Do we get it?

 John 3:1-17 is the lectionary text for Sunday.

John 3:1-17  “Do we get it?”      3/5/23

 Pharisees – born of the period of the Exile’

    To preserve the Book of the Law under the devastation of empire

    They believed that History is divinely controlled

    They held onto LEGALISM and the TRADITION OF THE ELDERS

         To preserve their Faith in an OPPRESSIVE ERA

In the time of Jesus – not exile – OCCUPATION by the ROMAN EMPIRE

         Reverted back to LEGALISM and TRADITION, but corrupted

         Everyone tried to get what they could… Pharisees no exception

         King Herod, Sanhedrin all under yoke of empire… holding onto little power

               Influence, wealth… status among the people

 Jesus was not a TRADITIONAL RABBI – not LEGALISTIC in the SAME WAY…

    He broke Sabbath and Dietary Laws to feed people, to heal people

    His law was agaph and He would not back down

 Nicodemus was a highly ranked Pharisee – represented them

    Came to Jesus by night… curious or in spiritual need of the Rabbi’s teaching…

    Driven to come, but afraid of the ramifications of coming to Him

    He recognized Jesus, acknowledged Him as Rabbi, from God…

       And mentioned the signs Jesus had shown already…

       I believe he was seeking truth… maybe tired of all the lies of empire…

 Jesus simply said, “You cannot SEE THE KINGDOM OF GOD unless

                                 you are BORN FROM ABOVE” - gennhqh anwqen

Nicodemus does not get it… talks of being born from the womb again, 2^nd time

Jesus explains, “No. you must be born FROM ABOVE of water and the Spirit”

        Literally – from the top down… from above…

In order to SEE THE KINGDOM OF GOD you must be BORN FROM ABOVE.

 Jesus went on to explain about being IN THE FLESH, but OF THE SPIRIT

We are in THIS PART OF GOD’S KINGDOM, HERE AND NOW, BUT STILL OF SPIRIT

   “Not a physical being with a spirit, but a SPIRITUAL BEING in a body.”

   IN THE FLESH, but not PURELY OF IT… of the SPIRIT… connected with God

       From the creation – made of dust… breath of God blown into us… 

In another instance with other Pharisees (Luke 17:20,21)

    Jesus – you look for the Kingdom here or there… Kingdom of God is WITHIN YOU

Paul in Athens (Acts 17) taught the people that the LORD is the one WITHIN

    WHOM we Live, Move and Have our Being…

Spirit permeates our existence… Kingdom within… living within the Lord…

    But do we SEE THE KINGDOM OF GOD in that way?

Nicodemus put God in the box of the Law… Tradition…

    But Jesus taught of a DYNAMIC GOD… Covenantal Relationship… on agaph

We live with God and the Kingdom of God is within us… do we get that?

 We are IN THE FLESH, but we are SPIRITUAL BEINGS…

Baptism: drowned to sin, raised to new life… daily being born anew in SPIRIT…

    We must be BORN FROM ABOVE to SEE THE KINGDOM OF GOD

       And FROM ABOVE… GOD’S WORK, NOT OURS… H.S. is RELENTLESS

       Sanctifies us… Transforms us as SPIRITUAL BEINGS within God…

 But do we get that?

   Do we ACKNOWLEDGE God in a DYNAMIC WAY?

   Do we SEE LIFE from a SPIRITUAL PERSPECTIVE?

   Do we RECOGNIZE the SPIRIT in THIS PART OF GOD’S KINGDOM?

        Or do we go along with empire… put God in a box… go along to get along

        Do we refuse to heed God’s call for the living of agaph in the world

            Jesus command to stand with the marginalized, disenfranchised by empire

   Do we see our SPIRITUAL CITIZENSHIP as our PRIMARY BELONGING,

        Or our PLACE IN EMPIRE?

 Are we BORN FROM ABOVE… walking with our FEET ON THE GROUND,

  But GUIDED BY THE SPIRIT OF GOD in THIS PART OF GOD’S KINGDOM,

       Living in ALIGNMENT with Jesus’ COMMAND to live agaph with Neighbor,

     Or are we separating out the SPIRIT and FLESH

     So that we are NOT MINDFUL OF GOD at all, or

            ONLY MINDFUL of THAT PART OF THE KINGDOM…

               Therefore, NO EARTHLY GOOD TO GOD OR NEIGHBOR HERE AND NOW?

 

Are we BORN FROM ABOVE, walking in FLESH, but SEEING THE KINGDOM...

