Monday, December 24, 2012

Celebrating The Birth Of Our King!

Introduction

A number of years ago, I was away from my home and family working on a construction project shortly before Christmas. It was a very difficult time in my life when I just wanted to quit everything. One evening after a long day of working in the freezing cold, I was watching the Christmas Story on television. I don’t know if you’ve seen this particular version but there was an episode near the end that involved an old shepherd that was visited by angels who announced the birth of Jesus. I remember the old man because he portrayed one who was waiting desperately for the coming of the long-awaited Messiah. His face was worn and haggard. He seemed tired and just about ready to give up—he looked like I felt. I remembered how he traveled to the stable at the direction of the angel where he found the baby Jesus wrapped in a cloth lying in a feeding trough. I remember the look on the old man’s face; the years of waiting, hoping and praying for help were over. His face said everything—it said, “Finally!” I’m writing this short lesson in the very place and at the very time of year that I did so many years and I got to thinking about that old man and his encounter with God in the person of Jesus Christ and how it moved me so decided to put this little Christmas story together for you.
We often take for granted that we have the Scriptures available to us in written form through the bible and various other forms of media. However, the Scriptures in ancient Israel and the early Church era were transmitted for the most part orally. Scriptures were memorized in whole or in part and then handed down from one generation to the next. Today, we read one book of the Bible and then move on to the next and then the next but can you imagine what it would be like to have memorized a large part of the Old and New Testaments? I believe Scripture would form in your mind as a completed tapestry as opposed to a linear narrative. I wonder if Jesus was trying to point this out when he said, “You diligently study the Scriptures because you think that by them you possess eternal life. These are the Scriptures that testify about me (John 5:39).” God’s people still saw the coming of the Messiah as the next step in Israel’s living narrative but Jesus was trying to get them to understand that he is not the next step in the story of Israel, he is the Story! The story of Jesus is not the story of a baby that became King. It is the story of baby who has always been King! If the Scriptures formed a completed tapestry in your mind, what would the Christmas story look like? Maybe something like this:



The Christmas Story

            In those days Caesar Augustus issued a decree that a census should be taken of the entire Roman world. (This was the first census that took place while Quirinius was governor of Syria.) And everyone went to his own town to register. So Joseph also went up from the town of Nazareth in Galilee to Judea, to Bethlehem the town of David, because he belonged to the house and line of David (Luke 2:1-4). Bethlehem Ephrathah, though you are small among the clans of Judah, out of you will come for me one who will be ruler over Israel, whose origins are from of old, from ancient times (Mic 5:2). [Joseph] went there to register with Mary, who was pledged to be married to him and was expecting a child. While they were there, the time came for the baby to be born, and she gave birth to her firstborn, a son (Luke 2:5-7). They will call him Immanuel—which means, “God with us” (Matt 1:23). And the government will be on his shoulders. And he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. Of the increase of his government and peace there will be no end. He will reign on David’s throne and over his kingdom, establishing and upholding it with justice and righteousness from that time on and forever (Isa 9:6-7). And you are to give him the name Jesus (Mt 1:21). Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient to death—even death on a cross! Therefore God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ (Phil 2:6-11) is Lord of lords and King of kings (Rev 17:14)!


Celebrating The Birth Of Our King! 


Merry Christmas!

Wednesday, December 19, 2012

Everything Rides On Hope!


Introduction


 

 Jenny Simmons from Addison Road sings:

            “When my life is like a storm
            Rising waters all I want is the shore
            You say I’ll be ok and
            Make it through the rain
            You are my shelter from the storm

            Everything rides on hope now
            Everything rides on faith somehow
            When the world has broken me down
            Your love sets me free.”

What happens when hope disappears? What happens when we believe there’s no hope of overcoming our substance addictions? What happens when we believe we could never love our spouse again? What happens when we believe we’ll never get out of the financial hole we’ve dug for ourselves? What happens when we believe we’ll never be healthy again? What happens when we believe we can never overcome our mistakes? What happens when we believe the storms and rising waters of life will overwhelm us? A few weeks ago, a Kansas City Chiefs football player was arguing with his girlfriend who was also the mother of his daughter and he shot her multiple times killing her. Then to make matters worse, if that’s even possible, he drove himself to the Chiefs practice facility where he met the team’s coach and general manager and thanked them for the opportunity they gave him and then killed himself right there in the parking lot in front of them. I can’t guess all the precise details that led to these tragic events but I suspect somewhere, hope was lost. The hope that things would get better or the hope that things would change, but somehow, this young man had lost this hope. And after he did the unthinkable, he believed there was no hope his life had any further value. Hope and hopelessness are very, very powerful. But what gives us hope? In what do we hope? Does what we hope in matter? I believe it does because of where it leads us. Technically, “hope” is defined as a person or thing in which expectations are centered. While I’m not arguing with this fundamental definition, I think it is still too broad. I think “hope” is best defined as a “person” in which expectations are centered. Let me demonstrate briefly: A person with cancer hopes that the cancer medication will bring a cure. Correct? But why should a person hope such a thing? I think it’s because deep down inside all of us, whether we know it or not, we know that cancer is not right—cancer was not the original plan. Deep down inside all of us, again whether we know it or not, we have a longing for the way things were originally intended to be. While someone might be “hoping” for a cure to their cancer, what they are really “hoping” for is to be reconnected with the way things were originally intended to be and Jesus provides that point of reconnection. I can provide a bit of anecdotal evidence to prove my point. Why do you suppose Christians with terminal cancer who find out that there is no cure for their cancer, still have hope? It’s because they know that Jesus has provided the outcome that they hoped for even if it is not in this life. You see, ultimate hope always leads to a person and that person is Jesus Christ. Hope is not a wish, hope is not something based on chance, hope is the expectation of a good outcome—that expectation can only be found in Jesus Christ because he has provided the means for a perfect outcome for all of us even if it’s not in this life. And here’s the beauty of hope, when we take the step to put our hope in Jesus, we have walked a long way down the path to putting our faith in Jesus. One of the greatest witnesses to the power of faith in Jesus Christ is the enduring hope of people who, in the world’s estimation, should have no reason to hope. They’ve lost husbands, wives, children, jobs, homes, finances—everything. They are abused, marginalized, neglected and persecuted for their faith—even to the point of death, yet they continue to hope. Why? Because Jesus said that after he was dead for three days, he would rise back to life! Do you want to know why hope is so incredibly powerful? The empty tomb! The empty tomb changes everything! This is what the Apostle Peter is saying in our subject text.

Subject Text

            1 Peter 3:13-17

            13 Who is going to harm you if you are eager to do good? 14 But even if you should suffer for what is right, you are blessed. “Do not fear what they fear; do not be frightened.” 15 But in your hearts set apart Christ as Lord. Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect, 16 keeping a clear conscience, so that those who speak maliciously against your good behavior in Christ may be ashamed of their slander. 17 It is better, if it is God’s will, to suffer for doing good than for doing evil.

Context

            Peter’s letter was probably written while he was in Rome between 62 AD and 64 AD. This was probably on the leading edge of the period when Emperor Nero began his persecution of Christians. Nevertheless, the early signs of persecution were beginning to manifest themselves as “some of his readers have in fact been the targets of accusations (1 Pet. 2:12), ignorant talk (2:15), evil and insults (3:9; 4:14), threats (3:14), and malicious talk (3:16).”[1] This general attitude toward Christians was the fertile ground that cultivated the brutal and widespread persecution that would soon follow.

