The Text: Luke 13:10-17

 Jesus today attempts a miracle healing.

Sadly the healing was not successful. You may be surprised to hear that because we see a woman who had been bent over for 18 years released from her condition.

But when we look closer we will see that that may not have been the target of Jesus’ healing.

This woman had been suffering for 18 years. She had not asked for healing and yet Jesus calls her over.

In fact Luke doesn’t even call it a healing but a release from a spirit that had kept her bent over.

The true healing that Jesus seems to be initiating is with the synagogue leader who has been bound not by a physical but a spiritual sickness.

The synagogue leader was teaching what he had learnt about the Sabbath Law to the people in the synagogue.

“There are six days to do work – come on one of those to be healed and not on the Sabbath”.

There are 6 days that this woman could have been healed but Jesus chose the Sabbath because he knew that the religious leader had forgotten his duty to care for those in need.

Jesus’ healing revealed the true state of the synagogue leader’s heart in that instead of rejoicing that this woman is now free from this crippling disease he instead referred to the letter of the law which to him took precedence over her wellbeing.

This message is a challenge to us to see if we may have neglected the care of others among us because we have been side-tracked by other things.

Each Sunday, all sorts of burdens are carried into our churches.

Some, like the bent-over woman’s condition, are more visible than others. But others have pain that is not so obvious or perhaps someone else will deal with it.

The difference between the bent over woman and the leader of the synagogue was that the woman went away healed while the synagogue leader still had his sick heart that needed healing.

It is similar to the Pharisee and the tax collector, with the righteous law-abiding Pharisee going away without being made right before God despite all his obedience to the law while the sinful tax collector, with all his disobedience, went away right before God.

This healing was a problem for the synagogue ruler because of when it happened.

Come back tomorrow when it’s alright for healings to be performed.

Wait a little longer.

After all, what is one extra day in an 18 year long suffering?

For Jesus, it is one day too long – for the woman and for the synagogue ruler.

The tension here is between two faithful Jewish men – Jesus and the synagogue ruler – who are struggling with each other concerning what it means to be faithful to God.

Both men believe they are keeping the true meaning of the Sabbath.

The story portrays Jesus as keeping the Sabbath because he sees it differently, and because he has a different sense of timing.

The time for God’s grace and healing is now, not later.

Often when we think of Pharisees and other religious leaders in the New Testament times we think of them in negative terms.

Judgmental, close-minded, harsh, moralistic, religious fanatics.

If we were to ask the general public today it would probably show that many see Christians in the same way.

The religious leaders were trying to be faithful to God and the commandments.

Somehow the people thought that the way to please God was through religious obedience, worship services, impressive buildings, long prayers and fasting, focusing their attention on the law, right down to every technical detail.

All this, even though God often told them that what mattered most is what’s in our hearts, and how we treat one another, and especially how we treat those in our midst who are most vulnerable: that’s the teaching behind the Good Samaritan: (Luke 10:25-37). The priest and Levite ignored the needs of their hurt brother in order to remain ritually clean for their temple duties.

So while religiously they were right – in their love of neighbour they were wrong.

These religious leaders focused on God and how they might serve God better but couldn’t see the suffering of their community.

They didn’t always get it right, but they were sincerely trying.

They sound a lot like us.

As Christians certainly we want to serve God and show our love and devotion to him.

But do we let our devotion sometimes get in the way that we don’t notice that God places in our midst those who also need our love and devotion?

But as we read the Old Testament we see that God was demanding in strict obedience to the Law of Moses with threats of being put to death for disobedience.

What has changed?

The change is that God sent his son Jesus to fulfil the law that we couldn’t fulfil under the old covenant and introduce a new covenant.

The writer to the Hebrews today compares the Old and the New Covenant.

The characteristics under the Old Covenant of Moses included:

The mountain that couldn’t be touched, a blazing fire, and darkness, and gloom, and a storm, and the sound of a trumpet, and a voice whose words made the hearers beg that not another word be spoken to them. If even an animal touches the mountain, it shall be stoned to death.” Indeed, so terrifying was the sight that Moses said, “I tremble with fear.”

But with Jesus there is a New Covenant brought in.

A new mountain – Mount Zion – the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, with innumerable angels in festal gathering.

Which covenant are you living under?

It is very easy to slip back into the Old Covenant which put the Law first ahead of the needs of people and further burdened them – there are 6 days to work – come back on one of those days to receive God’s grace.

That doesn’t mean the law isn’t important but Jesus interpreted the true meaning of the law in loving God with all our heart, soul, mind and strength, and loving our neighbour as ourselves.

The religious leader, in his eagerness to show his love to God, like the priest and Levite on their way to the temple, neglected to love their neighbour.

The religious leader was called a hypocrite because he allowed his members to care for their animals on the Sabbath but ignored the needs of a human being created in the image of God.

Do we sometimes care more about things in the church while ignoring the needs of fellow human beings created in God’s image?

As Christians we have been set the task to value all human life because we know and believe that all human life is created in the image of God.

And when we begin with that foundation that all human life is created in God’s image then everything we do will take that into consideration.

Whether it’s our worship, whether it’s our work, whether it’s our sport, whether it’s our special interests and things we stand up for – caring for human life guides our values and decisions.

It is so easy to let our political agenda or our theological agenda or our personal agenda to guide our values and decisions which doesn’t always take into account the well-being of others.

It comes so natural to tell those squatters to get a job and wait their turn for public housing.

It’s comes so natural to tell those illegal immigrants to go back where you came from and stop jumping the queue.

Issues like these and others can reveal the true state of our hearts despite all our exterior obedience.

It’s so easy to put rules first and people second.

That’s where the synagogue leader got it wrong.

He was guided by his zeal for the commandments of God without considering God’s call to love his neighbour in need.

There are times when our Christian beliefs will be challenged when we are wondering the right decision to make.

But when we act out love for God and our neighbour as Jesus did, then we allow God’s heart to guide us and his grace to forgive us when we might feel that we have broken God’s law for the sake of a neighbour in need.

Jesus saw the Sabbath Day as a day for God to free us from the weight of the world that keeps us bent over rather than a day where we add to that weight by trying to please God.

This lesson invites us to ponder the ways in which our own rules, customs, and habits of what is right and proper have in fact become “Bad News” and burdens on those seeking release.

As Jesus once said – the Sabbath was made for humans – humans were not made for the Sabbath.

So let the Sabbath free you but more importantly use the Sabbath to free others.

 

 Texts: Luke 12:49-51, Hebrews 12:1-4

 All good things must come to an end. This is the way we view much of our lives.

As children we all look forward to birthdays, and Christmas celebrations with family. But when it’s time to go home sadness, tears, and tantrums take over because the fun is finished, and all the good things have come to an end.

We part company with our cousins, and the festivities, to return to the mundane everyday motions of life. The division causes distress, the fun never seems to last. It’s takes so long to arrive and then in a flash it’s over. Mum and dad are the agents of division and the destroyers of delight. It’s at this time children would rather be separated from mum and dad and reunited in celebration with their cousins.

This type of sentiment doesn’t end in childhood. We carry on through life looking to live for the moment, or we reminisce over the past. We long for things to be the way they were. We get distressed about what the future might bring – failing bodies, loss of loved ones, loss of our independence, and finally loss of life. Are you anxious, uneasy, or distressed about what you are becoming over time?

Jesus was anxious too! He was distressed but not in the way we are about the future. Rather Jesus’ distress occurred because of the present, and all the while his hope was in what the end of his ministry on earth would bring.

So, Jesus laments in a way which is different to us, he says, “I have come to bring fire on the earth, and how I wish it were already kindled! But I have a baptism to undergo, and how distressed I am until it is completed! Do you think I came to bring peace on earth? No, I tell you, but division.” (Luke 12:49-51)

Jesus looks forward to finishing what needs to happen. He is torn to the core of his being; he is distressed, until the result is complete. While a quasi-superficial peace exists he is distressed. Until the things we perceive to be good come to an end, there is no peace in Jesus’ heart.

Just like a parent taking distressed kids home after a fun filled day, Jesus knows no peace until God’s children are laid to rest, so we might be rested and refreshed through his rest at the cross and in the grave.

See the problem here is as old as there have been parents and children. There is the constant struggle between those who have age, experience, and wisdom on their side verses the young who lack wisdom but have a whole bundle of energy to burn.

We put recreation before both groups asking, “What is recreation?” and get two very different answers. For some the idea of recreation is to go, go, go! Experiencing action is what recreation is all about! But for others recreation takes on a more subdued event of relaxing, sleeping, and resting the body.

For Jesus recreation is somewhere in between! He was distressed and wanted to go, go, go, but this is so he could get to the place where he was placed in perfect rest, completing his work of recreation.

Now this might seem all a bit confusing to us who live in an age where recreation and holidays have lost their original purpose. And we do well to take the word recreation and stick a hyphen in so we hear recreation as re-creation. Our recreation is a time to be recreated or re-created. So too for holidays! Holidays were once holy-days set apart for a very different purpose than what they’ve become today.

