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

When it comes to parables like the Parable of the Sower, there are some things that are a bit surprising, especially for any gardeners or farmers amongst us. For how many of you would be as reckless with your precious seed as this unnamed sower. Did you notice? He doesn’t seem to care much where it lands. He doesn’t drop a seed here and a seed there into carefully cultivated holes, but instead he scatters his seed to fall wherever it may – on the road, in the rocky ground, amongst the weeds, in good soil.

The Sower, of course, is God, and the seed is his word, by which God’s Spirit comes and takes root in human hearts. And God doesn’t let his word fall only on those who are prepared to hear it. He scatters the seed of his word to fall wherever it may – on the devout, the sinner, the religious, the sceptic – people like you and me gathered here this morning.

The point of this apparently reckless sowing is that, with God, there always is more than enough seed to go around. There is enough forgiveness of sins in Jesus’ death for everyone. There is enough Bread of Life come down from heaven to feed the whole world, with baskets of leftovers. There is no need for God to be careful about where he sows the seed of his word and who receives it – he sends it out with this promise: “[That] as the rain and the snow come down from heaven and do not return there but water the earth, making it bring forth and sprout, giving seed to the sower and bread to the eater, so shall my word be that goes forth from my mouth; it shall not return to me empty, but it shall accomplish that which I purpose, and shall succeed in the thing for which I sent it.” (Is. 55:10-11).

Sadly, the church today seems to be more interested in spiritual agronomy than in seed-sowing. We are told that what we need for the church to grow these days is to conduct soil studies to tell us the needs and wants of people and where God’s word is most likely to take hold. Contrast that with the picture of the Sower who sows his seed with reckless abandon, broadcasting the death and resurrection of Jesus to the wind, letting it fall wherever it lands.

The Sower sows his seed, and some of it falls on the path. Here the gospel is heard with a hardened heart; a heart that says, “I have no need for this word, for this Jesus, for this forgiveness”. This is an unbelieving hearing. The words are heard, but they ping off stubborn hearts like seeds bouncing off cement.

Now this sclerosis of the heart to the word of God is at work in each of us. This is the effect of what Paul calls our sinful flesh – our inborn pride and stubbornness, our efforts to justify ourselves by putting others down; our selfishness and spiritual laziness. Which is why we get bored with church and find it hard to read our Bibles. It’s also why we want novelty in our worship services rather than the steady reliable liturgy week after week. The angels don’t mind singing the same hymns day and night before the throne of God; but we need options and alternatives, lest the word of God go in one ear and out the other.

The seed that falls on the hardened path is eaten up by the birds (that is, the devil). God forces no one to listen to the gospel, and so he permits the devil to come and snatch it away from those who don’t want it. Luther once remarked that the gospel is like a little local rain shower that is in one place today and moves on somewhere else tomorrow. That’s the way it has gone down through history.

Consider the Middle East, for example, at one time the cradle of Christianity. Now the gospel is barely heard there today (except in a few persecuted pockets). Or consider Europe (and especially Germany), the land where the Reformation took hold with such power over 450 years ago. Look at how little Christ is heard in those great churches today, and how few come to hear it.

And think of our own land, Australia. For all the churches, for all the revivals, for all the religious talk out there, there is less of the gospel heard today in Australia than at any other time in our history. Oh, there are still plenty of churches to go to on Sunday morning, with services designed and scheduled for everyone’s convenience, but unless they go with an open heart to the hearing of the gospel, the precious seed will get pecked away before it has time to take root.

The Sower sows his seed and some of it falls on rocky soil. This is the shallow soil of emotionalism and superficial joy. This is religion based on wants and feelings rather than facts and faith. It is a kind of “lite” Christianity; all of the bubbles but none of the substance; spiritual milk rather than meat. This is the religion of faith without repentance. Everything happens immediately in shallow soil – the seed sprouts immediately and just as immediately it grows. But without root, without depth of soil, the tender shoots are vulnerable. They cannot survive the heat of the noon day sun, but quickly dry up when the cross of suffering comes.

Christianity “lite” doesn’t like to hear about suffering or pain. It doesn’t want to be disturbed by the idea that the good news of the gospel also involves some bad news for our sinful flesh. But the irony is that the churches throughout the world (and throughout history) that grow the most are those that are most persecuted. For only if the gospel is worth dying for, is it worth living for.

The Sower sows his seed, and some of it lands among the thorns, that choke out the young seedlings. This is a conflicted hearing. The gospel is preached and heard, but it is just one voice among many others clamouring for our attention. There are two types of thorn bushes mentioned: 1) the anxieties and cares of the world, and 2) the deceitfulness of riches. The first is the worries that come when a person doesn’t trust God to provide. Anxiety is the prayer that is prayed to the false gods of our own making when they aren’t coming through for us, choking out our prayers to our heavenly Father, who is our only help in times of trouble.

Growing along with anxiety is the thorn bush of greed; the endless pursuit of riches; the desire for more, better, faster, bigger, brighter. St. Paul says that many have wandered from the faith and pierced their hearts on the sharp thorns of greed. Greed consumes our time and energy and resources and attention, until we are no longer able to hear God’s word, to pray, to praise, even to come to the church.

You and I are that field into which the heavenly Sower sows his seed. Our hearts are that soil that he would make into good soil. But no soil (as far as I am aware) is self-tilling, and no human heart is self-softening. For the word to be planted and grow into a good crop, our hearts must first be prepared to receive it.

God does this through the difficulties and disappointments, the disasters and diseases, we face throughout our lives. He does it to clear away the stones of our pride, envy, anger, greed, sloth, lust and gluttony; to break up our hardened hearts and to uproot every weed that threatens the fruitful growth of his word. In this way, he teaches us to trust him, to receive everything as a gift from his gracious hand, to recognise his presence and his working, even in the most painful things. And then he sows his seed and waits to reap an abundant crop – a hundred, sixty, thirty-fold.

