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Missio Dei and Missional Church

John 16:12-15 (Contemporary English Version)

12 I have much more to say to you, but right now it would be more than you could understand. 13 The Spirit shows what is true and will come and guide you into the full truth. The Spirit doesn’t speak on his own. He will tell you only what he has heard from me, and he will let you know what is going to happen. 14 The Spirit will bring glory to me by taking my message and telling it to you. 15 Everything that the Father has is mine. That is why I have said that the Spirit takes my message and tells it to you.

It’s Trinity Sunday this weekend - the Sunday after Pentecost is celebrated. I’ve been asked to preach at my local church, tying in my work on the missional church. I’ll be preaching from John 16:12-15 in which Jesus talks about being sent by the Father, and sending us the Holy Spirit. The Father sends the Son. The Father and the Son send the Spirit. The Father, Son and Spirit sends us into the world. So how do we send?

I thought this might be an opportunity to expand on the theme of ‘Missio Dei’ - the missional nature of the Triune God.

“Missio Dei” is Latin for the mission of God. Over the last sixty years there’s been a lot of discussion among missionaries and church leaders about mission belonging to God, not just the church. God is actively involved in the world - a missionary God.

Jügen Moltmann, a German theologian, wrote in his 1977 book, “The Church in the Power of the Spirit”, “It is not the church that has a mission of salvation to fulfill in the world; it is the mission of the Son and the Spirit through the Father that includes the church”.

So how does all this affect anyone? Or is it just some theology for professional theologians to enjoy?

Getting our focus on the mission of God helps us rethink what mission is about. God’s mission in the world is a lot more than the 33 years of Jesus’ life. It’s certainly involves a lot more than the last moments of his life, death and resurrection. If we take seriously God’s involvement with the whole of creation we’ll be looking to take part in that. If we believe that God is still active in the world today through the Holy Spirit, beyond the church, we’ll be looking for signs of that and joining in. Is God involved in the passionate movement around the world to address global climate change?

Entering into the mission of God helps us realise the importance of relationship building. Jesus in the Gospels talks about being sent and sending in the context of relationships of confidence, trust and transparency. Mission for Jesus was not just about projects that needed to be completed. It was about who he had come from, who he was going to. I work with a team of mission planners who ask the ‘who questions’. Our first two questions, before looking at strategies, are “Who Will Go?” and “To Whom Will We Go?” Maybe we also need to encourage the question, “Who sends us?”

Missional communities need missional leadership provided by people who can commission and resource community members. In my work for Vision for Mission, in the Uniting Church in Australia, I’ve become involved with ‘U-Turn’, a resourcing movement designed to kick-start small missional groups. We’re encouraging people to start small groups that involve at least three people from outside, meeting at least eight times a year. Vision for Mission is providing $100 per group that starts in Queensland. We’re putting the funding directly into the accounts of local congregations so that they can be part of the commissioning. It’s a risk I know. Some Church councils may not get the point of some of the groups and slow up the process. But the process of sending, commissioning, is transformative in itself. It means that local groups of people are reflect the missional nature of God, sending and being sent.

Here are the first two questions put together for our missional planning process:

Who Will Go?
Who are we? What is our capacity to engage the community around us? Where are our energy levels? How motivated are we to engage in mission? What are the physical, human, spiritual, property and financial resources we have at our disposal? Identify local champions who will drive the mission process.

To Whom Will We Go?
Look locally for specific people groups and subcultures. Know and understand your target community in terms of demographic, and community needs and resources. Who are the gatekeepers and stakeholders in this community? What social/justice/spiritual needs and opportunities are there? What will frustrate or prevent us reaching our target group? How will our community change over the next 2-5-10 years? What is our purpose in going?

