The Text: Matthew 14:22-33
Dear heavenly Father, send your Holy Spirit on us so when facing storms in our life,
we may have courage and not be afraid knowing your Son Jesus Christ is with us.Amen.
There are some things you can do.
There are some things you can’t do.
And sometimes they’re the same thing!
Now, before you think I’m talking in riddles (and perhaps I am), I’d like you to think how many times Jesus tells his disciples to do things they shouldn’t be able to do.
And then, even if they should be able to do what he asks, they often fail in their task.
For example, just before today’s reading Jesus asked the disciples to feed five
thousand men (plus women and children). The disciples naturally complained they didn’t have enough to feed them. It’s too hard. They can’t do it. It seems they failed Jesus’ test.
But in the next moment, Jesus blessed a small pile of bread and fish, gave it to the disciples to distribute it (after all, he told them to feed the people), and after everyone was fed, there were still twelve baskets of left-over food.
This is amazing! Miraculous! Unbelievable! Even though they couldn’t do it, with Jesus’ help, they did it!
Then, in today’s text (which comes immediately after the miraculous feeding of the five thousand), Jesus told them to cross over to the other side of the lake by boat while Jesus said goodbye to the crowds and went off by himself to pray.
But during the night the winds and waves came to torment his disciples while they were in the middle of the lake. Here in the dark they’re alone, afraid, and tortured by the scary and chaotic storm. Then, to top it off, just when they didn’t think it could get any worse, Jesus walks toward them on the water!
Now, before you criticise the disciples’ frightened reaction when they saw Jesus, what would you think?
I mean, if you’ve been taught your whole life to be afraid of the sea because it’s a chaotic place filled with pagan gods and demons and evil spirits, and you believe you’re under demonic attack by these chaotic winds and waves this whole night, and then, you see a man walking toward you on those waves, what do you think your reaction would be like?
Maybe you’d squeal like frightened little girls like they did! They thought Jesus was a ghost or a phantom walking toward them to finish them off!
But then Jesus spoke to them. The words he spoke are good to memorise and
paste on your walls at home.
Unfortunately, the words he spoke are often watered down a little in our
translations. Literally, Jesus says something like: ‘Be encouraged’ as if he’s
commanding courage to fill their frightened hearts so they can stand firm in the face of evil and chaos. We too wouldn’t mind a bit of courage to stand firm in the face of persecutions and struggles at times.
He also says: ‘I am’, echoing the holy name of God of ‘I AM WHO I AM’ as once
announced to a frightened Moses before he led the Israelites out of Egypt. This is the same ‘I Am’ who is the Bread of Life, the Light of the world, the Good Shepherd, and the Way, the Truth, and the Life. This is the One who says ‘I Am with you to the end of the age’ at our baptism.
And then he says: ‘Don’t be afraid’ as if to order their fear to stop, just like he soon orders the wind and the waves to stop.
Wouldn’t it be good to not be afraid of what people think, or to not be afraid of
failing, or to not be afraid of what people will say or do to us, or to not be afraid of the troubles we face in life, or to not be afraid of sickness or death?
So, in their distress Jesus tells them: ‘Be encouraged! I am! Don’t be afraid!’ These words are a command, an assurance, and a promise of salvation despite the storm.
Now, coming back to doing what we can and can’t do at the same time, Peter
has the nerve to ask Jesus to command him to go toward Jesus on the water,
thereby doing what only Jesus as Lord of heaven and earth could do.
Now, you’d think this is something Peter can’t do. Even though Jesus seemed to defy the laws of nature, a human can’t walk on water!
Yet Jesus gave him a simple command: ‘Come!’
Amazingly, miraculously, and unbelievably, Peter got out of the boat and walked on the water toward Jesus! He shouldn’t be able to do it, but he was doing it!
Wouldn’t you have loved to see the faces of the other disciples!
But again, we can’t do what we can do. Peter is soon distracted by the wind and sinks. He calls out for Jesus to save him as the chaotic sea begins to swallow him up. Jesus reaches out his hand and saves Peter before commenting on his little faith and doubt.
In a sense, Peter is a symbol of all believers.
You see, we’re at the same time we’re full of faith and unfaith. We can both do
wonderful things, yet we also completely fail at times. We can love exceedingly generously and graciously, and yet we can viciously hate and abuse each other.
We can be incredibly selfless and yet be extraordinarily selfish. We can be filled with hope and joy and yet flounder in the despairing depths of hopelessness. Even the strongest person of faith will also experience times of doubt and fear.
Therefore, the cry of Peter to Jesus: ‘Lord, save me!’ is the cry of both the strong disciple who can do miraculous things, as well as the miserable sinner who struggles with doubt, despair, and confusion.
We cry out to Jesus as the only One who can save us from sin, from the devil, and from death itself. Even when we can’t reach out to him (because it’s something we both can and can’t do for ourselves), he’s the One who reaches out to us. In this way, instead of us being able to cling to him, he’s the One who clings to us and holds us safe.
In our world today there are many things which torment us in the storms of life and faith. We need his encouragement, the assurance of his presence, and for him to calm our fears.
The storms we face (which often make us afraid) could come in the forms of
school studies or excessive workloads. It could come from peer pressure or bullying.
It could come from unrealistic expectations of ourselves or from those around us. It could be the upheaval from changes in our circumstances.
It could also be struggles with family, friends, or even church members. It could be coping with human frailty as we get older and fear being a burden on others. It could be political or economic struggles as we face the storms of dissent or deception as we make a stand for God’s view of marriage or gender over public
opinion. It could even be the inevitable storm of death – either our own or one of our loved ones.
All the time we may struggle with what we can and can’t do.
While we all know we can look to Jesus Christ alone for strength, for hope, for life and salvation, we struggle to do this. It’s both something we can and can’t do!
Every time we attempt to keep our attention firmly fixed on Jesus Christ alone by our own powers, we find ourselves distracted by all the fears and problems of this world. In some ways, fear drives us to Jesus, but fear can also drive us away from
him. Now, of course we can always pray that God would take our storms away so we could live in peace and harmony now and into eternity, but he doesn’t always do so.
While the winds did die down when Jesus got into the boat, the storm was still
raging while Jesus and Peter walked on the water. God also chose not to remove the storm of the cross from Jesus either. Jesus walked through the storms of apathy, ignorance, abuse, whippings, beard pulling, and death in order to give us forgiveness, peace and life.
While God doesn’t always take the storms away, he promises to be with us in those storms. As we face the waves of hostility, the winds of guilt and shame, the howls of health problems, and even the final storm of death, Jesus calls out to each of us:
‘Be encouraged! I am! Don’t be afraid!’
The great ‘I AM’ of the Old Testament is here with us. Just like he was with those troubled people of the past who both could and couldn’t do what was required of them, he is also with us.
By ourselves we can’t survive the storms of life without fear, or have faith in a loving God who allows trouble to visit us, or even love the Lord with all our heart, soul, mind or strength. You can’t do it. I can’t do it. It’s impossible.
But Jesus comes near to give us courage to endure those storms. Not only this, but through faith he empowers us through his Spirit to do what we can’t do by
ourselves.
Jesus comes near to assure us the ‘I AM WHO I AM’; the God of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Moses, David, and Elijah; is here with us and won’t let us face our battles alone.
He comes near so that, even if the storms rage around us, we’re no longer afraid of them. Even if we feel ourselves flounder, Jesus is the one who reaches out to save us and restore us through his forgiveness, grace, mercy, peace, and life.
While we can’t cope and do all these things alone, with God’s help we can. We
can endure courageously. We can have faith. We can have peace and hope in
the face of life’s storms and evil and death.
Yes, there are many times we’ll feel we can’t live by faith alone, and those storms will blow fiercely and we’ll be afraid, but with the help of the Holy Spirit, who is the presence of the living Lord Jesus, we can endure. It’s something we both can and can’t do at the same time.
Therefore, no matter what storms any of us are facing at this time, let’s keep our eyes fixed on Jesus. Let’s be encouraged. The ‘I AM’ is with us. Don’t be afraid.
And it’s in this way that the peace of God, which surpasses all human, will continue to guard our hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen

The Text: Matthew 14:13-21
What do you have? Do you have a roof over your head, a bed to sleep in, clothes
to wear and food to eat? Do you have a car or have access to some form of
transportation? Do you have a bank account and does it have any money in it?
What luxury items do you have and what other odds and ends are lying around
your place? Could you pack all of your possessions into a suitcase or would you
need a removalist van to make a shift?
In 1964 Donald Horne, a Sydney journalist, referred to Australia as the ‘lucky
country’. This phrase stuck and has since been used to describe everything from our
weather and wide-open spaces to our overall quality of life. Many don’t realise
Horne’s quote has been taken out of context. He actually said: ‘Australia is a lucky
country, run by second-rate people who share its luck’.
You may sometimes think the people running our country are still second rate, but
most of us would agree that we are blessed to live here. Australia consistently ranks
in the top countries in the world in terms of our quality of life. It has always been
seen as a land of opportunity, a desirable destination for migrants and refugees
alike who are seeking to start a new life.
But there are still the ‘haves’ and the ‘have nots’ in our society. The gap between
the richest people in the land and the poorest is significant. Where do we see
ourselves on the wealth spectrum? Is it easier for us to focus on what we have or on
what we do not have?
Our Gospel reading deals with the very well-known incident in the life of Jesus where
he miraculously fed a crowd of thousands. It features in all four Gospel accounts –
Matthew, Mark, Luke and John, which is why it is very familiar to us.
Jesus had just heard news of the death of John the Baptist so he had withdrawn to
a remote place to regroup and grieve. But the crowds came from the surrounding
towns and followed him out there. Despite his grief, Jesus had compassion on them
and still set about healing their sick. The day passed and evening came. Jesus had
met their needs and it was time for the people to go home and get some dinner.
But Jesus said they didn’t have to go away and he instructed his disciples to feed
them.
The disciples didn’t have the resources to feed this large crowd – 5,000 men, with
the women and children to be added to this number. In addition to this, it wasn’t
actually required. You could see this as an ‘unnecessary miracle’. This wasn’t a life
or death situation of poverty-related hunger. The people could easily go and get
their own food.
No one asked to be fed. No one expected to be fed. There was no need.
But Jesus insisted. He took the food they had – five loaves of bread and two fish –
and miraculously turned it into a meal that fed all of the crowd of thousands. There
were more leftovers than what they had to begin with. So what is the moral of the
story?
Is it a call for us to meet the needs of our hungry world – ‘you give them something
to eat’? When you think of what we do have here in Australia then it is easy to see
this miracle as an encouragement to share what we have with those less fortunate
than us.
It is easy to use this account to focus on what we have, to be reminded of how
richly blessed we are in comparison to elsewhere in the world. The moral then
becomes one of counting your blessings and sharing your blessings. No one is going
to arc up about such a conclusion. It’s only fair and reasonable to expect us to give
from what we have, whatever that is.
Only…that’s not our text! It is not how the story played out.
What did the disciples have? They had nothing really – only five loaves of bread
and two fish. And in John’s account we hear that even this meagre amount wasn’t
what they had at all. It belonged to a boy (John 6:8-9). This miracle is not about
getting us to give from what we have. There is nothing especially miraculous about
that. We do that all the time to varying degrees: depending on our generosity and
on the perceived need.
Most of us are moved to give from what we have when we hear about an urgent
need: a severe famine in Africa; a child requiring life-saving surgery; a natural
disaster that devastates a community. We respond to these crises and so we should!
But again that’s not what our text is on about.
In the Old Testament book of 1 Kings (17:7f) we hear of how the prophet Elijah
miraculously provided oil and flour for the widow at Zarephath [pronounced Zar-eh-
fath]. On that occasion, the life of the widow and her son were at stake. With the
feeding miracle in our Gospel account there was no such crisis; no life was at stake.
There was nothing urgent or special about the situation.
As the disciples said: the crowd ‘can go to the villages and buy themselves some
food’. It is because the miracle is so unnecessary that you start to wonder why Jesus
did it and what is he trying to teach through it.
The natural order of things is that we take care of ourselves. We try and get
ourselves to the point of self-sufficiency; to the point where we have enough. If we
have more than enough for ourselves then we can share. But this mindset and
natural order of things is such a limiting one really. It is limited not only by what we
have but also by what we are willing to release, to let go of what we have. And we
are notoriously bad at doing that.
This miraculous feeding occurred once the disciples realised what they didn’t have;
that they had nothing to offer. In Matthew’s Gospel account, we see the greatest
miracles occur when people bring with them the least. It isn’t what we have that
makes us effective disciples in God’s kingdom.
Earlier the religious leaders presented their credentials to John the Baptist by saying:
‘we have Abraham as our father’ (Matthew 3:9). But John wasn’t overly impressed
with that, telling them that God could produce children from stones. It isn’t about
what we have but about what God can do with what we don’t have.
We see this throughout Jesus’ ministry. He was brought those who had diseases,
those who had severe pain, those who had demon possession, those who had
seizures, those who had blindness and those who had paralysis (Matthew 4:24;
15:30). It is not the greatest list of attributes to bring to the table; and yet Jesus
healed them all.
For, what did Jesus have? In the world’s terms he didn’t seem to have much at all.
He told his followers: “Foxes have dens and birds have nests, but the Son of Man has
no place to lay his head” (Matthew 8:20). So he didn’t have a roof over his head.
And when he came to Jerusalem to claim his throne as king all he had was a
borrowed donkey (Matthew 21:3).
But he did have authority: he had the authority to teach the truths of God’s
kingdom (Matthew 7:29) and he had the authority to forgive sins (Matthew 9:6). And
in the lead up to this latest miracle we see that he had compassion on the large
crowd that had come out to see him (Matthew 14:14). We have a God who loves
us and cares for us. We have a God who wants to give us each day our daily
bread. We have a God who wants to heal our hurts and bring us life and make us
whole. It turns out that he doesn’t need a whole lot or even anything from us in
order to make these things happen.
So what do we need to have? We need to have ‘ears that hear’ (Matt.13:43); that
is, the ability to perceive that God’s kingdom follows a different pattern to that of
the world. And we need to have ‘faith as small as a mustard seed’ (Matt.17:20).
And God has provided even these to us because we don’t have them naturally. For
even when we have so little (or nothing at all) God can still move mountains. God
can use us to feed the hungry and heal the broken through what he provides,
rather than through what we have. God will see to it that his kingdom comes, on
earth as it is in heaven. Amen.

