Imagine you get a new neighbor. You watch them unload their possessions from the moving truck into the home. Wanting to make a good first impression, you bring them a “Welcome to the Neighborhood” gift basket the next day. There on their front porch as you are chatting, you notice they have a cross tattoo on their arm.
You wonder about the story of the tattoo, so you ask them about it. “I like your cross tattoo. Can you please tell me the story of it?” They go on to talk about how their mother died suddenly a few years ago, and the tattoo honors her memory. You think to yourself, that is very nice. You also think about Jesus. You wonder if they know the story of Jesus on the cross.
It’s the very first time you’re meeting and talking with them, and they’ve just told you their tattoo honors their deceased mother, so you think it wise to bring up Jesus in the near future. Wise move. You don’t want them to feel as though you were being opportunistic or using the memory of their mother. But it gets you thinking. When you do bring it up, how will you talk about Jesus on the cross? What will you say?
What does the Bible say? There are so many biblical passages that talk about the crucifixion. Here are a few:
Paul writes in 1 Corinthians 15:3, “For what I received I passed on to you as of first importance: that Christ died for our sins.”
Then there is this tidbit in Romans 3:25, “God presented Christ as a sacrifice of atonement, through the shedding of his blood—to be received by faith. He did this to demonstrate his righteousness.”
The writer of Hebrews adds, “Unlike the other high priests, [Jesus] does not need to offer sacrifices day after day, first for his own sins, and then for the sins of the people. He sacrificed for their sins once for all when he offered himself.” (Hebrews 7:27)
John describes it this way, “He is the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not only for ours but also for the sins of the whole world.” (1 John 2:2)
We could go on and on listing numerous Scripture passages. Do any of those passages sound confusing? If so, you’re not alone. Theologians have been writing theories about the meaning of Jesus’ death for centuries. There are loads of theories.
This week, then, as we study John 19, which is John’s description of the crucifixion, we’re going to figure out everything about the crucifixion once and for all. Just kidding! There’s no way we can figure out everything there is to know about the significance of the crucifixion in 5 blog posts. But we will have time to survey why the crucifixion continues to be so deeply important and meaningful. The death of Jesus, by crucifixion, is momentous. But what does it mean? How does this event, now nearly 2000 years old, relate to us? And what you might say, if you had the chance, to the neighbor with the tattoo.
Join us on the blog next week as we study John 19.
This week I welcome guest blogger, Emerald Scaffe. Emerald is married and together with her husband, has three children. She also serves on the teaching team at Faith Church.
The Jewish leaders finally have Jesus where they want him. In front of Pilate. So they change their tactic a little bit for the Roman Governor. Look at John 18, verse 29, “So Pilate came out to them and asked, ‘What charges are you bringing against this man?’”
“If he were not a criminal,’ they replied, ‘we would not have handed him over to you.”
“Pilate said, ‘Take him yourselves and judge him by your own law.” “But we have no right to execute anyone,’ the Jews objected. This happened so that the words Jesus had spoken indicating the kind of death he was going to die would be fulfilled.”
The Jews try to make their argument political, instead of theological. They try to make Jesus look like a criminal, instead of a heretic, in order to get the attention of the Roman government. However, we see Pilate as less eager to get involved. While he is a Gentile, he is perhaps an example of someone outside of religion that seems to be less cruel than a person steeped in religious ideals. Pilate behaves more civilly than the Jewish religious leaders. Let’s read John’s account of the dialogue between Pilate and Jesus.
Verse 33, “Pilate then went back inside the palace, summoned Jesus and asked him, ‘Are you the king of the Jews?” “Is that your own idea,” Jesus asked, “or did others talk to you about me?”
“Am I a Jew?” Pilate replied. “It was your people and your chief priests who handed you over to me. What is it that you have done?” Jesus said, “My kingdom is not of this world. If it were, my servants would fight to prevent my arrest by the Jews. But now my kingdom is from another place.”
“You are a king, then!” said Pilate. Jesus answered, “You are right in saying I am a king. In fact, for this reason I was born, and for this I came into the world, to testify to the truth. Everyone on the side of truth listens to me.”
“What is truth?” Pilate asked. With this he went out again to the Jews and said, “I find no basis for a charge against him. But it is your custom for me to release to you one prisoner at the time of the Passover. Do you want me to release ‘the king of the Jews’?”
