Category: Lent

Look up and live

Numbers 21:4-9, Ephesians 2:1-10, John 3:14-21

Psalm 121 begins, “I lift up my eyes to the hills – where does my help come from? My help comes from the Lord, the maker of heaven and earth.”

How often in life do you find yourself in the depths of despair or frustration only to feel a call within yourself to lift up your eyes and search for help?

Our emphasis today is on lifting up and looking up, what does it mean for us, how does it take place and what are the benefits.

Moses and the Israelites were taking the long way round to get to the Promised Land, they were bickering and moaning to Moses and against God for taking them away from a life that even though it was unpleasant and hard work, provided them with food and water and a place to rest. They felt that they would probably die in the wilderness and the food they were getting was a bit bland. So what did God do to fix it? He didn’t remove them from the wilderness, he sent venomous snakes among them and many of the Israelites died!  The wrath of God on display and yet when Moses prayed to God on behalf of the people God said to Moses, “Make a snake and put it up on a pole; anyone who is bitten can look at it and live.”  And so, an antidote given from God that when the people were bitten they looked up and lived.

We could be a little perplexed by this scenario because last week we heard that “You shall not make for yourself an image in the form of anything in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the waters below.” And here is God telling Moses to make a snake from bronze and place it on a pole and get the people to look at it!  The thing to realise in this case is that God commanded Moses to make it, and also in the original commandments they were told “You shall not bow down to them or worship them”, they weren’t bowing down and worshipping, they were looking up and being healed and in doing so they were reminded of how God provides for their healing and his power over all things.

Another important point is that God didn’t stop the snakes from biting after Moses prayed, he still allowed the snakes to bite the Israelites, but then provided them with the antidote in the snake lifted up for them to see.  The antidote, being supplied by God, and so God himself providing the healing that is needed to bring them from death to life.

Our gospel reading makes the connection for us between the snake being lifted up in the wilderness for the Israelites and the son of man being lifted up.  We know in retrospect that Jesus was lifted up on the cross at Calvary, he was hung there for all to see, even if it was only for a short time, he was hung up there.  So what is the connection between a slithering and silent killer like a snake and the son of man who came to give his life for our sake?  You know the answer to that as well as I do…when the Israelites looked to the snake they were healed, saved from certain death.

Jesus was hung on the cross to save us from our certain death.  The healing that takes place through him on the cross takes us from death to new life in him.  Our second reading today describes this healing beautifully for us.  “As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins, in which you used to live…like the rest we were by nature deserving of wrath.  But because of his great love for us , God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions.”

Just like the Israelites who were bitten by the snakes, we were bitten by sin, through the serpent that tempted Adam and Eve.  We are surrounded daily by the slithering silent evil that longs to tempt us away from our focus on Christ and the cross on which he died to bring us healing from that sin.

Each and every one of us struggles with sin on a daily basis, there are events and challenges in the lives of all of us that threaten to swamp us, they feel like quicksand dragging us down feet first, like weeds wrapping around us and trying to trip us, like nets binding us hand and foot.  But even someone who is desperately trying to cling onto life can look up and live.

The Israelites looked to the bronze snake on the pole and they lived.  We have Christ on the cross to look to and to remind us that in fact we are already healed, and even better than that, “God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus.”

This takes us beyond the cross, we need not only look at the cross, but through the cross and see the resurrection of Christ in victory over death and to his ascension into heaven where he sits at the right hand of the father.  From there he prays for us, just like Moses prayed to God the Father on behalf of the Israelites, Jesus is sitting in his place in heaven bringing our needs before God.

None of this is our doing, as we heard in the opening, from Psalm 121, “our help comes from the Lord, the maker of heaven and earth.”  And then in our second reading another way of saying it, “For it is by grace that you have been saved, through faith – and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God.”

God gave us his son, to be lifted up on the cross, just like Moses lifted up the snake in the wilderness, so that when sin bites us and threatens to bring about our spiritual death, we too have somewhere to look for help, we lift our eyes to the cross, but then through the cross to the resurrection and ascension of Jesus, all the while knowing in our heart of hearts that it is by grace that we have been saved, this isn’t something just for the future, but also saved here in our todays.

When I was young I was not tough enough to get a tattoo and now old I’m not cool or hip enough. That’s fine but what we should all have inscribed with un perishable ink of our hearts and minds is that most loved and to the point text from John 3:16 and the accompanying verse from John 5:24:

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

(and) “Truly, Truly, I say to you, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life..(and)..does not come into judgement, but has passed from life to death.”

So yes today, we can, we should and we must, in the truth of what we were and of what we have become stand at the base of the cross with our earthly sin and to lift our eyes to the Son of Man who was lifted up for our sake and see ourselves lifted up with Him that we carry on in the time allotted to us. Heavy in our sin, yet unburdened through His righteousness, knowing our inadequacies yet flourishing in His sufficiency and abundance and wether in self-disdain or denial, look up and see a saviour, our saviour, your saviour with eyes moist in affection toward you who He loves so great. The love He asks you accept without regard to your human standards, but to His standards which He has brought to your lives in the grace of God, the forgiveness of your sins and the peace of that in faith so shall you remain that you are given the ability to carry on no matter what your position or situation in life. To to lift up the burdened and free the chained as He has done to you. Because in you, regardless of your own thoughts, doubts, maybe’s if’s and buts, in you do I and the world see the masterpiece of God. And that is a sinner saved through the grace of God who will live in and for eternity. That is our truth, and that is our statement to this world, not that we boast or they envy, but that they hear of the unfathomable love of Christ through the simple words of those like us, and know that yes-it must be true for there could have been no other way. Amen.

1 Corinthians 1:18-25

In a philosophy class one of the first things we were asked was that if a tree falls in the forest but no one was there did it really fall?

I would say yes, but more importantly, who cares?

Don’t get me wrong I like pondering over things and when I used to visit my Father, Cathy tells me she and my mum would say “well that’s politics and sport done and so only religion to go.”

Philosopher “sizing” about things can be interesting, eye opening and fun and yet, without the gift of the Holy Spirit the smartest philosophers in the world can’t tell us a thing about God’s love.

A person could read about human beings and their great love stories in a novel, but still not know that God’s love is deeper and higher than any human love

We could study the rich variety of trees and animals, the seas and its creatures, the stars and black holes in space, and anything else in the universe caused by the creative genius of God.

But these majestic pieces of the cosmos still can’t tell us that the real essence of God the Father who is a God of Love.

One could philosophise and knowingly say, “Whoever designed and caused the human beings to live on this planet must have been more than super ingenious and whoever created the stars and space and time has it all perfect, and must be the finest and most powerful craftsman ever.” All true.

