JOHN 1: 6-8 (15-18) 19-28

Jottings on John… Adv.3…Revised 2017 

Many see these verses, or some of them, as insertions into, interruptions of, a distraction from the flow of John the Evangelist’s(?) magnificent Hymn to the Word. A reminder to those of us who preach to put neither ourselves, nor JB, so centre-stage as to distract from the One who is coming. The Baptiser is to be respected, revered, even, but not, under any circumstances allowed to become a rival to Jesus (as many of JB’s followers continued to see him for some time). It goes without saying we shouldn’t be, either. 

(If we regard these verses as ’interruptions’ it may be an interesting exercise to extract them & place them, instead, at the end of v.18, after the Hymn.)

Like JB in his day, now it’s our turn to point to Jesus as the Word made flesh & live a Christ-like life in response. A testimony as faithful today as JB’s was in his way in his day. Later, JB clearly has doubts. Many of us & our people have too, about this, that, or the other aspect of belief. There’s nothing wrong with honest doubt; only with not working through them. This in itself could be a useful approach to our preaching. Do we need to ‘straighten out’ our theology, & help people straighten out theirs, so we can all live lives like those JB encourages us to straighten for the Coming One? The One who is Coming, yet always Come! 

Today, we’re the ones facing questions like those JB was asked; ‘Who are you?’ &, ’What do you say about yourself?’ Do we know as well as JB does - at this stage, at least - who we are? Have we grown into our Baptism to become the person God has always known we could become? To play the role God has for us in His plans?

It’s easy in today’s world to feel we’re voices crying in today’s wildernesses of the heart. Living as Christ’s Body today means building on what’s gone before, as JB & JS Himself do, by being faithful to our past without getting bogged down in it. God, I AM, is always our present, too; never someone else’s past. God’s Spirit of Wisdom will help us see the difference, make a difference, be a difference.

We’re long past being able to assume even a basic knowledge of God, Scriptures, all that goes with & adds up to faith. Even many of us who think of ourselves as ‘faithful Christians’ can be more religiously ignorant than can reasonably be excused. In all honesty, though, how many people bother us with serious questions about Faith? Not to mention the growing numbers who dismiss us & what & Whom we stand for, out of hand in favour of home-made remedies for today’s ills. How can we preach, what do we need to preach, to encourage our congregation to get beyond that same trap? 

As well as other gifts of the Spirit we praise JB for, think of his humility, like Jesus’ own. A gift neither widely sought nor practised in our narcissistic & ego-centric world. How do we best turn all this into positive preaching, rather than negative carping? How can we help others discover humility not as a down-side, but an up-side, in life?

JN 7:37-43

Jottings on John…Pentecost…2017 

Does v. 39 seem a bit odd? We know from many passages of Scripture how Holy Spirit in one way or another has been active - under various ‘guises’ - from the very beginning. Does whoever adds v. 39 do so because they’re puzzling over how to protect John’s doctrine that it’s God’s Word who tells creation into being? Go too far, though, in any direction, here, & we may end up ‘confounding the Persons & dividing the Substance’ of the Trinity as Athanasius warns us against doing!

Two Jewish scholars¹ have just published a book on how the ancient Hebrews come over time to believe in YHWH rather than a collection of gods like other nations round about them. Much of their work is over my head, but I’m excited when they begin by saying things like the Bible being a network of contributions in which we can hear conversations between stories & poetry & prophecies & laws & biographies & so on & so forth. So far as Christians are concerned, JS then comes on the scene in His turn & adds His words that as often as not build on those that came before & that He inherits as His Jewish Faith. What Shinan & Zakovitch are saying is surely a participation in this very same continuing ‘conversation’. When we were mulling over this, my wife suggested it’s a bit like electricity. There’s always been electricity, but humans weren’t able to catch it, store it, harness it, & energise with it till it was ‘discovered’.

