Expanding Horizons

2 Corinthians 5:14-21                 John 4:1-42

Expanding Horizons

One Sunday, a minister began his sermon this way: “I’d like to make three points today. First, there are millions of people around the world today who have never heard about Jesus. Second, most of us sitting here today don’t give a damn about that.” After a lengthy pause, he added: “My third point is that you are more concerned that I said the word ‘damn’ than you are about the millions of people who have never heard about Jesus.”

Now, in the passage we have before us, Jesus used similar shock tactics to firstly bring an estranged woman and the inhabitants of her village into the kingdom, and secondly to bring home to his disinclined disciples their responsibility in making disciples cross-culturally. 

The apostle John wrote this account in two parallel sections, first dealing with the Samaritan woman and then dealing with the disciples and the other Samaritans. It is a passage filled with contrasts, as a woman who was shunned by all because of her challenging circumstances, became the unlikely means Jesus used to reveal himself to the villagers. It is instructive to note that at that time and in that culture, women were not allowed to divorce their husbands, while husbands, on the other hand, were allowed to divorce their wives for just about any reason, like if she burnt his breakfast. (1)  Now, while we don’t really know why this woman had five husbands and why she was not married to the man she was living with at the time, we do know that had she committed some sexual offence as a married woman, she would have been executed, so we can be sure that she was not cast aside because of sexual impropriety. Maybe she was simply a bad cook or not as pretty as the other girls in town or perhaps, sadly, she was unable to have children, we just don’t know, but whatever her misfortune, she had been ostracised by her own community to such a degree that she no longer participated in the most basic part of village life. She came to the well alone at a time of day when most were avoiding the hot sun. How amazing then that this excluded, scorned, and rejected person became the first witness to Jesus in that Samaritan village. 

The disciples, on the other hand, who should have played her role as witnesses to Jesus, were rendered mute because they were more concerned with religious rules and cultural conventions…and with filling their empty bellies.  

And herein lies our first lesson. Focus on anything other than Jesus…whether the focus is set on rules regarding the length of skirts, hair styles, clothing, music etc, or whether the focus is set on popular modern fads and fashions or if the focus is set on other people…focus on anything other than Jesus results in us missing the point of the Gospel entirely.

Yet, as is so often the case, the purpose of God was still achieved despite the racial and ethnic bias of the disciples and their callous self-centredness. They were apparently more concerned about eating than about fulfilling the kingdom agenda…especially when it came to people historically loathed and despised. Interestingly, this event more than likely opened the way for Philip’s later mission as recorded in Acts 8. 

Be that as it may, the passage begins by telling us that our Lord was forced to retreat to the relative safety of Galilee because of the hostile behaviour of the Pharisees in Judea. His time had not yet come and so he simply left. However, John tells us that Jesus needed to go through Samaria. Now, to us this does not seem like a big deal, but at the time, religious Jews concerned with ritual purity, preferred to take the longer route along the Jordan valley. They regarded the Samaritans as ‘unclean’ as they were a mixed race with a mixed religion. 

John seems to indicate that the ‘need’ here was not one of human necessity, but of divine compulsion…it is as if Jesus was being driven into Samaria to fulfil a divine appointment revealed to him by the Father. Later in John, Jesus said that he only did what the Father told him to do, so we can safely assume that this was the case here too. Jesus needed to go as love compelled him to do so. As Paul said later in his letter to the Corinthians: “…the love of Christ compels us, because we are convinced that one died for all, and therefore all died. And he died for all, that those who live should no longer live for themselves but for him who died for them all and was raised again.” This is other-person-centred-love in action. 

In the first letter to the Corinthians, he said something similar: “For if I preach the Gospel, I have nothing to boast about because necessity is laid upon me. Yes, woe is me if I do not preach the Gospel!” And herein lies our second lesson. Do we sense that same compulsion to tell others about Jesus? Do we move with divinely determined direction? Or are we more like these disciples than like Jesus or Paul?

The location where Jesus met this Samaritan woman is historically significant. At the foot of the Samaritan’s most holy mountain, lay Jacob’s well. Like with the Qur’anic switch from Isaac to Ishmael, the Samaritan Pentateuch switched from Mount Ebal to Mount Gerizim. According to the Masoretic text, in Deuteronomy 27:5 Moses commanded the Israelites to build an altar on Mount Ebal. But the Samaritan Pentateuch changed the name “Ebal” to "Gerizim", therefore stating that Moses commanded the building of the altar on Mount Gerizim. While it is possible that a later, post-exilic redactor purposefully changed the names because of the location of the Samaritan altar, the fact remains that Jesus met the Samaritan woman on Samaritan holy ground. 

The Samaritans had built a temple on Mount Gerizim during the Persian period, but this was destroyed by the Jews in 128 BC, complicating relationships even further. And then to muddle things up even more, the Samaritans only considered the Pentateuch as divinely inspired Scripture, thus any reference to Mount Moriah, Mount Zion, or Jerusalem was disregarded. 

The area itself was rich in history. Here Jacob had dug a well for his family and flocks. On his deathbed, he gave the land to Joseph and eventually Joseph’s body was carried back from Egypt and buried there. Accordingly, the Samaritans considered themselves offspring of Manasseh and Ephraim, the sons of Joseph and his Egyptian wife, but they were also mixed with other conquered races brought there by Syria after they conquered the Northern Kingdom of Israel. In short, it was a monumental mix up of places and spaces and races.

But the most important reason for the choice of this well, was that God had an appointment with a human being in desperate need of love and salvation. The whole scene is divinely orchestrated as Jesus gently leads her to life.

It all began with a need. His need.

Jesus was wearied from the journey. He was tired and thirsty. The ostracised woman also had a need. A need to be wanted for who she was, not for what she could do or produce. She was, no doubt, tired of being an object of gossip or whispering and, I can only imagine her guard going up as she approached the well she had thought would be unoccupied. 

But instead of homing in on the possible causes of her misery, Jesus elevated her to a position above himself by stating his need. He simply asked her, “Will you give me a drink?” 

