Spiritual Companionship

The Teacher in Ecclesiastes 4:7-12 advocates for companionship as a way of bringing meaning to the things we do. Proverbs 27:17 says, “As iron sharpens iron, so one person sharpens another.” Matthew 18:20 promises that God is present when two or three gather in God’s name. When Jesus took his ministry public he was surrounded by followers. He had close relationships with Mary, Martha, and Lazarus. While he selected 12 to be his followers, he invested more deeply in Peter, James, and John. He even sent out 72 of his followers in pairs. When Paul became a follower of Jesus, Barnabas walked with him in the faith. They in turn walked together with Jesus. Paul later invited Timothy to walk with him, as he walked with Christ. Paul had lots of companions in his walk with Jesus: Aquila and Priscilla (Acts 18:2), Timothy and Epaphroditus (Phil 3:19-30), Euodia and Syntyche (Phil 4:1-3), and the long lists at the ends of his letters. One thing is very evident throughout scripture, the walk with Jesus is not done in isolation. When Jesus calls us to follow him, he invites us into a community of believers to walk with.

• Who in your life helps you follow Christ more sincerely? 

• What did it take to get to this kind of relationship? 

There is a type of relationship that develops over time where the best qualities of the other person make you a better person. It is a wonderful gift when you have people in your life who naturally make you a better Christian because they model Christ so well. There’s another level of Spiritual relationship that is cultivated through intentionality where you share in the struggles of walking with Jesus. You challenge, encourage, and build up one another in the call to “be holy as I am holy.” These relationships are hard at first because they take vulnerability and honesty. They are often left untried as we lean towards the notion that the spiritual side of life is a private matter. 

As we begin our approach towards the end of this year, I want to encourage you to prayerfully consider what investing in spiritual relationships would look like for you in 2022. 

• Who are you already in a friendship with where you could add spiritual conversations to take your friendship to another depth?

• Who do you see walking with Jesus well and want to learn from them?

• Who do you see that is younger than you that you would like to share the walk with and learn from them?

Over the next year, I’d like to provide a number of resources to help create space for these relationships to develop naturally in your flow of life. If you are interested in getting started but not sure of what the first step needs to be, I’d love to help you out! 

Living the Gospel

When I think about the first people who carried the Good News of Jesus into all the world, I picture almost larger than life characters who were perfectly equipped to take the message to others. When we do this, we miss the call for ordinary people to know Jesus, walk with him, and share him with others. I spent some time thumbing through Acts this morning and want to share some findings. Spend some time with these passages and allow Scripture to encourage and challenge you.

Starting at the end of Luke 24:45-53 - What does Jesus give them in verse 49? He then tells them to wait. 

Luke ends with an offering of the Spirit and Acts picks right up with this theme. The rhythm of the early church was to look and listen for the movement of the Spirit to move them into mission. They also carried the message “as they went.” As we turn to the book of Acts, how do you see the gospel spreading? What are people doing? What is their attitude to the world around them? 

In Acts 1:1-14 we see Jesus promising the Holy Spirit and the Apostles, the women, Mary, and Jesus’s brothers all gathered in prayer, waiting for the Holy Spirit to come. In the beginning of chapter 2, the Holy Spirit comes down on the Apostles, the women, Mary, and Jesus’s brothers. The tongues of fire allowed them to speak in the languages of all who gathered, and Peter preached the first sermon that points to the Spirit’s work in the world through the Messiah. He offers the gift of the Spirit for all who are baptized into Christ. Out of this promise comes a transformed community of ordinary people (2:42-47). 

Acts 4:8-22 – What gave Peter the power to do and say what he did? What credentials did they notice that Peter and John had in v13? Pause for a moment and think about what it looks like to be recognized as someone who had been with Jesus.  

Acts 8:1-8 – After Stephen was martyred and Saul began persecuting the church, followers of Jesus were scattered. Verse 4 tells us that those who were scattered preached the word wherever they went. They’re bad circumstance was greeted as opportunity to share the gospel. What bad circumstances do you see in your life around you right now? Ask for the Spirit to reveal what God will do through you to share the gospel in these circumstances. 

