Easter 6 A 14th May 2023 - Unconditional, Eternal Love and Acceptance

EASTER 6A  14^th May 2023 

Acts 17:22-31  •  Psalm 66:8-20  •  1 Peter 3:13-22  •  John 14:15-21

 

“Now who will harm you if you are eager to do what is good?” This an exhortation from Saint Peter, and I’m sensing a continuation of last week’s theme where we are encouraged to go bravely into this world doing good.  Regardless of opposition.

 

Here, in Peter’s letter we are encouraged that no one should be harmed if they are eager to do good.  We are encouraged to do good in our community….in the church, and in our town and country.  We are God’s people and God has said that, through His people that the nations will be blessed.  We bring God’s blessing to our town and nation, and we don’t do this passively.  It is something that we need to be actively involved in.  There shouldn’t be any fear in us to do good, but as we know, sometimes discouragement and persecution does happen.

 

Peter goes on to say, “But even if you do suffer for doing what is right, you are blessed. Do not fear what they fear, and do not be intimidated, but in your hearts sanctify Christ as Lord.” In this, Peter is acknowledging that the world does not always operate the way that it logically should.  No one should be harmed for doing good.  And the saviour of the world should not have been crucified by the people He came to save… but He was.

 

In the time between the resurrection and Pentecost the disciples were encouraged, but frightened.  This is the kind of message that they needed… go out and do good… no one should harm you for that, so be confident. I’m wondering if we are also like the pre-Pentecost timid disciples -or are we a church operating in post-Pentecost power?

Regardless of where we are at, those to whom Peter was writing were needing encouragement to have resilience in the face of persecution, because persecution was a fact of those early Christian’s lives.  All this is recorded and passed down to us for a reason; We too are like those disciples, called to be a blessing to our nation and we need to be encouraged to live with such conviction and assurance, that when persecution comes to us, we can also continue doing good.

 

When we resiliently continue to do good and people take notice of the different way that we have responded, even while under pressure, they will want to know why.  Saint Peter tells us; “Always be ready to make your defense to anyone who demands from you an accounting for the hope that is in you;”

 

Peter adds that we need to do this with gentleness and reverence.  He tells us this, because in the face of persecution, injustice and discrimination, our natural and sinful self may not want to tell them of the love of God, but instead tell them…. Well probably something not HELPFUl!  Instead, we need to be always respectful, with gentleness and reverence.

 

An example; very seldom, but probably once every couple of years, someone will be verbally abusive to the Street Chaplains.  The last time this happened was just a couple of weeks ago and it happened to me. This particular night the lady continued to hurl abuse at me, regardless of assurances that we were just trying to help, so I stopped engaging in the conversation.  The police actually heard her tirade and arrested her.  Others standing by made comments to me that we don’t deserve that kind of treatment. 

 

These other people witnessed our innocence.  We weren’t thrown by the abuse, although, honestly it is upsetting.  We need to understand that there are some who will be reacting to our presence for all kinds of reasons which may be unknown to us.  If we stay calm and continue to reach out in love, we show ourselves to be different.  And people witness something different about a group of people who claim to have a relationship with God.  Whatever the outcome, our conscience is clear.   To respond, rather than react, is certainly easier in our Chaplaincy setting than it may be in other scenarios, because we have a partner and a team to back us up.

 

Other than having a team to back us, we have an assurance of the acceptance of God.  Though others might reject us, we are loved and accepted by God who created the heavens and the earth.  God who came down to our earth, lived among us and died for the immense love that he has for each of us.  That very fact, is something that we all need to know most definitely and rest in.  You.. are so very loved and completely accepted by God. 

 

The Holy Spirit came at Pentecost to the disciples and they were changed from encouraged, though frightened, followers of Christ, to courageous and confident proclaimers of the Good News of Jesus Christ.  What did the Holy Spirit do in those people to bring about this change?  I believe that when that third party of the trinity came to dwell with the disciples, they understood that they were so very extremely and unconditionally loved by God, and that love of God, reassured them, such that they were truly set free.  If God is for us, who can be against us.  What can humankind do to us?  We can’t lose, because no matter what happens we are in the presence of God and he is constantly loving us.  Like a proud parent, he pats us on the back to encourage us to continue to fight the good fight.

 

Saint Paul was one who had been persecuting the church and then he met Christ in the blinding light on the road to Damascus and he was a completely changed man.  Well, kind of.  You see, Paul was a very educated and clever man and he was zealous for God in his persecution of the church… he was equally zealous in his conversion, at proclaiming the truth of the Gospel.

 

Saint Paul lived in the reality of God’s love.  He had experienced overwhelming forgiveness and love.  Saint Paul understood the love and acceptance of God.  He was accepted and loved despite all his flaws and prior life mistakes.  This gave him the confidence to proclaim the message of salvation.

 

Being the intelligent person that Paul was, he didn’t go into a new city, like a bull at a gate, proclaiming that he had the truth and they needed to listen.  Well… not quite anyway.  This time we find Paul in the centre of activity.  The Areopagus was a court of philosophers in Athens which had authority over religion and morals.  I can just imagine him entering that town and wandering around gathering ideas, praying, asking God to give him the words and the way, to reach these people with the Good News of Jesus Christ.  As he wanders, he notices the monuments to the gods and sees the one to the unknown God.  Suddenly the penny drops and he knows just where to start.

 

Saint Paul compliments the people on how religious they are and directs their attention to the monument to the unknown God.  From there he declares to them to one true living God. 

 

Saint Paul tries to be all things to all people.  He looks for common ground and uses what they already believe, as a starting point, and he uses their own poetry that declares we are the offspring of God.  Paul tries to get along with people, yet he doesn’t water down the truth and he doesn’t compromise the message of salvation.

Each year we celebrate Easter, and for nearly 2000 years Christians have been speaking of the resurrection.  As Christians, it is central to our faith and outsiders often know it is part of our faith.  However, have you ever wondered what it was like for those early communities hearing this message?  What?  People can’t be crucified and raised from the dead?

 

The followers of Jesus came with a message of the Good News about God who loved the world so much that he sent his son to die for our sin.  If God is all powerful… powerful enough place the sins of the world onto the son and then to raise him from the dead, then we need to take seriously the message of salvation.  It was a controversial and powerful message from the start.  There was no theological musings about the metaphorical meaning in rising from the dead… it was presented as a straight out fact, and it proved the message of salvation.  People were assured of God’s forgiveness for their sins because Jesus was raised from the dead.

