“The mere idea of you, the longing here for you. You'll never know how slow the moments go till I'm near to you. I see your face in every flower, your eyes in stars above. It's just the thought of you, the very thought of you, my love.” My wife and I have spent a lot of time on romantic vacations listening to those words sung by Billie Holiday or Nat King Cole.
If you were a first century Greek philosopher on a romantic vacation, you might sing, “The very thought of you, the mere logos of you... and foolish though it may seem, to me, that’s everything.”
The Greek word, “logos,” is normally translated into English as the word, “Word.” “In the beginning was the Word [logos: thought, idea, meaning, logic] and the Word was with God and the Word was God... All things were made through him. That which has been made is life in him... The Word became flesh and dwelt among us.” That’s how John begins his Gospel in Chapter one. In Chapter nineteen, the Word in flesh hangs on a tree in a garden on the Holy Mountain.
A beast from the sea (that looks like Rome) in league with a beast from the land (that looks like Israel) nailed Him to this tree because Jerusalem who had just recently chanted “hosanna” was now chanting “crucify, crucify.” Just as the prophets foretold, Jerusalem was, in fact, a whore.
According to Irenaeus around 150 A.D., John wrote his gospel after returning from Patmos where he had received the Revelation. The Revelation is The Gospel According to Jesus, and you can see it all over the Gospel According to John. The Revelation is a call to conquer, and no one can conquer except a slaughtered lamb and those with him. “To Conquer” is the Greek verb “nikao.” It’s where we get names like Nick or Nicodemus, which means “conqueror.”
In Revelation 10:6-7, we read that “Chronos (time) will be no more. And in the days of the seventh trumpet call, the mystery of God will be fulfilled.” Then we see a woman give birth and a dragon who hates the baby. The Baby is caught up to God and His throne (which might very well be in you) and the dragon battles the little brothers and sisters of the Baby. It calls up a “beast from the sea” and a “beast from the land.” And there is a “Great Harlot” who rides the beast (She’s Babylon, Rome, and Jerusalem). A voice from heaven cries, “Come out of her, my people.” Then the Word of God, who is the Lamb riding a white horse, conquers them, cuts the flesh from all people, and the New Jerusalem descends from heaven on the very spot that the Word is now hanging on this tree in this garden — The New Jerusalem is a temple, a bride, and the body of the Lamb — the “last Adam.”
John 19:24, “So the soldiers did these things, but standing by the cross of Jesus were his mother and his mother’s sister, Mary the wife of Clopas, and Mary Magdalene... When Jesus had received the sour wine, he said, ‘It is finished [tetelestai],’ and he bowed his head and gave up the spirit.”
Does it ever feel to you like... God is dead?
Maybe a loved one died, a marriage died, a ministry died. Jesus said, “I am the light,” but now everything seems so dark. He’s the logic (logos) of Love, but now you wonder if Love is nothing more than an idea or thought in your head. You wonder if God is dead.
The Good and the Life is hanging on that tree... and He’s dead. What are Mary, Mary, Mary, and John thinking? And why — at great risk to themselves — are they still standing there? He’s dead.
Have you noticed how all the women in the Gospel of John are either unnamed or named “Mary” except for Martha, the sister of Mary of Bethany? There’s Mary the mother, Mary the wife (bride) of Clopas, and Mary Magdalene. John seems to be implying that all these women are one woman, and we are that woman. . . Mary.
Some associate Mary Magdelene with Mary of Bethany who anointed Jesus just a few days earlier. Many associate her with the “sinful woman” (most likely a prostitute) in Luke 7 who anointed Jesus with perfume and tears. She “loved much,” for she was forgiven much. Jesus delivered Mary Magdalene of seven demons, but Scripture doesn’t say that she was a prostitute — although I’d like to think she was a prostitute because Jesus seems to have a special affection for prostitutes, and humanity is a prostitute and that includes me. We learned that in Revelation 18 and in Genesis 2 and 3. Remember?
Adam cannot find his Helper (ezer), who is God. God makes Eve from Adam’s side. “This refers to Christ and his church,” writes Paul. Or as God says through the Prophet Hosea, “I desired hesed [covenant love, unconditional love] but at Adam you (Israel) transgressed the covenant. Eve (and that first adam) see that the fruit is “good for food, a delight to the eyes and to be desired to make one wise,” so they take the Good and the Life, the Wisdom (logos) in flesh hanging on that tree, as if He were a commodity... and everything dies.
