Daily Exegesis

If anyone walks in the day, he does not stumble, because he sees the light of this world

2012-02-18T09:18:00.000-08:00

Now a certain man was sick, Lazarus of Bethany, the town of Mary and her sister Martha. It was that Mary who anointed the Lord with fragrant oil and wiped His feet with her hair, whose brother Lazarus was sick. Therefore the sisters sent to Him, saying, "Lord, behold, he whom You love is sick." When Jesus heard that, He said, "This sickness is not unto death, but for the glory of God, that the Son of God may be glorified through it."
Now Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus. So, when He heard that he was sick, He stayed two more days in the place where He was. Then after this He said to the disciples, "Let us go to Judea again." The disciples said to Him, "Rabbi, lately the Jews sought to stone You, and are You going there again?" Jesus answered, "Are there not twelve hours in the day? If anyone walks in the day, he does not stumble, because he sees the light of this world. But if one walks in the night, he stumbles, because the light is not in him." These things He said, and after that He said to them, "Our friend Lazarus sleeps, but I go that I may wake him up." Then His disciples said, "Lord, if he sleeps he will get well." However, Jesus spoke of his death, but they thought that He was speaking about taking rest in sleep. Then Jesus said to them plainly, "Lazarus is dead. And I am glad for your sakes that I was not there, that you may believe. Nevertheless let us go to him." Then Thomas, who is called the Twin, said to his fellow disciples, "Let us also go, that we may die with Him."
- John 11:1-16

Yesterday we read about a confrontation at the temple, that took place at the Feast of Dedication, or Hannukah, the festival of lights. This dialogue began in the previous reading (on Thursday), in which Jesus told the leadership, "I and My Father are one." This was in answer to their question, "How long do You keep us in doubt? If You are the Christ, tell us plainly." In yesterday's reading, they had begun to take up stones to stone Him after Jesus pronounced that He and His Father are one. But Jesus told them, "Many good works I have shown you from My Father. For which of those works do you stone Me?" The temple authorities replied that it was not for the works, but for making Himself God. Jesus told them, "Is it not written in your law, 'I said, "You are gods"?' If He called them gods, to whom the word of God came (and the Scripture cannot be broken), do you say of Him whom the Father sanctified and sent into the world, 'You are blaspheming,' because I said, 'I am the Son of God'?" He pointed again to His works as witness to the presence of God the Father with Him, but they sought to stone Him. Jesus then went and stayed in the place where John the Baptist first baptized, beyond the Jordan. And there He found many believers, who saw for themselves that John's testimony of Jesus was true.

Now a certain man was sick, Lazarus of Bethany, the town of Mary and her sister Martha. It was that Mary who anointed the Lord with fragrant oil and wiped His feet with her hair, whose brother Lazarus was sick. John's Gospel has just told us that Jesus went to the other side of the Jordan River, away from Jerusalem, after His last confrontation in the temple with the authorities, who tried to stone Him for blasphemy. But here, the Gospel assumes a familiarity in the readership with the important figures of this family -- Martha, Mary and Lazarus. Furthermore, John the Evangelist also assumes an understanding of an important incident, in which Mary anointed the Lord with fragrant oil and wiped His feet with her hair, which John will report later in the Gospel, in the next chapter.

Therefore the sisters sent to Him, saying, "Lord, behold, he whom You love is sick." When Jesus heard that, He said, "This sickness is not unto death, but for the glory of God, that the Son of God may be glorified through it." We remember Jesus' sixth miracle or sign in the Gospel of John, the healing of the man blind from birth. His disciples asked Him then, "Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?" Jesus answered, "Neither this man nor his parents sinned, but that the works of God should be revealed in him." Here the starkest affliction known to the world will be the occasion for the glory of God, that the Son of God may be glorified through it. As so often happens with John's Gospel, the events that unfold will astound the disciples. They cannot understand the events to which He alludes in speech before all is revealed to them.