One might also conclude that God is not only supremely powerful, but at the same time cruel, the way death is part of nature and human existence. So then, in that manner-no, creation does not show us the God of love.

We really can only know the full depth of God’s love by looking at the cross.

That the all-powerful God would personally go to be crucified for you and me is shattering, mind blowing stuff. The cross teaches us more about God the creator than any study about his creation.

On the cross we see God seemingly at his weakest. People do with him what they like! The spit on him, mock him, humiliate him, whip him, and God bleeds.Only a few nails hold him to the cross. God is held by a handful of nails to the timber – part of his own creation.

There God dies, seemingly as weak as the day he came into the world.

Our Saviour Jesus who entered the world a helpless baby. Who depended on a couple of humans called Mary and Joseph to look after him and keep him alive only to leave the world helpless, along with a couple of criminals for company who also hang and die on several pieces of wood.

Yet in that picture of the cross we see the love of God reaching out to all types of people.

The love of God that continually in our confused lives reaches out to you and me that we know that:“The foolishness of God is wiser than human wisdom, and the weakness of God is     stronger than human strength.”

There, on the cross, we see what our sin has done to God and what it can do to us.

We destroy the genius who designed us and gave us life: the same one who brought us into this world and gave us the freedom to enjoy it with him, and with one another.

The freedom to reject him and drive him out so we can claim the universe for ourselves, and keep all the glory and praise for ourselves.

Would we willingly let anything we made turn on us and destroy us. No we’d use force. If we invented human beings we’d keep full control. Humans would be like puppets that couldn’t move unless we pulled the strings. To our way of thinking it is foolish of God to let people think for themselves, or have the power to turn on God.

Yet the one with all the power, God the Father doesn’t rule people by force but chooses to win people by his divine love.

God prefers people to show love and praise and trust rather than rule with an iron fist.

God chose to enter the world in Jesus so he could be close to us, and we could be close to him. He came because he cares.

Our weakest point is our selfishness and can separate us from God. So God chose the cross to meet us in our weakness. His Son Jesus given to us in love, who came to us in love so we would never be separated from God and his love again.

God could use his power to wipe out the human race. He could send a terrible disease that doesn’t respond to any treatment; or a meteor that would smash the world and destroy all human life. But God chooses to use a cross, made of wood. A cross the same as any other cross the Romans used for executing criminals.

And yet on this one hangs the Son of God. The Son of God taking our places.

To those there. The Son of God, yer right. The apostles after following Jesus seeing miracles of untold power and words of mighty love and wisdom see him seemingly defeated and ask themselves “what was that?”

Given the circumstances a fair enough question.

Yet they would soon understand as we have that God chooses that way to show his loving concern for them, for you and for me. Our God who wants to win people by his love, and not by brutal force.

The cross of Jesus is the place we see the power of human sin. Our sin that was so great in God’s eyes that Jesus went ahead and paid for it even before we were born.

Things happen in our lives that we simply don’t understand and often unfairly God gets the blame.

He understands that sometimes we would like a puppet master God who clears the path by forcing us this or that way but we all know how that works out when we are told not to do something without understanding why, we try to do it or at the least become resentful of our inequality of freedom.

But if we really just think for a moment: if there were no cross of Jesus, then the song “Amazing Grace” wouldn’t exist. And Amazing grace it is-and it’s our grace. It’s your grace and no matter what we think of ourselves or each other.

In belief in Jesus Christ as your saviour, my saviour-We are saved. And that is: The peace of God, which surpasses all human understanding. Amen.

“Genesis 17:1-7, 15, 16: Mark 8:31-38: Romans 4:13-25”

Apartheid in South Africa was a terrible thing and rightfully condemned by the world. Two sets of people in one land separated by the colour of their skin. One child unbeknown to itself born into an earthly life of good fortune, and one child unbeknown to itself born into an earthly life of misfortune.

The “same” children separated by a controlled fence between The United States of America and Mexico. The “same” children separated through royal blood line and those not and the “same” children in our communities separated unbeknown to themselves to be born into a stable home environment or an environment of physical or emotional abuse that may shape their understanding and actions that seem inexcusable to those who have not walked that path.

As a child, many times when someone nationally or in our own community was having their character attacked I remember how my mum used to mention the chorus from an old song that says

“Walk a mile in my shoes, before you abuse, criticize and accuse, walk a mile in my shoes”

It goes on:

“If I could be you, if you could be me for just one hour
If we could find a way to get inside each other’s mind,
If you could see you through my eyes instead of your own
I believe you’d be surprised to see that you’ve been blind.

Now your whole world you see around you is just a reflection
And the law of Karma says you’re gonna reap just what you sow
So unless you’ve lived a life of total perfection
You’d better be careful of every stone that you should throw

And there are people on reservations and out in the ghettos
And brother, there, but for the grace of God, go you and I..”

In sin there bar the grace of God we all went because we all, unbeknown to ourselves were to be born sinful because of things outside ourselves that took place 4,000 years before in the Garden of Eden.

We never asked to be sinners, yet we sin because we were born that way. Born into sin yet ironically, still of the blood line of our very first ancestors born as his created children and of the likeness of himself, God our Father.

 God our Father who gave his Son Jesus to walk in our shoes that in Him in the Grace of God we do go.

Saved not in works or merit, but saved in faith in Christ alone. The truth that we know and yet because it is so opposite to our natural thinking we are tempted to limit God to the size of our purposes or to doubt the breadth of God’s generosity or the surprising power of his activity.

It’s a condition in which we were born and that is why we not dwell on our own logic and human wisdom but on that of the Word of God. The same Word of God given to us as that to Abraham who as a hundred year old man and with his wife Sarah beyond child bearing years was to be given a Son that of which would come great nations and kings.

A promise from God to Abraham that against all probability we are told in verse 18 from today’s Romans text that in “faithful” hope he believed against “earthly” hope.

A promise that would see his birth lineage become the Jewish people of God, and a promise that would see the gentiles, us become part of that lineage as the people of God through the birth of Jesus to Joseph and Mary.

In Jesus, we are part of that bloodline and so, to us as to was Abraham the book of Romans through the Apostle Paul sets forth the gospel of justification by faith apart from works of the law and maintains that, since that is so, no one can boast about being able to obtain justification by works of the law, for both Jew and Gentile.

And in today’s particular text itself, Paul takes up the story of Abraham as a proof that justification is by faith, not works. After all, he says, the great patriarch Abraham was justified by faith, not by observing works of the law. He was justified while he was technically still a Gentile, since he was declared justified prior to being circumcised and moreover, as the law of Moses was not given until many centuries after Abraham was declared righteous, he clearly could not have been justified by doing works of the law.

