First To Ride One Though...

The scene in the Gospel of John (properly called a pericope, for all you language geeks) which is the scriptural focus for Sunday reinforces the observations I've been making over the past few weeks—that Jesus's role in the Gospels is frequently that of a mentor.

In this case, Jesus's reputation has proceeded him.  Well, his reputation as a miracle worker, anyway.  But for some reason, out of all the Pharisees, Nicodemus seems to be the only one who's willing to follow the logic:  Jesus cannot do the things he does apart from God, therefore he is a man worth listening to.  Throughout the pericope, Nicodemus refers to Jesus as "Rabbi."  The word literally means "teacher," but it certainly has religious and cultural overtones.  We're talking about a specific kind of teaching here.  Not a dry and basic imparting of facts, but rather a process of leading the pupil to their own revelations.  A role which Jesus fills perfectly here.

Somehow I doubt any souls were won this day...

Much has been made of this pericope over the years.  After all, it inspired the phrase "Born-Again Christians" and a single verse out of the 17-verse scene has been used as an evangelical tool at countless sports venues.  (I think it has backfired, by and large.  And in all honesty I'd love to see a John 3:17 sign just once, "Indeed, God did not send the Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him.")

I'm afraid that the simple faith of the Born-Again Christians, while a beautiful and admirable thing, doesn't do justice to this pericope.  There's a real sense of spiritual wrestling here--Nicodemus's path is not a simple one.  The political ramifications of a Pharisee seeking out Jesus for a little Rabbinical instruction (he did come under cover of darkness, you'll notice) and the slow dawning of realization he undergoes (see what the Gospel writer did there?) seems to stand in contrast to the conversion experience frequently associated with the Born-Again movement.

But wait... what is that realization?

What does Jesus mean when he says that Nicodemus must be born again?  Well, actually, this is where language geeks have a leg-up, I think.  The Koine phrase can mean both "born again" and "born from above."  Poets use these kinds of phrases to say as much as humanly possible with as few words as they can:  and I do believe that the writer of the Gospel of John is a poet.

What does it mean to be born again from above?

I believe that Jesus is giving Nicodemus (and the Gospel writer is giving the reader) a prophecy.  In both the sense of a word from God and in the sense of "this is a thing that's going to happen."  In the second sense, it's pretty vague.  Basically Jesus is leading Nicodemus to the conclusion that God is doing a brand-new thing.  Not just a little thing, either.  We're talking about real Game Changer where Nothing Will Ever Be The Same Again.

We're talking about Hiccup discovering that dragons and humans are not mutual adversaries in How to Train Your Dragon.  We're leading up to the idea of a dragon revolution against the Red Death.

In the sense of it being a word from God, though, we can learn what kind of belief is required--the kind that most closely resembles trust in God.  Jesus tells us (Nicodemus, you, me...) that this Game Changer will be like Moses raising the serpent in the wilderness.  It will result in what Mark J. Suriano describes as "...the healing of the world ...so that we might be made whole and entire."

In other words, what God did through Jesus changes everything for the better.

So how should we respond to this good news?

Be good to each other,
Rev. Josh
052615


Lectionary texts

Isaiah 6:1-8

In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord sitting on a throne, high and lofty; and the hem of his robe filled the temple. Seraphs were in attendance above him; each had six wings: with two they covered their faces, and with two they covered their feet, and with two they flew. And one called to another and said: "Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts; the whole earth is full of his glory." The pivots on the thresholds shook at the voices of those who called, and the house filled with smoke.

And I said: "Woe is me! I am lost, for I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips; yet my eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts!" Then one of the seraphs flew to me, holding a live coal that had been taken from the altar with a pair of tongs. The seraph touched my mouth with it and said: "Now that this has touched your lips, your guilt has departed and your sin is blotted out." Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying, "Whom shall I send, and who will go for us?" And I said, "Here am I; send me!"

Psalm 29

Ascribe to God, O heavenly beings,
   ascribe to God glory and strength.

Ascribe to God the glory of God's name;
   worship God in holy splendor.

The voice of God is over the waters;
  the God of glory thunders,
God, over mighty waters.

The voice of God is powerful;
  the voice of God is full of majesty.

