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John 21:20–25 - Lectionary for St. John, Apostle and Evangelist

12/29/2020

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12/29/20
Many churches throughout the world use a Bible reading schedule called a "lectionary." It's just a fancy word meaning "selected readings." Posts like this reflect on the readings for an upcoming Sunday or other Church holiday, as found in the historic one-year lectionary.

In liturgical artwork the apostle John is normally pictured as a very young man. There's adequate reason to think this is correct, since we have credible witnesses who speak of his living in Ephesus in the late 90s or even into the early second century. This would mean he lived around seventy years after the resurrection. That's a long time. He would have to be pretty young when walking around with Jesus.

John is also pictured as being quite old when he wrote the Gospel, the Epistles, and the Apocalypse. This has led many to attempt an identification of a different author, a bishop or elder, who is responsible for those writings. I won't try to get into that debate just now. It isn't the point of the post. If anyone wants to study it and reach an informed opinion, have at it.

John 21:22-23 suggests that when he wrote the Gospel, John was older than most people. He recalls that Peter had asked about John's future demise. Jesus said that it didn't matter. If John was to remain until the Lord's coming, it would be fine. Rather, Jesus told Peter to follow him. This led some people to suggest that John would not die.

They really would not have made that suggestion unless John was outliving a lot of people. We get the idea from the passage in John 21 that John is saying he is mortal, just like the other apostles, and that Jesus had simply not called him home yet. This isn't the kind of statement we would expect from an apostle who was 25 when Jesus said this to him and who is now 45 years old writing a Gospel. It sounds more like something that a man in his sixties, seventies, or even eighties would say. 

Regardless of the age of John, what do we learn from this passage of the Gospel? Jesus lovingly calls his disciples to follow him. He is able to keep them, to guard them wherever they go, whether they are going to death at a young age due to persecution or whether they are going to die at a very advanced age of natural causes. He can keep his people no matter what. We can trust that the Lord will keep us as well. Jesus can do whatever he sets out to do. This is the great good news of the Gospel. It's the lesson we take with us from John, the apostle and evangelist.

If this brief meditation was helpful to you, I hope you will check out the other materials on our website at www.WittenbergCoMo.com and consider supporting us.

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1 John 1:1—2:2 - Lectionary for St. John, Apostle and Evangelist

12/28/2020

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12/28/20
Many churches throughout the world use a Bible reading schedule called a "lectionary." It's just a fancy word meaning "selected readings." Posts like this reflect on the readings for an upcoming Sunday or other Church holiday, as found in the historic one-year lectionary.

We often use John 1:1-2:2 to speak vividly about the sensory evidence of the Christian faith. John talks boldly about the content of his witness - what we have heard, seen, and handled. The years the apostles spent with Jesus were full of real, sensory experience. They got sore feet and legs with Jesus walking up from Jericho to Jerusalem. They got cold on those windy cold days. We don't have the Bible verse that says it, but Jesus, completely human, shivered and sweated.

There's no doubt about that. However, what I want to focus on today is his little, unassuming statement. We proclaim it to you. 

The Gospel is passed on through eyewitnesses. This is the heart and center of the idea of Christian tradition. Tradition, after all, means literally passing something on. Trading it. God's majesty is dwelling in God the Son, Jesus. Jesus shows his majesty and glory to the apostles through what he says and does. The apostles then show others. It's apostolic tradition. One of the ways they establish this tradition is through the written word, though there are hints throughout the New Testament of sayings and acts of Jesus which didn't end up in the written Gospels. 

What is the tradition John is passing on to us here? It is that Jesus, the living Word of God, the one who John could hear, see, and touch, is the one who forgives our sins.

Which sins are those? All the sins we confess, in fact, all the sins we have, period. Jesus is the one who is able to rescue us from every sin. He's the propitiation for our sins. He's the propitiation for the sins of the whole world. 

Why is the tradition so important? It reminds us that we didn't make up the savior. The Christian faith is not of our own devising. It isn't a cleverly invented plan by which people can be made to toe the line and behave themselves. It is an eternal plan of God, delivered through the prophets and apostles, codified for us by eyewitnesses to the events. We can trust that it is true. The witnesses who delivered it to us are reliable.

