By: Tim Keller
We are looking in the gospel of John and its description of the miraculous signs. Jesus did many, many miracles; more miracles than recorded in the gospel of John, but John says in the end of the book that "I've chosen the miracles that I have chosen to tell you, because each of these miracles is not only a miracle of some right, but also a symbol; it was also a sign, it symbolizes who Jesus is and what He came to do.
The first part of John 6 talks about the miraculous feeding of the 5000, more than 5000 probably. Back then things were counted by households, so if it's 5000 men, it means 5000 families, so probably more than 5000. He had a small number of loaves and fishes, and he miraculously fed them also until there were all full.
Even though all of the four gospels recount this miracle, which shows how important it is, only John gave us this explanation Jesus gave us, which He actually explains the symbolism. What does it mean? Why did He do it? He says, I fed everyone with physical bread to signify / show that I AM the bread of life. And what I want to do is to meditate on that text, "I am the bread of life." (v. 35) So there are 3 points in this message, "I am the BREAD of life", "I am the bread of LIFE", and "I AM the bread of life".
- When we are stressing in the middle, "I am the BREAD of life", we are looking at what is "bread" mean in general.
- When we are stressing the last word, "I am the bread of LIFE", what is this particular bread that Jesus is giving.
- And when looking at the first two words, "I AM the bread of life.", how is it that Jesus is able to give it, and bring it to us.
"I am the BREAD of life"
First, lets look at what bread signifies in ancient times, esp. to the Israelites. When HE says the word "bread", it meant something, it meant "life" itself, because bread back then was made either of wheat, or barley. It is at a time when people didn't have meat at every meal, it was too expensive. In fact there are lots of, lots of food stuff that you and I have access to that they did not. And therefore, bread was really at the heart of almost every meal, and it became a symbol for food itself. That's the reason Jesus can say in the Lord's Prayer - say to God, "Give us this day our daily bread". Because it meant everything I need to live. But it's not just that. Because to ancient people, the word "bread" is actually meant more important than it is to us, and therefore "bread" is really meant "life" itself. For the Israelites, bread had 2 very, very powerful historical references. First of all, when Jesus says "I am the bread of life", HE was invoking the story about manna. In fact HE literally is talking about the manna here. In the wilderness, when God has brought the children of Israel out of bondage, and HE was taking them into the Promised Land, there were in the desert, and there wasn't any other kind of sort of food there, and they were facing starvation, and then miraculously God began to feed them. And the way manna worked was, in the morning, six days a week, manna, according to eyewitness account, it looked like frost on the ground, it was flaky, and it could be gathered and turned it into cakes, and it had the taste of honey, so it's sweet. So that meant was that manna was represented to the children of Israel, not only sustenance of life, but also savory for it tastes good, so it was satisfying in savory, and strengthening in life giving. But the other reference to the bread in the Old Testament in Israel history was the altar of the show bread in the tabernacle. When God told the children of Israel how to build the tabernacle, which was the place of worship, the place they were related to God, one of the key piece of furniture in the sanctuary was a table, it wasn't a big table, where you offered sacrifices, but it's a small table where you ate food. And on the table, there was always 12 loaves of bread (representing 12 tribes of Israel). Now the priest ate it. When you think of the tabernacle is a wonderful, wonderful aroma of newly baked bread. So what did it mean? It was a symbol. It wasn't just for the priest to eat it. It was a symbolic. Even today, when we offer to take somebody out to eat, or ask them into our home to eat, that's friendly, of course. But in those days, it was even more formally and intensely a sign of friendship. When you broke bread with him, that meant "we are friend." And if there was any kind of opposition, and people came to peace, and there were a truce between formally hostile parties, how was the covenant ratified? Almost always thru a meal, thru breaking bread. And as for God to put bread in HIS sanctuary is a way of saying "I don't want to just be your God, I want to be the friend of your heart." So bread is represented not only of strength and satisfaction, but also love, peace, friendship and fellowship. That's what bread meant in general.
"I am the bread of LIFE"
But Jesus doesn't not just talking about bread, in fact He said "I did miraculously gave physical bread, but as a symbol of the fact that I can give you the bread of life." What was the bread of life? Let's look at verse 27, "Do not work for food that spoils, but for food that endures to eternal life, which the Son of Man will give you." In other words, the bread represents eternal life, obviously the bread gives you physical life, but what HE is talking about was something higher, something deeper, something beyond that, which is spiritual life / eternal life. Now, what is this eternal life? This is one of the main theme of the whole book of John. It is a metaphor for it. There are 3 things we can learn about eternal life from the text here:
1. It's a quality of life. There are 2 Greek words that can be translated "life"; bios, which means physical existence, and zoe, which means quality of life, not just existence. Zoe is what makes life worth living, it is life beyond existing; energy, joy, engagement, being thrilled, being feeling useful, feeling love, ... all the things that take you beyond mere existing into real living. In fact, it literally says in verse 27, "I can give you eternal zoe", not eternal bios. In fact, eternal bios means your current existence, with all your self doubts, with all your emptiness, with all your frustration, just going on forever. There is a word in the Bible for that eternal existence, called hell. But, eternal life is ultimate life, it's radical life. It's joy; it's fulfillment. So eternal life means quality of life.
