Bearers of the Image of Heaven

 SEVENTH SUNDAY AFTER THE EPIPHANY   Year C   February 20, 2022

  • Genesis 45:3-11, 15  •    Psalm 37:1-11, 39-40  •    1 Corinthians 15:35-38, 42-50  •    Luke 6:27-38

In last weeks readings we were exhorted to rejoice when people speak ill of us because of the Gospel.  This week follows on with this tough message, but take heart, it isn’t all that you might think.

Our Psalm reading tells us this; “Do not fret because of the wicked; do not be envious of wrongdoers, for they will soon fade like the grass, and wither like the green herb.”

 

The tough times are here and probably there are more tough times ahead, and so it is wise to think through our reactions so that we can respond appropriately instead of reacting inappropriately.  Have you ever had the experience where you know you are going into a difficult interaction with someone?  When we know what it going on and what needs to happen, we tend to play the scene over in our minds and this can sometimes help us, as we can clarify in our own minds just what the issue is, what out come we want, and how to best resolve the conflict.

This is what Jesus does for us in telling us to rejoice when people speak badly of us for the sake of the Gospel.  He gives us a better perspective… a heavenly one.  We rejoice because we know that we are in good company, that of the saints and prophets.  This perspective enables us to be resilient in the face of hardship.  But wait there is more….

Now, I have just become a grandmother and I have some pretty strong opinions about what should be told to expectant mothers.  I have heard people say, “Oh we don’t want to tell them about the difficulties associated with breast feeding, because it might put them off the idea”.  Now my opinion is the opposite.  I believe that new mothers are more likely to push through the pain if they know that it is part and parcel of the experience.  The benefits are great, but there is a cost.  My daughter, it appears, has an allergy baby.  (no surprise), and so Brittany has had to go on a very narrow and strict diet so that Ellianna is kept healthy.  I had warned Brittany about this possibility and she is handling it all pretty well.  It is tough, but the benefits, she knows, out weigh the cost.

In the same way, I believe, Jesus warns us about the things that can happen to us also, so that we can have the resilience to endure, but not only the resilience, but that we might respond in a way that is loving and bears witness to the glory of God.

This week’s Gospel reading tells us that we need to love our enemies, pray for those who abuse us and turn the other cheek to those who strike us.  This is just to name a few of the things we are asked to do.

Now let me be clear– this up-side down way of thinking was revolutionary and it still is.  There is great potential for good, for conversion and for life by following this way.  But before I go on, I have to qualify the reading and put it all in context because a great deal of abuse within the church has, in the past, gone un-checked because of this misunderstood exhortation.

Just to pull out one example of misunderstanding; this idea of turning the other cheek is not about allowing ourselves to be abused.  I can tell you that when someone up-town is punched, very seldom does the other person not punch back… As a Christian, what would our response be and what should it be?  To understand, we need to look into the culture of Jesus time and this little article from the net explains it – from - https://shortdailydevotions.com/turn-the-other-cheek-meaning/

“To be slapped on the right cheek meant someone would be hitting you with the backside of their right hand—or with their left hand, which was associated with weakness and even impurity.  Even more, in their culture any slap was considered an insult. It was a degrading action and a sign of great disrespect. And it was doubly so if someone backhanded you.  Surprisingly, pastor Keith Krell explains in this article that if a man hit you “with the back of his hand instead of punching you in the mouth, you could collect twice the damages because an insult was worse than an injury in Jesus’ honour-shame society.” Jesus’ teaching was a sign of both brilliance and humility before God.”

 

So the equivalent on the streets of Mackay would be someone who was punched, placing their hands in the air as a sign of surrender, but moving themselves into the vision of the security personal or police.    The brilliance of the lack of retaliation means that only the perpetrator will be charged.  Most of the time, both are charged because the police don’t know who is to blame and if both have been fighting it doesn’t matter much who started it.

 

This is the kind of response that Jesus expects of his people.  Not that they allow abuse to continue, but that they bring to light the injustice and show themselves to be innocent and above reproach.