“They shouted back, ‘No, not him! Give us Barabbas!’ Now Barabbas had taken part in a rebellion.”
Throughout this entire trial period, only the misguided Roman Governor seems uneasy about getting involved with Jesus’s sentence. We see God’s faithfulness again, as Jesus interacts with Pilate, the blatant non-believer, with a sense of tenderness. Jesus offers more information about his kingdom, than he does to any of the Jewish officials. God is providing an opportunity for the “evangelion” to touch Pilate’s heart.
By this point the mob mentality has overtaken the crowd and they demand for Jesus to be punished, and the criminal Barabbas is released. In this moment the world feels chaotic, and in the weeks to come we will see how the chaos continues as sin prevails during Christ’s crucifixion. At least, it must have seemed that way at the time.
But that’s the best part. In the middle of this sinful betrayal and greed, God is present, and He will be glorified, and the end result of Christ’s death, burial, and Resurrection is eternal salvation and a richer reality than if Jesus had never been arrested.
Jesus gives us an example, especially in these chapters when it seems like life gets in the way of spirituality, of how to stay connected, how to wade through the chaos into victory.
Many of us can recall moments where it seemed like things went from bad to worse, where we were drowning in the constant flow of cold, hard life.
God is glorified through our decision to walk alongside Him, especially in the midst of difficulty. Just as Christ was given strength to continue in peace, so we will be given strength to complete the next right thing, and to count all trials as joy. Because God is faithful and we can trust him to take care of us.
This week I welcome guest blogger, Emerald Scaffe. Emerald is married and together with her husband, has three children. She also serves on the teaching team at Faith Church.
This painful irony of Jesus’ arrest and trials continues as in John 18, verse 19, “Meanwhile, the high priest (still referring to Annas, here) questioned Jesus about his disciples and his teaching. ‘I have spoken openly to the world,’ Jesus replied, ‘I always taught in synagogues or at the temple, where all the Jews come together. I said nothing in secret. Why question me? Ask those who heard me. Surely they know what I said.’”
“When Jesus said this, one of the officials nearby struck him in the face. ‘Is this the way you answer the high priest?’ He demanded. ‘If I said something wrong,’ Jesus replied, ‘testify as to what is wrong. But if I spoke the truth, why did you strike me?’ Then Annas sent him, bound, to Caiaphas the high priest.”
Annas wants to know about Jesus’s disciples and his teaching. Displaying the faithfulness of his character, he does not say anything about his disciples, coinciding with his desire to protect them. Jesus said that they should talk to the witnesses of Jesus’s teaching, the standard practice in a normal trial. He responded to the questions with full transparency and directness, and he was met with physical assault.
As the interrogation is fruitless, Annas sends Jesus to Caiaphas. One commentator wrote that this was because, in order to eventually get Jesus before the Roman Governor, he needed to be accused by the reigning high priest.
Before we see the trials continue, John shares with us the heart wrenching moment from Peter. Verse 25, “As Simon Peter stood warming himself, he was asked, ‘You are not one of his disciples, are you?” He denied it saying, ‘I am not’. One of the high priest’s servants, a relative of the man whose ear Peter had cut off, challenged him. ‘Didn’t I see you with him in the olive grove?’ Peter denied it, and at that moment a rooster began to crow.”
Another commentator describes the juxtaposition well by saying, “John has constructed a dramatic contrast wherein Jesus stands up to his questioners and denies nothing, while Peter cowers before his questioners and denies everything.”
Let us remember that Jesus asked his disciples, more than once, to pray lest they be tempted. In this we see God show his faithfulness to Peter, by bringing him to a place that he can no longer deny his own depravity. Peter needed to see that he was weak, because now he needs a Savior. In the coming weeks we will follow Peter’s story to see the redemption that takes place in Peter’s life after this series of dark denials.
In the midst of the domino effect of betrayal, our High Priest, Jesus Christ remains calm and connected to God. The very peace displayed by Christ is a display of God’s faithfulness to his children, the peace that surpasses all understanding. Christ is deeply connected to his anchor, and his preparation of prayer was a major part of that, a component that was doubtless natural given his oneness with God, but equally an example to us as we seek to be more Christlike.
In the first trial Jesus was calm and honest in his answers. As we will see, John does not give an account of the dialogue in the second trial, however you can read about that trial in Matthew chapter 26, where you will see Jesus’s responses are a very similar tone to that of the first trial that we read.
