Bible Study Notes - The Community Faces Pain and Joy

The Community Faces Pain and Joy

John 13:21-30; 16:16-24; 20:11-16

Saturday Afternoon Following the Crucifixion

Imagine that you are an invisible witness in the hotel suite occupied by the eleven apostles on the day following the crucifixion.  Chances are you would witness an incredible about of grief, disappointment, anger, hopeless and regret.  All the languages of the world fail to define the utter confusion, extreme pain and overall bewilderment that the apostles share.  Conceivably, one of them ask, “How could we have been so foolish?”  We gave up everything that we owned to join this movement because we thought that Jesus of Nazareth would launch the final resistance to Roman imperialism and restore the former glory of Israel as in the days of David and Solomon.  Surely, a man who performed the heretofore unseen miracles that he did could and would have used that power to benefit our nation, in fact his own nation, as he was a Jew just like us?  Another one might have bemoaned the brutality of Jesus’ death and crucifixion as he never harmed anyone but actually helped countless hurting people.  Someone else might ask about the indifference of the crowd to Jesus’ pain and suffering. In response, someone else would remind the group of their wholesale denial and abandonment of Jesus at the very point of his deepest need.  All would think about Judas Iscariot’s betrayal but none would speak it aloud.  For hours, their group conversation  would continue to distract the disciples from the deep sense of loss and the indefinable sorrow that they felt.

Biblical Background

The collective grief and pain of the disciples blind them to seeing the purpose of Jesus’ teachings and actions.  As they nurse their emotional and spiritual pain, they fail to recall anything that He taught them during the three and half years of His public ministry.  During that time, He specifically tutors them about the nature, principles and purposes of the kingdom of God which He came to establish on the earth.  Imprisoned by their self-seeking ambitions and self-centered fears about the fate of Israel, they do not comprehend these lessons.  Instead, they harbor grand ideas about the forthcoming rebellion and the lofty positions of power that they will hold upon its successful conclusion. 

The second passage of today’s scriptures records the disciples’ ignorance concerning the Lord’s purposes.  Approximately forty-eight hours previous to their sorrowful Saturday afternoon, He once again foretold His death, crucifixion and ultimate return to the Heavenly Father.  He told them that He would be taken away.  Further, He states clearly that they would weep and mourn while the world rejoices.  He prophesies that they will experience tremendous grief and pain.  Yet, He also encourages them with the assurance that their pain would possess an eternal purpose; their laments will become laughter; and their hopelessness will yield to exuberance.

Using the analogy of childbirth, Jesus defines the immediate time as one of anguish.  Like a mother in labor, they will hurt fiercely as they experience the events of the next day.  Also, similar to a mother who is told of the delivery of a healthy baby, their pain will dissipate as they rejoice over the outcome of their heartache.  However, they totally miss the value of this metaphor and its enduring lesson.  They remain focused upon their predetermined ideas about the ministry and mission of Jesus of Nazareth.  Moreover, their communal grief on this Saturday afternoon impedes their recollection of this promise that God will transform their grief into joy.

The Purpose of Pain

“Pain is the touchstone of all spiritual progress.”  In many ways, it  is life’s most formidable teacher.  Most people do not change anything about themselves until the pain reaches an unbearable range.  Even communities do not seek change and growth until the pain and disillusionment of decline, loss of status and possibility of death motivates them to consider alternative ways of conducting business.  In today’s lesson, we observe a community utilizing its pain to heal and grow.  We see how the disciples define the internal source of their collective pain.  We watch them wade through the marsh of confusion to discover methods for helping each other find relief from pain and a new joy.  Their example assists us in finding ways of supporting others in pain and helping them find joy upon discovering the purpose of their pain.

Bible Study Notes - The Community Faces Pain and Joy - Part II

The Community Faces Pain and Joy

John 13:21-30; 16:16-24; 20:11-16 – Part II

A. John 13:21-30 – The Call to Serve

Amazingly, John’s account of the Lord’s actions on the night that He was betrayed records Him actually giving bread to the one would give Him over the religious rulers and Roman authorities.  Bread symbolizes provision for physical sustenance and spiritual well-being.  How could the Lord offer these sacred elements of life to the person who would scheme to take His life?  Why did not He just simply allow Judas Iscariot to execute His plan?  After the prediction of the denial and the intense questioning amongst the disciples about who would commit the dastardly deed, the Lord feeds Judas by dipping the bread into the bowl and giving it to him.  In so doing, Jesus in the midst of His bleakest hour reminds us of His eternal mission to serve.

