Monthly Archive for April, 2008

On the Monks, Burma, and the Nations

Published
by
Dan
on 4/24/2008
in Bible Study and Short Quotes
. 1 Comment

On the 20080412 Mars Hill Podcast, Rob Bell was talking about burmese monks and democracy, and some of it is a good thing to say and his point is good, but all I can remember is those monks walking around saying “give money to Buddha, give money to Buddha” and the worlds largest Buddhist temple covered in gold while orphan kids starve to death one block away.

I think it is one evil killing another evil. Why DO the nations rage?

Jesus is the only hope for the world. You can have your democracy, just give me Jesus.

Profaning what is Holy

Published
by
Dan
on 4/18/2008
in Bible Study
. 1 Comment

I don’t know if I’ve written about this before but I am thinking about it again. One day I heard a boy in my neighborhood say “Holy Shoot!” while he was playing. I heard that and I thought about what he said. He had been taught that you shouldn’t say the second word, so he found a replacement for it. But what word has the power? What word is the word to avoid? Isn’t it the word HOLY?

I was thinking about the commandment about taking the Lord’s name in vain, and how it had very very little to do with curse words. It had everything to do with calling yourself by the name of the Lord. It was like my wife taking my last name. “Don’t take that name in vain,” I might hear my father or grandma say, “Sullivans are blah blah blah.” That name carries something with it. Don’t take the name of the Lord in vain. Don’t throw around “God’s chosen people” in vain.

So here is this boy in my neighborhood, throwing around the word Holy like it’s just some common word, but it isn’t. That day I heard that, I thought in my head, “I would rather hear my own children say the word “shit” than hear them misuse the word “Holy.” But here we are, in a culture of “Holy Cow!” and “Holy Moley!” and everything else being called Holy that really isn’t.

When the Jews would not even say “God” or even spell out YHWH’s name, they came up with a substitute that is translated “The Name.” They didn’t say God’s name or even refer to Him, and a lot of their writings even now say G__ instead of spelling it out. It wasn’t because of the commandment, though. It was out of respect. Before they could write His Name they would go and wash, and after they wrote that one word they would go wash again, because His Name was so separate and HOLY.

One day at my in-laws somebody said God or Jesus Christ and my niece corrected them and said it was a “bad word.” How about that? To get taught that you shouldn’t say something because it is bad? How about we step out of the legalism of good and bad and into the LIFE of happy reverence?

I took my two boys, age 5 and 7, into the Holy of Holies of the St.Meinrad Chapel last fall. Back into the back where the Eucharist is kept, below the big picture of Jesus that says “Ego Sum Vita.” I told them that it was a very important place and they should be very respectful. I showed them where to bow their heads, not to some gold thing, but out of respect to what God has done and what that place symbolizes. They were as quiet as can be. (A HUGE feat for David!) and their eyes were as big as the communion bread the priest breaks on Sunday. I showed them how to kneel on a kneeler and how to pray and consider that God became flesh and gave His Body like bread for us to eat and live.

When we left, they would have never used the word “bad” to describe any of it, but they treated the whole ordeal like something HOLY and reverent. I like that. I think there is a lot of good to be found in reverence, and I hope we can slowly learn to feel it and appreciate it in more places.

Notes on John 2:1-11, Jesus Turns Water into Wine

Published
by
Dan
on 4/14/2008
in Bible Study
. 1 Comment

John 2:1-10
Jesus mother and some servants

1. In this conversation what did Jesus say or do?
2. In this conversation what did the words or actions of Jesus explain to us about the Father?

•    John 2:1 ¶ On the third day a wedding took place at Cana in Galilee. Jesus’ mother was there,
•    John 2:2 and Jesus and his disciples had also been invited to the wedding.
•    John 2:3 When the wine was gone, Jesus’ mother said to him, “They have no more wine.”
•    John 2:4 ¶ “Dear woman, why do you involve me?” Jesus replied. “My time has not yet come.”
•    John 2:5 ¶ His mother said to the servants, “Do whatever he tells you.”
•    John 2:6 ¶ Nearby stood six stone water jars, the kind used by the Jews for ceremonial washing, each holding from twenty to thirty gallons.
•    John 2:7 ¶ Jesus said to the servants, “Fill the jars with water”; so they filled them to the brim.
•    John 2:8 ¶ Then he told them, “Now draw some out and take it to the master of the banquet.” ¶ They did so,
•    John 2:9 and the master of the banquet tasted the water that had been turned into wine. He did not realize where it had come from, though the servants who had drawn the water knew. Then he called the bridegroom aside
•    John 2:10 and said, “Everyone brings out the choice wine first and then the cheaper wine after the guests have had too much to drink; but you have saved the best till now.”