Humanity, Israel, and Jerusalem, all harlots — and the worst harlotry is religious harlotry. Remember? In John 8, the Scribes and Pharisees throw a woman “caught in the act of adultery” at Jesus’s feet. Jesus says, “Let him who is without sin cast the first stone,” then bends down and writes in the dust from which we were all made, and one by one the men drop their stones and leave. The message is clear: The rulers of the Jews, who justify themselves with their knowledge of Good and evil, are the real harlots. As this woman — as Mary Magdelene — looks up at Jesus, what is she thinking?
Perhaps, “He knows me, what it’s like to be used.” Why is Mary standing there? Why does she come back to simply anoint a corpse? He’s good for nothing... “the mere idea of him, the longing here for him.” Mary gives herself to Him for nothing. So... she’s no longer a harlot; she’s a bride; and she will be his mother. She will love much, and God is love, so real love is God. “The Jerusalem above is our mother,” writes Paul.
Sometimes people will say to me, “If everyone is saved in the End, why be good?” And I realize that they’ve only been using the Good like a whore. They’ve never really seen the Good and so don’t want to be Good, for in fact they hate the Good in order to obtain what’s not Good. Then I realize that we’ve all crucified the Good who is the Life that comes to us every day, but time and time again we just don’t see Him.... But Mary does.
The name “Mary” means “her rebellion.” Through Mary, God rebels against the Principalities and Powers of this world and conquers the Dragon; it’s the Seed of the Woman that crushes the head of the Snake. And “the Woman is saved through childbearing,” writes Paul... He’s not saying that single women need to have babies; he’s saying that we’re all the harlot who becomes the Bride and gives birth to Jesus: We are Mary.
We used to be a big and sexy church; now we’re a relatively small church without the bells and whistles and of very little benefit to the ego. So, why are you here? My wife says that Jesus says that I’m preaching to Mary, Mary, and John, and that you matter immensely to Him. You’re Mary.
John 19:33, “But when they came to Jesus and saw that he was already dead, they did not break his legs. But one of the soldiers pierced his side with a spear, and at once there came out blood and water... these things took place that the Scripture might be fulfilled: ‘Not one of his bones will be broken.’” [He’s the Passover lamb] And again, another Scripture says, “They will look on him whom they have pierced.”
Eve was made from Adam’s side in the garden on the Holy Mountain. And Humanity (that’s all of Adam) is made from the eschatos Adam’s side in the garden on the Holy mountain. We are the Bride, the Body, and the Temple of the living God. He was in-carnate-ed (the Word became flesh) through the birth waters of a teenage girl named Mary. And He was out-carnate-ed (the Word left the flesh) through blood shed and breath surrendered on the holy mountain. And all who see Him — truly see Him — become Mary.
“I, the Lord, will pour out on the house of David and the inhabitants of Jerusalem a spirit of grace and pleas for mercy, so that when they look on me, on him whom they have pierced, they shall mourn for him as one... weeps over a firstborn... On that day living waters will flow from Jerusalem... And the Lord will be king over all the earth.” – Zechariah 12-14, Revelation 1:7
John 19:38: “After these things Joseph of Arimathea, who was a disciple of Jesus, but secretly for fear of the Jews, asked Pilate that he might take away the body of Jesus, and Pilate gave him permission. So he came and took away his body. Nicodemus also, who earlier had come to Jesus by night, came bringing a mixture of myrrh and aloes, about seventy-five pounds in weight. So they took the body of Jesus and bound it in linen cloths with the spices, as is the burial custom of the Jews. Now in the place where he was crucified there was a garden, and in the garden a new tomb in which no one had yet been laid. So because of the Jewish day of Preparation, since the tomb was close at hand, they laid Jesus there.”
Nicodemus had come to Jesus because of the signs (John 3:2). “An evil and adulterous generation seeks a sign,” said Jesus. Joseph and Nicodemus were both rulers of the Jews and harlots. But now they’re anointing the body of Christ like a bride. They’re giving up everything to do this. They will be excluded from the council, judged as unclean, unwelcomed at the Passover, and yet they hold the Passover — body broken and blood shed — in their old trembling hands as they anoint his battered naked corpse with 75 pounds of myrrh and aloes. Why?
“The very thought of you, the mere idea of you...” They had “fallen” in love. “I see your face in every flower, your eyes in stars above, the very thought of you... the mere idea of you, my love.”
Pilate gave them the corpse... Jesus is already conquering the beasts. And this is how He conquers the Harlot. This is the seventh sign that is the substance. The old city will be destroyed in one generation, and the temple leveled to the ground. The New Jerusalem descends from heaven with gates always open, and the temple is being rebuilt right here and right now. “Destroy this temple and in three days I will raise it up.” He’s already begun with Joseph and Nicodemus (“conquered” and “conquering” by the logos of Love).
If God seems dead:
