Talk for the Funeral Service of one of our parishioners at Christ Church, Heiloo.

Talk for the Funeral Service of one of our parishioners at Christ Church, Heiloo.

Reading: John 14:1-3

Physical contact is such an important part of our lives as human beings, isn’t it? We are physical beings, and we know and are known through our senses. When this physical contact is broken in any way, we find ourselves in a state of crisis. But when death is the cause of this broken contact, the crisis is severe. We use words like mourning, sorrow, and grief to describe the sensation of emotional upheaval, but nothing can describe that feeling of utter helplessness, loneliness, and emptiness that we experience when a loved one dies. In one way, it can be depicted as having some unseen torturer ripping you open and tearing you apart.

But it is this human need for contact that presents us with one of our biggest difficulties when it comes to dealing with death, and that is our own physical mindedness. We think mostly in terms of what we can experience with our senses. But death forces us to acknowledge another aspect to life that transcends the physical, and that is the spiritual. Death compels us to exercise another usually untrained sense….our spiritual sense.

As Jesus tried to prepare his disciples for what would most certainly be one of the most distressing days of their lives, he spoke about this need for contact. He told them that they should not be unsettled, because in God’s house (and please note that this word is singular) there are many rooms (and this word is plural). One house, with many rooms. A vast house, to be sure, but still only one house that can accommodate many. 

Then he added that what he was about to do for them on the cross would secure for them a place in this house so that where he would be they would be also. True, the contact would take on another form, especially after he was removed from them at the ascension, but it would not be broken. 

Many years after these events, Paul attempted to describe this unbroken contact by saying that when God made us alive together with Christ, he raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Jesus. In other words, all believers from the moment they put their faith and trust in Jesus move into God’s one singular house. 

As followers of Jesus, we believe that he died for us so that whether we are in this physical body or not, we will always remain in him. There is only one Body of Christ. There is only one Church. There is only one sheepfold. There is only one house. Once we are in that house, we may shift from one room to another or one side of the house to the other…we may discard the physical to be clothed with the spiritual…we may change from what is visible to what is not visible…but we always remain in Jesus. 

Yes, physical contact may be broken, but an eternal contact that can never be broken was already irreversibly established when XXXX gained admittance to that one house. To quote the words of the angels to the women when they stood weeping at the empty tomb…do not seek the living among the dead. While we may mourn the loss of what is physical, we find our hope in embracing what is immortal. In one sense, XXXX has not left. If you are in God’s house, you are never closer to XXXX than when you are worshipping at the feet of Jesus. 

 Jesus said: “All that the Father gives me will come to me, and whoever comes to me I will never cast out.” John 6:37

Let us pray:

Almighty God, grant us, with all who have died in the hope of the resurrection, the fullness of life in your eternal and everlasting glory, and, with all your beloved children, to receive the crown of life promised to all who share in the victory of your Son Jesus Christ, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, forever and ever. Amen.

The Price for Life

Psalm 89:1-2, 14-18                  Hebrews 2:14-18                      John 12:20-36

The Price for Life

A lot of people, at least in the West, have a tendency to take life for granted. We face few significant threats, and, for the most part, that which we consider catastrophic could be more accurately labelled an inconvenience. Only a small number of us genuinely grasp and appreciate the value of life. 

Unfortunately, this tendency is also present in our expression of Christianity. How many of us truly appreciate the full reality of what it cost to grant us this gracious and free salvation that is ours in Jesus?

In our Gospel passage for today, Jesus spoke straightforwardly about the cost of redemption. And yet, even as he contemplated the horror that lay before him, he was more concerned that those around him understood enough to be able to respond appropriately. The central theme of his teaching here is the main purpose of his incarnation, namely that he took upon himself the form of a human so that he might give us life through his death.

In verses 20-26, Jesus laid down the principle of substitutionary atonement…one dying instead of or on behalf of others. Using a kernel of wheat as an illustration, he parabolically revealed what he was about to do. 

Jesus told this parable because “some Greeks” requested an audience with him. Now, the word John used here indicates that these people were most likely proselytes of pure Greek extraction. Strangely, they approached Philip first possibly because his name was Greek. But, if you recall, when Jesus sent the disciples out, he instructed them not to go to the Gentiles or the Samaritans, but only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel (Matthew 10:5), which is probably why Philip first went to Andrew before approaching Jesus. He needed some “backup”. 

This request from the Greeks seemed to have been a signal for Jesus that the climax of his ministry or, as he called it, “his hour” had finally come. Why? Well, I think it is because his atoning death would benefit all nations and the fact that the group seeking an audience with him were Greeks and not Jews of Judea, Galilee, or the Diaspora heralded the beginning of the new era in which both Jew and Gentile alike would worship God side by side in spirit and in truth. In a certain sense, this confirmed what the Pharisees had said in verse 19: “Look, the whole world has gone after him!”

