How Will You Be Remembered?

Fifth Sunday of Lent, March 13, 2016

            I imagine the beloved disciple, pen in hand, eyesight failing, joints aching, and bones tired.  He’s hunched, wizened, wrinkled.  How has he lived this long?  Easterly winds send a breeze.  His wild hair flows as he gazes at the ships that sail from the Aegean Sea into the Ephesus port.

The writer of the Gospel of John never says, “This was written by John.”  Others have come to that conclusion.  He does the Gospel was written by “the disciple Jesus loved.”  He also clearly says he was an eyewitness.  The Gospel of John comes from his memory.

            He arranges the story, not chronologically, but in order to help the reader come to faith in Jesus.  Everything in this account is meant to guide you and me to believe and have life in Jesus’ name.  This includes what he tells us about Mary the sister of Lazarus and the disciple Judas Iscariot. 

            The Beloved Disciple remembers the high priest, Caiaphas, was persuasive when he convinced other priests and Pharisees that Jesus’ claims were so revolutionary, he had to be killed for the good of the nation. 

            The beloved disciple sets the scene.  Caiaphas plots the undoing of Jesus at a council meeting, while in Bethany, just outside Jerusalem, Jesus is another kind of meeting, a dinner meeting in the home of Lazarus.  This is the same man who had been dead, 4 days in the tomb dead.  Jesus brought him back to life.

            Lazarus has a dinner party for Jesus and the 12 disciples.  There are others around them including his sisters Martha and Mary.  The beloved disciple remembers all of this. 

            Martha was serving.  Those who reclined at the table eating were the men, Jesus, Lazarus the host, and the 12 disciples.  Mary enters and dumps a pound of expensive perfume on the feet of Jesus.  Social conventions dictated that she help Martha in the kitchen. 

But we’ve read the gospels.  We remember Luke 10 where Martha dutifully served, but Mary sat among the men because to her Jesus’ teaching was worth whatever scorn she would receive for sitting among the men.  Jesus commended her decision.  She has chosen “the better part,” he said, and it will not be taken from her.

In the previous section of the Gospel, John 11, Lazarus dies, and both Martha and Mary are upset with Jesus.  When he finally comes, Martha confronts him with a theological argument.  Jesus responds in kind.  Mary says the same words as Martha, but where Martha spoke out of her head knowledge, Mary spoke the same words through tears.  Jesus wept with her.

Now, the beloved disciple tells this story and once again Martha with apron on serves a meal fit for a king.  Mary is off somewhere and when she comes in it is to dump a year’s worth of income spilled out onto the feet of Jesus.  The Beloved disciples remembers this. 

I don’t remember smells.  However, when a powerful smell associated with an event from my past hits my nose, it takes me back there.  I cannot imagine the smell from my grandmother’s house.  But if I smelled it right now, I would feel great joy and sadness.  The joy would come from the memory evoked by the smell, all the laughter and love in that house.  The sadness would be because I can smell the smell, but cannot go there.  I cannot see her, not now, not yet.

The beloved disciple remembers that the house was filled with the fragrance of that perfume Mary poured on Jesus.  His memory associates her with absolute adoration of Jesus and with beautiful smells that fill the house.

He remembered Judas too, but it was a very different memory.  When he writes Judas’ name, he includes a parenthetical note.  Judas was about to betray Jesus.  The beloved disciple didn’t know it at the time.  Peter didn’t know it then.  Neither did Mary or Martha.  But looking back, they remember Judas as the betrayer.  The beloved disciple tells us Judas was the group’s treasurer and used to steal from the common fund.  We see in Luke 8 that a group of affluent women provided for Jesus and the disciples’ material needs.  Judas pocketed some of the money those women gave and he was able to do so because he was given the responsibility of managing their funds. 

On that breezy Ephesian shore as he writes his gospel, the beloved disciple remembers Judas and Mary.  One, in his memory, is a betraying thief.  The other worships so extravagantly the entire house is blessed by the aroma. 

How are we remembered?  Sixty years from now, someone from here will write the story of HillSong Church as a community that gave witness to the Kingdom of God in Chapel Hill in the opening decades of the 21^st century.  When that person remembers your part in the community, what will she remember?  What words will she associate with your life as a disciple of Jesus?

Judas and Mary are complex people.  All people are. Judas was far more than a thief and a betrayer.  The other gospels record Jesus filling all 12 with the Holy Spirit so that they had the power to work miracles and defeat demons.  He gave the power to Judas. 

And Mary made her mistakes.  The same qualities that allowed her to weep empathetically, to present her heart before the Lord, and to worship extravagantly also had a dark side.  She left a lot of the hard, banal work to Martha.  Yes, Jesus commended her for listening to his teaching and we should too.  But Martha’s efforts in the kitchen were needed by the community.  Sometimes dreamers like Mary need to take their turn washing the dishes. 

