When I grow up I'm going to join the army as a morale booster.
I'm going to join the army to learn self-discipline and then quit.
Sunday, 19 August 2007
Two gems from Harold
From the back of the car came these thoughts...
Thursday, 12 July 2007
who can forgive sins?
In Matthew 9, when Jesus tells the paralysed man, Your sins are forgiven (v.2), the Pharisees respond by accusing him of blasphemy (v.3); in Mark's account their ire is made more explicit: they ask, Who can forgive sins but God alone? (Mark 2:7). It's a good question - and also a moot point.
The crowd who see the miracle respond with awe and praise because, as they see it, "God...had given such authority to men." Authority to do what? To heal? Yes. To forgive? That would seem to be part of the package they have in mind.
The Pharisees are angered because, as they see it, God alone can forgive sins; and the crowd are amazed because, as they see it, God has conferred authority on men (not just the man) to forgive sins.
Who's right? It's often said (by preachers - I know, because I've said it) that the Pharisees were at least right on this point; where they went wrong was in not recognising that God was among them in the person of his Son. So they were right and the crowd was wrong.
I'm not so sure now. Is it true that only God can forgive sins? Yes, but it is also true that he devolves the authority to do so to people - Jesus tells us that explicitly in Matthew 18:15ff, esp. v.18.
So the Pharisees were only partly right; the crowd, however deficient in their understanding of the true identity of Jesus, had got it spot on.
The crowd who see the miracle respond with awe and praise because, as they see it, "God...had given such authority to men." Authority to do what? To heal? Yes. To forgive? That would seem to be part of the package they have in mind.
The Pharisees are angered because, as they see it, God alone can forgive sins; and the crowd are amazed because, as they see it, God has conferred authority on men (not just the man) to forgive sins.
Who's right? It's often said (by preachers - I know, because I've said it) that the Pharisees were at least right on this point; where they went wrong was in not recognising that God was among them in the person of his Son. So they were right and the crowd was wrong.
I'm not so sure now. Is it true that only God can forgive sins? Yes, but it is also true that he devolves the authority to do so to people - Jesus tells us that explicitly in Matthew 18:15ff, esp. v.18.
So the Pharisees were only partly right; the crowd, however deficient in their understanding of the true identity of Jesus, had got it spot on.
Monday, 2 July 2007
a heap from ash
A small overview on the book of Job that is big on pastorally-helpful material, grounded in serious exegesis and wise biblical-theology. It also helps that Ash can write well; very well.
Thursday, 14 June 2007
Young At Heart
Been listening to Neil Young's latest release - Live At Massey Hall 1971 - stunning vocal performance, great acoustic guitar, appreciative audience, gentle humour and, of course, lyrics that plumb depths of emotional intensity both real and raw, whilst remaining humane and sane. A welcome companion on a miserably-wet morning.
Monday, 28 May 2007
Song for Hefina
Recently came across this piece, written after an 18-week miscarriage in 1995. The little girl was due to be born in June 1996, hence the name we chose for her ('June' in Welsh is Mehefin). Posting it here fwiw.
Song for Hefina
Out of time,
yet your time hadn't come;
Out of the darkness,
into eternal light.
Joy we never tasted
and shared at your dawn,
Is multiplied to you
in heaven's glory song.
And lullabies soft whispered
never soothed a troubled cry;
Yet music wholly other
holds and charms you now.
Our arms never held
and cradled you in love;
His are everlasting,
how can we long for return?
Tested and examined,
consigned to history.
Our hearts will never forget you
nor will our tears dry
until the day faith turns to sight
and God, who is rich in mercy,
unfurls the banner
of love's final triumph.
Song for Hefina
Out of time,
yet your time hadn't come;
Out of the darkness,
into eternal light.
Joy we never tasted
and shared at your dawn,
Is multiplied to you
in heaven's glory song.
And lullabies soft whispered
never soothed a troubled cry;
Yet music wholly other
holds and charms you now.
Our arms never held
and cradled you in love;
His are everlasting,
how can we long for return?
Tested and examined,
consigned to history.
Our hearts will never forget you
nor will our tears dry
until the day faith turns to sight
and God, who is rich in mercy,
unfurls the banner
of love's final triumph.
Saturday, 19 May 2007
On the cusp
of a study-week, to be spent in our Dandy, sans famile (as Alain Dah-vey might say). Here are the books I plan to take and (maybe) to read:
John Goldingay, Old Testament Theology Vol 2 - Israel's Faith
Kevin Vanhoozer, The Drama of Doctrine
Eugene Peterson, Eat This Book
Eugene Peterson, The Jesus Way
Miroslav Volf, Free of Charge
Miroslav Volf, The End of Memory
Larry Crabb, Soul Talk
Chris Wright, The Mission of God
I guess that's enough. I've never had a study week before so I figured that it's best to take too many books rather than take only a few and then find they aren't what's most needed. I also decided to take a variety of styles and subjects. And some are small and some are big.
Of course, a Bible or three will also be needed. And a mobile phone, a set of headphones and directions to the nearest public house showing the Champions' League final on Wednesday. The essentials, so to speak.
The Dandy? This is it:
Tuesday, 8 May 2007
the words that saved my life
I know, LORD, that your laws are righteous,
and that in faithfulness you have afflicted me.
May your unfailing love be my comfort,
according to your promise to your servant.
(Psalm 119:75,76)
and that in faithfulness you have afflicted me.
May your unfailing love be my comfort,
according to your promise to your servant.
(Psalm 119:75,76)
Monday, 7 May 2007
Tagged!
Msr Alain Dah-vey has apparently tagged me (it hasn't happened since I was at Junior School in Pwllheli) so I ought to try to reply (this is where he did so).
Three characters I wish were real, so I could meet them:
i) Reginald Perrin
ii) Esther Greenwood (from The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath)
iii) Querry (from A Burnt-Out Case by Graham Greene)
Three characters I would like to be:
i) Reginald Perrin
ii) Richard Hannay
iii) Alf Tupper (from The Victor comic for boys)
Three characters who scare me:
i) Dr Mary Malone (from Philip Pulman's His Dark Materials)
ii) Maxwell Edison (from Maxwell's Silver Hammer by The Beatles)
iii) The Cook (in Yann Martel's Life of Pi)
I need to tag 3 people. I only know one who qualifies: The Masked Badger. You're tagged, sonny.
