Text: Matthew 9:35 – 10:8

There are different organisations committed to encouraging the act of volunteering across the Australia and New Zealand. They encourage organizations which are involved in any sort of service to invite volunteers to come and join them. They encourage people to look for opportunities to volunteer.
During National Volunteers Week you might read stories about volunteers in your local newspapers. National Volunteers Week is also a reminder to show appreciation to the volunteers who are often taken for granted.
It is hard to volunteer. To volunteer means that you are giving your time, and making a considerable effort, and maybe it is going to cost you some money too, because volunteers are not always well supported.
• Volunteering means letting go of your own commitments and giving
something of yourself for the sake of others, or for the sake of some worthy
cause.
• Volunteering means doing. Your hands are busy. But it goes deeper, to your
heart.
• Volunteers are committed with a sense of love and care, and a willingness to commit yourself to others in some way because you see a need.
Volunteering can be a hard slog. But ‘National Volunteer Week’ tells us it can also be rewarding, with inner satisfaction and joy. Volunteering for something worthwhile can bring out the deeper satisfaction of life and can enrich you in relationship with others – others who work with you, or others you help and who laugh with you as you share together.
Think of all the volunteers who touch your life. Think of how and where you
volunteer.
One of the areas where many people volunteer is in our church life. Church
volunteers are included among the volunteers in the community. In fact, figures show that church volunteers are more likely to volunteer in other organisations and causes as well.
So first of all, thank you. Thank you to all of you who give considerable time and effort in the life of your church and community. I know that doing some of the tasks which need to be done can be demanding and you can feel unrewarded. So, thank you on behalf of all who benefit. We do see, and we do appreciate. And I hope that through your voluntary work in your church and community you can live and enjoy life, and that you can laugh together and share together.
That all gives us a very good introduction to today’s Gospel text. Because Jesus is calling for volunteers, for willing workers to work for His Kingdom. And He is sending out volunteers into His communities.
Jesus went round visiting all the towns and villages. He taught in the synagogues, preached the Good News about the Kingdom, and healed people with every kind of disease and sickness.
The best way to enlist volunteers is by example. Never ask anyone else to do
anything which you are not willing to do yourself. Jesus shows us how. Jesus was a ‘doer’. He was out there, out there moving from town to town and village to village.
He was out there where the need was greatest. He spoke the Good News because He saw that the people were desperate and despondent. He saw the pain and suffering of the people, and He came with His healing power.
Jesus was on a mission. He came to bring the Kingdom of Heaven to the people of earth. That was not just a wonderful idea. It was bringing the grace of God into the real needs of people. He was out there, doing it. As He saw the crowds, His heart was filled with pity for them, because they were worried and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd.
Jesus was motivated by a deep compassion. He saw the needs on the outside. He saw broken bodies, and troubled life-styles. He saw the needs on the inside. He saw the addiction to sin, which is the deepest addiction of all. He felt the pain and anguish which it brought in the lives of all these people.
He saw it in each person He met. He saw it multiplied in the crowds of people who came out into the streets hopefully when they heard He was coming. He could see that they were desperate, looking for something. They were like sheep wandering around, confused, defenceless, without a shepherd.
He was coming as the Shepherd. He was coming as the Good Shepherd, who had true care and compassion for each of His sheep, and for all of His sheep together, a true dedication to their protection and their welfare. He was coming with the mercy of God to lift the burden of sin and suffering and to bring these wandering sheep into the Kingdom of Heaven.
So He said to His disciples, “The harvest is large, but there are few workers to gather it in. Pray to the owner of the harvest that He will send out workers to gather in His harvest.”
Now Jesus looks even further. He knows that the deep human needs are
experienced everywhere all over the world. He changes the metaphor from a
shepherd to that of a farmer. Now He sees a paddock of wheat, a vast paddock stretching beyond sight. He knows that a crop of wheat has to be harvested at just the right time, when it is ripe and before it is spoiled. He knows now is the right time.
But in those days harvesting was by hand with a sickle. To harvest a paddock of wheat you needed a team. To harvest a paddock this size you needed an army of workers.
We need workers, Jesus says. We have so few workers, we need many, many more.
This is not just our task. This is God’s task. This is God’s world. So, let’s pray to our heavenly Father, who is the Lord of the Harvest. Let’s pray for the workers, so that we can do this great work. Let’s get lots of people in, all involved in bringing in this great harvest.
Jesus called His twelve disciples together and gave them authority to drive out evil spirits and to heal every disease and every sickness. When you pray for something, you also commit yourself to being an answer to prayer. Jesus called on His disciples to pray for workers in the harvest. The very next thing He does is call them to be workers.
Jesus calls on us to pray for workers in the harvest. I hope that we do pray that God will provide the workers He wants for His harvest, for His mission, all over the world. I hope that we pray for God’s workers in every situation of mission and ministry all over the world.
But when we pray for workers, we pray that God will use us as His workers however and wherever He chooses. Jesus calls His disciples to be His workers. Jesus calls us to be His workers in today’s world too.
One of the principles of good human resources management is that if you give someone a job to do, you have to give them the authority to do it. It is no good expecting them to do a job, but not letting them get on and do it, because they have to refer everything back to you.
Jesus gives His disciples, His workers, His harvesters, His own authority. Just as He had been going around with the authority of God to proclaim the message, and to back up the message with the actions that show God’s power over all evil, He sent
His disciples out with that same authority. They were to go out in His name, to speak His Word and to do His deeds.
Matthew then gives us the names of these twelve disciples. We don’t have to go through those names now. But we are talking about real people, each with their own family history, own character and now their own mission. Jesus calls people like us to do His work too.
These twelve men were sent out by Jesus with the following instructions: “Do not go to any Gentile territory or any Samaritan towns. Instead, you are to go to the lost sheep of the people of Israel.”
There would come a time when Jesus would send His disciples far and wide. Before ascending to Heaven He told them: “…you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and in Samaria, and to the ends of the earth”. (Acts 1:8) As we follow the story of the disciples, they started in Jerusalem and Judea and they travelled with the Gospel to many distant places. We can follow the story of those who followed, literally reaching to the most distant places of the world.
Initially Jesus was telling the disciples to work where they were. He was sending them back to their own people and then to the wider world. He was telling the disciples to look and see the needs right there, all around them. He had looked with compassion on the people wandering around aimlessly, like sheep without a shepherd. He was sending His disciples to more of these people in their own communities.
Today too, Jesus calls some people to go to distant places, to places and people who have not yet heard the Gospel. We support missionaries who are bringing the Gospel to people for the first time.
God is calling us to work for Him, to take His message and His love to the people in our own communities. That is where He has put us and that is where He sends us.
Because there are needs right here, all around us, people in need, people
wandering around aimless, hopeless and defenceless. There are people right where you are, who desperately need to hear the Gospel spoken into their lives.
You are the best person to do that.
A volunteer is someone who acts voluntarily. That means you do something of your own free will. The word ‘volunteer’ means you are acting out of your free will or choice. A Christian volunteer is someone who is acting with a will that has been transformed by the Spirit of God.
If you ‘have to’ do it, you are not a volunteer. If you are ‘forced to’ do it, you are not a volunteer. If you do it because you are getting ‘paid to’ do it you are not a volunteer.
Jesus gives the very best reason to volunteer. You have received without payment, so give without payment. (Matthew 10:8b, ISV), or “Freely you have received. Freely give.” (Matthew 10:8b, NIV)
It is all about grace. God’s grace is the free gift of life with God, through the free gift of forgiveness and the free gift of God’s Spirit. Freely you have received.
That is the very best reason for giving, for doing, for being willing to respond to call
of Jesus, for volunteering in His service.
Jesus, with a wonderful free will, gave Himself for you, gave His life on a cross, out of compassion for you. He comes to you when you are wandering aimlessly and hopelessly and shepherds you into His Kingdom. This is the very best reason to give of yourself, freely and generously, to give your time and effort for His Kingdom.
We started by talking about all the different sorts of volunteering. People volunteer for many causes, and most are great examples of generous and willing service: serving people and serving the community in some worthwhile way. If you are involved in voluntary community service, I hope it brings you joy and fulfilment.
We talked about volunteering in your church life. We are here today sharing in this worship because many people have given of their time and effort. I hope and pray that as you serve in the life of the church that you find it fulfilling, and that you can rejoice because you share in this very special time with our God and each other.
Jesus calls you, like His first disciples, to give in a way that goes deeper. He calls on you to respond to the needs of the people around you with love and compassion, and to bring His love and the Gospel of His grace and care to people in every need.
Your volunteering may be in some sort of planned or organized way. It may simply be in your everyday life that no one organizes, where you act spontaneously.
Give freely, give voluntarily, give generously of yourself, of your time, with your efforts and dedication. Because God has given so freely and wonderfully to you.
Amen.

