Scripture Readings: Amos 6:1a, 4–7 | Psalm 146 | 1 Timothy 6:6–19 | ​Luke 16:19–31

“He said to him, ‘If they do not listen to Moses and the prophets, neither will they be convinced even if someone rises from the dead.’” (Luke 16:31).
 
So, we’re still here.
You may have heard some rumblings and rumours that ‘the Rapture’ was supposed to happen this past week. Apparently, lots of people were swept up in the belief that the world was about to end. Or rather, that all Christians were about to be taken up into heaven, and a great season of destruction for everyone else was about to begin.
 
But obviously it didn’t happen.
 
And as a side note: if you want to know more about what the Bible does and does not say about the final fate of the world, you’re once again invited to come to our Bible Study on the book of Revelation (starting up again this Tuesday, at 3:30PM. But spoiler alert: ‘The Rapture’ doesn’t factor into it!).
 
Anyway, all this speculation about the end of the world raises some interesting questions. One of which is:
 
What would you do if you believed… absolutely believed… that you only had one day left to live?
 
Would you empty you bank account, and throw a big party? Would you buy a ticket and fly somewhere warm? Would you spend it quietly contemplating what comes next? Or frantically finishing that book you always intended to read? How would you invest your limited time left on this earth?
 
I’m sure we’d all have different answers to this question. But one thing that I think we all have in common is that what we do with our lives, however long or short a time we may have left, reveals what we really value, and what we believe to be true. And our Scripture readings today call us to consider how our own lives line up with what we claim we believe… and they also invite us to spend our days seeking what matters most.
 
But before we turn to the Bible, there’s a very different point of view I think we should spend a moment exploring:
an ancient school of philosophy known as Epicureanism.
 
Epicureanism was a popular Greek worldview that developed in the three centuries before Christ’s birth, and it basically taught that the gods are not really concerned with what goes on in the world. They believed there was no afterlife to be worried about, so the best way to spend your life was to just go about your business pursuing pleasure, and avoiding pain. They’d say things like “Eat, drink, and be merry while you can… while it lasts… for soon we die, and it’s all over.” 
 
And lots of people continue to live this way today, whether or not they know much about ancient Greek philosophy. It’s an idea that has worked its way deep into our Western culture, and it can be kind of hard to root out at times. 
But what happens if there is more to the story? What happens if everything we have, and are, and invest ourselves in isn’t just for this life but has lasting effects and implications?

In that case, what should we do with our resources, and opportunities, and time? What should we be taking part in and pursuing?
 
Our Scripture readings today points us to an un-surprising answer… and that is: Love!
 
But the word ‘love’ might not be what first comes to mind when we hear today’s Gospel passage, and the parable of the rich man and poor Lazarus.
 
One of the big challenges with today’s parable is that we can be easily tempted to try and pick it apart, searching for clues to satisfy our own curiosity, and construct our own messages from it… instead of listening closely to the message that Jesus Himself is seeking to convey through it.
 
So, we need to slow down and ask ourselves, first of all: what does the purpose of this parable seem to be? Where does this story as a whole try to take us? How does it fit into the larger story of Scripture? And what clues do we have about the ways these words would have been understood in their day?

And while there is much we can say about today’s Gospel passage, one thing many scholars note is that this parable does not appear to be intended to give us a snapshot into what happens after death. It’s doing something different. That is, it’s using a very familiar kind of story in the ancient world… common tales of drastic role reversals after death… used to challenge and inspire their listeners to do something with their time on earth here and now.
 
So then, what is the parable… and what is Jesus calling us to do here and now?
 
The story focusses on the fate of two completely different individuals: an unnamed rich man, and a beggar named Lazarus.
 
We hear how the uncaring rich man lives a life of ease and pleasure, an Epicurean’s dream, while Lazarus, like Job at his lowest, lies in the dirt all alone… apart from the dogs. But then, they both die, and the rich man loses everything and faces great torment, while poor Lazarus finally finds the comfort and relief that he was denied in life.
 
Refused any peace for himself, the rich man eventually begs Father Abraham to send Lazarus back to the land of the living to warn his five brothers. But Abraham says that is not necessary. Luke 16:29-31, “Abraham replied, ‘They have Moses and the prophets; they should listen to them.’ He said, ‘No, father Abraham; but if someone goes to them from the dead, they will repent.’ He said to him, ‘If they do not listen to Moses and the prophets, neither will they be convinced even if someone rises from the dead.’”
 
The twist and the power of this parable lies in this last line: apparently, we don’t need another dramatic sign or revelation… we need our hearts to be opened… to believe and to do what has already been made known to us!  
 
After all, ‘belief’ in the biblical sense is not just about knowing… passively holding information in our brains, and agreeing that it is objectively true. No, belief in the biblical sense is about having our whole lives… our bodies, minds, and souls, aligned and activated by the truth that we’re holding onto.
 
