Author: admin

The Text: John 14:18
Jesus said to his disciples, “I will not leave you as orphans”.
At home
Orphans the world over are a tragedy of tremendous proportions. According
to UNICEF there are 153 million orphan children worldwide with over five and
half thousand being becoming orphans every day. Whether in refugee
camps in Africa, India, Romania, Bulgaria, or South East Asia these figures are
mind blowing especially knowing the tragic affect that the loss of parents has
on children and how this loss shapes the rest of their lives.
Even a child left without parents here in our country, although infinitely far
better off than those in the countries I have just mentioned, is affected in
ways that we don’t fully understand. Children who lose their parents lose their
security and are vulnerable and powerless physically, emotionally and
psychologically. The love and care given to them by others will, in time, make
up for this but unfortunately some children never get over their loss. Some
never get over the psychological wounds that comes with being an orphan.
It’s as if they have lost their story, their roots, their history, their identity, their
sense of direction.
In the light of this, the words of Jesus take on a special meaning. “I will not
leave you orphaned” Jesus says to his disciples. Or this could be translated, “I
will not leave you desolate, deserted, alone, abandoned, unloved,
futureless”.
The disciples knew Jesus in a very close and personal way. They had walked
together, talked together, eaten together, shared good and bad times
together. They had been constant companions of Jesus. They felt confident
and safe in the presence of Jesus.
When they experienced doubt, pain and suffering, they felt Jesus understood
what was happening to them.
When they were filled with joy and happiness or overcome with sadness and
sorrow, they felt secure in the knowledge that Jesus experienced the same
emotions and feelings as they did.
When they were hungry, Jesus fed them and a great crowd with a few loaves
and fish.
When they were in danger on the sea, Jesus was nearby to rescue them.
When they witnessed the grief that death brought into their lives, Jesus was at
hand to comfort and raise the dead to life.
You see there is a kind of fatherly or perhaps brotherly relationship between
Jesus and the disciples.
Jesus could see that his disciples were dependent on him. In fact, Jesus
occasionally addressed them as “little children”. In the presence of Jesus they
were like “little children” who relied on his love and comfort.
When Jesus warned the disciples that he will no longer be with them he had
to quickly assure them not to be worried and upset, but to trust him. Now if
that’s how they felt before Jesus’ death imagine how alone and abandoned
they must have felt after Jesus’ death on the cross. Under the shadow of the
cross, Jesus knew that they will feel like orphans—lost, without hope, helpless,
powerless, uncertain about their future and confused. So he makes them a
promise:
“I will ask the Father, and he will give you another advocate to help you and
be with you forever—the Spirit of truth…I will not leave you as orphans; I will
come to you….Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid” (John
14.16,18,27).
Note this unique way Jesus reminds us that we will always have a home and
a family. He says, “I am in the Father, and you are in me, just as I am in you
(John 14:20).
This is a good passage to pause and meditate on. Simply what Jesus is
expressing is the very close and intimate relationship between himself and the
Father, himself and his disciples and his disciples and God. That tiny word “in”
describes a special bond, a unique oneness. A family relationship.
You who believe in Jesus already have the Holy Spirit. God the Father has
sent you the Holy Spirit through the Son. He did this for you at baptism.
Because of God’s work for us in baptism you have a place of belonging in
the family of God, by which you are no longer orphans, for God our Father
has made you heirs with Jesus his Son. We are sons and daughters together
with the Son. And since that is the case for every person who is in Christ then
we are all a part of that Triune God’s loving, supporting family. We are all
brothers and sisters joined together in God’s family, the church.
In this family God the Father continues to give you the Holy Spirit, through the
Son, who meets you in the word, the scriptures. Through the Scriptures the
Holy Spirit continually comes to us. Through the power of the Holy Spirit we are
given a new direction, a new future and a new life.
This new life is one in which we will always have a home. We will always have
a loving family—God the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. These words of comfort
carry the message that we won’t ever be orphans—we will know exactly who
we are and where we belong.
True enough Satan will always try to break up that togetherness we have. He
just loves to drive wedges of doubt, anger, hostility, and jealousy, either
between us and God, or between each another in his family. He will
constantly tempt us to sin and break the bond and put up barriers between
the members of the family, and break apart from it. But that’s not what God
has planned for any of us.