Try this for starters: Holy Spirit has always existed as One of the Persons of God, but isn’t publicly identified & revealed & made widely available till Pentecost. When we celebrate the giving of the Spirit to the Apostles & the early Church, & now to us, we’re keeping all the above connectivity alive & energising. By continuing that on-going conversation, building on that network of connections as living participants. 

Are we conscious of Holy Spirit choosing us, & calling us, as preachers & people to keep this ongoing conversation between the written word & ourselves alive & well? Are we all alive to God, to ourselves, to each other, in continuing the connections through which contributors & contributions go on talking to each other, still? Are we letting God’s Spirit join up all the dots?

¹ Shinan & Zakovitch, From Gods to God, Jewish Publication Society, Philadelphia, 2012 p.1

John 17: 1-11

Jottings on John…Easter 7 (S after the Ascension)… May 28th 2017 

I align myself with those who see the Ascension as the completion of Easter season rather than a separate event or season. Best keep the Easter theme rather than be ‘side-tracked’ up into the sky. (I don’t mean to be unkind to those of you who see this differently!)

JN doesn’t deal with an Ascension. (Only LK/Acts & the so-called ‘longer ending’ of MK do.) What seems important is that we take on board, reproduce, the example Jesus praying shows us here. John features ‘glory’ Big Time. Not least in seeing Jesus’ death on the cross as His being glorified & God being glorified in that event. Now, 6 times in these few verses, Jesus uses forms of the word ‘glory’. Here we are privileged to watch & hear Jesus the Christ praying. In the closest communion with God a human being has ever been, can ever be. Letting us in on the inside to watch & hear Himself praying in a unique level of communion; of at-one-ness. With God, the Source of His being & ours.

Two experiences involving praying come to mind. First, is a lecturer almost causing a riot in a group of theologs by saying, “Your prayers don’t ever go past this ceiling!”. When we eventually realised what he meant, the atmosphere quickly turned from highly-charged to highly amused! Do we see the problem? 

The second relates to a young woman whose marriage was suddenly & without notice broken off by her fiance. She’d come & spoken with me after the bombshell was dropped. I doubt I was any real help in her state! Shortly after, meeting me in the street, & still clearly in a state of shock, she says to me, “Fr. Brian, I’ve been praying to myself again & again about this, & I’m still not getting any answers”. Again, I doubt I was much help! But we do see a problem, don’t we?

Jesus is holding out to us the possibility of becoming so close to God - having, dare I say, an ‘insider’s view’ of God’ - we can hold the kind of close conversation with God that He does. Have the same quality of relationship with God’. Are we, any of us, thinking, if not saying, ‘In your dreams!’? If so, can we know we’re at least on the Way to becoming so close to God we can experience such a relationship & not simply dream of it? No ceiling cutting off our prayers; no talking with oneself! 

John 14: 15-21

Jottings on John…Easter 6…2017 

At a Confirmation I heard the bishop encouraging the candidates, all teen-agers, to be not just ‘joiners’, but ‘stickers’, too! That has stuck with me! Reminding me that the Paraclete, the Spirit Jesus calls to our side, not only joins us on our journey, but sticks with us. ‘Stickability’ doesn’t get onto the normal lists of ‘gifts of the Spirit’. Which is a great pity! For ‘Stickability’ is a great gift! Right up there with those others Paul lists! God expects us to have stickability because God Himself is a Sticker. In the Person of Holy Spirit, the Spirit of Jesus, God is always at our side, come what may. ‘Paraclete’ has remained my preferred understanding of Holy Spirit since I heard that bishop put it that way that day. Besides, it doesn’t carry the baggage that seems to come with some other ways of thinking of Holy Spirit.

