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Our savior approaches Jerusalem
Friday, March 18, 2016
Fifth Week of Lent
John 10:37-38
If I do not perform my Father’s works, do not believe me; but if I perform them, even if you do not believe me, believe the works, so that you may realize that the Father is in me and I am in the Father.
In the previous chapter of John Jesus heals a man blind from birth. Responses to this healing range from wonder to confusion to anger. The blind man’s parents only know that their son can suddenly see; they are afraid of the religious police and won’t say more.
The man who once was blind but now can see is thrown out of the city. In his healing he has become anawim, one of the poor. Jesus finds him. The poor man worships Jesus. His sight has been made complete. But for the others – those who don’t think they are blind and who don’t think they need healing, this is not enough. It is never enough.
“We are the disciples of Moses!” We are exactly where we want to be in the lineage of the Jews. Our messiah will come just the way we say he will.
Why are they so determined that Jesus is not the Messiah? He continually points to their Scriptures for confirmation and performs works that God said the Messiah would perform. His praise goes to his Father, not to himself. He points to his Father as the source of all his miracles.
But he heals on the Sabbath. Over and over. The Sabbath is not a rule meant to punish people, but a gift from their loving Father. “The Sabbath is made for man, not man for the Sabbath.” His statement of God’s joy and love has no effect on the religious police. The letter of the law gives them power. The spirit of the law might be lost, but no matter. Mercy has no place in their black and white world.
Jesus wants to reflect their gaze off him onto their Father. We all move from staring at ourselves to idolizing our parents to worshipping God. As my parents reflect God’s love and teach me to praise their Source rather than themselves, this can be a smooth process.
But the character of God can also become obscured. The Pharisees punished disobedience rather than praising obedience. They had lost their joy, and so their God seemed to have lost his. Jesus would have none of it. He walked into the Holy of Holies, into the Sabbath, and laughed, and healed, and relaxed in the arms of his Father.
So they tried to kill him. And he wept for those who tried to throw the stones. What will it take for their eyes to open? Must they die in order to live?
The answer is “Yes.” It is always, “Yes.” Having left the Garden of Eden, we must fall on our own swords for our eyes to open. But as Jesus rescued the Sabbath, so he also will rescue death for us, as we look up at his shadow on the sky and believe.
Lord, you are headed for Jerusalem. And it is there we will once again hear your words, see your miracles, and look into your eyes. This is a wonderful thing you allow us to do. Thank you.
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