God wants no one to feel like an orphan. When Jesus says to us “I will not
leave you as orphans” he means that we belong to the Father, adopted and
claimed through Jesus the Son. We are loved by the Father. We are forgiven
by the Son. When there are members of the family who are feeling like an
orphan because we have had a falling out with someone, as a member of
this special family, it becomes our responsibility to make amends, whether it
was our fault or not.
When there is a member of the family who is feeling like an orphan—lonely,
scared, uncertain because they are facing illness and even death—as a
member of this special family, it becomes our responsibility to pass on the
love and care that we have received from our heavenly Father.
When there are members of the family who are feeling like orphans—feeling
unloved, needing a guiding hand, wanting someone to know their pain—as
a member of this special family, it becomes our responsibility to be a brother
and sister to that person and let them see the love of our heavenly parent
through us.
When there are members of this special family who are feeling like orphans,
needing someone to provide them with basic essentials and to empathise
with them in their circumstances, it becomes our responsibility to be a brother
and sister to that person and let them see in us the love of our heavenly
Father as we meet those needs.
Jesus’ words need to become our words to one another as people of God’s
family “I will not leave you as an orphan”, as we reflect the love and care of
God into the lives of the people around us. Let Jesus inspire us to say to our
fellow brothers and sisters, “I will not leave you desolate, feeling deserted,
alone, abandoned, unloved, futureless”.
At the 400 metre race at the 1992 summer Olympics a young Englishman,
Derek Redmond was hungry to win a gold medal after being forced to
withdraw from the previous Olympics because of injury. However, shortly after
the start of the race, he popped his right hamstring. All the other runners
continued the race leaving him like an orphan alone on the track. Amazingly
Redmond got back up and started hopping towards the finish line. The other
runners had all finished the race in a matter of seconds. Redmond, in tears,
slowly and laboriously kept hopping. It looked as if he would fall any moment.
Suddenly, a man appeared beside Derek. It was his father. He had run down
from the stands and pushed his way through the security guards to reach his
son. Redmond’s father put his arm around his son and let him cry on his
shoulder. Then, with his father holding him up, Derek hobbled to the finish line
and then he hopped over the line by himself to finish the race.
There’s a word of hope for you and me, to help us finish the race of life. It is
God’s own word. When we are feeling like orphans to run the race of life in
this world—a race we cannot run by our own strength—we have a Father
who gives us his strength to keep on going, a Saviour who walks beside us
and the Spirit who comforts us, and strengthens us in faith, pointing us to
everything Jesus said and still speaks, enabling us to cross the finishing line.
We are not abandoned because we have a God who loves us. He says to
each of personally and individually, “I will not leave you as orphans”. Amen.

The Text: John 14:1-14
A Place prepared
Clean sheets on the spare bed. check.
House clean and tidy. check.
Plenty of Food in the house. check
Yep ready for the visitors to arrive.
Is that something you do to prepare for visitors to come and stay with you? A special meal, the spare bed has clean fresh sheets, and the house is tidied?
It is special when children who have grown and left home, come home. For a
mother, it is a joyous occasion when all the family are together and are at peace with one another.
Depending on where the children are geographically, there may be different ways they can travel to come home. Even when we go to places there is generally more than one way to take to reach a destination. If there is a more scenic way to get to a destination, sometimes that is a better wat than to travel on a major highway.
We can’t do that at the moment. We aren’t allowed to travel. We can’t be with our mother’s today if they live away from us. But that’s okay we can still connect with, phone, Facebook, Skype, email. Once this pandemic is over, once again we can go to their place.
Jesus tells about a place for us to go to today. He calls it his Father’s house. It’s a place where there is not just one spare room, but there are many rooms. But as Jesus says to Thomas, you can’t get there on your own. Jesus says: “I am the way”.
To know Jesus is to know the Father. In the same way, the Father knows the ones who listen to the voice of Jesus, and follow him along the way. It’s interesting that before early believers were called Christians they were called people who followed ‘The Way’.
