Scripture Readings: Acts 17:22–31 | Psalm 66:8–20 | 1 Peter 3:13–22 | John 14:15–21
“I will not leave you orphaned; I am coming to you. In a little while the world will no longer see me, but you will see me; because I live, you also will live.” (John 14:18-19) One of the biggest challenges we face in the West today is loneliness… isolation… the ongoing lack of connection. Earlier this month, the U.S. Surgeon General, Dr. Vivek Murthy, made the striking claim that their country is facing a “loneliness epidemic”… a serious and a growing breakdown of people’s general sense of togetherness, that has dramatic implications for everyone’s wellbeing. He writes that “Loneliness is far more than just a bad feeling—it harms both individual and societal health. It is associated with a greater risk of cardiovascular disease, dementia, stroke, depression, anxiety, and premature death. The mortality impact of being socially disconnected is similar to that caused by smoking up to 15 cigarettes a day, and even greater than that associated with obesity and physical inactivity. And the harmful consequences of a society that lacks social connection can be felt in our schools, workplaces, and civic organizations, where performance, productivity, and engagement are diminished.”[1] And as much as we might like to draw a line between ourselves and our neighbours to the South at times, this same story is playing out all over Canada as well. Loneliness is just as much a problem for us and our communities. In many ways, this isn’t a new problem. All throughout the human story, we people have had to search for ways to belong… to be surrounded by others we can share life with, in all it’s ups and downs. In fact, overcoming isolation was one of the first acts of compassion and rescue in the story of the Holy Scriptures. In Genesis Chapter 2:18, the very first thing in all of creation that the Living God says is not good is that the human He made should be alone. To remedy this, God creates a community… created to share life side by side. From the start, the Living God longs for us His children to belong together. And yet, here we are, so far from that gathering in the Garden… cut off in so many ways… and unsure how we are supposed to come together again. The question before us calls to min the words from the Beatles’ song, Elanor Rigby: “All the lonely people… where do they all belong?” No doubt, all of us have stories of when we felt isolated and alone. And maybe some of us are feeling this way today, and are longing for something more… somewhere to belong. Before we turn to our Scripture readings this morning, I just want to take a moment and share a small part of my story… from when I was a small and lonely boy, and someone saw me and stepped into my life. I have a vivid memory from my very first day of school… in part because it was everyone else’s second day. I had missed that crucial first day of Jr. Kindergarten when everyone else came together, made new friends, and found out what school was about… and so when I arrived, a timid and socially unsure child at the best of times, I was overwhelmed by the feeling that everyone else already belonged, and I was stranger. When it came time to play, I remember just standing there all alone, while everyone else knew what to do, and could easily join in the fun with their newfound friends. Mercifully, this moment did not last too long. Another boy saw me standing their, and came over to me, and in a friendly voice he simply said: “Do you want to play?” And suddenly I belonged. I was welcomed… invited in. Able to share in the fun that was happening all around me, but that seemed so far away. Now I was supposed to belong there already. After all, I was a student not really all that different from the rest, but that’s not how it seemed to that frightened and isolated little boy. As far as I could understand at the time, I really was alone… until this other boy came and found me and befriended me. And from this simple invitation to play, a lifelong friendship has grown. It was such a simple gesture, a simple act of kindness and hospitality… but even so, it truly changed my life. I know this story might seem pretty insignificant in the grand scheme of things, but just remember: everyone is capable of feeling cut off and alone, no matter their age, or stage of life. Everyone has times when they feel lost and don’t know what to do. Everyone can lose sight of where they truly are meant to belong, until someone else invites them in. And everyone can play a part in helping others discover that they don’t need to be alone. We often hear that God loves everyone… that everyone belongs by God’s side… but what does that love really look like? How can we come to know the power of this love that truly changes lives? Does God’s love for everyone mean, that basically, everyone can just keep doing their own thing? That because God loves everyone, there’s no need to bother about actually letting them know? In other words, does it really matter that everyone comes to know the Good News of the Living God? Our Scripture readings today teach us to say “Yes!” It matters so much! More than we often realize… though perhaps for different reasons than we might usually assume. Our first reading today from the Book of Acts Chapter 17 tells the story of the missionary Apostle, St. Paul, and his time in the city of Athens. One of the great centres of Greek culture and civilization, that had spread all across the Mediterranean world and beyond, Athens had a history of great thinkers and philosophers… not to mention a very diverse religious life as well. But then St. Paul, this Jewish stranger from the backwater regions of the Roman Empire arrives… someone who could not have felt more isolated and out of place in Athens. Acts 17:16 says that St. Paul “was deeply distressed to see that the city was full of idols”, which for someone raised on the Ten Commandments, never mind the rest of God’s Law, would have been a major obstacle. For the Jews, idolatry… worshipping statues, or anything other than the Living God alone was unthinkable, and the source of all kinds of wickedness and sin. And yet, despite his isolation, St. Paul stays in Athens a while, where he begins to get into some debates with his fellow Jews and Greek philosophers about the Good News of Jesus. Unsure about the message this stranger was trying to share, the Greeks invite St. Paul to say more in a more formal setting at the Areopagus, where these kinds of discussions were held for a crowd to hear. And put on the spot, St. Paul starts to share the Good News about the Living God with these people who in some ways seemed so different from him, but who he knew God still loved. St. Paul, this Jewish Christian, a stranger in Athens so many ways, invites his listeners to come to know the Living God, who is so unlike anything they had yet imagined. Acts 17: 24-28, “The God who made the world and everything in it, he who is Lord of heaven and earth, does not live in shrines made by human hands, nor is he served by human hands, as though he needed anything, since he himself gives to all mortals life and breath and all things. From one ancestor he made all nations to inhabit the whole earth, and he allotted the times of their existence and the boundaries of the places where they would live, so that they would search for God and perhaps grope for him and find him—though indeed he is not far from each one of us. For ‘In him we live and move and have our being’; as even some of your own poets have said, ‘For we too are his offspring.’” St. Paul points out on the one hand that the Living God is not like the other spiritual beings they worship through idols, and living for this God looks very different as well. But on the other hand, he claims that the one true God has always been reaching out to them in love… graciously providing everything they need, and longing for them to truly come to know Him too. I suppose St. Paul could have left it at that. Encouraging his listeners with his message of this unknown God’s love for everyone… But St. Paul knew that coming to know the Living God and the reality of His saving love makes all the difference in the world! Acts 17:29-31, “Since we are God’s offspring, we ought not to think that the deity is like gold, or silver, or stone, an image formed by the art and imagination of mortals. While God has overlooked the times of human ignorance, now he commands all people everywhere to repent, because he has fixed a day on which he will have the world judged in righteousness by a man whom he has appointed, and of this he has given assurance to all by raising him from the dead.” What does St. Paul think it means for the Living God to love everyone? It’s an invitation for everyone to repent… to turn around… and turn away from everything that keeps us from Him, and to place our trust in the love of the Living God made known to us in Jesus Christ… the One who was raised from the dead, and who will reign over God’s Kingdom forever… sorting out all of the messes we humans have made that cut us off from one another and from our Creator, so that God’s good justice and peace will fill all the earth. St. Paul’s point is that God longs for us all to belong, and be right with Him. In love, God has reached out to find us all in Jesus Christ, no matter how far off we may be… to bring us all home. To draw us together to His side, and share His New Life with us. Through the strange words of this stranger, God Himself was speaking to the people of Athens, inviting them to draw near to the One who had been right there all along, and let Him change their lives for good… helping them find their own place in the world He created for them to share. Turning now to our Gospel reading, we hear the words of our Saviour, Jesus, speaking to His disciples, on the night He would be betrayed. Christ speaks words of comfort to them, knowing full well the horrors of the cross that the next day would bring… reassuring them, that He would never abandon them… even in death. That even if the world could no longer see Him, Jesus and His Heavenly Father will not leave them all alone. John 14:18-21, Jesus says: “I will not leave you orphaned; I am coming to you. In a little while the world will no longer see me, but you will see me; because I live, you also will live. On that day you will know that I am in my Father, and you in me, and I in you. They who have my commandments and keep them are those who love me; and those who love me will be loved by my Father, and I will love them and reveal myself to them.” Jesus wants them, and you and I, to know and share in the love and life of the Trinity, the Living God… Father, Son, and Spirit, holding onto His holy ways, and knowing we truly belong in Him. This is an image of community… of sharing in a deep relationship… and fellowship… of knowing, and being known, and having our lives transformed by the presence and influence of the other. At this crucial moment in His life, and the life of His followers, Jesus invites them to trust in His love for them… a love they have come to know through His whole life… through the things that He said and did… a love that He ultimately shares with God the Father, and with God the Holy Spirit, and which He was about to share with the whole world, offering His life upon the cross for everyone. We come to know the power of God’s saving love… a love that truly changes lives through Jesus Christ on the cross. Dying and rising again to reconcile us all to God, and give us New Life… breaking down every barrier that keeps us apart from God, and from one another. And even more than that, this love show us where we belong in His great rescue mission too… serving as God’s partners as He keeps seeking and saving all who are lost. “In a little while” Christ said, “the world will no longer see me, but you will see me; because I live, you also will live.” As Christ’s followers today… as the community who has already come to know Him, and through Him has come to know God’s saving love… we find our sustenance and strength from our ongoing connection to Jesus. And though the world today may not see Jesus… the world does see us! So if they can see the life of Jesus at work in us, through the Holy Spirit, the whole world can catch a glimpse of the Living God and His life-changing love through us as well. This is why how we live our lives as Christians really matters. It’s not to prove how morally superior we think we are, but to mirror God’s own character… His mercy and compassion, His justice and peace… His holy, life-changing love… so that through you and I, the Living God can reach out to everyone… inviting them to draw nearer and come to know that in Him, we all truly belong. In Jesus Christ, God has made Himself and His love known to the world in a unique and ultimate way… and His Holy Spirit has been at work in all the world, seeking us out and drawing us all to the Father’s side through Jesus His Son. And now we all get to be part of His great invitation… our simple, everyday lives shaped by God’s love are how others will come to know where they too belong. The story of my friend’s invitation to play has a sequel to it. Two years later, I missed the first day of Grade 1. But this time, instead of just being a stranger in my classroom, I was lost in a strange new part of the school, wandering the halls alone after the first bell range, without a clue where I was supposed to go. As I wiped the tears from my eyes, and walked back and forth, looking for anybody who might help me find where I belonged, that very same friend saw me, left his classroom, and stood there with me… and again, I was no longer alone. On his own, this little boy helped me discover that I was actually supposed to be in his class again too! Such a simple, beautiful thing… to be together with friends… to belong. God loves everyone. God is seeking out everyone. God came to us in Jesus so that all of us might come to know Him and His saving love. It doesn’t matter what age we are, or where we come from, we get to be part of God’s gift of love to everyone. So, like my friend all those years ago, let’s not hesitate to step out and share God’s welcome with the world. To help those around us come to know the Good News of God’s love in Jesus Christ, the Risen Lord… to draw near and share in His New Life… and find our place together by His side. Amen. [1] Dr. Vivek H. Murthy, Our Epidemic of Loneliness and Isolation: The U.S. Surgeon General’s Advisory on the Healing Effects of Social Connection and Community (https://www.hhs.gov/sites/default/files/surgeon-general-social-connection-advisory.pdf)
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Scripture Readings: Acts 7:55–60 | Psalm 31:1–16 | 1 Peter 2:2–10 | John 14:1–14
“But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s own people, in order that you may proclaim the mighty acts of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light.” (1 Peter 2:9) What does it mean to be a success in the Kingdom of God? Over the past few weeks, as we have been moving through the season of Easter together, our readings from the Book of Acts have followed the remarkable sermon St. Peter delivered at Pentecost. That morning, filled with the Holy Spirit, St. Peter offered to God’s people a dramatic call to repent, resulting in the eager reception and open hearts of thousands of Jewish pilgrims from all over the Mediterranean world. As far as sermons go, this one clearly made an impression, and we’ll say a bit more about its significance when Pentecost comes around in a few weeks. But by all accounts, St. Peter’s first message was a massive success! A dramatic and dynamic first step for the Church of the Risen Christ. But then today in our reading from Acts Chapter 7, we heard about a very different sermon in the early days of the Church with a very different result. We heard the end of a message from St. Stephen, one of the first deacons in the Church, who had boldly proclaimed the truth about the Risen Lord Jesus to his fellow Jews in Jerusalem, only to be stoned to death by them… accused of blasphemy and murdered by an angry mob. It's hard to imagine a more opposite, not to mention undesirable, response, especially compared to St. Peter’s Pentecost sermon, where thousands of people responded in faith. And yet, the public witness of St. Stephen about the Good News of Jesus, the Risen Lord, has, from the very beginning, been seen by believers as a massive success as well. But in order to see why it’s a success, we need to get a better sense of the bigger picture… and wrestle a bit with what it actually means to succeed in the Kingdom of God. Let’s start with a closer look at the speaker who gets rejected: St. Stephen. As I mentioned before, St. Stephen was one of the first deacons… set apart for the ministry of service within the Church, and caring for the practical needs of Christians, so that the Apostles could focus on preaching and teaching. And yet, even though it was not his job, so to speak, the Book of Acts recounts how God’s Holy Spirit empowered Stephen to speak about the Good News of Jesus in ways that many responded to… helping them come to know the Risen Lord through Stephen’s words and his deeds… but also drawing the attention of those who stood opposed to this message. Acts 6:8-14, “Stephen, full of grace and power, did great wonders and signs among the people. Then some of those who belonged to the synagogue of the Freedmen (as it was called), Cyrenians, Alexandrians, and others of those from Cilicia and Asia, stood up and argued with Stephen. But they could not withstand the wisdom and the Spirit with which he spoke. Then they secretly instigated some men to say, ‘We have heard him speak blasphemous words against Moses and God.’ They stirred up the people as well as the elders and the scribes; then they suddenly confronted him, seized him, and brought him before the council. They set up false witnesses who said, ‘This man never stops saying things against this holy place and the law; for we have heard him say that this Jesus of Nazareth will destroy this place and will change the customs that Moses handed on to us.’” Because of his Christian ministry, St. Stephen got into conflict with some of the Jewish factions in Jerusalem, who seized on his connection to Jesus in order to drag him to court to silence him. They claimed that St. Stephen and his message about Jesus was a threat to the Temple of God, and to all they held dear… and that he was promoting blasphemy, and so was deserving of death. What’s clear is that St. Stephen had challenged their understanding of what it meant to be faithful to the Living God… calling them to change course… to reconsider what they believed about God’s Kingdom, and how to live in it. To be fair, that was also what St. Peter had said to the crowds in his sermon on Pentecost. He didn’t mince words in an attempt to appease his audience, or worry about the backlash he might receive… he simply told them the story of Jesus’ betrayal, unjust arrest, and cruel crucifixion… rejected by the very people He had come to save. St. Peter had boldly proclaimed that God’s people had failed to believe in… to trust in their Messiah, rejecting the Saviour God sent to them, and so they all shared in the blame for His death. Sounds like a harsh sermon. But remember: no one would know more about failing to be faithful to God’s Messiah than St. Peter, who had been so close to Jesus, and had even bragged about remaining steadfast by Christ’s side, even if he would have to die with Him… and yet, before the night was over, St. Peter would betray His Lord three times over. St. Peter knew all about failing to follow the Way… failing to trust in the Truth, and failing to cling to the One who is truly Life. Yet he had also come to know the forgiveness and the freedom that the crucified and Risen Christ offers to all: he knew that God calls everyone to repent… to turn around and turn to Jesus in faith, and find in Him God’s Way, God’s Truth, and God’s Life… no matter how lost, deceived, or dead in our sins we may be. St. Peter’s message was that despite everything we have done to mess things up… Jesus Christ has died and risen again to pardon and to save us all. To turn us all around from our old lost ways, and all of the lies that bring death… and to lead us into life instead. This is the Good News the first Christians dedicated their lives to sharing with those around them: retelling the story of Jesus the Risen Lord with their words and with their lives. And this is what St. Stephen had dedicated his life to as well… putting into practice the self-giving love of God he learned from his Master, and helping others do the same… living out the Gospel of Jesus Christ… even if others would end up rejecting him for it too… which is of course, what happened. St. Stephen’s life and message challenged and confronted those who refused to believe that they had had a hand in the death of God’s Messiah… and who were convinced that Jesus and all who followed Him were just deceiving God’s people, and trying to lead them astray. So, they had St. Stephen arrested, and just like Jesus, accused him of blasphemy. And there, before the court, St. Stephen was given the chance to defend himself. But what would he say? Would he listen to the temptations to compromise his message, twisting it around to conform to what he thought others wanted to hear? Maybe he could convince them too if he made his message a bit more appealing? Would he listen to the temptations to make the Gospel’s claims less shocking… less challenging or confrontational, in order to get others to accept it? Maybe he could avoid risking his neck if he just toned it down a bit? But the truth is, the Good News of Jesus can be hard to hear, because the Good News of the Risen Lord brings to light and exposes how frequently lost we are… how often we fall for and even spread lies… how much of what we think will guarantee our survival only leads to death. The Good News of Jesus calls us all, no matter who we are, or how close to God we might believe we are, to repent… to turn around, again and again, and draw nearer to the One who is Himself the Way, the Truth, and the Life. The Gospel calls us to cling to Jesus Christ… to trust in Him, and follow Him wherever He may lead us. And St. Stephen wholeheartedly answers this call… even though it would cost him his life. Standing in front of the court, after retelling the long story found in the Scriptures of the faithfulness of the Living God, despite the deep unfaithfulness of His people, St. Stephen responds, in Acts 7:51-60, “You stiff-necked people, uncircumcised in heart and ears, you are forever opposing the Holy Spirit, just as your ancestors used to do. Which of the prophets did your ancestors not persecute? They killed those who foretold the coming of the Righteous One, and now you have become his betrayers and murderers. You are the ones that received the law as ordained by angels, and yet you have not kept it.’ When they heard these things, they became enraged and ground their teeth at Stephen. But filled with the Holy Spirit, he gazed into heaven and saw the glory of God and Jesus standing at the right hand of God. ‘Look,’ he said, ‘I see the heavens opened and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God!’ But they covered their ears, and with a loud shout all rushed together against him. Then they dragged him out of the city and began to stone him; and the witnesses laid their coats at the feet of a young man named Saul. While they were stoning Stephen, he prayed, ‘Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.’ Then he knelt down and cried out in a loud voice, ‘Lord, do not hold this sin against them.’ When he had said this, he died.’ ” Like Jesus, St. Stephen was slandered and falsely accused. Like Jesus, he remained faithful in the face of temptation, and certain death. Like Jesus, St. Stephen embodied God’s great mercy and self-giving love, pleading for the forgiveness even of those who were murdering him. In life and in death, St. Stephen walked in the footsteps of his Saviour. And because Jesus Himself is the Way, the Truth, and the Life… what it means to succeed in God’s Kingdom is to stay true to Jesus… no matter how others around us respond. That’s why St. Peter’s Pentecost sermon was a success… not because thousands of people believed it, but because by the Holy Spirit’s power, St. Peter spoke faithfully about the Risen Lord, and invited his hearers to trust in Him too. That’s why St. Stephen’s final words in the witness stand were a success… because, even in the face of violent resistance, and incredible pressure to back down, the Holy Spirit of God empowered St. Stephen stayed true to His Lord… to remain faithful to Jesus, not just by the words that He spoke, but by the way His life, his actions lined up with those of His Lord. St. Stephen was a success in God’s Kingdom because He entrusted His life to the Risen Lord, and stayed true to the One who is the Way, the Truth, and the Life. So, for you and I today, hear in Gondola Point, what does it look like for us to be a success in the Kingdom of God? We won’t likely have the opportunity like St. Peter to speak to thousands of pilgrims all at once, or like St. Stephen to be surrounded by those accusing us of blasphemy, ready to strike us dead… although many of our brothers and sisters in the Church around the world do face these challenging situations. But what are the ways that we can be tempted in our lives to step aside from the Way? Or to distort the Truth? Or to give up on the Life that we have been invited into, and entrusted to share with the world? As individuals and as a Church family, we too face the temptations to change what we say and do to attract those around us, or to avoid suffering rejection. We too can be easily tempted, like those who opposed St. Stephen, to try to hold onto our old ways. To resist Christ’s call to let go and turn away from the ways of life that are keeping us from staying true to Him… and holding us back from where He wants to lead us. But even when we stumble and fail to stay faithful, Jesus, our Risen Lord remains true. He stands steadfast for us. He took up His cross, and gave up His life to bring us God’s forgiveness and freedom… and He calls us to follow Him, filled with His Holy Spirit who gives us the grace we need to stay true to Him too. In short, success in God’s Kingdom, does not depend on the immediate results that we can see or achieve… but ultimately on the faithfulness of our Saviour, Jesus Christ the Risen Lord, and the renewal of our lives… our words and actions, to stay true to Him no matter what. So, whether we find people flocking to our words of hope, and joining in the life of our Christian community… or if they turn against us, and we find ourselves seemingly alone… Remember what St. Stephen saw! Jesus Himself, at God the Father’s right hand, standing up for his faithful servant… welcoming him into the joys of heaven, and reminding him that no matter what others may do, if the Living God who raised Jesus Christ from the dead is with us, our success is assured. And we too will share in the victory of the Kingdom of God forever. Amen. Scripture Readings: Acts 2:42–47 | Psalm 23 | 1 Peter 2:19–25 | John 10:1–10
“He himself bore our sins in his body on the cross, so that, free from sins, we might live for righteousness; by his wounds you have been healed. For you were going astray like sheep, but now you have returned to the shepherd and guardian of your souls.” (1 Peter 2:24-25) As some of you know, when I was growing up my family had a bit of a hobby farm: over the years we had chickens, rabbits, ducks, as well as some sheep and goats, and as a youth, part of my chores were to help take care of them. I wouldn’t say this was my favourite job in the world… in fact, it was often pretty frustrating. Especially when they would get themselves or each other into trouble. But now, many years later, whenever I think of shepherds, I feel like I have at least a bit more empathy, and insight into how hard is must be to devote one’s days to making sure your sheep have what they need to keep the whole flock healthy, and safe from harm. One thing that stands out when I think about the challenges of caring for sheep and goats would be their basic selfishness. They would tend to fight over their food, pushing each other, even their own kids, out of the way to get at their manger, even though there was plenty of food for all… driven by the desire to fill their own stomachs, or maybe the fear of missing out on the meal, and not getting what they needed. Now normally, these tendencies would not be too much of a concern. Eventually, every sheep or goat would get their share, and that would be that. But there was one time when this drive to take whatever they could get led to tragedy. Our first pair of sheep had a lamb when the weather was still wintery, and so we moved the mother and lamb to an alternate, and warmer place in the barn, separate from the ram. Unfortunately, the mother sheep then got into some grain, and gorged herself on it… overeating to the point of making herself sick, and dying a short time later… leaving the lamb alone. Thankfully, we were able to care for the lamb, and it grew up to live for many years. But this memory has always stuck with me as a sad reminder that what seems good in the moment might actually lead to death… and leave others to suffer. Now I don’t blame those sheep for acting the way they did. They were just doing what came naturally to them, living by their instincts, and trying to make the most out of life. But it’s clear to me now that to survive and thrive, they would need a lot of help. In so many ways, sheep need their shepherd to lead them into life. And if we think about it, we aren’t all that different, are we? Left to ourselves, we too can be easily driven by our own desires, or by our fears, in ways that end up hurting, not only those around us, but ourselves too. Often our instincts are to just fend for ourselves, or those closest to us… to grasp and go after what we need, not knowing when to stop. In the Holy Scriptures, God often speaks of His chosen people as sheep… as a flock that is under His special protection and care… but which also frequently forgets the One who is with them, wandering away, and falling prey to their fears and to their selfish desires. But these same Scriptures teach us to turn and look to to God in hope, trusting that He will be faithful to His wayward flock, and give us the guidance and care that we all really need. As you may know, this Sunday is often called Good Shepherd Sunday, and our readings today call us to reflect a bit more on this image and what it means for us: how Jesus Christ, the Risen Lord, our Good Shepherd, has come to lead you and I… to lead us all into abundant life. Our Gospel reading today from John chapter 10 has Jesus evoking this image: likening Himself and His mission to that of a shepherd, leading His flock by their trust in His familiar voice. John 10:1-5, “Very truly, I tell you, anyone who does not enter the sheepfold by the gate but climbs in by another way is a thief and a bandit. The one who enters by the gate is the shepherd of the sheep. The gatekeeper opens the gate for him, and the sheep hear his voice. He calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. When he has brought out all his own, he goes ahead of them, and the sheep follow him because they know his voice. They will not follow a stranger, but they will run from him because they do not know the voice of strangers.” This image drives home the point that the shepherd is trusted by the sheep, and is trustworthy, seeking to keep the sheep safe, unlike all the others that seek to sneak in and selfishly steal them away. Christ is here calling God’s people to trust Him, to listen to His voice, comparing His care and concern for them… for us, with others claiming to be faithful guides, yet who were far from God’s heart. Sadly, we know that there are many today… even inside of the Church… who also claim to be trustworthy guides… able to provide the guidance and care that we all need, and yet they’re just bandits and thieves… selfishly using the people who trust them, to get what they want: influence, power, money… whatever. And when we consider how many conflicting voices we are confronted with every day… each promising us security, fulfilment, peace, if we’ll just follow after them, it’s clear Christ’s warning is just as relevant today as when it was first spoken two thousand years ago. So how do we avoid being led astray? We have to do everything we can to get to know Jesus our Shepherd’s voice! A few years back, before COVID, our Diocese encouraged us all to read a book called Surprise the World: The Five Habits of Highly Missional People by Michael Frost. It’s a great book with lots of important things for us to put into practice both as individuals and as a community of believers. But one of the things Frost challenges his readers to do is to “Learn Jesus”… to regularly set aside time to devote ourselves to being steeped in Christ’s story… what He has said, what He has done… so that we become so familiar with Him that His story shapes our own. If we want to know how to recognize Christ’s voice, and follow Him instead of all the imposters out there, the first step is to draw near to Jesus… to pray to Him, to read and re-read the Gospels, to study His story together… making it a priority in our lives to hear and follow the voice of our Good Shepherd… who alone leads us to life. John 10:7-10, “So again Jesus said to them, “Very truly, I tell you, I am the gate for the sheep. All who came before me are thieves and bandits; but the sheep did not listen to them. I am the gate. Whoever enters by me will be saved, and will come in and go out and find pasture. The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly.” Jesus our Good Shepherd came to lead us to abundant life. But He knew from the start how hard this would be, and all that saving us would require. In John 10:11, Jesus says: “I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep.” Which is of course exactly what He did for us all at the cross. As St. Peter said in our second reading: “ ‘He committed no sin, and no deceit was found in his mouth.’ When he was abused, he did not return abuse; when he suffered, he did not threaten; but he entrusted himself to the one who judges justly. [That is, God.] He himself bore our sins in his body on the cross, so that, free from sins, we might live for righteousness; by his wounds you have been healed. For you were going astray like sheep, but now you have returned to the shepherd and guardian of your souls.” (1 Peter 2:22-25) Christ Jesus laid down His life to give God’s life to us… to bring us forgiveness, and freedom, and to transform our old selfish selves into His image, learning to live like Him. Reflecting on Christ’s suffering for our sake, St. Peter could see that this was now our calling too: that Jesus had given us a clear example to follow… that we too might have to endure suffering, mistreatment, and hardships, and that like Jesus, we should do so by not lashing out and at those who hurt us, but peacefully, in the confidence that the Living God has got our back. That the Lord will guide and protect us, and that, even if we must suffer like Jesus and lay down our lives, God is still with us, and will uphold us, and raise us up to share in His life, which is something no human cruelty, injustice, or even death can ever take away. What this means is that by laying down His life for us, Jesus was not really sparing us from having to face suffering. Jesus was bearing our suffering for us on the cross out of God’s own self-giving love, and making it possible for us to have this same longsuffering, self-giving love begin to shape us too. Filling us. Forming us. Guiding us. Making us more and more like Him. As Jesus Himself will say later on in St. John’s Gospel: “This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. No one has greater love than this, to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.” (John 15:12-13). God’s holy love is what guided Jesus every step of the way. And this same love is what Jesus laid down His life to give to us… poured into our hearts by His Holy Spirit. This self-giving love now at work in those who trust and follow Him is the heart of the abundant life that Christ died to bring to us, and to the world. Drawing together His scattered people to share this love with one another. This is what we see going on in our first reading today from Acts Chapter 2: the new community of Christians learning to live together by God’s holy love. “All who believed were together and had all things in common; they would sell their possessions and goods and distribute the proceeds to all, as any had need. Day by day, as they spent much time together in the temple, they broke bread at home and ate their food with glad and generous hearts, praising God and having the goodwill of all the people. And day by day the Lord added to their number those who were being saved.” (Acts 2:44-47). What do we see here? Not some new social program, or idealistic dream, but a whole new community putting God’s holy love into practice together. Everyone had what they needed because, rather than being driven by fear or selfishness, they were led by God’s self-giving love… laying down their own lives for one another in practical ways… and finding themselves filled up with joy and generosity. And where did this self-giving love come from? Not from their old ways of life… but from their connection to Christ’s life… to Christ’s story… and Christ’s Spirit at work in them. We’re told after St. Peter’s sermon on that first Pentecost thousands of people responded to the Gospel, and that they “devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching” about Jesus, helping them to learn to hear His voice… and they were devoted to “fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers.” (Acts 2:42). Learning the story of Jesus, prayer, fellowship, breaking of bread… these practices have been at the core of the Christian faith since the very beginning, drawing us near, and helping us stay near to our great Shepherd and to each other. But we’re not simply being given a technique to follow, or a set of practices to pick up, as important as they may be. This passage shows us that the abundant life that Jesus our Good Shepherd laid down His life to lead us into starts here and now in the lives of His people, being transformed together by God’s love. The Gospel of Jesus calls us to live differently. To love differently. To not simply keep wandering through life, chasing after our desires, or running away from our fears… but to be drawn together by our Good Shepherd and learn together from Him how to truly live. And with His Spirit at work in us, putting it into practice. What do we think it looks like to follow Jesus into God’s abundant life here in Gondola Point? What might it look like for us to put His self-giving love into practice? How would it change our time together? How would it change how we interact with our neighbours? How might the self-giving love of God at work in us change everything? It’s easy for us to turn back to our old ways of doing things. To let ourselves be led away from the things that scare us… or towards the things that excite and entice us… even if they only end up leading us to tragedy. But our Saviour Jesus, our Good Shepherd is calling us to draw closer to Him and to one another… to share in His abundant life. Let us then listen closely to His voice… letting His faithful, self-giving love take shape in our lives… and in the power of the Holy Spirit, let us put it into practice… first of all with our fellow believers, our brothers and sisters… our fellow sheep… so that together we can welcome others into Christ’s flock, and to draw near with them to the One Good Shepherd: our Saviour, Jesus Christ, the Risen Lord. Amen. Scripture Readings: Acts 2:14a, 36–41 | Psalm 116:1–4, 12–19 | 1 Peter 1:17–23 | Luke 24:13–35
“But we had hoped that he was the one to redeem Israel.” (Luke 24:21). “We had hoped…” What was it that we had hoped for… and that has not come to pass? I know it’s the season of Easter. A season of wonder and unexpected joy… of celebrating the world-changing news that Jesus Christ is alive! There is so much for us to be thankful for. There are so many reasons for us to rejoice. God has been incredibly gracious to us, both as a church, and as his children. But our readings today from the Scriptures, especially our reading from the Gospel of Luke, don’t jump straight to joy and celebration. Instead, they deal with the turning point… the transitions… the moments when the way forward doesn’t seem so clear… when the dawn is just beginning to break, but we can’t yet see the light. Such times call for hope. For the conviction that the new day is on it’s way. But no one waits eagerly for the dawn after the sun is risen. To understand hope we have to acknowledge the times that seem darkest of all. The story of Scripture give us plenty of examples of times when people have needed to sit with their disappointment for a while… to recognize their pain, their fears, their frustration… to not just rush past the darkness, but face these things head on… and face them together. After all, it’s good to have company when we are struggling to make sense of where we have been, and of what comes next. Our Gospel reading today gives us a good example of this: two confused and grieving disciples, were on the way to the village of Emmaus together. But their story is a gift to us in other ways as well. Beyond simply sharing the burden of those dark times together, these two disciples serve as signs of how the Living God is at work in our lives too… showing up and sharing hope even when we cannot seem Him. “We had hoped…” Can you feel the heartbreak behind these words? So much of their lives had been tied up with the trust they’d placed in Jesus of Nazareth… in what He would do, not just for them but for their people… and for their world. But now, they didn’t know what to believe, or who they could trust anymore. They both knew quite well what had happened on Good Friday. They knew there was no hope for those who are lifted up on a cross. They knew that, whatever they had hoped for, was now gone for good. And yet… reports had reached them that Jesus’ grave was empty. Rumours of angels, and claims of resurrection had started to shake up even what they knew about life and death. Would it have been it too much to hope for to get a clear sense of closure to this sad story? A definite end, even if it had to end in disaster? What should they do now when their whole world had just been pulled out from under their feet? We’re not told why these disciples were headed to Emmaus, but maybe they just felt they needed to get away for a while. Maybe they wanted to step back and sort out what comes next with a bit of breathing room. There are times, of course, in our lives when it seems like the right thing to do is to walk away. To get some distance from the confusing and painful parts of our stories, and search for peace elsewhere. Sometimes that can be and important part of the healing we need. Sometimes we’re trying to run from the darkness… and outrun our despair. Whatever the reason for their journey, and despite the distance they planned to put between them and the heartbreaking confusion back in Jerusalem, the Living God had other plans. “And he said to them, ‘What are you discussing with each other while you walk along?’” (Luke 24:17) He would not leave His grieving children simply to wander off alone. The Lord was right there with them, even in their doubts and despair, even when they could not see Him. The risen Jesus, the very one they had placed all their hopes in, was right there beside them… inviting them to share with Him everything that was on their hearts, and troubling their minds. We might have wanted Him to just walk up and say: “Hey guys, cheer up, it’s Me!” But no, He comes gently, quietly, even secretly to them in the midst of their grief, and He makes space for them to share their sad story… He makes time to listen to them… even though He knew all along that their sorrow would soon turn to joy. Together, they tell Jesus the tragedy of His own demise. How they had been convinced that Jesus was God’s Chosen One, their rescuer… but how their own people had handed their Messiah over to be crucified. “But we had hoped that he was the one to redeem Israel.” (Luke 24:21). The story of Jesus had not turned out at all the way they had hoped it would. What are we hoping for Jesus to do in our stories? In our communities? In our world? Are we hoping for freedom from the things that bind us? From fear, pain, heartbreak? Are we hoping for forgiveness? For a new start? For a return to the familiar? A place to find some peace? For someone who will welcome us in? How do we respond when it seems like the hope we have placed in Jesus has let us down? What do we do when we don’t see Him, and only the darkness? So many today are walking away from their faith in God, and from His family, the Church. There’s too much pain there… too much confusion… to many things we’re called to believe that just seem too good to be true. At times, for some it can all just seem simpler to walk away. And those of us who have not walked away are still left to struggle with wounds, with fears, with uncertainty, and disappointments that we don’t always know what to do with. Sometimes we’re told to just ignore all this stuff, and to focus on the bright side. So sometimes we turn a blind eye to our burdens, until they’re too heavy to bear. But maybe instead we need to learn to just be honest with God… even about how our hopes have been dashed… about how we feel let down, and don’t know how to turn things around again. Maybe we can take a moment right now to do just that: to tell God, right now, what you had hoped He would bring about… but that has not happened. [You are invited to take as long as you need right now to share what’s on your heart with the Lord today.] Do we believe that God hears these prayers too? Do we believe that He is listening to our hurting hearts? Jesus shows us that God listens to even our prayers of discouragement and despair… and He took the time to listen to those two disciples, on their journey away from Jerusalem. But as important as it may be to listen to us in our pain, God does not simply leave us in our sadness… no, He shows us where to look for hope. Imagine Jesus responding to His disciples, His friends with a grin and a shake of his head: “Oh, how foolish you are, and how slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have declared! Was it not necessary that the Messiah should suffer these things and then enter into his glory?” Then beginning with Moses and all the prophets, he interpreted to them the things about himself in all the scriptures.” (Luke 24:25-27). Jesus, the Word of God made flesh, points them to the Old Testament Scriptures to understand the meaning of their own story, and which turn out to have been pointing right back to Him all along. From Moses and the Pentateuch, to the Prophets, the story of God redeeming Israel had always been about their Messiah being rejected by them… suffering for their sins, dying to atone for all the evil that they have done, and so to bring them life! Setting them free, not simply to fulfill their expectations, or to accomplish their plans, but to share in the hope of God’s New Creation together with Him their crucified and risen Lord forever. But as they talked on the road to Emmaus, Jesus was doing more than revealing information to them, He was revealing a new way forward for them as well. This whole turn of events is not just another event in the history of the world… it calls for us all to respond… and to have our lives turned around by it for good. That’s what happened in our first reading today from Acts Chapter 2, as St. Peter proclaimed to those gathered in Jerusalem at Pentecost, that the Messiah, the one they had all been hoping for, had already come, and that they had rejected Him. Acts 2:36-37, “‘Therefore let the entire house of Israel know with certainty that God has made him both Lord and Messiah, this Jesus whom you crucified.’ Now when they heard this, they were cut to the heart and said to Peter and to the other apostles, ‘Brothers, what should we do?’” Good question. What would any of us do if we were to suddenly realize that our own choices have actually destroyed all that we had hoped for? Thankfully, St. Peter doesn’t leave them hanging. Acts 2:38-39, “Peter said to them, ‘Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ so that your sins may be forgiven; and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. For the promise is for you, for your children, and for all who are far away, everyone whom the Lord our God calls to him.” Turn around, he tells them, and receive the New Life of Jesus… dying and rising again with Him in baptism… receive from Him forgiveness of sins… and God’s Holy Spirit. A gift not just meant for you… but for your families… for “all who are far away… everyone whom the Lord our God calls to him.” Even after they had taken part in the betrayal and brutal death of the Messiah, their own Saviour, St. Peter tells them that there’s still hope for them all, because Jesus Himself is our hope! And Jesus lives! The Risen Lord, God’s chosen Messiah, has faced and conquered death forever, and He is the source of all our confidence, all our security and strength. It is Jesus Himself that we need, and with Him, we have everything… far beyond what we could ever possibly hope for alone. We forget this all the time. We constantly fail to see the hope that He gives us. But even so, the risen Lord remains right there… right here with us… ready to reveal what He knows our hearts are burning to receive. Our Gospel reading goes on… After the still unrecognized Jesus unpacks the story of hope through God’s suffering Messiah, found throughout the Old Testament, the three travelers finally arrive at the village of Emmaus just as it was getting dark. The two disciples knew the importance of shelter, and just how dangerous it can be for those who are left outside and alone, and so when this stranger seems about ready to leave them and carry on down the road, they strongly urge Him to stay with them instead. They welcome Him in, and set food before Him, offering whatever hospitality they could. And in return, they receive another surprising revelation. Luke 24:30-31, “When he was at the table with them, he took bread, blessed and broke it, and gave it to them. Then their eyes were opened, and they recognized him; and he vanished from their sight.” Just a few nights earlier, their last time together with their Rabbi before His crucifixion, Jesus had blessed and broken bread with them in the upper room… sharing a sacred meal, which for centuries had kept alive the hope-filled story of God’s miraculous redemption of Israel from slavery… and which now Jesus said was taking on a whole new meaning: the bread and the wine were His own life… His own broken body and blood, shed for them. Now in Emmaus, it all comes rushing back. And in this simple act of receiving this blessed and broken bread, they recognized that Jesus was right there with them. Then in an instant, He vanishes. And they are left with a choice: What do they do now? Do they just carry on with life as usual? Or do they let this experience of Jesus, which they still struggle to understand, turn their lives around? Despite their tired legs and feet, despite the time of night… despite their questions and doubts… these disciples get up and run straight back to Jerusalem… to gather with those who knew Jesus, and share with them the hope that they just received. This is a wonderful story of how Jesus shows up for His disciples on that first Easter, turning their sorrows to joy, and turning their lives around by His risen life right there with them. But this story is also a gift for us too: it shows us where we are to look for the risen Lord’s presence in our lives… where He shares His hope with us… especially when we cannot see Him: His hope finds us when we draw near to fellow believers… sharing each other’s burdens, wrestling with our confusion and questions together, seeking to find the way forward, walking side by side. His hope finds us when we share our hearts with God… when we pour ourselves out to Him in prayer, knowing that He is listening patiently to our words, and eager to turn our sorrows into joy. His hope finds us as we listen to His words to us in the Holy Scriptures, drawing us into the story of God’s Good News, which weaves all of history into the rescuing work of Jesus. His hope finds us as we extend hospitality to those we meet along the way… welcoming those outside into our lives, as Christ Jesus welcomed us… without prejudice or pride, but in humility, compassion, and love. His hope finds us as we draw near to His table… as we share the blessed food that Jesus gives to us: His own body, broken… His own blood shed… His life, freely given to save sinners like us… so that we too can be filled with His new life, and share in its blessings together. And His hope finds us when we choose to turn around, and seek out the rest of our brothers and sisters in God’s family… when we come together in wonder, mystery, and joy to worship our risen Saviour… to retell the stories of what He has done… to comfort, forgive, and encourage one another. Jesus is risen. Jesus is right here with us. And He is everything we had hoped for and more. May the Holy Spirit of God continue to open our eyes and hearts to see His New Life at work… and may He keep turning our lives around as we share in this hope, with one another… with our communities, and with our world. Amen. Scripture Readings: Acts 2:14a, 22–32 | Psalm 16 | 1 Peter 1:3–9 | John 20:19–31
“Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have come to believe.” (John 20:29). Jesus is risen! It’s hard to imagine three words that have had a more profound and lasting impact on our world… transforming a few humble fishermen, tax-collectors, and other misfits into bold heralds proclaiming to all the world the Good News that God’s Chosen King has conquered death… and that His good Kingdom is here to stay. Jesus is risen! These three words are at the heart of everything. Our understanding of the past. Our present practices. Our anticipation of what’s to come. Believing the Good News that Jesus is risen brings it all to life. Can you imagine just how exciting it must have been for the disciples on that first Easter day all those years ago? To be among the first to see that Jesus really is risen? Can you imagine missing out on that moment??? Can you imagine seeing your friends so excited… and hearing them tell you news far too good to be true? Telling you that what had seemed like the end of the world had been turned upside down to a brand new beginning… but you have to take their word for it. Imagine you don’t get to see with your own eyes. How hard would it be to believe? How many of us might have responded like Thomas: “Unless I see the mark of the nails in his hands, and put my finger in the mark of the nails and my hand in his side, I will not believe.” (John 20:25). Many today still struggle to believe. Not only in the resurrection of our Lord on Easter morning, but in God’s whole intention and ability to bring His good Kingdom to life. There’s lots of confusion, discouragement, and even despair in our world… both inside and outside the Church… people longing for hope they can really believe in, and not just empty promises. People asking: ‘If God is still showing up in our world today, why can’t we be the ones to see it? Why can’t we see God’s good Kingdom at work? All we see is the world falling apart.’ From the very start, the story of Easter has been meant for people asking those very questions. It’s an invitation for all of us who struggle with doubts to still choose to believe that even when we cannot see the New Life of God’s good Kingdom at work, we can still trust Him to bring it about. Easter invites us to trust that the Living God will never abandoned us, or His world… to trust that Jesus the Risen Lord will not leave you and I behind. To hear this invitation, I think it’s important for us to look at how the first Apostles understood and spoke about the hope of Easter: which involved looking back at how the Living God had been at work in the story of their ancestors all along. Our reading today from the Book of Acts tells the story of St. Peter addressing a crowd in Jerusalem on Pentecost, after receiving the Holy Spirit. In this first public announcement of the resurrection of Jesus, St. Peter turns to the Holy Scriptures, and connects what had happened to Jesus with God’s promises in the past, especially the hope given to God’s people that a King from David’s line would reign forever. Long ago, when the Israelite tribes had been united in a single nation, God had made a covenant… a sacred bond with King David: the Lord would establish an everlasting Kingdom for one of David’s descendants. Psalm 132 articulates the hope this gave, not just David and his heirs, but their whole nation. Psalm 132:11-18: “The Lord swore to David a sure oath from which he will not turn back: ‘One of the sons of your body I will set on your throne. If your sons keep my covenant and my decrees that I shall teach them, their sons also, forevermore, shall sit on your throne.’ For the Lord has chosen Zion; he has desired it for his habitation: ‘This is my resting place forever; here I will reside, for I have desired it. I will abundantly bless its provisions; I will satisfy its poor with bread. Its priests I will clothe with salvation, and its faithful will shout for joy. There I will cause a horn to sprout up for David; I have prepared a lamp for my anointed one. His enemies I will clothe with disgrace, but on him, his crown will gleam.” Such a promise of security and prosperity filled God’s people with great confidence. But in the centuries after King David, their Kingdom was in complete jeopardy. The Northern half of the Kingdom had already been overrun, and its people scattered among the Gentile world. And Zion, the city of Jerusalem, was now besieged by Babylon, with its people struggling to find hope. Many people claiming to speak for God sought to reassure those living in Jerusalem that things would turn out for the best. That they would be spared the horrors of Exile because of their status as God’s chosen ones. They had the Holy Temple. Theirs was the city where God Himself chose to dwell. But one prophet, a man named Jeremiah, had been entrusted with a very different… and difficult message for God’s people: that unlike times gone by, the armies of Babylon would not be turned away… that they would be instruments used by God to bring about justice upon His people, who had time and again betrayed Him, and broken their covenant to be His people in the world. According to Jeremiah, faithfulness to God in this crucial moment meant surrendering to the Babylonians… it meant accepting this humiliating defeat, and in repentance trusting in God to be merciful… believing that somehow the Lord would not abandon them to destruction, despite their unfaithfulness. Unsurprisingly, Judah’s King and leadership did not listen to the warning from Jeremiah, and they refused to humble themselves and accept defeat… which ended up leading to the complete devastation of Jerusalem. The people were slaughtered, scattered, and enslaved. The Holy Temple was torn down. They saw the entire world they had believed in die before their eyes. It's hard to imagine the kind of heartbreak and despair they would have faced. But again, along with the warning, God had entrusted to Jeremiah a word of hope, even before all this devastation took place. A word calling for God’s people to trust in His divine mercy and everlasting love, no matter what may come… to believe that even despite all their unfaithfulness and humiliating defeat, the Lord would never abandon them. Jeremiah 33:19-21, 24-26, “The word of the Lord came to Jeremiah: Thus says the Lord: If any of you could break my covenant with the day and my covenant with the night, so that day and night would not come at their appointed time, only then could my covenant with my servant David be broken, so that he would not have a son to reign on his throne… Have you not observed how these people say, ‘The two families that the Lord chose have been rejected by him,’ and how they hold my people in such contempt that they no longer regard them as a nation? Thus says the Lord: Only if I had not established my covenant with day and night and the ordinances of heaven and earth, would I reject the offspring of Jacob and of my servant David and not choose any of his descendants as rulers over the offspring of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. For I will restore their fortunes, and will have mercy upon them.” And God did have mercy on His people. Despite their devastating journey into Exile, God did not abandon them. Instead, God went with them… in their suffering, confusion, humiliation, and despair, God was with His children through it all. And at the right time, He brought them back out of Babylon… back to their own land. True, things were never the same as they were before, but they had a renewed sense of hope that the Living God could be trusted to stay true to His word… that one day King David’s descendant would reign again, and their future would be secure. No matter how bad things might get, now they could believe that God’s good Kingdom would one day be raised up, even from the ashes of despair, and that it would endure forever. Centuries after the Exiles returned from Babylon, our story picks up again in Jerusalem: with St. Peter telling the crowds at Pentecost that their King has finally come. Telling them that Jesus of Nazareth is the promised One, crucified by His own unfaithful people, but never abandoned by God… who raised Him to life again against all expectations and beyond all hope. Jesus is risen! St. Peter told them. And the world has never been the same. But for St. Peter, the resurrection of Jesus was far more than just a glorious victory for God’s Chosen King, a great thing for Christ alone… St. Peter sees what happened at Easter as the unexpected and undeserved triumph for all God’s people. The ultimate gift offered to all who place their trust in the Risen One. In our New Testament reading today, we heard St. Peter say as much to his fellow believers. 1 Peter 1:3-5, “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! By his great mercy he has given us a new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, and into an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you, who are being protected by the power of God through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.” St. Peter knew firsthand that God has not abandoned Jesus His Son to the grave, but has raised Him up, beyond all hope. And in His great mercy, God will not abandon those who cling to Christ in faith, but will raise us up with Him to share in His blessed life as well! Because Jesus is risen, we too who trust in Him will rise! Of course, this does not mean that the road ahead will be easy. In fact, St. Peter says quite the opposite! 1 Peter 1:6-7, “In this you rejoice, even if now for a little while you have had to suffer various trials, so that the genuineness of your faith—being more precious than gold that, though perishable, is tested by fire—may be found to result in praise and glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed.” St. Peter encourages his fellow Christians, including you and I today, that our sufferings and trials are not simply signs of defeat, or reasons for us to despair… imagining that somehow God has abandoned us to fend for ourselves, or that His mercy and grace are unable to see us through. Rather, our times of suffering, are opportunities for us to exercise our faith… to practice trusting in God, and clinging to Jesus Christ our Saviour… to humbly look to Him always, especially when it’s hard to see Him at work. 1 Peter 1:8-9, “Although you have not seen him, you love him; and even though you do not see him now, you believe in him and rejoice with an indescribable and glorious joy, for you are receiving the outcome of your faith, the salvation of your souls.” St. Peter offers us this encouragement, confident in God’s mercy and everlasting love made known to us in Jesus, the Risen Lord, who humbly surrendered His life over to death in order to bring life to His frequently unfaithful but yet still beloved people. The resurrection of Jesus is the ultimate sign of the faithfulness of God… of His amazing mercy, which longs to embrace us all, even when we completely fail Him… to offer true hope to the hopeless… true love to the loveless… true faith to the faithless… turning us back to Him and raising us up with His Son, King Jesus, to share in His Kingdom forever. One week after that first Easter, the disciples had gathered together again. It had been a week since the Lord had surprised them. Seven days since their world had been turned upside down. And despite all his doubts, Thomas was right there with them… which is, by the way, the perfect place for anyone who has doubts about the Risen Lord and His Kingdom... wrestling with these questions alongside brothers and sisters also seeking to understand. And right there, Jesus again makes His presence known… and this time He comes straight for Thomas. In mercy and love, the Risen Christ turns to His beloved but struggling student, and Jesus answers his prayer for a reason to truly believe: “Put your finger here and see my hands. Reach out your hand and put it in my side. Do not doubt but believe.” (John 20:27). Believe. In the blink of an eye, Thomas is convinced. Seeing Jesus alive again, he cries out: “My Lord and my God!” Jesus said to him, “Have you believed because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have come to believe.” (John 20:28-29) Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have come to believe. The whole of John’s Gospel has this intent: that we too who have not come face to face with the Risen Lord would come to see Jesus with the same eyes of faith as Thomas… that we too would come to believe the Good News that He truly is the Son of God… raised from the dead, even though our own eyes have not seen Him… yet. John’s whole Gospel, leading us as it does to the wonderful news of Easter, is an ongoing invitation to trust that, just like He came to Thomas, the Risen Lord will not just leave you and I behind! God has not abandoned Jesus His Son to the grave, but has raised Him up to reign forever. God will not abandon those who cling to Christ in faith, but will raise us up too, to reign with Him. And God knows sometimes we find it really hard to believe. He knows all the reasons we struggle. He understands and He shares in our sufferings… be they in body, mind, or spirit. And He longs for us to lean on His love, and to trust that He’s right here, unseen but always near. Whether or not we are struggling with doubts about God’s mercy, or faithfulness, or resurrecting power, Jesus invites us all to place our trust in Him today: To continue to gather along with our brothers and sisters… to humbly seek His mercy, forgiveness, and grace… and extend it to each other too… to draw near together to His table and receive from Him the New Life of God’s good Kingdom… and to share the Good News that Jesus, the Saviour of the World is risen… and that He will raise us up to be with Him and share His reign forever. Amen. Scripture Readings: Exodus 12:1–14 | Psalm 116:1–2, 12–19 | 1 Corinthians 11:23–26 | John 13:1–17, 31b–35