Now as we have already observed, these Greeks were hesitant if not uncertain in their approach. They first came to Philip and not directly to Jesus. This may indicate a respect for the Jewish social custom of not associating with non-Jews. If you recall, the Roman Centurion also showed this kind of thoughtfulness when he considered himself unworthy of having Jesus enter his “unclean” house to heal his servant. (Matthew 8:5-13; Luke 7:1-10) 

However, the synoptic Gospels insert a second cleansing of the temple at this point. This is significant because the selling of the sacrificial animals and the exchanging of currency took place in the Court of the Gentiles. And so, these Greek “God-fearers” would have been prevented from entering the space for prayer. So, it may be that they sought an audience with Jesus because he was the one who had cleared the designated area so that they might enter freely to worship. 

Why John did not include the second cleansing of the Temple is anyone’s guess but if we insert that dramatic confrontation at this point it explains this sudden request for a meeting between Gentiles and this whip-wielding Jewish Messiah. His action opened the way for them to worship God, and his words recalled the prophetic utterance of Isaiah (56:7): “My house will be called a house of prayer for all nations.”

Nevertheless, as I said earlier, their approach signified to Jesus that his hour to be glorified had come, and so he responded to this request with a parable concerning the immense cost of securing an entrance, not just into the Court of the Gentiles or even into the Temple itself, but into the Kingdom of God. Portraying himself as a kernel of wheat, Jesus said that as long as he remained alive in his present incarnate state, the new creation could not be launched. Just as one single seed remains a single seed until it is buried in the ground, sacrificing itself in a sense so that it might be transformed into a plant that would produce many more seeds, so Jesus indicated that his death was purposefully designed to bring to life “seeds” (re)born from him.

This sacrificial act of Jesus is a principle we are urged to imitate. As John said in his first Epistle, “By this we know love, because he laid down his life for us. AND we also ought to lay down our lives for the brethren.” (1 John 3:16) Imagine if all who call themselves followers of Jesus were to live according to this principle? Laying down our lives for others just as Jesus laid down his life for us.

In the book of Revelation, John described the first followers of Jesus as those who conquered the accuser of the brethren “by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony, for they loved not their lives even unto death.” (Revelation 12:11 ESV) Like their Lord, they laid down their lives so that others might share in the salvation given to them through Jesus’ substitutionary death on the cross. 

But does this sacrificial living, encouraged and demonstrated in the New Testament, accurately describe our behaviour in the modern Church? Does it cost us something…anything at all…to follow Jesus or are we more like the world, doing a good job of looking out for number one? Me, myself, and I.

Do we perhaps love our life on this earth a little too much? Jesus lived to give…do we live to get? If I were to stand next to Jesus right now, how would I measure up? Am I like him in any way at all? 

But even though self-sacrifice seems to be a high price to pay, it also offers a great blessing. While we may be called upon to serve Jesus by following in his footsteps so that we might quite literally be wherever he may be, we are told here that if we do this we will be honoured and valued by the Father. Perhaps this is what Paul meant when he said in Ephesians 2:4-6, “God, who is rich in mercy, because of his great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Christ…and raised us up together, and made us sit in the heavenly place in Christ Jesus.” Being raised together with him means being honoured together with him too. 

A price was paid so that we might live in and through Jesus, and we too ought to be prepared to pay an equal price so that others might share in this sacrificial yet free gift of life. But surely the benefits far outweigh the cost.

True, it wasn’t easy for Jesus to face the cross. As he realised that his hour had arrived, the full force of the horrors that awaited him hit him like a freight train. The betrayal, desertion, and denial of his closest friends…an unjust trial…the mocking, the brutal beatings, the scourging, and then finally, the excruciating pain of death by crucifixion while he absorbed and annulled the weight of the curse for sin…it is possible that all these things came flooding into his mind at this moment, and he was deeply disturbed. 

The next few sentences seem to be a short form of verbal self-deliberation followed by a public declaration. “I am overwhelmed by terrifying thoughts,” Jesus seemed to say to himself. “How then should I respond to this debilitating fear? Should I pray for the Father to deliver me from this? No, I can’t do that because I came into this world to die for it…it would negate the entire reason for the incarnation. I would be like a kernel of wheat preserved but not sown. So no, I will rather say, Father, glorify your name!” 

Jesus’ deliberation here would be repeated once more in the Garden of Gethsemane. “Father, if it is your will, remove this cup from me; nevertheless, not my will, but yours be done.” (Luke 22:42) In both instances, there was a desperate cry of anguish before a bold declaration of obedient surrender.

Here the purpose of his life overrides his terror-filled agony. Jesus demonstrated the principle he had just revealed. He did not love his life above all else…rather he willingly gave it up as a ransom for many. And it is this self-sacrificial act that brings glory to God.

The voice from heaven, mistaken by some in the crowd for thunder or the voice of an angel, assured him that his sacrifice would achieve the divine design…that his death would fulfil the promise made by God to overturn the effects of the Fall (Genesis 3:15). However, Jesus indicated that this voice was in reality, not for his benefit, but for theirs. 

In many ways, even today his struggles here may help us when we are deliberating difficult decisions in our lives. As Jesus had previously warned his disciples if he was persecuted, they too would be persecuted, and we are told by Early Church historians and traditions that all but one of the disciples were martyred for their faith. The suffering of Jesus addresses our own.