Judas had his good qualities.  Mary had her faults.  When the beloved disciple remembered her, he remembered joy in Jesus and wonderful smells.  When he remembered Judas, he remembered treachery.

He also remembered the way each of them elicited a response from Jesus.  Judas saw Mary dump the perfume and he snapped at her.  Something in him was missing.  He couldn’t appreciate her beautiful generosity.  And even though he was under the covering of Jesus’ grace, somehow, he couldn’t be in the sphere of grace.  Somehow, even when he was in grace, he wasn’t in it.

While she worshipped big and bold, he did math.  Was he truly concerned about money that could go to the poor or money that would go in his pocket?  Maybe both.  What the beloved disciple remembers is Jesus was quiet, until Judas snapped at Mary.  Then, Jesus sharply chided him.  “Leave her alone,” Jesus said.  How embarrassed was Judas at that point?  He tried to be logical but missed the outpouring of love and grace, and Jesus slapped him down.

The beloved disciple tells us what Jesus said next.  “She is honoring me before my burial.”  He remembers that Judas elicited a rebuke from Jesus.  Jesus responded to Mary by commending her for what she did. 

How will we be remembered, you and me?  And how does the Lord receive what we give?  There is a place for strategic thinking, like that of Judas.  Economists, finance people, logical thinkers, and strategists all have something to offer to the church and to the Lord in the work of helping the poor. 

But that offering does not take the place of fully committed worship.  When she broke that jug of perfume and it began pouring, that was full commitment, but she did not hesitate a moment because she was driven by love for Jesus. 

The phrase that has been most repeated out of this remembrance the beloved disciple shares is Jesus’ statement in verse 8.  “You will always have the poor with you, but you do not always have me.”  Christians have used this as an excuse to not give money to help the poor.  The ones using that excuse are not like Mary, using ridiculous amounts of money to worship God extravagantly.  They use Jesus words, but then do what Judas.  They keep their money in their own pockets.  They do not practice the generosity Jesus commended.

Or, others quote John 12:8 to explain why they give a little to compassion ministries, but not a lot.  Or others quote John 12:8 to explain why, even though they’ve given money and worked to eradicate debilitating poverty, the efforts have failed.  No matter how hard we work, they’ll say, we’ll never end poverty because Jesus said …  .

The beloved disciples wasn’t making a statement about what policies Christian should adopt in social justice ministries.  He was remembering.  He remembered beautiful smells and unrestrained worship from Mary, and he remembered that Jesus was grateful.  He remembered dishonesty and betrayal and hypocrisy from Judas, and Jesus was angry. 

We know followers of Jesus are called to help people and helping people includes fighting against injustice, disease, hunger, inadequate housing, unfair practices in business and the justice system, and poverty.  We know that we are to fight these things because we follow Jesus.  We’ve read Luke’s gospel.  We know this.  We’ve read James.  And the prophet Amos.  And Isaiah.  And the book of Deuteronomy.  And the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew.  Well, all of Matthew’s Gospel.  And Galatians 6.  And … well, you get the picture.  Followers of Jesus help people and give generously.  That’s not in question.

In the memories of the beloved disciple, it is clear to me that what we do and how we do it is completely related to how we stand in relationship to Jesus.  Do we worship with abandon or restraint?  Are we driven by our love for him and what we can give to him, or by more self-serving desires? 

How we answer these questions is irrelevant.  People don’t remember what we say.   They remember what we do.  When we do give to the poor and help people are we acting out of our love for Jesus and in response to his call?  What memories will people have of our actions, taken today?  What do those actions say about how we feel about Jesus and about who we are in relation to Him?

Mary was a follower.  She followed Jesus.  She worshiped him.  She loved him.  She obeyed him.  She didn’t do it all perfectly, no one does.  But her heart was driven by passion for God and she knew Jesus was the one to bring her to God. 

Do we?    

Are we free enough to pour ourselves out before God?  Or is something preventing us from coming to the Lord in unrestrained, free, fully committed, ridiculously God-indulgent worship? 

My guess is, most of us have something that blocks us from truly free expression of our love for God.  Contemplate that.  Are you able to pour yourself out before him? 

AMEN

John 7:1-13, Jesus and Opposition to the Gospel

If church fails, who wins? If the church is gone completely, who benefits? These questions draw a Christian into consideration of who might oppose the spread of the Gospel of Jesus in the world. Who are the opponents of Jesus and His followers, and how do these opponents operate?

