I've been meaning to blog about this since Sunday when the scripture I will reference was discussed in Sunday school. Here are the scriptures describing the two separate occasions when Jesus fed thousands of people by miraculously multiplying a tiny amount of food.
Mark 6:39-44
And he ordered them to make all the people recline in groups on the green grass. And they reclined in groups of hundreds and of fifties. And he took the five loaves and the two fishes and, looking up to heaven, blessed and broke the loaves, and gave them to his disciples to set before the people; and the two fishes he divided among them all. And all ate and were satisfied; and they gathered up what was left over, twelve baskets full of fragments, besides what was left over of the fishes. Now those who had eaten were five thousand men.
Mark 8:1-9
In those days when again there was a great crowd, and they had nothing to eat, he called his disciples together and said to them, "I have compassion on the crowd, for behold, they have now been with me three days, and have nothing to eat; and if I send them away to their homes fasting, they will faint on the way for some of them have come from a distance." And his disciples answered him, "How will anyone be able to satisfy these with bread, here in the desert? He asked them, "How many loaves have you?" And they said, "Seven."
And he bade the crowd recline on the ground. Then taking the seven loaves, he gave thanks, broke them and gave them to his disciples to distribute; and they set them before the crowd. And they had a few little fishes; and he blessed them, and ordered them to be distributed. And they ate and were satisfied; and they took up what was left of the fragments, seven baskets. Now those who had eaten were about four thousand. And he dismissed them.
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Alright, there are so many things that one should discuss and understand about these two miracles, but I have found that a very common error in approach to understanding these miracles derails most of the modern discussion of these events away from their core spiritual and literal meanings. Sure enough, right after reading one of these passages our Sunday school teacher (who I really like, so this is no criticism) almost immediately fell into the derailment by reading what all these highly educated commentators have said about these miracles: *I'm rolling my eyes* .... "the symbolism of the number of loaves and fishes".....*I'm rolling my eyes again, as I can't even repeat this without being frustrated, argh*
He then starts to repeat what "they" (the wonderful commentators) have "analyzed" about the "meaning" of how many loaves and fishes they were, and what holy numbers they symbolized, blah blah blah. I interrupted him right there and said something like, "I know all the commentators discuss it but they are wrong: there is absolutely no symbolism in either of these miracles by Jesus." I briefly stated why and here I will explain it to you.
First of all, let's discuss why people get so easily misled into missing the events and then worthy analysis of the miracles' greater meanings (not "symbolisms" as a greater meaning is different than "symbolism.") One cannot discuss a greater meaning of these events without first agreeing on the facts. So that is what Mark and the other gospel writers set forth when they wrote about Jesus: first the facts, then what Jesus actually did, and then any greater meaning (John's Gospel tends to include more of that kind of thought), including any explanation of how/why that Jesus provided. There are two reasons modern people are so easily mislead into discussing ridiculous things like the "meaning" and "symbolism" of "how many" loaves and fishes were used by Jesus. First of all, people today do not understand why such trivial data is supplied, unless it has a "deep" and "heavy" "symbolic" "meaning." That is because they no longer understand that detailing such small items (which happens throughout the Bible) is what people were taught to do, back when only oral history and verbal contracts existed, which is to "bear witness." I include the label here "witness" where I have previously explained this.
So what modern people think is either a trivial point (who cares if it was five loaves) or a big heavy "symbolism" (ooooh, it must have been "five" for "a reason," yeah, a "mystical reason..." followed by profound and eerie music and nods of agreement by the scholars who are paid and make names for being so smart) the reason it was recorded down to the number of loaves and fishes is that.... that is what actually happened, and the people of those times were all taught by their families and teachers to be scrupulously accurate in bearing witness to great events. It's part of the accuracy record, to them, and that is the automatic mindset.
One reason it is important to be accurate is so that readers (or those who hear the Gospel verbally) understand exactly how big or small an event just took place. Look at the two extremes in an analogy. If Jesus fed 5000 people with let's say 1000 loaves, that would not be such a huge miracle, would it? On the other hand, if Jesus fed people with no loaves, making the loaves out of thin air, it would be a huge miracle (but not more huge than what actually happened.) What, you say... why is that? Why would in theory no loaves be equally as miraculous as feeding from five loaves? Remember the Exodus, when Moses asked God to feed the people and manna fell from the skies. The Jewish people would all have been VERY mindful of that seminal miracle in their faith history, when God provided the bread of manna out of nothing, as it rained down from the sky. They thus would have viewed Jesus as having done the same thing, mediating between the hungry people and God, who provides for them out of nothing. So anyone alive during that time who carried witness either verbally or in writing would have routinely recorded how many loaves and fishes because it allowed the listener or the reader to put what happened in the proper context with the facts.
The second reason modern people, including supposedly smart scholars, fall into the trap of putting numinous and irrelevant meaning on the number of loaves and fishes is, well, there is no subtle way to put it, they are a bit weak in their faith. Either consciously but (to give them the benefit of the doubt) unconsciously, they tend to think that the number is important because it is contrived. I'm not saying they full out think this is a made up story, but there is always the temptation to disbelieve something so incredible, always nibbling and gnawing in the back of the mind. So these commentators figure, "Well, just in case this actually did not happen, we can still derive a 'greater spiritual lesson' by 'analyzing the meaning' of what the 'authors' (not God) did 'present.'" You see what I mean? When there is even a five percent of doubt of the literal accuracy of the Gospel in one's mind, no matter what a believer and a "scholar" you are, your understanding of the plain words will be mislead and warped. Previous generations could discuss "meaning" and "symbolism," sure, but they did so on the firm basis of 100 percent believing the facts of the miracles: that is the sad difference between then and these smarty pants modern times.
So how did I bring an abrupt halt to that line of thought? I will explain it to you now and offer it to you as a faith and reasoning case study. I said something like this. Well, if the numbers are so "symbolic" and "mean something else," does that mean that if only four loaves were there instead of five, Jesus would have hit his forehead and said, "Darn! Now I can't do the miracle! It's the wrong symbolic number of loaves!" Or if they had loaves but no fishes, would Jesus have said, "Wish I could help, but it's just not the right holy symbolic numbers of ingredients." Ha ha ha, yes, my readers, I did see a few fellow Sunday school members narrow their eyes at me ha ha when I said that ha. But they have to see in parody, sometimes, how silly they are being (or how easily misled). I mean, this is deadly serious: Jesus Christ, born of God by the Holy Spirit overshadowing the Blessed Virgin Mary, healed, performed miracles, and conquered death, resurrecting after being crucified and ascending into heaven. The facts are mighty just as they are, I mean, duh. The facts don't have to also be "symbolic" of like lucky numbers or something. The way to detox from such thinking (that there is some "formula" or "bigger meaning" to the small facts, the insignificant number of the loaves and fishes) is to test the theory that the number of each item is instrumental to the miracle taking place. That is what I did, by making the people answer, "Well, if those numbers are so symbolic, does that mean Jesus could or would do the miracle only if a certain number of the items were there?"
Would Jesus "not be able" to do the miraculous feeding if there wasn't the "holy symbolic" number of items? Of course not. Jesus could do it with zero loaves or 1000 loaves.
Would Jesus refuse to feed the hungry people because there isn't the "right number of 'holy symbolic' items there?" Imagine that, Jesus saying: "Oh oh, there is supposed to be five loaves because that's a really holy important number, and you have only four loaves, so sorry, I'm not going to do the miracles and you have to walk home hungry, hope you don't hit your head on a rock while you are faint with having followed me for days." Obviously not, and I included the passage where Jesus states his concern for the health of people who had been fasting for so long already (and that is the motivation for the miracle, not to demonstrate his power and authority).