Three characters I wish were real, so I could meet them:
i) Reginald Perrin
ii) Esther Greenwood (from The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath)
iii) Querry (from A Burnt-Out Case by Graham Greene)
Three characters I would like to be:
i) Reginald Perrin
ii) Richard Hannay
iii) Alf Tupper (from The Victor comic for boys)
Three characters who scare me:
i) Dr Mary Malone (from Philip Pulman's His Dark Materials)
ii) Maxwell Edison (from Maxwell's Silver Hammer by The Beatles)
iii) The Cook (in Yann Martel's Life of Pi)
I need to tag 3 people. I only know one who qualifies: The Masked Badger. You're tagged, sonny.
Sunday, 22 April 2007
Prescience
Americans are not particularly good at sensing the real elements of another people's culture. It helps them to approach foreigners with carefree warmth and an animated lack of misgiving. It also makes them, on the whole, poor administrators on foreign soil. They find it almost impossible to believe that poorer peoples, far from the Statue of Liberty, should not want in their hearts to become Americans. If it should happen that America, in its new period of world power, comes to do what every other world power has done: if Americans should have to govern large numbers of foreigners, you must expect that Americans will be well hated before they are admired for themselves.
Alistair Cooke, The Immigrant Strain, 6th May 1946.
Thursday, 19 April 2007
Why bother to read the Bible? Why bother to preach?
Christians feed on Scripture. Holy Scripture nurtures the holy community as food nurtures the human body. Christians don't simply learn or study or use Scripture; we assimilate it, take it into our lives in such a way that it gets metabolised into acts of love, cups of cold water, missions into all the world, healing and evangelism and justice in Jesus' name, hands raised in adoration of the Father, feet washed in company with the Son.
Eugene Peterson, Eat This Book, p.18
Friday, 13 April 2007
faithful servant; faithful son
In Numbers 12 we're told that Moses "was a very humble man, more humble than anyone else on the face of the earth" (v.3). The context for that comment is the jealousy of Aaron and Miriam; part of the Lord's response is to declare that Moses "is faithful in all my house" (v.7) and, unlike other prophets who receive the Lord's word in dreams and visions, Moses has face-to-face dealings with the LORD and sees his form (v.8). There could be no clearer nor more powerful affirmation and exaltation of Moses as the LORD's servant.
The writer of Hebrews also makes use of this incident (or at least of the LORD's commendation of Moses) but in a quite unexpected way. Yes, "Moses was faithful as a servant in all God's house" (Heb. 3:5); the commendation is repeated almost word for word, but the writer has in view one who is even greater than this Moses: "But Christ is faithful as a son over God's house" (3:6).
Moses was outstanding in his generation, commended by the LORD and deeply privileged. But there is one even more worthy of commendation, outstanding in all time and whose privilege derives from his being "the radiance of God's glory and the exact representation of his being" (Heb. 1:3). As the house-builder, he has greater honour than the house itself (Heb. 3:3) and as the son over that house is worthy of the deepest devotion and the highest praise.
The writer of Hebrews also makes use of this incident (or at least of the LORD's commendation of Moses) but in a quite unexpected way. Yes, "Moses was faithful as a servant in all God's house" (Heb. 3:5); the commendation is repeated almost word for word, but the writer has in view one who is even greater than this Moses: "But Christ is faithful as a son over God's house" (3:6).
Moses was outstanding in his generation, commended by the LORD and deeply privileged. But there is one even more worthy of commendation, outstanding in all time and whose privilege derives from his being "the radiance of God's glory and the exact representation of his being" (Heb. 1:3). As the house-builder, he has greater honour than the house itself (Heb. 3:3) and as the son over that house is worthy of the deepest devotion and the highest praise.
Wednesday, 11 April 2007
Tuesday, 10 April 2007
hallowing the name
Hallowed be your name - the adoration that springs from the appreciation of God as our Father in heaven. The question I had was this: who does the hallowing and how? My assumption was that it is we (in concert with all humanity) who are to do the former by living hallowed lives, in every context and in every possible way.
But enter Ezekiel 36.
It is the LORD who will show his name to be holy, who will hallow his name. And he will do so through the return from exile and the gift of his Spirit:
That is to say, God will hallow his name in and through his Son and his great achievements, through the great events of the gospel. And through those achievements being visible in the lives of the people he brings back from the exile (of sin) and into whom he gifts his Spirit.
Maybe it's startlingly obvious to all & sundry but it was a fresh discovery to me. And a welcome, humbling one.
But enter Ezekiel 36.
Therefore say to the house of Israel, 'This is what the Sovereign LORD says: It is not for your sake, house of Israel, that I am going to do these things, but for the sake of my holy name, which you have profaned among the nations where you have gone. I will show the holiness of my great name, which has been profaned among the nations, the name you have profaned among them. Then the nations will know that I am the LORD, declares the Sovereign LORD, when I am proved holy through you before their eyes. (vv.22,23)
It is the LORD who will show his name to be holy, who will hallow his name. And he will do so through the return from exile and the gift of his Spirit:
For I will take you out of the nations; I will gather you from all the countries and bring you back into your own land. I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you will be clean; I will cleanse you from all your impurities and from all your idols. I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh. And I will put my Spirit in you and move you to follow my decrees and be careful to keep my laws. Then you will live in the land I gave your ancestors; you will be my people, and I will be your God. (vv.24-28)
That is to say, God will hallow his name in and through his Son and his great achievements, through the great events of the gospel. And through those achievements being visible in the lives of the people he brings back from the exile (of sin) and into whom he gifts his Spirit.
Maybe it's startlingly obvious to all & sundry but it was a fresh discovery to me. And a welcome, humbling one.
Thursday, 22 March 2007
Chris Wright on Noah & Mission
Although we live on a cursed earth, we also live on a covenanted earth.
This is God's earth, and God is covenantally committed to its survival, just as later revelation will show us that God is also covenantally committed to its ultimate redemption.
Our mission takes place within the framework of God's universal promise to the created order.
The rainbow promise spans whatever horizon we can ever see.
Christopher J H Wright, The Mission of God, IVP 2006, pp.326,7
Monday, 26 February 2007
Blessing, not cursing
In commenting on Genesis 3, John Goldingay (Old Testament Theology p.139) notices that "God actively blesses; God does not actively curse, but declares that the snake and ground are cursed." While acknowledging that "at one level the distinction is purely syntactical" he goes on to (fairly, imo) comment that "To describe God as blessing but not directly cursing suggests that blessing is Yhwh's natural activity, while cursing is less so...In Yhwh's nature blessing has priority over cursing, love over anger, mercy over retribution."
An interesting example that seems to confirm Goldingay's observation is found in Exodus 20:5 where the Lord delcares that he will punish the children for the sin of their parents to the fourth generation but will show love to a thousand generations of those who love him. Because his priority is blessing, not cursing.
