an unnamed town to get some food.  The writer of John says it was about noon. Jesus is reclining in the noonday heat, a woman makes her way to the well to draw water.  If you’ve been to very warm regions of the world like Spain or the American South during the summer, noon means the sun is high in the sky and it is hot.  People tend to stay indoors to escape the heat.

But this woman was out gathering water.  Why? As we said before, in hot climates like Spain, Puerto Rico or the American South you learn that people tend to do their main work either in the early morning or in the evening; times when the temps are cooler.

This woman went to gather water at noon.  Why?  It could be that the time she drew water indicated that the town treated her as an outcast.  Dealing with the extreme heat of midday was easier than dealing with stares from the other women.  This is a small town and she couldn’t hide.  

This is the first of a two parts of the passage where there is disagreement.  While some see the time she come to draw water as a sign of judgement, in this case the community she lives in, others think that is not the case.  Theologian Karoline Lewis thinks the time of day has a more metaphorical meaning instead of a moral one:

The reference to the time of day points to the theological theme of light and darkness, with darkness representing the realm of unbelief and light, the realm of belief. The fact that the Samaritan woman meets Jesus at noon invites hopeful anticipation of this conversation.

Jesus sees the woman and asks her, “Give me something to drink.” The woman looks at Jesus and notices maybe by his skin tone or his speech that he is Jewish. That must have sent chills up her spine that her hated enemy was sitting there asking her for drink as if she was his servant. She then responds, “Why in the world would ask me, a woman and a Samaritan, for water?”

The narrator explains that Jews have nothing to do with Samaritans. The hatred was so intense that rabbis taught the Jews to not eat anything cooked by a Samaritan, not use any vessels used by them  and not have any ritual contact with them. Samaritans were deemed unclean. So where the woman says “How do you, being a Jew, ask from me, a Samaritan woman, for a drink?” she is truly shocked.

Jesus then starts talking about water again- but not the water in the well. He speaks of a Living Water, a water that will quench the thirst of this woman forever. At first, she was still a bit skeptical, wondering how he could get this water without a bucket. Then she starts to ask if there is any way she could get this water and not have to come out in the heat to get water.

Jesus is turning her attention away from actual water to heavenly things. He tells her that she would get “living water” if she knew who he was.  The Old Testament describes God as the “fountain of living waters” which would have given the people of Israel had they not forsaken God (Jeremiah 2:13 and 17:13). Living waters also refers to to the end of time when God will rule over all the earth (Zechariah 14:8-9). Jesus turns her attention to heavenly things. He points out her non-understanding of the person who is asking for water and then discloses himself as the one who would have given her “living water” had she recognized him as the Christ and asked him (4:10). In the OT, God is described as the “fountain of living waters” from which his people would have received life had they not forsaken him (Jer 2:13; 17:13). The term “living waters” also denotes the life of the end-time, when God will be King over all the earth (Zech 14:8–9).

At some point, Jesus asks the woman to call her husband. She responds quickly that she has no husband.  When she says she has no husband, Jesus replies that she is correct. She has had five husbands and the man that she lives with now is not her husband.

Traditionally, people have thought that she might have been doing something that was considered sinful. However, another story has come forward in recent years that rejects seeing the woman as a sinner, but more as a victim of some sort. The Bible never really tells us what this woman has done, if anything. The passage raises question about this woman and what has led her to be an outcast, but we are never told what happened. The scholars argue that the traditional understanding of the woman at the well is full of misogyny and moralism.  Here is what David Lose said in a Huffington Post article in 2011:

Her story is told in the fourth chapter of the Gospel According to John. She is a Samaritan woman who Jesus encounters by a well. Jews and Samaritans don’t get along, and women and men in this culture generally keep a safe social distance from each other. So she is doubly surprised when Jesus asks her for a drink. When she makes a remark to that effect, he offers her living water. Confused, but intrigued, she asks about this miraculous water. He eventually invites her to call her husband, and when she replies that she has no husband, he agrees: “You have had five husbands, and the one you have now is not your husband” (4:18).

And that’s it. That’s the sentence that has branded her a prostitute. Conservative preacher John Piper’s treatment is characteristic. In a sermon on this passage, he describes her as “a worldly, sensually-minded, unspiritual harlot from Samaria,” and at another point in the sermon calls her a “whore.”

