Inward or Outward?

Philippians 3:1-11                            Luke 2:15-21

Inward or Outward?

At this time of year, many people make vain pronouncements which they call “New Year’s Resolutions”. Usually, these declarations involve something one has not done or something one should have done better during the past year. Then the so-called “new” year begins and for a while renewed effort and delusion work together to convince the person that they are succeeding until the busyness of life gets in the way. Reality heaves resolution overboard and the ship sails on.

Of course, resolutions have been around for centuries, in fact ever since Eve resolved to embrace a life of self-actualisation, deciding that she wanted to be her own god. Of course, failure to meet expectations and the realisation that perhaps the resolution was not such a good idea after all has been around for the same amount of time. 

So, it is interesting to explore the rationale behind making such pronouncements. Aristotle (and here I hasten to insert an apology to Connie and other philosophy majors for my gross oversimplification) maintained that we become what we do and so he resolved to act right so that he might be right. Plato went in the exact opposite direction, perhaps after observing the repeated failure of his teacher. He believed that right action followed from right thinking and so he resolved to think right so that he might act right. 

And then in 1826, in his book “The Physiology of Taste: Or Meditations on Transcendental Gastronomy with Recipes”, the French Lawyer Jean Anthelme Brillat-Savarin stated: “Tell me what you eat, and I will tell you what you are,” an idea later incorporated into various food ads by Farmer Brown and KFC and shortened to something like “you look so good because you eat so good”. Just testing to see how many of you are still awake since Jurgens unequivocally gave you permission to sleep during my sermons. 

But seriously, while there is some truth to what Aristotle and Plato and perhaps even Brillat-Savarin taught, they skipped over a very important detail…they all missed the essential and foundational fact that no human being appears to be able to act right or think right consistently. Even a cursory glance over the pages of history will confirm this. If we are honest, we will admit that despite our best resolutions we always seem to stumble and fall at some time or other. 

Scripture gives us the reason for this universal dilemma. In Jeremiah 17:9 we are told that the heart (or the core of humankind) is corrupt, deceitful, and desperately wicked…and Proverbs 23:7 tells us that humans are outwardly what they are inwardly – in their heart or in their innermost being. 

So, from the very outset, any unaided reason or resolution is doomed to failure.  This is why Paul declared in Philippians 3:3 that we ought to have no confidence in the flesh. In other words, if we are going to make any kind of decision for change, we must start from a point of moral and ethical bankruptcy, looking for radical inner renovation from a source other than or outside of ourselves.

And, again at the risk of oversimplifying the matter, this is what the Good News is all about. God is in the heart exchange business. The prophet Ezekiel spoke about a time when God would take out the dead heart of stone and replace it with a living heart of flesh…but more than that. He promised to give us a new life – to fill us with his life-giving Holy Spirit…to take up residence within us…to come down upon us as he did on the Tabernacle and the Temple, and to dwell among us and in us – Immanuel – God IS with us…so that his Spirit might cause us to live as we were created to live…to walk in his statues and to keep his commandments to do them.

Biblically, what followers of Jesus do is a result of who we are in him…from what the prior grace of God makes us and allows and assists us to become. Consequently, any resolution we make as believers must be based upon what God has already done for us in Jesus. Any changes we need to make in our lives depend upon the divine aid of the Author and Finisher of our faith. Without him, even our best efforts are as useless as filthy rags. In short, if we are to succeed at life we must live out and practice and embrace what we are in him.

We can see this clearly in the life of Paul. The Apostle lived out what he was in Jesus and accordingly was not derailed by adverse circumstances. 

Paul had been a rising star in Israel…schooled by the best and advancing well beyond his peers in religious fervour. He apparently moved in high circles, rubbing shoulders with the Jerusalem elite. He was so arrogantly sure of himself that he resolved to kill anyone who did not live according to his principles. 

Then, in a single moment, everything he held to be of value was exposed as worthless. On the road to Damascus, Paul met the God he thought he knew, and his life was never the same again. 

But then, once he had his life turned right side up and he wanted to tell the whole wide world about his eye-opening discovery, it seemed the whole wide world was not all that enthusiastic about the message…in fact, they were downright hostile. Suddenly, he found that the hunter had become the hunted and he had to defend himself, flee for his life, deal with rejection, misunderstanding, imprisonment, death threats, and actual attempts on his life. 

Gone were the days amongst the elite…his former friends and colleagues were now his worst enemies. And, if that was not bad enough, he had to constantly deal with the waywardness of various church members.  One of the reasons Paul wrote the letter to the Philippians from prison, was because he had received news that the church was being torn apart by two former female co-workers of his, Euodia and Syntyche…or as someone once renamed them, odious and so touchy. Their interpersonal disagreement was threatening the unity of the church! 

