A Radical New Mastery

What happens next on this journey to the Cross takes place indoors. It’s private. Because it is we must rely on the report of someone privy to the goings on. Once more John tells the story. It was, “Just before the Passover, Jesus knew that the time had come to leave this world to go to the Father. Having loved His dear companions, He continued to love them right to the end. It was suppertime.”

Somehow John has learned more about the thoughts of his Master. “Jesus knew,” he writes, “that the Father had put Him in complete charge of everything; that He came from God and was on His way back to God.”

Here He is. The “Lord of Life;” the “Light of Life;” “Love Himself,” on the Eve of Passover. Like its Lamb He will be a Deliverer. Not simply the Emancipator of a Household. A Race’s Liberator. He knows the “Most High God” has “put Him in charge of everything.” He is Supreme; King of Kings and Lord of Lord’s. He’s shared Heaven’s Throne with His Father before. He’s about to re-occupy it.

What does He do?

“(H)e got up from the supper table, set aside his robe, and put on an apron. Then he poured water into a basin and began to wash the feet of the disciples, drying them with his apron. … After he had finished washing their feet, he took his robe, put it back on, and went back to his place at the table.”

The Supreme Sovereign of the Universe has washed the feet of common men.

What does this mean?

His answer is pointed and unavoidable.

“(I)f I, the Master and Teacher, washed your feet, you must now wash each other's feet. I've laid down a pattern for you. What I've done, you do. … If you understand what I'm telling you, act like it—and live a blessed life.”

The life of a “God-favored” person is found in self-sacrifice and service. His Supremacy notwithstanding the Lord Jesus came “not to be served but to serve.” The scepter has been relinquished. He’s taken a towel. The throne is a basin. This is a New Command; played out on the Stage of the Master’s final hours. It will now be enacted in the lives of His followers. “Love one another,” He says. “In the same way I loved you, you love one another. This is how everyone will recognize that you are my disciples—when they see the love you have for each other.”

“Followers?” Yes! Men and women emerging not to be “served but to serve.” People living just as the Master lives. A new Kingdom! In “charge of everything.” Taking mastery by love; one heart at a time, “to the end.”

“All the preliminaries have been taken care of. The rule of God is now available to everyone. Review your plans for living and base your life on this remarkable new opportunity.” (Mk. 1:15)

Light

Shortly after Jesus spoke to the Greek Pilgrims about dying seeds; reckless love’s sacrifice of life “to have it forever, real and eternal,” He said something that troubled the crowd. “I, as I am lifted up from the earth, will attract everyone to me and gather them around me.”

Many years later John, one of the “Sons of Thunder,” was inspired by the Holy Spirit to write the Story of Jesus. Recalling these troubling words of Jesus he wrote, “He put it this way to show how He was going to be put to death.”

“Voices from the crowd answered, ‘We heard from God’s Law that the Messiah lasts forever. How can it be necessary, as you put it, that the Son of Man be lifted up? Who is this Son of Man?

The crowd was conflicted. They wanted this Man to be their Messiah. What He’d done in Bethany fanned the flames of excitement and anticipation in them. Sure the “donkey” ride wasn’t what some of them expected. But now, this talk about dying seeds, and love that lets go of life, and being “lifted up.” “Messiah?” “Son of Man?” They may have made the connection. The great Prophet Ezekiel, was called, by the Lord Himself, “Son of Man.” “Messiah,” is the “anointed,” the consummate “Servant” of God and Humanity.” Can this “Prophet,” from Galilee, who keeps talking about His destiny as the One who “has not come to be served but to serve,” who’s now talking about dying, be Him?

Do you want to know Pilgrim? Do you want an answer? Well, at least, He’ll tell you where to find it. “For a brief time still, the light is among you. Walk by the light you have so darkness

doesn't destroy you. If you walk in darkness, you don't know where you're going. As you have the light, believe in the light. Then the light will be within you, and shining through your lives. You'll be children of light.”

What? or Who? is this light?

John would later answer, “What came into existence was Life, and the Life was light to live by – ‘Life that made sense of human existence.’”

“Light reveals.” John’s initial Name for the Son-of-Man was “the Word.” A word reveals. Jesus reveals. He is “light to live by.” His life reveals everything we need to know about Life; Life with a capital “L.” “Life that makes sense of human existence.” Life which unravels its mysteries and contradictions. “Ahhhh!” Life; luminescent in its insistence, “that’s how it’s done!” “That’s our raison d’être;” “why we are;” “why we’re here and not somewhere else.”