Just as an aside, verse 8 tells us that the disciples had gone into town to look for food. How they wangled their way out of the dietary and purity laws, the text does not say, but the important thing to note here is that their absence seems to have been divinely planned. Too many men or unkind racial remarks may have ruined Jesus’ method. It is equally important to note the word ‘food’ as it is used again in the later section dealing with the disciples. 

Jesus’ request seemed to disarm the woman completely. Her initial seemingly sarcastic objection to the request may have been based on the historic tension I mentioned before. No Jew, much less a Jewish Rabbi, would ever speak to a woman, especially a Samaritan woman, and they would most certainly not have accepted something from her hand. But by flaunting cultural and societal taboos, Jesus opened a way to introduce the whole village to the Gospel. 

His statement in verse 10 is interesting. Usually living or moving or running water stood in contrast to standing or pooled or contained water. Of course, we know that Jesus was referring to the Holy Spirit, but she seemed blinded by her harsh material world. How she may have dreamed of never having to come to this well again…never having to risk being humiliated or humbled again. To be free from all that shamed her. 

But the point is that throughout this passage Jesus indicated that the old way of doing things was about to give way to the new way. The “lifeless” was going to be replaced with the “lifegiving”. The standing water was about to move aside as the living water was poured out. Temples, altars, mountains, wells, national or racial division…all would end as the Kingdom of God burst onto the scene of human history and brought an end to all things used to divide. In Jesus, all would be one. 

The woman, like Nicodemus, at first did not understand. Jesus had no container with which to draw water. Was he mocking her? Her reply appears to be defensive. “Who do you think you are? Do you think you’re better than us? We are the descendants of Jacob, and you are standing on our holy ground here.” As they would say in the southern states of the US, them’s fighting words! And here’s the next lesson for us. When talking to someone about Jesus, don’t take the bait…they will bait you will all sorts of side issues…sexual issues, social issues, and so on. But Jesus did not go down that rabbit trail. 

He zeroed in on the great difference between man-made rules, ritual, and religion on the one hand, and true worship on the other. While the former demands more and more effort from the person, the latter demands an awareness of powerless inability. Without living water poured into us, we will remain stagnant and dead. 

In parabolic fashion, Jesus basically told her that if she continued to drink from the well of human tradition, she would simply never be free from her misery. Whatever her need might have been, it would remain unfulfilled. However, if she would drink from the living water, her restless search for fulfilment would come to an end. The Spirit of the living God would quench every kind of thirst in her. 

Now, while there are many similarities between this woman and Nicodemus, Jesus’ response to her was different. Did you notice that he did not chastise her for her apparent ignorance? Instead, he gently yet persistently and irresistibly drew her to the deeper matters of life. 

But what he then said must have been a bit of a disappointment. By asking her to bring her husband, he was exposing the very reason why she was an outcaste. Her reply appears to be flat and dismissive, like someone who has been so deeply wounded that they would rather not talk about the subject. “I have no husband.” A sad sentence on so many levels.

Imagine now her shock when Jesus revealed her whole miserable past…how she had been passed on from one wretch to another and how with every passing on, her dignity was eroded in the eyes of her society. She wasn’t even married to the last man…who knows why…but in that culture she needed a man if she was to survive without sons to take care of her. This last one could not have been an honourable man, otherwise he would have married her, so who knows what she had to live with.

Her reply in verse 19 has often been interpreted as a last stand of defiance…but I think that her opening remark reveals someone who is willing to explore an alternative to her own narrative. She concedes that he must be a holy man as he spoke like a prophet. This may have been her way of asking for guidance. Should she abandon her people and become a Jew? 

But Jesus showed her that the visible vestiges and material elements of the past were but shadows of a greater spiritual reality. There was no longer a place to worship as much as a person to worship. So, what she needed was a change of heart…not a change of status, or location, or nationality, or even ability. She did not need an altar, a mountain, a temple, or a well. She needed the one who stood before her.

I think she understood that, at least in part, as with apparent surrender, her next statement laid bare the cavernous nothingness she must have been aware of all her life…a void within her that only God could fill. This stranger…this Jewish man…this possible prophet had exposed the raw pain that was her life. Could it be that he was the promised one? 

It is astounding to note at this point, that this is the first time Jesus revealed his messianic identity. He had not even told his disciples yet…in fact he never really did. True, he accepted statements made by his disciples to that effect, but it was the ostracised outcaste of Samaria that heard the declaration clearly, “I am he.” 

And herein lies the final lesson for today. What book have you judged by its cover? Is there someone you avoid because they are of a different social standing or of a different nationality or of a different persuasion? Next week, we will look at how Jesus dealt with his disciples who were shocked that he was speaking to this woman, but before we examine them, perhaps we need to examine ourselves first. Where are we right now? Are we standing with Jesus, or are we off with the disciples? Are we concerned enough about the lostness of the people around us that we would be willing to step out of our comfort zones and swallow our pride, so that we could come alongside those who need to hear a loving, gentle, persistent word of hope? 

There are many very unfortunate and unfulfilled people in our world today, who are tirelessly yet unsuccessfully striving to fill their sense of emptiness with several unreliable options that have absolutely no lasting value. This unhappiness is evident in the rising number of anger related violence, mental health issues (such as debilitating depression and anxiety), alcohol and drug abuse (including prescription medication), suicides, protests, riots, and wars. Many are victims of this discontent and despondency as they are used, abused, and exploited to satisfy the insatiable desires of those who are more influential and powerful. 

This is very similar to the reality of life in the Ancient Near East during the 1st Century. Despair gave rise to unrest and rebellion and, in turn, to crushing defeat. People cried out for deliverance, but as is the case today, they often looked for release in all the wrong places. Their Messianic dreams and yearnings were clouded by their hunger for vindication and revenge. Many had simply given up hope. 

So, may I exhort you all to prayerfully consider Jesus’ method in his approach to one such form of emptiness and to ask the Holy Spirit to lead you in the same way…to engage people intentionally and purposefully as you lovingly uncover the void and gently yet firmly present them with the better way to living life?

