Roots
Commentary
Years ago many of us were enthralled with Alex Haley's story, Roots. Haley traced the heritage of many African Americans; however, his work inspired not only African Americans but lots of us of different ethnic backgrounds. Since Haley's work, the interest in family trees and roots has increased considerably. As your authors have grown older, we have both become more and more appreciative of understanding and keeping our roots in mind. Myrna has scattered about our house pieces of ceramics which her mother made. Bob cherishes a potato sack from a processing plant in his hometown in Idaho. These things help us remember where we came from, and hence who we are. Roots are important.
Our lessons today are about roots in the sense that they explore the source of our lives, values, and meaning. They are not concerned so much with historical roots as they are with spiritual ones. That is, the lessons sketch how it is we Christians relate to God in Christ and from that relationship find our identity. In one sense, personal and corporate identity are precisely what roots are about, for through knowing our origin we come to know who we are today. Roots provide us one (but not the only) way of approaching these lessons in quest of a message for our congregations.
Acts 8:26-40
The story of Philip and the Ethiopian Eunuch seems, on first reading, to have little to do with roots and identity, but that impression may change as we investigate what the story does. The story really has a very simple plot structure. Philip receives a divine command and goes to meet the Eunuch on the road from Jerusalem to Gaza where he enables the Ethiopian to understand words of Scripture in terms of the Christ event, and the Eunuch requests and receives baptism. Philip is then abruptly taken away by the Spirit to another place.
The placement of this story in Acts is important although none too clear. Luke is systematically telling how the church fulfilled Christ's promise in 1:8 and witnessed to Christ first in Jerusalem (2:1--8:3) and then in Samaria (8:4-25). Chapter 9 relates Paul's call and begins the story of the church's mission to the Gentiles and hence to the "ends of the earth." Our passage is sandwiched between the mission to Samaria and the beginnings of the mission to the Gentiles. Some argue that the Ethiopian Eunuch represents Gentile converts to Judaism. Others think he is a "God-fearer," that is, one of those Gentiles who were not full converts to Judaism but were attracted it. All we know is that the Eunuch "had come to Jerusalem to worship" (v. 27b). The problem arises as to how Judaism of the time could accommodate a eunuch, given his gender condition (see Deuteronomy 23:1). Clearly, however, the story presents the church's movement to the south (Gaza), after it has been successful in the north (Samaria). For us, it is enough to recognize that the Ethiopian Eunuch represents one who occupied the fringes of society. His sexual condition made him unacceptable to many, and he was probably black. Luke seems to say that this story demonstrates the church's mission to the marginalized of the day in Judea, Samaria, or anywhere in the world.
The story presupposes the presence and activity of the Holy Spirit, guiding and inspiring the church's ministry. It may even remind us of Ezekiel's spiritual journeys. Philip meets the Ethiopian on "a wilderness road," which triggers the complicated symbolism of the wilderness as a place both of temptation and of encounter with God. The Eunuch held a very important position in the Ethiopian court of Candace (which means simply "queen"). He is reading Isaiah 53:7-8 and is curious about the identity of the person spoken of in the passage (indeed, as modern scholars are). Much as the risen Christ had done with the disciples (Luke 24:25-27, 32, 45-48), Philip persuasively interprets the passage in the light of Christ's crucifixion and resurrection.
The Eunuch takes the initiative to request baptism. In the course of the story, he asks three questions (vv. 31, 34, and 37), the last of which ("What is to prevent me from being baptized?") implies that his impediments might preclude his admission to the church, much as they kept him from becoming a Jew. His request is granted, Philip is snatched away, and the Eunuch goes his way a new person ("rejoicing," v. 39). In the meantime, the Spirit has other work for Philip.
This marginalized person from a strange and far away country is suddenly and unexpectedly given new roots. His life had been shaped entirely by his nationality, ethnicity, and sexuality, but now all that becomes transformed in the light of a new faith and meaning for life. He becomes part of the body of Christ, a disciple of the crucified and living Lord, and that makes everything different. Our faith in Christ gives us a new heritage and a new future, even as the Ethiopian Eunuch's faith did.
1 John 4:7-21
This is doubtless the most famous passage in 1 John, and rightly so for it declares the heart of our faith with clarity and simplicity. The structure of this so-called epistle is unclear, but we can see that in this passage the author circles back to pick up the theme of 3:18-24 (see the Third Sunday of Easter) and carry it further. It is related to 4:1-6 by the fact that it deals with our knowing when we are truly related to Christ and not victims of a false "spirit." The movement of the passage is structured around three statements. After each of these, the author meditates on its meaning. Those three statements may be found in verses 7 ("love is from God"), 13 ("we abide in him and he in us"), and 16b-17 ("God is love" and "love has been perfected among us"). Verse 21 serves as a conclusion to the whole of 3:18--4:20.
