Bear Fruit Lent 3 C 23rd March 2025

 2025  03  23  Lent 3C  

Isaiah 55:1-9    Psalm 63:1-8      1 Corinthians 10:1-13     Luke 13:1-9

 

Have you ever heard some one say, “God will never give you more than you can handle”?  You might have said it yourself, but if you’ve ever had it said to you, you’ll know that it isn’t always helpful.  It is a bit of a misquote, based on the first letter to the Corinthians, chapter 10, verse 13, where it says; “No testing has overtaken you that is not common to everyone. God is faithful, and he will not let you be tested beyond your strength, but with the testing he will also provide the way out so that you may be able to endure it.”

 

For a start, it is about being tested, and is in regard to falling into areas of sin.  Secondly, it says that this testing is common to everyone.  Therefore, this is not about those times when life breaks us and when we are bombarded with tragedy.  Most importantly, God does not give us those bad things.  God desires to give us good things and does give us good things.  However, we live on planet earth, in a fallen, human and very fallible world.  Sometimes the tragedy and evil IS more than we can handle.  So, to say that God doesn’t give us more than we can handle, creates the false idea that God has given us the tragedy.  It also implies that there is something wrong with us if we can’t handle it.  This passage, rather than being about our ability or lack thereof, to handle tragedy, is actually about sin.

 

We are the body of Christ and one of the reasons that God created us to be this way, calling us as part of his body, is so that we might understand that we need to work together.  If one part of the body hurts, all parts should acknowledge the pain.  We wouldn’t, after hitting our finger with a hammer, say to it, “Don’t worry, God won’t give you more than you can handle”.   No!  Instead our other body parts would jump into action and the mouth might have something to say about the matter - and it wouldn’t be telling the finger not to worry, but it would be expressing the pain the finger is feeling.  The torso would jump in reaction, and the legs would run to find ice or bandages or professional help, depending on the extent of the pain.

 

Our passage is about the fact that we live in this world, where we are easily inclined to fall into sin.  All face the same temptations, and even the Israelites, though the chosen people of God faced these same temptations.  In the desert they gave in to temptation and became involved in acts that were immoral.  It is presumed that the Corinthian church had a very good understanding of the grace of God and the freedom that they had in Christ.  They were the people of God, the body of Christ.  Earlier in this letter St. Paul explains to the church that although all things are permissible, not all things are beneficial.   These Corinthian people lived in a time and place where eating food sacrificed to idols was normal, and where the society was acceptably immoral.  These newly Christian people were still Corinthians, living in Corinth and joining in with all the social legal, and acceptably immoral events of their town.

 

To us, it seems that St. Paul is being harsh.  He reminds them that although all those Israelites had been baptised in the Red Sea and in the cloud of God’s presence, and although they had experienced the miraculous feeding by God and miracle on miracle, they took the goodness of God for granted and therefore God was not pleased, and most did not make it into the promised land, but died in the desert. 

 

This story of the Israelites is a warning.  The journey of the Israelites from Egypt, out of slavery, is a sign that parallels every faith journey.  They were rescued by God and taken through the Red Sea – their baptism.  Baptism is seen as making an allegiance – They made a commitment to be the people of God and follow him – just as we do in our Baptism.  God was leading them to the promised land, but then the people gave in to their own fleshly desires.

 

We do this too, but we are called, especially in Lent, to examine our ways.  We are the people of God.  We have made our pledge of allegiance to God in our baptism.  We call Jesus our Lord – in other words, our master, but then we just do things our own way instead of deferring to his leading. 

 

It is human nature to keep wanting to take control of our lives.  It is human nature to fall into following our fleshly desires.  In Jesus we have been set free from the ultimate spiritual consequence of sin – that is death, as the price for sin is death.  Jesus paid that price, and we most certainly are saved by the grace of God, however, we are warned that we should not live in the way of the Israelites in the desert, or the way of the early Corinthian church.   It is a testing time…  but the test isn’t set by God.  It is simply the fact of who we are, the world we live in and the desires of our own sinful nature.  In Christ however, we are a new creation – but we need to actively live by the Holy Spirit of God in us, to grow into this reality.

 

St. Paul tells us that God is faithful and will provide a way out so that when we are struggling, we can stand.  The Corinthian church members had been involved in many things that we’d consider scandalous.  Saint Paul doesn’t throw them out of the church, but instead he warns and reminds them about God’s faithfulness and the call of God to live in a manner worthy of that calling.

 

Jesus also shows us the patience and compassion of God when he talks about the fig tree and how the gardener pleads to give it another chance.  This tells us about both about the mercy and patience of God, and the call to be fruitful and effective Christians.  It is an exhortation with a warning.

