Lord, we would follow thee. We would be and do all that you have created us to be and do. Guide, O Lord, the words of my lips and the meditations of our hearts - at this time - and indeed always. Amen
Hear this text again - from Romans 13:11 - the Contemporary English Version Paul writes:
"You know what sort of times we live in, and so you should live properly. It is time to wake up. You know that the day when we will be saved is nearer now than we first put our faith in the Lord. Night is almost over, and day will soon appear. We must stop behaving as people do in the dark an be ready to live in the light."
Live properly - be ready to live in the light.
I would like to start by sharing something I read some years ago with the heading:
"Holier, Happier, Healthier":
"Attending church regularly is not only good for your soul, it is also good for the rest of you, according to Time magazine. In a recent cover story about changing attitudes to health, the magazine cited several scientific studies which indicate people who are religious are markedly healthier than those who are not. Their blood pressure is lower, they have fewer heart problems, they're less prone to depression - they even recover faster and more completely from hip fractures."
Neat stuff -- Something that we all should think about - especially those of us who are not regular in the worship of God - and those who are thinking about giving up on church.
It is the stuff of biblical promises which have always said that if we follow God - if we love God and obey the Lord's commands that we will prosper... Let me share some
Moses - speaking to the people just before his death said:
(extracts from Deuteronomy 28:1-13) - "always obey the laws and the teachings of the Lord and the Lord will make your businesses and your farms successful - he will make you his own special people - he will make you successful in your daily work - he will open the storehouses of the skies where he keeps the rain and he will send rain on your land at just the right times - he will make you a leader among the nations and not a follower"
Jesus - in the Sermon on the Mount, speaking about anxiety and worry about what to wear, what to eat, how to get by says, as it is put in the hymn based on that same passage - and you better sing it with me so that it sounds right:
"Seek ye first the kingdom of God and God's righteousness, then all these things shall be added unto you - Allelu - Alleluia" (Matthew 6:33)
Allelu, Alleluiah indeed!!...
Of course there is not a strict relationship between faith, between attending church regularly, between keeping the commandments of God and worldly success - THE CROSS should tell us that - the Book of Job tells us that the Spirit in our hearts tells us that but all in all - being with God, being in the family of God, and acting out - living out -your faith in a community, in a church, in worship with one another, is one of the best things you can do - in worldly terms - as well as spiritual.
But even as I say this - let me remind you - around the world Priests and missionaries - and people who gather for the worship of God - are killed simply because of the Gospel they believe in, because of the name that they bear.
Faith is not simply about attending church and prospering because of it.
It is about commitment.
About belief.
About courage.
About passion.
About love.
Love even when you don't want to love.
Love even when your brother or your sister hurts you.
Love even when it takes you to a cross instead of to a Rolls Royce.
Nevertheless I marvel my friends - and so perhaps ought you: I marvel at how so many people who do not believe miss what seems to be so obvious to those who do believe - that God's promises are sure and that the faithful are rewarded in this world by what Jesus calls, in tenth verse of the tenth chapter of the Gospel of John - "abundant life" or "life in its fullest" - and in the next by what we call "eternal life"
The abundant life is not a life of worldly riches - but rather a life full of spiritual treasures - a long life which commences now - and continues forever.
Think on it long and hard my friends: statistics suggest and the honest scientist can't rule out the idea that the claims of our faith are true - that loving God and obeying his commands, that attending church regularly and living properly, that living in the light - has real benefits.
So what does it mean to live properly - to live in the light???
Well, Paul suggests that it means several things - some of them very pedestrian, very simple, very common sense - very much like what good mothers and good fathers have told their children for centuries: (Verse 13)
- don't go to wild parties or get drunk or be vulgar or indecent
- and don't quarrel or be jealous.
There are obvious benefits to these things are there not???
- no bad reputation - no hang overs
- no having done things one would regret if only one could remember what it was one had done
- no people looking askance at you because of your vile mouth or avoiding you because of your inappropriate acts
- no senseless feuds brought about by insisting that your point is correct and someone else's is wrong
- no green tinge about your gills as you fume about how someone else has managed to get more than you have
- no more pain in the gut as you think about how little you have
Pretty obvious stuff with pretty obvious benefits.
But there is more to this living properly - living in the light - than what is obvious.
Paul goes on in verse 14 to say
"Let the Lord Jesus Christ be as near you as the clothes you wear. Then you won't try to satisfy your selfish desires."
To live properly, to live in the light, is to do more than simply follow a bunch of rules; it is more than the legalism of the scribes and pharisees and the doctrinaire approach to things of the rabidly orthodox and the politically correct.
To live properly, to live in the light, is to be close to the one who is the light. It is to be in intimate communion with, to be in touch with, the one who vanquishes darkness. It is to put on, to wear, to be indwelt by, the Spirit of the one who made the heavens and the earth and who knows from his own experience our every weakness.
And this my friends is above all a matter of attitude - a matter of desire - a matter of the Spirit which is in us.
The Christian life is not a matter of rules and regulations! It is a matter of wanting to be like the Lord Jesus and of believing in him - and of following him, of living by the love that he showed us when he went to that cross and died for us.
Listen to Paul again as God speaks through him -reading back in verses 9 and 10 of today's reading:
"In the law there are many commands, such as, 'be faithful in marriage. Do not murder. Do not steal. Do not want what belongs to others.' But all these are summed up in the command that says, 'love others as much you love yourself'.
Love is the basic stuff of living by faith and love is not a matter of the law - nor even is it a matter of what we feel - it is a matter of the will.
What do you will?? What do you want?? What do you desire?? What do you strive to bring about??
To return to a passage I quoted - or sang - a bit earlier. Matthew 6:33 - this time from the Contemporary English Version of the Bible:
"More than anything put God's work first and do what he wants. Then the other things will be yours as well."
Live properly, live in the light. Let the Lord Jesus Christ be as near to you as the clothes you wear. More than anything, put God's work first and do what God wants....
Today we celebrate a special moment in our faith community - to every member of their family a special moment in the Kingdom of God.
We celebrate how the lost have been found.
How the dead have come to life
How the wounded have been healed.
How the blind have received sight.
How the crucified have risen.
That is what baptism and confirmation are all about. That is what the Lord's Supper is all about. That indeed is what the Kingdom of God is all about.
Living in the light is a marvellous thing my friends. But it has its deep and serious side.
The light asks us - and shows us - that we owe to one another the kind of love God has for us.
It calls us to take upon ourselves a solemn obligation - a solemn debt, the debt of gratitude and thanksgiving, the obligation of actually giving a hoot.
That means my friends - that we must be willing in our relationships with one another to go first.
- To be the first to reach out after a quarrel.
- To be the first to try to work things out after we have been sinned against.
- To be the first, when things can't be worked out, and even when they can, to trust God for results,
- to be first in seeking reconciliation - and the first to refuse to fret or grow anxious or bitter or hateful because of what has happened to us.
Living in the light is a wondrous thing to do, a hard thing to do - a glorious thing to do.
A thing that benefits us from now - to eternity.
A thing that transforms us - and which can transform our world.
Brothers and sisters in Christ, hear today - as we come to perform the sacrament of Holy Baptism and to confirm the presence of the Holy Spirit in the lives of Joseph and Mary and Robert, the words of Jesus. Hear and remember how before Jesus ascended into heaven he spoke to his followers, saying:
"All authority in heaven and on earth have been given me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you, and lo, I am with you always, to the close of the age.
I am with you always. even to the close of the age....
This is the promise of God for all - and all those who walk in the light know it and rejoice in it. Praise be to God.
Sunday, September 4, 2011
Sunday, August 28, 2011
Exodus 3:1-15; Psalm 63; Matthew 16:21-27
O Lord, we pray, speak in the calming of our minds and in the longings of our hearts, by the words of my lips and in the thoughts that we form. Speak, O Lord, for your servants listen. Amen.
To really get hold of the significance of today's gospel reading with its talk of the cross and of suffering and dying and being raised you need to know what happened just minutes earlier in the scene.
Jesus has led his disciples to the region of Caesarea Philippi, and there he asked his disciples, "Who do people say the Son of Man is?"
They tell him - "Some say John the Baptist; others say Elijah; and still others, Jeremiah or one of the prophets."
Then he asks them - "But what about you?" Who do you say I am?"
And Peter answers "You are the Christ, the Son of the living God."
Jesus answers Peter's assertion by saying that Peter is truly blessed - that this confession has been revealed to him by God the Father and then he says to Peter that on him he would build his church - an everlasting church - and to him he would give "the keys of the kingdom of heaven so that whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven."
And then he warned his disciples not to tell anyone that he was the Christ.
There today's reading begins - with the words
"From that time on Jesus began to explain to his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things at the hands of the elders, chief priests and teachers of the law, and that he must be killed and on the third day be raised to life.
Notice the word that repeated twice in this single verse, the word that Peter reacts to immediately by taking Jesus aside and attempting to rebuke Jesus saying "Never Lord! This shall never happen to you."
I refer to the word "must".
I must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things. I must be killed be killed - and on the third day be raised to life.
I think we can understand where Peter is at. Many of us feel the same way today as Peter felt then.
It makes no sense to him that the Messiah, the Son of The Living God, must suffer and die.
It makes no sense to him that the King over Israel, the one promised of old to arise from the line of David and to rule over David's kingdom, must suffer many things at the hands of the very people who should welcome him with open arms.
It makes no sense at all that a dear friend - a holy man - a righteous man - a man destined to rule God's own people should be speaking of defeat instead of victory - of disgrace instead of honour - of an ignoble and early death - instead of a glorious and long life - and saying that it MUST be so.
Peter simply doesn't hear what Jesus is saying - and what he does hear - he doesn't want to accept.
And Jesus condemns that lack of hearing - that lack of accepting - that lack of understanding by saying to Peter:
"Get behind me, Satan! You are a stumbling block to me; you do not have in mind the things of God, but the things of men."
And then by telling all the disciples, who have been listening to this exchange between Peter and Jesus:
"If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself (there is that word again) and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me will find it...".
Have you ever wondered why throughout the gospels Jesus rebukes demons who identify him as the Son of Man and warns his disciples to not tell others that he is the Christ, the Son of the Living of God?
When I first started reading the Bible in my late teens and early twenties it struck me as very strange.
I mean is not our whole faith based on the understanding that Jesus is the Word of God made flesh?
- that he is the promised shoot arising out of the stump of Jesse?
- that he is the fulfilment of the promises made to Abraham and to Moses, to David and to Jeremiah and to Isaiah and all the prophets?
Indeed, isn't it the job of the Holy Spirit to reveal this very thing to us, much as Jesus says to Peter at Caesarea Philippi that he is blessed because the Father has revealed it to him?
"Jesus - You are the Messiah, the Christ, the Son of the Living God!" Why can't we say it?? Why can't we tell the whole world - right now - today?"
Well, of course, we can. But at the very beginning the disciples were told not to.
And the reason for that is because the people of the time, the faithful people, the hopeful people, who awaited the Messiah, would, upon hearing the news, fail - much as Peter failed - to hear the message of the Messiah.
The message concerning his life- I must suffer.
- I must be killed and on the third day rise.
And the message about their lives - If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me will find it.
We see it today in some churches - this failure to hear what the Messiah is all about, and what the Messiah, the Christ expects, indeed demands, of his followers.
We see it where forgiveness is proclaimed without requiring repentance, where baptism is practised without requiring that one be a part of the body of Christ, where communion is offered without the need for confession and reconciliation and where wealth and health is promised if you just believe - rather than the service and sacrifice, the humility and the self-giving that is the sign of our calling, and indeed the sign of sainthood.
Someone once said: "Jesus promised his disciples three things - they would be entirely fearless, absurdly happy, and always in trouble.".
That's not the kind of message most people want to hear.
Trouble we already have.
What we want is a world without trouble -
a world where all our problems are taken away with the snap of the fingers
a world where our enemies are made to vanish - just like that,
a world of peace and plenty and happiness,
a world where we and those we love can have everything a person desires.
That is what the Messiah is supposed to do - the Messiah is supposed to make our world better, to bring in the age of peace and plenty with one quick snap of the fingers and - if there must be a bit of fighting at the very beginning to get rid of those who oppress us, well, it will be a glorious affair, one with no injury or cost to the good guys, one where the enemy will be routed completely and where those who have fought for the king will be honoured in their victory with him, and the world will be safe forevermore....
From the moment that Peter and the other disciples recognized Jesus as the Messiah, from that time Jesus began to explain to them that he must suffer and that he must be killed and on the third day rise.
I would love to be able to tell you that this isn't the way things must be.
But God's ways - praise be to God - are not our ways.
The emblem our faith is not a crown - but a cross.
And the field of battle upon which our Lord wins his victory is not the sand of Judah and of Palestine but the hearts of men and women like you and I.
And what he fights against - and what we fight against with him, is not an enemy of flesh and blood, but rather the principalities and powers of this world, the world's way of doing things - that way which began when the serpent suggested to Eve that she could become like God if she simply reached out her hand and took the fruit that God said she should not eat.
I am not much of a gardener - but I do know a couple of things. The most important of these is that a flower's beauty can be realised only by first being planted in the ground, in the form of a seed.
As it is with seeds that are meant to be flowers - so it is for us - so it is with Christ.
Evil is not overcome by evil.
And a life worth the living is not found by clinging to the life we have, and surrounding it with all the toys that the world affords us.
Rather it is found by letting go of ourselves and our own selfish desires and our own feeble way of understanding things - and being obedient to the one who makes seeds to grow.
Yes Peter, Jesus must suffer and must die - and yes, that seems so wrong - but listen - didn't you also hear him say "and on the third day be raised?"
Or, thinking about the call of Moses which was described in part in our first reading: Yes Moses, I want you to leave the comfortable life you have found here in Midian
- I know you are wanted for murder in Egypt
- I know you can't speak well,
- I know that you require some kind of way of convincing my people you have talked to me,
- I know Moses that even though I AM WHO I AM - the God of your ancestors, has spoken to you, you don't want to go. But haven't you heard me? I have heard my people's cry - and I am going to lead them out of bondage and bring them to this very mountain to worship me - if you but do as I ask.
Or again - Yes Ricky - I know that I am asking to go an extra mile when - in an ideal world - you shouldn't even have had to go the first. And yes, I know that Lam King and Amy don't deserve your time and your care after allthat they have done to hurt themselves and their families. And yes, I know that you have worked hard for what you have and shouldn't have to share it with those who haven't worked at all. I know all that you have done and I know that other people should be taking their turn instead of you - but haven't you heard?!
It is not only about what you are being asked to give up, it is not only - it is not only about taking up my cross and doing my will instead of indulging your own.
It is also about gaining the very thing you and indeed everyone else needs the most: a life worth living - a life that gives life - a life that is joyful and unafraid - a life which death cannot destroy - a life in which the kingdom of God draws near and is lived and shared with all.
Yes, I talk about how you need to die to yourself each day and to put my will first in your lives, and yes, it is not going to be fun or easy - especially at first; - but think about what is coming and what you will become.
Or not.
Praise be to Christ Jesus our Lord who died so we might live and who lives that we never die. Amen
To really get hold of the significance of today's gospel reading with its talk of the cross and of suffering and dying and being raised you need to know what happened just minutes earlier in the scene.
Jesus has led his disciples to the region of Caesarea Philippi, and there he asked his disciples, "Who do people say the Son of Man is?"
They tell him - "Some say John the Baptist; others say Elijah; and still others, Jeremiah or one of the prophets."
Then he asks them - "But what about you?" Who do you say I am?"
And Peter answers "You are the Christ, the Son of the living God."
Jesus answers Peter's assertion by saying that Peter is truly blessed - that this confession has been revealed to him by God the Father and then he says to Peter that on him he would build his church - an everlasting church - and to him he would give "the keys of the kingdom of heaven so that whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven."
And then he warned his disciples not to tell anyone that he was the Christ.
There today's reading begins - with the words
"From that time on Jesus began to explain to his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things at the hands of the elders, chief priests and teachers of the law, and that he must be killed and on the third day be raised to life.
Notice the word that repeated twice in this single verse, the word that Peter reacts to immediately by taking Jesus aside and attempting to rebuke Jesus saying "Never Lord! This shall never happen to you."
I refer to the word "must".
I must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things. I must be killed be killed - and on the third day be raised to life.
I think we can understand where Peter is at. Many of us feel the same way today as Peter felt then.
It makes no sense to him that the Messiah, the Son of The Living God, must suffer and die.
It makes no sense to him that the King over Israel, the one promised of old to arise from the line of David and to rule over David's kingdom, must suffer many things at the hands of the very people who should welcome him with open arms.
It makes no sense at all that a dear friend - a holy man - a righteous man - a man destined to rule God's own people should be speaking of defeat instead of victory - of disgrace instead of honour - of an ignoble and early death - instead of a glorious and long life - and saying that it MUST be so.