 

Just to expand one area of the Good News, if it says that Christ suffered for sins once for all, it means that absolutely everything that could keep you from God, has been atoned for.   There is NOTHING keeping us from the love of God… except possibly ourselves.  We always have free will and so, we can freely choose to live our lives apart from God.  However, we need not carry any guilt or feel that God would be disappointed in us… he is not. 

 

Jesus tells us that if we love him, we will keep his commandments.  His command is always love.  He loves us and desires for us to remind each other of how much they are loved by him.  He also desires that we show the world that God loves them.

 

Through the Holy Spirit, God is always with us.  How often are we aware of God with us?  Our Gospel reading reminds us that God abides with us and is in us.  He will never leave us and because he is with us  - united to us - our eternal live has already begun.

 

In this time, between Resurrection Sunday and Pentecost, we reflect on how essential is the gift of the Holy Spirit in order for us to actually live the life that God has planned for us.  We so need and pray for a fresh outpouring of the Holy Spirit in our lives.  Not everything will be easy or without harm, but when we are filled with the Holy Spirit, the love of God is in our hearts and we can live the adventurous life that God destined us to live… a life of experiencing and sharing the love of God.  We can march to a different drum, take the road less travelled and our Spirit filled, eternal life has begun.

A Glimpse of Heaven and nothing else matters

FIFTH SUNDAY OF EASTER    Year A   May 7, 2023

Acts 7:55-60  •  Psalm 31:1-5, 15-16  •  1 Peter 2:2-10  •  John 14:1-14

A glimpse of heaven.  How would it impact us if we had a vision of Heaven and saw the glory of God?  Stephen, the church’s first martyr, is not the only person to have had a vison of the glory of God.  If you google search glimpses of heaven, there are some incredible stories of experiences telling of the love of God.  I imagine from what we know of God, a vision of Heaven would be an experience of surprisingly thorough love and acceptance.

 

In contrast to that love and acceptance, is our experience on planet earth.  Once upon a time children being called nasty names would reply, “Sticks and stones may break my bones, but names will never hurt me.”  In our modern times this is never quoted in the playground, as our generation has realized the power of words and the lasting impact that these make.  Children who are told all their lives that they are stupid will often grow up believing that they are not very capable.  And on the flip side is the story of Thomas Eddison.

 

The story goes like this; “One day, as a small child, Thomas Edison came home from school and gave a paper to his mother. He said to her "Mom, my teacher gave this paper to me and told me only you are to read it. What does it say?"

Her eyes welled with tears as she read the letter out loud to her child ...

"Your son is a genius. This school is too small for him and doesn't have good enough teachers to train him. Please teach him yourself."

Many years after Edison's mother had died, he became one of the greatest inventors of the century.

One day he was going through a closet and he found the folded letter that his old teacher wrote his Mother that day. He opened it ...

The message written on the letter was "Your son is mentally deficient. We cannot let him attend our school anymore. He is expelled."

Edison became emotional reading it and then wrote in his diary:

"Thomas A. Edison was a mentally deficient child whose mother turned him into the genius of the Century." A positive word of encouragement can help change anyone's destiny.”

 

Similarly, rejection and acceptance are powerful in our society.  This is one of the basic things we try to teach our street Chaplains.  Our acceptance of people on the street conveys love and, most importantly, the love of God.  Recently I saw the movie, The Jesus Revolution, where this openness to accept the hippies gave rise to the revival in the church.

 

But I also need to talk about the negative side; Rejection, because, unlike St. Stephen who was stoned to death, rejection is how most of us will experience persecution.  In Jesus’ day the aspect of rejection was just as powerful as it is today.  People followed Jesus or rejected him, sometimes based on the opinions of those around them.  Peer pressure is powerful.  The Pharisees had rejected Jesus and so Nicodemus came to Jesus under the cover of night.  It was a crowd, a mob, who called out “crucify him” when Jesus was on trial.  Did they all really reject Jesus or were they just scared of being rejected themselves?  And on Palm Sunday, did they all follow and accept Jesus, as they cried, “Hosanna” or were they wanting to belong… to be accepted themselves…. And not rejected. 

 

We still tend to go with the loudest voice.  Our society’s values have been largely shaped by the media and those voices who make us feel that we might too be crucified if we disagree… well, maybe not crucified, but certainly rejected.

 

Rejection is powerful.  What we witness in our readings, is that once we know we are loved and accepted by God, we can then overcome the power of rejection in our lives.  We see this in Saint Stephen.  In fact, St. Stephen, showed no fear at all!  It is quite probable that the key to nullifying the fear of rejection is to understand and experience the unconditional acceptance we have in Christ.  As the Bible tells us, perfect love casts out all fear.  This is the love we need to experience in our relationship with God.

 

I hope and pray that none of us ever have to face violent persecution for our faith such that we are stoned to death, but we already face the name calling, discrimination and other kinds of persecution.  Recently, a muso friend of mine, who has recently become a Christian, was doing a gig.  He said that it was going really well… people were enjoying the music, and he was enjoying being the entertainer.  As he finished, he said something to the effect of, “May the good Lord, Bless you all”.   Within a very short space of time, he received a call from his manager to say that the venue manager never wanted him to perform there again due to his speaking about God.

 

We are sometimes called flat earthers… even though we are not, and when I worked as Youth Worker in the Anglican school in Cairns, the teenagers informed me that I hated gays because I was Christian. I had never and would never say anything of the kind, and even have some gay friends.  Rejected and judged quite wrongly, but all because we bear the name, Christian.  But should we justify and explain?  We could, and there is a time and a place to do so, but to some extent we need to quote that old playground rhyme; Sticks and stones will break my bones but names will never hurt me….  And we need to do a Taylor Swift and “Shake it off”.  As Taylor says, “haters gonna hate, hate, hate, hate… I’m just gonna Shake it off… shake it off.”  And we are called to do more than this… to love.

 

Our letter from St. Peter tells us again, what we already know, that Jesus was rejected.  We should understand that we, as his followers, are bound to be rejected sometimes.  Saint Peter tells us that Jesus is the cornerstone that the people rejected, but the stone that God has chosen and we being his people need to become stones like him, built onto that corner stone.