For an Epicurean, this would look like seeking only to enjoy life… or at least, to avoid as much suffering and pain as possible. The point of life from this point of view is to make the most of our days for ourselves! And that’s just what the rich man did. He lived for himself, and ignored the sufferings of Lazarus on his doorstep.
 
But in contrast, God has long made known what He wants for us here and now through Moses and the Prophets: to love Him wholeheartedly, and to love our neighbours as ourselves. If we choose not to believe and act on this when Moses and the prophets told us to, our hard hearts won’t be changed even if somebody rises from the dead.
 
This parable served as a word of warning to those who opposed Jesus in His day, many of whom claimed to be deeply devoted to God, yet really served their own interests, and neglected their neighbours in need. In these words, our Lord was foreshadowing His own death and rising again, revealing that their current lack of faith in Him was a reflection of their disconnection from God’s own heart, a disconnection that could persist even after He rose again. And this warning was not just for them: it applies to us too.

We Christians claim to believe that someone has indeed risen from the dead, fulfilling the great rescue mission of God foretold long ago by Moses and the prophets.
 
We claim to believe that Jesus Christ, God’s holy Son came among us, and became one of us… humble and poor, suffering for our sakes… and that He gave up His life at the cross to share the riches of God’s abundant life with our bankrupt world.
 
We claim to believe in God’s goodness, and compassion, and saving love offered to us all in Jesus, who calls us now to take part in and share His goodness, compassion, and love with those on our doorsteps.
 
But do our lives line up with our claims? Do our actions day by day point to this reality? Are we spending our precious time on this earth pursuing what God calls true life? Or are we content to seek our own enjoyment, and avoid our own pain, while those on our doorsteps suffer?
 
The point of the parable is to confront us with the truth that we do not have ignorance as an excuse. We already know what God wants from us: to act with godly compassion, and goodness, and love right here and now!
 
This is the life that is really life, as St. Paul puts it in our second reading today from first Timothy… not simply living for ourselves, and our own pleasure, but living each day in the light of God’s great mercy and love.
 
And notice that this life of love doesn’t mean that we can’t enjoy the good things we have received. But we are called to practice contentment, and gratitude… to keep in mind where these good things really come from, and to remember how they are intended to be used.
 
1 Timothy 6:17-19, “As for those who in the present age are rich, command them not to be haughty, or to set their hopes on the uncertainty of riches, but rather on God who richly provides us with everything for our enjoyment. They are to do good, to be rich in good works, generous, and ready to share, thus storing up for themselves the treasure of a good foundation for the future, so that they may take hold of the life that really is life.”
 
We are still here.
And with the time we still have, however long or short that might be, we are invited to invest ourselves fully in the life that truly is life: living faith, growing love, sharing hope that we have received in Jesus Christ our Lord. 
 
What we do in this life really matters. And Jesus our Saviour King is calling us to make the most of our time to pursue and to practice His life of love… empowered by His holy Spirit to reflect His goodness, compassion, and care to those all around us, and turning from our old self-centred ways to share in the abundant life offered to all who gather around His table in faith.
 
I’ll close now with St. Paul’s words to his fellow believer, St. Timothy. May we all be inspired to spend our days walking in this way:
 
1 Timothy 6:11-12, “But as for you… pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, endurance, gentleness. Fight the good fight of the faith; take hold of the eternal life, to which you were called and for which you made the good confession in the presence of many witnesses.” Amen.
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​And our Songs for this week can be found here:

Scripture Readings: Amos 8:4–7 | Psalm 113 | 1 Timothy 2:1–7 | ​Luke 16:1–13

“No slave can serve two masters; for a slave will either hate the one and love the other, or be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and wealth.” (Luke 16:13).
 
Working more than one job at a time is not always easy. For some people, it’s a painful necessity. For others it can be a real joy. But even then, it comes with a lot of unique challenges.
 
As many of you know, since 2018, I’ve had the privilege of serving simultaneously in two very different ministry contexts: first off as an ordained minister in a parish church… initially as a deacon at St. Paul’s Rothesay, just down the road, and now here at St. Luke’s as Priest-in-Charge… while also serving as the School Chaplain at Rothesay Netherwood School.
 
And truthfully, I have really loved this two-part ministry, even though it does require some serious juggling of schedules and obligations at times. Over the years, I have tried to learn how to strike the right balance, and to serve each community well. But at times, I can still feel like I’m being pulled in different directions.

And yet, thankfully, even though I am responsible to different leaders, and serve in different capacities in these two very different contexts, I’m always trying to do so on behalf of the same Lord. The work I do here at St. Luke’s and there at the school, I am doing for the Living God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, and for the sake of His good work in the world, and in this neighbourhood.
 
