In Tribe, Sebastian Junger points out that in our nation’s history, there were plenty of English people who for one reason or another became part of Native American tribes. What might be shocking is to learn that when English people acclimated to tribal life, they almost never wanted to go back to colonial life. Even if they were prisoners of war, and they were liberated by the English, once they got a taste of tribal community, they didn’t want to go back. Interestingly, the opposite almost never happened, Native Americans who wanted to become English. Further, Native Americans who were prisoners of war and even acculturated to English culture always wanted to be back with their tribe. Junger’s point is that communal life in the tribe is deeply supportive and life-giving. My point is a bit different. In Tribe, I was reminded that there are other ways of life that we might think are backwards or even wrong, but they might not only be okay, some just might be better.
That reality seems to figure largely in the next miracle that we’re studying this week. In John chapter 5, verses 1-6, we read,
“Some time later, Jesus went up to Jerusalem for a feast of the Jews. Now there is in Jerusalem near the Sheep Gate a pool, which in Aramaic is called Bethesda and which is surrounded by five covered colonnades. Here a great number of disabled people used to lie—the blind, the lame, the paralyzed. One who was there had been an invalid for thirty-eight years. When Jesus saw him lying there and learned that he had been in this condition for a long time, he asked him, “Do you want to get well?”
I love that. Jesus asks him if he wants to get well. You might think, “Of course the invalid man would want to get well.” But that’s not always the case. As awful as it might seem, the man had a made a life for himself. 38 years. In 38 years, you can not only get used to a certain way of life, you can really come to enjoy it, to find satisfaction in it. Even if it is not the kind of life that society and culture say is the good life. But society and culture don’t have the corner on the market of the good life, do they? Actually, let me rephrase that question this way, “We don’t have the corner on the market of the good life, do we?”
We American can assume that we know what is best for people. That our way of life is the best way, and of course everyone would want to live our way. We can be especially guilty of importing our way of life all over the world. But not always. I’m not saying the American Dream is all wrong. I’m just saying, we need to be humble about our way of life. Not everyone wants it, and you and I just might be surprised about how other ways of life can be fulfilling and lead to flourishing. That’s precisely what Junger talks about in his book, as I mentioned above.
Jesus knows the human tendency to become accustomed to a way of living. Jesus knows that sometimes one person’s intention to help results in hurt. So he first asks the man, “Do you want to get well?” Jesus shows humility here, not just barging into this guy’s world and changing things around, assuming that he knows better. Certainly, if there was anyone who could say, “I know better,” it was Jesus. But Jesus shows us the way of humility by asking a question. Jesus was a master questioner. Asking the man, “Do you want to get well?” brings dignity and ownership of the solution to the one being helped. It’s a beautiful teaching as we observe the heart of Jesus in asking the question.
What does the man want? We’ll find out in the next post.
It’s early in his ministry years, and after having been away from home for awhile, Jesus is heading home. Will he, like he mentioned in John 4, verse 44, be treated with contempt? Or will he receive a hero’s welcome? John writes this in John 4, verses 45-47:
“When he arrived in Galilee, the Galileans welcomed him. They had seen all that he had done in Jerusalem at the Passover Feast, for they also had been there. Once more he visited Cana in Galilee, where he had turned the water into wine.”
It is hard to know what the welcome was actually like. The way John writes that verse makes it possible, and I think I highly possible, that the Galileans were primarily interested in what Jesus could do for them, because he was a miracle worker.
Remember what happened in John 2, verse 23? It’s what John refers to above when he writes, “They had seen all that he had done in Jerusalem at the Passover Feast, for they also had been there.” What he did in Jerusalem was many miraculous signs. Almost certainly, those miraculous signs were healing the sick, the blind, the lame, the mute. Of course they welcome him. They want the magician to do more tricks, especially tricks that will benefit them! Entertain them. Heal them. But it doesn’t seem they are interested in a spiritual savior. Thankfully, sometimes when you want one thing, and you end up getting something you didn’t originally want, only to realize what you wanted in the first place is not nearly as good as what you got. Is that confusing? Keep with me, because what John says happens next will help you understand:
“And there was a certain royal official whose son lay sick at Capernaum. When this man heard that Jesus had arrived in Galilee from Judea, he went to him and begged him to come and heal his son, who was close to death.”