The voice of God breaks the cedars;
   God breaks the cedars of Lebanon.

God makes Lebanon skip like a calf,
  and Sirion like a young wild ox.

The voice of God flashes forth
  in flames of fire.

The voice of God shakes the wilderness;
  God shakes the wilderness of Kadesh.

The voice of God causes the oaks to whirl,
   and strips the forest bare;
and in God's temple all say, "Glory!"

God sits enthroned over the flood;
  God sits enthroned as ruler forever.

May God give strength to God's people!
  May God bless God's people with peace!

Romans 8:12-17

So then, brothers and sisters, we are debtors, not to the flesh, to live according to the flesh — for if you live according to the flesh, you will die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live. For all who are led by the Spirit of God are children of God. For you did not receive a spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received a spirit of adoption. When we cry, "Abba! Father!" it is that very Spirit bearing witness with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, then heirs, heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ — if, in fact, we suffer with him so that we may also be glorified with him.

John 3:1-17

Now there was a Pharisee named Nicodemus, a leader of the Jews. He came to Jesus by night and said to him, "Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher who has come from God; for no one can do these signs that you do apart from the presence of God." Jesus answered him, "Very truly, I tell you, no one can see the kingdom of God without being born from above." Nicodemus said to him, "How can anyone be born after having grown old? Can one enter a second time into the mother's womb and be born?" Jesus answered, "Very truly, I tell you, no one can enter the kingdom of God without being born of water and Spirit. What is born of the flesh is flesh, and what is born of the Spirit is spirit. Do not be astonished that I said to you, 'You must be born from above.' The wind blows where it chooses, and you hear the sound of it, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes. So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit." Nicodemus said to him, "How can these things be?" Jesus answered him, "Are you a teacher of Israel, and yet you do not understand these things? Very truly, I tell you, we speak of what we know and testify to what we have seen; yet you do not receive our testimony. If I have told you about earthly things and you do not believe, how can you believe if I tell you about heavenly things? No one has ascended into heaven except the one who descended from heaven, the Son of Man. And just as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whoever believes in him may have eternal life. For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life. Indeed, God did not send the Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him."

There... Is... Another...

There's nothing quite like a good final speech, is there?  I don't mean unintentionally funny "narm" moments.  I'm definitely not talking about intentionally funny "Facing the Bullets" one-liners.  I'm talking about those moments where someone knows they're dying and somehow has time to impart some important last thoughts.

I'm talking about Master Yoda's final moments:

YODA:  
Hmm.  That face you make.  Look I so old to young eyes?
LUKE:  
No... of course not.
YODA:  
I do, yes, I do!  Sick have I become.  Old and weak.  When nine hundred years old you reach, look as good you will not. Hmm?  Soon will I rest.  Yes, forever sleep.  Earned it, I have.
LUKE
:  Master Yoda, you can't die.
YODA:  Strong am I with the Force... but not that strong!  Twilight is upon me and soon night must fall.  That is the way of things ... the way of the Force.
LUKE:  But I need your help.  I've come back to complete the training.
YODA:  
No more training do you require.  Already know you that which you need.
LUKE
:  Then I am a Jedi?
YODA:  
Ohhh.  Not yet.  One thing remains:  Vader. You must confront Vader.  Then, only then, a Jedi will you be.  And confront him you will.
LUKE
:  Master Yoda... is Darth Vader my father?
YODA
:  Mmm... rest I need.  Yes... rest.
LUKE
:  Yoda, I must know.
YODA:  
Your father he is.  Told you, did he?
LUKE
:  Yes.
YODA:  
Unexpected this is, and unfortunate...
LUKE
:  Unfortunate that I know the truth?
YODA:  
No.  Unfortunate that you rushed to face him... that incomplete was your training.  Not ready for the burden were you.
LUKE
:  Well, I'm sorry.
YODA:  
Remember, a Jedi's strength flows from the Force.  But beware. Anger, fear, aggression.  The dark side are they.  Once you start down the dark path, forever will it dominate your destiny.  Luke...Luke...Do not...Do not underestimate the powers of the Emperor, or suffer your father's fate, you will.  Luke, when gone am I [cough], the last of the Jedi will you be.  Luke, the Force runs strong in your family.  Pass on what you have learned, Luke...  There is... another...Sky...Sky...walker.

