John Part 2 - Could You Gimme A Sign?

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If we can all take a moment and be honest with ourselves, there probably isn’t a person in the room who hasn’t, at one point or another, asked God for “a sign”. Sometimes we even demand it. And sometimes we ask God for signs about stuff that, looking back, is just flat embarrassing.

Why do we do this? Because we are creatures of “see it, smell it, touch it, kiss it.”[1] We have to get our hands all over something in order to believe it exists. Fortunately for us, Jesus understands that about human nature and generously shows us eight signs in the gospel of John to back up what He’s already told us: 

“I AM God.”

These signs break down into 3 visible categories within the Gospel:

[1] “Look What I Can Do” miracles

I can almost hear Jesus saying (in that sometimes-playful, usually sarcastic, always loving voice of His)

“If I WASN’T God, would I be able to do…THIS?!?”

(John 2:1-11)

(John 6:5-14)

(John 6:16-21)

“No. No I wouldn’t. Ergo, I’m Jesus. And God. In one super-accessible package deal.”

[2] Healing Miracles (John 4:46-54; 5:1-18; 9:1-7)

These miracles hit me in a very personal and internalized way lately… ...particularly right where my appendix used to be.

Let me explain…no. There is too much. Let me sum up.[2]

It happened one late December evening...and into the rest of that month...

There is something very special about your body not working the way it is supposed to, and then because of the power of Jesus’ healing you are made whole again.

Jesus showed His character and His divine nature by stepping into people’s lives and healing them in ways that a physician or medicine-man of that day an age wouldn’t have been able to touch. In His healing ministry, Jesus showcased the healing power of God for the world to see.

[3] Resurrection miracles
        Raising Lazarus from the dead (11:1-45)
        The resurrection and appearance of Jesus (20:1-29)

These are like…the grand finale of miracles. Like, if someone reading the text doesn’t get the picture by now, then we have serious trouble.

Throughout the Bible God has been the ONLY ONE able to give life. He is the giver of life and creation in Genesis. He brings people back from the brink with His healing. He tells Death who to take and who to leave alone (for example, Job, when God said Satan could do WHATEVER he wanted to Job, but he was NOT allowed to kill him.)

That Jesus is able to command death at all is the highlight of His proclamations of Godhood.

 ...    ...    ... .... .....     ...

The one thing I know for 100% certain is that if Jesus really did come back from the dead – if He indeed raised Himself from death and reappeared to as many witnesses as He did – then Jesus IS who He says He is.

He IS the bread of life.
He IS the light of the world.
He IS the gate to the heavenly pastures.
He IS the good shepherd.
He IS the way, the truth, the Life.
He IS the resurrection and the life.
He IS the true vine
He IS Yahweh.

John himself said that Jesus performed so many other miracles that all the books in the world would not be able to contain what He did. He also said that the miracles included in his book are the ones that best showcase that Jesus is God.

So if Jesus is God…what then?

If you come away with nothing else from this Gospel, my dear reader, I hope you come away with this: That the signs written in the book of John are to show that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God – so that you and whoever else sees and reads of these signs will believe in Him and have eternal life in Him.

It is my prayer that you take these signs and statements and the funny little pictures with you as reminders to do exactly that.

Hear the statements. See the signs. And believe.

Thanks for playing, I hope you’ve enjoyed this project as much as I have! Stay classy and have a Merry Christmas!

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                [1] Phrasing taken from The Producers.

                [1] Princess Bride quote.

John Part 1 - I AM.

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Confession: I AM here.

This is what is known as my annual identity crisis.

All of these wild and (sometimes) overwhelming inquiries really boil down to two simple questions: Who am I supposed to be? And what am I supposed to do?

As I was wading my way through these questions this year, I happened to be studying the Gospel of John and what makes this gospel different than Matthew, Mark, and Luke. One of the clearest distinctive features of John is the series of “I AM” statements[1] that Jesus makes.

Journey with me for a second back to Exodus 3:

Now, when a Jew heard “I AM”, they knew it was an absolute, unadulterated, 100% reference to the LORD, the God who brought Israel out of Egypt through the prophet Moses. Consider the implications of this as we examine the I AM statements Jesus makes:

(1) I AM – The Bread of Life (John 6:35-6:58) “He who eats my flesh and drinks My blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day. For My flesh is true food, and My blood is true drink.”

Now, let’s get one thing straight here.