Jesus claimed that Nicodemus did not get it…

    He could not get earthly things, so certainly could not see how the SPIRITUAL

         Intersects with the earthly things…

 He then told Nicodemus HIS MISSION

   That HE ALONE… had lived in BOTH PARTS OF GOD’S KINGDOM

   And that HE CAME… to FULFILL GOD’S MISSION ON EARTH, THIS PART OF IT…

 He used MOSES as an example… something a PHARISEE could grasp –

   From Numbers 21, Jesus spoke of the time

       Israelites, wandering the in wilderness…

       Complained one too many times about the food and water…

   God sent poisonous serpents to bite and kill them…

   They asked for deliverance…

      Fashioned a bronze serpent on the top of a pole… LIFTED UP before them…

            Whoever looked upon it was saved - medical symbol

 Jesus said HE would thus be LIFTED UP… to SAVE GOD’S PEOPLE

 Then, Jesus shared WHY

   GOD SO LOVED THE WORLD… GAVE THE SON… WHOEVER BELIEVES IN HIM

      Whoever BELIEVES in JESUS’ COMMAND TO LOVE… JESUS’ WAY TO LIVE LOVE,

          Whoever believes that what Jesus taught, commanded, modeled…

           IS FAITHFULNESS TO GOD…

     Whoever BELIEVES in JESUS as Fulfiller of LAW AND PROPHETS…

          LOOKS UPON Jesus’ EXAMPLE OF agaph on the Cross

          And SEES A WAY OF LIFE of SACRIFICE for God, God’s People

     Whoever BELIEVES in JESUS’ WAY… in the face of empire…

         LIFTS UP NEIGHBOR… stranger, enemy, most vulnerable…

         TRANSFORMS LIVES, COMMUNITIES… THE WORLD

     Whoever BELIEVES in JESUS shall be SAVED from DESTRUCTION, DESPAIR

     WILL SEE THE KINGDOM… because they are BORN FROM ABOVE…

 Jesus was CLEAR – God’s SON has NOT COME to CONDEMN THE WORLD

   But to SAVE IT … from the EVILS of EMPIRE…

                                 From DESPAIR and DESTRUCTION and DEATH… that it brings

 Jesus was CLEAR with Nicodemus…

   Unless you are BORN FROM ABOVE… of the SPIRIT, walking in the Flesh

          YOU WILL NOT GET IT…

   As Paul wrote in II Corinthians 5:16-21

        We regard no one from a human point of view… NEW CREATION IN XP.

   I Peter 1:23… when we live that genuine, mutual AGAPE Love, LOVING

        (anagennaw - born anew…)

        One another DEEPLY from the heart… be have been BORN ANEW…

 

We are SPIRITUAL BEINGS, temporarily in a PHYSICAL BODY...

   Do we get that?

We are LIVING IN THIS PART OF GOD’S KINGDOM, HERE AND NOW…

   Do we get that?

We are COMMANDED to COMMITTED ACTION on behalf of others in agaph…

   Do we GET THAT?

We are CALLED to TRANSFORM LIVES in agaph.

   Do we GET THAT?

We are CALLED to TRANSFORM THE WORLD by discipling others in agaph.

   Do we GET THAT?

God LOVES THE WORLD… sent His SON to be LIFTED UP FOR US…

   NOT to CONDEMN the world, but to SAVE IT out of THAT agaph!

   DO WE GET THAT?

We are to FOLLOW JESUS’ EXAMPLE, HEED JESUS’ COMMAND TO LOVE.

   Do we GET THAT?

Nicodemus could not understand what LIVING IN THE SPIRIT ON EARTH MEANT.

   Do WE get IT?

 

 

Enticing, isn't it?

 

Matthew 4:1-11  Lent I

 The Chapter before this shares the account of Jesus’ baptism, at which God’s voice is heard giving pleasure to God’s beloved.

Now, The Spirit leads Jesus into the wilderness specifically that He might be tempted by the Devil.

Jesus is included and now He is tested.  Isn’t that just the way, though?  We proclaim our faith in God and then it is put up or shut up time, because all of life is a test. 

Primarily, this is a test of Jesus’ loyalty.  Will it be to God and God’s Kingdom and its mission in the world, or will it be to the powers and principalities that are in the world which oppose God’s Kingdom mission?  Will Jesus be loyal to God’s Will or His own, or to whatever power opposes God and give Him what He wants?

Jesus was tempted as we are tempted, with the same enticements.

