pastorjohnb

Thoughts and musings on faith and our mighty God!

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Light and Love

Reading: John 1:1-14

John 1:5 – “The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness doesn’t extinguish the light.”

On Christmas Eve day we turn to John 1. While not a birth story in the sense of Matthew 1:18-25 or Luke 2:1-20, our reading today is very much a “birth” story – the birth of our world, the birth of light, the birth of welcome and belief, the birth of God in the flesh, the birth of glory, “full of grace and truth.” Throughout the passage, John uses the image of light again and again. This light is Jesus Christ, God in the flesh.

Each time I read and study and meditate on this passage, something new is learned, applied, realized. This is often the case when we return to a passage. God’s word is alive and active. It meets us where we are at and takes us where we need to go each time we engage a passage. Today as I read and reread these verses, this one stood out: “The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness doesn’t extinguish the light.” My first thought centered on the idea that the light enters the darkness, pushing it away, so to speak. My second thought focused on the idea that light goes as far as its power allows it to go. A small light like a candle will light up a small space. A big light like our sun will light up whole worlds. The light of Christ can make the sun seem like a candle. The light of Christ will shine everywhere and forever, if we allow it to do so.

In today’s Disciplines devotional, Rev. Dr. Dottie Escobar-Frank shared these words: “The true light shines into our hidden spaces, our dirty places, our wounded spots, and illuminates them so that healing and wholesome can be ours.” Christ’s light will shine into our souls, if we allow it in. Christ’s love will make us whole again, if we allow it in. May we say again and again, ‘Come, Lord Jesus, come.’ May it be so. Shine your light and love deep into our hearts and lives.

Prayer: Lord God, so much of who we are desires to walk always with you. This is who you created us to be. The Spirit always leads and guided us in this desire. But the darkness is ever there, too, ready to seep back in. So, Lord, we ask you to fill us with your light and love. Filled, the darkness is held at bay. Thank you, God. Amen.


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You Chose Love

Reading: John 3: 14-18

Verse 17: “For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him”.

Our passage today begins with Jesus referencing an Old Testament story. When the Israelites grumbled against God and Moses, God sent poisonous snakes. In response to their cries for help, God had Moses fashion a serpent and place it high on a pole. By looking up to this symbol, the people who had been bitten were saved. Jesus parallels this story with belief in him. If one looks to the “lifted up” or risen Christ, we too are saved.

Verse sixteen details the depth of God’s love: “he gave his one and only Son” so that we could be saved. God incarnate loved us enough to take upon himself the sin of the world and to die on a cross. His loving sacrifice saves us from the consequences of our sins and from the finality of death. Sin and death no longer reign. The cross speaks the final words: you are loved. The Old Testament God who quickly judged the people’s sin and sent snakes as the consequence instead chose to send his Son. The God who judged and condemned the Israelites turns to love.

In verse seventeen we read, “For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him”. God chose to love us as we are and as we always will be on this earth. God chose to save us because of his great love for us. God chose to enter our broken and hurting and messy world in order to save us. Instead of tossing in the towel and giving up on us, Jesus wrapped himself in a towel and knelt at the disciples’ dirty feet. Washing their feet was a symbol not only of humble service but also of the way his death on the cross would wash away our sin.

In many ways Jesus said, ‘You are loved’. As we continue to walk deeper into Lent and to draw closer to the cross may we seek to reveal to one and all that they are loved. May Jesus’ love be our love as we strive to draw the kingdom of God near.

Prayer: God of grace and power and love, you sent Jesus to save. Thank you for the depth of your love. You gave a willing sacrifice. You chose to love when condemning would have been so much easier. Thank you for choosing love. Amen.


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A Big Love

Reading: John 13: 1-7 and 31-35

Verse 34: “A new command I give you: love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another”.

Jesus has spent three years in ministry with the twelve men gathered around the table. They have been witnesses to God’s love being lived out. At times they have certainly been recipients of that love. For the disciples that has most often come in the form of teaching and sometimes in gentle redirection. They have seen Jesus love as he heals, teaches, and welcomes the outsider and the marginalized. This night, Jesus’ demonstration of love is drenched in humility. As they gather and settle in for the Passover meal, Jesus strips down and washes the disciples’ feet – all twelve. He washes the feet of the betrayer. Judas is included. Of course he is – Jesus is love.

This example of love is unique. Jesus did not have to take on the role of lowly servant washing dirty feet. But he did. It was an object lesson for the disciples. It is one for us as well – especially the way Judas was included. In this we see that love is not conditional. Just as it would have been easier for Jesus to stoop and was the feet of just the disciples who would serve him until their deaths, we too find it much easier to love and serve those we love and are in good standing with. But that is not Jesus’ model. That is not Jesus’ kind of love. His command is: “As I have loved you, so you must love one another”. Jesus loved the faithful and the betrayer, the seekers and the doubters, the followers and the Pharisees, the women at the foot of the cross and the ones who put him on it. In his words and actions, Jesus says, ‘I loved them all’. As he speaks into our hearts each day, he says, ‘Go and do likewise’. May it be so.

Prayer: Loving Lord, you give a tall order: love as you loved. That is a big love. Open wide my human heart to be more like your divine heart. Shape and form and stretch it to become just like your heart – loving one and all unconditionally. May it be so in me. Amen.