Let’s pick up in John 18 at verse 28, “Then the Jews led Jesus from Caiaphas to the palace of the Roman governor. By now it was early morning, and to avoid ceremonial uncleanness the Jews did not enter the palace; they wanted to be able to eat the Passover.”
Pause there. The Jews wanted to make sure that they were ceremonially clean, while they were trying to execute the Son of God. The God they claim to revere and worship, the God who instructed them to celebrate Passover. They are so concerned with ceremony that they stopped listening to what God was saying through Jesus Christ. It can be very easy to let things distract us from what God wants to show us.
This week I welcome guest blogger, Emerald Scaffe. Emerald is married and together with her husband, has three children. She also serves on the teaching team at Faith Church.
In spite of his life, Jesus was betrayed. As we continue studying John 18, we enter into a series of three trials, starting with verse 12, “Then the detachment of soldiers with its commander and the Jewish officials arrested Jesus. They bound him and brought him first to Annas, who was the father-in-law of Caiaphas, the high priest that year. Caiaphas was the one who had advised the Jews that it would be good if one man died for the people.”
Notice that both Annas and Caiaphas are referred to as the “high priest”. Annas was the high priest for 9 years, before he was deposed by Pilate’s predecessor. He maintained a lot of influence with the Jews as “the true high priest” given that five of his sons, as well as his son-in-law Caiaphas, all held office at some point. He was viewed as the patriarch of the priestly family, thus it made sense that Jesus was taken to Annas first.
Let’s read on in verse 15, “Simon Peter and another disciple were following Jesus. Because this disciple was known to the high priest, he went with Jesus into the high priest’s courtyard, but Peter had to wait outside at the door. The other disciple, who was known to the high priest, came back, spoke to the girl on duty there and brought Peter in. ‘You are not one of his disciples are you?’ the girl at the door asked Peter. He replied, “I am not.” It was cold, and the servants and officials stood around a fire they made to keep warm. Peter also was standing with them, warming himself.”
Let me bring attention to the fire mentioned here. It is another indication that this trial was happening at night. Commentator D.A. Carson rights, “Night proceedings in normal cases were doubtless viewed as illegal. Where the case was exceptional and the pressure of time extraordinary, doubtless legal loopholes could be found.” So the Jewish officials chose to move forward with this arrest, they weren’t supposed to have trials at night. The situation was birthed in secrecy. I find that is the way that sin leads man to move: with haste and desperation, regardless of what is right.
So we see several times that God is faithful to show his love. First, to his son Jesus, by helping him avoid temptation. Then, he shows love to the soldiers when they fall at the admission of Jesus’s identity, they are presented with an opportunity to repent and walk away. But they ignore the signs of God’s mercy. Next, the authorities knew that it was good and right to have a trial in open daylight. God provided an opportunity for them to pause, but they were filled with the momentum of a scheme in progress. It was working, it no longer mattered if it was right.
We also get a glimpse into the tragedy of the moment. Jesus has done everything he should do to protect his disciples, and yet Peter, one of Christ’s dearest friends, begins his descent into self-preservation through denial. Peter is trying to save his skin, and the leaders are hungry for power, all at the expense of Jesus Christ, the one who loves them all more than they love themselves.
This week I welcome guest blogger, Emerald Scaffe. Emerald is married and together with her husband, has three children. She also serves on the teaching team at Faith Church.
In the previous post we learned how Jesus was spiritually fit for the darkest night of his life. The story of Jesus’ arrest in the garden continues in John 18 verse 3, “So Judas came to the grove, guiding a detachment of soldiers and some officials from the chief priests and Pharisees. They were carrying torches, lanterns and weapons.”
One commentator suggests that the mention of both Jewish and Roman authorities is meant to demonstrate the entire world participating in the betrayal of Christ. Also we see the mention of lanterns, which reminds us that this story takes place at night. An important detail later on.
The story continues in verse 4, “Jesus, knowing all that was going to happen to him, went out and asked them, ‘Who is it you want?” ‘ Jesus of Nazareth’, they replied. “I am he,” Jesus said (And Judas the traitor was standing there with them.) When Jesus said, “I am he,” they drew back and fell to the ground. Again he asked them, “Who is it you want?” And they said, “Jesus of Nazareth.” “I told you that I am he,” Jesus answered. “If you are looking for me, then let these men go.” This happened so that the words he had spoken would be fulfilled: “I have not lost one of those you gave me.”