“I give you a new commandment, that you love one another. Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.” (John 13:8, 34-35). On this night, Jesus our Saviour shared a sacred meal with His disciples… inviting them not simply into His friendship, but into His own blessed life… the life He shared with His heavenly Father from before the beginning of time. On this night, Jesus our Master washed the feet of His servants… showing them up close what His new life looks like: humility… vulnerability… kindness… love. On this night, Jesus our King gave us a new commandment: that we should love one another just as He loved us… spelling out for us once and for all the core of what it means to share in His Kingdom. “Just as I have loved you” Christ says, “so you should love one another.” Not just try to play nice… but strive to put His own love for us all into practice. Tragically, many today seem not too concerned with keeping this ‘new’ commandment. Instead, caught up in our own concerns, we avoid and ignore one another… Instead, in fear, and envy, and prejudice, we turn on one another… Instead, we search for all sorts of ways to excuse our unwillingness to serve and be served… to care and be cared for… to forgive and to be forgiven… to love and to be loved. And yet Christ’s commandment still stands: “I give you a new commandment, that you love one another. Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.” (John 13:34-35). How are you and I today to obey our Lord’s commandment? Well, we can only share the love of Jesus if we have received the love of Jesus. Christ is not asking us to bring something to the table… but first to be fed by Him… answering our Lord’s invitation to come and share in what He alone can give. The holy love of God is not something we can simply conjure up within ourselves… it is His gift to us. A gift that grows in us. And we can only continue to share the love of Jesus if we continue to receive the love of Jesus… like a branch can only bear fruit when it remains united to the vine. Ongoing communion with God in Jesus Christ is the fount from which all of our life must flow. What happened in us yesterday, a year… ten years… thirty years… fifty years ago has brought us to this present moment hear and now: to Christ’s Table where He offers His life and His love… to you, and to us all… again and again and again. We must keep coming to Him together if we are to have any hope of sharing His love together. And this is the only hope Christ Jesus our Lord gives to us that the rest of the world will come to see us as His own… and so come to know the love of Jesus: if His disciples will continue receiving and sharing His love with one another. There are so many factors behind the current challenges that the Church and Christians are facing today. And there are many choices ahead of us as a community: many possibilities, which we might find humbling… and hard… exposing our own vulnerabilities… and fears… and calling us to walk uncomfortable and unfamiliar roads. What Jesus our Lord gives to us today is not a silver bullet to avoid suffering, but this commandment… the way forward we must take up and practice if we are to follow Him: We must receive His love… as undeserving of it as we may be… not just once, but again and again… His love sustains our life. And we must offer this love to one another… again and again and again… as undeserving as we may feel they may be… His love shared through us sustains their life as well. And we know this “one another” means more than just those of us sitting here in this room… those we find easy to love… those we already know… those we trust will love us in return. Our Master Jesus calls us to love all of those who have been given a place at His table… who, like us, only have a place at His table because of what He has done for us all… NOT because we are good. Or interesting. Or healthy. Or friendly. Or wise. Or anything other than loved by Jesus. We must love one another freely, just as Jesus our Saviour has first loved us. That’s when, He tells us, the world will come to know that we share in His blessed life. That’s when we will be more than a religious people, but the new family of God. When through His Holy Spirit at work in us we receive and share His love… again and again and again… When we allow ourselves to be cared for by our sisters and brothers, and care for them as well… When we lay down our lives for one another, as He first laid down His own life for us… That’s when we and the world will know that we are Christ’s own… when His love is growing deeper and wider and stronger in and between us. On this night, Jesus Christ calls us to love one another just as He first loved us. Let us receive and share together His life and holy love. Amen. Scripture Reading: Ezekiel 37:1–14 | Psalm 130 | Romans 8:6–11 | John 11:1–45
“Jesus told them plainly, ‘Lazarus is dead. For your sake I am glad I was not there, so that you may believe. But let us go to him.’” (John 11:14-15) Where is God to be found when our world has fallen apart? When we come face to face with tragedy… with bitter and unanswerable questions… when our prayers ascend, not with praise, but with accusations… and even anger? Have you ever been angry with God? Are you angry with Him right now? I remember one evening, while I was in seminary, riding the subway home in Toronto. That night, I was very angry with God. Not because of something that had happened to me… but to things that had just happened to some fellow Christians I knew… good, honest, God-loving families, who were suddenly going through heartbreaking tragedies. One family, after years of longing for a child, had gone through the long and arduous process of adoption. After much prayer, and hope, and joy, they had finally been able to bring a new baby home… but then the birth-mother suddenly changed her mind, and they had to give the beloved child back. All of the hopes and joys of this wonderful couple fell crashing to the floor. From where I stood, it seemed so wrong… so cruel a twist of circumstances for those who had longed only to share love. It just seemed so unfair. The second family faced an even more devastating tragedy. A classmate of mine was driving on a trip with his wife and new baby, but their car ended up in a fatal crash. Thankfully the mother and child survived, but the father was killed on the scene. So suddenly, one life was taken, and two others would never be the same. Again, it all seemed so unfair. Why would God allow this kind of thing to happen to people who truly loved Him, and longed to help others share in His love? It made no sense! On that subway ride home, I felt quite overwhelmed by what seemed like the unfairness… maybe even the uncaringness of God, and all the theology… all the answers I thought I knew just seemed to fall flat, offering no comfort at all. I was angry. Angry with God. Angry that God had not done something to protect these people who loved Him from having their worlds fall apart. Where was God? And why didn’t He do something? We know, of course, there are lots of stories like this… where people have come face to face with sudden tragedy, and outright evil, and where we can do little but raise our cries of anguish to God. But thankfully, the Living God can handle our honest, angry prayers. We know this because the Bible does not shy away from these kinds of stories. Quite the opposite! The Holy Scriptures invite us, again and again, into truly heartbreaking narratives… not to crush our spirits, but to help us trust God in the midst of tragedy. To believe, not that everything will work out in ways that seem fair to us… but to believe that He is the one who brings true life, even out of the darkness of death. Our reading today from John’s Gospel dives straight into this mess… inviting us to see both where God is amid the deeply personal suffering of our world, and what He is doing about it... pointing us directly to the face of Jesus. This story is one of the most well known miracles of Jesus: raising his friend Lazarus from the grave, after being dead for four days. It is an amazing display of Jesus’ life-giving power… revealing His unique connection to God the Father, the Source of all life. But as John takes pains to point out, Jesus is absent at the time of Lazarus’ death. In fact, instead of rushing to the village of Bethany to prevent His friend from dying, Jesus delays coming… He chooses to be absent. To not stop the tragedy ahead of time… but to face it head-on. This is the big question the story raises for us… the tension that makes it all so poignant: Jesus invites us all to ask Him ‘where were You? Why did You let all this happen?’ Not only in this story, but in all our tragedies, and times of darkness as well. And the answer He gives us is not a rational argument… or a theological treatise… His answer is His action. What He does in this story is His response. So, what does Jesus do? First of all, Jesus shows us He knows. He is not oblivious to what is happening, or too the greater tragedy ahead. When word reaches Him that Lazarus His friend is sick, He knows how the whole story will play out. Likewise, Jesus knows all about our tragedies too. He sees our struggles, and understands all that we have had to face. There’s some comfort to be found in the fact that our Lord takes notice of us. But that is not all that He does. This story shows us that Jesus knows… and that He cares. That He cares enough to meet us right there in our pain, and confusion, and anger… to let us be real with Him, which is essential if we’re ever going to believe in Him. John 11:20-22, “When Martha heard that Jesus was coming, she went and met him, while Mary stayed at home. Martha said to Jesus, ‘Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died. But even now I know that God will give you whatever you ask of him.’” Martha brings her pain and frustration to Jesus, and though she doesn’t yet understand, she still clings to her faith in Him… and Jesus responds to her faith by offering hope: John 11:23-27, “Jesus said to her, ‘Your brother will rise again.’ Martha said to him, ‘I know that he will rise again in the resurrection on the last day.’ Jesus said to her, ‘I am the resurrection and the life. Those who believe in me, even though they die, will live, and everyone who lives and believes in me will never die. Do you believe this?’ She said to him, ‘Yes, Lord, I believe that you are the Messiah, the Son of God, the one coming into the world.’” Jesus doesn’t just leave Martha in the dark. He knows all about her grief. He cares for her, and offers her hope through faith in Him, even if she doesn’t really understand. And likewise, Jesus invites us all to come to Him and cling to Him in faith, even when we don’t understand. But that’s not the only way we know He cares. John 11:32-37, “When Mary came where Jesus was and saw him, she knelt at his feet and said to him, ‘Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died.’ When Jesus saw her weeping, and the Jews who came with her also weeping, he was greatly disturbed in spirit and deeply moved. He said, ‘Where have you laid him?’ They said to him, ‘Lord, come and see.’ Jesus began to weep. So the Jews said, ‘See how he loved him!’ But some of them said, ‘Could not he who opened the eyes of the blind man have kept this man from dying?’” Disturbed. Deeply moved. Weeping. This is how John describes the Son of God. Not stoically standing by, unaffected by the grief that surrounded Him, but sharing in it. Taking it to heart. Taking it up into His own life. Jesus weeps with Mary. And He weeps with us. God weeps with us! He knows, He cares… and He shares in all our human suffering. The Church Father, Cyril of Alexandria, says this about the tears that Christ shed that day: “The Jews thought that Jesus wept on account of the death of Lazarus, but in fact he wept out of compassion for all humanity, not mourning Lazarus alone, but all of humanity which is subject to death, having justly fallen under so great a penalty.”[1] It's not as though Jesus was only moved to tears by the death of a close friend… or the grief of those close to Him. His compassion encompasses us all. Jesus weeps with us too. But we know He does more than share in our suffering. Jesus has come to save. To offer us life… usually in ways that go far beyond our expectations… bringing life even out of death, and hope where there had been no hope at all. John 11:38-45, “Then Jesus, again greatly disturbed, came to the tomb. It was a cave, and a stone was lying against it. Jesus said, ‘Take away the stone.’ Martha, the sister of the dead man, said to him, ‘Lord, already there is a stench because he has been dead four days.’ Jesus said to her, ‘Did I not tell you that if you believed, you would see the glory of God?’ So they took away the stone. And Jesus looked upward and said, ‘Father, I thank you for having heard me. I knew that you always hear me, but I have said this for the sake of the crowd standing here, so that they may believe that you sent me.’ When he had said this, he cried with a loud voice, ‘Lazarus, come out!’ The dead man came out, his hands and feet bound with strips of cloth, and his face wrapped in a cloth. Jesus said to them, ‘Unbind him, and let him go.’ Many of the Jews therefore, who had come with Mary and had seen what Jesus did, believed in him.” Far beyond what anyone else expected that day, Jesus brought Lazarus back to life. A sign of His life-giving power, at work even today in surprising ways. Reminding us that nothing is impossible for our Saviour. But as reassuring as this miracle itself can be for us, John didn’t include this story only to offer us comfort in the midst of our pain and tragedy… but to show us the depths of the Good News of God’s saving love… and just how far Jesus goes to come to our rescue… to put His whole beloved world back together again. The story keeps going beyond our reading today, to reveal that though many believed in Him because of this miracle, the road ahead for Jesus was to be one of fierce resistance. John 11:45-48, “Many of the Jews therefore, who had come with Mary and had seen what Jesus did, believed in him. But some of them went to the Pharisees and told them what he had done. So the chief priests and the Pharisees called a meeting of the council, and said, “What are we to do? This man is performing many signs. If we let him go on like this, everyone will believe in him, and the Romans will come and destroy both our holy place and our nation.” To be fair, they had good reason to be afraid. This was a very real threat! The Romans did not put up with disturbances of the peace, and were prone to put down perceived threats to their power viciously. The chief priests and Pharisees were legitimately afraid that they would lose everything… that if Jesus kept on doing all these miracles, Rome would destroy their whole world. Who cares if one man was raised from the dead, if the whole nation will soon be wiped out! Their solution? John 11:49-53, “But one of them, Caiaphas, who was high priest that year, said to them, ‘You know nothing at all! You do not understand that it is better for you to have one man die for the people than to have the whole nation destroyed.’ He did not say this on his own, but being high priest that year he prophesied that Jesus was about to die for the nation, and not for the nation only, but to gather into one the dispersed children of God. So from that day on they planned to put him to death.” With their minds blinded by fear, they saw the only way forward for their people would be to kill Jesus. But in the depths of love that none of us can really wrap our heads around, the Living God had known all along that the only way forward for His whole world would be to face death for us Himself. To take on our fragile human life… to face our rejection… and betrayal. To experience injustice… agony… and humiliation at our hand… to taste death for us. Alongside us. Instead of us at the cross. And this is what God does for us. This is what Jesus’ life was all about: not giving us easy answers, or arguments to make sense of all the evil and suffering in our world, or in our lives… but to take all of it on Himself, and to break it’s power over us, once and for all. This is where we find God in the face of suffering: we find Him in the face of Jesus on the cross. This is where we see that He knows… that He cares… that He refuses to shy away even from the horror of death. And this is where we see Him bring the new life of God to us and our world. In His death, and in His resurrection, as the firstborn from the grave… offering us all a share in His eternal life through His Holy Spirit: As St. Paul says in Romans 8:11, “If the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised Christ from the dead will give life to your mortal bodies also through his Spirit that dwells in you.” Lazarus was raised back to his old life for a time, but one day he would have to face death again. But Jesus, the Risen One, has passed through death never to die again. The start of a brand New Creation. A new beginning, one that will never come to an end. Not just for Himself, but for all who place their faith in Him. All who receive His gift of life. For as Jesus was raised by the power of God, we too will be raised by His Spirit alive in us, so that Jesus’ eternal life and victory over death will be ours. N.T. Wight puts it this way: “what God did for Jesus he will do for all creation, liberating it from its present slavery to corruption. Those whose bodies are heading for death, but who are indwelt by God’s Spirit, are assured that what God did for Jesus as an individual he will do for all the Messiah’s people.”[2] We don’t know ahead of time all of the details of what this will look like, for us or for our world, but we do know that as we face evil… and injustice, and suffering… and whatever comes our way… we can look to Jesus and find God’s resurrection life at work. We know that He knows… we know that He cares… and we know that He will lead us into life. That night in Toronto, riding the subway with all of my questions, frustrations, and anger… I found myself praying: “God, hold onto me. I don’t understand… this is so unfair… I am so angry… but please don’t let me go. Hold onto me.” And He did. That’s what He did for me in that moment: He held me in His arms, as confused, and upset, and angry with Him as I was, He did not let me go. And He has never let me go… despite all the ups and downs I have faced since… despite all my struggles and doubts, He keeps on inviting me, again and again, to trust Him to bring His New Life, even when it seems impossible. In time, that first family was actually able to adopt the same child they had first welcomed into their lives, and have been able to share God’s love with them each day. In time, the young widow and child became part of a new and loving family… not erasing the past, but given a new chance to share in God’s grace, and peace together. We know that no two stories are the same. And I’m not saying that every tragedy will turn to joy in this life. What I am saying, and what the Gospel says to us is that even in the midst of the worst moments imaginable, God is with us and will not let us go. In Jesus, the crucified and risen Lord, we can turn to God and truly trust Him… trust Him with all our anguish… with all our questions… with our anger… and know that He is still with us. To know that He knows… that He cares… that He shares in all of our struggles and sorrows… and that He is not nearly done bringing about God’s new and everlasting life. Amen. [1] Cyril of Alexandria: Commentary on the Gospel of St. John 7.1. in Thomas C. Oden and Cindy Crosby, eds., Ancient Christian Devotional: A Year of Weekly Readings: Lectionary Cycle A (Downers Grove, IL: IVP Books, 2007), 94. [2] N. T. Wright, Twelve Months of Sundays: Reflections on Bible Readings, Year A (London: Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge, 2001), 48. Scripture Readings: 1 Samuel 16:1–13 | Psalm 23 | Ephesians 5:8–14 | John 9:1–41
