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John 8:1-11

06 Jun

Painting: La Femme adultère “The woman Taken in Adultery” by Lorenzo Lotto

8 Jesus returned to the Mount of Olives, 2 but early the next morning he was back again at the Temple. A crowd soon gathered, and he sat down and taught them. 3 As he was speaking, the teachers of religious law and the Pharisees brought a woman who had been caught in the act of adultery. They put her in front of the crowd.

4 “Teacher,” they said to Jesus, “this woman was caught in the act of adultery. 5 The law of Moses says to stone her. What do you say?”

6 They were trying to trap him into saying something they could use against him, but Jesus stooped down and wrote in the dust with his finger. 7 They kept demanding an answer, so he stood up again and said, “All right, but let the one who has never sinned throw the first stone!” 8 Then he stooped down again and wrote in the dust.

9 When the accusers heard this, they slipped away one by one, beginning with the oldest, until only Jesus was left in the middle of the crowd with the woman. 10 Then Jesus stood up again and said to the woman, “Where are your accusers? Didn’t even one of them condemn you?”

11 “No, Lord,” she said.

And Jesus said, “Neither do I. Go and sin no more.”

John 8:1-11

Dear God, I don’t think this story gets enough time. It’s quite remarkable. My wife and I were talking about something last night and this story came up. I can’t remember what we were saying or the context in which we talked about it, but she mentioned this painting by Lorenzo Lotto to me. It gave me an interesting thought: What would it be like to follow this woman after she left Jesus that day? What was the rest of that day like for her? So I decided to take a little creative break from my 1 Samuel series and spend a little time with this woman this morning.

First, I want to back up and set the context. There was a festival going on in Jerusalem when this happened. It was the Festival of Shelters (John 7:1-10). I Googled that festival and found it was a seven-day commemoration of the years the Israelites spent in tents in the wilderness. That made me think of the book I read last year, The Year of Living Biblically: One Man’s Humble Quest to Follow the Bible as Literally as Possible by A.J. Jacobs. I remembered he had done something that seemed to line up with this so I looked it up. He called in the “Feast of Ingathering–or Sukkoth.” His description seems to indicate it’s the same thing and he said Orthodox Jewish people still celebrate it by building huts and sleeping in them (he was in New York City so he had to build one in his living room). So that’s the context. An annual festival in Jerusalem where a lot of extra people are in town. In fact, this is part of the story when Jesus’s brothers told him to go to Jerusalem and show himself off and he told them he wasn’t going to go, but then he went secretly until starting to teach in the Temple halfway through the festival.

Now, back to this passage. After I read it this morning, I had some thoughts. Let me stress here that ALL of this is my speculation and there is a great likelihood that I’m completely wrong about it. With that disclaimer said, I wonder what the previous 12 hours were like for this woman and then what were the next 12 hours like. What were the circumstances under which she was caught? Who was she? Was she the one who was married to someone else or had she slept with someone who was married to someone else but she was single? Was she a prostitute? In that culture, if she was a prostitute, would they have cared? I believe there were a lot of prostitutes running around and sleeping with married men so my guess is that she was the on who was married and caught. Perhaps her husband caught her that night before and brought her to the Temple for punishment for stoning.

It occurs to me as I write this that this could have been Jesus’s own mother, Mary, when she was pregnant with him. Wow! What a thought. The husband could easily have been Joseph, taking her to the Temple for judgment and stoning. But “Joseph, to whom she was engaged, was a righteous man and did not want to disgrace her publicly, so he decided to break the engagement quietly.” I wonder if Jesus had this same thought that morning. If this had happened to his own mother while she was pregnant with him, it would have been a disaster.

As I’m sitting here (and I think I’m going to have a lot of disjointed, random thoughts this morning), I wonder why stoning was the chosen method of execution for so many sins. Was it because it wasn’t a hands-on approach? Back then, I suppose their options were to physically touch the person and kill them with some sort of blade or do something from a distance like throw stones or shoot an arrow.

Now that I think about it, the Jews under Rome didn’t have the right to execute people (that’s why they needed Pilate to sign off on Jesus’s execution). Was there an exception for stoning? I just Googled that too. Apparently, to compare it with modern American law, there were federal crimes (crimes against the Roman Empire) and state crimes (in this case, crimes against the Jewish religious law). Jesus’s crime was a federal crime because he claimed to be king while adultery or Stephen’s crime in Acts would be against Jewish law and could be executed by the Sanhedrin.

So back to our story. There’s a festival. I’m guessing that the woman’s husband catches her sleeping with someone else during the festival (maybe in someone’s special tent?) and takes her to the Temple for judgment and execution. Lots of anger. Lots of fear. As I’ve heard said in movies and other places before, “Women need a reason to have sex. Men just need a place.” (City Slickers) So perhaps this woman had a reason to not be faithful to her husband. I don’t know. But now she’s here, and she must be both terrified and humiliated. Regretful too. What’s going to happen now?

Then Jesus shows up in the Temple and starts teaching halfway through the Festival. I won’t go into the days he spent talking and everything he said, but, suffice it to say, the Pharisees were none too pleased. Then, on the last day of the festival, what John describes in John 7:37 as “the climax of the festival,” Jesus did one last big provocation about being living water. The Pharisees apparently sent the Temple guards to arrest him but they didn’t. Nicodemus, one of my heroes, tries to defend Jesus with, “Is it legal to convict a man before he is given a hearing?” and he gets jumped on and accused of being a Jesus defender: “Are you from Galilee, too?”