“Then Simon Peter, who had a sword, drew it and struck the high priest’s servant, cutting off his right ear. (The servant’s name was Malchus.) Jesus commanded Peter, “Put your sword away! Shall I not drink the cup the Father has given me?”
At this moment of arrest, John does not mention Judas betraying Jesus with a kiss, we find that in the other gospels. However, he does include a detail that is otherwise not mentioned in the Bible. The moment when the soldiers fall down as Jesus says he is the man they want. We see here, in this brief moment, a display of Christ’s power.
What I find most humbling about this detail is that they arrest him anyway. As I was studying, a commentator observed the consistent spiritual blindness among the religious officials. Jesus had performed miracles, spoken of hope and love, and cared for the people in need. With all of this “proof” they still wanted him dead. None of us should underestimate the foothold that sin can have in our hearts. Humanity can become so convinced of the unimportance of a thing that might convict us, that even when we fall to the ground we get back up and pretend we weren’t just brought to our knees.
Through that power we see Jesus emphasize that he is willingly submitting to this fate, to glorify the Father. His connection with God helps him overcome the temptation to deviate from the plan set before him. Prayer helped prepare him for this moment and remember God’s faithfulness above his own flesh. He even remembered to protect his disciples in order that he could keep his word.
This week I welcome guest blogger, Emerald Scaffe. Emerald is married and together with her husband, has three children. She also serves on the teaching team at Faith Church.
In John chapter 17, Jesus is praying with his disciples after the Passover Feast. I want to highlight some components of Christ’s prayer, before diving into chapter 18, because that prayer plays a significant role in the spiritual preparation necessary before Jesus is arrested.
In his prayer Jesus emphasizes that the purpose of the coming dark times is to glorify God the Father. With that glorification, God the Father will bestow eternal life to His children; with that eternal life, they will deeply know the love of God, and with that love they will live in this world with unity and oneness with Christ.
This promise of a deep relationship with God becomes possible when He is glorified through the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ, the sinless Lamb. Through Jesus’s prayer we see the clear purpose and motivation behind Christ’s willingness to proceed into the 18th chapter.
Now we can study John chapter 18. As we begin, we are going to tip-toe our way in, so that we can try to grasp some important connections. The chapter opens with an acknowledgment of Christ’s prayer, vs. 1 “When he had finished praying, Jesus left with his disciples and crossed the Kidron Valley. On the other side there was an olive grove, and he and his disciples went into it.” John does not mention the name of this place to be the garden of Gethsemane, but we know from the other gospels that it was in Gethsemane, at the Mount of Olives.
We read on in verse 2, “Now Judas, who betrayed him, knew the place, because Jesus had often met there with his disciples.” Before we read verse 3, where Judas approaches Jesus, we should remember what happens in between verses 2 and 3.
In the book of Luke, chapter 22, we read about Jesus taking Peter and John with him to the garden, in order that they may pray. Luke 22 verse 39, “Jesus went out as usual to the Mount of Olives, and his disciples followed him. On reaching the place, he said to them, ‘Pray that you will not fall into temptation.’”
As we read on, Jesus goes a few paces away and prays alone to the Father, asking for the cup to be taken away, but moreover that God’s will be done. When he returns to his friends, they are asleep, “exhausted from sorrow”, and again Jesus says to them, “Get up and pray so that you will not fall into temptation.”
This connection Jesus makes between prayer and avoiding temptation is key to understanding the need to be spiritually fit prior to foreseeable opposition. In this case, Jesus is referring to the events of John chapter 18. We see how Jesus steeped himself in prayer. He was consistent in his personal retreats with God, hence how Judas knew where to find him. Jesus chose to connect with God through prayer, right before the arrest. Consider this description of Jesus in Hebrews 4:15, “For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are- yet was without sin.”
Here, in the story of Christ’s arrest, we see him offer his disciples a spiritual tool to avoid temptations. It is the tool of spiritual preparation that Jesus himself utilized, in order that He could stand firm in the storm.
I’m focusing a lot on the preparation prior to the betrayal of Judas, because the moment that Judas approaches Christ is when the match is lit, and the fire has started. It stands to reason that how Jesus handled the upcoming tragedies are a direct result of his intentionality of connecting with God beforehand.
