Don't be led astray :-) Proper 28, Pentecost 26 Year B 17th November 2024

2024  11  17  Proper 28 Pentecost 26

 

1 Samuel 1.4-20 - Song of Hannah -  Hebrews 10.11-14, 19-25 - Mark 13.1-11

 

So many times, through history, people have thought, “This is it – The beginning of the end”.  Are they wrong?  We often laugh at them because we are still here.  But the truth of the matter is that when these things happen and there is great unrest, it is the beginning of the birth pangs.  Those times of unrest eventually give birth to change and new life, and the cycle begins again.  Perhaps like the waves of labour pains.

 

In our first reading, Hannah was experiencing great unrest.  For a woman in those times, to give birth to a son was everything.  This was how a woman would be secure in her older years.  She would be looked after by her son.  Hannah was loved, but she was barren.  This meant that her rival, Elkanah’s other wife, lorded it over Hannah and caused her grief.  All this grief brought Hannah to her knees, quite literally and she cried out to God. The answer to that prayer would bring about change, not just for Hannah, but for the whole nation of Israel.

 

Jesus, talking about the Temple, was very specific in alerting his companions to the fact that it would be destroyed.  The Temple was destroyed in 70 A.D. by the Romans.  This would have been about 40 years after this conversation with Jesus took place.  The words of Jesus are reliable and to be trusted, and when the disciples questioned him further, his first words are a warning, “beware…., Many will come in my name and say, 'I am he!' and they will lead many astray.”

 

When Jesus began this conversation, it was because of the praise of the Temple and the value that people had in the structure.  It was important that Jesus let them know NOT to trust in the structure, the buildings etc.. including the traditions.  He knew that change was coming, but also, he knew that people were trusting in the form of religion and not the object… ie. God.  We need to beware, also, of putting trust in structures and form.  In fact, we need to beware of putting trust in anything that is not God himself.

 

We are warned that many will come in the name of Jesus, and will lead many astray.  Will we be one of the many led astray?  And how can we safe guard our faith in God?

 

People who are trained to spot counterfeit money, are highly trained in all the qualities of the real money.  They know the real money so very well that any tiny little anomaly is quickly noticed and the counterfeit is identified.

 

We can’t ever know all those who claim to be Jesus but aren’t, so as to safe guard ourselves against being led astray, but what we need to do, is to become so totally familiar with Jesus, that we can quickly notice if anything is not, “Jesus”. 

 

Now to do this, getting to know Jesus, we don’t do it by listening to our friend’s idea of who Jesus is.  We don’t do it by listening to social media’s idea of who Jesus is.  We don’t even do it by listening to Australia’s greatest theologian.  Let me explain and qualify all of these; Because often our friends do help us to know Jesus, and sometimes social media does help us to know Jesus, and even Australia, or America’s, or the world’s greatest theologian, can help us to understand and know who Jesus is, but nothing is better than, us spending time in prayer and scripture reading.  Spending time with God himself, relying on the Holy Spirit, is the best way to ensure we will not be led astray.

 

A number of years ago, my friends from Brisbane, who were also doing theological training invited me to attended a weekend intensive lecture with them.  The lecturer was a priest from Sydney (I think), who was supposedly a leader in his theological field.  I won’t repeat the things that he was saying, but he had my friends convinced.  I was pretty horrified, because it sounded a lot like heresy to me.  He was a very learned man and he knew the Bible, and spoke about things very convincingly.  I took notes and discussed with my local priest, and we both were totally convinced that the man was teaching heresy.  But my friends just thought he was revolutionary.  

 

Counterfeits aim to be indistinguishable from the real thing.  After a fair bit of talking, debating and pointing back to scripture, my friends decided, maybe I was right but, them believing me, doesn’t matter.  Them believing God does!  None of us ever gets everything correct about God all the time.  God is beyond our understanding, yet He has made himself known to us and wants to be known, which is why he sends us His Holy Spirit.  We also do need to continue meeting together because we help each other know the truth.

 

You will find counterfeit Jesus’ in other religions, in society, in cults, and new age ideologies and unfortunately, you will also and more often, find the counterfeit Jesus in the Christian church.

 

A counterfeit Christ will always appear to be Christ.  Like counterfeit money, it is hard to discern unless you really know the real thing.  A counterfeit Christ will always promote a counterfeit Gospel.  Our Gospel is such Good News, that it is hard to comprehend – and therefore, somewhat easy for a false Christ to infiltrate and twist.  In our reading from the Hebrews, we have the message of Good News spelt out clearly; “For by a single offering he has perfected for all time those who are sanctified.”

