I have overcome the world

  The 16^th chapter of John has had me thinking a lot.  It has been hard for me to go on.  There are so many things to understand here.  It begins by Jesus telling his close disciples “All this I have told you so that you will not go astray.”  And it ends with him affirming them with  “I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.”

  To say that I have been involved in an ongoing spiritual struggle is apparent to many.  It is an understatement to me.  I really want to know my God and his power.  I want to understand his plan and the way he works in the lives of those about me.  I want to know that today he cares and uses people like me and still has the same plan and attitude that he had when he was talking to these people just before his death.

  If all of this is true, if all of this is still God, how can we go on ignoring it.  A while back, I had a person I care about tell me that religion should be kept to the recesses of a person’s life like private parts should be covered and used appropriately.  Now that is a little less ugly than the way it was said to me, but it is the gist of the conversation.

  Jesus was a real guy in a real world who lived a very real day to day life.  People –the religious leaders especially- hated his reality.  Frankly, they wanted Jesus to “put it away” too.  You see they took their ‘religion’ out when it was appropriate.  And if they wanted to behave sinfully, they just ‘kept it in perspective.’  Their hearts were black and Jesus accused them of being repulsive, but not for their religious observance.  At one point he said “You should have done that stuff, but you should have honored the weightier matters of truth and justice and mercy.”

  Jesus was not telling them to let their hair down and get real with filthy language, immoral actions and unethical pursuits.  They were doing that and he was saying a resounding “NO!”  They hated him for it.  He wasn’t playing their game.  He lived a real life.  He understood the real issues.  He was crucified.  Even that was the plan for his life.

  Jesus told them to love.  Love was the command.  But he didn’t stand in the street and scream out “love, love,” and ignore the real issues around him of bondage to sinful practice.  He forgave the prostitutes.  He forgave the thievery of the tax collectors and public officials.  He accepted the repentance of the soldiers.  Those lives were changed.

  He warned Peter of his coming temptation.  The people would say “Your speech betrays you; you are a follower of Jesus.”  And Peter would curse to show them he wasn’t.  Then he would run away and cry and know what he had done.  The problem is that today, we smugly acknowledge our sin as a great accomplishment instead of hiding in anguish at what we have done.  We have lost our ability to be sensitive to sin and to repent from the heart.  Jesus did forgive and he does forgive.  But today few people repent even when they ask for forgiveness.  When sin brings corruption of those things about us, we still can’t acknowledge the wrongness of sin.  And we hate those whose lives are open and pure, or, at the least, think they are pitiful and inferior. 

  Jesus said “Love.”  Part of love is to see the truth, to deal with the truth, to bring about a change for the good.  Love does not keep a record of wrong, but it does not ignore the wrong either.  If we really care about redemption, if we truly love others in a way that works for restoration, we will not be appreciated.  Jesus told his followers that the world would think they were doing God a great service by ridding the environment of them.  He said, “They have to hate you, because they hate me.  They have to.”

  He ended the discussion by telling them, “You will leave me all alone. Yet I am not alone, for my Father is with me.  I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.”

  I want to know him.  I’m not too crazy about the fact that people I care about will not understand or appreciate who I am or who I am becoming.  The more Jesus loved, the less they understood it as love.  His statement about taking heart and overcoming the world came shortly before his crucifixion.  It was no less true.