March 9: When the Person Transcends What Seems to Be
♫ Music:
Day 16 - Thursday, March 9
Title: NO MAN EVER SPOKE LIKE THIS!
Scripture: John 7:45–53
Then the officers returned to the Pharisees and chief priests, who said to them, “Why haven’t you brought him?”
“No man ever spoke like this!” they replied.
“Has he pulled the wool over your eyes, too?” retorted the Pharisees. “Have any of the authorities or any of the Pharisees believed in him? But this crowd, who know nothing about the Law, is damned anyway!”
One of their number, Nicodemus (the one who had previously been to see Jesus), remarked to them, “But surely our Law does not condemn the accused without hearing what he has to say, and finding out what he has done?”
“Are you a Galilean, too?” they answered him. “Look where you will—you won’t find any prophet coming out of Galilee!”
So they broke up their meeting and went home . . .
Poetry & Poet:
“A Task”
by Czeslaw Milosz
In fear and trembling, I think I would fulfill my life
Only if I brought myself to make a public confession
Revealing a sham, my own and of my epoch:
We were permitted to shriek in the tongue of dwarfs
and demons
But pure and generous words were forbidden
Under so stiff a penalty that whoever dared to
pronounce one
Considered himself as a lost man.
WHEN THE PERSON TRANSCENDS WHAT SEEMS TO BE
When I was a city news reporter, I spent time on the streets. It was there that I saw life up close: car crashes (including those in which people died); toxic pollutants in lakes and streams; fires that destroyed homes and, one day, took the life of a rookie volunteer firefighter.
What I also saw was the difference between the realities of street life (the horrors of it, the absurdities of it) and the grasp of it by people sitting in council chambers or government offices. People in those chambers and offices would create committees and task forces to report on problems they’d heard about—out there, on mean streets. It was rare that a task force or committee report actually helped people on those streets.
Yet perception is reality, said political consultant Lee Atwater (or so it is said). Measurement of public sentiment is what drives decisions about pursuing political power; it drives the engines of government. Furor on the streets, we learned in the days following the murder of George Floyd —and on January 6, 2021—can strike fear in the halls of government. Violence, or the fear of it, can drive public policy and leaders’ decision-making.
So, it was with the people listening to Jesus in John Chapter 7. The context of today’s passage is misperception and misplaced expectation. Jesus’ brothers’ perception of Him was driven by disbelief—to the point of disdain. Perception of people in the crowds was mixed: some had open minds and hearts to the Savior; some thought Jesus had transcended government control: perception driven by appearances. And the Pharisees’ blindness to Jesus’ spiritual authority got them stuck in the weeds of their teaching about washed hands, about healing, about demons. So focused were they on themselves, they could not see the enormity of this man, this Messiah, before them.
It’s interesting that the leaders’ order to arrest Jesus comes from their reading of the crowds’ thinking (and believing) about Jesus. The leaders aren’t there to see the arrests. They’re back in their chambers; the Gustave Doré painting shrewdly captures their lethargic, spiritually clumsy attitude. It is a scene of shadowy, sheltered, self-absorbed thought and reclusiveness; with the wild streets far away, action there is like a bright light they will not acknowledge.
Arresting officers, like news reporters, are people familiar with the streets. They step, often coldly, into the unexpected, into the seemingly impossible that interrupts routines. So, it is here in John 7. The officers wade through the crowds trying to get to Jesus and they hear the comments, the arguments—and Jesus’ words. What they see and hear astounds them. The music for today brings their words into a driving rhythm: “never did a man speak like this.” They don’t arrest Jesus. Perhaps they could not, given the volatile moment. And they return to their leaders empty-handed. Jesus’ hour had not yet come. So, the meeting adjourns.
Prayer:
O Jesus, forgive us—for hearing but not listening to You. The power of your words, your promises, were beyond us. We were too afraid, too focused on ourselves, on the perceptions of those around us. It was so noisy; there was so much commotion. But now, thanks to You, Holy Spirit, we are listening. And our souls are stirred. We repent in dust and ashes and cry out, “Save us!” We believe. And we will follow you. Always. Thank you for repeating Yourself to us. We are so slow to understand, slower still to rise in obedience.
Dr. Michael A. Longinow
Chair, Department of Digital Journalism and Media
Adviser, Print Journalism; Adviser, The Chimes
Co-Adviser, Media Narrative Projects
Department of Digital Journalism and Media
School of Fine Arts and Communication
Biola University
For more information about the artwork, music, and poetry selected for this day, we have provided resources under the “About” tab located next to the “Devotional” tab.
About the Translation of the Bible for the 2023 Lent Project:
J.B. Phillips New Testament Translation of the Bible
J.B. Phillips (1906-1982) was well-known within the Church of England for his commitment to making the message of truth relevant to today's world. Phillips' translation of the New Testament brings home the full force of the original message. The New Testament in Modern English was originally written for the benefit of Phillips' youth group; it was later published more widely in response to popular demand. The language is up-to-date and forceful, involving the reader in the dramatic events and powerful teaching of the New Testament. It brings home the message of Good News as it was first heard two thousand years ago.
https://www.biblegateway.com/
About the Artwork:
The House of Caiaphas
Gustave Doré
1875
Oil on canvas
177.2 x 107.6 cm
Museum of Fine Arts
Houston, Texas
Artist Gustave Doré paints the dark, cavernous inside of the house of Jewish high priest Caiaphas. The place of the judgmental mutterings of the Pharisees is contrasted sharply with the exterior town square where Jesus, highlighted in bright light, is surrounded by the townspeople eager to hear his teachings. In his second appearance in John’s gospel, Nicodemus challenges the Pharisees to hear and investigate Jesus’ teachings before making a final judgment about him. Their mocking response to Nicodemus argues that no prophet can possibly come from the town of Galilee.
