Scripture Readings: Exodus 20:1–17 | Psalm 19 | 1 Corinthians 1:18–25 | John 2:13–22
“Jesus answered them, ‘Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.’” (John 2:19). Love knows when to say no. Our first reading today dives right into the heart of God’s Covenant partnership with Israel, formalized at Mt. Sinai. After centuries of slavery in Egypt, with bodies, minds, and hearts shaped by unending hours of hard labour, and the cruelty of their oppressors, we meet Israel gathered in the wilderness, and on the cusp of a brand new way of life: graciously chosen by the Creator of All to be a set-apart people, dedicated to His divine ways, Israel was about to learn what it means for them to become God’s people together… to learn how they are to reflect His goodness, His character… His image in their lives, in all they say and do, so that all the earth might come to know the life-giving love of the Lord as well. And the Ten Commandments, which we read this morning, form a key component in this covenant partnership… laying down clear expectations of what it means to join God in this unique relationship. Note that these commandments don’t just fall out of the sky. They are given within the context of a story. Not the story so many of us buy into… the story of: “if you prove that you’re good enough, then I’ll accept you.” No, the Ten Commandments are a part of the story of God’s rescuing love already at work in the world… setting free the captives, lifting up the heads of the hopeless, and bringing new life into being. Long before they arrived at Mt. Sinai, God had already rescued Israel from Egypt. The Lord had already shown Himself to be their gracious Saviour, and revealed His compassion, faithfulness, and power, again and again. No, the Commandments were never about winning God’s favour. They were a gift to His beloved children. An invitation to share in God’s own life in a whole new way… a gift that the people eagerly said yes too… at least initially. These Laws were a way for God to say: “This is the way you are to live as my already rescued people in this world… this is the way you are to treat one another.” This is the way the Lord was teaching His children how to love. But why did they need to be taught how to love? Doesn’t love just come naturally? Of course, people everywhere understand affection. We experience longing for others, and some sense of loyalty to those closest to us. But even so, this doesn’t seem to stop us from setting our devotions aside to do whatever seems right to us in the moment. And what’s more, there’s also the danger of letting our sense of devotion to those closest to us distort our responsibilities to everyone else… leading to what’s known as tribalism… the whole “us vs. them” way of seeing the world… and all the deep divisions we see at work all around us today. This was all just as true back in Israel’s early days, but the LORD had other plans in mind, for them and for the world… longing to put His Good creation back on track. And so at Sinai, Israel would learn that to live God’s way it would required a commitment, not just to our own interests, or to our family and friends… but first of all, to the One Creator and Saviour of All, the Living God… and also a commitment to the wellbeing of the wider society: In other words, they were called to love God, and to love their neighbours too. What does that look like? As a place to start, we have these Ten Commandments… Laws outlining the broad vision of what life looks like when we live it God’s way. And interestingly, in order to make clear what it means to live and love God’s way, we’re basically told what we’re not to do… You shall have no other gods before Yahweh, the LORD. You shall not make idols, or bow down to worship them. You shall not misuse the name of the LORD. You shall remember the Sabbath and keep it holy by not doing any work on it. You shall not murder. You shall not steal. You shall not commit adultery. You shall not give false testimony. You shall not covet anything belonging to your neighbour. For something as supremely good as God’s holy laws to teach His people how to love and live together… the shape of life that He intends for His people and His world… that’s a whole lot of No’s. The only commandment in the list without a ‘No’ or ‘Not’ in it is number five: Honour your Father and Mother. But as any good Father or Mother knows… a big part of learning to love, and teaching someone else to love, means knowing when to say no… clarifying the boundaries between what is good and life-giving on the one hand, and what is destructive on the other. God’s love for Israel led Him to say No to them in very clear and intentional ways… not because He didn’t want them to enjoy life in all its fullness. Exactly the opposite! God knows that to fully enjoy the fullness of life means living in certain ways… and setting other ways aside… as individuals and as a wider community, it means being shaped first of all by His love. A love that knows how to say no to envy and self-centredness… and that preserves integrity… a love that does not seize what belongs to others… that honours the bonds of marriage… and knows how to restrain violence… a love that lifts up those who have come before us, and have raised us up… a love that sets aside sacred time for everyone, regardless of wealth or status, to rest and be restored in body, mind, and heart… a love that seeks to rightly honour the reputation of the Holy One… that refuses to give our hearts and devotion to empty objects, but only to the Source of all that is good… a love that remembers the compassion, and faithfulness, and saving power of the Living God, and that prioritizes this relationship above all else, so that all else finds its proper place. The Ten Commandments taught Israel, and teach us all, about the boundaries of love… what not to do, so that love can flourish as it’s supposed to… so that we, both as individuals and as a part of a wider community, can put God’s love into practice, and have our lives transformed as a result. Sadly, the story of Scriptures tells us that, even when given these good boundaries… these life-giving Laws of God… Israel kept on refusing to stay inside the lines. Over and over again, they broke the commandments, and stopped letting God’s love lead the way. This leads us to our Gospel reading this morning, where we witness Jesus saying No to God’s people in a clear and dramatic way. Arriving at the Holy Temple in Jerusalem during the time of the Passover, the sacred commemoration of God’s rescue of Israel from Egypt long ago, St. John tells us that Jesus of Nazareth, who we know to be God’s Son, does something quite shocking and unexpected: He makes a whip and begins driving away those who were doing business… selling animals to be sacrificed within the sacred Temple courts. Why does He do this? Why was Jesus so passionate and angry about people buying and selling animals in the Temple? Well, the Temple in Jerusalem was the one place in all the earth set aside for humans to approach the holy presence of the Living God. It was the one place where devotion to the LORD was most clearly expressed, where forgiveness of sins and reconciliation was pronounced over those who drew near. The place for all God’s people together to practice loving the LORD God with all their heart, and soul, and mind, and strength… to remember His holy ways, and reaffirm their commitment to the whole Covenant relationship… And they had turned it into a market. A place more devoted to profits and convenience than to the Creator and gracious Saviour of all… commercializing the sacred covenant God had invited His people to share in… turning that sacred place meant to help Israel experience God’s saving love in their lives… and to make this love known to the nations… into a business... revealing where their devotion truly rested: in merely their own interests. Has the Church gone down the same route? Sadly yes. Many times, and in many ways, we Christians have also forgotten what it means to love the LORD before all else… setting aside the things that lead us to life, and instead getting caught up in all sorts of self-centred priorities that keep us and those around us from drawing near to the Living God. Following the example of Israel before us, we too forget the good limits that God has placed on the lives of those who are devoted to Him. Where do we need to hear God tell us No again today? Back in John’s Gospel, we see Jesus is passionate, zealous for God’s ways to be embraced… for people, back then and today, to experience the truly life-giving love that God created us to share in, and share with our neighbours. And so, in the Temple, we see Him willing to stand up and say no to all that keeps us from this saving love. And much more than that… we’ll soon see that He’s willing to lay down His life to offer this love to us, and to all. In response to Jesus’ passionate display, those present in the Temple demand that Jesus give good reason for His disruption… they ask for a sign to prove that He has the authority to completely mess with their way of doing things. Essentially they say to Him: ‘What gives you the right???’ John 2:19-22, “Jesus answered them, ‘Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.’ The Jews then said, ‘This temple has been under construction for forty-six years, and will you raise it up in three days?’ But he was speaking of the temple of his body. After he was raised from the dead, his disciples remembered that he had said this; and they believed the scripture and the word that Jesus had spoken.” The sign of Jesus’ right to say No to the self-centeredness and sin of His people… the grounds for claiming the right to reorganize their whole community’s patterns of devotion, and their lives… is the sign of the cross… the destruction of the Temple of Jesus’ body, where Heaven and Earth are truly united as One in the flesh of God’s Son… a union which cannot be overcome, even by death… rising again on the third day. With Heavenly authority, Jesus came to put God’s compassion, faithfulness, and power to work again to rescue us from ourselves… to break the power selfishness and sin held over us, and set us free to live another way… God’s way… for good. With passion for God’s house… for the sacred ways we fragile humans were invited to draw near to our Creator and Savior, Jesus knows that sometimes love means saying no… and He knows that we humans can’t seem to stop saying no to God’s ways… turning away again and again to pursue our own self-centred desires. And so Jesus, the true Son of God, who lived in complete devotion to the Father, wholeheartedly sharing His love, as the very embodiment of God’s holy Law in the flesh… He took up our place on the cross… bearing the full weight of the guilt and shame of the whole world on His shoulders… receiving our just condemnation… and dying in agony to set us free. The cross is the result of our rejection of God and God’s good ways… it’s our ultimate No to our Creator and Saviour, nailing His Son to the tree once and for all. At the same time, the cross is God’s ultimate No to all of the ways that we refuse to live by His holy love… it’s God’s utter determination not to allow our self-destructive impulses to have the last say, and instead, to end them. Not by rejecting us in return, which is what we deserve. Not by seeking to crush us, or cow us with threats, or with reminders of our unworthiness. But in self-giving love… a love that is able to say no to itself for the sake of others… Jesus offered up His life at the cross, once and for all… so that we all can receive true forgiveness, reconciliation, and peace through through His precious blood shed for us… and begin to say Yes to the New Life of God through His Spirit at work in us. In many ways, the season of Lent invites us to place our trust in Jesus, and learn to say No to ourselves… which can be a struggle. But we do so for a good reason: to learn together to live God’s way. To love God’s way. The way that Jesus our Saviour does, who laid down His life to rescue us while we were still sinners… dying to liberates us when we were still slaves to our sin and fears and self-centeredness… offering His body to be broken on our behalf… letting His blood be spilled to atone for all our failures… and rising again from the dead to share His new life with us and with our world. If we are to follow Jesus to the cross, and receive there from Him the new life that God has in store for us… what might you and I need to say No to today? Not to earn God’s favour, or to ruin our fun, but to put into practice the freedom to flourish that Jesus Christ has already won for us? These things might be easy for some of us to identify. God’s Spirit might already be prompting us to let go of some things that are keeping us from fully sharing in the freedom of God’s holy love. But if we’re not sure, a good place to spend some time in prayerful reflection might be the Ten Commandments… and also look at how Jesus Himself sheds light on their true meaning in the Sermon on the Mount, found in the Gospel of Matthew, Chapters 5-7. As Holy Week draws closer, and we reflect on all that Jesus our Saviour has accomplished for us at the cross, let us remember that God’s limits are a gift to us… helping us learn when to say No to ourselves, so that we can say Yes to the life and love of God, and share it with everyone. I’ll end now with these words from our Psalm today: The law of the Lord is perfect and revives the soul; the testimony of the Lord is sure and gives wisdom to the innocent. The statutes of the Lord are just and rejoice the heart; the commandment of the Lord is clear and gives light to the eyes. The fear of the Lord is clean and endures for ever; the judgements of the Lord are true and righteous altogether. More to be desired are they than gold, more than much fine gold, sweeter far than honey, than honey in the comb. By them also is your servant enlightened, and in keeping them there is great reward. Who can tell how often he offends? cleanse me from my secret faults. Above all, keep your servant from presumptuous sins; let them not get dominion over me; then shall I be whole and sound, and innocent of a great offense. Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in your sight, O Lord, my strength and my redeemer. Amen.