I'm talking about the final words of Thorin Oakenshield to Bilbo Baggins:

"Farewell, good thief...  There is more in you of good than you know, child of the kindly West.  Some courage and some wisdom, blended in measure.  If more of us valued food and cheer and song above hoarded gold, it would be a merrier world..."




I'm talking about The Doctor's recorded last words to Rose:

This is Emergency Programme One.  Rose, now listen.  This is important.  If this message is activated, then it can only mean one thing.  We must be in danger, and I mean fatal.  I'm dead, or about to die any second with no chance of escape.  And that's okay.  Hope it's a good death. But I promised to look after you, and that's what I'm doing. The TARDIS is taking you home. [Rose protests]  And I bet you're fussing and moaning now.  Typical!  But hold on and just listen a bit more.  The TARDIS can never return for me.  Emergency Programme One means I'm facing an enemy that should never get their hands on this machine.  So this is what you should do:  let the TARDIS die.  Just let this old box gather dust.  No one can open it.  No one will even notice it.  Let it become a strange little thing standing on a street corner.  And over the years, the world will move on and the box will be buried.  And if you wanna remember me, then you can do one thing, that's all, one thing.  Have a good life.  Do that for me, Rose.  Have a fantastic life.

There are so many really strong examples of what I'm talking about.  But my all-time favorite final speech—and I'm not just saying this because I'm a Christian—is the Farewell Discourse of Jesus.

Jesus has plenty of time to speak to the Disciples while Judas is slinking off to bring men with clubs and swords to arrest him.  But don't worry, I won't quote the whole thing here.  Just the most important part:

 "As the Father has loved me, so I have loved you; abide in my love.  If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love, just as I have kept my Father's commandments and abide in his love.  I have said these things to you so that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be complete.
"This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you.  No one has greater love than this, to lay down one's life for one's friends.  You are my friends if you do what I command you.  I do not call you servants any longer, because the servant does not know what the master is doing; but I have called you friends, because I have made known to you everything that I have heard from my Father.  You did not choose me but I chose you.  And I appointed you to go and bear fruit, fruit that will last, so that the Father will give you whatever you ask him in my name.  I am giving you these commands so that you may love one another."

Be good to each other,
Love one another,
Rev. Josh
050515





Lectionary texts

Acts 10: 44-48

While Peter was still speaking, the Holy Spirit fell upon all who heard the word. The circumcised believers who had come with Peter were astounded that the gift of the Holy Spirit had been poured out even on the Gentiles, for they heard them speaking in tongues and extolling God. Then Peter said, "Can anyone withhold the water for baptizing these people who have received the Holy Spirit just as we have?" So he ordered them to be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ. Then they invited him to stay for several days.

Psalm 98

O sing to God a new song,
    for God has done marvelous things.

God's strong hand and holy arm
    have given God the victory.

God has made known God's victory;
    and has revealed God's vindication
in the sight of the nations.

God has remembered having steadfast love
    and faithfulness to the house of Israel.
All the ends of the earth
    have seen the victory of our God.

Make a joyful noise to God,
    all the earth;
break forth into joyous song
    and sing praises.

Sing praises to God
    with the lyre,
with the lyre and
    the sound of melody.

With trumpets and the sound of the horn
    make a joyful noise
before the Ruler, the Sovereign.

Let the sea roar,
    and all that fills it;
the world and those who live in it.

Let the floods clap their hands;
    let the hills sing together for joy
at the presence of God,
    for God is coming to judge the earth.

God will judge the world
    with righteousness,
and the peoples with equity.

1 John 5: 1-6

Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ has been born of God, and everyone who loves the parent loves the child. By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God and obey his commandments. For the love of God is this, that we obey his commandments. And his commandments are not burdensome, for whatever is born of God conquers the world. And this is the victory that conquers the world, our faith. Who is it that conquers the world but the one who believes that Jesus is the Son of God?

This is the one who came by water and blood, Jesus Christ, not with the water only but with the water and the blood. And the Spirit is the one that testifies, for the Spirit is the truth.