 After 40 days and nights of fasting in the desert Jesus is famished physically, but He is presumably spiritually strong.  Make no mistake, however, the temptation is at the heart of His spiritual self – His relationship of agaph for God and Neighbor.  We are all spiritually tempted by worldly enticements.

 The image of Jesus in the Wilderness conjures up thoughts of the Exodus.  Moses spent 40 years in the desert after fleeing Egypt, 40 days and nights up on Sinai getting the Torah, and a good portion of 40 years wandering there again with God’s people.  Jesus was tempted to turn stones into bread.  He was hungry, after all.  And if He is the Son of God He certainly has the power and the right to use His power to give himself satisfaction.  But would Jesus remain loyal to God’s Will or the Devil’s whims?  He gave the answer that God gave Moses (Deuteronomy 8:3) here in Matthew’s Gospel, to teach us once again that we do not just live by bread of our hands, but by the Word of God, which is life to us.  We are in a relationship of love with God, and our loyalty to that relationship in covenant is worth more to us than momentary satisfaction.  Bread is not life.  The Bread of Life is life.  We are connected in love to the one who IS LIFE, and our loyalty to God’s Kingdom mission, God’s Will is of much more value to us than morsels of earthly satisfaction.

 The Holy City was the seat of power – political, religious, economic and social.  It was Holy because it was “set apart” for God’s use, but the seats of power were particularly corrupt in Jesus’ time.  It all hinged on the evils of empire which occupied God’s Holy space with the unholy – another desolating sacrilege.  The pinnacle of the Temple was at the heart of the life of Israel, but was now corrupted by empire’s evil.  Jesus was tempted to throw Himself down to test God, and see if He had Status enough to be supernaturally saved.  After all, God would do so for someone so beloved as the Son of God, surely?  If Jesus did not have Status enough to warrant such supernatural interventions by God, who did?  God, how much do you love me?  Are you watching, God?  If you are, surely you will…  Would Jesus be obedient to God or to the powers of evil that had corrupted God’s world?  Jesus quoted again of the exodus story, this time regarding the water of Massah (Deuteronomy  6:16), about not putting God to the test for proof, when we are to trust God.  Our relationship with God is based on love and trust.  Testing God is not helpful or faithful.  Striving to be more blessed and highly favored with Status above others is neither helpful nor faithful.  They are not acts of agaph for God or Neighbor.

 The last location, the Mountain is majestic, mystical and historically where God meets humanity.  Abraham was tested on the mountain.  Moses was called and received the Torah on mountains.  Elijah encountered God on a mountain.  Now the evil powers and principalities would claim some right to the mountain.  Jesus was tempted to have all the Wealth and Power of all the kingdoms of the world for Himself.  He was the beloved Son, after all, and heir.  All Jesus had to do was give His devotion to the evil before Him.  The presumption here is that earthly empire belongs to the Devil.  Empire is OF THE DEVIL.  Empire goes against God’s purposes and will, against God’s Kingdom.  Would Jesus divert His loyalty from God to evil in order to have all that empire promises?  Would we? Will we? Do we?  Ultimately, our devotion to empire is a betrayal of our relationship with God and Neighbor.  Here, Jesus calls this imperial evil “Satan,” meaning Accuser or Adversary.  This evil is in direct opposition to God.  Again quoting Deuteronomy (6:13), Jesus finally puts the evil away, choosing to Worship and serve only God, being in alignment in His life and mission with God’s purposes and mission, God’s will. 

 Then, like Elijah, the angels came and fed, cared for Jesus as they had for Elijah the prophet (I Kings 19).

 Jesus was tempted as we are tempted, to give our loyalty and devotion to the powers and principalities that promise us the world through empire in Wealth and Power for ourselves over others, instead of to the Kingdom of God and its values and principles.  Jesus was tempted as we are tempted, to test God to see if we have special Status with God, above others.  Jesus chose faithfulness to God, God’s Kingdom mission and purposes and will. 

 We have entered our 40 days and nights in the wilderness, and we WILL be tempted now, as we are always tempted with empire all around us.  What do we choose?

 

 

Transfiguration to Transformation

 

Matthew 17:1-9

 This mountaintop experience is supposed to make us think of God’s revelation to Moses, and later Elijah, on Sinai, though it is most certainly another mountaintop.  Unlike Moses at his last mountaintop experience, Jesus WILL go down into the valley, though like Moses, to die.

 It is clear in verse 21, that Jesus is now going toward Jerusalem, and it is clear why.  His mission is before Him.

