Hello, I’m Daniel Westfall on the channel “Pray With Me”. 

In Genesis, when Abraham had three visitors, he gave them water to wash their feet. When I saw my podiatrist, she didn’t give me water to wash my feet. She put on plastic gloves to keep a sanitary, professional and impersonal distance from my feet.

In John 13, Jesus didn’t give the disciples foot-washing water like Abraham, and he didn’t keep a professional distance like the podiatrist. Instead, he wrapped a towel around his waist, knelt before the disciples one-by-one and washed their feet–Thomas the doubter, Judas the traitor, Peter the denier, John the lover. As he studied their dirty feet and applied the water and towel, what message did he communicate?  I think he was saying three simple things:

1. First, he was demonstrating, “I love you enough to serve you in dirty, menial ways.”

2. Second, his action pointed out that the religion he was teaching is not all about morality and healing and resurrections and miracles. It’s also about doing very mundane acts of service, in very personal ways. 

3. And third, he told his disciples, that it is an option for them to do the dirty work. No need to wait for the servants and the janitors and the cleaning lady. Step right up, folks. You too can get your hands dirty. 

I am drawn to the symbolic meaning of footwashing. When Jesus stooped to wash Peter’s feet, Peter said, “This isn’t appropriate for you to do, Jesus. I don’t want you to wash my feet.” Jesus replied, “Unless I wash you, you have no part with me.”  Peter replied, “Then wash all of me–feet, hands, and head.” But Jesus said, “If you’ve had a bath, you’re clean enough. All you need is a touch up on the feet.” 

Jesus discouraged two solutions for dirty feet, and offered one solution. 

First, Jesus had no time for a religion focused on keeping feet clean. That was the Pharisees religion–rules and control that tell you how to manage your behavior to keep yourself clean. Jesus message to the Pharisees was, “Your solution doesn’t work. Your feet are as dirty as everyone else’s.”

Second, Jesus discouraged minimizing the problem of dirt. He knew that it’s dirty out there, and he knew that dirt clings to you. Kneeling in front of the disciples with bucket and towel, he invited them to believe that the dirt of the world had made you dirty again. 

The solution Jesus encouraged is to bring the dirty feet to him. He says to us, “I’m here every day to wash your feet.” Go into the world without fear, live in your human culture with all its moral muddle, walk on the dirty roads, be my followers there. And then come to me, and let me wash away the dirt, and serve you bread and wine for supper.

Let’s pray. 

Jesus, we liked it when you showed your power–healing the sick and feeding the crowd and criticizing the religion of the Pharisees and predicting who will betray you and who will deny you. But when you kneel in front of us with bucket and towel, we shrink back. Shouldn’t we hide our dirty feet, or deal with them in private, or cover them with clothes? You’re not a servant, why are you suddenly acting like one?  

But still you touch our feet and wash them with your hands and wipe them with your towel.

Jesus, we need this. We bring to you relationships where we have dirtied ourselves with envy or jealousy or gossip or fear or avoidance. We bring to you private thoughts where we have betrayed you and your law. We bring to you deep seated fears that expose our unbelief and anxiety. O Jesus, kneel before us, wash our feet again, teach us the father’s love. 

Amen. 

I’m Daniel on the channel “Pray with Me”.

Hello, I’m Daniel Westfall on the channel “Pray With Me”. 

John 12 marks the end of Jesus’ public ministry, and the beginning of the story about his death.

Up to this point, Jesus has been interacting with many people in many ways: making wine at the wedding, advising Nicodemus to be born again, offering living water at the well, healing the paralytic and the blind, feeding and lecturing the crowd, and finally  raising Lazarus from the dead. 

John 12 begins with Jesus attending a party at Lazarus’ home, where Mary anointed his feet with a pint of very expensive perfume. Judas, the accountant in the crowd said, “Hey, that’s a waste. We should have sold the perfume and given the money to the poor.”  Jesus replied, “She has anointed me for my burial.”