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The Cat’s in the Cradle & the Silver Spoon …

Father’s Day

For this reason I bow my knees before the Father, from whom every fatherhood in heaven and on earth takes its name
Eph 3:14-15

Jesus said to them, “Very truly, I tell you, the Son can do nothing on his own, but only what he sees the Father doing; for whatever the Father a does, the Son does likewise.  The Father loves the Son and shows him all that he himself is doing; and he will show him greater works than these, so that you will be astonished.  Indeed, just as the Father raises the dead and gives them life, so also the Son gives life to whomever he wishes.  The Father judges no one but has given all judgment to the Son,  so that all may honor the Son just as they honor the Father. Anyone who does not honor the Son does not honor the Father who sent him. Very truly, I tell you, anyone who hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life, and does not come under judgment, but has passed from death to life.
John 6:19-23

“My Dad has to be in a wheelchair but he can do most anything. Except walk and play sprts. But I wouldn’t trade him for anybody, even Mark McGwire!”
Paul

“I love it when he told me about what happened before he became a teacher. His dad really wanted him to be a shoe salesman like him but my dad went to college. When I think of that I know how strong he is.
Megan
(taken from ‘Me & my Dad’ Compiled and Illustrated by Stuart Hample)

In the mid 1970s the Mattel toy company wanted to market a family of dolls called ‘The Heart Family’ with Dad, Mum and two kids. When testing the dolls with children, many of the children took the Father dolls, put them aside and played with the rest of the dolls. When asked ‘What about the Father doll?’ they replied ‘He’s at work’, and left the doll untouched in a corner!
from ‘Manhood’ by Steve Biddulph (abridged).

How many dad’s are untouched in the corner today?

Whether through work, divorce, out with the mates, violence, couldn’t be bothered, too hard …

The list of reasons could go on for ages - but the result is always the same, generations of children (especiially boys) raised mostly, if not soley by their mums.

Now mums have done a fantastic job and I am certainly not knocking them, but the question remains ‘Where have all the father’s gone … long time passing … they opted out every one … when will they ever learn, when will they ever learn’ (thanks Pete Seeger!)

When I walk around the streets of my community (Deception Bay), talk with mums at playgroup, or kids at kids club, I often hear stories of dads who are not there - either not at all, or dad’s who who live at home but are not part of their kid’s life.

I could go and talk about the effects that this has on children, famiies and whole communities - but it will suffice to say that

sick fathers = sick communities

(you could put sick mothers = sick communities, but I think that there is little doubt that on the whole mothering is much more healthy than fathering)

I think of myself as a Dad and my two boys Jordan and Micah (2 & 7 mths - they are beautiful! … mostly) and I think what sort of dad to I want to be - what role model of Fathering is going to help me?

Hence the two passages above.

Ephesians

Here Paul is about to embark on a prayer for the Ephesians and he starts off with this strange line which you have to ask - why put it in a prayer at all? Paul uses this phrase to establish God’s authority/power - God is God and every other authority/power comes from him. For our purposes we are interested less in the naming of God as source of authority and power than the idea that all power/authority including our own fatherhood takes its name and origin from God.

Conclusion - our fatherhood (which is an exercise in our power and authority in our family relationships) takes its origin in God’s fatherhood - this is to say more than just we should be Godly fathers, but the whole concept of fatherhood takes place within the relationships of the trinue God. That is - the real Fatherhood is of God the Father in his fatherhood of Jesus (note that while I use ‘his’ I by no means mean that God is male in any way, even when talking fatherhood - we are talking a relationship not a gender). This is why Jesus says ‘call no man Father, execpt your Father in heaven’ and why he says that when we lose families for Jesus sake we will receive a hundredfold ‘mothers, brothers and sisters’ note no fathers!

This may be a hard concept for us as Father’s to grasp (especially on Father’s day) but we need to acknowledge that there is only one true Father of our children - and that is God the Father. We take our fatherhood from his - as a gift and a responsibility.

This leave the question, that if we take our fatherhood from the true Father of our children, then what sort of father do we have to be to live within God’s Fatherhood?

John

Go back to the top and read this passage again - but as you read it don’t let your eyes glaze over! Read it not as a theological treatise but as a statement about the relationship bewteen a Father and a Son.

When I read this passage in this way I go all warm & fuzzy inside! I think of me working out in the garden with my son ,Jordan, and how he just wants to do what he sees his dad doing (however unhelpful this may be to me!). He copies everything I do, uses the tools I use and cannot bear to be out of my sight so that he can’t see what I am doing, and so that I can see how well he is doing everything with is continual ‘Daddy, watch!’. And I think how when anyone says something good about Jordan, I feel good inside and how protective I am if there is any criticism …

This is the quality of realtionship (times infinity!) that I see in Jesus words. Here is a child who adores his father, who will do nothing other than what his father shows him. And here is a father who holds nothing back from his child. Who show his child everything that he is and has to offer.

