So that those who have not yet seen…

Job 42:1-6 Psalm 35:22-28 Revelation 1:4-8 John 20:19-31

So that those who have not yet seen…

Have you ever spent some time reflecting on the wonder of sight? It is a marvellous gift, isn’t it? It is so multi-faceted and multi-dimensional. But the gift of sight goes beyond the physical ability to see with our eyes. We instinctively know that there are more dimensions to our existence than the tangible world. Even our speech indicates our understanding regarding the scope of the word “sight”…we speak of things being insightful…of someone exercising foresight…of neglect as being an oversight…of a re-evaluation brought on by hindsight…as someone who doesn’t think things through as being short-sighted. And so on…

But the one thing that unites all thought on the word “sight” is that it demands a response. What we see…whether physically or intuitively…cannot be ignored. We must act on the evidence before us. Whether sight elicits a gasp of wonder at the beauty of a spectacular sunset, or a cry of anguish at the sight of a bloody accident…there is always some form of response.

Years ago, an author by the name of Josh McDowell wrote a book entitled “Evidence that Demands a Verdict”. You may have read it. He also published a more popular version by the name of “More Than a Carpenter” using the same evidence. Whatever you may think of the book – as you can imagine it is rather controversial depending on where you place yourself on the scale of atheist to believer – the title is…dare I say…insightful. Just for interest’s sake, an American author by the name of Lee Strobel also wrote a book along the same lines called “The Case for Christ”. 

But the reason I have referred to the title of McDowell’s book is because if you witness an event personally, you are what we call an eyewitness, meaning you actually saw the event with your own eyes. This gives you a certain authority as you are directly linked to whatever it is that you observed. But depending on the nature of the event, someone may ask you to tell them what you witnessed, and then there is a certain level of obligation. The fact that you saw it, demands some sort of response…a telling or an explanation.

Now, there are many biblical characters who saw God, either physically with their own eyes, or intuitively through theophanies, visions, dreams, or an inner-sensory experience. Adam and Eve, Cain and Abel, Enoch, Noah and his family, Abraham and Sarah, Hagar, Isaac, Jacob, Joseph, Moses, Joshua, Manoah and his wife, and many more…including Job.

We all know about the sufferings of Job, but for the sake of today’s talk, I want to focus on what Job said in response to the Lord’s challenge to his demand to know the reasons for his ordeal. “I know that you can do all things,” Job said, “and that no purpose of yours can be thwarted…I have uttered what I did not understand, things too wonderful for me, which I did not know. I had heard about you…but now (and listen carefully) now my eye sees you…and I despise myself and repent in dust and ashes.” In effect what Job was saying is that God’s self-declaration or self-revelation (although not an answer to Job’s many questions about the purpose of his suffering), caused him to “see” God…to comprehend God on a completely higher level than before…and to respond appropriately – with humble repentance. Before his ordeal, he knew about God in a theoretical sense…but now, after his ordeal, he knew God through personal experience…a knowing that transcended logic…reason…understanding. This was a knowing that I know that I know kind of knowing. 

In many ways, it's the kind of knowing that is required of followers of Jesus. We walk by faith, not by sight, Paul wrote to the Corinthians. For this reason, poor old Thomas has borne the brunt of many a scathing rebuke aimed at those who demand tangible proof for belief. Down through the ages, red-faced, spittle flying preachers have accused him of having a “seeing is believing” attitude. But I would like to sound a voice of caution here. 

“Seeing” Jesus was clearly not the problem here as Mary Magdalene and the other female disciples had seen him, Peter and the nine other male disciples had seen him, the Emmaus disciples had seen him…and they believed because they had seen him. Remember, Peter and John were eyewitnesses to the empty tomb…they had also heard the testimony of the women and the Emmaus travellers who had seen Jesus…but according to Luke, when Jesus appeared to them in the Upper Room, they were terrified because they thought they were seeing a ghost. It was also not even the seeing and touching of the wounds of Jesus that seemed to be the problem with Thomas as Jesus allowed the others to touch him to prove that He was flesh and bones. 

So, what was Thomas’ error? Well, I think Thomas’ unbelief was more than a simple need for physical proof. Bear with me as I walk you through my reasoning. 

Firstly, where was Thomas when Jesus met with the others? Why was he not gathered together with them in the Upper Room? Where was he? Why was he not locked away for “fear of the Jews” like the others? Could it be that he had capitulated following the death of Jesus? Was he perhaps trying to put the past three years behind him…time he may have viewed as filled with nothing more than idealistic dreams…and was he perhaps trying to reconnect with his old life, seeking out old friends, attending the synagogue, and confessing his errors to the Rabbis? Was he being bullied by family and friends to recant what they would have perceived as madness? Did he perhaps believe the lies of the Sanhedrin? The lies spread by the guards…that Jesus’ disciples had come in the night and had stolen the dead body? He clearly doubted the testimony of his believing friends, not so? Did he think that they were hiding something from him…that they were lying and not the soldiers? 