Back in the medieval times, this was something that became twisted by many false Christs.  Jesus’ dying on the cross was a single sacrifice that makes us perfect in the eyes of God.  Those who are sanctified are those who are “set apart”, as the children of God - those who have been born again through accepting the word of God. In other words, all of us here, and all who choose to belong to Christ.  That single sacrifice of Jesus perfected us for ALL time!

 

The Good News is that this means that we have unconditional access to God through Jesus.  False Christs in the medieval times would say, you first need to pay some money, or you need to work at something, or you need to pray through a Saint, or you needed to attend nine services in a row, say five hail Mary’s… etc…   The medieval church denied the cross of its power but used its message to give credibility to the belief that it formed in its own twisted image.

 

Traces of these medieval church beliefs still linger.  There are also superstitions where people might carry – say a crystal for protection and healing.  When we do these things, we show that we don’t understand the Gospel.  This is what it means to fall from Grace… When we trust in something other than the completed one sacrifice of Jesus.  Do we not realize that we have access to an omnipotent God who loves us?  God sees us as perfect because of the one, once and for all sacrifice of Jesus.  He cares about our cares.  We have this all in black and white in our Bibles.

 

When Jesus spoke to his companions about the destruction of the Temple, he did so to encourage them to have faith in God rather than the building.  Hebrews also tells us, "This is the covenant that I will make with them after those days, says the Lord: I will put my laws in their hearts, and I will write them on their minds," and he adds, "I will remember their sins and their lawless deeds no more." 

 

This is about the work of the Holy Spirit and the finished work of Jesus.  This is the Gospel – the Good News.  There is no longer a Temple to trust in, or a priest to mediate, we are told that we enter the inner sanctuary, God’s presence, by the blood of Jesus.  Jesus himself is the only mediator and high priest.  

 

This change, from a physical Temple, to complete faith in God, was part of the new birth that Jesus ministry accomplished.  It relies on the work of the Holy Spirit in believers.  It is the Holy Spirit that teaches us and ensures that we are not led astray, and we as the body of Christ, all have different gifts of the spirit, and we need to be working together.  The world is currently incredibly restless and full of ideology foreign to the Goodness of God.  But we won’t be led astray, if we continue meeting together and considering how we can encourage each other in love and good deeds.

 

Our world is in crisis.  It is divided and in chaos.  In the midst of this, we need to proclaim the Good News by offering that world love and good deeds because actions speak louder than words. God has said through the letter from James, that “Pure and genuine religion in the sight of God the Father means caring for orphans and widows in their distress and refusing to let the world corrupt you.”

 

Our challenge for this week is to encourage another person in love and good deeds, and perhaps to consider what love and good deeds we can take part in also.

Just be brave and Jump! Proper27 Pentecost 25 Year B 10th November 2024

2024  11  10  Proper 27, Pentecost 25 B

 

The readings today bring our attention to three widows – Naomi and her daughter in law, Ruth, and in our Gospel reading Jesus points out the widow who puts money into the treasury.  Jesus points out that this widow has put in more than all the others because others put in money from their abundance… their extra “funny money” if you like.  Where as the widow has no abundance… no extra funds and she puts in all she has to live on.

 

To fill you in on the operations of the temple, according to the Mishnah, (the Jewish writings about the law,) the temple treasury contained what was called the 13 trumpets.  These trumpets were the collection vessels for the people’s offerings.  There were 11 out of those 13 that were for supposedly “voluntary” offerings of money and two that were for the temple tax. Of those 11, nine were for receiving what was legally due from worshippers and 4 were strictly voluntary.

 

This was a society with different ways of operating from how we are today.  The centre of modern life is certainly not church for most, but probably our media… social or television, whereas the life of people in Jesus’ time, completely centred around the temple.  What they believed about God was the most important aspect of life, as they lived acutely aware of the reality of death and therefore, spiritual belief was of utmost importance.  Modern humanity, in contrast, seems to live in denial of death and mortality, and in denial of anything concretely spiritual.

 

Church life ruled every other part of their life also.  If one was sick, they needed to present themselves to the priests before they could be declared clean and once again take part in life.  And there was always an offering that needed to be given as part of that “being declared clean”.  One could not simply go freely to church, but it was a culture where church was everything.

