Year C Fourth Sunday of Advent 23 December 2012
Michah 5:2-5a Luke 1:47-55 Hebrews 10:5-10 Luke 1:39-45, (46-55)
I wrote a Christmas song some years ago with the words; “I could wish you joy and peace and love eternally, but don’t you realize what a futile wish that would be? Joy and peace and love is there, has been and will be… what I wish, my prayer for you is your eyes opened to see….”
We’ve reached the fourth Sunday in Advent and hopefully we are all prepared to celebrate the incarnation, where God became flesh. I say this with a grin, because I suspect many of you are like me and so busy with the organizational that you probably just wish you could go on a nice quiet retreat and reflect on this truth.
We’ve heard the story each year. We know the readings of Advent. We know what it has meant in our lives in the past, but what does it mean for us right now? How does it impact our lives today?
Micah 5:4-5a “He will stand and shepherd his flock in the strength of the Lord, in the majesty of the name of the Lord his God. And they will live securely, for then his greatness will reach to the ends of the earth. And he will be our peace…”
Many times we’ve heard that God’s care for his people is like a shepherd with his flock. It isn’t like in modern Australian sheep farming, this kind of shepherd knew their flock and bonded with their flock in a way such that the shepherd could say, “my sheep know my voice…”
First question: Are we so bonded with our shepherd that we recognize his voice?
Mary was a young lady who knew the voice of God. We realize this by her declarations about God. She rejoiced in God and acknowledged him as her saviour. She knew that he is mindful of the humble, that he feeds the hungry, and that his mercy extends from generation to generations of those who fear him. She declared that he keeps his promises.
It must have been a frightening and exciting thing for Mary to realize that she had a part in the promise keeping of God. There would have been so many challenges for her as an expectant mother whose child didn’t belong to the man to which she was betrothed. I honestly don’t think I could have said, “yes” to the will of God as she did. But then again, sometimes it isn’t until we are placed in certain positions that we realize the strength with which God has gifted us.
What does it mean for us, that God keeps his promises? He has promised to come again. Do we acknowledge this reality and live our lives accordingly? All of our lives are a testimony to our beliefs….. or our doubts.
One of the gifts that God had given to Mary was a cousin who was also carrying a child whose conception was due to miraculous circumstances. The confirmation of Mary’s role in the salvation of humanity was declared by Elizabeth.
Luke 1:41-45 “When Elizabeth heard Mary’s greeting, the baby leaped in her womb, and Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit. In a loud voice she exclaimed: “Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the child you will bear! But why am I so favored, that the mother of my Lord should come to me? As soon as the sound of your greeting reached my ears, the baby in my womb leaped for joy. Blessed is she who has believed that the Lord would fulfill his promises to her!”
Once again we are reminded that there was a sure promise to be fulfilled and an exhortation that there is a blessing for those who believe.
Which begs the question; What does it mean to believe?
After researching a little I discovered that the Greek word which is translated as “believe” in the Bible is a verb. This implies that to believe is an action, as opposed to a passive mental agreement.
The implication for us is that if we believe the message of Christ then our whole lives should be a testament to our belief.
To believe in the message of Jesus means that we adhere to his words, we trust in him, cling to him and rely on him. Mary, who believed that God would fulfill his promise, would surely have experience great anguish, in the many different times and with all the consequences of the promise. There was an escape to Egypt that happened in the night to escape Herod’s decree to kill all the baby boys and who knows how many other trials in the explaining to Joseph and her family about the circumstances of her condition. Yet Mary clung to, trusted in and relied on God…. She believed…. What else could she do?
But why do we believe? What is the purpose of our belief?
In our culture we often miss the message of salvation. We live with so many privileges and with so many good things. We have our faith in doctors to heal us, our government to provide for us, our legal system to keep us safe etc… we live in the here and now and rarely think about eternity unless we experience death and even then we mourn our loss and rarely think beyond to discover the complete salvation of God.
We are not the hungry or the humble in need of lifting up. We are all pretty well taught in self-promotion and probably generation x and y better than any previous generations.
Every now and then amidst the lavishness of our lives we spot our inability to control our lives and an inability to achieve and succeed and these things are a blessing in disguise, because then we just may turn our thoughts to God.
We might often feel that we are good enough for our friends and family, but in a time of failure we will realize that we are not really that good after all. And if we aren’t good enough for family and friends, how can we possibly be good enough to be accepted by God?
A barren woman, Elizabeth, felt the rejection of a society that valued mother-hood. She knew that she found acceptance by God, not because of any goodness in her – she was like a blemished lamb – not fit for the sacrifice offered to God. But Elizabeth experienced the mercy and grace of God.
We too, all have our imperfections. Though our society strives to justify our imperfections and normalize sin, the Israelites in the time of Mary and Elizabeth, were surrounded by rejection that reminded them of their fallen state. Certain places in the temple were for men only… how could a woman find the love and acceptance of God.
Those who can acknowledge their failure are those who can acknowledge their need for a saviour. The Israelites had a way of acknowledging their failure and finding acceptance by God. In many ways it mirrored the religions of those around them and required animal sacrifices to take away sin and make them acceptable to God. Modern people reading about this system find it quite crazy, but that is the system understood by the people. God used this understanding and then brought about a revelation that changed history.
Hebrews 10:8-10 “First he said, “Sacrifices and offerings, burnt offerings and sin offerings you did not desire, nor were you pleased with them”—though they were offered in accordance with the law. Then he said, “Here I am, I have come to do your will.” He sets aside the first to establish the second. And by that will, we have been made holy through the sacrifice of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.”
Jesus completely and perfectly fulfilled the will of God and he sets aside the system of sacrifices for the atonement for sin, because he completed it…. He finished it. He makes it very clear that his one sacrifice of himself was once for all.
But what does it mean for us? We know that Christ died for our sins once and for all, but how does it affect us now? Do we believe it, and is our life a testament to the amazing Good News that so few seem to fully grasp?
We have been made holy.
Ah… so you see, each time we realize our failure and we realize that we do not deserve the love and acceptance of God we can stop right there and thank God. REMEMBER this little phrase, “We have been made holy”.
Here is true freedom. What are the implications of this fact?
We have been made holy. What a celebration of life to know that we have unconditional acceptance and approval by God. I know that some have stopped me in the past because this unconditional acceptance and approval by God just seems too good to be true. But from all that I read and understand of God, this is the message I find loud and clear….
This holiness is not conditional on anything that we do, but only on what Christ did.
So…. I could wish you joy and peace and love eternally, but don’t you realize what a futile wish that would be? Joy and peace and love is there, has been and will be… what I wish, my prayer for you is your eyes opened to see.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-FXQPRLc40o
Wednesday, December 19, 2012
Thursday, December 6, 2012
Readings for 2nd Week in Advent
JUST CALL ME JOHN!
Luke 3:6 "And all people will see God's salvation"
Lately I've come to realize that I'm a bit "strung out". The signs of that, are that I seem unable to cope with things going wrong.... and things DO go wrong. So what has this got to do with this weeks readings?
Malachai 3:2-3 " But who can endure the day of his coming? Who can stand when he appears? For he will be like a refiner’s fire or a launderer’s soap. 3 He will sit as a refiner and purifier of silver; he will purify the Levites and refine them like gold and silver. Then the Lord will have men who will bring offerings in righteousness,"
As we travel through this Advent season, preparing for Christmas, we not only remember and celebrate the coming of the Lord as the baby Jesus, but we recall that He will come again. We remind ourselves that we have a faith that is alive and happening, something with a promise for the future and not just a past story which serves as a moral guide.
Most of us don't spend too much time thinking about this future aspect of Christ's coming and just a few actually really look forward to it, which always amuses me, because of the verses of scripture, such as this one from Malachai, which are very clear that there is a refining process. I tend to think a refiners fire will be anything but comfortable!
So here I am, complaining about every little thing that goes wrong. How would I ever stand up to the refiners fire? I can tell you now exactly how..... I'll grumble and complain like crazy, just like now, not realizing that the hand of God is behind it all.
Phillipians 1:3-6 "I thank my God every time I remember you. In all my prayers for all of you, I always pray with joy 5 because of your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now, being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus."
We are all a work in progress. One of the aspects that I love about scripture prophecy is that they have an application for the Messianic period (the time of Jesus on earth year 0-33 AD approx.) aswell as for end times and as well as for the contemporary situation.
We are being refined as we speak (read / write). There are people and situations in our lives that are preparing us for the coming of Jesus. We could call them "John". It was the role of John the Baptist to be the messenger of God to prepare the way for the Lord, but in our lives there is another with the role that John had. We can sometimes be like the Pharisees and not see. Some would say that they refused to see that John was that great prophet, but in reality it was way more complicated than that.
The Pharisees were the religious people who knew the scriptures. They knew them so well and were very comfortable with how they opperated in their own tradition, but when someone was a little different.... well it just didn't seem like it was God talking. These people knew the law of God, the Torah, and they saw themselves as the authority on how to have your sins forgiven and live a godly life. The law required sacrifices for sin to make atonement. I have no doubt they thought the baptism of John was superflous and unnecessary... and undermining their ministry.
I would imagine the ministry of John irritated the pharisees. Do you know of anyone or thing that irritates you? Perhaps there is a message in the irratation that will actually help prepare you for the coming of the Lord???
The Pharisees were the "keepers" of the law. Who was John?
John was the son of a Priest. He was born under miraculous circumstances and he was a prophet. In fact John's very name was prophetic and stands in vast contrast to the role of the Pharisees. When John was named, the people were surprised that he wasn't named after his father, but his father was told what to name him - THEREFORE, his very name was part of the message of God that John would herald. John means "God is gracious".
Luke 3:2-3 "during the high-priesthood of Annas and Caiaphas, the word of God came to John son of Zechariah in the wilderness. He went into all the country around the Jordan, preaching a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins."
The Pharisees had prescribed sacrifices for sin atonement, but John came preaching that the people needed to repent and be baptised for the forgiveness of sin. Can you understand why the Pharisees were suspicious of John?
The baptism of John was a call to "change your mind". The Greek word for repent means to "change your mind". This means that those who heard John's message were convinced that they were sinners and needed to be "washed" clean. Although this wasn't something usually done by the Jews for forgiveness of sins, ritual washing was something cultural, and required for certain circumstances and understood as a sign of the covenant with God.
As Christians, our denominational disagreements over the aspects of baptism show that our understanding is limited.
To understand the message that John proclaimed we need to look at the prophecy of his father:
Luke 1:76-79 "And you, my child, will be called a prophet of the Most High; for you will go on before the Lord to prepare the way for him, to give his people the knowledge of salvation through the forgiveness of their sins, because of the tender mercy of our God,
by which the rising sun will come to us from heaven to shine on those living in darkness and in the shadow of death, to guide our feet into the path of peace.”
We know that John was a prophet who prepared the way for the ministry of Jesus. There is something to be said about this also. How many of us perform some ministry simply as preparation for someone else to build on?
John began the message of the forgiveness of sins because of the tender mercy of God. Although John is usually portrayed as a confrontational kind of person, his message was about the grace and love of God.
The grace of God would come like the rising sun shining on those living in darkness and in the valley of the shadow of death. The valley of the shadow of death is the reality of our condition under the law. These people knew the commandments and knew that they sinned. Having God's law revealed to them, had meant that they were aware of the many ways in which they failed to keep the law. Sadly, like many Christians today, although the love of God had also been revealed to them, the people lived with the knowlege that they were separated from God by sin.
St Paul writes about the Law: Romans 7:10 "I found that the very commandment that was intended to bring life actually brought death."
Sadly, as I said, there are many Christians who have not grasped the Good News of God's salvation. They've heard it, but haven't fully understood it.
Most of us live with the understanding that if you are good enough, you make the grade and if you are not - you fail, you lose. We transfer this to our relationship with God. EVEN, when we know that Christ died for our sins, and we accept his salvation, we then go back to trying to earn his favour. This is what it actually means to fall from GRACE!
Galations 5:4 "For if you are trying to make yourselves right with God by keeping the law, you have been cut off from Christ! You have fallen away from God's grace.
NOW, here is the GOOD NEWS, and the message of the Gospel this week: "John" - God is gracious. Grace meaning, undeserved favour.
Oh... but there is more fantastic news: The refiner's fire is already at work in our lives. The Holy Spirit is "a" coming of Jesus and almost unconsciously the Holy Spirit is refining us through our everyday circumstances.... even when we grumble about it.
The Holy Spirit is a "John" in our lives. It is a message of God's grace. When the refiner refines, he does it! The object being refined does nothing but does become purified in the refiners hand.
Undeserved favour means we have God's attention as if we were His only child. To begin this process we acknowledged that we are sinners in need of forgiveness and unable to help ourselves - We accepted the salvation of Jesus Christ. To continue the process we continue to acknowledge that we are sinners in need of forgiveness and unable to help ourselves. As soon as we think we can help God out by keeping the law by ourselves we fall from Grace and straight into heresy and walk again in the valley of the shadow of death... maybe into death itself.
In our lives we have the Holy Spirit preparing us, but we are called to also prepare the way for others. Not by telling them to keep God's law, because that would mean we are just a new version of the Pharisees. We prepare the way for Christ's second coming for others by being "John" - declaring that God is gracious and full of tender mercy. Yes this does mean that people need to change their mind about their need for God - they need to realize that we all are sinners, but there is very Good News; God is gracious.
I want to leave you with one more thought. I would like you to imagine that these are the prophetic words said to you:
Luke 1:76-79 "And you, my child, will be called a prophet of the Most High; for you will go on before the Lord to prepare the way for him, to give his people the knowledge of salvation through the forgiveness of their sins, because of the tender mercy of our God,
by which the rising sun will come to us from heaven to shine on those living in darkness and in the shadow of death, to guide our feet into the path of peace.”
Luke 3:6 "And all people will see God's salvation"
Lately I've come to realize that I'm a bit "strung out". The signs of that, are that I seem unable to cope with things going wrong.... and things DO go wrong. So what has this got to do with this weeks readings?
Malachai 3:2-3 " But who can endure the day of his coming? Who can stand when he appears? For he will be like a refiner’s fire or a launderer’s soap. 3 He will sit as a refiner and purifier of silver; he will purify the Levites and refine them like gold and silver. Then the Lord will have men who will bring offerings in righteousness,"
As we travel through this Advent season, preparing for Christmas, we not only remember and celebrate the coming of the Lord as the baby Jesus, but we recall that He will come again. We remind ourselves that we have a faith that is alive and happening, something with a promise for the future and not just a past story which serves as a moral guide.
Most of us don't spend too much time thinking about this future aspect of Christ's coming and just a few actually really look forward to it, which always amuses me, because of the verses of scripture, such as this one from Malachai, which are very clear that there is a refining process. I tend to think a refiners fire will be anything but comfortable!
So here I am, complaining about every little thing that goes wrong. How would I ever stand up to the refiners fire? I can tell you now exactly how..... I'll grumble and complain like crazy, just like now, not realizing that the hand of God is behind it all.
Phillipians 1:3-6 "I thank my God every time I remember you. In all my prayers for all of you, I always pray with joy 5 because of your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now, being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus."
We are all a work in progress. One of the aspects that I love about scripture prophecy is that they have an application for the Messianic period (the time of Jesus on earth year 0-33 AD approx.) aswell as for end times and as well as for the contemporary situation.
We are being refined as we speak (read / write). There are people and situations in our lives that are preparing us for the coming of Jesus. We could call them "John". It was the role of John the Baptist to be the messenger of God to prepare the way for the Lord, but in our lives there is another with the role that John had. We can sometimes be like the Pharisees and not see. Some would say that they refused to see that John was that great prophet, but in reality it was way more complicated than that.