Jesus’ reputation as a miracle worker has people excited. And hopeful. A man with a sick son visits Jesus, begging Jesus to heal his son. The man was a royal official, meaning he was a Jewish man who worked for the local king, one of the Herods, who was called King, but was actually a regional governor under the authority of the Roman Empire. Still, though the man with a sick son is a local bigwig, apparently the medical options available to him haven’t worked, and the man is desperate. He hears about a up and coming miracle worker, and rushes to him.
Jesus says something in verse 48 that might come across as offensive to this man who has come to Jesus for help:
“Unless you people see miraculous signs and wonders,” Jesus told him, “you will never believe.”
Is Jesus being mean? Doubt it. We know that Jesus is mean. Instead, Jesus is revealing the truth about so many people that were interested in him. We don’t know if Jesus’ comment applied to the royal official, or if the royal official’s request gave Jesus an open door to make a comment about the society in general. The people, by and large, would not believe unless they had some kind of proof. What is Jesus getting at?
Jesus is talking about faith. Faith is, by definition, believing in something that cannot, in the end, be proved. There is evidence, sure. For believing in Jesus, I would even say that there is lots of great evidence. But proof? No.
For example, Christianity rests on one foundation, that of the resurrection of Jesus. If the resurrection didn’t happen, the foundation crumbles, and the entire structure of Christianity crashes down in failure. But we can’t prove the resurrection happened. We believe it by faith. There is absolutely lots of wonderful evidence that Jesus really bodily rose from the dead, and I would be happy to have a conversation with read about that evidence, but I cannot ultimately prove it. That’s where faith comes in. We choose to believe, not only in our hearts and minds, but more importantly with the choices of our lives, showing that we believe that Jesus rose from the dead. For us. For relationship. For love.
Jesus was concerned the people were only into him for the healings, and they were not going to genuinely place their faith in him. Would they still choose him if he doesn’t perform as they want? But the royal official, as I said, is desperate. His son is dying. He has nowhere else to go. Sometimes that’s the very position we need to be in to go to God, the awful feeling of desperation. And that is as good a time as any to go to God. Which is what the man did. Look at verses 49-54.
“The royal official said, ‘Sir, come down before my child dies.’ Jesus replied, ‘You may go. Your son will live.’ The man took Jesus at his word and departed. While he was still on the way, his servants met him with the news that his boy was living. When he inquired as to the time when his son got better, they said to him, ‘The fever left him yesterday at the seventh hour.’ Then the father realized that this was the exact time at which Jesus had said to him, ‘Your son will live.’ So he and all his household believed. This was the second miraculous sign that Jesus performed, having come from Judea to Galilee.”
I love it. Jesus doesn’t touch the man’s son. He doesn’t even go to visit him to look at him. The distance from Cana to Capernaum is 16.5 miles. Jesus, instead of making that three to four hour walk, just heals the son right then and there by declaring it done. And it was done.
In verse 52 we learn that the man is on his journey home, and it is the next day. Why the next day, when it was just a 3-4 hour walk? We learn that the boy was healed the previous day at the seventh hour, which was about 1pm-2pm, so apparently the man waited to return home until the next day. His servants meet him on the way to tell him the wonderful news that his son is healed! The royal official is overjoyed, and he and all his household believe. He wanted one thing, and he got it, but he also got another thing that was better. His son was healed, and they all believed in Jesus.
