“Do not think that I have come to put an end to the Law,” Jesus said. Then he added I have come “to fulfill” it (Matt 5:17).
This week the Sabbath reading includes the ten words (aka commandments) from Moses’ Law book, “Names,” (aka Exodus).
Every year, year after year, Jesus’ friends and neighbors gathered Sabbath day to Sabbath day to read the Law of Moses. Plus the priests read the Law at the Temple feasts.
In Jesus’ experience, whenever he spoke about the Law, his listeners only had to think of their previous Sabbath synagogue reading to consider his meaning.
Reading Jesus’ story today, the familiarity with the Law as well as the shock of Jesus’ words is often lost.
So consider this. It would be like someone telling Americans about re-writing the U. S. Constitution because there is a way of governing better than its democracy.
And of course, to make the illustration completely parallel, Americans would need to read and re-read excerpts from the Constitution every Saturday.
“I have not come to put an end to the Constitution but to fulfill it!” Whoa. What does that mean?
One of Jesus’ followers wrote that Jesus faced all of the same trials and challenges as any person on earth; and more, that Jesus lived with human frailty. Yet Jesus faced the challenges without frustrating himself or exploiting others (Heb 4:15).
That sounds nice, “Jesus faced the same things we do.” As we read the stories, however, do we assume that Jesus could tap his inner supernatural whenever he wanted control?
If that assumption is true, then he wasn’t challenged like I am challenged.
If Jesus controlled the natural rhythms of this earth-bound experience for his own advantage, then he cannot relate to my human experience.
I don’t float six inches off the ground, and if Jesus’ follower is right, neither did Jesus.
By writing SpendaYearwithJesus, I see the phrase “live like Jesus lived” in a new light.
I do not immediately think of moral or charitable activities. I think of a pace of life, an expectation of life, an engagement of life … Jesus’ experience.
For more on this topic, see No Shortcuts and No Shortcuts Revisited.
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Jesus’ tradition prescribed affirming “God is one” (Deut. 6:5). In Jesus’ experience, he and his disciples would have repeated this affirmation in their morning and evening prayers.
It’s not a question of whether the Jesus and the disciples thought this way. It’s not a question of whether or not they believed God is one. The devout believed.
For the people of Israel in the first-century, God was in heaven. God’s chosen one, the Messiah, was a human who would come and rule on earth. Their expectation was ironclad.
How do you change an ironclad expectation?
Change the currents of experience. The currents of experience that seemed to flow so neatly were about to flow in a seemingly new direction.
Could Jesus say enough, could Jesus do enough in one lifetime to change the expectation? I think, No.
Because he was human, Jesus could only begin a culture shift that would take generations to unfold. Frankly, compared to others from the Greco-Roman world, he had a limited impact in his lifetime.
“Your dear friend is sick” (John 11:3). Jesus received this message from Mary and Martha concerning their brother, Lazarus.
Two words caught my attention — “dear friend” (ὃν φιλεῖς: often translated word-for-word from the Greek as “the one you love”). Jesus dropped what he was doing and willingly put himself in danger to help his friend.
The issue here is a question of friendship formation. How many people can interrupt your life? Of those, who will you face danger to help? Frankly, there probably are not that many people. And that depth of friendship generally takes years to develop.
The Gospel of John does not develop Jesus’ friendship with Lazarus. We are simply given this introductory statement and then a story that serves as a plot turning point in the Gospel. What we know is that Jesus was willing to be interrupted and face danger for his friend.
So how does one become a dear friend? Human friendships develop around shared space, shared time, shared interests, and shared respect. Proximity of space and time alone, however, does not create deeper connections.
So what were Jesus’ and Lazarus’ shared interests and shared respect as well as their shared time and space? The SpendaYearwithJesus storyline suggests an activity.
I suppose we could say that Jesus and super-heroes have some things in common. They help people. They have supernatural powers. They uphold truth and justice. They are somewhat misunderstood by those around them.
On the one hand, there is enough information in the Biblical Gospels to give us a pretty good idea of who Jesus was. On the other hand, the writers leave out or assume a considerable amount of day-to-day detail in Jesus’ experience.
As readers, we supply day-to-day attitudes and actions from our experience and from virtual options like comic books and movies. So Superman flies, and Jesus walks on water. Inevitably, we develop a storyline around Jesus from our cultural expectations.
But there is a disconnect. In Superman’s story, he made headlines all over the world for his exploits. Somehow, Jesus, in spite of his miracles, was relatively unknown in the wider world. For some centuries, detractors wondered if Jesus existed at all.
In front of the receptionists desk stood an easel with a map of the world. It was the first thing you saw as you entered the office.
