The moment

That moment. That moment in time where everything that has gone before on your way there is now just a memory. Whether planned for, trained for, thrust there against your will or just somehow you’re there: that moment has arrived-and you are staring it in the face.

On the 30^th October 1974, boxing legend Muhammad Ali was fighting the Brash young and fit bull of a man in George Foreman for the World Championship. Because of Ali’s ageing body compared to the brute force of Forman’s-not only was he the rank underdog, those close to Ali, including his trainers feared greatly for his health. Winning the title was not the concern, Ali making it out of the ring-was their concern.

Ali himself knew his chances, and so on the first ring of the bell, he unleashed everything he had. He knew his best, maybe only chance was to take Foreman by surprise and knock him out in the first round. It did not work, after getting over the initial onslaught by Ali-Foreman unleashed in fury, anger and unrelenting force.

After the first round, Ali staggered back to his corner and slumped in his chair and the trainers knew their fears had arrived.

Ali’s trainer summed up the situation: “Our fear for his safety had materialised. We did not know what to do, but knew he should not go back out there. I looked at Ali, and it was the first time I had ever seen fear in his eyes. Here for the first time, he knew was a boxer he had no answer for. That was better than him. Then I saw a change, it seemed as if he was looking deep within himself, his eyes re-focussed-came alive again and I heard him say to himself ‘this is the moment you have waited for your whole life’”.

In our Gospel, Jesus ’moment has arrived.

Up till now, the tension has been steadily mounting. In chapter 2, verse 4 Jesus had spoken of his coming hour. But now, he has entered Jerusalem on Palm Sunday and things start to move quickly.  It is the time of the Passover festival and the town is a hive of activity with  Jews making the journey there from all over Israel and beyond.

Jesus is alerted by Philip and Andrew that some visiting Greeks have asked to speak to him. We are not told whether Jesus spoke to them or not, but he sees the significance-that Jew, Gentile, Greek alike will hear the truth of the Gospel.

His moment has arrived and in verses 23 and 27 he announces his plight.

“The hour has come that the Son of Man should be glorified”,

and “Now my soul is troubled, and what shall I say? Father save me from this hour? But for this purpose I came to this hour”.

Like in the Garden of Gethsemane here we see both Jesus divine and human natures.

In the Garden, Jesus in his humanity asked “is there another way”, and now, he is “troubled and anxious”.

In his divine nature, he knows that the moment of his suffering and death was at hand for the purpose of Glory to the Father in the salvation of the world.

In this we see the paradox’s of Jesus victory.

He must die, so that we can live.

Jesus will shortly be judged, yet he will bring judgement on Satan and overthrow him.

If we were literally there during these times, without the knowledge of what’s ahead-being Jesus resurrection-Jesus’ announcement of what was to come would have been puzzling at best.

So using the picture of a grain of wheat, Jesus shows that death is in some cases necessary for new life. The seed has to be buried in the ground before it can produce ears of wheat containing hundreds of grains.  Jesus is saying that his death is necessary before the great harvest of gathering together God’s people can begin.

But as with Jesus, there are two sides to the story. Yes he must die, but that is also true of his disciples, to us.

We must die to grow. Certainly that is the case literally upon our physical death: to be raised to live in eternal life.

But it’s also the here and now- our moment’s here on earth that Jesus talks off.

“Whoever loves his life loses it and whoever hates his life in this world will keep it”.

How does that make you feel?  I do have my moments as Robbie Williams sings where“I don’t want to die, but I aint that keen of livin either” But I generally prefer the former.

Our Saviour Jesus was both fully human and fully divine, and that’s how it had to be to re-unite God the Father and humankind.

Here on earth we are both sinners and saints.

Sinners in ourselves, yet saints in Christ.

To “Hate this world” is that part of us-that human part, our sins, our self- serving, greed and so forth.

The part of ourselves we don’t like, where we fight it, yet with not a lot of ground seemingly made.

But saints in Christ-because we hand those sins over to Christ, that he brings forgiveness.

In the defeat of our efforts of self- renewal we throw ourselves in mercy at Jesus feet, and receive the victory-his victory, and in Christ we are renewed.

I mentioned at the start, that when Muhammad Ali was in the ring against George Foreman his boxing moment had arrived. Every bit of practice, the running, the planning, throwing punches in training and receiving them-they had all led to that moment, and through, basically sheer willpower and courage, in his moment he was victorious.

But what of the moments when our courage and our will power are have been long exhausted. Where we’ve come to that moment, and it’s too great for us.

The man Muhammad Ali beat in that boxing title fight, George Foreman, a head strong 26 year old was inconsolable. Ali had won the unwinnable fight, and Foreman had lost the” unlosable” fight. He was broken and crushed. In his own words he was so full of hatred that he wanted to hire a hitman to get back at his enemies-except there were too many of them. The following years he fell into such deep depression that his loved one’s feared he may never recover. They feared for his life.

Should you have been or have known a person that is at the bottom, with no fight left in them, or yourself-you will know it’s a perilous situation,  a knife edge, and the outcome, the moment can go either way-it is literally facing death in the face. It’s as if you, they, need a miracle.

George Foreman was on that knife edge. Later he would say that “I was dead, and where I was, was nothingness, just nothing”. This was his moment, because in that nothingness, alone and beaten, he came to know Christ.

In 1977 George became an ordained Christian Minister and in 1994 aged 45, he became the boxing world champion of the world.

Asked of his life he said this: “When I lost that fight to Muhammad Ali in 1974 it was one of the best things that ever happened in my life. It was my chance to have a second chance to live.  I found out that the greatest thing in the world—the greatest existence of anything—is that God made us human beings, and that I found out how to love my fellow man.  I don’t think it’s possible for anyone to truly appreciate human beings’ lives until they’ve found Jesus Christ”.

The apostle Paul, in jail-persecuted and awaiting his own death, wrote I have fought the good fight and run the good race.

As do we, in and with Christ we too are fighting the good fight and running the good race.

Jesus died on the cross so that we can live. That was Jesus moment, and when you came to believe, that was your moment. Live in that moment.

Verses from Ecclesiastes 3:

“No-one can find out the work that God does from beginning to end. I know that nothing is better for them than to rejoice and to do good in their lives, and also that every person should eat and enjoy the food of their labour-it is the gift of God.

To everything there is a season. A time for every purpose under heaven.

A time to be born and a time to die.

A time to plant, and time to pluck what is planted.

A time to weep, and a time to laugh.

A time to mourn, and a time to dance”.

Yes, live with passion, cry without guilt, mourn in hope, be yourself, laugh at your shortfalls, take some chances, follow your dreams and be humble in your achievements and pray in sureness, and thank God, that because of Christ we can.  Amen. 

John.3 14/21

Over lent we have been hearing the story of God’s saving plan for the world. In Jesus’ story, and in our story. They are like a trinity; all are together or not at all. We accept forgiveness in Christ and we are overjoyed. We accept forgiveness in Christ and God is overjoyed.

God wants to forgive, not for some, not only for the small sins and not only once-but continually, and no sin is too great to be blotted off our record in Christ.

The Gospel of our Lord and Savior, we hear it every week. Why? Because we need to hear it, again, again and again.

Why? Because it is so hard to get our head around. Me, you, us-forgiven in Christ-as we are now.

It seems too good to be true. It can be dumbfounding to us-and knowing this, the devil, NOT God, latches onto our human thoughts and continually suggests there has to be more to it-and to our human nature-who could argue.

Except for one thing, it’s not what we think of ourselves, it’s not what other’s think of us, that’s immaterial-it’s what Christ has done for us: that’s it-and that’s why can it be so difficult to just simply accept.

Martin Luther wrote that if you only read one of the Gospel’s, read John, and it seems no-coincidence that the most known piece of scripture is written in the book of John.

“For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life”.

Pure Gospel. This one verse, those twenty six words of John 3:16 sum up the whole Gospel.

Likewise, in the Gospel today, these verses, tell us of the glory of God’s character, the nature of his life and his desire to share that life with his creatures. It is about God coming amongst us and the mixed response he receives to his offer of divine and eternal life. It is a vivid snapshot of God and our world.

When parents see their child in distress, they just wish they could take their place, it’s terrible.

Imagine how God would felt while Jesus was being persecuted.

Not enough that he was innocent. Not enough that crucifixion was the most cruelest and tortuous form of death, it was also considered shameful and degrading.

The irony abounds, because for Christ’s followers after his death and resurrection, they could not talk of their savor without talking of the manner and place in which he died.

Yet it doesn’t stop there, who put Jesus to such a terrible place. The Romans-yes, the Jewish authorities-yes, us-yes. Every person that has or will sin put Jesus on the Cross, and the irony-sin, humankind put Jesus there: and what was Jesus response-To those very present that day, what did Jesus say? “Forgive them Father they don’t what they do”.

What does Jesus say today? “Forgive them Father they are with me”.

It is all one way traffic, God who loves his son, sends his son to die for those he loves. Jesus, in love of his father and of us-lets the sin of the world, our sin cause his death.

It all seems back to front land. In human reasoning anyway.

God sending his Son Jesus into the world. Those that receive him, not from their own will, but born of God, through the gift of faith-believing in his name, become the children of God-and saved. We hear this and we know it’s true. We don’t even have to think about it, like we know that wall is made of bricks, we just know it is.

