Born for such a time as this! 27th September 2024 Pentecost 19B Proper 21B

2024  09  27  Proper 21B   Pentecost 19

Esther 7.1-6, 9-10, 9.20-22 Psalm 124  James 5.12-20 Mark 9.38-50

The Jewish festival of Purim is celebrated about a month before the Passover.  People often dress in costumes, to mask their real identity like Esther hiding her ethnicity.  The book of Esther is read or performed somewhat like a pantomime, where the audience will boo and stamp their feet at the name of the villain Haman.  They wear masks because the story tells of the beautiful young lady who hid her identity as a Jew.  The story is written and retold in a literary style that serves well as entertainment, However, what is important, is what God is saying to us through the account.

 

To summarize; The Jews had been taken into captivity and Esther, a beautiful orphan Jewish girl, had been made Queen, after the last queen, Vashti had defied the king and was deposed.  Esther was obedient - a rule keeper and a peacemaker in nature, and pleased all people, especially the king. 

 

Esther’s cousin, Mordecai, who had brought Esther up, had previously saved the king by alerting him to an assassination plot.  Mordecai was a proud and honourable Jew, who refused to bow to anyone but God and this brought about hatred from one of the King’s officials, Haman.  For Haman, it was not enough to hate Mordecai, but he sought to annihilate all the Jews from the face of the Earth. (one of many who would try this in the history of our world!)  He issued an edict in the King’s name, which he had the authority to do, as the King trusted in Haman in all matters, without questioning him, and so, a law was made that couldn’t be repealed, that on a certain date all the enemies of the Jews were allowed to kill the Jews and plunder their goods.  As it turned out the citadel of Susa was perplexed at this unwarranted hatred, but there were thousands who hated the Jews and were on board with this plan. 

 

At this time Mordecai asks Esther to intervene and plead to the king on their behalf, and says to her;  … “For if you remain silent at this time, relief and deliverance for the Jews will arise from another place, but you and your father's family will perish. And who knows but that you have come to your royal position for such a time as this?”

Esther asks Mordecai to send a message to the Jews in Susa to fast with her for three days and nights.  This book of Esther does not mention God, but we know that fasting involves praying and pleading for God’s intervention and deliverance. Our reading today is about the result of that praying and fasting…. God’s intervention and deliverance.  And our Psalm reiterates the joy that comes with this, as it proclaims; “Blessed be the LORD, who has not given us as prey to their teeth.  We have escaped like a bird from the snare of the hunters; the snare is broken, and we have escaped.  Our help is in the name of the LORD, who made heaven and earth.”

 

An important aspect of the story of Esther and the celebration of the Purim, is that of acknowledging that the deliverance that comes from God also comes through us unmasking our true identity as the children of God and standing up for, and interceding for those marked for destruction.  Esther sought the King’s intervention at the risk of losing her own life – You see, It was the law that you would be put to death for approaching the King unless he was inclined to show you mercy – even if you were the Queen.  In saying nothing Esther may have remained safely hidden in the palace, but at what cost to others?  What would you have done?

 

SO very often I have heard dinner conversations where people have expressed that certain things in society go against the goodness of God, but the warning is also expressed, “But don’t get involved because it could make you a target”.  No one speaks up, because they fear the consequence.  In times when people were concerned about what was shown on television or read in books, people would often take a stand, and there are always others who agree with them, who remained silent because they don’t want to be labelled as one of those “Uneducated trouble makers”, “Weird”, “fundamentalist”, “flat earther”, “Conspiracy theorist”.  We’ve all heard these terms…. And maybe uttered them.

 

If we feel pressure not to talk about things, we are being socially bullied into silence… but who knows, perhaps we are born for such a time as this…  Is it more loving to stay silent or to speak out?  We are called by God to follow the way of Christ and lay down our lives for the life of others.  

 

Among other things our letter from James tells us that; “…if anyone among you wanders from the truth and is brought back by another, you should know that whoever brings back a sinner from wandering will save the sinner's soul from death and will cover a multitude of sins.” 

