Dining in the Wilderness

Exodus 24:1-11                             John 6:1-21

Dining in the Wilderness

As a young high school student, I really struggled to understand the antiquated language of Shakespeare’s plays, much to the frustration of our English teacher. Then in a moment of inspired desperation, our teacher decided to show us a movie of Macbeth and suddenly the play, that had been impenetrable and indecipherable, came to life revealing to us the beauty and the grandeur of the tragedy. 

Years later, when the tables were turned and I was the teacher trying to open the magnificent genius of the Bard, I too used film to unlock the minds of my pupils. Interestingly, while most of my students were enthralled with the visual productions of the plays, there were a few who, for reasons of their own, remained unimpressed and, as a result, they did not gain much from this exercise. For them it was just too much of a hard slog. 

Those who decided that these works of art could and should be understood, and who were a little more determined to unlock the treasure trove of brilliance in these works, delving deep into the meaning of words and images long since lost in the evolution of the English language, they were rewarded with a richness that has served them well over the years. 

Now I think the same could be said about many parts of holy Scripture. We tend to struggle with the language, especially idiomatic speech like metaphors, similes, ironies, personifications, antithesis, alliterations, puns, and word plays, as well as descriptive pictures that were firmly anchored in that particular culture at that particular time, like fantastical creatures such as dragons and multiheaded beasts, but also more simple things like bread and wine, the movements or collapse of the sun, moon, and stars, and, in this case, flesh and blood. While the narrative bits seem easy enough to understand, even the best of us sometimes find ourselves bewildered with words and images so foreign to our own modern thought and culture that we are tempted to simply skip over those bits. And then there’s the problem of trying to describe the infinite and divine in terms of the finite and non-divine…

Now, I think our Gospel text for today is one of those hard to comprehend passages. Jesus wanted to communicate something so far beyond the level of our ability to comprehend that he resorted to using an object lesson to explain what theologians have named a glorious mystery. Once again, we have many levels in John’s retelling of this story that provide biblical depth and a contextual connection with the whole divine drama of God’s dealing with his people. We must always remember that the Bible is one story that provides an internal interpretive grid by which we make sense of the whole. 

Much in John’s Gospel requires a familiarity with Old Testament terminology, a fair knowledge of the Exodus, and an ability to engage in a bit of intertextual cross-referencing. This specific chapter is no different. The passage itself ought to be studied as a whole, but for the sake of brevity and clarity, we will examine it in sections. 

Now, the whole of Jesus’ life appears to have been a re-enactment of the life of Israel, such as his beginning in the Promised Land, his sojourn in and return from Egypt, his crossing of or baptism in the river Jordan, his testing in the wilderness, and so on. And as the Exodus was one of the primary features of Israel’s narrative, we should not be surprised to see several references and allusions to that event in this story about the feeding of the multitude. (Please note here that the text says there were about five thousand men present, indicating that if one counted the women and the children as well, the number of people would be far higher…hence my reluctance to call this the feeding of the five thousand.) 

John tells us in the opening verse that Jesus had moved from Judah (where we last saw him confronting the Jewish leaders in Jerusalem) back to Galilee, where he crossed over to the north-eastern shore of the Sea, somewhere across from Capernaum, probably close to Bethsaida. John indicated that by this time Jesus had quite an impressive following, but that their following was based on the miracles Jesus had performed, not necessarily his teaching. Maybe not the best of reasons to follow Jesus. 

As we have seen before, Jesus was not a people pleaser, and he was not impressed with crowds. No, rather he was impressed with conviction and commitment…something Church growth specialists ought to learn from him. At times it seems like Jesus made it especially difficult for people to follow him, and we will see him do that once again in this story. 

In the previous passage, the leaders turned against Jesus because he declared that their religion was not based on the Scriptures, but rather on their own extra-biblical traditions and misinterpretations and misapplications of the Scriptures. In this passage, Jesus was once again revealing his deity, but this time to a crowd of people who were so thunderstruck by what they saw that they seemed oblivious to their own spiritual needs. 

But this crowd appeared to be more of a challenge to Jesus than the leaders. Indeed, this story demonstrates that it is sometimes easier to deal with those who are clearly against you than those who are convinced that you are both walking in the same direction when, in fact, you are not. The leaders wanted to kill Jesus while this crowd wanted to crown him King, but both were not prepared to submit to the requirements for entry into the Kingdom. 

In verse three, John tells us that Jesus went up on the mountain and sat down with his disciples. Now I think the whole passage is shot through with Exodus imagery…the Passover, crossing a sea, the wilderness, the miraculous provision of bread, going up a mountain, and so on…but here I believe John was wanting his readers to recall the meeting of God with Moses and the elders on Mount Sinai in Exodus 24. While the rest of the Israelites remained at the foot of the mountain, verse 11 of Exodus 24 tells us that Moses and the elders wne thalf way up the mountain where they “saw God, and they ate and drank”. This was just prior to the inscribing of the Law on the tablets of stone. Up until this point in the story of the Exodus, the people were following the pillar of cloud and of fire mainly because of the miracles...the ten plagues, the parting of the Red Sea, the provision of water, manna, and quail…but throughout this epic adventure, when the going got tough, they complained and wanted to turn back. John informs us that this crowd in John 6 was also following Jesus because of the miracles, but, as the story unfolds, they too complained and, indeed, as we shall see later, they did turn back…like many of the Israelites during the wilderness wanderings.

The miracle of the feeding of the multitude in the wilderness shows that Jesus is the same God who fed the wandering Israelites in the desert. However, it is this miracle that, once interpreted by Jesus (we will look at this in the Sundays ahead), would serve as a watershed in his ministry. From this time on the crowds began to fade away and the true followers of Jesus began to emerge. 

Like the crowds, there are still many disillusioned people who follow Jesus for a time…perhaps because of what they saw or because of what they experienced…but when they are left with nothing but his word, they turn back. “I tried Jesus once,” they might say, “but he didn’t work for me.”

Every relationship has its trials…the times when we must reassess our commitment to the cause. And our relationship with God is no different. When life throws us a curve ball do we trust him to take us through the darkness even though we might not have the strength to take one step further? When the promises of Scripture don’t line up with what is happening in our lives do we choose to focus on God’s never-changing character rather than on what we may perceive to be indifference, callousness, heartlessness, or even a betrayal? 