 

But what gives us the power to Shake off the pain of that rejection?  It isn’t the exhortation from Taylor or even that childhood rhyme.  The power to shake it off comes from knowing that God has chosen us and to know the acceptance and love of God through Christ.

 

And here is where it gets tricky.  We can be told that God has chosen us and that God loves us so much that he sent his son to die for us, but we need to receive it, and experience it for ourselves, for it to have any impact in our lives… and even that is easier said than done if all we have experienced in our church family and in our world is rejection.

 

In our Gospel reading we have Jesus talking about going away to prepare a place for us.  This is the most common reading for funerals because it indicates that there is something beyond the grave and a place for us in the kingdom of God, but possibly the more important part of this reading, for the purpose of our discussion, is when Philip asks Jesus to show them the father.

 

“Jesus said to him, "Have I been with you all this time, Philip, and you still do not know me? Whoever has seen me has seen the Father.  How can you say, 'Show us the Father'?”

 

Jesus is making it clear that He and the father are one…. He is in the father and the father is in him… the mystery of the deity as trinity is puzzling, but one thing is certain; the unity of the Father and the Son is such that if you have experienced one, you have experienced the other.  The disciples had experienced Jesus and knew that they were loved by him.  Jesus said there was a place for them in the Kingdom of God and they knew that because Jesus loved them and accepted them, God the father also loved and accepted them.

 

Many years ago, I was part of a group of young adults who worked together to put on an event called Youth Encounter.  The guest speaker was a man called Mike Nelson.  As part of the organising committee we got to know Mike really well.

 

Mike was a regular speaker with the international Bible school Capernwray.  At one of his speaking engagements, I heard him speaking about love and how he didn’t find it easy to love people so he deliberately prayed that God would help him to love people with the love of God. 

 

In about 1999 Mike Nelson died.  He had long struggled with an hereditary liver disease and he passed away during an operation to try to prolong his life.  It came out among the comments after and during the funeral, that people generally had the sense that God loved them, because they felt Mike loved them.  There was this strange sense of God’s love in the relationship that we had with Mike.  I would say, God well and truly answered Mike’s prayer and, though he may have been largely unaware of it, God loved people through Mike and his willingness to be a vessel of God’s love.

 

Likewise, others can feel rejection or God’s love through us.    Through the Holy Spirit we can allow the love of God to flow and show in our lives – through our actions and words.  I really do believe, like Mike Nelson, that most of us need to pray for God to love through us.  We are not naturally able to be loving and show the love of God… in fact sometimes God’s love might have boundaries.

 

When we are on Street Chaplaincy, the challenge is to always be loving, but this sometimes means we need to be firm and tell someone, in as caring a way as possible, that their action needs to stop… and even sometimes we may add that if they don’t stop, we will need to call for police help.

 

Loving with the love of God can not be achieved very effectively in our own strength.  On the flip side, even when we are unaware of it, if we are asking God to love through us, he will most certainly do so.  He will do so because this is His will.  He wants to love and work in and through us.  This is the work of the Holy Spirit.

 

We have this promise of answered prayer through the words of Jesus in our Gospel reading; “Very truly, I tell you, the one who believes in me will also do the works that I do and, in fact, will do greater works than these, because I am going to the Father.  I will do whatever you ask in my name, so that the Father may be glorified in the Son.  If in my name you ask me for anything, I will do it.”

 

We know that amazing things happened after the Holy Spirit came on the disciples, but the question is; are we seeing these things today?  We desperately need to see these promises of Jesus realized in our day and age… and the key is the Holy Spirit.

 

The disciples, after the resurrection were joyful, but still fearful.  They hid away and prayed behind closed doors.  At the coming of the Holy Spirit everything changed.  Through the Holy Spirit they experienced for themselves the love of God and they knew the total and sure acceptance of God.  The Holy Spirit taught them this … taught their hearts, not just their heads.

 

It was Saint Stephen, full of the Holy Spirit, who saw the vision of heaven…. And through that same spirit he, full of the love and acceptance he had in God, could intercede for those who were stoning him saying, "Lord, do not hold this sin against them."

 

It is not a natural thing to be able to show the genuine love of God, and continue in unconditional love for our persecutors, but it is possible and even natural when we are filled with the Spirit of God.  It is more than likely that there will be times ahead when there will be more rejection and even persecution for those who follow Christ.  How will we respond?  How are we responding now?  Sticks and stones may break our bones, but names will never hurt us when we are totally secure in the love of God and surrounded by a loving Christian community.

 

As we journey to Pentecost, we reflect on our need for the out pouring of the Holy Spirit in our lives, in our church, and in our community.  There is a world of people out there who are desperate for the indescribable love of God.  May we be like Saint Stephen in the face of persecution, declaring the vision of Heaven and lavishing love on those in our world.

May our eyes be opened and hearts burning within us Easter 3A

                                 EASTER 3  Year A   April 23, 2023

Acts 2:14a, 36-41  •  Psalm 116:1-4, 12-19  •  1 Peter 1:17-23  •  Luke 24:13-35

 

We may be a long way from Christmas, but it might be worth pondering the word, “Emmanuel”, meaning “God with us”, as that theme is really what God is all about.  God wants to be with us.  It is why he sent the son and in our Gospel story today, just when they thought that Jesus was gone and they were probably also feeling the sentiments of Psalm 22, “My God, my God why have you abandoned me, they discover that Jesus is with them again.

 

 “On the road to Emmaus” is a story and a phrase that has inspired countless people over the centuries and it has inspired the movement, that we know as Cursillo, others know the movement by another name, the “Emmaus walk”.   So, what is it that was going on as these two disciples travelled to Emmaus?

 

The main characters are Cleopas and another unnamed disciple.  You may recall that there was a lady named Mary, the wife of Clopas mentioned in our Easter readings, as the one who was at the crucifixion with Mary the mother of Jesus.  It is possible that Cleopas and Clopas are the same person and it is suggested that he was a relative of Jesus, possibly his uncle.

 

It is even suggested that these two disciples are Cleopas and his wife.  They were possibly on their way home after spending time comforting Mary.  Whatever the situation was, the important thing is that they encountered Jesus.  Initially, they did not recognise him for his true identity, but saw him as a fellow traveller on the road.  They couldn’t help but be talking about all that had been happening, as it was central to their lives as Jesus’ disciples, but they didn’t recognise Jesus as the one who was walking with him.

