2025 10 12 Proper 23C Pentecost
Jeremiah 29.1, 4-7 Psalm
66.1-11, 2 Timothy 2.8-15, Luke 17.11-19
Saint Paul wrote to Timothy and told him; “Remember Jesus
Christ, raised from the dead, a descendant of David--that is my gospel, for
which I suffer hardship, …..”
Timothy was in charge of the Christian community in Ephesus. After being placed in charge, Paul tells him
to remember Jesus Christ…. How odd! How
could the leader of a church forget?
The central message of the Gospel is that Jesus Christ,
descendant of David, rose from the dead.
We all need to be reminded, not to get side-tracked in issues, ideas, or
superstitions, but we need to remember the Gospel message – which means that we
need to keep the main thing, the main thing, …and the main thing is Jesus! Jesus had a tracible genealogy. We know that he was a descendant of the famous
Israelite King, David, and he was born in the town of David, Bethlehem. His parents had travelled there to be counted
in the census as descendants of David.
In our modern world of fake news and A I generations, it is
important to know the truth. And most
important is the truth about Jesus Christ because Jesus Christ raised from the
dead, a descendant of David – is our Gospel. Unfortunately, the historical facts about
Jesus have been put into the “religion” category, therefore, largely ignored,
not taught and assumed by many to be nothing more than a myth.
I had not realized the extent to which people were unaware of
the history about Jesus until recently when someone on facebook told me that the
nearest DNA relatives to the Israelites are the Samaritans. I found this kind of funny, because anyone
who knows a little about the Bible, knows that the Samaritans were a mixed
breed of the Jews, from when they went into exile. This very thing is what Jeremiah is talking
about when he tells the people to live in the cities in exile, mixing with the
people and working side by side with them for the good of the city. The facebook commentator’s point was that
there is no validity to the nation of Israel.
I find this incredulous when the bible is full of genealogies and the
race of Israel can be so perfectly traced.
In fact, the term “Semitic” comes from the son of Noah – remember Noah
was the one who built the ark – he had a son called Shem and it is from this
line that the Israelites came.
Jesus’ earthly existence has been verified. He was written about by historians - not just Christian ones. Why is it the year 2025? It is assumed to be 2025 years since the
birth of Christ… the birth of Jesus.
An essential element in our Gospel message is to know that
Jesus was a real person in history. He
was a man who walked this earth. Another
essential element of our Gospel message, is to know that Jesus rose from the
dead. Jesus was both man and God, and
the implications of him dying on the cross and rising from the dead, means that
the message of Jesus is reliable. We are
loved by God, and our life has an eternal purpose. The resurrection seems incredible; however,
the Bible tells us that Jesus appeared to over 500 people after he rose from
the dead, and those were still alive when this fact was written about – those people
could, and did, testify to that fact.
Many of them were put to death, in an effort to stamp out that fact or to
make the witnesses deny that fact, but they didn’t deny him.
Saint Paul quotes a faithful saying; “For if we died with Him, we shall also
live with Him. If we endure, we shall
also reign with Him. If we deny Him,
He also will deny us.
If we are faithless, He remains faithful; He cannot deny Himself.”
The early church knew the saying and they knew what it meant
and they refused to deny Christ and the truth. Many were faithful unto death.
How strong is our faith?
Can we remain faithful to God even if great persecution were to come
against us? The early Christians were
put to death for their faith. It is in
this environment that Saint Paul exhorts Timothy to keep the main thing the
main thing. Jesus Christ who is both
God and man, died to take away the sin of the world and he rose from the dead,
declaring victory over death and eternal life for those who are the children of
God – you and me.
Through our baptism we become children of God. It is an actions that declares our response
to the Gospel and through it we are united to Christ. Therefore, we have died with him, and we will
also live with him. But it doesn’t stop
there. If we endure, we will also reign
with him. Baptism begins our spiritual,
eternal life, and it doesn’t end with death.
There is a future that we yet don’t know, but if we endure, we will also
reign with Christ.
In our baptism it is a little like the story of the ten
lepers. In our baptism we are declared
the healed children of God – we are healed from the spiritual consequence of
sin. All the world is offered this
healing. Some respond and come to be
baptised…. And all those who are
baptised become the children of God. So
very loved and cherished by God.
One leper, out of the ten, came back to give thanks to
Christ. The other nine were also healed
but I guess we could say that they forgot to keep the Main thing, the main
thing. They were faithless, but God was
still faithful – they were healed. Being
faithless is different to denying. But
it can be a slippery slope if we forget to keep the Gospel message central.
The people of God are to continue being faithful to God. The people of Jeremiah’s time, had just
gotten on with living their lives, distracted from the remembrance of the great
things that God had done for them. They
didn’t become faithless overnight… but gradually as they let the word of God slide
more and more, until they reached the point where they had been faithless, and
were involved in practises that a faithful child of God should not be involved
in. The consequence was that many in the
nation were taken into exile. They were sent
into exile and at that time Jeremiah reminded them to keep the Main thing, the
Main thing. God is still God and is
still in control. Whether they were in
their own land or taken into a strange land to live, they were to be faithful
to God… but what’s more, they were called to be blessed and be a blessing to
that strange land. The word of the Lord
through Jeremiah to those people was; “multiply there, and do not
decrease. But seek the welfare of the
city where I have sent you into exile, and pray to the LORD on its behalf, for
in its welfare you will find your welfare.” Multiply, seek the welfare of the city and
intercede to God on it’s behalf.
Every child of God is called to be an intercessor for their
town – and country. Every child of God
is called to seek the welfare of their town, and every child of God is called
to be fruitful and multiply. For us as
church, that means that we should continue to grow, continue to work with our
community for the good of the town and PRAY for our town. We must also keep the Gospel message
central. Jesus Christ was raised from
the dead. This is no small thing, and I
suspect that many people in the generation growing up now don’t even know this
Main Thing. How can we help them to
know?
Jesus Christ rose from the dead. He was so well and truly dead, that when they
pierced his side with a sword, blood and water came out. That was the Friday. By Sunday he had risen from the dead. Christ has died. Christ IS risen. Christ WILL come again. This is what we declare at every eucharistic
service, and we mustn’t lose sight of how mind blowing this is. More than mind blowing in itself, is the
implications of this reality for us. We
are all offered forgiveness, the spiritual consequence of sin is taken away and
we become children of this God who healed the sick and raised the dead…. And we
are told that we will reign with him. I
feel like we all just need a moment to contemplate this…. We are children of
God and heirs with Christ…
Christ has died and Christ is risen…. This is where we live –
in this reality. This is the Main thing,
and he also sends His Holy Spirit to fill us and empower us. Children of God we are now, through our baptism.
Heirs with Christ we will be, if we endure.
One day Christ will come again. No one knows the day or time, but Jesus, who
rose from the dead, declared it, and so we believe. So, what are we doing today? Are we the returning healed leper, giving God
thanks? Are we being faithful stewards
of the spiritual gifts that he has given us?
Tough times may be upon us, but God has great things planned
for our future with him. In the
meantime, work and pray for the prosperity of our town. Be blessed in this, and keep the MAIN thing,
the main thing…Jesus Christ rose from the dead – This is our Gospel.
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