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So Jesus said to them, “Unless you do eat the body of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you are not really living at all. The man who eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life and I will raise him up when the last day comes. For my body is real food and my blood is real drink. The man who eats my body and drinks my blood shares my life and I share his. Just as the living Father sent me and I am alive because of the Father, so the man who lives on me will live because of me. This is the bread which came down from Heaven! It is not like the manna which your forefathers used to eat, and died. The man who eats this bread will live forever.” (John 6:53-58, Phillips) * * * "To them that long for the presence of the living God, the thought of Him is sweetest itself: but there is no satiety, rather an ever-increasing appetite..." Bernard of Clairvaux
On Loving God 12th Century A.D.
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194 He is buried in the tomb of Joseph of Arimathea John 19:38-42 AFTER IT WAS ALL OVER, Joseph (who came from Arimathaea and was a disciple of Jesus, though secretly for fear of the Jews) requested Pilate that he might take away Jesus’ body, and Pilate gave him permission. So he came and took his body down. Nicodemus also, the man who had come to him at the beginning by night, arrived bringing a mixture of myrrh and aloes, weighing about a hundred pounds. So they took his body and wound it round with linen strips with the spices, according to the Jewish custom of preparing a body for burial. In the place where he was crucified, there was a garden containing a new tomb in which nobody had yet been laid. Because it was the preparation day and because the tomb was conveniently near, they laid Jesus in this tomb. In the moment… THE CEILING OF THE TOMB is much lower than the height of a man. The two men are stooping low as they carry in the body. The evening light is shining in slantwise from behind them. The smell of the tomb is dank, earthy. The resting-slab is before them in the furthest reach of the cave. They carefully lay the body along its length.
Joseph walks outside and returns with a lit lamp. Its golden light warms the rear where the body lies. He and Nicodemus squat on their heels and bring their faces close to the face of the teacher. Nicodemus, on an impulse, reaches forward and unwraps his face. In its lifelessness, it is powerful; at peace; it bears the kingly stamp they both have known, both from near and far. Joseph is thinking of everything he’s ever heard and seen of this teacher; he lowers his eyes and begins to weep like a little child. Nicodemus’ eyes hold the face of the teacher. He is remembering their first encounter, by starlight. “I tell you the truth,” the teacher had said to him, “a man will never see the Kingdom of God except he finds himself born a second time.” Carefully, Nicodemus rewraps the face. Stoop-shouldered, the two men leave the tomb to go looking for other men. It will take at least a dozen to roll the rock. “The more we get what we now call ‘ourselves’ out of the way and let Him take us over, the more truly ourselves we become. There is so much of Him that millions and millions of ‘little Christs,’ all different, will still be too few to express Him fully. He made them all. He invented—as an author invents characters in a novel—all the different men that you and I were intended to be. In that sense our real selves are all waiting for us in Him. “It is no good trying to ‘be myself’ without Him. The more I resist Him and try to live on my own, the more I become dominated by my own heredity and upbringing and surroundings and natural desires. In fact what I so proudly call ‘Myself’ becomes merely the meeting place for trains of events which I never started and which I cannot stop. What I call ‘My wishes’ become merely the desires thrown up by my physical organism or pumped into me by other men’s thoughts or even suggested to me by devils... “Until you have given up your self to Him you will not have a real self. Sameness is to be found most among the most ‘natural' men, not among those who surrender to Christ. How monotonously alike all the great tyrants and conquerors have been: how gloriously different are the saints.” C.S. Lewis
Mere Christianity To be blessed, ie. to inherit the Kingdom of Heaven, is to realize one's abjectness before God.