So when it feels to you sometimes as if God is ploughing you under, let the Parable of the Sower be a reminder that what he is doing is sowing Christ into your hearts. Expect a harvest from the seed that is sown. For the word of God will not return to him empty. He has bought you with a great price and given you his Spirit as a guarantee of good things to come. And if the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, then be assured that he will also give life to your mortal bodies – like seed sprouting in good soil – through his Spirit who dwells in you. “Whoever has ears to hear, let them hear.”

In the name of Jesus. 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.

‘Welcoming God’

 

 “Anyone who receives you receives me, and anyone who receives me receives the Father who sent me.” (v. 40 NLT)

It’s always good to feel welcome when we go somewhere new. For example, if we are visiting a church we’ve never been to for the first time, it can be very awkward to know where to go, what we need, when to sit or stand in the service, or where the toilets are. If we are visiting people in their homes, we can be very thankful that we have the right address to begin with, but also that the people we are visiting are warm in their welcome to us. It’s a real blessing to be invited into people’s homes, to spend time with them over a tea or coffee (or maybe something a little bit stronger), and to talk with them about life and the journey of faith that we’re all on.

In the same way, it is important for us to be a welcoming congregation. Through the way we welcome people, people who connect with us for the first time can feel at ease when they meet us, they can find a sense of belonging with us, and they can feel comfortable and valued while they are among us.

Our gospel reading for today, Matthew 10:40-42, comes at the end of Jesus’ instructions to his Twelve Disciples before he sent them out on their first missionary journey. Jesus warned them that not everyone would welcome them and receive the message they brought (vv13b,14). However, Jesus also said that those households which did receive them would also receive the peace of God (v13a). Then, at the end of his instructions, Jesus went even further by saying that those who welcomed his disciples also welcomed him, and by receiving him, they even welcomed the presence of God among them.

Stop and think about that for a moment…

On the one hand, these were Jesus’ specific instructions to a certain group of people at a particular time and place. However, as followers of Jesus whom he continues to send out into our time and place, we can also hear Jesus saying that when people welcome us, they welcome him and the presence of God with us.

One reason why this is really important is because often people ask where God is in the world. When people are hurting, confused, struggling or broken by life’s circumstances, God can often seem to be absent and uncaring. Jesus is saying here that God is present in the struggles, pain, uncertainty and joys of life through his people. As we live in the good news of God’s present and coming Kingdom, and as we participate with God in his mission to bring his peace into the world, God is present in the living, breathing body of his Son in the world. God makes himself known and extends his healing, life, cleansing and liberating presence in the lives of the people around us through our words and actions by the power of his Holy Spirit.

How do our words and actions reflect the grace and love of Jesus and our heavenly Father to others? As people welcome us into their homes and lives, is the presence of our forgiving and peace-giving God made real in their lives through us?

As Jesus’ disciples, he calls us to grow in the peace God gives us through faith in his grace so that we can be bringing his peace, hope and love to everyone that we meet. The goal of living and growing as Jesus’ disciples is just as much about making the Kingdom of God real in our world by extending God’s gracious and life-giving presence to everyone who welcomes us as it is about getting into heaven when we die. We can make the coming Kingdom of God real in our homes, our work places, our schools or anywhere we are welcomed and received by other people. The promise of Jesus is that they welcome him as they welcome us, and by welcoming him they also receive the presence of God who is the source of all life. This is the God who forgives sinners, who shows grace to those who need it the most but deserve it the least, who brings the light of new life out of the darkness of death, who serves his followers by washing their feet, and who gives us his all in his self-sacrificing love of the cross.

As we begin a new week, who will welcome you into their homes, their workplaces, or their lives this week? How can you be the peace-filled and grace-giving presence of God in the joys and challenges, struggles and problems they are facing? Ask the Holy Spirit of God to keep you close to Jesus through faith so that, as people welcome you this week, they may also welcome Jesus in you, and they may find peace in the presence of our gracious and loving God in you.

And the peace of God which passes all understanding keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen.

The Text: Matthew 10:24-39

 A minister in the US, who served a very wealthy congregation, was once invited by one of his parishioners to spend a week on their yacht in the Bahamas. They just gave him the keys. His response when asked if that was hard to take was “Well, someone has to minister to the souls of the wealthy, and you can’t do that if you don’t accept their invitations!” Hmm? Not exactly, “Take up your cross and follow me!” (Matthew 16:24b) is it?

In the Gospel for today, Jesus appoints twelve of His disciples to take His mission and message to God’s people, Israel. So, what does it mean to be a disciple? What does it mean to follow Christ? Are there perks? What are the benefits?

Some church leaders today teach that people who believe in, and follow Jesus should expect to be healthy, wealthy and – above all – happy. They say that if you believe strongly enough you can have that yacht in the Bahamas, you can bypass sickness and disease, you can have a happy, fulfilling life, and you can have that perfect marriage with perfect children. It has been said that you can have all these things because of your obedience. There is a whole industry out there of Christian ‘self-help’ books and products promising success in almost everything, if you will follow Jesus (and, of course, buy the books, CD’s, DVD’s and online courses).

This “happy, fulfilling life” is not the message of today’s Gospel lesson and neither is it the message of Jesus in the Scriptures. Jesus does indeed bring true happiness (what the Bible calls ‘joy’) to His followers. We can take our trials and troubles to God and He does hear and answer us.   We pray for our children when they are sick or in trouble and we turn to God when there is more fortnight left at the end of our pay than there is pay left at the end of the fortnight. Christianity is not an invitation to doom and gloom because Jesus says, …whoever loses is life for My sake will find it.  In Christ, we find life revealed to us by God’s Holy Spirit.

People who study things like church growth tell us that the church today faces a ‘consumerist’ culture, which (we’re told) must shape our outreach with the Gospel or we miss the boat. People are looking for services from the church, rather than a community to serve. Given a choice between wearing a gold cross or bearing a wooden cross – most people these days will take the gold!

