Category: After Easter

 

Texts: John 14:2b
Jesus said, “I am going to prepare a place for you”.

Isaiah 46:4
“I am your God and will take care of you until you are old and your hair is gray. I made you and will care for you; I will give you help and rescue you”.

                                        The Four B Club

A congregation has a group for elderly people. It meets in the church hall every fortnight and is well attended. It was a great time of fellowship and encouraging one another. It was called the Four-B Club. A newcomer to the group asked why it was called the Four-B Club. The answer was simple: The four Bs stand for Baldness, Bifocals, Bunions, and Bulge.

Growing older is something that affects every person on this planet, from the tiniest baby to the oldest person. Some of you are a long way from being a senior member of our society, but time will go fast and next thing you too will be wondering where the years have gone. We are all heading for the Four-B Club, that’s, if we are not there already. God created time when he created day and night, the seasons and the years. God created the days and years and said that it was very good.

But this good creation of God was affected when sin came into the world through the disobedience of the first man and woman. The passing of time began to have a negative effect on God’s creation. People and all things in this world began to show the signs of age. Time has been ticking away and everything you can see and feel and touch has been getting older. The process of aging that we are all familiar with changes people, animals and plants to the point that they became weak and eventually died.

In Psalm 90 the writer compares the shortness of human life to God who is from everlasting to everlasting. He says, “Seventy years is all we have— eighty years, if we are strong; yet all they bring us is trouble and sorrow; life is soon over, and we are gone” (Psalm 90:10). Then the psalmist is quick to explain why our life is so short. It’s because of sin. Death is God’s judgement on sin and the brevity of our life has been brought about because of our rebellion against God.

The effect that time has on people is really obvious to us when we meet up with a family we haven’t seen for some time. We can hardly believe our eyes at the changes that have occurred. The children are all so grown up, the parents have aged and perhaps put on a little weight, their hair is a little greyer, or they have changed because of sickness or some other distressing time. Others say the same about us. As the saying goes, “Time doesn’t stand still for anyone”; we are all getting older.

As we journey through life there are significant moments that remind us that with age come changes in our lifestyles. We realise that a certain part of our life is gone, never to be recaptured or relived.
For instance, the day you completed your schooling may have been a day of rejoicing on the one hand, but on the other, it marked the end of a part of your life that will never be repeated.
What about the day your last child leaves home and you wonder where all the years have gone.
Or what about the day you retired realising that what you had done over so many years was now finished.
There are those defining moments when we realise that things will be different from now on. The passing of time has seen to that.

What can we do about this? Some people over the years have searched for the ‘fountain of youth’ or something similar that will wind back the clock and give them extended youthfulness. Some try to slow down the aging process with face-lifts, pills and potions that will give them a fresh face look. In our youth-oriented culture people have a fear of looking old.

The Greeks called the fear of old age ‘geraphobia’. Those who have geraphobia want to live longer and never grow old. In fact some people are highly insulted if reference is made to how old they are. To some degree we all suffer from geraphobia. We fear that one day we might end up in a nursing home, unable to feed ourselves or control our bodily functions, not able to remember anything and maybe not even recognise our family when they come to visit.

When the fear of growing old grips our hearts or we see what getting older is doing to our bodies, or we see what age is doing to those whom we love, how do we handle this? How can we see our aging in a positive way and growing older as something meaningful and acceptable?

Let me start in this way. If you visit the southern states during winter you would find that most of the trees lose their leaves and their branches are completely bare. If you didn’t know any better you would say they were dead. From the ground to the upper most branches there is not a green leaf in sight. But we know that the trees are not dead. You may not be able to see the life in the tree, but it is there, and that’s what is important. Without that life, the tree really would be only a piece of dead wood.

Our lives can be compared to the trees as they go through the seasons. As time goes on, just as the trees lose their beauty and look dead, so too it happens with us. Time marches on with us, the things we were once able to do become more difficult, events and people become memories, and as we approach the autumn of our lives we realise that a large part of our life is over.

But behind the dead looking limbs and branches there is still life, waiting to burst out in fresh, green life. We know that the resurrected Jesus has won for us eternal life with him in heaven. Time may be marching on for us now and we can’t do anything about it, and as much as we would like it to stop so that we can accomplish all that we would like to in the years we have left, we have the assurance that our dying is not the end of us, but the beginning of a glorious new spring.

We heard Jesus say to the disciples in today’s Gospel reading, “Do not be worried and upset. Believe in God and believe also in me. There are many rooms in my Father’s house, and I am going to prepare a place for you” (John 14:1,2). Jesus is reminding us that even though we will go through the autumn and winter of our lives that doesn’t mean the end. There awaits all those who believe in Jesus as the way, the truth and the life a glorious spring where there is new life and new beginnings and a new home where there will be no such things as aging, the aches and pains that aging brings, or dying.

Though the writer of Psalm 90 is well aware of how his years are passing away and that nothing can recapture the years that have passed, nevertheless he is not pessimistic about life. He is not all doom and gloom when it comes to growing old. His confidence is in God. As he says at the very beginning of the psalm: Lord, you have been our dwelling place throughout all generations. Before the mountains were born or you brought forth the earth and the world, from everlasting to everlasting you are God.

Because God is eternal and gracious, because he will always be there and will always be our loving God, life has an enduring and lasting quality about it. The years may be passing away, but beyond this life and in spite of the grave, there is life through Jesus our Saviour.

As we wait for the day when we are called from this life to that glorious new spring, God promises, “I am your God and will take care of you until you are old and your hair is gray. I made you and will care for you; I will give you help and rescue you” (Isaiah 46:4). He states that his love for us will never fail and he is always ready to help us deal with all that growing older brings. We may not know what the future may bring but we do know that his promise stands, “I made you and I will take care of you even when you are old and your hair is gray”.

You see the Bible always looks at life in the context of God’s relationship with us. This applies to every stage of life including that time when we notice the changes that aging is bringing into our lives. Even if we do end up in a nursing home with our minds and bodies failing, God’s promise still stands. We can still rely on him to be our strength and help even when we are the frailest and even when our memory fails or our speech falters. He still promises, “I will give you help and rescue you”.

One of the problems of this world is that people no longer see their lives in a relationship with God. They have broken away from God. All too often life is seen as a once only cycle. We are born, we live, we grow old, and we die. And that’s it. Once you have reached the autumn years of your life, and approaching the lifeless winter, that’s all that can be expected from life. There are many people who face the passing years with a kind of hopelessness, a sense of purposelessness and aimlessness.

But when we view our life from God’s perspective we get a whole new outlook. Jesus wants nothing but happiness for us and has gone to extreme lengths to make sure that we are happy now and forever in eternity. He assures us that he is with us always and that when the time comes for us to leave this life he wants us to be in the place where he is – that is in heaven. And as we move toward the end of our earthly life he reminds us that he is our everlasting God who provides us with help and comfort as we face all the fears and worries that growing older brings. He provides us with the reason for wanting to make the most of the time we have in this life, enjoying life, and serving and helping others in the way that only those can who have experienced the passing of the years.

Whether we are talking about getting our first job, or taking up new studies or an apprenticeship as a young worker, the responsibilities of being parents and the anxieties this brings as you watch your children grow from babies to young adults, or your own lapses of memory, failing strength, the wrinkles that worry you, your concern over your middle age spread, all are signs that we are all getting older, that we are passing from one season to the next.

One day baldness, bifocals, bunions, and bulge will become characteristic of people in your age group. When that day comes let’s greet it with a song of praise on our lips rather than moans and groans.
We have a God who is faithful to his promises and will take care of us and help us even when our hair is gray.
We thank God that he sees wrinkles and unsteady steps as something beautiful.
We praise God that the winter of our life will give way to the glorious new spring of eternity.

Amen. 

The Lord’s Prayer

Psalm 23

 I grew up on a farm in the mid-north of South Australia.  We milked a few cows, had several horses, fed the chooks, turkeys and some pigs, but most of all we had lots of sheep.  Sometimes a sheep died giving birth to a lamb, or gave birth to twins or even triplets, but only cared for one.  We would take the abandoned lamb home and it became a pet lamb. One of the first things we did when we brought a new lamb home – apart from feeding it with a baby’s bottle – was to give it a name.  That made it different from all the other sheep – it had a name.  It was special.  The others out in the paddock were just sheep, but this pet lamb was like a member of our family.

You are special to God because you have a name, the name you were given on the day of your baptism when you became a member of his family. God never forgets you! You are special to him.

The pet lamb would follow us kids about the yard and sometimes get so close it would get between our legs and almost trip us kids up.  In the Biblical pictures of the shepherd and the sheep the shepherd is always out in front, and the sheep follow.  Sometimes we want to go off with our own selfish plans in life and expect Jesus to follow and clean up behind us.  For a healthy spiritual relationship Jesus is out in front and, like the pets, we follow along behind in trust.

