John 12:1-8

“A fly in the ointment”

It’s the time of the Passover and Jesus knowing he is a marked man by the Jewish authorities, shows courage beyond belief and has walked into the lion’s den and gone to Jerusalem knowing the fate that awaits him. But this night, whether maybe yet again finding there’s no room in the Inn or just wishing to catch up with his great friends, he is sharing a meal in the home of Martha and Mary, and oh to be a fly on the wall witnessing such a surreal gathering of people.

Martha as usual is busy working and serving others with the meal preparations. Lazarus, who mind you has only been recently raised from the dead, is present. But the “staring” roles other than Jesus centre on Mary and Judas who seem to be at opposite ends of the spectrum in their dealings with Jesus.

Mary it would seem, in her love for Jesus has thrown human convention of thought or society standards out the window. Firstly the ointment she applies to Jesus feet is not of the “black and gold variety” because it was worth in today’s standards a full year’s wages, and if we go by the bureau of statistics, this ointment she is plashing about is worth about 70,000 Australian dollars. Never mind you that in her act of wiping Jesus feet with her hair she is not just showing her humility and love, she has smashed any thoughts of her inhibitions as no respectable women would ever appear publically with their hair unbound as it was considered immoral.

Then at the other end of the spectrum is Judas who having been given the job of “treasurer” by Jesus says what would seem logical, to sell the precious ointment and use the proceeds to feed the poor and if we were there and unaware of the truth that he actually wanted to take some of the proceeds for himself, this would seem a reasonable and sensible suggestion. While this is going on Martha and Lazarus are in the back ground and as the family fortune one way or another is about to leave the building, seem quite content.

While for us to hear of the love and generosity of Mary, Martha and Lazarus is humbling, it’s also if we are honest unfathomable, because if we could truly put ourselves in that household, I’m not sure we could guarantee to be a Martha, Mary or Lazarus any more than we could guarantee not to be calculating and self-considering like Judas.

Yet right amongst this. Amongst Mary’s almost unparalleled throwing of “caution to the wind” in her love for Jesus, Martha’s dedicated work and support for all those present, Lazarus chatting with and entertaining his guest and saviour at the table and Judas, the one given the trust of and being in charge of the money yet who is pilfering of the proceeds and who will soon go one step further and give up Jesus for 30 pieces of silver. There in the centre of this condensed overview of society sits Jesus who will shortly not throw caution to the wind and hope on a favourable outcome, but will throw himself to his accusers in the sure knowledge that their response to him will be unjust, spiteful, cruel and terminal.

He walks towards them, and towards his cruel death in his love for Mary, Martha and Lazarus. And he walks towards them and towards his cruel death in his love for the Judas’ and his love for those plotting against him. A man who after having experienced the love of Mary and the hatred of the authorities will ask his Father, ask the one with limitless power “To forgive them, for they know not what they do”.

Last week I watched a movie about a father and a son who could not see eye to eye. The father a respected doctor, and his son who dropped out of school and travelled the world as a back packer. The father who saw his son’s free-wheeling ways as irresponsible and his son who saw his father as structured and without spontaneity. One’s mantra was “this is the life I chose” and the others that “you don’t choose a life, you live a life”. It was an enjoyable movie and as I watched the final scene showing the father free and in full back-packer regalia walking through a busy market place in some far off Eastern country it indeed did provoke romantic thoughts of doing something similar to feel that sense of freedom within our world.

Ironically the very next day I read in the paper an article written by a world traveller that after he talked of the wonderful adventures he had had as a full time traveller, finished with the warning that if you are considering such escapades, don’t do it thinking it will bring you freedom from your issues in life because they will still be with you, only just in another part of the world.

Whether we chose to be where we are in our lives at this moment or just seem to have fallen here is not the point. The point is that because Jesus has chosen you, you can choose to live a life irrespective of where that may be. Whether with the open love of Mary or the hidden sin of Judas, when life is seen through the grace bestowed by God the Father to us through faith in Christ alone you are free “to shoot for the stars” or free not to, because in Christ you are following your dreams no matter what shape they take.

You are not Mary, Martha, Lazarus or Judas. You are who you are and that is who Christ loves. Thinking of you as you are today Christ went to the cross, not for what you should or will be-but who you are today. So live life, walk in the rain in your shorts or use an umbrella it doesn’t matter as either way you do not walk alone. That the outward love of Mary we may not have, but the love of Christ to Mary we do have, and that’s what matters, and knowing that is living a life.