To find the function of holidays and days of recreation, the commandment “Remember the Sabbath Day, to keep it holy” is as good a place as any to begin. After all the Sabbath is where God rested when he finished creation, and it’s where we’re re-created as we rest in God’s presence. And if it’s good enough for God to rest, perhaps we can enjoy the work God gives us in creation, and rest in him to be re-created and made holy as he is holy.

In the Old Testament the Sabbath begun at sundown on Friday and finished at sundown on Saturday. The Sabbath was a day to be re-created, and it was done by resting in the hearing of God’s Word. And so recreation and holidays flow on in the same vein. We are called to enjoy our work while we have it, and look forward to the holidays and days of recreation, not to glorify ourselves and neglect his Word, but to learn and hear it through teaching and preaching, regarding it as holy and therefore bringing glory to God.

How mixed up we have become in these things today! We lament and are distressed by the work God gives us and then when times come for us to be re-created and made holy, we choose to busy ourselves to the point of exhaustion and distress.

When we need re-creation and holiness, we are blinded by our desire for recreation and happiness, and the holidays and days of recreation become difficult days of uneasiness — and dis-ease!

Recreation is meant to lessen our dis-ease, yet for many their pursuit of recreational activities has become a disease! In fact, our distress from the unholiness and chaos of our search for fulfilment exposes the greatest disease of humanity – our sinfulness.

So as life seems to ebb away we become more and more like children at the end of a day of celebration. We become distressed over what is passing away, rather than being distressed over the fact we have become addicted to death and transient things around us. We want to stay and play, wearing ourselves out to the point where we’re so delirious we’ve lost all sight of what God truly intends for us.

Jesus says his coming has brought fire to the earth rather than peace. And this fire comes not only to the world but to us as well. There’s a division within us; a struggle between who you once were, and into whom you are being re-created.

The Holy Spirit delivers the fiery Holy Word of God into our hearts and the battle begins. Jesus seeks to conquer our unbelief, restlessness, and idolatry. Our hearts are receiving the will of God, and subsequently the distress of Jesus dwells in us until our baptism is made complete at the day of our resurrection after our earthly death.

But the old nature doesn’t die easily; it fights and assails us because Christ is in us. Our human nature would have us believe life is about selfishness now! That peace comes from me being number one! We would be at peace if conflict didn’t occur in us. But the reality is we are not living but dying, and for those who allow God to re-create them in Jesus Christ, they are being made his new creations. But it causes distress within as it divides sinner from saint. Like Jesus we are looking forward distressed until the fire of Christ’s fiery baptism of blood on the cross finishes its work of refinement in us. Then life will really being and death will be a thing of the past.

Jesus’ work of recreation divides not only the new believer from the old Adam within. Jesus also says it divides families and communities. Our sin separated Jesus from his Heavenly Father’s love on the cross. He experienced the full gamut of God’s wrath as a result of taking our addiction to death on himself, so we might be joined with the Father.

There are no shades of grey at the cross, Jesus was completely cut off from life, and experienced death in all its viciousness. And so the division continues to this day. We wrestle and struggle with those who choose the opposite from us. The question is this: Am I upholding God’s holiness and re-creation won for me in Jesus’ death, where one day I will be living in eternal peace? Or am I choosing to chase re-creation in unholy things, forsaking Christ’s work on the cross? There’s no halfway here! Either there’s surrender to Christ or surrender to eternal death. And between the divisions there will be an impenetrable void, impassable for all eternity.

So the reality for you is not that all good things are coming to an end but the truly good things are yet to come! Until death is a thing of the past, there will be times of distress, but at the second coming of Christ, we look forward to perfection and joy. Therefore, we’re encouraged as God’s children not to resist him but to be encouraged by all those who have gone before us bearing the forgiveness and faith of God. And so we hear…

…since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God. Consider him who endured from sinners such hostility against himself, so that you may not grow weary or fainthearted. In your struggle against sin you have not yet resisted to the point of shedding your blood. (Hebrews 12:1-4)

Amen.

The Text: Luke 12:32, 35-38

Have you ever been promised a generous gift? How did you feel about it? Did you look forward to receiving it with eager anticipation? How did you feel when it became yours? Generosity is a rare virtue in today’s world. That’s why we’re overwhelmed when it happens. Today’s Gospel contains Jesus’ announcement of the Good News of God giving you the greatest gift of all – His Kingdom and all the privileges that go along with life within it. What better gift could we be given? This gift is for people of all ages, including infants.

Jesus addresses you with words of such tender endearment when He says, “Fear not, little flock, for your Father is thrilled to give you the Kingdom (v32).” A little flock is one that can receive special care and attention from its shepherd. He knows their unique needs and requirements. We’re not to let size intimidate us. The Head of the Kingdom of Heaven isn’t an aloof, out-of-contact king, but a caring parent. We’re more than citizens of this Kingdom. In Baptism we were incorporated into God’s family and made members of the royal household, where we are its princes and princesses.

Jesus came preaching the good news of the Kingdom with Himself as its central focus. Jesus is the Kingdom Incarnate, the Kingdom personified. Our Lord is the bringer, the content and the completion of the Kingdom of Heaven. When He says, “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven (Matthew 5:3)” He means that this new community is for all the ordinary folk, those only all too aware of their limitations and inadequacies.

Through the embassies of God’s Kingdom, our churches, God establishes His reign of grace throughout the world. Jesus inaugurated the time of God’s favour with us, for our lifelong benefit and blessing. Grace involves being welcomed into heaven‘s royal household with no strings attached, no prior requirements we have to first meet. We sing about Christ, the Prince of Peace in Hymn 219:

Blessings abound where’er He reigns

The prisoner leaps to loose his chains;

The weary find eternal rest

And all the sons of want are blest.

Jesus brings the blessings of a regal joy, a majestic mercy, a peerless peace and a hope that’s sure and certain. His address to you “Fear not, little flock” is words that create courage, words that eliminate our anxiety. These words seek to fill us with a disarming fearlessness that makes us eager ambassadors of Christ, ambassadors who are thrilled to act as His advocates and supporters in our community.

Jesus had high hopes for His little flock. It hasn’t let Him down. It began as an insignificant minority, but what a creative minority the members of His embassies, His churches, have been! The advancement and progress of the Kingdom of the Father, His Son and the Holy Spirit is rarely visible. Our Lord’s parables of the Kingdom reassure us that from lowly and insignificant beginnings, a mighty harvest will come. “Jesus said, ‘The Kingdom of God is as if someone would scatter seed on the ground, and would sleep and rise night and day, and the seed would sprout and grow, he does not know how. The earth produces of itself, first the stalk, then the head, then the full grain in the head. But when the grain is ripe, at once he goes in with his sickle, because the harvest has come (Mark 4:26-29).’”It can furthermore be compared to yeast mixed into flour until it permeates and transform s all the flour, as in Matthew 13:33.

God works behind the scenes, both in those who are Christians and those who are not yet Christians, to bring them in, and keep them in His Kingdom. That’s why Jesus refers to His Kingdom as “the pearl of great price”, and the treasure of infinite worth in which we joyfully invest all that we are and all that we have.

It was unexpected that God’s Kingdom was open to all kinds of sinners and not just for the righteous. Instead of its righteous citizens ruling over the world, its citizens mingle with those still outside as its enthusiastic advocates. Its unostentatious nature masks its ultimate and unsurpassed greatness. In our worship we have a foretaste, a first instalment of the Kingdom of Heaven, which whets our appetite for its coming in all its fullness.

God gives to us what God asks of us. In the verse before today’s Gospel, Jesus says, “Seek God’s Kingdom” – a treasure that God is keener to give to you than you are to receive it. The privileges we have as Christ’s ambassadors far outweigh the responsibilities He requires of us. Before He seeks our service, Jesus comes to serve us. As He says of Himself, “I am among you as One who serves (Luke 22:27).” In Holy Communion, His Kingdom becomes very real and concrete, as in this Blessed Sacrament, we receive its blessings and benefits. Our Sunday Worship has been called “Divine Service”, because there, Christ Himself serves us with His forgiveness, His grace, His comfort, His support and His encouragement, in anticipation of the Last Day when all of Heaven’s blessings will be ours in overflowing measure.

In today’s Gospel, Jesus called “blessed” all of His servants who are getting ready for His return. The knowledge that He is preparing a place for us in His Father’s House motivates us to prepare ourselves for His appearance on the Last Day. Because His forgiveness means we can live as if today is the first day of our life, we can live as if tonight might be our last night on this earth. We can join our Lord in praying, “Father, into Your hands I commit my spirit”, or else we can pray Simeon’s song with him.

Our Lord’s reward for lifelong faithfulness is never commonplace. It comes as an unexpected gift out of all proportion to anything we may have done. Faithfulness to our Lord so thrills Him that He reverses normal Master/servant roles and tells us that in Heaven He will again come and wait on us in order to serve us. What a revolutionary message that was! Such a role reversal was utterly unheard of. It would be like a bridegroom serving the waiters at his wedding, or like a restaurant customer paying to serve the restaurant’s waiters instead.