2. Its quality of life that starts NOW but goes on FOREVER. In verse 27, "eternal life endures", which means when you get eternal life, it goes on forever. But verse 35, which is the key text says, "I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never go hungry, who believes in me will never be thirsty." What that means, of course, HE can't be talking about bios, or physical hunger. He can't say, "when you become Christian, when you come to me and believe in me, you will never have to eat food again." That's not true. We still have to eat. So what does He talk about here? What He was saying, that the zoe , the eternal life, starts now. It means that there is a deeper hunger than physical hunger; there is a deeper emptiness than physical starvation and hunger. And we are trying to find things that move us beyond existing into real living. Unless it's Jesus Christ and the"bread" He gave, it will not endure. In fact HE says, "if you look here, for anything else to deal with that spiritual hunger besides me, it will spoil." HE is probably talking about the manna story. Some of you may know that when God began sending manna six days a week, HE told every body, that "You go out and gather enough just for today, and then you wait, and tomorrow I give you more. But don't try to gather more than you need for the day; don't try to store it up, or save it up. Otherwise it will spoil, faster, stink, be filled with worms." That's what happened. Why did God do that? Because God says, "I want you to be looking to me for your life, I don't want you to be looking at the manna. I want you to be trusting me." What probably happened, they were facing starvation, and Moses said God will begin to feed you, and then the manna shows up. Then people think "we better get as much as we possibly can, who knows that's not going to come back tomorrow." Of course it spoilt, because they were not looking to God, they were looking to the manna itself. And this is what Jesus means why HE is referring to this, that everybody in this room is trying to find someway to move from bios to zoe - everybody is trying to move from just existing to life. So we are looking to things that give us meaning, and they are great things. They are manna, in a sense. Just like thinking "I don't wanna just life, I wanna make it different!! I wanna work for social justice!! I wanna get something accomplished!! I wanna have a family!! I want to love people!! I wanna do things!!" These are moving from bios to zoe. But Jesus says, "If you rest your heart in them, if you look to them instead of to me, they will spoil. They will never satisfy that spiritual hunger. You will stay hungry all the time. They will never give what you think they should give you." Nobody would ever says this better than C.S.Lewis in one of his great radio talk that he gave over the BBC during WWII, "Most people, if they really learn how to look into their own hearts, would know what they do want, and want acutely something that cannot be had in this world. There are all sorts of things in this world that offer to give it to you, but they never keep their promise. The longings which arise in us when we first fell in love, when we first think of some foreign countries, or first take up some subjects that excite us. Our longing that no marriage, no travel, and no learning can really satisfy. I am not speaking about what ordinarily would be called an unsuccessful marriages, or trips or so on, I am speaking of even the best possible ones. There is always something we are grasped that in that first moments of longings that just fade away in the reality. The spouse's made a very good spouse. The scenery has been excellent. It has turned out after all to be a really good job. But "it" has evaded us." What's "it"? It is what you are looking for in those things, its satisfaction of spiritual hunger. It's the thing that really moves you from existence to living. And if you want prove that Lewis is right here, just look at the people who are the most successful in their field, whether it's in acting, whether it's business and finance, whether it's government and politics, it does not matter. Go, look at the most successful people, if they are successful enough, read their biographies. If less successful, look at their magazines, or look at their interviews; or even if they are less successful, you know some of them, has their success endured? or has it spoilt? Has it really satisfied them? Has it really brought them from bios to zoe ?? NO! Jesus is the only one that can do that. So, wherever you look to, to bring you from existing to living, Jesus says, it will never give you what you think. It will give you something, the "manna" but it actually will spoil, if you look only what I (Jesus) can give you. And Jesus can give you now. He says, "if you come to me, if you believe in me, you get it now!" That deeper "hunger" begins to be dealt now.
3. It is actually not something that Jesus gives you, it is JESUS Himself. The bread of life is actually not a "thing", but it is a person. He doesn't say I have the bread of life, I can show you the bread of life, or I can take you to where the bread of life is. but HE says "I AM the bread of life." And when He does that, that means uniqueness. It means, if you have faith in Jesus Christ, you are reconciled to God, and you can have the heart satisfaction, nothing else can give you. Now, what is so unique about this? That HE is the bread of life. That makes Christianity unique in 2 ways: philosophically and religiously. All history of philosophy is nothing but a set of footnotes on Plato. But that doesn't mean that Plato himself was so wonderful. What it means is that the original debates among the earliest philosophers - the basic debate - is it the one? or is it the many? It is the general? or Is it the particular? Is truth objective, basically and we just have to confront to it? Or is it subjective and all of us have our own truth? Is truth really abstract and transcendent, and we are all have to align with it no matter what we like always having that kind of "fit ourselves" to it? Or is truth really nuance and subjective, and personal to every individual when everyone has their own truth. See, the problem, of course, is you either have the coal of abstraction and we have to align to it, or else you've got no truth really. Everybody got their own truth. Nothing's binding us. Nothing's uniting us. And Jesus comes and says, "I AM the divine cosmic truth and reality becomes a person, who walks, and laughs, and cries, and dies, and embraces. I AM the objective becomes subjective, the general becomes the particular, the ideal becomes REAL!" The great ultimate absolute becomes a person you can know and love. Secondly, religion. You realize how unique that makes Christianity a religion. Unlike all the other founders, which basically what they says is "I can show you where the bread is. I can take you to the bread. I can show you the way to the bread. I can show you how to get the bread" And in fact, that's true, if Jesus, Himself, is like the rest, then basically salvation is through your effort. You'd find the bread by bang the five pillars, or the Ten Commandments, or the golden rules, or whatever. And it's basically be a crushing burden, because you have to become somebody. But HE doesn't say "I can show you the way to life". HE says, "I AM life." So, when you know me, you get the salvation. You see, that comes out in the very beginning in the part of the tree when they asked Jesus, "What must we do to do the works God requires?" (v.28) Jesus answered, "The work of God is this: to believe in the one he has sent." , means I am the LIFE. If you believe in ME, if you believe I have done the works of God. I have done the works what it required, then you have it when you have ME." Every child can have this. You don't have to become a monk. You don't have to come to stages of consciousness. And therefore salvation is by grace, through something that you receive, it is a gift. And therefore, it makes it absolutely unique.