“for the Lord does not see as mortals see; they look on the outward appearance, but the Lord looks on the heart.” (1 Samuel 16:7). What a gift it is to see clearly. I don’t just mean with our eyes… though that’s certainly a gift too easily taken for granted. No, I mean seeing clearly with the heart and mind: perceiving the truth… and not being led astray by deceptions, and lies, and appearances… the ability to live in line with what is real, even if no one else around us sees it the same way. What a gift it is to see clearly. A challenging gift, but a gift nonetheless. In our Scripture readings today we are invited to contemplate what it means to see things God’s way… to have our eyes and hearts and minds opened to the reality He longs to reveal. Our reading today from first Samuel tells the story of David’s anointing: the shepherd boy, completely overlooked by others, but chosen by God to serve Him as King. This story starts off a bit further back: The twelve tribes of Israel had been in the Promised Land for a while now… having been rescued by the LORD from slavery in Egypt, and set apart as God’s chosen people, to live His way in the world so that everyone could come to know the Living God through their faithful lives. But now Israel wanted to be just like every other nation… and rather than looking to the Living God to guide them and protect them, they wanted to have a king… a human ruler who would take the lead… who they could look up to, and place their confidence in. They saw kingship as just the thing they would need to move forward in an uncertain world. The prophet Samuel warned them, just like Moses had warned them centuries earlier, that the kind of king they were wanting would only end up leading them astray… away from God’s ways, and would oppress rather than protect them, but they refused to listen. They wanted to serve someone they could see with their own eyes, instead of placing their trust in the Living God… the One who had rescued them, and led them, again and again, into life. Eventually, God tells Samuel to give the people what they wanted, and so he anointed their first king Saul, who seemed perfect for the job. Saul was tall, strong, impressive… but he ended up repeatedly failing to follow God’s instructions… doing what was right in his own eyes, instead of obeying the word of the LORD. And so, in our first reading, we heard how God sent the prophet Samuel to choose another king for God’s people… this time anointing someone completely overlooked, and deemed unsuitable for such an honour: Jesse’s youngest son, David… someone the LORD alone could see would be the one to guide His people… not perfectly, by any means, but as far as human kings go, pretty faithfully… filled with the power of God’s own Spirit to lead His people into life. Now this ancient anointing ceremony may seem a long way from our daily lives here in Gondola Point, but a key phrase from this reading stands out for us all to hear: “the Lord said to Samuel, “Do not look on his appearance or on the height of his stature… … for the Lord does not see as mortals see; they look on the outward appearance, but the Lord looks on the heart.” (1 Samuel 16:7). How often are we too just living by what seems right in our own eyes, instead of looking to God? How are we searching for things that seem impressive, strong, stable… hoping that they will give us some security in our increasingly uncertain world? Or how are we wanting to be just like our neighbours… to set aside God’s ways, so we can be just like them… or at least, so that we aren’t seen as strangers and outsiders… afraid of feeling cut off and alone? Are we seeing clearly today? If not, our Gospel reading, as usual, has Good News for us all. John chapter 9 starts off simply enough with a scene that would not have seemed all that unusual: Jesus and His disciples pass by a beggar who had been blind from birth. From the start, the disciples saw the man and failed to see beyond their own concerns. Like many in their days, and in our own, they saw someone suffering… blind from birth… and assumed it was somebody’s fault. “Rabbi,” they said, “who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?” (John 9:2). The assumption behind this question is that suffering of any kind must be a punishment… proof that someone did something to deserve their misery. It can be easy for us to feel responsible or guilty when we or those we love are suffering… when they face challenges and struggles beyond our ability to solve. It can seem right to us to search for an explanation… a cause… for someone to blame… but Jesus rejects this way of seeing suffering, and what He does next aims to open the eyes of His followers, and shine light on the truth. “Jesus answered, ‘Neither this man nor his parents sinned; he was born blind so that God’s works might be revealed in him. We must work the works of him who sent me while it is day; night is coming when no one can work. As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world.’ When he had said this, he spat on the ground and made mud with the saliva and spread the mud on the man’s eyes, saying to him, ‘Go, wash in the pool of Siloam’ (which means Sent). Then he went and washed and came back able to see.” (John 9:3-7). Note that Jesus did not say that God caused the man’s blindness, but that his blindness will be the cause of God’s work being revealed in him. This isn’t an explanation for who’s responsible for his suffering. It’s an explanation of who will be responsible for his healing… and salvation. Jesus then spits on the ground, makes mud, wipes it on the man’s eyes, and sends him away to wash. And suddenly, he could see! His eyes were opened for the first time in his life! Imagine how excited he must have been! In an instant, so many possibilities that had been completely closed off, had been freely given to him: The beauty of the world around him. Colours, shapes, things only imagined before, all now clearly able to be perceived. Imagine seeing the faces of his friends and family for the first time! Imagine looking into the eyes of someone who loves you! What a gift! But even so, it was a challenging gift… and one which would change everything. Freely given, but not without cost, as the Gospel of John goes on to explain. The controversy starts with the man’s neighbours, who were deeply confused when they saw the man who they had only known as a blind beggar, suddenly now able to see. They don’t know what to do with him, or what to believe. So they send him to the experts: the Pharisees, those who, due to their knowledge of the Law, and the traditions of God’s people, were supposed to see these kinds of things clearly. And the first thing that catches their eye is not the miracle, God’s healing hand at work, but the fact that Jesus appears to have broken the Law of God… healing on the Sabbath day of rest, and on top of that, daring to make mud. Back in Exodus, before they had tasted God’s freedom and salvation which the Sabbath Day was intended to be a perpetual reminder of, the Israelites were enslaved in Egypt, and were forced to make bricks out of mud. Now any form of work was deemed to be forbidden on the Sabbath, but to the Pharisees, making mud, which brings to mind those mud bricks of oppression, would be like spitting upon the memory of God’s saving work in their people’s past. In their eyes, if Jesus was so careless with what was so clearly sacred, He could be nothing but a sinner, seeking to lead God’s people astray into unfaithfulness. But even so, they could not deny that something unusual had happened here. John 9:16, “Some of the Pharisees said, “This man is not from God, for he does not observe the sabbath.” But others said, “How can a man who is a sinner perform such signs?” And they were divided.” But instead of simply choosing to believe the man’s story, or to look for Jesus Himself to discover the truth, they search for the parents of the man who was blind, expecting to find some deception or misunderstanding at work that will fully explain everything. Then the man’s parents, afraid of the pushback they will receive if they support Jesus publicly, refuse to back up their son. They confirm his identity, but then leave him all alone to face these interrogators by himself. The Pharisees press him even harder: “they said to him, ‘Give glory to God! We know that this man is a sinner.’ He answered, ‘I do not know whether he is a sinner. One thing I do know, that though I was blind, now I see.’” (John 9:24-25). All through this story, the Gospel writer is highlighting for us the tension and contrast at work between those who see the truth, and those who do not: The disciples of Jesus look at the appearance of someone’s suffering, and they search for someone to blame, instead of seeing a person in need of their compassion. The neighbours look at the man they knew from before, but can’t see how he could have been changed so much. The Pharisees look at a miraculous work of God in someone’s life, and only see a threat to all they hold most dear. And here we have someone completely overlooked and unexpected… a man who’s never seen anything before… slowly coming to recognize the truth: that Jesus was even more than a wandering healer, or a prophet… Jesus is the One through whom the Living God is at work doing what no one else can do. As the Pharisees continue their questioning, he offers this testimony: “The man answered, ‘Here is an astonishing thing! You do not know where he comes from, and yet he opened my eyes. We know that God does not listen to sinners, but he does listen to one who worships him and obeys his will. Never since the world began has it been heard that anyone opened the eyes of a person born blind. If this man were not from God, he could do nothing.’” (John 9:30-33). Following his example, this Gospel passage invites you and I to see that Jesus is the One who is the truth… who alone can open our eyes to the true reality of the world… to finally see things clearly so that we can begin to live in line with what is right. To experience the beauty, and abundance, and freedom of life with the Living God, even when we are suffering… misunderstood by our neighbours, abandoned by our families and friends, and treated unjustly by those with power. Jesus has come to open us up to a new kind of life… one not based on our old ways of seeing the world, and our place in it… but one which is open to God’s saving love, which no one else can take away from us. A way of life which is not afraid to speak openly of the hope that has been shared with us. One which is open to being led by God’s Holy Spirit, instead of our own understanding, trusting that Jesus has come to bring us into God’s life and light… which will challenge and can change us all. The man began that day like any other: blind, and begging for help. Jesus freely gave him sight, but this new life cost him dearly. He was suddenly a complete stranger to his neighbours. His parents refused to stand up for him. He was harassed and excommunicated from both his social and spiritual relationships. What would we do in his place, I wonder? His story shows us what we are all called to do: “Jesus heard that they had driven him out, and when he found him, he said, “Do you believe in the Son of Man?” He answered, “And who is he, sir? Tell me, so that I may believe in him.” Jesus said to him, “You have seen him, and the one speaking with you is he.” He said, “Lord, I believe.” And he worshiped him.” (John 9:35-39). Believe in Him… believe in the One who from the very beginning saw the man in his blindness, not as others did… as someone less worthy of attention, acceptance, and the fullness of life… but as a beloved child of the Living God in need of compassion, whose story would become a glorious gift to all of us in our times of suffering, isolation, abandonment, and outright rejection… in our seasons of darkness when it seems that no one really sees what we are going through. But Jesus sees us… clearly… completely… and He understands all our troubles. And He looks at us as beloved children of His Heavenly Father with divine eyes full of compassion. And His great love growing inside us can help us to truly see each other as well. To see each other, and all those around us… especially those we so easily overlook, as equally beloved by God, whom Jesus Christ, the King of Kings, came to seek, and save, and set free… by giving up His own life for us all at the cross. And who rose again from the grave to open us up to share God’s eternal life through Him, being filled with His holy Spirit to share this message of hope with everyone. If we can start to see each other, and everyone else in this light… the light of the Good News of Jesus and what He has done for us all… just imagine what God will do through us! Imagine what kinds of good works He can accomplish in our midst. What healing and hope He longs to share. So may we, like the man who received his sight, place our faith in Jesus our Saviour, no matter the cost. And as we do so, may God’s Spirit open our eyes and lead us into His life and light. Amen. Scripture Readings: Exodus 17:1–7 | Psalm 95 | Romans 5:1–11 | John 4:5–42
[Note: Bottled water with John 3:16 verse on it given to each person upon arrival. “For God so loved the world that He gave His only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but have eternal life.”] "The woman said to Him, 'Sir, give me this water'" (John 4: 15). O God, light of the minds that know you, life of the souls that love you, and strength of the hearts that seek you - bless the words of our lips and the meditations of our hearts. We ask this in Jesus' name and mercy Amen. [Water is poured into the font] We thank you, Almighty God, for the gift of water. Over water the Holy Spirit moved in the beginning of creation. Through water you led the children of Israel out of their bondage in Egypt into the land of promise. In water your Son Jesus received the baptism of John and was anointed by the Holy Spirit as the Messiah, the Christ, to lead us through his death and resurrection, from the bondage of sin into everlasting life. We thank you, Father, for the water of baptism. In it we are buried with Christ in his death. By it we share in his resurrection. Through it we are reborn by the Holy Spirit.[1] Last week within our Gospel reading we heard about the confused Nicodemus. He puzzled about how one could be born a second time - born of water and the Spirit? As Nicodemus worked out his thoughts out loud, Jesus invited him to accept who God is and shared more about the cost of God making eternal life available to humankind. As natural birth begins our life on this earth, so spiritual birth brings us into the spiritual life and makes us God’s “born ones.” Rev. Rob put it this way in his sermon last week, “We come to Jesus with all of our questions, and concerns, and hopes, and fears, and find him waiting to give us His life…inviting us to turn to Him and trust Him with everything.…Jesus Christ, the crucified and risen Son of God, alone can save us. Jesus alone can give us God’s new life, now and forever.” Now we come to today’s long Gospel reading which follows shortly after Jesus’ encounter with Nicodemus. As Jesus is traveling through Samaria he engages in conversation with a woman at a well. He speaks with her about the “water” He can provide that will quench her deepest thirst. And, the woman says to Him, “Sir, give me this water…” (John 4:15a). Like Nicodemus, the woman thirsts for something more and seeks to be filled by coming to the well day after day. Unlike Nicodemus she does not come to Jesus by night although she might have thought of doing so. Drawing water from the town well in biblical times was an important social event for women. The fact that the Samaritan woman came alone suggests, as did Jesus’ reference to five “husbands,” that she was rejected by the other women. Notice though that Jesus does not reject her. The woman came to the well seeking water and leaves with something very different, she is different. We are told that she leaves her water jar by the well when she goes back to the city. She came all the way out to the well and leaves empty handed but with her heart full. After experiencing Jesus’s love and acceptance, His holding truth in grace, she leaves full of the living water, the divine mercy, God’s grace. A new life in Christ! In our thirst in our lives, what do we try to fill our buckets with? Maybe it is material wealth, acceptance, power, disordered relationships, various kinds of pleasures … Jesus says that everyone who drinks of this water will be thirsty again. I imagine that at certain times in our lives, maybe even right now, we have experienced this kind of thirst. Our thirst is real, our sin is real, our need for God is real. What is also real is that God is always and already looking for us! God wants to share our life. Nicodemus sought out Jesus and He was there. The woman went to the well and Jesus was there. Be assured that Jesus is already here in our lives as we too seek and say, “give me this water”. This is divine grace. We can stop filling our buckets with that which leads to pain, rejection, fear, grief, and anguish and rather allow ourselves to be found. God is seeking worshippers, not looking for new ways to judge us. This season of Lent if a gift of the time to prepare our hearts to receive. A time to put down our buckets, clear the clutter of our hearts and remove whatever obstacles there may be the flow of the living water. The living water never runs out, the fountain never runs dry, this is the divine life. This is what Jesus offered the women at the well. What he offered Nicodemus. What is offered in baptism. This is the well we can drink from. May we then, receiving this living water, leave our buckets and go like the woman to others, those of our family, friends and neighbours; calling them to see this Jesus, the Messiah and be filled! [1] BAS, pg. 157-158, Thanksgiving over the Water Scripture Readings: Genesis 12:1–4a | Psalm 121 | Romans 4:1–5, 13–17 | John 3:1–17
Jesus answered him, “Very truly, I tell you, no one can see the kingdom of God without being born from above.” (John 3:3). If you could have a private, face to face conversation with Jesus alone, what would you talk about? What kinds of questions would you ask? What concerns would you raise? What words of wisdom or hope might you long to hear from Him? In our Gospel reading this morning, we heard the story of one such conversation: a man named Nicodemus, a Pharisee, and religious leader, and teacher of God’s Law, was drawn to Jesus… convinced by the signs and miracles that Jesus had performed, and rightly discerning there was something different, something significant about Him. Nicodemus knew that God’s own power was at work in what Jesus was up to. And so, Nicodemus sets out one night in secret, hesitant to let others know He was visiting Jesus, to have a chance to talk with Him one on one. But regardless of how Nicodemus may have had intended this conversation to unfold, Jesus had other things in mind to talk about… and instead of simply answering Nicodemus’ questions, Jesus aims to transform the way this teacher of the Law, as well as you and I today, understand what the Living God is up to… and our part in God’s story. In our first reading today we were reminded of another key character in that story: Abram, who would later on be renamed Abraham, the ancient ancestor of the family of Israel. Now Abraham’s story wasn’t a straightforward success by any means. Though he’s renowned as a founding father of the faith, Abraham was just as often driven by fear, and ended up making some truly disastrous decisions. And yet, he was still the one through whom the Living God chose to bless the whole world. This would be the special, covenant relationship that would reveal God’s divine life and love to all nations. Genesis 12:1-4, “Now the Lord said to Abram, ‘Go from your country and your kindred and your father’s house to the land that I will show you. I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you, and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and the one who curses you I will curse; and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.’” Note that Abram was not chosen and blessed, because he was particularly gifted, or because God could see some hidden potential in him… actually, it’s quite the opposite! Abram and his wife Sarai had no children, and had long passed the age when that would be even remotely possible. Yet God tells Abram that He will make a massive family out of this old man… someone without any natural hope of raising up future generations. In other words, God promised Abram something that only God’s power could accomplish. Abram was called to place his trust, his faith in what God alone could do. If we want to understand the rest of the story, this is the place we must start. Fast forward several centuries in the story, and we find that God was more than true to His word: many generations of Abram’s great family have come and gone, who have at times shared in their forefather’s faith, but more often than not, fell into fear and unfaithfulness. The ten Northern tribes of Israel had been swept away into exile by Assyria, and the Southern Kingdom of Judah was then overrun by Babylon. But this small portion of God’s chosen people had been able to return to the land, and rebuild… not to rule it like before, but to be ruled by powerful Gentile nations that knew nothing at all about the Living God and His ways. After years in this situation, some Jews cut themselves off from the outside world to try and keep themselves pure. Many just went along with the strange new cultural context that they found themselves in, eventually forgetting the story of God, and their place in it. And others worked hard to try to be faithful to God, to hold firmly onto their faith by following the traditions that had been passed on to them for generations. They thought that if they were obedient to God’s holy laws, and preserved their identity as children of Abraham, then God would come to their rescue… then God would send His chosen King, the Messiah, who would overthrow their enemies, and re-establish their kingdom… this time for good. Then all of their struggles would be overcome. Then their future would be secured. If they just did what they were supposed to do, and be perfectly faithful to the Covenant, the Law, then God would reward them, rescue them, and share His reign with them. This was the story that many in Jesus’ day were holding onto. And in one form or another, it’s still a story we find at work today. Perhaps we too can remember a time when our future seemed secure, and our role in the world seemed strong, or at least, we were still hopeful that the best days for God’s people lay ahead of us. And we know that’s not how things often seem today: Churches keep closing. Future generations seem absent. The Christian faith seems sidelined in our society by so many other priorities. Like our old kingdom has been taken away, and we’re now living under the rule of those who don’t care about the Living God and His ways. And in our own personal lives, many of us have faced serious setbacks and struggles… feeling at times like the hope we had for tomorrow has been totally shaken. Maybe even today, we’re wondering what we’re supposed to do now? How can we turn things around? Searching for answers, for signs of how we can somehow regain God’s blessing. Like Nicodemus the Pharisee, maybe we’re coming to Jesus today with our own mix of faith and fears… hoping He'll tell us what we need to do to set things right. And maybe, like Nicodemus, Jesus gives us Good News that we didn’t ask for, and often struggle to understand. Good News that doesn’t rest on what we can do, but on what God alone is bringing about. Good News that the New Life for ourselves and for our communities that we long for is truly open to us… but that it cannot be achieved by any natural means. John 3:3, “Very truly, I tell you, no one can see the kingdom of God without being born from above.” Born from above. Or born again, as some translations put it. Not a simple adjustment to the system, but a brand new beginning… one which, like our first births here below, we did absolutely nothing to earn, or achieve or instigate, but which we all received as a gracious gift. In order to enter God’s kingdom, we must receive it as a gift… trusting, not in our actions in the present, our connections to the past, or our potential for the future… but trusting in what the Living God has given to us all in the gift of His Son: John 3:16-17, “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. Indeed, God did not send the Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him.” Pharisees like Nicodemus thought God’s coming Kingdom would be a special gift for them… for the faithful Israelites… descendants of Abraham alone. And we can be tempted to do the same, imagining God’s Kingdom is just for us… given to address our concerns, to alleviate our fears and ease our struggles… to restore our place in the world… to help our kingdom come, whatever that might be. But Jesus came to bring God’s eternal life not just to Israel… not just to you and I… but to the whole broken world He loves and longs to save. This is His divine agenda… His mission from the very start. Abram was chosen purely as a gift from the Living God, who Abram trusted to do what only God could do… bringing life to the dead, and calling “into existence the things that do not exist” (Romans 4:17). And through his story… as well as the story of all of Abram’s descendants… though mixed up with faith and fear, God’s own saving hand has been powerfully at work… not just for them, but for everyone. As Christians today, we too have been chosen to take part in God’s story… in our own time to trust God to do what He alone can do, and bring His new life, not just for us, but for everyone. For Jesus Christ was not lifted up on the cross for just one family… for one kind of community… or only for those who seem to deserve it. Jesus gave Himself over to endure the shame and suffering of the cross to bring the blessings of God’s everlasting life to all who believe. We come to Jesus with all of our questions, and concerns, and hopes, and fears, and find Him waiting to give us His life… inviting us to turn to Him and trust Him with everything. No matter how many times we have messed things up. No matter how discouraged, and afraid we may be… no matter how strongly we want to hold onto the past… no matter how well we behave in the present… no matter how promising or desperate our futures may seem… Jesus Christ, the crucified and risen Son of God, alone can save us. Jesus alone can give us God’s new life, now and forever. Jesus alone is where we must turn to understand God’s love for our broken world. And Jesus alone has given His life to rescue everyone. Turning to Him in trust is not at all a guarantee that our kingdoms will be restored… that all our concerns will be resolved, our church pews and Sunday School classes filled again… our fears and struggles ended. Nicodemus did not experience the restoration of Israel that he had hoped for when he came to meet with Jesus alone that night… but he did experience a new beginning, the first signs of a new birth… drawn into the unexpected and glorious story of God’s Kingdom which Jesus alone is bringing about… one Nicodemus or Abram could never have imagined, and which invites all of us to believe in, and share with our world so they too can come to know: that, “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. Indeed, God did not send the Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him.” May we believe this Good News of God’s gracious, saving love in Jesus Christ with all our heart, and mind, and strength… with all our lives… and may we share this hope with everyone. Amen. Share In His Story... Mind, Spirit, & Body - Sermon for the First Sunday of Lent (February 26, 2023)2/26/2023 Scripture Readings: Genesis 2:15–17, 3:1–7 | Psalm 32 | Romans 5:12–19 | Matthew 4:1–11
“Therefore just as one man’s trespass led to condemnation for all, so one man’s act of righteousness leads to justification and life for all.” (Romans 5:18) Today we mark the first Sunday of the season of Lent: A time of preparation for the unfolding of Holy Week, and the story of Christ’s betrayal, death, and resurrection. Lent invites us all to slow down, to take stock, and turn back to the LORD with all that we are. And for many, Lent is a time to take up the spiritual practice of fasting… deciding not to eat, or to avoid certain behaviours for a time. I have a bit of a confession to make: this year, I’ve struggled to come up with something to give up for Lent. Since I was introduced to the practice of Lenten fasts some years ago, I’ve often looked forward to this season, giving up things like: drinks with sugar in them, caffeine, meat, screentime in the evenings… all sorts of things that I might enjoy, but which I can choose to give up if it opens me more up to God. But this year, for some reason, I’ve really had a hard time getting a Lenten fast of the ground. Preparing for today’s sermon, I spent some time reflecting on why this was… what was going on inside of me. And to be honest, I think I’d sort of forgotten what fasting is really all about. I think I had fallen into the trend of treating fasting like some sort of spiritual workout… some way to challenge and improve myself when it comes to the Christian life. But there’s much more to fasting than this. There’s much more spiritual nourishment, and fulfillment that Christian fasting can help us receive… not as a technique or a method of making something happen… inside us, or out in the world… but as a way to say “yes” with all that we are to all that God has for us. I’m deeply indebted to the New Testament scholar Scot McKnight, who literally wrote the book on Fasting, and who I think defines it very well: “Fasting is a person’s whole-body, natural response to life’s sacred moments.”[1] McKnight goes on to unpack how this ancient practice fits into the story of Scripture, which then calls us to re-imagine what fasting might mean for us today. McKnight claims “Because Israel’s perception of the person was unified, repentance often expressed itself in the physical act of fasting. The moment of turning from sin and back to God, of turning from a false path onto the path of light, of empathizing with God’s grief over Israel’s sin, was so sacred and so filled with the potential of the grace-giving God that Israelites chose not to eat.”[2] There is a deep sense of ones whole life, body, mind, and spirit, as being all wrapped up together, all integrated, so that any major events in ones life would call for a bodily response, just as much as one of the heart or mind. So as we think about the season of Lent, and all it entails… the turning, or returning to the Living God… the practice of fasting, and so on, the question before us is: how are we turning to God with all of our heart, and mind, and body? With all that we are? Thankfully, our Scripture readings today point us towards the answer. They hold up for us two stories… two paths, to approaches to life… to ways to be human… one rooted in the ancient depiction of the first humans, Adam & Eve, and the other arising from the Gospel, the Good News of Jesus Christ. So, this morning, I want to invite us to compare these two paths, these two stories side-by-side, and see what light they might be able to shine on our own lives today: In our first reading from Genesis Chapter 3, we find Adam and Eve in the garden paradise of God: Created to bear and be the image of God, serving as His representatives and agents on earth… charged with caring for His good world, with tending and keeping His garden. And in our reading today from St. Matthew’s Gospel we find a very different picture: we see Jesus being led up by the Spirit of God into the desolate wilderness. Into a dry and desolate land, wild and waste, and empty of life. Now right before being led into the desert, Jesus had just been baptized in the Jordan River by John… which was the first moment when His unique identity was affirmed: Matthew 3:16-17, “And when Jesus had been baptized, just as he came up from the water, suddenly the heavens were opened to him and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and alighting on him. And a voice from heaven said, “This is my Son, the Beloved, with whom I am well pleased.” Armed only with this divine declaration of love, Jesus goes out to the desert and fasts, deprived of even the basic necessities for forty days and nights, until He was famished. While in the garden, Adam and Eve had everything they could have wanted. But despite these differences, these stories do have a few things in common. For instance, both the first humans in the garden, who were created in the image of God, and Jesus of Nazareth, who St. Matthew tells us is the beloved Son of God, would have their identities challenged and called into question by the voice of a deceiver. In Genesis, a cunning serpent, who comes to signify dark spiritual forces opposed to God’s will, deliberately twists the words of the LORD to Adam and Eve, convincing them to doubt the LORD’s love for them, and that instead of giving them good limits that will lead them to abundant life, God was really just withholding something really good for them that they could simply seize for themselves: that is, the wisdom to discern good from bad on their own apart from God. The serpent insists that they shouldn’t trust God’s word to them, and that instead, if they eat the forbidden fruit, they “will not die; for God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” (Genesis 3:4-5). The irony is, of course, they were already made to be like God: created as His image-bearers, they were made to reflect His divine character, and care for creation as His co-rulers, under His loving lordship. But the serpent offered them a path to being “like God” without this essential relationship. And they took the bait. They saw the fruit, they ate of it, and brought the power of death into God’s good world. In a similar way, when the tempter comes after Jesus in the wilderness, famished after his long fast, the devil goes right for the stomach. But importantly, just like with Adam and Eve, this temptation was also a hidden jab at Jesus’ identity, seeking to plant the seeds of doubt in His relationship with the Living God. “If you are the Son of God,” the devil says, “command these stones to become loaves of bread.” (Matthew 4:3). But unlike Eve and Adam, Jesus does not doubt His Father’s word, or His loving care, trusting Him to graciously provide all the nourishment and strength required in His hour of need. Jesus answered, “It is written, ‘One does not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.’” (Matthew 4:4). Back to the Garden, after they take and eat the fruit, we can see how the tempter had cut off the first couple’s confidence in God to care for them… and now, instead of serving as His images on earth, reflecting His goodness and glory with their lives for all the world to see, the humans, now full of shame, seek to hide themselves from the LORD, and one another. They were no longer free to be fearless… able to trust God to preserve them from harm. Turning back to the Gospel, we find the devil leading Jesus to Jerusalem, to the very top of the Holy Temple… the pinnacle of God’s sacred place, where he dares Jesus to make the most public display of His faith imaginable: “If you are the Son of God,” the devil says, “throw yourself down; for it is written, ‘He will command his angels concerning you,’ and ‘On their hands they will bear you up, so that you will not dash your foot against a stone.’” (Matthew 4:6). Twisting the Scriptures to suit his own purposes, the devil prompts Jesus: “Don’t you trust God? If you really are His Son, won’t He rescue you? Prove You have nothing to fear. Prove that You really trust Him! Prove You’re really who You think You are!” And Jesus does prove He trusts God… just not at all in the way the devil demanded. Jesus responds by simply saying no. I trust My Father. I do not have to prove anything. I will “not put the Lord God to the test.” Unlike Adam and Eve, who had lost their faith in their relationship to the Living God, Jesus was able to place His complete confidence in His Father without any spectacle at all… just simple, quiet obedience and faithfulness was needed, not a dramatic show of so-called devotion. Faithfulness is how we can live fearlessly before the Lord. So now the gloves come off. The time for subtly is over, and the devil lays all his cards on the table. He shows Jesus all of the kingdoms of the earth… all their glory, and splendour… and says: “It’s all Yours. All of it can be Yours. Just worship me, and I will give you the world. Everything!” This is, of course, at the heart of the temptation that Adam and Eve were offered as well: ‘become like God, knowing good and bad for yourselves, and you can rule the world without Him. You can have everything you want, whenever you want it. You don’t need God, trust me.’ And of course, that’s what we did. Not just Adam and Eve in the Garden, but all of humanity… all through the ages… all over today’s headlines… this is the story of our world. Our story. Whether we’re talking about whole nations invading and seeking to dominate or destroy their neighbours… or people in positions of power, exploiting and abusing the vulnerable… or even the simple, self-centered lifestyles we just take for granted, that revolve around our desires for comfort, security, recognition, and success, whatever. We see with our own eyes what we want. We reach out and take it for ourselves… and we re-introduce death into God’s good world… again and again and again. Adam and Eve embody our story. Our path. Our way of life, apart from the Living God. Where we fearfully search for fulfillment, and only find ourselves famished instead. But the Good News is, there is another story. Another path. Another way to live. One embodied in none other than Jesus of Nazareth. To the tempter’s best offer, Jesus replies: “Away with you, Satan! for it is written, ‘Worship the Lord your God, and serve only him.’” (Matthew 4:10). Jesus flat out refuses to serve the devil, or become a slave to His own desires, but radically reaffirms His devotion to His Heavenly Father alone. Where Adam and Eve were deceived, and led astray by doubting God’s love for them, Jesus completely passes the test by placing His trust, His life completely in God’s hands. At this point, there’s nothing more that the devil can do to Him, and so this time of temptation comes to an end… but all through His life, Jesus will remain just as devoted, just as committed to His Father, which will require this same steady faithfulness every step of the way. The same way, the same path that Jesus calls you and I to follow. And here, we too face a temptation: the temptation to reduce all that Jesus has done here to merely an example to emulate… showing us that faithfulness is possible, and then sending us out on our own to go, and do likewise. This is one of the great temptations that plagues the religious life: the temptation to believe that all we need is to figure out what we need to do to make ourselves better… more spiritual… more godly… more like God, if you will… If that rings a bell. This impulse can be deceptive, preying on our desires to do good, and be good, but offering us our own path to self-improvement and spiritual growth on our own terms. So then, even sacred seasons like Lent, and practices like fasting can become just one more forbidden fruit… good things, twisted to make us trust in ourselves and what we can achieve, instead of in God’s great love for us. But the Good News is that Jesus did far more than just show us how to become good, or how to pass our own temptation tests… on our own. He passed the test for us! He faithfully faced every temptation in order to undo their fierce power over us, and now He shares His victory and New Life with us as well. In other words, Jesus restarted and rescued the story of humanity once and for all. This is the wonderful message that St. Paul was working through in his letter to the Romans, showing how what Jesus alone has done has changed everything. Looking back to Genesis, St. Paul says “sin came into the world through one man, and death came through sin, and so death spread to all because all have sinned” (Romans 5:12). He then goes on, “But the free gift is not like the trespass. For if the many died through the one man’s trespass, much more surely have the grace of God and the free gift in the grace of the one man, Jesus Christ, abounded for the many” (Romans 5:15). “Free gift”, “grace”… these are the words St. Paul uses to describe how we now receive the New Life of God. A free gift, that has its source in one man: Jesus Christ. He goes on to explore the differences between the works of Adam and Christ: through the first came condemnation, the domination of death for all through disobedience. But through the second comes justification, abundant grace, the free gift of righteousness, and new life for all “through Jesus Christ our Lord.” (Romans 5:21). Jesus Himself has opened up another story for humanity… not to pursue or fulfill on their own, but to receive as a gift in Him. He took on Himself all the consequences for our failed story… taking up His cross and bearing the full brunt of the death that Adam and Eve earned for us all in the garden, and which we all keep on embracing in our own ways… and He did this to bring God’s New Life to those who place their faith, their trust not in themselves and what they can achieve… but in Jesus God’s Beloved Son, and what He has done. And so we can commemorate Lent, and practice fasting, not to make ourselves better somehow, but to turn wholeheartedly to our Saviour. To step out of our old stories, and receive the free gift of His story… all that He is, all that He’s done for us, all that He will do in and through us. We can fast to entrust ourselves, our whole selves, mind, spirit, and body, into the nail-pierced hands of Jesus, who rest completely in the faithful, loving hands of our Father in Heaven. We fast to say no to ourselves, so we can say yes to Jesus, and in our weakness our emptiness, to find that He is our strength. That He is our sustenance, He is our bread from heaven, and the Word that comes from the Living God. So then, whether or not we take up a fast, or other Lenten practice this year, let us wholeheartedly entrust ourselves, our minds, our souls, and bodies, to Jesus, our loving Saviour, and step into His life-giving story. Amen. [1] Scot McKnight, Fasting (Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson, 2009), xiv. [2] Scot McKnight, Fasting (Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson, 2009), 24-25. Scripture Readings: Exodus 24:12–18 | Psalm 2 | 2 Peter 1:16–21 | Matthew 17:1–9
“While he was still speaking, suddenly a bright cloud overshadowed them, and from the cloud a voice said, ‘This is my Son, the Beloved; with him I am well pleased; listen to him!’” (Matthew 17:5). What does God have to say to us today? Along with Christians around the world, today we’re celebrating Transfiguration Sunday, the final week before Lent begins, and taking place at the end of Epiphany: a season we contemplate the Good News that Jesus has been revealed as the Messiah, the Christ, God’s well beloved and eternal Son, sent to save not only one people, but all the peoples of the Earth. The Transfiguration story itself marks a kind of watershed moment in the life of Jesus, where Christ’s hidden glory is suddenly glimpsed by three of His frightened followers, challenging and changing their understanding of His significance forever. More than just a righteous religious teacher, or powerful miracle worker… the Transfiguration proclaims that Jesus of Nazareth is the Messiah, the Christ… the beloved Son of God… whose word above all we must heed. Of course, there are many other voices that we are drawn to… there are lots of other ideas about who God is, and what He is up to in the world. Voices inviting us to give them our ears, and hearts, and loyalties. And many of these other voices use the Bible to back up what they have to say. Taking up portions of the Holy Scriptures to amplify and justify their own agendas… often in ways that distort or completely conflict with what the Christian faith proclaims. But these voices can be pretty convincing, making it hard to know who to believe. And on top of that, there are seasons in all of our lives when it can seem like God’s face is hidden from us… like His presence is somehow veiled by a cloud our eyes and minds can’t penetrate. In times like this, how are we to discern what God is actually trying to say to us? How can we be sure that we are truly listening to His voice? In the story of the Transfiguration, St. Matthew is inviting us to contemplate how we Christians can come to hear the voice of God with confidence… teaching us where we are to turn to know His will, and walk in His ways. In this strange and short episode in the life of Jesus, the entire expanse of the story of the Bible comes to into focus… with key representatives from both the Old and New Testaments on the scene. We heard how Jesus took three of His disciples, Peter, James, and John, with Him up a mountain, where they would witness a startling change in their Master, and a remarkable meeting. St. Matthew tells us that Jesus was “transfigured before them, and his face shone like the sun, and his clothes became dazzling white. Suddenly there appeared to them Moses and Elijah, talking with him.” (Matthew 17:2-3). As we know, Moses and Elijah were two of ancient Israel’s most renown prophets, serving as those who shared God’s message, God’s word with His people in powerful ways. Moses had been the one God had chosen to lead Israel through the wilderness, after the LORD had delivered them from slavery in Egypt. Moses was seen, even centuries later, as Israel’s ultimate hero: the one who God gave the Law and Commandments of the Covenant to at Mt. Sinai, entering the cloud to meet with the LORD alone, as we heard in our first reading today, making known how Israel was to live as God’s people in the world… transforming how they were to relate to the Living God, each other, and all their neighbours too. While this meant that Moses would come to be closely associated with the Torah, the Law, the first five books of the Bible, the Prophet Elijah, who came on the scene many centuries after Moses, had a different role: he served as a messenger on a mission to call God’s people to repent… to turn back to the LORD, whom they had abandoned to serve the gods of the Canaanites, led by their unfaithful Kings. Elijah called out King Ahab and challenged the people to give God alone their allegiance, and the LORD worked through Elijah to dramatically display His divine power and authority. But this moment of Elijah’s victory would be followed by discouragement and despair, as he would be hunted by Israel’s leaders who persisted in resisting the LORD and His ways. Eventually, Elijah would also find himself alone on Mt. Sinai (or Horeb, as it is sometimes called), encountering God’s presence in the silence after the storm, and listening to His voice. In time, Elijah would come to stand as a key representative for the whole prophetic movement in the Scriptures… for those who speak on God’s behalf, inspired by God’s Holy Spirit, to share God’s message with His people… calling them to turn back to Him, and find true life by walking in His ways. Both the stories of Moses and Elijah, representing the Law and the Prophets, involve chosen figures who were set apart to share God’s word with