 

The widow putting in all she had to live on, in our culture, would seem strange and foolish, but to live in that time meant to go to the temple and to go to the temple was to live!  And to go to the temple meant that something needed to be placed in those trumpets. Also, it was not really a good news story, because it operated on a system of sacrifice in order to gain God’s acceptance. 

 

 

The Good News is explained in our letter to the Hebrews, “he has appeared once for all at the end of the ages to remove sin by the sacrifice of himself.”

The widow put in all she had to live on, but Jesus gave, not just all he had to live on, but his whole life… and his spiritual life too.  Jesus was born Spiritually alive as he is the son of God, born by the Holy Spirit.  Jesus did not need to experience separation from God the father, because he was without sin, yet he cried out on the cross, “My God, my God, why have you abandoned me”…. Why?  Because he was at that time baptized into the sins of the world and he took the punishment for sin upon himself.   – That is, by the way, the one baptism for the forgiveness for sins that we declare belief in, as we recite the creed.

 

Some of these things are hard to understand physically… because we are talking about a spiritual realm and how things work in the spirit.  Sin, which began, back at the beginning of time, with doubting God, brought death.  And then the death of Jesus, who was without sin, brings life to those who choose to accept and follow him.  Notice too that there is no other way, and no second chance as we are told; “just as it is appointed for mortals to die once and after that the judgment,…”  Just in case you didn’t catch it, let me clarify; this means there is no re-incarnation and no past life.  Mortals die once… NO second chance to get it right…. But the Good News, is that we don’t need to… we only need to reach out to God through the sacrifice of Jesus.  It is done!  No other sacrifice is needed.  We are also told that Jesus will come again.  We are told that he has dealt with sin in his first coming.  In his second coming it will be to save those who are waiting for him.

 

God doesn’t expect us to not think about the future financially or otherwise.  Quite the opposite, in fact, as we read that  Naomi said to Ruth, “I need to seek some security for you, so that it may be well with you”.  However, we need to understand and have a proper vision of the future.  How can a widow give away all she has to live on?  Only because she has understood the future and is totally believing in God and trusting in his provision.  Only if she has an understanding of life and life eternal and completely trusts in God.  We are challenged today, to have this understanding and also completely trust in God.

 

There is a children’s story that I think, illustrates this; Be Brave Little Penguin, by Giles Andreae.  A little penguin is afraid of water, and imagines all the scenarios of monsters and things in the water to harm and eat him.  In the end he discovers that sometimes you have to just be brave and jump.   And, OH the Joys that you discover when you do!

 

All of our widows were people who trusted in God, but this doesn’t mean their life was without grief.  Our younger Old Testament widow is Ruth.  She was not even an Israelite, but a Moabite woman, who married a man from the line of Judah.  In fact, her husband’s family were from Bethlehem.  The husband and his family had been living in the country of Moab due to a famine in Bethlehem.  Unfortunately, the father-in-law had died and then the brother-in-law and Ruth’s husband also died.  Three widows were living together.  Naomi, the mother-in-law, told the two younger women to return to their father’s house, as both were young and could remarry.  You see, the law was that, if there was a brother alive, then that brother would take the woman as his wife, to care for her and also have children, but the children would be reckoned as the dead brother’s offspring, so that the family line could be preserved.

 

There were no other brothers.  One of the younger ladies returned to her father’s house, but Ruth had declared that she would stay with Naomi, her Mother-in-law, and serve the God of the Israelites.  The famous line from Ruth is; Your people will be my people and your God will be my God.

 

Ruth cared for Naomi and the two returned to the land of Judah where Ruth went to work gleaning grain in the field of a man named Boaz.  This was a law of provision for the poor in Jewish law.  The owner was not to harvest to the very edges and was not to go over the field a second time to pick up what was missed the first time, but instead the poor and the widows could do this for providing a living for themselves.

 

My guess is that this could have been dangerous work for a young beautiful woman.  But Boaz was a good man and instructed his men not to touch Ruth, and he also instructed them to allow extra wheat to fall to the ground for her to collect.

 

After a while Naomi decided on a plan to secure Ruth’s future – looking after her superannuation, you could say.  Boaz was what they called a Kinsman Redeemer.  This meant, in the absence of a brother to take on the widow, a kinsman redeemer could take her, with the understanding that her child and property would be considered belonging to her dead husband.

 

Not every Kinsman Redeemer would want to do this, but we see that Boaz did.  There is a little more to the story.  In order to evoke this response from Boaz, Ruth went and lay down next to Boaz at night.  This was also a dangerous act and it meant being completely vulnerable and at the mercy of Boaz.  He could have taken advantage of her and ruined her reputation as an honourable woman, but she asked him to “cover” her. 

