John 7

The Jews have three pilgrimage festivals every year, meaning that all the Jews living outisde of the city were required to come in to the city for these festivals. John 7 takes place during one of these festivals, the festival of Booths. Jesus, like all other Jews, goes in to town for the festival and ends up teaching in the temple.

The town is full of people, and so is the temple. The people listening in the temple are amazed at what Jesus had to say, they say to him "You have a demon!" (Verse 20)

Jesus was in the temple, talking to the religious people, and they thought he was possessed by a demon. They had created a religion that worked for them, and they had created a God that worked for them. They were not interested in hearing anything different.

The world was not ready for Jesus when he came; they were not ready to hear what he had to say. They thought they knew all the answers and they had no interest in listening to the ramblings of a peasant from Galilee. They thought he must have been sent from the devil to try and trick the religious people.

The world is upside down when the religious people can look God in the face and think he's from satan.

The world is upside down the minute that religious people think they have all the answers. When we think we know it all, we claim to have figured out God. Any god we fully understand is a god that we have created. And any opposition to the god we create must come from the devil, right?

Truth is, God is bigger than we can comprehend. We will never fully understand God in this life, but we can seek Him and know Him a little more every day.

The first step to knowing God more is admitting that we Christians don't have all the answers.

Then again, maybe we're still not ready for Jesus to come.

John 6

John tells us the story of Jesus feeding 5,000 people, just like the other gospels. But John adds something that isn't found in any of the other gospels; after the 5,000 were fed they wanted to make Jesus the king, but he withdrew to the mountain before they could get to him. The text actually says they were going to "take him by force to make him king." (Verse 15)

Jesus ran away before his movement became a political rebellion. The Jews already had a king, his name was Herod. But Herod wasn't really in charge, the Romans were. Making Jesus the king meant that there would be a civil war between the Jews and a war with the Romans. It would have been a bloody mess.

So Jesus gets out of there, he did not come to be a politician, or start a war.

He did not come to be a king, he came to be The King.

It was hard for his followers to understand; it is still hard to understand. Jesus has no interest in a kingdom of dirt and a castle of rock... He is interested in our hearts. Jesus doesn't rule a land, he rules a people.

The people wanted to take him by force to be the king... While most kings take their subjects by force.  Jesus isn't interested in either. Jesus doesn't rule with a fist or a sword, he rules with love. He doesn't force anyone to love him, yet he loves all of us to the point of death.

Jesus didn't kill others to become a king, he died to become The King.

And he died for you.

John 5

Jesus meets a man that is lying on a mat because he has been sick for 38 years. Jesus asked him, “Do you want to be made well?” The man gives Jesus a list of reasons why he has not been made well; Jesus just finally tells him to get up. The man is immediately healed; he gets up and walks away with his mat.

The Jewish authorities are enraged because Jesus healed him on the Sabbath. They actually think that Jesus was a bad guy for doing what he did. Jesus didn’t just heal him… Jesus gave him his life back.

The Jewish authorities completely missed the point!

The Sabbath is a day to rest, reflect, and honor God. Telling others what they can and can’t do is not honoring God; it is claiming God’s authority as your own. Someone asked me the other day what my opinion on gay marriage is. I said, “I don’t have one.” Why do I have a right to tell two people they can or can’t get married? Where did I get the authority to say? I didn’t ask society for its permission when I married Michelle.

When we start telling people what they can and can’t do, we run the risk of looking God in the face and condemning Him for His ungodly actions.

As a pastor, I will be happy to tell you what the bible says. As a Lutheran, I will be happy to tell you what the ELCA believes. As a Christian, I will be happy to tell you that we are sinners and that God has forgiven us.

But as a person created in God’s own image, I will not tell another person created in God’s image what they can and can’t do, that is God’s job... and the cops.

And I trust in both, unless I'm the one going 5 over the speed limit.   

John 4

When I was in seventh grade, I was kind of an idiot. Actually most of the kids I went to middle school with were idiots. We would do stupid things and think they were funny. One of the things we would do is slam shut the lockers of other students after they opened them. We'd walk down the hall and think we were cool. We did it to everyone.

One day I did it to a girl that rode my bus, her name was Catherine. Unfortunately, when I slammed her locker shut, her finger got caught in the seam. The locker closed and locked, and her finger was stuck... It was crushed. She started screaming and crying. I ran back to her, she told me her combination and I was able to re-open her locker, but the damage had been done. I felt terrible.

The who school knew what I had done. I was ashamed and embarrassed. I wanted to disappear.

John 4 is the story of Jesus meeting a woman at the well. She was there at noon, when no one else was there. Everyone else went to the well in the morning and at night, when it wasn't so hot. She went at noon, during the hottest part of the day, because she didn't want anyone to see her.

She had been married five times, and was living with a man that she wasn't married to. She had a reputation, people must have pointed at her, and hurled insults at her. She was too embarrassed to come to the well when everyone else was there. I can relate to how she felt.

She must have been surprised to see Jesus there. Maybe she was worried about what he might say to her, but she probably hoped he would just ignore her. Instead he asks her for a drink of water.