Now, of course, this is pure speculation on my part, but I have a reason for taking you down this path. The First Century readers of the Gospel of John would not have missed the clear reference to Psalm 35:23 in Thomas’ declaration. In Psalm 35, David cried out to God for deliverance from those who were threatening him. “You have seen, O Lord,” David wrote. “Do not be silent! O Lord, do not be far from me! Wake up! Bestir yourself for my defence, for my cause, my Lord and my God! Vindicate me, my Lord and my God, according to your righteousness, and do not let them rejoice over me.”

Was Thomas being hounded by those who demanded an explanation for his loyalty to a dead messiah? Was his cry of confession in the Upper Room also a cry for vindication? You were asleep! You were dead! I cried out to you throughout the arrest, trial, crucifixion…but I saw them embalm your dead body and lay you in a tomb. You were dead. How could I defend myself? All my questioning remained unanswered. My friends accused me…they told me I had been duped for three years! Even Judas did not believe you to be the messiah! What could I say? That I believed in a resurrection? Look, I said, there is no body in the tomb. Your so-called friends, Jesus’ disciples stole him at night, they retorted. But the women said they saw him, I objected. Women? Who believes the words of women? But the disciples said they saw him, even Peter. But of course they would say that…what else could they say? Do you think they would have shown you his decomposing corpse? 

But there Jesus stood…as large as life. Thomas could see him with his own eyes. And what he saw demanded a response. Either he was hallucinating together with 120 other people gathered together in that Upper Room…or this was an imposter…but he wasn’t…he looked like Jesus, talked like Jesus, had wounds like Jesus…He was Jesus. 

A Scottish Preacher by the name of John Duncan famously said that Christ either deceived mankind by conscious fraud, or He was Himself deluded and self-deceived, or He was Divine. “There is no getting out of this trilemma,” he said. “It is inexorable.” C. S. Lewis popularised this trilemma on a BBC radio talk when he stated that either Jesus was a lunatic, a liar, or he was who He said he was, the Divine Lord. When fairly examined, Lewis pointed out, the evidence contained in the Gospels cancelled out the possibility of him being anything other than the Lord. He said, and I quote:

“I am trying here to prevent anyone saying the really foolish thing that people often say about Him: I'm ready to accept Jesus as a great moral teacher, but I don't accept his claim to be God. That is the one thing we must not say. A man who was merely a man and said the sort of things Jesus said would not be a great moral teacher. He would either be a lunatic — on the level with the man who says he is a poached egg — or else he would be the Devil of Hell. You must make your choice. Either this man was, and is, the Son of God, or else a madman or something worse. You can shut him up for a fool, you can spit at him and kill him as a demon or you can fall at his feet and call him Lord and God, but let us not come with any patronizing nonsense about his being a great human teacher. He has not left that open to us. He did not intend to. ... Now it seems to me obvious that He was neither a lunatic nor a fiend: and consequently, however strange or terrifying or unlikely it may seem, I have to accept the view that He was and is God.”

Thomas was not the first and certainly not the last to grapple with the overwhelming evidence that supported the claims of Scripture. But as far as he was concerned, before this appearance of Jesus, the evidence pointed in the opposite direction. Jesus was very much dead. He had seen that. He believed that. But what he believed was a lie and that is what I believe was Thomas’ error. He backed the wrong horse, so to speak. He trusted the wrong evidence. He listened to the wrong advice…and, unlike our friend Job, he succumbed to the pressure. 

He should have believed what Jesus had taught them…that He would be murdered and buried but that he would rise again on the third day. He should have believed the witness of those whom he had come to know as trustworthy friends. He should have believed the Scriptures as expounded by Jesus. But he surrendered to the clamouring voices of the world. It’s not possible. Prove it. Show me. I want to see. 

A W Tozer once said that “You can see God from anywhere if your mind is set to love him and obey him.” Perhaps it is not the lack of sight that hinders us in our own personal witness to Jesus as much as the lack of will. “Seeing” is not really the problem, is it? All will see him, John said in Revelation…even those who killed him…and they will mourn as they see him coming to judge their misjudgement.

John concluded his Gospel by saying that he had written what he had seen for those who had not yet seen. In other words, what he had witnessed demanded a response…he was obliged to tell others what he believed to be true. I am entrusted with a responsibility, Paul later wrote, to preach the Gospel. In spite of the hardship I endure, in spite of the persecution, the ridicule, the humiliation, I must witness to the truth of the Gospel because it is the power of God for the good of mankind. I cannot but tell because what I have seen is not simply Good News to make individuals happy…it is Good News that can and must change the world. 

