Category: Red Letter Year

Red Letter Year: 9/25

John 1.1-14

1 In the beginning the Word already existed.

The Word was with God,

and the Word was God.

2 He existed in the beginning with God.

3 God created everything through him,

and nothing was created except through him.

4 The Word gave life to everything that was created,

and his life brought light to everyone.

5 The light shines in the darkness,

and the darkness can never extinguish it.

6 God sent a man, John the Baptist, 7 to tell about the light so that everyone might believe because of his testimony. 8 John himself was not the light; he was simply a witness to tell about the light. 9 The one who is the true light, who gives light to everyone, was coming into the world.

10 He came into the very world he created, but the world didn’t recognize him. 11 He came to his own people, and even they rejected him. 12 But to all who believed him and accepted him, he gave the right to become children of God. 13 They are reborn—not with a physical birth resulting from human passion or plan, but a birth that comes from God. 14 So the Word became human and made his home among us. He was full of unfailing love and faithfulness. And we have seen his glory, the glory of the Father’s one and only Son.

Comments

When I started this Red Letter Year thing back in January, I really didn’t know how it would go – or if it would go. Or more accurately, I wasn’t sure I would or could keep it going all year long. (Like a pitcher throwing a no-hitter, I hope I’m not jinxing myself here.) But here we are starting the book of John. I sat down the other day and mapped out to the end of the year and it works out perfectly (No, I hadn’t done that before. I just tried to keep each reading around 15 verses, following natural breaks as much as possible.)

As I read through today’s passage and thought about introducing John, it occurred to me that one thing I haven’t mentioned all year is the Book of Kells and the four depictions given, one for each Gospel. You can read more about them here, but the one that is relevant for us now is the eagle representing John’s Gospel, which takes a higher view than the others and often uses loftier writing. This is nowhere truer than right here in chapter 1. The language and theme are transcendent. John flies us back to the very beginning – of everything.

While Mark avoided any account of Jesus’ origin, both Matthew and Luke focused on the human birth of Jesus. John shares nothing of that (this will be a recurring trend, John shares very little with the other three); instead he shares – not the origin of Jesus – but the eternality of the Son and his essential part in the origin of all that exists. John gives us a cosmic view of Jesus (this will also be a trend), well beyond anything we have seen in the other three Gospels. There are three things I want to point out as we begin reading John.

First, about this cosmic thing, I meant that quite literally. One of John’s favorite words is the Greek word “kosmos” which we usually translate as “world,” but which can mean what we mean by cosmos as well. I will explain this more as we go, but to put it in a nutshell, John understands the world as loved by God, hostile to God, and yet saved by God all at the same time. We see those themes expressed here in the opening passage and we will see them quite often. God creates and loves the cosmos, the cosmos is hostile to God, but God’s love overcomes the cosmos’ hostility. I’m going to leave “world” as the translation has it, but keep this whole dynamic in mind, because John clearly had it in mind while writing. It will help you understand his account more deeply.

Another favorite word of John’s is one I am not going to leave alone because I think we need some correction regarding it. John uses the Greek word “pisteuo” a lot too, it is a verb that we usually translate as “believe,” but which means something closer to “trust.” When we think of believe, we either think of a specific set of doctrines we give mental assent to, or else we think of something like believing in the Tooth Fairy. John doesn’t mean either of those here. He means trust expressed in action – in fact John always uses the verb form here, never the noun. In Greek some words take one form for a verb and a slightly different form for a noun (we call these cognates). We use words as nouns and verbs in English too (like: fish, brush, etc.) but we don’t usually change the ending to indicate which way the word is being used (and this really confuses people trying to learn English). My point is, the Greek noun cognate is “pistis,” which we translate as “faith” – except John never once uses the noun form, he always uses the verb. This means John understands faith itself as an action, which is one reason “trust” is a better way to translate his idea into English. We think “believing” is a mental game, but we know “trust” requires more.