Two thousand years ago Jesus in his love for those who knew him and loved him he walked to the cross. Two thousand years ago Jesus in love for those who neither loved him nor knew him he walked to the cross and asked the Father to forgive them “for they know not what they do”.

Two thousand years ago Jesus walked to the cross knowing that a group of sinners will be here today needing to be forgiven. And as he sees us groping in the dark with our sins. Sees us make mistake after mistake and sees us in our “Judas” moments as we selfishly turn away from the need of others. Yet in hearing our cries for help and forgiveness and our throwing “caution to the wind” to know that he is our only chance he sees our faith like that of the precious ointment that Mary placed at his feet. That he sees us trust in nothing other than faith in him alone and risk being ridiculed by those around us, he turns to the Father and says “you know what they do, but forgive them-for you know what I have done for them”.

So should that confused fly on the wall in Mary’s house visit yours, let it be confused no longer and let it see the freedom that comes, when a man named Jesus visits.

 

Luke 15: 11-32

“There’s no place like home”

“See him wasted on the sidewalk in his jacket and his jeans, wearin’ yesterday’s misfortunes like a smile. Once he had a future full of money, love and dreams. Which he spent like they was goin’ outa style. He’s a pilgrim and a preacher, and a problem when he’s stoned. He’s a walkin’contradiction, partly truth and partly fiction. He has tasted good and evil in your bedrooms and your bars, and he’s traded in tomorrow for today. Takin’every wrong direction on his lonely way back home”.

Words from the Pilgrim-A song by Kris Kristofferson that could apply to the prodigal son in today’s text. A man that seemingly had it all, a good life on the land, financial security and a loving family.

The word prodigal means to “live extravagant and wastefully” and indeed it seems the younger son was “A man that had a future full of money, love and dreams, but which he spent like they were going out of style”.

I’ve seen several times, particularly in farming where a son asks for his share of his inheritance so that he can be independent. But this young man, the prodigal son gave his father the greatest insult and hurt you could imagine. Not so much by his leaving home, but back in those times in him asking his father for his share of the inheritance, he was effectively wishing that he-the father was dead. This was like an act of treachery that could result in the son being in physical danger should the locals get hold of him.

Yet, his loving and generous father, much I would imagine to the disgust of locals and his family agrees to his request and once received, the son promptly sets off on a long journey to a distant land and begins to waste his fortune on wild living. When the money runs out, a severe famine hits the country and the son finds himself in dire circumstances. He takes a job feeding pigs, and as pigs were considered unclean in Jewish society, he has fallen to the lowest of the low, never mind that he is so destitute that he even longs to eat the food assigned to the pigs.

The young man is destitute and without friend, favor or future and if he still has any pride he would have surely felt those eyes looking, yet not looking as he picked up cigarette butts or asked for a few dollars out the front of the IGA while his soul burns with shame knowing that he has no one to blame but himself. The shame and guilt carried that can consume a person and alluringly, almost teasingly entice further self-destruction. This man is on the knife edge but in his desperation he remembers what once was and by the grace of God sees a ray of hope in life, that of returning home. But not as a son to the man he hurt and insulted, but to beg to be his servant.

The father who had been watching and waiting, seeing his bedraggled looking son walking towards him rushes out, stops his son in his tracks and before his son can get out his planned speech, receives him back with open arms of compassion. He is overjoyed by the return of his lost son! Immediately the father turns to his servants and asks them to prepare a giant feast in celebration.

Meanwhile, the older son is not one bit happy when he comes in from working the fields and discovers a party going on to celebrate his younger brother’s return. And dare I say could we not understand this as his brother having sought his share of the inheritance returns with nothing and is smothered in love by his father. Maybe thoughts of now he will get another slice of the inheritance pie came to mind. But the father tries to dissuade the older brother from his jealous rage explaining, “You are always with me, and everything I have is yours.” And we are left at the end of the parable to wonder the outcome of the older brother.

One prodigal son has returned, one is still on his journey.

In our busy lives we walk past people. Stressed we have arguments and disagreements. Wronged we seek justice and when unloved we become unloving until that moment when it’s too late. To when if only we could have that one more moment where we could take that loved one in our hand and hold them once more. Not to forgive them because that’s not even a thought, but just to have them home again and be with them is enough. Even though we are sinners, we know that love. That love though which is miniscule and judgmental in comparison to God the Fathers who gave his own Son for you, that you may with him like the son returned home-so it is too you.