Jesus fulfilled what the prophet Isaiah spoke of, “And a highway shall be there, and it shall be called the Way of Holiness; the unclean shall not pass over it. It shall
belong to those who walk on the way; even if they are fools, they shall not go astray”. (Isaiah 35:8).
How are we ever able to walk the way of holiness and be invited into our heavenly
room that is prepared for us? For we know that daily we struggle with our humanity and its sinful desires. Rather than daily concentrate on the Holy life God desires of us, we follow our own ambitions.
The way to God was completely closed, and sin was the roadblock. It was like when the Israelites had been rescued out of Egypt they were filled with fear because they thought the way to freedom was blocked by the Red Sea as the Egyptian chariots were closing in behind them. It’s the same in our lives. If we think our way to freedom depends on us, then we fail to trust that Jesus has provided away for our freedom.
The way was blocked because of sin, but God wanted to rescue us from this world in which sin entered and blocked the way to the place where our Heavenly Father has these many rooms prepared. God could not simply excuse or overlook our sin
and allow us to enter his place in our sinful state. Yes God is merciful, but He is also just. Justice requires that sin be paid for. At great cost, he himself paid that price. God offers salvation to everyone who accepts it through faith in Jesus. Jesus
describes this way as entering through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it.”
Perhaps the way through Jesus doesn’t look appealing enough or has too many restrictions. But in reality, the way through Jesus is bigger than you think, because God sent Jesus to save the world. It isn’t God’s fault that many don’t accept that Jesus is the way, the truth and the life.
We know the way to heaven by trusting in what Jesus has done for us and what he continues to do for us through his gifts to the Church. Our journey begins in Baptism.
Through God’s Word and water Jesus dwells in our hearts through faith. Faith receives the promises of God and clings to Jesus as the true and only way. Faith receives Jesus as the way and rejects all other ways that are contrary to what God’s word says. Just like a mother, God has a lot of love to give, even lots more. God’s love is an everlasting steadfast love that endures rejection, as he sees people go on a journey in other directions to fulfil their needs. However, through the Holy Spirit, God never stops trying to alert us if we go in the wrong direction. It’s like when your TomTom or Navman tells you perform a U-turn where possible.
What I really dislike about relying on GPS is when they try to take you down a road that isn’t there. It makes us end up feeling lost and not sure where I am. Then I need to back track to get on the right way.
Likewise, God gives us a conscience to alert us when we follow a way that leads away from his way. His ways are written on our hearts, and supported through his written word to show us his way.
When it comes to walking the way of holiness, it’s the way of repentance and forgiveness. Repentance because we fail to live holy lives and need to turn back and confess our failures to God. God hears our cries for mercy and forgives us for Jesus’ sake.
He is always waiting like a mother for her children to come home. One of the best images we have of this in the bible is the story of the prodigal son.
When Jesus says, “I am the Way the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except by me” he is not meaning this to be a threat. Jesus spoke these words to his disciples, as a word of comfort.
They are a comfort for us as well, for we don’t need to panic and search for a
hidden map or look for clues, or guess if we are on the road to salvation. It’s clear and simple. As Jesus says “Do not let your heart be troubled. There are many rooms in my Father’s house. If it were not so, I would have told you. I am going away to
make a place for you. After I go and make a place for you, I will come back and take you with me. Then you may be where I am.”
A mother’s desire is to protect her children. Have you felt the anxious wait to see your children safely arrive home? You hope they will not get lost, but will follow the way that leads to you, to the place you have prepared for them. Sometimes things occur where as parents, as a mother, you need to go and bring your child to the safety of home.
This is what Jesus did for all of us. He came down from heaven into the world, where we were lost and heading in all sorts of directions and he shows the way home. His desire is for us to be where he is. There is no other way than the way Jesus paved at a great cost to himself.
He calls us to follow him with hearts that forgive, and have compassion. With hearts that welcome home into the family a child who had lost their way. With hearts that even go looking when we notice we haven’t seen them for a while. It’s what a mother does for her child so she knows her child is safe.
