I Came. I Saw. I Abided

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John 1:29-42

In the ancient world one of the things you did to introduce someone of importance was to use titles…extravagantly.  Looking at the Gospel of John and how John introduces Jesus, we find some pretty hefty titles - “Lord” (that’s shorthand for God), “Lamb of God”, “Son of God”, “Rabbi”, “King of Israel” “Messiah”, and “Christ”.  These are some hefty credentials.

If you were a 1^st Century Jew these titles had a particular significance for you.  They all refer to Jesus being the One the Jews were expecting God to send to deliver them from Roman oppression and finally establish the Kingdom of God on Earth once and for all.  And John makes things even bigger than that. At the opening of his Gospel John calls this One the Word of God become human; the very speaking of God become human; indeed, God himself become human.  If you were a Jew, these titles claimed without a doubt that your God himself has intervened at the cosmic level of Creation to come himself to deliver you as this man Jesus of Nazareth.  That’s pretty huge.

If you were a non-Jew, and particularly a Roman, in these titles you would hear a rival challenge to the divine authority of the Roman Emperor.  The title Son of God was particularly interesting because Caesar himself claimed to be the Son of Zeus, the greatest of their god’s.  Other titles like Lord and Saviour were distinctively reserved for Caesar as well.  So, John opens his Gospel introducing Jesus as truly being who Caesar deceitfully claimed himself to be.

That Caesar thing said, one of the things we should do if we want to read John’s Gospel in a way faithful to its original context is maybe we should be listening for ways in which John compares Jesus to iconic Roman emperors such as Julius Caesar.  Taking up this task, one of the most famous things Julius Caesar said and which everybody knew he said was, “Vini, vidi, vici.” “I came, I saw, I conquered.”  

This phrase was probably the most iconic pop-culture dude-phrase in Western history up until Frank Sinatra sang “I did it my way”.  I can imagine it being like the bragging slogan of a professional wrestler who is trying to portray himself as being all-powerful, invincible, and without rival.  “I came, I saw, I conquered”.  Just a imagine any sports figure in an interview and the sportscaster asks very benignly, “Tell me about yourself”, and he answers in his gruffest, most intimidating voice, “I conquer.”  Well, maybe I watched too much wrestling as a kid.

If “I came, I saw, I conquered” was a well-known pop-culture phrase describing the epitome of what it was to be powerful in Jesus’ day, maybe it’s not too much too much of stretch to say that John was dropping a little pop-culture reference into his Gospel to do a little compare and contrast at describing the way of Jesus’ disciples are to live and what it is to be a true person.  John writes, “They came and they saw where he was staying and they abided with him for that day.”  They came, they saw, they abided.  What makes a person truly a person isn’t conquering others, but rather abiding with Jesus - being in a disciple’s relationship with Jesus the Rabbi, Son of God, King of Israel, Spirit of God Anointed One, Lord of the Cosmos is what it is to be truly a person.  

John leads us to notice that instead of the word “conquer” we get the word “abide” or “remain”.  Jesus unlike Caesar does not conquer.  He rather invites people into a relationship with him.  “Come and see,” he said and they came, they saw, and they abided.  As a side note, John later in his own life does use the word “conquer” to describe the followers of Jesus.  In the Book of Revelation, a book very much about what it was to be a Christian in a Roman world, John often says that those who conquer are those who have been martyred for Jesus.  

But here, instead of conquer John uses the word abide, a word that he uses over forty times in his Gospel.  The word in Greek, meno, has a wide range of meaning from quite literally meaning staying in a place to the more metaphorical meaning of enduring through trials, standing your ground in faith.  Meno is a relationship word, a hospitality word about keeping space and time in the life of another and welcoming others into your own life meaning stay with me, abide with me, see how I live, know me.  