We know this story so well that we sometimes don’t stop to think about what a test this must have been for the disciples. What would you say if you were Philip and Jesus asked you to feed a multitude? Of course, Jesus wasn’t looking for some mathematical equation. You can’t calculate something only God can do. No, he was looking for simple trust and dependency. You see, we are all dependent on God…your very next breath is not guaranteed…but we are all too reluctant to admit that, aren’t we? And the disciples were no different. Like Andrew, our contributions seem laughable. Five small barley loaves and two small fishes commandeered from one small boy. And yet, it is when we give what we can to our God that we are confronted with the fact that nothing is impossible for him. The whole point of this “test”, if you will, is for the disciples (and us) to come face to face with our own inadequacy. 

It is also interesting to note that Jesus used those who at first had expressed grave doubt in the possibility of the fulfilment of his request to distribute the multiplying loaves and fishes. As such, they became the instruments through which the miracle was realised. This is such a great image for us who have been called to make disciples of all nations. The Great Commission has always appeared to be formidable and impossible…how can so few, reach so many? 

Well, as in this story, the key is to know who is with you, isn’t it? While it is true that God has chosen to work out his purposes with and through us, we must never forget that he achieves his goals because he is God…he does what he does despite our frailty and our failure. This was a lesson the Israelites largely failed to learn in the wilderness…they repeatedly missed the divine possibilities because they focussed on human improbabilities. And it is possible that in his recording of this story, John wanted us to see that we are, in many ways, still wandering around in the wasteland of this world, struggling to believe that God can provide a table in the wilderness and that he can use us to reconcile the world to himself. 

This miracle of the multiplication of the loaves and fishes caused the crowd to make the right connection. “This is truly the Prophet,” they said, “who is come into the world.” As you no doubt know, this is an allusion to the prophecy of Moses in Deuteronomy 18 concerning the coming Messiah. But what they did next revealed that while they made the right connection, they failed to come to the right conclusion, basically because they saw Jesus as little more than their personal cash cow. The only reason they followed Jesus was because of what they got out of the relationship. And they wanted more. 

It is so easy, at this point, to scoff at this crowd, isn’t it? But can you remember the last time God didn’t give you want you asked for? How did you respond? 

But before their rude awakening, they wanted to make him their King…a king who, like so many world leaders today, would be voted in for what he could do for the people or, conversely, voted out should he prove not to live up to their expectations. Of course, if they had understood who the Messiah was, they would have realised that Jesus was a King, but a King of far more than what they wanted to make him. 

But Jesus will not be a King of a company of leeches. He is the King of those who, like him, are humble and selfless servants. He is the King of those who love him for who he is, not for what he can give. And so, he turned away from these fickle would be subjects and retreated to the mountain to commune with the Father. Just as an aside, it is interesting to read this account alongside the temptation of Jesus in the wilderness where bread, signs, and authority at also present. The temptation for Jesus to take a “short cut” to his enthronement is evident in both passages. 

Be that as it may, at this point I think it might be helpful for us to slip on the disciples’ sandals for a moment as we watch Jesus walk away from what we thought he would have wanted…or, at least, what we wanted him to want. Who is this man who works such great miracles and yet refuses to be enthroned? Bewildered and confused, we get into the boat, and we start to row back home. But then, to add insult to injury, a storm suddenly comes up and we find ourselves, in that dark night, tossed about physically, mentally, and spiritually. Keep in mind that they had just seen him lose the support of both the leaders and these would-be followers. 

Who is this man? What happened in Jerusalem and what happened here in the wilderness? Are we following the right man? Should we continue to follow him? Sure, he does pretty awesome things, but he always seems to mess things up too. Why offend the leaders? Why reject the crowds? And where was he anyway? 

Now, we know that the disciples had only acted out part of the play and that they had not, as yet, read the final act, but they did not know that…and so they rowed against the wind in turmoil. Until, out of the darkness, Jesus appeared once more…walking on the very water that was threatening to drown them…and once more, the revelation of God in the Exodus story came crashing back into their lives. The words “It is I” in some translations is, in the original Greek, simply “I AM”. The same words first spoken to Moses at a time when the great prophet was hesitant, if not reluctant, to obey God’s call on his life. “I AM, do not be afraid.”

Moses faced impossible tasks. The disciples faced impossible tasks. We face impossible tasks. Like them, we also struggle to understand. Sometimes God seems to ask us to do the inconceivable. Sometimes God seems to act differently to the way we would think he ought to act. Sometimes God seems to be absent when the storms of life threaten to pull us down into the depths. Sometimes God seems to expect us to go on nothing more than promises…nothing more than a belief that, if he did it before, he can do it again…nothing more than an assurance built on the sure foundation of trust in his Person and not on the crumbling ruins of reason.

The first half of the play had ended…but half a play is unsatisfactory. The stage had been set, the characters introduced, the plot began to unfold, but the story remained incomplete and thus incomprehensible. The disciples needed the closing act…but that would only come the following day. For one night, they would be left to ponder these things on their own, and once they had reached the end of their finite reasoning skills, they would be ready for the final unveiling of the truth. 

Who is this one who steadfastly resisted compromise at all costs? He would not submit to the misinterpretations of the elders to gain the respect of the authorities. He would not submit to being elevated to a position of leadership by popular demand. What does this mean for us who claim to follow him? How does this change our relationship with him? Does he do our bidding, or do we do his? Must he conform to our image, or must we conform to his? 

As we will see in the weeks ahead, the crowd walked away once they realised that he was not about to do what they wanted him to do…once they realised that he was not about to be what they wanted him to be. Yes, his Word may at times be as difficult to understand as a Shakespearean play, but if we truly believe that he has the words of eternal life…if we truly believe that he is the holy one of God…then we too will press on and follow him even though we might not always grasp the plot or anticipate the conclusion. 

Holy Communion reminds us that Jesus has made for us a highway in the wilderness…it reminds us that as the sacrificial Passover Lamb of God, he has invited us to dine with him at a table of spiritual sufficiency and to drink from an overflowing chalice…it reminds us that the great I Am is always with us…it reminds us that there is no cause for fear when the one who can cause molecules to multiply, who can walk across a storm tossed lake and who can calmly bring the vessel to its destination…there is no cause for fear, when he is with us. 

