John 7:37-42: A Well That Quenches Another's Thirst

On the last and greatest day of the festival, Jesus stood and said in a loud voice, “Let anyone who is thirsty come to me and drink. Whoever believes in me, as Scripture has said, rivers of living water will flow from within them.” By this he meant the Spirit, whom those who believed in him were later to receive. Up to that time the Spirit had not been given, since Jesus had not yet been glorified.

On hearing his words, some of the people said, “Surely this man is the Prophet.” Others said, “He is the Messiah.” Still others asked, “How can the Messiah come from Galilee? Does not Scripture say that the Messiah will come from David’s descendants and from Bethlehem, the town where David lived?” - John 7:37-42

The author of the psalms wrote, "I thirst for you, my whole being longs for you, in a dry and parched land where there is no water." (Ps.63:1) And here Jesus stands up during the festival and proclaims, "Let anyone who is thirsty come to me and drink." In the psalm, God is the one who quenches our thirst. Here, Jesus is saying, I am he for whom your soul thirsts. He is God. 

But the great mystery is that the quenching of the thirst comes not in drinking in the goodness of God (though he is good and the satisfier of our souls) but rather in the outflowing of the Spirit's work in us to refresh and satisfy those who are near us. Satisfying the desire of the thirsty was never designed to stop with us. In fact, that is a stagnant pond, not a river of living water. Rivers are always looking for an outlet and so should the Spirit's work in me.

Psalm 63:1-8: When Life Does Not Seem Like Living

You, God, are my God, earnestly I seek you; I thirst for you, my whole being longs for you, in a dry and parched land where there is no water.

I have seen you in the sanctuary and beheld your power and your glory. Because your love is better than life, my lips will glorify you. I will praise you as long as I live, and in your name I will lift up my hands. I will be fully satisfied as with the richest of foods; with singing lips my mouth will praise you.

On my bed I remember you; I think of you through the watches of the night. Because you are my help, I sing in the shadow of your wings. I cling to you; your right hand upholds me - Psalm 63:1-8

 

There are thirsts which cannot be quenched in any water, there are questions which cannot be answered by any diligent search, there is love which cannot be earned or fathomed, there is protection and safety that has no antecedent. Only God.  As Solomon wrote, He has also set eternity in the human heart; yet no one can fathom what God has done from beginning to end. (Eccl. 3:11)  There are questions for which only God is the answer. My only response is to glorify and praise God and say that there are longings that can only satisfied by God.  

James 1:2-18: Same Gospel, But Different Audiences

Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance. Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything. If any of you lacks wisdom, you should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to you. But when you ask, you must believe and not doubt, because the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea, blown and tossed by the wind. That person should not expect to receive anything from the Lord. Such a person is double-minded and unstable in all they do.

Believers in humble circumstances ought to take pride in their high position. But the rich should take pride in their humiliation—since they will pass away like a wild flower. For the sun rises with scorching heat and withers the plant; its blossom falls and its beauty is destroyed. In the same way, the rich will fade away even while they go about their business.

Blessed is the one who perseveres under trial because, having stood the test, that person will receive the crown of life that the Lord has promised to those who love him.

When tempted, no one should say, “God is tempting me.” For God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does he tempt anyone; but each person is tempted when they are dragged away by their own evil desire and enticed. Then, after desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, gives birth to death.

Don’t be deceived, my dear brothers and sisters. Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows. He chose to give us birth through the word of truth, that we might be a kind of firstfruits of all he created. - James 1:2-18

The gospel is universal, but its implications for the necessary transformation are different for each person.  In these verses, James highlights how the gospel should apply to those who are poor and struggling and to those who are rich and secure.  

For the poor, James recommends the gospel's emphasis on their position as co-heir with Christ--a sharp contrast to how the world is treating them and distinct from how they might see themselves. Do not doubt that you are special in God's eyes; that you have equal access to the blessings that are in Christ. Things might look bad now, but eventually your true status will be revealed. 

