EASTER 2024 Dawn service

WHO WILL ROLE THE STONE AWAY?  This question seemed to jump out at me.  Here, we have a community in deep grief, desperately striving to keep God’s law, the laws of the land and also deal with all the demands of proper burial rituals, therefore we have the women making a journey to the tomb on the third day.  Friday, Jesus was crucified, the laid him in the tomb hurriedly because they were not permitted to do any work as soon as it was sun down, because that commenced the Sabbath, and the Sabbath continued until Sun down on the Saturday evening – the second day.  Then we come to the third day.

 

The wait until there was enough day light to go to the tomb and prepare Jesus’ body, must have been an agonizing wait… and the delay in time would have meant that the job would not be an easy one.  The women were focused and organized….. well, not quite.  A huge obstacle threatened the success of their mission!  Who will role the stone away?  They didn’t know how they were going to get into the tomb to do their job. 

 

Jesus’ ministry was one where he had many followers and 12 disciples.  Of those twelve, some surely, were big burly fishermen!?!  And surely one of them could have been concerned enough to go with the women to help with the heavy lifting…. But no.    Where were they?

 

The fact of the matter is that this was a community deeply grieving and we all grieve in different ways.  Some avoid facing the truth and bury themselves in other activities.  Some feel that the pain is too raw to bring themselves into any of those places where they have to face the reality, and they distance themselves.  But honestly – These very natural reactions don’t help. 

 

Veteran singer Cliff Richards sang these very true words, “The only way out is the only way in and it’s you”.   Some of the other lyrics say; “I spent a lot of time at the crossroads - Getting that lonely feeling inside - Suddenly you stopped the rain, you changed the view - Now every way's leading to you”

 

When we are in pain and confusion we naturally withdraw and avoid, and often that action is not something that is going to help us.  The women, on the other hand are still in grief, but they are willing to be IN that grief – face it – own it -  and so they set off to visit the tomb, but there is a huge obstacle.  They don’t have the ability to move the stone.

 

Where is that big burly follower of Jesus?  What’s his name?  Peter!  Where do we imagine Peter is? 

 

Peter was very much experiencing pain and confusion.  In this time of Easter, we often focus on the fact that Peter denied Jesus, but I want to remind us all that just a little bit before that denial, Peter had a sword in the garden.  Do you remember the scene?  Peter was ready to fight and defend.  No one was getting to his man, Jesus.  But Jesus told him to put that sword away, and this was not long after Jesus had said to Peter, "Get behind Me, Satan! You are a stumbling block to Me. For your thoughts are not of the things of God, but the things of men."

 

Peter had been chastised by Jesus more than once, and at each of those times Peter was simply doing what any good and loyal friend would do.  When it came to the time when Peter denied Jesus, Peter was in deep confusion – In some ways he was telling the truth when he said, “I do not know him” – Peter didn’t understand Jesus – He didn’t understand what was happening and what he was meant to do and He was deeply, deeply grieved.  Peter was loyal and brave, but he was confused and didn’t know what to make of anything that had happened.  He knew that Jesus was the Messiah, but he no longer knew what to do…. And he withdrew.

 

So… who will move the stone?  We may be thinking the same thing.  We all have our own experiences of Jesus on our own journey of life.  In that journey we have had good times and bad.  Times when our faith was strong and times when… well, quite honestly, we became disillusioned and somewhat disappointed and felt that God let us down.  This is a tiny bit  - a fraction of the way the disciples were feeling.  They must have all been thinking, that surely, this could not be God’s plan for the Messiah. – Surely this could not be God’s plan for them???  What IS God’s plan?

 

In the year 2024, is it God’s plan that His chosen people are at war?  Is it God’s plan that we have so much youth crime?  Is it God’s plan that so few people understand and accept the Good News about Jesus Christ?  NO – It is not.

 

So – Who will move the stone?  That stone that hides the reality of the Good News of the resurrection comes in many forms; Disbelief, Disillusion, Disappointment… and all these were being experienced by the community of Jesus as those ladies walked towards the tomb.

 

We need the stone moved….  We need to reveal the reality of God to our community.  We need to move that stone which is keeping them from having their eyes opened to the truth of God.  BUT it is such a huge stone – it is too heavy for us.  Who will move the stone?

 

Where are we at in the story of the resurrection?  Are we like Peter, confused and rendered paralysed by our own failure?  Are we the disciples who are disillusioned and feeling confused about what the truth is, after being told by our circumstances and community that we are wrong? Are we those disciples who, after being taught so much by Jesus, feel resigned to the fact that we are powerless to make any impact? 