These days, lots of people have to juggle all sorts of competing obligations and responsibilities… like having to work multiple jobs… providing care for young people, or aging parents… or volunteering their time and energy to keep the important parts of our wider community up and running. Life today often means being asked to hold several things in tension in order to meet our own needs, as well as the needs of those who depend on us.
 
And our Scripture readings today, especially our Gospel reading, speak directly to this tension… this experience of being pulled in multiple directions. But in His words to us, Jesus uses a much more intense image than that of simple employment, or everyday obligations.

He uses the image of a slave… one whose life is no longer their own, but who in a very real way belongs to and serves somebody else.  
 
We looked at slavery in the context of the Bible a few weeks ago, and how this oppressive practice was widespread across the ancient world, and simply taken for granted. And so while we rightly recoil at the idea of slavery today, especially in the light of the Good News of Christ, it was an everyday reality that many in Jesus’ day would be very familiar with.
 
In this passage, Jesus uses this image of a slave being unable to faithfully serve two different masters in order to drive home the point of the need for clear and singular devotion to God and His ways above all else.
 
There’s nothing about this claim that’s surprising or new for God’s people, of course. Right from the start, this idea of wholehearted devotion marked Israel’s relationship to the Living God. It was the anchor point and foundation for their whole sense of identity as God’s chosen people.
 
For instance, in Deuteronomy 6:4-5, we hear the words of the Shema, which faithful Israelites have recited for thousands of years as a central statement of faith: “Hear, O Israel: The Lord is our God, the Lord alone. You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your might.” And we know that this commandment was central to Jesus’ own devotion and teachings… claiming it as the first and greatest commandment… alongside the commandment to “love your neighbour as yourself” (Leviticus 19:18).
 
For God’s people, clear and wholehearted devotion to God was already a given. And yet, sometimes we still seem to be a bit unclear about what wholehearted devotion to God really looks like… about what it means to really serve His interests in everything we do.
 
And so Jesus puts one common challenge to our devotion to God right out in the open: because, despite our claims of faithfulness to God alone, many of us His people still tend to live as though money is our real master.
 
Now of course, money can be a great asset, and it can accomplish a lot of good in our world. In a famous 18th Century sermon, called The Use of Money, John Wesley preached that: “in the present state of mankind, [money] is an excellent gift of God, answering the noblest ends. In the hands of his children, it is food for the hungry, drink for the thirsty, raiment for the naked: It gives to the traveller and the stranger [some]where to lay his head. By it we may supply the place of an husband to the widow, and of a father to the fatherless. We maybe a defence for the oppressed, a means of health to the sick, of ease to them that are in pain; it may be as eyes to the blind, as feet to the lame; yea, a lifter up from the gates of death!”[1]
 
But as good as money can be, we also know that it can contribute to incredible harm as well.
 
It causes harm when we’re willing to set all other concerns… like justice, compassion, and integrity… to the side, because, as the saying goes “It’s the economy, stupid.” It causes harm when we buy into the idea that it’s “money that makes the world go ‘round”, turning a blind eye when corporations exploit their workers, and manipulate their customers to boost their bottom line. It causes harm when the leaders of the nations of the world turn on each other, and even their own people… wielding taxes, and lawsuits, and sanctions… not for the sake of the common good, but as a weapon to get what they want, and as tool of oppression to try and get rid of any resistance.
 
Money is a powerful force and temptation to many, and it has been that way for a really long time.
 
In our first reading today, we heard the words of the prophet Amos, warning those in his day (and in our day) who serve money that God is watching closely.
 
Amos 8:4-7,
“Hear this, you that trample on the needy,
and bring to ruin the poor of the land,
saying, “When will the new moon be over
so that we may sell grain;
and the sabbath,
so that we may offer wheat for sale?
 
We will make the ephah small and the shekel great,
and practice deceit with false balances,
buying the poor for silver
and the needy for a pair of sandals,
and selling the sweepings of the wheat.”
The Lord has sworn by the pride of Jacob:
Surely I will never forget any of their deeds.”
 
Instead of expressing devotion to the Living God, and acting with compassion towards their neighbours in need, these people were just preoccupied with their own profits and business. But as Amos reminds us, the LORD will not ignore the harm that gets done for the sake of money. And God will not forget the deeds of those who misuse their wealth… oppressing the poor and the powerless in order to get their own way.
 
Which is all the more reason for us to pray, not just for wisdom and an upright spirit ourselves… but also for all of the leaders of the world… those who have access to wealth, and those with the power to control its use, through laws, and policies, and programs. We should be praying that they will make wise and just decisions that don’t just serve their own interests, but the greater good of our world. And when those prayers seem unlikely to be answered, that’s all the more reason to keep on praying!
 
In truth, our world doesn’t really seem to know how to manage money faithfully. Some know how to get a hold of a lot of it, others know how to spend a whole lot of it. But it’s another thing entirely to be faithful with it. 
 