To be blessed, ie. to receive the individualized attentions of God, is to weep for realizing the prior disconnect. To be blessed, ie. to stand on one's two feet, is to learn to offer up empty hands. To be blessed, ie. to be filled to the brim by God, is to hearken unto a holy sort of hunger and thirst. To be blessed, ie. to receive the mercy of God, is to strive to offer mercy toward one's fellowmen. To be blessed, ie. to see God, is to see the way God purifies one's heart. To be blessed, ie. to dwell in the Family of God, is to always seek the peace of God. To be blessed, ie. to inherit the Kingdom of Heaven, is to expect no less than was afforded to its King. “Believe me, no one greater than John the Baptist has ever been born of all mankind, and yet a humble member of the kingdom of Heaven is greater than he. From the days of John the Baptist until now the kingdom of Heaven has been taken by storm and eager men are forcing their way into it." (Matt. 11:11-13) * * * * "Do not delay in coming to grace, but hasten, lest the robber outstrip you, lest the adulterer pass you by, lest the insatiate be satisfied before you, lest the murderer seize the blessing first, or the publican or the fornicator, or any of these violent ones who take the Kingdom of heaven by force. For it suffers violence willingly, and is tyrannized over through goodness." Gregory of Nazianzus
4th Century "Each new trial offers scope for the growth of faith; so that which is potential becomes real. Faith can neither be stationary nor complete: faith always becomes. 'He who is a Christian is no Christian' (Luther). That is to say, every Christian is always becoming a Christian, believing again and again." Dale Bruner
The Gospel of John: A Commentary Jesus spoke to them, saying, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.” (John 8:12) * * * “You are the light of the world. A town built on a hill cannot be hidden. Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven.” (Matthew 5:14-16) * * * “To shine, we must keep in his light, sunning our souls in it by thinking of what he said and did, and would have us think and do. So shall we drink the light like some diamonds, keep it, and shine in the dark. Doing his will, men will see in us that we count the world his, hold that his will and not ours must be done in it. Our very faces will then shine with the hope of seeing him, and being taken home where he is.” George MacDonald
The Hope of the Gospel Imagine that there’s a Kingdom of the heart—a Kingdom of Heaven, in fact—and that its King is an everlasting King. Meaning, this King existed before existence and time and history; this King will endure far beyond the point of history, time and (what we think of as) existence. The Voice of this King is powerful to the degree that what He thinks of—and speaks—takes on the exact form of the idea He envisions. His power is so completely all-encompassing that it reaches not just to the lives of His subjects, but directly into the heart, the soul, the spirit of each.
And this King is good—wonderfully so. So wonderfully good that He invaded our human reality. Not, as many a mighty conqueror would, with intrigues, violence, siege works, advancing armies; no! He invaded, silently, as Himself—and on His own. He grew up within the class we might call “peasant,” and learned the ups and downs of His citizens—from right within their midst. His love for His people only grew and grew, thus. He literally fell in love with the subjects-to-be of His Heavenly Kingdom. For He had made Himself one with them. Then, at a certain age, He began to reveal Himself: to let a few know that He, the King, had actually been here all along. He began, as it were, to show His hand. In this way, more and more were gathered to Him. The crowds began to arrive from all over the earthly kingdoms surrounding His place of ministry: He greeted them all with love; with His attention. They followed Him up and down the coastline of an inland sea—waiting upon His next word, His next healing, His next miracle, His next look. One day, He turned to the west and began ascending a trail, away from the sea, up into the foothills, winding His way through a grassy, wildflowery meadow. Toward the top, He sat down upon a large rock. The crowds pressed ever nearer—and then they sat down to listen. He Himself was now looking out over their numbers, down toward the sea—waters which sparkled in the midday sunlight. A faint breeze was blowing through the meadowgrass. And then, without any warning at all, He began to speak: “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. “Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted. “Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth. “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied. “Blessed are the merciful, for they shall receive mercy. “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God. “Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God. “Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness' sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven." Simon Peter, a servant and apostle of Jesus Christ, sends this letter to those who have been given a faith as valuable as yours in the righteousness of our God, and Saviour Jesus Christ. May you know more and more of grace and peace as your knowledge of God and Jesus our Lord grows deeper…
…you must do your utmost from your side, and see that your faith carries with it real goodness of life. Your goodness must be accompanied by knowledge, your knowledge by self-control, your self-control by the ability to endure. Your endurance too must always be accompanied by devotion to God; that in turn must have in it the quality of brotherliness, and your brotherliness must lead on to Christian love. If you have these qualities existing and growing in you then it means that knowing our Lord Jesus Christ has not made your lives either complacent or unproductive. The man whose life fails to exhibit these qualities is short-sighted—he can no longer see the reason why he was cleansed from his former sins. Set your minds, then, on endorsing by your conduct the fact that God has called and chosen you. If you go along the lines I have indicated above, there is no reason why you should stumble, and if you have lived the sort of life I have recommended God will open wide to you the gates of the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. (2 Peter 1:1,2, 5-11) For me, this past week, what has felt important about this text—at the beginning of verse 1 and the end of verse 11—is its point of departure and point of arrival: “Simon Peter, a servant and apostle of Jesus Christ” and “the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.” Identity and citizenship. How Peter interpreted his existence, and the destination of his everyday actions. And, to that point, I want to “pull the thread through” on the meaningfulness, for all of us, of intimacy-with-Jesus being our everything. As Peter is spurring on his first-century brothers and sisters unto Jesus, what is he also saying to us?