 

Is it possible to be a follower of Jesus and not truly recognise him? 

 

Today’s readings urge us to reflect; Jesus has said, what we do to the least of “these”, meaning other people, we do to him….  Have we failed to recognise Jesus in others?

 

But, on a more basic level, is it possible that we don’t recognise that Jesus is with us, at all?  Certainly, Jesus does walk with us, as he promised to always be with us through his Holy Spirit, but we don’t always sense him there.  Many times lately, I’ve heard people say that they attended a prayer meeting, retreat, or service and “God showed up”.   What do we expect?   Of course, he showed up, after all, God is always with us and the point of our meeting is to reflect on and become aware of his presence with us.  God is with us always and this is His desire.  He wants us to be aware of His presence; Emmanuel. 

 

The disciples met Jesus in the flesh.  We often think that this gave them an extra advantage in knowing Jesus, but it seems it could be possible that this may also have been a stumbling block.  They knew Jesus the man who performed miracles and irritated the pharisees.  If this Cleopas was actually the relative of Jesus, then he even knew Jesus, the baby, toddler and young boy.  Sometimes there are basic things that create a presumptions and get in the way of us seeing the deeper reality and we miss the truth.

 

We all can be guilty of this.  We base our reality on what we have experienced… it is only natural, but we need understand that our experience and that of every other human is limited.  We need to find our reality in something that is bigger than us, beyond us, and more true than us… we need to base our reality in the one who said he is the way, the life and the TRUTH. 

 

The two disciples were on the road to Emmaus talking about how Jesus had been crucified and discussing that some of the women had claimed Jesus had risen from the dead.  Based on their limited experience, they were undecided as to whether or not this was something to believe.  On the positive side, Jesus had raised Lazarus, a widow’s son and a young girl from the dead and had healed many.  On the negative side, people weren’t usually risen from the dead, and the people who Jesus raised from the dead did not die the violent and extreme death that Jesus did.  Also, if Jesus had that kind of power, why would he have gone through allowing himself to die on the cross?

 

Now, in the light of this logical thinking about Jesus, we can understand why Jesus said to the disciples, “Oh, how foolish you are, and how slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have declared!  Was it not necessary that the Messiah should suffer these things and then enter into his glory?" Then beginning with Moses and all the prophets, he interpreted to them the things about himself in all the scriptures.”

 

We have our own understandings and presumptions about Jesus.  If we were born into a Christian family or attended a Christian school, we might know quite a lot about God and think that we pretty much know all that there is to know about him.  In my experience with children who I have taught singing, and those that I was involved with many years ago with school based retreats, state school student have been a whole lot more open to hearing about Jesus than private school students.  And some of those Religious Instruction teachers did a mighty fine job in laying the ground work.  So, what is going on?

 

I fully support and acknowledge the good in having private Christian schools, but it simply can be a fact that some of those students feel that they know all there is to know about God because they have had this particular education.  Maybe we need to teach them the Jewish theological understanding about God… and that is that we could study God all our lives and never know more than a microscopic, tiny fraction about God…. But if we want to know and try to know, God is pleased.

 

What are your thoughts about Jesus’ opinion of the Pharisees?  They were the religious leaders… the experts.  And their arrogance in thinking that they knew more about God than the others, led to many of them missing the coming of the Messiah – AND actually crucifying him.

 

There are some things that needed to be understood about Jesus.  Firstly, he was indeed the Messiah.   This is part of the message from Peter to the Jewish people as he preached on the day of Pentecost.  How would you feel to be in their shoes?  They were the very ones who crucified Jesus.

 

Secondly, but most importantly, as Peter explains, "Therefore let the entire house of Israel know with certainty that God has made him both Lord and Messiah, this Jesus whom you crucified."

God made him both Lord and Messiah.  God made Jesus, Lord.  He gave him every authority and we know from Saint Paul’s letter to the Philippians that God has given Him a name that is above every other name, that at the name of Jesus every knee shall bow, in the whole universe and every tongue will confess that Jesus the Messiah is Lord.

 

There is a very important aspect here, that we in our lives, need to also acknowledge Jesus as both Messiah and Lord.  We know that Jesus came to die for us and bring us back into an unconditional relationship with the father, but have we bowed to the Lordship of Christ?  Have we acknowledged that Jesus is the Lord and King… the authority in our life?

 

The Israelites to whom Peter was speaking reacted to Peter’s message by being greatly convicted and asking what they must do to be saved.  Now, understand that these were potentially good, law-abiding citizens.  They were being told that they were responsible for crucifying the author of life because they didn’t recognise him – and they agreed, that this was correct.  They got it wrong and crucified an innocent man… the Messiah. 

 

The Holy Spirit convicted them and they repented.  Repentance is not just a feeling of sorrow for doing something wrong, but more correctly, it is to change your mind.  To repent is to change our thinking from being centred around justifying our actions, to then do a complete turn around and agree with God, that we actually are a people who need his grace, mercy, forgiveness and love.   The Good News?  That is what God does… lavishly he gives us grace, mercy, forgiveness and love.

 

The question is, do we still fail to recognise Jesus?  Where do we expect to meet Jesus?  At that prayer meeting, retreat or service?  Good…  we will… but remember, he is always with us.  And guess what?  We also meet Jesus in the most unlikely of places.  Remember, he is a friend to sinners and people of ill repute.

 

Recently there was a scripture from Jeremiah that struck me.  It was about those who trust in flesh not recognising the hand of the Lord when he came to rescue.  I think the same goes for everything.  If we place Jesus as both Lord and Messiah in our lives, we will begin to recognise Jesus in the places where we would once not have expected, and we will know that the presence of God is always with us…. Just sometimes we don’t notice it as much as other times.

 

Most importantly, we need to have our own Emmaus walk experience, where we speak honestly with Jesus about our faith and our doubt and ask Jesus to open our eyes so that we see him.  We acknowledge and agree with God that we need a saviour, a Messiah, and submit to the Lordship of Christ.  He promised to send his helper, the Holy Spirit to lead us into all truth – God with us always.  May we know his presence, feel his presence and trust in his presence and love beyond all our own understanding and may our hearts burn within us with the affirmation that we know the truth.

 

EASTER SUNDAY 2023 What if God was one of us???

In the year 1995 a song hit the charts, What If God Was One Of Us, by Joan Osbourne.  These words are part of the song: If God had a face what would it look like? And would you want to see -If seeing meant that you would have to believe -In things like heaven and in Jesus and the Saints - And all the prophets?