You see, that is what people ought to be gleaning from their personal reading of the Bible, the facts, the context, Jesus' words and explanations, and the Gospel writers words and explanations. Young people who use computers, you know WYSIWYG (what you see is what you get). The Bible must be read and understood that way, that what you see is what you get, and also "it is what it is." Jesus was followed by many people, on two different occasions, to remote areas for several days where there was no fresh food to gain after what people had brought with them had run out. Out of concern for them Jesus takes whatever is found and turns that through his miraculous God given ability into much food for the multitude. All that is documented so that the listeners and readers of these events comprehend how big and precise a miracle this was, so that they get it even though they were not there.
The key to the miracles is that Jesus demonstrated he can make do with what people provided. If it was no loaves or many loaves or, as in the reality, just a very few loaves, Jesus can and did work with whatever people had.
That, then, is the larger meanings of these miraculous events because yes, sure, there are the events and then there is the larger meaning to glean from it, but it's not "magic" or "holy" "numbers" kind of meanings. I can write more about them some other time as I really want to keep this confined to the case study of understanding how to avoid the pitfall of missing the really important facts and points of a Biblical event by derailing on something unimportant and thus not seeing the outline of what one should indeed contemplate. So here is in closing just a list of how to mindfully approach the "bigger and greater meaning" of the miraculous events.
1. Notice the circumstances and think about them. People obviously were so committed to hearing what Jesus said that thousands followed him into barren areas with no thought of their food or water.
2. Notice Jesus' motivation for the miracles, which is simple plain love and humanity for their plight, after showing such commitment and attention to him. This is far away from the nagging scribes and Pharisees, so Jesus is not performing these miracles in order to demonstrate his God given authority. It is plain and simple loving need.
3. Notice that Jesus uses whatever is available, for he has the might of God with him, and lots of bread and fishes or no bread and fishes, God can do anything.
4. Notice that Jesus gives thanks and don't slide over that thinking that is like saying grace before food, for it is not a pre-meal prayer of thanksgiving to God. Jesus is thanking God for the ability to perform what, only through God, he is about to do, which is feed the people. Jesus is thus both on his own thanking God for what is about to occur, but also giving the people a role modeling of how always to be so whenever one uses one's God given abilities, to be thankful first and foremost to God.
5. Notice that Jesus gives the food to the disciples to distribute. Of course some of that is logistics, as many hands can distribute the food faster. But the greater meaning is that Jesus is a) preparing the disciples and the people for the time when they can do some of this themselves, for remember all the Apostles and original disciples became able to perform miracles and b) that the word of God needs to be carried and spread by everyone, not just, as we would say today, the "guru." Jesus is always modest and that was a sincere modesty because he never for a second of his life forgot that everything he was able to do was directly from God the Father. Thus Jesus did not have to "showboat" and hand out the food himself so people would be grateful to him and impressed by him.... Jesus always demonstrated that a) all power and glory go to God alone and b) his disciples were extensions of him and Jesus did not always need to be "the one." Remember that Jesus himself did not baptize, but his disciples baptized their followers. Jesus was always showing how the faith community was to come together and function, as it would have to when he was no longer there.
6. Notice that they record what fragments remain. This is part of what I explained about the witnessing to the facts of what happened. It is also OK and valid to ponder the greater meaning that even after Jesus through God provides all that is needed, there is even more leftover. God's grace is always more than expectations and there is always more than the bare minimum of human needs.
I hope you have found this helpful! Do not be afraid to discover that even wise experts, in these modern times in particular, miss the forest through the trees. (That's an old saying, for those of you who are English second language or may not have heard it, meaning that some people are so obsessed with details that they notice one or two trees without ever realizing those one or two trees are accompanied by many trees in a forest all around them.) Glomming onto an imaginary importance of how many loaves is like missing the entire event because your mind is hijacked into thinking it's all about those loaves "conveying" a "numeric" "message" "from God," and thus you don't get points 1-6 at all as you look just at that diversion.
*Sigh* Like I said, much of this comes from lack of understanding the simpler times when people really did just write down the facts without an agenda.
Oh, that makes me realize something I can add quickly here, which is "spotting agenda." Here is a quick example that merits a huge amount of writing elsewhere.
OK, you've seen Jesus, and his Apostles, and all the events that took place. Maybe you are a distant relative of one of the disciples. The focus would be entirely on documenting exactly what happened. No one would have an agenda (except, as we saw, the Jews and Romans who put Jesus to death, for they covered up that he resurrected by bribing the guards and spreading the story that his body was removed and "hidden.") So the Gospels and the Epistles (the letters) of the New Testament are all agenda free because people in a really verbal and oral culture were attempting to get precisely in writing exactly what happened. What happened was so detailed and astonishing that for brevity much is left out that is repetitive. By that I mean that for example Jesus performed thousands of individual miracles, but the means to write down details of every one of them would have been impossible then. People memorized and shared the data of the essentials, writing down what people needed to know for the faith that had factually occurred.
But now let's imagine that some hundred years or more has gone by. Someone in your family may have been that relative of a disciple I mentioned (imagine if you belonged to Judas Iscariot's family descendants!) Now you have to watch for agenda. This is the problem with so called Books that people wave around once in a while and claim that they are "true" and "give the real story" of "what happened." These are well known, and a few years ago media manipulators tried to get everyone all excited about the Book of Judas with claims that he and Jesus had an agreement, blah blah blah. The same has popped up about Mary Magdalene and others. There is of course more pious versions such as the stories of the Blessed Virgin Mary and how Joseph selected her (or she him) with like a flowering wand or something like that. These are all written many years, often centuries, after Jesus, of course, was actually alive, by people who were not there.
How do I know they weren't there? Use logic my friends. If they were there it would have been in the Gospels, Acts and Epistles, duh. People were doing agenda-free documenting of all that needed to be known about Jesus (we don't know what side he slept on or what cereal he liked best) but we know absolutely everything about his ministry and the nature of the New Covenant with God. So anyone who actually had been on the scene and had a significant role would have been documented accordingly.
So through dating but also pure logic we know that all these extra books are ancient but not comtemporary with Jesus. Anything that pops up centuries later and claims to contain secret or "real" information is bogus because no one had any need to "hide" anything when Jesus was alive (except the Jewish religious authorities after he resurrected, ha). Jesus lived an entirely open life surrounded by hundreds of people constantly, and Jesus was doing a continual stream of teaching and role modeling, preaching and ministry at all time: there were no secret deals or any such imaginings. That would have lost the entire point anyway. Jesus did not have to arrange with Judas to be betrayed (it would be funny if it was not so faith warping) because, duh, the Gospels document how often Jesus had to flee or dodge people who wanted to kill him right then and there (even in his hometown).
So this is why you have to use a little common sense to discern agenda. The Gospels and rest of the New Testament had no agenda except to document and communicate the marvelous events that had happened, plus the teachings of Jesus. Anything from a later date that is not part of the Christian community communications via letter, sermons and so forth is going to be a combination of two very modern phenomena: 1) Spin doctoring by people who wanted to get their piece of celebrity action, so like I said, I bet Judas' descendant family members would have wanted to write a 'he didn't do it' saga and 2) Genuine remnants of memories of things like the life of the Virgin Mary, but now glossed with all sorts of sentimental fiction to romanticize her genuine purity and virtue (in other words, the "cute meet" story between her and Joseph that is supposedly preserved).
