Out Of The Dark?

FOR THE Second Sunday in Lent, we read our lesson from the Gospel According to Saint John. The writer revealed God’s plans for redemption through this well-known, telling lesson. The discourse related the created order’s transition from sinful darkness into divine light patterned for those who would believe. God promises reconciliation through his only begotten Son.

Now there was a man of the Pharisees, named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews. This man came to Jesus by night and said to him, "Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher come from God; for no one can do these signs that you do, unless God is with him." 

 Jesus answered him, "Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born anew, he cannot see the kingdom of God." 

 Nicodemus said to him, "How can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter a second time into his mother's womb and be born?" 

 Jesus answered, "Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. 

 Do not marvel that I said to you, 'You must be born anew.'  The wind blows where it wills, and you hear the sound of it, but you do not know whence it comes or whither it goes; so it is with every one who is born of the Spirit." 

 Nicodemus said to him, "How can this be?" 

 Jesus answered him, "Are you a teacher of Israel, and yet you do not understand this? Truly, truly, I say to you, we speak of what we know, and bear witness to what we have seen; but you do not receive our testimony. If I have told you earthly things and you do not believe, how can you believe if I tell you heavenly things?

 No one has ascended into heaven but he who descended from heaven, the Son of man. And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of man be lifted up, that whoever believes in him may have eternal life." 

 For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. For God sent the Son into the world, not to condemn the world, but that the world might be saved through him. 

                                                                                              (John 3:1-17)

 

 

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Just Curious!

We note that today’s lesson begins with a visit to Jesus from a representative of the Sanhedrin, which was a college of religious politicians. In a wonderfully skilled telling, our author related that the man came at night to see Jesus. He was a member of the Pharisees, with privileges granted within that very high council on religious matters and civil rule. He was a respected teacher of the Law. We wonder why did he inquire? Was he coming to Jesus on his own? Was he sent by others? Or was he driven there by the Spirit of God?

 We might also consider why Nicodemus approached at night. Did he not want to be identified? Was he ashamed of being seen with Jesus? Was it a desired time for an uninterrupted, at-length discussion? Or, in today’s vernacular, was he just an over-zealous liberal among conservatives?

 We can only guess at answers to these many questions since we cannot look into the inner motives of the man. As well, we cannot assign to him the suspicious political motives of his court. We can only guess! But think of this…“Was it simply that the questions posed in the reader's mind stand as a scribal tool? I offer that the author is using the man's questions as a conversational tool to relate a tension… one that was formed by Jesus presence. John’s emphasis on ignorance and darkness is dramatically setting the stage for the reader as to what is to be illuminated.

Cross: The Vindication of God By D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones

 For me, the man’s approach at night is very interesting. His name’s meaning in the Greek is brightly defined as ”Victory among the People”, yet he first went to our Lord at a dark time. It is night as told of in the days when persons needed candles, hearths and bright companionship. Night was and still is... a time when vermin, scavengers and bandits roam. Night is a time when the vulnerable among us often need light and friends to guard them safely along their way. A master of the written word, it seems John set for us a threatening stage.

 Nicodemus addressed Jesus with collective respect… “We know…” he said. This tells us that in spite of his singular appearance... unless he expressed leadership using the royal “we”... he was representing more than himself. The question arises, “Does this mean he was there for himself, just a few persons, or the whole seventy in the Sanhedrin?  Or, by being one very interested in “victory among the people”… was he truly noted in John’s writing as a person far more than we can fathom? We see, as we read... the night gets even more mysterious.

 Nicodemus treated Jesus with respect. He called him “Rabbi” and acknowledged that Jesus was “sent from God.” He spoke that the “signs” he performed were evidence of his station. But, by the question asked we must also understand, that Nicodemus was lost in the darkness.