Acts 8:26-40 – What instructions does the angel of the Lord give Philip? All he is given is a direction and nothing else. “On his way” (v28), Philip saw the Ethiopian and the Spirit told him to go and stay near that chariot. Philip then creates space for the Ethiopian to ask questions and have conversation. What does it look like for the Holy Spirit to guide you to people like this in your life?

Acts 16:12-15 – When Paul enters a city, he usually finds a synagogue to begin his work of sharing the story of Jesus. Since Philippi did not have a recognized synagogue, he went outside the city to find a place of prayer. When he arrived, he only found women there, so he shared the good news with them. What did these women then do with this news? There is a vibrant church in Philippi that supports Paul and has many women that Paul considered companions in the cause of the gospel. These ordinary women came to know Jesus, walk with him, and established a faith community that would play a vital role in Paul’s ministry.

Acts 18:1-17 – This is an interesting passage. How long does Paul stay in Corinth? What all is he doing while he is there? The Jews take Paul down to the “place of judgement” to complain to Gallio that Paul was causing problems in the Jewish community. He dismisses the complaint because he doesn’t care about the Jewish issues. How does the crowd in v17 respond to Sosthenes the synagogue leader? Why would a crowd of non-Christians stand up for Paul the way they did in a complaint about Jewish issues? I suspect that Paul was a good tent maker, business owner, and made the community around him better because of the way he lived out the gospel. What does it look like to live the gospel in such a way that even non-believers will stand up for you when you undergo persecution? 

There are tons more stories, but I hoped to cast a wide vision of how the gospel was lived out, carried forward, and shared through the guidance of the Holy Spirit, the awareness of those who walk with Christ, and through how Jesus followers lived the gospel in proximity to others. Let us go and do likewise! 

Joining God on Mission

I’ve used the word “incarnation” a lot in the last few weeks. This is the teaching that God became flesh, meeting us where we are in our likeness, to then restore us to who we should be in God’s likeness. The incarnation reminds us of one of the major themes of scripture: God has never given up on redeeming his creation. Since the fall of humanity and the brokenness of his creation, God has been in active pursuit of his creation to redeem it. This is one of the major teachings that sets Christianity apart from other world religions. God does not stay high on Mount Olympus, unreachable by mortals. The God of Christianity meets us where we are, in our brokenness, and carries us to the mountaintop. There is no one that is too far from him that he can’t meet them where they are. No one. 

The church is called to be the body of Christ as it comes together in unity and love. This unity and love of the body of Christ is what makes Christ known to the world (John 13; 17). As those who carry the presence of Christ into the world, through the Holy Spirit, we continue God’s mission to redeem his creation back to him. This is the overarching theme of Luke’s Gospel: what the Holy Spirit began to do through Jesus, the Holy Spirit now continues to do through the Church to the ends of the earth. 

We look back to the pages of the New Testament to see first century expressions of the gospel and church life as they navigated how to carry out God’s mission in their time and place. As the gospel reaches the Jews gathered in Jerusalem, we see expressions of the gospel and church life lived out in their context. When the Gentiles are brought into the church, the church had to reexamine how the gospel and church life was expressed in this new context (Acts 11; 15). 

Throughout scripture, we see God speaking into different contexts ways in which the gospel can be lived out to reach new terrains. We look back to what God was doing in those times and in those ways to see how the gospel is breathed new and fresh into new spaces and new places. When we look back, we see the Spirit at work shaping communities of people for the mission of God in their day. We look back to then look forward to live twenty-first century lives as we walk in light of the revelation God gave to us in the first century. What the church needs today is a fresh blowing of God’s Spirit on our culture, in our day, and in our way. We must continually examine our practices to see where the gospel could better connect with the world around us and see how we can remove all obstacles from people coming to know Christ. 

We’ve laid the groundwork over the last few weeks for how the Gospel takes on different metaphors and meanings as it is presented in different ways to meet people where they are. The gospel isn’t compromised in doing this but is contextualized to meet people where they are to then bring them into the story of Christ and be transformed into his image. This week we will look to the opportunities we have in the YMCA, NoDa, and in the area of the city where you live. How will we be proactive with meeting our community where it is for the sake of the gospel? 

