Defusing the Accusers’ Charges

Have you ever been caught in the middle of a mob where danger is in the air and things feel like they are about ready to explode? I experienced this in Moscow several months ago when a group of neo-Nazis gathered in Red Square and their rally became violent. This is the situation that Jesus finds himself in, as recorded in chapter 8 of John’s Gospel.

The opposition to Jesus is growing and numerous threats to his life have been made. Jesus comes to Jerusalem during a religious festival, when the city is crowded, and the Jewish religious leaders make several attempts to “trap Jesus” by asking difficult questions and raising controversial issues, hoping he will stumble in his response.

John records that Jesus comes to the Temple grounds early one morning and is speaking to a crowd of people who had come to hear him teach. All of a sudden, a group of religious leaders appears dragging with them a woman who had been caught in adultery. They make her stand in front of Jesus and this audience and challenge him with this question: “In the law Moses commanded us to stone such women. Now what do you say?”

This “trap” was a difficult one! If Jesus agrees with the judgment that she should be stoned, he will violate Roman law that prohibited Jews from carrying out executions; if he disagrees, he will be accused of violating Mosaic law.

The Apostle John provides us with some fascinating details. He writes that when faced with the accusing mob and the terrified woman, Jesus bends down and writes on the ground with his finger. We have no record of what he wrote, but the action certainly slows things down and buys precious time in which to defuse the confrontation.

Not just once, but twice he stoops down and writes on the ground. The second time had the effect of allowing the impact of his penetrating response to sink in – “If any one of you is without sin, let him be the first to throw a stone at her.” Slowly the angry accusers left, led by the older men. Jesus remains alone with the woman and offers her forgiveness and challenges her to stop sinning.

This act of peacemaking in the midst of the busyness of the temple courts is a remarkable story. Jesus not only taught about peace (which we will discuss in the weeks ahead), but he lived it out in the marketplace. Angry accusers were sent away convicted of their own sin, a distraught woman was saved from possible execution and offered restoration, and Jesus’ message of peace was put into practice for all his disciples to see.

So What?

• The act of bending down and writing on the ground slowed things down and helped to defuse the tension created by Jesus’ angry accusers. There is a practical insight here about finding ways to slow things down when a violent confrontation or argument is about to occur. Have you ever been in a situation like this? My struggle is that I am the kind of person who wants to quickly respond to opposition with the same hostility that is shown towards me. This is not Jesus’ way and I need to learn this lesson from him.
• The other insight I gained from this encounter was how Jesus turned the question of the accusers against them. Who among them was without sin? That’s a good place to start when the mistakes of others are brought to our attention. It is the kind of humility that peacemakers need to learn if they are to be agents of God’s Shalom.
• After reading about this encounter in John 8:1-11, are there any other thoughts you have on this remarkable exchange? Please share them by adding your comments to this blog.

Just a Touch

The power of a touch. It has often been noted that physical contact is very important between a mother and her new baby, between parents and their children, and between adults who are lonely or scared. The Gospel writers make a point of this when describing Jesus’ interaction with the sick, but it is a point that we sometimes miss.

In the Gospel of Mark, the actions of Jesus are emphasized more than his words, and we can read the story of how Jesus healed the sick and drove out evil spirits. From the beginning of his public ministry as a thirty-year-old teacher, Jesus demonstrated his willingness to violate the social practices of his day in order to bring healing and restoration.

Mark tells us how Jesus, in a compassionate response to the leper who begged him to be cleansed, reached out and touched the man. Immediately the leper was healed. That act of touching the leper is a very important detail because it clearly shows Jesus’ willingness to be “defiled” according to Mosaic law.

One of my favorite Gospel stories is the encounter Jesus has with the bleeding woman, told in Mark 5. The context is Jesus’ early popularity with the crowds who gather around him and bring him their sick for healing. I can just imagine what it was like to see the people pressing around him and the disciples trying to protect and shield him.