Using human logic this story is unfathomable, but from the faith worked in us, it’s simple isn’t it?

We know that’s the story, that’s the big picture. If it’s that simple, then how come life can still seem so difficult?

Looking at it from a step back, that big picture: why do we worry or struggle with anything, just enjoy the ride.

But it’s not like that, is it?

Because we are still in the battle. The battle that when not seen at arm’s length, but up close and personal is much tougher.

The ongoing battle: Conflict, good versus evil, the light versus the darkness.

Yet we can still struggle, and sometimes big time. We can suffer from moments that threaten to crush us, the darkness seems strong, the darkness of our sin, temptations, and our flesh seem on constant attack.

It’s a battle that sometimes feels unwinnable, and it would be if it was left to us-we are not strong enough. So Christ fights for us-he is our hope, and our defence. He is our light in the darkness.

When sick, troubled or lonely in the night, we wait for the sun to rise in the east-we wait for those first rays of sunshine, because we know that while we’ll still carry our woes with us, they never seem quite so bad in the light of the day.

Like in those moments when we are spiritually haunted by our failings, our weaknesses, our sin-we cling to that light of Christ-even when we can’t seem to see that light in ourselves, we cling to it; we know it’s our only ray of hope.

We have many moments of joy, moments of clarity where we feel like we are all but in heaven, blessed moments to cherish.

But sometimes, in despair because of our sin, crushed by others and our own circumstances and actions, or in despair and great sorrow due to the death of a loved one, that place can seem a long way off.

Here, this side of heaven-we dwell in the light of our Savior Jesus, yet because we are still amongst the darkness, at times, just surviving in Christ can be enough.

I was reminded of this recently when I was reading of some United States troops serving in a particularly dangerous part of Afghanistan. One of the soldiers, when talking of the amount of colleagues he’s lost from walking on land mines said;

“The only way to survive mentally here is to celebrate the small things, and that small thing is surviving another day, that is a victory-because we know that the only safe piece of ground is that which is under your two feet”.

Sometimes it can come down to as simple as that, to face another day in Christ is a victory worth celebrating. He is the safe place where we stand.

In faith, be it in our moments of sheer joy or moments of great distress-we see the true light, the light of Christ in the darkness, our saving light.

In today’s Gospel we are told of the light of Christ and of the darkness of sin, those saved and those condemned. If you are like me this can make you feel a little uneasy, because not only do I not always dwell in the light, sometimes the light even seems to be a bit dull.

But that’s life. Everyday being a Christian, is not any different from our whole life as a Christian. We have ups and downs. One minute or one month we feel on top of this “being a Christian” thing, but the next minute or the next month we’re back to square one-seemingly in the darkness.

But that’s again the irony, in the darkness is where we see ourselves and it doesn’t look so good. Any light we had seems extinguished, like someone has turned off that little torch light we were trying to see with. But then in the darkness-when our little strand of light from three triple A batteries has gone-we see the splendor of a lighthouse, shining bright-showing us the way to safety.

Verse 21: “But whoever lives by the truth comes into the light”,

It’s not the being in the darkness-our sin that condemns, what condemns is refusing to come into the light of Christ. Refusing his offer of forgiveness.

Verse 21 continued: “so that it may be seen clearly that what he has done has been done through God”.

Are these good deeds God is talking about, yes because any good deed we do is not from us but from God, from the Holy Spirit working in us.

But more so, much more so-“what can be seen clearly that what we have done has been done through God” is his bringing us redemption-that’s the good deed, the good work-not something we’ve done, but by simply accepting Christ, sent by the Father to save us-to accept and trust in his “no questions asked forgiveness-to accept his offer of life.”

So “that whoever believes in Him will not perish but have eternal life”. In the original Greek text, how it is written has two meanings: Eternal life of course, but not a waiting and wondering-but a “done deal eternal life”-it’s already in the bag-so go forward without the burden of any doubt.

Groucho Marx once famously, ill and in hospital and reading the bible was asked why he was doing so, and he answered “he was looking for a loop hole”.

The love of God and forgiveness in Christ alone, that’s not a loop hole-but a never ending canyon.

The love of God to us. Daily and throughout our lives, we may spurn it, doubt it, not return it and not always understand it. But no matter what-God’s love remains resolute and unwavering.

We may wonder away from His love, but His love for us does not wander from us. A pastor once told me a story and it about sums it up.

A man who felt he had fallen out with his wife, one morning, wrote her a note saying so and left her and lived a life of selfish careless abandon: partying, seeing other ladies and being basically reckless.

Years later, after using others and being used himself; he started thinking of his wife of long ago. How she cared for him and how she had loved him, just as he was. (and) he came to wish for those days again.

He wrote her a letter telling of all the things he had done and of how he now felt. But he finished his letter with: “You may be re-married or forgotten me. Whatever the case I have no right to even ask you to see me again, and if you do not-it would be as it should be, and I will leave you alone. But I will be the train tomorrow that passes by the old oak tree on the edge of the farm. If you tie a red ribbon to it I will l can get off at the next station. If not I will continue on my way.

The next day on the train, the passenger next to him asked him of his unease. So he told him his story, and when the train was about to round the corner before the oak tree, he asked the man if he could look for him-as he wasn’t game.

When the train came around the corner, he heard the other man crying, and said “don’t worry for me, after what I’ve done, I did not even have the right to ask her to have me back”.

The other man said, “No look for yourself”: and as he opened his eyes-he saw the oak tree covered in red bows.

The Love Of God.

Looking at our life, do we have doubts of ourselves-how could we not?

Looking at Christ’s life, do we have doubts of God’s love for us, how could we?

Amen.

“Fair Crack of the whip”

Have you ever been part of breaking the protocols or rules of the day? That’s a bit of a silly question because we are Australians and that’s part of our DNA.

But what if breaking these protocols, or these ways of doing things need changing? When you are the few against the majority it can be very difficult, if not downright dangerous.

In the American civil war, a complex war but essentially characterized about North Vs. South. The North that did not have slavery against the South that did. The General of the south Robert E. Lee was attending church. Upon getting up from his pew to take Holy Communion, he noticed that a slave who had started to get up, noticed him and sat back down. On his way past him, he put his hand on his shoulder and said “come up with me, before God we are all equal”.

That may not sound that daunting until we reflect that segregation based on the color of a person’s skin was still a problem for President John F Kennedy in the 60’s.

These two men took enormous risks, both politically and physically-because they challenged and broke the rules of the day.

In our Gospel today, we see Jesus breaking a cultural, religious and social way of doing things in his times.

Last week I mentioned a quote from the movie Jerry Maguire. This week another one from it comes to mind (I have actually watched more than one movie in my life). Jerry is working for this organization and in a moment of “inspiration”, writes a memo to the bosses and every employee stating everything that’s wrong in their workplace.

The next day, everyone’s slapping his back saying ÿer Jerry, great stuff”, then as he walks off they say to each other “gone by Friday”.

Jesus in his words and actions in today’s Gospel puts it all on the line. Seen later when the authorities use these actions and words against him in his trial to be sentenced to crucifixion.

Starting at verse 13: “Now the Passover of the Jews was at hand, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem. And He found in the temple those who sold oxen and sheep and doves, and the money changers doing business. When He had made a whip of cords, He drove them all out of the temple, with the sheep and the oxen, and poured out the changers’ money and overturned the tables”.

Jesus is brandishing a whip. Remember in the Garden of Gethsemane when the guards come to arrest Jesus, Peter cuts off one of their ears with a sword to protect Jesus, in which Jesus tells him “to put his sword away”.

But here, Jesus has the whip out-he is not a happy man.

(and) to our ears, animals, doves and money changers-it seems a bit of a rabble-so it seems fair enough that Jesus has taken exception to all this-apart for one small matter-celebrating the Passover is, as recorded in Leviticus, as per God’s command.

Leviticus 23:4 “These are the feasts of the Lord, holy celebrations which you shall proclaim..On the fourteenth day of the first month at twilight is the Lord’s Passover…and you shall bring offerings..”

To understand why the Passover is such a big deal to the Jews, Jesus and indeed God himself we need to know the background.

To do so we go back to the book of Exodus.

God has enlisted Moses to be the middle man- to bring about the release of the Israelites who are captives-slaves in Egypt.

In short, Moses’ request for their release is declined by the Pharaoh. Then, in an effort to have the Pharaoh change his mind-God brings plaques upon the Egyptians. Our modern equivalent would be like our trade sanctions against rebel countries that won’t toe the line.

Firstly the rivers are turned to blood, so that it cannot be drank and the fish die. Then the place is overrun with frogs, then lice, flies, the livestock die, everyone gets painful boils, huge hail stones that kill everything not under cover, locusts and then pitch darkness for three days.

But after these nine plaques, the Pharaoh remains resolute. So God unleashes His piece of résistance. God instructs Moses to tell the Israelites that on the first month of the year on the tenth day, each household shall take an unblemished lamb and keep it until the fourteenth day, then they will kill and eat all of it with unleavened bread and put its blood on the doorposts of their houses.