Such an unexpected promise is one that Jesus Christ alone could make and keep. In His Kingdom, the first are last and the last are first. There, the greatest become like the youngest, and the leader like one who serves: “For who is greater, the one who is at table or the one who serves? Is it not the one at the table? But I am among you as One who serves”, Jesus says. What an utterly undeserved honour it will be to receive personal attention from our Lord in Heaven. Perhaps He will stoop down to wash our feet, as He did so unexpectedly to His twelve apostles on Maundy Thursday eve.

We, Christ’s humble servants, will be treated like royalty. There won’t be any famous men and women in Heaven because every human being there will be famous. Heaven will be a place of perpetual giving and endless thanksgiving. Jesus says, “Blessed are those servants whom the Master finds alert when He comes; truly I tell you, He will fasten His belt and have them sit down to eat, and He will come and serve them (Luke 12:37).”  Back in Jesus’ time, a master serving a slave would have been unthinkable. But then, Heaven will be full of surprises. When Prince Edward defeated and took prisoner King John of France, he nobly condescended to wait on King John the same night at supper. Serving us in Heaven won’t be beneath Christ’s divine dignity, because it wasn’t beneath Him to be our Suffering Servant while on earth.

In Heaven, we will shine with the radiance of Christ’s glory. We will be with Jesus and like Jesus as we share in His gigantic joy. To at last see our Lord face to face will be an awesome vision of which we will never tire. One way to get ready for Heaven is to develop a capacity for surprise – surprise at all the breath-taking things God does for us. Psalm 126 will become true: “When the LORD restored the fortunes of Zion, we were like those who dream. Then our mouth was filled with laughter, and our tongue with shouts of joy; then it was said among the nations, “The LORD has done great things for them.” The LORD has done great things for us, and we rejoiced (vv1-3).”

Heaven will be the greatest surprise party ever. It will be like all the best family reunions, wedding breakfasts and Christmas celebrations rolled into one never-ending celebration. All human words are inadequate to describe what awaits us in Heaven. “What no one ever saw or heard, what no one ever thought could happen, is the very thing God prepared for those who love Him (1 Corinthians 2:9).” This world, which serves as a scaffolding for God’s new world, will one day be removed. There, in God’s new world, we will experience life’s ultimate adventure in all its glorious abundance. The best is yet to come. There, we will be blessed, not because of what we do, but because of what we let Jesus do for us.

Who cannot help but love, honour and rejoice over our Lord and Master who promises to do such wonderful things for us? “Blessed are those who are invited to the Marriage Supper of the Lamb (Revelation 19:9).” We are truly blessed indeed to be servants of Christ the “Servant King!

This is our God, the Servant King

He calls us now to follow Him

To bring our lives as a daily offering

Of worship to the Servant King.

So let us learn how to serve

And in our lives enthrone Him;

Each other’s needs to prefer

For it is Christ we’re serving.      (AT 261)

And then in Heaven, Christ will serve us, forever. Amen.

The Text: Luke 12:13-21

Most councils will have what are known as “hard rubbish” collections. These are collections where you can throw out items you no longer need that are too big for your regular rubbish bins.

It is no surprise today seeing things that are not really rubbish in the collection – TV sets, tables, and lounge suites piled up on nature strips waiting for the truck to come along and take it to the tip. These days it just seems we all have so much stuff that we just throw out things that are probably still okay but we just don’t need it anymore because we’ve bought something new.

I often wonder how refugees feel when they come here from refugee camps where they lived in such harsh conditions to see the things we throw away.

It’s everywhere you look. Unneeded Stuff!

From garage sales, to car boot sales and trash and treasure markets, to nature strips with people riffling through your trash to find something of value.

Stuff is everywhere.

What a difference there is between third world countries and first world countries like ours when it comes to being thankful for what we have.

We’ll send a steak back to the kitchen because we asked for “well-done” and this is still red inside while the starving line up for hours for some grain to cook or some fresh water and the thankfulness for what little they receive.

We feel like second class citizens because our internet is slow – or our mobile phone isn’t the latest model – or our computer takes so long to turn on – while millions go without food and shelter.

We feel embarrassed because we can’t get our hair to sit right or we’ve noticed a wrinkle with ageing while children are dying from AIDS, malaria and other diseases overseas.

We feel embarrassed if we have to wear last season’s clothes while millions are lucky to have a piece of rag to cover up their humility.

We live in a society where obesity is our major health problem while millions are starving.

It’s very easy to lose perspective on life and forget to be thankful for all the blessings which God has showered upon our lives.

And let’s be honest – we have an abundance and have more than we need.

Maybe we don’t have all that we “want” but we have more than we need.

Greed is something we understand well.

All one has to do is turn on the television when the Power Ball jackpot reaches some obscene amount of money and listen to the interviews of people saying what they will do if they hit the big one. Our human nature will tell us that the more we have the more we want and the less thankful we are.

All of us are capable of being like the man in the story that Jesus told.

He tells the story of a rich man who receives a more abundant crop than normal but instead of being thankful and finding a way to help others he pulls down his barns, builds larger ones, and stores the grain and everything he owns there.

The man’s focus was himself.

His chief advisor was himself.

The only beneficiary to his actions would be himself.

Notice how many times “I” is used in his decision-making.

‘What should I do, for I have no place to store my crops?’ Then he said, `I will do this: I will pull down my barns and build larger ones, and there I will store all my grain and my goods. And I will say to myself, ` you have ample goods laid up for many years; relax, eat, drink, be merry’.

God’s response: “You fool.”

The man loved his riches and didn’t even thank God for what he had received.

That’s where his heart was.

But he would have no opportunity to enjoy his wealth, because he would die that night.

Jesus accuses the man of not being “rich in what matters to God.”

When our possessions become our focus they muddy our thinking. We are not thankful for what we have we see what we don’t have.

And life then becomes a worry for us because we believe that we don’t have enough. And when that happens we become ungrateful for what we have rather than thankful.

The man’s life is about to take a sudden turn; he will die that night.

Our lives can take sudden turns: the results of a medical test; the death of a family member, or friend; a loss of job; the breakup of a marriage. These and many other crises can make life very difficult to bear and no one is exempt.

No amount of fame or fortune can prevent disaster; but they can be even more devastating if our lives are not rooted in God, who is our rock in hard times and our strength to see us through.

Money can’t buy everything.

This is not against preparing for rainy days that causes Jesus to call us fools, nor does he condemn wealth.

It is the selfish and excessive desire for oneself that becomes greed and becoming thankless for what we have. It is the way we treat our abundance and our wealth that matters to God.

Our parable today asks us to think about our stuff – our possessions in two ways:

How much stuff do we really need and when we have more than we need how do we use it?

How much stuff do you really need?

When you have a more abundant “crop” than you expected what is your response?

When you are thankful to God for what you’ve received you want to share those blessings with others.

And the reason God wants you to do this is also twofold.

Firstly to help others in need. God gives abundantly to this world, but because of human nature, the resources are not shared evenly. According to one report is estimated that half the world’s wealth now in the hands of just 1% of the population.

But the other reason why we need to look beyond our possessions is because God has richly blessed us all but our greed cannot see that and be thankful. As Paul said in our reading: Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth.

This is where we can think of our own baptism.

What an amazing blessing God has given us.

Our eternal life has been assured as children of God for which we are truly thankful.

But how easy for the worries of life to hide that from us as we worry about earthly things – worrying about money and possessions and work and other physical things.

Just look at Adam and Eve who had everything they could have possibly wanted or needed. But instead of being thankful Satan convinced them there was more.

And that’s what Satan does to us.

No matter how much we have we will always want more until we stop and thank God for what we have and not become disheartened over what we don’t have.

Our lives are so blessed – we probably don’t even realise how much we have to be thankful for!

The Red Cross released a statement that read:

(see: https://www.redcross.ca/crc/documents/What-We-Do/Emergencies-and-Disasters-WRLD/education-resources/lucky_ones_povdisease.pdf )

If you have food in your fridge, clothes on your back, a roof over your head and a place to sleep you are richer than 75% of the world, but are we thankful?

If you have money in the bank, your wallet, and some spare change you are among the top 8% of the world’s wealthy,, but are we thankful?

If you woke up this morning with more health than illness you are more blessed than the million people who will not survive this week, but are we thankful?

If you have never experienced the danger of battle, the agony of imprisonment or torture, or the horrible pangs of starvation you are luckier than 500 million people alive and suffering, but are we thankful?

If you can read this message you are more fortunate than 3 billion people in the world who cannot read it at all, but are we thankful?

If you don’t think there is anything to be thankful to God for then we need to look again.

And even if we had just the shirt on our back – we would still be abundantly rich because Jesus died for us and we have eternal life in heaven.

That is the greatest possession anyone could ever have for which we should be truly thankful.