Scripture has been subjected to more rigorous examination than any other historical document and yet it has never been discounted. In fact, archaeological findings repeatedly vindicate what has been recorded in Scripture. It is not that we are lacking evidence, is it? We have access to more “proof” than any other generation before us…what more do we need?

 In this light, perhaps the words of Jesus to Thomas echo in our own ears: Have you believed because you have seen me? Because you have irrefutable proof? Because you have evidence that will satisfy those who challenge your faith? Blessed are those who believe me because they love me and choose to obey me.

Let us pray.

© Johannes W H van der Bijl 2022

Redeemed, Restored, and Reconciled

Genesis 3:1-16    John 20:1-18          (Psalm 118:1-2, 17-24 1 Corinthians 15:20-26)

Redeemed, Restored, and Reconciled

Some Pharisees once tried to trap Jesus by asking him a question about divorce. Jesus shocked them by taking them back, not to the Law given to Moses that actually permitted divorce, but to Creation. He reminded them that it was because their hearts were hard that Moses wrote them this law, but at the beginning of creation it was not so. 

Jesus went back to what the Creator initially intended for us…not what was permitted after sin had entered the world. Now, I don’t want to talk about marriage and divorce today.  But I want to point out that because of Jesus’ reply to the Pharisees with regard to the original intent of our Creator at creation, I believe we can safely deduce that the norm or the standard for life in the Kingdom after Jesus’ resurrection, is life as it ought to have been pre-Genesis 3.

What I do want to talk about today is, what I call, the tale of two Gardens. In the Scriptures, we have major five stories taking place in gardens. The first is the Garden of Eden, the second is the Garden of Israel described in Isaiah 5, the third is the Garden of Gethsemane, the fourth is the Garden in which the Tomb of Jesus was situated and where Jesus appeared to Mary Magdalene, and finally the fifth is the Garden of Paradise described by John in Revelation 22. Now, there are many parallels between all five of these Gardens, but this morning we are just going to look at two.

On the screen, we have two paintings by the French artist, Jacques Joseph Tissot. The one on the left is a scene from the Garden of Eden, the other on the right is a scene from the Garden where Jesus was buried. 

We have read two rather long readings today, one from Genesis 3 and the other from John 20 for good reason. I believe that the one is related to the other. So, my aim today is to point out to you the many parallels between these two stories to illustrate, as best I can, the universal and eternal impact of the death and resurrection of Jesus and what that means for us today.

The first thing to notice is the day. Both events took place after the seventh day, the Sabbath Day, the day on which God rested after finishing his work on creation and the day on which Jesus rested in the tomb after finishing his work on recreation. The purpose of this parallel seems clear. Because, the of Jesus reversed the effects of the Fall, His resurrection ushered in the new creation.

The second thing to notice is that in both gardens there was a woman wanting something. In the Garden of Eden, Eve wanted to eat the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. In the Tomb Garden, Mary Magdalene wanted to know where the body of Jesus was so that she might complete the burial ritual. The first act is primarily selfish, the second primarily selfless. Defying logic, Mary waited, wanting nothing more than, what she at the time believed to be a dead body. But she didn’t care. She loved Jesus and so she stayed. Also note that in both Gardens the men were absent…Adam was absent during the temptation scene and Peter and John had left the tomb, leaving Mary behind.

The third thing is obviously the trees…there were two in Eden, namely the Tree of the knowledge of good and evil and the Tree of Life. In one sense, the tree in the Tomb Garden was in the background…it was, of course, the cross. Now, I believe that there is a very good reason why Paul repeatedly stated that Jesus was hung on a tree…in case you are wondering, there is a perfectly good Greek word for “cross” and Paul used that word as well…but when Paul did refer to Jesus being hung on a tree, I believe that he was not only recalling the law that says that anyone hung on a tree is cursed, but also he was recalling the words of Jesus: Take eat, Jesus said, this is my body…this is my blood…unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you. You see, as far as the biblical authors and Early Church were concerned, Jesus is the Tree of Life. In this sense, the Tree of Life is very much present in the Tomb Garden.

Eating obviously features in both stories – in Eden, eating the fruit would bring death as the act of disobedience would cut them off from their Creator, their only source of life…and, as I just said, sacramental participation in the death and resurrection of Jesus, represented in the eating of the bread and the drinking of the wine, would restore that connection to the source of life as all in Jesus will surely live.

Like the tree, the Serpent was front and centre in Eden, but again, in one sense, in the background in the Tomb Garden. In Eden we see Satan’s triumph as Adam and Eve believed him rather than God, but at the cross we see his defeat…as Paul said in Colossians 2:15 “And having disarmed the powers and authorities, Jesus made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them by the cross.” The resurrection was proof that Jesus had won the victory over sin, Satan, and death.