John 15:9-17

[Jesus said:] "As the Father has loved me, so I have loved you; abide in my love. If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love, just as I have kept my Father's commandments and abide in his love. I have said these things to you so that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be complete.

"This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. No one has greater love than this, to lay down one's life for one's friends. You are my friends if you do what I command you. I do not call you servants any longer, because the servant does not know what the master is doing; but I have called you friends, because I have made known to you everything that I have heard from my Father. You did not choose me but I chose you. And I appointed you to go and bear fruit, fruit that will last, so that the Father will give you whatever you ask him in my name. I am giving you these commands so that you may love one another."

Form Blazing Sword!

Last week I talked about the image of Jesus as the Good the Shepherd and we His sheep.  Despite the fluffy and sappy art associated with it, it turned out to be a pretty strong image.

This week I get to talk about vines.

Once again, it sounds like a weak imagine.  But it's not.

I dunno if you've ever been to a winery or (much less fun, by the way) needed to clear out wild grapevines, but it's really, really hard to tell which parts are the vine and which are the branches—all of it is just that entwined.

When people talk about having a personal relationship with Christ, that's what it's supposed to be like—an intimacy so completely entwined that it's hard to tell where one part ends and the next begins.

If The Good Shepherd is "You Shall Not Pass" then The Vine is Voltron or (God forgive me) Captain Planet.  One of those deals where combined powers are greater than the sum of their parts.

For the record, Jesus forms the head.

Except, of course, the fact that the special powers (the sweet, sweet grapes) you gain by being entwined with Christ is not a Blazing Sword or a...  a...  whatever Captain Planet's deal was.

It's hard to say what it is without sounding completely and utterly sappy, like some creepy Bo Dallas motivational speaker.  But when you look at the example of the modern Christian saints, you can see how powerful the answer really is.

Mother Theresa

Martin Luther King, Jr.

Fred Rogers...

The fruit is love.  Love like Gandalf facing down the Balrog.  Love like a Blazing Sword.

Love for God.

Love for Humanity.

That's the fruit of the Vine.

Be good to each other,
Rev. Josh
042815





Lectionary texts

Acts 8:26-40

Then an angel of the Lord said to Philip, "Get up and go toward the south to the road that goes down from Jerusalem to Gaza." (This is a wilderness road.) So he got up and went. Now there was an Ethiopian eunuch, a court official of the Candace, queen of the Ethiopians, in charge of her entire treasury. He had come to Jerusalem to worship and was returning home; seated in his chariot, he was reading the prophet Isaiah.

Then the Spirit said to Philip, "Go over to this chariot and join it." So Philip ran up to it and heard him reading the prophet Isaiah. He asked, "Do you understand what you are reading?" He replied, "How can I, unless someone guides me?" And he invited Philip to get in and sit beside him. Now the passage of the scripture that he was reading was this:

    "Like a sheep he was led to the slaughter, and like a lamb silent before its shearer, so he does not open his mouth.
     In his humiliation justice was denied him. Who can describe his generation? For his life is taken away from the earth."

The eunuch asked Philip, "About whom, may I ask you, does the prophet say this, about himself or about someone else?" Then Philip began to speak, and starting with this scripture, he proclaimed to him the good news about Jesus. As they were going along the road, they came to some water; and the eunuch said, "Look, here is water! What is to prevent me from being baptized?"
He commanded the chariot to stop, and both of them, Philip and the eunuch, went down into the water, and Philip baptized him. When they came up out of the water, the Spirit of the Lord snatched Philip away; the eunuch saw him no more, and went on his way rejoicing.

But Philip found himself at Azotus, and as he was passing through the region, he proclaimed the good news to all the towns until he came to Caesarea.

Psalm 22:25-31

From you comes my praise
   in the great congregation;
my vows I will pay before those who fear God.

The poor shall eat and be satisfied;
    those who seek God shall praise God.
May your hearts live forever!

All the ends of the earth
    shall remember and turn to God;
and all the families of the nations
    shall worship before God.

For dominion belongs to God,
    and God rules over the nations.

To God, indeed, shall all who sleep
    in the earth bow down;
before God shall bow all
    who go down to the dust,
and I shall live for God.