Anoint Jesus for burial? Is he planning his funeral? 

The story got briefly onto a better track when Jesus rode into Jerusalem on a donkey, to the wild cheers of the crowd who said, “Blessed is the king of Israel.” King Jesus? Is he now a political celebrity? Apparently miracles and free lunch get out the vote every time. 

But Jesus wasn’t consulting the polls and playing to the crowd. Instead he said, “I will draw everyone to myself when I am lifted up on a cross.” And he said, “A grain of wheat must fall into the ground and die.” 

The crowd replied, “Moses said the Messiah will live forever. What’s this about death?”

Jesus said, “I have come as light. Believe in the light, so you won’t keep walking in darkness.” 

When they heard this, some people believed openly, some believed privately, and some didn’t believe at all. John, astounded at pervasive unbelief in the face of momentous miracles, explains it by quoting the prophet Isaiah. 
God has blinded their eyes
            and hardened their hearts,
    So they cannot see with their eyes
              nor understand with their hearts (John 12:40, quoting Isaiah 6:10).

Jesus opened the eyes and the hearts of the blind man and the paralytic and Lazarus. But many eyes and hearts remained closed.

Let’s pray. 

Jesus, we love your public ministry in John. Winemaker of Cana, whip maker at the temple, lunch maker for the crowd, giver of new birth and living water. You called Lazarus from the grave and rode like a king into Jerusalem. 

But in every success, you hinted of impending disaster. Will you be a victim of the whip you used in the temple? After free lunch, is the next menu your body as meat and your blood as wine? Does Mary’s anointing prepare you for the grave? Are you the grain of wheat that falls into the ground and dies? 

Jesus, in our troubled times the strong and arrogant raise themselves to kingship–Donald Trump, Vladmir Putin, Xi Jinping. When you were strong and popular, leading the parade into Jerusalem, why didn’t you raise yourself to kingship?

And why is John’s gospel so insistent on dividing people into those who believe and those who don’t? Is there some hidden meaning in this story of your life that only faith can understand? Is there some unexpected turn in your road where only believers can follow? Will your light and life soon give way to darkness and death? Jesus, help us walk with you where John takes us in your journey. Help us walk with you where you take us in our journey.

Amen. 

I’m Daniel on the channel “Pray with Me”.

Hello, I’m Daniel Westfall on the channel “Pray With Me”. 

In John 11, Lazarus was very sick, so his sisters sent word to Jesus. He said to his disciples, “This sickness won’t end in death. It is for God’s glory.” Then he ignored the sisters’ request for two days, and finally said to his disciples, “Ok. Time to head south to Judea.”

The disciples said, “Whoa! They tried to kill you last time you went there.” Jesus said, “Not a problem. And by the way, Lazarus has died. But good news! What happens will increase your faith.” 

The disciple Thomas said, “Let’s get on with it then. We can follow Jesus to Lazarus’ death, and his death, and probably ours too.” Not much faith there. 

When Jesus arrived in Judea, Lazarus’ sisters said to him, “If you had been here, our brother wouldn’t have died.” Jesus said, “I am the resurrection and the life.” And Jesus wept. Perhaps he wept for the sorrow of death, perhaps out of compassion for the sisters, perhaps he wept for the lack of faith everywhere he looked. 

Then he went to Lazarus’ grave, got them to roll the stone away from the entrance, and he said to the decomposing body, “Lazarus, come out.” And out he came, wrapped in linen grave clothes. 

When the Pharisees heard, they were not impressed and they said, “If we let him go on like this, everyone will believe in him, and the Romans will come and take our temple and our nation.” Caiaphus, the high priest, said, “You’re right about that. It would be better for this man to die, and the nation will be saved.” 

John, the gospel writer, explains that this was an unintentional prophecy. He says, “Caiaphus was right. Jesus will die to save the Jewish nation, and not only that nation, but also the scattered children of God. He will bring them together and make them one.” 

Let’s pray. 