It’s what Jesus does for us. There is only one true way to eternal life. That is the way of Jesus. Amen

The Text: John 10: 1-10
Today is Good Shepherd Sunday. On this day we recognise that Jesus our
risen Lord is indeed our Good Shepherd. As Psalm 23 says, he leads us to
green pastures, and beside still waters. In our Gospel reading it cuts short of
the part where Jesus says, ‘I am the good shepherd’.
In this reading from beginning of John chapter 10, Jesus describes himself as
a door or a gate. The word for door can also mean opportunity.
Let’s look at what we know about doors and gates. What is their purpose?
Why do you have doors in your house? Obvious isn’t it? You want to keep out
those whom you don’t want in your house. The ones who you allow in your
house are the ones you invite into your house. Even within your house are
doors. You may close the door to your room for this may be your private
sanctuary, and the ones you allow into your room are the people who are
closest to you.
Jesus describes the people who try to get into your house by other means
than invited through the door, are thieves and robbers. That is why our doors
have locks on them, to prevent thieves and robbers from entering through
the door uninvited. Of course, as Jesus tells us what we already know, they
will try to find another way in.
It’s the same when you have a gate to your property, or a gate to the
paddocks on your farms. The gates are there for a reason, to keep safe what
is within, and to keep out that which is not allowed.
So, who is allowed through the door? Why is Jesus describing himself as the
door? Jesus may be alluding to the ways that shepherds would gather their
sheep into a pen by calling their names. They would follow the shepherd into
the pen and the shepherd would sleep in the opening as there was no gate.
Why is Jesus telling us this? What has bought him to this point where he
teaches about himself as the door or the gate?
You may recall the Gospel reading for the fourth Sunday in Lent, about the
man born blind. When Jesus healed this man born blind on the Sabbath, it
was the talk of the town. The man was bought before the Pharisees and they
interrogated him and his parents. During the interrogation the man said to the
Pharisees: “Why do you want to hear it again? Do you want to become one
of his disciples?” This led the Pharisees to cast him out of the temple where
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Jesus came to the man and asked him: “Do you believe in the Son of God?”
The man replied: “Who is he sir, that I may believe in him?” Jesus answered:
“You have seen him, and it is he who speaks to you.” What did the man do
then? He confessed his faith and worshipped Jesus.
Now today, Jesus says he is the door, he is the opportunity for all those who
hear his voice, to come to him, to worship him and say, ‘Lord I believe’.
Jesus calls you into the safety of his kingdom. There is no other way to enter.
The way is through Jesus. Anyone who tries otherwise to snatch you away
from the love and mercy of Jesus is a thief and a robber who tries to rob you
of the joy of being saved.
The Pharisees tried to rob the man born blind of the grace that Jesus had
shown to him, claiming it to be a sinful deed done on the Sabbath. They
denied the joy the parents should have felt of their son receiving his sight.
Even as we read further into John chapter 10 in verse 27, Jesus says: “My
sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me. I give them
eternal life, and no one can snatch them out of my hand. My Father who has
given them to me, is greater than all, and no one can snatch them out of my
hand. I and the Father are one.”
It was that comment that stirred the pot for the Jews. When John speaks of
the Jews here, it is all those who opposed Jesus. Just as they rejected what
the man born blind said, they now rejected Jesus, accused him of
blasphemy, they picked up stones and tried to arrest him, but his time had
not yet come. Remember this happened before the events of Easter.
What does this mean for us? It means that there is life and salvation for all
who hear Jesus’ call to follow. Jesus has come to bring forgiveness and
healing. Jesus has come to make his voice known. How is it known? Through
his word. Through his word we hear that Jesus suffered greatly that we may
know him.
As 1 Peter 2: 22-25 says: “He committed no sin, and no deceit was found in his
mouth.” When they hurled their insults at him, he did not retaliate; when he
suffered, he made no threats. Instead, he entrusted himself to him who judges
justly. “He himself bore our sins” in his body on the cross, so that we might die
to sins and live for righteousness; “by his wounds you have been healed.” For
“you were like sheep going astray,” but now you have returned to the
Shepherd and Overseer of your souls.
What more can we say than, ‘worthy is the lamb who was slain’? Despite our
sinfulness, Jesus still calls us by name, and invites us into his kingdom. He invites
us in and sets out a banqueting table of forgiveness, mercy, healing,
acceptance and compassion.