An interesting example that seems to confirm Goldingay's observation is found in Exodus 20:5 where the Lord delcares that he will punish the children for the sin of their parents to the fourth generation but will show love to a thousand generations of those who love him. Because his priority is blessing, not cursing.
The Best Paragraph Ever Written
I believe this to be one of the finest paragraphs ever written. It makes you want to continue reading, its use of english is faultless and its pace and tone are exemplary (I'm sure the venerable Mr Zinsser would agree). The author is Eugene Peterson and he is writing about the pastoral ministry.
Here it is:
(from a piece entitled The Apocalyptic Pastor, found in various places including here)
I read the paragraph to my wife (whose name is a palindrome) and told her that I would give my life-savings to be able to write like that. She half-laughed, safe in the knowledge that were my intent true it wouldn't change our lives much. When I told her that I would sell this house to be able to write like that, she stood aghast and said "Surely you wouldn't!" I don't recall my response but it probably masked, for her sake, how real that desire was. Because it's the finest paragraph I have ever read.
Here it is:
The adjective apocalyptic is not commonly found in company with the noun pastor. I can't remember ever hearing them in the same sentence. They grew up on different sides of the tracks. I'd like to play Cupid between the two words and see if I can instigate a courtship.
(from a piece entitled The Apocalyptic Pastor, found in various places including here)
I read the paragraph to my wife (whose name is a palindrome) and told her that I would give my life-savings to be able to write like that. She half-laughed, safe in the knowledge that were my intent true it wouldn't change our lives much. When I told her that I would sell this house to be able to write like that, she stood aghast and said "Surely you wouldn't!" I don't recall my response but it probably masked, for her sake, how real that desire was. Because it's the finest paragraph I have ever read.
Monday, 12 February 2007
sermons on john 13-17
for what it's worth, my sermon notes on john 13-17, preached in swinton a couple of years ago, are available here (and also via the sermons link in the sidebar).
sermon on john 17:24-26
As GoogleEarth pans out, it sets your house, town and country into its global context. The prayer of Jesus draws to a close in these verses and as it does we see our Lord’s vision panning out and taking into account the final picture. It’s a thrilling and humbling sight.
1. To be with me
Having prayed for those who would believe in him through the apostles’ witness, Jesus now prays for every believer, for all those that the Father has given to him. And what he prays for is that all his people might be with him, where he is.
We’re used to tales of superheroes saving the world and then riding off into the distance but that isn’t what Jesus is about – that isn’t why God made the world, it isn’t why he sent his Son to rescue this fallen world. The Lord’s purpose, in creation and salvation, was to save a people for himself, people who would be in relationship with him and who would ultimately live with him.
This is what thrilled and encouraged Paul so much as he languished in a Roman prison and penned his letter to the Philippians – to “be with Christ which is better by far.” The Christian hope is not simply that one day we will live in the renewed heavens and earth where sin can no longer spoil and where death cannot rob and grieve. The centre of our hope is the Lord himself.
Have you ever wondered what that bit in Revelation is about, when it says that there will be no temple in the new heavens and earth? Why is that? Because “the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are its temple” (21:22). The temple served as the place where God’s presence was localised in this world and the same is true, in essence, of the church as the temple. But the great hope held out before us is for the full presence of God to flood the whole of creation.
We shall be with him. And look at what Jesus prays here: “Father, I want those you have given me to be with me”. This is what God wants, this is the passionate desire of Jesus, to have his people with him and for him to be with them.
One writer has said that “’With me’ is the language of love. The beloved longs for the lover’s presence. So Jesus…gazes across the rolling aeons of the future and anticipates the embrace of his beloved bride in the glory that is to be” (Milne).
For now, Jesus has prayed that we not be taken out of this world but rather protected whilst in it. But that’s only while time lasts. His ultimate desire is for his own to be with him. He wants us there and so prays for us to be there. And we shall be. No prospect can be so thrilling or sustaining amid the challenges and disappointments of life in this world. He wants you, wants us, to be with him.
2. To see my glory
But that isn’t all. The reason Jesus wants us to be with him is so that we might see his glory, the glory that he had with the Father because the Father loved him before the creation of the world.
We have already seen something of the glory of God in the face of our Lord Jesus. It is a sight of exquisite beauty and grace; when we see something of the wonder of God’s grace and love radiating from his Son, it takes our breath away. But there is yet more to see, so much more. Jesus wants us to see the glory he had with the Father ‘in the beginning’, before the days of time.
Here is a glory that is beyond words to begin to describe – the full relation of Father and Son, in the Spirit; the glory of the eternal God. And Jesus says that the Father gave him this glory because he loved him before the creation of the world – this is a glory that is not simply about salvation but takes up the full reality of the eternal God, who he is in himself, who he is in the relationship of the members of the Trinity.
The sight we have now is true but it is only partial; what Jesus is praying for here is the fullness. It will be a sight that is not clouded by sin, nor limited by our mortality. John tells us that when we see Jesus, we will be made like him for we shall see him as he is. It is that sight Jesus is praying about here.
When we fall asleep in Jesus we go to be with him in that moment but even then there is something more to come, the full revelation of his glory at his coming when he will be marvelled at among us.
Have you ever had the hairs on your neck stand up at the sight of a beautiful sunset? Or maybe just gazed admiring the clouds in the sky and adored the one whose canvas displays such amazing artistry? Have you had times when the reality of God’s love to you in Jesus has reduced you to grateful tears?
All those experiences are glimpses of the glory of God but they will be far surpassed. Jesus is asking here for us to be allowed to have, not a glimpse, but a full and unending grasp of the amazing reality that is God himself, Father, Son and Holy Spirit.
3. Your love in them; I myself in them
With his last petition, Jesus returns to the interim. Having set up the prospect of the final consummation of all things, he states that the though the world does not know the Father, he does and his disciples know that the Father has sent him.
He is the one who has made the Father known to the disciples. All knowledge of the Father comes only through the Son, the one who is the express image of his person. But coming to know the Father through the Son is not a one-off event that is then done for ever. Jesus affirms his intention here to go on making the Father known to his people.
Whilst ever we remain in this life, Jesus will go on making the Father known to us. Our life as disciples is not to be static but an upward path as he opens to us through his Word, by his Spirit, the riches that are God himself. This is the desire and stated aim of Jesus, to reveal the Father to us as his people. That commitment by our Lord should lead us to say with Paul, “I want to know him…” and to pray with him, that the Lord would give us the Spirit of wisdom and revelation so that we might know him better (Eph. 1:17).
