John 19-21
John 19 —> Click Here
Okay, lots of stuff here.
Jesus is killed even though there is no legitimate reason to kill him; Pilate couldn’t discern one either. He says again and again that he can find nothing wrong with this man. Pilate is gutless. He knows that Jesus does not deserve what is being asked by the Jewish leaders, but it is not politically convenient for him. When they talk that stuff about becoming an enemy of Caesar if he releases Jesus, Pilate’s mind is made up - he simply is not willing to pay the price for doing what he thinks is right.
This begs a question: Am I willing to do what is right when doing so is costly personally or otherwise? Yikes - that is a question for another time.
When the soldiers mock him, they are actually making fun of him for being exactly what they say He is. The irony is thick. Kings wear purple, and they have crowns - exactly as it should be. Pilate piled on when he put that sign over his head and would not change it. The sign was a statement of fact.
Jesus’ death, while horrific, went exactly to plan. “It is finished.” Not a statement of defeat, but a statement of total victory. A statement of mission accomplished (almost). The whole gospel was a buildup to this conclusion. Jesus’ death was not some tragic accident; John meant for his readers to get that crucifixion is part of the salvation story. A bunch of hapless idiots thought they were doing something to Jesus, but Jesus was the one accomplishing His mission through what happened to Him.
John 20 —> Click Here
The reason this entire chapter was written can be demonstrated here by what John wrote:
30Jesus performed many other signs in the presence of his disciples that are not written in this book. 31But these are written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name.
Mary - the first person to see Jesus, even though she thinks he is the gardener. Jesus is cool as all get out. He does not offer some lengthy talk about theology, and there is no “see? Told ya.” He simply says her name.
Thomas. We all want to make fun of him, and he has become a moniker for someone with little faith. Truth is, we are all hypocrites for making fun of him because we all question whether or not Jesus is alive and well by the manner in which we carry on our lives. He gets a pass from me. Jesus does not rip him, either. Tells us those who do not have to see in order to believe are blessed. That is pointed at all of us. We were not there; we didn’t physically see Jesus, but there is plenty of testimony throughout the bible to believe He is risen.
Jesus once again shows how we are to act.
Jesus did not show up in the house and holler, “Thanks, guys! I told you what was going to happen and you all bailed on me. Where is Peter??” He leads with, “Peace be with you.” Offers peace instead of condemnation. (In the disciples’ favor - they did see their teacher and friend brutally, barbarically executed in public. They knew people were looking for them, and if they did that to Him, what would they do to all of them?). Jesus shows them the wounds - shows that He was indeed crucified, He died, and is now alive and standing with them in that room.
The whole thing really flips over. It was sadness and fear, hiding out and not knowing what was going to happen next. Then Jesus arrives, and it all becomes happiness and hope. The disciples got their mojo back and were now looking at life with purpose and passion. Pretty big change over the course of 3 days.
John 21 —> Click Here
So the disciples are still all messed up. They don’t know what to do, so they go back to what they were doing before they met Jesus - they went fishing. In a total echo of the past, they caught no fish, and Jesus told them where to put the nets; they caught a mess of fish, so many that the nets should have broken. Around this time, Peter figured out what was going on and knew it was Jesus. As far as the disciples - here is what you used to do, who you were; this is what I called you away from. Now you have a new purpose; we’re not going back to the old stuff.
I am usually pretty bad at picking things up when reading the bible, but this one was pretty easy, even for me. Jesus asks Peter three times, “Do you love me?” I think this was to counter the fact that Peter denied Him three times, just as Jesus said he would. Not a coincidence. It was a chance for Peter to, in public, affirm what he previously denied. Jesus also did not put Peter on blast - there was no “explain yourself.” There was no looking backwards - Jesus just gave him responsibility.
“Feed my lambs”
“Take care of my sheep”
“Feed my sheep”
What can be more restorative to a relationship than moving forward without recrimination and giving someone a job?
Also - and this one is big for me. Peter messed up big time, spectacularly. He failed when it mattered most. Jesus did not simply forgive Peter and send him on his way. He gave him a huge job, a huge responsibility. Failure does not mean usefulness is over. Failure does not disqualify you from future usefulness.
As a person who has screwed up time and again, it gives me peace to know that I still might have some utility for God.
Peter is Peter. What Jesus tells him would be concerning for me: that there were going to be some difficult times ahead for Peter. He starts asking Jesus about what is going to happen to someone else. Jesus basically says, don’t worry about anyone else; it’s not your concern. Follow me.
This is impactful because I often look at other people and what they are doing, and I need to mind my own business. Follow Jesus on my path and not be concerned about what other people are doing. Taking care of myself is usually beyond my ability, so worrying about someone else is not a good idea.