The Text: Matthew 9: 9-13, 18-26
Today’s gospel is about faith – the faith of Matthew (the tax-collector), the faith of the
woman with the flow of blood, and the faith of a Gentile ruler named Jairus. But what is faith?
The first thing we must do is distinguish two sides to faith – the human act of believing from
the divine object that we believe in. “So faith comes from hearing…” (Romans 10:17) But to
believe what? Well, if we were Jews, it would be Torah (the Old Testament law). If we were Buddhists, it would be Buddha. If we were Muslims, it would be the Koran. But since we are Christians, the object of our faith is the Word of God, the Bible. More specifically it is Jesus, who is the Word of God in human flesh. We believe the Bible because it tells us about Jesus.
It is our means of encountering Jesus today.
For the three people in today’s Gospel, they didn’t need the Bible because they had Jesus right there in front of them. Each of them are called to faith in Jesus (Matthew, by accepting Jesus’ call to follow; the woman by seeking to touch his garment; and Jairus by trusting that Jesus will raise his daughter from death). In each of these three people we see their faith in Jesus by how they relate to him. They don’t just believe; they believe Jesus.
And they believe Jesus because of what they had seen and heard about him. This is not a blind faith; a leap in the dark (as Christian are often accused of doing). But neither is it complete seeing. It is seeing through a glass darkly.
Now it is common for people today to say something like this: It doesn’t matter what you believe just so long as you are sincere. In other words, what matters is not the object of faith (what we believe) but the act of faith (our believing). If you are sincere (that is, if you genuinely believe from the heart) then that’s all God requires, because God wants sincere hearts.
Well, it’s true that God wants sincere hearts, but he wants more than that. Sincerity is necessary but not sufficient for true faith. Actually, even we want more than mere sincerity.
Who of us would be satisfied with a doctor, for example, who sincerely believed that cancer could be cured by magic? Or who of us would be satisfied with an accountant who sincerely believed that 2 + 2 = 5? Or who of us would trust a travel agent who sincerely believed that every road ultimately leads to the same place? Muslim suicide bombers are very sincere that what they are doing is God-pleasing, and so is the Ku Klux Klan, but both are sincerely wrong.
Today’s Gospel shows that beyond sincerity, faith must have the right object. A map is no good if it is inaccurate; but neither is it of any use if it is accurate, but we don’t trust it or follow it. Faith in your doctor means both trusting his advice and following it. So too, faith in Jesus. That’s why Matthew’s example is so important, for it shows what it means to be a true disciple of Jesus. It means being willing to forsake everything to follow him. Discipleship is not only of the heart but of the will – it is our willing response to Jesus’ call.
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What’s interesting is that most education programmes today presume the opposite – that knowledge comes first, and then action. First you learn what to do – then you do it. It makes perfect sense, only that’s not the way Jesus does it. To the Jews who questioned Jesus’ learning, he said, “If your will were to do the will of my Father, you would understand my
teaching”.
In other words, for Jesus doing what is right (the will of the Father), comes before understanding. Only by doing will our understanding become clear.
Dostoyevsky, in his famous book, The Brother’s Karamazov, provides an excellent example of this. Madame Holocov (called a woman of little faith) is going through a crisis of faith, and she confesses her doubts to the great priest, Father Zossima. “I had faith as a little girl,”
she says, “but I went to college, and I lost it. I was taught that everything can be explained by science, that there is no immortal soul and that when I die there are only the flowers on my grave. Please give me back my faith.” And Father Zossima says, “I can’t do that.” And she says, “Well, I’ve got to get it back somehow. Prove it to me.” And he says again, “I can’t prove it, but there is a way you can get your faith back. You have doubts – you
doubt whether there is an immortal soul; you doubt whether you are something more than a complicated machine. Here is the way to deal with that doubt – love your neighbour with an active love. Show mercy on the poor and miserable, and you will gradually come to perceive that your neighbour is not just a complicated machine but has an immortal soul.” She replies, “I understand, but the trouble is that I find that I can love humanity but I
can’t love my neighbour.“ Father Zossima replies, “Then I have nothing else to tell you, because love in action is a much more harsh and dreadful thing compared to love in dreams.”
That’s true, isn’t it? It is much easier to have feelings of love for someone who is absent than actions of love when they are present. But that’s what God wants. He wants us to love, not merely humanity, but whoever crosses our path in our daily lives. And he wants us to love not only those neighbours who are loveable, but also those who treat us badly, those who hurt us, abuse us, slander us, cause us grief. For that is what mercy is – it is love for the
loveless shown that they might lovely be.
Thus Jesus says to the Pharisees in today’s Gospel: “Go and find out what this means: I desire mercy and not sacrifice.” Actions without sincerity (the heart) are as false as sincerity without action. God wants both, our hearts as well as our lives. Sacrifice is more about what we don’t do. Mercy is more about what we do. Thus, we are to measure our faith not by what we deny ourselves, what we resist, or who we exclude, but rather by what we embrace, what we create, and who we include. Mercy shows compassion for the weak, the fallen, the helpless and the miserable. Mercy is the soul of sacrifice, and thus of the essence of God.
Yubis was a middle-aged woman filled with grief who didn’t know where to turn. In 2007, Yubis’s husband, a missionary in Columbia (South America), was brutally murdered for his faith and teachings about Jesus Christ. Her two-year-old daughter became so despondent that she stopped speaking. She would only draw pictures, with each one just saying one word: “Daddy”. However, with the help of a Christian Mission organisation, Yubis received
support and healing, along with counselling for her daughter. In a recent interview she said,
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“I wanted vengeance on those who killed my husband – I know who they are. But now God has shown me that the best vengeance would be for me to tell them about Jesus. So that is what I plan to do.” That’s mercy.
In this we see that mercy is not weakness, as it is often supposed. Nor is it acquiescence to sin. Russian leader, Catherine the Great, once quipped when caught in sin: “The good Lord will pardon; that is his trade.” Perhaps you’ve heard people say something similar: “It is easier to ask for forgiveness than permission.”
But any who know what it costs to forgive someone who sins against them, knows this is false. And anyone who knows what God paid for our forgiveness will not dare make light of his mercy. God is both just and merciful, which is why the Father sent his Son to die in our place. On the Cross, Jesus got the justice while we got the mercy.
“Your faith has saved you.” In the end, it is faith in Jesus that makes all the difference. It is faith that saves us. It is faith that lets Jesus into our souls; and to have Jesus in our souls is what salvation is. At the end of the movie, Saving Private Ryan, the old Ryan stands before the grave of Tom Hanks (who died saving Ryan’s life many years before). He recalls Hank’s last words to him as he lay dying: “Earn this”. As an old man, Ryan is still unsure whether he
has done enough good to “earn his life” and repay Hank’s for his sacrifice for him. Thank God, Jesus did not say “Earn this” from the cross. Instead, he said: “Forgive them”, and so he has, and so he does, and so he calls us who are forgiven to pass it on, to follow him in showing mercy to those around us, for that is our faith, and that is our sure and certain hope. In the name of Jesus. Amen.

Luke 21:5-19

Do you face the future with apprehension and anxiety or with joyful anticipation? Our media, with its focus on bad news, doesn’t make it easy for us. There seems to be no end of so-called “experts” with their gloomy predictions about the future, despite their poor track record of success. Fifty years ago, scientist Paul Ehrlich prophesied ecological disaster and mass starvation for our world. Most of his gloomy predictions have not come true.

In today’s Gospel, Jesus informs us that despite disasters and tough times that may occur in the future, we can look forward to that “happy last day (Luther)” with joyful anticipation and unbridled hope. In the face of natural or man-made disasters, we can hold our heads up high because our salvation is near. We read in Luke 21:28, “Now when these things begin to take place, stand up and raise your heads, because your redemption is drawing near.” And the best, the very best of everything, will soon be given to all who love our Saviour Jesus Christ. The more we think about the new heaven and new earth that will be given to us, the more effective we will be in serving our God on this earth now. Those who have served God most effectively while on this earth have meditated frequently on what God is preparing for those who love Him in the life of the world to come. They’ve especially looked forward to Christ’s visible appearance on the Last Day.

We Christians ought not to be alarmed over threats of nuclear warfare or other international disasters because we know that Christ Jesus will triumph over all opposition and threats to His Church. He has already won the most important victory over sin, death and the devil at Easter. We live now in the light of that victory. Jesus said, “I have said this to you, so that in Me you may have peace. In the world you face persecution. But take courage; I have conquered the world! (John 16:33)” In this morning’s Gospel, Jesus is asked about signs of the last things.

St Peter mentions positive signs performed by Jesus before Easter, and in the Book of Acts we learn of signs like the conversion of 3,000 people to Christianity on the first Pentecost Sunday. The principal prophecies of the Old Testament have been fulfilled in the First Coming of Jesus Christ, at Christmas, Good Friday, Easter and Pentecost. The Last Days weren’t some event far off into the future, but an event that began at Pentecost. “In the last days it will be, God declares, that I will pour out my Spirit upon all flesh.” All Christians can now prophesy when they uplift, encourage and comfort others with the Holy Gospel. St Paul says, “Those who prophesy speak to other people for their upbuilding, encouragement and consolation (1 Corinthians 14:3).” By comforting and encouraging others, we strengthen their faith in the face of life’s troubles and trials. “The essence of prophecy is to give a clear witness to Jesus (Revelation 19:10).”

In the New Testament the role of prophecy is less to talk about the future, and more to reassure us of God’s hand in the things that are happening in our lives today. Romans 8:28 remains a key assurance for us, “We know that all things work together for good for those who love God, who are called according to His purpose.” Many of the signs Jesus mentions in Luke 21 were already fulfilled in the Book of Acts, like Jesus’ followers being persecuted and brought before governors because of their faithful witness to Jesus. When they did that, they discovered that our risen Lord Jesus was fulfilling His promise of giving them powerful words promoting all that Jesus has done for us. Their opponents were astonished at their disarming fearlessness. “Now when they saw the boldness of Peter and John and realized that they were uneducated and ordinary men, they were amazed and recognized them as companions of Jesus.” The more the first Christians were persecuted, the more the Christian Church grew. The Church thrives more in times of adversity than it does when everything’s going well.