Shall we pray?

© Johannes W H van der Bijl 2023

Paralyzed Religion

Isaiah 43:9-13                            John 5:16-47

Paralyzed Religion

Most folks are well acquainted with the story of the Emperor’s New Clothes. For those of you who are not, here’s a quick summary:  Once upon a time, an Emperor decided that he wanted, not just new clothes, but the very best clothes money could buy for his annual public appearance. Tailors throughout the land were summoned and each applicant was interviewed by the Emperor himself. But he seemed dissatisfied with every possible candidate. This material was not the correct shade…that material was not the right texture. 

Then one day, two brothers walked in, apparently carrying nothing. They explained to the emperor that their cloth was so fine and so excellent that it could only be seen and appreciated by the truly enlightened and the truly refined. Not wanting to appear unenlightened or unrefined, the Emperor praised the beauty of the cloth and put the tailors to work. They measured him and began their task in one of the castle chambers.

Every day the Emperor would look in on them working hard at something he still could not see, but he was assured that the task was well on track as scheduled. The brothers praised him for his ability to distinguish between true beauty and false beauty and they hailed him as the most advanced and civilised of all rulers. Everyone in the palace agreed…the minstrels composed songs about the beautiful garments…the poets wrote odes about the weave and the stitching…the playwrights wrote and performed dramas…the philosophers composed proverbs. 

Even though the Emperor and the members of his court saw nothing, his pride and their compliance prevented them from admitting that something was wrong, and so the day dawned when he was to appear in public. The tailors dressed him with great pomp and circumstance and, as trumpets blasted and people cheered, the Emperor stepped out into the bright light of day as naked as the day he was born. A hush fell over the crowd. The Emperor thought it was because they were all amazed at his beautiful new clothes. Yet no one had the courage to tell him that he was quite nude…no one except one little boy whose voice broke the silence. “Mommy, why isn’t the Emperor wearing any clothes?”

Why, indeed. As E. L. Cammaerts once said: “When men choose not to believe in God, they do not thereafter believe in nothing. They then become capable of believing in anything.”

Now, if you recall, the last talk was about the Jewish man healed at the pagan pool of Bethesda. We examined the evidence and concluded that something was very wrong here…this was a healing totally unlike any other healing recorded in the Gospels. The man did not know who Jesus was, there was no faith nor repentance nor gratitude expressed at any point throughout this event, and his testimony before the Jewish leaders appears to have been vindictive.  So, why did Jesus heal him? I believe that what we have here is an acted parable in which the drama and the players are a mirror image of the people of God at that time. 

Not only were some of the leaders weaving together elaborate new laws and traditions, but their peers were praising them for it, dropping names of famous rabbis in defence of human rituals and regulations, while the people remained largely silent. Until the voice of Jesus revealed that, like the lame man at the pool, their faith was misplaced and, unless they stopped to re-evaluate and repent of their dead-end religion, something far worse than their present oppression would happen to them. Perhaps a suitable warning for the modern day revisionists…

In the discourse that followed on the heels of this healing, Jesus first spoke about the reality of God in verses 19-30. He had come to reveal the Father, and what they heard in his words and witnessed in his deeds was what could be called a divine symmetry. There was a balanced and proportionate similarity between God the Father and God the Son. Their words and works were the same. A simple knowledge of the revelation of God in the Scriptures is sufficient information to come to this conclusion. So, Jesus’ healing on the Sabbath ought to have been evaluated in the light of all his works as they mirrored the works of the Father. If the unbelieving Jews had done their homework, as it were, they would have seen that it was their understanding of Sabbath keeping that was faulty, not Jesus. 

You see, we do not live on a globe randomly revolving around in a vast expanse of nothingness. God did not create the earth and then abandon it. No, Jesus said that the Father has always been working and that the Sabbath did not negate that fact. Clearly, God’s “resting” on the seventh day did not mean that he stopped all activity. God had to cease "working", the universe would implode as He upholds all things by the word of his power. 

So, clearly, their elevation of Sabbath observance as something other than simple faith and trust in God’s goodness and kindness was misguided. Indeed, the Sabbath teaches us that God continues to "work" even when we don’t. But what is this work of God? Well, ever since the Fall, the primary "work" of the Father was seeking to fulfil the promise he made in Genesis 3:15 – to set the world right side up once more by defeating Satan, the supplanter. He was and He is making all things new…

In short, he wanted to heal the world, but he would heal it his way, not man’s way. We only need to read the Old Testament to see that the way of man always fails because man is essentially flawed. All have sinned. All fall short of the glory of God. So, we could say that adding rule upon rule, ritual upon ritual, tradition upon tradition, and spiritual high jump after spiritual high jump, in an attempt to be healed from sin, was like the man lying at the pool of pagan superstition.

Now, in discussing his relationship with the Father, Jesus revealed the kind of relationship believers ought to have with God. “I do not seek my own will,” Jesus said, “but the will of the one who sent me.” Indeed, his whole life displayed an all-encompassing desire to do only the will of God, and therein lies the essence of the relationship. Life can only issue from an obedient love. Reconciliation and resurrection and restoration can only come through repentance. 

This is not a judgement to question or to challenge, as it is a just judgment pronounced by a just judge. Jesus told the man healed at the pool of Bethesda to stop living in sin or else something worse would happen to him. In the same way, those who wish to have life, must cease to live in death. Only those who hear and believe, and love as defined by Jesus, pass from death to life. Seeking life elsewhere is like lying at a pool of magic or like clothing your body with nothing.

In the second half of this discourse, verses 31-47, Jesus addressed the error of the unbelievers in the light of the truth he had just revealed about God and the way humans are to relate to him. By comparing and contrasting himself with them, Jesus revealed that they were a compromised people, a complacent people, and if they refused to repent, a condemned people. 

