Metanoid Life

Today’s passage is found in John 3:2-21 – Jesus Teaches Nicodemus.
Which version of the Bible did you read this passage in? King James? The Good News? The Message? The Passion? Do you use a paper Bible? An app? Or do you bring it up in your internet browser? Whichever version you prefer with the small differences in word choice and style, John’s gospel is written with one purpose in mind: “…That you may believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in His name.” (Jn 20:31)
It has been said that the Corona virus pandemic is the biggest crisis in the UK outside of wartime. A lot of us, I think, have read about this crisis in dizzying numbers of articles in newspapers and online, we’ve listened to the radio and to videos online describing the consequences and we’ve turned the telly on, only to decide to turn it off again. Each medium has its own ‘spin’ on the shared message: “Stay home. Stay safe. Say thanks.”
I’d like us to dwell for a moment on the word ‘crisis’. In Greek, a ‘krisis’ is primarily a ‘decision, judgement; a trial, sentence; a dispute – or a turning point’. In English, we focus primarily on the ‘risk’ element of a crisis – the unknown, the danger, the adrenaline-inducing moments, the late-night vigil, the uneasy wait for a WhatsApp message or a phone call. In Greek, the emphasis seems to be shifted a bit more towards the outcome, the moment things become clear, the final verdict.
I’m telling you this, not only because I am a hopeless language geek, although I will admit that I am. I’m telling you because there’s a sense in which all through John’s gospel, as different people meet Jesus, they are forced to make decisions, in the here and now, as they meet Jesus, about what they are going to believe.
The other gospels tend to view judgement day as something in the future. Jesus will come again and everything will be revealed. In John’s gospel, “Light has come into the world” already v19, and judgement is not so much a future event as it is a present ‘crisis’ – a moment of self-judgement as we decide what to believe and which banner to enlist under. What we are becomes clear when we meet the Light, whether we are attracted or appalled by it. Jesus creates a crisis, a turning point and a need for a verdict. This is not Christ’s verdict of us, but ours of Him, and as we decide, we judge ourselves.
Paul picks up on a similar theme when he talks about ‘the aroma of Christ’ in 2 Cor 2:15 – that when people catch wind of Christ through their encounters with us, by their response it becomes clear what they are. Jesus did not come to condemn anyone, He came to save, and that offer is there for anyone who wants to take it.
And what’s all this got to do with corona virus and newspaper articles?
Well, sometimes when we hear about the pressure our NHS staff are under, the incredibly tragic situations in some families, including our own, and even the general discomfort of having our movements restricted, it can be easy to find oneself with a head that spins faster and faster and become really anxious and discouraged. As a result, it can be tempting to just turn off the news entirely to protect oneself, not so much from the virus perhaps as from the overwhelm of all the things we cannot take in.
I’d like to encourage you to do something else instead:
1. Come into the light. Be honest about how you feel whether it’s a good day or a bad day. Those people who met with Jesus and entered into His light, found freedom in the truth, not condemnation. As we were reminded yesterday, Jesus welcomes our questions. We should welcome each other too when sometimes we have more questions than answers.
2. Ask the Holy Spirit to spotlight the truth and make this crisis a time when you realise that eternal life in God’s love has already begun. If you believe, then you have the right to be a child of God (Jn 1:12) and you have passed from death to life (Jn 5:24). God has already decided what He wants for you, 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.
3. And then continue to be the light of the world. Verse 21 says that whoever lives by the truth, comes into the light so that it may be seen plainly that what they have done has been done in the sight of God. Whether you ask God your questions, whether you collapse in a heap of tears for a few moments, whether you go on a long walk, whether you feel weak or strong, whether you receive or give, whether you clap for the NHS, send a card, phone a friend or a stranger, do it all ‘in the sight of God’. Be the positive gift of a ‘crisis’ to the people around you. Carry Christ’s presence so that people encounter Him and can judge themselves.
In this present crisis, let’s join under the banner of hope, enlist in the army of grace and hold onto the truth: That God gave His Son for us so that in Him, we may have eternal life – right now.