At the start of our Gospel passage today, we heard Jesus tell His disciples a parable to challenge their old ways of thinking, and help them understand wealth from the perspective of God’s good Kingdom.
 
In the parable, a master finds out his manager has been mishandling his money. So he calls him to account, and gives him notice of termination. Understandably, the manager starts to panic, realizing the danger he’s now in.

Luke 16:3-4, “Then the manager said to himself, ‘What will I do, now that my master is taking the position away from me? I am not strong enough to dig, and I am ashamed to beg. I have decided what to do so that, when I am dismissed as manager, people may welcome me into their homes.’”

His solution: make some friends real quick! Realizing it’s in his best interest to make some (hopefully grateful) connections who might take care of him in the future, he does what comes naturally: he keeps on mis-managing his master’s money! He cancels some of the debts of his master’s customers, cooking the books to get on their good side. And when the master finds out about it, it turns out he’s actually impressed by the quick-thinking of this ex-manager.
 
What’s the point of this story?
 
Well, for starters, Jesus is certainly not endorsing shady business practices. And we’re not being given license to commit fraud if we find ourselves in troubled times. And the bemused “master” isn’t meant to stand for God, condoning dishonesty if it’s at least done cleverly.
 
This parable offers us an example of how even those who are completely unconcerned with God and His holy ways, can still come to realize that serving money won’t save them in the end… and when push comes to shove, they will be forced to reprioritize.

In the course of the parable, the bad manager is no longer concerned with making money, but with making friends. Even from a purely worldly perspective, there’s something profound in this. I mean, material goods are simply not as important as having people who love you and who will stick by your side when things get really rough.
 
But Jesus’ parable goes on to make an even bigger point. Luke 16:9, “And I tell you, make friends for yourselves by means of dishonest wealth so that when it is gone, they may welcome you into the eternal homes.”
 
By calling it “dishonest wealth”, Jesus is taking money down off of the pedestal, and putting it into perspective. It’s not to be worshipped or served, but used faithfully.
  
Simply put, money makes a horrible master, and devoting ourselves to it ruins lives, rather than saving them. Instead of mastering us, it needs to be put into the service of something far greater.
 
Luke 16:10-13, “Whoever is faithful in a very little is faithful also in much; and whoever is dishonest in a very little is dishonest also in much. If then you have not been faithful with the dishonest wealth, who will entrust to you the true riches? And if you have not been faithful with what belongs to another, who will give you what is your own? No slave can serve two masters; for a slave will either hate the one and love the other, or be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and wealth.”
 
This entire passage, the parable and the points made afterwards, are a call to faithfulness with all that we have, not just our money, but certainly including it. And rather than being the purpose and goal of our lives, wealth is meant to serve God and God’s good Kingdom! Too extend His holy love, and His mercy, and compassion, and justice.. and beauty… and joy.
 
Whatever amount we may have, we are to learn to use it wisely and faithfully… acting as good managers who are concerned with stewarding what really belongs to God, and knowing that He’s not that concerned with profit margins, or compound interest or dividends… but with the good of His world… with people… with ALL people that they might come to know and receive His mercy and grace, and saving love… and flourish in His resurrection life.

As St. Paul says in our second reading, God our Saviour “desires everyone to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth. For there is one God; there is also one mediator between God and humankind, Christ Jesus, himself human, who gave himself a ransom for all.” (1 Tim. 2:4–6).
 
In wholehearted and clear devotion to the will of His Heavenly Father, and for the sake of us all, Jesus Himself paid the complete price to set us free once and for all at the cross. And He now shares the abundant riches of the Living God with all who believe… the riches of forgiveness… fellowship… and freedom for eternity.
 
And now God calls us to be good managers of all the treasures that we have been entrusted with: first and foremost, with the Good News of Jesus Christ the Risen Lord, and all He has done to rescue and ransom our messed up world.
 
But we have also been entrusted with friends… with the fellowship of the saints… the company of forgiven sinners… rich and poor, Jew and Gentile, slave and free… all welcomed equally to sit side by side at His good table.
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And we have been entrusted with the treasures of time, and our talents, and yes, even our money… to be used faithfully to lift up and share God’s love with those around us… not simply for our own sake, but for their sake… and the for the sake of the One who gave His life at the cross to save us all.
 
We cannot serve two masters. But in the midst of our world, with all of its competing priorities, Jesus Christ our Saviour calls us to practice clear and wholehearted devotion to His good Kingdom, for the good of all.
 
So may all that we do, and have been entrusted with, help us to share His holy love and New Life with our neighbours, our friends, our loved ones, and with one another. Amen.


[1] John Wesley, Paragraph 2 in “Sermon 50 – The Use of Money” The Sermons of John Wesley. (Wesley Center Online: https://wesley.nnu.edu/john-wesley/the-sermons-of-john-wesley-1872-edition/sermon-50-the-use-of-money/).