They were compromised as they sought to validate their religion amongst themselves…in other words, they bore witness to each other and therefore their witness was invalid. By rejecting the true testimony of John the Baptist…by rejecting the works of Jesus that perfectly matched the works of the Father (indicating that the two were one)…as well as by rejecting the Scriptures that testified about him, they deliberately dismissed the way to life to follow the way to death. Instead of seeking spirituality in divinity, they sought it in humanity, but ultimately only the author of life can give life. The Scriptures clearly state that humanity is dead in trespasses and sins. Life begets life…death begets death. You cannot find spiritual healing by following the ideologies of fallen humanity. 

But in their prideful arrogance, they became complacent. Like the man at the pool had resigned himself to his condition, so the people of God made no effort to change. Again, it is worth asking ourselves why this Jewish man was lying at a pool steeped in pagan superstition. Clearly, he had at some point abandoned his faith in the one true God and embraced a faith in something that was, in truth, nothing. You might ask how this was even possible given that the whole of life for a Jew revolved around the Scriptures. Well, this happened because the religion of the people was founded not upon the Scriptures, but upon an interpretation of the Scriptures. True, Jesus said, they diligently searched the Scriptures, but they did not find God because they were blinded by their own predetermined decisions and therefore, they were unwilling to accept and apply the clear teaching of his Word. As Jesus said in Matthew 15:3-9, they nullified the Word of God by their tradition…they gave up the wisdom and witness of God for the folly and foolishness of so-called learned men. Does this sound familiar?

At this point I would issue a word of caution not to point fingers here. How often have we not defended our doctrines without properly subjecting them to the scrutiny of Scripture, bolstering our position with more emotional bluster than fact, while quoting copiously from random texts taken completely out of their original context? We do not see the wood for the trees because we have already declared ourselves right and we surround ourselves with those who praise us and congratulate ourselves for demolishing the strawmen we build of the positions of our opponents. And so, we muddy the clear waters of God’s Word in our pride and our arrogance…declaring ourselves more moral than God. Do not be fooled, dearest beloved brethren. We cannot have the love of God in our hearts if we do not accept and apply his truth in our lives.

As such, those who refuse to abandon the ways of the world to embrace the way and the truth and the life of God, remain under the penalty of death. In short, they remain condemned.  There can be no release or pardon for people who refuse to repent and believe. There is only one truth and that is God’s truth because God alone is the creator and sustainer of all that exists. Like the Emperor, we too might fool ourselves into believing there is something when there is, in reality, nothing, and we might languish beside the pool of untruth forever without ever experiencing the healing offered freely to all who truly desire it. 

“Do you want to get well?” Jesus asked the man at the pool of Bethesda. The reply to this question ought to have been yes, please, and thank you. But those who do not wish to believe will always offer up excuses and rationalisations…anything other than to repent and believe the truth as revealed in the Scriptures. 

Dearest beloved brethren, if the one to whom all hearts are open, all desires known, and from whom no secrets are hidden had to walk into your life at this very moment, what would he see? A heart clothed with the love of God? 

Or if he were to stand at the door of our particular denomination, would he ask us why we have left our first love? Would he declare us wretched, pitiful, poor, blind, and as naked as the foolish Emperor in our opening story? 

And if he were to ask us if we truly wanted to be healed, what would we say in reply? 

Shall we pray? 

© Johannes W H van der Bijl 2023

The Cost of Love

Genesis 12.1-9               Psalm 33.1-12             Romans 4.13-end               Matthew 9.9-13, 18-26

The Cost of Love

I think if I were to ask you to define how we relate to God by using only one word, most of you would say “love”…and you would be perfectly correct. We are commanded in both Testaments to love the Lord our God with all our heart, with all our soul, with all our mind, and with all our strength and, of course, to love our neighbours as ourselves. 

But, if I were to ask you to tell me what it means to love God by using only one word, what would you say? What does love for God look like? How is it demonstrated? 

Three times in John 14 Jesus says that if we love Him, we will obey Him…If you love me, you will obey what I command…Whoever has my commands and obeys them, he is the one who loves me…If anyone loves me, he will obey my teaching. And then finally he says that his love for the Father could be observed in that he always did exactly what the Father had commanded him. In other words, Jesus obeyed the Father because he loved him.

The stories of Abraham, Matthew the tax collector, the woman with the flow of blood, and Jairus, the synagogue ruler, are often used to commend faith and trust in God, as Paul does in our Epistle lesson for today regarding Abraham. But faith is not a nebulous entity. Faith is made manifest through obedience. As James reminds us: Abraham’s “faith and his actions were working together, and his faith was made complete by what he did.” (James 2:22)

Abraham’s faith in God is shown time and again through his obedience to what God commanded him to do. In our Old Testament lesson, he was told to leave his country, his people, and his father’s household to go to an as yet undetermined land. Just as an aside, it is interesting to note in Genesis 11:31 we are told that “Terah took his son Abram, his grandson Lot son of Haran, and his daughter-in-law Sarai, the wife of his son Abram, and together they set out from Ur of the Chaldeans to go to Canaan. But when they came to Haran, they settled there.” Clearly the whole family was meant to go to Canaan, but while the text does not say this explicitly, I believe it is possible that Terah compromised for some or other reason and stayed in Haran instead. So, Abraham then continued with the journey Terah did not complete. 

Nevertheless, the point is that Abraham’s faith in God was demonstrated by his act of obedience. Louise and I know first-hand what it takes to immigrate…as do many of you…we’ve done that more than once. It isn’t easy, is it? There is a price to be paid…a leaving behind of what is known for what is unknown. 

But in Abraham’s case, he immigrated because God had told him to do so. Thus he demonstrated his faith in God and his love for God through his obedience to God. 

Matthew’s faith in Jesus was demonstrated by his leaving behind his tax booth. This was a very lucrative business at that time. Jesus’ call for Matthew to follow him could be compared to asking a CEO of some multinational multimillion euro company to leave that all behind to become a missionary. But Matthew did leave, didn’t he? And he never went back. The same can be said of Zacchaeus…his irreversible actions of giving away his ill-gotten gain proved his faith in and love for Jesus. 

I think this is also true of the woman with the flow of blood as well as Jairus. In both cases, their actions could have led to rejection from their fellow Jews…the woman because, according to the Law, her presence would have rendered unclean everyone who touched her …and Jairus because he was a ruler of a synagogue thus possibly exposing himself to the sneers of his peers. 