About the Artist:
Gustave Doré (1832–1883) is considered one of the most successful and prolific illustrators of the late nineteenth century. A French artist, printmaker, illustrator, and sculptor who primarily worked with wood engraving, he began his career at the age of fifteen as a caricaturist for the French paper Le Journal pour rire and obtained a number of commissions to illustrate scenes from books by writers such as Balzac, Byron, Milton, Poe, and Dante. Doré also created epic canvases, enormous sculptures, numerous etchings and watercolors, but his production as an illustrator remains unmatched in its scope and ambition. His achievements as an illustrator brought him tremendous public praise and critical acclaim, and his work helped shape the world of today’s comic books and graphic novels.
https://www.britannica.com/biography/Gustave-Dore
https://www.getty.edu/art/collection/person/103KYT
About the Music: “Never a Man Spoke Like This Man” from the album Standing Out
Lyrics:
Jesus went into the temple,
When he was only twelve.
His words awed the elders
as his wisdom they beheld.
Then the multitude that followed,
To hear the man from Galilee.
He’s the man from Galilee
Never a man spoke like this man,
When he said come follow me.
He calmed the troubled waters,
With a few words from his lips.
The lame walked the dumb talked
When he said to them believe.
And Lazarus came forth from the grave,
When he head the master speak.
Never a man spoke like this man,
When he said come follow me.
Never a man spoke like this man,
The glorious King of kings.
He spoke to my troubled soul,
And now my heart sings.
He has promised in his holy word,
Some day his face I’d see.
Never a man spoke like this man,
When he said come follow me.
About the Composer:
Darrell Mansfield is an American vocalist, harmonica player, songwriter, recording artist, and performer of various genres including gospel, contemporary Christian music, blues, rock, country rock, and soul/R&B. He is considered a pioneer of the Jesus Music Movement of the 1970s and has influenced countless contemporary Christian music and mainstream artists alike. In 1974, Mansfield helped form the Christian country rock band Gentle Faith, which released their self-titled album, Gentle Faith, in 1976. In 1977, Mansfield formed the Darrell Mansfield Band. He has since recorded over thirty albums and toured throughout the United States, Europe, the Middle East, Asia, and Australia. Mansfield has contributed vocals and harmonica to recordings by artists including Adam Again, Eddie Van Halen, Jon Bon Jovi, Loverboy, and Raphael Saadiq. He is a vocal advocate for those facing mental health issues, having struggled with depression throughout his own life.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Darrell_Mansfield
About the Performers:
The country gospel quartet The Freemans is composed of the husband-and-wife team of Darrell Freeman and Chris Hawkins, as well as their daughter Misty Freeman and Darrell's first cousin, Joe Freeman. The group originally formed in 1983, at which time it included original member Diane Hawkins (Chris' sister), and it was signed shortly thereafter to Calvary Records. The group steadily released albums throughout the decade, including such titles as Have You Heard, Everything New, Solid, Warming Up, and Going Back. But by the early '90s, Diane left the band after marrying Joe and her spot has since been filled by Misty. Around this time the group enjoyed their greatest chart success, as they became the only group in Southern gospel music history to have four singles on the Top 40 charts. In 1992, the Freemans established their own record company, Goldenvine Productions, on which they subsequently released such hit recordings as “Once Was Enough,” “In a High Wind,” “ Renaissance,” and their first recording of the twenty-first century, 2001's “Highway.”
https://www.allmusic.com/artist/the-freemans-mn0000802692/biography
https://the-freemans.com/about-us
About the Poetry and Poet:
Czeslaw Milosz (1911–2004) was a Polish poet, prose writer, translator, and diplomat. He ranks among the most respected figures in twentieth-century Polish literature, as well as being one of the most respected contemporary poets in the world. He was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1980. Born in Lithuania, where his parents moved to escape the political upheaval in Poland, Milosz left Poland as an adult due to the oppressive Communist regime that came to power following World War II. He lived in the United States from 1960 until his death in 2004. Milosz’s poems, novels, essays, and other works were written in his native language, Polish, and then translated by the author and others into English. A witness to the Nazi devastation of Poland and the Soviet takeover of Eastern Europe, Milosz wrote poetry that deals with the central issues of our time, including the impact of history upon a moral person and the search for ways to survive spiritual assault in the world.
https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poets/czeslaw-milosz
About Devotion Author:
Dr. Michael A. Longinow
Chair, Department of Digital Journalism and Media
Adviser, Print Journalism; Adviser, The Chimes
Co-Adviser, Media Narrative Projects
Department of Digital Journalism and Media
School of Fine Arts and Communication
Biola University
Michael Longinow worked as a general assignment reporter in Morris, Illinois, near Joliet; then he was a political reporter in Carrollton, Georgia, outside Atlanta. His reporting on Taliban refugees in Georgia won him an award for feature-writing. He met his wife during graduate studies in news-editorial journalism at the University of Illinois in Urbana. (She holds a B.A. in journalism from the Grady College of Journalism and Mass Communication at the University of Georgia.) His doctoral dissertation at the University of Kentucky traced the Christian roots of American journalism and the role of media in the development of Christian higher education in the United States between the 1880s and the 1940s. He taught English and Journalism previously at Asbury University and served as adviser to their student newspaper. Michael teaches journalism and media in Biola’s School of Fine Arts & Communication and advises, The Chimes, a student-run daily digital news organization and periodic magazine.