2024 11 17 Proper 28 Pentecost 26
1
Samuel 1.4-20 - Song of Hannah - Hebrews
10.11-14, 19-25 - Mark 13.1-11
So
many times, through history, people have thought, “This is it – The beginning
of the end”. Are they wrong? We often laugh at them because we are still
here. But the truth of the matter is
that when these things happen and there is great unrest, it is the
beginning of the birth pangs. Those
times of unrest eventually give birth to change and new life, and the cycle
begins again. Perhaps like the waves of
labour pains.
In
our first reading, Hannah was experiencing great unrest. For a woman in those times, to give birth to
a son was everything. This was how a
woman would be secure in her older years.
She would be looked after by her son.
Hannah was loved, but she was barren.
This meant that her rival, Elkanah’s other wife, lorded it over Hannah
and caused her grief. All this grief
brought Hannah to her knees, quite literally and she cried out to God. The
answer to that prayer would bring about change, not just for Hannah, but for
the whole nation of Israel.
Jesus,
talking about the Temple, was very specific in alerting his companions to the
fact that it would be destroyed. The
Temple was destroyed in 70 A.D. by the Romans.
This would have been about 40 years after this conversation with Jesus
took place. The words of Jesus are reliable
and to be trusted, and when the disciples questioned him further, his first
words are a warning, “beware…., Many will come in my name and say, 'I am he!'
and they will lead many astray.”
When
Jesus began this conversation, it was because of the praise of the Temple and
the value that people had in the structure.
It was important that Jesus let them know NOT to trust in the structure,
the buildings etc.. including the traditions. He knew that change was coming, but also, he
knew that people were trusting in the form of religion and not the object… ie.
God. We need to beware, also, of putting
trust in structures and form. In fact,
we need to beware of putting trust in anything that is not God himself.
We
are warned that many will come in the name of Jesus, and will lead many
astray. Will we be one of the many led
astray? And how can we safe guard our
faith in God?
People
who are trained to spot counterfeit money, are highly trained in all the
qualities of the real money. They know
the real money so very well that any tiny little anomaly is quickly noticed and
the counterfeit is identified.
We can’t
ever know all those who claim to be Jesus but aren’t, so as to safe guard
ourselves against being led astray, but what we need to do, is to become so
totally familiar with Jesus, that we can quickly notice if anything is not,
“Jesus”.
Now
to do this, getting to know Jesus, we don’t do it by listening to our friend’s
idea of who Jesus is. We don’t do it by
listening to social media’s idea of who Jesus is. We don’t even do it by listening to
Australia’s greatest theologian. Let me
explain and qualify all of these; Because often our friends do help us to know
Jesus, and sometimes social media does help us to know Jesus, and even
Australia, or America’s, or the world’s greatest theologian, can help us to
understand and know who Jesus is, but nothing is better than, us
spending time in prayer and scripture reading.
Spending time with God himself, relying on the Holy Spirit, is
the best way to ensure we will not be led astray.
A
number of years ago, my friends from Brisbane, who were also doing theological
training invited me to attended a weekend intensive lecture with them. The lecturer was a priest from Sydney (I
think), who was supposedly a leader in his theological field. I won’t repeat the things that he was saying,
but he had my friends convinced. I was
pretty horrified, because it sounded a lot like heresy to me. He was a very learned man and he knew the
Bible, and spoke about things very convincingly. I took notes and discussed with my local
priest, and we both were totally convinced that the man was teaching
heresy. But my friends just thought he
was revolutionary.
Counterfeits
aim to be indistinguishable from the real thing. After a fair bit of talking, debating and
pointing back to scripture, my friends decided, maybe I was right but, them
believing me, doesn’t matter. Them
believing God does! None of us ever gets
everything correct about God all the time.
God is beyond our understanding, yet He has made himself known to us and
wants to be known, which is why he sends us His Holy Spirit. We also do need to continue meeting together
because we help each other know the truth.
You
will find counterfeit Jesus’ in other religions, in society, in cults, and new
age ideologies and unfortunately, you will also and more often, find the
counterfeit Jesus in the Christian church.
A
counterfeit Christ will always appear to be Christ. Like counterfeit money, it is hard to discern
unless you really know the real thing. A
counterfeit Christ will always promote a counterfeit Gospel. Our Gospel is such Good News, that it
is hard to comprehend – and therefore, somewhat easy for a false Christ to
infiltrate and twist. In our reading
from the Hebrews, we have the message of Good News spelt out clearly; “For
by a single offering he has perfected for all time those who are sanctified.”
Back
in the medieval times, this was something that became twisted by many false
Christs. Jesus’ dying on the cross was a
single sacrifice that makes us perfect in the eyes of God. Those who are sanctified are those who are
“set apart”, as the children of God - those who have been born again through
accepting the word of God. In other words, all of us here, and all who choose
to belong to Christ. That single
sacrifice of Jesus perfected us for ALL time!
The
Good News is that this means that we have unconditional access to God through
Jesus. False Christs in the medieval
times would say, you first need to pay some money, or you need to work at
something, or you need to pray through a Saint, or you needed to attend nine
services in a row, say five hail Mary’s… etc…
The medieval church denied the cross of its power but used its message
to give credibility to the belief that it formed in its own twisted image.
Traces
of these medieval church beliefs still linger. There are also superstitions where people might
carry – say a crystal for protection and healing. When we do these things, we show that we
don’t understand the Gospel. This is
what it means to fall from Grace… When we trust in something other than the
completed one sacrifice of Jesus. Do we
not realize that we have access to an omnipotent God who loves us? God sees us as perfect because of the one,
once and for all sacrifice of Jesus. He
cares about our cares. We have this all
in black and white in our Bibles.
When
Jesus spoke to his companions about the destruction of the Temple, he did so to
encourage them to have faith in God rather than the building. Hebrews also tells us, "This is the
covenant that I will make with them after those days, says the Lord: I will put
my laws in their hearts, and I will write them on their minds," and he
adds, "I will remember their sins and their lawless deeds no more."
This
is about the work of the Holy Spirit and the finished work of Jesus. This is the Gospel – the Good News. There is no longer a Temple to trust in, or a
priest to mediate, we are told that we enter the inner sanctuary, God’s
presence, by the blood of Jesus. Jesus
himself is the only mediator and high priest.
This
change, from a physical Temple, to complete faith in God, was part of the new
birth that Jesus ministry accomplished. It
relies on the work of the Holy Spirit in believers. It is the Holy Spirit that teaches us and
ensures that we are not led astray, and we as the body of Christ, all have
different gifts of the spirit, and we need to be working together. The world is currently incredibly restless
and full of ideology foreign to the Goodness of God. But we won’t be led astray, if we continue
meeting together and considering how we can encourage each other in love and
good deeds.
Our
world is in crisis. It is divided and in
chaos. In the midst of this, we need to proclaim
the Good News by offering that world love and good deeds because actions speak
louder than words. God has said through the letter from James, that “Pure
and genuine religion in the sight of God the Father means caring for orphans
and widows in their distress and refusing to let the world corrupt you.”
Our
challenge for this week is to encourage another person in love and good deeds,
and perhaps to consider what love and good deeds we can take part in also.
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