In his first Epistle, Peter tells us that it is better, if it is the will of God, to suffer for doing good than for doing evil. And then he compared our suffering with the suffering of Jesus who also suffered as a just man so that he might bring us to God. (1 Peter 3:17-18) 

Now, in one sense, of course, we can never compare our suffering to the suffering of Jesus. Nevertheless, one of the goals of suffering does create a favourable comparison. Jesus’ goal was the glory of God. Suffering because of our faith in Jesus also glorifies God as it is a declaration to both the visible and the invisible world that our love for God is greater than our love for what this world has to offer. 

It has often been said that it was the bravely borne suffering of the First Century Christians that brought many spectators in the Colosseum to faith in Jesus. In his Apologeticus, Tertullian wrote: “We multiply when you reap us. The blood of Christians is seed,” perhaps an allusion to our Lord’s use of a wheat kernel as an illustration.

Nevertheless, it is a good question for us to ponder. What is primary in my life? Is God glorified in everything I say and do?

Now, because this voice from heaven sanctioned not only the teaching ministry of Jesus but also his ministry of reconciliation through his vicarious substitutionary death, his disciples especially needed to understand that the sudden and unexpected transition from the enthronement anticipated the day before in the triumphal entry, to his actual enthronement on an instrument of execution a few days later, was not a defeat or a mistake, but a fulfilment of the divine purpose and plan. “Now,” Jesus said, “is the time for judgment on this world; now the prince of this world will be driven out. And I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to myself.” 

What would soon take place on the cross was nothing less than the restoration of the world to its rightful state. The ruler of this world, Satan the usurper, would be overthrown, publicly disgraced, and disarmed at the cross. (Colossians 2:15) The death of Jesus on the cross signifies not a judgement, but the judgement of all time as the consequence is a total takeover. 

As John wrote in his first epistle, “For this purpose, the Son of God was manifested that he might destroy the works of the devil.” (1 John 3:8) The author to the Hebrews took it a step further when he said in 2:14-15, “Inasmuch then as the children have partaken of flesh and blood, he himself likewise shared in the same, that through death he might destroy him who had the power of death, that is, the devil, and release those who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage.”

As far as I can see, according to the testimony of Scripture, Satan was defeated and cast out at the cross. Now, this victory holds both a blessing and a curse. Because the cross itself was at once the decisive moment in which judgment was rendered on sin and on Satan, as well as the deciding moment of judgment in which subjects would be drawn to Jesus, it follows that the one who absorbed the curse thus voiding it of its power, becomes the judge of all. Again, as the author of Hebrews says in 1:3, “…when he had by himself purged our sins, (he) sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high.” Not only was Satan defeated at the cross…not only did the expunging of our sins take place at the very same time…but also, because of the cross, Jesus was enthroned as King and as Judge over all. 

And so, it is because of this overwhelming victory that all humanity indeed is drawn to stand before Jesus the righteous Judge. As he said in Matthew 25:31-46, it is as he sits on his glorious throne that all nations will be gathered to him for judgement. It is the cross that separates the sheep from the goats. 

That Jesus meant that this would take place through his death on the cross is confirmed not only by John’s comment in verse 33, but also by the misguided statements of the Jews. They could not understand the concept of a dying deliverer because they had been led to believe that the Messiah would be a warrior king who would remain forever. Of course, this is true as ultimately Jesus does reign for all eternity, but his ascension to the throne was to take place through the cross.

Ignoring their questions, Jesus responded rather with a promise that contained both a warning as well as a reward. “You are going to have the light just a little while longer,” he said. “Walk while you have the light before darkness overtakes you.” 

Now, the image of a light that is different to that which radiates from the sun and other planets originates in Genesis 1:3 where light is created before the creation of the cosmic luminaries. This light appears to be something other than what we would consider “natural” because in Exodus 10:21 and following, during the 9th plague in Egypt, God provided light to the Israelites while the rest of the land languished in a supernaturally thick darkness. Again, in Exodus 14:19-20 the presence of God depicted in a Pillar of Cloud by day and Fire by night came between the fleeing Israelites and the pursuing Egyptians and throughout the night the cloud brought darkness to the one side and light to the other side. 

Then the prophets also spoke of a coming deliverer in terms of a light that would ultimately overcome the darkness and thereby bring salvation to the Gentiles. John applied this directly to Jesus in the opening chapters of both his Gospel as well as his first Epistle. 

So, we can safely say that ‘walking in the light’ is not a New Testament concept. Often the Old Testament prophets exhorted and encouraged God’s people to walk in the light of the Lord so that they might not be engulfed by the darkness which would come because of the Lord’s withdrawal of his presence due to their sins. And this is precisely the same picture Jesus sketched here for his listeners. The light stood before them and (if I may borrow Exodus terminology here) if they refused to follow him out of bondage, they would remain enslaved in the darkness. That was the warning.

But the reward was for those who put their trust in the light and followed him. They would become “children of light”. Just as the moon reflects the light of the sun, those who walk in the light of Jesus reflect him. Those who follow him become like him. In Matthew 5:14, the one who referred to himself as the light of the world applied the very same imagery to his disciples. “You,” he said, “are the light of the world.” In other words, people ought to see Jesus reflected in and through us. 