A woman suffering from bleeding for twelve years and unable to get any relief from the doctors, follows Jesus and decides if she can just touch him, she will be healed. It’s important for you to know that this woman’s condition was not only debilitating, but also disqualified her from marriage and from community and religious life in general. Yet she pushes her way through the crowd and is able to touch him. Immediately she knows she has been healed!

Then a remarkable thing happens. Jesus stops, turns around and asks the crowd, “Who touched my clothes?” I can identify with the disciples -- probably Peter in particular (I am so like Peter) -- who says in effect: “You must be kidding? Who touched you in the middle of this mob? Lots of people!”

But the woman come forward, and falls at his feet and, trembling with fear, tells him what she has done. Tenderly Jesus says to her, “Daughter, your faith has healed you. Go in peace and be freed from your suffering.” The Shalom that Jesus offers her is both spiritual and physical.

The compassion of Jesus is striking, as illustrated in his responses to both the leper and the bleeding woman. By stopping the crowd and highlighting the fact that he has been touched by a bleeding woman, which in his day meant he was now “unclean,” Jesus is teaching his disciples – and us – that he brings both spiritual and physical healing to hurting people, as the prophets predicted. Jesus is willing to touch the “unclean” in order to bring restoration and new life. Later he talks about this with his disciples as we will see in the weeks ahead, but it is important for them to see Jesus in action first.

So What?

• Over the years this encounter has made an impact on my own life. It also helps that I am three-quarters Italian by blood, so hugs and embraces and physical contact with others is a part of my lifestyle. Marge has encouraged me to hug widows at our church periodically because they often miss physical contact. Has this been a part of your life? Have you experienced the power of a touch?
• The false dichotomy that Christians often create between social action and evangelism is also made clear by this encounter. The Shalom that Jesus offered to hurting people was not just spiritual, but also had physical dimensions. It was clearly care for the whole person, body and soul. Do other similar encounters with Jesus come to mind?
• Did you get any new insights from this story? Please share them by adding your comments to this blog.

Asking for a Drink

Following Jesus meant you were in for lots of surprises. His disciples must have been amazed at what he did, because the Prince of Peace deliberately broke a lot of the rules that were valued by religious Jews. In order to grasp the drama of this encounter, I need to set the context first.

The Gospel of John tells us that Jesus and his disciples were on their way back home to Galilee from Jerusalem and to get there most directly would take them through a region called Samara. Because of the hatred between Jews and Samaritans, many Jews preferred to go out of their way, cross the Jordan River, and then north to Galilee from this direction, thereby avoiding any contact with their despised neighbors.

The racial animosity between Jews and Samaritans was tense and highly explosive. Religious hatred, based on differing beliefs, as well as a history of military and political conflicts divided these two groups. Tension was so high that Samaritans refused to offer lodging to Jews from Galilee on their way to Jerusalem. Historical sources tell us that when Jews bought food from Samaritans, the Samaritans would not touch their coins until they were cleansed in water.

Jesus’ own disciples shared this hatred of the Samaritans and, after experiencing hostility in an unfriendly Samaritan village, they asked Jesus to send down fire on this village, a request Jesus refused. Modern parallels that come to mind are apartheid in South Africa and slavery in the deep South.

In addition to this tension-filled environment, there was another complicating factor at work in this encounter: women in the first century had a low social standing. Chapter four of John’s Gospel tells us that Jesus was weary from his trip and needed rest and a drink. His disciples had left him to locate some food and, while he relaxed near a well around noontime, a Samaritan woman came to the well alone to draw some water.

Jesus said to her, “Give me a drink.” A simple request – but by engaging a Samaritan woman in conversation, Jesus was openly violating two of the major social taboos of his day. By asking for a drink in that culture, the hearer was bound to honor the request. Yet Jesus knew that accepting a drink from her, which she was culturally required to give him, would make him ceremonially unclean in the eyes of Jews. Jesus drank from the same vessel used by the hated Samaritans, knowing full well that Jewish religious practice made it clear that “Jews use nothing in common with Samaritans.”