But how can Jesus give us this?
"I AM the bread of life"
When God comes down on Mt. Sinai, there is the life of God, there is the Glory of God, and the mountain was trembling, shaking, and there is fire, smoke, thunder, lightning, and God says not to touch the mountain, because He is great and we are puny, He is holy and pure, and we are flaws and sinful. So how do we get the life of God in us? It might sound like 'how do we get an elephant in a doll house?' And the answer is "You can't!!" This spiritual hunger, how are we going to get God in us? And the answer is through JESUS! Because there are 2 things in Jesus, which He actually tells us:
1. When He says "I AM the bread of life" refers to infinite greatness. John 8, Jesus's debate with the religious leaders, saying "Before Abraham was, I AM". The people who heard it knew exactly what He meant, for they instantly wanted to kill Him. When Moses asked for God's name, God says "I AM who sent you". God is saying, "I" always "AM", I have the beginning and the end, means nothing stops me, "I" depend on nothing, and everything depends on ME, means "I AM" the source of everything. Outside of every mineral, except salt, dies. Bread can't be eaten, unless you break it. So, it is either the bread, or you. When Jesus Christ says "I am the bread of life" means I am GOD becomes breakable; I am GOD becomes vulnerable. I AM DEFINE POWER becomes accessible to you, because "I" have come to go to the cross, die on the cross for your sins.
Outside of mineral, besides salt, when you looking for something, eating for something, you are looking for substitution, something dies that you could live. And in Jesus Christ, Jesus knew that if HE dies that we would live; and if HE lives then we would die, and so HE died. He is the great I AM that becomes a piece of bread that can be broken. And that is the reason why you and I can have the bread of life as a free gift by grace, and to satisfy us to the bottom.
What does it mean practically?
1. "I AM the bread of life" is not just someone to believe in, but "I" should be your life (food) and your strength, not just something you believe abstractly, and like manna you have to gather and feed on me everyday. And you can't just do it once for 5 years, you can't. You have to do it everyday! Just like the manna. You can't save it up! Every single day you have to take me as your food, and make "ME" your life, and strength, so that "I AM" that is your life, joy, the thing that is making live rather than just exist. Because if you rest your heart in anything else, you are going to constantly find it spoils, for it does not endure. For example, are you worried? Make Jesus your life! As you think about that, you will relax, and HE becomes the reality. It is thru prayer, thru the Word! And you have to do that EVERYDAY!
2. HE is especially important to feed on in the wilderness, like manna. If you now are going through a very difficult time, all your food or joy sources have dried up, all the other things that encourage you, that when you can go to HIM. Sometimes you don't realize that JESUS is all you need, until JESUS is all you have. Sometimes, you don't feed on HIM and just believe in some abstract thing, until you feed on HIM when you have no other food source. It is hard to change your diet. But ultimately, if you turn on HIM, HE will feed you in the wilderness.
3. Do you now see that eternal life is a gift that you can only find it in JESUS CHRIST? HE says, how to feed on him ultimately. In vs. 35, you have to come and you believe. How do you believe in BREAD? That is where the metaphor is in. How do you feed on HIM? How do you get this eternal life? "COME TO ME AND BELIEVE IN ME"(v. 35), and there is no other source.
Friday, March 14, 2014
Monday, February 3, 2014
The Pool (John 5:1-18) - 2/2/2014
By: Tim Keller
John had chosen miracles for the leap of faith. He chose the miracles for they taught things about who Jesus was, and how we connect to Him. This, the healing in the pool of Bethesda, is the third miraculous signs that John wrote. There are 3 symbolism that we can learn from this Scripture, the pool, the man, and the Sabbath.
The Pool
The account of the pool (vs. 1-5) says that there is a pool near the Sheep Gate in Jerusalem, called Bethesda, and is surrounded by five covered colonnades, a roof without wall, supported by colons. There is a superstition attached to this particular place. The belief was that sometimes that the angel of the Lord would come down and stir up the waters, and if you get in there, you can get healed. The way that it's written doesn't show that this is what was happening, but this is what people believed. That's why this particular pool attracted the blinds, the lame, the paralyzed, hoping that they would get healed.
In the 18th or 19th century, that this was not written by John the apostle, nor written by a contemporary witness, it must be a later legend. Why? About one hundred fifty years ago, when historians were looking at this, there was no record of the pool of Bethesda in Jerusalem. Secondly, it said there were 5 porches, which means that there were 5 sides, and no one had ever heard of a pool with 5 sides. So, the historians concluded that this must be written many many years later. A little book by F.F. Bruce, a world renounce historian, says that when they dug the pool, it wasn't a pool that is like pentagon, but it was a pool with 4 basins on the sides, and with 1 on the ridge. So, there were 5 porches. And since the pool was destroyed after Jesus' life, it proved that this was written by an eyewitness history.
If Christianity was like other religions, which say God saves the worthy, who live virtuous lives; and if you look at this account of Jesus, doesn't matter if it really happened, or it was a legend, the point is that Jesus is the "blue print". If you want God's blessing, you need to live like Jesus. Jesus prayed for His enemy, saved others, etc. So how do you get saved? by living like Jesus. So it does not matter whether this story was real or not, because it is HIS life that saves you.
