Author Archives: Randy Buchman

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About Randy Buchman

I live in Western Maryland, and among my too many pursuits and hobbies, I regularly feed multiple hungry blogs. I played college baseball, coached championship cross country teams at Williamsport (MD) High School, and have been a sportswriter for various publications and online venues. My main profession was as the lead pastor of a church in Hagerstown called Tri-State Fellowship for 28 years before retiring in 2022. I'm also active in Civil War history and work/serve at Antietam National Battlefield with the Antietam Battlefield Guides organization. Occasionally I sleep.

The Paradox of Faith and Life – John 12:20-50

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There are many paradoxical elements of faith, not the least of which is that God should choose to love the sinners who rebelled against him, and that Christ would die for the very ones who put him on the cross.

The Scriptures are filled with paradoxical statements and counter-intuitive realities. A list of a few that come immediately to mind:  He who would be great among you must become the servant of all; the first shall be the last, and the last shall be the first; whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross daily and follow me; enter through the narrow gate, for wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction.

In the verses immediately following the presentation and coming of the King to Israel, rather than a mass of Jews seeking out the Lord, we see a group of Gentiles coming to meet Jesus. They apparently pick out the most Gentile sounding of the disciples – Philip – with hopes that he can get them an audience with Christ. He goes to Andrew, and together they go to Jesus.

20 Now there were some Greeks among those who went up to worship at the festival. 21 They came to Philip, who was from Bethsaida in Galilee, with a request. “Sir,” they said, “we would like to see Jesus.” 22 Philip went to tell Andrew; Andrew and Philip in turn told Jesus.

Jesus speaks in paradoxical terms that, as in the plant world, life and abundant fruit and growth come only after the death of the seed. And so it would be that the Savior would give life through his sacrificial death, while even his followers must also understand that death to this world is the price of discipleship.

23 Jesus replied, “The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified. 24 Very truly I tell you, unless a kernel of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains only a single seed. But if it dies, it produces many seeds. 25 Anyone who loves their life will lose it, while anyone who hates their life in this world will keep it for eternal life. 26 Whoever serves me must follow me; and where I am, my servant also will be. My Father will honor the one who serves me.

As the climatic moments of Christ’s life and ministry are approaching, the confusion of the crowds mounts as they misunderstand the message and illustrations that Jesus gives …

27 “Now my soul is troubled, and what shall I say? ‘Father, save me from this hour’? No, it was for this very reason I came to this hour. 28 Father, glorify your name!”

Then a voice came from heaven, “I have glorified it, and will glorify it again.” 29 The crowd that was there and heard it said it had thundered; others said an angel had spoken to him.

30 Jesus said, “This voice was for your benefit, not mine. 31 Now is the time for judgment on this world; now the prince of this world will be driven out. 32 And I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to myself.” 33 He said this to show the kind of death he was going to die.

34 The crowd spoke up, “We have heard from the Law that the Messiah will remain forever, so how can you say, ‘The Son of Man must be lifted up’? Who is this ‘Son of Man’?”

35 Then Jesus told them, “You are going to have the light just a little while longer. Walk while you have the light, before darkness overtakes you. Whoever walks in the dark does not know where they are going. 36 Believe in the light while you have the light, so that you may become children of light.”When he had finished speaking, Jesus left and hid himself from them.

Though certainly the clarity we see about who Jesus is and what he meant by the teachings he gave was not as easily understood at this time before the cross, enough had been done and said that the people should have connected it with the messianic prophecies, particularly of Isaiah. But even the rejection was prophesied, as God was working a master plan of redemption to extend to the whole human race …

37 Even after Jesus had performed so many signs in their presence, they still would not believe in him.38 This was to fulfill the word of Isaiah the prophet:

“Lord, who has believed our message and to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed?”

39 For this reason they could not believe, because, as Isaiah says elsewhere:

40 “He has blinded their eyes and hardened their hearts, so they can neither see with their eyes, nor understand with their hearts, nor turn—and I would heal them.”

41 Isaiah said this because he saw Jesus’ glory and spoke about him.

Even with the general mass rejection that was officially rendered by the Jewish leadership, John records here that there were many others, even among the leaders, who did believe in Jesus and recognized the signs as Scripturally true. Yet out of fear to publicly acknowledge their faith and suffer humiliation, they kept it secret – ultimately preferring the comfort of man more than the pleasure of God.

42 Yet at the same time many even among the leaders believed in him. But because of the Pharisees they would not openly acknowledge their faith for fear they would be put out of the synagogue; 43 for they loved human praise more than praise from God.

44 Then Jesus cried out, “Whoever believes in me does not believe in me only, but in the one who sent me. 45 The one who looks at me is seeing the one who sent me. 46 I have come into the world as a light, so that no one who believes in me should stay in darkness.

47 “If anyone hears my words but does not keep them, I do not judge that person. For I did not come to judge the world, but to save the world. 48 There is a judge for the one who rejects me and does not accept my words; the very words I have spoken will condemn them at the last day. 49 For I did not speak on my own, but the Father who sent me commanded me to say all that I have spoken. 50 I know that his command leads to eternal life. So whatever I say is just what the Father has told me to say.”

Life is difficult in a sin-saturated world. But in Christ, there is light in the darkness, life that is eternal, and peace in the bigger picture of the great work of God that transcends this world.

The Priority of Christ as King – John 12:1-19

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As we open chapter 12 today, John’s Gospel will “turn the corner toward home,” as this marks the end of Jesus’ public ministry and brings him triumphantly into Jerusalem as the promised Messiah King.

The scene is in the home of Simon the Leper (we know this from the parallel passage in Mark 14), which is in Bethany – the hometown of Martha, Mary, and the recently-resurrected brother Lazarus. In typical fashion of the two sisters with opposite personality types, Martha is serving and Mary is creating another “awkward moment.”

12:1  Six days before the Passover, Jesus came to Bethany, where Lazarus lived, whom Jesus had raised from the dead. 2 Here a dinner was given in Jesus’ honor. Martha served, while Lazarus was among those reclining at the table with him. 3 Then Mary took about a pint of pure nard, an expensive perfume; she poured it on Jesus’ feet and wiped his feet with her hair. And the house was filled with the fragrance of the perfume.

4 But one of his disciples, Judas Iscariot, who was later to betray him, objected, 5 “Why wasn’t this perfume sold and the money given to the poor? It was worth a year’s wages.”  6 He did not say this because he cared about the poor but because he was a thief; as keeper of the money bag, he used to help himself to what was put into it.

7 “Leave her alone,” Jesus replied. “It was intended that she should save this perfume for the day of my burial. 8 You will always have the poor among you, but you will not always have me.”