 

A couple of weeks ago we looked at the importance of confessing – speaking out loud – professing our faith.  If we confess with our mouth and believe in our heart that Jesus is Lord, we will be saved.  And we noted that it was a surety.  It isn’t we might be saved, or could be saved, but that we WILL be saved.  These Corinthians to whom Saint Paul was speaking, were people who had professed their belief and believed in their heart.  They were saved… and so are we, but we miss the blessings that God has for us, and the blessings that God wants to lavish on the world through us, when the attitude of our hearts is not in line with God. 

 

The word repent means to change your mind. It implies turning in our thinking to ensure our beliefs line up with the word of God.  Are there areas of life in our society that are at odds with the word of God?  Where do we personally stand with these?  Have we judged others as bad, much like the people in our Gospel reading, when calamity came to them, thinking that they were sinners and got what they deserved, not realizing our own attitude is one of sin -   Not realizing that there but for the Grace of God go I?

 

Our society is quick to quote do not judge…. But the truth of the matter is that we make and must make judgements all the time.  We decide on what is good, life-giving and love giving.   This is a simple fact, and all do it and MUST do it, so don’t let others intimidate you into thinking that you can’t.  What we need to avoid is thinking that we are better – There, but for the grace of God, go I.  Saint Paul says, “So if you think you are standing, watch out that you do not fall.”  And Jesus says, “No, I tell you, but unless you repent you will all perish just as they did."

 

Turning to God, “repenting”, is an ongoing way of life.  it is about lining up our thoughts with the word of God.  Constantly, and everyday and part of that, is realizing that we are all very fallible – The word of God tells us that all have sinned and fallen short of the Glory of God.  For this reason, Jesus came, and in our confession and belief in him, is our salvation.

 

God’s ways are the ways to life.  The words from Isaiah about food and water, according to a Jewish commentary, is imagery for the word of God.  The food and water that money can not buy, but food and water that brings life, it is the word of God – it is Jesus.  It is the way to life here and now and also the way to life eternal. 

Let us take a moment to examine ourselves with the grace and love of Jesus, and line up our hearts and minds with the word of God.  Let us partake in the food and water that brings life and lets allow God’s blessings to flow to us and through us to others…..  

 

Power in the word... Lent 1C 2025 03 09

 2025  03  09  LENT 1C

Deuteronomy 26.1-11  - Psalm 91.1-2, 9-16  - Romans 10.4-13   - Luke 4.1-15

 

Importance of confessing…

There is something vital about speaking words out loud.  The old story that we often hear is of marriages that break down because, “I love you,” is never said.  It isn’t just marriages that suffer, but also, children who never hear a parent say those words suffer also.  People will often say that they show their love by their actions and shouldn’t have to say, “I love you”. 

 

Some years ago a book gained a huge following.  It was called the 5 love languages, by Gary Chapman.  I confess that I inherited the book and haven’t read it.  So I apologize in advance to those who have read it and like it, but the reason I really don’t want to read it is that I don’t agree with the concept.  That concept is that every one has a primary love language and it is only through that particular language that a person will perceive that they are loved.  The five love languages are; words of affirmation, quality time, physical touch, receiving gifts, and acts of service.  It is true that we use these aspects to communicate love, but I think it is the same argument that the Bible uses about faith…. Some say they have faith and others have works.  But then the scriptures tell us that we show or prove our faith by our works.  I believe the same is true with love.  The five love languages are actually the work of love, but more than anything it is important that we confess with our mouths… out loud, that we love.

 

In our first reading the Israelites are told that they should take the first fruits of their harvest and then declare, in the presence of the priest, the reality of their life.  They were to declare who they were, where they came from, the story of their existence before God rescued them and then how God rescued them.  Why did they have to do this?  Surely it was common knowledge.  They would retell the story every Passover.  They taught it to their children.  It was their reality and the essence of their being, so why the need to confess?  It seems that there is some kind of power in speaking the word out loud.

 

Do you remember Ezekiel and the valley of dry bones?  He could have offered silent prayer for those bones, but God told him to prophesy.  What that means is that Ezekiel was to speak out loud and declare that flesh would cover the bones etc… and speak the life in those bones into existence.  There is power in speaking the word of God out loud.

 

The first words from the Gospel of John tell us, “In the beginning was the WORD”.  In the beginning when God created, he could have just made light… but he didn’t.  Instead, our scriptures tell us that God spoke… He said, “let there be light”.   He spoke and it came to be.  Psalm 33 tells us; “by the word of the Lord the heavens were made…For he spoke, and it came to be; he commanded, and it stood firm.”  There is power in speaking the word of God out loud.