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You are all welcome. Do you hear his voice? A voice that says: Come all you
who are weary and burdened. I will give you rest. Come, I will give you
abundant life. Come in, I will keep you safe from the evil one.
The Pharisee, the Jews, the crowd, Satan, all may have thought they had
silenced Jesus when he died on the Cross, but the Cross only showed to the
world that Jesus is worthy to follow, for he was willing to give his life for his
sheep.
Jesus is calling your name. Do you hear his voice? The blind man heard Jesus
ask: “Do you believe in the Son of God?” He responded: “Lord I believe”.
Jesus is the door. Jesus is your opportunity to know the love of God and be
accepted into his family, simply by listening to his voice. Any other voices that
want to rob you of receiving this grace that Jesus offers to you are thieves
and robbers. You don’t need to listen to those voices, because Jesus is
calling your name. His is the voice that calls to you as you come and go in
this world. Just as you come and go from the safety of your home, Jesus tells
you to come and go knowing he is watching over as your good shepherd.
Jesus knows you by name. May that be your comfort and peace. Amen

The text: John 20:24-29
24 Now Thomas, one of the Twelve, called the Twin, was not with them
when Jesus came. 25 So the other disciples told him, “We have seen
the Lord.” But he said to them, “Unless I see in his hands the mark of the
nails, and place my finger into the mark of the nails, and place my
hand into his side, I will never believe.”
26 Eight days later, his disciples were inside again, and Thomas was
with them. Although the doors were locked, Jesus came and stood
among them and said, “Peace be with you.” 27 Then he said to
Thomas, “Put your finger here, and see my hands; and put out your
hand, and place it in my side. Do not disbelieve, but believe.” 28
Thomas answered him, “My Lord and my God!” 29 Jesus said to him,
“Have you believed because you have seen me? Blessed are those
who have not seen and yet have believed.”
Many people say: ‘seeing is believing’.
In fact, they don’t just say it, they live it. Perhaps you do too. This means if someone
told you something remarkable, you’d want to see it for yourself.
Perhaps this means we reckon the sense of sight (and perhaps also the sense of
touch) is the sense by which we judge truth. If we see it, or can touch it, we’ll
believe it.
But this may also mean we won’t always believe what we hear (unless we can
confirm by the senses of sight and touch that what we’ve heard is actually true).
But what if seeing is not believing? Or to put it another way: we often want to see
things because we don’t believe them.
For example, imagine you’re Thomas. For some reason you weren’t with the
apostles on that night when Jesus came. You meet up with them later and they
joyfully tell you of their experience of seeing the risen Lord Jesus among them. But
you weren’t there! You didn’t see what they saw. So instead of believing the words
of the apostles through your ears, you say you’re not going to believe unless you
see him for yourself. You don’t believe your ears and want your eyes to confirm this
truth.
In fact, you’re not going to believe your ears and eyes unless you put your fingers
on the nail marks on Jesus’ hands and thrust your hand into his speared side. Until
you see and touch this news you’ve heard, you’re not going to believe. After all,
don’t people say: ‘seeing is believing’!
But that’s the twist. You want to see because you don’t believe.
I wonder if you can relate to Thomas. Of the remaining apostles, he was the only
one not there. But you weren’t there either. You and I haven’t had the chance to
witness our risen Lord for ourselves and use our senses of sight and touch to confirm
the good news of his resurrection. None of us were in that locked room and saw
the risen Jesus standing among us.
This is why we have this story in St John’s gospel account, because we weren’t
there. This true story was written down for all who, like Thomas, weren’t in that
room. In some ways, Thomas was fortunate in so far as Jesus came to him so he
could confirm this truth of the resurrection eight days later, but what about us?
We still haven’t been given the opportunity to see Jesus in the flesh and place our
fingers into his wounds, and so we continue to struggle with our doubts and fears.
No matter what we hear in God’s Word, we still demand to see or experience
certain things before we believe.
In this way, you and I are Thomas in this story. We’re Thomas whenever say or think
such things like:
“Unless God answers my prayers the way I want him to, then I won’t believe.”