Thus remember, which is why I brought this up, the disciples had no agenda as they authored the Gospels, Acts, and the Epistles, and Revelation, rather than to record precisely what had occurred as this was a nearly total verbal culture and society in the world. The model for such precision in writing was of course the Torah and all the books of the Old Testament. People used witnessing to get the facts in writing to reach those areas they could not achieve through travel, and also to preserve and hand down the information to the next generations of what had actually happened. Likewise God had no "agenda" other than send his Son, the Savior and Messiah, to do what he did. God did not have to plant "significant numbers" or "hidden meanings" or any such thing because that is self defeating and remember that God is all perfection. God is what he is. So don't get diverted thinking there is hidden or arcane meaning to be "gained" in the scripture, since, well, think about it, God seems to have to hit humans over the head again and again and again with the simple truth. Subtlety is lost on humans and God would have no reason not to make things very, very, VERY plain over and over and over. Points 1-6 rather than "oooooh, the number of loaves 'means something!'" Finally spot agenda before it spots you. Use common sense to discern the difference between people who were part of the fact checking witnessing of the group of disciples who were actually there versus writings by some sort of imaginary hanger oners years and centuries after the fact who have obvious "My grand pappy's neighbor's shepherd knew them too!" types of motivations (or like Judas Iscariot's poor family descendants, ugh, who would want to have been them?)
I hope this helps.
Showing posts with label disciples. Show all posts
Showing posts with label disciples. Show all posts
Tuesday, January 19, 2010
Monday, August 10, 2009
A little insight about the Second Coming
Here is something that may assuage an uneasiness or even a basis for misunderstanding in the scriptures.
It is obvious that the Apostles, both during the life of Jesus, and after the death and resurrection of Jesus, particularly Paul, spoke a great deal about the end of the world, and clearly yearned for the end of all things when Jesus would return. Why would that be, many wonder? Without understanding why, many modern people are somewhat obsessive about the Second Coming, and, as a result, are tempted into theological error in "over eager" anticipation.
Like many things I have blogged with you about before, one must remind one's self of the context of the times when the Apostles and first disciples lived. So here is the primary reason that the Apostles were so eager for and fascinated regarding the Second Coming.
In psychology there is a phenomenon called "compensation." It means that if emotionally or intellectually you cannot obtain something that you want very much, you transfer that longing to something else. Sometimes you are aware that you are doing it, and sometimes you are not.
We learn by reading the Bible that the Jewish people were desperately eager for their Messiah, the Savior, to come. But when Jesus arrived, many people were shocked and quite disappointed. They had hoped for a "warrior savior," a zealot, who would free them from the Roman Empire and fix all the problems with humanity in the world. Jesus seemed the opposite to this, and many disciples fell away from him when they thought he was not zealous or militant enough about worldly problems, such as the oppression and occupation by Rome.
Even those who understood the message that Jesus Christ brought, how he was indeed the Messiah, but one who was bringing the Kingdom of God to all humanity, rather than leading an uprising and fixing all worldly problems, still longed for that to happen. Thus they compensated and transferred that longing for all worldly problems to be fixed from happening "now," when the Messiah did indeed arrive, to "later," when the Messiah, Jesus Christ, returns. Rather than allow themselves to be disappointed in any way with Jesus Christ, the true believers, the Apostles and the disciples who stayed with Jesus, dedicated themselves to bringing the Good News, the Gospel, to all people, and eagerly anticipated the Second Coming as being the real time, instead of the hoped for time, when all the problems of the world are fixed by Jesus.
This is why the Apostles are almost giddy at times with hope that the Second Coming would occur soon. Rather than being disappointed that Jesus was not the "militant fixer Messiah" that many had imagined that he would be, they realized that Jesus was bringing the New Covenant, and they glorified in that, but they also consoled themselves that Jesus would fix all the problems of the world (such as the occupation by the Roman Empire) during the Second Coming!
This little insight is by no means a diminishing of the theology and the reality of the Second Coming, and the glory that will be brought by Christ (after the great suffering of the world at the end). I am giving you some cultural and reality based insight about why the Apostles, so recently in the presence of Jesus Christ himself, fervently hoped for the world to end and the Second Coming to occur soon, despite Jesus cautioning them that even he did not know when that would occur. There really is an element of human nature (the saints are all human, of course) and also the cultural context (as always) in understanding those times and what people, even the Apostles, yearned for, even as they had been blessed with being alive with the Messiah present. They transferred, both consciously and unconsciously, much of their hopes that the Messiah would whip the world into shape and fix all the problems "right then and now" onto what Jesus taught them would happen at the Second Coming, when not only would the world be "fixed," but it would indeed pass away into a new one that is perfected under God.
I hope that you have found this helpful!
It is obvious that the Apostles, both during the life of Jesus, and after the death and resurrection of Jesus, particularly Paul, spoke a great deal about the end of the world, and clearly yearned for the end of all things when Jesus would return. Why would that be, many wonder? Without understanding why, many modern people are somewhat obsessive about the Second Coming, and, as a result, are tempted into theological error in "over eager" anticipation.
Like many things I have blogged with you about before, one must remind one's self of the context of the times when the Apostles and first disciples lived. So here is the primary reason that the Apostles were so eager for and fascinated regarding the Second Coming.
In psychology there is a phenomenon called "compensation." It means that if emotionally or intellectually you cannot obtain something that you want very much, you transfer that longing to something else. Sometimes you are aware that you are doing it, and sometimes you are not.
We learn by reading the Bible that the Jewish people were desperately eager for their Messiah, the Savior, to come. But when Jesus arrived, many people were shocked and quite disappointed. They had hoped for a "warrior savior," a zealot, who would free them from the Roman Empire and fix all the problems with humanity in the world. Jesus seemed the opposite to this, and many disciples fell away from him when they thought he was not zealous or militant enough about worldly problems, such as the oppression and occupation by Rome.
Even those who understood the message that Jesus Christ brought, how he was indeed the Messiah, but one who was bringing the Kingdom of God to all humanity, rather than leading an uprising and fixing all worldly problems, still longed for that to happen. Thus they compensated and transferred that longing for all worldly problems to be fixed from happening "now," when the Messiah did indeed arrive, to "later," when the Messiah, Jesus Christ, returns. Rather than allow themselves to be disappointed in any way with Jesus Christ, the true believers, the Apostles and the disciples who stayed with Jesus, dedicated themselves to bringing the Good News, the Gospel, to all people, and eagerly anticipated the Second Coming as being the real time, instead of the hoped for time, when all the problems of the world are fixed by Jesus.
This is why the Apostles are almost giddy at times with hope that the Second Coming would occur soon. Rather than being disappointed that Jesus was not the "militant fixer Messiah" that many had imagined that he would be, they realized that Jesus was bringing the New Covenant, and they glorified in that, but they also consoled themselves that Jesus would fix all the problems of the world (such as the occupation by the Roman Empire) during the Second Coming!
This little insight is by no means a diminishing of the theology and the reality of the Second Coming, and the glory that will be brought by Christ (after the great suffering of the world at the end). I am giving you some cultural and reality based insight about why the Apostles, so recently in the presence of Jesus Christ himself, fervently hoped for the world to end and the Second Coming to occur soon, despite Jesus cautioning them that even he did not know when that would occur. There really is an element of human nature (the saints are all human, of course) and also the cultural context (as always) in understanding those times and what people, even the Apostles, yearned for, even as they had been blessed with being alive with the Messiah present. They transferred, both consciously and unconsciously, much of their hopes that the Messiah would whip the world into shape and fix all the problems "right then and now" onto what Jesus taught them would happen at the Second Coming, when not only would the world be "fixed," but it would indeed pass away into a new one that is perfected under God.
I hope that you have found this helpful!
Saturday, August 8, 2009
Understanding, learning to know Jesus Christ
Few things make me happier, in the moment, than teaching people about the true nature of Jesus Christ and if not actually teaching, then just conversing about him. Thinking about Jesus and talking about Jesus is like a rest after back breaking work, or having a drink of cold water after going without anything for an entire hot day. I'd like it if someday my blog could be less in proportion of the dire warnings about all the wrongs in the world, and more of this respite in the discussion of Jesus. Well, so here is the beginning of a number of blog postings I would like to compose about Jesus.