Jesus, along with Lazarus’ sisters, we wonder why you don’t show up sooner in our sickness and pain and sorrow, before death does its final work.

With Thomas we are tempted to despair and cynicism. “We’re going to die anyway. Might as well follow Jesus to Lazarus’ death, and his own death, and probably ours too.”

With the Pharisees we want religion. But not religion out of control. Jesus, your person and teachings push the boundaries of everything that makes life stable and predictable for us. You challenge our view of sickness, of religion, of faith, of death.

We hear you say, “I am the resurrection and the life.” Jesus, we believe in the resurrection of the body. But what do you mean, that you are the resurrection and you are the life? We come to you looking for healing not death, for clarity not questions, for a religious system we can believe in, not a person who throws our lives into turmoil and weeps over the grave. 

Jesus, today we receive you as you are, the man of resurrection and life. We receive you into our dying bodies, into our troubled minds, into our wayward spirits. We trust you to bring the scattered children of God together and make them one. Jesus, be our life in this age and in the age to come.  

Amen. 

I’m Daniel on the channel “Pray with Me”.

Hello, I’m Daniel Westfall on the channel “Pray With Me”. 

At the beginning of John 11 when he heard Lazarus was sick, Jesus said, “This sickness is for God’s glory.” 

Do you think Jesus was stating a general rule? That the purpose of human sickness is to give glory to God? In John 5, a paralyzed man suffered 38 years until Jesus healed him. In John 8, a blind man suffered his whole life until Jesus healed him. Now in John 11, Lazarus got sick and died, until Jesus raised him. Can you explain God’s glory in all that suffering, or is Jesus’ lesson too hard? Perhaps God only gets glory when Jesus heals someone. If so, God is missing out on a lot of glory!

Kate Bowler in her book, Everything Happens for a Reason and Other Lies I’ve Loved (New York: Random House, 2018) describes her journey with Stage IV cancer and the prosperity gospel and faith. She often sounds like the psalms, ranting at God for life’s unfairness, angry with her enemy cancer, unhappy with comforters who spout unhelpful platitudes.

Facing death and grieving that she wouldn’t see her baby son grow up, she tells this story: 

When I was in the hospital, a neighbor told my husband that everything happens for a reason. “I’d love to hear it,” he replied.
  “Pardon?” she said, startled.
  “I’d love to hear the reason my wife is dying,” he said in his sweet and sour way, effectively ending the conversation. The neighbor stammered something and handed him a casserole. (Bowler, pp. 112-113). 

Bowler continues, commenting on the “reasons” people give why she might be suffering. She says,

There are three life lessons people try to teach me that, frankly, sometimes feel worse than cancer itself. The first is that I shouldn’t be so upset, because the significance of death is relative. A lot of Christians tell me that heaven is my true home and I want to ask them if they would like to go home first. Maybe now? (Bowler, p. 116).

The second lesson comes from the Teachers, who focus on how this experience is supposed to be an education in mind, body, and spirit. (Bowler, p. 117). One man bluntly writes, “I hope you have a ‘Job’ experience.” But I can’t think of anything worse to wish on someone. God allowed Satan to rob Job of everything, including his children’s lives. Do I need to lose something more to learn God’s character? (Bowler, p. 118).

Bowler says the third lesson comes from the Solutions People, who are already a little disappointed that she is not saving herself. “Keep smiling! Your attitude determines your destiny!” says Jane from Idaho, and I am immediately worn out by the tyranny of prescriptive joy. (Bowler, p. 119). A Nigerian woman writes that she sits through weekly meetings that encourage her to “talk faith-talk,” but she wants to acknowledge that, outside her office window, the bodies of abandoned babies are being collected and hauled away in black garbage bags (Bowler, p. 119).