Another difference between the pet lamb and all the other lambs is that the one we took home had no future.  It had no mother and it would soon have died if we didn’t care for it and feed it.  It was out of concern for the lamb’s future we took pity on it and took it into our family.

God chose you and me out of loving concern for our future.  We had no future.  We were spiritually dead.  We had no love or trust in our heavenly father.  Out of a deep loving concern God took us into his family where we enjoy spiritual life now, the way a little pet lamb calls out to its owners – so in our limited way we call out to the Father, and we talk to Jesus and we talk with the Holy Spirit.  It is a special family relationship we now enjoy.  Today we thank God for this caring relationship.

Some of you might never have experienced life on a sheep farm and might never have cared for a pet lamb.  But you probably have a pet – a cat, or two or three, or a pet dog.   You have names for them. They are like a member of your family.  You talk to them, and sometimes they take notice.  If you arrived home today and found your pet had gone missing, you’d drop everything and start searching.  You’d give up your plan to go and watch Collingwood.  The younger folk would be text-messaging their friends to come to help in the search.  We’d tell our neighbours.  And when we found the pet we’d be so excited we’d invite everyone in for a beer and have an impromptu party.  If we care so much for a pet, think how much God cares about you!  When we say, ‘The Lord is my shepherd’ it means we are like one of God’s family and he cares deeply about each one of us.

In the cold and freezing weather in Winter I’ve known of pets being given a little pet pullover to wear, just like their owner.  In a similar way God’s Spirit dresses his children up to look like their owner, Jesus Christ.  I like the Bible passage (Galatians 3 v 27 in the Good News version):
“You were baptized into union with Christ, and now you are clothed, so to speak, with the life of Christ himself.”
Sometimes people say:  “Come to God just the way you are!”  This is true and makes a good point, but there is more.  The Spirit dresses one up in the best life ever lived, in the life of Jesus.  It is the life God is pleased with, one that is perfect and full of loving concern for other people.  One couldn’t be better dressed.  Look around you at the others here this morning, dressed up by God in the life of Jesus!

I like reading old letters people wrote home about 150 years ago after coming to Australia from Europe.  When Johann Mirtschin wrote his first letter home to Saxony in the 1850’s he first waited several years because his experiences were far worse than anyone ever expected.  If they’d have known I think they would never have made the journey.  In his first letter Johann wrote what I consider to be a very astute observation:  “Everybody has brought his wicked heart with him and therefore he must continually fight against it.”

Everyone brings their faults with them.  Luther said a Christian is always a perfect saint and a sinner during this life here on earth.  One has the pure and perfect life of Jesus to wear, as though one had lived it one’s self – a special gift from God.  And underneath one wears one’s  selfish human nature.  Luther compared it to an old bag of bones on one’s back where everyone else can see it but one isn’t aware of it one’s self.  One can clearly see everyone else’s selfishness and evil.

So Christians come in confession.  To use the analogy of a sheep it is like a sheep being shorn.  After the shearing one sees the pure white coat with maybe a few tinges of blood, and all the prickles and dirt are taken away.  Don’t the sheep look great out in the green pastures after they’ve been shorn!  In spiritual terms the words of absolution cleanse one to be as white as snow.  The key purpose of Confession (and Lent) is to focus on the pure white clothing of Jesus that we wear.

But underneath the selfish heart is still lurking and causing hurts to others.  Sometimes it means trouble.  As the wool grows it picks up more dirt and prickles.  One might begin to despair of one’s self.  To give up.  Even think about leaving the flock.

What does God do?

In loving concern for his sheep the shepherd prepares a special meal and welcomes his children to the Table.  On the surface one sees nothing great.  A wafer of bread and a sip of wine, but in the special meal he gives one the living Jesus Christ. The one who was sacrificed out of love, and the one who is risen.  The Spirit feeds his people and strengthens the Christ who lives in us.  The Christ who lives in you is stronger than any of the faults that lurk within us, like our sin and selfishness. Christians are always both saints and sinners in this world, until death comes.

When our pet lambs grew up and were too big to live in our house yard we put them out in the paddock with a flock of other sheep.  It was a warm experience whenever we drove into that paddock.  The flock would move away from us as we drove up to them, but the pet sheep would leave the flock and come over to us to be patted. When we sold that flock of sheep to the abattoirs we always took Sally and put her in with some other sheep that were staying on our farm.  If we care like that about a pet lamb, think how much more the Good Shepherd cares about you.

When our ancestors left their families and friends to come to Australia the parting must have been a bit like a funeral.  They would likely never see one another again and must have felt the sadness we feel when we are separated from a loved one.  I think going to a funeral is like standing on the beach and saying ‘goodbye’ as a little old wooden sailing ship sails away into the distance with one’s loved one on board.  The little wooden boat gets smaller and smaller, until one sees only the cross of the mast and the cross bar – like the cross of Christ – and then it is gone.  Completely out of sight!  And one gets upset.  Naturally.  The parting is a terrible catastrophe for us who can’t see over the horizon.

But the truth is:  the little ship is still there, over the horizon and still sailing along.  God, from his unique position can see over the horizon.  Jesus the Good Shepherd knows the way.  He is in complete control.  Jesus has been this way before.  It is the way to the Father’s home.  In the father’s home life is so different and much more wonderful than one can ever begin to imagine.  St Paul was given a glimpse of heaven and he said there are no human words to describe it.

I believe some pets, when it is freezing Winter weather, have been known to sleep on their master’s bed!  Maybe it happens in your home in the cold Winter months.  While the normal sheep are freezing out in the cold westerly winds that can howl through these parts, a pet lamb is resting and even sleeping in the arms of the Good Shepherd in the Master’s own home.  That is a picture of you and me and our future.  We are going on a journey overseas to our final home.  You and I can say with the psalmist:
“And I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever.”

Amen.

Text: Luke 24:13-19
On that same day two of Jesus’ followers were going to a village named Emmaus, about seven miles from Jerusalem, and they were talking to each other about all the things that had happened. As they talked and discussed, Jesus himself drew near and walked along with them; they saw him, but somehow did not recognize him. Jesus said to them, “What are you talking about to each other, as you walk along?”
They stood still, with sad faces. One of them, named Cleopas, asked him, “Are you the only visitor in Jerusalem who doesn’t know the things that have been happening there these last few days?” “What things?” he asked.
“The things that happened to Jesus of Nazareth,” they answered.

THE POWER OF HOPE.

  A few years ago a railway worker accidentally locked himself in a refrigerator car. He searched the carriage for a possible way to break out. Banged on the walls and door. All to no avail. He resigned himself to the fact that he would never get out alive. As he felt his body becoming numb with cold he took a pencil out of his pocket and recorded the story of his approaching death. He scribbled on the walls of the car: “I am becoming colder… still colder… I am slowly freezing… half asleep – these may be my last words.”

When the carriage was opened the man was found dead, but the temperature of the car was normal. Officials found that the freezing mechanism was out of order and that there was plenty of fresh air available. There was no physical reason why the man had died. It was concluded that he had died because he had believed that he would die. He had lost all hope.

Hope can be a very fragile thing. Discouragement, confusion, doubt and a series of negative events can esily destroy hope.

Two men are walking down a road. Two confused, dejected, sad men. They had been followers of Jesus. They had seen his power; they had great hopes that this man was the one who had been promised by God. As they walked along they used words like, “We had hoped that he would be the one who would set Israel free but now he is dead. He’s been dead for 3 days now and we have heard reports that even his body is missing from the tomb.”

These men had heard reports of the women who had found the tomb empty and how the angels had said he was alive.
“If only….!
If only that were possible!
If only it were true!
Now this walk down this road is full of emptiness, it’s mindless, we’re not really going anywhere, we’re just walking. Two men walking down a road….”.

When hope withers, it’s difficult to revive.
We need to note the number of people who take their own life because despair and discouragement have sucked the last bit of hope out of their lives.
When someone you love and care for is overtaken by a serious illness, which goes on, and on, despair sets in. It almost becomes impossible to hope for recovery. You may even be afraid to hope because you believe that you couldn’t cope with another letdown.

Have you ever walked like that? Feeling empty inside, churned up because of the way things have turned out. Kind of walking aimlessly, wondering what it’s all about really? It feels like the bottom has fallen out of your world. The things you had pinned your hopes on, the dreams you had, the expectations – shattered. Have you ever walked down that road, the road to nowhere?

These two men walking with all hope dashed to pieces don’t even recognise Jesus when he starts to walk right beside them.
Could it be that they were so despondent that they didn’t even look up?
Could it be that they were so preoccupied with their unanswered questions, so filled with the feeling of hopelessness that they weren’t able to see what they so desperately wanted to see, right alongside of them?
Could it be that the last three days had been so dark, so full of despair that their hearts were filled with so much darkness that they couldn’t even see the light that was walking every step of the way with them?

