When Your Cousin is Cooler than You

I wonder how often I get in the way? I know I do, but how often?

I'm reading John 3:22-36 this morning, and John begins to get edged out by Jesus in the popularity battle. John has been faithful, living in the desert, serving God as he was called to do. Crowds start to follow him. They believe he is the one who is called to be the Messiah. Young men leave home to be with him in the desert to learn from him and be his disciples. The religious leaders come to him to ask him about God. He has arrived. The kid from the small town with no formal education has made it. Did he ever wonder if he was the Messiah?

Then his cousin Jesus starts coming around. Jesus must have been well known to the religious leaders and many other people before He started baptizing and preaching. So, Jesus shows up on John's turf (vs. 23), and starts doing the same job John has been doing. John's disciples get ticked and tell him about it. It reminds me of when another youth ministry is doing something cool, or when God publicly begins to work at another youth group in our area. I hear of kids who have been coming to our cool thing leaving and going to that cool thing.

When it happens to me, I tend to get jealous. Petty. Hurt. I question the effectiveness of what I'm doing. I dismiss the other ministry in my head with stuff like, "They're selling out. They're not teaching the Bible. That's why kids are going." You know, all of the stuff I hear other youth leaders accuse me and our ministry of doing. I think there is no way God can work anywhere but where I am, because, after all, I am here. I am the seat of all of His blessings.

But what of John? What is his response? Not the same as mine, that's for sure. He sees things as they really are. He understands his role, and the role that Christ has to play. What strikes me is there doesn't seem to be any underlying tension. He doesn't seem jealous, or worried about it. It seems like He knew it was coming, and it's all part of the plan. How did He know though? I mean, yeah, God told him. But how did He hear it in the middle of all of the other voices telling him "You are the man, John!" I have trouble discerning through those kinds of distracting, deceiving voices.

John gives his cousin center stage. He does it humbly. Almost joyfully, it seems. My prayer for the day is that I might be re-shaped to be like that. A Kingdom builder, not settling for just my kingdom building. Big K, not a little k.

I Want to thank Jesus...and my mom ... for this touchdown!

Nicodemus comes to Jesus and wants to know if Jesus is from God or not (click to read John 3:1-21) Jesus doesn't waste any time with the guy, and jumps straight to a discussion on being reborn. I've heard the story a bunch of times, but today several things hit me, some from my re-reading of John 3, some from using the NICNT commentary. Nicodemus is a Pharisee, who wasn't tied to the temple. So Jesus tearing the Temple apart wouldn't have bothered him. In fact, the Pharisee's may have enjoyed it, since it gave the Sadducee's a tough time. So he comes at night. I've always heard it was because he was ashamed to come during the day. Maybe. But it could have been to avoid the crowd's as well. Either way, Jesus doesn't get on him for it. He accepts him in and they talk, one on one.

Jesus tells Nicodemus he has to be born again, and Nicodemus balks. I always wondered how Nicodemus could be so dumb as to think Jesus was discussing physical birth. But think about a few things. As a ruling member of the Pharisees, Nicodemus was the ultimate example of the best religion had to offer. He is trying to learn, he is humbling approaching this rogue Rabbi, he keeps all of the rules all of the time. He is a great Jew among Jews. Jesus says you've got to start over. You've got to begin from the beginning. The life you are living isn't ever going to work for what you want to do. You have to begin at step one. Somehow in all of my 20th/21st century protestant jargon, I've missed that piece of being born again. Nicodemus has to let go of his system, which remember was at it's core, given by God to Moses, and start over. He has the religious stuff so messed up, the only hope is to try with a fresh start. A rebirth.

Surely an extremely well educated man like Nicodemus isn't going to think Jesus is speaking of being physically born again, right? Right. So what do we make of his reply. He is joining Jesus in His conversation, I think. I think he completely gets Jesus' point. How can someone who has done it one way their entire life just start over? It's not possible. You might as well ask him to be physically born again as to ask this.

What does Jesus reply? He says it's not about what our bodies do (Pharisee's rules and regulations). It's about the heart, the spirit. You have to have a new start in your spirit. Don't be surprised at this. It is possible, because it's up to the Holy Spirit to change you, not up to you to convince the Holy Spirit.

When Nicodemus still struggles with the idea of letting it all go, Jesus pushes the lesson. He offers Nicodemus what He wants, knowledge of deeper things. Remember, Nic has spent his whole life studying truth and God. The offer of a miracle worker to know more would be completely enticing. But Jesus says you have start over to get there.