Because that night: and let’s hear it from God himself: Exodus chapter 12, verse 12 “For I will pass through the land of Egypt on that night, and will strike the firstborn in the land of Egypt, both person and beast; and against all the God’s of Egypt I will execute judgment. Now the blood on your door frames shall be a sign. And when I see the blood, I will Passover you; and the plague shall not be on you”. God continues, “This day shall be to you a memorial: and you shall keep it as a feast to the Lord throughout your generations. You shall keep it as a feast by an everlasting ordinance”.

As God had predicted, aftera tragedy of these proportions for the Egyptians-every family losing their firstborn-including the Pharaoh-the Israelites were not just released-the Pharaoh drove them out-enough was enough-no more.

The Israelites were released-free, and as commanded by God-every year in the temple the Passover was commemorated. That’s why it was such a big deal. So important that from all over Israel the people would journey to the temple in Jerusalem to make sacrifice’s like in the initial Passover.

Again, we have to understand the times; Israel in comparison to Australia is a small country, but not small when your Landcruiser is a donkey or just your two feet. Just getting to Jerusalem was a huge feat, or at least their feet probably were time they got there. So, they didn’t bring their animal sacrifices with them, they bought them when they got there.

What of the money changers? Again we must consider the times. These people from different locations traded in different currencies. So they would go to the money changers and exchange their currencies for the local currency, so they could purchase their sacrifices.

Just like if we went to England, we trade our Aussie Dollars for pounds.

So there’s a 101 of the Passover history, and the goings on all seem to make sense. Yet Jesus brings out the whip.

In Australian, when we get told off for what we think is not wrong-we may use the term “fair crack of the whip”.

But we see, indeed literally-it was a fair crack of the whip.

Because upon Jesus entering the house of God, not outside it, but in it he sees a market place. People not just undertaking commercial enterprises-which is bad enough, but also profiteering-ripping off people who come to worship.

He sees people and their actions getting in the way of true devotional worship-getting in the way between God and His people.

Fast forward two thousand years-to today’s times. As yet, thankfully I have never attended a church full of sheep, goats or doves about to be sacrificed.

Thankfully because they are no longer needed. Our unblemished lamb of sacrifice is Jesus himself.

Jesus is our Passover. In Jesus-our sins are passed over and we are free of them-released from their captivity.

We don’t come to church to bring-we come to church to receive. We don’t take to worship, we take from worship.

There’s a lovely article in this month’s Lutheran, and I quote:

“One morning I was all hot and bothered because the old people at the church had trampled all over my brilliant idea. Why are they so boring? Why aren’t they passionate about their faith? I railed at Miss Perry. Why don’t they ever do anything? Why do they think that being a Christian is just warming a pew on Sunday mornings? Ever so quietly, Miss Perry said, Linda, are you sure you will still be warming a pew when you’re their age? By then you’ll have experienced much heartache and disappointment, with people and with God. Are you sure you’ll be as strong in your faith then as you are now”.

Miss Perry has nailed it. Not because she told this young girl that enthusiasm is not good, because she didn’t. Of course we should always look at ways to connect with each other and the people around us. Always look at ways that might help bring and strengthen people’s, and our relationship with God. It’s an absolute yes to that.

But she has nailed two things-One: How our lives can be tough-it’s not just all smooth sailing, and our faith will be tested, and Two: to get through these times with our faith and trust in God intact can be quite a miracle. The miracle’s we receive in worship. Hearing the Word of God, absolution and forgiveness, Baptism and Holy Communion. Word and Sacrament is where God gives his life strengthening miracles to us.

Word and Sacrament-To the world, what these bring seem ridiculous. Even parts of the Christian church ridicule the truth by questioning and denying scripture and its teachings and promises.

These assaults on the Word of God and divine worship are from the same brush that Jesus encountered at the Passover.

As I said, the church must always look at ways of connecting, of connecting so people will come to know God. But the Church must also stand up for the truth. Stand for something or stand for nothing at all.

In the book of Revelations we are given an account of seven churches-their positives and their negatives, except for the one titled the lukewarm church. Chapter 3, verse 15: Ï know of your works, that are neither cold nor hot. I wish you were cold or hot. So then, because you are lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will vomit you out of My mouth”.

Harsh words. Lukewarm, could this be like receiving the grace of God, his gifts we receive in worship in a “maybe they’ll help” manner.

In worship we hear and receive the Gospel. In Word and Sacrament we are given strength to believe, to be given faith and for our faith to be strengthened.

Faith like that of General Robert E Lee, essentially fighting for slavery and a slave-that both approached our Lord and Savior as equals. Equals that deserve crumbs yet receive a banquet.

Today, our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ has forgiven your sins and strengthened your faith. It’s a gift and a miracle beyond our understanding. In Christ alone, we are saved.

Martin Luther was prepared to die for that belief, Jesus Christ died for it to be truth. And we live because it is the truth. Amen.

One cannot but feel for Peter and the disciples, and how they must have felt when we hear Jesus words to them “Get behind me Satan”. I’ve been called many things that haven’t always been pleasant, but thankfully that is not one of them.

But to Peter and the guys, “Satan”. The same guys who we know from earlier, when meeting Jesus for the first time: seemingly didn’t think twice- just gave up everything and followed him.

Starting Mark chapter 1, verse 16: “As Jesus walked beside the Sea of Galilee, he saw Simon (Peter) and his brother Andrew casting a net into the lake, for they were fisherman. ‘Come, follow me’, Jesus said, ‘and I will make you fishers of men’. At once they left their nets and followed him.

But now, looking at Peter Jesus says “get behind me Satan”, and in what seems like a stern lecture, follows with “you do not have in mind the things of God, but the things of men”,

and then to the crowd as well “If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me and for the gospel will save it”.

Seriously, they give up everything, then when trying to talk Jesus out of knowingly and purposely, like a lamb to the slaughter walking into a situation, where he’ll be set up, tortured and killed.

They get mentioned in the same breath as “Satan”.

Fair dinkum, in all seriousness, what do you think might be your response?

For me, maybe the term “thanks for nothing” might come to mind.

(and) in thinking that, right there, Jesus has got me-and anyone one else that may have felt the same way.

Our logical human response shows our focus, our focus on ourselves, or at the very least, we are thinking like Peter in human terms.

Human terms that appeal. Last week we heard in the Gospel of Mark, Jesus being tempted by the devil in the desert.

But Mark did not tell us of what the temptations were. Matthew does, and they don’t seem blasphemous or openly evil. But they are, because the devil is in the detail, or better said, in the subtlety.

Jesus is hungry, so is tempted to “tell these stones to become bread”. In our lives this equates to doubt sown about our physical needs, our retirement, our financial needs.

These needs are real, but doubt is sown to separate us from trust in God-to create a barrier.

Next, Jesus is tempted to deny the Word of God. After taking Jesus to the highest point of the temple overlooking the city, the devil says “If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down, for it is written that He will command his angels to lift you up in their hands so you will not strike your foot against a stone.” This is like a dare with logic.

For the Church today, this can be seen when we put our logic before the Word of God. So much so that the Word is not preached, taught or acted on in its totality.

It’s the temptation to not trust or depend totally in God’s ways, but ours.

Lastly we hear that Jesus was ‘offered’ “all the kingdoms of the world, if only he bow down and worship him”-the devil. Firstly it is ludicrous because it was not his to offer, but his temptation is against God himself, to defy God.

This temptation involved the purpose of Jesus actual coming into the world. Jesus came to redeem people, not to rule them. Satan’s suggestion to Jesus, and still followed by many today, required no suffering and death. Thankfully, Jesus chose God’s way, the way of the cross.

The path of Glory rather than that of a suffering servant.

I don’t think we need any examples of how that works out in our society, or we might be here all day.

These temptations appear attractive and “natural” and appeal to all “natural” human instincts and that is why they are so dangerous.

The ways of the world appeal to us naturally, the ways of God don’t, and left to our own devices, as God knew, that’s how it would have remained.

Something has to give in this stand-off, and someone did. God did.

God gave himself, His Son Jesus. Jesus, fully divine, yet fully human. Jesus the messiah, our Saviour, the divine one. The Son of God, yet the Son of God who felt hunger, pain and temptation. The Son of God who in the Garden asked “is there another way”. The saviour who had his mind on the things of God, our Saviour who denied himself and willingly walked to the cross for us that we may live, to re-unite us with the Father.

To not leave us to our own devices, but to leave us to his devices. His strength and His gifts.

The gift of Holy Communion. Where we receive the true body and blood of our Jesus Christ to strengthen our faith, to bring forgiveness of sins, life and salvation.

The gift of Baptism. To deliver us from death and the devil, to bring us forgiveness and grant salvation to all who believe as the Word and promise of God declare.

In Romans 6:4. St. Paul writes, “We are buried therefore with him by baptism into death, so that Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, that we too might walk in newness of life”. Did you hear that, “newness of life”?

What is this “newness of life”? The small catechism tells us clearly, that ‘It signifies that the old Adam in us, together with all sins and evil lusts, should be drowned by daily sorrow and repentance and be put to death, and that the new person should come forward daily and rise up, cleansed and righteous, to live forever in God’s presence”.

Daily sorrow and repentance, and the new person come forward daily.

