Being clothed in the Robes of our Destiny CHRISTMAS 1 C 29th Dec 2024

2024 12  29  Christmas 1C 

1 Samuel 2.18-20,26 Psalm 148   Colossians 3.12-17 Luke 2.41-52

Do you remember the story of Hannah and Elkanah?  They are the parents of Samuel.  Hannah was barren and prayed for a son and vowed that she would give him to God.  When Samuel was weaned, Hannah presented him to the Priest, Eli, announcing that she had vowed she would give him to the Lord, all the days of his life.  This was not something that happened every day…. I can only imagine how hard that would have been.

 

Eli was quite elderly, and he had grown up sons who were ministering, but they were somewhat corrupt.  Now as an elderly man, Eli was given this young boy, Samuel, to raise and teach in the ways of God.  Each year when Samuel’s mother would visit she’d bring him a little robe that she had made for him  - a linen ephod….  The garment of the priests. 

 

At this time in Israel, the only priests were those who were born in the family of the Levite tribe – which is the tribe of Moses and his brother Aaron.  Elkanah, Samuel’s father, was an Ephraimite…. A descendant of Joseph – not Levi.   This was most unusual, that a boy would be raised as a priest, who was of a different tribe.

 

It is most usual to bring up our children in our own business.  I remember teaching a young boy, who talked non-stop about his chooks.  Another teacher asked him, “Why do you have to talk about chooks all the time?” He responded, “It’s my Dad’s business!  When I grow up, it will be my business.”

 

The Bible Proverb 22:6 says, “Train up a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not depart from it.”  It amazes me that this mother, Hannah, was strong enough to follow through on her vow and she fully trained her son to be totally committed to God.  No surprise really – after all, she showed this in her own life.  Her son, Samuel, learnt from her first, that we make sacrifices and keep our word, and give God first place in our life.  He then learnt about the word of God from Eli the priest, and not too much later on, he would experience hearing the word of God for himself and be instrumental in the leadership of the nation of Israel.

Samuel, as a small boy, was dressed as a priest.  He was dressed for, and placed in a role from this young age, and he didn’t depart from it.  He grew into it.  He was destined for this role, but he was also trained and empowered for that role by those around him who affirmed his place.  There is a lesson for us in this.  It is made clear in our second reading. 

 

“Therefore, as God's chosen ones, holy and beloved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience.  Bear with one another and, if anyone has a complaint against another, forgive each other; just as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive.  Above all, clothe yourselves with love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony.”

 

Samuel was clothed in priestly garments, and he grew up to be an amazing man of God.  We are encouraged to clothe ourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, meekness and patience, and then over this clothe ourselves with love.   Why it is described as clothing ourselves, is because we might not naturally feel compassion, or kindness, or humility or meekness or patience or love.  However, we need to exhibit these qualities and the hope, is that as we wear these robes, we will grow into those qualities and they will become “second nature”.

 

Our Gospel reading tells of another boy in the company of priests.   It is the story of Jesus in the temple at the ripe old age of 12.   12 is a symbolic number.  It is said to symbolize perfect governance, totality, wholeness, and the completion of God's purpose.  Actually 12 is a ripe age, as it is the age of the Jewish Bar Mitsvah, and is when the boys are considered adult in the faith.  Understanding this, we can see why Jesus might have decided to stay on at the temple. 

 

Jesus knew his destiny, but his parents didn’t seem to fully understand.  And we know that they weren’t meant to.  God chose them for a reason and although they were told who Jesus was, they brought Jesus up as they would their own child – probably in the trade of Joseph, as a carpenter.   BUT Jesus knew who he was and who his father is, and what his father’s work was about.

 

The festival that Jesus and his family were celebrating was the festival of Passover. Looking up the Jewish understanding of the number 12, I found that the 12^th letter has the numeric value of 30.  It is believed that Jesus began his public ministry at this age and than three years later He was crucified.  He was crucified during a particular, very important festival.  Do you recall which one?  Yep – the festival of Passover.

 

Jesus and his parents were part of a large group who came to the festival in Jerusalem. They travelled back as part of a large group also.  They didn’t realize that he was missing until they had travelled a day’s journey.  So it was another day back, but then they didn’t find him until the third day.  So… it was the festival of the Passover… they found him again on the third day.  Does this sound familiar?

 

Jesus said to them, "Why were you searching for me? Did you not know that I must be in my Father's house?"  We might be searching for Jesus also.  We might have situations that we find difficult and don’t know how to find resolution.  We might have come to the conclusion that there IS no resolution.  This is because we are looking in the wrong place.  We will find Jesus in his father’s house.  What I mean by this, is we find Jesus through scripture and in prayer.

 

Jesus is not in the crowd of popular opinion.  To find Jesus requires sacrifice like that of Hannah who gave up her only son – and God has made that sacrifice for us.  God gave up his only son, Jesus, so that we could readily find him.  God desires to speak with us, teach us and give us his answers.  He speaks to us through his Holy Spirit that Jesus sends us.   