Shall we pray?

“Lord Jesus may the living water of your Holy Spirit lead us as you were led to those who in their pain seek solace and isolation at the proverbial wells of this world, so that we too might experience the compulsion to speak the lifegiving Gospel into the emptiness of their souls. Amen.”

© Johannes W H van der Bijl 2023

(1) The Mishna on Gittin 90a states: [He may divorce his wife] even if she burned his dish, as it is stated: “Because he has found some unseemly matter in her”. Rabbi Akiva says: even if he found another woman who is prettier than her, as it is stated “And it comes to pass, if she finds no favour in his eyes” (Deuteronomy 24:1).

April Newsletter

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

Francis Schaeffer once said, “If you don’t fight the battle where the battle is being fought, you will only beat the air with your words.” When we moved from Africa to the Netherlands, we encountered a surprising number of people who believed that Europe did not need missionaries. But even a cursory glance at mission statistics will show that less than 3% of Europeans are followers of Jesus. And yet, as the mission agency, Greater Europe Missions states, Europe is the intersection of world cultures with the ongoing refugee crisis bringing many nations to the doors of a Church ill-equipped to deal with the ever-increasing numbers. While the larger cities play host to several principally expat churches, many historic church buildings elsewhere have been converted into apartments, bars, civic centres, or restaurants. So, contrary to popular thought, Europe is in desperate need of missionaries.  Having said that, most people in the Netherlands are very open to the Gospel. With the ongoing war, financial uncertainty, corruption scandals, and general political instability, many are asking tough questions as they search for meaning and purpose beyond that offered by the largely materialistic culture. We have seen that a number of curious folks are more than willing to attend our outreach events if invited. Recently, at our Men’s Day Away, the speaker referred to disciple making in terms of a box of sugar-cubes. All we need to do, is put one sugar cube in at a time until the box is full. One seed at a time…waiting in anticipation for the Holy spirit to do what only he can do.  The most interesting thing to me is the fact that Christ Church, Heiloo is attracting numerous younger families who tend to be, for lack of a better term, counter cultural. While many modern churches seem to believe that the Scriptures need to be revised in order to fit in with an increasingly permissive society, these families want to live according to Scriptural principles. They are not only reading and studying the Word, but they are applying it and living it. They are not ashamed of the Gospel despite the strong temptation to conform to the nebulous spirit of our age. This demands bravery and courage for younger folk to choose not to opt for the easy way…to choose not to compromise…to choose not to slide along in the majority cultural groove…but to have the courage of their convictions to stand firmly on the faith once received and believed by the people of God down through the ages.   But I think what blesses me the most about these young families is their desire to share their faith with their families and friends and acquaintances in a non-judgemental and non-pressurising manner. They simply walk the talk and talk the walk naturally. Their joy, their contentment, and the power of their conviction are attractive and appealing to those who meet them. And, like their parents, the children also quite naturally invite their friends from school to our services with an exuberance and an excitement Louise and I have not witnessed in years. Perhaps the light does shine brighter in the darkness.  But the bottom line is that wherever our folks go as believers and whatever they do as believers, they are actively and intentionally making disciples for Jesus through word and deed. They are what they are unapologetically.  Because of this, I see our role here as mobilisers…we teach, we train, we equip our folks to do the work of the ministry. We are nothing more than tools in the hand of our faithful Father. Everything we do, from our prayers to my sermons to my teaching to our hospitality to my publications, is purposefully designed to lead people into a deep and meaningful and fulfilling and life changing relationship with our compassionate and caring Creator.  Yes, we are small…a mere drop in the ocean of humanity…but the Lord has taught us not to despise the day of small beginnings. Just look what happened when the Holy Spirit was poured into the lives of 120 believers!  And so, we pray, and invite you to pray with us, asking God for the nations as the inheritance of our Lord Jesus.  Aside from our general support, for which we are truly grateful, we also have a special project fund with SAMS-USA to help cover the costs of outreach events (venue, food, utensils, speakers, etc.) such as our Men’s Day Away and our Women’s Retreat and various children’s activities. Christ Church, Heiloo does not have its own building, so whenever we hold special events, we must use rented space. If you would like to contribute to this fund, please do earmark your gift for Vanderbijl Missionary Special Project.  Also, if you are a credit card or debit card donor to our ministry, may we ask that you check your monthly statements occasionally to make sure your gift is still going through? That would be a great help to us. Louise and I will be attending the annual Intercontinental Church Society (ICS) Conference in Switzerland this month. Last year’s conference was held in the UK, but due to several hiccups caused by Brexit and other factors, they decided to host the event on the Continent. We are planning to drive as that is the easiest and least expensive way to get there.  My narrative commentary on Galatians has been submitted to Langham Publishers. Please pray for the various phases the book must go through prior to publication and for the funds to publish and market it. I am currently working on 1&2 Thessalonians. Pray for all who read Breakfast on the Beach: The Development of Simon Peter and For the Life of the World: The Multiplication of Simon Peter. I pray that many with come to know and love our Lord through reading these books.   I have been asked by De Gruyter to write an article on Peter for the Encyclopaedia of the Bible and Its Reception (EBR). Please pray for me as I attempt to write about Peter from a Majority World perspective. I must confess, I feel a bit out of my depth, but a challenge is always a good thing. It drives me to my knees!  Please pray for the Netherlands and for the continent of Europe. While many speak of a post-Christian society, I prefer to believe that we live in a pre-revival era. After all, where sin abounds, grace abounds even more.  Thank you for praying with and for us. Thank you for standing with and alongside us. Thank you for supporting and encouraging us. We are thankful.  Blessings and love Johann and Louise Support Us Johann and Louise spent two years helping to develop the St. Frumentius Seminary in Gambella, Ethiopia. They then worked in Southern Africa, serving in seven southern African countries, while continuing to work with the Diocese of Egypt, North Africa through engaging in a disciple making movement in order to grow the body of Christ. They are now serving in Heiloo, the Netherlands. We are sent  through the Society of Anglican Missionaries and Senders, a missionary sending community, engaging in building relationships with the worldwide church to experience the broken restored, the wounded healed, the hungry fed, and the lost found through the love and power of Jesus Christ.  Support SAMS

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

Overcomers

Colossians 3:1-17                    John 20:1-18

Overcomers

The Medieval mind was essentially orderly and methodical. As C. S. Lewis states in his book, The Discarded Image:  “At his most characteristic, medieval man was not a dreamer nor a wanderer. He was an organizer, a codifier, a builder of systems. He wanted a ‘place for everything and everything in the right place’. Distinction, definition, tabulation, were his delight. Though full of turbulent activities, he was equally full of the impulse to formalize them.” 

