Love one another.

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Spider mesh

Gospel according to John 13: 31-35 (NIV)

³¹ When he was gone, Jesus said, “Now the Son of Man is glorified and God is glorified in him. ³² If God is glorified in him, God will glorify the Son in himself, and will glorify him at once.
³³ “My children, I will be with you only a little longer. You will look for me, and just as I told the Jews, so I tell you now: where I am going, you cannot come.
³⁴ “A new command I give you: love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. ³⁵ By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.”

“Love one another,” Jesus instructed his disciples (less Judas Iscariot) in the upper room on the night he was to be betrayed. “As I have loved you, so you must love one another.”

His command is that we love others in the same way that he himself showed his love to those who follow him.

How had Jesus loved those who followed him? Although this statement preceded his death on the cross, there is no doubt that he knew what awaited him at the hands of the Jewish authorities and the Roman Governor. His love was to the death, his death, in order that others may by his sacrifice live.

His love is evidenced by his incarnation. He “who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage; rather, he made himself nothing by taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to death – even death on a cross! (Philippians 2: 6-8).

His love exercised discipline, as when he cleared the temple courts of merchants and money changers (John 2: 14-16).

His love challenged and corrected wrong doctrine, as was the case when Nicodemus came to him at night (John 3: 2-15).

His love coached and cajoled in order to reveal the truth, as with the woman at the well at Sychar in Samaria (John 4: 5-26).

His love brought healing and hope where hope was almost gone, as with the official from Capernaum whose son was near death (John 4: 46b-53).

His love desired that people should stop sinning and live a new life in obedience to God. His love therefore caused him to tell them so explicitly, as with the invalid man by the pool at Bethesda (John 5: 2-14).

His love was compassionate towards the hungry crowds. He would not let them remain that way, as when he miraculously fed five thousand by the far shore of the Sea of Tiberias (John 6: 1-13).

His love was also directed to individuals who suffered a disability from birth, as with the man born blind to whom Jesus gave sight (John 9: 1-12).

His love for the family of Lazarus did not prevent him from permitting them to endure a period of real distress so that he could teach others about his true nature as “the Messiah, the Son of God who was to come into the world” (John 11: 27 and following).

We readily see that, although Jesus’ love was boundless, he exercised his love through the teaching of hard lessons as well as through compassion. To love one another like that, we are not absolved from making decisions from time to time that require us to exercise “tough love”.

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Jesus and the Father are one!

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 Male Australasian Scarlet Robin

Gospel according to John 10: 30 (NIV)

Jesus answered, ³⁰ “…I and the Father are one.”

and

The Revelation to John 7: 9-17 (NIV)

⁹ After this I looked, and there before me was a great multitude that no one could count, from every nation, tribe, people and language, standing before the throne and before the Lamb. They were wearing white robes and were holding palm branches in their hands. ¹⁰ And they cried out in a loud voice:
“Salvation belongs to our God,
who sits on the throne,
and to the Lamb.”

¹¹ All the angels were standing round the throne and round the elders and the four living creatures. They fell down on their faces before the throne and worshipped God, ¹² saying:
    “Amen!
    Praise and glory
    and wisdom and thanks and honour
    and power and strength
    be to our God for ever and ever.
    Amen!”
¹³ Then one of the elders asked me, “These in white robes – who are they, and where did they come from?”
¹⁴ I answered, “Sir, you know.”
And he said, “These are they who have come out of the great tribulation; they have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb. ¹⁵ Therefore,
they are before the throne of God
    and serve him day and night in his temple;
and he who sits on the throne
    will shelter them with his presence.
^{16 ‘}Never again will they hunger;
    never again will they thirst.
The sun will not beat down on them,’
    nor any scorching heat.

¹⁷ For the Lamb at the centre of the throne
    will be their shepherd;
‘he will lead them to springs of living water.’
    ‘And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes.’”

“Hear, O Israel: the LORD our God, the LORD is one” (Deuteronomy 6: 4). By the time that Jesus was being confronted by Jewish opponents, the Hebrew people had been reciting the Shema for around thirteen centuries. Little wonder then that, when Jesus pronounced “I and the Father are one” (John 10: 30), most took offence.

Revelation gives us insights into the presence of the Lamb, looking as if it had been slain, before the throne of God, taking from God the scroll sealed with seven seals. Only the Lamb, the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David (Revelation 5: 5), was worthy to do so.

The praise for the Lamb at the moment he received the scroll, expressed as seven divine attributes (5: 12), is echoed* in this passage by the praise of all the angels standing round the throne and round the elders and the four living creatures (7: 11) as they fell down upon their faces before the throne and worshipped God (7: 12):

“Amen!
Praise and glory
and wisdom and thanks and honour
and power and strength
be to our God for ever and ever.
Amen!”

We note that, with his blood, the Lamb purchased for God persons from every tribe and language and people and nation (5: 9). The vision now before John revealed this “great multitude that no one could count, from every nation, tribe, people and language, standing before the throne and before the Lamb” (7: 9). “Salvation belongs to our God … and to the Lamb” (7: 10), for John, was clear confirmation of what Jesus had said: “I and the Father are one.”

