Faith

John 8:1-11- The overt and covert sinners.

I am going to tackle these eleven verses with the weight that they deserve.

Jesus is in Jerusalem. The Gospel of John sees Jesus in Jerusalem on five different occasions. Two during a Passover (John 2.13, 12.12), one during an unnamed festival (John 5.1), then again in Chapter 7:14 when he arrives in the middle of the festival of booths and one at Hanukkah or the festival of dedication (John 10.22). The synoptics on the other hand record Jesus in Jerusalem only toward his final days of his ministry; though a careful reading of Luke 2:41 states that the parents of Jesus went to Jerusalem every year at the feast of the Passover. This by extension once can surmise that Jesus joined his parents every year as he would have accompanied them to Jerusalem for the Passover. We know of one such incident when he was twelve years old and was ‘lost’ in the temple.

Our text today takes place a day after the festival of booths has ended with Jesus declaring “let anyone who is thirsty come to me.” The response of the crowd ranged from hailing him as the prophet to the Messiah (7:40,41) with even the temple police having returned without arresting Jesus because he spoke with authority. The Pharisees and the authorities were at the end of their tether and watching the crowds follow Jesus declared the masses who they considered religiously illiterate, as accursed (7:49). None were to be spared the wrath of religious authorities; not even Nicodemus who because he asserted the rule of law for a just defense (7:51) was scoffed at contemptuously as a Galilean (7:52).

Scripture now tells us that “each one of them went to their home while Jesus went to the Mount of Olives, one of Jerusalem’s seven hills. This seems to be the place of quiet prayer for Jesus while he is in Jerusalem. (Luke 21:37, Luke 22: 39). One had to cross the Kidron valley to the Mount of Olives where there was a garden called Gethsemane at the foot of the mountain. He will return here just after the last supper to pray for the last time with his disciples. It is here that he will be betrayed by Judas.

This brings us to the heart of the text for today, John 8:2 tells us that Jesus arrives in the temple early the next morning and people came to him. The Gospel of Luke will tell us that the people too woke up early to come to listen to him teach and that’s what he did on this occasion too. “All the people came to him”; this was a large crowd and from the events that unfold we can surmise that Jesus was sitting in the court of the women which was between the court of the Gentiles and the Court of the Men.

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Faith

Enlightening our minds – John 8:12-20

Jesus’ words in chapters 7 and 8 of the Gospel of John take place during the festival of tabernacles, one of the three major annual pilgrimages undertaken by a pious Jew. This eight-day festival beginning on a Sabbath and ending on the next Sabbath (see Leviticus 23:39) and mandated in Leviticus 23:43, commemorated God’s provision for the Israelites when they were led out of Egypt and into the wilderness. For eight days, the Israelites were supposed to live in tents or booths.

In general, the Jewish feasts were both commemorative and instructive occasions. Activities and rituals during this festival reminded the Israelites of significant historical events during their time in the wilderness. The feast of the tabernacles also had several celebratory processions. For example, the procession carried a lulab in which a plume of branches from a tree or bush was held in their right hands and a citron (a small citrus fruit) in the left. The lulab represented Israel’s traveling through various types of foliage in their journey through the wilderness, and the citron signified the fruit of the land God had promised to his people.

Two other rituals during the feast must draw our attention. In verse 37 we are told that it was the last day of the feast of the tabernacles when Jesus stood and cried out, “let anyone who is thirsty come to me, and let the one who believes in me drink.” This statement must have caused much of stir and we know from verse 40 and 41 that there was a division among the people. So let us examine this statement first before we look at today’s text.

One of the rituals that were carried out on a daily basis during the festival and with a variation on the last day during which Jesus made this declaration, was the procession during which a priest filled a golden flask with water from the Pool of Siloam, returned to the temple via the Water Gate and poured on the altar of the temple. The priest would be joined by other pilgrims who had come to the temple for the feast. When they arrived at the Water Gate, a blast was made on a shofar, or the ram’s horn. The priest would then ascended the altar and pour the water on the morning’s burnt offering. This ritual was performed every day of the feast and in the same way, except on the seventh day, when the priests circled the altar seven times instead of just once.

The Pool of Siloam which received its water from the Gihon Spring, a natural water source, making the water in Siloam “living water,” or water suitable for ritual purification. Now Jesus makes a bold claim; that he is the source of living water which of course caused a stir.

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Faith

Why are ashes used on Ash Wednesday?

Ash Wednesday, which marks the beginning of the Lenten season, takes its name from the liturgy of the day wherein the ashes are blessed and then marked on the foreheads of the faithful in the form of a cross.