Is this not what has been instructed in today’s Gospel. That “if anyone would come after me, they must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me”. To have our minds on “divine things, not human things”.

These words from Jesus sound hard, sound impossible, sound like law, but come to life as Gospel. They bring freedom because they release us from ourselves. Release us from getting pulled along by the worlds offer and promise of self-gratification in “things”. Consumerism, that if not for Christ would imprison us.

In Adelaide, every Easter and Christmas there’s debate about opening the shops on day’s registered as public holidays. Comments like, we are backward compared to other states prop up every time.

Last year in the paper, there were numerous people who said they went on a trip interstate because there shops were open and Adelaide’s were not.

Seriously, is that where we are as a society?

In Christ we see these things-consumerism- for what they are. They are not what life is about. They are good servants, but not good masters. Christ is the life.

In Christ we are free and given life-he is our need and our focus.

So, is everybody ready to deny themselves, take up our cross and follow Jesus? To lose our lives for Jesus and the Gospel?

Well thankfully we’ve made a good start and there’s not a colosseum with hungry lions in sight.

You have made a good start because you have done it today. Because, if you had your sights on human things, you may have slept in, or gone shopping in instead of coming to church.

But you’re here, because your sights are on divine things. Today we join in worship.

We thank Jesus by accepting his grace in confession and absolution and the body and the blood of Christ in Holy Communion. These are divine things.

Even more, those who have children, children that God loves with a passion-you brought them here today, in Christ’s presence. Just like you did when you carried them to baptism. You are serving Christ and the Gospel as he has asked.

Unfortunately, there are others, others that Christ loves that are yet to know him. The people we meet and work with everyday. Play sport with, socialise with. Our friends, work mates and even those that we don’t see eye to eye with.

Each one loved by God. Each one that God wants that they know His peace and his love.

Keep our minds on divine things, and die to self and serve Jesus and the Gospel. That’s where it’s at-in the people he has brought before us in our daily lives. That’s our calling, that through us-they may hear of Christ, to be drawn closer to him.

It is amazing that sinners like us, in Christ are Saints. Forgiven.

(and) it is amazing that we, are living examples of God’s love and that we are involved with Him in his work. His desire to meet those he has placed before us.

But at times, serving those before us in and with the Gospel can seem like a very thankless task. And it is,

if our focus is on us getting or seeing the results. That’s the beauty of our Lord, we just go about our business endeavouring to live like a child of Christ, like the disciples, we don’t rush ahead of Christ, we follow Christ.

(and) in following Christ-we don’t see our love of all those we meet, we see Christ’s love of them.

Like the disciples, we follow Christ and we see him meet the hurt, the down and outs-the homeless, addicted, prostitutes and so forth. We see him meet these people-and see through His eyes. His eyes that look beyond their outwardly condition.

Whose eyes see and understand how easy it is for fragile humans to be caught up in ways of life and actions that “somehow” just seen to creep in. Through Christ’s eyes-we see what he sees-

not a looser, not a person that should just get over it, and not a person that’s got what they deserve.

We see him looking and seeing a beautiful child.

We see him weeping in sadness in their pain and loneliness,

and we see his happiness and his smile.

His happiness and smile, and the happiness of the angels and all the company of heaven when just one more person comes to faith. Faith in his promises.

Serving our neighbour is not a thankless task, because serving our Lord is not a thankless task. Not for the thanks he will give us in return for our service, but for the thanks he has already given us.

The thanks he has already given us?

But Isn’t it the thanks we give Christ?

It’s a yes to both.

In the film Jerry Maquire starring Tom Cruise and Renee Zellweger, after a break up in their romance, Tom returns, says hello and begins to apologise for his errors. Renee, stops him apologising and says “you had me at hello”.

She didn’t need the apologies. Just him returning was enough.

Following Christ and serving his people is not a task, it’s a response for his love that we have already received.

When one of his children return home, when one of his children bow down and ask for Mercy for mistakes, guilt, greed, mistakes and flaws. When one of his children ask for mercy during times of hardship. Christ says to them, says to us: thank you my dear child, but you had me at “Lord have mercy”. Amen. “

Mark 1: 9-15

As Jesus was coming out of the water, he saw heaven being torn open, and the spirit descending on him like a dove. And a voice came down from heaven, You are my beloved Son; with you I am well pleased”.

What a glorious picture.

But then the very next verse: “The Spirit immediately drove him out into the wilderness for forty days amongst the wild animals and being tempted by Satan”.

What is going on here? If it was us, looking through our eyes the response of “this is not what I signed on for” might come to mind.

Thankfully Jesus is not of our ilk. Make no mistake; Jesus felt the temptation, felt pain, hunger and thirst as we do. But because his focus was God the Father, he gave himself to his Father’s will-whatever the cost.

In the wilderness, Jesus’ successful struggle against temptation prefigures His final victory on the cross. From the days of Adam and Eve, we have continually fallen into Satan’s traps .But Jesus after having united Himself with fallen human beings through His Baptism, won a preliminary victory over the evil foe’s temptations. At the cross, Jesus gained an even more wonderful victory over the devil’s temptations, and in His resurrection we see his power broken once and for all.

Jesus, with his eyes on the Father-walked to the cross for us-for our salvation, because his focus was on the will of The Father.

You will remember that in the Garden of Gethsemane, Jesus sweats blood. Sweating blood is a medical condition that can happen when under enormous pressure. This is the pressure Jesus is under, but he achieves His Fathers will because His focus is His Father. His life was not cluttered up with other “stuff”.

When I worked in the bank, a man after desperately trying to keep the family home, after going through the heart break that all he had worked for was going to be taken away- came in, threw the keys to the manger and said-finally it’s over, I’m free.

In our lives, at some time or other, we will spend time in the wilderness-struggling.

When things don’t seem right-where our life doesn’t seem to go to script.

A few years ago, a friend told me to go see a movie that he highly recommended. To not spoil it he didn’t tell me anything about it-just the title.

So along I went.

Unfortunately I was running a bit late and I missed the start.

But it didn’t matter; I got the gist of what was happening. The thing was I thought it was rubbish-but in trust of my friend’s recommendation I hung in there, but it didn’t get any better.

At the end, while walking out and thinking “what was my friend thinking”, I happened to notice that the movie he had told me to see-was in the room next door-I had watched the wrong movie.

But our lives are not of fiction, they are real-and sometimes we find ourselves in the wilderness.

Tough times that hurt, that don’t seem fair.

Times when that Aussie outlook, “She’ll be right mate” doesn’t cut it.

But In our tough times, our wilderness moments-he is with us, to sustain us-to strengthen us and to give us hope.

That’s the truth, we know this in faith.

Yet, in the here and now, the events our daily lives sometimes blur our vision, and it can become hard to see our saviour there with us.

In our baptism Christ has promised to be with us, to always be with us and get us to that day when we are re-united in heaven.

But in the middle, sometimes in our lives we start to wonder what is actually going on, where the script of our lives is different to how we imagined it.

Things turn out differently.

Test Cricketers have remarked, that at the height of his powers that when Shane Warne released the cricket ball, it would spin so furiously that they could hear it zinging past them.

When Shane was asked of his freakish ability he remarked that he believed it was due to an accident he had as a child were he broke his wrist,

and having not gone to the doctor-the bone’s set incorrectly, that later seemed to give him a un- natural ability to spin the ball.

When Shane broke his wrist, I’m sure he would not have predicted such an outcome.

But our lives are not like watching a game of cricket or movie script with only our fleeting emotional attachment. Our lives are real, as are the things that come our way.

My dear Christian friend who lost his teenage son to illness would go out into the paddock,

Look to the heavens and shout “Why Lord, Why my Boy, why my boy.

I cannot imagine the pain of my friend-I could not even try.

We could look piously at people in these situations and say “Trust in the Lord”, or give some, “get some faith type of comment like Job’s mates gave him,

Until it’s us. Until our moment brings us to our knees-where the hurt is so absorbing we cannot rejoice.

And only ask why?

Yet, when we look back over times in our life, terrible hurtful times where we seem to have been abandoned, we see in hindsight that we were not alone.

In the Gospel we heard today Christ was there in his own wilderness struggle, in the Gospel everyday, he is with us in ours-carrying us on his back when we can no longer walk, bringing hope when we have no hope and bringing help when we are helpless.

When Adam and Eve fell to sin in the garden, God responded by clothing them.

Daily we fall to sin, daily we doubt and daily we follow our own way and not that of the Lord.

Yet in our failure to walk with Christ, he responds by walking with us.

He does not meet us in scorn,

But meets us in love, and reveals himself to us.

At the fall in the Garden, God clothed two sinners for their protection and warmth on their earthly journey.

In Jesus, God gave sinners his Son, for our protection and warmth on our earthly journey, and clothed us with the righteousness of His Son for our salvation.

With our world’s distractions it can be hard to see the trees for the forest: lent is a time of putting things down-these distractions, so we can focus on our Saviour the Lord Jesus Christ.

As Banjo Paterson one remarked that “If you don’t put down a brick you can’t pick up a castle”.

On Ash Wednesday we entered lent. A day that some of us, for the next forty days have decided to give something up.

How could this be described? Maybe like a New Year’s resolution without the time span.