 

You can’t bring back a sinner from wandering unless you make a judgement about what the truth is.  There are many a social media post stating that we shouldn’t judge, but we can, and must use God’s discernment about what the truth is.  we need to stand up for what is Godly, and it involves making some kind of judgement…  not so much on the person – that is for God to do – but certainly, we must point to what is the good and perfect will of God.  Jesus did this all the time.  In fact, our reading today tells us that everyone will be salted with fire.  We all face the consequences of our own sinful actions, but if we judge ourselves… that is, we have salt in ourselves, and we will be able to discern what is good and what is not, and be more naturally able to speak with people lovingly, (knowing that we all fall short) and be at peace.

 

Jesus, however, was not soft about sin.  He says that "If any of you cause one of these little ones who believe in me to sin, it would be better for you if a great millstone were hung around your neck and you were thrown into the sea.  If your hand causes you to sin, cut it off; it is better for you to enter life maimed than to have two hands and to go to hell, to the unquenchable fire.”  This is the kind of judgement we need to have when examining ourselves – not actually cutting off our hand, of course, but understanding the seriousness.  Jesus makes the seriousness clear because he, himself would have to die to save us from that sin.  We all DO sin.  We fall short of God’s perfection and this is how serious it is.  But thanks be to God, Jesus has paid the price for us – it is done – we need not worry about it anymore, but rejoice that we are safe in God…. And yet, we need to remember that sin is actually serious…. Otherwise Jesus’ dying for us was a senseless and cruel act of God.

 

The reason that Jesus came and died was to bring us life eternal, life abundant, and so that we could have an uninterrupted relationship with God.  God’s objective is for us to all have faith in him and we, as His people, need to work with him to bring this faith to others and we need to work with him in bringing to others those three aspects of life…  life eternal, life abundant, and a close relationship with God.  This is what our reading from James is all about.

 

James asks, “Are any among you sick?”  If so, the elders of the church should pray over them.  And James tells us that the prayer of faith will save the sick, and those who need forgiveness will receive it.  He also says that we should confess our sins to one another and pray for one another, so that we may be healed.   I have this theory that there is a sin worse than that of the taking of fruit of that tree in the garden of Eden, and it was the sin of Adam not taking responsibility for his sin, but blaming everyone else instead.  When we have salt in ourselves… judge our own actions and take responsibility we can be healed. 

 

We are exhorted that, “The prayer of the righteous is powerful and effective.  Elijah was a human like us, and he prayed fervently that it might not rain, and for three years and six months it did not rain on the earth.  Then he prayed again, and the heaven gave rain and the earth yielded its harvest.”  We need to know that we are called and anointed as part of our baptism to have this ministry and to exhibit this kind of effective prayer.  Just let that sink in for a moment…. You and I are called and anointed to pray in such a way that our prayer is powerful and effective…  and it isn’t a formula or the manner in which we pray that makes our prayer powerful, but that we are righteous by our acceptance of Jesus and our standing in the kingdom of God.

 

Esther interceded for her people and saved a nation.  We, as people who are called to pray powerfully and effectively, healing the sick and effecting change in our community, - interceding for our nation, do we realize that we were born for such a time as this?  The festival of Purim is a festival of thanksgiving and joy, reminding us that God will intervene and deliver, but we are born for such a time as this and we need to play the part that God calls us to.  To stand and be counted as God’s own people in the royal kingdom of God, saving others by our intercession….  What action is God asking us to take this day?  We were born for such a time as this.

Babies, bathwater, horses and carts! 15th September 2024 Pentecost 17B Proper 19B

 Proper 19B  Pentecost 17B  15^th September 2024

A couple of old sayings come to mind in talking about this week’s readings.  The first one that comes to mind is; “Don’t through the baby out with the bath water”  - We are saved by faith and not by works, but don’t throw that works baby out – it has a purpose.  We prove our faith by our actions.  Do people know that we are people of faith by the things we do?  The second old saying that comes to mind is, “Don’t put the cart before the horse.”   In other words, remember that we ARE saved by faith and not by works and the faith comes first. 

 

Our first reading comes from the book of wisdom and is subtitled in some Bibles as “Wisdom’s rebuke to the foolish”.  I can’t help but reflect on the many things in our modern life that I think are so obviously foolish as I read this passage, and yet those things I think are foolish, many other good people do not.  And here is the warning, as scripture tells us; Who can discern his own error?  We all do things because we think we are right and correct.  So, how do we discern?  How can we know if we are in error?