Text: Luke 11:1-13

It’s wonderful, isn’t it, when someone tells you they’re remembering you in their prayers. It can lift your spirits marvellously and transform your day. Today’s Gospel encourages us to pray. It seeks to impress on us that our prayers are welcomed by God and responded to as He sees best. Prayer is an essential part of being a Christian. Faith in our Lord and praying to Him belong inseparably together. Prayer isn’t just one expression of faith among others. To believe is to pray, because prayer is our response to God speaking to us in grace and love. The deepest expression of faith is to seek good things from God in prayer. So then think highly of your prayers, because we have God’s Word to trust that He welcomes them and encourages them.

God wants the best for you. He responds to our prayers in ways that are best for us. In prayer God either gives us what we ask for or something better. The great tragedy isn‘t unanswered prayer, but unoffered prayer. God won’t let your prayers be for nothing or be wasted. Our spiritual safety and protection lie only in prayer. It’s the strongest shield we have against the devil. Prayer is the door through which God enters our home, our workplace and our community, in order to bless us in unexpected ways. When we pray, we’re, as it were, sitting at Jesus’ feet speaking to Him as one friend to another. Prayer is an expression of Jesus’ friendship with us and our friendship with Him.

Prayers in the Bible display a fervour and frankness not often seen in prayers today. They remind us that God seeks honesty from us in our prayers. God is thrilled when we honestly face ourselves and bring our real needs to Him. The weaker our faith, the more essential is prayer. The degree of our faith is the degree of our praying. Luther said, “Prayer is the most important thing in my life. If I should neglect prayer for a single day, I should lose a great deal of the fire of faith.” No one can say their prayers are poor when they’re using the language of love. There’s nothing that can lead us to love someone as much as prayer can. The most important purpose of prayer may be to let God love us as He listens to us. What a wonderful expression of love listening to someone is!

Prayer changes us in ways we never dreamed of, for the blessing and benefit of those around us. A bad prayer is better than no prayer at all because we learn to pray by praying. When we’re feeling low, prayer seeks to take us out of ourselves and into our Saviour’s healing presence. For prayer is first of all about communion with our Lord to maintain, sustain and strengthen our friendship with Him. It’s more about having a conversation with Him than about presenting Him with a shopping list. Prayer is both a gift and a duty.

The Lord’s Prayer is His gift of grace to us. It is one of the greatest treasures of our Christian Faith.

Jesus’ disciples had recently heard Jesus pray a prayer of thanksgiving to His heavenly Father. So now in order to pray like Jesus did, they ask Him, “Lord, teach us to pray.” This is the only time they ask Jesus to teach them anything. Jesus knows of no better prayer He can give us. He gives it to us in two versions with the version in St. Luke’s Gospel slightly shorter than the one in Matthew 6. In this prayer, Jesus lists the things we need to pray about every day. The purpose of the petitions is that we’ll never have an excuse not to pray. The Lord’s Prayer opens our eyes to our real needs. In the first two petitions, Jesus invites us to identify with Him as God’s Son. In the next three petitions, our Lord identifies with us and our human needs.

Jesus prayed in a revolutionary way, by addressing God as “Father”. He used the title and form of address of “Father” for God more than any other. By doing so, Jesus changed the way people viewed God. “Abba” means “Dear Father”, that is, God as someone near and easy to approach rather than someone distant and aloof from us. In the Lord’s Prayer, Jesus invites us to either address God as “our Father in Heaven” or “Father (Luke 11:21).” A father is someone who is close at hand and approachable at all times. The Father whom Jesus reveals to us is the Father of prodigal children who continues to think fondly of us even when we’ve wandered away from him. He’s our ever-present help in trouble who sympathizes with us in our distress and wants to share it with us.

Fathers delight in giving to their children. So our heavenly Father wants above all to give us the Holy Spirit to pray for us when we’re weak and vulnerable. Our heavenly Father acts towards us as His Son Jesus acted towards little children, the sick and the needy. If someone wants to know what God is like, we point them to Christ. Our God is a Christlike God. Jesus said, “Whoever has seen Me has seen the Father (John 14:9).” He is a model for earthly fathers. There’s no one more like a father than God. In the Lord’s Prayer, Jesus reveals to us a Father who provides for our daily needs, forgives and protects us. Fathers know what their children want, but love it when they ask for these things. So it is with our Father in heaven. “Father! To God Himself we cannot give a holier name (Wordsworth)” That’s why Jesus wants us to honour God’s name and treat it with reverence and awe. To love and honour His name is to love and praise Him. God’s name represents His nature, His works and words. Jesus hallowed God’s name by showing us why God is worthy of our worship, honour and glory. God’s power is released on us when we do that. God’s holiness is revealed when He reveals His glory to us, especially in and through His Son Jesus. His glory is part of the majesty and beauty of His holiness.

God has vested His name on us as His children. His reputation is at stake in how we live. We praise and adore His name in our worship together because His name for us is all about His gifts of hope and love, joy and forgiveness. We hallow His name by eagerly hearing His Word and gladly putting it into daily practice.

Where God’s name is so honoured, there His Kingdom with all its unique blessings embraces us. Wherever Jesus went, He brought the good news of His Kingdom to those who welcomed Him. The secret of God’s Kingdom is that its King is our Father. Jesus says to us, “Fear not, little flock, for it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the Kingdom.” Through baptism we’re brought into God’s royal household as His adopted children. God advances His Kingdom through its embassies, our churches, and through us as its ambassadors. As its ambassadors, we pass on and promote God’s work of reconciliation so that living in reconciliation with one another, the routines of daily life can become celebrations of love. “In the Kingdom of God, eating and drinking aren’t important. The important things are living right with God, peace and joy in the Holy Spirit (Romans 14:17).”

The next petition concerns our daily needs, which Jesus wants us to pray about. “Give us day by day our daily bread”. The technological development of our modern world only seems to increase our sense of insecurity. The more scientific our world becomes, the more insecure we feel. God wants us to trust that He will provide for both today and tomorrow’s needs. “Our bread” reminds us of the unselfish nature of Christian prayer. We pray the Lord’s Prayer for each other, on behalf of one another. There’s no room for any prayer that seeks advantage over someone else. Gandhi said, “There is enough food in our world for everyone’s need, but not for anyone’s greed.”

“Daily bread” involves everyday necessities, not luxuries. It includes caring fathers and mothers, healthy children, pleasant people to work with, good government, good friends and good weather. Here we acknowledge that God is behind all that goes right in our lives each day. Instead of taking everyday blessings for granted, this petition leads us to receive them with gratitude. “We are conscious of that, in normal life, so much more has been received than we have given, and that it is gratitude that first makes life rich (Bonhoeffer).”

We need God’s forgiveness, God’s most characteristic quality as our heavenly Father, as much as we need daily bread. Forgiveness is God’s barrier-breaking, future-opening gift to us. “Where there is forgiveness of sins, there is life and blessedness.” Forgiveness meets our longing to make a fresh start in our relationships with God and with one another. Forgiveness means you can live as if today is the first day of your life, because God promises to remember no more the sins He has forgiven. Passing on God’s forgiveness to each other frees us from past hurts and resentments and helps our love for one another to grow warm instead of cold. A school boy, after confessing his sins to his school chaplain, was reassured of God’s love and forgiveness. He then rushed outside and turned cartwheels right across the football pitch. The reassurance of God’s forgiveness can make us want to turn cartwheels of joy, in spirit at least. What a priceless expression of love is forgiveness!

“Save us from the time of trial” is our battle cry. We realise how easily we can be tempted to sin. Here we need our Father’s help more than anywhere else. It’s a prayer we pray for each other as well, realising how vulnerable we are to giving in to what we know is wrong. Here we pray that we won’t be caught off guard when we’re tired or depressed, but ask Jesus to pray for us as He has promised. Jesus prays on your behalf to His heavenly Father: “I am not asking You to take them out of the world, but I ask You to protect them from the Evil One (John 17:15).” God’s Word reassures you, “No testing has overtaken you that is not common to everyone. God is faithful, and He will not let you be tested beyond your strength, but with the testing He will also provide the way out so that you may be able to endure it (1 Corinthians 10:13).”

Victory over a time of temptation and testing brings you closer to Christ and more grateful than ever for all that He has done for you. When you then face temptation, pray passionately, “God, be merciful to me, a sinner”. God knows how to rescue you from temptation in ways that may surprise you. In this petition, we pray that we will always remain citizens of God’s eternal Kingdom until we hear our Saviour’s words, “Come, O blest of My Father, inherit the Kingdom prepared for you (Matthew 25:34).”

In conclusion, remember if you’ve had an earthly parent who let you down, God is the most reliable Father you can have. “There’s no one more like a Father than God is (Tertullian).” Amen.

The Grace and Peace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all.