Now Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus. So, when He heard that he was sick, He stayed two more days in the place where He was. Here is a seemingly paradoxical statement! But the great love between this family and Jesus is well-known and remarkable in the Gospels. We will see with what plans Jesus will glorify God through this family He loves.

Then after this He said to the disciples, "Let us go to Judea again." The disciples said to Him, "Rabbi, lately the Jews sought to stone You, and are You going there again?" Bethany, the town of Martha, Mary and Lazarus, is on the eastern slope of the Mount of Olives, about two miles from Jerusalem. Jesus is now east of the Jordan river, and wishes to return to the region of Judea to the home of His friends.

Jesus answered, "Are there not twelve hours in the day? If anyone walks in the day, he does not stumble, because he sees the light of this world. But if one walks in the night, he stumbles, because the light is not in him." Jesus has said, in the reading of the healing of the blind man, "I am the light of the world." Here, Jesus' reply seems to me to refer to that light that is in Him. He walks in the day because of this light. Those who walk in the darkness are the ones that stumble. He knows where He is going, what He is doing. Nothing happens without a voluntary understanding in Him, a command He accepts from the Father.

These things He said, and after that He said to them, "Our friend Lazarus sleeps, but I go that I may wake him up." Then His disciples said, "Lord, if he sleeps he will get well." However, Jesus spoke of his death, but they thought that He was speaking about taking rest in sleep. Then Jesus said to them plainly, "Lazarus is dead. And I am glad for your sakes that I was not there, that you may believe. Nevertheless let us go to him." Then Thomas, who is called the Twin, said to his fellow disciples, "Let us also go, that we may die with Him." Again, we see in the familiar technique of John's Gospel, a series of misapprehensions, partial understanding, so that what is happening may be revealed to us in the same way the Gospel tells us it is revealed to the disciples. Jesus delays in order that the occasion of Lazarus' death becomes one of glorification, revelation, a sign of the presence of God. He refers to Lazarus' "sleep" so that we understand the death that is not unto death, but life. Thomas again misunderstands. No one can grasp what is going to happen. My study bible points to the irony of Thomas' words: "Thomas, if not with full understanding, speaks the truth: dying with Christ, in baptism and sometimes in martyrdom, will become the seal of Christian discipleship." And death, of course, will be understood by believers as a type of sleep, as we abide in the power of His love and life in Resurrection, the great "Day" of the Lord.

As we read the Gospel, we "walk" with Jesus toward Bethany. The miracle or sign that will take place there, to which Jesus alludes in today's reading, will be the seventh of seven in John's Gospel. But let us take occasion again for thinking about Jesus' reference at the last "good work," the sixth sign, the healing of the man blind from birth. Jesus said, "I am the light of the world." Here, He refers to walking in the light of day, and having that light in us. When we walk in His word, in the light of God, of faith, we can have a confidence of walking in the daytime to which He refers. How does God walk with you? Each moment, it is inferred from this text, can be a moment for that light to shine through the darkness of the world for us, through faith. Even this moment that is coming, the death of His beloved friend, will become an occasion for the light, the shining forth or manifestation of the glory of God in the world. Can you have a sense of that daytime in your life? We remember that Christ is the light that shines in the darkness, although the darkness cannot grasp that light in any sense. At each moment, there is an occasion for that light. When we ask to walk with Him, we ask to walk in the daytime. In the darkest moments of our lives, we ask for His light, to walk with Him, so that we know where we are going, and we don't stumble. In this way, our lives will also glorify God. We will be able to go through even the darkness of the world with the light He gives us to see our way through. How do you let the light in to your life's moments today?

Is it not written in your law, "I said, 'You are gods'?"