In John’s Gospel meno is a very theologically significant word.  The Holy Spirit descends and abides on Jesus and also upon and in…us.  We abide in Jesus and he in us.  God the Father abides in Jesus and Jesus in him and they in us and us in them.  So, abiding in Jesus means we are partakers of the triune life of God, the relationship of God the Father and God the Son in and by means of God the Holy Spirit.  We are bonded, glued, grafted to Jesus by the presence of the Holy Spirit with and in us so that we participate in his relationship with God the Father as beloved children.  Just as Jesus is the Beloved Son of God so are we beloved by God as his own children.  Not like little children but as adults in the family with who bear the responsibility of living honourably as members of the family of God.  Abiding in Jesus is where we discover this utterly transforming, personally re-creative, relational knowledge about ourselves and one another.

John further describes abiding in Jesus as being where we grow and become like Jesus.  In John 15 Jesus talks about himself as being the True Vine.  He says, “Abide in me” that we may bear fruit.  If we keep his commandments we abide in his love.  The life-creating word of God, which is Jesus abiding in us, is “faith” or better yet, “faithfulness”.  I think the word loyalty is probably the best word to use because it keeps things purely relational where the word faith can be co-opted and reduced to being simply religious beliefs.  If you are loyal to someone it means they can trust you just as much as you trust them.  Abiding in Jesus in “loyalty”, in the Holy Spirit bonded relationship with Jesus and each other, this is discipleship.  Abiding in Jesus we find prayers answered.  Those who do not abide in Jesus abide in darkness and even experience “the wrath of God.”  Abiding with and in Jesus is where we hear this word that God loves “even me” as his own beloved child.  

So, what is it then to “abide”?  Abiding is maintaining a relationship with Jesus.  It is spending time in his presence.  It is living according to his teachings.  And, it is something we do together.  My grandmother, Mawmaw, was one of the people who unknowingly taught me what it was to be a beloved child in the family.  This was something I would not have learned if I had not spent time with her.  I’m not going to claim that she was full of wisdom where if you needed advice on what to do or life was overwhelming and you needed to know how to deal with it, just go see Mawmaw and tell her what was up and she would speak the words of wisdom that would be exactly what you needed to hear and it would fix everything.  That’s not how she was.  When I was a child, she did all the things that grandmothers do for grandchildren.  Held us, fed us, played with us, read to us, befriended us, made us each feel like we were her favourite.  As a grew up, and could start making the choice of whether I wanted to go see Grandma and Grandaddy, I had to think why it was I wanted to go see them.  Mostly, it was because it was home.  If you went to their house, they were just so happy you came.  Grandma would cook you a meal.  Sit with you while you ate.  And she would talk…talk your ear off really.  Tell you stories about family you didn’t know, bring you up to speed on the family you knew, most of it was the same stories you heard the last time you were there.  But, the clincher about being there was I knew with Mawmaw I was dearly loved and always, always welcome and she absolutely cherished the time she spent with me, with each of us…and dang it that’s what love is.

When I speak of abiding with or in Jesus, it is like time with Grandma.  It is time spent with a Presence who is unconditionally loving and hospitable.  The meal, the feast, is God’s Presence.  God is a Presence in our lives about whom we just have to accept the fact that God is here and simply choose to acknowledge and come to grips with it.  From there, we must strive to always be mindful of God’s Presence and turn that mindfulness into prayerfulness.

Here's something I do that’s like going to Grandma’s kitchen.  My day starts before everybody else in the house get’s up.  I go downstairs, get a coffee, and sit on the couch, and start reading the Bible.  But, it’s more than that.  I give space to God.  There are empty sitting spaces in the living room, two recliners and the other end of the couch.  To me, those seats are for the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit and we are gathered as Us.  I give space, I open myself for God’s Presence to be there with me.  Being open to the Presence of another is key to be open to the Presence of God.  I share what’s on my mind, no holds barred.  It’s very emotive.  

I also give time for God to speak.  You never know when the voice in the back of your head may be God speaking, but also don’t simply assume that it is.  Sometimes God will just speak.  I read some Old Testament, some New Testament, and several Psalms.  I pray for everyone in these churches and a lot more.  I also use a Roman Catholic prayer resource based on the Psalms that is used by many throughout the world.  Finally, I will just open the Bible and read what’s on that page.  All that reading and praying is a lot like sitting at the table while Grandma natters on about people I don’t know, but whom I have a relation.  Yet, somehow in the midst of it all.  I get the sense that God has heard my prayers and has addressed me.