 

So who will roll the stone away?  The women had a job to do and they went to face the reality of their circumstance - Jesus’ death.  They didn’t know the answers to what God’s plan was in all their grief, but they were prepared to faithfully confront the reality and do what they could.  They walked towards the tomb aware of a huge obstacle facing them and possibly preventing them – but they went anyway. 

 

Who will move the stone for us, as we strive to bring the message of Jesus victory over the grave?  Will we continue to proclaim the truth about God’s sacrifice for the salvation of the world, or is the obstacle too large?  Will we continue God’s call to us to care for the marginalised, for those with no power and authority, for the poor and voiceless…. For the children, unborn- with no voice…  Will we continue to advocate for justice even when it is not popular or politically correct, and when the world is telling us we are wrong?  It is a heavy stone indeed!

 

There is this huge stone in our community that stands between us and the ways of the risen Lord.  You hear it’s voice and know it when it speaks because it is a voice of fear, despair, pride, division and darkness.  It’s message is the opposite of our risen Lord, who died to bring us life, showing us the ultimate example of love.  That stone of fear, despair, pride, division and darkness, might even be our own, and it is a huge stone threatening to block the message of God’s salvation.

 

But WHO will move the stone for us?  We need to know the message of the resurrection and the power of God almighty who moves the stone and raises from the dead.  The stone will be moved – God himself will see that it is moved.  As we faithfully say “Yes” to God and continue to walk in faith, we will find that the stone is moved.  Christ IS risen!  Now, Go and tell the disciples this… the ladies needed to proclaim the Good News because the disciples needed to hear the truth.  Most importantly, like us, they also needed their faith encouraged!  The stone has been rolled away! God himself accomplished all this and Jesus is risen!

 

Let’s share our stories of faith and hope and encourage each other, because our God is a God of miracles.  Let’s talk about it, proclaim it and God WILL move that stone– He already has! and Christ is Risen, Alleluia.   – He is Risen indeed – Alleluia.

Entering a New Covenant - Reflection of Lent 5B 17th March 2023

2024  03  17  Lent 5 B

Jeremiah 31:31-34  •  Psalm 51:1-12 or Psalm 119:9-16  •  Hebrews 5:5-10  •  John 12:20-33

Throughout this season of Lent we’ve been looking at the covenants that God made with His people.  The Covenant with Noah, then Abraham, then with the Israelite nation through Moses.  In today’s readings, we hear about the promise of a new covenant and it sounds like, and is, very good news.   God’s New Covenant involves us simply, innately knowing God’s ways.  We are told that He writes His laws in our minds and in our hearts.  However, much like giving birth to a wonderful gift of new life, there is pain and suffering to bring this new covenant into being.

 

In each of the Covenants that God has made, he has revealed more of who He is.  It begins with Noah and the flood and is a simple promise made to all of mankind and all the creatures of the earth.  It tells us that God is concerned about everyone and wants to be in relationship with all.  Whether you have accepted the word of God or not.. Whether you are baptised or not… God has made a covenant of love with you, and whenever you see a rainbow, you can call this fact to mind.  God cares for and loves us all.

 

The next Covenant was when God made the promise to Abraham that he would be the father of many and that all the nations of the earth would be blessed through him.  This was a covenant made to a specific line of people – the Israelite people, but it also indicates a blessing for all.  Abraham is also considered the father of all those who believe God in faith, because he believed God would accomplish what he said he would do.

 

Next, we had the Mosaic covenant where God revealed himself to Moses and the people of Israel through rescuing them out of Egypt and giving them the Commandments – a blue print, if you like, for a wholesome life where love and goodness can be known and the community can thrive.

 

In these revelations about God, we are doing what those Greek visitors were doing; they came to see Jesus.  In that word “see”, the implication is that these people want to know and understand Jesus.  Seeing is connected to God being revealed.

 

Today we read from the prophet Jeremiah about the promise of a New Covenant.  In this new covenant, God will write his law on people’s hearts.  It is ultimately about us knowing God, and about God being revealed to us. 

 

God is so beyond our understanding, but God wants us to know him.  The law that God gave through Moses was not meant to restrict people, but to show the way for life to flourish.  Some pushed the boundaries, while others worried about breaking the law and being condemned without hope.  So God promises a New Covenant.  Why?  Because, in His great love, he desires every good thing for us and that we should be free.  He wants us to live an abundant life, where we enjoy walking with God, free from guilt, worry and completely uninhibited – and God wants us to properly SEE him and see that He loves us and is concerned for our good.