For the rich, James recommends the gospel's emphasis on how what they have is fading and of only temporary value. This is in sharp contrast to how the world is treating them and distinct from how they might see themselves. Do not consider what you have and what you current position as any testimony to your value. Do not cling to them as if they have any lasting value. Things might look good now, but eventually the true value of what you've accomplished will be revealed.

As a follow up note, it is a problem when these gospel recommendations are shared with the wrong audience. If we tell the rich how exalted they are, they will take it for granted. If we tell the poor how fleeting their life and all that they have done in it, they will despair. We must be careful to attune our hearts to our true desperate need for Christ's help and our true situation because of God's favor.

Acts 6:8-15: Click-Bait to Judgment

Now Stephen, a man full of God’s grace and power, performed great wonders and signs among the people. Opposition arose, however, from members of the Synagogue of the Freedmen (as it was called)—Jews of Cyrene and Alexandria as well as the provinces of Cilicia and Asia—who began to argue with Stephen. But they could not stand up against the wisdom the Spirit gave him as he spoke.

Then they secretly persuaded some men to say, “We have heard Stephen speak blasphemous words against Moses and against God.”

So they stirred up the people and the elders and the teachers of the law. They seized Stephen and brought him before the Sanhedrin. They produced false witnesses, who testified, “This fellow never stops speaking against this holy place and against the law. For we have heard him say that this Jesus of Nazareth will destroy this place and change the customs Moses handed down to us.”

All who were sitting in the Sanhedrin looked intently at Stephen, and they saw that his face was like the face of an angel. - Acts 6:8-15

There is no defending yourself against people who really intended to defame you. Whether they just assassinate your character behind your back or assassinate you to your face by bringing false charges, if people are determined enough, they will find something that enough people will believe. That makes me sad. I guess I like to think that the truth about an honest and upright person will eventually come to light and justice will be done. 

The use of these methods and these words and these rumors is very revealing, both about the person being defamed and the defamers. The defamers have an agenda that is not the truth, but they take some element of the truth and twist it into something that their hearers care about. "blasphemous words against Moses and against God" seems to have been the trigger phrase for the people, elders and teachers. Just use this phrase and a few pieces of plausible evidence and voila-the ancient version of click-bait.

I also am inclined to believe the worst about someone when I hear a story or read a news article. Unfortunately, the worst is often true. But it is not always true. It is a form of stereotype. It pronounces someone guilty, often without any actual knowledge. We begin to treat that person and their reputation as tainted.

Stephen is an example to me, as Jesus was, that I should not deliver the sentence of punishment before judgement is concluded and I should not deliver judgement without taking the time to investigate the facts myself. Otherwise I would join the crowd that gathered stones and killed a man who is actually like an angel.

John 13:1-20: No Job Is Too Low

It was just before the Passover Festival. Jesus knew that the hour had come for him to leave this world and go to the Father. Having loved his own who were in the world, he loved them to the end.

The evening meal was in progress, and the devil had already prompted Judas, the son of Simon Iscariot, to betray Jesus. Jesus knew that the Father had put all things under his power, and that he had come from God and was returning to God; so he got up from the meal, took off his outer clothing, and wrapped a towel around his waist. After that, he poured water into a basin and began to wash his disciples’ feet, drying them with the towel that was wrapped around him.

He came to Simon Peter, who said to him, “Lord, are you going to wash my feet?”

Jesus replied, “You do not realize now what I am doing, but later you will understand.”

“No,” said Peter, “you shall never wash my feet.”

Jesus answered, “Unless I wash you, you have no part with me.”

“Then, Lord,” Simon Peter replied, “not just my feet but my hands and my head as well!”

Jesus answered, “Those who have had a bath need only to wash their feet; their whole body is clean. And you are clean, though not every one of you.” For he knew who was going to betray him, and that was why he said not every one was clean.

When he had finished washing their feet, he put on his clothes and returned to his place. “Do you understand what I have done for you?” he asked them. “You call me ‘Teacher’ and ‘Lord,’ and rightly so, for that is what I am. Now that I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also should wash one another’s feet. I have set you an example that you should do as I have done for you. Very truly I tell you, no servant is greater than his master, nor is a messenger greater than the one who sent him. Now that you know these things, you will be blessed if you do them.

