The Miracle of Love

 

What we have here is one of the stories from the book 

CONTEMPLATING THE GOSPEL OF JOHN, 

The two men walked along the road by the sea on their way from Smyrna to Pergamum. The older man’s step was quite as spry as the younger. The elder was Jewish. The younger man was obviously Greek. Despite the differences in their backgrounds and ages, they carried on a lively conversation as they walked. John often used their travels to plant his life and all that he knew of Jesus into the life of Polycarp. As they walked, Polycarp asked a favorite question. 

“What was the greatest miracle our Lord ever performed on this earth?”

John answered, “As much as I have enjoyed speculating about this question of yours, I have always thought there was something wrong with whatever answer I gave. I have come to believe that none of His miracles can be seen separately. His whole life was miraculous. He is the Son of God. His godliness is at the heart of everything He did.” They were both silent while Polycarp digested what John had said. 

He then asked, “How did he express His godliness most often?”

“By His love,” John said with hardly a pause. “Everything he did was love.”

Polycarp said, “I have sometimes heard you speak of yourself as ‘The disciple that Jesus loved.’ But didn’t Jesus love all of His disciples? He loves every one of us.”

“Yes,” John said. “I sometimes think He especially loved me. All of us must have thought that from time to time. His love is overwhelming. I describe myself that way to give attention to the love of Jesus and keep myself anonymous. His love in our lives is the most important thing about us.”

Polycarp said, “I don’t think anyone in Asia, outside of our churches, would relate godliness to love. Some might try to demonstrate devotion by emotional or sexual excesses. The stoics would think of strict behavior.”

“Yes,” John said, “and even though our ancient Scriptures overflow with the love of God, the Pharisees, the strictest Jewish practitioners, never seemed to teach anything about it, except in an abstract way. Jesus lived out His love. The love of Jesus was more striking and more powerful than any other sign that He gave us.”

“Tell me one of the ways Jesus expressed His godly nature in love.” At this point, they came to a busier road that left the seaside for some distance. They were silent as they came out onto the high road, negotiating with the crowds and wagons, even livestock being driven to market. As they found their place in the rhythm of traffic, John began to give an answer. 

“On the night that Jesus was betrayed, we gathered for that last Passover meal. You know what the Passover feast is, don’t you.”

“Yes,” Polycarp said. “I have heard you describe the feast, and even its beginnings in your history.”

“Well, as we gathered for the meal, Jesus rose and laid aside His clothes. He wrapped a towel around His waist and began to wash our feet, drying them with the towel.”

“Really? Jesus himself dressed as a slave and washed your feet? That is amazing. It is almost as if He were saying He was not the Master.”

“My son, in His love, Jesus humbled Himself before each of us. He knew He had come from God and was preparing to return to him. We could not always see it, but His humble love accentuated His majesty. Simon Peter tried to stop Jesus from washing his feet. Jesus said, ‘Simon, if I do not wash you, you have no part in me.’ In His love, Jesus cleansed us from our sins. In His love, He forgives and transforms us. By regular forgiveness, He cleanses us day by day. Jesus taught us amazing lessons by His love. And I think the greatest miracle of His love is producing it in us. When he finished washing our feet, Jesus took back His clothes and asked, ‘Do you understand what I have done?’ He said, ‘You call me Teacher and Lord and you are right. If I then, your Teacher and Lord, have washed your feet, you ought to wash one another’s feet.’”

Polycarp blurted out, “Did He mean that literally?”

“Possibly,” John answered. “But He meant far more than that. Jesus gave us an example of love that humbles us before each other.”

“But Jesus did that knowing He was the Son of God. How can we do it?”

John said, “We know that Jesus came from His Father and returned to His Father’s arms. We know that in Him we too are loved by God. Whether or not we are among those who live until Jesus returns, we will soon go to His Father’s embrace.

“Jesus was teaching us to serve others in the power of His love. He showed us His forgiveness and gave us the power to forgive those who wrong us. Jesus told Peter that we only needed our feet washed because we were already clean. Then He said, ‘But not all of you are clean.’ He knew Judas was going to betray him that night. In is love, Jesus washed the feet of His betrayer. We too can grow to love our enemies. This kind of love can only be reproduced in those of us who know Jesus.”

