A look at the gaps in the lectionary.
This week: the gap between Lent 3A and 4A
The text: John 4:43-8
This week, we get another big gap in the lectionary. Over three chapters worth. Too much to dig into. So, quick summary.
Chapter 4 has Jesus passing through Samaria (the woman at the well) and ends with Jesus returning to Galilee to have someone begging for a healing. In this case, an official’s son.
Chapter 5
Jesus heads to Jerusalem and heals on the Sabbath (rebellious/Sabbath teaching). He then teaches about the purpose of the teaching and the relationship between the Father and the people. Then he talks about witnesses to his place in this.
Chapter 6
Feeding of the multitudes. Then Jesus scares the disciples by walking on water. The next day, the crowds realize that Jesus and the disciples are gone, so they go looking. And this is where it gets crazy.
They cross over the sea, find Jesus, and Jesus calls them all out. He says that they are following him, not because of what Jesus is called to do (transform the world), but because they like the magic tricks. And that they benefit from them. And this is the sticking point for Jesus. It’s a two-fer of wrongness. They’re doing it for the wrong reasons andthe reason they’re doing it is wrong.
This, unsurprisingly, gets the people a bit cheezed. And I honestly don’t think I’ve ever heard a preacher take this part of the story seriously. Jesus isn’t just hiding his power or challenging Pharisees. At this point, he’s calling out everybody. And saying you’re in it for selfishness.
And honestly, how is this not people showing up to church in hopes of getting into heaven or in hopes of Jesus fixing their car or curing cancer? Jesus is directly confronting the desire to gain from Jesus’s miracle-making. And our hanging around the church in hopes of getting some of that magic? Well…sounds shady.
A bit more about 6
Jesus talks about coming from heaven, bread of life, and all that. Stuff he said to Nicodemus (apparently?) in chapter 3. Now to the crowds. Crowds that he seems to be creating antagonism with.
Then disciples speak up and tell Jesus this seems difficult. Like, how are we supposed to do this? And Jesus doesn’t seem to pick up the gauntlet. He’s not changing his mind.
And chapter 6 ends with crowds and disciples leaving Jesus. This is intense stuff! And nothing like the happy-clappy we often get. And also not fire-and-brimstone.
Today’s hard-hearted preacher might like insulting the people to “be like Jesus,” but are they doing it to encourage the selflessness of following Christ to the cross? Or is it more obedience to “traditional teaching?”
Chapter 7
Now we hear about the active plot to kill Jesus. And it starts after Jesus pushes his followers and questions their motives.
Then Jesus is heading to the Temple again for the Festival of the Booths. His brothers try to stop him, but he goes anyway. And there, he teaches. Note:
- People are astonished because they suppose he is self-taught.
- They wonder if he is Messiah.
- The leaders want to arrest him.
- There is further confusion about him.
- Nicodemus defends him.
Chapter 8
This chapter begins with the famous story of the woman caught in adultery. A story that experts aren’t sure where it is supposed to go. They settled on this spot long ago, but it doesn’t appear to be original.
Then we seem to have a group of teachings, seemingly in the same spot (the Temple).
- I am the light of the world.
- Jesus foretells his death.
- He talks about “true” discipleship.
- Then a dispute about authority.
Chapter 8 ends in a less-than glorious dispute with the Judean leadership. They argue that he is breaking tradition and Jesus is arguing that they are.
I can’t help but think about this as an example of the No True Scotsman fallacy. Being on Team Jesus, we’re led to believe he’s in the right here. And his opponents have already shown their true colors. But, in that sense, it feels really relevant, given modern politics.
Heading into Chapter 9
As we’ll get another long story this week about the man born blind, this backstory about the existing plot to kill Jesus by the Judean leaders is obviously important.
But I also think that the frustration by Jesus and with Jesus is also in the air. That people who want to follow him are frustrated that he is willing to let them walk away; that he seems to be driving them away over a little selfishness.
For many of us who subscribe to a Big-Tent Christianity, the idea that some don’t seem “good enough” to follow or that they don’t seem to have the right beliefs is troubling.
But I might contend: only troubling in the abstract.
Jesus doesn’t seem to suggest they shouldn’t follow him. He’s saying they should follow him for the right reason. And selfish gain isn’t the right reason.
Lent
We get these stories in Lent, when we sacrifice and service and learning are key to the way things work. But it also is when we are keenly aware of the cross.
The cross is where Jesus is marching to die.
And his followers are following him there.
Eventually, they too will die. By the cross.
This, of course, is the Good Friday sermon more than the Lent 4 sermon. But it certainly informs this sensation of how divided we can be around Jesus. Especially when the easy response is to say that Jesus pushes people away. Rather than acknowledge that the reason he’s the narrow gate is because we don’t want to die.
This challenge that Jesus offers his followers is that they get to join him. Not to gain anything, but to lose everything for the sake of the world.
And I think virtually every person of faith of the last two thousand years have tried hard to find another way to build the Kin-dom. One that doesn’t require sacrifice and change. And instead allows them to die happy and rich.