Then Jesus starts into the famous football game passage of John 3:16 and following. There is some debate whether it's John's writing, or Jesus' speech. I never knew that. I just assumed it was John's stuff. But it seems plausible that it could be Jesus speaking about Himself here. He points the conversion to Himself as the answer. The answer to starting over. He is not religion. He is the hope for a new beginning.

I'm so glad. I so quickly run to be a Pharisee. I like it when my rules, my way of living, my understanding of the world gets a God stamp on it, and I can convert everyone to my life my, my way. It's so comfortable for me if everyone is like me. Jesus looks me in the eye, and says, "let's try this again. You've gotta start over."

Don't miss the fact that Nicodemus comes at night, and Jesus draws the comparison in verses 19-21 about leaving the dark and living in the light. He is the light, I am the dark. My way leads to bruised shins and pain. His way leads to light and life. Give me the light! Every time!

Jesus Goes Nuts

Jesus goes nuts. That's how the passage in John 2:13-25 ought to be titled. He does this cool miracle with the wine and the wedding and then He goes to the temple and breaks out a homemade whip. Unreal. But the smaller details are hitting me this time through. He goes up against the financial center of his day (as Brad discussed in his sermon this past Sunday. you can get the audio here.) He wrecks havoc, and the pharisees ask Him for a miracle. Is it sarcasm on their part? Obviously, word of the wedding has already spread. I think we too often forget how well known Jesus would have been before His "ministry years" even began. Maybe they weren't really surprised at His actions. Maybe they had seen it coming in the young student who "just didn't get it". Maybe He was a huge disappointment to the religious community, being such a bright and capable student who wanted to run off on such weird tangents.

So, they ask for a miracle sign. Jesus has them. He could turn one into a sheep, and they would all follow Him. But He doesn't. I wish He would have. Everything would be so much cleaner and easier. But God is seldom about the clean or easy. Look at His birth story in Matthew or Luke for proof on that. He rambles about tearing down and rebuilding the temple in three days. You'll notice that NO one understood that remark for the next three years. That's a slow processing lesson! Three years?!

But then He leaves and goes and heals the blind and cures the sick when the Pharisee's aren't around. He doesn't give them the control, He holds on to it. Is it because He's afraid of them? Is He power hungry? Why won't He dance when they say dance? You find the answer in verses 24, 25. Jesus doesn't entrust Himself to us totally, because He knows all people. He doesn't need us to testify for each other, or to put each other down. He knows what is inside of each of us. He did then. He does now.

So when God doesn't want to do things my way, when He doesn't want to dance when I yell "dance!", at least I know why. He knows me. I'll hurt myself and everyone else with that kind of power. He is not afraid to serve, give, sacrifice, or love. He just knows me. And He protects me. So, He tells me no for my own good. Far more often than I would like to see. But He does it anyway. He knows me.

Hey Jesus, Let's Get This Party Started!

John 2:1-11 is the story of Jesus turning the water into wine. There is so much here in this story, and most of it has been discussed a hundred times in different sermons. The whole story starts with a marriage, a joining to two families, two people. Just like Jesus coming for us to return us to His Father's family. It takes place on the third day. I'm pretty sure something else goes down on a third day later in Jesus' life. Jesus provides wine for the wedding. Wine is the symbol of celebration, joy, happiness. He creates the wine from water, a symbol throughout the Bible for life. So we have Jesus turning life into joy on the third day while two families are being joined. Yeah, the symbolism runs wide and deep. It's beautiful. And He doesn't engineer it, so to speak. It's not a finely tuned stage show, it's something He is invited to. Only God could make it all come together like that.

Some of the things I don't get are the interaction between Him and his mom. Why does she assume He can do something about there being no wine? What has he done before in private with her while he was growing up that makes her so completely confident that He can and will fix it? What does Jesus mean when He says that it's not yet His time? Time for what? It seems that He is saying it's not time for Him to reveal Himself. But if that is true, then why does He go ahead and do it? It seems like He is choosing between God and mom; and chooses mom. Was He wrong, was it it His time and He didn't know? How did Mary know better than He? Why does Mary completely blow Him off in verse 5, telling the servants to do what He says? She totally puts Him on the spot. It always seems like a strange miracle to introduce Himself with. It's no wonder that people accused Him of being a partier, a drunk. He made about 150 gallons of wine with His first miracle. That's a lot of money He provided. That's a lot of drinking.

One thing is clear. Jesus is not easy to wrap my head around. This miracle doesn't fit into my clean cut view of Jesus as a good 20th century Baptist who doesn't drink, smoke, chew or run with girls who do. I know that's not who He is, but it's so ingrained in me that I default to it. But this Jesus, getting pushed around by him mom, making enough wine to get several hundred people drunk, I don't know what to do with.