 

In our Gospel reading Jesus tells us; “Now is the judgment of this world; now the ruler of this world will be driven out.  And I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to myself."  ….“Now is the judgment of this world” - I’ve been told that the word translated as Judgment, actually is more like defence.  Jesus came to defend us. 

 

God forgives our Sin and remembers our sin no more.  This is a very foreign concept.  When someone wrongs us, we might forgive, but we rarely forget.  The message of the cross of Jesus is to reassure us that God loves us so much that he has made restitution for us in the spiritual realm.  To modern people in our contemporary society, much of our faith is baffling, but there are some who know the weight of and seriousness of their actions, and to those people, the Israelites and people of Jesus’ time, who were used to a sacrificial system to render them being in an acceptable position before God, this made perfect sense.

 

The letter to the Hebrews tries to explain some of this to us, but much of it is lost on us, unless we understand a few things.  It says; "You are a priest forever, according to the order of Melchizedek."  Melchizedek, was a mysterious character who appeared to Abraham.  Melchizedek was the King of Salem.  Salem meant “Peace” and later to become Jerusalem.  Melchizedek was also a priest of God most high.  He blessed Abraham and confirmed God’s covenant and Abraham blessed him and gave him an offering.  Melchizedek is a character with no genealogy, and therefore a priest and king without beginning or end.  We are told that Jesus is this order of priest. The word, Melchizedek, means King of Righteousness.  The Levitical priests of the Israelite nation would offer sacrifices to God on behalf of the people, but the sacrifice that our priest and king, Jesus, offered was that of himself.

 

It can not be said that Jesus doesn’t understand us at our very most weakest, because Jesus was pushed to that point through his suffering.  It can not be said that the cross was easy for Jesus to bear because he was God…. If anything, the injustice and knowledge would have made it all the heavier a burden – But also remember that while on earth Jesus operated as one who was fully human.  We know that Jesus cried out to God loudly and with tears…. The cross was not easy.  Yet Jesus submitted to the will of God the father and he submitted himself to bearing that cross out of love for the whole world.

 

This is the New Covenant.  God makes a way for us to be forgiven and to be united to himself, through the willing sacrifice of Jesus.  Now, we are told that as part of this New Covenant, God writes His law in our minds and in our hearts.  If we look around at the world, it is pretty obvious that this isn’t something magic that happened at that time and now everyone lives in knowledge of God with peace and harmony. 

 

We enter the New Covenant with our free will, freely choosing to accept Jesus as our saviour.   We affirm this decision through our baptism.  In that Baptism, God imparts all the gifts He has for us, but we might not be enjoying those gifts if we haven’t opened them.

 

God respects our will.  All of our lives we are faced with choices to follow God’s way or go our own – To enter into a Covenant where we call the God most high, our God, or to act contrary to God’s good ways. 

 

Knowing God’s law and wisdom intrinsically was something that was experienced by the early church when the Holy Spirit came.  Pentecost was the festival of the giving of the Law on Mount Sini.  When the Holy Spirit came, those frightened and hiding men and women became emboldened and filled with divine wisdom.  The law was imparted into their minds and hearts divinely, through the Holy Spirit dwelling in them.  God gives this same Holy Spirit to you and I. 

 

The Holy Spirit is the Spirit of Jesus with us always.   We can study the Bible and go to all manner of colleges, lectures and conferences, but when it all boils down, ALL can get the ways of God wrong, no matter how much learning, because God is so far beyond our human minds.  Yet God wants to be known and gives us the gift of the Holy Spirit to teach us and write God’s ways in our hearts.  To live this life the way God intended and to have the strength to make the choices that God would have us make, we need the very essence of Jesus – His love, compassion, mercy and wisdom - His ability to say yes to God even in the face of great suffering – and God has given this to us through His Holy Spirit  - through the New Covenant. 

 

To say YES to this Covenant, means to die to the past and to die to being our own God – in charge of our own lives. We lose that “Life”, but we gain life eternal.  As baptised people, we have already made this decision, and we confirm it through communion each week.  As you hear the word’s, “body of Christ”, understand that the decision to say AMEN, is you saying, “YES I accept Christ’s completed sacrifice and I willingly enter this New Covenant.”

As we journey to the celebration of the cross and resurrection, let’s be aware of our choice to enter that New and wonderful Covenant.