It’s easy to segue from Jesus spelling out how He is the Way, the Truth, & the Life, to Holy Spirit’s fulfilling that same role among us now. Our Paraclete enables us to walk the Jesus Way, become as True as Jesus is, & Live out that Way & that Truth as He / She sticks by our side in the ups & down & ins & outs of our humanity. Through thick & thin, there by our side is God in the Person of our Paraclete. Making all the positives of God real for us & those among whom we live & serve. Remember, too, how, as + Rowan Williams puts it: ‘…all that God does is done by the whole Trinity equally…’¹ 

We’re living through times when the image of Christianity & our churches is well & truly damaged; on the skids. Breaches of trust like abuse, inability or disinterest in communicating the Gospel meaningfully at ‘ground level’. And, allowing our Churches to become, in so many cases, organisations, instead of living, breathing, serving organisms of the Body of Christ! Are we allowing things like these to distract us from our calling to Walk the Jesus Way, Live the Jesus Life, & be the Jesus Truth? Calling our stickability into question?

Recognising the Paraclete beside us empowers us to walk beside others & stick with them as their ‘small p paraclete' by their side. One more segue from the Jesus that John portrays for us today. 

¹ The Dwelling of the Light, John Garratt, Mulgrave, 2003, p.49

JN 14: 1-14 

Jottings on John…Easter 5…2017 

Some years ago my wife & I land at Dublin airport, pick up a car, & head towards the B & B we’re booked to stay in. We have what appear to be clear directions; down the highway, turn off at such & such a road, then turn left at the pub on the next corner. Do you think we can find that, ‘pub on the next corner’? Not we! Three times we re-drive that stretch with no success. (Is there a Celtic understanding of ‘Trinity’ emerging in real life?) But, God is good! Help is at hand! We spot an elderly gent beside the road, so we pull over, tell him our problem, & ask if he can direct us. He says, “Sure & the pub’s just up there a wee bit, on the corner.” We say, “It may be up there on the corner, but we can’t find it! Our gent simply says, “I’ll come with you & show you the way!” So he hops into the car with us, & off we drive; rather more than ‘a wee bit’! Our passenger suddenly says, “ Turn here”. So we turn where he says, & with a triumphant pointing of his finger, “There it is! Didn’t I tell you, now?” Would you believe we still can’t see this pub on the corner! But sure and it is there. Just completely hidden by a hedge of trees so thick no-one who didn’t know it was there could possibly find it!

We thank our guide profusely. He says, “Goodbye to ye. I don’t suppose we’ll ever meet again in this world, but we’ll meet again one day in Heaven!” and off he goes. To this day we’ve never been sure whether we were shown the way, &, better still, taken there, by an elderly gent or a leprechaun in the service of our guardian angel (whom we’ve come to believe over many years is St. Raphael - but that’s another story!) What still strikes us is that our Irish friend has the very essence of Gospel in his heart. Not the ‘we’ll meet in Heaven’ bit; anyone can say that. It’s the, “I’ll come with you & show you the way” bit that matters; and is at the heart of today’s passage. Can we perhaps recall other personal examples of being shown the way, have someone walk the Way with us, rather than just given directions? Such personal stories resurrect Jesus’ offering Himself as the Way.

Seeing it’s Mothers’ Day, a lot of us will think of our mothers (& fathers!) as those who didn’t just give us directions but walked the Way with us. Let’s be honest; more & more parents are finding that increasingly difficult & frustrating for all parties in today’s rapidly changing world. Rapidly changing in a lot of wrong & complicated directions. Despite that, & because of that, it’s never been more important that all of us, mothers, fathers, & those of us who are neither, walk the JS Way with our JS family, our natural or adoptive family & our wider-world family.

In our passage, Jesus does even better than our Irish friend, be he leprechaun, or archangel’s apprentice! For not only does Jesus come with us & show us the way; Jesus Himself is the Way. A Way that doesn’t beckon us from round corners, nor from hiding behind hedges; not anything like that. Jesus’ Way is an inner Way that leads us to become like Him. John often points to Jesus’ Signs. Jesus Himself is Sign that if His Way is inside us, then His Truth is inside us, too; & His Life! A package deal if ever there was a package deal! He is not only with us in Spirit as we journey; He IS the journey. The further we walk His Way, not just with Him, but in Him, the more we discover His Truth, & live out His Life. That’s a very personal resurrection right here & now!

