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At the heart of the fight.

Luke 21:25-36

I once read that in the face of life threatening situations, people have a 50% greater chance of survival if they don’t panic and when thinking of going around a corner and coming face to face with a car on the wrong side of the road, to me that statistic makes sense.

An elderly man once told me of fighting a fire by making a fire break in the Adelaide hills in his open roofed tractor. It was one of the “infamous” fires that due to its speed and intensity caused extreme loss of properties and many people perished. He said it seemed to come from nowhere and was upon him and due to its speed and the terrain it was impossible to outrun. He had but seconds and in those he had to fight his every instinct telling him to run, which ultimately would be to have run to nowhere, rather than back up his tractor and charge the fire at full speed hoping that its face was shallow enough to pass through. He said it was “the most fear he has ever experienced.”

As mortal human beings it is impossible to not experience some level of fear in the face of a threat, but as seen in this man and others, instead of overwhelming and uncontrollable fear creating panic, it is fear that triggers courage.

These are extreme situations and people that have faced them almost universally reflect that they do not know “how they did it”. Extreme situations like those we heard in the Gospel today. When and how these things play out we are not told except that they will bring great distress and unanswered confusion to the world prior to when all will become clear upon the return of Christ.

As Christians we don’t talk to the Bible it talks to us and in verse 34 Jesus gives us some good advice, to “watch ourselves”, to stay awake. Which is good advice indeed when from the book of Daniel we are told these “will be times of trouble such as never has been since” (12:1), “many people will waste their efforts trying to understand what is happening” (12:4) and “many will be purified, but those who are wicked will not understand and will go on being wicked, only those who are wise will understand” (12:10)

Sobering and heavy words, and indeed Daniel himself trembled when receiving his visions of the future. But sobering words that as they were to Daniel, are given to enlighten us rather than consume us. In the aftermath of such astonishing prophecies’, the advice given to Daniel is also given for us, chapter 12 verse 9 to now “Go your way to the end”.

And we go our way to the end, in the here and now, because as Jesus himself has told us in Matthew 6:34 “Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own”.

In 1963 civil activist Martin Luther King Jr. gave his remarkable ‘I have a dream’ speech. Five years later in Memphis, Tennessee he gave an impromptu speech in which he referred to the story of the “Good Samaritan” and makes the following insights:

“Jesus tells us that on a dangerous curve between Jerusalem and Jericho a man was attacked and felled by thieves. You remember that a Jewish Levite and a priest passed by on the other side. They didn’t stop to help him but a man of another race did stop and was not compassionate by proxy, but got down and administered first aid and helped the man in need. Jesus said this man was the great man because he had the capacity to project the ‘I’ into the ‘thou’ and be concerned about his brother. Now you know we use our imagination a great deal to try and determine why the priest and the Levite didn’t stop, like running late in getting to a church meeting(or being too busy)….But maybe it’s possible that these men were simply afraid. You see I have been there and the Jericho road is a dangerous road…and conducive for ambushing. In the days of Jesus it came to be known as the ‘Bloody Pass’. And you know that’s it possible that the priest and the Levite looked over the man on the ground and wondered if the robbers were still around, or if the felt the man on the ground was faking it, a trap. So (maybe) the question they asked themselves was ‘If I stop to help this man, what will happen to me?’ But then the Good Samaritan came by and reversed the question: ’If I don’t stop to help this man, what will happen to him?’

And that’s the question before us now”.

The Reverend Martin Luther King concluded his speech referring to death threats he had recently received with:

“I don’t know what will happen now. We’ve got some difficult days ahead. But it really doesn’t matter with me now, because I’ve been to the mountain top. Like anybody I would like to live a long life….but I’m not concerned about that now. I just want to do God’s will. I’m not worried about anything. I’m not fearing any man. My eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the Lord”.

Martin Luther King had been given a special calling, and as to Daniel and as to us, “He went his way to the end” and was assassinated the day after this speech. Martin Luther King, Nelson Mandela, Desmond Tutu, Dietrich Bonheoffer and others, given special callings that shaped and became their lives in “the here and now”.

We too are to live in our here and now. We have no need to go looking for our calling as it will find us. We don’t look or aspire to be martyred or put to great tests, but face them with Christ if they arrive.

We “go our way to the end” seeking to have the courage of a Samaritan man who asked himself “What will happen to this man if I don’t stop?”.

We “go our way to the end” stopping for those in need, yet passing in fright. We “go our way to the end” in courage, yet in fear. We go our way as best we can, rising above, yet falling short. We go as sinners, yet free and righteous in Christ.

Nelson Mandela said: “To be free is not merely to cast off one’s chains, but to live in a way that respects and enhances the freedom of others”.

We go our way as slaves and servants to our fellow earthly brothers and sisters, yet as free men, women and children because we have had the chains of death removed by our Savior, Jesus Christ.

We go our way knowing that on the other side of the approaching fire is safety, and we go our way today, knowing that come what may, Jesus will never pass us by. Amen.

 

“When two worlds collide”

John 18:33-37

(With reference to John 18: 28 through John 19: 16)

“When two worlds collide”

On the battlefield two opposing forces collide, country against country and person against person and in either victory or defeat, all suffer and all lose. In victory or defeat-the task to both is great. To rebuild and carry on despite of the injustices each has suffered and to rebuild and carry on despite of the injustices that each has been a part off.

Earlier in the week a journalist wrote of a decorated soldier that had in the heat of battle showed valour almost beyond comprehension in drawing fire upon himself to save his colleagues. And she spoke of one of his character traits that is not championed in our world as it once was. Humility, and went on to say that in ancient Greece the stars of the day, the brave and the warriors were noted and admired for their unpretentiousness and meekness. Their humility: the knowledge of themselves yet the courage to stand and fight the fight they had been given.

Humility we see in others that despite suffering opinions and actions against them, don’t retaliate but carry on regardless. Humility that is required of us when we see the regard in which we are rightly or wrongly judged. Open hostility or even the side look to another or the uneasy pause. Significantly insignificant moment’s that you know are the mask of something going on, gossip, backstabbing and so forth. Moment’s that call on our courage and humility so that we don’t return fire, but carry on with our eyes focussed on the good in them.

In the Gospel today we heard five short verses, but five short verses that are formed from all humanity as it was then, all of humanity previous and all of humanity since, as Jesus the Son of God with great courage and humility stands before Pilate as two worlds collide. Like that sideways glance, behind these verses are a myriad of power plays, bending of the truths and when not getting things as wanted, character assignation and rumour in order to gets things as wanted and expected.