Polycarp said, “I have heard you say that before. And I don’t understand what Jesus meant. Was He saying He only choses those who are willing to love our enemies?” 

John answered, “Jesus said we were chosen before the foundation of the world. Loving others like Jesus is His gift to us. Of course, God knew before the foundation of the world who would receive His love. But that is more than Jesus explained when He said He knew whom He had chosen. I believe it is more complicated and certainly less deserved than that. 

Jesus gave us one final command to love one another. ‘A new commandment I give you, to love as I have loved you.’ This is how people will know that we are His disciples.”

Polycarp said, “That is certainly true. I heard a man in Ephesus telling other people about us. Frankly, he misrepresented almost everything we believe. But he ended by saying, ‘And look how much they love one another.”

This story is drawn from John 13

Lord Jesus, we belong to you. Reproduce your supernatural love in us.

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My book is out!

 

Off and on for months I have posted poems from the book that help us gain insight into The Gospel of John. Last week I posted a word study from John Chapter 1. Again this week I am sharing a word study. Next, I will post a short short story with the same purpose. I pray that God will bless you as I give tastes of John’s Gospel in my blog posts.

Only Begotten

The Only Begotten, ὁ μονογενὴς, monogenes

“And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, 

and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, 

full of grace and truth.”

John 1:14

“No one has ever seen God; the only God, who is at the Father's side, 

he has made him known.”

John 1:18

The word translated “the only son” in verse 14 and “the only God” in verse 18 is the word “only begotten.”

There is a sense in which this translation as well as the N.I.V., and others is more nearly accurate. The word means unique or incomparable. The K.J.V used “only begotten.” and the N.A.S.B.1995 brought it back with the rather stirring translation,

“No one has seen God at any time; the only begotten God 

who is in the bosom of the Father, He has explained Him.” 

John 1:18

Neither Matthew nor Mark use this word. Luke uses it for an only child, like the only son of the woman whom Jesus raised in Luke 7:12. The English word begotten refers to birth, but monogenes refers to derivation and relationship. The last part of the word comes from “genos” which means race or family.

John reserves this word “monogenes” for Jesus alone. With it he is saying that Jesus alone derives from the Father. Jesus did not become the only begotten son by His birth. John does not refer to the birth of Jesus at all. Jesus is eternally in the bosom or intimate relationship with the Father. He is the eternal Son of the Living God. Possibly the best expression of this word is in John 3:16. I put this word study with John chapter 1, because this word is crucial to John's entire presentation of Jesus as the exact representation (Hebrews 1:3) of God on earth. As Isaiah prophesied, He is “God with us” (Matthew 1:23).

Here is where you can access the book, 

CONTEMPLATING THE GOSPEL OF JOHN.

https://www.amazon.com/CONTEMPLATING-GOSPEL-JOHN-David-Young/dp/B0BST5M16K/ref=tmm_pap_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=&sr=

The easiest way to access other books I have written is through my Amazon Authors page Amazon Author Central. 

David Young

THE WORD

 

John 1:1

“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, 

and the Word was God.”

The Word, ὁ λόγος, the Logos

John clearly refers to the first sentence in Genesis as he says, “In the beginning.” With this verse Oxford mathematician John Lennox gives a wonderful explanation of a word or information driven universe. I recommend any of his writings or YouTube videos.

The ancient Greek philosophers used the word logos for the reason or principle that holds all things together. Philo of Alexandria, while a Greek philosopher in the tradition of Plato, was also an orthodox Jew. He actually wrote of the Logos as if it were a person or even the divine intermediary.

John used this term for Jesus, who is the Word of God. He is the fullness of the Godhead bodily (Colossians 2:9).

In his essay, Why I Am Not A Christian, Bertram Russel dealt with the need for the universe to have a creator or prime mover. And he asked the question, “Who created God.” It did not seem to occur to him that his question did not solve the problem. It simply raised the question of whether the cosmos was formed by uncreated matter and energy or an uncreated intelligence, God. 

John 1:14

“And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.”

John 1:18

“No one has ever seen God, the only God, who is at the Father's side, 

he has made him known.”