I have one more point, but I am going to save it for tomorrow. For now, please note carefully what John says here. Some Christians have a bad habit of referring to the Bible as the Word of God, but as I blogged a long time ago (in two parts), the Bible is not the Word of God (click to read). The Bible cannot be the Word of God because right here John tells us that Jesus is the Word of God (click to read). Maybe we could say the Bible is the word of God (lowercase w), but I think that is just confusing. The Bible is written record of the prophetic and apostolic witness about Jesus Christ, the Word of God, who is in himself the fullness of the revelation of God to humans. John tells us that the Word God spoke in the beginning, the Word by which the entire cosmos was created, is Jesus Christ. Everything that exists was created by him. This includes you and me and is a reaffirming of the creation account – both that God created all – and that you and I are created in the image of God. John makes clear from the outset that what matters most is that we have been created and loved by Jesus and reborn, not because of our bodies, or passions, or even our will, but because of Jesus’ unfailing love and faithfulness.

New Living Translation (NLT) Holy Bible. New Living Translation copyright© 1996, 2004, 2007 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale HousePublishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.

Red Letter Year: 9/24

Luke 24.35-52

35 Then the two from Emmaus told their story of how Jesus had appeared to them as they were walking along the road, and how they had recognized him as he was breaking the bread. 36 And just as they were telling about it, Jesus himself was suddenly standing there among them. “Peace be with you,” he said. 37 But the whole group was startled and frightened, thinking they were seeing a ghost!

38 “Why are you frightened?” he asked. “Why are your hearts filled with doubt? 39 Look at my hands. Look at my feet. You can see that it’s really me. Touch me and make sure that I am not a ghost, because ghosts don’t have bodies, as you see that I do.” 40 As he spoke, he showed them his hands and his feet.

41 Still they stood there in disbelief, filled with joy and wonder. Then he asked them, “Do you have anything here to eat?” 42 They gave him a piece of broiled fish, 43 and he ate it as they watched.

44 Then he said, “When I was with you before, I told you that everything written about me in the law of Moses and the prophets and in the Psalms must be fulfilled.” 45 Then he opened their minds to understand the Scriptures. 46 And he said, “Yes, it was written long ago that the Messiah would suffer and die and rise from the dead on the third day. 47 It was also written that this message would be proclaimed in the authority of his name to all the nations, beginning in Jerusalem: ‘There is forgiveness of sins for all who repent.’ 48 You are witnesses of all these things. 49 And now I will send the Holy Spirit, just as my Father promised. But stay here in the city until the Holy Spirit comes and fills you with power from heaven.”

50 Then Jesus led them to Bethany, and lifting his hands to heaven, he blessed them. 51 While he was blessing them, he left them and was taken up to heaven. 52 So they worshiped him and then returned to Jerusalem filled with great joy. 53 And they spent all of their time in the Temple, praising God.

Comments

Jesus has risen from the dead. We hear that a lot and can get really used to it. But the truth and the power of the resurrection needs to pierce our hearts with the same mixture of incredulity, astonishment, and joy as it did for these folks (v. 41). That won’t happen by talking about it, not by writing or reading about it, not even by singing about it. The only way to have our hearts pierced with the incredible, astonishing, joy-filling power of the resurrection is to experience it first hand. How do we experience it first hand? By making use of the authority we have been given to proclaim the Gospel: there is forgiveness of sins for all who repent. If you are reading this, you have access to this authority to carry out this mission of proclaiming this message. (Note this is specific, not generic authority, not any random mission, not any other message.) You have the authority to pray for the sick in Jesus name and watch them be healed (resurrection power), delivered from addictions and bondages (resurrection power), have their entire lives transformed (resurrection power), and watch them take up the same authority you have (resurrection power).

Jesus is still not a ghost. Some of us alive today are still witnesses of his resurrection power. You can be a witness of his resurrection power too. But to be a witness to his resurrection power, you have to actually witness his resurrection power actively at work in the world today. Fortunately, the resurrection power of Jesus is still actively at work in the world today. You already have permission to call on, make use of, and witness the resurrection power of Jesus at work in the lives of people all around you. Luke gave us a whole other book (Acts) on what it looks like when people operate in the resurrection power of Jesus. I think it is the coolest thing in the world to see a person’s life transformed by the resurrection power of Jesus. There really is nothing like it. I highly recommend trying it. What are you waiting for? You already have all the permission you will ever need.

New Living Translation (NLT) Holy Bible. New Living Translation copyright© 1996, 2004, 2007 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale HousePublishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.