A Chinese Christian has written that “the growth in the life of the Church has been promoted even by the servants of the devil. Wherever the Church flourishes there are difficulties. The revival of the Church here has grown up in this situation. For if Jesus had not been crucified, none today could be saved; if there were no testing by fire, then true faith would not become apparent, and if there were no training we could not become instruments used by the Lord. So difficulties are the means for promoting life and revival in the churches.”

Anatoli Levitin was imprisoned for the Christian education of youth. In prison he was able to spend much time in prayer. He writes, “The greatest miracle of all is prayer. I have only to turn my thoughts to God and I suddenly feel a force bursting into me; there is a new strength in my soul, in my entire being …” During his time of prayer, he would imagine himself taking part in the worship of his church. He said, “At the  central point of the liturgy … I felt myself standing before the face of the Lord, sensing almost physically His wounded, bleeding body. I would begin praying in my own words, remembering all those near to me, those in prison and those who were free, those still alive and those who had died. More and more names welled up from my memory … the prison walls moved apart and the whole universe became my residence, visible and invisible, the universe for which that wounded pierced body offered itself as a sacrifice … after this, I experienced an exultation of spirit all day – I felt purified within. Not only my own prayer helped me but even more the prayer of many other faithful Christians.”

St Paul, when he became a Christian, found endless comfort in the knowledge that Jesus identifies with us when we faithfully witness to Him. To persecute a Christian is to persecute Jesus. From that time on, St Paul was never able to look at another Christian without seeing Jesus there. Christians have viewed the fact that they can fearlessly witness to Jesus in the most negative of situations as evidence that Jesus is with them and sowing seeds of faith for the future. Not all that seems to be a sign really is a sign. Many events are important in their own right, without being signs of the End. Natural and social upheavals occur to keep us on our toes and to prevent apathy and complacency among Christians about the future of their faith.

The most important event that must occur before the End of our world is that the Gospel must first be preached to all nations, “And this good news of the kingdom will be proclaimed throughout the world, as a testimony to all the nations; and then the end will come (Matthew 24:14).” St Paul did his utmost to spread the Gospel as far as he could. His example motivated countless other Christians to pass on the good news of Jesus Christ. “Very many of the disciples of that age, whose hearts had been ravished by the divine word with a burning love of Christianity, first fulfilled the command of the Saviour and divided their goods among the needy. Then they set out on long journeys, doing the work of evangelists, eagerly striving to preach Christ to those who had never heard the word of faith (Eusebius).”

We owe a huge debt to the witnessing activity of such faithful Christians. The spread of the Gospel continues today amongst migrants to our country like the Sudanese, Koreans and Chinese. Some of these, in turn, return to their homeland to spread the Gospel there. We can prepare for the Last Day by praying for and supporting the mission work of our Church here and overseas.

The more we can, in faith, see God at work in all the things that are going right in our lives now, the less need we will have to peep into tomorrow. Jesus says, “Give your entire attention to what God is doing right now, and don’t get worked up about what may or may not happen tomorrow. God will help you deal with whatever hard things come up when the time comes (Matthew 6:33-34).”

The prophets’ role in the Bible was to call God’s people to repentance and a deeper trust in their Creator. Fulfilment of prophecy (as predictions of the future) often came as a breath-taking surprise, exceeding all expectation. When Jesus came, He exceeded people’s expectation in all sorts of ways. We read in the Gospels that people were constantly astonished by what He said and did. He showed an extraordinary love and focussed His time and attention on those folk who were the neglected and forgotten members of society. No wonder the common people listened with rapt attention to Jesus. For He embodied the Good News He practised and preached.

Jesus equated the Gospel with Himself. To do something for the Gospel is to do it for Jesus. For where the Good News about Jesus is shared, there He is present. References to the blessings the Gospel brings us here and now far outweigh references to hell and damnation in the New Testament. Hell is for those who reject God’s love and the best good news in the universe. Jesus promises you that “By standing firm, you will gain life”, that is, life with Christ Jesus forever. He also promises that “not a hair of your head will perish.” This means that nothing, not even your hair, is excluded from Christ’s care of you. No part of your real being will be lost or brought to nothing. If your hair doesn’t perish, it is because that’s part of His will and purpose for you. “Of all the ills we endure / Hope is the universal cure.”

The New Testament links our Christian hope with words like assurance, confidence and eager expectation. After this sermon of Christ’s in today’s Gospel, in order to keep our faith and hope alive until He visibly reappears, Jesus instates Holy Communion. We don’t have to wait for the Last Day for Jesus Christ to come to us. Through Holy Communion, He prepares us for the life of the world to come. Holy Communion enables us to do today’s duties without worrying about what will happen in 2020 or 2021.

“”What no eye has seen, nor ear heard, nor the human heart conceived, what God has prepared for those who love him (1 Corinthians 2:9).” “For surely I know the plans I have for you, says the LORD, plans for your welfare and not for harm, to give you a future with hope (Jeremiah 29:11).”   Amen.

Text: Luke 20:34-38

Jesus answered, “The men and women of this age marry, but the men and women who are worthy to rise from death and live in the age to come will not then marry. They will be like angels and cannot die. They are the children of God, because they have risen from death.  And Moses clearly proves that the dead are raised to life. In the passage about the burning bush he speaks of the Lord as ‘the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.’  He is the God of the living, not of the dead, for to him all are alive.”

There is an Italian legend about a master and servant.  It seems the servant wasn’t very smart and the master used to get very exasperated with him.  Finally, one day, in a fit of temper, the master said, “You really are the stupidest man I know.  Here, I want you to carry this staff wherever you go. And if you ever meet a person stupider than yourself, give them this staff.” 

So time went by, the servant would encounter some pretty stupid people, but he never found someone stupid enough to give the staff.  Years later, he returned to his master’s home.  Even though his master was very sick, he still managed to say to his servant, “I see you haven’t found anyone more stupid to give that staff”.  After a while the master said, “I’m going on a journey soon.”
“When will you return?” asked the servant.
“This is a journey from which I won’t return,” the master replied.
The servant asked, “Have you made all the necessary arrangements?”
“No, I guess I haven’t.”
“Well, could you have made all the arrangements?”
“Oh yes, I’ve had time.  I’ve had all my life.  But I’ve been busy with other things.” 

The servant said, “Let me be sure about this.  You’re going on a journey from which you will never return and you’ve had all your life to make the arrangements, but you haven’t.”

The master said, “Yes, I guess that’s right.”
The servant replied, “Master, take this staff.  At last I have truly found a man stupider than myself.”

Maybe that’s just a story, but it reflects the way many people treat death as a taboo subject.  Everyone knows that it’s going to happen to them one day but it’s something people prefer not to think about or talk about.  No thought is given about death and dying and its impact on them personally.  No thought is given on how to prepare for death until it hits close to home and suddenly despair, emptiness, hopelessness and inconsolable grief fills their lives because they have never given any thought to the finality of death and what lies beyond this life.  Like the man in the story, too many people know they are going on this journey but don’t prepare for it.

On the other hand, people who have no interest in religion as well as people in the church want to know what happens when we die.  Science can’t penetrate beyond death to discover what happens to us.  We can’t interview anyone about dying, and what is beyond death.  There has been an intense examination of those who have had near death experiences and experience bright lights at the end of tunnels.  What these mean and do these apply to everyone is anyone’s guess.  Are these just happening in our brains or are they more than that?

Behind all this interest in death is the deep down feeling that there must be more – that there is something beyond this life. There is curiosity.  There is the desire to want to believe that our purpose is more than our years here on earth. 

Some have grasped on to the idea that has become very popular that we will come back again and our soul is given to another living creature. Our soul lives on forever, reincarnated hopefully into a higher living being each time.

Others say that everyone is born with an immortal soul that leaves us when we die and goes to live happily forever in another better place.  That immortal goodness in us is waiting to be released when we die and, regardless who the person is, that soul will rest in peace forever in paradise.

There are those who simply say that when you die, that’s it.  There is nothing else.  “When you’re dead, you’re dead!”  When your time’s up that’s the end of you and there is nothing else beyond your last breath.

The Sadducees followed this line of thinking.  They claimed that there was no life after death – no resurrection – since it isn’t mentioned in the first 5 books of the Old Testament.  They enjoyed having a bit of fun with those who did believe in life after death so they come to Jesus with this hypothetical question about a woman who marries 7 brothers after each one dies.  Pointing out how ridiculous the idea of life after death really is, they then ask with a smirk on their faces, “On the day when the dead rise to life, whose wife will she be?”  Can you imagine the Sadducees smugly folding their arms with a grin of satisfaction, thinking, “Get out of that one, carpenter from Nazareth!”

Jesus comes back with two answers both affirming beyond all doubt that there is a resurrection and that there is life after death.
Firstly, Jesus says that in this life, men and women marry but those who are worthy to rise from the dead will not marry.  They will be changed.  Their bodies will become like angels.  That means our bodies will be different to what they are now – we will have a heavenly body if you like.  What that precisely means we aren’t told but we are told they will never die.  We aren’t on a never ending merry-go-round of reincarnation, neither will we disappear into nothingness.  God has prepared for us an eternal destination.