It was the age of synthesis as men strove to create a perfect model by which all of life could be explained as a whole and, consequently, ordered as a whole. The compartmentalization of the post-enlightenment era would have distressed the medievalist greatly as, to him, life was a whole…admittedly made up of various parts, but whole, nonetheless. Just like the human body is composed of ten major systems…the skeletal system, the muscular system, the nervous system, the cardiovascular system, the lymphatic system, the respiratory system, the digestive system, the endocrine system, the urinary system, and the reproductive system …many systems and yet essentially only one entity. 

In this unified environment, medieval man attained his greatest heights of achievement. Painters, sculptors, writers, philosophers, architects, astronomers, scholars, and theologians all worked together to produce a harmonious picture of reason amid the threatening chaos of the period. These men were overcomers in every sense of the word as they viewed all of life as one unified unit with one meaning and one purpose and one goal.

The biblical authors likewise understood all of life in terms of an essential unity under the Sovereignty of God and thus all was explained with reference to the will and purpose of a God who was intimately involved in every detail and every aspect of human existence. This understanding has largely been lost since the so-called Enlightenment and consequently people have become fragmented in their thinking and in their living. 

This fragmentation can be witnessed in the life of many typical modern church goers. God is designated a spot in the limelight on Sundays and perhaps one other day in the week, while all the other days are lived under the tyranny of any number of man-made rivals.

The result of this fragmented way of thinking is a form of schizophrenia. If there is no unified thought, then life may be expressed and lived in any series of inconsistencies and incongruencies, paradoxes and puzzles, contradictions and contrasts. One may be a pious churchgoer on Sunday and a pompous cad on Monday without any disturbance in the realm of the conscience. 

However, the Enlightenment was not the first to produce such an abhorrent aberration. Ever since the Fall, mankind has always sought to straddle the ravine between irreconcilable differences.  Paul seems to be addressing this tendency in our Epistle reading for today. “If,” he wrote, “we believe that we have been raised up together with Jesus, then why continue to seek the things that are below?” The mind ought to be set on the things that are eternal not on the things that are transitory…on the things that are heavenly not the things that are earthly. 

His point is that we cannot live fragmented or compartmentalised lives if we are in Jesus. We are either for him or against him…either in or out…either above or under. Consequently, certain things are to be put away and others embraced as we seek to bring the whole of our lives in harmony with the reality of his total sovereignty and authority over all things in both heaven and earth (Matthew 28:18). If we have been reconciled to the source of all life through Jesus, then it follows that we ought to live that life according to his terms and not our terms, or, indeed, the terms dictated to us and expected from us by the world, regardless of how “rational” or “pragmatic” or “appealing” they may appear to be. Jesus is either all and in all, or he is not at all.

Resurrection Sunday is not merely a story to be told once a year at the appropriate time. No, rather it is a revolutionary force in the life of all who believe. Because Jesus is risen, we too are risen in him, and because he has overcome, we too will overcome. The disciples on that first Easter Day understood this only in part and so we find them dejected and defeated at the empty tomb. If Jesus was dead and not risen, and his body stolen and irretrievable, then any kind of faith was simply pathetic and they of all people were greatly to be pitied. All of life has no meaning with a dead saviour. 

For this reason, they turned away from the empty tomb and went home. What else was there to do? All hope had died on that Roman Cross. Purposelessness and meaninglessness had set in, and desolate despair was the rule of the day. 

Yet, for whatever reason, Mary Magdalene could not dismiss her Lord that easily. While she too, no doubt, could not fathom all that had transpired since Passover, she could not walk away. So, she stood, not knowing what to do…baffled, perplexed, and overwhelmed by grief and yet hoping against hope that she might at least be able to complete the burial rites for the Rabbi she had loved and followed for the past three years. 

The Scriptures do not give us any reason to think that her faith in the Lord’s teaching about his resurrection on the third day was any better or clearer than that of Peter and John, but it does tell us that her heart rebelled against this apparent disorder in the life of one who had been so ordered…one who had never been out of step with the will of the Father…who moved only according to divine direction. And so, she waited to be given some reasonable explanation for what seemed to be so unreasonable. 

Mary Magdalene knew first-hand that God controlled all things…she knew that ever since the day Jesus had freed her from bondage to seven evil spirits. She had forsaken her earlier way of life for this very reason and, I believe, it was this first-hand experience and knowledge of his power and authority, coupled with what she witnessed in his life and ministry…purpose, design, and meaning…it was this belief that kept her focus from being blurred by what appeared to be so painfully obvious. She stood despite reason and despite peer pressure…the men thought the women were mad or hysterical…but she stood her ground and so it was Mary Magdalene who was rewarded with the first resurrection appearance of Jesus. 

It is this kind of thought that Paul developed into a full-blown lifestyle. No deviation ought to be permitted as the authority of Jesus permeates every area of existence. 

The resurrection brings life, but not a life that is to be had and not lived. This is because the life we have in Jesus is preceded by a death to the life that we had before. As Paul said in Colossians 3:3, “For you died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God.” And therefore because of this death, Paul first calls us to put to death our members that are on earth, and then he gives us a general list of behaviours that are unacceptable for those who have a new life in Jesus. 