Posterity will serve God;
   future generations will be told about God,

and proclaim God's deliverance
   to a people yet unborn,
saying that God has done it.

1 John 4:7-21

Beloved, let us love one another, because love is from God; everyone who loves is born of God and knows God. Whoever does not love does not know God, for God is love. God's love was revealed among us in this way: God sent his only Son into the world so that we might live through him. In this is love, not that we loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the atoning sacrifice for our sins. Beloved, since God loved us so much, we also ought to love one another.

No one has ever seen God; if we love one another, God lives in us, and his love is perfected in us. By this we know that we abide in him and he in us, because he has given us of his Spirit.
And we have seen and do testify that the Father has sent his Son as the Savior of the world. God abides in those who confess that Jesus is the Son of God, and they abide in God.

So we have known and believe the love that God has for us. God is love, and those who abide in love abide in God, and God abides in them. Love has been perfected among us in this: that we may have boldness on the day of judgment, because as he is, so are we in this world. There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear; for fear has to do with punishment, and whoever fears has not reached perfection in love. We love because he first loved us.

Those who say, "I love God," and hate their brothers or sisters, are liars; for those who do not love a brother or sister whom they have seen, cannot love God whom they have not seen. The commandment we have from him is this: those who love God must love their brothers and sisters also.

John 15:1-8

[Jesus said:] "I am the true vine, and my Father is the vinegrower. He removes every branch in me that bears no fruit. Every branch that bears fruit he prunes to make it bear more fruit. You have already been cleansed by the word that I have spoken to you. Abide in me as I abide in you. Just as the branch cannot bear fruit by itself unless it abides in the vine, neither can you unless you abide in me. I am the vine, you are the branches. Those who abide in me and I in them bear much fruit, because apart from me you can do nothing. Whoever does not abide in me is thrown away like a branch and withers; such branches are gathered, thrown into the fire, and burned. If you abide in me, and my words abide in you, ask for whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. My Father is glorified by this, that you bear much fruit and become my disciples."

They Mostly Come At Night... Mostly.

Awww!  =D

I suspect that the passage from the Gospel of John commonly known as "The Good Shepherd" usually provokes warm and fluffy imagery.  And I blame Bernhard Blockhorst.  You probably haven't heard of him.  In all honesty, I had to look him up myself.  But I bet you've seen images of his painting, "The Good Shepherd."  Doesn't Jesus look all serene?  And look at how calmly the sheep gather at his feet!

And he's holding a lamb!  A lamb!

All soft, and fluffy...

But that's so not what this passage is about.  It's not a soft and fluffy thing.  It's just hard for us to see it because we aren't shepherds in first century Palestine.

So I've been trying to find a way to express the danger—the legitimate fear—that should be wrapped up in the phrase, "the wolf snatches them and scatters them..."

The closest I've been able to come in gamer terms was one of the very first things that happened to me when I played Red Dead Redemption for the first time.  I've left the ranch for the first time and I'm cantering my way to Armadillo because, quite frankly, I'm not feeling competent enough to gallop yet.

And that's when I hear a man shrilling crying for help.  I reign my horse in, clear leather, and shoot a wolf—just in time to watch the rest of the pack bring the poor guy down.  All in less time than it took for you to read that sentence.

Poor sucker never had a chance.

In real life?  I just have to ask you if you've ever met the gaze of a large dog intent on protecting its territory—or its people?

I'm domesticated!

And now stop and think—that's a domesticated dog.

So when Jesus talks about the difference between the hired hand and the good shepherd—when he says that the hired hand saves his own hide rather than face off against the wolf to protect the sheep.  When Jesus says the good shepherd lays his life down for the sheep—we're not talking warm and fluffy.


We're talking Gandolf facing down the Balrog and crying out "You shall not pass!"

We're talking the Battlestar Pegasus staying behind and stomping on Cylons to secure the escape of Galactica.

We're talking Gorman and Vasquez taking as many Aliens with them as possible with a grenade.

The hired hand sees the wolf coming and leaves the sheep and runs away because he doesn't care about the sheep.  But the Good Shepherd, Jesus?

He loves us.

Not in a soft and fluffy way.

In a die to defend you way.