John ends with uncertainty for me. It does not promise unicorns and rainbows. Difficult futures. Comparisons. Trying to deal with our past and continue to move forward, that it will all be okay. But isn’t that the god
Reflections on Christian Leadership
Do you know Cooper Morgan? If you do not, you should. He is hands down one of the best students I have ever had. He comes from a long lineage of simply good people. I can say this because I have met pretty much all of them. Label me unsure if it is genetic predisposition towards goodness, or if it is simply his destiny based on localized phenomena, but the young man bears keeping your eye on as he is going to hear “Good and faithful servant” in his most important moment.
I digress.
Cooper gave me the book In the Name of Jesus: Reflections on Christian Leadership by Henri J.M. Nouwen and this post is where I am going to put my thoughts, questions, and comments. Please feel free to comment in the box at the bottom of this page.
Here we go.
Stream of Consciousness:
Relevant self. This is an interesting and confusing term/concept. Tough to get my head wrapped around what he exactly means or is trying to convey with this word.
He (from now on this refers to Nouwen) speaks of being very busy but not accomplishing much. I can understand this as a teacher. I often walk out of the building emotionally drained - but I wonder what it was or who I impacted that day.
Jesus asking Peter, “Do you love me?”
First love is pure as it comes from Jesus. “As He first loved us”. Second loves are the ones that cause problems as they as susceptible to all of the human frailties possess.
“The radical good news is that the second love is only a broken reflection of the first love and that the first love is offered to us by a God in whom there are no shadows.” (Nouwen 40)
This desire to be relevant issue. Is this bascially saying that we are insignificant as humans and that we need to always be looking to God for all things? That is what I am getting out of this by page 42.
Mystics? A curious term. I always associated that word with someone who knew if Mercury is in retrograde and carried around crystals, not someone’s identity that is deeply rooted in God’s first love. (Nouwen 42)
“Contemplative prayer deepens us in the knowledge that we are already free, that we have found a place to dwell, that we already belong to God, even though everything and everyone around us keeps suggesting the opposite.” (Nouwen 43)
“For Christian leadership to be truly fruitful in the future, a movement from the moral to the mystical is required.” (Nouwen 47)
Okay, starting to under the relevancy thing. When we think it is all us, we are trying to 'be relevant’ and this is silly. We are nothing without God’s first love, so stop trying to be all the things.
2 by 2 - not 1
Leaders are every bit as broken, sinful, vulnearble, and mean-spirited as anyone else. Because someone is in a leadership position, it does not mean that they don’t need shepherding as much as the next person.
“The mystery of ministry is that we have been chosen to make our own limited and very conditional love the gateway for the unlimited and unconditional love of God.” (Nouwen 62)
“…it is clear that a whole new type of leadership is asked for in the church of tomorrow, a leadership that is not modeled on the power games of the world, but on the servant-leader Jesus, who came to give his life for the salvation of many.” (Nouwen 63)
I think it is strange that Nouwen talks about ‘avoiding heroic behavior’. Maybe strange is the wrong word. Or maybe it is the perfect phrase, as all we ever talk to students about is becoming leader and making their mark and legacy, etc. The World v. Irrelevancy.
‘Living the Truth of the Incarnate’ = bringing your faith into tangible, physical, and relational everyday actions
“Confession and forgiveness are the concrete forms in which sinful people love one another.” (Nouwen 64-65)
Being a leader is a dichotomy - we are supposed to be able to rebuke and correct and love people, but feel like we are on an island when it comes to our own sinful existence. We cannot let anyone know or in otherwise we cannot feel like we are qualified to lead. Man this is tough. It goes against everything the world has taught us.
“…leadership was still a desire to control complex situations, confused emotions, and anxious minds.” (Nouwen 74)
“…power offers an easy substitute for the hard task of love. It seems easier to be God than to love God, easier to control people than to love people, easier to own life than to love life.” (Nouwen 77)
“The loud boisterous noises of the world make us deaf to the soft, gentle, and loving voice of God.” (Nouwen 87-88)
Whattttt? '“…where people are trained in the discernment of the signs of the time.” (Nouwen 90)
My conclusions:
He is talking about changing everything. The way we look at leadership, interpersonal relationships, being vulnerable - All. Of. It.
I agree with all of it. There are parts that I do not understand, but it stirs an interest in taking a new look at the way I think about speaking about Christ and living with other Christians. It would be a fundamental shift in a lot of ways. Becoming irrelevant is a tough ask in today’s world of clicks and likes, but if one wants to be a servant leader, this is the way.
Jason and football
This is a tough one to write in some ways. Jason is such a great human, I love him so very dearly, but he is also really nuanced and complex. It is weird to say that that came out in his decision to play football this fall, but it did. His motivations come from places deep inside and are as interesting as they are oftentimes contradictory. Lets start with his why.
