John the Baptist...talk about a guy that everyone knows of today, at least everyone who has been around the Christian church at least a little, and someone who we might say is a little like the guy holding up a sign about Jesus on the street corner in his own time.  I mean, John was offensive to many, he sounds like he would be a little quirky and strange, and he was a very unique character in the story of Jesus.

In thinking about John the Baptist, I guess I am realizing that the story that God told, the events and the episodes, the people He used...not all of it makes sense to me even now, let alone then, because it is rare that things are more clear in the moment rather than in hindsight.  Yet, when I look at the story God has been weaving and telling across the nearly 1500 years that the Bible spans, and the 2000 years since Jesus, there are some clearly seen themes and plot lines.  It humbles me to think about this...to think how many people have played an important part in the story, and to think about the different types of people that played those parts, and to realize that most of the people were just ordinary people answering and extraordinary call from God.  It reminds me of something I am sure I have said in my journaling a thousand times, and that I remind myself often, that I heard from a pastor named Andy Stanley years ago, that you never know what hangs in the balance as it relates to your faithfulness to God.  I will never know how impactful my faithfulness might be in someone else’s life.  You will never know about that person that came to faith because he saw the way you acted, or something you did, in the right moment, at the right place, that caused them to pause and think, and eventually accept Jesus into their life.  We will never know.  And, we all have a part to play; God’s story includes all who are willing to go where He leads.  Tomorrow we will read about Jesus calling the first disciples and they didn’t know either. And, you know, perhaps the guy on the side of the road that I judge every time I see him, perhaps that guy really is answering a calling that God has issued to him.  Who am I to say otherwise?

This is referred to as the “Prologue”, kind of a summary and introduction to John’s letter.  It sets the tone for what’s to come.

The first impression on this is that it is very ethereal, very spiritual, and not very concrete.  John is telling us what he is going to tell us, which is definitely different from the other gospel writings.  But not only that, John is, right up front, telling us just what he personally believes about Jesus, and he makes it clear that this is what he wants to convince the reader as well.

The verses that I really love in here are at the end of this section, verses, 14-18.  Two things stand out to me this morning.  First is this statement that Jesus is full of BOTH grace and truth.  Jesus isn’t the judge who beats you up for doing wrong, who drags you through the mud for mistakes, who looks to punish you and relishes in the fact that you didn’t quite make it this time, and that now He can come down on you.  No, Jesus is full of Grace.  At the same time though, we see through the gospels that He doesn’t shy away from the truth...He raises the bar in terms of standards to a place where no one can pull it off.  But it is this combination of the two that is so compelling...probably best illustrated in chapter 8 with the woman who comes to Jesus in the temple, and he makes this statement: “Neither do I condemn you; go, and from now on sin no more.”  It is the grace He gives that makes His truth so palatable.

The second thing that really jumped out at me is just the bigger idea that God came down to us, He sent Himself as His Son to be on this earth with us, to suffer with us, to experience life with us, to know us intimately, and to demonstrate who He is.  We live in a ‘show me’ world today, and most of us think that if we got to see God it would be easier to believe; that if we got to experience God first hand, that we’d be ‘all in’.  You know, I think we get that wrong.  First off, when we think that, I can almost picture God sitting up in heaven thinking, “Well, I have already done that, I have already come down and spent years on the earth with people, and they didn’t believe Me until I was gone.”  And then we might say, “Well, that wasn’t me.”  Or we might say, “No, well, I mean, show up as God and I will believe, not at Jesus, not as a man.”  And to that I am sure God is probably thinking, “Have you read about when Moses saw me, how his face was turned to ash and he couldn’t hardly be in my presence without being overwhelmed?”.  See, I think we fail to recognize the magnitude of God.  We can only use the context of our life to imagine things about God; I think we just lack the ability to imagine what God is really like.

So, this morning, it is thankfulness that is in my mind from these verses...thankful that God came down and proved Himself to us.  The fact that we sometimes don’t think that proof goes far enough is on us...if His physical presence wasn’t enough to ‘prove’ He is who He says He is, then we have an unquenchable desire for proof.  I am thankful that He came with the balance of both Grace and Truth, and not just Truth as was His MO in the /old Testament.  I am thankful to live in the post-resurrection world, that I can have Jesus upon which to reflect, and the Holy Spirit as a companion.  I am just very thankful this morning.

This last section of John, which really isn’t a section but just an arbitrary group of chapters based on the reading pattern I have chosen, really illuminates the length to which Jesus went to demonstrate who He was.  John, probably more than the other gospel writers, really connects Jesus’ identity with Jesus’ actions leading up to and after the crucifixion and resurrection.  John is trying to emphasize that the disciples didn’t get it, but that Jesus was very explicit in demonstrating who He was.  It is with humility that John writes this...being one of the disciples himself.  Further, the fact that John was the so called ‘beloved one’ and that he didn’t really get it or really buy into who Jesus was until He returned further makes the point.  You know, I can’t blame these guys though...I have never seen a guy hung on a cross and then had him come back and join me for dinner a few days later, so that would be difficult to accept and anticipate regardless of what that person did to convince me that it was going to happen.  Thomas’ reaction that we see today is really most everyone’s reaction at some level, the reaction of “I’ll believe it when I see it”.

