Sunday 21 April 2013

Background

The Feast of Dedication was an eight-day festival during whichJewish families lit up their houses and synagogues to commemoratethe re-consecration of the temple in Jerusalem in 165BC. Light anddark are classic themes for John's Gospel and here it links thefestival to an occasion when people failed to see the truth aboutJesus.

The picture this passage conjures up is of Jesus taking a strolland being mobbed by a group desperate to ask him the one thing ontheir minds: when are you going to stop messing about and make itclear that you are Messiah.

Jesus answer was that his whole life and ministry were making itclear: "the works that I do in my Father's name testify to me".Clearly that wasn't enough. What more did the group need to beconvinced?

Of course, they wanted the first-century equivalent of a pressconference: an EVENT where Jesus stood up and said that heabsolutely was - without any question, prevarication or spin - theSon of God, the Messiah. And he'd pose for photos too.

But the frustrating thing about Jesus in the Gospels is that henever does that. His ministry is captured in lyrics from BruceCockburn:

"But nothing worth having comeswithout some kind of fight -
got to kick at the darkness 'til it bleeds daylight."

We can be quick to criticise Jesus' interrogators because thestory intends us to realise they are still blind to the light, butthe reality is that we are so much like them. A Jesus who shoutsabout his status is much more suited to today's media-focusedworld, but a Jesus who kicks the darkness is more difficult becauseto follow him people have to do the same and often that's not inthe comfort zone.

To Ponder

• Where are the places that you can "kick the darkness 'til itbleeds daylight"?

• What question would you ask Jesus if you met him walking downthe street?