There is another robe that we clothe ourselves in.  it is the robe of Christ himself.  We are never alone.  He is with us – yet it is in our activities that we either grow into this awareness  - or we grow less aware.  As we begin to look at New Year’s resolutions, let us make this ours; to wear the clothes of compassion and love and listen for the voice of God by being clothed in Christ.

From 2014 The first day of Christmas

 On the first day of Christmas my true love gave to me….  A Partridge in a pear tree!

There is some debate about the Christmas song, The Twelve days of Christmas, as to whether it is simply a fun and nonsensical song or a Carol that has secret meaning, sung by those who lived in areas where Christianity was not accepted.

If the latter is the true, then it is said that my true love is a reference to God, and on that first day of Christmas his gift is the word made flesh – Jesus Christ.  The portrayal of Jesus is like that of a partridge which will appear injured to protect its offspring.

Whether or not we accept this meaning in the song, the song itself tells us of a tradition from an earlier church time where there were twelve days of celebrating the “Christ’s Mass” and the first day being the 25^th of December  - a celebration of the word made flesh… the incarnation.  An amazing and mind-blowing miracle!

 

I think it would be great to be able to spend 12 days concentrating on what it was that happened to our world each day looking at some aspect of God’s interaction with us.

 

If we’ve been to church the last few weeks we come to this first day of Christmas already aware of and following the journey of Mary and Joseph.  They both had their interaction with God’s Angel a little earlier in the story and both needed to respond positively in order for things to be.

 

In our own way, we need to come to this same point with Mary and Joseph in order to experience our own first day of Christmas.  First we need to have dealt with those same issues.  Mary’s story was the more difficult.  She had to say yes to God’s will in her life, even though it would mean rumours and rejection and the possibility of being stoned as an adulterer.  She trusted God’s plan was not for that to eventuate, but still nothing could proceed without her will being in line with God’s.  Are we willing to be counted as a Christian though it may mean the scoffing of peers?

 

God gave us free will, and he won’t override that gift, but he asks us to make him the Lord of our lives.  He asks us to freely say, “Yes” to him, admitting that we need His guidance.  God cannot be “born” in us unless we give him the permission to do so.

 

Joseph had to trust God’s working in Mary.  Joseph had to acknowledge that God had chosen to work through this person to whom he was engaged.  Joseph had to say, “yes” to God also, though his role would be different.  Joseph’s role is very interesting if we relate it back to our own experience.  His was a support role in a world where it was generally accepted that Mary’s role was to support him… I’m sure that in instances of true love that the support is always mutual and we note glimpses of this in the relationship of Abraham and Sarah, but this is one record where it certainly focuses on the upside down nature of leadership that Jesus promoted.  Are we willing to serve and support our fellow Christians who are also called by God for His purpose?

 

What really happened that Christmas night?  What do people really think? 

 

There has always been a tension between the God aspect and the humanity of Christ.  Was he really just human and then became someone who really answered God’s call? Or was he always God and never really experienced the ugly side of humanity?

 

Human minds find it hard to settle this issue and even Jesus human family struggled, as we read in Mark 3:21, “When his family heard about this, they went to take charge of him, for they said, "He is out of his mind."”

I love imaginative, fantastical movies.  I find that we can learn so much about so many things when we use our imagination to create safe places to explain and explore some very difficult topics.

One of the best examples that I know of, to explain Jesus being fully human and fully God, is found in the movie, Superman 2.  In this movie the love between Lois Lane and Superman is acknowledged and so Superman gives up his power for love of her.

Almost immediately there is some conflict and superman is hurt.  His love for Lois is greater though and he accepts that he will now feel pain and all those fragilities common to humans.  As the show goes on it becomes apparent that superman has to sacrifice his own personal desire for a comfortable life with Lois and go back to being Superman - for her good, and the good of all humanity.  So he takes back his power once again, but with great heart ache.  Those who he saves would never really know the full extent of his sacrifice.

 

In the song, The twelve days of Christmas, the twelve drummers drumming refers to the 12 articles of faith listed in the apostles creed.  These beliefs served to formalise the Christian faith and safeguard against heresy. 

It begins with “I believe in one God, the Father Almighty, Maker of heaven and earth, and of all things visible and invisible:”

We easily acknowledge the humanity of Jesus.  He is a person of history… recorded in sources that are not Christian… he really existed.  But the reason we have a faith called Christianity is because we believe that he is more than just human.  

Some people do believe that he was a great man who did wonderful things and was inspired by God, but not God, but did you know that this is simply not logical?

Jesus was finally crucified because of blasphemy.  That is, he declared himself to be God.  If he was a good man and only a man, why would he declare this about himself?  People who do these kinds of things are usually evil or crazy.   We have already established that Jesus did many good things so evil doesn’t fit the bill.

