Emmanuel

John 11:1-45

Preparing for this sermon I was pondering about clichés about not being present, and I thought about how it is important to train a new driver to change a tire.  It may not be as important now with mobile phones, but we do it because we realize that we will not be present when it happens to someone, and we learn the skill because we realize we will not have the teacher present.  So while I was pondering this example, I received an email from my wife that said her phone was not working.  She had tried to turn it off and back on, because it was not working correctly, and it would not restart.  On the rare occasion, this would occur she would hand the phone to me to deal with, but of course this time I was in the office.  I emailed back that she should take the battery out for a minute and it should work.  Forty-five seconds letter I received an email with just the word “how.”   I wanted to be there, or at least phone her, because trying to explain how to take the back cover off in written words escaped me.  I was just about to respond, it is the back cover and I will be home shortly, when the message “never mind I figured it out” arrived in my inbox.  Sometimes it is simply important to be there.

Paul wrote much of our New Testament, and all of it is in the form of epistles.  We have no record of his sermons or even straight theological writing, rather all of the writings we have are because Paul could not be there (wherever there was).  His letter to Philemon, Paul needed to convince Philemon to take back his slave, Onesimus, as a brother in Christ and not simply as a slave.  Paul had to make sure the churches he started did not get swayed by the Judaizers who came trying to have the churches follow the Torah as well as Jesus.  Paul simply could not be everywhere, Paul was limited by being a human like us.  It is interesting that all of our written records of his work are these letters he wrote because of that limitation.

In this story of Lazarus’ death, Jesus is not present.  It is also clear in this story that Jesus is both fully human and fully divine.  His humanity is present by his physicality, in that He was not able to be there for His friend.  Jesus was delayed and needed time to travel when he was able, and there was the concern by His friends about those that wanted Him dead.  Yet Jesus knew He would “awaken” Lazarus, which only the Divine could know.  Jesus demonstrated great emotion as well.  Even knowing that Lazarus would walk again on earth, Jesus was moved by his feelings to cry.  This to me demonstrates His humanity, and reminds me of how He was angry in the temple and His passionate prayer to His Father in the garden prior to the cross.  And in this scripture Jesus tells us He is the resurrection and calls Lazarus out of the grave, fully divine. 

Martha went out to met  Jesus knowing he was coming to town and she greets him with this statement, “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died.”  Jesus responds that Lazarus will rise again, and Martha responds with a very good Jewish answer, and answer you would expect from a Pharisee, “I know that he will rise again in the resurrection on the last day.”  The resurrection was believed by Jews, but it was something that would happen far off, on the last day.  Jesus turns that idea around, that it is something far off and distant, by stating, and her response in John 11: 25-27:

Jesus said to her, ‘I am the resurrection and the life. Those who believe in me, even though they die, will live, and everyone who lives and believes in me will never die. Do you believe this?’ She said to him, ‘Yes, Lord, I believe that you are the Messiah, the Son of God, the one coming into the world.’

Clearly, the resurrection is started on earth and does not wait for the end of all time.  Jesus has changed this idea of time.

Yet they still see Jesus as being only physically present.  That His healings and miracles needed His presence.  This is clear by Mary’s similar statement to Jesus, when she arrives and kneels at His feet, “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died.”  I do believe Jesus weeps because of the emotions of His own, and those around Him for the death of Lazarus, I cannot help and wonder if He is also sad that these friends do not understand.  They believe Jesus has to be present for God’s Glory to be present, and that does seem to be true until the Holy Spirit is sent to gather us as the church, the Body of Christ.

During the Christmas season we often hear of Mathew’s translation of Isaiah 7:14, in Mathew 1:23:

Look, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son,
   and they shall name him Emmanuel,
which means, God is with us.

Emmanuel is the Hebrew words that mean God with us, and during Christmas we are always pointing out the importance of God’s incarnation as Jesus the baby.  This does not change, Jesus is the incarnation of God.  God with our physical limitations, such as not being able to be everywhere at all times.  God with emotions.  God incarnate.  John’s account of of Lazarus's resurrection reminds us that Jesus is both divine and human.

Paul talks about being untimely born because he was not able to meet the incarnate Jesus, but only the resurrected Christ.   I must admit that at first I feel the same way, for if I did have a time machine, I would want to go to Bethlehem when Jesus was born, hear His preaching, witness the miracles and healing, break bread with Him, mourn His tragic and violent death, be in the upper room when he comes to show himself to Thomas.  Then I do remember that I am part of the post Pentecost Church.  I am part of the Body of Christ, the Resurrection and the Life.  That we are doing the work of the Father who sent Jesus and gave us the Holy Spirit so that everyone will know God is with us.