The following verse and a half are found in John’s gospel chapter 3, verses 1 and 2
‘Now there was a Pharisee, a man named Nicodemus who was a member of the Jewish ruling council. He came to Jesus at night…”’
If you are anything like me, this is a season full of questions. I am at the beginning of my journey into ministry, but I am no longer at the beginning of the journey we call life, and so I have arrived here with a unique mix of insights and misconceptions, experiences and dreams, gifts and brokenness, and this ‘unprecedented time’ continues to challenge me. I find that I have to question some of my assumptions. I have to learn new things, both practical, technical and theological – from how Zoom works to what can be said about God’s role in suffering. And I have to ask difficult questions sometimes about my own past and my current priorities. I wonder if I am the only one?
Maybe I am. But when I read these few verses, I found a fellow questioner. Nicodemus, like the other Pharisees, had heard Jesus teach over the Passover Festival, and he must have heard about some of the signs which John refers to at the end of chapter 2. It seems that he, too, feels challenged by the ‘unprecedented situation’ he finds himself in, and so he decides to go to Jesus and ask some of the questions he has.
It seems that Jesus is addressing some of Nicodemus’ preconceived notions, like He seems to be for some of us at the moment. And we will get to those tomorrow, but for now, I just wanted to leave you with a very simple thought.
Nicodemus took his questions to Jesus.
He had a conversation with Jesus in private. He asked Jesus to explain. He was not satisfied with the signs. He was not going to just be one of the crowd, listening in passing and then moving on. He took his questions to Jesus to hear and see for himself, and then he allowed Jesus to challenge some of the ideas which Nicodemus was utterly convinced about. Nicodemus was a well-respected man with years and years of study behind him, yet he allowed Jesus to challenge him. I’m sure Nicodemus got more than he bargained for. We often do when we begin a conversation with Jesus but that’s the joy (and the risk!) of prayer.
I am not sure Nicodemus instantly ‘got it’. I doubt it. I rarely do. But creating faith and changing belief is not my job, that’s the Holy Spirit’s job. All I can do is engage in a conversation with God.
So, all I really want to say to you today is: Don’t forget to take your questions to Jesus. Whether in the morning, or in the afternoon, or late at night, or at 3 am when for some reason, you can’t sleep. Preferably all of them. Jesus doesn’t mind the hard questions and He is ready for it, when you decide to ask, to question, to enquire.
Once again, it seems the invitation is: Come, see for yourself. Perhaps what you will find is not so much an explanation as a relationship. But as I said, sometimes you get more than you bargained for. That’s fine.

