When
you read the bible, how do you discover and understand what God means?
Do we simply read the words and go apply it? Do we listen to a church
sermon from or the advice of a Christian and simply do as suggested?
Why
did Jesus say to the religious leaders and scholars of his day that
knowing the words is not enough (e.g. John 5:39-40)? What did he say we
need instead?
Can
understanding what God means occur by interpreting the bible through
the lens of your society’s culture or your personal life experiences,
preferences, desires, biases? (Isa 55:8). Or should we be evaluating
our culture and personal expectations through God's meaning?
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- Context ... How much of the message are you being told? A few words, a sentence or two, maybe a paragraph. The sentences before and after a passage or quote often bring what is being said into focus.
- Topic ... What
is the real focus of what you are being told? Is the passage or quote
the focus of what is being explained or is it used to justify a
predetermined theme or topic? This is seen when a speaker starts with a
quote but the rest of the time is used referring to personal and
cultural concepts, ideas, presumptions, etc.
[/dropdown_box]xample
example: friendship (top of page)
To explore this further, read John 15:12-15, a quote sometimes used to speak of friendship.
My
command is this: Love each other as I have loved you. Greater love has
no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends. You are my
friends if you do what I command. I no longer call you servants, because
a servant does not know his master’s business. Instead, I have called
you friends, for everything that I learned from my Father I have made
known to you.
(John 15:12-15)
(John 15:12-15)
Was the surrounding text (context)
spoken of (John 15:1-27)? No, these were the only sentences used. In
addition, they were used to open the message, a message among a series
about relationships (topic), and explored by a list of cultural types of
friendship and concepts (e.g. purpose, value, time needed, number of
people involved) about friendship.
Does this passage clearly state that Jesus is teaching about friendship? Yes.
Does this passage give an explanation for how Jesus defines friendship?
No. It only reveals that he was talking about friendship.
Was the text explored before or after to discover whether Jesus gave any further. No.
So, what is the context of what Jesus was saying?
re
the text before (top of page)
Jesus gives an analogy where He is a vine, God the Father is the viticulturist (grape farmer), and people are a branch.
mmandments
what does Jesus ask? (top of page)
What are Jesus’ commandments?what does Jesus ask? (top of page)
- That we love one another, just as Jesus loved us (and the Father loved him)
- This means to lay down (sacrifice) your life for your friends
- As a result, a friend is anyone who does this
the text after (top of page)
Jesus
continues his comments about friendship by stating that "the reason
why the world hates you is because it hated him first." Why? Because
when Jesus calls you out of the world you stop being part of it, and the
world hates anything and anyone who is not part of it. Consequently,
since Jesus was persecuted, because God the Father is not known, so will
you be persecuted.
summary
summary (top of page)
To be a friend is to sacrificially love people. This is how God the Father loves Jesus and Jesus loves us. If you do:- You will be glorifying God the Father by proving yourself a disciple of Jesus
- Jesus will share with you everything he has heard from God the Father
- God will prune you in such a way that anything you ask of him will be done
- You will be persecuted by anyone who doesn't know God
action plan: what to do next?
From
the teachings of Jesus in John 15, is it possible to list the various
types of friendship, or relationships we find in our society? Is it
possible to analyse their value or how to achieve them? Indeed does the
teaching justify or prove our culture and personal expectations of
friendship or other relationships?
If we take the teaching at face value, we must ask:
- How do we love people sacrificially? How did Jesus? How did God?
- How do we prepare for and persevere through persecution? What does persecution look like?
- How does God prune us?
- Do we limit our sacrificial love (friendship) to certain people or open ourselves to anyone? What does this mean for our current relationships? What does it mean for the people we currently exclude or don't see at all?