2012-02-17T09:33:00.000-08:00

Then the Jews took up stones again to stone Him. Jesus answered them, "Many good works I have shown you from My Father. For which of those works do you stone Me?" The Jews answered Him, saying, "For a good work we do not stone You, but for blasphemy, and because You, being a Man, make Yourself God." Jesus answered them, "Is it not written in your law, 'I said, "You are gods"?' If He called them gods, to whom the word of God came (and the Scripture cannot be broken), do you say of Him whom the Father sanctified and sent into the world, 'You are blaspheming,' because I said, 'I am the Son of God'? If I do not do the works of My Father, do not believe Me; but if I do, though you do not believe Me, believe the works, that you may know and believe that the Father is in Me, and I in Him." Therefore they sought again to seize Him, but He escaped out of their hand.
And He went away again beyond the Jordan to the place where John was baptizing at first, and there He stayed. Then many came to Him and said, "John performed no sign, but all the things that John spoke about this Man were true." And many believed in Him there.
- John 10:31-42

In yesterday's reading, we continued to read about the disputes in Jerusalem, between Jesus and the temple leadership. The leadership is divided about Jesus. Recent readings have been taking place at the autumn festival of the Feast of Tabernacles. Now the scene shifts three months ahead, to winter. It is the time of the Feast of Dedication, or Hannukah, the festival of lights. This is the commemoration of the rededication of the temple to the God of Israel, my study bible says, "after the Seleucid king, Antiochus Epiphanes, desecrated the temple in 167 B.C. The leaders of Israel's past are commemorated, many of whom were literal shepherds." Jesus has just given the illustration of Himself as the Good Shepherd. In yesterday's reading, He continued. At the Feast of Dedication, the leadership asks Him, "How long do You keep us in doubt? If You are the Christ, tell us plainly." He again referred to Himself as the Shepherd, and the sheep who are of His flock know Him. They know His voice. His works bear witness of Him, but they do not believe Him, because they are not of His flock. He said, "My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me. And I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; neither shall anyone snatch them out of my hand. My Father, who has given them to Me, is greater than all; and no one is able to snatch them out of My Father's hand. I and My Father are one."

Then the Jews took up stones again to stone Him. Jesus answered them, "Many good works I have shown you from My Father. For which of those works do you stone Me?" As He is condemned by the leadership for His teaching that "I and My Father are one," Jesus refers back to the "witness" to His identity, the good works or signs He has done. The emphasis on witnessing is important to understand in terms of the theology that Jesus teaches. It is as if He is saying to us that we are responsible for understanding the revelation of God in our midst, the signs of God or of God's grace and presence. The leadership fails to discern this; it is a kind of rejection of grace, of the evidence of the presence or shining forth of God in our world.

The Jews answered Him, saying, "For a good work we do not stone You, but for blasphemy, and because You, being a Man, make Yourself God." Jesus answered them, "Is it not written in your law, 'I said, "You are gods"?' If He called them gods, to whom the word of God came (and the Scripture cannot be broken), do you say of Him whom the Father sanctified and sent into the world, 'You are blaspheming,' because I said, 'I am the Son of God'?" Jesus refers to the Scripture which tells of becoming "sons of God." In some sense, that is a sonship given by adoption, by the word of God. Jesus is referring to Psalm 82, verse 6, in which the Lord says, "I have said, 'You are gods; and all of you are children of the most High.'" Ironically, the psalm tells of the failure of the holy assembly of the God of Israel (those to whom the God's word has been given) to recognize this fact about themselves, to live up to it in righteousness and good judgment, and the resulting outcome -- that they will die like mere men, they will fall like any other ruler. Jesus compares the "gods" of the psalm to Himself, and to the witness of His good works to His Sonship. The Scripture calls them gods -- why is He therefore blaspheming?

"If I do not do the works of My Father, do not believe Me; but if I do, though you do not believe Me, believe the works, that you may know and believe that the Father is in Me, and I in Him." Therefore they sought again to seize Him, but He escaped out of their hand. Again, Jesus refers to the "testimony" of His works, the signs of the Gospel. These good works are witness to the Father's presence with Him in all He does. But the time has come when the leadership wish to condemn Him. Jesus escapes.