The point Jesus is making here is that you can’t take what we experience in this life and project those experiences into the new life in heaven.  Heaven is way beyond anything we experience here.  As much as we might like to think we have some pretty good things here in this life and want to experience them again in heaven, Jesus is saying that heaven is way beyond anything we know from this present life.  It is something totally new and wonderful.  It defies description because all we can do is use words and images that we have from this life and they are completely inadequate when it comes to describing life after death.

It’s like looking through a frosted glass window trying to see what’s on the other side.  All we can see are shapes and lights – what’s on the other side will have to wait until we are able to see it all clearly with our own eyes.

Now to Jesus’ second come back to the Sadducees.  This time he refers to the books of Moses – the Sadducees considered themselves to be the experts when it came to this part of scripture.  He says, “Moses clearly proves that the dead are raised to life. In the passage about the burning bush he speaks of the Lord as “the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.’  He is the God of the living, not of the dead, for to him all are alive.”  He points out that God does not say that he was the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob as if they were dead and gone.  Rather God introduces himself as the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob who are alive and well living in his presence.  “I am the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. I am the God of the living. I am the resurrection and the life.”

There are lots of things we don’t know about life after death and how the resurrection will happen and when it will happen.  But we do know that it will happen and who is at the centre of the resurrection even if everything is a bit unclear now.

In 1 Corinthians 15, St Paul uses the picture of the seed and the mature plant. When you look at the seed that you are about to plant, to all intents and purposes it looks dead and lifeless. Into the ground it goes, there to await the miracle of germination.  Down come the gentle rains and the warm rays of the sun and that dead seed suddenly and miraculously springs to life.  Up it pushes through the soil as a new plant and at last when it is ripe and mature is harvested.

So it will be with our bodies.  One day some loving hands will tenderly deposit the dormant seed of our lifeless bodies into the soil of the grave, there to await the miracle of germination, the wonder of the resurrection.  And up we will spring as God’s new plants, the same and yet different, glorified, deathless and immortal, ripe, mature and ready to be harvested and to enjoy his presence forever.

Paul calls Jesus “the first fruits of those who have fallen asleep.”  Jesus has opened up the way for us to inherit eternal life.  He has been the first.  He defeated death and all its terrors by his own resurrection and promises that we too shall rise in the same way. 

Hermann Sasse was a German theologian who came to this country fleeing Nazi Germany.  He became a great teacher who influenced generations of Lutheran pastors in Australia.  His last message to the church and to the world is written on his grave stone – simple but profound words:
“For those who trust in you, Lord, life is changed, not ended.”

One new day we shall awake to a day beyond all other days by the love of God.  All trouble, doubts and fears will be gone.  We will become “like angels” by “the God of the living” we are raised to a joy and peace beyond anything that mortal minds can conceive.

When that happens, the words of this sermon will seem trivial, and even the visions of heaven in the Bible will seem an inadequate description of the real thing.  Now we see dimly, as through a frosted window; then we shall see with absolute clarity.  Thanks be to God!

Luke 18:9-14

Do you know of a perfect church-goer? There are many Christians I admire for all the love they show to hospital patients and all kinds of needy people. Yet these people are the first to admit their imperfections and short-comings. Just like in today’s parable, we learn of two different kinds of people in God’s House; so too our churches are made up of all kinds of imperfect men and women. Our churches are like hospitals, helping sinners receive help and healing for their sins. Church-goers are often referred to as “a mob of hypocrites”. Sadly, those who say that often have faults of their own, faults to which they’re often quite blind.

There is no shortage of Pharisees in today’s world. Perhaps, there’s a bit of Pharisee in each of us. Whenever we’re tempted to criticize someone else, we need to say: “There, but for the grace of God, go I.” It’s always wrong to compare ourselves with other people around us because we don’t know what difficulties they have to deal with in their private lives. Criticising others blinds us to our own faults. That’s why Jesus says to us that we should first remove the log in our own eye before speaking to someone else about the speck in their eye.

When we study the lives of the saints, we see they have these things in common – they’re kind to everyone and they remind us of Jesus. Despite being aware of their sin and need for God’s grace and mercy, they radiate goodness and gratitude. Jesus is the only example they point to, as they pray to be free of hypocrisy. Hypocrites, however, consider their actions and comments to be well intended. But the good they intend so often does more harm than good. It’s quite dangerous to think that “at least I’m not like the Pharisee in today’s parable.”

This morning’s parable is the only one told by Jesus that takes place in the temple. Most of Jesus’ other parables take place in everyday situations. Jesus tells this parable to those people who thought they were better than others and who looked down on everyone else. A rabbi called Simeon ben Jochai (jock-eye) said, “If there are only two righteous people in the world, I and my son are these two; if there is only one, I am he.” Jesus’ audience would have recognised that what the Pharisee said was true. He really had done many good deeds, doing way more than was expected. He had committed no crime. He represented what many Jews thought was good about their religious community.

You see, the Pharisees did a lot of good for their religion. Their problem was that, considering themselves to be better than others, they kept to themselves so that their practice of their religion couldn’t be contaminated. The Pharisee in the temple stands apart from others and prays aloud so that others can hear all the “good” things he has done. He’s talking to himself about himself, as he congratulates himself on what a good job he has done.

The word “I” occurs five times in this prayer. He gives thanks for what he is and not for who God is, for what God has given to him, and worked through him. He asks for nothing from God, not even for God’s mercy. His prayer is all about how great he is, and not about how great God is. He fasts and tithes more of his income than is suggested. He’s pleased that he is so much better than other sinners like the tax collector nearby. He expects to leave God’s House confirmed in his own estimation of himself as a righteous person.

God, however, thinks otherwise.

Meanwhile, the tax official’s body language speaks volumes about how he views himself. He makes himself as inconspicuous as possible with his face cast downwards. He realises what a rotter he is. He makes no excuses for what he has done. He doesn’t seek to justify himself in any way. In his confession, he speaks as if he is the only sinner on earth. Echoing the opening words of Psalm 51, he throws himself totally on God’s mercy when he says, “God, be merciful to me, THE sinner”.

It was rare in Jesus’ time for a man to beat his chest. But this loathed tax official is so overcome by all the wrong he has done that he beats his chest where his heart is, at the source of the sins he now so bitterly regrets. There is only one person whose sins he is concerned about and that’s his own. He acknowledges that God’s verdict on him up to now is just. The only thing that can help him and make a new future possible is God’s great mercy. The word he uses for mercy means “to make atonement for my sins”. He has come to the temple where atonement for sins is made by God.

Now there is no prayer that thrills God more than “God, be merciful to me, a sinner”. There’s no more welcome statement about our merciful Lord than “the mercies of the Lord are new every morning”. This means that each new day you can make a new start in your relationship with God, because what God forgives, God forgets.

A man named Christian was worried about his friend Jim. Jim was always so hard on himself. He blamed himself for everything. He told Christian he felt guilty for not caring for his family as well as he should have, guilty for not spending as much time with his children as he should have, guilty for not being as successful at work as he should have. The load of guilt he carried affected his sense of well-being, as well as his relationships with others. Christian didn’t know how to help him. One day as he read the Letter to the Romans in his Bible, he realized. He read of how we’re justified, that is, put right with God, by what Christ has done for us. This means that no further charge can be brought against God’s people because the verdict of “not guilty” has been pronounced over them (Romans 5:11). Immediately, Christian thought of Jim. He couldn’t wait to tell his friend that in God’s eyes, he wasn’t guilty. Jesus had taken Jim’s guilt on Himself. Through faith in Christ, we’re declared no longer guilty. We read in Romans 8:1, “There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.”

The closer we are to God, the more we’re aware of our sinfulness. God welcomes the broken-hearted who have no one else to go to but Him. That’s why we sing to Jesus our Saviour, 

          Nothing in my hand I bring

          Simply to Your cross I cling.

In telling us this parable, Jesus is pointing to what He will do for us on Good Friday when He paid the price for our sins so that we might be free of them.

This parable, like many of our Saviour’s other parables, had an unexpected conclusion that would have shocked His listeners. They would have thought that the Pharisee and not the tax collector merited God’s approval. Jesus reverses their expectations, in that someone considered the lowest of the low, with no righteousness of his own, is put right with God by grace alone. The Pharisee asked for nothing from God and got nothing; the tax collector received all he asked for: God’s unmerited mercy!

Today’s parable asks each one of us who we identify with. There may be something of both the Pharisee and the tax collector in most of us. Salvation through faith in Jesus Christ eliminates every idea of spiritual superiority by any of us. Instead of any feelings of spiritual superiority, we thank God for all our fellow Christians and all the good things they do for God behind the scenes, things only God knows about.

In gratitude for the fact that the mercy of the Lord is new every day, we eagerly do what our Lord encourages us to do. He encourages us to “Go home to your friends and tell them how much the Lord has done for you and what mercy the Lord has shown you (Mark 5:19).”

Our hymn 317 sums up so well the message in today’s Gospel:

          On God’s grace we have no claim / Yet to us His pledge is given;

          He hath sworn by His own name / Open are the gates of heaven.

          Take to heart this word, and live / Jesus sinners doth receive.

We pray:
Merciful God, help us to be more like Jesus and less like the Pharisees, day by day, as long as we live. Amen.

Luke 18:1-8

‘Then Jesus told his disciples a parable, to the effect that they ought always to pray, and not to lose heart.’ v 1

Do you ever lose heart in your life of faith?

Do you ever grow weary in the practice of prayer?