"Love is from God" (v. 7) offers both a basis for the imperative to love others and for knowing when we are properly related to God. "From God" in this case means only that God is the source of all love. The expressions "born of God" and "know God" use different metaphors to state the same thing, namely, to draw one's reason for being and for loving from God. We know this only because of God's revelation in Christ, and that means that God took the initiative to love us before we loved God -- an important distinction for 1 John, since it depicts the source and origin of human love (see v. 11). Since no one can claim a direct vision of God, love becomes the evidence of the divine presence. Where there is genuine love, there God is found. All of this language echoes the fourth Gospel, in particular being born again from above (John 3:3-10), having one's origin in God or in the world (e.g., John 15:18), God's sending Christ into the world (John 3:16), and the claim that "no one has seen God" (John 1:18).
"We abide in him and he in us" (v. 13) expresses the intimacy of our relationship with Christ and in all probability does not refer to some mystic experience of Christ. "We know" hints that the first readers may be doubting their faith, uncertain whether or not they are in right relationship with God. The author supplies three reasons for assurance or certainty. First, the readers know the Spirit has been given to them, and the presence of the Spirit in our lives is equated with being in Christ and he in us. Second, the author speaks of our seeing and testifying to Christ's role as God's emissary. In other words, the readers have found the truth of Christ's identity in their corporate experience (see 1:1), and that experience evidences the mutual indwelling of Christ in them and they in Christ. Third, when it is true and authentic, the Christian confession demonstrates the confessor's relationship with Christ. As we learn from 4:2-3, that confession must entail understanding that God's saving agent appeared among us in the flesh. Verse 16a offers the conclusion to which these reasons lead us.
"God is love" and "love has been perfected among us"(vv. 16b-17) draw a logical conclusion from what has been said above, namely that "God is love," and explores how the divine love has shaped the community. It would be a mistake to take "God is love" as either a theological or philosophical assertion, for the author is not attempting to play the role of a systematic and abstract thinker here. Rather, the community knows through its experience with Christ that what is important about God for us is the divine affection, care, and commitment. Therefore, abiding in love -- living with love as our basic value and self-definition -- is the same as abiding in God. The text seeks a pastoral end which is to assure readers that living love is what Christian faith is all about.
In verses 17-20 the author appears to be addressing another doubt among the readers. What's going to happen to us in the day of judgment? Lots of us have asked the same question, and many are filled with fear at the prospects of that final reckoning. However, to have confidence that we share God's values is to have all that fear blown away; to try to be in our world what God is -- that is, love -- achieves all that God is concerned about in the final judgment. Love doesn't make room for fear, for love is the opposite of fear. Perfect love does not mean a love that has no failures or shortcomings. The verb translated "perfected" is more akin to wholeness and fullness than freedom from error and hence is more like the Hebrew shalom than the Greek concept of perfection. Those who remain fearful before God are those who have not allowed love to be their desire and goal.
The author's reflections now return to the relationship between God's love and our loving, since that is the key to allowing love to chase away fear. Again, God's love precedes ours and is the root of our capacity to love others, so it is logical nonsense to say we love God and hate other people. "Liars" are those who do not appropriate the revelation of God into their lives (see 1:10; 2:4, 22; and 5:10) and hints at the embodiment of evil, Satan (see John 8:44). Verse 20b assumes that it is easier to love what you experience immediately and directly than to love that which is mysterious and transcendent. There may be some flaws in this argument, but it is clear that the author believes loving others is logically inherent in loving God.
Verse 21 serves as a conclusion to the whole of 3:18--4:20. It recalls the first statement of this theme in 3:11-24 and pulls the entirety of the section together. It is typical of this author to circle back on themes previously stated so that the text moves like a spiral.
First John invites us to find our roots in the love of God expressed in the advent of Christ. This love becomes the well from which we draw meaning and value for life. It informs the whole of our existence and provides a foundation for survival in this world. If we are "born of God" and "know God," we are a product of God's love.