 

Crazy?  Well, we know that his family thought so at one point in time.  But then we look at what happened later… those closest to him, including some of his family, were prepared to suffer and be put to death for what they considered to be the truth.  If he was crazy or if they still thought him to be crazy this simply would not happen.

How many years later… approximately 2014, we are still celebrating that God came to live as one of us… Emmanuel – it means , “God with us”.  It is the name given by one of the Angels, saying that Jesus would be called this….  He is God with us. 

 

And yet…. God is one.  I believe in one God, the Father Almighty.  Maker of heaven and earth, and of all things visible and invisible….

If we believe in one God how is it that Jesus prays to his father.  I actually only have a very simplistic answer.  God is God and is beyond our understanding.  For a short, powerful and amazing time in history, somehow God was clearly seen as different identities.

Once again I turn to imagination to explain.  There was an advertisement for chocolate where a golden clad goddess couldn’t make up her mind which chocolate to choose so she separated into three identical forms of herself… each one choosing a different flavour.

 

At Christmas we celebrate the birth of a baby… we call him Jesus, but who is Jesus for you?

 

Our society is currently experiencing some anxiety over the numbers of Muslims which seem to be taking over our world like a spreading dark storm cloud.  If we truly proclaimed the truth of the Gospel, I believe there would be so many more Christians, because Christianity is such good news….. What other religion acknowledges that we cannot obtain the standard of perfection and so their God comes down to be the sacrifice for them?  NONE… Only Christianity!

The reality is that we don’t really know or proclaim the fabulous Good News that we have in Jesus Christ.  Our faith is diminishing because we have taken it for granted for so long and so people have become ignorant of the amazing message of hope and truth that this holds for all.

 

We can wish for Joy and peace and love eternally this Christmas, but love and joy and peace are there already…. What we need is our eyes opened to see.

 

To truly celebrate Christmas we need to become part of the Christmas story… Say, “yes” to God’s will in our lives and stand up for our faith, supporting, guarding and protecting it like Joseph and proclaiming the Good News like the Angels did.

...

Something is missing - but Jesus brings that Christmas gift. Christmas Eve message.

Christmas has arrived.  But what is Christmas and why do we celebrate?

 

The clue is in the word – Christ/ mas.  It means to celebrate Christ  - and Christ is the Greek word for Messiah – both mean “the anointed one”.   We know who we are talking about…. Jesus, born about 2024 years ago.  We know how long ago, because people long ago decided that His birth was SO significant that we should mark time from that point.  So, they worked out when he was born and started counting… and now we are up to 2024 – nearly 2025. 

 

I’m sorry, but Christmas isn’t really about food, family and presents!  In fact, there was a time in history, when Christmas celebrations were banned.  People could go to church to mark the day, but no party was allowed, because people were getting out of control and forgetting the point of why they were celebrating.  We wouldn’t do that today, would we?

 

For some there will be sadness at this time.  Grief and sadness has been a part of our human experience almost since forever, but the message of Christmas is one of hope.  Because of Christmas, God has a plan for our future, and it is one that brings us eternal life and one where every tear will be wiped dry.  We are comforted by knowing that God loves us and is in control.

 

But why did Jesus have to come and save us?  Perhaps we can reflect on the baubles on the Christmas tree.  The baubles represent the ancient Christmas tree tradition of hanging fruit, and the fruit had two meanings; firstly, they were a sign of fruitfulness, and hope for the future, but they were also a reminder of the first fruit… You know...that one in the Garden of Eden!!!  Back at the beginning of time we were given a choice; trust God, or reject God and try to be our own God.  Guess what we chose?

 

Many artists have painted that first fruit as an apple, but all we really know is that it was forbidden.  The first people on earth disobeyed God and ate it.  When they ate the fruit, they died.  They didn’t look like they died.  They still talked and laughed, but something died inside… and every person that has been born since, has been born without that “thing.”

 

We don’t notice that something is missing in our lives, because you and I have never known any different, but once upon a time, humans (OR at least the first two of them) could easily hear God speaking.  They could speak with God and be in God’s presence.  When they disobeyed God and ate that forbidden fruit, that part inside that enabled them to be eternal and commune easily with God, died.  And every human born since then has not been eternal and struggled to hear God’s voice, or just didn’t try at all, unless God did something to particularly help – Which he often does, because God really and truly loves us.  However, God had a plan to solve the problem.

-         .

At the beginning of time, when humans turned away from God our spirit died.  All who were born after that time, never knew what it was to have an alive Spirit – until Jesus came.  If we have a Goldfish that dies, we just buy another one.  Unfortunately, no mere human ever born was able to pay the price, to buy us a new spirit, but Jesus Christ was no mere human.  Jesus was born of God… in fact Jesus was God… and Jesus Is God!