The Text: Matthew 13:31-33, 44-52

“Jesus told them another parable: ‘The kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed, which a man took and planted in his field’” (v31).

The game of Charades is an acting game in which one player acts out a word or phrase, often by miming similar-sounding words. The other players try and guess the word or phrase. The idea is to use physical rather than verbal language to convey the meaning to another party. The game of Charades can be very frustrating for both parties, especially if you are either struggling to be understood or struggling to understand. If you have played the game, chances are you have experienced both sides of the equation.

The game aside, you might have carried out a charade in a real-life situation – such as when you tried to find a toilet in a non-English speaking country.

We probably use charades more than we realise, given that a large percentage of communication is non-verbal. Apparently only 7% of our communication is conveyed through actual words, whilst the rest comes through the tone of our voice, facial expressions, gestures, posture and other non-verbal forms. Anyone who is married will know how just a look from your spouse can convey a whole world of meaning without any words needing to be said.

In our Gospel reading for today Jesus uses a series of parables (pictures or images from everyday life that teach about spiritual realities) in an endeavour to describe to his listeners what the kingdom of heaven is like. The attempts of Jesus to explain it made me think of this game of Charades. Jesus is teaching and his disciples and the crowds are struggling to understand. The reason for this confusion comes from a language barrier. But it is not a normal language barrier.

The problem was not the linguistic differences between speaking Aramaic, Hebrew or Greek—the predominant languages spoken in Israel at that time. Jesus was not restricted to using physical rather than verbal language to convey his meaning. The real language barrier was the gulf separating heaven and earth, the divine and the human.

How does one begin to describe the kingdom of heaven to those who are so accustomed to the kingdoms of this earth? You can’t use the normal language and descriptors because they just don’t apply. The kingdom of heaven is not like the kingdoms (nations/countries) of this earth.

So, what is it like? How would you describe the kingdom of heaven to others? What words or images would you use to unpack God’s eternal truths in a temporal context?