Today’s Gospel challenges our perceptions and perspectives. What does it mean to follow Christ? And more than that – what does it take to serve Christ (to be a disciple)? Perhaps the best way to look at this is to ask the question, “What are our expectations in being followers of Christ?” What is it that we want from Him, and from His church? In spite of anything we might have heard to the contrary, Christianity is a religion where God does all the giving and we do all the hearing, believing and responding with acts of love and kindness which are only possible because of God’s grace and blessing.

When Jesus sends out His chosen Twelve, He tells them, and us, in very clear terms what to expect. Expect persecution and expect conflict – even within our own family. Expect to make a “no holds barred” commitment. However – in the end, also expect to receive the true meaning of life and living. There are three themes in Jesus’ words to us today: Persecution, Presence, and Promise.

1. Persecution

When Jesus sent His chosen twelve out, He made it clear to them that they would receive the same treatment He received. They would face rejection, hostility and harassment. This may seem almost ‘other worldly’ to many of us. Some of us may not take much heat for our faith. But there are those like Michael Job, a twenty one year old college student, who was killed in India by fanatical Hindus in 1999 for his and his father’s faith. His father, Dr Job, was a well-known evangelist and Christian worker.

The fanatics did not like Dr. Job or his Christian message, so they killed his son. Dr. Job was devastated­, but not broken. He responded to the hatred by starting an orphanage unlike any other in India. This orphanage is only for girls (strange enough in a culture that doesn’t value girls); but even more unusual,­ is that this orphanage is only for girls of persecuted and martyred Christians. Today the Michael Job Centre for Orphan Girls is an invaluable refuge for hundreds of girls of persecuted families from all over the Indian sub-continent. Each child who comes to the centre is a vision of hope for the future – a hope that is born out of the sorrow of the cross and strengthened by the love of God.

You and I may not face that kind of danger for our faith and trust in Christ, yet there may be times when our Christian values challenge the values of the world around us. Remember that a strong commitment to Jesus Christ will bring a crunch somewhere, sometime, to all of us. And when that happens – how will we respond?

2. Presence

The second theme of today’s Gospel is presence. Two things help when Christians face a world which is hostile to Jesus and our commitment to Him: God knows and God cares! In other words, God is present with us in every circumstance of life. It is God’s presence which gives us strength and courage to openly affirm “Jesus is Lord” and our deepest values, our commitment to our Lord! God gives us His Holy Spirit, who helps us in our weakness, to say with St Paul, Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me. ¹⁰ For the sake of Christ, then, I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities. For when I am weak, then I am strong. (2 Corinthians 12:9b-10).

Jesus did warn that if we deny Him before others (either in word or deed) He would deny us before God. Thus we are to stand firm, all the more, because we have the knowledge of God’s care in the midst of our trials. And if our strength fades or our commitment wavers, we are blessed with the knowledge that the One who bought our souls with His life will heal our failures through His love (as He did with Peter when he denied Jesus prior to Jesus’ death).

3. Promise

The third, and most important, theme of today’s Gospel is promise. One of the amazing and wonderful things about our faith is that in the midst of the most difficult test of all – when the worst which can happen to us has happened or is happening to us – the promises of God come through to bring, hope, joy and new life!

Jesus said, “…whoever loses his life for My sake will find it”. Here Jesus takes the values and presuppositions of this world and turns them upside down and inside out. The way up with God is down. The first will be last and the last, first. The world says that the one who has lots of servants is great, while Jesus says that the one who serves a lot is truly great. The world says that the one who saves and invests a lot in the markets of this world will be secure, while Jesus says the one who gives up the treasures of this world will have the ultimate security – namely “treasures in heaven.” (Matthew 6:20 ESV) An old seminary professor used to quip that the holy ministry may not pay very much but the retirement benefits are out of this world.

Whether we like it or not, our Christian faith is based on the way of the Cross. In Jesus’ cross, death has been defeated and the way is opened to life and immortality. Now it is our turn. Jesus invites all of us to take up our cross and follow Him. In other words, take the crosses off our churches, our altars and from around our necks, and take them out into the world and through our love and service, put them into the hearts of people as Jesus has done for us.

For the cross is not merely a symbol, but a way of life, the way of authentic love, the way of God. It is not merely an ornament, but our hope, our only hope (and indeed, everyone’s only hope) for true health, wealth, and happiness. In the name of Jesus.

Amen.

The Grace and Peace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all.  Let’s join in a word of prayer: Loving God, we ask that your presence and strength be felt in the lives of all who are worshipping here this morning.  May we show your compassion and kindness to the world around us, as You invite us to continue our journey to eternity, as You lead us to keep our destiny in view, and as You call us to invite others to join us in the journey.  May your love be a constant source of guidance and comfort.  Gracious heavenly Father, hear our prayer for the sake of our risen Lord,  Amen. 

Some time ago I attended a ‘Get Real’ conference held in Sydney, where I was confronted with a new definition of mission.  Well, at least a definition I had not considered before.   As Christians we have a common destiny – a common destination.

Eternity with our Saviour, Jesus Christ.  Where our names are recorded in the book of life.  And right beside each of our names, I visualise a gold star, with faith written in the heart of it.  A golden star placed there beside our name when we were baptised. 

Life for a Christian is a journey together with others, keeping the destination in view.    In all that we do, we keep heading toward this common destination.   Mission is simply inviting others to join the journey.   Mission is simple, when we have our destination clearly in view, and we have the support of others who are with us on the journey.  Mission becomes impossible drudgery when we feel alone, and our vision becomes confused by all that happens around us in this broken world.

Today’s Gospel is a vivid portrayal of the essential pattern of God’s relationship to people.  First we are loved.  Through God’s love, we are gifted and blessed.  Then we are invited to respond to that love.  To enter into that loving relationship where even more blessings are promised.   And finally, we are called to offer that love to others.  By showing our love for others, we show to them that God loves each of us and want’s to bless our lives.