​Our service of Morning Prayer, Bulletin, & Sermon this week can be found here:

​And our Songs for this week can be found here:

Scripture Readings: Numbers 21:4–9 | Psalm 78:1–2, 34–38 | 1 Corinthians 1:18–24 | John 3:13–17

“For the message about the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.” (1 Corinthians 1:18).
 
Do you ever find yourself wondering “How did our world get into this crazy situation? Who led us into this mess? And how can things be set right again?”
 
There’s certainly no denying that things are not great in a lot of places right now. Our world is facing a whole host of complicated and serious threats. And understandably, a lot of people are worried about it… and are pushing for some sort of straightforward solution… a remedy for all these troubles that they can comfortably wrap their heads around… that makes sense to us.
 
Unfortunately, both history and current events reminds us that one of humanity’s go-to solutions for dealing with tough times is to turn on each other… to use violence, intimidation, and shame… attacking others, especially those we see as different, to try and make ourselves feel more powerful and secure.  
 
In contrast, and despite how some keep trying to co-opt and corrupt the Christian faith to serve this agenda… the Good News of Jesus turns this way of dealing with times of trouble completely on its head. And our Scripture readings this morning remind us that, instead of turning against others when things get tough… the Living God has given us somewhere surprising to turn to lead us into life.
 
Our Gospel reading today includes one of the most familiar passages in the Bible… John 3:16. In many ways, this verse has come to be understood as a short summary of the whole Christian faith… the key to understanding and wrapping our heads around what the Good News is all about.
 
But this beautiful, well-beloved passage doesn’t simply stand alone: it comes to us in the context of another story from Israel’s ancient past… a short, strange, and confusing story about God’s people bringing suffering onto themselves… and God giving them the strangest remedy in order to save them.
 
In our first reading today, from the Book of Numbers… Israel was nearing the end of their wilderness wanderings. They had been set free from slavery in Egypt, had been invited into a sacred covenant relationship with the Living God, and were now on their way to the Promised Land. Now that simplified version of the story is true, but the whole story is much less straightforward, and much more messy.
 
Instead of being a direct journey from slavery into paradise, God’s people consistently got themselves into trouble along the way: they complain against both God and Moses whenever they face trouble, despite everything the LORD had done for them… they break God’s sacred covenant almost immediately with the whole Golden Calf debacle at Mt. Sinai… and when they first reach the borders of the Promised Land, they flat out refuse to go in… afraid to face the powerful enemies ahead, despite God’s own presence with them. And so, for forty years, they have been forced to wander about in the wilderness… waiting until the old guard who doubted God died out, and the next generation was given their chance to faithfully follow the LORD.
 
But once again, when Israel finds themselves in trouble… in a difficult situation where they are being challenged to place their trust in God… they prove their unfaithfulness… and just like their parents, they grumble and complain against the LORD, calling His character and intentions into question.
 
Numbers 21:5, “The people spoke against God and against Moses, ‘Why have you brought us up out of Egypt to die in the wilderness? For there is no food and no water, and we detest this miserable food.”
 
How did they get in this mess? Was it because God and Moses had it out for them? That’s what they seemed to think. But no, this was a mess of their own making.  
 
After all, God had originally intended for His people to be in the Promised Land by now! They were struggling because of the people’s own fear, and lack of faith, and their repeated refusal to trust the LORD… even after the many years that he already provided for and sustained them in that empty and wasted land.
 
Their real problem wasn’t a lack of food and water. Their real problem was that they would not trust God. Despite all He had done, they did not believe that He really cared about them… that He could provide them with what they needed. Despite their oath to be faithful to God at Mt. Sinai, and to follow His ways… when push came to shove, they were no different at heart than their unfaithful forefathers.
 
And so, God sends them even more trouble… a serious and straightforward consequence for their rebellious spirit: poisonous snakes enter their camp, and cause the people great suffering and even death.
 
But even though they had called this sad fate on themselves, once again the LORD proves that He is not the uncaring, unmerciful monster they imagine Him to be. God hears their cries, and in response to Moses’ prayers of intercession, the LORD provides a way for His ungrateful, unfaithful people to be spared the death they had earned for themselves.
 
Numbers 5:8-9, “And the Lord said to Moses, ‘Make a poisonous serpent, and set it on a pole; and everyone who is bitten shall look at it and live.’  So Moses made a serpent of bronze, and put it upon a pole; and whenever a serpent bit someone, that person would look at the serpent of bronze and live.”
 
Now, I don’t think this is the kind of remedy that you or I would have come up with. Am I right? It doesn’t seem to make a lot of sense. How does looking at a bronze snake counteract the effects of toxic venom? It seems like complete foolishness.
 
And yet, this was the way that the LORD opened up to spare the lives of His people: they were invited to look upon an image depicting the source of their suffering… and be healed. Or they could refuse to look at the bronze snake… the image of the source of their torment… and die. They were being confronted with the consequences of their unfaithfulness, and given a choice to trust in God’s remedy… or not.
 