<<<20080410>>>
NT Wright said there was a rabbinical saying “Where there is no wine, there is no joy”

The water was the stuff they used for ceremonial washings. They would wash their feet when they arrived, then wash their hands between every course of the meal. They would have to go and fetch this water and bring it for the guests. It was the water that made them clean to eat and clean to participate with the others. Jesus takes that water and turns it into wine. SO THEN WHAT? Now they can’t wash themselves! Now they can’t go on with the feast until the servants bring more water! Jesus is NUTS! Put this with what He said about it’s not what goes IN to a man that makes him clean or unclean. It’s like Jesus pushes aside this hand-washing business because we need some wine in here now! I love it. Jesus takes religion and turns it on its ear.

At the time, if a wedding host didn’t serve the guests the right way, they could take legal action against the host! So here is a person who is about to be punished under the law, and doesn’t even know it, and Jesus rescues them. How much stuff have I been rescued from without even knowing it? So here Jesus brings freedom from the curse of the Law, and so begins His ministry.

http://www.bible.org/page.php?page_id=1304

<<<20080411>>>
John doesn’t focus on the amount of wine (which was huge, over 630 bottles in today’s measurements!) or the fact that there was no more water, but this was done:
John 2:11 ¶ This, the first of his miraculous signs, Jesus performed at Cana in Galilee. He thus revealed his glory, and his disciples put their faith in him.

1. In this conversation what did Jesus say or do?
o    He talked to Mary with respect, even though he was about to show His superiority.
o    He went to a wedding with His disciples! We can’t miss that! Even the most ordinary events were good for taking the disciples along to teach them. It wasn’t “I’m going to a wedding today, so you guys can go off and do whatever.” Because Jesus was ALWAYS looking to bring the Father glory.
o    He had someone else ‘perform’ the miracle. The servants got the water, the servants scooped out the wine, the head waiter tasted it and made the comment to the groom. No where in this did Jesus draw attention to himself.
o    He used the servants to do it. He didn’t have his disciples do it. They, no doubt, saw the whole thing, but when Mary said, “Do whatever he tells you” they certainly obeyed her. Can you imagine the one poor guy that took the first scoop of water up to the head waiter? That would be a leap of faith right there!
•    “You idiot! We are out of wine and you’re asking me to drink the water of cleansing? Get out of my kitchen!”
o    Jesus asked them to do something that was not typically done. You wouldn’t serve up this water to drink. You wouldn’t fuss over cleansing water then the wine has gone dry – “There are more important things to worry about than water refills, we’re out of wine” (ok, maybe I’m getting a little carried away, but they were somewhat in a tizzy over being out of wine.)
•    We have to address this cryptic statement by Jesus. “Why do you involve me? My time has not yet come.” Jesus says that, but then gets involved. There are several places in the Gospels where Jesus is hesitant at first to do whatever people are asking, but then He does it. It doesn’t seem like in His character he is waiting for them to ‘ask the right way’ or something like that. I don’t want to say that He changes His mind, because it says in several places that God does NOT change His mind, so how does this fit?
•    He is talking about something else. Mary says they have no more wine and He’s talking about some other thing, like the Samaritan woman at the well, “If you knew who you were talking to, you would ask for water and He would give it to you.” But then He goes ahead and does the material thing.
•    This isn’t the big deal. The big deal that is “His Time” is not fixing their wine problem or beginning His miracles,
•    All of this bring up a question for me: Why DID Mary tell Jesus “they have no more wine” and put the servants at His service?
2. In this conversation what did the words or actions of Jesus explain to us about the Father?
o    The Father attends weddings
o    The Father is always looking to reveal His glory, even at a party
o    The Father listens and cares about the things we need, and can fix our shortfalls in unexpected ways.
o    The Father doesn’t always use things for what we see as their intended purpose (there were containers for wine there, but He didn’t refill those)
o    The Father chooses joy (symbol: wine) over religion (symbol: holy water)
o    The Father entrusts us with things that can be used wisely or lead to harm (the waiter says people usually get drunk on the good wine)
o    The Father uses others in the process of revealing His glory.
o    The Father gives simple instructions a few steps at a time. (fill this with water, draw some out, take it to this guy, instead of: you’re going to go fill these things up with water and when you come back it will be the best wine the waiter has ever tasted)
o    The Father has something to teach us beyond what we see in our circumstances (Jesus’ cryptic remark to His mother)
o    The Father wants to reveal His glory, beginning with the servants in the side room. His time has not yet come to stand up at the wedding feast, but until then He’ll be in the back with the servants.
o    The Father sometimes gives an answer that seems like a “No” but is really pulling us along into perseverance. (Jesus said “why do you concern me?” but Mary didn’t leave Him alone. Put this near the persistent widow and unjust judge parables.)