I was struck this week with the first letter from Peter, who  writes to us, “love each other deeply, because love covers over a multitude of sins.  Offer hospitality to one another without grumbling.  Each one should use whatever gift he has received to serve others, faithfully administering God’s grace in its various forms.”  ^{(1 Pe 4:7b-10 NIV).}

Let’s join in a word of prayer: Loving Lord God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ; we worship You.  And we celebrate the gift of your Son our great teacher and Saviour who is here with us.  Guide our time together this morning by your Holy Spirit that we may be inspired to show Christian hospitality as we follow your plan for our lives. Gracious heavenly Father, hear our prayer for the sake of our risen Lord,  Amen.

We all know about Mary and Martha so well.  Books have been written, stories recounted and movies made about these beautiful women and the challenge of having a Mary Heart in a Martha World. 

This account from the Gospel of Luke falls in between two other important accounts.  Last week, we encountered the Good  Sameritan,  which concentrates on loving our neighbour with our action.

Next week’s Gospel reading is all about worship through prayer, encountering the Lord’s prayer.

And now, between those two encounters, we join with Martha, Mary, and Jesus. Encountering the challenge of hospitality through both service and fellowship.

Charles Wesley wrote words that encourages us to combine the gifts of both Mary and Martha:

        ‘Faithful to my Lord’s commands

        I still would choose the better part;

       Serve with careful Martha’s hands

       And loving Mary’s heart.’

We are encouraged at times to be spirit-led in prayerful dialogue with Jesus, and at other times to offer hospitality to one another with love in our hearts.

When confronted with the opportunity to demonstrate faith filled lives of devotion and hospitality, what will our response be? 

Sometimes we will need to be active, like Martha.

Other times, we will only need to be present in the moment; like Mary, sharing some time with a friend.     

There are aspects of Mary and Martha, that represent the challenge which continues in each of us.  We search for the right thing to do as we allow the Holy Spirit to stretch us into the character of discipleship.

Luke investigated things thoroughly and writes to us that as Jesus and the disciples ‘went on their way, he entered a certain village, where a woman named Martha welcomed him into her home.’

Martha displayed her devotion to Jesus with her servant’s heart when she invited Jesus to her home.   He was unexpected but treasured.  Jesus later would raise Lazarus from death, and even now was welcomed with reverence and joy.  But Martha went one step further.  She invited all of his disciples into her home as well. 

As for us, in our time and place, when we hear the door chime unexpectedly, what is our reaction?  When I think about this, I must admit that at times, my secret thoughts would reveal irritation at an interruption.  “Is this another salesman, or a Jehovah Witness?  Or might it be a welcome delivery or a treasured friend?”  Such wide spectrum of feelings.  And how often are we prepared to provide hospitality to even a single welcome guest?

For Martha, preparing a feast for the followers of Jesus must have been a big commitment.  What about us?

Luke goes on to explain a bit more about this visit, Martha ‘had a sister named Mary, who sat at the Lord’s feet and listened to what he was saying. But Martha was distracted by her many tasks; so she came to him and asked, “Lord, do you not care that my sister has left me to do all the work by myself? Tell her then to help me.”’

We are often called to take on significant commitments when we serve God.  Sometimes with little notice.   We often get called to volunteer for roles, to accept duties for the Congregation, and to join in making significant decisions.  All the things that stretch us and force us to make difficult choices. 

I suspect that at times we get so caught up in these commitments that we are tempted to lose sight of the great Saviour who draws us into the challenge.  Sometimes, like Martha, the commitment becomes the focus, rather than the people we are showing God’s love to by our willingness to serve. 

That’s what appears to have happened here to Martha.  Even in her small kitchen, Jesus held the centre of attention.  But she became so busy working around him preparing the feast, that she became distracted by her preparations.

 When her attention was drawn back to Jesus, it appears she saw where she wanted to be.  She wanted to be at the feet of Jesus, just like her sister Mary.  But Martha couldn’t find a way to be there.  She seems unable to combine her sense of duty with her sense of fellowship. 

And so it is for us.  So often, we want to be in the moment, enjoying our relationships expressed in our hospitality, but we get so caught up in the provision of that hospitality, that the situation makes us grumpy.  And this brings conflict that interferes with our relationship. 

Peter reminds us to ‘love each other deeply, because love covers over a multitude of sins’.  By a swift prayer and a soft voice, we can overcome almost any conflict, and show genuine hospitality with gentleness and calm.

Both Martha and Mary were devoted to Jesus.  When Martha complained about Mary, it was more than just seeking his attention.  Seeking his approval.  Seeking his empathy.  

I suspect Martha was crying out for help.  She was missing out on what she knew was really important.  She was feeling short-changed and left behind.  She was beginning to feel used and ignored.

How often do we feel used, ignored, short-changed and left behind, when we put our every effort into a commitment?  Jesus calls us into joyful service.  When we turn the joy of serving into burden, we risk the feelings that accompany the labour.  When we turn our attention away from the presence of God in our commitments, we risk losing the joy of our service and our hospitality.  When we stop seeing Jesus in those to whom we are showing hospitality, we risk losing sight of the presence of God.

When Mary sat at the feet of the great teacher and Lord, she made the choice to join with the other Disciples.  Although Luke’s account isn’t clear about all the details, I am sure from another passage that there were the 12 Apostles, some of the other Disciples, and Lazarus as well, receiving Martha’s hospitality.    Despite the possible disappointment of her sister, Mary demonstrated her willingness to take time out of her busy life to experience and absorb the presence of Jesus.  To listen to his wisdom, to feel his presence, to acknowledge his importance over every other commitment in this life.

But, just like Martha, it appears that Mary was unable to discover a way to blend her desire to be with Jesus and her sense of duty to serve her guests.

Luke tells us of the reaction of Jesus to the complaint of Martha.  ‘the Lord answered her, “Martha, Martha, you are worried and distracted by many things; there is need of only one thing. Mary has chosen the better part, which will not be taken away from her.”’

Every day we make choices similar to those Mary and Martha faced.  We may decide to set our time with Jesus aside for a while in an effort to get things done, as Martha did.  Or we may decide to set aside some of the duties that haunt us, in order to spend precious time with Jesus, like Mary did.   The challenge for each of us is to blend our life of faith and service to live fulfilled and happy lives. 

A way to begin this blending is to take time to sit at Jesus’ feet each day, with the Bible in our hands.  We listen to Jesus speak to us through reading Scripture – ‘this mystery that has been kept hidden for ages and generations, but is now disclosed to the saints’ and to each one of us.’  

The message that the believers of Colossae might have lost sight of, if only for a time. That ‘God chose to make known how great … are the riches of the glory of this mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory.’

 As we continue to blend our life of faith and service,  we acknowledge the importance of Jesus Christ in every act of service, and every relationship that we share in our Christian experience.

Jesus tells us ‘There is really only one thing worth being concerned about.’  And Paul writes, we ‘must continue to believe this truth and stand in it firmly.’ Never to ‘drift away from the assurance <we> receive when <we hear> the Good News.’ 

It is this assurance that draws us to respond to our Saviour with joyful hospitality for others, family friend and stranger, Christian and non-believer alike.

I declare with you that our Lord Jesus will give us wisdom as we face the challenge of balancing our lives between the needs of being a Martha at times, and a Mary at other times, while keeping our focus on Jesus at all times.

That each of us choose what is better, knowing that it will not be taken away from us.  That we let it begin with each of us.  That we invite the Holy Spirit to set our hearts and lives ablaze for Christ Jesus to the glory of God our Father.

Let us pray:  Gracious Lord Jesus Christ, we long to be in your presence, hearing you speak to us in Scripture, in the intuition of the Holy Spirit, in the Sacraments.  We also desire to serve you by caring for our family, friends and neighbours.  Help us Lord to blend our devotion with our service to live fulfilled, happy lives. We pray this in your name, Lord Jesus.  Amen.

The grace and peace of God keep our hearts and minds in the calm assurance of salvation in our living Lord,  Christ Jesus. Amen.

Rev David Thompson.
Port Macquarie.

Text: Luke 10:25-37

Have you ever acted as a good Samaritan to someone in need? Has something like that happened to you? A survey was taken some years ago to ask people why they gave to charity. The primary reply was a reference to today’s story of the good Samaritan. The impact of this parable of our Lord has been vast. Charitable organisations like Samaritan’s Purse have brought immense help to the poor and needy in many parts of our world.

A Bible study group was examining this life-changing parable to see whom they could identify with in this story. One member of the group felt he had to identify with the robbers because he was led to see how he’d robbed those near to him of his time and love. That night, he wrote a letter to his wife to seek her forgiveness. His letter had a deep impression on her. She responded. “Only the Holy Spirit could have revealed these things to you.”

Many of Jesus’ parables are like a symphony in four movements. The first movement seeks to capture the attention of His listeners, the second movement is a challenge by Jesus on how to live out our faith in daily life, while the third concerns the good news Jesus brings us, and the final movement brings the story to a climax pointing us to what Jesus is doing in our midst for us even now, as our Good Samaritan. His love for us reaches its climax o n the cross. He pours out His love on to two categories of sinners, both law-keepers and law-breakers. Each is as bad as the other.