But why is Jesus committing himself to making the Father known to us? “That the love you have for me may be in them…that I myself may be in them” (v.26).
There’s a couple of things to notice about this.
i) Jesus wants us to know personally the same love that the Father has for him. To know and share in that is the very pinnacle of salvation. But Jesus is not speaking of our individual experience here; he has in view the love that exists and is shared within the Trinity also existing and being shared by the members of his family, the church.
Jesus makes the Father known to us so that we might share in their love, delighting personally in it and collectively demonstrating that love. Discovering more about God is not a merely intellectual exercise; it is for the purpose of showing love to each other and so declaring to the world the reality of who Jesus is and why he came.
ii) Jesus makes the Father known to us so that their love might be in us and so that he himself might be in us. And that is where we come to the highest goal of all in the purposes of God – that he might be all in all and that we might be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.
You see, at the end of the day, it isn’t just about being forgiven and made new, it isn’t just about renewing the moral order of the world; it is, rather, all about God making his dwelling with humanity. And not just among us but in us.
Many centuries ago, a man called Athanasius said this: “the Word took bodily form so that we might receive the Holy Spirit: God became the bearer of a body so that men might be bearers of the Spirit.” That is how our Lord Jesus will be in us, each one and as a body collectively.
That is what Jesus is praying about here with his cross in full view. The only way that God will be able to dwell among and within people is by Jesus going the way of the Cross, bearing away all our sin and shame, enduring untold agony so that we might know inexpressible joy as we are filled with his love and indwelt by the Lord of glory.
This is what we hold out to this world as we preach the gospel. No-one else is worthy of our love and devotion.
1. To be with me
Having prayed for those who would believe in him through the apostles’ witness, Jesus now prays for every believer, for all those that the Father has given to him. And what he prays for is that all his people might be with him, where he is.
We’re used to tales of superheroes saving the world and then riding off into the distance but that isn’t what Jesus is about – that isn’t why God made the world, it isn’t why he sent his Son to rescue this fallen world. The Lord’s purpose, in creation and salvation, was to save a people for himself, people who would be in relationship with him and who would ultimately live with him.
This is what thrilled and encouraged Paul so much as he languished in a Roman prison and penned his letter to the Philippians – to “be with Christ which is better by far.” The Christian hope is not simply that one day we will live in the renewed heavens and earth where sin can no longer spoil and where death cannot rob and grieve. The centre of our hope is the Lord himself.
Have you ever wondered what that bit in Revelation is about, when it says that there will be no temple in the new heavens and earth? Why is that? Because “the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are its temple” (21:22). The temple served as the place where God’s presence was localised in this world and the same is true, in essence, of the church as the temple. But the great hope held out before us is for the full presence of God to flood the whole of creation.
We shall be with him. And look at what Jesus prays here: “Father, I want those you have given me to be with me”. This is what God wants, this is the passionate desire of Jesus, to have his people with him and for him to be with them.
One writer has said that “’With me’ is the language of love. The beloved longs for the lover’s presence. So Jesus…gazes across the rolling aeons of the future and anticipates the embrace of his beloved bride in the glory that is to be” (Milne).
For now, Jesus has prayed that we not be taken out of this world but rather protected whilst in it. But that’s only while time lasts. His ultimate desire is for his own to be with him. He wants us there and so prays for us to be there. And we shall be. No prospect can be so thrilling or sustaining amid the challenges and disappointments of life in this world. He wants you, wants us, to be with him.
2. To see my glory
But that isn’t all. The reason Jesus wants us to be with him is so that we might see his glory, the glory that he had with the Father because the Father loved him before the creation of the world.
We have already seen something of the glory of God in the face of our Lord Jesus. It is a sight of exquisite beauty and grace; when we see something of the wonder of God’s grace and love radiating from his Son, it takes our breath away. But there is yet more to see, so much more. Jesus wants us to see the glory he had with the Father ‘in the beginning’, before the days of time.
Here is a glory that is beyond words to begin to describe – the full relation of Father and Son, in the Spirit; the glory of the eternal God. And Jesus says that the Father gave him this glory because he loved him before the creation of the world – this is a glory that is not simply about salvation but takes up the full reality of the eternal God, who he is in himself, who he is in the relationship of the members of the Trinity.
The sight we have now is true but it is only partial; what Jesus is praying for here is the fullness. It will be a sight that is not clouded by sin, nor limited by our mortality. John tells us that when we see Jesus, we will be made like him for we shall see him as he is. It is that sight Jesus is praying about here.
When we fall asleep in Jesus we go to be with him in that moment but even then there is something more to come, the full revelation of his glory at his coming when he will be marvelled at among us.
Have you ever had the hairs on your neck stand up at the sight of a beautiful sunset? Or maybe just gazed admiring the clouds in the sky and adored the one whose canvas displays such amazing artistry? Have you had times when the reality of God’s love to you in Jesus has reduced you to grateful tears?
All those experiences are glimpses of the glory of God but they will be far surpassed. Jesus is asking here for us to be allowed to have, not a glimpse, but a full and unending grasp of the amazing reality that is God himself, Father, Son and Holy Spirit.
3. Your love in them; I myself in them
With his last petition, Jesus returns to the interim. Having set up the prospect of the final consummation of all things, he states that the though the world does not know the Father, he does and his disciples know that the Father has sent him.
He is the one who has made the Father known to the disciples. All knowledge of the Father comes only through the Son, the one who is the express image of his person. But coming to know the Father through the Son is not a one-off event that is then done for ever. Jesus affirms his intention here to go on making the Father known to his people.
Whilst ever we remain in this life, Jesus will go on making the Father known to us. Our life as disciples is not to be static but an upward path as he opens to us through his Word, by his Spirit, the riches that are God himself. This is the desire and stated aim of Jesus, to reveal the Father to us as his people. That commitment by our Lord should lead us to say with Paul, “I want to know him…” and to pray with him, that the Lord would give us the Spirit of wisdom and revelation so that we might know him better (Eph. 1:17).
But why is Jesus committing himself to making the Father known to us? “That the love you have for me may be in them…that I myself may be in them” (v.26).
There’s a couple of things to notice about this.
i) Jesus wants us to know personally the same love that the Father has for him. To know and share in that is the very pinnacle of salvation. But Jesus is not speaking of our individual experience here; he has in view the love that exists and is shared within the Trinity also existing and being shared by the members of his family, the church.
Jesus makes the Father known to us so that we might share in their love, delighting personally in it and collectively demonstrating that love. Discovering more about God is not a merely intellectual exercise; it is for the purpose of showing love to each other and so declaring to the world the reality of who Jesus is and why he came.
ii) Jesus makes the Father known to us so that their love might be in us and so that he himself might be in us. And that is where we come to the highest goal of all in the purposes of God – that he might be all in all and that we might be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.