Text Analysis

            The subject text opens with a rhetorical question that perhaps gives us a clue that Nero’s persecution had not yet begun. Peter alludes to the general principle that people aren’t normally persecuted for doing good. Of course, this was not the case under Nero. Christians were persecuted just because they were Christians. Peter covers this eventuality in v. 14a when he insists that they are blessed when they are persecuted for doing what is right. This is a parallel to Jesus’ words from his Sermon on the Mount when he says “Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me (Matt 5:10-11).” We struggle desperately with the idea that combines suffering and blessing but we must reorient our thinking about blessing. We are often so obsessed with our life here and now that we neglect to see or even consider that God is more concerned with our lives in their entirety. We see blessing as getting what we want; health, wealth and popularity. But this is not God’s objective. Instead, we are blessed when we are transformed into the likeness of Christ. Riches, vitality and notoriety are temporal—they disappear at death’s door. However, who we are transcends this life and suffering for the sake of our faith in Christ is a badge of honor (in the Greek “blessing” can also be translated as “honor”) that we take with us beyond this life. “It is self-evident that, in any persecution context, the reward spoken of must lie in the future…it is confidence about the future that can and should produce joy in the present in full contradiction of the present, painful circumstances.”[2] Peter continues in 14b by admonishing his readers to not fear what “they” fear. By “they” Peter is referring to those who might be persecuting his readers. That seems like a rather nebulous instruction, but think about it in the context of your own life; what do you fear and why? Lest you think I’m passing judgment, I’ll share my fears with you in the context of this lesson: I fear losing my health or dying before seeing how my wife and girls’ lives unfold, I fear being completely broke and not being able to provide for my family, I fear being marginalized or useless. I know that doesn’t sound like a very good thing for a pastor but I’ve warned you that I’m really not that different from you. However, in addition to my fears, I have hope; hope that even if I do fall ill or die, I will have accomplished God’s will with the part of my life that I have lived, I hope that even if I am broke, God will care for me according to his promises, I hope that even if I am marginalized and useless according to the world’s standards, God will be glorified through my efforts. You see, Everything Rides On Hope!

            V. 15a seems to start a new thought except that the conjunction of “but” ties it to Peter’s previous admonition that his readers are not to be afraid. The “but” might be better translated as, “Instead, in your hearts set apart Christ as Lord.” But what does it mean to set Christ apart in our hearts according to Peter’s instruction? We miss the full force of Peter’s instruction if we neglect his full instruction to set Christ apart in our hearts “as Lord.” This is the key to Peter’s instruction. In ancient times, the heart represented the center of the person and Peter is saying that we are to set up Christ at the center of our lives through whom our entire person flows much like our entire bloodstream flows to and from the heart. Having Christ as Lord at the center or heart of our lives necessarily implies that our lives will reflect that Lordship. “To hallow Christ as Lord means to have an inward attitude of obedience to him that dictates our behavior in the world. Christians will not act in any way that will bring dishonor on Christ or suggests that they do not reverence him as Lord.”[3] V. 15b then gets to the very heart of our subject text. Our attitude, our behavior, everything about our lives, as Christians, should elicit a response from the world like: “Why are you like that?” “What is wrong with you?” “How can you feel that way?” We should be different, strange, odd! We should be revolutionaries! If God is at the center of our lives, it must change everything; it must produce a new way to live. For example, when my girls were growing up, they weren’t always allowed to do the same things as the other kids; they weren’t permitted to watch the same television shows, they weren’t allowed to listen to the same music and they weren’t allowed to dress the same way just to name a few. They were teased and chastised and my wife and I were not always popular for our parenting philosophies among our peers. But there was a reason then as there is now, we are different and will not be conformed to the world. Do you want to know what resulted from that, people asked: “Why are you like that?” and “What is wrong with you?” and these were opportunities to share our hope, our faith, our commitment to the way of Christ with people. This is the trajectory of Peter’s teaching; our hope points toward something beyond ourselves yet it is more than something, our hope points toward someone—Jesus! There is, however, a difference between pointing someone toward Jesus and punching them in the face with Jesus!

In vv. 15c-16 Peter tells his readers that they are to give people the reason for their hope but they are to do so with gentleness and respect. “If offense is to be taken, it should be over the content of the gospel message, not because the message was offered in a manner that invalidates Christ’s love for seekers.”[4] Furthermore, when Peter tells his readers to keep a clear conscience, what he is telling them is that their behavior must not disqualify them from having a credible witness. For example, I am aware of a number of people who profess to be Christians yet they are actively and openly living sinful, unrepentant lives in blatant disobedience to the teachings of Scripture. This behavior disqualifies them from having a credible witness to the hope in Christ they profess. “An effective testimony requires a clear conscience regarding one’s personal integrity before the Lord. One cannot explain the hope we have in Christ while living in ways that contradict that hope.”[5] Therefore, with a clear conscience we can confidently proclaim that the hope emanating from our lives is the result of our hope in Jesus Christ and our behavior will silence those who might try to wrongly accuse us. “Evidence from the following centuries indicates that good Christian conduct was often slandered and maligned: the nocturnal Christian worship assemblings were decried as occasions for orgies; the love of Christian brothers and sisters for one another was maligned as incest; baptism as a ritual of death and rebirth was decried as murder; the Eucharist was criticized as cannibalism; and Christians continued to be slandered as ‘wrongdoers’ and enemies of the common good. [However,] those who persist in shaming the Christians and disparaging their honorable behavior will themselves be put to shame.”[6]

            Peter completes his instruction in v. 17 with something that seems obvious which means there’s probably something more to it than seems obvious on the surface. Peter says that it’s better to suffer for doing something right than for doing something wrong. Well first, let me just say that I would prefer not to suffer at all! Nevertheless, there are some who seek a life of suffering because they wrongly believe that a life of suffering earns them special favor with God. This is a distorted understanding of suffering generally and of this text specifically because it ignores the very important conditional statement of “if it is God’s will.” Suffering for the sake of suffering or as a means to gain God’s favor when such suffering is not ordained by God is sinful idolatry with no redemptive purpose. Furthermore, suffering because of our own sin serves the purpose of disciplining us in order to evoke grief, sorrow, repentance and reconciliation. However, suffering for doing something right provides the opportunity to demonstrate our abiding hope in the One who can use that suffering for his great purpose of revealing himself to a lost and hurting world—a world in desperate need of true hope not wishful thinking. The only way profound grief, sorrow, loss, tragedy and suffering can be endured with supreme dignity is by the power of hope. The only way these things can have any purpose or meaning is when Everything Rides on Hope!

Application

            In the song I introduced at the beginning of this lesson, singer Jenny Simmons goes on to sing:

Everything rides on hope now
Everything rides on faith somehow
When the world has broken me down
Your love sets me free

I am not my own
I've been carried by you my whole life

A new friend of mine, Alisa, who has endured profound personal loss wrote something recently that she has gracious allowed me to share with you. She wrote: “I have been thru some awful things in this life. Lost family, friends, even a husband…And I never believed I would get thru. But here I am on the other side…Blessed, happy, full of hope. That can only be God and I am so so so thankful!” What a beautiful picture of how suffering, blessing, and hope are all part of a person’s redemptive life story authored by God. It’s hard to say what her life of faith might have been if only _________________. You fill in the blank of the tragic event in her life that could have been eliminated and still guarantee her faithful witness to the hope found in Jesus Christ. We think we know that the outcome of her powerful witness could have been the same even if she hadn’t lost her husband or had been spared some other tragic event. But that would mean that we know better than God what events will produce a humble and faithful witness in those who follow Him. Of course this kind of thinking is folly. Therefore, we must begin to understand that righteous suffering in our lives as Christians exhibits something tremendously powerful—hope. Like Alisa’s beautiful witness, suffering, blessing and hope are part of our redemptive life story as well. When we can endure our suffering in all joy and perseverance we will inevitably cultivate an environment where unbelievers will naturally want to know how joy is possible in the midst of suffering, or how suffering can possibly be a blessing. Peter is speaking to you when he says to be prepared to tell people why you have hope. In simpler terms, Peter is saying, be prepared to tell your redemptive life story. This is your chance to be a witness to true hope, because Everything Rides On Hope! And that hope is Jesus Christ.