John 10:1-10

Jottings on John…Easter 4…2017

When I was a child, our local paper ran a weekly page for kids. One feature was a riddle column. One riddle it took me a long time to work out was, ‘When is a door not a door?’ A: ‘When it’s ajar!’ Victor Golyavkin¹ poses a different kind of door riddle; a poem by him called, ‘The Door’ runs, ‘This door had no hinges. And it had no handle. And it had no keyhole. And it wasn’t entirely a door…..’ That door was in fact serving as a bier for his dead father!

The Easter stories make much of a locked tomb & locked doors. Our passage & its continuation pose a double edged riddle: ‘When is a door not a door?’ A: ‘When it’s a Shepherd!’ Why does Jesus refer to Himself as both Gate, &, Shepherd? Both metaphors appear to be about being let in to the resurrected life of Christ’s flock, & being lovingly cared for in the course of our new raised life in that flock. They are also a warning that we’re excluding ourselves from both if we persist in a) remaining on the wrong side of a locked door, & b) shunning the caring arms of the Good Shepherd?

 Whatever the answer, it has to be applicable now. Not in some future. That present tense that’s the Essence of God, the Eternal “I AM”, is compelling. God is always the God of Now. We’re to live as God’s people Now, or there’s no tomorrow. Live on the inside, with the Good Shepherd as door/keeper, & safely in His arms, now!

Human sheep stray. More than little Bo Peep’s. When that rather infamous shepherd eventually goes looking for her lost sheep, ‘She spied their tails side by side, all hung on a tree to dry’. Then comes, ‘She tried what she could, as a shepherdess should, to tack each tail back on its lambkin!’ But it didn’t work! Dare I add another verse? ‘She tried super-glue, & blue-tack too, some wall-paper paste & then Clag, She tried tying & drilling but results were not thrilling, So her sheep still have nothing to wag!’

If we have a shepherd who’s also our door why not avail ourselves of the protection He offers? If we have a door who’s also our shepherd - a Good one at that! - why not avail ourselves of the nurture He provides? If, instead, we choose to stray, we have a lot more than our tails to lose! Choose, though, to stay, & we have a lot more than our tails to wag! 

   

¹ In ‘Laugh or cry or yawn’, Cheshire, undated. 

JN 20: 19-31

Jottings on John…Easter 2…Revised 2017…

This was almost certainly the original ending of John’s Gospel. Then, some Christian Community, decides the story should go on a bit further into what we know as Ch.21! Which isn’t a bad theme for preaching this passage. Telling the story on a bit further keeps it up to date; keeps it in circulation; keeps it as alive as we are; as Jesus is!  

The locked door & the fear itself our passage starts with both stand for living on the wrong side of the resurrection. Despite our being told [v.18] that Mary M tells her male counter-parts she’s seen Him! It can be hard & hurtful, too, to convince others of personal religious experiences - even genuine ones! But let’s not give up & settle for, ‘Why bother?’! 

When Our Lord comes among them, He gifts those present with Peace, a Mission, & en-Spirits them to kick-start both Peace & Mission. Both need to be personal, not theories. That Thomas misses out & won’t believe what the others tell him must leave them as frustrated as Mary M must be at being un-believed! Maybe we’ve experienced that too when we’ve tried, with some sense of Mission, to reach out to someone in & with God’s Peace? But good can still come from such an unpromising (& unbelieving) start. Mind you, that door is still locked when Our Lord appears to them again a week later! The Peace the disciples have been gifted with on the first Easter night hasn’t kicked in yet; not enough to embolden them. Neither has any sense of Mission given them some sense of purpose yet, or so it seems. 