We have a tendency to think of it in expansive and elaborate terms. Surely God’s heavenly kingdom must be significantly greater than our experience of this world’s kingdoms. So we might speak of it in terms of how it far exceeds anything we can possibly imagine—it is bigger and better and brighter.

But the kingdom of heaven is not like the kingdoms of this earth. It is not simply a bigger and better and brighter version of what we experience here on this earth. It can’t be adequately described by adding a few adverbs and some other superlatives to emphasize its magnificence.

Jesus surprises us in the way he describes the kingdom of heaven. He surprises us in the parables he tells to convey its true meaning. Jesus tells us that the kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed, it is like yeast, it is like treasure hidden in a field, it is like a pearl of great value and it is like a net that was let down into the lake. These are very ordinary images that are used to describe what must be the most extraordinary of truths—God’s heavenly kingdom.

A mustard seed!? Yeast!? Hidden treasure!? A single pearl!? A fishing net!? Surely not! Surely such things can’t possibly do justice to the task of painting a picture of the kingdom of heaven!

But this is the picture that is painted by the one who should know what the kingdom of heaven is like. Jesus is the Son of God who came from heaven to reside with us here on this earth. He did it in order to bridge the gap between the two.

And Jesus uses that which is unimpressive to impress upon us how distinctive God’s kingdom of heaven is from our normal experiences of the kingdoms of this earth.

And it needs to be distinctive and different. For—let’s face it—we have had how-ever many thousands of years to build our own kingdoms and nations and what have we accomplished? Have we found an answer to the issues we face? Have we managed to establish a strong enough, big enough and successful enough kingdom to combat poverty and greed and violence and sickness and death? We live in a world where the different kingdoms can’t live at peace with each other. At any time in history conflicts are waged between kingdoms and nations, where they try to exert their strength. The kingdom of heaven is not like this—it is not like a bigger, more powerful version of what we already have. We don’t need that.

The kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed that is planted in a field. It seems small and insignificant, just as the word of God that is sown in a person’s life seems the same. But that seed grows to become a plant that provides respite, just as God’s word grows in a person to produce good works that will bring blessings to the earth.

So, the kingdom of heaven is seen at work when one person chooses to forgive a wrong done to them rather than harbour feelings of anger and revenge.

The kingdom of heaven is like yeast that is mixed into a large batch of flour. The yeast is hidden in that flour but it works all the way through it in such a way that all the flour is impacted by it. Likewise, the kingdom of heaven is not restricted by any border or limits established by the nations of this earth. It transcends cultural, political and geographical divides and defies any attempts to restrict its influence.

So, the kingdom of heaven is at work even in those kingdoms where Christianity has been outlawed, though its true influence may be hidden from view for a time.

And even though the kingdom of heaven is described in ordinary terms it is still beyond all earthly value. It is like that treasure hidden in a field and like that pearl of great value. That value is not always easily and instantly recognised, but when it is, there is nothing on this earth to compare to it. Both men in the parables sold everything they had in order to attain what they had now found.

So it is with those who receive the kingdom of heaven. Their world view and system of values is altered completely because they find true worth in God’s blessings.

King Solomon understood this. In our Old Testament reading (1 Kings 3:5-12) Solomon was presented with an incredible offer from God: ‘Ask for whatever you want me to give you’. He didn’t ask for wealth or long life or for power over his enemies—all things that our world might place a high value on. Instead Solomon asked for a discerning heart and the ability to distinguish between right and wrong. Above everything else he wanted God’s values in his life and this was considered to be a truly wise approach to life.

In addition to being given the wisdom he requested, God promised to give him wealth and honour as well—because all things are God’s to give.

And that is why ‘the kingdom of heaven is like a net that was let down into the lake and caught all kinds of fish’. Regardless of what the kingdoms of this earth claim as their own and regardless of whether people choose to acknowledge the sovereignty of God or not, it does not alter the fact that God’s kingdom is an all-pervading one.

We don’t have to enforce the kingdom of heaven on this earth because, as the Psalmist declares, the earth is already ‘the Lord’s and everything in it, the world, and all who live in it’ (Psalm 24:1). In the Lord’s Prayer we pray: “Your kingdom come”. But Martin Luther said in his explanation of this prayer: “Indeed, the kingdom of God comes of itself even without our prayer; but we pray in this petition that it may come to us also”.

The kingdom of heaven to which we belong is full of surprises. It is not like what we might often expect or even want at times. But despite the way it is hidden in the little and ordinary things, it continues to grow—in us and in all the earth.

Jesus is the King of kings and Lord of lords. He demonstrated what the kingdom of heaven is like, not only through his parables, but also through his actions.

The kingdom of heaven is like a King who was hung on a cross by his own people to die. There is not a lot to impress us about that image but through this sacrifice Jesus has conquered sin and death and has brought us into the kingdom of heaven.

May we continue to explore the truths of God’s kingdom of heaven through his Son, Jesus, and may we come to see how the kingdom, the power and the glory are his, now and forever. Amen.

The Text: Matthew 13:24-30, 36-43
Dear heavenly Father, send your Holy Spirit on us so that we may not lose heart
when the weeds of conflict, deception, or persecution come, for the sake of Jesus Christ. Amen.