But it is not death that renders these behaviours unacceptable…it is life. We have put off the old man, Paul says, and we have put on the new man. A new way of living is required for the new man and consequently the old man must be discarded. 

But note that the logic behind this is the fact that Christ is all in all. There is no room for compromise…there is no room for anything contrary…he is either Lord of all or not Lord at all. He will not share us with a rival. Every area of our new life must be surrendered to him and controlled by him. And so, Paul listed several things that are incompatible to life in the Kingdom of God from verse 12 on. 

This wholly closed system presents a problem for modern humanity as we like to shove God into one pigeon-hole among many others which allows us to live multiple lives depending on the situation at hand. This is why many believers can wear Jesus like a thin coating of sugar on a bitter pill. They live as if we can mix and match the old and new as easily as one mixes and matches clothes for work or play.

To them, sexual deviation, uncleanness, fleshly passion, evil desire, and covetousness present no problem. They simply cannot comprehend why these two sets of behaviour are mutually exclusive and incompatible…totally incongruous and contradictory. Many live segmented lives with apparent ease. Remember, even the goats argued at God’s throne that they had done nothing wrong in their own estimation and were therefore not worthy of censure or condemnation. 

This is not the life of the new man…this is not life in Jesus. In his first epistle, John said that if we claim to be in Jesus that we then ought to be like Jesus…in other words, if we have life in him, we must live like him. If we say we are in the light, we cannot walk in darkness. Followers of Jesus do not only call him Lord. Followers of Jesus obey him as Lord. Followers of Jesus stand steadfast despite worldly wisdom and worldly peer pressure. Followers of Jesus unapologetically acknowledge that all of life is subject to the sovereign will and rule of God. Followers of Jesus live all of life as one unified entity with one meaning and one purpose and one goal.

And so we return to Medieval thought…or, dare I say, Hebraic thought…a synthesis of the whole organisation of our “theology, science, and history into a single, complex, harmonious mental model of the universe”. (Lewis) All of life must be interpreted with reference to the will and purpose of a good creator God who is lovingly and intimately involved in every aspect of human existence. 

The resurrection of Jesus is a call to a new kind of life from what we lived before we believed in him. Through his resurrection, we too have been raised to where he is, seated at the right hand of the Father. And so, according to Paul, we must seek the things that are above where Jesus is, and, as the elect of God, holy and beloved, we are to clothe ourselves with a new manner of living in which the love defined and demonstrated by God himself governs our actions. 

By God’s amazing grace inclining our minds towards good desires and good decisions, and by his continual help in causing us to bring the same to good effect, we too may triumph in Jesus over Satan, sin, and death, and subsequently in Jesus, we too may enter through the gates of Paradise. So, as we come to his table this Resurrection Sunday, may we, like Mary Magdalene, embrace our living and life-giving Saviour, so that we also may be sent out to announce that he has overcome all and that, in him, we too may become overcomers.

Shall we pray?

© Johannes W H van der Bijl 2023

Toward the New Horizon

Hebrews 2:8b-11                 1 Corinthians 15:20-28                       John 3:22-36

Toward the New Horizon

Life is full of transitions. From conception to resurrection, every human being goes through changing phases. When at first the male seed fertilises the female egg, the multiplying cells look very little like the baby that will be born after nine months of multiple transitions in the womb. The baby, in turn, despite what doting grandparents might claim, looks very little like its adult parents. But there will be modifications and transformations taking place inside the developing child that will eventually produce something that looks very different from those first two cells. 

The life of a frog is another wonderful example. From an egg, something emerges that looks more like a fish than an amphibian. And yet, as time passes, the tadpole that at first appears to be nothing more than a little blob with eyes and a wiggly tail, grows legs, first at the back and then in the front and then it loses its tail and begins to look more like a frog.

Or think about a butterfly. This transition is perhaps even more dramatic than the frog as it is the crawling caterpillar that becomes a flying work of art. 

We tend to take all these sorts of transitions for granted, but when you stop to think about it for a moment, it really does blow your mind. As different as the forms may appear, they will always be the same organism…transitions are just different stages of the same life. A baby human is always a human being even when it is a fertilized egg or an embryo or a foetus. A frog is always a frog even when it is a tadpole. A caterpillar is simply a butterfly in the making. 

As with life itself, there is a movement in the Scriptures that sweeps us onwards towards something that at surface level appears to be different. From the dividing cells in the opening pages of Genesis, we go through different stages as history travels forward towards fulfilment. The Scriptures speak of a great transition – from an individual to a collective body…from symbol to reality…from national to international…from localized to globalized…from old to new…from broken to restored…from estranged to reconciled. 

Just as the developing embryo presents us with glimpses along the way of what is to come, so the Old Testament grants us images, verbal and material, of a glory yet to be revealed. 

In many ways the Old Testament can only be fully understood when seen through the lens of the New Testament…and, if truth be told, the opposite is just as true. The New Testament can only be fully comprehended once we fathom the depths of the firm foundation upon which it is built. They are inseparably linked even though they seem to be so different. Just like the foetus and the mature person they will become…the caterpillar and the butterfly…the tadpole and the frog. They may seem to be dissimilar and yet, in essence, they are the same.

Many folks still struggle with this. To them the Old and the New Testaments are mutually exclusive and, perhaps, John the Baptist’s disciples were struggling with something similar in our Gospel passage for today. We are told that Jesus and his disciples were somewhere in Judea, spending time together and baptising people. Now while it is true, as John tells us in the very next chapter, that it was the disciples who were baptising, not Jesus…he clearly did not object to the practice. It is only later that we learn that this preparatory baptism is no longer sufficient, and that believers need to be baptised into Jesus, in the Name of the Triune God. Remember, John the Baptist’s baptism pointed people forward to the kingdom while Jesus’ baptism points people back to the fact that the kingdom has come. Here is yet another transition from preparatory to fulfilment.