The passage for reflection this week is from Luke 7:11-17. I love this story because Jesus has no agenda for what he is doing other than his heart went out to the woman. When we develop the heart of Jesus in our lives, the Spirit moves in us to see situations around us with compassion. What are some situations in the world where you struggle to allow compassion to be the first response? What do you see people doing that invokes anger? How would viewing those situations through compassion first change your approach to the situation? 

A Gospel Shaped Community

On the shelf in our living room is one of my daughter’s favorite things to look at when she was around nine months old. It is fragile so we always held it for her, but she wanted to look at it multiple times a day. The body of this object is long and slender and there is a glass container on the end which holds an array shapes and colors. She would look hard at all the individual pieces and then we’d shake it together while she’d squeal in delight. Then she’d gaze upon the “new” array of shapes and colors. I really look forward to the day when she can hold it up to the light and look from the other end. Kaleidoscopes when pointed towards the light and rotated, the tumbling shapes and colors presents beautiful arrangements of colorful patterns. 

The Gospel is like this in scripture. Last week I used the metaphor of the single club golfer and the need for a full bag of clubs when sharing the gospel. An even better metaphor for what we see in scripture is the kaleidoscope. When the shapes in the glass are held in unity and revealed by the light there are common patterns but a vast display of images in which to look. The atonement metaphors and images within scripture are also held in unity and revealed by the light of the Son of God. The various metaphors of atonement come into view within the biblical texts as we rotate the “kaleidoscope.”

We talked last week about the need for contextualizing the gospel to meet people where they are rather than standing at a distance and trying to convince them to meet you where you are. We see this in St. Patrick’s approach to evangelizing the Celts of Ireland but more importantly, we see this in Paul in 1 Cor. 9:19-23 and Acts 17. Within Paul’s writing, he does not utilize any one single way of expressing the meaning of the death of Christ. Instead, he draws upon a kaleidoscope of metaphors and symbols to communicate its meaning:

• Reconciliation – 2 Cor 5:18-20; Rom 5:10-11; Eph 2:16; Col 1:20-22

• Sacrifice – Rom 3:25; 8:3, 1 Cor 5:7

• Representation – 1 Cor 15:14-15

• Redemption – Rom 3:24; 1 Cor 7:21-23; Gal 4:5

• Righteousness – Rom 3:21-26; 5:9; 2 Cor 5:21

• Curse – Gal 3:13

• Self-giving/emptying – Rom 8:32; Gal 1:4; 2:20; Phil 2:7

• Victory over the powers – Col 2:15

• Paradoxical power and wisdom – 1 Cor 1:24-25; 2 Cor 13:4

The variety of images testifies to the depth and breadth of meaning of the death of Christ for Paul. It also enables him to tailor his interpretation of atonement to fit the needs and circumstances of the churches he is writing. Here’s a snap shot of Paul’s writing: 

Romans – We see the relationship between Christ’s work, the Law, and justice (3:9-31).

Philippians – We witness the way Christ’s life and death should influence our morality and transform our behavior, especially the way we treat those around us (Phil 2:1-11).

Galatians – Hear hints of substitution. Christ gave himself for us (Gal 2:20)

Colossians – Cosmic Christ who is victorious at the cross and makes a spectacle of the powers and authorities (2:15).

As Paul rotates the kaleidoscope, he discovers new ways to encourage and enlighten the church to be who God has called them to be as those set apart by the blood of Jesus. The gospel changes how conflict is delt with in a community of believers. The gospel also shapes us into a community that embodies the gospel. 

We become a gospel shaped community every time we read the story of Jesus and identify ourselves with that story. We then invite others to listen and hear that story of Jesus. The act of hearing the gospel story and learning to tell and live out the gospel story is why we gather. We carry this story within us when we eat the bread and drink the wine. We retell and remember the gospel story every time we gather around the table of the Lord’s Supper. This rhythm of telling and retelling the story at the table prepares us to go and live the story together for the world.

What is the Gospel?