As always I have my young readers most particularly in mind. For many of you, Jesus was not introduced to you properly, and so he has had to compete in your minds with modern day figures of good or often notorious reputation, and also when you do hear about Jesus, it is like entering a movie theater when the film is already two thirds gone. You have little idea of what has actually happened, nor the context. This series will be an attempt to help you to learn to know the true Jesus and also, even if you already know about him, and have him in your heart, to understand him even better.
The first topic I'd like to discuss with you is one of the most amazing things that Jesus did in his life, which not only demonstrate his authority to speak for God to humans, but also the groundwork that he laid for expanding "up close and personal" knowledge of God from the Jewish people (the Israelites) to the rest of the world.
Most of you know that God has had an ongoing relationship with humans starting with Adam and Eve and, through their descendants, all who are faithful to him. The Israelites, however, were the section of the descendants who were chosen by God (that is why they are called the Chosen People) to not only know about God, but also to have an ongoing, daily "working relationship" with God. That is what is called the Old Covenant and also, in Bible speak, The Law. You've read in my blog posts how Moses, who was the leader and the intermediary between the Israelite people and God, actually was able to stand with God, face him, speak with him, meet with him, and receive "dictation" from him. The most well known and important of the gifts of God's knowledge that God gave to Moses is the Ten Commandments.
Here is what is really awesome about Jesus Christ.... He gave to not only the Jews, but to all people, a new Commandment, an additional one to God's list. Can you imagine that! To do so would never have occurred to the thoughts of any person who ever lived. Not even the most inflated ego king or dictator would have thought of adding a Commandment to the "list" given to the Jews. And yet this wise man, this rabboni (wise in the Law) who seemed to come from absolutely nowhere, had such obvious authority given to him by God that not only could he raise the dead and cure even the worst of illnesses, but he was empowered to add a New Commandment to God's list.
Furthermore, this New Commandment did not fall into the categories of the Ten Commandments, which are either how to worship God or what sins not to commit. This New Commandment was orders by God about how humans should treat one another.
John 13:34-5 A new commandment I give unto you, That ye love one another; as I have loved you, that ye also love one another. By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another.
Jesus used the word commandment in John 13, but he repeats this same exhortation in other places in scripture, in the context of being asked questions. For example, when asked by a lawyer who approached him in order to test Jesus who is one's "neighbor" who should be loved, per God's command, Jesus tells the parable of the good Samaritan who has mercy on and rescues a Jew who had been robbed, beaten and left for dead. This would have been quite an astonishing parable to any Jewish listeners, because as most of you know, Jews and Samaritans were something of religious "rivals" and most certainly did not get along or mingle.
So even though Jesus focused his entire ministry only on the Jews (and thus added a Commandment to the "Jewish" Ten Commandments), notice that Jesus is placing the groundwork for Jesus speaking to "all men" (all people) and calling all to be his "disciples."
Now, young people especially, let me use some modern terms to help you to better understand. Jesus did not do an "edit" on the Ten Commandments, to add an Eleventh, in the sense that he went into the Temple and the local synagogues and added onto each scroll of God's Law his "insert New Commandment." This is because even though Jesus continually affirmed that all the Ten Commandments remain valid, Jesus was not there to "improve on" or "edit" the Jewish faith. Even though Jesus preached to Jews exclusively (although of course any and all people did follow him, approach him and listen to him), Jesus was not seeking to "fix up" the problems with the Jewish faith. Jesus was, instead, bringing a new contract with the boss, God, to the people. The new contract has, of course, retained much and one could even say most of what the old contract had, since obviously God is still God, humans are still humans, and God has the constancy of being eternal, never changing, and having the same expectations of all generations of humans. But here is what is remarkable: Jesus was not only purifying human relationships with God (to eliminate the error, hypocrisy, greed and fraud that had entered into that relationship) by bringing God's "face," through him, directly to the people, but Jesus was also "hands on" improving human-to-human sanctity.
I've pointed out the term "sanctity" a number of times recently, since I've seen that it's in modern times a poorly understood word. Sanctity is not the same as holy, consecrated, "initiated" or "extra super duper 'spiritual.'" Sanctity means that a person strives to maintain their primary focus, in their normal life, on God foremost and serving God in all ways of normal life.
So here is another example of where Jesus is using logic, showing the cascading, mutual and interlocking relationship between not only God and humans, but also how humans, through mutual sanctity, role modeled through Jesus, improve their own human-to-human relationship. Here is the chain of logic that Jesus is presenting to them:
1. Jesus says, observe how I love you, not only in general but in the details of role modeling.
2. Then apply how I am with you to how you are with each other.
3. If you do that, then you are truly my disciple.
4. All people will be able to see this for themselves (since this is not hidden ritual, etc but outward, genuine behavior).
5. Thus all people will identify each person that they see living like this as being my disciple.
6. And because "all" people will know, this is an invitation to "all" to likewise become my disciple.
Now, remember that any time that Jesus spoke, many people were around him. He was rarely alone and often mobbed by crowds eager to hear him. He stayed in individual homes, and thus when he spoke to the Apostles or disciples who traveled with him, entire families, neighbors, and other villagers would also be staying in that home and hear what he said also. So even though Jesus in a given conversation that is recorded in the scriptures might be speaking to a group of the Apostles, or a mixture of Apostles and disciples, these were not "status meetings" where the information only applied to certain "departments." All who believe in the New Covenant with God that Jesus brought AND who followed this New Commandment could be considered a disciple of Jesus, AND would be visible as such to the eyes of all the world.
Further, to better understand exactly what Jesus was saying, consider how, exactly, Jesus demonstrated his love for the disciples. It is not, as anyone who reads ANY bit of the Gospel would understand, by being affectionate, considerate, remembering their birthdays, throwing nice parties for them, giving them lots of money, and feeling groovy. How did Jesus demonstrate his love for the disciples as the scripture shows? Here are just a few ways off the top of my head:
1. He chose them, even though they were not "special" and had anything to give to him in return.
2. He introduced them, through him, to God, God as he really is, and not the way the religion had become corrupted.
3. He wanted to see them saved, their souls in heaven, in places that he promised that he would go ahead and prepare for them.
4. He patiently, and sometimes impatiently, explained to them all they could understand. As Jesus said, he didn't treat them like slaves who are just ordered to come and go, but as friends who understand what he is trying to achieve.
5. He scolded them and rebuked them on the spot when they erred.
6. He gave them many opportunities to serve God and to witness to God.
7. He gave the Apostles the ability to perform miracles in his name.
8. He gave the Apostles and disciples the right to invoke his most holy Name.
So you see, this is how Jesus loved them, so ardently that he called to them, even from less than promising backgrounds and circumstances, and brought them along to not only better know the true God that has been constantly there from the very beginning, but also to prepare in advance for them their places in heaven and to TELL them that, to PROMISE them that. How awesome is that?
So the New Commandment is the "formula" for being a disciple, a true disciple, of Jesus. This means that to be a genuine disciple of Jesus one must treat other disciples of Jesus as Jesus treated them, with the love that I describe above.
Unfortunately, the word "love" has become misunderstood in the context of what Jesus gave to his disciples, which is not surprising because one cannot understand the Bible if one does not read the Bible. You can only really understand what 1) love, as Jesus gave it, means and 2) what genuine discipleship of Jesus means, if you read the Bible, understand and accept it, ALL of it. You cannot substitute in your own mind a sound byte of Jesus hanging around, washing their feet, and being fond of them as being the template for what "love" and "disciple" means! Jesus promptly kicked them out and made them proclaim God from town to town without even a second change of clothing, no money, and no food. That kind of love few understand today but, believe you me, the previous generations, who were not so wealthy as the past several generations, understood Jesus' love (with one exception, which I will mention in a minute.)