What a surprise for his disciples when they returned and saw their teacher talking with this Samaritan woman and drinking from her cup! First he invited a tax collector to follow him and now this! A pattern is starting to emerge here – by doing, he was teaching!

The gospel of peace that Jesus offered was for all who would accept it – and this is still true today. Jesus does not limit his message to certain chosen groups, but, in fact, he explicitly offers this gift to people who are hated by the Jews. The promised Messiah acted out what he prophesied and what he preached. The grace of God includes reconciliation between racial groups and the hope of a Kingdom where God’s love will bring harmony between people of every race.

The unfaithful Samaritan woman, who had gone through five husbands and now lived with another man, was chosen by Jesus to be a faithful witness who brought many of her neighbors into the Kingdom of God. This is an act of peacemaking that challenged the social and religious structures of Jesus’ day right down to their very foundation.

So What?

• Can you think of any modern parallel in today’s world where Jesus would enter a situation like this recorded in John 4?
• Another facet of this story is Jesus’ relationship with women, who were often treated as second-class citizens or worse in the first century -- Jesus never dealt with women that way. Do other encounters that Jesus had with women come to mind? The gospel of Shalom was a liberating message for women and Jesus’ actions toward women shows how different he was from other religious teachers.

What a Start!

Can you imagine what it was like to be a new disciple of Jesus? To help you understand how radical this young teacher was, I need to tell you a little bit about the context of Jesus’ ministry.

In the region where Jesus lived as a young man, the area around Nazareth located near the Sea of Galilee, the Jewish community in this part of Palestine was generally very conservative. It was a region where many Jews, who were committed to reclaiming this land for the arrival of the Messiah, chose to live.

In the first century, it is a cultural given that young Jewish males who are religious will seek out a teacher (rabbi) to whom they commit themselves. If accepted by the teacher, this relationship will become very close because this rabbi is the person shapes the disciple’s understanding of the wisdom of God.

Jesus is an unusual rabbi. Rather than wait for young men to approach him and request to become his disciples, Jesus takes the initiative and invites young Jewish men to “follow” him! His first four followers are Simon (later called Peter), Andrew, James and John – four men who make a living fishing in the Sea of Galilee.

Shortly after they become disciples of Jesus, they are witnesses to some amazing events: Jesus casts out evil spirits, heals Peter’s mother-in-law, and cleanses a leper of his disease. These are exciting events and the Gospel of Mark points out that people began to flock to Jesus – in fact, Mark records his disciples saying to Jesus, “Everyone is looking for you.”

But then comes a real shocker. When walking by a tax booth near the Sea of Galilee, Jesus invites the tax collector, Levi the son of Alphaeus, to follow him and he does!

It is hard for us to understand what a radical decision this was and how it must have shocked his four disciples. Jewish tax collectors were hated because they were viewed as collaborators with the occupying Roman forces. They were infamous because many charged much more than required in order to enrich themselves.

I’ve witnessed similar illegal and unethical “additional charges” during my work in Russia, especially during the nine-year-long construction of our new campus facility in Moscow. It is hard for me to imagine hiring one of these officials to be a part of our leadership team!

Not only does Jesus take this radical step by inviting Levi, whose surname is Matthew, to become one of his followers, he subsequently invites Simon, who is identified as a zealot -- someone committed to a violent overthrow of Roman domination – the extreme other end of the political spectrum.

What a start! It is instructive to see how Jesus taught his disciples that religious beliefs and practices of their time needed to be radically changed. How does he teach them new ways of living? He takes dramatic actions first, and then teaches them why he did what he did.

As the Prince of Peace, Jesus introduced his disciples to the “Kingdom of God,” where old religious prejudices needed to be replaced. Doug Greenwold, the Executive Director of “Preserving Bible Times,” helped me to see that Jesus’ method was “Do, then teach.” The calling of Levi is one of the first examples of this approach and we will look at other examples in the weeks ahead.

Jesus subsequently taught his disciples that “whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him” (John 3:16-18). Political ideologies or ethnic bloodlines were not obstacles for membership in the Kingdom of God.