 

Today is a good day to ask those same questions.  Would you want to see if seeing meant that you would have to believe?  How would it impact your life if you were to meet the risen Christ in the flesh?

 

Our Gospel reading tells us that the two Mary’s went to look at the tomb.  There was a violent earthquake, as an angel of the Lord came and rolled back the stone, and the guards were afraid.  The angel begins with a typical Angelic greeting, “Do not be afraid”. 

 

The angel announces that Jesus had risen from the dead, just as he had said that he would.  Risen from the dead?  What does that mean?  What does it mean for us in the year 2023?

 

There are many things about our faith that are difficult to believe, but if we believe the resurrection, we understand that God is powerful and can do ANYTHING.  Some try to make sense of resurrection within our human limitations, imagining that Jesus was only partly dead and recovered.  But this was a man who was so very dead that while on the cross, instead of the soldiers breaking his legs to ensure his death, they found him already dead.  Therefore, just to be really certain, they pierced his side and blood and water came out.

 

Now, they say that this water is a sign of the pericardial effusion- The capillaries leak watery fluid into the tissues and this results in a build-up of fluid around the heart and lungs. However, what all this says to me, is that Jesus gave absolutely all his life for us.  He shed all his blood and he was most certainly, beyond any shadow of a doubt, dead.  A friend recently reminded me of the Mel Gibson movie, The Passion, and how it left her so disturbed.  She remembers there being SO much blood.  Jesus’s death was horrific and after all that, they pierced his side, how could it be that he was then alive on Sunday morning?  What do we believe happened?  Is it something worthy of belief? 

 

It is a fact that Jesus was born and lived.  This fact and the fact that he worked miracles, is recorded by non-Christian sources and most notably by the Jewish historian, Josephus.  I wish that this was taught in every school as the most important part of history because so much of our society has been impacted by Jesus.  Our naming of the year, is proof of Jesus’ reality.  We can call this the 2023^rd year in the common era, rather than the year 2023 AD – Anno Domini meaning of our Lord…** meaning 2023 years since the birth of Jesus Christ, - We can deny this fact by calling it the common era, but we still need to ask the question of what happened in history to have the years named this way.  And the answer is, that the years were counted from the time that Jesus was born.  Many people in 2023 don’t think about or even realize this fact, and most believe that you can believe in Jesus if you want, or not believe if you don’t want.  This is silly.  It is like saying you can believe in the sun if you want… or not if you don’t want.

 

We do believe in Jesus.  More than that, we believe he was more than a good moral teacher, more than a legendary, historical figure, and more than a wise leader.  We believe that he is who he claimed to be, the Son of God, the Messiah - the Saviour who died to redeem us -to buy us back.  But wait… there is more.

 

It is important that the angel was the one to roll the stone away.  The fact that there was no miraculous saving of Jesus from the cross left many wondering if Jesus was indeed approved by God.  Jesus had been condemned to death – pretty much by the church, and crucified as a criminal for claiming equality with God.  An angel from heaven rolled the stone away as an important sign that Jesus was indeed the victorious Messiah.  He achieved His earthly mission and was innocent of any crime.  He is the rightful King of heaven, approved by God the father. 

 

We began our service today with many readings telling the story of mankind from the fall through to the miraculous exodus of God’s people out of Egypt.  This is important, because these tell the story of why we needed a saviour, and how God had prepared the way and always knew that he would send us his son.  The exodus of God’s people from Egypt is more than a record of an event, it is a prophetic sign of what Jesus would do.  In the book of Exodus, God’s people living in Egypt were desperate to be saved from their slavery and at the climax of that story, they were saved from the angel of death by the blood of the lamb.   A perfect lamb was sacrificed and the blood of that lamb was placed over the doorway.  The Angel of death passed over the households where the blood was found. 

 

This event tells us the significance of the Messiah’s sacrifice.  Jesus became that lamb of God during the feast of Passover and was sacrificed for us.  Jesus’ blood covers us and saves us from death…  Spiritual death, and most importantly from the second death, which is eternal separation from God. 

 

While the very real life and existence of Jesus is a fact, we may think that the resurrection is a matter of faith, however, there were eye witnesses.  It is quite reasonable to weigh up all the facts and the testimonies and make an informed decision for believing in Christ and the resurrection.

 

You may be familiar with Anne Hegarty from the show, The Chase.  She is a devout Christian who claims that she looked into the evidence for the Christian faith, she admitted: “I couldn’t come up with any arguments against it.” She states , “For me, the most important bit about Christianity is when Jesus says: ‘I am the way, the truth and the life.’ I keep focusing on the word ‘truth’. Some people believe things because they find them comforting, but… I have to know that this stuff about Jesus actually happened. And I do believe it happened – because you couldn’t make it up. It seems so plausible to me.”

When Anne meets people who don’t believe, all the arguments do is strengthen her faith, because “I know that I can defend it… in my mind, Jesus is the incarnate God -God in a human body – that’s central and essential to me.”

 

It is only natural that we will struggle to understand some elements of our faith, because God is supernatural and he is beyond our comprehension.  That this God should be so concerned with us, that he would suffer and die for us, is phenomenal! ….and today, pondering the resurrection, we are challenged to ponder the implications.  Do we accept the greatness of God?  Do we acknowledge that Jesus rose from the dead… not as a ghost, but bodily rose?  The tomb was empty and no body was found.  What does this mean for us, other aspects of our faith, and what does it mean when we contemplate God’s ability to intervene in our life?

 

Those women at the tomb experienced something incredible…. So incredible that not all the disciples believed them.  It wasn’t the fact that it was women telling them about the resurrection that caused their doubt, but simply that this was somewhat hard to believe.

 

”The women hurried away from the tomb, afraid yet filled with joy, and ran to tell his disciples. Suddenly Jesus met them. “Greetings,” he said. “

 

The tomb was the place of death and the women were running from it.  They were afraid, yet joyful.  These were a people where death was a fact of life.  It isn’t death that they were afraid of, but life, and all that a resurrection might mean for the future of their life, their religion and their own personal understanding of life.  As Joan Osborne puts it, would you want to see, if seeing meant that you would have to believe?