And we could say the same of everyone who followed Jesus…they all relinquished something…dropped their nets…walked away from their businesses…gave up climbing the proverbial corporate ladder…and all of them did these things because they loved Jesus more… only one renounced Jesus and subsequently lost everything, including his life.

While James tells us that an undefined faith is not faith at all, the same can be said about love. An undefined love is not love. 

So, how do we know what love is, you may ask. John answers that question in his first Epistle: “This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us.” (1 John 3:16). You see, love must be defined by the one who is love (1 John 4:16). For Jesus it meant saying “not my will, but your will be done.” It meant being obedient even unto death on the cross (Philippians 2:8). Biblical love is costly…it is freely offered…and it is freely given…but it comes at a priceless price. 

Loving God means something…it is not a vague emotion…it is a well-informed irreversible decision to obey without compromise, even if that means relinquishing everything you once held dear…even if that means leaving behind that which you once cherished…even if that means giving up life itself. 

The only way we can walk as Jesus walked and love as Jesus loved, is if we obey him in everything. Those who obey his commands live in him and he in them. We simply cannot call him Lord and not do what he tells us to do. To love him is to obey him. 

Abraham and Matthew left all. The woman with the flow of blood and Jairus the synagogue ruler risked all. Paul considered all things loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Jesus (Philippians 3:8). 

So, as you come to partake of that which illustrates most clearly the full and true meaning of love, know that to participate in his life you must participate in his death…death to self and death to the world…there must be a putting off if there is to be a putting on…because love for self and love for the world are in opposition to the love of God (1 John 2:15-17). Love is made manifest through obedience. If you love me, Jesus said, obey my Word.

Shall we pray?

© Johannes W H van der Bijl 2023

Paralysed Religion

Psalm 107:17-22                  Ezekiel 33:1-11                   John 5:1-18

Paralysed Religion

The easiest way for me to explain what is happening in our Gospel text for today is to compare it with Disney’s multiplane camera. The multiplane camera (made obsolete after the filming of the Little Mermaid by the implementation of the "digital multiplane camera") was a motion-picture camera used in the traditional animation process that would move up to seven layers of artwork (painted in oils on glass) past the camera at various speeds and at various distances from one another, creating a sense of parallax or depth. Various parts of the artwork layers were left transparent to allow other layers to be seen behind them. The movements were calculated and photographed frame by frame, with the result being an illusion of depth by having several layers of artwork moving at different speeds: the further away from the camera, the slower the speed. 

As you have no doubt noticed before, John often has several layers to his stories in his Gospel that he assumed we, the readers, would be able to identify despite some being far in the background. Thankfully, recent archaeological findings and ancient cultural studies have helped bring some of these backgrounds into clearer or crisper focus for us living in the 21st Century. For instance, there was a time in the not so distant past when this story about the healing of the man at the Pool of Bethesda was thought to be fictional because no one had ever seen such a pool. But that all changed when several archaeological digs beginning in the early 19th century uncovered a structure exactly like the one described by John. 

These 13 metre deep pools, situated outside the city walls, seem to have been used initially as reservoirs for rainwater. But sometime during the Roman occupation, these baths were linked either to the goddess of fortune (as implied by the Mishna)  or to Asclepius, the god of healing, and were believed to possess magical healing powers. As such, the place would have been considered out of bounds for religious Jews.

All of this raises two very interesting questions. First, why was a Jewish man lying at a pool steeped in pagan superstition waiting to be healed? And two, why did Jesus go there looking specifically for him? As we have seen before, Jesus was very deliberate in what he did when he did and to whom he did whatever he did. He only did what he saw the Father doing (John 5:19). So why this man? John tells us that there were a great number of disabled people lying there on any given day. But Jesus zeroed in on this one man who had been lying there for thirty-eight years. Why him?

Then, to add another level to the multi-layered drama unfolding in the text, John recorded a strange exchange between Jesus and the man. “Do you want to get well?” Jesus asked. One would assume that a man who had been lying at a pool of healing for thirty-eight years had every hope of getting well. So why a question that would appear to have an obvious answer? Well, because the answer was not all that obvious, was it? 

Place yourself flat on your back on this man’s mat for a moment, if you will. You’ve been there for thirty-eight years with some debilitating sickness. Every time the water mysteriously bubbles (which by the way could have been nothing more than decomposing matter at the bottom of the pool periodically releasing carbon dioxide in the water giving an appearance of supernatural activity to the superstitious onlookers), someone gets in before you, taking all the “magic” for himself. Then, one day, this total stranger walks up to your mat and asks: “Do you want to be healed?” What would you say? A few very sarcastic replies come to mind, don’t they?

But the man does not really answer Jesus’ question, does he? No, rather he tells Jesus an improbable story as an excuse for his being there for so long. At some point, he had convinced himself that he was a victim of circumstance…and it seems from Jesus’ question as to whether he actually wanted to be healed, that whatever the circumstance may have been, he had accepted it as permanent. 

People will often try to excuse their behaviour by referencing something that had been done to them in the past. But, while it is true that traumatic events leave deep wounds and scars, those wounds and scars are not prison bars. While we might struggle in many different ways for the rest of our lives, with some professional help, we can learn to live in freedom again, if we so choose. 

Now, John does not tell us what this man’s condition was, but the warning spoken by Jesus in verse 14, “stop sinning, or something worse may happen to you”,  seems to indicate that his condition was a result of a personal sinful act or a personal sinful lifestyle. Perhaps even his reluctance to be an able-bodied productive member of society was the sin itself. (Just a quick disclaimer here: Jesus does not link all sickness to personal sin, so please do not take this very particular comment out of its context.)

Another interesting feature in this story is that there does not seem to have been any positive response from this man. We are told that he did not know who Jesus was until later. John also never tells us that he expressed any kind of faith in Jesus. And the fact that Jesus told him to literally “continue no longer in sin” (2nd person present imperative) indicates that there was no true repentance either. Of course, Jesus never needed a response to do his work…he never needed anyone to validate his decisions. Faith often only came after an incident. But it does make you wonder why he healed this man in the first place. 

This is a very different encounter to the encounters with Nicodemus, the Samaritan woman, and the nobleman. No one believes in Jesus because of this healing…there is no positive result, in fact, quite the opposite.