As we go back to John chapter 18 and pick up in verse 3, we will see a shift in the narrative. The spiritual hope and joy that has been taught by Christ in the first 17 chapters of John seem to be lost behind the fog of sinful depravity. The way this chapter is written, it’s almost clinical in its account.
Reminds me of a moment in my life, when in my first marriage my daughter and I left our home for safety reasons. The next few days were a whirlwind of events. As she and I found shelter with two married friends of mine. The husband recommended that I write down the events of the last 48 hours. That was incredibly helpful later on, as my mind was fairly overwhelmed.
If I were to go back and read about those days, many years later, it would not encapsulate the depth of my pain and it also would not articulate the presence of God. Yet God was very much in that situation, it’s just that sometimes when life gets overwhelming God can be hard to see in the fog, but He is there.
Something that we will be doing as we step into John chapter 18 is actively searching for moments of God’s faithfulness in the midst of the tragedy. If we can accomplish that in this story, we will be able to see God in our stories.
The phone call with bad news. The discovery of indiscretion. The revealing of a lie. The sudden accident. The vote that goes the other way. The response of “No.” So quickly we realize the fragility of life. It’s amazing how fast life can change, isn’t it? My guess is that all of us have experienced this. So did Jesus.
When you think of Maundy Thursday and Good Friday, what comes to mind? For Maundy Thursday, we typically think of Jesus’ last supper with the disciples, which included him washing their feet. For Good Friday, we think of his crucifixion. Those are the main events of Maundy Thursday and Good Friday, so it is normal that those events come to mind when we think of Maundy Thursday and Good Friday.
But a whole lot more happened on those days. For the last few months, we’ve studied John chapters 13-17, learning what Jesus said to his disciples and what he prayed to God on that Maundy Thursday evening. Now the teaching has concluded, and the prayer is done. What happens next is not the crucifixion on Good Friday. Instead in John chapter 18, we learn that numerous other important events occur.
These other events are all very difficult for Jesus. These dark events involve and affect his relationships, his body, his reputation, and his fate, changing the course of his life in a matter of hours. Jesus, of course, is prepared. He is not blindsided as we are. But he still faced the reality of a shattered world.
How about you? Know the feeling? Even if you’re dealing with pain in ways far less significant than what Jesus experienced, you know the feeling of overwhelm, of depression, of brokenness.
Join us next week on the blog as guest blogger Emerald Scaffe guides us through John 18 where we learn from Jesus about living during difficult times.
Has fear influenced your thinking, your emotions, your decisions? If you answer “Yes,” or “Maybe,” I wouldn’t be surprised. Though we might not want to admit it, there are plenty of reasons to fear. I’m not going to list them. Instead, I want to point us to Jesus who concludes his prayer with some powerful words to help those of us who feel fear’s influence. Hear what he says in John 17, verses 24-26:
“Father, I want those you have given me to be with me where I am, and to see my glory, the glory you have given me because you loved me before the creation of the world. Righteous Father, though the world does not know you, I know you, and they know that you have sent me. I have made you known to them, and will continue to make you known in order that the love you have for me may be in them and that I myself may be in them.”
What a finish. Jesus makes it very clear that though he is physically leaving them, he still wants them to be one day be with him, to see his glory. He makes it clear that the disciples truly know the father. Then what he says in the final phrase might be the most astounding truth of all. Jesus says that he will continue to make the Father known to us so that the love the father has for Jesus will also be in us, and in fact so that Jesus will be in us.
Wow. Think about how much God the Father loves the Son. That’s amazing love, and Jesus’ prayer is that you and I would know that love of the Father in our lives. Jesus wants us to know that he is in us, and of course he is referring to God the Spirit living in us. What a powerful truth. God loves us and lives in us.
We need not fear the world around us. Instead, because God loves us and lives in us, we can with confident graciousness share his love with the world around us. Let’s do this in the way Jesus showed us. In regular community, talking and sharing our lives with other followers of Jesus. Inviting them into the depths of our lives. Talking about how things are in our relationships with Jesus. Our questions. Our struggles. This is exactly what we see happening in the conversations between Jesus and his disciples. Let’s also be in regular conversation with the Father, remembering we are on mission with him, following how his Spirit is at work in the world.