You know, there’s so much to do (and most of it seems too hard or too complex), so you might feel stressed or anxious. Perhaps things haven’t worked out as you hoped, which might make you feel angry, frustrated, or depressed. Maybe you’re feeling tired and worn out. Maybe you feel as if you’ve let yourself or someone else
down. You may have succumbed to temptation again and feel bad or upset
about yourself.
But it may not just be about your internal struggles.
It could be that people you trusted or looked up to have let you down. They lied to you, argued with you, or withdrew their support from you. The world around seems to be filled with bad news or bad people. Even in the church, people who confess to be Christian don’t seem to be very forgiving, gracious, or merciful.
In response we might feel upset, let down, flat, depressed, angry, or frustrated.
All of these feelings and responses to what happens in our lives aren’t unusual or uncommon. Many of us can feel depressed, discouraged, worn out, or troubled.
We might feel like giving up, running away, or hiding from whatever’s affecting us.
It often happens when things don’t go according to our plans, or when we don’t feel appreciated for our effort, or when we have health concerns – either for
ourselves or someone we love. It happens when we get more complaints and
criticisms than words of encouragement or appreciation. It happens when the bad we experience seems to outweigh the good. It happens when we realise the people in church are not as holy as we hoped.
So, in response to what happens to us, we feel disillusioned, disheartened, and are tempted to give up.
I’m not sure if any of us are feeling this way at the moment, but I wonder what
might Jesus say to those who feel disillusioned and depressed by broken dreams, troubles and tough times?
Well, today he gives us an illustration of a man who sowed his best seed into his field. Since he later identifies himself as the sower, he probably gave loving
attention to every seed he planted. He knows his field, he knows his seeds, and he knows what he’s doing. He works patiently and diligently in order to get a good result. You’d think he’s guaranteed to succeed, and the resulting crop would be abundant and productive!
But at night an enemy came to sow a different seed. He also gave proper
attention to every seed he planted. He knows the field, he knows the seed, and he too knows what he’s doing. He wants to spoil the farmer’s crop, so he sows weeds among the good seed in order to ruin the harvest.
Now, unlike many weeds in our gardens which are easy to identify from our good plants, these particular weeds are often called Darnel wheat today, which is a false and very deceptive wheat.
This weed looks just like wheat right up to the moment when the wheat starts to produce seed on its head. It’s only then that the weed is revealed for what it truly is. So, by the time the weed is discovered, the crop is ruined.
Discovering this weed, the workers of the field come to their boss and tell him
about the false ‘wheat-weed’ which spoiled the crop. They ask whose fault is this?
Who would do such an evil thing? Who would ruin such a good crop?
Almost matter-of-factly he says his enemy did this.
Now, you’d think he’d be furious. His crop seems totally ruined. His careful work of planting the seed appears to be a complete waste of time. That’s not just a bad day or a bad week, but a bad season!
If this happened to any of us, we might want to exact revenge on our enemy, but we may also feel depressed, disillusioned, or want to give up.
The workers, like us, want to do something about it. They want to fix the situation.
They want to make everything right. They figure the best solution is to pull out all the bad weeds.
To us, this seems a simple and logical conclusion – if you want a good crop, then get rid of the bad weeds. If you want a good week, then get rid of all the bad things which happen. If you want a good world, then get rid of all the bad people or lock them up. If you want a perfect church, then let’s get rid of all those who aren’t faithful enough, spiritual enough, or who don’t seem to be living like a ‘good Christian’.
But strangely, the one who planted the crop doesn’t talk of revenge, even though he knew who did it. He also doesn’t show any despair or depression. In fact, he seems to show no emotion at all.
Instead, he says ‘No, leave them there, otherwise you’ll end up uprooting my good wheat. They’re my prime concern. Wait until harvest time and then we’ll divide the excellent wheat from the worthless weeds. The weeds will burn in hell, but the good grain will be gathered into my kingdom.’
Leave them there. Let the weeds live among the wheat.
In other words, this seems to suggest we need to continue to put up with difficult people, troublesome situations, conflicted relationships, evil attacks on the innocent, bad health, bad weeks, and an imperfect church. In fact, we’ll have to put up with evil and all its iterations until harvest day at the completion of the age.
Of course, this doesn’t appeal to us where everyone wants instant solutions and quick fixes to all our problems. It also doesn’t appeal to people who want a
trouble-free life, lasting good health, no more evil people, or even a perfect
church free from sinful and hurtful people.
It also doesn’t appeal because it doesn’t tell us what to do. The wheat is passive during this whole story and continues to be passive even after the harvest. The only thing we’re told to do is if we have ears, then we’d better listen!
But hidden behind this strange command is the fact the good grain who live
surrounded by weeds will have ears and will use them. Because they hear and trust the promises of the good gardener, they won’t despair when they have to live surrounded by deceptive and evil plants.
So, there’s no quick fixes. No guarantees of success or happiness. No magic wands to make all our problems and frustrations disappear. There’s only a call for us to keep listening to God’s Word with patience, endurance, and perseverance.
What frustrates and surprises people is; following Jesus isn’t all about fun and
success and happiness. Following Jesus isn’t about good times and a complete
freedom from evil. Following Jesus often involves suffering and putting up with all the bad weeds in our life. Following Jesus means the evil one will specifically target God’s chosen ones to ruin our faith and our loved ones’ faith.
Jesus has planted his precious seed of the gospel among us which tells us to rely on his work which has been fully completed on the cross rather than relying on our own work. But the devil will also plant misunderstandings, deceptions, and lies among us, which spread doubt in God’s goodness and mercy. We may even hear things in devotions or books or sermons or church conferences which sound good, but the true telling is when the fruit appears.
Those who hear and believe the Spirit-inspired Word of God will produce the fruit of love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self- control. The fruit of those who only want to hear what they want to hear for their own benefit will be impurity, discord, jealousy, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions, and envy.
Jesus never guarantees every plan we undertake will be successful. While we’re still here in the world there’ll continue to be troubles and hardship and frustrations and persecutions and evil. We’ll be tempted to despair or give up.
Just because we’ve had a bad day, a bad week, or a bad life, doesn’t mean
Jesus doesn’t love us. Jesus still cares for every grain of wheat in his field. He knows each of us and he knows about all the ‘weeds’ we put up with.
While we may be tempted to think the proof of God’s love for us is only when God gets rid of all our troubles, it’s because he cares for us that he may leave the troubles, frustrations, difficult people, and stumbling blocks there.
Now this might seem strange but think of it this way: If any of our troubles and heartaches lead us to pray to God for his mercy, to search the Scriptures for assurance, to go back to his holy Sacraments, and force us to look to him for help, then our troubles were turned into blessings for us.
In other words, if our troubles and the evil we experience lead us to the cross of Christ so that we learn to rely on him rather than our own works or plans, then the devil’s plans have backfired!
It’s not our fault some things don’t succeed. It’s not Jesus’ fault things go wrong. If we experience pain and suffering, it doesn’t mean God doesn’t love us. God’s Kingdom is hidden among us and will be preserved until the end.
If any of us feel like giving up, then we’re encouraged to not lose heart. We’re to be faithful to the simple task Jesus has given us – to listen to him. We’re to keep on receiving his gracious holy nourishment in the Sacraments. He may not always take away all our troubles, but he’ll supply us with what we need in order to endure our times of trial.
Let’s be encouraged by the good news that all his good grain will be gathered up into his own barn. Jesus says the ones who hear his words are his precious people who’ll be gathered up in his arms and taken to his eternal kingdom of grace and
peace.
Therefore, for all those of us who have ears, let us hear……so that the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard our hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen.

