DID YOU HEAR THE ONE ABOUT. . .
DAY 116: Have you heard the one about the atheist who stumbles into a deep well and plummets a hundred feet before
grasping a spindly root, stopping his fall? His grip grows weaker and
weaker and he knows he won't be able to hold on much longer. In desperation he cries out, "Is anybody up there?"
He looks up to the patch of sky at the top of the well when suddenly the clouds
part and a beam of light shines down. A deep voice
thunders from the light, "I, the Lord, am here. Let go of the root and I will save
you. Just believe."
The atheist thinks for a moment and then yells back, "Is there anybody else up there?"
I guess you could say that the attitude of doubt is the definition of skepticism. If this were a true story, that attitude might have cost the unfortunate man his life. But there is a greater risk to skepticism: embracing skepticism about what God says can cost eternal life. But it can also cost in how we live our lives now. That is the message I heard loud and clear in the past three days readings in John 3 & 4.
John the Baptist, having baptized Jesus and recognized Him for who He was, is still delivering the message of repentance, baptizing followers and pointing to the Messiah. But with the inauguration of Jesus ministry, John's followers are concerned about competition. They complained that Jesus was also baptizing and that "everybody is going there instead of coming here to us." They were skeptical about Jesus.
John's answer was to validate Jesus authority.
"He must increase and I must decrease. He has come from above and is greater than anyone else. I am of the earth, and my understanding is limited to the things of earth, but he has come from heaven. He tells what he has seen and heard, but few believe what he tells them. Those who believe him will discover that God is true." (John 3:30-33)
There is John's answer to skepticism: Believe. Simple, yet he notes how few seem able or willing. For those who will believe what Jesus tells them, he asserts they will "discover that God is true."
As Jesus and his disciples move on from Judea, they head to Galilee by way of Samaria, an area despised by the Jews. There Jesus meets a Samaritan woman at a well. Jesus asks her for water, a stunning act as Jews would never condescend to even interact with a despised Samaritan. This sparks a conversation between the woman and Jesus in which Jesus tells her of Living Water, eternal life, and her desperate need. He reveals things about her that she knew would be impossible for him to know - like her numerous husbands and immoral lifestyle. Then he brings her to a point of choice.
21 “Woman,” Jesus replied, “believe me, a time is coming when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem. 22 You Samaritans worship what you do not know; we worship what we do know, for salvation is from the Jews. 23 Yet a time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in the Spirit and in truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks. 24 God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in the Spirit and in truth.”
25 The woman said, “I know that Messiah” (called Christ) “is coming. When he comes, he will explain everything to us.”
26 Then Jesus declared, “I, the one speaking to you—I am he.”
48 Jesus asked, "Must I do signs and wonders for you people to believe?"
49 The royal official said, “Sir, come down before my child dies.”
50 Jesus spoke this reply, "Go, your son will live.”
The man believed Jesus' word and started home. 51 While he was still on the way, his servants met him with the news that his boy was living. 52 When he inquired as to the time when his son got better, they said to him, “Yesterday, at one in the afternoon, the fever left him.”
53 Then the father realized that this was the exact time at which Jesus had said to him, “Your son will live.” So he and his whole household believed.
Jesus words + belief = Discovering that God is true.
The immoral woman responded with belief. A village of the non- religious responded with belief. The official of a pagan government responded with belief. They did not doubt his words because they were unfamiliar. They didn't dismiss him because they couldn't relate. They didn't brush him off because he told them the unexpected. They believed in spite of all of that.
The ones who were skeptical of Jesus' words were the religious people who followed John the Baptist. They believed in John. They believed in their right to baptize. They believed in doing things the way they had always done them. They already knew what they believed and Jesus words did not fit their ideas of "truth." If his words were right, then they were wrong. So they chose to be skeptical (and stay in the metaphorical well.)
It would certainly be easy to fall into that trap as a "religious" Christian. We hear lots of preaching. We go to lots of concerts. We group into denominations. We can become so certain about "truth" that we can actually disregard the words of Jesus when they clash with what we think we know. The result may be that we don't discover (expose, learn, identify, uncover) that God is true in all the fullness Jesus' words reveal.
The challenge is this: as we continue journeying through the Bible everyday, to reject being a skeptic when I read something that doesn't jive with what we are comfortable with, like John's disciples. Instead, we can listen, really listen, to the Words and Believe and so Discover that God is true in everything that He says.
Did you hear the one about the follower who believed Jesus and life was never the same again?!?
Day 116 of 365
Judges 19 -21
Ruth 1-4
John 3:22-4:54
Psalm 104, 105
Proverbs 14:22-27
The atheist thinks for a moment and then yells back, "Is there anybody else up there?"
I guess you could say that the attitude of doubt is the definition of skepticism. If this were a true story, that attitude might have cost the unfortunate man his life. But there is a greater risk to skepticism: embracing skepticism about what God says can cost eternal life. But it can also cost in how we live our lives now. That is the message I heard loud and clear in the past three days readings in John 3 & 4.