Peter simply doesn't hear what Jesus is saying - and what he does hear - he doesn't want to accept.
And Jesus condemns that lack of hearing - that lack of accepting - that lack of understanding by saying to Peter:
"Get behind me, Satan! You are a stumbling block to me; you do not have in mind the things of God, but the things of men."
And then by telling all the disciples, who have been listening to this exchange between Peter and Jesus:
"If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself (there is that word again) and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me will find it...".
Have you ever wondered why throughout the gospels Jesus rebukes demons who identify him as the Son of Man and warns his disciples to not tell others that he is the Christ, the Son of the Living of God?
When I first started reading the Bible in my late teens and early twenties it struck me as very strange.
I mean is not our whole faith based on the understanding that Jesus is the Word of God made flesh?
- that he is the promised shoot arising out of the stump of Jesse?
- that he is the fulfilment of the promises made to Abraham and to Moses, to David and to Jeremiah and to Isaiah and all the prophets?
Indeed, isn't it the job of the Holy Spirit to reveal this very thing to us, much as Jesus says to Peter at Caesarea Philippi that he is blessed because the Father has revealed it to him?
"Jesus - You are the Messiah, the Christ, the Son of the Living God!" Why can't we say it?? Why can't we tell the whole world - right now - today?"
Well, of course, we can. But at the very beginning the disciples were told not to.
And the reason for that is because the people of the time, the faithful people, the hopeful people, who awaited the Messiah, would, upon hearing the news, fail - much as Peter failed - to hear the message of the Messiah.
The message concerning his life- I must suffer.
- I must be killed and on the third day rise.
And the message about their lives - If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me will find it.
We see it today in some churches - this failure to hear what the Messiah is all about, and what the Messiah, the Christ expects, indeed demands, of his followers.
We see it where forgiveness is proclaimed without requiring repentance, where baptism is practised without requiring that one be a part of the body of Christ, where communion is offered without the need for confession and reconciliation and where wealth and health is promised if you just believe - rather than the service and sacrifice, the humility and the self-giving that is the sign of our calling, and indeed the sign of sainthood.
Someone once said: "Jesus promised his disciples three things - they would be entirely fearless, absurdly happy, and always in trouble.".
That's not the kind of message most people want to hear.
Trouble we already have.
What we want is a world without trouble -
a world where all our problems are taken away with the snap of the fingers
a world where our enemies are made to vanish - just like that,
a world of peace and plenty and happiness,
a world where we and those we love can have everything a person desires.
That is what the Messiah is supposed to do - the Messiah is supposed to make our world better, to bring in the age of peace and plenty with one quick snap of the fingers and - if there must be a bit of fighting at the very beginning to get rid of those who oppress us, well, it will be a glorious affair, one with no injury or cost to the good guys, one where the enemy will be routed completely and where those who have fought for the king will be honoured in their victory with him, and the world will be safe forevermore....
From the moment that Peter and the other disciples recognized Jesus as the Messiah, from that time Jesus began to explain to them that he must suffer and that he must be killed and on the third day rise.
I would love to be able to tell you that this isn't the way things must be.
But God's ways - praise be to God - are not our ways.
The emblem our faith is not a crown - but a cross.
And the field of battle upon which our Lord wins his victory is not the sand of Judah and of Palestine but the hearts of men and women like you and I.
And what he fights against - and what we fight against with him, is not an enemy of flesh and blood, but rather the principalities and powers of this world, the world's way of doing things - that way which began when the serpent suggested to Eve that she could become like God if she simply reached out her hand and took the fruit that God said she should not eat.
I am not much of a gardener - but I do know a couple of things. The most important of these is that a flower's beauty can be realised only by first being planted in the ground, in the form of a seed.
As it is with seeds that are meant to be flowers - so it is for us - so it is with Christ.
Evil is not overcome by evil.
And a life worth the living is not found by clinging to the life we have, and surrounding it with all the toys that the world affords us.
Rather it is found by letting go of ourselves and our own selfish desires and our own feeble way of understanding things - and being obedient to the one who makes seeds to grow.
Yes Peter, Jesus must suffer and must die - and yes, that seems so wrong - but listen - didn't you also hear him say "and on the third day be raised?"
Or, thinking about the call of Moses which was described in part in our first reading: Yes Moses, I want you to leave the comfortable life you have found here in Midian
- I know you are wanted for murder in Egypt
- I know you can't speak well,
- I know that you require some kind of way of convincing my people you have talked to me,
- I know Moses that even though I AM WHO I AM - the God of your ancestors, has spoken to you, you don't want to go. But haven't you heard me? I have heard my people's cry - and I am going to lead them out of bondage and bring them to this very mountain to worship me - if you but do as I ask.
Or again - Yes Ricky - I know that I am asking to go an extra mile when - in an ideal world - you shouldn't even have had to go the first. And yes, I know that Lam King and Amy don't deserve your time and your care after allthat they have done to hurt themselves and their families. And yes, I know that you have worked hard for what you have and shouldn't have to share it with those who haven't worked at all. I know all that you have done and I know that other people should be taking their turn instead of you - but haven't you heard?!
It is not only about what you are being asked to give up, it is not only - it is not only about taking up my cross and doing my will instead of indulging your own.
It is also about gaining the very thing you and indeed everyone else needs the most: a life worth living - a life that gives life - a life that is joyful and unafraid - a life which death cannot destroy - a life in which the kingdom of God draws near and is lived and shared with all.
Yes, I talk about how you need to die to yourself each day and to put my will first in your lives, and yes, it is not going to be fun or easy - especially at first; - but think about what is coming and what you will become.
Or not.
Praise be to Christ Jesus our Lord who died so we might live and who lives that we never die. Amen
Sunday, August 21, 2011
Exodus 1:1-2:10; Psalm 124; Romans 12:1-8; Matthew 16:13-20
At the begining, let me observe that this morning's reading is one of the New Testament's most significant one. It is found in all three synoptic Gospels: in the 16th chapter of Matthew, the eighth chapter of Mark (which is presumably the original) and in the ninth chapter of Luke. In each of these Gospels, though most obviously in Mark and Matthew, this episode represents a turning point. With Peter's confession of Jesus as the Messiah (which is the theme of this morning's reading) and Peter's subsequent failure to recognize the true meaning of Jesus' Messiahship (which is the theme of next Sunday's reading) all three Gospels arrive at a critical juncture. To that extent, all three synoptic gospels are in agreement.
At the same time, for all their agreement, Matthew in his telling of the story, includes important details that are found neither in Mark nor in Luke. Listen. Listen first to Mark's Gospel.
"Jesus asked them, But who do you say that I am? Peter answered him, You are the Messiah. And he sternly ordered them not to tell anyone about him." That's Mark's version.
Now listen again to the version from Matthew we heard earlier.
"Jesus said to them, But who do you say that I am? Simon Peter answered, You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God. And Jesus answered him, Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah! For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father in heaven. And I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not prevail against it. I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven."
That's quite a mouthful, isn't it? And it raises a number of issues that have divided Christians along all sorts of fault lines.
Most notoriously, it has divided Roman Catholic Christians from both their Eastern Orthodox and Protestant brothers and sisters. You see, in the traditions of the Catholic Church, this verse is seen as a key foundation for the office of the Pope. And so the argument is made that Jesus was handing over a distinctive spiritual authority not only to Peter but to Peter's successors, the subsequent bishops of the city of Rome, in which church Peter is believed to have been the first bishop, in which city Peter is believed to have been martyred.
Protestants, for their part, have tended to respond that the promise is only made to Peter, not to his successors. Besides, or so runs a classic argument, it is not so much Peter himself who is made the foundation of the church, but rather Peter's confession (his recognition that Jesus is the Messiah) that is the foundation of the church. No wonder we Protestants delight in singing that "the Church's one Foundation, is Jesus Christ our Lord!"
For the record, I believe there is a measure of truth in each perspective. Protestants are right to remind Catholics that there is nothing whatsoever in this verse about Peter's successors. Protestants are also right to remind Catholics that any authority given to Peter is valid only to the extent that Peter remains faithful to his insight: namely, that Jesus is the Messiah. But Catholics, I believe (and more and more Protestant scholars seem willing to concede this), Catholics are right to claim that it is not only Peter's insight that is authoritative, but that Jesus is conferring at least some measure of authority on Peter himself, and through Peter on the church and its subsequent leaders.
Mind you: all of this presupposes that Jesus actually spoke these words to Peter. And that is another fault-line that this passage creates. Not only a fault-line between Catholics and other Christians, but also between liberal and conservative scholarship. Conservative scholarship believes these sayings about Peter really came from Jesus; liberal scholarship has tended to believe that Matthew's church inserted these sayings into Mark's original, as a way of conferring special authority on the ministry of Peter.
And this is, of course, one disagreement that will likely rage until the end of time. For my part, I am struck by a growing tendency among even liberal scholars, to regard the sayings about Peter as authentically coming from the lips of Jesus: preserved in a tradition that was available to Matthew but not to Mark. Three arguments seem especially convincing. First, that where we have a source that was used by Matthew, he is exceptionally respectful of that source; he shows no tendency simply to make things up. Second, that the pattern of Greek in this passage appears to reflect an underlying source in either Hebrew or Aramaic, making it likely that these words about Peter come from an ancient tradition. Finally, there is impressive corroborating evidence in Paul's letter to the Galatians, where Paul grudgingly acknowledges familiarity with traditions that give Peter special authority.
At any rate, that is my rather convoluted way of saying that I take this material at face value. I believe these sayings come from the lips of our Lord. Which means I have no choice but to ponder their meaning for today. And, as my sermon title indicates, I have a sense that their meaning for us today is caught up in this whole notion of the keys: the keys that were handed to Peter. Keys to the kingdom of heaven. Keys that will bind and loose on earth, so that (to quote from Matthew) whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven. But what, pray tell, does any of that mean?
Well: at a minimum, it means that a profound authority has been conferred upon Peter, upon other church leaders, upon the church itself. And our temptation, I fear, has been to err in one of two ways in the face of such authority: the first turns the church into a dreadfully serious business, an institution that takes itself far too seriously. In reaction, we then go to the opposite extreme (the danger we now face in the United Church) by not taking the Church's distinctive mission seriously enough. But surely it is possible (not easy, mind you, but possible) to take the work we have been given as the church seriously, without taking ourselves seriously. And so yes, as distant descendants of those earliest Christians, as distant descendants of Simon Peter and the others, we ought never underestimate the weightiness of the work we have been given: the gospel we proclaim, the prayers we offer, the bread and cup we share, the care and compassion we offer in Christ's name. Let us never underestimate the importance of that work to God's work: its power to do great good, and (God help us) its power to do great harm (think about the residential schools, or about sexually abusive clergy), its power to harm when we betray the trust that has been placed in our corporate hands.
We can go further, I think: we can say more about those keys that were placed in Peter's hands. And I was struck, this past week by the two contrasting images that emerged as I pondered Peter and his keys. One of those images came from my study of some of the fine commentaries I perused, commentaries that are fairly unanimous in their understanding of the keys, explaining that Peter is being given the authority which rabbis traditionally held (and in some Orthodox Jewish circles still hold) to make binding decisions in the areas of doctrine and ethics. And I found myself contrasting that with an image that has become a staple of pop culture (and all kinds of very funny jokes): the image of St. Peter and his keys, standing guard at the gates of heaven. And as I weighed those images, as I contrasted those images, I was left with a question.
Why is it that the image most non-churchgoers have of the institutional church, tends to draw so heavily on the rabbinical image: the image of a group of right-minded folks who delight in laying down all sorts of doctrinal absolutes they themselves don't really believe, and all sorts of ethical absolutes they themselves never manage to keep. And I know that's a miserably unfair caricature: we're not like that. And yet, the fact remains that the church, as far as the world is concerned, seems to be far better at binding then at loosening. Far better at the creation of binding doctrinal norms and ethical rules, than at the setting loose of God's people for lives of hope-filled freedom in the midst of a horrifically complex world.
And I think most of you know me well enough to know that I am repudiating neither doctrine nor morals! The shelves of my church study are lined with many volumes of theology: with a decided preference for those theologians who view theology as nothing more than sustained commentary on the church's teaching, the church's doctrines. As for ethics, again I hope you know me well enough to realize that I am not so naive about the human race as to believe that we could get along without at least some guidelines (which had generally better take the form of rules, regulations, and laws) to assist us in governing our unruly passions and our boundless pretentions. I know that, and I hope you know that I know that.
But! I also know this. Simon son of Jonah, this Peter on whose confession the church is founded, immediately (as we will see next Sunday) managed to make a botch of the whole business, entirely misunderstanding the true nature of Jesus' mission. This same Peter then proceeded to deny Jesus not once, not twice, but three times on the night of Jesus' arrest. Furthermore, it was this very Peter (according to John's Gospel), who could think of nothing more productive to do after witnessing the risen Christ, than to return to Galilee and get back into the fishing business. And then, some 20 years later, when you would think he had finally managed to get things sorted out, it was this same rock-like Peter who received a good tongue-lashing from the apostle Paul. Why? Because Peter had withdrawn from table fellowship with fellow Christians, simply because they were Gentiles. You see: Jesus founded the church on the back of a man who was a repeat recipient of divine mercy. Someone who fell often, but who was allowed to stand again. In other words, Jesus placed the keys to his kingdom in the hands of someone who had as much reason as any human being who has ever walked the face of this earth, to acknowledge his radical need for God's mercy-drenched grace.
And oh, how I wish, how I wish, that the Church did a better job of presenting the Gospel in that way. How I wish we displayed more facility at showing the world that Christ's mission was and still is, and that therefore the church's mission always has been and still is, fundamentally a mission of divine mercy. That any wisdom, any doctrine, of which the Church might dare to boast, is grounded fully and exclusively in the truth of divine mercy; that any virtue, any ethical achievement of which the Church might dare to boast, is grounded fully and exclusively in the goodness of divine mercy. The mercy that picks us up each time we stumble, each time we fall.
I'm reminded of St. Augustine's famous quip. That the Kingdom of heaven will be built not from the perfection of virtue, but from the forgiveness of sins.
I am reminded of a wonderful song: one of the last songs written by a remarkable evangelical Christian song-writer, who was taken from us far too young: Rich Mullins.
"Let mercy lead, (let mercy lead!)
let love be the strength in your legs,
and in every footprint that you leave,
there'll be a drop of grace."
I like that. The good news being....
....the good news being that it is just such grace, that it is just such mercy, that now has a name. Mercy now has a name (we call him Jesus!), mercy now has a story (we call it Gospel!)...
...and also, also mercy now has a community of followers (we call it church!): a key-wielding community of followers, that lives for the express purpose of telling the world, and better still of showing the world, the face of God's unyielding love.
"Jesus said to them: But who do you say that I am? Simon Peter answered, You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God."
May He be blessed day by day, Amen.
At the same time, for all their agreement, Matthew in his telling of the story, includes important details that are found neither in Mark nor in Luke. Listen. Listen first to Mark's Gospel.
"Jesus asked them, But who do you say that I am? Peter answered him, You are the Messiah. And he sternly ordered them not to tell anyone about him." That's Mark's version.
Now listen again to the version from Matthew we heard earlier.
"Jesus said to them, But who do you say that I am? Simon Peter answered, You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God. And Jesus answered him, Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah! For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father in heaven. And I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not prevail against it. I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven."
That's quite a mouthful, isn't it? And it raises a number of issues that have divided Christians along all sorts of fault lines.
Most notoriously, it has divided Roman Catholic Christians from both their Eastern Orthodox and Protestant brothers and sisters. You see, in the traditions of the Catholic Church, this verse is seen as a key foundation for the office of the Pope. And so the argument is made that Jesus was handing over a distinctive spiritual authority not only to Peter but to Peter's successors, the subsequent bishops of the city of Rome, in which church Peter is believed to have been the first bishop, in which city Peter is believed to have been martyred.
Protestants, for their part, have tended to respond that the promise is only made to Peter, not to his successors. Besides, or so runs a classic argument, it is not so much Peter himself who is made the foundation of the church, but rather Peter's confession (his recognition that Jesus is the Messiah) that is the foundation of the church. No wonder we Protestants delight in singing that "the Church's one Foundation, is Jesus Christ our Lord!"
For the record, I believe there is a measure of truth in each perspective. Protestants are right to remind Catholics that there is nothing whatsoever in this verse about Peter's successors. Protestants are also right to remind Catholics that any authority given to Peter is valid only to the extent that Peter remains faithful to his insight: namely, that Jesus is the Messiah. But Catholics, I believe (and more and more Protestant scholars seem willing to concede this), Catholics are right to claim that it is not only Peter's insight that is authoritative, but that Jesus is conferring at least some measure of authority on Peter himself, and through Peter on the church and its subsequent leaders.