So be good to each other,
Rev. Josh
042115







Lectionary texts

Acts 4:5-12

The next day their rulers, elders, and scribes assembled in Jerusalem, with Annas the high priest, Caiaphas, John, and Alexander, and all who were of the high-priestly family. When they had made the prisoners stand in their midst, they inquired, "By what power or by what name did you do this?" Then Peter, filled with the Holy Spirit, said to them, "Rulers of the people and elders, if we are questioned today because of a good deed done to someone who was sick and are asked how this man has been healed, let it be known to all of you, and to all the people of Israel, that this man is standing before you in good health by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom you crucified, whom God raised from the dead. This Jesus is 'the stone that was rejected by you, the builders; it has become the cornerstone.' There is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among mortals by which we must be saved."

Psalm 23

God is my shepherd,
  I shall not want.
God makes me lie down in green pastures;
  and leads me beside still waters;

God restores my soul.
  and leads me in right paths
for the sake of God's name.

Even though I walk through the darkest valley,
  I fear no evil;
for you are with me;
  your rod and your staff — they comfort me.

You prepare a table before me
  in the presence of my enemies;
you anoint my head with oil;
  my cup overflows.

Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me
  all the days of my life,
and I shall dwell in the house of God
  my whole life long.

1 John 3:16-24

We know love by this, that he laid down his life for us — and we ought to lay down our lives for one another. How does God's love abide in anyone who has the world's goods and sees a brother or sister in need and yet refuses help? Little children, let us love, not in word or speech, but in truth and action. And by this we will know that we are from the truth and will reassure our hearts before him whenever our hearts condemn us; for God is greater than our hearts, and he knows everything. Beloved, if our hearts do not condemn us, we have boldness before God; and we receive from him whatever we ask, because we obey his commandments and do what pleases him.

And this is his commandment, that we should believe in the name of his Son Jesus Christ and love one another, just as he has commanded us. All who obey his commandments abide in him, and he abides in them. And by this we know that he abides in us, by the Spirit that he has given us.

John 10:11-18

"I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. The hired hand, who is not the shepherd and does not own the sheep, sees the wolf coming and leaves the sheep and runs away—and the wolf snatches them and scatters them. The hired hand runs away because a hired hand does not care for the sheep. I am the good shepherd. I know my own and my own know me, just as the Father knows me and I know the Father. And I lay down my life for the sheep. I have other sheep that do not belong to this fold. I must bring them also, and they will listen to my voice. So there will be one flock, one shepherd. For this reason the Father loves me, because I lay down my life in order to take it up again. No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it up again. I have received this command from my Father."

Mulder & Thomas

I feel sorry for poor Thomas.  I really do.  I think he's been given a bum deal over the years.  Can you imagine your nickname (or epithet, if you prefer) being "Doubting"?

It is entirely too easy for us to smirk at the expense of poor Thomas as we read the words of Jesus, "Have you believed because you have seen me?  Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have come to believe."  We feel like Lydia Deetz explaining that the living ignore the strange and unusual.


Except us, of course.  We ourselves are strange and unusual enough to immediately understand what Jesus is saying without putting him to the test.  We're just that good, right?

Well...  probably not.

We all like to think that we're Fox Mulder, with our passionate belief in the Truth that is out there--whether the evidence supports it or not.  But if we're honest with ourselves, in this technological and scientific age we live in, we're all more likely to get all Scully up in this business.

Christians in general like to make Thomas a cautionary tale concerning the quality (or, God forgive us, amount) of our faith.  And considering those words of Jesus, I can see why that might be so.

But that's not how I see read it, honestly.  It's so easy to read those words in a harsh, pejorative tone of voice.  But what if it was said with a soft, knowing smile on Jesus's face?

I don't think the issue was so much about faith as it was about the relationship between Thomas and Jesus.  If you love someone that you're in a healthy relationship with, you don't want or need to ask them to "prove it."

On the other hand, Jesus loves Thomas—even his tendency to get all Scully up in there—and the situation was indeed strange an unusual.  Besides which—Jesus did it.  He went ahead and proved it, because he knew and loved Thomas.

I can't imagine that scene being anything but happy and kind of funny, actually.  Jesus is alive!  And right in front of Thomas!  And...  he's having Thomas put his finger...  inside...

ew.