John 2:13-25 – Jesus Clears the Temple Courts
When Jesus was a boy, according to the Gospel of Luke, He travelled to Jerusalem with His parents for the Festival of the Passover. Many Jews would come to Jerusalem, even from outside Judea, for one of the big festivals: Passover, Tabernacles or Pentecost, and Jerusalem would be heaving with people, sort of like when the crowds spill out of the Principality Stadium after a rugby match. Very much the opposite of how things look now. But this was back in the day when there were still crowds, and in such a crowd and in a culture where everyone looks after each other’s kids (if only!), Jesus’ parents had travelled away from Jerusalem for a whole day before they notice that Jesus is nowhere to be found. We know how they travel back and eventually find Him in the temple , sitting among the teachers, asking questions, listening and, it seems, providing a few answers of His own. When Mary vents her anxiety and frustration, Jesus seems surprised that she does not know He had to be in His Father’s house (or as the King James Version puts it: …about His Father’s business), but nevertheless, Jesus returns with them to Nazareth, and “was obedient to them….. and grew in wisdom and stature, and in favour with God and man.”
Now, nearly 20 years later, Jesus is back at the Temple. He would have been around 30 years old, the age when a man was of age and could take on his father’s business in the Jewish culture. It was also the age at which those people who had the full Jewish education would have reached such a state of wisdom that they “had authority” – that is, they had learned enough to be able to teach and to interpret scripture afresh. We hear in other places that Jesus “taught as one having authority” (Mk 1:22; Mt 7:29).
Back in His Father’s house, Jesus picks up a whip and begins to drive out the sacrificial animals and overturn the tables of the money changers, who changed people’s coins into the fine silver required for the temple tax (for a small fee, of course). And the religious leaders are once again astonished and ask Him for a sign to prove His authority.
Jesus may be ‘against’ some of their practices, but in His actions there is far more than a protest against the status quo and the way religious matters become objects of trade. His actions and demeanour in the temple serve to establish Jesus’ authority as the Son of God, and the question of His authority tells us that this does not go unnoticed. Jesus has returned to the temple, no longer a young student, but a mature teacher with authority. But perhaps it’s even more than that?
Within a tradition that use the phrase ‘having authority’ for rabbis with enough wisdom and experience to have disciples of their own and to offer fresh perspectives on the Hebrew bible, the statement made by the Jews gives away the underlying question among these Jewish leaders, still spiritually on the fence. It is never expressed in so many words, but is still there: Are you the One? And if you are, give us a clear sign so we know whether to follow.
The ultimate sign Jesus promises them, the tearing down and building up again of the temple in 3 days, would have to wait another 3 years but in the meantime, Jesus joins the crowds in Jerusalem while the Festival is still at its peak. We read that He performs signs and that people believed in Him, yet there is a sense that this is early days and that perhaps this belief is a bit more of a sensation seeking ‘wow’ than a salvation seeking ‘worship’. In either event, Jesus doesn’t entrust Himself to them because He knows their hearts.
Tomorrow, we will meet one of the Jewish leaders on the fence, who takes his questions and observations to Jesus. Will he decide what side of the fence to come down on? Will he have a fresh perspective on faith? Will he see the Light?

Reading: John 2: 1-11 – Jesus changes Water into Wine

I wonder how many times you have already washed your hands today? The UK government encourages us to do so frequently to limit the spread of Corona virus and by now, that should no longer be news, but hopefully part of our routine.

In Jesus’ time, ritual washing was part of the routine, which is why at the wedding in Cana, a few very large basins are provided for people to observe the religious tradition of washing your hands before meals. Now this wasn’t done to remove germs as no one was aware of their existence, but rather in the belief that washing removed ritual defilement. A brief pause, if used properly, to come to God. Or as we see in Matthew 15:2, another chance for the Pharisees to put the cart before the horse and impose near-impossible rules on people while forgetting the heart of the matter.

But anyway, it’s party time! Food, wine, friends, family – sounds like a dream round about now, doesn’t it? But then the unthinkable happens – they run out of wine. We know the story. They run out of wine every time we read the story, and some of us will have read it many times. So many times in fact that we forget that this is a social disaster, something that will be talked about in that village for years. Perhaps it is telling that we know nothing about the wedding couple apart from the fact that they ran out of wine. 2000 years later, the shame of it all is still posted and reposted on social media. And then as we know, Mary asks Jesus for help, He says ‘Lass, what’s that got to do with me?’ and she instructs the waiters to do whatever Jesus says. And so we wait, with mock suspense. What will He do?

He does three things:

He changes water into wine, providing a major clue to the new covenant, which we remember whenever we take communion – the covenant ‘in my blood’. No longer will we be limited to ritually washing the outside of our skin to do away with the spiritual defilement of the past day or so. Jesus will atone for all of our sin by His blood once and for all, making us clean on the inside.

Also, He reveals His sense of humour. The water that is changed into wine isn’t a nice clean glass of water, fresh out of the tap. It’s the water that all the guests have just washed their hands in! Imagine coming into work and duly washing you hands, then being told to serve the water you used to wash your hands to your boss? That’s what these waiters are doing, and I don’t know if they trembled or chuckled as they took the cup to the master of the banquet for tasting, but they will have been very aware how hilarious it was.

And lastly, in performing His first miracle, Jesus reveals His glory and the disciples, who had only the day before been looking at Jesus as a Rabbi now begins to ‘put their faith in Him’. It is not only at the wedding in Cana that the best has been saved for last, it is for us too. Jesus went through death, bore our sin and shame, and out of that, He wrought salvation for those who put their faith in Him. And on the other side of this, once lockdown gives way to a mass exodus, we will see the full reality of that as Jesus Himself comes to serve us at the biggest wedding banquet ever.

