Scared Speechless!

“Therefore, since I myself have carefully investigated everything from the beginning, it seemed good also to me to write an orderly account for you, most excellent Theophilus, so that you may know the certainty of the things you have been taught.” Luke 1:3-4 Who is Theophilus that Luke would write an account for him? I ‘Googled’ Theophilus to see what may have been discovered concerning this person. There are many interesting theories, but no definitive answers. He may have been a priest, he may have been a Roman authority, or the one I like best is he may have been Paul’s lawyer who defended him in Rome during his trial. The reason I like this one best is because of the wording both in Luke and in Acts regarding Theophilus. “Most excellent” could easily be attributed to a lawyer or judge (just as today we say, “Your Honor”. Also, Luke says he “investigated everything” which sounds like lawyer language. And he decided to “write an orderly account” which would be the information a lawyer would need to best be able to defend his client. There are reasons the other theories could be true as well and I guess we will never know. But for whatever his reason, Luke has investigated and is recording what he found concerning this movement began even before the advent of Jesus’ birth.

Luke has decided that the story begins with Zechariah and his wife Elizabeth, both descendants of Aaron and upright in the sight of God. They were getting up in years and still had no children. Zechariah is chosen by lot to burn the incense. Luke 1:5-10 Zechariah has an experience that will change him (and the world) forever. An angel appeared to him. “When Zechariah saw him, he was gripped with fear. But the angel said to him, ‘Do not be afraid, Zechariah; your prayer has been heard. Your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son, and you are give him the name John. He will be a joy and delight to you, and many will rejoice because of his birth, for he will be great in the sight of the Lord. He is never to take wine or other fermented drink, and he will be filled with the Holy Spirit even from birth. Many of the people in Israel will he bring back to the Lord their God. And he will go on before the Lord, in the spirit and power of Elijah, to turn the hearts of the fathers to their children and the disobedient to the wisdom of the righteous – to make ready a people prepared for the Lord.’” Luke 1:12-18 What an awesome promise – a child, filled with the Holy Spirit from birth who will lead the people of Israel back to God – in the spirit and power of Elijah!

“Zechariah asked the angel, ‘How can I be sure of this? I am an old man and my wife is well along in years.’” Luke 1:18 Gabriel didn’t like being questioned! Zechariah was asking for a sign and he gave Zechariah a sign all right. He took away his ability to speak until the birth of the baby – nine whole months of sign language!

So many times I have wished for an angel to come and tell me something about the future – to help me make a good decision. But every time in the Bible when angels show up, they have to start with, “Do not be afraid!” I went to Biblegateway.com and put in the phrase, “do not be afraid,” and found that the exact phrase appears 65 times in the NIV Bible. The words “not” and “afraid” appear together 108 times. So I wonder, if an angel actually appeared to me, would I be afraid? More than likely, I would be very afraid. It is not an everyday occurrence and new things kind of make me uneasy anyway.

But the bigger question for me is how many times do I believe when God tells me something and how often do I ask for a sign? Can I learn to discern God’s voice in my life and respond or do I need to ask for a sign constantly for reassurance. It seems to come back to that big TRUST question. Do I trust God and take him at his Word or do I constantly question and seek reassurance. The angels didn’t silence Gideon when he put his fleece out. Judges 6-7 What is different about Zechariah? Maybe it is the context of the whole thing. Zechariah was not being asked to do something huge like Gideon was. Zechariah was simply being given a promise. God’s reassurance for Gideon was to help him believe he could do what God was asking him to do. Zechariah wasn’t being asked to do something huge – just to accept a promise and trust that God was behind it. The angel being there should have been sign enough for him that the promise would come true. Zechariah should have bit his tongue. I know – that’s easy for me to say since I have the end of the story and can see that the angel’s promise did come true. I’d probably be scared speechless too and want some reassurance.

Come and See!

“The next day John was there again with two of his disciples. When he saw Jesus passing by, he said, ‘Look, the Lamb of God!’ When the two disciples heard him say this, they followed Jesus. Turning around, Jesus saw them following and asked, ‘What do you want?’ They said, ‘Rabbi’ (which means Teacher), ‘where are you staying?’ ‘Come,’ he replied, ‘and you will see.’ So they went and saw where he was staying, and spent the day with him. It was about the tenth hour.” John 1:35-39

What an interesting question – where are you staying? These two disciples were followers of John the Baptist. They were already tuned in to the fact that winds of time were changing. John was teaching radical things – pulling up prophecies and saying things like, “I am the voice of one calling in the desert, ‘Make straight the way for the Lord.’” John 1:23 He was calling people to repentance and preparation for the coming of the Messiah – much like the ram’s horn calling people to the Day of Atonement. So when Jesus walked by and John said, “Look, the Lamb of God,” these disciples walked away from John and followed after Jesus. They didn’t say, “Are you sure?” or question John at all… they just began to follow Jesus. But how curious their first question of this new rabbi – where are you staying?