It was in the context of his current imprisonment and this painful division that he took up his quill and wrote: “Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice!” You may well ask, how on earth could he write that given the circumstances? 

I believe the key to Paul’s inner serenity was a radical inner renovation. He could resolve to rejoice because of what the grace of God had made him and was making him. His eyes were firmly fixed on what God intended him to be in Jesus…he considered all other things…even those things he once thought so very important…he considered them totally peripheral…they faded in the light of the glory that was his in Jesus. Circumstances hadn’t changed…if anything, they had got worse…but Paul, the person, had been progressively changing from the inside out since the time he first met Jesus. 

And so, even though life was hard and harsh and even though he was disrupted and disturbed by the consequences of his shortcomings and the shortcomings of others, Paul could rejoice and tell the struggling church to rejoice with him because he knew what God had done and what God was doing…and that nothing in all creation could ever change that or derail that.

For Paul, all the many resolutions and restrictions and rituals from his past counted for nothing in comparison to knowing Jesus and the power of his resurrection. Participation in his sufferings and his death meant that he could rise in and with Jesus to life as it was meant to be. And that was worth more than all the riches this world could afford.

You see external observance means very little when there is an internal contradiction. This was our Lord’s contention with the Pharisees. He called them whitewashed tombs which appeared outwardly beautiful but inwardly filled with death and decay. And Paul had been one of them. In our Epistle reading, he listed his many accomplishments. But even the Old Testament pointed out that circumcision of the flesh without the circumcision of the heart meant nothing (Deuteronomy 30:6; Jeremiah 4:4; cf Romans 2:29). Jacob and Esau demonstrate that fact perfectly.

The outward is really nothing without the inward. You can make as many resolutions as you like this year, but if the Lord has not changed you and, indeed if he is not changing you day by day from the inside out, you might as well write your decisions in water. 

Better to pray and ask God to graciously resolve to change and empower you to do his will…to love him with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength and to love your neighbour as you love yourself. Things might get better, things might get worse, but you can be certain of one thing. Regardless of the circumstances, you will be able to rejoice in the Lord, because your focus will no longer be on yourself…rather your focus will be on the prize for which God has called you heavenward in Jesus. Your focus will be centred on his resolution to conform you to the image of Jesus. Once you make his will and his goal and his purpose more important than yours, you will gain the peace of God which surpasses all understanding. 

If all the things the world strives for become as dung to you in comparison to the surpassing worth of knowing Jesus and the power of his resurrection, then you will be fulfilled, and content come what may.

So, rather than making useless “New Year’s Resolutions” this year, compare the sides of the ledger of your life. Anything and everything you once highly valued on one side…and Jesus and his kingdom on the other side. The choice is simple…but never easy. May God in his grace grant you the inward conviction to choose to live as he would have you live outwardly.

Shall we pray?

© Johannes W H van der Bijl 2023

Defying all odds

Haggai 2:1-9                        1 Peter 2:4-5; 9-10                         John 1:1-14

Defying all odds

How does one pick up the pieces of a broken life? The rising astronomical numbers of poverty and war-related deaths around the globe stun the mind and one cannot help but wonder how those who have lost loved ones, friends, homes, and most if not all their possessions will ever manage to salvage the battered wreckage of their lives again. How will they rekindle meaning and purpose after their whole world has been ripped apart? How will they piece together the fragments of their shattered hopes and dreams when they reflect on what appears to be the futility of it all? Humanity only seems to make peace to break peace.

In our Old Testament reading for this Christmas Eve, we read about the struggles of the returning Jewish exiles living in the ruins of what had once been the thriving and prosperous city of Jerusalem. In chapter one, the prophet Haggai wrote about how he had to deal with the discouragement that threatened to destroy them religiously, economically, politically, and socially. The people had initially returned with great excitement and enthusiasm, but their expectations were soon reduced to rubble by the sheer magnitude of the devastation that greeted them. Most began to think that any form of rebuilding was pointless and so had given up and turned to a life of self-preservation…an attitude rebuked sharply by the prophet. “Is it a time for you yourselves to dwell in your panelled houses, while this temple lies in ruins?” (Haggai 1:4)

He then challenged them to review their experience since they had returned. Had God blessed them? No, they had remained poverty-stricken despite their best individual efforts to gain personal wealth and stability. The solution was quite simple. If they were to rebuild anything, they had to unite and work together for the common good. To live in the shadow of grief and despair would restrict all forms of healthy recovery and growth. 

The response to this challenge was a unanimous decision to band together and resume work on the rebuilding of that which was the focal point of their lives as the people of God. A building that served to remind them of God’s presence among them. 