A Hidden Orphan and Widow

Published
by
Dan
on 4/6/2008
in Bible Study
. 1 Comment

I was just reading a little commentary and came across some statement about how soon Joseph, the husband of Mary, must have died after Jesus’ birth. That was a little confusing b/c that same person was talking about all of the brothers and sisters Jesus had, so it couldn’t have been THAT soon.

All over the OT God calls His people to take care of the fatherless and the widow. Numerous times in the prophets the judgement against them is that they did not look out for the fatherless and the widow (Ex. 22.22, Dt 10.18, 24.17, 24.20-21, Ps. 94.6, Ps. 146.9, Is. 1.17, Jer. 7.6, enough already!) So what if God, in His huge wisdom that always does more than the one obvious thing, said all of this stuff about taking care of orphans and widows b/c someday He would need His Son to be taken care of?! The most vulnerable people of all are the kids and women w/ no one to speak for them, so of course God, in His glorious weakness, would have to be one of those.

John 1:47-51 Nathanael

Published
by
Dan
on 4/3/2008
in Bible Study
. 0 Comments

1. In this conversation what did Jesus say or do?
2. In this conversation what did the words or actions of Jesus explain to us about the Father?

1a. Jesus spoke a blessing right off the bat to Nathanael even though He surely knew Nathanael’s comment about nothing good coming from Nazareth.
1b. I picture Jesus sitting around talking and Nate coming up, “Now here’s a honest man!” He says. Nate has just been brought to the Ultimate Judge of all Judges, the Righteous Judge, who Moses wrote about in the LAW, and His first words to Nate are not condemnation. If you heard that you were about to meet the ONE that Moses and the Prophets fortold, wouldn’t you be nervous or skeptical?
1c. Jesus told him that He saw him before Philip came. Only Jesus and Nate know what was going on right then, but it was definitely more than what John wrote here. Jesus didn’t embarrass Nate or correct him or flatter him. It almost seems like an inside joke like “I know what you did” or something, and the effect was a great confession. Jesus knows just the right thing to say.
1d. In a humble way, Jesus says “you guys are going to see more than just this. You are going to see heaven open up and the messengers of God go to and fro on me.”
2a. He didn’t have a bunch of pent up rage against Nathanael, He didn’t show up with condemnation and judgement. He didn’t hold a grudge or take personally Nate’s Nazareth comment.
2b. Jesus does another “call it like I see it” on Nate. Nate might not have felt at all like he was honest or true or even an Israelite. His reply to Jesus may have not been b/c Jesus knew about how honest he was, but b/c Jesus knew how tricky (kniving sp?) Nathan was, and Jesus showed him such mercy. Like if Jesus said to the alcoholic, “here is a true family man, who cares very deeply for his family.” That might not be where his addiction takes him, but apart from his great weakness, that is where his heart is. Maybe Nate was wishing he was honest, and Jesus sees that in spite of his actions.
2c. Jesus saw Nathan, where he was, what he was doing, what he was thinking, how he was feeling, and treated it all with great care. Jesus is not in a rush to condemn or humiliate us publicly. It is not his goal to shame us. He would rather show us great things.
2d. Jesus gets called “Son of God” and “the King of Israel” but doesn’t call Himself those things. He isn’t so concerned with the words we call Him by. (I’m thinking of Jehovah’s witnesses that harp on calling God Jehovah and nothing else)
2e. The angels of God come and go on Jesus. He is the way for things to come from the Father, and He is the way to go back to the Father. Jesus is the path to the Father, and He is the Place where God comes to Earth.
In Jacob’s dream he said “God was in this place and I didn’t know it.” Nate sees Jesus in this situation and realizes that this is the place where God is: Jesus.