 

In the letter to the Romans we read; “"The word is near you, in your mouth and in your heart" (that is, the word of faith that we proclaim),because if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.”  Now just to be sure, we should turn to the person sitting beside us that say, “Jesus is Lord and I believe that God raised him from the dead.”

 

Now that we’ve all confessed, what is the out come?  We can be sure that we are saved!  Do we realize this Good News?  Every now and then a wonderful church going person will say to me, “I hope that God accepts me when I die”…. And I get a little sad and concerned that we don’t know what God tells us about the subject.  Uhmmm  let’s see, what does the scripture tell us about it?  If we confess that Jesus is Lord and believe in our heart that God raised him from the dead…. We might be saved?  We could be saved?  We hope that we will be saved?  NO, it says we WILL be saved.  We can be assured that we are loved, accepted and treasured by God.   BUT this thing about confessing with our mouth is important and there is power in speaking the word out loud. 

 

Each time we come to church and recite the creed, we have the opportunity to do as the Israelites, declaring their story in the presence of God, confirming and remembering who we were, who we are, and all that God has done for us.  There is power in speaking the word out loud.

 

The first Sunday in Lent we remember that Jesus was tempted in the desert.  The Holy Spirit had led Jesus into the wilderness where he fasted for forty days (Forty being the number that symbolizes preparation).  Understandably Jesus was famished and weak, and the devil comes and tempts him.  Firstly, he tempts him with food – a temptation of the flesh. Then he tempts him with offering him the kingdoms of the world, which is power over others… and then he tempts him with throwing himself down of the high place, because scripture says that God would rescue him – such as we read in our psalm.  This is a temptation of supernatural power that would make him like God.  (kind of crazy in retrospect because his is God the son…. However, while on earth he took on human flesh and operated in those confines).

 

There is nothing new here in these temptations.  Back in the garden of Eden the serpent’s temptation to Adam and Eve, was the same.  Adam and Eve were tempted with fruit.   It was something to eat/ stuff desired to satisfy the flesh.  When Eve explained that they were not to eat of just that one tree, the serpent responded to them that they wouldn’t die – much like the devil tempting Jesus to throw himself down and he wouldn’t be harmed.    Next the serpent explains that Adam and Eve would have the power to know good and evil and be like God.  The temptation is the same… it is just gift wrapped differently.

 

It was important that Jesus prove to the devil and all the spiritual powers, that he, operating as fully human, would continue to be the son of God and not give in to temptation like every other human has done.  In each temptation Jesus rejects the temptation by quoting scripture.  To do this Jesus speaks scripture and he confesses it out loud. 

 

It was important for Jesus, and it is important for each of us to confess… to profess our faith in God and to praise him.   The temptations were three-fold, and we make a threefold confession –  1- We confess that we haven’t obeyed God.  The first area of this is trusting God for our needs.  Have we gone beyond God’s commands not trusting that God gives us what is best and that His boundaries are to give us our best life?

2.  We confess that we have desired control.  When we become a Christian we ask God to be in control of our lives – He is Lord. 

3.  We confess that we desired to be our own God.  We thought we knew better than God.  After all, some would say, all this stuff is a bit out of date isn’t it?  But we know God is the same yesterday, today and forever.

 we confess our sin and our need for God, we profess our belief in God, and we thank and praise God. 

 

Over the years I have witnessed some Christians who have turned away from the faith, which I find difficult to comprehend.  I can only suspect that they forget who they are and the story of their life and God’s part in that story.   They forget to DWELL in the shelter of the Lord, as we hear about in our Psalm.   To dwell in this sense, is to permanently take up residence in in God’s presence.  When the devil quoted part of Psalm 91 to Jesus, he did the same as in the garden of Eden with Adam and Eve; he told them part of the truth.  Jesus knew better than to take the text out of context.

 

The Israelites, as we see in our Old Testament reading, needed to confess their reality every harvest time, when they celebrated the first fruits.  It takes an effort on our part to dwell in the shadow of the Lord.  We need to ensure that we don’t forget God’s word and fall into the same trap where we, like Adam and Eve, doubt the authenticity of God’s promise to us. Therefore, we find scriptures in the New Testament urging the early Christians not to give up meeting together.   We need to be encouraged by each other.  We need each other to keep us in check that we are not believing an error or half truth, such as caused the demise of all mankind… but like Jesus, be able to live in victory, being reminded of the truth.  Which also means we need to continue studying the scriptures.