I'd love to hear any of your ideas.

Where are You staying?

I began reading the book of John again today. I've been skipping around a bit lately, and find that I need to come back and read a book from beginning to end sometimes. I haven't read John in a while, and felt like it would be a good place to land.

The challenge sometimes is to read the Bible like you're reading it for the first time. To try and listen to the word play and phrases, to watch for the pictures being painted. Have you read John chapter 1 lately? Wow! Reading through it this morning, I love how John slowly paints this picture of this amazing One who made everything, only to have everything He made completely miss the fact that He had come. He doesn't give away Jesus' name until verse 17, building tension and mystery around this amazing one who came to make a few people His children. It's such a cool telling of story.

Then there is John the Baptist. I mean, John the writer introduces Jesus, and then dumps Him right back out of the story, jumping over to John the Baptist. John the Baptist has to go so far out of his way to convince everyone that he isn't the Christ, but they don't seem to want to believe him when he points Jesus out as the one they are seeking. It's this beautiful retelling of the first part of chapter one.

Then he gets to Jesus, and a few people take John the Baptist at his word and begin to follow Jesus. But they are just the common people. The religious guys from verse 24 are nowhere to be seen. It's the common men who find Jesus and follow him. Andrew, Peter, and Phillip.

Reading this makes me want to fall in love with Jesus all over again. What an amazing One who would come, facing such rejection from the very people He created. He is rejected, even though He clearly will take in anyone who comes seeking Him. He is not a picky friend, that seems clear in this first chapter.

He does this same thing for me everyday. He creates me, holding me together, knitting my thoughts and dreams for me. Then I chase everything and everyone else around, ignoring the one who sustains me while I run. What a moron I can be! I want to be like Andrew, running after Jesus, asking where He is going so I can go and hang out with him (1:39). That's my prayer for the day, to chase Him and spend time with Him.

What a Great Show

Last night we had two bands come in and play a show. Grey Holiday and Inhabited were here, and it was really a great show! If you were around, and didn't come, wow, did you miss out. I was so impressed with both bands.

Grey Holiday is a young band who is starting to make a push, and they are such a great bunch of guys. I loved their hearts, and their love of students. I will definitely look for a chance to have them back. Not only are they great musicians who clearly love Jesus, they spent so much time hanging with our kids, playing guitar hero, answering questions, and more. Plus, they were the first band we've had who travels with a heavily modified upright piano. Here they are in action:

We also ended up landing Inhabited to play. They are a group who has had national exposure, played some really big venues, and ended up playing for us in our little room for our 70 people. It was cool. They were the epitomy of professionalism. Yet, they were crystal clear about their faith, and showed so much love to everyone there as well. I so appreciated these guys. Sarah completely laid her heart, and the truth of Jesus, on the line for the kids. The girl can preach! Here they are:




But what hit me today was simply how fun it was. It was fun to have all of our students dancing, singing, laughing, and just being themselves. It was fun watching the bands use their gifts and skills to sing and play their guts out. It was fun watching Hogan use his gifts behind the sound board, Jim, Joann, Phyllis, and Kristy all hanging with kids and serving, and just watching family be family. Sometimes that is the most important thing.

I think last night that is what we needed most. I know it was what I needed. I just didn't realize it going in. I was so healed inside being a part of it all. I guess there is no deep lesson in it. Just a gift. But what a gift it is! I love our church family. It's amazing.

Lessons from a Virus

Ok, so I'm home sick today. I'm not sure the last time I took a sickday, but I had to today. No fun. At all. I can't even play with my girls, for fear of giving my nasty cold to them. I always feel like such a burden on my family when I'm sick. Blech!

But then I watch my family really pitch in and work together. The girl's try harder to be a help. Of course Jill always works incredibly hard, and is such a servant.

I watch my youth leaders step in and take over my roles for youth group. Annette is teaching, Ron and Cathy have the worship team under control. Everyone comes together. They are simply amazing as well!

And I realize yet another facet to the whole "in my weakness He is strong" verse from the Bible. Here I am, unable to help anyone, and forced to accept everyone's help, for at least a little while. And God completely covers all of the bases.

The real question is why am I surprised? Because I want to believe that He needs me. He can't get things done without me. But again I relearn that He can and does. My role is one of priviledge, not actual responsibility.

And I can rest easy. I just need to remind myself of this when I am functioning at a little higher capacity. Hopefully, it won't take a cold bug to remind me next time.