As far as loving your enemy – a couple of years ago, 2020 while in covid lock down, I decided to go through the pascal meal and ceremony.  It was a big learning curve for me, where so many things that were eaten were symbolic of the events of the Passover.  One thing that particularly struck me, was where we had to take the red wine and place drops of it on the plate in recognition of the sorrow of the Egyptians – A drop to represent each plague.   This was the enemies of the Israelites, but every year still, they perform an act that compassionately recognises the sorrow and loss of their enemies.

 

We think of our own situation.  There may be hurt there from people at work or in our families.  There are people who have hurt us.  Sometimes they have taken our opportunities to shine, sometimes they have taken our reputation, sometimes they have taken the heirloom that was meant to be ours.  Can any compare to Joseph?

 

Joseph’s brothers were going to kill him.  That is how much they hated him, but instead they sold him as a slave.  He was only a boy at the time.  They lied to their father and made out that an animal had killed him.  How much pain they caused!  They knew the truth.  They knew their father’s sorrow.  They had years of chances to repent and go search for Joseph to bring him back into the family, but they didn’t do this.  They lived years of lies.  Their father lived years of sorrow.  But Joseph was in Egypt, after spending time in prison, he was finally recognized as a man with integrity and giftedness and was made the leader that he was born to be.  Strangers enabled him to shine, where as his own family rejected and almost killed him, but certainly left him for dead.

 

Of all people, Joseph had good cause to hate his enemies – his brothers.  Joseph even had the power to harm them.  Joseph did delay in revealing his identity to his brothers, testing them and causing them to reflect on their horrific act towards him, but he certainly didn’t treat them as they deserved and he recognised the hand of God in the whole situation.  Joseph could have spent that time in Egypt becoming more and more bitter and hard – hearted, but instead, Joseph remained connected to God and he was able to see with God’s perspective.

Sometimes our own enemies will have no ability to understand us and our pain.  But we know that God died to save us all.  Jesus died to save us, and we have not always been so true to him either.  Certainly, there were those in the crowd who shouted, “Crucify him”, who were then repentant at the preaching of Peter at Pentecost.  We also know, St. Paul, who was a huge enemy of the Christians, was struck blind by God and converted.   And so, it follows that not everyone who is an enemy will always BE an enemy. 

We are all people who have gone astray at some time or other.  None of us is perfectly perfect.  Our reading from 1 Corinthians explains that we bear the image of the man of the dust - a reminder that we are approaching Ash Wednesday of our mortality and connection to Adam who sinned in the beginning.  What this image of the dust implies is that we are all imperfect.  The Good news is that, through the sacrifice of Jesus, we also now bear the image of heaven.

 

This is an incredible spiritual reality!  Are you aware that you bear the image of heaven?  As a bearer of this image, we are required to respond in integrity to the situations we find ourselves in.  In fact, we need to respond in the way that Jesus does.

People readily admit it is the golden rule – “Do to others as you would have them do to you”, but it is not so easy when we have been hurt, to ponder the example of Joseph, or to ponder the example of Jesus.  Understand that we bear the image of heaven, and though it is tough sometimes, lets determine to live in a way that bears witness to the glory of God.

A Godly perspective is one that understands that we bear the image of heaven and one day that is where we will be.  The trials of this life take on a different perspective and life’s trials pale at least a little when we understand who we truly are in God through our unity with Christ.  We are children of God…. Bearers of the image of heaven.  Let us not retaliate and repay wrong for wrong, but instead, walk in integrity, revealing the image of heaven and the love of God.

Like a tree planted by the river - stand firm.

SIXTH SUNDAY AFTER THE EPIPHANY   Year C   February 13, 2022

• Jeremiah 17:5-10  •    Psalm 1  •    1 Corinthians 15:12-20  •    Luke 6:17-26

A plaque on my wall reads; “Those who leave everything in God’s hand, will eventually see God’s hand in everything”.  It is there because I need to be reminded to place things in God’s hands.  Honestly, I’m a little too inclined to try to fix things myself and not naturally inclined to trust God.  I strongly suspect I am not alone – but learning to trust God is vital.  Our life depends on it, because it was a lack of trust that caused Adam and Eve to disobey God.  It is the original sin.

