Scripture Readings: Lamentations 3:22–33 | Psalm 30 | 2 Corinthians 8:7–15 | Mark 5:21–43
“The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases, his mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness.” (Lamentations 3:22-23). Our world is hungry for hope. For better or worse, long gone are the days of progressive optimism… the notion that we humans can figure out the solutions to just about any crisis we come across… given enough time, money, technology, and motivation. True, these things can all be put to good use… alleviating all sorts of real problems… but then new ones keep popping up. And all the old ones seem to find new ways to unravel all our nicely laid plans. We could talk about the generations of people being raised in poverty just down the road in Saint John… or those struggling quietly behind closed doors here in the valley. Or the growing numbers of our neighbours living without a home, or the opioid epidemic all across our country. Or the millions of people who are being crushed by famine, and war… made worse by our changing climate, and not to mention all those who are being invigorated and incited to act, not out of compassion, but out of fear and prejudice… seeing violence and oppression as the only path forward. So many today are hungry for some kind of hope to cling onto… but have no clue where to turn to find it. Our Scripture readings today don’t paint a rosy picture of the world we live in… they don’t offer us simple or easy answers for how to bring and end to all of the suffering and pain… inside, and all around us. But they do point us to the One who we can turn to even in our darkest moments… so that we can receive from Him the hope we need, and start to share this hope with those around us. Our first reading today is taken from the book of Lamentations; a collection of powerful and poetic prayers expressing the grief and anguish felt by God’s covenant people after the fall of Jerusalem. After centuries of living in the land God gave to them, while for the most part ignoring their commitments to walk in the ways of the Living God, the Babylonian Empire showed up and turned the world of those who lived in Judea upside down. The holy Temple of the Living God built by Solomon… the centre of their people’s spirituality and society, lay ransacked and in ruins. God’s chosen people were defeated, crushed, and deported to foreign lands. The survivors felt abandoned… at a complete loss, and with no idea how things could turn around. A grim situation that has been repeated so many times around the world, including today. And in that time of desolation, some of God’s people found the words to share their pain and despair… honestly expressing to God and to one another, the sense of hopelessness that had overtaken them. The book begins with a metaphor of Jerusalem and its people as a woman whose future has been snuffed out. Lamentations 1:1-4, How lonely sits the city that once was full of people! How like a widow she has become, she that was great among the nations! She that was a princess among the provinces has become a vassal. She weeps bitterly in the night, with tears on her cheeks; among all her lovers she has no one to comfort her; all her friends have dealt treacherously with her, they have become her enemies. Judah has gone into exile with suffering and hard servitude; she lives now among the nations, and finds no resting place; her pursuers have all overtaken her in the midst of her distress. The roads to Zion mourn, for no one comes to the festivals; all her gates are desolate, her priests groan; her young girls grieve, and her lot is bitter. And on and on it goes. And yet, even in this deep desolation, the poet turns to Yahweh, the Living God. Not to offer easy answers, but to reach out towards the Lord in faith… in the midst of their grief, seeing Him as their only hope. Lamentations 3:19-24, “The thought of my affliction and my homelessness is wormwood [bitterness] and gall! My soul continually thinks of it and is bowed down within me. But this I call to mind, and therefore I have hope: The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases, his mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness. “The Lord is my portion,” says my soul, “therefore I will hope in him.” Against all expectations, at the centre of their Lamentations the poet places their hope in God: in Yahweh’s steadfast love… not in the absence, but in the midst of their afflictions. When all other hopes appears utterly lost, the poet looks to the LORD. And this is a theme that runs all throughout the Bible: time and again this sacred story calls us to place our hope in the Living God, whose steadfast love endures forever. In our Gospel reading today St. Mark tells the story of two other hopeless situations: a daughter who is dying, and a woman whose sickness will not end. Arriving on the shore after His dramatic calming of the storm, Jesus is met by a desperate parent who begs Him to come and rescue their child. Then on the way, we’re told of the desperate act of a woman suffering from a chronic, stigmatized, and debilitating disease. Just like Jerusalem in the opening lines of Lamentations, these two women were facing desolation, and they had no one else to turn to. And yet they weren’t without hope… and in their troubles they both turn to Jesus. One through the public, earnest pleas of their father… who repeatedly begs Jesus to heal her. The other turns to Jesus with a secret hope she dares not share aloud, even with Jesus Himself! But even so, she reaches out to Him in hope… trusting that even the slightest touch of Him will be enough to bring her relief. At this point, St. Mark amps up the tension in the story… which is an important question for us to consider in our own contexts too. And that question is: how close will Christ Jesus actually get to those who are suffering and hopeless? How near is He willing to draw to those who are themselves considered untouchable? As we may know, one of the most isolating parts of the affliction of the woman who bled those twelve long years, is that for that whole time, she would have been considered unclean by her community. Of course, it might make good medical sense, in the past and today, to be concerned about unknown diseases, and afflictions in order to guard against any dangerous contagions. Our own experience in the early days of COVID-19, when much was unknown about how it is passed along can remind us of how tricky these things can be. But it was not for primarily medical reasons that the woman with the hemorrhage was seen as unclean. It was part of the Israelite understanding about the sanctity of life itself… and the strict rules governing how humans were to relate to the Living God. God was, after all, holy, sacred… uniquely set apart, and needed to be treated as such… in part by maintaining clear boundaries between His holy presence and anything associated with the forces of death. Now to be ritually unclean was not an indictment of someone’s moral character… it was a common, but usually temporary experience that everyone would go through from time to time for a whole host of reasons. If someone was in an unclean state, they simply needed to isolate themselves for a time, and then perform some specific purification rites before rejoining the life of the community. But what if the isolation kept on going? Imagine if you had to stay completely socially distant for twelve years… while everyone else could just go back to their old lives. On top of the physical toll this person had to endure, they were also facing their afflictions alone… cut off from the life of their people, and apparently kept at a distance from the Living God Himself. This part of St. Mark’s Gospel invites us to contemplate not only if there is hope in hopeless situations… but if there is hope for the people who seem to be hopeless themselves. And one of the truly amazing things that stands out about how Jesus relates to people, even unclean people, and hopeless people, is how He draws near to them. He does not wait for them to be completely ready and made right before connecting with them, but rather He reaches out to them in the midst of the painful messes they find themselves in. Jesus did not let the normal boundaries define who was able to experience the presence and power of the Living God… revealing something I think is incredibly important: In Christ Jesus we see that God is not removed from those who are afflicted… even from those considered outsiders for all sorts of reasons. No, in Jesus, God has truly drawn near to us all… placing