Year B Proper 28 18 November 2012
1 Samuel 1: 4-20 1 Samuel 2:1-10 Hebrews 10: 11-14, (15-18), 19-25 Mark 13: 1-811
Last week I arrived home from Cairns by plane, feeling very hungry after waiting through various travel delays, so instead of going straight home, I was driven into town. As I got out of the car I noted and said out loud, “something is wrong”. It coincided with hearing sirens, but I think I felt the sense that something was very wrong even before hearing sirens. Also, hearing sirens is not unusual and it seemed that something more was going on…. Something I couldn’t, and still can’t put my finger on, but just that something was very wrong.
As it happened, we discovered later that the sirens were because someone had started a fire at the Toys R Us building on the north side of town. I still am left pondering why I felt so strongly that something was wrong. Yes, something was wrong, but what is it that God is trying to tell me through it all, and what was really going on in the spiritual realm that overflowed dramatically into the physical?
I’ve said recently that the Israelite history was one of asking “Why?”, and we find that many Old Testament accounts of the Israelites not only tell us the happenings of our Bible characters, but give an account how God was involved. It is a coming together of the spiritual and the physical in order to show the deeper truth.
Our readings this week leave me with a similar sense to that which I felt last Saturday when the fire was blazing. There is a sense of drama and danger, and it would be easy to get swept up in fear. It is one of the many parts of the Bible that many would prefer to skim over, but it is there for a reason and the sense of drama and danger should alert us to the fact that this is something to take note of as important.
Mark 13:5-8 “Jesus said to them: “Watch out that no one deceives you. Many will come in my name, claiming, ‘I am he,’ and will deceive many. When you hear of wars and rumors of wars, do not be alarmed. Such things must happen, but the end is still to come. Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. There will be earthquakes in various places, and famines. These are the beginning of birth pains.”
Our Gospel reading is quite long and with important warnings. Firstly we are told to watch out that no one deceives us. We think that we are clever enough not to be deceived and we’ve known that those who claimed to know the date for the world to end or Jesus’ return, were fakes, but this is a very real warning from Jesus to his closest followers. I suspect the reason for the warning is that the deceivers will become way harder to spot. These ‘end of the world’ fakes are likely there to serve the purpose of lulling us into a false sense of security, thinking we can spot the fakes, so that we will be off guard when a real deception presents itself.
When someone wants to make counterfeit money they will study the real thing. It is likely that the deceptions that we need to look out for are among our churches already, walking and talking like fair dinkum Christians. They will probably know the Bible and church history better than any of us. So how can we know that we won’t be deceived?
1 Samuel 1:12-16 “As she kept on praying to the LORD, Eli observed her mouth. Hannah was praying in her heart, and her lips were moving but her voice was not heard. Eli thought she was drunk and said to her, “How long are you going to stay drunk? Put away your wine.”
“Not so, my lord,” Hannah replied, “I am a woman who is deeply troubled. I have not been drinking wine or beer; I was pouring out my soul to the LORD. Do not take your servant for a wicked woman; I have been praying here out of my great anguish and grief.”
What we learn from our first reading is that looks are deceiving! I wonder if you have ever had the experience of thinking that a particular person was not nice and then actually got to meet that particular person and found out how wrong you had been. I have been guilty of this – at least two examples come to mind where I have been so wrong.
Our Old Testament reading tell the account of Hannah who was married to a man who had two wives. Hannah was loved, but had no children. This fact was great material for her rival wife who tormented her about it. I wonder if the rival wife, Penninah would have been so cruel if she had realized this woman would be the mother of one of Israel’s great prophets. But Penninah wasn’t the only one to judge Hannah cruelly. Eli was the high priest and although he had wicked sons which he should have chastised and didn’t, he had no hesitation in chastising this heartbroken woman. The good news is that Hannah had opportunity to explain herself and Eli prayed that God might grant her request, which He did.
There is something more we learn about Hannah. She was a woman of her word. She prayed that if God gave her a son she would give him to God for all of his days. It must have been so for Hannah, because when Samuel was a small boy he was given to Eli to serve him and to serve God.
I think that we are way more inclined to reject the people we should be accepting than we are to reject the teaching that we should be rejecting. We reject and judge people who are God’s chosen, but we seem to accept teaching that is popular fairly readily, sometimes simply because of who it is that teaches it, rather than if it is the truth.