Tom, though, is with them this time. We’re not told he takes up Jesus’ challenge to put his finger into the nail holes on His hand; nor of putting his hand into the hole made by the spear. But the bit “Don’t be faithless, but faithful” makes its mark! Tom believes! On the spot! Jesus doesn’t knock Tom for being a doubter, coming to faith a different way; but He does hold up those who ‘believe without seeing’ as ‘blessed’.

What we're dealing with in this upper room is faith, another dimension from proof. To close our minds, or try to shut down someone else’s, is another form of lurking behind locked doors. Confusing Faith with proof can still be a gaoler in the locked rooms of hearts & minds. Jesus doesn’t expect us to dig our own tomb looking for proof that He’s been raised from His! 

Our own extensions of this story of Jesus as God’s Anointed One raised from death will be lived out, rather than written in yet another book. Being en-Spirited to Live God-in-Jesus out, in Peace & with a sense of Mission, is what truly gives us all ‘life in His Name’! 

JN 18: 37-38  & 19: 16-30  

Jottings on John…From the Good Friday Gospel… 2017 

Pilate’s question about Truth goes to the heart of Jesus' mission & kingship. At the very beginning of His ministry, Jesus has had to wrestle out in the wilderness with the Truth of Who He is. What kind of Messiah He’s to be. He’s been tempted to hand Himself over to devilish ways of being Messiah, but discerns there’s no Truth in that direction. Jesus commits to being God’s Truth. To God’s way of doing things or not doing them, & His own role in all this. 

Which lands Him now before Pilate. Pilate & all he represents is on trial as much as Jesus is. In his turn & in his own way, he now has to wrestle with Truth in this legal & moral wilderness Jesus is caught up in. Pilate’s "What is truth?" is a question many of us are asking today- or should be. Pilate represents those of us who, when faced with questions of truth, are too easily tempted to take his path of contemptuous, "Truth? What’s that? Who needs it?!” How are we shaping up to the Truth question?

Jesus tells Pilate, “Everyone who belongs to the Truth can hear my voice”, echoing what He’s earlier said to antagonistic fellow Jews [8:47]. Later, when Pilate refuses to change the wording over Jesus’ cross, this Truth-about-Jesus question may still be bothering him! Now he takes the stand he might have taken earlier. In what is being done to Jesus today, where is Truth for Him, for Pilate, for any of us, to be found? Vanstone¹ once put it: Jesus has now allowed Himself to be handed over & becomes the Object of what’s happening, rather than the Subject of the Gospels He’s been before. God’s Truth may call us to ‘hand ourself over’ from time to time, rather than lie in one way or another to maintain control over real-life situations.

A question of truth in another form arises incidentally here. The other Evangelists tell us a Cyrenian is pressed into service to carry Jesus’ cross, but JN insists He carries it Himself. Is it a theological point JN’s making, or just a different tradition current in his circle? I doubt it matters. It does bring to mind, though, the ‘alternative facts’ we keep hearing from some political circles. Can we really make up truth on the run, & as it suits us? Jesus, nailed to His cross, is the Essence of non-negotiable Truth. Whoever carries that cross to Golgotha, Jesus is nailed up on it! Are we living out Jesus Truth day by day as He does, come what may, nail us as it may? 

¹  W.H.Vanstone, The Nature of Waiting, DLT, 1982

JOHN 11: 1-45

Jottings on John…Lent 5…2017 

J.A. Swanson’s bright cover for William Willemon’s ‘The Intrusive Word’¹, is a vibrantly coloured illustration of the scene in the cemetery at Bethany. A kind of icon. A crowd of people is wending its way to Lazarus’ grave via different paths. Carrying arms full of bright flowers. The tomb is in the foreground. Nearby, singers & musicians are playing, & no doubt, wailing. Children are climbing on top of the tomb for a better view of what’s going on here. 

Men have rolled the great stone seal to one side. Martha & Mary are there of course, comforting each other. Jesus & Lazarus are hugging. Lazarus, a grey-looking figure, still bound in grave cloths. Jesus, in bright gold, looks to be using His free hand to remove His friend’s head cloth! 

This vivid portrayal is brimming with life. Brings the whole scene alive. As Jesus brings Lazarus to life. As Jesus is Resurrection & Life. For us, too. As Sign (the 7th JN records) of Who He Himself is. As foretaste of what God will prove Himself capable of doing for Jesus in a few days time. (After three days, compared with Lazarus’ fourth day, but what’s a day with God!) This one picture has brought the story of Lazarus alive for me more than any sermon I’ve heard - or preached!

Can we preach this passage so it speaks to us of the moment, rather than as a history lesson? So it becomes truly powerful for us? Vividly, vibrantly, colourfully? No more shades of grey when resurrection’s in the air! ! Could we make not only Lazarus, but the story, come alive as this picture does? Bringing everyone in it, bringing us all, as well as Lazarus, back to life? Help us all find ourselves in the picture in a today version of the story? Discern how Jesus can raise us from any deadness we’re experiencing? Now. No need to wait for any raising up on some ‘Last Day’! Discern how God in Jesus frees us from whatever binds us & keeps us dead & ‘grey’ - for any number of days? 

The above ‘icon’ also illustrates the way our lives are all inter-linked: family, birth, life, suffering, death. With the colourful & not so colourful all linked with, caught up one way or another with everyone & everything going on. Life-giving, or not. Even those doubtful, or merely curious! What role are we playing in today’s new version we’re painting with our lives? Where do we find God, where does God find us, alive in our new picture?

¹ Eerdmans, Grand Rapids, 1994

JOHN 9: 1-41

Jottings on John…Lent 4…2017 

Are longish passages like this in the liturgy (as distinct from in studies) a ‘turn-off’ instead of the ‘switch on’ we hope they will be? David Lose¹, in a recent reflection, suggests reading only the Gospel that day; is this worth considering if it is seen as a problem? Or is that too ‘out of court’?

Today’s passage centring on Jesus & Reuben (let’s give him a name & a face!) has me pondering ‘taking the initiative’ in the Lenten & Passion-tide Gospels. Holy Spirit takes the initiative in leading / driving (MK) Jesus into the wilderness to be tested. Next, it’s Nicodemus taking it. Then, Jesus asking ‘Samara’ for a drink at Jacob’s well, in giving Reuben his sight, & raising Lazarus. Jesus then sets in train the events of Palm Sunday, & lets the authorities take the initiative on the evening of Maundy Thursday, & in His being tried, condemned, & crucified on ‘Good’ Friday.

God takes back the initiative at Easter, but who’s taking the initiative in the events we’re hearing & preaching about today? Jesus, then ‘neighbours’, Reuben, some Pharisees, Reuben’s parents, Reuben again, who weathers abuse, & confesses faith in Jesus as Messiah. Pharisees try to re-take the initiative, but instead Jesus retakes the initiative that gave Reuben his physical & deep spiritual sight now.

Isn’t it odd that people who know Reuben well as a blind person, can’t - or won’t  - recognise him now he can see! Scene after scene builds up to make a real-life parable for us all. Are there people we know whom we define by their disabilities, shortcomings, or perceived failure to meet some standard we set instead of seeing the possibilities of God taking the initiative in them & their situations? 

No matter our faith or church membership, are our inner eyes wide open to the Deep Wisdom of God & initiatives God may want to take in our own lives, or, with His blessing, in someone else’s? Are we as aware, as Reuben becomes, that the Messianic age has come in Jesus; that it isn’t something only to be looked forward to? Which raises the issue of letting God take the initiative in overcoming our human obsession with clocks & calendars. 

Does the mud - earth + water - bit ring any bells in the evolution of new & spiritual life for Reuben & us?

However we choose to preach this passage, it needs to become a story of now rather than then! Our story, in whatever form it takes, as well as Reuben’s.