John 15:1-8
This passage is another of Jesus' "I am" sayings discussed in the column for the Fourth Sunday of Easter. Exactly what kind of literary form this passage is depends on how you delineate certain forms. Clearly the main feature of Jesus' words is metaphorical insofar as they compare Jesus and God to a vine and one who grows vines. However, it is like an allegory in that it equates certain parts of the picture with certain figures: Christ equals the vine, God the vine grower, and believers the branches of the vine. However you understand the way this passage works, it is clear that this image is related to the Old Testament passages which speak of Israel as God's vineyard (for example, Psalm 80:8-16; Isaiah 5:1-7; and Ezekiel 15:1-6), so the fourth evangelist ties Christ with the Hebraic tradition but offers a different arrangement in the metaphor.
This passage is also probably the clearest explanation of what "abide" means in the fourth Gospel. The mutual abiding refers to the believers' relationship with Christ, which is like the relationship between the branches and the trunk of a plant in that the branches derive their lives from the trunk. Jesus speaks here of several related subjects. First, the believers' relationship with Christ; second, "bearing fruit" as a result of that relationship; and, third, the fate of those who do not have this relationship with Christ.
The passage begins with the topic of "bearing fruit." Elsewhere this expression refers to the Christian's moral life, doing the will of God (for example, Matthew 7:16-20), but appears in only two other passages in John (4:36 and 12:24). There is very little in the way of explicit and detailed moral instruction in the fourth Gospel, except for the commandment that the disciples love one another (13:34). What it means to bear fruit certainly involves the love Jesus commands. However, in the Johannine context, fruit probably refers to belief and witness as well, since verse 8 suggests that bearing fruit is being a disciple. Fruitless branches are assumed to be dead, and hence are removed to make room for more productive life. "Pruning" means being freed to believe in Christ. The Greek word translated "cleansed" is closely related to the verb "prune" since to purify often means removing that which was unclean. Jesus, however, assures his followers that they are pruned or cleansed, presumably by virtue of their faith and acceptance of him (see 1:12-13).
However, believing, witnessing, and loving others are possible only because disciples are related to Christ and have their life from him (v. 4), but they are helpless without that relationship (v. 5b). "Abiding" in Christ as Christ abides in us suggests a relationship, but not one of equals. Our faith and love are derived from our "vine," Christ, so that the relationship is one of total dependence on our part. However, verse 4 suggests that we should be related to Christ in the way he is related to us ("Abide in me as I abide in you"). If Christ's relatedness to us is based on love (for example, 13:1b), then we can only depend totally on him through our love for him (in the sense of gratitude and commitment).
The passage speaks too of the consequences of such an intimate relationship of love. Verse 7, however, needs to be interpreted with care. Obviously it does not mean that we can ask just anything of Christ and receive it. The asking is done out of the relationship of love. That means that proper requests are those which adhere to the nature of the relationship itself. The goal of all this is to "glorify" God, because by living a fruitful life connected with Christ, God is honored (v. 8).
Within this exploration of the relationship and bearing fruit are some words concerning the fate of those who do not have this relationship with Christ. There is little in the Gospel of John about a final judgment and punishment for disbelief, so we have no context in which to read verse 6. Obviously, the words function on two levels. On the level of the picture, the branches that have been removed from a vine die and are burned; on the level of the meaning of the allegory, the detached branches would seem to be those who fail to believe, love, and witness. Of first importance is that connectedness with Christ is what gives true and authentic life (what the Gospel calls "eternal life"). We die a spiritual death when cut off from Christ. The fire is less a threat of some eternal punishment than it is a statement of the emptiness and worthlessness of a life alienated from God.
The image of roots clearly captures something of the mood of this Gospel passage. The source of our lives is our association with Christ, made possible first by his association with us. Without that total dependence on God through Christ, our lives become meaningless and rootless. The Ethiopian Eunuch is given new roots by his belief and baptism in Christ, and the love with which God loves us in Christ becomes our heritage and gives us our identity. The verbal picture of branches growing out of a vine, and being totally dependent on that vine for life, is a way of interpreting our first and second lessons. Roots in Christ determine our identity, shape who we are and what we are to become, and above all name us as children of God.
FIRST LESSON FOCUS
By Elizabeth Achtemeier
Acts 8:26-40
Luke, the author of Acts, intends his story in the Acts of the Apostles to show how the gospel rapidly spreads throughout the Mediterranean world. We have heard about the preaching and deeds of Peter and John in Jerusalem and, immediately preceding our text for the morning, we read that those two apostles proclaimed the word in many villages in Samaria (v. 25). Now our account for the morning tells how the Apostle Stephen spread the gospel to Gaza and Azotus (Ashdod) and Caesarea (v. 40).