 

This is why our reading from Jeremiah can rightfully declare that those who do not trust in God, but who only trust in mere mortals, are cursed.  Trusting in mere mortals is to choose ourselves instead of God.

 

I love the imagery from Jeremiah that follows, about the tree that is planted near the river, with roots that run deep.  When the drought comes it doesn’t fear… it stands strong throughout.  The implication is that we need to be firmly established in God so that when the drought comes, and it certainly does, we can stand firm.

 

Now, we all read these things and acknowledge the truth of it, but we might not think too much about the drought, what it is and how it impacts, so today, lets pause for a short reflection on the drought.

 

The drought is the time when friends are not there to support us.  The drought is when we have neglected our spirit and not spent time in prayer or scripture or had fellowship with the people of God.  The drought is also when our pain is so great that we can’t hear God’s voice.  In times of drought, we need God more than ever, but in times like these we might turn away from faith, our spirit withering much like a shrub planted in the desert.  A shrub in the desert has shallow roots…. And that shallowness is not necessarily their own fault, but could well be because we, the church, have not adequately supported, nurtured or watered.

 

Last week’s reading from Corinthians told us what Saint Paul was passing on as of first importance about our faith; that Christ died for our sins, that he was buried and that he rose from the dead and appeared to eye witnesses.  This is the message that we too must pass on.  This is the message that waters our soul and feeds our spirit, but do we ourselves truly and fully accept it?  Does our life reveal the truth of our faith?  Do we forgive & love others as Jesus commanded?

 

In the letter of Saint Paul to the Corinthians there are harsh, but important words. 1 Corinthians 15:19 “If for this life only we have hoped in Christ, we are of all people most to be pitied.”  I have known of people who were Christians and they converted, one to Judaism and one to Muslim.   It baffles me.  How could they forsake such good news, unless they never truly grasped the divinity and all-embracing love of Christ. In accepting Jesus as a good man and nothing else, we effectively put our trust in mere mortals.  We remain spiritually cut off from God because we haven’t accepted Jesus’ sacrifice for our sins.  We would, in this hypothetical case, of all people be most pitied.

 

Those Corinthians, to whom Paul wrote were authentically Christian.  They fully proclaimed that Christ died and rose, but they were a little soft on the proclamation about the resurrection of the dead.   In essence, they were giving credibility to other beliefs.  They were whittling away at the message of salvation.

 

In all we do and say, we reveal to others the truth of what we really believe, and the truth of what we don’t believe.

 

Many years ago, I often played piano and sang for funerals.  I actually enjoyed playing for the funerals of strangers, as I would come to feel as if I knew the person through the eulogies, and I would do my best to give a fitting tribute by my music.

On one occasion, the very tiny funeral of a little known, elderly gentleman, there must have been some problems with the sound system and I remember the Minister saying to me, “don’t worry about it, the person you are playing for won’t complain.”

 

I’m not sure of the exact words, but I distinctly remember the impression.  It seemed abundantly clear to me that the Minister did not believe that the person was alive in any form.  For me, I certainly treated what I did as if that person was watching from heaven and it shocked me that a Minister would be so dismissive and faithless.

 

What we do and what we say, shows other people what we truly believe or not, and it is all too easy to compromise and go with the popular belief of the day.

If we should Compromise as a church, or fail to declare the message fully, or, perhaps most importantly, fail to exude the love of God, we are potentially stunting the growth of our people, not allowing them to send down deep roots so that God’s children become firmly established in the kingdom of God.  We need to be sure of our faith and stand firm. 