That's love, right there.

Be good to each other,
Rev. Josh
040715


Acts 4:32-35

Now the whole group of those who believed were of one heart and soul, and no one claimed private ownership of any possessions, but everything they owned was held in common. With great power the apostles gave their testimony to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, and great grace was upon them all. There was not a needy person among them, for as many as owned lands or houses sold them and brought the proceeds of what was sold. They laid it at the apostles' feet, and it was distributed to each as any had need.

Psalm 133

How very good and pleasant it is
  when kindred live together in unity!

It is like the precious oil on the head,
  running down upon the beard,
upon the beard of Aaron,
  running down over the collar of his robes.

It is like the dew of Hermon,
  which falls on the mountains of Zion.

For there God ordained the blessing,
  the blessing of life forevermore.

1 John 1:1-2:2

We declare to you what was from the beginning, what we have heard, what we have seen with our eyes, what we have looked at and touched with our hands, concerning the word of life — this life was revealed, and we have seen it and testify to it, and declare to you the eternal life that was with the Father and was revealed to us — we declare to you what we have seen and heard so that you also may have fellowship with us; and truly our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son Jesus Christ. We are writing these things so that our joy may be complete.

This is the message we have heard from him and proclaim to you, that God is light and in him there is no darkness at all. If we say that we have fellowship with him while we are walking in darkness, we lie and do not do what is true; but if we walk in the light as he himself is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin.

If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he who is faithful and just will forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If we say that we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us.

My little children, I am writing these things to you so that you may not sin. But if anyone does sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous; and he is the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the sins of the whole world.

John 20:19-31

When it was evening on that day, the first day of the week, and the doors of the house where the disciples had met were locked for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood among them and said, "Peace be with you." After he said this, he showed them his hands and his side. Then the disciples rejoiced when they saw the Lord. Jesus said to them again, "Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, so I send you." When he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them, "Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained." But Thomas (who was called the Twin), one of the twelve, was not with them when Jesus came. So the other disciples told him, "We have seen the Lord." But he said to them, "Unless I see the mark of the nails in his hands, and put my finger in the mark of the nails and my hand in his side, I will not believe."

A week later his disciples were again in the house, and Thomas was with them. Although the doors were shut, Jesus came and stood among them and said, "Peace be with you." Then he said to Thomas, "Put your finger here and see my hands. Reach out your hand and put it in my side. Do not doubt but believe." Thomas answered him, "My Lord and my God!" Jesus said to him, "Have you believed because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have come to believe." Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence of his disciples, which are not written in this book. But these are written so that you may come to believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that through believing you may have life in his name.

Such A Romp

Some of this post will look very familiar.  A lot of it contains things I have said before.  But the truth is that while there a plethora of Christ figures to explore in fantasy, science fiction, and even horror—when it comes to Resurrection, for me, it will always be Aslan the Lion:

The rising of the sun had made everything look so different — all colours and shadows were changed— that for a moment they didn't see the important thing.  Then they did.  The Stone Table was broken into two pieces by a great crack that ran down it from end to end; and there was no more Aslan.

In one of his many letters, Lewis refers to the Stone Table as Narnia's version of the tablets of stone on which the Ten Commandments were written.  But I can't help interrupting the narrative here to point out that there's another allusion here.  When Jesus breathed his last, the curtain in the temple that separates the Tabernacle—the place where the Glory of God resided in a very real sense—split from top to bottom.  It tore in two pieces.  From end to end.  And where is the Glory of God then, one wonders...?

"Who's done it?" cried Susan.  "What does it mean?  Is it magic?"
"Yes!" said a great voice behind their backs.  "It is more magic."  They looked round.  There, shining in the sunrise, larger than they had seen him before, shaking his mane (for it had apparently grown again) stood Aslan himself.
"Oh, Aslan!" cried both the children, staring up at him, almost as much frightened as they were glad.
"Aren't you dead then, dear Aslan?" said Lucy.
"Not now," said Aslan.
"You're not — not a —?" asked Susan in a shaky voice.  She couldn't bring herself to say the word ghost.  Aslan stooped his golden head and licked her forehead.  The warmth of his breath and a rich sort of smell that seemed to hang about his hair came all over her.
"Do I look it?" he said.
"Oh, you're real, you're real!  Oh Aslan!" cried Lucy, and both girls flung themselves upon him and covered him with kisses."