 

Ruth is another woman who gave all she had to live on.  She had to trust in Naomi, her mother-in-law, and trust in God and trust in Boaz.  It is a frightening thing sometimes to trust in others…. And to trust in God.  Trusting is hard when trust has been betrayed.  But when we step out in faith and trust God, amazing things happen.  How amazing?  Check out what happened to Ruth!

 

Ruth is significant in our story of faith because she is the start of an important lineage of faith.  She maintained the lineage of her first husband, a man whose family home was in Bethlehem – THIS IS IMPORTANT -  and gave birth to Obed, who was the father of Jesse, who was the father of David.  David became the King of Israel, and described as a man after God’s own heart.  David is the ancestor of Christ.  This is why Mary and Joseph had to travel to Bethlehem and why Jesus was born there.

 

Today’s message is about those who are at risk of harm, but who have such an understanding of our future in God, and such a sure trust in God, that they bravely step out in faith.  This might be us.  We make this time to worship God our priority.  We are trusting in God’s provision for our own future and for the future of the church.  We might be reading at church or welcoming or doing other jobs, because we know the importance of eternal life and that eternal life is of the utmost importance.

 

God will not let us down.  God loves us and has made us to be His precious and royal family.  Scripture tells us in 1 Peter2:9;  “But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s special possession, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light.”  WE are called by God to declare the praises of God.  Are we doing this?  It involves stepping out in faith… being brave.  The widow at the temple gave all she had to live on for the work of God who was her life.  Jesus gave all for love of us.  Let us take a moment in prayer to consider the love of God for us.  Two things that I believe God is saying to us today; One is to know that He loves us and assures us that he will provide for us. The second is to encourage us to step out in faith, even when it seems risky, like the widow putting in all she had to live on and Ruth lying at Boaz’s side in the night.  Just be brave and JUMP… Today, can we say, “Yes God, I will go where you call me.”

To see AGAIN ! Proper 25B/ Pentecost 23B 27th Oct 2024

2024  10  27   Proper 25B  Pentecost 23B

 

“I had heard of you by the hearing of the ear, but now my eye sees you;…”

How true, it is for all of us, that we hear of God by the hearing of the ear.  Our parents may have been the ones who introduced us to God, or maybe a friend or teacher.  Something has led us, such that we are here in a place of faith.  We are in a place of faith literally,(church building) but also, figuratively (where we are at on our journey of life).  Our faith is a result of our experiences, who we are and what we have heard. 

 

Job was such a faith-filled man!  He was devoted to God and there was no one so faith-filled and righteous in all the land.  Then, Satan was allowed to afflict him and he remained faithful to God, but he did eventually grumble.  This is us.  We live in this fallen world and we experience probably just some of what Job experienced.  Job had lost his fortune and his children.  He was a man deeply grieved and after a time of grief that was too deep for words, he spoke.  He knew he’d done nothing to deserve the calamity and we can only imagine his feelings.

 

Perhaps you can do more than imagine.  Perhaps, you too have experienced deep grief.  There are many, who I know, who turned away from God after experiencing grief.  One dear friend of mine has experienced pretty near the amount of grief as Job.  It seems that it was one thing after another.  Just when she starts to feel that she is getting her life on track another wave of calamity comes to overwhelm her.  She says that she doesn’t believe in God anymore, even though she was heavily involved and faithful as a young adult.  When we talk, she describes God to me as “YOUR God”… not hers.  What has happened, is that she feels betrayed by God and hurt beyond being able to accept that God, if he exists, could possibly love her.

 

At this point in time, my friend can not SEE God.  She has more than one good Christian friend who try to care for her and encourage her to have faith – but we have not experienced all that she has.  She hears about God, but she can not see him.  She can not see God, because her experience has taught her that God is not on her side and so her eyes are closed to him.

 

Our Psalm today, tells us that “Many are the afflictions of the righteous, but the LORD rescues them from them all.”   Afflictions happen… over and over, regardless of how righteous we are.  This is the message of the book of Job; bad things happen to good people and it isn’t because of anything that they do.  The cause is unseen and unknown to us, but our response has an effect in the heavenly realm.  Job was truly loved by God and God lifted Job up in the end, but first God showed Job something super important, and a lesson we all need to remember:  When our eyes are opened to see God, we will see that he is so far beyond our image of him that we will be somewhat overwhelmed and even embarrassed.  In Job’s words, “therefore I despise myself and repent in dust and ashes."  Job formally considered himself righteous, but now that he actually SEEs God, he despises himself… such is the glory and righteousness of God.