I wonder how often we walk along the road of life often with more downs than ups not realising that’s Jesus is walking there right beside us. We are so overwhelmed with our circumstances, so focussed on what has sucked the energy and life out of us, wondering why Jesus hasn’t done something to help us, that we don’t see him walking with us. We say with those disciples, “We had hoped… that things would turn out differently. If only Jesus would be here with us at least we would be feeling so lost and feeling helpless and hopeless. If only …!”

We know what he did, we know what he said, we know the promises he made, but sometimes we walk down that road and all that seems so distant and removed and unrelated. But regardless how we feel Jesus walks right beside us and we don’t even know it!

As those disciples plodded on, a stranger, Jesus himself, joined them and listened to them!  He sees their despondent looks and hears their saddened voices and immediately asks them what it is that they are talking about. He says nothing more and just listens to them! The triumphant, risen, glorious Christ travelled incognito and listened to their fears, doubts and tentative hopes.

In our twisted way of thinking, we believe that very important people do not listen to us. They speak with us and more often they talk at us. The more dignified the person, the more we are supposed to shut up and listen.

But Jesus said, “Tell me what it is that is troubling you?” And then he listened to them. And they talked how everything that could go wrong had. Life was a bummer. Evil people were the winners and good people were the losers. Jesus of Nazareth, the most wonderful and most grace-full person they had ever met, had been brutally executed. How could God allow this to happen? Why didn’t Jesus use his power to stop this atrocity?  “We had such high hopes for Jesus, but now, well, what is left to hope for?”As they unburdened themselves, Jesus listened. A good friend is not someone who just soaks up all the burdens and troubles of someone else but wants to restore hope. And so when they had finished it was the stranger’s turn to talk and he took up what they had been saying and helped them to see that this is far from a hopeless situation. He reminded them of the way God had walked with his people in the past through the wilderness and then with the prophets as they faced all kinds of hopeless situations. He tried to help them see that the events of the past few days were all part of a much bigger plan – the plan to save all humanity. It might seem that evil had won the day and that everything seemed hopeless. That was far from the truth. Jesus died and rose to restore hope for all those who are despondent and upset.

As he helped them make sense of all that had gone wrong, life did not seem so devastatingly pointless any more. It was as if someone had turned on a light in a dark room; their hearts no longer felt desperately cold; hope started to resurrect within their own being.  Later they remembered this and said, “Wasn’t it like a fire burning in us when he talked to us on the road?” This is the fire of hope being rekindled in their hearts. Not all was doom and gloom. There was more yet to come.

God speaks to us when we are down and almost out and as we listen we find that what he has to say suddenly takes on a new relevance and we can see that there is hope. God is a great giver of hope and Jesus’ resurrection gives us an even greater hope. Jesus is our living Lord who is committed to walking with us and helping us to endure all things. He tells us that nothing can separate us from his love – nothing in all creation and beyond. He tells us that we can be contented and at peace even when there are things that threaten us and our safety. But all this can only happen if we listen. Having poured out our hearts we need to listen, rather than continuing to complain about our hurts and fears and doubts.  That is true of discipleship in our world today just as much as it was on that road to Emmaus.

Hope is a powerful thing. I remember reading about an experiment that was done with rats. They were placed in a container of water. The rats couldn’t get out and after 17 minutes drowned. Another group of rats were placed in the water and just as they were about to give up they were rescued. Some time later those same rats were placed in the water again. This time they swam for 36 hours because, it is believed, they were always hopeful that they would be rescued. And they were.

If that can happen to rats how much more are we able to have hope in the face of inexplicable events. We have a living Saviour who gives us the certainty that, come what may, his love and his understanding of what we are going through will never stop. Even if the events in our lives lead to our death, we know for certain there awaits us a life in heaven that is so wonderful that it defies description. The apostle Paul made the point that it doesn’t matter what may come his way, and he certainly did endure some gruelling times, he was always confident that he will have the strength to endure because of the power of Christ that lived in him. This gave him hope in the most hopeless situations.

The road to Emmaus is a symbol of the Christian life. This story is about ordinary despair, and ordinary Monday-morning drudgery. It is a story about meeting a stranger, hearing his words of comfort, sitting down at table and sharing a meal. This is story about the meaning of Easter for us. It enables us to see that the risen Lord gives hope and joy, when all we see is disappointment, discouragement and despair. It enables us to see the world, not as a place of death, decay, and defeat, but as a place waiting, groaning toward God’s final victory.

You can imagine how these two men told their story with some embarrassment at first, and how later they probably were able to tell it with a bit of a laugh at themselves, “We were so dumb! We were so wrapped up in our disappointment and sadness, so turned in on ourselves and our heads so low that we didn’t see who was walking with us. There he was, right beside us. We were talking about him, I mean to him about him, but we didn’t recognise him. But now we know. Now we know where to look. Now we know the impossible is possible – with him”.

This story about the walk to Emmaus is a story for every day life in 2008. If you are walking the Emmaus road right now or when you will walk it in the future filled with disappointment, disillusionment, discouragement and despair – let’s remember we are not walking alone. The risen Jesus is walking with us. With Jesus walking with us our road will become a great highway of companionship, trust and hope.
Amen

Text: John 20:19,20
Jesus came and stood among them and said, ‘Peace be with you!’ After he said this, he showed them his hands and side. The disciples were overjoyed when they saw the Lord.

SCARS AND THE RESURRECTION

  All of us have scars and I would say that everyone at some time has taken great delight telling others how they got a particular scar. I once made the mistake in a kids’ talk asking them if they had any scars. The talk was hijacked by the kids as they gave graphic details how they got certain scars and delighted in showing them to everyone else. Sometimes when visiting folk in hospital it’s not unusual for a patient to want to show you a scar. Sometimes there is just a bit too much information as the covers are rolled back and the story is related about ‘the scar’.

Often a scar is there for a life time. It is a reminder of what happened the day we received that injury, the pain, the blood, the visit to the doctor and the stitches. A scar can remind us of an operation, an injury and our foolishness that caused it.

Some of us have scars that are not visible on the outside. We have been scarred in our hearts, and these scars remind us of certain hurts and times in our lives that we would prefer to forget. They are even more hurtful than those on the outside of our body.

The story is told of a little boy whose mother let him out of the car under a big tree and told him she would return but never did.

This man is now middle aged. One day a friend was to meet him for lunch. He arrived 15 minutes late and found his friend in a state of high agitation, pacing about, perspiring heavily, visibly upset. It seemed a little bit of an over-reaction since his friend was only 15 minutes late.

Later he said to his friend, “I know why I get so bent out of shape when someone is late but I just can’t help it. My mother kept me waiting under a tree all afternoon. And she never, ever returned. I just can’t stand it when someone I care for is late”.

He was no longer a kid but the scars that he received early in his life still affected him badly. I’m sure that all of us recognise certain inner scars that we carry. I quote, “We are very much largely shaped by others, who, in an almost frightening way, hold our destiny in their hands. We are, each of us, the product of those who have loved us or refused to love us (John Powell, Why Am I Afraid to Love?). And how true! We hear stories every so often of people who have been treated children badly in their early years and how this has scarred them for life. Most psychological scars are acquired in the first seven years of our life, and inflamed by circumstances occurring later in life. This scarring can lead to bazaar behaviour later in life. The point is that to be human is to have scars. And scars are the result of sin in one way or another.

In today’s gospel reading, the risen Christ appears in a room that is locked tight and shows himself to his despondent disciples. He spoke to them, as he had spoken so often before, saying “Peace.” But they don’t recognise that this is really Jesus. In fact, Luke reports that when the disciples first see Jesus, “They were terrified, thinking that they were seeing a ghost.” Luke goes on. Jesus says, “Why are you alarmed? Why are these doubts coming in your minds? Look at my hands and my feet, and see that it is I myself. Feel me, and you will know, for a ghost doesn’t have flesh and bones, as you can see I have (Luke 24:37-39). Luke describes Jesus eating with the disciples, something not done by ghosts. There can be no doubt about it – Jesus is standing there in the room in the flesh. He is genuine human being. They saw, they touched and they believed.

John says the same thing in our Gospel reading to day, “He showed them his hands and his side (John 20: 20). He showed them his scars and then, only then, when they saw, they rejoiced.

Thomas shows up a little later. He wasn’t with the other disciples for the Easter appearance. The other disciples tell him of the risen Christ, but Thomas says, “Unless I see the mark of the nails in his hands, and put my finger in the mark of the nails and my hand in his side, I will not believe” (John 20:25). Perhaps we shouldn’t be too hard on Thomas. He isn’t just being obstinate. He is going through the same concerns as the other disciples had. In effect he is saying, “I can’t believe that it’s Jesus unless I touch his scars because the Jesus I know was nailed to a cross and has wounds in his hands and feet.” Thomas is finding it hard to believe the report of his friends that they had seen Jesus – the same Jesus whom he knew to be dead.