Mind you: all of this presupposes that Jesus actually spoke these words to Peter. And that is another fault-line that this passage creates. Not only a fault-line between Catholics and other Christians, but also between liberal and conservative scholarship. Conservative scholarship believes these sayings about Peter really came from Jesus; liberal scholarship has tended to believe that Matthew's church inserted these sayings into Mark's original, as a way of conferring special authority on the ministry of Peter.
And this is, of course, one disagreement that will likely rage until the end of time. For my part, I am struck by a growing tendency among even liberal scholars, to regard the sayings about Peter as authentically coming from the lips of Jesus: preserved in a tradition that was available to Matthew but not to Mark. Three arguments seem especially convincing. First, that where we have a source that was used by Matthew, he is exceptionally respectful of that source; he shows no tendency simply to make things up. Second, that the pattern of Greek in this passage appears to reflect an underlying source in either Hebrew or Aramaic, making it likely that these words about Peter come from an ancient tradition. Finally, there is impressive corroborating evidence in Paul's letter to the Galatians, where Paul grudgingly acknowledges familiarity with traditions that give Peter special authority.
At any rate, that is my rather convoluted way of saying that I take this material at face value. I believe these sayings come from the lips of our Lord. Which means I have no choice but to ponder their meaning for today. And, as my sermon title indicates, I have a sense that their meaning for us today is caught up in this whole notion of the keys: the keys that were handed to Peter. Keys to the kingdom of heaven. Keys that will bind and loose on earth, so that (to quote from Matthew) whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven. But what, pray tell, does any of that mean?
Well: at a minimum, it means that a profound authority has been conferred upon Peter, upon other church leaders, upon the church itself. And our temptation, I fear, has been to err in one of two ways in the face of such authority: the first turns the church into a dreadfully serious business, an institution that takes itself far too seriously. In reaction, we then go to the opposite extreme (the danger we now face in the United Church) by not taking the Church's distinctive mission seriously enough. But surely it is possible (not easy, mind you, but possible) to take the work we have been given as the church seriously, without taking ourselves seriously. And so yes, as distant descendants of those earliest Christians, as distant descendants of Simon Peter and the others, we ought never underestimate the weightiness of the work we have been given: the gospel we proclaim, the prayers we offer, the bread and cup we share, the care and compassion we offer in Christ's name. Let us never underestimate the importance of that work to God's work: its power to do great good, and (God help us) its power to do great harm (think about the residential schools, or about sexually abusive clergy), its power to harm when we betray the trust that has been placed in our corporate hands.
We can go further, I think: we can say more about those keys that were placed in Peter's hands. And I was struck, this past week by the two contrasting images that emerged as I pondered Peter and his keys. One of those images came from my study of some of the fine commentaries I perused, commentaries that are fairly unanimous in their understanding of the keys, explaining that Peter is being given the authority which rabbis traditionally held (and in some Orthodox Jewish circles still hold) to make binding decisions in the areas of doctrine and ethics. And I found myself contrasting that with an image that has become a staple of pop culture (and all kinds of very funny jokes): the image of St. Peter and his keys, standing guard at the gates of heaven. And as I weighed those images, as I contrasted those images, I was left with a question.
Why is it that the image most non-churchgoers have of the institutional church, tends to draw so heavily on the rabbinical image: the image of a group of right-minded folks who delight in laying down all sorts of doctrinal absolutes they themselves don't really believe, and all sorts of ethical absolutes they themselves never manage to keep. And I know that's a miserably unfair caricature: we're not like that. And yet, the fact remains that the church, as far as the world is concerned, seems to be far better at binding then at loosening. Far better at the creation of binding doctrinal norms and ethical rules, than at the setting loose of God's people for lives of hope-filled freedom in the midst of a horrifically complex world.
And I think most of you know me well enough to know that I am repudiating neither doctrine nor morals! The shelves of my church study are lined with many volumes of theology: with a decided preference for those theologians who view theology as nothing more than sustained commentary on the church's teaching, the church's doctrines. As for ethics, again I hope you know me well enough to realize that I am not so naive about the human race as to believe that we could get along without at least some guidelines (which had generally better take the form of rules, regulations, and laws) to assist us in governing our unruly passions and our boundless pretentions. I know that, and I hope you know that I know that.
But! I also know this. Simon son of Jonah, this Peter on whose confession the church is founded, immediately (as we will see next Sunday) managed to make a botch of the whole business, entirely misunderstanding the true nature of Jesus' mission. This same Peter then proceeded to deny Jesus not once, not twice, but three times on the night of Jesus' arrest. Furthermore, it was this very Peter (according to John's Gospel), who could think of nothing more productive to do after witnessing the risen Christ, than to return to Galilee and get back into the fishing business. And then, some 20 years later, when you would think he had finally managed to get things sorted out, it was this same rock-like Peter who received a good tongue-lashing from the apostle Paul. Why? Because Peter had withdrawn from table fellowship with fellow Christians, simply because they were Gentiles. You see: Jesus founded the church on the back of a man who was a repeat recipient of divine mercy. Someone who fell often, but who was allowed to stand again. In other words, Jesus placed the keys to his kingdom in the hands of someone who had as much reason as any human being who has ever walked the face of this earth, to acknowledge his radical need for God's mercy-drenched grace.
And oh, how I wish, how I wish, that the Church did a better job of presenting the Gospel in that way. How I wish we displayed more facility at showing the world that Christ's mission was and still is, and that therefore the church's mission always has been and still is, fundamentally a mission of divine mercy. That any wisdom, any doctrine, of which the Church might dare to boast, is grounded fully and exclusively in the truth of divine mercy; that any virtue, any ethical achievement of which the Church might dare to boast, is grounded fully and exclusively in the goodness of divine mercy. The mercy that picks us up each time we stumble, each time we fall.
I'm reminded of St. Augustine's famous quip. That the Kingdom of heaven will be built not from the perfection of virtue, but from the forgiveness of sins.
I am reminded of a wonderful song: one of the last songs written by a remarkable evangelical Christian song-writer, who was taken from us far too young: Rich Mullins.
"Let mercy lead, (let mercy lead!)
let love be the strength in your legs,
and in every footprint that you leave,
there'll be a drop of grace."
I like that. The good news being....
....the good news being that it is just such grace, that it is just such mercy, that now has a name. Mercy now has a name (we call him Jesus!), mercy now has a story (we call it Gospel!)...
...and also, also mercy now has a community of followers (we call it church!): a key-wielding community of followers, that lives for the express purpose of telling the world, and better still of showing the world, the face of God's unyielding love.
"Jesus said to them: But who do you say that I am? Simon Peter answered, You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God."
May He be blessed day by day, Amen.
Sunday, August 14, 2011
Isaiah 56:1-8; Matthew 15:21-28
Let us Pray: Breathe on us, O God, that we may be filled with your Spirit - and led by your living word - Jesus Christ our Lord. Bless the word of my lips and the meditations of our hearts. We ask it in his name. Amen.
Every now and then, rather than doing a what I call an ordinary sermon where I take the Bible passages for the day and attempt with God's help to find in them the Word that we need to hear, I instead take the Bible passage, generally a story, or a parable, and retell it as a story.
In doing so I ask myself - and hope that you will ask yourselves what was the event like? What were the people in it thinking about? What happened and why did it happen that way? How is God found in the story?
Stories help us to use our imagination, they help us to hear what God is saying to us, and when we listen and wonder as did our ancestors by their fires and in their temples and synagogues, the Holy Spirit helps us to hear what it is God is saying.
Today - I offer to you such a story, and, prayerfully, you will hear in it the word of God for you this day.
It is the story which I call Crumbs From the Table. Relax and listen.
She didn't belong there. I knew it and the rest of us knew it.
We were just sitting down to dinner when she barged in.
The dogs woke up immediately and from their place under the table they began to bark.
One of the children started to cry as the woman frantically looked around the room.
I was startled and I stood up immediately. I could feel myself beginning to get angry as I look at this dishevelled and dirty woman.
John and James, who had been sitting near the door had leapt up at the same time I had - and they were already reaching out to stop from the woman from coming closer to the table when she spotted the master.
"Lord, Son of David" - she cried out as they moved in front of her, "Have mercy on me! My daughter is sick. She is suffering terribly from demon possession..."
The master must of heard her over the noise of the two dogs and the child, but he never said a word.
He didn't even look up from his plate.
By this time not only John and James, but I and three others had surrounded the woman and we began to hustle her out the door. She was interrupting not only our meal, but the time that Jesus had specially set aside for teaching us about the Kingdom he was
going to establish. We had no intention of letting her get in the way of that.
The woman struggled a bit, but she didn't have a chance. Hauling nets gives a person a lot of strength, and she was outnumbered. We got her outside even more quickly than a bouncer gets a drunk out of a tavern.
But let me tell you, once outside, she caused just as much trouble as a drunk does.
She was loud and insistent.
She tried to get by us and to get back inside.
She kept on saying to us that she had to see the miracle worker, that her daughter was in terrible shape, that she needed help.
She must of clutched at and grabbed each and every one of us as she pleaded.
I tell you, she was a real pain. I just wanted to get back inside for dinner.
James tried to reason with her.
"Look", he said, "You have no right to be here. You've got no right to bother the teacher. You are a foreigner, you don't believe in anything we believe in, your people are gentiles, they are heathens, and your behaviour shows that you are too. There is no way the master is going to help you, so please go away."
"I've got to see him", she said, "I know he can help me. He has done so much for others."
"That may be", James said, "but he's not going to do anything for you. You are not only a woman, you are a Canaanite. You don't go to the synagogue. You don't obey the law of Moses. You are unclean. You eat forbidden food. To make matters worse... you have absolutely no respect. Jesus is trying to eat. He is a guest in another man's home, and this is supposed to be a special time for us all, and you just barge in and start demanding help! Listen! Please! Go away! You are not going to get help here."
You know what she did?
That wretched woman just shook her head and said: "I know he will help me, he's got to help me!"
John butted in, "Look", he said, "Go away. We've told you that your not welcome here. We've told you that Jesus isn't going to have anything to do with your type. So why don't you just get lost."
I tell you she was a crazy woman. She didn't know her place, that's for sure. The more we said to her, the louder and more persistent she was. She cried, she begged, she screamed. There was no reasoning with her.
After a few minutes of this I got the idea of asking Jesus to tell her to go away. I figured that if he said something to her she'd get the picture and stop her infernal racket.
I mentioned the idea to a couple of the others and they agreed that it was the only thing to do if we were going to have any peace.
As soon as I opened the door to go in the dogs began barking again. Someone hissed at them to be quiet as I went over to Jesus. He was sitting with the child who had cried earlier and eating and talking with our host.
Our host looked a little embarrassed. He was trying to pretend that nothing was going on - but the woman was standing just outside the open door where my two mates were waiting for the word and the noise level was none too low.
"Excuse me", I said to the Master, "could you please tell that woman to go away. She is really pestering us with all her crying and carrying on."
Jesus look at his host, then at me, and said - "I was sent only to the lost sheep of Israel."
I tell you, Jesus was really frustrating at times. He never seemed to give a straight answer to a simple question. But even so, this time he was backing us up.
It was like he had heard everything we had said to the woman, so I turned to tell the wretched woman that the master had told her to go away.
Just as I was turning around, she squeezed by the guys at the door and ran over to right beside the master, and fell on down on her knees at his feet.
"Lord, help me", she said.
I didn't do a thing. I was tired. I figured after what he had said Jesus would handle it just fine. And he did.
Jesus looked at her at his feet.
She bowed her head and looked down.
Then he looked around the room for a moment.
The child beside him was busy eating a piece of bread as if nothing untoward had happened. The dogs were nuzzling around under the table. Our host was staring at him, no doubt wondering what Jesus was going to do to get rid of this problem. John and James and the others were all inside by this point. They were still standing, waiting to see if they were going to be needed again.
It became very quiet in the room as the master looked around, the only sounds were those of the flies and of the child eating.
Then Jesus looked down at the woman and said to her
"It is not right to take the children's bread and to toss it to their dogs"
A couple of the disciples smiled. I must confess that I grinned too. It was such a well turned phrase. The kind that only Jesus seemed to be able to come up with.
It made the point well. As far as I was concerned, it certainly disposed of her
and all of her kind.
I caught James looking at me and began to nod my head at him. As I did so the woman looked up at Jesus and stared him in the eyes.
"Yes Lord", she said to him in this incredibly calm and clear voice, and I swear to you she had this little smile on her face,
"Yes Lord", she said, "but even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their master's table."
I was stunned. The woman really was too much. Lippy, rude, obnoxious, unclean, disrespectful, I could go on!
Anyway - do you know what Jesus did?
He smiled at her, as if it was all some great contest of wits and he said to her
"Woman, you have great faith, For your reply, your request is granted. Go home, you daughter is healed."
I just could not understand it. I mean why in the world did Jesus do that? She did not belong there. She was not one of us. She was nothing but a Canaanite, Jesus knew it, I knew it, and the rest of us knew it. I just don't understand Jesus sometimes. I just don't understand....
Every now and then, rather than doing a what I call an ordinary sermon where I take the Bible passages for the day and attempt with God's help to find in them the Word that we need to hear, I instead take the Bible passage, generally a story, or a parable, and retell it as a story.
In doing so I ask myself - and hope that you will ask yourselves what was the event like? What were the people in it thinking about? What happened and why did it happen that way? How is God found in the story?
Stories help us to use our imagination, they help us to hear what God is saying to us, and when we listen and wonder as did our ancestors by their fires and in their temples and synagogues, the Holy Spirit helps us to hear what it is God is saying.
Today - I offer to you such a story, and, prayerfully, you will hear in it the word of God for you this day.
It is the story which I call Crumbs From the Table. Relax and listen.
She didn't belong there. I knew it and the rest of us knew it.
We were just sitting down to dinner when she barged in.
The dogs woke up immediately and from their place under the table they began to bark.
One of the children started to cry as the woman frantically looked around the room.
I was startled and I stood up immediately. I could feel myself beginning to get angry as I look at this dishevelled and dirty woman.
John and James, who had been sitting near the door had leapt up at the same time I had - and they were already reaching out to stop from the woman from coming closer to the table when she spotted the master.
"Lord, Son of David" - she cried out as they moved in front of her, "Have mercy on me! My daughter is sick. She is suffering terribly from demon possession..."
The master must of heard her over the noise of the two dogs and the child, but he never said a word.
He didn't even look up from his plate.
By this time not only John and James, but I and three others had surrounded the woman and we began to hustle her out the door. She was interrupting not only our meal, but the time that Jesus had specially set aside for teaching us about the Kingdom he was
going to establish. We had no intention of letting her get in the way of that.
The woman struggled a bit, but she didn't have a chance. Hauling nets gives a person a lot of strength, and she was outnumbered. We got her outside even more quickly than a bouncer gets a drunk out of a tavern.
But let me tell you, once outside, she caused just as much trouble as a drunk does.
She was loud and insistent.
She tried to get by us and to get back inside.
She kept on saying to us that she had to see the miracle worker, that her daughter was in terrible shape, that she needed help.
She must of clutched at and grabbed each and every one of us as she pleaded.
I tell you, she was a real pain. I just wanted to get back inside for dinner.
James tried to reason with her.
"Look", he said, "You have no right to be here. You've got no right to bother the teacher. You are a foreigner, you don't believe in anything we believe in, your people are gentiles, they are heathens, and your behaviour shows that you are too. There is no way the master is going to help you, so please go away."
"I've got to see him", she said, "I know he can help me. He has done so much for others."
"That may be", James said, "but he's not going to do anything for you. You are not only a woman, you are a Canaanite. You don't go to the synagogue. You don't obey the law of Moses. You are unclean. You eat forbidden food. To make matters worse... you have absolutely no respect. Jesus is trying to eat. He is a guest in another man's home, and this is supposed to be a special time for us all, and you just barge in and start demanding help! Listen! Please! Go away! You are not going to get help here."
You know what she did?
That wretched woman just shook her head and said: "I know he will help me, he's got to help me!"
John butted in, "Look", he said, "Go away. We've told you that your not welcome here. We've told you that Jesus isn't going to have anything to do with your type. So why don't you just get lost."
I tell you she was a crazy woman. She didn't know her place, that's for sure. The more we said to her, the louder and more persistent she was. She cried, she begged, she screamed. There was no reasoning with her.
After a few minutes of this I got the idea of asking Jesus to tell her to go away. I figured that if he said something to her she'd get the picture and stop her infernal racket.
I mentioned the idea to a couple of the others and they agreed that it was the only thing to do if we were going to have any peace.
As soon as I opened the door to go in the dogs began barking again. Someone hissed at them to be quiet as I went over to Jesus. He was sitting with the child who had cried earlier and eating and talking with our host.