In our story, on the road down from Jerualem to Gaza, Stephen encounters a black Ethiopian sitting in a chariot and reading a portion of the Suffering Servant Song from Isaiah 52:13--53:12 in the Old Testament. Apparently the Ethiopian has halted his chariot for a rest. In conversation with him, Stephen learns that the man is an important official, the treasurer for the Queen of Egypt, but nevertheless a eunuch, something of an outsider, who has been to Jerusalem to worship according to the Jewish faith. When Stephen sees that the man is puzzled by Isaiah 53:7-8, Stephen asks him if he understands the passage. "How can I, unless someone guides me?" replies the Ethiopian. So as the chariot moves on, Stephen rides with the Ethiopian and tells him that the verses refer to Jesus, explaining then the whole story of what has happened in Jesus' life, death, and resurrection. When he hears the account, the Ethiopian believes that Jesus is Lord, and when the chariot draws near to a pool of water, he asks Stephen to baptize him into the Christian faith. Stephen does so and then is caught up by the Spirit and transferred to Ashdod, while the Ethiopian returns to Egypt, rejoicing. In such a manner does the faith spread also beyond Palestine and Syria and the Mediterranean coast to the far reaches of Africa.
Most important in Acts' accounts is the fact that the spread of the gospel throughout the known world is the result of the working of the Holy Spirit. Stephen does nothing by his own volition in this story, as is true of all the other apostles mentioned in Acts. An angel directs Philip to the road to Gaza where he encounters the Ethiopian (v. 26). The Spirit tells him to join the man in the chariot (v. 29). The Spirit finally transfers him to Ashdod (vv. 39-40). In other words, God is the one who is spreading the gospel by the inspiration of the Spirit, and the mission that the apostles are on is the mission of God to bring the good news of Jesus Christ to the whole world. God's love for the world did not stop with the resurrection and ascension of Christ. It blossomed forth in the words and deeds of apostles and preachers, of missionaries and teachers, of important men like that treasurer for the Queen of Egypt and of humble persons like your neighbor or parent. Now you and I call ourselves by the name of Christ because God has steadily worked to give us all good news. God so loved the world -- and you and me -- that he has never ceased bringing us the "good tidings of great joy" that are intended for every person everywhere.
The way that Stephen is inspired by the Holy Spirit to convert the Ethiopian Eunuch is to interpret the scripture to him, specifically to connect Jesus' death and resurrection with the Suffering Servant Song in Second Isaiah. The Ethiopian has apparently previously studied the Old Testament, because he has been to Jerusalem to worship, but now Stephen shows him how that sacred Jewish book has been fulfilled by Jesus Christ. Stephen shows the Ethiopian the unified story of God's revelation of himself in the Bible that has found its climax and final fulfillment in our Lord.
I wonder. Could you and I tell that story? Could we interpret an important portion of the Old Testament or New for someone and thus lead them to faith? That is an important part of being servants and witnesses for Christ. Whenever we read in Acts of the apostles converting persons to the Christian faith, we hear them telling the biblical story. They know the events recorded and preserved for us in the scriptures. And that shared knowledge leads someone to believe.
We hear a lot about evangelism these days. Membership in the mainline churches is declining. Persons in our society are seeking some new spirituality, we are told, but they aren't turning to our churches to find it. So, goes the admonition, you and I should get out there and draw in new members, establish new churches, invite people to come in, in short, be witnesses for Christ.
But a lot of us are very hesitant about being witnesses, aren't we? We can be friendly toward persons, of course, and we can urge them to join our congregation and make them feel welcome, but convert them, lead them to confess the Christian faith? Well, that's another cup of tea altogether. We know what we believe, but we have a hard time sharing it with anyone else. No, we say. Count on someone else or on an appointed committee to do the work of evangelism. We weren't cut out for the job.
Is our hesitancy to be Christ's witnesses due to our ignorance of the scriptures? To be sure, we know some portions of the Bible -- a couple of familiar Psalms, perhaps the Christmas story, some of the parables of Jesus, and a few of the events surrounding his death and resurrection, although our knowledge does become a little hazy about the details of any of those.
The result is, however, that we have a hard time distinguishing the truth about any statement concerning the Bible. And there are a lot of kooky statements circulating in our society these days! Some writer puts out his version of the scripture, or Hollywood releases a so-called biblical epic, or some church official gives his private view. And we have no idea if any of those are true or not!
Worst of all, our ignorance of the scriptures makes us very ineffective witnesses for our Lord. We all stand under that command of Jesus to "Go ... and make disciples of all nations ... teaching them ..." (Matthew 28:19-20). But we're unable to teach, aren't we, because we do not know. We cannot open the scriptures to some inquirer, as did Stephen in our text, because we do not know the scriptures ourselves.