Jesus is making a reference the Jews around Him would have been familiar with: the episode in their history where God sent bread from heaven (“manna”) to provide for His people in the desert. This should have turned His audience’s ears RED with recognition. In an applicational sense, what is Jesus really saying here? That accepting Jesus is like eating bread. You eat it, your body breaks it down and makes it a part of you. In order to have life, we have to ingest Jesus – take Him in and make Him a part of us, in order to experience Him to the fullest.

In other words: “YOU HAVE TO BELIEVE IN GOD/ME TO HAVE ETERNAL LIFE.”

(2) I AM – The Light of the World (John 8:12) “I am the Light of the World; he who follows Me will not walk in the darkness, but will have the Light of life.”

In other words: “YOU HAVE TO BELIEVE IN ME/GOD TO THE LIGHT OF LIFE.”

(3) I AM – The Gate For the Sheep (John 10:7-10) “I am the door; if anyone enters through Me, he will be saved, and will go in and out and find pasture.”

Let us define the terms in this chunk of text:

So if Jesus is the gate to eternal life and we are the sheep…what is Jesus implying here?

“YOU HAVE TO BELIEVE IN GOD/ME TO HAVE ETERNAL LIFE.”

(4) I AM – The Good Shepherd (John 10:11-18).

Jesus says several things in this passage that don’t just imply who He is and what His character is, but are outright and blunt about who He is, in a lovingly-smack-you-upside-the-face sort of way: He (1) knows His sheep, (2) His sheep hear His voice and follow Him, (3) He lays down His life for His sheep, (4) He gives eternal life to His sheep and NO ONE can snatch any of His sheep out of His hand.

Translation: “YOU HAVE TO BELIEVE IN ME/GOD TO BE MY SHEEP.”

(5) I AM – The Resurrection and the Life (11:25-26) “I am the resurrection and the life; he who believes in Me will live even if he dies, and everyone who lives and believes in Me will never die.”

Personally, this is the statement and promise Jesus makes that makes my spine go all tingly. I’ve experienced loss from death, and it very plainly just sucks. It’s painful. But Jesus reassures me through His interaction with Martha that in Him there is no death – no loss, no pain that goes hand in hand with death.

What, then, does this passage tell us? “YOU HAVE TO BELIEVE IN ME/GOD TO BE FREE FROM DEATH AND HAVE EVERLASTING LIFE.”

(6) I AM – The Way, The Truth, The Life ( John 14:6, and also 14:9) “I am the way, the truth, and the life; no one comes through the Father but through me…he who has seen Me has seen the Father.”

Oh, I love it when Jesus is oh-so clear:

Translation: “YOU HAVE TO BELIEVE IN GOD/ME TO GO TO HEAVEN.”

(7) I AM – The True Vine (John 15:1-11). “I am the true vine, and My Father is the vinedresser…Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself unless it abides in the vine, so neither can you unless you abide in Me.”

In simple terms:

Translation: “YOU HAVE TO LIVE IN ME/GOD AND LET GOD/ME LIVE IN YOU.”

Hmmm…I sense a repeated concept here….

Other than the obvious (believe in Jesus to have eternal life because Jesus = God) 
I noticed a secondary theme that has impacted me where I stand mid-identity crisis:

Jesus KNEW who He was in this Gospel. Without a shadow of a doubt, He knew EXACTLY who He was and what He was about. And that acute self-awareness then allowed Him to function in His given purpose.

What does that mean for us: Figure out who you are[2]. And if you’re not sure, figure out who you want to be. Then and ONLY then will you be able to decide what you should do with your identity.

Join us next post to see what Jesus DID with who He is. Stay classy!

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                [1] References taken from the Bible (duh) but also from the “John Introduction” handout from Professor Correia’s Gospels class, Fall 2011

          [2] So here’s what I’ve figured out for me. Who I want to be consists of these attributes: a model of my Daddy’s character, respectable, trustworthy, compassionate, hardcore, unexpected, unique. Now the task becomes crafting a career that allows me to operate out of these characteristics.

Intro to John (And A Trip Down Memory Lane)

 

Growing up I was fortunate enough to know my great-grandmother on my momma’s side. Her name was Karen McClaeiry, but I knew her as GG (pronounced Jee-Jee, for those of you who are phonetically impaired).

She was from the deep swampland south of Louisiana; she had an accent thicker than molasses and cooked the most delicious baked ham, black-eyed peas, seafood gumbo and cornbread this side of the Mississippi River.