Law-keepers believe they can keep the law without any divine assistance, while law-breakers believe they’re unworthy of the extraordinary love Jesus offers them. Jesus’ chief critics, the lawyers and Pharisees, didn’t see their keeping of the law as an expression of gratitude to God for the grace He so freely bestowed on them. The law had become for them instead the means by which law-breakers could be identified and condemned. The lawyer who approaches Jesus in today’s parable gives a mixed message. His lips express respect for Jesus; his heart, however, desires to trip Jesus up.

Instead of answering the lawyer’s question, Jesus replies to the lawyer’s question with another question. Jesus could have put the lawyer down by pointing out the question has a simple answer. No one can do anything to inherit something. Inheritance, by its nature, is a gift. Jesus chose instead to play the lawyer at his own game. To the lawyer’s credit, he quotes a known summary of the law that may have originated with Jesus Himself. “Love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, strength and mind” and “Love your neighbour as yourself”. The genius of his reply is that he places love for God before love of neighbour, even though “love of neighbour” comes first in the Old Testament.

The exchange continues with Jesus’ quick-witted response: “Do this and you will live”. Jesus’ response takes the wind out of the lawyer’s sails. He knows it’s impossible to do this perfectly. Instead of levelling with Jesus with an honest reply, like saying “That’s impossible!”, he seeks to justify himself with another curly question: “who is my neighbour?” He wants to know love’s boundaries. For the Jews, “neighbour” meant fellow-Jew. Jesus declines to tell him who his neighbour is; Jesus answers the unasked question, “To whom am I a neighbour?”

Jesus now shares a simple but subversive story with the lawyer and with us. For 17 miles, the road from Jerusalem to Jericho goes through desolate land, a haunt for robbers and hijackers. Jesus’ listeners can picture the horrific scene: a fellow Jew being mugged, robbed and dumped by the roadside, left unconscious. The first man to see him unconscious is a priest. Priests back then were members of the upper class and rode, rather than walked. We’re shocked by Jesus’ comment: “The priest passed by on the other side”. Why didn’t he stop? we protest. He’s perhaps scared he might be attacked too. More likely, though, the roadside victim could be a notorious sinner. If he helped him, he might defile himself and render himself unfit to lead worship in the House of God. He considers his liturgical duties more important than stopping to help. Besides, he’s probably going to preach about loving one’s fellow Jews.

Next, a Levite, a priest’s assistant, comes along. As a member of the lower class he would have been walking. As he approaches the victim, he looks ahead and sees that the priest didn’t stop to help. “Why then should I?” he probably thinks to himself. Jesus’ words, “He too passed by” still impact on our ears. This part of the parable is still so powerful, so contemporary and disturbing, we have to ask ourselves “When have I passed by someone I could have helped?” And then we need to pray, “God, have mercy on me and fill me with love for those who need my love.”

The third person who comes along helps the victim. A Samaritan helping is the last person Jesus’ listeners would have expected. They would rather have expected a Jewish layman to help, not a Samaritan. It would be like telling Jews in Israel today about a “good Arab” or telling Arabs about a “good Jew”. The Samaritan sees the terrible state the Jewish victim is in. So with a heart overflowing with compassion he stops and acts in love to the dying man. He binds up his wounds and then pours on oil and wine to stop the bandage from sticking, and to ensure that their healing properties reach his injuries. Without any aids, he lifts him onto his donkey and leads him to a Jewish inn in the middle of Jericho. In those days there were no rural inns. Inns were in the heart of a town. There he runs the risk of being criticised for his actions. But he not only provides for the victim’s immediate needs, he pays in advance for 24 days of care.

His use of oil and wine to begin the healing process reminds us of their use in Jewish worship. The true “priest” in this story is the Samaritan. By pouring out a thank-offering on the altar of the victim’s wounds, the Samaritan makes an acceptable sacrifice to God. His seven actions make up for the priest and Levite’s sins of omission. He freely and spontaneously shows unexpected love that far surpasses any known obligation. He goes the second mile, going far beyond the bare minimum. He forgets himself in his utterly other-centred approach to someone in desperate need.

Now there are two kinds of sinners in Jesus’ parable: first, the robbers who compound their robbery with violence, and second, the priest and Levite who are guilty of the sins of omission, of failing to do any good at all when they had the opportunity. Edmund Burke once said, “Evil triumphs because the good do nothing”. It’s easy to make up excuses for inaction, for failure to do good towards someone else. We need to pray, “Help me to act like the Samaritan rather than the priest”.

When Jesus now asks the lawyer, “Who acted as a neighbour?” the lawyer cannot say the word “the Samaritan!” He can only say, “the one who had mercy on the victim”. It’s not a question of “who is my neighbour?” BUT, “who am I going to be a neighbour to?” 

Our Lord’s words to the lawyer, “Go and do likewise” should have led him to ask Jesus, “What must I now do to be saved?” He needs to see himself as a helpless victim in need of Jesus as his Saviour. He needs conversion more than he needs more instruction. You see, before we can identify with the Samaritan, we must first of all identify with the wounded traveller. In pointing to the Good Samaritan, Jesus is pointing us to Himself. He is our Good Samaritan who sees us bruised, battered and wounded along life’s way. Through no merit of our own, but out of His inexhaustible compassion, Jesus comes to our aid. Through the picture of the Good Samaritan, Jesus gives us a portrait of Himself and what He can do for us.

As the Samaritan paid for the healing of the victim, so Jesus made the ultimate payment: the sacrifice of Himself, to save us. “In this is love, not that we loved God, but that God loved us and sent His Son to pay the price for our sins (1 John 4:10).” Jesus is the embodiment of mercy. He binds up our spiritual and emotional wounds, pouring the healing oil of His forgiveness and the wine of His love on us in Holy Communion. He entrusts us to the Inn of His Church, where He continues His ongoing care of us.

His Church, this church, is like a hospital. Here, through the medicine of His amazing grace, your wounded Healer cares for you, so you can care for whatever unexpected needy person might be ;your “neighbour” tomorrow, Thursday, or Saturday. Here, in His hospital, Jesus can transform the most unlikely men and women into Good Samaritans. To love your neighbour ”as yourself” means as ;the new other-centred self Jesus is making of you, gloriously other-focussed and continually grateful for His great love for you that never ends.

Now, as you go from the “Jerusalem” of this morning’s worship to the “Jericho” of your daily life, rediscover the joy of putting someone else’s needs ahead of your own. “Love overlooks the many faults and failures of others (1 Peter 4:8).”

Text: Luke 10:1-11, 16-20

In the latest census of the Australian population (2016), the question about people’s religious affiliation showed that those who identified as Christians declined again to just over 50% with the next highest response being “no religion” at over 30%.

It can be difficult as we live in a world that is growing more and more anti-Christian with many people wanting less Church involvement in state matters such as teaching Christian Studies in state schools.

So how should Christians react?

Do we just sit back and say – well there’s nothing we can do about it.

It’s tough to know what we should do.

But we need to be careful that we don’t take up a fight that really doesn’t belong to us.

Paul had a similar situation happening in Galatia. A group of people known as the Judaizers were infiltrating the Christian community. They were introducing ways that were against the Christian gospel.

You may recall Paul warning the Galatians – beware of anyone who comes preaching a gospel different to the one that I came to you with. But he didn’t tell them to take up arms against them.

He simply told them to be sure of what they believe and don’t be misled by anyone. Let God deal with what needs to be dealt with.

That’s what “anathema” means.

He encouraged them to live a godly life and let God fight the fights that need to be fought. He didn’t in any way say that the fight wasn’t important. But he encouraged them to not let anything distract them from what God has called them to do.

He said: Don’t be deceived – God is not mocked. But as for you: Don’t grow weary in doing what is right.

Let us work for the good of all, especially the family of faith. Let us support and encourage one another here in our congregation, our parish, and the wider church – the family of faith – because we are all in this mission together.

Let us always be focused on the cross of Christ – otherwise we will be distracted from what God asks us to do.

In last week’s Gospel reading we heard James and John get distracted by a fight they were not called to fight.

The Samaritans rejected Jesus and they wanted to rain down fire from heaven to destroy them.

But Jesus rejected that.

Today the disciples were distracted also. They went out as missionaries for God. When they returned they were ecstatic. But they were excited about the wrong thing.

They were distracted.

Lord – in your name even the demons submit to us.

But Jesus reminded them of what was important:

Don’t rejoice that the demons submit to you. Rejoice that your names are written in heaven.

When we watch the news on TV, or to read the newspaper, it can create a feeling of helplessness with all the crises of the world.

We are all involved in Christ’s mission of renewing the world, of bringing hatred and injustice to an end. Establishing God’s reign of love and peace. But in the face of the real problems of the world we often feel that our efforts are like a drop of water in the ocean.

Does what we do really make any difference?

In the struggle between the love of Christ and the powers of Satan, the battle between good and evil, are our efforts of any significance at all?