No doubt, a lot of preliminary work had to be done first…clearing the rubble, redressing usable stones, testing the safety of remaining walls and structures, and organising work teams to do the various tasks. In many ways, the same is necessary for emotional rebuilding. We must deal with the rubble cluttering our inner being. Some things must be removed before we can start the process of reconstruction. As painful as it is, there comes a time when one must dry all tears, take stock of the losses, and press on ahead. 

The theme of Haggai’s second sermon is that despite snags and hassles and delays and disappointments, the people needed to remain focused…not to lose courage…to be strong. He first addressed the nostalgic…those who remembered Solomon’s Temple in all its former glory. He knew that nostalgia often produces negativity. A morbid and often unrealistic preoccupation with looking back over your shoulder can have a paralysing effect on life. 

Nostalgia can also cause people to make disastrous decisions. Nostalgia can cause people to live in a fantasy world…to think that if they could only go back things would be better again…like the liberated Jews in the wilderness wanting to return to Egypt…or the liberated Jews in Haggai’s time wondering if giving up or even going back to Babylon would be a better option than trying to live in what must have seemed like a pipedream. 

For the Jewish returnees, nostalgia confused the issue. “Look,” they seemed to say. “This new Temple can never measure up to the one we remember. We don’t have the resources needed to get the job done properly. It simply cannot be done.” Backwards gazing can very easily cloud the present and make the future seem dark and foreboding. 

But Haggai’s message cast some light on their gloominess. “Be strong,” he said, echoing words spoken many centuries earlier as Israel faced the formidable task of taking the Promised Land. Two seemingly impossible situations and yet, in both cases, God promised that he was with them. Three times in this discourse God reminded them, “I am with you”. It is not by your effort, nor by your power or expertise or ingenuity or your resources, but by my Spirit. I will accomplish all I have promised. Trust me…believe me and move forward in faithful obedience.

This promise is repeated in the opening chapter of John’s Gospel. “And the Word became flesh and dwelt (or tabernacled or, if I may, “templed”) among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.” How many times in the Gospels are we not reminded of his constant present and future abiding with us…even amid trial and trouble, suffering and sorrow, Jesus promised that he would be with us even to the end of the age. 

Knowing that God is with us is enough reason to pluck up our courage, renew our determination and strengthen our conviction that he will not permit his cause to fail. We base our hope on God’s track record, as it were. Not only do we see his faithfulness in the Exodus, the Conquest, the Restoration, and, indeed, throughout the 2nd Temple Period, but we also see it in the life, death, resurrection, ascension, and crowning of our Lord Jesus Christ as the triumphant and universal Davidic King of kings. And we have the indwelling presence of the Holy Spirit as well as the continuing growth and expansion of the Church, despite severe persecution, oppression, resistance and, I dare say, despite ourselves.

Has God ever failed his people? Many thought he did as they struggled with frustration, and disillusionment, and despair. “How long, O Lord?” was and still is a frequently asked question. But Scripture and history testify to the fact that God has never deserted his people. 

Through the prophet Haggai, God reminded his people that his covenant cannot be annulled by circumstances be they ever so bleak. “Work,” God said, “for I am with you…according to the covenant that I made with you when you came out of Egypt. My Spirit remains in your midst. Fear not.”

In the final verses of his second message, Haggai gave the people a glimpse of God’s purpose and goal. Regardless of small beginnings, struggles, and setbacks, in the end, their efforts would not be in vain…God would prevail. Haggai portrayed the vindication of God’s people using an image of a global earthquake. Earthquakes are usually unexpected, devastating, and life-changing…there’s nothing like a massive shakeup to wake up humankind. Sad, but true.

But Haggai was not predicting a literal earthquake. What would shake the earth was not the earth itself, but rather the Messiah who, in the words of Simeon was destined for the rise and fall of many in Israel. His advent would change and has changed the world forever…nothing will ever be the same again. Immanuel. God is with us.

This messianic “upheaval” would result in a great influx of resources from the nations. The returnees complained that they could not build an adequate Temple because they lacked adequate resources, but Haggai told them that God would bring aid from unexpected sources, and the Temple that seemed so small in their eyes at that moment would become more glorious than anything they had ever experienced before. 

In one sense this was fulfilled when their oppressors were instructed to pay for the repairs and much later when an Idumean pretender to the throne built a Temple so vast and so luxuriously and magnificently decorated that it stunned and delighted visitors to Jerusalem. Herod began with an enormous expansion of the Temple Mount itself quite literally doubling its original area. From 7 hectares to 14.4 hectares. 

But like a gold ring in a pig’s snout, the spectacularly beautiful building was deceptive…it was not what God had intended it to be. Unlike the pagan gods of the nations, God does not live in buildings made of stone…he lives in the hearts of his followers. 