They had led themselves there, and had gotten themselves into this mess… and were now reaping the rewards of their own unfaithfulness. But rather than have them make excuses, or even make amends… the LORD simply tells them to look… look at an image of a snake on a pole… and to trust that, even if they can’t yet understand how… this act of faith in God would truly lead them into life.
 
Of course, the ideas of images and snakes have a lot of weight in the story of the Bible, going way back to the earliest chapters of Genesis.
 
There we’re told that human beings were created to be God’s own living images… to represent Him within Creation, and to embody His goodness and holy love.
 
But after the humans were deceived by the serpent to rebel against God’s good rule, humanity’s ability to reflect God’s image became deeply distorted, and humans turned on each other, filling God’s good world with violence, fear, and shame.
 
And so in time, God rescued Israel and set them apart to be His chosen, covenant people… to faithfully follow His holy ways, and begin to reflect His goodness and holy love again… recapturing a clearer sense of God’s image, so that the other nations could draw near as well and find life.
 
But now, rather than embodying and reflecting God’s image, they too had become more and more like the snake… the devious enemy of humanity that worked to undermine our trust in the LORD… leading us to our deaths by cutting us off from the Living God, and from one another.
 
So when the bronze snake was lifted up, in a way they were witnessing their own distorted image… their sinful state was being held up and exposed. And yet, this painful confrontation with their own guilt was not the path to condemnation, it was the means of receiving the gracious gift of God’s great mercy and salvation!
 
Like the snake, they had deserved death. But God gives them life instead!
 
How much of our world’s ways of dealing with evil and sin rests on the denial that we’re also a part of the problem? We seem to easily turn to using violence, fear, and shame… locating evil and sin in those others, and seek to eradicate it by punishing them… but we don’t dare to look to closely at the image of the snake in our own hearts.

But the Good News is, despite the mess we have all made of this world… the LORD still seeks to save us. And as we heard in our Gospel reading today, Jesus draws on this strange story of a snake on a stick to shed light on His own story… and to show us the significance of the strange path of salvation that His own death opens up for us all.
 
John 3:14-16, “And just as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whoever believes in him may have eternal life. For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life.”
 
Just as the snake was lifted up on a pole, Jesus, the Son of Man and Son of God… the true image of the Living God, was lifted up on the cross… so that all those bound to sin and death… that is, our entire world… might look to Him in faith, and find in Him God’s gift of eternal life.
 
This is the remedy that we believers have received, and this is the hope that we have to share with our world. This is the way God has offered to us in our sufferings to lead us all into life. We may think it strange, or even foolish at times, and we may not completely understand it all. We may even be tempted to grumble about it, and long for the resources and supposed answers being lifted up by those around us.
 
But the Good News of Jesus Christ the Risen Lord calls us to look at the cross, again and again, and remember that this is the way that God’s saving love has forever broken the power of death, and set us free from sin.
 
The world looks to the cross and expects to see a sinner… someone condemned to a violent, terrifying, and shame-filled death. But when we look at the cross with eyes of faith, in the place of the sinner we see God’s own sinless Son taking our place… and turning death into life… fear into freedom… and shame into eternal glory.
 
Looking at the cross, we now see Jesus’ new life offered to us freely as a gift… a gift that requires us to own up to our own share of the blame for our broken world… to look straight at the fate we have earned for ourselves… but find there the gracious gift of God given to us all. Not just to us, and those like us, but also to those we see as enemies.
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The cross of Jesus Christ is our remedy, and the heart of our Christian response to the brokenness of our world. For it is there that God’s holy love has been poured out to save everyone… and to transform us into the kinds of people who reflect God’s goodness and holy love in all that we do.
 
So as we witness, and wade into the messiness and brokenness of our world today, let us continue to look to the cross and see there the rescuing love of Jesus, our world’s only Saviour. And let us draw near to Christ’s table in faith, and receive from Him the remedy of God's love that will not only bring us life, but which will bring life to everyone who will believe. Amen.

​Our service of Morning Prayer, Bulletin, & Sermon this week can be found here:

And our Songs for this week can be found here:

Scripture Readings: Deuteronomy 30:15–20 | Psalm 1 | Philemon 1–21 | ​Luke 14:25–33

Jesus said, “Whoever comes to me and does not hate father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters, yes, and even life itself, cannot be my disciple. Whoever does not carry the cross and follow me cannot be my disciple.” (Luke 14:26-27).
 
There was a time, back when Christianity’s place in society was simply taken for granted, that being a Christian was often equated with simply being a ‘good citizen’… an upstanding spouse, a decent parent, a trustworthy employee, and so on. In this light, spiritual practices like prayer and Church attendance served not so much to draw us closer to God and His good ways, as to uphold the status quo of society, and encourage us to stand against anything that might challenge our familiar institutions and time-honoured ways of life.
 