Does God see us as important factors in bringing about change in the world?

Of course he does.

Just as Jesus sent out the 72 into the world, Jesus left us with the Great Commission:

Go into all the world baptizing and teaching.

Jesus does however provide advice on how we are to go into the world as his people:

First, Jesus says that we are like Lambs in the midst of wolves: Jesus doesn’t hide the fact that the world is going to oppose our message.

For a long time Christianity was a dominant voice in the world, but that is not how Jesus originally saw it. In fact he said: The harvest is plentiful but the workers are few. We should never see the church as failing because it is struggling.

And we shouldn’t see the world as our opposition to fight against. Jesus calls it the harvest and we are called to reap. To go out into the world even though the world will not receive us.

We are called to be salt and light in the world. Changing the world by how we live our lives, not by fighting those with whom we disagree.

As Jesus says – they will know we are Christians by our love. (John 13:35)

Carry no purse

When Jesus sent out the 72 he told them not to take any provisions with them.

Why not?

Because God would provide them with all they needed.

How do we know what to take when it is God guiding the mission? Too often, we have an agenda of what needs to happen – but this may not be God’s agenda.

Too often we go out into the world and believe we know what needs to happen.

Jesus is saying – take nothing with you. Let God guide every step and every word and every action.

We don’t know what God is going to do so we take nothing and let God lead the way.

We don’t want to be like James and John demanding God rain down fire every time someone objects to us or criticizes us. Then we would have no mission. There would be no harvest to bring in; it would all be destroyed.

The mission is God’s. We are his workers. We are bringing in God’s harvest.

If we start to work with our agenda then we can interfere with how God is planning the harvest.

Farmers will adjust their harvest strategy according to how the season is. God too has a mission plan and asks us to let him guide our words and actions.

Dealing with rejection

Jesus then tells the disciples how to deal with rejection. It’s not by calling down fire from heaven. No, he says when you enter a town that doesn’t welcome you, go into the street and wipe the dust off your shoes.

In other words, don’t let that rejection weigh you down. Move on.

Don’t take the baggage with you and let the anger and thoughts of revenge distract you from the mission. Keep focus on the mission. Keep doing good, even to those who oppose you.

The Final Victory

Finally Jesus reminds us as to what it is all about.

When the disciples return to tell of their victorious mission work, Jesus is again worried about the distraction.

Too often we become focused on the successes. The success can become our motivation. The success can easily distract us and become our measurement of God’s plan. When churches find success and grow they can become focused only on the growth.

Jesus says to the disciples – don’t rejoice at your success. Rejoice that your name is written in heaven.

And so that becomes our motivation. Not success, but the desire to have others have their name written in heaven.

We can become disheartened at the result of our mission when the results don’t happen.

When we are rejected we can feel hurt. But remember what Jesus said, they are not rejecting you, they are rejecting the one who sent you.

That is where the true hurt is, by God.

So, let us ask once again the Lord of the harvest to send us as labourers to his harvest

– to make us all faithful in our public witness to Jesus;

– to make each and every one of us faithful in bearing Christ’s name and witness to all.

It is in the honour of bearing his name that we rejoice and that our names are written in heaven.

Text: Luke 9:51-62

A young mum and her daughter attended the first three nights of the congregation’s Christmas celebration. Normally the congregation hosted a week-long event of music, entertainment and fun that shares the good news of Jesus’ birth in new and vibrant ways. The local pastor sat down with her on the third night while her daughter played games with the other kids. He thanked her for bringing her family so regularly. She was appreciative of the opportunity to have some fun and she really liked the music… even the children’s Christmas pageant. The pastor invited her to the Christmas Eve worship, offering her the small brochure of the Christmas worship schedule.

She refused. “No thanks,” she said. “We like the fun things, but we are not religious.” The pastor persisted with a smile. She grinned back and said, “No offense, but most of this religious stuff seems to me to be a load of horse you-know-what!” She wasn’t aggressive. She just spoke her heart and then went back to the festivities with her daughter.

The gospel heading today was the “cost of following Jesus.” Was that the issue for this woman?

Or what about this man? He was a farmer and a good one at that. He was a morally and ethically sound person. He would give the shirt off his back and race ahead of you into a burning building to save your kids. He had never been part of a Christian church but wouldn’t begrudge your membership and participation. He wouldn’t belittle your worship or following of Jesus, but wouldn’t join in. He doesn’t see a need. He openly marvels at the hurtful and often foolish things churches and Christians do. He takes life as it comes and complains about life’s hardships a lot less than many of his neighbouring Lutheran farmers.

Know anyone like that?

We struggle just as much today with the issue of following Jesus as the people did when he walked this earth! And I could give you story after story of the confusion and ignorance and indifference that is reflected in people today – just like so many of the responses Jesus experienced during his earthly ministry.

Luke’s Gospel account is concerned about that reality, as it recalls the life and work of Jesus. For the young missionary church of the early centuries, it gave them insights for living in a very difficult and changing environment. No less for us today. God wants us, the continuing mission church in the 21^st Century, to learn from this account also.

Today’s sermon text is at the point in Luke’s Gospel where Jesus sets his face to Jerusalem. He is going up to Jerusalem. He sends his messengers ahead of him – people who tell of his coming, people who prepare the way before him. They go to a Samaritan village and are not received. They are turned away. So James and John, two of the disciples, want to burn to cinders these negative, rejecting Samaritans for their unbelief. Not a particularly good response from them either. And Jesus doesn’t support their idea at all. In fact, he tells the two of them in no uncertain terms. So they just continue on their way elsewhere.

Some people come to Jesus and they offer to follow him, they want to be his disciples. At last some progress in mission it seems! But what does Jesus do? He basically sends them away! He throws up a big reality check in front of them. “Foxes have holes, and birds of the air have nests; but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head.” To another he said, “Follow me.” “Let the dead bury their own dead; but as for you, go and proclaim the kingdom of God.” To yet another Jesus said: “No one who puts a hand to the plow and looks back is fit for the kingdom of God.”

When people come and want to follow Jesus – he goes and sends them away! What is going on here?

We could understand it if, at this particular point, the disciples began to ask themselves whether following Jesus was anything like what they had expected or hoped it would be. Is it worth it, if he is so determined to go up to Jerusalem? Is it worth it if no one wants him, if he is just going to go on being rejected? Is it worth it if he is just going to turn prospective followers away?

Perhaps you can understand how they may have felt. Haven’t we been going on for years about mission in our church, and all that seems to be happening is that we are shrinking and getting older and greyer with each passing year? We are still hesitant at welcoming the stranger in our midst. We don’t seem to find it any easier to invite others to the faith. Sometimes we struggle to have a clear vision or understanding about what we are really supposed to be on about, as a Christian church in the community. And on top of that, we are living in a society that is becoming increasingly cynical about the church – more and more people openly state they have no faith, more and more people are turning to alternative faiths, and fewer people are regularly attending church.

What’s the point! This Christian stuff! Is it worth it?

And I am sure that you could add a few personal experiences to this. Many of us have probably had a few moments in life where we have wondered – what’s the point in believing, or trusting so much, or hanging in there so desperately when things just don’t ever seem to work out or get better, or change even a little bit for the good?

How many of you have sat at the bedside of loved ones and prayed and prayed for their recovery – and it has seemed to no avail?

Have you reasoned with a child – a teenager – to change their way of life, or to come back to church, and it hasn’t happened?

Have you prayed for a loved one to come to faith, maybe for years, without any apparent indication that your prayers are being answered?

Maybe you wanted some changes in your own life, some problem you wanted to overcome, some shameful sin you wanted to be rid of, some temptation you just did not want to experience any more. And just when you think you’ve made it, you find you’re back at square one again. You are still stuck with it, just like Paul’s thorn in the flesh that he never seemed to be able to get rid of.

So this Christian stuff, this mission stuff, is it worth it? Why not just leave people alone – let them believe what they want? Just let things be what they will be. Who cares?

But even that does not work for us, does it? Not when you have been touched yourself by the love and grace of Jesus. Something happens to you that you just cannot turn away from.

You’re still a Christian, aren’t you, despite everything you have struggled with in life? In fact sometimes those struggles make us even more convinced and committed than we were before. More than ever, we pray for and hope in and believe in and work for the mission of the church in our day and age and world.

What is it that makes it still worthwhile, and still gives us a heart for telling others, and wanting their lives touched by Jesus as well?

It can only be the One who goes to Jerusalem, and to the cross, and who goes with us still. For out of the Jerusalem experience of Jesus you come to the only faith and conviction that is possible – that this Jesus is not just one of the prophets, another one who was slain by the people of Jerusalem, but this Jesus is no less than the Son of God Himself, who has come to this sin-filled world to show us his love, his acceptance of us, his commitment to walk with us through this world and everything it can throw at us, to finally take us to be with him where he is. He will not let us go! God will not let us go. God will go through everything he has to go through to stay at our side, walk with us, carry us, comfort our hearts, save us and give us hope.