“I am not referring to all of you; I know those I have chosen. But this is to fulfill this passage of Scripture: ‘He who shared my bread has turned against me.’

“I am telling you now before it happens, so that when it does happen you will believe that I am who I am. Very truly I tell you, whoever accepts anyone I send accepts me; and whoever accepts me accepts the one who sent me.” - John 13:1-20

There is are expectations about having the right connections. If you know the right people, life can be different. Things can be smoother. You can call in favors.  Doors can open. And who was closer to Jesus than his disciples? This same night, he would call them friends, telling them how they were special and had insight into the mind of God that Jesus had shared clearly with no one else. (John 15:13-15)

So they might have expectations. They (and their family) seem to be jockeying for position in anticipation of Jesus' triumph. (Mark 10:35) They have been following Jesus all across Israel for 3 years and now is the time for payback. Who can they tell what to do? Who will be first in line? 

But Jesus turns their expectations around: there is no job too low for someone who follows Jesus. He did it and so should we. 

Psalm 130: The Hole Where Longing for God Should Be

Out of the depths I cry to you, Lord; Lord, hear my voice. Let your ears be attentive to my cry for mercy. If you, Lord, kept a record of sins, Lord, who could stand? But with you there is forgiveness, so that we can, with reverence, serve you.

I wait for the Lord, my whole being waits, and in his word I put my hope. I wait for the Lord more than watchmen wait for the morning, more than watchmen wait for the morning.

Israel, put your hope in the Lord, for with the Lord is unfailing love and with him is full redemption. He himself will redeem Israel from all their sins. - Psalm 130

Security guards who work the night shift know how long the night seems. In the dark, you can lose track of time and there is no sense of time progressing. Fatigue and drowsiness sneaks up on you because there is nothing to stimulate the brain. 

You stare into the black and then you think you can see the first signs of dawn; when there is the slightest differences in shades of black. At first you aren't sure, but as the moments pass the gradation moves from hoped for to certain. Dawn and the morning are coming.

The writer says that his "whole being waits...for the Lord." There is a longing there-a level of dependence-that we can pretend to have; we can say we have. But inside we know whether it is true or whether we simply would like it to be true. Sometimes it may be true, and we may tell God how distant we feel. Other times, we may have the hole where longing for God should reside but is missing. There is nothing to do but to be honest with God and repeat to ourselves and God the history of our interactions. The Spirit can work with honesty in ways that he will not work with self-deception.

Colossians 1:24-29: Not Leaving Me to the Consequences

Now I rejoice in what I am suffering for you, and I fill up in my flesh what is still lacking in regard to Christ’s afflictions, for the sake of his body, which is the church. I have become its servant by the commission God gave me to present to you the word of God in its fullness—the mystery that has been kept hidden for ages and generations, but is now disclosed to the Lord’s people. To them God has chosen to make known among the Gentiles the glorious riches of this mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory.

He is the one we proclaim, admonishing and teaching everyone with all wisdom, so that we may present everyone fully mature in Christ. To this end I strenuously contend with all the energy Christ so powerfully works in me. - Colossians 1:24-29

There is a strong temptation to leave people to the consequences of their own decisions. Who are we to tell them what is best? It is easier in these cases to simply be quiet and live our lives and be onlookers to the crises that are going on around us. 

But Paul didn't take that attitude. But Paul was willing to be outspoken-even to suffer-"admonish and teach with all wisdom" on the subject of Jesus dwelling within us and giving us hope. Why?  He had a "commission God gave" him.  He had adopted God's concern for the oppressors of the Jewish people-the Gentiles-as his own concern. He had realized that the similarities between Gentiles and his own people when it came to our relationship with God was far more compelling that the differences. As he said to Titus: "At one time we too were foolish, disobedient, deceived and enslaved by all kinds of passions and pleasures. We lived in malice and envy, being hated and hating one another. But when the kindness and love of God our Savior appeared, he saved us..." (Titus 3:3-5a) Titus was Greek (Gal. 2:3) but Paul, as a Jew, found common ground in the "we too"-the shared weakness, sinfulness and foolishness that afflicts us all. He could not stand by while people he cared about ruined their lives through their choices, so he introduced them to Jesus. "These things are excellent and profitable for everyone." (Titus 3:8) Christ (not Tim) is a Christ of hope for all of us. If Christ had left us to the consequences of our own choices and had not intervened, where would we be now?