What sorts of things cause this to happen for you?

Perhaps when prayers go seemingly unanswered… 

Perhaps when God seems far away or indifferent…

Perhaps in your day to day life when you feel isolated as a Christian and that no one else around you bothers with God…

Perhaps when you feel the weight of sin and shame and so feel unworthy to pray…

Perhaps when life simply wears you down…

All these and more can tempt us to ‘lose heart’, to give up on the faith, to grow weary in prayer.

And if this is you, when this is you, here’s a word of encouragement from your Lord not to lose heart, but to keep the faith, to keep praying. 

Notice that Jesus assumes we will sometimes feel like this. The temptation to lose heart isn’t a sign we’re not a real Christian or anything like that. It’s almost the opposite. Jesus assumes this will be the experience of his disciples.

That’s why he wants to speak into this experience, to encourage and help you.

His parable does this in two very simple ways: by reminding us who God is, and who we are.

Who God is, and who we are.

Let’s take a closer look at it.

THE PARABLE – JUDGE AND WIDOW

‘In a certain city there was a judge who neither feared God nor had respect for people’ v 2.

So in short, this guy is a real piece of work. He’s in a position of significant responsibility where he is supposed to arbitrate justice on God’s behalf, and for the sake of God’s people…

But he doesn’t care about God, to whom he is accountable, or about people, who he is there to help.

He’s interested only in number one. Pure self-interest.

So there’s the judge.

‘In that city there was a widow who kept coming to him and saying, “Grant me justice against my opponent”’. v 3

So on the one hand you have the judge in his position of responsibility, power and influence, on the other hand you have the widow,

A picture of the little person in the community, the vulnerable one, the one who is basically in a position of helplessness.

She has no money and resources to use, she’s on her own, she has no one to advocate for her, she has no great status in society or relationship with the judge.

She’s in a desperate and somewhat hopeless situation.

Even in our modern times we may be able to resonate with the situation.

It’s often still the case that the vulnerable, those without the necessary resources, have more trouble getting justice. 

And yet even in this seemingly hopeless situation, eventually the unjust judge does give her justice. 

Why?

Well the judge says, ‘because this widow keeps bothering me, I will grant her justice, So that she may not wear me out by continually coming’.

The one resource she does have is persistence. Annoying persistence. And the judge is so sick of this he is ready to do anything just to get it off his radar.

And it has the ring of truth doesn’t it?

‘The squeaky wheel gets the grease’, we say. 

You parents know you sometimes give your kids things you shouldn’t because you just want them to leave you alone for a few moment’s peace!

This is the way it is, isn’t it?

This is the parable, fairly straight forward really.

But what does it mean?

What does it teach us?

How does it encourage us to keep praying when we lose heart?

We need to be careful here not to jump to our conclusions from this parable, but rather listen very carefully to how Jesus applies it, because he is most emphatically not saying that God is like this judge, and if you just pester him enough you’ll get what you want.

That is not what Jesus is saying here.

Indeed he wants to encourage us to keep praying always, but the big point is to use this judge and widow as a contrast to us, to remind us that actually God is nothing like this judge, and our relationship to him is far more than this judge to the widow.  

THE APPLICATION – WHO GOD IS, WHO WE ARE

So the parable goes on in verse 6,

‘And the Lord said, “listen to what the unjust judge says”’… (v 6)

In other words, did you hear what this unjust judge said in the parable?

He said that even though he is so crooked and uncaring, he’s going to hear this widow’s request and give her justice.

And so here’s the punchline, ‘Will not God grant justice to his chosen ones, who cry out to him day and night? Will he delay long in helping them? I tell you, he will quickly grant justice to them’.

So the point isn’t that God is like this grumpy unjust judge and we need to wear him down so he’ll give us what we want. 

The point is that if even this unjust judge, who is completely selfish, who cares nothing for the widow, who has no particular relationship to the widow, if even he will give her justice…

then HOW MUCH MORE, how much more, will your perfectly just and righteous, all loving and compassionate God, who does care for the people he has chosen as his very own, how much more will your God hear your prayers,

and bring justice to you?

That’s the big point of the parable, to remind you of who God is.

It’s very much a parallel from a few chapters earlier in Luke’s Gospel when Jesus said: ‘If you then who are evil know how to give good gifts to your children,

How much more will the heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him’.

So that’s who God is.

But remember I said the parable also reminds us who we are in relation to God.

Who are you?

Well you’re not just another case on the to-do list, you are not an insignificant number to him.

The text speaks of his chosen ones, his elect. In other words, unlike the widow, you do have a special status with God, you do have a particular relationship to him, he has chosen you to be his own,

He has chosen you from before the foundation of the world to be holy and righteous in his sight.   

Your God is not unjust, he is not indifferent, he is not hard to access,

God has chosen you, he loves you, he cares for you, he is with you and ready to hear you, he wants good for you.

And through this Word your Lord wants to remind you of this, and the Holy Spirit wants to drive that truth deeper into your heart and mind. Because as he does you will be encouraged to pray always and not to give up.

WHO WE ARE IN COMMUNITY

But notice something else about ‘who you are’, namely that you’re chosen as part of a community rather than just as an individual. 

Did you notice in the parable it was one widow, but in the application Jesus speaks not about an individual, but of the ‘chosen ones’ plural.

Jesus wants all his disciples together to be praying always.

Notice too this mention of crying out ‘day and night’ which I think points us to this same truth. Because in the Bible praying ‘day and night’ may mean something more like ‘in the morning’ and ‘in the evening’, which goes right back to the morning and evening sacrifices at the Temple,

In other words ‘day and night’ can point us to a regular, ongoing communal rhythm of prayer.

This is what you’re doing here this morning, as you gather in God’s presence and pray, as we pray for the church, the world and all those in need, and as you add your ‘amens’ to the prayers we bring. 

Historically and traditionally the Sunday gathering of the church has flowed into times of morning and evening prayer in the Christian community. That’s not so common in our Lutheran tradition these days. Perhaps all that might be left of this is the Mid-week Lenten services, or a Sunday evening prayer service.

And actually Luther’s rhythm of morning and evening prayer is just another extension of this for the family. 

So perhaps this is encouragement is to be part of a praying community.

This means it doesn’t all rely on you, the individual.

You are part of something bigger.

The prayers of others can carry you along when you’re losing heart, and vice versa.

In fact we often learn to pray by being in the praying community of the church and the family.

Here’s a hymn that prays:

The day Thou gavest, Lord, is ended,

The darkness falls at Thy behest;

To Thee our morning hymns ascended,

Thy praise shall sanctify our rest.

(It’s number 549 if you want to look it up.)

In that hymn it pictures the church in one part of the world finishing her prayers and going to sleep, as the church in another part of the world wakes up and continues the vigil of prayer, as the world rolls around. 

It’s a beautiful picture. It’s an encouraging reality, to know that while I sleep the saints of God on the other side of the world continue crying out to God,

And so together as a body we are praying always, according to Jesus’ promise that God will bring us justice quickly.

CONCLUSION – WILL HE FIND FAITH ON THE EARTH?

Now, as we begin to draw to a close, it is important to say that the justice God brings may not always look like what we think it should. He promises to bring justice, but not on our terms.

Ultimately it’s always, ‘not my will, but yours be done’.

And it’s also worth remembering that our sense of things happening ‘quickly’ may be very different from God’s.

But after Jesus gave this teaching there was one thing that did happen quickly, and that is that Jesus went to the cross.

Which is ultimately how you know God is faithful to his promises, that he does hear the cries of his people day and night, because it’s at the cross where God has brought justice to you, his people, once and for all.

God has sent his Son to take on himself our unrighteousness, and in exchange to give us his perfect righteousness.

God puts things right for us in Jesus’ death and resurrection,

God brings us justice for Christ’s sake.

So, ‘When the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on the earth?’

Jesus began by saying he was encouraging his disciples to keep on praying and not to lose heart. Now he ends by asking:

Will it happen?

Will his chosen ones give up?

Will they persevere in prayer?

Will faith be found on earth when he comes again?

In light of all we’ve just said, how do we hear this final question?

First, it’s a challenge of sorts, a final word of strong encouragement.

Christ is coming back to judge the world and take his own to be with him.

And he wants, he expects, to find his people waiting in watchful, patient, ongoing prayer.

But then as well, this question can cause us to rejoice.

Because even though so many times in history it has seemed as if people were giving up on God, if Jesus returned today what would he find?

He’d find faith on the earth. He would find faithful praying communities all over the world, even here in our congregation

I don’t about you but I still get a buzz to go to a new place and visit a new congregation, and to find a community of chosen ones crying out to God day and night, a community who hasn’t lost heart, a community of ongoing prayer.

God grant it to us all, in the name of Jesus, Amen.

Luke 17:11-19

What’s the best feeling you’ve ever experienced?

Could you endorse those Christians who say that feeling grateful for the gift of life is the best?

It’s wonderful to be thanked for what you’ve done for someone else, even though we don’t do it for acknowledgement.

It’s uplifting to be appreciated and not taken for granted.

It’s sad that many people who help us in our daily lives like doctors and teachers often go unthanked because people feel they’re “just doing their job”. It’s expected of them.

