Faith

Temple Tantrums- 4th Week of Lent- Saturday-John 7:40-53

So here is the Pharisaic logic; if the Pharisees or the authorities do not believe in Jesus then the believing crowds who do, are accursed. This sounds more like sour grapes, or perhaps bitter ones. So intense is the bitterness, that anyone who remotely defended Jesus incurred the wrath of the Pharisees.

It was now confrontation time and no longer were the Pharisees willing to sit around like ‘sheep with a secret sorrow’, they had turned into ‘bulls in a china shop’ tearing down any one who remotely supported Jesus. Nothing would stop their anger and if there was no stone in sight to stone Him they might have even torn down the temple themselves, to gather stones.

So am I exaggerating? Absolutely not! In the gospel of John, the plot to kill Jesus thickens. Today’s gospel highlights one of those many incidents. We are in the temple; that would give you location. It is the seventh day, the last day of the festival of tabernacles; that would give you occasion. The temple was obviously full and Jesus picks the moment.

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Faith

Know Jesus, Know Peace! – 4th Week of Lent- Friday- John 7:1-2, 10, 25-30

So here is a twenty first century observation that has not changed since Jesus first uttered these words. “You know me and also know where I am from. But the one who sent me, whom you do not know, is true.” In short Jesus is telling us that we know ABOUT HIM (hopefully) but OF HIM OR THE FATHER, PERHAPS WE KNOW NOTHING.

Jesus never minced words and perhaps because we live in a ‘positively affirmed’ society we don’t like ‘negative stokes’. Should we spiritually spare the rod and spoil the child? Not so for the Lord! When the Jews needed to be confronted, He did not hold back. So, have we exalted the notion of the ‘sweet heart of Jesus’ and smothered the reality of Jesus in the temple, whip in hand; and for that matter done the same with today’s text?

Let me place today’s text in context. The first thing you will notice is that verses 3-9 and 11- 24 are not included. So let me fill you in. Jesus has left Jerusalem for Galilee as the Jews sought to kill Him. From the text, it seems clear, that they were seeking ‘any’ opportunity to kill Him. We are told that the eight day long Jewish festival of Tabernacles was near. It is here that our saga of ‘knowing’ and ‘unknowing’ begins.

It is clear that ‘His brothers’ know ‘about Him’ but don’t ‘know him’. The brothers of Jesus want Him to go to Jerusalem so that His ‘works may be seen’. Clearly they wanted to bask in His glory and popularity, something akin to the secular world’s demands. Scripture tells us that sadly even His brothers did not believe Him (verse 5).

When Jesus does join the festivities in Jerusalem, He does so privately, for He seeks not His glory. We are told He arrives somewhere in the middle of the festival and bang smack in a divided opinion of Him. Some were ‘complaining about Him’, some said He was ‘a good man’, some more called Him ‘a deceiver’; a word which translates as ‘satan’.

To discredit Him, (and this brings us to the main portion of today’s text) the Jews seek to ‘expose’ His lineage. They want to reveal what they ‘know about him’! “They know the physical location of His hometown and they know ‘about Him’ yet they don’t know Him or the Father” and He states this plainly.

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Art/ Heritage

BEYOND THE OBVIOUS: the Glory of Jesus as expressed by the Genius of Giotto in the ‘The Resurrection of Lazarus’ ; a frescos he painted inside the Arena or Scrovegni Chapel located in Padua, Italy

The story of art has been ruled by great artist like Leonardo Da Vinci, Michelangelo, Raphael, Botticelli etc. but the influence they sought as a ‘father figure’ began his life as a shepherd boy. He used his brush to bring the Bible to life and made art more natural, more real. His name was Giotto. Regarded as the ‘Father of the Renaissance’, Ambrogiotto (Little Ambrose) was born in Tuscany in 1267.

Legend states that while tending sheep, Giotto would sketch on a sharp stone. His nature based drawings were so spectacular that it caught the attention of Cimabue, the then famous, ‘bull headed’ artist. With his father’s consent, Cimabue carried off the boy to Florence to be his apprentice. However he was not spared of the young boy’s banter. When Cimabue was absent, Giotto painted a lifelike fly on the face of the painting which was so realistic that Cimabue, on his return, tried several times to shove it off.

Giotto’s greatest masterpieces are the frescos he painted inside the Arena or Scrovegni Chapel located in Padua, Italy. It was commissioned by Enrico Scrovegni, a wealthy Italian banker in the early 1300’s. It was meant to be restitution for his father’s involvement in unjust usury dealings. In fact Dante, friend of Giotto, in his famous ‘Divine Comedy’ singles out Scrovegni’s father for one of the most treacherous parts of hell.

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Faith

Yesterday, Jesus began His keynote speech; today He will end it by presenting us with His testimony and credentials. Surely, after declaring that He was equal to God, the Jews would have demanded that Jesus present some evidence as proof of His claims.In the face of such criticism, Jesus presents His testimony.

In order to clearly understand the text, one must be at least faintly familiar with the Jewish legal system. Schnackenburg tells us that, “the Jewish legal procedure was not based on the interrogation of the accused but on the examination of witnesses”. Deuteronomy 19:15 also stipulated that no one could testify on his own behalf; a charge that the Jews bring against Jesus.( 8:13) At the same time, no accused could be convicted on the witness of one person.

In his book, ‘Jesus on trial’, A. E. Harvey makes an interesting observation. In situations where there was only one witness, “the court would simply have to make up its mind whether to take the accused’s word or not”. For such a ‘self-testimony’ they might require an oath on the ground that God would then punish the person if he lied on oath (cf. Gen 31:50). Because Jesus appeals to His Father’s testimony, He is in essence, providing such an oath.

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Faith

‘The Apprentice’ who never gets fired – 4th Week of Lent, Wednesday
John 5: 17- 30

You are listening to Christology from the very lips of Jesus, not some theologian. Jesus is discussing His equality with the Father and He does this in a number of places in the gospels. It is this teaching, combined with His healing of the cripple on the Sabbath, that triggers off the plot to kill Jesus (verse 18).

In this pericope, we see two sections describing the activity of the Son; namely that He ‘gives life’ and He ‘judges’. It is through Jesus that one goes to the Father. He is not only the ‘true agent of the Father’ (JBC), but He is also an excellent ‘apprentice’! All through his gospel in 7:18, 8:28 and 14:10, John will tell us that Jesus never acts on His own authority, but only on what He hears from the Father.

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