The Switch Goes “Click”

Jesus spoke and the Truth came to Nicodemus. With the statement “Truly, truly (amen, amen…), Jesus established authority even while the man was still mired in darkness. John highlighted that when God... speaks darkness is cast away. We cite…

The earth was without form and void, and darkness was upon the face of the deep; and the Spirit of God was moving over the face of the waters. And God said, "Let there be light"; and there was light.  (Genesis 1:2-3)

 Jesus' words enlighten us. They broke through darkness to gather both Nicodemus and John’s listeners.., both then and now.  However, like Nicodemus... we who walk now in modern times still struggle with these meanings. For example, we of the Church yet grapple with one another over the meanings of one specific word of this reading. The word we wrestle in the darkness with is “again”... which comes from the Greek word., “anothen”. This Greek word may mean either that you must be "born from above”… or you must be “born again”. Given that the usage confused Nicodemus, even as a wizened sage of the Law… should make us feel a bit better. But it doesn’t. We still remain in the dark. Thus Jesus clarified the statement further by adding… “what is flesh is flesh, but what is born of the Spirit is spirit.”

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  According to the worldview of that day, the Spirit comes to us from “above”. Also, as the gospels attest, the Spirit descended and rested upon the shoulders of Jesus at his baptism. Sent from “above” therefore, God comes also to us so that we may be spiritually “born again”. For John then, the power for spiritual redemption comes to our finite beings from above (ref: John 19:11). The result is that we are born again. The first is the cause, while the second is the effect.

 Nicodemus most likely shuddered a bit in the darkness, grappling with demons of preconceived notions… and Jesus was astounded that he still could not see. Our Lord admonished the man’s unbelief. We recall that the scriptures of the day which recorded words of the prophets, spoke of the spiritual illumination that can suddenly occur…

Then the spirit of the Lord will come mightily upon you, and you shall prophesy with them and be turned into another man.  (1 Samuel 10:6)

And most certainly, the power of God from came from above to bring Light. Again from the days just before the exile of Israel comes this….

But this is the covenant which I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the Lord: I will put my Law within them, and I will write it upon their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people.  (Jeremiah 31:33)

In that moment, Nicodemus was being enlightened and called by Jesus to believe. He was asked to look at things with new light, and to… “turn around”... which also means “repent”. He was to turn around and return to Genesis... and begin to see anew the eternal Light of God’s love poured out.

 Nicodemus and the people of the Law were being invited to see that the Light had entered the world and was placed right there before them. Nicodemus was called to immediately step out from the darkness. The Son of man and “only begotten” Son of God was revealed. Light was sitting before him amid a dark and hostile world.

Life Changing!

Though it was likely that Nicodemus tried to walk farther in faith according to the Law, like the rest of us today who still stand with one foot in the darkness and the other in the Light, it is historically recorded that after the death and Resurrection of Jesus… Nicodemus did follow Jesus. He did so by proclaiming the faith. He eventually did come to believe.

 Maybe the words of prophecy reminded Nicodemus that Jesus had predicted his being lifted up, to be displayed like the healing snake held by Moses on a pole. In this, the cross must have become a sign of victory for the victoriously named. Consequently, Nicodemus was witness to the crucifixion, and was present to help take our Lord from the cross of Calvary to be buried. To Nicodemus it may have seemed that his own light had gone out. However, the Truth was soon revealed… the eternal Light of the world had come and even the darkness of death would not overcome him.

 We might wonder, “Why this high drama from John?” I believe that blessed John could not help but be emphatic here. This gospel was to be told before his community as a marvelous illumination of the Truth. This wonderfully interwoven story unfolded before the newly formed Church and called them to not be cast aside, (apoletate = perish).
 Subsequently, all who have been gathered by the Spirit in all times to read and hear these words… are to realize that we have eternal life through faith given from above. Like our predecessors, we are called from above to repent and be born again. We the hearers of this gospel then and now… are the readers… the receivers... who are called from darkness into Light. We are in many ways... those who walk in the footsteps of Nicodemus.

 

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 May the Holy Spirit Guide You Today, Tomorrow and Forevermore.

People Driven By?

