Bible

#3 – Most Overlooked in John’s Gospel: Where Are You Staying?

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This is the third in a series of undetermined length where I’ll be looking at passages that I feel often get “skipped over” when considering the gospel according to John.  If you haven’t read the previous posts, please, please read at least the first one as this will continue to build off of that one.  You can find previous articles here:

  1. Only Son of God?
  2. Born Again?

Here, we consider:

John 1:  38 When Jesus turned and saw [two of John the Baptizer’s disciples] following, he said to them, “What are you looking for?” They said to him, “Rabbi” (which translated means Teacher), “where are you staying [literally abiding]?” 39 He said to them, “Come and see.” They came and saw where he was staying, and they remained with him that day. It was about four o’clock in the afternoon. (NRSV)

John 6:56  Those who eat my flesh and drink my blood abide in me, and I in them.

John 14:  18 “I will not leave you orphaned; I am coming to you. 19 In a little while the world will no longer see me, but you will see me; because I live, you also will live. 20 On that day you will know that I am in my Father, and you in me, and I in you. 21 They who have my commandments and keep them are those who love me; and those who love me will be loved by my Father, and I will love them and reveal myself to them.” 22 Judas (not Iscariot) said to him, “Lord, how is it that you will reveal yourself to us, and not to the world?” 23 Jesus answered him, “Those who love me will keep my word, and my Father will love them, and we will come to them and make our home with them.” (NRSV)

John 15:  4 Abide in me as I abide in you. Just as the branch cannot bear fruit by itself unless it abides in the vine, neither can you unless you abide in me. 5 I am the vine, you are the branches. Those who abide in me and I in them bear much fruit, because apart from me you can do nothing. 6 Whoever does not abide in me is thrown away like a branch and withers; such branches are gathered, thrown into the fire, and burned. 7 If you abide in me, and my words abide in you, ask for whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. 8 My Father is glorified by this, that you bear much fruit and become my disciples. 9 As the Father has loved me, so I have loved you; abide in my love. 10 If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commandments and abide in his love. 11 I have said these things to you so that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be complete. (NRSV)

John 17:  20 “I ask not only on behalf of these, but also on behalf of those who will believe in me through their word, 21 that they may all be one. As you, Father, are in me and I am in you, may they also be in us, so that the world may believe that you have sent me. 22 The glory that you have given me I have given them, so that they may be one, as we are one, 23 I in them and you in me, that they may become completely one, so that the world may know that you have sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me. 24 Father, I desire that those also, whom you have given me, may be with me where I am, to see my glory, which you have given me because you loved me before the foundation of the world.(NRSV)

It sounds like a pretty innocuous question.  It seems that the question is answered pretty innocuously.

“Where are you staying [abiding], rabbi?”

“Come and see.”

They saw where he was staying [abiding].

I was surprised, then, when biblical scholar Jaime Clark-Soles drew our attention to these verses in the DVD of the Invitation to John Short Term Disciple Bible Study.  She pointed out what often happens in the attempt to make for “good” or “easy” English when making a translation from Greek: we fail to realize that in this passage is a word that gets used numerous times throughout the rest of the book – abide.  In Greek, the word translated as “staying” above in vss. 1:38-39 is actually the same Greek word that is translated as “abide” elsewhere in John.  We find the word in 6:56 and multiple times in 15:4-11.  I was really excited.

And yet, it seems like the innocuous question of verse 38 is answered in verse 39.  Is it really significant?

Well, then I began to take notice of how sometimes, when asked a question in the gospel according to John, Jesus either changes the subject or answers a very literal question with a highly metaphorical answer.

For instance, Nicodemus asks in John 3, “How can anyone be born after having grown old? Can one enter a second time into the mother’s womb and be born?”  Ever notice that Jesus doesn’t answer his questions of how and can?  He just says you have to.  You have to be born of the Spirit, born from above.  To really get the answer, you have to read the rest of the book.

Likewise, when told about living water in John 4, the Samaritan woman at the well requests, “Where can I get this water?  I’m tired of lugging water back and forth!”  Jesus ignores the request and says, “Go get your husband. . . ”  You have to keep reading.

So, what happens if we consider that maybe the answer the two disciples were looking for, “Where are you staying?” is not really answered by Jesus until later in the gospel?  How does Jesus answer this question, “Where are you abiding?” as they continue on the way, the journey, of faith?

“I abide in God, in God’s love,” says Jesus in 10:38; 14:10-11, 20; 15:10; and 17:21.  We see in 14:10-11 that Jesus says what he says and can do what he does because of this relationship of Jesus being in God and God being in Jesus.

