Bible Notes for 18th May to 8th June 2014, Year A by Barrie Morley

G.Ro.W.ing in John's Gospel

The G.Ro.W. method tries to help those of us who preach and worship in a Circuit, group or Benefice situations, where many different voices lead worship over the year. G.Ro.W. aims to celebrate the benefits of different personalities, but help with continuity of content by identifying some of the themes each Biblical writer presents week by week, in the hope that different preachers will each include some of those themes - thus allowing congregations to hear the voice of each Biblical writer week by week.


So how might the 'Life Situation' out of which John wrote, speak to us almost 2,000 years later? The cultures are so different. Or are they? As we dig into this Gospel around Easter, Ascension and Pentecost, we find that some of the things which concerned John, are worries which we too share as believers today.

SOME KEY THEMES FOR EASTER/PENTECOST FROM JOHN

In chapters 13-22 of his Gospel, John wrestles with the problem of how disciples will live and cope with life after the Lord's physical presence has left them. In our terms that may become, 'How do we live as a Christian minority in an alien and sometimes hostile culture?'

One of the answers John offers is the presence of the Comforter, the Advocate, the Strengthener (John 14: May 25th, and Ch 19: - 20-23, June 8th).

Two thousand years after Jesus walked the earth the promise of his return seems unfulfilled. Is it still in the future? Or, if it has not happened should we stop expecting it and preaching it? This was already an issue by the time the fourth gospel was written. One answer John offers is his so called 'Realised Eschatology' Christians have the blessings of eternal life NOW, it is quality as well as quantity.

'NOW is eternal life, if risen with Christ we stand.
My life is hidden in God with thee, Now and through all eternity'. George Wallace Briggs Hymns and Psalms 203.

Another related emphasis which sets John's gospel apart from the other three Biblical ones is his way of describing how the Holy Spirit came to the disciples after the Ascension. John presents it:

• In a much more low key way than does the writer of Acts (See John 20: 19-23)
• For John the ascension and the coming of the Spirit seems to be much more of a piece, ways of describing the one triumphant 'package' which Christ offers His followers.

What might this distinctive Johannine way of dealing with Resurrection, Ascension and Pentecost offer us in worship and Christian living today? The answer to that might depend on our own Christian community and the issues it is wrestling with, but to me it counter balances emphases upon a 'Second Blessing' and the need for each individual Christian to receive the Spirit, with a reminder that after Resurrection/Ascension, the Holy Spirit is given to the Christian community as a whole.

'Our' Christ IS risen, He IS the universal Lord, the Spirit IS given to his people as a whole community.

PASSAGES

May 18 John 14: 1-14

'In my Father's house are many resting places' Well known and well loved words, but is this a promise for the hereafter, or rather the here and now? The fact that it is set within that long section of the Gospel which deals with life here on earth without the physical presence of Jesus, but with the promise of the Spirit gives us a big clue.

Under God's rule there is 'room' for everyone, and along the journey many 'resting places'. Christians are brought into God's house and Jesus comes to us through the Holy Spirit - here and now. Eternal life, the presence of Jesus by his Spirit, are, for John and for us present realities and not just future hopes.

May 25 John 14: 15-21

Several themes predictions and promises are found in this passage:

• Jesus calls us friends!
• He chooses us
• Persecution lies ahead

'I have called you friends'. Do you use one of those Advent candles which, as it burns highlights biblical names of Jesus? Names usually include Lord, Saviour, Immanuel, King. etc.


One often conspicuous by its absence is FRIEND. I only remember hearing one sermon on this title Jesus gave himself. But what a wonderful, humbling, reassuring description it is!

One more John's 'Realised eschatology' shines through. The benefits of knowing Christ are to be enjoyed here and now.  Is there a sermon here?

June 1st John 17: 1-11

'Be united in your work and witness of bringing glory to me.'  If John's Gospel was written from Asia Minor (modern Turkey), at a time of schism in the Christian community, then these words speak powerfully to the situation John knew.
But what does it say to your situation today?  Verse 11b has often been quoted as a justification of the search for visible church unity - the setting and the text will not sustain such a use.

Colin G. Kruse speaks of the unity as 'unity in mission as well as unity for the sake of mission.' He adds, '...this unity in mission is rooted in the disciples' unity/relationship with the Father and the Son (Kruse, John, IVP,  page 132).

Recent years has seen a proliferation of denominations in the UK. This has been both energising, and a way of appealing to some people with no interest in traditional church life and worship. On the other hand it can present the church as in the words of the hymn, 'By schisms rent asunder'.

Some congregations and preachers will face painful splits in their own fellowship. This was an issue dealt with in the letters of John. For many of us however the topic for preaching which presents itself from Ch 17: 11b will be unity and harmony within the local congregation.

June 8th Pentecost. John 20: 19-23 or John 7: 37-39

The current John cycle in the RCL closes with some of John's way of presenting the gift of the Spirit to Jesus' followers. Without doubt, for John, the Holy Spirit is 'Jesus's other self'. The coming of Jesus to his followers in the form of the Holy Spirit is the true interpretation of Ch. 14: 1-3.

Letters such as 1 Corinthians and Ephesians, together with the Acts of the Apostles, have things to say about the gifts signs and miracles which can accompany and evidence the Spirit's work. Whilst John's gospel also has 'signs/miracles', this Gospel's teaching on the work of the Spirit presents it as:

• mainly for the benefit of the believer
• a personal, intimate experience. We ought to note once more however that the Spirit is given to the whole community of Christ's disciples. It is a corporate not just a personal gift. In these chapters Jesus speaks to his followers as a group.

POSSIBLE PREACHING POINTS.

• Do we make enough of the Spirit's power in our work as a witnesssing community?
• The need for an intimate relationship with God as well as spectacular signs of the Spirit.
• Whether we choose to preach on the 'signs and wonders' of the Acts lection or the intimate, low key emphasis of John's gospel might depend on what the particular church congregation most needs to here. Time to challenge the comfort zone?

Barrie Morley May 2014.

Books

Kruse, Colin G., 2003.  John.  London: IVP
Wakefield, G. S., 1985.  The Liturrgy of St. John.  Epworth: Epworth Press.