The Text: Matthew 13:1-9,18-23

I’m not a gardener – I can barely gather the motivation to drag out the lawn mower
and mow the grass. I look with envy upon those who live in apartment blocks and
don’t have to worry about how long the grass is growing or how many weeds there
are. Sometimes I feel a little guilty about this. For I know that in Genesis, working in the Garden of Eden was a blessing that Adam enjoyed. In fact, the name Adam means
“from the ground or the earth.” But I also understand that one of the first punishments of Adam’s sin affected his enjoyment of gardening: “Cursed is the ground because of you; through painful toil you will eat food from it all the days of your life. It will produce thorns and thistles for you, and you will eat the plants of the field. By the sweat of your brow you will eat your food until you return to the ground, since from it you were taken; for dust you are and to dust you will return.” So, most of the time, I don’t feel so bad about my reluctance to do gardening.
But in today’s Gospel reading, Jesus uses a beautiful gardening analogy; a well-known parable, “The parable of the sower.” As we heard, some seeds fell on the path, and the birds came and ate them up. When anyone hears the word of the kingdom and does not understand it, the evil one comes and snatches away what is sown in the heart. I think we all know this situation.
Maybe you’ve tried to share the Gospel with someone. Maybe you’ve invited them to come along to church or a church function. We shouldn’t be surprised or disheartened when this happens. Instead we can recognise the truth about what Jesus says about this seed we attempt to sow: the evil one comes and snatches away what is sown in the heart. This is a spiritual battle going on. This is frontline work on the battlefield and before we attempt to do anything like this we need to spend time in prayer and seek the protection and guidance of the Holy Spirit. So remember that when you’re trying to share the Gospel with someone and they are rejecting it, even antagonistic to you – if that’s happening then your efforts are working.
Too often we think when someone rejects our invitations that we’ve failed – far from it.
The more we work – the harder the devil works. But we work knowing that God’s Holy Spirit will work where and when he pleases. That’s encouragement to persist in praying.
Other seeds fell on rocky ground, where they did not have much soil, and they sprang up quickly, since they had no depth of soil. But when the sun rose, they were scorched; and since they had no root, they withered away. This is the one who hears the word and immediately receives it with joy; yet such a person has no root, but endures only for a while, and when trouble or persecution arises on account of the word, that person immediately falls away.
This is a sad situation. A person has heard the word – received the word – but then falls away when they are persecuted because of their acceptance of the word. This calls for us to take particular care of those who are new to the faith. We can’t just invite them – introduce them to the church – and then leave them and work on someone else.
This puts a great responsibility on the church to follow up visitors and newcomers to our church. We don’t just put them into our database, put them in the directory and send out the bulletin and that’s our job done. No, this may take a lifetime of nurture and maybe they may be the only person that God puts before us. This is not about quantity – trying to get hundreds or thousands through the door. No, the Bible says that
the angels in heaven rejoice over even just one sinner who repents. And this cannot be just the role of the Pastor or the Pastoral Assistants. We all have the responsibility of looking out for those who are absent for periods of time. Something has happened, maybe major, maybe minor, but it’s important to find out in case we can help. If not, at the very least it gives us more to pray to God about; to commend to God’s wisdom and strength.
Other seeds fell among thorns, and the thorns grew up and choked them. This is the one who hears the word, but the cares of the world and the lure of wealth choke the word, and it yields nothing.
This is also an all-too-common situation where priorities quickly take over. Sadly with 7 day work week – our 24/7 society – sometimes church on Sundays become the easy part in our life to neglect. Not intentionally, perhaps. This is not saying that church isn’t a priority, but it is the easy one to manoeuvre around. Sundays have quickly become family days for so many organisations, especially sport. But before we become critical of families – can you imagine what a child might think of church when a parent says to
them – you can’t play footy this morning – we have to go to church. Or, you can’t goto your friend’s birthday party because you can’t miss Sunday School. It’s a tough situation for growing families!
Children quickly begin to see church and related activities such as Sunday School as the enemy. How often don’t we hear young adults reject the church because it was shoved down their throats? I don’t know what the answer is other than this is a real
challenge for the church to work adaptively with families.
Other seeds fell on good soil and brought forth grain, some a hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty. Let anyone with ears listen!” This is the one who hears the word and understands it, who indeed bears fruit and yields, in one case a hundredfold, in another sixty, and in another thirty.”
There’s probably not a lot to analyse here. Sometimes we sow a seed of faith and it grows, but what we can gather from Jesus’ final statement is that sometimes it produces a hundredfold – sometimes sixty and sometimes thirty. So he affirms – this is not about numbers, but faith, and yes, faith even as small as a mustard seed. Maybe there will only ever be one person that God places in your life to mentor and nurture in
their faith. In fact sometimes we may only have laid the foundation that someone else builds upon. This is what even St Paul says in 1 Corinthians 3: By the grace God has given me, I laid a foundation as a wise builder, and someone else is building on it.
The final thought which the Parable of the Sower leaves us is that we can sow the seed anywhere. The farmer in our parable intentionally threw the seed on the path. There was no hole in his seed bag, rather he intentionally threw the seed everywhere and
anywhere. Even though he would know that they were not good places to sow seed, he knew that ultimately it was not his decision or power to make them grow. Have you ever thrown out food scraps and sometime later you’ve seen something grow –
maybe some potatoes or tomatoes and yet when you try to grow them nothing appears. That’s how it is with God’s mission in the world.
Sometimes the most extraordinary results come from our unintentional actions. As, again, St Paul says in 1 Corinthians: I planted the seed and Apollos watered it, but God made it grow. Today’s Gospel reading is all about mission work. And mission work is different to anything else we do because we cannot measure it by human measures. This is where we are called upon to trust in God and the work that he is doing which we don’t always see.
So let us be like the sower in our parable – let us sow wherever we go. We can spread the seed of God’s love every day, in every aspect of our life, as we go about loving our neighbour as ourselves. So may God bless you as you sow his seed of love wherever God sends you.
I’m not a gardener, and we might think that we are not missionaries. But we can all spread the love of God wherever we go and with whomever we meet. And let us trust God in all this who promised in our Isaiah reading today: so is my word that goes out from my mouth: It will not return to me empty, but will accomplish what I desire and achieve the purpose for which I sent it.
And the peace of God that passes all understanding keep your hearts and minds safe in Christ Jesus; the Word made flesh. Amen.