To have a Father/child realtionship like this! What a dream - but if I take Paul’s words seriously - this is the relationship that God is calling me to, to live out part of God’s Fatherhood for these children that God has gifted me with.

So what do I take practically from this? What do I need to do (the bottom line …)

Presence and Oneness

Presence

The first and most obvious requirement is of TIME, but not just time without involvement. Presence means being there and available, physically, practically and emotionally. How else can I show my child all of me and who I am unless I spend heaps of time hanging out with them - playing, working, doing the shopping, holding them when they are sick, changing their nappies, disciplining them when they step out of line.

Jesus tells how his Father has show him everything of who he is and how he works, how, is a mystery for us, but the point being is that the Fatherhood from whom we take ours holds nothing back from his children and is involved in every aspect of their lives.

Today, the biggest issue is dads off loading their responsibilities to mums (or mums thinking to be the perfect mum that they have to do everything). There is no dad’s work or mum’s work when it comes to the practicalities of rasing children (ok - except breast feeding and having the baby!). Changing nappies, feeding, playing, clothing, disciplining we MUST be involved in all of it. Who we are in the practicalities is different to mum’s - but there is no escaping the fact that we MUST be involved.

For Dad’s reading this - that is MUST - no ifs, no buts, and definititely no ‘that women’s stuff …’

But going along with the doing of the stuff is the showing of the being - we have to show who we are - our thoughts, morals, reasons, feelings (not just anger) we have to help our children know what is right and wrong, good and decent and why. We have to show them everything because they will try to be like us and if we are shallow and show no depth … pity the children.

Oneness

Secondly, related to this presence we see and oneness of purpose, values, character and being between God the Father and Jesus (if you have seen me you have seen the Father …) - this is scary stuff for us. Do I want my kids to grow up like i REALLY am - not juts the me that I put on in public …?

What sort of person am i trying to be? There can be no put on with kids, they see us as we really are - and that truly is a scary thought, but the grace of God is that they love us anyway!

In this oneness we see a Father who does not see himself as separate to his child, but intrinsically related and part of (i guess since they are God they are ontologically the same being). So much so that the FAther is quite happy to give over his responsibilties (judgement, eternal life etc .. the usual dad jobs!) to his child and hold nothing back. So much so the Father wants the child to share in all his honour, and that to honour the child is to honour the father, and ishonouring the child is dishonouring the Father.

This oneness is probably the most threatening aspect of fatherhood for many guys - you are called to be in essential oneness with your child - not to maintain your distance and retreat to be with your mates when ever things get tough. Sure we need our mates for friendship and support, but not as a place to run away to when we can’t cope so that we can leave the mother to deal with it. Your are called to see yourself and your child as sharing an essential unity and oneness that is sacred.

Oh … and the God bit …

Lastly, we take from John’s passage the uniqueness of Jesus and his Father - God alone has the power of judgement and life and he shares that with his Son Jesus - so when we follow Jesus we come into that relationship with his Father that he has. We find that we have a Father who holds nothing back from us, who love us unconditionally, who wants to show us all that he is.

It sounds too good to be true - but that this is the relationship with God that Jesus promises us when we follow him. Jesus promises us that when we follow him, we get to share in his relationship with God …

that God would be a daddy to us … and not like a human daddy but the perfect daddy that we can always go to when hurt, sad, happy, proud, who shares all our joys and fears and holds nothing of his love back from us …

Sound to be good to be true? That is why it is GOSPEL - GOOD NEWS

I for one can’t think of any better news this Father’s day than that I have a God who is my daddy.

All I pray is that I might be a daddy like him to my boys.

Amen

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Cannibals for Jesus!

I am the living bread that came down from heaven. Whoever eats of this bread will live forever; and the bread that I will give for the life of the world is my flesh.”

The Jews then disputed among themselves, saying, “How can this man give us his flesh to eat?”

