On Line Bible Study - For the Week August 27-September 2, 2012

Lesson 551

John 12:44-50

Jesus has gone into hiding (John 12:36), so the text we are considering today seems out of place - he is 'crying out' but there is no one there to hear him - except his Father.  Father Raymond Brown suggests this passage, wherever it might have been originally in the gospel (if indeed it wasn't right where we find it now!) is an apt summary of the ministry of Jesus.

Whoever believes in me, cries Jesus, believes not in me but in Him who sent me...

Does this harken back to an earlier text in John 8:58 - Very truly I tell you, before Abraham was born, I am!  This "I am" statement puts Jesus on an equal footing with the One speaking to Moses (see Exodus 3:14).

In language typical for John, Jesus uses the image of light and darkness.  His authority is not his own, but the authority given him by God - and we don't have to like it or agree with it.  But "Light" is "Light", and whether the darkness likes it or not is irrelevant.

I use an iPhone, and one of the 'apps' most frequently used on my phone is the Flashlight app.  Darkness is all about me - in a corner when I am trying to find the electrical outlet; on an appliance where the words are written with the same color as the background; when I have to step outside at night for just a moment; when I am trying to find something that has slipped between the seats in the car.

At the conclusion of this chapter, the very next words we read are these:

It was just before the Passover Festival.  Jesus knew that the hour had come ... The juxtaposition of darkness and light is going to be intense and profound in what comes next.

Our consideration of the Gospel of John concludes with this study.  From here we are heading into the supper, agony, arrest, death and resurrection of Jesus.  We are going to take the four gospels together, acknowledging that John's rendition of the 'last supper' is much more extensive than Mark, Matthew and Luke (the Synoptics).  Our "scholar" providing commentary assistance for this phase of our study is going to continue to be Raymond Brown.  I'll be using his book: The Death of the Messiah.

May Light guide your path and give you hope ...

On Line Bible Study - For the Week August 20-26, 2012

Lesson 550

John 12:37-43

We find ourselves in a kind of 'epilogue' of the Gospel of John - closing verses prior to the lengthy section comprising the events of the Supper Jesus has with his disciples, followed by his Passion, Crucifixion and Resurrection.  It is almost as if John is wrapping things up before ascending the final peak - the highpoint of his witness regarding Jesus.

Christians in the First Century wondered why there was such resistance to Jesus' message.  You will notice in this section the acknowledgement of the presence of unbelief:

John 12:  ³⁷ Even after Jesus had performed so many signs in their presence, they still would not believe in him.

One of the explanations is offered by the prophet Isaiah, and John picks up on this:
John 12:   ³⁸ This was to fulfill the word of Isaiah the prophet: 
“Lord, who has believed our message  
and to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed?”

³⁹ For this reason they could not believe, because, as Isaiah says elsewhere:

⁴⁰ “He has blinded their eyes
    and hardened their hearts,
so they can neither see with their eyes,
    nor understand with their hearts,
    nor turn—and I would heal them.

The question of why people did not believe was not new for the early Christians.  St. Paul agonizes over the unbelief of his fellow Jews.  (See Romans, Chapters ix - xi.)  It's important for us to remember, says Raymond Brown, that when the people of Israel were told this - by the prophet Isaiah, but also in Deuteronomy 29:3-4 - it was not a question of salvation.  The issue was understanding.  Moses told the people that, even though they had seen the signs and wonders, God had not given them the mind to understand.

It's not a question of God forbidding one to believe, for John acknowledges: ⁴²Yet at at the same time many even among the leaders believed in him.

It may well be that God has not given me full understanding; that doesn't mean it is God's fault if I choose not (or refuse) to believe.

There will be one more lesson in John before we head into the intricately complicated and important material of the final days of Jesus' earthly life.

On Line Bible Study - For the Week August 13-19, 2012

Lesson 549
John 12:   ²⁰ Now there were some Greeks among those who went up to worship at the festival. ²¹ They came to Philip, who was from Bethsaida in Galilee, with a request. “Sir,” they said, “we would like to see Jesus.” ²² Philip went to tell Andrew; Andrew and Philip in turn told Jesus.

John's gospel is rich with meaning and nuance.  We are going to pick out two things from this section that includes John 12:20-36.