And He went away again beyond the Jordan to the place where John was baptizing at first, and there He stayed. Then many came to Him and said, "John performed no sign, but all the things that John spoke about this Man were true." And many believed in Him there. Though the leadership condemns Him for blasphemy, Jesus continues to find many believers among the Jewish people. Here, those who were followers of John the Baptist now follow Jesus. This is another testimony offered in the Gospel, that of John the Baptist, whose testimony, it tells us, is true.

There is a lot in today's reading about witnessing and testimony. We also come to understand concepts of God's "showing forth" -- the presence of God the Father manifest in Jesus' good works. This is also testimony, a kind of witnessing to God's presence. John the Baptist also was a witness, a true witness in spirit, who came as a holy man, testifying to the One who was to come, and identifying Jesus as that one. When we think of witnessing and testimony, can we come to terms with what this means in our own lives in a spiritual sense? What "bears witness" in your life to the work of God, the work of the Spirit in the world -- the Gift for which Christ was sent into the world and which He left with us? Do you bear witness to that gift in your own life? Do you recognize that witness or showing of the presence of God? I would invite each reader to think about this today. If the presence of the word of God conveyed sonship on those in the assembly, what does its presence do in your life? How do you witness to that? What signs have been in your life (no doubt less spectacular than those of Jesus!) that bear witness to God's presence, to the grace we have been given? Faith itself can be a sign of grace, a depth of prayer, an extraordinary gift of understanding. How do you receive testimony of sonship? Jesus has also taught, "By their fruits you shall know them." His signs are the fruits of who He is, His identity. By what fruits do you recognize the work of the Spirit in your life? What testifies to sonship?

I and My Father are one

2012-02-16T09:17:00.000-08:00

Therefore there was a division again among the Jews because of these sayings. And many of them said, "He has a demon and is mad. Why do you listen to Him?" Others said, "These are not the words of one who has a demon. Can a demon open the eyes of the blind?"
Now it was the Feast of Dedication in Jerusalem, and it was winter. And Jesus walked in the temple, in Solomon's porch. Then the Jews surrounded Him and said to Him, "How long do You keep us in doubt? If You are the Christ, tell us plainly." Jesus answered them, "I told you, and you do not believe. The works that I do in My Father's name, they bear witness of Me. But you do not believe, because you are not of My sheep, as I said to you. My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me. And I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; neither shall anyone snatch them out of my hand. My Father, who has given them to Me, is greater than all; and no one is able to snatch them out of My Father's hand. I and My Father are one."
- John 10:19-30

After the healing of the man blind from birth, who was told to wash his eyes in the pool of Siloam, Jesus has been in discussion with the leadership in the temple. The healing of the blind man was the sixth of seven signs in the Gospel of John (see I am the light of the world and For judgment I have come into this world, that those who do not see may see, and that those who see may be made blind). In yesterday's reading, Jesus taught the leadership again about His own identity, this time calling Himself the Good Shepherd. He said that His sheep know His voice, and the one who does not enter by the door, but by some other way, is a thief and a robber. "But he who enters by the door is the shepherd of the sheep. To him the doorkeeper opens, and the sheep hear his voice; and he calls his own sheep by name and leads them out." His sheep, He said, do not know the voice of strangers. But the leadership failed to understand His illustration. He began again, "Most assuredly, I say to you, I am the door of the sheep. All who ever came before Me are thieves and robbers, but the sheep did not hear them. I am the door. If anyone enters by me, he will be saved, and will go in and out and find pasture." He told them, "I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly. I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd gives his life for the sheep." Moreover, He said, "I am the good shepherd; and I know My sheep, and am known by My own. As the Father knows Me, even so I know the Father; and I lay down My life for the sheep. And other sheep I have which are not of this fold; them also I must bring, and they will hear My voice; and there will be one flock and one shepherd." Jesus told them that He will lay down His life, and take it up again, for the sheep -- that this is a command of His Father.