[1] Karen H. Jobes, 1 Peter, Baker Exegetical Commentary on the New Testament, ( Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Academic, 2005), p. 227.
[2] Donald A. Hagner, Matthew 1-13, Word Biblical Commentary, ( Dallas, TX: Word Books, 1993), p. 95.
[3] I. Howard Marshall, 1 Peter, The IVP New Testament Commentary Series, (Downers Grove, IL: IVP Academic, 1991), p. 115.
[4] Jobes, 1 Peter, ECNT, p. 231.
[5] Ibid.
[6] John H. Elliott, 1 Peter, The Anchor Bible, (New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 2000), p. 632.

Wednesday, December 12, 2012

How Long, O Lord!


Introduction

            I spent some time on the phone this past week talking to my sister about some fairly significant changes and transitions going on in her life and the struggles that are so often just part of daily life. Specifically, we talked about character and integrity and the value of doing things the right way. I was moved when she told me how hard it was to always try to do things right without being rewarded for it. And that sometimes it just doesn’t seem like it’s worth the heartache. I wish I could have had better words for her but I know I have struggled with this same issue. I have no doubt many of you struggle with it as well. Ironically, unbelievers rarely struggle as much with the matter of why the events of life unfold the way they do. They can attribute it to luck, karma, coincidence or chance. But for believers in a truly sovereign God the struggle is real. Why, when people do what is right, aren’t they always rewarded for it? Why, when someone works so hard, can they still lose their job? Why, when a wife commits her life to her husband, does her husband leave her for another woman? Why, when parents sacrifice everything for their children, do some children rebel against their parents? Why, when a student studies so hard, don’t his or her test grades always reflect the effort? Why, when we believe things are just starting to go great, do we then find out we have cancer? Why do cheaters so often win? Why are liars so rarely exposed? Why do the wicked continue to prosper? When you don’t believe in luck, karma, coincidence or chance then these questions inevitably arise. We pray and cry out to God for answers. I’m not convinced we care all that much about why we struggle. I think we want to know How Long, O Lord! You see, I don’t believe we toil under the weight of our struggles because we don’t understand them, we toil because they are heavy and knowing why they are heavy makes them no less heavy. We want to know How Long, O Lord until you do something to relieve the struggle. How Long, O Lord are you going to let injustice have the upper-hand? How Long, O Lord do I have to live paycheck-to-paycheck? How Long, O Lord do I have to suffer? How Long, O Lord _________________? You fill in the blank. These are very real questions that long for answers that are too often left unanswered. But sometimes, sometimes God lets us peek behind the curtain to catch a glimpse of his plan. Usually he never seems to give us the complete picture or a map. Do you want to know why? If you have a map or detailed plans, you won’t rely on Him and you’ll soon think you can do everything without him—you won’t need faith, trust, or hope. You may also tremble at what you see or hear. So we continue to question and seek Him and hope that he will answer us when we cry out How Long, O Lord! In our lesson for this week, we’ll explore another person who asked this very important question, the prophet Habakkuk.


Subject Text

Habakkuk 1:1-3:19

1 The oracle that Habakkuk the prophet received. 2 How long, O Lord, must I call for help, but you do not listen? Or cry out to you, “Violence!” but you do not save? 3 Why do you make me look at injustice? Why do you tolerate wrong? Destruction and violence are before me; there is strife, and conflict abounds. 4 Therefore the law is paralyzed, and justice never prevails. The wicked hem in the righteous, so that justice is perverted.

The Lord’s Answer

5 “Look at the nations and watch—and be utterly amazed. For I am going to do something in your days that you would not believe, even if you were told. 6 I am raising up the Babylonians, that ruthless and impetuous people, who sweep across the whole earth to seize dwelling places not their own. 7 They are a feared and dreaded people; they are a law to themselves and promote their own honor. 8 Their horses are swifter than leopards, fiercer than wolves at dusk. Their cavalry gallops headlong; their horsemen come from afar. They fly like a vulture swooping to devour; 9 they all come bent on violence. Their hordes advance like a desert wind and gather prisoners like sand. 10 They deride kings and scoff at rulers. They laugh at all fortified cities; they build earthen ramps and capture them. 11 Then they sweep past like the wind and go on—guilty men, whose own strength is their god.”

Habakkuk’s Second Complaint

12 O Lord, are you not from everlasting? My God, my Holy One, we will not die. O Lord, you have appointed them to execute judgment; O Rock, you have ordained them to punish. 13 Your eyes are too pure to look on evil; you cannot tolerate wrong. Why then do you tolerate the treacherous? Why are you silent while the wicked swallow up those more righteous than themselves?
14 You have made men like fish in the sea, like sea creatures that have no ruler. 15 The wicked foe pulls all of them up with hooks, he catches them in his net, he gathers them up in his dragnet; and so he rejoices and is glad. 16 Therefore he sacrifices to his net and burns incense to his dragnet, for by his net he lives in luxury and enjoys the choicest food. 17 Is he to keep on emptying his net, destroying nations without mercy?

2 I will stand at my watch and station myself on the ramparts; I will look to see what he will say to me, and what answer I am to give to this complaint.

The Lord’s Answer

2 Then the Lord replied: “Write down the revelation and make it plain on tablets so that a herald may run with it. 3 For the revelation awaits an appointed time; it speaks of the end and will not prove false. Though it linger, wait for it; it will certainly come and will not delay. 4 “See, he is puffed up; his desires are not upright—but the righteous will live by his faith—5 indeed, wine betrays him; he is arrogant and never at rest. Because he is as greedy as the grave and like death is never satisfied, he gathers to himself all the nations and takes captive all the peoples. 6 “Will not all of them taunt him with ridicule and scorn, saying, “‘Woe to him who piles up stolen goods and makes himself wealthy by extortion! How long must this go on?’ 7 Will not your debtors suddenly arise? Will they not wake up and make you tremble? Then you will become their victim. 8 Because you have plundered many nations, the peoples who are left will plunder you. For you have shed man’s blood; you have destroyed lands and cities and everyone in them. 9 “Woe to him who builds his realm by unjust gain to set his nest on high, to escape the clutches of ruin!
10 You have plotted the ruin of many peoples, shaming your own house and forfeiting your life. 11 The stones of the wall will cry out, and the beams of the woodwork will echo it. 12 “Woe to him who builds a city with bloodshed and establishes a town by crime! 13 Has not the Lord Almighty determined that the people’s labor is only fuel for the fire, that the nations exhaust themselves for nothing? 14 For the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord, as the waters cover the sea. 15 “Woe to him who gives drink to his neighbors, pouring it from the wineskin till they are drunk, so that he can gaze on their naked bodies. 16 You will be filled with shame instead of glory. Now it is your turn! Drink and be exposed! The cup from the Lord’s right hand is coming around to you, and disgrace will cover your glory. 17 The violence you have done to Lebanon will overwhelm you, and your destruction of animals will terrify you. For you have shed man’s blood; you have destroyed lands and cities and everyone in them. 18 “Of what value is an idol, since a man has carved it? Or an image that teaches lies? For he who makes it trusts in his own creation; he makes idols that cannot speak. 19 Woe to him who says to wood, ‘Come to life!’ Or to lifeless stone, ‘Wake up!’ Can it give guidance? It is covered with gold and silver; there is no breath in it. 20 But the Lord is in his holy temple; let all the earth be silent before him.”