So now our scene takes place on the morning after the festival. Everyone might be a little hungover. This woman might have gotten caught up in the revelry of the night. And now she is standing in front of Jesus. The men (there are likely few if any women present) are simultaneously indignantly ready to stone her and wondering what it would be like to have sex with her (let’s be real, some of them were thinking that–that’s probably the most confident I am about any guesses I’ve made this morning), and she watches Jesus through a bowed head out of the upper part of her peripheral vision. What’s he going to do. So he bends down to write on the ground.

Here’s a new thought. Maybe he bent down to write on the ground so that she could see what he was writing. Maybe he wrote it for her. We assume he was writing to her judges and accusers, but maybe her face was so downcast that he knew this was the only way to communicate love and a new life to her.

So we know this next part. He stands up and affirms they are right that she should be stoned according to the law of Moses. But then he makes an interesting statement that (and again, this is a brand new thought to me) indicates humans don’t have the authority to commit capital punishment: “Let the one who has never sinned throw the first stone!” This statement could be applied to any sin such as murder that we think deserves the death penalty. As sinful creatures, do we have the authority to take a life–even the most heinous life, as the result of a crime? Wars are different animals that I won’t get into right now, but in this area, I think it helps convince me more than ever that capital punishment does not align with Jesus’s teaching.

So now everyone eventually admits they aren’t able to live up to the standard Jesus has now set for capital punishment and walks away, leaving only the woman, to whom Jesus famously says, “Where are your accusers? Didn’t even one of them condemn you?” She says no, and he closes the scene saying, “Neither do I. Go and sin no more.” End scene.

So what happened next? That’s the first thought I had last night when my wife brought up this story. What was the rest of her day like as a forgiven woman? Was her husband one of the people who dropped his stone and walked away? Did he divorce her? Did she have to move in with a friend? And what was the state of her heart from that day forward? If it was a long-term affair, did she break up with the guy? Did she take her freedom from her sin and turn over a new leaf? Did she earnestly start to follow you? Who did she become as a result of this absolution from her sin?

Father, I am not without sin. I have no stones to throw. Jesus taught such a unique…what’s the word I’m looking for? He taught a unique perspective on who we are as humans and who you are as God. Oh, Father, help me to “go and sin no more” and to offer this same opportunity of your unique perspective on who we can be through following you to others. Help me to make this the evangelism that brings your kingdom into this world and drives the hell out of people.

I pray this in Jesus and with your Holy Spirit,

Amen

 
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Posted by on June 6, 2025 in John

 

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John 3:10-21

26 May

10 Jesus answered and said to him, “Are you the teacher of Israel, and do not know these things? 11 Most assuredly, I say to you, We speak what We know and testify what We have seen, and you do not receive Our witness. 12 If I have told you earthly things and you do not believe, how will you believe if I tell you heavenly things? 13 No one has ascended to heaven but He who came down from heaven, that is, the Son of Man who is in heaven. 14 And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up, 15 that whoever believes in Him should [c]not perish but have eternal life. 16 For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. 17 For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved.

18 “He who believes in Him is not condemned; but he who does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. 19 And this is the condemnation, that the light has come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil. 20 For everyone practicing evil hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his deeds should be exposed. 21 But he who does the truth comes to the light, that his deeds may be clearly seen, that they have been done in God.”

John 3:10-21

Dear God, following up on the impromptu prayer I did last night in the chapel, I want to talk a little about the book I finished reading: What is Jesus was Serious about Judgment? by Skye Jethani. I’ve been curious about Skye’s view of how Jesus would address everything from treating people fairly and forgiveness to heaven and hell and what the cut-line is for either destination.

And to be clear, I’m not sure how much stock I put into Jethani’s theological position. I think we are all wrong and none of us can know exactly what life will look like on the other side. Of all of the possibilities, Jethani’s view could be it. If I were putting money on a theological position given all of the options different teacher’s have, I’d put my money most closely to his. I tend to really agree with a lot of his positions. But the truth is, I simply don’t know. I simply don’t know. I am certain there will be a sorting one day. Jesus was clear about that in several parables. But what happens to the goats? It’s a hazy mystery to me. I hope they don’t really suffer for all eternity. As Jethani put it, that does not seem like proportional punishment for the crimes committed.

But I also think the temptation is to get too wrapped up in heaven, hell, the apocalypse, etc., and we forget to live in justice now. Jesus did care about justice in the here and now. And, frankly, although I read the book in order and didn’t skip ahead to the heaven/hell chapters towards the end, I was still distracted by their existence and looking back I don’t remember much of what his other real points were. So let me go back and look at the table of contents to see if that will help some thoughts stick out. Here are some elected chapter titles:

  • If Jesus was serious about justice, then evil empires will always misunderstand God’s justice.
  • If Jesus was serious about justice, then God hears the cries of the oppressed.
  • If Jesus was serious about justice, then experiencing oppression should give us compassion for others.
  • If Jesus was serious about justice, then evil will consume those who practice it.
  • If Jesus was serious about justice, then just laws will lead to community flourishing.
  • If Jesus was serious about justice, then true worship lifts up Christ by lifting up the oppressed.
  • If Jesus was serious about justice, then a heart far from God lacks mercy, not emotions.
  • If Jesus was serious about justice, then justice is about our identity, not the other person’s.
  • If Jesus was serious about justice, then God can be both merciful and angry.
  • If Jesus was serious about justice, then mercy and justice are partners, not enemies.
  • If Jesus was serious about justice, then justice alone won’t rescue us from our sins.
  • If Jesus was serious about justice, then God’s mercy comes with a condition.