Himself within our reach… present and eager for us to turn to Him in faith… to place our hope in Him, and so to experience His life-giving, and cleansing power. When the hemorrhaging woman touched Christ’s cloak expressing her secret hope, Jesus immediately acknowledges her bold faith in Him. And even though everyone else thought that her ritual uncleanness would spread through that desperate touch, it turns out that drawing near to Jesus actually serves to restore and cleanse her instead. And this same willingness to reach out to those who seem hopelessly cut off from is at play when Jesus arrives at the house of the synagogue leader, and takes the hand of his dead daughter. Again, this was an act that itself would have made anyone else ritually unclean. But again, Jesus reaches out to this dead child, and His life-giving power completely restores her. In Jesus, St. Mark wants us to see that God is not threatened or limited by our afflictions, as desperate as they may be. Nor is He repelled by our uncleanness… standing far off from us to avoid contamination. No, in Jesus, the Living God has drawn near, and reached out to bring His healing, cleansing, and life-giving touch to our world. In Him, we know God is very present to our sufferings, and is at work to rescue us up close and personal. This means that no one is beyond the reach of God’s mercy. All are invited to draw near to Him in faith, and to receive from Him the forgiveness, freedom, and hope that He offers to us all, through Jesus Christ… even those we might be tempted to see as hopeless. Our world is indeed hungry for hope, and Jesus Christ is eager and able to fill us up with a hope that endures… not based on what we are capable of on our own, or what we see happening all around us… but based on the Good News of the steadfast love of the Living God made know to us in Jesus Christ the Risen Lord. What does this mean for us His people today, as we seek to not only draw near to Jesus in faith, but also to faithfully follow His ways and share this Good News with our world? Well, many things. But for starters, it means that we too are meant to reach out even to those who seem hopeless, and to extend God’s steadfast love to them… embodying His mercy and care as we serve as Christ’s hands and feet, and hope-full presence in our world in all sorts of ways. One tangible example of Christians doing this comes from our second reading in 2 Corinthians, as St. Paul encourages his listeners to put God’s merciful presence and power into practice by providing for the needs of others… for strangers living in far off Jerusalem. Though it’s not necessarily clear just from our reading today, one of St. Paul’s projects was to gather a collection on behalf of the Christians in Jerusalem, to provide support and relief as they were suffering from the effects of a severe famine. And so, in our reading, St. Paul was offering the Corinthians encouragement to embody God’s generosity towards their brothers and sisters in their need. Even though Jerusalem was hundreds of miles away… and they may not have met each other personally, St. Paul knew they were all still a part of God’s family, and they were being invited to share God’s love with them in this hands-on way… to be shaped by God’s own merciful heart, and to bring help to those without hope. And St. Paul could see this as an opportunity to help the Corinthians to become a bit more like Jesus… learning to truly care for one another in their afflictions… practicing love for their fellow Christians, and in the process, growing in love towards all their neighbours. And to this end, St. Paul reminds them of the way that Jesus shared God’s great love with them. 2 Corinthians 8:9, “For you know the generous act of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor, so that by his poverty you might become rich.” He is of course speaking of the cross, where Jesus gave up everything… His divine glory, earthly security, community, bodily autonomy, all sense of dignity… all in order to reach out to our world of hopeless sinners… stretching out His hands in suffering to bring us the cleansing forgiveness and life-giving power of God’s steadfast and holy love. And in His resurrection, Jesus gives us good reason to hold onto hope: in Him we know that not even our worst desolations… our suffering, isolation, and even our death can stand in the way of God’s rescuing love. In our day, there are plenty of people who are facing what seems like truly hopeless situations. People facing famine in places like Gaza, and Sudan… and there are also those struggling to make ends meet right here in New Brunswick. There are people that we might be tempted to consider outside of our area of concern… untouchable… hopeless. How might God call us to share His love and His hope with them? To be His merciful hands and feet, as we seek to be faithful to God’s ways today? And how can we support our fellow believers? Our neighbouring Christians in their struggles? Like the Corinthians, how can our hearts be opened to the whole family of God, not just our own community? And as we learn to love one another beyond our walls, also learning how to love all of our neighbours better as well? And finally, when we feel overwhelmed and hopeless ourselves… facing afflictions we can’t overcome… and when we can’t seem to see a clear way forward… let us draw near in faith to Jesus Christ, our merciful Saviour, and receive from Him the forgiveness, freedom, and hope that He offers us all… the hope found in the steadfast, and saving love of God alone. I’d like to close now with the prayer of General Intercession as found in the BAS. Remember, Lord, your people bowed before you, and those who are absent through age, sickness, or any other cause. Care for the infants, guide the young, support the aged, inspire the faint-hearted, and bring the wandering to your fold. Journey with the travellers, encourage the oppressed, defend the widows, deliver the captives, heal the sick. Strengthen all who are in tribulation, necessity, or distress. Remember for good those who love us, and those who hate us, and those who have asked us, unworthy as we are, to pray for them. Remember especially, Lord, those whom we have forgotten. For you are the helper of the helpless, the saviour of the lost, the refuge of the wanderer, the healer of the sick. You know the need of all and have heard each prayer: save us in your merciful lovingkindness and eternal love; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
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Our service of Morning Prayer, Bulletin, and Sermon this week can be found here: And our Songs for this week can be found here: Trust Him, Even In The Storm - Sermon for the Fifth Sunday After Pentecost (June 23, 2024)6/23/2024 Scripture Readings: Job 38:1–11 | Psalm 107:1–3, 23–32 | 2 Corinthians 6:1–13 | Mark 4:35–41
“He woke up and rebuked the wind, and said to the sea, ‘Peace! Be still!’ Then the wind ceased, and there was a dead calm.” (Mark 4:39). Many years ago, when I was a teenager back in the neighbourhood of Thunder Bay, I had the blessing of spending time in the summers at my Grandparent’s cabin on Hick’s Lake. It wasn’t a huge lake. A strong swimmer could cross it width-wise if they wanted to. But it was just about perfect for learning to swim, to fish, and to canoe. And I can recall one fateful day when my Dad, my cousin, and I decided to take the canoe down to the far end of the lake… which was a blast… until the storm clouds showed up. Suddenly, we were faced with some very strong headwinds… fighting whitecap waves, and pelting rain as we slowly made our way back to our cabin. At one point it seemed we were finally making progress, but then our canoe suddenly caught the wind the wrong way and we found ourselves clear across the lake again. In that moment, I remember being frightened, and frustrated, and aching from having to paddle against these fierce forces of nature… and I really don’t know how we would have made it back without my Dad’s steady guidance and strong hands hard at work from the back of the canoe. It was certainly a humbling experience, and one with important lessons I hope that I’ll never forget. And one of those lessons is that weather is a wonderful reminder of how much we really can’t control in life. There are many aspects of our day to day lives that we can seem to manage… or at least, we feel like we should be able to manage them. But weather is much bigger than us. It's beyond our capability to master. We can only do our best to observe it, to prepare for it, and