The Text: Matthew 11:28-30
Jesus said: Come to me, all who are weary and burdened, and I will
give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am
gentle and humble at heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my
yoke is easy and my burden is light.

Something strange has happened in the way we live our lives.
Once upon a time most people spent most of their lives doing things that were
physical—working the land with hand tools; running the household with great effort; making things with hard physical labour.
We can think of God’s word to Adam after he was thrown out of the Garden of
Eden: Cursed is the ground because of you; through painful toil you will eat of it all the days of your life. By the sweat of the brow you will eat food, until you return to the ground.
People would work hard all day, and by the end of the day they were exhausted.
People would work hard all their lives, and by the time they were old, their bodies were worn out.
Then people started to get cleverer. People invented all sorts of machines that took over many of the hard tasks – machines for the household, and for working the land, and for manufacturing things in the factories.
I think that most of you would agree that our lives today are much easier than the lives of previous generations. Much of the burden of hard physical labour has been lifted off our shoulders.
But then something strange happened. We have realised that we need physical activity. We need physical exercise to keep us healthy. We need to do things that make us tired.
So what did we do? We invented some more machines, machines that we use to exercise, and we put them in gymnasiums, and sometimes in our own homes, and we use them, not to take away the physical efforts of life, but to give us the sort of physical effort that will help us to stay healthy.
Our text today talks about hard work, about the burdens of life, that leave us
exhausted, worn out. It talks about relief from your burdens, and rest, and
refreshment, and recuperation.
But then it also talks about a new burden, a new exercise that you need for the
good of your health.
Jesus says: Come to me all you who are weary and weighed down with heavy
burdens. Jesus promises: Come to me, and I will give you rest, and refreshment. But then he challenges us: And now pick up my yoke, and learn from me. Learn how to live a life that is healthy and strong.
What are the burdens that weigh people down? What makes you tired?
Do you get tired physically? For all the labour-saving devices that we have, life can still be physically demanding. At the end of the day we may feel tired and worn out.
Our bodies have their limits, and when we have been doing physical work, we
reach the point where our bodies tell us. If we are ill, if we are carrying injuries, then we become even more aware of our physical limits.
We feel tired. We need rest.
As you grow old, you become more and more aware of the loss of physical
strength. You cannot do the same tasks you used to do. You appreciate rest and
quietness more and more.
But there are other kinds of burdens and other kinds of weariness.
Today, when we spend less time and effort on physical work, our levels of mental stress have grown at least as much. As life has become more and more
complicated, our emotional stress keeps going higher. We talk about the pressures of life. There are pressures all around us—we are expected to succeed, to be able to manage new tasks, new technology, and we often get to the point when we cry out: I can’t cope with it all. Give me a break.
We have financial pressures—all the things that we want to get, the security we hope for. We struggle to make ends meet.
We have relationship pressures. We want to love and be loved. So often our
relationships become difficult and we carry disappointments and regrets.
There are pressures within us. We want to be successful. We want to be able to
manage. We want to be independent. But again and again we are reminded of
our own limitations. We feel that we have failed.
But the greatest pressure, and our greatest failures, are spiritual.
If we are honest, we know that we are not the people that we would like to be. We do not live the life that we know that we should live.
I know that I am not the person that God wants me to be, and expects me to be, and commands me to be. I know I should obey my God, and I should live
according to the life that God has set up for me. But I don’t. I fail. I disobey God, and I break God’s commands. The greatest burden we carry is our moral failure.
We try to get around it and think that as long as we do our best, that should be OK.
But it does not work. We carry a great and terrible burden of guilt. We have sinned against our God.
If we think back to Paul’s words in Romans 7, it is one of the most honest cases of facing the guilt within our human hearts: I am a prisoner to the law of sin which is at work in my body. What a wretched man I am! We can hear his frustration, his anger, almost despair. If we are honest, we know that we all share in the same sort of
struggle.
I once shared this passage with a person who was struggling with addictions
gambling addiction, alcohol and drug addiction, sexual addiction. This person
wanted to break free, but the reality is that an addiction keeps grabbing you and dragging you back.