 

To discern truth, we need a plumbline.  Something to measure against.  Here is where we need to start.  What have we decided is the plumbline and where do we find it?  The wisdom reading calls fools, “scoffers”.  These are those who scoff at the word of the Lord.   We read; “I will pour out my thoughts to you; I will make my words known to you.”  GOD desires for us to know HIS thoughts.  God wants us to live an abundant life.  We are all His creation and He cares for us.  He is not trying to test us, and he understands that we sometimes get confused and don’t understand, therefore He offers us ways to understand and know HIM… and He does this through his word and through nature.

 

God loves us and wants for our good, absolutely and beyond any shadow of a doubt.  Last week, I shared that you are God’s favourite… the kind of partiality that God has, and the only kind that we should emulate, is that like my mum’s friend who, at a family wedding, went to each of the Grand children and whispered, “Gran told me that you are the favourite”.   We are as precious to God as if we were the favourite – both you and me… and others.  God wants us to prosper and gives us this life as a gift.  The very first gift that we often overlook is life itself.  God brought us into being, knit us in our mother’s womb and formed us.  He gives us life.  Jesus had something to say on this matter; “those who want to save their life will lose it, and those who lose their life for my sake, and for the sake of the gospel, will save it.”  When we have faced the reality that we need Jesus and we then live our lives for him, we see things differently… we find our plumbline.

 

God speaks to us and desires for us to hear him, but we often fail to hear.  When was the last time you savoured a sunset?  That was God saying, “I love you and made this moment for you to know how much I love you.”  It is told to us this way in our Psalm; “The heavens are telling the glory of God, and the firmament proclaims his handiwork.  Day to day pours forth speech, and night to night declares knowledge.  There is no speech, nor are there words; their voice is not heard; yet their voice goes out through all the earth and their words to the end of the world.”

 

Even nature tells us about God.  But we need sometimes to stop and listen, but even that, in isolation, will not lead us to truth, but points to it and perhaps confirms the truth. (Creation scientist would have a lot to say about this and I do recommend you do some of your own readings from creation scientist about how creation does indeed testify to the voice of God).   In fact, there is a key to hearing God’s voice and discerning His truth and it has been popping up in our readings quite a bit in this season, and it pops up again in our readings.  It is the phrase; “The fear of the LORD”.  

 

Previously I’ve spoken about how the fear of the LORD is not like a horrible terror…. but it is a word, “Yirah” which implies respect, reverence and worship.  One writer explained that it is like that feeling you would have as you stood on the edge of a majestic cliff, looking down at the wonder of creation… that feeling… towards God is Yirah… the fear of the LORD.  In that, is the understanding of the majesty of God, and there needs to be a humility and submission by us toward God.

 

When we live our lives, acutely aware of the majesty and greatness of God, surely, we will keep his commands.  This is where the saying, “the horse before the cart” comes in.  We can tell people to follow God’s commands, but without the “fear” of the Lord, or some kind of revelation of God’s majesty, they will not do it.  However, when we respect, revere and understand the majesty of God, we should naturally follow God’s commands… and if we don’t, we truly are foolish.   In fact, you can’t truly revere God and then break his commands.  Although… we do.  How is this possible? 

 

For a long time now, the Christian church has lived in the knowledge of the Mercy and Grace of God.  Saint James wrote to a church who understood the mercy and grace of God.  They knew that they were saved by God.  They knew that they were loved and accepted by God.  And they knew that this wasn’t because of anything that they did, but only because of God’s goodness… they understood that they were God’s favourite (we could say), however, they forgot the majesty of God… the fear of the LORD… the Yirah. … and they threw the baby out with the bathwater… so to speak. They realized that God’s commands were not to earn their way to Heaven, but they forgot that the commands of God exist for their own good.

 

This is the same for us.  The commands of the LORD are for our good and for the good of our world.  There are SO many contentious political issues at present, and I wonder, if we, as Christians, really had YIRAH, would these issues have become the issues that they are today?  Are we throwing the baby out with the bath water?  We are saved by Jesus, but not because of anything that we do, however when we truly grasp the majesty of God, we prove our faith in God by keeping his commands, knowing that they are for our good.

 

In our Gospel reading Peter made a declaration; Jesus is the Messiah.  Peter is affirmed by Jesus for this statement and then goes on to explain that Jesus was going to suffer and die.  Peter takes Jesus aside and rebukes him.  Peter’s idea of what the Messiah would be, was different to the reality, and Jesus responds, “Get behind me Satan!”  We can be well intentioned, chosen and loved by God, and still be doing the work of Satan, unless we are constantly in submission to God.  After all, God is God.  That is the plumbline.