respond to it. And as we are reminded all the time these days, there are some truly terrifying forces at work in the natural world: wildfires, floods, heatwaves, tornados, hurricanes… all of which can cause great destruction… and which can also serve to remind us of those other experiences in our lives that can also feel out of our control: like illnesses, and loss. And addictions… insecurity… poverty… injustices… and war. We know that people all over our world keep getting swept away by all these terrifying realities that we mere humans just can’t seem to master, as hard as we may try. Our Scripture readings today do not hold out the promise of preventing us from facing these troubles and storms of life… but they do direct us to the One who is not only with us in the midst of them, but who we can trust truly cares for us in our moments of fear and suffering… and the One who can overcome them… and help us to overcome them too. Our first reading today is a passage from the final chapters of the book of Job, where we hear the Living God respond to Job’s complaint against God on account of his unjust sufferings. The book of Job as a whole is a profound exploration of so many questions that we still struggle with today… and we don’t really have time this morning to work through all of the wisdom it has in store for us. But in our passage today we get a good glimpse of God’s response to Job: a stark reminder that we humans simply can’t see the big picture… nor can we master the world with all its wonderous and dangerous capacities. But as frightening and frustrating as this can seem, this passage is good news for us, because at its heart, this is an invitation to trust the One who can! Yahweh alone is the One who wields power over all the forces of the earth. It is no struggle for him to master the winds and the waves that simply overwhelm us. And so in Job, we are invited to trust in the Living God even without knowing all the answers… without clinging onto the illusion of control… without even any explanations. It’s an invitation to trust God precisely when it’s hard, and to find Him trustworthy. And in our reading today from the Gospel of Mark, we see Jesus displaying God’s own power in silencing the storm, to the amazement and fear of His disciples. I mean, its one thing to see your Rabbi as a great teacher, and a miracle worker. It’s another thing entirely to witness Him silence a storm with just a word. “Who then is this,” they said to themselves, “that even the wind and the sea obey him?” Far from just being a great man, Jesus was able to do things that the Living God alone can do. But Jesus does something else in this story that is of great importance for you and I today aside from revealing a glimpse of His power and glory as the Son of God: He rests in the boat in the midst of the storm… completely entrusting His fate, despite the dangers all around Him, into the hands of His Father in Heaven. And this is the call to action of this story: not only to stand in awe of and worship Christ Jesus for His great power over the forces of nature… but also to trust in the Living God… in our loving Father, when we are in the midst of our storms… in whatever forms these storms may take. Notice that, just like with Job, the disciples had done nothing at all to deserve the dangerous situation they found themselves in. It’s not like the storm was the result of their poor planning, or as a punishment for their mistakes. Actually, St. Mark tells us that it was Jesus Himself who leads His followers into this situation where they are in danger. This serves as an important reminder for us to avoid the temptation to try to assign guilt when life’s storms descend, either on us, or on others. True, these challenging moments might be helpful to remind us of the fragility of life, and of the importance of living faithfully each day… but storms come upon the righteous just as much as they do upon the unrighteous. Suffering itself is not a sign that God is out to get us, or is punishing us for wrongdoing. But it is always an invitation to trust in God’s character, in His compassion, and in His saving love… which is exactly what the disciples struggle to do in our passage. The violent storm tempts them to question Jesus’ concern for them… God’s concern for them: “they woke him up and said to him, ‘Teacher, do you not care that we are perishing?’” (Mark 4:38). How many times have those same thoughts entered into our minds, if not our lips, when the waves and the winds rage around us? How many times have we asked God, “if you love us, why is this happening?” In many ways, I can deeply sympathize, and identify with the disciples, and with this question… and maybe you can to. But Jesus’ response invites us to consider some other important questions: Like what do we think would have happened if the disciples had simply let Jesus keep on sleeping? Would they really have perished, as they feared, if they had not awakened Him? Or did Christ really have good reasons to remain calm, trusting in His Father’s love? And was it really because Jesus didn’t care about them that He could rest silent in the stern of the boat, instead of shielding them from having to experience the terrifying storm raging around them? Or was this a way to invite His disciples, including you and I today into a deeper faith? When we encounter the silence of God in the midst of our storms, is it because God does not care about us? Is it because He is powerless to still the wind and the waves that we find ourselves in? Or… is our Father calling us to trust Him? To place our faith in Him, and in our Saviour Jesus Christ, especially when it’s hard? To believe even when we struggle… and start to go under… and even if we should perish, to remain confident in His rescuing… and resurrecting love? There is of course another moment in the Gospels when Jesus clearly displays this deep trust in His Father’s power and love… not when He was threatened by the wind and waves, but by the shadow and specter of the cross. In Gethsemane, Jesus pleaded with His Father that if it was possible to take the cup of suffering from Him. But in the end, Jesus entrusted His life completely into the Father’ hands, allowing His life to be drowned by the consequences of our sins… suffering great pain and humiliation… abandoned by all, and crucified as a criminal. Jesus trusted His Father even to the point of death… and the Good News is, He was not let down. God raised Jesus again from the dead, overcoming not simply the powers of the weather, but the strongest foes ever imagined: the powers of spiritual darkness, of sin, and of death itself. And Jesus has been revealed as the victor, not by avoiding suffering, but by faithfully enduring the worst it could throw at Him, and by being raised again to God’s new life, no longer subject to these defeated foes. And this is how Christ calls us to share in His victory… not through avoiding suffering ourselves, but through faithfully enduring it, trusting in the saving love of our Heavenly Father, and in Jesus Christ our Risen Saviour, and in the Holy Spirit of God still at work within us. Our reading today from 2 Corinthians Chapter 6 calls us to consider St. Paul’s own experience as a faithful apostle of Jesus: weathering all sorts of storms… sometimes quite literally, being shipwrecked multiple times... and in the end, laying down his life as a witness to Jesus… trusting in the Risen Lord to share His own victory with him, and with all who place their trust in Him. 2 Corinthians 6:3-10, “We are putting no obstacle in anyone’s way, so that no fault may be found with our ministry, but as servants of God we have commended ourselves in every way: through great endurance, in afflictions, hardships, calamities, beatings, imprisonments, riots, labors, sleepless nights, hunger; by purity, knowledge, patience, kindness, holiness of spirit, genuine love, truthful speech, and the power of God; with the weapons of righteousness for the right hand and for the left; in honor and dishonor, in ill repute and good repute. We are treated as impostors, and yet are true; as unknown, and yet are well known; as dying, and see—we are alive; as punished, and yet not killed; as sorrowful, yet always rejoicing; as poor, yet making many rich; as having nothing, and yet possessing everything.” Regardless of the turbulent circumstances that St. Paul found himself in, time and again, as He sought to serve the Risen Christ, he trusted in the saving love and the power of God to bring about God’s good will in the end… to bring to completion the New Creation begun that first Easter morning as Jesus Christ overcame the grave… the Good News that invites us all to believe in, and take part in sharing with our world. Back in the boat, Jesus called out the disciple’s lack of faith… not in an abstract, academic sense… but in the life or death moments when the pressure’s on: “Why are you afraid? Have you still no faith?” (Mark 4:40). And maybe Christ Jesus is asking you and I this same question this morning in our own moments of doubt. A question of correction, yes, but not of condemnation. Jesus knows why we are afraid. There are lots of things to be afraid of these days. But even so, He calls us all to trust Him when we find that we are afraid. To trust in His victory of new life over death… to trust in His great compassion and love, for us and for our broken world… to trust that, even if we do suffer and perish, we know that in Him there is the promise of God’s eternal life… and that no matter how terrible the storms we face may be, in Jesus the crucified and Risen Lord, God is with us and always will be. Amen. Our service of Morning Prayer, Bulletin, and Sermon this week can be found here: And our Songs for this week can be found here: Scripture Readings: Ezekiel 17:22–24 | Psalm 92 | 2 Corinthians 5:6–17 | Mark 4:26–34