So Jesus said to them, “Very truly, I tell you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you.  Those who eat my flesh and drink my blood have eternal life, and I will raise them up on the last day;  for my flesh is true food and my blood is true drink. Those who eat my flesh and drink my blood abide in me, and I in them.  Just as the living Father sent me, and I live because of the Father, so whoever eats me will live because of me.  This is the bread that came down from heaven, not like that which your ancestors ate, and they died. But the one who eats this bread will live forever.”

John 6:51-58

Cannabilism and the Early Church
The first thing that comes to my mind when reading this passage is how the early christians were often accused of being cannibals by informers and the Roman authorities. And reading this text it is not hard to see why people might think this!

‘Eat my flesh and drink my blood’ sounds more like something from some dark ancient religion than from our western churches. In fact, I think that we (that is those of us who spend far too much time in churches) often forget how offensive and hard to understand phrases like this can be. So often if someone asks what this means we just say ‘it just means communion - where we drink grape juice and eat a piece of bread and remember Jesus and what he did for us’ - certainly sounds a lot less offensive - but perhaps that is the problem - we have taken something that is meant to be challenging and offensive and turned into a nice little ritual where we can feel good about what Jesus has done for us.

Jesus… hero one day … whacko the next
To gain a better understanding of this passage we need to briefly recount what has just gone before (John ch 6 version according to mc)

* Jesus and large crowd in wilderness
* Jesus feeds crowd from 5 loaves and two fishes (from small boy)
* People like Jesus!
* People want to make Jesus King
* Jesus runs away … goes to other side of lake (transport method: walking on water)
* Crowd goes looking for Jesus and finds him
* Jesus says ‘you want me because I gave you free food … try this for size ..’
* Jesus talks about ‘true bread from heaven, which after people eat are never hungry’
* Crowd says ’sounds great! what do we have to do to get this’
* Jesus says ‘I am the bread of life … I come from heaven … come to me and believe in me’
* Crowd says ‘who does he think he is? We know his parents!’
* Jesus says ‘I am living bread you must eat of me’
* Crowd says ‘how can we eat your flesh? what are you talking about?’
* Jesus says ‘eat my flesh (not shorts) drink my blood’ (today’s passage)
* Crowd says ‘this guy is nuts!’ and leave

Soooo typical of Jesus. People like him, he runs away, people want more of him so he does something to offend them and drive them away. Didn’t this guy read any evangelism books or go to any church growth seminars? This is no way to develop a successful and growing movement …

The crowd in this story are offended for a number of reasons

* Jesus claims to have come from heaven (yeah right buddy … we know your parents!)
* Jesus tells them they have to eat his flesh and drink his blood (obviously loony …)

In many ways these objections of the crowd are the same objections that people have to Jesus today (and this is in the church!!!)

Jesus comes from heaven vs I know your mummy!
Today many people have problems that Jesus might actually come from heaven. While we might not know Joseph and Mary we know the Gospel’s ‘parents’. That is - we know that the Gospel’s were written by people who weren’t eyewitnesses. We know they collected and edited stories and put them together. We know that they wrote with specific communities and issues in mind … in other words we say to Jesus ‘we know your mummy! we know where you came from and the process used to write these Gospels - therefore you can’t have come from heaven - you are just another human’

Drink my blood vs can I have some grape juice please … the non-alcoholic type!
Eat my flesh and drink my blood - hard offensive statements that put people off Jesus and make him an offense to the authorities … not what we want. We want nice consumer Jesus with the action models and bland music and nothing that will challenge our nice Christian middle-class way of life. Eat my flesh!

No more Grape Juice Please …
So what then do we make of this passage - John is very clearly challenging us through Jesus words. What is Jesus saying , why and what does it mean for us?

Eat my flesh, drink my blood … this is the bread that has come from heaven

come from heaven …
Jesus is claiming that he is unique - he is what no other human before or after can say - he is from heaven - what he says and who he is and therefore worthy of acceptance

eat my flesh, drink my blood
acknowledging who he is (ie head knowledge) is only the start. To receive this gift of the bread of life we have to eat and drink of him. While this obviously has references to communion it is far more than just symbolism. To receive God’s gift of life (today and for eternity) we have to Jesus into ourselves (’eat’ and ‘drink’) we have to feed upon him, allow him to become our sustenance. Just as Jesus lives in God in that close relationship, we have to live in Jesus - let his being be our very being.