To try to summarize it, Jesus taught them how to understand and love God even more deeply and authentically, which then raised their capacity for love. That type of love expands beyond noble love of family, love of the goodness of life, etc to sanctity, where the service of God is more important than anything and thus expands and elevates even the normal tasks, chores, challenges and disappointments of life.
Now, here is where I am sad that previous generations lost some of their deep connectivity with understanding the love that Jesus brought to his disciples, and exhorted them to have for each other. And, even more grievous, this loss has never been worse than today, the past several years, and now. Those who have been called to be disciples of Jesus have become "competitors," through churches, through sects, denominations, and through vicious misunderstandings and attacks on other disciples. There is one hell of a difference between "calling out" a fellow Christian disciple who you think is in doctrinal error, and declaring war and demonizing entire congregations, say nothing of the individual people within them. Pray tell, what part of that sounds like "That ye shall love on another as I have loved you?"
God and the Church have never left the people: the people have left God and the Church and appointed themselves their own masters, able to declare other disciples "wrong" and themselves "true."
If that was OK to do, as has, grievously happened for the past several hundred years, and is gut wrenchingly commonplace today, would not that be in scripture? Surely God, who is perfect, and Jesus, who brought the presence of God to earth, would have foreseen that and shown it was "OK" to splinter, to attack each other, rather than, as the scriptures truly show, warn most urgently against that?
Would we not have seen, for example, while Jesus lived, or at least in the time of Acts, several of the Apostles fight among each other and establish rival "denominations?" If God is so good, so all knowing, so all powerful, and includes all that people need to know in the scripture, would he have not allowed that to happen, to give it his spiritual endorsement? Would we not be reading that Phillip argued with James and so they established separate denominations and God, through Jesus or divine revelation, say that "They established separate denominations, and it was 'good.'" You ought to shudder, as I do in typing this.
(Young people, I'm not yelling at you all, LOL! I deviated in order to yell at your parents and their parents, and also to kick certain skeletons from the past who got people into this mess with their many errors from their lack of understanding and humility.)
Jesus, through the New Commandment, defined a group, a SINGLE group, of people, which are his true disciples. He stated that true disciples would be so obvious that "all" would know them. How, then, is it that we not only have denominations, but warring and scornful denominations?
I got into this rant because it is essential to understanding the scripture as it is set forth, not as people have come to imagine it to be. The two great concerns regarding imagination and hence error are 1) misunderstanding that Jesus "love" means hanging around and feeling groovy, and 2) that discipleship requires that Jesus be the role model, and Jesus role models not socially acceptable "humanitarian" endeavors but closeness to God.
So I think, to wrap this segment up, you can see how one of the ways to understand the awesome love and wonder of Jesus Christ is to comprehend both his God given authority to give humans the New Commandment, but also to understand what it really means. I've used the "time sheet" analogy before, but for new readers, here it is again. When you read the Gospels, think of what Jesus is doing as a worker recording hours on different projects on a timesheet. How much of what Jesus is doing is donating to art galleries, hanging around feeling the 'love,' encouraging believers to form separate and even warring denominations? Um, not so much, huh? Rather, Jesus' timesheet is filled with prayer, fasting, moderation, teaching, preaching and witnessing to God, punctuated by tasks such as performing miracles. Look back at the list I started above and you can see what I mean (the list of ways Jesus demonstrated his love). That's kind of like a timesheet!
Jesus demonstrated his love for his disciples, and for all men, not by encouraging them to be superior to each other and draw farther apart from each other, but by drawing closer, following his role model, to God, through each other, not in competition with each other.
No one has ever gotten closer to God, or salvation, by stepping on the back or the neck of another person, either a believer or a non-believer.
Jesus was the ultimate gift from God, not only because he went to the cross, but because he told people what to do and how to do it, demonstrating it every day of his life, and then guiding even after his death and resurrection (the calling of Saul to Paul, for example, and all that was revealed to John in the Book of Revelation).
It really is as simple as the New Commandment explains, but it is also difficult to understand, because of the clouded vision of humans, and to implement, because of the many prideful temptations of humans. I hope that this has helped to restore some of the understanding of what Jesus said (the red) and how he demonstrated with the disciples how to truly follow him (the black).
As always I have my young readers most particularly in mind. For many of you, Jesus was not introduced to you properly, and so he has had to compete in your minds with modern day figures of good or often notorious reputation, and also when you do hear about Jesus, it is like entering a movie theater when the film is already two thirds gone. You have little idea of what has actually happened, nor the context. This series will be an attempt to help you to learn to know the true Jesus and also, even if you already know about him, and have him in your heart, to understand him even better.
The first topic I'd like to discuss with you is one of the most amazing things that Jesus did in his life, which not only demonstrate his authority to speak for God to humans, but also the groundwork that he laid for expanding "up close and personal" knowledge of God from the Jewish people (the Israelites) to the rest of the world.
Most of you know that God has had an ongoing relationship with humans starting with Adam and Eve and, through their descendants, all who are faithful to him. The Israelites, however, were the section of the descendants who were chosen by God (that is why they are called the Chosen People) to not only know about God, but also to have an ongoing, daily "working relationship" with God. That is what is called the Old Covenant and also, in Bible speak, The Law. You've read in my blog posts how Moses, who was the leader and the intermediary between the Israelite people and God, actually was able to stand with God, face him, speak with him, meet with him, and receive "dictation" from him. The most well known and important of the gifts of God's knowledge that God gave to Moses is the Ten Commandments.
Here is what is really awesome about Jesus Christ.... He gave to not only the Jews, but to all people, a new Commandment, an additional one to God's list. Can you imagine that! To do so would never have occurred to the thoughts of any person who ever lived. Not even the most inflated ego king or dictator would have thought of adding a Commandment to the "list" given to the Jews. And yet this wise man, this rabboni (wise in the Law) who seemed to come from absolutely nowhere, had such obvious authority given to him by God that not only could he raise the dead and cure even the worst of illnesses, but he was empowered to add a New Commandment to God's list.
Furthermore, this New Commandment did not fall into the categories of the Ten Commandments, which are either how to worship God or what sins not to commit. This New Commandment was orders by God about how humans should treat one another.
John 13:34-5 A new commandment I give unto you, That ye love one another; as I have loved you, that ye also love one another. By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another.
Jesus used the word commandment in John 13, but he repeats this same exhortation in other places in scripture, in the context of being asked questions. For example, when asked by a lawyer who approached him in order to test Jesus who is one's "neighbor" who should be loved, per God's command, Jesus tells the parable of the good Samaritan who has mercy on and rescues a Jew who had been robbed, beaten and left for dead. This would have been quite an astonishing parable to any Jewish listeners, because as most of you know, Jews and Samaritans were something of religious "rivals" and most certainly did not get along or mingle.
So even though Jesus focused his entire ministry only on the Jews (and thus added a Commandment to the "Jewish" Ten Commandments), notice that Jesus is placing the groundwork for Jesus speaking to "all men" (all people) and calling all to be his "disciples."
Now, young people especially, let me use some modern terms to help you to better understand. Jesus did not do an "edit" on the Ten Commandments, to add an Eleventh, in the sense that he went into the Temple and the local synagogues and added onto each scroll of God's Law his "insert New Commandment." This is because even though Jesus continually affirmed that all the Ten Commandments remain valid, Jesus was not there to "improve on" or "edit" the Jewish faith. Even though Jesus preached to Jews exclusively (although of course any and all people did follow him, approach him and listen to him), Jesus was not seeking to "fix up" the problems with the Jewish faith. Jesus was, instead, bringing a new contract with the boss, God, to the people. The new contract has, of course, retained much and one could even say most of what the old contract had, since obviously God is still God, humans are still humans, and God has the constancy of being eternal, never changing, and having the same expectations of all generations of humans. But here is what is remarkable: Jesus was not only purifying human relationships with God (to eliminate the error, hypocrisy, greed and fraud that had entered into that relationship) by bringing God's "face," through him, directly to the people, but Jesus was also "hands on" improving human-to-human sanctity.