I must admit, it is definitely easier to believe in Jesus when you experience his blessing. When you see him at work in your life and in the world. On Christmas Eve morning, in my house we woke to a frozen kitchen sink cold water pipe, and a frozen water line in the fridge. Our family was coming over early afternoon, and we had Christmas Eve worship at night. I was anxious and saying breath prayers to God, which basically amounted to “Help!” We had been up at 2:30 and 4:30am stuffing the wood stove, trying to fight against the icy wind blasting the front of the house, which is where the kitchen sink is located. We even opened the cabinet and put a space heater, hoping to keep the water lines thawed.
Interestingly, the hot water line worked. There must have been a weak spot in the insulation by the cold water line. So I went in the basement and used a hairdryer on the cold water line, and prayed more. After maybe an hour, it thawed! So I put more insulation around it. But the hairdryer didn’t seem to be making a difference on the fridge water line. I wasn’t even sure it was frozen. It might have just coincidentally broke at the same time, but that seems fishy, doesn’t it? So I stuffed insulation around it too, and we were without fridge water for the day. Not a big deal at all, but I was bothered. House stuff stresses me. When we woke Christmas Day, the fridge water was now working! I was thanking God. Was it a miracle? I doubt it. But it was a blessing; something I was thankful for. It is a good thing to thank God whenever we experience blessing of any kind.
This royal official had just experienced a massive blessing, that of the life of his son, and he believed. That is the right response to the blessing of God, to believe in God. To give your life to him. To acknowledge God’s activity in our world.
Then we come to another miracle, which we’ll find out about in the next post.
I learned something about miracles in Faith Church’s worship service yesterday. Each week we have a volunteer host/ess, and they guide the service, welcoming everyone, making announcements, leading the prayer time and providing other transitional elements. Yesterday, our hostess, Chris, in her transition to the sermon, talked about how many albums, songs and movies have the word “miracle” in them. She played clips from a couple songs like Barry Manilow’s “It’s A Miracle” and, from Fiddler on the Roof, “Miracle of Miracles“. One song is about real miracles, one maybe not. The point is that we use the word “miracle” so frequently, as I mentioned in the preview post here, that we are in danger of missing out on real miracles. How do we see and respond to miracles? We’re going to try to answer that question this week on the blog.
This past August we started studying the book of John to answer the question, “Who is Jesus?” After a break for Advent, we now return to that study, right where we left off, John chapter 4. And since it’s been a month, we’re going to do a bit of review.
As you’re reading this post, I encourage you to open a Bible to John 4, verse 43 and follow along.
The first words of verse 43 are “After the two days.” After which two days? Scan back to verse 40, and there we read that some Samaritans urged Jesus to stay with them, and he did so for two days. When you consider that Jews and Samaritans hated each other in those days, what led, Jesus, a Jew and his 12 Jewish friends, to hang out with Samaritans for two days?
If you scan back even further, all the way to chapter 3, verse 22, we learn that near the beginning of his ministry years, Jesus had a baptism outreach in Judea, the southern region of Palestine. But the religious leaders were tracking Jesus, and they became aware that Jesus’ ministry was starting to outpace John the Baptist’s ministry.
When Jesus found out that religious leaders were keeping an eye on him, he shut down his ministry and headed north toward his home region of Galilee, away from the religious leaders’ headquarters in Jerusalem. Far away in Galilee, it would be much more difficult for them to watch him. Not impossible, of course, as they had their people stationed around the entire country.
On his trip home, Jesus took the unusual step of traveling north through Samaria, unusual precisely for the reason I mentioned above, the Jews and Samaritans hated each other. In Samaria he met the woman at the well, and he had a conversation that changed her life, as well as the lives of many in the town, and that’s why they asked him to stay for two days more.
Now return to John chapter 4, verse 43, and we learn that Jesus’ stay with the Samaritans is over, and he completes his trip home to Galilee. But in verse 44, the Gospel writer, John, makes a surprising parenthetical comment: “(Now Jesus himself had pointed out that a prophet has no honor in his own country.)”