Everything else starts getting into your wrath and how that will ultimately be handled, and I don’t want to go there this morning. I just want to sit with how I handle justice in my life. How I handle mercy.

I think the place to start is my own sinfulness and how I handle that. Before I can look at the speck in my neighbor’s eye, I need to look at the log in my own. And the more I truly address my own sins, failures, and foibles, the more empathy and mercy I have for others. To whom much is given much is required. I have been given a lot of mercy. Should I not give a lot in return?

Father, help me to find that line between mercy and justice. There should obviously be consequences for sin. David paid terrible consequences for his sin even though you loved him and cared for him. You forgave me. You even carried your path to Jesus through the woman he stole and murdered for. Maybe you did that more for her than him, now that I think about it. You had choices. You chose the victim to redeem through Solomon and his line. Nice. Help me to love victims, love sinners (who are sinners themselves–we all are), and carry your mercy into this world.

I pray this in Jesus and with your Holy Spirit,

Amen

 
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Posted by on May 26, 2025 in John

 

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Matthew 27:59-61

19 Apr

59 Joseph took the body and wrapped it in a long sheet of clean linen cloth. 60 He placed it in his own new tomb, which had been carved out of the rock. Then he rolled a great stone across the entrance and left. 61 Both Mary Magdalene and the other Mary were sitting across from the tomb and watching.

Matthew 27:59-61

Dear God, as I sit here on this Saturday morning before Easter, the word “hopeless” comes to mind. There are things in my life that bring me sorrow about which I feel hopeless. I’m tired. I’m defeated. I’ve tried multiple times and in multiple ways to remedy the sorrowful situation, but nothing seems to work. It feels hopeless.

I would imagine that is how Joseph and Nicodemus were feeling as they handled Jesus’s body that Friday night, making themselves unclean for the Passover. I would imagine that’s how the Marys and all of Jesus’s other followers/believers, whether close to him or believing in him from a distance, were feeling that Friday evening and Saturday. Hopeless. Asking themselves, “What does this mean? Where do we go from here?” while dealing with their simple grief of losing someone they loved so brutally. Rome was still in charge. Pilate had the power to kill him. Caiaphas and his crew had won. What now?

In today’s entry into Restore: A Guided Lent Journal for Prayer and Meditation, Sister Miriam…well, she says this:

An ancient homily on Holy Saturday captures it best: “What is happening? Today there is a great silence over the earth, a great silence, and stillness, a great silence because the King sleeps; the earth was in terror and was still, because God slept in the flesh and raised up those who were sleeping from the ages. God has died in the flesh, and the underworld has trembled…Truly he goes to seek out our first parent like a lost sheep; he wishes to visit those who sit in darkness and in the shadow of death. He goes to free the prisoner Adam and his fellow prisoner Eve from her pains, he who is God, and Adam’s son. The Lord goes in to them holding his victorious weapon, his Cross. When Adam, the first created man, sees him, he strikes his breast in terror and calls out to all: ‘My Lord be with you all.’ And Christ in reply says to Adam: ‘And with your spirit.’ And grasping his hand he raises him up, saying, ‘Awake, O sleeper, and arise from the dead, and Christ shall give you light.'”

Father, I think I want to sit in this silence today. As I’ve been praying, I’ve decided to not “play” anything today. No music. No podcasts. No YouTube videos or sports. I think I want this to be a real day of silence for me. I want to be alone with the Holy Spirit and my thoughts. I want to commune with you without distraction. I want to learn to love you just a little better today. And I want to learn to be at peace in the silence of my sorrow. The silence of my hopelessness. But I have an advantage on Joseph, Nicodemus, the Marys, and all the others. I know what’s about to happen tomorrow, and it gives me hope too.

I pray all of this in Jesus and with your Holy Spirit,

Amen

 
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Posted by on April 19, 2025 in Matthew, Restore: A Guided Lent Journal for Prayer and Meditation

 

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John 3:1-21

31 Jan

There was a man named Nicodemus, a Jewish religious leader who was a Pharisee. After dark one evening, he came to speak with Jesus. “Rabbi,” he said, “we all know that God has sent you to teach us. Your miraculous signs are evidence that God is with you.”

Jesus replied, “I tell you the truth, unless you are born again, you cannot see the Kingdom of God.”

“What do you mean?” exclaimed Nicodemus. “How can an old man go back into his mother’s womb and be born again?”

Jesus replied, “I assure you, no one can enter the Kingdom of God without being born of water and the Spirit. Humans can reproduce only human life, but the Holy Spirit gives birth to spiritual life. So don’t be surprised when I say, ‘You must be born again.’ The wind blows wherever it wants. Just as you can hear the wind but can’t tell where it comes from or where it is going, so you can’t explain how people are born of the Spirit.”

“How are these things possible?” Nicodemus asked.