Peter thought he was doing a good thing in rebuking Jesus.  I suspect that in the mind of Peter, Peter was the guardian of Jesus.  He was well intentioned, but Jesus declared him to be doing the work of Satan.  Here is a huge warning for us all and a cause for us all to ponder.  In our own lives, living mercifully, and with an understanding of the grace of God, are we well intentioned, but inadvertently promoting the work of Satan?  Are we compromising instead of actually living in submission to God and seeking him and his truth?

 

There are a number of warnings in today’s readings.  In James’ letter we are told that even the demons believe in God – And we are urged to live lives that testify that we belong to God by our actions and deeds.  In our first reading we note the warning that when we deliberately continue to not to keep God’s commands and do not fear the LORD, then when calamity happens and we call out to God, He says that he will not answer.  We are saved by Grace…. We don’t need to DO anything to be saved, because Jesus has done it.  But now, let this faith be proved by our actions. Jesus told his followers that if we want to follow him then we need to deny ourselves, take up our cross and follow him.  

 

We have a Gospel that is truly Good News, and the way to abundant life. We are saved and accepted into the Kingdom of God simply by faith, but God has a purpose for us in this life and it isn’t to test us.  It is to bless us and the community, and the nations.  This happens through God living in, and through us.  If the world out there thinks that God is dead, then it is because we have not taken up our cross and followed Christ… and we are not allowing God’s blessings to flow because we are simply being people of faith, and not people who show our faith by our deeds.  God has more for us to do and the blessings will over flow when we realize and walk in all that he has called us to.   It won’t always be easy… the cross may be heavy…  but the blessings will far out-weigh.

 

May our pray for this week be; Lord, send me where you would have me be a blessing.  Give me courage to bring your love to this world you died to save.  Let us truly offer ourselves as a living sacrifice. Amen.

The summons; Shout to the Lord;  Change my heart oh God; Breathe on me breath of God; Here I am Lord

Outsiders, Insiders and favourites :-) 2024 September 8th Pentecost 16B

2024  09  08   Proper 18B  Pentecost 16

Today’s readings are a classic example of the saying that if you take a text out of context what you are left with is a CON.  If we read the words of Jesus and the way that he spoke to the Syrophoenician woman, we could be forgiven for thinking that God was against those who were not Jews, as we see Jesus respond to a request from this outsider with the statement, “it is not fair to take the children's food and throw it to the dogs."  Spoiler alert; Jesus was not being derogatory.  There is more going on here and it can get lost in the translation.

 

 Have you ever been in the position where you were with a young child and you pretended that you didn’t know something so that you could prompt them to come up with the solution themselves?  I believe that this is what Jesus was doing with the Syrophoenician woman, and there are a few clues to this that we find when we look into the original language.

 

We’ve all been brought up with a world view.  It isn’t something we think about, but through our beliefs and experiences and the beliefs of those around us, we develop an assumption about how the world works and this becomes our world view.  Until we come to a point of contention, we generally assume that those around us hold the same world view.  Our first reading is from proverbs and this is something that the young Israelites would have been taught from the time they were tiny.  They shared a world view that God created the world and God especially cares for the poor.  They also knew that God chose them as his precious people.  As a nation, they had been the poor.  They had been enslaved and mistreated and dispossessed from their land.  God cared for them and chose them.   And from those ancient scriptures they also knew that God chose them as His precious people so that they would reveal to the nations, the goodness of God and a way of living that brings abundant life.

 

Through His people God revealed things such as; that a good character is more important than riches and that they would be blessed for sharing with those less fortunate.  In this He also taught them that God is on the side of the poor and afflicted.  This is the world view that all the Israelites were taught, but human nature is naturally inclined to be somewhat selfish and though these things about sharing and caring were taught, other ideas sprung.  Other ideas such as, “We are God’s people and we are the only ones He loves”.  I’m sure it was never said this way, and their scriptures refuted it, but it was very common that outsiders were referred to as the “Wild Dogs”.   Not so much meaning it the way it sounds to us today, but certainly stating that others were outsiders.

 

Into this society enters Jesus.  We know, from the many stories that we have about Jesus, that he was no respecter of peoples, but he was renowned for mixing with the types of people with whom the “Nice” people did not mix. Jesus did not show partiality – usually.