But John’s baptism itself marked another moment of transition. Remember, John was a priest and as a priest he would have done the tasks priests were meant to do…and one such task was baptism. We think of baptism as an exclusively New Testament rite, but it has its roots in the Old Testament. Baptism in the Old Testament had to do with ritual cleansing before a believer could come into the presence of the Holy God…and that’s exactly what John was doing. Calling people to repentance and applying the ritual signs of cleansing as he prepared the way for them to meet their Messiah. 

As I said earlier, John’s baptism transitioned into Jesus’ baptism, but all preparatory things must continue until the time is right. If the butterfly is released from the cocoon too early, it will die. If a human baby is untimely removed from its mother’s womb, it will die. All through his earthly ministry, Jesus was very conscious of time…he moved according to God’s timeline, not his own. Throughout the Gospels he repeated over and over again that his time had not yet come, right up until just before Holy Week.

All things must end at some point, but there is such a thing as a transitional period. The caterpillar spins the cocoon for the butterfly to emerge. The movement from John’s preparatory ministry to Jesus’ fulfilment ministry is gradual. But change always seems to be difficult for humans, and John’s disciples were no different.

What is interesting to note here is the identity of the instigators of this dispute. John simply called them Jews, which usually indicates Jews who did not believe in Jesus and who were often in opposition to his ministry. This seems to be a tactic the evil one uses to this day. The world comes and plays off one church against another or one believer against another believer…and the saddest part about this is that we all too often fall for it. 

Listen to this: “Rabbi,” John’s disciples complained, “that man who was with you on the other side of the Jordan – the one you testified about – well, he is baptising, and (here it comes) everyone is going to him!” I think this statement carries the full weight of a satanic attack. John the Baptist was just a man…a remarkable man…but just a man nonetheless with doubts and fears and feelings like all of us. In this particular passage, he sounds so sure of himself, but later, remember, when he was languishing in Herod’s prison, he began to wonder if he had been right after all. If Jesus was the Messiah, why wasn’t he doing what was expected of him? No one was expecting a suffering servant type Messiah…everyone was expecting a warrior king like David. 

Now, I’m sure everyone of you have faced doubts like this. When God didn’t do what you expected him to do, didn’t your faith waver, even just a little bit? Many have faced spiritual earthquakes that have shaken the foundation of their belief. 

But this is what I love about the Bible…it doesn’t present us with a gallery of superheroes. No, it clearly shows us that there is only one who is without sin and that is Jesus…the rest of the characters are people just like us. Failures, stumblers, sinners saved by the amazing grace of God. We all make mistakes…we all give in to temptation from time to time…

And here, for John, the temptation was to be jealous…just a little bit envious. “I had a great ministry growing until he came along. Now my popularity is dwindling.” You know, I think older folks often feel that way when the younger generation begin to climb the ladder so to speak. They feel they are no longer necessary…that they are superfluous…unneeded…unwanted. Remember, all humans want to be wanted…the need to be needed…they love to be loved. How often haven’t we asked the all-time favourite question “why”? Why are they advancing while I am not? John could have taken that approach, but he didn’t and there’s a lesson to be learned from his response.

First, he acknowledged that all of humanity is under the sovereign control of Almighty God. We can only receive what is given to us from heaven. John knew that he was who he was because he had received his ministry from God. He also knew that Jesus was who he was for the same reason. 

Jesus said something similar to Pontius Pilate during his trial…that he (Pilate) would have no authority over him unless it had given to him from above. We need to remember that. God raises up different people at different seasons for different roles and different reasons…some for blessing, others for judgement. Our reaction to these people may reveal what we think and believe about God…that God is either impotent, indifferent, or wicked and therefore not worthy of our loyalty. But John teaches us, that this is not the case. God is in control of all things, whether we can comprehend that or not. 

Second, the Baptist repeats his previous public declaration. He had told his disciples and other that he was not the Messiah…that he was a voice, a messenger, a forerunner, a herald. He knew his calling…he knew his vocation and he was not about to deviate from the path God had given him to follow. He knew his ministry had a sunset clause etched into it. John was the friend of the bridegroom…he knew that when the bridegroom arrived, he would need to step out of the picture. I believed that John knew that the transitory phase of the Old Testament was coming to a head and as such the decline of his ministry was inevitable. But there were no retirement hysterics…no tantrums…no sulks…no crisis…just simple trust that God would bring to completion what he had begun.

You see, the Baptist’s trust was founded squarely on the holy Scriptures. I do not believe that John ever came to grips with the divinity of Jesus as we understand it (if we really understand it)…but he did believe what was written…he believed what was revealed about his temporary role in salvation history, and that was enough. He knew that Jesus had to become greater, and he had to become less. 

But while the Baptist may not have understood that Jesus was God incarnate, the author of the Gospel did and so he continued to explain the difference between John’s ministry and the ministry of Jesus. Jesus was the one who is from above and therefore is for all eternity above all. John the Baptist was from the earth and consequently he and his ministry were temporary. John quoted from the Word, but Jesus is the Word and, as such, he spoke directly from God and as God. John baptised with water, but Jesus baptised with the life-giving Spirit. 

Like the prophets of old, the Spirit of God was with the Baptist for a season. But Jesus is the dispenser of the Spirit and, as such, his ministry is for all time. A ministry, Paul said in 1 Corinthians 15, that will continue until he has placed all his enemies under his feet…and then the end would come when Jesus, as the victorious second Adam, would give the kingdom to his Father. 

There is a bond between the Father and the Son that can only be described as love. There is a mutual giving and receiving…an interdependency…that we sometimes struggle to understand. The Father loves the Son and gives all things into his hands. The Son loves the Father and gives his life in obedience to the Father’s will. And God loves the world that he gives his only Son and the son willingly gives his life to remove the barrier of sin between us. That is the goal of Jesus’ ministry and the goal of his body, the Church. To love all creation back to God…God was in Jesus reconciling the world to himself and has subsequently given us the ministry of reconciliation. Another transition has occurred…Jesus has ascended and is enthroned as universal king at the right hand of God the Father…and he has poured out the promised Holy Spirit to empower us to continue to announce to the world what he has accomplished for the world. Salvation and eternal life for all who believe in Him.