Our host looked a little embarrassed. He was trying to pretend that nothing was going on - but the woman was standing just outside the open door where my two mates were waiting for the word and the noise level was none too low.
"Excuse me", I said to the Master, "could you please tell that woman to go away. She is really pestering us with all her crying and carrying on."
Jesus look at his host, then at me, and said - "I was sent only to the lost sheep of Israel."
I tell you, Jesus was really frustrating at times. He never seemed to give a straight answer to a simple question. But even so, this time he was backing us up.
It was like he had heard everything we had said to the woman, so I turned to tell the wretched woman that the master had told her to go away.
Just as I was turning around, she squeezed by the guys at the door and ran over to right beside the master, and fell on down on her knees at his feet.
"Lord, help me", she said.
I didn't do a thing. I was tired. I figured after what he had said Jesus would handle it just fine. And he did.
Jesus looked at her at his feet.
She bowed her head and looked down.
Then he looked around the room for a moment.
The child beside him was busy eating a piece of bread as if nothing untoward had happened. The dogs were nuzzling around under the table. Our host was staring at him, no doubt wondering what Jesus was going to do to get rid of this problem. John and James and the others were all inside by this point. They were still standing, waiting to see if they were going to be needed again.
It became very quiet in the room as the master looked around, the only sounds were those of the flies and of the child eating.
Then Jesus looked down at the woman and said to her
"It is not right to take the children's bread and to toss it to their dogs"
A couple of the disciples smiled. I must confess that I grinned too. It was such a well turned phrase. The kind that only Jesus seemed to be able to come up with.
It made the point well. As far as I was concerned, it certainly disposed of her
and all of her kind.
I caught James looking at me and began to nod my head at him. As I did so the woman looked up at Jesus and stared him in the eyes.
"Yes Lord", she said to him in this incredibly calm and clear voice, and I swear to you she had this little smile on her face,
"Yes Lord", she said, "but even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their master's table."
I was stunned. The woman really was too much. Lippy, rude, obnoxious, unclean, disrespectful, I could go on!
Anyway - do you know what Jesus did?
He smiled at her, as if it was all some great contest of wits and he said to her
"Woman, you have great faith, For your reply, your request is granted. Go home, you daughter is healed."
I just could not understand it. I mean why in the world did Jesus do that? She did not belong there. She was not one of us. She was nothing but a Canaanite, Jesus knew it, I knew it, and the rest of us knew it. I just don't understand Jesus sometimes. I just don't understand....
Sunday, August 7, 2011
Romans 10:5-15 and Matthew 14:22-33
Let us Pray: Breathe on us, O God, that we may be filled with your Spirit - and led by your living word - Jesus Christ our Lord. Bless the word of my lips and the meditations of our hearts. We ask it in his name. Amen.
There are two levels to the story in our Gospel today:
- the level in which we see Jesus as the stiller of the storm; as the one who brings peace to those who sail through life in the boat called the church;
- and the level in which we see Jesus as the one who bestows power; as the one who calls to his followers - to those who are willing to step out of the safety of the boat - "come to me" - and who supports them when they do so.
It is this second level to the story that I want us to think about today - the level at which we see Jesus as the giver of power to those who, as a part of his church - are willing take a chance.
Think with me on the whole episode of Peter and his trip out upon the water. Think with me of how he was willing to risk all on the word of his master.
We hear in the gospel story that the disciples have been commanded by Jesus to take a boat and go before him to the other side of the Sea of Galilee while Jesus stays behind to dismiss the crowds that had gathered to listen to him.
By evening Jesus was alone - praying - and the disciples were far from shore, being battered by wind and waves. They struggle almost all night against the storm that is crashing down against them, and they struggle successfully, until near dawn they see an apparition - they see someone or something - walking across the water towards them - and they are terrified and quite naturally given the circumstances, they cry out in fear.
Immediately Jesus, for it is he who is walking upon the water, responds to the disciple's fear with the words - "Take heart, it is I, do not be afraid."
Peter answers Jesus first - saying
"Lord - if it is you - command me to come to you on the water."
And Jesus answers by saying "Come". And Peter climbs over the edge of the boat and puts his feet upon the water, and begins to walk towards Jesus.
Now some people dismiss the miracles recorded in the bible as simply tall tales. They claim that the stories of healing and of resurrection and of walking on water are but symbols for other things.
I don't agree with these people at all - I don't agree that these things never happened because I know that miracles occur, that people do get healed - I witnessed one myself when the doctors had all given up hope, that the dead are raised; and that many other marvellous, unexplainable things occur when people call upon the Lord.
Even so - most of the miracle stories in the bible are symbolic in that they teach us things about life and about faith even as they tell us about the marvellous things that Jesus and the disciples did.
And the story of Peter walking upon the water towards Jesus is one of these.
It shows us what can happen when we respond to the call of Jesus, it shows us how we can triumph over the forces of chaos and meaninglessness, it shows us how, when we take chance on the word of Jesus, his power lifts us up and allows us to weather the storms of life and do something new.
Think about it - Peter did not need to get out of the boat. He did not need to venture forth upon the stormy waters. He could have simply stayed where he was and waited for the Lord to come to him. He could have sheltered himself in the safety of the boat in the knowledge that everything would be okay now that the Lord was coming to him and the other disciples
But he did not. Instead Peter took a chance. He asked the Lord to bid him to come to him. He asked the Lord for the power to meet him in the middle of the sea.
Here is courage indeed - The courage to venture forth into danger and to do what the Lord has said can be done; the courage to risk taking a step that does not really need to be taken, simply because the Lord tells him it can be taken.
Most people suffer from a lack of boldness, a lack of courage - even Christians suffer in this way.
Given the choice between continuing in a situation where, despite the burdens and the dangers that are all around, there is a reasonable degree of safety, and venturing out into a new and unknown situation, where the dangers seem even greater and where there is no apparent safety net, most people will elect to stay put - to stay where they are.
Thus it is that women will stay in a home where they and their children are being abused rather than walk out and try to find a new life.
Thus it is that men will work for years in a job that is slowly destroying their health and happiness - rather than risk their homes and their security by returning to school or starting their own businesses.
Thus it is that teenagers will not speak to someone whom they are attracted to because they are afraid of botching up - afraid of being laughed at and rejected.
Thus it is that people who have had dreams of travelling around the world or of doing something else very special will stay where they are and allow their dreams to wither and die.
What have we been afraid to do?
What have we postponed because we dreaded the possible consequences?
Who have we have avoided because we did not know what to say to them?
Where have we refused to go because we feared what might happen there?
What goal have we hid from because we have felt inadequate?
What dream have we let wither and die?
Sometime we need to get out of the safety of boat. We need to say to the Lord, "Lord, if it is you - bid me come to you."
I am not saying here today to go out and take a wild chance on the first thing that comes along - but I am saying - if you have a dream - or if you are in a situation where wholeness and happiness are elusive - and you hear the master calling to you to take a chance - if you see that you can do something to help someone else - or simply feel that God is calling you to change something in your life that seems unchangeable - risk it.
Peter - though he did not need to - in the absolute sense of the word need - got out of the boat - and - upon the bidding of the Lord - walked upon the sea.
And he did well - his faith held him up - the power of Christ held him up, and he continued to do well until he forget about that power that he had called upon, he did well until he focussed upon the danger he was in, till he looked at the strong wind and the waves - and became afraid.
Then he began to sink..
When we take a risk - when we venture out upon the bidding of the Lord to do something new, or simply to fulfil what we believe our calling is - it is very important that we remember to stay focussed on our goal - to trust that God will see us through despite what is happening all around us.
A helicopter pilot who flew from an aircraft carrier in the Pacific told this story.
"I was flying the helicopter back to the ship when a blinding fog rolled in. Flying at a low altitude, I knew 5that a single mistake would plunge me and my crew into the ocean. Worse yet, I was experiencing a complete loss of balance - which, apparently is common for pilots flying by instruments. This loss of balance - known as vertigo - was so bad that despite the instrument readings I was certain that I was lying on my side. For 15 minutes I flew the helicopter by its instruments, fighting the urge to turn it according to my feeling. When we finally broke safely through the fog, I was deeply thankful I had being trained to rely upon my instruments rather than on my feelings.
That is what people who live by faith do - they remember that feelings can be misleading, but the truths in God's word are reliable, trustworthy, and consistent.
When we believe and act on these truths, we eventually break through the fog and experience the fulfilment of divine promise.
Peter - when he is overcome by fear, when he starts to walk according to his feelings instead of by the instruments of faith - begins to sink. His risk looks as if it has failed - but, as our story shows - it does not fail.
Pete sinks - but as he sinks Peter remembers from whence his help comes - and he cries out - "Lord! Save me!"
And Jesus reaches out his hand and catches him.
That is what the Lord does when we risk as well; it is what he does when he bids us come to him over the dangerous waters.
When we step out, when we take a risk to come closer to God, and then falter...the hand of Jesus reaches out to us and lifts us up. All we have to do is remember - and focus on him once again.
Jesus says to Peter after reaching out to him to save him, he says, and I believe he says it gently - he says "You of little faith, why did you doubt?"
When we take a risk for the Lord, when we dare to do what is right, when we decide to go an extra mile - a mile that we need not walk - but which Jesus tells us we can walk - he is near to us to help us.
We do not need to doubt the outcome. We do not need to fear the adversity we encounter on the way.
All we need to do is keep focussed on Jesus, to look to where our help comes from. All we need to do is ask for the help we need and trust that it will come.
Like Peter who stepped out of the boat and walked on the water towards the Lord who had called him - we too can step out, and we really ought to step out, to respond to the Lord who bids us come to him.
When we do power flows. When we do marvellous things happen. When we do we discover new things about ourselves and our world.
We can risk, because we have a powerful Lord watching over us. We can trust, because we have a forgiving God caring for us. We can step out because we have a God who is sure to save.
Blessed be God - day by day. Amen
There are two levels to the story in our Gospel today:
- the level in which we see Jesus as the stiller of the storm; as the one who brings peace to those who sail through life in the boat called the church;
- and the level in which we see Jesus as the one who bestows power; as the one who calls to his followers - to those who are willing to step out of the safety of the boat - "come to me" - and who supports them when they do so.
It is this second level to the story that I want us to think about today - the level at which we see Jesus as the giver of power to those who, as a part of his church - are willing take a chance.
Think with me on the whole episode of Peter and his trip out upon the water. Think with me of how he was willing to risk all on the word of his master.
We hear in the gospel story that the disciples have been commanded by Jesus to take a boat and go before him to the other side of the Sea of Galilee while Jesus stays behind to dismiss the crowds that had gathered to listen to him.
By evening Jesus was alone - praying - and the disciples were far from shore, being battered by wind and waves. They struggle almost all night against the storm that is crashing down against them, and they struggle successfully, until near dawn they see an apparition - they see someone or something - walking across the water towards them - and they are terrified and quite naturally given the circumstances, they cry out in fear.
Immediately Jesus, for it is he who is walking upon the water, responds to the disciple's fear with the words - "Take heart, it is I, do not be afraid."
Peter answers Jesus first - saying
"Lord - if it is you - command me to come to you on the water."
And Jesus answers by saying "Come". And Peter climbs over the edge of the boat and puts his feet upon the water, and begins to walk towards Jesus.
Now some people dismiss the miracles recorded in the bible as simply tall tales. They claim that the stories of healing and of resurrection and of walking on water are but symbols for other things.
I don't agree with these people at all - I don't agree that these things never happened because I know that miracles occur, that people do get healed - I witnessed one myself when the doctors had all given up hope, that the dead are raised; and that many other marvellous, unexplainable things occur when people call upon the Lord.
Even so - most of the miracle stories in the bible are symbolic in that they teach us things about life and about faith even as they tell us about the marvellous things that Jesus and the disciples did.
And the story of Peter walking upon the water towards Jesus is one of these.
It shows us what can happen when we respond to the call of Jesus, it shows us how we can triumph over the forces of chaos and meaninglessness, it shows us how, when we take chance on the word of Jesus, his power lifts us up and allows us to weather the storms of life and do something new.
Think about it - Peter did not need to get out of the boat. He did not need to venture forth upon the stormy waters. He could have simply stayed where he was and waited for the Lord to come to him. He could have sheltered himself in the safety of the boat in the knowledge that everything would be okay now that the Lord was coming to him and the other disciples
But he did not. Instead Peter took a chance. He asked the Lord to bid him to come to him. He asked the Lord for the power to meet him in the middle of the sea.
Here is courage indeed - The courage to venture forth into danger and to do what the Lord has said can be done; the courage to risk taking a step that does not really need to be taken, simply because the Lord tells him it can be taken.
Most people suffer from a lack of boldness, a lack of courage - even Christians suffer in this way.
Given the choice between continuing in a situation where, despite the burdens and the dangers that are all around, there is a reasonable degree of safety, and venturing out into a new and unknown situation, where the dangers seem even greater and where there is no apparent safety net, most people will elect to stay put - to stay where they are.
Thus it is that women will stay in a home where they and their children are being abused rather than walk out and try to find a new life.
Thus it is that men will work for years in a job that is slowly destroying their health and happiness - rather than risk their homes and their security by returning to school or starting their own businesses.
Thus it is that teenagers will not speak to someone whom they are attracted to because they are afraid of botching up - afraid of being laughed at and rejected.
Thus it is that people who have had dreams of travelling around the world or of doing something else very special will stay where they are and allow their dreams to wither and die.
What have we been afraid to do?
What have we postponed because we dreaded the possible consequences?
Who have we have avoided because we did not know what to say to them?
Where have we refused to go because we feared what might happen there?
What goal have we hid from because we have felt inadequate?
What dream have we let wither and die?
Sometime we need to get out of the safety of boat. We need to say to the Lord, "Lord, if it is you - bid me come to you."
I am not saying here today to go out and take a wild chance on the first thing that comes along - but I am saying - if you have a dream - or if you are in a situation where wholeness and happiness are elusive - and you hear the master calling to you to take a chance - if you see that you can do something to help someone else - or simply feel that God is calling you to change something in your life that seems unchangeable - risk it.
Peter - though he did not need to - in the absolute sense of the word need - got out of the boat - and - upon the bidding of the Lord - walked upon the sea.
And he did well - his faith held him up - the power of Christ held him up, and he continued to do well until he forget about that power that he had called upon, he did well until he focussed upon the danger he was in, till he looked at the strong wind and the waves - and became afraid.
Then he began to sink..
When we take a risk - when we venture out upon the bidding of the Lord to do something new, or simply to fulfil what we believe our calling is - it is very important that we remember to stay focussed on our goal - to trust that God will see us through despite what is happening all around us.
A helicopter pilot who flew from an aircraft carrier in the Pacific told this story.
"I was flying the helicopter back to the ship when a blinding fog rolled in. Flying at a low altitude, I knew 5that a single mistake would plunge me and my crew into the ocean. Worse yet, I was experiencing a complete loss of balance - which, apparently is common for pilots flying by instruments. This loss of balance - known as vertigo - was so bad that despite the instrument readings I was certain that I was lying on my side. For 15 minutes I flew the helicopter by its instruments, fighting the urge to turn it according to my feeling. When we finally broke safely through the fog, I was deeply thankful I had being trained to rely upon my instruments rather than on my feelings.
That is what people who live by faith do - they remember that feelings can be misleading, but the truths in God's word are reliable, trustworthy, and consistent.
When we believe and act on these truths, we eventually break through the fog and experience the fulfilment of divine promise.
Peter - when he is overcome by fear, when he starts to walk according to his feelings instead of by the instruments of faith - begins to sink. His risk looks as if it has failed - but, as our story shows - it does not fail.
Pete sinks - but as he sinks Peter remembers from whence his help comes - and he cries out - "Lord! Save me!"
And Jesus reaches out his hand and catches him.
That is what the Lord does when we risk as well; it is what he does when he bids us come to him over the dangerous waters.
When we step out, when we take a risk to come closer to God, and then falter...the hand of Jesus reaches out to us and lifts us up. All we have to do is remember - and focus on him once again.
Jesus says to Peter after reaching out to him to save him, he says, and I believe he says it gently - he says "You of little faith, why did you doubt?"
When we take a risk for the Lord, when we dare to do what is right, when we decide to go an extra mile - a mile that we need not walk - but which Jesus tells us we can walk - he is near to us to help us.
We do not need to doubt the outcome. We do not need to fear the adversity we encounter on the way.
All we need to do is keep focussed on Jesus, to look to where our help comes from. All we need to do is ask for the help we need and trust that it will come.
Like Peter who stepped out of the boat and walked on the water towards the Lord who had called him - we too can step out, and we really ought to step out, to respond to the Lord who bids us come to him.