And I guess that’s the big take away from all of this for me today...it is the reminder that hindsight is 20/20, and that with regard to the resurrection, I can’t experience it, read about it, or learn about it without this hindsight.  It is easy to see the pieces coming together from where I sit.  But in my own life, on a day-to-day basis, I need to understand that these disciples were in Jesus’ midst and they didn’t get it; I am not in Jesus’ midst, though I do have the Holy Spirit as a substitute, and I can easily miss what God has for me.  I MUST learn to humble myself, to seek out and listen to God’s guidance, and I must be attentive to what He is telling me in the world around me, or I will miss whatever He has for me as well.  I can look back on my life now and easily see times when God was moving and I didn’t see it...and I must learn to trust that God continues in that way in my life now.  A big part of our spiritual journey is learning to live WITH God in the moment vs. always looking back and realizing that He was actually there and that I didn’t realize it.  It is hard...it is weird in some ways, because God is the only friend I have that I can’t see or touch...but that is the way it is for now.

With the telling of the story of Lazarus in today’s reading, and going forward, again, we see the tone change in John’s letter.  We have seen a lot of inference from Jesus so far...a lot of allusion to who He is, what He is doing, and what’s to come.  Now Jesus gets more direct, He gets more hard-lined...it is crunch time.  We are making our way into the time when Jesus will really meet His own resistance as the disciples have experienced.  It is neat to see things presented in the manner John presents them, because we see the disciples struggle to lean into their faith when they were challenged, and now we’ll get to see how Jesus reacts...spoiler alert, Jesus maintains His faith, and Jesus gives us a great example.

Somehow, Jesus is able to keep His focus on His calling.  Jesus knows that He is headed for death at this point; He knows where all of these events are leading.  Yet, He faithfully pushes forward with His calling and His mission.  He gives us a fantastic example of leadership and faith.

There is so much that happens in these chapters from the reading today...but that is really the big takeaway for me.  It is this vision that Jesus gives us - this is what a person who is faith-filled, Spirit-led, and mission-conscious can be like...and it is really compelling.

In looking at the chapters for today, we see another couple of chapters that align with the discussion from yesterday, where we see John reflecting on an episode with Jesus and the lessons weened from them.  But then we see the letter shift a bit...John moves into a phase where you can see that he and the disciples, and all of the Jesus followers for that matter, start to wrestle with their faith; that is, things start to get harder, they have to act in a manner that feels like they are risking something, and their faith begins to be tested.  It is the journey that every believer eventually has to take - it is the time when it isn’t convenient to be a Christian.  What do they do when challenged?  Well, they do what we do...they try to find a loophole, a way out of doing what they know they should do, but that they don’t WANT to do.  Then we see a couple of wonderful examples of how we can respond when our faith is tested like this, in chapter 6 with a comment by Peter and in chapter 7 with a comment by Nicodemus - these will be fun to discuss.

And we know that no New Testament letter would be complete without some tension with the religious leaders of the day, so we see that in the reading today as well, starting in chapter 8.

For me, in reading through these 5 chapter today, I am reminded that each of us has a unique journey as it relates to our faith, but we all will encounter some of the same challenges; in fact, the disciples themselves encountered them.  And no one seems to always get it right...it is one disciple here, another one there.  And it reminds me of the power of community, that when we surround ourselves with others that are on the same journey, someone is likely going to have their head on straight at any given point in time, and that’s of huge value to me.  The group is stronger than the one.  It is a great reminder this morning.

Reading through this, having talked about it and having recently read a couple of Gospels, it was really cool to see the difference in styles between Matthew and Luke and now John.  John’s writing is much more of a group of stories woven together through reflections and teachings than it is a history lesson.  It is like John tells us something that happens and then he takes that a runs with it, illuminating ideas and thoughts that spring from his sharing of the story, and letting his thoughts wonder a bit, before coming back to another story and doing that on repeat.

In the first 5 chapters, we get a little of John the Baptist, we get the calling of the disciples, we get Nicodemus, the Woman at the well, and the healing of a man at the pool.  And, instead of history, we are getting narrative and ideas.  With John the Baptist, Jesus is showing us that John was telling us about Jesus...and that he had it right, that Jesus fulfilled his predictions.  With the calling of the disciples, John is showing us how obvious Jesus was to those who weren’t resisting Him; He had authority, He had influence, and He clearly was a unique person.  With Nicodemus John is teaching us what Jesus taught about salvation, about Grace, and about how wealth can be a formidable obstacle to a person accepting that Grace.  With the woman at the well, John shows us how Jesus was even forgiving the unforgivable, and how we are not in a place to judge others.  Then, last on this for the first 5 chapters, the man at the pool - we are taught that the sins of our past can even be wiped clean by Grace, that we are not prisoners to sin, that God can heal, does heal, and will heal, according to His plan and His timing.