Jesus is headed home. It should be a grand homecoming, but Jesus said a prophet has no honor at home. Why?
I think we need to review even further. When Jesus first leaves home, he’s a no-name. Literally. He’s a single man, 30 years old, and that means he is getting toward the upper end of marriagability in his culture. Most men in that culture would have been married by his age. Not Jesus. He’s just working in his family business. A handyman. He’s living in a no-name town, in a tiny corner of the Roman Empire. There seems to be nothing special about him at this point.
But there is talk around town about a new prophet named John. This John guy is calling the nation to get ready for the Lord to return, asking them to repent and be baptized. Thousands make the trip to see this Elijah-like prophet in the wilderness, and when they repent of their sins, John baptizes them in the Jordan River. It’s no surprise that Jesus would go there too. Lots of people made the trip.
When Jesus shows up at John’s baptism ministry, however, John makes some surprising comments about Jesus, saying that Jesus bis the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. Then John, who is eagerly baptizing everyone who comes to him, doesn’t want to baptize Jesus. How many people in the crowd saw this? Who is this guy that John won’t baptize? Why won’t John baptize him? But Jesus convinces John to go through with the baptism, and then something like a dove Spirit alights on Jesus and a voice from heaven says, “This is my beloved son.” Imagine being there for that!
Right away, over the next few days, Jesus calls some men to follow him, to be his disciples. How odd! A handyman does not normally have disciples. These are regular salt of the earth fishermen from his home region, and they all travel together back home. They go to a wedding where the wine runs out, and Jesus’ mother cajoles him to do something about it. And he does. He miraculously turns water into the best wine they’ve ever tasted, and the disciples place their faith in him.
Then it seems Jesus disappears and the men go back to fishing. After 40 some days, he shows up again, and now things start to move fast. Jesus calls more disciples to follow him, and soon enough his entourage has grown to a group of 12 men, plus other men and women start to follow him closely.
Next they make a trip to Jerusalem that includes a wild scene at the temple, where Jesus turns over the tables of the shady moneychangers and sellers of sacrifices, declaring that they have made a mockery of God’s house. Amid the ensuing chaos, the religious leaders are watching. They challenge him, asking Jesus for a sign to prove his authority, and he answers cryptically, “You want a sign. I’ll give you a sign. Destroy this temple, and I’ll rebuild it in three days. That will be your sign.” The leaders roll their eyes, as of course they aren’t going to destroy their own temple, but even more so because it is ludicrous to think that one person could rebuild the temple in three days when it took 46 years to build and still wasn’t finished.
Jesus then leaves the temple, and his star shines brighter because he does many miraculous signs in Jerusalem. The baptism, the wedding miracle, the disciples, the temple riot, then more miracles. At least one Jewish leader is intrigued. His name is Nicodemus, and he meets Jesus one evening to talk. During that famous conversation Jesus says, “Nicodemus, you must be born again,” which is to say that Jesus was inviting Nicodemus to place his faith in Jesus. The writer John explains for us that a faith of heart and mind is demonstrated by a life lived in line with the way of Jesus. It seems Nicodemus believes in heart, mind and life, but we don’t learn that until a later story.
Now Jesus launches a ministry, the successful baptism outreach in Judea I mentioned earlier. That leads to the two-day successful stay in Samaria, and now Jesus is back home in Galilee. In this short survey of how Jesus’ life changed in a matter of what was probably just a couple months, you can see the stark difference. Just two months prior, Jesus is a no-name. Now people across Palestine are starting to say his name. How do you think the people at home in Galilee would be handling this?
Some probably think this is ridiculous, and Jesus should knock it off and get back to the family business. Some probably think he has lost his mind, especially when they hear rumors that he started a riot in the temple. Some are likely thinking what he is doing is wrong, because a handyman shouldn’t be preaching when he never went to seminary. Some may be wondering, especially when they hear about miracles, if he really is the prophet, the Messiah.