When the boy came home, he had everything he threw away restored by the good grace of the Father.

1. The Robe – His Purity – Here stands the son in the rags of his sins. He doesn’t look like a child of this father. But, the father orders the best of his robes to be brought and to be put on the son. This robe would cover all the stains and dirt of the pig pen. This robe would make him look like the father. Imagine a servant walking up, who had net been there when the son returned home and seeing this boy from behind in the father’s robe. He would naturally mistake him for the father! This robe served to erase all the visible signs of this boy’s sinful past. When a sinner comes home, they also receive a robe from the heavenly Father. This righteousness is not the righteousness of good works or of human goodness. No, this is the very righteousness of Jesus Christ imputed to those who receive Him by faith. When we are clothed in the righteousness of Christ, all the pain and the stain of our past is forever washed away! All the dirt and the filth of a life of sin is forever washed away from us!

2. The Ring – His Privileges – After the robe came the ring. The ring was a symbol of son ship and authority. The one with the ring could speak for the Father! The one with the ring had access to all that belonged to the father! The one with the father’s ring was in a position of great privilege! When old, lost sinners repent of their sins and come home to the Father, they are given the great privilege of being recognized as His sons, 1 John 3:1-2. They are given the privilege of speaking for the Father, Act 1:8. They are allowed access to all that belongs to the Father as well, Rom. 8:17, Psa. 24:1; Psa. 50:10. When we come to the Father, He opens the storehouses of His grace and gives us everything He has!

3. The Shoes – His Position – The father calls for shoes to be brought for the feet of his son. Only the slaves went barefoot, sons wore shoes! This boy returned home desiring to be just a mere hired servant, but the father is determined to recognize his position as a son! In the boy’s eyes, he didn’t even deserve to be a slave, but even lower, even a hired servant. The father, however, looked at him and said, “This is my son!” The father alone determines the position and worth of his children! Saved by grace, you became a child of God! He no longer sees you as a slave or as a sinner, but he sees you as His darling child, whom He loves like He loves His only begotten Son, Jesus Christ! We are right to humble ourselves in His presence, but let’s never forget that if we are saved by grace, that it is the Father Who determines our standing in the family and not we ourselves! What I am saying is this: Don’t let the devil or the flesh keep you down by telling you that you are not worthy to be a child of God. In Christ you are truly saved, you have been accepted by the Father in Heaven and He has called you His child!

C. V. 23-24 He Found Rejoicing – Ill. The fatted calf was kept for special occasions. The fatted calf was the Father’s way of sharing His joy with all around. Instead of a wasted life, the father was celebrating a life redeemed and restored! So it is when a sinner returns home to God tb he Father! There is rejoicing in Heaven. There is rejoicing in the House of God. And, there is rejoicing in the heart of the redeemed sinner!

All that have walked this earth apart from Jesus have sinned. Yet all those that once walked this earth in faith in Jesus now truly know his love in its fullness. For us that still remain, who still sin and make mistakes Jesus says come to me for I will give you rest and bring you my father’s love, for as I spread my arms on the cross in bearing your sins, my father’s arms are still spread in love waiting for those still wandering.

I have sinned and no doubt will sin again as will we all. Yet Christ walks with us that we know of God the Fathers love. His love that has no boundaries. His love that asks us not to be saints but makes us saints. His love today that comes to us in Christ Jesus who looks at us with loving and understanding eyes and says “I know how tough it is-so come to me and rest. I gave my life for you-that you may live in peace. I love you now, as you are-know that peace because I have restored you for in me you are that younger son, and what I did for him I do to you.

Brother and sisters in Christ, you are sons and daughters of God. You have been restored. Let it fill your hearts with peace and pray for those still on their lonely way home.

 

Luke 13: 1-9

“Not drowning, waving”

In today’s Gospel Jesus is talking my language when he talks of people by using the imagery of them as a fig tree that has been fertilized with manure, and if you’re like me you know what it’s like to be in the manure with only the depth that varies. Yet Jesus uses this analogy as a good thing in that it helps the fig tree to grow, helps us to grow.