When we do power flows. When we do marvellous things happen. When we do we discover new things about ourselves and our world.
We can risk, because we have a powerful Lord watching over us. We can trust, because we have a forgiving God caring for us. We can step out because we have a God who is sure to save.
Blessed be God - day by day. Amen
Sunday, July 31, 2011
Romans 8:22-39 and Matthew 13:31-33,44-52
Let us Pray: Breathe on us, O God, that we may be filled with your Spirit - and led by your living word - Jesus Christ our Lord. Bless the word of my lips and the meditations of our hearts. We ask it in his name. Amen.
Over the last three weeks we have heard Matthew retell a series of the parables of Jesus. This Sunday we end this series - with five of those parables
The first two parables use the images of mustard seed and yeast. Both describe how, from small, almost invisible beginnings, great things will come.
In the second group of parables we see God's realm is described as a treasure hidden in a field, something that brings about life-changing joy when it is discovered - and when we are prepared to sell everything we own to obtain it.
We see the kingdom of God described as being like a pearl of great price - a thing of great beauty, for which the merchant will give up all other pearls - so he or she may purchase it.
The final parable in this set describes the kingdom of God as being like a great net that catches all kinds of fish - which are then sorted out according to their quality - with the good ones being kept safe for the use of the Master and the bad ones being tossed away.
Finally Jesus tells his disciples how to respond to the Good News that he has just proclaimed. He tells them that those who are students of the Scriptures - those who study them diligently AND become disciples of the kingdom of God - will bring out treasures both old and new from the storeroom of heaven.
What to make of all this?
For me these parables speaks strongly about the nature of faith and what it does - and about the nature of God and what he does, and, as usual, God does far more than we normally give God credit for.
Jesus says in the first two parables that the smallest faith, the smallest seed of God, the tiny bit of the yeast of righteousness can transform itself and those things in contact with it - and so change the world.
As Jesus said at another time "If we have faith as small as mustard seed we can say to the mountains be removed - and it will remove itself."
Think of it
- just a little seed - from which can come a mighty bush.
- just a little leaven - and we can change the entire loaf.
When I was pastoring on the island of Peng Chau a few years back I met a man in one of the local restaurant one day. I was having a dimn sum meal like many Chinese people love to do, and eating tea at the same time - Chinese people drink a lot of tea in a year.
Anyway I was enjoying my dim sum meal and my nice hot green tea - and I met this man who lived in the Peng Chau community, but I, and many others in the church, really didn't know him - though he knew us - you know how it goes.
As we talked he asked me - "You're the Minister at the church on the island are you not?"
I told him that I was. And then I invited him to come out and give the church a try.
"Well", he said, "I don't really know. I haven't been to church for a long time. But I'll think about it for sure."
"What the heck", I said, "Just come and enjoy it - there's always room for one more sinner. That's what it is all about. We have all kinds of sinners at our church"
The next Sunday the man showed up at the church all by himself (his wife and children were in the Philippines. As he said, he hadn't been to church regularly for a long time. He hadn't felt right about himself. He didn't think God was too pleased with him. He was uncomfortable in the places where he used to feel at ease. --- That's how it is for a person when things aren't right - and to be frank - they aren't right quite a bit of the time for a whole lot of people.
But God calls us back - and he works with the tiniest seeds - the small bit of faith we have - and the littlest bit of His Word - whatever he can sneak right by all a person's guilt and anxiety and remorse and worldly busyness and plant.
For that man - the word that the church was full of sinners was all he needed to hear - for the seed of faith he had told him that churches that welcomed sinners would welcome him.
Nothing can stop the growing of the seed because the Power of God is in the seed. Nothing can prevent the leaven from spreading because The Power of God is in the leaven.
In God's kingdom the smallest and the least significant things have incredible power; the incredible power to affect the largest and most significant things and transform them.
From the small amount of yeast that represented that man's faith - the man I met in the local tea shop; and from the small seed of welcoming truth - the small seed of God that God let me plant that day, has come a mighty bush - or to switch parables - a mighty tasty loaf.
Today my tea drinking friend is an elder of another church on that island. And he is helping lead a revival there - a time of awakening - within the congregation - and - as is always the case when God's spirit is involved - without it.
Revival it is said "always begins with me" Something awakens in us - something gets us on fire - and suddenly marvellous things are happening - not only to us - but to those we come into contact with.
God takes a seed - he plants it - and slowly, but surely growth comes - until suddenly everyone notices it - we notice it and other people notice it in us.
The mustard seed is the word of the kingdom of God - the word of truth - the word that points the way to the living reality of God in Christ among us. And the yeast is the word that grows within us - the faith that rises up because that is the nature that God gave it - that rises up and makes new - that brings to life - that revives.
And praise God - I have seen a planting - and I have seen a sprouting - and now others, like the birds of the air - are suddenly frequent visitors because of that which God has wrought - people build their spiritual homes on the branches of faith that my tea drinking friend has produced because he listened to and held onto the word which came his way.
Which brings me to the next two parables.
In the next two parables Jesus calls us to treasure the message we have discovered in the field of life, to do everything to hold onto the wonder working seed and the miraculous yeast that we find, - or which finds us - for who can predict just how and why we would ever stumble upon treasure buried in the middle of a field? Or just how and why a pearl of tremendous beauty might come our way, even if we are merchants who deal in such things?
There has been many a pastor and many a faithful Christian in the pew - who have let go of the treasure - and whose joy and delight in God - and whose trust and confidence in God - has been not as tremendously beautiful as it once was.
We all know the facts of life. When a person finds something of great value he or she has a decision to make - to obtain that treasure - no matter what the cost - or to be content with the treasure that he or she already has.
Often what we do - is obtain the treasure - and then let it go.
We exchange it for lesser things - things that seem important at the time or maybe we just allow events to overwhelm us - so that the great treasure is once again buried in the field of our life.
And then, to mix up the parables of Jesus, we suddenly come to our senses and return home to our Father; we decide to repurchase the pearl; to once again lay claim to the treasure.
Hopefully we are not too late.
There is a word from God for us - a touch of the Spirit for us - an event for us - a person who comes to us for us - that is worth everything we have - So says Jesus!
Don't let it go by. Pick up - hold on to it - don't let go. It is a saving thing that makes all of one's life worthwhile.
The value of what God has given to us freely through his law and his prophets, the value of what God has buried in our hearts and our minds for us to find, what God has brought to us in the person of Christ and pours out upon us through his Spirit, is beyond everything. When we grasp it.
The challenge for us is to grasp it - to not only recognize what we see and hear as being important; but to take action - to hold on to it - to give everything we have for it - to stand - and then walk - and then run if need be - to that place where we can claim full ownership of it.
Hold on to the seeds cast your way - let them germinate - nurture them.
Take the yeast out of its container and risk losing it all by putting all of it into the dough of your life.
Sell everything and buy the whole field - get the pearl - and watch what happens.
What will happen is great. You'll be attacked and assaulted by doubters and naysayers. But you will see better things than you have seen before - and you will know a love and show a love that the people who live in the world can only dream about it.
Which flows into the last parable - the parable of the net - and of the judgement that comes once the net is drawn and landed on the shore of heaven.
God casts his net to catch us all - he gives us all a chance to be his - he reaches out to us - he seeks us - and as the parables we have looked at over the last three weeks - and the stories I have told indicate - he goes to great lengths to make us into the kind of catch he wants. He is patient with us. He allows the weeds to grow so that the wheat is not uprooted - he changes what appears to be beyond hope into something that is worthy of praise.
But still there is a time when the catch is landed and sorted for market, when the field is harvested and the wheat and the weeds are separated.
And God calls to heed the approaching of that time - to number our days - to have a holy fear - so that we might acquire a heart of wisdom.
What God has made good lasts forever. It is valued by the maker.
What turns out bad - and refuses to be reworked - revived - refashioned - by the Maker, perishes.
And so it should be.
"Do you understand all these things", Jesus asked his disciples when he finished speaking. "Do you understand what I have been telling you"
"Yes", they said, "We do."
So he told them "Every student of the Scriptures who becomes a disciple in the kingdom of heaven is like someone who brings out new and old treasures from the storeroom."
There is a difference here drawn between being a student and being a disciple, between learning about something or knowing something and then actually doing it, between taking a stand and actually standing, and it is an important difference.
The one who becomes a disciple, the one not only learns about Christ, but who actually follows Christ, is one who discovers an abundance of treasure - treasure that is both old and new - and who displays it all for others to see, who values it all - and wants all the world to see it all.
In changing times it is good to know that the followers of Christ embrace what has gone by and recognize that which has just come has value as well.
There are so many treasures that God has sent our way - so many to value and embrace and hold up - the old law and the prophets with their guidance and their grace and the new law written in the heart by the Spirit of God, - the old rituals with their ability to calm and quieten the heart so that we may meet God, and the new ones which can energize and make fresh a tired soul, - the great grandmother with the wisdom of her age worn like a mantle upon her shoulders and the smallest child with his or her tremendous ability - born of innocence - to see God where no one else can.
God's treasure, it is said in Scripture, is contained in earthen vessels, in perishable - very mortal containers - and so the disciples of Christ value one another - and what they have to offer - whether it be old or new or in between.
There is a great mercy spoken of in all the parables we have heard. A great love, a great power, a great God, are pointed to in them.
It is worth everything and when embraced - leads to everything of importance in this world and in the next.
Blessed be God - day by day. Amen
Over the last three weeks we have heard Matthew retell a series of the parables of Jesus. This Sunday we end this series - with five of those parables
The first two parables use the images of mustard seed and yeast. Both describe how, from small, almost invisible beginnings, great things will come.
In the second group of parables we see God's realm is described as a treasure hidden in a field, something that brings about life-changing joy when it is discovered - and when we are prepared to sell everything we own to obtain it.
We see the kingdom of God described as being like a pearl of great price - a thing of great beauty, for which the merchant will give up all other pearls - so he or she may purchase it.
The final parable in this set describes the kingdom of God as being like a great net that catches all kinds of fish - which are then sorted out according to their quality - with the good ones being kept safe for the use of the Master and the bad ones being tossed away.
Finally Jesus tells his disciples how to respond to the Good News that he has just proclaimed. He tells them that those who are students of the Scriptures - those who study them diligently AND become disciples of the kingdom of God - will bring out treasures both old and new from the storeroom of heaven.
What to make of all this?
For me these parables speaks strongly about the nature of faith and what it does - and about the nature of God and what he does, and, as usual, God does far more than we normally give God credit for.
Jesus says in the first two parables that the smallest faith, the smallest seed of God, the tiny bit of the yeast of righteousness can transform itself and those things in contact with it - and so change the world.
As Jesus said at another time "If we have faith as small as mustard seed we can say to the mountains be removed - and it will remove itself."
Think of it
- just a little seed - from which can come a mighty bush.
- just a little leaven - and we can change the entire loaf.
When I was pastoring on the island of Peng Chau a few years back I met a man in one of the local restaurant one day. I was having a dimn sum meal like many Chinese people love to do, and eating tea at the same time - Chinese people drink a lot of tea in a year.
Anyway I was enjoying my dim sum meal and my nice hot green tea - and I met this man who lived in the Peng Chau community, but I, and many others in the church, really didn't know him - though he knew us - you know how it goes.
As we talked he asked me - "You're the Minister at the church on the island are you not?"
I told him that I was. And then I invited him to come out and give the church a try.
"Well", he said, "I don't really know. I haven't been to church for a long time. But I'll think about it for sure."
"What the heck", I said, "Just come and enjoy it - there's always room for one more sinner. That's what it is all about. We have all kinds of sinners at our church"
The next Sunday the man showed up at the church all by himself (his wife and children were in the Philippines. As he said, he hadn't been to church regularly for a long time. He hadn't felt right about himself. He didn't think God was too pleased with him. He was uncomfortable in the places where he used to feel at ease. --- That's how it is for a person when things aren't right - and to be frank - they aren't right quite a bit of the time for a whole lot of people.
But God calls us back - and he works with the tiniest seeds - the small bit of faith we have - and the littlest bit of His Word - whatever he can sneak right by all a person's guilt and anxiety and remorse and worldly busyness and plant.
For that man - the word that the church was full of sinners was all he needed to hear - for the seed of faith he had told him that churches that welcomed sinners would welcome him.
Nothing can stop the growing of the seed because the Power of God is in the seed. Nothing can prevent the leaven from spreading because The Power of God is in the leaven.
In God's kingdom the smallest and the least significant things have incredible power; the incredible power to affect the largest and most significant things and transform them.
From the small amount of yeast that represented that man's faith - the man I met in the local tea shop; and from the small seed of welcoming truth - the small seed of God that God let me plant that day, has come a mighty bush - or to switch parables - a mighty tasty loaf.
Today my tea drinking friend is an elder of another church on that island. And he is helping lead a revival there - a time of awakening - within the congregation - and - as is always the case when God's spirit is involved - without it.
Revival it is said "always begins with me" Something awakens in us - something gets us on fire - and suddenly marvellous things are happening - not only to us - but to those we come into contact with.
God takes a seed - he plants it - and slowly, but surely growth comes - until suddenly everyone notices it - we notice it and other people notice it in us.
The mustard seed is the word of the kingdom of God - the word of truth - the word that points the way to the living reality of God in Christ among us. And the yeast is the word that grows within us - the faith that rises up because that is the nature that God gave it - that rises up and makes new - that brings to life - that revives.
And praise God - I have seen a planting - and I have seen a sprouting - and now others, like the birds of the air - are suddenly frequent visitors because of that which God has wrought - people build their spiritual homes on the branches of faith that my tea drinking friend has produced because he listened to and held onto the word which came his way.
Which brings me to the next two parables.
In the next two parables Jesus calls us to treasure the message we have discovered in the field of life, to do everything to hold onto the wonder working seed and the miraculous yeast that we find, - or which finds us - for who can predict just how and why we would ever stumble upon treasure buried in the middle of a field? Or just how and why a pearl of tremendous beauty might come our way, even if we are merchants who deal in such things?
There has been many a pastor and many a faithful Christian in the pew - who have let go of the treasure - and whose joy and delight in God - and whose trust and confidence in God - has been not as tremendously beautiful as it once was.
We all know the facts of life. When a person finds something of great value he or she has a decision to make - to obtain that treasure - no matter what the cost - or to be content with the treasure that he or she already has.
Often what we do - is obtain the treasure - and then let it go.
We exchange it for lesser things - things that seem important at the time or maybe we just allow events to overwhelm us - so that the great treasure is once again buried in the field of our life.
And then, to mix up the parables of Jesus, we suddenly come to our senses and return home to our Father; we decide to repurchase the pearl; to once again lay claim to the treasure.
Hopefully we are not too late.
There is a word from God for us - a touch of the Spirit for us - an event for us - a person who comes to us for us - that is worth everything we have - So says Jesus!
Don't let it go by. Pick up - hold on to it - don't let go. It is a saving thing that makes all of one's life worthwhile.
The value of what God has given to us freely through his law and his prophets, the value of what God has buried in our hearts and our minds for us to find, what God has brought to us in the person of Christ and pours out upon us through his Spirit, is beyond everything. When we grasp it.
The challenge for us is to grasp it - to not only recognize what we see and hear as being important; but to take action - to hold on to it - to give everything we have for it - to stand - and then walk - and then run if need be - to that place where we can claim full ownership of it.
Hold on to the seeds cast your way - let them germinate - nurture them.
Take the yeast out of its container and risk losing it all by putting all of it into the dough of your life.
Sell everything and buy the whole field - get the pearl - and watch what happens.
What will happen is great. You'll be attacked and assaulted by doubters and naysayers. But you will see better things than you have seen before - and you will know a love and show a love that the people who live in the world can only dream about it.
Which flows into the last parable - the parable of the net - and of the judgement that comes once the net is drawn and landed on the shore of heaven.
God casts his net to catch us all - he gives us all a chance to be his - he reaches out to us - he seeks us - and as the parables we have looked at over the last three weeks - and the stories I have told indicate - he goes to great lengths to make us into the kind of catch he wants. He is patient with us. He allows the weeds to grow so that the wheat is not uprooted - he changes what appears to be beyond hope into something that is worthy of praise.
But still there is a time when the catch is landed and sorted for market, when the field is harvested and the wheat and the weeds are separated.
And God calls to heed the approaching of that time - to number our days - to have a holy fear - so that we might acquire a heart of wisdom.
What God has made good lasts forever. It is valued by the maker.
What turns out bad - and refuses to be reworked - revived - refashioned - by the Maker, perishes.
And so it should be.
"Do you understand all these things", Jesus asked his disciples when he finished speaking. "Do you understand what I have been telling you"
"Yes", they said, "We do."
So he told them "Every student of the Scriptures who becomes a disciple in the kingdom of heaven is like someone who brings out new and old treasures from the storeroom."
