who are you again?

Thursday 

in the 

Second Week of Easter

April 23rd

READING: John 3: 31-36

The one who comes from above is above all; the one who is of the earth belongs to the earth and speaks about earthly things. The one who comes from heaven is above all. He testifies to what he has seen and heard, yet no one accepts his testimony. Whoever has accepted his testimony has certified this, that God is true. He whom God has sent speaks the words of God, for he gives the Spirit without measure. The Father loves the Son and has placed all things in his hands. Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life; whoever disobeys the Son will not see life, but must endure God’s wrath.

REFLECTION

Jesus sets up a contrast between authentic witness and demonic imitation. The most peculiar aspect of Jesus’ depiction of integrity is the hint (or stronger) “no one accepts his testimony.” Authentic witness to the gospel may on occasions come from corridors of power, but the litmus test will always be whether the proclamation and behaviour point to the Lordship of one who embodies compassion (Matt. 9:36), welcomes the outsider (Luke 4:17-19), prioritizes the  disadvantaged (Mark 5:25–34). Neon-lit faith, “look at me faith” that is a demonic parody of the faith in Jesus Christ can declare, as President Trump’s spiritual advisor Paula White once did, that “Anyone who tells you to deny your self is from Satan,”[1] without noticing that the saying is a complete reversal of the words of Jesus.

The onus is on us to be as aware as we possibly can be of the life-habits and teachings of Jesus, as revealed through the texts of our faith. Is a given statement or action consistent with the words and teachings of the one we call Lord? We are challenged to be immersed in those words and teachings to the extent that we can have some recognition of the duplicity of those who call “Lord, Lord,” but to whom Jesus replies, “Sorry, bro, sorry sis, who are you again?” (see Matt. 7:21-23, c.f. Luke 6: 46-49).

Jesus goes on to speak some stern words foreshadowing judgement: “whoever disobeys the Son will not see life, but must endure God’s wrath.” If there are circles of dubious Christianity that champion the cause of the rich and powerful, circles of Christianity that remove a word of judgement from the narratives of faith are equally dismantling “the words of God,” (John 31:34), are equally duplicitous. John refers to the wrath of God (John 3:36), as most of the New Testament writers do. While I am unconvinced that this is speech about some enduring, eternal hell fire (Psalm 137, for one, seems to make eternal separation from God something of a contradiction, but quiz me on this another time) nor do I think divine judgement is a slap over the hands with soggy fairy floss.

Jesus, in our passage, is telling us to keep on evaluating the integrity of our witness if we are to claim to be his followers. And where we fall short (I do, perhaps you do too) we need to do a bit of sorry saying. 

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[1] Paula White, in an address a women's convention in Orlando, October 31^st 2007.