Tag Archive: Jesus

Journey Through John, John 1.29-34 — I have seen and I testify

March 30, 2020 0 Comments

Dear Friend,

When it comes to the things of God, God must reveal Himself. He is doing this all the time. Often we miss Him, and we need someone to point and say — Look!

Here’s our text for today: John 1:29-34

29The next day John saw Jesus coming toward him and said, “Look, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world! 30This is the one I meant when I said, ‘A man who comes after me has surpassed me because he was before me.’ 31I myself did not know him, but the reason I came baptizing with water was that he might be revealed to Israel.”

32Then John gave this testimony: “I saw the Spirit come down from heaven as a dove and remain on him. 33And I myself did not know him, but the one who sent me to baptize with water told me, ‘The man on whom you see the Spirit come down and remain is the one who will baptize with the Holy Spirit.’ 34I have seen and I testify that this is God’s Chosen One.”

John the Baptist is pointing to Jesus with humility and hope. He is clear. John is a faithful prophet.  He is fulfilling the work of God by testifying to what he has seen.

Each statement by John about Jesus deserves more reflection, but for now let’s capture them and see them with John. Every statement from John’s mouth is packed with power to disrupt the mind and heart. 

These would have been disturbing statements to declare about anyone. Remember John is on the other side of the Jordan from Jerusalem. He is on the fringes and folks have been coming out to him to see what’s going on. Now the pinnacle of what’s going on from his perspective is about to happen.

“The next day John saw Jesus coming toward him and said, “Look…”  So let’s look with John the Baptist. Look!

Look! Jesus is The Lamb of God.

“Look, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!” (verse 29)

Look! Jesus is the one who “was before me.”

“This is the one I meant when I said, ‘A man who comes after me has surpassed me because he was before me.” (verse 30)

Look! Jesus had to be revealed to John and now Jesus is being revealed to Israel.

“I myself did not know him, but the reason I came baptizing with water was that he might be revealed to Israel.” (verse 31)

Look! Jesus has the Spirit of God abiding with him.

“I saw the Spirit come down from heaven as a dove and remain on him.” (verse 32)

Look! Jesus is going to baptize people with the Holy Spirit.

“The man on whom you see the Spirit come down and remain is the one who will baptize with the Holy Spirit.” (verse 33)

Look! Jesus is God’s Chosen One.

“I have seen and I testify that this is God’s Chosen One.” (verse 34)

Wow! John says that when we look at Jesus the man, we see the preexisting one, coming from God according to His purposes, to sacrificially offer Himself and take away the sin of the world and then He will include people in the communion of God by baptizing them with the Holy Spirit!

Wow!


Let’s Pray

Heavenly Father,

Oh how we need your revealing work to continue! Come Holy Spirit and disrupt our dark minds and hearts. Let our minds be shaken to consider the glory of Jesus again. Let our affections be disturbed that we might embrace Jesus fully. Oh Lord we would see Jesus and receive Him as the Lamb of God — take away our sin. We would receive Him and the gift of communion with You. Immerse us in your Spirit that we may see and testify of Jesus as well. Thank you for granting this grace to us.

In Jesus’ name,

Amen.

Take a moment to pause and write your own prayer of response to God.

Our next reading will be from John 1:35-43.

Journey Through John's Gospel

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Journey Through John, John 1:16-18, Out of His Fullness We Have All Received Grace

March 25, 2020 0 Comments

Dear Friends,

Do you feel stretched thin? As if you are not enough for these days?

In Fellowship of the Ring J.R.R. Tolkien captures the condition of every age and our lives. As the Covid-19 crisis presses in on us in North America I hear many speaking symptomatically of the condition. Perhaps the contraction of activity and the contraction of our relationship circles is forcing us to acknowledge: we have been stretched thin.

In The Fellowship of the Ring Bilbo Baggins says: “I feel thin, sort of stretched, like butter scraped over too much bread.” 

Ever present in that line is the ring —the ring of power tucked away in Bilbo’s pocket. We like to focus on the words “I feel thin, like butter scraped over too much bread” and forget about the ring.

Seth Godin has suggested that the issue for many of us (in life, leadership and organizations) is “too much bread.” Most of us though read the line as a matter of not enough butter. Godin is onto something: if we idolize busyness then we will keep adding more to our lives so we aren’t really enough. Perhaps he is right: we hide behind busyness rather than risk the focus and vulnerability required to make an impact.

Hmmmm, well no matter the problem — not enough butter or having too much bread, I think Tolkien is onto something. The “ring,” that which had become “the precious” to all who “owned it” stretched out Bilbo’s life, but it had cost him. And so it is with all our idols. They own us. They stretch us out and they exact a toll on us. 