Jesus was God at work in this world, working solely for us fallen beings and our eternal future. If I don’t see that as true, then I deny all faith and belief in God and commit myself to nothing – which in reality means I will be led by every passing whim, as the saying goes, “if you stand for nothing, you’ll fall for anything”. However, if I receive God’s revelation as true, that Jesus is God in the flesh, come down for me and my salvation, then I have no other place to go. My only hope is to follow him and be with him, because where God is – that is the only place that true hope can live.

And that is the only thing that can make the difference. The only thing that makes this Christian stuff worthwhile, the only thing that gives us a reason for mission, the only thing that gives us any reason to hang in there in suffering or rejection or failure or whatever. Because God came in the person of Jesus Christ to be with us – not to turn this world into some kind of paradise – but to be with us in this world, here and now, so that we could be with him in the world to come. And because of Jesus, God will not let anything take us away from him – not rejection or hatred or suffering or loss of family or friends or poverty or homelessness or even death. Nothing will be allowed to take us away from him. Nothing can separate us from Christ and his love!

So we can keep telling others the wonderful good news of how God has come to our rescue through Jesus. We can keep praying for our families, or our suffering loved ones, because God in Jesus is also there for them, and in doing so, we can help them to come to see that and believe it.

When you come to know God through Jesus, when he touches your heart and becomes your God – there is nowhere else you can go or be. And nothing will stop you being there with Him – not family or homelessness, or poverty, or rejection. Your priorities will change. Because God has come to you – in Jesus! Amen

And may the peace of God, which surpasses all human understanding, guard our hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen.

Text: Luke 8:26-39

“Beloved, I pray that all may go well with you and that you may be in good health, just as it is well with your soul” is the marvellous manner in which St. John begins his third letter to one of his Christian congregations. This greeting is so apt, we could use it in the letters we ourselves send to others. We have sayings like “The only wealth is your health”, or “If you’re got your health, you’ve got nearly everything that’s worth having.”

From the Bible, we learn of God’s concern for our health and well-being. Our Creator loves our bodies and souls, and is honoured when we care for them. Martin Luther calls caring for our bodies a Christian work, so “that through its health and comfort we may be able to work to acquire and lay by funds with which to aid those who are in need.

The Old Testament is more concerned with preventing sickness and disease than with healing disabilities and handicaps. Moses has been called the father of preventative medicine. The New Testament focuses more of healing than on health. In St. Mark’s Gospel, for example, Jesus devotes more time to healing the sick and the handicapped than He does to preaching and teaching. St. Mark sees our Lord’s healing miracles as the Gospel in action for our comfort and encouragement. These miracles point to Christ’s greatest act of healing – His dying on the cross – to heal us of sin, our greatest disease and handicap.

Our Lord Jesus is concerned about our total well-being and not just our physical ailments or handicaps. He treats both sickness and health as something spiritual with mental and physical consequences. Christ our great Physician assumes that no one possesses perfect health and no one is free from every handicap or physical limitation, since we all live in a spiritually polluted environment. He seeks to keep us healthy in body, mind and soul through our connectedness to Him. All physical healing is only partial and provisional in this life. Total healing comes only at the Last Day with the elimination of all evil and with the resurrection of the body.

By first forgiving the sins of the paralytic person let down through a hole in the roof, our Lord demonstrates that He’s concerned about more than physical good or ill health. His fantastic bestowal of forgiveness heals our consciences and frees us from the debilitating effects of guilt. His eagerness to free us from anxieties and cares of this world shows His deep interest in our emotional health and well-being. “Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing? Look at the birds of the air; they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? And can any of you by worrying add a single hour to your span of life? And why do you worry about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they neither toil nor spin, yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not clothed like one of these. But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which is alive today, and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will He not much more clothe you – you of little faith? (Matthew 6:25-30).”

Peace of heart and mind is His will for us. “Peace I leave with you; My peace I give to you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled, and do not let them be afraid (John 14:27).”

As we look around us in today’s world, we see tortured minds and restless souls who are not at peace within, but who hurt inside. Our Lord invites those in mental or physical agony, those weighed down with heavier loads than they can carry, to come to Him for relief and release. “Come to Me, all of you who are tired from carrying heavy loads, and I will give you rest (Matthew 11:28)” In Jesus’ time, there were many tortured souls, souls afflicted by unclean spirits, for whom our Lord showed a compassionate concern.

In today’s Gospel, Jesus and His twelve disciples cross the Lake of Galilee at great risk to their lives, during a terrible storm, in order to heal one demented outcast. Frequently, Jesus interrupts whatever He’s doing to help those in greatest need around Him. The great men and women of our world today are super-busy folk.  We get the impression that they have little time to spare for interruptions and the unexpected. Not so our Lord! On His way to Jerusalem to complete His mission of our salvation, Jesus stopped. He stopped in order to help and heal a blind beggar. “Jesus stood still and said, “Call him here.” And they called the blind man, saying to him, ‘Take heart; get up, He is calling you.’ (Mark 10:49).”

In the demon-possessed man in this story, we see the destructive and degrading power of evil. Evil is the perversion of something that’s good – in this case, the perversion of one of God’s good creations, created in His image. Evil perverts what’s good in a self-destructive and menacing manner. Since the Son of God has become one of us, the forces of evil have also tried to “incarnate” themselves in human beings. Even today, we see the terrible destruction of good lives by the demons of addiction. We see the devastation caused by addiction to drugs, alcohol, gambling, petrol-sniffing and so on. Our doctors and professional carers and counsellors are our Lord’s allies in helping people handle and overcome these addictions.

Pessimists might say: “You can’t change human nature.” But our Lord can, and has done so. The New Testament is rich with stories of people’s lives changed by our Lord Jesus. The tormented person in today’s text has been ejected from his home. His rejection by his family must have only added to his agony. The name he refers to himself as, “Legion”, a military term, suggests the terrible battle within himself, the battle between his heart and his soul.  He is known as “Legion” because he has been defeated by an army of destructive thoughts and harmful intentions.

The alien voice within the man asks “What do You want with me, Jesus?” He doesn’t want Jesus to disrupt the status quo. Sadly, we still see people who don’t want our Lord to upset their routines. There are folk locked in their addictions, trapped in the past, not letting our Lord liberate them and give them a brighter future. It’s cause for immense rejoicing when we see someone’s life totally transformed by Jesus. The Gospels picture how Jesus is surrounded with the feeblest of people – those paralysed, the handicapped and disabled, lepers and the lame – because they have no one else to turn to. Jesus has come to help the helpless. Our Lord helps those who cannot help themselves.

So much of His healing ministry occurs behind the scenes, as our Lord respects people’s need for privacy. Our divine Physician adopts a low profile to make it easier for the battered and the bruised, sufferers and invalids in His community to come to Him. The weaker a person’s faith, the easier Jesus makes it for the needy person to believe in Him. Jesus made it easier for all of us to believe in Him and His power to help us, by becoming one of us.

After Jesus healed this deranged individual, we learn that he sits at Jesus’ feet, being taught by our Lord, and is “in his right mind”. What a beautiful outcome! Our Lord’s healing of people has a greater purpose than simply the relief of suffering. He heals people so that their relationships with their families and friends can be restored. That’s why Jesus says to the healed man “Return home and tell how much God has done for you (v.19).”

Today’s Gospel has a message of hope for those for whom every day is a battle with depression, haunting anxieties, compulsive behaviours and fears of the future. What Jesus is doing in your life right now has everything to do with a better future for you. Never forget Romans 8:28 – “We know that all things work together for good for those who love God, who are called according to His purpose.”  Display this message prominently in your home as a constant reminder of God’s design for your life. Jesus responds to your prayers for your own health and for the better health of your loved ones according to His loving wisdom, with either relief, with the gift of courage and endurance, or by giving you renewed hope.

St. Paul learned that he was more effective for God with his handicap (his “thorn in the flesh”) than he was without it. The Greek Orthodox Church calls the handicapped “the holy ones”, because they remind all of us of our need for God and of our own limitations. Wisdom is to know your limitations and to live within them with the help of our Lord. His unconditional love for each of us is the greatest of miracles. It’s a further amazing miracle that so many people believe that Jesus can really make a difference in their lives, and help them in a way no one else can.

To believe in prayer is to believe in miracles. Martin Luther says “Faith is prayer and nothing but prayer.” We cannot be whole without prayer. Our Lord comes to us with His healing power in our worship. In Holy Communion, He continues His healing ministry among us. What’s why, after receiving Holy Communion, we thank God for “this healing gift”. “We must … regard this sacrament … as a pure, wholesome medicine which aids and is life-giving in both soul and body. For when the soul is healed the body has benefited also (The Large Catechism).” Thank the Lord for that!

One of our hymns says it well:
At evening when the sun had set,
the sick, O Lord, around You lay:
in what distress and pain they met,
but in what joy they went away!
Your touch has still its ancient power,
no word from You can fruitless fall:
meet with us in this evening hour
and in Your mercy heal us all!
Amen.