“I abide in you and with you,” says Jesus in 6:56; 14:19, 23; 15:4; and 17:23.

And yet, the Jesus of John does not leave it at that.  “You,” he says, “must abide in me, in my love, as I already abide in you!” (vss. 15:4, 9)

Why?  Why does Christ abide in us and want us to abide in him?  So that we will be Christ’s disciples AND bear fruit (vss. 15:5, 8).

“Whatchu talkin’ ’bout Jesus?  People keep telling me it ain’t what I do but that I believe!”

Jesus’ response in John 14:12 is, “Very truly, I tell you, the one who believes in me will also do the works that I do and, in fact, will do greater works than these, because I am going to the Father.” Believing and doing go hand-in-hand.  What we see here is that we can’t have one without the other – kinda like James 2:26: faith without works is dead.

But, there is an important distinction that we often overlook.  We can only do the same (and greater) works as Jesus if we abide in Christ, for apart from Christ we can do nothing (vs. 15:5). Just as Jesus only says what God says to say and can only do what he does by God being in him and him in God (vss. 14:10-11), when we are in Christ as Christ is in us, we only say what Jesus says and do what Jesus does by Christ who is in God and God who is in Christ.  If God is in Christ and Christ is in us, God is in us.  If we are in Christ who is in God, we are also in God.  In fact, that is Jesus’ prayer in chapter 17 of John, that we be one with God and Christ as they are one with each other – all intermingled. We are the next step, if we are willing, in the incarnation of God to this hurting world.

Notice all the present-tense-ness of this abiding?  Being in Christ and in God (and them in us) is not something that is supposed to happen later.  The purpose is our bearing fruit, our doing works – our being the incarnation of God as Jesus was – NOW!  It’s not something to wait for God to do by God’s self someday.  It is not something that happens when we die.

If all this abiding is happening now, don’t we have relationship with God and Christ NOW?  And that, that relationship – that knowing – is what eternal life is.  If you don’t believe me, read John 17:3:

And this is eternal life, that they may know you, the only true God,
and Jesus Christ whom you have sent.

Maybe, then, when Jesus talks of going to prepare a place for us in God’s house in John 14:1-4, he’s really talking about here and now, not heaven someday in the future.  It says he’ll bring us to him, but isn’t that the invitation of John 15 – abide in me as I abide in you?  And notice the shift in John 14:23.  It isn’t simply that Jesus will draw us to him.  No.  Now it says that God and Jesus will come to dwell with us.

We are drawn to them.  They come to dwell with us.  We are to abide in them as they already abide in us.  Togetherness.  Relationship.  Give and take.  Becoming one.  Journeying together.  Incarnation.

Where am I abiding?  Where are you abiding?  Where are we abiding?  Hopefully in Christ who is in God who is in Christ who is in us.  For if this is the case, we will bear much fruit for God’s kingdom, doing the same and greater works as Jesus.

Here are other verses I plan to cover in this series (though not necessarily in this order):

  • John 4:34 & 10:9
  • John 5:19-20, 14:12, & 15:12-17
  • John 10:38-39, 1:12, 14:12, & 17:20-23
  • John 14:15, 12:49-50, & 13:34
  • John 17:3 & 12:49-50

Biblical Authority?

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CLICK HERE to download and print a PDF.

The Bible is an act of faithful imagination. It is not a package of certitudes. It is an act of imagination that invites our faithful imagination that makes it possible to live faithfully. The Bible is an act of imagination that is rooted in memory but that presses always toward new possibility that is still in front of us.

Walter Brueggemann
in Countering Pharaoh’s Production-Consumption Society Today

Imagination & Inspiration

Recently, I led a few different small groups through the Living the Questions video-guided study, Countering Pharaoh’s Production-Consumption Society Today. For one of those groups (in particular, just a couple of vocal people in that group), the most problematic or controversial portion of the first session was the quote above. The question posed to me following the viewing of that session entitled “The Way Out” was:

Do you believe the Bible is an act of imagination or inspired by God?

My best comeback did not occur to me until hours later, but I’ll start there. I don’t know that those two ideas – imagination and inspiration – are mutually exclusive. Even imagination can be inspired by God and imagination can inspire.

Consider Jesus’ parables in which he is often trying to explain what God’s kingdom is like; they are fictions that are used to make people think, re-think – even re-imagine – how they view the world and how they relate (or should relate) to it. Jesus took inspiration from God about God’s desires for the world that led to the imagination that created the parables. In the centuries since, consider all the preachers and teachers who, because they were inspired by God, could imagine new possibilities and ways of living out the Christian life.