Apostle Paul said that God justifies the ungodly, that is apart from our performance that we're saved by sheer grace, free grace. Jesus said, "I do not come to call those who are righteous, but those who are sinners. It means, we are not saved by our own lives, but HIS. If you want grace, salvation, this had to happened, and it did happen. This story is real.
The Man
This man who was healed, had 3 things that are similar to us. Let's look at who he is, and how he looked at Jesus.
First of all, one who was lying there had been invalid for 38 years. We don't know the reason he was invalid/disabled. We don't know if it was an injury, sickness, or some disability since he was born; we don't know whether he was 60 years old, and if the injury happened when he was in his twenties, we don't know. It says, when Jesus saw he was lying there, HE asked him, "Do you want to get well?" First thing we have to notice is this guy does not come to Jesus, but Jesus's come to him. This invalid man didn't ask Jesus for anything, but Jesus who came and asked the man. HE takes the initiative. This pictures how God deals with people. It is a picture of a principle.
Paul, in Romans 3, says, no one is good; no one seeks for God. When first 10 times reading it, it doesn't seem right, for surely there was someone looking for God, searching spiritually. But what Paul was saying is not that no one searches for God in general, or that no one is reaching out for some kind of spiritual reality. That is not what he is saying. What Paul is saying that the true God in the Bible, the Sovereign God of Mount Sinai, who says "Don't touch the mountain, because I am holy, and you will die", His perfect holiness, His utter glory, and His inscrutable sovereignty. THAT GOD! And nobody likes HIM! And no one seeks that God. And because, accd. to the Bible, the lies of Satan is in our hearts.
Let's go back to Genesis 3, serpent says to Adam and Eve, if you do what God says, you wouldn't be happy; He's going to hold you back; He is going to hold you down; You can do this; You can do that. In another word, here is what Satan was saying, God is a killer; Don't trust God; He's going to kill your happiness. That is the lie of Satan that goes deep inside of our hearts, all of us. If you don't know that that's down there, you don't know your own heart. Deep down in our hearts, is a belief, if I give myself to the God of the Bible, I will not be happy. And therefore, no one seeks for this God. We, either try to remake Him into something else, or revolt or run away from HIM, but no one seeks for HIM, unless HE first comes and seeks us, and opens our eyes, and softens our hearts, and deal with all of our denials, and break through all the sort of illusions, and blindness, and mistakes, and false understanding. And that is why John 6:44 "No one can come to me unless the Father draws him." 1John 4, we love HIM, because He first loves us.
None of us would already have gone to HIM, unless HE's already coming and trying to help us find HIM.
If you want to pray, and thinking if God actually hears me; you wouldn't have that desire to pray unless HE was the one who was actually prompting you. That is the principle. So you have wonderful hopes of being heard. You wouldn't want to turn to HIM for anything, unless HE is already working on your heart. Because that is the way our hearts are. This is the first thing we learned from the man, that we love Him only because HE first loves us.
Secondly, when Jesus came to the man, the man said, "Sir, I have no one to help me into the pool when the water is stirred. While I am trying to get it, someone else goes down ahead of me." This implies, "OK Jesus, whoever you are, you can help me. Help me when the water is stirred, get me into the pool." What the man was saying is, "My salvation is in the pool. And I'll be happy to partner with you to find my salvation." Let's submit that we start with Jesus in this way. And actually we are almost always falling back into this approach. For example, the reason we come to church, or come to Christ, is something is going wrong in our lives. Something that we have our hopes in is letting us down; such as, Mr. Right or Miss Right that would make everything right, but didn't go right; or problem with our career; and things that we thought would make our lives significant, and secure, but not happening. So we go to Jesus, get religious, and ask Jesus "help me into the pool". So we would be happy to work with Jesus if He would help us to get to our salvation. Plenty of people go to the ministry, why? to serve Jesus, yea..! but also to feel important. So it's just like to use Jesus to get us into the water, than to serve HIM, which are 2 utterly different things.
In Psalm 43:4, David calls God, "My Joy". Try that in a week, when you pray to God, not just "Father,... Lord Almighty...." but "My Joy... " It doesn't feel right at first, because we basically pray, "Oh Father, please get me my joy.. I need this and this and this..."and then I have a joyful life - instead of You are my Joy. It is in You. I don't need to get into the water. You are my salvation, my joy, my life.
But Jesus says in this situation says, "No, I'm not taking you into the water. I am the water." "Get up! Pick up your mat and walk." The man is immediately cured. But let's see how he response. This is not what we expect. When he lifted up his mat, he immediately ran to the authorities, and he scared for the Jewish leaders saying "the law of the Sabbath forbids you to carry your mat." He scared that they may do bad things to him. So he immediately says, "some guy told me to do it." This is like Adam and Eve. God comes to Adam, "Did you eat the fruit Adam?" Adam says, "She made me do it." then Eve says, "The serpent, that YOU made, made me do it." That is what that man was doing. What is intriguing and little disappointing, Jesus is not seeking physical healing, but He wants your soul healed. It is not like in John 9, when the blind man was healed, and then the man says "I believe!" and he defends Jesus to the authorities. But this man was not like that, after blaming Jesus, and saw Jesus in the temple again, Jesus called the man to convert spiritually, not just be physically healed. We are not sure what caused the man to be crippled, but it does not matter. All that matters, Jesus called the man spiritually, but he does not answer. All we know that the man ran away and informs the authorities that he won't be in trouble by the Jewish leaders.