God entered humanity in Christ Jesus – and he died for us upon the cross so that we might be set right with Him.   Jesus invites us to follow in his path, assisted by his presence – so that we might indeed be made whole – and others with us. And we respond by placing our trust in him.

Gift, blessing, call, response.   It is circular, and it is constant, but notice the order of things.  Freely says Jesus you have received.  Freely give.

Gift, blessing, call, response.

We are loved – first and foremost we are loved

There is nothing that we have to do to earn it.

There are no conditions made before God promises to make us his children.  Before God blesses us with the presence of his Holy Spirit to encourage and uplift our spirits with his word and his sacrament.

Only after we have received his love is there any hint of a demand .  We are invited after the love is shown – to love in return, to love and be loved.  Obedience is our joyful response to God’s gracious gift of his love.

When Jesus journeyed through his life in humanity, ‘he saw the crowds, he had compassion on them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd’ as Matthew records.  No one can say that God does not know what we go through in our journey through this life.  And ‘Jesus went through all the towns and villages, teaching in their synagogues, preaching the good news of the kingdom and healing every disease and sickness’.

Jesus blessed many with a gift of healing, of learning, of wholeness.  The only response to such a blessing is to trust in the giver of the gift.  God the Son, Jesus Christ.

Only after blessing those who followed with the gift of wholeness, did  Jesus call a few to action.  His disciples.  “The harvest is plentiful but the workers are few.  Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field.”

We are often called to pray for special things.  We are given a strong intuition to pray, and we are given a desire to take these things to God in prayer.  But we are also prepared to respond to God’s answer in prayer.  Given the will to join in, to participate in the solution, and sometimes to lead.  God gives us this gift by his Holy Spirit.  He blesses us with the ability to respond, and then He calls us to put our response into action.

When Jesus asked the Disciples to pray, He already knew what the response to this prayer would be.  He had been preparing the disciples to respond to God’s answer to the call for workers in the harvest.

He taught them first, He showed them his own example, He gave them the will to respond, and He empowered them with spiritual authority.  Jesus gave them some final instructions, and sent them on  their way.  Fully prepared to respond to God’s call.

Gift, blessing, call, response.  As Jesus said, “Freely you have received, freely give”.

This call to the Disciples was both a call to action and a prophecy.  A prophecy relating to every Christian, of every time and place.  A call to pray for God to send workers into the harvest.  A call to be ready to be sent as workers into the harvest. 

A call to keep our destination firmly in our mind, to journey together through life, and to invite others to join us in the journey. 

We are called to be disciples.  And disciples have met opposition while responding to the call to mission in every age.  Some with open hostility, some with subtle condemnation, and still others with indifference.  But the good news of Jesus Christ has not been silenced in 2000 years, and will be heard above the commotion around us in our broken world. 

As Paul writes in his letter to the Romans: 

‘we rejoice in the hope of the glory of God.  Not only so, but we also rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance;  perseverance, character; and character, hope.  And hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom he has given us.’

Gift, blessing, call, response.   As we consider these, may the grace and peace of our Triune God, which passes all understanding, keep our hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.   AMEN.

The Text: Matthew 9:9-13

 

No one likes to be an outsider.  To be excluded.  To be told “you don’t belong.” To have the door shut in your face or simply to be shunned, left alone, isolated.  Have you ever been on the outside?  Perhaps wanting to enter but being afraid you wouldn’t be accepted so you didn’t even try? Do you realise that there are people who are honestly afraid to walk into a church on a Sunday morning? They are afraid of being recognized as “outsiders,” as people who don’t belong in a place like this.  “Unreligious people.”

I recall one man saying to me, “the church roof would cave in if I showed up here on a Sunday morning”.  He was joking, but completely serious.  He was convinced he didn’t belong in religious circles.  There’s a famous picture of two cowboys on horseback peering through the window of a crowded church.  Inside the people are singing a hymn. One of the men on the outside is singing too, while the other is leaning forward, listening attentively.

I wonder – what keeps them on the outside?  Why don’t they get off their horses and join the people inside the church?  Perhaps they aren’t dressed properly, or they haven’t had a bath in a while.  More likely they aren’t comfortable in the polite society of the church and are much more comfortable worshipping on horseback. They are outsiders.

Matthew the tax-collector was an outsider to his own people.  We tend not to love the tax collectors of our day, but it’s nothing like it was in Matthew’s day.  Tax collectors were considered traitors of Israel, lackies of the Roman government, opportunist crooks and scoundrels of the worst sort.  The Roman system of taxation was ingenious.   A tax collector like Matthew would pay a fee to the government in exchange for a license to open a tax office, permitting him to collect all the taxes he could.  Needless to say, tax collectors were unwelcome in polite society, much less in religious circles.

It comes as a bit of a surprise that Jesus should walk up to Matthew at his tax collector’s office and say to him what He said to the fishermen: “Follow me.”  Discipling words.  Words that invite Matthew to join Jesus’ rank of followers; words that empower him to arise, leave his tax office, and follow Jesus.  An outsider, a tax collector, had just become, by the undeserved kindness of God, an insider, one of Jesus inner circle, the chosen, apostolic Twelve.  I’m sure that raised a rabbinic eyebrow or two, don’t you think?

What on earth was Jesus doing, calling a tax-collector to be one of HIs closest disciples?  Is this any way to start a messianic movement?  You could understand the four fishermen – strong, hard-working.  You could even understand Simon the Zealot – he hated the Roman government and was itching for revolt.  But a tax collector?  You’ve got to be kidding!

To make matters even more outrageous, Matthew invites Jesus over to his house for a little party to celebrate his new calling and his group of new friends.  The Pharisees looked in on all this with disapproval.  They were predisposed to disapproval when it came to Jesus, looking for some way to discredit him.  Dinner was an open affair; people on the street could peer in and see the kind of company you kept.  They asked Jesus’ disciples, “Why does your teacher eat with this rabble – tax collector and sinners?”  They wouldn’t go near such people. No respectable rabbi would. Why was Jesus hanging out with the losers when He should have been keeping company with the winners?