As such, in Jesus there is a reversal of the penalty of Death as Jesus defeated death by dying a sinless life – sin is sometimes described in Scripture as a dividing wall between God and us and, consequently, as sin effectively cuts us off from our only source of life, we are, in many ways, the living dead…or as Paul would put it, we were dead in our trespasses and sins. 

But in Jesus, the penalty of sin was paid for and so the wall has been removed, the breath of God is once more breathed into us like into Adam at the creation…the life giving Holy Spirit has been breathed into us, and so life has been restored.

Adam also features in both gardens…the 1st Adam in Eden, the 2nd Adam (as Paul calls Jesus) in the Tomb Garden. Interestingly, in Eden, Adam was made to be a gardener and in the Tomb Garden, Mary mistook the risen Jesus for a gardener.  

In both stories the Seed of the woman is mentioned…the first as a promise, the second as a promised fulfilled. Jesus is the fulfilment of Genesis 3:15 – He is the Seed of the woman who has defeated the serpent. 

The curse was pronounced in Genesis but removed in the Gospels. Jesus took the curse, pronounced on those in the 1st Adam, upon himself to effectively remove the curse from those who are now in the 2nd Adam, namely in Jesus.

There is also an element of Sacrifice in both stories. In Genesis God gave Adam and Eve garments of skins to cover their sin. Obviously, two animals had to die…their blood had to be shed to provide their skins…I believe that these were more than likely lambs as lambs become the main sacrificial animal later in the law, especially in the Exodus story. And in the Gospels, Jesus is portrayed as the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world and effectively covers all who believe in him with His righteousness.

The Spirit of God is also present as I mentioned earlier…in making Adam, God breathed life into him, and in the upper room after the resurrection, Jesus breathed over the disciples and said, “Receive the Holy Spirit”, a deliberate act illustrating that what happened on the cross was nothing short of a new creation. 

In both Gardens we also have spoken messages, both from women. In Eden the message was one of death to Adam, but in the Gospels, the message of Mary was one of life to the disciples. It is interesting to note that while Adam did not question Mary’s message, the disciples thought the women to be out of their minds. But again, Mary did not care. She was a witness to Jesus – the one she loved above all else – and so she bore the message even to those who mocked her for it. As such Mary became the first herald of the new creation…the first preacher of the Gospel…and I believe this to be a deliberate act on the part of Jesus. He could have chosen Peter or John…after all they were also at the tomb…but he purposefully waited for them to leave so that he might reveal himself to Mary. “Why?” you may ask. And I’m so glad you asked the question!

I believe it is because in Genesis 1 & 2 we see humanity created by God as male and female both in the image of God to serve together in complementary equality as vice-regents over the world (Genesis 1:26-28). Both received the command to exercise dominion over the created order. It is only in Genesis 3 that this complementary equality falls apart. It is the curse that brings about inequality, and division, and strife because it is only after the Fall that the husband is said to rule over his wife and the wife is said to struggle against her husband. It is part of the curse pronounced over fallen humanity, but at the beginning of creation it was not so.

I believe that, in Jesus, this original complementary equality is restored. Jesus specifically, deliberately, and purposefully used Mary Magdalen instead of Peter or John to preach the first message of the Gospel – as such, Mary Magdalene represents his reversal of the curse. And also remember the so-called Great Commission was not just given to the 12 Apostles. It was given to all 120 disciples, both men and women.

Then there were also Angels in both Gardens. In Eden they were there to stop humanity from re-entering Paradise, in the Tomb Garden they were there to announce that the way to Paradise had been reopened by Jesus though his resurrection.

Milton described this as Paradise lost and Paradise restored. Remember the words of Jesus to the thief on the cross? “Today you will be with me in Paradise.” This garden Paradise is described in more detail in the last chapter in the book of the Revelation, but that is a message for another time.

Finally, there is a command in both stories as well. In Genesis the command was given to the man and the woman to exercise dominion over the created order. In the Gospels and in the book of Acts, the command was given to the men and the women of the Church to go into the whole world to make disciples of the nations by bringing them under the authority of God and by teaching them to obey Him.

So, you might be thinking, this is all very interesting, but what does it mean to me living in Heiloo in the 21st Century? Again, I am so glad you are asking such wonderful questions! 

I believe that the New Testament authors purposefully used images from the creation story and the story of the Fall to show that Jesus ushered in a New Creation…consequently all who are in Jesus are not only living in the New Creation (or renewing creation), but we are, as Paul tells us, new creatures, created in Jesus for good works. 