You see, at the end of the day, it isn’t just about being forgiven and made new, it isn’t just about renewing the moral order of the world; it is, rather, all about God making his dwelling with humanity. And not just among us but in us.
Many centuries ago, a man called Athanasius said this: “the Word took bodily form so that we might receive the Holy Spirit: God became the bearer of a body so that men might be bearers of the Spirit.” That is how our Lord Jesus will be in us, each one and as a body collectively.
That is what Jesus is praying about here with his cross in full view. The only way that God will be able to dwell among and within people is by Jesus going the way of the Cross, bearing away all our sin and shame, enduring untold agony so that we might know inexpressible joy as we are filled with his love and indwelt by the Lord of glory.
This is what we hold out to this world as we preach the gospel. No-one else is worthy of our love and devotion.
sermon on john 17:20-23
Having prayed for his disciples, Jesus turns in these verses to pray for those who would believe in him through their message. Before we look at the burden of Jesus’ prayer for us, two points are worth noting here.
Firstly, Jesus expects the mission of his disciples to achieve success – that is, he expects there to be others who will believe in him as a consequence of his sending out of these men into the world.
Secondly, unless Jesus only has in view those directly evangelised by the disciples, he is speaking of their message as the foundation upon which all other mission is based. And, indeed, that is how Paul then speaks of the ministry of the Apostles, as the foundation in the new temple being constructed by the Lord.
But what of Jesus’ prayer? What is its great burden? The answer clearly is the unity of his people. It’s a big issue in the world and it always has been. Go right back to the society before Abraham and you find people working together in unity to make a name for themselves, defying the Lord and deifying man. It was an issue of real concern before and during the first century – Alexander the Great tried to unify the inhabited world and the Roman Empire tried something similar. And in our own day there have been many attempts to achieve some notion of unity, whether that is at the economic level or between nation states.
No-one would deny that the unity of the human race is something to be desired. To overcome all the fractures of human society would be a wonderful achievement. The great question, however, has always been ‘How?’.
Jesus here prays for the unity of his people and shows us how full and genuine unity between very disparate people can be achieved. We also see what unity looks like and how the unity of his people works to effect a great purpose.
1. Unity through participation in the divine pattern
True unity comes through a participation in the very life of God. Jesus speaks of his people being one “Father, just as you are in me and I am in you” and of them being “in us”. The phrase ‘just as’ gives the idea of pattern (which we will return to) but it also gives the ‘how’ of unity, the cause of it.
Unity among people in this world, true unity, can only come about as people are found to be joined to the Father and his Son, as they are ‘in’ the Son. The people of Israel were told that “the LORD our God, the LORD is one” - he is the original and true unity and all true union comes from him. It does not and can not be achieved through any other means; the genuine healing of the human race can only be experienced through participation in the life God.
In that context, it’s very important to see that Jesus is praying here about the unity of those who believe in him through the witness of the apostles. He is not praying about a unity between members of different religions and none. Nor is this about unity between merely nominal Christians. Jesus is praying about a unity that can only, by its very definition, exist between genuine believers since it derives from a true participation in the life of God through faith in him.
It is for this reason that ventures such as the World Council of Churches and, more recently and locally, Churches Together are flawed. Where you can have as full partners in the process such groups as the RC church and the Quakers, then you are not beginning from a position of agreed Biblical truth.
But it is precisely at that point Jesus does begin. He doesn’t insist on unity on secondary issues but he does insist that unity is only possible among those who are genuinely sharing in his life, which means those whose faith is squarely in Jesus, whose faith is biblical.
Now, it is not possible for an organisation to possess faith so the unity Jesus has in mind is not organisational. However, where organisations exist, it follows that they can only work towards the expression of unity where they are in agreement on matters of foundational truth, on the witness of the apostles to the Lord Jesus Christ and to salvation in him.
But what shape does that unity take? The unity of God’s people flows from, and is fashioned according to, the unity that exists within God himself. As you read the gospels, if you keep an eye out for this theme, especially in John, you’ll see Father and Son united in the deepest possible way, being one in purpose, in love and in action.
And that is the pattern that is set for the church, for us. Paul’s words to the Philippians in Phil. 1:27ff mirror this kind of unity. It can only exist where there is common faith in our Lord Jesus and it can only proceed because of the prayers of Jesus. There is the challenge for us and the encouragement we so badly need to pursue unity.
2. Unity in principle and in practice
But is Jesus praying about unity in principle or in practice? Does he have in mind the fact that in him his people are united or is he praying for that working-out in detail and in experience of that unity?
Looking back to v.11 it would seem that Jesus has the latter more in mind. And that is certainly so when we come to v.20 where Jesus speaks of his people being brought to “complete unity”. When we come into God’s family we share in the unity of the Spirit as a fact but Jesus is praying about the maturing expression of that unity. The whole impetus of his prayer and its profound energy is directed toward the detailed outworking in daily life of the unity of his family.
But it would be a big mistake to think that in order to achieve this unity we have to subsume our personal distinctness. That is not so in the Godhead and it is not to be so in the church. Father and Son are in perfect unity though they are distinct persons. And when you consider the vast diversity that exists within creation, it would be so contrary to find that God wants to work sameness within his family.
Here is part of the glory of the gospel message: it works unity in the midst of real diversity. Without doubt, that diversity makes working out our unity more challenging again but this is what Jesus prays for and this is what his Spirit strives for within the church.
Is there a key to maintaining and maturing the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace? Paul’s words in Phil. 2:1ff would seem to be extremely important.
Having urged these believers to be of one mind and one spirit, he puts them in mind of the great example of Jesus in his humility and condescension. Others come first; always. Humility is the order of the day and self-giving love is the church’s hallmark.
What greater example could we have and what greater incentive to follow it?
3. Unity: the great purpose
But why is Jesus so passionate about praying for the unity of his people? “May they also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me” (v.21); “may they be brought to complete unity to let the world know that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me” (v.23).
The great passion here is Jesus’ mission in the world. He is praying for the world to see the unity of his people so that the world might know that he was truly sent by the Father and that those whose faith is in him are caught up into the love that exists within God himself. And he wants them to see and know that because they, too, are called to submit to him as Lord and they, too, are invited to know the blessings of God’s saving love in him.
All of which makes it imperative that our lives are not in conflict with the clearly-expressed prayers of Jesus. We must seek to be brought to complete unity, to be one in purpose, in love and in action. Primarily the focus of that has got to be within the local church since this is what most people will see most often. Inter-church relations are not unimportant but the unity Jesus is praying for is not organisational but organic, one that is about the life of God’s people.