“He also said, ‘The kingdom of God is as if someone would scatter seed on the ground, and would sleep and rise night and day, and the seed would sprout and grow, he does not know how.’” (Mark 4:26-27). What’s your favourite kind of flower? My favourite are Forget-Me-Nots. Aside from being simple, small, and yet beautiful, they also remind me of a time in my life when I was preparing to answer a calling to ordained ministry in the Anglican Church. A few of us who were also about to be ordained were on a silent retreat at the Roman Catholic monastery in Rogersville. It was a time of deep prayer, and of serious reflection on the implications of taking this step… and I can recall feeling overwhelmed at times, and very conscious of my own limitations… my own smallness compared to the mission ahead of me, and the whole Church I was called to serve. But then I went for a walk around the monastery grounds, and found a little path to a grotto… a solitary outdoor place of prayer. And in that peaceful place, where God’s Spirit continued to quietly invite me to trust in His guidance and grace, I found myself surrounded by Forget-Me-Nots. They completely lined the pathway, these little blue flowers… and this image is still vivid in my mind… an image which now helps me not to forget how God works through these simple and small ways to bring about His good will… drawing us closer to Him, and inviting us to trust in His gracious, life-giving love, for us and our world. When we moved to our home some years back, we found all sorts of wildflowers around the property. And to my delight, amongst the various wild plants and weeds, there were a few Forget-Me-Nots at the end of our driveway. No idea where they came from, but there they were. And for the first few years, they remained just a few in number. Easily overlooked. But then last year, instead of just mowing them down with the grass, I let them be… hoping that maybe they would spread a bit. And this year, to my growing delight, we now have a big patch of them… as well as a few more patches springing up nearby. Now I know that’s the way with Forget-Me-Nots, but like all growing things, even those that seem so commonplace, familiar, or insignificant… there’s an amazing and mysterious beauty at work in life if we take time to notice it… inviting us to humbly reflect on how our own lives fit into creation, and the Living God’s ongoing work within it. And in today’s Gospel reading, Jesus our Lord gives us two parables about God Kingdom using the imagery of planting and growing: wheat planted by a farmer, which then grows into a harvest, and a small mustard seed which then grows into a shrub big enough to offer shelter to the birds. These are moving images, but we need to remember that Jesus used parables not just as relatable word pictures about general truths… Jesus used them to offer true insights into who He is, and into what He is doing. They are about God’s Kingdom. Meant to reshape our ideas about what God is up to, and our place within His will for His world. Sometimes these parables seem pretty straightforward and familiar. Sometimes they seem a lot more mysterious. But if we want to actually understand the Good News that these sayings have to share, we need to remember their purpose: they point us to Jesus Himself, shining light on what He is up to… bringing about God’s good Kingdom even now. The parables we heard today are spoken by Jesus at a particular moment early on in St. Mark’s Gospel: after Christ had already called the Twelve disciples, had been confronted by the religious experts, and carried out many miracles. And so at this point, many of the common people in that region had begun to take notice of Him. People with all sorts of different ideas about what God’s Kingdom and God’s King should look like. At the start of Mark Chapter 4, we can read that Jesus “began to teach beside the sea. Such a very large crowd gathered around him that he got into a boat on the sea and sat there, while the whole crowd was beside the sea on the land. He began to teach them many things in parables” (Mark 4:1-2), including the two parables we read today. Mark 4:26-29, “The kingdom of God is as if someone would scatter seed on the ground, and would sleep and rise night and day, and the seed would sprout and grow, he does not know how. The earth produces of itself, first the stalk, then the head, then the full grain in the head. But when the grain is ripe, at once he goes in with his sickle, because the harvest has come.” It’s a simple and profound image: a seed planted in the ground comes to life in ways completely hidden from human agency. It’s something that happens all the time, all around us, but it’s still mysterious… outside of our understanding and direct control. Of course, all the gardeners here today know a bit more than the rest of us about what might help plants to grow; what kinds of soils and fertilizers works best, and so on. And those a bit more scientifically minded might have a better understanding about the whole process of plant cell replication, etcetera… but remember: this parable is not really about plants… it’s using plants to make a point about God’s Kingdom. About how it grows in ways we often don’t recognize, understand, or control. And yet, when the harvest is ready, there is a real need for us to respond rightly. Then there’s the second parable about the mustard seed. Mark 4:30-32, “He also said, “With what can we compare the kingdom of God, or what parable will we use for it? It is like a mustard seed, which, when sown upon the ground, is the smallest of all the seeds on earth; yet when it is sown it grows up and becomes the greatest of all shrubs, and puts forth large branches, so that the birds of the air can make nests in its shade.” Any botanists among us (or those like me with access to Google), might be tempted to point out that orchid seeds are actually smaller than mustard seeds… but to focus on this detail is to miss the point of what Jesus is getting at: that something so seemingly insignificant and easily overlooked is designed to transform into an unexpectedly outsized blessing for others to share in. Like many other examples of abstract wisdom found in the world… these parables might provide some edifying food for thought for anyone to consider. But for those of us who are followers of Jesus Christ, these sayings have a much more direct message, with real implications for how we go about the work of God’s good Kingdom. In short: we simply can’t accurately assess the potential growth of God’s Kingdom based on appearances! It is in so many ways mysterious… outside of our understanding and control… and able to exceed all of our expectations. And yet, we are all still graciously called to take part in it… trusting the Living God to do His work, as we seek to do His will. This means that we don’t need to be discouraged when the things of God seem small and insignificant. And we are warned against placing our faith in what seems like success by human standards. After all, God’s Kingdom is not all about us! It’s not based on our own potential or lack thereof. By God’s grace, we have a real role to play, but it is God’s power at work in us that brings about His New Life… often in really mysterious and unexpected ways. Christ Jesus Himself is the prime example