 

At each service we will stand together and confess our belief in God.  This safeguards us from error.  There is a spiritual power in confessing our belief in God, which we often fail to recognise.  I guarantee, when the devil or his minions are trying to attack the people of God, and we confess not just our belief in God, but our allegiance and trust in him, demons will flee.   To quote the words of a song by the band The Imperials,

“When you're up against a struggle
That shatters all your dreams
And your hopes have been cruelly crushed
By Satan's manifested schemes
And you feel the urge within you
To submit to earthly fears
Don't let the faith you're standing in
Seem to disappear

Praise the Lord
He can work through those
Who praise Him
Praise the Lord
For our God inhabits praise
Praise the Lord
For the chains that seems to bind you
Serve only to remind you
That they drop powerless behind you
When you praise Him

Now Satan is a liar
And he wants to make us think
That we are paupers
When he knows himself
We're children of the King
So lift up the mighty shield of faith
For the battle must be won
We know that Jesus Christ has risen
So the work's already done

 

Why is there power when we confess out loud?  God is the only one who is omnipotent and omnipresent… etc…  Only God can hear our thoughts, but when we confess our faith out loud, we speak a powerful weapon into the spiritual realm.  Let’s not live the rest of our lives being quiet about our faith.  It is important that we confess, profess and praise God out loud…. And pray for each other out loud.  There is power when we speak the word of God out loud.

World Day of Prayer - Standing with the people in the Cook Islands & reflecting on psalm 139

 2025 World Day of Prayer  - Psalm 139

 

During my teaching degree, at university, our lecturer talked about the difference teaching with girls and boys.  To illustrate she told the story of two students who had failed mathematics the previous year.  The new teacher asked the boy why he thought he failed, and he answered that his last teacher wasn’t very good.  The new teacher asked the girl the same question, however she answered, “I’m no good at maths”.   The point the lecturer was making is that girls are harder on themselves, whereas the boys are more resilient and more likely to blame everyone else for their failure. (and we all know that this started way back in the garden of Eden with Adam).

 

As girls, grown up, when our life goes a little pair shaped, we are still more likely to feel that it is us who is not good enough, and we are the reason that our life is crumbling around us.  The men obviously get to this point too and realize their need for God, but for females, we reach this point more readily and more often.  Psalm 139 is for us.   While men will reach out for God and move on, females are more likely to continue feeling less than good enough.

 

There is something about Psalm 139, that hits you in the heart.  Right from the first line; “You have searched me, Lord, and you know me”, it goes right to the heart of the matter.  We long to be known.  Not just, “Hello my friend…”  but, we long to be truly known.  Our family knows us pretty well, but even they, don’t understand our hidden pain, our hidden hopes and dreams… and especially they don’t know our hidden shame, and that thing we keep well hidden – the sense of not being good enough.

 

When the psalmist says, “Lord, you have searched me, and you know me”, we straight away sense that this searching means we have found a place where we can rest… we have found a place where we are truly known.   But there is more, and it is so important.  God knew us before we were born.  God knew all that we would be and all that we would do and all that we would desire.  He knew the temptations we’d resist and the temptations to which we’d succumb.  And regardless of anything we would do in our futures, He loves us and willingly died to show us this and to ensure that there would be nothing separating us from his love.  

 

Vainiu, tells us that during her formative years she was shamed and devalued in the education system, yet she knew that she was valued by God.  She echoes the psalmist when she says;  “when we are cast out and treated with disrespect, God is still with us. God goes with us to the darkness at the bottom of the ocean, where there is no light. And God helps lead us out of that darkness into a wonderful light.”   She has learnt a lesson that we all need to learn by heart; that God is on our side, loves us and is always with us.

 

We are of such infinite value.  Each of us is a master creation of God.   The psalm tells us that God created my inmost being;  He knit me together in my mother’s womb.  God designed us.  He gave us our personality and made each of us unique and he made us this way for a purpose, but to each of us He has given free will.  We can freely choose to go our own way and rebel against all that God calls us to be, or we can rejoice in the calling of God and grow more and more into his purpose and the person that he calls us to be.

 

Psalm 139 lifts us up.  Think of all the amazing creatures of the earth and the intricacies of creation.  Of all these God said it was good and he was pleased, but when God created us, he said it was very good.  We are the pinnacle of God’s creation.

 

Psalm 139 is also the great equalizer, because this is God’s word to us all.  He knows us all, and loves us all.  He loves us from the time we were conceived – when our life began.  He loves us when we are frail and aging.  At any stage, we are no less precious to him.  This has implications for where we need to stand on areas of social justice, because we know that God values those who are fragile – all are precious to Him.

 

It is my belief that the most effective treatment for the most common of mental health issues, is to learn and understand who we are in God’s heart.  Following on from this has to be the cultivation of a society that treats all as those precious to God.