“What good works?” you may ask. Great question again! Dearest beloved brethren, in Jesus, we are now where Adam and Eve were at creation – we have been recreated in the 2nd Adam to do what Adam and Eve were created to do – what they were meant to do – namely to exercise dominion over the all the earth…to take care of God’s world…and part of that care is bringing people into alignment with God’s truth.

“But,” you may object, “we do not live in a perfect world like Adam and Eve…we live in a fallen and broken world.” That’s right. We do. But that is why we are commanded by Jesus to continue to do what he came to do and to continue to teach what he came to teach (this is the whole message of the book of Acts). We have been redeemed from sin, restored to life through the indwelling Holy Spirit, and we have been reconciled to God and to each other for a purpose – we are to make disciples of all nations (like Adam and Eve we are meant to reign as vice-regents under God) by sharing God’s message of reconciliation. We are to proclaim to the world that the dividing wall between Creator and creation has been torn down and that there is new life to be had by all who come out from under the 1st Adam and surrender to the 2nd Adam. As new creations we are living testimonies to this truth, and we are here in the world to bring the world under the headship of Jesus. Therefore, we are described in the New Testament as new creatures, as the new Israel, and as the new Jerusalem. In Jesus we are now the light of the world…we are the city set on a hill…we are living witnesses to the finished work of Christ.

As such, Mary Magdalene is a type for us…we too must love Jesus even beyond logic and we too must be simple, obedient witnesses even though others may think we are out of our minds. Her challenge to us all is simple: go and tell. That is the only way to bring about lasting change in this world. 

Now, hear me well…and please do not misunderstand me. We will never change the world by going to church. We will never change the world by going to Bible Studies and seminars and retreats. These are all good things that we ought to be doing and then some, but they are simply not enough if we are serious about obeying our Lord’s command to change the world. We, my dearest beloved brethren, will only change the world by going into the world and proclaiming the Gospel…we will only change the world by being the church…we will only change the world by being like Mary Magdalene.

So, be like Mary. Be the Church. Go and tell. Go and tell. Go and tell.

Let us pray.

© Johannes W H van der Bijl 2022

The Road to Greatness

Isaiah 50:4-9a Psalm 31:9-16 Philippians 2:1-13 Luke 19:28-44 22:24-27

The Road to Greatness

In Act 2, Scene 5 of the play, Twelfth Night, William Shakespeare wrote these famous lines: “Some are born great, some achieve greatness, and some have greatness thrust upon them.” It’s a well-known statement, perhaps even a cliché, and, as such, it is often used out of context. Within the context of the play, the quote is used as part of a joke. It is part of a letter that an employer by the name of Olivia supposedly wrote to Malvolio, one of her employees. He reads it, thinking that it suggests Olivia is in love with him and that she is trying to encourage him to better himself. But what he doesn’t know is that the letter was written by his fellow servants to play a joke on him. It encourages him to do the very things that annoy his mistress the most. After reading this letter, Malvolio declares that he is going to “be proud,” “read politic authors,” and “baffle Sir Toby.”

Obviously, the kind of ‘greatness’ Molvolio had in mind was of a worldly kind – a greatness born out of self-interest and a thirst for personal elevation and popularity, and, in Molvolio’s case, the respect-filled admiration of his employer.  This is the kind of ‘greatness’ Jesus spoke about in verse 25 of our Gospel lesson for this Palm Sunday. “The kings of the Gentiles,” Jesus told his disciples, “lord it over them; and those who exercise authority over them call them benefactors.” The word translated ‘benefactors’ was a word used for people who would seek to gain fame and status through acts of public liberality and charity. Often, the motivation behind such beneficence was driven by greed and egocentricity and the act of charity would ultimately lead to a sense of obligation on the part of those who benefitted from the patron’s kindness.  “I did this for you and now you owe me.” Many politicians do the same thing, but backwards. “If you vote for me, then I will do this for you.” There are strings – if not chains – attached.

But Jesus emphatically stated that his followers ought not to be like that. This is one of those times when Jesus turned things upside-down, or dare I say, right-side-up. If you want to be great, Jesus taught, you must be the least. If you want to rule, you must serve.  The exact opposite of the world’s definition of greatness. 

So, here we must ask the inevitable question. What exactly is the ‘greatness’ Jesus advocates in this passage? Once we have grasped the meaning of his use of the word, then I think we will have a clearer idea of how it can be achieved. 

The kind of greatness Jesus wanted for his followers then and now is one born out of selflessness. It is the kind of greatness Paul refers to in his letter to the believers in Philippi. A greatness that is not based on selfish ambition or vain conceit or even self-interest…no, it is a greatness that is founded on humility and other-person-centredness…always considering others better than ourselves…always looking out for their best interests rather than our own. 