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Today marks the Third Sunday of Lent, a sacred season for Christians to prepare in mind, body, and spirit, for the events of Holy Week, and the commemoration of the betrayal, death, and resurrection of our Saviour, Jesus Christ. Some of the traditional practices of the season of Lent include fasting, study of Scripture, prayerful reflection, and generous almsgiving. To help us grow in our faith and engage the Holy Scriptures with greater understanding, each week in Lent we will be sharing a link to a video from the Bible Project, from their series exploring the books of the Torah: Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, and Deuteronomy. Here is a link to the third and fourth videos, unpacking the Book of Exodus: For those who want to explore this theme a bit more in depth, check out their 7 Episode Podcast series discussing questions raised by these videos on the books of the Torah, found here: Our service of Morning Prayer, Bulletin, and Sermon this week can be found here: And our Songs this week can be found here: Scripture Readings: Genesis 17:1–7, 15–16 | Psalm 22:23–31 | Romans 4:13–25 | Mark 8:31–38
NOTE: This Sunday, St. Luke's are blessed to welcome the Gondola Point Beavers, Cubs, and Scouts. _________________________ We’ve all very glad to welcome our guests from the Gondola Point Beavers, Cubs, and Scouts with us this morning, to mark the birthday of Lord Baden-Powell, the founder of the Scouting movement, which took place this past Thursday, on February 22. Does anyone happen to know the year Lord Baden-Powell was born? 1857. That’s 167 years ago! That’s almost as old as St. Luke’s Church… and 10 years before Confederation, and the birth of our Country, Canada. And yet, Lord Baden-Powell’s legacy is still with us, and generations of Beavers, Cubs, Scouts, and Ventures, have helped make a positive impact on our world. Now a long time ago, I was in Beavers, Cubs, and Scouts myself, and those groups have blessed me with many great memories with my friends… playing games, exploring nature, helping others in our community, learning new skills. Looking back now, it was all a very good experience for me. I won’t say it was always easy, of course. But even with the challenges, it was all worth it. Challenge is actually the Venture Motto, isn’t it? I never made it far enough to become a Venture, but I think it’s a great motto for young people… and for all of us. Not to just sit back and take it easy, but to push ourselves and explore what the world around us has in store. Can anyone tell me what the Beavers Motto is? Sharing Sharing Sharing. And the Cubs Motto? Do Your Best. And the Scouts Motto? Be Prepared. These are all really good mottos. Good words to help you remember some things that really do matter in life. And its good to remind yourselves of these things over and over again… because sometimes, even the most important things in life can be easy to forget. I want to share a story with you this morning about a time that I forgot the Scout motto… which is? Right: Be Prepared. And I hope this is a good story to help you to remember what not to do. I grew up in Northern Ontario, and many years after I was in Scouts… but still before most of you were born… some friends and I decided to go on a hike in the Sleeping Giant Provincial Park, which is on Lake Superior. Although I had lived near this Park for many years, I had never explored these trails for myself, and so I was relying on one of my friends who had gone this way before. It was Springtime, and the weather was pretty warm (at least in the sun), and so I decided to wear my favourite footwear: my hiking sandals. I thought they would be perfect for this hike… but I was wrong. It turns out, I was not at all prepared for the trails that lay ahead of us. For the first few hours, everything was great. The trails were clear, the weather was lovely, and the park itself was beautiful. But soon we noticed there was snow starting to cover the path… not much at first… so we kept on going. But the further we went, the deeper the snow got… and the colder and wetter my feet got too. Soon, I felt really uncomfortable… and more than a little embarrassed by my choice of footwear… but I tried to make the best of it. I put socks on, and then wrapped them in plastic bags to try to keep them dry, which helped a little, but it still wasn’t great. But even then, my friends and I didn’t want to turn back yet, so we just kept going. Soon, we realized that we had taken a wrong turn at some point. We weren’t completely lost, but we weren’t heading in the direction we wanted to go anymore. And still we kept going forward. And then the snow on the trail really started to get deep… and the path was getting more and more dangerous. And even though some of my friends wanted to keep going, at that point I knew it was time to make the choice to turn around and head back. Even if we all had good hiking shoes, we were not prepared for this surprisingly challenging hike. And so we turned back and went home again… disappointed, embarrassed, but a bit wiser than we were before. There are of course many challenging moments and paths that we will all have to face in life from time to time. Sometimes we will think we know the right way to go, but just end up heading towards trouble. Sometimes we will think we’re well prepared, but find ourselves facing difficulties we did not expect. Sometimes we will even have to tell our friends that it’s time to turn around, and head in another direction… even if they want to keep going on. In times like these, it’s good for us all to remember the things that matter most… the good words that can guide us forward, and the people we can turn to and trust to help us find our way. This is a special time of year for Christians… it’s the season of Lent, when we get ready for Good Friday and Easter, and remember things about the story of Jesus Christ that are sometimes easy to forget: we remember that if we want to trust and follow Jesus, it will be challenging. Living God’s way in the world… learning to love everyone… to receive and share forgiveness… to say no to things that we may want, but are not good for us, or for those around us… these are all challenging things to do. And we remember that Jesus was prepared to face all these challenges… He knew all the trouble ahead of Him… and He was ready to suffer, and even lay down His own life at the cross… all to bring God’s saving love to our hurting world. And we remember that Jesus tells everyone who wants to follow Him that if we want to live God’s way, it won’t be easy. That we will also need to be prepared for difficult times ahead… but we can also trust Jesus to help us, to keep us on the right track… and to pick us up again when we fall. In our reading today from the Gospel of Mark, we heard how Jesus tried to help his friends and followers prepare for these challenges… and to let them know that He was going to suffer and die, and rise again from the dead to save the world. But one of Jesus’ closest friends and followers, a man named Peter, didn’t think Jesus was heading in the right direction. He didn’t want to see his friend Jesus suffer. And Peter was not prepared to go down that path himself either. He had his own ideas about what the best way forward was. But Jesus knew that if He wanted to live God’s way, and to help God fix our broken world, it would mean giving up His own life, and that’s what He was prepared to do. And so, Jesus tells His friend Peter that it was actually Peter who needed to turn around… and to trust Jesus… to be prepared for a difficult, challenging road ahead… but one that would be worth it in the end… helping to share God’s rescuing love with everyone. And so, during Lent, Christians like me remember that living God’s way is wonderful, but it won’t be easy. It’s worth it, but it is also really challenging to do our best to love everyone… to forgive and be forgiven… to say no to things that are not good for us… and to trust Jesus to lead us on the right path. Over 2,000 years ago, Jesus said to his friends, and also to us here today: “If any want to become my followers, let them deny themselves… [say no to themselves] and take up their cross and follow me. For those who want to save their life will lose it, and those who lose their life for my sake, and for the sake of the gospel, [the Good News, they] will save it.” (Mark 8:34-35). I know that not all of us here today know Jesus Christ, or want to follow Him with our lives. You’re still welcome here at St. Luke’s. But all of us will have to make many choices in life about which paths we are going to take. And there are no paths that are always easy. Every path has its own challenges. So how will we all do our best to be prepared for what lies ahead of us? What are the things that you want to hold onto, and remember to help you find your way? What might you need to let go of? What might be keeping you from getting to the places you want to go? And what can you do to help those around you? What can you share with them? How can you challenge them to not just do what is easiest, but what is best… for themselves, but also for our communities, and for our world? These are some good questions for all of us to think about today. And I’ll end now with a prayer, written by others, and based on the old Scout Law: “Dear Lord, Bless all those everywhere who contribute to shape the hearts, minds and bodies of young people everywhere. Let us remember what they have taught us and apply it in our daily life. When facing deceit and dishonesty, let us be Trustworthy. If we see hypocrisy and faithlessness, let us be Loyal. Where disregard of others and mere materialism prevail, let us be Helpful. When we find people in despair, let us be Friendly. In an atmosphere of ill manner, let us be Courteous. Where some measure power in brutality and crudeness, let us be Kind. Though lawbreaking and rule-scoffing are common, let us be Obedient. While others grumble and grouch, let us be Cheerful. In an environment blighted by waste and extravagance, let us be Thrifty. When confronted with danger and temptation, let us be Brave. As we see filth and pollution everywhere, let us be Clean. While witnessing impiety, let us remember to be Reverent.” Amen. Today marks the Second Sunday of Lent, a sacred season for Christians to prepare in mind, body, and spirit, for the events of Holy Week, and the commemoration of the betrayal, death, and resurrection of our Saviour, Jesus Christ. Some of the traditional practices of the season of Lent include fasting, study of Scripture, prayerful reflection, and generous almsgiving. To help us grow in our faith and engage the Holy Scriptures with greater understanding, each week in Lent we will be sharing a link to a video from the Bible Project, from their series exploring the books of the Torah: Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, and Deuteronomy. Here is a link to the second video, unpacking Genesis Chapters 12-50. For those who want to explore this theme a bit more in depth, check out their 7 Episode Podcast series discussing questions raised by these videos on the books of the Torah, found here: Our service of Morning Prayer, Bulletin, and Sermon this week can be found here: And our Songs this week can be found here: Scripture Readings: Genesis 9:8–17 | Psalm 25 | 1 Peter 3:18–22 | Mark 1:9–15