In the Bible, there aren't any good people, like Abraham's sin, Sarah's, Rebecca's, Jacob and Esau, David, Jonah,... etc. There is no good guys. The Bible should be a series of moral stories in which people are lifting up to living the way they should. It should be a series of moral exemplars here, so that we can be inspired to live the way we have to live. Then, you completely misunderstood the theme of the Bible. The theme of the Bible is not that God saves the worthy, and here is how to be worthy. The reason you have all these flowed people, all of moral midgets, terrible stories, is because people is basically not doing what God says, and when they got helped, they are not responding, and those people seeking the grace of God they don't appreciate it once they get it. Because salvation is by grace! No body seeks the grace of God. No body appreciates the grace of God.
The Sabbath
The controversy, because the man was carrying on the Sabbath, and he's fingering Jesus. One thing that Jesus could say was that there is not one thing in the actual Hebrews scripture that forbids you carrying the mat. So we are not violating the Sabbath. We are only violating your ecumenical rules to the level of Scriptures. But HE doesn't do that.
The Rabbi says that there is only one that can work on the Sabbath, which is God. So Jesus says, "Right! and I am". And vs. 18, that He was making Himself equal with God. And in other situations, He said that HE is the LORD of the Sabbath. That The Sabbath is pointing into something which is REST. When God rested in the 6th day, it doesn't mean that He was tired. He was satisfied, and He was at peace with what He's done. He was enjoying what He has done. When we take a day off on Sabbath, and we got physically restored, which is good, but that's only a symbol of real REST. Real rest is the rest of the soul. It is possible to take a day off to rest for your body, but deep down inside you are resting from the work under the work. Cultures know this, even though you are doing physical work, but actually what you are doing is to please your family. You're trying to lift up your family expectation. You are trying to make your family proud of you. In western culture, even though we are working, what we are actually trying to do is to create self esteem, to feel good about ourselves, money, smart, well-off, thin. We are trying to justify ourselves. That is the work under the work. Just like the guy in the movie Chariots of Fire, when the guy who's a runner, honestly says, "when the gun goes off , I have 10 seconds to justify my existence." So if you can't rest the work under the work, you will always feel exhausted, no matter how many days you take off.
And when Jesus died on the cross, Jesus says that "it is finished." What is finished? The work. He fulfill all the requirements of God that all who believe in Him can know that in Jesus Christ, God loves you, and accepts you, and delights in you, and therefore Jesus Christ completed the work that you and I are going to do unless we rest in HIM. (Hebrews 4). When you stop trying to earn and be worthy, and rest in what God has done in Jesus Christ, rest in His love for you in Jesus.
Why Jesus says "Come to me all who are laboring and heavy leaden, and I will give you rest." Grace and rest, that was the signs speak to us.
John had chosen miracles for the leap of faith. He chose the miracles for they taught things about who Jesus was, and how we connect to Him. This, the healing in the pool of Bethesda, is the third miraculous signs that John wrote. There are 3 symbolism that we can learn from this Scripture, the pool, the man, and the Sabbath.
The Pool
The account of the pool (vs. 1-5) says that there is a pool near the Sheep Gate in Jerusalem, called Bethesda, and is surrounded by five covered colonnades, a roof without wall, supported by colons. There is a superstition attached to this particular place. The belief was that sometimes that the angel of the Lord would come down and stir up the waters, and if you get in there, you can get healed. The way that it's written doesn't show that this is what was happening, but this is what people believed. That's why this particular pool attracted the blinds, the lame, the paralyzed, hoping that they would get healed.
In the 18th or 19th century, that this was not written by John the apostle, nor written by a contemporary witness, it must be a later legend. Why? About one hundred fifty years ago, when historians were looking at this, there was no record of the pool of Bethesda in Jerusalem. Secondly, it said there were 5 porches, which means that there were 5 sides, and no one had ever heard of a pool with 5 sides. So, the historians concluded that this must be written many many years later. A little book by F.F. Bruce, a world renounce historian, says that when they dug the pool, it wasn't a pool that is like pentagon, but it was a pool with 4 basins on the sides, and with 1 on the ridge. So, there were 5 porches. And since the pool was destroyed after Jesus' life, it proved that this was written by an eyewitness history.
If Christianity was like other religions, which say God saves the worthy, who live virtuous lives; and if you look at this account of Jesus, doesn't matter if it really happened, or it was a legend, the point is that Jesus is the "blue print". If you want God's blessing, you need to live like Jesus. Jesus prayed for His enemy, saved others, etc. So how do you get saved? by living like Jesus. So it does not matter whether this story was real or not, because it is HIS life that saves you.
Apostle Paul said that God justifies the ungodly, that is apart from our performance that we're saved by sheer grace, free grace. Jesus said, "I do not come to call those who are righteous, but those who are sinners. It means, we are not saved by our own lives, but HIS. If you want grace, salvation, this had to happened, and it did happen. This story is real.
The Man
This man who was healed, had 3 things that are similar to us. Let's look at who he is, and how he looked at Jesus.
First of all, one who was lying there had been invalid for 38 years. We don't know the reason he was invalid/disabled. We don't know if it was an injury, sickness, or some disability since he was born; we don't know whether he was 60 years old, and if the injury happened when he was in his twenties, we don't know. It says, when Jesus saw he was lying there, HE asked him, "Do you want to get well?" First thing we have to notice is this guy does not come to Jesus, but Jesus's come to him. This invalid man didn't ask Jesus for anything, but Jesus who came and asked the man. HE takes the initiative. This pictures how God deals with people. It is a picture of a principle.