Habakkuk’s Prayer

3 A prayer of Habakkuk the prophet. 2 Lord, I have heard of your fame; I stand in awe of your deeds, O Lord. Renew them in our day, in our time make them known; in wrath remember mercy. 3 God came from Teman, the Holy One from Mount Paran. His glory covered the heavens and his praise filled the earth. 4 His splendor was like the sunrise; rays flashed from his hand, where his power was hidden. 5 Plague went before him; pestilence followed his steps. 6 He stood, and shook the earth; he looked, and made the nations tremble. The ancient mountains crumbled and the age-old hills collapsed. His ways are eternal. 7 I saw the tents of Cushan in distress, the dwellings of Midian in anguish. 8 Were you angry with the rivers, O Lord? Was your wrath against the streams? Did you rage against the sea when you rode with your horses and your victorious chariots? 9 You uncovered your bow, you called for many arrows. You split the earth with rivers; 10 the mountains saw you and writhed. Torrents of water swept by; the deep roared and lifted its waves on high. 11 Sun and moon stood still in the heavens at the glint of your flying arrows, at the lightning of your flashing spear. 12 In wrath you strode through the earth and in anger you threshed the nations. 13 You came out to deliver your people, to save your anointed one. You crushed the leader of the land of wickedness, you stripped him from head to foot. 14 With his own spear you pierced his head when his warriors stormed out to scatter us, gloating as though about to devour the wretched who were in hiding. 15 You trampled the sea with your horses, churning the great waters. 16 I heard and my heart pounded, my lips quivered at the sound; decay crept into my bones, and my legs trembled. Yet I will wait patiently for the day of calamity to come on the nation invading us. 17 Though the fig tree does not bud and there are no grapes on the vines, though the olive crop fails and the fields produce no food, though there are no sheep in the pen and no cattle in the stalls, 18 yet I will rejoice in the Lord, I will be joyful in God my Savior. 19 The Sovereign Lord is my strength; he makes my feet like the feet of a deer, he enables me to go on the heights.

Context

For those of you who are a regular part of this learning community, you know that I generally teach on a single idea within a biblical text (unless I get distracted by the voices in my head that lead me down a rabbit trail occasionally). So before you freak out about how long the subject text is for this week’s lesson, it really represents a single idea so stick with me as we go through it. Context for this particular lesson is really the key to understanding the text so let’s get that out of the way up front.

Habakkuk’s biblical contemporaries were Nahum, Jeremiah, Zephaniah, Ezekiel and Daniel. Habakkuk’s oracle was most likely written sometime in c. 608 BC-598BC. Remember from a previous lesson (Title: Their Blood Cries Out To Us!; Label: Pastoral Care; Date: 11/7/12) that the nation of Israel was divided at this time into two kingdoms; Israel in the north and Judah in the south. The northern kingdom of Israel was captured by the Assyrians in 722 BC and the southern kingdom of the Judah would fall, in part, to the rising world super-power Babylonians in 597 BC. For the most part, military might during the time of Habakkuk belonged to Assyria, Egypt and a brutal, massive and still growing Babylon. The Assyrian capital of Nineveh was destroyed by the Babylonians in 612 BC. Three years later, Egypt feared Babylon’s continuing advancement and set out to oppose Babylon at Carchemish. Pharaoh Neco tried to march his army north through Judah but king Josiah of Judah tried to stop him. Josiah was a good king in God’s eyes but fell in battle against Neco. Jehoahaz became king of Judah but only for three months which is when the king of Egypt removed him and took him to Egypt and installed Jehoiakim as Judah’s king. Judah was then required to pay massive tribute to Egypt. Neco moved on to Carchemish and fought alongside Assyria against the Babylonians for 4 years. Egypt and Assyria were soundly defeated at Carchemish in 605 BC. Babylon was firmly in control and held the distinguished titled of being the world’s unrivaled super-power. Babylon also began its systematic deportation of Judah at that time. Judah’s fall to Babylonians was completed and the temple and Jerusalem were destroyed in 586 BC. The prophet Jeremiah actively opposed Jehoiakim’s evil rule. Jeremiah presented him with a scroll detailing all the things God spoke to Jeremiah that God had in store for Judah because of its disobedience. The hope was that when Jehoiakim and the people read the scroll, they would repent of their wicked lives. Instead, Jehoiakim burned the scroll and sent his people to find and arrest Jeremiah. It is upon these events that we can overlay Habakkuk’s prophetic writing.

Text Analysis

            In 1:1-4, Habakkuk opens with a complaint wondering how long God was going to ignore king Jehoiakim’s evil leadership. Habakkuk complains that there is violence, strife, conflict and injustice yet God remains silent. At first glance, Habakkuk’s complaint doesn’t seem completely unreasonable but let’s not forget that this leadership structure is precisely what Israel asked for when they demanded to be led by a king like “the other nations” instead of recognizing God as their king as I taught in a previous lesson (title: We Want A King!; Label: Pastoral Care; Date: 8/1/12). “The substance of the prophet’s complaint centers on unanswered prayer. He has cried for relief from injustice; he has not been answered. A previous historical situation explains in part the perplexities of this circumstance. At the time of Israel’s insistence on the establishment of the monarchy, the Lord warned them through his servant: ‘You will cry out for relief from the king you have chosen, and the Lord will not answer you in that day’ (1 Sam. 8:18). The consummate consequences of their rejecting God as king is that a wicked monarchy would bring them into a state of oppression. Then the Lord would not hear their cry for relief. The prophet cries, but the Lord does not hear. The wickedness brought in by Menasseh and his predecessors has sealed Israel’s fate. Left to themselves, they suffer endless abuses.”[1] Nevertheless, in response to Habakkuk’s complaint that God hasn’t answered his prayers, God answers. I wonder, though, if Habakkuk wishes God hadn’t answered when he heard God’s answer.

            In 1:5-11, God responds to Habakkuk’s complaint but in accordance with his own agenda not Habakkuk’s agenda. God informs Habakkuk that he will, in fact, judge and punish Judah’s sinful behavior but not the way Habakkuk must have hoped for. God informs Habakkuk that he is raising up the feared Babylonians to carry out divine judgment against Judah. In case Habakkuk was unfamiliar with their reputation for brutality, God reminds him what the people can expect at the hand of the Babylonians. It is important to remember that the Assyrians were described as the most brutal and oppressive empire of all time—until the Babylonians who conquered the Assyrians and eclipsed the Assyrian brutality with unmatched military might and brutality. “Nebuchadnezzar demonstrated his military aggression following the battle of Carchemish (605 BC) by pursuing the defeated Egyptian army more than one hundred and fifty miles to crush them completely. Once the Babylonians had defeated both the Assyrians at Nineveh (612 BC) and the Egyptians (605 BC), no one could stop them. They could ‘scoff at rulers.’ Once they controlled trade routes, they could ‘laugh at all fortified cities,’ building earthen ramps to go over city walls.”[2] You can picture the advancing Babylonian warriors as a massive tornado too fast to out-run and powerful enough to destroy anything and everything as it moves along its path of destruction. The measure of Babylonian strength was measured not just quantitatively but qualitatively. In other words, military strength was demonstrated not only in how many nations were conquered but the degree to which those nations were devastated—their strength was their god!

            When we read the text, we jump right in to Habakkuk’s second complaint in 1:12-2:1 but consider for a moment what just happened. Habakkuk has been crying out for God to do something about Judah’s evil and injustice and God’s solution is to throw Judah to the lions. There is no way Habakkuk expected, or wanted, God to solve the problem this way. I remember once when my girls were very small, one of them got a Christmas gift that the other one wanted to play with and the two of them fought constantly about it. I would intervene a few times to get them to share but the situation would always eventually disintegrate into more fighting and crying. Finally, when one came to me complaining about being treated unfairly with respect to this toy, I quietly took the toy and threw it in the trash. I told them that if they couldn’t figure out how to share each others’ toys better, I would begin throwing them all away. They were stunned! They complained and wanted relief but what they really wanted was for me to rule in their favor respectively. Losing the toy altogether never even crossed their minds. Suffice it to say, no more toys found their way to the trash but the lesson learned to get to that point was painful and dramatic. This is precisely Habakkuk’s reaction in 1:13a when he says that if God can’t tolerate the “wrong” of Judah then how can he tolerate the treachery of the Babylonians? And then, in 1:13b, Habakkuk does the same thing that many of us do when God is disciplining us for our sin; we point to others in comparison and try and defend our actions by pointing out that there are others who are far worse than we are. Habakkuk goes on, just like we would, to question how God could use the ungodly to judge and punish the less ungodly (I know that sounds stupid but how do you think it sounded to God?).