IT WAS SOMETHING LIKE two minutes before the arrival of the Holy Ghost. Inside, the friends of Jesus were huddled within the upper room. Outside, the Pentecost crowds were going about their morning’s busyness.
These two groups of people weren’t yet aware of each other. At each corner of the room, rudimentary sconces held flickering oil lanterns: the dancing yellow light illumined the faces and bowed heads of the circle. The smell of the room was thick with unwashed clothing and stagnant breath. This was where they’d been, and all they’d been doing, for the last ten days since he went. One of the women was praying aloud: “…and did you not tell us the story of the judge and the widow, Lord? Well, here I am, a widow like she, and I beseech you. I beseech you, Lord, that, being as we are so small, so insignificant, so terribly outnumbered by the powers and people who would stand against us, Lord, that you yourself would stand within our midst—O, be our strength! be our might!—so that we might hold our heads high…in you. You have given us an impossibly difficult task to do, Lord. You have left the whole world in the keeping of only us… “And I recall you asking, when you stood before the crowd that day, if you, on your returning, would be able to find faithful ones who had maintained their faith…” She lifted her head and the lantern-light caught the edges of her features. “Well, Lord, we believe—and we are ready to receive…” A wind starts to blow within the room… Jesus takes His time to arrive where He's going.
He searches your eyes to see what you think; what you believe. People believe and then become who they are in the Kingdom of Heaven. People believe and then become who they are in the Kingdom of Heaven. People believe and then become who they are in the Kingdom of Heaven. Embracing death, Jesus was endeavoring to embrace us. How freeing to know that only Jesus can handle everything. Perfect adherence to the Law will not save you: the Old tried that and failed.
Every single person is as big of a sinner as any other: the Old and New agree on that fact. Trying to make your adherence to the New Covenant about you is returning to the terms of the Old Covenant. Instead, when Jesus died, your old nature died with Him, and you are invited now to RISE WITH HIM and BE NEW. You will be as new as the degree to which you allow Jesus Himself to live His resurrected life within you. You allow Him to do this by believing in Him, by abiding in Him, and by staying connected to Him at every moment: all the time. Understand: Jesus, in love, has already done it. Therefore, honoring His life and death and resurrection, we refuse ANYTHING with even a hint of the Old Law of self-perfection. And, with that, we refuse shame, every form of trying to hide, going-it-alone, discord with the people around ourselves, and, most importantly, any sense of any sort of disconnection with God. Under the New Covenant—which was sealed forever by the blood of Jesus Himself—we receive joyous mercy, being known, never being alone, new relationships, and our place at the Family Table of God. That is who we are now—and who we'll be. For this is what Jesus lived and died and lived again for. With the New Covenant, our righteousness is belief in the righteousness of Jesus; our obediences are an active act of walking alongside Him.
His proximity to us is not fearful; it is freedom. He is as near to us as our breath, as our heart—and as our ongoing faithful declarations of His glorious Lordship. We are, in seeking Him, already saved; already His. Belief is our once-and-then-forevermore, daily, ongoing act of obedience—and, from here, all other obediences follow. And, all of this—all the promises, all the offerings, all the inheritances, all the spiritual adventures—are found in the One who will never let us be put to shame. Thank you, Jesus! The New Covenant is entirely built upon the person, personality, and finished work of Jesus of Nazareth—that’s first.