Have you ever stopped to think, good Christians, that one of the primary requirements of discipleship for Christ is reading the Bible? You all want to be good disciples. You all want to serve Jesus Christ. Therefore our text and our Lord tell us, read the Bible. Read and reread it and study it so you know it. And then pass on to someone else its very good news.
Our lessons today are about roots in the sense that they explore the source of our lives, values, and meaning. They are not concerned so much with historical roots as they are with spiritual ones. That is, the lessons sketch how it is we Christians relate to God in Christ and from that relationship find our identity. In one sense, personal and corporate identity are precisely what roots are about, for through knowing our origin we come to know who we are today. Roots provide us one (but not the only) way of approaching these lessons in quest of a message for our congregations.
Acts 8:26-40
The story of Philip and the Ethiopian Eunuch seems, on first reading, to have little to do with roots and identity, but that impression may change as we investigate what the story does. The story really has a very simple plot structure. Philip receives a divine command and goes to meet the Eunuch on the road from Jerusalem to Gaza where he enables the Ethiopian to understand words of Scripture in terms of the Christ event, and the Eunuch requests and receives baptism. Philip is then abruptly taken away by the Spirit to another place.
The placement of this story in Acts is important although none too clear. Luke is systematically telling how the church fulfilled Christ's promise in 1:8 and witnessed to Christ first in Jerusalem (2:1--8:3) and then in Samaria (8:4-25). Chapter 9 relates Paul's call and begins the story of the church's mission to the Gentiles and hence to the "ends of the earth." Our passage is sandwiched between the mission to Samaria and the beginnings of the mission to the Gentiles. Some argue that the Ethiopian Eunuch represents Gentile converts to Judaism. Others think he is a "God-fearer," that is, one of those Gentiles who were not full converts to Judaism but were attracted it. All we know is that the Eunuch "had come to Jerusalem to worship" (v. 27b). The problem arises as to how Judaism of the time could accommodate a eunuch, given his gender condition (see Deuteronomy 23:1). Clearly, however, the story presents the church's movement to the south (Gaza), after it has been successful in the north (Samaria). For us, it is enough to recognize that the Ethiopian Eunuch represents one who occupied the fringes of society. His sexual condition made him unacceptable to many, and he was probably black. Luke seems to say that this story demonstrates the church's mission to the marginalized of the day in Judea, Samaria, or anywhere in the world.
The story presupposes the presence and activity of the Holy Spirit, guiding and inspiring the church's ministry. It may even remind us of Ezekiel's spiritual journeys. Philip meets the Ethiopian on "a wilderness road," which triggers the complicated symbolism of the wilderness as a place both of temptation and of encounter with God. The Eunuch held a very important position in the Ethiopian court of Candace (which means simply "queen"). He is reading Isaiah 53:7-8 and is curious about the identity of the person spoken of in the passage (indeed, as modern scholars are). Much as the risen Christ had done with the disciples (Luke 24:25-27, 32, 45-48), Philip persuasively interprets the passage in the light of Christ's crucifixion and resurrection.
The Eunuch takes the initiative to request baptism. In the course of the story, he asks three questions (vv. 31, 34, and 37), the last of which ("What is to prevent me from being baptized?") implies that his impediments might preclude his admission to the church, much as they kept him from becoming a Jew. His request is granted, Philip is snatched away, and the Eunuch goes his way a new person ("rejoicing," v. 39). In the meantime, the Spirit has other work for Philip.
This marginalized person from a strange and far away country is suddenly and unexpectedly given new roots. His life had been shaped entirely by his nationality, ethnicity, and sexuality, but now all that becomes transformed in the light of a new faith and meaning for life. He becomes part of the body of Christ, a disciple of the crucified and living Lord, and that makes everything different. Our faith in Christ gives us a new heritage and a new future, even as the Ethiopian Eunuch's faith did.
1 John 4:7-21
This is doubtless the most famous passage in 1 John, and rightly so for it declares the heart of our faith with clarity and simplicity. The structure of this so-called epistle is unclear, but we can see that in this passage the author circles back to pick up the theme of 3:18-24 (see the Third Sunday of Easter) and carry it further. It is related to 4:1-6 by the fact that it deals with our knowing when we are truly related to Christ and not victims of a false "spirit." The movement of the passage is structured around three statements. After each of these, the author meditates on its meaning. Those three statements may be found in verses 7 ("love is from God"), 13 ("we abide in him and he in us"), and 16b-17 ("God is love" and "love has been perfected among us"). Verse 21 serves as a conclusion to the whole of 3:18--4:20.