So if this seems at least as probable an interpretation as the more routine one, why do so many preachers assume the worst of her? I would suggest two reasons. First, there is a long history of misogyny in Christian theology that stands in sharp contrast to the important role women play in the gospels themselves. Women, the four evangelists testify, supported Jesus’ ministry. They were present at the tomb when their male companions fled. And they were the first witnesses to the resurrection. Yet from asserting that Eve was the one who succumbed to temptation (conveniently ignoring that the author of Genesis says Adam was right there with her — Gen. 3:6) to assuming this Samaritan woman must be a prostitute, there is the ugly taint of chauvinism present in too much Christian preaching, perhaps particularly so in those traditions that refuse to recognize the equality of women to preach and teach with the same authority as men.

A second reason preachers cast this woman in the role of prostitute is that it plays into the belief that Christianity, and religion generally, is chiefly about morality. Treating the Bible as one long, if peculiar, Goofus & Gallant cartoon, we read every story we find in terms of sin and forgiveness, moral depravity and repentance. But this story is not about immorality; it’s about identity. In the previous scene, Jesus was encountered by a male Jewish religious authority who could not comprehend who or what Jesus was. In this scene, he encounters the polar opposite, and perhaps precisely because she is at the other end of the power spectrum, she recognizes not just who Jesus is but what he offers — dignity. Jesus invites her to not be defined by her circumstances and offers her an identity that lifts her above her tragedy. And she accepts, playing a unique role in Jesus’ ministry as she is the first character in John’s gospel to seek out others to tell them about Jesus.

What do you think? Does it matter if the woman had a shady reputation or not?

At some point, Jesus reveals himself to her as the Messiah. She runs back to town and tells the townsfolk that this man told her everything about her. Could this be the Messiah?

This woman was an outcast. Whether or not she was an innocent victim or someone with a seedy past, doesn’t matter; she is on the outside. And yet, Jesus reached out to her. He crossed the boundaries of ethnicity, gender and probably 200 other boundaries to reach out to this woman in grace and love.

But this story isn’t simply about what Christ did, though that’s incredibly important. It’s also about how the community that claims to follow him lives. We call ourselves Christians. Do we respond to the people we meet with the same grace that Christ did? Could we love those who might be doing something we might not necessairly agree with?

Regardless of how we see the woman, she is a remarkable character. In her chat with Jesus she goes from protest, to doubt to confession and finally witness. She is willing to engage Jesus long enough to come to a new understanding. She becomes and evangelist to her people who then come and see Jesus for themselves. She becomes the model disciple before the disciples ever do.

Conclusion

The reason this is such a wonderful story is that it reveals something about God, and maybe even a clue as to how God’s church should act.  The God we have is one that loves us passionately.  This God will sit and talk with a woman at the risk of God’s own reputation.  We have a God that knows everything about us and loves us anyway.

Whether or not this woman appeared to be a sinner it shows  Jesus as the friend of sinners, the one who is willing to impugn his own reputation to love the sinner and the outcast.  THAT is what makes this story so amazing.  Regardless if this woman was a sinner or not, Jesus radically loves this woman, even to the point of causing people to talk.

Lutheran pastor Delmer Chilton recounts a story that place right after his ordination; one where the newly minted minister ends up in the midst of some “working girls:”

I was ordained many years ago in Fayetteville, North Carolina, in a church not far from Fort Bragg.  An old college friend drove several hours to be there.  After the service that evening, he gave me a ride to the house where I was staying with another friend during the clergy conference that was to begin the next day.  Our route took us through a part of town where “working girls” offered their services to GIs.  We came to a stoplight, and they spotted me sitting there in his open-bodied Jeep.  I was wearing a black suit and clergy shirt.  Several of them came over to the car and began talking while we waited for the light to change to green.  I said to my friend, “Get me out of here or this might be the shortest clerical career on record.”

He laughed as we drove away and then he said, “Well Delmer, I’m just a lowly English teacher, and you know I don’t go to church very much, but the way I read the Bible – aren’t those the very people you’re supposed to hanging out with?”  I’ve known the man a long time and I still hate it when he’s right.

The reason the Woman at the Well resonates  is that Jesus was willing to be seen talking with someone that at the very least was an outcast and still loves her. Because of that radical love, this woman was able to witness to her neighbors and they too saw Jesus as the Messiah.

This story is really about a God that is willing to love someone, anyone so radically that one might think God is off God’s rocker. If God is a friend to outcasts and sinners, then God is surely a friend to you and me. We can rest in the hope that we have a God that passionately loves each one of us.

 

Dennis Sanders is the Pastor at First Christian Church of St. Paul in Mahtomedi, Minnesota. He’s written for various outlets including Christian Century and the Federalist.