John 7:1 says, “Jesus did not wish to go about in Judea because the Jews were looking for an opportunity to kill him.” Two thousand years of violent anti-Semitism force Bible readers to be very careful with passages like this one. When we read the “the Jews,” we have to understand what we are reading. Where the author of John, (the fourth evangelist) says, “the Jews,” he’s referring to the temple leaders in Jerusalem circa 28 C.E. Jesus was Jewish. All his original disciples were Jewish. Most of the people in the crowds were Jews. And so too were those who opposed him. Stating these facts helps clarify what is said (and is not said) in the fourth Gospel when it says “the Jews.”

The leaders wanted to kill Jesus. I believe the fourth evangelist is accurate in reporting this. I think, and history bears this out, there was in fact a movement to kill Jesus and it ultimately succeeded. However, this account from John benefits Christians today in how the story of Jesus being pursued by the authorities is told. The method of telling the story, what is highlighted and how it is framed, reveals much for us as we follow Jesus in our lives in the 21^st century world.

Many Bible readers and scholars believe John was finally compiled by the Christian community in the city of Ephesus around 90AD. The church or grouping of churches possibly traces their roots back to the Apostle John. Whether what is in John’s Gospel or in the three Johanine epistles or in Revelation was originally written by the apostle cannot be determined. But it is likely that the same community produced in final form all five of these New Testament books, and it is possible that the writers of these books received much of their material from those who knew the apostle personally.

What is more pressing for our reading of how the gospel renders the story of Jesus is the situation in Ephesus in the last decade of the first century. If the composition of the Johanine literature coincides with the reign of Roman Emperor Domitian (81-96), then these Biblical writings were brought together by a church under severe persecution. Rome under Domitian did in fact persecute, exile, and execute people for worshiping Jesus and failing to pronounce Domitian as Lord.

Where the fourth evangelist writes “the Jews” (for example John 7:1, 11, 13), he is referring to Jewish leaders who were out to get Jesus in 28AD. But perhaps, he was also referring to Jews in 90AD who believed in Jesus but insisted that all who become Christians adhere to kosher food laws, undergo circumcision, and observe Sabbath. These Judaizers (see Act 15:1; Galatians 3) did not accept Jesus as perfect fulfillment of the law and the prophets, and they did not accept his death and resurrection as sufficient for righteousness. They believed Jesus was Messiah and they believed he rose from death, but they corrupted the Gospel by imposing restrictions that the early church (see Act 10-11, 15) had removed.

The tension John cites between Jesus and Jewish authorities in Jesus’ time also existed between Jesus’ church and Jewish missionaries in the 90’s. John is using a circumstance from Jesus’ ministry to speak to his own situation.

A second correspondence from roughly 28 AD to roughly 90 AD is a phrase also in John 7:1, “[they] were looking for an opportunity to kill him.” No doubt, Jesus’ life was threatened. Again, history shows that threat became reality in the crucifixion. How much influence the Jewish leaders in Jesus’ day had can be debated. What no one refutes is that Jesus died on a Roman cross at the decision of Roman governor Pilate. The threat of death Jesus faced also became reality for Jesus’ followers shortly after Pentecost (Acts 11:58; 12:2), and again at the end of the century where believers died at the hand of Domitian’s government.

I believe in reading John 7, the members of the Johanine churches in Ephesus in 90AD would clearly see their own life experience and faith experience. The Ephesians church was probably a blend of Jewish, Greek, Asian, and Roman believers. They probably experienced much conflict with some Jews who insisted on keeping Levitical ritual. These Easter Christians resisted the call back to Sabbath observance, and their unwillingness to submit to Judaism let to a divide between them and the Jewish missionaries.

Furthermore, in reading John 7, they would see their own story in seeing Jesus’ careful avoidance of the murderous intentions of the authorities. Jesus had to attend the Festival of booths covertly (John 7:10). Surely, 1^st century Ephesian Christians had to also be secretive to avoid situations that would force them to either renounce Christ or die a martyr’s death. At the same time, they, like Jesus had to engage the cultural world around them in order to carry on daily life and also in order to be a witness that nonbelievers might come to know Jesus and believe and have life in his name (John 20:31).

A third point of correspondence from 28AD to 90 was Jesus twice repeated phrase, “my time has not yet come” (7:6, 8). This sentiment is also heard from Jesus when his mother asks him to intervene in Cana (2:4). The idea in the fourth Gospel is that Jesus is always in control of things. When he says “my time has not yet come,” he means his time of crucifixion. The Gospel of Mark presents a Jesus with limited knowledge (13:32). He didn’t know the time of the final judgment. In John’s Gospel, the narrator and Jesus both seem to have unlimited knowledge. Jesus knows what’s coming before it comes in the fourth gospel. And the narrator is looking back on events and thus has the advantage of hindsight.