People probably reacted to Jesus’ newfound fame and ministry in a variety of ways, but what John says in verse 44 is something that Jesus himself said, which you can read about in Matthew and Luke, that “a prophet has no honor in his own country.” He’s too familiar. Too known. Too normal. He’s the handyman. Not the Messiah. Not a prophet. It seems that John includes that comment as a foreshadowing, because things actually start off rather well in Galilee, which will learn about in the next post.
Have you ever experienced a miracle? I’m talking a bona fide miracle? I’m not talking about the non-supernatural way we can use the word “miracle”. If we’re honest, we can use the word “miracle” in some very mundane situations. For example, “It was a miracle I got to work on time because Route 30 was a parking lot.” Or how about this one, “It was a miracle my team won that game.” Or “It was a miracle the baked corn tasted good because I forgot to add the sour cream.”
Many events we call miracles are not miracles. In fact, it’s quite possible we over-use the word “miracle” and are in danger of it losing its meaning. It’s no small loss when we start calling non-miracles acts of God. Miracles are those amazing instances of the supernatural impacting the natural. Miracles are God at work, sometimes bending or breaking the laws of nature, sometimes providing or protecting when our hope is dim or gone. Many miracles are unexpected, while some are answers to prayer.
Are miracles rare? Depends on who you ask and how you define miracles. Some people see miracles often. Some not so much. Miracles raise lots of questions in our minds. Is modern medicine and science miraculous? What about technology? If the ancients could see our cars, airplanes, rockets, cell phones, and medical technology, they would likely think each and every one is a supernatural miracle.
Steve Jobs, one of the founders of Apple, once described the iPad as “magical.” What is the difference between magic and miracle? Magic is the often complex human manipulation of angle, viewpoint, and sleight of hand, sometimes with astounding speed, agility and intelligence, to make it appear that something supernatural has occurred. But in magic, nothing supernatural occurs. Magic tricks can be repeated at will. So Jobs was right about the iPad. It is magical, but it is not miraculous.
This coming week on the blog we resume our study of the life of Jesus in the Gospel of John. We’ll be looking at John 4:43-5:15, an account of two miracles that Jesus performs. We’re familiar with the fact that Jesus is a miracle-worker. As God, it is no surprise that Jesus is able to manipulate the natural with the supernatural. He does so often. What is unique about these two miracles is how the people respond. Two recipients of miracles, two very different responses.
Join us next week as we learn about the proper and improper response to miracles!
In this week of Christmas posts, we’ve learned that Jesus shines his light into our lives so that we can be a part of his family. In a previous post this week, I mentioned that one of Jesus’ earliest followers, a guy named Paul, wrote in 2nd Corinthians that people can be deceived so that they cannot see the light of truth. But Paul had a bit more to say to those of us living in darkness. He said,
“For God, who said, ‘Let light shine out of darkness,’ [when he created the world], made his light shine in our hearts to give us the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ.”
We can know God by placing our faith in him, and we show we have placed our faith in him when we give our lives to follow his ways. That’s how we can receive his light. But it is not as though Jesus wants us to keep his light for ourselves.
Jesus, who is the Light of the world, would teach his followers that,
“You are the light of the world. A city on a hill cannot be hidden. Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven.” (Matthew 5:14-16)
When we receive Jesus’ light in our lives, he welcomes us into his family, and he leads us to live in such a way that we are shining his light to others by our good deeds. When we live a life that is like the kind of life Jesus lived, we reach out to help those in need, the hungry, the sick, the prisoner, the hurting, the lonely, to those walking in darkness. We shine the light of Jesus in their darkness.
When you see the Christmas lights, may you think not only about Jesus, the light of the world, but also think about how you are shining his light in this world. How will 2023 be a year in which you shine brighter? How will live more lovingly, graciously, generously to the people who need it most in our community?