Paul, in Romans 3, says, no one is good; no one seeks for God. When first 10 times reading it, it doesn't seem right, for surely there was someone looking for God, searching spiritually. But what Paul was saying is not that no one searches for God in general, or that no one is reaching out for some kind of spiritual reality. That is not what he is saying. What Paul is saying that the true God in the Bible, the Sovereign God of Mount Sinai, who says "Don't touch the mountain, because I am holy, and you will die", His perfect holiness, His utter glory, and His inscrutable sovereignty. THAT GOD! And nobody likes HIM! And no one seeks that God. And because, accd. to the Bible, the lies of Satan is in our hearts.
Let's go back to Genesis 3, serpent says to Adam and Eve, if you do what God says, you wouldn't be happy; He's going to hold you back; He is going to hold you down; You can do this; You can do that. In another word, here is what Satan was saying, God is a killer; Don't trust God; He's going to kill your happiness. That is the lie of Satan that goes deep inside of our hearts, all of us. If you don't know that that's down there, you don't know your own heart. Deep down in our hearts, is a belief, if I give myself to the God of the Bible, I will not be happy. And therefore, no one seeks for this God. We, either try to remake Him into something else, or revolt or run away from HIM, but no one seeks for HIM, unless HE first comes and seeks us, and opens our eyes, and softens our hearts, and deal with all of our denials, and break through all the sort of illusions, and blindness, and mistakes, and false understanding. And that is why John 6:44 "No one can come to me unless the Father draws him." 1John 4, we love HIM, because He first loves us.
None of us would already have gone to HIM, unless HE's already coming and trying to help us find HIM.
If you want to pray, and thinking if God actually hears me; you wouldn't have that desire to pray unless HE was the one who was actually prompting you. That is the principle. So you have wonderful hopes of being heard. You wouldn't want to turn to HIM for anything, unless HE is already working on your heart. Because that is the way our hearts are. This is the first thing we learned from the man, that we love Him only because HE first loves us.
Secondly, when Jesus came to the man, the man said, "Sir, I have no one to help me into the pool when the water is stirred. While I am trying to get it, someone else goes down ahead of me." This implies, "OK Jesus, whoever you are, you can help me. Help me when the water is stirred, get me into the pool." What the man was saying is, "My salvation is in the pool. And I'll be happy to partner with you to find my salvation." Let's submit that we start with Jesus in this way. And actually we are almost always falling back into this approach. For example, the reason we come to church, or come to Christ, is something is going wrong in our lives. Something that we have our hopes in is letting us down; such as, Mr. Right or Miss Right that would make everything right, but didn't go right; or problem with our career; and things that we thought would make our lives significant, and secure, but not happening. So we go to Jesus, get religious, and ask Jesus "help me into the pool". So we would be happy to work with Jesus if He would help us to get to our salvation. Plenty of people go to the ministry, why? to serve Jesus, yea..! but also to feel important. So it's just like to use Jesus to get us into the water, than to serve HIM, which are 2 utterly different things.
In Psalm 43:4, David calls God, "My Joy". Try that in a week, when you pray to God, not just "Father,... Lord Almighty...." but "My Joy... " It doesn't feel right at first, because we basically pray, "Oh Father, please get me my joy.. I need this and this and this..."and then I have a joyful life - instead of You are my Joy. It is in You. I don't need to get into the water. You are my salvation, my joy, my life.
But Jesus says in this situation says, "No, I'm not taking you into the water. I am the water." "Get up! Pick up your mat and walk." The man is immediately cured. But let's see how he response. This is not what we expect. When he lifted up his mat, he immediately ran to the authorities, and he scared for the Jewish leaders saying "the law of the Sabbath forbids you to carry your mat." He scared that they may do bad things to him. So he immediately says, "some guy told me to do it." This is like Adam and Eve. God comes to Adam, "Did you eat the fruit Adam?" Adam says, "She made me do it." then Eve says, "The serpent, that YOU made, made me do it." That is what that man was doing. What is intriguing and little disappointing, Jesus is not seeking physical healing, but He wants your soul healed. It is not like in John 9, when the blind man was healed, and then the man says "I believe!" and he defends Jesus to the authorities. But this man was not like that, after blaming Jesus, and saw Jesus in the temple again, Jesus called the man to convert spiritually, not just be physically healed. We are not sure what caused the man to be crippled, but it does not matter. All that matters, Jesus called the man spiritually, but he does not answer. All we know that the man ran away and informs the authorities that he won't be in trouble by the Jewish leaders.
In the Bible, there aren't any good people, like Abraham's sin, Sarah's, Rebecca's, Jacob and Esau, David, Jonah,... etc. There is no good guys. The Bible should be a series of moral stories in which people are lifting up to living the way they should. It should be a series of moral exemplars here, so that we can be inspired to live the way we have to live. Then, you completely misunderstood the theme of the Bible. The theme of the Bible is not that God saves the worthy, and here is how to be worthy. The reason you have all these flowed people, all of moral midgets, terrible stories, is because people is basically not doing what God says, and when they got helped, they are not responding, and those people seeking the grace of God they don't appreciate it once they get it. Because salvation is by grace! No body seeks the grace of God. No body appreciates the grace of God.