This aromatic nard from India was incredibly expensive. In today’s terms, it would be about like a bottle of perfume that would cost approximately 50-60 thousand dollars!  And the bookkeeper of the disciples – Judas Iscariot – runs the math through his head and sees this as an incredible waste of money. And on one hand, we can sort of understand that … imagine what a $50,000 gift to the REACH Cold Weather Shelter here in Hagerstown could accomplish. On the other hand, think of the personal benefits that Mary could have accrued for herself had she sold the nard and pocketed the proceeds (which is really what Judas would have done and actually wanted to do). The passage in Mark gives us some additional understanding of the scene:

From Mark 14:6-11 … “Leave her alone,” said Jesus. “Why are you bothering her? She has done a beautiful thing to me. The poor you will always have with you, and you can help them any time you want. But you will not always have me. She did what she could. She poured perfume on my body beforehand to prepare for my burial. Truly I tell you, wherever the gospel is preached throughout the world, what she has done will also be told, in memory of her.” Then Judas Iscariot, one of the Twelve, went to the chief priests to betray Jesus to them. They were delighted to hear this and promised to give him money. So he watched for an opportunity to hand him over.

Dead Men Don’t Tell Tales

According to the authoritative Urban Dictionary (insert smiley face), this is a saying that has existed for a long time but became famous through the Pirates of the Caribbean ride at Disneyland, in which a pirate-ish skull and crossed bones on the wall utters this very phrase. It means that to keep something quiet, kill anyone who knows about it and, since that person is dead, it would be pretty much impossible for them to tell your secret. A similar saying is “Three can keep a secret if two are dead,” invented by Benjamin Franklin.

The chief priests in Israel would love these sentiments, as they essentially come to the same conclusion: the only way to stop the growing popularity and distraction of this magician dude from Galilee was to kill him and his #1 carnival prop – Lazarus …

9 Meanwhile a large crowd of Jews found out that Jesus was there and came, not only because of him but also to see Lazarus, whom he had raised from the dead. 10 So the chief priests made plans to kill Lazarus as well, 11 for on account of him many of the Jews were going over to Jesus and believing in him. 

… and let me momentarily skip a few verses to put the end of today’s reading at this point …

 17 Now the crowd that was with him when he called Lazarus from the tomb and raised him from the dead continued to spread the word. 18 Many people, because they had heard that he had performed this sign, went out to meet him. 19 So the Pharisees said to one another, “See, this is getting us nowhere. Look how the whole world has gone after him!”

Jesus Comes to Jerusalem as King

The event that we know and celebrate on Palm Sunday was a scene fulfilling Old Testament prophecies. The “blessed is he who comes” is from Psalm 118:25,26; and the entrance on a donkey fulfills a prophecy in Zechariah 9:9 …

12 The next day the great crowd that had come for the festival heard that Jesus was on his way to Jerusalem. 13 They took palm branches and went out to meet him, shouting,

“Hosanna!” “Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!” Blessed is the king of Israel!”

14 Jesus found a young donkey and sat on it, as it is written:

15 “Do not be afraid, Daughter Zion; see, your king is coming, seated on a donkey’s colt.”

16 At first his disciples did not understand all this. Only after Jesus was glorified did they realize that these things had been written about him and that these things had been done to him.

A professor friend of mine from Dallas – whom I knew well from his service as an elder at the church where I was the Minister of Music – had done research for his Ph.D. from Cambridge University and later published what he believed to be the exact date that this event occurred. Dr. Harold Hoehner took the passage from Daniel 9:24-25 – which says that from the time of the decree of the Persian King Artaxerses to rebuild Jerusalem until the time of the official presentation of Jesus as the King of Israel (this triumphal entry) would be 483 years. He then went through all the calculations of dates, calendar changes, etc., and arrived at a final date of Monday, March 30, in the year A.D. 33!  Is this absolutely true? We don’t know for sure, but it could be … and it powerfully does argue for the incredible accuracy of Scripture and the overarching plan of God for the ages.

Application:  It is all about Priorities

We have to set priorities every day. Seldom are our priorities about what is “good” or “bad,” rather, it is about what is “better” or “best.”  It is good to care about the poor, but it is best to care deeply about God himself – loving him and serving him together with God’s people … which, of course, involves serving the poor as Jesus did. Yet the greatest priority of seeing Jesus for who he is – the King of Kings – is fully lost on the masses of humanity in our culture and world, even as it was on the religious “in crowd” when they rejected his offer as their king in March, A.D. 33.  Don’t be like that … set your priorities well.

Killing Jesus: Then and Now – John 11:45-57

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In a famous quote of President Harry Truman in 1948, complaining about what he felt was duplicitous rhetoric of Republicans, he said, “On the one hand, the Republicans are telling industrial workers that the high cost of food in the cities is due to this government’s farm policy. On the other hand, the Republicans are telling the farmers that the high cost of manufactured goods on the farm is due to this government’s labor policy. That’s plain hokum. It’s an old political trick: ‘If you can’t convince ’em, confuse ’em.’”

In our reading today in John 11 recording the reactions of various people to the raising of Lazarus, we see some people who were convinced of Christ’s messiah status, yet also of the religious leaders who were confused – evidently believing Jesus to be some sort of magician.

Frankly, it would seem to me that such an indisputable miracle as Christ performed could only be rejected if you REALLY wanted to disbelieve. And that was certainly the situation with the religious leaders.

45 Therefore many of the Jews who had come to visit Mary, and had seen what Jesus did, believed in him. 46 But some of them went to the Pharisees and told them what Jesus had done. 47 Then the chief priests and the Pharisees called a meeting of the Sanhedrin.

“What are we accomplishing?” they asked. “Here is this man performing many signs. 48 If we let him go on like this, everyone will believe in him, and then the Romans will come and take away both our temple and our nation.”

Students of the Scriptures should be more aware of this verse 48, for it summarizes in a few words the feelings and perspectives of the Jewish religious leadership toward the works and words of Jesus. This is a first century Jerusalem illustration of what we call today “inside the beltway thinking.”  We see politicians on all sides who go to Washington and forget there is a real world outside the DC beltway – their self-preservation becomes the full impetus and motivation feeding their perspectives and decisions.

Truly, the religious leadership had reached the end of tolerance for this Galilean preacher dude. He was now a serious problem. If he was allowed to continue and to gain a larger following, the Romans were sure to step in and bust up everything. (This actually did happen about 40 years later under Titus.)  Speaking up was Caiaphas – the high priest at that time who was allowed by the Romans to serve for a limited period of time …

49 Then one of them, named Caiaphas, who was high priest that year, spoke up, “You know nothing at all! 50 You do not realize that it is better for you that one man die for the people than that the whole nation perish.”

51 He did not say this on his own, but as high priest that year he prophesied that Jesus would die for the Jewish nation, 52 and not only for that nation but also for the scattered children of God, to bring them together and make them one. 53 So from that day on they plotted to take his life.

Caiaphas says it would be better to see one person dead – Jesus – than to risk the loss of the whole nation to a Roman smack-down. And so, the plot was hatched and affirmed from that time forward: Killing Jesus was then the name of the plot – not the name of Bill O’Reilly’s bestselling book!

John – writing after the conclusion of these events – under the inspiration of the Spirit identifies the irony in the words of the high priest. Jesus was indeed dying for the nation; and not only for Israel, but for all of God’s elect of all time.

54 Therefore Jesus no longer moved about publicly among the people of Judea. Instead he withdrew to a region near the wilderness, to a village called Ephraim, where he stayed with his disciples.