When we really understand the cost of God’s grace to us and appreciate the huge impact it has on our lives, our response can only be gratitude, gratitude that we show every day of our lives. The greatest danger we face as Christians is to take God’s grace for granted. The spiritual life of many Christians is impoverished because they give too little place to verbally giving thanks. It’s been said that our eagerness to give thanks is a barometer of our spiritual health. Doubt often begins the first time we think that expressing thanks to God or a family member or friend is superfluous. Gratitude is not only the greatest of virtues; it is the parent of every other virtue.

We all have many more things to be thankful for to God than to complain of. Why, then, isn’t gratitude so much more common than complaint? A computer thesaurus lists only seven alternatives for the verb “to thank”, but 19 possibilities for “to complain”! Humans have many ways of showing grumpiness, but aren’t so skilled at expressing appreciation. Today’s Gospel suggests that giving thanks isn’t as common as it ought to be, and we are the poorer for it. This morning’s account of the grateful Samaritan highlights the fact that often the most unlikely people are the most grateful. Often those who have much less reason to be thankful are the ones who show gratitude; they’re thankful just to be alive, to have a caring family and friends, and food on the table, things that we so often take for granted.

We can’t imagine how wonderful it must have been to be cured of the dreaded disease of leprosy. Why, then, did only one of the ten lepers return to thank Jesus for the gift of healing? A Samaritan would have been the last person expected to go out of his way to thank his Jewish healer. But then, there was no one who cared more for people who others avoided, like the Samaritans, than Jesus.

The ten lepers in this morning’s Gospel had no doubt heard how Jesus had compassion on other outcasts and healed them. Stories about how our Lord Jesus cared for those no one else cared for spread like wildfire. So when these lepers see Jesus in the distance, they saw in Him their only hope for a better future. They cry out from a distance, “Jesus, Master, have mercy on us!” Jesus, in humility, directs the lepers to the health inspectors of the time, the priests. Jesus puts their faith to the test by asking them to act as if they’ve been already cured. Obedience to Jesus precedes their healing

Now that they are healed, nine of them are all too absorbed in their joy at being healthy again to bother going out of their way to thank their Healer. They’d experienced God’s mercy, but failed to see how amazing and astonishing it is. We need to continually seek God’s mercy as long as we live. There’s no better prayer we can pray every day than “God, be merciful to me, a sinner.” God’s mercy is something we can never take for granted, but can only be received with lifelong gratitude. For “the mercies of the Lord are new every day (Lamentations 3:22).” “Let us therefore approach the throne of grace with boldness, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need (Hebrews 4:16).”

We can easily think of reasons why these nine lepers fail to thank Jesus for the mercy He has shown to them. By failing to thank our Lord for His grace and mercy, they miss out on an even greater blessing than the Samaritan alone receives, that is, the assurance that his faith has led to his salvation. The ungrateful nine felt they had more urgent things to do, like businesses to return to, and family and friends to see again. They treasured the gift more than the Giver. Failure to show gratitude means “biting the hand that feeds you.” An outsider, a Samaritan, puts God’s people to shame.

This Samaritan leper is also a “good” Samaritan in the deepest sense of the word. He knows that “It is good to give thanks to the Lord (Psalm 92:1).” He shows his gratitude publicly, not in a temple or synagogue, but to God in the person of His Son Jesus. The Samaritan worships and praises God at the feet of our Lord. He sees Jesus as much more than a miracle-worker. He sees Jesus as God in human form, who is worthy of praise of thanksgiving. He is grateful to the Giver, not just for the gift itself. His gratitude brings the wonderful blessing Jesus initiated to a glorious completion.

Unless we show gratitude as soon as possible, we’re unlikely to show it at all. By immediately returning to show our Lord his gratefulness, the Samaritan receives so much more than he originally asked for. He is made whole, that is, he is saved through his faith. Jesus says to him, “Rise and go, your faith has saved you.”

Gratitude is a celebration of the bond that unites giver and receiver. We taste the goodness of God’s gifts to us twice over when we delight in thanking Him for all that He has given us. Thanking God for all good things, great and small, takes the focus from ourselves and puts it onto God. Anything that takes the focus from ourselves is healthy.

Gratitude deepens our sense of dependence on God for life, protection and love. Gratitude dissipates discontent and increases our contentment with all we have already received from God.

As we grow in gratitude, we will discover God’s blessings in the most unexpected places. We may find that some of the things we thought were liabilities and limitations are really blessings in disguise. Grateful people are perhaps more open to recognising and receiving new and deeper blessings.

In one of the classic graces we pray before meals we say “For what we’re about to receive, may the Lord make us truly grateful.” You see, in the New Testament, God is also thanked for future blessings as well as past and present blessings. Week by week, God blesses us in ways we often don’t see at the time.

In retrospect, we might see how tough times we’ve experienced have become blessings in disguise, as they’ve drawn us closer to God. Gratitude is enhanced rather than diminished by lavishing it on everyday blessings.

We can thank God for everything that’s been going right in our lives.

We can express our gratitude for all the parts of our bodies that are healthy and functioning well.

Thank God that your car brought you safely here to worship this morning and has taken you safely to and from home each day this week.

Thank God for everyone worshipping with you here today.

Thank God for every fellow Christian who has enriched your life in one way or another.

Thank God for everyone who has shown you love in one way or another, and for those who have been grateful to you for the love you’ve shown them.

Jesus interprets acts of thanksgiving as expressions of love for Him. Love and thanks are two sides of the one coin.

There was once a grandmother who said “Thank You, God; thank You, God” at least a hundred times a day. God helps us all to grow in gratitude the longer we’re on this earth. The true test of joy is gratitude. It’s not how much you have that brings you happiness, but how much you’re grateful for what you do have. Gratitude is the shortest, surest way to joy. May God’s grace never stop inspiring gratitude in you.

All good gifts around us are sent from heaven above:

then thank the Lord, O thank the Lord, for all His love.

 

Amen.

Luke 16:19-31

What would you do if you unexpectedly received one million dollars? Would you automatically think of giving some of it away to others in greater need than you? On the Sunday TV program Songs of Praise a new definition of a millionaire was suggested as “someone who gives a million dollars away”. Today we thank God for all those around us who have so generously supported the ministry of our Church to the poor and needy. In the Early Church the poor were called “the treasures of the Church” because in helping the poor, Christians were helping Christ Himself who meets us in the poor and needy.

The focus of Jesus’ ministry was on those in greatest need of His help. Jesus deeply and warmly loved those on the edge of society or those who were looked down on with disdain – the weak, the sick, the disabled and outcasts. Jesus reminds John the Baptist that His mission was to bring good news to the poor. By this, Jesus also includes those suffering from spiritual poverty, of which there are so many here in our own community. In today’s parable, Jesus focuses on the needs of poor people like Lazarus.

Children and grown-ups like hearing this parable. In this story it seems that for a moment, the curtain is drawn aside and we get a tiny glimpse of the hereafter, of heaven and hell. The other thing that pleases a child’s imagination and perhaps many adults, is to see how this rich guy, who had it so “good” in this life, gets what’s coming to him in the next life, while poor Lazarus, who had such a hell of a life on earth, at last receives the joy and consolation of heaven.

But by focussing on that aspect of the story, we’re missing its central point. The real point of the story is not so much about the rich man or about Lazarus, but rather about what Abraham says to the rich man about his five brothers still at home on earth and their need to hear God’s Word. The sin of the rich man isn’t that he was rich but that he was indifferent. It’s not bad to be rich, nor is it a sign of goodness to be poor. But it’s wrong when a person is so wrapped up in his possessions and affluent lifestyle and is so thoroughly selfish that he is totally indifferent to the needy person placed at his gate. The rich man’s terrible sin isn’t that he never helped Lazarus, but that he did nothing at all, feasting while Lazarus died at his gate. In the time of Jesus, affluent people used bread as we use serviettes – to wipe their fingers. Hungry Lazarus would gladly have fed on such scraps, but the rich guy pretends not to notice Lazarus’s desperate need for food.

What’s more, he pretends not to notice God, His Maker and the Giver of all the gifts he enjoys. These two realities go together – if you love God, you will love your neighbour and have a special compassion for a neighbour in need. At the other end of the scale, indifference to your needy neighbour is a reflection of your

indifference to God. God’s Word says to you, “Those who do not love a brother or sister whom they have seen, cannot love God whom they have not seen (1 John 4:20).”

 Let’s focus on being different now. Lazarus certainly was a different person in the next life. In contrast to the rich guy in our parable who is unnamed, Lazarus has a name. His name is a very important clue for understanding this story, because his name means “God is my helper.” His name shows that despite all his poverty and misery, he has put his trust in God. He believed God is his Helper. And when he dies, what he has always believed comes true. In heaven he discovers the joy of being with the God in whom he trusted.

The rich man is certainly a different person in the next life. For him it is a “riches to rags” story. In the next life he finds himself in hell. What is hell? To be separated from God. And what is heaven? To be with God. In this life the rich man separated himself from God; in the next life, the separation from God becomes absolute. So now he’s a radically different person – no more enjoying the comforts of this life, but enduring the discomforts of hell. Another thing is different about him in the next life. For the first time he thinks of someone other than himself. He is concerned about his five brothers left on earth and asks Abraham to send someone from the dead, lest they also come to the place of torment.

He thinks that there’s only one thing that will change his brothers on earth and make them different, that is if someone comes from the dead to warn them and then they will believe. “Not so”, Abraham tells him. “They have Moses and the prophets; let them hear them.” And if they won’t listen to them, that is, if they won’t hear God’s Word for them, then they won’t listen even if someone comes to them from the dead.