Jesus doesn’t respond like most of us would today, “Why do you want to know?” or “None of your business!” But rather, he extends a simple invitation. “Come and you will see.” And that is exactly what they did. We are not told where Jesus took them or what they saw. But we see the beginning of the relationship between Jesus and his disciples and how he taught them.

Andrew got the first lesson right away. “The first thing Andrew did was to find his brother Simon and tell him, ‘We have found the Messiah’ (that is, the Christ). And he brought him to Jesus.” John 1:41 Just as Jesus had invited Andrew to come and see, Andrew extended the invitation to his brother to come and see as well. And thus begins the relationship between Simon (who we know as Peter) and Jesus.

What if Andrew had looked up when John said, “Look, the Lamb of God,” and said, “That’s nice,” and then continued whatever he was doing and never gave it another thought? What if Andrew said, “If he’s the Messiah, I’m not good enough to hang out with him, so I’ll just mind my business here and watch him from a distance”? Or what if Andrew said, “I don’t want to take the risk that’s involved in following such a radical leader”?

“The next day, Jesus decided to leave for Galilee. Finding Philip, he said to him, “Follow me.” … Philip found Nathanael and told him, ‘We have found the one Moses wrote about in the Law, and about whom the prophets also wrote – Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph.” John 1:43; 45 It looks like Philip got the first lesson as well – “Come, follow me.”

In those first encounters, Jesus didn’t say, “Here’s my agenda. Here’s what I teach. If you think you can stick to my rules, you can come with me.” He simply said, “Come, follow me.” And Andrew and Philip both immediately invited someone else to come as well. They didn’t wait until they had followed the teacher a while and learned everything he had to teach before inviting someone else to come. They immediately told others and invited them to come and hear for themselves what the teacher had to say.

We don’t hear much about Andrew or Philip throughout the Gospels. They are mentioned a couple of places but they are some of the ‘quiet’ disciples. Somehow, I think that while the others were standing up preaching and healing lame beggars, they were going around taking people by the hand and saying, “Come and see! Come listen to the teacher!”

The idea of ‘evangelism’ used to scare me because I thought it meant I needed to memorize a sequence of verses and go knock on the door of a perfect stranger and recite the litany and then ask them to make a decision for or against Christ. But I think Andrew and Philip showed us another way. We are to go to those whom we know – friends and acquaintances – and invite them to come and see. What are we inviting them to? To see for themselves if the Scriptures are true, if this is indeed the Messiah – if Jesus is the Christ. When I get into studying God’s Word, I get excited about what I find. I need only to find someone to share that with and maybe they will get excited as well and discover the Messiah along with me. I cannot witness to what I do not know, but I cannot keep quiet when I have found the Messiah! Come and see!

Prepare the Way!

The book of John is a testimony pointing to Jesus being the Christ. From beginning to end, John is convincing us that Jesus is indeed the Christ. The question is raised early in his book whether or not John the Baptist is the Christ. That leads me to believe that John was creating quite a stir. He wasn’t the average charismatic preacher, but rather he was a radical – opening the minds of the people to be ready to recognize the Christ when he appeared.

The book of John gives us just enough information to make John the Baptist a credible witness and then states his testimony. “John replied in the words of Isaiah the prophet, ‘I am the voice of one calling in the desert, ‘Make straight the way for the Lord.’’” John 1:22 “’I baptize with water,’ John replied, ‘ but among you stands one who comes after me, the thongs of whose sandals I am not worthy to untie.” John 1:26-27 “Then John gave this testimony: ‘I saw the Spirit come down from heaven as a dove and remain on him. I would not have known him, except that the one who sent me to baptize with water told me, ‘The man on whom you see the Spirit come down and remain is he who will baptize with the Holy Spirit.’ I have seen and I testify that this is the Son of God.’” John 1:34

So what was John preaching that created this stir that even brought the Pharisees out to question him? Luke gives us a more complete picture of John the Baptist. He first tells us about John’s birth – steeped in miracles and fulfilling prophesies. Then he shares some of the teachings of John the Baptist. “’What should we do then?’ the crowd asked. John answered, ‘The man with two tunics should share with him who has none, and the one who has food should do the same.’ Tax collectors also came to be baptized. ‘Teacher,’ they asked, ‘what should we do?’ ‘Don’t collect any more than you are required to,’ he told them. Then some soldiers asked him, ‘And what should we do?’ He replied, ‘Don’t extort money and don’t accuse people falsely – be content with your pay.’” Luke 3:10-14

I’ve always heard that John the Baptist said, ‘Repent and be baptized for the forgiveness of your sin.’ And he surely did say that. But he didn’t stop there. Repent brings with it the idea of turning around and doing things differently. John taught them what the ‘turn around’ should look like. And what he is saying basically is they are to take care of the poor and live a life of integrity. That sounds strangely familiar. If there is one thing God consistently speaks to each generation, it is to care for the poor, to share, and to live a life of integrity.

