Impossible for us - Possible for God! Reflection for Pentecost 20C Oct 23rd, 2022

PROPER 25 (30) Twentieth Sunday after PentecostYear C  October 23, 2022

Joel 2:23-32 and Psalm 65  2 Timothy 4:6-8, 16-18  Luke 18:15-30 _

 

 

The prophecy we read in the book of Joel today is good news for those who’ve been struggling.  Hands up if you’d like to hear God saying to you that He will repay you for the years that the swarming locust has eaten, and that you shall eat in plenty and be satisfied?

 

When I read it, this wonderful promise, I think of a friend of mine for whom her whole adult life has been framed with grief.  And I pray that this could be God’s word to her.  Maybe you have had a life, or a time in your life, that seems also framed with grief or hardships.  How would you feel to hear God declare to you this day, that He will repay you with years of plenty for the years you have suffered. 

 

I get the feeling that Joel was writing to a people who were weary with grief and hardship.  I think most of us can relate to that.  The reading is an encouragement to persevere.  God sees our pain and longs, with us, for the time when he can repay us for what the figurative locusts have eaten.  We can take that prophecy as a word of God’s love for us.  God knows our pain and our struggle. 

 

Saint Paul was a man, well educated.  He was a Jew, but also a Roman citizen. He was someone of high status, but he counted it all as loss compared with knowing Christ and the power of his resurrection.  The proof of this we see in the life of Saint Paul as he willingly bore suffering to proclaim the message of the Gospel.  We get the sense of grief in Saint Paul’s letter to Timothy that we read today, as he tells of how his life has been poured out and that no one came to support him and all deserted him.

 

In all this we come to understand that, for Saint Paul, the riches of Heaven far surpass any suffering, and are worth far more than a comfortable life.  We should be encouraged by his example to cultivate this vision and understanding in our lives… but it is easier said than done.  Our perceptions of how life should be, sometimes gets in the way of seeing God’s hand.

 

On Friday night, while on shift with Mackay Street Chaplaincy, we came across a lady who was more than likely homeless… she had an accent – possibly English – and was 45 years old.

 

Our first interaction with her was when we were setting up.  The team were talking about spiders and cockroaches.  This lady had obvious mental health issues and walked past the team.  Over hearing part of the conversation, she severely scolded the team for referring to people as cockroaches.  This was not what they were doing, but there was no convincing this woman otherwise.  Fast forward about a half hour and we found a man who was unconscious.  He seemed to be simply asleep but we couldn’t wake him and we tried everything we could with respect and caution.  Suddenly this lady walks up, and without any hesitation or invitation, rubs the man’s chest and he wakes up.  She continued to help us assist him.  I feel like we were lacking in the gifts needed for that moment and God, most certainly was working through that lady to assist us, even though, from our perspective, she probably needed plenty of help herself. 

 

We were being professional and respectful of the man’s boundaries – which is not what he needed in that moment, and the lady was not bound by our same sense of boundary.  Her ability to simply see a need and act was similar to a child, straightforward and simple.  Not to say it is the right thing to act impulsively, but the simple acceptance to act on the prompting of God is a lesson we could all learn, and what I see as Jesus’ encouragement in our Gospel reading today, to accept the Good News like a child.

 

This lady was not bound by riches either and was, in many ways, freer than most – she had nothing to lose.  She was a gift to us, and a lesson…. To never discount a person because of their status or assumed mental condition.  In the economy of God that lady was more valuable to God for his purpose in that moment, than those of us who were there to do the job of ministering to the man.

 

Our Street Chaplaincy group is a diverse group with people who have a heart to be in ministry, and yet, interestingly, some of those people are boarder-line broke, and others have their own mental or physical fragility.  Many times, the church and charitable organisations grow into a middle to upper-class group – those with the financial resources to help others.  It morphs into a group of the “Haves” who minister to the “Have-nots”.  This is not the way God intended us to be, and not the way that God wants us to see each other.  I can’t tell you how many times that God has taught me something, through someone unlikely – according to my own preconceived idea of things. There is no condition on the spirit of God that says you need to be a person of financial stability or a person of intellectual or physical prowess to be valuable in the kingdom of God.  he delights to use us all, but I reckon that he especially loves to work through those that we don’t expect.