Therefore there was a division again among the Jews because of these sayings. And many of them said, "He has a demon and is mad. Why do you listen to Him?" Others said, "These are not the words of one who has a demon. Can a demon open the eyes of the blind?" Importantly, John tells us here that there is a division among the leadership. Not all of them are united in seeking to persecute Jesus. We remember also the example of Nicodemus, who defended Jesus' legal rights, and who also was taught privately by Him. When John's Gospel uses the term "the Jews" it is to refer to the leadership at the temple, not the whole of the Jewish people. Almost all the people in the Gospel (with few notable exceptions), believers and non-believers alike, are Jews. Clearly however, as the recent readings have told us, this controversy and division about Jesus also extends among the people.

Now it was the Feast of Dedication in Jerusalem, and it was winter. And Jesus walked in the temple, in Solomon's porch. The previous events, over the past many readings (starting with this one) took place around the Feast of Tabernacles, an autumn festival. This is now approximately three months later. My study bible says, "The occasion of Christ's presence in Jerusalem is again a religious festival, the Feast of Dedication (Hannukah), the festival of lights. This Feast commemorates the rededication of the temple to the God of Israel after the Seleucid king, Antiochus Epiphanes, desecrated the temple in 167 B.C. The leaders of Israel's past are commemorated, many of whom were literal shepherds." Many of the events that take place at the temple are described by John as being in one part of the temple or another. Perhaps it is useful to understand the magnificence and splendor, as well as the huge size of the renovated temple. It was an architectural wonder at the time of Jesus, one of the tremendous building projects of Herod the Great.

Then the Jews surrounded Him and said to Him, "How long do You keep us in doubt? If You are the Christ, tell us plainly." Jesus answered them, "I told you, and you do not believe. The works that I do in My Father's name, they bear witness of Me. But you do not believe, because you are not of My sheep, as I said to you." The leadership demand to know what has already been told to them. Jesus begins to repeat His answers, from the previous reading. He is the shepherd of the sheep. Here, he gives witnesses for them. The works or signs of the Gospel bear witness to His relationship to the Father; they are done in the name of the Father, and bear witness (are "signs") to God the Father's presence, and hence the relationship of the Son.

"My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me. And I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; neither shall anyone snatch them out of my hand. My Father, who has given them to Me, is greater than all; and no one is able to snatch them out of My Father's hand. I and My Father are one." Those who are His sheep will be kept with Him, they abide in Him, finding pasture -- and He will keep them with Himself eternally. This is all in the power of the Father's hand, through the power of the Father, which nothing can undo. There is no greater power than the Father. Further, He and the Father are one.

Let us consider relationship again from this reading. The power comes, ultimately, from the Father, rests with the Father, in the hand of the Father -- and nothing can break this power. But it is not only the Father in this circle. So "giving" is this power, that Father and Son are one. And the relationship extends further. It extends to the sheep. The sheep, who abide in Christ, will be promised eternal life, because nothing and no one can snatch them from the hand of the Father, given to the Son in full and equal measure, and extended thereby to relationship with the sheep. When Peter makes his confession of faith, Jesus has said, “Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah, for flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but My Father who is in heaven. And I also say to you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build My church, and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it." Ultimately this circle of faith extends from the Father through the Son and to and through all of us, and back again. By the Father's hand, God's presence -- in Jesus' signs and even in us, nothing can break this circle of faith. That is, nothing but our own free will to embrace that faith within ourselves or not. Of that mystery of faith, I can say nothing, only that it is evident that we are given the power to choose. So, for today, the question becomes, how do you embrace that faith, that power of God that is working through this relationship? Are you aware of the tremendous presence that is with you and within you? This bond is unbreakable. Through all things, through the darkness of the world, the sheep hear the voice of the Shepherd. He and the Father are one. With this cross, there is always a way forward through the darkness, into the certainty of that sheepfold. What is the way for you today? The answers may surprise and lead where we don't expect, but it is the power and hand of God the Father working through all. Can you allow for this strength in your life?