There is a difference here drawn between being a student and being a disciple, between learning about something or knowing something and then actually doing it, between taking a stand and actually standing, and it is an important difference.
The one who becomes a disciple, the one not only learns about Christ, but who actually follows Christ, is one who discovers an abundance of treasure - treasure that is both old and new - and who displays it all for others to see, who values it all - and wants all the world to see it all.
In changing times it is good to know that the followers of Christ embrace what has gone by and recognize that which has just come has value as well.
There are so many treasures that God has sent our way - so many to value and embrace and hold up - the old law and the prophets with their guidance and their grace and the new law written in the heart by the Spirit of God, - the old rituals with their ability to calm and quieten the heart so that we may meet God, and the new ones which can energize and make fresh a tired soul, - the great grandmother with the wisdom of her age worn like a mantle upon her shoulders and the smallest child with his or her tremendous ability - born of innocence - to see God where no one else can.
God's treasure, it is said in Scripture, is contained in earthen vessels, in perishable - very mortal containers - and so the disciples of Christ value one another - and what they have to offer - whether it be old or new or in between.
There is a great mercy spoken of in all the parables we have heard. A great love, a great power, a great God, are pointed to in them.
It is worth everything and when embraced - leads to everything of importance in this world and in the next.
Blessed be God - day by day. Amen
Sunday, July 24, 2011
Genesis 28:10-19a, Psalm 139; Matthew 13:24-30,36-43a
Bless, O God, the words of my lips and the meditations of our hearts, that they be of profit to us and acceptable to thee, our rock and our redeemer. Amen
Then Jacob woke from his sleep and said "Surely the Lord is in this place - and I did not know it!"
Over the years I have met and become friends with people whom others would consider but little better than the devil himself.
I have known murderers, cheats, thieves, and adulterers, and I have come to one conclusion about all these people who have crossed my path, and that conclusion is that you cannot know what is going to come next, nor can you pin down just where God is and what he is about.
I want you to hold onto that thought today - I want you to hold onto it when you meet people that strike you as evil, and I want you to hold onto it when you feel that you yourselves are out of reach of God. I want you to hold onto it when you watch the television news and when you walk into in a court room to face a judge. I want you to hold onto it when you see the neighbourhood gossip doing her rounds, and I want to hold onto when you encounter an unscrupulous salesman doing his pitch.
We do not know what is going to come next, nor can we pin down just where God is and what he is about.
This is the message of Jacob's story - the Jacob who cheated his brother and stole his birthright - the Jacob who fled to do his father's bidding fled not because he was particularly obedient - but because he feared that he would be killed if he stayed at home.
And as he fled he came to a certain place and stayed there for the night, he took a stone of the place and put it under his head and lay down, and he slept - and he dreamed - and in that dream God came to him - God came to him who was tired and fearful, to him who was alone and thought that he was loved by none except his mother - God came to him who was a cheat and a rascal and goodness knows what else, and God gave to him a vision of a staircase reaching into heaven, of a ladder upon which the angels ascended and descended to do God's bidding and as Jacob looked upon this scene God gave him a promise, the promise made to his grandfather Abraham and to his father Isaac, saying "know that I am with you - and will keep you wherever you go, that I will not leave you until I have done what I have promised you."
And Jacob awoke - and he said - and catch this line - he said "Surely the Lord is in this place - and I did not know it!"
Does that fit your experience?
Have you ever been in God's presence and hardly noticed it? Have you ever suddenly realized that God had been with you long before you knew he was there? Have you ever been in exile or in fear only to discover God coming to your aid? Have you ever had your picture of someone completely painted only to discover that the light has shifted - that the person you thought you saw - has completely changed? Changed for the better? Have you ever painted a picture of yourself - a picture in which the colours are all blue - all depressed - all unloveable - only to discover that someone loves you? That someone believes in you? That you are more than welcome in God's presence?
The good news of Jacob's story is not simply that there are links to heaven. The good news is not that God sometimes comes to us. The good news is not that heaven and earth are somehow connected. The good news is not that Jacob was a special kind of guy despite his tricky ways. Nor is the good news simply that we see God keeping - and renewing - his promise to Abraham and to Isaac to raise up a people and to bless them to be blessing.
No - the good news is all but hidden in that single sentence: "Surely the Lord is in this place, and I did not know it.!"
Do you understand? Do you get it? Do you have ears to hear?
The gospel reading today - the reading about the parable of the wheat and the tares is instructive for us.
It is instructive - not because it prophecies the ultimate destruction of evil doers, - nor because it teaches us that the blights on our lives and the weeds that suck up the nutrition of better plants are afflictions that come from Satan - No, it is instructive for us because it counsels patience -
- patience in the face of situations that seem bad to us,
- patience in the face of attacks by Satan,
- patience in the midst of our urge to go out and fix things and make them right.
- patience in the face of our desire to make judgements about others and to act on those judgements.
We do not know what is going to come next, nor can we pin down just where God is and what he is about. In fact we can't even be sure that the weeds about us will remain weeds and that the wheat will remain wheat.
Consider Moses - a murderer,
Consider David - an adulterer,
Consider the Apostle Paul - a religious vigilante,
Consider the disciple Peter - a hypocrite and a coward.
Who would think that God would work with them?
that God would be present with them?
that God would love them?
that God would make them great?
that God would grant unto them the blessings of his kingdom?.
Consider yourselves....What judgement do you make upon yourself?
Master - say the servants in the parable of the wheat and the weeds - Master, do you want us to go out and gather the weeds for burning - do you want us to pluck out the evil sown by your enemy to try to separate out the roots - to destroy that which is doing harm?
No - says the master - for in gathering the weeds you would uproot the wheat along with them. Wait till harvest time - wait till the reapers go forth. Wait.
Let anyone with ears hear...
Where is God? What is he doing?
We do not know what is going to come next, nor can we pin down just where God is and what he is about.
But we can be sure of one thing - we can know one truth we can rely on one verity - and that is - God will surprise us.
God will surprise us by embracing us when we feel dirty and unclean, - God will surprise us by turning our greatest afflictions into sources of strength and healing - God will surprise us by taking the lost and lone and making them great lights - God will surprise us by changing the wicked into saints and by casting down those whose righteousness turned out to be only something they wore on their sleeves. - God will surprise us by making sour lemons into thirst quenching drinks - God will surprise us by converting moments of pain into stripes that heal. He will surprise us by changing a time of death into an eternity of glorious life.
Surely the Lord is in this place - and I did not know it.
This could be a cry of despair -coming as it does from Jacob's most unworthy lips, it could be the kind of cry we have all uttered when we have done one thing when we ought to have done another, it could be a cry of despair and a moment of longing for that which is past. But it is not!
For Jacob that cry signals a moment of awakening, a time of opening his eyes and truly seeing, a time of opening his ears and truly listening. A time of coming from the night of uncertainty into the daylight of a holy hope.
For Jacob that cry signals a moment of discovering that, yes, God is here:here even when we do not know it, here even when we think that God can not, should not, will not be here, here even when we are not looking for God to be here.
And in discovering that God is here, it is for Jacob a moment in which he understands that God is here to bless and to heal; that God is here to comfort and to guide; that God is here to change to transform; that God is here to help and to reassure.
And Jacob woke from his sleep, and he said "surely the Lord is in this place - and I did not know it" and yes - Jacob was afraid - afraid not because he had made some mistake, but afraid because he realized just how holy was the place he was in - and as he looked in that fear upon the sand and rock and the dry plants and soil of that place, he said "How awesome is this place - this is none other than the house of God and this is the gate of heaven"
And Jacob took the stone upon which he had laid his head while he slept and he made of it a kind of memorial - a kind of altar, and he poured oil upon that stone upon which he had his vision and he named the place in which he had slept - Bethel - The House of God"
How awesome indeed is the place of God
- the place in which the weeds are allowed to grow up with the wheat
- the place in which all we have for pillows are stones
- the place in which we fear and long for comfort and think we have none
- the place in which the lost are found and the blind given sight.
We do not know what is going to come next, nor can we pin down just where God is and what he is about.
But if we wait - if we let God do whatever it is God does - if we let God move in his mysterious ways - his wonders to perform, we will find ourselves surprised in the most wonderful of ways - we will discover that where we are - wherever we are - is the House of God and that next to us is the gate of heaven.
Lift up your heads, O Gates! And be lifted up, O ancient doors that the King of Glory may come in.
Who is this King of Glory? The Lord of Hosts - he is the King of Glory - Hallowed be his name, now and ever. Amen and Amen.
Then Jacob woke from his sleep and said "Surely the Lord is in this place - and I did not know it!"
Over the years I have met and become friends with people whom others would consider but little better than the devil himself.
I have known murderers, cheats, thieves, and adulterers, and I have come to one conclusion about all these people who have crossed my path, and that conclusion is that you cannot know what is going to come next, nor can you pin down just where God is and what he is about.
I want you to hold onto that thought today - I want you to hold onto it when you meet people that strike you as evil, and I want you to hold onto it when you feel that you yourselves are out of reach of God. I want you to hold onto it when you watch the television news and when you walk into in a court room to face a judge. I want you to hold onto it when you see the neighbourhood gossip doing her rounds, and I want to hold onto when you encounter an unscrupulous salesman doing his pitch.
We do not know what is going to come next, nor can we pin down just where God is and what he is about.
This is the message of Jacob's story - the Jacob who cheated his brother and stole his birthright - the Jacob who fled to do his father's bidding fled not because he was particularly obedient - but because he feared that he would be killed if he stayed at home.
And as he fled he came to a certain place and stayed there for the night, he took a stone of the place and put it under his head and lay down, and he slept - and he dreamed - and in that dream God came to him - God came to him who was tired and fearful, to him who was alone and thought that he was loved by none except his mother - God came to him who was a cheat and a rascal and goodness knows what else, and God gave to him a vision of a staircase reaching into heaven, of a ladder upon which the angels ascended and descended to do God's bidding and as Jacob looked upon this scene God gave him a promise, the promise made to his grandfather Abraham and to his father Isaac, saying "know that I am with you - and will keep you wherever you go, that I will not leave you until I have done what I have promised you."
And Jacob awoke - and he said - and catch this line - he said "Surely the Lord is in this place - and I did not know it!"
Does that fit your experience?
Have you ever been in God's presence and hardly noticed it? Have you ever suddenly realized that God had been with you long before you knew he was there? Have you ever been in exile or in fear only to discover God coming to your aid? Have you ever had your picture of someone completely painted only to discover that the light has shifted - that the person you thought you saw - has completely changed? Changed for the better? Have you ever painted a picture of yourself - a picture in which the colours are all blue - all depressed - all unloveable - only to discover that someone loves you? That someone believes in you? That you are more than welcome in God's presence?
The good news of Jacob's story is not simply that there are links to heaven. The good news is not that God sometimes comes to us. The good news is not that heaven and earth are somehow connected. The good news is not that Jacob was a special kind of guy despite his tricky ways. Nor is the good news simply that we see God keeping - and renewing - his promise to Abraham and to Isaac to raise up a people and to bless them to be blessing.
No - the good news is all but hidden in that single sentence: "Surely the Lord is in this place, and I did not know it.!"
Do you understand? Do you get it? Do you have ears to hear?
The gospel reading today - the reading about the parable of the wheat and the tares is instructive for us.
It is instructive - not because it prophecies the ultimate destruction of evil doers, - nor because it teaches us that the blights on our lives and the weeds that suck up the nutrition of better plants are afflictions that come from Satan - No, it is instructive for us because it counsels patience -
- patience in the face of situations that seem bad to us,
- patience in the face of attacks by Satan,
- patience in the midst of our urge to go out and fix things and make them right.
- patience in the face of our desire to make judgements about others and to act on those judgements.
We do not know what is going to come next, nor can we pin down just where God is and what he is about. In fact we can't even be sure that the weeds about us will remain weeds and that the wheat will remain wheat.
Consider Moses - a murderer,
Consider David - an adulterer,
Consider the Apostle Paul - a religious vigilante,
Consider the disciple Peter - a hypocrite and a coward.
Who would think that God would work with them?
that God would be present with them?
that God would love them?
that God would make them great?
that God would grant unto them the blessings of his kingdom?.
Consider yourselves....What judgement do you make upon yourself?
Master - say the servants in the parable of the wheat and the weeds - Master, do you want us to go out and gather the weeds for burning - do you want us to pluck out the evil sown by your enemy to try to separate out the roots - to destroy that which is doing harm?
No - says the master - for in gathering the weeds you would uproot the wheat along with them. Wait till harvest time - wait till the reapers go forth. Wait.
Let anyone with ears hear...
Where is God? What is he doing?
We do not know what is going to come next, nor can we pin down just where God is and what he is about.
But we can be sure of one thing - we can know one truth we can rely on one verity - and that is - God will surprise us.
God will surprise us by embracing us when we feel dirty and unclean, - God will surprise us by turning our greatest afflictions into sources of strength and healing - God will surprise us by taking the lost and lone and making them great lights - God will surprise us by changing the wicked into saints and by casting down those whose righteousness turned out to be only something they wore on their sleeves. - God will surprise us by making sour lemons into thirst quenching drinks - God will surprise us by converting moments of pain into stripes that heal. He will surprise us by changing a time of death into an eternity of glorious life.
Surely the Lord is in this place - and I did not know it.
This could be a cry of despair -coming as it does from Jacob's most unworthy lips, it could be the kind of cry we have all uttered when we have done one thing when we ought to have done another, it could be a cry of despair and a moment of longing for that which is past. But it is not!
For Jacob that cry signals a moment of awakening, a time of opening his eyes and truly seeing, a time of opening his ears and truly listening. A time of coming from the night of uncertainty into the daylight of a holy hope.
For Jacob that cry signals a moment of discovering that, yes, God is here:here even when we do not know it, here even when we think that God can not, should not, will not be here, here even when we are not looking for God to be here.
And in discovering that God is here, it is for Jacob a moment in which he understands that God is here to bless and to heal; that God is here to comfort and to guide; that God is here to change to transform; that God is here to help and to reassure.
And Jacob woke from his sleep, and he said "surely the Lord is in this place - and I did not know it" and yes - Jacob was afraid - afraid not because he had made some mistake, but afraid because he realized just how holy was the place he was in - and as he looked in that fear upon the sand and rock and the dry plants and soil of that place, he said "How awesome is this place - this is none other than the house of God and this is the gate of heaven"
And Jacob took the stone upon which he had laid his head while he slept and he made of it a kind of memorial - a kind of altar, and he poured oil upon that stone upon which he had his vision and he named the place in which he had slept - Bethel - The House of God"
How awesome indeed is the place of God
- the place in which the weeds are allowed to grow up with the wheat
- the place in which all we have for pillows are stones
- the place in which we fear and long for comfort and think we have none
- the place in which the lost are found and the blind given sight.
We do not know what is going to come next, nor can we pin down just where God is and what he is about.
But if we wait - if we let God do whatever it is God does - if we let God move in his mysterious ways - his wonders to perform, we will find ourselves surprised in the most wonderful of ways - we will discover that where we are - wherever we are - is the House of God and that next to us is the gate of heaven.
Lift up your heads, O Gates! And be lifted up, O ancient doors that the King of Glory may come in.
Who is this King of Glory? The Lord of Hosts - he is the King of Glory - Hallowed be his name, now and ever. Amen and Amen.
Tuesday, July 19, 2011
Eph 1:7-8
"In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of His grace which He made to abound toward us in all wisdom and prudence" Eph 1:7-8
We all love to have things lavished on us. Women love to be loaded down with diamonds, furs and chocolates. Men adore a woman who buys them tools, remotes controls, gizmos and gadgets and they love to use these items with us. We all love Christmas and birthdays (yes, even those over 50 - but we just don't show it as much). Why? We love the attention we get on those special days.
God has lavished gifts on us as well. He gave us the gift of redemption - He paid our penalty for our sins - through His Son, Jesus. He has poured forgiveness on us. Why, because He loves us. It comes from His vast, immeasurable storehouse of grace.
Perhaps you have never accepted that great gift of salvation. Do it now. Perhaps you have lost that gift sometime in the past. He is still offering it to you. Take it . . . again. Maybe you think your sins are too great for God to forgive. Your sins cannot be bigger than God's grace. He loves you so much that if you were the only sinner, He would still have sent His Son to die for your sins. Accept His forgiveness now, today! It is free for the taking. (I know you are thinking "it can't be that easy." It is, He offers it freely. The hard part is humbling yourself to take it - it is easier to give than receive.)
There has never been a sinner who called on God who has been turned away. God's arms are open wide for all who seek Him. He doesn't play "hide and seek" with you. He says "seek Me and you shall find me. Call upon me and I will answer." Today is your day! Seek, call and receive! Amen and Amen.
Are YOU Right with God?