This is where the importance of seeing the different layers in this story becomes helpful. John never wasted words. So, when he tells us that it was a feast of the Jews, that the event took place near the Gate through which the sheep were led to be sacrificed, that an unrepentant and reluctant sinful man was healed at a pagan pool on the Sabbath, that the Jews plotted to kill Jesus, we should be ready for some form of theological connection to be made. All these things serve as the lower background layers for the main scene in verses 19-47 where Jesus exposed the spiritual paralysis of the apostate people of God. “You diligently study the Scriptures because you think that by them you have eternal life. These are the Scriptures that testify about me, yet you refuse to come to me to have life.”

The different feasts and Sabbaths of Israel were designed to showcase the greatness of their God. The function of the Scriptures was to reveal the Person of God. But somehow the people of God had exchanged the Reality for the illustrations, the Author for the book. They were paralysed by their rituals, their rabbinic rules and regulations, their misinterpretations of the Scriptures, and their extra-biblical traditions, rendering them incapable of recognising the God they so diligently sought after even when he stood right in front of them…and, tragically, even after being repeatedly charged by Jesus to repent and to turn to him, they refused the healing he freely offered and plotted to murder him.

To the man at the pool of Bethesda Jesus said, “Stop sinning, or something worse may happen to you.” Later, Jesus said to Jerusalem, “O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you who kill the prophets and stone those sent to you, how often I have longed to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, and you were not willing. Look, your house is left to you desolate.”

I believe that what we have in this passage is an acted parable designed to be the catalyst for teaching…just like the cursing of the fig tree. We will look closer at the theological teaching in the talk for next week, but for now, let it suffice to say that the healing of the man at the pool of Bethesda served as a mirror and as a warning. 

On another feast day of the Jews, the Son of God was led out like a sheep to the slaughter to offer up his life as a sacrifice for the healing of the world. Following his vindication by resurrection and his ascension into heaven, for 40 years, the followers of Jesus in Jerusalem asked the question: “Do you want to get well?” For 40 years, they repeated the warning: “Stop sinning or something worse may happen to you.” They were persecuted, imprisoned, and killed. 

About AD 68, as Vespasian's legions encircled Jerusalem, the followers of Jesus who were still residing in the city were reminded of the words of Jesus as recorded in Luke 21:20: "When you see Jerusalem surrounded by armies, then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains". Church historian Eusebius recorded that the Christians did indeed leave the city at this time, "Christ having instructed them to leave Jerusalem and retire from it on account of the impending siege to reside for a while at Pella”, a village situated near the Jordan River, about 15 miles southeast of the Sea of Galilee. In AD 70, Emperor Titus destroyed Jerusalem and for the next half century, Jerusalem remained unpopulated…their house was left desolate.

Interestingly, when Emperor Hadrian rebuilt Jerusalem, renaming the city Aelia Capitolina, he expanded the site of the pool of Bethesda into a large temple to Asclepius and Serapis and much later, a Byzantine Church was built over the area, making it difficult to locate until excavations in the 19th Century.

Nice history lesson…but I wonder. Does the question as well as the warning echo down through the ages, addressing both the world and the Church? No one is perfect, to be sure, but do we really want to be healed or is it easier to simply go with the flow, blaming others in our past or in our present for our blemished behaviour? 

It is always a good practice to stop to take stock of our lives…to allow the one to whom all hearts are open, all desires known, and from whom no secrets are hidden to take our spiritual temperature, if you will, and ask us the question: “Do you want to get well?”

Shall we pray?