There’s an element of truth in that-but what is different is the motivation and the desired result.

As we enter lent some of us may have made a decision to give something up and that’s fine. But giving up for lent is not like a new year’s resolution. Lent is not about not giving up the PlayStation 3 for the sake of it, it’s about purposely using that time to hear and be drawn near our Lord.

To read the bible, pray, family devotions-or simply to sit and think.

To have quiet time with God.

In our hurly burly world and its distractions, that is not as easy as it sounds. But making that time is the essence of the Lenten period, to reflect on Christ in our lives and on our priorities. To get them in order during this time of anticipation as we wait to hear of our Saviours death and resurrection at Easter.

To see what God has done for us. Given His Son to resist temptation for us. Given His Son to win the battle that we could never have won.

To see how daily Jesus meets us, walks with us, restores us and strengthens us.

To let us go forward, knowing Christ is with us-come what may. AMEN.

In order to bring glory to God

Ten year old Tim and a group of his friends were constantly harassed by other kids at their school. They were bullied, stood over for money, and because they were the smallest boys in the class they were powerless to do anything about it. One day after another incident, they talked about how they could put a stop to all this. Some of the boys were all for ganging up on the bullies, ambushing them, even getting some of the bigger kids to join them. Tim wasn’t convinced that an all out war on the bullies was the best way to go. Someone was going to get hurt – most likely they would come off second best. They sat in silence for awhile. Tim quietly said, “Instead of using the same tactics as the bullies, why don’t we do just the opposite. Let’s get everyone to be kind to one another – not just us but everyone in the whole school”. His friends thought he was crazy.

To cut a long story short the group decided to give it a go. The idea caught on and soon the whole school was making an extra special effort to show kindness and do good things for one another. Teachers were impressed at how well every one was getting on. Those who had been harassing the younger kids didn’t know how to handle all this kindness and gave up. Tim was hailed a hero by parents, staff and students. As he was riding home alone one afternoon, a kid from another school jumped out in front of him brandishing a metal bar. He wanted Tim’s bike. Tim died on the footpath from a fatal blow to his head.

That is a sad story. The change that happened at Tim’s school was amazing. This only made the event that ended Tim’s life even more heart wrenching. A young person who had his life in front of him, someone whose plan changed a community and yet his life was tragically cut short. That just doesn’t seem fair. In fact, it’s not fair at all.

Where was God when this happened?
Why did he let this to happen?
Who knows what great things Tim might have accomplished in the future with his innovative way of tackling hostile situations? He might have become a world leader and used his ideas to stop conflict between warring nations. But now we will never know. We want to understand but we can’t help but ask “Why?”

Today in John chapter 11 we hear that Jesus’ good friend Lazarus is on his death bed. Mary and Martha sent a message to Jesus about their brother’s critical condition. We are even told how much Jesus loved these sisters and their brother like they were his own family. And yet he gives a very strange reply, “(The death of Lazarus) has happened in order to bring glory to God, and it will be the means by which the Son of God will receive glory”. In fact, Jesus deliberately delays going to see this family.

That’s so strange. When we hear the news of a close friend’s condition it’s normal to rush and be with the family. But not Jesus. Jesus knew that Lazarus had already died but still friends need friends at a time like this. We might even want to ask the question why Jesus didn’t rush to the side of those whom he loved – that is so out of character for the one who was always ready to help and comfort even when it wasn’t convenient. As we know by the time Jesus got there Lazarus has already been dead for 4 days. Jews believed that the spirit only left the body after 3 days. That meant that Lazarus was as dead as dead can be. Jesus had even missed the funeral. Lazarus was already in a tomb.

All of this must have seemed so unfair.  Jesus healed many other people.  Why couldn’t he come to see Lazarus?  Restore him to health?  Where is Jesus?  Why is he taking so long to get here?

Jesus explains, “This has happened in order to bring glory to God”. This is a troubling saying from the mouth of Jesus. It might easily be interpreted as meaning that God has deliberately made life hard for Mary & Martha & Lazarus so that he can get all the glory. But that would make God a monster – deliberately hurting someone so that he can get everyone’s attention.

This is not the first time Jesus says something like this. Last week we heard the story about the man born blind. His disciples want to know whose fault it was that this man should be born blind. Jesus says that it’s no-one’s fault. “He is blind so that God’s power might be seen at work in him”.

Let’s clarify what Jesus means. The key to understanding what Jesus is saying here is in the words ‘so that’ and ‘in order that’. Jesus is saying this happened and this will be the outcome.
The man is born blind, it’s no one’s fault, God certainly hasn’t caused this blindness but the outcome will be that God’s glory will be shown.
Lazarus dies – God doesn’t take his life, but the outcome will be that God’s glory will be shown. And that’s precisely what happens when Jesus heals the blind man and when he raises dead Lazarus.

Both of these events cause a ripple effect amongst the people who witnessed these miracles, either, on the one hand, faith in Jesus as their saviour or, on the other hand, a stronger determination to get rid of Jesus. We are told immediately following the raising of Lazarus that “many people believed in him”, and then a few verses later it is reported that “from that day on the Jewish authorities made plans to kill Jesus”. This miracle at the grave of Lazarus brought the events of Maundy Thursday and Good Friday even closer.

When Jesus spoke of his own suffering and death he referred to the horrors of what was about to happen as his time of great glory. Out on Calvary’s Hill there was nothing glorious about the humiliation and suffering involved in a crucifixion. There was nothing glorious about hanging naked from a cross while bystanders jeered as his life slowly drained from the body. He will suffer and die and the outcome will be that God will be glorified. Jesus said as he looked down the road to Jerusalem, “The hour has now come for the Son of Man to receive great glory” (John 12:23). These are shameful events but forever people will give glory to God for all that he suffered.

Have you ever thought of the hard times in your life in this way? They happen so that God may be glorified.
Don’t get me wrong – it’s not that God deliberately chooses you above everyone else to go through a particularly hard time because he wants his glory known. We know that God is loving and compassionate and doesn’t send us hardship so that his name will be made great.

Bad things do happen. There maybe reasons why they happen like carelessness or self-centredness but sometimes bad things just seem to happen randomly. Like Tim who had only done good and yet out of the blue something bad caught up with him. That happens to us as well. For some inexplicable reason suddenly we find ourselves facing cancer, the loss of a parent or child, depression, the loss of everything that we had worked for through fire or flood.

It’s not that God doesn’t care or isn’t concerned about us. In fact, in the story about the raising of Lazarus we see just how much Jesus cares. It is reported that Jesus’ wept as he stood at the grave of Lazarus.
He felt the pain of Mary and Martha.
He felt the anguish that death brings.
He felt the pain for those who refused to believe.
Today he weeps for those caught up in war and famine.
He weeps for children lying in hospital with serious medical problems.
He weeps for those who feel unwanted, unloved and useless.
He weeps with each of us and feels the pain and anguish that we feel. But in all of this he also sees these as opportunities to bring about something good. God can use the bad to bring about something good in our lives and in the lives of others.

When trouble comes our way miracles do happen.
What we had thought were irreconcilable differences with another person are suddenly resolved. There is an inexplicable change of heart and there is healing.
There are times when the healing that takes place in our bodies leaves doctors dumbfounded and every time we tell the story we give witness to how rough the treatment was but how God’s loving hands carried us through it all to come out the other side with renewed confidence in his love and care.
We like happy endings. The grief that Mary and Martha felt was very real but so was their joy as they saw Lazarus walk out of the tomb.

But every story doesn’t end with a miracle. Just because we are God’s people doesn’t mean that we won’t have tough times that will shock us and wear us down.
You pray, you ask for a miracle, you commit things to God but it seems like he’s not listening. And yet, even though things don’t turn out the way you would have preferred there can still be a happy ending and God gets the glory.

How does that happen? It’s easy to give God the glory when he heals us in a miraculous way. It’s easier to convince people of God’s healing power when your experience is evidence of this.

But it’s quite a different matter to state that God is good even though things have turned out all wrong. There are those for whom life is tough, they suffer pain, they feel alone and helpless and yet they still trust God, even when everything that is happening in their life would dictate that God can’t be trusted. They believe God is with them even though it sure doesn’t look like it.

The fact is that God is good, not because everything in life is smooth sailing. He’s good because he comes with us into the valleys of despair, he climbs the difficult and slippery slopes with us, he feels the highs and lows that we feel, and when we feel as if we can’t go any further he carries us. Hurt and pain will always be close by during our life on this earth but we can be certain that he doesn’t leave us to endure these alone.

Bad things may be happening in your life right now, but somehow God is in this with you. He promises that you won’t be tested beyond what you can endure and he will bring you through it. Pray that he will help you to be strong and that his glory might be seen in the way that he helps you through the hard time ahead. Look at the cross and see again God’s unshakeable love for you. Be assured that when you are the weakest, God’s power in your life is the strongest.
Amen.

“Missing the Point
  It’s both annoying and funny when we miss the obvious. How many times do you look for something and you search high and low and the longer you search the more annoyed you get? You know it’s here somewhere but be blowed if you can find it. Then suddenly you see it – right in front of you. You have looked everywhere else and missed the most obvious place. We may not see the funny side straight away, but certainly other people do.