55 When it was almost time for the Jewish Passover, many went up from the country to Jerusalem for their ceremonial cleansing before the Passover. 56 They kept looking for Jesus, and as they stood in the temple courts they asked one another, “What do you think? Isn’t he coming to the festival at all?”57 But the chief priests and the Pharisees had given orders that anyone who found out where Jesus was should report it so that they might arrest him.

So Jesus relocates to a remote region about another 15 miles to the north. It was approaching the time of the Passover – a time when many pilgrims were already beginning to drift into the city of Jerusalem. Throughout the city and temple courts, eyes were watching for Jesus to arrive, which he would before long in a manner that fulfilled Scripture.

It appears to me that, as incredible as it may seem that people like the Jewish religious leaders would reject an obvious miracle because of their hostility to change, the same thing occurs today. The bulk of humanity continues to reject Christ out of hostility to the idea that his authority would rule over them. They fear the change of a loss of their individual power to control their lives and destiny – a sort of individualized “inside the beltway” manner of thinking.  But the irony is that true freedom only comes from yieldedness to Christ as Lord.

Jesus Wept: The #1 One-Liner – John 11:1-44

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I remember in middle school English classes being given the assignment of graphing the action and plot of a story – literally drawing a rising and falling line that I was to notate by highlighting parts of the unfolding story. I HATED DOING THIS! Years later, it seems like a good assignment … funny how that works.

If we were doing such a graph for the Gospel of John, it would reach a first pinnacle here in chapter 11 (with a higher point later with the resurrection, of course). This story of the raising of Lazarus from the dead is the ultimate sign that is given – the turning point as well for the Jewish leadership, who consequently determine that Jesus must be eliminated. This is the final of the seven signs … let me review those items with you and also add another list of the “I Am” Statements:

The Seven Signs:

Water to wine (2:1-12), Healing of the official’s son (4:43-54). Healing a paralyzed man (5:1-15), Feeding 5000 (6:1-15), Walking on water (6:16-24), Healing a man born blind (9:1-12), Raising Lazarus from the dead (11:1-44)

The Seven “I Am” Statements:

The Bread of Life (6:35), The Light of the World (8:12), The Gate for the Sheep (10:7), The Good Shepherd (10:11,14), The Resurrection and the Life (11:25), The Way, Truth and Life (14:6), The True Vine (15:1).

Death and Taxes

The old joke is that there are two things that can never be beaten – death and taxes. Well, apparently about half of our country has found a way to not pay the latter, but they won’t be able to avoid the former. It is the ultimate enemy.

I am very slow to ever directly quote commentary remarks written by others, but this one – by my former professor friend and running pal from Dallas, Ed Blum – is so good, I’ll make the exception.

“Physical death is the divine object lesson of what sin does in the spiritual realm. As physical death ends life and separates people, so spiritual death is the separation of people from God and the loss of life which is in God (John 1:4).”

I Hate death! I hate the loss of folks like my dear sister Charlotte, or my close ministry associate Beth! But I’m in good company hating this – Jesus hated it as well >>> to the extent of coming to die that this separation consequence may be forever fixed!

The Raising of Lazarus

I’m going to leave the story intact for you to read in one continuous setting today. It does not take a lot of explanation. The brother/sisters trio of Lazarus, Mary, and Martha were among the dearest of earthly friends of Jesus. Their home in Bethany – just two miles from Jerusalem – was a home base for Jesus and the disciples.

Lazarus is sick and messengers are sent to get Jesus – a day’s journey away. Apparently after they set out, Lazarus dies. Jesus gets the news, hears of the sickness but knows of the death; and rather than hopping right on it, Jesus stays two more days where he is. Understand clearly:  Jesus knows exactly what he is going to do – that helps us understand the story fully.

His delay and the reality of Lazarus having been four days in the grave before Jesus calls him out … this all leaves NO doubt as to the miraculous nature of it.

But let me today finish by commenting on a single verse – the shortest verse in the Bible, verse 35 – “Jesus wept.”  Why did he weep?  The hint is two verses earlier in 33 where it describes him walking upon the scene and seeing the sadness of those mourning the loss of Lazarus, he was deeply moved in spirit and troubled.  This translates a single Greek verb.

Have you ever looked at something that engenders in you an immediate and deep emotional reaction of both sadness and anger? Perhaps you might experience something of this nature if you viewed a picture of a crying woman holding the limp form a child killed in a terrorist bombing. At the same time, your heart aches for the innocent victim and your indignation rises to anger at the conscienceless animals who commit such an atrocity!

That is how Jesus felt!

He saw the sadness engendered by death. He surely thought of the enemy Satan who had deceived the original progenitor of the human race – resulting in THIS AWFUL SCENE. He was deeply moved and troubled … and he wept.

HE WEPT!  He knew what he was going to do. He knew that in mere moments the scene would be turned to joy. But he wept. He knows the nature of human sadness and loss. And he cares.

When we understand all of this, the shortest verse in the Bible can come to have for us the longest meaning.

The Death of Lazarus

11 Now a man named Lazarus was sick. He was from Bethany, the village of Mary and her sister Martha. 2 (This Mary, whose brother Lazarus now lay sick, was the same one who poured perfume on the Lord and wiped his feet with her hair.) 3 So the sisters sent word to Jesus, “Lord, the one you love is sick.”

4 When he heard this, Jesus said, “This sickness will not end in death. No, it is for God’s glory so that God’s Son may be glorified through it.” 5 Now Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus. 6 So when he heard that Lazarus was sick, he stayed where he was two more days, 7 and then he said to his disciples, “Let us go back to Judea.”

8 “But Rabbi,” they said, “a short while ago the Jews there tried to stone you, and yet you are going back?”

9 Jesus answered, “Are there not twelve hours of daylight? Anyone who walks in the daytime will not stumble, for they see by this world’s light. 10 It is when a person walks at night that they stumble, for they have no light.”

11 After he had said this, he went on to tell them, “Our friend Lazarus has fallen asleep; but I am going there to wake him up.”

12 His disciples replied, “Lord, if he sleeps, he will get better.” 13 Jesus had been speaking of his death, but his disciples thought he meant natural sleep.

14 So then he told them plainly, “Lazarus is dead, 15 and for your sake I am glad I was not there, so that you may believe. But let us go to him.”

16 Then Thomas (also known as Didymus said to the rest of the disciples, “Let us also go, that we may die with him.”

17 On his arrival, Jesus found that Lazarus had already been in the tomb for four days. 18 Now Bethany was less than two miles from Jerusalem, 19 and many Jews had come to Martha and Mary to comfort them in the loss of their brother. 20 When Martha heard that Jesus was coming, she went out to meet him, but Mary stayed at home.

21 “Lord,” Martha said to Jesus, “if you had been here, my brother would not have died. 22 But I know that even now God will give you whatever you ask.”

23 Jesus said to her, “Your brother will rise again.”

24 Martha answered, “I know he will rise again in the resurrection at the last day.”

25 Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. The one who believes in me will live, even though they die; 26 and whoever lives by believing in me will never die. Do you believe this?”

27 “Yes, Lord,” she replied, “I believe that you are the Messiah, the Son of God, who is to come into the world.”