A week later, the risen Christ again surprises the disciples. Thomas is there this time and Jesus obliges, “Put your finger here; see my hands. Reach out your hand and put in into my side,” says the risen Christ, “Stop doubting, and believe” (John 20:37) Thomas and the other disciples believe when they see Jesus’ scars. It seems that the gospel writers are deliberately making a connection between belief in the risen Christ and the scars of Christ. You see, the risen Christ could have erased the scars that he received from the nails and spear, not to mention the scars from the terrible whips that tortured his body. In fact, we would expect that the risen Christ would have the perfect body and no scars.
But the risen Christ has scars.
This person appearing before them is the very same Jesus they love and who died on the cross.
The scars on his body make it quite clear who this person is. It is by these scars that Jesus was recognised and the disciples were overjoyed.

There is a story about Odysseus near the end of the book The Odyssey (written by Homer about 8^th century BC) when Odysseus finally returns home after being away for a long time. He has heard that there were certain men who were very fond of his wife and wanted to find out how faithful she was to her husband. He disguises himself disguised as an old beggar; nobody recognises him at home, including his own wife and son. That night just before bed the elderly nurse, who cared for him as a child, bathes him. She thinks she is merely bathing an old stranger who visits for the night. But while bathing him, she recognises a scar on Odysseus’ leg, the same scar she remembers from his infancy. She didn’t recognise him until she saw the scar.

Jesus tells us to look at his hands and feet, reach out and put our hand in his side, to see his scars, and to believe and be filled with joy. The scars on Jesus’ body give us several messages.

Early in the history of the Christian Church, there were those who claimed that Jesus didn’t really suffer on the cross, didn’t really live as we must live on this earth. He only appeared to suffer; only appeared to be human. It was unthinkable that the Son of God could have lowered himself to such a degree.

No! The church said. Jesus was God and he was fully human. The divinely risen Christ bore human scars. Only a wounded God can save. The first letter of Peter goes so far as to say, “by his wounds you have been healed (1 Pet 2:24).

Scars are part of our life as humans. Jesus received scars because he was truly human. Even after the resurrection we must still say he is truly human. As we heard from the Gospel of Luke, Jesus was keen on demonstrating to his disciples that he wasn’t a ghost or an invention of their imagination. He told them to look at his hands and feet and said, “Feel me, and you will know, for a ghost doesn’t have flesh and bones (and we might add: holes in my hands and feet where I was pierced by nails), as you see I have (Luke 24:39). Christ was truly human, even after the resurrection.

Jesus makes a point of showing his scars both to the disciples on Easter Day and a week later in the presence of Thomas. The risen Christ wants to show that the resurrection doesn’t make the cross meaningless. There is an interconnectedness between the cross and the empty tomb. There are some Christians who only want to know the glorified and risen Jesus. They know he died on a cross but that isn’t relevant now because he is alive again. Their image of Christ is a Christ in glory with his raised in blessing over the church and the world. The scars are there but they are hardly noticeable on the king with a golden crown and royal robes.

The post resurrection appearances highlight that the resurrected Christ is the one who died for us. He wants us to always keep before us that even though he has been raised the fact remains that he suffered and died, receiving horrible scars because of our sin.

That is why churches have crucifixes on their altars. As we look at the figure of Christ with nails through his hands and feet we are reminded what wounds he suffered for us, for our sinfulness. His scars remind us of the forgiveness won for us on the cross.

As we gaze at the wounds of the resurrected Christ we realise that here we have someone who knows what it means to suffer. Here is a person who has not removed himself to a high and mighty place in heaven and no longer feels for those who are hurting. He is our Saviour who hurts when we are hurting, who agonises with us in our pain, and sympathises with us in our weakness (Hebrews 4:15). As we suffer scars of pain and hurt in our lives, we know we have a Saviour who knows what it is like to bear the scars of suffering.

The scars on the body of the resurrected Christ tell us that even though we share in the new life in Christ, our scars are still with us. When a young woman became a Christian she told, “If you are a Christian, a real Christian, you will always feel joy and peace in your heart. Jesus heals all of our sicknesses and overcomes all of our hurts.” But she felt a great sadness, even after becoming a Christian. She had been abused as a child. Yes, her Christian faith brought her much joy, but she still carried the scars.

So did the risen Christ. Even Jesus who had conquered death still bore the scars of his suffering. And I would suppose that when Jesus ascended to heaven, he still carried those marks of the nails with him. We carry scars physical, emotional and even spiritual. The way we carry those scars and bear them through our life will show to others the faith that we have and witness to others that the resurrected Lord is very real to us. Jesus’ scars bore witness to the fact that he had been crucified on a cross and that he was alive and very real to his disciples, and likewise our scars are to bear witness to the power of Jesus in our lives.

As we celebrate Jesus’ glorious resurrection from the dead, today we are reminded to look at his hands and feet. May we also gaze on those scars and be overjoyed that Christ suffered those wounds for us and rose again as the victor over sin and death. He has shown us his scars “that (we) might believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that through believing (we) may have life in his name” (John 20:21).
Amen.

Relationships – The Passion of Jesus

John 17:20-26 (010)

I would find it a very interesting exercise to ask each of you what you are passionate about.  What are the things that excite you and stir you up?  What do you like to get involved in and talk about?  What are you willing to devote time and money and energy to?

People can be passionate about all kinds of things – sport, politics, homes, families, work, hobbies, cars, helping others, cleanliness, health, clothes, the environment, music, movies, travel – just about anything.  And because we’re all very different people, with different interests, gifts, abilities, skills, feelings, life experiences and personalities – we can all have different passions.

That’s one reason why it can be difficult for us at times to work together as Christians and as Christian churches.  We’re very diverse people and we can have different passions and interests even within our ministries as God’s people.

So one of the really important things for us as God’s people is to focus on what we have in common – what makes us the “one holy Christian church” here on earth.  And then, rather than thinking about our passions, we can think about Jesus and his passions, because that just may have an influence on us and what we do and say as we serve wherever God has called us to.

So what was Jesus passion?  What was important for Jesus?  What was so critical for him that he was prepared to die for it?

The last few hours before his crucifixion give us a clue.  It had been a busy week, starting with a dramatic entrance into Jerusalem on a donkey.  There were big crowds, cheering, shouting, waving palm branches, and throwing their coats on the road for him to ride over.

There was an argument in the temple with the money changers.  The religious leaders demanded him to answer their questions.  There was a unique meal with his disciples in an upper room where he spoke intensely about what was to happen to him.  And then a quick exit into a garden to pray.

One moment he was talking, teaching, sharing – the next moment he was pouring out his heart to his Father.  It was a prayer of deep intimacy and great intensity.  An urgent and impassioned plea to God for his people.

Father, may they be one as we are one (v1).  Father, you are in me and I am in you, may they be in us so that the world will believe that you sent me (v21).  Father, may they be brought to complete unity (v.23).  Father, may the love you have for me be in them (v26).

            This is a prayer of passion.  This is what is on his heart.  This is why he’s been sent.  This is the goal he has before him.

            Jesus may well have been passionate about many things and many people – but this prayer highlights what he wants to see and have happen more than anything else.  It’s a passion for unity.  That’s what he wants – unity among his people.  Harmony in relationships is what is really on his heart.

            This prayer of Jesus breathes relationship, fellowship and intimacy.  It’s an intimacy first of all between the God the Father and Jesus.  It’s a special and unique relationship: Everything you have given me comes from you (v7).  All I have is yours and all you have is mine (v10).  You in me and I in you (v21).  Here we catch a glimpse of an astonishing relationship between Father and Son.  This prayer reflects the intimacy of the Trinity.

And we hear Jesus’ greatest desire – that his followers enjoy the same kind of relationship – that they can be in a close and intimate relationship with him and with each other.  That’s his passion and the central focus of his prayer.  That’s what he wants to see more than anything else.

            The relationship between the Father and the Son is the example for all Christian relationships.  It’s the standard that we have before us.  It’s the model for marriages and families.  It’s the model for small groups and meetings and committees and teams within churches.  It’s the model for relationships within and between local congregations.  It’s the example for the world-wide body of Christ.

            That’s Jesus passion.  His desire is that the respect, the cooperation and the depth of relationship enjoyed by him and his Father, might be what we experience in our relationship with him and other people.

            That was God’s purpose in creating people – so that we could live in peace and harmony, and have good relationships with others.  Imagine then how God felt when sin came into the world.  His dream was destroyed.  Relationships were broken, intimacy was smashed, trust was annihilated and unity was wrecked.

            Where are you? God asked Adam in the Garden of Eden.  What have you done?  And he asked the same of Cain after he’d killed his brother Abel.  His children, whom he’d given everything that they’d needed, had hurt him.  He didn’t create them for brokenness and division.  He created them, and us, so that we could have fellowship, security and joy in our relationships with him and others.