*While six of the seven attributes were the same for Jesus and for the Father, there was one difference. Those attributed to the Lamb included “wealth” whereas those attributed to God included “thanks”.

Peter and Jesus

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Pick the odd one out – autumn colour in the Australian bush.

Gospel according to John 21: 2-12, 16a (NIV)

² Simon Peter, Thomas (also known as Didymus), Nathanael from Cana in Galilee, the sons of Zebedee, and two other disciples were together. ³ “I’m going out to fish,” Simon Peter told them, and they said, “We’ll go with you.” So they went out and got into the boat, but that night they caught nothing.
⁴ Early in the morning, Jesus stood on the shore, but the disciples did not realise that it was Jesus.
⁵ He called out to them, “Friends, haven’t you any fish?”
“No,” they answered.
⁶ He said, “Throw your net on the right side of the boat and you will find some.” When they did, they were unable to haul the net in because of the large number of fish.
⁷ Then the disciple whom Jesus loved said to Peter, “It is the Lord!” As soon as Simon Peter heard him say, “It is the Lord,” he wrapped his outer garment round him (for he had taken it off) and jumped into the water. ⁸ The other disciples followed in the boat, towing the net full of fish, for they were not far from shore, about a hundred metres. ⁹ When they landed, they saw a fire of burning coals there with fish on it, and some bread.
¹⁰ Jesus said to them, “Bring some of the fish you have just caught.” ¹¹ So Simon Peter climbed back into the boat and dragged the net ashore. It was full of large fish, 153, but even with so many the net was not torn. ¹² Jesus said to them, “Come and have breakfast.” None of the disciples dared ask him, “Who are you?” They knew it was the Lord.

^16a Again Jesus said, “Simon son of John, do you love me?”

I associate the Apostle Peter with impetuosity rather than with clear strategic foresight. Events in the preceding weeks support this view. On that night in the upper room, Peter’s first gaffe was to assert, “you shall never wash my feet” (John 13: 8). He then protested, “I will lay down my life for you” (John 13: 37), only to realise, hours later, that three times he had denied being with Jesus.

Even the events of the third day following the crucifixion of his leader, the mystical appearances of Jesus to the women and then Jesus’ presence in the upper room, seemed to leave Peter confused. He returned to Galilee and to the profession he thought he knew best of all: fishing.

When Jesus told the fishermen precisely where the fish were to be found (verse 6), it was as if Jesus was trying to remind Peter about a previous experience. Would Peter recall with what willingness he had, on the occasion recorded by Luke (5: 1-11), left his vocation and followed Jesus?

Peter was carrying a huge burden: disappointment, a sense of failure and his own deep shame because, when Jesus was most vulnerable, he denied and deserted him. He may even have been wondering whether he had just wasted the last three years of his life.

Verse 16a and others show how Jesus restored purpose, courage and self-confidence to this man whom he had identified as the rock on whom he would plant his church.

Peter’s struggle was exactly what Jesus intended for him*. A rough-and-ready small-town fisherman who lived a simple life had to overcome these challenges in order to grow and develop into the leader of Christ’s church on earth after Jesus’ departure.

*God disciplines us for our good, in order that we may share in his holiness (Epistle to the Hebrews 12:10, NIV).

The purpose of this Gospel

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Australian Eastern Water Dragon at National Botanic Gardens, Canberra

Gospel according to John 20: 24-31 (NIV)

²⁴ Now Thomas (also known as Didymus), one of the Twelve, was not with the disciples when Jesus came. ²⁵ So the other disciples told him, “We have seen the Lord!”
But he said to them, “Unless I see the nail marks in his hands and put my finger where the nails were, and put my hand into his side, I will not believe.”
²⁶ A week later his disciples were in the house again, and Thomas was with them. Though the doors were locked, Jesus came and stood among them and said, “Peace be with you!” ²⁷ Then he said to Thomas, “Put your finger here; see my hands. Reach out your hand and put it into my side. Stop doubting and believe.”
²⁸ Thomas said to him, “My Lord and my God!”
²⁹ Then Jesus told him, “Because you have seen me, you have believed; blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.”
³⁰ Jesus performed many other signs in the presence of his disciples, which are not recorded in this book. 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.

The last verse of John 20 presents the reason why this disciple recorded in writing his personal experiences of being with Jesus. His immediate purpose was that the reader “may believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God,” however this begs a “why?”. Believing that Jesus is the long-awaited Jewish Messiah and continuing to behave as if gaining personal pleasure is life’s objective plays right into the hands of Satan. Satan knew Jesus’ true identity – and did all he could to impede him!

That is why John added a purpose for believing “that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God.” The ultimate goal in believing is to “have life in his name.”

“Life in his name,” – what does that mean?

Jesus himself is the “life” as he proclaimed in the sixth of his “I am” statements: “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me” (John 14: 6).

John had perceived that this life was to be the light of the world: “In him was life, and that life was the light of all (humankind)” (John 1: 4).