Likewise, as can be seen in writing (poetry and prose), music, and art, sometimes one’s imagination can inspire others to a knowledge or awareness of God that they did not have before, leading them to live more faithfully as they press toward new possibility. How many of us have been moved by hearing a beautiful melody and / or words in a song that came forth from someone’s imagination?

Thus, I believe that the Bible comes forth from imagination and inspiration working hand-in-hand.

Discrepancies & Perspectives

My first response to the question was much more narrow in scope. For me, the Bible has to be a book of imagination, because there are so many contradictions and discrepancies between stories and books in the Bible.

  • Creation
    • Was man created first and alone (Genesis 2:5-8) or last of all (Genesis 1:26-31) with woman?
    • Were both men and women created in God’s image (Genesis 1:27) or was woman created from man (Genesis 2:20-23) – after all other created animals proved to be unsuitable mates for Adam?
  • Sacrifices
    • The Torah (especially Leviticus) says they are necessary. Amos 5:21-23 says God has no desire for them, but Malachi 3:8-11 declares that God is being robbed because the offerings are not being made!
  • Birth Narratives
    • Matthew 1-2 and Luke 1-2 cannot be harmonized unless elements of each account are dropped or ignored.
  • Crucifixion Accounts
    • Would Jesus need help carrying the cross as noted in Mark 15:21 or would he carry it himself as written in John 19:17?
    • Was Jesus crucified by 9am as Mark indicates in 15:25 or after noon as John declares in 19:14?
    • For that matter, was Jesus crucified after the Passover meal (Mark 14:12-25 details the last supper, which is the Passover) or before (John 18:28 notes that the Passover meal would be eaten that evening after the crucifixion)?
  • Resurrection Accounts
    • How many women would go to the tomb: 1 (John 20:1), 2 (Matthew 28:1), 3 (Mark 16:1), or a handful (Luke 24:10)?
    • Who would meet them there: 1 young man dressed in white who is already there with the stone already rolled away (Mark 16:4-5), 1 angel who descends from heaven in their view to roll the stone away (Matthew 28:2), 2 men dressed in dazzling white who appeared while they were there with the stone already rolled away (Luke 24:2-4), or no one (John 20:1-10)?
  • Apostle to the Gentiles
    • Is it Paul (Romans 11:13) or Peter (Acts 15:7)?
  • Christology
    • Did Jesus empty himself of trying to be like God (Philippians 2:6-8) or did the fullness of God dwell bodily in Christ (Colossians 1:19)?
  • God
    • Is God only in heaven (Matthew 23:9) or is God above all, through all, and in all (Ephesians 4:6) – the one in whom we live and move and have our being (Acts 17:28)?

I could go on, but even this is overkill.

The response that I always get is, “But you have multiple perspectives of the same event. Ask three people to describe a car accident that they all saw, and all will have seen something different.” True, but REALLY look at some of the differences noted above. In a court of law, if different witnesses shared perspectives as different as these, the judge and jury would assume someone was lying.

An additional problem is that the majority of the folks that respond in this way about “differing perspectives” will (especially in defending a particular part of their viewpoint or theology) say that, “In the Bible, God says. . .” indicating that ultimately they don’t think there are multiple perspectives but only one – God’s. Many in trying to defend their lack of committal on the number of perspectives will say something like, “Well, there are multiple perspectives in the stories, but in terms of theology, God has intervened and made sure the important stuff is correct.” Look above. There are even differences in theology in the Bible. Besides, who gets to decide which parts of the Bible are from God and which ones are human in origin?

Peripheral or Important?

Once in a disagreement about whether Christians can disagree over topics of theology I brought up 1 Corinthians 8 where the apostle Paul makes clear that since there really is only one God, there is not a problem with eating food sacrificed to idols, because the food was sacrificed to nothing ultimately. Yet, he realizes that for some it is a problem, so he said we need to affirm other people’s beliefs about food sacrificed to idols. We should not eat such food in front of them as it might make them eat food that they consciously and wholeheartedly believe they should not eat. The gentleman with which I was disagreeing responded that this was a “peripheral topic.” Says who? Who gets to make that decision? For the author of Revelation, this was not a peripheral topic as for him it showed where one’s allegiance was. For him, one should never eat food sacrificed to idols (see Revelation 2:14 and 2:20). There was no gray area.

Whereas more liberal or progressive Christians are often chastised by their more conservative or fundamentalist brothers and sisters for “picking and choosing” what they want to believe, we see above that this is happening in all camps.