Narrative Lectionary Reflection

January 28, 2018

Introduction

John 3 is perhaps one the most well known passages in the Bible because it contains the verse John 3:16.  It is also interesting in how Bible scholars look at the story of Nicodemus in contrast to John 4 where we encounter the Samaritan woman.  Nicodemus is more often than not frowned upon because of his position in society and when he comes to see Jesus.  Because he is a Pharisee, he is judged by Bible scholars. In contrast, the Samarian woman if portrayed in a more positive light, lifted up because of her status an outcast.

The result is that Nicodemus becomes an example of what we don’t want to be instead of an example of who we are.

But maybe in doing that we don’t see how we don’t always understand Jesus, how sometimes we are in the dark and how encountering Jesus is a journey and not a sprint.

Let’s look at Jesus and Nicodemus.

Engaging the Text

There was a Pharisee named Nicodemus, a Jewish leader. ² He came to Jesus at night and said to him, “Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher who has come from God, for no one could do these miraculous signs that you do unless God is with him.”

-John 3:1-2

In the John chapter 3, we introduced to Nicodemus. We find out that he is a Pharisee and is intriguied by Jesus. He comes to visit Jesus under the cover of darkness to find out more about this man. 

Why did Nicodemus come to Jesus at night?  Many scholars contrast this with the Samaritian woman in John 4 who meets Jesus at midday. There are a few different reasons.  It could be out of secrecy, because so many Pharisees are against Jesus. It could be that this was the best time for him to converse with Jesus. It could be in line with the custom to study the law and talk about things of God at night.  It could also be that the darkness that Nicodemus doesn’t understand Jesus. There are a lot of reasons why Nicodemus came at night, but what we can say is that the night does reflect how he understands Jesus.  When it comes to this man he meets, he is in the dark about the true nature of Jesus.  He and other Pharisees are impressed by the signs and believe that God is within him.  But he doesn’t know that Jesus not simply with God, but Jesus is the very presence of God. So, darkness doesn’t mean that Nicodemus was a bad person or spineless, but it can mean that he doesn’t understand all that Jesus is about.

One can imagine Nicodemus walks down the streets at night, trying to make sure no one sees him and then going to a door on a side street and knocking the door. One of the disciples opens the door and leads him to a room where Jesus is sitting with tea or coffee at the waiting. Nicodemus sits and the two converse among many, many cups of tea.

Nicodemus was well versed in the law and believed he had done all the right things. But Jesus starts talking about being “born again” and about how being born of water and Spirit. Jesus tells Nicodemus that it is not about one has done for God, but what God has done for us; how God loved the world so much that he sent Jesus to live among us.

When he hears Jesus talk about being born again, he confuses the Greek word anothen. The word is a synonymn, and it can mean born from above or born again. When our friend, Nick heard it, he started thinking of a grown man trying to get back into his mother’s womb.

I can imagine Jesus smiling and saying to Nicodemus, “You are a teacher of Israel and you don’t know these things?” It might be a way of showing Nicodemus that even though he is learned in the law, he is still in the dark.  He might have learned a lot, but Jesus is telling him there is more to learn.

Jesus wasn’t talking about being literally born again, nor was it as some would believe about a specific event when we were saved. What Jesus is talking about is to see things with different eyes: to enter into the life of the Spirit.

When Jesus talks about the flesh, he isn’t saying that the flesh is bad, but you can’t understand the things of the Spirit only with the flesh. Let me put this in English: faith can’t be understood with only the mind. It isn’t a rational exercise. It is only when we enter the life of the Spirit that we are able to understand and the Spirit is any but logical. Jesus likens it to the wind, that blows where it blows. The Spirit carries you to places you wouldn’t expect.

The Spirit moves us like the wind, or a strong current. If you want an example of what it means to live in the Spirit, simply look at Jesus’ life. He was led to different places and events not of his choosing.

Nicodemus wanted an answer to his questions. Jesus gave them, but they were answers that had to be lived, not simply heard. Jesus wasn’t giving an answer that would satisfy the mind; he was offering Nicodemus the chance to enter another reality, a new way of thinking and seeing.

We don’t hear from Nicodemus in chapter 3 after verse 10. We don’t really know why that is, I’d like to imagine that Nicodemus just shuts up and listens to Jesus. What we do know that this isn’t the last we see of Nicodemus. We later see the Pharisee stand up for Jesus and after the crucifixion works with others to find proper burial place for Jesus. We don’t know if he becomes a disciple, but the signs are there that he was taken by Jesus.  Maybe he was no longer in the dark.