            That’s not how things worked out.  So Jesus, knowing the ache and pain in his Father’s heart, left his Father’s side to walk the dusty paths of Palestine that led him to the cross.  He came to make it possible for relationships to be restored, restored between God and people, and between people themselves.

That’s the core of the Gospel message.  That’s what Jesus agonised over in the garden of Gethsemane.  That’s why he was so prepared to face all that he did.  That’s why he was so passionate about doing something.  All so that healing could take place in our relationships.

            The price we pay for something gives us an idea of its value.  The price that Jesus paid so that there might be healing and health and security in our relationships, gives us a pretty clear idea of how much he values us as people united in love and fellowship.

            That’s where his passion lies.  That’s what’s important for him.  And that says something vitally significant about how we can grow and develop our passions.

In his passion for restored relationships, Jesus spent time with people – especially those people who were rejected by society at large.  He argued against the traditions of his day – especially when it meant people’s needs were disregarded as a result.  He had no desire to build an organisation – but he felt strongly about people being part of a family, about them being welcomed and made to feel at home.  He didn’t come to put a program of ministry in place or give us seven or twelve steps to follow to be a healthy church, but to show mercy and give forgiveness to sinners.

            That doesn’t mean that there is something wrong with traditions or organisations or programmes or working through steps to better life and growth in the church.  It just means that what’s more important than all of them put together is us having healthy relationships.  Father may they be one as we are one.  That’s Jesus’ passion.

            So what does that say about what’s important for us.  We may have or develop interests or passions in lots of different kinds of ministries or service in our churches.  They are a variety of things that we can do as we use our gifts and as we meet the needs in our churches and community.

            But if in the process we ignore or take for granted what Jesus’ greatest passion is, and not take that on board as the basis for our thinking, praying and planning – then whatever we do won’t be too effective.  We might get a job done, we might meet a deadline or a budget, we might even achieve all our objectives and meet all our goals – but if we’re content to let our relationships with others take second place, then we’re spoiling God’s plan for his people here.

            As hard as we work, we’re never going to have perfect relationships here.  Our churches, our congregation, our families, will always have struggles and challenges, and we’ll all make mistakes and make a mess of things at times.  But the same Jesus, who cried in the garden and prayed for our unity, also gives us what we need to work at our relationships so that we can continue to be effective.  He provides us with his help, his patience, his wisdom, and his grace and forgiveness – especially when we run low on ours.

            He not only had this passion for healing relationships when he walked this earth.  He still has it now.  And so he gives us all we need so that we can be working on building our relationships every day.  We’re not left to our own devises and strength, but can receive power to do what may seem at times the impossible.

            Jesus committed himself to us so that we can grow our relationships with others.  That’s his passion.  That’s his desire.  That’s what he wants to see happen more and more in his church.

            And as we explore our particular passions and work out our individual commitments, we can have that as the basis for our ministry and service.  We can grow in having quality relationships with others, because that’s what Jesus empowers us to do.  Amen.

Pastor Mark Leischke

John 5_1-9 Change of focus.

Ex gambling addicts say that the worst thing that could happen to a first time gambler is to have a win.  Why?  What worked once, surely will work again.

The win seemed so easy.  Go to the pub, just put in a few dollars and jackpot!  No more worries about money, you’re a winner!  It is just a matter of playing at the right machine at the right time… when it hits the jackpot.  Sadly however, the jackpot is hit very rarely hit.  You never know just when it will happen.  The slight chance that you will be playing the machine when it jackpots causes despair and anxiety, because you can’t afford to leave the machine; the next dollar you put in might bring the jackpot.  Despair and anxiety drive a false hope.  You have to win now, as its cost everything, there is nothing to lose, money, home, family and even quality of life itself are gone, and so they play on in desperate hope.

Being on ‘that’ machine, playing for ‘that jackpot’ becomes the sole purpose and focus in life.  Nothing else matters, nothing could be more important than being on the machine; being there when it jackpots.  The machine has become a false god, as Luther explains a god, ‘A god is whatever a person looks for all good things and runs to for help in trouble.’  There are halls full of people gathered around machines, despair driving a false hope.  It worked once, surely it will work again.

There is a man, a crippled man ,waiting by a poor of water called Bethesda, Jesus sees him.  In fact he sees a great number of paralysed, blind, lame and sick people, all gathered around a pool of water; a pool of water that supposedly has healing powers when it is stirred.  It may have worked once, perhaps someone was healed when the water stirred and this one ‘jackpot’ drives those in despair to false hope that this same jackpot will happen to them; they too will be healed.  The catch is they need to be present when the water stirs and they need to be the first into the water.  And so they wait, driven by anxiety and a false hope…perhaps it will be their turn next.  The water had become their sole purpose and focus in life.  The supposed healing properties of the water had become their false god; the giver of all things good. 

So many sick and desperate people gathered around this ‘water god’, that colonnades were built over the pools to protect the sick and lame from the elements of the weather.  Jesus, walking under the colonnades, asks the cripple “do you want to be healed?”  An obvious and somewhat silly question.  Of course he wants to be healed!  Yet, does he answer “yes I do”?  No, his focus is still on the water.  He has invested so much time and effort on his attempts to be cured, he can’t afford to look away or consider what Jesus might be offering, the water may stir, and so answers “I have no one to help me into the pool when the water is stirred. While I am trying to get in, someone else goes down ahead of me.” 

Jesus’ question was not silly at all.  Knowing this man was still waiting to be healed after 38 years, Jesus had identified the stirring water to be this man’s false god.   The question, “do you want to be healed.” deliberately changes the focus off the water, off the false god, and onto him, the true God, Son of the Father, as God said at his baptism “This is my Son, whom I am well pleased, listen to him.”  The paralysed man’s answer, the “yes but…” only confirmed his false god.  Yes, I want to be healed but I need to get into the water’; he did not recognise that Jesus was not offering help, he was offering a healing.

Perhaps you have something similar in your life?   A worry of some sort, in which you have invested so much time and effort to cure, that it has become your sole purpose and focus?  Something so important to you, like having enough money, earning a good reputation,  or even wanting to be healed of some sickness or addiction that the means to the cure has now become your sole focus.  Perhaps your ‘cure’, has become like the paralysed man’s water, occupying all you thoughts, hopes and plans?  Even to the exclusion of everything else?  If so, perhaps you also are relying on a false god. 

When we hear Jesus words “do you want to be healed”, perhaps we also answer “yes but…”:  Yes but…I just need to work first to earn the necessary money:  Yes but…I just need to improve by behaviour:  Yes but…I just need to have more faith first:  yes but… tells us we have a false god.  We, like the paralysed man are so focused on what we have to do to cure ourselves that we fail to recognise that that Jesus never offers help, he offering total healing. 

Before another ‘yes but’ came from the paralysed man’s mouth, Jesus destroys the false god with a simple command ‘Get up! Pick up your mat and walk.”  At once the man was cured; he picked up his mat and walked.  Did the man have to enter the water to be healed, as he thought?  No!  Did he have to first have faith?  No!  In fact this man didn’t even know Jesus name, as verse 13 reveals ‘The man who was healed had no idea who it was.’  Did he have to stop sinning before Jesus healed him?  No, Verse 14 dismisses that when Jesus says to the healed man, ‘See, you are well again. Stop sinning or something worse may happen to you.’ 

Jesus’ word has the power and authority to heal, to forgive, to bring back to life with no help from us, destroying our false gods and false hopes; freeing us from the bondage and despair of having to try and heal ourselves by our own efforts, as he indicates in Matthew 9 ‘Which is easier: to say, ‘Your sins are forgiven,’ or to say, ‘Get up and walk’?  But that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins….” He said to the paralyzed man, “I tell you, get up, take your mat and go home.”

St Paul says in Romans 5 ‘While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.’  While we were still placing hope in false gods, Jesus healed us.  In our baptism, God brought the healing waters to us, he brought righteousness, forgiveness, and eternal life to us, while we are still dead in sin and did not even know Jesus.  This is the good news of Jesus life, death, resurrection and ascension.  By his blood he has already healed us and has given us life.  This grace comes to us anew each day and simply speaks a non-threatening word of healing.  He says to you, even though you may say ‘yes but…’ “Get up! Pick up your mat and walk”  Walk in the forgiveness I offer.  And as sure as the paralysed man got up and walked, you also walk in newness of life.

As healed and restored people, with our false gods destroyed, and with the words of Jesus on our lips, we have the healing of Jesus to offer to others.  So many people’s lives are being wasted, desperately relying on false hopes; desperately trying everything to heal their hurts and cover their guilt from sin.  Many of these people used to know and believe in Jesus as the only one who can heal.  But slowly, the ‘means to be healed’  have became more important, and now they too have joined the multitudes ‘hanging around the pool false healing’, desperately hoping to enter into its healing waters, not knowing for sure if they are really going to be healed.