This greatness is clearly demonstrated in the attitude of Jesus. “Jesus,” Paul said, “is God and yet, at the incarnation, he made a deliberate choice to never live his earthly life as anything more than a human being.” 

Did you get that? Jesus was God…he never ceased to be God, nor did he temporarily put his Godhead on hold…no he was and always will be God…and yet he chose to live an earthly life as a finite, frail, and dependent human being. 

And notice that Jesus chose not to come at the height of Israel’s power…he could have chosen to come during the first years of King Solomon’s reign! But no, he chose to come at a time when Israel was nothing but a backwater vassal of Rome. Yes, both Jesus’ parents were of the royal Davidic line and yes, his mother was also a descendent of the first High Priest, Aaron. But after having been suppressed by the Babylonians, the Persians, the Greeks, and the Romans, Joseph and Mary were simple, poor, hardworking labourers, eking out their existence in a small village in Galilee. Jesus chose to come at a time when his oppressed people were regarded as scum and as rebellious irritants. 

In the hit single, Bohemian Rhapsody, the rock band Queen sang in defence of the killer: “He’s just a poor boy from a poor family, spare him his life from this monstrosity.” But Jesus never used his tough childhood as an excuse for sin. Despite being denied the proverbial silver spoon reserved for those ‘born great’, Jesus accepted his socio-economic position and lived the life expected of those in his so-called class. He took on the nature of a servant, Paul said. 

But neither did Jesus seek to achieve greatness by means of political manoeuvres nor through zealous rebellion. In Acts 5:36-37, a Pharisee by the name of Gamaliel, who also happened to be the teacher of Saul who became Paul, mentioned two would be Messianic figures in his statement to the Sanhedrin. Theudas and Judas. Both these men led revolts against Rome, and both were slaughtered together with their followers. According to the first century Jewish historian, Flavius Josephus, there were many other would-be messiahs in Judah at that time. But the glaring difference between all these deluded individuals and Jesus was that Jesus did not seek to achieve greatness by force or by human ingenuity. He could have…after all, Jesus was God. Jesus could have played his God-card, as it were. He could have called on legions of angels. But he did not…he intentionally and consciously chose to make himself nothing. The Son of Man came, Jesus said to his disciples, to serve. He came as a servant.

How strange then, that the followers of Jesus often seek to be served…to lord it over others…to achieve greatness…to seek elevation, the spot-light, the limelight, the fame, the recognition, the popularity. Sadly, it is rare to see followers of Jesus truly considering others better than themselves. But this, Jesus taught, is the road to greatness.

It is a road of self-denial and of total obedience. For Jesus, this meant the road would lead to death on the cross. As we read through the various records of his death, we see that his life ended in apparent failure, not greatness. Instead of recognition, there was mocking, spitting, rejection, flagellation, and a death sentence founded on jealousy, fear, greed, and hatred. Instead of cheering crowds, there were scoffers. Instead of a victor’s crown, a crown of thorns. Instead of a mega-church, a handful of women disciples and only one of his male disciples. Instead of an enthronement, a shameful and agonising execution. Instead of a dignified funeral, a hasty embalming and burial in a borrowed tomb. All a result of Jesus denial of self will.

Now, this is not the Buddhist concept of self-abandonment. This is not a growing unattachment to anything outside of the self…a detachment, if you will, from all external dependence…a focus on independent self-realisation. 

No, Jesus’ self-denial was an abandonment of self-will and a surrender to the divine will. It is a dependence, not an independence. It is a relinquishing of self-governance and an embracing of submission. Not my will be done, Jesus prayed, but your will be done…even if that would lead him to the cross.

This is the road to greatness. This is the foundational principle for Christian faith and practice. It is the exact opposite of the teaching of the world…the exact opposite of the mantras of many modern-day motivational speakers. If you want to be great, Jesus taught, you must be a servant…you must be a slave…you must be the least and you must be the last…and, ultimately, you must take up your cross daily and follow him one day at a time. 

This is the kind of mind we, as people who claim to follow Jesus, ought to have…need to have…must have if we are to walk as Jesus walked…if we are to love as Jesus loved. If the world is to know that we are his people…if the world is to see him in and through us, we need to have his mind. 

Let this mind be in you, Paul wrote. May this humble other-person-centred kind of loving be your attitude and observable practice. If you do this…if you truly conduct yourselves according to the principles of the Gospel…if you are like-minded and united in the same love…if you are one in spirit and purpose…then you are on the road to Gospel greatness together with Jesus because it is only when you are in him that you can truly live like him. 