Haggai’s prophetic word concerning the Temple was fulfilled and is still being fulfilled as the people of God are joined together by the Holy Spirit to become a spiritual house made with living stones…where a holy priesthood offers themselves as living sacrifices to God through Jesus. His glory in and through the Church surpasses the glory of the former and latter Temples as much as the peace he gives surpasses the brittle and breakable peace offered by the world. 

If there is any value to be found in the message of Christmas at all, we must find it in the one who chose to be born amid the rubble of this devastated world…the Divine Son of God who took on human flesh so that he might become the cornerstone upon which broken lives can be rebuilt.

And so, we need not fear what to so many may seem like insurmountable odds. God will and does see us through if we trust him and continue to follow him in faith. The physical, mental, emotional, financial, and spiritual devastation experienced by so many people around the world cannot and must not be dismissed or diminished or demeaned. The losses are real, and the pain is real, and the horrors are real. 

But no one can move forward in the light if they are shackled to the darkness of the past. Through Haggai, God tells us we can do more than survive…in Jesus, we can, and we must thrive. Out of the pain of betrayal…out of the terrors of trial and torture…out of execution and death, the Babe of Bethlehem rose…not only to conquer but to reign. 

Shall we pray?

© Johannes W H van der Bijl 2023

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!!

Johann and Louise: Training Disciples to Make Disciples in the Netherlands Louise and I wish you a joy-filled Christmas and a New Year overflowing with God's very best blessings.  Just like the Christ-Child, we too are called to be lights in the darkness, so we continue to pray for hope, peace, joy and love in a world that often only experiences hopelessness, war, despair, and hatred.  Thank you for your ongoing partnership in the Gospel! What would Missionaries be without their faithful Senders? We are truly grateful for everyone who prays with and for us...who feels the burden for a Europe that has largely lost its moorings...and who loves as sacrificially as our Lord loves.  MARK YOUR CALENDARS!!! Johann will be interviewed about "Breakfast on the Beach: The Development of Simon Peter" on “Mornings with Carmen” at www.myfaithradio.com at 6:30 am CT on Tue, January 9th.  Just adjust the time zone to your preferred time zone.  These are Carmen’s accounts: Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/ReconnectwithCarmen/ Twitter/X - @CarmenLaBerge Instagram - @carmenfowlerlaberge Faith Radio can be found on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/myfaithradio Enjoy every precious moment with family and friends...build memories...share his love. Blessings, hugs, and love Johann and Louise Support Us Johann and Louise spent two years helping to develop the St. Frumentius Seminary in Gambella, Ethiopia. They then worked in Southern Africa, serving in seven southern African countries, while continuing to work with the Diocese of Egypt, North Africa through engaging in a disciple making movement in order to grow the body of Christ. They are now serving in Heiloo, the Netherlands. We are sent  through the Society of Anglican Missionaries and Senders, a missionary sending community, engaging in building relationships with the worldwide church to experience the broken restored, the wounded healed, the hungry fed, and the lost found through the love and power of Jesus Christ.  Support SAMS Copyright © 2016 Society of Anglican Missionaries and Senders, All rights reserved. www.sams-usa.org      Our mailing address is: PO Box 399 Ambridge PA 15003 Attention to: Johann and Louise van der Bijl Want to change how you receive these emails? You can update your preferences or unsubscribe from this list

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Journey to the Cradle

Carol Service 2023: Journey to the Cradle

In our Carol Service this afternoon, we found in the Garden of Eden, the beginning of the thread that weaves together the grand tapestry of salvation history. 

The disobedience of our forebears began the story that we traced through from Patriarchs and Kings and prophets…from promise to enslavement, to deliverance, to conquest, to exile, to restoration, and finally, through to the great fulfilment of what was first predicted in the Garden…the birth of the Seed of the woman. 

We saw that even from the very beginning of our disobedience, God's mercy shone and still shines through. His promise to send the Redeemer echoes through the corridors of time. 

Abraham, a man of faith, became a pivotal figure in this divine narrative. God's covenant with him marked the beginning of a chosen people…a people through whom all the families of the nations would be blessed. Through Abraham's descendants, God unfolded His plan for salvation. 

The covenant continued with David, a shepherd elevated to kingship, as God promised an everlasting kingdom through his lineage. As generations passed, the whisper of God's promise became a clear resounding melody. Prophets proclaimed hope and foretold the coming of a Messiah…a Deliverer. 

Then, in the fullness of time, Jesus, the Divine second member of the Holy Trinity, broke through onto the stage of human history, taking on human flesh and becoming a Man. Born of a virgin in Bethlehem in fulfilment of the prophetic word, he embodied the culmination of God's redemptive plan. Through the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus, salvation history reached its zenith. The Lamb of God, sinless and sacrificial, took upon himself the weight and the penalty of our sins, nailing the requirements against us to the cross and disarming the rulers and powers of darkness. 