Imagine you show up to the golf course and you get paired with someone to play with. You shake hands, exchange pleasantries, and stand there awkwardly waiting for him to go to his car and get his clubs. You noticed he was holding a five iron in his hand, and you finally asked if he needed to go get the rest of his clubs. “Don’t need ‘em” he responds. “I hate lugging around that bag so I developed my game to where I can do everything with this one club.” He rotated the club to hit the ball differently when needed. He adjusted his approach to driving the ball off the tee. He bent his elbows and knees just right to get the lift on the ball he needed at the right times. Sure enough, he managed a full 18 holes with only a five iron. Luckily for you, you can now brag about how badly you beat this golfer. 

This golfer’s focus was on keeping things simple and not carrying around a heavy bag. But was his effective? He managed to get to the hole every time, but it often cost him a few extra strokes. I’m not much of a golfer myself but I understand enough of the game that those who do golf are likely frustrated by the guy in this analogy. 

What is the Gospel? This question is essential. It should shape how we live, how we view others, how we worship, our relationship to the world, opposition, how we live together as followers of Christ, etc. How you understand the gospel shapes everything about you. So, how do you understand the gospel?

When asked to explain the gospel, most often we hear the same basic response, “You’re a sinner and deserve death but Jesus died for you so now you don’t have to.” Or, with more legal language, “The penalty of sin is death, but Christ paid the ransom for your sins through his death so that you might live.” This basic presentation of the gospel has often become the five-iron of our golf game. This metaphor for explaining the gospel will often get us where we need to go but it isn’t always the most effective club we should be reaching for. As we look to the new terrain ahead of us, we need to look into the golf bag of “Atonement theory,” the way of talking about the gospel, and see what clubs need to be dusted off and utilized for the strokes we need to take. 

When “penal substitution,” the atonement theory detailed above, becomes the only club we use, we must convince every person they are a sinner deserving of death so that we can then convince them they need Jesus. While this is a very real part of what Jesus did on the cross, it misses so many other parts of the gospel that would be a better starting point for sharing Jesus with a culture that does not feel guilt for their way of life and sees Christians as hypocrites when we focus on their sins while ignoring our own. 

If the gospel is “good news” for all people in all times and in all places, should the church always take the same approach to presenting the gospel in all times and in all places? Or, should we evaluate the place we’re in and see where the gospel encounters people in these times and places? When Paul is in front of the synagogue, he reasons from scripture. When he’s in front of the philosophers on Mars Hill in Acts 17, he reasons from their own poets and meets them where they are in their religious practices to speak of who God is. In 1 Corinthians 9:19-23, Paul says, “19 Though I am free and belong to no one, I have made myself a slave to everyone, to win as many as possible. 20 To the Jews I became like a Jew, to win the Jews. To those under the law I became like one under the law (though I myself am not under the law), so as to win those under the law. 21 To those not having the law I became like one not having the law (though I am not free from God’s law but am under Christ’s law), so as to win those not having the law. 22 To the weak I became weak, to win the weak. I have become all things to all people so that by all possible means I might save some. 23 I do all this for the sake of the gospel, that I may share in its blessings.” 

This is an incarnational approach to ministry. The incarnation is where God meets us where we are in Jesus, becoming like us so that we can become like him. Paul’s approach to sharing the gospel was to meet everyone where they were in their time and place to walk with them towards Jesus. Philippians 2:1-11 is a great picture of what Jesus did for us to then show us what we do for one another and for the world. 

When I think about the community around us in the YMCA and in our neighborhood, I wrestle with how the Gospel meets each person where they are and how it is received as good news. How is the gospel good news for these groups (and how do we meet them where they are): rich, poor, good natured, LGBTQ+, immigrant, women, men, marginalized, oppressed, Black Lives Matter, Democrats, Republicans, de-churched, etc. 
If God’s mission for the church is reconciliation of all creation back to him, then the church needs to reflect this reconciliation in all her practices. Is there anything we do as a church that creates a barrier between for people coming to know Christ? Is there anything in your life and convictions that create a barrier for people coming to know Christ? If we are to be a church on mission to take the gospel into all the world, we need to look deep into our golf bag, know the gospel in its fullness so we are always prepared to give an answer for the hope we have. We need to know the gospel so well that it shapes how we work together as a church, how we present ourselves to the world, and how we approach conversations with the world around us.