 

Our creed says “We believe in one Lord, Jesus Christ, the only Son of God, eternally begotten of the Father.  God from God, Light from Light, true God from true God, begotten, not made, of one Being with the Father; through him all things were made.  For us and for our salvation he came down from heaven, was incarnate of the Holy Spirit and the virgin Mary and became truly human”

 

That is a lot of words.  Have you ever pondered their meaning?  Jesus existed when the world was being made… in fact it was through him that the world WAS made.  Even one of our Christmas Carols, O Come all Ye faithful, has the lyrics, “True God of True God, light of light eternal….”

 

Christmas is the moment when God became visible.  Christ is Jesus…. God became human and fragile as a little baby, but he was born differently to all of us.  He still was born in the normal human way, with a human mother, but his only father is God.   Jesus is the son of God.  The New Testament in the Bible, describes Jesus as God’s first born son.

 

The Christmas Carol says the First Noel, the Angel did say, was to certain poor shepherd in fields as they lay.  Have you ever wondered what NOEL means?  If you look it up, it usually says that it is an old French word, meaning birth.  This is correct, but it isn’t until you ask someone who understands Hebrew – the language of the Old Testament, that we find out the full meaning – “the name Noel is a shortened form of Norad Elohim or Nolad Elohim meaning…  “Born of God!”  (https://noelinuae.medium.com/thou-shalt-call-his-name-jesus-they-shall-call-his-name-immanuel-704d89b27d0c )

Jesus was born the son of God.  This means that he was born spiritually alive.  That thing inside that we all were meant to have alive inside us – that thing that died when Adam and Eve ate the forbidden fruit…, Jesus DID have that alive inside him. 

 

John the Baptist told the people that the Messiah (Jesus) would baptize us with the Holy Spirit.  Jesus would pay the price for our disobedience and then give us His HOLY SPIRIT.  Jesus could only pay the price for us, because he was born of God…. The first Noel… - The first born of God, and he brings us eternal spiritual life by giving us His Holy Spirit.   For us to be properly restored and once again be in proper communion with God we need to receive the gift that Jesus offers us.  He gives us His life and HIS Holy Spirit.  When he does this, that missing part in us, our spirit comes to life.  Jesus is God, and when we accept him, we are born of God too…. A second NOEL.   

 

At Christmas we give and receive gifts as a celebration of the birth of Christ – God made flesh, but really the only gift that matters is the gift that Jesus brings us.  Scripture tells us  (John 1:12-13)^“Yet to all who did receive him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God—  children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband’s will, but born of God.”  

 

I don’t know about you, but the gift that Jesus gives us, to be born of God, sounds like the very best gift ever.  His Holy Spirit brings us to life spiritually, and each of us who accepts this gift is then BORN OF GOD.  NOEL.  ..And we are born into eternity!  It is Jesus’ birthday, but the best gift we could give him is to accept the gift that he offers us.

 

Let us pray- Jesus, son of God, we thank you for loving us so much that you were willing to become so very vulnerable.  We honour you as King and as Lord – even at your birth.  Lord Jesus, we thank you for your gift to us.  Send us your Holy Spirit.  Let your spirit overshadow each of us and bring us to life today.  Lord God, we turn to you and ask that we might also be born of God.  Noel.  Noel.  AMEN.

Recognise Jesus!

2024  12  22  ADVENT 4C  Micah 5.2-5a Song of Mary  Hebrews 10.5-10  Luke 1.39-45

 

Welcome to the 4^th week in advent where we celebrate and recognise the great love of God. … and an important aspect in recognising the love of God is the verb in the sentence, “Recognise”. 

It might seem simple, but we know it isn’t, because we know our own children don’t always recognise the love of a parent  - especially when the parent is saying, “NO”.  Why would we be any different as the children of God? 

 

In less than a week we celebrate that first coming of Jesus and Christians recognise him as Lord, and as the prophesised Messiah, however, although many Jews recognised him and became followers, there is a whole nation, precious to God who didn’t recognise him…. And still don’t.

In the light of the war and the antisemitic rallies that we’ve seen, these readings ought to prompt us to pray for this nation of Israel, because they are precious to God.  The nation of Israel only exists because of God.  

The God who we worship, who loves us, chose to reveal himself to the world through this nation of Israel.  Israel began when a man name Jacob wrestled with an Angel, who then blessed him and gave him the name Israel (Meaning, he strives with God and overcomes). 

 

That man, Jacob, was a twin with Esau.  Both Esau and Jacob were sons of a barren lady, Rebecca.  Her husband prayed for her to conceive, and she did.  That husband by the way, was Isaac.  You might remember Isaac… he was the child that was born to an old man, Abraham.  Isaac’s mother, Sarah, who had been barren all her life, bore him at the ripe old age of 90.   Jacob and Esau were the result of prayer, and Isaac, their father, was an undeniable miracle – he only existed because of the miraculous intervention of God.    The whole nation of Israel only exists because of this miracle birth.  And now we, Christians, are spiritually joined to that nation and we are called into the family of God through another miracle birth… the birth of Jesus.