the world: making known God’s own character, His divine will, and the ways for His people to faithfully follow. And yet, both of their stories, and the whole of the Law and the Prophets point forward beyond themselves to One who will fulfill God’s promises, and rescue His people once and for all: the promised Anointed One, the Messiah, the Christ. But now we must turn to consider the others that St. Matthew tells us had gone up the Mountain with Jesus: three of His disciples, St. Peter, St. James, and St. John. These three disciples will all have special roles to play in the story of the Christian Church. St. James would be the first of the Apostles to be put to death, slain by Herod in Jerusalem in the years after Christ’s resurrection. St. John, James’ brother, would be the only Apostle not put to death, and his influence on the Church’s understanding of Jesus would by significant, with one of the four Gospels, three letters, and the Book of Revelation being linked to him. And finally, we have St. Peter, who has been widely recognized as the leader of the Apostles, and who God uses mightily as a key servant in the early days of the Church, but who also has a bit of a mixed track record… including in our Gospel reading today. But as usual, having some context is key. Just before the story of the Transfiguration, Jesus had asked His disciples who they believed that He was, and St. Peter replied: “You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God.” (Matthew 16:16). Jesus praises Peter’s response, and then warns his followers not to tell anyone He is the Messiah yet, because His mission was about to take an unexpected turn: Matthew 16: 21-23, “Jesus began to show his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and undergo great suffering at the hands of the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and on the third day be raised. And Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him, saying, “God forbid it, Lord! This must never happen to you.” But he turned and said to Peter, “Get behind me, Satan! You are a stumbling block to me; for you are setting your mind not on divine things but on human things.” St. Peter had not yet wrapped his head around what Jesus had been sent to do as God’s Messiah. The idea that his beloved Master would have to suffer such a cruel fate was one he would not willingly listen to. It went against all of his own expectations, all of his hopes, and plans. But as Jesus points out, Peter was listening to the wrong voices… setting his heart and mind on human designs, rather than listening to and following divine designs. And so, when the three disciples see Jesus transformed before their eyes, and see Moses and Elijah, two heroic saints from his people’s ancient past, talking with Jesus, St. Peter still struggles to understand what’s really going on, and what it really means for Jesus to be the Son of God. “Peter said to Jesus, ‘Lord, it is good for us to be here; if you wish, I will make three dwellings here, one for you, one for Moses, and one for Elijah.’” (Matthew 17:4). In this pious sounding suggestion, St. Peter was trying to elevate his Master to the level of Israel’s two heroes, Moses and Elijah, making them equals in his estimation. But what happens next shatters this vision, as God sets the record straight: “While he was still speaking, suddenly a bright cloud overshadowed them, and from the cloud a voice said, ‘This is my Son, the Beloved; with him I am well pleased; listen to him!’ When the disciples heard this, they fell to the ground and were overcome by fear.” (Matthew 17:4-6). The cloud overshadows Peter, James, and John… they too are brought into God’s holy presence on top of a mountain, just like Moses and Elijah experienced centuries earlier, when the LORD shared His divine word with them. But the message these three disciples hear is simple and direct and clear: ‘This is my Son, the Beloved; with him I am well pleased; listen to him!’ The story of the Transfiguration reveals to us that it is in Jesus Himself that we are able to truly hear God’s word. As St. John would one day put it, Jesus is Himself the Word of God in the flesh! Jesus is God’s Word to us today. Jesus is where we must turn to know what the Living God is up to in the world, and how we are to take part in it. In Jesus, the message of Moses and Elijah comes to its fulfilment… as He is the One the entire Old Testament and the story of Israel is pointing us to. In Jesus, the stumbling voices of St. Peter, the rest of the Apostles, and all of the members of the Christian Church throughout the ages is taken up and transformed into God’s message of Good News for the world… as He is the One that brings to life the faith, and hope, and love revealed in the New Testament. Jesus is the One, who through His own suffering, betrayal, death, and resurrection, sets in motion God’s great rescue mission… bringing His forgiveness, mercy, self-giving love, and New Life into our world torn apart by our obedience to bitterness, condemnation, self-centeredness, violence, and death. Jesus Himself is where the Living God has chosen to make His character, will, and ways known to the world, once and for all. So, if we want to know what God want to say to us today, and every day, we must look to Jesus. We must constantly make time to listen carefully to Him. Not just to what we assume He would say… or what we might want Him to say… we need to honestly focus… to fix our eyes and our ears on Jesus, and listen. And what might this kind of listening looks like? Well, first of all, listening looks like humility. To listen to anyone means recognizing that we all have much more to learn. That we all have plans and ideas that can be way out of wack, and need to be challenged. To listen to Jesus means to be open… to trust. To have faith that He knows better than we do. Especially when He challenges all the voices that tell us what we naturally want to hear. Remember how St. Peter had his own ideas about what Jesus should and shouldn’t do. Remember how often we too have needed to have our eyes opened to see things from a new point of view. To listen to Jesus means to learn to trust Him above every other voice… even our own. This kind of relationship of trust does not just happen in an instant. It comes with time spent with Him in prayer, both together with others and alone. Christian prayer is a posture of openness and readiness to obey our LORD… to say to our Father in Heaven “Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done on earth… starting right here in my heart.” But like any relationship, if we’re always the one talking, we aren’t really listening. Prayer isn’t just going on asking God for what we want, we are also making sacred space in our lives for God to make Himself and His will for us known, inviting the Holy Spirit to speak into our hearts in Jesus’ name, and testing that voice to make sure it lines up with what Jesus Himself has already made known in the Holy Scriptures. Which leads us to another vital way we listen to Jesus: by reading and studying the Bible, both together and alone, becoming familiar over our whole lifetime with the story of God. We read both the Old and New Testaments together, and both with Jesus Himself in mind, reflecting on how every part of this story points us to and fits within His story… Christ’s cross and resurrection, as God’s ultimate victory. If we want to know what Jesus is saying to us, we need to keep prayerfully turning to Scripture, and seeking to understand it. But the point of all this understanding is to put it into practice. To not just hear what Jesus is saying, but to heed His words… to obey His voice. In Hebrew, the word for listen ‘shema’ is the same word as obey. The two concepts are indistinguishable: to listen means to hear and do! It won’t help us at all to memorize the entire Bible, and pray every day, if we refuse to do what Jesus tells us to. The story of the Transfiguration of Jesus invites you and I to be transformed as well by listening to Jesus, and doing what He says. This is what it means to have a Living Faith… trust that turns into action, that shapes our lives as we learn to listen to the voice of our Lord. Speaking of listening to our Lord: What is the first thing Jesus says in this passage, to the three disciples, and all of us today? “When the disciples heard this, they fell to the ground and were overcome by fear. But Jesus came and touched them, saying, ‘Get up and do not be afraid.” And when they looked up, they saw no one except Jesus himself alone.” (Matthew 17:6-8). To His frightened disciples, back then and today, Jesus says “Get up, and do not be afraid.” There are so many reasons today for us to want to simply stay put… paralyzed by fear and uncertainty. To let ourselves be overwhelmed by the unknown, or to be weighed down by our pain, or our mistakes and failures… or our growing sense of helplessness. But even so, Jesus Christ our Saviour is reaching out to touch our hearts today, and to raise us up… calling us to trust in Him, to listen to His voice, and not to be afraid. To lift up our heads and fix our eyes on Jesus alone, and find our hope in Him. May the Risen Lord transform our minds and hearts and lives so that we may truly listen to God’s beloved Son… get up, follow Him, and not be afraid. Amen. Scripture Readings: Deuteronomy 30:15–20 | Psalm 119:1–8 | 1 Corinthians 3:1–9 | Matthew 5:21–37
“Choose life so that you and your descendants may live, loving the Lord your God, obeying him, and holding fast to him” (Deuteronomy 30:19-20). Have you every been turned around in an unfamiliar part of town? Last week, I was driving to an appointment in Saint John in the evening. Though it was in a part of town I don’t often go to, I knew the route pretty well, and I thought I had plenty of time… until, just as I was drawing near to my destination, I saw the flashing lights of emergency vehicles up ahead. Apparently, there had just been an accident, and the road was completely blocked. I had to turn around and find a new way to get to where I needed to go. Here's where my… let’s say, somewhat fuzzy mental map of Saint John comes into the story. I was pretty confident I knew another way to get to my appointment, although it would mean backtracking a bit, and travelling less familiar roads. So I went with my gut, and all seemed fine at first… but the further I went down my new route, the clearer it was becoming that I had taken a wrong turn. Actually, it was a bit worse than that. I had taken the right turns. The ones I intended to make… I was following my new route flawlessly… it just turns out that my intended destination was on a completely different road, and growing further and further away with each passing moment. So, as frustrating as it was, I had to pull over, and pull out my phone, and finally figured out where I actually was, and how to get un-lost. From time to time, we all have to do this kind of thing in life: we have to stop for a moment, regain our bearings, and find the right way forward again. This past year, members of our Parish Mission Visioning Group have been doing just that: taking time together to reflect on how we at St. Luke’s can keep taking part in the mission of the Living God here in Gondola Point and beyond. Part of what we considered was the need for a clear sense of direction for our Church: a vision for where we are headed together, to keep us all on the right track. This led us to propose a new vision statement for St. Luke’s, which we brought to Vestry, and was eventually adopted at our Annual Meeting last Sunday afternoon. So our new vision statement, our best sense of where God is calling us to go as a Church community is this: Living Faith | Growing Love | Sharing Hope. All the decisions we make about how to move forward as a Parish family, or how to carry on doing what we do will take this new vision into account. So even when we end up in unfamiliar territory, we will at least remember what matters most, and work together to pursue it. But what do we mean by Living Faith, Growing Love, and Sharing Hope? How might this vision statement help us stay on track together? There’s a whole lot we could say about this statement in itself, but we don’t gather here to just to hear human words, but to contemplate the word of God. Thankfully, our Scripture passages today invite us to reflect on what it means to be Living Faith, Growing Love, and Sharing Hope. While we won’t address every aspect of what our new vision statement intends to cover this morning, I hope it will give us a taste of what we believe the Lord has in mind for our Parish. In our first reading today from the book of Deuteronomy, we catch a glimpse of what Living Faith looks like: Choosing to put our trust in the Living God into practice. This passage comes at the conclusion of the Pentateuch, the first five books of the Bible that serve as the foundation for the rest of the Biblical story… anchoring all that follows in the creating, rescuing, and sustaining work of Yahweh, the Living God, in partnership with His people, who have been set apart to share His holy life, so that all the world might be blessed. The trouble is though, that time and again, God’s people get lost… spiritually speaking. They think they know which way to go, but end up far from the life God intends for them, trusting their own instincts and desires, instead of trusting their Lord to guide them. And so, at the end of Deuteronomy, God’s people are being called to stop… to regain their bearings, and choose the way forward that will truly lead to life… not by going their own way, but by walking in God’s holy ways: “See, I have set before you today life and prosperity, death and adversity. If you obey the commandments of the Lord your God that I am commanding you today, by loving the Lord your God, walking in his ways, and observing his commandments, decrees, and ordinances, then you shall live and become numerous, and the Lord your God will bless you in the land that you are entering to possess. But if your heart turns away and you do not hear, but are led astray to bow down to other gods and serve them, I declare to you today that you shall perish; you shall not live long in the land that you are crossing the Jordan to enter and possess. I call heaven and earth to witness against you today that I have set before you life and death, blessings and curses. Choose life so that you and your descendants may live, loving the Lord your God, obeying him, and holding fast to him; for that means life to you and length of days” (Deuteronomy 30:15-20). While we may not be ancient Israelites, about to enter into the Promised Land, we too must keep choosing every day to live as those who trust the Lord to guide us into life, even when we feel pulled to go off in all sorts of other directions. We too are called to trust that the Living God really wants what is best for us, or our community… and for our world… following God, and deepening our faith in Him is essential to all we do. Which leads us to our Gospel reading, in which we explore what it looks like to be Growing Love: nurturing the holy love of God with our whole lives. Our passage today from St. Matthew’s Gospel comes from the so-called Sermon on the Mount, where Jesus Christ God’s Son, teaches His followers, back then and today, what it means to wholeheartedly follow God’s ways here on earth, and to become a people reshaped and renewed by His holy love. But before we take a close look at the words of Christ, let’s take a second and think about the difference between a garden, and a patch of wilderness. Both likely involve some plants. Both likely have their own beauty, and attractiveness. But one thing that gardens have that wilderness does not have is a sense of intention. An order and purpose that includes but goes beyond simply growing things for their own sake. A garden is cared for and cultivated in order for certain, chosen things to grow and bear fruit, and to keep all other things from taking root in its soil. What Christ is doing in our Gospel reading today is teaching us what it takes for God’s love to grow in us… the ways to tend to our hearts and our relationships so that His love can flourish among us and bear good fruit in the world. What Jesus tells us about how to nurture God’s love goes well beyond the world’s experience and expectations… and what often comes naturally to us. But Jesus is not just trying to help us be “good people”, but “God’s people.” A people who are learning to resist the pull of anger, resentment, and wrath… a path which leads us to division, and ends up having us demonize all those we disagree with. A people who recognize that our own desires can often lead us into disaster… distorting how we see and relate to the people around us, that God calls us to love with purity and kindness, and goodness, not just as objects to be used for our own gratification. A people who are striving to be committed and faithful to one another, understanding that our human relationships are not simply disposable, but are the very soil in which the Living God is at work, reconciling, and redeeming deeply broken people like us, and putting us back together through the practices of repentance, grace, and forgiveness. A people of integrity, who don’t need to be compelled to speak the truth, but who seek to live honestly in our daily lives, especially when that is difficult, because we are bound to the One who is the Truth. Through the commands Christ Jesus gives to His followers, we find the garden of God’s holy love: patience and forgiveness, self-control, goodness, faithfulness, integrity. These are the fruit that the Holy Spirit cultivates within the life of God’s people, meant not just for their own benefit, but to be share with all those around us. This holy love is inseparable from the life God calls us into. And so, growing His love must be at the heart of all we do. But as any seasoned gardener will tell you, sometimes growing things is really hard work! Especially if we’re starting from scratch, and are still just learning the basics. This is the challenge of the Christian life too. Sometimes it’s really hard to choose to trust God, and to do what it takes to let His holy love begin to grow in our lives. We can often feel discouraged… inadequate… especially when we trip up and fall, or when we suddenly find ourselves lost, and far off from where we thought we were headed. Thankfully, we don’t need to give up, or give into our doubts or despair. As we are reminded in our second reading today, the way forward for us means Sharing Hope: helping each other to hold on, and carry on because of Jesus Christ. In our second reading, from St. Paul’s letter to the Corinthians, the Apostle confront some deep misunderstandings that were causing all sorts of chaos and trouble in the Church of Corinth. One of the issues was that the Christians were rallying around their favourite Christian teacher or leader, setting up all sorts of rivalries that were tearing their community apart. In many ways, they were lost… far off track from the kind of love Christ Jesus calls us into… the holy love at the heart of the Gospel message St. Paul and others had shared with them. But as lost as they were, St. Paul doesn’t just give up on them. He calls them to stop. To take a look at themselves, and what they were doing… and turn back to what mattered most: the life of the Living God at work in them. And as he does so, St. Paul shares real hope with those of us who are still mere beginners when it comes to living out our faith and growing God’s holy love. He speaks of these divisive Christians as infants in the faith, still needing to be fed spiritual milk… but with the expectation that they, that we will continue to grow! He redirects their attention from where we are all inclined to place our confidence… in strong leaders that we look up to, or in our own capabilities, or sense of maturity… and points us to the only One on whom our hope is secure. “What then is Apollos? What is Paul? Servants through whom you came to believe, as the Lord assigned to each. I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the growth. So neither the one who plants nor the one who waters is anything, but only God who gives the growth. The one who plants and the one who waters have a common purpose, and each will receive wages according to the labor of each. For we are God’s servants, working together; you are God’s field, God’s building.” (1 Corinthians 3:5-9). It is God who gives the growth. He is the One our confidence must rest upon. We all play a part. We all have ways to be involved in His mission and work, serving together with the common purpose of His kingdom, side by side. But we can face the future with hope, not because we are on the right team, or because we’ve got everything figured out, but because of the Good News of what the Living God has done and is doing even now. Because Jesus, God’s Son has come into the world to set us free. To forgive us our sins, reconciling us to God and each other by His own blood. To show us what God’s holy love truly looks like as He gave His life for the world at the cross. To rescue us from the fear and chains of death through His resurrection from the grave. To fill us with God’s holy love by giving to us His own Holy Spirit. As we strive to live out our faith, and grow in God’s love, we too will share in the work of hope. Apollos, Paul, you and I… all of us, even when we feel lost, and way off track… this hope is for all of us to share: carrying on because we believe God’s Holy Spirit Himself is at work in, among, and through us. No one is too far off… too lost to be beyond our Saviour’s reach. And so we keep working in God’s garden. We plant, we water, we weed, because we trust, we believe that God Himself is going to make something good grow here. Living Faith, Growing Love, Sharing Hope. Choosing each day to put our trust in God into practice. Nurturing the holy love of God with our whole lives. And helping each other hold on, and carry on because of Jesus Christ. This is all at the heart of where we believe God is leading us as a Parish here in Gondola Point. By the gracious power of the Holy Spirit at work in us, may we always be living faith, growing love, and sharing hope. Amen. The Light of God's Holy Love - Sermon for the Fifth Sunday After Epiphany (February 5, 2023)2/4/2023 Scripture Readings: Isaiah 58:1–12 | Psalm 112 | 1 Corinthians 2:1–16 | Matthew 5:13–20