Idolatry always believes that this other thing, entity, or accomplishment will truly make us a person; that it will satisfy the longings of our soul and make us loveable, secure, or powerful. But none of that was made to bear the weight of our souls.

Only Jesus can bear the weight of our souls. Everything else will stretch us out and make our souls thin. Our souls were made to find their fullness in God.

The Apostle John and those who received Jesus experienced God’s presence for their lives in a way that kept on and continually added to their lives. They discovered that their affection for Jesus didn’t stretch them thin but actually filled them up.

Notice what John writes of confessionally of Jesus:

16Out of his fullness we have all received grace in place of grace already given. 17For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. 18No one has ever seen God, but the one and only Son, who is himself God and is in closest relationship with the Father, has made him known.

John 1:16-18

Wow! Out of His fullness we have all received grace in place of grace already given. John acknowledges that the Law given through Moses had been a kind of grace. His whole life had been shaped by the Law and a genuine desire to know God. But perhaps his generation had also been stretched thin by their pursuit of the law’s call for perfection. The truth — of knowing God — had been just out of reach. But now in Christ, John and his friends had received grace upon grace; they had received the fullness of God’s presence with them. 

This is grace — God’s presence; God’s presence with us providing more than enough. What was Jesus full of? His relationship with the Father.

Oh, let’s repent of the pursuits that stretch us thin. Let’s give up the “rings of power.” Let’s yield our lives to HIm. For Jesus “who is himself God and is in closest relationship with the Father” is making God, the true source of our lives known.

Let’s Pray.

Heavenly Father,

We were made your communion. But we have collected much and given our lives to guarding that which promised what only you can give. We have hoarded deadly affections. The very real possibility of losing some of these things has created anxiety for us. They have hollowed us out and stretched us thin. Perhaps we have “rings of power” tucked away in our pockets. We thought they would secure our souls. But now, Lord, we feel stretched thin. Forgive us Lord. We repent. We lay them down. We turn to you. Fill us up with your Spirit. Direct us into the life of your Son, Jesus Christ, that we may live. We desire to be in closest relationship with you. 

In the name of Jesus we pray,

AMEN.

Our next reading will be John 1:19-28.

Journey Through John's Gospel

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Journey Through John, #5, John 1:14-15, The Word Became Flesh

March 24, 2020 0 Comments

Dear Friends,

God has inextricably linked himself to the fortunes of people and His Creation. We are not just a mass hurling through space upon which the universe occasionally acts in our favour. Instead God is personally engaged with us, always and for good. I find that to be good news. 

Although many folks have constructed their views of the world without God’s engagement, I’m not sure I want to live in a world in which love in its fullest form rightly shaped with grace and truth is absent or alien to us. 

The Apostle John’s whole view of the world was changed by knowing Jesus. He introduced a new take on the origin story in the first line of his gospel: “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.” His listeners might have found themselves nodding in agreement philosophically, but then this:

14The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.

15(John testified concerning him. He cried out, saying, “This is the one I spoke about when I said, ‘He who comes after me has surpassed me because he was before me.’ ”)

John 1:14-15

Now John is also offering a new deliverance story not just for Israel but for all humanity. The history of Israel includes years of dwelling in tents before they settled in the land promised to Abraham and Sarah’s descendants. God himself visited Moses and Joshua in the tent of meeting and then the Tabernacle. That word tabernacle or tenting is used here in regard to dwelling. The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. God’s active engagement with us is seen in that he shared our tent, our own bodily tabernacle: he took on flesh — he incarnated.

The full deliverance of Israel from Egypt and from themselves in the wilderness was accomplished by the God who dwelled with them. Now the full deliverance of humanity from  darkness and themselves would be accomplished by the incarnation of the Word. Jesus has entered into all our relationships: with God, with self, with people, and with the stuff of earth!

Eugene Peterson famously seeks to capture the joyous announcement in this passage when he writes in The Message:

14The Word became flesh and blood,
and moved into the neighborhood.
We saw the glory with our own eyes,
the one-of-a-kind glory,
like Father, like Son,
Generous inside and out,
true from start to finish.

15John pointed him out and called, “This is the One! The One I told you was coming after me but in fact was ahead of me. He has always been ahead of me, has always had the first word.”
John 1:14-15, THE MESSAGE

So, you want to know who God is?
You want to know what God is like?
You want to know what God thinks of us?
You want to know what God is saying to us?

Come, come and see Jesus. We are all pointing to Jesus. Listen to Him. Just like John the Baptist — we are all pointing to Jesus.


Let’s pray.

Heavenly Father, The glory of Jesus is the glory of You. Help us see you. We want to know you. We want to be with you as we race through space and as we occupy a space on the globe. Our world seems to only have diminished versions of truth and of grace, such that we hardly know what these words mean. What is truth? What is grace? Something stirs within us and we know we need it. We need your truth. We need your grace. So, you have given us Jesus. Both are perfectly contained in Him. Thank you!