Unfortunately, GG had some issues with her memory which ultimately meant she needed to be placed in assisted living. Which, frankly, really sucked. But the thing that always astounded me was that despite her deteriorating mental condition, GG still told the BEST stories about the “good ol’ days.” She, like so many of the other elderly folk in that nursing home[1], had a way of telling a story as if she was still there within it, and drawing her listeners back to that time with her to experience it for ourselves. Names, dates, times, seasons, events, who was president at the time – you name it. She remembered all of it.

Couldn’t remember how to put her own pants on, but could remember every fine detail of a particular Tuesday afternoon in the spring of 1934 when she was visiting her cousin in Arkansas[2].

 

It always blew my mind how GG was able to remember so much about things that had happened so long ago. How did the details come back so clearly to her? Were they that distinct? Or were they simply that important to her that she committed them securely to memory?

Which is where we step off of Memory Lane and onto the “Isle of John”.

Why (you might be asking yourself) am I referring to the Gospel of John as an island? Well, there are several reasons:

(1) It’s mostly agreed upon that the apostle John wrote this gospel.

(2) The Apostle John was exiled to an island all his own (called Patmos) during Roman emperor Domitian’s rule.[3] Hence…the island.

(3 [and probably the most important]):

This gospel is unique to the other gospels we’ve studied. It has stories and details that the other gospels didn’t include. There are stories found in the other three gospels that John doesn’t include in his at all – they aren’t even mentioned.

Why?

Well, John likely wrote his gospel account much later in his life, like…as late as 80 or 90 A.D.[4] If this accurate (and most agree that it is) then John would have had access to the other three gospels. He would have been able to see which stories were already included.

 

 

 Also, John was super close to Jesus. Like, best friends close. And being so close to Jesus, he would have likely had access to stories that the other gospel writers may not have.

Most importantly, John had a VERY specific purpose when he wrote this gospel account. He gives his purpose statement actually toward the end of the gospel, after sharing some nitty-gritty details that would have been brand new to the early church:

“Therefore many other signs Jesus also performed in the presence of the disciples, which are not written in this book; but these have been written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that believing you might have life in His name.”

John is pretty crystal clear. His whole purpose in writing down his gospel account is to reaffirm to the reader that Jesus = God, and that believing in Jesus’ name = eternal life. Does this theme sound familiar?

*cough cough FAITH ALONE IN CHRIST ALONE cough cough cough*

And So John (with significant help from the Holy Spirit, I’m sure) recalls the details of everything that happened while Jesus was on earth with a dumbfounding clarity. He, in many senses, was a lot like my GG.

Super old, likely deteriorating in his conditions, and yet the best story teller of all time.

 
So I invite you to gather around at the feet of Great¹⁰⁴ Grandpa John as he tells us his story about who Jesus really is and how to have everlasting life in Him. 

Until next post, stay classy! 

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                [1] If you ever want to be thoroughly entertained as well as love on some of the elderly folk in your community, I challenge you to visit some of them in a nursing home – they LOVE having visitors and they tell the most epic stories. Ever.  

                [2]I am in NO WAY poking fun of people stricken with dementia or Alzheimer’s disease. I know firsthand how painful it is to watch a loved one deteriorate from these conditions.  

                [3] The Apostle John, Biblepath.com, Copyright 2011, <http://www.biblepath.com/john1.html> Accessed 12.4.2011

          [4] John Introduction: Date, Professor Correia handout.

Luke Part 4 - What Happens When We Fall Off Our Bicycles

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I remember when I was first learning how to ride my bike without training wheels. I was about four years old. I was geared up with my pretty pink bicycle with a white wicker basket and silver sparkly tassels dangling off the handlebars. I was appropriately donned in a matching helmet and so excited I could have peed myself. I was finally a big girl. Ridin’ mah bike. No training wheels. And I was going to own it like a boss.

Dad and I trotted down to the sidewalk (because riding in the street was just plain nonsense, not to mention unsafe.) My dad lovingly instructed me to saddle up, and I was all too willing to take off.

I climbed aboard, and heeded Dad’s final warning.

“Remember, Lil’ Bit, don’t go past the boundaries, ok?”

I nodded in excitement. And then I was off. It was the most exciting thing EVER. 

Until...

 

The results were catastrophic…and pokey…and painful…and traumatizing…

What does this illustrate? (other than the fact that cacti are the devil and cacti + beginner cyclist = recipe for disaster)

That we’re going to fall off the bike.