When the girls calm down, Susan asks Aslan what it all means.  But I'm not going to give you Aslan's answer here—that quote is easy to find and it even made it into the resurrection scene in the Walden Media film.  The point of theology is, indeed, to make meaning.  But sometimes in our struggle to make meaning we forget to pay attention to how we feel.  And Lewis painted a brilliant picture of how the Resurrection—and therefore Easter—should make us feel!

"Oh children," said the Lion, "I feel my strength coming back to me.  Oh, children, catch me if you can!"  He stood for a second, his eyes very bright, his limbs quivering, lashing himself with his tail.  Then me made a leap high over their heads and landed on the other side of the Table.  Laughing, though she didn't know why, Lucy scrambled over it to reach him.  Aslan leaped again.  A mad chase began.  Round and round the hill-top he led them, now hopelessly out of their reach, now letting them almost catch his tail, now diving between them, now tossing them in the air with his huge an beautifully velveted paws and catching them again, and now stopping unexpectedly so that all three of them rolled over together in a happy laughing heap of fur and arms and legs.  It was such a romp as no one has ever had except in Narnia; and whether it was more like playing with a thunderstorm or playing with a kitten Lucy could never make up her mind.  And the funny thing was that when all three finally lay together panting in the sun, the girls no longer felt the least tired or hungry or thirsty.
"And now," said Aslan presently, "to business.  I feel I am going to roar.  You had better put your fingers in your ears."

Happy Easter!
Be good to each other,
Have a good romp,
Rev. Josh
041514

The scripture lessons for April 6th—The Fifth Sunday of Lent Year A—are:
Acts 10:34-43—Psalm 118:1-2, 14-24—Colossians 3:1-4—John 11:1-45

“It isn't Narnia, you know," sobbed Lucy.  "It's you.  We shan't meet you there.  And how can we live, never meeting you?"
"But you shall meet me, dear one," said Aslan.
"Are -are you there too, Sir?" said Edmund.
"I am," said Aslan. "But there I have another name.  You must learn to know me by that name.  This was the very reason why you were brought to Narnia, that by knowing me here for a little, you may know me better there.”
― C.S. Lewis, The Voyage of the Dawn Treader

John 20:1-18

Early on the first day of the week, while it was still dark, Mary Magdalene came to the tomb and saw that the stone had been removed from the tomb. So she ran and went to Simon Peter and the other disciple, the one whom Jesus loved, and said to them, "They have taken the Lord out of the tomb, and we do not know where they have laid him." Then Peter and the other disciple set out and went toward the tomb. The two were running together, but the other disciple outran Peter and reached the tomb first. He bent down to look in and saw the linen wrappings lying there, but he did not go in. Then Simon Peter came, following him, and went into the tomb. He saw the linen wrappings lying there, and the cloth that had been on Jesus' head, not lying with the linen wrappings but rolled up in a place by itself. Then the other disciple, who reached the tomb first, also went in, and he saw and believed; for as yet they did not understand the scripture, that he must rise from the dead. Then the disciples returned to their homes.

But Mary stood weeping outside the tomb. As she wept, she bent over to look into the tomb; and she saw two angels in white, sitting where the body of Jesus had been lying, one at the head and the other at the feet. They said to her, "Woman, why are you weeping?" She said to them, "They have taken away my Lord, and I do not know where they have laid him." When she had said this, she turned around and saw Jesus standing there, but she did not know that it was Jesus. Jesus said to her, "Woman, why are you weeping? Whom are you looking for?" Supposing him to be the gardener, she said to him, "Sir, if you have carried him away, tell me where you have laid him, and I will take him away." Jesus said to her, "Mary!" She turned and said to him in Hebrew, "Rabbouni!" (which means Teacher). Jesus said to her, "Do not hold on to me, because I have not yet ascended to the Father. But go to my brothers and say to them, 'I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.'" Mary Magdalene went and announced to the disciples, "I have seen the Lord"; and she told them that he had said these things to her.