First, Gentiles have come looking for Jesus.  Commentators point to the possibility that coming to "see" Jesus can also be construed as expressing the desire to believe in Jesus.  Word has gotten out beyond the boundaries of the Jewish community, and the message of Christ and about Christ has spilled over into the Gentile world.

Recalling the passage from John 10:16 in which Jesus indicates there are "other sheep that are not of this pen" - perhaps we are to think of the "Greeks" (Gentiles) who come seeking Jesus as these "other sheep".  And with their openness to the message, Jesus responds by saying:

John 12: ²³ Jesus replied, “The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified.

Perhaps we could put it this way: The message has gone viral.

The next verses provide our second area of focus:

John 12:  ²⁴ Very truly I tell you, unless a kernel of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains only a single seed. But if it dies, it produces many seeds. ²⁵ Those who love their life will lose it, while those who hate their life in this world will keep it for eternal life. ²⁶ Whoever serves me must follow me; and where I am, my servant also will be. My Father will honor the one who serves me.

The evidence of a faithful life is that it is a fruitful life, not necessarily a long life.  It has both every day application as well as ultimate meaning.  It's not the physical dying that makes a life fruitful, but the life lived with Christ in the lead.

We are constantly faced with the very human desire to do things our own way.  Jesus invites us to think about things from the perspective of his presence.  It's not so much "What would Jesus do?" as it is this: Is Jesus present in this moment?  Isn't it telling that the very next thing Jesus says in the gospel has to do with his soul being "troubled", and wondering if he should pray that this hour be removed from him?  Jesus is able to recognize the very presence of his Father in this moment.  To run from it would be unfaithful and unfruitful.

Every day - sometimes every moment - we are called upon to 'die'.  We are put in positions where we can let go and become more intensely aware of the presence of Christ.  Jesus will go to the cross - and this passage of Scripture is clear that those who 'serve him' must also follow him.  Where I am, my servant will also be!

To re-cap: The message of Jesus and about Jesus is a message for the whole world.  Jesus is the seed planted in our soul - his way is the way that leads toward the fruitful life.  Let's be ever grateful for all those who invested in our lives and planted seeds of patience, forgiveness, love, grace ... and let's be on the lookout for how we can plant those same seeds in the lives of others.

On Line Bible Study - For the Week August 6-12

John 12:9-19

Raymond Brown categorizes this and the following section as "Scenes Preparatory to Passover and Death".

The passage under consideration for this study is the entrance of Jesus into Jerusalem.  We are going to highlight several concepts specific to John's telling of this story.  While it does appear in Mark, Matthew and Luke, John has a particular rendering that merits attention.

John 12: ⁹ Meanwhile a large crowd of Jews found out that Jesus was there and came, not only because of him but also to see Lazarus, whom he had raised from the dead. 

People are there not only because of Jesus, but because of Lazarus.  In John's Gospel Jesus has been to Jerusalem a number of times; the cause of excitement is less Jesus coming back to the city and more the fact that Lazarus is with him.  The chief priests were plotting to kill Lazarus as well as Jesus. 

Notice in John 12:12-14 that only after the crowd shouts "Hosanna" does Jesus look for the donkey.  The shouts of the crowd suggest they were looking for a secular king.  There is no reference in the quote from Zechariah of "humility" or "lowliness" -

John 12: ¹⁵ “Do not be afraid, Daughter Zion; see, your king is coming, seated on a donkey’s colt.”

(Compare this to Matthew 21: 5 "Tell the daughter of Zion, Behold, your king is coming to you, humble, and mounted on an ass, and on a colt, the foal of an ass.")

What kind of king are the people looking for?  The kind that can raise the dead?  The kind that will "turn back your enemy"?

Father Brown suggests that more in John than the other gospels, the people are looking for a new Jewish nationalism.  After Jesus hears their proclamation, only then does he look for the donkey - a way of attempting to call to mind the prophetic notion (in Zechariah 9:9) of God's saving presence.

"Hosanna" was a prayer for help.  During the Feast of Tabernacles it was often used as a prayer for rain.  Literally it means: "Save ... (please)".  Salvation will come, but notice what the gospel writer tells us:

John 12: ¹⁶ At first his disciples did not understand all this.  Only after Jesus was glorified did they realize that these things had been written about him and that these things had been done to him.

I think Christians are still trying to understand salvation as the Scriptures mean for us to understand it.