The Pharisees were the religious people who knew the scriptures. They knew them so well and were very comfortable with how they opperated in their own tradition, but when someone was a little different.... well it just didn't seem like it was God talking. These people knew the law of God, the Torah, and they saw themselves as the authority on how to have your sins forgiven and live a godly life. The law required sacrifices for sin to make atonement. I have no doubt they thought the baptism of John was superflous and unnecessary... and undermining their ministry.
I would imagine the ministry of John irritated the pharisees. Do you know of anyone or thing that irritates you? Perhaps there is a message in the irratation that will actually help prepare you for the coming of the Lord???
The Pharisees were the "keepers" of the law. Who was John?
John was the son of a Priest. He was born under miraculous circumstances and he was a prophet. In fact John's very name was prophetic and stands in vast contrast to the role of the Pharisees. When John was named, the people were surprised that he wasn't named after his father, but his father was told what to name him - THEREFORE, his very name was part of the message of God that John would herald. John means "God is gracious".
Luke 3:2-3 "during the high-priesthood of Annas and Caiaphas, the word of God came to John son of Zechariah in the wilderness. He went into all the country around the Jordan, preaching a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins."
The Pharisees had prescribed sacrifices for sin atonement, but John came preaching that the people needed to repent and be baptised for the forgiveness of sin. Can you understand why the Pharisees were suspicious of John?
The baptism of John was a call to "change your mind". The Greek word for repent means to "change your mind". This means that those who heard John's message were convinced that they were sinners and needed to be "washed" clean. Although this wasn't something usually done by the Jews for forgiveness of sins, ritual washing was something cultural, and required for certain circumstances and understood as a sign of the covenant with God.
As Christians, our denominational disagreements over the aspects of baptism show that our understanding is limited.
To understand the message that John proclaimed we need to look at the prophecy of his father:
Luke 1:76-79 "And you, my child, will be called a prophet of the Most High; for you will go on before the Lord to prepare the way for him, to give his people the knowledge of salvation through the forgiveness of their sins, because of the tender mercy of our God,
by which the rising sun will come to us from heaven to shine on those living in darkness and in the shadow of death, to guide our feet into the path of peace.”
We know that John was a prophet who prepared the way for the ministry of Jesus. There is something to be said about this also. How many of us perform some ministry simply as preparation for someone else to build on?
John began the message of the forgiveness of sins because of the tender mercy of God. Although John is usually portrayed as a confrontational kind of person, his message was about the grace and love of God.
The grace of God would come like the rising sun shining on those living in darkness and in the valley of the shadow of death. The valley of the shadow of death is the reality of our condition under the law. These people knew the commandments and knew that they sinned. Having God's law revealed to them, had meant that they were aware of the many ways in which they failed to keep the law. Sadly, like many Christians today, although the love of God had also been revealed to them, the people lived with the knowlege that they were separated from God by sin.
St Paul writes about the Law: Romans 7:10 "I found that the very commandment that was intended to bring life actually brought death."
Sadly, as I said, there are many Christians who have not grasped the Good News of God's salvation. They've heard it, but haven't fully understood it.
Most of us live with the understanding that if you are good enough, you make the grade and if you are not - you fail, you lose. We transfer this to our relationship with God. EVEN, when we know that Christ died for our sins, and we accept his salvation, we then go back to trying to earn his favour. This is what it actually means to fall from GRACE!
Galations 5:4 "For if you are trying to make yourselves right with God by keeping the law, you have been cut off from Christ! You have fallen away from God's grace.
NOW, here is the GOOD NEWS, and the message of the Gospel this week: "John" - God is gracious. Grace meaning, undeserved favour.
Oh... but there is more fantastic news: The refiner's fire is already at work in our lives. The Holy Spirit is "a" coming of Jesus and almost unconsciously the Holy Spirit is refining us through our everyday circumstances.... even when we grumble about it.
The Holy Spirit is a "John" in our lives. It is a message of God's grace. When the refiner refines, he does it! The object being refined does nothing but does become purified in the refiners hand.
Undeserved favour means we have God's attention as if we were His only child. To begin this process we acknowledged that we are sinners in need of forgiveness and unable to help ourselves - We accepted the salvation of Jesus Christ. To continue the process we continue to acknowledge that we are sinners in need of forgiveness and unable to help ourselves. As soon as we think we can help God out by keeping the law by ourselves we fall from Grace and straight into heresy and walk again in the valley of the shadow of death... maybe into death itself.
In our lives we have the Holy Spirit preparing us, but we are called to also prepare the way for others. Not by telling them to keep God's law, because that would mean we are just a new version of the Pharisees. We prepare the way for Christ's second coming for others by being "John" - declaring that God is gracious and full of tender mercy. Yes this does mean that people need to change their mind about their need for God - they need to realize that we all are sinners, but there is very Good News; God is gracious.
I want to leave you with one more thought. I would like you to imagine that these are the prophetic words said to you:
Luke 1:76-79 "And you, my child, will be called a prophet of the Most High; for you will go on before the Lord to prepare the way for him, to give his people the knowledge of salvation through the forgiveness of their sins, because of the tender mercy of our God,
by which the rising sun will come to us from heaven to shine on those living in darkness and in the shadow of death, to guide our feet into the path of peace.”
Thursday, November 22, 2012
Reflection for 25 Nov 2012
Year B Proper 29 - Reign of Christ 25 November 2012
2 Samuel 23:1-7 Psalm 132: 1-12, (13-18) Revelation 1:4b-8 John 18:33-37
Tonight was the night! Brittany has been counting down the hours for the last couple of days..... It was the return of the television series Once Upon A Time. The last series finished with the curse being broken. With the curse broken, the characters remembered who they are and the heroine, Emma, who was sent into the real world as a baby, seemingly abandoned by her parents, realized that she was actually a princess. While everyone else rejoiced, Emma was the only one who seemed like she’d lost something. The others had all found their true identity, but for Emma to embrace her true identity meant letting go of all she’d ever known.
I think that many of us also have an identity crisis. We don’t realize who we really are.
Revelation 1:5b-6a “To him who loves us and has freed us from our sins by his blood, and has made us to be a kingdom and priests to serve his God and Father—to him be glory and power for ever and ever! Amen.”
We belong to a kingdom and we are priests – all of us- to serve God. Most of us would acknowledge that this is right but most of us are more comfortable with the God who serves us and we like to say, “Thank-you God for salvation” and for the good stuff, and perhaps chat with him every now and then, but we certainly don’t think of ourselves as priests in a kingdom that serves God.
But there is more to our identity than this, because through our union with Christ we are heirs of this kingdom.
Jesus had a sign nailed to the cross above him which read, “King of the Jews”. The Jews objected to this but Pilate may have known something, because he insisted that this be the wording. In actual fact what Pilate ordered be written was prophetically accurate.
2 Samuel 23:2-4 ““The Spirit of the LORD spoke through me; his word was on my tongue. The God of Israel spoke, the Rock of Israel said to me: ‘When one rules over people in righteousness, when he rules in the fear of God, he is like the light of morning at sunrise on a cloudless morning,”
I have always wondered about that old argument about keeping church and state separate. I have no answer, as it is complicated, but certainly we know that when one rules over people in the fear of God it is a great thing. Many times in the history of the Israelite nation they were taken captive by foreign kings, and many of these were actually good men who came to serve (in some manner) God as revealed through and often because of the King’s interactions with the Israelite nation.
Recently I did some research and found out some interesting things about Jesus and about the role of the messiah. It is well known among the Jewish people that the messiah is to be of the house of David, but did you know that to be able to claim to be the messiah, he must be able to prove his kingly line? And did you know that since the fall of Jerusalem in 70 AD, records were destroyed, implying that the messiah had to have been born before then?
In two of the Gospels we have the record of the genealogy of Jesus. Common understanding is that one of the records is of Mary’s genealogy and the other is of Joseph’s. Both are of the line of David, but one is directly the kingly line. So it would seem that even in a very earthly and physical way, Jesus was the king of the Jews. I found lots of great stuff.... but I’ll leave that for another time...
Psalm 132:2-5 “He swore an oath to the LORD, he made a vow to the Mighty One of Jacob: “I will not enter my house or go to my bed, I will allow no sleep to my eyes or slumber to my eyelids, till I find a place for the LORD, a dwelling for the Mighty One of Jacob.”
King David spoke these words. His first priority was to God. This was a king who understood that he himself was part of a kingdom, and that he and his kingdom were there to serve God. It may have been easier for David to grasp the concept because he was a king, but he wasn’t born a king and even as the youngest, smallest and least significant of his family, he seemed to grasp that he was of God’s royal line.
John 18:36- 37 “Jesus said, “My kingdom is not of this world. If it were, my servants would fight to prevent my arrest by the Jewish leaders. But now my kingdom is from another place.”
“You are a king, then!” said Pilate.
Jesus answered, “You say that I am a king. In fact, the reason I was born and came into the world is to testify to the truth. Everyone on the side of truth listens to me.””
Jesus knew who he was. He didn’t need to prove it because the evidence spoke for itself, but he also declared that his kingdom was from another place. In the words of Jesus we find no doubts and maybes. He knows who he is and he always did. We recall the time he was in the temple at the age of 12 and telling his parents that he would be about his father’s business, meaning that God was his father. Jesus did not deny the fatherhood he had in Joseph, but the deeper reality was that God is his father.
We are the opposite of Jesus. We live lives that are grounded in the here and now and although we profess to have faith in God our lives bare testament to our doubts. How is it possible that Jesus could live without doubt, and so sure of his identity?
Sometimes it is easiest to find the answer by looking at fairytales like Once Upon A Time. Jesus, like a few of the characters, had grown up always knowing who he was. Some of the fairytale characters forgot who they were, but once the curse was lifted they remembered and fell easily back into their own identity, but Emma is a lot more like the majority who struggle with their true identity. She had lived all her life in a world apart from her birth place..... and that world denied the existence of her birth place.
We live in a world that denies our true identity.... a world that denies God exists. It is hard to remember who we really are while we surround ourselves with this world of denial and doubt. This is one very good reason for being in community with other Christians. When we go to church or meet with other Christians we are reminding ourselves where our true home is and who we really are.
Revelations 1:7-8 ““Look, he is coming with the clouds,” and “every eye will see him, even those who pierced him”; and all peoples on earth “will mourn because of him.” So shall it be! Amen. “I am the Alpha and the Omega,” says the Lord God, “who is, and who was, and who is to come, the Almighty.””
Why will the people of the earth mourn because of the return of Jesus? It won’t just be those who physically pierced him who will mourn, but ALL peoples on the earth. I can only guess, but I would be mourning if I had forgotten my place in the kingdom of God. If I was found to be living as if removed from the reality of God, and then God interrupted my life, I would be disappointed in myself.
It’s time now to rethink our lives. In what ways are we living as children of the King, and how should we be living if we are living in the reality that we are children of the king?
2 Samuel 23:1-7 Psalm 132: 1-12, (13-18) Revelation 1:4b-8 John 18:33-37
Tonight was the night! Brittany has been counting down the hours for the last couple of days..... It was the return of the television series Once Upon A Time. The last series finished with the curse being broken. With the curse broken, the characters remembered who they are and the heroine, Emma, who was sent into the real world as a baby, seemingly abandoned by her parents, realized that she was actually a princess. While everyone else rejoiced, Emma was the only one who seemed like she’d lost something. The others had all found their true identity, but for Emma to embrace her true identity meant letting go of all she’d ever known.
I think that many of us also have an identity crisis. We don’t realize who we really are.
Revelation 1:5b-6a “To him who loves us and has freed us from our sins by his blood, and has made us to be a kingdom and priests to serve his God and Father—to him be glory and power for ever and ever! Amen.”
We belong to a kingdom and we are priests – all of us- to serve God. Most of us would acknowledge that this is right but most of us are more comfortable with the God who serves us and we like to say, “Thank-you God for salvation” and for the good stuff, and perhaps chat with him every now and then, but we certainly don’t think of ourselves as priests in a kingdom that serves God.
But there is more to our identity than this, because through our union with Christ we are heirs of this kingdom.
Jesus had a sign nailed to the cross above him which read, “King of the Jews”. The Jews objected to this but Pilate may have known something, because he insisted that this be the wording. In actual fact what Pilate ordered be written was prophetically accurate.
2 Samuel 23:2-4 ““The Spirit of the LORD spoke through me; his word was on my tongue. The God of Israel spoke, the Rock of Israel said to me: ‘When one rules over people in righteousness, when he rules in the fear of God, he is like the light of morning at sunrise on a cloudless morning,”
I have always wondered about that old argument about keeping church and state separate. I have no answer, as it is complicated, but certainly we know that when one rules over people in the fear of God it is a great thing. Many times in the history of the Israelite nation they were taken captive by foreign kings, and many of these were actually good men who came to serve (in some manner) God as revealed through and often because of the King’s interactions with the Israelite nation.
Recently I did some research and found out some interesting things about Jesus and about the role of the messiah. It is well known among the Jewish people that the messiah is to be of the house of David, but did you know that to be able to claim to be the messiah, he must be able to prove his kingly line? And did you know that since the fall of Jerusalem in 70 AD, records were destroyed, implying that the messiah had to have been born before then?
In two of the Gospels we have the record of the genealogy of Jesus. Common understanding is that one of the records is of Mary’s genealogy and the other is of Joseph’s. Both are of the line of David, but one is directly the kingly line. So it would seem that even in a very earthly and physical way, Jesus was the king of the Jews. I found lots of great stuff.... but I’ll leave that for another time...
Psalm 132:2-5 “He swore an oath to the LORD, he made a vow to the Mighty One of Jacob: “I will not enter my house or go to my bed, I will allow no sleep to my eyes or slumber to my eyelids, till I find a place for the LORD, a dwelling for the Mighty One of Jacob.”
King David spoke these words. His first priority was to God. This was a king who understood that he himself was part of a kingdom, and that he and his kingdom were there to serve God. It may have been easier for David to grasp the concept because he was a king, but he wasn’t born a king and even as the youngest, smallest and least significant of his family, he seemed to grasp that he was of God’s royal line.
John 18:36- 37 “Jesus said, “My kingdom is not of this world. If it were, my servants would fight to prevent my arrest by the Jewish leaders. But now my kingdom is from another place.”
“You are a king, then!” said Pilate.
Jesus answered, “You say that I am a king. In fact, the reason I was born and came into the world is to testify to the truth. Everyone on the side of truth listens to me.””
Jesus knew who he was. He didn’t need to prove it because the evidence spoke for itself, but he also declared that his kingdom was from another place. In the words of Jesus we find no doubts and maybes. He knows who he is and he always did. We recall the time he was in the temple at the age of 12 and telling his parents that he would be about his father’s business, meaning that God was his father. Jesus did not deny the fatherhood he had in Joseph, but the deeper reality was that God is his father.
We are the opposite of Jesus. We live lives that are grounded in the here and now and although we profess to have faith in God our lives bare testament to our doubts. How is it possible that Jesus could live without doubt, and so sure of his identity?
Sometimes it is easiest to find the answer by looking at fairytales like Once Upon A Time. Jesus, like a few of the characters, had grown up always knowing who he was. Some of the fairytale characters forgot who they were, but once the curse was lifted they remembered and fell easily back into their own identity, but Emma is a lot more like the majority who struggle with their true identity. She had lived all her life in a world apart from her birth place..... and that world denied the existence of her birth place.