To the questioning crowd that day Jesus insisted, “For a brief time still, the light – ‘I’ – am among you.”

“Walk in the light ‘My Life’ shines around and in you … Since you have ‘Me – the light’ believe in ‘The Light.’ Then ‘The Light’ will be within you, … shining through your lives. You’ll be children of light.”

This “Light,” is the very Man who will die. Still, “Son of Man,” – tho’ the Cosmic Seed laid in the ground – “recklessly” letting go of “life.” The very Man who will be “raised to life again,” “real and eternal,” “reproducing itself countless times over.”

“Follow Him! To the cross and beyond. You, enlightened, will know Who? you are … What? you’re about … When? you’re on … Where? you’re meant to be … How? to be all you’re meant to be …

When Myth Comes Alive

Jerusalem is a virtual circus now. Passover is a little more than 4 days off. The late arriving Pilgrims are clamoring for Services. Their currency needs to be changed. They need items the Sacrificial Laws require. Prices are being raised hourly and they know it. They protest vehemently. Comfortable accommodation has been fully occupied some time ago. Prices for what’s left, greedily raised, are exorbitant. More and more visitors are running out of options.

Among those travelers are some Greeks. They’d “come to worship at the Feast.” Likely converts to Judaism, they want to see Jesus. Could it be that they, too, have heard He could be the long anticipated Messiah?

When Jesus learns they are asking to see Him He is ecstatic! “Times up.” He says. “The time has come for the Son of Man to be glorified!”

What was there about inquisitive Greeks that excited Christ so?

For one thing the ancient prophets said that Messiah would bring “light to the Gentiles.” “’Land of Zebulun, land of Naphtali, road to the sea, over Jordan, Galilee of the Gentiles – crossroads for the nations – people sitting out their lives in the dark saw a huge light; Sitting in that dark, dark country of death, they watched the sun come up.’ This Isaiah-prophesied sermon,” wrote Matthew, “came to life in Galilee the moment Jesus started preaching.” (Matthew 4: 12 – 17)

In these final hours they are coming to Him; coming to the light; hoping that in Him will be the fulfillment of things they’d learned from the ancient Hebrew traditions. He is the “light” they are seeking. And He is thrilled at the prospect of unveiling the purpose which He’s about to fulfill.

Beyond this He knows the Greeks. He’s grown up in the hub of Commerce; where cultures intersect and intersperse. Greeks are curious folks. Later observations noted that the Athenians – citizens of the City that formed the center of their Society – “would spend their time in nothing but telling or hearing something new.” Unlike His Hebrew Brother, they listen. Their immersion in nature cults and the Mythology that grew among them prepared them to receive things Jesus taught; important truths the Rabbis and legalists of Israel rejected out of hand. For example the idea of a human becoming a god was common to Greek and Roman myth. Looking on these events as modern citizens of the 21^st Century World we can read into them modern insights. C.S. Lewis, for example, writes about glimpses of truth found in ancient mythology. “It is not accidental. In the sequence of night and day, in the annual death and rebirth of the crops, in the myths which these processes gave rise to … in the strong … feeling that man himself must undergo some sort of death if he would truly live, there is already a likeness permitted by God to that truth on which all depends.” Jesus recognizes that “likeness permitted by,” the Father. He know these Greek Seekers will understand it. Their Fertility Rites and Myths surrounding the Cycles of Vegetations have prepared them for that “truth on which it all depends.” To now be given the opportunity to explain it to them energized Him. “Listen carefully,” He said. “Unless a grain of wheat is buried in the ground, dead to the world, it is never any more than a grain of wheat. But if it is buried it sprouts and reproduces itself many times over.”

“It is not accidental!” Creation reveals that death can multiply life. Nature Myths feature dying gods. When the One and Only God, living here as one of us; lays down infinite life; and is buried, the Myth springs to Life in that Divine Act. The Living, Eternal God, Creator and Lord of Life Himself, “reproduces (Himself) many times over.” As many times as mortals embrace Him and the immortality He, “the Resurrection and the Life,” offers. The “dying God” brings Life that never ends to a death bound race.

The deeper root of all of this, for us, is in Jesus next words, “In the same way, anyone who holds on to life just as it is destroys that life. But if you let it go, reckless in your love, you’ll have it forever, real and eternal.”

RECKLESS ABANDON TO LIFE AS THE LORD OF LIFE LIVES IT … THE WAY ON WHICH MYTH IS ILLUMINATED AND COMES ALIVE!