True Christianity is not about attending a particular church, or how your parents raised you, or what country you were born in. Being a Christian means that you have a personal relationship with Jesus Christ, that He is your Savior. It's not good enough that your priest, pastor, mother, or aunt knows Jesus, you must know Him for yourself. They cannot believe in Him for you, you must believe for yourself. They cannot repent for you, you must repent for yourself.
Jesus is everywhere all the time. He can hear you now if you ask Him for forgiveness. Please turn your life over to Him NOW. Time slips by so quickly, don't miss this opportunity. If you want to pray and ask Jesus to be your Savior, you can say a prayer something like this:
"Jesus, I know that I have sinned against you. I know the truth is that I have sinned by my own choice, and I am the one responsible for it. I know that I have earned punishment from You, and that the fair punishment would be death. Jesus, I believe that You died in my place. Forgive me for my sin. I cannot cover or take my sin away, I am relying totally and only on You. You are the only one who can save me. I reject my sin, I turn away from it, I repent. Come into my life, take away my sin, and show me how to live my life in a way that is right and pleasing to You." Thank You Jesus, Amen
If you have prayed this, YOU ARE SAVED! You are now completely forgiven, a new creation, innocent in the eyes of God, please e-mail me and let me know and I will guide you toward Fellowship and Baptism. Welcome to the family of God! Hallelujah, Amen and Amen.
We all love to have things lavished on us. Women love to be loaded down with diamonds, furs and chocolates. Men adore a woman who buys them tools, remotes controls, gizmos and gadgets and they love to use these items with us. We all love Christmas and birthdays (yes, even those over 50 - but we just don't show it as much). Why? We love the attention we get on those special days.
God has lavished gifts on us as well. He gave us the gift of redemption - He paid our penalty for our sins - through His Son, Jesus. He has poured forgiveness on us. Why, because He loves us. It comes from His vast, immeasurable storehouse of grace.
Perhaps you have never accepted that great gift of salvation. Do it now. Perhaps you have lost that gift sometime in the past. He is still offering it to you. Take it . . . again. Maybe you think your sins are too great for God to forgive. Your sins cannot be bigger than God's grace. He loves you so much that if you were the only sinner, He would still have sent His Son to die for your sins. Accept His forgiveness now, today! It is free for the taking. (I know you are thinking "it can't be that easy." It is, He offers it freely. The hard part is humbling yourself to take it - it is easier to give than receive.)
There has never been a sinner who called on God who has been turned away. God's arms are open wide for all who seek Him. He doesn't play "hide and seek" with you. He says "seek Me and you shall find me. Call upon me and I will answer." Today is your day! Seek, call and receive! Amen and Amen.
Are YOU Right with God?
True Christianity is not about attending a particular church, or how your parents raised you, or what country you were born in. Being a Christian means that you have a personal relationship with Jesus Christ, that He is your Savior. It's not good enough that your priest, pastor, mother, or aunt knows Jesus, you must know Him for yourself. They cannot believe in Him for you, you must believe for yourself. They cannot repent for you, you must repent for yourself.
Jesus is everywhere all the time. He can hear you now if you ask Him for forgiveness. Please turn your life over to Him NOW. Time slips by so quickly, don't miss this opportunity. If you want to pray and ask Jesus to be your Savior, you can say a prayer something like this:
"Jesus, I know that I have sinned against you. I know the truth is that I have sinned by my own choice, and I am the one responsible for it. I know that I have earned punishment from You, and that the fair punishment would be death. Jesus, I believe that You died in my place. Forgive me for my sin. I cannot cover or take my sin away, I am relying totally and only on You. You are the only one who can save me. I reject my sin, I turn away from it, I repent. Come into my life, take away my sin, and show me how to live my life in a way that is right and pleasing to You." Thank You Jesus, Amen
If you have prayed this, YOU ARE SAVED! You are now completely forgiven, a new creation, innocent in the eyes of God, please e-mail me and let me know and I will guide you toward Fellowship and Baptism. Welcome to the family of God! Hallelujah, Amen and Amen.
Prov. 11:4-5
"Riches do not profit in the day of wrath, But righteousness delivers from death. The righteousness of the blameless will direct his way aright" Prov. 11:4-5
We've probably all heard the story of the two men who paused to pay their respect to an approaching funeral procession. As the men took off their hats, they watched as the hearse quietly rolled by followed by an armored car with the name "Brinks" painted on the side. One respectfully noted to the other, "I didn't think you could take it with you, but Mr. Brinks is sure going to try."
There is an old song that says, "Money can't buy you love." And that is a very true saying. Money can buy companionship. Money can buy a false sense of friendship. Money can buy health - to a certain extent. Money can buy lots of things that make life easier on this sparkling blue orb we call "Earth," but money can't do a thing for the man who is bound for hell. Money won't buy an air conditioner there. It won't purchase a drink of cool water. It won't even buy friendly companionship in that overheated dwelling of the ever-dying sinner. Solomon tells us that riches are worthless in the day of wrath ... the day of judgment.
On the other hand, righteousness won't buy pleasures on earth. It won't buy a fast car. It won't purchase the goods that men seem to lust after. But it will buy peace of mind, and happiness, and contentment. It will buy what money can't - it can buy love. What's more, righteousness will deliver the owner from the eternal death of hell and deliver him into the glories of eternal life in Heaven with Jesus.
In the days of the ancient kings, runners would precede the king's travel by weeks. They would tell the local residents that the king would arrive in their village on such-and-such a day. The village chiefs would arrange work crews to travel the length of the roadway to make the paths smooth for the king. Potholes would be filled. Rough road would be smoothed. Valleys would be filled and hills would be cropped off so the king would have a safe and comfortable ride through the village lands. This is what the king's influence bought him.
Our righteousness - and that is a gift from our King - is what makes our paths smooth and safe and comfortable. Certainly, I am not talking about a "pain free life." Quite the contrary, the life of the true believer might be fraught with great trials producing physical and emotional pain. Some of us might even lose our lives because of the choice we have made to follow in the footsteps of the King. But, all the while, we are comforted by the knowledge that this life is nothing but a passing vapor compared to the vast riches of eternity. All the suffering we endure on earth are just "hiccups" on the way to the rewards offered by the King of Kings to those who overcome.
If we can keep this in mind, we will be at peace ... because of our righteousness in Christ Jesus - and such a comforting thought it is! Hallelujah, Amen and Amen.
We've probably all heard the story of the two men who paused to pay their respect to an approaching funeral procession. As the men took off their hats, they watched as the hearse quietly rolled by followed by an armored car with the name "Brinks" painted on the side. One respectfully noted to the other, "I didn't think you could take it with you, but Mr. Brinks is sure going to try."
There is an old song that says, "Money can't buy you love." And that is a very true saying. Money can buy companionship. Money can buy a false sense of friendship. Money can buy health - to a certain extent. Money can buy lots of things that make life easier on this sparkling blue orb we call "Earth," but money can't do a thing for the man who is bound for hell. Money won't buy an air conditioner there. It won't purchase a drink of cool water. It won't even buy friendly companionship in that overheated dwelling of the ever-dying sinner. Solomon tells us that riches are worthless in the day of wrath ... the day of judgment.
On the other hand, righteousness won't buy pleasures on earth. It won't buy a fast car. It won't purchase the goods that men seem to lust after. But it will buy peace of mind, and happiness, and contentment. It will buy what money can't - it can buy love. What's more, righteousness will deliver the owner from the eternal death of hell and deliver him into the glories of eternal life in Heaven with Jesus.
In the days of the ancient kings, runners would precede the king's travel by weeks. They would tell the local residents that the king would arrive in their village on such-and-such a day. The village chiefs would arrange work crews to travel the length of the roadway to make the paths smooth for the king. Potholes would be filled. Rough road would be smoothed. Valleys would be filled and hills would be cropped off so the king would have a safe and comfortable ride through the village lands. This is what the king's influence bought him.
Our righteousness - and that is a gift from our King - is what makes our paths smooth and safe and comfortable. Certainly, I am not talking about a "pain free life." Quite the contrary, the life of the true believer might be fraught with great trials producing physical and emotional pain. Some of us might even lose our lives because of the choice we have made to follow in the footsteps of the King. But, all the while, we are comforted by the knowledge that this life is nothing but a passing vapor compared to the vast riches of eternity. All the suffering we endure on earth are just "hiccups" on the way to the rewards offered by the King of Kings to those who overcome.
If we can keep this in mind, we will be at peace ... because of our righteousness in Christ Jesus - and such a comforting thought it is! Hallelujah, Amen and Amen.
Sunday, July 17, 2011
Isaiah 55:10-13; Psalm 65; Matthew 13:1-9,18-23
O Lord, we pray, speak in this place, in the calming of our minds and in the longing of our hearts, by the words of my lips and in the thoughts that we form. Speak, O Lord, for your servants listen. Amen.
Over the next three weeks we will be looking at some of the parables of Jesus as they are found in the Gospel According to Matthew.
The parable of the sower and the seed that we read this morning is the first of several that Matthew records in his gospel and as we look at it - and some of the others in the weeks to come - it will be good for us to remember that the parables of Jesus - when they were first heard - were heard in two ways. Some found their message offensive - and others found their message to be incredibly liberating, they heard them as good news about God's love - about how God cares for the world and for everyone in it.
The offense in today's parable should be obvious to any of you who garden - and to any who have farmed or who are familiar with farming.
Seed is a precious commodity. It is not something that you spread on rocky ground or cast indiscriminately on the pathways throughout your garden or the roadside next to acreage. Nor do you sow seed in the midst of thistles.
Yes - when you sow - be it by hand or by machine - some seed will fall in those places, but it is not something that you do deliberately.
What you do deliberately is sow seed in good ground. You sow it in those places where you know the seed has a chance not only to germinate and sprout, but to grow up into a healthy plant - one that produces much fruit.
But in today's parable it seems that God has a different system of sowing.
The incredible thing within the parable of the Sower and The Seed - the thing which is both offensive to those who think that they know how things should be done, and good news to those who have ears to hear the message is the liberality of the sower of the seed and the abundance of the harvest that is produced - a harvest that far exceeds what could be reasonably expected even if all the seed landed in good soil..
Those who have ears, let them hear.....
The seed in the parable of The Sower and the Seed is the Word of God, it is the Word - or The Message - about God's kingdom.
And the sower is God.
But the seed is also the one who first tells us this story, - the seed is Christ Jesus himself - who - as the scriptures tell us over and over again - came from God that we might have life and have it abundantly - the seed is the one whom we call the Living Word - the Word made flesh - who came, while we were yet enemies of God - and gave us his life for us so that we might turn to God and live as God's beloved children in a world - and a heaven - made new. The seed is the one who tells us to do crazy things like love our enemies - and to pray for those who oppress us - and to bless those who curse us. The seed is the one who accepts us and who wants to be planted deep in our hearts and to grow in our lives even we think that we are not good enough to approach him and to ask him for his hope - his love - his strength - his joy.
While there may be a limit to what we can do in sowing the word - a limit to the energy and the love that we have for one another - a limit that might cause us to try to sow in one place, but not in another, there is no limit to what God can do and what God does do; nor is there a limit to what we can do when God's word is in our lives, working through us, growing in us as God wants it to do..
"Those who have ears", says Jesus, "let them hear."
Let them hear that God is pouring out himself in abundance upon this world upon the rocky ground and the places that thistles grow and the pathways and the good soil and that at the end - when the final reckoning is made - there will be an incredible harvest, a harvest so generous that the one who has sown so much seed so indiscriminately will be rewarded beyond anything one could reasonably hope for - even if all the soil had been good soil.
Let them hear too that we should not hoard the seed that God has given to us to sow; let them hear that God's purposes will not be frustrated if we waste a little bit of here and there, that the word of God's love and care that we manifest in our actions and our attitudes and the words we speak will not be lost if we give it freely to the those who may allow it to be snatched away, or choked out, or to wither away... it won't be lost because the harvest that will come from all our acts of sowing the good news of Jesus Christ will be more, much more, than anyone can expect.
"As the rain and the snow come down from heaven, and do not return to it without watering the earth and making it bud and flourish, so that it yields seed for the sower and bread for the eater, so is my word that goes out from my mouth" said God through the prophet Isaiah in the first reading of today.
"My word will not return to me empty, but will accomplish what I desire and achieve the purpose for which I sent it."
The purpose of God is the renewal of our lives - of our lives - and of the
life of the world.
"You will go out in joy and be led forth in peace", says God to his people Israel - and to us here today. "the mountains and hills will burst into song before you, and all the trees of the field will clap their hands. Instead of the thornbush will grow the pine tree, and instead of briers the myrtle will grow. This will be for the Lord's renown, for an everlasting sign, which will not be destroyed."
God's purpose is accomplished by God's word - the word that created heaven and earth and which has been made flesh in Christ Jesus our Lord so that the sick might be healed, the captive set free, the poor receive good news - and the dead restored to life.
It is going to happen - and we can be part of it - or not - as we choose.
But those of us who have chosen to receive the Word of God into our lives, those of us who have accepted Christ into our lives and who strive to grow in him and have him grow in us - let us not choose for others by denying to them what God has given to us, let us be wildly indiscriminate in how we share the good news, in how we love one another
This indeed is part of the harvest that good soil produces abundant seed for the sower to sow once again and grain that is more than enough for all who hunger.
They who have ears - let them hear - day by day, now and forever. Amen
Over the next three weeks we will be looking at some of the parables of Jesus as they are found in the Gospel According to Matthew.
The parable of the sower and the seed that we read this morning is the first of several that Matthew records in his gospel and as we look at it - and some of the others in the weeks to come - it will be good for us to remember that the parables of Jesus - when they were first heard - were heard in two ways. Some found their message offensive - and others found their message to be incredibly liberating, they heard them as good news about God's love - about how God cares for the world and for everyone in it.
The offense in today's parable should be obvious to any of you who garden - and to any who have farmed or who are familiar with farming.
Seed is a precious commodity. It is not something that you spread on rocky ground or cast indiscriminately on the pathways throughout your garden or the roadside next to acreage. Nor do you sow seed in the midst of thistles.
Yes - when you sow - be it by hand or by machine - some seed will fall in those places, but it is not something that you do deliberately.
What you do deliberately is sow seed in good ground. You sow it in those places where you know the seed has a chance not only to germinate and sprout, but to grow up into a healthy plant - one that produces much fruit.
But in today's parable it seems that God has a different system of sowing.
The incredible thing within the parable of the Sower and The Seed - the thing which is both offensive to those who think that they know how things should be done, and good news to those who have ears to hear the message is the liberality of the sower of the seed and the abundance of the harvest that is produced - a harvest that far exceeds what could be reasonably expected even if all the seed landed in good soil..
Those who have ears, let them hear.....
The seed in the parable of The Sower and the Seed is the Word of God, it is the Word - or The Message - about God's kingdom.
And the sower is God.
But the seed is also the one who first tells us this story, - the seed is Christ Jesus himself - who - as the scriptures tell us over and over again - came from God that we might have life and have it abundantly - the seed is the one whom we call the Living Word - the Word made flesh - who came, while we were yet enemies of God - and gave us his life for us so that we might turn to God and live as God's beloved children in a world - and a heaven - made new. The seed is the one who tells us to do crazy things like love our enemies - and to pray for those who oppress us - and to bless those who curse us. The seed is the one who accepts us and who wants to be planted deep in our hearts and to grow in our lives even we think that we are not good enough to approach him and to ask him for his hope - his love - his strength - his joy.
While there may be a limit to what we can do in sowing the word - a limit to the energy and the love that we have for one another - a limit that might cause us to try to sow in one place, but not in another, there is no limit to what God can do and what God does do; nor is there a limit to what we can do when God's word is in our lives, working through us, growing in us as God wants it to do..
"Those who have ears", says Jesus, "let them hear."
Let them hear that God is pouring out himself in abundance upon this world upon the rocky ground and the places that thistles grow and the pathways and the good soil and that at the end - when the final reckoning is made - there will be an incredible harvest, a harvest so generous that the one who has sown so much seed so indiscriminately will be rewarded beyond anything one could reasonably hope for - even if all the soil had been good soil.
Let them hear too that we should not hoard the seed that God has given to us to sow; let them hear that God's purposes will not be frustrated if we waste a little bit of here and there, that the word of God's love and care that we manifest in our actions and our attitudes and the words we speak will not be lost if we give it freely to the those who may allow it to be snatched away, or choked out, or to wither away... it won't be lost because the harvest that will come from all our acts of sowing the good news of Jesus Christ will be more, much more, than anyone can expect.
"As the rain and the snow come down from heaven, and do not return to it without watering the earth and making it bud and flourish, so that it yields seed for the sower and bread for the eater, so is my word that goes out from my mouth" said God through the prophet Isaiah in the first reading of today.