“For Christ also suffered for sins once for all, the righteous for the unrighteous, in order to bring you to God.” (1 Peter 3:18a). Here we are again, at the first Sunday of Lent: the season of solemn preparation for Holy Week… when Christians step back into the story of Jesus Christ our Saviour, and all that He has done for us… choosing the path of the cross, enduring suffering, shame, and death to set the world free. It's a time when Christians remember the Good News that’s at the heart of all that we say and do… and it’s a time for us to reflect on our own lives, and to take steps to have them re-aligned to the ways of God. And for those who are just starting out in their journey of faith, Lent has long been a time of preparation for baptism… a time for new believers to learn the depths of, and respond to, the Good News of Jesus Christ… turning from the old ways of selfishness and sin, and being bound to the life of our Saviour… immersed in Jesus, once and for all. And so our Scripture readings this morning invites you and I to reflect on the depths of what baptism means for the people of God: whether we were baptized sometime in the distant past, or if that sacred step might still lie before us, today we’re called to contemplate the world-changing reality that baptism invites us to share in. The roots of the reality of baptism go way back in God’s story… and our first reading today calls us to turn back to Genesis, and remember a truly ancient account of life being delivered from disaster: the story of the great Flood. Now we don’t have time this morning to read through the whole Flood story as told in the book of Genesis, but I would highly recommend reading it, or reading it again if it’s been a while. For many of us, it’s hard to see how the Flood narrative fits into the story of God’s great rescue mission. We tend not to think too much about it, or what this part of Scripture is trying to say to us… both about ourselves and the dire consequences of our choices, as individuals and as communities… and also what this story is saying about the Living God, and what He is up to in our world. But to keep things moving this morning, I’ll just make a few points that this story from Genesis wants to drive home. First off, the motivation behind the flood is not God’s anger, but His profound grief… grief at seeing what we humans were doing to His good world, and to each other… heading fast for self-destruction. And so, out of anguish, God chooses to bring an end to the extreme bloodshed and violence that had consumed His creation… drowning our infectious wickedness, as the waters of chaos and death are unleashed… while carefully preserving life through Noah and his ark. In short, it's not a story of an uncaring God venting misplaced anger on an innocent world. It’s a story of a God full of compassion and mercy… and who as a last resort, takes severe but ultimately life-saving steps to give His world a brand new beginning it could not have given itself. A new beginning based on a promise, which we read this morning in Genesis Chapter 9:9-11, “As for me, I am establishing my covenant with you and your descendants after you, and with every living creature that is with you, the birds, the domestic animals, and every animal of the earth with you, as many as came out of the ark. I establish my covenant with you, that never again shall all flesh be cut off by the waters of a flood, and never again shall there be a flood to destroy the earth.” As severe as this act of salvation was, the Living God promises that it will never take place again… not because people had changed, as it turns out… but because of God’s gracious commitment to make peace with His broken but still beloved world. And so the story goes on… through God’s partnerships with Abraham, and the people of Israel Abraham’s descendants… as the LORD keeps graciously working with sinful, self-centered people (like us!), to bring about His great rescue mission… to bring about an ultimate new beginning that will endure, and have no end. Turning now to our reading today from the Gospel of Mark, we hear the story of Jesus of Nazareth as He goes out to the Jordan River to be baptized by John. Now John’s ministry was all about new beginnings for God’s people, who John said had gotten seriously off track, and now desperately needed to turn around. The act of going under the waters and out again in baptism evoked many stories from Israel’s Scriptures… stories that brought to mind the ways that the Living God had graciously saved His people in the past. Stories like Noah and the Flood. And stories like Moses leading God’s people from slavery to freedom through the Red Sea that God parted for them. Or the story of how Joshua led God’s people out of the wilderness and into the Promised Land, crossing the very same Jordan River, again on dry land, as God provided the way for them. All these stories reminded God’s people that they were called to die to these old ways of life… to wickedness, and slavery to sin… and turn to God who could bring them through the deadly waters and give them a new beginning. John’s practice of baptism was about giving God’s people a tangible way to practice repentance… to turn back to the Living God and His ways wholeheartedly, holding nothing back, and stepping into… being immersed in the stories of God’s saving mercy and love. Does this describe our experience as Christians today? Are we wholeheartedly turning our lives over to God? Or are we, like so many before us in the Scriptures and in our whole human story, more often than not turning our hearts away from the LORD, and retracing the old paths that keep leading us towards selfishness, sin, and destruction? As Christians today we too are called, again and again, to seek to be true to this new beginning we have been given. Whenever we struggle, and fall, and fail to follow God’s ways, we must turn around, repent, and believe… Believe what? Believe we can pick ourselves up? No. Believe that our mistakes are not that big of a deal? No. Believe what? Believe the Good News... the promise that our new beginning in baptism rests completely upon… We believe in Jesus Christ, our Saviour, and what He has done for us, once and for all. Jesus, the beloved Son of God… the One who is always at one with His Father, in heart, purpose, and action… the One who is completely without the sin and self-centeredness that has plagued humanity since the start. This same Jesus, the Gospel writers tell us, did not seek to keep Himself at a safe distance from our wickedness… but instead, He bound Himself to us while we were still sinners… He joined God’s people, who were all in desperate need of new beginnings, at the Jordan River, and He stepped into the waters with us… immersing Himself in our broken, sin-soaked story… bearing its terrible weight on His shoulders for us… for our salvation. In wholehearted devotion to His Heavenly Father, Jesus reclaims our messed up human story… reliving it faithfully in ways we never could, and step by step, our Saviour took upon Himself all of the consequences of our failures… suffering all the rejection, condemnation, cruelty, and shame that we could muster… letting us nailed Him, the beloved Son of God to the cross… completely immersed in our rejection of God’s ways, and dying our cursed death. But the Good News is this was not the end of His story. This was instead the way the Living God brought about His glorious new beginning… for His beloved Son, and for all of creation. Jesus did not suffer and die in vain, but to undo the power that sin and death held over us… completely sharing in our death, so that we might completely share in His resurrection. This is the Good News that drove the Apostles to turn the world upside down: Jesus died, and rose again to reconcile the world to God, to bring Heaven’s peace to Earth, and turn our whole story around, once and for all. Listen again to the words of St. Peter from our second reading today: “For Christ also suffered for sins once for all, the righteous for the unrighteous, in order to bring you to God. He was put to death in the flesh, but made alive in the spirit” (1 Peter 3:18). Jesus not only stepped into the waters of the Jordan River, He allowed the full force of death to wash over Him. And yet, God raised Him again from the dead, the firstborn of God’s New Creation. His baptism of death is the deep reality that makes all our new beginnings possible, and His resurrection is the promise the Church believes and proclaims to the world. When we are baptized in the waters, in the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit, we are being completely immersed in Jesus Christ… in the reconciling reality of what He has done for us, once and for all at the cross. We have no promise of new beginnings apart form Him, but we have been promised a new resurrection life bound to Him… wholeheartedly drawn into God’s holy ways, empowered by the Holy Spirit to finally start setting sin aside for good, and to share this life-giving hope with those around us. The purpose of baptism is to connect us to God’s gift of new life offered to us in Jesus Christ the Risen Lord. It’s saving work in our lives, as St. Peter puts it, comes to us “not as a removal of dirt from the body, but as an appeal to God for a good conscience, through the resurrection of Jesus Christ, who has gone into heaven and is at the right hand of God, with angels, authorities, and powers made subject to him.” (1 Peter 3:21-22). The One who immersed Himself completely in our shame-filled story, now immerses us into His glorious one… and as He rose from the dead to reign forever at God’s right hand, we His people will share in the gifts of His Good Kingdom, both in this life, and for all eternity. Thinking again about Lent, and how it calls us to reflect on the core of the Christian faith, we do well to remember that baptism is a way of life: It happens once... but is meant to bind us to Jesus Christ our Saviour for all time. So, when we find ourselves thinking, or speaking, or acting in ways that are out of line with the new life Christ has given us… when we forget whose story we now share in, and the deep reality of the Good News… what will we do? May God’s Spirit give us the grace at those times, to repent… and to believe the Good News that God’s own beloved Son has truly turned our stories around, once and for all… and turning to Him, may we find ourselves embraced by the love of our Heavenly Father, and surrounded by our many sisters and brothers who have also been invited into this new beginning without end. Amen. Today marks the first Sunday of Lent, a sacred season for Christians to prepare in mind, body, and spirit, for the events of Holy Week, and the commemoration of the betrayal, death, and resurrection of our Saviour, Jesus Christ. Some of the traditional practices of the season of Lent include fasting, study of Scripture, prayerful reflection, and generous almsgiving. To help us grow in our faith and engage the Holy Scriptures with greater understanding, each week in Lent we will be sharing a link to a video from the Bible Project, from their series exploring the books of the Torah: Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, and Deuteronomy. Here is a link to the first video, unpacking Genesis Chapters 1-11. For those who want to explore this theme a bit more in depth, check out their 7 Episode Podcast series discussing questions raised by these videos on the books of the Torah, found here: Our service of Morning Prayer, Bulletin, and Sermon this week can be found here: And our Songs this week can be found here: As we begin the sacred season of Lent, a time of repentance, prayer, compassion, generosity, and preparation for Holy Week, Ash Wednesday calls us to remember not simply our mortality... the fragility and fractured nature of our lives and our world, but also to remember the abundant mercy of the Living God, who in Jesus Christ "welcomes sinners and invites them to His table."