Other questions to wrestle with:

• What does the Gospel have to do with the resurrection?

• What does the Gospel have to do with the life of Jesus?

Understanding God's Mission

We’re in the mountains now. The terrain has changed. The one thing that hasn’t changed is our mission. God in on mission. He has always had a mission. And he has always been active in his mission. God’s mission has a church.

God’s mission has never changed from Genesis 1 through Revelation 22 but there are times we have lost track of what God’s mission is. Adam and Eve failed to be who God created them to be and now the whole creation is tarnished and no longer the good creation God intended it to bed. God has never given up on this creation. On the first day Adam and Eve were outside of the Garden, God has never stopped working to restore what he created as good. He chooses to work within the creation to restore the creation. He set apart Israel for this mission. They failed. He then sent Jesus to embody who Israel was supposed to be and to be the “New Adam” because the restored creation will need a restored Adam (1 Cor 15 and Rom 5). 

We, the church, are now sent as the body of Christ for the redemption and reconciliation of the world. We have missed this calling when we have condensed the message of the Gospel into a personal and individual salvation of the soul as assurance for what happens when someone dies. 

God’s mission for the church is not to set aside souls to go to heaven when their bodies die. God’s mission for the church is to live out the reality of the good creation as a witness to the restoration power of Jesus Christ amongst the tarnished creation. 

God’s mission for the church is not to create escape pods to get people from earth to heaven. God’s mission for the church is to bring heaven to earth. This is the point of the Lord’s Prayer. The imagery throughout the New Testament, and the Old as well, is one of restoration of creation where all things are brought to peace. This is accomplished through the resurrection of Jesus Christ. 

If we’re heading into the mountains, we must remember what God’s mission is for his church. Otherwise, we will get distracted along the way. If God’s mission is the restoration of all of creation back to the goodness he created it to be:

• What does this mean for how we view conflict between believers?

• Do our worship practices reflect the glory of God in the restoration of his creation?

• How does this shape how we view one another? Should there be dividing lines in the church between groups God has redeemed and given the Spirit to? 

• Restoration of all creation to the goodness God intended it to be begins with you. What are you doing right now to allow Christ to restore the blemished image of God within you so that your life is lived as a witness to God’s work in the world? 

• Where are you building friendships that span cultural divides that give witness to Jesus’s redemptive love?

Scriptures for your reflection: 2 Corinthians 5:13-21, Ephesians 1:7-10; 2:4-10; 2:19-22; 3:7-11

What do we want to be known for?

I want to begin with a few questions before getting into a devotional reflection to prepare us for Sunday’s message:

How did you come to know Christ and why are you still a Christian? 

Who is the person in your life that it breaks your heart that they are no longer a Christian? Why did they leave? Focus your answer on why they left. 

Who is someone you know who is not a Christian that you wish was? Why are they not a Christian?

I would love to hear your stories if you feel like sharing – ryan@nodachurch.com

Christianity in America is on the decline. It is easy to write off why people leave but these are people Jesus cares about. We should try to understand why they left and allow ourselves some time for reflection on how we have presented Christ to them in a way that it didn’t come across as good news. Not everyone will accept Jesus, but we must make sure we remove any obstacles that might be in the way of people coming to know Jesus. 

When we look back to why people we know have left the faith, or why people we know are not interested in following Christ, what are some of the major things you hear? 

I read a study back in 2007 that was focused on how the world around us saw Christians. The research group interviewed thousands of people from all over America trying to get an understanding of the growing trends they were seeing in how Christians were viewed. They titled the book “unChristian” because people basically did not see us a Christ like. I’ve linked a review of the book here.

The culture’s overall view of Christians fell into six categories: hypocritical, only care about “saving” others, anti-homosexual, sheltered, too political, and judgmental. 

What was most surprising thing in their interviews was that people were continually using insider language. They realized that most of the people they were interviewing once had a Christian faith but left it. This prompted a second research project that resulted in a book four years later called “You Lost Me.” You can find a review here.