Before my current healthy lifestyle of a strict diet of all foods healthy (not) I visited a doctor and for the first time, told him how it truly was. Later when he received back the test results he remarked that “the positive results did not seem to make sense” and suggested “that physically it is a minor miracle”. Likewise some would suggest that I’m here talking to you as a Pastor may be a miracle of the same ilk. But somehow, I am here and somehow, you are here. Somehow, while travelling through the ever present manure of life we turned this way instead of that way-and that I suggest is the miracle because in those moments when the world closes in, in those dark, dark times whether we be a victim of others actions or of our own actions, the way out can appear a long way off-maybe even out of sight.

Something’s just don’t make sense and never will.

When I was in a remote mining town one of the first people I met was a charming and friendly young man at the cricket. Several weeks later he was arrested and sentenced to life imprisonment after a young tourist’s body was found in the foetal position down a mine shaft. How does either of the families of those two young people carry on in life? It is beyond comprehension the scars that they must bear and may we never know such pain and that saying “that there’s always someone worse off” rings true but the fact is, we all do carry our own scars of life with us. Scars that can destroy us, scars that can strengthen us and scars that are still open wounds.

I was speaking to a person once who was dying and was concerned of what his standing will be before God as he did not have enough time left to make up for the wrongs of his life and when Jesus tells us, tells me in today’s Gospel to repent or die I would be more than a little concerned if I did not understand the word repentance.

The word repentance, like sin is often used as a weapon and accordingly misunderstood in our world. And if you don’t agree try getting on your soapbox in Macquarie Street and voicing your opinions to those present that they are sinners who must repent or die. It’s offensive because it suggests that they are sinners and we are not and that the only way out is to maybe drop tools and join the monastery.

That they and we must repent is true. But far from being it being a curse that Jesus demands we do to ensure that we are miserable, he asks us to repent so that we know freedom, because to repent is to turn towards God. Not to be miserable, but free of our misery.

Jesus asks us repent to free us from the bondage of the scars we carry and says you don’t have to do that any longer. You don’t have to worry what others think of you or even what you think of yourself. You don’t have to prove to the world and yourself that you’re worth something.

Sometimes our lives can be a bit like starting pre-season training or renovating a house as when you look back you think if only I knew that was going to happen I never would have started. Yet somehow we are all here today scars and all. Scars that God did not bring on us. But scars that somehow he used to bring us to hear of Christ, to somehow bring us to turn towards God in repentance and be free.

As they say God works in mysterious ways and how he has worked through our “stuff” is unique to us all and how he has adapted to our situations is a testimony to His concern that we understand Him and know His son Jesus Christ who in his love accepts all how they are and says I gave my life for you, to bring you forgiveness and eternal life.

Yes God works in mysterious ways and indeed we have seen one today in the Holy Baptism of Hayden. Baptism is a gift from Christ to Hayden as he travels through this world knowing he won’t have to look over his shoulder. It is a promise towards eternal life and a gift for everyday prior knowing that Christ gave us a very straight forward message, “Be Baptised and believe that I am the Son of God. The Saviour sent to earth to bring you forgiveness and eternal life”.

Christ has promised to Hayden to know that surety and the freedom it brings and Christ reminds us today of that same freedom we have in him. So live, truly live knowing that in the dark Christ is there guiding you home and when in the light, revel in it in thanks for a man who gave his life for us.

Christ has given Hayden a promise signed with his own blood that on his journey he never need to wonder. A promise that he offers to all that they too may know peace.

 

Genesis 15:1-12,17,18

“Free tickets to meet the Boss”

In the reading from Genesis we are told of God and the certainty of His promises when he makes a covenant with a man we know of as having great faith, Abraham.

In a vision, the Lord came to an ageing Abraham without children to announce that his offspring would be in number like the stars in the sky-and in his trust of God’s words, in his faith in God he was a righteous man. Yet ironically this man of great faith who trusts God with this miraculous promise, when told by God that he will possess the land he stands upon asks “how am I to know that?” And far from telling him to get a grip, God acts by giving Abraham a covenant in a manner known in the day where the participants would cut animals in half, then walk together between them as a pledge that such a fate would befall any of them who breached whatever the covenant or promise was between them.

Yet here, by walking through the animals alone, God puts all the responsibility upon himself. He gives Abraham a promise that he, God the Father cannot even break no matter what may take place in Abraham’s life from that point on. This is a big promise. There’s no only if you do this or don’t do that’s. This is God’s Word set in stone irrespective of circumstances. What’s more, God makes his covenant with Abraham while he’s in a deep sleep. A covenant with Abraham, a covenant with his descendants and a covenant that has flowed through to us while we slept when in Romans chapter eight verse five, we hear that:

“God demonstrated his love for us, that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us”.