This is not just some spiritual feeling - this is hardcore business of following Jesus. Showing love where there is hate, proclaiming justice where there is injustice, not being afraid to being an offense to Governments and authorities and most of all rejecting the bland bread and grape juice of modern western Christianity and wanting the real ‘flesh and blood’ of Jesus. Wanting the Jesus who rejected the legalism of the Pharisees and the insitution of the Saducees. who proclaimed a God who was active and involved in the life of all people, not just ‘good’ people, but called all people to a new life, a new community a community of life and faith.

We need more cannibals for Jesus!
People who take Jesus seriously and don’t want the bread and grape juice but want the flesh and blood. Let me give you a concrete example …

Jesus said blessed are the peacemakers … yet if you believe some people being a good christian is rolling over and accepting good ol’ George and co when they tell us that God wants us to make war. Then they lie about Revelation and say that the beast will come in the form of someone bringing world peace … (read Rev ch 13 and find that …) and so they turn the words of Jesus on their head.

Now rather than being cannibals who are an affront to power and authorities we have a nice bread and grape juice christianity who accept almost anything from the Government - as long as they say ‘I believe in Jesus!’.

Grape Juice. Give me the flesh and blood Jesus who wasn’t afraid to offend those who wanted a popular hero, or those in power.

‘Eat my flesh, drink my blood - come and live with me forever!’
Amen.

Soul Food Application - Enjoying Intimate Relationship with God
Often we think of intimate relationship as some fuzzy spiritual feeling (and sometimes in can involve that) - but there is nothing as intimate as eating the flesh and drinking the blood of someone!

Jesus doesn’t just want your spiritual feelings - he wants you to eat and drink from him.

Questions for Reflection

1. How often do you settle for a bread and grape juice Jesus rather than a flesh and blood Jesus?
2. How are you trying to ‘feed’ on Jesus - make him your sustenance and way of life?
3. Where is Jesus calling you to be someone who might offend others through taking a stand?

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Unless a Grain Falls

I had the privilege yesterday of speaking and presiding at communion at Trinity College, the Uniting Church theological college in Brisbane. I was working with a small group of staff and students to lead worship, focusing on the John 12 passage in which Jesus is visited by a group of Greeks who say to Philip, “We want to see Jesus”. The chapel was strewn with banana and sugar cane plants, helping us connect with the people who are cleaning up after the cylone last Monday.

I spoke this morning on John 12:24: “Unless a Grain of Wheat Falls to the Ground and dies, it remains only a single seed. But if it dies, it produces many seeds.” The graphic comes from Heartlight Gallery. I found some inspiration from a sermon preached by Cornelius Plantinga at his installation as professor of systematic theology at Calvin College.

Pivotal to this morning’s message was the realisation that the germination of the seed - the seminal moment - is unseen by the human eye. Likewise, the seminal moment of Jesus’ life - his resurrection - was unseen by the human eye. We reflected on the acts of God that are usually experienced in humble surroundings rather than in front of large audiences. Participation in the life of a seminary has an element of being buried like grain. In fact the word ’seminary’ refers to a seed bed. We finished by reflecting on the challenge of being embedded in everyday relationships.

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Cunning and Truth Recognised

The next day Jesus decided to go to Galilee. There he met Philip, who was from Bethsaida, the hometown of Andrew and Peter. Jesus said to Philip, “Come with me.” Philip then found Nathanael and said, “We have found the one that Moses and the Prophets wrote about. He is Jesus, the son of Joseph from Nazareth.” Nathanael asked, “Can anything good come from Nazareth?” Philip answered, “Come and see.” When Jesus saw Nathanael coming toward him, he said, “Here is a true descendant of our ancestor Israel. And he isn’t deceitful.” “How do you know me?” Nathanael asked. Jesus answered, “Before Philip called you, I saw you under the fig tree.” Nathanael said, “Rabbi, you are the Son of God and the King of Israel!” Jesus answered, “Did you believe me just because I said that I saw you under the fig tree? You will see something even greater. I tell you for certain that you will see heaven open and God’s angels going up and coming down on the Son of Man.”