Jesus replied, “You are a respected Jewish teacher, and yet you don’t understand these things? I assure you, we tell you what we know and have seen, and yet you won’t believe our testimony. But if you don’t believe me when I tell you about earthly things, how can you possibly believe if I tell you about heavenly things? No one has ever gone to heaven and returned. But the Son of Man has come down from heaven. And as Moses lifted up the bronze snake on a pole in the wilderness, so the Son of Man must be lifted up, so that everyone who believes in him will have eternal life. “For this is how God loved the world: He gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life. God sent his Son into the world not to judge the world, but to save the world through him. “There is no judgment against anyone who believes in him. But anyone who does not believe in him has already been judged for not believing in God’s one and only Son. And the judgment is based on this fact: God’s light came into the world, but people loved the darkness more than the light, for their actions were evil. All who do evil hate the light and refuse to go near it for fear their sins will be exposed. But those who do what is right come to the light so others can see that they are doing what God wants.”

John 3:1-21

Dear God, I need some time with you this morning. I need some time to center myself back on you. I need to spend some time letting the Holy Spirit envelope my soul. For the last couple of days, I have not taken any time to really immerse myself in you, and I miss you. Oh, how grateful I am to miss you.

As I thought about finding some scripture through which I could try to hear your voice this morning, I thought about the rant that Jesus goes on in his conversation at night with Nicodemus. I was listening to a praise and worship song and watching the video on YouTube when I saw a slide that had the words for John 3:16-17. It reminded me that those verses are just a small part of this little speech Jesus gives to Nicodemus. Is it possible the words you had for Nicodemus 2,000 years ago are the same words you have for me this morning? Maybe so, maybe not, but there might just be something in here for me.

This starts with Nicodemus, a Pharisee, labeling Jesus as a teacher sent from God. Jesus implies back that Nicodemus cannot see (experience/enter into personally) your Kingdom because he has not been born again. Confused, Nicodemus asks him to explain.

Jesus explains that we must embrace being transformed into a new creation by your Spirit, the Holy Spirit, in order to know you and your kingdom. I cannot do it in my own power. Maybe that’s what I was missing this morning–doing it on my own for a couple of days and feeling the difference.

When Nicodemus presses for further explanation (verse 9) Jesus takes off. Here is an outline of where he goes:

  • You don’t believe me when I tell you things about earth and the realities here even though you can see them with your own eyes. How will you ever believe me about heaven?
  • The Israelites looked upon the bronze snake to save them from the snake bites in the wilderness. Jesus will save all of us in the same way. Ever since I preached on this passage two years ago, I have tried to remember that every time I see a cross or a crucifix. My savior.
  • John 3:16 and 17 are an extension of this thought. God gave Jesus to be my redemption. Redemption that comes through God’s power and not mine. He didn’t do this to condemn me, but to save me.
  • This is the part that is hard for me. To think of all of the people who do not believe. There are categories of those people. Those who have never heard of you so they don’t know to believe. Those who were raised in other religions and believe in that and not you. Those who were raised with no religion and have a hard time believing. And then those who were raised and trained in you and then walk away.
  • People loved the darkness more than the light. That can certainly be me at any given time. I heard Rich Mullins say one time that sometimes he just wanted you to turn away and ignore him so he could do what he wanted without your judgment–at least for a little while. But the truth is, it’s not your judgment we should fear as much on earth as it is the emptiness of walking away and the vicious cycle of hiding our shame that comes with walking away.
  • Hiding from the light and going towards the light. What an interesting message from Jesus to Nicodemus as they talked at night. I never thought of this before, but was this Jesus pointing out to Nicodemus that he was hiding from the light as he came to learn more from Jesus. Interestingly, Nicodemus would continue to follow Jesus in the shadows until Jesus’s death, when he broke ranks with the Pharisees and went to help Joseph of Arimathea to care for Jesus’s body and put him in the tomb.

Father, draw me close to you. Never let me go. I lay it all down again, to hear you say that I’m your friend. You are my desire. No one else will do. Because nothing can ever take your place. To feel the warmth of your embrace. Help me find the way. Bring me back to you. You’re all I want. You’re all I’ve ever needed. You’re all I want. Bring me back to you.

In Jesus’s name I pray,

Amen

 
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Posted by on January 31, 2021 in John

 

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Nicodemus Part 3 — John 19:38-42

04 May

John 19:38-42
Afterward Joseph of Arimathea, who had been a secret disciple of Jesus (because he feared the Jewish leaders), asked Pilate for permission to take down Jesus’ body. When Pilate gave permission, Joseph came and took the body away. With him came Nicodemus, the man who had come to Jesus at night. He brought about seventy-five pounds of perfumed ointment made from myrrh and aloes. Following Jewish burial custom, they wrapped Jesus’ body with the spices in long sheets of linen cloth. The place of crucifixion was near a garden, where there was a new tomb, never used before. And so, because it was the day of preparation for the Jewish Passover and since the tomb was close at hand, they laid Jesus there.

Dear God, this is the story that made me love and appreciate Nicodemus. John seems to have a soft spot in his heart for Nicodemus (and Pilate for that matter, but that is a subject for another prayer journal). John 3 never references anyone being with Jesus and Nicodemus but Jesus, although it’s feasible that John and some other disciples could have been there. But the story in chapter 7 about Nicodemus trying to passively defend Jesus must have been relayed to John by someone else. Perhaps Nicodemus himself after Jesus’s death and resurrection. I assume John and Nicodemus had a personal relationship. Otherwise, why would John be the only Gospel writer to mention him? And why did he go to great pains in chapters 7 and 19 to not only call Nicodemus by name, but intentionally reference his conversation with Jesus in chapter 3?