We live in a world that denies our true identity.... a world that denies God exists. It is hard to remember who we really are while we surround ourselves with this world of denial and doubt. This is one very good reason for being in community with other Christians. When we go to church or meet with other Christians we are reminding ourselves where our true home is and who we really are.
Revelations 1:7-8 ““Look, he is coming with the clouds,” and “every eye will see him, even those who pierced him”; and all peoples on earth “will mourn because of him.” So shall it be! Amen. “I am the Alpha and the Omega,” says the Lord God, “who is, and who was, and who is to come, the Almighty.””
Why will the people of the earth mourn because of the return of Jesus? It won’t just be those who physically pierced him who will mourn, but ALL peoples on the earth. I can only guess, but I would be mourning if I had forgotten my place in the kingdom of God. If I was found to be living as if removed from the reality of God, and then God interrupted my life, I would be disappointed in myself.
It’s time now to rethink our lives. In what ways are we living as children of the King, and how should we be living if we are living in the reality that we are children of the king?
Friday, November 16, 2012
Reflection on readings for 18th November 2012
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?
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?
Sunday, November 11, 2012
Reflection on Readings for 11 November 2012 proper 27
Mark 12:38-40 “As he taught, Jesus said, “Watch out for the teachers of the law. They like to walk around in flowing robes and be greeted with respect in the marketplaces, and have the most important seats in the synagogues and the places of honour at banquets. They devour widows’ houses and for a show make lengthy prayers. These men will be punished most severely.””
This passage reminds me of something that happened when the Anglican Diploma students went to the Indigenous theology college graduation on Thursday night. The Indigenous priest asked us, “Who are you blokes?” Our fearless leader replied, “This is the Anglican theology students.”
The Indigenous College is also Anglican, but he replied, “Anglican? What’s that? The Chosen Frozen! ...and more frozen than chosen!” And we all laughed, because we could all probably bring to mind an image of traditional Church that fitted this description....... but not us of course!!
This passage from the Gospel is an invitation to take an honest look at ourselves.... the Pharisees were the religious leaders who were God's earthly representatives. Can you imagine what God would be doing if he were on earth? Would he be parading around in the shops escorted by the dignitaries, such that the poor folk, (the single parents, the hung over night clubbers and smelly addicts) were kept away? Would he remain in the altar sanctuary area of the church and wait for people to come to see him?
I hope the answer is obvious, but I want us to make this a little more personal.... WE are God's representatives on earth.
In the past the clergy had been seen as people deserving respect in the community. But I would like you for just a moment, to consider how your friends, acquaintances and work colleagues would respond to you if you were to announce to them that you were to be ordained a priest tomorrow.
In some circles, being clergy can still be seen as a position of respect but, more often than not, this is now a position of disdain in society. On the flip side it is still a good thing on a job application to proclaim that you are a church goer..... So it is now the people in the pews who’ve become the people of honour and respect who might fail to realize that they are actually claiming and enjoying a seat of honour, and who may not realize it, but they maybe figuratively devouring widows houses. Anyone who calls themselves “Christian” is God's representative on earth but it is becoming increasingly important that the laity realize that they are called to this..... are we aware of this and responsible? ...or do we simply enjoy the privilege of being seen as a "holy" or “good” person?
Here is the benchmark to test if we are truly being God's representative on earth? Do we love our neighbour, and care for the poor?
During my week away, taking part in the intensive unit for the Diploma course, the idea of power was discussed. Each person there truly desired to NOT abuse the power, position and responsibility we have. Someone reminded us that mother Theresa described the people that she worked with as the "ungrateful poor". We need to realize that the reward for being truly God's representative on earth may well mean that no earthly reward may be forthcoming. (Remember the story of the ten leapers? Only one returned to give God thanks.)
Not all are called to work directly with the poor in the way of mother Theresa, but we all need to have the same heart that genuinely has concern. The poor that we may be called to work with are the people we meet each day. They may or may not be financially poor, but they may be spiritually poor.... emotionally poor... simply worn out and hurt.
They may be the ungrateful poor, with little regard for our efforts, but this is our mission because we know it is the poor that God is concerned with, and often, the poor who are his chosen. Such is in the case of Ruth.... Ruth 3:3 “One day Ruth’s mother-in-law Naomi said to her, “My daughter, I must find a home for you, where you will be well provided for.”
Naomi was a woman of great grief. She was a woman of God and yet her sons and husband had died. She had told her daughter-in-laws that they could go home to their family of origin, thus releasing them from any obligation to look after her. Can you imagine her grief? Not only would it have seemed a great emotional loss, but who would care for Naomi and provide for her?
While the natural reaction would have been to cling to the daughter-in-laws and demand that they had an obligation to care for her, Naomi puts the welfare of her daughter-in-laws ahead of her on and strives to trust solely on the Lord for her future. I suspect she didn’t hold out much hope, but that which she could give, she gave..... she gave the hope of remarriage and a happier life to the daughter-in-laws.
In many ways she was like the widow from our Gospel reading who gave to God all she had to live on. And we read on to discover that Ruth follows in this same act of selflessness.
Ruth refused to leave her mother-in-law and proclaimed that famous commitment statement, “where you go, I will go. Your God will be my God and your people will be my people”.
You know, that wonderful commitment is all good and well, and to us it might seem lovely, warm and fuzzy, but this was a commitment that could have meant the death of Ruth. She was going to live with a foreign people, and if our own experiences tell us anything it should be about how hard it is to be accepted when we try to become part of a new family. I wonder if this “family” of God, the Israelites, were as difficult to be accepted by as some of our own church families.
Ruth was not even an Israelite by birth. She was an outsider in that community- but she chose to be joined to the family of God, not because of the acceptance of the people, but because of her duty and love for her mother-in-law. I have no doubt many would have still regarded her as an outsider -bigger fool them to reject her, as she became an ancestor of Christ.
We often have subconscious limits about just who might be the recipients of God’s grace. I suspect that the Israelite people of Ruth’s time would never have thought it possible that this outsider could have been God’s chosen vessel to bring them salvation. It was a long way down the line, but Ruth was the great grandmother of King David and therefore an ancestor of Christ.
Certainly the story testifies that Ruth’s commitment to her mother-in-law was admired by many, but it was only the wonderful man, Boaz, who would redeem the property to which this outsider belonged, and, reading between the lines, it seems that these remarks about Ruth’s admiration came from a distance, as if from those who feared to contaminate themselves with an “unclean” Gentile woman.
Are we limiting God’s grace by rejecting someone who might just be a vessel, chosen by God, to bring God’s message of salvation? Although we may subconsciously sometimes reject some one as being a possible recipient of God’s grace, do we also subconsciously reject someone as not being able to bring us God’s grace? Ruth shows us that she was both. She was an outsider destined to receive God’s grace and she was an outsider who was the bringer of God’s grace and salvation. What I am really asking is, do we realize that God can reveal himself to us through the man who seems to be just a little slow? ....through the new Christian who seems to be a little flighty and worldly?.... The elderly quiet lady... and the list goes on....
Hebrews 9: 24 “For Christ did not enter a sanctuary made with human hands that was only a copy of the true one; he entered heaven itself, now to appear for us in God’s presence.”
In God’s perfect plan for our salvation he died to unite ALL to himself. He also sent us all his Holy Spirit. Taking this through to its logical implications we see that God lives in all his people, therefore he can minister to all and through ALL.
Once upon a very long time ago I use to be very critical as I listened to the preaching at church. Somehow it dawned on me that I had the wrong attitude and I can remember that this was at a time that my house backed onto the church grounds. I’d go to church on Saturday night, but I could hear it a second time while I sat in my back yard. I remember that I decided that I should pray for the minister while church was going on. So I prayed for his sermon, that the Holy Spirit would lead him and also that the Holy Spirit would enable the listeners to hear God’s message in what he was saying.
None of us is perfect and we all fall very short of perfection, but many of us do care deeply about the truth of God. Sometimes this caring causes us to fight for what we believe to be true and this is necessary and good, but do we realize the person we are arguing with just may have the same passionate commitment to the truth of God?
We have the potential to be the equivalent of the hypocritical Pharisees if we remain comfortable in our honourable position in society and church and do not care for the poor.
I’d like to suggest that our poor neighbours that God would have us care for, are the very same people that we may have hurt with our criticisms. These maybe the emotionally poor, or the spiritually poor... maybe even the financially poor who’ve learnt to hide it well so that they appear to fit in. I’d also like to challenge us to care for the outcast - Those who are new to our churches and those who maybe just feel alone.... they maybe hard to spot, but if we pray for God’s guidance I’m sure we’ll not be led astray.
Finally I want to point out that the outcast, the criticized, the overwhelmed and the harassed that God wants us to also put our whole self into caring for, is our ministers. These are those on the front line of the battle and they have become society’s outcast and sometimes they are outcast in their own churches. Often they are called by God to move from where they are comfortable into places where they are unknowns and outsiders and they find themselves giving all and getting only criticism in return.
Mark 12:41- 44 “Jesus sat down opposite the place where the offerings were put and watched the crowd putting their money into the temple treasury. Many rich people threw in large amounts. But a poor widow came and put in two very small copper coins, worth only a few cents.
Calling his disciples to him, Jesus said, “Truly I tell you, this poor widow has put more into the treasury than all the others. They all gave out of their wealth; but she, out of her poverty, put in everything—all she had to live on.”
Thursday, October 18, 2012
Reflection on readings 21st october 2012 year B Proper 24
Year B Proper 24 21 October 2012
Job 38: 1-7, (34-41) Psalm 104: 1-9, 24, 35c Hebrews 5: 1-10 Mark 10: 35-45
Ever been somewhat ‘ticked off’ with God and let him know all about it?
I sure hope I’m not the only one. The experience usually sees me getting so cranky and telling God that I hate everything and that everything is unfair and why won’t he fix it... probably because he hates me... etc... AND THEN... somehow things settle down and rationality returns, and then I feel really silly because I know that God knows and understands things way beyond what we can and so I then feel guilty, apologize to God, and just feel somewhat ridiculous.
Well, if you haven’t ever experienced anything like this, I’m going to be feeling pretty silly for confessing my ridiculous childish traits, but I will take heart in the fact that Job would understand my ranting.
When rationality returns to me, I remember who God is, but Job ranted so much that God needed to audibly communicate with him to remind him. He answers Job in these words:
Job 38:1-5 “Then the LORD spoke to Job out of the storm. He said “Who is this that obscures my plans with words without knowledge? Brace yourself like a man; I will question you, and you shall answer me. “Where were you when I laid the earth’s foundation? Tell me, if you understand. Who marked off its dimensions? Surely you know! Who stretched a measuring line across it?”
It seems that Job needed a lesson in humility.
Do you note God’s sarcasm, when He says, “Surely you know!”? Truly, the more you get to know the Bible the more gems you find like this! Here is God being sarcastic and reminding Job about a few facts of God’s nature, in answer to Job who has been moaning about his hated life. And the bit that I love the most is that even though Job moaned, cried and was in bitter despair, he was still who God chose as the one to intercede and offer up sacrifices for others.
There are some people who are my facebook friends who are taking on the 30 day gratitude challenge. They are finding something to be grateful for each day. It’s a wonderful thing, but I suspect if Job were invited to take part he’d decline. When you are hurting, you are hurting and that is that.
Job was a man who used to offer up sacrifices on behalf of others. At the beginning of the book of Job we find that he offered up sacrifices for himself and then also for his children just in case they happened to sin. He was a man approved by God, so much so that he was appointed to suffer. His unrelenting relationship with God was a testimony to all.... even though he told God what he thought about the situation.
We discover that this relationship that Job had with God is very similar to that of the high priest. In our Hebrews’ reading we discover that the High priest would offer sacrifices for himself and also for others. The high priest was an intercessory for others and a representative for God.
Hebrews 5:1-4 “Every high priest is selected from among the people and is appointed to represent the people in matters related to God, to offer gifts and sacrifices for sins. He is able to deal gently with those who are ignorant and are going astray, since he himself is subject to weakness. This is why he has to offer sacrifices for his own sins, as well as for the sins of the people. And no one takes this honour on himself, but he receives it when called by God, just as Aaron was.”
This describes what we know about Job and the way that he interacted with others prior to his being tested. No one takes this honour on himself, but he receives it when called by God. It doesn’t say that Job was a priest, but certainly he was a leader in his community and by his actions and by the command of God to intercede for others, we can assume that he fulfilled this role in the same way that many others did, such as Abraham, even before the Levitical Priesthood was formed.
But this reading from Hebrews goes on to talk of a very special kind of priesthood; in the order of Melchizedek
Hebrews 5:8-10 “Son though he was, he learned obedience from what he suffered and, once made perfect, he became the source of eternal salvation for all who obey him and was designated by God to be high priest in the order of Melchizedek.”
This passage tells us about Jesus being our high priest who doesn’t need to offer sacrifices for himself and then for us, but he has completed the “once and for all” sacrifice.
Throughout the Old Testament there are prophetic writings about the Messiah who would be a priest forever in the order of Melchizedek, but this character, Melchizedek appears first in the book of Genesis chapter 14. Hebrews 7:1-3 tells us more about Melchizedek, “This Melchizedek was king of Salem and priest of God Most High. He met Abraham returning from the defeat of the kings and blessed him, and Abraham gave him a tenth of everything. First, the name Melchizedek means “king of righteousness”; then also, “king of Salem” means “king of peace.” Without father or mother, without genealogy, without beginning of days or end of life, resembling the Son of God, he remains a priest forever.”
Abraham had just returned from rescuing the people of Sodom, including his nephew Lot who was living there. Suddenly this character, described as priest of God most high appears with bread and wine. Melchizedek then blesses Abraham and Abraham gives him a tenth of everything.
Hebrews tells us that Jesus did not take on himself the glory of becoming high priest, but it was appointed him by God the father, and it was a fact that came about through his suffering.
In the Gospel reading we see that there are two men, James and John, who have no idea of this concept of servant leadership.
Mark 10:37,38 “They replied, “Let one of us sit at your right and the other at your left in your glory.”
“You don’t know what you are asking,” Jesus said. “Can you drink the cup I drink or be baptized with the baptism I am baptized with?”
How awesome! Although the other disciples were pretty unhappy with James and John, this gives Jesus the perfect opportunity for lesson 101 in being an apostle.
Mark 10:41- 45“When the ten heard about this, they became indignant with James and John. Jesus called them together and said, “You know that those who are regarded as rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their high officials exercise authority over them. Not so with you. Instead, whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant, and whoever wants to be first must be slave of all. For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.”
These crazy men are those hand picked by Jesus. They didn’t understand that it is God who chooses us for special positions in his kingdom and those special positions are positions of serving others. Jesus was the greatest of all and he gave the greatest sacrifice of all. Job, a man of righteousness, was chosen to prove his faithfulness as a testimony to all including both the physical and the spiritual realm, proved to be faithful through great suffering.
There are three sides to our message for this week. Firstly, it is God who choses us.
Secondly, that being chosen by God to have a special position in the kingdom of God means serving others and this will often include trials, suffering and persecution. (But take heart because these are not random, but have a divine purpose even if we can’t see it.)
Thirdly, and what I think is most important, God does not reject us when we cry out in despair, or when we get it wrong and try to claim the position. God understands that our vision is sometimes limited and he chooses us for reasons that only he can know, but when he does none of our stuff ups will interfere with his plan.
Job 38: 1-7, (34-41) Psalm 104: 1-9, 24, 35c Hebrews 5: 1-10 Mark 10: 35-45
Ever been somewhat ‘ticked off’ with God and let him know all about it?
