A SWORD WILL PIERCE YOUR OWN SOUL TOO Presentation of the Lord 2nd Feb 2025

 2025  02  02 Presentation of the Lord Year C

Malachi 3:1-4     Psalm 24     Hebrews 2:14-18     Luke 2:22-40

Can you imagine how bewildering it would be to have given birth and go to present your child in the temple, only to be stopped not once, but twice, with people declaring things about your child and his future?  Obviously, this was no ordinary child.

 

In the Jewish tradition, when a woman gave birth to her first born and that firstborn was male, they were to consecrate that child as holy to the Lord.  This comes from the commands of Moses and is written in the Old testament.  It says, Exodus 22:29 “Do not hold back offerings from your granaries or your vats. “You must give me the firstborn of your sons.  Do the same with your cattle and your sheep. Let them stay with their mothers for seven days, but give them to me on the eighth day.”

 

The reason for this was about remembering.  The people were to remember a particular defining moment in their history, because that defining moment was also a prophecy of their future.  That moment was when the people were slaves in Egypt and being so hard pressed.  Pharoh would not let the people go and so God sent the Angel of Death to take the first born of every womb, both animal and human.  However, the Israelites were spared if they had sacrificed a lamb and painted it’s blood over their door post as a sign to the Angel.  They were then saved by the blood of the lamb.

 

In the future, ever after that event, God wanted to let the people remember that the first born, who were the sign of the nation’s strength and future, belonged to him.  Israel had a future, only because of God’s great deliverance.  Therefore, the people were to give the first born back to God, mostly through giving as a sacrifice, but the sons were to be redeemed… or bought back by the sacrifice.  The first born was substituted for an animal or monetary payment.

 

This system of sacrifice, substitution and redemption would set up the understanding of our salvation.    Christ, the first-born son of God would be the sacrifice, substitution who would redeem us from the legal right that Satan had over us.

 

Our letter from the Hebrews explains this for us when it tells us that Jesus had to share in our flesh and blood so that through his death he might destroy the one who has the power of death   -  the devil.   We previously have lived our lives, unwittingly, in slavery to the devil, as those who followed our own ways instead of God’s.  It can be as simple as any time we are trusting in our own strength to save us, instead of trusting in God, because the Bible tells us that anything that is not of faith is sin, and it also tells us that everyone falls short of the glory of God.  And this all started at the beginning of time.  Everyone ever born has done this, and it is explained to us by our story of the garden of Eden.

 

Following our own ways and trusting in ourselves rather than trusting and believing the word of God is something we all do.  However, Christians strive to live by faith and trust in God.  When we aren’t trusting in God we are living as slaves to death.  Scripture tells us in Galations 2:19-20 “For through the law I died to the law so that I might live to God.  I have been crucified with Christ, and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself up for me.”

 We are finite and can not save ourselves beyond maybe an immediate situation… if that.  However, God has made a way to save for eternity.  It involves him redeeming us and it is through the substitution of Jesus’ life, given as a sacrifice for al of us.   Jesus could do this because he became one of us - yet did not sin.  He didn’t sin, not so much because he resisted temptation and didn’t do this or that,… but because he lived his life in complete trust and faith in God the father.  As Hebrews tells us; Therefore he had to become like his brothers and sisters in every respect, so that he might become a merciful and faithful high priest in the service of God, to make a sacrifice of atonement for the sins of the people.

 

The key to living right, is in living by faith and trust in God.  God knows that we will still sometimes fall…. And fall again, even while we are striving, so we are to remember that Christ has already made atonement for that sin…. we are free and no longer a slave to sin because we have faith and believe God.

 

The important question is; Do we believe God?  We can believe there is a God, but do we believe God…. Believe what he says… believe in his word?  Jesus is the word of God.  We are told in Hebrews 4:12”For the word of God is alive and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart.”

 

To believe God means that when God says, “Don’t eat the fruit from that tree”, we say AMEN…. And we don’t.   Why?  Because we believe God…. Completely! 

When God says, “don’t eat the fruit from that tree”, what does that mean for you?  What tree and what fruit is it in our lives that we are inclined to not believe God’s word about?