One of the guys who wrote the story of his friend Jesus, as I said in an earlier post this week, was Matthew. Matthew, like John, was one of the 12 disciples who followed Jesus around for three years, learning from Jesus how to shine light in the darkness of the world. Matthew tells us that Jesus fulfilled the prophecy we read in the previous post, a prophecy found in the Hebrew biblical book of Isaiah, a prophecy declaring that God would be born as a human baby, and through him the people walking in darkness have seen a great light. Jesus was the light who entered the darkness. Here’s what Matthew said in his book about Jesus, chapter 4, verses 12-16,
“When Jesus heard that John had been put in prison, he returned to Galilee. Leaving Nazareth, he went and lived in Capernaum, which was by the lake in the area of Zebulun and Naphtali—to fulfill what was said through the prophet Isaiah: ‘Land of Zebulun and land of Naphtali, the way to the sea, along the Jordan, Galilee of the Gentiles—the people living in darkness have seen a great light; on those living in the land of the shadow of death a light has dawned’.”
In fact, Jesus himself would even claim the same. John writes in John 8:12, that Jesus once said, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.”
How is Jesus light? This week on the blog, we’ve been talking about how darkness is not just physical. It is also spiritual, relational, and emotional darkness. When Jesus brings light into the darkness, the Gospel writer is saying that Jesus is the answer, the truth, the hope, the realness, the rightness, the fulfillment. We see this come to fruition in Jesus’ life, death and resurrection, through which he defeated sin, death and the devil, so that when we give our lives to believe in and follow him, we can have his light in our lives.
How can we have his light in our life? Back in John chapter 1, starting in verse 9, John says, “The true light that gives light to every man was coming into the world. … Yet to all who received him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God”
God wants to give his light to you! You can become a child of God. Receive him, believe in him. Give your life to him. I would love to talk with you about how to become part of God’s family.
Where do we find light in this dark world? Where do we find hope? Sometime people seek answers in harmful ways and places. They seek answers by indulging in the pleasures of life, or in addictive substances. Could be in social media, pornography, or television. All kinds of entertainment. We try to bring light into our darkness in many ways. But when we look to those kinds of places, we realize that they are temporary lights that often lead to ever-increasing darkness. As we learned in the previous post, this is what Isaiah means when he says in Isaiah 8, “Then they will look toward the earth and see only distress and darkness and fearful gloom, and they will be thrust into utter darkness.”
One of Jesus’ earliest followers was a guy named Paul. In an ancient Christian letter that is titled 2nd Corinthians, Paul wrote that “The god of this age has blinded the minds of unbelievers, so that they cannot see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God.”
When Paul says, “The god of this age,” he is not talking about the one true God, but anything else that blinds us, keeping us from focusing on the one true light. Is there any hope for the spiritually, emotionally, relationally blind?
Into that desperate situation, God has more to say. As we continue reading the ancient prophet Isaiah, we come to chapter 9, verse 2,
“The people walking in darkness have seen a great light; on those living in the land of the shadow of death a light has dawned.”
There is hope! A new light. What is that light? Scan down to verse 6 and we read these glorious words:
“For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders. And he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. Of the increase of his government and peace there will be no end. He will reign on David’s throne and over his kingdom, establishing and upholding it with justice and righteousness from that time on and forever. The zeal of the Lord Almighty will accomplish this.”
A child king will be born, one who is mighty God. God is telling us that he will become a person. God who takes on human skin is the light in the darkness. And that makes all the difference.
But how? Check back and read the next post to learn more.
My family has a 2010 vehicle with old headlights. We also have a newer 2017 vehicle with bright new LEDs. The difference is amazing. I need to turn on the 2010’s high beams if I want to match the brightness of the 2017’s regular lights. Have you ever been out driving, and a vehicle with new really bright LEDs shines in your eyes and your first reaction is “Turn off your high beams, buddy! Geesh, I can’t see.” Then you realize that his lights are probably the same LEDs that you have on your vehicle. Light shining in the darkness is a regular part of our lives.