Historians observe that Christianity has gone through a major upheaval every 500 years or so. In 476 the Western Roman Empire fell. In 1054 the church split east and west. Then in 1517 the Protestant Reformation splintered the church, opening the door, it seems, for the fracture of the church into thousands and thousands of denominations and independent churches. Now you and I are living in the next 500 year inflection point, and Christianity seems more divided than ever. Yet as we will see, Jesus prayed that we, his followers, would be unified. Has Jesus’ prayer request been fulfilled or not? Seems not. Let’s take a look.
Jesus concludes his prayer in John 17, praying for the people who will become his true followers because of the ministry of the disciples. First, we look at what he prays in verses 20-23.
“I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message, that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you. May they also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me. I have given them the glory that you gave me, that they may be one as we are one: I in them and you in me. May they be brought to complete unity to let the world know that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me.
Does this prayer sound familiar? Jesus already prayed for unity for his disciples, now he expands that prayer request to all Christians. Fast-forward 2000 years and I wonder what Jesus thinks about his church’s practice of unity. From the earliest days of the church, as we read in the book of Acts, unity was a struggle.
Certainly Christians have poorly mistreated one another over the years. Christians have parted ways. We have not been unified in so many ways. But that is also somewhat, or mostly, on a human level. Humans created denominations, different churches, different doctrinal statements.
But what about the church universal? The Apostle’s Creed refers to this church in the phrase, “I believe in the holy catholic church.” As a Protestant Christian, I’ve heard people confused about this, to the point where they change that line. The reason is the word, “catholic.” Notice that “catholic” is lower-case, meaning that it is not referring to the Roman Catholic Church. Instead “catholic” means “universal” or “general,” and refers to all Christians through all time. That church cannot be broken. Jesus holds it together.
Christians have also sought unity. The Conestoga Valley Ministerium is an example of unity in the church here in our school district. Mennonites, Lutherans, Methodists, Independents, Evangelicals, Pentecostals, Reformed, all putting our differences aside to work together for the mission of Jesus. It is so vibrant and encouraging. I’m working with two Mennonite pastors to create a ministerium prayer station for the CV Bonfire in October. What a joy working together with two pastors from a different denomination, but whose are hearts are aligned to reach the community for Jesus. It’s not about our churches, it’s about pointing people to Jesus.
This is prayer for unity is also why I love that my congregation has opened our building to so many different Christians: Baptist, Orthodox, Pentecostal. And Christians from around the world: Haiti, Honduras, Burma and Puerto Rico.
Yes, it is sad that there are divisions in the church, but we can still be the answer to Jesus’ prayer.
Some Christians throughout the centuries have wanted God to take them out of the world. Many Christians have attempted to separate themselves from the world. Some have felt that the world is evil, and we Christians need to be unpolluted by the world. But does the (potentially) healthy concern about being unpolluted require separation? I don’t think so. Actually, it doesn’t seem that Jesus thinks so either.
In the previous post, Jesus already prayed that God will protect his disciples while they are living in the world, so that they might be unified, like our Trinitarian God is unified. That request is loaded with meaning. But hold that thought, because Jesus continues and expands on his request in verses 13-19. Take a look at what he says next:
“I am coming to you now, but I say these things while I am still in the world, so that they may have the full measure of my joy within them. I have given them your word and the world has hated them, for they are not of the world any more than I am of the world. My prayer is not that you take them out of the world but that you protect them from the evil one. They are not of the world, even as I am not of it. Sanctify them by the truth; your word is truth. As you sent me into the world, I have sent them into the world. For them I sanctify myself, that they too may be truly sanctified.”
Notice the similarities to what we learned in the previous post? Jesus again prays for his disciples to have the Father’s protection while they remain in the world. He admits that God could take them out of the world. Not a problem for God. It is an option. But Jesus says, “Father, I don’t want you to use that option. My prayer is not that you take them out of the world.”
Interestingly, it seems some Christians disagree with Jesus. Those Christians believe they need to develop their own separate Christian world. They create Christian options for nearly every segment of society. Schools, business, media, food, clothing, nearly everything. Maybe you understand the feeling. We can fear the influence of the world on our lives, and especially on our children’s lives, so we take ourselves out of the world.
I’m not just talking Amish people. There has long been a significant Catholic and Protestant tradition which believes in separateness. Isn’t that what holiness means, they argue? We are called to be holy people in our pursuit of Jesus. So maybe we should be separate from the impurity of the world.
That’s not what holiness means. Holiness doesn’t require Christians to start separate colonies. But what about monasteries where people separate themselves? Good question. Monasteries are a human-made approach to a certain vocation in which people voluntarily give their lives to God. And most monks and nuns are not fully separate from the world. They still interact in the world regularly.