In researching this message I found how the blood lines and associated promises play out as both interesting and comforting. Yet these are not mere words on a piece of paper, these are the Words and promises of God that are alive and working even when we don’t realise it.

The Word of God given to a sinner like me who when at my worst, in a car troubled and anxious in life and with the tell-tale signs of alcohol and tobacco smells and packaging as my passenger, was approached by what we would judge to be a homeless drunk, who peered through my window without judgement nor in a state such as my own, and announce both forcefully and with urgency “that Jesus knows who you are, and you are one of His.”

A few words said to me when I deserved them least, but needed them most that changed if not my life, changed how I viewed it and most importantly, how I was viewed by a loving Lord who has crossed the tracks, and though he did not sin, walked those paths and knows the pain and knows the need.

Jesus Christ knows who you are, and you are one of His and regardless of your current state, He comes to you today.

Today in His Word He comes to you and says you are mine and always will be, and in faith rather than in our self, He asks we take Him on face value. To accept in Holy Communion not just a piece of bread and sip of wine, but the very body and blood that He gave on the cross that you need not doubt, but know as He knows that the fence between sinners and God has been torn down that now here today, be we in soiled clothing and poor in spirit or joyous and abounding in faith-as one we can trust that in Him, God the Father sees not that little baby born to a life of self- hatred and self-abuse, sees not that little baby born of affluence yet still bound to a body of sin. Sees not what has become but still sees that little child who He knew would have to walk regardless of birth circumstance and location through the great tribulation of this fractured world.

The walk that He walked not that we see barriers between poor and rich. Not barriers between black nor white and nor heaven itself. But before God standing as one in faith hearing both collectively and individually-I know who you are and you are one of mine and I forgive you of your sins, and so come what may-I am in you and you in me and forever shall I stand alongside you on this earth, and the one to come. Amen.

Genesis 9:8-17, Mark 1:9-15, 1 Peter 3:18-22

The great flood

Our first reading today talks of the great flood and funnily enough, yesterday I had dropped into the manse a box of books from a family member of a dearly departed loved one and when looking through I found a book about the great flood written in 1956.

It was very interesting and so, there went two hours of sermon writing time “out the window” so to speak.

It had many interesting points and seemingly in 1956, from his quotes it would seem that a large percentage of scientists actually believed that the bible stacked up not against their scientific outcomes, but actually informed, sat alongside and confirmed them to be true in regards to both creation and that the flood of Noahs time caused things such as the geological rock layers from a great floods after effects rather than from billions of years in formation. A flood of such ferocity that from the mixing and smashing of waves and so forth would see sand, rock and fossils settling from various weight and so forth to the levels as they are now from seeping through the soggy ground. Of course this can be said of forming the same over billions of years to the same effect, except, that going through these levels can be found tree trunks and other matter that dissects between them. How’s that work if not from a sudden almighty incident. Maybe a tree that stood firm for a billion years. That’s one tough tree.

Another thing that interested me was of course of what we already know. Being that oil is from fossils and coal from wood. But if we can imagine the mighty wash of the flood it makes sense that whole forests and schools of fish would be covered with soil that would later bring about those reserves to be found in a later period like ours.

As Christians that is a pretty universal understanding but what interested me was the thoughts from the author and many scientists of his time was that prior to the flood, the earth was not on a tilted axis as it is now. Meaning not the seasons as we know them now, but an even climate throughout that supports how the animals of all regions could gather in one spot and co-habitat in the one habitat as in the ark.

Could sound a bit like lunacy but good old google tells me that current day scientists such as Richard Gross of NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory has stated that earthquakes such as the magnitude 9.00 earthquake in Japan last year may have shifted the earth’s axis and shortened the length of an earthly day by 1.8 millionths of a second.

Hardly anything to worry about but if as many great flood commentators believe, that at the time of the flood that both the underground water gushing up and the climate to bring such rain was through the eruption of massive amounts  of volcanoes going off together, I imagine good old earth may have got a wobble up.

All interesting stuff from a “scientific”” nature.

But what of poor old Noah and his family because as based on biblical blood lines it is said that they took 120 years to build the ark. I imagine that adds up to a lot of ridicule from the locals watching them building a boat in the “middle of nowhere.”

And what of God who after seeing the world in such an evil mess, after his decree to start again still has to watch another 120 years of such evil. Evil not just of fornication and gluttony, but that God had taken such a decision there must have been killings, rape and torture of magnitudes we could not imagine.

So a cleansing of sin through the waters of the flood, and yet a way out for the remaining few led by Noah who still following and listened to God the Father. The same Noah that directly after the flood account is found in what must have been years in the making but told as if in the next moment, finds Noah smashed to the eye balls on wine.

So much for the greater than thou Christian brigade seeing themselves as a mighty fortress of piety and goodness up and against those heathen swine living a life of “wine, women and song.”

Of course I imagine Noah, along with Abraham, Moses and King David and the like were better Christian people than those like myself. Better yes, but sinless-no. All these guys stuffed up at one time or another, but what was different too each in different ways was like what was aid of King David on Ash Wednesday. King David called by God “as a man after his own heart”, not because he was sinless-but because in his sin and mistakes, he continually turned back to God in repentance, prayer and thanks.

The Ark was a vessel of safety too save those at that time who believed, followed as best they could and still worshipped and trusted God.

A rich picture that has continued again and again throughout the bible.

The decree from the Pharaoh in Egypt goes out that all the Jewish boys are to be killed and so Moses’ mother places him in a basket. A basket that becomes his ark and drifts to safety along the river into the hands of the Pharaohs daughter.

The exodus of the Israelites led by Moses.  The people of God who facing certain death trapped in front of the Red sea with the Egyptians chasing behind, only to have God part the seas that they pass to safety and destroy their enemies in the same sea behind them, and in finally reaching the promised land after forty years in the wilderness, the surviving Jewish generation led by Joshua are told by God to enter the land of milk and honey by crossing the river Jordan with the priest leading the way with the Ark of the Covenant out front. Being the chest they carried containing the Word of God on the stones to which was carved the Ten Commandments.

Water and arks that saved the earthly life of God’s people and yet, though they certainly served God’s purposes, like all things in scripture-all point to the great truth of Salvation in Jesus Christ His Son-the Ark of safety to heavenly salvation.

Jesus our Saviour, our Ark to heavenly safety and salvation through the waters of baptism that when attached to the word of God and in our faith in Christ alone for forgiveness, delivers on the promises from God himself.

The promise given to Noah in the form of a rainbow that never again shall the waters again become a flood to destroy all flesh, and though tsunamis and torrents have raged, we know that promise given to Noah has come to fruition.