As widespread as that point of view may have been at times, I think this position is pretty hard to square with the words we just heard from Jesus Christ our Lord. Far from championing cherished and traditional family roles and bonds, Jesus tells us that if we want to follow Him, we need to hate our own fathers, mothers, spouses, children, brothers, sisters, and even our own lives!
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These strong words don’t fit so easily into our frameworks… the ways that we’re used to living our lives. And that’s kind of the point. But rather than quickly dismissing them, or finding some clever excuses for ignoring them, everyone who is serious about following Jesus needs to take these words to heart… and to try to honestly understand what it is our Lord is saying to us.
 
And these words directly challenge the notion that Jesus Christ is offering us a kind of spiritual blessing to add to and compliment our otherwise ordinary lives. No, He’s calling for a complete reorganization of even our deepest priorities, and a reframing of all our relationships… to God, to others, and even to ourselves.
 
To follow Jesus is to, in many ways, abandon our claims to the status quo… to our old ways of life… and instead we’re to let everything about us be reframed and transformed in the light of Christ and His cross. 
 
And we are given an excellent example of this reframing and transformation in action in our second reading this morning, and the story of St. Paul, his fellow Christian Philemon… and Philemon’s runaway slave named Onesimus.  
 
The devastating legacy of slavery, and the bravery and stories of those who oppose it deserves a lot more time and attention than I can give them this morning. That said, I hope that our readings from Scripture today, and our reflections on the implications of the Good News of Jesus Christ will help us to see how we are called to become agents of God’s freedom and New Life in our own contexts.
 
In the first century… and indeed for most of human history, slavery was simply taken for granted as the way that societies work. It was a time-honoured tradition… a venerable institution, going back thousands of years. I can’t remember where I heard this analogy, but someone once compared it to the way we now think of the electricity grid. The forced labour of our fellow human beings was the engine that made almost everything run, and in the Roman world that the Early Church lived in, it would have been basically impossible to imagine a working society that ran without it. 
 
Modern-day critics sometimes point out that the Bible does not explicitly focus on calling an end to slavery, and that Church leaders like St. Paul seemed not to have been bothered that much by this dehumanizing practice.
 
And yet, the reality of the cross of Christ, which clearly consumed the attention of the Apostles and the Early Church, completely undercuts and deconstructs the common lies and assumptions that made slavery possible, and this eventually led Christians to become brave leaders in the great abolitionist movements… and it continues to lead many Christians today to work hard to bring real freedom and lasting peace to oppressed people all over the world.
 
But as I said, back in St. Paul’s day, slavery was everywhere, and it could happen to people for all sorts of reasons. You could become a slave by being kidnapped, or captured after a battle… or as punishment for committing a crime. You could be born into slavery. You could end up in so much dept that you’d be forced to sell yourself as a slave in order to survive.
 
Some slave owners were much worse than others. And some jobs that slaves were forced to do were much worse than others. But one thing that all slaves had in common was that they were considered to be of lower status and value than free people. There was no sense of equality, or human rights. At the end of the day, slaves were not seen as people… but as objects to be used for the benefit of someone else.  
 
Who does that remind us of today? Who is being seen and treated as if they didn’t matter? As if their hopes, and fears, and freedom were not worth worrying about?
 
Victims of modern slavery, and human trafficking?  Migrant workers, refugees, and immigrants seeking a better life, but often finding suspicions, resentments, and lack of opportunities instead? What about those labeled as outcasts and sinners in our day? Or those without homes, living rough in our cities and chased out of our neighbourhoods? Those seeking relief in addictive substances and practices that seem to offer a brief reprieve from their pain, but actually capture and hold their lives hostage instead?
 
Who do we find it easy to see as being of lower status? Not really worth caring much about?
 
The ancient institution of slavery worked by dividing humanity up like this… pushing down untold numbers of people, and forcing them to spend their lives serving those that society deemed ‘worthy’. And most people simply took this for granted as the best way to operate.  
 
But the cross of Jesus Christ changes all that, and it challenges this time-honoured, traditional story… the familiar reality we tend to live by even now… exposing the lies that allow us to keep on denigrating and dehumanizing one another, and opening up God’s New Life, even in the midst of this broken world. 
 
In our reading today, we heard most of a letter from St. Paul the Apostle written to a fellow Christian named Philemon, focussing on the future of someone named Onesimus, Philemon’s runaway slave. At the time, St. Paul was also someone who had lost his freedom… being imprisoned because of his work sharing the Good News of Jesus the Risen Lord across the Empire.  

In the letter, St. Paul subtly puts pressure on Philemon by working out the implications of the cross… the Good News of Jesus… to do something unexpected. He doesn’t insist that Philemon simply sets Onesimus free. But neither does he simply go along with the obvious and legal thing to do, which would have been to return the freed slave to their owner. Neither of these two options would have changed or challenged the story… just how the characters were interacting within it.
 