 

There was a song in the 90s, “One of Us”.  “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?”  What we learn from Job, is that God is bigger and beyond any box that we put him in….In fact, we have been learning this in the past weeks also, when we looked at the “fear of the Lord” and how that was to have an understanding of the greatness and majesty of God, and we should keep this understanding that God is greater, in mind as we continue to get to know him.  We also need to ask that same question as the song…. Would you want to see?

 

I often ask this question; Would you prefer the truth or a lie that makes you feel comfortable?  It is the same with God.  Do you want to see God?  Remembering that seeing will mean realizing your own error and like Job, despising ourselves and repenting.

 

In our Gospel reading there is a man who wants to see.  Blind Bartimaeus is named as the son of Timaeus.  This tells us that Timaeus was a known person and his son was not just some random blind beggar.  However, his blindness had rendered him completely reliant on others.   In fact, his vision of himself, as a person who needs others to help him, enables an attitude we all need… humility… to ask for help.  Bartimaeus is used to calling out for help, so when Jesus comes by, he calls out loudly.

 

Jesus asks the man what he wants him to do for him.  This is an important question, Jesus doesn’t assume that the blind man is begging and wants money, and he doesn’t assume that the blind man knows who he is and desires healing also, but he asks the blind man what he wants.

 

We know from our previous weeks that Jesus is the exact representation of God.  And something we are told about God is that he respects our free will.  If we don’t want God in our lives, God will seem silent. But quite often we expect God to know what we want even though we haven’t asked.  God does know… but he respects our free will and therefore asks us; “What do you want me to do for you?”

 

In Old Testament times, God was sort through the mediation of a priest.  The Good News comes with Jesus who is greater than a high priest.  With the priestly organisation, there would be certain sacrifices given and then your sins declared forgiven.  The Good news we have is that we give no sacrifice to be forgiven.  We are forgiven because Jesus has, once and for all, become the sacrifice.  So now without any hinderance God asks of us, “What do you want me to do for you?”

 

Bartimaeus knows what he wants.  He wants to see again.  Seeing clearly brings about change.  The Gospel of John tells us that unless you are born again – or born of the spirit, you can not see the Kingdom of God.  We are encouraged to know the truth and the truth will set us free.  We need to see the truth…. We need to realize that God is asking us that same question; “What do you want me to do for you?” 

 

God is always there and always hoping that we will ask him to enable us to see.  We have heard of the goodness and love of God and perhaps we have “seen” that goodness also, therefore we responded by choosing to belong to the family of faith.   However, we live in this world, and we go out into this world, and become distracted or blinded by its temptations.  Its temptations might be the pressure to fit in… and be politically correct, or it or maybe simply its busyness etc… Sometimes these things align with God’s goodness, but often times that pressure to fit in and go with the flow is a long way from putting God first… and we become blinded…. And so, we notice that word at the end of Bartimaeus’ request, the word “AGAIN”!  "My teacher, let me see again."

 

Jesus responds to that request, and the blind man was healed.  Did you notice that when Bartimaeus was healed his life direction changed?  Not only was he no longer begging, but we are told that he followed Jesus on the way.  In some places in the New Testament “The Way” was how they referred to becoming a follower of Jesus.

 

We need to consider; Do we want to see?  Seeing means that we will need to respond to our cleared vision and this may mean perhaps more directly following Jesus.  Seeing God’s way, may even mean a complete turn around.  Bartimaeus threw off his cloak before Jesus healed him.  He already knew that his life was going to change and he welcomed that change.  But he needed to let go of his old life, in order to step into the new.  Are there any things that we need to throw off?  What is it that is holding us back from stepping into the path that Jesus has marked out for us?

 

When Job had his eyes opened to the greatness of God, he repented of his prior limited vision and his future was brighter than his past had ever been.  This life will have afflictions and hardships but our future in God is brighter than anything we can imagine.  To be brave and step into all that God calls us to, we need to see him clearly.  “Lord I want to see again”.  Let this be our prayer this week as we strive to walk into the path that God has called each of us.

To grow we need to step out in faith 13th Oct 2024 Proper 23B Pentecost 21B

 2024  10  13   Proper 23B  Pentecost 21B 

Many who are first will be last, and the last will be first…. Where are we in this picture of the kingdom of God?  We are comfortable.  We have everything we need in this age and even most of what we want.  God has blessed this generation and our nation so abundantly.  When God blesses us, it is so that we can be a blessing to others.  This message of Jesus to the rich man to give away all his money to the poor always makes me a little uncomfortable.  How about you?  I’m grateful for the words Jesus speaks that say, “for mortals it is impossible, but not for God. With God all things are possible”. 