 Some authors and movie makes produce stories that deliberately lead us to miss the point. The movie The Sixth Sense is a case in point. A boy keeps saying through the film that he can see dead people and we are led to a surprising ending. The author has deliberately led us down a path that we hadn’t expected to go. The story is cleverly done so that we deliberately miss the point.

How many men here have missed the point? You are asked the question, “How do you like it?” This is a trick question of course. You haven’t noticed anything different and so in a panic you say, “That dress is beautiful; suits you so well”, and immediately you realise that was not the right answer.
“I’ve had this dress for years. Shows how much you noticed my new hair style.” Oh yes, it is red, short and straight whereas not long ago it was blond, curly and long. Of course, it would be foolish to now say that you don’t like it.

Today’s Gospel reading is about a whole lot of people who miss the point. Jesus mixed some dirt with spit, smeared it on to the eyes of a blind and told him to go and wash in the Pool of Siloam. The man went off and he came back seeing. Others can’t believe that this was the same man. The man they knew was blind. In fact, he had been born blind and had never seen the light and colour. There was no doubt that this man was as blind as anyone could be but now this man can see! The once-blind-man explains what happened in the simplest way, “I was blind. Jesus made some mud and put it on my eyes. When I washed it off I could see. That’s the plain and simple truth. What’s so difficult about that – Jesus has made me see?”

Even when the blind man, now healed, says, “Nobody has ever heard of opening the eyes of a man born blind. If this man were not from God, he could do nothing”, the authorities are not convinced. They are blind to the man’s clear witness to Jesus. The Pharisees only see the blind man as a sinner, that’s why he was blind in the first place they said. They through him out of the temple and see Jesus as an even bigger sinner.

As always in the Gospel of John there is something deeper in the miracle stories for us to delve into. The healed man is not only given physical eyesight but also spiritual eyesight.
Not only had his eyes seen light for the first time, but he could also see the Light of the Word.
Not only had his eyed been opened so that he could see colour, and people, and trees and flowers, but his eyes had been opened to see Jesus as his Lord. For the once blind man everything was crystal clear. There was no missing the point. Jesus had truly opened his eyes.
When Jesus asked him, “Do you believe in the Son of Man”, he fell at Jesus’ feet and confessed, “I believe, Lord!”

But the Jewish authorities just didn’t get it. They missed the point completely. They didn’t believe that this man had been given sight. This was impossible. It was some kind of a trick. And besides, how can someone like Jesus, who had such little regard for the Sabbath, perform a miracle such as this. These learned and pious people claimed to know all there is about God; they believed that they were enlightened but in actual fact they were blind. They did not see the light – the Light of the world, Jesus God’s own Son.

I wonder how often we miss the point and in some sense share the same kind of blindness that the Jewish authorities did. Let me suggest some ways we can miss the point. All of us have our individual blind spots so this is just a beginning.

• We know the Bible and especially the story of Jesus’ death and resurrection and we know very well the parables, miracles and sayings of Jesus as well as the letters of the New Testament. But it is still possible to be blind to what that all means. We remain blind so long as we fail realise the personal nature of what Jesus has done. Jesus did all of that for me as an individual and as part of the community of believers.
  We can feel comfortable in our Bible knowledge, our worship, our hymns and prayers but unless we can say that Jesus has done all this for me;
  that he died for my sin,
  that his resurrection means that he is my living Lord today right now and through life,
  we remain blind to what the gospel is really saying to us.
  When we trust and rely on Jesus as our friend and Saviour to help us in time of sin, to support us in times of trouble and give us hope when everything seems hopeless, then our eyes are really open to Jesus who is my Light on my journey through life.
• It’s not too hard to miss the point of what it means to be “born from above” or “born again” in an every day sense. This involves getting rid of sinful and selfish desire, repenting of those things that stand between us and God, so that the new nature that God has given us is renewed every day.
  The trouble is we enjoy some of our personal sins too much and honestly believe that these little sins won’t do much harm – a little gossip and back stabbing, a little selfishness and greed, a little pornography or sexual freedom, a bit of rudeness and impatience – none of these will set the earth off course in the big scheme of things. But that’s not the point. These things belong to our old nature that we are called upon to put off everyday and then put on the things that come from God – love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, and self-control.
  It’s very easy to miss the point of what it means to belong to Christ, to be joined together in Christ.
• It’s not too hard to be blinded by the dazzling ways of the world and Satan. It’s easy to forget who were are;
  that we have been created by God and bought with the blood of Jesus;
  that we have been adopted as God’s chosen children;
  and so forget the role that we are God’s representatives in our community and our world.
  We are called to stand out by the way we show love and concern for others.
  We are called to promote justice and peace; to set an example of what it mans to live according to God’s way.
  We are called to discipleship – that means a disciplined life of prayer and the study of God’s Word, worship with our fellow Christians and standing out in the crowd even though that ay be difficult to do when it means sticking up for those who are being wronged and confessing that Christ in our lives does make a difference.
  It’s so easy to miss the point of what it means to be a Christian and we end up blending in and fail to be a positive and powerful influence to bring about change in people’s lives and our world.

Paintings on the walls of the catacombs of Rome portray Jesus healing the man born blind as a symbol of Holy Baptism. One of the writings from that time says: “Happy is the sacrament of our water, in that, by washing away the sins of our earthly blindness, we are set free unto eternal life.”

The early Christians looked at their baptism as leaving behind blindness and darkness and stepping into the glorious light of God. In other words, they realised that their becoming Christians and then continuing as followers of Christ, was indeed a miracle – as great, if not greater than the healing of the physical blindness of the man in the Gospel today.

So the miracle of the man born blind presents us with a very real dilemma.
In what ways and how often have we missed the point of what Christ means to us?
How far are we prepared to let our faith take us?
How blinded have we been to the grace God has shown us and failed to be gracious to those around?

Lent is a good time to take stock of how we are affected by this blindness, to see just how blind we have been to Jesus and his call to discipleship, and to realise how often we have preferred to stay blind.
Lent is a good time to renew our vision and fix our eyes again on the Saviour who came so that we can be assured of forgiveness for such blindness, for the times when Jesus has come to us through his Word and we have been too blind to see him calling us to action.
May we who have been healed of our blindness join with the man who was healed, and confess: “I was blind but now I see!”

Amen

John 4:5-26 (049)     
27 March 2011

            Can you remember where you were when you heard about the floods in Toowoomba this year?  Where were you when you first learnt of the earthquake in Japan or Christchurch?

      What about the September 11, 2001?  Can you remember what you were doing when you first heard about that?

      The car crash that claimed Princess Dianna’ life – can you recall where you were then?

      Those are more recent events – but for those of you who go back a few years, those older and wiser and more mature people here today – can you remember when the news broke about Prime Minister Harold Holt going missing from Portsea Beach, or when Pearl harbour was attacked?

      Why do we remember events like that?  Why do they have such an impact on our lives? 

      Because we’re stopped in our tracks.  They come unexpected, out of the blue, they’re sudden and they bring an amount of shock and horror.  And as a result we can often remember where we were, who we were with, and what we may have been doing at the time.

      Now as shocking as some of those events were, my life wasn’t severely changed by any one of them.  No one I knew was killed or injured.  No tragedy had a significant detrimental effect on any of my family or friends.  And that may have been the case for most of you here today.

   Yes, we were saddened and shocked and moved by those events – but life has gone on for us, and probably not a lot has changed in our day to day living.

   But what if you did have a friend or family member die in an earthquake or flood or cyclone?  What if you yourself were seriously and permanently injured?  What if you lost your home or livelihood or any future security?  You may have been physically, emotionally, and maybe even spiritually stopped in your tracks and life would never be the same again.

     Having our lives turned around like that may not be something that we would ever wish for.  And we may pray that it would never happen to us.

   But today I want you to think about that possibility – you being stopped in your tracks – not because of a tragedy, but rather because of Jesus coming to you to get your attention, uncovering some things in your life that need changing, challenging you to think about what’s going on in your life, and then refreshing you, and drenching you with his Spirit, so that you are renewed and inspired and encouraged to be a more effective living witness in his kingdom.

      Jesus stopped a Samaritan woman in her tracks one day.  “Give me a drink” he said.  She was shocked, because Jews didn’t speak to Samaritans, didn’t associate with each other, and especially male Jews to female Samaritans.  It just wasn’t done.  It came as a bit of a surprise to her.

   And so did Jesus statement about him offering her water.  He didn’t have a bucket.  How on earth was he supposed to get water without a bucket?  And what did he mean by living water?

   Well, he explained but she didn’t quite catch on.  So Jesus asked her to do something to help her understand.  And that stopped her in her tracks too.  He asked her to call her husband, knowing full well that she was living with someone who wasn’t her husband.  When she acknowledged that, Jesus made it clear that he also knew that she’d had five husbands.

      Maybe things were getting a bit too personal, a bit too close for her at that point, because she tried to change the subject.  She was a clever woman – she asked a theological question.

      Nothing new about that.  If you want to keep Jesus at a distance, just debate some particular teaching or doctrine, talk about what’s happened in the church in the past, or make some suggestions about talk about how the church should be run.  By doing that all the time you can very easily avoid Jesus and his claim on your life.