For those of us unable to join us in person for our Ash Wednesday service at St. Luke's this year, here is an At-Home Ash Wednesday order of service. (Note: There is no Imposition of Ashes rite in this particular At-Home service.) Many blessings in the name of Jesus Christ, our Saviour and Redeemer. Rob+ Scripture Readings: 2 Kings 2:1–12 | Psalm 50:1–6 | 2 Corinthians 4:3–6 | Mark 9:2–9
“Then a cloud overshadowed them, and from the cloud there came a voice, ‘This is my Son, the Beloved; listen to him!’” (Mark 9:7). Who are your heroes? Who are the people you look up to? In recent years, there has been a whole slew of Superhero movies… reflecting a certain fascination we humans have always had with those who have power and abilities far beyond our own, and especially those who use that power for good instead of evil. And setting aside Hollywood, think about those real-life heroes… people of tremendous conviction, ability, and character. Think of those people from the past who made a huge difference in their days… people who inspired positive change and all kinds of good work in the world… people that we might wish were still with us today. In our Gospel reading this morning from Mark chapter 9, we hear that three of Jesus’ disciples were surprised to meet some of their own heroes, Moses and Elijah, in a dramatic epiphany moment on top of a mountain. And yet, as wonderful as that meeting itself may have been, these disciples are then given a glimpse of something far more wonderful and world-changing… and what’s more, they’re called to take part in it too. Our Scripture readings today are not about heroes… but about helping us to see how the Living God is graciously working in our world… through His beloved Son, Jesus our Saviour… and through the lives of those who will listen to Him. Our first reading from the Second Book of Kings, tells the story of the prophet Elijah, and his disciple Elisha, and the passing on of the prophetic baton… so to speak. At this point, Elijah’s part in the story was drawing to a close. He knew the LORD planned to take him from the world, and so he repeatedly sought to bid Elisha goodbye… but to no avail. Again and again, Elisha swears that he will stick by his master’s side to the very end. Eventually, Elijah asks his faithful follower what he would like, and Elisha replies: “Please let me inherit a double share of your spirit.” (2 Kings 2:9). Now in the Law given through Moses, the expectation was that when someone died, their firstborn son would receive a double portion of the inheritance. It was a way of setting them apart as the one who would be expected to carry on the family line, and who would be entrusted with honour and responsibility. And so when Elisha asks to inherit this double share of Elijah’s spirit, he’s asking not just for power, but to be considered his master’s successor… not just to share in Elijah’s great legacy, but to carry it forward too… to carry on the work of his master: speaking God’s word to His people, and calling them to listen to, and follow the ways of the Living God. But there was one problem with Elisha’s request. It wasn’t really Elijah’s spirit to give! Even though Elijah was one of the most dynamic characters in the Old Testament… confronting tyrants, and calling down fire from heaven in a dramatic showdown revealing God’s glory to Israel, and exposing the powerlessness of the pagan prophets Baal that the Israelites had been listening to. But as the story of Elijah as a whole makes clear, he himself was nothing special. He was just a man who had heard God’s call on his life, and obeyed. Someone with his own share of struggles, fears, and even moments of despair, when Elijah needed the Living God to turn him around again… and to help this prophet here the voice of His LORD. In the years to come, the Israelites might look to Elijah as a hero of their faith, but in everything Elijah did, it was the LORD, the Living God, who was at work, and He was their true redeemer… the source of all heavenly power, and the One who could truly save them. And so, Elijah tells his devoted disciple, the one who followed him so closely, and refused to leave his side, that if Elisha witnessed Elijah’s heavenly departure, it was a sign that this double-portion gift of the Spirit of God would be given to him… empowering him to carry on the work of his master… which was really to serve the work of God in the world. Back to St. Mark’s Gospel, we hear how three of Jesus’ disciples, Peter, James, and John, follow their Master up a high mountain, where their Rabbi is suddenly transformed… transfigured before their eyes. They receive an epiphany, a revelation of His glory beyond anything they had known before: wrapped in unearthly, dazzling light, they see Jesus in His glory. And right beside Him, they see the two great heroes of their people’s past: Moses and Elijah, present and alive… and talking with their Master. About what? The weather? How the hockey teams in Galilee were doing this season? The messy politics of the Roman Empire? Or the rumours of war rumbling all around? True to his style, St. Mark leaves out the details of this conversation, but as St. Luke recounts the same story, he includes this note: Moses and Elijah “were speaking of his departure…” literally, His Exodus… “which he was about to accomplish at Jerusalem.” (Luke 9:31). Moses and Elijah, two heroes from Israel’s past, appear to speak with Jesus about the mission that Jesus had come to do in Jerusalem: a new exodus… not leading God’s people out of literal slavery, like Moses had centuries earlier in Egypt… but leading them out of slavery to sin, and the vicious power of death. An exodus rescue mission to be accomplished through His own suffering and death on the cross… taking on Himself all that separates the world from God, so that we might be redeemed… reconciled to God and to one another, and raised up with Him to share in His New Life. All that Moses and Elijah had done before… all of their contributions to the story of God’s great rescue mission at work in Israel and the world… all of it was leading up to this crucial moment: to what Jesus would soon do in Jerusalem: God’s own beloved Son giving up His life in love to save the world. And as these three discuss the moment when God’s great plan to save the world through Jesus will finally come about, Peter speaks up and blunders into the conversation… not really understanding what was happening… and wonderstruck, presumes to put His Master Jesus alongside the two great heroes of the Hebrew faith: “‘Rabbi,” he says, “it is good for us to be here; let us make three dwellings, one for you, one for Moses, and one for Elijah.’ He did not know what to say, for they were terrified.” (Mark 9:5-6). Peter was afraid, and oblivious, but he knew something great was going on, and he wanted to be a part of it. And what happens next sets him, and all us of disciples straight about how to do just that… how we too can share in God’s great mission to save the world. Suddenly, a cloud covers the mountain top, just like it did all those years ago at Mt. Sinai, when God’s presence visited Israel at the start of their covenant relationship, with Moses going up alone to meet with the LORD on behalf of His people… and just like Elijah experienced God’s presence alone in his moment of despair… hearing His divine voice in the silence that came after a stormcloud had covered the top of the mountain. And from this cloud of God’s glory, Peter, James, and John, hear the voice of God proclaim something beyond anything they had dreamed before, telling them that the Rabbi they had been following across Galilee, was not just another hero to look up to… someone to admire, and be inspired by, like Moses and Elijah on their better days. No, Jesus was God’s own beloved Son… someone completely beyond compare, and they are to listen to Him! Is this how we actually think of Jesus our Lord? As the incomparable Son of God, the One we must not just admire… but obey? In our culture today, “heroes” are often held up as great examples, or maybe sources of great wisdom and insight… but not Masters… not those with actual authority to tell us what to do, and what not to do. As those who get to reshape our lives, not as we want, but as He wants. And so for us Christians, we need to remember that Jesus is not a hero… He is our Lord… the Beloved of God, who gave His life at the cross to break the power of sin, and the hold the fear of death wields over our lives… and the One who was raised from the dead to share God’s New Life with His beloved and still very broken world… the world we still see around us today. He did not just come to be looked up to as a great example of what we humans are capable of. Or to impart some new insight, or deeper wisdom to help us get through our days a little bit easier. No, He came to save us. To rescue us by God’s own merciful grace, and to actually lead us into a new kind of life… to live now as His people… as those who share in His Good Kingdom… a community here on earth where forgiveness, freedom, holiness, compassion, peace, joy, faith, hope, and love really call the shots. And this calling is not just for the so-called heroes… for the exceptional examples of faithfulness we might be eager to look up to from a safe distance. This calling is the way of life for all of God’s people… even for you and me. And this calling to actually listen to and obey Jesus our Lord as He leads us into life, is possible, not because there’s something extra special in us that’s somehow better than anybody. It’s possible because of God’s grace… His gift… His own presence and power among us in the Holy Spirit, who is now at work in us because of Jesus, and all that He has done, once and for all. Elisha was given a share of the same Spirit that his master Elijah had himself received, and God would work through Elisha to do things he had never imagined possible. Peter, James, and John, and all the rest of the Apostles were give this same Spirit at Pentecost, empowering them to share the Good News of Jesus through their words and wonderful deeds, infused with heavenly wisdom and authority. But this power from on high was not the point of it all. God’s Spirit was not given to them to make His people into heroes to be idolized, but to help transform them into God’s own hands and feet in the world, carrying His divine work forward, bringing to light the Good News of Jesus, and His Good Kingdom through their whole lives. St. Paul says it well, in our second reading today. Speaking for the Apostles, he says “we do not proclaim ourselves; we proclaim Jesus Christ as Lord and ourselves as your slaves for Jesus’ sake. For it is the God who said, ‘Let light shine out of darkness,’ who has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.” (2 Cor. 4:5-6). The glory of God… His goodness, His justice, and mercy and love… shine for all to see in the face of Jesus. And that same life-giving light is meant to shine on the hearts and in the lives of all who listen to, and follow Him… no matter how dim our own lives may be by themselves. The Good News for us today is that the Living God gives the gift of His Holy Spirit not just to the heroes of the faith… but to all who will put their trust in Jesus, God’s Beloved Son, and listen to Him… and that includes us. The same Spirit that filled Elijah and Elisha with prophetic power… the same Spirit that Christ Jesus the Risen Lord poured out on the Church at Pentecost, empowering His Apostles to carry on His Kingdom work in the world… the same Spirit of God that has been at work in all the centuries since… and working through people from every kind of background, and class, and ability… and broken history… all to bring God’s New Creation to life… This same Spirit is working through us… Christ’s disciples gathering here in Gondola Point… even when we, like Peter on the mountain top, are terrified, and don’t really know what to say or do. Or when, like Elisha, we’re filled with grief, when those we love are taken away, and we are left to carry on. God’s life-giving Spirit is His gracious gift for all of His children, given through Jesus, the Eternal and Beloved Son of the Father, and Firstborn from the dead… who shares His Spirit with us so that we can actually share in His New Life... His Good Kingdom… and share it with His world today. With those who are weak and weary. With those who are without resources, or hope. With those who are about as far from "heroes" as we can imagine. That’s who this Good News is for too. So today, as we celebrate the Transfiguration of Jesus… remembering that it is only through the Holy Spirit’s work in us that we can do all that is required of His disciples: Will we listen to and obey all the words of our Risen Lord Jesus, God’s Beloved Son, our merciful Master and the Saviour of our world? Amen. Today we celebrate the Transfiguration of our Lord, when Jesus Christ was revealed to be God's beloved Son, to whom we are all called to listen. Our service of Morning Prayer, Bulletin, and Sermon this week can be found here: And our Songs this week can be found here: Scripture Readings: Isaiah 40:21–31 | Psalm 147 | 1 Corinthians 9:16–23 | Mark 1:29–39
