Wednesday, April 18, 2012 Musings

Reflecting on John 15: 1-11

I dislike yardwork.  I don’t do it often--only when absolutely necessary!  My idea of “pruning” is simply mowing over!  And while I think I have a handle on Jesus telling followers about “removing every branch that bears no fruit,” I don’t have much experience with such caretaking.  

I’ve heard a lot of sermons and read a lot of comments about the necessity for “pruning” for the health of the plant.  Of Jesus, offering to “prune” followers and believers to maximize our fruit-bearing potential.  Of pastors needing to learn how to prune the flock.  Of reminding the church that not everyone is going to bear fruit.  Often, though I know it’s molded after what gardeners can do with their plants, it sounds to me like Jesus is abiding in some, but mowing over others.  I just don’t think that Jesus looks at the world like I look at yard work.  

In verse 4 Jesus says, “Abide in me as I abide in you.”  Which I take to mean that Jesus abides in us--already.  This is good news.  Jesus abides in me, already; the first step doesn’t depend on me making the right decision.  And then, Jesus turns around and says, “those who abide in me and I in them bear much fruit.”  And God is glorified when we bear much fruit and become disciples of Jesus.  

I think this is important to remember.  God is glorified when when we bear fruit and become disciples.  There isn’t much gain when branches are thrown away, withered, and get gathered and thrown into the fire and burned.  God is glorified only when the branches are healthy.  This keeps me from reading this passage with an eye toward the pruning and helps me to understand why Jesus abides in us, already.  

We have the Advocate, we have Jesus who abides in us--reminders that it is possible for us to keep commandments, bear fruit, and for our joy to be made complete.  All I know is that this feels different than if I’m looking out for Jesus coming at me with a pruning hook!  It’s a Jesus who cares for me, who loves me, who abides in me, who promises to send the Advocate, who wants me to abide in him, who needs me to bear fruit and so is already invested in my bearing fruit.  

It reminds me of God who sees human beings and calls us “good.”  When it’s all too easy to look at us as human beings, now, because we’re so “bad.”  I have enough witnesses reminding me about how bad things are--from the news media to church members’ complaining about this and that to people dissatisfied with the way things have become.  There’s the constancy of war and deprivation.  The world can be a bad place, and much of the blame can be put on the shoulders of human sin.  Yet, still, God is glorified as Jesus abides in us and we abide in him.  This is good news, indeed.  

April 17, 2012

Reflecting on John 14: 18-31

I have always liked the “Advocate” in chapter 14 of John’s gospel.  “Advocate”--in English, the synonyms are: supporter, backer, promoter, believer, activist, campaigner, sponsor.  And since I first encountered this passage in English as a boy, I’ve always thought that “Advocate” sounded a lot better than “Holy Spirit.”  An “Advocate” was someone who likely had your back; the “Holy Spirit” seemed and still does seem a lot less certain.  

So it’s “good news” in my mind that the “Advocate” Jesus promises, “will teach you everything, and remind you of all that I have said to you.”  Because the measure for loving Jesus is keeping his commandments--which sometimes seem a little less direct than the Ten Commandments inscribed on stone tablets!  Jesus says, “don’t let your hearts be troubled,” I think in part, because the Advocate has our backs.  

But that doesn’t get us entirely off the hook.  There’s still the matter of keeping the commandments.  Don’t worry, says Jesus, you have the Advocate to teach and remind.  But still... the commandments.  

This passage ends with Jesus saying: “ ...the ruler of this world is coming.  He has no power over me; but I do as the Father has commanded me, so that the world may know that I love the Father."  I don’t know who “the ruler of this world” is; it could be Pilate or the religious authorities--maybe both.  But though the ruler of this world is coming, Jesus says, “he has no power over me.”  Still, “I do as the Father has commanded me, so that the world may know that I love the Father.”  In other words, the ruler of this world doesn’t have the power to make him keep the commandments or love the Father, but Jesus does as he was commanded--”so that the world may know he loves the Father.”  

Jesus wants the world to know that he loves the Father; Jesus wants us to love the Father--and he tells us that when we keep his commandments, we love him, and when we love him, we love the Father.  And then I begin to see it more clearly--the ruler of this world is what’s in my way.  Not Pilate, not the religious authorities of Jesus’ day--the ruler of this world.  And there are many who rule this world.  

The culture.  Political leaders.  My own sense of right and wrong.  My desire for money, wealth, success, prosperity; my demand for freedom to do as I want, my selfishness, the selfishness of others--and the list goes on and on.  On any given day there’s a lot that affects my willingness or my desire to keep Jesus’ commandments in the face of worldly rulers.  

And that, too, is why I like this “Advocate”--who not only is going to have my back, but who is determined to help me do what I am not always prepared and/or willing to do for the sake of someone or something else.  Or, for the sake of loving the Jesus and the Father.  

Monday, April 16, 2012

I heard a conversation on the radio this morning about whether or not Jesus advocated for larger or smaller government.  On the one hand, the whole disagreement seems rather trite—aimed more at the personal gain of too few and at the expense of many others.  But Jesus says to us: “If you love me, you will keep my commandments.  And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Advocate, to be with you forever.” 

Jesus says that I need another advocate.  Or taken in the broader sense, Jesus says that Christians need another advocate.  Government large or small aside, this seems surprising. 

In my culture, high value is placed on personal freedom and responsibility.  Many people believe that your future is what you make—that it shouldn’t have to do with your race, nationality, creed, or condition.  And we’re used to understanding, presuming, and believing that if we want to believe and follow Jesus, we just do it—it’s up to us.  So it’s surprising to hear Jesus totally put the brakes on that!  “I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Advocate, to be with you forever.  …[This Advocate abides with you, and will be in you.” 

In a way, Jesus is saying, “it isn’t up to us”—alone; it’s at least going to be us and the Advocate. 

That I need another advocate sounds strange in a world built around self-reliance and personal responsibility.  But I find it’s also “good news” for me—in a world that puts enormous expectations on us to “do it ourselves.” 

But the starting place for Jesus’ words about the Advocate come in the context of keeping Jesus’ commandments—if we love him.  I like to think that “I love Jesus,” but I also seldom ask whether or not I’m keeping all his commandments.  The truth of our human condition is like when I ask my young children if they “were good” at an event or for a shopping trip with their mom—meaning, did they act respectfully and comply with mom’s requests.  They sometimes say, “I was MOSTLY good; I was just a little bit bad.” 

I suspect that when we ask ourselves in earnest if we “love Jesus,” and the measure is “keeping Jesus’ commandments”—most of us have to concede something lacked.  Does that mean we don’t love Jesus?  I don’t think so.  Because we have another Advocate.