Be With Me: 7 Minutes of Biblical Wonder

This podcast  just blew me away.

Jesus wants us to know something SO IMPORTANT that He repeats it and repeats it and repeats it and repeats it.  Not exaggerating there.  Actually 5 times. Here it is:  I lay down my life.  5 x!

Here is the sobering part:  He does it FOR something, FOR SOMEONE.  Who?  The sheep.  Me.  You.  Who wouldn't want to be a part of that Goodness?  

"But wait, there's more!"  As if that is not enough for a 7 minute wonderment.  Then He claims an authority that is unique to Himself.  We talked in Episode #230 about the NEVER EVENT of somebody getting new EYESIGHT.  Apparently there, not everybody notices.  Here is today's NEVER EVENT that makes giving sight to the blind seem almost insignificant:  He TAKES UP His own life.  

He declares the authority to LAY DOWN His life (Good Friday) but also the authority to TAKE IT UP AGAIN (Easter Sunday).  How did resurrection happen?  Easy.  HE TOOK UP HIS LIFE AGAIN.  This will certainly result in a bit more than 7 minutes of wonder and worship today.  Listen and be prepared to be blown away.

Looking backwards in time, God did not ALWAYS describe Himself as a Shepherd.  It had to start somewhere.  Today we will go to that spot in the Bible.

Before this Psalm, not much is mentioned in Scripture about God as SHEPHERD.  After this introduction, it is mentioned EVERYWHERE. Ezekiel, Zechariah, Isaiah, all the gospels, 1 Peter, and into Revelation.  This is something He really wants us to know.  We will be knowing God as SHEPHERD forevermore.  But not really Before this moment.

So, let us look carefully as God introduces Himself in a NEW WAY in the scriptural record.  Before this moment, God WAS a great Shepherd, as He has been forever looking back into time.  But, the point is, that until this moment, and for all the rich details that follow this in the scriptural record, nobody knew it. He wants to be known.  He wants to be known IN THIS WAY.  He wants to be known WITH THIS NAME

This is a podcast to absolutely enjoy.  God introduces Himself in a new way.  God pictures Himself as SHEPHERD.  God gives us Himself.  Listen as God proclaims Himself as Shepherd in Psalm 23.

I AM THE GOOD SHEPHERD so says Jesus.  There is a lot to this claim.

There is a lot of good shepherding warm and fuzzies which of course we should not overlook.  He speaks, He knows us, He provides for us, He plans pasture, He gives us protection, etc. etc. etc.  There is nothing wrong with any of that.  In fact, we should spend a great deal of time here recalling these attributes and His being with us.  That is a full cup of goodness right there.

But today I understand the OFFENSE of the gospel a bit deeper.  This concept of shepherd and it being a characteristic and even a NAME of God did not start here in 32AD.  This was a BIG DEAL before then.  Today, we will go back 500 years to Ezekiel 34 and to see a wonderful job description of "GOOD SHEPHERD".  There, God's character is well-described. 

Here is the offense:  Jesus basically says in John 10:11 that I AM THAT GUY.  I AM that SHEPHERD.  You have been waiting for Me.  Ezekiel describes an OFFICE of Chief Shepherd.  I am the "David to come" that is in those prophesies. I am God.  Yup, I am the Guy of the warm fuzzies of shepherding.  But I am also claiming and occupying the reigning, powerful,and   eternal OFFICE of SHEPHERD.  Chief Shepherd.  Great Shepherd.  God Himself. Wow.

Listen, and see why they wanted to kill Him.

There is so much in this passage about the qualities of God I had to make up a new word:  ABUNDANCY.  You heard it here first.  

In no particular order, Lord You ARE:

• a Voice speaker
• giver of an ability to HEAR
• a go-er before-er, a way maker, a gate, a pasture maker
• a Knower and allowed of being KNOWN
• not a stranger, not a robber, not a thief, not a stealer, not a killer, not a destroyer
• You are OWNER, inventer, provider, maker, planner
• You are access maker, Savior, rescue mission God
• You are life-giver; to the extreme, to the ABUNDANCY
• You are GOOD, You are Shepherd
• You lay down Your life
• You are present, and You offer your PRESENCE

So then, with this revealing of the ABUNDANCY, how should I respond?  Listen and find out how your knuckleheaded podcaster responds.

Today's passage brings great comfort.  It is about the Lord's protection, and His PRESENCE, and His provision and His PLAN.  All good stuff.  

Well, ALMOST all good.  We need some protection.  There are strangers to be fled from.   There are THIEVES that see our value and want it for nothing.  There are ROBBERS that even cross the line of violence.  So, all that should be kept in mind as we bask in our sheep-ness.