So now for this story. Why do I like it so much? Mainly because It is Nicodemus at his lowest point, and yet he shows so much love for Jesus. His anger and anguish drives him into action. He loves this man he believed to be your Messiah, and he is going to show it to the world regardless of the consequences. And although we never read his name again after this story, I’m sure this act cost him his place in the temple and in the community. I would bet that this was his last Passover as a Pharisee.

Afterward Joseph of Arimathea, who had been a secret disciple of Jesus (because he feared the Jewish leaders), asked Pilate for permission to take down Jesus’ body. When Pilate gave permission, Joseph came and took the body away.

First, however, let’s talk about Joseph of Arimathea. Luke and Mark tell us that Joseph was a prominent member of the council, but he did not consent to the death sentence Jesus had received. He was a secret disciple of Jesus. Did he and Nicodemus know this about each other all along, or was this something they figured out over the previous 12 hours?

With him came Nicodemus, the man who had come to Jesus at night. He brought about seventy-five pounds of perfumed ointment made from myrrh and aloes.

John is careful to tell us that Nicodemus brought 75 pounds of perfumed ointment with him. I don’t know how this worked, but I would imagine they did the work right there at the foot of the cross. I would think that they would want to put the ointment on the body and wrap it up before they transported it to the tomb. I have this image in my mind of Nicodemus, grief stricken, disillusioned, and angry carrying this ointment in silence. Then he and Joseph take the body and start to handle the bloody mess. Where would you start? Blood would have to be everywhere. Did they clean the body with the ointment? But they did it.

Following Jewish burial custom, they wrapped Jesus’ body with the spices in long sheets of linen cloth.

This is where I want to spend some time with the other Pharisees. This scene is amazing to me. I picture it completely silent except for hushed murmurs between the Pharisees, wondering what Joseph and Nicodemus were doing. And why were they doing it. Then I imagine no words between Joseph and Nicodemus themselves. Just looks. Glances. Tears. Confusion. I would imagine that the Pharisees were furious and there was hell to pay on Sunday–especially after the resurrection. Joseph was highly respected. Did his exhibited love for Jesus make any of them doubt? How about Nicodemus? Did his demonstration of discipleship and belief make them second guess their own beliefs, if only for a moment? Joseph and Nicodemus said more through their actions than they could ever have said through words.

The place of crucifixion was near a garden, where there was a new tomb, never used before. And so, because it was the day of preparation for the Jewish Passover and since the tomb was close at hand, they laid Jesus there.

I wonder what it was like that night and the rest of the Sabbath and Passover for both Nicodemus and Joseph. Were they afraid? If not for their lives, for their careers and standing in the community? Did they talk to their wives? Their children? Were their families mad at them, or had they already told them how they felt about Jesus? And what about after the resurrection? Did the two men who had lost their standing in the community as well as, likely, their livelihoods join “The Way?” Did Nicodemus and John become friends. Did Joseph get to know all of the apostles? So many unanswerable questions. But I am certain that they both had to pay a price. The questions is, how big?

Father, I have followed you in the past and been disappointed. Even now, part of my soul is comforted by you through these prayer journals. I find camaraderie with characters like Nicodemus. We are all sojourners on this road. We are community, even though 2,000 years separates our earthly lives. Thank you for that. Thank you for loving me even when I question you and half-heartedly acknowledge my love for you. Thank you for forgiving me.

In Jesus’s name I pray,

Amen

Nicodemus Part 1
Nicodemus Part 2

 
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Posted by on May 4, 2019 in John, Nicodemus

 

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Nicodemus Part 2 — John 7:32, 45-52

04 May

John 7:32, 45-52
32 When the Pharisees heard that the crowds were whispering such things, they and the leading priests sent Temple guards to arrest Jesus.
—
45 When the Temple guards returned without having arrested Jesus, the leading priests and Pharisees demanded, “Why didn’t you bring him in?”
46 “We have never heard anyone speak like this!” the guards responded.
47 “Have you been led astray, too?” the Pharisees mocked. 48 “Is there a single one of us rulers or Pharisees who believes in him? 49 This foolish crowd follows him, but they are ignorant of the law. God’s curse is on them!”
50 Then Nicodemus, the leader who had met with Jesus earlier, spoke up. 51 “Is it legal to convict a man before he is given a hearing?” he asked.
52 They replied, “Are you from Galilee, too? Search the Scriptures and see for yourself—no prophet ever comes from Galilee!”

Dear God, I kind of missed something in yesterday’s journal that I want to touch on before I get into this passage today. What was the context within which Nicodemus talked to Jesus at night back in chapter 3? Well, according to John, Jesus was in Jerusalem for the Passover, and he had just cleared the temple of the money changers and such and had told the “Jews” who asked for a miracle that if they destroyed “this temple” he would raise it again in three days. Nicodemus was just trying to make sense of what he was seeing and hearing.

32 When the Pharisees heard that the crowds were whispering such things, they and the leading priests sent Temple guards to arrest Jesus.

Now, for this part of the story, we find Nicodemus again. Jesus goes back to Jerusalem for the Feast of Tabernacles and he upsets the Pharisees. So much so that by the time we get to verse 32 they decide to send temple guards to arrest him.