Jesus heard their question and turned the tables on them.  “It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick.”  When you’re well, or at least you think you are well, you have no need or interest in a doctor.  But if you suspect something is wrong, if the symptoms are lining up poorly, grab the phone and call for an appointment.  You want to see the doctor right away.

Imagine a doctor who didn’t want to be around sick people, who comes into the waiting room and looks at all those runny noses and itchy eyes and hears all the coughing and sneezing and covers his mouth and nose and runs out of the room as fast as he can.  Not much of a doctor is he?  Nor would Jesus be much of a Saviour if He didn’t care for the company of sinners.

That was Jesus’ mission, his purpose for coming into the world, to seek and to save the lost, to become “lost” in our death in order that we might be found in Him. He came in solidarity with sinners, baptized with sinners in John’s baptism of repentance, crucified as a sinner, bearing the guilt of the world on His own shoulders. He became our sin; He embodied our sin in His body. Jesus became the outsider, forsaken, alone, isolated so that in Him we might become “insiders,” the children of God, disciples, baptized into his death and life.

Think again about that picture of the cowboys on horseback.  Now think about the Pharisees looking in on Matthew’s party with Jesus and all of his tax collector friends.  There’s an irony here – the insiders are outside, and the outsiders are inside.  The Pharisees, who imagined themselves to be God’s insiders by virtue of their commandment keeping, are sitting on the outside looking in on a party of tax collectors and sinners surrounding Jesus, the friend of sinners. Where’s the church?  Outside with the Pharisees or inside with Jesus?

And yet, the gracious light of that party with Jesus shines out even to the Pharisee. There is mercy even for the religious. Jesus gives them a little take home assignment – Go and learn what this means (quoting from Hosea) – “I desire mercy and not sacrifice.” Go to Hosea and learn what that passage means. Hosea, the prophet who taught that those who were “not my people” would be called the people of God. The outsider would become the insider by grace through faith, just as Abraham became an insider by God’s grace and calling through faith which God credited to Abraham as righteousness.

Go and learn what it means – I desire mercy, not sacrifice; the knowledge of God and not burnt offerings. Not religious rituals, that’s not the way to the heart of God. “I came not to call the righteous but sinners.” That’s the company that Jesus keeps at his table.  Sinners who are justified for his sake, by his blood. Make no mistake, the Pharisees are welcome at Jesus’ party. But they are welcome as sinners, not as the righteous ones they thought they were.

The sin of the church people, the people in the pews singing the hymns, is that we have turned this banquet of sinners into a country club of the religious elite.  We have all too often by our words, our actions, our attitudes looked down on the sinners of our day, those people who just don’t seem to get it, and we forget that we are, in ourselves, no better, no more “righteous” no less sinful, than those outside these walls.  There are people who are listening in to the church, like those two men on horseback, straining to hear that this good news applies to them too, that they are accepted by God in Jesus.

None of us deserves to be here. We don’t deserve to be baptized, to hear the Word, to receive the Body and Blood. We haven’t earned our way here by our right choices and decisions. We are here because of God’s undeserved kindness in Jesus, the same grace that called Abraham to be the father of nations, that calls a tax collector to be a disciple, that breaks bread with the sinner, that declares the outsider to be the insider.

Once you were not a people, but now you are the people of God; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.  Welcome.

In the name of Jesus,

Amen

Text: Colossians 1:15, 20 The crucified King

Christ is the visible likeness of the invisible God. He is the first-born Son, superior to all created things…. Through the Son, then, God decided to bring the whole universe back to himself. God made peace through his Son’s blood on the cross and so brought back to himself all things, both on earth and in heaven.

Things are not always what they seem.  What seems to be the most obvious can be awfully wrong. The gospel reading today is another one of those cases where things are not what they seem to be. 

We heard the account of Jesus’ crucifixion as recorded in Luke’s gospel.  We are told how Jesus was nailed to a cross between two criminals.
He is weak from all the beatings; his clothes are stripped from him and soldiers gamble for his robe; he suffers the mockery of those standing around the cross.  They call out, “If you are a king, then save yourself”.  They laughed at his weakness and inability to save himself, they joked about his claim to be a king and now his unkingly naked body was nailed to an instrument of torture – what a joke and what a good laugh they had – a king on a cross – what a ridiculous idea!

But there was one person who saw something in Jesus that no one else saw.  In spite of the gashes in his flesh from the whip, the nails, the wounds, the blood, the nakedness and the shame, one of the criminals crucified with Jesus recognised a king.  He said to Jesus, “Remember me, Jesus, when you come as King!”  Jesus promised him, “Today you will be in Paradise with me”.

A strange king indeed – suffering, weak, humiliated, despised, rejected and dying.  But the death of this unlikely king made us friends with God through his death.  God was going to stop at nothing to break down all barriers between him and all people.  He was even prepared to let the King of king and Lord of lords die in order to make everything right again between him and us.

This is where Paul’s letter to the Colossians picks up the theme of the kingship of Jesus.  The apostle goes to great lengths to emphasise that Jesus is God’s Son; he is everything that God is.  Through him “everything in heaven and on earth, the seen and the unseen things, including spiritual powers, lords, rulers, and authorities” were created.  If he is the creator of all these then, he is also lord and king of everything in heaven and on earth.  Paul goes on to say that Jesus is not only king of every part of creation, he is also head of the church; “he is the source of the body’s life”.  

Things are not what they seem.  This king is all powerful, above all things, the lord of all and master of the whole universe, with multitudes of angels at his beck and call, living in the perfection of heaven.  Yet it was not above this king to get down and get dirty.  Jesus doesn’t just dress up to be like us, he is one of us.  He takes on our human nature and lived among ordinary people especially sinners and outcasts, including lepers and the demon possessed.  What happened to him could hardly be regarded as being kingly. 

He died on a cross.  Just grasp the magnitude of this.  The King of kings and Lord of lords, God’s Son, died on a horrible human instrument of torture and death.  Not only that, he died for all those who are enemies of God because of the evil things they did and thought (Col 1:21).