As it was with John the Baptist, so it is with us. We are messengers…he announced that Jesus was coming, we announce that he has come. John was not the focal point of his ministry…nor are we…Jesus is the focal point. Like John, we live as witnesses so that Jesus might be known.

The consummation of all things is coming as sure as the sun rises in the East. True, we do not see all things under his feet yet. True, we struggle to understand how he will bring all things to completion. It is hard for us to comprehend the new creation when all we see with our physical eyes is brokenness and destruction. But by faith in what God has spoken in his Word…what he has promised and fulfilled, we do see Jesus crowned with glory and honour. By faith we acknowledge that it is by the slow but steady advance against the very portals of hell of those who are called by his name and filled with his Spirit, that this momentary and transitory phase of human history will pass into the glorious fullness of redemption. 

Like John the Baptist, we too must realise that we live in a period of transition. At times we too might feel like that butterfly straining to escape from the cocoon of struggle and strife, but as we press onward and upwards toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called us heavenward in Christ Jesus we will understand our role in the great sweeping movement of salvation history, the end of which is as certain as the Word of God.

We are all part of one great historic, salvific drama. Each and every one of us has a role to play. We are all part of this one great movement towards the new horizon. So, like John, let us not be tempted to be jealous or despondent when our ministry seems to be less important than another’s ministry…when we are not as successful as others…when we seem to be diminishing while others are rising. Let us use the gifts God has given us, not thinking too highly or too lowly of ourselves. We are who we are in the scheme of things, but big or small, the focal point of our existence is Jesus. And he must always increase. 

Shall we pray?

© Johannes W H van der Bijl 2023

Lost Horizon

Numbers 21:4-9             Hebrews 12:1-3              John 2:23-3:21

Lost Horizon

In 1937, Frank Capra directed a film by the name of “Lost Horizon”, based on the 1933 novel of the same name by James Hilton. There was a remake in 1973, starring Olivia Hussey. It is the story about a mysterious valley in Tibet called “Shangri-La” where there is no war, greed, hatred, disease, or crime and those who live there do not age quickly. In short it is a perfect or ideal world – the utopian dream. 

In the story, a British Diplomat by the name of Robert Conway along with other characters, one being his brother, discovers this valley after a crash landing in a highjacked plane. To cut a long story short, Conway’s brother persuades him to leave together with a woman he has met during his stay, but as they leave the valley, this woman ages dramatically and eventually dies. His brother is grief stricken and takes his own life. Conway is rescued by some Tibetans, but once he recovers, he escapes in a desperate attempt to return to the paradise he had left behind. The film ends as an exhausted Conway sights the entrance to his utopia. 

For centuries humans have searched for ways to return to some or other form of utopia or paradise where they can live forever without any need for God. It is amazing what people will believe if they are determined not to believe the truth! As C. S. Lewis once said: “Once people stop believing in God, the problem is not that they will believe in nothing; rather, the problem is that they will believe anything.” Stars, crystals, fairies, spiritual energies, to name but a few. Indeed, the relentless obsession with UFO’s and the search for life on other planets is just one more attempt for humanity to justify their rejection of God’s self-revelation in Scripture. And the saddest thing about this is that even though they will go down dead-end alleyways over and over and over again in their search for utopia on their terms, they will simply find another one and convince themselves that this time they are headed in the right direction. The way of truth is simply not an option for them. 

Of course, this relentless pursuit of paradise can be traced back in time to when our forebears were exiled from the Garden of Eden because of their sin. But there is only one way of return. As Augustine once said: “You have made us for yourself, O Lord, and our heart is restless until it rests in you.”

In our Gospel passage for today, John reveals all we need to know if we are to regain paradise. In chapter 2:23-24 he tells us that many in Jerusalem believed in Jesus because of what he did…they saw and understood the sign of the cleansing of the Temple. Apparently, some connected his action with the prophecy in Malachi and so they looked to Jesus as their long-awaited deliver…the Messiah. However, John tells us here that despite their apparent belief, Jesus did not commit himself to them because he knew what was in their hearts. 

You see, believing “signs” is simply not enough. As James wrote in his Epistle: “You believe that there is one God. Good! Even the demons believe that – and shudder.” (James 2:19) Outward profession may not always correspond to an inner disposition. Humans can say one thing with their lips and do another with their hands. As the prophet Jeremiah said, “The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked; who can know it?” (Jeremiah 17:9-10) We can easily deceive ourselves…we can easily deceive others…but we can never deceive the Lord. He knows all, John tells us. Jesus knows that the proof of a changed heart, is a changed life.

But there was a man in Jerusalem to whom Jesus did respond…a leader of the Jews who believed enough to come to Jesus, even if only under cover of darkness. Just as an aside, Nicodemus remained a so-called secret believer right up until the crucifixion where he finally overcame his fear and openly participated in the burial of Jesus. Nevertheless, Jesus met him in spite of his cowardice because, as Nicodemus’ opening statement indicates, he was looking for something more than what was generally expected of the Messiah. He knew that there had to be something more…something beyond the political discourse…something beyond the simple reestablishment of the limited geographical and social entity known as Israel. He came seeking something greater than a tangible human kingdom. How do we know this? We know this because of Jesus’s response. “No one,” he said to his nocturnal visitor, “no one can see the kingdom of God unless he is born again.”

John has just told us that Jesus did not commit himself to those who believed because of his deeds as he knew what was in their hearts…so, the only reason why he responded to the questions of Nicodemus was because somehow Jesus looked past the fearfulness and timidity of this enquirer and saw a seed that would later grow into faith. Nicodemus came looking, not for a personal Shangri-La…he came looking for the entrance to the kingdom of God. He came asking, not demanding…not assuming or presuming. He came in humility and submission. He came with a enquiring mind and a teachable spirit. He came with a hunger and a thirst for truth.

And, seeing his seeking heart, Jesus began to lead him to the way…a radically different way…a way that demanded an immediate and total change from the inside out. In short, nothing less than a new beginning…a new creation…a new birth.