His why was where I was perhaps troubled. He told me he wanted to play because his friends were getting after him about the fact that he played flag football instead of tackle. Initially not a great reason to spend a great deal of time practicing and not a huge pay off insofar as playing time, but when I considered the way his mind works it made perfect sense. He gets to hang out with his friends and be a part of something bigger than himself as well as get rid of the annoying flag football references. As far as I can tell, that was his calculus for making this decision. Good enough for him, good enough for me.
This is not to say that I would not have liked the opportunity to watch him play more - I definitely would have as it was great to see. This is his journey and as long as he is happy with the way it is progressing, I am happy with it. He is constantly searching, searching to find his place in this world and I love that he has the guts to keep moving forward and trying new things.
Jason is number 42. You can find him on the line.
Christopher Nolan, Inception, and what he thinks of you.
I recently bought a teleprompter. It is not very big, but it allows me to make some really cool videos. To date, I have only been using it for academic reasons, but stay tuned - it allows me to get a lot of my thoughts out in an organized fashion.
This video was to provide a basis for how to think about things when watching what can be a very confusing film. (Inception)
John 3:1-36
Jesus has stopped being remotely subtle and has begun laying it all out in ways we can truly understand.
Jesus and Nicodemus
3 There was a man from the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews. 2 This man came to him at night and said, “Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher who has come from God, for no one could perform these signs you do unless God were with him.”
3 Jesus replied, “Truly I tell you, unless someone is born again,[a] he cannot see the kingdom of God.”
4 “How can anyone be born when he is old?” Nicodemus asked him. “Can he enter his mother’s womb a second time and be born?”
5 Jesus answered, “Truly I tell you, unless someone is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. 6 Whatever is born of the flesh is flesh, and whatever is born of the Spirit is spirit. 7 Do not be amazed that I told you that you must be born again. 8 The wind blows where it pleases, and you hear its sound, but you don’t know where it comes from or where it is going. So it is with everyone born of the Spirit.”
9 “How can these things be?” asked Nicodemus.
10 “Are you a teacher[b] of Israel and don’t know these things?” Jesus replied. 11 “Truly I tell you, we speak what we know and we testify to what we have seen, but you do not accept our testimony. 12 If I have told you about earthly things and you don’t believe, how will you believe if I tell you about heavenly things? 13 No one has ascended into heaven except the one who descended from heaven —the Son of Man.[c]
14 “Just as Moses lifted up the snake in the wilderness, so the Son of Man must be lifted up, 15 so that everyone who believes in him may[d] have eternal life. 16 For God loved the world in this way:[e] He gave[f] his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life. 17 For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. 18 Anyone who believes in him is not condemned, but anyone who does not believe is already condemned, because he has not believed in the name of the one and only Son of God. 19 This is the judgment: The light has come into the world, and people loved darkness rather than the light because their deeds were evil. 20 For everyone who does evil hates the light and avoids it,[g] so that his deeds may not be exposed. 21 But anyone who lives by[h] the truth comes to the light, so that his works may be shown to be accomplished by God.”
Jesus and John the Baptist
22 After this, Jesus and his disciples went to the Judean countryside, where he spent time with them and baptized.
23 John also was baptizing in Aenon near Salim, because there was plenty of water there. People were coming and being baptized, 24 since John had not yet been thrown into prison.
25 Then a dispute arose between John’s disciples and a Jew[i] about purification. 26 So they came to John and told him, “Rabbi, the one you testified about, and who was with you across the Jordan, is baptizing—and everyone is going to him.”
27 John responded, “No one can receive anything unless it has been given to him from heaven. 28 You yourselves can testify that I said, ‘I am not the Messiah, but I’ve been sent ahead of him.’ 29 He who has the bride is the groom. But the groom’s friend, who stands by and listens for him, rejoices greatly[j] at the groom’s voice. So this joy of mine is complete. 30 He must increase, but I must decrease.”
The One from Heaven
31 The one who comes from above is above all. The one who is from the earth is earthly and speaks in earthly terms.[k] The one who comes from heaven is above all. 32 He testifies to what he has seen and heard, and yet no one accepts his testimony. 33 The one who has accepted his testimony has affirmed that God is true. 34 For the one whom God sent speaks God’s words, since he[l] gives the Spirit without measure. 35 The Father loves the Son and has given all things into his hands. 36 The one who believes in the Son has eternal life, but the one who rejects the Son[m] will not see life; instead, the wrath of God remains on him.
Gist
John 3 is the clearest early explanation of what Jesus is about:
You can’t “be good” to get into heaven; you have to be reborn.
Jesus isn’t just a teacher - He is the only way.
All the stuff we/them value, brains or money, is not important - this is all about belief against rejection.
Jesus just took Nicodemus’ midnight to-do and turned it into a full lecture on life, death, and everything in between.