WE READ from the Gospel According to Matthew for the First Sunday in Lent. In this lesson we are taught by the author of the writing that just as the Son of God builds our faith, there are powers in this life that would challenge our earthly walk.

Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. And he fasted forty days and forty nights, and afterward he was hungry. And the tempter came and said to him, "If you are the Son of God, command these stones to become loaves of bread." 

 But he answered, "It is written, 'Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.'" 

 Then the devil took him to the holy city, and set him on the pinnacle of the temple, and said to him, "If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down; for it is written, 'He will give his angels charge of you,' and 'On their hands they will bear you up, lest you strike your foot against a stone.'" 

 Jesus said to him, "Again it is written, 'You shall not tempt the Lord your God.'" 

 Again, the devil took him to a very high mountain, and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and the glory of them; and he said to him, "All these I will give you, if you will fall down and worship me." 

 Then Jesus said to him, "Begone, Satan! for it is written, 'You shall worship the Lord your God and him only shall you serve.'" 

 Then the devil left him, and behold, angels came and ministered to him.

                                                                                             (Matthew 4:1-11)

 

Tempted and Tried: Temptation and the Triumph of Christ - eBook By Russell D Moore

Led Beyond Temptations

A reading previously presented in Matthew stated that Jesus was baptized by John, and was declared by the Spirit to be the Son of God. As that scene closed, in continuing the faith witness... the next scene found our Lord being driven into the wilderness by that same Holy Spirit. Jesus went there for prayer and fasting. We emphasize the word “led” used in today's reading (from the Greek- anechthe). This use attests that Jesus went not by independent action, but we may considered him fully as a human being directed by another entity… i.e. the power of the Holy Spirit!

 Originally the witness in the earlier written gospel by Mark’s community related the wilderness trials only briefly. Only two verses told of the time spent there (see Mark 1:12-13). Why is this so, we may ask? I consider that either the knowledge of what had occurred in the wilderness was not fully known by the community of Mark, or the story was not relevant to the primary theme of the writer. Also, we may entertain that Mark simply omitted the account due to the shortness of that earlier gospel scroll. The incident may have simply been relinquished to the cutting room floor.

 We see in comparative gospel research, that Matthew agrees greatly with the Lukan account (Luke 4:1-13). We may subsequently conclude that because Mark was very brief... and both later-written gospels related the event with greater detail… the information found in the later gospel witnesses came from a separate, common revealed source. This means that these two witnesses offered the story from that second source... so to increase the guidance needed in the respective communities of Matthew and Luke.

 This being true, we can focus upon this needed guidance and ask certain questions. First, “Who was physically there in the wilderness to record what happened?”  As we read, we see that only Jesus was led by the Holy Spirit into the countryside. The Devil challenged him there.
 Given this as fact, we further ask, "If they were the only ones there, how then did the Church receive the story in order to write it down?" It is unlikely that our Lord's adversary would highlight the encounter, since that power was cast successfully aside. Hence we must conclude that the story came to the early Church directly from Jesus. If so, the account was told to the Church later by a disciple through the power of the Holy Spirit, in order to accomplish a certain purpose. I believe that purpose was to strengthen those who were part of the early Church.

 

 

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 We know that Christians began to struggle mightily under severe persecutions in the unfolding decades of the first century. Thus when we consider the source of the fully developed story, from a reconstructed writing that we now call the lost “Q” document… we find its unfolding was likely developed very early. The time of origination from Jesus first ministry (c. 30 A.D.), and its being told further during following decades... brings the date to be in concert with the claimed time of Mark's writing (c.68-70 A.D.). Thus, “Q” was subsequently added later to the contents of the other two gospels... Matthew and Luke, which were written down in final form by about 85 A.D. Thus the account is presented as a story directly stemming from Jesus teachings.  The account found its way into the two synoptic gospels.

 If we accept this premise and outcome, using form criticism we can now note that this text seems to be a stand-alone story skillfully woven into that earlier document.  For this reason, we may ask... “What were the Matthean and Lukan communities encountering at the time… that the Markan community was not contending with in earlier days? What spurred the inclusion of this expanded narrative with the account from Mark?