After all, any slave-owner could choose to grant their slave freedom. It may not have been all that common, but it would have been a normal part of that slavery system. But what St. Paul does do challenges Philemon, and all of us, in an even bigger way… he reframes their complicated and messy relationship in the light of the cross, and the Good News of what Jesus accomplished there for all of us.
 
What happens is, St. Paul plans to send Onesimus back to Philemon so they can be reconciled… so he could be welcomed back not as an object to be used, but as a beloved brother… as someone Philemon was now bound to care for and love. Someone to forgive and be forgiven by. As an equal. As someone who shares in God’s own image, and who now, through Jesus, shares in the fellowship of the Holy Spirit. 
 
St. Paul did not focus on offering arguments against slavery as an institution… but he was operating within a whole new and very different story! The story of God’s transforming, and redeeming love in Jesus Christ… a love which completely undermines the divisive power of slavery, and which ultimately leads us into God’s freedom and New Life. 
 
After all, even God did not simply wave His hand and condemn all of the broken systems and institutions that we humans have set up over the years from a safe distance. No, in Jesus He chose to step into them Himself, and set about shattering the lies that keep things like slavery running from the inside. 
 
Jesus came among us as one of low status… born in obscurity on the frontiers of the Empire. He chose to spend His time with the outcasts, the poor, and the powerless… not to show them how to fix themselves by fitting in and getting rich… but rather, He shared God’s love and New Life with them exactly where they were… welcoming them, whatever their current circumstances into God’s fellowship… challenging them to follow Him above all else, and transforming them into a new family in God’s good Kingdom. 
 
And when our Lord offered up His life, it was not in the romantic, glorious ways that honoured heroes seek… a noble and dignified end. No, Jesus gave Himself to death the way that troublesome slaves were dealt with: robbed of all dignity… his agony and shame displayed for everyone around to jeer at. Jesus was not just killed, He was denigrated and dehumanized at the cross for us. He took the place of the lowest of the low… in order to raise us up. 
 
And this is where the miracle… the Good News of the cross truly comes to light! For even though we humans tried to dehumanize Jesus, the way that so many people throughout history have been dehumanized, by completely sharing in the shame of the powerless and the lowly… Jesus shattered the bonds that keep us all bound.
 
God raised Jesus again from the dead, overturning our conceited and false conviction… lifting Him up to share in the glory and honour and majesty of the Most High. 
 
And through faith in Him, Jesus now shares with us His own glory, honour, and the freedom of the New Life of God. He joined Himself to us in our slavery to sin and death, and now He’s set us free to share in God’s family… not just in Heaven some day, but beginning right now… in our lives and relationships that are already being reframed by God’s redeeming love in Jesus Christ the Risen Lord… reshaping everything about us by His Holy Spirit at work within us. 
 
Our old family ties, our claims of status, and culture, and identity are all being called into question by the cross of Jesus. None of them truly define who we are anymore, or deserve our fullest devotion. Instead, we are now to learn how to live alongside and with others… and love others… not based on shared blood, or social status… but based on the gracious gift of God’s saving love, freely offered to us and to all through Jesus Christ our Risen Lord. 
 
Jesus said, “Whoever comes to me and does not hate father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters, yes, and even life itself, cannot be my disciple. Whoever does not carry the cross and follow me cannot be my disciple.” (Luke 14:26-27).
 
To be a disciple of Jesus Christ is to be defined… to have our lives completely reframed by the Good News of what He has done for us all at the cross: Jew and Gentile, male and female, slave and free… we all belong to Him, and we belong together.
 
If we would rather hold onto our old sense of self based on our world’s divisive categories, then we can choose to do that. We can choose to keep on living as though these other connections and bonds are what really give us life.
 
But if we choose that path, we will be unable to take part in the New Life that God has opened up for us through Jesus His Son. The New Life where all are equally welcomed, and challenged, and changed, and set free to share in God’s love forever. 
 
Paul called Philemon to embrace and welcome home his old runaway slave as a brother… completely changing, and reframing their relationship from the inside out. 
 
And Jesus calls all who follow Him to know that it will come at a real cost: the cost of letting go of our old ways,  and categories, and allegiances… ways of relating to those around us… even those closest to us… in order to have our own lives and relationships reframed in the light of God’s saving love at the cross, and the Good News of Christ’s resurrection. 
 
So today, may we count the cost of saying yes yet again to Jesus, and still come forward in faith to receive, and to live out the New Life that He offers us and our world. Amen. 

Along with Christians around the world, the Anglican Church of Canada celebrates the Season of Creation from September 1 (the Global Day of Prayer for the Care of Creation) to October 4 (the Feast of St. Francis of Assisi).

You can find out more by going to the Diocese of Fredericton's Website and their page devoted to the Season of Creation, which you can access here: