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?