In the previous post, we learned that Christmas light displays have their origin in the biblical idea that Jesus is the light shining in the darkness.
But it wasn’t as if Jesus was somehow glowing brightly everywhere he went. There is that one story called The Transfiguration where Jesus invites three of his closest friends to join him on a hike up a mountain. There Jesus showed them his glory, turning bright white, like car LED lights on high beam, so bright, you have to turn away. But Jesus’ transfiguration was only for a brief moment. Every other moment of his life, Jesus didn’t shine. Light didn’t emanate from him. You couldn’t see him a mile away. He had a regular human body just like ours and our bodies don’t glow. We’re not fireflies. When John wrote that Jesus was the light shining in the darkness, he is referring to a different light and a different darkness.
Those words would have been quite familiar to any Jewish readers of the John’s story. Long before, in fact about 700 years before Jesus’ time, an ancient Hebrew prophet wrote some words that God gave him, words about light shining in the darkness. The prophet’s name was Isaiah, and he was living in the southern part of Israel, an area called Judah, which is where the city of Jerusalem is located. More to the point, Isaiah’s ministry took place during an era when the people of Judah were really starting to turn away from God. You could say that their way of life was dark. They were choosing to rebel against God, meaning that they were not serious about following God’s ways. They were chasing after other things, forgetting God, not giving attention to God. Getting apathetic about God. Theirs was a life of spiritual darkness.
In the middle of the darkness, God gave Isaiah a message about the darkness. In Isaiah 8:19-22, while Isaiah is describing the situation is his culture, listen for how there might be some similarities to our culture. I found it interesting how this ancient Scripture, 2700 years old, has something to say to us.
“When men tell you to consult mediums and spiritists, who whisper and mutter, should not a people inquire of their God? Why consult the dead on behalf of the living? … If they do not speak according to [God’s] word, they have no light of dawn. Distressed and hungry, they will roam through the land; when they are famished, they will become enraged and, looking upward, will curse their king and their God. Then they will look toward the earth and see only distress and darkness and fearful gloom, and they will be thrust into utter darkness.”
Isaiah is describing a people who are looking for answers to their problems. They are looking for help and hope in the middle of a world that is dark. Maybe that resonates with you. Maybe in some way your world feels dark this Christmas.
I’m not a believer in the idea that the world is definitely worse than it used to be. Maybe it is. I could be wrong. What I think is much more helpful to talk about is the reality that there are numerous people in our world who are looking for answers, people whose hope is fading, people who are feeling desperation. They look around themselves and feel, spiritually, emotionally, and relationally, as if they are in a kind of darkness.
In recent years, I think many of us felt some of that darkness, as we endured the Covid pandemic, and as we continue to endure divisive politics, racial upheaval, and financial pressure. Though we are not in a war, and we cannot imagine what it must be like for people in Ukraine or Myanmar who are, we can feel an emotional heaviness about war. As a result, we look for answers. Inwardly we can wonder, “What will help me feel okay?”
In the next post, we’ll try to at least begin to answer that important question.
One of the reasons I enjoy driving on a clear evening during the holidays is that there are so many Christmas lights out. In my opinion, LED technology has enhanced Christmas lights. They are precise and bright and fairly inexpensive.
There are people who put candles in their windows, or throw a few lights around their trees or bushes. There are those lasers that shine sparkles or a moving image across an entire side or front of a house. Some of the most impressive lights, to me at least, are the ones that illuminate trees by stringing lights across many of the tree’s branches, so that the lights look like the shape of a tree.
At my house we just twirl a few strings of lights on the front porch posts. We only had enough to wrap three of our four posts, and that looked dumb, so we went out and got another string of lights. We made a basic effort.
There are people, though, who take it to another level. The have their whole home illuminated, or with lights flashing and changing color in tune with music. Other people have started using projectors to add images, or even drones, all controlled by computers, like this one:
Christmas is a season of light. And for good reason.