© Johannes W H van der Bijl 2023

Summer Newsletter

Johann and Louise: Training Disciples to Make Disciples in the Netherlands It is amazing how quickly the days seem to fly past in a blur of activity. There are advantages and disadvantages of living in a different country. The many advantages are that there are so many new things to do and explore and discover…the disadvantages are that doing all these wonderful things takes time and effort. You must learn to say no to the many new possible options.  I must say our Deanery has been one of the most encouraging ecclesiastical experiences I’ve had in years. Our dean is very keen to keep us focussed and positive. Our regular meetings are designed to be more than just “business”…it is always reassuring and heartening to hear how other clergy and churches are dealing with life in the Netherlands. The spouses also get together thanks to the efforts of our friend in Amsterdam, Cynthia Buttram. These have been very helpful meetings on so many levels. The summer has arrived with glorious sunshine which means the Dutch are soaking up as much Vitamin D as they are able. Everyone who has a pet is out and about which gives us ample opportunities to meet and greet as we walk Mr Pips. Most dog owners here are cheerful people and open to a good chin wag while the furballs sniff each other back, front, and side…up, down, and all around. Mr Pips is the happiest and friendliest evangelism tools I have ever encountered. He will insist on stopping if the other furball is amenable which gives us time to get to know every owner in the area. We get to practice our Dutch and, when the conversation gets beyond the weather, we can tell them a little about who we are and what we do. This either leads to an interesting conversation or a quick decision to beat a hasty retreat, but it does open doors, even if only one crack at a time. The Intercontinental Church Society Conference was a good time of fellowship and learning from other clergy in different countries as well as from an excellent Hebrew and Old Testament scholar from Oxford and others.  We certainly never dreamed we would ever be on a retreat in Beatenberg, Switzerland! It was a good opportunity to talk through issues arising in the Church of England with our Diocesan bishop as well as with other like-minded colleagues. It is never easy to navigate through turbulent theological waters, but it is always good to know that we have a number of able-bodied folk with us in the lifeboat.  Our Women’s retreat was a wonderful outreach opportunity. In Louise’s words: “God blessed us all abundantly. Seventy-five ladies attended the day retreat. The members of Christ Church, Heiloo, invited friends, family members and colleagues. We also invited our 3 sister churches in Amsterdam. I am not sure how many unbelievers attended but I spoke to at least five ladies that are non-church goers or non-believers. By the end of the day (and they stayed all day) they could not stop talking about how much they enjoyed it and what stood out to them in the teaching sessions. We pray that the seed that were sowed will grow and produce much fruit.”  Thank you to all those who prayed with us and who gave financially to make this outreach possible. Please continue to pray with us as we plan the many other outreach events we would like to do. Unbelievers are open to attend these events even if they don’t attend church services.  We managed to wade some of our way through the complicated process of Dutch taxes…the process is complex because of the Dutch American Friendship Treaty visa I am on. There is an agreement between the US and the Netherlands as to where and how we pay taxes. For instance, the church allows us to stay in the church house and as they pay for our utilities in lieu of a salary. This is counted as part of our earnings, so we are taxed on it. Any extra income such as honorariums for talking services for clergy on leave or at churches who have no full-time clergy is also taxed. It is quite a maze to walk though so we are grateful to the expert who helps us find our way out in the end.  We held our annual general meeting and were encouraged by the good reports we received about all church activities including our very full and active Sunday School and our five mission partners. Even though our member numbers went down by one, we have many more “permanent visitors” than before. Our different Bible Studies are always well attended and folks even continue the discussions on social media! The Men’s Bible study is probably one of the most exciting I have ever attended as the men ask very relevant and practical questions about living as Christians in a very secular society.  We have been blessed with several of our supporters visiting us here or chatting with us via zoom. One church even recorded our discussion to show at coffee hour after their church service. This is so encouraging as they now have a better idea of how we do what we do here.  Having Tyndale Seminary close to where we live has been such a blessing to us as we can meet with their faculty and students, some of whom attend Christ Church, Helioo, use their library, and even attend lectures from time to time. We have also met a few missionaries from Greater Europe Mission (https://gemission.org/) as well as local pastors at some of these events.  Other than the usual acclimatization especially when it comes to allergies and colds, Louise and I have not been so healthy in many years. She just got a very good report from her oncologist, so we are truly grateful for this.  We are planning on a summer outreach, but have not yet finalized the where, what, and how.  Please do continue to pray with and for us. Our giving report looks a little spare at the moment, but the Lord always provides for our needs. Thank you for each and every encouraging word, letter, email, card, and social media chat. You are very much appreciated. Love, blessings, and cyber hugs Johann and Louise Support Us Johann and Louise spent two years helping to develop the St. Frumentius Seminary in Gambella, Ethiopia. They then worked in Southern Africa, serving in seven southern African countries, while continuing to work with the Diocese of Egypt, North Africa through engaging in a disciple making movement in order to grow the body of Christ. They are now serving in Heiloo, the Netherlands. We are sent  through the Society of Anglican Missionaries and Senders, a missionary sending community, engaging in building relationships with the worldwide church to experience the broken restored, the wounded healed, the hungry fed, and the lost found through the love and power of Jesus Christ.  Support SAMS Copyright © 2016 Society of Anglican Missionaries and Senders, All rights reserved. www.sams-usa.org      Our mailing address is: PO Box 399 Ambridge PA 15003 Attention to: Johann and Louise van der Bijl Want to change how you receive these emails? You can update your preferences or unsubscribe from this list

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Narrowing Horizons

Psalm 67                           Acts 2:1-6, 37-42                                   John 4:43-54

Narrowing Horizons

I had the most wonderful father-in-law one could wish for. Oom Corrie, as we called him, was not only a very deep and godly follower of Jesus, but he was also a great storyteller. One day, as we were walking through one of his orchards, he told me about his method of pruning. He claimed that many farmers made the mistake of pruning the trees at the highest possible point because they thought that more branches would produce more fruit. But, he said, too many branches placed a greater demand on the tree, sucking up all the energy and restricting the development of the fruit. So, in the end, the farmer would end up with an inferior harvest. Rather have less branches, he said, that would give you a higher yield of quality fruit. 

Now, have you ever noticed in the Gospels how often our Lord seemed to pass by crowds of people to reach out to an individual? In the past two sermons, we saw him do that with the Samaritan woman, and today, we saw him doing it once again with the nobleman from Capernaum. 

Verses 44 and 45 are interesting as they seem to suggest that the Galilean welcome was spiritually shallow. Verse 44 points back to an incident recorded in Matthew 13:53-58 where the Galileans were offended at Jesus as he taught in their synagogue. “Where did this man get this wisdom and these mighty works? Is this not the builder’s son? Is not his mother called Mary? And his brothers James, Joses, Simon, and Jude? And his sisters, are they not all with us? Where did this man get all these things?” At that time Jesus responded by saying what John repeated here: “A prophet is not without honour, except in his own country and in his own house.” 

So, what was this welcoming all about? Why did the Galileans welcome Jesus on his return from Judea? It was, John tells us, because of what Jesus had done in Jerusalem. You see, the Judeans looked down in the Galileans like city dwellers often look down on country folks…and remember Jerusalem was known as the Holy City whereas Galilee was known as Galilee of the Gentiles. The Galileans were exposed to more Gentiles than the Judeans, so the possibility of spiritual contamination was higher. They also had a distinct non-Judean Aramaic accent rather than the more refined southern accent. So, when Jesus cleansed the Temple during the Passover Festival, the Galileans claimed him as their hero, because, in their eyes, he had exposed their stuck-up southern cousins. But that was all. Their welcome had nothing to do with faith in him as the Messiah. When Jesus said, “unless you people (plural) see signs and wonders, you will never believe”, he was addressing more than just the nobleman, as we shall see. 

Now, it is interesting to note that we have closed a circle here. At the beginning of John chapter 2 Jesus performed his first ‘sign’ in Cana. Here at the end of John chapter 4, Jesus was back in Cana where he performed his second ‘sign’. In both cases, what Jesus did was for the benefit of those who believed in him. Also, in both signs, Jesus simply gave a command that required an obedient response of faith even though what he required seemed ludicrous. “Fill six purification jars with water.” Seriously? “Go, your son lives.” No way! 

After the first sign, no one other than the disciples seemed to have believed in Jesus. After this second sign, it is the nobleman’s household that believe in Jesus, not the Galileans. The principle seems to be reaching a few to reach many. 

We see the same principle at work when we compare the Samaritan woman with this nobleman, only here we see Jesus’ method of disciple-making even more clearly. Through both individuals, Jesus reaped a higher quality harvest. Through the Samaritan woman Jesus reached an entire village. Through the nobleman he reached, not only this man’s household, which would include all those who worked for him, but perhaps it was this nobleman’s witness that brought some of the household of Herod Antipas to faith as well, like Joanna, the wife of Chuza who was the household steward of Herod Antipas (Luke8:3)…or even a man by the name of Manaen, a man, we are told in Acts 13:1, who grew up with Herod but later became one of the leaders of the church in Antioch. 