He doesn't preach to her or condemn her, but he hasks her for help. He doesn't come across as self-righteous, but he treats her as a human being, he treats her as an equal. He is kind to her.

I think at times in our lives we know what it's like to be this woman, we know what it feels like to be embarrassed and ashamed. In those times Jesus is not ashamed to be our friend.

I pray that I'm never ashamed to be a friend.  

John 3

I remember where I was on Spetember 11th, 2001. I was sleeping in my bed at my parent's house when my mom came and woke me up. She said there was something on the television that I needed to see. I have to admit, I was pretty annoyed that she woke me up. I had a late class the night before and planned on sleeping in. I'm ashamed to admit that I was annoyed.

I made it downstairs just in time to see the second plane hit, and both towers fall soon after that. I thought to myself that this was the kind of stuff that was only seen in movies. I couldn't believe what was happening right before our eyes. I still can't believe it.

John 3:16 "For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life."

The verse that everyone knows, it has been on the eye black of football players, on signs in stadiums and everywhere this guy went.

The part of this verse that is the hardest to grasp is that "God so loved the world." It leads to questions like: If God loves the world how could this have happened? Does it mean God loves everyone that lives here? What about the terrorists flying the planes?

I follow Ricky Gervais on twitter. Some of you may know him, he is a world famous comedian and an atheist. Someone tweeted Ricky this morning, asking him not to talk about his Atheism today out of respect for the 9/11 tragedy. His response was, "We all saw what happened when religion got involved."

His response made me mad... because it was true. Religious devotion motivated the terrorists to kill thousands of people. Religious devotion led to hatred.

But that was their religion, the Islamic fundamentalists on the other side of the world. Our religion does not lead to hatred. Or does it?

The truth is, religion is flawed because we are flawed. We have all failed in one key area... No religion has loved the world. Only God is big enought to love the world.

Yes Ricky, religion got involved and it was a terrible day.

I'm just wondering if anyone has told you what happened when God got involved? It too was a terrible day when an innocent man died. But in the end love won, and it always will.

John 2

Jesus is at a wedding with his disciples and his mother. The party planners run out of wine, so the party is over right? Nope. Jesus' mother, Mary, looks at him and says "They have no more wine." Jesus responds by saying "Why do you involve me?" Basically he says, "I don't care, it's not my problem." Mary ignores Jesus, looks to the servant at the party and says "Do whatever he tells you." Jesus then turns water into wine so the party can continue.

I love the conversation between Jesus and Mary. She tells him to do something and he says no. She just ignores him and makes him do it.

Jesus was human, he had a mom that would make him do things. At times I'm sure he felt she was just nagging him, but he did what his mom told him to because he didn't have a choice. I wonder if Mary ever said to him, "I brought you into this world and I can take you out of it!"

Sometimes I feel bad for Mary. She was responsible for raising the Son of God and the savior of mankind. She had to be the mother to God incarnate, but at the same time he was her blood, her baby boy. She had to punish him and wash his dirty diapers... And she had to watch him die like a criminal.

None of us are Jesus and we don't have Mary as a mother. (Your mother's name might be Mary, but I promise she wasn't a virgin when you were born.)  If your mom is anything like mine, she has not always had it easy raising you. The least we can do is love her in return.

If you had a good mom, you could help her, call her, cherish her.

If your mom wasn't a very good mom, you can forgive her.

If your mom has passed on, you can remember the good times, and tell those stories.

It's not always easy, but it's not like we are being asked to turn water into wine.  

John 1

Verse 29: The next day John (the Baptist) saw Jesus coming toward him and said, “Look, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!"

This may be the most radical verse in all the bible. This statement is just as radical today as it was 2,000 years ago for three reasons.

First, Jesus forgives your sins. Not just your sins against God, but your sins against everyone on the planet. If you steal from someone, Jesus forgives you... If you murder someone, Jesus forgives you... If you <fill in the blank>, Jesus forgives you. But, if you steal from me, or murder me, I feel like it should be up to me if you are forgiven... Nope, Jesus has the power to forgive the things we do each other. By claiming that he can forgive sins, he was either a lunatic or the Son of God. (Note: If you murder me, I am going to be really mad at you!)

Second, Jesus doesn't just forgive you, he forgives the sins of "the world." It doesn't say he forgives the sins of those who repent, or just the sins of Christians, it says the sins of "the world." Meaning Jesus forgives the sins of those who don't believe, he even forgives the sins of those who hate the church. There are no exceptions... "The world" means everyone! No person, no matter how self-righteous they are, can condemn another because all are forgiven.

Finally, not only are our sins forgiven, the text says that Jesus took them away... They are gone. God does not see our sins when He looks at the world because they are gone, they have been taken away and will never return. We are the ones that hold on to our sin, not God. We harbor anger towards those that have sinned against us or we carry guilt around like a suitcase full of bricks. We have trouble letting go of the things that God has already taken away. (Not to say letting things go is an easy process, but it is a worthwhile one.) 

Maybe this isn't radical to you, but it is to me. I pray that you claim the entire forgiveness of all your sins... Know that you are forgiven, because you are loved.