But this wonderful reward is a result of selflessly giving up what we will for what God wills, just as Jesus gave up his will so that he might fulfil the Father’s will. Jesus purchased this reward for us at the cost of his precious life…and we are called upon to follow in his footsteps. So, we ought to love God more than our lives. 

Jesus’ purpose was to lay down his life for us…our purpose is similar and yet different. While we cannot provide atonement for sin, we can “sacrifice” our lives or give up what we want for our lives, so that others might embrace the atonement we have received through Jesus. This was not easy for Jesus, and it will not be easy for us either. 

He openly asked God to save him from that very thing that would secure our salvation if it were possible. But even as he faced horrors we cannot begin to imagine with our finite minds, he obediently accepted and surrendered to the task and, as Hebrews 12:2 tells us, “for the joy set before him he endured the cross, scorning its shame”. And because of his obedience even unto death on the cross, he subsequently was elevated to the right hand of the throne of God, drawing his children up with him.

As those who both walk in the light and are children of the light, we too have a responsibility to take his light into the darkness of this world, regardless of what it might cost us. We are not only called to repent and believe in Jesus…we are not only called to trust and love him…we are also called to follow him, to be like him, to reflect him, and to be conformed to his image.

And so, dearest beloved brethren, let us put our absolute trust in the light so that we might be children of light.

Shall we pray?

© Johannes W H van der Bijl 2024

Dealing with Personal Contradictions

 Jeremiah 2:1-13                                       John 12:9-19

Dealing with Personal Contradictions

In his book, The God Who is There, Dr Francis Schaefer told a story about the late contemporary American Composer by the name of John Cage.  Mr Cage evidently believed that the universe is impersonal by nature and that it originated only through pure chance. In an attempt to live consistently with his personal philosophy, Cage pioneered a form of composition called “indeterminacy” in which some parts of the work are left open to chance or to the interpreter's individual imagination.  He used, among other things, the tossing of coins and the rolling of dice to ensure that no personal element entered into the final product. The result is music that has little to no form or structure and, for the most part, no appeal. (https://youtu.be/XlBo7_3EXqk?si=0cf-_iQ0RAqiAkG2  https://youtu.be/Rlyf9_gkP1A?si=urfKzbRj5mqErXDb).

Now what is interesting about this gentleman is that although his professional life accurately reflected his philosophy, his personal life did not. One of his favourite pastime activities was mycology, the study of fungi and mushrooms. But because of the potentially lethal results of ingesting the wrong sort of mushroom, he could not approach this activity on a purely by-chance basis. Concerning this personal contradiction, he apparently said that he became aware that if he approached mushrooms in the spirit of chance operations, he would die.

John Cage believed one thing but practised another. Faced with the certainty of creation, he chose to ignore the obvious signs of ordered design in the universe and stubbornly clung to his own novel theory. You may well ask, how was he able to live with such a glaring personal contradiction? Surely, if he had seriously reflected on this incongruity, he would have had to admit his inconsistency and change his theory. But well-entrenched presuppositions tend to override any attempt at serious reflection because the alternative has already been rejected outright without any form of proper investigation. 

True, most people live with contradictions in their personal lives, some major, some minor. So, it is not a question of whether or not we have them in our lives, but rather what we do with them when they are discovered. In our Gospel passage for today, we have three main responses to having our contradictions exposed by the truth: the removal or the avoidance of truth, the recognition and re-evaluation of truth, and the rejection of truth.

As we have already seen, the Chief Priests and Pharisees had decided Jesus was dangerous and that he was leading the people in a direction that was potentially harmful to them. Consequently, they began to plot against him, to eliminate him. But while they entertained thoughts of murder in their heart, Jesus did something that brought them face to face with a question that demanded an answer. If Jesus was a liar or a deluded lunatic or yet another megalomanic revolutionary, then how could they explain the raising of Lazarus? Anyone in their right mind would think that this incomprehensible miracle would have brought them to their senses…that they would have been forced to reconsider their position and admit that they were wrong concerning their conclusions about Jesus. 

But they didn’t do that, did they? Instead, when confronted with the truth, they simply ignored it by seeking to remove it…and so, even though it boggles the mind, they considered murdering Lazarus because his mere existence testified against them. Now we marvel at such a ludicrous decision, but how often haven’t we done something similar? We dogmatically defend our position in an argument, only to find that we are wrong…and then we either admit our mistake and change our opinion, or we attempt to avoid the person and/or the subject, which can be problematic depending on the level of the relationship. That’s how church hopping, and church splits happen. 

 Yet the strangest thing is that if we were able to question the Chief Priests about this conflict in their thinking, they would more than likely have denied that there was an inconsistency. No one likes to admit the discrepancies in their philosophy of life…no one enjoys admitting they are wrong, especially if they have really made an issue about it or hold a position of authority. Pride is one of the most difficult things for humans to deal with. But if we are ever to benefit from the truth, we will have to learn to eat humble pie often, because none of us are exempt from flaws and errors. 