The Cross, as such, became the bridge between a dying world and the promise of eternal life. In Jesus, God's covenant with Creation finds its ultimate fulfilment. Through faith in Him, we become heirs to the promises made to Abraham and the beneficiaries of the Davidic kingdom. Salvation history, a narrative woven through with threads of love and grace, invites every one of us to participate in the divine drama and to embrace the free gift of redemption.

Through Jesus, we may once more enter through the gates once barred and shut because of sin, and, as such, end where we began. In the Garden. Through Jesus, we come full circle to re-enter Paradise where we may once more walk freely with our Father and Creator God.

And so, the journey we have followed to the Cradle in this service continues…but now in the lives of those whom he weaves into his grand design for Creation. You and I are the threads he uses to bring his beauty to bear upon a bleak and strife-torn world.  Each step forward brings us closer to the time when sin and sorrow will be wiped away by his blessing. We are all participants in the weaving of this grand salvation tapestry as we make known the triumph of our lowly King, but the final stitch is yet to come.

Shall we pray?

© Johannes W H van der Bijl 2023

Dealing with Delays

Psalm 13                              Isaiah 40:29-31                             John 11:1-16

Dealing with Delays

How do you deal with delays? Something you ordered doesn’t arrive on time and you show up at the birthday party without a gift…or the trains aren’t running on schedule, and you miss the performance…or the traffic stops completely, and you can’t make your appointment. How do you deal with delays? Are you disappointed? Frustrated? Angry? Or are you a “whatever will be will be” type of person?  

But what about when the delay concerns a desperately anticipated answer to a desperately urgent prayer? And I’m not talking about an urgent prayer for a parking space or for help to pass an exam. I’m talking about an urgent prayer such as when you are praying for the end of a war…or for the healing of a loved one, especially one who is dying. Like when David fasted and prayed to God night and day for a week that the child conceived in his murderous and adulterous affair with Bathsheba would not die. (2 Samuel 12:16-24 – that’s a sermon Logan still needs to preach sometime!) 

But then the war drags on indefinitely…or the loved one is not healed…or they die despite all your fervent prayers…how do you deal with that?

Do you launch into a kind of theological monologue in your head arguing against your own doubts and fears? Yes, God is good, and he hears and answers prayers…the Scriptures teach that. So then, why does he not hear and answer my prayer? Is there something wrong with me? Is there some sin in my life? Am I asking for the wrong things? God answers the prayers of others…does he not love me like he loves others? Does he love me at all? Am I even a believer or is there perhaps not a God out there after all? Or, at least, not a God who is loving and kind and compassionate and who cares about the affairs of his Creation…

Have you ever been there?

Of course, there is the convenient loophole we call God’s will. In 1 John 5:14-15 we are told, “Now this is the confidence that we have in Him, that if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us. And if we know that He hears us, whatever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we have asked of Him.” Ah, but there’s the rub…just what exactly is God’s will and how is it connected to any delays in his answering our prayers?

This question is echoed throughout Scripture. Think of Israel in bondage, crying out to God year after year after year. Think of Israel delivered from bondage plodding around in the wilderness for years and years because, as Moses told them later, God wanted to humble them, letting them hunger, feeding them with manna, so that he might teach them that humans do not live by bread alone, but they live by every word that comes from the mouth of the Lord. But they didn’t know that for forty years, did they? The question “How long oh Lord?” is repeated often by many…even by kings (Psalm 13) and by holy martyrs (Revelation 6:10).

Does God hear? And if he hears, when will he answer? 

I think this struggle is illustrated perfectly in our Gospel lesson for today.

Now, it might be helpful to backtrack a little bit to set the stage for the drama about to unfold. Remember in the previous account, Jesus left Judea and went to Bethany beyond the Jordan because the leaders of the Jews wanted to arrest him. So, for the sake of safety, it was best for him to remain where he was until the dust of his previous confrontation with the Jewish leaders had settled. And while he stayed in that area where John the Baptist had been active, many of the Baptist’s former disciples believed in Jesus. He had quite a ministry right where he was. 

In this context, the message arrived from Bethany in Judea…from Martha and Mary concerning the plight of their brother Lazarus (Eleazar in Hebrew). Now, it might be helpful for you to think of this message as a prayer for intervention…a prayer asking for healing. We must assume that Lazarus was gravely ill, otherwise, the sisters would not have sent for Jesus. Theirs was a closely-knit friendship and so they would have known that it would be dangerous for Jesus to return, but again we must assume that they were desperate. 