 

God promised that through David’s line the Messiah would be born.   Today we read from the prophet Micah, who prophesied about 700-800 years before Christ.  At the reign of King David’s grandson, there had been a split in the Kingdom and the tribe of Judah (& Benjamin) remained ruled by a descendant of David, but the other clans in Israel broke away and chose their own king, by methods both fair and foul.   Prophets came and spoke the word of God in both Judah and Israel, but Micah, whose prophecy we read today was situated in Judah.

 

There are so many layers of meaning in this prophetic word of God from Micah. The town of Bethlehem means, “House of Bread”, and we know that Jesus declared himself to our bread of life.  Ephrathah is mentioned because there were two towns of Bethlehem and Ephrathah defines which one, but also means, “Fruitfulness”.   This little town of Bethlehem is where King David was born and is about 7 miles south of Jerusalem.  (but 90 miles -or 150 km from Nazareth – a 4 day journey on foot).

 

The prophecy claimed that from Bethlehem would come one whose origin is from of old.  What this meant, and there was no mistake, was that this one existed from the beginning of time.  The Messiah was with God in the beginning.

 

I read an article from neverthirsty.org about all this as I prepared for today, and the article was from one who studied many Rabbi’s commentaries on Micah.  He noted that the ancient Rabbi’s (before Christ) commentary clearly pointed to Jesus, but more contemporary Rabbi’s interpret it slightly differently, putting a more symbolic interpretation on it, so that it doesn’t point clearly to Jesus.  These contemporary Rabbi’s interpret the scripture to match their biased belief that Jesus is not the Messiah.  

 

The writer also commented that those closer to the times of the writings had a much better idea of those things than those writing after.   However, history tends to get re-interpreted according to our contemporary bias, many times it is with all good intentions, but it actually leads to falsifying history, or actually getting it so wrong that we never recognise God at work, even when it is right in front of us.

 

This re-interpreting has always happened when we can’t understand something, or our bias belief prevents us from accepting something in the word of God – Even to the point that I’ve heard of some Theological lecturer that deny the miracles of Jesus, explaining them away as something natural that we don’t understand yet.  Is God truly God, or is he not?    We need to be warned, against re-interpreting scripture to fit our modern lifestyle, as it misrepresents God, and God himself warns against it.  Instead, if we don’t understand something, we need to practise sitting with the mystery and ask God for clarity.  Let it remain something we don’t understand rather than making it up according to our own bias. 

 

We are reminded today, to recognise Jesus.    He will come again, and if we are in the habit of re-working the word of God, such that we make our theology fit the god of our own making, we will not recognise Jesus when he comes, just as the Pharisees, who were the religious experts of the day, did not recognise Jesus that first time.

 

Scripture gives us answers if we are willing to hear.  In Luke1:15 we are told something about John the Baptist, “for he will be great in the sight of the Lord. He is never to take wine or other fermented drink, and he will be filled with the Holy Spirit even before he is born.”  Before he was born, God filled him with the Holy Spirit!  This tells us God knows us, is concerned about us and all this, even before we were born…..  such is His love.

 

In our Gospel reading today we note that John leapt in his mother’s womb at the greeting of Mary.  The Holy Spirit was with him before he was born.  Even as a babe unborn, that Holy Spirit of God filling John, enabled him to leap for joy in his mother’s womb.  Then she, Elizabeth, being filled with the Spirit, declared Mary to be the mother of our Lord.  She also, recognised Jesus.

 

One day, we will need to recognise Jesus when he comes again.  We’ve been told that many will come in his name declaring to be him, and we will need to recognise him.  In the meantime, do we see Jesus at work here in our world?  We are called to be the body of Christ and also, like Mary and Jesus and the followers of Jesus, say, 'See, I have come to do your will, O God'.  Doing the will of God is more important than having correct theology.  It is more important than burnt offerings and sacrifices.

 

Those Pharisees who rejected Jesus were good people trying their best, yet they failed to recognise Jesus because of pride and bias… and their own interpretation of how the Messiah would look and act when he came.  So how can we see Jesus?  How can we recognise him?

 

Let scripture speak.   Live with the mystery.  There are some things we have been told, but we don’t understand.  We read… we believe and we wait.

 

In the meantime, Jesus says, what you do to the least of these, you have done it to me.  Jesus calls us his body and asks us to care for each other and others.  To see him in others and at work in our world. If we are recognising Jesus in our world and celebrating his love, what will this look like?

 

Surely it is to have compassion for those who are hurting, and care for the vulnerable.  In our readings today an unborn baby was filled with the Holy Spirit and leapt for Joy in his mother’s womb because he recognised Jesus.   In fact, if you look back over the readings, you will find that the Holy Spirit is the key.  We need God’s Holy Spirit alive and active in us, so that we can recognise Jesus.  God is a father who gives good gifts and He has already given us the Holy Spirit.  In prayer & scripture reading we open that gift.  May we, like Jesus, Mary and others, say, 'See, I have come to do your will, O God'.  As we hear his voice and reflect the love of God in all that we do and say, hopefully others will even recognise Jesus in us.  This we pray!