 

Conclusion

Born again.  That word means different things to different Christians.  The word in Greek for born again is anothen which can also mean born from above, which tends to be the favorite of more mainline Christians, while born again is more popular to evangelical Christians. Edward Marquardt helps people understand what anothen means:

The phrase, “born again,” occurs three times in the Bible: John 3:3, 7; I Peter 1:23.

John defines what it means to be born again: to be “born again” is to be born of the water and the Spirit.

What does it mean to be born of the water? To have our sins washed away. We never outgrow the need for having our sins and imperfections washed away daily and continuously. The water in baptism reminds us of our need for daily cleansing and washing.

What does it mean to born of the Spirit? To have the Spirit of Christ living inside of us. It mean to have the love of Christ, the joy of Christ, the peace of Christ, the patience of Christ, kindness of Christ, the goodness of Christ, the faithfulness of Christ, the gentleness of Christ, the self control of Christ living inside of us. It is having the Spirit of Christ taking up residence in us and living within us.

There are three references in the Bible to being “born again;” whereas there are 245 references to the word, “faith.”

If a student takes the Logos computer program and inserts the words, “born again,” the computer will turn up three references. If a student takes the Logos computer program and inserts the word, “faith,” in either the New International Version (NIV) or the New Revised Standard Version (NRSV), there will be 245 references to “faith” in the Bible.

In other words, the word, “faith” is a much more dominant Biblical word and concept than the phrase, “born again.”

If a student types in words like “faith, believe, believes, believing,” there are then 421 Biblical references to faith/believe/believes and believing.

Some Christians work themselves into a theological lather about the phrase, “born again” whereas the words “faith/believe/believes/believing” are much more dominant in the Bible.

“Born again” simply means to have “faith” or “believe” in Jesus Christ.

To be born again is to have faith in Jesus Christ.  Does Nicodemus have faith in Jesus? Maybe not that night, but as John shows, maybe as he stood up for Jesus and later tended to his body he was being born again.

 

 

 

Dennis Sanders is the Pastor at First Christian Church of St. Paul in Mahtomedi, Minnesota. He’s written for various outlets including Christian Century and the Federalist.

Narrative Lectionary Reflection

January 21, 2018

Introduction

In the past few weeks, we have said again and again that there are events that take place only in John and not in the Synoptic Gospels.  For example, last week’s lesson- the wedding at Cana- is only found in John.

But the Cleansing of the Temple is an event that takes place in all four Gospels.  Why?  It had to be viewed as important that it is found in every Gospel.

What made it important to the early church?  What does it mean now?  Does it have something to say about modern business?  Does it have something to say about the modern church and what we do inside the walls?

Let’s look at Jesus and the Cleansing of the Temple.

Engaging the Text

(Jesus)He found in the temple those who were selling cattle, sheep, and doves, as well as those involved in exchanging currency sitting there. ¹⁵ He made a whip from ropes and chased them all out of the temple, including the cattle and the sheep. He scattered the coins and overturned the tables of those who exchanged currency.

-John 2:14-15

 While this story is found in all four gospels, it is placed differently in John than it is in the other three books. The Synoptics place it at the end of Jesus’ ministry, when he arrives in Jerusalem. In fact, it is the precipritating act that starts things in motion that leads to Jesus’ death.

In John, the cleansing of the temple takes place at the beginning of Jesus’ ministry. This isn’t the act that gets him killed, that would come later in John (the event that would start that process in John is the raising of Lazarus from the dead).

But there is something else going on here.  While the each gospel tells the same stories, the Synoptics and John tell different stories.  Theologian Karoline Lewis notes that while in the Synoptics, Jesus was angry that the temple had become a “den of robbers,” Jesus had a different purpose in mind in John. Lewis explains the difference:

The levels of meaning of the temple incident in John are also found in the details in how the incident is told. Jesus enters the temple and finds what one would expect during a pilgrimage festival. The vital trades are in place for the necessary exchange of monies, animals, and grains for the required sacrifices. Nothing is out of order at this point. The narration happens in real time, as if the reader can see everything that Jesus sees. Yet, Jesus’ command to the dove sellers differs strikingly from the accounts in Matthew, Mark, and Luke (Matthew 21:12-13; Mark 11:15-19; Luke 19:45-48). Instead of a concern for temple malpractices (“den of robbers”), Jesus orders that his Father’s house not be made a marketplace. For the temple system to survive, however, the ordered transactions of a marketplace were essential. The temple had to function as a place of exchange for maintaining and supporting the sacrificial structures. Jesus is not quibbling about maleficence or mismanagement but calls for a complete dismantling of the entire system. Underneath this critique lies also the intimation that the temple itself is not necessary.

In the Synoptics, it seems like there is some abuse taking place. Sellers in the temple are ripping off the poor in Matthew, Mark and Luke.  But as Lewis notes, what is happening in the Temple is normal, everyday commerce. People who came from far away bought animals to offer sacrifice at the temple.  Buying the animals was a way for the temple to pay for itself.

The moneychangers in the other gospels are seen as crooks.  But here in John, the moneychangers are seen in a different light. They made it easier for people to offer sacrifices to atone for sin.  They were a vital link in helping the people keep faithful to God instead of people trying to make a quick buck.

But Jesus still overturns their tables. Why?

The reason that the people came to the temple was to offer sacrifice- animal sacrifice. But Jesus was coming to be the sacrifice for people.  What he was doing was showing folks that the temple system was no longer needed.

In the tech world, a disruptor is something that upends an established order.  So, for example the rideshare company Uber is said to disrupt the traditional taxi. Disruption is about throwing the existing order into disarray.

The temple had been long seen as the place where God’s presence was said to dwell.  But Jesus was the Word-became-flesh. John 1:14 says that God pitched God’s tent among the people.  If Jesus was the new “temple” there was no need for buying and selling sacrifices.  Jesus was enough.

Jesus’ actions caused the religious leaders to question his actions. ““By what authority are you doing these things? What miraculous sign will you show us?” they say.  Jesus answers enigmatically: “Destroy this temple and in three days I will raise it up.”

The leaders were shocked.  It took 46 years to build build this temple, so it seemed rather foolish to say that Jesus could do that.  The religious leaders couldn’t know that Jesus was not talking about the temple in front of them, but the new temple: himself.  He was referring to his coming death and ressurrection.

A short note about verse 17.  In that verse, it says the disciple remembered a passage from scripture:“Zeal for your house consumes me.”

This passage is found in Psalm 69:9.  The writer of this Psalm is being made fun of because of their faith. Preacher Scott Hoezee notes that this is about someone that was zealous about God’s house, but was made fun of because said devotion. Hoezee says:

Psalm 69 is about suffering for your faith. It’s about how the world sneers at us for claiming that a worship service is more valuable than anything that could ever happen in the citadels of worldly power. It takes faith to believe that what we do in worship on a Sunday morning matters in an eternal sense. It takes faith to believe that what a preacher conveys in a biblically true sermon is vastly more vital than anything that could ever emerge from the U.N. or from the office of any president, king, or prime minister. The writer of Psalm 69 believed that the ancient temple of Israel was the center of the universe, the house of God, the dwelling place of the cosmic Creator. And his neighbors saw this zeal for God’s house and they laughed out loud. How could he believe such an outlandish, silly thing?

In the wider world, there can be a viewpoint that things like worship or prayer don’t mean much in a world of Presidents and Prime Ministers.  But the writer of Psalm 69 and Jesus are saying that our faith is not just an everyday thing, but something that can change the world, something that is disruptive.

Conclusion

When I was young, people around me interpreted the Cleansing of the Temple as a prohibition of selling things in church. In John, Jesus comes to disrupt the way of doing things.  God has a new way of how people can worship, but to do that they need to have their applecarts upturned.  Jesus ministry is about showing a new way to worship God.

The cleansing of the temple is viewed at times as challenging the powers such as Rome or the commerce of then and today.  But John shows us it is also about challenging a faith that might have grown comfortable or not open to seeing things in another way.

Would Jesus upturn the tables in your congregation? Why?

 

 

 

Dennis Sanders is the Pastor at First Christian Church of St. Paul in Mahtomedi, Minnesota. He’s written for various outlets including Christian Century and the Federalist.

Narrative Lectionary Reflection

January 14, 2018

Introduction

Epiphany is the season in the church where we talk about the manifestation of Christ in the world.  In the gospel of John, what are called miracles in the other gospels, are called signs here; an act that points to Jesus.

So if Epiphany is about Christ made manifest and John says miracles are signs of who he is, then why is the first miracle/sign taking place at a wedding party?

The Wedding at Cana is one of the most odd stories in the gospels.  It’s not raising someone from the dead or healing someone with leprosy, it’s not even the feeding of the five thousand.  This even takes place at something incredibly ordinary event: a wedding.

But if you look between the line, there is a lot going on here. What matters is not where God is revealed by who God is revealed to.

Let’s look at the Wedding at Cana.

Engaging the Text

 This was the first miraculous sign that Jesus did in Cana of Galilee. He revealed his glory, and his disciples believed in him.