Think of how the lives of the Chief Priests would have changed had they confessed that their conclusions about Jesus were incorrect. If they had faced the truth with humility, they would have changed their opinions concerning him and would have come to a saving knowledge of his person. But sadly, they determined to remove whatever challenged them and to eliminate whoever exposed their ignorance and hardness of heart. 

You can stop your ears all you like…you can run and hide…you can attempt to ignore or eradicate the truth…but truth will not be obliterated. Truth will come to light, as the Bard said.  It will confront you again and again throughout your life and in the end, as you stand before the Throne of Judgement, truth will have to be acknowledged even if only through clenched teeth. And as John wrote in the Revelation,  those who rejected the Way, the Truth, and the Life…"those who pierced him", to use his words, witnessed with their eyes his universal sovereignty when that which they endeavoured to protect and preserve was destroyed by the Roman forces in AD 70.

A better way to deal with truth is to recognise it for what it is and to re-evaluate your own present position in the light of that truth. When Jesus entered Jerusalem on the back of a young donkey, the crowds recalled the many great things he had said and done and concluded that he was the long-awaited Messiah, the King of Israel. But truth not put into practice soon becomes a stumbling block. It’s easy to believe something when it's simple and obvious and when you are in the majority. But the test of whether truth has been understood and integrated into your belief system is whether it will continue to govern your way of life when the going gets tough and you find that you are in the minority. 

Many in this same crowd of enthusiastic participants turned quite nasty a few days later, didn’t they? Yes, some may still have clung to what they believed to be true, but if the reaction of the disciples at the arrest, trial, and crucifixion is any indication of the general response of the people, then that number was not very large.

However, it is possible to recognise and accept the truth, to lose that truth in a moment of strife or intense pressure, and yet to regain that truth after some recollection and reflection. This was true of the disciples, at least. Triumphantly, they marched by the side of the Master as he rode into Jerusalem. Confidently they openly acknowledged him and fearlessly supported him. Little did they know that they would be cowering behind locked doors only a few days later, having abandoned him or even denied him either by word or deed.

Yet, after the resurrection, when Jesus took them through the Scriptures, showing them the many things written about him from Genesis through to Malachi, they returned to the truth. For the first time after those awful three days, the confusing events surrounding what was surely the most stressful time of their lives, all made sense and they could once more embrace the truth and overcome their momentary unbelief. 

Often, throughout the New Testament, we read that the authors remembered what had been written about Jesus and then they would quote the relevant passages to substantiate or validate the truth of what they were writing. By recalling the things written about Jesus as well as the things said by Jesus, and by reflecting on what he had done, they concluded that this man they had followed for three years was, in fact, God incarnate. 

And this called for radical change in their thinking and their way of living…a hundred-and-eighty-degree turn in their philosophy of life. They had to discard all that they had learned and believed before to accept what they now knew to be true. To many Jews, a suffering and dying messiah was ludicrous…even though it is all over the Scriptures…so they invented their own ideas about who this messiah would be. 

Most believed that he would be a warrior-king who would free them from the tyranny of Rome and re-establish the Davidic kingdom once more. Right up until the ascension, we see that even the disciples thought this was what he was going to do. Remember their question in Acts 1:6? “Lord, are you at this time going to restore the kingdom to Israel?” 

I don’t think we realise how difficult it must have been for them to recognise the truth, let alone accept it! But that is why they needed the Holy Spirit to help them comprehend the truth and also have the wisdom and ability to articulate that truth in such a way as to make it understandable to those to whom they spoke and wrote. 

That is why we too need the Holy Spirit. He substantiates and validates our testimony to the truth. His internal work turns even the most stubborn and wicked persons into humble believers…we see this in the Scriptures, but also in our lives and in the lives of other followers of Jesus. He convicts us of sin, of righteousness, and of judgment. He takes out the heart of stone and replaces it with a heart of flesh. He upholds us with a new and willing spirit. He gives us the power to be obedient. 

Only God can change the hearts of people. If the Gospels teach us anything it is that no sign, no wonder, no miracle, no argument, or logic will ever turn a corrupt and wicked heart…only God can do that. So, when confronted with truth, it is only those who have been prepared or regenerated by the Holy Spirit who will believe. According to Paul, “The person without the Spirit does not accept the things that come from the Spirit of God but considers them foolishness, and cannot understand them because they are discerned only through the Spirit.” (1 Corinthians 2:14) And so even when faced with the impossible, these Chief Priests could not see the truth because the truth had no part in them. 

And this leads to the final way folks deal with truth and that is rejection. One of the most tragic kinds of people in the Church are the lone crusaders. That’s where many splinter groups have come from. These folks somehow convince themselves that they alone are right in spite of the overwhelming historical and biblical evidence against them. Think of people like Joseph Smith, Jim Jones, or David Koresh. 

But sadder still is the fact that these people always succeed in attracting followers because most of them tend to be rather persuasive and dynamic or they tend to be forceful, violent, unpredictable, and irrational and their followers fear them. The latter was certainly true of the Pharisees as those who disagreed with them were threatened with excommunication. As we saw in the case of the man born blind, there was no reasoning with them…you were either in or out. 