Finally, abiding with Jesus is something we cannot resign to being merely our own personal relationship with him.  Abiding in Christ must also include our relationships to others.  With my family and friends and even with people I don’t know, I try to be as Grandma was with me as best as I can.  There is nothing I cherish more than spending time with my family, cooking a meal for them.  If they give me the opportunity to natter on I will and it takes a lot of patience on their part.  Mostly, I will just be silently with them, being mindful of God’s presence, and praying for us.  As best as I can figure, that is abiding in Christ.  It is a much more beautiful way of being than, “I came. I saw. I conquered.”  Jesus is with us.  Rest assured of that.  Abide in him always.  Be mindful of his Presence with you and be prayerful.  Amen.

A Poultice to Heal the World

John 1:29-42

I’m sure many of you have horror stories of when you were a child and had a chest cold and sore throat and it was likely it was your grandmother who whipped up a mess of boiled potatoes mushed up with mustard and onions and a few other stinky goodies; an old family recipe.  She then smeared it all over your chest and throat and it smelled so bad you didn’t want to breathe, but it worked.  Anybody have that happen? I was lucky.  My mom just rubbed Mentholatum all over me and that has been our go to for the kids.  They even ask for it. 

Since the onset of pharmaceutical solutions to colds, aches, and infections we don’t see too many people going the route of treating with an herbal poultice. A poultice is a form of treatment where you apply a cooked up paste of stinky goodies to an infected area that is supposed to absorb the infection into itself.  After a few hours you remove it and reapply.  I’ve made one here with turmeric, ginger, onion, and garlic.  It’s supposed to be good for drawing the infection in a boil to the surface and for relieving pain in an arthritic joint and, all the while, warding off vampires.  There are all kinds of recipes for poultices and as many of them work as don’t.  Regardless, the idea is that they will draw out the infection in the affected area and relieve the inflammation associated with it.

Keep that in mind because I am going to try to convince you that the proper way to understand what God was doing in, through, as Jesus Christ is similar to the healing work of a poultice.  God the Son himself became human to draw out humanity’s disease of sin and its consequence of death into himself so that he might once and for all die with it and heal us.  His healing work is applied to us and continues today carried out by the Holy Spirit in the midst of Christian communities.  As we love one another as Jesus loved us, lay down our lives for one another, serve one another, listen to one another, speak the truth to one another Jesus draws out the infection of sin from us and heals our wounds.

Looking at John’s Gospel, here we first encounter John the Baptist about a day after he baptized Jesus.  Apparently Jesus stayed for a period of time among the crowd of people that surrounded John as they were waiting for the Kingdom of God to come.  As Jesus walked through the crowd John blurted out, “Here is the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.” And then John continued saying that he saw the Holy Spirit descend upon Jesus and that Jesus would be the one who baptized others not with water as he baptized, but with the Holy Spirit for Jesus is in fact the Son of God.

When John said, “Here is the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world” he was making reference to two specific sacrifices that the Israelites offered every year: Passover and Yom Kippur or the Day of Atonement.  Before saying more about those sacrifices I need to first clear up a misunderstanding we have of the sacrificial nature of Jesus’ death due to an overemphasis of what theologians call the penal substitution theory of atonement.  This is the courtroom way of understanding Jesus’ death. 

It goes: all humans are legally guilty of sinning.  We’ve broken the divine laws of God.  Therefore, God’s verdict on us is the death penalty and eternal torment in Hell as some would add.  And so in love for us, God the Son became human as Jesus of Nazareth, lived a faithful and sinless life, and died an innocent man.  God the Father accepts his death as being on behalf of all those who will believe that Jesus death was in place of their own death and who henceforth try to live faithfully and those who do will upon death go to heaven and eternal life. 

We don’t have time for me to break that theory down, but I will say that penal substitution is only one of at least twelve ways the Bible gives us to understand the death of Jesus and is likely the least used model by the biblical writers.  There is truth to it.  We are guilty of sin and Jesus did die the death we deserve on our behalf, but that understanding is secondary to the predominate way the writers of the New Testament explain Jesus’ death which was called Christus Victor model of atonement.  It goes: by his death Jesus defeated sin, death, and the devil and he reigns as Lord and Saviour over all Creation and he will return to make his reign complete by making all things new.