Although In the time of Jesus the Jews were subject to the Romans, the Romans still allowed them a good deal of self-government but not the right to carry out the death penalty and this is why Jesus ends up before Pilate. The Jews from start to finish knew they had to use Pilate for their purposes. This is the time of the Passover and everything was being carried out by the Jews according to ceremonial law with meticulous care: yet at the same time hounding to the Cross the Son of God. The Jews charge against Jesus was blasphemy but they knew that on this charge alone Pilate would dismiss their cries for the death penalty. So they brought Jesus to him on the trumped up charges of rebellion and political insurrection against Rome by accusing Jesus of claiming to be a king.

They knew they were lying by changing contexts but so being full of hatred they did not hesitate to twist the truth and in order to feed this lie they denied every principle they had. The most being their declaration before Pilate that “We have no king but Caesar”. This statement must have taken Pilates breath away as in previous history, when the Romans had insisted the Jews were liable to pay taxes to them, the Jews declaring “that God alone was their King” revolted in the most bloody of rebellions.

In the hatred that had overcome them, the Jews were prepared to abandon every principle they had in order to eliminate Jesus.

Then there’s Pilate who must have wished he’d stayed in bed that day. Throughout the whole trial it is abundantly clear that Pilate knew that the charges against Jesus were a series of lies. Knew that Jesus was innocent, was deeply impressed when meeting him and did not want to condemn him. But from early events the Jews owned Pilate, and he and they both knew it.

When Pilate was given charge of this part of the Roman Empire he was involved in a series of over the top, not understanding the culture heavy handed actions. Events that resulted in the Jewish authorities complaining to head office-Caesar, who in response disciplined Pilate.

Pilate was on “probation” so to speak and any more complaints would not be good for his career as he was well “reminded” by the Jews in the trial when they blackmailed him by saying “If you let this man go, you are not Caesar’s friend”.

Pilate had tried every avenue at his disposal: He had Jesus whipped and beaten hoping that it would bring some pity out in the Jews, for them to say O.K. enough is enough. Had brought Jesus before them under the Passover custom of releasing a prisoner. Debating with them, almost pleading Jesus’ innocence before them but to no avail as they sided for the release of a freedom fighter named Barabbas. Yet again we see two worlds’ collide: Barabbas fighting for freedom by force, and Jesus fighting for Freedom with love.

Pilate used all the tools he had at his disposal to stop an innocent man being killed, but could not display the courage to just do the right thing no matter what the consequence. Yet knowing our own short comings and self- serving, somehow one cannot help but feel sorry for Pilate. He wanted to do the right thing; but he had not the courage to defy the Jews and do it. Pilate crucified Jesus in order to keep his job.

All players involved are self-serving and lacking the courage to face up to or stand up for the truth. All except Jesus: The man who raised the dead, healed the unhealable and at any moment could have brought this sham of a situation to an end, in humility lets it take place that the he may bring the offer of salvation to those from whom he suffers.

Jesus in his humility, in the knowledge of himself, the Son of God, the sinless one who had done only good, in courage fought his fight by allowing himself to be ridiculed, spat on, terribly beaten and to die in the most feared manner.

You may ask where’s the Gospel in this sermon. Yes, that was a bit of a history lesson. But a lesson that though from the past, tells of our future. In Jesus, back then and as is now two worlds collide. Yet as this happens, Jesus at the end of his earthly walk and while looking over his tormentors, and now to us-speaks.

Luke 23:34 “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they do.”

And that is the Gospel of our Lord. Amen.

 

A foot in both camps.

Mark 12: 1-8

“The storm before the calm”

On March 15, 1980 in Washington state, which is in the upper west coast of the United States of America (and not to be confused with Washington D.C. on the East Coast) Mount Saint Helen’s started grumbling. Just over two months later on the 17th of May thirty car loads of residents were allowed back to gather some of their possessions.

The next morning at 8.31am things were much the same, Helen just grumbling along and “letting of a bit of steam”. At 8.32am she erupted with great intensity and spewed out hot ash and rock at the speed of 300km’s an hour and 57 people lost their lives at the bottom of a mountain that had been before the eyes of the world for over two months.

The daylight was turned to darkness and on the news a reporter at the scene said that “the local’s believe this is the end of the world, and if I didn’t know better, so would I.”

San Francisco, as are many West Coast cities is situated perilously close to the San Andreas Fault line and on the 18th April 1906 it lost over 3,000 of its residents due to a mega earth quake, and now those cities prepare and wait for the next “big one”.

On our own shores on Christmas Eve 1974, cyclone Tracey reached Darwin taking 71 people lives and destroying four out of every five houses.

These cities and places have been rebuilt with tighter building codes and government “alertness” programs available to residents if and when these natural tragedies come to pass again. Yet it would seem from current events that the landscape is changing. Cane toads are heading south, just yesterday Queensland encountered “Super Storm Shaz” and the recent storm in New York cannot even be classified due to its “first of a kind” nature.

Surveying our times we see natural disasters, war, famine, persecution, moral and social decline seemingly unchecked, gaining speed and it would seem all heading in the one direction. Clearly we are at living in the end times that Jesus has spoken of in today’s Gospel.

Just as the apostles were in their times. The beginning of the end started at the end of the beginning-the time that the promised messiah, Jesus Christ the Son of God came to earth and defeated sin and death on the cross.

Comedian John Cleese in Faulty Towers after yet again being disciplined by his wife (and for good reason I might add) said to himself: “Swish, what was that? That was your life mate. Do I get another? No sorry, that’s it”.

Life is fleeting and our time here passes quickly but unlike Basis Faulty’s sad deduction, we do have another life to come and we live now with our eyes on both. An eye to the consummation of the promise, that our last day will become our first in God’s Kingdom where there will be no death, trials, tribulations or separation from those we miss.

And an eye to God’s kingdom now, living in it and participating in its growth. To live amongst our world’s fears and distractions and amongst its joy and beauty. To live knowing the truth of how we stand before God. That whether we meet God the Father after his Son does indeed come from the clouds, or meet God the Father in death, meet him here today in worship or meet him in the person we meet up the road, that in Christ we stand before him with our names written in the book of life. To live as Martin Luther responded “I live everyday like it’s my last, yet still planting a tree”.

Things happen in our lives that hurt. Our own stuff and seeing others with theirs. There is much joy in our world but just as much of the other. But with that one eye to the promise we have been given in Christ, our road here and now is full of promise and beauty.

The hard stuff will come along but we can face and endure it in Christ, knowing that it will pass.