There are times in the church where we have focused on some things thinking we were focusing on Christ. We’ve assured people they wouldn’t go to hell if they followed the rules. We’ve sought after power to create and sustain a particular way of life for ourselves. We have been known more for what we were against than what we stood for. I’m sure you could continue to add to this list. 

Jesus says that the world will know we are his disciples by the way we love one another, the world will know God through our unity, and we will carry God’s presence into the world through the Holy Spirit. These are the themes that kept coming back up as we went through the Gospel of John. To show Christ to the world we must first know Christ ourselves.

As we look to the future, what do you want our church to be known for in our community? 

Read 1 Peter 1:13-2:25 and reflect on these questions:

• What does it look like to be holy as God is holy? 

• Where is our citizenship? How does that shape how we are to live as foreigners here in America?

• Why are we called to live good lives among the unbelieving world around us? 

• What hope do you find in “…but the Word of the Lord stands forever”? What are you holding on to that is simply grass and flowers? 

There are Mountains Ahead

I’ve been in full time ministry for fifteen years now and in that short time things have changed a lot in how ministry needs to be approached. Coming to NoDa Church was a refreshing change of being in a new environment with unique challenges. In many ways, this has been uncharted territory for me and for us as a congregation. We cannot do traditional church in a nontraditional setting. We’ve had to adapt along the way. 

A while back, I was discussing a hard situation with a mentor of mine. I was at a loss as to what the “right direction” was in moving forward with the situation. It was a little disheartening when I explained the dynamics of the situation and his response was, “Boy! That’s a hard one. I’m not sure I know what to tell you.” After forty plus years of church work, training ministers, counseling church leaderships, and teaching in universities, I brought a situation to him that he had never dealt with. His next comment to me was one that has stuck with me for a while now. He asked, “What do your instincts tell you?” This question assumes prayer and seeking God’s guidance are taking place. 

At the beginning of this year, we did a series called “Canoeing the Mountains” where we looked at Lewis and Clark’s expedition to find a northwest passage to the Pacific. They thought they would canoe up the Missouri river, carry their canoes over some small mountains, and drop their canoes in another river and it’d be easy sailing down to the Pacific. Three hundred years of exploration assumed this would be the way forward. When the Corp of Discovery arrived at Lemhi Pass, they saw what all the tribal leaders had warned them about: “There are mountains ahead.” They dismissed these warnings because they assumed the mountains would be like the Appalachians. What they had in front of them for as far as the eye could see were peak after peak after peak of the Rocky Mountains. 

The canoes they were carrying that brought them so much success up to this point were nothing better than firewood. The successes of their past were not going to work in this new terrain. With all the changes around them, one thing remained the same: their mission. They didn’t have the option to say, “I wasn’t trained for this!” or quit because the terrain just got substantially harder. Their mission didn’t change. They had to learn new skills, trust their instincts, and listen to those who knew this new land. 

The church in America is standing on Lemhi Pass and is struggling with the reality of the changing terrain. Some are still in their canoes paddling as hard as they can though they’ve run out of water. Others have set aside their canoes for bulldozers in hopes of creating a waterway where they can place their canoes. The church cannot fight against the terrain. We must be faithful to the mission of God to carry his Good News where we go and into whatever terrain in which we find ourselves. 

At the beginning of the year, I asked for a group from our church to meet with me and study the changing terrain to see what potential struggles and opportunities we have ahead of us in the church. This Corp of Discovery was a blessing to me in this last year as we discussed the success and struggles of the past to learn how we might develop better instincts for the future. Over the next eight weeks, we will be going on this journey as a church. I will be sharing what this group discovered and guiding us through scripture to help us determine the paths ahead. 

God promises that the gates of hades will never overcome the church (Matt 16:18). His mission has not changed! The question I want to wrestle with in the coming weeks is whether the church in America and our fellowship of churches will be relevant to the mission of God or will we hold tight to our canoes? 

Read Philippians 3 in preparation for Sunday. What instincts do you see Paul working from? What is most important to him? What do we learn from this chapter?  