“Let us go on to the neighboring towns, so that I may proclaim the message there also; for that is what I came out to do.” (Mark 1:38) What comes first? Whether we’re preparing to take a trip someplace new… or following a recipe… drafting a budget… writing a poem… planning a project… or basically anything we humans do… its always wise to take the time needed to figure out what comes first. What’s the most important part of the task before us… the part that we can’t do without… even if there might end up being lots of good things that have to be set to the side? Among other things, these weeks after Epiphany remind us of the priorities of God’s Kingdom. There are lots of good things for God’s people to do in the world… lots of ways to make a truly positive impact… and sometimes it can be hard for us to know what we are supposed to prioritize. Thankfully, Epiphany reminds us to step back and seek to know… to remember what God has revealed is most important… not just to us, but to Jesus Christ, the Risen Lord, and Saviour of the World. Our Gospel reading today from Mark Chapter 1 brings this question before our eyes, helping us understand right from the start of Christ’s ministry, what He has come here to do. Our reading today is the continuation of what happened last week: when he entered the synagogue one Sabbath to teach, and all were amazed at His authority… which proved to be backed up by heavenly power as He cast out a demon, a rebellious spiritual being at odds with the Living God, from somebody in there midst. And straight away, we hear today that Jesus continues to do good and powerful things in Capernaum: first, before the Sabbath day was done, Jesus cured Simon Peter’s mother-in-law of a fever. And then, once sunset fell, everyone in the city gathered around where He was staying, bringing to Him those who were sick, or who were oppressed by demons, and His healing, rescuing power worked wonders in their lives, to the amazement of all. But when morning came, Jesus was nowhere to be found. “[W]hile it was still very dark, he got up and went out to a deserted place, and there he prayed.” (Mark 1:35). Jesus made prayer a priority… the first thing that He did was to take the time to step back and reconnect with His Father in Heaven. Before all else, this relationship was what mattered most. And this key relationship with God the Father helped all else in Jesus’ life find it’s proper place as well… keeping Him from getting off track, and from forgetting what His mission was all about. I mean, He could have done a lot of great things in Capernaum if He has just stuck around, right? He could have made it a booming place of peace and prosperity… a city free from disease, and all demonic influence… a new centre for godly devotion. Think of all the people who would just love to live next door to someone with His kind of power. But instead of seizing the opportunity to build up a solid base for Himself… or even to make sure that all of Capernaum’s needs were met… Jesus knew it was time to move on… to share the Good News of God’s Kingdom… the Good News of what He Himself was up to in the world… to take this news to others… to those who have not yet come to experience it. Mark 1:36-39, “Simon and his companions hunted for him. When they found him, they said to him, ‘Everyone is searching for you.’ He answered, ‘Let us go on to the neighboring towns, so that I may proclaim the message there also; for that is what I came out to do.’ And he went throughout Galilee, proclaiming the message in their synagogues and casting out demons.” All throughout the last 20 Centuries, the Church of Jesus Christ has faced that same temptation to stay put… to build up our own little corners of the world… to make sure that all of our own needs get met… and make our own kingdoms safe and secure… instead of following Christ’s example and keeping our ears open to Heaven, and our eyes on the horizon. Sometimes we have made the choice to stay true to Christ’s mission to share His Good News with all the world. Sometimes we have let our own priorities distract us from what means the most to Him. One reason that I know myself, and many others given into this temptation to stay put is because of fear. Fear of the unknown. Fear of not having our own needs met. Fear of what may happen if we let go of control. That’s why we need this season after Epiphany, and its reminders that Jesus came to be, not simply our personal Saviour… but the Saviour of the World. And as this is what He came to do, we who are His people have a key part to play in making His Good News known as best we can. In other words, as much as Jesus loves Capernaum and its people… and as much as He loves Gondola Point and all of us… we are not actually at the centre of the story of what God is up to in Jesus Christ. The top priority of Christ’s Kingdom is not to make you and I feel better, but to share God’s forgiveness, His freedom, and His New Life with us, and with all! We Christians, who have placed our faith in Jesus, are embraced, and invited now to be a part of how He shares this New Life of the Kingdom with everyone. We’re all part of this story: God’s love for our whole world. What does it look like to take this calling seriously? To have our priorities fall in line with what we know of our Saviour’s mission and heart? In our second reading today, we catch sight of one clear example of a life realigned to serve Christ’s Kingdom. In his letter to the Christians in Corinth, St. Paul spells out his new priorities, which he holds out as an example to follow. As an Apostle, and founder of Christian Church communities across the Roman Empire, St. Paul could have chosen to play it safe. He could have sought out more established positions of influence, and found ways to prioritize his own status, and security, and build for himself his own home base… his own little kingdom. But instead, again and again, St. Paul follows the example of Jesus Himself, whose priority was not His own comfort or security, but the sharing of God’s holy love and the Good News of His Kingdom with everyone. So, St. Paul refused to cling to his own personal interests and preferences… holding only lightly onto all that was not essential, in order to put first the Kingdom of God… helping as many people as possible, from every background and status, and community, to come into contact with the Good News of Jesus, and what Jesus has done to save us all. 1 Corinthians 9:19-23, “For though I am free with respect to all, I have made myself a slave to all, so that I might win more of them. To the Jews I became as a Jew, in order to win Jews. To those under the law I became as one under the law (though I myself am not under the law) so that I might win those under the law. To those outside the law I became as one outside the law (though I am not free from God’s law but am under Christ’s law) so that I might win those outside the law. To the weak I became weak, so that I might win the weak. I have become all things to all people, that I might by all means save some. I do it all for the sake of the gospel, so that I may share in its blessings.” Now when he says he has become “all things to all people”, St. Paul was not simply playing to the crowd… taking on false personas to ingratiate himself with whoever was around… twisting himself in knots to get others to accept and support him. Not at all. It was because St. Paul was certain of what stood at the centre of his life… what must come first above all other priorities, namely the Good News of Jesus Christ the Risen Lord, and all that He has done for the world… because St. Paul had this Gospel as his key priority, he could let go of all that stood between himself, and sharing this Good News with everyone around him. So when he spoke to his fellow Jews about Jesus, he didn’t need to pick a fight about this or that matter of the Law, or rub the freedom he had found in their face, but could instead focus on all the ways the Risen Lord was reaching out in love to rescue His covenant people. And when he spoke to Gentiles, people from outside the Jewish faith, from all the nations that had not yet come to know the Living God, St. Paul would then try to meet them where they were at, and introduce them to the story of the Saviour of the whole world. And so, on it goes. Because St. Paul knew what comes first… what matters most: the Good News of Jesus, the Risen Lord… he found he could be extremely flexible about other things, all while staying true to his mission to share God’s holy love with the world through the Gospel of Jesus Christ. This faithful flexibility freed St. Paul to do remarkable things for the Kingdom of God, spreading the Good News to corners of the world where it had not been known before. But it also meant leaving a lot of things behind… a lot of good things… and facing lots of uncertainty, and hardships… sacrificing much of what we take for granted for the sake of Christ’s Kingdom. And St. Paul holds up this example for other disciples of Jesus… back then and today… for you and I to learn from and follow. Inviting us to learn to truly put first things first, even when it hurts. To follow him, as he himself follows Jesus in letting God’s saving love for the world lead the way. But does this mean that God doesn’t care if we suffer loss? That our own needs, and hopes, and fears as God’s children mean nothing to our Father in Heaven? Doesn’t He care about us too, here in Gondola Point? How can you and I be sure that we won’t be forgotten if we let go and follow Jesus into the unknown? Once again, it all comes down to faith. To our connection… our trust in the Living God, whose heart of merciful love we’ve come to know in the Scriptures, and most of all in Jesus Christ. And in our first reading today, the prophet Isaiah’s words remind us of what kind of the God we believe in… the God who has far more than enough to go around, and who sees all the needs of all His children. Isaiah 40:27-31, Why do you say, O Jacob, and speak, O Israel, “My way is hidden from the Lord, and my right is disregarded by my God”? Have you not known? Have you not heard? The Lord is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth. He does not faint or grow weary; his understanding is unsearchable. He gives power to the