Although this is only a story told to us by Jesus, nevertheless what He said actually happened. There was a brother who did come back from the dead, and would you know, his name was Lazarus! Remember how Jesus raised Mary and Martha’s brother Lazarus from the dead. And what happened after Jesus raised Lazarus? Those who already believed, believed all the more. But those who didn’t believe immediately began plotting to assassinate Jesus. There were times like the feeding of the five thousand when people saw the miraculous things Jesus did and still didn’t believe in Him. Seeing is not necessarily believing.  Rather, faith in Jesus gives us super-sight. Jesus says to Martha at the death of her brother Lazarus, “Did I not tell you that if you would believe you would see the glory of God? (John 11:40)” Faith enables us to see God at work in our lives and around us, things those without faith cannot see.

So who are we in this story? We’re the ones still alive. We are the five brothers. And like them we have Moses and the prophets. In fact, we have even more, because not only do we have Moses and the prophets in the Old Testament, we also have the Gospels and the Epistles, the New Testament of our merciful Saviour Jesus Christ. We have the life-giving good news of His grace that can make us different, and can make us dare to live differently. What an incomparable blessing that is. It’s all about the Word who took on human flesh and lives among us, full of grace and truth.

Our Lord Jesus Christ became poorer and more wretched than Lazarus was so that by His poverty we could become rich in the things that matter eternally. “For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though He was rich, yet for your sakes He became poor, so that you, through His poverty, might become rich (2 Corinthians 8:9).”

After His birth, where Jesus lay in a borrowed manger in a lowly stable, He was rejected, scoured, despised, tortured and crucified for us. Jesus gave up everything for us and our eternal benefit and blessing. After Jesus rose from the dead He became Lord of heaven and earth and the real owner of everything on this earth. He now says to you and to me: “Give to others, and God will give to you. Indeed, you will receive a full measure, a generous helping, poured into your hands – all that you can hold (Luke 6:38).” Or as the prayer of St. Francis puts it, “For it is in giving that we receive” the joy of knowing that we are blessing others with what God has given us. Jesus says to you “Blessed are those who hear God’s Word and put it into practice (Luke 11:28).”

It’s not hard to put ourselves in the rich man’s place and imagine what he might think, looking at Lazarus, all covered in loathsome sores: ‘But if the doctors cannot do a thing for him, what am I expected to do? He is as poor as the stray dogs themselves. But surely it is not my fault that he is poor. I never robbed him or stole from him. God knows the streets are full of beggars. There are plenty of others as badly off as he is. But what can one man do about it? They would have to bankrupt the government to make any noticeable difference. If one lone beggar finds his way to my door, does that give him more claim on me than the others have? I have let him live exclusively, for weeks and months, on the discarded scraps from my table. Surely that is something I am doing for him. What more can I do?’

When we suffer from donation-fatigue like that, we need to pray to Jesus, “Thank You for loving me so much more than I could ever deserve. Through Your Word and sacraments, continually fill me with a love that overflows into the lives of others.” 

People who love each other want to be together and hear each other speak. When we love our Lord, we want to be where He is with us in a very special way, that is, in the Lord’s Supper, where He gives Himself to us in an awesome act of love. He does this to continue making us more and more like Him. More and more we will become eager to love others with Christ’s life-transforming, life-renewing love.

We give to God because God promises to multiply with His blessing whatever we give, whether to Him or our needy neighbour. “God loves a cheerful giver (2 Corinthians 9:7).”

For souls redeemed, for sins forgiven, for means of grace and hopes of heaven,

To you, O Lord, what can be given? You give us all.

We lose what on ourselves we spend; we have as treasure without end

Whatever, Lord, to You we lend – You give us all.

Amen.

Luke 16:1-13

The guest speaker at a pastors’ conference handed out a paper containing ten statements for the pastors to think about during the course of the conference.  He called them ‘The Ten Deadly Delusions’ because they were statements that at first glance seemed to be true, but each contained a dangerous or misleading idea or attitude. 

Three of them related specifically to the parable that is before us today.  Let’s see if you can see what is wrong or misleading in each statement.

1. “God wants us to give him a percentage of what he has first given us. If only people would practice tithing!”
2. “God has blessed this country with many wonderful things to enjoy.”
3. “This country offers many opportunities for people to achieve success for themselves.”

In the light of Jesus’ parable of the shrewd manager let us consider a response to these three so-called ‘delusions’.

To the first ‘delusion’ we must ask: How can we give God what really belongs to him anyway?  Don’t the things we use in this world still belong to God? The Old Testament practice of making tithes and offerings was given, not as an end in itself, but so that people would not forget that God is the owner and giver of all things.  We cannot begin to assume that we own or deserve any of the things we have.  Think about the manager in Jesus’ parable.  He had nothing of his own.  His job was on loan to him only for as long as the rich man saw fit.  His employment was totally in the hands of his master.  He had been living in a house provided by his master, eating food and wearing clothes provided by his master or bought with his master’s wages.  Now, when accused of wasting the master’s possessions and left to consider his future without a job, the reality began to hit home.  He really owned nothing at all. Without his Master he was completely unable to provide for himself.

Isn’t that true for us also?  Apart from our Master’s goodness we have nothing.  The one who owns all things graciously loans some of them to us. We confess in the explanation to the first part of the creed that everything we have from God is ‘purely out of his Fatherly and Divine goodness and mercy, though we do not deserve it.’  Our life itself is on loan from God. Every day of our time on this earth is entirely in God’s hands.  Our food, clothing, money, talents are ours only as long as our Master loans them to us.  Apart from his goodness to us we have nothing and are incapable of providing for ourselves.  The Scripture says: We brought nothing into this world, and we can take nothing out if it (1 Tim 6:7).  When God speaks of his ‘giving’ to us or our ‘giving’ to him we must always see it in this context.  The Psalmist says: The earth is the Lord’s and everything in it (psalm 24:1).

Like the rich man in Jesus parable, the Master owns everything.  In reality we cannot give ‘a percentage’ back to him because it’s all his anyway – 100% of it.  In our tithes and offerings we honour God’s generous loan by returning the first percentage to its rightful owner.

Like the manager or steward in Jesus’ parable we are simply managers of what our Master owns.  When God created the Adam and Eve he gave them ‘dominion’ or ‘management’ over the things he had made, not ‘ownership’. That is why we have traditionally used the word ‘stewardship’ in relation to our management of time, talents and treasures, rather the word ‘giving’ – because giving presumes that we own these things – and we don’t!  As God’s ‘stewards’, we are simply employed to ‘manage’ and distribute what belongs to our Master. 

Jesus’ parable leads us to look at the second ‘deadly delusion’: “God has blessed this country with many wonderful things to enjoy.”  To that statement we must then respond: We are certainly blessed by what God generously loans to us, not just to enjoy for ourselves but to use to his glory and in the service of others.  Think again of the manager in Jesus’ parable. He knew he owned nothing but he also knew something else; he had his master’s goods at his disposal.  So he used his remaining time, his talents as manager, and the goods that belonged to his master to serve others and to secure his own future. 

Jesus makes no bones about the fact that what the manager did was dishonest, but he does commend him for his shrewd or clever use of what was placed under his care.  Jesus’ point is that if non-believers can be so clever in their use of worldly goods then we should ‘take a leaf out of their book’ when it comes to our management of what we have on loan from God.  Jesus is by no means promoting dishonesty; he is talking about the wise use of our Master’s time, talents and treasures while we have them at our disposal.

Like this manager we have all been given notice that our time on this earth is limited and that we must give an account of our management.  We know that we can’t take anything with us into the next life, so the challenge is to use what we have to wisely to serve others and prepare ourselves for life in the eternal dwellings. 

The questions we must ask are: How can we wisely invest our time, our talents and our treasures to ensure our own eternal life and that of our family remains secure?  How can we use what we own to make friends for God; people who will also be our friends in the eternal dwellings?  How can we use the Master’s goods that are now at our disposal to serve those who live in hardship or oppression?

Nowhere in the Scriptures are we called to accumulate things for our own enjoyment.  Instead we are called to manage, use and distribute them wisely for the glory of God and the good of others.  ‘We live in a world where 6% of the people receive half the income, 50% are constantly hungry, 60% live in shanty-towns, and 70% are illiterate’.  There is even a greater percentage who are Biblically illiterate and spiritually hungry and who know nothing about the eternal dwellings.

Now we can also see what is wrong with the third ‘delusion’: “This country offers many opportunities for people to achieve success for themselves.”  While that statement is true in one sense, we must ask: Is material success what we’re really here for?  God reminds us that real success is not determined by the size of our house, our land, our possessions or our retirement nest-egg, the type of car we drive, the type of clothes we wear, or who our friends are, but by whether we are God’s friends.   Real success is not about accumulating riches but seeking God’s kingdom and his righteousness. 

Both the master in the parable and Jesus himself commended the shrewd manager because he looked to the life beyond.  While still in his tenure as manager he prepared for life beyond his job.  He used his limited time and his master’s possessions to make friends for himself so that when he had nothing left they might welcome him into their homes.  Jesus encourages us to use our remaining time and all the talents and treasures at our disposal to make friends with God – to make sure we are reconciled to him.  If we are friends with God through faith in Jesus we know we will be welcomed into eternal dwellings.  We know that real success is finally achieved the very day we are called to leave all our worldly possessions behind.