 

God’s call to us always, is back from the rebellion.  Rebellion is where mankind chose to be something different to God’s design.  God calls us to open our eyes and see ourselves as the person who he created, and to continue growing into the person he calls us to become.  In this there is true freedom.  We can stop trying to be something that we are not and rejoice that we are the workmanship of God.

Ephesians 2:10 “For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.”

As a female we need to be sure that we don’t let the lie that we are not good enough stop us from being the person God created us to be.  Saint Paul in the letter to the Philippians declares, “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.”

As we give thanks to God for the ladies of the Cook Islands we stand with them in praising God and declaring to God, “I will praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made;”  Fearfully and wonderfully made by the God who created all this universe, but who about us said, “It is very Good!”

You and I are very loved.

Ash Wednesday 5th March 2025

 Ash Wednesday

Joel 2:1-2, 12-17 or Isaiah 58:1-12   - Psalm 51:1-17  - 2 Corinthians 5:20b-6:10 - Matthew 6:1-6, 16-21

 

Ash Wednesday, we begin the season of Lent and we prepare for the journey to the cross, and to resurrection, and the receiving of the Holy Spirit.  The end goal is to restore us as the people of God as God intended before the fall, where His people are not just physically alive, but also spiritually alive.  Being then, so filled with the Holy Spirit, we can’t help but be witnesses to the Good News of God. 

 

The Good News of God is that Jesus Christ came to make atonement for our sin and bring us eternal life.  In doing this he did away with the old system, where animals were sacrificed as a way to cover our sin.  However, the fact that God required a different kind of sacrifice was known about since the time of King David in the Old Testament.  We are told in our psalm; “The sacrifice of God is a broken spirit: a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise.”

 

This tells us that there is something in our attitude that is more important to God than the traditional sacrifices.  In other parts of the Bible, such as Isaiah we learn what God would like us to do.  Isaiah 58:6 tells us, “Is not this the fast that I choose: to loose the bonds of injustice, to undo the straps of the yoke, to let the oppressed go free, and to break every yoke?  Is it not to share your bread with the hungry and bring the homeless poor into your house; when you see the naked, to cover them and not to hide yourself from your own kin?”

 

A broken spirit is not seen as being a desirable characteristic in our modern age, yet we are told in the New Testament, “blessed are the poor in spirit”.  The word for contrite in the original language, means to be crushed. In my mind I imagine the sugar cane.  For us to have sugar the cane needs to be crushed.  

 

I don’t naturally like the idea that perhaps I need to be crushed and broken.  However, in reality, life has a way of crushing and breaking all of us.  What do we do when this happens?  Some people refuse to break, and they harden their hearts towards God.  They don’t understand that God loves them and desires good for them, not evil, but they feel betrayed by life and blame God, so they harden and refuse to be crushed or broken – or at least they refuse to admit it.

 

Do you remember the story about the woman who anointed Jesus’ feet, breaking the jar of expensive perfume?  The jar had to be broken for the perfume to be used.  There was exquisite substance inside, which would never have done anything if the jar hadn’t been broken.  The breaking allowed the good stuff to come out – just like the crushing of the cane brings the sugar out.

 

You and I are like the jars of expensive perfume.  God has a planned purpose for us, but we need to let Jesus in, in order that his purpose can be achieved.  To let Jesus in, we need to confess our brokenness.   We ARE broken.  That is the reality.  We all fall short of the perfection of God, and we need him.  In admitting this, we let God into our lives and our brokenness is not a weakness, it is simply a reality that Jesus understands, and in this brokenness we allow God to work and only in that brokenness can he live through us.

 

God knows all those bits that hurt… those bits that are broken, but he asks us to bring them to him, confessing our need for his saving power.  We continue to be broken, but we are filled with God and as we live our lives, we pray that it is the Jesus leaking out of the cracks that others might encounter as we touch their lives. 

 

During lent we often give up things, but when we look at what God requires, we can see that he would prefer our brokenness, allowing Him to live through us.  He calls us to care for others, to break the yoke that is heavy on them and to share bread with them.  When we do this, God breaks through our brokenness and touches our broken world, transforming it.

 

This Lent perhaps we can choose at least one thing we can do that achieves this breaking someone’s yoke or sharing bread with the hungry.  The power to do this is in God living through us.. and in our brokenness, those around us can experience the love of God.  This is what it is all about.  God so loved the world that he gave his only son, that anyone who believes in him might have eternal life.  Let us happily confess our brokenness and allow God to work in us as we reach out in love to those around us – transforming the world around us.