28 After she had said this, she went back and called her sister Mary aside. “The Teacher is here,” she said, “and is asking for you.” 29 When Mary heard this, she got up quickly and went to him. 30 Now Jesus had not yet entered the village, but was still at the place where Martha had met him. 31 When the Jews who had been with Mary in the house, comforting her, noticed how quickly she got up and went out, they followed her, supposing she was going to the tomb to mourn there.

32 When Mary reached the place where Jesus was and saw him, she fell at his feet and said, “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died.”

33 When Jesus saw her weeping, and the Jews who had come along with her also weeping, he was deeply moved in spirit and troubled. 34 “Where have you laid him?” he asked.

“Come and see, Lord,” they replied.

35 Jesus wept.

36 Then 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 have kept this man from dying?”

38 Jesus, once more deeply moved, came to the tomb. It was a cave with a stone laid across the entrance. 39 “Take away the stone,” he said.

“But, Lord,” said Martha, the sister of the dead man, “by this time there is a bad odor, for he has been there four days.”

40 Then Jesus said, “Did I not tell you that if you believe, you will see the glory of God?”

41 So they took away the stone. Then Jesus looked up and said, “Father, I thank you that you have heard me. 42 I knew that you always hear me, but I said this for the benefit of the people standing here, that they may believe that you sent me.”

43 When he had said this, Jesus called in a loud voice, “Lazarus, come out!” 44 The dead man came out, his hands and feet wrapped with strips of linen, and a cloth around his face.

Jesus said to them, “Take off the grave clothes and let him go.”

Are You Running for the Office of Messiah or NOT? – John 10:22-42

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In my former political dabbling and involvements – an activity that was at once interesting and fulfilling along with equal parts of irritating and frustrating – I came across the political intriguer (the clandestine, secretively-plotting personality type).  These folks were maddening to those of us attempting to operate a successful political organization. They sure looked and acted like they were running for a particular office, but they would, for whatever current reasons or circumstance, not actually declare themselves to be candidates. Many times, we hoped the folks acting this way were not delusional in thinking they were viable office-holders.

This is essentially what is happening as we continue today in John 10:22ff…

22 Then came the Festival of Dedication at Jerusalem. It was winter, 23 and Jesus was in the temple courts walking in Solomon’s Colonnade. 24 The Jews who were there gathered around him, saying, “How long will you keep us in suspense? If you are the Messiah, tell us plainly.”

This is now two months after the previous events recorded in yesterday’s passage. The Festival of Dedication is what we today would know as the Jewish holiday of Hanukkah. It celebrated the defeat of Antiochus Epiphanes in 165 BC under the Maccabean revolt led by Judas Maccabeus – where the Temple was purified after the Syrian leader Antiochus offered a pig on the altar in his effort at mandated multiculturalism!  So this was a celebration where Jewish nationalistic fervor ran high.

It is now December, and Jesus is in the long colonnade on the east side of the Temple where he is literally surrounded in hostile fashion by Jewish leadership personnel who demand him to plainly declare or not if he is a candidate for the open position of Jewish Messiah. He had been acting like it and talking like it, though clearly these questioners do not believe him to be a viable fulfillment of this expectation. Truth be told – these guys were not interested in “messiahs” who riled up the people, thus riling the Romans, thus threatening their own long-term incumbent and cushy positions of authority and influence (and likely opulence as well).

25 Jesus answered, “I did tell you, but you do not believe. The works I do in my Father’s name testify about me, 26 but you do not believe because you are not my sheep. 27 My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me. 28 I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; no one will snatch them out of my hand. 29 My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all; no one can snatch them out of my Father’s hand. 30 I and the Father are one.”

The response of Jesus is to essentially say, “I don’t have to declare this in the terms you seek, because my actions speak sufficiently that I am from God.” He further restates that their problem with not believing is that they are not his sheep – they were not equipped with spiritual hearts to receive the revealed truth that was standing, talking, and acting before their very eyes. And again, the sheep illustration of hearing and following is referenced, along with the permanent and unassailably secure position every sheep of Jesus’ flock has – for all eternity. And he concludes his answer with the one, over-the-top zinger, “I and the Father are one.”

31 Again his Jewish opponents picked up stones to stone him, 32 but Jesus said to them, “I have shown you many good works from the Father. For which of these do you stone me?”

A humorous part of this narrative is lost in English – as the literal translation of “picked up” actually means “to carry.”  So these guys didn’t just flip out at that moment and say, “Oh boy, now you’ve messed up, let me look around here for some rocks to throw.”  No, they were “packin’ heat” (300 caliber rocks) when they cornered him. Jesus knows that it is his words that anger them, but he point to his miraculous works to ask why they’re doing this …

33 “We are not stoning you for any good work,” they replied, “but for blasphemy, because you, a mere man, claim to be God.”

We previously in this series talked about the passage from the Scriptures that was used to justify stoning anyone who claimed to be equal with God. And the answer of Jesus is a bit convoluted and difficult to understand … read it first …

34 Jesus answered them, “Is it not written in your Law, ‘I have said you are “gods”’? 35 If he called them ‘gods,’ to whom the word of God came—and Scripture cannot be set aside— 36 what about the one whom the Father set apart as his very own and sent into the world? Why then do you accuse me of blasphemy because I said, ‘I am God’s Son’? 37 Do not believe me unless I do the works of my Father. 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 in the Father.” 39 Again they tried to seize him, but he escaped their grasp.

Jesus makes an argument based upon a single word used in Psalm 82 – so understand that this passage is a strong statement by Jesus on the authority of Scripture down to the very words used (not just the concepts or ideas) because he builds his argument on a single word.  It was the word “elohim” – which mean “gods” – and was applied in that Psalm to human beings who served in the role of judges. So, if the authoritative word of God used the term for “gods” to refer to humans, what basis for stoning could they find in him when he declared he was one in nature with God and sent from the Father on a mission?  He further tells them to look beyond words to the works that had been done, and to believe and understand.

But the entire argument blows over their heads, leaving them shaking their thick domes like the Aflac duck trying understand Yogi Berra in that famous commercial series. And Jesus is again able through some non-described miraculous means to escape their grasp.

40 Then Jesus went back across the Jordan to the place where John had been baptizing in the early days. There he stayed, 41 and many people came to him. They said, “Though John never performed a sign, all that John said about this man was true.” 42 And in that place many believed in Jesus.

Jesus withdraws to the region of Perea on the east of the Jordan – where John had baptized earlier. The Jewish leadership had no clout or legal reach into this area under different political authority. And here, quite a few people do indeed believe in Him.

In all of this, God is working on his own perfect timetable. And it is good for us to remember that as well. And we should never conclude that open-spaced delays are indicative that God is not doing anything. He is at work – all the time.

Problems with Being Sheepish – John 10:1-21

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I have raised a lot of animals over the years – probably the remnants of my agricultural family past. But I’ve never raised sheep.

I once knew a fellow who did, and one day when visiting him he said, “Watch this, and I’ll show you how dumb sheep are and how much they just thoughtlessly follow what they see.”  So he positioned me in a narrow opening between two pastures and gave me a stick. He said, “Hold out this stick about six inches off the ground. I’m going to get the sheep following me in a line through that passage. After the first three or four sheep go through, drop the stick.”