And it is really cool the way John presents these, because feel like I can almost hear John hinting that these are little ah-ha moments he is sharing, almost like he is connecting the dots as he is writing, or that he is writing these words reflecting on the moments when it happened.  It feels like maybe he even had a journal he had kept to have these moments cataloged in real time.  It all definitely feels like he is sharing a much more personal experience though.

So that’s the first 5 chapters, we will pick up from there tomorrow and keep moving on in this initial read-through.

We are diving into John’s gospel and I am going to pull some information and background from 3 sources, which are my typical stomping grounds for information - the videos put out by The Bible Project, my ESV Study Bible, and Logos Bible Study Software.

To start, it appears there has been a little debate over which John is specifically the author here, whether it is John the Elder or John Son of Zebedee.  Evidence seems to be much more in favor of John Son of Zebedee, so that’s what we will assume.  This John was one of the 12 disciples, which is important to remember because that places him in Jesus’ midst...right there in the middle of the daily action with Jesus.

Even a casual reader will notice the differences between Matthew, Luke, and John - with John being much more of a theological presentation, Luke an historical presentation, and Matthew a little of both.  Whereas Luke clearly identified his audience in his opening verse, we can figure Matthew’s was mostly Jewish Christians from his writing, and we can see that John is trying to present the story and the ethos of Jesus to everyone and then go on to prove his point.  As we start John’s Gospel, we will see its divergence from Matthew and Luke immediately, where John sets Jesus up as a the Word, the Son of God...he doesn’t bury the lead.  He is telling us who the main character is and then he goes on in his letter the describe why he feels that is the case, and more importantly, why you should agree with him.

Let’s talk about John really quickly though...who was he?  John is traditionally regarded as the author of five books of the Bible: the Gospel of John, the epistles 1 John, 2 John, and 3 John, and the Book of Revelation, although some Bible scholars dispute which of these he actually wrote. He is also believed to be the only disciple who died of old age (the others were allegedly martyred).  He is generally thought to have been referred to as several other names including John of Patmos (because he was banished to the island of Patmos), John the Evangelist, John the Elder, John the Presbyter, and the Beloved Disciple; to be clear though, it is unclear if all of these names do in fact refer to this John. It’s also worth noting: John the disciple of Jesus is not the same person as John the Baptist, who was Jesus’ cousin.

So, tomorrow we will dive in, and the way John starts is much the same as the way the entire Bible starts...in the beginning.  It is pretty cool.

Proverbs 28 - one more replay as I prepare background on John

A replay as I prepare some background for our study in John's Gospel.

So, we are closing out James...wow.  It actually came quickly...I didn’t even realize it.  So, we will dive into John next, and I will start that John study that I had gotten all set up for before getting this sense that I wanted to dive into James for a bit.  So, we will start that tomorrow.  And, we are going to have a few days of background on John, setting it up as a little deeper and more contextual study vs. just a verse by verse read-through...I think.  We’ll just see where it takes us.

For today though, we get a great closing message from James - a reminder of the power of prayer.  Now, we need to remember James’ words from way back in chapter one:

5 If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God, who gives generously to all without reproach, and it will be given him. 6 But let him ask in faith, with no doubting, for the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea that is driven and tossed by the wind. 7 For that person must not suppose that he will receive anything from the Lord; 8 he is a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways.

Here in today’s reading, he tells us that, in the midst of suffering, we should pray.  If we are cheerful, we should pray.  Essentially, we should just make prayer a part of our life.  Which makes sense, because he has been messaging to us that we should find our sufficiency in Jesus, that we should be reliant on God as the farmer is reliant on the rain, and that we should rely on our riches to bring us what we need...we need God.  But notice the human element James includes in this - yes, we should pray to God, but look at v16:

16 Therefore, confess your sins to one another and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person has great power as it is working.

We see this idea in other New Testament writings as well...this idea that we should not just look vertically to growth our faith with God, but that there is a part of our faith journey that must included the horizontal integration of others into our lives.  James mentioned Elijah, who truly demonstrated a faith and trust in his prayer that is something to emulate, but he turns back to this idea of community in v19 when he says:

19 My brothers, if anyone among you wanders from the truth and someone brings him back, 20 let him know that whoever brings back a sinner from his wandering will save his soul from death and will cover a multitude of sins.

I am reminded this morning, as we close James, that we are called to be doers of the word, and that we are called to act in a way that demonstrates our faith, but also knowing that action sometimes proceeds belief...this idea that we can act ourselves into believing.  But I am also reminded that a part of our action plan is to include others in our journey.  We are called to live in community with others, and in a kind of community where we can confess our sins, pray together, growth together, serve and minister to others together.  I have traditionally enjoyed such a community, but having switched churches in the middle of a pandemic, and then attending only one group get-together before going remote, and now having watched that group get-together move to a time that isn’t doable for me - I find myself without that community.  So, today James reminds me to prioritize that.  That is my goal for this week - to find that community, and to create an environment where I can enjoy spiritual community.