What we receive, then, we pass on to others. Christ has come to redeem us from sin! He is the savior, not just for us, but for all sinners everywhere. His desire is that all should repent, believe, and know the mercy of God.

If this brief meditation was helpful to you, I hope you will check out the other materials on our website at www.WittenbergCoMo.com and consider supporting us.

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Psalm 11 - Lectionary for St. John, Apostle and Evangelist

12/27/2020

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12/27/20
Many churches throughout the world use a Bible reading schedule called a "lectionary." It's just a fancy word meaning "selected readings." Posts like this reflect on the readings for an upcoming Sunday or other Church holiday, as found in the historic one-year lectionary.

Psalm 11:3 asks what the righteous can do if the foundations are destroyed? Verses 1-2 describe the wicked as shooting at the righteous, but shooting in the dark. These ideas complement each other quite well. Imagine being under fire by someone who can't see you. You might be shot. It could be highly dangerous. Now imagine being under fire by someone who can't see you, while you are inside a fortified place, behind a solid rock wall. The archer who can't see you will never be able to hit you. You have shelter which the weapons can't penetrate. Chances of injury are minimal.

These foundations, the solid rock wall, are the walls of God's holy temple, where he lives.The only way the enemy can launch an effective attack against God's people is by destroying God's temple, knocking down God's throne, disrupting him where he is seated. In short, God is not going to let it happen.

The foundation of the Church is Christ, the Rock of salvation, who has revealed God's will in these last days. It is the salvation by grace through faith, recognizing that he has purchased that salvation through his blood, upon which we stand. My simple question, then, is this. Why do Christians so often try to destroy the foundation? Why do we neglect our salvation? Why do we consider the truth of Scripture and the understanding of salvation as it has always been held as if it is unimportant? This should never be so. We destroy the foundation upon which we are built in Christ. There's no excuse for this.

As we live out the Christian life, then, we commit to building our lives on the foundation of Jesus. He is the solid rock upon which we stand. There is none other.

If this brief meditation was helpful to you, I hope you will check out the other materials on our website at www.WittenbergCoMo.com and consider supporting us.

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Revelation 1:1–6 - Lectionary for St. John, Apostle and Evangelist

12/26/2020

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12/26/20
Many churches throughout the world use a Bible reading schedule called a "lectionary." It's just a fancy word meaning "selected readings." Posts like this reflect on the readings for an upcoming Sunday or other Church holiday, as found in the historic one-year lectionary.

Our first reading for the commemoration of St. John, Apostle and Evangelist, is from Revelation chapter 1. We can almost picture the elderly, very dignified and well respected apostle sitting at his writing desk penning a letter to the churches. There's mention of seven churches and seven spirits - seven being a signifier of completion. The text even says that this content was given to John by an angelic messenger.

We might like to be in John's position. Then again, we recognize that he was in exile in Patmos at the time of composition. He was removed from home, church, and any family he had in Ephesus so as to be transported forcibly to a prison island. Different historians assess the conditions differently. Regardless, you don't end up as a prisoner on Patmos willingly, and it is not a tropicl island vacation. 

The picture we can develop of the apostle, though, is a picture of someone who is committed to Christ and His kingdom, and who wants to continue bringing God's word in clarity to others. Even in a time of trial and difficulty, the Lord has spoken and brought His grace to our world.

John identifies himself as someone who has been loved, freed from sin, and brought into a kingdom of God, to whom all glory and dominion belong. Through this letter we who read it are identified exactly the same way. We may have differences, but all are being gathered together in one in Christ. 

Whether we are in Patmos or Pittsburgh, whether we are in prison or free, whether we are old or young, we can know that God in Christ has loved us and appointed us to live and work in His kingdom for the good of the world. We are, then, like John.

If this brief meditation was helpful to you, I hope you will check out the other materials on our website at www.WittenbergCoMo.com and consider supporting us.

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    About Throwing Inkwells

    When Martin Luther was dealing with struggles in his life he once saw what appeared to be an angelic being. Not trusting that he was going to be informed by someone other than the God revealed in Scripture, he took the appearance to be untrustworthy and hurled his inkwell at it. The chipped place in the plaster wall is still visible at the Wartburg Castle, though apparently the ink stain on the wall has been refreshed periodically by the caretaker.

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