Can you see what Jesus did? He intentionally singled out two unlikely lower branches…a Samaritan woman and a man who was either a Gentile or a collaborator with Herod, both of whom bore much fruit. Both more than likely did not comprehend the truth about Jesus in the beginning, but their respective suffering and their need had prepared them for the revelation of his Person. Unlike the Galileans, the foreigners, if indeed the nobleman was a foreigner, responded in faith. 

In many ways, the nobleman may have been seen as an unwelcome party gate crasher. Imagine, if you will, a man from Real Madrid stumbling into a Manchester fans celebration. Oops! But Jesus did not treat the man as an outsider, did he? He included everyone around him in his rebuke. “Unless you all see signs and wonders…” You see, Jesus knew that faith founded on and rooted in marvels is an inferior faith and often shrivels in the heat of pressure. But note in this story, the only one who responded positively was the nobleman. 

I think he had made up his mind before he left Capernaum for Cana. Jesus was the only solution…his only hope. So, unlike the Galileans, he was not offended…rather he was persistent in his request. He kept asking…he kept seeking…he kept knocking…for him there was no backing down. Jesus was the only one who could heal his dying son. 

And I believe it is this determination that reveals him to be the right branch to prune…he would bear much fruit. So many were passed by for this one, unlikely man. But there was one final check. “Go,” Jesus said, “your son lives” (not “he will live” as NIV but "he lives" 2nd person present indicative). A simple instruction…like filling purification pots with water…but an instruction that appears to defy logic.

We know the story so well that the full force of this command is lost on us. Put yourself in this man’s sandals. Your child is dying…you walk (or more than likely run) about 40 kilometres…a day’s journey to find the only healer you know that could help you…and this healer tells you to turn around and go straight back home without him. All you have is his word.

Now, let me say that last line again. All you have is his word. Is that enough?

In her book, Prayer in the Night, Tish Warren tells the story of friends of hers whose infant son had to have surgery. She writes: “Like any parents whose child is going under the knife, my friends were anxious. Before the nurses wheeled their infant son into the operating room, (my friend) looked at (her husband) and said, ‘We have to decide right now whether or not God is good, because if we wait to determine that by the results of the surgery, we will always keep God on trial.’” 

Dearest beloved brethren, we cannot determine the character of God based on our experiences. Job was right. God has given. God has taken away. Blessed be the name of the Lord. If you believe this in your heart…if you take God at his word and believe that he is who he says he is…then when the inexplicable, incomprehensible, unfathomable, gut wrenching, heart tearing event explodes in your life, you may be shaken, but not shattered. 

All we have is his word. Is it enough?

Have you noticed that Jesus never made it easy for people to believe in him? I think some in the Church make a huge mistake when they think that compromise or concession or diluting or altering of the Gospel to suit the whims and fancies and demands of unbelievers will bring people to faith in Jesus. That is so contrary to anything Jesus would do. The message of the cross will always be an offense to those who are perishing…the cross will always be a stumbling block. The cross speaks of sacrifice…not my will but yours be done. And those who wish to claim the benefits without repentance or obedience will always fall over it.

Now, it is equally important to note that the miraculous recovery of the nobleman’s son does not happen because the father responded positively. No, rather his son was already healed when Jesus spoke the words, “your son lives”. In fact, I think that the miracle we see unfolding in this story is not so much what happened in Capernaum with the child as it is what happened in Cana in the heart of his father. 

There is no miracle greater than the turning of the human heart to God. This is something only God can do. Medical science has come a long way and we can do many things today that would have been impossible in Jesus’ day, but to bring someone to faith in Jesus is something only the Spirit of God can do. 

But notice what happened next. On his return and after hearing the report of the servants, the man believed…but not only him…his whole household believed. Like with the Samaritan woman, one seed was sown in the right place and a whole field was harvested. A dear friend in India once told me that his entire Hindu and partially Maoist family came to faith in Jesus when his dying mother was healed through the prayers of a small, local, persecuted church. One seed, but oh what a harvest. 

Now, John tells us that this was the second sign…please note, not the second miracle. This is the second sign. These were signs that served as pointers along the way which would inevitably lead the disciples to the conclusion that Jesus really was the Son of the Living God. They were signs written so that those reading might come to the same conclusion. It is interesting to note that in both the changing of water into wine and the healing of the nobleman’s son, Jesus was not physically involved. Others simply responded to his command and what happened, happened. 

Many branches do not mean abundant fruit. Like the fruit trees in Oom Corrie’s orchard, it was the severe pruning that brought forth a good quality harvest. The Galileans rejoiced in Jesus’ actions in Jerusalem, but they did not believe in him. But two unlikely people did, and their witness to Jesus brought in a whole host of souls.

At the end of his earthly life, Jesus had lost most of the crowds because they said his teaching was too demanding. In fact, only John and the women were with him as he died on the cross. A harsh pruning to be sure. But Jesus had poured himself into the lives of twelve men (minus one) and a small group of women for three years. 

After what I believe is the final sign in John, namely the resurrection, this small and timid band of followers increased numerically to one hundred and twenty, a number that included his siblings who had at one time not believed in him. At Pentecost, the promised Holy Spirit so worked in and through them that about three thousand believers were added. These men and women later returned to their own countries and told their friends and families. And so, within one generation, the Gospel had been heard throughout the known world. One man invested his life in twelve men and a few women…and today, Christianity is considered the largest religious group in the world. 

If the Church is to continue to reach the world, we too will need to be pruned…there is nothing attractive about lukewarmness or lily-livered compromise. There is nothing quite so distasteful as bland food. It doesn’t help to fill the seats of the church with half-hearted people. It is the otherness of the Church that causes those who live in darkness to see the light. Darkness only begets darkness. We must be salt and light, Jesus said. Different, not like. The bride of Christ is to be holy, pure, spotless, without blemish, and faithful to his word. 

So, will you join me as I pray for the divine vinedresser to do what needs to be done in his orchard? 

Shall we pray?

© Johannes W H van der Bijl 2023