 

Mary is told that a sword will pierce her own soul.  Many have said that this refers to the sorrow that she would experience as a mother seeing her son crucified.  No doubt that was part of it all, but it seems to me that it is about more than this.  The prior sentence tells us about Jesus.  "This child is destined for the falling and the rising of many in Israel and to be a sign that will be opposed so that the inner thoughts of many will be revealed--and a sword will pierce your own soul, too."

 

“The inner thoughts revealed, and a sword will pierce your own soul too”.  The word of God is a two-edged sword, judging the thoughts and attitudes of the heart.  All of us and even Mary, need this sword to pierce our soul.  We need to be willing to allow God to reveal to us our thoughts and attitudes that need correction, if we are to live lives according to God’s will. 

 

In our first reading we are also told;  “he will sit as a refiner and purifier of silver, and he will purify the descendants of Levi and refine them like gold and silver, until they present offerings to the LORD in righteousness.”

 

Sometimes we might think being a Christian is just about believing that there is a God.  There is more to it than that.  Even Demons KNOW that there is a God.  Sometimes we might think that being a Christian is about giving thanks to God for sending Jesus to bring us eternal live.  It is!  But there is more to it than that.  Being a Christian means being filled with God’s Holy Spirit, who teaches us and refines us.  Sometimes we will feel incredible sorrow at the sin in the world and we will feel the pain of others, because this is what it means to be the body of Christ… we will feel his pain – and a sword will pierce your own soul.  Being a Christian is about believing God.  Believing what he says.  Believing what he promises.  It is about allowing that sword  - the word of God – to pierce our soul.

 

Baby Jesus was presented in the temple on the 40^th day, but the verses prior to our reading tell us about the 8^th day.  The eighth day is a huge day for any first-born Jewish son, as he is also circumcised on the eighth day.  literally, the child is cut and then purification time takes place and then the baby is presented.  Everything ordered by God is a prophetic sign declaring God’s message.  We too need that sword to pierce our soul and then we purify ourselves by believing God and then we present ourselves to God.  Here we begin the journey that God has planned for us.

 

God has a plan and a purpose for us.  Being a Christian means having that sword pierce our soul…. We are cut to the heart and have had our thoughts and our attitudes laid bare to God… we’ve brought them all to him in prayer.  In revelation brought about by that sword we realize our need for him and his salvation,  - we believe him, and now we present ourselves as his chosen people ready and willing to do his will and walk in that plan and purpose to which he has called us.   The Christian Church has become a small army.  We are being called to present ourselves in the temple…. Here we are Lord, we come to do your will.  Raise us up as a might army of the Lord.

We wait in hope for the Lord AUSTRALIA DAY 2025

 2025  01  26  AUSTRALIA DAY SERVICES –

 Jeremiah 29:4-14      Psalm 33:12-21      1 Thessalonians 5:12-24        John 8:31-36

It is great that we have this opportunity to take time to reflect on our nation, and especially to pray for our nation, as we come to Australia Day.  This is the land in which we are living, and our readings today, tell us a thing or two about the attitude we should have toward the land in which we are living.  The prophet, Jeremiah, was encouraging the Israelites who were in exile, but more than that, he was delivering the word of God.  A message for the people. And a message for us!

 

We get a hint, when it talks about the false prophets telling them what they want to hear, that at the time, many would have argued that this “Word”, was not what they wanted.  For those longing to be back in their own land, they were told that it would be 70 years before that would happen.  So, how old would you be by the time you could go home?  If you were 7 years old, you would be 77 years old.  The younger ones would not even remember their former home.  Their home in exile would be the only home they know, and many who were older would have been dead by the time of the fulfillment of the prophecy.

 

The word of the Lord was meant to be a redirect – to think on the future.  It was an exhortation to seek the prosperity of the land in which they were living, and to pray for it and to make their good life there.  However, while they were being blessed and prospering, rather than forgetting where they were from, God promised them a unique place of their own. A place that was truly their home, and God would take them back.  In the meantime, they would remember and declare that sentiment in the Psalm that we read; “We wait in hope for the Lord; he is our help and our shield.” 