 

It is worth our reflection.  This abundant and eternal Life that Jesus brings us, means to change and move from the known, familiar and comfortable, to a new way of thinking about faith, a new unknown way of being.  It can be quite frightening to embrace the resurrection because we need to move on from who we were and become who God is calling us to be.  The old ways are the tomb… it may be familiar and comfortable, but it isn’t where life is.

 

Face to face with Jesus, the women fall at Jesus’ feet and worship him.  Change is inevitable.  They have met the risen Lord, they will never be the same again.  When we encounter the risen Lord, it is inevitable that we become changed also.  Something inside us comes alive.  It is the Holy Spirit of God, who moves us.  It is exciting, but also a little unsettling and a little frightening.

 

For us who have been Christians for some time, we are still changing as we continue to experience the risen Christ.  “Jesus said to the women, “Do not be afraid.  Go and tell my brothers to go to Galilee; there they will see me.””

 

The angel said, “Do not be afraid”, and Jesus said, “Do not be afraid”.  In spite of our fear, we are encouraged also, to not be afraid.  Today we are called to respond to the resurrection of Jesus, the Son of God. 

 

Just as the women were called to go and tell the brothers to go to Galilee, where they would see Jesus, we are called to tell others the truth about the resurrection… the truth about Jesus, and invite them to places where they can also meet the risen Christ.  Don’t be afraid, but continue to be changed by living in the reality and presence of the risen Christ.  Know that the same power that raised Jesus from the dead lives in us by the Holy Spirit.  How amazing is that!  I suspect we don’t yet realize a fraction of the amazing life that God has in store for us.

 

Very soon we will have a renewal of our Baptism vows.  In baptism we are united to Christ.  We are the children of God and we rejoice in the gift of the Holy Spirit.  God lives in us. The risen Christ, with the power of the Holy Spirit is with us, and if God is for us, who can be against?

Jesus has risen from the dead and that power of God is in us through our baptism.  Jesus came and died for us so that we might have life and have it to the full… in the ever after but also in the here and now.   God’s desire is to truly bring us to life… here and now, as individual people, but also to bring life and goodness to our church and community.  May we live in this reality and celebrate it this day, for Christ is risen, Alleluia.  He is risen indeed, alleluia, alleluia.

It Is Finished.... But the story isn't ! Good Friday reflection 2023

Good Friday 2023 April 7

The story is not finished.  We stop for a while to strive to grasp all that has happened and try to comprehend what it means.  We do this naturally, when significant things happen to us.  We must pause and take stock before continuing, and this is what we do today.

Today is a day most holy.  We are remembering a sacred and significant event, of such extreme, far reaching and eternal significance, that if you try to perceive it, you can almost sense all of nature taking pause.  But the story is not finished.

On the cross Jesus said, “It is finished”.  The Greek word written in our Bibles which has been translated, rightly, as “It is finished”, is Tetelestai.  This is something we might cry as we reached the top of Mount Everest, or reached a destination that we had to work hard to achieve.  It is a victory cry.  Mel Gibson in his movie, Braveheart, cried “Freedom”, as they killed him.  It was a victory cry that claimed ultimate victory, as his spirit was not something they could take, even if they killed him.  Jesus’ victory cry is “Tetelestai”, “It is finished”.  The story is not finished.  Jesus is not finished.  Yet the victory cry of Jesus was, Tetelestai – It is finished.  Why was this his victory cry?

Jesus’ life had a specific central purpose.  There were many things that Jesus achieved and many wonderful things that he did.  There were many restored relationships with God and there were people who were healed and even raised from the dead, but there was something that Jesus needed to accomplish… something more specific and central to the purpose of Jesus.

Jesus came to be the Lamb of God.  Jesus came to be the sacrifice to atone for our sin.  But why?  Why did he need to do this?  Why was it necessary?

God created us and gave us free will.  An incredible gift of God!  He gave us autonomy and independence and gave us every good thing.  However, not only the very first man, Adam, but every one of us since, has chosen to try to be our own god – controlling our own destiny.  In doing so, we have brought back the chaos that existed before God’s spirit brought order.  And, we have unwittingly been bowing down to the one who rules this world – Satan, and been following him and his ways.  Without God’s intervention, we belong to Satan.  And we need to be, “Redeemed”… a word that we hear often, but may not realize that it means, “buying back”.  It is about God buying us back after our allegiance was unwittingly given to Satan.   (MERCY WALKED IN)

I belong to a number of different groups of people; church, school, dancing, basketball and Street Chaplaincy… to name a few.  It doesn’t matter what group I go to, there are people who don’t get along.  That is natural, as we are all different, but these people sometimes try to control others to a point where the friction causes real pain and destruction.  This is sin. 

Adam and Eve sinned because they disobeyed God’s command not to eat of the fruit of a particular tree… that tree was the knowledge of good and evil.  They wanted to be like God and be able to judge what was good and what was evil for themselves.  Pretty much, this is the fruit of that same tree, which causes conflict today.  We disagree with each other about what is good and evil, but we all declare ourselves to be like God and have the authority, able to make the judgement.  

As life seems to be becoming more complex and stressful, many, many more people are declaring themselves the experts of their own destiny… but unfortunately others stand in their way, as that destiny interferes with their own.  We feel it is our right to be able to do all that we want, regardless of real or perceived barriers, and we fight for those rights… but they are often at odds with someone else’s rights.  More and more people are angry with each other and hurt by each other and disillusioned by this changing world where everyone’s world view is different.  People are actually more and more becoming confused to the point that they are becoming depressed.  What, after all, is the meaning and purpose of life?  And that dark chaos, which exists in the void of God’s Spirit, becomes glaringly obvious and prevalent.

We need help.  We need a saviour.   Jesus is the lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.  Being crucified, submitting to humanity for a crime that is ours, not His, was not an easy thing for Jesus to do.  Jesus is the Son of God… but God incarnate … taking on human flesh and limiting himself, so that he felt all the things we feel and can understand all that we experience… yet He is without sin.  None of us can be good enough to reach heaven… or be acceptable to God.   But Jesus is… and he redeemed us, paid the price of sin for us, by dying on the cross.   Jesus was baptised – emersed, into the sins of the world and, as the perfect human, he took the sin of the world to the cross.  