of this. He is Himself the Living God, the Eternal Son whose glory was hidden like the grain of wheat, not in soil, but in the life of an ordinary human being like us… the life of a humble carpenter’s son from Nazareth… and yet there He was mysteriously and powerfully accomplishing God’s redemptive and life-giving work in ways beyond all expectations… healing the sick, confronting those who were misleading God’s people, and setting people free from the powers of darkness… and calling for people like us to respond to what He was up to with faith and obedience. And just like the tiny mustard seed sown in the ground, Jesus Himself would suffer a fate reserved for those whose lives are seemingly deemed insignificant… crucified as a criminal… publicly shamed and reduced to nothing from a human point of view… and yet from His death God’s New resurrection life bursts forth, upending our world for good… defeating the powers of darkness and death, and offering shelter and salvation for all the peoples of the world, calling us all to come and discover our truest home in Him. And as we Christians reflect on the life, and death, and resurrection of Jesus our Lord, we also come to understand the place of the Church within God’s good Kingdom as well. These parables point us first to Jesus, and call us to respond to Him in the light of the truth that they share. Just as God’s mysterious and hidden power was present and at work in and through Jesus in His earthly life, so too God is present and at work through His Spirit in the life of the Church today. The community of God’s faithful people may not seem all that significant in the world’s eyes… but that doesn’t mean God is not still at work in us, even in ways that we don’t understand. Even if it’s hard to see, God’s life continues to bear fruit in us as we draw near to Him in faith… as we let His word shape our imaginations, and spread its roots deep in our hearts… as we turn from our sins, and receiving His gracious forgiveness… offered through Christ’s own broken body and blood shed at the cross… and then as we put into practice all that we have received… walking in His ways, and tending to the life of God growing inside us through the Holy Spirit. Like a grain of wheat, God’s Kingdom is at work in us in ways we can’t always measure or observe… but we can be faithful and ready to respond when the time is right for Chris’s work in us to bear its good fruit. And just as Jesus Himself was cast aside, and His life considered a small thing to those who opposed Him, we too His people should not be surprised when we find ourselves dismissed as too small to matter, or to make a difference. God’s people might be a minority, but with God’s own Spirit still at work in and through us, we can become a real blessing to our world… helping all those who are lost to come into contact and receive the saving love of the Living God. These parables offer an important word of hope for the Church in the West these days: we don’t need to despair over having small numbers, or when we seem to only be making slow progress… and we don’t need to chase after quick ways to draw crowds, or get things done at the expense of faithfulness to the call of Jesus Christ to trust and follow Him. True, the more people who come to follow Christ Jesus, the better. And if our projects and programs seem to succeed, that’s great. But the point is: we can never clearly assess what God intends to do in and through His people, and He loves to use what seems weak and insignificant in the eyes of the world to bring about His gracious Kingdom. So, when we are tempted to be discouraged, or overwhelmed by the challenges that lie before us, let us not forget that God’s Kingdom grows in all sorts of surprising, and unexpected ways, with God’s Holy Spirit showing up where we least expect Him to, and when we need His grace and guidance the most. Let us not forget that Christ Jesus is the source of our confidence and life, and that if we follow Him in faith, our very real limitations won’t stop Him from drawing us into His good work. Let us not forget that God’s Kingdom is so much bigger than you and me… and yet, we are all called to share in its joys, in its labours, and in its blessed life. And let us not forget that Christ Jesus calls us share this Good News with the world around us too. I’d like to end now with a poem I wrote a while back called A Penny in God’s Pocket. A penny in God’s pocket Of infinitesimal insignificance; Almost perfectly pointless. And yet… Hidden, not forgotten. Lovingly remembered, As holy fingers play. Toying with this secret Silly treasure Tossed by all the rest. A penny in God’s pocket Almost nothing at all, But held by One Who makes all out of nothing. Amen. Today is Father's Day in Canada, and so many will mark this day by remembering and honouring their fathers who have loved, cared for, guided, and raised them up. For many of us, this is a day of deep gratitude, and it is right that we give thanks along with them for those who truly embodied the gift of fatherhood. For some of us today is less straightforward, and perhaps more of a struggle... perhaps due to difficulties or losses in one's parental relationships, or for those whom the experience of pursuing fatherhood has been one of sorrow and disappointment. Along with them, we do well to acknowledge that family life is often a challenging road, and to listen to and honour their sufferings, which are also known and shared by our loving God. Whether today is a day of celebration for you, or a day of difficulty, or some mixture of both: may you receive God's blessing today exactly as it is needed. May God surround you and those you love, as well as all those who have loved and supported you, with peace, hope, fellowship, kindness, and understanding. Our service of Morning Prayer, Bulletin, and Sermon this week can be found here: And our Songs for this week can be found here: Scripture Readings: Genesis 3:8–15 | Psalm 130 | 2 Corinthians 4:13–5:1 | Mark 3:20–35
“If a kingdom is divided against itself, that kingdom cannot stand. And if a house is divided against itself, that house will not be able to stand.” (Mark 3:24-25). A divided house cannot stand. There’s a lot of wisdom in these words. So many troubles our world is facing today highlight the truth of this saying. Whether we’re talking about politics, or business, or personal relationships… how can we expect to do all that needs to be done if we’re always attacking and opposing each other? Where else would we expect that path to lead then to our own destruction? And yet, we just keep on dividing. And to make sure we don’t go pointing fingers at everyone else, it’s important to remember that we Christians have a pretty divided history as well. Over and over again, we’ve found ourselves falling into the same old traps as everyone else. What we’re dealing with is truly a universal human problem. So then, what is the way forward? It’s not to expect the world around us to suddenly start getting along… and it’s not necessarily to just go along with what the world around us expects either. We Christians, as divided and struggling as we may be at times, have been entrusted with a particular vision of what we all need to come together again in unity… a vision which our Scripture readings today invite us to explore. Like so many other aspects of life, this Christian vision of unity begins back in the book of Genesis, and is connected to the story often referred to as “The Fall”… a powerful exploration of the origins and source of all of the divisions that keep on plaguing humanity… the start of our turning away from the Living God, and from one another… from those we were created to care for and bless… those we are meant to love, and to be loved by in turn. The book of Genesis is intended to set the stage for how the rest of the story of Scripture unfolds. And in our reading today we see the beginning of a broken pattern that plays out, again and again. A problem much bigger then mere human stupidity and sin… as big as those problems may be… a problem involving dark spiritual forces in rebellion that feed and fuel our self-destructive desires. But this story also points us beyond the problem to the hope that we Christians have of how God can set us free from these divisions… how God intends to put His beloved but fractured world back together again. The background of our passage today from Genesis Chapter 3 is that Yahweh, the Living God has created our world, and human beings to serve as His image… His representatives on Earth, reflecting and enacting His good rule over