 

The rich ruler who came to Jesus was a mover and shaker.  He was not just rich, but he was also a ruler.  This means that he was a man with leadership qualities.  Not only was he a rich leader, but he was good man.  He asked Jesus what he must do to inherit eternal life.  Jesus answered him according to the Law of God, the Torah.  The man had kept the commandments from his youth.  We all probably know someone like this.  An admirable person in our community who was a perfect child and sailed through their teenage years with integrity, resisting peer pressure and always choosing the right thing.  Seriously, these people do exist…. I have known some.  The rich ruler was this person.

 

These people are not those who come to God in repentance over their sin… but they do desire God and goodness.  But the danger here is that they might feel they have earnt their way into heaven or can do some work to ensure their place with God.  They are good and wonderful people, but the Bible tells us that ALL have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God.  Sin simply means to miss the mark of the perfection of God. 

 

It should be noted that Joel tells us that God promised to repay the people for the years the locusts had eaten their crops and give them a time of plenty.  King David and King Solomon were blessed by God with abundant riches.  So, It would appear that riches are not the problem, but the heart of the matter – and riches do, more often than not, corrupt.

 

The disciples of Jesus were aghast at the words of Jesus to the rich ruler and said, “Who then can be saved?”  It is abundantly clear that the criteria for inheriting eternal life is way beyond us all – and that is the point.

 

We all need to know that no matter how good we are and how little we find ourselves in temptation of sin, we still all fall short of the glory of God.  We can not save ourselves and we need a saviour – and we have one.

 

The rich ruler called Jesus Good and, as a Jew, he should have known that this was not a term to call another human as only God is described as good.  It seems that there was an error in the man’s thinking that it was possible for mere humans to be sinless, and therefore earn the right to enter heaven.  Jesus, in questioning the man about this was drawing out the error in the man’s thinking.

 

I do believe we are often guilty of the same error.  I have often heard people say, perhaps jokingly, “I hope I have done enough for the fella upstairs to let me in.”   More often than not, people are aware of their short-comings but don’t realize the Good News or fully understand the message of salvation.

 

There is NO way that any of us can do something that qualifies us to enter heaven.  Only one person ever born could inherit heaven.  An interesting choice of words – “Inherit”.  We generally think of an inheritance as something that is given to family members, and especially traditionally, to the first-born son.  Guess what?  Jesus is the first-born Son of God.

 

Jesus is the inheritor of heaven.  Jesus is good enough.  Jesus is sinless. And Jesus is the Son of God.

 

Here is how it works; Jesus came because God so loves us.  We believe in ONE baptism for the forgiveness of sins – that ONE baptism is not your personal baptism.  It is, in fact, Jesus’ baptism into the sins of the world.  Jesus was spiritually immersed into the sins of us all and he took these to the cross.  When Jesus cried out, “my God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” it was because he experienced what should be our separation from God because of our sin.  (He was also declaring the prophesy of Psalm 22 fulfilled). 

 

Jesus experienced separation from God, so that we don’t need to.  We all have free will, so if some chose to remain separate from God, God will respect that desire.

 

When Jesus said, “What is impossible for mortals is possible for God.”, this is what he meant.  You and I can’t inherit eternal life, but God the son can.  And then because of our own personal baptism and uniting our life with Jesus, we, with our life in him, also inherit eternal life.   This is the Good News.  This is the message of the Gospel.

 

The saddest thing I’ve witnessed in the Christian church was a wonderful elderly man who was scared of dying because he didn’t know if he had done enough or was good enough to be accepted by God.  I hope that we can all grow in understanding the intense love of God and His extravagant grace.  We, through the death and resurrection of Jesus are promised eternal life.  Is God not a person of his word?  This how it works!  Rejoice – you and I are saved from this fear and this separation.  It is beyond any shadow of doubt.  Not only did Jesus die, but he rose from the dead, proving the power of God to save us all.  It is a done deal.  Nothing in your past or your future can separate you from the love of God through Christ Jesus.

 

The rich ruler went away sad.  His reality was under the old covenant and subject to the law.  That Law of God does not change and we are all asked to love God with all our heart, mind and strength.  For the rich ruler that meant putting God before his riches.  We all have some area of failure, no matter how much we try and none of us can inherit eternal life on our own.  However, rest assured, Jesus established a New Covenant and through him, our inheriting eternal life is a reality that we can rejoice in.  Being united to Jesus, and with the Holy Spirit as a deposit of our spiritual life, we are bound for glory.  What is impossible for us is made possible by God.  Amen!!