Unlike us who try to justify and blame, Jesus remained silent and accepted a life sentence that he didn’t deserve…. He was crucified for claiming to be the Son of God. – the truth.  We, by our actions and sin, show that we too claim to be God – This is what was the fruit of the tree in the garden of Eden.  The irony of it, is that Jesus rightly is God, but he took the punishment for us – for the humans, claiming god status, and for love of us, he accepted death on the cross.  This atonement for our sin was Jesus’ ultimate goal… not that he enjoyed it at all – but with one last effort he cried the victory cry, proclaiming to all the spiritual powers and principalities, “Tetelestai!  It is finished.”

Jesus achieved his life’s objective in taking upon himself the punishment that should have been ours.  We all have sinned and need to know that Jesus washes us clean by his sacrifice.  Tetelestai… It is finished !  However, the story isn’t finished.

The Greek tense for this word Tetelestai, is apparently in the perfect tense, which implies that when Jesus cried out "It is finished," he meant "It was finished in the past, it is still finished in the present, and it will remain finished in the future."  The Good News for us all is that this is accomplished once and for all.  The purpose, is so that there is now nothing standing between us and the love and acceptance of God…. And there is more to this story…

The story isn’t finished because we will celebrate the resurrection on Sunday, but also the story isn’t finished because the story needs to become a reality in our life.  A great preacher once said, “Jesus didn’t come to earth to atone for your sins”.  It sounded like the preacher was speaking a heresy and a complete contradiction to all I have just said, but wait for the rest of what they said;  Jesus came to bring us life.  For Jesus to bring us life, he needed to deal with the sins of the world. 

Scripture tells us that Jesus came so that all who believe in him might have life. Scripture also says that, those who received him, those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God— children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband’s will, but born of God.  

Jesus came to bring us life.  However, to do this he needed to make atonement for our sin.  How do we respond to this?  John the Baptist called people to repentance.  To turn from their sin and to be baptised as a sign of their new way of life.  God has given everything to us and God the son has given his life.  Can we surrender our will and our lives back to God?  Can we use our free will to submit to the will of God, our king and saviour?  Can we admit that we don’t know what is truly Good and Evil, and be willing to trust in God’s better judgement, striving to trust him and his ways?  Can we give all that we are to God?

Today, take some time to reflect on the love that God has for you. So much love that, if you were the only person on this earth, Jesus would have gone to that cross just for you.  Imagine you have a stone in your hand.  It has a little weight to it.  Just like our sin, it can weigh us down.  The stone represents us, our sin, our burdens and our will.  It represents both the good and the bad, all that we are and all that we hope for.  

In a little while we will carry in a cross.  You will be invited to come to the cross for your own reflection… and at that time you will be invited to pray, to thank Jesus for his sacrifice and you can, if you like, take your stone, which represents all that you are, all that you have – those burdens, the failings and your hopes and dreams.   You are invited to lay it all at the cross – to give it all to Him, who gave all for you. 

In the land of the Holy Spirit, there was a valley of dry bones.... Reflection for Lent 5 A

LENT 5 A  March 26, 2023

 Ezekiel 37:1-14  •   Psalm 130  •  Romans 8:6-11  •   John 11:1-45

 

In the land of the Holy Spirit, there was a valley of dry bones, there was a people in exile, in a land they called their own.  These are the beginning lines to a song I wrote some time ago.  Australia was once named the Great South land of the Holy Spirit.  Australia, literally means south land. 

 

It was Captain Pedro Ferdinand de Quiros who, upon discovering what he thought was Australia, declared, all the land from that point to the south pole to be called the southern land of the Holy Spirit.

 

As Christians, this extra tag, “of the Holy Spirit” has captured our desire to see this country secure in the hands of God.  We live in the area of the Whitsundays - literally the feast of Pentecost.  It may have just been the feast that fell when this part of the coast was mapped and named, but the naming of a place has great spiritual significance in the culture of the Israelites, the people of God.  So, we too, look for the land to fulfill its spiritual destiny.

 

Is this something that you’ve ever considered?  In the naming of our land, our country and our particular area has a spiritual destiny and that destiny is good!

 

In Australia, and indeed in the world, there is great unrest.  Authority is criticized, and those who have been leaders have not always led with the long term good of the country in mind, but instead they have sometimes made decisions with vested interests to keep their own political standing secure.  To be a leader of a country is a tougher gig than I would like, and we are told in scriptures to pray for our leaders, with good reason.  We need to pray to support ALL our politicians – regardless of whether they are our preferred party.  We should pray for their strength and health, their courage and integrity, and that God will gift them the wisdom to see the long term effects of their actions. 

 

In Australia currently, we are divided over many things.  I am not here to have a political view and hope that you understand I am not taking one side or the other, but want to point out an underlying spiritual condition, which is, that people on ALL sides are feeling grief, and this is a spiritual matter about which we can pray.

 

This grief is not contained to one issue… there are many, many political issues – and COVID truly magnified the divides. These issues leave many feeling that they just don’t fit.  It also leaves many feeling too scared to voice their true opinion for fear of the response.  When this happens, we should be aware that something is going very wrong.  But how do we respond and how do we feel about it all?  Are we feeling that we are just getting too old for all this?  Do we feel worn out with despair?  Decaying, exhausted, despondent…. Dry?

 

In the land of the Holy Spirit, there was a valley of dry bones, there was a people in exile, in a land they called their own. 

 

But listen to what God says to Ezekiel (37:3-6) in the valley of dry bones;  He said to me, "Mortal, can these bones live?" I answered, "O Lord GOD, you know."

Then he said to me, "Prophesy to these bones, and say to them: O dry bones, hear the word of the LORD.  Thus says the Lord GOD to these bones: I will cause breath to enter you, and you shall live. I will lay sinews on you, and will cause flesh to come upon you, and cover you with skin, and put breath in you, and you shall live; and you shall know that I am the LORD."

 

What is it that we need from God to bring us back to life?

 

Is it possible that we are feeling that God doesn’t truly love or even care for us… ?  Do we need a revelation of his love for us? 

 

I suspect Martha and Mary felt this way.  They and we probably justify Jesus’ silence.  We may say, “it’s my own fault… my own failing….”  Or, “there must be good reasons for the delay in God showing up, surely.”  In the case of Lazarus, he lived near the town where they tried to stone Jesus to death.  It is understandable that Jesus might not be able to come to see his dear friends.   I suspect this was in the minds of Martha and Mary… and even Lazarus as he lay sick.  These people believed in Jesus.  These people believed he was the Messiah and they loved him.  They submitted their will and desire to the greater good of the ministry of Jesus and accepted that he had a better reason for not attending to their needs…. Yet it must have still caused them grief that Jesus delayed in coming to them.