So, sure enough, he started running and calling, and they followed him. He jumped over the stick, as did the first three sheep. I dropped the stick, but every sheep through the end of the line jumped at that spot as if the stick was still extended – simply because the sheep in front of them had done the same thing.

Everyone knows the reputation of sheep. We see it used derisively of people who simply follow a particular charismatic political leader without much thought, and such folk are called “sheeple.”  George Orwell in his classic work Animal Farm used sheep to speak allegorically of the ignorant masses.

Characteristics of Sheep

1)       Ignorant and gullible

2)       Fearful and timid

3)       Influenced easily by their leader

4)       Stampede easily, vulnerable to mob psychology

5)       Little means of self-defense other than running away

6)       Easily killed by enemies

7)       Jealous and competitive with other sheep

8)       Need fresh water and pasture, but have a lack of discernment about both

9)       Stubborn and persistent in getting their own way

10)     Easily “cast” on their backs and unable to right themselves

11)     Creatures of habit, get into “ruts”

12)     Totally dependent on shepherd for every need

Our reading today from John 10 is among the most treasured of Scripture, and for good reason. It was even a favorite of mine as a child, and I memorized the chapter as an elementary kid in Vacation Bible School.

Obviously, Christ is the shepherd, and those who follow him are his sheep. The picture draws upon common knowledge and experiences of the people of Palestine in that time where sheep herding was abundant.

The passage is actually directed to the Pharisees in the context. Let me begin it for you today by putting it into connection with the immediately preceding verses from chapter nine (remembering again that chapter and verse divisions are not original to the writers of Scripture).

9:39 Jesus said, “For judgment I have come into this world, so that the blind will see and those who see will become blind.”

40 Some Pharisees who were with him heard him say this and asked, “What? Are we blind too?”

41 Jesus said, “If you were blind, you would not be guilty of sin; but now that you claim you can see, your guilt remains.

10:1 … “Very truly I tell you Pharisees, anyone who does not enter the sheep pen by the gate, but climbs in by some other way, is a thief and a robber. 2 The one who enters by the gate is the shepherd of the sheep.

We need to get in mind a picture of a sheep pen (provided in the online version of this devotional) which was typically a rock-walled enclosure with a single entrance. If it was covered at all, it was not by material of much substance or strength. The shepherd, after leading his sheep into the pen for the evening, would himself sleep in the doorway. Those who went over the top were thieves and robbers to quietly steal or kill the sheep and carry them away.

 3 The gatekeeper opens the gate for him, and the sheep listen to his voice. He calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. 4 When he has brought out all his own, he goes on ahead of them, and his sheep follow him because they know his voice. 5 But they will never follow a stranger; in fact, they will run away from him because they do not recognize a stranger’s voice.” 6 Jesus used this figure of speech, but the Pharisees did not understand what he was telling them.

These pens were scattered around the countryside. Some of them were quite large and could be used by multiple shepherds and flocks. There may be three or four flocks mingled together for the evening, but then in the morning, a shepherd would call his sheep with his distinctly-known voice, and they would follow him while others would remain. There was no way the sheep would follow a voice they did not recognize.

The imagery of this is very clear to us, but the Pharisees were not able to understand it at all. Of course, we have the advantage of knowing the whole history of Christ’s work and of having the complete Scriptures … yet the point from John is that these men did not have spiritual ears to truly hear what Christ was saying.

7 Therefore Jesus said again, “Very truly I tell you, I am the gate for the sheep. 8 All who have come before me are thieves and robbers, but the sheep have not listened to them. 9 I am the gate; whoever enters through me will be saved. They will come in and go out, and find pasture. 10 The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.

Jesus identifies himself as the gate – the one opening for the sheep (people) to have life in safety, health, and abundance. Others who have come with messianic claims or those with alleged authority over the people (the sheep) were actually thieves with self-fulfilling intentions of stealing and destroying.

11 “I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. 12 The hired hand is not the shepherd and does not own the sheep. So when he sees the wolf coming, he abandons the sheep and runs away. Then the wolf attacks the flock and scatters it. 13 The man runs away because he is a hired hand and cares nothing for the sheep.

Jesus specifically identifies himself as the good shepherd. As in a previous discussion, there is an accent on the “I AM.”  Word order in Greek denotes emphasis… so let me give you the sentence in the way it is in the original, along with some attempts at emphases:  I AM the SHEPHERD good, the SHEPHERD good his Life lays down for the sheep.

By contrast is the hired hand – speaking of such as the Pharisees. They are willing, to an extent, to care for the flock – the nation – but they were not ultimately in it for the good of the people, but for their own benefit. Jesus, by contrast, was a shepherd willing to lay down his life for the sheep – a picture and concept we understand fully, but which the Pharisees could not grasp at all.

14 “I am the good shepherd; I know my sheep and my sheep know me— 15 just as the Father knows me and I know the Father—and I lay down my life for the sheep. 16 I have other sheep that are not of this sheep pen. I must bring them also. They too will listen to my voice, and there shall be one flock and one shepherd. 17 The reason my Father loves me is that I lay down my life—only to 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 authority to take it up again. This command I received from my Father.”

The relationship of Jesus to the sheep was personal. The word used of “knowing” is one that speaks beyond a casual group knowledge, depicting rather a personal relationship. The “other sheep” anticipates the Gentiles and peoples of the world who would become one new flock under Christ in the extent of the atonement.

There is a wonderful additional truth here that teaches how Jesus gives his life willingly for the sheep – for us. It was not a matter of inevitable circumstances. He was not overcome in any way and could have changed the entire scenario, as the old hymn says, “He could have called 10,000 angels to set him free, but he died alone for you and me.”

19 The Jews who heard these words were again divided. 20 Many of them said, “He is demon-possessed and raving mad. Why listen to him?”

21 But others said, “These are not the sayings of a man possessed by a demon. Can a demon open the eyes of the blind?”

What ensues is the timeless response that has been repeated over and over, millions of times, from that day until this very day – some reject and some believe.

Are you willing to be sheepish? Are you willing to confess to the characteristics above … propensities to wander and fail? Can you confess to an identification with the words of Isaiah that all we like sheep have gone astray and gone after our own ways?

It is actually good to be sheepish – when in the hands of a good, faithful, and loving shepherd!

Challenging Your Categories – John 9:1-41

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Many people don’t like to have anyone mess with their categories. We all have certain constructs about the way we believe life is rightly lived and how the world works. This is not wrong, as we should have a values system. And there is a definite right and wrong – in all places at all times. Yet some folks’ systems don’t allow room for God to show up and do the unusual.

And that is how the Pharisees were. They liked things the way they were and didn’t want changes. Their rules were rigid and precise, as life was measured in pure black and white. Their applications about the teachings of the Law were codified by famous rabbis in several writings of thousands of pages that organized life down to the finest details. And yes, some of it was ridiculous legalism, particularly teachings about what could or could not be done on a Sabbath. Their writings and teachings became bigger than the Scriptures.

People who trade only in crisp black and white see all suffering as related specifically to sin, and likewise all blessing as related directly to rewards for righteousness. When you are bad, you get punished; and when you are good, you experience blessing. While there is no doubt that all suffering has a root connection to the presence of sin as it entered a fallen world, it cannot be said that every item of suffering is related to a specific event in a particular person’s life. It has been a timeless question as to why certain evil people prosper, while godly people suffer. David pondered this in Psalm 73 – the portion of Scripture that was the only thing that got me through the valley of the shadow of death with one of my sons many years ago.