-John 2:11

Before we get into the Scripture, we should talk about the environment that Jesus lived in. The producing of wine by supernatural means was a common story in the Mediterranean world. Indeed, my name, Dennis, translates to Dionysus in Greek which was the god of wine.  The Roman name for Dionysus is Bacchus, which is where we get the word bacchanal. While this story seems odd to our modern ears, when this story was first told/read in ancient times it made perfect sense.

Jesus is at a wedding with his mother and the disciples in the town of Cana in Galilee.  Cana is not heard anywhere else in the gospels.  But the writer of John needs to tell his audience that this is taking place in Cana and in Galilee.  In this case, the location was important.  It was in Galilee where Jesus was welcomed, which is different from Judea, the more cosmopolitan Judea where he was rejected. Galilee is also the place where Jews and Gentiles lived together .  Having his first miracle take place here shows that God in Jesus loves both Jew and Gentile and they have equal standing in the new community that Jesus is creating

The wedding Jesus was at was not like modern weddings.  In the ancient world a wedding could last days.  Someone did not plan to have enough wine for the wedding, and the wine ran out before the party.  Today, someone would run down the local liquor store around the corner. Wine had a special place in that society. Wine was a sign of God’s abundance, of hospitality.  So, when the wine runs short, it means that abundance is limited.  This was a major social faux pas.

John and his mother have an interesting argument about the issue. (the mother of Jesus name, Mary, is never mentioned in John.)  She tells Jesus that the party is out of wine.  Jesus responds that this is not his concern, his time to be revealed has not come.  Mary seems to ignore his complaint as she tells the stewards to do whatever he tells them to do.  For Jesus his time meant that he would be the one that would determine when he would reveal himself.  But his mother believed that he could provide wine.

It is important to note how his mother brackets Jesus’ ministry.  Here, he says “Woman, what does that have to do with me?” When he is on the cross, he sees his mother and tells her,“Woman, here is your son,” meaning John would take care of her from now on.

Jesus relented and asked the stewards to fill six stone jars with water.  The jars were used in Jewish religious rituals. Jesus asked that a servant draw out a sample of the water and give to the head steward.  This was the person that made sure the wedding guests had food and wine so not having wine mean that blame rested with him. The steward never saw the stone jars being filled with water. The steward was confused when he tasted that water that was now wine. Where did it come from?  He was probably also puzzled about why the groom (who was the host) decided to give such good wine at this point in the wedding.  Indeed, he goes to the groom and tells him the following:

The headwaiter called the groom ¹⁰ and said, “Everyone serves the good wine first. They bring out the second-rate wine only when the guests are drinking freely. You kept the good wine until now.” ¹

-John 2:9-10

This is a long way of saying that the groom was viewed as breaking a major hospitality protocol. It was more common to offer the good wine at first and then bring out the cheap wine when the guests are so drunk they won’t tell the difference.  But Jesus offered the good wine on the third day.

Conclusion

What is the signifigance of this story? Why is Jesus’ first miracle changing water into wine? What does it say about God?

Remember that John doesn’t call what took place a miracle but a sign.  A sign points beyond the act itself to show God.  Jesus creates a huge amount of wine and it is not just any old wine, but very good wine, which is not what you would serve to guests three days in of a wedding feast.  What we see here is a God that gives abundant grace and love.  Notice that it was the servants and not the steward that saw the sign taking place.  Another example of grace. Like the feeding of the 5,000 this event shows a God that gives an abundance of love to all of us. It is a love that has no limit.

In the Old Testament, wine is an example of deliverance from the exile.  This is what Amos 9:13-14 says:

The days are surely coming, says the Lord,
        when the one who plows
        will overtake the one who gathers,
        when the one who crushes grapes
        will overtake the one who sows the seed.
    The mountains will drip wine,
        and all the hills will flow with it.
¹⁴ I will improve the circumstances of my people Israel;
        they will rebuild the ruined cities and inhabit them.
    They will plant vineyards and drink their wine;
    and they will make gardens and eat their fruit.

-Amos 9:13-14

So Jesus turning water into wine is a sign of God coming in the form of Jesus to bring salvation and delieverance.

Sociologist and pastor Tony Campolo once shared a story about giving a birthday party for a prostitute named Agnes.  He comes to a restaurant and meets Agnes and learns she never had birthday party and her birthday was the next day. This was her reaction.

Three‐thirty in the morning, in come Agnes and her friends. I’ve got everybody set, everybody ready. As they come through the door, we all yell, “Happy birthday Agnes!” In addition, we start cheering like mad. I’ve never seen anybody so stunned. Her knees buckled. They steadied her and sat her down on the stool. We all started singing, “Happy birthday, happy birthday, happy birthday to you!”

When they brought out the cake, she lost it and started to cry. Harry just stood there with the cake and said, “All right, knock it off, Agnes. Blow out the candles. Come on, blow out the candles.” She tried, but she couldn’t, so he blew out the candles, gave her the knife, and said, “Cut the cake, Agnes.”

She sat there for a long moment and then she said to me, “Mister, is it okay if I don’t cut the cake? What I’d like to do, mister, is take the cake home and show it to my mother. Could I do that?”

I said, “It’s your cake.” She stood up, and I said, “Do you have to do it now?”

She said, “I live two doors down. Let me take the cake home and show it to my mother. I promise you I’ll bring it right back.” And she moved toward the door carrying the cake as though it was the Holy Grail. As she pushed through the crowd and out the door, the door swung slowly shut and there was stunned silence. You talk about an awkward moment. Everyone was motionless. Everyone was still I didn’t know what to say.

The story ends with the owner of the diner chatting with Campolo and wondering who he really is:

Harry leaned over the counter and said, “Campolo, you told me you were a sociologist. You’re no sociologist, you’re a preacher. What kind of church do you belong to?”

In one of those moments when you come up with just the right words, I said, “I belong to a church that throws birthday parties for whores at three‐thirty in the morning.”

I’ll never forget his response. He looked back at me.  “No you don’t, no you don’t.  I would join a church like that!”

We worship a God that can turn water into wine and throw birthday parties for a hooker at three in the morning. Are we ready to see God shower people with God’s grace?

Dennis Sanders is the Pastor at First Christian Church of St. Paul in Mahtomedi, Minnesota. He’s written for various outlets including Christian Century and the Federalist.

Narrative Lectionary Reflection

January 7, 2018

Introduction

Do you remember when you met a specific friend?  What about a boyfriend/girlfriend, spouse?  You probably wanted to know more about this person and see them again.

Having friends, marrying a spouse all begins with wanting to know more about the person. When you are really into this person, you then want to tell others about this person

We don’t usually think of getting to know someone when it relates to God, as we learned in John1:1-18, God came in human form, in a way that made God relatable. What does it mean to get to know God? How did Jesus change how we connect with God? How do we tell others about meeting Jesus?

Today, we look at Jesus’ calling of the first disciples and what it tells us about God and about what it means to follow Jesus.

Engaging the Text

²⁹ The next day John saw Jesus coming toward him and said, “Look! The Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world! ³⁰ This is the one about whom I said, ‘He who comes after me is really greater than me because he existed before me.’

-John 1:29-30

In the study of the first part of John 1, we said that it was a different birth story than what is found in Luke.  When it comes to Jesus’ baptism (which some churches will be commemorating this Sunday), we see the same pattern showing how different Luke is from the other gospels.  The Synoptic (Matthew, Mark and Luke) show the actually baptism taking place.  In John, we know there is a baptism, but we know this only because John the Baptist is sharing the experience of seeing Jesus be baptized.

³² John testified, “I saw the Spirit coming down from heaven like a dove, and it rested on him. ³³ Even I didn’t recognize him, but the one who sent me to baptize with water said to me, ‘The one on whom you see the Spirit coming down and resting is the one who baptizes with the Holy Spirit.’ ³⁴ I have seen and testified that this one is God’s Son.”

-John 1:32-34

So, why don’t we see the baptism?  The writer of John never says so, but there might be a reason that this event is shared by one’s account and not by showing the actual event.  The point might be not to show the event, but to see one who witness the event tell others.  This is a theme throughout the book of John where a character will tell others what they experienced. 

That witness has an effect.  In verse 35, John the Baptist sees Jesus and again calls him the lamb of God.  Standing nearby are two disciples who hear what John says and follow Jesus.  Maybe the reason we have the scene where John is recounting the baptism is that these disciples heard it and when John says it again, their curiosity is piqued.   In John, one “hears” about Jesus before “seeing” him and that is followed by “believing” and finally “witnessing.”  The two disciples heard about Jesus from John.  When they see Jesus, they really “see” him, maybe not at this point as the Christ, but as someone they need to know better.  This is indicated in verse 38. Jesus asks them “What are you looking for?”  The two never answer the question, but instead respond with another question “Rabbi, where are you staying?”  The Greek word for staying is menein, which means abide.  The point in using menein is to indicate that the disciples want to have an intimate friendship with Jesus.