"Love is from God" (v. 7) offers both a basis for the imperative to love others and for knowing when we are properly related to God. "From God" in this case means only that God is the source of all love. The expressions "born of God" and "know God" use different metaphors to state the same thing, namely, to draw one's reason for being and for loving from God. We know this only because of God's revelation in Christ, and that means that God took the initiative to love us before we loved God -- an important distinction for 1 John, since it depicts the source and origin of human love (see v. 11). Since no one can claim a direct vision of God, love becomes the evidence of the divine presence. Where there is genuine love, there God is found. All of this language echoes the fourth Gospel, in particular being born again from above (John 3:3-10), having one's origin in God or in the world (e.g., John 15:18), God's sending Christ into the world (John 3:16), and the claim that "no one has seen God" (John 1:18).
"We abide in him and he in us" (v. 13) expresses the intimacy of our relationship with Christ and in all probability does not refer to some mystic experience of Christ. "We know" hints that the first readers may be doubting their faith, uncertain whether or not they are in right relationship with God. The author supplies three reasons for assurance or certainty. First, the readers know the Spirit has been given to them, and the presence of the Spirit in our lives is equated with being in Christ and he in us. Second, the author speaks of our seeing and testifying to Christ's role as God's emissary. In other words, the readers have found the truth of Christ's identity in their corporate experience (see 1:1), and that experience evidences the mutual indwelling of Christ in them and they in Christ. Third, when it is true and authentic, the Christian confession demonstrates the confessor's relationship with Christ. As we learn from 4:2-3, that confession must entail understanding that God's saving agent appeared among us in the flesh. Verse 16a offers the conclusion to which these reasons lead us.
"God is love" and "love has been perfected among us"(vv. 16b-17) draw a logical conclusion from what has been said above, namely that "God is love," and explores how the divine love has shaped the community. It would be a mistake to take "God is love" as either a theological or philosophical assertion, for the author is not attempting to play the role of a systematic and abstract thinker here. Rather, the community knows through its experience with Christ that what is important about God for us is the divine affection, care, and commitment. Therefore, abiding in love -- living with love as our basic value and self-definition -- is the same as abiding in God. The text seeks a pastoral end which is to assure readers that living love is what Christian faith is all about.
In verses 17-20 the author appears to be addressing another doubt among the readers. What's going to happen to us in the day of judgment? Lots of us have asked the same question, and many are filled with fear at the prospects of that final reckoning. However, to have confidence that we share God's values is to have all that fear blown away; to try to be in our world what God is -- that is, love -- achieves all that God is concerned about in the final judgment. Love doesn't make room for fear, for love is the opposite of fear. Perfect love does not mean a love that has no failures or shortcomings. The verb translated "perfected" is more akin to wholeness and fullness than freedom from error and hence is more like the Hebrew shalom than the Greek concept of perfection. Those who remain fearful before God are those who have not allowed love to be their desire and goal.
The author's reflections now return to the relationship between God's love and our loving, since that is the key to allowing love to chase away fear. Again, God's love precedes ours and is the root of our capacity to love others, so it is logical nonsense to say we love God and hate other people. "Liars" are those who do not appropriate the revelation of God into their lives (see 1:10; 2:4, 22; and 5:10) and hints at the embodiment of evil, Satan (see John 8:44). Verse 20b assumes that it is easier to love what you experience immediately and directly than to love that which is mysterious and transcendent. There may be some flaws in this argument, but it is clear that the author believes loving others is logically inherent in loving God.
Verse 21 serves as a conclusion to the whole of 3:18--4:20. It recalls the first statement of this theme in 3:11-24 and pulls the entirety of the section together. It is typical of this author to circle back on themes previously stated so that the text moves like a spiral.
First John invites us to find our roots in the love of God expressed in the advent of Christ. This love becomes the well from which we draw meaning and value for life. It informs the whole of our existence and provides a foundation for survival in this world. If we are "born of God" and "know God," we are a product of God's love.
John 15:1-8
This passage is another of Jesus' "I am" sayings discussed in the column for the Fourth Sunday of Easter. Exactly what kind of literary form this passage is depends on how you delineate certain forms. Clearly the main feature of Jesus' words is metaphorical insofar as they compare Jesus and God to a vine and one who grows vines. However, it is like an allegory in that it equates certain parts of the picture with certain figures: Christ equals the vine, God the vine grower, and believers the branches of the vine. However you understand the way this passage works, it is clear that this image is related to the Old Testament passages which speak of Israel as God's vineyard (for example, Psalm 80:8-16; Isaiah 5:1-7; and Ezekiel 15:1-6), so the fourth evangelist ties Christ with the Hebraic tradition but offers a different arrangement in the metaphor.