 

The Israelites longed for the time when God would bring them back to their real home.  God wanted them to live their lives fully integrated in this land, but he also wanted them to remember that they were unique – His chosen people.  To do this they needed to remember who they were and where they came from…. Much like in a line from the Lion King.  The young Simba had left his family and friends in disgrace…. He remained in exile.  Sometime later he received this message, “Remember who you are”.  Simba was no ordinary Lion.  He was the son of the king…. The heir to the throne.  The Israelite people were also in exile, in disgrace.  They had turned their backs on God and had not followed His ways.  God had warned that if this happened, they would be sent into exile.  But now they were told that God had not forgotten them.  He would bring them back – eventually.  The message from God is always, “Remember who you are… and whose you are”.  This hope in God, kept them distinct as a people, and it kept them united and strong as a nation, though fully integrated in their new home.  Their hope kept them faithful, and it defined their identity.

 

This weekend we have a national holiday for Australia Day… On the same day is also Indian Republic Day, which I discovered is also a national holiday in India commemorating the adoption of the Constitution of India, and the country's transition to a republic which came into effect on 26 January 1950.  Since the beginning of Australia Day being celebrated, there has been some controversy.  Some will call it invasion day, as the day when the British flag was raised on January 26, 1788, at Sydney Cove, Australia by Captain Arthur Phillip. 

 

Australia Day, as a celebration, took place on July 30, 1915 as a fundraiser for World War I.  Then in 1935, The Australian Natives Association pushed for the celebration of Australia Day in every Australian state.  This men’s group desired to promote Australian heritage and idealism.  It was from their own perspective, of course, which was as native-born Australian citizens of European descent, but at that time, this group of people had no real identity…. No connection with the land of their ancestors, and unlike the Israelites in our first reading, no promise of a home of their own.  What would you have proposed as a way to give these people unity, identity, a hope and a future?

 

Whether we were born here, of first nations, became or born an Australian citizen, we are called to pray for the nation and work for the prosperity of the land.  As Christians, wherever we are, we are to live fully as citizens of that land, and we are called to be praying for that nation’s advancement. 

 

Regardless of any Ancestral nationality, all of us are actually a people in exile living in this land, regardless of whether it is Australian or anywhere else in the world, because we are the people of God, and our true home is in heaven.  The country song, Temporary Home by Carrie Underwood, says this, “this is our temporary home.  Windows and rooms that we’re passing through.  This is just a stop to where we are going.  This is our temporary home.”  We are like those young Israelites living in exile, and born in exile, never knowing their true home.  This place feels so much like where we belong.  We, like those Israelite people, need the word of God… the prophecy… to declare to each other who we are, and what is, our true identity.  We need to know that our Christian story is not just something for Sunday, but it is the truth that is truer than our temporary reality.  And we need to remind each other;  “We wait in hope for the Lord; he is our help and our shield.” 

 

Rex and I were in a taxi that seemed to be deliberately taking us the long way to a train station.  When finally dropped off, it was not the train station we requested but was at a train station that wasn’t working.  An elderly man was there also looking for a train.  A young man who worked there, explained the process to us all and walked us to the corner, showing us where to catch a bus.  At this point the elderly man said, he was going back to see his wife, but told us that he felt compelled, that he needed to tell us, that Jesus is coming soon.  

I must confess, I generally expect each year to roll much like the last one did, without much to write home about.  We proclaim the mystery of faith at every service that Christ will come again but tend to think it will be in the distant future.  However, this experience has challenged me to ponder whether our relaxed attitude, thinking we have plenty of time before Jesus comes, is really living like the bridesmaids who didn’t bring oil for their lamps…  (in our case thinking that we have plenty of time to go back to the market many times and buy more oil.). 

 

The early Christian Church didn’t fully live in their lands, praying for the nations and seeking it’s prosperity, because they believed that Christ was coming imminently – VERY soon.  We seem to have fallen into the opposite problem…. We think it is a long way off.

 

The Christian Church in many places is diminishing.  The lamp is growing dim.  But we are here now… filling our lamps with oil.  What can we do?  My grand daughter has become a fan of Frozen and knows all the songs from both the first and second movie and so I got to watch with her.  There is an important line in the second movie.  Anna thinks that her sister is dead, and she doesn’t know what to do. She feels grief and confusion and realizes that she doesn’t know very much and doesn’t know how to make things right.  What can she do in this time of confusion and grief?  she remembers someone advising her to simply “do the next right thing”.