      But Jesus answered her question without blinking an eyelid.

      Maybe the woman was getting out of her depth at this point, because she changed tack again.  Rather than taking Jesus at his word, she said that when the Messiah came, he would explain everything.

      Jesus surprised, shocked her, stopped her in her tracks again by saying “That’s me!”  Then this same woman who didn’t recognise her sin, closed to any offer of help, and hesitant to admit that God was a living, present reality – she raced back into the town, told people what had happened, and taking a step of faith, dared to ask the question: “Can this be the Christ?”

      Jesus saw that her life was like a dry place that needed watering.  He saw someone who was spiritually dead who needed the water of life.  He helped her to see the needs she had in her life.  He helped her to be able to say, to confess, that she wasn’t living a God pleasing life.  He helped her to acknowledge that the bucket of her life was empty, and that he was willing and able to fill it with “living water”.

      Instead of putting her down and just making her just feel guilty about her situation, Jesus showed that he cared about her.  He knew about her sins, but helped her to understand that he hadn’t come to condemn her, but to forgive her.  And so by the time she left the well, she was prepared to tell others about what Jesus had said to her and done for her.

      Jesus stopped her in her tracks – because he wanted to ease the burden of life that she carried, heal the hurts that she experienced, mend the bruises that she’d received, and bring grace into her life.

      Jesus stops us in our tracks too – for those same reasons.

      He comes to us in our worship.  You know at times when we come to worship we might expect that we’ll draw a little water from the well – you know hear a few words, sing a few songs, say a few prayers, and then go home again – without expecting to have anything really to change in our lives.

      Jesus isn’t satisfied with that.  He wants us to have more.  He doesn’t want us to have a sip of water when we really need a long refreshing drink.  He doesn’t want us to have a few drops of water when we’re covered with grit and grime.  It’s not enough.

      So Jesus comes, and instead of careful rationing a limited amount of living water on us – he pours it all out, soaking us, drenching us with his love and forgiveness so that we can’t help but be renewed and refreshed.

      He intends that that water of life splash into every area of our lives – especially the most parched, the most empty, the most hidden, the most dead areas of our lives that we can try to keep God out of – as if it was none of his business.

      Jesus invites us to splash in the water of his grace.  When we acknowledge where there are hurts, and struggles, and mistakes in our lives – and admit we need help from outside of ourselves, he comes to cover us with the refreshing water of his grace.

      That’s what we need – being freed from the burden of guilt, being made new again, ready for a new start in life, and to be able to live this new life by the power of God’s Spirit within us.

      This is the new life we’ve been created for.  This is the reason for our existence.  For as we live as God’s forgiven people, the peace and the comfort and the joy that we have overflows into the lives of the people around us.

      That’s why Jesus came into the world; that’s why Jesus sat and talked with the Samaritan woman – so that she could receive his grace.  And that’s why we need to sit and talk, and listen and act, and share, and serve, and love the people around us – so that they too can experience his grace.

      We have the living water of Jesus’ presence flowing and bubbling in and through us, so that the people who are dying of thirst around us, can have a share of this water too.

 God wants to stop you in your tracks again today to remind you that you have some things in your life that need changing and some dry places in your life that need renewing.  He wants to stop you in your tracks so that you can receive again the living, refreshing water of his grace to ease your burdens, heal your hurts, and bring peace and hope and a desire to share what you have with others.  Amen.

Pastor Mark Leischke

Text: John 4:7,9
A Samaritan woman came to draw some water, and Jesus said to her, “Give me a drink of water”. The woman answered, “You are a Jew, and I am a Samaritan—so how can you ask me for a drink?”

Some of you may be familiar with George Orwell’s book ‘Animal Farm’. It’s a bit like a fairy tale but it’s really a comment about a certain political regime. It contains a story of how the animals on a farm oust Farmer Jones and his family and take over the farm. They want a better life and start off with the grand vision that all animals are equal and that all property is shared. Soon the pigs take control and one of them, Napoleon, becomes the leader of all the animals. He is tyrant. Equality amongst the animals is out, and the pigs use and abuse the rest of the animals on the farm. The pigs use the other animals for their own purposes and discard them if they are no longer useful.

Most of us know what it’s like to feel used and abused by others. We have the best intentions and try our best to be helpful but it is taken for granted and we are discarded like a used Kleenex.

It is a well known fact that when people feel they have been used and abused and their good nature exploited they become suspicious, bitter and cautious for fear of being hurt again. Barriers are erected, relationships shunned, because they never want to be used and abused again.

Today’s Gospel reading is the well known story of the meeting of Jesus with the Samaritan woman at the well. Today I want to take a slightly different look at this story, especially the woman who comes to the well and Jesus’ reaction to her.

Usually we view this woman as a hardened sinner; a shameless marriage wrecker; a woman who goes from one marriage to the next; one man to another; the man she is with at the moment is not even her husband.

Sometimes it’s assumed that she is not even divorced from her last husband and has moved in with another man. A great deal has been made of her moral weakness and the lust and promiscuity in her life. I’m not going to make her out to be an angel but I believe there is another side to this woman.

I believe this woman has been mistreated and demeaned. She had been divorced at least five times, and was living with a sixth man. Remember that in Jesus’ day, it was the husband who divorced his wife and not the other way around. 

A man could divorce his wife on the smallest pretext. All he had to do was show that there was something “unseemly” about her. Maybe the husband didn’t like the way his wife looked first thing in the morning, or the fact that she burnt his toast, or she answered back when he criticised her. To make a divorce effective, all the husband had to do was to call in a male witness, and write out the dismissal notice. There was no advantage in a woman divorcing her husband in those times because where else would she go and how could she support herself. If she had children she would have to leave them with her husband.

A divorced woman lost all status and value in the community. She was seen as a rejected woman. She was a disgrace.  Her own family would not welcome her back. No one would employ a divorced woman. Women were wary of a divorced woman regarding her as a person of low moral values. And often the only way a divorced woman could escape starving to death was to become a prostitute and another man’s mistress.

The woman who came to the well that day was a shadow of what God created her to be. She had been used by men, abused by the women in the town. She wanted nothing to do with the righteous woman of the village who delighted in bruising her self esteem. That’s the reason she came to the well during the hottest part of the day when everyone else was sitting in the shade. She came alone to the well to avoid the scornful glances and the sharp words. She has had enough of that kind of pain being inflicted on her. Lugging a huge water jar to the well and then carrying it home full of water was hard work for the middle of the day, but that was preferred to the abuse she would receive from the villagers.

Little did she know that the visit to the well would change her life. There she met a man – a man who was different to everyone else – someone who didn’t avoid her, ignore her or speak cruel words to her. He doesn’t treat her as someone who had some kind of disease. He is not a user and abuser.

He does something totally unexpected though.
He speaks to her even though it wasn’t culturally acceptable for a strange man to talk to a woman like this, let alone this was a Samaritan woman.
He asks her for a drink of water – a Jew would never accept a drink from a Samaritan. Samaritans were considered unclean and unholy and anything that they touched or even worse ate or drank from was considered a strict no-no.

But Jesus honours this used and abused woman by striking up a conversation with her rather than doing what other Jews would have done – pretended that she wasn’t even there. Jesus has a habit of giving dignity to those whom others have used and abused. At the dinner party of Simon the Pharisee a prostitute gate-crashed the meal, knelt at his feet, wash them with tears, and wipe them with her hair. People looked on aghast that Jesus would have anything to do with this kind of person.

She may be a nobody to everyone else but to Jesus she was a person loved by God but so badly abused by others.

The Samaritan woman feels the warmth in this man’s voice and this encourages her to respond by asking,
“I’m sorry did I hear right? You are a Jew and you are asking me to pour you a drink. Since you don’t have your own cup do you want to drink from a cup that has been used by a Samaritan? I don’t understand.”
Here is a person who wants to have an actual conversation with her and not shun her as the rest of the village has done.

Last week we heard about Nicodemus. He was a Pharisee, a good man, an upright and holy man, a man honoured in the community. So opposite to this woman. Nicodemus seeks out Jesus at night and in the end we aren’t too sure how he responded to what Jesus had to say about being “born again”. He finds it hard to understand Jesus and what he is offering. But here at the well is a person who is the subject of abuse because no one can see any good in her. Her goodness or lack of it doesn’t phase Jesus one bit. He initiates a conversation with her and her life will never be the same again.

He goes on to talk about “life-giving water”. “Everyone who drinks this water will get thirsty again.  But no one who drinks the water I give will ever be thirsty again. The water I give is like a flowing fountain that gives eternal life” (John 4:13,14).What a moment! She doesn’t fully understand his words but she understands the heart of the man who is speaking to her. This abused and rejected woman feels the respect and love of the person speaking to her and offering her what no one else can give – eternal life. Everyone else had her damned to the fires of hell.

Even when he asks her to go and get her husband she feels comfortable enough to be able to say without any hedging and stumbling over her words that she doesn’t have a husband. She had come to the well looking only for water. She encountered the love of God that gives her – someone with low self-esteem and low standing in the community – “the living water of eternal life”

Jesus is providing a valuable lesson through this encounter at the well. He is teaching his disciples that even Samaritans can be saved and if Samaritans can be saved so can Romans, Greeks, tax collectors, prostitutes, thieves and all those they would normally avoid. No one is outside of the reach of God’s love. Jesus came for all people regardless of their standing in society or how bad other people think they are or how low their self esteem might be. Jesus came for all people even those who are confused and muddled about faith and God and his love for them.

Can you see what is happening here in this Gospel story? Jesus knew her all right – her religious attitudes, her nationality, the history of her marriages, her living with a man, her low self esteem, her feelings of being used and abused – he knew all this and yet he treats her as an equal, as if she was a person worthy of respect, worthy of affection, worthy of God’s highest gift – eternal life.

• When guilt plagues us and we upset for falling for the same temptations again and again,
• when we make choices that turn out to be all wrong,
• when our relationships with others fall in a heap,
• when we feel lonely, sick and tired of the way people are treating us,
• when we are depressed and upset and can’t see anything good in ourselves,
• when our faith is at rock bottom and we feel as if the church and religion aren’t doing anything for us,
• when we beat ourselves up for lack of enthusiasm to be true disciples of Jesus ready to do anything for him, and for days that go by without a word of prayer
• when all we feel is failure and defeat isn’t it great to read a story like this one about Jesus and his love and acceptance of the woman at the well.

We may not think much of ourselves, but Jesus thinks all the world of us.
We may not have anyone to turn to in this world, but rest assured that Jesus is there to warmly accept us and help us to see that he will give us the strength and the power we need to overcome whatever it is that is grieving us.
The good news is that he takes the first step, initiates conversation. He comes to us so that we might come to him.

This can be taken another step further as we look at the people in our community. The church exists here at this place for them. You might say they are the Samaritans in our story – Christ has died for them and he is offering them the living water of eternal life. They may not know much about this but that’s why the church exists. Sometimes we are too quick to judge rather than let the grace of God work through us to be accepting and caring.

It’s true – Jesus comes to us so that we might come to him.
But that’s not the end of it. Jesus comes to us so that we might go to others.

Amen

There are some very confusing things in our world. For example,
Why is it that people say they “slept like a baby” when a baby wakes up every three or four hours?
If olive oil is made from olives, and vegetable oil is made from vegetables, what is baby oil made from?
Did you ever notice that when you blow in a dog’s face, he gets mad at you, but when you take him for a car ride; he sticks his head out the window and enjoys the breeze?

Nicodemus was not only a good man but was also a confused man. He was confused about Jesus, who he was, how he could do miracles and why people like John the Baptist called him “the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world”.So one night Nicodemus went to visit Jesus.
Why did he go to see Jesus at night? Remember there was no street lighting or bright lights shining from house windows. So when night fell it could be very, very dark and all kinds of things could happen to an elderly man in the dark.
Did he go at night because he couldn’t sleep? The questions he had about Jesus kept rolling around in his head and he couldn’t settle until he did something about them.
Was he afraid that his fellow Pharisees would not think highly of him for meeting with such a troublemaker as Jesus of Nazareth?
To be honest, we don’t know why he went at night?

Maybe there is some symbolism in the fact that he came in the dark. We could say that here is man who is caught up in the darkness and he comes to the one who is light in the darkness of this world. John the Baptist said this of Jesus just a couple of chapters before, “This was the real light – the light that comes into the world and shines on all people” (John 1:9) and the Gospel writer adds, “The Word was the source of life, and this life brought light to people” (John 1:4). The darkness of night might be seen as a symbol of the darkness that was in the heart of Nicodemus.

Nicodemus is fascinated in Jesus and begins his conversation with Jesus in this way, “Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher sent by God” and we know that “no one could perform the miracles you are doing unless God were with him.” You might not think much of us Pharisees but we aren’t stupid. “We know…” There is a smugness here. He and his Pharisee colleagues know all there is to know about God and how to live a godly life.
They go to Bible study everyday and worship every week.
They fast,
they give more than a tenth of their income to the church,
they spend hour after hour in prayer.

Before Nicodemus is able to say anything else, Jesus says, “I am telling you the truth: no one can see the Kingdom of God without being born again.”No mention of being good or religious. No one gets into the Kingdom of God by being a “good person”! Nicodemus had devoted his life to being good, committed to being faithful to God, devout in his worship and prayer. The Pharisees had something like 10,633 rules they had to keep to live a truly godly life. No doubt Nicodemus was a good Pharisee and a good man but Jesus blows a hole in this idea of goodness. No amount of goodness is good enough to establish a relationship with God or to get us into the kingdom of heaven!

Let’s look at it this way. Eight year old Peter went to Dreamworld with his two older brothers and mum and dad. He wanted to be able to ride all the rides that his older brothers could ride. But there’s only one problem: he’s too short. He is about 5 cm too short, only a mere 5 cm. At the entrance to the rides there is a sign with a line drawn across at a certain height from the ground indicating that only those so high or above could get on the ride.

Now Peter was tall for an 8-year-old, he was taller than 95% of all eight years olds, but he was still 5 cm too short to ride those rides. And no matter how he strained and tried to “act taller” he just couldn’t measure up!

He tried begging the ride operator. But he would not let Peter get on to that ride.
The operator didn’t say, “Well, because you are taller than 95% of all the other 8 year olds in your class at school, you can ride”.
He didn’t say, “You are almost tall enough, I’ll let you on to the ride.” The plain and simple truth is that if you don’t measure up, you don’t get on to the ride.

No matter how hard we stretch and act “good”, our goodness is never good enough to get into the Kingdom of God. That’s quite a blow. Like Nicodemus we’re good people!
We think of ourselves as upright, moral, decent kind of people.
We worship on Sundays, we pray, we give generously to the offering, we support the church’s programs.
We aren’t unfaithful to our spouse.
We treat our kids well.
We pay our taxes.
We don’t lie… very often.
We don’t steal from our employers… much.
We try to be kind, gentle and caring people … most of the time.
We try not to hurt people … as best as we can.

And all of that may be true – up to a point. But no matter how much we strain and try to “act taller” we just can’t measure up! As I said before – no amount of goodness is good enough to establish a relationship with God or to get us into the kingdom of heaven! The goodness that God is looking for is not just our best efforts, but perfection. When measured against God’s absolute perfect standard, not one of us measures up. We all fall short. And not just by a few centimetres, we fall short by miles and miles. And deep down we all know it. Paul gives this diagnosis of our human condition from God’s perspective:

Like the operator of the rides at Dreamworld there can be no compromising of the rules. No one can get to heaven by being good because no one can ever be good enough! You are going to have to go about it another way! And there is another way!

Jesus says that it’s not a matter of being “good”, it’s a matter of “being born anew”, or perhaps better “being born from above” (both meanings are possible). Jesus said that means “being born of water and the Spirit.” Just as Nicodemus contributed nothing to his own birth into the world, likewise he contributes nothing to his birth into the Kingdom of God. Life is a pure gift in each case! But the new birth into the kingdom of God is a gift by God’s power.

In other words, Jesus is saying, “You can’t do it, Nicodemus, but God can! He can transform you from the inside out and make you good enough!”

It’s as though you are lying on a hospital bed in the final stages of a terminal disease and Jesus walks into the room.
You look at him and say, “Jesus, am I good enough to make it out of here?”
And Jesus says, “No, you’re not good enough! But I will do something for you. I will take out of your body the disease that is killing you, and I will put it into my own body. I will make the swap at no cost to you but at great cost to me. The result will be: I will die… you will live!”

What a gift! Jesus, God of the universe, says to us, “I will give you my goodness as a gift and take your badness into myself. I’ll take your sin and in its place I’ll give you my righteousness. I’ll die on the cross and you will live forever.” At the end of today’s reading from John’s Gospel we heard, “For God loved the world so much that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not die but have eternal life” (John 3:16). Out of love for us, God gave us his Son. He is God’s gift to each of us. Forgiveness and eternal life are ours through his Son’s death and resurrection.

When a person is baptised we hear what is about to happen through those drops of water, and the Spirit working through that water,

Born again – born from above – new life in Christ – a new relationship with God and the people in our lives – this is the way the New Testament talks about what Christ has achieved for us through his death and resurrection. But the New Testament doesn’t stop there. We hear the apostle Paul say, “Get rid of your old self. … Your hearts and minds must be made completely new, and you must put on the new self, which is created in God’s likeness and reveals itself in the true life that is upright and holy” (Ephesians 4:22-24).

We have been given a new life; making this new life a reality in our everyday interaction with other people is the challenge that is ahead of us. The New Testament often says, “You have been made new through Christ so then every day you must put off the old self and put on the new life in Christ”. This newness that you have received from God should impact on everything we do and say -
the way we love and serve others,
the way we put God and his will first in our lives.

This is not just about being religious – this is about a new life that arises out of our relationship with God – this is about reconciliation, in fact, daily reconciliation with God as we repent of the wrong we have done and ask God to forgive us, and then strive to live as God’s holy people who with the help of the Holy Spirit, want to be the light of Christ in the lives of the people around them..

Nicodemus was confused and asked, “How can this be?” Simply, this is God at his most mysterious and amazing best. This is grace! This is God’s gift to you through Jesus. Celebrate it and live it!
Amen.