We cannot say with any sense of truthfulness that we are mission-minded unless we are also fellowship-minded. People who seem to have a passion for evangelism yet have no observable concern for growing unity with their brothers and sisters have failed to grasp the heart of Jesus and the burden of his prayers.
Unity has such powerful evangelistic impact because this broken world desperately needs to be reconciled and healed, restored from its fractured state. It can only happen in and through our Lord Jesus.
It is our privileged calling to so live a life of loving unity before a watching world that the words we speak about Jesus carry with them the authentic aroma of divine love and reconciliation.
May Jesus’ prayers be answered both in and through us. Amen.
Firstly, Jesus expects the mission of his disciples to achieve success – that is, he expects there to be others who will believe in him as a consequence of his sending out of these men into the world.
Secondly, unless Jesus only has in view those directly evangelised by the disciples, he is speaking of their message as the foundation upon which all other mission is based. And, indeed, that is how Paul then speaks of the ministry of the Apostles, as the foundation in the new temple being constructed by the Lord.
But what of Jesus’ prayer? What is its great burden? The answer clearly is the unity of his people. It’s a big issue in the world and it always has been. Go right back to the society before Abraham and you find people working together in unity to make a name for themselves, defying the Lord and deifying man. It was an issue of real concern before and during the first century – Alexander the Great tried to unify the inhabited world and the Roman Empire tried something similar. And in our own day there have been many attempts to achieve some notion of unity, whether that is at the economic level or between nation states.
No-one would deny that the unity of the human race is something to be desired. To overcome all the fractures of human society would be a wonderful achievement. The great question, however, has always been ‘How?’.
Jesus here prays for the unity of his people and shows us how full and genuine unity between very disparate people can be achieved. We also see what unity looks like and how the unity of his people works to effect a great purpose.
1. Unity through participation in the divine pattern
True unity comes through a participation in the very life of God. Jesus speaks of his people being one “Father, just as you are in me and I am in you” and of them being “in us”. The phrase ‘just as’ gives the idea of pattern (which we will return to) but it also gives the ‘how’ of unity, the cause of it.
Unity among people in this world, true unity, can only come about as people are found to be joined to the Father and his Son, as they are ‘in’ the Son. The people of Israel were told that “the LORD our God, the LORD is one” - he is the original and true unity and all true union comes from him. It does not and can not be achieved through any other means; the genuine healing of the human race can only be experienced through participation in the life God.
In that context, it’s very important to see that Jesus is praying here about the unity of those who believe in him through the witness of the apostles. He is not praying about a unity between members of different religions and none. Nor is this about unity between merely nominal Christians. Jesus is praying about a unity that can only, by its very definition, exist between genuine believers since it derives from a true participation in the life of God through faith in him.
It is for this reason that ventures such as the World Council of Churches and, more recently and locally, Churches Together are flawed. Where you can have as full partners in the process such groups as the RC church and the Quakers, then you are not beginning from a position of agreed Biblical truth.
But it is precisely at that point Jesus does begin. He doesn’t insist on unity on secondary issues but he does insist that unity is only possible among those who are genuinely sharing in his life, which means those whose faith is squarely in Jesus, whose faith is biblical.
Now, it is not possible for an organisation to possess faith so the unity Jesus has in mind is not organisational. However, where organisations exist, it follows that they can only work towards the expression of unity where they are in agreement on matters of foundational truth, on the witness of the apostles to the Lord Jesus Christ and to salvation in him.
But what shape does that unity take? The unity of God’s people flows from, and is fashioned according to, the unity that exists within God himself. As you read the gospels, if you keep an eye out for this theme, especially in John, you’ll see Father and Son united in the deepest possible way, being one in purpose, in love and in action.
And that is the pattern that is set for the church, for us. Paul’s words to the Philippians in Phil. 1:27ff mirror this kind of unity. It can only exist where there is common faith in our Lord Jesus and it can only proceed because of the prayers of Jesus. There is the challenge for us and the encouragement we so badly need to pursue unity.
2. Unity in principle and in practice
But is Jesus praying about unity in principle or in practice? Does he have in mind the fact that in him his people are united or is he praying for that working-out in detail and in experience of that unity?
Looking back to v.11 it would seem that Jesus has the latter more in mind. And that is certainly so when we come to v.20 where Jesus speaks of his people being brought to “complete unity”. When we come into God’s family we share in the unity of the Spirit as a fact but Jesus is praying about the maturing expression of that unity. The whole impetus of his prayer and its profound energy is directed toward the detailed outworking in daily life of the unity of his family.
But it would be a big mistake to think that in order to achieve this unity we have to subsume our personal distinctness. That is not so in the Godhead and it is not to be so in the church. Father and Son are in perfect unity though they are distinct persons. And when you consider the vast diversity that exists within creation, it would be so contrary to find that God wants to work sameness within his family.
Here is part of the glory of the gospel message: it works unity in the midst of real diversity. Without doubt, that diversity makes working out our unity more challenging again but this is what Jesus prays for and this is what his Spirit strives for within the church.
Is there a key to maintaining and maturing the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace? Paul’s words in Phil. 2:1ff would seem to be extremely important.
Having urged these believers to be of one mind and one spirit, he puts them in mind of the great example of Jesus in his humility and condescension. Others come first; always. Humility is the order of the day and self-giving love is the church’s hallmark.
What greater example could we have and what greater incentive to follow it?
3. Unity: the great purpose
But why is Jesus so passionate about praying for the unity of his people? “May they also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me” (v.21); “may they be brought to complete unity to let the world know that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me” (v.23).
The great passion here is Jesus’ mission in the world. He is praying for the world to see the unity of his people so that the world might know that he was truly sent by the Father and that those whose faith is in him are caught up into the love that exists within God himself. And he wants them to see and know that because they, too, are called to submit to him as Lord and they, too, are invited to know the blessings of God’s saving love in him.
All of which makes it imperative that our lives are not in conflict with the clearly-expressed prayers of Jesus. We must seek to be brought to complete unity, to be one in purpose, in love and in action. Primarily the focus of that has got to be within the local church since this is what most people will see most often. Inter-church relations are not unimportant but the unity Jesus is praying for is not organisational but organic, one that is about the life of God’s people.
We cannot say with any sense of truthfulness that we are mission-minded unless we are also fellowship-minded. People who seem to have a passion for evangelism yet have no observable concern for growing unity with their brothers and sisters have failed to grasp the heart of Jesus and the burden of his prayers.