            God again answers Habakkuk in 2:2-20 by reminding him that no offense goes unnoticed—by anyone! God instructs Habakkuk to record the future indictment, judgment and sentencing of Babylon for its evil and unrighteousness. Then in 2:4 God says something that seems like an afterthought in the Old Testament but is on prominent display in the New Testament—“the righteous will live by his faith” (cf. Hab 2:4; Rom 1:17; Gal 3:11; Heb 10:37-38). “The precise meaning of these verses is difficult, but the basic thought is clear—the sharp contrast between the faithful righteous and the proud, debauched, and bloodthirsty Babylonians. The conduct of each group determines its fate: the Babylonians fail; the righteous live.”[3] What follows as a description of God’s indictment of Babylon can be found in the 5 “Woes” starting in 2:6b. But when you read the indictments, do any of the warnings make you uncomfortable? Some of them make me feel uncomfortable, like maybe they could apply to me. In a bit of divine irony, I think that is the point. Remember that even though the biblical text has just one meaning, it has multiple elements of significance and I believe this is one of those elements of significance. Are our achievements above reproach? Have we tried to insulate ourselves with lies and deception? Have we built our lives through illegal or illegitimate means? Have we taken advantage of the weaknesses of our family, friends or neighbors for our own gain? Have we set anything up in our lives in the place that should belong only to God—i.e. money, sex or power? In any event, this was God’s future indictment of the Babylonians. 2:20 makes an extremely important observation—in all situations: God is sovereign; God is in complete control; God can and will use whatever means necessary to accomplish his will. You will notice that although God fully recognizes the sinful character and actions of the Babylonians, he has no intention of stopping them from carrying out the providentially ordained judgment against Judah. However, it is not for the purpose of annihilating Judah but disciplining Judah and purging it of unrighteousness. “Habakkuk had begun his dialogue in an effort to understand the mysterious ways of a holy God with sinful people. Now he stands in the presence of the Lord’s holy temple, hushed in reverential awe. He may not have grasped fully all the implications of the divine answer to his query. Yet he stands assured of the abiding lordship of his God, of his justice in prosecuting all violators of his holy law, and of his infinite mercy in granting life to all who will trust in him and in the provisions he has promised for the sinner.”[4]

            Habakkuk ends his prophetic writing with what comes naturally—praise. Chapter three is essentially a psalm or poem or song that gives praise to God for his sovereignty, provision and faithfulness. The beginning of the chapter recalls God’s salvation work in Israel’s past and asks God to once again be merciful to his people even in his anger. Habakkuk has abandoned his focus on what he thinks God should do about the peoples’ unrighteousness and how he should do it and has once again begun to focus on the person and character of God. The psalm alludes to God’s faithful care and salvation during David’s military conquests (3:13) as well as God’s faithful care and salvation of his people during the Exodus (3:15). The text also anticipates God’s future care and salvation from the Babylonians (3:16). But most important of all is Habakkuk’s final attitude recorded in 3:17-19. Therein, Habakkuk acknowledges that no matter the circumstances that currently surround him or that will surround him in the future, he will unswervingly put his full faith and trust in the Lord to care for him and to save him. Habakkuk praises not with an attitude of defeat and sorrow but with complete confidence and joy. “The prophet has clearly borrowed from Israel’s hymnic tradition to express his confidence in God’s ultimate salvation, but in so doing he expressed a profound truth about eschatological existence. In the certainty of that coming salvation, Habakkuk appears to say, one is both able to stay on the path, as precarious as it may seem, and, what is more, to experience in the interim some foretaste of that coming victory over the powers of evil.”[5]

Application

            Dr. Larry Crabb in his wonderful book, 66 Love Letters-A Conversation With God That Invites You Into His Story, provides the perfect application for this lesson and he is far more eloquent than I am so let me use his words to apply our subject text to our lives. As part of the format of the book, Dr. Crabb supposes that God responds to the question of “What are you teaching me in this book?” in each of the “66 Love Letters” representing the 66 books of the Bible respectively. Dr. Crabb asks God what he is trying to say through Habakkuk. God responds:

            “Never ignore your struggle with how I do things. Ask every question that arises in your heart as you live in this world. But prepare yourself to struggle even more with My response. You must stumble in confusion before you dance with Joy…Like you, Habakkuk saw problems in the church of his day, problems that I opened his eyes to see and then did nothing about. Through my letters so far, I have opened your eyes to see what bothers you and appalls me in today’s Christianity:

v  Surface worship that provides excitement but no power to change;
v  Recognition-hungry spiritual leaders who remain blind to their insecurity-driven ministry and, therefore, are unable to call people to true brokenness;
v  Cheapening views of the cross that reduce My Son’s death to an affirmation of people’s value and a call to similarly affirm others;
v  A postmodern revision of Christianity into a kingdom-building story told on a foundation of either truth-denying uncertainty or unknowable truth—resulting in a religion of moral flexibility the weakens the demands of holiness;
v  A pride-enhancing emphasis on size, activity, and celebrity that corrupts church into a merely inspiring event and moves it away from a supernatural opportunity to know Me, and to know oneself and others with a painful realism that drives My people to ever-deepening dependence and trust.

“Habakkuk prayed for brokenness in his people and revival through My Spirit. He saw neither. Now hear me well as I unfold the dialogue I entered into with My frustrated servant. It’s the dialogue I long to have with you. I permitted Habakkuk to continue the mystery of My silence until he was worn out. Only when false hope is abandoned will My strange but true hope be embraced.
“I shattered his false hope by revealing My plan for Babylon, a nation more evil than Judah, to rise up and discipline My people. And I made it clear it would all happen under My direction. I want you and all My people to know that nothing catches Me off guard—not even Adolf Hitler or Osama bin Laden. Nothing has happened or ever will happen that I am not using for My purposes.
“But what I allow seems to contradict My holy and pure character. I required Habakkuk, as I require you, to live in the tension between the evil that prospers, whether in the church or in secular society, and My plan to restore the beauty of My character in this world. It is that tension that shifted Habakkuk’s focus away from frustration with what he saw in the world toward the mystery of how I execute My plan. With that shift, Habakkuk was silenced and I spoke.
“It was then I revealed My plan that everyone must wait and see unfold. People respond in one of only two ways to My requirement to wait. Either they refuse to wait and instead try to manage life according to their desires; or they live by faith in My character, confessing their own selfish ways and yielding to My plan and to My timetable to get them to My party.
“Know this: those who live by faith will struggle in ways that those who live to make their lives work will never know. It is that struggle, to believe despite desperate pain and confusion that a good plan is unfolding, that will open your eyes to see Me more clearly. Is that what you want? Will you pay the price?
“The price is this: you will tremble in agony as you live in a sinful, self-prioritizing world as a sinful, self-prioritizing person, knowing that no sin will go unpunished even though, for a time, I will appear to be doing nothing.
“You will learn to wait in emptiness and frustrated desire for My plan of love to reveal itself. With confidence in Me and hope in My plan, you will not only feel the pain of living in the valley but also see My glory from the mountaintop of faith. Only those who struggle in confusion and wait in hope will be strengthened to struggle well and wait with confidence. This is My message to you…Struggle well! Wait in hope!”[6]


[1] O. Palmer Robertson, The Books of Nahum, Habakkuk and Zephaniah, (Grand Rapids, MI: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., 1990), p. 138.
[2] Mark J. Boda and J. Gordon McConville, eds., Dictionary of the Old Testament Prophets, (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 2012), p. 296.
[3] William S. Lasor, David A. Hubbard and Frederic W. Bush, Old Testament Survey, The Message, Form, and Background of the Old Testament, (Grand Rapids, MI: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., 1996), p. 324.
[4] Robertson, Nahum, Habakkuk and Zephaniah, p. 211.
[5] J. J. M. Roberts, Nahum, Habakkuk, and Zephaniah, (Louisville, KY: Westminster/John Knox Press, 1991), p. 158.
[6] Dr. Larry Crabb, 66 Love Letters-A Conversation With God That Invites You Into His Story, (Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson, 2009), pp. 170-172.