In this month’s Lutheran an article talks of a man that was led to Christianity, to our Lord’s kingdom through his medical studies where he continually saw how Christians reacted to impending death. We may not be as close to the end as those who witnessed to him. But we all one way or another in our remaining time, be it one day or one hundred years are all in the same hospital bed as those that he saw. That we travel these days of confusion, danger and fear in hope and faith is a question or a thing to ponder for those still searching. Our faith is our witness.

Several years ago a disgruntled ex-employee entered a building and started shooting people. As he stood over what was to be his third victim he asked “are you ready to meet your maker?” To which he heard a nervous response of: “Yes”. This lady was his last victim as those present said “her reply seemed to stun him; he just stood there and then put down his gun and gave himself up”.

In our times it takes great courage to be in the world but not of it. To live in the face of death in hope. To live and work with our colleagues and friends and treat Christian and non-Christian alike. To give ourselves, to love and support those who may ridicule us because of our faith and beliefs the same as we do for those that thank God for our faith.

Last Tuesday, I filled in for Kathy and led the scripture class at the primary school. Believe me I have great admiration for Kathy, Dianne and others that take these classes every week. At the end after getting talked over by many of the students, the teacher as I departed farewelled me by saying “Keep fighting the good fight”.

Well I suppose it did seem a bit like a fight that morning. Though it was a fight that I didn’t seem to be winning and a fight that I wasn’t particularly good at is not the point. The point is Jesus Christ our Saviour.

“Keep fighting the good fight”. Jesus fought our battle on the cross and The Father, The Son and The Holy Spirit have fought and worked tirelessly throughout our lives that we see and accept that truth. To rest in that truth.

In our lives we go out daily into the mission field to fight the good fight. Not against our fellow citizens but against the lies that have led them astray. To not stand in front or behind our earthly brothers and sisters, but stand alongside them in front of the cross, that they too may see, hear and understand the truth of our Saviour. Amen.

 

How Generous are you?

Mark 12:38-44

“Lending a liver”

Giving till it hurts.

Several years ago after having some medical tests my father rang me worried about his results which showed possible problems with his kidneys. Without giving it much thought I said he could have one of mine. Later after thinking a little more I rang him back and suggested that mine may not be much better than the ones he already has to which he answered “No your thinking of your liver and as you only have the one, you best keep it”.

In the 1970’s Kerry Packer while in London visited a Jaguar showroom to look over the XJS, which at the time was the pinnacle of car sophistication and speed. Impressed with what he saw he asked what colour they came in. Told there were five different colours, he ordered one of each, only to give four of them to some of his employees.

Author Christopher Lee notes in his book Howzat that:

“Those who knew him tell of sudden and unexpected empathy coming from who knows where inside this big and brutal man. Helping friends and strangers. One employee told of a trip to Perth where for some reason his feet had swelled up and he couldn’t get his shoes back on. Kerry let the other passengers off the plane and as the bemused airline staff looked on, knelt down on the floor at his feet and gently slid his employee’s shoes on for him”.

The book and film of the same name “Black Hawk Down” catalogue an event that took place in 1993 in Somalia. Famine and civil war had gripped the country resulting in over 300,000 civilian deaths and the warlord had declared war on the United Nations peacekeeping force. During a raid to try and capture two of the warlord’s chief adviser’s a Black Hawk helicopter was shot down deep in the city. The pilot survived but was trapped in the chopper with the ground forces unable to reach him due to coming under heavy fire, so two highly trained soldiers were inserted by helicopter to the crash site. Eventually they were overrun but during but during the battle they were recorded talking calmly and methodically, and seemingly without fear to each other via radio, one each side of the downed chopper:

“I’m hit in the right arm, going to side arm. I’m hit in the chest” and so forth until the inevitable ending.

Two men that gave their lives, seemingly without hesitation and today at 11.00am during that long one minute’s silence we remember all the service men and women who gave the ultimate sacrifice.

A world war II veteran many years ago told me that in the field, some of the most death defying acts of bravery came from people you would least expect it and in the Gospel today Jesus lays down side by side two outwardly differing classes of people. The honoured religious teachers whose standing in society was so respected that in the streets people would rise as they passed with only the tradesmen at work given exemption to this expectation. Not that their position as such was the problem, the problem it would seem is that they have started believing their own press and become self- intoxicated with their high status.

Alternatively, widows were socially powerless and honourless in this society that emphasized status and honour. To those present this is a no contest as to who they would want to hang out with. Yet Jesus, as he still does in our times, looks past the outer shell and sees things for what they are. That the religious teachers have lingered long in their individual prayers in the synagogues is not the issue, the issue is the motive of this longevity that Jesus criticizes. “It’s all show and no go” and Jesus sees here that social injustice and religious hypocrisy are inextricably linked and takes his stand on behalf of the powerless, this widow who gives the most insignificant amount of money in worldly terms, but in her situation-has given everything.

When I was coaching footy in a small town, one of our young guys had been asked to try out in “the big smoke” and upon hearing of this another player who had previously played 200 odd games in the highest competition in Adelaide has to offer, sought him out and said “After you’ve stripped down and are getting ready for your first training you will look around the room and see the other players muscles and body physics and you will wonder what you are doing there, don’t worry about it, it’s what inside you that counts”.

Or in car parlance it’s what’s under the bonnet that counts and through this widow’s seemingly insignificant offering we see that behind it lies her love of God. A love of God that we should all heed to.

We may or may not have much in the way of material things but that’s not the point. It’s about using what we have and who we are, and placing both at God’s disposal. To give our love and time and our compassion non judgementally to those he brings before us-irrespective of class, race, rich or poor for all are God’s children.

At my brothers funeral after listing his achievements which included many bravery awards from within and outside the police force, from within and outside of his work hours the Assistant Police Commissioner closed with “We (the police force) have lost the best of the best, and the people of South Australia have lost a truly dedicated, courageous, sincere and giving servant”.

Later we were overcome by stories of his escapades, escapades though that he never saw the need to tell us of, as it would seem that it was just part of doing what he believed he was meant to do in his line of work and in his life. Acts of duty that although they resulted in others regarding him highly did little for his own self- gratification because he knew the truth-that before God he was a sinner with no claim whatsoever of salvation other than in and through the greatest servant of all, Jesus Christ.

Jesus gives us to serve each other and all those he places before us and we should be unthinkingly open and extravagant, even reckless in our efforts to serve, to forgive and love those around us. To give of ourselves not under the weight of second guessing all our actions as if to make life a burden, but like the widow in the gospel, give spontaneously just as things come before us-. To not dwell on and worry of have we done enough or not enough-but just live in the moments-whatever those moments may be, be they sadness or happiness, failures or achievements. To serve and to be served however they come into play. Live free without worries of yesterday or tomorrow but trust that God will use our lives: our successes and failures: our actions, both great seemingly significant and insignificant: trust that God will use our lives to build His kingdom and serve His children in ways that we could not imagine or need to know.