In his usual clear and precise way, Paul says, “By means of the physical death of his Son, God has made you his friends, in order to bring you, holy, pure, and faultless, into his presence” (1:22).  That’s worth repeating to make it sink in.  “By means of the physical death of his Son, God has made you his friends, in order to bring you, holy, pure, and faultless, into his presence”.

Today is the last Sunday of the church year and it is traditional to talk about the end of the world, the end of our life here on this planet as we know it and the certain judgement of God on the Last Day. 

This image of the servant-king that Paul and Luke paint for us is so important as we face the prospect of coming face to face with the holy and righteous God.  There’s no denying that we are sinners.
There’s no getting around the fact that right up to the last day of our life we will continue to sin in thought, word and deed.  The Bible makes it quite clear that our sin condemns us and we would have no chance of surviving the judgement of God on the last day. 

But Paul makes it clear that there is nothing to be afraid of.  Christ has died for us.  Jesus is master and king over sin, death and the power of Satan to condemn us.  Jesus’ death has made us friends with God again and made us holy, pure and faultless.  Our sin has been wiped away.  Forgiven.  Forgotten.  We will be welcomed into heaven.

Isn’t that what happened to the man dying next to Jesus.  In his moment of deepest agony, Jesus tells the criminal who sees in Jesus a king that his sin will no longer be held against him.  “Today you will be with me in Paradise”.  At a moment when all would seem to be hopeless and without a future, Jesus is truly a king.  He pardons and assures the man that he will be with him in Paradise. 

Without a doubt, there is a future after death and after the end of this world.  Jesus promised the man next to him, “Today you will be with me in Paradise”. 

We have a servant-king who died for us and rose from the dead, who has done everything possible to ensure that we need not fear what will happen.  At the end of everything, we are safe.

Kings and crosses don’t normally go together but in the case of Jesus they do.  Jesus may have been raised to the highest place and given the name that is greater than any other name (Phil 2:9) but this mighty king cannot be separated from the cross on which he died saving you and me.  As Paul so nicely summarised, “His Son became a human and died. So God made peace with you, and now he lets you stand in his presence as people who are holy and faultless and innocent” (Col 1:22).

Worship this different kind of king, this Jesus, and trust him.
This is our king – nailed to a cross to rescue us from the powers of darkness and sin.

This is our king – risen and ruling, and “openly proclaim that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father” (Phil 2:11).

Text: Luke 21:10-12, 18, 19

“Countries will fight each other; kingdoms will attack one another. There will be terrible earthquakes, famines, and plagues everywhere; there will be strange and terrifying things coming from the sky. Before all these things take place, however, you will be arrested and persecuted; you will be handed over to be tried in synagogues and be put in prison; you will be brought before kings and rulers for my sake. …. But not a single hair from your heads will be lost. Stand firm, and you will save yourselves.

Interruptions can be annoying.  You decide that it’s time to start your Christmas cards and letters but as soon as you put pen to paper someone in the family is hungry, can’t find something, or your phone rings there goes your good intentions. 

Sometimes interruptions, though initially annoying, can be creative and constructive.  The whole story of the Bible can be looked at from the viewpoint of interruptions.

The devastating effects of sin interrupt the peace and harmony of life in the Garden of Eden.  Sin interrupts God’s plans for the world.  God had created a beautiful world and had put beautiful people in it but sin interrupted the beauty of God’s world.  In turn God interrupts sin by becoming a human being who lives among us filled with grace and truth and dies for us.

Moses was happily looking after sheep and keeping out of trouble when his life was interrupted by a voice from a burning bush.  It was God who was challenging him to step out of his comfort zone and demand that the king of Egypt let the people of Israel go free.

God’s people were caught in sin and were drifting away from God and so he interrupted the lives of ordinary people and sent them as prophets to interrupt their drift away from him and bring them back into a relationship with their Creator and Saviour.

The announcement of the birth of Jesus interrupts a young girl’s life and her wedding plans.  The silence of the night is interrupted when angels announce the birth of the Messiah.

A traitor friend who needs to go and sell his Lord for the price of a slave interrupts Jesus’ celebration of the Passover with his disciples.  This same traitor and the armed guards interrupt Jesus’ prayers in the Garden.  And finally, the sadness and confusion after Jesus’ death is interrupted by the news that he has risen.  His tomb is empty.

Interruptions are events in our lives that can’t be forced back any more than we can hold back the tide.

Today’s difficult gospel text makes us aware of the interruption that will affect the whole world.  Jesus is leaving the temple and he is looking around at one of the most magnificent structures in the world at that time.  He tells his disciples that this grand monument will be destroyed.  We know that this happened at the hands of the Romans.  The history of the temple will be interrupted and brought to an end, he says, and it was. 

He goes on and says that everything we cherish, every institution and tradition, every treasure that we count on and store up will be interrupted and brought to an end.  Wars, earthquakes, famines, and other disasters in nature, persecutions when family members will rise up against other members of a family, will interrupt our way of life and the peace we enjoy. 

Peace and safety in our world and in our community are very fragile things and can easily be interrupted by hostility, bloodshed, robbery and fear. The interruptions that we experience almost on a daily basis are reminders that things in this world are very uncertain.                                                    

When you think about it, the interruptions that we experience in life can make us feel very insecure and uncertain.  Everything that we once considered solid and secure; what we once thought to be the centre of our happiness and peace can suddenly be interrupted and we are left with nothing.  Take the story of Job in the Old Testament who had everything and in an instant it was all gone.

But Jesus wants to make it quite clear in our reading today that there is one thing that will never be interrupted, that is, the love that our Father in heaven has for us.  Jesus says, “Not a single hair from your heads will be lost”.  Regardless of what may happen to interrupt our peace and happiness in this life, nothing will interrupt God’s love for us.

 “Stand firm”, Jesus says in the last verse in our reading.  Trust and believe in that love for you.