In our spiritual walk, whether we are willing to recognize it or not, there are going to be times when we are going to fall off and fall head-first into a spiritual cactus. We’re going to fail and fall short. We are going to sin and we may even turn our backs on Jesus for a while.

If we’re being honest here, chances are it’s already happened before, and it will most likely happen again. That’s the thing about being fallen humans. We’re predisposed to suck it up once in a while. If you’ve been a Christian for longer than 2 minutes, you’re probably already well aware of this fact.

The question then becomes how do we deal with that?

We come from a past that feels like it will always stand between us and leading the life of a disciple.

We love God but have sin in our lives we can’t seem to shake.

We’ve wandered so far off the beaten path it feels like there’s absolutely no way we can ever find our way back to God – and even if we did, He probably wouldn’t want us back anyway because we loused it up so bad.

What then?

Dr. Luke spells out this scenario for us in three different ways in chapter 15 – which is probably one of my favorite passages in the whole Bible. Chapter 15 is about how the lost get found and how to run back to Daddy when we fall off the bike and mess everything up. He gives it to us in a three-in-one parable from the lips of Jesus.

Point 1: The Lost Sheep[1]

“Suppose one of you has a hundred sheep and loses one of them. Does he not leave the ninety nine in the open country and go after the lost sheep until he finds it? And when he finds it, he joyfully puts it on his shoulders and goes home. Then he calls his friends and neighbors together saying ‘Rejoice with me; I have found my lost sheep!’ I tell you that in the same way there will be more rejoicing in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who do not need to repent.”

Did you catch that? Heaven rejoices when the one who is lost gets found again.

Did you also notice that the shepherd went actively looking for that one lost sheep until it was found? He didn’t just sit idly by until the sheep wandered around a while and found its way back to the flock. The Shepherd looks and looks, and is pleased as peaches when He finds his lost little sheep.

When we fall off our bikes head-long into a pile of cactus, Jesus comes looking for us to pick us back up again.

Point 2: The Lost Coin

“Or suppose a woman has ten silver coins and loses one. Does she not light a lamp, sweep the house and search carefully until she finds it? And when she finds it she calls her friends and neighbors together and says, ‘Rejoice with me! I have found my lost coin!’ In the same way, I tell you, there is rejoicing in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents.”

Same situation here. When we fall away or get lost, heaven rejoices when we get found again.

Probably my favorite parable is that of the Prodigal (Lost) Son. It breaks down like this:

 

 

 The son lives it up until he runs out of money and finds himself eating scraps from the pig slop on someone else’s property before he snaps out of it and comes to his senses.

So the son swallows his suuuuper sore pride, and heads home. He’s naked, he has squandered all of his father’s inheritance away, he’s filthy and probably stinks like nobody’s business…he’s basically in dire straits with nowhere else to go.

Have you ever fallen away that bad? I know I have. And I can think of one other person who has as well.

Peter failed pretty hardcore, right? It doesn’t get a whole lot worse than that.

I think when we fail like that – well, ok, at least I know when I fail like that – I’m often too scared and ashamed to even consider going back to my Daddy. I’m bruised and beat up, and it’s because I did something wrong. Because I know I’m at fault, I expect Him to greet me like this:

But that isn’t what Scripture tells us. Scripture clearly says that when we return to our Father, when we wander off but come around and come home, he greets us like this[2]:

So the moral of the story, dear readers, ends up being this: Jesus came to save the outcast – anyone and everyone who would believe in Him. He trained up those who dedicated their lives to being His disciples, preparing them for a future where He wouldn’t be tangibly among them. This includes us here, right now, as disciples. Jesus is completely prepared for us to fail, to fall away and fall off the bicycle. Into a cactus. He’s ready for that – in eternity past He knew every sin we would ever commit, and He decided to take that punishment of His own free will on the cross. There is no sin we can ever commit that will surprise, shock, or even catch Jesus off guard.

And when we do, He is waiting for us to come back to Him in repentance, so that He can throw a great big party in heaven – each and every time one of us falls off the bicycle, gets up, dusts ourselves off, and gets back on to keep riding where He wants us to go.

That’s it for us from the gospel of Luke. I hope it was beneficial to you as a discipleship manual. It’s been a blast. Until next time…stay classy. :)

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[1] If you are interested in reading a short creative story expanding on this parable, click here.

[2] Luke 15:22-24