 

Persevere !! Reflection for 16th Oct 2022

            PROPER 24 (29)Nineteenth Sunday after Pentecost Year C  October 16, 2022

·       Jeremiah 31:27-34 and Psalm 119:97-104  •    2 Timothy 3:10-4:5  •   Luke 18:1-14 

 

Perseverance and resilience are traits that are talked about often in education settings.  They are talked about because these are needed for success and are often lacking in our children.  It needs to be explicitly taught and encouraged constantly.  It seems to me that this same encouragement is given to us through the readings today.

 

What is perseverance?  The dictionary describes it as: persistence in doing something despite difficulty or delay in achieving success. Steadfastness.  Continued effort to do or achieve something despite difficulties, failure, or opposition.

 

Jesus uses a parable to show us what perseverance looks like and he explains that there was a woman who wanted justice.  She kept going to the Judge with her plea.  She didn’t give up.  And because of her perseverance alone, she received her justice. 

 

Actually, Perseverance is endurance and hope.  In another letter from Saint Paul (1 Corinthians 13), perseverance is spoken about as an aspect of love; “Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth.  It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. 

 

 

So much of our faith is about persevering.  We know that we have a God who loves us and declares good for us, but we live in a fallen world where evil and destruction are realities.  We persevere because we believe and we have hope… we persevere because we have faith.

 

Saint Paul writes to Timothy, “You, however, know all about my teaching, my way of life, my purpose, faith, patience, love, endurance, persecutions, sufferings—what kinds of things happened to me in Antioch, Iconium and Lystra, the persecutions I endured. Yet the Lord rescued me from all of them.  In fact, everyone who wants to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted…”  Saint Paul persevered through all kinds of difficult situations because he was sure about his faith and sure of his salvation in Christ.  Remember Saint Paul’s conversion.  It was dramatic and he knew, beyond any shadow of a doubt, that God was who Jesus declared himself to be.  Therefore, Saint Paul was prepared to bear all kinds of unpleasantness.  Saint Paul knew the message of Christ to be worth all and any suffering.

 

The message of the cross is that all who are unworthy, and cry to God for mercy, are shown mercy.  They are loved and accepted.  Our Gospel reading tells us of the Tax collector who came to God and beat his breast saying, “God have mercy on me a sinner.” 

 

The Pharisee, in our Gospel reading, is unaware of his sin before God.  (Sin is simply falling short of perfection).  The Pharisee goes through the motions of faith and accomplishes all that his religion declares is proper  - he feels righteous because of the things he does - and yet the man who comes in honesty before God, who asks for mercy, is the one who is right before God.

 

Where are we in this story of faith?  Do we understand that we all, are people who fall and are in need of God’s mercy?  Are we aware of how much God loves us?  Do we have the perseverance that comes knowing from knowing God’s love and being sure of our faith? 

 

Jeremiah was a prophet who persevered.   He endured much suffering to declare his message, but he continued to proclaim God’s message, knowing Gods love and that God is the ultimate reality.

 

In the days of Jeremiah, it was considered that if you were born with an ailment it was because of the sin of your parents.  There are family problems that get passed down.  We see this, in genetic disorders.  We also see this in family feuds that carry on over generations, and abuses that continue down the lines.   Jeremiah declares that a new covenant is coming when each of us will be responsible for our own sin.

 

Upon reflection, we can see the sins of the parents operating today.  When we, as a community, say sorry for things like the “Stolen Generation”, this is acknowledging and bearing the sins of generations before us.  Yet each of us are called to take responsibility for our own actions, and end the curse by entering into the new covenant.

 

I suspect, if you are like me, you are a “New Testament” Christian, not blaming sickness or bad luck etc on someone’s ancestors, but truth of the matter is ALL of us (if we are not in the new covenant) are under the curse of our ancestor.  As a race, the Bible explains that we are all children of Adam and bear the consequence of his sin.  And all of the earth has also been subject to decay due to that sin.

 

In the new covenant, we are still living in that fallen world, but we are free from that curse and free from that consequence – at least spiritually.  We have the promise of a future that is free from that curse.  Unfortunately, while we live in this physical body we will always struggle and experience the difficulties of the fallen life.  This is why we need to be encouraged to have perseverance.

 

Whenever I read the Gospel story about the persistent woman I am a little uncomfortable.  There are some who pray and pray and pray and it seems that their prayers go unanswered.  Is God even harder than the godless and heartless judge?  No, of course not.  Check out the Bible text; “And will not God bring about justice for his chosen ones, who cry out to him day and night? Will he keep putting them off?  I tell you, he will see that they get justice, and quickly. However, when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on the earth?” 