The Sabbath
The controversy, because the man was carrying on the Sabbath, and he's fingering Jesus. One thing that Jesus could say was that there is not one thing in the actual Hebrews scripture that forbids you carrying the mat. So we are not violating the Sabbath. We are only violating your ecumenical rules to the level of Scriptures. But HE doesn't do that.
The Rabbi says that there is only one that can work on the Sabbath, which is God. So Jesus says, "Right! and I am". And vs. 18, that He was making Himself equal with God. And in other situations, He said that HE is the LORD of the Sabbath. That The Sabbath is pointing into something which is REST. When God rested in the 6th day, it doesn't mean that He was tired. He was satisfied, and He was at peace with what He's done. He was enjoying what He has done. When we take a day off on Sabbath, and we got physically restored, which is good, but that's only a symbol of real REST. Real rest is the rest of the soul. It is possible to take a day off to rest for your body, but deep down inside you are resting from the work under the work. Cultures know this, even though you are doing physical work, but actually what you are doing is to please your family. You're trying to lift up your family expectation. You are trying to make your family proud of you. In western culture, even though we are working, what we are actually trying to do is to create self esteem, to feel good about ourselves, money, smart, well-off, thin. We are trying to justify ourselves. That is the work under the work. Just like the guy in the movie Chariots of Fire, when the guy who's a runner, honestly says, "when the gun goes off , I have 10 seconds to justify my existence." So if you can't rest the work under the work, you will always feel exhausted, no matter how many days you take off.
And when Jesus died on the cross, Jesus says that "it is finished." What is finished? The work. He fulfill all the requirements of God that all who believe in Him can know that in Jesus Christ, God loves you, and accepts you, and delights in you, and therefore Jesus Christ completed the work that you and I are going to do unless we rest in HIM. (Hebrews 4). When you stop trying to earn and be worthy, and rest in what God has done in Jesus Christ, rest in His love for you in Jesus.
Why Jesus says "Come to me all who are laboring and heavy leaden, and I will give you rest." Grace and rest, that was the signs speak to us.
Sunday, January 6, 2013
The Gate and The Beggar
(Redeemer , 1/6/2013)
Acts 3:2-8; 13-23 : THE FIRST MIRACLE - The Gospel in The City
The gate is called “Beautiful”. And a beggar was lame from
birth and being carried to the temple gate. When he saw Peter and John, he
begged them for money. But Peter replied, “Look at us! Silver or gold I do not
have, but what I have I give you. In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth,
walk!” Then he instantly got strong and walked, and praised God.
This beggar felt the beauty of God, since he was lame. And he knew he was lame. But did he expect to walk again when he met
Peter and John? My guess is he only expected to receive a little sympathy from them
and give him some change. But when he received healing instead, he was praising
God. He was walking and jumping.
It is just like what C.S. Lewis said in his book,
“Imagine yourself a living house. [You ask God to make some repairs.] At first…he is getting the drains right and stopping the leaks in the roof and so on…But presently he starts knocking the house about in a way that hurts abominably and does not seem to make sense. What on earth is he up to? The explanation is that He is building quite a different house from the one you thought of…. You thought you were going to be made into a decent little cottage: but HE is building a palace” (Mere Christianity, Ch. 9)
Often, even almost always think that the current live is quite alright, probably just need a little fix here and there when problems come. We try our best to fix what is bothering us at that moment. But as time goes by, some problem remains, and we don’t care much about it. Especially when sometimes it doesn’t bother us anymore, though it’s still there. It seems okay, and manageable to live with it. Some people say, “time will fix everything”, “Nothing is perfect.” But does it really go away by itself as time goes? Or is it just miracle that God did, and suddenly problem disappeared ,then “THANK GOD”? The later will seem to bring us more into confusion than understanding. However, it doesn’t mean that miracles that God did in our Lord Jesus Christ are not true. I believe those miracles really happened for God’s mercy and grace towards humankind, and God’s compassion toward his creations. And only those who know how broken we are, will be able to feel HIS beauty. It is only thru humility, realizing how sick we are, we can truly know how to praise God. We are a total broken being, and only thru God’s mercy alone that we have seen in Jesus Christ, from His miracles He performed, all the way to His dead, as Jesus was torn into pieces; His body was literally broken. That we, who believe in HIM, may live again through His brokenness. What does it mean? Something more to meditate.
“Imagine yourself a living house. [You ask God to make some repairs.] At first…he is getting the drains right and stopping the leaks in the roof and so on…But presently he starts knocking the house about in a way that hurts abominably and does not seem to make sense. What on earth is he up to? The explanation is that He is building quite a different house from the one you thought of…. You thought you were going to be made into a decent little cottage: but HE is building a palace” (Mere Christianity, Ch. 9)
Often, even almost always think that the current live is quite alright, probably just need a little fix here and there when problems come. We try our best to fix what is bothering us at that moment. But as time goes by, some problem remains, and we don’t care much about it. Especially when sometimes it doesn’t bother us anymore, though it’s still there. It seems okay, and manageable to live with it. Some people say, “time will fix everything”, “Nothing is perfect.” But does it really go away by itself as time goes? Or is it just miracle that God did, and suddenly problem disappeared ,then “THANK GOD”? The later will seem to bring us more into confusion than understanding. However, it doesn’t mean that miracles that God did in our Lord Jesus Christ are not true. I believe those miracles really happened for God’s mercy and grace towards humankind, and God’s compassion toward his creations. And only those who know how broken we are, will be able to feel HIS beauty. It is only thru humility, realizing how sick we are, we can truly know how to praise God. We are a total broken being, and only thru God’s mercy alone that we have seen in Jesus Christ, from His miracles He performed, all the way to His dead, as Jesus was torn into pieces; His body was literally broken. That we, who believe in HIM, may live again through His brokenness. What does it mean? Something more to meditate.