John 1: 43-51 (Contemporary English Version)

I wonder what Jesus saw under the fig tree. Who would break out into an acknowledgement of leadership just because he’d been seen before. This has the hallmark of someone’s actions being seen with insight into the most inner thoughts. Jesus must have seen something that showed integrity and cunning.

Israel, or Jacob, was known for being deceitful. He’s the guy who tricked his older twin brother out of his inheritance by impersonating him in front of his blind father. He’s the one who built up his flocks at the cost of his father-in-law by organising the livestock gene pool. So if Israel was deceitful, what was Jesus referring to by saying that Nathaniel was a ‘true descendant of Israel, without deceit.’ My hunch is that Jesus was referring to the knack Jacob/Israel had for doing business. The same business sense for which Jewish people seem to have acquired a reputation around the world through history.

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Increase and Decrease

John had not yet been put in jail. He was at Aenon near Salim, where there was a lot of water, and people were coming there for John to baptize them. John’s followers got into an argument with a Jewish man about a ceremony of washing. They went to John and said, “Rabbi, you spoke about a man when you were with him east of the Jordan. He is now baptizing people, and everyone is going to him.”

John replied: No one can do anything unless God in heaven allows it. You surely remember how I told you that I am not the Messiah. I am only the one sent ahead of him. At a wedding the groom is the one who gets married. The best man is glad just to be there and to hear the groom’s voice. That’s why I am so glad. Jesus must become more important, while I become less important.

John 3:23-30 (Contemporary English Version)

I grew up with the King James version of John’s phrase, “He must increase, but I must decrease.” At times I interpreted this as meaning I should be quiet and unassuming, not promoting myself or my ideas. The character of Jesus was to be seen in my life, not the personality of Duncan Macleod.

This has played out in my life in positive and negative ways. In my line of work I regularly speak to large crowds or write for wide readership. To talk to large crowds you have to be larger than life. To inspire people you have to be inspiring. To intellectually stimulate people you have to be thinking on the edge. Being quiet, unassuming and reluctant to share goes against all the requirements of effective communication in these settings.

John wasn’t aiming to become quiet and unassuming. He wasn’t planning to drop his up-front personality. But he was preparing his followers for the long term impact of his life. He wasn’t aiming to have his reputation grow at the expense of anyone else’s. His goal was to enhance the reputation of Jesus. He wasn’t so much concerned about what people thought of him. What counted was what people thought about Jesus.

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Post Resurrection Words

Jesus said to his disciples:
If you love me, you will do as I command.
Then I will ask the Father to send you the Holy Spirit
who will help you and always be with you.
The Spirit will show you what is true.
The people of this world cannot accept the Spirit,
because they don’t see or know him.
But you know the Spirit,
who is with you and will keep on living in you.
I won’t leave you like orphans.
I will come back to you.
In a little while the people of this world
won’t be able to see me, but you will see me.
And because I live, you will live.
Then you will know
that I am one with the Father.
You will know that you are one with me,
and I am one with you.
If you love me, you will do what I have said,
and my Father will love you.
I will also love you and show you what I am like.

John 14:15-21 (Contemporary English Version)

So did Jesus actually say all this? A large number of Biblical scholars are of the opinion that post-resurrection sayings of Jesus can not be attributed to the historical Jesus. These are the words of the post-Easter Christ rather than the actual Jesus. The Jesus Seminar takes this assumption and provides some kind of system for discounting these words as historical.

I believe it is valid to point out that our approach to historical record is different to the first century approach to history. However the assertion that we cannot rely on any post-resurrection words is based on an objection to the premise of a physical resurrection. “Because Jesus was dead he cannot have said these words”.

My take on this reading is that it’s a collection of sayings rather than a narrative.

So what’s the good news here? For me? For my neighbours?

Jesus is inviting his followers to move beyond a linear empirical approach to understanding God’s presence. “You’ll be able to see me but not in the way you’re used to.” He’s getting them used to the idea that God’s guiding presence will be available 24/7 no matter where they are.