faint, and strengthens the powerless. Even youths will faint and be weary, and the young will fall exhausted; but those who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength, they shall mount up with wings like eagles, they shall run and not be weary, they shall walk and not faint. God sees and knows everything that we need. He has no intention of neglecting any of His beloved children, nor is His ability to provide limited, as if there is only so much of His blessings to go around. But to know and trust in Him means to learn to let go of our impulse to hoard Him and His love for ourselves. To trust that He will provide what we need as we follow Him, and choose to make His priorities our own. The Lord gives strength to the faint-hearted, and power to the weak who look to Him for help in time of need. Our loving Creator knows all about our circumstances, our hopes and fears, and calls us to trust Him with it all. But if we just want Him to stay by our side and meet our needs, while we forget about all of the other people all around us who don’t yet know His saving love… we’ve lost sight of what our Saviour has come to do, and the work that He has called us to take part in. Christ came not to be served, but to serve, and to give His life as a ransom for many. He sought, not His own will, but the will of His Father in Heaven. Jesus completely surrendered His own life into the hands of the Living God… He gave up everything at the cross to defeat the powers of darkness once and for all, and to bring the Good News of God’s Kingdom, His New Creation to life… in the lives of those who trust and follow Him. Jesus came to be the Saviour of the world, but this meant choosing the way of sacrifice. It meant choosing to surrender His rights, and to instead entrust Himself completely to God’s saving love… dying to self-centeredness, and rising again to share God’s New Life with us all. We might not be like St. Paul, personally called to travel to new lands and plant new Church communities among the nations. But we are called like him to trust the Living God to give you and I the strength, and to provide everything that we need to take up our own part in service of Christ’s everlasting Kingdom. We too are called to prioritize, not our own comfort, or status, or preferences, but the sharing of the Good News with God’s world… with our neighbours, our families, all those that God places in our paths… through the words that we speak, and the choices we make day by day. Not to nail Him down to stay where we want Him to be, but to trust and follow Him wherever He leads us. We are those whom the Living God has entrusted the Good News of Jesus Christ to in this generation. We are the ones who have the calling to make it known today, in any way that we can. As this season after Epiphany nears an end, and the season of Lent draws closer, preparing us to walk with Jesus Christ our Lord to the cross, and find there His saving love and sustaining grace… may we truly make it our priority to know the core of our faith, and live it out ourselves. May we make it our priority to nurture God’s holy love in all we do. And may we make it our priority to share this Good News of hope with those who have not yet heard it… trusting God to give us everything we need along the way. Amen. Our service of Morning Prayer, Bulletin, and Sermon this week can be found here: And our Songs this week can be found here: Scripture Readings: Deuteronomy 18:15–20 | Psalm 111 | 1 Corinthians 8:1–13 | Mark 1:21–28
“Anyone who does not heed the words that the prophet shall speak in my name, I myself will hold accountable.” (Deuteronomy 18:19). Actions speak louder than words. And actions reveal what’s at work behind our words. We are now four weeks into the season after Epiphany, a time set aside for Christians to contemplate the Good News that Jesus Christ is the Son of God, and the Saviour of the world. It’s a time when we seek to better understand the huge implications of this Good News in our own lives, and for us to respond to what the story of Jesus reveals to us about the Living God’s plans for His broken but beloved creation… including overthrowing the forces of darkness, and bringing His light and New Life at last. Our Gospel reading this morning gives us a good glimpse… a good revelation of these words in action, as Jesus Christ confronts evil in a tangible way: casting out an unclean spirit, a demon, from a man in the congregation of God’s people at Capernaum. So far in St. Mark’s Gospel, here in Chapter 1, Jesus has not done much of what we might call the “miraculous”. Aside from the dramatic display during His baptism by John in the Jordan River, Jesus has been fairly low key: He was led by God’s Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by Satan… but unlike the other Gospels, St. Mark doesn’t say much about that encounter. He then begins preaching about the Kingdom of God, and calling God’s people to turn around and repent… to believe in the Good News… as well as calling some fishermen to come and follow Him. But in today’s reading, St. Mark introduces the first real conflict in Christ’s mission… and St. Mark shows us that, from the start, there is absolutely no question about who will come out victorious in the end. Our reading takes place in Capernaum, a small fishing town in Galilee, with Jesus gathering for worship along with his fellow Jews in the synagogue one Sabbath. While there, Jesus began to teach, which is a common practice when God’s people gathered together. But St. Mark tells us that something stood out about the way that Jesus went about it: the people “were astounded at his teaching, for he taught them as one having authority, and not as the scribes.” (Mark 1:22). They had heard plenty of teachers and speakers before, but not like this Jesus of Nazareth. And while his words and teachings alone might have been enough to impress… they were about to see that Christ’s words are backed up by a power well beyond what they could have imagined. As it turns out, the actions of Christ speak even louder than His words… and show them to be the truth. Mark 1:23-24, “Just then there was in their synagogue a man with an unclean spirit, and he cried out, ‘What have you to do with us, Jesus of Nazareth? Have you come to destroy us? I know who you are, the Holy One of God.’” Imagine the scene: a gathering of God’s people, come to worship and to hear the word of the Lord together… not all that unlike what we do here at St. Luke’s each week… then one of their members… someone from their small community, disrupts the scene at the impulse of a demon… a spirit at odds with the will of the Living God. But this encounter in Capernaum is clearly no contest. This unclean spirit clearly sees exactly who Jesus really is… and even acknowledges His unique and divine identity: “I know who you are, the Holy One of God.” And yet these true words are coming from a rebel… a spiritual being who has turned away from God’s holy purposes… and is at work undermining the New Life that Christ is bringing about. And so Jesus, the Holy One of God, sees through the cowering cries of the unclean spirit and confronts it. He orders the demon to be silent, and casts it out of the man. Actions speak louder than words, and in this case Christ’s actions confirm the truth of the words and teachings that He shared in the synagogue that day. St. Mark wants us to see that Jesus is not just a good speaker… or a wise teacher… but that He actually has the authority to back up even His boldest claims. That in Jesus, God’s good Kingdom has come near… and this King will not be defeated. The words from our first reading today from Deuteronomy Chapter 18 come to mind, where God promises that one day a prophet would come to God’s people… one like Moses himself, who stood alone before the Living God, and faithfully made God’s good will and ways known to His covenant people. A prophet with divine authority. In Deuteronomy 18:19, the LORD says: “Anyone who does not heed the words that the prophet shall speak in my name, I myself will hold accountable.” Through the Good News that St. Mark and the other Apostles have shared, we’re invited to see Jesus in the light of this promise: to recognize God at work in all He does… and to truly heed His words. This word of warning should give us pause as Christians today, inviting us to search our hearts and ask tough questions. Like, how much are we aligned to God’s Holy One in all that we do? Are we ready to heed all that Jesus has taught us? Or are we more inclined to follow the path of spiritual darkness… saying the right sounding things perhaps, but with hearts marked by rebellion… opposed to the rule of God’s good Kingdom? We know of course that there are forces at work in our world today, and within the worldwide Christian Church, that pay no real heed to Christ’s words and teachings… who claim to be part of His community, but who reject His ways, distort and misuse His message of Good News, and who undermine His authority as the Son of God and the only Saviour of the world. Again, actions speak louder than words. And our actions will reveal the truth of what we really believe. It doesn’t matter how many good sounding things we may say, or how many followers we may gather… if we don’t actually heed the words of Jesus Christ, then we’re in for some serious trouble. And if we do believe in Jesus… that He is God’s true Son, and our Saviour and Lord, then how might this truth change our choices? How can we live the faith that we claim to believe? Our second reading today from St. Paul’s letter to the Christians in Corinth give us a real life example of what it looks like when God’s people take Jesus’ words seriously. Throughout this letter, St. Paul has been walking the Corinthians through a number of challenging dilemmas, as they figure out what it looks like to be faithful to the way of Jesus together. In today’s reading, St. Paul is trying to help them figure out what to do with food that’s been sacrificed to idols. In the Roman world, most of the meat sold in markets would have some connection to the local pagan temples. And for Jewish followers of the Living God, idols were a huge red flag… God had explicitly commanded Israel to make no idols, and not to worship them. God’s people were to be wholeheartedly devoted to the LORD alone… and this remained true for the early Christians, even as many Gentiles started to believe in Jesus as well. And while Gentiles may not have been bound to the Law of Moses like their fellow Jewish believers, having left their old pagan ways behind to follow Jesus, many of them would have had a hard time not feeling as though they were compromising their newfound faith if they ate meat they new had been offered up to gods that they had once served. So in Corinth, the Church was confused about if eating meat that may have been sacrificed to an idol was allowed or not. Would that be a sin against God? Or was it really no big deal? How were they supposed to act faithfully in this confusing situation… especially if they could not all agree on the answer? Jesus Himself had not specifically addressed this question. The Laws of the Torah seemed a bit more clear on the matter, but as St. Paul and others in the early Church had argued, Gentile Christians, like many of those in Corinth, were not strictly commanded to follow the terms of Israel’s covenant. Some clearly thought it would be wrong. While others clearly thought it wasn’t an issue. And so St. Paul set about, not simply to find “the right answer”, but to help them heed the words of Jesus their Lord, and follow His ways together… guided in part by these words: “Knowledge puffs up, but love builds up.” (1 Corinthians 8:1). St. Paul affirms that