We have a fold.  We have companions like us.  We have a shepherd.  We will find out more about Him in #234.  We are owned.  We are valued.  We are provided for.  We are planned for. We have a way to participate.  We have a gate tender.  We have an ability to follow.  We have ears that discern voices.  We have the ability to FLEE.  We have so very much.

What is like to be a Christian?  A PASTURIZED Christian?  Listen and find out. 

So a Blind guy gets healed of his physical blindness.  Big deal.  

Jesus then talks about the importance of this event to the Pharisees.  Don't let this moment get away from you!  Do not ignore the import of this lesson.  Be changed by it, rather than hard-hearted and worse off than before it started. 

So yes we all are gifted with the revelation of God.  Perhaps some more or less, but creation and conscience in all of us.  That apparently is enough for accountability and agency for each of us.  So we have the conclusion of a never event.  A never-before event...restoring sight with a mud-saliva anointing.

I am left today with a bit of a spiritual humbling.  Lord open my heart and my eyes to faith.  Listen and join me as we "see" God afresh.

We find conversion in our story today to be messy; to be lonely; to be desperate; to be confusing; to be deconstructing and to be difficult.  Perhaps yours was too.  Perhaps yours is like that right now.  If so, welcome to the kingdom of God.  Where else are you to go?

Worship is always directed at someone or something.  If you would worship, let's say, a CHAIR, we'd declare an INTERVENTION.  But if we worship our job, or our health, or our reputation, or our children, nobody says boo.  Ironically, the blind man sees Jesus before he can see.  When the blind man sees, he sees correctly from the heart and sees Jesus for who he is.  Then he worships!!

In medicine there is a term NEVER-EVENTS.  It means events that are NEVER supposed to happen while under medical care.  For example, no patients is supposed to FALL DOWN while in the hospital.  Never events are always bad things to be prevented. So lots of time, energy, design and protocols are utilized to try and make that a reality. 

Today's passage notes a spiritual/physical NEVER-EVENT.  This is a GOOD thing.  A great thing.  A NEVER IN THE HISTORY OF MANKIND sort of thing: A blind man gets eyes to SEE.  He seems to be the only one who realizes what a wonder this is.  The pharisees miss it.  The disciples seem to miss it.  Even his parents miss it.

Also, does God listen to sinners?  It depends.  What do they say and with what attitude.  Of course God listens to sinners.  Otherwise there would be no communication with Him, as we are all sinners.  He loves to hear things like

•  help me see spiritually
• I'm sorry please forgive me
• You are right God, I agree with You

There are miracles today.  As the blind man sees:  a physical thing that never has happened in history.  But too:  the miracle of a movement toward BELIEF and confession and discipleship.
Listen and believe and appreciate something that never happened before in history!

Jesus is and has been in the business of making eyes from mud.  That is how you got them and can read this.  That is how I got them and can write this.  Since we are from the dust, what else is new?  What makes it so interesting here in John 9 is that this man had eyes that didn't work, and then Jesus made them work.  Because this was done after birth, it is a miracle.  This causes quite a stir.

This part of the passage reveals a bunch of people who are really good examples of being BAD examples.  Of course the Pharisees are in this group, they almost always are.   ( Not Nicodemus! Episodes 209-212!)  But big shocker here:  the blind man's PARENTS.  They put him on the street as a beggar.  They fear.  They don't want to be put out of the synagogue.  They refuse to risk anything before the authorities.  They keep any exposure pointed toward their own son.

So what of our eyes?  So what of our belief?  The blind man sees the Lord WITHOUT his eyes.  He becomes seeing of body and soul.  He gets the eyes fixed that are inside his head and the eyes of his soul.  His parents and the pharisees?  Not so much.  Let's learn as we listen to their particularly bad examples.

I am becoming quite charmed by this blind guy in John chapter 9.  Apparently so was God.  He wrote ALL of Chapter 9 about him. 

He "sees" the Lord without his eyes today.  At the end of the story, he'll actually see Jesus WITH his new eyes.  That's all fun, but this is where the real faith comes in.

When I first looked at the story I thought he just got blitzkrieged by Jesus.  On second look, he gets a bunch of verbal and physical information from Jesus.  He gets a burden lifted; he gets a promise in his own personal prophesy; he gets the urgency of Jesus; and too, that Jesus is THE LIGHT OF THE WORLD (See Episodes #215 and #216).  He gets a dirt/spit mud ANOINTING.  Finally, he gets a request/command to go to the pool of SENDING and wash.  Certainly here, the blind man has AGENCY.  He has a choice.  He has a decision to make.

What a treasure: A blind man who isn't blind.  A man who leads the way in example for us in SEEING the LORD WITHOUT our EYES.  Yup, his EYES do become seeing today.  But the really fun part is that his SOUL becomes seeing too.  Listen and see if you are blind.