May 12 – Thoughts on 2 Kings 15-16 & John 3:1-18

As John continues his teachings that Jesus is greater than the symbols of the Jewish culture (yesterday it was Ritual Cleansing and the Temple), today he takes on the Pharisees.  But when John takes on the Pharisees, he doesn’t do it the way we usually see it, with Jesus attacking them as His enemies.  Instead, we find a Pharisee coming to Jesus for help.  Rather than trying to trap Jesus in His own words, Nicodemus tries to understand what Jesus is teaching.

Granted he came at night, probably out of fear his counterparts, but he comes with a legitimate desire to learn.  And in the midst of this exchange between Jesus and a Pharisee, we get one of the ultimate explanations of the Christian faith, “for God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believes in Him will not perish but have eternal life.”  This statement of faith has defined the Christian faith for centuries.

But equally important is the next phrase, one that is much less well known, “For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through Him.”  As “born again” Christians, another catchy phrase that comes from this exchange, we proclaim these truths of God’s love to everyone in every way.

And so John shows Jesus as wiser, smarter, and more able to teach than the very Pharisees who proclaim themselves the best at all three.

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May 11 – Thoughts on 2 Kings 13-14 & John 2

The book of John is laid out theologically instead of chronologically, and this is desperately important as we read it.  Again and again I’ve heard people dispute the truth of the bible by arguing that John is in a different order than the other three gospels, an argument that doesn’t realize John’s purpose in writing.  He states it quite plainly at the end of the book (John 20:31): “But these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name.”

According to Dr. Gary Burge, the layout of this gospel story is done in such a way as to show Jesus superseding everything the Jews hold as powerful, righteous, or important.  And so John begins with ceremonial cleanness.  The large jars holding the water during the Canaanite Wedding of today’s reading were reserved for the ceremonial cleansing that was required regularly of every practicing Jew.  But instead of honoring the need for ritual cleanness, Jesus turns that water from dutiful obedience to the law into a means of celebrating relationship.

The temple itself was Jesus’ next target.  The idea that God was present in Jesus Himself instead of in the temple is widespread through all the gospels, but in John it is made most clear here.  As Jesus comes to the temple, He does so to reform it and show His authority over it.  He drives out those selling the sacrifices from the Court of the Gentiles, for the buying and selling, the bleating of animals, and the general ruckus is disrupting the Gentiles from their worship in the only place they are allowed to worship by Jewish law.  He then makes His usurpation of the temple obvious.  “Destroy this temple and I will raise it again in three days,” is a foretelling of His resurrection of course, but also acts as His final replacement of the temple when it comes to God dwelling with us.

So, with the first two symbols that Jesus is superseding, ritual cleanness and the temple itself, John begins his explanation of just how important Jesus is to our life, our worship, and our eternity.

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May 10 – Thoughts on 2 Kings 10-12 & John 1:29-51

Sometimes the God about whom we read in the Old Testament seems like a completely different God than He whom we worship today.  It is readings like today’s that make us believe the great heresy that the Old Testament God is a god of wrath and vengeance while the New Testament God is a god of grace and love.  The truth is that God doesn’t change and has never changed – He is the same yesterday, today, and tomorrow.

But as we read about so much death and killing, children and women, soldiers and servants, it is hard to believe that God sanctioned these actions.  Yet Jehu, who carried out the murder of the entire family of King Ahab, is praised by God for his righteousness and faithfulness.

What does the bible mean to you?  How does your interpretation go – from the bible to you, or from your own experience and belief into the text?  The first is called “exegesis”, where we seek answers in the bible.  The second is called “eisegesis”, where we read our own opinions, experiences, and beliefs back into the bible.  The first begins with God and His Word and then travels out to and through us.  The second begins with us and then travels back into the text.

Far too many people today are experts at eisegesis, able to find a verse to back up any belief they may have come to.  Want to get drunk?  Find verses that suggest a glass of wine before bed.  The NRA, the ACLU, and even Westboro Baptist people have verses to back up their desired message.  But if you read the scriptures as a whole, you find a God with His own agenda, beliefs, behaviors, and theology.  And He’s a God who expects us to follow His path, not the other way around.

As you read hard texts like this one, it is right to struggle with it, even to question it.  But ultimately we have to remember that God is not subject to our opinions or desires.  He acts as He acts, differently in each generation and across cultures.  And we dare not call Him false, or liar, or mean because He doesn’t follow our game plan.  He never said He would.

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May 9 – Thoughts on 2 Kings 7-9 & John 1:1-28

It is pretty overwhelming how many times God fights for His people.  From Jericho to Gideon, from Hezekiah to Elisha, Israel continues to come up against their enemies only to find them already defeated by God.  Today, we get yet another example of this Godly provision.

I love that it is 4 lepers, the outcasts of society, those kicked out of the city and forced to live outside of its protection, that find the enemy gone.  In fact, they find the enemy camp intact but deserted and so help themselves to food, a commodity they live without when outside the walls.  And then they find their consciences pricked and go tell the city.  But like the women coming from the tomb of Jesus, they are not believed and so the community sends out others to see.  Sure enough, the enemy has been frightened away by God and the siege is over.

How often do we ignore or at least mistrust news, however good, that comes from sources we consider unworthy?  How often do we lose opportunities to see God at work because we cannot accept His messenger?  Perhaps we could learn to trust a little bit more and in the process find a blessing we did not expect.

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May 8 – Thoughts on 2 Kings 4-6 & Luke 24:36-53

Today we read the story of the woman with the flowing jar of oil.  It’s a beautiful story and one worthy of our attention.  The basic story is this: a widow has two sons and no money to pay her debts.  The debt collector is on his way to take her two sons as slaves in payment of her debts, and all she has to give in their place is a jar with a little oil.  She asks Elisha for help, and he tells her to get as many jars as possible and pour her little bit of oil in each.  As she pours, the oil miraculously multiplies and she fills every jar.  As soon as she runs out of jars, the miracle ends.  She sells the oil, pays her debts and has enough to live on.

A Salvation Metaphor:  Our sinfulness is a debt we cannot repay, and so the master of our sin, death, comes for us.  And whatever we may have, our own righteousness or weekly attendance at church or money or power or reputation, like the oil none of it is enough to pay our debt.  But then God intervenes.  Through the miracle of Jesus death and resurrection, God pays our debt and gives so much that we can live forever on the bounty of His grace.

A Service Metaphor:  When we turn to God for the power to bring His Kingdom here on earth through our teaching, our preaching, and our service to others, He provides all we need.  But unfortunately, we usually ask way too little.  We want the time to spend a few hours at a food bank or in worship or feeding the hungry.  We ask for talent to help lead our church or family in worship.  We ask for a $100 bonus so we can help support a mission at our church.  But God wants us to do more.  Like the jars the widow collected, we don’t prepare for all the blessing that God might give us.  So when our small plans, our small requests are fulfilled, the miracle stops.  But it doesn’t have to.  It could keep going if we only had room in our plans, in our imagination, in our faith, for it to continue.  When you ask God for help, ask big.  He can fulfill our wildest dreams if they are dreams given by Him and utilized for His Kingdom

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