This is the first of the word studies in the book, Contemplating The Gospel of John, that I am preparing to publish. The book has word studies, poems, and short stories highlighting each chapter of the Gospel of John.

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Are You Able To See?

 

Our visit to Sychar was as amazing to us as it was to the Samaritans. We had always been taught that they were unclean. And at least James and I had reason to fear them. I won’t go into that now. But Jesus marched us into Samaria as bold as you please. We stopped at the ancient well of Jacob. Jesus rested by the well and sent the rest of us to the nearby town of Sychar to buy food. I wondered if it was safe to leave Jesus alone, but we thought no one would come to the well in the hottest part of the day. To be honest, we felt it would be safer if we went with a larger group into town.

When we returned, Jesus was talking with a woman. None of us dared ask Him what He needed, or why He was talking to a Samaritan woman. Whatever they were talking about seemed to upset her. She left her water jar and ran off toward town.

When she was gone, we urged Jesus to eat, but He refused. We were wondering if He could have found something to eat while we were gone. He said His food was to do His Father's will. We divided what we had purchased among ourselves and sat down to eat. As we were finishing, Jesus said, “Don't you have a saying, ‘Four more months, and then the harvest?’ Lift your eyes and see. The fields are white for harvest.” We automatically looked up and saw hundreds of people coming from the town. And their robes were the color of a ripe wheat field. 

Evidently on the word of the woman He had been talking to, many of them believed Jesus was the Christ. They asked Him to stay. We stayed there two more days, and in that short time, hundreds of Samaritans came to believe that Jesus was the Savior of the world.

As we went on from there, Jesus reminded us of something He had said earlier. “A prophet has no honor in his own country.” But as we came back into Galilee, the people received Him after all. They had been to the Passover in Jerusalem and had seen the amazing signs that Jesus did there. We went first to Cana where He had turned the water into wine at the wedding feast.

One morning when He rose early to go out and pray, we roused ourselves and went out with Him. It was getting light in the east when He rose from prayer and began to talk to us.

“Why do you think I have been received here in Galilee where they tried to stone me earlier?” We talked about it among ourselves. It seemed obvious to us that it was because they had seen Him perform signs and wonders at the Passover. 

Then He asked us, “Why then did the Samaritans put their faith in me? Had they been to Jerusalem as well?” We chuckled at this. There is no way Samaritans had been to the Passover. He continued, “There is danger for people to only believe because they see miracles.”

Simon argued a little with this. “Master, I believed because I saw you fill our nets with an impossibly large catch of fish.”

Jesus said, “Was that your only reason, Simon? Had your heart not already been convicted by some of my teachings?” Simon ducked his head. “I knew that you would believe, Simon, when you saw the miracle. But there is a danger of people who see signs and wonders believing against their will. They are not repenting. They don’t want to follow me. But they know that I have to be the Christ to have done such signs.”

My brother James said, “Then why do you perform signs and wonders?”

“My father gives these signs so people will know that I am indeed the Christ. I have given you authority to do some of the same works that I do. And as the gospel spreads to the ends of the earth, He will often do such miracles so people who will come to me will know that I am the Savior of the world. But those who only believe because they see signs, will search hard for some explanation that will not require them to continue to believe in me. Some would only believe if they saw a miracle every day.”

Just then the sun peeked over the mountains and shone down on us. We could not help but turn and look at the glorious sunrise. 

Jesus said, “Is that not a wonderful sign? Only my father could set the sun in the sky or create the stars you see at night.”

Thomas said, “That is not a miracle. It happens every day.”

Jesus answered, “And if people saw signs and wonders every day, they would begin to say, that’s not a miracle. It happens all the time.”

This story is drawn from John 4.

Father, draw our hearts to trust in You.

This story is part of a book I am working on titled CONTEMPLATING THE GOSPEL. In it, I go highlight each chapter of The Gospel of John with word studies, poems and vignettes like this. These are too short to be “Short Stories,” but they bring forth the truth of the passages.

In the past months I have posted some of the poems used in the book. In the next few weeks I will post some of these stories and some of the crucial word studies. I pray they will open your heart to the truth of the gospel.