 

Dubbo

Let’s not wait around for them to be disappointed, to fall into total despair because they never get to the healing they so desire.  Let’s make plans like Jesus did, to visit where they hang out; to speak a healing word from Jesus.  Let’s make an effort to reconnect them to Jesus, the true source of healing.  I am praying that we may find a way of bringing healing and reconnection to the multitudes who gather at the Dubbo North School every weekday.  ‘Reconnect’ is a great word and would make a great mission enabling statement; to reconnect people to God, to healing and to life.  Our church is perfectly sized and positioned to make today’s gospel a reality in the lives of those who frequent the school.

 

Gilgandra

Let’s not wait around for them to be disappointed, to fall into total despair because they never get to the healing they so desire.  Let’s make plans like Jesus did, to visit where they hang out; to speak a healing word from Jesus.  Let’s make an effort to reconnect them to Jesus, the true source of healing.  I am praying that we may find a way of bringing healing and reconnection to the multitudes that travel the highway each day.  Our church is perfectly sized and positioned to make today’s gospel a reality in the lives of those who frequent the road out front.

Let’s pray that God would make a gate for us to open, like the sheep gate, that leads us into the midst of desperate people, people who don’t even know they need Jesus!  Now that’s a radical prayer.  But then again, God works in radical ways, after all, despite our inaction, our false god’s, our continual sin, he still loves and forgives and still heals us saying ‘Get up! Pick up your mat and walk’.

Acts 11_1-18 beyond human love Easter 5

I have a gift here to give to you, but I want to ask the following question:  Don’t answer aloud, just put up your hand if you know the answer…How many days did it rain on the earth while Moses and his family were in the ark?  Who says 40 days and 40 nights?  Who says none?  The correct answer is none of course, Moses never built the ark.  Go and hand out the prize of chocolates to those who got the answer wrong.  The people who got the answer correct miss out!

That didn’t seem fair did it?  How is it right that undeserving people get the prize?  Shouldn’t those with the right answer be given all the rewards and accolades?  Deserving people deserve a reward.  That’s why we love to watch the reality TV shows like backyard bitz, that help deserving people who have had a hard time get some normality back to their lives.  We like the shows because they do a good turn for someone who has had a hard go, and they give us a warm feeling, knowing someone deserved has been helped and loved.

Who likes it when someone undeserving get’s an award, like I just gave?  When we see someone who knowingly or deliberately gets themselves into trouble, and yet is given support, help and love, we think its unfair.  Think about someone you know, a family member or friend who has got themselves into a bind, financially or relationally, a friend who has an addiction or caught up in public and deliberate sin…what do we naturally think?  “They made their bed, let them lay in it; let them suffer the consequences of their actions.’  Sure, we may give them lip service, say a few words like ‘I’m sorry, how sad, or better luck next time’.  But ask us to actually do something to improve their situation or outlook and we judge them unworthy, undeserving of our love and attention. 

Yes, there needs to be consequences for bad behaviour, but can we allow the consequences to overshadow love and the total radical grace of the gospel?  Can we allow our sense of unfairness to rule our responses? Perhaps we are afraid of what others might say about us if we do?  Or afraid that loving someone undeserving and speaking to them about Jesus might cause some ramifications within our church community; cause infighting and unrest?   

These were the sort of questions that would have haunted Peter as he come to terms with the gospel message of Jesus. Peter was a strong and committed Jew and of course one of Jesus’ disciples.  He was an apostle of the Lord called by him to spread the good news of Jesus death and resurrection for the salvation of the world.  He was sent by Jesus to love the world as he himself had loved the world. 

At that time, even though Peter had experienced Jesus mixing with sinners and outcasts and witnessed his death and the resurrection for the atonement of sins, he never comprehended the radical call of the gospel…that ‘God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.’  For Peter, the WORLD Jesus died for was his world, the Jewish nation, those who had the law and promise of God; the chosen nation and so deserved the right to have Jesus as saviour.  Peter’s understanding of the gospel was constrained by cultural and religious pressures to conform to ‘the way things are.’  His love and compassion, like ours often is, was limited by personal boundaries and constraints; limited by fear of causing an affront to other godly people and so limiting the gospel to only those who deserve to be loved. 

When God caused Peter to fall into a trance, he asks him to eat religiously forbidden food.  Peter answers ‘Surely not, Lord! Nothing impure or unclean has ever entered my mouth.’  In the vision, God is showing Peter the radical nature of the gospel and says ‘Do not call anything impure that God has made clean.’  The vision showed Peter that the forgiveness of sins and salvation is for the WHOLE WORLD, for all people, not just the Jews, as the prophet Ezekiel foretold ‘As surely as I live, declares the Sovereign LORD, I take no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but rather that they turn from their ways and live.’ 

Peter, acting in the power of the Spirit, comes to the joyous realization that salvation is for the undeserving.  When he witnessed the outpouring of the Holy Spirit upon the gentile household of Cornelius, he responded ‘So if God gave them the same gift as he gave us, who believed in the Lord Jesus Christ, who was I to think that I could oppose God?”

As we look around our empty churches, it reminds us that perhaps things are not as they should be or could be.  Our broken relationships, our lack of love for undeserving people, our limited efforts to announce the gospel of Jesus, all remind us that somehow, perhaps, we are a little like Peter was.  That inadvertently we have only loved and spoke the gospel to those we felt deserve our gift and attention; those we think are worthy.  Perhaps deep down we feel guilty of conforming to cultural and even church pressure to keep ‘things the way they are.’, lest there be arguments and disunity over allowing such undeserving people to enter into fellowship with us and hear the message of salvation…all while still living in sin. 

Today, hear the Easter gospel message…that there is no one who deserves to be saved.  No one is guilt or shame free.  No one can claim to deserve God’s love or be undeserving of it, simply because of what they do, how they love or what they say; not Peter, not Paul, not you, not me.  All of us, by the pure grace of God, are forgiven and loved by God.  Grace, by its very meaning is ‘undeserved love.’ 

It is God’s choice and action to send his Son Jesus to the cross to pay for our sin and to raise him from the grave to make us into sons of God, as St John announces ‘to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God-‘   You have been given this gift, you have the gospel word from the bible, you have the Spirit, you are rich in glory and have all that God offers…he has kept nothing from you. 

Though once we were like the forbidden food, outside of salvation, now, by faith in the death and resurrection of Jesus, we have been grafted into God’s family and this is the message we have been commissioned to proclaim.  The other day, my wife Julie went shopping with my youngest son Kyle.  He was lucky enough to be given a chocolate bar by Julie, who bought one each for the other children, which he promptly and joyfully ate.  He was so excited about his gift, that the moment he got home, he burst in through the door and announced ‘look what I got and mum has bought you one too!’  The joy of the gift could not be contained, it had to be announced.  Even when the others weren’t as excited over the gift and seemed undeserving of such a gift, out of his joy he handed the chocolates to them anyway.

We have this gift of salvation and we have the commission of Jesus to go and tell others, as Matthew records ‘go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you.’, but often, the joy like my son Kyle, does not accompany the proclamation of the gift.  Old judgmental habits escort our mission efforts and taint our message and stunt the spread of the gospel and the growth of the church, like it was with Peter.  We fear we will cause arguments and conflict in the church because we might become uncomfortable with new and different ‘undeserving’ people sitting in the pew with us and this fear drives us to choose between the deserving and undeserving.

God released Peter from this fear as he prayed.  Just as he has released Peter, God will release you from this fear also.  Pray as Peter did.  Pray for joy.  Pray that God would give you his Spirit.  Pray that love, passion and joy will accompany your gospel message; a joy so great that you see that things do not have to be the way they are.  God is ready to give you and the church here a vision and purpose, pray as Peter did that the Spirit would reveal those he is calling.  Jesus encourages us to do this very thing and promises that when we pray, not only will he give us immeasurably more than we ask for, he will also give us his Spirit, as Jesus said ‘Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you…If you then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!’  Then perhaps we too might be like Peter, surprised by the working of God in town and announce with joy ‘who was I to think that I could oppose God?”  Amen

Revelation 7_9-17  Wearing the right gear

 

Who here can surf? Is there anyone here who can play league at top level?  Who can race a v8 supercar? Yep, that’s what I thought.  Yet with the right clothing we can look like and act like the best surfer or racing car driver ever!  Don the right gear and you or I can go to Surfers Paradise and look like a pro-surfer. Everyone does it.  The moment you step into Queensland, for some reason you feel you have to clothe yourself in the right gear…the board shorts, the Oakely sunglasses, the Billabong tee shirt and thongs; you got to look like you can surf.

The same goes when we attend a sporting event like football or car racing.  We buy and wear the clothing that makes us look as if we could tackle () or out lap the Stig!  Unlike Dorcus, who voluntarily make clothing for the poor out of necessity, we make clothing to cover who we really are and we use clothing to hide our insecurities and inabilities; we wear designer clothing to blend into the crowd. 