 

God answers us quickly.  The woman was persistent with the judge because the judge didn’t really care about her and she needed to let him know that she would not let up until he did something about it.  God DOES care about us.  He cared so much that he suffered and died for us.  In comparison, God is nothing like the judge.  He acts swiftly and not because we nag him.  We do not have to nag him, but we do need to be persistent in prayer because there are powers and principalities operating that we can not see.  Our prayers and our persistence are a sign to those powers and principalities, that we continue to trust in God, regardless that we can’t see the answer.  Our persistence is a sign of our faith.  Just this week I saw a man wearing a shirt that said, “My head was bowed and the devil thought he’d won, until he heard me say, “Amen”.”

 

There is a little sentence in the midst of our reading we mustn’t overlook – “When the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on the earth?”  I believe this needs to be our take away message to ponder for this week. 

 

How can we, the Church, ensure that there will be faith on the earth when Jesus returns?  We need to have perseverance to continue proclaiming the Good News about Jesus Christ.  In my time in ministry through Street Chaplaincy, I have come to realize that proclaiming the Good News can only happen by actions.  We can’t reason with an intoxicated person, but we can show love by our actions.  This ministry has also taught me that proclaiming the Good News is not a sprint, but a marathon.  Endurance is needed.

 

Many times, I have felt called to try and make a space where we can encourage faith more tangibly, and so street Chaplaincy had a time of contemplative prayer.  At another time we had a Bible study.  Another time we ran a prayer workshop.  At each activity I felt like it was a flame in a vacuum.  People were encouraged and then it stopped.  Some would say, it wasn’t the right time.  Others might say, it was not what God was calling us to do.  But these judgments are wrong.  We are always called to go and proclaim the Good News and make disciples.  Always.  What activity should we do next?  It doesn’t matter the form, but proclaiming the Gospel and making disciples is our call… we must persevere.                                                                                                                

 

We live in a physical world, but there is a most definite spiritual realm.  In that spiritual realm are forces that are good and some that are not so.  The Bible calls them Powers and Principalities.   Sometimes these Powers and Principalities cause the “ground” where we work to be hard.  When we persevere, we are making a statement in the spiritual realm and we are claiming the ground.  No act is pointless, but I believe that we are doing a vital spiritual activity of breaking ground and declaring faith to those Powers and Principalities.

 

I have a garden that has dreadful soil.  I chip away at it and slowly it improves – by hard and constant work.  If I give up and think it is too hard, I have to start from scratch.  This is the same with the ground we are working as we proclaim the Good News.  We need to persevere.

 

You know, on Good Friday the ministry of Jesus looked like it failed.  Even after the resurrection, only those close disciples were encouraged.  Even those, probably thought things could have been done differently, so that the ministry could be seen as undeniably victorious.  But God had other plans.  Faith is proved in our perseverance in the face of difficulties and when all looks grim.

 

That being said, we all need encouragement to keep us persevering and so, I’d like to share something that was posted on a facebook group that encouraged me;  Kimberly Anne Steven posted; “I met Christ for a short bit when sick with Covid and pneumonia.  He is real.  He is amazing.  He loves us so much!  He can’t wait for us to be with him.  He has so much for us- he is preparing our place and he told me it’s beyond anything we can ever imagine.  Have faith.  I met him and he is the King.  His robe glows with perfection and his sinless nature.  He knew me and removed my sin as soon as I felt it in his presence as he walked towards me from his throne.  I was wearing a beautiful heavenly gown.  I felt my body was still there, a spiritual body that was a young adult and perfect.  I walked with him and a huge group of people.  I felt spirits all around me.  He spoke into me.  I felt and heard the joy in the place I went to.  It’s real. Don’t ever doubt Jesus, He is absolutely real.”

 

What the persistent woman story is really about, is encouragement to persevere and reassurance that God hears and cares for everything that concerns us.  The times are truly difficult, and we need to persevere.  We need to show that we will be standing firm regardless of what is around us. 

 

We can persevere when we know the goodness, the love and the reality of God.  We grow in faith and perseverance by going to church, reading the scriptures and praying.  We mustn’t give up.  All that we do to proclaim the Good News in our own life and to others, encourages faith.  We must continue and continue and continue.  Otherwise, will Jesus find faith on the earth when he returns?