Its ministry is His ministry—which is HIGHER—all of it mediated personally by Him—who is ABOVE--and is directly guaranteed by His personal promises—which are UTTERLY UNBREAKABLE. The New Covenant satisfies the every desire of the Father. The New Covenant came when Jesus came—the two are inseparable. The New Covenant dispenses with the Old. And, friends, it is IMPERATIVE that you internalize what I'm about to write: The New Covenant depends not on us. The New Covenant is the Way and Word of JESUS, WRITTEN on our hearts by His Spirit, and it MAKES us sons and daughters of God—ALREADY. The New Covenant is NOT instituted by our carefully being instructed in it, and internalizing its laws: it is built upon our Abiding in its basis… Jesus Himself. The New Covenant does not require hierarchies, accreditations, professional practitioners like the Old did. It requires our personally accepting the mercy He offers and the complete forgiveness of God—directly. The New Covenant asks of us our forgetfulness of who we used to be, our receiving of who He’s making us, and the joyous walking with Him as He does all the work of His Kingdom-heart. Friends, that’s the New. That’s the description of the lifestyle we’re meant to be living, daily. Anything less is, simply, not it. (And is in danger of trying, quite foolishly, to retreat to the Old.) "Truly, truly, I say to you, you will weep and lament, but the world will rejoice. You will be sorrowful, but your sorrow will turn into joy... [Yes,] you have sorrow now, but I will see you again, and your hearts will rejoice, and no one will take your joy from you. In that day you will ask nothing of me. Truly, truly, I say to you, whatever you ask of the Father in my name, he will give it to you. Until now you have asked nothing in my name. Ask, and you will receive, that your joy may be full." (John 16:20, 22-24) * * * "At present we are on the outside of the world, the wrong side of the door. We discern the freshness and purity of morning, but they do not make us fresh and pure. We cannot mingle with the splendours we see. But all the leaves of the New Testament are rustling with the rumour that it will not always be so. Someday, God willing, we shall get in. . . . When all the suns and nebulae have passed away, each one of you will still be alive. Nature is only the image, the symbol; but it is the symbol Scripture invites me to use. We are summoned to pass in through Nature, beyond her, into that splendour which she fitfully reflects. And in there, in beyond Nature, we shall eat of the tree of life." C.S. Lewis
The Weight of Glory “If any of you has a friend, and goes to him in the middle of the night and says, ‘Lend me three loaves, my dear fellow, for a friend of mine has just arrived after a journey and I have no food to put in front of him’; and then he answers from inside the house, ‘Don’t bother me with your troubles. The front door is locked and my children and I have gone to bed. I simply cannot get up now and give you anything!’ Yet, I tell you, that even if he won’t get up and give him what he wants simply because he is his friend, yet if he persists, he will rouse himself and give him everything he needs.”
"And so I tell you, ask and it will be given you, search and you will find, knock and the door will be opened to you. The one who asks will always receive; the one who is searching will always find, and the door is opened to the man who knocks.” “Some of you are fathers, and if your son asks you for some fish, would you give him a snake instead, or if he asks you for an egg, would you make him a present of a scorpion? So, if you, for all your evil, know how to give good things to your children, how much more likely is it that your Heavenly Father will give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!” (Luke 11:5-13, Phillips) What's interesting about this passage is that, front to back, it only makes sense when read according to the logic of its back-to-front. Without the excited promise of the Father's delight in offering His Holy Spirit, the first part makes Him sound like a grudging neighbor you'd have to bother in order to move. But no! Consider--considering the ending--what His invitation is: "And so I tell you, ask and the Holy Spirit will be given you, search and you will find the Holy Spirit, knock and the Holy Spirit's door will be opened to you. The one who asks will always receive the Holy Spirit; the one who is searching will always find the Holy Spirit, and the door of the Holy Spirit is opened to the man who knocks. "...your Heavenly Father will give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!" Friends, at the start of a work-week, and already knowing what we know of the joy of experiencing the Spirit, let's ask for more of Him! The Early Church enjoyed fresh refillings throughout the actions of the Book of Acts; let's be about more of the same! When I was a child, God loved me.