Unlike worldly greatness that must be achieved by intentional determination and effort, kingdom greatness is a gift…it is something we are when we truly abide in Jesus. If we are in him, we are like him. Of course, this abiding is a day-by-day lifestyle based on surrender and obedience to his will. It is a daily relinquishing of self-centredness…a daily submission to his tenderness and compassion. It is something God works in us as we walk with him, and as he works in us, he causes us to will and to act according to his good purpose. In short, it is the imitation of the day-to-day life of our Lord Jesus. Jesus did nothing except what he heard and saw from the Father. 

In this sense, greatness is thrust upon us who are in the one whose road to greatness is defined by self-denying and self-sacrificing love for God and love for others. If we truly love the Lord our God, with all that we are as human beings and if we truly love others and esteem them better than ourselves…if we live in total obedience to God’s will…if we walk in step with his Spirit or a daily basis…then we will be on the road to greatness in the kingdom. 

Let us pray.

© Johannes W H van der Bijl 2022

The Fellowship of Sharing in His Sufferings

Habakkuk 3:17-19               Psalm 23                Philippians 3:4b-14                      John 12:1-8

The Fellowship of Sharing in His Sufferings

“This so-called God, you say you believe in. Where is He when I need Him?” 

Have you ever had anyone ask you such a question? “Where is God when I cry out to Him for help? Can He not heal me? Can He not change me? Can He not change my circumstances? Can He not stop the pain?” 

Where is God in times of trouble?

On July 30, 1967, 17-year-old Joni Eareckson dove off a platform into the Chesapeake Bay and fractured her neck between the fourth and fifth cervical vertebrae. In an instant, she went from being a very active teenager to being quadriplegic. During her two-year long rehabilitation, Joni begged God to heal her. Christian friends rallied around her, praying the same prayers…when she was not healed, some deserted her. Joni herself struggled with anger, depression, suicidal thoughts, and she wrestled with doubt. Why did God not heal her? Could He heal her? Of course, He could…but He didn’t…and for two years, the battle raged on in Joni’s soul. Where was God?

Some faith healers claim that God does not heal because the sufferer does not have enough faith. Joni agonised over that. Some taught that sickness and suffering were directly linked to disobedience. If you are sick, you must have sinned…the age-old accusation of Job’s friends and the question of the disciples in our Gospel lesson. But this type of theology was not at all helpful for Joni. On top of her doubts and struggles, it added a sense of condemnation. God doesn’t hear me because I am bad. But this can very easily turn into “God doesn’t hear me because He is bad”. Why would a loving God let me suffer like this? And it is not like Joni’s suffering ended with quadriplegia. Through the years, Joni has had to deal with various complications and other life-threatening diseases, most recently breast cancer and Covid. 

And yet God has used Joni in ways she would never have thought possible…in her singing, her artwork, her writing, her motivational speaking, and in the establishment of Joni and Friends, an organisation that helps the disabled worldwide. Our own special needs grandchildren have benefitted from what the Lord has done in and through this quadriplegic woman…He has used her suffering to bring blessing to so many people all over the world.

When discussing the words of Paul recorded in our Epistle lesson for today Joni said, “Amen! I want to explore the golden treasures of the knowledge of Christ . . . losing all things for Him is tough, but worth it. I want the righteousness that comes from God through the faithfulness of Christ to God’s law which is received by faith.” 

While Joni may have planned for a different life, one without suffering, it is in this life of torment – a life unknown to most of us – it is in this life of suffering that she has found something far greater. In losing her life on so many levels, she found a call and a purpose she would never have dreamed possible. Like the Apostle Paul, she found that all she once considered gain suddenly lost its lustre and its attraction in the light of the surpassing greatness of truly knowing Christ Jesus her Lord. 

In so many ways, Joni has one up on us. Paul speaks about knowing Christ and the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of sharing in His sufferings, becoming like 

Him in His death. Which one of us can truly say that we share in the sufferings of Jesus? 

Consider this. On the night He was betrayed Jesus agonised in prayer in the garden of Gethsemane. He knew what lay ahead. He knew how those who were crucified suffered before they died.  Crucifixions were commonplace at the time. Hundreds of crosses dotted the Judean landscape as it was the most common method of Roman execution. But I believe it was not the cross alone that made our Lord sweat drops like blood. It was the awful realisation that the iniquity of humankind would be laid on Him and that He would die a death for something He had never known. He who was totally sinless, would die for the sinful. And yet, for the joy set before Him he endured even this. His submission to the Father was complete. “Not my will,” He said, “but Your will be done!”

Moreover, when Jesus died, He died without having lived out all the natural years of a normal man. He died in poverty – without owning any property on earth, no place to lay His head, as He once put it – quite literally with only the clothes on His back. He died without having seen and enjoyed all there is to see on this earth; Without honour among men as He was greatly misunderstood by both friend and foe; Without having His family believe in Him; Without the blessing of marriage or of having any physical children or grandchildren; Without solving Judea’s political problems much less the world’s political problems; Without fulfilling his complete potential as a man.