Wednesday, December 5, 2012

I Was Blind, But Now I See!


Introduction

            The closest I’ve ever come to witnessing a miracle is being present at the birth of both of my daughters. I suppose it’s not technically a miracle since millions of babies are born every year. Nevertheless, human life is amazing and watching my girls come into this world has been an unsurpassed event in my life. I’m sure there are some of you out there that have experienced an honest-to-goodness miracle so you’ll probably be able to relate to this week’s lesson. For the rest of you who have never experienced a true miracle, have you ever wondered what it must have been like for someone who was cured by Jesus? A friend sent me a video link this week of a baby who was born deaf. Doctors performed a Cochlear Implant procedure and the video recorded the moment when the implant was activated and the baby heard his mother’s voice for the first time. I’ve included the video link so you can see for yourself.  

It is a beautiful sight and I wonder if that reaction might have been similar for those who Jesus healed. We usually consider Jesus’ miracles in the context of what those miracle say about Jesus and we would be right to do so. But maybe we could take a moment to consider the impact of a miracle on the person who is healed. We sometimes take our hearing and our sight for granted in the sense that we don’t really think about either on a regular basis, but take a minute to think about a beautiful sunset for example. How would you describe it to someone who has been blind from birth? It wouldn’t matter how you described it, it would never make sense to them because they have no possible way of understanding colors, textures or dimensions. Now, imagine being with that person as they regain their sight and see for the first time the sunset you have tried to describe to them. Your description of a beautiful sunset could never do justice to seeing a beautiful sunset for the very first time. The baby’s reaction in the video I’ve included is priceless and perhaps gives us a glimpse into what it might have been like for those who were healed by Jesus. Tomes of theological material have been written about the significance of Jesus’ miracles generally and his healings more specifically but let’s not forget that for the person who receives sight, they could probably care less about the theology of the healing—for them it’s probably as simple as, I Was Blind, But Now I See! Let’s look at just such a story.

Subject Text

John 9:13-34

            13 They brought to the Pharisees the man who had been blind. 14 Now the day on which Jesus had made the mud and opened the man’s eyes was a Sabbath. 15 Therefore the Pharisees also asked him how he had received his sight. “He put mud on my eyes,” the man replied, “and I washed, and now I see.” 16 Some of the Pharisees said, “This man is not from God, for he does not keep the Sabbath.” But others asked, “How can a sinner do such miraculous signs?” So they were divided. 17 Finally they turned again to the blind man, “What have you to say about him? It was your eyes he opened.” The man replied, “He is a prophet.” 18 The Jews still did not believe that he had been blind and had received his sight until they sent for the man’s parents. 19 “Is this your son?” they asked. “Is this the one you say was born blind? How is it that now he can see?” 20 “We know he is our son,” the parents answered, “and we know he was born blind. 21 But how he can see now, or who opened his eyes, we don’t know. Ask him. He is of age; he will speak for himself.” 22 His parents said this because they were afraid of the Jews, for already the Jews had decided that anyone who acknowledged that Jesus was the Christ would be put out of the synagogue. 23 That was why his parents said, “He is of age; ask him.” 24 A second time they summoned the man who had been blind. “Give glory to God,” they said. “We know this man is a sinner.” 25 He replied, “Whether he is a sinner or not, I don’t know. One thing I do know. I was blind but now I see!”
26 Then they asked him, “What did he do to you? How did he open your eyes?” 27 He answered, “I have told you already and you did not listen. Why do you want to hear it again? Do you want to become his disciples, too?” 28 Then they hurled insults at him and said, “You are this fellow’s disciple! We are disciples of Moses! 29 We know that God spoke to Moses, but as for this fellow, we don’t even know where he comes from.” 30 The man answered, “Now that is remarkable! You don’t know where he comes from, yet he opened my eyes.
31 We know that God does not listen to sinners. He listens to the godly man who does his will. 32 Nobody has ever heard of opening the eyes of a man born blind. 33 If this man were not from God, he could do nothing.” 34 To this they replied, “You were steeped in sin at birth; how dare you lecture us!” And they threw him out.

Context

            Jesus has just escaped an attempt by some Jews to stone him while he was teaching at the temple (shocking I know!). Jesus tells those who reject his authority that their father is the Devil! He goes on to proclaim his eternal existence by telling the Jews who opposed him that he existed before Abraham was born. Specifically, Jesus used the encounter to identify himself as “I AM.” This is the designation God used of himself when he first introduced himself to Moses. The Jews took great offense to this claim by Jesus which precipitated their attempt to stone him. Jesus encounters the blind man from our subject text as he’s leaving the gang of Jews looking to stone him. Jesus’ disciples want to know whether it was the man’s sin or his parents’ sin that has caused the man’s blindness. It was commonly believed that all bad things in people’s lives were the result of some known or unknown sin. Of course, all imperfections in creation are a result of sin generally but Jesus clarifies that there is no specific sin at the root of this man’s blindness. Instead, Jesus sets the stage for the way we should look at all of Jesus’ miracles—curing this man’s blindness was an opportunity to demonstrate the authenticity of Jesus’ claims about himself. After restoring the man’s sight, Jesus sends him away with specific purification instructions. When a blind man who is normally seen begging for handouts is suddenly walking around like any other sighted person, people are bound to wonder what has happened. Consequently, those who knew him to be blind confronted him wanting to know how his sight was restored. When he told them how Jesus restored his sight, they brought him to the Pharisees for further questioning and that’s where our subject text picks up.

Text Analysis

            In v. 13 we see the neighbors of our formerly blind man bringing him to the Pharisees to tell them all about the miracle of having received his sight from Jesus. V. 14 gives us the background for why the Pharisees find fault with Jesus’ miracle—it was performed on the Sabbath! “A prohibition of work on the Sabbath is found in the Decalog [Ten Commandments] (Ex 20:8-11; Deut 5:12-15) and several other OT texts (e.g., Ex 31:12-17; 35:2), and its transgression is treated in the Law codes as a capital offense (Ex 31:14-15; 35:2; cf. Num 15:32-36)…The Sabbath healing gives the Evangelist [John] the opportunity to show Jesus’ opponents as blind to the manifest workings of God in their midst, a blindness induced by their insistence that a divine representative must conform to the niceties of the old code.”[1] The Pharisees begin questioning the man in v. 15a asking him how he received back his sight. The man answers them in v. 15b by recounting how Jesus put mud on his eyes and told him to wash his eyes as we know from earlier verses in Siloam and thereafter he received his sight. There are two important observations we can make from this second half of v. 15 so let’s take a look at them:

1) Why did Jesus put mud, formed with his spit and dirt, on the man’s eyes? Honestly, I don’t know and Scripture doesn’t tell us. Therefore, anything I tell you would simply be supposition but I’ll give you an idea that has been historically popular provided you don’t try and build some profound biblical doctrine around it. During ancient times, it was believed that saliva had some medicinal value and Jesus wanted to demonstrate to his disciples that they were to use what was immediately available to them to carry out their ministerial duties. It is an odd method for healing considering he could have just said the word and the man would have received his sight. Perhaps Jesus wanted to avoid creating any kind of formulaic pattern that humanity would inevitable try to replicate, manipulate and no doubt mass-produce in exchange for a small donation of course. We see Jesus’ miracles take many forms—at Lazarus’ resurrection, Jesus simply called Lazarus out of the tomb (John 11:43-44); Jesus healed the Centurion’s servant without seeing him, touching him or calling out to him, Jesus simply informs the Centurion that the request to restore his servant’s health had been granted (cf. Matt 8:5-13; Luke 7:1-10); Jesus unknowingly heals a woman suffering from a persistent bleeding condition when she touches the hem of his garment as he passes through a large crowd of people (Mark 5:21-35). I think we actually miss the point when we focus on Jesus’ method for healings when we should be focusing on his purpose for healing. Ask yourself: Does Jesus’ method for performing miracles define him or does the fact that he performs miracles define him?