Light of the World

John 9

July 7, 1974 a woman pregnant with her second child had a vivid dream she would not be able to find her husband when she gave birth and that the child would be born with a heart problem, which there was no reason for her to believe.  On July 8th she did go into labor and as you might have guessed, by the fact that I shared this story, her husband was not found.  Thus when she was told by the doctors that her newborn girl would need heart surgery, her comfort came from that dream, that vision.  God was with her during such a hard time.

In this chapter, Jesus, is asked about the man born blind, if it was the man’s parents or his sin that caused him to be born blind.  Jesus clearly answers them “Neither.” Which is also confirmed by his statement in Luke 13:2-3:

He asked them, ‘Do you think that because these Galileans suffered in this way they were worse sinners than all other Galileans? No, I tell you; but unless you repent, you will all perish as they did.

Jesus is clear that an ailment or suffering is necessarily connected to sin of a individual or their family.  I could not imagine my God would punish children because of their parents or grandparents, nor can I believe newborn know sin.  Yet within the Old Testament there are many times that the writers did attribute a military loss or the exile as a punishment from God.  Thus they seemed to believe that sins could cause punishment for others. 

Many of the prophets do talk about punishment for the entire chosen people for living in sin, however they do begin to understand that it is not about passing sin, but an individual.  A great example of this is when Ezekiel is warning that a punishment is coming and he says (14:14) “even if Noah, Daniel, and Job, these three, were in it, they would save only their own lives by their righteousness, says the Lord God.”  Showing that only an individual can save themselves, and Jeremiah goes on in chapter 31 to talk of a new covenant that will be on our individual hearts. 

The Pharisees don’t interpret sin as Ezekiel and Jeremiah are trying to demonstrate.  Their interpretation is rule oriented.  They call Jesus a sinner, because He healed on the Sabbath, not because of the miracle or even his identity claims.  They are concerned only about the rules for to them it is about the societal order not the relationship with God.  When Moses brought the covenant down to the people it was in response to their liberation that the people would follow the covenant with God.  Once powers and principalities got involved it became follow the rules to prove your in relationship with God.

One could follow exacting directions to get through a pitch black room or field, but it is much easier with light.  Jesus defines sin as not having a relationship with the one “who sent me.”  And that while it is day Jesus is the light of the world.  Jesus made it clear that ailments and suffering are not directly because of sin, but rather allow God’s work and glory may be known in the healing and comfort God provides.  For my mom in 1974 with that vision that comforted her and the miracle of the surgeons working on my sister with Jesus’ guidance and the miracle of the man being able to see because of Jesus opening his eyes, are signs of Jesus as the light.  If you are in relationship with Jesus you will be able to see the righteous path (no creed or rules as the only compass) but using only the rules of the power and principalities as your light one may say “we see,” and Jesus says “your sin remains” (v. 41). 

We need Jesus as our Vision, our Dream!

April Newsletter

April 2011

Jesus celebrated the His last Passover with His disciples in an Upper Room. Passover is the celebration of the Exodus from Egypt; freedom from slavery. The scriptures would require them to get rid of all leavening, in order to recall how the Hebrews in Egypt had to leave so quickly, and feel in solidarity with those who escaped Pharaoh’s rule. The ritual to this day does not simply recall the events of Moses and the Hebrews when God saved them from slavery, rather the Passover ritual is worded as if the participants are there. The reality is that Jesus and the other Jews present at The Last Supper where remembering God’s salvation of their ancestors from Pharaoh’s slavery, as if they were the ones that walked through the parted Red Sea.

In the 22nd chapter of Luke’s Gospel, Jesus says, “I have eagerly desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer; for I tell you, I will not eat it until it is fulfilled in the kingdom of God.” (vv 15-16) As they celebrated God’s deliverance from slavery to freedom, they did not simply remember the historical miracle, they reenacted the miracle; they tried to experience it through the ritual. “Then he took a loaf of bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it and gave it to them, saying, ‘This is my body, which is given for you. Do this in remembrance of me.’ And he did the same with the cup after supper, saying, ‘This cup that is poured out for you is the new covenant in my blood.’” (vv 19-20)

The word that is used in this scripture for “Remember” is the Greek word anamnesis which means more than to simple recall, like what was written on a grocery list; it includes the idea of re-presentation and thus the real here and now. Such it is when we smell our favorite comfort food; we do not simply remember when it was prepared but are brought back to all the feelings and reality, for at least an instance. This is what is meant when we break bread in remembrance of Jesus’ body, we recall what he did on the cross and what Jesus’ presence has done in our individual lives. Barnett Blakemore states it well in The Revival of the Churches (1963) “The role of remembrance is not that it brings the Lord into our presence, but that remembrance opens our eyes to him into whose presence we have already been brought by faith.”

We remember not simply historically that Jesus died on the cross; we remember Jesus is saving us via that cross. Every Sunday we center our worship upon this important remembrance, additionally I invite you to participate in a Special Holy Thursday Service at 7 pm on April 21 to remember Jesus’ Last Supper.

In Christ’s Service,

Pastor JC