I sure hope I’m not the only one. The experience usually sees me getting so cranky and telling God that I hate everything and that everything is unfair and why won’t he fix it... probably because he hates me... etc... AND THEN... somehow things settle down and rationality returns, and then I feel really silly because I know that God knows and understands things way beyond what we can and so I then feel guilty, apologize to God, and just feel somewhat ridiculous.
Well, if you haven’t ever experienced anything like this, I’m going to be feeling pretty silly for confessing my ridiculous childish traits, but I will take heart in the fact that Job would understand my ranting.
When rationality returns to me, I remember who God is, but Job ranted so much that God needed to audibly communicate with him to remind him. He answers Job in these words:
Job 38:1-5 “Then the LORD spoke to Job out of the storm. He said “Who is this that obscures my plans with words without knowledge? Brace yourself like a man; I will question you, and you shall answer me. “Where were you when I laid the earth’s foundation? Tell me, if you understand. Who marked off its dimensions? Surely you know! Who stretched a measuring line across it?”
It seems that Job needed a lesson in humility.
Do you note God’s sarcasm, when He says, “Surely you know!”? Truly, the more you get to know the Bible the more gems you find like this! Here is God being sarcastic and reminding Job about a few facts of God’s nature, in answer to Job who has been moaning about his hated life. And the bit that I love the most is that even though Job moaned, cried and was in bitter despair, he was still who God chose as the one to intercede and offer up sacrifices for others.
There are some people who are my facebook friends who are taking on the 30 day gratitude challenge. They are finding something to be grateful for each day. It’s a wonderful thing, but I suspect if Job were invited to take part he’d decline. When you are hurting, you are hurting and that is that.
Job was a man who used to offer up sacrifices on behalf of others. At the beginning of the book of Job we find that he offered up sacrifices for himself and then also for his children just in case they happened to sin. He was a man approved by God, so much so that he was appointed to suffer. His unrelenting relationship with God was a testimony to all.... even though he told God what he thought about the situation.
We discover that this relationship that Job had with God is very similar to that of the high priest. In our Hebrews’ reading we discover that the High priest would offer sacrifices for himself and also for others. The high priest was an intercessory for others and a representative for God.
Hebrews 5:1-4 “Every high priest is selected from among the people and is appointed to represent the people in matters related to God, to offer gifts and sacrifices for sins. He is able to deal gently with those who are ignorant and are going astray, since he himself is subject to weakness. This is why he has to offer sacrifices for his own sins, as well as for the sins of the people. And no one takes this honour on himself, but he receives it when called by God, just as Aaron was.”
This describes what we know about Job and the way that he interacted with others prior to his being tested. No one takes this honour on himself, but he receives it when called by God. It doesn’t say that Job was a priest, but certainly he was a leader in his community and by his actions and by the command of God to intercede for others, we can assume that he fulfilled this role in the same way that many others did, such as Abraham, even before the Levitical Priesthood was formed.
But this reading from Hebrews goes on to talk of a very special kind of priesthood; in the order of Melchizedek
Hebrews 5:8-10 “Son though he was, he learned obedience from what he suffered and, once made perfect, he became the source of eternal salvation for all who obey him and was designated by God to be high priest in the order of Melchizedek.”
This passage tells us about Jesus being our high priest who doesn’t need to offer sacrifices for himself and then for us, but he has completed the “once and for all” sacrifice.
Throughout the Old Testament there are prophetic writings about the Messiah who would be a priest forever in the order of Melchizedek, but this character, Melchizedek appears first in the book of Genesis chapter 14. Hebrews 7:1-3 tells us more about Melchizedek, “This Melchizedek was king of Salem and priest of God Most High. He met Abraham returning from the defeat of the kings and blessed him, and Abraham gave him a tenth of everything. First, the name Melchizedek means “king of righteousness”; then also, “king of Salem” means “king of peace.” Without father or mother, without genealogy, without beginning of days or end of life, resembling the Son of God, he remains a priest forever.”
Abraham had just returned from rescuing the people of Sodom, including his nephew Lot who was living there. Suddenly this character, described as priest of God most high appears with bread and wine. Melchizedek then blesses Abraham and Abraham gives him a tenth of everything.
Hebrews tells us that Jesus did not take on himself the glory of becoming high priest, but it was appointed him by God the father, and it was a fact that came about through his suffering.
In the Gospel reading we see that there are two men, James and John, who have no idea of this concept of servant leadership.
Mark 10:37,38 “They replied, “Let one of us sit at your right and the other at your left in your glory.”
“You don’t know what you are asking,” Jesus said. “Can you drink the cup I drink or be baptized with the baptism I am baptized with?”
How awesome! Although the other disciples were pretty unhappy with James and John, this gives Jesus the perfect opportunity for lesson 101 in being an apostle.
Mark 10:41- 45“When the ten heard about this, they became indignant with James and John. Jesus called them together and said, “You know that those who are regarded as rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their high officials exercise authority over them. Not so with you. Instead, whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant, and whoever wants to be first must be slave of all. For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.”
These crazy men are those hand picked by Jesus. They didn’t understand that it is God who chooses us for special positions in his kingdom and those special positions are positions of serving others. Jesus was the greatest of all and he gave the greatest sacrifice of all. Job, a man of righteousness, was chosen to prove his faithfulness as a testimony to all including both the physical and the spiritual realm, proved to be faithful through great suffering.
There are three sides to our message for this week. Firstly, it is God who choses us.
Secondly, that being chosen by God to have a special position in the kingdom of God means serving others and this will often include trials, suffering and persecution. (But take heart because these are not random, but have a divine purpose even if we can’t see it.)
Thirdly, and what I think is most important, God does not reject us when we cry out in despair, or when we get it wrong and try to claim the position. God understands that our vision is sometimes limited and he chooses us for reasons that only he can know, but when he does none of our stuff ups will interfere with his plan.
Thursday, October 4, 2012
Reflection for Readings 7th Oct 2012 Proper 22
Year B Proper 22 7 October 2012
Job 1:1; 2:1-10 Psalm 26 Hebrews 1: 1-4; 2: 5-12 Mark 10: 2-16
One of my favourite television shows is The Big Bang Theory. One of the characters is a Jew and on one of the episodes when someone cried out, “why is this happening to me?” He replies, “My people have been asking that question for thousands of years...”
Truly if Christianity were a man made religion we’d have an answer to the big “Why” question, but instead although there are some things we know, we are left to struggle to make sense of so many others. The word “Israel”, does not mean “chosen people”, or some other comfortable and reassuring term, although it does designate the relationship that God’s people have with Him.... The meaning of “Israel” is, “He struggles with God”.
This week we have an amazing story about a man named Job. Ever heard the old saying “must have the patience of Job”? Well that would be due to the story of this amazing character.
In the book of Job we find a glimpse into that age old question. It doesn’t give a definitive answer to “Why”, but it does give an answer for this particular case, and teaches us a whole lot along the way.
Job 2:3 “Then the LORD said to Satan, “Have you considered my servant Job? There is no one on earth like him; he is blameless and upright, a man who fears God and shuns evil. And he still maintains his integrity, though you incited me against him to ruin him without any reason.”
If we look at this one verse we learn a number of things. We learn that Job is blameless and upright and is a man of God. We also learn that the calamity that came upon Job was initiated by Satan and Job’s response to this suffering was a witness against Satan.
We know that even though this is an ancient book, well known by Jews, still it was common in the time of Jesus to presume that the reason for adversity was either the sin of the person involved or his parents. Due to the discourse of Jesus with his disciples we know that suffering can also be for the purpose of revealing the gory of God.... and in some ways this was also one of those cases.
Many of us have also been through our own times of adversity, and many of us are still asking that age old question.... WHY??? We don’t know and may not ever get an answer, but certainly we learn many things from Job. Firstly, that it isn’t our fault. Sometimes we certainly may find ourselves experiencing the consequences of our actions, but more often than not things that we even tend to blame ourselves for, are NOT our fault.
Job was blameless. I don’t know about you, but I don’t ever feel that I could be described as glowingly as God describes Job, and certainly none of us is perfect. We know from scripture that no human, other than Jesus is blameless, so how can God describe him that way? Do you think that God would describe you that way?
Mark 10:13-16 “ People were bringing little children to Jesus for him to place his hands on them, but the disciples rebuked them. When Jesus saw this, he was indignant. He said to them, “Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these. Truly I tell you, anyone who will not receive the kingdom of God like a little child will never enter it.” And he took the children in his arms, placed his hands on them and blessed them.”
In our Gospel we discover that the kingdom of God belongs to people who are like children. It is one of those, “ahhhh” readings, but I think we could be missing the point. Often people will say that children are blameless. Let me tell you about a young girl I know who, as a 3 year old, painted her room with poo. Afterwards she said to her doll, “Naughty girl, dolly, you mustn’t do yuckies in your togs”. She knew she was doing wrong.
What a child and those who are “such as these” understands is that someone else has more control. Yes they do know when they are doing wrong sometimes, but the bigger picture for them is that it is all going to be okay because someone else will fix it.... Someone else takes that “blame,” and that is the parent.
Job had a relationship with God. From what we read about Job he actually was pretty near perfect, but I’d like to suggest that the reason he was blameless was his continued reliance on God to “fix it”. It is a real and continuous relationship with God which renders us, “blameless”, which also means that if God is talking to Satan about you, he will also say, “Look at my servant. He/she is blameless and upright”.
Certainly not perfect, but certainly blameless and we can be assured of that because we know that Jesus took that blame.
Hebrews 1:3 “The Son is the radiance of God’s glory and the exact representation of his being, sustaining all things by his powerful word. After he had provided purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty in heaven.”
Our reading from Hebrews tells us that Jesus provided purification for sins, but it also tells us about who Jesus is, and that he is the exact representation of God’s being. The doctrine of the trinity is never mentioned as such in the Bible, but it is certainly made very clear in many readings such as this one.
We know that Jesus was THE perfect human but yet we read something a little puzzling in this reading:
Hebrews 2:10, 11 “In bringing many sons and daughters to glory, it was fitting that God, for whom and through whom everything exists, should make the pioneer of their salvation perfect through what he suffered. Both the one who makes people holy and those who are made holy are of the same family. So Jesus is not ashamed to call them brothers and sisters.”
Jesus was perfect and yet he was made perfect through what he suffered. One of those scripture verses that strikes you as slightly odd at first glance. Jesus was perfect in his being, but there was a plan and purpose for his existence and part of that perfect plan involved suffering. Without the suffering Jesus would still be perfect but his plan and purpose would not be.
Jesus was an innocent man who suffered. He knows how it feels to suffer and be treated like a sinner when you are not. Can you imagine how horrible it feels to be falsely accused, falsely judged and sentenced because of something you didn’t do? This was what Jesus willingly experienced for our sake. He willingly experienced it, but if given the choice the humanity of Christ would have preferred that that “cross” be taken from him.
What Jesus took on was the consequence for someone else’s actions..... ours! It was our sin that he took with him to the cross.
Our Gospel reading talks about divorce and marriage.
Mark 10: 10-12 “When they were in the house again, the disciples asked Jesus about this. He answered, “Anyone who divorces his wife and marries another woman commits adultery against her. And if she divorces her husband and marries another man, she commits adultery.””
The disciples asked Jesus about this even after he had already explained it to the Pharisees... why? Did they think he’d give them a different answer? How do people, Divorced, like me, live with Jesus’ answer?
Firstly, let’s not dance around the scripture and pretty it up because Jesus sure didn’t. Moses permitted a certificate of Divorce, but that doesn’t stop sin from being sin.
We, in the 21st century get all offended by the term “sinner”, as if it belongs to the dirty old paedophile. Sinner is a person who falls short of perfection. Do you fall short of perfection? Don’t get all defensive about it, because none of us is perfect and we are all sinners.... it is almost synonymous with being human – except for Jesus.
There is another part of the Gospel reading.... it talks about God making humans male and female and for this reason a man will leave his mother and father and be united to his wife... This brings me to another subject that I and other Christians get into trouble over..... man and wife - not man and husband or woman and wife. Once again this would be called sin and I don’t think Jesus would call it any differently.... BUT.... we are all sinners.
We need desperately to be able to recognise our sin. We can not be offended by the reality of our condition. Children are a lot more able to deal with being told that they’ve done something wrong then adults, because it is a reality that they are aware of. We seem to think that once we are grown we stop doing anything wrong.... and when we do something wrong we justify it. There is no amount of justification, no matter how understandable, can make a sin not a sin. If it falls short of God’s perfection, it is sin.
But like a child, we need to have faith that there is someone bigger who can fix it for us. This doesn’t mean that we don’t worry about our sin, or that we shouldn’t strive to do better, but this means we can rest in the reassurance that we have a big and powerful parent that will, does, and has bailed us out of trouble.
In the spiritual, our sins have been completely paid for already. There is no debt left to pay, but still we do experience suffering. Suffering is a reality due to many reasons, sometimes known, but most often not known.
We do know that the life of Christ had a purpose and suffering was part of it. We also know that the life of Job had a purpose and suffering was part of it also. In all that Job experienced and although he was sorely grieved, he refused to curse God. This was a witness to Satan.... something important in the heavens was accomplished by this act.
Job 2: 9-10 “His wife said to him, “Are you still maintaining your integrity? Curse God and die!” He replied, “You are talking like a foolish woman. Shall we accept good from God, and not trouble?” In all this, Job did not sin in what he said.”
I remember the words of a song by the band, The Imperials, from many years ago. I feel that this song tells us something really important and it is the same message as our readings. In particular these words: “For the chains that seem to bind you, Serve only to remind you that they drop powerless behind you, when you praise him”
We don’t know “why” bad things happen so many times, and it is natural feel so hurt, but we do know that there is a great heavenly battle won when we continue to serve God.
I think all the words of that song need to be read so I’ll paste them in for you to reflect on:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OfTQg9whI-s
Praise the Lord, by The Imperials
When you're up against a struggle
That shatters all your dreams
And your hope has been cruelly crushed
By Satan's manifesting scheme
And you feel the urge within you
To submit to earthly fears
Don't let the faith you're standing in, seem to disappear
(Chorus)
Praise the Lord
He can work with those who praise Him ,
Praise the Lord
For our God inhabits praise,
Praise the Lord
For the chains that seem to bind you
Serve only to remind you that they drop powerless behind you
When you praise him
Now satan is a liar
And he wants to make us think
That we are paupers
When he knows himself
We're children of the King
So lift up the might shield of faith
For the battle has been won
We know that Jesus Christ has risen
So the work's already done
(Chorus)
Praise the Lord
He can work with those who praise Him ,
Praise the Lord
For our God inhabits praise,
Praise the Lord
For the chains that seem to bind you
Serve only to remind you that they drop powerless behind you
When you praise him
Job 1:1; 2:1-10 Psalm 26 Hebrews 1: 1-4; 2: 5-12 Mark 10: 2-16
One of my favourite television shows is The Big Bang Theory. One of the characters is a Jew and on one of the episodes when someone cried out, “why is this happening to me?” He replies, “My people have been asking that question for thousands of years...”
Truly if Christianity were a man made religion we’d have an answer to the big “Why” question, but instead although there are some things we know, we are left to struggle to make sense of so many others. The word “Israel”, does not mean “chosen people”, or some other comfortable and reassuring term, although it does designate the relationship that God’s people have with Him.... The meaning of “Israel” is, “He struggles with God”.
This week we have an amazing story about a man named Job. Ever heard the old saying “must have the patience of Job”? Well that would be due to the story of this amazing character.
In the book of Job we find a glimpse into that age old question. It doesn’t give a definitive answer to “Why”, but it does give an answer for this particular case, and teaches us a whole lot along the way.