And we have the same thing here…even though they saw that many of the people were persuaded by the raising of Lazarus, they dug in their heels and rejected the obvious. Same with the resurrection of Jesus. They chose to bribe the soldiers to lie about what they had witnessed rather than confess and change.

Throughout the book of Acts, these same men were confronted with the truth as taught by a growing body of believers. They were confronted with bold and determined witnessing. They were confronted with signs and wonders done by those who believed in the name of the one they had crucified. But what did they do? While some did believe, most of them rejected the truth. 

Could they explain the healing of the man born blind? No. Could they explain the resurrection of Lazarus?  No. Could they explain the resurrection of Jesus? No. Could they explain the changed lives of the disciples? No.  On multiple occasions, they were faced with a contradiction in their philosophy of life, and they only had three options…removal or avoidance of the truth…removing the messenger of truth or moving themselves out of the way, which we would call ignoring the elephant in the room…re-evaluation of what they thought was the truth…or the outright deliberate rejection of the truth…facing it, acknowledging it, but consciously denying it anyway.

We also have the same three choices. The first and the last, removal and rejection, are relatively easy because they conform to our sinful and proud fallen nature, but they exact a very high price tag. The second is the more difficult path to follow as it demands great humility and self-discipline, but its rewards are peace and love and true joy. God’s ways are never easy for fallen humanity because they are contrary to what we want in life, but they are always the best.   

You can live with contradiction if you suppress the truth as John Cage and many others have done. But who really wants to risk living a lie?

Shall we pray?

© Johannes W H van der Bijl 2024

Acceptable Service

Isaiah 1:11-17                        Revelation 2:1-7                           John 11:55-12:11

Acceptable Service

There are many stories of hypocrisy, treachery, and betrayal in the history of the world. From Genesis three onwards we are confronted by humanity’s uncanny ability to lie, cheat, and steal while maintaining an appearance of innocence…in this respect, we resemble the father of lies who can appear to be a messenger of light (2 Corinthians 11:14) more than we do the Father of truth in whom there is no darkness (1 John 1:5). 

Sadly, this flaw can be found even in those who claim to be followers of the Way, the Truth, and the Life. From Cain’s feigned surprise when confronted by God for the murder of his brother…to Kings who were expected to live by the Law of God and who yet resisted and persecuted and executed Prophets…to Prophets who quite happily prophesied falsely in exchange for fame and fortune…to Priests who perverted God’s Law to suit their lucrative grip on political power…to many throughout the ages who chose to challenge, contradict, twist, or void God’s Word for the sake of personal gain. 

Throughout the Gospels, Jesus often confronted the political and religious powers of his day exposing their practices by citing Scripture. Worship devoid of truth is meaningless because God is truth. The basic message to the church in Ephesus in Revelation 2:1-7 was that although they possessed many virtues and it appeared that they had their act together doctrinally, they had lost their first love and consequently they were exhorted to repent and to do the works they did at first…in this case, it seems John was alluding to Jesus’ statement that if we truly loved Jesus we would keep his commandments (John 14:15)…love and obedience always go together. 

So, the conflict between Jesus and the church in Ephesus then concerned their bizarre inconsistency.  For all their religious purity and rigorous rules, they were in actuality not obeying God’s Word. Subsequently, as a church that claimed to be something they were not, their witness to Jesus was not faithful…in fact, they were nothing less than bold-faced liars and Jesus threatened to remove them as light-bearers because the light in them was no longer light, but darkness (Luke 11:35).

Unfortunately, people such as these often believe themselves to be right, and they will defend their position even to the point of duplicity and deception, defamation and betrayal, or when all else fails, murder. But surely the saddest part of it all is that this is not confined to those outside the Fellowship of Christ. While it was the Sanhedrin who plotted to kill Jesus, it was Judas who betrayed him to them. 

Now, in our Gospel passage today, we have several contrasts between those who are light and those who are posing as light. 

John informs us that many went up from the countryside to Jerusalem to be purified before the Passover. Timewise quite a lot had happened since Jesus left Jerusalem to go to Ephraim, but you will have to read the other Gospels to fill in these blanks. For instance, we know from the other Gospels that Jesus came to Bethany via Jericho where he had brought Zacchaeus back into the fold. Now obviously, the excitement concerning the resurrection of a decomposing corpse had not abated…if anything it had probably increased by word of mouth and the Chief Priests were contemplating the assassination of Lazarus as well as Jesus because his very existence preserved the problem of an unexplainable miracle by an unwanted messianic figure.

So, here comes the first contrast. The pilgrims, whom we are told were excitedly looking for Jesus, arrived early to be purified in the many pools for ritual cleansing located at the foot of the southern steps on the Temple Mount so that they might observe the holy festival. But at least some of those administering these rites of purification were themselves impure as they carried in their hearts thoughts and plans of hatred and murder. 

Now, John tells us that Jesus arrived in Bethany six days before the Passover. That year Passover fell on the Sabbath, making it a special High Day (John 19:31). According to Judean reckoning (remember the Galileans counted days from sunrise to sunrise, while the people from Judea counted days from sunset to sunset) , this would have been the first day of the week, or Sunday as we call the day now. I believe this is significant because Jesus was arrested and tried on Thursday night (and early Friday morning) but he was crucified on the Friday, or the day of preparation, the day before the Passover when the lambs were being slaughtered. 