 

 

In our Gospel reading we have, what some would identify as the famous sermon on the mount – except it isn’t.  This is Luke’s Gospel and where as in Matthew’s Gospel it is a very similar story and portrays Jesus preaching on the mountain, this story is set on the plain.  Jesus is clearly described as standing on a level place.  The fact that it is from a level place, implies that Jesus came down to the people, bringing the glory of God down to the broken.

 

 

Luke 6:19 tells us that all in the crowd were trying to touch Jesus, and power came out from him and healed all of them.  Last week we read about the glory of God from the vision of Isaiah and how just the hem of God filled the whole temple and that the glory of God fills the whole earth.  A spiritual reality of which we are mostly unaware, and a reminder to realize that God is bigger than, and beyond our finite imaginings.

Jesus brings the glory of God to broken people.  He came down to them in an act of love and compassion, and power came out from him and healed all of them.  Our God is love and our God is powerful.

 

What follows are four blessings and four woes.  Most important for today’s message is 6:22-23 "Blessed are you when people hate you, and when they exclude you, revile you, and defame you on account of the Son of Man.  Rejoice in that day and leap for joy, for surely your reward is great in heaven; for that is what their ancestors did to the prophets.”

 

This is a message about being absolutely sure of our faith and not compromising for the sake of popularity.  This is a message about knowing God’s love, glory and greatness and trusting him above all.  We find the corresponding woe a little later, in 6:26 "Woe to you when all speak well of you, for that is what their ancestors did to the false prophets."

 

Back when the Israelites were in slavery in Egypt we read in Exodus 12:36  NIV  “The LORD had made the Egyptians favourably disposed toward the people, and they gave them what they asked for….” 

There are certainly times when Christians have been looked upon highly.  The people of God are meant to be a blessing to the community, but this should happen because of our value for the dignity of life, our fruit of the Spirit manifest as love, and our integrity to stand firm in the truth of God regardless of temptation to compromise, because our message is GOOD.  Our message is the truth.  Our message, and our God is powerful.  Woe to us if people speak well of us because we water down the message of Christ and limit the glory of God.

 

The vision of Isaiah showed us that we can’t limit God to our own image and that if the mere hem of his robe fills the whole temple and His glory fills the whole earth, then God is bigger and beyond our image.  When we compromise on God’s truth to fit in with our comfort, woe to us. We are making God into our own image.

 

In today’s society the Christian is not popular.  Recently our Prime Minister came under fire about that Christian school’s code of conduct.  We need to pray for our Prime Minister.  He is in a very tough place and a place of great responsibility - and I don’t mean because he is answerable to the whole of Australia, but because he is answerable to God and it is so very easy to say the wrong thing to keep people happy.  Woe to us if we compromise the truth of the Gospel.

 

I feel like I need to really emphasis this because we are in a time of figurative drought.   We are in a time of desert where it seems as if all the elements are against us – Woe to us if we compromise the truth of the Gospel.  Woe to us if we deny that Jesus came and died for our sins… Woe to us if we deny that he was buried and woe to us if we deny that he rose from the dead.  Woe to us if we fail to acknowledge that Jesus, after he rose, appeared to the apostles.

 

But blessed are we, if stand strong, like that tree by the river.  And blessed are we, if we encourage others by declaring the truth and Good News of the death and resurrection of Christ.

 

 

Our world is a desert where the elements are against us, but those elements contain people who don’t know how to trust in anyone but themselves and they are cursed, because they don’t know the love of God. 

 Some of those people are afraid to trust God because they are so hurting, grief-stricken and misled by mis-information about God. They are also a people so full of despair that they can not even see the relief that God brings and we need to have compassion enough to bear the notoriety to continue to speak the absolute Good News.

 

In the light of eternity, it doesn’t matter that people speak badly of us.  With our roots deeply watered and fed by God himself, who loves us completely, we can stand firm through the drought, knowing we have been able to bring the life, love and the truth of God to a world so in need.  A world that Christ died to save.  Woe to us if we should deny the fullness of the message of salvation thus allowing his sacrifice for any single person to be in vain.

A lump of Coal - more important than you realize.