What we need to go back to is the fact that Jesus prayed to God, “Do not take them out.” He didn’t want God to remove people. Instead, he wanted God to protect them in the midst of it. We Christians are to be in the world. We are to live, work and play where people are. In the schools, in the community, in business, in entertainment, in politics, on social media. Anywhere people are, we are there.
Wait. Anywhere? Really. What about places that seemed designed to indulge in unholiness? Each person will need to use wisdom and healthy caution. Christians can choose to separate themselves because they are afraid. Fear is a powerful motivator. Jesus, however, is praying for our protection in the world. We can confidently, not arrogantly, but graciously, live and move and in the world, because we have God’s protection. We are to be his ambassadors in the world, inviting more and more people wherever we find them, to enter his Kingdom. We love others as Jesus did.
This is a prayer request from Jesus to his father about us. It is a prayer request that we would be people on mission. That is a core identity for Christians. People on mission. The mission of God is not just for professional pastors or missionaries. All Christians are on mission, in the world, under God’s protection. What does protection mean? That we will be perfectly safe all the time. No. Protection means God will care for us, walk with us, his Spirit living in us, in the middle of everything, whether good times or difficult. Whether safe spaces or not.
Think about Jesus’ example. Does he only go where it is safe, where it is easy, where it is comfortable? No. Jesus interacts with lepers, prostitutes, and tax collectors. He goes into their homes. He parties with them. His disciples watched him do this. They heard the religious elites accuse Jesus of being sinful. All the while, Jesus remains in community with the disciples. Jesus remains connected to his Father. He shows us how to navigate living in the world, loving all people without fear.
That means we follow the example of Jesus. All people in our society should have the opportunity to experience Jesus’ invitation of love. That will almost certainly mean that we need to go out of our comfort zone to reach them, knowing that God goes with us.
Notice how Jesus emphasizes this in verses 18 and 19. He sends his disciples, and that applies to us. We are sent into the world. That’s the whole world. Not just the places that are easy to go to. Not just the places that we comfortable in.
This is why I am excited that Faith Church is pursuing becoming a Church World Service Welcoming Church. We will be welcoming people who sound different, look different, live different. They might smell different, worship different, and eat different foods. We are sent to invite them to experience Jesus’ love. So we welcome them.
Amazingly, that doesn’t necessarily mean moving international, though it might, and we should all seriously consider it. Keep your heart and mind open.
Sometimes it seems we think God has a phone network, and that only reason we should consider becoming a professional minister or missionary is he calls us. No doubt he could call us to go to Africa or Asia or somewhere else. But does he have to call people to serve as missionaries or pastors? I think he just did. Look at verse 18 again. “I have sent them!” Is Jesus talking about only those original disciples? Maybe. I think we could make a case for that.
But as we’ll see in the next section, it seems clear to me that all of Jesus’ followers are sent. So there. You just got you phone call from God. He is calling you to love all people like he did, which includes inviting them to enter the life of his Kingdom now, just as he invited the people he interacted him.
There are people all around us, all around you. I’m talking about all the people in our communities, in our schools, in our workplaces. I’m talking about friends and family. I’m talking about people we are comfortable with, and people we are not comfortable with. God loves them all. We are sent to live like Jesus among them.
Praise God, as our society is becoming more diverse, many Christians also have the opportunity to welcome people from all over the world who are moving to us, who are becoming our neighbors. We can share the love of Jesus in word and deed to them. This is another reason why it is so exciting how many people from Faith Church have been involved with CV SEEDS, teaching ESL to our neighbors, helping with childcare. It’s been awesome to see the joy of welcoming here.
Finally, in verse 19, Jesus says that he sanctifies himself so that his disciples might be sanctified. The word sanctify refers to being holy. It means that we need not work about being sent into the world, that the world will pollute us, because Jesus himself has worked to sanctify us. We can be holy in the midst of the world.
Again, this requires care and caution. We need people surrounding us, because I’m sure we all know ourselves, how we can allow ourselves to give in to temptation. Look to Jesus. He lived in community with others who were learning from him how to live like him. He was also in regular conversation with his Father. He was not isolated. Not from others, not from God. Likewise, as sent ones, we need others and God to help us remain faithful to the way of Jesus.
Engaging Scripture 