John 20 - People of the 8th Day

Numbers in the Bible often have symbolic meaning and point us to deeper truths about what is going on in a story. The ancient world used numbers to communicate on multiple levels and the ancient readers would have read the surface information along with the depth of truth being communicated. In a lot of ways, this is like seeing a character in a show wearing a black or white cowboy hat in old shows. When their character is introduced, you know more about them than just their name. Movies do this with soundtracks, we know something good or bad is about to happen based on the music playing in the background. We have a depth of insight into what is going on more so than the characters in the show we are watching. In the ancient biblical world, if you read that 6 men showed up, you would take notice that there might be evil within them because 6 represents imperfection. The number 7 represents perfection. Other numbers such as 10 and 12 take on different meanings. Also, multiplications of these numbers take the representation deeper (24 elders in Revelation represents fullness of Israel with 12 plus the fullness of the Gentile nations. Also, think 666 and 777). Numerology is important in the ancient world for pulling back a layer of what a text is communicating (and is essential for Revelation). I should note that not every number has a deep meaning, but it is important to not ignore these numbers. 

John provides a lot of details in his gospel account that can take us into deeper meaning into the text. I’ve tried to point out a lot of these themes throughout this series. John begins his gospel talking about Jesus being light coming into the world. He then emphasizes Nicodemus coming to Jesus at night (in the dark) and Jesus going to the Samaritan woman during the day (in the light). A beautiful moment of redemption comes for Nicodemus in chapter 19:28-42. He is a disciple in secret, provides the burial spices (enough for a king), and gives him a proper burial just before the sun goes down (in the last light of the day). 

This passage in John 19 begins to point to another important detail that has deep layers. What do you see around the place where Jesus was crucified? The tomb was nearby but where is that tomb located? John begins his gospel drawing on the imagery of Genesis 1, “In the beginning…” This isn’t just information. He is placing us in the proper context for understanding who Jesus is and what he came to accomplish. In the beginning, there was a garden where God breathed a perfect and good creation into existence. He was with his creation and the creation new him. That creation was broken by sin and darkness has clouded over it ever since. God never gave up on that creation and continued to make his presence known to it. Then, one day, he brought his presence back to his creation in the form of his creation, as the perfection he intended it to be. Light stepped into darkness. The prefect among the imperfect. The imperfect could not understand this perfection.

Thinking of Jesus in this way, I am reminded of one of my favorite quotes from St. Antony, the father of the monks, “A time is coming when men will go mad, and when they see someone who is not mad, they will attack him, saying, 'You are mad; you are not like us.” When we follow Jesus, we are called to be mad in a world that thinks it is sane. Love, embodied in us through our baptism, should be lived out in ways that confuse people. If you are on the “left,” love people on the “right” in ways that will make your fellow “lefters” uncomfortable. If you are on the “right,” go and do likewise. Take account of the people in your life. Are most of them like you? Diversify your friend group in a way that requires you to live the love of Christ for others and makes “your people” uncomfortable. 

The imagery John is working with in this section takes us to a much deeper understanding of who we are called to be as followers of Jesus. John has already pointed us to Jesus being buried in the garden (Remember the kernel in John 12:23-26) and will point us again to being mistaken as the gardener (20:15). John is connecting the Resurrection with the garden. Jesus is the New Gardener, the New Adam. John emphasizes twice that the Resurrection happened on the first day of the week (20:1; 19). This is what the early church often referred to as the 8th day of creation. The old creation is stuck in a seven-day cycle but in Jesus Christ, the 8th day has come. This is the first day of the New Creation! 

The last piece of imagery I want to highlight in this section is in 20:19-22. Jesus enters the locked room where the disciples were hiding. He greets them with Shalom, “peace be with you.” He then breathes on them and gives them the Holy Spirit. This imagery is paralleled with the creation narrative in Genesis 2:7 where God “breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living being.” He then places the man in the garden as a co-worker in tending the garden. Jesus says, “Peace be with you! As the Father has sent me, I am sending you” (20:21). The disciples are sent to be gardeners to cultivate and tend the New Garden of the New Creation. They are bringing the Kingdom here and now, that will be fully realized when Christ returns fully. We are the people who live within this New Creation because the Spirit has been placed in us and amongst us. We are people of the 8th day of creation!