I've pointed out the term "sanctity" a number of times recently, since I've seen that it's in modern times a poorly understood word. Sanctity is not the same as holy, consecrated, "initiated" or "extra super duper 'spiritual.'" Sanctity means that a person strives to maintain their primary focus, in their normal life, on God foremost and serving God in all ways of normal life.
So here is another example of where Jesus is using logic, showing the cascading, mutual and interlocking relationship between not only God and humans, but also how humans, through mutual sanctity, role modeled through Jesus, improve their own human-to-human relationship. Here is the chain of logic that Jesus is presenting to them:
1. Jesus says, observe how I love you, not only in general but in the details of role modeling.
2. Then apply how I am with you to how you are with each other.
3. If you do that, then you are truly my disciple.
4. All people will be able to see this for themselves (since this is not hidden ritual, etc but outward, genuine behavior).
5. Thus all people will identify each person that they see living like this as being my disciple.
6. And because "all" people will know, this is an invitation to "all" to likewise become my disciple.
Now, remember that any time that Jesus spoke, many people were around him. He was rarely alone and often mobbed by crowds eager to hear him. He stayed in individual homes, and thus when he spoke to the Apostles or disciples who traveled with him, entire families, neighbors, and other villagers would also be staying in that home and hear what he said also. So even though Jesus in a given conversation that is recorded in the scriptures might be speaking to a group of the Apostles, or a mixture of Apostles and disciples, these were not "status meetings" where the information only applied to certain "departments." All who believe in the New Covenant with God that Jesus brought AND who followed this New Commandment could be considered a disciple of Jesus, AND would be visible as such to the eyes of all the world.
Further, to better understand exactly what Jesus was saying, consider how, exactly, Jesus demonstrated his love for the disciples. It is not, as anyone who reads ANY bit of the Gospel would understand, by being affectionate, considerate, remembering their birthdays, throwing nice parties for them, giving them lots of money, and feeling groovy. How did Jesus demonstrate his love for the disciples as the scripture shows? Here are just a few ways off the top of my head:
1. He chose them, even though they were not "special" and had anything to give to him in return.
2. He introduced them, through him, to God, God as he really is, and not the way the religion had become corrupted.
3. He wanted to see them saved, their souls in heaven, in places that he promised that he would go ahead and prepare for them.
4. He patiently, and sometimes impatiently, explained to them all they could understand. As Jesus said, he didn't treat them like slaves who are just ordered to come and go, but as friends who understand what he is trying to achieve.
5. He scolded them and rebuked them on the spot when they erred.
6. He gave them many opportunities to serve God and to witness to God.
7. He gave the Apostles the ability to perform miracles in his name.
8. He gave the Apostles and disciples the right to invoke his most holy Name.
So you see, this is how Jesus loved them, so ardently that he called to them, even from less than promising backgrounds and circumstances, and brought them along to not only better know the true God that has been constantly there from the very beginning, but also to prepare in advance for them their places in heaven and to TELL them that, to PROMISE them that. How awesome is that?
So the New Commandment is the "formula" for being a disciple, a true disciple, of Jesus. This means that to be a genuine disciple of Jesus one must treat other disciples of Jesus as Jesus treated them, with the love that I describe above.
Unfortunately, the word "love" has become misunderstood in the context of what Jesus gave to his disciples, which is not surprising because one cannot understand the Bible if one does not read the Bible. You can only really understand what 1) love, as Jesus gave it, means and 2) what genuine discipleship of Jesus means, if you read the Bible, understand and accept it, ALL of it. You cannot substitute in your own mind a sound byte of Jesus hanging around, washing their feet, and being fond of them as being the template for what "love" and "disciple" means! Jesus promptly kicked them out and made them proclaim God from town to town without even a second change of clothing, no money, and no food. That kind of love few understand today but, believe you me, the previous generations, who were not so wealthy as the past several generations, understood Jesus' love (with one exception, which I will mention in a minute.)
To try to summarize it, Jesus taught them how to understand and love God even more deeply and authentically, which then raised their capacity for love. That type of love expands beyond noble love of family, love of the goodness of life, etc to sanctity, where the service of God is more important than anything and thus expands and elevates even the normal tasks, chores, challenges and disappointments of life.
Now, here is where I am sad that previous generations lost some of their deep connectivity with understanding the love that Jesus brought to his disciples, and exhorted them to have for each other. And, even more grievous, this loss has never been worse than today, the past several years, and now. Those who have been called to be disciples of Jesus have become "competitors," through churches, through sects, denominations, and through vicious misunderstandings and attacks on other disciples. There is one hell of a difference between "calling out" a fellow Christian disciple who you think is in doctrinal error, and declaring war and demonizing entire congregations, say nothing of the individual people within them. Pray tell, what part of that sounds like "That ye shall love on another as I have loved you?"
God and the Church have never left the people: the people have left God and the Church and appointed themselves their own masters, able to declare other disciples "wrong" and themselves "true."
If that was OK to do, as has, grievously happened for the past several hundred years, and is gut wrenchingly commonplace today, would not that be in scripture? Surely God, who is perfect, and Jesus, who brought the presence of God to earth, would have foreseen that and shown it was "OK" to splinter, to attack each other, rather than, as the scriptures truly show, warn most urgently against that?
Would we not have seen, for example, while Jesus lived, or at least in the time of Acts, several of the Apostles fight among each other and establish rival "denominations?" If God is so good, so all knowing, so all powerful, and includes all that people need to know in the scripture, would he have not allowed that to happen, to give it his spiritual endorsement? Would we not be reading that Phillip argued with James and so they established separate denominations and God, through Jesus or divine revelation, say that "They established separate denominations, and it was 'good.'" You ought to shudder, as I do in typing this.
(Young people, I'm not yelling at you all, LOL! I deviated in order to yell at your parents and their parents, and also to kick certain skeletons from the past who got people into this mess with their many errors from their lack of understanding and humility.)
Jesus, through the New Commandment, defined a group, a SINGLE group, of people, which are his true disciples. He stated that true disciples would be so obvious that "all" would know them. How, then, is it that we not only have denominations, but warring and scornful denominations?
I got into this rant because it is essential to understanding the scripture as it is set forth, not as people have come to imagine it to be. The two great concerns regarding imagination and hence error are 1) misunderstanding that Jesus "love" means hanging around and feeling groovy, and 2) that discipleship requires that Jesus be the role model, and Jesus role models not socially acceptable "humanitarian" endeavors but closeness to God.
So I think, to wrap this segment up, you can see how one of the ways to understand the awesome love and wonder of Jesus Christ is to comprehend both his God given authority to give humans the New Commandment, but also to understand what it really means. I've used the "time sheet" analogy before, but for new readers, here it is again. When you read the Gospels, think of what Jesus is doing as a worker recording hours on different projects on a timesheet. How much of what Jesus is doing is donating to art galleries, hanging around feeling the 'love,' encouraging believers to form separate and even warring denominations? Um, not so much, huh? Rather, Jesus' timesheet is filled with prayer, fasting, moderation, teaching, preaching and witnessing to God, punctuated by tasks such as performing miracles. Look back at the list I started above and you can see what I mean (the list of ways Jesus demonstrated his love). That's kind of like a timesheet!
Jesus demonstrated his love for his disciples, and for all men, not by encouraging them to be superior to each other and draw farther apart from each other, but by drawing closer, following his role model, to God, through each other, not in competition with each other.