In a way its fun to look like a star sportsman or women…but please don’t ask us to play!  The clothing might say ‘Holden Dealer Team race driver’, but it does not and cannot empower us to do what it says.  We are reminded of this today on ANZAC Day.  We can dress like a soldier, but don’t ask us to be the one to go to battle and be killed.  Don’t expect us to take a bullet for our country and have our clothes ruined and stained by our own blood.

Adam and Eve were the fist to put on designer clothing, hoping to blend in to the surrounds, hoping not to be noticed, hoping to cover their true self.  Genesis records their moment of discovery, when Adam and Eve realised they had sinned against God and for the very first time felt shame and guilt: ‘When the woman saw that the fruit of the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eye, and also desirable for gaining wisdom, she took some and ate it. She also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it. Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they realized they were naked; so they sewed fig leaves together and made coverings for themselves.’

Sin brought shame.  They were naked before God and each other, both physically and spiritually.  They were not a god in their own right after all, and so fig leaves became the first designer clothing.  By covering themselves with clothes, perhaps God wouldn’t notice them.  Perhaps the fig leaves would cover their sin, insecurities and inability to truly fear and love God; perhaps they would look like they did before. 

However, as you and I are fully aware, designer clothing, made and chosen by us, only covers and hides, it does not do what it says.  The leaves were of no use to Adam and Eve, God still found them and still knew they were sinners hiding under clothing; they were punished and kicked out of the garden. 

Still today we try to look as if we can hide from God’s anger over our sin.  We still try and wear designer clothing, chosen by us, to cover our shame.  The moment we have a bad though or sensual desire, a bad word is spoken by us or we lie, like walking into our wardrobe to put on a new change of clothes, we pick out cover ourselves with a particular excuse; a clothing we knew worked last time.  We clothe ourselves to justify our thoughts or actions by wearing the blame game; blaming the TV show, blaming the other person, blaming even God.  We cover our unrighteousness, our shame and guilt with home made clothing, perhaps even condemning others for doing the very same thing we do, hoping this would cover our deeds.  Yes, it often fools those around us.  No one in the church would ever find out.  Perhaps no one would even know in our family…but we know.  And guess what….God knows.

Isaiah warns ‘all our righteous acts are like filthy rags’.  God cannot be fooled, he sees beyond our clothing, our nice exterior, and casts them off as nothing but filthy rags.  He knows what we are hiding underneath, and so do we.  He asks us to do what our clothing says…be righteous, but we can’t.  God asks of us what we cannot deliver.  Like wearing the army clothing knowing full well we cannot fight.  St Paul laments saying ‘What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death?’

When St John had the privilege of looking into heaven itself, out of all the glorious and mysterious things he saw, out of all the wonders, like seeing the Son of Man and the seven spirits, one mundane and rather ordinary thing was pointed out and noted; the white robes of the believers in heaven.  John records ‘Then one of the elders asked me, “These in white robes– who are they, and where did they come from?” I answered, “Sir, you know.” And he said, “These are they who have come out of the great tribulation; they have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.’

The clothing of the saints in heaven, the clothing of those who have died and gone to heaven before us are singled out by God to tell us of their significance.  They are not wearing clothes fashioned by their own works, excuses or righteousness…the old filthy rags that Isaiah speaks about; the fig leaves of the old Adam and Eve.  No, the clothing they wear are not their own, they are white robes washed in the blood of the lamb.  The blood of Jesus covers them and it is only this clothing, made out of Jesus blood that was poured out on the cross, and worn by the saints in faith, that covers the true sinful nature that once lied beneath.  It is only this clothing that is good enough for God because it is really the clothes of his own Son Jesus.

The robe of righteousness, the clothing worn by the saints, washed in the blood of Jesus, is singled out to show it is the only clothing that makes us righteous before God; it is made known to us because we cannot see it…it is spiritual and it is put on by faith, as St Paul says ‘the righteous live by faith not by works’.  This is the gospel, the good news. 

Unlike the clothing of excuses and good works we wear to cover our shame and guilt before others, but do not cover before God, the robe we are given by the lamb covers before God, yet it is hidden for it is by faith that we trust we are wearing it.  In baptism we are given this white robe washed in the blood of Jesus, as St Peter says in 1 Peter 3:21 ‘baptism now saves you … not the removal of dirt from the body but the pledge of a good conscience toward God. It saves you by the resurrection of Jesus Christ,’

Even though we may not feel or even look like a Christian, clothed in the white robe of righteousness, we are not play acting or pretending to be Christians, we really and truly are Christians who are saved and will enter eternal life.  You and I truly are disciples of Jesus and saints before God; we have salvation by the very clothes we wear, given to us by God in baptism.  While baptism clothes us with Jesus blood, we continually wash our robes in the blood of Jesus in Holy Communion, and in confession and absolution.  Here our sins and guilt are covered again and again; we sin, we come, we are washed and we go and we serve. 

This is the cycle of discipleship; always going out of and returning to Jesus to be covered in his blood.  He is our shepherd who will continually wash us clean as we do his work in our community.  Never fear about doing something wrong in ministry.  Never worry that you will make the unforgivable mistake.  Everything, when done in the name of Jesus, will be used by God and as long as we remain in the cycle of discipleship, all will be forgiven.  For it is Jesus who not only covers our sin, he is also shepherding our conscience and soul.  As you hear his voice and meditate on it, he will guide your thoughts and decisions. He will lead you into mission and service together with each other. 

By faith we know we wear the right gear for salvation, but it is often forgotten that we also now live by that same faith; there is a promise that Jesus shepherds us now in our daily service.  The promise is for now and it is for you that the Lamb at the center of the throne will be your shepherd; he will lead you to springs of living water. And that even though you may suffer and fall into sin, God will wipe away every tear from your eyes.’  Amen

Crossed wires 1 John5:9-13 Easter 7

Have you ever been talking on the telephone to a friend when all of a sudden, someone else is speaking over you and then you are cut off?  This is known as ‘crossed wires’; when a good line of communication is suddenly broken by a fault.  With the help of Bill, our phone expert, I have traced the source of our crossed wires and have taken some photos (show three slides).

You can see why it is inevitable that we get crossed wires when the lines are in such a mess; extra lines tacked on here there and everywhere.  I’m sure it makes us want to just rip it all down and start again.

Crossed wires that break down our connection with each other, don’t just happen over the phone line, crossed wires also happen in personal relationships; between family members, between friends, and also between church members, resulting in isolation, disharmony, hurt and anxiety.  A crossed wire brings a sudden and sharp separation.

It all starts with one wrongly chosen word, a hurtful action against us, a lie, a knee jerk reaction, even an honest word of truth that was mistaken for an attack upon the other’s character.  What was once a loving relationship, a crossed wire turns into a breakdown.  For you, the crossed wire may be between your husband or wife, or a brother or sister, a friend.  All of us have experienced crossed wires in communicating with someone which ended in a sudden separation. 

As people we usually react in one of two ways.  We either become submissive and for the sake of keeping the relationship open, forfeit ourselves, and have our course in life chosen by the other person.  We become what we think others picture as loveable.  Or on the other hand, we become aggressive and live in fear, loss of control, guilt and become lonely and isolated from love.  Whichever way we go, not only are we cut off from the person, we lose our own life as well.  This is not how we were created to live as Jesus says ‘I have come that you may have life and joy to the fullest’.

Our relationship with someone can look like the wires all mixed up, as shown here, (slide).  As one line of communication is crossed, another is connected, after a time that is crossed, so another is connected and so on and so on until the whole relationship is a mess and no one is talking with anyone.  We don’t even know why we have a crossed wire and we can’t even put out finger on the source because it is hidden under years of ‘re-wiring’ which has left feelings of bitterness, resentment, anxiety and a sense of hopelessness. 

Why?  Because all other lines of communication are still in some way connected to the first crossed wire.  The actual breakdown in the relationship has not been repaired, only by passed. 

What we see and experience in our relationships, are a direct result of an original crossed wire and are a reflection of our broken connection with God.  It happened when Adam and Eve trusted the word of the devil rather than the word of God; they crossed the wires from the truth to a lie, as Paul states ‘They exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and worshiped and served created things rather than the Creator– who is forever praised. Amen.’ 

That one choice broke the perfect relationship we had with God, and from that time on, every one of us have had no ability to connect with God by our own efforts.  We are disconnected from his family, from eternal life and have no way of making a repair. 

Genesis records ‘After he drove the man out, he placed on the east side of the Garden of Eden cherubim and a flaming sword flashing back and forth to guard the way to the tree of life.’