So you have the burden of terrible frustration and guilt. You want to do what is right and healthy, but the urges to do something to satisfy your desires is so great that it keeps dragging you back.
Sin is an addiction. We don’t want to sin – but we do. Those desires to do
something, even if we know that it is hurtful—they keep grabbing us and dragging us down.
That is what Paul is speaking about, and we feel it too: I don’t understand what I am doing, and why I keep on doing it. I don’t do what I want to do, but I do what I hate. I know that God’s law is good, and I want to do what is right. But sin is living in me, and I keep on giving way to sin. I have the desire to do what is right, but I do not have the strength to carry it out. ….I don’t do the good I want to do, but I do the evil I don’t want to do.
We hear his great frustration, and we share that frustration. Who will rescue me from this body of death?
But Paul also has an answer. Paul knows where to go for relief, for release, for rest.
Who will rescue me from this body of death? Thanks be to God who delivers me through Jesus Christ our Lord!
That is also the answer that Jesus himself has given. That is the invitation that Christ gives to us: Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened. Come to me and I will give you rest.
One of the great gifts of God is rest. Rest is peace, relief, refreshment. When we have rest, our bodies, and our minds, and our spirits, have the opportunity to recover, to gather strength again.
When we are tired, we just want to stop, to put our feet up, to crawl into bed, to go to sleep. When we are rested, we are ready to start again. Our energy and our strength have returned.
We have been made in a way so that while we rest we are made strong. Our
bodies and our minds are refreshed and rejuvenated. If we are sick, often a good rest is the best medicine, so that your bodies can heal themselves, and overcome fevers and infections.
There is a beautiful psalm verse: “In vain you rise early and stay up late, toiling for food to eat—for God grants sleep to those he loves” (Psalm 127:2)
Jesus Christ offers rest. But now it is rest that brings health and recovery from our spiritual weariness, from our burdens of sin and guilt. Jesus Christ offers to take our burden. Jesus Christ has taken the burden of our sin and guilt all the way to the
Cross. He has carried that burden and he has paid for that guilt with his own life. So
Jesus says to us that we do not have to try to prove your own goodness—not to
God, nor to ourselves, nor to anyone else. Jesus takes away that pressure.
And Jesus tells us that as we come to him in repentance, he forgives us. He takes
= away our sin. He sets us free from the burden of guilt, and that terrible frustration when we can never avoid following our human sinful desires.
Jesus gives us that deep rest and peace, for we know that our sins are forgiven.
With that rest we are refreshed, rejuvenated, recuperated. We are ready to live
again, with the strength and energy that comes from God’s Spirit.
But just when we think that all of our problems have been solved, Jesus comes back and says: But now I have something for you to carry. Take my yoke on upon you. A yoke is the big heavy beam of wood that was placed over the shoulders of a team of oxen, so that they could pull heavy loads. Jesus is putting a load on us.
Is it easy to be a Christian, to follow Jesus, to live for Christ? No, because Jesus also has very high expectations on us. Jesus calls on us to be totally dedicated to our God, to serve God with our bodies, minds and spirits. That is demanding, and it can mean a huge effort, a deep sacrifice.
Has Jesus lifted off one burden, and replaced it with another? Yes—and no! Jesus takes away the real burdens that wear us out and threaten to destroy us. But remember how we spoke about another sort of effort, about work, about exercise, which is part of healthy living that creates a healthy tiredness.
That is the sort of task and challenge that Jesus gives us. Jesus says: Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.
If you look at a yoke, you will see that it is not meant to be carried alone—it is
always carried by a pair of oxen. Jesus tells you, I am giving you a burden, but I am not expecting to carry it by yourself. I am not plonking it on top of you to weigh you down and oppress you and destroy you.
No, I am gentle and humble in heart. I am giving you something that is going to help you and build you up.
Jesus says that he is carrying that burden with us. Learn from me. When you share the tasks and challenges of Christian life, you are sharing in the life of Jesus Christ.
You are sharing the life that comes from God. That is a privilege, not a burden. And it is a challenge that makes you stronger, that builds up your faith. The more you respond, the more you grow, and you appreciate more and more what God is doing through you and what God is doing in you.
With Jesus Christ, this yoke is easy, this burden is not too heavy. As you commit to God’s tasks, yes, you do get tired. You know that you have been putting your body and mind and soul into it. But it is a healthy tiredness. It is the tiredness that brings refreshment and new life.
Until you finally have finished all of your tasks. Then you have a new rest and an eternal peace. Then you are living in the peace of your heavenly Father. For Christ has given you the rest for your souls. Amen.

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!