As I reflect on this familiar story, it strikes me that most educators teach students in the hope that they will later “do” what they have learned, that they will put into practice the truths that their faculty have taught them, if they attended a Christian college or university.

I cannot say that I fully understood this insight when we founded the American Studies Program in Washington, D.C., back in 1976, but my intuition told me that we needed to get students out into the marketplace while they were studying so they could connect theory with practice.

The challenge for all of us is the distance between our brain and our heart. We can know the truth about living as peacemakers, but deciding to actually live the truth that we have learned from Jesus can be hard. I think that’s why Jesus did what he did first and later explained his actions to his disciples. That’s why Jesus often said to them -- and to us -- “Go and do likewise.”

So What?

• If you are like me, you find friends who are like you -- who share the same values, who think along the same lines, who have similar views on politics and life in general. But Jesus, the Prince of Peace, shows us a different way to live. Peacemakers need to embrace people with all of their diversity, people who naturally come across our path. If Jesus could include a tax collector and a zealot in his tight circle of twelve, what are we afraid of?
• Did you notice what little concern Jesus had for popular opinion? When he began his ministry and people flocked to him, he did what he believed needed to be done, knowing that it would upset a lot of people, especially the conservative religious.
• I think it is an accurate generalization that historically people who have been peacemakers are not necessarily popular during their lives, but are sometimes recognized after their deaths as outstanding individuals. Do you agree? Who comes to mind?

Jesus' Manifesto

Have you ever wondered about what Jesus was like as a child, as a teenager, or as a young man, growing up in Nazareth? As the promised “Prince of Peace,” how did he act, what was there about him as a twenty-something that was different?

We will never know because the Bible is silent on this subject and there is no sense speculating, although I sometimes do. We know so little about his upbringing, his family, his training or his work, but there is a good chance he worked either as a carpenter or stone mason like his father Joseph.

We know his mother Mary outlived him, but we don’t know when his father died or what happened to any brothers or sisters, except his brother James. We do know he was raised in the Galilee region, an area where conservative Jews chose to live after leaving their exile residence in Babylon.

Luke 4 tells us the story of Jesus’ “coming out party” and it is a remarkable story. After learning very little about his early life, Luke tell us that Jesus, as a thirty-year-old, was asked by the leaders of the Nazareth synagogue to read from the prophetic scrolls, which was a standard part of Sabbath worship.

By the way, this episode is the oldest known account of a synagogue worship service and most scholars think that it is unlikely that there were designated readings during the synagogue service, so either Jesus or the synagogue leader may have chosen the reading from Isaiah.

We don’t know how much Jesus read from Isaiah that morning, but Luke tells us that Jesus focused on some key passages and used these passages to describe his ministry. Luke records this part of Jesus’ reading that morning:

“The Spirit of the Lord is on me,

because he has anointed me to preach good news to the poor.

He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners

and recovery of sight for the blind,

to release the oppressed,

to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.”

(Luke 4:18-19)

The passage from Isaiah that Jesus read described the coming of the promised Messiah, the “Prince of Peace,” and Jesus amazed everyone that morning by identifying himself as the one Isaiah was talking about. It was a bold declaration, a manifesto, a statement of purpose, and it clearly linked Jesus to hundreds of years of Old Testament prophecy. It was a re-statement of the “peace pictures’ of the prophets who promised that the Messiah would bring good health, ample food, freedom from oppression, and security. It was the beginning of the fulfillment of the promise of peace, of Shalom in all its many facets, both spiritual and physical.

This was Jesus’ “mission statement” and he intended it to be a summary of what his ministry on earth would be. Three principal themes were emphasized: he intended to preach the good news of God’s offer of salvation, to exercise social justice for those who were suffering, and to show compassion for those who were treated as “outsiders.”

This bold declaration by Jesus almost cost him his life. What a beginning to his public service! In fact, his public service lasted only three years and he was executed as a common criminal, despite never committing a single crime or illegal act. Like many peacemakers in history, he died because of opposition from evil people, yet he showed us how to live a life of purpose, a life of significance, despite how others around him chose to live.