 

Whenever we come across the challenges of scripture, we need to remember that “Gospel” means “Good News”.  The Gospel of Jesus is truly Good News, but many Christians accept the Good News that Christ came to bring us eternal life… yay, we are saved…. And never actually worry about this part about leaving everything and following God.    

 

In this life there are many people hurting, like Job.  They cry out to God and hear nothing.  We are the body of Christ and His spirit is with us – we are the hands and feet of God on earth and most people will experience the answer to their prayers through us.  We, the children of God, need to grow in faith, much like a child will grow, to look beyond ourselves and to care for others.

 

What is it that stops us from fully stepping out in faith?  For the young man in our Gospel story, it was his riches.  For us, it might be our reputation, our lifestyle, the comfort of our routine of work and leisure time, …or something else.  This Gospel message is not just about a rich young man, it is about all of us.

 

Jesus knows we are not perfect, which is why – as we read last week – he made purification for our sins.  This is the truth.  God has made the way – and that thing which was impossible, is now possible because Jesus has died to make purification for sins… and he rose again.  We have eternal life through our union with Christ.  What more is there to say?  Maybe I should stop right here, this is the ultimate truth, and the absolute Good News, but to stop here, would be to remain a spiritual baby who is not growing in faith and the love of God….  Are we stunting our growth because we are not stepping out in faith?  When we are willing to truly follow Jesus, life is a long way from ever being boring.

 

 Even though we follow God, things WILL go wrong.  There will be times we hurt and cry out to God like Job feeling that God has abandoned us.  Last week we talked about the big question of “Why”.  Why do bad things happen to good people?  This is the question that runs through the book of Job and in the end, we realized that why is a faithless question.  Asking “why” means we are not trusting in God, and most importantly, we need to grow in our understanding of how much God loves us so that we can continue in our integrity even when everything goes wrong and we don’t understand.  I’m really not very good at this… but I’m on the journey, and we don’t learn to walk in a day… it happens gradually, and it happens to be much more achievable when we have God’s people supporting us.

 

I am incredibly grateful for psalm 22 and the book of Job.  Psalm 22 looks like it could have been written by Job – but it wasn’t.  The author of the book of Job is unknown, but some traditional Jewish scholars attribute it to Moses, but Psalm 22 is attributed to King David.  This tells me that at least two great and mighty people of faith struggled to understand and have faith in God when things went wrong.  In the biography of Mother Teresa, she tells of a huge struggle she felt… a dark night of the soul, when she couldn’t sense God.  It is natural to grieve loss and feel rejection, and perhaps what is common at these times for the people of God is to feel that God has rejected us.  “My God, my God, why have you abandoned me?”  These are the opening words of Psalm 22 and they show us that the author is feeling like God has rejected them.  This is a rejection that hurts.  It is a feeling of abandonment that cuts deep.  I’m wondering if you recall where else these exact words were cried out? When Jesus was on the cross he also cried out, “My God, my God, why have you abandoned me?” 

 

Everyone feels this dark sense of God’s abandonment at some time in their life, even when they are mighty people of God like David, Job, Elijah and many more.  In our reading from Job, we see that Job feels like he can’t perceive God – he can’t sense God in his life and he expresses the wish that he would vanish in darkness.  Have you been in that place too?  So worn out with grief that you are maybe even angry at God and feeling abandoned by God?  These feelings are a reality of life.  We may have lost our lifestyle or our loved ones.  Even when we’ve been faithful to God and through no fault of our own, bad things happen and we feel hurt and abandoned by God.  So, what is God saying to us today, through these readings?

 

Jesus, who also cried out, My God why have you abandoned me, is our high priest who is able to sympathize with our weaknesses, because in every respect He has been tested as we are, yet without sin – as the reading from Hebrews tells us.  Last week we read that Jesus is the exact representation of God and He made purification for our sins.  In other words, God makes purification for our sins.  In other words, God sympathizes with us in our weaknesses.