45 When the Temple guards returned without having arrested Jesus, the leading priests and Pharisees demanded, “Why didn’t you bring him in?”
46 “We have never heard anyone speak like this!” the guards responded.
47 “Have you been led astray, too?” the Pharisees mocked. 48 “Is there a single one of us rulers or Pharisees who believes in him? 49 This foolish crowd follows him, but they are ignorant of the law. God’s curse is on them!”

It wasn’t that the guards couldn’t arrest Jesus. They intentionally chose not to. And they admitted as much to the Pharisees. And the Pharisees’ response? They basically tell the guards that God’s curse is on them and John tells us they ask an interesting question: “Is there a single one of us rulers or Pharisees who believes in him?” In showing their intellectual and spiritual superiority while shaming the guards, they push Nicodemus to a moral dilemma that pushes him just a little out of hiding.

50 Then Nicodemus, the leader who had met with Jesus earlier, spoke up. 51 “Is it legal to convict a man before he is given a hearing?” he asked.

No, it’s not the strongest defense in the world, but it’s enough of an admission of sympathy to reveal some of his inner feelings to his fellow Pharisees. He’s been completely in the closet up until now. He met with Jesus in chapter 3 at night, when no one knew about it. But now he couldn’t keep silent any longer. He was trying to do it in a way that wouldn’t completely reveal his hand. He brought in “the law.” But just saying even the slightest thing in Jesus’s defense provoked their wrath.

52 They replied, “Are you from Galilee, too? Search the Scriptures and see for yourself—no prophet ever comes from Galilee!”

The Pharisees are so flabbergasted by Nicodemus’s defense of Jesus that they accuse him of being a “homer.” They see that he has sympathy for Jesus and their only explanation is to accuse him not of believing in Jesus, but of hoping for the best for him for other emotional reasons.

So in looking back on this story, Nicodemus is on a journey of faith. He is working it out with literal fear and trembling (Philippians 2:12). He tested the waters in this story, and he got smacked down. Did he fail Jesus? Perhaps? Did he ultimately decided on this day to save his own skin rather than argue with his colleagues? Yes. But he definitely progressed on his journey. He hadn’t arrived yet. He hadn’t entered into a stage of worship that would cause him to risk it all out of his love for you and belief in Jesus. He did, however, grow and prepare himself for a day that would ask more from him.

Father, help me to be a little better today than I was yesterday. Help me to have eyes to see my own weaknesses and address them. Give me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, the courage to change the things I can, and the wisdom to know the difference.

In Jesus’s name I pray,

Amen

Nicodemus Part 1
Nicodemus Part 3

 
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Posted by on May 4, 2019 in John, Nicodemus

 

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Nicodemus Part 1 — John 3:1-21

03 May

John 3:1-21 [NLT]
There was a man named Nicodemus, a Jewish religious leader who was a Pharisee. 2 After dark one evening, he came to speak with Jesus. “Rabbi,” he said, “we all know that God has sent you to teach us. Your miraculous signs are evidence that God is with you.”
3 Jesus replied, “I tell you the truth, unless you are born again, you cannot see the Kingdom of God.”
4 “What do you mean?” exclaimed Nicodemus. “How can an old man go back into his mother’s womb and be born again?”
5 Jesus replied, “I assure you, no one can enter the Kingdom of God without being born of water and the Spirit. 6 Humans can reproduce only human life, but the Holy Spirit gives birth to spiritual life. 7 So don’t be surprised when I say, ‘You must be born again.’ 8 The wind blows wherever it wants. Just as you can hear the wind but can’t tell where it comes from or where it is going, so you can’t explain how people are born of the Spirit.”
9 “How are these things possible?” Nicodemus asked.
10 Jesus replied, “You are a respected Jewish teacher, and yet you don’t understand these things? 11 I assure you, we tell you what we know and have seen, and yet you won’t believe our testimony. 12 But if you don’t believe me when I tell you about earthly things, how can you possibly believe if I tell you about heavenly things? 13 No one has ever gone to heaven and returned. But the Son of Man has come down from heaven. 14 And as Moses lifted up the bronze snake on a pole in the wilderness, so the Son of Man must be lifted up, 15 so that everyone who believes in him will have eternal life.
16 “For this is how God loved the world: He gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life. 17 God sent his Son into the world not to judge the world, but to save the world through him.
18 “There is no judgment against anyone who believes in him. But anyone who does not believe in him has already been judged for not believing in God’s one and only Son. 19 And the judgment is based on this fact: God’s light came into the world, but people loved the darkness more than the light, for their actions were evil. 20 All who do evil hate the light and refuse to go near it for fear their sins will be exposed. 21 But those who do what is right come to the light so others can see that they are doing what God wants.”

Dear God, I want to take apart this conversation a little bit because I think it is important that John is the only Gospel writer who told us about Nicodemus. There is obviously something about him that John wants us to know. Much like good story telling, I think one of the things John is doing is giving us something early in the story that he will pay off in the end at the crucifixion.

So let’s start at the beginning:

There was a man named Nicodemus, a Jewish religious leader who was a Pharisee. 2 After dark one evening, he came to speak with Jesus. “Rabbi,” he said, “we all know that God has sent you to teach us. Your miraculous signs are evidence that God is with you.”