FIFTH SUNDAY AFTER THE EPIPHANY - Year C - February 6, 2022

·       Isaiah 6:1-8, (9-13)  •   Psalm 138  •   1 Corinthians 15:1-11  •   Luke 5:1-11

I realize it has been over a month since Christmas, but I’m wondering if anyone received a lump of coal for Christmas.

Most often said, tongue in cheek, about Santa dropping a lump of coal into the stocking of someone who has been badly behaved, our lump of coal might have a whole new spin after exploring the scripture readings for this weekend.

Our first reading comes from the prophet Isaiah, who had a vision of the Lord on a high and lofty throne.  The enormity of God is such that the mere hem of his robe filled the whole temple.  The imagery of this enormous hem is simply to present us with a picture of the complete and utter superiority of our God.

The vision speaks about a particular kind of angelic being, identified as Seraphim.  This kind of angel has six wings and its name means “burning one”, probably signifying its burning devotion to God.  The seraphim call to one another and declare words which echo those which are part of our service each week, "Holy, holy, holy is the LORD of hosts; the whole earth is full of his glory."

This vision of Isiah is a declaration of a spiritual reality.   We come to church each week and we might say, we come into the presence of God, usually meaning we come to become aware of God’s presence with us, but our awareness is so limited.  In Isaiah’s vision just the hem of God’s robe filled the whole of the temple and now we read that the Seraphim are declaring that in the same way as the hem of God’s robe filled the whole temple, the whole earth is full of the glory of God.

To have any understanding of Isaiah’s vision we need to take a minute to let these images sink in.  We might watch a movie about Chris Hemsworth as Thor and mistakenly think that our God is not much bigger than this fantastical image of a demi-god.  Also, we might read the stories of Jesus and think of God contained to the image of a man.  In fact, we probably do.  But just for a moment, let’s open our minds to the vision of Isaiah and realize just what it is that God is showing him….. God is showing Isaiah and us, through him, that God is bigger and so completely beyond our finite comprehension. 

God does relate to us personally and through the person of God the son, Jesus, but we should hold in our minds, that fact that God is bigger. 

A man said to me recently, “God is simply a megaphone for the individual Christian’s self.”  Meaning, that what we preach about God is simply a megaphone of ourselves, and not God at all.  

I can tell you that made me stop and think.  The problem that the Pharisees of Jesus time had, was this very thing… they promoted God as a megaphone of their own voice.  They failed to recognize Jesus as the Messiah because they thought that they knew God.  They had an image of God that suited them and they were sticking to it, and they would crucify anyone who might preach otherwise.

We can not make God in our own image.  God made us in his image and Jesus is the visible expression of our God, but we need to know the magnitude of God, the enormity, the majesty, the holiness and even the mystery.  We don’t know everything and it is ok to sit with that mystery and question because God is bigger and what’s more, quite amazingly, God loves us.  But let’s not make the mistake of limiting God into an image that suites us.

Confronted with the enormity of God, Isaiah becomes acutely aware of his deficiency. 

Fast forward to our story of Jesus in the Gospel reading.  We find that a group of fishermen have been out fishing all night.  They had washed and cleaned their nets when Jesus came aboard so that he could speak to the people without them crowding in on him.  After he had finished, he told the men to go back into deep waters and cast out their nets again.  Can you imagine how you might feel?  Exhausted…. Just got everything cleaned and ready for home and then Jesus needs to use the boat to preach from… when he finishes, instead of going home he wants you to start fishing again.

Simon Peter doesn’t really feel like doing this, but because of who Jesus is, he complies.  How often, when we don’t really feel like it, do we comply with God’s will?   Though we don’t feel like it, it is always wise to do what God asks, as Peter discovered, God comes through with surprises beyond our imaginings.

The nets were so full of fish that Peter had to call their partners in the other boat to come and help.  Now, I’m only guessing, but my guess is, this was a haul of great financial reward.  And this was something that God did for the people whose boat he used to preach from.  After fishing all night with little to show for it, to suddenly have this huge haul in just one cast was phenomenal and a huge gift from God, who really does want to delight and give gifts to his people.