So when the disciples see a man who was blind from birth, the theological question was to ask if his condition was the result of his own sin or his parents’ sins.  Surely someone was to blame; and it is true that we could blame Adam for just about everything that goes wrong. Yet Jesus challenges their categories by saying that it was for another and greater reason – that Jesus would on this day heal him and be glorified through it, while demonstrating his Messianic credentials according to Old Testament prophecy.

But, again, the healing happens on a Sabbath.

Naturally, the Pharisees’ and religious leaders’ categories demanded a logical explanation for the miracle. There is none – the man had been blind from day one of his life. And rather than accept Christ for who he was, they punish the blind fellow by expelling him from synagogue access. And Jesus gets checked off in their category entitled “sinners/liars/frauds/false messiahs”.

There is no doubt that God at times allows less than stellar events in our lives in order that we may trust him more and that through us God may accomplish great work. We need to look beyond our immediate examples to the larger work that God is doing all around us. He has a plan on his schedule; and that plan may take an extensive amount of time to be fully revealed and understood. But God is working.

By way of application today, I’m going to copy a Facebook post of one of my favorite church kids who is now in college – Keshia Harney – who wrote about this passage recently:

I was struck by this tonight. This is part of the story of the miracle Jesus performed when he healed the man who had been born blind. Read it, it’s pretty much one of the coolest stories in the Bible. Anyways….

John 9:6,7 – “Having said this, he (Jesus) spit on the ground, made some mud with the saliva, and put it on the man’s eyes. “Go,” he told him, wash in the pool of Siloam (this word means Sent). So the man went and washed, and came home seeing.”

#1.  Jesus used spit. Holy spit or not, that’s disgusting. Think about it! It’s kinda weird. Jesus used something that wasn’t pleasant for this man’s benefit.

#2.  He makes mud with the saliva (again, ew!) and then PUTS it on the poor man’s face. Jesus just made a total mess. Can this poor guy get a break? Haha, I highly doubt the blind man was expecting to have Jesus’ saliva rubbed on his face and (if he is anything like you and me) he was probably wondering why on earth Jesus would do that. I would be taken back – maybe even offended or angry? Why would Jesus make a mess of me?

#3.  The mess that Jesus made – the mud he used – was His tool for healing. Obviously.

Moral of the story: your mess is NOT out of God’s control. Go rinse the spit off your face. God can use your test to make you a testimony, and he can turn your mess into a message. That’s all, folks.

John 9:1-41    Healing of the Man Born Blind

9:1 As he went along, he saw a man blind from birth. 2 His disciples asked him, “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?”

3 “Neither this man nor his parents sinned,” said Jesus, “but this happened so that the works of God might be displayed in him. 4 As long as it is day, we must do the works of him who sent me. Night is coming, when no one can work. 5 While I am in the world, I am the light of the world.”

6 After saying this, he spit on the ground, made some mud with the saliva, and put it on the man’s eyes. 7 “Go,” he told him, “wash in the Pool of Siloam” (this word means “Sent”). So the man went and washed, and came home seeing.

8 His neighbors and those who had formerly seen him begging asked, “Isn’t this the same man who used to sit and beg?” 9 Some claimed that he was.

Others said, “No, he only looks like him.”

But he himself insisted, “I am the man.”

10 “How then were your eyes opened?” they asked.

11 He replied, “The man they call Jesus made some mud and put it on my eyes. He told me to go to Siloam and wash. So I went and washed, and then I could see.”

12 “Where is this man?” they asked him.

“I don’t know,” he said.

The Pharisees Investigate the Healing

13 They brought to the Pharisees the man who had been blind. 14 Now the day on which Jesus had made the mud and opened the man’s eyes was a Sabbath. 15 Therefore the Pharisees also asked him how he had received his sight. “He put mud on my eyes,” the man replied, “and I washed, and now I see.”

16 Some of the Pharisees said, “This man is not from God, for he does not keep the Sabbath.”

But others asked, “How can a sinner perform such signs?” So they were divided.

17 Then they turned again to the blind man, “What have you to say about him? It was your eyes he opened.”

The man replied, “He is a prophet.”

18 They still did not believe that he had been blind and had received his sight until they sent for the man’s parents. 19 “Is this your son?” they asked. “Is this the one you say was born blind? How is it that now he can see?”

20 “We know he is our son,” the parents answered, “and we know he was born blind. 21 But how he can see now, or who opened his eyes, we don’t know. Ask him. He is of age; he will speak for himself.” 22 His parents said this because they were afraid of the Jewish leaders, who already had decided that anyone who acknowledged that Jesus was the Messiah would be put out of the synagogue. 23 That was why his parents said, “He is of age; ask him.”

24 A second time they summoned the man who had been blind. “Give glory to God by telling the truth,” they said. “We know this man is a sinner.”

25 He replied, “Whether he is a sinner or not, I don’t know. One thing I do know. I was blind but now I see!”

26 Then they asked him, “What did he do to you? How did he open your eyes?”

27 He answered, “I have told you already and you did not listen. Why do you want to hear it again? Do you want to become his disciples too?”

28 Then they hurled insults at him and said, “You are this fellow’s disciple! We are disciples of Moses!29 We know that God spoke to Moses, but as for this fellow, we don’t even know where he comes from.”

30 The man answered, “Now that is remarkable! You don’t know where he comes from, yet he opened my eyes. 31 We know that God does not listen to sinners. He listens to the godly person who does his will. 32 Nobody has ever heard of opening the eyes of a man born blind. 33 If this man were not from God, he could do nothing.”

34 To this they replied, “You were steeped in sin at birth; how dare you lecture us!” And they threw him out.

Spiritual Blindness

35 Jesus heard that they had thrown him out, and when he found him, he said, “Do you believe in the Son of Man?”

36 “Who is he, sir?” the man asked. “Tell me so that I may believe in him.”

37 Jesus said, “You have now seen him; in fact, he is the one speaking with you.”

38 Then the man said, “Lord, I believe,” and he worshiped him.

39 Jesus said, “For judgment I have come into this world, so that the blind will see and those who see will become blind.”

40 Some Pharisees who were with him heard him say this and asked, “What? Are we blind too?”

41 Jesus said, “If you were blind, you would not be guilty of sin; but now that you claim you can see, your guilt remains.

Two Words That Could Get You Stoned – John 8:31-59

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You have likely heard the phrase uttered about someone who makes bombastic statements, “Give him enough rope, and he’ll hang himself.”  That is essentially what is going on in the controversial dialogue between Jesus and the Jewish leadership in chapter 8 of John’s Gospel.

Notice the generally short remarks of the Jews with Jesus as compared to his longer responses. They are attempting to lead him forward with a series of questions and statements in order to have him condemn himself in his responses. The effort was to get Jesus to come right out and say that he was God – a blasphemy punishable by stoning according to the Law in Leviticus 24:16 which says, “The one who blasphemes the name of the Lord shall surely be put to death; all the congregation shall certainly stone him” (NASB).