HITLER'S FAVORITE KIND OF PREACHER

 

The headline of a recent YouTube interview of Eric Metaxis by Seth Gruber read, 

“WHAT IF ANDY STANLEY, RICK WARREN, AND TIM KILLER WERE HITLER'S FAVORITE KIND OF PREACHERS?”

This interview was about Eric's latest book, Letter To The American Church. The reason for the statement was that these preachers have focused their preaching on the Gospel rather than politics. In the interview, they talked about Martin Niemoller telling Hitler he was concerned about The Third Reich, and Hitler saying “You take care of your church, I will take care of The Third Reich.”

I need to object to the headline of this interview on two points. First, it is only partly true. And it is not entirely relevant. I also listened to a sermon Eric preached at Second Baptist Church of Huston on the same subject. I need to say that it struck me for Eric to say that he had a strong sense that God was telling him to write this book. I do not take that lightly or cynically. I have a great deal of respect for Eric Metaxis. And for him to say that, gives me pause. The message was that We are in the same place as the German church in the 1930s. And we had better wake up. I certainly agree with the crux of Eric's message.

But let me defend my responses to the headline of the interview. The statement is only partly true. When we speak of preaching the gospel, we are talking about evangelizing. These men and others of similar heart are trying to reach their cities. Starting churches, evangelizing neighborhoods. They are not simply preaching to the people inside their doors.

And it is not relevant because what Hitler would have liked is not as important as what God wants. God has called us to preach the gospel because no politics will ever be as effective in changing society as the gospel of Jesus Christ.

I agree that the American Church needs to wake up. We have gone to sleep on the threshold of the destruction of our nation. I pray that it is not too late for us to wake up. We must repent of our careless mindset. We need to pray as we have never prayed. I pray that we will stand against ungodly politics and godless attitudes in society. And I pray that we will preach the Gospel of Jesus Christ as never before.

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ARE YOU FAMILIAR WITH THE CHRISTMAS STORY FROM THE GOSPEL OF JOHN?

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 

The Word

In the beginning, from before the beginning

There was God—the Father, Son and Holy Spirit,

In perfect union, eternal love communing.

He spoke His grace before there were ears to hear it.

He sent His Son, the Word from all eternity,

The fullness of the God-head in maternity.

God spoke the light. He spoke the truth. He spoke Himself.

He spoke the whirling spheres and vast expanse to be.

He spoke the skies and seas and earth with all its wealth.

He formed the world and all in it that lives and breathes.

Every molecule knows the wisdom of His heart,

The plants and living creatures bear His mark.

He spoke His Son. He spoke to men. He spoke to me.

For in His time the Holy One to earth has come.

And in His great love He spoke the cross eternally.

From the beginning was His plan, His grace, His Son.

The wonder of His love the world has seen and heard,

As God declared, “In the beginning was the Word.”

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SLEEPING WITH OUR FATHERS

This is an appropriate week to come to the conclusion of Jacob’s blessing to his children in Genesis 49.

“I am to be gathered to my people; bury me with my fathers in the cave that is in the field of Ephron the Hittite, in the cave that is in the field at Machpelah. There they buried Abraham and Sarah his wife. There they buried Isaac and Rebekah his wife, and there I buried Leah. When Jacob finished commanding his sons, he drew up his feet into the bed and breathed his last and was gathered to his people.”

I was particularly stirred Sunday morning as we sang, 

“O come O come Emmanuel, 

And ransom captive Israel,

That mourns in lonely exile here, 

Until the Son of God appear.”

Like Israel, we are all subject to death. In Acts 13 we are assured that David died. And like Isaac, he was laid with his fathers.

“For David, after he had served the purpose of God in his own generation, 

fell asleep and was laid with his fathers and saw corruption,”

Acts 13:36

All of us will sleep with those who went before us. This week we celebrate the coming of Jesus who also came to die. But He died in our place. His death brought the promise of resurrection. Another verse of the hymn cries.

“O come, Thou Dayspring from on high,

And cheer us by Thy drawing nigh;

Disperse the gloomy clouds of night,

And death’s dark shadows put to flight.

Rejoice! Rejoice! Emmanuel

Shall come to thee, O Israel.”

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