2) Why did Jesus send the man to Siloam to wash the mud from his eyes? At first, this instruction to the blind man seems just as obscure as putting mud on his eyes in the first place, but I am convinced that John is revealing something to us that is not immediately obvious to us when we read the text in English. Some contend that Jesus requires the man to demonstrate his faith by being obedient to Jesus’ instruction to go to Siloam to wash his eyes before he can receive his sight and that is certainly very plausible. However, I’d like to paint a slightly different picture for you and it has to do with the meaning of Siloam. “The pool of Siloam, south-west of the City of David, received its water through a channel which carried it from the spring of Gihon in the Kidron valley.”[2] It is fascinating to note that the head of the spring that feeds the pool of Siloam is known as the “Fountain of the Virgin” (cf. Jesus born of a virgin). Siloam, as noted by John in the text, means “sent.” If you read through John’s Gospel you will quickly see that Jesus is consistently referred to as “the one sent” by God (e.g., Jn 4:34; 5:23, 37; 7:28; 8:26; 12:44; 14:24).[3] There is also a connection in the Book of Genesis. “Siloam” is a Greek transliteration from the Hebrew “Shiloah.” “This identification of Jesus with Siloam, i.e., Shiloah, may well have been suggested through the messianic interpretation of Gen 49:10 ‘The scepter shall not depart from Judah until Shiloh [Shiloah] comes.”[4] There is one other matter of significance with respect to the pool of Siloam. With its proximity to the Temple, during the Feast of the Tabernacles one of the Levitical priests would fill a golden pitcher from the pool of Siloam and would poor the water on the altar in the Temple to commemorate Israel’s time of wandering in the desert after their exodus from captivity in Egypt and their arrival at Rephidim where they complained to Moses because they lacked fresh drinking water. There, Moses struck the rock with his staff and water flowed from the rock providing Israel with fresh drinking water (Ex 17:1-5). Now wind the clock forward and we find the connection of the events of the Old Testament, the Temple rituals and the culmination of all these things in the person of Jesus as we read in Paul’s first letter to the church in Corinth: “For I do not want you to be ignorant of the fact, brothers, that our forefathers were all under the cloud and that they all passed through the sea. They were all baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea. They all ate the same spiritual food and drank the same spiritual drink; for they drank from the spiritual rock that accompanied them, and that rock was Christ (1 Cor 10:1-4).” Paul provides an assembled picture for us that previously existed as segmented events and practices of history but now form an image of Christ that was previously veiled but is now prominently displayed.

In v. 16, what was previous implicit in v. 14 becomes explicit when the Pharisees proclaim that Jesus could not be from God because they believed he broke the rules of the Sabbath when he cured the man of his blindness. Note that even the Pharisees don’t identify Jesus by name only referring to him as “this man.” However, there are at least some who are not so sure as they question how someone who is a “sinner” could perform such a healing miracle. In an attempt to reach what appears to be some kind of consensus among themselves, they ask for the blind man’s opinion in v. 17. To their inquiry, the blind man responds that “this man” is a prophet. But what does that meant? There were some who consider Jesus to be a prophet in a general sense (Jn 4:19) while others considered him to be the prophet (Jn 6:14). “Probably the healed man means the former. The niceties of Sabbath regulations do not concern him. He knows that a work of God was done in his life, and therefore the human agent must be an extraordinary individual, a prophet, someone sent with God’s word.”[5]

Unconvinced by the man’s testimony, the Pharisees seem to be moving away from getting answers and toward discrediting the healed man’s experience. The Jews now questioned whether the healed man was even blind in the first place. To clarify, “Jews” in this case is a general term used by John to identify a group of people that included the Pharisees, synagogue rulers and other prominent and influential leaders in the community. In any event, in vv. 18-23, the Jews summon the healed man’s parents for questioning. If you are a parent, think about this for minute. Your child has been healed from a disability under which he has desperately toiled his entire life. You’ve done everything you can to take care of him and teach him how he can take care of himself. All the while, always grinding on your mind and emotions is the question: ‘What will happen to him when I’m gone? Who will take care of him?’ Then suddenly, miraculously, he rushes in the front door fully healed. You’re overwhelmed! You’re speechless! The years of stress and grief melt away as you dance around the room with your child in joyous celebration. However, your joy is cut short when the police show up at your front door and take you in to be questioned by authorities about your child’s miraculous healing. And this is where we find the parents of the healed man in our subject text. The Jews ask some obvious questions: Is this your son? Was he blind from birth? How did he come to be healed? The parents answer the first two questions without hesitation confirming that the healed man was their son and was, in fact, blind from birth. However, with respect to the final question, they deferred to their son as the one best qualified to explain what happened and since he was an adult, his testimony should have been credible. However, v. 22 alludes to the fact that they knew it was Jesus who healed their son but they were afraid of what might happen if they confessed that knowledge publicly. The text says that they feared being kicked out of the synagogue. In v. 22, we see “A reflection of the (ironically called) birkath ha-minim, ‘The benediction of the heretics,’…said thrice daily at that time by pious Jews. The benediction runs: ‘For the apostates let there be no hope, and let the arrogant government be speedily uprooted in our days. Let the Nazarenes and the Minim [heretics] be destroyed in a moment, and let them be blotted out of the book of life and not be inscribed with the righteous. Blessed art thou, O Lord, who humblest the proud.’…The expression ‘The Jews had already agreed…’ shows that the expulsion from the synagogues was the result of a formal decision of an authoritative Jewish body; that is likely to have been the one taken by the Pharisees at Jamnia, during their formulation of Judaism under the leadership of Rabban [“our master”] Gamaliel.”[6] Some of you still might not grasp the gravity of the position these parents find themselves in. Does the name Gamaliel ring a bell for any of you? If not, let me just refresh your memories, Gamaliel was the Apostle Paul’s teacher before he became an Apostle of Christ. Gamaliel was a proponent of arresting Christians and Paul exemplified that zeal when he sought and received permission from the religious leaders to arrest Christians (Acts 9:1-2). If you want a picture of the zeal for persecution inspired by Gamaliel, you can find Paul (still named Saul at that time) graciously offering complimentary coat-check services during Stephen’s murder (Acts 7:54-8:3). It seems clear that this is the reason why we see the parents complete their testimony in v. 23 by deflecting all questions to their son who, because he is “of age,” can answer for himself and thereby insulate them from possible indictment by the Jewish leadership. It is not a coincidence that one of the theme’s in John’s Gospel is the cost of discipleship and here, John might be reminding his readers of the possible consequences of confessing Jesus as the Christ.