I remember attending a weekend with some theology students where the lecturer was a catholic priest. His teaching was heresy, but most seemed to be lapping up his every word as if it was something fabulous. It was fabulously clever and combined science and faith and appealed to the intellectual Christian who wanted to be seen to be intelligent, but I have no doubt and no hesitation in telling you all that it was complete heresy.
So this begs the question, how can we know that we are not being deceived?
Hebrews 10:15- 16“15 The Holy Spirit also testifies to us about this. First he says: “This is the covenant I will make with them after that time, says the Lord. I will put my laws in their hearts, and I will write them on their minds.”[Jer 31:33]”
By the gift of the Holy Spirit, God writes his law in our hearts and on our minds. Sometimes it starts as a gut feeling that something is not right and then we need to look further. If we are like Hannah and striving to be faithful to God and in relationship with him, i.e. he lives in us, then we need to know that a gut feeling telling us something isn’t right is the Holy Spirit telling us truth. This is how God’s Spirit communicates with us, but to expose the falsehood we need something more tangible…. We need to be familiar with the word of God.
There are some who will tell you that the word of God is all you need in order to know God’s truth, but those who deceive often use the word of God. You may remember that Satan tempted Jesus in the desert by quoting scripture. He told Jesus the truth…. “If you are the son of God you can turn these rocks to bread.” It was true, but it wasn’t God’s will and it was with the Spirit of God to discern the will of God and with another scripture truth that Jesus was able to resist Satan’s attack.
Hebrews tells us that by one sacrifice, Jesus made perfect forever those who are being made holy. Why is it important that we know this? Because so many of us feel that we can’t be too close to God because we feel unworthy. This unworthy feeling prevents us from knowing all that we can about God and being able to discern the truth. But the truth is that while we are physically being made holy by the sanctifying work of the Holy Spirit, we are spiritually made perfect by the sacrifice of Jesus. This means that there is nothing to separate us from God except our own ignorance of the gift he has given.
I wonder if you have come in contact with the kind of person who uses scripture to condemn you? There is plenty in the Bible that does condemn us…. All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God…. There are many of God’s laws that can witness against us, but if we understand that we are in need of a saviour and that a saviour has been given then who can condemn us…. God is for us and our debt has been paid.
Hebrews 10: 19-22a “Therefore, brothers and sisters, since we have confidence to enter the Most Holy Place by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way opened for us through the curtain, that is, his body, and since we have a great priest over the house of God, let us draw near to God with a sincere heart and with the full assurance that faith brings”
Mark 13: 20 – 23““If the Lord had not cut short those days, no one would survive. But for the sake of the elect, whom he has chosen, he has shortened them. At that time if anyone says to you, ‘Look, here is the Messiah!’ or, ‘Look, there he is!’ do not believe it. For false messiahs and false prophets will appear and perform signs and wonders to deceive, if possible, even the elect. So be on your guard; I have told you everything ahead of time.”
I remember a girl I knew, who went on a bus trip to see a new leader who had risen in the church. On the trip she said they all saw the sun dance in the sky….. it was a miracle. It is so important to know that just because something is real and supernatural, it is not necessarily from God and not necessarily good. It was discovered later that this particular leader was setting up a cult.
From the experiences I’ve had with wonderful Christian people it is clear that it isn’t too hard to be deceived by these seemingly knowledgeable false prophets, and it is important to be constantly checking ourselves to see if we are accepting false teaching. It is vital that we remain connected to the church to keep a check on ourselves and our influences. Although these false prophets and teachings can and do come through the church, in the broader church body these are usually sorted out and found out for what they truly are. And so, as we are exhorted in the letter to the Hebrews, let’s not give up meeting together and let’s consider how we can spur one another on toward love and good deeds.
The warning that is repeated in the Gospel is that we must “watch”. We are the “watchmen” and if we compare this to the watchmen of the Bible it gives us a clear picture of someone patrolling up and down and back and forth…. There may not be any attack, but neither is there any sleeping. It is a constant dedication to keep all safe from harm. We have been given an amazing gift; the assurance that our spiritual debt is paid and now we are united with God and have him living in and through us. This is a truth which saw St. Paul stand up against St. Peter to proclaim that we are saved by faith and not by works…. It is Good News that needs proclamation and protection. We need to protect the message of the Good News, because any other Gospel is not Good News and not truth and makes Christ’s sacrifice to be pointless.
Watch! There are plenty of false teachings out there, but do you know them? Can you spot them? AND what do you need to do in order to discern?
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