In the eyes of the world, Jesus died a failure, a loser, a traitor, an apostate from Judaism, a rebel to Rome, a criminal, a delusional apocalyptic preacher, a pauper, a deceiver, a liar, and a powerless man.  

Which one of us can honestly say we know the fellowship of sharing in the sufferings of Christ?

Paul could certainly say it. Before coming to faith in Jesus, he had it all. Respect, wealth, education, and a bright future. But that one meeting with Jesus changed everything. In an instant, everything he had worked for all his life came crashing in around him. The hunter became the hunted. His friends became his enemies…his fellow countrymen sought to kill him…all the respect, all the prosperity, all the dreams of being a star in Israel…gone forever. For the sake of knowing Jesus, he lost all things. But still he wrote that he counted all of that which he once held dear, as nothing more than dung in comparison to knowing Jesus. 

But let’s get back to our initial question: Where is God when I need Him? Or, more pointedly, Why does God allow so much suffering in this world? I’ll tell you. I honestly don’t know.

Theologians down through the ages have debated this question ad nauseum. There are so many books written on the subject. Some claim that God is indifferent and couldn’t care less. Others say that He is a tyrant and a sadistic despot. Then there are those who say no, He is love, but the sins of humanity render Him impotent. And so on and so forth…all these arguments for why the world still rocks and reels in agony year after decade after century. But at the end of the day, if we are humble and truthful, we must admit that with our finite minds, we just don’t know. 

You will always have the poor among you, Jesus said. In this world you will have tribulation, Jesus said. As we read through the Scriptures, we see struggle and suffering written on just about every single page. And this didn’t end at the cross. Paul was both a persecutor and a persecuted man. Together with all but one of the Apostles, many First Century followers of Jesus were martyred, some in the most horrendous ways. Where was God as the flames licked at the feet of the Reformers? Where was God when the Ethiopian believers were beheaded on the beach? Where is God in the rubble of Mariupol? 

The Scriptures tell us, He is with us. In the darkness of the valley of death He is right there before us, behind us, on either side of us, below us, above us, within us. And it is in that valley of death that He prepares a Table before us…right in front of that which seeks to harm us…our enemies, our sickness, our poverty, our anxiety…it is right there that He anoints our heads with the oil and causes our cup of blessing to overflow. It is there, in the fellowship of sharing in His sufferings, that we find Him to be a God who is present. It is there in the darkness, where our own sense of control and independence is stripped away to nothing, it is there that we see Him most clearly. It is there in the stillness of emptiness that we hear His voice. 

In the beginning of his short book, the prophet Habakkuk cried out to God for justice. “How long, O Lord must I call for help, but You do not listen?” Wicked leaders in Judea disregarded the law and were oppressing their own people. But, when God responded and showed the prophet what He was about to do, the prophet was shocked and launched into a tirade. “What?” he basically shouted. How can God use the Babylonians, people even more wicked than the wicked Judeans, to punish God’s people? Is God not holy? Is God not pure? The language the prophet used in his angry response to God’s revelation is strong battle terminology. He will stand on his rampart, challenging God, as it were, to explain himself. Of course, you’ve never done anything like that…but Habakkuk did. And God, in His mercy, gave the angry little prophet a vision…and after this vision, Habakkuk changed his tune completely.

Even if there was total disaster, he said…even if there was total economic collapse and complete destruction in Judah, yet, he said, I will rejoice in the Lord, I will be joyful in God my Saviour. 

You see it is in the crucible of suffering that we are stripped of all human ingenuity, human explanations, human knowledge, human support, human sufficiency, and dare I say, human pride. It is when we truly comprehend the frailty of life itself, that we begin to understand our absolute 100 % dependency on the Creator and Sustainer of all that exists. Without Him we are nothing and without Him we can do nothing. 

But, unfortunately dearest beloved brethren, we do not learn that lesson on the mountain tops of life. We do not learn that lesson as we lie down in green pastures beside still waters. No, we learn that lesson in the valleys of desolation and destruction and despondency. It is in our emptiness that we are filled. It is when we share in the sufferings of Christ…when we are crushed…when we are abandoned…when we are stripped naked of all dignity…when we are at our very weakest…it is then that we know, to paraphrase the words of a Dutch woman by the name of Corrie Ten Boom, who suffered unbelievably in a Nazi concentration camp, it is then that we know that there is no pit so deep that God’s love is not deeper still…with Jesus even in our darkest moments, the best remains and the very best is yet to be.

To share in the sufferings of Jesus is to discover the surpassing greatness of knowing Him…knowing Him despite losing everything this world holds dear…knowing Him for the sake of knowing Him and nothing more. 

Let us pray.

© Johannes W H van der Bijl 2022