 

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 I consider that since the later gospels related increased tensions between Christians and the firmly entrenched traditional Judaic faith expressions, we may conclude that much greater isolation was occurring for the early Church. Also, persecutions had been pressing hard upon the Christian communities. However, being those who certainly were convicted by the Law of Moses, but yet pardoned for the sake of Jesus Christ… the late first century Christians were provided by Jesus with a new law! That new law set them free for service in the growth of the kingdom. Therefore the wilderness story was written as a new guidance to help those communities. The teaching we find here was a method for their dealing with both the historically entrenched Jews and the Gentile. Both worlds were aflame with evil. The lesson speaks also across several millenia to us as we live in a world that is becoming even more hostile to our salvation and ministry message.

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Lenten Discipline…

Our path as Christians, like that of this faithful ancestral community, should unfold as we are led by the Spirit. We need to go forward just as our Lord was led into that wilderness. Consequently, we are especially called by the Spirit to engage in prayer and fasting during the coming forty days of  Lent. By doing these ancient rituals we shall gather discipline by restraint, through such as this gospel's message which reminds of our Lord’s tribulations in the wilderness.
 Remember! Word through the power of the Spirit strengthen us. Where Jesus was tempted by Satan; so we too are also tempted. The words that Jesus spoke in answer to evil are a prescription given that strips us of fear. They strengthen our own resolve as we work plodding through this often hostile, modern world. Therefore, in the challenges of the coming Lenten season we know surely Satan shall whisper again to us that all is vanity. We shall be tempted to fall away and lessen our seriousness and witness. Consequently, know that to ward off these attacks, only prayer, discipline and a knowledge of Holy Scripture will suffice to strengthen and guide us.

 Note that we have been given an advantage! The community of blessed Matthew did not have all that we have. The early Church did not have the New Testament. They were writing it! So blessed ones, note that our Lord quoted from scripture that which was available during his time upon earth. And indeed we are called to do so as well. However, now we have a far wider foundation than our historical predecessors… thus as Jesus prophesied we may be empowered into the doing of even greater things! We can cite as witness not only from the Law and prophets, but also from the Gospels and the letters preserved from the early Church. With this great storehouse of God’s Word provided, we most certainly speak of Jesus Christ with great resolve.

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 Note that we are called as the Church to witness in the world, and in this God shall empower and defend us. As we tread forward in witness this season, know by the Spirit’s revelation that we are not giving in to the temptations of building our world in our own sinful image. We are brought safely down from that dangerous precipice. We are kept from taking that road paved into hell laid out by the luring, undulating switchbacks of social acceptance. Through the power of the Holy Spirit, we have our feet firmly planted on solid biblical ground. Temptations shall leave. Messengers of God shall minister to us. Let us be guided only by scripture rightly interpreted and proclaimed. Thanks be to God!

Fully Man; Fully God!

OUR READING for Transfiguration Sunday comes to us from the Gospel According to Matthew. However, as the church of Christ, we are called to also note the presence of this same lesson in the writings of Mark and Luke. This seemingly indicates the high importance that the early church writers held for this text. Here we read...

And after six days Jesus took with him Peter and James and John his brother, and led them up a high mountain apart. And he was transfigured before them, and his face shone like the sun, and his garments became white as light. 

 And behold, there appeared to them Moses and Elijah, talking with him. And Peter said to Jesus, "Lord, it is well that we are here; if you wish, I will make three booths here, one for you and one for Moses and one for Elijah." 

 He was still speaking, when lo, a bright cloud overshadowed them, and a voice from the cloud said, "This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased; listen to him." 

 When the disciples heard this, they fell on their faces, and were filled with awe. But Jesus came and touched them, saying, "Rise, and have no fear." 