 

 

Turn the other cheek Epiphany 7C 23rd Feb 2025

 2025  02  23   Epiphany 7C

Genesis 45:3-11, 15    Psalm 37.1-11, 40-41   1 Corinthians 15.35-50     Luke 6:27-38

 

The golden rule is “treating others as we would like to be treated”.  All of society is onboard with that one, but this bit about turning the other cheek, is kind of tough and very counter cultural.  Proof of this, I heard Just the other day, about a shop no longer willing to donate their extra coat hangers in case one breaks, and the sharp edge cut some one, and then that someone sue them for damages.  There is no forgiveness, and understanding, let alone turning the other cheek and everyone is scared to do anything.   As soon as I hear this reading about turning the other cheek, I recall a friend who sarcastically repeats it and adds, so what are we meant to do?  Just let everyone walk over us.  Those who have suffered abuse at the hands of another, are they meant to simply take it? 

 

Here we see two extremes; someone who should turn the other cheek, if accidently cut by a coat hanger donated in good faith etc… and then someone who is in real danger if they do turn the other cheek, So, I need to start this with an emphatic, NO, we don’t just let people walk over us, and add that there are plenty of other verses that indicate we need to protect ourselves.  Proverbs 27:12 says, "The prudent see danger and take refuge, but the simple keep going and pay the penalty."  Whenever it seems that the Bible contradicts itself, the truth lies in the tension in between and we are invited, even provoked, to go deeper. 

 

The most important lesson that we need to learn is that God’s ways are different to the ways of our society.  The way of God is far wiser than our ways.  Most importantly, we need to learn what those ways are, because God’s ways, are the way to break through and victory.

 

Today we look at the story of Joseph at the point of victory and break through.  It didn’t happen overnight, but it happened most dramatically.  After being sold by his brothers, and them telling his father that he was dead, thus destroying any hope of rescue, and after many years had passed, here were his brothers given into his hand…. He with the power and them at his mercy.

 

A meme popped up on my facebook that seems quite apt for our readings.  It was a picture of St. Paul and a companion, chained up and in prison, singing praise to God.  The caption read, “there is no excuse not to praise God.”  I was almost going to share it with my own caption; “Easier said than done!”

 

It is natural for us to be angry at those who cause us hurt.  On street Chaplaincy last Friday night, two young men trying to justify themselves, said to me, “If you were really, really angry at a girl, you’d want to hit her, right?”  It seemed that they were wanting to hit some bloke who’d “done them wrong”.   I answered with an emphatic, “No!”  However, why could I say no?  It is only because I have been taught since I was little that laying into someone was not acceptable.  It started when my little sister was old enough to be annoying…. Even if she hit me, I was not to hit her back.  She was little and I was bigger…. But we both grew up knowing that we were not to be physical in our anger.   So, we never hit each other – but I do have to confess that doors were slammed, and the totem tennis got quite a workout.

 

I can’t imagine being as gracious as Joseph was with his brothers.  Joseph truly did love his enemies.  How could he do this?  We learn that he had such faith in God, that no matter what he was going through and no matter how he felt, he never let go of his faith that God was God, and ultimately, he needed to be the person that God called him to be.  Whether it was resisting the temptation of his master’s wife trying to seduce him, or telling the truth to Pharoah about the dreams, Joseph acted with integrity that would have the approval of God, rather than the approval of men – even at the expense of his own safety. 

 

It is worth pointing out that Joseph didn’t just forgive his brothers.  He went above and beyond that and he provided for them.  They did not deserve it.  They did not earn it.  There was nothing in them that should have evoked such a lavish and generous response from Joseph.

 

Joseph was a type of Christ.  Jesus was sold out by one of his close friends, yet his suffering, death and resurrection, is counted as atoning for our sins and bringing us eternal life.   We had not done anything to warrant his actions.  We don’t earn or deserve the grace of God, but he ever so generously lavishes that love and grace on us.  And what’s more, God desires to give us all good things.  Like Joseph, he not only forgives and accepts us, but he gives us gifts and plans for our abundant life.

 

This kind of forgiveness that Joseph showed is not only showing us the love of God, but it is also a miracle.  Who can show this kind of forgiveness and love?  Only God.  This attitude of Joseph is divine, and it is God empowered.  It is not natural.  We are asked to show this same kind of forgiveness and love.  It isn’t natural.  We could even go so far as to say, it is humanly impossible.  It takes a miracle – a gift of God.  We need to be spiritually empowered to have this kind of attitude to each other. 