Unity has such powerful evangelistic impact because this broken world desperately needs to be reconciled and healed, restored from its fractured state. It can only happen in and through our Lord Jesus.
It is our privileged calling to so live a life of loving unity before a watching world that the words we speak about Jesus carry with them the authentic aroma of divine love and reconciliation.
May Jesus’ prayers be answered both in and through us. Amen.
sermon on john 17:1-5
To have John 17 is a great blessing and a deep privilege because here we get to the very heart of the relationship between the Father and his Son and, in doing so, we reach the heart and climax of Jesus’ life and ministry.
That latter point is signalled to us when Jesus says that “the time has come”, the hour to which his whole life has been steadily and unerringly moving towards. If we want to know just what Jesus was about in his life in this world, this paragraph brings it to us.
Nothing can be more important for us as Christians in understanding Jesus than comprehending his relationship with the Father and the reason for his coming into the world. And in just a few words we have it all.
1. The mutual glory of Father and Son
Jesus asks the father, with the hour in view when he will lay down his life on the cross, to glorify the Son that his Son might glorify him. In v.4 he speaks of having brought glory to the Father by finishing the work he had been given and in v.5 Jesus speaks of the glory he had with the Father before his coming into the world and his wish to return to that glory now.
In these words, Jesus shows us that there isn’t a whisker between Father and Son in their desire for each other’s glory and in the harmony that exists between them. All along they have been acting in complete agreement and with a real and mutual concern for their glory and honour.
All this is clear from the words of Jesus; it is striking and wonderful to behold. But some might ask what relevance this has to our daily lives as believers. It might be ok for books on theology but what has it got to do with us ‘on the ground’, so to speak?
In some ways, that question is rather too self-aware; any teaching about the person of God ought to be of deep interest to us, simply because of its subject. But having said that, that it has got something to do with us should be obvious from the fact that Jesus chooses to pray within the hearing of his disciples. So what should we draw from this?
A clearer understanding of the person of God, of the relationship between the members of the godhead, can only be helpful in alerting us to the nature of the Christian life. God, as Father, Son and Holy Spirit, is the ultimate reality and we can only rightly understand ourselves and the world if we understand him.
The Father and Son call us into the fellowship they enjoy together with the Spirit. To see their unity and joy in each other is a great delight to us. It is also our inheritance, about which we’ll say more later. To see Father and Son in such close fellowship is to savour just what we ourselves are called to know with God.
It’s also clear that Jesus aimed in all things at the glory of the Father and saw that as the gateway to himself being glorified. That stands as both call and invitation to us also, to follow the Son in glorifying the Father, in the expectation of our being glorified in him.
But the relationships within the Trinity also stand as the example and model for our relationships with each other. So this becomes very practical teaching: we ought to honour each other above ourselves, we ought to seek the best for each other, there ought to be real harmony of thought and action between us.
2. How the glory is seen
But we can and must go further in thinking about the glory of God. Jesus shows us here that the glory of both the Father and the Son is most plainly revealed in the cross and all that flows from that.
Of course the glory of God was seen in the whole life of Jesus – he was seen to be full of grace and truth – but it is in the cross that the grace of God is most clearly seen in all its wonderful contours. And it is there that the truthfulness, the faithfulness, of God is seen.
When Jesus speaks of the Father glorifying the Son, some take it to mean he is speaking of his resurrection and ascension into glory, that his death is followed by his glorification, in virtue of his having died. But what Jesus says here seems to show that he is glorified in the cross too – in v.1 he speaks of the Father glorifying him in order that he might glorify the Father. The order seems to be important.
At the cross, Jesus is glorified with the glory of self-giving love for the sake of others, a love that will heal a divided world and rescue lost sinners. There we see the heart of God & the heart of his purposes.
You might remember that Paul makes a very similar point – in Eph. 3:10,11 he speaks of God’s manifold wisdom being made known through the church to the rulers and authorities. In other words, it was to be through the reconciliation of Jew and Gentile by the cross, through the healing and reconciling love of God demonstrated at Calvary, that God’s glorious wisdom would be made known.
Our calling, too, is to glorify God. How will we do that? In what way can we most effectively point others to Jesus? By making much of the cross, of the death and resurrection of Jesus; by making much of the good news that Jesus is Lord.
But being cross-centred is not only about what we say; it is also about how we live. We cannot live sin-bearing lives but we can live under the shadow of the cross so that we bring glory to God. That means we live for the sake of others, we live for the sake of the mission of God and his desire to see all nations blessed in him.
Jesus said it is more blessed to give than to receive – we certainly are blessed in what we receive from God but that blessing is truly worked out and enjoyed to the most when we live most clearly in the shadow of the cross and follow the example of our Saviour.
3. Jesus given authority to give relationship
Jesus makes even more explicit in vv.2,3 what the display of the glory of God in his life and, supremely, in his death means for the world: he has been given authority over all flesh in order to give eternal life to all whom the Father has given to him.
The world is a broken place; all its peoples are desperately needy. We need healing; we need mercy; we need life. And Jesus has been given authority as Messiah to give that life. By virtue of his death, resurrection and ascension, he is able to freely give to all his people what we all stand in greatest need of: life in all its fullness, the life of the coming age, eternal life.
The term Jesus used speaks not only of quantity (unending life) but a whole new quality of life – life that is appropriate to God’s new world.
There are many ways in which we might conceive of that life – the absence of all that causes pain and loss; the absence of sin and the presence of the most unalloyed joy. But, for Jesus, eternal life quite simply is this: “to know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent” (v.3).
Eternal life is knowing God. This is why Jesus came; this is the reason his life all-along moved to this hour; this is why the cross was endured and sin overcome: that we might know God. Not simply know of him or about him but to know him, truly and deeply.
This is, as we said, our inheritance – to be caught up into the very life of God, to share in the joy of the Trinity, to drink deeply of their mutual love. This is what we have been given and this is what we have to share with the world – not a system of religion, not a grand philosophy of human effort or intellectual brilliance, but the grace and truth of life lived in fellowship with God.
And that knowledge only comes through knowing Jesus as Messiah (this is why Jesus adds “and Jesus Messiah whom you have sent”). We have no way into life with God without Jesus; we are simply flesh and flesh cannot inherit the kingdom of God. But Jesus has authority over all flesh and can give eternal life to all whom the Father has given him.
What we have, we received as a gift, which means there is no place for pride and no need for insecurity. You are loved because of Jesus and invited to share in the life of God simply by his free mercy.