This passage is also probably the clearest explanation of what "abide" means in the fourth Gospel. The mutual abiding refers to the believers' relationship with Christ, which is like the relationship between the branches and the trunk of a plant in that the branches derive their lives from the trunk. Jesus speaks here of several related subjects. First, the believers' relationship with Christ; second, "bearing fruit" as a result of that relationship; and, third, the fate of those who do not have this relationship with Christ.
The passage begins with the topic of "bearing fruit." Elsewhere this expression refers to the Christian's moral life, doing the will of God (for example, Matthew 7:16-20), but appears in only two other passages in John (4:36 and 12:24). There is very little in the way of explicit and detailed moral instruction in the fourth Gospel, except for the commandment that the disciples love one another (13:34). What it means to bear fruit certainly involves the love Jesus commands. However, in the Johannine context, fruit probably refers to belief and witness as well, since verse 8 suggests that bearing fruit is being a disciple. Fruitless branches are assumed to be dead, and hence are removed to make room for more productive life. "Pruning" means being freed to believe in Christ. The Greek word translated "cleansed" is closely related to the verb "prune" since to purify often means removing that which was unclean. Jesus, however, assures his followers that they are pruned or cleansed, presumably by virtue of their faith and acceptance of him (see 1:12-13).
However, believing, witnessing, and loving others are possible only because disciples are related to Christ and have their life from him (v. 4), but they are helpless without that relationship (v. 5b). "Abiding" in Christ as Christ abides in us suggests a relationship, but not one of equals. Our faith and love are derived from our "vine," Christ, so that the relationship is one of total dependence on our part. However, verse 4 suggests that we should be related to Christ in the way he is related to us ("Abide in me as I abide in you"). If Christ's relatedness to us is based on love (for example, 13:1b), then we can only depend totally on him through our love for him (in the sense of gratitude and commitment).
The passage speaks too of the consequences of such an intimate relationship of love. Verse 7, however, needs to be interpreted with care. Obviously it does not mean that we can ask just anything of Christ and receive it. The asking is done out of the relationship of love. That means that proper requests are those which adhere to the nature of the relationship itself. The goal of all this is to "glorify" God, because by living a fruitful life connected with Christ, God is honored (v. 8).
Within this exploration of the relationship and bearing fruit are some words concerning the fate of those who do not have this relationship with Christ. There is little in the Gospel of John about a final judgment and punishment for disbelief, so we have no context in which to read verse 6. Obviously, the words function on two levels. On the level of the picture, the branches that have been removed from a vine die and are burned; on the level of the meaning of the allegory, the detached branches would seem to be those who fail to believe, love, and witness. Of first importance is that connectedness with Christ is what gives true and authentic life (what the Gospel calls "eternal life"). We die a spiritual death when cut off from Christ. The fire is less a threat of some eternal punishment than it is a statement of the emptiness and worthlessness of a life alienated from God.
The image of roots clearly captures something of the mood of this Gospel passage. The source of our lives is our association with Christ, made possible first by his association with us. Without that total dependence on God through Christ, our lives become meaningless and rootless. The Ethiopian Eunuch is given new roots by his belief and baptism in Christ, and the love with which God loves us in Christ becomes our heritage and gives us our identity. The verbal picture of branches growing out of a vine, and being totally dependent on that vine for life, is a way of interpreting our first and second lessons. Roots in Christ determine our identity, shape who we are and what we are to become, and above all name us as children of God.
FIRST LESSON FOCUS
By Elizabeth Achtemeier
Acts 8:26-40
Luke, the author of Acts, intends his story in the Acts of the Apostles to show how the gospel rapidly spreads throughout the Mediterranean world. We have heard about the preaching and deeds of Peter and John in Jerusalem and, immediately preceding our text for the morning, we read that those two apostles proclaimed the word in many villages in Samaria (v. 25). Now our account for the morning tells how the Apostle Stephen spread the gospel to Gaza and Azotus (Ashdod) and Caesarea (v. 40).