 

Our letter to the Corinthians tells us that, “Just as we have borne the image of the one of dust, we will also bear the image of the one of heaven.”  This is telling us that we are human and like every human before us, naturally prone to sin and naturally unable to live the way that is perfect.  However, now that we have been born of God, we also bear the image of the one in heaven – that is Christ.  We not only bear his image, but we are empowered by the Holy Spirit, living and working through us.

 

How does this work, in a practical sense?  Firstly we need to be willing to admit that we have a problem.  Those young boys who asked me about wanting to hit someone that I get really angry with, asked because we all have some people in our lives that we find difficult.  This is step one – we acknowledge that we have a problem with forgiving them.  Step two  - we talk to God about them and us and how we know that He requires us to forgive them and treat them with love and kindness, and then ask God to do what we can’t.  Ask him to bring our attitude into line with his will and help us to forgive and love. 

The big warning here is that, if these people are dangerous to us, God will also want to protect us from these people and need us to remove ourselves from danger.  God loves those people, but he absolutely adores us also and doesn’t want us to be harmed.  It is possible to forgive, but walk away.

 

In Jesus’ culture, turning the other cheek was about revealing the actions of the perpetrator.  Those hearing Jesus’ words knew this.  To turn the left cheek after being hit on the right was a bold rejection of the insult, and a challenge to strike again with an open palm.  Striking with an open palm was not something that was done to a lessor – therefore it forced the opponent to symbolically declare the opponent an equal.  Turning the other cheek, publicly proclaims that the opposer holds no power because the victim’s honour is not dependent on human approval.  You notice also, it does this without causing harm.  There is no room for revenge.

 

Our psalmist has these wise words for us; “Trust in the LORD and do good; live in the land, and enjoy security.  Take delight in the LORD, and he will give you the desires of your heart.  Commit your way to the LORD; trust in him, and he will act.  He will make your vindication shine like the light and the justice of your cause like the noonday.”

 

God’s ways are the ways of life and break-through.  They are not natural, but they are spiritually empowered.  We have free will and we need to submit that will to God and ask for his divine empowerment to live in love and forgiveness.  Our homework for this week is to put this into action.  Think of someone that you have a problem with…. No, not the one that you think you can forgive… the first one that came to mind who you don’t want to forgive… that one…  bring it to God and ask Him to help you forgive like Joseph.  Remember, God allowed distance between Joseph and his brothers.  Distance is okay…. But we do need to forgive and pray for our enemies.  Victory and Break through will come.  God is faithful and helps us to forgive if we ask him.

Here I am, send me! 9th Feb 2025 Epiphany 5C

 2025  02  09   Epiphany 5C

Isaiah 6:1-8, (9-13)    Psalm 138   1 Corinthians 15:1-11    Luke 5:1-11

This year we have been asked by the Australian Anglican Church to join in a united effort to take the message of the Gospel to our community.  At Synod, all churches declared their support for this venture and pledged that they would take part.  We aim to declare the message, “There is Hope in Jesus”.  Today we see, in our scriptures, that this call to step out of our former way of life and into the exciting plan that God has for us, is affirmed. 

 

Last week we celebrated the presentation of Jesus in the temple.  Mary was told, “and a sword will pierce your own soul”.   The sword that needs to pierce all our souls is the word of God which is alive and active and judges thoughts and intentions of the heart.  When we are honest with ourselves and God, we can come to God, ready for our next step.  Jesus was presented in the temple after his circumcision and after the time of purification.  After the presentation, his life journey continued as he grew into and walked according to God’s perfect plan for his life.  This is also a pattern for the way that God calls us.

 

Today we look at the call of others and learn some important aspects.  Firstly, lets talk about purification.   Many people shy away from stepping out and into the plan of God, because they think they are not good enough…. And they are correct.   NONE of us are good enough.   We need to face that fact with honesty, but then we need to know what God has done for us. 

 

In our first reading, Isaiah declared that he was unworthy.  He declared the truth.  Notice that God didn’t say… “Oh yes you are worthy, Isaiah.”, but instead he has a seraph, which is an angelic being, take a coal from a specific fire and touch his lips with it, thus purifying him.  It all seems very bizarre to us, and I must admit, I have images of Isaiah having burnt lips after this, however, that is not what is happening here.  To understand what is happening we need to understand some aspects familiar to the Israelites.

 

This altar was familiar to Isaiah, as the Israelites had regular sacrifices and rituals involving an altar.  Isaiah knew that the altar with which he was familiar was a copy of the one in heaven.  Here, he was having a vision of the one in heaven.   The reason for the altar was a means to connect with God -  to be forgiven and to be purified or made holy.  For us, Jesus is the sacrificed lamb, who willingly died to make atonement for our sins.  In doing this He makes us holy.   That altar in heaven is holy, because God is Holy, Holy, holy….  We say it three times because he is beyond our comprehension of holy, and also, he is three persons, one God.   There is no way that we can ever be in any way shape of form, worthy enough to speak for God, but Jesus has touched us and in that touch is healing and purification, just as that coal, live with the presence of God, purified Isaiah.