We don’t have to accumulate riches here because, in our friendship with God through Jesus, we have everything we need. We are already rich.  In fact, Jesus warns that when the things of this world become the object of our loyalty, at that point we become spiritually and eternally poor.  We simply cannot serve two masters.

So let’s re-word those three ‘deadly delusions’ into three ‘living truths.’

1. “God wants us to acknowledge that we own nothing and that everything we are and have is graciously on loan to us. If only people would manage and distribute God’s gifts wisely!”
2. “God has provided the people of this country with many wonderful things, not to live comfortably but usefully for God and for others.”
3. “Life in this world offers many opportunities for people to prepare ourselves and others for the life in ‘eternal dwellings’.”

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

The Text: Luke 15:1-10

¹Now all the tax collectors and the sinners were drawing near to Jesus to hear him. ²And the Pharisees and the teachers of the law were murmuring and saying “This man receives sinners and eats with them!” ³And Jesus told them this parable, saying ⁴“What one of you having a hundred sheep and having lost one of them, does not leave behind the ninety-nine in the desert and pursues after the one being lost, until he finds it? ⁵And finding it, he lays it upon his shoulders, rejoicing. ⁶And coming to the house he calls together his friends and neighbours, saying to them ‘Rejoice with me! For I found my sheep that was lost.’ ⁷I say to you that in the same way, there will be joy in heaven over one sinner repenting than the ninety-nine righteous who have no need to repent. ⁸Or what woman, having ten coins, if she has lost one, does not light a candle and sweeps the house and carefully seeks until she has found it.” ⁹And having found it, she calls together her friends and neighbours, saying ‘Rejoice with me, because I found the coin which I lost.’ ¹⁰In the same way, I tell you there is joy before the angels of God over one sinner who repents.”

There are ‘Lost and Found’ departments everywhere―in shopping centres, hotels, public transport offices and schools―where people can go and claim that which is valuable to them they have lost. I remember when I was in primary school the lost and found department was a giant cardboard box with piles of shirts, shorts and jumpers to sort through, which I did once, hoping to find my lost drinker.

A drinker is not so bad but when we lose something that is valuable or necessary to us, and we still can’t find it after turning the house upside down, then we know the feelings of frustration, desperation and perhaps even despair: it might be our keys, a wedding ring, that critical part to a tool or toy, our watch, our wallet, an earring, important documents…

There’s a sense of that in today’s Gospel reading where Jesus tells a parable which we tend to refer to as the ‘lost coin’. Jesus says: “Suppose a woman has ten silver coins and loses one. Does she not light a lamp, sweep the house and search carefully until she finds it?” Speaking of turning the house upside down, here is this poor woman searching frantically for her lost coin―not just a lost coin, but one of ten coins. The ten coins probably represents this woman’s life savings. One of them would therefore be incredibly significant amount of money―who of us wouldn’t be worried if we had lost a tenth of our life savings! And without the social security services in those days, a tenth of this woman’s life savings was all the more important! So she lights a candle and sweeps the house hoping to brush it out of the cracks and hear it tinkle on the floor, so that it can be heard and seen and found.

This parable is of course searching for something far more important that money. Jesus’ parables use earthly realities to show us how God works in his grace. The initial audience of Jesus’ parable are the Pharisees who grumble about Jesus welcoming sinners into his presence. They think that if Jesus were really God, he would not make himself ritually unclean by associating with them. But the Pharisees have not understood. Everybody is in need of God’s grace!

That’s precisely what God says in today’s Psalm:

The Lord looks down from heaven
    on all mankind
to see if there are any who understand,
    any who seek God.
³ All have turned away, all have become corrupt;
    there is no one who does good,
    not even one.

⁴ Do all these evildoers know nothing?

 They devour my people as though eating bread;
    they never call on the Lord.
⁵ But there they are, overwhelmed with dread,
    for God is present in the company of the righteous.

In our natural condition humanity is so darkened by sin and in fact dead in sin, as Paul says in Ephesians 2, that rather than seeking out the one true God, the human race has all turned from God, become corrupt, and are not capable of even making a choice to believe in Jesus. Jesus says in John’s Gospel “you did not choose me, but I chose you”. There is not even one in the entire human race that is able to do good―sure, people do good works, but this is speaking of living each day with God.

Today’s Psalm says: “God is present in the company of the righteous”. This is the sticking point for the Pharisees in the Gospel reading. It is why they grumbled that Jesus welcomed sinners and had table fellowship with them. They reckoned that if Jesus were really God, he wouldn’t―and shouldn’t―be in the company of sinners. They, the Pharisees, were the righteous ones (or so they thought).

Herein is the problem and Jesus’ own issue with the Pharisees. It was not that they revered the Law. After all, God’s law is holy and righteous and good and he does want all people to keep it—and to keep it perfectly—even as we promise that we will strive daily to lead a holy life just as Christ has made us holy. The issue is that they were self righteous; they revered their own efforts at trying to keep the Law according to their interpretation of it and they failed to see nobody is able to perfectly keep God’s Law. They established thousands of man-made rules for how to live out that interpretation in daily life. In the process they obscured God’s own commandments, and they rejected his saving help in Jesus as the Christ, and made them look to themself as being somehow able to earn righteousness before God. The parable of the lost sheep brings this out―Jesus in effect is saying that the Pharisees, the shepherds of Israel, have lost their sheep through leading them astray with false teaching, and yoking them with the crushing burden of trying to earn righteousness before God, for as James says in James 2:10: “whoever keeps the whole law and yet stumbles at just one point is guilty of breaking all of it.” So the Pharisees had set themselves up with a burden impossible to bear. They had failed to realise that everybody―including them―needs God’s grace. It is actually those who recognise that they are unrighteous and helpless to help themselves and see their only hope in Jesus’ good works who are the very ones in a right relationship with God.

The sheep in the first parable offers no service to the shepherd and in no way earns or deserves its rescue. Jesus tells these parables to teach the Pharisees that they are among the lost. Like the coin in the parable, a lifeless object which doesn’t even know it is lost, so too are the Pharisees, for they trust in their own works to earn God’s forgiveness and favour.

Yet the central message of the parables does not lie in that which is lost but the ones who are searching. [I thought this was a most appropriate picture for God’s ‘Lost and found’ department, and it is precisely what Jesus would have us see as central to these two stories]. The woman and the shepherd are the central and active figures. They search for what is lost because it belongs to them, and they search until it is found. These characters represent Jesus―he is the Messiah who comes to seek and save the lost sheep of Israel. He is to be seen as the woman, lighting the lamp, sweeping the house carefully. Each parable highlights God’s grace in searching for the lost and his joy at restoring sinners back to him. Jesus never actually called these parables ‘The parable of the lost sheep’ or ‘The parable of the lost coin’―they’re names that scholars and commentators have given them over the years.

I wonder if they would be better called: “The parable of the searching God” because they are about God in Christ searching out lost sinners in his gracious and extravagant love. He sent his Son into the world and to the Cross to seek and save the lost, to pay the price to buy us back by taking our sinfulness upon himself and ransoming us with his own blood, that we would be his own, alone, forever. All this is a reality for you in your baptism. It was in your baptism that the God who searches for and finds the lost found you even when you didn’t know you were lost. It was there that he washed you, forgave you and united you with Christ and his own death and resurrection so that you may belong to him as his alone. It was there he gave you his Spirit to make you spiritually alive; to daily die to sin and rise with him to newness of life and see with the eyes of Jesus and love others with his heart. It was there that heaven was filled with the resounding noise of the angels rejoicing over you. It was Jesus who was lost for a time; abandoned and forsaken by his Father on the Cross so that you wouldn’t be lost to God.

There are still many who are lost who Jesus would have his church reach out to. Joined to Christ we are called to share in his mission as his holy priesthood, and made new in him in baptism, we are able to follow, albeit imperfectly. Through his word, the Spirit he gave us at Baptism continues to battle with our old spirit, the spirit of the Pharisees in which we think we’re really not that bad, not like those other people. He calls us not to wait for people to come back to church, but he calls us to be the church and follow him as his search party. When Jesus visibly walked this earth in his ministry, he did not wait for people to show up at the synagogue―it was often in his daily interactions with people in everyday settings that he taught them and showed them his love and grace. When Jesus ate with sinners, he didn’t just give them food on a plate. He gave them time in his day, he sat with them, he had conversation with them; he affirmed that they were important, he attended to their needs with his care. And that’s what we have all been called to as Christ’s church—not for the prospect of boosting our attendance figures and balance sheets, but simply because they are people who are lost and can’t find their way back home and they matter to him, so much so that he stretched his arms out on the Cross for them too.

It is a challenge―one that usually makes us feel uncomfortable. But we don’t have to search high and low to know who we should be engaging with―they are usually right before us. The lost are not necessarily always those who are the socially undesirable or trapped in terrible sin. There are the respectable lost, the law abiding citizens lost, the educated lost, the lost who contribute to society. They are our next door neighbours, the people in the supermarket queue, those we mix with in work and leisure. And after we’ve got to know them, and listen to them, we see that they are really not much different to us. They have the same needs, the same fears, the same longing for peace and hope. And they might even say: “There’s no way God would want a sinner like me”. That’s when we can say: “Let me tell you a story. There was once a shepherd who searched for one of his sheep. And when he found him he carried him home, and there was rejoicing in heaven…”

And as you retell that story, remember this is how joyful God and the company of angels in heaven is for you, for it was Christ who searched for and found you, and carried you safely home to God, rejoicing all the way. Amen.