Jesus’ instruction to us is to make the choice to live like him, as a peacemaker – one who proclaims the “good news,” works for social justice, and is compassionate toward those who are marginalized in our society. What a challenge!

So What?

• Does this episode in the Bible give you any new insights about Jesus? If so, what have you learned?
• Do you have any heroes who are peacemakers? Can you think of anyone who chose to live out these teachings of Jesus and what has been this person’s legacy?
• If we want to live lives of significance, lives that make a difference in our broken world, following Jesus’ example should be our goal. What are the biggest obstacles preventing you from following his instructions?

For Further Study:

If you are interested in learning more about this episode in Scripture, I would encourage you to read chapter three (“Mutiny on the Sabbath”) in Doug Greenwold’s book, Encounters with Jesus. Information on this book is available at http://Preserving BibleTimes.org.

A Surprise Birth

The God of the Bible is a God of surprises.  The God of the Bible is not predictable and rarely does things the way I would do them!  I have learned this lesson many times during my twenty years of work in Russia.

In fact, when God directly intervenes in history or in our personal lives, there are usually lots of interruptions and unexpected changes.  This was clearly the case with the surprising birth of Jesus in Bethlehem.

For hundreds of years, the prophecies concerning the Messiah were passed down from generation to generation.  Although the kingdoms of Israel and Judah were destroyed and its citizens exiled – and this was surprise to the Jews who thought they were a “chosen people” – they were eventually freed from captivity and allowed to come back to Palestine and rebuild the walls of Jerusalem and the temple.

But this restoration was not what the Old Testament prophets had predicted.  Even during the period of Jewish independence under the Hasmoneans from 166 – 63 B.C., the “Kingdom” which had been prophesized by Isaiah, Micah and Ezekiel, among others, was never realized.  The Jews went back home, but to their surprise, they were still weak and vulnerable.  Then another surprise – more foreign occupation, this time by the Romans.

After 400 years of silence, in what the Bible describes as the “fullness of time,” God dramatically intervened in human history in a surprising way – he sent his Son to earth in the form of a baby.  The Christmas story, that is very familiar to some of us, is recorded in the Gospel of Luke, chapter two.  Take note of the emphasis in this birth narrative on the “Prince of Peace” and his work while on earth.

The angel Gabriel proclaims “the good news of great joy” and refers to the newly born baby as “the Lord,” a term usually reserved only for God the Father, but now applies to this Messiah, his Son.  When the host of angels appear, they highlight one result of Jesus’ birth for which God is to be praised: “on earth peace (shalom).”  Of all the things that could have been said about the effect of the surprise birth of Jesus, it is shalom that is emphasized.

Luke’s meticulous record of Jesus’ birth and life underscores the point that Jesus is the fulfillment of all of the hopes of Israel.  Jesus is the one who would bring “the gospel of peace.”  God has acted as he promised and, while the long wait did not make many Jews very happy, Jesus’ unexpected birth in a small obscure town in Palestine is indeed “good news.”

In posts that follow, we will wrestle with the question of what peacemaking means, what “the gospel of peace” means, as we look at Jesus’ actions and teachings.  Stayed tuned!

So What?

• Have you experienced God’s surprising intervention in your own life?  I sure have.  When Marge and I were 32 years old, Marge’s sister died of breast cancer and then 9 months later her husband, our brother-in-law, died on the night of a wedding rehearsal for a re-marriage.  As a result of these totally unexpected events, we inherited six children and a French poodle.  Looking back on this experience, Marge and I can see God’s hand in this crisis and how God helped us through these difficult times.  When God intervenes in our lives and major surprises happen to us that we never expect, it puts our faith to the test.  If we maintain our trust in God during these surprising times, we grow stronger as a result.
• Did you ever wonder why God’s Son was made human in the context of a small obscure village in Palestine, the son of a young Jewish girl?  Why not the son of a king, like powerful King Herod?  Why not placed in a home where he would get the best education available?  Why not in Rome, capital of the world at that time?
• We need to constantly remind ourselves that God’s ways are not our ways and his thoughts are not our thoughts (Isaiah 55:8).  If we put our faith in God, we will often be surprised when we least expect it, surprised – but also blessed!