God-Breathed

Of course, in speaking of biblical authority many will quote 2 Timothy 3:16-17, which says:

“All scripture is inspired by God and is useful for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, so that everyone who belongs to God may be proficient, equipped for every good work.” (NRSV)

Many will also exclaim that “inspired by God” is more literally translated as “God-breathed” (or I would add equally, “God-spirited” or “God-winded”). “See,” they say, “it’s all from God. You have to accept it all whether you like it or not.” I have several responses to that line of thinking.

If it’s all from God, God is an idiot, because not even the all-knowing God can keep all the details straight! Yet, if it was all from God, why do we have four very different gospels? If God wrote it, wouldn’t we only need one?

Also, if we take this very literally, we have to realize that at the time 2 Timothy was written, the only official Scriptures were the Hebrew Scriptures – the Old Testament. The first time that a list of New Testament books would even match our current canon was 367AD in Bishop Athanasius’ Easter letter to his churches, and that was not an official statement for the whole church, just his region. On top of that, even to this day, the Ethiopic Church and the Coptic Bible of the Egyptian Church each has a different New Testament canon than Protestants, Roman Catholics, or Orthodox Christians. Roman Catholics and Orthodox even accept the Apocrypha. Since the Scriptures were not completely defined yet when 2 Timothy was written, does the letter only affirm the Hebrew Scriptures? Since churches disagree on what the canon is, how do we know which ones are God-breathed?

Another interesting spin on this concept is that the beginning of the passage can also be translated as, “Every scripture inspired by God is also useful. . .” (see footnote in the NRSV). Could that mean that all texts that we deem as Scripture are not inspired by God?

Let’s think about this from another standpoint, though, focusing on the translations of “God-breathed,” “God-spirited,” and “God-winded.” The image that should be drawn to mind is the second creation story in Genesis 2:7 where God “formed man from the dust of the ground, and breathed, spirited, winded into his nostrils the breath, spirit, wind of life, and the man became a living being.” The Bible is just words on paper unless made alive by God’s breath, spirit, wind. Maybe, then, the Scriptures are not God-breathed in their creation but in their interpretation. This can help keep us focused on what’s more important – what a passage MEANS according to the original author, not whether or not it really happened.

If this is the case, then maybe we can affirm that God did not call the Hebrews in the book of Joshua to kill all those not like themselves. That would mean that the ancient Hebrews misinterpreted their experience and understanding of what God was calling them to do and be in this world. The real point then, is not killing, but staying true to what God has called us to (assuming we heard God correctly to begin with!).

Much of the early church and New Testament was expecting an eminent return of Christ to the earth. It has never occurred, but if we see that Scripture is God-breathed in interpretation, not writing, we can be inspired and receive life to know they got it wrong. Maybe Matthew’s gospel is more correct that Christ returns every time we gather together as a community (Matthew 18:20) and when we help the least of these (Matthew 25:40).

There Are Still Choices

The problem is, no matter whether we think the Bible came from God in its writing or in its interpretation, it makes no difference if we don’t actually pay attention to what the Bible actually says. Many who claim that God gave the Scriptures in their writing are unwilling to help the poor because they either don’t deserve it or are just lazy. Many who claim that God breathes life into the Scriptures in interpretation are unwilling to love, pray for, or talk with their enemies.

How do we know what to listen to, though, when the Bible is full of contradictions? A rule of thumb that I like to follow (and which I’m borrowing from Marcus Borg) is, “When the Bible and Jesus disagree, Jesus trumps the Bible” – at least for Christians. That can be hard to swallow though, as in Matthew 5:21-42, Jesus quotes the Bible and then makes the mandate even more difficult to follow!

Another choice we have to deal with is how we will interpret a passage. Being United Methodist, I come from a denomination that claims that our primary source is Scripture. Yet, what I see in practice is that we often interpret our primary source in light of a preconceived theology. Here are some examples.

Because we have a theology of the Trinity, we assume the author of Mark’s gospel has that same theology, and we read that theology into Mark – a theology that is not there! Likewise, because we have a theology of a miraculous birth (taken from only Matthew and Luke), we can’t understand why we find this verse in Mark 3:21: “When his family heard it, they went out to restrain him, for people were saying, ‘He has gone out of his mind.’” “If he had a miraculous birth, why are they questioning him?” we ask.

For centuries, we have seen God working through people with different understandings and ways of doing things. Some of these people have had questionable backgrounds, and God still used them mightily. Why, then, do we have to assume that each book of the Bible has to agree? God can still speak to us – give us life, inspiration, and imagination – through differing experiences, understandings, and stories.

Ultimately, it comes down to faith. Can I trust that God has my back if I step out in faith to do what God through the Bible might be calling me to? Can I trust God to give me inspiration even if all the “i”s and “t”s are not dotted or crossed – even in inconsistencies and contradictions?

How do you define Biblical authority?