However it may play out in our lives, to give of ourselves freely. However the moments in our lives play out, to live them in freedom, in the sure knowledge that before God the Father, our debt has already been paid in full by His Son and our Saviour Jesus Christ. Amen.

 

Fair go mate !

   Message based on Matthew 12: 28-34

“The day that stopped the world”

It seems a little ironic that on Tuesday the people of the united states will go to elect their president and on the same day Australia will confront the “Day that stops a Nation” the Melbourne Cup with the favourite being a horse called “Americain”. I can almost hear the press clichés now.

Mark Twain the American author of the Tom Sawyer books once said:

The Melbourne Cup is the Australasian National Day. I can call to mind no specialised annual day in any country, which can be named by that large name-Supreme. I can call to mind no specialised annual day, in any country, whose approach fires the whole land with a conflagration or passion of conversation, and preparation and anticipation and jubilation. No day save this one; but this one does it.”

And Australia’s own Banjo Paterson, born in nearby Orange adds:

“Before the North Pole was discovered, some cynic said it would be discovered easily enough by advertising a race meeting there, when a couple of dozen Australians would no doubt turn up with horses.”

It is indeed “The Day that stops a Nation”; unless you are unfortunate enough to be in a similar situation to a gentleman I met last year after returning from the North Adelaide paper shop. As I approached him sitting in front of the church, directly across from the police station (Law and Gospel you could say) he asked if I knew what time they opened. I didn’t but I stopped for a chat and he mentioned that on every second day he has to check in with the police and amongst other things spend some time with a therapist. We talked for 10 or fifteen minutes and in between his stories he continually finished each with “I can’t believe I have to come here the same time as the cups on, a bloke can’t even watch the cup”. He was a good fella but I couldn’t help but inwardly ponder how that even in his myriad of troubles and problems, that day-because of the day it was- that they only seemed secondary.

When meeting people that have migrated to Australia or simply visiting I’m always intensely interested to see how they see Australia through their eyes. A big strong barman in Coober Pedy told me that during the cold war he had risked his life crawling on his belly through patrolled paddocks to escape from a country behind the iron curtain. His response to my question of how or why he ended up in Australia was that the “word on the street” amongst the asylum seekers of the time “was to get to either Canada or Australia because they had heard from word of mouth that these countries would give outsiders a fair go” struck my heart to the core.

I hope and pray that our great country never loses our “sense of fair play”, or maybe even regains it, as for many of us, we are but the by-products of those sent here against their wishes, or by products of those who risked much to travel to the “Land down under” to start a new life knowing that it was improbable that they would ever be able to return to see those they left behind.

I came from the dream-time, from the dusty red soil plains

I am the ancient heart, the keeper of the flame.

I stood upon the rocky shore; I watched the tall ships come.

For forty thousand years I’ve been the first Australian.

I came upon the prison ship, bowed down by iron chains.

I cleared the land, endured the lash and waited for the rains.

I’m a settler; I’m a farmer’s wife on a dry and barren run

A convict then a free man…..

I’m the daughter of a digger who sought the mother lode

The girl became a woman on the long and dusty road

I’m a child of the depression, I saw the good times come

I’m a bushy, I’m a battler……

I’m a teller of stories, I’m a singer of songs

I am Albert Namatjira, I paint the ghostly gums

I am Clancy on his horse, I’m Ned Kelly on the run

I’m the one who waltzed Matilda…..

We are one, but we are many

and from all the lands on earth we come

We share a dream and sing with one voice:

I am, you are, we are Australian

That song is my Amazing Grace of what we stand for as a nation, and as with Amazing Grace I never tire of hearing it.

As most of us here were once outsiders in this nation, so too were the gentiles-our ancestors who were considered outside of God by the authorities of the day before Jesus walked this earth.

But in Mark 12:28 one such person asked Jesus “What is the greatest commandment of all?”

“Jesus answered, The first is you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind, and with all your strength. The second is this, love your neighbor as yourself. There is no other commandment greater than these.”

Sometimes we read something that should not be tampered with but should just be retold as written. This is one (By Rev. Donald F. Hinchey):

“Our sin separates us not only from God but also from living out our faith in life. We sinners segment life into real and religious, stained glass and office. God bridges the gap with a cross. God gave His own Son to death to bring life with God into the streets. Jesus was crucified outside the city walls but in the midst of the people. Those who passed by hurled insults at him, shaking their heads and saying, You are going to destroy the temple and build it in three days (Mt 27:39-40). Faith and life meet in the crucified and risen Son of God. Faith, the gift of God, is meant to be lived out on earth. God’s Word and Sacraments stoke and nourish the fires of faith so that we might be the church in the community. We are all sinners, but in Christ alone we are saints through what he has done for us. Saints put flesh on the faith. This Christian life is no pie in the sky matter but is living here and now. A saint “preaches” by the way they walk and the way they stand and the way they pick things up and the way they hold them in their hands. A child was once asked what a saint was. She thought of the stained glass windows with pictures of the saints in her church and responded “A saint is a person who lets the light shine through.

In the darkness of our world’s brokenness and sin, the saints shine forth in hope: Christ is risen and we too shall rise”.

There is a school in a country town in France that has written upon its entrance “We will never forget Australia” and on Australia Day every year they gather in remembrance of the thousands upon thousands of young men that died in the paddocks that surround their town. Young men that gave the ultimate sacrifice in a foreign land. How our Lord must have wept to see the pain and loss of life on both sides.

As a grown man, for whatever reason when hearing a child crying in hurt as parents argued I always near driven to tears and when completing this message yesterday I again heard this play out in the street I live.

Our Savior Jesus Christ died once and for all for our sins yet he still suffers the pain of our world. Pray that we too hear our neighbor’s pain, that they too see the light of Christ. Amen.

 

“God’s Jigsaw Puzzle”

Christian life week

Ephesians 4:1-6

“God’s Jigsaw Puzzle”

Growing up in South Australia back in the dim and dark ages when I could manage to participate in sport without feeling like a I’m about to have a heart attack, there was no such animal as is the case now with the Australian Football League (The AFL).

Back then each state had its own league that wasn’t just a recruiter’s field of dreams; but was the pinnacle of the sport. The pinnacle that if you reached you may get selected to play against the enemy-the dreaded Victorians. If fortunate enough to make that team, it didn’t matter if the week before you had beaten each other half to death, against Victoria, all past grievances were forgotten as the whole state came together as one. It was them verses us. Much like the emotion NSW and QLD still are fortunate to be able to enjoy in State of Origin Rugby League.

