John 12:20-36

Dear Friends:  Please take a look at John 12:20-36 before Sunday, because this is the passage we are going to dwell on for a few minutes in our service message.  It is the story of a group of Greeks (read "non-Jews", or citizens of secular society) who seek Jesus out and want to see Him.  They approach His disciples, who in turn approach Jesus.  Interestingly enough, the story never tells us whether or not they get a chance to talk with the Master, but it does allow Jesus a platform to continue to teach the people some important truths about God.

 

In this story Jesus instructs those listening of a very fundamental fact of agriculture.  When a seed is planted in the ground, it has to "die" -- that is, it has to cease being a seed and germinate -- before it can bear fruit as a fully mature plant.  Likewise, Jesus is saying, He also has to die before His followers can receive the Holy Spirit and become faithful disciples, transformed by God's power into the image of Christ.  Like the glass that is filled to the brim with water, something has to go out before what is fresh can come in.

 

The season of Lent is a time of both letting go and grabbing hold.  We are called to let go of unforgiveness, anger, deceit, unfaithfulness, jealousy, and a host of other things that can keep us from receiving God's Spirit.  These things have to die from within us.  And once they are gone, we can receive the renewing and refreshing life that only God can give.

 

This Sunday we are going to talk about this process, and hopefully find some ways together that we can better make this a Holy Lent, and boldly go forward to "let go and let God."

Five loaves of bread and two fish feed 5,000

Dear friends: 

Coming up are the following Anglican District of Virginia events:  the Men's Retreat, the Women's Retreat, and subscribing to the free e-letter.  I encourage you to take advantage of these events if at all possible.

 

This Sunday we find ourselves winding through Lent, and going through the Gospel narratives along with it.  Before you know it, it will be time for the excitement of Palm Sunday, the despair of Good Friday, and the absolute joy of Easter.

 

But before then the lectionary reading finds us in Galilee, alongside the Lake (John 6:4-15).  A crowd had heard Jesus speaking and teaching that whole day.  Now they were hungry, and didn't have anything to eat.  What was to be done?  No one had enough money to buy food for these 5,000 men, plus an undetermined number of women and children.  So Jesus took what He had:  five loaves of bread and two fish.  And He miraculously turned it into a feast for thousands.  The crowd was so excited by this turn of events that they tried to make Jesus King right then and there.  But obviously they didn't understand the way we do.  We know that Good Friday and Easter lie ahead, the only way to and through the Kingdom of God.

 

There is a lot going on here, and we'll discuss a couple of things on Sunday, but in preparation for Sunday let's make a quick observation.  John is very purposeful in telling this story in such a way that the reader thinks about Moses and the miracle of the manna in the Wilderness.  He tells us that the incident occurs at Passover (the feast that celebrates the Exodus of the people of Israel out of Egypt).  Further, Jesus commands that all the scraps of bread be gathered so nothing is wasted.  If you remember, Moses also told the people, after they had complained of hunger and had received the manna from Heaven, that they were to gather any scraps for dispossal.  None of the manna would last into the next day. 

 

The Gospel writer is telling us that Jesus is the true bread of life.  The manna in the Wilderness held body together for a day.  But Jesus is the true bread:  with Him, we are given true life for eternity. 

 

Be sure to look over this passage for Sunday, because we are going to go on from here to discuss Holy Communion, and how our faith in Christ holds it all together!

Lent Continues with Jesus cleansing the Temple

Dear Friends:  Please notice the correction to the ADV men's retreat brochure that Alan handed out this past Sunday.  Guys, I hope you can go to this -- it will really be a blessing to you!!

 

As we move through Lent, we move through the various places in the Gospel accounts where Jesus predicts His death and Resurrection.  The only place such a prediction appears in the Gospel of John is in the passage we are considering this Sunday, John 2:13-22.  It is tied to the famous "Jesus cleansing the Temple" scene, which occurs early in John but late in the other Gospels.

 

Perhaps some of us have heard the saying, "Gentle Jesus, meek and mild."  Well, whoever wrote that never read the story we are considering!!  Here, Jesus goes into the Temple grounds on a major feast day, when lots of visitors to Jerusalem were present to watch, and he overturned tables, chased out cattle, set birds free, and basically tore up the "marketplace" set up by the religious authorities.  Some have considered that Jesus just didn't like the selling of merchandise in God's House.  I have had some faithful believers get very upset at the youth group selling cookies in the Fellowship Hall to raise money for a mission project.  But I'm sorry, such is not the case.

 

What Jesus actually didn't like was the whole way "religion" was being packaged in that day.  For the Passover feast, visitors had to come in and purchase animals for the required sacrificial offerings.  What Jesus didn't like was not the vending of goods; rather, He didn't like this whole way of reaching out to God.  A new way of relating to God was coming.  Jesus' death and Resurrection opened up a whole new relationship with the Divine.  The trappings of the Temple practices were no longer needed.

 

Sometimes the Church has to stand up to practices that just don't relate people to God.  Perhaps Church officials and denominational leaders are teaching and doing things that just don't please God.  Sometimes we have to just run around and "tear up" things, starting afresh when the Church just doesn't please God anymore.

 

There is a whole lot more going on in this passage, but if I were to tell you all that, you might be tempted to sleep in this Sunday!!  So I'll see you then!!

First Sunday of Lent

Dear Friends: This Sunday is the first Sunday of Lent, a time of reflection, repentence, and introspection. It is a time to confess our sins and transgressions to the Lord, to look inside, and to give our lives over to God afresh. And this is a good thing -- we need a time specially set apart for confession before God, to help keep us oriented towards God, and not towards ourselves.

But this season is also a time of preparation for Easter, when Christ rose from the dead, overcoming death, and all that life might throw at us to oppose the Lord. Odd as it may sound at first, this is also a season chock full of the grace of God, with splashes of Easter joy penetrating our consciousness every Sunday.

So Lent presents us with a Holy Tension. See how this works itself out when we compare Ash Wednesday to the first Sunday of Easter (the Scripture reading is Mark 1:9-13; you might want to take a look at it before proceeding)

repentence...........................baptism

ashes..................................water

"I confess"..........................."This is my Son"

You can easily see what I mean. Lent always focuses us inward on our need for grace, and focuses us upward to the giver of grace.

This passage finds Jesus wandering in the Wilderness for 40 days, to experience temptation at the hands of the devil. Jesus overcame this, enabling us to overcome temptation when we encounter it. But notice that the Wilderness is the place where God is met, and where God places us when we need it. Jesus was compelled to go into the Wilderness by the Holy Spirit.

Perhaps the tensiion of Lent can give us clues as to how to deal with our own Wilderness situations. We'll talk about this on Sunday, and I'll see you there.