The promise given to you in Baptism and though your lives still ebb and flow lurching left and right on our earth suspended in space wobbling on its axis as it too feels the sting of a broken world, it is still supported by the hands of its creator our all mighty God. Brocken, suffering, used and abused and a shadow of its days before sin arrived. Yet the same earth that will be replenished on the last day and be restored to its former Glory and again be home to lion and deer that will lye together in harmony alongside Noah, Abraham, Peter, James and John. Alongside black, white and yellow and alongside you.

On the sixth day God created humans, saw it was good and rested.

Baptised and with faith in Christ Jesus, God now looks at His sixth day creations through His Son Jesus Christ and sees not our sin, but the righteous of His Son and sees it is good, and most assuredly like His Son who on the cross announced “it is over” before rising back to His heavenly home, God the Father waits patiently that others may come to faith and stand alongside you within the multitudes washed clean by the blood of the lamb Jesus Christ our Lord, and after again and again having carried His people to the promised land, welcome us home and give us the rest, that we have taken from him. Amen.

Sermon John 11:1-45

 

In the Gospel we see Jesus in a way that covers all bases. Jesus against the advice of his disciples has his eyes toward Jerusalem, and walks to the cross in the Will of his Father. We see his compassion and love, his humanness in going to Lazarus and weeping with those mourning. We see his wisdom; the miracle he would perform, the last miracle of his public ministry in raising Lazarus would Glorify God and bring many who witnessed it, to faith.

But the high point in the miracle of raising Lazarus from the dead is the revelation of Jesus as the Son of God and the Messiah. Here, before his own resurrection we can clearly see Jesus as the Messiah as he raises a body that is already decomposing-the Messiah who brings life-to Lazarus that day, and life eternal to those who witnessed it. Just as he has brought us life eternal in his own death and resurrection.
That’s the big picture, we can see that and we know that in faith. We can see it clearly, and even though in the human mind, without faith it seems foolishness but we do not doubt it, and nor should we because it’s the truth. We know that one day; we will pass from earth to heaven, because Jesus has told us this. It’s an unshakable truth-to be given forgiveness, to have faith that when the saints go marching in, that we will be in that number is nothing short of a miracle.

Eternal life, we can see it, feel it. It is clearly evident and we know Jesus won’t let us down. Yet on our way there, sometimes it can get hard to see the trees from the forest. We can still see that picture, that miracle in the distance, but in the here and now, the events our daily lives sometimes blur our vision. Not of our last day, but of what’s going on now. The day to day picture, the daily miracles, the beauty of life, the love of God sometimes can become a bit hazy, or at the very least-take a bit for granted.
Coming from a financially humble background, when I was young I used to think how blessed some of my friends were. Although they were in the workforce and undertaking occupations like me they were from wealthy families who owned businesses. I used to think, how freeing that would be that they could do their job with that safety net that if things turned out badly they could just return to the family business. But I came to see, I was actually free myself-I didn’t have that financial safety net, but having come to faith, knowing the big picture-eternal life, it brought freedom here on earth. With that truth of the future, in the light of Christ daily struggles look different.
Like Martha knew and gave testimony to at the death of Lazarus, we can say of ourselves “I know that we will rise again in the resurrection on the last day”. As Christians we know this to be true and rejoice in it and give thanks to the Lord. We hear the Words of God from 1^st Thessalonians “Rejoice always and give thanks in all circumstances.” The thought of being re-united with those that have gone before, talking with and worshiping Jesus: Yes, at the thought, how could we not rejoice?

Yet there was a time when I considered those Words and thought that if you are rejoicing and giving thanks amid suffering and hurt, well then you can’t be suffering and hurting enough. A friend of mine once urged to me to go see a movie, he didn’t tell me anything about it-just its title. So I went along to see it. I got there a little late and missed the opening credits, but I could still work out what was going on. So I was watching this movie, and the longer it went the worse it seemed to get-but I persevered, and at the end I thought what was my friend thinking, that was garbage. Anyway, when I walked out I saw that the movie he had recommended to me had actually been showing on the screen in the next room. I had walked into the wrong movie.

Sometimes our lives can seem like that-where we start to wonder what is actually going on, where the script of our lives is different to how we imagined it. Where the “rejoicing always” doesn’t seem to fit the situation, Until we take a step back,   and sometimes the ability to take that step back can only come with the healing of time. Now I can look back at those times when I found it hard to rejoice and give thanks, and it’s like reflecting on a Wilbur Smith novel where this lead to this and eventually you see how things have fallen into place. And it can be funny how things can turn out.

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 hand, and having not gone to the doctor-the bone’s set incorrectly, that later seemed to give him an un natural ability to spin the ball. But our lives are not a game of cricket or from a fictional book or movie script with only our fleeting emotional attachment. Our lives are real as are the things that come our way. Things that come our way, where like Martha and Mary we too say “Lord, if only you were here”. 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? 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? But far from being a faith issue, that question is a faith statement. Just like Marta and Mary saying to Jesus “If only you were here” is a statement of faith, in my friend asking “why”, he is saying “I know you have the power to do anything”-It’s a statement of faith, but a statement of faith while suffering what this world has to offer.

Lazarus, my friend’s son and in our own hurts. God did not send down the grim reaper upon these people to prove a point. Just as natural disasters are not God getting a little payback. Death was not brought into the world by God. Sin brought it into the world. God does not bring the death he brings the life. Even when Adam and Eve fell to sin, God responded by clothing them. Jesus met those mourning at the death of Lazarus to only be greeted with essentially “why weren’t you here” But he doesn’t lecture them, he weeps with them. Just as Jesus wept for those who persecuted him. On his way to the cross Jesus came to a man who had died a sinner. Lazarus, a good man but a sinner, and Jesus came to him and raised him up. And in this, the Gospel tells us many came to believe.

When Jesus hangs on a cross dying, a black cloud lay over a hill in Jerusalem, but above it shone the love of God. An innocent man’s death, that many more may come to believe. Like Lazarus will be raised on the last day, so too will we. Like Lazarus died in sin and was raised in Christ, so too are we. Daily we 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 walks 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. On the cross, God gave sinners his Son, gave us His son for our protection and warmth on our earthly journey, and clothed us with the righteousness of His Son for salvation.