Throughout the rest of chapter one we see the same pattern of what we would now call discipleship: some receives a witness about Jesus and they in turn become witnesses of Christ. John witnesses to the two disiciples and they in turn become witnesses to their brothers, Peter and Nathaniel.

In meeting Jesus, people recognize who Jesus is.  New disciples have a name to describe who he is: Rabbi in verse 38, the Messiah in verse 41, the son of God in verse 49 and the king of Israel in verse 51. While they use these titles, that doesn’t mean they totally understand Jesus.  In fact, throughout the Gospel of John, people will struggle in trying to understand the identity of Jesus.

That might be why we have this little interlude about Nathaniel. His brother Phillip tells Nate about Jesus, but Nathaniel doesn’t immediately follow Jesus.  He responds by saying, “Can anything good come from Nazareth?” This shows that not everyone “gets” Jesus because of their preconceived notions.  Nathaniel thought Galilee and Nazareth represented the backwater a forgotten part of Israel. The Pharisees in chapter 9 and Martha in chapter 11  and others discounted Jesus because of how they had already viewed Jesus.

Jesus ends the text by saying in verse 51 the heavens will open up and God’s angels will rise and fall with he Christ.  That’s a 1st century version of saying, “You Ain’t See Nothin’ Yet.”

Conclusion

Most Christians who are part of the Mainline Protestant tradition tend to be allergic to evangelism.  As theologian David Lose notes, people either have seen it done rather poorly (think the person who harranges people) or because we have learned not to talk about religion in polite company.

But today’s passage is basically evangelism.  The people who witness Jesus aren’t pushing their views on others, instead they are simply telling what happened in their lives.  It was up to those who heard to do something with this.

In our modern age, we as Christians are to be on the look out for what God is doing in our world and then be willing to tell others. Here is how Lose describes it:

 

And that may be the larger point of this story from the Fourth Gospel — that when it comes to our relationship with Jesus, our primary job is to see and share. Not threaten, not coerce, not intimidate, not woo or wheedle or plead, but simply to see and share.

John the Baptist does that here. He sees the dove descend upon Jesus and tells others what he sees. That’s it. Andrew later does the same. He tells his brother what he and John’s other disciples saw — the person they believe is the Messiah — and invites Peter to come along and see for himself.

Could it be that simple? At its heart, evangelism is noticing what God is doing in our lives, sharing that with others, and inviting them to come and see for themselves.

Why do I think that? Because this isn’t only what John the Baptist does, and it’s not only what Andrew does. It’s also what Jesus does. When Jesus notices some of John’s disciples following him, he asks them what they are looking for. They, in turn, ask where he is staying. He doesn’t give an answer. He doesn’t question further. All he does in response is make an invitation: “Come and see.”

Notice. Share. Invite. These are the three elements of evangelism, sharing the good news of what God has done and is still doing through the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ for us and all the world.

What keeps us you from sharing that you have seen Jesus?  How could it make a difference in your community? 

One note about evangelism and today’s text.  Sometimes sharing the gospel is presented as a one-time event.  That the disciples who listened to Jesus found all the answers. When Nathaniel gives his snarky response to his brother Philip, Philip responds by saying that “we have found him about whom Moses in the law and also the prophets wrote,” (verse 45). The verb tense used in the Greek is in the perfect tense which means you don’t meet Jesus once, but over and over again.

The 1987 song by the group U2, “I’ll Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For,” was a song that some pastors criticized because it seemed he didn’t really find Jesus.

But as writer John Jay Alvaro wrote it isn’t realistic to think that meeting Jesus once answers every question you have. He shares what it means to keep looking even when you’ve found Jesus:

I have a white little schnauzer at home. He has been with us for many years, most of our marriage and before the kids arrived. He is a fixture in the house, until he is not. Lately my kids have been leaving the back door open, and Albie the schnauzer slips out. Sometimes it will be up to an hour before we realize that he is gone. We always find him, but lately it has felt like we are looking for him a lot. He takes off down an alley or finds a new friend to walk beside for a bit. People around our neighborhood recognize him in part because they have found him in their yards, content to be in the sun and grass.

Every time my son finds a new treasure in the driveway or buried in some drawer, I know that it is only a matter of time before we are looking for his new precious-but-lost item. He will carry a shiny rock everywhere, until he sets it down and forgets to pick it back up. I have torn apart every room looking for a fragment of glass he is convinced is a space crystal. Losing his treasures is part of his having them.

Who are you looking for? Come and see.

Dennis Sanders is the Pastor at First Christian Church of St. Paul in Mahtomedi, Minnesota. He’s written for various outlets including Christian Century and the Federalist.