Years later at the urging of a friend of mine I went to Melbourne to simply watch some Football at the MCG, and it was all that he had said it would be, even empty there is something about that stadium-it seems to breath, to be alive. But more than that, the thing that got me was whether it be checking in at the motel or shopping at the markets, that when I replied to their question of why I was visiting, being that I had simply come over to watch some football, I was accepted like a prodigal son. It was amazing. Make no mistake they are fierce in support of their tribes, such St. Kilda vs. Collingwood and so forth. But under the banner of Australian Rules Football they stand side by side. The rich and the poor, the upstanding and the not so highly regarded by society stand together, unified in their love of the game.

Indeed I experienced the same thing in Coober Pedy when a football team was started for the first time. A team that brought together those with light skin, with dark skin and all the shades in between, and during that season we became as one. Far from them and us, we came to understand and enjoy the uniqueness of each other’s outlook on life. Through that initial bond of wanting to play football it became much more and on the five hour bus trips each way to and from our home games (there was no grassed oval in Coober Pedy) we got to know each other-to understand each other and to respect each other-and I came to love those guys-Just as they were.

(As a side issue, the police told us that by the end of the season, crime rates had dropped by 50% in the town).

In our reading from Ephesians Paul talks of our unity in Christ:

“I urge you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which you have been called, with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love, eager to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. There is one body, and one Spirit-just as you were called to the one hope that belongs to your call-one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all.”

We are all called to the one hope, our blessed Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. On our last day when we meet in person our Lord and Saviour, we won’t be ushered into the Anglican, Roman Catholic, AOG, the traditional Lutheran or Liberal Lutheran sections and so forth, we will be as one-as we are now. One in Christ, and all saved in only the one, Jesus.

Just lately I’ve seen the same here in our region. In the seven months since arriving I have been part of funerals of the Lutheran, AOG, Anglican and Church of Christ denominations-and from what I could see, there was only one thing in view, one thing that truly mattered-more than hope, but the surety of salvation in Jesus our Saviour. But those words of Paul, what doesn’t he say. He doesn’t say that we have to be like clones. And nor should he, because our individual thoughts and gifts are unique to us, they are gifts from God.

We are all many parts of the same body of Christ. From denomination to denomination, parish to parish and within, each particular Sunday gathering. Each is unique, as is each of the people that gather. Each with gifts that God uses in various shapes and forms so that His message of salvation in His Son will be heard and received by people in various shapes and forms. The absolute and over whelming love of God for each of us, no matter who we are or where we’re from is seen up front and personal in His Son Jesus, that he gave that we may live. But also we see His sincere love displayed in His giving us a brain, the ability to think and make decisions for ourselves and dare I say it, the ability to make wrong decisions-to bring division, to harm others and to follow the way of sin, the world and its flaws. That’s just how it is, because we carry the burden of sin. We sin and make mistakes, yet, we are still one in Christ.

During the American Civil war. Robert E. Lee the leader of the South was attending worship and during communion he rose to approach the alter to share in the Holy Feast. As too did a black man, a slave who upon seeing the general rise, sat back down. As he walked past this man, Robert E Lee, the leader of the South who among other things was fighting to keep slavery legal-put his hand on the man’s shoulder and said come up with me-before our Lord, we are all equal. In our world, through earthly eyes and judgements we are far from equal. I could have been born in a struggling country that may have seen me on a leaky boat risking my life to get illegally into Australia, but I wasn’t-I was born here. I could have died at a young age like some of my friends, but I’m still here. If situations were different I may have made a living from playing sport, but now I talk to you as a Pastor. If I had met a nice young Anglican girl instead of a nice young Lutheran girl I may had taken this address earlier on Sunday night at the Anglican Church. If I had turned that way instead of this way-I may be lying in the gutter with a near empty bottle of cheap wine. But I’m here, as are you.

We are what we are and how that came about doesn’t really matter. What matters, is that whether it had been one those other outcomes or what has actually eventuated, is that we know the truth-that no matter what seems to be in our world, it is nothing when compared to what is, that Christ died for our sins and that on our last days-we will join together in unending joy before and with our Lord and Saviour. That is the truth, the truth that has set us free-the Lord has given us the freedom to live today among his other children, those found and those yet to be found. The freedom to live among those found and encourage them in their faith that we may remain one in Christ, and the freedom to live among those yet to be found, that with our different skills, gifts and placements given to us by God, that when he brings them before us-they too may hear the truth, and that they too may become one in Christ. Amen.

 

MY GOD. THEY KILLED HIM!!

Reformation Sunday

John 8:31-36

“He wasn’t just whistling Dixie”

The 1969 moon landing did not take place but was put together in a film studio as part of the cold war propaganda. Lee Harvey-Oswald did not act alone and the overthrow of Saddam Hussein was about gaining access to Iraq oil.

Ah, who doesn’t love a good conspiracy theory?

I saw a good one about twenty five years ago where this reporter after having investigated the term being thrown at the time around called “The new world order” found out that there was a grand global design in place, and that in regards to Australia, we would basically become like a giant resource pit where after being mined, the resources then would be sent to developing countries, manufactured into goods and then we would buy them back and that this would obviously dramatically effect our production lines was considered collateral damage.

Bruce Springsteen once sang blind faith in your government will get you killed. As Lutherans we believe that our leadership are provided by God for our benefit. I do not argue that at all, but that does not mean that we should not question their actions because they are actually human like the rest of us, and like the rest of us-fallible. When we look at some of the world’s past historic events, it doesn’t surprise that people are led to think of conspiracies. Let’s start the ball rolling by quoting lyrics from Kris Kristopherson:

“There was a man named Mahatma Ghandi

He would not bow down, he would not fight

He knew the deal was down and dirty

And nothing wrong could make it right away

 

But he knew his duty, and the price he had to pay

Just another holy man who tried to make a stand

MY GOD, THEY KILLED HIM !

 

Another man from Atlanta, Georgia

By the name of Martin Luther King

He shook the land like rolling thunder

And made the bells of freedom ring today

 

With a dream of beauty that they could not burn away

Just another holy man who dared to be a friend

MY GOD, THEY KILLED HIM !

The only son of God Almighty

The holy one called Jesus Christ

Healed the lame and fed the hungry

 

And for his love they took his life away

 

On the road to glory where the story never ends

Just the holy son of man we’ll never understand

MY GOD, THEY KILLED HIM !”