So is this John fellow someone I can believe? I think so. He got the attention of the leaders of his day. He certainly got the attention of the people. And his message is consistent with the message God has given to people from the beginning of time. But it is more urgent – ‘Prepare the way for the Lord!’

At the same time, this was not happening in Jerusalem, their holy city, but rather ‘on the other side of the Jordan, where John was baptizing.’ John 1:28 It seems to me that he was purposefully staying just out of reach of the religious rulers of the day. His teaching was radical. He was saying that it isn’t enough to follow the rules, which, by the way, you pick and choose which ones you want to follow. He was preaching that a repentant life would get back to the basics. Love the Lord your God with all your heart and love others as yourself. Jubilee wasn’t just a good idea. It was a command!

It seems that God has always had a tender heart for the poor. He has placed enough resources on this planet for everyone and he doesn’t like it when some hoard and others go without. I wonder if John was on to something important here – taking care of the poor is a way to prepare the way for the Lord. Caring for others and living a life of integrity opens the way for the Lord to meet with people and be recognized by them. I wonder if the opposite is also true – if I hoard and break the rules when it suits me, do I put things in the path that keep people from finding their way to God?

Oh God, help me to prepare the way for you. Don’t let me come between anyone and you and get in your way. Fill me with your Spirit of compassion and truth that will speak through me to prepare the way for you to show yourself to others.

Who's Your Daddy?

Recently, I gave copies of the Gospel of John to some guys who were not believers. They were part of a rough crowd that worked hard during the week and drank hard on weekends. John is the Gospel we tend to send people to first. We want them to grasp that God so loved the world. But after I gave these guys the book of John to read, I began to read it from the perspective of someone who didn’t grow up in the church. And I have to admit that the first chapter of John kind of blew my brain. Most of it would make little or no sense to one who did not know anything about Jesus or the creation of the world. I can only hope that they hung in there and kept reading.

“In the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning. Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made. In him was life, and that life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness, but the darkness has not understood it.” John 1:1-5

The concept of the Trinity is difficult for our human minds to wrap around. How can God be three and yet one? John, the disciple whom Jesus loved, the one who adored Jesus, the one who was given a long life and died of old age, not execution, the one who knew the high priest at the time of Jesus’ death, the one who was there to see the empty tomb and talk with Jesus after the resurrection, the one who believed, has much to say about this in his writings.

He begins, “In the beginning was the Word.”. “Word” is used in an interesting way here. Young people today, when they agree with something that was said will often say, “word.” It is sort of like ‘Amen’ or ‘that’s the truth,’ a statement of agreement. That may not be so far from how it is used in this passage of Scripture. The ‘Word’ here was with God and was God! This ‘Word’ also created and “in him was life.”

Isaiah 55:10-11 says, “As the rain and the snow come down from heaven, and do not return to it without watering the earth and making it bud and flourish, so that it yields seed for the sower and bread for the eater, so is my word that goes out from my mouth: It will not return to me empty, but will accomplish what I desire and achieve the purpose for which I sent it.”

I don’t believe what John said in the beginning of John 1 was an accident. He is trying to help us understand that Jesus and God, while separate, are one and the same. And the words spoken by Jesus are full of power and do not return empty, but will accomplish what God has in mind.

“He was in the world, and though the world was made through him, the world did not recognize him. He came to that which was his own, but his own did not receive him. Yet to all who received him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God – children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision, or of a husband’s will, but born of God.” John 1:10-13 How sad to not recognize our own Papa! But those who believe the Word have the privilege of becoming Children of God. John is already weaving the spirit and the flesh together here. God is Spirit, but he came in the flesh so we would know who our ‘Daddy’ is.

“The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the One and Only, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth… From the fullness of his grace we have all received one blessing after another. For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth come through Jesus Christ. No one has ever seen God, but God the One and Only, who is at the Father’s side, has made him known.” John 1:14; 16-18 John begins his book with a big bang – the one that started the world. But this big bang is not the one that is taught in science books. It is the God of the universe who cares enough about his created to come in the flesh and make himself known to us. He wants us to know who our Papa is and how much he loves us.