But, of course, the finite wisdom of humanity is baffled by the apparent foolishness of God. “How,” Nicodemus asked, “can a person be born again?” It seemed to him to be a ridiculous idea. As Paul said to the Corinthians, “The person without the Spirit does not accept the things that come from the Spirit of God but considers them foolish and cannot understand them because they are discerned by the Spirit.” (1 Corinthians 2:14) 

What Jesus wanted Nicodemus to understand was that he needed more than a total renovation…he needed a gutting, an emptying, a heart-transplant, as it were…a complete replacement job. The dead heart of humanity needed to be exhumed and exchanged for a living heart. 

Those who were given the right to be children of God, John tells us in his opening chapter were born, not by human lineage, nor by human determination, nor by human intellect, but by the supernatural act of God. Unless the life-giving waters of the Holy Spirit flow from the throne of God and of the Lamb into our deadness, we cannot find the entrance to eternal life. That same Spirit who hovered over the face of the deep at creation…that same Spirit who breathed life into Adam…that same Spirit who breathed life into the disciples as Jesus breathed over them after the resurrection…that same Spirit must be active again in the new creation…He must be active again in our rebirth…He must recreate us and make us new creatures.

Now, this is an affront and an offense to sinful, unregenerate humanity. They demand to find the entrance to their own Shagri-La. They demand to shape and reshape their own destiny according to their own appetites. In short, they want to be God…they want to be their own god. But they cannot…no matter how hard they may try. There can only be one Almighty Creator God and, as such, everything else is subject to Him and to His will. 

But human pride demands that we play some part even in this. Being born of God seems so contrary to everything we strive for…it indicates weakness, inability, impossibility. But that is what makes Christianity so different from all other faiths. Throughout the Scriptures, from the Fall onwards, we read story after story of failure…or the impotency of even the best of us. God knows we can nothing without him. We are dead in our trespasses and sins. Dead.

That which is born of flesh is flesh, Jesus told Nicodemus…that which is descended from Adam is dead. But that which is born of the Spirit is spirit…that which is reborn in Jesus is alive. This new birth is not subject to the whims and fancies of human beings. It is not something that we can strive for or seek and find by virtue of sheer wilful determination. It is subject solely to the will of God. It is as uncontrollable, as unfathomable, as unmanipulable as the direction of the wind. 

As the author to the troubled and doubting Hebrew Christians says so well…we are surrounded by a cloud of faithful witnesses…men and women who did not look to themselves for deliverance or salvation…and so, let us also not rely on our own strength or ingenuity, but rather, let us look to Jesus, the Author and Finisher of our faith. Our faith begins and ends with him who is the beginning and the end…the Alpha and the Omega. We can only run this race to the finish because of the one who initiated our faith and who promised to bring to completion what he started. 

Of course, our Old Testament witnesses were unclear as to how God would reopen the gate to paradise. They strained to know what God had in store…even angels, Peter tells us, longed to figure it out (I Peter 1:10-12)…but that information only came through the Son. Their struggle is given a voice in the questions of Nicodemus. “How can this be?” The Old Testament is like an unilluminated stained-glass window…Jesus was the light that revealed the reality behind the images. 

The witness of the Old Testament was misunderstood by all who encountered Jesus, even his own disciples did not understand until after the resurrection. Jesus repeatedly stated that the entrance to the kingdom would be through him…more specifically, through his defeat of sin through his sinless death on the cross. He is the entrance…he is the door…the gate…he is the only way because he alone defeated our captor, our jailer, our enemy.

The image of the bronze serpent on a pole represented more than just the poisonous snakes biting the Israelites in the wilderness. It represented the curse itself…the serpent…and thus it became an image of what Jesus did on the cross. Jesus took our curse upon himself…he became a curse for us…he absorbed the sting of sin and death and thereby trampled on the head of the serpent. 

But notice once again the image of human impotency. Just as the Israelites could do nothing to save themselves once bitten except a seemingly ludicrous action of looking at a bronze serpent on a pole, so we, too, can do nothing to save ourselves except look to Jesus for mercy and grace. This complete dependency on a merciful and gracious act of God is the only door to the kingdom…it is the only entrance to paradise. Jesus is the one and only way to eternal life. 

As such, this is not a gateway for the proud and the arrogant…it is not a gateway for the self-righteous. It is a gateway for repentant sinners like you and me. The gateway is the demonstration of God’s love for his broken world. It is the giving of his Son.

Our only response is to look to him…to look to the author and finisher of our faith…to trust in what he has done. 

According to the testimony of the Scriptures, all humanity is condemned because we have been born of those who cut themselves off from their Creator through disobedience. Like a deadly virus, sin is passed down to us from Adam to the present day. But for those who believe and trust in the finished, substitutionary work of Jesus, this condemnation has been removed. It is the refusal to accept this act of selfless love that makes the condemnation remain in place. If you do not receive the gift of the Son, you cannot receive the gift of life he offers. As such, the refusal to believe is an act of self-judgment. Eternal life and condemnation are opposite sides to the same coin…if you accept the gift of God in the sending of his Son, you are rescued from condemnation and you receive life. If you choose not to accept the gift, you remain where you are…in Adam…in sin…in condemnation…in death.

Of course, there is no such place as Shangri-La…but in a sense it represents the futile attempts of desperate humanity to find peace, happiness, and rest without God and apart from God. The gift of life through faith in God’s Son is free for the taking, but many refuse to accept Him and remain determined to find another alternative way. Light has come into the world, but people love darkness instead of light because their deeds are dark.

There is only one who gave his life for yours. There is only one who died so that you may live. There is only one who opened the gateway to paradise for all who would follow him. There is only one way. There is only one door. Because there is only one gift given.

As you partake of the symbols of this gift in the Eucharist, allow the wind of the Holy Spirit to remind you of the immeasurable love of God for you. And ask him to so shine out that love in you wherever you may go so that others, like Nicodemus, may come and ask you to show them the way.

Let us pray.

© Johannes W H van der Bijl 2023