 

In all of the Bible from front to back we read and learn about who God is.  And we learn that he is compassionate and he cares for all and so much so that he saves our tears in his bottle – is what one psalm (56) tells us.  And this same God, in answer to the question about inheriting eternal life, says what the young man expected… “you know the commandments; 'You shall not murder. You shall not commit adultery. You shall not steal. You shall not bear false witness; You shall not defraud. Honor your father and mother.'"  Our rich young man had kept these laws.  Have we?  Another scripture tells us that if we have looked lustfully at another, we have as good as committed adultery and if we have uttered angry words with another, we have committed murder….  The bar to perfection is higher than us.  We can’t keep it, but that doesn’t mean we should stop trying.

 

When we have done, what we know is wrong we don’t want to be reminded of it and we deny or justify.  As a teacher, I can’t tell you how often I witness this.   On Saturday I heard a lady call out of her car as she drove past, “My body, my choice.”  She was making a statement about abortion.  No one was accusing her of anything, but there was a peaceful, quite March for life taking place. Why would anyone be offended by someone promoting goodness and life and advocating to save lives?  Next time something causes us offense, I challenge us all to stop and ponder, why?  Is it because it triggers some deep hurt in us where we have failed, but refuse to admit it, preferring to justify our actions?  We all fail.  We all sin and for any of us to enter the Kingdom of Heaven is like a camel going through the eye of the needle - impossible.  The only way through is to get rid of the baggage.

 

The eye of the needle Jesus was talking about, is most likely the small gaps in the wall that surrounded the ancient cities.  An army couldn’t get through, but a single person could without any baggage or armour – and not with a camel.  Grief and the sense of God’s abandonment can cause us to harden our hearts to God.  We carry the baggage of hurt and our hardened heart is our armour.  It is a heavy load.  We justify ourselves, saying, “I have kept all the commandments- I go to church… Or, I don’t go to church but I’m a good person.” We justify and make excuses instead of confessing our sin, or like Adam in the garden of Eden, we put the blame elsewhere.

 

By our actions, by our words or excuses and justification we can not stand as holy before God and it is easier for the camel to go through the eye of the needle than for any of us to enter the Kingdom of God.  With mortals it is impossible, BUT with God all things are possible.  Jesus made purification for sins…. It is finished.. He has accomplished it and we all are in the same boat so no one can boast.

 

We are NEVER abandoned by God, no matter how deep we are in that dark night of the soul.  Feelings are not the fact.  Jesus died so that we can be absolutely assured of God’s love and acceptance.  He has made the impossible possible.  But let us partner with him, stepping out in faith, leaving all things and follow him.  We too lay down our lives and offer our lives to him as a living sacrifice.   We pray it each week; Father, we offer ourselves to you as a living sacrifice in Jesus Christ our Lord. Send us out into the world you love, …..  As we step into the path that God has destined for us, let’s lay down the baggage that prevents us.

Trusting... accepting the Kingdom like a child. 6th Oct 2024 Pentecost 20b Proper 22B

2024  10  06   Proper 22 Pentecost 20B

Why, oh why, oh why????  My granddaughter has reached that age, where she asks why and I’m not really sure why she even asks why, but it sure is a challenge sometimes.  The book of Job, which we read from today is a book that asks the same question – why?  We also find that Jesus, after being tested by the authorities about marriage, has his disciples asking him why also.  In verse 10; “Then in the house the disciples asked him again about this matter.” Why did they have to ask him again?  Did he say something that was new to them?  For us who have often read this passage, it all seems very matter of fact.  So, why did the disciples need to question him again?  It seems to imply that there was a common belief here that Jesus was challenging.  Moses made an allowance for people’s failings, but Jesus reminds them that there is a more perfect way.

 

Job was a man who walked a perfect path.  He was known as a man of Integrity.  Integrity is a virtue that we really need to cultivate… in ourselves and in our children.  When has someone encouraged you to give up your integrity?  Possibly the last time you recall, might have been when you were at school being peer pressured into joining in with the forbidden antics, but as adults, the peer pressure still exists.  We are peer pressured into thinking the same, into believing the same….  And this may or may not be a threat to our integrity, but sometimes it is and we don’t always as readily realize it.  A simple example; everyone exceeds the speed limit at this particular part of the road, and if you do the speed, the person behind sits so close that you feel the pressure to conform.

 

Integrity is doing the right thing even when no one is looking and even everyone else is doing the wrong thing.   It is something I often talk about with the school children because even very good children will tend to follow the crowd when no authority figure is looking.   Therefore, we strive to teach them about this thing called “Integrity”, and I usually explain that it is something that we need to practise, in order to be strong in integrity.