Again and again Jesus’ words speak of relationship with God, available to his followers. 2000 years later I’m still able to access the presence of Jesus through the Spirit of God. Even though I don’t speak the language that Jesus did (Aramaic & maybe Greek) I’m able to be in conversation with God, the creator whose presence infuses every part of creation.

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One Way Jesus

This week’s gospel reading is from John 14:1-14.

Jesus said to his disciples, “Don’t be worried! Have faith in God and have faith in me. There are many rooms in my Father’s house. I wouldn’t tell you this, unless it was true. I am going there to prepare a place for each of you. After I have done this, I will come back and take you with me. Then we will be together. You know the way to where I am going.”

I’ve taken many funerals and often read from John 14 at those funerals. I’ve done so because I believe in some sense of life after death, life in a new dimension. In these words Jesus gives us a hope that what we have now is not all there is. He’s inviting his followers to trust that it will be OK in the next dimension.

However I’m not so keen on founding Christian faith on an anxiety about whether or not we’ll make it into heaven. Looking at the life and teaching of Jesus, he didn’t spend a lot of time making sure that his disciples had an assurance of salvation or life in heaven. Most of his work was about making heaven come alive in the lives of people right now.

I’ve always liked the phrase “It’s not just pie in the sky when you die, it’s steak on the plate while you wait”. I heard it first in a Pentecostal church in Invercargill. Sure, there was a hint then of triumphalist expectations that life would be cruisy because of healing and peace of mind. And of course, there’s a consumerist approach underlying the promise. “But wait, there’s more!”
It has been observed that people who have it tough in this life are more motivated to long for the next life. People who have it comfortable are more likely to want to enjoy this life and put out of mind any worries about the next life.

Despite the talk of rooms or mansions Jesus does get into specifics about the next dimension. He focuses more on the relationship that will be sustained even through the transition of death.

Thomas said, “Lord, we don’t even know where you are going! How can we know the way?”

“I am the way, the truth, and the life!” Jesus answered. “Without me, no one can go to the Father. If you had known me, you would have known the Father. But from now on, you do know him, and you have seen him.”

A man dies and goes to heaven, and meets St. Peter at the Pearly Gates. St. Peter shows him in, and begins to walk him to his designated room. As they walk, he gives the man a bit of a tour. “Over here in this area are all the Buddists, over here we have the Jews, and over there are all the Hindus.” They’re about to turn a corner when St. Peter says “Shhhhhh, be sure to be real quiet when you’re walking around here.” “Why?” Asks the man. St. Peter answers “Because this is where we keep all the Catholics, and they think they’re the only ones up here.”

Back in the 1970s there was a common bumper sticker with the slogan, “One Way Jesus”. Larry Norman came out with his song, “One way, one way to heaven”. This was all linked up with the conservative Evangelical teaching that people would get into heaven only if they trusted in Jesus’ atoning death on the cross. If you trusted in your own works, you were done for in God’s eyes. If you didn’t even think about the basis for your relationship with God your eternal destiny was in danger.

But I don’t see that approach here in John 14. Jesus says that if we connect with God through Jesus, we’ll be able to do the same things that he did, and even more.

Philip said, “Lord, show us the Father. That is all we need.”

Jesus replied: “Philip, I have been with you for a long time. Don’t you know who I am? If you have seen me, you have seen the Father. How can you ask me to show you the Father? Don’t you believe that I am one with the Father and that the Father is one with me? What I say isn’t said on my own. The Father who lives in me does these things. Have faith in me when I say that the Father is one with me and that I am one with the Father. Or else have faith in me simply because of the things I do. I tell you for certain that if you have faith in me, you will do the same things that I am doing. You will do even greater things, now that I am going back to the Father. Ask me, and I will do whatever you ask. This way the Son will bring honor to the Father. I will do whatever you ask me to do.”

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Christ the Good Shepherd

“I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down its life for the sheep.”
John 10

I must admit I haven’t been much of a fan of the shepherd/sheep metaphor. For two reasons.

One reason is the over-sentimentalised lamby pamby lovey dovey approach in which children are encouraged to see themselves as helpless little lambs in the care of Jesus. There’s a song that goes “I just want to be a sheep”. Well I just don’t want to be a sheep smothered by sweetness!