Job 2:3 “Then the LORD said to Satan, “Have you considered my servant Job? There is no one on earth like him; he is blameless and upright, a man who fears God and shuns evil. And he still maintains his integrity, though you incited me against him to ruin him without any reason.”
If we look at this one verse we learn a number of things. We learn that Job is blameless and upright and is a man of God. We also learn that the calamity that came upon Job was initiated by Satan and Job’s response to this suffering was a witness against Satan.
We know that even though this is an ancient book, well known by Jews, still it was common in the time of Jesus to presume that the reason for adversity was either the sin of the person involved or his parents. Due to the discourse of Jesus with his disciples we know that suffering can also be for the purpose of revealing the gory of God.... and in some ways this was also one of those cases.
Many of us have also been through our own times of adversity, and many of us are still asking that age old question.... WHY??? We don’t know and may not ever get an answer, but certainly we learn many things from Job. Firstly, that it isn’t our fault. Sometimes we certainly may find ourselves experiencing the consequences of our actions, but more often than not things that we even tend to blame ourselves for, are NOT our fault.
Job was blameless. I don’t know about you, but I don’t ever feel that I could be described as glowingly as God describes Job, and certainly none of us is perfect. We know from scripture that no human, other than Jesus is blameless, so how can God describe him that way? Do you think that God would describe you that way?
Mark 10:13-16 “ People were bringing little children to Jesus for him to place his hands on them, but the disciples rebuked them. When Jesus saw this, he was indignant. He said to them, “Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these. Truly I tell you, anyone who will not receive the kingdom of God like a little child will never enter it.” And he took the children in his arms, placed his hands on them and blessed them.”
In our Gospel we discover that the kingdom of God belongs to people who are like children. It is one of those, “ahhhh” readings, but I think we could be missing the point. Often people will say that children are blameless. Let me tell you about a young girl I know who, as a 3 year old, painted her room with poo. Afterwards she said to her doll, “Naughty girl, dolly, you mustn’t do yuckies in your togs”. She knew she was doing wrong.
What a child and those who are “such as these” understands is that someone else has more control. Yes they do know when they are doing wrong sometimes, but the bigger picture for them is that it is all going to be okay because someone else will fix it.... Someone else takes that “blame,” and that is the parent.
Job had a relationship with God. From what we read about Job he actually was pretty near perfect, but I’d like to suggest that the reason he was blameless was his continued reliance on God to “fix it”. It is a real and continuous relationship with God which renders us, “blameless”, which also means that if God is talking to Satan about you, he will also say, “Look at my servant. He/she is blameless and upright”.
Certainly not perfect, but certainly blameless and we can be assured of that because we know that Jesus took that blame.
Hebrews 1:3 “The Son is the radiance of God’s glory and the exact representation of his being, sustaining all things by his powerful word. After he had provided purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty in heaven.”
Our reading from Hebrews tells us that Jesus provided purification for sins, but it also tells us about who Jesus is, and that he is the exact representation of God’s being. The doctrine of the trinity is never mentioned as such in the Bible, but it is certainly made very clear in many readings such as this one.
We know that Jesus was THE perfect human but yet we read something a little puzzling in this reading:
Hebrews 2:10, 11 “In bringing many sons and daughters to glory, it was fitting that God, for whom and through whom everything exists, should make the pioneer of their salvation perfect through what he suffered. Both the one who makes people holy and those who are made holy are of the same family. So Jesus is not ashamed to call them brothers and sisters.”
Jesus was perfect and yet he was made perfect through what he suffered. One of those scripture verses that strikes you as slightly odd at first glance. Jesus was perfect in his being, but there was a plan and purpose for his existence and part of that perfect plan involved suffering. Without the suffering Jesus would still be perfect but his plan and purpose would not be.
Jesus was an innocent man who suffered. He knows how it feels to suffer and be treated like a sinner when you are not. Can you imagine how horrible it feels to be falsely accused, falsely judged and sentenced because of something you didn’t do? This was what Jesus willingly experienced for our sake. He willingly experienced it, but if given the choice the humanity of Christ would have preferred that that “cross” be taken from him.
What Jesus took on was the consequence for someone else’s actions..... ours! It was our sin that he took with him to the cross.
Our Gospel reading talks about divorce and marriage.
Mark 10: 10-12 “When they were in the house again, the disciples asked Jesus about this. He answered, “Anyone who divorces his wife and marries another woman commits adultery against her. And if she divorces her husband and marries another man, she commits adultery.””
The disciples asked Jesus about this even after he had already explained it to the Pharisees... why? Did they think he’d give them a different answer? How do people, Divorced, like me, live with Jesus’ answer?
Firstly, let’s not dance around the scripture and pretty it up because Jesus sure didn’t. Moses permitted a certificate of Divorce, but that doesn’t stop sin from being sin.
We, in the 21st century get all offended by the term “sinner”, as if it belongs to the dirty old paedophile. Sinner is a person who falls short of perfection. Do you fall short of perfection? Don’t get all defensive about it, because none of us is perfect and we are all sinners.... it is almost synonymous with being human – except for Jesus.
There is another part of the Gospel reading.... it talks about God making humans male and female and for this reason a man will leave his mother and father and be united to his wife... This brings me to another subject that I and other Christians get into trouble over..... man and wife - not man and husband or woman and wife. Once again this would be called sin and I don’t think Jesus would call it any differently.... BUT.... we are all sinners.
We need desperately to be able to recognise our sin. We can not be offended by the reality of our condition. Children are a lot more able to deal with being told that they’ve done something wrong then adults, because it is a reality that they are aware of. We seem to think that once we are grown we stop doing anything wrong.... and when we do something wrong we justify it. There is no amount of justification, no matter how understandable, can make a sin not a sin. If it falls short of God’s perfection, it is sin.
But like a child, we need to have faith that there is someone bigger who can fix it for us. This doesn’t mean that we don’t worry about our sin, or that we shouldn’t strive to do better, but this means we can rest in the reassurance that we have a big and powerful parent that will, does, and has bailed us out of trouble.
In the spiritual, our sins have been completely paid for already. There is no debt left to pay, but still we do experience suffering. Suffering is a reality due to many reasons, sometimes known, but most often not known.
We do know that the life of Christ had a purpose and suffering was part of it. We also know that the life of Job had a purpose and suffering was part of it also. In all that Job experienced and although he was sorely grieved, he refused to curse God. This was a witness to Satan.... something important in the heavens was accomplished by this act.
Job 2: 9-10 “His wife said to him, “Are you still maintaining your integrity? Curse God and die!” He replied, “You are talking like a foolish woman. Shall we accept good from God, and not trouble?” In all this, Job did not sin in what he said.”
I remember the words of a song by the band, The Imperials, from many years ago. I feel that this song tells us something really important and it is the same message as our readings. In particular these words: “For the chains that seem to bind you, Serve only to remind you that they drop powerless behind you, when you praise him”
We don’t know “why” bad things happen so many times, and it is natural feel so hurt, but we do know that there is a great heavenly battle won when we continue to serve God.
I think all the words of that song need to be read so I’ll paste them in for you to reflect on:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OfTQg9whI-s
Praise the Lord, by The Imperials
When you're up against a struggle
That shatters all your dreams
And your hope has been cruelly crushed
By Satan's manifesting scheme
And you feel the urge within you
To submit to earthly fears
Don't let the faith you're standing in, seem to disappear
(Chorus)
Praise the Lord
He can work with those who praise Him ,
Praise the Lord
For our God inhabits praise,
Praise the Lord
For the chains that seem to bind you
Serve only to remind you that they drop powerless behind you
When you praise him
Now satan is a liar
And he wants to make us think
That we are paupers
When he knows himself
We're children of the King
So lift up the might shield of faith
For the battle has been won
We know that Jesus Christ has risen
So the work's already done
(Chorus)
Praise the Lord
He can work with those who praise Him ,
Praise the Lord
For our God inhabits praise,
Praise the Lord
For the chains that seem to bind you
Serve only to remind you that they drop powerless behind you
When you praise him
Thursday, September 27, 2012
Reflection on the readings for Sunday 30th September 2012 Proper 21
Year B Proper 21 30 September 2012
Esther 7: 1-6, 9-10; 9: 2--22 Psalm 124 James 5: 13-20 Mark 9: 38-50
There is a tension among Christians as to what is sacred and what is secular. I’m aware that some Christian churches will not have me come and play my Christian music in their church or endorse my music for their functions because I perform secular music. It is a strange phenomenon because Christians do have secular jobs, but don’t very often see that it is possible that God blesses and encourages our secular work. (And it doesn’t seem to be realized that secular music is the bread and butter for a person in music ministry).
Our readings this week are such, that they sent me on a journey to find out the back ground of some scripture that I found difficult to grasp, and in the process I found a theme that speaks to me and urges me to see that God is working in all places and through all things in our lives….even and especially when we cannot sense him.
Our first reading comes from the book of Esther and is quite violent and dramatic. Esther was a Jewish girl who became Queen to a foreign King while the Jews were living in exile. She kept her nationality a secret and could not approach the King without fear of death. An edict had been given that on a set day those who wished to could legally kill all the Jews. The person who instigated this edict wanted to wipe out every Jew in existence…. Sounds a little like what happened in the 20th century. Esther, after prayer and fasting, approached the King about the matter and the Jews were given the legal right to defend themselves and fight back. The long and short of the story is that it was a great victory.
After researching, I discovered that Esther sounds like the Hebrew word for “hidden”. I also discovered some amazing facts about the feast of Purim which is the feast instigated through this event. It is mentioned at the conclusion of our scripture reading. From the Website for the Jewish Renewal Congregation of Philadelphia and written by Rabbi Emanuel Feldman:
“Purim: a story of heroism and evil undone by goodness.
And also a holiday of masks: On Purim everyone wears costumes and masks. That is part of the celebration! Adults and kids, all come to the reading of the Megillah dressed in elaborate disguises! Purim is a Mardi Gras of disguises _ reality is hidden, garbed in funny, gaudy, attractive clever, glittery, cute, silly, but always false appearances.
It is a clue to the meaning of the holiday, and the story. Truth can be disguised. Sometimes even the main character is hidden. Sometimes even God is hidden.” (http://www.pnaior-phila.org/learn-about/the-months-of-spring-pesach-through-purim)
Megillah is the term used for the reading of the book of Esther which takes place at this festival and is a word that also sounds like a Hebrew word; it sounds like the Hebrew for “revealed”.
In the circumstances of the Jewish people it seemed that God was hidden. The Jews, as represented by Mordecai, Esther’s uncle, were a minority group who refused to bow to public pressure. He would not bow to man and he would not bow to idols, but it was this act that resulted in all Jews nearly being annihilated. Ever sense that fear?
I’ve been watching the television show, “Can of Worms”, and I’ve commented to Brittany that there are many people who don’t seem to have solid or valid reasons for their opinions, but their opinion is the seemingly “trendy” one. For example: “Oh no, people shouldn’t have to speak English to live in Australia – that’s not being culturally sensitive”, “Of course homosexuals should be allowed to marry”, “Yes, I would certainly let my 15 year old daughter have sex in my house – better that than some dirty motel or car etc…” - More important than the opinion themselves is to realize whether we really think things through or simply “bow” to popular societal conformity.
We also have an example from Mordecai, in our first reading, and a warning from our Gospel, to exhort us to be true to the ways of God.
Mark 9:42 “If anyone causes one of these little ones—those who believe in me—to stumble, it would be better for them if a large millstone were hung around their neck and they were thrown into the sea.”
“Little ones” refers to those of low status. I would imagine this means that we have a responsibility to pass on the ways of God and be true to his word as revealed in the scriptures. If we interpret or compromise scripture in such a way as to be socially accepted, and in the process influence others to sin, then this warning is certainly for us!
Mordecai was true to God, but he and his entire race were hated because of it. It was a time in the history of the Jews when God seemed silent, but surely God was working through all their circumstances to save them. It was not advisable for a Jew to marry someone of a different race, yet that is what Esther did and that is how she came to be in a position to save her people. We need to be aware of the Spirit of God working in all our earthly circumstances not just those that we deem to be “holy”.
Our Gospel talks rather mysteriously about salt.
Mark 9:49-50 “Everyone will be salted with fire. “Salt is good, but if it loses its saltiness, how can you make it salty again? Have salt among yourselves, and be at peace with each other.””
Sacrifices were to be presented with salt. Jewish meals are not thought to be complete without salt. Bread dipped in salt at the onset of a meal was a blessing to the bread.
Our lives are made holy in our earthly and secular lives, because though it may seem that God is hidden and silent, we are His people and he is working to bring about his purpose through our circumstances.
Ever recall the saying, “being so heavenly minded that you are of no earthly good”… kind of like asking if salt loses its saltiness, how can you make it salty again. It is a rhetorical question, not meant to be answered, but meant to be realized that we need to be authentic in our lives. We are people that God is dealing with through the ongoing work of His Holy Spirit. He “salts” us – that is, he organizes our lives so that all things work together in our lives to achieve His purpose. Some of these things certainly feel they are like the fire of hell, but that is not the end of the story…..
Our Psalm and our reading from James both assure us of the help from God;
James 5:13-16 “Is anyone among you in trouble? Let them pray. Is anyone happy? Let them sing songs of praise. Is anyone among you sick? Let them call the elders of the church to pray over them and anoint them with oil in the name of the Lord. And the prayer offered in faith will make the sick person well; the Lord will raise them up. If they have sinned, they will be forgiven. Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person is powerful and effective.”
The Jewish people keep the festival of the Purim, and according to the research I did, it seems to be held 30days before the feast of Passover…. in some ways as a preparation for Passover. We acknowledge the Passover as part of our Easter preparations but the feast of the Purim is not part of our tradition. I think it is something that I could do with celebrating as a reminder to me that God is not absent and that the undesirable experiences of my life are not the end of the story – God is designing, salting and making holy every part of my life, and in time the joy of victory will come. (I imagine that Jesus celebrated the Purim very meaningfully as he prepared for his Passover)!!
Esther 7: 1-6, 9-10; 9: 2--22 Psalm 124 James 5: 13-20 Mark 9: 38-50
There is a tension among Christians as to what is sacred and what is secular. I’m aware that some Christian churches will not have me come and play my Christian music in their church or endorse my music for their functions because I perform secular music. It is a strange phenomenon because Christians do have secular jobs, but don’t very often see that it is possible that God blesses and encourages our secular work. (And it doesn’t seem to be realized that secular music is the bread and butter for a person in music ministry).
Our readings this week are such, that they sent me on a journey to find out the back ground of some scripture that I found difficult to grasp, and in the process I found a theme that speaks to me and urges me to see that God is working in all places and through all things in our lives….even and especially when we cannot sense him.
Our first reading comes from the book of Esther and is quite violent and dramatic. Esther was a Jewish girl who became Queen to a foreign King while the Jews were living in exile. She kept her nationality a secret and could not approach the King without fear of death. An edict had been given that on a set day those who wished to could legally kill all the Jews. The person who instigated this edict wanted to wipe out every Jew in existence…. Sounds a little like what happened in the 20th century. Esther, after prayer and fasting, approached the King about the matter and the Jews were given the legal right to defend themselves and fight back. The long and short of the story is that it was a great victory.
After researching, I discovered that Esther sounds like the Hebrew word for “hidden”. I also discovered some amazing facts about the feast of Purim which is the feast instigated through this event. It is mentioned at the conclusion of our scripture reading. From the Website for the Jewish Renewal Congregation of Philadelphia and written by Rabbi Emanuel Feldman:
“Purim: a story of heroism and evil undone by goodness.