Prior to the Advent Season, on the blog we have been studying the life of Jesus as told in the book of the Bible titled “The Gospel of John.” Gospel means “Good News.” So the Gospel of John is a story of the Good News about Jesus. The question we’ve been attempting to answer throughout that blog series is: Who is Jesus?
On the blog next week, we’re going to resume our study the Gospel of John, trying to answer that question. The guy that wrote the book, the Gospel of John, we believe, is the Apostle John who was one of Jesus’ followers and closest friends. He was an eyewitness to Jesus’ life. But why did John write about what he saw, when there were three other people who had written about Jesus many years before?
The titles of those other books are the Gospels, the Good News, about Jesus, as written by Matthew, Mark and Luke. Those three have a lot of similarities to one another. If you read Matthew Mark and Luke, you’ll notice that they tell many of the same stories about Jesus, often in the same order sometimes even using the same words. So John comes along years later, and it seems he wants to tell different stories about his friend. New stories. Yes, there are a few that John retells that had already been told by Matthew, Mark and Luke, but many are different, new.
For instance, John doesn’t mention anything about Jesus’ birth. You could say he skips the Christmas story and begins when Jesus was an adult. But that’s only partially true. In John chapter 1, verse 4, John says something very Christmas-like:
“In Jesus was life, and that life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness, but the darkness has not understood it.”
John is talking about Jesus here, and his comment about Jesus being the light is very interesting. Jesus is the light, a light shining in the darkness. But what does that mean?
Editor’s Note: This post is written by guest blogger, David Hundert. David is a current Master of Divinity student at Evangelical Seminary.
As we conclude our observance of Advent 2022, did you know we need a second advent?
The need for the second advent is twofold. First, in 2 Peter 3:8-9 we read,
But do not forget this one thing, dear friends: With the Lord a day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years are like a day. The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. Instead he is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance.
The Lord delays his return so that all who have not yet received his Son by faith, have the opportunity to. The Lord doesn’t want any to perish without having had the chance.
The second reason is inherent in the words of John the Baptist. We must prepare the way. It is our responsibility to let others know that the conquering King is coming again. He will be making His victory tour, and they too need to be ready.
There are those who may ask, “If there is a God, why hasn’t he come back yet?” They will believe in Him when they see Him, but by then, it will be too late. We can celebrate, because the one that intercedes on our behalf, has paid that price, but as Scripture says, we need to count the cost. We were paid for with a price, and that price is simply to let others know about Him. It’s not our job to convince them, but it is our job to tell them. We are to call others back into right relationship with God.
Going back to the original metaphor, preparing the way for the Lord means we give our lives to Jesus Christ, we lay them at His feet, we’ve asked Him to plow the fields of our hearts so that the Holy Spirit can do it’s work within us. However, this being said, the task of preparing the way for the Lord doesn’t end there.
As we celebrate Advent, we are celebrating that which has happened, and that which is to come. There will be a second coming. Are you ready? Are you ready for His return? A long time ago, I heard a pastor ask, “If the Lord returned right now, and knocked on your door, would you immediately let him in, or would you leave him at the doorstep because there are things you need to ‘tidy up’ first?”
What about all those in our lives, that aren’t as fortunate, and don’t know Him? First I would ask, if they look at you and the way you live, can they tell there’s a difference? I heard another pastor ask, “If you were to be arrested and charged with being a Christian, would there be enough evidence to convict you?” What are we doing, to prepare the way for the Lord in their lives? Are you praying for them? Are you sharing the gospel with them?
If you’ve never made a commitment to Jesus or have no idea what that means, please feel free to comment below. We know that in ourselves, our very best isn’t good enough. We need more. We need something else. We need someone to intercede on our behalf.
How can we have that peace on earth spoken of by the angel to the shepherds? By accepting through faith what was given, and telling others about Him, giving them the opportunity to do the same. That truly is the gift that keeps on giving.
Engaging Scripture 