So, put the legal ideas of Jesus death on the back burner for a minute and let’s get back to what John the Baptist meant by saying, “Here is the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.  First, the term “Lamb of God” refers to the lamb that every family was supposed to sacrifice at Passover.  Passover as you may remember was/is the annual celebration of the night God delivered his people from slavery in Egypt.  On that night God told Moses to tell the people to kill a lamb and smear its blood around their door posts to mark their doors for life so that when the angel of death came to kill the firstborn of Egypt he would know to pass over the homes of the Israelites and they would live.

This term “Lamb of God” applies to Jesus in that he is, so to speak, the Passover sacrifice for the world.  He would die on the cross and his blood is applied to his people to mark them for life.  That’s going to take some explaining. 

Leviticus 17:11 and 14 tell us that the life of the animal is in the blood.  They had offerings called sin and guilt offerings that they did when they knew they had sinned and wanted forgiveness.  For the sin offering they would take an animal to a priest.  They would lay their hand on it.  The priest would slaughter it and then take some of the blood and sprinkle it on the ground before the curtain outside the room where the Ark of the Covenant was kept and where God was supposed to be.  What was happening was in the laying on of the hand they symbolically transferred their sinful selves to the animal, who then was put to death, and then the priest symbolically presented their life that had passed through death to God and he granted forgiveness and fellowship with God was restored.  They did the same thing with the guilt offering but in that one the priest also put some blood on the person’s earlobe.  Applying this blood, this life that had passed through death, to the person’s earlobe was meant to heal the ear so that the person could hear the Law of God better and keep it.

This life passing through death thing applied to Passover as well.  On the night of the Passover in Egypt they smeared the blood of the lamb, the lamb’s life that had passed through death, over the doorposts to mark their households for life.  It was life that had passed through death that saved them.  So also, Jesus raised from the dead is life that has passed through death and he marks us for life by giving us his life in the gift of the Holy Spirit to us. 

Moving on, the “takes away the sin of the world” part of what John the Baptist refers to is part of the Yom Kippur or the Day of Atonement sacrifice.  On Yom Kippur the High Priest sacrificed three animals: a bull and two rams.  The High Priest slaughtered the bull as a sin offering as I explained above on behalf of himself and the priests.  But in this case he actually took the blood further into the Holy of Holies and sprinkled it on the Ark where God was seated in a cloud of smoke that was created by a big incense burn.  Thus, God and the priests were united in this life that had passed through death.  The High Priest then took one of the rams and slaughtered it as a sin offering on behalf of the people.  He also sprinkled some of that blood on the Ark thus uniting the people with God in this life that had passed through death.  He then also sprinkled this blood all over the temple and its furniture to cleanse it of the stain of sin incurred by contact with humans.  So also the Holy Spirit unites us to God and cleanses us of guilt and shame. 

Next, the High Priest took the second goat and whispered the sins of the people into its ear.  This goat was thus laden with the sins of the people.  A priest then led this goat out into the wilderness where it and the sins it bore would be destroyed by the beasties out in the wilderness.  This goat took away, carried away the sins of the people and they perished forever along with the goat.  So also, Jesus, God the Son become human, took the Sin of humanity upon himself by becoming one of us and he removed Sin from us by his death on the cross.  When God raised him, he became the life of humanity that passed through death and unites us to God himself. 

Finally, Jesus gives us this new humanity, this new human life by the gift of the Holy Spirit who lives in us each and bonds us together as a new humanity.  In Christian fellowship, in the love that God has placed in our midst God continues the poultice-like work of removing sin’s infection from us and healing the inflammation by healing our broken selves and our broken relationships.  Like the folks in the Old Testament who brought a sin offering laid their hand upon the animal to transfer their broken selves to the animal, we need only lay hold of Jesus, give our broken selves to him, and he will bear it, bear us, to Father who will not withhold his very self from us and who heals us with new life in Christ Jesus by the power and presence of the Holy Spirit coming to live in us.