And also a holiday of masks: On Purim everyone wears costumes and masks. That is part of the celebration! Adults and kids, all come to the reading of the Megillah dressed in elaborate disguises! Purim is a Mardi Gras of disguises _ reality is hidden, garbed in funny, gaudy, attractive clever, glittery, cute, silly, but always false appearances.
It is a clue to the meaning of the holiday, and the story. Truth can be disguised. Sometimes even the main character is hidden. Sometimes even God is hidden.” (http://www.pnaior-phila.org/learn-about/the-months-of-spring-pesach-through-purim)
Megillah is the term used for the reading of the book of Esther which takes place at this festival and is a word that also sounds like a Hebrew word; it sounds like the Hebrew for “revealed”.
In the circumstances of the Jewish people it seemed that God was hidden. The Jews, as represented by Mordecai, Esther’s uncle, were a minority group who refused to bow to public pressure. He would not bow to man and he would not bow to idols, but it was this act that resulted in all Jews nearly being annihilated. Ever sense that fear?
I’ve been watching the television show, “Can of Worms”, and I’ve commented to Brittany that there are many people who don’t seem to have solid or valid reasons for their opinions, but their opinion is the seemingly “trendy” one. For example: “Oh no, people shouldn’t have to speak English to live in Australia – that’s not being culturally sensitive”, “Of course homosexuals should be allowed to marry”, “Yes, I would certainly let my 15 year old daughter have sex in my house – better that than some dirty motel or car etc…” - More important than the opinion themselves is to realize whether we really think things through or simply “bow” to popular societal conformity.
We also have an example from Mordecai, in our first reading, and a warning from our Gospel, to exhort us to be true to the ways of God.
Mark 9:42 “If anyone causes one of these little ones—those who believe in me—to stumble, it would be better for them if a large millstone were hung around their neck and they were thrown into the sea.”
“Little ones” refers to those of low status. I would imagine this means that we have a responsibility to pass on the ways of God and be true to his word as revealed in the scriptures. If we interpret or compromise scripture in such a way as to be socially accepted, and in the process influence others to sin, then this warning is certainly for us!
Mordecai was true to God, but he and his entire race were hated because of it. It was a time in the history of the Jews when God seemed silent, but surely God was working through all their circumstances to save them. It was not advisable for a Jew to marry someone of a different race, yet that is what Esther did and that is how she came to be in a position to save her people. We need to be aware of the Spirit of God working in all our earthly circumstances not just those that we deem to be “holy”.
Our Gospel talks rather mysteriously about salt.
Mark 9:49-50 “Everyone will be salted with fire. “Salt is good, but if it loses its saltiness, how can you make it salty again? Have salt among yourselves, and be at peace with each other.””
Sacrifices were to be presented with salt. Jewish meals are not thought to be complete without salt. Bread dipped in salt at the onset of a meal was a blessing to the bread.
Our lives are made holy in our earthly and secular lives, because though it may seem that God is hidden and silent, we are His people and he is working to bring about his purpose through our circumstances.
Ever recall the saying, “being so heavenly minded that you are of no earthly good”… kind of like asking if salt loses its saltiness, how can you make it salty again. It is a rhetorical question, not meant to be answered, but meant to be realized that we need to be authentic in our lives. We are people that God is dealing with through the ongoing work of His Holy Spirit. He “salts” us – that is, he organizes our lives so that all things work together in our lives to achieve His purpose. Some of these things certainly feel they are like the fire of hell, but that is not the end of the story…..
Our Psalm and our reading from James both assure us of the help from God;
James 5:13-16 “Is anyone among you in trouble? Let them pray. Is anyone happy? Let them sing songs of praise. Is anyone among you sick? Let them call the elders of the church to pray over them and anoint them with oil in the name of the Lord. And the prayer offered in faith will make the sick person well; the Lord will raise them up. If they have sinned, they will be forgiven. Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person is powerful and effective.”
The Jewish people keep the festival of the Purim, and according to the research I did, it seems to be held 30days before the feast of Passover…. in some ways as a preparation for Passover. We acknowledge the Passover as part of our Easter preparations but the feast of the Purim is not part of our tradition. I think it is something that I could do with celebrating as a reminder to me that God is not absent and that the undesirable experiences of my life are not the end of the story – God is designing, salting and making holy every part of my life, and in time the joy of victory will come. (I imagine that Jesus celebrated the Purim very meaningfully as he prepared for his Passover)!!
Wednesday, September 19, 2012
Reflection for 23rd September 2012
Year B Proper 20 23 September 2012
Proverbs 31: 10-31 Psalm 1 James 3:13 - 4: 3, 7-8a Mark 9: 30-37
When I was downloading the readings for this week I groaned when I saw Proverbs 31. I thought it was the reading about that amazing woman that makes me feel inadequate. I was right, the reading is about this perfect woman who seems to be super human, but I was also wrong because she no longer made me feel inadequate. The difference is time and circumstance….and understanding.
Once upon a time I felt I was judged as being an inadequate mother and wife and the woman from Proverbs 31 proved it by comparison. The reading speaks of a woman who manages her household, cares for her family and servants and also has her own personal work that she seems to also find time for. If we leave it at that we miss the point, and I think that I had previously overlooked the point of the reading. The point being that this woman was who she was, and could do what she could do, because she was a woman of God.
Proverbs 31:30-31 “Charm is deceptive, and beauty is fleeting; but a woman who fears the LORD is to be praised. Honor her for all that her hands have done, and let her works bring her praise at the city gate.”
This is a lady from a respectable, well established and wealthy family. We read that she has servants for whom she provides food, and that she cares for the poor and needy. This is a lady who doesn’t want for anything and could well “Lord” it over others and enjoy her position, but she doesn’t. Instead she uses her position as a gift from God to be used for the benefit and blessing of others.
This sheds some light on our Gospel reading. Once again Jesus talks of his death and resurrection, as if emphasizing to the disciples the truth of the matter, but then he asks them what they were talking about on the road. He knew well what they were talking about. They were arguing about who was the greatest among them.
Perhaps they were beginning to believe that Jesus would indeed die and so they needed to know who would take over as leader….. Maybe they missed the bit about his resurrection…. I suspect that Jesus heard the conversation and let it develop until all their ambitions were exposed.
James 3:14 “But if you harbor bitter envy and selfish ambition in your hearts, do not boast about it or deny the truth.”
Sometimes it isn’t until a situation arises that we become aware of our own ambitions and envy and when we do become aware we need to heed the words of James because there are two natural responses. One is to deny that the envy and ambition exists. The envy and ambition will continue to drive our actions and poison our being like an invisible evil force. The other natural response is to own the ambition as something we boast about….. “I want that thing, and I envy that person …” etc..
James tells us to do neither of these things. Instead we need to acknowledge it and confess it. We need to look at our desires in the light of the wisdom that Jesus has shown us.
James 4:1-3 “What causes fights and quarrels among you? Don’t they come from your desires that battle within you? You desire but do not have, so you kill. You covet but you cannot get what you want, so you quarrel and fight. You do not have because you do not ask God. When you ask, you do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, that you may spend what you get on your pleasures.”
“You desire but do not have, so you kill……” You may read that immediately say that doesn’t apply to you, but have you ever stifled someone’s creativity because you wanted to be the one seen as in charge? Or put someone “in their place”, for the same reason? Have you ever talked about someone behind their back and spread rumours simply because you don’t like the fact that they look better than you or seem to have more than you?
James tells us that we do not have, because we haven’t asked God, and if we have asked, we ask with wrong motives. Sometimes we might even almost convince ourselves that our motives are in line with what God wants, but God isn’t fooled.
Jesus let the disciple show their true colours. Their ambition and jealousy was revealed, and then he told the disciples that whoever wants to be first must become the servant of all. He took a child and explained that to be a servant means to welcome, care for and serve even children.
In that ancient culture children were the last people that were to be respected. In complete contrast to our own culture, if a house was burning down it would be expected that you’d save the elders first and the children last. Children were not even considered heirs until they came of age. So to then be told that the most important person in the kingdom of God must be a servant to little children was somewhat a shock.
The perfect picture of a leader in the kingdom of God is that one that we find in Proverbs 31. Once again this will be a shock to many people because firstly she is not a man. This woman does not have a view of herself that places her above others, but she uses her gifts for the blessing of all.
The world truly is crazy. We live in a world where homosexuals are fighting for their rights to marriage and yet we in the church still can’t acknowledge women leaders. As my friend, Mike Nelson, once said, “after all… we can’t just let anyone tell us about Jesus!!!” (He was being sarcastic).
Once upon a very long time ago when God was inspiring a very wise man to write the book of proverbs, he chose to portray a leader and he chose a woman. But let’s be realistic about this…. It isn’t the fact that she was female that was important, it was that she feared God and used her gifts for the benefits of others. Free will means that we need to choose if we will fear God and use our gifts for the benefits of others, but there are no limitations on God’s gifts and there are no boundaries when God empowers.
Proverbs 31: 10-31 Psalm 1 James 3:13 - 4: 3, 7-8a Mark 9: 30-37
When I was downloading the readings for this week I groaned when I saw Proverbs 31. I thought it was the reading about that amazing woman that makes me feel inadequate. I was right, the reading is about this perfect woman who seems to be super human, but I was also wrong because she no longer made me feel inadequate. The difference is time and circumstance….and understanding.
Once upon a time I felt I was judged as being an inadequate mother and wife and the woman from Proverbs 31 proved it by comparison. The reading speaks of a woman who manages her household, cares for her family and servants and also has her own personal work that she seems to also find time for. If we leave it at that we miss the point, and I think that I had previously overlooked the point of the reading. The point being that this woman was who she was, and could do what she could do, because she was a woman of God.
Proverbs 31:30-31 “Charm is deceptive, and beauty is fleeting; but a woman who fears the LORD is to be praised. Honor her for all that her hands have done, and let her works bring her praise at the city gate.”
This is a lady from a respectable, well established and wealthy family. We read that she has servants for whom she provides food, and that she cares for the poor and needy. This is a lady who doesn’t want for anything and could well “Lord” it over others and enjoy her position, but she doesn’t. Instead she uses her position as a gift from God to be used for the benefit and blessing of others.
This sheds some light on our Gospel reading. Once again Jesus talks of his death and resurrection, as if emphasizing to the disciples the truth of the matter, but then he asks them what they were talking about on the road. He knew well what they were talking about. They were arguing about who was the greatest among them.
Perhaps they were beginning to believe that Jesus would indeed die and so they needed to know who would take over as leader….. Maybe they missed the bit about his resurrection…. I suspect that Jesus heard the conversation and let it develop until all their ambitions were exposed.
James 3:14 “But if you harbor bitter envy and selfish ambition in your hearts, do not boast about it or deny the truth.”
Sometimes it isn’t until a situation arises that we become aware of our own ambitions and envy and when we do become aware we need to heed the words of James because there are two natural responses. One is to deny that the envy and ambition exists. The envy and ambition will continue to drive our actions and poison our being like an invisible evil force. The other natural response is to own the ambition as something we boast about….. “I want that thing, and I envy that person …” etc..
James tells us to do neither of these things. Instead we need to acknowledge it and confess it. We need to look at our desires in the light of the wisdom that Jesus has shown us.
James 4:1-3 “What causes fights and quarrels among you? Don’t they come from your desires that battle within you? You desire but do not have, so you kill. You covet but you cannot get what you want, so you quarrel and fight. You do not have because you do not ask God. When you ask, you do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, that you may spend what you get on your pleasures.”
“You desire but do not have, so you kill……” You may read that immediately say that doesn’t apply to you, but have you ever stifled someone’s creativity because you wanted to be the one seen as in charge? Or put someone “in their place”, for the same reason? Have you ever talked about someone behind their back and spread rumours simply because you don’t like the fact that they look better than you or seem to have more than you?
James tells us that we do not have, because we haven’t asked God, and if we have asked, we ask with wrong motives. Sometimes we might even almost convince ourselves that our motives are in line with what God wants, but God isn’t fooled.
Jesus let the disciple show their true colours. Their ambition and jealousy was revealed, and then he told the disciples that whoever wants to be first must become the servant of all. He took a child and explained that to be a servant means to welcome, care for and serve even children.
In that ancient culture children were the last people that were to be respected. In complete contrast to our own culture, if a house was burning down it would be expected that you’d save the elders first and the children last. Children were not even considered heirs until they came of age. So to then be told that the most important person in the kingdom of God must be a servant to little children was somewhat a shock.
The perfect picture of a leader in the kingdom of God is that one that we find in Proverbs 31. Once again this will be a shock to many people because firstly she is not a man. This woman does not have a view of herself that places her above others, but she uses her gifts for the blessing of all.
The world truly is crazy. We live in a world where homosexuals are fighting for their rights to marriage and yet we in the church still can’t acknowledge women leaders. As my friend, Mike Nelson, once said, “after all… we can’t just let anyone tell us about Jesus!!!” (He was being sarcastic).
Once upon a very long time ago when God was inspiring a very wise man to write the book of proverbs, he chose to portray a leader and he chose a woman. But let’s be realistic about this…. It isn’t the fact that she was female that was important, it was that she feared God and used her gifts for the benefits of others. Free will means that we need to choose if we will fear God and use our gifts for the benefits of others, but there are no limitations on God’s gifts and there are no boundaries when God empowers.
Wednesday, September 12, 2012
Reflection on Readings for 16 September 2012 Proper 19 year B
Year B Proper 19 16 September 2012
Proverbs 1: 20-33 Psalm 19 James 3: 1-12 Mark 8: 27-38
I’ve been thinking about writing a book about how to teach children to sing. It would be called “HOW TO TEACH CHILDREN TO SING – what the kids have taught me!” It is amazing how you can never know some things until you come face to face with real live problems…. Sometimes these just leave you stumped, other times something awesome will happen and you’ll realize a simple solution.
Teaching and learning, and teachers learning from the learners, brings to mind an advertisement on television for a documentary about child protégés and geniuses. I know that there are stand out brilliances, but often it will be in one area and I worry that the labeling of the geniuses doesn’t really reflect the full spectrum of intelligence.
When studying teaching we touched on the idea of multiple intelligences, meaning that while one is intelligent in mathematics, another might be intelligent in social ways (and there are many other intelligence types). All intelligence types are important, but our society tends to highlight some more than others. The reason I mention this is because the theme running through our readings is wisdom.
Is wisdom something that we hear much of in our society? Many elements are grouped together that make up what we perceive to be intelligence. These include knowledge, skill and talent and when these are found in people they are recognized and appreciated, and often thought to be something for the select few. Our scripture readings indicate something different about wisdom.
Our readings begin with the book of Proverbs. A Proverb is a wise saying, and the book of Proverbs begins with the call of wisdom. In this, Wisdom is personified and declares her will to be known to all;
Proverbs 1:20-23 “Out in the open wisdom calls aloud, she raises her voice in the public square; on top of the wall she cries out, at the city gate she makes her speech: “How long will you who are simple love your simple ways? How long will mockers delight in mockery and fools hate knowledge? Repent at my rebuke! Then I will pour out my thoughts to you, I will make known to you my teachings.”
My singing students are going to have a concert on the 2nd of December at Holy Trinity. They will be performing their country Gospel songs. I am encouraging the students to introduce the song themselves and talk a little about their song. My student yesterday had a practice and said, “The song is about how fools don’t follow God”. Her song is a perfect summary of this week’s readings. The chorus lyrics are; “’Cause when the man said, “this way to heaven, fools knew a better way to go. ‘Cause when the man said, “this way to heaven”, this mad crazy world said, “NO”!”