 And when they lifted up their eyes, they saw no one but Jesus only. And as they were coming down the mountain, Jesus commanded them, "Tell no one the vision, until the Son of man is raised from the dead."  (Matthew 17:1-9)

 

Matthew: Interpretation: A Bible Commentary for Teaching and Preaching (Hardcover) By Douglas Hare

Brighter than Bright…

As we begin reading our lesson through for meaning, the knowledge forms that the text is largely mirrored in other gospels. However, the images that we receive from the other records changed slightly as each community tailored the witness according to the need for relating accuracy and necessity, while using the available parchment resources for community environments. For example, we know that the text found in Mark, being likely the earliest written and possibly the original source document for the later two accounts, says that the event occurred “after six days”. The later Lukan dialog however, seems to disagree with that assessment, saying that the event occurred after “about eight days”. We may ask then about how we should read the scriptural difference?

 I contend that either the “about” vacillation found either may be occurring because of cultural beginnings and endings of days; or the writer of Luke did not hold to the time span with similar importance of the other gospel writers. This last may be reasoned that Luke may be addressing communities more infused with Gentiles. For these latter persons, the six day interval was not held up as important.

 More for our study, however, is that the imposed chapter break found in this reading separates the flow of events.  Jesus had just said in the previous chapter that some of the disciples would not die before the Son of Man would be seen coming in his kingdom (Matthew 16:28). The selection of Peter, James and John then followed. The event, being only days after the former scene… likely occurred at Mount Hermon, near Caesarea Phillippi. This locates close to where the Lord had been doing ministry in the earlier chapter. To expand a familiar maxim then, what the apostles found upon climbing the Mount of Transfiguration was that there was far more to their lowly rabbinical teacher than met the eye.

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 We find that the text related that Jesus was “transfigured” ( Greek – “metamorphothe” or “bodily changed” ). Therefore the miraculous event occurred there as the three men were present as witnesses. Jesus was suddenly presented as far more than they previously had seen. We note that for the privileged apostles another miraculous fact was also revealed… in that Moses and Elijah were also seen as present talking with Jesus.
 We need remember here, that according to Hebrew scripture the lawgiver Moses had died and was buried, and the prophet Elijah had been transported to heaven on a chariot. Consequently, both were far beyond the habitation of men. We thus ask whether symbolically… “Are these two, therefore, representatives of both the Law and those prophets which spoke... and yet still speak through scripture in concert about the Son of Man?” If so, the event spoke boldly to the Sadducee who did not believe in eternal life and the Pharisee who only adhered to the Law as the latter being the Torah in the first five books of the Bible. Here is where I believe the high importance of the event for the synagogue community of Matthew emerges.

 You see, Moses is clearly described as glorified. Thus to the initial readers he represents the redeemed of God that had already passed through the gate of death into the kingdom. Elijah, also  being glorified, represents also those who had entered the heavenly realm alive by the will of God… and still yet has prophetic mission. Thus the three disciples present, who were not yet glorified… were representing Israel. "Israel" as a people is presented therefore as redefined here in Matthew, as a future kingdom of both Judaic believers and other nations to be brought into the kingdom.

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 We note a minor change in witness, in that Matthew said that while Peter was still speaking... the Spirit spoke to them. Oh, this is epic or us to observe! How sinful we yet are… blabbing on when we should be listening. Noted however, is that some words of Mark are here omitted, possibly in that they indicated that Peter was somewhat flabbergasted. In Luke also, he seemingly muttered the booth building proposal because he did not know what else to say. Subsequently, we ask whether it is possible that the Matthean gospel, written in the same era as Luke... deliberately portrayed Peter in more favorable light? The gospel record seems to indicate this possibility because Petrine influence was residually stronger for that community… while Pauline influence was found as more evident in the Markan and Lukan churches. Is this the competitive church nature of which Paul spoke?