 

The fishermen, especially Peter, knew that he was not worthy.  Peter suddenly realizes that he is in the presence of holiness, and he cannot stand.  He is overwhelmed he falls down at Jesus's knees, and cries out, "Go away from me, Lord, for I am a sinful man!"  Jesus doesn’t say, “No, you’re not”.  It is the truth.   Peter has acknowledged it, and we all need to have had that kind of moment in our own lives so that we can then move on to the next step. 

Jesus said to Peter, “Do not be afraid, from now on you will be catching people.”  After this, we are told that those men left everything and followed Jesus.  (somewhere else, we are told that these followers were made “clean” by the word that Jesus spoke to them).

 

Isaiah and the apostles, especially Peter, knew that they were not worthy, but we know that they were mightily called and used to bring God’s message to the people.   We are asked by God to go out into all the world,  making disciples, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything that Jesus commanded us.   How are we going with this?  We have some baptisms, but that is only one part of this great commission.  Are we making disciples?  Are we going out to all the world… or even, are we going out into our community?  That is what Hope 25 is getting us to do… to go out into our community, to our neighbours, friends and family, with the message that there is hope in Jesus.

 

Our reading from the letter to the Corinthians tells us about the important points in the message that we take to the world.  Saint Paul explains point number one -  that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the scriptures.    Some people would say, we are not really sinners… no one is really bad… it is all just poor circumstances.  Absolutely, this is nearly always the case, but it doesn’t make us any less a sinner.  There but for the grace of God go I, and yet all of us…. Isaiah and Peter included are not worthy of God…. We are not and cannot ever be worthy in our own strength.  We might be admirable in the eyes of men, but that sword of the spirit that convicts of truth knows our heart and compared to God our righteous acts are as filthy rags.  That sentiment comes from the book of Isaiah also; Isaiah 64:6  “All of us have become like one who is unclean, and all our righteous acts are like filthy rags; we all shrivel up like a leaf, and like the wind our sins sweep us away.”

 

God so loved the world that Jesus came to die for us.  If he didn’t need to do this because of our sin, he would not have said that he did.   We focus on the love of God, but we need to be careful that we don’t dismiss sin because we are trying to be loving.  Even if there is a good reason for sin, it is still sin… and sin, according to our scriptures, is something we all share because all fall short of the glory of God and scripture also tells us that anything that is not of faith is sin.

Step one is that we agree with God.  We are not worthy, and we need him, but the good news is that Jesus died to make atonement for sin, so that we can be redeemed…. In other words, bought back to the family of God.

 

The second part of the message we proclaim is that Jesus was buried (really and truly dead) and that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the scriptures.  This was no ordinary man who died for us, but God incarnate.   He rose from the dead.  As man, Jesus could suffer and die, but as God, Jesus is eternal, and he conquered death and rose on the third day.   He rose… he properly and fully rose.  It wasn’t a figure of speech or some kind of parable.  We know that he rose because he appeared to Peter and the disciples and then to more than five hundred people at one time.  This is what we are told in the letter and these people testified to this fact.

 

God was a man who lived among us.  Because of his great love for us he paid the spiritual price for our sins – death – the wages of sin is death.  This is more than a nice philosophical religious idea and Jesus proved the truth by rising from the dead.  This is how we have hope and faith in God.  This is not blind faith, there were eye witnesses – many of them.

 

In the year 2025, there are more people with mental health issues than ever before and more people with depression.  Young people feel that there is no hope.  They think we are destroying the climate and everywhere they turn there is division over ideology and violent protests.  No one thinks that they are a sinner, but I suspect they can all tell you someone who is.  Deep down we know we are not as good as the image we try to project, so how might it make a difference if we could confess, “Lord I am not worthy!”? 

 

Our world needs desperately to know Jesus.  When we come to him, we find that he makes us whole.  He takes us, as we are and through his blood we are cleansed… we are healed.  This is hope… the only true hope.  There is only hope in Jesus… hope for now and hope for eternity, but the world will never know the truth unless we do something about it.  The voice of the Lord is saying, “Whom shall I send, and who will go for us?"

Can we all right now, in prayer… turn to God and like Isaiah say; "Here am I; send me!"

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

 2025  02  02 Presentation of the Lord Year C

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

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

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

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

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

 

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

 

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

 

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

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

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

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