It is important to see the effect this would have on the original Johanine readers. If those communities were truly persecuted to the point of death, they need to trust an omnipotent God who, in the big picture, had everything in control. They needed to know that Jesus was more powerful than Domitian even if Jesus submitted, for God’s purposes, to a Roman cross. In John, Jesus says, “For this reason the Father loves me, because I lay down my life that I may take it up again. No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord. I have authority to lay it down, and I have authority to take it up again. This charge I have received from my Father" (10:17-18). The Ephesians Christians could die martyrs’ deaths because their Lord Jesus had done so also. But, in the resurrection, he showed, paradoxically that his nonresistance actually led to victory over death, not submission to it. Subsequently, believers in 90AD could hold their ground in their confession, “Jesus is Lord,” and they knew their Lord would provide them with resurrection and eternal life.

The other Gospel writers probably believed in Jesus’ knowledge, authority, and power just as the fourth evangelist did. But, it is emphasized more in John because it spoke directly to the needs of the audience for which it was written. Ephesian Christians butted heads with Jews, were persecuted by the authorities, and were waiting for Jesus to act. They knew in the Gospel “Jesus’ time,” referred to his crucifixion and resurrection. But from their vantage point, 60-70 years after those events, they also waited for “his time,” the Second Coming and the Final Judgment. It had not yet come, though they longed for it, because it was not yet the appropriate time.

Thus we see why the fourth evangelist used three phrases in John chapter 7 the way he used them. “The Jews” (7:1), “looking for an opportunity to kill him” (7:1), and “My time has not yet come” (7:6, 8) each show how the Gospel narrative continued to speak in the life of the late first century church.

How doe the countercultural stance of Jesus speak in the 21^st century church?

(1) Churches must be aware of the enemy. Sin is the ultimate enemy and sin confronts the church when forces in the world act as obstacles to the church’s work of sharing Jesus. Forces in the world can include oppressive governments that restrict evangelistic activity; dominant competing religions that rhetorically attack Christians and try to win nonbelievers to other faiths; ideologies like consumerism, relativism, and individualism that are antithetical to evangelical Christian faith; and, pseudo-Christians who pose as believers but use a Christian façade to advance an un-Christian agenda (like Westboro Baptist Church). The enemy is not “the Jews.” The enemy is the group with power that opposes the advance of Jesus and His Kingdom.

(2) Church must be away of how the enemy kills the church. Jesus was threatened by leaders in Jerusalem who wanted him dead for their own political reasons. He was also tempted by his own brothers who like Satan (Matthew 4:5ff) wanted him to show what he could do at the temple. The Ephesian Church of 90AD was tempted to compromise their allegiance to Jesus by proclaiming that “Domitian is Lord.” Many died because they refused such a compromise. Today, at least in America, the church is killed by relativism and apathy. Relativism suggests that Jesus is one among many gods and that the Christian faith is one expression of religious belief that is no more or no less valid than any other. Apathy is the tendency of Christians to think the call of Christ isn’t a very urgent call. We confess Jesus and go to heaven when we die and between now and then, how we live is inconsequential. That’s apathy and the exact opposite of how the Gospel calls believers to live.

(3) The church of Jesus in Christ in 2011 must recognize the unique call of living between the times – in a time of expectation. Yes, Jesus, died and rose again. Yes, he is coming back to call all who believe in Him into His eternal Heaven to live in the New Earth where the home of God is with people (Revelation 21:1-3). Yes, that day is coming. But we do not know when, and so we accept what the Ephesians believers had to accept nearly 2000 years ago. His time has not yet come. While we wait, we worship the Lord and we share his love and his message of salvation with a lost and hurting world just as our predecessors in the faith have done.

In conclusion, I see the context in which the fourth gospel was compiled as a community of bold faith that challenges 21^st century American middle class Christians. They were able to live in the midst of persecution and to produce John, 1^st, 2^nd and 3^rd John, and Revelation because those early believers relied on Jesus. We cannot rely on the security we enjoy as Americans. It ensures that we can vote, speak freely, and live in freedom. But our status as U.S. citizens is no protection against sin and no guarantee of eternal life. Nor is being an American in anyway the same thing as being in partnership with the Lord Jesus. We have to look to Him for our security, our calling, and our purpose in life. And we have to live lives that follow wherever He leads as well as living on His time table.

Doing this may at times set us at odds with the culture around us. If we find that we are doing our best to follow Jesus, and the harder we try, the more we are opposed, then it probably means we are doing something right. The affirmation of the surrounding culture is not our goal. We want to follow Jesus in all things.

AMEN