The heat is rising throughout this chapter as Jesus makes some very strong statements such as:

1)      “I am the light of the world” (8:12)

2)      “I am one who testifies for myself; my other witness is the Father, who sent me.” (8:18)

3)      “You are from below, I am from above” (8:23)

4)      “… if you do not believe that I am he, you will indeed die in your sins.” (8:24)

5)      “I do nothing on my own but speak just what the Father has taught me.” (8:28)

6)      “I am telling you what I have seen in the Father’s presence.” (8:38)

Add to the mix the very frontal statements of Christ that these unbelieving Jews are from their father the devil. Obviously Jesus is not building a consensus here!

And it finally all boils over in verse 58, “Before Abraham was born, I am!”   At this point, they pick up the rocks to stone him. Why there? Why not before that point?

Up until verse 58 they are essentially giving him the briefest sliver of a benefit of doubt. You can almost hear them thinking, “Wait for it … wait for it.”  AH – there it is! He said it! Those two little words – I AM – were the final evidence of him equating himself with God.

The Greek helps us here just a bit – most likely. The words are “ego eimi.”  The verb “eimi” in the Greek language is first person singular and contains the pronoun “I” in it … the only reason to add the “ego” is for the purpose of giving it extra emphasis.  It was like saying, “Before Abraham was born, I am!”

But you might still wonder why this riled them up so much at this specific moment. That is because there was NO DOUBT what Jesus was saying. He was identifying himself with the very commonly known and central, prominent passage of Exodus 3:14 – the definitional statement of who the God of Israel is. When Moses is arguing with God about the assignment he is being given, he says to God …

13 “Suppose I go to the Israelites and say to them, ‘The God of your fathers has sent me to you,’ and they ask me, ‘What is his name?’ Then what shall I tell them?”

14 God said to Moses, “I am who I am. This is what you are to say to the Israelites: ‘I am has sent me to you.’”, “So who shall I say sent me?”  And God answers, “I am has sent me to you.”

By this, God was saying that He, the one true God of Israel – the self-existent One – was the one who was sending Moses.

The “ego eimi” left no doubt whatsoever as to what Jesus was claiming and saying. The only thing saving Christ from being stoned to death at this moment was his divinely-enabled escape, as again, it was not the time for the sacrifice.

The question of the Jews in today’s reading in verse 53 – Who do you think you are? – is a timeless one that raises the question as to the exact identity of Jesus Christ. We are hitting on this same application over and over in this section of the Gospel of John. But it is timeless. Even in protestant churches today there are pastors and parishioners who do not see Jesus above the level of a divinely-inspired man like any other man … merely a great teacher and moral example. But they do not see him as God in the flesh, one with the Father – the Son of God as the second person of the Trinity. But he is God Up Close; and because of that, he is able to take our sins upon himself, pay the price as the perfect sacrifice, and having defeated death is able to genuinely offer us his eternal life with him.

It makes all the difference in knowing and believing that Jesus is EGO EIMI – God.

John 8:31-59  More Disputes with Religious Leadership

31 To the Jews who had believed him, Jesus said, “If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples. 32 Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”

33 They answered him, “We are Abraham’s descendants and have never been slaves of anyone. How can you say that we shall be set free?”

34 Jesus replied, “Very truly I tell you, everyone who sins is a slave to sin. 35 Now a slave has no permanent place in the family, but a son belongs to it forever. 36 So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed. 37 I know that you are Abraham’s descendants. Yet you are looking for a way to kill me, because you have no room for my word. 38 I am telling you what I have seen in the Father’s presence, and you are doing what you have heard from your father.” 

39 “Abraham is our father,” they answered.

“If you were Abraham’s children,” said Jesus, “then you would do what Abraham did. 40 As it is, you are looking for a way to kill me, a man who has told you the truth that I heard from God. Abraham did not do such things. 41 You are doing the works of your own father.”

“We are not illegitimate children,” they protested. “The only Father we have is God himself.”

42 Jesus said to them, “If God were your Father, you would love me, for I have come here from God. I have not come on my own; God sent me. 43 Why is my language not clear to you? Because you are unable to hear what I say. 44 You belong to your father, the devil, and you want to carry out your father’s desires. He was a murderer from the beginning, not holding to the truth, for there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks his native language, for he is a liar and the father of lies. 45 Yet because I tell the truth, you do not believe me! 46 Can any of you prove me guilty of sin? If I am telling the truth, why don’t you believe me? 47 Whoever belongs to God hears what God says. The reason you do not hear is that you do not belong to God.”

Jesus’ Claims About Himself

48 The Jews answered him, “Aren’t we right in saying that you are a Samaritan and demon-possessed?”

49 “I am not possessed by a demon,” said Jesus, “but I honor my Father and you dishonor me. 50 I am not seeking glory for myself; but there is one who seeks it, and he is the judge. 51 Very truly I tell you, whoever obeys my word will never see death.”

52 At this they exclaimed, “Now we know that you are demon-possessed! Abraham died and so did the prophets, yet you say that whoever obeys your word will never taste death. 53 Are you greater than our father Abraham? He died, and so did the prophets. Who do you think you are?”

54 Jesus replied, “If I glorify myself, my glory means nothing. My Father, whom you claim as your God, is the one who glorifies me. 55 Though you do not know him, I know him. If I said I did not, I would be a liar like you, but I do know him and obey his word. 56 Your father Abraham rejoiced at the thought of seeing my day; he saw it and was glad.”

57 “You are not yet fifty years old,” they said to him, “and you have seen Abraham!”

58 “Very truly I tell you,” Jesus answered, “before Abraham was born, I am!” 59 At this, they picked up stones to stone him, but Jesus hid himself, slipping away from the temple grounds.

A Little Light Goes a Long Way in the Darkness – John 8:12-30

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Those of us who are baby boomers remember our childhood experiences in the era of the Cold War – where we had drills in school that sent us to the basement covering our heads against the wall in preparation for a possible Soviet nuclear attack.

My mother-in-law was a child during World War 2 when the terror of Blitzkrieg bombing raids was descending upon Europe. Though we now know that the United States homeland was never attacked, it was not at all beyond the imagination then that things could become bad enough for such to happen. Mom has said that she remembers the drills and the education about the necessity for a total blackout of cities and towns. Standing out in her mind was the mention that even the lighting of a cigarette in the dark could be easily seen by a spotter in an airplane.

A little bit of light can go a long distance in the darkness. Our passage today begins with Jesus speaking of himself as the light penetrating the darkness, just as John had done in chapter one.

12 When Jesus spoke again to the people, he said, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.”

I recently shared with the church a picture of myself from 40 years ago when I had long, curly black hair. Add to that my Germanic last name, and in my college years I was occasionally taken by people who did not know my background to think I was Jewish. No, not at all, though there are Buchmans who are Jewish. But I often look at the Jewish festivals and think about how much fun they must have been for a child, and almost wish I had grown up in that culture.