You might think that John stole a bit of his thunder here in these opening verses in telling us something that would only happen chronologically in the next chapter of his Gospel…that it was this Mary who anointed Jesus' feet with costly ointment…but as John never wrote anything without a good reason, I believe this bit of anticipatory information was to show that the love shared between Jesus and this family was deeply mutual. In fact, he added in verse 5 that Jesus loved this family. 

Now, I believe John was giving his first-time readers something to hold on to as they navigated the emotional account that followed. Jesus loved them, he wrote. It is as if John was saying to his readers, ‘Hold onto that thought as you plunge into the depths of grief and loss and bewilderment…as you hear the sister's painful struggle with what looked like Jesus’ lack of care or his apparent indifference: “Lord if you had been here, my brother would not have died.” Hold on to that thought as you ask the same question raised by the crowd “Could not he who opened the eyes of the blind man also have kept this man from dying?”’

Indeed, it is that same thought we must hold on to as we face the ups and downs of life. God loves us…we must hold onto that truth through whatever may follow…it is this truth that will carry us when all else fails.

Johannine scholars all believe that the raising of Lazarus is the seventh and final sign in this Gospel. If you remember, the first sign was performed at a wedding. This last sign is performed at a funeral…perhaps this is significant as the greatest sign of all is surely the death and resurrection of Jesus…an event that ushered in the wedding feast of the Lamb.

But I couldn’t help wondering if the signs in John's Gospel were not designed to indicate a flipped or reversed image of the Exodus plagues. John often employed images taken from Creation and from the Exodus, so it would not be surprising if there is some indication of reverse imagery here. For example, Jesus’ first sign was water turned to drinkable wine versus the first plague which was water turned to undrinkable blood. His final sign here was possibly the reversal of the death of the firstborn. 

Now, as with the plagues, there was also an escalation in the intensity of the signs coupled with an escalation in the violent response of the enemies. In the Exodus, this led to the total religious and socioeconomic collapse of Egypt and ultimately the destruction of Pharoah’s army in the Red Sea. In the Gospels, it led to the rejection and destruction of Jerusalem and the Temple, an event foreshadowed by the tearing of the veil, as well as the total disarmament of Satan and his forces of darkness (Colossians 2:15). 

But let's get back to the story. Considering the mutual love between Jesus and this family and the receipt of this desperate request for an immediate reaction, Jesus' delayed response comes as a major surprise. The obvious expectation of the sisters was that he would realise the urgent and serious nature of the situation and come as soon as possible. 

But instead, Jesus deliberately decided to wait, apparently reassuring his disciples that this illness would not lead to death…adding somewhat enigmatically that it was for the glory of God so that the Son of Man might be glorified through it.

So, at this point, the disciples knew as much as what the first readers would have known. Whatever happened, God and the mysterious Son of Man would be glorified…whatever that may mean. Not too different from what we know when facing an unknown future, is it? 

But I think it is important for us to note that the sisters were not around to hear Jesus’ statement. They were about 20 miles or 32 kilometres west of where Jesus was at that time, trapped within the blind reality of their own hand-wringing anxiety. No doubt their eyes scanned the horizon moment by moment searching for the familiar figure of the only one who could help them. Anything…just an indication that he might be on his way…but the horizon remained devoid of any such promise. Can you imagine the difficult internal turmoil they must have been struggling with? Didn’t he care? Could he not simply speak a word to heal their brother? And as they watched their beloved brother slowly slip away from them, their hearts must have been battlefields of strong opposing emotions. 

And still, no reply…no response…nothing…

This is why John’s timely reminder is so important to us. Jesus loved this family. In a similar manner, the Scriptures tell us page after page that God loves us and that his love is based, not on our performance, but on his unchanging character. This is the rock we cling to when the storms of life threaten to pull us into the depths of despair. God loves us and whatever he does is because of that love.

Of course, the statement that Jesus loved this family seems to be contradicted by his lack of action on their behalf. John tells us that he deliberately waited two more days after having received the petition from the sisters. We know that he knew that this delay of two days would prove to be fatal as he never did anything arbitrarily, but he also must have known how devastatingly painful his apparent absence would have been for his friends. For all we know, Lazarus may have died thinking that his friend did not care about him. 

Perhaps, as John recorded Jesus’ deep emotional response at the grave later in the chapter, this delay may have been every bit as painful for Jesus as it was for the family, but as we already know, Jesus never did anything except what he heard from the Father…and therefore he knew what the result would be. But they did not. And herein lies the greatest lesson of trust we need to learn as children of God. Our Father knows what is best for us in all situations and he always does what is best for us because he loves us.

When we struggle with the overwhelming pain brought on by the apparent silence of Heaven, we need to rehearse stories such as this one so that we might be reminded that God does answer, but in a way that may be far beyond the reach of our finite capacity for comprehension. Paul wrote that God is well able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we may ask or think according to his power at work within us. At those times when we have reached the end of our own limited strength and our poor, empty hearts seek vainly for a straw of hope to hold on to, remember Mary and Martha during their time of waiting. 