This tells us the key to wisdom. Although wisdom takes into account knowledge and intelligence, skill and talent, it is unique. You don’t need to have an incredible I.Q. to have wisdom, and you don’t need to know everything or have great skill or talent, but you do need to trust in God.
From Proverbs 1: 29-31 “since they hated knowledge and did not choose to fear the LORD. Since they would not accept my advice and spurned my rebuke, they will eat the fruit of their ways and be filled with the fruit of their schemes.”
King David speaks with wisdom when he composes his Psalm. In Psalm 19 he tells us that creation declares the glory of God. The majesty of creation is a testimony and witness that God is God – and all that it means to be God. The more that we know about creation, the more incredibly intricate we realize it to be. Surely this “screams” that it was created by a being of more intelligence than we can imagine and is not a mere accident or coincidence of an astronomical event.
King David also speaks with wisdom when he admits that no one can discern their own error, thus admitting human frailty and humility before a perfect God. To turn to God means to admit that God is sovereign and that we are not in control, we can’t save ourselves, we are not perfect and we need a saviour.
Right, so we’ve arrived at this point where we acknowledge that we need God, we want to follow God and all is good …….. Laugh out loud! Being human, we continue to have “Peter” moments.
Our Gospel reading tells us about the discourse between Jesus and his disciples. They’ve heard people talking about who Jesus is. Eventually we find out who the disciples, especially Peter, think that Jesus is. “You are the Messiah”!
Messiah or Christ – the anointed one, is the answer that Peter gives on behalf of the disciples, but we discover that there is more to this. Before we continue, ask yourself who you think that Jesus is, because it is vitally important.
Recently on television’s “Can of worms” a celebrity guest was asked to choose a preference out of three impossible experiences. The celebrity declared choice number one, to go back in time to talk with Jesus. She prefaced the choice with the words, “If there was a Jesus, if he ever existed……”
She revealed an error that many people believe to be true, and that is that Jesus’ existence is a matter of faith. There are so many documents that refer to Jesus of Nazareth that we can pretty much know as a fact that Jesus was an historical figure. (and by the way – you don’t need to go back in time to talk to him).
Jesus was a man who existed in time. From ancient documents both non-Christian and Christian reports we can discern some facts about the person of Jesus….. he was reported to have performed miracles, did good works and was crucified, his followers claimed he rose from the dead. BUT, who is he really? Was he a prophet? Was he a good man but deluded? Was he a deceiver?
According to our scriptures Jesus was crucified because he claimed to be God.
Now this is where Peter got into strife. Peter and the disciples believe Jesus to be the Messiah – which is true, but they didn’t realize that he was the visible expression of God…. at least not until after. From the Gospel of John 8:58 Jesus declares, “I tell you the truth, before Abraham was, I am!”
Peter, after declaring that Jesus was the Messiah, took Jesus aside to tell him that he was wrong in saying that he would have to suffer. Peter failed to grasp the full identity of Jesus. No wonder that Jesus told his disciple not to tell anyone who he was. These disciples were both learners and followers of Jesus. This meant that they would pass on his teachings to others. It was important that they “got it right”.
Our reading from James has a warning for those of us who teach…. More specifically, for those of us who teach about Jesus. James 3:1-2 “Not many of you should become teachers, my fellow believers, because you know that we who teach will be judged more strictly. We all stumble in many ways. Anyone who is never at fault in what they say is perfect, able to keep their whole body in check.”
The reading echoes the sentiments of our Psalmist, none of us are perfect, and we need to be constantly aware of this and diligent in watching the words that we say. Something that is a pet hate with me is this; I go to a shop to buy something, after having done some research on the item, but still having more questions, only to have the assistant fake their way through inadequately answering questions. Because I’ve researched I can tell that they are faking it and know nothing. I would much prefer to have someone say, “I’m sorry, I don’t know the answer. Let me find someone else who can help you.”
Over the years there have been theological heresies that have come into being because we wanted an answer that fitted with our lifestyle. I will not name any, but I’m sure that you can think of some…. But think again and check that these are not just those that suit you.
When I’m teaching and stuck, I usually research on the net, but I’m now thinking I really need to communicate with other teachers to find out what they do with these cases. Likewise, we in the church need to be in conversation with other Christians. This is the reason for our “multiple intelligences”…. We need to lean on each other and empower the gifts in each other. These gifts are for all our good and to benefit all of society. None of us needs to know everything, but we do need the wisdom to acknowledge that we are not perfect, our knowledge is imperfect and that we need each other.
The beginning of wisdom is the fear of the Lord, but who is the Lord? And yes, the proverb does say “fear” and I won’t soften this, because although God is love we need to have a healthy respect for His being and do not dare to speak for him unless we are sure of his will.
Proverbs 1: 20-33 Psalm 19 James 3: 1-12 Mark 8: 27-38
I’ve been thinking about writing a book about how to teach children to sing. It would be called “HOW TO TEACH CHILDREN TO SING – what the kids have taught me!” It is amazing how you can never know some things until you come face to face with real live problems…. Sometimes these just leave you stumped, other times something awesome will happen and you’ll realize a simple solution.
Teaching and learning, and teachers learning from the learners, brings to mind an advertisement on television for a documentary about child protégés and geniuses. I know that there are stand out brilliances, but often it will be in one area and I worry that the labeling of the geniuses doesn’t really reflect the full spectrum of intelligence.
When studying teaching we touched on the idea of multiple intelligences, meaning that while one is intelligent in mathematics, another might be intelligent in social ways (and there are many other intelligence types). All intelligence types are important, but our society tends to highlight some more than others. The reason I mention this is because the theme running through our readings is wisdom.
Is wisdom something that we hear much of in our society? Many elements are grouped together that make up what we perceive to be intelligence. These include knowledge, skill and talent and when these are found in people they are recognized and appreciated, and often thought to be something for the select few. Our scripture readings indicate something different about wisdom.
Our readings begin with the book of Proverbs. A Proverb is a wise saying, and the book of Proverbs begins with the call of wisdom. In this, Wisdom is personified and declares her will to be known to all;
Proverbs 1:20-23 “Out in the open wisdom calls aloud, she raises her voice in the public square; on top of the wall she cries out, at the city gate she makes her speech: “How long will you who are simple love your simple ways? How long will mockers delight in mockery and fools hate knowledge? Repent at my rebuke! Then I will pour out my thoughts to you, I will make known to you my teachings.”
My singing students are going to have a concert on the 2nd of December at Holy Trinity. They will be performing their country Gospel songs. I am encouraging the students to introduce the song themselves and talk a little about their song. My student yesterday had a practice and said, “The song is about how fools don’t follow God”. Her song is a perfect summary of this week’s readings. The chorus lyrics are; “’Cause when the man said, “this way to heaven, fools knew a better way to go. ‘Cause when the man said, “this way to heaven”, this mad crazy world said, “NO”!”
This tells us the key to wisdom. Although wisdom takes into account knowledge and intelligence, skill and talent, it is unique. You don’t need to have an incredible I.Q. to have wisdom, and you don’t need to know everything or have great skill or talent, but you do need to trust in God.
From Proverbs 1: 29-31 “since they hated knowledge and did not choose to fear the LORD. Since they would not accept my advice and spurned my rebuke, they will eat the fruit of their ways and be filled with the fruit of their schemes.”
King David speaks with wisdom when he composes his Psalm. In Psalm 19 he tells us that creation declares the glory of God. The majesty of creation is a testimony and witness that God is God – and all that it means to be God. The more that we know about creation, the more incredibly intricate we realize it to be. Surely this “screams” that it was created by a being of more intelligence than we can imagine and is not a mere accident or coincidence of an astronomical event.
King David also speaks with wisdom when he admits that no one can discern their own error, thus admitting human frailty and humility before a perfect God. To turn to God means to admit that God is sovereign and that we are not in control, we can’t save ourselves, we are not perfect and we need a saviour.
Right, so we’ve arrived at this point where we acknowledge that we need God, we want to follow God and all is good …….. Laugh out loud! Being human, we continue to have “Peter” moments.
Our Gospel reading tells us about the discourse between Jesus and his disciples. They’ve heard people talking about who Jesus is. Eventually we find out who the disciples, especially Peter, think that Jesus is. “You are the Messiah”!
Messiah or Christ – the anointed one, is the answer that Peter gives on behalf of the disciples, but we discover that there is more to this. Before we continue, ask yourself who you think that Jesus is, because it is vitally important.
Recently on television’s “Can of worms” a celebrity guest was asked to choose a preference out of three impossible experiences. The celebrity declared choice number one, to go back in time to talk with Jesus. She prefaced the choice with the words, “If there was a Jesus, if he ever existed……”
She revealed an error that many people believe to be true, and that is that Jesus’ existence is a matter of faith. There are so many documents that refer to Jesus of Nazareth that we can pretty much know as a fact that Jesus was an historical figure. (and by the way – you don’t need to go back in time to talk to him).
Jesus was a man who existed in time. From ancient documents both non-Christian and Christian reports we can discern some facts about the person of Jesus….. he was reported to have performed miracles, did good works and was crucified, his followers claimed he rose from the dead. BUT, who is he really? Was he a prophet? Was he a good man but deluded? Was he a deceiver?
According to our scriptures Jesus was crucified because he claimed to be God.
Now this is where Peter got into strife. Peter and the disciples believe Jesus to be the Messiah – which is true, but they didn’t realize that he was the visible expression of God…. at least not until after. From the Gospel of John 8:58 Jesus declares, “I tell you the truth, before Abraham was, I am!”
Peter, after declaring that Jesus was the Messiah, took Jesus aside to tell him that he was wrong in saying that he would have to suffer. Peter failed to grasp the full identity of Jesus. No wonder that Jesus told his disciple not to tell anyone who he was. These disciples were both learners and followers of Jesus. This meant that they would pass on his teachings to others. It was important that they “got it right”.
Our reading from James has a warning for those of us who teach…. More specifically, for those of us who teach about Jesus. James 3:1-2 “Not many of you should become teachers, my fellow believers, because you know that we who teach will be judged more strictly. We all stumble in many ways. Anyone who is never at fault in what they say is perfect, able to keep their whole body in check.”
The reading echoes the sentiments of our Psalmist, none of us are perfect, and we need to be constantly aware of this and diligent in watching the words that we say. Something that is a pet hate with me is this; I go to a shop to buy something, after having done some research on the item, but still having more questions, only to have the assistant fake their way through inadequately answering questions. Because I’ve researched I can tell that they are faking it and know nothing. I would much prefer to have someone say, “I’m sorry, I don’t know the answer. Let me find someone else who can help you.”
Over the years there have been theological heresies that have come into being because we wanted an answer that fitted with our lifestyle. I will not name any, but I’m sure that you can think of some…. But think again and check that these are not just those that suit you.
When I’m teaching and stuck, I usually research on the net, but I’m now thinking I really need to communicate with other teachers to find out what they do with these cases. Likewise, we in the church need to be in conversation with other Christians. This is the reason for our “multiple intelligences”…. We need to lean on each other and empower the gifts in each other. These gifts are for all our good and to benefit all of society. None of us needs to know everything, but we do need the wisdom to acknowledge that we are not perfect, our knowledge is imperfect and that we need each other.
The beginning of wisdom is the fear of the Lord, but who is the Lord? And yes, the proverb does say “fear” and I won’t soften this, because although God is love we need to have a healthy respect for His being and do not dare to speak for him unless we are sure of his will.
Thursday, August 16, 2012
Reflection on readings for Sunday 19th August 2012
Year B Proper 15 19 August 2012
1 Kings 2: 10-12; 3: 3-14 Psalm 111 Ephesians 5: 15-20 John 6: 51-58
In an ancient culture of Rabbi’s and preaching and parables it isn’t any wonder that there were so many speculations and divisions over the teaching of Jesus.
Many times, however, the strong reactions to the words and actions of Jesus were because the people, or at least the religious people of Jesus day, did understand the implications. They actually read between the lines very well, but didn’t want to hear the message because it meant they needed to respond and change their lives. Are we any different? Do we choose to hear the “softer” message in the readings and ignore the “hard” stuff?
Each of our readings for this weekend has a strong and memorable story, but at the heart of each is the question of our attitude and our motivations.
Our first reading is about King Solomon at the beginning of his kingship. This man walks into the position that was firmly established by his father. It was a position chosen for him by his father, King David, although he was not the eldest son. Neither was his life free from reproach, for this is the child of Bathsheba and David.
Solomon’s life teaches us so much about the grace and love of God, because he was born from a union that began in sin, but his birth was a sign of redemption. David had an affair with Bathsheba, a married woman and she fell pregnant. The child she bore died. Solomon was then born and his life had the blessing of God and this was affirmed by God, through a vision from the prophet that proclaimed Solomon the child loved by God. What an amazing message of hope this is to all of us who have less than admirable things in our past. How many people are kept from the full blessings that God has for them because they know the failure and reality of sin, and do not realize the amazing and all covering grace of God?
Solomon had the blessing of God, but do you think that his brothers and sisters allowed him to forget the delicacy of that union which brought him into being? I doubt it. So although it seems that Solomon’s position was secure, I imagine that he may have had some anxieties.
God came to Solomon in a dream and told him ask for what he would like and it would be given him. Solomon asked for wisdom. The request was not for his own glory, so that others could admire his intellect, but so that he could best govern the people.
The following two readings tell us something about wisdom. It is obviously something that God wants for his people and we are given some clues about the getting of wisdom. The Psalm tells us in Psalm 111:10, “The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom; all who follow his precepts have good understanding. To him belongs eternal praise.”
God is the source of wisdom and to acknowledge the truth of God’s existence and all His ways is the very start of wisdom. Our lives and our whole understanding about life must be built on truth. God is the truth, without this basic acknowledgement any attempt at wisdom has the possibility of being utter foolishness.
The second reading tells us a little more about wisdom; Ephesians 5:15-18 “15 Be very careful, then, how you live —not as unwise but as wise, making the most of every opportunity, because the days are evil. Therefore do not be foolish, but understand what the Lord’s will is. Do not get drunk on wine, which leads to debauchery. Instead, be filled with the Spirit.”
Being filled with the Spirit of God is another key to wisdom. To be filled with the Spirit is to be filled with God and have the mind of Christ – and therefore understanding what the Lord’s will is.
With this wisdom and understanding about God, we come to the Gospel reading. And this one is most divisive!
John 6:51 “I am the living bread that came down from heaven. Whoever eats this bread will live forever. This bread is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world.”
Jesus certainly ruffled a lot of feathers with that statement and still does today. First and foremost we must understand that he is making a statement about his identity. The people knew that he was identifying himself a “God from God”. The Hebrew for Yaweh - “I am”…. God!
He is the Living bread from heaven. Manna was given to the Israelite people in the desert - It was a miraculous provision which sustained and nourished them and bread for which they did no labour – it simply appeared each morning, they collected it and baked it…. But it wasn’t a crop that they sowed and tended. In the same way we do not labour for our Salvation – Jesus, the bread of life, accomplishes it.
The Jewish people argued over what Jesus meant and how it was possible to eat the flesh of a man who is alive…. They chose to ignore the implications of what he was telling them (that he was God) and instead argued about the technicalities of the literal interpretation of this parable.
We too can get caught in literal technicalities. When we do, we miss the point. The point being that Jesus is God from God come to bring us life eternal. He accomplishes this without us needing to do any work. That is, our eternal life is done by Jesus – and not by anything that we do.
This reading is so tired up with our experience of communion that we do tend to misunderstand. When Jesus was talking about eating his flesh as bread he added that those who eat this bread live forever. This reading is not about communion – but communion is a celebration of this reading.