The other reason is that I grew up on a sheep farm that was a lot different to the fenceless operation of the Middle East. Male lambs are castrated at an early age. All lambs are tailed. In Australia merino sheep are ‘mulesed’ - parts of their skin are cut off to avoid fly strike. Sheep in this part of the world tend to be left to themselves most of the time. And when they are mustered in, they tend to be either shorn or sent off to the freezing works. Not a great image for the relationship with Jesus!

Maybe a better image down under would be the relationship between farmer/stockman and dog. Of course that wouldn’t have been right for 1st century Palestine. But here there’s a sense of comradeship, care and loyalty.

Having said that, there is still something about being part of the flock, protected and cared for by the good shepherd as expressed in John 10. The sheep in Jesus’ company have quality of life because of their relationship with the shepherd. Note the focus on abundance of life rather than ‘eternal life’ as in John 3:16. The two approaches to life should really go together. Sadly they’re often taken as mutually exclusive goals by different branches of Christianity.

Imagery I’ve been looking at this last week includes the one included above, Christ the Good Shepherd: A 5th century mosaic from the tomb of Galla Placidia, near Ravenna in Italy, in which a clean-shaven Greek-looking Jesus cares for the flock, wielding his cross as shepherd’s crook. The tomb is now the church of Santi Nazario e Celso.

Howard Schroeder of Painted Psalms has in the image, Lost Lamb, at the top of this post, included a foot stamping on a snake, thorns in the foreground, safe sheep in the background, and religiously enhanced mountains!

(Don’t confuse Howard with the other artist of the same name, Howard S. Schroeder, the now deceased Delaware landscape artist, or his son, Howard A. Schroeder, a sculptor in North Carolina.)

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Jesus Walks Through Locked Doors

There’s something striking about the John 20 story of frightened disciples hiding behind locked doors only to discover the resurrected Jesus in the room.

What were they hiding from? The text suggests these followers of Jesus were guarding their lives from the same people who had put Jesus to death in the week before. They were keeping out ‘The Jews’.

And Jesus appears suddenly, saying to them, “Peace be with you”.

But probably not in the high church sense with a carefully waved hand. I think he was more likely to greet them with a throaty ‘Shalom!’. Like in Shalom - the Neurotrash.com spoof of Budweiser’s Wassup ads. And then he shows them the wounds. This was not likely to be some ghostly mystical experience. From the text it reads more like a jubilant reunion.

Jesus breathes the Holy Spirit into these disciples and tells them they must forgive sins. I think they all would have particular sins and particular people in mind. The people who had put Jesus through all his suffering and ultimate death. Fear and bitterness were threatening to stifle any sense of life. Without the life-giving Spirit of God in them, and without the will to forgive, they would spend the rest of their days behind locked doors.

It strikes me that we still have the potential to spend time behind locked doors. I see it happening when I turn up at some Christian gatherings. I’m treated with suspicion until people are convinced that I have the right language and the right doctrine. If that’s how a Christian of 40 years is regarded then how would a rank outsider be treated? There’s more focus on keeping the gospel pure than giving the gospel away to people who need it most. Usually I find that there’s an experience of hurt behind the attitude of suspicion.

I preached on this passage on Anzac Day back in 2001. I encouraged people to learn the lessons learnt by people in the trenches at Gallipoli. Nationality, at the end of the day, is not our defining mark. It is our inner attitude towards others that changes who we are. The Australians and New Zealanders learned to work with one another - becoming known as one unit, the ANZACs, the Australian New Zealand Armed Corps. It still puzzles me that on this day Australians seem oblivious to the fact that there were New Zealanders involved!

It was at Gallipoli that the British and their southern Colonialists realised that Southern Europeans were just as skilled at soldiery. A mutual respect was developed in the middle of a tragic prolonged battle. The Turkish people have shown an incredible grace and generosity in forgiving the nations who attempted to invade their land. Australians and New Zealanders who travel to Gallipoli in Turkey today will not be treated with harshness. Indeed they are welcomed with warmth and respect. That’s the attitude Jesus came to give his beseiged followers.

At the heart of this is identity. Do we find our identity by naming and keeping out the enemy? Or do we find it in sharing the capacity of Jesus to forgive those who killed him?

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