 

We don’t have the answers to ease the pain of those hurting over the ways of our nation.  We don’t have the answers to solve the problems facing our church.  But we can do the next right thing, pray and seek the prosperity of our nation.  Proclaim the Good News, that there is hope in Jesus.  Our reading from the letter to the Thessalonians tells us to always rejoice.  We may feel more like lamenting, but even in this we are to give thanks in ALL -all circumstances and to pray continually.  We are to always strive to do what is good for each other and for everyone else.  And all THIS is God’s will for us in Christ Jesus.

 

We must not to quench the Spirit.  In 1606 Captain Pedro Fernandez de Quiros, a Catholic Portuguese seaman and explorer, was on a journey to discover the ‘mythical’ Great South Land and to claim it for Phillip III of Spain.  He actually landed on Vanuatu, but thought it was Australia.  He claimed that, and all land from there south, as the great South Land of the Holy Spirit.   Certainly, after my recent visit to the Island in south Vanuatu, it is evident that the Holy Spirit is alive, active and moving.  The whole time that tourists were on Mystery Island, the native band was singing Christian songs. Then when we attended the tour on the nearby Island of Aneityum, we all received a blessing from the elder before we left.

We have free will.  We are here in this land Australia.  If it is to be the land of the Holy Spirit, that requires us to intentionally use our free will to cooperate with God and pray for the Holy Spirit to move on us and in our land.  We are all called to be God’s prophets of hope, declaring to our nation the Good News of Jesus, and praying (prophetically claiming) this land we live in as the Great South Land of the Holy Spirit.  And our nation will then prosper and be blest, because blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord. (Psalm 33).

 

God knows our future and the future of our land.  He tells us that he has plans for us; plans to prosper us and not to harm us, plans to give us a hope and a future.  We live in faith, that Christ is coming, but until then we live fully integrated and pray for our nation’s prosperity and future.  Lord, send us your Spirit.  “We wait in hope for the Lord; he is our help and our shield.” 

Epiphany - Realizing the enormous implication of Christmas - He came for us ALL

 2025  01  05  Epiphany  (JAN 06)

Sadly, we can now take down our Christmas trees, but don’t worry, it is only 355 days until it will be Christmas again… and about 321 until you can put your tree up again.

 

We take our Christmas trees down, but I’m reminded of a line in the famous Charles Dickens, “A Christmas Carol” where the central character, Scrooge has had a change of heart about Christmas after his visits from the three Ghosts of Christmas past, Christmas present and Christmas future.  The quote is this; “"I will honour Christmas in my heart, and try to keep it all the year.  I will live in the Past, the Present, and the Future.  The Spirits of all Three shall strive within me. I will not shut out the lessons that they teach.”

 

Scrooge, through those visits to the past, present and future, was given a look at things as they were, are and might be.  In doing so, he attained a new perspective.  It would be very true to describe this new perspective as an epiphany.  He came to a brand new and wonderful realization.  According to the online dictionary, this is what Epiphany means;  a moment of sudden and great revelation or realization.

 

Today we celebrate the feast of the Epiphany.  This is the great and sudden revelation and realization that Christ came, not just to be the saviour and messiah for the Jews, but he also came for the Gentiles as represented by the Magi- The wise men from the East.

 

Who were these mysterious men?  It doesn’t actually say that there were three of them.  Over the years there have been speculations and stories told that took poetic licence, designating that there were three (probably due to the three gifts) and named them kings.  Certainly, these were learned men who were not Jews.  These Magi came from the East and they studied the stars.  After researching the various ideas and opinions about the Magi, it is acknowledged, and I agree, that the most reliable source of information about them is actually the Bible itself.

 

In the 6^th century before Christ was born, many Jews were carried off into exile in Babylon.  Remember the song?  By the rivers of Babylon?  Which is of course from the Psalm 137.  Well, this is the story or the song of lamentation when those people were carried off to Babylon.  At that time the King of Babylon was looking for some wise men to work for him and Daniel was one of those men and he became a leader among those wise men.  The story of this and more is in our Biblical book of Daniel. 