“Unless I get something special out of worship today, then I don’t think this church is
any good for me.”
“Unless I feel something when I’m baptised, confirmed, or when I receive the Lord’s
Supper, then I’ll question its validity.”
“Unless I get what I want or expect, and can confirm it with my own senses of sight
and sound and touch and taste and even with my emotions, then I won’t believe.”
But these types of questions or statements means we only want to meet God on
our own terms. It shows we’re struggling to believe. It shows we’re like Thomas. So,
while we may believe, we ask God to help our unbelief!
The strange thing about faith is it never stops in one place. While we’d like to think
our faith will always increase and get better during our life; it doesn’t. It often
wavers between faith and doubt; trust and suspicion. Some people expect that
once you’re baptised, once you’re confirmed, once you’ve made a decision for
Christ, or once you’ve received faith, then everything’s ok from that time on. But
this isn’t true. At times we’ll be strong in our faith, but there will be times of doubt.
For this reason we can also learn a lot from Thomas.
When he doubted or struggled to believe, he didn’t dismiss or ignore the fellowship
with his fellow disciples. He didn’t stay away, but came back into their little
congregation to hear, see, and touch.
We’re encouraged to do the same.
We’re encouraged to hear the Word of God read and explained. We use our
sense of hearing so we may listen for God speaking to us through the bible
readings and the sermon.
We’re also encouraged to attend the Lord’s Supper where we use our senses of
touch and taste as we receive our risen Lord’s body and blood on our fingers, on
our lips, and on our tongue. But, while our senses of sight and touch and taste will
tell us ‘this is simply bread and wine’, the Holy Spirit will ask our sense of hearing to
be the more powerful sense so we may believe what we hear: That this is Jesus’
body and blood, given and shed for you and me.
The fact is, a faith which doesn’t constantly look to our Lord Jesus Christ, and listen
to him, will slowly die. A faith which refuses to come into his presence and receive
his spiritual benefits will shrivel up. A faith which makes demands for proof of God’s
love outside of the written Word, the cross of Christ, and his holy Sacraments, is in
danger of leading to despair.
This means if we want to see and experience Jesus on our own terms, or if we want
to keep away from the place where his people meet, then we’re becoming an
unbeliever. Then, just like Jesus said to Thomas, he says to you and me, ‘Stop
doubting and believe’, or literally, ‘Stop becoming an unbeliever and become a
believer’.
This is why Thomas, in his time of doubt, went to the place where Jesus promised to
be – with his people.
In our own times of doubt we need to do the same, after all, we know Jesus
promises to be wherever his people gather in his name. We know his Holy Spirit is
present as we hear the Word of God read and proclaimed. We know Jesus
promises to wash, adopt, forgive, and give new life to those who are baptised. We
know Jesus promises his true body and blood is present on his holy Supper.
Seeing isn’t always believing, because the demand to see is a sign of unbelief. On
the other hand, believing is seeing. Faith instead gives us a greater sight so we may
believe what we hear, despite what we see and don’t see.
By believing what we hear, we see Jesus is our Lord and our God. We stand beside
Thomas and see Jesus is more than just a man. By faith, we see Jesus is also the Son
of God who came to suffer, die, and rise again for us so that, by believing, we may
have life in his name.
By believing what we hear, we can see God truly comes to us, hidden in times of
simple worship to grant forgiveness, peace, and hope. He comes to challenge our
unbelief and comfort us through his Spirit-filled words. He comes to wash us and
claim us as his own people who will live with him forever. He comes and wraps his
body and blood in humble bread and wine and offers them for us to eat and drink.
He comes, hidden in the people joined to him through faith to love and care for us.
He comes, sometimes despite our best efforts to lock him out.
Yes, Thomas was blessed to see his Lord and Saviour in the flesh and use his senses
of sight and touch. On the other hand, blessed are those who haven’t seen, yet still
believe because they trust their sense of hearing.
You and I are blessed because we believe what we’ve heard. Jesus is our Lord
and God even though we haven’t seen him with our own eyes or touched him
with our own fingers. And through faith in Jesus’ word our bodies will also be
resurrected and we will see Jesus in heavenly glory forever. Amen.