In Jesus Name, we say, Thank you!

Amen.

Our next reading will be from John 1.16-18

If you would like to get an overview of the book of John take some time with the short online course developed by Nick Crawley at Bible for Life.

Journey Through John's Gospel

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John 1:1-5 — Jesus shines

March 18, 2020 0 Comments

The Gospel of Jesus is an announcement, “God reigns.” No matter the darkness of the night, or of our souls, or of the corrupt behaviour infecting our lands. God reigns. The Gospel of Jesus has a historical reach that includes all the time humanity experiences. In fact God has exceeded our imaginations: before Creation the Communion of God existed. All we see in the cosmos has its origin in Him.

The Apostle John has written his book, so “you may believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that by believing you may life in his name.” (John 20:31) Let’s read this Gospel with John’s intention: to believe and to receive the life Jesus gives.

1In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2He was with God in the beginning. 3Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made. 4In him was life, and that life was the light of all mankind. 5The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome

John 1:1-5, NIV

This morning I was reading the Prophet Jeremiah in chapters 21-23. Not pleasant. Even Jeremiah himself felt the weight of God’s Word in respect to the days to come. He says, “My heart is broken with in me…” (Jeremiah 23:9) Yet in the midst of God’s judgment on the kings and the prophets, and the people, God offers glimmers of hope.

5“The days are coming,” declares the Lord,“when I will raise up for David a righteous Branch ,a King who will reign wisely and do what is just and right in the land. 6In his days Judah will be saved and Israel will live in safety. This is the name by which he will be called: The Lord Our Righteous Savior.

Jeremiah 23:5-6

If there is darkness; The Lord is still present. If there is light; The Lord is present with us.

This morning I looked through the spaces between my house and our neighbour’s house; this is what I saw:

O wee moon sliver
it’s morning and I see thee.
The Day cometh soon.

In the Gospel of Jesus we have the announcement: we — all people — live now between the Resurrection and the Return of Jesus. His light shines. Generations of people lived between the Creation and The Cross. But we live now between Jesus’– life-death-burial-resurrection-ascension AND His return. We have much in common with people on the “other side of the Cross of Jesus,” including this: the light of God has never, never, never ever stopped shining.

Jesus, Journey Through John's Gospel

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Prayer of the People, 2 February 2020

February 4, 2020 0 Comments

Heavenly Father,

You have called us to walk in love with You. Thank you for bringing us into your communion — the communion of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit.

You have called us to be Your light. It is hard to do this when we feel unloved, forgotten, and unworthy.  We ask that You will help us receive Your goodness, forgiveness, and lovingkindness. Shine the light of your Word and your Presence in our lives. 

Light up the darkness we have hidden in because of shame, guilt, and fear. Cause us to see as you see. Heal us of blind-spots conditioned by our society, by our families, by our experiences, and by our choices.

And Lord give us courage fuelled by the experience of being loved by you. Sometimes we just don’t want to see — we are afraid it will be too painful to acknowledge and to enter into the pain some people are living with constantly.

We lift up people who are on the journey for refuge in Greece. Allow them to experience Your loving Presence and provision; show us how to join You in receiving them and in caring for them in your name.

On the continent of Africa people living close to the land are facing a food security crisis in several countries. Lord, the locusts swarm and eat harvests intended for people’s food; we ask for your intervention. We pray that you would stop the locusts.

Oh Lord you are like a tree whose leaves bring healing. You bring healing to the nations. There is lots of fear over the coronavirus.  We ask that you give health officials, doctors, and nurses wisdom. May you spring up like a tree of healing in Wuhan for those who feel trapped. Help us all to turn from fear to You and to receive Your strength, love, and wisdom. 
Help us, Jesus.

Oh Lord strengthen us so that the manners of fear do not keep us from being openhearted with others. Cause us to be a community of love and obedience walking by Your Spirit — an attractive light others desire to be in. Then, images of grief and struggle may move us, stories of hardship and overcoming may inspire us and we will live the story You envision for us: a people who walk together in the way of Jesus — loving each other through all our struggles and seeing your kingdom come.

In your name we pray.  Amen.

Please join me in praying the Lord’s prayer.

Our Father in heaven,
hallowed be your name,
your kingdom come,
your will be done,
on earth as it is in heaven.
Give us today our daily bread.
And forgive us our debts,
as we also have forgiven our debtors.
And lead us not into temptation,
but deliver us from the evil one;
for yours is the kingdom,
and the power, and the glory, 
forever. 
Amen.

Prepared by Ellen and Craig O’Brien

Prayer

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