Abraham was called to faith and given an unbreakable promise due to his faith alone.

Christians are called to faith and given forgiveness and eternal life due to faith alone.

After Abraham received his promise and though this Holy man also made many human mistakes along the way-God stuck by His Word.

We have received our promise in Christ, and though we make our mistakes-Christ remains resolute in his promise that in faith alone are we saved, and like Abraham, the apostle Paul and the repentant King David, bow to our knees in the realization of the amazing grace we have received and pray that we too can be his messengers. His messengers to those like us who know doubt, loneliness and hurt. But his messengers who know the peace of grace amongst the chaos. His messengers who with Christ go into the chaos that others may too may see and be guided by Christ’s light on their travels.

In 1982 Bruce Springsteen released his fourth and critically acclaimed album titled “Nebraska” One such critic wrote that “The songs deal with the ordinary, blue collar characters that face a challenge or turning point in their lives”. (The last song on the album) “Reason to believe is like the others which are largely of a bleak tone. Reason to believe is a complex narrative that renders its title phrase into mocking sarcasm and unlike previous albums, very little salvation and grace is present within the songs”.

Bruce or the “Boss” as he is known truly seems to understand life’s struggles and that his songs on this album, and if fact that most of his songs are of the ordinary and marginalized I do not argue. But I was a little thrown by his understanding of “Reason to believe” as lacking in the presence of salvation and grace because it was one of the first songs that attracted me to his music-because to me that was what it is about.

It goes like this:

“Mary Lou loved Johnny with a love mean and true. She said “Baby I’ll work for you every day and bring my money home to you. One day he up and left her and ever since that she waits down at the end of that dirt road for young Johnny to come back.

“Take a baby to the river Kyle William they called him. Wash the baby in the water, take away Kyle’s sin. In a whitewash shotgun shack an old man passes away. Take his body to the graveyard and over him they pray. Congregation gathers down by the riverside. Preacher stands with his Bible, groom stand’s waiting for his bride. Congregation gone and the sun sets behind a weepin’ willow tree. Groom stands alone and watches the river rush on effortlessly.

Lord and he’s wonderin’ where can his baby be. Still at the end of every hard earned day people find some reason to believe”

That Baptism and a Christian funeral are mentioned and yet is described as lacking grace and salvation is perplexing for any Christian and why that critic would view this as a song of mocking and sarcasm can only be based on the book-end lyrics where we hear of a lady who gives everything to her love only for him to leave her, and of a young man that is abandoned by the love of his life at the marriage alter. Yes, if we were in these situations it would be easy to join the critic in doubting our Lord’s governance or at the very least, thoughts of “why or where are you know God” might come to pass.

Yet far from sarcasm I would suggest this is deeply theological when we see how these two people respond to such great hurt and abandonment, not with anger or rejection toward those who have left them, but with hope.

“One day he up and left her and ever since that she waits down at the end of the road for Johnny to come back” and “The groom stands alone wonderin’ where his baby can be”.

Is this not the love and hope that a parent would feel for their runaway or lost child? Is this not the biblical story of the father who waits for his prodigal son to come home from in the big city in despair, and is this not our Lord who sees us taking every wrong direction away from him, yet never turns away, but works and lives in the hope that his children will return home.

Jesus Christ our Saviour walked to the cross so that he can walk with us and guide us home, that God the Father who waits at the end of our dusty tracks sees us coming and welcomes us with his words from revelations chapter seven:

You have come out of the great tribulation and been washed clean in the blood of the lamb. Never again will you hunger. Never again will you thirst. The sun will not beat down on you nor any scorching heat and I have wiped every tear away from your eyes”.

And these are not flimsy words; these are of an unbreakable promise as given to Abraham for God follows in the book of Revelations with dire warnings for anyone who adds or detract from these truths.

Washed clean by the blood of the lamb and justified in faith in Christ alone is your covenant. A promise that no humans, forces of darkness nor God himself can break. A covenant promise to you today and a covenant promise that Christ wants others to know when he says: “Come, let the one who is thirsty come; and let the one who wishes take the free gift of the water of life”.