With that, it appears the parents of the healed man are dismissed so the Jews can once again focus their attention on the healed man in vv. 24-34. However, the scene now turns from an inquiry into an attempt at re-education and indoctrination. The Jews want the healed man to give God the glory for his healing because they have already judged Jesus to be a “sinner” for having done “work” on the Sabbath (of course we can’t let the facts get in the way that the “work” Jesus is accused of doing is something that is only attributed to God). However, the Jews seemed to have forgotten that the healed man was blind his entire life so life for him was really only about one thing—survival! Religious laws, rules and regulations for someone blind, disabled, seriously ill, widowed or orphaned were only important if they served to protect this endangered group. And although the laws, rules and regulations given to Israel were designed to do just this, being part of this despised group was often a death sentence in ancient times which is one of the things that made Jesus so angry about the religious leaders of his day. This blind man should have been the best friend of the Jews. Instead, he would have lived on the very margins of society barely surviving so the fact that he is ambivalent about the Jews’ claims that Jesus is a sinner shouldn’t be a surprise. Jesus did infinitely more than give him sight, he gave him a very real chance to live! For this man, absolutely everything came down to one simple statement of fact: I Was Blind, But Now I See! The Jews are incredulous in v. 26 when they ask the healed man to tell them once again how Jesus gave him back his sight. The healed man seems to display some frustration in v. 27 because he has already told them what happened when they questioned him earlier. The healed man then wonders if perhaps the Jews are wanting more information because they hope to become followers of Jesus. But when he asks them if the intent behind their questioning is to become followers of Jesus, the Jews become unhinged with anger! The veiled attempt at impartiality is over and the basis of their anger is revealed in v. 28-29 when they angrily insist that he is a follower of Jesus but they are followers of Moses and don’t know anything about Jesus! “These verses encapsulate the heart of the dispute between Judaism and Christianity, and in particular between Pharisaic Judaism (which dominated the scene after AD 70) and Christianity. The Pharisees knew that God had revealed his will through Moses. This law of God embraced not only the written word (what we refer to as the Pentateuch), but also a mass of oral tradition handed on from generation to generation. By the standards of the latter, Jesus was certainly a transgressor. The Pharisees therefore preferred to remain ‘disciples of Moses’, i.e. to remain with the given, rather than to attach themselves to some upstart about whom they knew all too little. But John’s readers know what answer the Evangelist provides to such a stance. It is this: If the Jews rightly understood what Moses wrote, they would grasp that he wrote of Jesus (5:39-40). On the last day, Moses himself will be their accuser (5:45-46).”[7] Then, in a twist of irony and not a little bit of sarcasm, this once blind beggar gives the room full of learned theologians a crash course in systematic theology in vv. 30-33. The healed man outlines the matter to them rather sarcastically when he says in essence: ‘Let me get this right—you don’t know where Jesus comes from even though I’ve told you that he cured my blindness. Now even I know that God isn’t in the habit of granting the requests of sinners yet he listens to anyone who is obedient to do his will. Since no one has ever heard of a blind person being given back their sight, how do you explain that Jesus restored my sight if he isn’t sent by God?’ Well? How would you explain that? Sadly, the Jews respond in v. 34 like a little child caught in a great big lie. They respond with indignation calling the healed man a sinner with no right to lecture them in the area of their expertise. To punctuate the matter, they threw him out! Unfortunately, this is often the result when sinful unbelievers are confronted with their own sins and the truth of Jesus Christ. For the religious leaders, they could not get beyond their long-held beliefs about God’s revelation of himself to Moses. For the Jews, God was a complex system of laws, rules and regulations. For the healed man, the matter of God was very simple: I Was Blind, But Now I See!

Application

            Thankfully, I get to rely entirely on Jesus for the application of our subject text. The tale of the healed man from our subject text continues in vv. 35-41. Jesus finds the healed man after the Jews threw him out and asked if he believed in the Son of Man?” The Jews would recognize the “Son of Man” title as referring to the Messiah (specifically in Ezekiel and Daniel). The healed man only asks to know him and he would believe in him. When Jesus reveals to the healed man that he [Jesus] is in fact the Son of Man, the healed man confesses his belief and begins to worship him. In v. 39 Jesus says that his purpose for coming is so that the blind will see and those who see will become blind. Theologically, Jesus is saying that he came so that those who are lost will have to opportunity to be saved by believing in him and those who don’t think they need salvation will seal their condemnation by rejecting him. In v. 40, some Pharisees who happened to be there to witness what Jesus said challenged Jesus assertion that they too are blind. Jesus finally gets to the very heart of our lesson in v. 41. Sinners who are blind and don’t yet recognize Jesus because of their blindness are not condemned for their sin but those who receive their sight and refuse to recognize Jesus are condemned as guilty. The healed man demonstrates the application of our text—acknowledge Jesus for who he is and worship him and him alone as the Sent One who opens our eyes to the revelation of himself.

            I ran across a modern day example of this when I was researching the link for the baby who received his hearing as the result of a successful Cochlear Implant procedure. I really want to encourage you to go view the YouTube link on the YouTube site as well. When you reach the link, you will see many other links to view similar stories of people who have received or regained their hearing. You will find very similar reactions—for children there is often joy expressed in laughter and for adults there is joy expressed in tears. However, I warn you to have a box of tissues on hand. You might also notice, as I did, that some of the comments praise God for the gift of healing. And in at least one case, someone took the opportunity to comment that the people who have received hearing for the first time or regained their lost hearing are a testament to science not God (as though science somehow does not fall within the sovereignty of God). I was sad when I saw some of those comments but it’s understandable in the context of our lesson. I wonder, however, what those who regained their hearing might say if someone asked them how they received their hearing. In our educated culture, most adults could probably give you some of the basic science behind the technology that gave them their hearing but I wonder if a child could do that or would a child simply say, ‘I was deaf, but now I hear’?

Believing in Jesus seems so simple and obvious yet so many still stubbornly refuse to believe. So we sometimes think that if God would just do something miraculous, then people would have to believe. I know I have been tempted to think that. At times I struggle to find the right words to write with the thought that if I just communicated God’s truth about Jesus Christ in exactly the right way then people would be compelled to believe. But in my more sober moments, I know it is folly to think this way. I remind myself that if staring at an empty tomb didn’t convince people of the truth of Jesus Christ then my words probably don’t have much chance of convincing people who are willfully blind to the truth. There are, however, many who are spiritually blind and desperately want to see again or for the first time. For them, the truth of Jesus Christ has the power to heal their broken hearts and lives. I know some of these people; not theologians by any definition. But they have recognized and accepted the truth that is Jesus Christ and now see. If you asked them to explain it, you probably wouldn’t get a lesson in systematic theology to explain what happened to them. More likely you’d hear something like, I Was Blind, But Now I See! If you were once blind to Jesus and have been given sight, what will your story be? It doesn’t have to be anything dramatic, but it needs to be your story. Be prepared and courageous enough to tell your story to anyone who asks and even to those who don’t ask. It might not make sense to people when you tell them in the same way that describing a sunset to blind person doesn’t make sense to the blind person. But it’s so beautiful that you have to try. In the same way that everyone should experience the beauty of a sunset, everyone should experience being healed of their blindness by Jesus.

Call To Action

            For those of you who don’t know yet, I am trying to build a community through these weekly lessons in order to reach every nation in the world with the Gospel in accordance with Jesus’ command and the Mission Statement of this ministry. If you know someone looking for a miracle as a condition for their belief, will you please share this lesson with them as a warning? If you know someone who is blind to the truth of Jesus Christ, will you share this lesson with them and allow Jesus to do a miracle in their lives and heal their blindness? If you know someone who needs a miracle to encourage them in their faith, will you please share this lesson with them as a reminder that God is still in the business of healing hearts, minds and sometimes bodies in order to reveal himself to the world?



[1] Joel B. Green, Scot McKnight, I. Howard Marshall, eds., Dictionary of Jesus and the Gospels, (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 1992), pp. 716; 719.
[2] D. A. Carson, The Gospel According to John, (Grand Rapids, MI: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1991), p. 365.
[3] Gary M. Burge, John, The NIV Application Commentary, (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan Publishing House, 2000), p. 273.
[4] George R. Beasley-Murray, John, Word Biblical Commentary, (Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson Publishers, 1999), p. 156.
[5] Carson, John, p. 368.
[6] Beasley-Murray, John, p. 153.
[7] Carson, John, p. 374.John, p. 374.