Like Paul, who described himself as the chief of sinners we too can say “For it pleased God in his kindness to choose me and call me. Then he revealed his Son to me, and now I live my life in this earthly body by trusting in the Son of God, who loves me and gave himself for me”.  Daily Jesus meets us, washes us clean with his blood, and daily we die too our sins-to be restored us and strengthened in Christ.  To be given life and we rejoice and give thanks and go forward, knowing Christ is with us-come what may.Amen

1 Samuel 16: 1-13, Ephesians 5: 8-14, John 9: 1-41

The closing words from today’s readings from Ephesians and Psalm 23 “Awake, O sleeper, and arise from the dead, and Christ will shine on you” and “Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life, and I shall dwell in the house of the Lord forever”

Christ has told us that “He came into this world, that those who do not see may see, and those who see may become blind”

A four year old boy was woken in the night and told to run through the paddocks to the neighbour’s house four kilometres away and he can always remember leaving, but never arriving. That night a little light inside of him went out and though time passes, he still runs through those paddocks, leaving but never arriving and wonders of that goodness and mercy that was meant to follow him all the days of his life.

A mother hears the news that her son was found in a dead end road where the only sound was the birds chirping and the echo of a rifle bullet and that morning a little light inside of her was lost.

We stand by the bedside as our loved ones suffer in silence and a little light goes out. We see the atrocities of this world, the wars, the hunger and the injustice. We see the homeless, the abused and a body lying on a park bench next to an empty bottle and that light inside of us flickers perilously as we wonder of where their goodness and mercy was to be found.

And then one of those running from but never arriving stumbles towards those in the house of God only to meet with ridicule, judgement and accusation and to find that for them, there is no light to be found.

During the height of Communism’s campaign against religion in Russia, Easter sunrise services of the church were replaced with Sunrise Communist Rallies, which all people of a community were requested to attend. At one such meeting, as the rally was drawing to a close, a Communist leader asked the crowd of 10,000 if there was anything else anybody wanted to say. Nobody moved during a long silence. But then a teenage boy came forward to speak at the microphone. The leader warned the boy, “You must only tell the truth (meaning the communist truth-the theme of the rally). If you don’t, you will be shot on the spot.” As the boy stood on the podium he was flanked by soldiers, some with rifles pointed at his head. After a moment of silence he stood tall, and taking a deep breath shouted loud and clear, “Christ is risen.” Exploding rifles shattered the silence of the early morning and as the boy collapsed the crowd responded with 10,000 voices, “Christ is risen indeed”.

In tragedy, injustice and judgement from self and others a little light inside of us goes out as we wonder of that goodness and mercy that was to follow us all the days of our life, until we close our eyes.

That boy still running through the paddocks closes his eyes and sees the Lord Jesus by his side that night, and by his side now saying you don’t have to run any longer.

A mother closes her eyes and does not hear the echo of a gunshot at the end of a lonely dead end road, but the joyous sound of peace as another has been brought through the great tribulation and taken home.

We close our eyes and see that standing by the bedside of our loved ones suffering in silence is our Lord and Saviour still holding their hand tight as he has always done.

We see those that can run from no longer and have given up on arriving as they make their home on a lonely park bench with only an empty bottle as a friend until we close our eyes and see a man with the scars of nails on his wrists not pass by them in judgment of the wounds they carry, but take those wounds on himself as though they can run from, nor too any longer, that goodness and mercy that has been with them through the eye of the storm does not pass by, but reaches down and carries them with Him.

And as we open our eyes and see one of those running from but never arriving stumble towards the church, we see not a person in need of ridicule, judgement and accusation. But see a person born in the image of God and as they draw closer and the lines of their skin from their journey become clearer, our eyes are opened and we see that they are we, and like a boy confessing the truth as the gun shots rang out, we see that goodness and mercy has been with us all the days of our lives that as we fall we hear not 10,000 people, but an endless army of angels in joyous in song that another shall forever dwell in the house of the Lord forever.

While we ran in the night through the paddocks and though we could only remember leaving, and never arriving, our Lord has shown Himself to us that we who were blind now see Christ shining in the darkness that as He lead us on our journey home, He leads us before those that who are still running in the night and driving towards that lonely dead dirt end road see next to them a man carrying His own scars of this world look toward them with knowing eyes not of judgement, but with eyes of love and hear Him say, that it is too you for whom I have come. Amen.

“A noble man”

 

John 4:5-42

One morning in 1888, a man baptized and confirmed in a Lutheran church named Alfred Nobel picked up a French newspaper and was shocked to see his own obituary. A news reporter had made a mistake. Actually Nobel’s brother had died, but the reporter got it wrong and did the story about Alfred. But in the story Alfred Nobel saw himself for the first time as the world saw him, “the dynamite king.”

Alfred had made a fortune manufacturing explosives. He was described as a rich industrialist, but there was no mention of his real passion for a peaceful world. From that day and unbeknown to his family, friends or colleagues until after his death, Alfred Nobel began to make arrangements for the purpose of his huge estate and began to arrange for the Nobel peace prize to be given each year to one who had contributed much to the cause of world peace.

A great story of how God can transform the works of this Christian from something that could fuel warfare to something that can fuel world peace.

The legendary American country and western singer Hank Williams in 1953 died from heart failure aggravated by alcohol and drug abuse at the age of 29. A man with “tortured soul”, but a man who from the pain and though it didn’t subside wrote these words:

“I wandered so aimless a life filled with sin
I wouldn’t let my dear saviour in
Then Jesus came like a stranger in the night
Praise the Lord I saw the light.

I saw the light I saw the light
No more darkness no more night
Now I’m so happy no sorrow in sight
Praise the Lord I saw the light.”

A great story of how God can bring his saving peace into and amongst even the most self-destructive of hearts and two great examples how unlike the other false God’s of history that demand their followers change their ways that they be entitled to go up, our God, God the Father that came down to us to meets as we are. God the Father that gave our world his Son Jesus the Christ to not create or strengthen the barriers between the unworthy and his kingdom, but to smash them apart that we see the truth as recorded in today’s Gospel because in Jesus talking to the Samaritan women he is shattering many cultural, religious and social barriers, as no self-respecting Jew would dare start a conversation with a Samaritan, never mind a female one at that.

Those two criteria alone would place her at the bottom of the heap, spiritually unclean and not to be associated with. But Jesus in interacting with this woman is not so much purposely breaking the protocols of the day to prove a point to her or the disciples; Jesus talks to the Samaritan women simply because she was there and he doesn’t act in an assumed role in order to accomplish an evangelistic goal. The reason Jesus acts how he does is because that’s simply who he is, and he doesn’t meet her in judgment or as a second rate citizen,

but meets her as a child of God that needs to be re-united to the Father. However it is not all one way traffic in Jesus just meeting the judgments of others against her as she shows some bias herself in the tone of her reply to Jesus request for a drink.