He has said that He won’t drink of the fruit of the vine with us again until that day, but when that day does come, we will all enjoy the fruit of His labour. He prayed in Gethsemane and drank the cup in obedience to the Father when it was clear there was no other way. Whenever we raise our communion cups here – and the final toast of hallelujah later – may we all remember how one cup was changed for another because of the willingness of our Saviour to enter into our world, our suffering, our predicament and provide a solution when He could have legitimately said: What has that got to do with me?

That’s love for you. Have you opened your wedding invitation yet?

Today’s reading is John 1:43-51 – Jesus calls Philip and Nathanael.

What were you doing before you came here, to sit for a moment and meet with God? I’d invite you to take a moment to replay the last hour or so in your mind. Where were you? What kept you busy? I don’t know, but God does know. Just as Jesus saw Nathanael under the fig tree, He sees all of us as we go about our daily business. Jesus’ insight into Nathanael’s life astonishes him. We will probably never know the exact meaning of Jesus’ words to him, but they created the response in Nathanael that a ‘word of knowledge’ can often bring about: A sense of being known combined with an insight into who Jesus really is.

A few days ago, we heard John the Baptist proclaim that Jesus was the Messiah, the Son of God. This had been revealed to John, you will remember, when the Holy Spirit came down to rest on Jesus. And a couple of John’s disciples had followed Jesus and spent the day with Him, and Andrew had invited his brother Simon. Now the story continues as Jesus finds Philip and greets him with the familiar words: Follow me! Philip finds his brother, Nathanael, and tells him about Jesus. At first, Nathanael is neither convinced, nor impressed. That is, until he meets Jesus, who knows everything about him.

These people come to Jesus in different ways. Some are invited. Some invite themselves. Some are invited by others. Each of them finds his way but it seems to me that all of them share a few things in common. Baptist preachers have a reputation for preaching sermons with 3 points all beginning with the same letter. Well, why not?

STORY: When Jesus calls these men to be disciples, something has been going on in their lives beforehand to prepare them. John and Andrew, the two first disciples, had been disciples of John the Baptist before, listening to his preaching. Simon would at the very least have listened to his brother, but perhaps also to the Baptist first-hand. Nathanael would have likely been under the fig tree studying scripture, because that was the usual location for Torah studies. Philip knows his Hebrew Bible well enough to recognise who Jesus is ‘based on the law and the prophets’. And yet, they are all also normal men, most of the fishermen, living ordinary lives with (as we read elsewhere) fathers, in-laws and ambitious mothers. But God is at work.

SEEING: As they are confronted with Jesus, His identity is revealed to them. There is something about Jesus which stands out and draws people to Him. He is like a magnet! Luke chapter 4 echoes what John the Baptist testifies in John 1:33, using the words of Isaiah the prophet: “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me…” Jesus is anointed by God for His ministry. The Spirit remains with Him, giving Him an incredible authority which draws people in. It is the Spirit which reveals who Jesus is, not only to John the Baptist but also to the disciples, so that they can join Jesus.

SHARING: Once they know that Jesus is the One, they begin sharing the good news with others. Andrew fetches Simon, Philip finds Nathanael and eventually, all the disciples become involved in Jesus’ ministry and mission as Jesus sends them out on preaching tours (Luke 10) and eventually, to the ends of the earth (Matt 28).

We all have our own stories with good bits and bad bits, noteworthy moments and mundane periods. God knows exactly where we are at, and He is at work in our lives, preparing us for the next thing. It is the Holy Spirit who will highlight to us where Jesus is ministering and working, and it is the Holy Spirit who will reveal Jesus to others, but often, that happens through us as we watch and learn and share with others what we have seen and heard and experienced.

I wonder what the Holy Spirit has revealed to you lately which you might be able to share with others to encourage them to know that they are known by God and that Jesus is alive today? And what are you already doing that carries on Jesus’ mission today in small and bigger ways?