Refiner's fire and washer's soap Advent 2C 8th December 2024

 2024  12  08  Second Sunday of Advent Year C

Malachi 3:1-4   Luke 1:68-79     Philippians 1:3-11    Luke 3:1-6

 

We live in a time of fulfilled promise and a time of promises yet to be fulfilled.  Jesus has come and has redeemed us, but he will come again.  As we reflect through this season, we read the message of John the Baptist who called all to be baptised for the forgiveness of sins.  We have already been baptised and forgiven and live in the light of Christ and God’s love, but we need to heed the message to be baptised again in our minds…. After all, repentance is a word translated from the Greek word Metanoia and means to change our minds.  For us, this means to submit to God and bring our minds into line with God’s word.

 

As we open our minds to the message of John the Baptist, and bring our minds into line with the word of God, we prepare ourselves to receive the next part of God’s promise…. We prepare ourselves for the second coming of Christ.

 

Practically speaking, why would we do this and of what benefit is it that we answer the call to be baptised in our minds, aligning our minds with the word of God?   I don’t know how you feel about things, but I sense there is a constant denial of the word of God in our society, and it even creeps into our churches.  It is the thought process that says we believe in God, but we don’t get too carried away.  We believe that God loves everyone and forgives all, but perhaps, we don’t believe that God requires any other action from us.  It is also the thought process whereby we believe that Christ will come again… but not in our lifetime.  The implication of living this way means that we will be a bit relaxed about the word of God and won’t necessarily take it all to heart…. Just the bits that suit us.   So, my question in this is; what if Christ does come again in our lifetime?  Would it change our attitude and our lifestyles if we knew that Christ was coming back on the 1^st of January 2025?

 

The word of God came to John the Baptist, but prior to this the word of God came to his father Zechariah, and also the word of God came to Malachi in our first reading.  Malachi lived about 500 years before Christ was born, yet the Word of the Lord came to prepare them and it spoke about the one who would prepare the way of the Lord, in other words, it spoke about John the Baptist.  But there is something important that we need to realize about this prophecy; partially it speaks about the first coming of Christ and partially it speaks about the second coming.  These words from Malachi are more in line with other scriptures describing the second coming; “3:2But who can endure the day of his coming, and who can stand when he appears? For he is like a refiner's fire and like washers' soap;” 

 

Today we light our second Advent candle of Peace.  As we do, we reflect on our world and that it is a long way from realizing the Peace heralded by the Angels at that first Christmas.  It has been suggested that the message of Peace at Christmas, is the reason we have so many Christmas movies about broken relationship being mended.  However, the refiner’s fire and washer’s soap doesn’t sound very peaceful.

 

I think a helpful analogy is that of washing a grubby toddler.  There is no peace in the washing, but when it is done, that washing does bring peace.  Zechariah prophesied that his son would be prophet of the most-high God and that he would give the people knowledge of salvation by the forgiveness of their sins.  In this prophecy is also the message about God’s love and about God’s light which guides us through the shadow of death to the way of peace. “… to shine upon those who sit in darkness and in the shadow of death, to guide our feet into the way of peace."

 

Here in this life, we often find ourselves walking in the shadow of death.  We are surrounded by a society that has ways that do not lead to life.  I don’t mean to say that everything about our society is bad… it isn’t.  And we know that our leaders strive to bring life to the community, but there certainly are decisions made that don’t lead to life – especially lately -  and there certainly are spiritual powers and principalities at work in our society that are opposing the way of God.  In our town we have an increasing number of empty shops, many overgrown with weeds and in disrepair.  We also can boast of having one of the highest rates of mental health problems in Australia, with the highest suicide rate, and we are known by some as, Mack town – Crack town.  Meaning that we have a high drug usage.  One of the government solutions to the drug problem is the possibility of legalizing some of the drug use, and relaxing the laws on those caught with illicit drugs.   (”A Bill has just been passed by Queensland parliament which, among other things, creates a ‘three strike’ system for minor drug offences in Queensland. The legislation relaxes the current laws that police must follow, allowing three chances before a person can be sent to court for most low-level drug offences — including possession of cannabis, ice, cocaine, heroin, fentanyl, ketamine and steroids.  The new legislation came into effect on 3 May 2024. “)  Depending on your circle of friends and places you go, you might be completely unaware that we are living in the shadow of death.  The word of God acknowledges the reality of our world.  We live in the shadow of death, but Christ came to guide our feet to the path of peace. 

 

Peace isn’t being nice and kind and glossing over problems.  The peace that came heralded by the Angels at the coming of Christ, is the peace that came through the sacrifice of Jesus, which restores us to our unimpaired relationship with God.  Peace comes at a price and we are told that for the second coming, that Jesus will come with the refiner’s fire and washer’s soap.