there really is only One Almighty God. No idol or other spiritual being can rival Him, and so they have no power over His people. From St. Paul’s perspective then, food eaten with gratitude to the Living God, regardless of its source, is ultimately not a problem… and so eating meat that had been offered up to an idol is not a sin in and of itself. But… St. Paul was convinced that what matters much more than our own liberty to eat whatever we want is that we actively love one another… especially those who don’t, or don’t yet, see things the way we do. “[T]ake care”, he says in verse 9, “that this liberty of yours does not somehow become a stumbling block to the weak.” St. Paul goes on in verses 11-13, “So by your knowledge those weak believers for whom Christ died are destroyed. But when you thus sin against members of your family, and wound their conscience when it is weak, you sin against Christ. Therefore, if food is a cause of their falling, I will never eat meat, so that I may not cause one of them to fall. Who were these weak ones? Jewish believers scandalized by pagan idols? Gentile believers worried about being drawn back into their old ways? Both? St. Paul leaves it open, because the most important point here is not who’s right and who’s wrong, but how can we all walk in God’s ways together? In other words, how are we to love God and love each other, and put that love into practice through our actions? St. Paul knew the truth, and he knew well who he served, no matter what food he ate. 1 Corinthians 8:4-6, “we know that ‘no idol in the world really exists,’ and that ‘there is no God but one’. Indeed, even though there may be so-called gods in heaven or on earth—as in fact there are many gods and many lords— yet for us there is one God, the Father, from whom are all things and for whom we exist, and one Lord, Jesus Christ, through whom are all things and through whom we exist.” And because St. Paul knew where his loyalty lay, and took care to heed the words of Jesus his Lord, he understood what God really wanted for His people. For you and I today. On the night our Lord was betrayed, Jesus spoke these words to His disciples, then and now: “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 13:33-35). If as Christians we don’t heed these words of Jesus, we know we’re on the wrong track, and headed for danger! Actions speak louder than words, and our actions confirm or contradict the truth of what we say. Jesus’ own actions speak louder than words… embracing the way of the cross… laying down His life in love for our darkened world… actions that backs up His words about God’s saving love in ways that challenge us all, again and again. His sacrificial, self-giving love for sinners is what He commands us and empowers us to put into practice together. This is the high calling of God’s people: to love as God Himself loves the world, through His Spirit at work in us. Unlike the Corinthians, our own issues today are probably not about food sacrificed to idols. But there are many questions we face that are just as challenging and even painful to sort through faithfully. Whatever these challenges may be, St. Paul reminds us that how we go about sorting through them really matters. It’s not just about being right about this or that issue… but about embodying the holy love of the Living God in all we do. If we refuse to learn to love one another… to extend God’s grace to those who are our sisters and brothers in Jesus Christ, we will not be prepared to truly share God’s love with our neighbours. So with the Holy Spirit’s help, let us learn from St. Paul how to heed the words of Jesus our Lord, and make it a priority to nurture love for our fellow believers in Christ, even when we might deeply disagree… so that all those around us might come to see, and believe in, and experience God’s love for them too… a love that’s powerful… and alive… and still at work in our world… a love which the forces of darkness can never defeat… binding us forever to the Risen King of Kings, and Saviour of the world. Amen. Our service of Morning Prayer, Bulletin, and Sermon this week can be found here: And our Songs this week can be found here: Scripture Readings: Jonah 3:1–5, 10 | Psalm 62 | 1 Corinthians 7:29–31 | Mark 1:14–20
“The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God has come near; repent, and believe in the good news.” (Mark 1:15). Repentance is a complicated word… one with lots of baggage for some of us. Reminding us of the times when people have used religion as a weapon to heap guilt and shame on our shoulders. Or when some twist faith into a formula… making it seem as though: “if you just say these words, in this way, then somehow God owes you paradise”… as if the Living God just wants us to “say sorry”, and then we can go about our own business. When this is how we think about repentance, no wonder so many feel so uneasy about it. But in the Scriptures, repentance is truly Good News… an integral part of the Kingdom of God, and a vital step forward in the pathway to life. And one could argue that our world could use a whole lot more repentance these days… learning to step back and change course… to acknowledge when we have got it all wrong, and do what we can to start making things right, instead of always shifting the blame elsewhere… digging in and doubling down on our actions that bring disaster… and writing off those who fail to live up to our own standards, whatever they might be. But to appreciate the life-giving role played by repentance… and to have the space and ability to practice it… we need to believe it will actually be received. That those we repent to will not just strike us down for our sins, but extend to us the forgiveness that we all need. Far beyond a tool to crush our spirits, or a formula to try and manipulate each other, or the divine… repentance is God’s gracious gift to us, as the Scriptures remind us this morning. Notice that in Mark’s Gospel, the very first words that Christ utters to the world is a call to repentance: “The time is fulfilled,” He proclaims, “and the kingdom of God has come near; repent, and believe in the good news.” (Mark 1:15). Jesus then goes about inviting others to follow Him into this new reality… this new Kingdom way of life… unlike anything that they had known before. And in the Old Testament, the story of Jonah is one long invitation to repent, and to receive God’s gift of New Life… an invitation we’re going to explore together a little bit closer this today. Bu t before we do so, I have a few question for all of us: When is the last time you thought about the whole story of Jonah? Have you ever sat down and read the story from start to end? What is this prophetic book really all about anyway? Don’t worry if you’ve never looked at the whole book of Jonah before, because today is your lucky day! We’re going to read through the whole book of Jonah together this morning, and listen to its unique perspective on the good news of repentance… Good News for our world, and for us, God’s people today. For many people, the main thing that comes to mind when they think of Jonah is probably the bit about the whale… or more precisely, the “great fish”. Or maybe, from our very short reading today from Jonah Chapter 3, we might guess that it’s a fairly straightforward story about God’s good prophet telling the Assyrian ‘bad-guys’ in Nineveh to straighten up, and then they all fall in line. But while both these dramatic scenes are a part of the picture that this book paints for us, we miss out on the main message of Jonah… the Good News that it has for us and for our world, when we don’t step back and take into account the story as a whole, and how it all fits together. That’s why we’re going to read through the whole book of Jonah together today. Don’t panic though! One of the great things about Jonah is that it’s not a very long story. It’s only four short chapters, and about 1,300 words total in the New Revised Standard Version of the Bible. And while we could spend all year exploring this strange but powerful prophetic book, this morning I just want to highlight a few of its most important themes to reflect on together… specifically, how repentance fits into the work of the Living God in the world, and what it means for those of us who have responded to the call to follow Jesus Christ today. So this morning, pay close attention to who is repenting in the story… who turns their lives around to follow the ways of the Living God in the world… and who does not. The book begins with the LORD, Yahweh, the Living God who has revealed Himself to Israel sending the prophet Jonah to challenge the wickedness of the great Assyrian capitol city of Nineveh. Jonah 1:1-2, “Now the word of the Lord came to Jonah son of Amittai, saying, 2 “Go at once to Nineveh, that great city, and cry out against it; for their wickedness has come up before me.” There’s nothing too surprising here. The Ninevites, and the Assyrians in general, were the “big bad guys” of the near ancient world… their empire made it their business to swallow up all of their neighbours, with unheard of levels of violence and brutality. From an Israelite perspective, if God was going to call out any nation’s wickedness, it would make sense to single out the Assyrians. But then something that is surprising happens. Jonah 1:3, “3 But Jonah set out to flee to Tarshish from the presence of the Lord. He went down to Joppa and found a ship going to Tarshish; so he paid his fare and went on board, to go with them to Tarshish, away from the presence of the Lord.” Instead of following God’s clear instructions to challenge Nineveh’s great wickedness, God’s messenger takes off in the opposite direction… taking a boat to Tarshish… which is thousands of miles away at the other end of the Mediterranean Sea… just about as far away from Nineveh as an ancient Israelite could imagine. So from the start, it’s God’s own prophet… the one whose job it is to help others discover God’s good will, who has turned away from the LORD. It is God’s chosen messenger who it turns out now needs to turn around… to repent. Jonah 1:4-6, 4 But the Lord hurled a great wind upon the sea, and such a mighty storm came upon the sea that the ship threatened to break up. 5 Then the mariners were afraid, and each cried to his god. They threw the cargo that was in the ship into the sea, to lighten it for them. Jonah, meanwhile, had gone down into the hold of the ship and had lain down, and was fast asleep. 6 The captain came and said to him, “What are you doing sound asleep? Get up, call on your god! Perhaps the god will spare us a thought so that we do not perish.” Here's another ironic twist: it’s the pagan, Gentile sailors who see the signs of divine judgement at work, while God’s prophet is fast asleep, oblivious to what’s going on, and unconcerned it seems with avoiding disaster. And when he wakes up, his response is no help at all. Johan 1:7-10, 7 The sailors said to one another, “Come, let us cast lots, so that we may know on whose account this calamity has come upon us.” So they cast lots, and the lot fell on Jonah. 8 Then they said to him, “Tell us why this calamity has come upon us. What is your occupation? Where do you come from? What is your country? And of what people are you?” 9 “I am a Hebrew,” he replied. “I worship the Lord, the God of heaven, who made the sea and the dry land.” 10 Then the men were even more afraid, and said to him, “What is this that you have done!” For the men knew that he was fleeing from the presence of the Lord, because he had told them so. What’s going on here? In the face of what seems like certain disaster, Jonah claims to be a faithful servant of Yahweh, the Creator of Heaven, Earth, the Sea, and all that is… while doing exactly the opposite of what God said to do. Notice that at this point he has made no attempt at all to turn around, and seek God’s forgiveness and help, by the way… unlike the pagan, Gentile sailors around him. Jonah 1:11-17, 11 Then they said to him, “What shall we do to you, that the sea may quiet down for us?” For the sea was growing more and more tempestuous. 