 

The Book of Daniel mentions others who were advisors to the King – calling them wise men and astronomers - Magi.  At this time there were a group of people, the Chaldeans, who had been absorbed into the Babylonian Empire, and they were famous for their fixation with the stars and planets.  They were quite brilliant and influential with other people groups who had been mixed into that empire.  Daniel was observed by the King and all others to be a person of outstanding understanding and wisdom.  When the King had a dream that the other wise men, who worshipped various other Gods, could not interpret, Daniel came to the rescue.  Unlike the other wise men, Daniel whole heartedly relied on God as the source of his wisdom and declared this openly.

 

The significant part of the Book of Daniel, for our purpose, is that an Angel appeared to him and declared many things about the Messiah and even the time when the Messiah would arrive…. Although it was in a kind of code that I don’t understand…. But Daniel did and so did those he taught.  This was all recorded and written down – which is why we have the Book of Daniel -  and it is assumed that these writings were common knowledge among those people who worked with Daniel – ie, the Magi (Wise men). 

 

Interestingly, there is a modern astronomer who researched the stars at the time that Christ was born.  His name is Rick Larson and he used NASA technology and discovered an extremely rare triple conjunction: The “king” star (Regulus) crossing the “king” planet (Jupiter) within the constellation of the lion (Leo), “king” of the animals.  This showed three astronomical aspects denoting King…   King, king, king.  Also interesting to note that the constellation of the lion has an association with the Kingly tribe of Judah.  The messiah was often referred to as the lion of Judah.   I can imagine with the knowledge of the prophecy from Daniel and the knowledge and study that this group of people had in watching the stars, this sign in the sky proclaimed to them that a King of Kings was near.  (https://www.oneforisrael.org/holidays/how-did-the-magi-from-the-east-know/)

 

This is all very interesting, but of what consequence is it to us?  Something so significant happened, that some of the wisest people on earth came looking for the King of the Jews.  Something so significant happened that there were signs in the heavens telling about it.  Which reminds me of Psalm 19 that says, “The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of His hands. Day after day they pour forth speech; night after night they reveal knowledge.…”  as they say – The truth is out there… it truly is. 

 

At that time the people who were outsiders…. Wise and trained in the prophecy, but outsiders none the less… these came to worship Jesus.  Our first reading prophetically tells us that “A multitude of camels shall cover you, the young camels of Midian and Ephah; all those from Sheba shall come. They shall bring gold and frankincense and shall proclaim the praise of the LORD.”  This was referring to those outsiders who would come to worship the Lord.  The Epiphany is when we celebrate the realization that God came to be the saviour, not just for the Jews, but for us also. …  the outsiders.

 

Now, today, we have been grafted in, to the family of God.  We are no longer outsiders.  We look forward to Christ’s return and pray that his kingdom come, knowing that His will be a rule like that described in our Psalm, which is acknowledged as a prophetic psalm about the Messiah; “In his days may righteousness flourish and peace abound, until the moon is no more.  May the kings of Tarshish and of the isles render him tribute; may the kings of Sheba and Seba bring gifts.  May all kings fall down before him, all nations give him service.”  Here again we also see the prophecy of him being brought gifts by outsiders.

 

There is just one more thing I want to make known to you; Jesus was born in Bethlehem, not far from Jerusalem, yet the “Insiders”, the Chief Priests and Scribes and the King of Judea, did not bring him gifts.  Some ignored, the other tried to kill him.  It was the outsiders who worshiped.

 

Christmas may be over for the year, but what has it meant to us?  Will we be like the Chief Priests and Scribes, with the knowledge of the truth, but not letting it affect us too much, or will we be like the wise men and worship, offering our gifts and our giftedness?

 

Scrooge promised to honour Christmas in his heart and try to keep it all the year.  This is the epiphany we need too.  Our eyes need to be opened to seeing the love of God and the incredible miracle of the fact that God became flesh.  There is no God like our God.  God became human and died and rose, so that we too could have eternal life.  He is our saviour.  Don’t miss the magnitude, by being so familiar with the story that we, like the scribes leave him to “do his own thing” in Bethlehem.  Let us determine to deliberately and with all our energy, follow the star, leaving homely comforts and connect with the life of Jesus… come and worship, and let us also promise to keep Christmas in our hearts all year round.