But then, Jesus’ determination to return to Judea raised another dilemma. His own safety. Besides this, his sudden decision to go after a delay of two days must have seemed odd to his disciples. Why now? “Rabbi, the Jews were just now seeking to stone you, and are you going there again?”

Jesus’ reply was short and to the point. He was not operating in the darkness as were his opponents. He knew God’s will. He knew the mind of God on this matter, and he was following his clear leading. No doubt, as was his custom, Jesus had spent the two days praying…asking his Father for wisdom and guidance. His time was in the hands of the Father, not his enemies. So, his return was no fatalistic jump from the pinnacle of the temple. No, the way forward was as clear as day…and so he went.

But if they thought his decision to return to Judea after two days was strange, what he said next must have been really confusing. Not only was he willing to risk his life by returning to a dangerous area (remember Bethany was only about 2 miles/3 kilometres from Jerusalem), but it seemed he was going for nothing. Lazarus was dead. 

Can you imagine the perplexed look on the disciples’ faces? And what were they to make of Jesus’ vague indication that somehow this was for their benefit? How could this dangerous visit to a tomb be to anyone’s benefit except perhaps consoling the sisters? 

Little did they know that they were about to witness the most amazing miracle ever performed by Jesus. Yes, they already knew that he could heal various kinds of diseases…that he could even restore senses which had never been present…they even knew that he could raise the dead as in the case of Jairus’s daughter or the son of the widow of Nain. But no one would have imagined that he could raise a four-day-old rotting corpse to life. Perhaps in their minds, if the body remained intact, there might still be a glimmer of hope, but once the body had begun to succumb to the process of decay, everyone was resigned to the finality of the situation.

No one could have anticipated such an event, so the statement of Thomas no doubt reflected the mood of the whole group. “Let us also go, that we may die with him,” a statement of resignation, if ever there was one. What made him say something like this? I think it is for the same reason we get discouraged when we face a delay in receiving an answer to prayer. He, like us, could not grasp the full reality of God’s Person and the certainty of his promises. 

Did Jesus promise to be with us until the end of the age? Did he promise that the gates of hell will not prevail against us? Did he promise that even though we may face trials and tribulations in this world, he has overcome the world? Did he promise to be with us in the deepest darkest valleys? Did he promise that he would work all things together for the good of those who love him and who are called according to his purpose? 

Why then do we allow the circumstances of life to rob us of the assurance we have in him? Is he not an altogether good God? An Almighty, sovereign, loving, kind, and generous God? It is not as if we have no example of his power…we have the testimony of the Scriptures as well as the lives of countless witnesses down through the ages…as well as the witness of our own lives. If God was with you then or there, why would he fail you now? 

I believe the main reason we are so prone to doubt and despair when we feel pressed up against a wall of impossibilities, is that our focus is either on ourselves and our weaknesses and inabilities, or on others…on their power or their lack of power, or on the situation or circumstance, such as a rotting corpse. Like Mary, Martha, and the disciples, we too look past the Person of Jesus and fix our eyes on the seemingly insurmountable problem.

George Müller, a Christian evangelist in the mid to late 1800s, the director of the Ashley Down orphanage in Bristol, England, and co-founder of the Plymouth Brethren Movement, wrote about a time when he was faced with a similar desperate situation in his orphan ministry. In his autobiography, he wrote, “The funds were exhausted. We had been reduced so low as to be at the point of selling those things which could be spared.” Then a woman, who had been travelling for four days, arrived with sufficient funds for the orphanage. Müller and his co-workers had prayed those four days for something God had already supplied. 

Under these circumstances, Müller made the following observation. “That the money had been so near to the orphan house for several days without being given, is a plain proof that it was from the beginning in the heart of God to help us; but because he delights in the prayers of his children, he had allowed us to pray so long; also to try our faith, and to make the answer so much sweeter.” (Müller, George, The Life of Trust, Compass Circle, 2019.)

God’s response to our prayers may not always come within four days…they might never come at all, at least not on this side of eternity. But the answering of our prayers is not the point. Our relationship with a trustworthy God is. If we cannot trust him who has proved himself faithful from generation to generation since the dawn of time, then we are in trouble at the very centre of our lives as believers. 

Study the Scriptures…study Church History…see if God has ever proved to be a broken cistern. Study your own life…even a cursory glance at your past will reveal his constant presence with you, especially in your darkest moments. Now, evaluate any present or future difficulty in the light of your findings. 

What makes you so great or so small that God is rendered unable or unwilling to help you? What makes your problems so different from those faced by countless saints through the ages who have proved God to be faithful that it causes you to believe your God to be impotent or untrue to his nature and his character? 