For all intents and purposes, the life of Christian discipleship is a call to serve.  We fulfill “The Great Commandment” of loving Almighty God with our whole mind, heart, soul and strength and loving our neighbor as ourselves by serving humankind.  Service is as it does not as it says.  James reminds us that faith without works is dead.  We demonstrate our love for God by participating directly and concretely in meeting the embodied needs of humankind.  We do so in gratitude for the service that the Lord performed in the atoning sacrifice and gift of His sinless life in order to redeem us.  Our appreciation for the Lord’s humility, grace and redeeming love motivates us to serve others in ways that will lead them to an acknowledgement of Christ.

Furthermore, our gratitude directs us to divest ourselves of self-centered fears and self-seeking motives.  We cease living with the primary motive of securing ourselves and the persons closest to us with financial, material and social well-being.  Practically speaking, we loose interest in the mono-dimensional goal of gaining the happy life, hoping that it will shield us from the daily challenges and adversities which the average person faces.  In spite of ourselves, we replace our selfishness with the genuine desire to be a vessel of the Lord to improve the lives of others.  We begin to realize that we shall receive everything that we need as we busy ourselves with service. 

Lest we glorify the mission of service, let us return to the drama of the passage and examine exactly whom the Lord Jesus Christ serves.  He serves Judas Iscariot, the eternal betrayer of the perfect Savior and Lord of humankind.  Driven by greed, Judas helped himself to the treasury as he saw fit.  Propelled by self-righteousness, Judas disdains the lavish gift of the woman who anoints the Lord’s head with perfume.  Compelled by ambition, Judas commits his act of betrayal believing misguidedly that he would in turn coerce Jesus to commence the final rebellion and revolution against the oppressive Roman government.  Harboring an illusion of becoming the equivalent of the Secretary of the Treasury or some equally prestigious position, Judas convinces himself that the betrayal will force Jesus to utilize His divine power to fight for Israel and restore the nation to its former glory as in the days of David and Solomon.  Nonetheless, this is the man whom Jesus serves.

The evangelist desires that we understand that all of the people whom we serve will not appreciate us or our work.  Christianity may hold some allure because it may further their selfish ambitions.  It may also prove to be a great façade to their predetermined goals.  Yet, we are called to serve even these kinds of people.  Doubtless, it is easy to serve people who are grateful, passive and loving.  It is most difficult to serve people who steadfastly maintain a prideful bliss of ignorance.  It helps to recall that we, like Judas, other similarly situated persons required the Lord’s service of redemption.

It is hard to think of serving someone as repulsive as Judas.  But, that is what the Lord did.  He did not give the bread to the “Beloved Disciple” who been reclining on the Lord’s lap.  He did not give the elements to Simon Peter who impulsivity the Lord both restrained and celebrated.  He did not give the bread to James, the other son of Zebedee who along with his brother had asked earlier for one of the two seats of honor in the forthcoming kingdom.  In total, all of the disciples possessed similar self-centered principles as Judas Iscariot.  All of them stood in line for candidacy to his treacherous position.  Yet, the Lord specifically serves Judas on that fateful night so that the others would retrospectively recall this indescribable act of love and service.

More starkly, we do not wish to admit that we are Judas.  Many of us come to the Lord with ulterior motives.  We seek earthly and temporal blessings that moths and dust corrupt and thieves break in and steal.  We desire a heavenly Santa Claus who gives Christmas presents to us each day.  We do not yearn to make Him the Lord of our lives.  We do not wish to die daily to the selfishness that plagues us.  As we fill our calendars with so many commitments that do not serve Him and give our financial resources to so many causes that do not glorify Him, we commit a daily act of betrayal that equates with Judas’ deed over the course of a lifetime.

Still, today’s lesson combines this prickly passage with the following resurrection account.  The evangelist wants us to know that rebirth can follow any act of betrayal that yields genuine forgiveness and repentance.  All of the other disciples desert the Lord in the hour of His deepest need for human companionship and support.  Ultimately, they are no better than Judas as their cowardice acquiesces the crucifixion. At the dinner table that night were twenty-six hands.  There twenty-two hands of denial.  Judas Iscariot has two hands of betrayal that would hold thirty pieces of silver representative of the number of selfish motives that abided in his mind and heart.  But, thank the Heavenly Father that there were also two hands of salvation!  Those hands would serve humankind with the provision of eternal life.