John sets up that Nicodemus is one of the dreaded Pharisees that are so ridiculed throughout the Gospels, but he immediately lets us know there is something different about this one. He didn’t come to publicly challenge, trap, and, hopefully, humiliate and disprove Jesus. He came to get to know him a little. He came with an open mind. He came to learn. And he doesn’t lead with a question. He comes “after dark” to speak directly with Jesus, one-on-one, and acknowledges that he recognizes that Jesus is from God.

3 Jesus replied, “I tell you the truth, unless you are born again, you cannot see the Kingdom of God.”
4 “What do you mean?” exclaimed Nicodemus. “How can an old man go back into his mother’s womb and be born again?”

According to John’s account, Jesus immediately initiates the conversation, ignoring the flattery that Nicodemus gave him. He seems to want to challenge Nicodemus–to test him and see why he is really there.

We take the phrase “born again” and put it into the context of this passage, but Nicodemus didn’t have this passage. He was really trying to understand. Jesus is like one of those teachers who asks the vague, esoteric question that is hard to answer, or, in this case, says the provocative thing that will either send someone away or draw them in deeper. In this case, he drew Nicodemus in. Jesus had a lot more to say, but he wanted to first know if Nicodemus was ready to hear it. Would he scoff at Jesus’s statement and leave, or was he really there to learn? Apparently, Nicodemus was there to learn.

5 Jesus replied, “I assure you, no one can enter the Kingdom of God without being born of water and the Spirit. 6 Humans can reproduce only human life, but the Holy Spirit gives birth to spiritual life. 7 So don’t be surprised when I say, ‘You must be born again.’ 8 The wind blows wherever it wants. Just as you can hear the wind but can’t tell where it comes from or where it is going, so you can’t explain how people are born of the Spirit.”
9 “How are these things possible?” Nicodemus asked.

Water and Spirit. That’s the answer to Nicodemus’s question. Jesus acknowledges that, no, you can’t go back into your mother’s womb, but there is a new baptism that is of water and the Spirit. The problem is, the concept of being born of the Spirit is something that can’t be explained in words. So Jesus tells him that being born again means being born of water and the Spirit, but it’s a process that Jesus can’t put into words. But Nicodemus doesn’t give up. He wants to understand: “How are these things possible?”

10 Jesus replied, “You are a respected Jewish teacher, and yet you don’t understand these things? 11 I assure you, we tell you what we know and have seen, and yet you won’t believe our testimony. 12 But if you don’t believe me when I tell you about earthly things, how can you possibly believe if I tell you about heavenly things? 13 No one has ever gone to heaven and returned. But the Son of Man has come down from heaven. 14 And as Moses lifted up the bronze snake on a pole in the wilderness, so the Son of Man must be lifted up, 15 so that everyone who believes in him will have eternal life.

I’m going to break Jesus’s little speech to Nicodemus up into parts. I think this first part is about setting the context. Jesus is basically saying forthrightly to Nicodemus, “I am the Messiah.” Skipping verses 10-12 where he exhibits his exasperation with Nicodemus, Jesus goes on in verse 13 to say that he has come from God in heaven. Then in verse 14 he compares himself with the snake that was sent to save the Israelites from their sin and the snake bites that resulted in Numbers 21:4-9. But then he says that he, Jesus, will be the one lifted up so that everyone who believes in him will have eternal life.

We never get Nicodemus’s reaction to this little speech, but I can only imagine what it was like to hear it in that context. Who does this guy think he is? On the other hand, Nicodemus entered this conversation earnestly trying to get an answer to that question, and now he was getting it. This guy claims to be the Messiah.

16 “For this is how God loved the world: He gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life. 17 God sent his Son into the world not to judge the world, but to save the world through him.

Now Jesus gives us a glimpse into your heart. You love us. How much? Well, so much that you gave us Jesus, your one and only son, so that we would have the opportunity to commune with you for eternity. Your heart is to give us a pathway to salvation. He is saying, “Nicodemus, you need to understand that this God that you worship as all powerful is everything you can imagine and so much more. But don’t miss this one fact that might be hard to believe. He loves you and he wants you. He loves and wants you so much that he sacrificed for it. God gave out of his own being and love just so that you and your fellow humans, Jew or Gentile, will be with him.”

18 “There is no judgment against anyone who believes in him. But anyone who does not believe in him has already been judged for not believing in God’s one and only Son. 19 And the judgment is based on this fact: God’s light came into the world, but people loved the darkness more than the light, for their actions were evil. 20 All who do evil hate the light and refuse to go near it for fear their sins will be exposed. 21 But those who do what is right come to the light so others can see that they are doing what God wants.”

And finally, the wrap-up. You are doing your best to not judge me, but I have to at least love the light more than the darkness. I have to let go of my sin. I have to take the hand that is reaching out to me. You care about me, but as much as Nicodemus had to come to terms with his pride, as a Pharisee and as a man, so I must come to the end of my own pride and love the light more than the darkness.

Father, help me to not only internalize the words that John shared in this passage, but to reflect them to the world as well. Help me to be your ambassador. Help me to take your hand, receive your light, and the humbly share it with the world.

In Jesus’s name I pray,

Amen

Nicodemus Part 2
Nicodemus Part 3

 
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Posted by on May 3, 2019 in John, Nicodemus

 

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Passion Week – The Descent from the Cross: John 19:38-40

20 Apr

The above image is from Revealed: A Storybook Bible for Grown-Ups by Ned Bustard. The image was created by Rembrandt Harmenszoon Van Rijn and is called “Descent from the Cross by Torchlight.”