¹ On his site: ‘In the Meantime’

JOHN 4:5-42

Jottings on John…Lent 3… 2017 

Another over-long passage for a congregation to take in! Contrast the upright Jew, Nicodemus, in Ch.3, & the woman here, a Samaritan. For starters, Nic gets a name but the woman does not. Let’s call her Samara (Sam). We all deserve a name & a face! Jesus’ Christianity knows no gender distinctions, nor a lot of other distinctions we still choose to make.

We have a very open & down-to-earth exchange of minds & beliefs here, heighten-ed by its taking place at a well of water. The imagery is powerful. Inviting us all to drink deeply of the water of life, no matter who draws it for us. No matter how out of our comfort zone the situation may be. Being open to each other, as Jesus & Sam are here, is one of those ‘gift of God’ opportunities we need to discern & grasp! Going back to the water motif, shouldn’t everyone, everywhere, be entitled to water fit to drink? Maybe we need more Sam’s, ‘warts & all’ to provide it for them. Maybe we, too, need to join their ranks in some way?

Eugene Peterson observes¹, ‘in both stories a reputation is put at risk’, meaning Nic’s & Jesus’. Sam sounds to have already lost hers in her village. She’s maybe timed her visit to the well to be there without the other women. In our ‘village’ do we have any kind of reputation? Whom do we do our best to avoid? Why let a human reputation come between us & God? Between  us & salvation? Jesus & Sam aren’t letting that happen at our well.

Sam knows a Messiah has been promised from Scriptures shared with the Jews by her Samaritan community [DEUT 18:15+]. Jesus builds on this as He reveals His true identity to her seemingly more openly than to anyone else so early in His ministry. She may be an ‘outsider’ to faith as the Hebrews understand it, but she ‘gets’ Jesus when many don’t! This conversation here by our well is being carried on in ‘Spirit & in truth’. Would that more of our conversations were as godly, no matter where they take place! 

When the disciples come back into the picture they don’t say anything, but are no doubt shocked by what they find. By whom they find! Can’t we hear them thinking of Jesus, ‘Can’t let you out of our sight for any time at all or we’ll find you doing something inappropriate, talking to the wrong people …!’ Is Church sometimes over-concerned about what’s ‘appropriate’ & what’s not? About God crossing boundaries we don’t think it’s right to cross? Jesus sticks His neck out for Sam here, as does she with Him. Is it time we stuck our necks out a bit more? To cross a few boundaries to tell people what we’ve discovered about God in our lives as Sam does in this incident?

¹ Christ Plays in Ten Thousand Places, H & S, London, 2005, p.18

JOHN 3: 1-17

Jottings on  John…Lent 2…Revised 2017 

(For MT 17:1-9 see Last Epiphany)

There's so much here, we need to choose wisely. Here are some possibilities to choose from, bearing in mind personal discernment & local need. Of course there are lots more! 

Coming as he does by night, Nicodemus might imaginatively represent all those trying to fathom God & Jesus from darkness of one kind or another. He starts off here by doing his coming privately. Others do, too. They & N deserve credit for coming at all. There’s no congregation that doesn’t have its Nicodemus or two!

Both the 'anew' & 'from above' aspects of being born are positive, important, & need to be considered together. Matthew Fox somewhere quotes Meister Eckhart as preaching: “God is always the newest thing there ever is”. May our birthing & re-birthing always be renewal like that. That goes that far. Are we living anew & from above, out in our margins?

Being born of ‘water & Spirit’ isn’t necessarily to be restricted to baptism. What about the waters of birth? In context that makes good sense. Over-all, Jesus doesn't appear too fazed about baptism, unless, that is, we believe He really is personally behind MT 28:19 & not a later follower. Here in JN He's both linking & contrasting human physical birth & divine Spiritual birth in powerful imagery. Should we ponder the water from Jesus’ side, too?