John the Baptist, having baptized Jesus and recognized Him for who He was, is still delivering the message of repentance, baptizing followers and pointing to the Messiah. But with the inauguration of Jesus ministry, John's followers are concerned about competition. They complained that Jesus was also baptizing and that "everybody is going there instead of coming here to us." They were skeptical about Jesus.
John's answer was to validate Jesus authority.
"He must increase and I must decrease. He has come from above and is greater than anyone else. I am of the earth, and my understanding is limited to the things of earth, but he has come from heaven. He tells what he has seen and heard, but few believe what he tells them. Those who believe him will discover that God is true." (John 3:30-33)
There is John's answer to skepticism: Believe. Simple, yet he notes how few seem able or willing. For those who will believe what Jesus tells them, he asserts they will "discover that God is true."
Jesus words + my belief = discovering that God is true.
What an amazing reward for such a simple formula - TO DISCOVER THAT GOD IS TRUE. Yet something that simple can be so hard that in John's words, "few believe what he tells them." But there are some who will; and as if on cue, the narrative weaves them into the story to illustrate the great reward.
As Jesus and his disciples move on from Judea, they head to Galilee by way of Samaria, an area despised by the Jews. There Jesus meets a Samaritan woman at a well. Jesus asks her for water, a stunning act as Jews would never condescend to even interact with a despised Samaritan. This sparks a conversation between the woman and Jesus in which Jesus tells her of Living Water, eternal life, and her desperate need. He reveals things about her that she knew would be impossible for him to know - like her numerous husbands and immoral lifestyle. Then he brings her to a point of choice.
21 “Woman,” Jesus replied, “believe me, a time is coming when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem. 22 You Samaritans worship what you do not know; we worship what we do know, for salvation is from the Jews. 23 Yet a time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in the Spirit and in truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks. 24 God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in the Spirit and in truth.”
25 The woman said, “I know that Messiah” (called Christ) “is coming. When he comes, he will explain everything to us.”
26 Then Jesus declared, “I, the one speaking to you—I am he.”
Jesus spoke plainly enough for this women to understand. The choice to believe rested with her. To reject meant embracing a life that she was comfortable with apart from God; to believe meant discovering that God is true and being changed by that truth. Overwhelmed, the woman runs back to the village and tells everyone what she has seen and heard Jesus say.
"So the people came streaming from the village to see him.....So he stayed for two days, long enough for many of them to hear his message and believe. Then they said to the woman,"Now we believe because we have heard him selves, not just because of what you told us. His indeed the Savior of the world." John 4:39-42
Their hearts were not changed by what Jesus did. Their lives where not changed by what they did. It was Jesus' words + their belief = discovering that God is true. God sent a Savior to the world - after hearing and believing Jesus, they knew it was true.
While the formula isn't magic, it is reliable. As He arrived in the town of Cana He met a government official whose son was very sick and about to die. When the official heard Jesus was passing through he begged him to go to Capernaum with him to heal his son.
49 The royal official said, “Sir, come down before my child dies.”
50 Jesus spoke this reply, "Go, your son will live.”
The man believed Jesus' word and started home. 51 While he was still on the way, his servants met him with the news that his boy was living. 52 When he inquired as to the time when his son got better, they said to him, “Yesterday, at one in the afternoon, the fever left him.”
53 Then the father realized that this was the exact time at which Jesus had said to him, “Your son will live.” So he and his whole household believed.
Jesus words + belief = Discovering that God is true.
The immoral woman responded with belief. A village of the non- religious responded with belief. The official of a pagan government responded with belief. They did not doubt his words because they were unfamiliar. They didn't dismiss him because they couldn't relate. They didn't brush him off because he told them the unexpected. They believed in spite of all of that.
The ones who were skeptical of Jesus' words were the religious people who followed John the Baptist. They believed in John. They believed in their right to baptize. They believed in doing things the way they had always done them. They already knew what they believed and Jesus words did not fit their ideas of "truth." If his words were right, then they were wrong. So they chose to be skeptical (and stay in the metaphorical well.)
It would certainly be easy to fall into that trap as a "religious" Christian. We hear lots of preaching. We go to lots of concerts. We group into denominations. We can become so certain about "truth" that we can actually disregard the words of Jesus when they clash with what we think we know. The result may be that we don't discover (expose, learn, identify, uncover) that God is true in all the fullness Jesus' words reveal.
The challenge is this: as we continue journeying through the Bible everyday, to reject being a skeptic when I read something that doesn't jive with what we are comfortable with, like John's disciples. Instead, we can listen, really listen, to the Words and Believe and so Discover that God is true in everything that He says.
Did you hear the one about the follower who believed Jesus and life was never the same again?!?
Day 116 of 365
Judges 19 -21
Ruth 1-4
John 3:22-4:54
Psalm 104, 105
Proverbs 14:22-27
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