The “life” Jesus offers to those who believe and put their full trust in him is a full and a complete life. He said so himself, “I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full” (John 10: 10b).

This life extends beyond death to life eternal with him: “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life” (John 3: 16).

John’s statement of purpose in verse 31 has immediate relevance to all of us who, unlike Thomas (together with the other Apostles), have not have the benefit of seeing Jesus in the flesh. Thomas believed because he had seen Jesus. Those who rely on the accounts of eye witnesses like John and the other evangelists are, said Jesus, blessed in believing and then in acting on that belief by putting their full trust in the risen Lord.

“… that war may cease.”

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Sturt’s Desert Pea

ANZAC Day 2019

This day of days again we keep
in memory of those who sleep
forever by the quiet sea
away in far Gallipoli.

’Tis ANZAC Day, ’tis ANZAC Day.
Oh soldiers’ comrades far away,
you died in war, may we in peace,
so live and pray that war may cease.

Song “’Tis ANZAC Day”, author unknown.

Father, as we shudder in horror after the Easter bombings in Sri Lanka by people motivated by hatred, help us to be more like Jesus – even to the extent of appealing to you: “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing!”* Preserve those who have lost their health, their youth, their futures in these bombings. Comfort those who have lost ones whom they love. Speak your peace into the lives of those who are suffering. Defend Sri Lanka’s emergency workers and medical staff. Be with your Church at this time. Amen.

*Gospel according to Luke 23: 34 (NIV)

 

All of history hinges on the resurrection of Jesus

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Yellow-Tailed Black Cockatoos

Gospel according to John 20: 3-8 (NIV)

³ So Peter and the other disciple started for the tomb. ⁴ Both were running, but the other disciple outran Peter and reached the tomb first. ⁵ He bent over and looked in at the strips of linen lying there but did not go in. ⁶ Then Simon Peter came along behind him and went straight into the tomb. He saw the strips of linen lying there, ⁷ as well as the cloth that had been wrapped round Jesus’ head. The cloth was still lying in its place, separate from the linen. ⁸ Finally the other disciple, who had reached the tomb first, also went inside. He saw and believed.

I base this reflection on a conviction that the accounts of Jesus’ resurrection are true. That being the case, so much else must follow.

Jesus the man, being dead, did not raise himself. No human had the ability to raise him. Jesus was raised by another force or power or authority. The One whom Jesus called Father, the Creator of the universe, raised him. In so doing, the Father verified all that the Son had said of himself while he was on earth and confirmed all that he had done. This was the Father’s stamp of authenticity on Jesus.

The Creator of all that exists, seen and unseen, thereby demonstrated that all that the Son taught and all the examples of how he lived his life were truth. Every word of Jesus had the endorsement, the certification and the seal of approval of the Father.

Consider the full span of Jesus’ teaching as revealed to us in Scripture. It extends from the Two Great Commandments to counsel in what we call the Beatitudes, to parables, to the future fate of Jerusalem, to what comes at the end of the age. It covers how Jesus defeated the evil one and how he corrected individual sinners. It covers what he said about the purpose of his death and of his rising again. All this is truth.

Each of us has the freedom to accept this truth or to reject it. Yes, rejecting it is an option – but if we reject it we would be claiming there is something other than what was taught by Jesus that is “more true”. How could that be? We might wish it to be “more true” but the Creator of the universe is not that easily over-ruled!

If we accept it, there are implications as to how we must then live our lives. A life that ignores truth is a life that tries to walk upside-down on the ceiling. We must live lives of obedience to all the commands of God.

It is possible to live a life that is at odds with one’s core beliefs but that requires a kind of insanity, a belief that actions do not necessarily have consequences. Cause and effect laws cannot be dismissed just because we wish them to disappear.

Some might tremble at the magnitude of changes that are demanded in us when we put our full trust in Jesus. Some might wonder at the personal cost. Strangely, the blessings that flow from a personal relationship with the Saviour of the world take on more value and exercise more appeal than anything that must be sacrificed to win them.

It requires effort and commitment but, if we trust him, the rewards and the peace of mind in gaining them are out of this world.

Be assured that everything, in all of history, hinges on the resurrection of Jesus!

“It is finished.”*

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Crown of thorns

Isaiah 53: 5-6 (NIV)

⁵ But he was pierced for our transgressions,
    he was crushed for our iniquities;
the punishment that brought us peace was on him,
    and by his wounds we are healed.
⁶ We all, like sheep, have gone astray,
    each of us has turned to our own way;
and the Lord has laid on him
    the iniquity of us all.

A Collect for Good Friday based on the Book of Common Prayer**

O merciful God,
you have made all people
and you hate nothing that you have made,
nor desire the death of sinners,
but rather that they should turn and live:
have mercy on all who have not known you,
or who deny the faith of Christ crucified;
take from them all ignorance, hardness of heart,
and contempt of your word;
and so fetch them home, blessed Lord, to your fold,
that we may be made one flock under one shepherd,
Jesus Christ our Lord,
who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit,
one God, world without end. Amen.

* Gospel according to John 19: 30

** A Prayer Book for Australia, Broughton Books, Sydney, 1995.