Jesus’ use of the metaphor ‘wind’ here for the Spirit is a great help to our understanding of the Spirit’s role - both in the Godhead & in our lives. Let’s not shackle the Spirit with doctrinal bonds of our making. Instead, accept & rejoice in the freedom that comes with the Spirit of Jesus blowing where He/She/It will. Sometimes that will mean flying kites!

The serpent in the wilderness theme is burned deep into Jesus' psyche. It's there smouldering away throughout His Ministry; not least in His Passion, nailed up there like a dead snake on a pole! It's a potent link between God at work in old Israel raising people from spiritual if not physical death. God raising Jesus from death. God raising a new Israel we see ourselves as from death. This way, God is the Great Healer! In ways we don’t always discern. What are we most in need of healing from? 

It’s possible to quote JN 3:16 yet act as though God is more damning  than rescuing. Sure, v.18 follows v.17, & there’s no clearer contrast than that between light & darkness which follows today’s passage. But is it sometimes tempting to preach about the darkness rather than demonstrate the Light. Blake's view of the Spirit as 'the love that flows between the Father & the Son' isn’t just a Trinitarian insight. It’s a reminder of the present tense of all ‘God business’. And that where there’s love there’s also light. Could it be needing to love & be loved that leads Nicodemus off on his adventurous evening journey in the first place? 

JOHN1:29-42

Jottings on John…2nd S after Epiphany…Revised 2017 

From the poetic heights of the Word becoming flesh, we’re back down at ground zero. Where the politics of God & humans play out. Not always in the harmony that is God’s will from before the beginning of time. A harmony to which we need, desperately, to be restored. ‘Restored’ refers us back to that state of grace Eden represents, & has the air of healing about it. Compared with some words that have a whiff of a questionable transaction about them! 

This passage links the Evangelist’s creatively imaginative & poetic account of the Word becoming flesh, & Jesus’ down to earth ministry living that out. Jesus’ baptism has already taken place. William Temple¹ suggests Jesus is in fact returning from His testing in the wilderness where He recognises Himself as Messiah. Putting the Baptiser out of contention, as some had wondered, (not John himself!) & instead putting Jesus squarely in the frame! 

The Evangelist tells us [v.33] the Baptiser has been given discernment to recognise the One on whom the Spirit descends as God’s Son. In life, as in Scripture, till God’s end of things & our human ends connect, & we recognise & discern that, the story can never continue as God intends. It’s always & only God who gives true meaning to ‘baptising with Holy Spirit’ [v.33] & being so baptised. It always involves recognising the things & people of God. There are few things in life as important as recognising what & who is of God & who or what isn’t! Don’t let’s buy a ‘pig in a poke’ in any matter of importance to God.

‘Recognising’ - I’ll stay with that word - sums up the focus of this short passage. John recognises Jesus as the ‘lamb of God…’. Jesus has been out in His own wilderness recognising Himself as a Messiah of a completely different kind from that expected by the people. Now we see John pointing two of his followers in Jesus’ direction. Intriguingly, we’re told one of them is Andrew; the other remains un-named; all we know is that it’s not Simon. Andrew & the other John-follower recognise enough about Jesus on their reconnoitre to make them want more. Note, by the way, that Jesus has asked them, “What are you looking for?”, not, ‘Whom?’ Andrew goes on [v.41] to recognise Jesus as Messiah & introduce his brother, Simon, onto the scene to do the same. Jesus then recognises Simon as a future ‘Rock’. Andrew’s original companion has dropped out of the story by now. Is he simply lost to the story now that Simon has appeared; or has second thoughts about Jesus’ Messiahship? Others recognise Jesus in the verses that follow. Are we relevant to where the Jesus story wants to take us today; are we among those many having second & more thoughts; are we at least on the way to becoming a rock?  

If we’re unsure, uncertain about God, Jesus, Holy Spirit along our journey, maybe a godly soul-friend, an anamchara (to use the Gaelic term), could help us recognise our personal ‘What are you looking for?’ & act on that?

1 Readings in S. John’s Gospel, Macmillan, NY, 1955, p.23