In our story, on the road down from Jerualem to Gaza, Stephen encounters a black Ethiopian sitting in a chariot and reading a portion of the Suffering Servant Song from Isaiah 52:13--53:12 in the Old Testament. Apparently the Ethiopian has halted his chariot for a rest. In conversation with him, Stephen learns that the man is an important official, the treasurer for the Queen of Egypt, but nevertheless a eunuch, something of an outsider, who has been to Jerusalem to worship according to the Jewish faith. When Stephen sees that the man is puzzled by Isaiah 53:7-8, Stephen asks him if he understands the passage. "How can I, unless someone guides me?" replies the Ethiopian. So as the chariot moves on, Stephen rides with the Ethiopian and tells him that the verses refer to Jesus, explaining then the whole story of what has happened in Jesus' life, death, and resurrection. When he hears the account, the Ethiopian believes that Jesus is Lord, and when the chariot draws near to a pool of water, he asks Stephen to baptize him into the Christian faith. Stephen does so and then is caught up by the Spirit and transferred to Ashdod, while the Ethiopian returns to Egypt, rejoicing. In such a manner does the faith spread also beyond Palestine and Syria and the Mediterranean coast to the far reaches of Africa.
Most important in Acts' accounts is the fact that the spread of the gospel throughout the known world is the result of the working of the Holy Spirit. Stephen does nothing by his own volition in this story, as is true of all the other apostles mentioned in Acts. An angel directs Philip to the road to Gaza where he encounters the Ethiopian (v. 26). The Spirit tells him to join the man in the chariot (v. 29). The Spirit finally transfers him to Ashdod (vv. 39-40). In other words, God is the one who is spreading the gospel by the inspiration of the Spirit, and the mission that the apostles are on is the mission of God to bring the good news of Jesus Christ to the whole world. God's love for the world did not stop with the resurrection and ascension of Christ. It blossomed forth in the words and deeds of apostles and preachers, of missionaries and teachers, of important men like that treasurer for the Queen of Egypt and of humble persons like your neighbor or parent. Now you and I call ourselves by the name of Christ because God has steadily worked to give us all good news. God so loved the world -- and you and me -- that he has never ceased bringing us the "good tidings of great joy" that are intended for every person everywhere.
The way that Stephen is inspired by the Holy Spirit to convert the Ethiopian Eunuch is to interpret the scripture to him, specifically to connect Jesus' death and resurrection with the Suffering Servant Song in Second Isaiah. The Ethiopian has apparently previously studied the Old Testament, because he has been to Jerusalem to worship, but now Stephen shows him how that sacred Jewish book has been fulfilled by Jesus Christ. Stephen shows the Ethiopian the unified story of God's revelation of himself in the Bible that has found its climax and final fulfillment in our Lord.
I wonder. Could you and I tell that story? Could we interpret an important portion of the Old Testament or New for someone and thus lead them to faith? That is an important part of being servants and witnesses for Christ. Whenever we read in Acts of the apostles converting persons to the Christian faith, we hear them telling the biblical story. They know the events recorded and preserved for us in the scriptures. And that shared knowledge leads someone to believe.
We hear a lot about evangelism these days. Membership in the mainline churches is declining. Persons in our society are seeking some new spirituality, we are told, but they aren't turning to our churches to find it. So, goes the admonition, you and I should get out there and draw in new members, establish new churches, invite people to come in, in short, be witnesses for Christ.
But a lot of us are very hesitant about being witnesses, aren't we? We can be friendly toward persons, of course, and we can urge them to join our congregation and make them feel welcome, but convert them, lead them to confess the Christian faith? Well, that's another cup of tea altogether. We know what we believe, but we have a hard time sharing it with anyone else. No, we say. Count on someone else or on an appointed committee to do the work of evangelism. We weren't cut out for the job.
Is our hesitancy to be Christ's witnesses due to our ignorance of the scriptures? To be sure, we know some portions of the Bible -- a couple of familiar Psalms, perhaps the Christmas story, some of the parables of Jesus, and a few of the events surrounding his death and resurrection, although our knowledge does become a little hazy about the details of any of those.
The result is, however, that we have a hard time distinguishing the truth about any statement concerning the Bible. And there are a lot of kooky statements circulating in our society these days! Some writer puts out his version of the scripture, or Hollywood releases a so-called biblical epic, or some church official gives his private view. And we have no idea if any of those are true or not!
Worst of all, our ignorance of the scriptures makes us very ineffective witnesses for our Lord. We all stand under that command of Jesus to "Go ... and make disciples of all nations ... teaching them ..." (Matthew 28:19-20). But we're unable to teach, aren't we, because we do not know. We cannot open the scriptures to some inquirer, as did Stephen in our text, because we do not know the scriptures ourselves.
Have you ever stopped to think, good Christians, that one of the primary requirements of discipleship for Christ is reading the Bible? You all want to be good disciples. You all want to serve Jesus Christ. Therefore our text and our Lord tell us, read the Bible. Read and reread it and study it so you know it. And then pass on to someone else its very good news.