There is a cynical note of “what you a Jew, the Jews who consider us dirt, but now that you need us, we’re okay then. Jesus ignores her comment; he wants to win her not the argument. He does not ridicule, accuse or judge her, but meets her where she is at and gently and patiently leads her on a faith journey, where he causes her to take a second look at herself, at her prejudice’, her assumptions and her sins in order to reveal himself-and his life giving water. Yet recognizing and confessing Jesus as the Saviour, as great as that is, still is not the ultimate end toward which Jesus is calling her.

Throughout the Gospel Jesus repeatedly says that his mission is to accomplish the will of the Father. He has come to point people to God, to bring them to God. Perhaps the most significant part of the conversation between Jesus and the Samaritan women is the move from their discussion about the spiritual water that Jesus himself is, to their discussion about true worship.

The move in this direction is not coincidental, because the worship of God in spirit and in truth is at the heart of Christian theology. While we know from the Gospel, that over the next two days, many other Samaritans come to confess Jesus as the Saviour. To become saints in Christ, and though they still are sinners, they are forgiven sinners.

This Gospel story ends and we don’t hear of these people again, but it would be foolishness to assume that having been saved in Christ, that everything was perfect for the rest of their lives, or that they were in no need of any further spiritual strength or growth. That would not have happened for them and it doesn’t happen for us.

Like the Samaritan women-Christ’s meets us where we are at and has a conversation with us, exposes us: our prejudice, our assumptions and our sins-so that he can reveal himself.

Like to the Samaritan women, the change in us comes about because of Jesus revealing himself to us, not because of something we do, or something we want to believe.

The change comes not from us, but from Jesus. We are not saved because Jesus reveals our sin, but because he reveals himself to us, so he can bring us forgiveness and salvation, and bring us to faith, and keep us in faith.

Jesus is not a party to the much quoted Australian tall poppy system-of building them up, then bringing them down as we can handle that by ourselves and though we continually fall short, Jesus continually comes to us where we are at, and just where that place is, where we are at spiritually can change as we travel our earthly journey.

It’s like putting our finger in a stream, stresses-heartache, joys; struggles are all around us, are part of us-and move us in different directions. It’s not one size fits all. Just like our gifts can be unique, so to can be our shortfalls and shortcomings, and in them Jesus adjusts to us and comes again and again to us where we are at, comes to us in our sin, and comes to us in our needs.

The only constant is the cause and the cure, Sin and Christ. Sinners in ourselves, yet saints in Christ. That’s our deal, and because that is our deal-we are continually pulled between the two, and this side of heaven-that grating between the two in our lives will continue and that is why we are here today brought together in the Truth of Christ, to praise and worship our Lord, and to be in His presence

To hear the Word of God and have faith in his promises that no matter how we see ourselves, or how we feel, God covers us with His grace. God the father who today in worship meets us where we are at, in joy or in sorrow? Spiritually high or low, and says to us

come and receive my gifts and be strengthened.

We see the baptismal font and are reminded of the promise. That in faith we are given eternal life. That in faith we accept Holy Communion as the body and blood of our Saviour Jesus Christ, and are strengthened in body and soul to life eternal.

That in we repentance and belief we are forgiven. That through no skill of our own, or our efforts, or good works or even our love to God, the work has been done for us in Christ that God does not see each of us as we see each other, but sees us glowing in the righteousness of His Son.

That’s the Grace the Lord brought to a Samaritan sinner, and that’s the Grace the Lord has brought to you who know the truth, that in Christ, and in Christ alone that no matter where you came from, today you are saved and no matter where you go, be it as an Alfred Nobel, a Hank Williams or a Samaritan women, He will go with you and lead you home. Amen

“A love no greater”

Romans 4:1-5, 13-17 & John 3:1-17

On Thursday I saw a teenage boy in his school cloths with an obvious mental disability holding hands with his grandma and my heart melted.

A musician and poet on tour and alone in his hotel room wrote these words for his little boy back home:

“May you always feel the sunshine and take time to taste the rain,
May your friends be true and caring and I hope you are the same;
And in your fleeting passage, leave a little bit behind
For the children who will follow in your footsteps, along the sands of time.

I dreamed there was a world for you, without the rush of rockets
And the thump of khaki gunships in the sky
But there were rows of eucalyptus and trains for little boys
Tadpoles in a still black creek and playgrounds full of noise
and in my vision, fear and greed and anger were the only things to die
May the wind blow gently through your life, may your principles be strong;
May you stand up and be counted when you work out right from wrong
May your nights be short and peaceful, may your days be warm and long;
May your eyes be filled with kindness, may the seeds of wisdom grow
May you seek for truth and beauty and when you find it may you know

May you help feed those who are hungry, and comfort those who hurt
May you always fight for justice for all of us who walk upon the earth.” (John Schumann “For the children”)

Beautiful words of hope and, yet words mixed with sadness in the reality of growing in our world of hunger, pain, fear, greed, war and anger.

Words of apprehensive hope that parents can relate to as they look to their children , and often words bringing unwanted sadness in reflecting of what has gone before that children can relate to as they see their parents near the end of their journey.

In today’s reading from Romans we hear of Israel’s first great patriarch and a “hero” of the bible in Abraham. A man called by God as recorded in Genesis 12 “To go from your country and your relatives, and your father’s house to the land I will show you and I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you, and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing” and Abraham believed, trusted and obeyed.

Then later when camped at Shechem, the Lord appeared to Abraham and renewed his promise that “To your descendants I will give you this land,” and that as Abraham surveyed the very land before him there stood a flourishing enemy stronghold, yet he believed, trusted and obeyed.

Later again God promises to the sonless Abraham that from his loins will come a “great nation”-as innumerable as the “dust of the earth” and your own son shall be your successor and Abraham believed, trusted and obeyed.

Yet later again, the much awaited son Isaac has been born-only for Abraham to hear the call from God to sacrifice his only beloved son on one of the mountains in the land of Moriah. Words that if it were us and I would most surely believe for Abraham himself must have been the most unwanted of his whole life. But yet again Abraham trusted and obeyed in perfect obedience and even when asked by Isaac  where they will find an animal to be sacrificed? He answers “God will provide himself the lamb” and as he raises his hand with Isaac lying on the sacrificial alter, at the last minute an angel of the Lord stops him.

What a journey. A journey of faith and of serving the Lord beyond reproach or criticism. In top gun speak this guy “is the best of the best” and yet the bible tells us not in his actions and deeds was Abraham saved, but only in his faith.

It almost seems unbelievable until I think of that boy in the shop holding hands with his grandma and ask myself, what of him-how does he earn his way to heaven. What of the kids living in the slums of a third world country-how do they earn their way to heaven, and then in turning to myself I see clearly that yes, there is no other way than in Christ.

