Astonishing Promises

Tucked away at the end of the first chapter of John's gospel I think is a truly astonishing promise. We often don't see it, because John 1 of course starts on spiritual steroids and chapter 2 water-to-wine quickly grabs our attention. Yet in the often skipped verses 50 - 51 is an incredible statement for Jesus to make.

Nathanael, already wowed by Jesus' knowledge of him before they had met, is told that he will see 'heaven open, with angels ascending and descending ...'.

This is understood as a reference Jacob's special dream in Genesis 28, known as 'Jacob's Ladder'. In his deep sleep Jacob saw heaven open, and a two-way staircase for angels to cross between heaven and earth. Jacob is given affirmation promises repeating those to his grandfather, and the expectation that the land he was lying on would be especially blessed.

No one before or after had experienced anything quite like this dream. It was special to Jacob.

Yet now Jesus is telling the just-recruited Nathanael and others (the Greek is plural) that they would see something of this very vision once again, though this time centred on Jesus. That is an astonishing promise for anyone to try and make. It is astonishing for even Jesus to make.

Yet that was the deal! Something to do with Jesus, where he was present, being be a place of open heaven, angels freely bridging between heaven and earth! Do we confine the Genesis passage to being a quirky incident that enthused Jacob? If so, why does Jesus adopt it and link it to himself?

Could it be that the original dream pointed forward to a greater spiritual reality that both centred on and was made possible by Jesus. Do we need to locate ourselves with Nathanael and chums and hear Jesus say 'You will see ...', no matter how astonishing that might sound to us?

Sea of Need, Burdens and the Spirit's Direction

"The people need to hear the true meaning of Christmas", someone said to me. They had a valid point: People need Jesus, full stop. And Jesus is God come to us - the deal in the Christmas story - and so telling the true meaning of Christmas does help lead people to Jesus.

It was not that the need as stated was invalid. It was the implication that this need (relating to Christmas) might trump other needs. The reality is that there is a sea of need (or even oceans of need!). Who is to discern between them?

Now I do accept that an individual or group seeing a particular need might find themselves feeling a burden regarding that need, which they are right to express to others. Yet surely the correct path is to then hold that burden in prayer and see how things develop. Of course typically the Spirit will lead those burdened to become the very activists who do something about it (you might then suspect that it was the Spirit who gave them the burden in the first place!) - but that is a process wrestled in prayer.

We must learn to enter and embrace that process, almost stepping back from the need (and the burden we may feel), to let the Spirit properly gestate and birth in us the action we are to take. That means preventing ourselves from simply mapping the need down onto action, and instead praying and waiting for suggestions for action to bubble up.

Sometimes the Spirit will confirm ideas that match the perceived need, but this waiting process leaves room for the Spirit to lead quite differently. Take those episodes in Acts where Paul was led in a whole new mission direction (see chapter 16 for example). Its not like there was no need in Bithynia, but the Spirit in this case was leading to Macedonia!

So be careful of the word 'need', pray and wait on burdens, and in all cases keep alert to the leading of the Spirit!