Picturing Peace

What’s the value of trying to picture a “peaceable kingdom,” where lambs lie down with lions? How is this helpful? Why did God inspire the Biblical writers to paint these dramatic other-worldly pictures?

I can think of a time when using my imagination caused me trouble. After graduate school, I was excited to get a job as a Foreign Service officer at the Department of State and I imagined a great career as a diplomat and foreign policy expert. But after four years I knew I was in the wrong place and left the State Department to become a teacher, which I later discovered was my real passion.

Others I know dreamed about a person they wanted to marry, but the image they dreamed up was impossible to find in reality. Or, like me, they imagined a perfect job, a pathway to success, but it never worked out like they imagined.

In the last post, we noted that God used Old Testament prophets as his spokesmen for judging Israel and Judah for their sins. The prophets cried out against the evil acts of the people who attended worship services, but whose lives were contradictions to what they said they believed.

But the prophets did something else. In addition to proclaiming judgment, which did not make them popular people, they also offered hope. And that hope was to be found in a Messiah who would bring in the ‘Kingdom of God.” This Messiah would be a “Prince of Peace (shalom).”

Let me give you an example. One of the harshest critics of Israel was the prophet Isaiah, but he was also a man who described a future “Kingdom of Righteousness” in which the Messiah would rule in justice. Listen to these beautiful words: “See, a king will reign in righteousness and rulers will rule with justice. Each man will be like a shelter from the wind and a refuge from the storm, like streams of water in the desert and the shadow of a great rock in a thirsty land. . . . My people will live in peaceful dwelling places, in secure homes, in undisturbed places of rest” (Isaiah 32: 1-2 and 18).

If you have ever been to the desert areas in Israel or to some of the desert areas in southwestern United States, you can picture what Isaiah is talking about. When people are trying to eke out a living in a dry and barren land, shelter from the hot sun and fresh water are amazing gifts. That’s what Isaiah was promising God’s people.

The key point is this: The prophets were foretelling the arrival of Jesus who would be the “Prince of Peace,” and Jesus would introduce God’s Kingdom in dramatic new terms.

For those of us from Christian families, we have often heard these familiar verses from Isaiah in the weeks leading up to Christmas:

“For unto us a child is born,
to us a son is given,
and the government will be on his shoulders
And he will be called
Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God,
Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace (shalom).
Of the increase of his government and peace (shalom)
There will be no end.” (Isaiah 9:6-7a)

From now on, when you hear or read these words, think about this prophecy in the context of Isaiah’s teaching about shalom. Jesus was coming to show us a new way to live, first by his actions and then by his teaching.

Although using our imagination can sometimes get us in trouble, especially if we have a rich fantasy life, the prophets drew these “peace pictures” to give us hope. Even in times of revolution, tsunamis, economic downturns, unemployment or corrupt rule by autocrats, we must not give up hope, because the Prince of Peace has promised to be with us.

So What?

• Dr. Craig Barnes, my former pastor, has written: “Faith is almost a synonym for vision. It is what allows us to see, to witness, God’s presence. Faith allows us to survive, even enjoy, today because we’ve seen that which is not apparent – God is with us.” Biblical faith is grounded in the promises and then the arrival of a Messiah, a “Prince of Peace.”

• To be peacemakers in our broken world, we need to be “agents of hope” in a culture where the default position is cynicism. And to be hopeful people we need three qualities -- imagination, understanding and passion -- if we are to make a difference in our world. Maybe that’s part of the reason why the Old Testament prophets painted these “peace pictures.”

*Note from the Author: If you would like to know when the next post is placed on this blog, there are several ways this can be handled.  You can become a "Friend" of mine - John Bernbaum - on Facebook or on LinkedIn, where I announce each new post, or you can send me an e-mail (johnbernbaum@gmail.com) or comment on the blog requesting that I give you notice by e-mail.