all His good world. But then we humans were tempted to reject this high calling. A crafty, cunning Serpent… a mysterious creature already in rebellion against Yahweh, convinces them to reject God’s instructions and to reach out and seize wisdom for themselves… tragically trying to make themselves like God, but without God. Too late, they realize that this is actually a trap, and that the ‘wisdom’ and ‘freedom’ from God’s ways that they sought really just led them to shame, and fear, and feeling exposed, and cut off from one another. And in that moment, the Living God Yahweh comes to meet with His beloved image-bearers. The gig is up, as they say. But notice how God first responds to the rebellion of the humans who have turned away from Him: The Almighty Creator… the One who understands all mysteries, and fathoms all of the factors that are at work in the universe, doesn’t arrive on the scene with angry accusations… but with questions, not playing dumb, or interrogating… but questions that invite them to turn back to Him and find life. An invitation they do not receive. “Where are you?” God is depicted here as searching for His beloved people… longing to be with the ones He created to share in His divine fellowship and love. He already knows where they are, but invites them to stop hiding and to come to Him. “What have you done?” He already knows what happened, but rather than attack and accuse, God invites them to tell the truth. He’s creating space for them to confess. To clearly acknowledge their sin, their betrayal, and to seek His mercy and forgiveness… because He longs to offer it. But instead, the humans begin accusing each other, and God… shifting away the blame from their own shoulders… no longer free to love, and to be loved… and free then to fail, and find forgiveness. Now they were both bound to fear, and cut off from one another, and from their Creator. The humans no longer trusted in God’s goodness, His mercy, and His love… and so they could no longer fulfill their calling to reflect God’s character to one another, and to the world. And this story is just as much about us as it is about Adam and Eve. It’s the Bible’s diagnosis of the deadly sickness that’s infected humanity… exposing the source of the misery of sin. But this is not a story without hope. For God traces the human’s rebellion to its deeper source… to the rebel Serpent… a symbol of spiritual forces in creation who have cut themselves off from the ways of the Living God. And over this Serpent, God pronounces his verdict: this agent of evil will one day be undone… and by the work of one of Eve’s own descendants at that. Though the Serpent sought to cut off humanity from the love of the Living God, Yahweh Himself would ensure that this division would itself be healed… that a human one would somehow overcome the power of evil, and reconcile us to our Creator and to one another. But not without a high cost: even as this descendant of Eve crushes the head of the Serpent, they will themselves be bitten… suffering a deadly strike, all to bring God’s estranged family back together again. The rest of the Bible tells us how this story unfolds, and today, we turn to the Gospel of Mark, and the story of Jesus to see the hope it has to share: So far in Mark, Jesus has been busy performing miracles, healing diseases, drawing eager crowds, offending certain religious people… and driving out demons… directly confronting the dark spiritual forces who had cut themselves off from the ways of the Living God, and who were at work wreaking havoc in peoples lives… doing what they could to deceive, and bring misery to daughters and sons of Eve, and lead them to self-destruction. St. Mark clearly depicts Jesus, and through His power, Jesus’ disciples, as those who are undoing the work of evil… setting people free from the tyranny of shame, of fear, of estrangement… of sins that cut us off from one another… so they could finally experience the new life of the Living God together. And it seems Jesus was causing quite a stir. So many people wanted to taste this freedom… pressing in to get close to Him… desperate to experience this new life for themselves, and for those they love. And the same is true today! People may not be pressing into our doors… but the very same spiritual hunger… and desperation for freedom from shame, and fear, and isolation… our neighbours and our world are searching everywhere for it… whether they recognize it or not… we’re all trying to connect again with the life we were always meant to share… full fellowship and communion with our Creator, and with one another. And the dark deceptive forces of evil are still at work today too! Leading people to look for life in ways that actually strip away our capacity to love and be loved. Cutting ourselves off from those around us… searching for our own wisdom, and our own so-called freedom to do whatever we want… which just leads us to death. But thankfully, Jesus is still at work in our world today… and He is still drawing people to Himself… inviting all those who are cut off to come out from hiding, and to step into the light… inviting us all to stop making excuses, and to speak the truth… inviting us all to resist the temptation to point our fingers at others, and instead to place our trust in His power and His desire to set all things right… to set all of us right. Jesus is inviting us all to believe today in God’s reconciling love… which Christ came to complete. At the start of our passage from Mark this morning, we heard how Jesus’ own family… His mother, and siblings were unsure of what to do with Him. He had turned out to be so unlike anything they had imagined… all the strange things He was saying and doing… and they were starting to be concerned that others were thinking that Jesus had lost His mind. And so rather than recognize the Living God’s life-giving power at work in Him, His own family come to collect Him… to get Him out of the public gaze… before He does something to bring shame on Himself, and on them too. Like Adam and Eve, Jesus’ mother and siblings felt vulnerable, exposed, and afraid. So they want to hide Him away. We’ll come back to this point again, but sandwiched into this story of Jesus and His family, we find Him being challenged by the religious Scribes from Jerusalem… the biblical and spiritual experts of the day, who were actively opposing His ministry, and seeking ways to discredit Jesus… pointing their fingers at Him… blaming Him of trying to lead God’s people astray, and being in league with Beelzebul… a name for the dark spiritual powers rebelling against God that the Serpent in Genesis also represents. Like Adam and Eve, the Scribes eagerly accuse Jesus of being the source of the problem, making the case that “…by the ruler of the demons he casts out demons.” (Mark 3:22). Ironically, the Scribes are actually the ones reflecting the ways of the Serpent… and the word that Jesus uses here for the spiritual enemy of God’s people highlights this for us. Mark 3:23, Jesus responds: “How can Satan cast out Satan?” The word Satan is not really a proper name… it’s more like a title, with a clear meaning: Satan means the Adversary… the one who Opposes… or, importantly for us today, Satan means the Accuser. Imagine a sort of spiritual prosecutor… one who is always seeking to find fault and to project blame on others. That is the heart of Satan. And remember how Adam and Eve turned on God and one another after listening to the Serpent… after embracing its lies… they blamed each other, instead of acknowledging their own failures, and their need for mercy, forgiveness, and for new life. In Mark Chapter 3, the Scribes fall into this same pattern, following in the ways of the Serpent… the Satan, the Accuser… but are in fact they are trying to blame and accuse the sinless One who had come to save them. And Jesus responds to their false accusations just like God did in the Garden of Eden… by asking questions that cut through the lies, and invite His listeners, back then and today, to let go of our prejudices and fears, and find in Him God’s gift of New Life… trusting that Jesus is not leading us astray, but is in fact confronting the powers of evil that have deceived us, again and again, and are still trying to lead us to destruction. Mark 3:24-29, “If a kingdom is divided against itself, that kingdom cannot stand. And if a house is divided against itself, that house will not be able to stand. And if Satan has risen up against himself and is divided, he cannot stand, but his end has come. But no one can enter a strong man’s house and plunder his property