Soli Deo Gloria.
Wednesday, May 30, 2012
Judging Others (Luke 6:37-42)
Judging - related to tell right and wrong
Condemn - related to punishment Judging and condemning are usually coming from feeling being offended, so Luke relate this topic to "forgiveness".
-Matthew 7:1-6
-John 8:4-11
Where a prostitute was brought to Jesus to be stoned, Jesus said "If any one of you is without sin, let him be the first to throw a stone at her." Because this case is the same as a blind man trying to judge others.
Condemn - related to punishment Judging and condemning are usually coming from feeling being offended, so Luke relate this topic to "forgiveness".
-Matthew 7:1-6
-John 8:4-11
Where a prostitute was brought to Jesus to be stoned, Jesus said "If any one of you is without sin, let him be the first to throw a stone at her." Because this case is the same as a blind man trying to judge others.
Wednesday, February 8, 2012
Jesus heals a paralytic
Luke 5:17-26; Matthew 9:1-8; Mark 2:1-12
The uniqueness from each author perspectives:
The uniqueness from each author perspectives:
- Luke and Mark mentioned in details how the paralytic was brought to Jesus, by opening up the roof above Jesus.
- Mark mentioned there were 4 people carrying the paralytic, but Matthew and Luke only said "some men".
- Matthew mentioned that "Jesus came to His own town." ; Mark specified the name of the town, which is Capernaum.
- Matthew and Mark wrote, Jesus addressed the paralytic as "son". However, Luke wrote that Jesus called him "friend". (NIV) -- friend = philos (Greek)
Passages in Old Testament that show God can forgive:
- Psa_78:38 Yet he was merciful;
he forgave their iniquities
and did not destroy them.
Time after time he restrained his anger
and did not stir up his full wrath.
- Mic_7:18 Who is a God like you,
who pardons sin and forgives the transgression
of the remnant of his inheritance?
You do not stay angry forever
but delight to show mercy.
- Jer_31:34 No longer will a man teach his neighbor,
or a man his brother, saying, 'Know the LORD,'
because they will all know me,
from the least of them to the greatest,"
declares the LORD.
"For I will forgive their wickedness
and will remember their sins no more."
Wednesday, December 21, 2011
Matthew 6:19-24 ---Treasures in Heaven
"The eye is the lamp of the body" -- eye, means the eye of your mind.
Thursday, November 17, 2011
How to overcome my selfishness?
Selfless heart brings forgiveness to others
How to overcome selfishness? How to avoid becoming a selfish person? The answer to these questions is simply avoiding “self-flesh-ness”. Yes, you’ve heard it right… don’t be self-flesh. Be a more spiritual man instead of a material person. Become more heavenly rather than earthly. Become a spirit over your body.
How to overcome selfishness? How to avoid becoming a selfish person? The answer to these questions is simply avoiding “self-flesh-ness”. Yes, you’ve heard it right… don’t be self-flesh. Be a more spiritual man instead of a material person. Become more heavenly rather than earthly. Become a spirit over your body.
People become selfish because of their love on the things of the flesh. The flesh desires the things that are not eternal. These things give rise to greed, iniquity and selfishness. If you will ask why a person becomes selfish, you will find out that what makes him that is his love of money, lust and fame. A man, who puts his heart on money and the like, will not care to do charity, humility and equality. This is because these good virtues will surely take away his material possessions. And because he loves his material possessions, he will certainly protect, defend and will sacrifice things just to not lose them.
One reason why we can’t easily get out from selfishness is that our mind, heart and soul are attached to our flesh – our body. Whether we like it or not, we need to eat, we need to drink, we need to have a shelter and we need to have money to exchange for those things. We are created with the materials that come from the Earth itself. Our body is composed of earthy materials, such as the nutrients and minerals that we usually consumed out from the food we eat. However, we don’t need to detach our spirits away from our body. We simply need to overcome our body, instead of being its slave.
The main reason why we can’t escape from selfishness is that we are weak to defeat it. We are weak because we don’t understand the spiritual things. We don’t understand them because we don’t practice them constantly. We don’t practice love, kindness and self-control in a consistent manner. Rather, we are stuck in practicing the demands of our flesh, such as greed and envy. If we will always practice the acts of the flesh, we become spiritually weak. Hence, if you want to become spiritually strong, always practice the acts of the spirit, just like your regular routine of exercise.
To become selfless instead of becoming selfish, you need to become more spiritual. Imagine if your heart is set on the heavenly things. Imagine if the intentions of your soul is on the spiritual things, such as love, compassion, generosity, kindness, joy, humility, forgiveness and peace. Will you become selfish? Will you become iniquitous?
To effectively overcome selfishness and self-fleshness, we must practice the more difficult spiritual acts. One of them is practicing grace. Grace is harder because it is more than justice. It is the act of giving people even if they don’t deserve it. It is the practice of forgiving people, even if they don’t warrant it. If you can be gracious, how much more can you become generous? If you can give people more than they deserve, how much more can you give those that they deserve? If you become selfless, how much more an unselfish?
Grace is a great act; it can only be done by a person who has a virtue of love. Therefore, if you want to conquer the selfishness in you, practice love, practice grace, and practice the great spiritual acts until you become spiritually stronger – stronger enough to control your flesh and overcome selfishness.
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