If you are going to take on the establishment, whether it is at your work place or at the very top-be prepared for the consequences. People don’t like change, or the truth when it comes at their cost-whether it is financially or status. Being a whistle-blower is not all it’s cracked up to be if you want to just sit back and smell the roses. But there are those people that put it all on the line, not for their own prestige, but because it’s the right thing to do, you could say it’s what they have been called to do-no matter what the cost.

With my brother, I once went to the funeral of a quirky and fallible lady. She hadn’t been “perfect” in perfects sense whatever that is, but she had touched many, many people and after the crowd had dispersed, looking down at her last resting place my brother commented that “this is holy ground”. Martin Luther was a whistle-blower, quirky, fallible and not perfect, but he desired for all to hear the truth, to bring to light the truth of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. A rule of warfare whether in victory or defeat, is to have pre-planned an exit strategy. Wise thinking I would suggest even in our daily lives. Whether to invest in this company or that, to start a business, to change jobs or to take out a loan to purchase a house, it will help greatly to think of “what then” if things turn out pear shaped, or vice versa if things exceed beyond belief of how to remain true to your beliefs and integrity instead of being swallowed up with pride. But then there are people and occasions where there is no such luxury of any exit plan being available. William Wilberforce who lobbied in government against slavery, Nelson Mandela against apartheid, that guy that stood before those army tanks in Tiananmen Square and of course Martin Luther and his band of merry men.

Today is our reformation service and give me half a chance I would just stand here quoting Martin Luther all morning. But I won’t because Martin Luther was never about Martin Luther. So I’ll only give you two of his quotes that display what he was about. The first that shows what he was not about, being not about himself

“I did nothing, I could have just sat here drinking Wittenberg beer with my friend Melanchthon and God would have got someone else to do it”.

And a small quote of ten words that encompasses the whole of the truth in which he risked his life for:

“Faith must trample under foot all reason, sense and understanding”.

There is the truth. The fight against what is dished up to us as logic. Which I might add is logical you our human way of thinking. Being that to be accepted by God we need to earn His favour. Being that with our long lists of failures we’ve blown it. Those two suggestions that are placed before us continually are certainly reasonable; they make sense and are easy to understand. Those lies make much more human sense than the truth. The truth that a man on a cross, a thief who he said himself was “getting what he deserved” yet after seemingly simply to “Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom” is told by Jesus himself that “Truly, I say to you, today you will be with me in Paradise”.

There was a time in the reformation that the churches were trashed in the belief that things like the cross on our alter were being looked on like idols and Lutheran’s have been at times accused of viewing Luther like a God.There is but one God, one Saviour and one truth: “That in faith alone are we saved”. These other things, this wooden cross, Luther, your good works are but gifts that God gives us and others to point to that truth. Luther was prepared to give his life for the truth, but he didn’t have to. God was prepared to give His only Son Jesus for the truth, and he did. Jesus was prepared to lie down his blameless life for the truth, and he did.

The truth that has set us free. George Fox, the founder of the Quakers wrote of when he understood the truth that set him free:

“Then, O Then, I heard a voice which said, ‘There is one, Christ Jesus that spoke to my condition. And when I heard it my heart did leap for joy, and then the Lord did gently lead me along and did let me see His love, which was endless and eternal and surpasseth all the knowledge that men have in the natural state or can get by history or books’”.

We have received that truth at a great cost, the life of our Lord and Saviour who asks that in regard to salvation we trample under foot all human reason, sense and understanding and just believe in him, and why he came: To hear his truths, so, let us do so

“Let these sayings sink down into your ears: for the Son of man shall be betrayed, and delivered into the hands of men: and they shall kill him; and the third day after that he is killed, he shall be raised again.

 

It is finished.

 

I am the door: by me if any person enter in, they shall be saved, and shall go in and out, and find pasture.

 

I am the bread of life: he that cometh to me shall never hunger; and he that believeth on me shall never thirst.

The thief cometh not, but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy: I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly. I am the good shepherd: the good shepherd giveth his life for the sheep.

My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me: And I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand. My Father, which gave them me, is greater than all; and no man is able to pluck them out of my Father’s hand. I and my Father are one.

For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life”. Amen.

 

The great detour.

Mark: 10: 35-45

“Biting off more than we can chew”

Have you ever as the saying goes, “bitten off more than you can chew?”

Last Monday Josh and I set of at 10.00am heading to Sydney to pick up some second hand furniture from two different locations in a rented three ton removal van. We had no GPS but we had our maps printed out from the internet and farewelled Cathy with the remarks that we should be home at about 11 o’clock that night. Unfortunately, we ran out of rugs, rags and cushions and so to stop the furniture from rubbing against each other we used our jumpers-but that was O.K. because it was a beautiful sunny day. After getting a little lost and doing an additional 420km’s further than our itinerary, at 4.30am the next morning we arrived home from Sydney via skirting past Canberra, Josh with my T-shirt on over his T-shirt to try and at least get a little warmth and with me with no top on and with the window down trying to stay awake. Having only driven once in Sydney before, and that was not through the middle, and not rushed-as we were driven along the Hume Highway with the signs reminding us that Melbourne was fast becoming as close as Dubbo, pitch dark, no GPS and with no map it crossed my mind that in my lack of preparation and naivety of just what we were undertaking, that on this occasion, while “I may not have bitten off more than I could chew”, my jaws were getting decidingly tender.

In today’s Gospel, the apostles James and John not understanding or naive to what was about to unfold, bring before Jesus their desires concerning their rank and standing within his kingdom “Grant unto us that we may sit, one on your right hand and one on your left hand, in your glory”. And after Jesus responds with “you do not know what you ask”, He tells them of what they are seeking, far from asking for high rank as they saw it; they are asking to share in his cup of wrath and in his baptism of blood. They were biting off more than they could chew because they did not truly understand what was to come. But in that unknowingness, their response was to say yes, we can do it-and they were confident they could. Yet as we know, over the next week as Jesus walked to the cross they came to see themselves in reality as they all fell away in fear and weakness. Their fear and weakness that made them feel shame. But their weaknesses and shame that brought strength. Strength and reliance not upon themselves, but on Christ. Reliance on Christ, reliance in his strength that would allow them to not run in fear when they too would later suffer terribly-but to face that suffering not in their own strength, but in Christ. Their weaknesses that became their strength. Their weaknesses that led them not to boast of themselves, but of Christ.