No one has ever gotten closer to God, or salvation, by stepping on the back or the neck of another person, either a believer or a non-believer.
Jesus was the ultimate gift from God, not only because he went to the cross, but because he told people what to do and how to do it, demonstrating it every day of his life, and then guiding even after his death and resurrection (the calling of Saul to Paul, for example, and all that was revealed to John in the Book of Revelation).
It really is as simple as the New Commandment explains, but it is also difficult to understand, because of the clouded vision of humans, and to implement, because of the many prideful temptations of humans. I hope that this has helped to restore some of the understanding of what Jesus said (the red) and how he demonstrated with the disciples how to truly follow him (the black).
Thursday, March 6, 2008
Bible Reading: John 15:1-2
"I AM the true vine, and my Father is the vine-dresser. Every branch in me that bears no fruit he will take away; and every branch that bears fruit he will cleanse, that it may bear more fruit."
***
These first two lines of Jesus' explanation using the analogy of God as vine dresser and Jesus as vine, with humans being the fruit are so important it can hardly be described. But people have become so familiar with the symbolism that they miss the actual teaching that is of vital importance. And as they read further as Jesus explains in greater detail, many people read the passage with less enlightenment and more of a search for formulaic self justification. People tend to read this passage as, "Whew! I'm OK! I'm one of the fruit bearers since I believe and thus I'm saved..." and they hurry on to read other passages that are self justifying. But I need to make you pause here and understand.
Jesus is saying he is the true vine. In other words, he is stating his authority from God that all he says and does is true, and only the authentic truth can grown from what he says and does. Therefore he is the vine (the infrastructure) from which the grapes grow. However, Jesus clearly states that God is the vine dresser. The vine dresser is the grower, the one who obtains, grows, nourishes and takes care of the vine. So as always Jesus makes the distinction between himself as Jesus and God as God very clear.
Therefore as the true vine Jesus is establishing himself, with God's authority, as the first priest, the one and only priest of what will be called Christianity. Some people question where the Catholic priesthood is established in the Bible. Well, if they understood these words the way the Apostles and disciples would have understood the agriculture analogy QUITE well, they would understand it right here in that very passage. God creates the vine (Jesus) and sets it on earth to grow true fruit. That is the role of the Christian priest. People, the believers, are the fruit.
So how can it be that if Jesus is the true vine that God needs to "take away" "every branch in me that bears no fruit?" This is exactly what I am saying. There are people who result from and grow out of the ministry of Jesus and yet they bear no fruit. This is not the fault of the true vine. It is the shortcoming of the branch that bears no fruit, and so God will trim from Jesus the branches that bear no fruit. This should be illuminating to the "grace versus works" arguers. One would think that anything that grows from Jesus is "good" and "has grace" and "is saved," no? Um, no, apparently not. Jesus explains that it is not enough to be a branch of Jesus because if there is no good fruit, it will be pruned by God.
And then look there, Jesus goes on to state, "and every branch that bears fruit he will cleanse, that it may bear more fruit." What? What's that? Is Jesus saying to wash pesticides off the fruit before eating? They were green before their time? Um, no. People didn't wash their food for any reason back in those days except to get like a huge clod of dirt off. So this part of the analogy would have puzzled his disciples who are listening. Why does fruit need to be cleansed, especially if it is coming off of the true vine of Jesus? Yep. Jesus is reminding his disciples that God ultimately has to cleanse every person, even the faithful.
Now he goes on the say, "You are already clean because of the word that I have spoken to you. Abide in me, and I in you" (3-4). Jesus goes on to explain more about the meaning of "abide." But here's another Bible reading mistake that I must point out. Jesus did not say, "Hey! All of you who are someday going to read my words in a book that is printed called the Bible are also already clean because you are reading my words! Yep I mean all of you!" Um, no. Jesus is literally speaking to his disciples who are listening. When he says "you" he means "you" as in the persons that he is speaking to. Remember I've explained in previous postings that the Apostles and disciples that stayed true with Jesus are the ONLY people to receive the "get into heaven free immediately upon death" pass card. Jesus is teaching the people he is speaking to, and the Gospel is the recollection of this conversation and teaching. They were not "speaking into the microphone" for future generations. Jesus was teaching them his authority given to him by God himself.
The rest of the passage is amplification of how to synchronize being born of the vine, bearing branches, and bearing fruit with continuing to "abide" with Jesus. This means that it is not a birthright. Salvation and grace are ongoing propositions throughout life. This is why Jesus is using an agricultural analogy that no one would misunderstand at the time. No farmer would think that a good harvest one year means they are "in like flint" for every bushel and every harvest to come, and they can sit back and not water or prune the vines. And no person of the time would think that someone would use grapes for something other than what they were intended. For example you would not feed the grapes to the cattle, or hang them on your walls as decoration. These are examples of not maintaining the goodness of the fruit in reciprocity throughout the life of the branches. Jesus is the true vine but many bad things and neglect, misdirection, or lack of fruitfulness can happen to any given branch. So the rest of the passage explains in detail (you can read it yourself with newer eyes now) that God is continually dressing and pruning the results of all that grows from the true vine of Jesus. Jesus teaches how to best ensure that one will bear good fruit by abiding in him. Notice that the word "abide" is also an ongoing condition. It is the state of dwelling day to day for one's whole life. Jesus chose this word which one could say is again a bit of an odd word to talk about in a vineyard analogy because abiding would have specific meaning to the people of the time. Abiding requires an effort, a continual action of saying within in a compatible way. Jesus did not say, "Just by being a Christian well bingo! Your branch is securely attached to the vine and its fence no matter what." No indeed and in truth Jesus is saying the opposite. God is always dressing and pruning the branches from the vine. There is no "Christian job security." The best one can do is what Jesus instructs, which is the abiding within Jesus and his word. He warns that branches, that is to say, believers, will grow from the true vine, but if they do not abide they will be gathered up and cast into the fire. Remember, you are listening in on a conversation of teaching. Jesus is not "alluding to a later chapter of the Bible" (which is not yet in existence since he's still alive at the time of this conversation) about final judgment and so forth. Here Jesus is beginning to teach the priesthood that he has brought to humans as the New Covenant.
How do we know this for sure? Look at what he says toward the end of the paragraph about the vine, "In this is my Father glorified, that you may bear very much fruit, and become my disciples" (8). "Become" his disciples? Are they not that already by virtue of them being there with him. Ah. You see the point. Even though Jesus has said that they are cleansed already (and thus by staying true to them will personally achieve heaven) they are not yet his disciples, because they have not yet become the branches that bear the good fruit that glorifies God. Not glorifies Jesus: glorifies God the Father. Later Jesus expounds on his relationship with the disciples (to be) as he calls them his friends, and not his servants. Jesus explains again that all that he tells them comes from God. Jesus reminds them that he has chosen and appointed them.
I consider this passage one of the definitive passages that Jesus used to instruct the disciples about the one true Church, and early warning of the error of branches that grow from the true vine but do not bear good fruit. Remember, it is not enough to bear fruit. The fruit must be cleansed by God, and the fruit must abide in Jesus. "Stray" and "do your own thing" branches and fruit are liable to be cleansed, even to the point of pruning and casting into the fire, by God the vine dresser.
Many people read this passage, and the remaining part where Jesus assures that God will give whatever they ask if they abide in him, as a big built-in security blanket. I have observed this misunderstanding grow even the past fifty years that I've been living thus far. It is not a security blanket. If it was then Jesus would have called them "disciples" right on the spot instead of "friends," and he would not have gone into such detail of incredible importance that while Jesus is the true vine not all branches will succeed and pass muster with God. Jesus is speaking of the priesthood, not evangelizing in general. We know this because Jesus is specific when he does instruct about evangelizing AND because of the agricultural and structural orientation of this lesson. He emphasizes that GOD IS TO BE GLORIFIED. It is not a numbers game of converts. Jesus never promises that all or even most branches will succeed. Jesus uses the word "chosen" but also in the same sentence "appointed." He is being authoritative in the way that the first Christian priest, the true vine will be and must be as they prepare to become his disciples (as they are not yet, even though they are cleansed and full believers).
