What if Jesus walked in the flesh among us today? What if he made statements about politics. About laws. Imagine him making statements about freedom, masks, foods we eat (and don't eat) , race, guns, relationships and the pandemic. Can you imagine he might ruffle some feathers? Have you ever considered this side of Jesus? Have you ever thought about how and when he might ruffle YOUR feathers?
This week we see how Jesus does not give the expected "textbook" answers. He didn't do it 2000 years ago and he doesn't do it now. At times he doesn't even give an answer but asks a question. It is usually a soul searching question. At least if you give some time and space to the question that is asked it will search your soul. Are you open to consider what questions Jesus may be asking you or might ask you based on this week's study?
INVITATION: Jesus doesn't always give us the answer, but he always gives us himself. Is that enough? Are you okay with only knowing the WHO but not necessarily the what, when, how and why? Augustine, a theologian of the early church wrote, "God is not what you imagine or what you think you understand. If you understand you have failed." Consider the following excerpt from theologian Dallas Willard's book "The Divine Conspiracy:"
"Recently a pilot was practicing high-speed maneuvers in a jet fighter. She turned the controls for what she thought was a step ascent – and flew straight into the ground. She was unaware that she had been flying upside down.
This is a parable of human existence in our times – not exactly that everyone is crashing, though there is enough of that – but most of us as individuals, and world society as a whole, live at high-speed, and often with no clue to whether we are flying upside down or right-side up. Indeed, we are haunted by a strong suspicion that there may be no difference – or at least that it is unknown or irrelevant.”
Are you willing to examine if you are flying right side up in your Christian life? The religious leaders in this week's study certainly thought they were. If Jesus shows you otherwise, are you going to "crucify" him or are you willing to listen and learn?
MONDAY: Proverbs 3:5-6: French Jesuit Priest in the 1700's Jean-Pierre De Caissade wrote, "If a faithful soul accepts God's will and purpose in all simplicity, he will reach perfection without ever realizing it, just as a sick person who swallows his medicine obediently will be cured, although he neither knows nor cares about the medicine." We don't always understand the how and why at the cellular level that an antibiotic works, but we are willing to take it. We trust it and have faith in it. Do you have a similar trust in the ways and commands of our Lord Jesus or do you hold him to a different standard?
TUESDAY: John 8:31-33: Jesus boldly challenged a group of people whose identify was firmly entrenched in their religious culture. The Pharisees proudly said, "We are Abraham's descendants," as if that is all that is needed to be right with God. Jesus calls us into the identity of being his disciples - into a truth that "will set us free." What gives you your identity? A birth certificate? A college degree or job title? What street you live on? You are invited to make a list of several aspects of your life that form the basis of your identity. Write the name of Jesus beside each one. Pray over each item on your list and ask that your allegiance to Jesus be the foundation of each and every aspect of your life.
WEDNESDAY: John 8:34-41: Jesus sees freedom differently than the Pharisees. He sees it differently than most of us would define it. The religious folks in these verses are actually enslaved to their "correct" and "right" religious teaching and beliefs. Yet they don't see it. They are flying upside down. They don't realize the very thing they cling to has them enslaved. Saint Ignatius of Loyola teaches a lot about "detachment" in his Spiritual Exercises of Saint Ignatius. He writes, "detachment comes only if we have a stronger attachment." Could you be more strongly attached to some "good" or "holy" concept, teaching or practice rather than Jesus Christ himself? In these verses Jesus tells the religious leaders of his day that their behaviors and lifestyles do not align with Abraham. They were making God into their own image. Do you try to make God into the image you wish or hope him to be? Could that be something God is inviting you to detach from? How might you focus and cling more tightly to Jesus .....JUST Jesus?
THURSDAY: John 8:42-47: Jesus asks the question, "why is my language not clear to you" and goes on to say, "He who belongs to God hears what God says." and then makes some strong accusations that did not endear him to these religious leaders. What spiritual practices do you have in place to help you grow in your ability to know and hear the voice of God in your life? This is sometimes called discernment. How do you discern the voice of God over all the other voices in your life? We are over stimulated by information in our day and age. Can you still hear the "still small voice of God?" (I Kings 19).
FRIDAY: John 8:48-58: Jesus gives the following "I am" statement: "Before Abraham was born, I am!" This statement is volatile and crosses a line that probably had not quite been crossed by the other "I am" statements we have been studying. It falls into the category of blasphemy (if not true) and was punishable by death. You can see how all this sets up the events leading to the crucifixion of Jesus Christ. Pastor Adam read the excerpt below from the book, "Mere Christianity" by C.S. Lewis. We all have to decide if Jesus is who he says he is. These religious rulers (and onlookers) needed to decide, and you and I need to decide. Is Jesus who He says he is? Who do YOU say Jesus Christ is: Lord, lunatic or liar? Does you life line up with your beliefs?
“I am trying here to prevent anyone saying the really foolish thing that people often say about Him: I’m ready to accept Jesus as a great moral teacher, but I don’t accept his claim to be God. That is the one thing we must not say. A man who was merely a man and said the sort of things Jesus said would not be a great moral teacher. He would either be a lunatic — on the level with the man who says he is a poached egg — or else he would be the Devil of Hell. You must make your choice. Either this man was, and is, the Son of God, or else a madman or something worse. You can shut him up for a fool, you can spit at him and kill him as a demon or you can fall at his feet and call him Lord and God, but let us not come with any patronizing nonsense about his being a great human teacher. He has not left that open to us. He did not intend to.”
SATURDAY: Revelation 1:8: Jesus claims to have been present even before the father of the Christian faith, Abraham. He claims to be the beginning and the end. Do you value and believe the teachings in scripture? How does that play out in your world view and your daily practices? How does that play out in your relationships? As you meditate and pray with the thought that Jesus is the beginning and the end, does that bring peace, or does that seem troubling to you? Could this be an area of your faith journey where you may never fully understand or know all the answers for? Can you embrace mystery and simply say a prayer asking Jesus to give HIMSELF more even if you cannot have all the answers?