You would have heard the saying that “sport builds character”, but I read a different version of that from the legendry American Football Coach Vince Lombardi who said that sport “doesn’t so much build character but allows you to display it”. Great coaches are not just about winning the game, they are about building people to be something other than just sportspeople and though I’m not fully conversant with Rugby League I understand Newcastle Knights coach Wayne Bennett to be of that calibre. So too Kevin Sheedy. The now coach of Greater Western Sydney who was approached by one of his young players back when he was coaching the Essendon Football club, who asked him if they could talk. This player after being drafted had been doing all the work but kept getting injured, and in his own words was “looking for a bit of sympathy”. They met over lunch and he told his coach that because of his injuries and the hardship they brought him, that he was considering giving up. But far from getting a “oh you poor thing” response, Sheed’s told him how it was and said (I cannot remember word for word but along the lines of) “You weak and selfish person. I selected you from among hundreds just as good as you and have given you a chance that others dream off and would beg for. But you are finding it too hard because you’re having some tough times. Leave then, and I’ll go and get one of those boys who would die for the chance you’ve been given.” Not quite what he expected. But he got it the point and went on the play 200 hundred odd games. And how did he get the point? Because it was true. He wasn’t one of the Garry Ablett type of footballers who come along once every generation. For sure he was good-just like the other thousands that don’t get the chance, that miss that chance by the slightest of margins.

St. Paul suffered from an ailment that he described as a thorn in his flesh. People have guessed that it may have been physical, or depression or so forth. We are not told what it was but it must have been terrible as it led him to ask/beg the Lord to take it away. And the well-known response he received: “My grace is sufficient for you: for my strength is made perfect in weakness”. Those words of Kevin Sheedy, “I gave you something others would die for and when it gets tough, you want to walk away, how dare you”. Thorns in our flesh. Cravings for power, money, addictions, and desires of the flesh-These are thorns in our side that we live with. They desire to be fed and we desire they be taken from us. A desire to run from them. To take back that seemingly insignificant moment from years past that now can be seen for what it was-the first acknowledgement of the thorns that have grown in us.

In the Garden of Eden, the human race bit off more than it could chew-sin. Sin, the thorn in our side that we feed, but also run from. The thorn in our side that we fall too, that attracts us-that we enjoy, yet we also abhor. The thorn that brings us to our knee’s and shows us our plight in our utter weakness-our weakness though that allow us to see the truth-the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ-our servant, and our Saviour who brings us his grace, and that, more than being enough, is everything. The grace that we now live under in our weaknesses, your weaknesses that in Christ have brought you strength. Strength to live with those thorns in your flesh. Strength to call on the Lord for forgiveness when they overpower you. And the strength to serve God and his people with the gifts that you have been given. Your weaknesses that in Christ have set you free, that in Christ alone, you may be strong. Amen.

 

Show me the money.

For the love of money!

Mark 10:17-31

Today is our annual picnic and it’s so great to be outside and see the kid’s enjoying themselves and having fun. Oh to be a child again. Not to be weighed down by all our adult stuff. To remember that innocence and just taking the ups and downs of life as they come without worrying too of tomorrow.

I remember watching on T.V. an interview with a champion Australian surfer in his Sydney flat. Near the end the interviewer noticing the sparseness of “things” quizzingly remarked “Surfing is now a well-paid professional sport, but looking around all I can see is the lounge we are sitting on and a television” to which he remarked “my dad always said there are no roof racks on a hearse”.

Similar, back in 1992 while having lunch in my car I heard the interviewer talking to an American baseballer who had just been signed up on the highest paid sporting contract in history and asked if he thought he was worth it, said “no way, no one’s worth that money but it’s just come along and I’ll take it”. For both these guys the money was only a by-product of what they really loved, their sport. And both of these guys bring meaning to one of the most misquoted pieces of scripture in the Bible.

1st Timothy 6:10 does in fact say that “money is the root of evil” as many quote it, except what many leave off is the preceding four words “For the love of “which change the whole understanding.

Money’s not the problem, it’s the “love of money” that’s the problem. More specifically, it’s the love of anything that gets in the way of our relationship with God, be it money, status, career or the like.

Are these things wrong? Absolutely not.

If you were to become the Prime Minister of Australia would you have power and status? Of course you would, just like King David had who was described by God in Acts 13:22 as “a man after my own heart”. Abraham was extremely wealthy and what about Noah, after getting of the Ark, Noah and his family essentially had the whole earth at their disposal-that’s quite a chunk of Real Estate. The “thing” is not the issue, it’s the place that it holds in our life that can become the problem.

Remember the Scrooge McDuck comics. He was one rich duck, but that wasn’t the problem. The problem was that he loved his money so much that he was a scrooge and showed no generosity or love for others so that he could get and keep as much money as he could so that he could enjoy what he loved, just sitting in his vault counting his money all day. It’s a funny satire of how in our lives we can wonder from what is really important and meaningful in our lives.

In today’s Gospel Jesus is getting this point across. A weathly man who has outwardly kept the commandments as probably best anyone could have, asks “what must I do to inherit eternal life?” and as we have heard, Jesus says give all your money away and come and follow me. But he couldn’t and after he walks away we hear those famous words from Jesus “How hard it is to enter the kingdom of God. It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for the rich to enter the kingdom of God”. This piece of scripture I’ve heard thrown (and behind their back normally) at wealthy Christians. The problem is, that if it’s actually money, then every one of us here today is in big trouble because we are all financially wealthy beyond belief, you’re millionaires. Do you agree? Maybe not but O.K, sell all your stuff and take your money with you and go live in a third world country or not so affluent country, you will be able to “live like a king”-you will be the rich “guy”. Jesus is not talking about money, status power or the like, because they are all relative to your environment, the big fish in a small pond type of scenario.

For a camel to pass through the eye of a needle is impossible and as yet I haven’t seen anyone single handily move a mountain which in Matthew 17:20 Jesus told his disciples they could “if they only had faith the size of a mustard seed”. I always thought that in these statements Jesus is overstating things to get the point across-but in doing this message, I realised it’s more the opposite as in a sense, in regards to eternal life he’s understating things as we see in his words to the disciples after they quiz him in today’s Gospel and ask, well “Who can be saved?” And Jesus looked at them and said, “With human beings this is impossible, but all things are possible with God”

So there’s our answer: in us no chance, but in God all things are possible. Which leads to the obvious question, how to make that possibility become so. Love God with all our heart, adhere to the commandments and try and lead a good life? Absolutely and I think we would all agree to those things, but they are not the starting point, they are a response. We see the starting point in today’s Gospel. What happened before Jesus said to the man to give his money away, immediately before we are told that “Jesus looked at him and loved him”. Loved him so much that he saw that this good man needed to be freed of his own trappings. To get rid of his plan B, his sought of back-up of security, other than just trusting God in all parts of his life.