We sometimes speak of believers who have died as going to glory, and it’s a very apt description. But that glory is already begun here on earth as we come to know God in his Son. When our faith is in Jesus, our lives are suffused with the radiance of God’s glory – not perhaps in ways visible to us but nevertheless real and often visible to others, as they see that, though we are earthen vessels, we yet carry a treasure within us – the knowledge of God in Jesus Christ.
That latter point is signalled to us when Jesus says that “the time has come”, the hour to which his whole life has been steadily and unerringly moving towards. If we want to know just what Jesus was about in his life in this world, this paragraph brings it to us.
Nothing can be more important for us as Christians in understanding Jesus than comprehending his relationship with the Father and the reason for his coming into the world. And in just a few words we have it all.
1. The mutual glory of Father and Son
Jesus asks the father, with the hour in view when he will lay down his life on the cross, to glorify the Son that his Son might glorify him. In v.4 he speaks of having brought glory to the Father by finishing the work he had been given and in v.5 Jesus speaks of the glory he had with the Father before his coming into the world and his wish to return to that glory now.
In these words, Jesus shows us that there isn’t a whisker between Father and Son in their desire for each other’s glory and in the harmony that exists between them. All along they have been acting in complete agreement and with a real and mutual concern for their glory and honour.
All this is clear from the words of Jesus; it is striking and wonderful to behold. But some might ask what relevance this has to our daily lives as believers. It might be ok for books on theology but what has it got to do with us ‘on the ground’, so to speak?
In some ways, that question is rather too self-aware; any teaching about the person of God ought to be of deep interest to us, simply because of its subject. But having said that, that it has got something to do with us should be obvious from the fact that Jesus chooses to pray within the hearing of his disciples. So what should we draw from this?
A clearer understanding of the person of God, of the relationship between the members of the godhead, can only be helpful in alerting us to the nature of the Christian life. God, as Father, Son and Holy Spirit, is the ultimate reality and we can only rightly understand ourselves and the world if we understand him.
The Father and Son call us into the fellowship they enjoy together with the Spirit. To see their unity and joy in each other is a great delight to us. It is also our inheritance, about which we’ll say more later. To see Father and Son in such close fellowship is to savour just what we ourselves are called to know with God.
It’s also clear that Jesus aimed in all things at the glory of the Father and saw that as the gateway to himself being glorified. That stands as both call and invitation to us also, to follow the Son in glorifying the Father, in the expectation of our being glorified in him.
But the relationships within the Trinity also stand as the example and model for our relationships with each other. So this becomes very practical teaching: we ought to honour each other above ourselves, we ought to seek the best for each other, there ought to be real harmony of thought and action between us.
2. How the glory is seen
But we can and must go further in thinking about the glory of God. Jesus shows us here that the glory of both the Father and the Son is most plainly revealed in the cross and all that flows from that.
Of course the glory of God was seen in the whole life of Jesus – he was seen to be full of grace and truth – but it is in the cross that the grace of God is most clearly seen in all its wonderful contours. And it is there that the truthfulness, the faithfulness, of God is seen.
When Jesus speaks of the Father glorifying the Son, some take it to mean he is speaking of his resurrection and ascension into glory, that his death is followed by his glorification, in virtue of his having died. But what Jesus says here seems to show that he is glorified in the cross too – in v.1 he speaks of the Father glorifying him in order that he might glorify the Father. The order seems to be important.
At the cross, Jesus is glorified with the glory of self-giving love for the sake of others, a love that will heal a divided world and rescue lost sinners. There we see the heart of God & the heart of his purposes.
You might remember that Paul makes a very similar point – in Eph. 3:10,11 he speaks of God’s manifold wisdom being made known through the church to the rulers and authorities. In other words, it was to be through the reconciliation of Jew and Gentile by the cross, through the healing and reconciling love of God demonstrated at Calvary, that God’s glorious wisdom would be made known.
Our calling, too, is to glorify God. How will we do that? In what way can we most effectively point others to Jesus? By making much of the cross, of the death and resurrection of Jesus; by making much of the good news that Jesus is Lord.
But being cross-centred is not only about what we say; it is also about how we live. We cannot live sin-bearing lives but we can live under the shadow of the cross so that we bring glory to God. That means we live for the sake of others, we live for the sake of the mission of God and his desire to see all nations blessed in him.
Jesus said it is more blessed to give than to receive – we certainly are blessed in what we receive from God but that blessing is truly worked out and enjoyed to the most when we live most clearly in the shadow of the cross and follow the example of our Saviour.
3. Jesus given authority to give relationship
Jesus makes even more explicit in vv.2,3 what the display of the glory of God in his life and, supremely, in his death means for the world: he has been given authority over all flesh in order to give eternal life to all whom the Father has given to him.
The world is a broken place; all its peoples are desperately needy. We need healing; we need mercy; we need life. And Jesus has been given authority as Messiah to give that life. By virtue of his death, resurrection and ascension, he is able to freely give to all his people what we all stand in greatest need of: life in all its fullness, the life of the coming age, eternal life.
The term Jesus used speaks not only of quantity (unending life) but a whole new quality of life – life that is appropriate to God’s new world.
There are many ways in which we might conceive of that life – the absence of all that causes pain and loss; the absence of sin and the presence of the most unalloyed joy. But, for Jesus, eternal life quite simply is this: “to know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent” (v.3).
Eternal life is knowing God. This is why Jesus came; this is the reason his life all-along moved to this hour; this is why the cross was endured and sin overcome: that we might know God. Not simply know of him or about him but to know him, truly and deeply.
This is, as we said, our inheritance – to be caught up into the very life of God, to share in the joy of the Trinity, to drink deeply of their mutual love. This is what we have been given and this is what we have to share with the world – not a system of religion, not a grand philosophy of human effort or intellectual brilliance, but the grace and truth of life lived in fellowship with God.
And that knowledge only comes through knowing Jesus as Messiah (this is why Jesus adds “and Jesus Messiah whom you have sent”). We have no way into life with God without Jesus; we are simply flesh and flesh cannot inherit the kingdom of God. But Jesus has authority over all flesh and can give eternal life to all whom the Father has given him.
What we have, we received as a gift, which means there is no place for pride and no need for insecurity. You are loved because of Jesus and invited to share in the life of God simply by his free mercy.
We sometimes speak of believers who have died as going to glory, and it’s a very apt description. But that glory is already begun here on earth as we come to know God in his Son. When our faith is in Jesus, our lives are suffused with the radiance of God’s glory – not perhaps in ways visible to us but nevertheless real and often visible to others, as they see that, though we are earthen vessels, we yet carry a treasure within us – the knowledge of God in Jesus Christ.
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