 

The ways to peace and life in our community (remember we pray His kingdom come…), comes through us being involved in our community.  We have some Christian people in our council at the moment and they need our prayers.  Four of them have fought to get pornography out of the library and one confided to me that she was surprised that it was a fight.  She thought it would be a given that all decent people would vote against having this in our library.  We live in the shadow of death!

 

We know the reality of our world…. The fighting…. That lack of peace, but we are reminded today that Christ is coming.  He was promised many years ago and although the prophesy was fulfilled in his first coming, there is more; He will come again.  The prophesy from Malachi was about 500 years before Christ.  Why was this prophesy given and of what use was it to the people of his time? 

 

We are called to heed the message of John the Baptist and turn our minds to be in line with the word of God, we are also meant to then take on the ministry of John the Baptist.  We are the ones who are to call people to be Baptised for the forgiveness of sins.  We are the voice in the wilderness crying, “Prepare the way of the Lord”.    Maybe not in those exact words, but in the ways that we bring life and light to our community, standing firm against issues that don’t bring life, we do prepare the way of the Lord.  We open the doors of people’s hearts so that they can receive the message of God… so that they, along with us can be cleaned and refined.  And then there is peace.  

 

Philippians tells us; “And this is my prayer, that your love may overflow more and more with knowledge and full insight to help you to determine what really matters, so that in the day of Christ you may be pure and blameless,…”  When we live like this, we live in peace.

 

The Christmas carol, What Child is This, has these words; “Good Christians fear for sinners here.  The silent word is pleading.”  God’s love seeks to reach every heart.  What the song is saying is that good Christians should fear that those who’ve not turned to Christ are living in trouble and will experience more trouble if not for the intervention of God, and so we are called to prepare the way.  To do this we need the word of God to come to us, as it did to all those we read about today – and it comes to us easily in this century;  We open our Bibles and read.

 

A toddler will fight the bath, not understanding that it is an action done in love.  A parent washes the toddler because they love and care for them.  God loves and cares for us.  This refiners fire and washer’s soap sounds harsh, but it is for the ultimate good… it is meant to show the complete clean that only God can bring.  There is nothing to fear for us who’ve turned to God, because Jesus makes us clean.  John `15:3 says; “ You are already clean because of the word I have spoken to you.”  Once again, we notice that the word of God is the key.  We are cleaned by the word of God… by Jesus… by repenting in our mind and completely accepting the word of God – not doubting … it is the way of true PEACE – being at peace with God and bringing life and peace to our world.  Let us, this day, speak to God in prayer, with willingness to fully believe in His word.  

Christ the King and we, His witnesses Year B 24th November 2024

 2024  11  24      Reign of Christ - Proper 29 (34)

2 Samuel 23:1-7 and Psalm 132:1-12, (13-18)    Revelation 1:4b-8    John 18:33-37

How to be his witnesses:

We’ve called this season the Sunday’s after Pentecost, and Pentecost is the celebration of the coming of the Holy Spirit, which turned very ordinary people in the extraordinary witnesses of Christ.  Therefore, we have been in a season of learning to be the witnesses of Christ.  Today we reach the final week of the church year and we proclaim and celebrate that Christ is King.  In all we learn about God and the ministry of Christ, we are led to this conclusion; Christ is king.  However, this is a question that each of us must answer for our own lives, not just once, but daily.  Our Christian journey starts and ends with this question; Will you accept Jesus Christ as the King and Lord of your life?  Today we are reminded to make the declaration that Christ is king, as we ponder the question through the story of Jesus’ interaction with Pontius Pilate.  “Are you the King of the Jews?” He asks Jesus, and so we are caused to ponder the identity and kingship of Jesus also.

 

It was nearly 2000 years ago that this story took place, in 33AD.  I personally find it frustrating, that as far as education is concerned, Jesus is put in the category of religion lessons only.  Therefore, people being poorly educated, reject Jesus as a fictitious character who is believed in by Christians.  However, Jesus is a person of our history.  He is a fact, and one day every single person will need to deal with that fact.  Through our readings, we are also caused to ponder the identity of Jesus, and reflect on the way we live as witness to his Kingship.

 

Jesus was Jewish.  He was born into the clan of Judah, a descendant of King David.  In reply to the question from Pilate, Jesus does not deny that he is a King, but explains that his kingdom does not belong to this world.  This is where we need to make some decisions; Do we believe Jesus or not?  It isn’t a matter of believing the reality of Jesus – He was really there in front of Pilate, but was he telling the truth?  Was he really a king of another world?  Surely these were the question on the mind of Pilate.  What would you have been thinking in his situation?

 

Jesus tells us that he came into this world to testify to the truth.  This is key!  We know, from other scripture that Pilate’s wife had dreamt about Jesus and we know that Pilate washed his hands of the guilt… This implies that Pilate was conflicted, and unsure.  Certainly, he believed Jesus to be innocent of the charges brought before him, yet he handed him over to the Jews to be crucified.  Pilate, like all of us, was faced with having to make a decision about the identity of Jesus.