Luke 9:57-62: Risking Rootedness, Responsibility and Their Good Opinioin

As they were walking along the road, a man said to him, “I will follow you wherever you go.”

Jesus replied, “Foxes have dens and birds have nests, but the Son of Man has no place to lay his head.”

He said to another man, “Follow me.”

But he replied, “Lord, first let me go and bury my father.”

Jesus said to him, “Let the dead bury their own dead, but you go and proclaim the kingdom of God.”

Still another said, “I will follow you, Lord; but first let me go back and say goodbye to my family.”

Jesus replied, “No one who puts a hand to the plow and looks back is fit for service in the kingdom of God.” - Luke 9:57-62

Inspiring leaders have too many followers. When someone speaks the truth in a compelling way, it is like a doorway is opened in your mind. So you want to be near that leader, to always be able to drink in the transforming words or, if nothing else, to repay him in some way. In these verses, Jesus encounters three men who wanted to transition from the crowd to the closer knit group of disciples who stayed with Jesus and went with him everywhere. But he turns away each of them because he knew they were not ready.

For the first, there was a cost of discipleship that the man was not ready to pay: the sense of home-of rootedness in a place. Jesus was an itinerant teacher and he expected the same from his followers. In fact, in Luke 10, he sends a larger group of disciples from village to village, never being truly home again. There was a necessary change where home became wherever Christ sent them. The word apostle literally means 'sent one'. For us, it means that Jesus could decide to uproot my life for is purposes, and I should prepare for that. 

For the second, there was a cost of discipleship that the man was not ready to pay: the sense of responsibility to family-a commitment. Jesus was building a community based on a relationship with him and his disciples were made up of those with a shared commitment to him. For us, it means that Jesus could decide there are other relationships that are necessary, and I should prepare for that.

For the third, there was a similar cost of discipleship that the man was not ready to pay: the sense of approval from those whose opinion he valued. He wanted Jesus' good opinion and the good opinion of those he was leaving. He was a man whose heart was divided. For us, it means that Jesus could decide to make me choose between others' opinion and his opinion and I should be prepared to lose their good opinion.

Isaiah 49:8-13: The Covenant Is A Person

This is what the Lord says: “In the time of my favor I will answer you, and in the day of salvation I will help you; I will keep you and will make you to be a covenant for the people, to restore the land and to reassign its desolate inheritances, to say to the captives, ‘Come out,’ and to those in darkness, ‘Be free!’ “They will feed beside the roads and find pasture on every barren hill.

They will neither hunger nor thirst, nor will the desert heat or the sun beat down on them. He who has compassion on them will guide them and lead them beside springs of water.

I will turn all my mountains into roads, and my highways will be raised up. See, they will come from afar—some from the north, some from the west, some from the region of Aswan.”

Shout for joy, you heavens; rejoice, you earth; burst into song, you mountains! For the Lord comforts his people and will have compassion on his afflicted ones. - Isaiah 49:8-13

Normally, a covenant is an agreement-a sacred agreement between two parties. There is the old covenant, established between God and the nation of Israel through Moses. It establishes the agreed-upon roles and obligations of both parties, spoken or written by word. But these verses from Isaiah are different. The covenant that it talks about, the new covenant between God and people, is a person. 

The covenant has a purpose: restore and free and enlighten and nourish. The covenant-this person-will "guide them and lead them" Covenants usually describe how each side can meet the terms and become pleasing to the other party so that they will fulfill their part. But this covenant is unique, because it is not a system of rules or conditions that you meet. There is no way to "fulfill" the covenant. It is a relationship with Jesus and when you are "in him" you become acceptable to every requirement of the other party: God the Father.

Rather than spoken or written words, the covenant is the Word, Jesus Christ. Paul said: For there is one God and one mediator between God and mankind, the man Christ Jesus. (1 Timothy 2:5)