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 As the scene unfolds in Matthew, an inclusion also occurred. The voice heard from heaven said that … “This is my beloved Son…: and continued further … “ with whom I am will pleased.”. The latter phrasing is strictly Matthean. In this way, this late account thus links us linguistically backward in time… to the occurrence where John baptized Jesus at the Jordan River. Therefore the author deliberately connected any surviving followers of John the Baptist to the message. This might indicate that they may have yet had influential presence within the writer’s community.

 Given that the event is recorded by all three synoptic gospels, the whole Christian church is molded by the hearing of the happenings on the Mount of Transfiguration. Given the revelations found here, we see that many factors were brought together by the event. Characters who represented both the Law and prophets met together with Jesus, with three prominent disciples as audience. The Spirit of God spoke to the befuddled apostles present, and they were instructed not to divulge their knowledge concerning the identity of the Son of Man as the Son of God… until all things are revealed! This last empowerment would not come to pass until the Spirit of Pentecost brought the Church into being.

 

 

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Rise, Have No Fear…

At this point we may ask, “What is the meaning of this text for the Church today?” Are we readers who are so far removed in time from the church of Matthew still called to receive eternal Truth from this setting? The descriptive text of Matthew relates a moment in time that fulfilled a certain prophetic closure. During the days of Moses the nation of Israel was formed. During the time of Elijah walking upon earth, that same nation wandered far from God… so much so that the land became torn apart and exiled. Prophetic times brought revelations that occurred pointing far beyond their day. During that earlier era, Elijah was prophetically empowered to tell of the corporate resurrection to a widow at Zarephath. If we recall that prophetic resurrection scene, during a time of sinful drought… life was restored to the widow’s son. Centuries later, though there are some today that argue that the young man brought back to life was simply resuscitated by CPR, the resurrection of Jesus Christ after three days was recorded as prophetically authentic by the infant Church. That nation which was previously exiled unto death into Babylon was therefore gathered not by happenstance... but was resurrected not as a geographical return often credited to Greek and Roman-ruled conquest, but by the Son of Man crucified and Risen.

 

 

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 Now Is The Time!

 For the early Church, this time of waiting and fulfillment was hard to fathom, as evidenced by Peter’s reaction. He was wrong at the time to work for the physicality of heaven here upon earth. Even today, whatever tabernacles we propose to build in efforts of progressive religion or politics, to make for ourselves booths in our world… we must always remember to prayerfully ask God for his prophetical fulfillment. As answer to this danger, we must look to scripture for our foundation. At the time of the Transfiguration, booths could not be built. The sacrifice of Christ upon the cross was not yet offered. Important future actions needed were not yet done by Peter and his companions.
 Our answer now is that we should mirror that which is historically revealed to us in scripture… in both Old Testament and New Testament. Note that Jesus, as revealed by the power of the Spirit on the Mount of Transfiguration, was revealed as both Son of Man and Son of God. This Jesus, born into the world and divinely shown, fooled Satan and took upon Himself the penalty of death for us. He took our punishment for denial and unbelief… dying on the cross to save us… and was then Resurrected by the love of the Father. In this way he gave us his eternal life. The divine plan was shown as long to be internationally portable, available to all persons by the vision on the mountain and soon finished afterward by our Savior.

Consequently we today are called to see more clearly the glistening message related to the followers in Matthew’s infant church. God’s love surely universally endures.., but God’s love was poured out particularly though Christ… freeing us from the ritual offerings of Moses and from the exile that followed the time of Elijah. Revelation of our sinful separation from God was shown clearly through the Law and the prophets, but in the days of the apostles God was shown as doing a new thing.

 You see, by gift of the Holy Spirit our Lord preserved for us this reading… so that we may see that our future today is secured into eternity. Just as Jesus our Lord was baptized by John, we too are baptized. Just as the apostles saw the glorious revelation of Light we too may see that same Light. Christ Jesus arose from the grave and we shall arise unto eternal life in accordance with the promise. So the words of our Lord still reach across the centuries to us. Let us hear this message clearly on Transfiguration Sunday… for Jesus said to his followers… “Arise, and have no fear.”  Thanks be to God.