“Stand firm” and believe that Jesus’ love has forgiven all your sin and prepared a way for you to eternal life.

“Stand firm” and believe that he will stand beside you and help you no matter what kind of interruption will disrupt your happiness and peace in this life.
                                                                                                                                                             “Stand firm” in the knowledge that even though all kinds of disasters may come  God loves you and he will not allow anything interrupt that love and care for you.

On the day we die or when Christ bursts into this world on the last day (whichever comes first), that will be the last interruption that we will ever experience.  There will no more interruptions by sickness, death, wars, natural disasters, accidents, crime or whatever.  We will be taken into God’s presence and join those gathered around the throne of God. 

In the meantime we need to deal with the interruptions that take place in our everyday life. How easily is our trust in Jesus interrupted?                            How readily do we allow our pet sins interrupt the newness that we have in Christ?
How often do we allow or even try to find interruptions that keep us away from reading God’s Word, praying and worshipping together with our fellow believers?
How willingly do we allow our sinful nature and Satan interrupt our walking God’s ways?

God grant that the Holy Spirit would interrupt every sin, every temptation, every fear and doubt, and remind us every day that God’s love for us is uninterruptible.  God grant that our commitment and faith be as uninterruptible as God’s commitment to us.

The peace of God, which passes all understanding, keep our hearts and minds safe in Christ Jesus.

Amen.

Luke 18:1-8

Summary: The Bible is full of stories which give examples of persistent prayer. Jesus also commands us to pray always and not lose heart.

Jesus commands us to pray always and not lose heart. Jesus has a lot to say about prayer. He teaches his disciples to pray the most beloved prayer in Christianity, Lord’s Prayer. He also affirms God’s faithfulness to our prayers.

“Ask and it will be given to you, seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened for you.”

Everyone who asks will receive; everyone who searches will find; everyone who knocks will have the door opened for them.

But there are times when it seems like we knock and knock and knock, but the door doesn’t budge. Jesus’ encouragement today is this: keep on knocking. Keep on praying. Just keep knocking at that prayer door, even if you end up with bloody knuckles! God is faithful, and God will respond to our prayers.

Jesus tells an eye-opening story to make his point. The “bad guy” in the story is a judge. This guy seems like he should be the last person on earth to be a judge! He doesn’t value justice at all! He doesn’t have any regard whatsoever for people. And he doesn’t care a whit about God.

But there is a certain widow, and she has a bur under her saddle. She appeals to him for justice. He refuses to listen to her case. He stonewalls and ignores her pleas. But she persists. She continues to pester him.

Finally, he rules on her case. It’s not because he believes in justice; it’s just because he’s sick and tired of her relentless appeals!

She simply wears him down. “Pray like that,” Jesus says!

His point isn’t that God is as heartless and uncaring as this horrible judge. No, God is good!

Jesus says somewhere else, “Is there anyone among you who, if your child asks for a fish, will give a snake instead of a fish? Or if the child asks for an egg, will give a scorpion? If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will the heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him.”

God is good. All the time. Jesus’ point isn’t that God is like the unjust judge. He’s simply encouraging us to be like this woman. Pray always and never, never lose heart!

We’ve all faced discouragement. There is that persistent, nagging trouble which has wormed its way into the centre of your life. You think on it all day long. And even at night, it’s there when you wake up. Then you mull on it for hours in the dark.

Hello, darkness, my old friend!

I’ve come to talk with you again.

But what about God? Can you share this greatest of your burdens with God?

That might depend on your opinion of God’s receptivity. People can have different views on who they understand God to be. Theologians say that we have different “models of God.”

One model might be to see God as a judge figure. God is continually judging our thoughts and actions. God has a ledger. It has two columns. One column tracks good behaviors and the other tracks bad ones. If this is your model of God, then you probably won’t want to share your deepest concerns with an angry judge.

Another model might see God as a distant creator. God is watching over the entire universe. And with all of the many galaxies, the multitude of creatures, situations of crisis surrounding the world, who am I that God is mindful of me?

But Jesus paints a very different model of God. Jesus bids us to pray always and not lose heart.

The Old Testament is filled with examples of people who prayed with such persistence.

• The Hebrews were slaves in Egypt for 400 years. During that time, they prayed to God for deliverance. They prayed for 400 years!
• Hannah had been childless for years. She wanted nothing more than to be a mother and have a child. Her barrenness weighed greatly on her. She prayed bitter, desperate prayers to God.
• After the Israelites returned from their captivity in Babylon, they considered the Lord’s promise of the Messiah. Israel had no king on the throne, but God’s promise for the Messiah endured. So they kept watch for the Messiah. They prayed for God to send the Messiah. In the beginning of Luke’s gospel, we hear of two old, devout figures. Simeon and Anna are both extremely old. For years they have spent virtually every waking hour in the courts of the Jerusalem temple. They have been waiting and watching for the Messiah.

In Psalm 13, King David gives voice to our agonizing, persistent prayers. He asks, simply, how long? How long must I pray before you answer my prayers? Will you forget me forever? How long must I bear this pain in my soul?

The Old Testament prophet Habakkuk voices a prayer similar to David’s. Habakkuk is troubled by the gross injustice going on in Israel. He cries to God:

O Lord, how long shall I cry for help,

And you will not listen?

Or cry to you “Violence!”

And you will not save?

Why do you make me see wrong-doing

And look at trouble?

Destruction and violence are before me;

Strife and contention arise.

So the law becomes slack

And justice never prevails.

The wicked surround the righteous –

Therefore, judgment comes forth perverted.

Habakkuk’s words echo in the cries of every generation. His words are repeated by everyone who has ever looked upon the injustices playing out in each day and age. How long, O Lord? How long will your law and your justice be despised? How long do your children need to suffer? How long will the poor be trampled?

Habakkuk says that he will keep vigil for God’s response. He describes himself like a watchman posted on the fortified walls surrounding Jerusalem. He remains alert. He’s looking continually for God’s reply.