 

It is in this Gospel story that we find the shortest and most powerful verse in the Bible; “Jesus wept”.  Why did Jesus weep?  Jesus knew that this story was going to have a happy ending.  He told his disciples two days prior that this illness was NOT going to end in death. 

 

How would you be feeling if you had the power to raise the dead and you knew that resurrection was going to happen?  …..

In our human arrogance we would more than likely be very centred on our own role in the story and the final outcome and the joy that would ensue.  Jesus could have been filled with excitement thinking, “Just wait until they see what I’m going to do,” but this is not the case.  Jesus weeps. 

 

When you are overcome with emotion it isn’t always easy to explain why.  Within all the reasons for Jesus’ tears, is this thing called empathy – feeling what we feel.  We know that Jesus was the ultimate example of compassion and mercy, and we know that Jesus had compassion and even his own human love for this family.  However, do you recall the words of the Christmas song, Once In Royal David’s City, the lines: “And he feels for all our sadness and he shares in all our gladness” ?  This is empathy; to feel the emotions of another as if it was our own.  Jesus feels our sorrow and it breaks his heart.  He acutely feels our grief.  In our growing faith and understanding of God, we should realize that we need to grow in being like Christ and that means we need to grow in empathy also.

 

As we ask God to help us express his heart for humanity, we surprisingly find that we can feel the grief of our enemy and have compassion.  Can you imagine that?  And when it comes to taking sides of an argument, we become aware of the underlying concerns and grief of others. 

 

In reality, we are all like the iceberg.  In pictures of an iceberg we see that there is a peak above the water, but the majority of the iceberg is actually below the surface, hidden from view.   Most of our disagreements and even political ideologies are simply the visible peak.  Why we feel these things, and have these understandings, is rooted deeper.  Some of these things are rooted in deep grief. 

 

A great example of this, is a meme that appeared on my facebook page.  The explanation read, “Tonight I frustrated someone while driving.  They followed me to the gas station and had a few choice words for me.  I was really unsure what I did wrong.  I began to ask if he was ok and what was wrong and if there was anything I can do to make him less angry.  There was nothing I did driving that could make him this angry… something else had to be going on.  He stormed off and I wished him a good day.   45 minutes later I came out to my truck where I found this note that read, “I am very sorry.  My mother just passed away and my emotions are not right.  Please forgive me.”

 

I suspect much of the anger we are noticing is actually grief.  We need to pray that God gives us an understanding of his love for us and for others.  We need healing…. and then we need compassion and empathy to be able to reach out in love to all.  We can’t continue in this climate of anger.  This anger, this grief is causing a sickness…  We are exhausted in striving to be alive, when, under the surface, we are actually worn out.  Some might even say, we feel that all that is left of us is dry bones.

 

Lazarus was in the grave for four days.  This is significant because it was believed that a deceased person’s spirit remains around the body for up to three days after death before departing.  Lazarus was in the grave four days.  This means that it was one day beyond hope of any resurrection.

 

Have you ever come across someone who, in the grief that has been theirs in this life, seem to be one day (or many days) beyond hoping in God’s salvation?  Perhaps it is you who is feeling one day beyond hope, even now? 

 

To proclaim hope…. To feel hope…. To have empathy and compassion for others… we need God.  This is not something that we can just do.

 

We believe in life after death… but what about this life?  On the mount of Olives there is a cemetery.  It is placed there because of the trajectory of the prophesied Messiah and the prophesy of Ezekiel and the dry bones.  It is believed that because of this placement, these souls will be the first to rise from the dead.  You see, God’s word has many fulfillments and God’s people buried there, believed in the resurrection of the dead… on the last day.

 

Martha and Mary believed this and they informed Jesus of their belief that their brother would rise at that time.  Jesus is the resurrection and the life.  ALL who come to him though they die, they will live.  What are your feelings about this statement?

 

Though we die, if we come to Jesus, we will live.   Though we feel that we are past the years of enthusiasm… past being filled with joy and energy for living, Jesus comes and rolls away the stone over our heart and calls, “Lazarus, come out.”  Lazarus means “God is my help”.  We can’t inject life into ourselves… we need God to help us… to do for us, what he did for Lazarus, and bring us to life.  This is the will of God.  This is something that God desires for all of us.

 

If we have the Spirit of God, we have God’s life in us.  Romans 8:11 tells us this; “If the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised Christ from the dead will give life to your mortal bodies also through his Spirit that dwells in you.”

 

We may be liturgically two weeks away from the crucifixion and resurrection, but in reality we are nearly 2000 years after the event.  There have been many revivals over the years, and many different moves of God, but I get the sense that many Christians in the world are feeling a little like they’ve been four days in the grave.  Many are feeling like it is getting too hard to make sense of our modern world in the light of the Gospel.  We ARE a caring people and we don’t want to offend anyone, but how can we proclaim Christ and the Good News in our modern world, in a way that is true and relevant?

 

Do we realize that this is also how the disciples felt in those days following Christ’s resurrection?  Peter was acutely aware of his failing, and Thomas, who we notice in this story, was willing to go and die with Christ, had doubted the resurrection.  They were fearful of the authorities, but they did what they could and they got together and prayed.  God helped!  God sent His Holy Spirit.  God showed up and filled them with life, with enthusiasm and courage.

 

The word “enthusiasm” comes from the Greek word “entheos” which means the God within.  Surely a sign that we are filled with God’s Spirit ought to be that we are an enthusiastic people.  An enthusiastic person is one who is invested… it is the opposite of apathy.  An enthusiastic person is a caring person. 

 

It seems to me that we need a fresh breath of the Spirit being outpoured in our lives.  God’s people need to stop siting in their rockers, wishing for Jesus to come back quickly, and instead hear the word of God.  And I declare these words as prophesy over us;

 

Thus says the Lord GOD to these bones: I will cause breath to enter you, and you shall live. I will lay sinews on you, and will cause flesh to come upon you, and cover you with skin, and put breath in you, and you shall live; and you shall know that I am the LORD."

 

This is our prayer… That God breathe on us… that the Spirit come from the four corners of the earth and bring us the life that God intends for us.  Bring us to life.  Come, Lord Jesus.  Come Holy Spirit.