"My word will not return to me empty, but will accomplish what I desire and achieve the purpose for which I sent it."
The purpose of God is the renewal of our lives - of our lives - and of the
life of the world.
"You will go out in joy and be led forth in peace", says God to his people Israel - and to us here today. "the mountains and hills will burst into song before you, and all the trees of the field will clap their hands. Instead of the thornbush will grow the pine tree, and instead of briers the myrtle will grow. This will be for the Lord's renown, for an everlasting sign, which will not be destroyed."
God's purpose is accomplished by God's word - the word that created heaven and earth and which has been made flesh in Christ Jesus our Lord so that the sick might be healed, the captive set free, the poor receive good news - and the dead restored to life.
It is going to happen - and we can be part of it - or not - as we choose.
But those of us who have chosen to receive the Word of God into our lives, those of us who have accepted Christ into our lives and who strive to grow in him and have him grow in us - let us not choose for others by denying to them what God has given to us, let us be wildly indiscriminate in how we share the good news, in how we love one another
This indeed is part of the harvest that good soil produces abundant seed for the sower to sow once again and grain that is more than enough for all who hunger.
They who have ears - let them hear - day by day, now and forever. Amen
Sunday, July 3, 2011
Romans 7:15-25a; Psalm 45; Matthew 11:25-30
"Gracious God - bless now the words of my lips and the meditations of our hearts. Breath your Spirit into us and grant that we may hear and in hearing be led in the way you want us to go. Amen.
Many of us here today have had, or still have, many problems in our lives. We are under constant stress from one thing or another:
- there is an interview coming up
- some one we know and love is sick
- our finances are shaky
- we feel understandably depressed and find it difficult to watch the news on TV or to think about anyone else's troubles.
Something is eating at us.
Stress is a common, all too common fact in our lives.
It could be any of a thousand and one things that afflict us, but the result is we feel tired; or we find ourselves being angry at other people for almost no reason at all or, even more commonly, we feel unable to think good thoughts or do what we believe are good things.
We are not at peace.
So what do we do about it?
A lot of people do nothing... they feel that somehow this is meant to be their lot in life - or they feel powerless to change things.
Others - those blessed with the conviction that they should be more at ease with themselves and with the world around them - are more active.
And many of these - and in this age it seems the majority - turn to the solutions offered at the local library and at the supermarket stands or on TV, and they buy self-help manuals or they watch shows featuring pop psychologists hoping against hope that by following the instructions of the books or enacting the principles outlined in 30 minutes by some expert on the tube - that they will be able to get a grip on their problems, and find a happier and more fulfilling life.
Yet, despite all their efforts - all too often they are just as tired and unhappy as those who have done nothing, perhaps even more so - since the rules and regulations and principles they try to follow to help themselves require a lot of effort.
Who will rescue me is a cry heard not only on the top 40 charts, but in the depths of our hearts.
Who will rescue me...who will rescue me from the aimlessness of my life? Who will rescue me from my pain and loneliness? Who will rescue me from the negativity of the world? Who will rescue me from myself?
Again, hoping against hope, some of us turn to religion, we turn to the values and principles taught to us on our mothers knees and we try to live our lives by the ten commandments and by the laws taught to us by Moses, Jesus and Paul.
But like Paul - we end up finding that this does not work either, we find that the good that we would like to do we do not do and the bad that we would not do, we end up doing anyway.
Like Paul we find that there is a kind of war going on inside us, And deep down we end up saying with him -
What a wretched person I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death?"
Brothers and sisters in Christ there is a better way, - a better way than the quick fixes offered by the wise psychologists on the supermarket stands, - a better way than that which is offered to us by a religion based on do's and don'ts, laws and regulations.
The way I am referring to will strike many of you as being very silly, very simplistic, very naive, but I assure you that it is not - even when applied to problems that are larger than our own personal ones.
I do not know how many of you ever heard of a person by the name of Samantha Smith -
when she was 10 years old she woke up one morning in her home in Maine and "wondered if this was going to be the last day of the earth". She had just read about the arms race and thought that it made no sense. So she did something that only an unsophisticated child would do - she wrote a letter to Mr. Andropov, the Soviet Leader at the time. She said "I am worried about Russia and America getting into a nuclear war. Are you going to vote for war? Please tell me how we can stop having a war?"
To many peoples' surprise, Mr. Andropov answered her letter and invited her to Russia to see things for herself. She went and met Mr. Andropov and many children of her own age. She got along very well. When she returned to the States she said "If we can be friends by getting to know each other better, then what are our two countries arguing about? Nothing could be more important than stopping a nuclear war".
Adults cannot say such things lest they seem silly...Yet is there not a profound wisdom here? Something greater than the wisdom of our political scientists and international experts?
We have so many problems - both personal, and as a nation and a world. And we have so little peace, so little rest.
Who will rescue us?
You know that it is all enough to drive a person to pray, we get to the point after we have tried this and that formula and consulted this and that expert in our problems that we do not know what else to do.
We've tried to make it under our own steam - and we are tired, and in desperation, finally, we try God.
But wouldn't we be better off to try God first? Wouldn't we be better off to live by God's wisdom rather than the wisdom of the learned of this world?
But we don't do this do we? It is just too silly to expect that something simple can solve a complex problem.
But listen to Jesus once again. He said:
"I praise you Father, Lord of Heaven and Earth, because you have hidden these things from the wise and learned and revealed them to little children."
An ancient story is told about a Rabbi who had the prophet Elijah appear to him one day while he was in the market place.
There the teachers of the Law were holding forth, others were buying and selling goods, and still others were listening to the disputes that were brought before the elders of the people in one corner of the market.
The Rabbi asked Elijah if there was anyone in the market place who was destined to share in the blessedness of the life to come. At first Elijah said no - but then he pointed to two men and said that they would. The Rabbi went over to them and asked what they did. "We are merry makers", they replied, "When we see a person who is downcast we cheer him up. When we see two people quarrelling with each other, we try to make peace between them."
Brothers and sisters in Christ, the answers we need to our problems are often hidden from us, because so many of us, particularly those of us who are well educated cannot comprehend the simplicity of the truth - for us there always has to be a catch, we cannot accept that things might be easier than they appear.
I tell you this: God wants us to understand and find solutions to our problems. And so God has arranged things so that it is not our knowledge that is important, but rather our heart and our will.
God wants us all to have peace and fulfilment, and so there is nothing complicated here, instead there is only a call, a call to yield yourself to God, a call to follow Jesus and enter into a relationship with him.
As a theologian once put it: "the heart, not the head is the home of the gospel"
The smallest child is given the faculty of knowing Christ, of knowing what is important and what is not, - but for us adults it seems we need something more, we need a model which we can consciously follow.
Jesus said:
Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in spirit, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden light.
Come to me, take my yoke upon you, my yoke is easy and my burden light.
The word yoke in the scripture often refers to the TORAH - to the way of God, to the teachings of God through the prophets, and as such it is it is not so much about servitude but rather about the direction of things - the focus of our labours, which is for us the focus of Jesus and not the rules and laws of religion.
And the word easy - my yoke is easy - in the Greek means well fitted.
In the days of Jesus yokes were made of wood. The ox was brought to the carpenter's shop and carefully measured and then the yoke was roughed out. Then the ox was brought back and it was tried on him - the yoke was then marked - and carefully adjusted by shaving the wood. Each yoke was tailor made to fit each ox.
When Jesus says that "my yoke is easy and my burden light" what he means is this: The life I give you is not a burden to gall you, your task is made to measure to fit you.
What Jesus is saying is: My burden is light, it is not meant to weigh you down with demands, it is not rules and regulations about what you can and can not do, nor is it a task that you will hate doing.
No, the burden of Jesus is like the one in the old story about a man who comes upon a little boy carrying a still smaller boy, who was lame, upon his back.
"That's a heavy burden for you to carry", said the man. "That's no burden", came the answer, "that's my wee brother".
What ever Jesus sends us, and whatever he asks of us is made to fit our needs and our abilities exactly, it is made to give not only us, but our whole world rest.
We need to give up our old way of looking at life and assume the way of seeing and living that Christ wants us to have, - the one that concerns our heart, - the one that is suited to us.
Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened. Come to me you who are tired of doing it all under your own steam and I will give you rest.
Take my yoke upon you, take what I have designed especially for you, and learn from me, learn from me for I am gentle and humble in spirit, for I am one who is at peace, one who knows the right way. Do this, come to me, and take what I have designed for you, learn from me, and you will find rest for your souls.
You will find rest, for my yoke is easy and my burden light.
Who will rescue me?
An old hymn by the name of "Come Unto Me" says in its second verse:
Are you disappointed, wandering here and there, dragging chains of doubt and loaded down with care? Do unholy feelings struggle in your breast? Bring your case to Jesus, He will give you rest.
Come unto me, come unto me, I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, Hear me and be blest. I am meek and lowly, come and trust my might. My yoke is easy, and my burden is light.
Who will rescue me?
Jesus invites us - come to me, learn from, take my yoke upon you - and I will give you rest...
It is a promise, a promise that requires a very simple answer on our part to take effect.
Come to Jesus like a child - listen to him, talk to him, do what he asks of you, and you will find your rest. AMEN
Many of us here today have had, or still have, many problems in our lives. We are under constant stress from one thing or another:
- there is an interview coming up
- some one we know and love is sick
- our finances are shaky
- we feel understandably depressed and find it difficult to watch the news on TV or to think about anyone else's troubles.
Something is eating at us.
Stress is a common, all too common fact in our lives.
It could be any of a thousand and one things that afflict us, but the result is we feel tired; or we find ourselves being angry at other people for almost no reason at all or, even more commonly, we feel unable to think good thoughts or do what we believe are good things.
We are not at peace.
So what do we do about it?
A lot of people do nothing... they feel that somehow this is meant to be their lot in life - or they feel powerless to change things.
Others - those blessed with the conviction that they should be more at ease with themselves and with the world around them - are more active.
And many of these - and in this age it seems the majority - turn to the solutions offered at the local library and at the supermarket stands or on TV, and they buy self-help manuals or they watch shows featuring pop psychologists hoping against hope that by following the instructions of the books or enacting the principles outlined in 30 minutes by some expert on the tube - that they will be able to get a grip on their problems, and find a happier and more fulfilling life.
Yet, despite all their efforts - all too often they are just as tired and unhappy as those who have done nothing, perhaps even more so - since the rules and regulations and principles they try to follow to help themselves require a lot of effort.
Who will rescue me is a cry heard not only on the top 40 charts, but in the depths of our hearts.
Who will rescue me...who will rescue me from the aimlessness of my life? Who will rescue me from my pain and loneliness? Who will rescue me from the negativity of the world? Who will rescue me from myself?
Again, hoping against hope, some of us turn to religion, we turn to the values and principles taught to us on our mothers knees and we try to live our lives by the ten commandments and by the laws taught to us by Moses, Jesus and Paul.
But like Paul - we end up finding that this does not work either, we find that the good that we would like to do we do not do and the bad that we would not do, we end up doing anyway.
Like Paul we find that there is a kind of war going on inside us, And deep down we end up saying with him -
What a wretched person I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death?"
Brothers and sisters in Christ there is a better way, - a better way than the quick fixes offered by the wise psychologists on the supermarket stands, - a better way than that which is offered to us by a religion based on do's and don'ts, laws and regulations.
The way I am referring to will strike many of you as being very silly, very simplistic, very naive, but I assure you that it is not - even when applied to problems that are larger than our own personal ones.
I do not know how many of you ever heard of a person by the name of Samantha Smith -
when she was 10 years old she woke up one morning in her home in Maine and "wondered if this was going to be the last day of the earth". She had just read about the arms race and thought that it made no sense. So she did something that only an unsophisticated child would do - she wrote a letter to Mr. Andropov, the Soviet Leader at the time. She said "I am worried about Russia and America getting into a nuclear war. Are you going to vote for war? Please tell me how we can stop having a war?"
To many peoples' surprise, Mr. Andropov answered her letter and invited her to Russia to see things for herself. She went and met Mr. Andropov and many children of her own age. She got along very well. When she returned to the States she said "If we can be friends by getting to know each other better, then what are our two countries arguing about? Nothing could be more important than stopping a nuclear war".
Adults cannot say such things lest they seem silly...Yet is there not a profound wisdom here? Something greater than the wisdom of our political scientists and international experts?
We have so many problems - both personal, and as a nation and a world. And we have so little peace, so little rest.
Who will rescue us?
You know that it is all enough to drive a person to pray, we get to the point after we have tried this and that formula and consulted this and that expert in our problems that we do not know what else to do.
We've tried to make it under our own steam - and we are tired, and in desperation, finally, we try God.
But wouldn't we be better off to try God first? Wouldn't we be better off to live by God's wisdom rather than the wisdom of the learned of this world?
But we don't do this do we? It is just too silly to expect that something simple can solve a complex problem.
But listen to Jesus once again. He said:
"I praise you Father, Lord of Heaven and Earth, because you have hidden these things from the wise and learned and revealed them to little children."
An ancient story is told about a Rabbi who had the prophet Elijah appear to him one day while he was in the market place.
There the teachers of the Law were holding forth, others were buying and selling goods, and still others were listening to the disputes that were brought before the elders of the people in one corner of the market.
The Rabbi asked Elijah if there was anyone in the market place who was destined to share in the blessedness of the life to come. At first Elijah said no - but then he pointed to two men and said that they would. The Rabbi went over to them and asked what they did. "We are merry makers", they replied, "When we see a person who is downcast we cheer him up. When we see two people quarrelling with each other, we try to make peace between them."
Brothers and sisters in Christ, the answers we need to our problems are often hidden from us, because so many of us, particularly those of us who are well educated cannot comprehend the simplicity of the truth - for us there always has to be a catch, we cannot accept that things might be easier than they appear.
I tell you this: God wants us to understand and find solutions to our problems. And so God has arranged things so that it is not our knowledge that is important, but rather our heart and our will.
God wants us all to have peace and fulfilment, and so there is nothing complicated here, instead there is only a call, a call to yield yourself to God, a call to follow Jesus and enter into a relationship with him.
As a theologian once put it: "the heart, not the head is the home of the gospel"
The smallest child is given the faculty of knowing Christ, of knowing what is important and what is not, - but for us adults it seems we need something more, we need a model which we can consciously follow.
Jesus said:
Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in spirit, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden light.
Come to me, take my yoke upon you, my yoke is easy and my burden light.
The word yoke in the scripture often refers to the TORAH - to the way of God, to the teachings of God through the prophets, and as such it is it is not so much about servitude but rather about the direction of things - the focus of our labours, which is for us the focus of Jesus and not the rules and laws of religion.
And the word easy - my yoke is easy - in the Greek means well fitted.
In the days of Jesus yokes were made of wood. The ox was brought to the carpenter's shop and carefully measured and then the yoke was roughed out. Then the ox was brought back and it was tried on him - the yoke was then marked - and carefully adjusted by shaving the wood. Each yoke was tailor made to fit each ox.
When Jesus says that "my yoke is easy and my burden light" what he means is this: The life I give you is not a burden to gall you, your task is made to measure to fit you.
What Jesus is saying is: My burden is light, it is not meant to weigh you down with demands, it is not rules and regulations about what you can and can not do, nor is it a task that you will hate doing.
No, the burden of Jesus is like the one in the old story about a man who comes upon a little boy carrying a still smaller boy, who was lame, upon his back.
"That's a heavy burden for you to carry", said the man. "That's no burden", came the answer, "that's my wee brother".
What ever Jesus sends us, and whatever he asks of us is made to fit our needs and our abilities exactly, it is made to give not only us, but our whole world rest.
We need to give up our old way of looking at life and assume the way of seeing and living that Christ wants us to have, - the one that concerns our heart, - the one that is suited to us.
Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened. Come to me you who are tired of doing it all under your own steam and I will give you rest.
Take my yoke upon you, take what I have designed especially for you, and learn from me, learn from me for I am gentle and humble in spirit, for I am one who is at peace, one who knows the right way. Do this, come to me, and take what I have designed for you, learn from me, and you will find rest for your souls.
You will find rest, for my yoke is easy and my burden light.
Who will rescue me?
An old hymn by the name of "Come Unto Me" says in its second verse:
Are you disappointed, wandering here and there, dragging chains of doubt and loaded down with care? Do unholy feelings struggle in your breast? Bring your case to Jesus, He will give you rest.
Come unto me, come unto me, I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, Hear me and be blest. I am meek and lowly, come and trust my might. My yoke is easy, and my burden is light.
Who will rescue me?
Jesus invites us - come to me, learn from, take my yoke upon you - and I will give you rest...
It is a promise, a promise that requires a very simple answer on our part to take effect.
Come to Jesus like a child - listen to him, talk to him, do what he asks of you, and you will find your rest. AMEN
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