On the map were dots marking a travel path and a small cut-out of the Man of Steel. It was clear that Superman marked the traveler’s current spot on the itinerary of dots.
The disconnect was that this office housed the support staff for a speaker who was internationally-known for talking about Jesus. Was it the intent of the office to send a subliminal message, or was the choice of Superman a Freudian slip?
It raises an important question. Was Jesus more like Superman or more like a mere mortal, i.e. like me?
Have you seen the Brooklyn Museum’s collection called “The Life of Our Lord Jesus Christ (La Vie de Notre-Seigneur Jésus-Christ)” by French painter J. James Tissot (1836-1902)?
Tissot combined the stories he read in the Biblical Gospels with the contours of the land and the experiences of people he observed while traveling in Israel in the late 1800s (before cars, elevators, and other mechanizations began to change the landscape).
By studying the context of land and customs, Tissot desired to present the scenes with increased historical authenticity. Tissot’s 350 paintings provide a vista of Jesus’ experience.
I share Tissot’s impulse — to provide the contours of experience. To explore the physical and social setting of Jesus’ life impacts his story.
At a glance, it’s easy to paint Jesus as kind or patient while teaching attentive crowds on a quiet hillside. It’s even easier when — in extreme cases — he bends the rules and walks on water.
But is Jesus as kind and patient when stuck in holiday traffic? Or when walking through water on the way to Jerusalem?
Can we get closer to the reality that Jesus lived by telling Jesus’ story in space and time?
Let’s take the events recorded in John 9, for example. Jesus put mud on a blind man’s eyes and told him to wash at a pool, on Sabbath. The man washed his eyes and regained his sight right there at the pool (9:11, 14). Conflict followed.
Here are some observations from the scene.
- Space: The south-city pool was some distance from the place where the man met and left Jesus (9:7). The man only heard Jesus’ voice. He never saw Jesus. This was not a “seen” healing, so to speak.
- Time: The man’s neighbors brought him to the Pharisees (9:13). An inquisition on Sabbath? Most likely no, since the Pharisees would be working and thus breaking the law. At least a day passed between 9:12 and 9:13.
- Back Story: The blind man’s parents knew that the religious leaders had already decided to reject Jesus’ followers (9:22). While the leaders’ conversation and decision is not recorded, the account assumes it happened.
- Back Story Time: Enough time had passed since the leaders’ decision to reject Jesus that a random couple in Jerusalem had learned of the ruling.
In twenty-first century time (or perception), decisions are made and communicated in the time it takes breaking news to interrupt regular broadcasting. At first glance, the action in John 9 takes place continuously and many readers presume over a single day.
The SpendaYearwithJesus experience aligns with Jesus’ experience at first-century speed, to unpack space and time as a part of the experience of getting to know Jesus more deeply.
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Jesus’ experience is like ours. Some days pass quickly without much notice, but other days are filled with pivotal experiences.
Today’s events in the withJesus storyline are from the first part of John 9 and from Genesis 1. The yearly Torah-reading schedule reboots today and begins anew in Genesis 1.
Today (in the storyline) we encounter three great themes in Jesus’ story:
- Torah (aka Moses’ Law)
- Healing activity
- Sabbath
Torah regulated Jesus’ thought and action. And today, the yearly reading of the Torah begins anew. “In the beginning…”
The focus of John’s Gospel, the healing event, passes quite quickly in the course of the day. The reading from the Hebrew Scriptures may actually have been much more profound for Jesus’ disciples since healing happened more frequently during the year than the annual reading of the creation account.
The final theme, Sabbath, establishes boundaries in Jesus’ and the nation’s schedule. Appropriate Sabbath activity is at the center of the controversy surrounding Jesus’ healing activity.
While today’s activities are pivotal, the story continues tomorrow. Jesus’ experience like ours does not have built-in study guide questions or reflection periods. We live the events and move on, only later realizing their significance.
Times passes quickly in the Gospel accounts.
John 7-10 record events happening in a period from the Feast of Huts (aka Tabernacles) in the early fall to the Feast of Dedication (Hanukkah) during the winter.
In the opening paragraphs of John 7, the conversation between Jesus and his brothers occurs before the pilgrims of Upper Galilee had begun their five day journey to Jerusalem for the Feast of Huts.
At the end of John 7, when Jesus stands and shouts to the thirsty (7:37-38), the events take place at the end of the seven day fall feast. In John 10, the mention of the Feast of Dedication moves the time to the winter.
More events transpire in the city of Jerusalem in John 8 and 9. The reader has to decide whether these events coincide with the sequence of John 7 and 10, or whether they are inserted for effect. It seems natural enough to read these chapters sequentially given the consistent characters and setting and theme.
4 months in 4 chapters.