The joy Abraham must have felt when Isaac was born, and the unfathomable pain he must have felt as he raised a dagger above his son on that mountain top.

The joy of God the father as he rested on the seventh day and saw that his creation was good, and his aching heart for what lie ahead when it was torn apart in sin.

His aching heart for those hungry, for those who cannot help themselves and for all that walk upon this broken world and how he must have felt when his own Son in the garden of gethsemane sweating blood in duress asked “Father, is there another way”.

And as we hear his answer of, “no my Son there is not” those famous words from John 3:16 come to our mind “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life”, and from our mind permeate through to our heart as we try to understand such a love that would see him knowingly hand over His only Son, his faultless and sinless Son for the wolves to devour that they be fed.

No one can come to faith through reason but through the Holy Spirit. But having been given the gift of faith we see there can be no other reason that we will surely reside in the heavenly life that awaits than through Jesus Christ our Saviour.

There is no other way, and in your faith in Jesus Christ and in Jesus Christ alone today you stand as the forgiven children of God and though we must work, our work is not for self but for those that the Father brings before us that we may do to them as he has done to us and help feed those who are hungry, and comfort those who hurt.

The rabbi in a small Jewish village vanished every Friday morning for a couple of hours. Devoted villagers boasted that during these hours their rabbi ascended to heaven to talk to God. A sceptical newcomer decided to check it out, so he hid one Friday morning near the rabbi’s house to watch. The rabbi rose, said his prayer, put on the clothes of a peasant, and left with an axe in his hand. The newcomer followed and watched as the rabbi chopped firewood and carried it to a shack in the humblest part of the village where an old woman lived with her sick son. There he stacked enough wood for a week and returned to his house. The newcomer became a disciple of the rabbi and from then on when people would say that the rabbi ascended to heaven, he would add, “if not higher”.

God may have other work planned for you instead of gathering firewood, but getting to heaven is the work of God himself, which he has done for you through his Son and our Saviour Jesus Christ. Amen

 

Genesis 2:15-17;3:1-7; Romans 5:12-19;

Matthew 4:1-11

A tough minded CEO was touring one his company’s factories when he came upon a young man leaning against a filing cabinet, humming a song and just watching the action around him. The CEO went up to him and asked him how much he got paid. The young man said, “About seven hundred and fifty dollars a week.” “Well here’s two weeks’ pay,” the CEO said, stuffing fifteen one hundred dollar notes into the man’s pocket. “Now get out of here and don’t ever come back.” As soon as the young man had gone, the CEO turned to the department manager and shouted, “Who hired that bludger?” To which the manger responded “We didn’t hire him, he was just here from the courier company waiting to pick up a package.”

Sometimes it helps to ask and listen first in order to and understand what’s really going on behind what may appear and as Christians, as the Church-the gathering of those around Christ we too grapple with our instinct of taking our pre-conceived ideals to scripture rather than letting scripture form our ideals.

One of the things that happened in past ages in the church is that people got hung up on sin. They felt guilty all the time about everything – even about things that were not sinful at all and unfortunately they laid this burden on others too. Maybe some of you grew up in times when the thought of a bit of fun or jovial banter within the gathering of the faithful was not only frowned upon but maybe even heretical.

This sin-driven thinking is unbiblical and I would think both unhealthy for those in the church and by way of extension, unhealthy for those yet to have met the Son of God, Jesus Christ. Those who already know self and others judgments and don’t need it re-in forced to further guilt, but rather acknowledged that they see not the Law condemning and restricting, but the Gospel absolving and freeing.

In more recent times there has been an equal and opposite reaction to this sin-conscious kind of Christianity. Naturally enough, when there’s a reaction the pendulum does not stop back in the middle, where it achieves a balance, but swings to the opposite end.

And so today there is a tendency to not only down play the idea of sin, but sometimes deny the reality of it altogether. It is seen as offensive. The thought of being personally, morally responsible before God, and confessing a sin is uncomfortable and some Christians including pastors and church leaders do not even like to hear the word mentioned.

This denial of sin is also unbiblical and just as unhealthy as being sin-obsessed and guilt ridden.

This is where we turn back to the scriptures, for their correcting and balancing influence in our lives, in particular today’s readings. Because here we find that they are not hung up on sin. Nor are they hung up on denying sin. They are hung up on something quite different – grace!

In today’s Genesis reading we have that old story we know so well – the story that describes the way human beings rebel against God and, in their fear and insecurity and pride, seek to be God themselves.

This story is powerful because it touches our conscience. It holds up a mirror to us, and shows us that our lives are not as perfect as we maybe thought they were, and that deep in our own nature is that same tendency to push God away.

The Romans reading today describes how this story touches us all.

Yet that is not the end as in today’s Gospel, Matthew describes the ministry of Jesus, who has sometimes been called the second Adam. He is the one who, out in the desert as he was being tempted and tested by Satan, did not fall when he was given the choice between going for glory and power or staying with God. And because he, unlike the first Adam, did not fall into that trap, because he was obedient to His Father, because he lived a life of true self-giving love, because he gave his life as a redeeming sacrifice, he is able to undo the effects of sin, able to blot our all our guilt and take it from us completely, able to undo the curse of death and give us back what God always wanted for us, eternal life with him. As Paul says in Romans 5:15:

“But the free gift is not like the trespass. For if the many died through the one man’s trespass, much more surely have the grace of God and the free gift in the grace of the one man, Jesus Christ, abounded for the many.”

This is grace. Grace does not deny sin or its seriousness or its power. God’s grace, in Jesus Christ overcomes sin and defeats death. And this is yours for the asking, freely and with no strings attached.

This is the message of the Scriptures and these three readings for the first Sunday in Lent really summarise the whole core message. They are not hung up on sin and death and on living in guilt and shame and neither do they deny sin.

They are gloriously and endlessly pointing to, hung upon and relying on the Grace of God’s plan to save all humanity from sin and death, and bring them into the abundance of life that is joyful and free.

The time of Lent is a pronounced time of reconnecting and renewing of our faith. A time for us to acknowledge that yes we are not perfect, not to deepen the guilt but to see that guilt washed away through a man named Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ who left the confines and majesty of His heavenly home to come among the muck of our sin to see and taste it playing out in our lives and His Fathers once perfect creation. Jesus Christ the Son of God who reduced himself that he feel the pain of thirst, hunger and physical infliction. The Son of God who reduced himself that He know first-hand the alluring temptations of Satan’s lies and manipulations that he places before us and the world. Jesus Christ, not remote, unknowing and judging from some far- away place. But Jesus Christ with us now who as He once felt everything sin can dish up as He walked this earth, still feels through us those same bumps, bruises, doubts and hurts as we still walk this earth.