Mentioned over 40 times in the Old Testament, ashes were also used as a sign of repentance. People would sit in ashes, roll around in them, sprinkle them upon their heads, or even mingle them with their food and drink. They did this as an outward sign of their inward posture of repentance.

Imitating these Biblical rituals of penance, the early Christians practiced public penance till the 11th Century. Since then we are left with just a customary marking of ashes on our forehead as sign that marks the beginning of Lent

Though less known, ashes were also used in other Catholic liturgies like the ceremonies for the dedication of a church and the consecration of altars. Ashes, according to ancient symbolism in the scriptures, were used to signify “sorrow” (Job 2:8; Jonah 3:6), grief and penance (Mt 11:21), “worthlessness” (Job 30:19; Sir. 40: 3), or a sign of affliction (Ps. 102:10).

The ashes used on ash Wednesday are obtained from the palm branches which were blessed on Palm Sunday the previous year. These are burned a day before Ash Wednesday, on Shrove Tuesday and then blessed during the liturgical service on Ash Wednesday. When palm branches are not available, other suitable material, such as dried branches or leaves, may be substituted.

After the Gospel and the homily is delivered, the priest dips his right thumb in the bowl of ashes and makes the sign of the cross on each person’s forehead saying the accompanying words, “Remember you are dust and unto dust you shall return.” or a variation on those words. Other formulas may be used such as “repent and believe in the Gospel”. By receiving ashes and keeping them on, we publicly proclaim our intent to die to our worldly desires and live even more in Christ’s image.

There is nothing magical in the ash used on ash Wednesday. Ashes are merely an outward expression of our desire to turn to God and turn away from sin; a time when we stop and assess how we are doing in our walk with God. We mark ourselves with ashes as a ‘new beginning’ at the onset of Lent, allowing the life of Jesus Christ to make us whole and new again. Put simply, God is crazy about us, he loves us and desires to forgive us. On Ash Wednesday he once again gives this sinner a second chance. Put simply: God kicks ash.

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Faith

Why Is the day before Ash Wednesday called Shrove Tuesday, Pancake Tuesday or Fat Tuesday ?

The word ‘shrove is derived from the verb “to shrive” or to “be shrove”. In Old English it meant to confess one’s sins and be absolved. Seen in the context of preparation for Lent, it originally also included receiving the advice of a spiritual counsellor. Having done this, you had been “shrove.”

The Anglo-Saxon “Ecclesiastical Institutes” translated by Abbot Aelfric about A.D. 1000, tells us that in the week immediately before Lent, everyone was expected to go to his or her confessor and confess his deeds and the confessor would ‘so shrive him’ (absolve) after which a penance was given. This means that historically Shrove Tuesday was a period of self-examination. Traditionally, in this week long pre-Lent preparation, the Christian would contemplate their sins that they needed to repent and then make amendments and sacrifices for the Lenten season based on their confession and penance given.

On Shrove Tuesday, the shriving bell would be rung to remind and call people to church to confess. People were encouraged to keep their Lenten sacrifices with an oft heard greeting on that day; “May God bless your Lenten sacrifice.

Sadly today, there is a tendency to organize the sacrament of reconciliation just before the Sacred Tridum, more in preparation for Easter rather than what is was meant to be. Confession and absolution make more sense at the start of the Lenten season; in this way one can begin the season with a clean slate, making a new start with God. 

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Imagine this scene; notice the hubbub and commotion of the crowds, a suffering child, a concerned father, a little group of faithful disciples, a number of their opponents. There seems to be much argument, dispute and exclamation but sadly little wisdom.

The irony of this narrative is not lost on the reader. The disciples were sent out in twos in Chapter 6 with authority over unclean spirits (verse7). In verse 30 of the same chapter, they gathered around Jesus and told him all that they had done and taught. So successful were they in their mission that they “did not have time to eat” (verse31) and yet here we are three chapters away and there is a claim from a desperate father, a man who sought the healing of his son who had a spirit, that his disciples could not be of any help. But as much as we would like to examine the faith (or perhaps lack of) of the disciples the focus of this narrative is not the great crowds or the arguing scribes or the disciple’s faith but the father of the boy.

The father’s request to Jesus took the form of a tentative prayer. “If you are able to do anything have pity on us and help us”. The Gospels present Jesus giving us a rather sassy response, “If you are able!”. Of course, the Lord is able the question for the father, for the disciples, for the crowds and for us is, do we believe?

Many people live lives of quiet desperation. The desperate father in this passage should be a source of great encouragement to all of us who struggle with our faith. He called on Jesus with the shreds of what belief he possessed, and gave us that mighty prayer, “I believe; help my unbelief!” ‘I believe, help my unbelief’ is one of the best-loved human statements in the gospels. It expresses our own struggle of faith. How often have we been that father, struggling to believe?

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