So what do we do?  We try and bypass the problem and attempt to connect using another line by pleasing God with our good deeds, but we fail there too, as our broken relationships show.  Jesus says ‘everyone who sins is a slave to sin and a slave has no permanent place in the family.’  We try to repair one line onto another, only to find we have to continually build a new one to God as the old ones fail and all for nothing because as long as we are a slave to sin, we cannot be a child of God; cannot receive eternal life.  The reading from 1 John enforces this ‘he who does not have the Son of God does not have life.’  Our connection to God looks like these wires (slide).

Now God didn’t just sit up there in heaven going, “hello, hello are you there.” If he had done that, we would never have a relationship with him; never be connected again. God took the initiative and acted in history.  This is how God reconnected us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him. 

He sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins. Paul says the same thing: But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.’  While we were disconnected, God made us his children again by sending his Son to reconnect us. 

He did not wait until we had untangled the mess in our lives and apologized, until we had repented, until we’d cleaned up our act, or until we could take some steps towards him.  While we were still sinners, disconnected from God – Christ died for us.  This is not a repair.  This is a whole new way of connecting with God. 

Jesus Christ is God shredding off all the old wires and making a new one-way only connection to him, and that connection is made by faith in Jesus, as John writes ‘Anyone who believes in the Son of God has this testimony in his heart.  And this is the testimony: God has given us eternal life, and this life is in his Son.  He who has the Son has life;’

Baptism, as we will witness this morning with Madalyn, begins the new one-way connection to God that brings life.  It is where God comes to her (us) and joins her to himself and forgives her the original sin, that crossed wire, and gives her eternal life, as Jesus promised ‘whoever is baptised and believes will be saved’. 

And at another time ‘I tell you the truth, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life.’  In the same way as a new phone line connects separated people, baptism connects us to God; it is the conduit that delivers grace, eternal life, the Holy Spirit and faith.  It delivers the testimony of Jesus that ‘God has given us eternal life, and this life is in his Son.’

That’s God’s assurance for each of us whenever we are despairing and troubled. Jesus has made you right with God through his dying for your sins; and by rising from death to guarantee your relationship with God will never be cut off. 

What does this new connection with God do for our relationships with each other now?  Cross Daman in Outsider said ‘I wish I had some way to make a bridge from man to man…man is all we’ve got’.  Man is not all we have got.  We have the power of God’s grace in Jesus to build bridges to each other.    As we soak in God’s love for us in Jesus, his grace gets into our “wounded places” and “insecure places”.  Healing happens. He brings us peace.  Instead of feeling condemned about out past, we discover our place of refuge in God.  With Jesus as our confidence, we can ask the Father for the Holy Spirit to keep working positive change in our lives.  We can reconnect to those we are cut off from and offer the hand of reconciliation because we know we are forgiven. 

We can forgive ourselves and we can forgive those who have hurt us.  Sure, they may not respond, just as we can’t force someone to pick up the phone when we ring, but that’s OK because our life is not found in their acceptance of us, our real life is found in Christ who always accepts us.  And when we have Christ we have life.  Amen

 

 

 

 

 

It’s all over bar the shouting 1 John 5_1-6 Easter 6

Winter is nearly upon us and winter means the inevitable attack from colds and flues.  However, this year I have decided to combat and overcome this enemy virus.  For victory in this battle I need to be aware and prepared, be ready to take on the gems when I see them.  I have a mask, cloves, disinfectant, glasses, and I am eating heaps and heaps of garlic…like to smell my breath!  Of course this is a battle that I am probably going to lose, why?  We cannot see germs, they are microscopic, so unless I walk around with this protection gear on all the time, or wear microscopes for glasses, it is just a matter of time, or luck as to whether or not I get infected by the dreaded flu or I overcome this hidden enemy.

While we can’t see the germs, we know they exist by the effects they cause on our health.  And when we do get the flu an antidote is available for us to take, to control and kill off the virus within us.  We can actually overcome the gems, not though our being vigilant, but through the power of the antidote.  We will still feel the effects of the flu, but because of the antidote, it is already beaten…overcome; its just a matter of time.  The Swine flu was scary wasn’t it!  No one really quite knew how it spread, where it originated from and how bad it was going to get.   There was no certainty either, that an antidote would work against this super bug.  The world was not sure it could overcome this hidden power.

St Paul in Ephesians warns us as Christian we are in a battle against a hidden power, a bit like the flu virus.  He says ‘For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.’  The devil is the unseen prince of this world and his angels of darkness have been thrown out of heaven and now ‘prowl around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour’. 

The devil cannot accuse us and attack us before God in heaven, so he now rampages the earth in a last ditched attempt to infect and destroy us. The gospel writer John had a vision of this and recorded it in the book of Revelation ‘And there was war in heaven. Michael and his angels fought against the dragon, and the dragon and his angels fought back.  But he was not strong enough, and they lost their place in heaven. The great dragon was hurled down– that ancient serpent called the devil, or Satan, who leads the whole world astray. He was hurled to the earth, and his angels with him.

We can’t see him but we can certainly experience the effects of his attacks.  Like the swine flu, no one knows where he originates in our life, what effect he will have and how bad it will get for us.  How we battle and overcome Satan and sin in this world is currently a hot topic, especially if you are an NRL fan or player.  Matthew Johns has no doubt been caught out being involved in a horrible incident and now must pay the price.  So what do we do, how do we overcome this evil?  Sure, Channel 9 can and has fired him.  Yet aren’t they just as much to blame?  How many shows do they air in the evenings which not only promote such sex acts, but encourage it by airing explicit scenes.  And what about the adverts they get millions of dollars from, which entice men or women into promiscuity by texting ‘no strings attached’ partners?  Are not Johns and many others, even Christian just children of the media, a tool of the devil’s virus call the ‘sexual revolution’? 

How do we as Christians overcome such offences against fellow humans, ourselves and others?  How do we overcome the hidden powers which infect us all and are harmful and destructive to us, our families and people we don’t even know; like gambling, wealth accumulation, domestic violence, racism?  We all by nature are just as sinful, just as inclined to follow through with the promptings of society and fall just as heavily as Johns has. 

The scriptures remind us of this ‘anyone who claims to be without sin is a liar, and the truth is not in them’. Is there an antidote against this hidden virus, the devil?  Use the law…scream for tougher penalties?  Call for a ban on NRL players socializing?  Stop all human interaction, all contact, shut down our society and become a state under marshal law?  Perhaps we can overcome the powers of this world like Mexico did against the swine flu and shut everyone in and isolate anyone we think is infected.  Wouldn’t life be fun then?  It would be like me having to wear all this protective gear all the time.  Not only that, the law has no power to save, its no antidote against sin, as Paul writes ‘no one will be declared righteous in his sight by observing the law; rather, through the law we become conscious of sin.’

John’s letter shows us a better way of dealing with this raging lion.  He reveals to us the perfect antidote ‘everyone born of God overcomes the world. This is the victory that has overcome the world, our faith. Who is it that overcomes the world? Only he who believes that Jesus is the Son of God.’  Sadly, the law was no antidote for the sin we all contracted.  No matter how hard we try, we can’t fix a cure.  We can’t work our ways into God’s good books.  Instead God has provided the antidote for us all, by faith in Jesus who was crucified for our sin.

Out of love for us, God came to earth in Jesus Christ to put a cure into effect.  Jesus did this by taking the full force of the hidden virus that we’d all contracted.  That’s what happened on the cross: Jesus the innocent Son of God died the consequential death and experienced the separation from God that we deserved.  In rising to life, Jesus offers the antidote to everyone: forgiveness and life with God forever.  Receiving the cure is as simple as coming to be washed in the waters of baptism and believing in Jesus and what he has done for you!  This is what St John means when he said ‘our faith in Jesus the Son of God has overcome this world.’  And Jesus enacts these words to you saying ‘Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved.’ And he also says to you today ‘”In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.“

Luther wrote about faith and baptism as the antidote to overcome the powers of evil ‘The only way to drive away the devil is by believing in Christ and saying ‘I am baptised, I am a Christian’.  Once the antidote of faith has taken effect, the war has been won, instantly.  Now only the battle remains.  The presence of the Spirit empowers us to love God more dearly each day and to love and serve each other and look out for each others rights and needs.  By faith in Jesus we overcome the devil.  

Instead of being children of the world and hurting each other and ourselves by acting upon the devil’s attacks, out of love for God we act upon his commandments which promote love instead.  John says ‘This is love for God: to obey his commands. And his commands are not burdensome, for everyone born of God overcomes the world.’

The antidote against the devil won for us in Christ, given in the sacraments, now continues in and through us.  The antidote of faith in Jesus slowly kills off the devil’s hold in our lives, as we repent of our sins and seek his forgiveness, and then going out to serve and love others.  Just as a virus is stopped in its tracks with an antidote, the devil is also.  He cannot infect when love is present.  The victory is ours and then the worlds, when we conquer sinful acts not by accusing and condemning but by loving and inviting a faith relationship in Jesus.

 Let us now sing about this victory in Christ.  ‘Yours is the glory’.