I hope this helps you in understanding, and may God bless all who seek to know and serve him.
***
These first two lines of Jesus' explanation using the analogy of God as vine dresser and Jesus as vine, with humans being the fruit are so important it can hardly be described. But people have become so familiar with the symbolism that they miss the actual teaching that is of vital importance. And as they read further as Jesus explains in greater detail, many people read the passage with less enlightenment and more of a search for formulaic self justification. People tend to read this passage as, "Whew! I'm OK! I'm one of the fruit bearers since I believe and thus I'm saved..." and they hurry on to read other passages that are self justifying. But I need to make you pause here and understand.
Jesus is saying he is the true vine. In other words, he is stating his authority from God that all he says and does is true, and only the authentic truth can grown from what he says and does. Therefore he is the vine (the infrastructure) from which the grapes grow. However, Jesus clearly states that God is the vine dresser. The vine dresser is the grower, the one who obtains, grows, nourishes and takes care of the vine. So as always Jesus makes the distinction between himself as Jesus and God as God very clear.
Therefore as the true vine Jesus is establishing himself, with God's authority, as the first priest, the one and only priest of what will be called Christianity. Some people question where the Catholic priesthood is established in the Bible. Well, if they understood these words the way the Apostles and disciples would have understood the agriculture analogy QUITE well, they would understand it right here in that very passage. God creates the vine (Jesus) and sets it on earth to grow true fruit. That is the role of the Christian priest. People, the believers, are the fruit.
So how can it be that if Jesus is the true vine that God needs to "take away" "every branch in me that bears no fruit?" This is exactly what I am saying. There are people who result from and grow out of the ministry of Jesus and yet they bear no fruit. This is not the fault of the true vine. It is the shortcoming of the branch that bears no fruit, and so God will trim from Jesus the branches that bear no fruit. This should be illuminating to the "grace versus works" arguers. One would think that anything that grows from Jesus is "good" and "has grace" and "is saved," no? Um, no, apparently not. Jesus explains that it is not enough to be a branch of Jesus because if there is no good fruit, it will be pruned by God.
And then look there, Jesus goes on to state, "and every branch that bears fruit he will cleanse, that it may bear more fruit." What? What's that? Is Jesus saying to wash pesticides off the fruit before eating? They were green before their time? Um, no. People didn't wash their food for any reason back in those days except to get like a huge clod of dirt off. So this part of the analogy would have puzzled his disciples who are listening. Why does fruit need to be cleansed, especially if it is coming off of the true vine of Jesus? Yep. Jesus is reminding his disciples that God ultimately has to cleanse every person, even the faithful.
Now he goes on the say, "You are already clean because of the word that I have spoken to you. Abide in me, and I in you" (3-4). Jesus goes on to explain more about the meaning of "abide." But here's another Bible reading mistake that I must point out. Jesus did not say, "Hey! All of you who are someday going to read my words in a book that is printed called the Bible are also already clean because you are reading my words! Yep I mean all of you!" Um, no. Jesus is literally speaking to his disciples who are listening. When he says "you" he means "you" as in the persons that he is speaking to. Remember I've explained in previous postings that the Apostles and disciples that stayed true with Jesus are the ONLY people to receive the "get into heaven free immediately upon death" pass card. Jesus is teaching the people he is speaking to, and the Gospel is the recollection of this conversation and teaching. They were not "speaking into the microphone" for future generations. Jesus was teaching them his authority given to him by God himself.
The rest of the passage is amplification of how to synchronize being born of the vine, bearing branches, and bearing fruit with continuing to "abide" with Jesus. This means that it is not a birthright. Salvation and grace are ongoing propositions throughout life. This is why Jesus is using an agricultural analogy that no one would misunderstand at the time. No farmer would think that a good harvest one year means they are "in like flint" for every bushel and every harvest to come, and they can sit back and not water or prune the vines. And no person of the time would think that someone would use grapes for something other than what they were intended. For example you would not feed the grapes to the cattle, or hang them on your walls as decoration. These are examples of not maintaining the goodness of the fruit in reciprocity throughout the life of the branches. Jesus is the true vine but many bad things and neglect, misdirection, or lack of fruitfulness can happen to any given branch. So the rest of the passage explains in detail (you can read it yourself with newer eyes now) that God is continually dressing and pruning the results of all that grows from the true vine of Jesus. Jesus teaches how to best ensure that one will bear good fruit by abiding in him. Notice that the word "abide" is also an ongoing condition. It is the state of dwelling day to day for one's whole life. Jesus chose this word which one could say is again a bit of an odd word to talk about in a vineyard analogy because abiding would have specific meaning to the people of the time. Abiding requires an effort, a continual action of saying within in a compatible way. Jesus did not say, "Just by being a Christian well bingo! Your branch is securely attached to the vine and its fence no matter what." No indeed and in truth Jesus is saying the opposite. God is always dressing and pruning the branches from the vine. There is no "Christian job security." The best one can do is what Jesus instructs, which is the abiding within Jesus and his word. He warns that branches, that is to say, believers, will grow from the true vine, but if they do not abide they will be gathered up and cast into the fire. Remember, you are listening in on a conversation of teaching. Jesus is not "alluding to a later chapter of the Bible" (which is not yet in existence since he's still alive at the time of this conversation) about final judgment and so forth. Here Jesus is beginning to teach the priesthood that he has brought to humans as the New Covenant.
How do we know this for sure? Look at what he says toward the end of the paragraph about the vine, "In this is my Father glorified, that you may bear very much fruit, and become my disciples" (8). "Become" his disciples? Are they not that already by virtue of them being there with him. Ah. You see the point. Even though Jesus has said that they are cleansed already (and thus by staying true to them will personally achieve heaven) they are not yet his disciples, because they have not yet become the branches that bear the good fruit that glorifies God. Not glorifies Jesus: glorifies God the Father. Later Jesus expounds on his relationship with the disciples (to be) as he calls them his friends, and not his servants. Jesus explains again that all that he tells them comes from God. Jesus reminds them that he has chosen and appointed them.
I consider this passage one of the definitive passages that Jesus used to instruct the disciples about the one true Church, and early warning of the error of branches that grow from the true vine but do not bear good fruit. Remember, it is not enough to bear fruit. The fruit must be cleansed by God, and the fruit must abide in Jesus. "Stray" and "do your own thing" branches and fruit are liable to be cleansed, even to the point of pruning and casting into the fire, by God the vine dresser.
Many people read this passage, and the remaining part where Jesus assures that God will give whatever they ask if they abide in him, as a big built-in security blanket. I have observed this misunderstanding grow even the past fifty years that I've been living thus far. It is not a security blanket. If it was then Jesus would have called them "disciples" right on the spot instead of "friends," and he would not have gone into such detail of incredible importance that while Jesus is the true vine not all branches will succeed and pass muster with God. Jesus is speaking of the priesthood, not evangelizing in general. We know this because Jesus is specific when he does instruct about evangelizing AND because of the agricultural and structural orientation of this lesson. He emphasizes that GOD IS TO BE GLORIFIED. It is not a numbers game of converts. Jesus never promises that all or even most branches will succeed. Jesus uses the word "chosen" but also in the same sentence "appointed." He is being authoritative in the way that the first Christian priest, the true vine will be and must be as they prepare to become his disciples (as they are not yet, even though they are cleansed and full believers).
I hope this helps you in understanding, and may God bless all who seek to know and serve him.
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