Bowler continues, 

The letters that really speak to me don’t talk about why we die, they talk about who was there when they were dying. A man wrote to me about being taken hostage with his family and watching helplessly as the intruders pressed guns against his children’s noses and threaten to rape his wife and daughter. But God was there and he can’t explain it. He can’t explain who loosened the ropes, letting him escape with his family. He will never understand why he survived when a neighbor was found outside hanging by a rope the next morning. He doesn’t rationalize why some people were rescued and others were executed. He doubts there is a way that God “redeems” situations by extracting good from them. But he knows God was there because he felt peace, indescribable peace, and it changed him forever. He ends his letter to Bowler saying, “I have no idea how this works, but I wish this for you as you move forward.”  (Bowler, p. 120). 

Let’s pray. 

Jesus, I can’t begin to John’s theme that you get glory from human suffering–from Kate Bowler with Stage IV cancer, from Job who lost everything, from dead Nigerian babies, from a hostage who escaped and one who didn’t. Jesus, we bring our sufferings to you, not trying to explain them, not trying to understand how they might contribute to your glory. Instead, we ask you to be present with us, to share your life with us, to live your life in us, to walk with us through this endless valley. 

Amen. 

I’m Daniel on the channel “Pray with Me”.

Hello, I’m Daniel Westfall on the channel “Pray With Me”. 

John chapter 9 ended with the Pharisees hurling insults at the man born blind and driving him away. But Jesus received him and invited him into faith. 

In John chapter 10, Jesus interpreted this experience. He said to the Pharisees, “All who came before me are thieves and robbers, but the sheep did not listen to them. I am the gate for the sheep. Whoever enters through me will be saved” (John 10:8).

Clearly, Jesus identified the Pharisees as thieves and robbers, the type who would evict a blind man instead of welcoming him into the fold. Then Jesus gave the Pharisees a description of how bad religious leaders interact with people.

He said bad religionists don’t approach the flock through the gate–they climb over the fence like thieves and robbers. Instead of coming to scripture through the central theme of loving God and others, the Pharisees invented complex theologies and difficult rules, and taught these for the truth. They built a high fence of scripture interpretation and behavioural pedigrees and climbed over it to harass the sheep. 

Jesus said the sheep are smart enough to tell the difference between the shepherd’s voice and that of a thief. The sheep respond to the shepherd, but they run away from the thief. Sounds like the blind man who left the Pharisees and went back to Jesus. 

Jesus also said that bad religionists act like hired hands–as soon as a wolf comes they abandon the sheep and run for their own lives. They are like consultants who dispense high-priced advice, but are long gone when you discover it doesn’t work. In contrast, the shepherd risks his life to protect the sheep. Today, many shepherds act like hired hands. They build their own sheep folds and herd the sheep into them. They insist on their interpretation of scripture and their way of experiencing God. They reject seekers who question their methods or theology, like the Pharisees rejected the blind man. 

Jesus announced, “I am the good shepherd. I am building one flock with one shepherd under my Father. To do this, I will lay down my life and take it up again.” 

When he said this, some people said, “What does he mean, he will lay down his life and take it up again? This is crazy talk. He must be demon possessed.” Others said, “But remember, he made the blind man see. That’s not crazy.” 

Let’s pray. 

Jesus, we are the Pharisees. We interpret scripture and create our own religious systems. Did you say you are building one flock with one shepherd, Jesus? We can help you figure out what that looks like. We will be your consultants. We will submit our proposal with our doctrinal statement and our list of rules. 

Jesus, we are the sheep. We hear confusing voices trying to explain what you mean. Preachers and teachers and scholars, Catholic and Protestant and self-styled theologians insist that they have found the truth of the Bible and distilled it into the right system of belief. But you said, “My sheep hear my voice.” O Jesus, in the conflict of interpretations, we listen for your voice. Help us hear you. Give us courage to ignore all competing voices. 

Jesus, we look forward to the day when there will be one flock with one shepherd. When the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the Lord as the waters cover the sea (Isa. 11:9). When the tree grows who leaves are for the healing of the nations (Rev. 22:2). Come, good shepherd, come. 

Amen. 

I’m Daniel on the channel “Pray with Me”.