Learn from the disciples…learn from the sisters. Don’t limit God in any way. While his answer may not be the one you wanted, if he can raise a four-day-old rotting corpse, he can turn your apparent disadvantage into a testimony to his greatness and his glory.

Shall we pray?

© Johannes W H van der Bijl 2023

Thanksgiving, Advent, and Christmas Newsletter

Johann and Louise: Training Disciples to Make Disciples in the Netherlands

Thanksgiving. The Oxford Dictionary defines this word as the expression of gratitude, especially to God…or as an annual national holiday in North America marked by religious observances and a traditional meal. In many ways, the second definition symbolises the first definition. It is a meal of thanksgiving…of gratitude. It began with a need…hunger and famine and starvation…and became an expression of abundant blessing. There is another meal that began with a need…a spiritual hunger and famine and starvation…that became an expression of abundant blessing too. This is, of course, the Eucharist…the Great Thanksgiving…the Lord’s Supper…the Sacrament of Holy Communion…all words indicating a meal that celebrates our wondrous unity with Jesus by means of his self-sacrifice on our behalf. Every time we gather to share in the symbols of our Lord’s broken body and shed blood, we give thanks. But there is another meal…an ominous meal that made this Sacrament necessary. A meal that is the exact opposite of that represented in the Eucharist. It is a meal that began with abundance, that took place in the Garden of Eden, where the host was not God, but the serpent…where the participation was not in thankful obedience to a holy command, but in thankless disobedience birthed in ingratitude and lust for independence. It is a meal of absence rather than presence…isolation rather than intimacy…individuality rather than interdependence…secular rather than sacred. This is the meal that is celebrated most in Europe. A meal that creates a restless search for meaning and purpose…a search that invariably continues endlessly without achieving any form of lasting satisfaction or contentment. As continual excessive salt intake produces an unquenchable thirst, this prideful attempt at self-realisation leads to need, famine, and starvation…and, indeed, to the opposite of thanksgiving. More and more and more never seems to fill the void…because it cannot. Looking at the rising number of strikes, riots, demonstrations, and right-wing political resentment one cannot help but wonder if this is not the new “Winter of Discontent”. The greedy and the needy are once more at a standoff. Not very different from the time when Jesus lived among us. This is why the Christmas message is as important now as it was then. Our beleaguered and polarised planet cries out for deliverance…but deliverance does not come through violence or war…if history teaches us anything it is that strife and struggle produces nothing but more strife and struggle. No, deliverance comes through not wanting more but wanting less.  Deliverance comes through sacrifice. The first meal recorded in Scripture did not bring happiness…the desire to be “gods” brings chaos and calamity as it is not in sync with our design. Lust does not lead to love. Christmas is also the time when people are generally quite open to hearing the Gospel. “Tradition” will often attract those who sense a need for something more than temporal. So, during this Advent and Christmas season at Christ Church, Heiloo, we plan to host several events that may hopefully serve to stir an ancient memory of a time when God and his Creation lived in harmony. Please do pray that those who attend will, like the Bethlehem Shepherds, be filled with awe and amazement and a desire to go and tell others about Jesus. But to return to the theme of thanksgiving. Louise and I are so thankful for everyone who partners with us in making Jesus known. It is your sacrificial giving and your unceasing prayers that make it possible for us to tell his story to those who have largely forgotten him. The other day, we saw a sign outside an old church building that now serves as a cultural centre that invited passers-by to come in to meet a “spiritual guide” who would tell them all they needed to know about the future. There is a fear here…a very real fear…too many around us have access to weapons of mass destruction. Please continue to help us lead the bewildered and the frightened to the only one who holds their future in his hands. Our thoughts and prayers are with you as you celebrate the Reason for the Season. May our gracious King grant you peace and contentment throughout this Advent and Christmas Season. Love, cyber-hugs, and blessings Johann and Louise Support Us Johann and Louise spent two years helping to develop the St. Frumentius Seminary in Gambella, Ethiopia. They then worked in Southern Africa, serving in seven southern African countries, while continuing to work with the Diocese of Egypt, North Africa through engaging in a disciple making movement in order to grow the body of Christ. They are now serving in Heiloo, the Netherlands. We are sent  through the Society of Anglican Missionaries and Senders, a missionary sending community, engaging in building relationships with the worldwide church to experience the broken restored, the wounded healed, the hungry fed, and the lost found through the love and power of Jesus Christ.  Support SAMS

Copyright © 2016 Society of Anglican Missionaries and Senders, All rights reserved. www.sams-usa.org      Our mailing address is: PO Box 399 Ambridge PA 15003 Attention to: Johann and Louise van der Bijl Want to change how you receive these emails? You can update your preferences or unsubscribe from this list