The Feast of Tabernacles looked back at the preservation of the Israelites through the time of their wilderness wanderings. People would spend a week living in booths – or tents – to recall the experience. In the Temple in Jerusalem in the Treasury – also called the women’s court – there were giant lanterns that were lit during this celebration. Worn-out garments of the priests were used as the wicks, and this light illuminated the entire Temple area where the people joined in songs of praises and dance. The light was to serve as a reminder to the Jewish people as to how God had led them through the desert with the cloud by day and the pillar of fire by night.

At this time … in this context of the light of the lamps at the Feast of Tabernacles … Jesus says, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.”   Is that cool, or what!?

But, the Pharisees were not impressed at all …

13 The Pharisees challenged him, “Here you are, appearing as your own witness; your testimony is not valid.”

Imagine you were standing before Judge Thomas in the district court in Hagerstown and were accused of shoplifting a package of underwear from Walmart and making your rapid escape on one of those motorized shopping carts. You might say to the judge, “I’m a really good person and I would not ever do such a thing; and I’m too scared of the other shoppers at Walmart to ever go in that store.”  Well, will the judge believe you? Is your word alone good enough? Probably not – you would need witnesses who could vindicate your character and Walmartaphobia.

The Pharisees were saying that Christ’s testimony was legally insufficient without an additional witness. But who do you call as your witness if you are the Son of God?

14 Jesus answered, “Even if I testify on my own behalf, my testimony is valid, for I know where I came from and where I am going. But you have no idea where I come from or where I am going. 15 You judge by human standards; I pass judgment on no one. 16 But if I do judge, my decisions are true, because I am not alone. I stand with the Father, who sent me. 17 In your own Law it is written that the testimony of two witnesses is true. 18 I am one who testifies for myself; my other witness is the Father, who sent me.”

So Jesus asserts that the Father God is his other witness – God being the one who has sent him. This statement is clearly lost on the Pharisees …

19 Then they asked him, “Where is your father?”

 “You do not know me or my Father,” Jesus replied. “If you knew me, you would know my Father also.”20 He spoke these words while teaching in the temple courts near the place where the offerings were put. Yet no one seized him, because his hour had not yet come.

And so the debate continues. Did you ever have a conversation with someone about a topic you know well, but the other party does not only not understand what you are talking about, they don’t even know the category about which you are speaking … yet at the same time, they are talking back like they understand everything?  That is what is happening in this passage and other surrounding passages in regard to understanding Christ and his mission. Jesus is speaking on a heavenly and spiritual level; the Pharisees are stuck on earthly and material levels.

The religious leaders were clearly completely lost in these discussions. More likely to accept Christ was the simple, common, ordinary person who in faith had a genuine heart of expectation for a Messiah. Though their expectations were almost always short on understanding the spiritual issues, the simple people were more likely to put faith in Jesus … and this remains true to this day. Those who have the things of this world much in their grasp are less likely to look for solutions and blessing with fruits in eternity…

21 Once more Jesus said to them, “I am going away, and you will look for me, and you will die in your sin. Where I go, you cannot come.”

22 This made the Jews ask, “Will he kill himself? Is that why he says, ‘Where I go, you cannot come’?”

23 But he continued, “You are from below; I am from above. You are of this world; I am not of this world. 24 I told you that you would die in your sins; if you do not believe that I am he, you will indeed die in your sins.”

25 “Who are you?” they asked.

“Just what I have been telling you from the beginning,” Jesus replied. 26 “I have much to say in judgment of you. But he who sent me is trustworthy, and what I have heard from him I tell the world.”

27 They did not understand that he was telling them about his Father. 28 So Jesus said, “When you have lifted up the Son of Man, then you will know that I am he and that I do nothing on my own but speak just what the Father has taught me. 29 The one who sent me is with me; he has not left me alone, for I always do what pleases him.” 30 Even as he spoke, many believed in him.

Many believed … even as many, many more rejected. Which camp would you have been in?  At our juncture of history where all of this is a part of the historical record, there is really no excuse to not believe and follow Jesus Christ. He has been “lifted up” on the cross, beaten death, and been exalted to heaven from which he has promised to come again. We have seen God Up Close – he has been the light in the darkness, and we must be people who walk in that light.

“Yet in thy dark streets shineth, the everlasting Light …

Where meek souls will receive Him still, the dear Christ enters in.”

What Did Jesus Write in the Sand? – John 7:53—8:11

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Our passage today of Jesus dealing with the accusers of the woman caught in adultery is among the dearest of stories about the Lord. Depicted beautifully in a myriad of film portrayals, we have seen the fearful and disheveled woman with terrified eyes and tears rolling down a dirtied face. The angry men in robes drag her before Jesus who does not even look up from his preoccupation with a tic-tac-toe game in the sand. Surely the framed question is, as intended, inscrutable for answering; yet Jesus stands and says that those without sin should toss the first stone. The camera closes in on the hands holding rocks, as the audio goes suddenly silent apart from the fearful wails of the accused woman. One by one the stones are heard to hit the ground with a thud as the men turn and walk away. And the scene ends with an intense stare of Jesus into the soul of the broken and contrite woman who, in the absence now of accusers, is told to go and sin no more.

It is a great story. And perhaps that is all that it is.

At the risk of you concluding that Pastor Randy is wantonly ripping sections out of the Bible, let me tell you that the bulk of biblical scholars do not believe this passage belongs in the text. And I agree with that assessment. Along with it oddly breaking up the flow of the narratives before and after this section, the oldest manuscripts do not contain the passage. (Remember also that chapter and verse references are not original either.)

Evaluating the textual evidence surrounding the variant readings of thousands of manuscripts is a very academic exercise. I’ll not go into it deeply, but will simply say from my evaluation of this evidence – this being the heart of my major as a seminarian – that the argument for this passage being original to the pen of John is exceptionally weak. The differing style of writing is more profoundly obvious in Greek than it is in English. None of this is to say that anyone should lack any confidence in the Scriptures you read. These sorts of debated passages are really quite rare, and the disputed sections of the Bible do nothing to change the meaning or interpretation of any truth.

The likely scenario as to why this is included is that there was an oral tradition passed along that this event occurred, and it was eventually written and included at this point, being copied over and over by scribes. The Bible says, even in John’s Gospel, that Jesus did many more deeds than are recorded. So it is quite probable that this event did indeed happen, though it is very unlikely that John wrote these words and intended them to be in his account.

However, the event is truly totally believable and consistent with Christ. There is the turning upside-down of the efforts of the religious leadership to catch Jesus in his words or beliefs. The Lord is seen as a person of mercy toward lost sinners, who more readily respond to extended grace than the allegedly “righteous” accusers. The account affirms the accurate theology that we are all sinners … that we are all guilty and imperfect people.

Even folks who are not very religious will quote this story with a glib “let he who is without sin cast the first stone.”  I sometimes wonder if they really even know where that saying originated. And it has often struck me that the quotation is employed to say something like, “Well, none of us are perfect, so, we should just overlook this situation and forget about it.”  Well, the “none of us are perfect” part of the sentence is true for sure, but the concept that sin is no big deal is terribly wrong in light of the rest of the story of the Scriptures. It is a big deal … big enough to put Christ on the cross as the only way it could ever be rightly atoned (covered) and forgiven. Such grace and sacrifice is the biggest part of the bigger story that is surely true – that Jesus is God Up Close.