A Fresh Perspective - 08/29/08
In John 6 after Jesus performs the "sign" of feeding the multitude by multiplying the bread and fish the people began to say: "Surely this is the Prophet who is to come into the world." Then it reads: "Jesus, knowing that they intended to come and make him king, withdrew again to a mountain to pray" (6:15). This is John's equivalent to the temptation narrative in the Synoptic Gospels. In Matthew and Luke after Jesus resists the temptation to be ruler of the world Satan withdraws. In John after Jesus resists the pressure of the crowd to make him king he withdraws.
In one sense the crowd is right. Jesus is indeed the end-time Prophet sent to proclaim God's kingdom and make available God's salvation. But in no sense would Jesus allow the people to determine his role and function. Jesus resists being king on the people's terms.
John's Gospel has a highly developed Christology where Jesus is clearly presented as divine, and yet he is also pictured as subordinate and submissive to the Father.
John describes Jesus and the Father as one in mind and purpose. Jesus and the Father have an intimate, special relationship. Jesus, as God's unique (monogenes) Son, represents the Father and carries out God's will with the full authority of the Father. To respond to Jesus, the Son, is to respond to God, the Father. The Son as God's agent of redemption bestows life, judges, and reveals the glory of God. God's self-revelation is delegated to the Son so that to be in the presence of Jesus is to be in the presence of God.
And yet Jesus does not pursue his own glory, but the glory and honor of the Father. Jesus never seeks worship. In his conversation with the woman of Samaria he says that true worshipers worship the Father in spirit and in truth (4:23). They do not worship the Son; they worship the Father. They do not worship "the Word made flesh"; they worship God who sent the Word into the world.
When Thomas touches the risen Christ he proclaims, "My Lord and my God" (20:28) in a spirit of worship, but never does Jesus commend worship of himself.
Yet what have we done in the church? We have made worshiping Jesus the most important thing. Evangelical theologian Dallas Willard laments: "Jesus as the actual teacher of his people has disappeared from the mental horizon of our faith. In that capacity he is not part of how we ‘do' our Christianity today."
The goal of Christian faith is not to worship Jesus, but rather, to follow Jesus—to be like Jesus. Jesus says to his disciples, "Love one another as I have loved you." That is the goal of discipleship. Unfortunately many of us have focused more on worshiping the person of Jesus than practicing the ethics of Jesus. Willard contends (and I agree) that the root of the human problem is the character of the inner life. The solution to that problem is not praising Jesus; it is learning from Jesus how to think and live in loving, redemptive ways.
I apologize to anyone who came to the Coffeetree Cafe on Wednesday (12:00) and couldn't fine me. I had forgotten about an out-of-town commitment last week. I will be there this week.