Not so long ago, in the papers it was well documented of the troubles, many of which were self-inflicted of a highly paid sportsman and similar, his manager. Both individually seemed to be in a downward spiral from their actions and of course the media and society judged them harshly. It was like a real life soap opera. But one thing came out, that in this day and age I found remarkable. Beautiful even, as when the manager was questioned of their relationship through all this, responded with “Ever since I have been his agent we’ve disagreed many times” and went on to say “ever since I’ve managed XXXX we have never signed a contract because XXXX said from day one “my word is my contract”.

And he has proved it true and never went back on his word. But even, if not more so unbelievable, his manager/agent who makes his income from commission on the players wages trusted him and agreed to work without the security of a contract in place. No legal security or fall back plan, he just had to trust in his players promise. In this day and age is that not unbelievable.

Jesus says to each of us, black or white, large or small, poor or rich, just trust me. I won’t let you down and what’s more, so that you don’t need to wonder if I’ll change my mind I’ve even given you a contract that cannot be broken. A contract that is signed with my own blood from my death on the cross. In me your fate has been sealed, that in me you have eternal life. Trust me and have faith for you are mine and enjoy the by-products that my peace brings. Enjoy the gifts you receive in life, use them for the good of others and yourselves. Whether in great wealth or little, happiness or sadness, whether shooting for the stars or wishing to remain where you are, be a witness of my love for you by living your life where you are now and where you maybe will be tomorrow. In moments of shouting of me from the mountain tops or just hanging on with your fingernails-you are mine and I will not forsake you.

I have given you eternal life,

that you too may also have life today.

Amen.

 

How low can you go?

“Sooner or later, we’ve all got a Job to do”

Based on Job 1:1, 2:1-10 & Hebrews 1:1-4

& Mark 10: 15.

Proverbs 9:10 tells us that “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, and knowledge of the Holy One is understanding.

Fear of the Lord the beginning of Wisdom, and knowledge of Him is understanding.

I thought to myself earlier in the week that I think I need to lighten the load, to concentrate my message not on the trials we face, but only on what’s good in our world. A sought of “oh to be a Christian, everything’s so lovely”.

Them I read the first scripture message for the week, Job. Who would have thought my predetermined thoughts would clash so much with the Word that God had placed before me to work with.

A quick 101 summary of the book of Job.

Job is an exceptionally good man. God himself stated in chapter 1, verse 8:

“..my servant Job, there is none like him on earth, a blameless an upright man, who fears God and turns away from evil”.

And he had been blessed with a wife, seven sons and three daughters together with great wealth. A pastor who once said to me “to be a Christian doesn’t mean to go looking to get persecuted, but to face it when it comes” could have well been describing what was about to unfold for Job as for no apparent reason, Job is plunged into terrible suffering. In a series of disasters, his children are taken from him, his property and assets are either taken or destroyed, he loses his health and is inflicted with painful sores from head to foot.

The only thing he would seem to have left was his long suffering wife who also had lost all she had and buried all ten of her children. Who through this was led to tell Job to “curse God and die”.

Yet through all this, it is recorded that Job did not blame God for any of his misfortunes but answered with “Naked I came from my mother’s womb, and naked I shall return. The Lord gave and the Lord has taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord”.

What a guy.

But as he sits there on an ash heap, lost all his children and covered in sores, Job is visited by four friends. Each of whom try and help him understand why this has happened-which in summary was basically that he must have brought this ruin upon himself.

Eventually, despite Job’s insights and legendary patience he cracks and states his case to God as he recalls his life in detail. A life led so blamelessly that no wonder he cries out “Oh, that I had someone to hear me. I now sign my defence-let the almighty answer me.” (31:35)

And he gets his wish, God replies. God shows Job the splendour of his creation and that all he has done. Things that no human can really understand and then basically to Job finishes with: Maybe you have some advice to offer, perhaps you would like to take over and run the world better.

Ouch. Poor old Job gets the picture and repents in replying:

“I am unworthy-how can I reply to you. I put my hand over my mouth (40:4) I know that you can do all things; no plan of yours can ever be thwarted. Surely I spoke of things I did not understand, things too wonderful for me to know.

At the end of the day, Job, us, must let God be God.

Proverbs 9:10 “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, and knowledge of the Holy One is understanding.

That the book of Job is the first in the series of the wisdom books in the bible seems not to have happened by chance and through all his misfortune Job has been brought to wisdom.

And that wisdom, as we hear it todays Gospel, from verse 15:

“Truly I say to you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God like a child shall not enter it”.

Job has learnt this wisdom.

And what of the second part of that proverb: “knowledge of the Holy One is understanding?”

Is given to us in the reading from Hebrews, chapter one: “Long ago, at many times and in many ways, God spoke to our fathers by the prophet, but in these last days he has spoken by His Son., through whom he appointed the heir of all things, through whom he created the world. He is the radiance of the Glory of God, and the exact imprint of his nature, and he upholds the universe by the word of his power”.

Is anyone still awake? I know that was a bit long winded but what we see that’s gone on here is still happening.

I’m not putting this in the same boat as Job, not even the same ocean but what does the world say of God. It blames God for everything that doesn’t suite their plan-that they know better, that they are their own God. Unfortunately this not only applies to the world, it applies to us.

Yet ironically, non-Christian’s, atheists and other religions, even though they will not attest to Jesus as the Saviour, agree that he was a good guy. Stood up to the crooked authorities, cared for the unfortunate, led from the front and was an inspiration of a person.

Blame God but cheer Jesus. But from Hebrews: “Jesus is the exact imprint of God’s nature”.

You see how ironic that is.

The gaining of wisdom and that child-like faith to put two and two together, that Jesus and God-the same, the same who see our suffering and, it must hurt, and both that are not about payback, but the simple truth that they want you to be saved.

There is so much we don’t understand, but like Job, it’s not really our business. Let God be God and ourselves, ourselves.

Many years ago my darling wife, the daughter of a pastor once said to me that her dad said everyone will have one great challenge in their lives, and it looks like mine is in your suffering. And there we see God, seeing how hard it is, but suffering with us to bring some peace. Peace in the truth-that forget all the theology it comes down to one thing, no matter what your disposition, when we are brought to our knees and realise it is true, that the gospel is true, and that like Job we can say and truly believe that no matter what may seem, our God wants for us to be with him, and if he must suffer with us, for no matter how long, so be it-he will do it.

A God of love that doesn’t enjoy our struggles, but lives with it just like us, that through this, maybe, just maybe we will see the truth, and when we do, nothing will ever be the same when we bow down, like Job and simply say the hardest words that can come out of our mouths-your will be done. Amen.