without first tying up the strong man; then indeed the house can be plundered.” “Truly I tell you, people will be forgiven for their sins and whatever blasphemies they utter; but whoever blasphemes against the Holy Spirit can never have forgiveness, but is guilty of an eternal sin.” The reason Jesus has power over the demons is not because He is in league with them, but because He is truly stronger then them… He is the One God had promised to send, the descendant of Eve who would crush the head of the Serpent, and shatter the chains of evil and death. Jesus is inviting the Scribes to take back their hasty accusation… and to trust in Him instead. They could chose to let go of their doubts… and listen to His invitation to turn around… to step into the light, and find the freedom of God’s forgiveness and mercy… or they could keep on acting like the Serpent, and find themselves guilty of accusing God, and cutting themselves off from His New Life. This is what Jesus means in His warning about blaspheming the Holy Spirit: That’s not an accidental misunderstanding, it’s when we clearly see God at work in the world, and harden our hearts to Him… choosing to accuse God Himself of being the source of evil. It’s a heart posture that makes it impossible to approach God and receive forgiveness from His hand. Which is why it is unforgivable. A prescription will do us no good at all if we won’t go to the pharmacist. And we know the direction that this story goes: the Scribes choose to conspire with others to kill Jesus… executing an innocent man at the cross to preserve their own sense of power, and status among God’s people. And just like God promised in Genesis, the One sent to crush the Serpent’s head would also suffer a deadly strike… but in dying in the place of sinners, Jesus Christ God’s Son disarmed and defeated the powers of the Accuser, the Satan, and opened up the way for humanity to be set free: to receive true forgiveness for our sins… to let go of our shame, and fear, and need to accuse one another, and cut ourselves off from one another… and instead, to share in God’s grace, and mercy, and compassion, and to share this with those all around us. At the cross, Jesus broke through everything that keeps us apart from God, and from our fellow humans… and in rising from the grave, Jesus began God’s new creation for us all to share in… led now and empowered by God’s Holy Spirit to live God’s way every day. What does this look like? It looks pretty different from how the world around us seems to want to do things… because God’s New Creation doesn’t play by the Serpent’s rules anymore. It may seem strange to our neighbours not to get caught up in accusing others, or when we own up to our failures… and instead of being crushed by guilt, we find the freedom that forgiveness makes possible. The strangeness of the Christian life is nothing new. From the start, Christians stood out precisely because they lived by a different pattern… they cared for the outcasts and the poor… they refused to take part in common practices that demeaned and exploited others… they actively sought ways to overcome the divisions that kept people apart… be they ethnicity, class, gender, age… seeing all of humanity as invited to share in God’s family, and in Jesus Christ, invited to recover at last what it means to reflect God’s image in the world. Many might be drawn to this strangeness. Many will resisted it. Many will be confused by it. But one thing’s for sure: if our lives simply mirror the world around us, they won’t reflect God’s New Life. Back to the Gospel of Mark, and to Jesus’ own family trying to restrain Him… to keep Him from getting out of control… to keep Him in line, and out of trouble. Mark 3:31-35, Then his mother and his brothers came; and standing outside, they sent to him and called him. A crowd was sitting around him; and they said to him, “Your mother and your brothers and sisters are outside, asking for you.” And he replied, “Who are my mother and my brothers?” And looking at those who sat around him, he said, “Here are my mother and my brothers! Whoever does the will of God is my brother and sister and mother.” If the way of the Serpent… the Accuser, is the way of division… cutting us off from God and from one another… then the way to find unity, peace, and true communion comes from following God’s ways today: from placing our trust in Jesus, God’s Son who came to set us free from our sins, and gave His life at the cross to draw us all into God’s great family. Jesus invites us all today to trust in Him… to believe that in Him, the Living God has finally confronted the powers of darkness… disarmed and defeated them, and that He is at work through the Holy Spirit to bring about New Creation in our midst. Jesus invites us to come to Him… so He can save us by His blood. So He can teach us to truly do God good will instead of our own. So He can bind up our wounds, and bring us together into His family, united to our loving Creator and to one another through all that Jesus has done for us all. What is the Church to do in our divided world? We are to do the will of God the Father: to trust in Jesus, and live His way here and now… creating space in our homes and communities for others to hear God’s voice calling to them to receive His forgiveness, new life, and reconciling love… and be set free to share this love with everyone else at last. Amen. Our service of Morning Prayer, Bulletin, and Sermon this week can be found here: And our Songs for this week can be found here: Scripture Readings: Deuteronomy 5:12–15 | Psalm 81 | 2 Corinthians 4:5–12 | Mark 2:23–3:6
“Then he said to them, ‘Is it lawful to do good or to do harm on the sabbath, to save life or to kill?’ But they were silent.” (Mark 3:4). What are some of your favourite ways to rest? To unwind a bit and relax for a while? Maybe it involves a leisurely stroll on the beach… or a good book, a glass of wine, and a warm bath. Maybe it looks like sitting around with some friends… or finding a quiet moment to ourselves. Whatever our ideas and ideals around rest might be, one thing’s for sure: one way or another, we all need it. We humans need time to be restored… time to recover our strength… to refocus… to remember the blessings we have received… and where these blessings really come from. And our readings today from the Scriptures invite us to reflect on the sacred rest that the Living God offers His people… not just a break for our bodies and minds… but the blessed rest of His new life. Our first reading today from Deuteronomy Chapter 5, is from one of the two places in the Torah, the first five books of the Bible, where the famous Ten Commandments are listed. These Ten Commandments served as the cornerstone of the Living God’s covenant partnership with Israel, setting out the clear parameters of the life of God’s chosen people. And as we heard, the fourth of these Commandments was to observe the Sabbath, the sacred seventh day of rest, and to keep it holy… to set it apart, not to pursue their own interests, but to honour the Lord their God and all that He has done for them. In other words, Israel was to regularly practice rest for an important purpose: to celebrated… to keep alive in their hearts, and minds, and bodies, the story of God’s great compassion… God’s concern for justice… and God’s saving, and sustaining steadfast love. Week after week, they were to break up the rhythm of their daily work to remember what the LORD had done for them by coming to their rescue and setting them free from slavery. Deuteronomy 5:15, “Remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt, and the Lord your God brought you out from there with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm; therefore the Lord your God commanded you to keep the sabbath day.” The Israelites didn’t save themselves from Egypt… nor did anyone else come to their aid. No one pitied them. No one cared… but God cared! And God saw their plight. And God Himself saved them with an outstretched arm from the power of Pharoah. What happened to them was pure grace. A gift of God’s great compassion, justice, and steadfast love. And so now, God’s people were to rest to remember the freedom and new life that the LORD had won them. Before that, they had no rest… or freedom. They had been trapped, and exploited, and oppressed by a tyrant… but now, the Living God had given them a whole new life… one they were to ensure everyone got to share in… rich and poor… women and men… strangers… even their animals were equally set free to share in this sacred rest. Deuteronomy 5:13-14, “Six days