This is what it is to pray always and not lose heart. We stand vigil. We make our requests known to God, over and over, and we never stop praying.

God’s answer finally comes to Habakkuk:

If it seems to tarry, wait for it;

It will surely come, it will not delay.

“If it seems to tarry, wait for it.” The Hebrew slaves waited and watched. Hannah waited and watched. David and Habakkuk both waited and watched. They prayed without ceasing and they didn’t lose heart.

This is how God wishes for us to pray. There is no time limit on prayer. God is eternal. God doesn’t have a set time for you and say, “OK, your time is up. We’re done here now.” No. Jesus urges us to pray always and not lose heart.

There are times – definitely! – when it seems like our prayers go unanswered. But life doesn’t run on a straight path. It bends and curves. It goes up and down.

The ancient Greeks were aware of this, too. That’s why they always built winding roads on the way to their temples. They called it The Meandering Way. If you go to the Parthenon in Athens, the pathway leading up to it is filled with switchbacks.

Life isn’t a straight shot. It takes multiple bends and detours. We just can’t see what’s coming around the bend! To us, it looks as if there’s only a dead end. But God assures us that God hears our prayers. God hears, and God will act. “If it seems to tarry, wait for it; It will surely come, it will not delay.”

Friends, pray always, and don’t lose heart.

­­­­­­­­­Luke 17:3-10

Do you find it easy to say “I am sorry” to someone you’ve hurt? These three powerful words enable us to have smooth relationships with others. “Always apologise more than you think you need to” is advice worth practising as long as you live.

Expressing regret for hurting someone or sinning against them is the first step to healing a damaged relationship with others. The reason many relationships aren’t as good and loving as they could be is because we’ve failed to apologise when we’ve hurt and offended someone. Jesus points out to us in today’s text that love can involve having to apologise seven times in one day, if that’s what’s necessary for domestic harmony or harmony within a church community. This will also involve free and unconditional forgiveness of each other seven times or more in one day if necessary.

Our problem is that we’re quick to excuse ourselves, and we find it easier to criticize the other person rather than forgive them. Love is thrilled to say “sorry” to those whom we’ve hurt.  Where there are no apologies, anger grows and creates in us a desire to hit back.

Jesus’ call to forgive a sister or brother seven times a day if necessary made His disciples only too aware of their inadequate faith. That’s why they pray to Jesus, “Increase our faith”. They’re only too aware that they need the help only our Saviour can give them. By asking Jesus to increase our faith regularly, we are praying that our Lord will enable us to do things for Him that seem to be humanly impossible. He means we should use the faith God has already given us to ask Him for a more effective, life-transforming faith. Faith that grows like a mustard seed is faith that’s said its prayers.

Jesus links faith, prayer and forgiveness inseparably together when He says, “So I tell you, whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours. ‘Whenever you stand praying, forgive, if you have anything against anyone; so that your Father in heaven may also forgive you your trespasses’ (Mark11:24-25).”

No other act in the universe is as glorious and beautiful as God’s forgiveness of us. No other antidote brings such complete healing and peace as does forgiveness. Nothing in our sinful world bears the imprint of Christ, the Son of God, as surely as does forgiveness.

God forgives you like a mother forgives her child when she kisses the offence into eternal forgetfulness. His forgiveness of you is stronger than all your sins. Forgiveness is His barrier-breaking, future-opening gift to you.

Forgiveness meets our longing to make a fresh start in our relationships with God and each other. God’s forgiveness of you means you can live as His new creation, as if your life has just begun. Forgiveness is God’s most characteristic quality as our heavenly Father. He pleads with each one of us to be forgiven and forget; forget all the past sins of which God has already forgiven you and all the sins other people have committed against you.

The Bible tells us that ultimately all sin is against God and must be confessed to Him. King David confesses to God: “Against You, You alone, have I sinned and done what is evil in Your sight, so that You are justified in Your sentence and blameless when You pass judgement (Psalm 51:4).” Because Jesus has taken the blame for all our sins in place of us, God no longer condemns those who plead for His forgiveness. “There is no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus (Romans 8:1).”

We show appreciation of God’s undeserved forgiveness of us by our eagerness to forgive one another.

A young man had a sharp disagreement with another church member. As he’d been a Christian for a longer time than the other person, his pastor asked him to initiate the process of reconciliation. The youth said to his pastor: “He is the one who started all this. I have done nothing wrong. Why should I go to him? He should be the one to make the first move, not me.” Forgiveness involves making the first move. To be a Christian involves forgiving what I think is unforgiveable. We are most like God when we forgive others.

If you cannot forgive others, you break the bridge over which you must pass; for everyone needs to be forgiven. Every Christian needs to be a good forgiver. Nothing stops prayer more than an unforgiving spirit.

To forgive someone is to slice away the wrong from the offender and see her or him in a new light. By living as God’s forgiven and forgiving people, you can make a tremendous difference at home, at work, at sport and at church.

The servant in today’s Gospel reading couldn’t expect any special treatment for simply doing his daily duty. Servants employed in the time of Jesus were grateful for the security of a job and worked for their masters out of a sense of loyalty. In ordinary life in the time of the New Testament, a master never waited on or served a servant.

 As our Master, Jesus, however, did something unique and unheard of before. He came not to be served, but to serve us in amazingly wonderful, down to earth ways. In Holy Communion, Jesus serves us with sacred food in this sacred meal so that we can serve others in all sorts of down to earth ways, like He serves us. Love knows its duty is never done. Love’s only reward is to have the privilege of serving others.

Serving our Saviour Jesus makes our lives full of meaning, because what we do for Him is eternally worthwhile with results seen only in heaven. We serve Jesus, and look forward to that day when in heaven Jesus will come and serve us. “It will be good for those servants whose Master finds them watching when He comes … He will dress Himself to serve, He will have them recline at the table and will come and wait on them (Luke 12:37).” What a wonderful honour that will be!

Amen.