12 He said to them, “Pick me up and throw me into the sea; then the sea will quiet down for you; for I know it is because of me that this great storm has come upon you.” 13 Nevertheless the men rowed hard to bring the ship back to land, but they could not, for the sea grew more and more stormy against them. 14 Then they cried out to the Lord, “Please, O Lord, we pray, do not let us perish on account of this man’s life. Do not make us guilty of innocent blood; for you, O Lord, have done as it pleased you.” 15 So they picked Jonah up and threw him into the sea; and the sea ceased from its raging. 16 Then the men feared the Lord even more, and they offered a sacrifice to the Lord and made vows. 17 But the Lord provided a large fish to swallow up Jonah; and Jonah was in the belly of the fish three days and three nights. Again, we find a dramatic reversal at work: pagan, Gentile sailors, not exactly an ancient Israelite’s model of morality, are seeking to do the LORD’s will, pleading to receive His mercy, and give their lives to Him in wholehearted worship. While God’s prophet, Jonah, insists instead on being thrown into the sea… to have his life ended rather than turn around and repent to the Living God. But instead of meeting his end right away, Jonah finds himself swallowed up by a great fish… a creature of the sea, the realm of chaos and death. Only then, when his own destruction seems the most clear, Jonah turns to the LORD, and we hear his prayer in the poem of Chapter 2: 2 Then Jonah prayed to the Lord his God from the belly of the fish, 2 saying, “I called to the Lord out of my distress, and he answered me; out of the belly of Sheol I cried, and you heard my voice. 3You cast me into the deep, into the heart of the seas, and the flood surrounded me; all your waves and your billows passed over me. 4Then I said, ‘I am driven away from your sight; how shall I look again upon your holy temple?’ 5The waters closed in over me; the deep surrounded me; weeds were wrapped around my head 6at the roots of the mountains. I went down to the land whose bars closed upon me forever; yet you brought up my life from the Pit, O Lord my God. 7As my life was ebbing away, I remembered the Lord; and my prayer came to you, into your holy temple. 8Those who worship vain idols forsake their true loyalty. 9But I with the voice of thanksgiving will sacrifice to you; what I have vowed I will pay. Deliverance belongs to the Lord!” Then the Lord spoke to the fish, and it spewed Jonah out upon the dry land. God’s saving mercy finds Jonah, his utterly unfaithful prophet, at the end of his rope… and against all odds and expectations, the LORD rescues his undeserving servant. And here we return to our reading today from Jonah Chapter 3, and hear about how God’s flawed messenger finally does what he’s supposed to do, and then how Nineveh responds. Jonah 3:1-4, 3 The word of the Lord came to Jonah a second time, saying, 2 “Get up, go to Nineveh, that great city, and proclaim to it the message that I tell you.” 3 So Jonah set out and went to Nineveh, according to the word of the Lord. Now Nineveh was an exceedingly large city, a three days’ walk across. 4 Jonah began to go into the city, going a day’s walk. And he cried out, “Forty days more, and Nineveh shall be overthrown!” Not much of a message, is it? “Forty days more, and Nineveh shall be overthrown!” Is this really all that God wanted to say to the great city of the Assyrians? There’s no mention of why the city would be overthrown? There’s no clear challenge of the wickedness of this violent, oppressive, self-centered empire? No mention at all of the LORD? And no mention at all of what could be done to make things right again? After all that trouble, once Jonah finally gets to Ninevah, all he does is call for their destruction. And in yet another ironic twist… this great wicked city completely turns around and repents. Jonah 3:5-9, 5 And the people of Nineveh believed God; they proclaimed a fast, and everyone, great and small, put on sackcloth. 6 When the news reached the king of Nineveh, he rose from his throne, removed his robe, covered himself with sackcloth, and sat in ashes. 7 Then he had a proclamation made in Nineveh: “By the decree of the king and his nobles: No human being or animal, no herd or flock, shall taste anything. They shall not feed, nor shall they drink water. 8 Human beings and animals shall be covered with sackcloth, and they shall cry mightily to God. All shall turn from their evil ways and from the violence that is in their hands. 9 Who knows? God may relent and change his mind; he may turn from his fierce anger, so that we do not perish.” What an amazing reversal… an incredible change of course for the great enemies of Israel, and the most feared and wicked pagan nation they had ever encountered. With barely a warning at all, the people of Nineveh, even their King, humbly turn their lives around and seek the mercy of Yahweh, the Living God of all, that Israel knew and served. And what’s more, another amazing change takes place: 10 When God saw what they did, how they turned from their evil ways, God changed his mind about the calamity that he had said he would bring upon them; and he did not do it. In response to the repentance of the Assyrians, God decides not to go through with His plans to undo them. Even the worst, wicked ones, it turns out can repent and find God’s forgiveness. Sounds like Good News to me, and a great end to the story. But that’s not how the story ends. There’s one more character who has not yet really turned around… Jonah. Chapter 3:10-4:3, 10 When God saw what they did, how they turned from their evil ways, God changed his mind about the calamity that he had said he would bring upon them; and he did not do it. 4 But this was very displeasing to Jonah, and he became angry. 2 He prayed to the Lord and said, “O Lord! Is not this what I said while I was still in my own country? That is why I fled to Tarshish at the beginning; for I knew that you are a gracious God and merciful, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love, and ready to relent from punishing. 3 And now, O Lord, please take my life from me, for it is better for me to die than to live.” Here we finally see what was going on in Jonah’s heart… why he fled to Tarshish, and why he refuses to rejoice when Nineveh turns itself around: he wanted Nineveh to burn. He didn’t want them to be forgiven, to find a new path towards life. Jonah saw them as the ‘bad-guys’, as too far gone to turn around… and who needed to be taken out. And in his heart, Jonah accused God of being too willing to forgive. Complaining that the LORD was too gracious and merciful, too slow to act in anger, overflowing with steadfast love, and too ready to relent from punishing. The heart of God’s chosen prophet, His messenger, turns out to be completely unlike the LORD… and so he’d rather end his life then see his enemies find forgiveness. Think about this story in the light of our world today… with all the conflicts we see at work around us. Not just the open wars, that lay waste to whole cities and countries… but also to the many divisions that are tearing our world apart, in big and small ways. The communities, relationships, families shattered by self-centeredness, wickedness, prejudice, and rage. And think about how we Christians as God’s people today have become complicit in these conflicts too… seeing all those who oppose our ways of seeing things as the ‘bad guys’, who deserve to be taken out. Consider how even we the Church can easily be consumed with anger, hate, violence, and cruelty. Then think about God’s own heart. Think about His response to the truly wicked city of Nineveh… how He wanted, not their destruction… but that they would truly turn around and leave their old ways behind. That those who were destroying their neighbours would stop, and instead care for them, and build them up. That those who oppressed others, would instead humble themselves, and lift up the lowly. That all those who have hard hearts, and are eager to see the ruin of their rivals would repent, and come to share His divine mercy, forgiveness, and steadfast, saving love. And so, Jonah serves as an example of how even God’s chosen people, who have been called to become like Him… who claim to know and serve Him, and to walk in His holy ways, can completely turn our hearts away from God’s heart. And his story is a grand invitation for all of us to repent… to turn around and let His love guide us. But the story’s not over yet. How does God respond to Jonah’s anger? How does this story end? The LORD uses the rise and fall of a plant, a small bush, to drive home the message of His own divine mercy. Jonah 4:4-11, 4 And the Lord said, “Is it right for you to be angry?” 5 Then Jonah went out of the city and sat down east of the city, and made a booth for himself there. He sat under it in the shade, waiting to see what would become of the city. 6 The Lord God appointed a bush, and made it come up over Jonah, to give shade over his head, to save him from his discomfort; so Jonah was very happy about the bush. 7 But when dawn came up the next day, God appointed a worm that attacked the bush, so that it withered. 8 When the sun rose, God prepared a sultry east wind, and the sun beat down on the head of Jonah so that he was faint and asked that he might die. He said, “It is better for me to die than to live.” 9 But God said to Jonah, “Is it right for you to be angry about the bush?” And he said, “Yes, angry enough to die.” 10 Then the Lord said, “You are concerned about the bush, for which you did not labor and which you did not grow; it came into being in a night and perished in a night. 11 And should I not be concerned about Nineveh, that great city, in which there are more than a hundred and twenty thousand persons who do not know their right hand from their left, and also many animals?” And that’s how it ends. With a question from God, and an invitation to share His divine compassion. If Jonah can care about the fate of a single bush, can’t God, the Creator of All, care about everyone? Even the fate of a city so wicked and turned about, that they seem too far gone to save? Can’t God care about… our enemies? Those you and I might see as beyond all hope? As undeserving of forgiveness? Can’t God long to turn their lives around by His rescuing love? This is the story that Jesus calls all His disciples to embrace, and to leave our old stories behind. This is the story of God’s great love for His whole lost and broken world, tearing itself apart, again and again… the story that led Jesus Christ to the cross… to die for us sinners, and to set us free from our wickedness… and rise again as the Saviour of the world. The book of Jonah is an invitation for all God’s people of all times… to turn around, and learn what it means to repent and truly follow the Living God: to share in His holy love, revealed to the world once and for all in Jesus Christ. A love that’s strong and wide enough to truly embrace everyone. Amen. Our service of Morning Prayer, Bulletin, and Sermon this week can be found here: And our Songs this week can be found here: |
Rev. RObRev. Rob serves as the Priest-in-Charge at St. Luke's Gondola Point, and as the School Chaplain at Rothesay Netherwood School Archives
March 2024
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