Ten or so years ago over a few beers and a couple of music DVD’s I introduced a friend of mine to the music of Bruce Springsteen and that night after I professed my desire to see him in concert if he ever comes to Australia again my friend said, when he does we are both going. A few months ago Bruce’s Australian concert tour tickets became available and while considering going I thought of the price, if I’ll have time and even the effort involved and decided I will forgo the last opportunity I would have to see him live. Then my friend rang me and reminded me of that night ten or so years ago.

So on the 22nd of March we’re off to Sydney, after mind you he travels from South Australia just to get to Dubbo. A man of his word, that has kept his word at far greater cost than me and I know that through him I’ll do what I’ve wanted to do for a long, long time and while if it wasn’t for him I would have missed my opportunity- it cannot make me feel better of him because I don’t think that is possible.

And so the Lord to us. He loves us before our good works, but he also loves those that wait yet to know him, who need to know the grace and hope he offers.

The Lord heard our cries and came to us, the Lord hears the cries of our neighbors and though in faith we are already saved, invites us to travel with him that while on our journey, others may see his light and be guided home to meet the loving Father.

On his death bed, John Newton the author of amazing grace farewelled his earthly life with these final words “My memory is nearly gone, but I remember two things, I am a great sinner, and that Christ is a great Saviour”. That is true for us, and true for those that Christ asks we shine his light upon.

 

Luke 4:1-13

“Wounded or Broken”

No doubt you have read in the papers of the extraordinary allegations of the amount of football clubs in both Aussie Rules and Rugby League being accused of using performance enhancing drugs. It has been like an avalanche and I wonder, if the amount of people and clubs involved is proven correct, just what will the authorities do? We’ve seen in previous year’s clubs having been stripped of past premierships because they have broken the salary cap, so what do the authorities do in this situation?

Firstly I must say, at the time of writing this these allegations have not been proven, but if they are, with whole clubs involved, I have to wonder if the players even knew what they were being given was wrong.

Who knows? But I do know that we are all tempted when something we desire most, is placed before us in arms reach.

In years past a friend of mine visited his client who raced greyhounds. At the conclusion of their business talks and being shown around his clients personal greyhound racing track he asked of his training methods and was told that when the trainer wanted to “get a dog up”, he would tie a real cat to the lure, so that in practice when the dog caught up to it, there would be a fierce and deadly confrontation. Then on race day-the dog was primed to win thinking that is was still going to chase a real cat. After my friend questioned his training methods the trainer simply said “that if I want firsts and not fourths, that’s what I have to do.

The problem with temptation is that it can be very subtle and we can self-justify it. Every one’s doing it, it’s not hurting anyone or it’s not a big deal. And that may be the so at the time, but just like someone embezzling their employer or meddling with addictive substances, it often starts out small- but ends big to where the person looks in the mirror, trapped, disgusted and asks “how did it come to this”. Many become wounded and live with those consequences, the guilt, self-pity and anger for the remainder of their lives. And some are broken, and even contemplate taking their lives to end it.

And that’s the dark sides plan, to wound and crush so that our eyes are taken of Christ and to offer earthly alternatives that seduce and seem logical. Yet amongst all our errors and self- seeking, Christ offers life. While we walk with our wounds, he carries us and when broken, he doesn’t offer death, but life.

When I was very young I was aware of the trauma Jesus suffered but I used to think “how life changing it would be to know for sure like Jesus did, of the guarantee of going to heaven”. I would think if I knew that as a certainty I wouldn’t have to worry about living up to expectations, worry about what people thought and be just free to simply help others and not worry about my stuff. I thought if only I knew it for sure, I would be free of myself”.

Now I look at myself, the accumulation of sins-this ogre of a person and only wish I had the heart of that little boy. It seems the older I’ve got, the more aware of myself I’ve become-and it isn’t nice and I don’t like it. I have seemed to get worse, not better. Yet ironically, in that, somehow against all logic I have come to know the truth. That in my wounds of sin and brokenness, that one thing I used to think- that if I only knew for sure I would wake up in heaven after my last day has been answered. Not answered by human thought, but answered by Christ.

Christ who in today’s Gospel when after his baptism is taken to the wilderness to suffer and be tempted. Like when we are wounded and tempted so was Jesus. When he was hungry and starving he is tempted to use his powers to feed himself. He is offered the logical human way of saving his people by coming as a warrior king. And is told the truth, that he has the powers of heaven to do it. All things offered are logical to human thought. Yet Jesus answers with scripture to deny his tempter. Answers which are illogical to human thought so that he can achieve the most unhuman thing that the world has ever heard. That regardless of your place in the world, regardless of your trailer load of moments that you have fell too, he says believe in me-that I have come to bring forgiveness. Because I feel the sorrow and anger you carry. I weep because I know the truth and I only want you to know the truth-that you can live life knowing that you will be with me on your last day. I do not lie, I came to bring you forgiveness, you, you a sinner-I forgive you.