John 19:38-42 [ESV]
After these things Joseph of Arimathea, who was a disciple of Jesus, but secretly for fear of the Jews, asked Pilate that he might take away the body of Jesus, and Pilate gave him permission. So he came and took away his body. Nicodemus also, who earlier had come to Jesus by night, came bringing a mixture of myrrh and aloes, about seventy-five pounds in weight. So they took the body of Jesus and bound it in linen cloths with the spices, as is the burial custom of the Jews. Now in the place where he was crucified there was a garden, and in the garden a new tomb in which no one had yet been laid. So because of the Jewish day of Preparation, since the tomb was close at hand, they laid Jesus there.

Dear God, I’ve been thinking about this story all day long. It’s the Saturday between Good Friday and Easter morning. As I right this, it is a little less than three hours until midnight. I’ll be the first to admit that I don’t know much about the Passover traditions of the Jewish people, but a couple of things strike me about this story:

  • Bustard actually pairs this image in the book with Mark 15:37-47, but I chose John’s telling of the story instead because he gives us a character the other three Gospels don’t give: Nicodemus. John is the only one who ever mentions Nicodemus at all, but he brings him up three times: chapters 3, 7, and 19. In chapter 3, he asks Jesus how someone can be born again and Jesus goes on his rant that includes several things including the now-famous John 3:16. In chapter 7, the Pharisees are trying to arrest and ultimately kill Jesus, and Nicodemus is there to subtly defend him (verses 50-51). And now he appears again. He went from seeker in chapter 3, to closet disciple and defender in chapter 7, to open disciple and lover in chapter 19. And it was at the lowest moment of defeat and despair that he came out. He and Joseph both. These verses in chapter 19 are my favorite Bible story because John tells us so much in just 11 verses.
  • Each man probably worked very silently as they handled the body. Their grief and anger must have been unbearable. John basically shows us a lot of anger towards the Pharisees in this scene. Pilate is angry with them and puts “Jesus of Nazareth: The King of the Jews” (19:19) on the cross, in Aramaic, Latin, and Greek, no less (19:20) just to goad them (19:22). Now he shows two men whose grief an anger drives them to change their earthly lives forever. There was no turning back now. The love they had for Jesus in that moment is something that I have to question about myself when I hold myself up to their example. Do I love you that much?
  • What was that Sabbath night like for them? After they lay Jesus in the tomb and went home, what happened next? That’s what I mostly thought about today. How much pain were they in? How much anger or support did they receive from their wives/families? What did Saturday night look like after the Sabbath was over? There were a couple of times today when I just tried to get my head into theirs just a little.
  • How hard was it to remove Jesus from that cross? Did they have to pull the nails. This image shows one of Jesus’s feet still nailed to the cross while they lowered him. It also shows presumably Joseph preparing the linen shroud on which the men will place him. Did Rembrandt think about Nicodemus being there? Is he one of the men shown?

Father, tomorrow morning is Easter. To quote a Christian singer from the 80s and 90s, Carman, “It might seem like Friday night, but Sunday’s on the way.” Tomorrow morning is where we find our victory. It’s where we find the power in your mercy. It’s where we find our relief and our peace. I’m sure that Joseph and Nicodemus couldn’t believe it when they heard Jesus was alive. Did they get to see him over those next 40 days before he ascended? Were they there when Peter gave is great sermon and the Holy Spirit descended? As for me, I just hope I can live up to their legacy and be the one to show you love, regardless of what form you take in my life, and regardless of how confident I am that everything is working out the way you want it to.

In Jesus’s name I pray,

Amen

 
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Posted by on April 20, 2019 in John, Passion Week, Revealed: A Storybook Bible for Grown-Ups

 

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Emails to God – My Favorite Bible Story (Matthew 27:57-61)

17 May

57 As evening approached, there came a rich man from Arimathea, named Joseph, who had himself become a disciple of Jesus. 58 Going to Pilate, he asked for Jesus’ body, and Pilate ordered that it be given to him. 59 Joseph took the body, wrapped it in a clean linen cloth, 60 and placed it in his own new tomb that he had cut out of the rock. He rolled a big stone in front of the entrance to the tomb and went away. 61 Mary Magdalene and the other Mary were sitting there opposite the tomb.

Dear God, I think it is interesting that Matthew doesn’t tell us a little detail that John tells us: that Nicodemus, the Pharisee who came to Jesus and asked about being born again, was there too, helping Joseph care for Jesus’ body. Mark tells us that Joseph was “prominent member of the council.” So I have to say that this is my favorite Bible story, and Joseph and Nicodemus are two of my favorite Bible characters. Why? Because they showed their face in the midst of despair and defeat. They showed a love for Jesus that went beyond his divinity and what they owed him as their God. And they did it at their own peril and risk of their own reputation.

I wonder how this story made Matthew, John, and the rest of the apostles feel when they heard it later. I wonder if they castigated themselves for not being there to do this. I wonder if they ever went out of their way to thank Joseph and Nicodemus for what they did. I wonder how Joseph and Nicodemus were treated by the church leaders after this.

Father, these men truly offered their reputations and careers up for you. I hope that, if it came down to it, I would be willing to do the same.

 
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Posted by on May 17, 2012 in Matthew

 

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