 

Job was told by his wife to give up his integrity and curse God and die.  Why did she say this?  Well, there is a little back story to Job that you need to know; Satan had accused God that Job only feared God because God had blessed Job.  Therefore, God gave Satan permission to test Job and so, in one day, all Job’s possessions came to ruin and his children were killed.  Job was grief stricken but continued to worship God.  Then came Satan again and afflicted Job with sores, and his wife sees his suffering and encourages him to curse God and die.  But Job refuses.

 

The book of Job is very important.  It deals with the subject that all people struggle with; why do bad things happen to good, God-fearing people?  The traditional and narrow answer is one that we see echoed in many of the encounters of healing people had with Jesus; that sickness and tragedy is because of sin.  Although it is obvious that when we do something foolish the consequence may lead to destruction, there are many good people that through no fault of their own, experience terrible tragedy. 

 

We do live in a fallen world where we are subject to the consequence of both our sin and the sin of others, but sometimes there seems to be such an injustice in the Russian roulette of who bears the consequence.  This “Why do bad things happen to good people?” question, is one of life’s big questions.  And one that people will often give as a reason to not follow God.  The book of Job gives us another reason, other than the sin that is in the world.  It opens our minds to understand that there is a spiritual realm that we know very little about.  This spiritual realm has rules and ways of operating that effect us, and how we respond has an effect in that spiritual realm also.  The book of Job deals with the reality of who we are in that spiritual realm and it deals with our attitude, and challenges us to ponder, “Do we respond with faith, when bad things happen?”

 

I recently saw a theological lecture where the lecturer explained that our image of God matters.  It is important that the God we proclaim is not just a megaphone for ourselves and our own ideas, but that we allow God to be bigger than what we can comprehend.  This is what the book of Job does.  It reminds us that God is bigger and that there are reasons that we just can’t know.  While remembering that God is… El Shaddai …  the Almighty and beyond us, God does desire for us to know him and love him, which is why Christ came to our world.

 

 Christ is the exact representation of God, which is what we note in our letter to the Hebrews today.  “He is the reflection of God's glory and the exact imprint of God's very being, and he sustains all things by his powerful word. When he had made purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high,..”

 

God made purification for sins!  What does this tell us about God?  You know the idea of Karma is that we get what we deserve.  We do the wrong thing and we eventually get pay back… and the same for if we do the right thing.  Does this always work in our world though?  It is an obvious NO… and the book of Job draws our attention to this fact.

 

 If Jesus is the exact representation of God, and he made purification for our sins, then it stands to reason, that God is sacrificially and unconditionally loving.   This is totally different from Karma, where if we did wrong, we’d be reincarnated as a bug.  And just between me and you…. Much better news!  God’s love is such that He himself willingly made purification for our sins.  How it all works, and what is going on in the spiritual realm is beyond our knowledge and comprehension, which is the main point in the book of Job – God’s way and wisdom is beyond our understanding. 

 

But who are we in the spiritual realm?  We are lower than Angels… for a little while.  As Hebrews tells us; "What are human that you are mindful of them or mortals that you care for them?  You have made them for a little while lower than the angels; you have crowned them with glory and honor,..”  We are central to God’s purpose and we are part of his plan and we are his beloved children, but there are hints that God has a leadership place for us as his royal children.  As yet, we don’t know more than a hint of God’s plan, but it is just enough to show us that there is something more that we can not yet fathom… we simply need to JUST TRUST.

 

Trust in God!

Jesus said, “Let the little children come to me; do not stop them, for it is to such as these that the kingdom of God belongs.  Truly I tell you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God as a little child will never enter it."

 

My husband tells me that “Why” is a faithless question.  Because the question, “Why” implies that we don’t trust God. God is sovereign and things will be one way or the other, but our role is to have faith in God and grow in the knowledge of God’s love and grace.

 

Children do ask “Why”, and we will answer them the best we can, but more often than not, they can’t comprehend what the answer is, and they need to simply trust us.  It is the same with God and us.  We haven’t the ability… yet… to comprehend the goings on in the spiritual realm, and scripture tells us that No eye has seen, no ear has heard, and no mind has imagined the things that God has prepared for those who love him.”  and we are not meant to worry about it, but trust and rest in the knowledge that God loves us and know that he does all things for our ultimate good…. It is for a good that is bigger than this finite existence. How exciting to know that God has something planned for us.  Let us rejoice in this truly Good News, and may this truth give us strength and comfort when the tough times come.  So that we can remain people of Integrity. 

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

2024  09  27  Proper 21B   Pentecost 19

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

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

 

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

 

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

 

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

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

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

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