you shall labor and do all your work. But the seventh day is a sabbath to the Lord your God; you shall not do any work—you, or your son or your daughter, or your male or female slave, or your ox or your donkey, or any of your livestock, or the resident alien in your towns, so that your male and female slave may rest as well as you.” The whole community was given this gift of sacred, Sabbath rest… a chance to regularly relive the experience of deliverance… of being set free to be restored, and to remember the grace, and justice, and steadfast love of the Living God who rescued them. This gift of new life was to be baked into the pattern of Israel’s weekly rhythms… a constant reminder that even though they had been slaves, God had saved them, and shares with them the blessings of peace and rest… providing for them, attending to them, and offering them a glimpse of the glorious future that awaits them: God’s ultimate rest when the world is set right and God’s blessed reign fills all of creation. At its heart, the Sabbath was a sign of God’s salvation already achieved in the past, and of the blessed future rest that awaits His faithful people. But tragically, God’s people tend to forget our story… and according to the prophets, over the centuries Israel too forgot the grace, the compassion, the justice, and the steadfast love of Yahweh, the Living God, and they gave themselves over to their own desires… and became enslaved again to sin… transforming the way they treated each other… leading to the practice, not of sacred rest, but of injustice, exploitation, and oppression… reflecting the image of the tyrant Pharoah, instead of their gracious Saviour. And as the old saying goes: “the corruption of the best is the worst”… and even God’s good gifts like the Sabbath, can get turned into a tool to build up self-righteousness… or worse… a weapon of oppression… creating misery instead of sharing in God’s new life. And of course, this is a warning for all of God’s people… not just ancient Israel… we know that over the centuries, and even today, we the Church can just as easily fall into this same pit. But the Good News reminds us that even then, the Living God can lift us up, and set us free… that God sent His Son into the world, not only to rescue the oppressed… but to break sin’s hold on oppressors too. Turning now to our reading today from the Gospel of Mark, we see Jesus of Nazareth, God’s own Son on the scene, bringing about God’s sacred rest… God’s gracious compassion, concern for justice, and steadfast love in ways that really challenged how many in His day understood what it meant to keep the Sabbath holy. As we saw earlier, the Sabbath was one of the Big Ten Commandments… a practice of deep faithfulness to the Living God, and a commitment to His covenant. But over the years, strict Sabbath adherence had sometimes been used as a way to build up people’s public image… to show off one’s own status within the community. And when this happens, the good gift of the Sabbath gets twisted into a tool of self-righteousness… a sign of how good and ‘godly’ we are… and no longer serves as a reminder of God’s grace, which we can do nothing at all to deserve. And it can also become a weapon… a way to attack and accuse those who do not fall in line with our way of doing things… instead of as a sign of God’s great acts of salvation… rescuing the hungry, the hurting, the lost and oppressed… and bringing them His blessed rest. But that is exactly what Jesus Christ has come to do… to achieve God’s greatest gift of freedom and release… to win for His world lasting peace and rest… to offer and embody the fullness of God’s sacred Sabbath… in Himself. Our passage starts off with the story of Jesus’s disciples plucking grains of wheat as they walked along on the Sabbath. Some of his critics, eager to find fault with Jesus, pointed to this simple act of grabbing a snack as an example of law-breaking… of deeply dishonouring God’s holy Commandments… and proof that Jesus Himself was not in line with the LORD’s ways, and so should be opposed. In response, Jesus recalls a story from Israel’s past, when King David, out of great hunger, shared the sacred bread from the Tabernacle with his followers… and yet remained faithful to God. It’s not that He’s saying that the Sabbath doesn’t matter, but that those who were using the Sabbath to condemn those who were hungry had forgotten what the Sabbath was all about: not just avoiding work for no reason, but to cultivate a way of life that was based on the grace of God… a living reminder of His great compassion, concern for justice, steadfast love for the vulnerable, and the blessed life that He would one day bring about for good. And when Jesus enters the synagogue, we see Him again challenge His critic’s vision of what the Sabbath’s all about. In this gathering of their faith community, Jesus sees someone with a withered hand… a man who, because of his injury, would not have been able to do much work any day of the week… and who could not undo the damage, or deliver himself from his suffering. In other words, Jesus saw someone in deep need of God’s grace… and so Jesus brings Him new life. Mark 2:4-5, “Then he said to them, ‘Is it lawful to do good or to do harm on the sabbath, to save life or to kill?’ But they were silent. He looked around at them with anger; he was grieved at their hardness of heart and said to the man, ‘Stretch out your hand.’ He stretched it out, and his hand was restored.” Right before the doubting eyes of the crowd, God’s gracious compassion, concern, and steadfast love breaks through the bonds laid on this man’s life… finally setting him free to experience and enjoy the blessed rest that the Sabbath was always meant to recall. Far from dishonouring this holy time, Jesus was bringing its deepest purpose to light… a gracious invitation to share in the blessed life of the One who is Himself the Lord of the Sabbath. In these two episodes, St. Mark is showing us something profound about Jesus: He is the Lord even of the Sabbath. Jesus is the One who shares God’s blessed life with us. He is the One who sets us free. He is the One we can truly turn to for God’s grace, His compassion, justice, and steadfast love… the Cornerstone of our faith, and the One who deserves our truest devotion. And in Jesus Christ, God’s holy Sabbath has come to life… reaching out to us in whatever slavery we might be facing today… in our own struggles with sin, with our fears and doubts, with the heartbreak, and burdens, that we cannot seem to be rid of, no matter how hard we try… and He says to us all: “Come to me, all you that are weary and are carrying heavy burdens, and I will give you rest.” (Matthew 11:28). How will we respond to Him today? Are we willing to let Jesus sustain us? To heal us? To correct us? To deliver us? Or like those who saw the miracle in the synagogue that Sabbath long ago, will we harden our hearts, and look for ways to resist and reject the work of the One who came to bring God’s gift of rest to all? Saying yes to Jesus, following Him means letting our lives be reshaped by the grace, compassion, justice, and steadfast love of the Lord. It means regularly taking time to remember what God has done in Jesus to set us free from our sins, and from everything else that keeps us trapped in slavery. It means embracing a new way of life that retells this story, keeping it alive in our hearts, and minds, and bodies, and seeks to share this Good News with those around us. It means coming to Jesus, week by week, as we gather in His name, to hear His word, and to receive together the gifts of His body and blood… His own life given to save us… pointing us forward in hope to await His return to set all things right, both in our own lives, and in the world around us. And so, with the Holy Spirit of God at work in us, may we look to Jesus our Saviour, and find in Him the rest we need today. May His grace, and compassion, and justice, and steadfast love sustain us, and set us free to serve Him without fear. May His new life reshape our hearts, and minds, and bodies to take part in His healing work in our corner of His world. And may we share this Good News with others, so that they too can come to Him and find God’s blessed rest. Amen. Our service of Morning Prayer, Bulletin, and Sermon this week can be found here: And our Songs for this week can be found here: |
Rev. RObRev. Rob serves as the Priest-in-Charge at St. Luke's Gondola Point, and as the School Chaplain at Rothesay Netherwood School Archives
December 2024
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