People often think that to go that extra mile and do the will of God… to give our lives to God, means poverty and hardship. And honestly there is an element of sacrifice – no doubt, but in the end there is a harvest of plenty and God provides abundantly.    God certainly provides, but we also have our part to play.  We don’t simply clean our nets and go home…. We cast them out again when God asks us. 

At this point of provision in our story, Simon Peter has a glimpse into that image of God…. He realizes that God is bigger than he had previously imagined.  And, he realizes, Jesus is part of this majesty.  Suddenly Peter is aware that he is in the presence of the majesty and glory of God and he is overwhelmed…. He is a person of “unclean lips” also and falls at Jesus feet saying, "Go away from me, Lord, for I am a sinful man!"

Both Isaiah and Peter, when presented with the reality of the majesty of God, become acutely aware of their deficiency and confess their inadequacy.   In our Gospel story Jesus simply says, "Do not be afraid; from now on you will be catching people."  Isaiah’s story has something more. 

A Seraph takes a live coal from the altar and touched Isaiah’s mouth with it.  The explanation is that the altar is holy and so, all that it touches is also holy.  The altar coal touching the prophet’s mouth, makes him holy.  He is told, “Now that this has touched your lips, your guilt has departed and your sin is blotted out."

It has been suggested that there is deep meaning in this vision.  That the coal from the altar is actually a rock… maybe a cornerstone?  Signifying Jesus.  It is Jesus who takes away our guilt and blots out our sin.  It is Jesus who makes us holy and acceptable to God.

In the letter to the Corinthians, we read this; “For I handed on to you as of first importance what I in turn had received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the scriptures, and that he was buried, and that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the scriptures, and that he appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve.”

At the center of our faith is this most important fact that Christ died for our sins. And also, that he undeniably rose from the dead.

In recent times, SIN has become a rather unpopular word.  In recent times the church has become less and less relevant to people.  After all, if none of us are sinners, then none of us need Jesus to die for our sins and his death is irrelevant. 

The truth of the matter is that the prophet Isaiah who proclaimed the word of God was a good man, but in the presence of the glory and majesty of God he still cried out that he was unclean.   Are there any among us who would be different?  If Isaiah needed Jesus to blot out his sin, then we surely do also… and it isn’t so much about the evil we do, but the fallible nature that we are.  God knows who we are, and what we are, and actually, the best Christmas present we could get is a lump of coal.

That live coal, that represented Jesus, is what we need.  But the point of the death and sacrifice of Jesus is greater than taking away our sin.  Jesus came to take away our sin so that we could truly live.  

In both the case of Peter and Isaiah there was a realization of their unworthiness and separateness from God. That separateness was impeding them from the call of God.  After his confession, and God’s absolution, Isaiah then responded to God’s call declaring, “Here I am, send me”.  After the confession of Peter, Jesus assured Peter that he would be catching people in the future and Peter left everything and followed Jesus.

What would be your thoughts if I said, “God is calling you”.   He is!  And in the reality of the majesty of God, we do feel acutely aware of our shortcomings and somewhat inadequate for the call, but that is why we need our lump of coal.  

The truth is, that even though we are mere humans, God so loves us, that he sent his only begotten son to save us.  And the truth is also, that God is calling each of us to respond to him all the time.  There are so many who need the encouragement of God.  So many who need to know about God and that God loves them and they will only know this if we answer God’s call.  

We are worthy, not in ourselves, but because Jesus Christ really did live and die and rise from the dead, and HE makes us holy.   Figuratively we all received that lump of coal for Christmas… the rock that makes us holy.

It is no fairy tale.  There were eye witnesses to the story of our faith.  But what will we do with this story?  Will we compartmentalize it so that it fits inside our comfortable existence or will we acknowledge that God is bigger…. Respond to the call and say Here I am, send me.