 

C.S. Lewis, who wrote the chronicles of Narnia, has explained that when it comes to the identity of Jesus, there are only three possibilities.  Jesus claimed that he was a King, but that his kingdom was of another world.  Through the scriptures we know that Jesus declared that he existed before the world began, and that he and the father are one.  Therefore, there are three logical possibilities; Jesus was either lying about all this and deliberately misleading people, or he was a lunatic and he himself was believing in a delusion, or he was telling the truth.   So, we look at the life of Jesus and see the good and compassionate works and the miracles and we can easily conclude that Jesus was not deliberately lying.  Next, we need to ask, was he a lunatic?  If so, this would have been evidenced and reported by others.  In fact, there were times that his family thought he was losing the plot, but this only serves to prove that if he was truly a lunatic, something would have been done about it before he got to the point of crucifixion.  His followers would later on be martyred, in their own testimony to the truth of which Jesus came to testify.  The whole world became so impacted and convinced that Jesus was/ IS the truth, that we now mark our years since the birth of Jesus, (the dating being according to the best of knowledge at that time) - So… he was not a lunatic.

 

Jesus tells us that he came to testify to the truth, and everyone who belongs to the truth listens to his voice.  In this life, 2024 years after his birth, who is listening to the voice of Jesus?  We, in the Church, need to deal with any ambiguity.  Jesus IS the truth…. No ifs, buts or maybes.

 

We are all witnesses to the immense confusion and chaos in the world over many things.  Where is the truth?  Our confusion, in the world, comes because the world is generally not listening to the voice of Jesus and the voice of truth.  Our country leaders and world leaders are not listening to the voice of Jesus.   In fact, our mayor reported to us, at the Mackay Churches Together Christmas dinner, that there are people wanting to stop prayer before council.  They object, saying that religion has no place and they ignorantly claim that we are not a Christian country.  This is a denial again, of our history.  It is fact that Australian laws and values are based on Christianity.   This was a fact taught to us in university in the studies of society guidelines.  We also still have a holiday for Good Friday, Easter and Christmas.   We may be becoming less Christian than we were…. But then who would be to blame for that?   Is it us?   There has always been this tension between church and state, but the reality is, we need the voice of Jesus, which comes to our society through the church, for goodness to reign in our world.  In what ways do we speak the voice of Jesus to our society?

 

King David tells us; "One who rules over people justly, ruling in the fear of God, is like the light of morning, like the sun rising on a cloudless morning, gleaming from the rain on the grassy land."  Remember, the fear of God is that sense of the greatness of God and respect, knowing that God’s ways are beyond our understanding.  We have a healthy fear for the fact that we will all be answerable to God for our actions.  A leader that has this understanding will certainly be one who will bring life to the nation.

 

We are the church and we are the body of Christ.  We have a call to be influential in our nation also.  Especially, when the leaders of our country are not being led by the spirit of God.  It might be cliché, but we should ask ourselves, “what would Jesus do?”, and then we need to remember that Jesus said to his followers, “these things and greater, you will do”…. Meaning that we are now his body on earth and so we now need to ask Jesus what he would have us do.  We are the body of Christ, therefore the body needs to go where the head directs it.  There are many issues of contention that need the wisdom of God.  Where is that goodness and wisdom going to come from, if not from us, the church?

 

The church has a responsibility.  We have a responsibility.  We know this from Jesus’ stories about sheep and the goats, and so many other stories about how we need to show our faith by our actions.  Of course, we always respect that other people don’t share our faith, but need to remember that our faith is not just a healthy set of beliefs that will bring us goodness in life.  Our faith is the truth.  It may seem like a presumptuous thing to say, but Jesus said it!  And we have just worked out logically and rationally that Jesus was neither liar, nor lunatic. 

 

Jesus came to testify to the truth.  In our reading from Revelations, we are told that Christ is the faithful witness.  We are also told that he is the ruler of the kings of the earth.  The rulers of the earth might not acknowledge this at this time, but one day Jesus will come again, and we are told that every eye will see him. 

 

The message that we are called to proclaim, is called the Gospel – meaning Good News.  The way of God, is the way of goodness.  I think that sometimes we forget this fundamental fact.  And I think that we forget this because we don’t fully grasp that God truly loves us.  Our reading from Revelation confirms the love of Christ when talks about Jesus as the one who loves us and freed us from our sins by his blood.  Last week we learnt that by the one sacrifice, Christ has made perfect those who are sanctified.  Jesus died for love of us, and if you were the only person on earth, he would have done that just for you. 

 

Each of us needs to personally come to a point where we acknowledge the Kingship of Jesus in our own lives, and we need to be regularly reminded that Christ is King - of our lives.., but also, he is over and above all creation and all powers.  This is Jesus who loves us.  He is the truth.  May the Holy Spirit teach us to know the power and the love of this King.  Understanding these things, we will walk this land in the confidence that we are his, and quite naturally, we will be his witnesses who bring his light, love and goodness to our nation and world.