I have beaten sin and death for you. So lay your burdens at my feet-for you are free. Live your life. Live your life knowing that when it doesn’t seem possible-that you are saved. Live your life knowing that when it seems life is truly a blessing-enjoy it without guilt, and know that you are saved.

In regards to those sporting allegation’s I mentioned earlier. The one that I particularly noted was that some individuals were given these performance enhancing drugs by people with the purpose of then blackmailing them into acting as they wish on the sporting field so that they could place informed betting on the games.

Attacking one area to get at another. Using something that they know the person wants more than anything to trap them is not knew and is the tool of God’s opponent. It’s a trap to make us believe in our circumstances and our feelings up and against what Christ tells us. The forces of darkness tempt us, and then when we succumb, accuse us. Or said better, tells us the truth-that we have failed God by breaking his law.

He uses scripture to assault even the most knowledgeable bible scholar with the truth, that they-that we have failed, and that in knowing that his allegations are true, we become wounded. Wounded that we die a slow death when we start thinking that our circumstances and feelings are the basis of our logic-and that in that logic we are beyond our Lord’s forgiveness and salvation. Or wounded and like a trapped animal and fight back and try and win our place in heaven back with our good deeds and pious lives.

Wounded in our lives we fight back-fight fire with fire. Make our own rules based on our situations and feelings. Or wounded as the boat takes on water and simply resign to the fact and go down with the ship. This happens in our individual lives and in the life of the church. These attacks are not of flesh and blood. These are spiritual attacks to wound both people and the church and mislead them away from the truth. To show our situation to us to cause a re-action based on ourselves and our society that leads us away from the truth, away from the words of our Lord and Saviour.

Jesus, fully divine yet fully human in the desert was offered by the devil using scripture, a way out. What’s more a human logical way out. Yet Jesus who felt pain, temptation, hunger, thirst and all the tribulations we suffer withstood and answered not from his human self, but from the word of God. To instead of falling to the situation at hand, called on the word of God for the answer.

Jesus trusting in his Fathers words bore his cross to the end to bring to the world the truth of his Fathers love. His love that we cannot fully understand. His love that is illogical to human thought. His love that the devil hides behind our human feelings, failures and wounds.

His attacks to hide and distort the truth are particularly strong against those in Christ, and those coming to Christ. It is a fierce fight that we cannot fight against with our thoughts. It can only be fought against by relying upon what Christ has told us, regardless of how we see ourselves.

The devil tells us of what we know of ourselves while hiding the truth of Christ. Jesus tells us the truth of himself that overshadows what we know of ourselves.

Jesus says be baptised and believe and you are saved-yet human logic is played on to question this.

Jesus says I accept you as you are. I have brought you forgiveness and salvation-yet human logic says it can’t be that easy.

And finally our human logic is right, because it wasn’t easy. Was it easy for the Father to see the pain His sinless son endured? Was it easy for Jesus to not call down the angels when on the cross? Is it easy for our Saviour to see those he loves still suffering in not knowing the truth?

The forgiveness and salvation we have been given is no cheap grace-it came at a great cost. At the cost of Jesus Christ the living God who dared trust the truth of his Father and not that of human thoughts.

Jesus the Saviour who asks we not base the truth on our own understandings, situations or doubts, but on what he has done for us. To fight worldly human truths with his truth by promising that:

I see your afflictions, sin and your pain. I see your longing soul and the paths the destroyer has taken you. But I have taken on myself your weaknesses. When you cry out to me I save you in your distress. Come unto me all that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.

For when you were enemies, you were reconciled to my Father in my death, and being reconciled in me you have been saved. Trust in me with all your heart and not your own understanding or feelings, for I tell you the truth:

I have delivered your soul from the battle that was against you and delivered you from the hands of the wicked and sanctify you with the truth, that I died for you and no one will ever take you from me.

So be strong and of good courage, fear not nor be afraid for I go with you and will not forsake you or fail you. Should you fall, I will pick you up. You are mine and where I am, you to shall be also.