He was then hurriedly bundled up in cloth and spices before sunset that Friday and he “rested” in the tomb that Saturday. Then shortly before sunrise on Sunday, the women, who had come to complete what had not been completed on Friday, were told by angels that he had risen from the dead. In other words, this feast recorded in our Gospel lesson for today, occurred exactly one week before the resurrection. 

Is it possible that John was trying to draw our attention to the imagery of creation and the Exodus? Mankind had been created on the sixth day. God had “rested” from his creative labours on the seventh day. If we believe that the cross began the reversal of the effects of the Fall, it may be that John was following a recreation timetable here…a sort of final countdown, if you will. As humans were created on the sixth day, so they were recreated on the sixth day, at the same time when the people were remembering the night when the angel of death passed over all those who had the blood of the lamb daubed on the lintels of their doorways. 

Once more, on the Sabbath God “rested” from his labours, but this time from the labour of recreation. Remember Jesus’ words on the cross, “it is finished”…words that may echo what was said of creation at its completion in Genesis 2:2. Jesus then rose again on the first day of the week to usher in this new beginning. The raising of Lazarus had served as a picture promise of this glorious reality. And, of course, one cannot miss the obvious table fellowship imagery. In six days’ time, Jesus would quite literally give his body and his blood to sustain the spiritual life of all his people. Together, they would then shortly feast again at the table of the Marriage Supper of the Lamb.

But as important as the timeline and the recreation imagery may be, I think the main point of the immediate passage is to contrast those whose religion is purely external with those whose devotion wells up from an inward reality. Whereas the Sadducees and Pharisees went about their meaningless duties, harbouring hatred and murderous thoughts in their dark hearts, the followers of Jesus gathered around him to savour every moment and every word and to honour him as best they could.

It is interesting to note that John tells us how each one of our famous family from Bethany honoured their Lord and friend in different ways using their obvious gifts. God gives every one of us specific but different gifts. 

Gifts such as cooking and cleaning and gardening can be every bit as spiritual as preaching and teaching – remember the craftsmen Bezalel and Oholiab who were filled with the Spirit of God, with ability and intelligence, with knowledge and all craftsmanship to devise artistic designs, to work in gold, silver, and bronze in cutting stones for setting, and in carving wood, to work in every craft. (Exodus 31:3-6) Their artistic craftmanship was a gift from God. And we are well pleasing to God when we use our gifts to honour him. 

Martha, as we would expect, was serving. That was her gift. Lazarus, John tells us, was among those who were reclining with the Lord at the table, which, when we understand that this feast took place at the home of Simon the Leper according to Matthew 26:6-7 and Mark 14:3-9, means that he was as much a guest as Jesus. However, itinerant Rabbis were often invited to lecture at meals and so one would expect Lazarus to be there as a student or a disciple.

And then there was Mary. We know from Luke 10:38-42 that there was some friction between the sisters as Mary did not share the same practical homebuilding skills with Martha. That in itself is a lesson we would do well to learn. Just because someone does not possess the same gift as you, does not make their gift any less. But, as we learned from their respective responses to the Lord following the death of their brother, Mary was certainly the more sensitive and openly emotionally expressive of the two sisters. 

Be that as it may, Mary’s form of devotion here is startingly sacrificial. Spikenard, which is also known as nard, muskroot, and nardin, has a woody, spicy, earthy fragrance. It is derived from a plant known as “Nardostachys Jatamansi”, a flowering plant of the Valerian family that grows in the Himalayas. It is mentioned in Mark 14:3-9 as an oil used by an unnamed woman to anoint Jesus before the crucifixion. It is also mentioned in the Song of Songs 4:14. It was used as incense in the Temple and in the preparation of bodies for burial. A pound or pint is about 473 millilitres or 324 grams or 12 ounces. A jar would normally contain no more than an ounce, so Mary would have been enormously extravagant here. 

John tells us that this ointment was worth a year’s wages for an average worker so one is not surprised when Judas (as well as the other disciples according to the synoptic Gospels) criticises her apparent wastefulness. Many scholars believe that this jar of expensive perfume was a form of “life savings”. Assuming that she was not married as no husband is ever mentioned and the siblings appear to have been living together, should anything happen to Lazarus, the sisters would be left with nothing but their personal possessions. So, this jar of spikenard would then offer a form of security against poverty. 

When you think about this it seems that the anointing was more than just devotion. It was a statement of faith. What she was pouring out on his feet was her insurance, if you will…her pension, as it were…her future. Like the widow in the temple treasury who gave all she had.

The contrast then with Judas (and the other disciples) is certainly a glaring one! On the one hand, we have Mary who gives all and then on the other hand we have Judas who is portrayed as one who habitually steals and who will ultimately betray his Lord. Another contrast will come four days later during another meal…an embarrassing scene where it seems none of the male disciples were willing to demean themselves by performing the task of a servant in washing the feet of the travellers. 

Now this is quite a challenge for us who often only remember the great things people achieve. It seems that it is the apparent insignificant things…like the giving of a cup of cold water or performing the tasks considered beneath our dignity…it is the insignificant things that are remembered and valued by our Lord.

John mentions that the fragrance of the spikenard filled the whole house. Knowing John, we should not skip over this as a mere trivial observation. It may be that he was indicating that her sacrificial giving was a well-pleasing aroma to the Lord, like the burnt offerings in the Old Testament and the frequent use of this term by Paul referring to sacrificial giving and sacrificial living. Through Isaiah God made it clear to the preexilic community in Judea that the multitude of their sacrifices were meaningless and gave him no pleasure…the sweet-smelling incense was detestable to him…because their deeds were evil. Gifts given with incorrect motives are better not given at all. 

But then comes the sad contrast. One of the many reasons I believe the Gospels are genuine is because of the inclusion of such embarrassing moments as these. The pseudo or apocryphal Gospels and letters never make the heroes look bad. But this event casts such a poor light on the male followers of Jesus that one marvels that they included it at all. 

Remember, these men were disciples…they had walked with Jesus for three-plus years, and they had learned at his feet. It is amazing to think that they were just six days away from the crucifixion of the Lord…and what were they arguing about? Perfumed oil. But it is always the so-called little things that break up friendships and fellowship, isn’t it? That’s why Solomon warned us to catch “the little foxes” that destroy the vineyard (Song of Songs 2:15). If only we could major on the many important doctrinally central things we agree on, we would not tend to trip over the fewer or more peripheral things we disagree about! 

But what is even more startling here is that they (Judas and the other disciples) condemned what their Lord had already accepted. Surely by now, they ought to have learned that their Master would have objected if he deemed the action inappropriate! But sadly, all too often the followers of Jesus think themselves more righteous than him! And so, they begrudged him this act of devotion with a pious reference to the poor, perhaps referring to the custom of giving to the poor on the evening of Passover.

But John reveals the true reason behind the objection…Judas was a thief and had been for some time. He had apparently, been given charge over the communal purse but he was lining his own pocket all along. When compared to Mary we see a man who had little faith in God’s provision. While she abandoned any thought of future security, quite literally pouring it out at Jesus’ feet, he was feathering his nest and we know exactly where that took him. 

Now, Jesus’ reply to this objection is interesting. Firstly, he referred to what would be his hasty burial six days later, when there would not be time for such an anointing with oil, something none of them could have predicted…but somehow Mary’s action became prophetic. Did she have some sort of intuition? Had she discerned something the others did not? 

It is quite possible that while Martha was bustling around in the kitchen, and while the men were arguing about position and authority in the kingdom, sometimes even callously in the context of Jesus’ statements regarding his betrayal, trial, execution, death, burial, and resurrection, Mary was listening at a deeper level and somehow perceived that something monumental was about to happen. 

But then secondly, Jesus appeared to quote from Deuteronomy 15. Concerning giving generously to the poor, Jesus said “You will always have the poor among you, but you will not always have me.” Jesus was not saying that they should not give to the poor…but rather that they needed to balance priority and timing. 

What Mary had done was more than a simple act of devotion…she had anointed Jesus for his burial…the only proper anointing he would get because of later haste. But I think there’s more to this than that. There are images of sacrifice here for sure, for both Mary and Jesus, but perhaps there is also a hint as to what would happen after his sacrificial death as the Lamb of God who would take away the sins of the world. Unknown to her and everyone else in that room, Mary was anointing the future universal king. Her anointing pointed forward to his priestly royalty…to the fact that he was a sacrifice destined for exaltation via the suffering of his substitutionary death. 

Everyone seemed to have missed all this…they all seemed to have missed the significance of this sacrificial act of devotion because their focus was elsewhere. The number of times the disciples were yet to stumble over the concept of servanthood rather than arrogance and swaggering remains to be examined in future sermons. 

But to bring this home, one would have thought that by this time, with two centuries of church history behind us, we would have learned to be more like Jesus. But even today, pride seems to be more prevalent in the Church than humility. We just love to lord it over each other, don’t we? 

In our Gospel passage for today, we have two sad examples…on the one hand, we have those who are reprobate despite their elaborate religious observances and then on the other hand, we have those who are followers of Jesus and yet are blinded by their own values and ambitions. Perhaps if we allowed the love of God, which he has poured out abundantly in our hearts, to direct us as it did Paul who viewed it as the supreme virtue, we would be more like Mary and less like the Sadducees, Pharisees, and, in this case, the disciples…especially Judas. Paul teaches us that if we do not love, our lives are as jarring as a clanging cymbal. Perhaps if we were less concerned with ourselves – if we were less concerned with always being right – crossing all our t’s and dotting all our i’s, we would be able to love each other as God has commanded us to love.

Giving up our pride may be as difficult and as risky as Mary’s sacrifice of her future investment. It will certainly render us more vulnerable to each other as Mary’s act made her vulnerable and exposed her to severe criticism and censure. But ultimately, we must ask ourselves a rather uncomfortable question: whom do I wish to impress? God or humanity? 

Shall we pray?

© Johannes W H van der Bijl 2024