“You are the light of the world. A city built on a hill cannot be hid. No one after lighting a lamp puts it under the bushel basket, but on the lampstand, and it gives light to all in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father in heaven.” (Matthew 5:14-16) “You are the light of the world.” What a thing for Jesus to say to the rag-tag band of disciples who had gathered around Him… that strange new community He was drawing together to take part in God’s Kingdom, both back in Galilee all those years ago… and here in Gondola Point today. But do many of us feel like we are the light of the world? How does Jesus want us to live up to this high calling??? One way that many of us Christians have understood what it means to be the light of the world is to strive to be preservers and proclaimers of the truth… champions of the doctrines, teachings, and traditions of the Church, determined to make sure everyone comes to share our understanding of God and His ways. For some, sharing God’s truth is what it takes to be the light of the world. Others take a different approach. For them, being the light of the world is more about doing what is right. Acting with compassion and mercy, challenging injustice, helping people in all kinds of need. For these folks, it is the practical good things we do that shine out into the darkness. Doing the right thing is what it takes to be the light of the world. Now of course, there’s nothing wrong with seeking to know and share the truth… or seeking to do what is right. Both of these belong fully within the life of the Kingdom of God. But when we reduce our shared calling as Christians to be ‘the light of the world’ to one or the other… to speaking the truth or doing good… something is deeply amiss. And we know this because at various times in our history, the Church has done both of these things… and when we have, the results have left us more divided and in the dark than ever. Now’s not the time to drag up all the examples that could come to mind, but we know how easily we Christians have embraced at times the evils of judgmentalism and violence, all in the name of standing up for the truth… turning on our neighbours, and even our fellow Christians to try to prove that we are right. On the other hand, when the Church has just thrown truth to the wind in favour of ‘getting things done’, we have fared no better… often causing all sorts of confusion and damage we did not foresee. There have been many examples over the centuries of well-meaning Christians creating more problems through the ‘good’ we were trying to accomplish. When our actions are out of line with God and God’s ways, even our best intentions can end up in darkness. This struggle to be the “light of the world” has been an ongoing problem for God’s people for a really long time. As we heard in our first reading today, this was an issue the prophet Isaiah was called to confront… with Israel seeming to be concerned with “drawing near to God” and following His ways, and yet being far off from the life and light of the LORD. Centuries later, in Jesus day, this problem still remained, as the remnant of Israel in the land of Judah wrestled with one another about how to best be the people of light in the world. One well known faction in those days were the Pharisees, devout Jews who took God’s laws very seriously, and tried to teach others to do the same. And rather than choosing between holding fast to the truth, and actively doing what was right, the Pharisees strove to do both. They were concerned both with the truth, and with doing ‘the good and right things.’ But as Jesus Himself points out in our reading today, and all throughout the Gospels, the way many Pharisees tried to be “the light of the world” somehow missed the mark. Even though their commitment to truth, and right action may have been commendable, something essential was off… something was missing… something was out of line with the life and light of the LORD. Matthew 5:20, “For I tell you, unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.” What was it that Jesus was looking for in His followers that would make all the difference? What would truly make them… make you and I… into “the light of the world”? What is the key? It’s God’s holy love alive within His people… leading them into all truth, empowering them to do God’s good work in the world, and given to them through Jesus Himself, by what He accomplished for us all at the cross. God’s holy love alive in us is what makes us the light of the world. Without His love, all our best words and deeds won’t be able to break through the darkness. But with it, even when we stumble and struggle, God’s power and grace shines out for all to see. Let’s think back to the two approaches I mentioned earlier that many of us take in trying to be the “light of the world”: through believing and teaching the truth, and through doing good things for others. Both of these approaches belong together, and belong in the life of God’s people, but it is only God’s holy love that transforms them both into light… into something more than we could ever hope to achieve on our own. Though it wasn’t one of our Scripture readings for today, I think it would be fitting to reflect together on another well-known passage: 1 Corinthians 13. In this short Chapter, St. Paul gets to the heart of what the Christian life is all about, and what it really means for us to be “the light of the world”: Regarding the first temptation to focus solely on holding to the truth, St. Paul points out that, “If I speak in the tongues of mortals and of angels, but do not have love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. And if I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing.” (1 Corinthians 13:1-2). Powerful speech, and complete understanding of the truth is nothing when separated from God’s holy love. Regarding the second temptation to focus simply on doing good to those around us, St. Paul again makes the case that these acts alone aren’t what God is after: “If I give away all my possessions, and if I hand over my body so that I may boast, but do not have love, I gain nothing.” (1 Corinthians 13:3). Even sacrificial giving, going to extremes to meet the needs of others, if cut off from God’s love gets us no closer in the end to the life and light of God’s kingdom. Without love, all the good we may do remains in darkness. Love is what lights up the world. But let’s be clear, were not just talking about natural, human love here… the kind of connection we feel for those close to us, or those who we admire or pity. We’re talking about God’s holy love, that has it’s source not in us, but in Him, a love that is able to connect us with people that we would never consider caring about on our own. It’s a love that does not just look out for its own interests. A love that forgives, and reconciles, and seeks the best for everyone, especially when it is not easy. A love that does right and seeks the truth… that binds us to God and to our neighbours. A love that when put into practice, shines like a beacon for all to see, drawing those sitting in darkness closer to the Lord of Love. This is the power of God! This is what our God has done for us! Sharing His holy love with us through Jesus His Son at the cross… and working inside us, through the Holy Spirit, so that Christ’s light and life might shine through us too. Drawing us into the community of the Church, who are meant to grow together in God’s holy love, becoming the light of the world in word and deed, through our Saviour’s love. The beautiful simplicity of the Gospel leads us into the depths of God’s saving love: Jesus Christ, the Son of God, gave His life at the cross to rescue us from the power of evil, sin, and death… and rose again to bring us into God’s New Life, now and forever. And so, when we’re tempted to place our confidence in anything, apart from God’s love made known to us at the cross, let us remember St. Paul’s words to the Christians in Corinth that we heard this morning: “When I came to you, brothers and sisters, I did not come proclaiming the mystery of God to you in lofty words or wisdom. For I decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ, and him crucified. And I came to you in weakness and in fear and in much trembling. My speech and my proclamation were not with plausible words of wisdom, but with a demonstration of the Spirit and of power, so that your faith might rest not on human wisdom but on the power of God.” (1 Corinthians 2:1-5) That power is God’s holy love; the source of all our light. Knowing Jesus Christ, and Him crucified, transforms our lives and reveals the wonderous depths of His holy love, which is His power at work in us, shining through us, through our words and actions, out into God’s world. I want to end now by reading 1 Corinthians Chapter 13 again for us in full. May this holy love of Christ be our light today. “If I speak in the tongues of mortals and of angels, but do not have love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. And if I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. If I give away all my possessions, and if I hand over my body so that I may boast, but do not have love, I gain nothing. Love is patient; love is kind; love is not envious or boastful or arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice in wrongdoing, but rejoices in the truth. It bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never ends. But as for prophecies, they will come to an end; as for tongues, they will cease; as for knowledge, it will come to an end. For we know only in part, and we prophesy only in part; but when the complete comes, the partial will come to an end. When I was a child, I spoke like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child; when I became an adult, I put an end to childish ways. For now we see in a mirror, dimly, but then we will see face to face. Now I know only in part; then I will know fully, even as I have been fully known. And now faith, hope, and love abide, these three; and the greatest of these is love.” Amen. Blessed Are Those Who Love - Sermon for the Fourth Sunday After Epiphany (January 29, 2023)1/28/2023 Scripture Readings: Micah 6:1–8 | Psalm 15 | 1 Corinthians 1:18–31 | Matthew 5:1–12
“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). What does it mean to be blessed? What kind of blessings are we looking for? In our reading today from St. Matthew’s Gospel, our Lord Jesus has a lot to say about being blessed. But what He says tends to turn most of our expectations upside down… inviting us to have our own imaginations realigned, and opening us up to receive God’s true blessing. Our passage today comes from the very beginning of a long section in Matthew’s Gospel, a collection of His teachings often called ‘the Sermon on the Mount’. The Anglican priest and theologian John Stott gives this helpful introduction to this important part of our Lord’s mission and message: “The Sermon on the Mount is probably the best-known part of the teaching of Jesus, though arguably it is the least understood, and certainly it is the least obeyed. It is the nearest thing to a manifesto that he ever uttered, for it is his own description of what he wanted his followers to be and to do.”[1] As Christ’s followers today, we are being offered not advice, but the teachings of our Lord… wisdom intended to reshape our lives, and help us see things God’s way. And so, Jesus starts off this collection of His teachings by pronouncing certain people blessed: the poor in spirit; those who mourn; the meek; those who hunger and thirst for righteousness; the merciful; the pure in heart; the peacemakers; those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake; and those who are abused because of Christ. At first glance, even for those of us who have grown up in the Church and have heard these words many times, it can be hard for us to see how any of these folks could be called ‘blessed’. In fact, it seems like the opposite is the case: all of these people… the poor in spirit; those who mourn; the meek; those who hunger and thirst for righteousness; the merciful; the pure in heart; the peacemakers; those who are persecuted, the abused… all of them seem pitiful and powerless, not blessed. At least, if we’re talking about the way we usually understand blessings. But something else is going on here. Jesus is not simply describing some natural benefit for being in these states… He’s offering Good News that undermines many of our assumptions about what it means to truly live well… that is, to live God’s way in the world… in line with the life of our Creator. N.T. Wright puts it well: “In our world, still, most people think that wonderful news consists of success, wealth, long life, victory in battle. Jesus is offering wonderful news for the humble, the poor, the mourners, the peacemakers.”[2] In other words, Jesus is challenging and re-defining here what it means to be blessed, and He’s calling together a new community that will share in this blessed life. The way St. Matthew tells the story is meant to bring to mind the memory of Moses, one of the heroes of Israel’s story who at Mt. Sinai also called God’s people into a whole new way of life… committed to the LORD, and to each other too. Many centuries earlier, Moses had gone up the mountain and received from Yahweh, the Living God, the Law, or Teachings, a gift meant to guide God’s people to live His way in a world living very differently… to help them stand out and shine as a living sign of God’s blessings intended for all nations. If we read through the entire Sermon on the Mount, in Matthew Chapters 5-7, we’ll hear Jesus, again and again, calling all His followers back to the heart of God’s ways, that not only echo the Law given at Mt. Sinai, but bring it’s full meaning into focus… shining a spotlight on what it really means to be God’s blessed people today. But just like the Law of Moses, Christ’s teachings in the Sermon are a gift meant to guide a whole community… to map out a way of life for God’s people to share in together. The theologian Stanley Hauerwas puts it this way: “the sermon is not addressed to individuals but to the community that Jesus begins and portends through the calling of the disciples. The sermon is not a heroic ethic. It is the constitution of a people. You cannot live by the demands of the sermon on your own, but that is the point. The demands of the sermon are designed to make us depend on God and one another.” [3] So then, far from creating a bunch of rigorous religious rules for individuals, in His teachings Jesus is re-establishing within the life of this new community of disciples, what it means to live in line together with the Living God… and that includes what it means to receive the blessings God has in store for His people to share. In short, we’re talking about something that always has a social, a communal element. The blessings Christ speaks of are not merely about our own private experiences. We can’t separate living God’s blessed way in the world from how we relate to one another. Something very similar is going on in our first reading today, from the prophet Micah, where the Lord is challenging the assumptions of His unfaithful people, and calling them to return to Him, and follow His blessed ways. But what does that look like? Is God after some grand gesture, or religious ceremony? What must God’s people actually do to please the Living God? Micah 6:6-7, “With what shall I come before the Lord, and bow myself before God on high? Shall I come before him with burnt offerings, with calves a year old? Will the Lord be pleased with thousands of rams, with ten thousands of rivers of oil? Shall I give my firstborn for my transgression, the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul?” This kind of thing made sense in the ancient world. To please the gods, you gave them elaborate gifts… even sacrificing one’s own firstborn children would not be off the table. And in our own day, we too can be tempted to think that God wants us to placate Him… imagining that if we just do this or that ‘religious’ or ‘righteous’ thing, then He’ll bless us. Then He’ll give us all the things we want. But the message that Micah was entrusted to share turns this way of relating to God on its head, reminding God’s people that the point is not to use our connection to the LORD to get what we want, but to seek the LORD and walk in His ways… which is itself the blessed life that He longs to share with us. As the biblical scholar John Walton points out: “God was not asking to be appeased through extravagant gifts. The most extravagant offering they could give him would be their obedience.”[4] And Micah points out what obedience to the Living God looks like: it looks like love. Micah 6:8, “He has told you, O mortal, what is good; and what does the Lord require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God?” We’re brought right back to the heart of the Law of Moses… and the two great commandments that Jesus says uphold the entire Covenant: Love the Lord your God wholeheartedly… humbly walk with Him… and love your neighbours… do justice… do what is right, and love to show kindness and mercy. This is the blessed life: to love God, and to love one another… to share His love together. If we want to receive God’s blessing, this is the way that Jesus gives us. But… won’t we just get walked over if we’re led by love while everyone around us doesn’t live this way? This sounds really nice and spiritual, but it doesn’t seem all that practical. Not practicable. What would happen if we actually lived like this in today’s world? That’s a question worth asking, and sitting with for a while. And it brings to mind the many times that good people have been taken advantage of by those who don’t live this way… those who don’t really care about God at all, or about the wellbeing of their neighbours. I’m sure many of us have stories like this… times when we’ve been open and loving to others, only to be burned. When this happens, we face the temptation to temper our openness and love for those who might end up hurting us… limiting what we’re willing to do to work for justice and mercy… and all that comes with it, in order to protect ourselves… to hold onto some sense of control… and not feel so powerless. But right from the start, Jesus calls His disciples to follow Him on a different, difficult path… the path of God’s love… a path which will at times leave us all vulnerable… but even so, it is the path that leads us into God’s own blessed life. Looking back to our Gospel reading, we can see that there’s one thing each group that Jesus calls blessed has in common: they are all vulnerable… apparently powerless people… open to the abuse of the neighbours they are called to love. The poor in spirit; those who mourn; the meek; those who hunger and thirst, who are deprived of what is right; the merciful; the pure in heart; the peacemakers; those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake; and those who are abused because of Christ. None of these describe the people our world considers powerful, those who call the shots, who get their own way, and protect themselves from harm… those most would consider blessed. So why does Jesus call these vulnerable folk blessed? Because they will share in the God’s own blessed life. Their ‘blessedness’ may not be apparent, or obvious, but it is promised, awaiting the fulfillment of what has been assured… like a seed, planted in the soil will one day bear its fruit, even if for a time it gets trampled under uncaring feet. The way of love, which lies at the heart of all those Jesus calls blessed, requires faith and hope… trust that despite all of the dangers involved, it will be worth it, not because we can see how right now, but because our Lord has promised it will be… and He Himself has already led the way. Christ is inviting us to join Him… to follow God’s love all the way to the cross… which upends the wisdom of the world that says only the powerful and strong can be happy and blessed… revealing in His own sufferings our world’s injustice, cruelty, and prideful rejection of God, and drawing near with compassion and mercy to all those who are beaten down, vulnerable, and abused. At the cross, Jesus made Himself entirely vulnerable… embodying all of the weakness and need of those He promised would be blessed. At the cross, He surrendered His life in order to bring God’s saving love to the world, even to those who had abused, betrayed, and brutalized Him. But this was precisely how He would bring God’s blessed life to everyone… making things right with God on our behalf with His own broken body… covering us with kindness and mercy we didn’t deserve with His own blood… dying, then rising again to lift us up so we too could share in full fellowship, communion with God… sharing our life with Him, and humbly walking in His ways. None of this would have been possible if Jesus had not been vulnerable… if He had not faithfully walked the path of self-giving love, that first led Him to the cross, but ultimately brought Him to the glory of God’s right hand, and opened up the way for us to share in His blessings forever. The life of the Church, this new community that Christ is calling into being, is blessed only as we share in His life… in faith and hope, following Jesus into the way of God’s self-giving love. Even when it means we will face suffering along with Him, we know we too will share in the glorious blessings of His Kingdom. So may the Holy Spirit renew and re-align our hearts and minds, to receive God’s blessed life today. May we be drawn together as brothers and sisters in God’s family, empowered to encourage and support one another as we follow our Saviour together. And may we be filled with the faith and hope we need to share in Christ’s self-giving love for our world… even when it means sharing in His vulnerability, confident that God Himself will be at work through it all. “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) Amen. [1] John R. W. Stott, The Message of the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5-7): Christian Counter-Culture, The Bible Speaks Today (Leicester; Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 1985), 14–15. [2] Tom Wright, Matthew for Everyone, Part 1: Chapters 1-15 (London: Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge, 2004), 36–37. [3] Stanley Hauerwas, Matthew, Brazos Theological Commentary on the Bible (Grand Rapids, MI: Brazos Press, 2006), 61. [4] Victor Harold Matthews, Mark W. Chavalas, and John H. Walton, The IVP Bible Background Commentary: Old Testament, electronic ed. (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 2000), Mic 6:7. |
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
March 2024
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