Jesus Christ the Savior walked this earth and knows the deal down here and Jesus Christ our Saviour who walked this earth that we know the deal up there and in lent we focus on the deal that went down on that first Easter where in nothing other than to turn towards and believe in Jesus Christ our Saviour have our sins been forgiven and though while still on our walk we need to acknowledge the sins we carry, we need not be downcast and desponded, but up cast and of joyful hearts and minds as we hear His message given to bystanders some 2,000 years ago that while he hang dying on a cross, the same message He gives to us today as the resurrected Lord, that “it is finished” and so no longer do we need concern ourselves with earthly death in sin, but look to Him and be assured of eternal life in His righteousness.

American actor Roy Rogers was once asked “if he had only 48 hours to live, how would he live it?” To which he responded “one hour at a time”.

Yes we carry sin, but we are carried by a much greater power and that is the truth of the Gospel in our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ who found us when we knew Him not, carries us when we see Him not and gave His life when we deserved Him not, that most assuredly in trust in Him and in Him alone we will be re-united with those that have gone before and those with us now, and in that sure knowledge do we carry on today, living with and serving our Lord, living with and serving His people and living our lives in the peace of His promise, one hour at a time. Amen.

John 12:1-8

“A fly in the ointment”

It’s the time of the Passover and Jesus knowing he is a marked man by the Jewish authorities, shows courage beyond belief and has walked into the lion’s den and gone to Jerusalem knowing the fate that awaits him. But this night, whether maybe yet again finding there’s no room in the Inn or just wishing to catch up with his great friends, he is sharing a meal in the home of Martha and Mary, and oh to be a fly on the wall witnessing such a surreal gathering of people.

Martha as usual is busy working and serving others with the meal preparations. Lazarus, who mind you has only been recently raised from the dead, is present. But the “staring” roles other than Jesus centre on Mary and Judas who seem to be at opposite ends of the spectrum in their dealings with Jesus.

Mary it would seem, in her love for Jesus has thrown human convention of thought or society standards out the window. Firstly the ointment she applies to Jesus feet is not of the “black and gold variety” because it was worth in today’s standards a full year’s wages, and if we go by the bureau of statistics, this ointment she is plashing about is worth about 70,000 Australian dollars. Never mind you that in her act of wiping Jesus feet with her hair she is not just showing her humility and love, she has smashed any thoughts of her inhibitions as no respectable women would ever appear publically with their hair unbound as it was considered immoral.

Then at the other end of the spectrum is Judas who having been given the job of “treasurer” by Jesus says what would seem logical, to sell the precious ointment and use the proceeds to feed the poor and if we were there and unaware of the truth that he actually wanted to take some of the proceeds for himself, this would seem a reasonable and sensible suggestion. While this is going on Martha and Lazarus are in the back ground and as the family fortune one way or another is about to leave the building, seem quite content.

While for us to hear of the love and generosity of Mary, Martha and Lazarus is humbling, it’s also if we are honest unfathomable, because if we could truly put ourselves in that household, I’m not sure we could guarantee to be a Martha, Mary or Lazarus any more than we could guarantee not to be calculating and self-considering like Judas.

Yet right amongst this. Amongst Mary’s almost unparalleled throwing of “caution to the wind” in her love for Jesus, Martha’s dedicated work and support for all those present, Lazarus chatting with and entertaining his guest and saviour at the table and Judas, the one given the trust of and being in charge of the money yet who is pilfering of the proceeds and who will soon go one step further and give up Jesus for 30 pieces of silver. There in the centre of this condensed overview of society sits Jesus who will shortly not throw caution to the wind and hope on a favourable outcome, but will throw himself to his accusers in the sure knowledge that their response to him will be unjust, spiteful, cruel and terminal.

He walks towards them, and towards his cruel death in his love for Mary, Martha and Lazarus. And he walks towards them and towards his cruel death in his love for the Judas’ and his love for those plotting against him. A man who after having experienced the love of Mary and the hatred of the authorities will ask his Father, ask the one with limitless power “To forgive them, for they know not what they do”.

Last week I watched a movie about a father and a son who could not see eye to eye. The father a respected doctor, and his son who dropped out of school and travelled the world as a back packer. The father who saw his son’s free-wheeling ways as irresponsible and his son who saw his father as structured and without spontaneity. One’s mantra was “this is the life I chose” and the others that “you don’t choose a life, you live a life”. It was an enjoyable movie and as I watched the final scene showing the father free and in full back-packer regalia walking through a busy market place in some far off Eastern country it indeed did provoke romantic thoughts of doing something similar to feel that sense of freedom within our world.

Ironically the very next day I read in the paper an article written by a world traveller that after he talked of the wonderful adventures he had had as a full time traveller, finished with the warning that if you are considering such escapades, don’t do it thinking it will bring you freedom from your issues in life because they will still be with you, only just in another part of the world.

Whether we chose to be where we are in our lives at this moment or just seem to have fallen here is not the point. The point is that because Jesus has chosen you, you can choose to live a life irrespective of where that may be. Whether with the open love of Mary or the hidden sin of Judas, when life is seen through the grace bestowed by God the Father to us through faith in Christ alone you are free “to shoot for the stars” or free not to, because in Christ you are following your dreams no matter what shape they take.

You are not Mary, Martha, Lazarus or Judas. You are who you are and that is who Christ loves. Thinking of you as you are today Christ went to the cross, not for what you should or will be-but who you are today. So live life, walk in the rain in your shorts or use an umbrella it doesn’t matter as either way you do not walk alone. That the outward love of Mary we may not have, but the love of Christ to Mary we do have, and that’s what matters, and knowing that is living a life.

Two thousand years ago Jesus in his love for those who knew him and loved him he walked to the cross. Two thousand years ago Jesus in love for those who neither loved him nor knew him he walked to the cross and asked the Father to forgive them “for they know not what they do”.

Two thousand years ago Jesus walked to the cross knowing that a group of sinners will be here today needing to be forgiven. And as he sees us groping in the dark with our sins. Sees us make mistake after mistake and sees us in our “Judas” moments as we selfishly turn away from the need of others. Yet in hearing our cries for help and forgiveness and our throwing “caution to the wind” to know that he is our only chance he sees our faith like that of the precious ointment that Mary placed at his feet. That he sees us trust in nothing other than faith in him alone and risk being ridiculed by those around us, he turns to the Father and says “you know what they do, but forgive them-for you know what I have done for them”.

So should that confused fly on the wall in Mary’s house visit yours, let it be confused no longer and let it see the freedom that comes, when a man named Jesus visits.