Peter, James and John secure a true witness to this transfiguration event.  They are caught up in something that is far greater than are they, and their reaction shows it.  Peter is still lobbying to avoid any movement toward a mission that ends in Jesus’s death, despite the rather harsh lesson he was taught by Jesus previously.  Jesus is determined to fulfill it, so they would not stay on the mountaintop to bask in Jesus’ glory.

 Jesus, on the mountaintop, is joined by Moses and Elijah – the Law and Prophets, the Deliverer and the Agitator.  They are all that is great of God’s activity on behalf of God’s people.  They are about Justice and an end of oppression.  They are about service to God through serving God’s people.  These are the greatest, most awesome authority figures of the past.

 God’s voice instructs the Disciples to listen to JESUS.  He is now Law and Prophets, Deliverer and Agitator, bringer of justice and an end to oppression.  Jesus will serve God by serving God’s people, even to giving His life for them/us.  Listen to HIM.  Jesus is your authority on faithfulness to God.  Jesus is the one who will now stand up to empire’s rulers, corrupt Kings of Israel and the religious leaders who support them.  Jesus will speak truth to power and take God’s people from the bonds of servitude in their hearts and minds, delivering them to a place of empowerment and the transformation of the world.  Jesus is the voice of God, the logos made flesh, who dwells among us, giving up His glory until His mission is done.  Jesus redeems lives and transforms the world through His Good News of agaph.  Listen to HIM!

 Though some would like to stay on the mountaintop and bask in the glory of Jesus, we as the followers of Jesus are called to go down with Him into the plain, toward the seats of corrupt power in order to reclaim them from empire.  Like Peter, we know that nothing is better for us than to bask in the enshrined moment of glory.  But the people of God are being oppressed, abused and victimized in the plain, where they live.  We are called to be with the people in their oppression as the church, transforming the world with the agaph that Jesus, our authority on faithfulness to God, has commanded us to live.  That means actively committing our lives to resistance to the ways of empire.  It means living the Way of Jesus in the world and addressing the insidious evils of empire with the Good News of transformative agaph.  We are commanded to committed action on behalf of those who are being oppressed.   We are ekklesia, the called-out ones, like Moses, like Elijah and like Jesus, who speak truth to power and demand justice in the world.  In order to do that, our hearts and minds and bodies must not be removed from the world and secluded from the ways of it, but in the midst of it, addressing these evils. 

 The church is not to be about staying in comfort or glory, but about addressing and confronting the evils of empire in the world that hurt so many of God’s children.  We are called out to go where Jesus went.  It is about the work of sacrifice for all.  Being servants of God’s Will, we are to know the Glory of Jesus, that Glory which Jesus gave up, but take that message from transfiguration to transformation in the world.  It is a fearsome thing, but Jesus tells us not to be afraid.  We are on the right side of this, regardless of what others who give their devotion to empire might say or do.  Our faithfulness to God and God’s children means that we must boldly and with great determination engage in committed action that rights the wrongs of empire through the living of agaph in the world.  The Glory of Jesus is in faithful obedience to the Will of God that all of God’s people have Shalom (completeness, wholeness, well-being that bring real peace) in the world.  Our only glory is in following Jesus’ Way of agaph to bring that about in this part of God’s Kin-dom, here and now.

 Any denomination, congregation or follower that bears the name of Jesus is called to do this agaph work, off the mountaintop, in the lives of the people and in the face of those in corrupt power.  Witnessing the Glory of God in Jesus, we are called to move from Transfiguration to Transformation of the world through agaph.

 HOW GOOD, LORD, TO BE HERE!  YOUR GLORY FILLS THE NIGHT; YOUR FACE AND GARMENTS, LIKE THE SUN, SHINE WITH UNBORROWED LIGHT.

HOW GOOD, LORD, TO BE HERE!  YOUR BEAUTY TO BEHOLD WHERE MOSES AND ELIJAH STAND, YOUR MESSENGERS OF OLD.  

FULFILLER OF THE PAST AND HOPE OF THINGS TO BE, WE HAIL YOUR BODY GLORIFIED AND OUR REDEMPTION SEE.

BEFORE WE TASTE OF DEATH, WE SEE YOUR KINGDOM COME; WE LONG TO HOLD THE VISION BRIGHT AND MAKE THIS HILL OUR HOME.

HOW GOOD, LORD, TO BE HERE!  YET WE MAY NOT REMAIN; BUT SINCE YOU BID US LEAVE THE MOUNT, COME WITH US TO THE PLAIN.

                                                                                                                 Joseph A. Robinson 1858-1933

But I say...