This reading is about the sacrifice that Jesus would make on the cross – how he would give his whole life, body and blood – completely shed, to redeem the world. We are to accept this life of Jesus and by our union with him we have eternal life. Our union with Christ, our partaking of his body and blood is a spiritual reality…. Our partaking in communion celebrates and affirms our union. Just to be perfectly clear…. A person who has accepted the sacrifice of Jesus but never been to church to take communion still has eternal life because it is a spiritual reality brought about by God. Communion, like other sacraments, is an outward sign of an inward reality.
Now to get back to the emphasis on our attitudes, we know that many people after hearing the words of Jesus about him being the bread of life, turned away from him. It was too hard. I’m pretty sure that his disciples didn’t fully understand what was being said, but they stayed. The Jews that argued were indignant. They allowed pride and sin to stop them from receiving the full blessing of God.
Sometimes wisdom is not about understanding. When we know and trust God we know that we don’t have to fully understand because we are united with the one who is the very source of wisdom.
1 Kings 2: 10-12; 3: 3-14 Psalm 111 Ephesians 5: 15-20 John 6: 51-58
In an ancient culture of Rabbi’s and preaching and parables it isn’t any wonder that there were so many speculations and divisions over the teaching of Jesus.
Many times, however, the strong reactions to the words and actions of Jesus were because the people, or at least the religious people of Jesus day, did understand the implications. They actually read between the lines very well, but didn’t want to hear the message because it meant they needed to respond and change their lives. Are we any different? Do we choose to hear the “softer” message in the readings and ignore the “hard” stuff?
Each of our readings for this weekend has a strong and memorable story, but at the heart of each is the question of our attitude and our motivations.
Our first reading is about King Solomon at the beginning of his kingship. This man walks into the position that was firmly established by his father. It was a position chosen for him by his father, King David, although he was not the eldest son. Neither was his life free from reproach, for this is the child of Bathsheba and David.
Solomon’s life teaches us so much about the grace and love of God, because he was born from a union that began in sin, but his birth was a sign of redemption. David had an affair with Bathsheba, a married woman and she fell pregnant. The child she bore died. Solomon was then born and his life had the blessing of God and this was affirmed by God, through a vision from the prophet that proclaimed Solomon the child loved by God. What an amazing message of hope this is to all of us who have less than admirable things in our past. How many people are kept from the full blessings that God has for them because they know the failure and reality of sin, and do not realize the amazing and all covering grace of God?
Solomon had the blessing of God, but do you think that his brothers and sisters allowed him to forget the delicacy of that union which brought him into being? I doubt it. So although it seems that Solomon’s position was secure, I imagine that he may have had some anxieties.
God came to Solomon in a dream and told him ask for what he would like and it would be given him. Solomon asked for wisdom. The request was not for his own glory, so that others could admire his intellect, but so that he could best govern the people.
The following two readings tell us something about wisdom. It is obviously something that God wants for his people and we are given some clues about the getting of wisdom. The Psalm tells us in Psalm 111:10, “The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom; all who follow his precepts have good understanding. To him belongs eternal praise.”
God is the source of wisdom and to acknowledge the truth of God’s existence and all His ways is the very start of wisdom. Our lives and our whole understanding about life must be built on truth. God is the truth, without this basic acknowledgement any attempt at wisdom has the possibility of being utter foolishness.
The second reading tells us a little more about wisdom; Ephesians 5:15-18 “15 Be very careful, then, how you live —not as unwise but as wise, making the most of every opportunity, because the days are evil. Therefore do not be foolish, but understand what the Lord’s will is. Do not get drunk on wine, which leads to debauchery. Instead, be filled with the Spirit.”
Being filled with the Spirit of God is another key to wisdom. To be filled with the Spirit is to be filled with God and have the mind of Christ – and therefore understanding what the Lord’s will is.
With this wisdom and understanding about God, we come to the Gospel reading. And this one is most divisive!
John 6:51 “I am the living bread that came down from heaven. Whoever eats this bread will live forever. This bread is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world.”
Jesus certainly ruffled a lot of feathers with that statement and still does today. First and foremost we must understand that he is making a statement about his identity. The people knew that he was identifying himself a “God from God”. The Hebrew for Yaweh - “I am”…. God!
He is the Living bread from heaven. Manna was given to the Israelite people in the desert - It was a miraculous provision which sustained and nourished them and bread for which they did no labour – it simply appeared each morning, they collected it and baked it…. But it wasn’t a crop that they sowed and tended. In the same way we do not labour for our Salvation – Jesus, the bread of life, accomplishes it.
The Jewish people argued over what Jesus meant and how it was possible to eat the flesh of a man who is alive…. They chose to ignore the implications of what he was telling them (that he was God) and instead argued about the technicalities of the literal interpretation of this parable.
We too can get caught in literal technicalities. When we do, we miss the point. The point being that Jesus is God from God come to bring us life eternal. He accomplishes this without us needing to do any work. That is, our eternal life is done by Jesus – and not by anything that we do.
This reading is so tired up with our experience of communion that we do tend to misunderstand. When Jesus was talking about eating his flesh as bread he added that those who eat this bread live forever. This reading is not about communion – but communion is a celebration of this reading.
This reading is about the sacrifice that Jesus would make on the cross – how he would give his whole life, body and blood – completely shed, to redeem the world. We are to accept this life of Jesus and by our union with him we have eternal life. Our union with Christ, our partaking of his body and blood is a spiritual reality…. Our partaking in communion celebrates and affirms our union. Just to be perfectly clear…. A person who has accepted the sacrifice of Jesus but never been to church to take communion still has eternal life because it is a spiritual reality brought about by God. Communion, like other sacraments, is an outward sign of an inward reality.
Now to get back to the emphasis on our attitudes, we know that many people after hearing the words of Jesus about him being the bread of life, turned away from him. It was too hard. I’m pretty sure that his disciples didn’t fully understand what was being said, but they stayed. The Jews that argued were indignant. They allowed pride and sin to stop them from receiving the full blessing of God.
Sometimes wisdom is not about understanding. When we know and trust God we know that we don’t have to fully understand because we are united with the one who is the very source of wisdom.
Friday, July 13, 2012
Reflection on readings for Sunday 15th July 2012
Year B Proper 10 15 July 2012
2 Samuel 6: 1-5, 12b-19 Psalm 24 Ephesians 1: 3-14 Mark 6: 14-29
Who will we aim to please? Will we bow to public pressure or do what it is that God requires?
Although our immediate response is probably that we aim to please God, when we start to examine our lives, we might just find that what we theoretically would like to think we do, doesn’t quite equate with the reality.
Our first reading is about King David bringing the Ark of the Lord back into the Holy Place and to the position of power and authority.
The Ark had previously been captured by the Philistines and David had already once attempted to bring the Ark back but they came upon misadventure. They had been carrying the ark on a cart and as it went to fall, one of the priest’s, Uzzah, reached out and touched it. He was then struck down dead for this act of irreverence.
This Ark of the Lord was so connected with the presence of God that, though it was acknowledged that it could not possible contain God, it was enveloped in God’s holiness and signified God. God had given specific rules about how this ark was to be carried and previously David and his men had gotten it wrong, and more probably, their attitude was also wrong.
2 Samuel 6:13 “13 When those who were carrying the ark of the LORD had taken six steps, he sacrificed a bull and a fattened calf.”
Six steps, like the six days of creation and then the sacred day. It is an action that signified the LORD who is God, creator of the universe – the one who is sovereign and whose will was foremost.
Previously the Ark was transported on a cart but this time it was carried by the Levites – the priests, who were ordained for this role. This one little fact is something that I would like us to think about.
We can think of the Ark as carrying God. Through our baptism we are marked as those ordained to “carry” God. But be warned, he won’t bow to our own ways of doing things, even if we claim to be doing these things for him. David and his men were bringing God into their place... almost as a force to be under their control – a lucky charm.... this is how the other nations treated and entreated their Gods. Though they offered sacrifices it was not to show service to and the dominion of God – but to appease and control. God would not be controlled or manipulated into helping any nation – even his own beloved Israel. God is God and he doesn’t bow to us, but we bow to him.
It is interesting to reflect on the areas of our life. Do we expect that things should go well for us because we are Christians?
Have you ever found yourself bargaining with God.... “Lord if you will help me do such and such, I will such and such etc...” “If I win the lotto Lord, I’ll use it to set up a charity....” “If you help me.... , then I will give all the glory to you.” It is all so noble sounding.... But it is idolatry!
Whether or not things go well for us should have no bearing on our relationship with God. We “carry” the living God. We serve him.
As servants of God we have a responsibility to “carry” God as an essential and constant part of our being, and not have him “on a cart”.... something attached, on show, but somewhat apart.
When David finally brought the Ark into its resting place he danced before the Lord. 2 Samuel 6:16, “As the ark of the LORD was entering the City of David, Michal daughter of Saul watched from a window. And when she saw King David leaping and dancing before the LORD, she despised him in her heart.”
David finally had understood that he needed to fear and heed the commands of God, yet in this time of victory his wife despised him for his seemingly humble actions. Throughout the story of King David there are many times when we see his humility and willingness to be despised by humans and humble before God. Regardless of the circumstance and often in the hard times of being pursued by enemies, King David submits his life to God with disregard for the jeers of those looking on.
In our Gospel reading we find an example of the opposite. Mark 6:26 “26 The king was greatly distressed, but because of his oaths and his dinner guests, he did not want to refuse her. So he immediately sent an executioner with orders to bring John’s head.”
King Herod was to act on a foolish and rashly made oath. The way the story is told indicates that he wasn’t happy about this, but felt obligated to please his dinner guests by upholding his oath.
People in positions of power, such as politicians, are most likely to understand this kind of pressure. They need the affirmation of the people for their position to be secure, but should they cave to the majority opinion when they know the issue on the table is morally wrong?
We can easily see how this can happen, but what about those of us in positions of limited power? Are we any different in our everyday work conversations? Do we bow to the majority opinion, go along with the view, even if it is morally wrong, just so that we will be socially accepted?
Ephesians 1:11- 14 “ In him we were also chosen, having been predestined according to the plan of him who works out everything in conformity with the purpose of his will, in order that we, who were the first to put our hope in Christ, might be for the praise of his glory. And you also were included in Christ when you heard the message of truth, the gospel of your salvation. When you believed, you were marked in him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit, who is a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance until the redemption of those who are God’s possession—to the praise of his glory.”
It is all too easy to think that we are powerless, non-confrontational, Christians whose only responsibility is to strive to believe God and leave all the “hard” stuff to the missionaries, ministers and the very committed Christians who have no other life. We see by reading Ephesians that we have been chosen and predestined for a specific purpose. For that purpose we have been sealed with the Holy Spirit and if nothing else, we need to understand that we “carry” Christ.
Always, in our being, is the living God who calls us to acknowledge him as Lord of our lives. We bow to him only and not to the pressure around us
2 Samuel 6: 1-5, 12b-19 Psalm 24 Ephesians 1: 3-14 Mark 6: 14-29
Who will we aim to please? Will we bow to public pressure or do what it is that God requires?
Although our immediate response is probably that we aim to please God, when we start to examine our lives, we might just find that what we theoretically would like to think we do, doesn’t quite equate with the reality.
Our first reading is about King David bringing the Ark of the Lord back into the Holy Place and to the position of power and authority.
The Ark had previously been captured by the Philistines and David had already once attempted to bring the Ark back but they came upon misadventure. They had been carrying the ark on a cart and as it went to fall, one of the priest’s, Uzzah, reached out and touched it. He was then struck down dead for this act of irreverence.
This Ark of the Lord was so connected with the presence of God that, though it was acknowledged that it could not possible contain God, it was enveloped in God’s holiness and signified God. God had given specific rules about how this ark was to be carried and previously David and his men had gotten it wrong, and more probably, their attitude was also wrong.
2 Samuel 6:13 “13 When those who were carrying the ark of the LORD had taken six steps, he sacrificed a bull and a fattened calf.”
Six steps, like the six days of creation and then the sacred day. It is an action that signified the LORD who is God, creator of the universe – the one who is sovereign and whose will was foremost.
Previously the Ark was transported on a cart but this time it was carried by the Levites – the priests, who were ordained for this role. This one little fact is something that I would like us to think about.
We can think of the Ark as carrying God. Through our baptism we are marked as those ordained to “carry” God. But be warned, he won’t bow to our own ways of doing things, even if we claim to be doing these things for him. David and his men were bringing God into their place... almost as a force to be under their control – a lucky charm.... this is how the other nations treated and entreated their Gods. Though they offered sacrifices it was not to show service to and the dominion of God – but to appease and control. God would not be controlled or manipulated into helping any nation – even his own beloved Israel. God is God and he doesn’t bow to us, but we bow to him.
It is interesting to reflect on the areas of our life. Do we expect that things should go well for us because we are Christians?
Have you ever found yourself bargaining with God.... “Lord if you will help me do such and such, I will such and such etc...” “If I win the lotto Lord, I’ll use it to set up a charity....” “If you help me.... , then I will give all the glory to you.” It is all so noble sounding.... But it is idolatry!
Whether or not things go well for us should have no bearing on our relationship with God. We “carry” the living God. We serve him.
As servants of God we have a responsibility to “carry” God as an essential and constant part of our being, and not have him “on a cart”.... something attached, on show, but somewhat apart.
When David finally brought the Ark into its resting place he danced before the Lord. 2 Samuel 6:16, “As the ark of the LORD was entering the City of David, Michal daughter of Saul watched from a window. And when she saw King David leaping and dancing before the LORD, she despised him in her heart.”
David finally had understood that he needed to fear and heed the commands of God, yet in this time of victory his wife despised him for his seemingly humble actions. Throughout the story of King David there are many times when we see his humility and willingness to be despised by humans and humble before God. Regardless of the circumstance and often in the hard times of being pursued by enemies, King David submits his life to God with disregard for the jeers of those looking on.
In our Gospel reading we find an example of the opposite. Mark 6:26 “26 The king was greatly distressed, but because of his oaths and his dinner guests, he did not want to refuse her. So he immediately sent an executioner with orders to bring John’s head.”
King Herod was to act on a foolish and rashly made oath. The way the story is told indicates that he wasn’t happy about this, but felt obligated to please his dinner guests by upholding his oath.
People in positions of power, such as politicians, are most likely to understand this kind of pressure. They need the affirmation of the people for their position to be secure, but should they cave to the majority opinion when they know the issue on the table is morally wrong?
We can easily see how this can happen, but what about those of us in positions of limited power? Are we any different in our everyday work conversations? Do we bow to the majority opinion, go along with the view, even if it is morally wrong, just so that we will be socially accepted?
Ephesians 1:11- 14 “ In him we were also chosen, having been predestined according to the plan of him who works out everything in conformity with the purpose of his will, in order that we, who were the first to put our hope in Christ, might be for the praise of his glory. And you also were included in Christ when you heard the message of truth, the gospel of your salvation. When you believed, you were marked in him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit, who is a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance until the redemption of those who are God’s possession—to the praise of his glory.”
It is all too easy to think that we are powerless, non-confrontational, Christians whose only responsibility is to strive to believe God and leave all the “hard” stuff to the missionaries, ministers and the very committed Christians who have no other life. We see by reading Ephesians that we have been chosen and predestined for a specific purpose. For that purpose we have been sealed with the Holy Spirit and if nothing else, we need to understand that we “carry” Christ.
Always, in our being, is the living God who calls us to acknowledge him as Lord of our lives. We bow to him only and not to the pressure around us