 

Jesus was in the region of Tyre and he was in a house, trying to lay low.  Perhaps because he knew that he had just offended the Pharisees.  The Syrophoenician woman knew what Jews thought of outsiders, however, she was desperate for healing for her little girl. 

 

It was common among the people of Jesus to refer to outsiders as “wild dogs”.  The Jewish and Israelite people knew it, and so did the outsiders.  I suspect that Jesus’ statement was to test both the Israelite listeners and the Syrophoenician woman.   It was the Israelite world view that they would receive salvation from God before it came to the nations, but sometimes they misunderstood that latter part, that they were to be a blessing to the nations.

 

It appeared that Jesus did show partiality.  And here is where I think Jesus was deliberately drawing out a response from all.  Those who were following Jesus, knew that he didn’t show partiality and they knew the scriptures that said that God cares for the poor, yet in their hearts they harboured an attitude that was common in the area… so common that this outsider woman didn’t object… she knew what was thought of outsiders – in fact the outsiders had their own opinions about the Israelites…. Equally as derogatory.

 

Our readings cause us to reflect on our own biases and behaviour.  How would it have tuned out if the Syrophoenician woman had taken offense at Jesus’ statement?  And what lessons and blessings might we be missing by taking offense in our own real-life situations?  And in what ways are we failing to be a blessing by operating within our own biases? 

 

Here before Jesus was a desperate woman, pleading for her little daughter.  The actual words that ANY Israelite would have said would have been, “It isn’t right to take the children’s food and give it to the dogs”.  But this is not actually what Jesus said.  That which is lost in translation, is that Jesus used a different word for dog… a word that implied a pet or pup.  In my mind, the gathering before Jesus is in a house, and I presume they were sitting around the table.  I presume they were eating something, and I presume that there were pet dogs and I presume that there were children.  I presume those dogs were hovering under the table, because they knew, that was where they would be given the best food.

 

Children don’t think of dogs as rubbish creatures.  Children adore and sometimes prefer dogs to people.  Those crumbs can be ones dropped by small children, or they can be choice morsels that the children offer the dogs.  Either way, I imagine that this is the scene taking place when Jesus utters his statement and deliberately infers beloved pets.  This breaks through the hardness of the listeners, showing them a picture of love and acceptance, where they previously held rejection, and most importantly gives the woman a picture to hang on to, from which she responds to Jesus, “Even the dogs under the table eat the children’s crumbs.”

 

The Syrophoenician woman was both a woman and an outsider – If Jesus accepted her and granted her request, then it was clear that God’s blessings were for all.   In the next scene the people bring a man to Jesus who is deaf and has a speech impediment.  He is most likely an outsider too.  The acceptance of the Syrophoenician woman opened the door to those who felt that they couldn’t ask for healing.  Where are we in this picture?  Are we feeling like an outsider, or someone who can’t ask God for healing?  Or are we those who treat outsiders with partiality?

 

Even if we have been in the church for all of our lives, there are times we feel like an outsider, who doesn’t deserve God’s blessings.  We pray… because it is what we do… but do we expect God to be involved in our lives and answer our prayers?  So often, we feel that those kinds of interactions are for other people, not us, but how would it impact us if someone, just like us, was to have God answer their prayers?  Would it inspire us to come more boldly to God?

 

This is what God wants.  God doesn’t want us to keep a respectful distance… he wants to be involved in our lives and he wants us to talk to him about absolutely everything.  After all, He sent Jesus… He came to us as God the Son…  to be one of us and to be among us. 

 

My mum has a beautiful friend, Mrs. Miller, who came to my sister’s wedding.  All mum’s grandchildren were there also.  At different times through the evening Mrs. Miller whispered to each of the grandchildren, “Gran told me that you are her favourite”.   In the same way, God, actually does have partiality, he is partial to you and you are His favourite.  Let me tell you, “Shh… YOU are actually God’s favourite!”  At the same time, so am I… that is God’s kind of partiality and the only kind that we can emulate – one where everyone feels that they are God’s favourite.  And when we are the favourite of the God of the universe, what impact will that have on our life?  For those who have grasped this reality it changes the entire trajectory of their lives.   You are God’s favourite – you can have access to God… not from afar, but as His favourite.  You are invited to respond now to this reality as I leave you with a moment to be in the presence of God.