Bible Study Notes - The Community Faces Pain and Joy - Part III

The Community Faces Pain and Joy

John 13:21-30; 16:16-24; 20:11-16 – Part III

John  20:11-16 – The Power of a Personal Resurrection Experience

Each of the resurrection accounts is eternally fascinating because of the different details that each of the four evangelists chooses to include.  John  records an exciting sprinting contest between Peter and the beloved disciple.  The latter who was years younger outruns Peter and arrives at the tomb first.  He instantly believes in the resurrection account that the woman had given earlier.  Peter leaves the tomb in amazement but not necessarily with unrelenting faith.  These two leave the scene and return to their homes.  In contrast, Mary Magdalene remains outside of the empty tomb; she stands there crying.  As she grieves, she bends down and looks again into the tomb.  She sees two angels seated at the head and foot of where Jesus had lain.  They ask her, “Woman, why are you crying?”  She responds by detailing the depth of her pain and plausibly stating her bewilderment as to how she will live without her Lord.  Mary’s personal grief represents that of the community of seventy plus persons who had signed up as foot soldiers to the Jesus of Nazareth movement.  They willingly gave up their former lives to follow Him as He taught with authority, healed with divine and miraculous power and preached the good news of the kingdom of God to the poor.  Never before had the downtrodden people been shown such gracious consideration.  Even the hardened religious leaders acknowledged that God sanctioned this movement.  But it all came to a crashing, inexplicable and hopeless end over the course of the weekend.  Being irrevocably flabbergasted, Mary and her compatriots had no idea how they would pick up the pieces and journey forward without Jesus.

Then, incredibly, Mary hears her name.  Looking at a man whom she mistakes for the gardener, Mary’s deep grief and flowing tears blinds her to fact that she is in the presence of the risen Lord.  Wholly bereaved, she pleads for the return of Jesus’ body.  Upon hearing her name, Mary realizes that the man is the Lord Jesus.  She yells “Rabboni!”  Instantaneously, her grief turns to joy as she knows that death did not conquer her Lord.  He lives eternally.  Like a new mother who exalts over the new life of her baby, Mary delights over the new life that the Lord offers to those who follow and believe in Him.  It is after He calls her by name that she accepts that He is alive.  Attempting to hold on to Him and never loose Him again, Mary grabs the Lord.  He charges her to let Him go and return to the disciples with the good news of His resurrection from the dead.  Obediently, Mary goes to the disciples with the news, “I have seen the Lord!” 

Mary’s action demonstrates the difference that one genuine person of faith can make in the midst of the anguish and despair of pain and loss.  One person who truly believes in the power of the resurrection can positively affect an entire community who may fall prey to the temptation of believing that all is loss permanently.  I imagine she honors those feelings by sharing in their initial sorrow and bereavement.  She probably shares some of her disappointment and confusion.  Nonetheless, she encourages them with the truth and good news of her direct revelation and relationship with the risen Lord. 

Many of us know the depth of pain and loss.  The losses of a child or spouse are the two greatest losses in life.  Natural disasters like Hurricane Katrina or a tsunami cause the loss of people’s entire material possessions.  A cancer diagnosis could mean the loss of quality of life or even life itself.  A market downturn culminating in a recession inevitably means the loss of financial stability and well-being for many people.  A recent mortgage crisis inn which questionable loans were made to persons who were not yet ready for them resulted in the foreclosures of millions of home and the loss of familial security for countless citizens.  In all of these bleak and regrettable scenarios, people and communities preserve and find new life because someone like Mary emerges within the crisis.  That person shares the good news of the resurrection and assures hurting people that God will transform their pain and loss toward an unimaginable divine and eternal purpose.

Concluding Reflections

In today’s lesson, we consider three penetrating passages of scripture.  The first records John’s version of “The Last Supper” in which the Lord rises from the table and washes the disciples’ feet in the middle of a meal.  In so doing, He teaches them the significance of humility, service and love.  This triad of interrelated characteristics also comprises practical means for sharing God’s love with people who are hurting.  Second, the Lord teaches the disciples about the imminent grief and despair that they will soon feel.  Yet, He reassures them that it will not last permanently but will change to joy.  Moreover, because the world did not give them the forthcoming joy, the world will not be able to take it away.  Third, John uniquely records a resurrection account that prominently features Mary Magdalene who instantly overcomes her pain and grief upon beholding the risen Lord.  Combined, these passages remind us that there is always a divine purpose to our pain.  We need not fret as those persons who have no hope.  Instead, we submit our loss, adversity, and heartache to God so that He may mysteriously transform us as He changes it. 

Essentially, pain is the most practical means for personal growth and communal transformation.  However, we must always recall the good news Easter on a daily basis.  No matter how dismal and despairing life becomes, God in the act of the resurrection reminds us that new life is always the outcome.

Three Personal Objectives

• Evaluate the worth of the principle, “Pain is the touchstone of all spiritual progress.”
• Analyze the concept whether pain always has a purpose.
• Define ways in which individuals and communities define and resolve their pain.  Consider the resurrection as a means with which to understand and utilize pain.

Prayer

Our risen Lord, we thank You for Your obedience to the will of the Father.  We are grateful that You stripped Yourself of Your heavenly glory and came to earth as an atoning sacrifice for our sins.  We thank You that Your faithfulness culminated in the resurrection.  Help us, by the power and might of the Holy Spirit, to recall this gift of abundant and eternal life as we experience pain, grief and loss.  Remind us to look to You for resurrection.  In the name of the Father and the Holy Spirit who live and reign with You, Lord Jesus, forevermore.  Amen.