When He called me His child, He loved me. When I wandered, He loved me. In all my mistakes, He loved me. In all His forgivenesses, He loved me. In binding me to Him, He loved me. By showing me His face, He loved me. By extending infinite compassion, He loved me. By withholding what was due me, He loved me. God loves me. “The Lord did not come to make a display. He came to heal and to teach suffering men. For one who wanted to make a display the thing would have been just to appear and dazzle the beholders. But for Him Who came to heal and to teach the way was not merely to dwell here, but to put Himself at the disposal of those who needed Him, and to be manifested according as they could bear it, not vitiating the value of the Divine appearing by exceeding their capacity to receive it.” Athanasius On the Incarnation 4th C. * * * "Since, then, 'the children' have a common physical nature as human beings, he also became a human being, so that by going through death as a man he might destroy him who had the power of death, that is, the devil; and might also set free those who lived their whole lives a prey to the fear of death. It is plain that for this purpose he did not become an angel; he became a man, in actual fact a descendant of Abraham. It was imperative that he should be made like his brothers in nature, if he were to become a High Priest both compassionate and faithful in the things of God, and at the same time able to make atonement for the sins of the people. For by virtue of his own suffering under temptation he is able to help those who are exposed to temptation." (Hebrews 2:14-18, Phillips)
“Lord, make me an instrument of thy peace. “Where there is hatred, let me sow love, Where there is injury, pardon; Where there is doubt, faith; Where there is despair, hope; Where there is darkness, light; And where there is sadness, joy. “O Divine Master, grant that I may not so much seek to be consoled as to console, to be understood as to understand, to be loved, as to love. “For it is in giving that we receive, It is in pardoning that we are pardoned, and it is in dying that we are born to eternal life.” Francis of Assisi
“Jesus has come to take up his abode in my heart. It is not so much a habitation, an association, as a sort of fusion. Oh, new and blessed life! life which becomes each day more luminous.... The wall before me, dark a few moments since, is splendid at this hour because the sun shines on it. Wherever its rays fall they light up a conflagration of glory; the smallest speck of glass sparkles, each grain of sand emits fire; even so there is a royal song of triumph in my heart because the Lord is there. My days succeed each other; yesterday a blue sky; to-day a clouded sun; a night filled with strange dreams; but as soon as the eyes open, and I regain consciousness and seem to begin life again, it is always the same figure before me, always the same presence filling my heart.... Formerly the day was dulled by the absence of the Lord. I used to wake invaded by all sorts of sad impressions, and I did not find him on my path. To-day he is with me; and the light cloudiness which covers things is not an obstacle to my communion with him. I feel the pressure of his hand, I feel something else which fills me with a serene joy; shall I dare to speak it out? Yes, for it is the true expression of what I experience. The Holy Spirit is not merely making me a visit; it is no mere dazzling apparition which may from one moment to another spread its wings and leave me in my night, it is a permanent habitation. He can depart only if he takes me with him... It is not a juxtaposition, it is a penetration, a profound modification of my nature, a new manner of my being.” "An Old Man"
from Wilfred Monod's He Lives: Six Meditations on the Christian Mystery As, therefore, God’s picked representatives of the new humanity, purified and beloved of God himself, be merciful in action, kindly in heart, humble in mind. Accept life, and be most patient and tolerant with one another, always ready to forgive if you have a difference with anyone. Forgive as freely as the Lord has forgiven you. And, above everything else, be truly loving, for love is the golden chain of all the virtues.
Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, remembering that as members of the same body you are called to live in harmony, and never forget to be thankful for what God has done for you. Let Christ’s teaching live in your hearts, making you rich in the true wisdom. Teach and help one another along the right road with your psalms and hymns and Christian songs, singing God’s praises with joyful hearts. And whatever you may have to do, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, thanking God the Father through him. (Col. 3:12-17) Let me point out to you what this doesn’t say: that it is up to us to remake ourselves, to be pure, to earn our way into the love of God. No, in fact, the mercy, kindness, humility, patience, tolerance, forgiveness we’re called to are meant to come from where? By receiving them directly from the Lord. By loving out of the love we ourselves are experiencing. You see, it is out of our direct abiding connection with Jesus that peace, harmony, and thankfulness in the Body are meant to be derived. And, too, the teaching of Jesus, the wisdom of Jesus, the helping of our brothers and sisters can only flow from Him. In truth, “whatever we have to do,” we can only do our “everything in the name of the Lord Jesus” by actually, actively living our whole lives with Him, and “through him.” I think we think there’s a great gaping spiritual and even logistical distance between our spiritual dabblings and actual discipleship to the living Jesus. And I think we think the same thing about bearing fruit for Him; and about living our lives like this Colossians 3 passage. I think we think there’s a long spiritual continuum between “where we are” and where we’d like our spiritual lives to be. There is not. The distance is always, simply, today. Knowing what you already know of Him—and confident that He will ongoingly reveal Himself more and more—it is to follow His Way, accompanied by Him, and to do the actual actions of His heart. It is to be carried away by His love of people. It is to be useful to Him in the funny little contexts of our funny little lives. Shall we give it a shot. . . today? “Jesus promised his disciples three things—that they would be completely fearless, absurdly happy, and in constant trouble... The challenge of the Beatitudes is 'Will you be happy in the world's way, or in Christ's way?'” William Barclay
The Gospel of Luke "On the last day, the climax of the festival, Jesus stood up and cried out, 'If any man is thirsty, he can come to me and drink!'" (Jn. 7:37, Phillips) * * * "Jesus Christ is a God whom we approach without pride and before whom we humble ourselves without despair." Blaise Pascal
Pensées “We ourselves shall never be true to ourselves. Our human path is, as such, a path from one disloyalty to another; and it is the same with the ways of the gods of this world. They do not keep what they promise. So with them there is never any real peace and clarity. In God alone is there faithfulness, and faith is the trust that we may hold to Him, to His promise and to His guidance. To hold to God is to rely on the fact that God is there for me, and to live in this certainty. This is the promise God gives us: I am there for you.” Karl Barth
Dogmatics in Outline I’m sure many of you, having been serious about investigating the Way of Jesus for years yourself, are perfectly familiar with the opening of the famous “faith chapter”—Hebrews 11. Probably you know it in its most natural rendering, like this: “Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen. For by it the people of old received their commendation.” (ESV) My favorite version of the New Testament renders it like this: “Now faith means putting our full confidence in the things we hope for, it means being certain of things we cannot see. It was this kind of faith that won their reputation for the saints of old.” (Phillips) Both are good. But the original Greek is interesting, because the word-order is almost never like ours, and the words used are so full of potential for our understanding phrasings, and meanings, so differently. In fact, if I could re-render these two famous verses differently for you, they would go like this: “Now belief (or faith (or trust)) is the foundation (and structure) of things hoped for, the argument for those pragmatic things currently unseen. In this way, the ancients bore witness.”
My friends, “faith” is the ascription of what we see and feel in front of ourselves over and unto everything we know of Jesus within that space. I think we Christians think of “faith,” too often, only as a macrocosmic eternal economy when, from the pages of the New Testament—and especially in the Gospels—it’s very clear that it’s both that and also microcosmic and totally tied to the moment we’re in. Belief is foundational, and also structural. It’s the building-block of a growing hope; and this occurs amidst the pragmatic things of the everyday. The “ancients” who believed gave their testimony not by esoteric etherealisms; they believed concretely in the constant, the now, the ever-present Today realities of God. You see, to have a constant unchanging place of recourse is not to regress: in fact, not to call constantly upon this One is to attempt to live life without Life. And if Jesus wasn’t bluffing when He referred to Himself as “the Way, the truth, the life,” then there’s no place where this recourse is not applicable. Moving through life, we may move with Him: the Way. Seeking the higher, deeper wisdoms and truths available, He makes these plain: the Truth Himself. Desiring that our everyday may find its richest, realest meaning, we may look to Him: Life. |
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